Chapter 7: White Father, White Son, Green Soldier and the Lost Purple.
"Neptune!" Muoni opened his eyes to not see the purple haired punk about to finish him off, but a familiar face.
"Brother Grofin!" The man named nodded to him and reached over to help him up.
"Brother Muoni, you've been getting into bad spots lately." Grofin turned to see their other brother, Centuro, hugging his knees and rock back and forth constantly. "What is wrong with Brother Centuro?" Before answering his brother, Muoni turned to look at Blanc, anticipating an attack. However, Blanc was staring down the abyss that Neptune had fallen in.
"What happened to the purple punk?" Grofin narrowed his eyes.
"Muoni, your tone of voice is not fitting for one of your status." Muoni rolled his eyes and Grofin sighed in response. "In order to save your behind, I blasted the purple haired child off the cliff. I doubt he will survive the fall." Muoni nodded.
"Alright, but Centuro is going through some trauma. Apparently that little munchkin," Muoni pointed to Blanc. "copied his unique magic spells by grabbing a book." Grofin turned to Blanc, eyebrows raised.
"Book?" Grofin saw La Magie de l'Histoire in Blanc's hands and turned to Centuro.
"Brother Centuro," Centuro looked up to his brother and Grofin motioned to Blanc. "Shall we punish this child for taking away your pride?" Centuro grinned.
"We shall!" Centuro stood up, and the three turned to Blanc.
Blanc glared at the brothers menacingly. He crouched, his weapons ready, his eyes thirsting for blood and vengeance.
"I'm going to kill you!"
As Blanc ran at the trio, the scene turned to black. The group released a sigh, both in relief and disappointment.
Brushing off her shock, Neptune pouted.
"Aw, I wanted to see Other-Blanc avenge Other-Me!" Blanc sadly shook her head.
"Neptune, in every story there is a thing called: Suspense." Neptune made a puppy face, causing Noire to look away, covering her nose.
"But, Blanc…" Histoire's voice resounded around the group.
"Do not worry about Blanc or Neptune." Vert looked up, searching for the tome to find nothing.
"Histoire, isn't that a little too harsh? After all, we basically just saw Origin-Neptune die." Arfoire shook her head.
"It's Neptune." The girls just looked at each other, but eventually trusted in the two ancients.
Once they had calmed down, the scene changed to the woods, revealing Love and Peace.
Love and Peace continued through the woods, leaving Neptune and Blanc behind. As they ran ahead, Love saw Tari soldiers rushing toward them. Grabbing Peace, Love dove into some bushes nearby. As they hid in the bushes, Love summoned her qatar, ready to protect Peace. The two poked their faces through the shrubbery and the soldiers rushed past them. Confused, Love and Peace stuck their heads out of the vegetation.
"What? Did they not notice us?" Peace nodded, her eyes darting back and forth.
"Lovey-Dovey, do you think that we're heading into a trap." Love shook her head. She continued deeper into the woods. Peace followed closely behind her.
"Um, is Ms. Peace acting differently?" Rom pondered aloud. Arfoire patted Lowee's Candidate on the head, impressed by her observation.
"Nice eyes, child." Arfoire looked at Peace, gripping onto Love's back tightly as they ran. "Peace is only herself when she's in a comfortable environment. Since she's not in any place that could be called comfortable, she gets all reserved and scared." A collective "Oh," came from the group, satisfied with her answer.
Suddenly, loud crashes could be heard from far away. Love turned around listened, her eyes pointed down the direction they had left Neptune and Blanc in.
"Lovey-" Peace saw her friend's eyes, the desperation and concern apparent.
"Peace, I'm-" The sounds of of bushes rustling came from beside them. Love pushed Peace behind her, qatar ready to strike.
"First Lieutenant of the Recon Unit, Love, is that you." Love lowered her guard, recognizing the voice.
The group recognized the voice as well. Everyone looked at each other.
"Hey doesn't that sound like…" Vert held on to Blanc tighter, the smaller girl becoming uncomfortable with the hug.
"Major Vert?" A blonde haired woman walked into everyone's view, causing Vert to hug Blanc even tighter and squeal. She had blue eyes, her long blonde hair had been tied up into a ponytail. She wore a forest green military uniform, except that she wore pants instead of a skirt. Also, she was slightly shorter than CPU Noire and, disturbingly, her chest was as big as IF's.
