Story So Far:
Recovering from her humiliating defeat and the destruction of her country, Vert organizes a makeshift army with the people of Leanbox's lower class as Noire orders Lastation troops to capture and murder Leanbox citizens.
Meanwhile, Neptune and friends intercept a locomotive that was transporting Leanbox citizens. Falcom splits off from the group to help guide the citizens back to Planeptune as Neptune and Blanc head off to Lowee to fight an imposter Blanc.
Now:
Lid stands at trial before Noire. Her brash decision to attack on Leanbox had cost the CPU greatly. Noire sits firmly and reverently as she proclaims Lid's sentence.
Chapter 12:
"Oh Lid… what am I to do with you? You hired mercenaries with government funds without my permission. Then you attacked Leanbox's basilicom without my permission, then you attack the CPU of Leanbox, without MY permission! Where does such insubordination stem from? Hmm? Talk to me Lid, I'm getting bored here ratting you out."
Lid was chained to the floor with Lastation security pointing guns at her "Lady Noire… I'm sorry. My actions were out of line and-"
"I do not care for your cries and apologies! All I want is an explanation. Why."
"Because… because Leanbox is an accursed country. Its people, its leaders… corrupted, all of them. It disgusts me. I know you were all caught up in your little neutrality or nonaggression B.S but-"
"You dare speak ill of my actions-"
"Yes! Leanbox's existence stands against everything Lastation values! Why we would ever ally with such travesties of human creation eludes me!"
"Tch, you ignorant, defiant, hot-headed, Neanderthal! Your gall knows no ends does it? You're not making this easy on me Lid, you were my loyal ally for years! Why the sudden change of heart! Why the sudden brash and ignorant decisions!?"
Lid had looked down in shame, she had no words to say, only contempt.
"You know why I allied with Leanbox? Because getting Vert's CPU memory would've been a lot easier and a lot less messy than what we are doing now. Where's Vert Lid? Hm? TELL ME LID? WHERE THE FUCK IS VERT!? Because I haven't seen her for the past three days! And you clearly knew what you were doing so well! So well, that if I didn't show up when I did, Vert's spear would've been shoved right up your fucking ass! Is that what you wanted Lid? Did you want to break my heart as I would've had to bury your body? Did you want to upset me!? Answer me Lid!"
"I did what I did because I thought it would be the best action for Lastation as a country and Gamindustri as a continent! I did what I had to do!"
"Had to do? Stop trying to victimize yourself Lid. You were hungry for power and glory. Plain and simple! If you had a lick of patience, I would've been able to deceive Vert through time and steal her CPU memory when her guard was down. But now that's out of the fucking picture and you blew it!"
Lid looked down again, she had no response again.
"So… for your punishment… I hereby declare you exiled from Lastation!"
The words pierced through Lid's heart, stronger than any bullet or blade could.
"On one condition… if you wish to return home, I want you to bring me Lady Vert, alive!"
"Alive? Noire, that's impossible I-"
"You now have free reign to do whatever the hell you want Lid. Since you love ignoring me so much and since you are no longer a contestant within Lastation's parameters, you have no obligation to follow Lastation morals and ethics. By any means necessary, you must capture Vert if you wish to return home. Now! You have 1 hour to reclaim anything you need in country before I order every Lastation solider in country to fire at you on sight."
"Yes… Lady Noire…"
~Somewhere between Planeptune and Lastation, Plutia~
It was an odd sensation for the long gone CPU, who had, for a while, believed she was dead. The cloth beneath her felt soft, was she in heaven? No, there was no way a monster like her would ever step foot near heaven. But she couldn't have been in hell, the place seemed too calm. She also felt and immeasurable weight on her chest, was this her guilt? Her realization of the monster she will always be?
When opened her eyes, she was greeted to a very odd sight. A sight she thought she'd never see. "Umm… who are you?" A small girl was sitting atop of Plutia's chest. The girl was wearing a jacket of black and yellow, not too dissimilar to that of a bumblebee, and her blonde hair shined softly under the morning light.
"My name's Peashy! Wakey Wakey! C'mon!" The girl shook Plutia's head, completely removing her slumbery haze. "Hey! Rei! She's awake now!"
