What I've Done.
Chapter 25.
By Archaeologist of Humanity.
Authors Note: You are all awesome. Thanks for sticking with me.
Onto Chapter 25! [I never thought I'd be saying that! This story might be the longest one I have ever written...]
[With Nepgear, Uni, Sky and Blanc...]
Blanc walked in slowly as she saw Nepgear looking over Sky, Uni was sat on the bed (that had been restored to normal...Hey, it NEEDED to be! Was it by Uni? Or it just happened...Something along those lines...Probably.) while Sky was giggling at Nepgear's funny faces. The faces were...Strange, Blanc decided. But still, they were interesting to watch.
Some were of discontorted Doogoo's [HOW Nepgear managed to make a Doogoo face was beyond her.], others were of Fenrir's [Which Sky laughed at...] and some were even of Arfoire, [To which Sky cried at them...Hmmm...Maybe Sky disliked Arfoire just as much as Neptune? Well, that would be kinda obvious...] to say Nepgear had a range of expressions to show the newborn was an understatement.
"Who's an interesting little girl, huh?" Nepgear said in a sing-song voice at Sky. "That's you!" Nepgear prodded Sky which earned a giggle from the newborn. "Awww..." Nepgear pulled away and kept playing with the little one.
She was. So. ADORABLE! At least to Nepgear. She used to do this with Neptune's prized posssesion when she could... Histoire would often get the brunt of being the "prized possession" however, and be curled into a ball by Nepgear (somehow) and thrown about the room...Back before any of this happened of course.
Nepgear would have to think more about Histoire and if she was alright soon... She hadn't heard from her for days.
Uni spotted Blanc and instantly moved from the bed to the nearby chair. Pointing at the bed for Blanc to sit down and take a weight of her feet. "How are... The other two?" She asked the Lowee Goddess. Suddenly, she started to absentmindedly play with her own hair deciding that it was starting to get a little too long - Maybe a haircut would be a good idea?
Blanc walked over to the bed and sat on it while Nepgear continued to play games with Sky. "They seem okay enough. Snow and Argent seem to be getting along at long last."
Uni blinked again - Had she heard Blanc right? Did she know about them...As in, everything? Maybe she could help with the process? Snow seemed like a nice enough girl...Thing. And Silver, well, Uni assumed that's who Blanc meant when she said Argent... She was a special case indeed.
"So..." Uni began only to be stopped when Nepgear started to giggle, she looked over to her. "What are you laughing at Gear? It's not about my-"
Nepgear, who had been laughing suddenly found she couldn't hold it in any longer as she had just seen Sky laugh and put her small hand on Nepgear's arm, causing the Candidate to simply almost melt. "You're just so ADORABLE!"
Uni shook her head with a slight smile while Blanc took a look at Uni. Up and down, then she decided what was up - Uni liked Nepgear... Wait, was that already a known fact? Or was it a secret- Nah, Blanc decided not go chasing the thought. After all, some things were better left unsaid. Weren't they?
'This is true...'
Blanc looked over to where she thought Sky was in her cot but, thing was, Nepgear was holding her up. No, that wasn't the problem - Sky was staring at her. And had, somehow, causing a mental message to get to her!
"Nepgear."
Nepgear blinked and pulled the baby up into her arms for the first time and cradled her while looking at Blanc. Seeing the look of pure annoyance...Wait, was that curiousity?
"Yes Blanc?" Nepgear asked the Lowee Goddess.
Blanc stood up and walked over to the pair, each step echoing in the room which made Sky pull a few faces. She didn't like those noises of her footsteps maybe she had super sharp hearing?
'This kid has a lot of powers then obviously.' Blanc thought to herself as she made her way over to them. The room felt oddly longer than normal which was odd. Wait, was Blanc in a timewarp!? No. Blanc felt a slight smile tug on her features. Must have been Neptune...Ah well. She'd have to talk to Neptune about her share power later... It was bound to have dropped quite sharply lately. Especially because of the child.
