After a moment more of consideration, Neptune walked back into the farmhouse to return to her temporary caretaker. She wasn't sure what to expect, but given Underling's reaction to the CPU thing combined with Arfoire's rules, she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be able to be honest around these people.

Of course, seeing as Neptune had decided that she would be leaving soon, she supposed it didn't matter much if she had to go along with whatever lie Arfoire told for the night and however long it took to get to the item shop tomorrow. She could play the role of the sneaky one if she had to! Then it was off to... somewhere, and then off to fixing things with this world's Nepgear and heading home!

... Yeah, like it would be that easy.

Okay, so her plan sucked right now. She still had until tomorrow!

She took the steps up to the front door one at a time. She hadn't noticed them before, but that was probably because of the whole being thrown out thing. Just thinking about it made her wince, but at least it would all be over come tomorrow. As Neptune reached the top stair and lifted her head to look inside the open door, she was greeted by a rather surprising sight.

"Uh... Hey."

It was the same girl that had thrown her out.

And boy did she look embarrassed.

Neptune raised a curious brow, a grin threatening to spread across her lips as she looked over the girl. She was shifting from one foot to the other, wringing her hands together, and to top it off, her eyes were downcast. It was the kind of thing she never imagined she would see this girl do, yet here she was... and she was doing it for her, Neptune, no less!

Oh, if only she had a camera!

"Hey yourself," Neptune replied casually, trying to hide her amusement as the other girl's predicament. Whatever Arfoire said to her must have really done a number on her attitude, because it was like looking at a different person, and that was saying something since she had already been acting like a different person. Finally not being able to help it, Neptune grinned slyly. "Are you coming to grovel?"

That did it. Gone was the apologetic look and there was the aggravated look that Neptune had come to know and subsequently forget on regular intervals. Not as well as Nepgear, of course, but still.

"You... You...!" The girl clenched her fist, and Neptune tensed up, waiting for the fists to start flying. Maybe she shouldn't have started pushing buttons just yet?

Neptune raised her hands, prepared to try to ward off any incoming attack with done kind of excuse, when the girl dropped all pretense of annoyance and ran a hand through her short hair.

"You... totally have the right to treat me like shit after what I did. Arfo... I mean, the boss filled me in." Neptune could only stare. Once again she looked apologetic and guilty, but on top of that she was looking downcast once more and... and she was blushing! Holy guacamole! Neptune let her cocky grin fade somewhat, opting instead to put her hands on her hips.

"O-Oh, uhhh... Don't worry about it, uh... you!" She couldn't very well rub it in the girl's face like this. There'd be no fun in it, and if she pushed too hard, she'd probably get hurt again anyway. "So she told you... eeeeeeverything, huh?"

The girl nodded.

"Yeah... And I mean shit, I already knew some of it..." The girl shifted awkwardly, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "With all the injuries you had, it's no wonder you've got your head all messed up and confused." Neptune dearly wished she had been drinking at that moment, just so she could have done a spittake. "What kinda prick just throws a hurting person out like that? Especially one with their head all messed up?" The girl really did look guilty, perhaps even more than she should have as she believed a lie. As she raised her head to look at Neptune, the CPU smiled nervously and glanced away. What now? "I'm Linda, by the way."

"Saturn," Neptune responded instantly, a "fake" name just... popping into her head, and not a moment later she already regretted it. What if Arfoire had already come up with a fake name for her? Then she'd be in for it...! Quick, topic change! "And, uh, yeah, hahaha! I sure am beat up, huh?" Neptune flashed a more genuine smile, partly because it was just how she was, but also so Under- so Linda wouldn't get all icky at her again. "Don't worry about it though, I get over stuff quickly."

"Saturn, huh...?" the girl seemed to be registering this name. Moment of truth: Had Arfoire already given her a name that she'd just contradicted? When Linda grinned, jabbing a thumb towards herself, Neptune supposed not. "Sounds good to me! You ever need somethin', just come for me, okay Saturn? I'm your gal."

Neptune was taken aback. Who knew Und- Linda could be so nice?

"After all, since the boss seems to like you so much, if I get in good with you, I might get a raise! Hahaha!"

... Nah. Same old Underling after all.

Slam.

The sound of the door closing behind her echoed throughout the metallic building, but she had become used to such annoyances. This area had once been a large hall for gatherings, but as no one ever gathered anymore, after taking down some of the surrounding walls for more room, she had since turned it into her lab.

One lab of many, anyway.

She surveyed the room, a look of disinterest crossing her pretty features. Deep purple eyes scanned over discarded machines and other abandoned projects. She hadn't been here in at least a year. It showed. The lab had fallen apart thanks to lack of attention. Or maybe it had been like this when she had abandoned it.

Not that this concerned her any. This place only served to remind her of her failures, and worse, of the past.

She hated thinking about the past.

The only reason she was here was that she had misplaced something. The chances of it being in this particular lab were astronomically low, but she was never one to give up on something just because the odds were against her. She had only gotten to where she was today because she had stopped letting herself be walked on and mistreated and, instead, taken chances, after all.

