Disclaimer: I don't own Hyperdimension Neptunia, it belongs to Idea Factory, Compile Heart, Sega and whomever else works on it.


Sighing softly as she finished her work for the day, Vert, the blonde, buxom CPU of Leanbox, closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. 'To think that I would be the only one of the three alliance nations to not have a younger sister.' She thought to herself as she smoothed out her green dress. It was something she thought about constantly since Uni, Rom and Ram had been born. Even though she had made the same announcement that Noire and Blanc had made, her shares had not risen high enough to create a cute little sister for herself.

Standing up and stretching, Vert walked to the balcony of her room and looked out at her beautiful nation. "I wonder... Am I being punished for what I did to Planeptune?" It wouldn't surprise her. A big reason why she was, as Blanc kept putting it, soft on Nepgear, was simply because she viewed the CPU Candidates like they were her younger sisters and the thought of one of them losing their elder sister with no one to turn to for comfort bothered her, and yet, that was what she had done to Nepgear. "I wonder what kind of person she was in the past before Histoire screwed up with her."

Not that Vert completely blamed the tome, Planeptune needed a CPU, but when Histoire had told her what she had done to poor Nepgear, Vert had been the hardest on the tome, explaining in great detail why her approach had been flawed.

But every time she thought about Nepgear, Neptune or saw Noire or Blanc's younger sisters, Vert kept wondering if maybe she was being punished for her part in Neptune's murder.

She largely thought it wasn't fair that she was being punished for something that all three CPUs had done. 'Then again, I'm not suffering as much as Nepgear is, am I?' Every time she saw Nepgear and saw the emptiness in her eyes or heard the anger that crept into the other CPU's voice, Vert wanted to give the poor girl a hug and let her vent into her chest.

"Not that she would accept such a thing from me, I suspect."

"I have an idea, why don't you find a way to bring my sister back to life and disappear from the world while you're at it?"

Vert looked out at Leanbox sadly. "I sometimes wish I could, Nepgear. I sometimes wish I could." The thought of Nepgear hating her just felt so... Wrong, like the world itself was corrupted to its core.

"And yet, here we are, living in such a world." Vert sighed. "Neptune, why didn't we listen to you sooner?"

*Flashback*

Green Heart was panting, as was White Heart and Black Heart as they finally managed to kill Purple Heart. The battle was stupidly hard and long and even when the three of them had ganged up on her, Purple Heart still managed to hold her own quite impressively for some time, at least until White Heart managed to damage Purple Heart's wings and kept her grounded.

"What's this?" Black Heart asked as she saw something by her feet. Letting go of her sword, she bent down and picked it up and ignored the rapidly cooling body of Purple Heart.

Pushing a button, Black Heart reacted in surprise as a holographic image of Purple Heart appeared.

"I suspect that if you're viewing this, that I have died, or you knocked this device away from me, but I suspect I've died." Purple Heart took a deep breath and continued, "I've been thinking about this for quite some time now, but why do we have to fight each other? What's the purpose? To unite Gamindustri under one banner? Aren't we created by the wishes of the people? If that's the case then none of us will be able to unite the world, the people of the other nations will hate us. Hang on a moment." Purple Heart was enveloped in light and a short girl in a white hoodie with spiky pink hair stood there, smiling at them. "So, like, I'm Neptune, but you probably knew that. Anyway, I got tired of fighting and I wanted to make friends with you, I almost got through to Black Heart there awhile ago but then Green Heart showed up and everything went to heck like egg pudding that was out in the sun for too long."

"I remember that..." Black Heart muttered to herself. "I thought she had teamed up with you to kill me."

"I didn't know you two were there, I just thought it was my lucky day." Green Heart replied, wondering where this message was going.

"So, like, I've got a younger sister, I know, shocking right? Her name's Nepgear and she's a really good girl, totally bright and a hard worker, but she's still just a kid and has no idea how to run a country. Could you three, I dunno, stop fighting and be friends with her? She's going to need some now that I'm gone. Oh, and be friends with each other too. There's no reason to fight, it just makes us all lose out in the end."

White Heart sneered. "Says the loser who's dead!"