Blanc stopped next to Nepgear and Sky, keeping eye contact with the newborn - Who was starting to pull faces at Blanc. "I've just got a mental message from the newborn... She's got telepathic power... Must have been Neptune's influence..."
"Or Max's influence." Uni whispered from her place over on the chair. "I'm sure he had some responsiblity over it all..." She mumbled. She moved her black hair out of her face as she chose to look out of the window where she started to smile...An odd smile at that.
Blanc nodded her head as Sky started to move her arms in the direction of Blanc's hat. It seemed... So strange...To Sky that is.
Blanc was confused as to the look Sky was giving her. Sky wanted to hold. Her hat. No. That wasn't-
'Huge...'
Nepgear giggled as she went to hand the baby to Blanc but Blanc didn't seem to want to hold her, retracting like a scared kitten would if you tried to pet it and it didn't want to be petted. In fact, she didn't seem to fond of even holding the new creation of Neptune's. That crazy dimensional travellers as well can't forget him. As much as Blanc would want to.
"Come on Blanc... You haven't held her since she was born!" Nepgear tried to insist the Lowee Goddess. "It's no different then when you must have held Rom and Ram when they were little!"
Blanc took in a deep breath, "Actually Nepgear -" She started slowly. "-They were born at the height they are at now... Just with mental ages that were different is all. You should know this. Anyway, I'll think about it." She cast her eyes over to Uni. "What's with you?" She started. "Something wrong?"
Uni blinked as she was caught off guard by Blanc's sudden attention at her. "N-Nothing! Nothing at all! I'm just...Thinking. That's all. I just would like some attention..." Uni mumbled the last part, making Nepgear and Blanc look at each other in curiousity but Blanc didn't prey any further.
Nepgear shook her head. "Alright, she wants to think some more. Anyway, come on Blanc! Wait..." She held her mouth open in a fake teasing way which Blanc couldn't see through, "Don't tell me your SCARED of holding her?"
In the eternal words of Histoire; Blanc went many, MANY different shades of pink/purple/red and even green in embarrassment as she eventually held out her arms. "F-Fine... Only for 2 minutes. B-But if she starts to smell, YOU are changing her!"
Nepgear nodded even though after a moment of handing Sky to Blanc she realised what Blanc said, going pink, she headed over to sit next to Uni who was still looking out of the window.
[With Snow...]
Snow trugged into her room as though she had been smacked by a thousand Fenrir, well, it felt like that. She grumbled as she checked herself over. She wasn't bleeding... Thankfully. Although, she had wanted to go with Neptune and Max for an adventure... It sucked. She had not only been punched by a tired Goddess she was exhausted herself. She would have to make ground after recovering...That's if Silver didn't get in the way.
"Stupid Arge..." She whispered to herself as she made her way to the bed in the corner of the room. Several bookshelves were lined up next to it and a small window at the top of the room. Out of reach. No escaping today...
Growling she walked closer to the bed and just simply - jumped - onto the bed and curled up the second she landed. She was so tired...She could almost feel the tension in her arms and legs getting tighter. She almost couldn't move.
"Snow..." That sounded like it came through the wall... But how?
Snow cracked open an eye and there was no-one else in the room. She used what little power she had to magically shut the door she had left open. She groaned to herself. "I wanna sleep...But I want to go adventuring..." She mumbled as she couldn't hold back a yawn, opening her jaw to let it out she could almost sense someone in the room with her - But she was too tired to argue let alone fight with whatever it could or might be.
"Snow..." There it was again. What...The heck was that?
Snow growled as she was almost near sleep but the consistant calling of her name kept her awake! DAMNIT! Go away-
"Snow..." The voice repeated. Again. And again and again until-
"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT!" Snow yelled as even though she was shattered she got up, her legs felt like jelly and her vision was hazy. She looked around. "Whoever is doing this can you please sto-"
"Snow..."