Vert somewhat frowned at the smaller chest that her original has, but she shook it off. Due to Origin-Vert's young age, she assumed that her counterpart still has time in order to grow in the right places. Noire on the other hand, pouted.
"Why does Vert get her counterpart before me?" Noire crossed her arms. "It's no fair! I was the second goddess to join Neptune's party. Not Vert! So why haven't I shown up yet." Vert shook her head, pressing her chin into Blanc's hair.
"My my, Noire. Did you forget? I was the third goddess to join the party, and here I am, the third of the Quartet to join. If you think of it, it made sense that I would appear now." Noire's frown deepened, but was immediately broken when Neptune glomped the girl from behind, snuggling into her back and causing the raven haired goddess to twitch and blush.
"It's okay, Nowa! Even if you're a super duper tsundere. I'll still love you!" Neptune's words hung in the air. Noire stopped moving, her eyes making a thousand yard stare. After a moment, Noire collapsed onto the ground. Neptune looked around confused, the girls around her, except Arfoire, were staring at the duo with blushing faces.
"Neptune… that was bold." Blanc, despite her red face, held up her notepad and began scribbling. Vert strengthened her grip on Blanc, pulling the girl closer to the blonde, inadvertently pressing her breasts onto the other girl. However, since the brunette was writing and focusing on something else, Blanc didn't seem to notice. Compa had stars in her eyes. Uni stared, slack jawed. Rom and Ram covered their mouths.
"Oh my goodness…" Nepgear was shocked, she didn't expect her sister to confess so early. After all, Neptune and Noire's Lily Rank was only at six!
"Nep…" IF grinned at the purple haired girl, giving her a thumbs up. Arfoire was crouched, holding back her laughter as she had known Neptune longer than most of the group, or for the CPUs, longer than their memory served.
Neptune was confused. She just wanted to show Noire that she saw the girl as one of her best friends. So why is are Noire and everyone else acting like this?
Above everyone, Histoire sighed.
Major Vert nodded and crossed her arms.
"Yes, you've done well, Lieutenant." Smiling, Love immediately dropped her smile and shoved Peace to Vert.
"Thank ma'am. Now I have to go." Catching Peace, Vert narrowed her eyes.
"Where do you think you're going, soldier?" Love stopped but didn't face Vert.
"Two new allies stayed behind as a decoy for Peace and I to get away. I have to help them." As soon as Love took a step forward, an arrow zipped past her and struck a tree. Love turned around to see Vert with her bow in her hands, arrow notched.
"I am sorry for your loss, but I cannot allow you to sacrifice yourself for two lost causes." Behind Vert and Peace, footsteps began to approach the girls.
"Vert, what are you talking about 'lost causes'?" Vert immediately dropped her tough facade and changed into a more idolizing one.
"General GC!" A man walked into the scene. He was an adult man and he looked like an older Blanc, except with softer eyes compared to the sharp eyed Blanc. Despite his thin stature, he had the aura of a battle hardened veteran. His light brown hair was cut neatly and he had a grin that could rival CPU Neptune's.
"General!" Love saluted to the man. GC waved her off and the girl relaxed. Peace looked back and forth between the conversation. Despite not knowing most of the Resistance's important figures due to cooping in her room due to working on inventions and such, she had Love to act as her massager anyways, she didn't need to know anyone, Peace assumed that this man was a prominent figure and one of the main leaders of the Resistance, alongside being a General.
GC noticed Peace's stare as she processed her assumption. He walked over to her and snapped his fingers, bringing her out of her thought process.
"Y-Yes!?" GC grinned at the girl's startle.
"You're Peace, right?" The girl nodded furiously. GC laughed heartily. "Calm down, I won't bite. I'll tease, but I won't bite." Uneasy about the teasing part, Peace willingly calmed down. GC smiled and turned to Love. "Love, you mind going into detail about what's going on?"
Love nodded and went into the story of how she was rescued by Neptune and Blanc. How they were originally hired to bring Peace's inventions to the Resistance. Blanc's confrontation with Muoni and Neptune's declaration of vengeance. Finally, she ended with how they were separated and how worried about their well being.
