Disclaimer: Neptunia series and Mary Skelter rights belong with Idea Factory and Compile Heart.
It was another early morning rising over Gamindustri, and just north of Planeptune in a small city was a little rented room that was being filled with sunlight. With an annoyed grunt, the lone resident in the room slowly rises from her bed and blinks a few times before processing the time of day. This person here was Neptune, the now former CPU of Planeptune. An unfortunate turn of events just about a month ago had led to her being deposed, and unlike how some other former CPUs had their lives ended by lynching or just from shares collapsing on their very being, Neptune simply turned to an ordinary human being with no special attributes or distinguishing features.
Of course, the unfortunate incident that lead to Neptune's current position was a misfortune: Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox had went and taken most of Planeptune's shares with the usual rivalry within Gamindustri. For this matter, there was not much that Neptune could have done, as being outnumbered by the other nations was a hard place to operate within. However, the worst case scenario took place when Planeptune's shares was at an all time low, and that was the people completely losing faith in Neptune as a CPU, with many complaints that Planeptune is falling apart because of the lazy and uncaring CPU. There were also many riots and protests outside the basilicom, and eventually people started to migrate out of Planeptune, seeing it as a lost cause. For this matter, Neptune was partially at fault, since there was some truth when the people complained about her laziness.
In the end though, wanting to resolve everything as peacefully without the violent protests destroying the lives of her own people, Neptune decides to rightfully give up her place as the CPU of the nation. Of course, this was not an easy thing nor was it a good time for everybody involved, while the CPUs from the other nations only sought to compete with Planeptune, they had never expected Planeptune to nearly collapse on itself like that. Even Histoire had tried to convince Neptune to reconsider such a decision, because the only person after Neptune would be her little sister in Nepgear to handle things in Planeptune. Still, seeing the faith of the people dwindling as well as having to take responsibilities of the failing nation, Neptune still decided on the resignation. Within a few days, Neptune had packed up her most essential belongings and left the basilicom unceremoniously, and only leaving Nepgear with a note with contact information.
The first few weeks Neptune had kept minimal contact with Nepgear, but with the two of them set for very different lives now, the contact eventually slowed down to just casual greetings. Furthermore, since Neptune was no longer a CPU, it was way harder for anybody that she once knew to track her, even if she was living as a normal human in a rented quarters provided by the guild. There was no doubt that some of her old friends tried to look for her, but Neptune kept herself nicely hidden, even though she still had both her parka and jersey dress, she kept them hidden within a small dresser, and her normal attire now being just a plain purple and white hoodie along with fairly standard stockings, all just merely resembling Planeptune's theme but blending in perfectly with the general populace.
Neptune was also careful to avoid major cities and looking at things that would remind her of the life she took for granted as a CPU, and so it was not all bad. However, at times she did not have the time to think about such things, as now her life revolved around making a living from a taking on guild requests, paying rent, getting enough food, having medicine, and even setting aside money for emergencies. What was once a common treat in pudding became a luxury for Neptune, as she had to watch her budget.
Not having the increased durability or flight as a CPU also meant her guild request options (and by extension, her earnings) were also limited. At times she had wondered what if she did a better job as a CPU or what if she did not act as arrogantly as she did, maybe the other CPUs would not have indirectly caused her fall from grace like this. Still, there was no use in thinking about the maybes or what ifs, as life was just what it is for Neptune now. Slowly having changing her clothes, Neptune took her sword and organised her small room of bed, desk, and dresser. Sighing, the former CPU slowly left her rented space for guild requests, just as usual.
Meanwhile, in an another plane of existence, down in the Liberated District of the Jail...
Within the average living quarters or a certain room in the Dawn was a girl dressed in her usual white clothing and a pair of glasses. Despite joining the Blood Team and the Dawn, she kept her usual attire instead of the standard red-and-black that most people wear. This here was Gretel, one of the Blood Maidens that had been recruited, and having her own room gave her the freedom to experiment with things as she wished. Of course, Gretel had "borrowed" Miko's equipment as well as copying research notes from the Professor throughout the time she was here. After all, her ability enabled her to easily pull off the feat and return things at will with no complications.
