Compa's clinic, 11am

IF's funeral was a sad, sad affair. Buried just behind Compa's clinic, near a river, the funeral was attended by Compa and Compa alone. Black Heart was very lenient, and let Compa take IF's body home, earning the ire of Kei and Cave in the process. Laying her body to rest in the soil, Compa marked IF's final rest with a picture she drew of them when they were children. With a ridiculous out of shape sun and two chibi children holding hands, this would serve as a reminder to Compa that she was never Blue Heart, only IF.

Compa sat by IF's grave by hours, talking to the makeshift grave about the time they spent together. Their birth, childhood, all of their time spent together. She was startled from her monologue by a sudden hand on her shoulder.

Neptune's hand.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyy Compa, it's been a long time." Sitting down beside Compa and wrapping an arm around the nurse's waist, Neptune's tone was sympathetic and warm. "I... I heard about Iffy. I'm so sorry it came down to that."

Compa, still in no state to speak, only responded by resting her head on Neptune's shoulder. Wrapping her arm tighter around Compa, Neptune used her free hand to stroke her hair gently.

How did it come to this? Not long ago, she was relaxing with these two on a beach. Now one had been converted to a CPU and then killed by Noire. Noire

Poor Noire... Neptune knew the sword was making her insane, it was such an obvious trope that she was surprised that nobody else caught on. Everyone thought Noire was legitimately losing it, not a soul listened when Neptune cried "but the sword!"

All she could do now was pray that Noire would accept her invitation. Maybe, just maybe they could figure this all out.

Gently nudging Compa to her feet, Neptune held her close as she walked with the lonely nurse.
"Listen, Compa, I know it might sound silly and overprotective of me, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." Neptune trailed off, like she was carefully rearranging her words mid-sentence. "...uuuuuuuuut I wanna look after you, so does Histy. So we're gonna take you to the Basilicom, okay? You need to rest my lovely little Compa."

Squeezing Neptune's hand, Compa gave an accepting nod and a weak, almost pathetic smile.

Lastation Basilicom, Uni's room, 9:30am

Looking in the mirror, Uni could feel little else but disgust at her mangled form. Much of the damage on the left side of her face was healed, but four large scars remained, and Uni's eye wasn't coming back for years. In it's place was an eye patch, beneath that lay nothing but a gaping hole.

The rest of her body wasn't doing much better. Covered in various bruises, burns and scars from Iris Heart's assault, Uni looked less like a smooth skinned CPU Candidate and more like an aged, damage veteran CPU. At least nobody will question my experience from looks alone.

What remained of her right leg drew a small, bitter smile from Uni. From the hip downwards, there were various robotics attached to help Uni actually use what remained of the leg. Nepgear would love this, she'd spend ages looking at it's internals.

Though she kept it to herself and never outright hinted at it, it was pretty clear to those who knew Uni that part of her died when Nepgear did. Her enthusiasm had been corrupted and torn apart, mutating into distaste for everything. Refusing to communicate with almost everyone, the Basilicom staff spread rumours that Uni had been replaced by an evil CPU.

There was some truth to those rumours. In meetings, Uni suddenly began to advocate the most efficient solution, regardless of any impact it might have. At times, even Kei was shocked, but two efficient CPUs instead of one meant more progress for Lastation, so she couldn't quite protest.

For the moment.

Plutia's Basilicom, 4:50pm

Plutia was expecting the war criminal treatment from Lastation; Ridiculed, mocked, held in prison for eternity or executed for her crimes.

Instead, she was held in a cell for 2 hours while the portal was established, and then escorted to it by an armed escort. Her forces had already been sent back. The living were sent through immediately, the dead were sent afterwards in black and gold coffins.

Closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and stepping into the portal, Plutia was expecting the mocking to come from the other side instead.

To her surprise and relief, instead she got tackled by a flying yellow cannonball by the name of Peashy, who was screaming "MAMA!" at the top of her lungs as she knocked the mighty Iris Heart to the floor.

Snuggling Peashy into her chest with her remaining arm, Plutia took a moment to appreciate the quiet, closing her eyes and savouring the feeling of air not polluted by war. Upon opening her eyes, the other CPUs came into view.

"It looks like you have quite a few stories to tell" said Vert in a joking yet motherly tone. Her, Blanc and especially Noire were wearing looks of concern on their face.
Helping Plutia to her feet, Blanc took her hand and walked the wounded CPU to the table, which had been lovingly laid out in preparation for her return, with a little "Welcome back :)" banner on it.

The hours went by slowly as Plutia recalled what she did. After recalling any event, she paused in preparation for her fellow CPUS to insult her, but it never came. As she recalled the events of the final battle, tears slowly leaked from her eyes and she was immediately coddled into Vert's bosom.

Upon finishing her story, Noire was the first to chime in.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Plutia" Her voice was warm and gentle, like a happy sister. Running a hand through her hair, Noire wasn't even attempting her usual tsundere routine. Blanc rose from her seat, embracing what she could of Plutia in a hug. Noire followed suit. The CPUs were engaged in one big group snuggle.

For a moment, Plutia had completely forgotten about everything. Happy to be in the company of her loving friends, her mind was already suppressing the awful events that had transpired. None of these CPUs cared much about the other world. While this Vert was saddened at Nepgear's passing, Peashy and Compa had already filled the hole left in her heart, so she was quickly forgotten. All they cared about was their friend from this dimension.

That moment was completely shattered when Plutia, trying to return some affection, reached out to pat Noire's head. In place of her expected feeling; A hand running through Noire's long pigtails, was the feeling of a flat stump awkwardly rubbing against strands of hair.

As if karma was catching up to her, two familiar voices struck from the hallway. "MAMA, WE MISSED YOU!"

It was Peashy's 6 year old best friends; Compa and... IF.

IF.

Plutia stared at the child blankly for a good few minutes, puzzling both IF and Plutia's friends.
Rising from her seat, Plutie shambled over to IF and fell to her knees beside the child. Holding her with her remaining arm, she could only repeat the same words over and over again;

"I'm sorry."

Eventually, she calmed down. Though her friends were confused, most of them chalked it up to intense stress and recommended she rest. None of them were willing to let her be alone, so Plutia was joined in her rest by Noire, Vert, Compa, IF, Blanc, and her dear daughter Peashy.

In her mind, all Plutia could think of was the look on IF's face as she died.