A blue haired woman in a business suit entered the room, seeing what was happening, she ran up to the girl and pulled her away from Plutia. "Hey! Peashy! Don't do that to someone who had just woken up! That's absolutely inconsiderate, go to your room!"
Peashy didn't say anything in response except give an oddly adorable pouting face and left quietly.
"Sorry about that… Peashy can be quite a handful. Anyways, you alright?"
"How long was I out?"
"I don't know, we just found you knocked out in some random forest. The nearby trees were destroyed and and massive cratered formed where you were. What the hell were you doing before we found you?"
Plutia, remembering her loss against Neptune and how Planeptune's CPU had launched her far away from the country, clutched her head in agony as painful memories flooded back into her mind.
"H-hey, are you okay?" Rei stepped closer to Plutia to help her, but Plutia waved her hand urging her to stay away.
"Who are you? How the hell did you find me? Where am I now?"
"Well, that first question, I could ask you the same. I'm Rei Ryghts, CEO of the Console Patron Unit – Defamation League. We came across your unconscious body as my crew and I left Leanbox. "You're currently in an unmarked territory on Gamindustri's map. Its for the safety of our organization of course. We wouldn't want CPU Noire or her extremist followers tracking us down, now would we?"
"Right… and who's the girl?"
"Peashy? She's an orphan, mother and father was killed not too long ago, and since I was the one who supplied them weapons, I took it upon myself to adopt the girl. Poor thing couldn't survive on her own. Like I said, she's a bit of a handful, but she's still a sweet girl."
"I'm sorry to hear that… what do you guys do around here anyway?"
"We're a multi-purpose organization. We support anti-CPU protest, supply weapons to those who wish to buy them-"
"Do you sell weapons to the CPUs as well?" Plutia smugly asked.
"*Sigh* yeah… but's it's a necessary evil we must do in order to keep this place running. Also we make anti-CPU propaganda and toss it around the four main countries. It gets us a few followers but nothing spectacular really."
"Well, you guys seem like an honest, self-sustaining group. I'm Plutia, you mind if I join in?"
"Woah, just like that?"
"I don't have anywhere else to go really."
"Really huh? No friends? Family? Work? Nothing?"
"You know the CPU named Iris Heart?"
Rei shuddered as she heard that name, a name she despised all too greatly. "Yeah… what about her?"
"Let's just say… she's the reason I have no home."
"Your life was destroyed by a CPU huh? I know the feeling all too well. Same with the rest of the people that live here. Well, I guess that means you'll get along greatly here. Welcome aboard Plutia." Rei put her hand out for Plutia.
"It's a pleasure…" Plutia reciprocated and shook Rei's hand softly.
~Leanbox streets, Kei and Vio~
"Hey… what are we still doing here? I'm sure most of the people are either dead, taken to Lastation, or escaped to the slums. Nothing much here to find really." Kei lit up a cigarette as she looked around the empty remains of Leanbox. "This is just sick…" She thought to herself. "Why would Noire do this? What is she planning to do with these people?"
"Heads up." Vio pulled out her handgun, looking around she saw a Leanboxian woman running away "Well Kei, speak of the devil" Without hesitating, Vio fired a round straight through the woman's leg, but before she could fire another round, she ran out of ammo. "Dammit! Kei, finish her off for me. Alright?"
"Uh… um…"
"Well!?"
"Alright boss!" Kei, not wishing to anger her boss any further, unloaded her magazine and placed in a new one. When she reached the woman, who was clutching her leg wound, Kei pointed her handgun right at the woman's stomach. "Close your eyes…" Kei mouthed to the woman. Without any further delay, Kei pulled the trigger, the sound ringing through the empty streets of Lastation.
"I'm going to head back to the Basilicom for a resupply. You clean up the rest of these streets, all right!?"
"Got it boss!"
Vio then opened a portal back to Lastation, completely disappearing before the Oracle.
"*Sigh*… All right… let me patch you up." Kei kneeled down to the woman and observed the spot where she shot her, a rough bruise appeared right above the belly button, but it was nothing fatal. "Yeesh, it's supposed to be a rubber bullet, but it must have stung like a bitch. Anyways, I'll patch up your leg." The Oracle pulled out a wrap of bandages and tightly sealed the bullet hole on the woman's leg.