The current experiment that Gretel was undertaking had been largely successful, as one of her round flask was filled with various elements that she put together: Marchen Blood, a chipped piece from a core (this one granted with permission from the Professor), bits of Marchen flesh, parts of the intestines sticking out from the walls, and any other organics from the Jail. As the ingredients finished mixing in the flask, Gretel slowly dripped in another solution that was bright purple, and upon contact with pink Marchen blood, the whole solution turned into a dark pink-purple mixture, the same colour indicator gauge for a Blood Maiden about to descend into the Blood Skelter state. Seeing the solution settle down with no explosions as she expected, Gretel allowed a genuine smile to form on her face.
"Perfect, the notes from the Professor really gave sped up this experiment. If my hypothesis is correct, this will be able to do that. Only that I need a specimen... I wonder if anybody from the Dawn would be interested..." Gretel muttered to herself, taking pride in her own newly concocted potion.
Having tightly sealed off her potion, Gretel took it with her as she exited her room, as there had to be someone suitable to take in the contents of her creation. Of course, her first stop would be the Rescue Centre, hoping that Miko would have some poor unfortunate soul to test out the potion on.
"Welcome, your name was Gretel? Is there something you need?" Miko greeted the Blood Maiden.
"Well, I was hoping you'd have a test subject available to me, I'd like to try something I made," Gretel explained, holding the flask with the muddled liquid.
"What is that supposed to be?"
"I'll explain, it's supposed to..." Gretel whispered the details to Miko, who reacted with a surprise briefly before returning to her normal expression.
"Is something like that even possible? Even the Professor never made something like this..."
"That's why I want to try it out, it'll be exciting to see if it works."
"Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to test something like this on just anybody, especially when there is no proof that it works... Why don't you consult with the Professor to verify this first."
"How disappointing, I was hoping to surprise him with this..." Gretel responded, before slowly leaving the Rescue Centre.
Miko sighed as Gretel left the room, since the Blood Maiden had no moral views, anything that she made was going to be rather questionable. Miko was also pessimistic that it would not work the way it should and did not want to carelessly put people in danger, and as much as Gretel is an intellectually valuable member, the use of test subjects or "specimens" in people was just not something to take casually.
Still, Gretel was not about to give up just yet. Since joining the Dawn, she was given much more freedom with her experiments and using her power, which lead to many possibilities in what she can do. Returning to her room, Gretel packed up a small amount of travel necessities along with her newly created potion. Focusing her powers, she opened up a bread portal and travelled through to an unknown location. It turns out that Gretel's Blood Ability was not limited in the Dawn or even the Jail, but the possibility of travelling to other dimensions.
As Gretel finished warping, she stood in a clear field with grass and sunlight, almost like the feeling of paradise. Of course, this was the first time Gretel had attempted to warp so far away and into the unknown, but this location was of note, the air and atmosphere felt completely different than what she was used to in the Jail.
Moving forward, she read the nearby sign, similar to the Billboards she would see in the Jail. The sign here read: Virtua Forest. Certainly she knew she was in some other dimension, as she had only read about the things called 'forest' and as well as experiencing 'sunlight' for the very first time. Curious, Gretel moved deeper within this Virtua Forest and began to pick up on some noise, possibly a battle going on. Having moved forward and into plain view, she indeed saw a battle going on, even if it was a one-sided one: There was a girl with short purple hair and two white d-clips in a purple hoodie slaying these Blue gooey creatures that looked like droplets of water.
"Phew, that was tiring... even extended Dogoo hunts have me tired now, this... really sucks, not being a CPU anymore..." Said the girl, still surveying the area for more Dogoos and then slowly looking back to where Gretel was hiding, but the Blood Maiden had warped behind a rock to avoid detection.
"(Dogoo... that must be the name of those... Marchens? No, they did not splatter blood but rather dissolved. And what's this 'CPU' this girl speaks of? Hm, quite an interesting person...)" Gretel thought as she smiled while watching Neptune continue deeper into Virtua Forest for her quest and decided to follow discreetly.