"I bet someone just poked fun at me for dying. Well, yeah, but maybe you three could, I dunno, at least try to be friends with her? And if you can't, like, why do we need to keep fighting anyway? This war sucks."

"Hmph!" White Heart turned to the body of Purple Heart, which exploded into bits of data, and snorted. "Says the loser." She picked up her ax and walked off. "I'm done for the day, unless you two want to keep fighting?"

"No." Black Heart shook her head. "For some reason I feel like my shares have dropped."

"Agreed." Green Heart nodded and walked off to head home. "What should we do about Planeptune then?"

"Feh," White Heart sneered, "after we fix up the problems in our nations we should head over there and crush it to dust, then we can figure out what to do after that."

"Sounds like a plan." Black Heart smirked, "of course, the one who does the most "smashing" of that nation gets to decide what to do with it."

White and Green Heart both smirked and took off to their nations. They had work to do.

*End Flashback*

"Of course, by the time we fixed our share problem it was too late..." Vert sighed. "I can't believe we had been so easily manipulated." The whole Arfoire incident had taken over three months to fully resolve, as she had been the one disrupting their shares. Histoire, after Noire had freed her, had shamed the three CPUs with a lecture that lasted almost fifteen hours and detailed everything that they had done wrong.

"Maybe if I had gone to see Nepgear after killing Neptune and had apologized and helped her grieve, maybe things would be different now?"

Vert knew there'd be no answer, but she sometimes wondered.

(-)

"What kind of crazy people live in Lowee?!" Jupiter yelled as she got off the transport.

"I told you to bring thermal underwear." Uni giggled at the distraught girl. "Lowee's pretty cold all year round."

"There's pretty cold and freezing your private parts off because the wind is cutting right through your clothes like no tomorrow!" Jupiter shivered and she ran her hands over her arms. "I got money! Where's the nearest coat store?!"

Uni giggled at Jupiter as she led the shivering girl to a place to get warmer clothes. "I guess if you live in temperate climates all your life, anything close to freezing would be a problem."

"BAH! People are insane for living here!" Jupiter screamed, drawing a few dirty looks.

"I'm sorry, she's from the South, you know they don't get much snow down there." Uni spoke to the crowds, causing all of them to nod in understanding and go about their day. "That was very rude you know?"

"Sorry!" Jupiter apologized and bowed to the few people who were still giving her dirty looks. "I really am, I'm not used to this."

Uni sighed and grabbed the girl's arm. "Come on, let's get you some warmer clothes if you're that bothered by the cold."

"How come you're not?"

Uni grinned at her. "I had my clothes specially made to deal with all extremes of temperatures. I could hook you up with some if you want."

Jupiter nodded, she couldn't stand the thought of being in such frigid conditions for too long. "So where are... The Ice Climbers Clothing store?"

"Anyone who lives in Lowee's mountains would know how to dress warmly." Uni responded and pulled her inside.

(-)

Ten minutes later...

"AAAAAH!" Jupiter sighed as she stepped out of the store, her legs covered by long shorts, her basketball-styled shirt had an under-shirt on under it. 'Man, those thermal undies that Uni pointed out really work at keeping me warm.' Turning to Uni, she gave her an embarrassed look. "Um, thanks for helping me out."

"No problem. I'm surprised you had so much money. Are you a guild member?"

"I've done some quests, yes." Jupiter nodded. "Mostly to get enough money to do stuff and..." There was a growling sound and she blushed. "Um, I haven't eaten today, so..."

"It's fine, I'm getting hungry too." Uni said. "I've asked a couple of friends of mine to join us at the Cafe on Maryo Drive."

(-)

Fifteen minutes later...

"Miss Uni!"

"Uni! It's been so long!"

"Hey Rom! Hey Ram!" Uni waved at the two young CPU Candidates. "Oh, this is Jupiter, the one I told you about."

Jupiter pouted as she looked at the two young girls. They were dressed in warm-looking clothes that were nearly identical, though the only way she could tell them apart was because one had long hair and one had short hair. "Um, so... Ram and Rom?"