What caught GC's attention the most was the boys' upbringing. That village, that was where Old Man Alpha took Dream, Cast and Advance… GC was slightly upset when he remembered his wife. He chose to split with the group in order for them to get as far as possible from Tari. GC was devastated when he received the letter that Advance had passed away giving birth to his son, he was lucky that Dream and Cast were there to take of him and their own son. Come to think of it… Cast's letter said that my son's name was-
"Neptune!" The group turned to the faint sound of Blanc roaring through the silent night sky.
"Blanc! Nep!" Love and Peace ran in the direction of the voice. When Vert turned to her commander, GC's eyes had turned dark and threatening.
"G-General!" GC turned to his suboordinate.
"Vert! Go and help out that person. This is an order." Without asking, the young woman nodded and ran after the two girls. GC felt his hands to see if his gauntlets were there and nodding to himself when they were in place. My son...he's here. GC ran after the girls, easily catching up to them. I'm not losing you like I lost Advance.
GC easily overtook the girls and ran ahead, racing through any branches that had gotten in the way. As he got closer and closer, he could hear the Blanc's voice more clearly.
"I'm going to kill you!" Getting closer, GC could hear the sounds of magic and weapons clashing. He could also hear Blanc's grunts of pain, causing the man to run faster.
After running for about a couple minutes, GC dove into nearby bushes, having reached the cliffside. He peeked to see Blanc lying on the ground, his bo staff far from his reach and gripping the tome to his stomach. Centuro and Muoni walked over to the young man, kicking him around in an attempt to make Blanc release the tome.
When the girls arrived, Muoni had grabbed Blanc's head and lifted him up into air, squeezing his skull. They heard Blanc's groans of agony when GC rushed at them from behind. GC punched Muoni from the back of the head, causing him to drop Blanc and then GC roundhouse kicked the giant, sending into Centuro and past Grofin.
"Stay away from my son!" GC glared at the three his arm outstretched, showing them that they'd have to go past GC if they wanted to kill Blanc. Grofin raised his eyebrows.
"Yes! Team Origin is back for vengeance!" Neptune declared. Compa reached into her bag and brought out some homemade pudding and gave it to the girl. Neptune's eyes shined and immediately dug in. Compa rubbed the other girl's head.
"Nep-Nep, I know you're the 'Theme Breaker', but please let this one go." Neptune nodded and the group praised Compa for her quick thinking in keeping the tone of this battle serious.
"You're this child's father?" Muoni and Centuro stood up, annoyed at GC. Before the two get close to GC, Love appeared in front of Centuro, preventing him from having a chance at casting a spell. Muoni was pelted by arrows from Vert. Upon closer inspection, Grofin's eyes widened.
"You're with the Resistance!" As Grofin's realization came to him, Peace ran over to Blanc, checking the boy's vitals. Despite all the damage that was done to him, Blanc kept an iron grip on La Magie de l'Histoire and stared at GC in awe.
"Father…" GC turned to Blanc and gave him a thumbs up. In response, Blanc teared up, happy that he finally united with his father after searching for a long time.
"Woah. Now that they next to each other. Old Man GC looks so much like both Blancs. I bet that if he was still alive, he could pass off as Blanc's dad!" Neptune proclaimed. Blanc just stared at the girl. Vert seemed impressed.
"Although I don't have any preference for men, I must say. Origin-Blanc's father is quite handsome." Blanc and Noire looked at Vert, suprised.
"W-Wait, did you just technically say that Blanc is attractive, by saying that her original's father, who looks exactly like Past-Blanc and our Blanc, is handsome!?" IF sweatdropped, for Noire, that was a pretty far reach. Vert just gave off a mischievous smile.
"Oh? Did I?" Vert proceeded to pull Blanc farther into the hug. The CPU of Lowee was still processing what Vert said, to react to her hugs. Arfoire, on the other hand, put her hand on her forehead.
"Oh, the irony!" Compa looked at the woman confused, but shook it off and returned to listening to the chaos that is Vert's abstract suggestions.
Peace shook Blanc gently in order to get his attention, her worry beginning to escalate. While Blanc had looked in awe of his father, Peace looked around, finding no sign of Neptune aside from his backpack and coat that were neatly hung on a low tree branch.