Of course, many times Neptune had snapped her head back, sensing that maybe somebody was watching her, but she never saw anything, and so even though she felt a little uneasy, Neptune continued onwards with her quest into the depths of Virtua Forest. Perhaps a bit too deep though, as Dogoos and other usual monsters were scarce in this location, but Neptune needing to fulfill the request for her livelihood, kept going on. However, when she reached one of the dead ends and seeing no Dogoos around and preparing to head back, a Dragon had landed in front of her, loudly roaring its dominance over the forest. Now Neptune understood why there were hardly any other monsters around, this Dragon had obviously been feeding off the lesser creatures around here.
"Oh no, this is bad bad bad... maybe if I can just divert its attention..." Neptune muttered to herself as she readied her sword, even though she was shaking from fear.
The Dragon slowly approached the helpless former CPU while Gretel observed the situation with interest, the Dragon almost seemed like a Nightmare from the Jail, except that there was no field of darkness, and it also did not seemed to be very intelligent. Still, the battle that was unfolding was not going good for the Neptune girl she had been observing, as Neptune tried a diversion attack and then running, but the Dragon was not even fazed by her sword and instead swiped a slash that she barely dodged but completely losing her footing and dropping her sword nearby.
"She could prove to be a useful specimen..." Gretel noted, as Neptune was almost about to see her end, she warped forward and sliced off the Dragon's hand with her scythe.
It took a few seconds for Neptune to comprehend what had just happened, but somebody had randomly appeared in front of her and somehow lopped off the Dragon's hand that would have surely killed her, but even if she was grateful for the rescue, the blood that splattered everywhere was unsightly.
Some of the blood had splattered onto Gretel as well, but she only smiled, even though it was not Marchen blood specifically, she could still feel the urge of blood lust rising from within her.
"Who..." Neptune muttered out, before the Dragon roared again and lifted its other hand to attack, except it was here that Neptune witness an eerie pink glow from the girl in front of her as a weird pink energy surround her face along with hair turning white. With quick movements, Gretel dodged the attack and immediately countered with swift movements that ended up slicing off the Dragon's head and splattering blood all over the place. With the immediately threat gone, and the Dragon's carcass now lying on the ground in a pool of its own blood, Gretel had changed back to her usual self but still covered in blood but not one bit disturbed as Neptune was.
Turning around, Gretel only smiled at Neptune, which frightened the poor girl, thinking that maybe instead of being Dragon dinner she would be dissected by this grim-reaper incarnate. "You look interesting, want to share some information with me?"
"H-huh? Wait, what... is going on, and... who are you?" Neptune responded, unsure of what is really going on.
"My name is Gretel and I am a Blood Maiden."
"Blood Maiden? I've never heard of such a thing..."
"I see, so this place really is different."
"This place? What do you mean, are you not from around here?"
"Indeed, I am only here right now because of my powers, and even then I have limitations to how long I can stay here. Now, what is your name?"
"Huh, oh... I am Neptune, and... I am now just an ordinary person living near here."
"Yes, you had said something about a 'CPU' earlier, what is that?"
"Umm, well..." Neptune trailed off, knowing that explaining the whole CPU bit would be bringing up things she would rather not be reminded of.
"I wish to find out as much as I can about this place before I have to go back, so if you will..."
"Sure... why don't we head back to my place for now, no telling when something else might show up again."
After a brief walk back to Neptune's rented quarters, she sat down and quickly explained Gamindustri to Gretel, between CPUs, four nations and share energy. In the end, she had also disclosed her former status as a CPU and her fall from grace, as much as she did not like recounting the events.
"I see, so you're without much power right now, I would have loved to see this 'HDD' form you speak of..." Gretel noted, very much interested in Neptune's brief explanation.
"Yeah, well... so, how about you? Where did you come from, and what are you?" Neptune asked, still remembering the chilling form that Gretel had when she mutilated the Dragon.
"Very well, listen closely because I am short on time here now..." Gretel replied, as she quickly explained her situation in the Jail, the Dawn, the Blood Maidens, along with Massacre and Blood Skelter. "Got all that?"
"Umm yeah, I didn't know such a scary freaky place like that Jail existed. So... why did you come here and stalk me anyway?"
"Hmhm, that's a good question," Gretel replied, smiling with a smile that Neptune felt really uneasy about, before she reached into her bag and placed the round flask in front of Neptune.
"What's this?"