"I'm Ram!" The one with long hair smiled at her brightly.

"I'm R-rom... Nice to meet you." The short haired girl fidgeted as she looked at Jupiter. "You're..."

"I'm Jupiter. I'm just traveling around Gamindustri to see what's going on out here."

"That's cool. I wish our sister would let us travel when we wanted to." Ram pouted. "I mean, we're Lowee's CPU Candidates! Why won't Blanc let us run around too?"

"EH?!" Jupiter gawked in surprise. 'More CPU Candidates?'

"You sound surprised." Uni giggled at her. "But yeah, Rom and Ram are the twin CPU Candidates of Lowee."

As the young girls sat at the table, Jupiter smiled at them. "So, you two know what your country's like, right? I didn't see too many monsters on the way up."

"Yep!" Ram cheered, her arm in the air. "The main pathways are kept monster free so people can come here if they want to, or go to one of Lowee's awesome amusement parks!"

"Uh huh!" Rom nodded. "They're lots of fun!"

"I... See..." Jupiter looked confused and Uni just shook her head.

"I told you, didn't I?" Uni smirked as a waitress came over and put four glasses of water down in front of them. "Things aren't what you thought, huh?"

"I guess not." Jupiter said softly and took a drink of her water. 'Does sis know about this? She has to, but why does she have such a large military if the other nations don't?' Sure, it didn't matter how big a military was when the CPU was worth at least two or three battalions on her own, but a CPU could only do so much on their own after all. 'Does this mean that sis is paranoid for no reason? Or is there an actual reason to have such a military? What's going on?'

"Huh?!" Ram suddenly exploded and Jupiter jumped in her seat. "What do you mean she thinks it's weird we don't have a large military?"

"Like I said," Uni explained to the other CPU Candidate. "She was surprised when she heard that I was asked to deal with a Dogoo infestation at one of the resorts."

"I was just saying for something like that you could probably spare a couple of squads to deal with them."

"Yeah, maybe if we had a full-sized military." Uni scoffed at her. "Newsflash, none of the nations have a military large enough to spare that kind of troops to deal with something like that."

"Yeah, why would we need a strong military?" Ram asked. "Things aren't that bad." She raised an arm into the air. "Besides, any baddies show up, our awesome sister Blanc will just turn them into a pancake!"

"Uh huh! Squish!" Rom added enthusiastically.

"But, what about the other nation?"

"Planeptune?" Uni scratched her cheek. "Hmm... Well I dunno, the CPU there doesn't seem too friendly, but we're not making any moves against them. Then again, I don't know much of anything about Planeptune"

"Uh huh. Big sis keeps saying that she doesn't like Planeptune either."

"Yeah, but that's because the CPU is a big dummy!" Ram huffed. "If she wanted to become friends, I'm sure that big sis would be like 'sure' and then we'd all be friends."

Jupiter nodded softly. "Uh huh... Do you... Do any of you know why?"

"Hmm... Well, I dunno how much you know or how much anyone's told you, but..." Uni looked around and leaned in. "Turns out that the CPUs, that is, our sisters did a really bad thing to Planeptune's CPU and she never forgave them."

Jupiter nodded, she knew about it, but she wondered what they had been told. "I see..."

"So yeah, none of our nations has a strong military and it's not like we're fighting Planeptune anyway." Uni shrugged.

"Um, Miss Uni," Rom spoke up timidly, "maybe Planeptune does?"

"Yeah! Falcom's book said that there were lots of military people roaming the country side." Ram nodded, remembering the stories Blanc had told them before bed.

"Well, that country's weird." Uni huffed. "And besides, it's not like anyone goes in or out very often intentionally."

"That's because, err, my sister tells me that it's because the CPU doesn't trust the other nations, and you seem to know why." Jupiter spoke up, causing the other three to look at her and slowly nod.

"Anyway, that's the gist of it." Uni said to Rom and Ram. "I was going to show Jupiter around Lastation, but then she asked me about the military stuff and I thought I'd show her Lowee."

"Hey! Rom!" Ram suddenly grinned at her twin. "We should take Jupiter to the amusement park!"

