Author Note: Greetings my readers! Welcome to the prologue of the first of my "Remember the Past" series.

As the title suggests, this one focuses on the past of Neptune. I want to explain what does "Before the Bonds were Forged" mean, but I suppose it's better for you to figure it out yourself through this prologue.

This is my first Hyperdimension Neptunia fanfiction, but I don't expect you to hold back in your criticism. Now... let's begin the prologue, "A Story Without A Beginning"

A story always begins with a ~Prelude~

A pause within the story is an ~Interlude~

And an end will be known as the ~Postlude~

Now then, shall we begin?

~Prelude~

Why am I here?

Fighting, fighting, and fighting.

Why am I doing this?

She didn't know. She had forgotten.

When will it end?

She didn't know. Maybe it would continue until the day she died.

Why fight? Couldn't we talk this over?

They... they would never listen.

...Why?

Neptune never understood why.

~Interlude~

Neptune was tired.

Today, it had been another stalemate.

With a heavy sigh, Neptune allowed her body's transformation to give out - light enveloped her body as her mature-looking figure with flowing purple hair and dark skin-tight suit wear transformed into a much more petite, short-haired girl with white and purple parka dress and leggings as her wear.

Her Purple Heart form was too draining for her at this point.

Now with less mass, Neptune dragged her legs through her Basilicom's guest room, and threw herself into the sofa.

It was not a behavior befitting a CPU - a goddess of a nation - but Neptune never cared much about such things to begin with.

Squirming her exhausted body into a more comfortable position, Neptune turned to face the ceiling, sighing once again.

"So tired..."

Neptune was rarely exhausted out of physical activities. She could play games for hours without stopping and walk around Planeptune's capital for countless kilometers and she would still have enough strength to come home and resist Histoire's lecture.

...And yet, a fight with the other three CPUs always drained her, physically and mentally.

Putting a hand over her eyes, Neptune let out another sigh as she recalled how the fight went this time.

Neptune had unintentionally left a slash across Black Heart's torso, before she retreated.

"..."

The purple-haired girl didn't know what to feel about it.

She - and the other three goddesses - had been fighting for a long time. This fight would determine the ruler of Gamindustri, and ensure the future of the nation whose goddess attained victory.

This wasn't the first time Neptune had landed a serious blow on her opponents. Heck, she had received and inflicted many of those herself throughout the years.

But no matter how many times she did it, she couldn't help but feel that it was wrong.

We shouldn't fight.

She unconsciously muttered, before retreating from the battle.

"...But we have to, do we?"

Although Neptune never understood why, she continued fighting.

"Neptune?"

The CPU was surprised as the voice who called her name were unusually loud and close, and reflexively she moved her hand to regain her vision.

A tiny, feminine figure of blonde, purple and white was staring at her from an unusually large book that floated just a few inches above her face.

The surreal tome fairy was smiling faintly - if a bit forced - prompting Neptune to return the favor.

"Hey, Histy."

Histoire, or Histy as Neptune preferred to call her, was the Oracle of Planeptune. She was an artificial being created by Planeptune's very first CPU.

The blonde's smile turned into a slight frown. "Neptune, don't try to act tough. Are you okay? Any injuries?"

Neptune let out a chuckle. "What? Don't you believe in me, Histy?"

Histoire seemed to be less than amused by her attempt of joke, but the Oracle nevertheless sighed in relief.

"If you are still capable of jest, I suppose there is nothing to be worried."

"You know me so well."

Neptune stifled a giggle. Meanwhile, the Oracle cleared her throat, before the latter expression became serious once again.

"Now, Neptune. How did the fight go?"

Neptune frowned.

"Do you really have to ask?"

"I must. What are the conditions of the other goddesses?"

The CPU twitched.

"I... can we talk about this later, Histy? I kinda need a break. I'm super tired."

Histoire's expression softened, as if she understood everything.

"You injured one of them, did you?"

Neptune groaned at that question.

"And you can read minds. Come on Histy, if you already know, why ask? You know that I..."

The memory of what she did to Black Heart flashed in her mind.

Pausing, she looked away from Histoire.