She clenched the side of her lab coat with a hand, a look of frustration crossing her features. She had only been here a moment and she was already reminiscing. Enough of that.

She would take care of her business here and leave.

Her movements were confident. As she walked through the lab, she looked all around her. She suspected, if it was here at all, it would be at her primary work station. Her footsteps echoed all around her, accented by her boots, but she paid the noise no mind. She was used to only having echoes off the walls for company. This was nothing new.

"Ma...ster... You came..."

That was a surprise. She glanced in the direction of the voice, an eyebrow raised. Once her eyes landed on the source, she furrowed both eyebrows in disappointment.

It was an old project of hers. Very old, in fact, from before she had started taking chances with her life. It was as if a physical reminder of life from before everything had changed had just... spoken up. As if the past just needed to rear it's head at her like this, because living here and being in this lab wasn't bad enough already.

She knelt down before it and gently picked it up with both of her gloved hands. It was small, able to sit comfortably in her hands with no problem, and it stared up at her with bright, adoring eyes, like a small child or animal.

The poor thing had no idea.

"I knew... you would come..."

She offered a smile. It didn't know her at all.

It happened in less than a minute. A pillar of swirling blackness encased her, and where the petite figure had stood moments ago, there was something... else.

Still holding the small robot in her hands, she shifted it to just one. Her hands were no longer gloved. They had taken the form of gleaming metallic claws, perhaps simply a different type of glove or perhaps new hands entirely, barely any bigger than her hands had been moments ago.

Her smile became broad and twisted and her eyes went wide, a mad sort of fury shining in them.

That horrific sight was the last thing the poor little robot saw as it was effortlessly crushed in her hand.

"Now then... Where was I?"

Feeling considerably better than she had been prior to entering the lab, she continued her search. It wasn't exactly important, the thing she was looking for, but she hated having to replace what she didn't have to. She absolutely hated when things were ignored and looked over and passed on and neglected and cast aside and abandoned and forgotten and underestimated for whatever reason. If something could be used, she would use it.

She wasn't like them.

Having transformed, she no longer had a need for walking. Instead, she opted to float through her lab. Hopefully this alternative means of transportation would allow her to finish this up without unearthing any more unwanted memories.

Maybe she should just destroy everything in this room and just take the parts. Having something like this around... She didn't like it.

At long last, though it hasn't truly been very long at all, she arrived at her desk. Besides for being covered in a thick coat of dust and cobwebs, there wasn't much to be seen or gained here. Another failure.

Still, she might as well check the drawers while she was here. See if anything useful remained, though she sincerely doubted anything would pique her interest. If nothing else, a thorough search like that would mean she wouldn't need to come back here for at least another year, if not longer.

She lowered herself to the ground and, with a surprising amount of gentleness given her current form's hands, began searching through the desk's inner lairs.

The first two drawers proved fruitless. Writing utensils and notepads filled with the ambitions of another life. They would be burned.

The third drawer was empty. She recalled emptying it out long ago, just before this lab stopped seeing use. She couldn't remember what had made her do such a thing, though...

The fourth drawer was, of course, a waste of time. Though larger than the rest, it merely contained tools that she no longer had any need for. It was one thing not to use something that could still be useful, but these...

A scowl settled on her face as she slammed the drawer closed, ignoring the echo. Thoughts and memories had once again been coming, unbidden as they were. She needed to leave. There was nothing for her here.

As she began to straighten up to go, something caught her eye. Underneath where the last drawer had been open was a stack of papers and other things. They appeared to be the contents of the third drawer that she had knocked onto the floor once upon a time. She gently reached down and picked the stack up, idly flipping through it.

Towards the center, she froze. Her eyes widened. Her breath caught in her throat.

Nestled between two pages was an old picture. A group of people of all sizes were looking at the camera, but that wasn't what caught her attention. It was the pair in the center of it all.

Though older, the first one was in fact the smaller of the two. She had a calm sort of look on her face, but there was more to it than that. She was full of confidence, as always. She gave away no weakness with that posture or expression or... Anything. She was always the center of everything. All the other people in the picture around the pair only cares about her. One of them even had their hand ruffling the small one's hair. That happiness was forever frozen in time with this picture.

Everyone had been just... so happy with her.

On the other hand, there, next to the first one, somewhat taller, was the younger of the two. Her hair was sticking out in places, she had likely been in a rush to fix it before the picture. She had failed. She had failed often back then. Despite how she physically was larger than the older one next to her, her posture and expression gave a very different story. Anxious. Repressed. Angry. Small. And no one had been paying attention to her. Despite how she was clearly larger, to the group in the picture, she was as small as small could be, and that was saying something.

She had been the smallest of all...

... Had been, anyway. Now she was the biggest one of all. Wasn't she?

Looking at this picture brought up more memories than anything else she had encountered in the room possibly could have. For a moment, she stared, taking in this little piece of history that she had discovered. There would never be another picture like this.