"A special potion I made. I was looking for a specimen to test it out for me, but since the people I work with are already Blood Maidens, it is of no real use to them."
"Why not? Isn't this just a super duper good healing item?"
"Of course not, I spent a long time to research and perfect this formula, and I believe you, Neptune, would be best suited to try it out."
"Yeah, ok, I-wait, what!? Me? What does this even do?"
"As I said before, only Blood Maidens can reliably fight off Marchens in the Jail, and finding them is not easy, but after studying the process behind Marchen blood and other Jail properties, this potion will allow regular humans such as yourself to gain powers very similar if not exactly like a Blood Maiden as well."
"Oh... wait, so that means I'll become something like you with that creeeeepy aura?"
"Correct, the process should take effect almost immediately after consumption as your body adapts to Marchen blood and-"
"Hold on a second! Are you sure this actually works? What if something goes wrong?"
"Death is not out of the question if you are not able to handle the transformation."
"Whoa! That's too much of a risk to take! I've already lost my CPU powers, so I dunno if I wanna risk whatever is left of my life here..."
"Yet, you spoke as if you really wanted to have powers as you did as a CPU, I am merely offering you a solution to that. Besides, I think your life would have ended already back there if I didn't help out."
"True, but..." Neptune replied, hesitant to trust some strange dimension traveller and join her fight with some unknown alien creatures.
"My time here is almost over, why don't you think about this until I come back to this Hyperdimension a second time. And... this was what you wore before right?" Gretel asked, invading the dresser and holding out Neptune's old Parka dress.
"Well yes, but what are you even planning to do with it? That's still important to me!"
"Don't worry, I will only borrow this. If it helps, I will leave you these in the meantime," Gretel replied as she left two cups of custard pudding next to Neptune.
"What, pudding!?"
"I also happen to like pudding quite a bit and made some, and seeing as how you're too poor to afford your own, why not enjoy yourself?"
"Am I... being bribed into this?" Neptune asked, still unsure of the whole situation.
"It is up to you to decide, I will be back, this whole place is quite interesting..." Gretel finished before warping herself away from the room.
"Hey wait!" Neptune called out, but Gretel had already left the room, taking her old Parka dress away as well. Sighing, Neptune sat back down on the floor again and examined the pudding Gretel left behind, it was real pudding indeed. Only now Neptune thought that maybe she said too much about Gamindustri as a whole, there was no way to tell what Gretel's intentions were and why such a convenient offer of power would just present itself. Still, Neptune did not have that much time to waste as she had to prepare some dinner and getting ready for the next day as well. With so happening in one day, Neptune decided to head to sleep early after enjoying some pudding after a long time. Still though, rest was elusive for the former CPU, as everything seemed so unreal.
On one hand, Neptune did want to have some reliable source of power again, after feeling helpless with low-tier quests to make ends meet, she really wanted something better. On the other hand, how trust worthy was Gretel? Everything seemed suspicious and just unnatural with the thing known was Blood Maidens, having never heard of such a thing until now. As Neptune thought about it all, she slowly drifted into a restless sleep for the night.
Meanwhile, Gretel had already warped back to the entrance of Virtual Forest where she was ready to return to the Dawn and her dimension with the Jail, though with the information gathered from Neptune about the Hyperdimension, she was able to locate Planeptune's library for a future visit. With her time limit up, Gretel then warped back to her room within the Liberated District. Once there, she exited her room and walked outside.
Not even a few steps away from the door, somebody had called out to her already though. "Gretel!? You're back!" Said a voice behind her.
Turning around, Gretel saw Jack, who seemed to be rather worried and Red Riding Hood was also behind him. "Yes, I haven't been gone for that long."
"Really? It has been a whole day already, just where were you!? Everybody was starting to get worried, and... what's that?" Red Riding Hood inquired, noticing the Parka dress that Gretel "borrowed" from Neptune.
"Oh this? It's for an important project," Gretel assured as she smiled and then proceeded to warp away before either Jack or Red Riding Hood could say anymore. The next place Gretel showed up was the Blood Weapons Factory, and had completely startled Haru, who was just peacefully minding his own business up until that point.
"Whoa! Where did you just come from?" Haru asked, surprised at the sudden visit from Gretel of all people.