"Yeah!" Rom nodded, her eyes sparkling. "Do you want to go with, Miss Jupiter?"

"I guess." Jupiter nodded, trying to hide her excitement. After all, if the people of Lowee could afford to have days at the amusement park then things couldn't be too bad. "Oh! But I need to call my sis, she'll get worried if I don't."

They nodded as Jupiter pulled out her phone and made a call. "Hey, sis! No, I'm fine, sorry for not calling last night, I was just so tired. I'm currently hanging out with some people at a cafe. No, it's okay, I've got money. Alright, thanks, I'll call again soon, okay? Bye."

"So we're good?" Uni asked, getting a nod from Jupiter.

"Yeah." She smiled at them and put her phone away. "Let's go have some fun then."

"Yeah!"

(-)

"Man, that was fun!" Jupiter cheered as the group exited the amusement park. "I really liked that virtual reality remake of that plumber's first game."

"Yeah, that was something Lastation co-worked with Lowee on." Uni nodded as Rom and Ram started talking excitedly about various things.

"Seeing the Cheep Cheep getting eaten by that Piranha Plant was funny." Ram giggled.

"Uh huh... And the Cheep Cheep was only a few days away from retirement too." Rom added, smiling. "That game dialogue was funny."

"It's getting late, huh?" Uni asked rhetorically as she saw the sun starting to sink in the sky. "Hey, Rom, Ram, you think it'll be okay if we spend the night?"

"Uh huh." Rom nodded. "Blanc won't mind."

Jupiter gulped softly. She had only a slight idea of what the CPU of Lowee was like, but from what her sister had told her, she knew that she couldn't trust any of the CPUs. 'Sis never said anything about their sisters, so maybe it's okay that I'm here, but if I meet with White Heart I'm probably going to die. What did sis say again if I meet them? Oh right, be polite and... Don't talk about her boobs, got it!' Either the CPU of Lowee would kill her or her sister would when she found out that she was near White Heart. "I...Is that so?"

"Are you okay?" Rom asked.

"Y, yeah, um, I...I'm fine." Jupiter stuttered and shivered softly. "J...Just a bit cold."

"Well, you aren't used to Lowee." Uni replied. "Come on, let's get in before our bodies decide we need to use the bathroom twenty times in five minutes." She grabbed Jupiter's arm and dragged her towards Lowee's Basilicom.

"Um, it's okay, I can just spend time at a motel."

"No way!" Ram chided Jupiter as she pushed the girl from behind. "Why spend money for a bed when you can get a really comfy one for free?"

Jupiter gulped and really, REALLY hoped that the CPU wasn't in.

(-)

Meanwhile...

"Hmm?" Anonydeath looked up at the monitors that kept tabs on Lowee's Basilicom. "Interesting that little Noire's cute little sister is in Lowee at this time, oh well, she might just be there to get some food or spend the... Oh, hello!" His voice pitched up and he leaned in. "I'd wonder who this little girl is, but considering the hair..." He pushed a button and turned on the audio to listen in.

"Miss Jupiter, this way." Rom tugged at the new girl's arm, dragging her along.

"Jupiter, huh?" Anonydeath clicked on several cameras and saw the girl's face before sighing. "Oh honey, your sister is going to cause you trouble."

Still, it wouldn't do either Nepgear or Jupiter any good if this information got back to the CPU. "I think I'll keep this quiet. I'm sure that your big sister will find out eventually." Anonydeath hated keeping secrets like this away from Nepgear, but he really didn't want to find out how she'd react to finding out her sister was in the other nations.

He sighed softly and leaned back. "Still, I should keep an eye on this. I'm sure that honey wouldn't want her cute little sister to get in trouble." Anonydeath quickly worked on hacking into Lowee's systems. "Just in case, I better make sure that the cute little sister has a way out before things go bad."

After all, if the nearby amusement park had their automatons go out of control and terrify everyone, then the CPU would have to make sure that everything was under control.

(-)

Jupiter wasn't sure what she was expecting when she was told she was going to meet White Heart. Though from what her sister had told her about Lowee's CPU, having really strong defense, a bad temper, and incredible strength, she half-suspected that the girl was a total brute. She had seen Lowee's CPU at the conference and heard from Histoire that the meeting between the CPUs had gone pretty badly after White Heart's temper got the better of her.