Without warning, she closed her hand on the picture, her metal claw shredding it as she made a fist. She was shaking.

"Damn you!"

A slam on the desk.

"Damn you!"

Another.

"Damn you! Damn you! Damn you damn you damn you damn you-"

With every curse, she pounded on the desk harder and harder, until finally-

"Damn you!"

The desk broke right down the middle.

Panting, she stood as another spiral of energy engulfed her. As it faded, she was in her previous form. Panting. Sweating. Shaking.

She slowly raised her hand to her face, opening it. Little pieces of the picture fell out of her opened hand and began sprinkling down into the ground, like snow.

As she stood there, catching her breath, soon the lab returned to silence.

And silent it would remain for quite a while still.

It had taken a fair bit of effort to convince Arfoire to let her come along to town and even more effort to make it so it was just the two of them going for the trip. Arfoire had been adamant in wanting Neptune to stay at the farm, out of sight and out of trouble, but Neptune would have nothing of it. She was sick and tired of hurting and being stuck in one place, and if it meant a long walk to town to get past that, so be it!

Now here they were, heading to town... wherever that was. Neptune in her mouse hoodie (which she was annoyingly starting to get attached to, something Linda had teased her about for most of the night until Neptune laid a guilt trip on her to get her to back off) and Arfoire in some sort of witch outfit, albeit a more conservative one that Neptune was typically used to seeing her in. It was kind of odd, but this Arfoire was odd too, so it worked, she supposed.

The path wasn't much different than it had been at the farm, just less eggplants and farm animals now, while seeming to closer to the ocean the more they went. Apparently they were in some backwater part of Cruptindustri, a little nook safe away from... whatever it was that wasn't safe in this world. Neptune still didn't know and she was really starting to wish someone would at least have the decency to give her a world map. If no one was going to be nice and summarize the plot for her (and she sure as heck wasn't seeking out a history book), at least a map could help answer a few of her questions.

Speaking of those questions... Maybe there was one that her new bestest buddy (hah!) would be willing to answer. No harm trying, right?

"So, Arfy, how'd you find me anyway? You weren't really too clear on that." It had actually been bugging Neptune for a while now. The witchy wonder hadn't exactly given her many details during their... "conversation" the day before, and afterwards, there had been too many other people around for Neptune to get Arfoire alone to ask. "Did I really just land on your doorstep? I mean, that sounds like something a stork would do!"

Neptune laughed at her own little joke, stupid as it was, while Arfoire just sighed.

"That basically sums it up," Arfoire pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering how anyone in this girl's world could possibly put up with her all the time. "You were a real mess though. Didn't think you were going to make it there, at least not at first."

Neptune stared up at Arfoire as if she were speaking in tongues. After all, what could have possibly done so much to her that she would be in that kind of condition? She was a goddess for crying out loud!

"And no, I didn't do it."

Neptune blinked at Arfoire's sudden words, before grinning slyly and playfully nudging the woman in the side with her elbow.

"What's this? Is my little Arfy worried that I might be doubting her?" Neptune put a hand in front of her mouth and made an "ohoho" sort of laugh. "Relax! I'm totally over that. You said you didn't do it and I believe you. Besides, you probably couldn't beat me up anyway."

Arfoire raised an eyebrow at that, a smirk growing on her face.

"Oh? Do you want to test that out once you're all healed up?" The woman suddenly seemed very dangerous. Probably because Neptune was still hurting. That was it.

"Nononono, I'm good!" Neptune even added a little salute to show just how serious she was, which seemed to appease the woman, as she turned back towards the path.

Once again, they trudged on in silence. Neptune hated silence.

But more importantly...

"That's really not good though..."

Arfoire raised an eyebrow and glanced in the direction of the kid CPU she was traveling with. It was the first time (at least in this form) she had looked serious like that. It... It bugged her. She didn't like it.

"What's not good?" Arfoire only took a moment in considering whether or not to ask. It very well could have been the setup for another prank, after all.

Seeing Neptune's weak grin, she realized that it wasn't.

"S'just... What the heck hurt me so badly?" Neptune had never felt so helpless before. Normally she could pop open her inventory or go home and be as good as new right away. Having to deal with the damage like this, having to sit with how badly she had been hurt...

Something (or someone) had done a number on her. That normally just wasn't possible.

Seeing Neptune looking so... Well, not like how this Neptune acted, Arfoire tentatively placed her hand on the CPU's head.

"Don't think too much about it, kid. I've got your back."

Neptune, genuinely surprised by this action, glanced up towards Arfoire. The woman wasn't looking at her, clearly on purpose in fact, but even so... It made Neptune feel just a little bit guilty for planning on ditching her at some point later today. She really wasn't that bad at all, was she?

Neptune grinned. She might as well humor her, then, since she'd be pulling such a nasty stunt on her later anyway. It wasn't like she actually cared what this Arfoire thought or anything. She was just playing along until she could get away. Really.

"Thanks."

At least that's what she kept telling herself.