"...really don't mean to do it."

The tiny girl bowed her head a bit.

"I apologize, but I am no psychic. I need to confirm their conditions so we can decide which one will need our help the most."

The CPU pouted. That was true, but-

"Still... I would like a break. Can't I have it?"

"You have earned it. Have a rest, if you will."

"Heh. You are the best, thank you Histy."

Neptune closed her eyes as the Oracle flew out of her vision to somewhere, probably her room.

As darkness filled her vision, Neptune's mind contemplated Histoire's words.

Decide which one would need our help the most, huh...

Neptune bit her lip. It had been years since they had been secretly doing that. Back then, Neptune thought it was the only way.

But... was it truly the correct choice?

"We cannot allow the Console War to continue. Histoire, I have but one way to end it once and for good."

Neptune had been so confident back then, when she - as Purple Heart - had explained her plan to Histoire.

The four goddesses had to change their ways.

Neptune would continue attending in the fight between the four goddesses, and ensure the eternal stalemate continued.

If any goddess was weakened, Planeptune would secretly help their nations to keep their stability, so that their goddess could participate in the next round.

This would continue until Neptune could convince the other goddesses to stop the fighting.

When the CPU proposed this to the Oracle many years ago, Histoire had accused her as being out of her mind.

"You wish to help the other nations?! Have you gone mad, Neptune!?"

Neptune understood that this sounded insane - no, it probably was insane - but she had convinced Histoire that ending the Console War, or at least change its form of competition, would be for the best for everyone.

"Histoire... when was the last time a new CPU is chosen naturally after the CPU Shift Period?"

The answer was probably centuries ago, Neptune had supposed. How could the CPUs got replaced naturally now? Throughout the last few generations, CPUs had been constantly lost because of outside forces.

After all, every CPU continued to fight among themselves in each generation, uniting only when the Deity of Sin rose against the world. At which point, all of them would humbly sacrifice themselves to seal the ancient entity of destruction.

Neptune wouldn't want that to happen, thank you very much. She'd rather live.

Histoire had agreed with her back then, and Neptune was so confident that she would succeed, eventually.

But...

How many years had it been?

Had she come any closer to succeeding?

"..."

Neptune raised her right hand upward to the ceiling.

It was the hand that had harmed Black Heart.

How many times have I hurt them?

Histoire, her Oracle, believed in her. Uranus, her predecessor, believed in her. The people of Planeptune offered their faith for her. The agents of Guild risked their lives to prove their faith in her.

She had risked many things by doing this. Had things changed since then?

How many times do I have to hurt them?

Neptune was tired. Neptune was sick of it.

"What can these small hands do?"

Neptune never felt smaller than she felt right now.

That afternoon, Neptune went into a nap crying.

~Postlude~

How was it? Did I do Neptune justice with her monologue?

I believe Neptune has a much deeper soul than any other goddesses in HDN. After all, isn't it implied in her name? The god of seas... her heart is deeper than the ocean depths.

In case you are curious, this is NOT set during the original Hyperdimension Neptunia or Rebirth 1's Console War (Idea Factory called them "Superdimension") This is set in mk2/Rebirth 2's continuty, my headcanon for how did the Console War went in Hyperdimension. This happened before the birth of the CPU Candidates, of course.

So yeah, this is the prologue of my story. Despite its depressing tone though, this doesn't mean the rest of the chapters will be just as bleak, this is still Neptunia after all.

In fact, this fanfic will take an episodic approach through a series of chapters that all take place before mk2 and during the Hyperdimension version of Console War. Some of them may be fillers, some of them may be related to the overall plot.

I made it like this because I will be practicing my writing skills by testing various scenarios, as such it might get ridiculously silly or cheesy depending on what I am trying to do. For example, I am gonna test a Song Fic in Chapter 2. Bear it with me if it becomes hurtful to the eyes for reading, okay?

Although keep in mind - this is my SIDE FIC, therefore it will not be updated often, only when I feel like it and have enough ideas to be put into words.

But anyway... thank you for dropping by "Remember the Past - Neptune - Before the Bonds were Forged"!