She was completely floored when she saw White Heart's human form. The light blue outfit, the poofy hat and the mellow expression just didn't match what she knew about Lowee's CPU.

"Hello, my name is Blanc." White Heart said in that soft-spoken tone of voice of hers. "I heard that you were with my sisters today."

"Ah heh heh heh..." Jupiter was starting to sweat, she really, REALLY didn't want to be around Lowee's CPU, but trying to get away would only draw suspicion her way.

"Thank you for taking care of them." Blanc gave her a nod. "And to you, Uni, thank you for showing up today."

"Hey, no problem." Uni smiled at Blanc. "Noire gave me a couple of days off when I told her I was showing Jupiter around."

"Jupiter, huh?" Blanc looked at the nervous girl and wondered why she looked like she wanted to run away screaming. "Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, um, eh heh... Never met a CPU before..." Jupiter answered, which was true, she had never met another CPU before this moment.

"You don't need to be so nervous." Blanc answered her. "We're all friends here."

"Yeah, see?" Ram grinned at Jupiter. "Told you my big sister was awesome!"

Jupiter just giggled nervously, hating the fact that she couldn't relax with White Heart in the same room as her. It wasn't that she hated the other CPU, but she was pretty terrified of her. After all, she was one of three people that her sister Nepgear absolutely loathed with all her being. 'I'm more worried that sis will know that I'm here somehow and come barreling through the wall and try to kill everyone here.'

"However, shall we get something to eat? Financier made a lovely meal."

"Yeah!" Ram and Rom cheered at the same time, "Financier's meals are delicious!" They both yelled and ran off to the dining room.

"I'll have to let Noire know that I'm spending the night here." Uni said as she went after them and pulled out her phone.

Jupiter couldn't move as she stood there alone with White Heart. As much as she tried to relax, it was hard to do so. "So, um, Whi, err, Lady White Heart," for some reason Jupiter hated saying that.

"Please, you don't need to be so formal, when I'm like this you can call me Blanc." She gave the purple haired girl a small smile. "Is there something you want?"

"Um, we, well... I was...Kind of..."

"Do you always stutter over your words?" Blanc asked and tilted her head.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Jupiter clapped her hands and bowed her head. "I was wondering about the war is all!"

"Huh? There's no war going on." Blanc's confusion was evident in her voice. "Why do you ask?"

"W, well, I was ju, just wondering about the war between the nations." Jupiter looked at Blanc, worry written all over her face.

"The nations haven't fought each other for over a decade now." Blanc frowned softly. "This is common knowledge."

"Um, well, I, that is to say, I don't know that stuff. I only know what my sister taught me and I wanted to see the world and..."

Blanc sighed. "Are you from Planeptune or something?" She shook her head as the girl stiffened up. "It doesn't matter, I suppose if you got your information from that nation you might be uninformed about the world. However," she gave Jupiter a light smile, "someone who tries to correct their ignorance... I don't dislike those people. Now come, the food will get cold." As she turned and walked away, Blanc took a look back at Jupiter and frowned in confusion for only a moment before looking forward again. For some reason she felt like she had seen Jupiter before, but couldn't place where. 'Oh well, it's probably not important.' If it was, she would remember it in time.

When Blanc walked off, Jupiter slumped to her knees, trembling. "That was scary!" She whispered to herself. Sure, White Heart didn't get mad, but Jupiter could have sworn that the CPU was about to find out who she was and then do to her what happened to her elder sister's elder sister. 'Wait, does that mean that she was my elder sister too?'

(-)

Meanwhile...

Nepgear sighed as she finished off another stack of papers. "What time is it?" She glanced around and found the digital clock on the wall above the door. "Huh, it's that late? Usually..." She trailed off and sighed softly. "I guess I rely on her more than I thought." Jupiter would, unless she was doing quests, come in at around this time to see if she was hungry and needed some food.