"W-why are you helping me? You're from Lastation! You're supposed to kill me!"
"Yup, you're right. I'm supposed to kill you, but I didn't." Kei picked up the rubber bullet and handed it to the woman. "Take the sewers and don't take any of the routes near the slums, all our men are patrolling in that area. You best bet is to stay in this area for a while. In a couple days, we're going to launch an assault toward the slums, I'd take that opportunity to run off to Planeptune or Lowee. You hear me?"
"Y-yes… thank you. Are you sure about this? Keeping me alive? Even though I'm supposed to be your enemy?"
"I don't like killing civilians. I don't know what the hell Noire is doing, why she is creating such chaos. But I can't stop her. There's no way in hell I could. I'm just some normal woman, nothing special. I'd be eviscerated in seconds against a fight with Noire, but… this is the least I can do. Now run! You hear me! Run!"
The woman stood up quickly and limped away with haste.
Kei watched the woman open up a nearby a nearby sewer entrance and ease inside.
"Wait!"
The woman stopped and looked back at Kei.
"Can I at least get your name?"
"Oh… it's RED. Thank you for helping me, Kei…"
"Yeah… no problem…"
The woman closed the sewer hatch, her footsteps down the ladder rang for a bit before diminishing away.
Kei, looking up at the grey and desolate sky, clutched her Lastation medal and closed her eyes. "Why… what's the point of all this fighting? Why… Noire… why!?"
~CPU-Defamation League, Auditorium, Plutia and Rei~
Both Rei and Kei were sitting at a dining table. Rei was delighting herself in fillet mingon, while Plutia just drank coffee.
The auditorium was filled with hundreds of people, aging from young teenagers to frail elders. Smoking seemed to be the norm in the auditorium more than it already was in other countries. Old men spoke about their hatred towards CPUs and the young spoke about rebelling against their CPU "Overlords".
"Cig?" Rei opened a small box of cigarettes and handed one to Plutia.
"No thanks, I don't smoke."
"Your loss…" But before Rei could light her own smoke, she was called onto the stage to announce the CPU-DL's next assignment. "Dammit! I just wanted to relax for a bit more… whatever. Sit tight Plutia, this speech is going to be a doozy."
Rei reached the podium and brought out her folder which detailed the list of objectives they had for the month.
"First, I would like to mention the elephant in the room. With the destruction of Leanbox's basilicom, as much as I would like to celebrate the destruction of one more CPU tyrant, I must give warning, that Lastation has now become a bigger threat more than ever. CPU Noire, the leader of Lastation has reached levels of chaos that can only be equated to other CPUs like Rei Ryghts – who only shares my name by coincidence! - and Uzume Tennouboshi. With this in mind, as much as we atheist would love to celebrate over the destruction of Leanbox, let us not forget the bigger threat that looms in the horizon… Lastation! And with that out of the way, I would like to bring up our new protesting project! Lowee! We have long since had members march in protest in Planeptune, Leanbox, and sometimes even in Lastation. But for the first time, we have acquired new members in Lowee who are ready to march against their tyrannical CPUs!"
The crowd in the auditorium applauded the businesswoman. She continued on about projects and new improvements for the CPU-DL in Lowee, meanwhile, Plutia was bored out of her mind. She drank the last of her coffee before yawning and growing sleepy-eyed.
"Psst! Plutia!" Peashy had walked up Plutia and begun to tug on her shoulder.
"Err… Peashy? What do you want?"
"I'm bored! I want to play with you! Rei is too busy with her boring speech and all the other kids are doing their homework!"
"Shouldn't you be doing your homework too?"
"Nah, I fed it to my pet dog."
Plutia smirked at the girl's carefree personality. "Fine… I'll humor you. It'll get me away from all the smokers in here anyway"
When the two left the auditorium and onto an open plain, just outside the camp, Peashy immediately sprang up onto Plutia's back.
"Hey! Peashy! What are you doing!?"
"Piggy back! Give me a piggy back ride!"
"Piggy back huh? Well, hang in tight Peashy!" Arching her legs for a start, Plutia sprinted across the field with Peashy on her back. The young toddler held her hands wide in the air as the wind brushed past her face and flowed back her hair.