"Been doing an experiment, care to help out a little?" Gretel replied, showing Neptune's Parka dress.
"Huh... this... this is unlike anything I've ever seen before! ...What exactly do you need?"
"I'll explain in detail later, but that's the design I want for now..." Gretel trailed off, as she knew well enough that if her calculations are correct, what she requested would be ready just in time...
Two days have passed since Gretel visited the Hyperdimension and left Neptune with a choice. While Neptune still questioned Gretel's intentions from days ago, she tried not to think too hard about it because her life in the Hyperdimension was not way too bad by any standard, even though she still sorely missed her old life as a CPU. However, today was a bit different, usually Neptune paid no attention to radio or public broadcasts on television around the city, but on her way to the guild she found lots of people watching closely and decided to see what was going on.
From the TV screen, she finally saw what the commotion was about: It was an inauguration speech from Planeptune's CPU Uzume Tennouboshi, now having established stability to Planeptune and promised a strong future for the people. Neptune also noticed that Planeptune's shares have risen back to 40% while Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox sat at 20% each, quite the impressive fix from where she left it. Still, Neptune thought nothing much of it, her days of a CPU were over already, but at least it was nice that Uzume decided to come back and take over as CPU of Planeptune.
The rest of the day had gone by without much incident, as Neptune simply completed guild requests, went home, eat, and then caught a moment of respite lying down on her bed. It was here that Neptune began to realise the reality of her situation: She was now just an afterthought in the lives of those who once she were friends with, in the grand scheme of things she was no longer relevant. Planeptune was already back to normal and everybody seemed happy. She will continue to grow old and eventually pass away, while Nepgear, Uzume, Histoire, and everybody else would still be there. Loneliness was all that's left for Neptune. Digging her face into her pillow, Neptune allowed herself to cry silently, as much as she liked to deny it, there was no escaping the state she was in, that is her normalcy in human life compared to her CPU days.
After a few minutes, Neptune calmed down and decided to go outside again, as staying inside to wallow in self-pity will not help. Deciding to take on an extra quest, Neptune once again ventured through Virtua Forest to hunt for more Dogoos, as the extra credits would be perfect for some comfort food in pudding. However, after hunting a few Dogoos, Neptune lost her way in the forest late in the night, and it was also strangely quiet as well. Surely there cannot be another Dragon around, since it was a rare thing that it happened last time, but even so Neptune proceeded cautiously just in case anything happened.
Just as Neptune thought it was a quiet nice, she bumped into something... strange and fell backwards.
"Oww, what was that?" Neptune saw, looking up and seeing a huge set of jaws along with the mean looking red eyes of a Fenrir staring down at her. Without another moment of hesitation, Neptune got up and began to ran in fear, for whatever reason she had all the worst luck in running into dangerous monsters when alone. Still, Neptune knew she could not outrun a Fenrir and turned to climb up the nearest tree. While up there, she noticed it was not just one Fenrir looking up at her, but five of them, making this a full pack. "Ooh, this is not good. Why did it have to be like this..."
Of course, there was no escape in this situation, as Neptune could feel the tree shaking under the pressure of the Fenrirs clawing at it, soon she would fall down, and soon she be torn to shreds by those hungry Fenrirs. In this situation Neptune had really regretted everything she had taken granted as a CPU, and with what seems to be the end for her, she closed her eyes shaking in fear for the inevitable end. That is, when she heard a small sound of glass hitting something, and opening her eyes, she looked down to her pocket and poking out was the flask that Gretel left her, a supposed magical potion for a very convenient power up. Taking out the potion Neptune held it in front of her, the content seemed dark purple, almost to the point of black, and there also seemed to be something like pulp similar to orange juice inside, which made it all the more unappealing.
"(I cannot believe this is happening to me, but... if this is how it is going to all end, I may as try this out... the worst thing that can happen is joining Gretel's party...)" Neptune thought as she sighed at her last resort in a suspicious bottle by her mysterious visitor. Nevertheless, Neptune removed the cork from the flask and not taking a sniff or thinking about the taste of it, she just gulped down the whole potion, unsure of what was going to really happen.