Reaching into her desk, Nepgear pulled out a photo, showing Jupiter, shortly after she had been born, with a huge smile on her face as she completed the task that Nepgear had given her without screwing it up. "I miss that smile."

She put that photo back and looked at the photo that was under it. "...Neptune..." She whispered softly as she saw her elder sister and herself, both covered in slime, dirt and grime, but both smiling brightly as they finished off some Dogoos that had been bothering local farms. At the time Nepgear had only been known as an adventurer that the CPU was helping out.

"I'd love to introduce you to the world, Nep Jr., but we need to keep this quiet for right now. Besides, I'm sure that if the other CPUs knew I had a younger sister they'd be all like "how come you get a younger sister and I don't" and would try to take all our shares even harder than they do now."

Nepgear sighed heavily and put that photo back. Looking at the paperwork on her desk, she simply got up and walked away. There wasn't much left and she was feeling hungry anyway.

"Ah!" Histoire jerked in surprise as the door opened suddenly as Nepgear came out. "I was just about to call you and ask if you... Are you okay?"

Nepgear nodded and tilted her head. "Why do you ask?"

"You're crying."

Nepgear brought a hand up to her face and pulled it away, noticing the tears there. "...So I was."

"You don't need to..." Histoire paused as Nepgear walked off. "Nepgear, if you need to talk about anything, I'll listen."

"After I eat I'm going to go for a walk." Nepgear said to the tome.

"Very well." Histoire nodded slowly.

(-)

After eating, Nepgear found herself in a park that was on the other side of the city. There were trees that had flowers of purple and blue all over the place. "Neptune..." She whispered to herself as she walked towards the life-sized statue that was in the center of the park. "In memoriam of Purple Heart," Nepgear read the plaque to herself softly, "who lost her life in the Console Wars to defend Planeptune from its enemies." Looking up, Nepgear fought the urge to break down crying as she saw her sister's HDD form looking proud and brave. "Neptune... I had this park made for you. But am I doing the right thing with my little sister? Am I doing a good job as your replacement?"

Sighing, Nepgear looked down at the ground. "I've tried, Onee-chan, I've tried so damn much. Every day you're gone hurts just as much as the last. Sometimes I want to take that cursed sword I have and use it on myself. But I can't do that to Jupiter. I know she needs more time." She looked up, tears falling out of her eyes silently. "I can't stand it anymore."

Nepgear was thankful that this memorial park wasn't near the downtown area or the Basilicom, not because she didn't want people to come to it, she did, but because she wanted to be alone at that moment. "What should I do? I know the war ended when you died, but I can't bring myself to forgive your killers. I know that they were manipulated, I know that... But they still killed you." She looked down, trembling. "I'm sorry, I know... A CPU that lets her emotions rule her is a failure as a CPU. I have no logical reason to not announce that the war is over. But I..." She balled her hands into fists. "I just can't ignore my emotions." Nepgear put her hand over her heart and sighed. "I'm sorry, sis. I'll do what I can..." She turned to leave and took a deep breath. "But, Neptune... I miss you and I love you. I wish you could come back."


Was originally going to reveal the Purple Heart statue here.

And that's how Neptune died.

...We need something to lighten the mood!


"Welcome to Nepstation! With your hosts Neptune and...

"Plutia. Hey, Neppy, we're not in the story, why are we here?"

"Good question, Plutie, the story's been really sad, I started to cry when I read the last bit there and thought we could liven this place up!"

"But, Neppy! I don't even get to show up at all! You at least have some screen time."

"Yeah, but I died! Anyway, what's the flaming robot going to do next?"

"I don't know, but it would be nice if he took his armor off, he's really handsome outside of it, hee hee hee."

"Uh, Plutie, even in Re;birth 3, he was just a shadowy outline."

"I know that! But even Noire couldn't ignore how handsome he was."

"Right, anyway, next time, Jupiter confronts Blanc! Aliens with Blanc's face show up! A dangerous dragon runs wild! And exploding penguins!"

"Neppy, does any of that actually happen?"

"I don't know, you'll have to read the next chapter and find out!"

"That's it for Nepstation. This is Plutia..."

"And Neptune! Signing off!"