Pure Love and the Fires of Revolution

By Archaeologist of Humanity

Chapter 2:- A Declining Nation


Neptune slowly walked into her room the following morning as her tear stricken face was evident that she been crying for hours... Many hours.

Now, if you had to ask me, I'd say that Neptune felt... Awful. Terrible... Perhaps even... Even melancholy?

Neptune meandered towards a soft toy that her dear little sister had been working on prior to her death – A bear that had the words, 'Never give up!' written on its hands.

Neptune sniffed as the salty tears wouldn't stop coming. She was without Nepgear and what was worse was the fact that she was a CPU... Okay, maybe not THAT bad, but you get the picture. Without Nepgear to always joke and smile next to her, what was Neptune? Just a broken shell of what she once was.

Neptune stopped in her tracks and dropped to her knees. Her sister. HER RESPONSIBLITY!

"Nep Junior...Why...Why can't we get just one more chance...Why..."

She kept lamenting herself repeatedly as she cast her mind back to what Histoire had once told her: 'Once you die as a Goddess, you are sent to Celestia. Never to return.'

Wait. What if Neptune could change that?

She had changed so much in the whole Nepping Dimension so far, so, why not? Why not push the limits and make everything different?

Neptune slowly rose to her feet as more and more thoughts started to echo in her head. "So...If I can change everything... Then everything will be different and much more... Better. I may even get Nepgear back..."

Hope. Honesty. Genuine positivity started to flow through Neptune's veins. She was still sad and upset but she had a feeling she could change anything. And that was precisely what she was going to do.

"Okay! Time to get to work!" She cringed upon hearing herself say that. "I never would normally work... But this is for you Nepgear. This is... " She looked at her hand and clutched it into a fist. "For you..."

[Three Days Later...]

Histoire was floating next to Neptune's door and knocked on it several times. "Neptune! NEPTUNE! Open this door! How long are you going to say cooped up in that room!? You need to address the public and tell them...The truth."

A few moments later the door slowly opened to reveal a tear stricken Neptune who had black bags under her eyes with a few scars all over her face which had Histoire gasp. "Neptune... Are you feeling okay?"

Neptune didn't respond to her at first, instead choosing to walk past Histoire and head into the Lounge part of the Basilicom.

Histoire put a finger to her lip – Neptune wasn't normally THIS out of it... Something was eating her up. Besides Nepgear she thought there had to be something amiss.

"Neptune? Can I speak with you?" Histoire floated into the lounge after the CPU but Neptune was currently looking at herself in a mirror. Wait, mirror?

Neptune felt her entire body go into shutdown mode as she gave in to her morose and dark thoughts as of late. "I don't want this... I don't want to be without her." She glanced to Histoire her bags under her eyes steadily changing to a darker shade of white... Something was happening to her. And Histoire didn't like it. Not one bit.

"N-Neptune... I understand Nepgear's death must be hard to take but..." Histoire chose to speak carefully, one wrong move and Neptune could be sent down the dark path of destruction... If she wasn't already.

"Histy..."

Histoire stopped talking as Neptune used her more affectionate name for her. She bit her lower lip and nodded, suggesting Neptune to continue.

"I'm going to go on a journey. I'm sorry, but can you take care of things here? I hate to ask this... But I need too."

Histoire was about to jump in with the amount of paperwork that would be generated but instead she chose a simpler question, "How long do you think you'll be away for?"

Neptune cast her eyes to Histoire which looked bloodshot around the white edges with black in the centre. Something was dangerously wrong with Neptune, but, Histoire took in a deep breath – Choosing to let her go.

"Alright. Just be careful okay?" Histoire whispered to Neptune. "I don't want to hear that you've been killed or anything."

Neptune offered Histoire a soft smile as she turned to the door. "I won't get killed. Just please... Understand... I'll be back one day. Just not today, or tomorrow... Or the day after that. Maybe soon after though – We'll see."

Histoire nodded. "Okay Neptune. Well, good luck."

Neptune waved at Histoire as she headed out of the Basilicom. "Thanks. Take care."

"You too!"

It was with that, that Neptune had left Planeptune. Whether the nation would survive without her there... Remained to be seen.

[Following Day]

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

Histoire cracked open her right eye as she groaned. She had been working feverously for the past 24 hours since Neptune had left, with no rest the poor tome felt worse then when she was imprisoned by Arfoire.

Pushing herself off of the desk she was planted on, she floated up and to the door. Opening it to reveal Red and IF. An odd combination but Red was currently latched onto IF's arm...

Histoire sighed loudly as she looked between them. "Can I help?"

IF eventually wrestled herself free of Red who pouted when she got free. "Histoire-sama, have you seen Nepgear or Neptune around?"

Histoire shook her head. "No... I'm afraid... I'm afraid Nepgear's gone and Neptune went yesterday on a trip."

"Trip?" IF rose her eyebrow. "What do you mean, trip?"

Histoire shook her head. "She was adament that she wanted to go. I couldn't stop her. You should have seen the look on her face. And-"

"Where's Nepgear?"

Histoire looked at Red. "She's...Dead."

IF's eyes went wider then saucers as Red's also did. "What..."

Histoire looked back to IF. "Nepgear died a couple of days ago. Neptune's gone on a trip. Goodness knows what for."

IF looked down and clutched her hands into fists. "No...Nepgear..."

The pure, innocent Nepgear? Gone? No. This had to be a mistake... Some miscalcuation...Nepgear HAD to be alive. Maybe it was a joke... But... Not even Histoire would be sadistic enough to pull that kind of prank...

Red's eyes turned downcast as she placed a hand over IF's right fist. "Was she...Close to you?"

IF nodded. "Very. I like...I liked to try and look out for her. What with Nep-co being a crazed lunatic half the time- Wait, now I mention her, where IS Neptune?"

Histoire shook her head. "I have no idea."

IF looked to Red. "Let's go. If we go now, we might still be able to find her and-"

Red shook her head and leaned closer to IF, making the guild agent feel slightly warm in the face due to the proximity. "No IF. We need to leave her to it. She's most likely grieaving..."

IF looked down.

Histoire cleared her throat and turned back to the paperwork. "I have to get on. I'll talk to you both in a bit, okay? Maybe you two could clean up the kitchen? I left a mess when I made some tea earlier..."

IF nodded. "'Kay..."

Red smiled sadly at them both. "This is crazy..."

IF nodded again. "You're right there Red... This IS crazy."

And with that, IF and Red headed into the kitchen to clean up while Histoire floated (again) into Neptune/Nepgear's room. Hoping to find some reason as to why Neptune decided to leave all of a sudden.


To be Continued.