As the last drop of the flask disappeared, Neptune took a breathe and immediately she lost her grip on the flask as her vision began to blur and she began to lost her balance on the tree branch as well as feel her eyelids closing, with only one hand holding onto a branch. As the flask hit the solid ground near the Fenrir though, Neptune's eyes opened again, and now she had vertical pupils along with her eyes glowing an eerie pink, her d-clips that she wore also glowed the same pink colour. Furthermore, her hair had turned from purple to white while a big smile formed on her face.
"(Hahahaha! What is this... actually who cares!)" Neptune thought as she jumped down from where she was, not even bothering to bring her sword along.
Neptune jumped down and stomped with both her feet right into the head of one of the Fenrirs, completely crushing its head and causing a huge blood splatter on the ground. Afterwards, she then surveyed the location of the other four Fenrirs, seemingly ready to charge in, where she made the first move and grabbed one of them and began twisting its neck until a loud snapping sound was heard.
Using the disabled body of the second Fenrir as a shield, Neptune jumped up and landed on another Fenrir on its back, then threw down a heavy punch right into the eye socket of this Fenrir and followed by a few other quick punches that left the Fenrir dead and motionless on the ground. The fourth Fenrir now lunged at Neptune with jaws open wide, but she grabbed the upper and lower jaws of the Fenrir and used all her might to force apart the Fenrir's mouth unnaturally with a large snapping sound as the lower jaw was forcibly removed. Finally, the fifth Fenrir was hesitant to approach Neptune in this state, but Neptune had no intention of showing mercy here and using the ripped off jaw of the last Fenrir caught the fifth one and began to slam the jaw into the head of the Fenrir until it was lifeless and bleeding all over the ground.
Now Neptune stood in the middle of carcasses of Fenrirs, and a lot of splattered blood all over herself and the area, but it did not bother her at all. In fact, there was only a grin on her face as she stood victorious in this well fought battle that saw her survive against unlikely odds. Neptune was breathing hard, not in exhaustion but rather excitement, for whatever reason she now felt it was natural to spill and splatter blood everywhere unlike how she was uneasy seeing blood splatters when Gretel did the same thing to the Dragon days back. After just a short while, Neptune's hair reverted back to her normal colour, but her eyes remained eerie pink. Meanwhile footsteps can be heard as Neptune spun around to defend herself again.
"Just as I expected, you are able to handle it, Neptune..." Said Gretel's voice, appearing from the shadows with a very pleased smile.
"It's not like I had a choice, if I died drinking your potion it would be no different than being eaten..." Neptune replied sharply, still being influenced by the urge of blood lust.
"Yet, you fully embraced the power of a Blood Maiden and went straight into Massacre to save yourself, you have lots of potential Neptune."
"I guess this means I have joined your Blood Team or whatever now?"
"Yes, but admit it, this was what you wanted right? Especially after seeing your nation transfer over to Uzume with her speech earlier."
"Maybe. How do you know about Uzume anyway?"
"I have been visiting these past few days to read about this place, it truly was fascinating. I wonder, would you take revenge on the other CPUs for causing your downfall?"
"That's... none of your concern... I suppose you are right though, I just felt like nothing here anymore when I am not a CPU. Still, I won't be out for revenge, just that are you really sure you want me to be in your group after reading about what I did or didn't do?"
"There's no problem with that, our current leader, Red Riding Hood, is quite similar to you in personality. And your laziness is probably only second to Kaguya, I am sure you'll find your place. Now, before we head back, I have a present for you..." Gretel responded, revealing a familiar clothing item.
"Wait, that's..." Neptune said, noticing the item that Gretel presented before her.
"It's your dress, but a modified version of it, with the colours of our organisation."
Neptune took the clothing, it was just like her Parka dress, but black for the main colour and red for the edges, and the "N" on the main zipper is now the Dawn's logo. Wasting no time, she switched out her dull casual clothes and put on her new uniform, which fit her perfectly.
"Very good, let's get going now..." Gretel said, as she warped both Neptune and herself back to her own dimension in the Jail.
Neptune had no doubt that there were many battles up ahead, but she was not going to be afraid. Sure, it was not easy leaving her life behind in Gamindustri, but given the circumstances, being around new friends would certainly be better than feeling down on herself back home, and that maybe one day when she solves the mystery of the Jail with her new party that she will visit home again.