"Blanc, where's Nep-Nep?" Immediately, Blanc's eyes were downcast. He slowly pointed to the dark drop that was under the cliffside. Peace's eyes widened, she shook her head. Neptune had…
"Retreat!" Grofin and his brothers ran away, since their fight with Neptune and Blanc had weakened Centuro and Muoni. He couldn't let his brothers die here. However, Centuro stood his ground and shot "Burning Rage" at an unsuspecting Vert.
The girl closed her eyes as she wasn't able to get out of the way when the fireball stopped right in front of her. She opened her eyes to see Blanc holding the ball with his bo staff, GC used this opportunity to punch the spell and canceled out the spell. Growling, Centuro turned around the retreated.
Once the men had left, GC walked over to his son.
"Kid, you alright?" GC patted Blanc's head affectionately.
"Father…" Blanc looked at the ground. Peace explained to GC why Blanc was upset. Vert stayed away giving the four some privacy and Love sat on the edge of the woods, bashing herself for not being fast enough to save Neptune. Peace left Blanc to GC and went to cheer up Love. GC put his hand to his chin, thinking as he kept an eye on Blanc.
Neptune, so I'm guessing that he's Dream and Cast's kid, and so he was thrown off the cliff by that guy named Grofin. GC watched his son limp over to where the two boys had left their things and placed the tome into his bag and slung his bag over his shoulder, ignoring the pain the accompanied the weight touching his injured body. Gingerly, he picked up Neptune's coat and walked over the cliffside.
The moon had risen some time after Neptune had fallen off the cliff. Blanc stared at the moon, only looking away when GC placed a hand on his son's shoulder.
"Blanc, Neptune's your brother right?" Blanc nodded. "Heh, that means he's Cast's kid. If I know Cast, then he passed on his sturdiness to his kid. Neptune'll be fine." Blanc stared at his father.
"Are you sure?" GC gave him a thumbs up and a pat on the head, rubbing his head affectionately. Smiling softly, Blanc turned to the moon once again. This time, he wrapped Neptune's cloak around his neck, but not putting on the sleeves, making it more like a cape.
Blanc reached out to the moon as Vert picked up Neptune's things, looking through them and being surprised at all of the medical herbs and supplies he had inside.
"He was...very prepared." Blanc grinned sadly.
"Yeah he was…" Blanc slapped himself in the face. "And he always will be." GC called over to Blanc saying that they have to move soon. Blanc looked at the moon one last time.
"Neptune. I know you're out there. Since you know where to go, I don't think I'll have to look for you… I hope. Anyways, I'll keep your cloak safe and when I see you again, I'll make sure it's in perfect condition when I return it." Blanc turned around, departing into the woods. Once Blanc was hidden in the trees, the party was covered in a bright light.
The girls were on Planeptune's balcony once more. Histoire was with them again, sleeping in Arfoire's hands.
"Aw, it's over! But I wanna see what happens to Past-Me!" Blanc agreed with Neptune, finally breaking herself out of Vert's hug. Vert was excited, she was apart of the story now and she couldn't wait for Historie to unveil her part in the plot.
"Neptune, be patient. Who know's maybe you'll meet them soon." With that message, Arfoire left to Histoire. Confused, the girls discussed what Arfoire meant. As they were talking, Blanc fell into Vert's arms, causing the tall blonde to giggle.
"Oh my, Blanc. Have you fallen for my chest after all this time?" IF tried to hide the fact that Lady Vert was giving most of her attention to Blanc, but Compa patted her on the head. When Blanc didn't retort, yell or struggle, Vert began to worry. She lifted Blanc's face to see the girl in a deep sleep. Vert shook the smaller girl, but she didn't respond.
"Hey Vert, is sis going to be okay?"
"Is,.. she alright?" Rom and Ram had every right to be worried. Blanc was fine all day, and her shares were at a decent state. She shouldn't have collapsed, even if she spent three nights working on her novel. Suddenly, Noire and Nepgear's voice rang out in surprise.
"Neptune!" The purple haired CPU of Planeptune had fallen unconcious as well and would not wake up. Like Blanc, Neptune was full of energy and would not have collapsed so suddenly.
The girls looked at each other and took the two into the Basilicom, fearing the worst.
To be continued in…
Volume Three: Green and White