"Faster Plutie! Faster!"
Plutia, who was starting to get tired from carrying a small - yet surprisingly heavy – girl, put all her energy into running uphill and jumping, the two gaining quite the substantial height.
"Yay! Higher Plutie! Jump higher!"
"Please Peashy, I can only do so much…"
Peashy eased off Plutia's back. The purple haired woman fell onto the grassy floor out of exhaustion, meanwhile Peashy ran around, still hyper and full of energy.
"C'mon Plutie! Get up! I want another piggy back!"
"I can't… my back's going to collapse…"
"Aww… can't you do anything else then…"
"Well… I could… hey, do you guys have a sewing machine?"
"Yeah… in the schoolhouse. Not a lot of people here know how to sew, so it's not used a lot. Why?"
Plutia grinned back at Peashy and carried the small blondie princess style.
"Well, here's the sewing machine. Do you know how to sew, Plutie?"
"Yeah… I think might just make something for you."
"For me!? Really!? Thank you Plutie!"
Plutia grabbed a chair and set up the required materials and cloth. "You can go ahead and relax Peashy, this will take a little bit."
Peashy walked around the sewing room for a bit, before lying down on a nearby couch and dozing off into a quiet slumber.
"Peashy! Psst! Peashy. Wake up~ I'm done~"
"Huh… Plutie?" Peashy rubbed her eyes and stood back up. "Woah… what's that Plutie?"
"Here~ I made this for you" Plutia handed the small girl a doll, it was caricature of Rei except the doll was chibi sized.
"Haha! This is super-duper cute Plutie!" Peashy ran around the room with her new doll before running back to Plutia and hugging her tightly.
"Uh… Peashy, what are you doing?"
"I'm hugging you, silly! You do that when you're really happy with someone! Haven't you ever been hugged before?"
"Uhm… not in a while." Plutia looked away in remorse before sitting back in her chair.
"Hey, Plutie. Who taught you how sew? Can she teach me how to sew also?"
"Well… it was a friend of mine long ago. Yuri, that was her name."
"Can Yuri come over sometime Plutie!?"
"No… not exactly. I don't really know how to put it for you. She's gone."
"Gone? What is that supposed to mean?"
"That means… sometimes people will exit your life and never return. It's just a thing that happens in life. And sometimes we just have to accept that. Its rough, but people can't be with us forever…"
"Umm Plutie… are you going to exit my life?"
"W-what? Uh, no Plutie, I just got here. I mean, maybe after many many years when you're all grown up and-"
"No!"
"Woah, Peashy…"
"I don't want any more people disappearing! Rei told me that Mommy and Daddy went off to fight some real mean lady in Planeptune… they haven't returned, and some people have been saying that they disappeared! I don't want any more of my friends disappearing!"
"Wait!" Plutia's heart stopped when she heard what Peashy had said. "Peashy… what did you say about your parents?"
"Rei said they went to Planeptune and never returned! I don't get how that happens… they said someone named err… Iris Heart was it? I don't know what that is… they said that was the reason they disappeared."
"Oh my god…" Plutia felt her stomach churn as she watched the girl before her turn her head in confusion. "Peashy I…"
"Plutie, are you okay? Are you going to disappear?"
"No I… I need to use the bathroom!"
"Oh… uh… its down the hall to your right. Are you ok-"
Plutia dashed to the restroom locked the door tightly behind her. "Oh god… what have I done…. That was me wasn't it… I… I killed…" Plutia ran up to the sink and violently vomited after realizing what she had done.
"Plutie! Are you okay!? Hey! Open up! We're both girls so its fine! Just open up the door!"
"Peashy… I need some alone time right now… just please… give me a moment."
"Umm okay… but you better not disappear! Okay!? Plutie!?"
But Plutia didn't respond, she just looked in the mirror and saw a monster.
To Be Continued
A.N:
Sorry for the short chapter, I've crammed out 4 chapters over spring break to get the most out of it. AP exams are starting up Monday and I didn't want to leave you guys empty for a couple weeks, so I made these 4 chapters ahead of time.
I hope you all will continue reading Nepu May Cry until the end. And thank you to everyone who has been supporting the fic up to now.
With that, I must sign out.
- 90k9
