Ram on the Run
Chapter 2: You said WHAT?!
Vitura City Park
It had taken her some time to arrive quietly at Virtua Park but eventually Nepgear made it, the reason she was almost late was because she had found her sister roiling around on the couch claiming she could sense a "disturbance in the force" as a result of some "Great anger" and wanted Nep Jr. around to cuddle up to for safety. It wasn't uncommon for Neptune to want to snuggle with her little sister from time to time but it was rare for Nepgear to turn her down which almost forced her to explain what was going on with Ram to her and a nearby Histoire who had been arguing with Neptune about doing work in the living room while Nepgear passed. After making something up about needing parts from a specific monster in the park for her robot and that she wanted to work alone today in order to test a new skill on the low level mobs Gear finally left the tower and was in Virtua Park in a flash.
Once there things a turn for the strange when she located Ram hiding out in a cardboard box by a bench which the little candidate explained away as both "necessary" and, somehow, "effective" for avoiding detection. Nepgear thought she might have been playing at first but when it became clear she actually thought people (from Lowee) strangely were after her the taller candidate calmly assured her no one was around and tenderly lifted her from the box.
The two of them were currently sitting on a nearby bench where Ram was explaining how she had said some bad words to Rom in a silly little fight. Nepgear thought it was tragic to see the two sisters have a falling out like this was really thought Ram might have been blowing things out of proportion.
"I keep telling you it's not that simple! I did something really, really, really bad!"
"Ok...Ok...Calm down Ram, I'm sure everything is fine"
"It's not fine!"
She still didn't know why Ram had specifically come to her after all this happened but Nepgear could see she was extremely upset over what had happened. Even if she was putting on a strong face there were tiny tears in the corner of Ram's eyes as she yelled out in frustration, whatever had happened had left her in a bad way.
"Ram I understand that you're upset-"
"I'm not crying!"
"I didn't say that, all I'm saying is that maybe you should go home and explain to Blanc and Rom that it was all a big mistake and that you-"
"Ugh! Nepgear haven't you been listening to a word I said?! I can't just "I'm sorry" this! This is just too terrible for that!"
Nepgear wanted to console the girl but she still refused to give up one critical piece of information...
"I might understand the situation a bit better if you would tell me what you said. I'm a big girl so you tell me any bad language you might know, I won't scold you, I just want to know how to help"
Ram grinded her teeth and grunted before relenting and quickly writing what she had said down on a piece of paper from her pouch. The scribbled handwriting was shoved into Nepgear's hands with Ram refusing to make eye contact, Nepgear thought it was due to shame of her messy handwriting but the truth was Ram wasn't comfortable even writing that phrase down. She knew how Nepgear was going to respond once she found out and she wasn't looking forward to a tongue lashing before she even ran into Blanc or Mina again!
"Let's see what all the fuss is about...Huh? You two were arguing about breakfast?"
"My handwriting isn't that bad!"
"Well…"
"Fine!"
With that admission Ram decided to get things over with and just whisper what she had said into Nepgear's ear rather than hear any more comments on her penmanship.
"I said...I said…(Sigh) I said (whisper whisper whisper)"
As the silent words reach her ear Nepgear jumped in her seat so high she fell onto her Nep butt after stumbling off the bench while screeching.
"What the badness?!"
"I TOLD you!"
Ram wasn't kidding! This was THAT bad!
At first Nepgear though she was being a little drama queen but now she knew the horrid truth!
Ram had done it…
Ram had said IT…
The showstopper…
The most despised insult in the all the four nations…
The the point of no return from which any relationship had ever recovered!
An insult you would only drop after the divorce was fully settled and never expected to be in the same room with that person ever again!
Something so terrible Nepgear wouldn't even consider saying it to the Deity of Sin!
Words with the power to re-start the console war if any CPU ever said them to another!
Nepgear scrambled to her feet and snatched the paper from earlier before the wind could blow it away. Messy or not she couldn't let anyone see this! One bad tabloid or some poor kid finding this paper and these words and it could easily become an international incident should anyone recognize Ram's handwriting!
She took the page, crumbled it up into a ball, tore it to shreds, tossed the pieces into a nearby metal garbage can, and finally set the contents of the can on on fire using some spare machine oil and a quick burst of her beam sword.
"Well you're taking this as well as I expected…" huffed Ram bitterly as she watched Nepgear literally set her words on fire rather than let anyone else see them.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU DON'T SAY THOSE WORDS TO ANYONE! YOU JUST DON'T!"
"I KNOW!" shouted Ram with anger before surprising Nepgear by going all teary eyed "I know…"
Seeing Ram actually try and fight her tears filled Nepgear with guilt, she had come to her help and this was how she reacted!
'Poor Rom, she must think her sister truly hates her and Ram thinks that now Rom hates her for saying that. She knows what she did is wrong and I'm sure Blanc will give her enough of a punishment later. For now, I need to help her someway'
Punishing Ram or scolding her was an exercise in redundancy, the tears streaking the normally proud girl's face told Gear she was in enough pain already and for her to actually break down like this in front of her meant the guilt was truly overwhelming. Ram believed she was faced with the prospect of her own precious sister never talking to her again and that was someone more terrible than any punishment even Iris Heart could come up with. Put into her position Nepgear would rather let even that sadist play with her for days and days rather than risk ever having that happen with her own sister Neptune. Blanc and her wrath really wasn't the issue here, Ram could handle that, the problem was somehow clearing her name with Rom.
"I'm sorry Ram...I over reacted. You have enough problems without me adding to them…"
Nepgear satback down and threw a arm around the crying girl, giving her a few pats on the shoulder like Neptune would do with her whenever she was upset. It still boggled her mind that Ram would be this openly emotional. Ram letting her see her cry was like Uni crying in front of her! Both girls were very mindful of putting on a strong front so to let her guard down like this...Ram was truly being crushed by what she had done.
"Nepgear, I need your help!" sobbed Ram as she clasped to the candidate's arm like a child begging for a toy from their mother "You're the only way Rom will ever speak to me again! I need to do something absolutely, positively huge for her! I need to get her the best gift ever!"
"I can kind of understand, you want to get something for Rom to show how sorry you are. What do you have in mind?"
"Nepgear I need you to go on a date with Rom!"
"...What the goodness!?"
Author Note: This is a nice little side story to write. Please leave a review if you're enjoying.