Snow had enough. She ran at the wall to try to do a running jump to get the last of energy out. So she could sleep and not be bothered, but instead of doing that she ended up hitting the wall face-first. Correning off of the wall and landing on the bed with a mild headache and injury she succumed to her exhaustion and fell to sleep.
"Sno...w...y..."
Snow only just figured out it was someone familiar's voice just as she lost consciousness. 'Damnit Arge...Why me? I...Ugh...' She reached out with her hands only to touch something soft. Had she broken the wall with her skull and was now touching Arge? No... That was impossible! That was...Impossi-
[With Silver...]
Silver sat by herself at the edge of one of the rooms of the Lowee Palace/Basilicom where she had only just wound up Snow. Making the poor girl headbutt the wall. It wasn't an... Ideal prank, but it was funny to guage her reactions.
"Eheh. I need to stop doing things like that..."
Silver stood up and walked over to the massive window in her room, looking out of it. "I guess this is home for the next few hours. Think Snow'll stay here?" She scoffed. "Probably not."
'She needs a protector though...'
Silver looked at her fists which were clenched. Could she do the job of being Snow's guardian? Someone who could- No. Not a chance. This had Vixen's name all over it and he wasn't even in the area to talk to anymore!
Damnit...
Silver went back to her bed and laid down on it. "I'll be having words with Snow in the morning..." She closed her eyes as the light from the window hit her, making her warm up a bit. "Sno...w...y..." She fell asleep at that point. Thinking about how best to move forward with her.
[With Rom and Alex, outskirts of Lowee's Snow Forest...Towards the direction of the 'Ancient Ruins' that the owl told her about...]
Rom winced as she felt the Owl (Alex) digging his claws into her right shoulder. The owl was perched there - Sure, but he didn't have to injure her in the process!
"OWww..."
'Should we go back?'
Rom shook her head then blinked as her footsteps carried on through the outskirts of the forest towards what appeared to be a huge monolith. "Woah..." She looked up while being cautious as to not lose her hat.
"Look what we have here boys! A lost runaway and her favourite pet!"
Rom turned in the direction of the voice and saw five soldiers looking at her with one in the lead - All pointing guns and or swords at her. This...This was dangerous.
And...
Not helpful.
'Run.'
Rom backed up slowly, then just to make matters even worse she felt her back hit the monolith behind her. "Ummm...Don't hurt me?" She mumbled as she started to feel quite scared without Ram there to fight with her... Or Blanc to defend her. She felt worried and scared but... She had to face up to this.
"I think she said to hurt her... OPEN FIRE!"
'WHAT DID I SAY!? RUN! WE CAN FIGHT AGAIN IF YOU SURVIVE THIS!' Alex dug his claws into Rom's shoulder, earning a yelp of pain from Rom as Alex beat his wings furiously as something glowed from inside Rom. A jewel that was on a silver chain surrounded Alex and the owl managed to lift the little Lowee Candidate up into the sky - Much to Rom's shock and awe...She was scared, but she was also curious. Where would she go? She just hoped Alex would be okay.
The so called leader watched as Rom was carried into the skies by this Owl, then to his soldiers who were gawking at the obvious lightness of this small girl. "What do you think you're looking at men!? I SAID FIRE! TO HELL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES!"
Rom pulled out her staff and conqured up a shield for the pair of them as they flew into the sky. 'Honestly Rom, why you forgot your transformation is beyond me.'
Rom's eyes widened in sudden realisation. "That's true..."
Alex got Rom and himself to the top of the monolith despite being then shot at by the people on the ground, Rom still shielding the pair from the gunfire. "We're in trouble..."
'You're telling ME!' Alex hooted as all his feathers were covered in sweat and he was tired. No. Exhausted.
Rom nodded as she started to deflect some of the gunfire back towards the people shooting at them. "I've had enough of this..."
'Don't.'
Rom looked to Alex who shook his head. 'We run.'
"B...But..."
'We're not super strong yet.' He reasoned with her. 'Trust me, we'll be ready soon. Just not right now. Think of the journey we still need to do.'
"Good point." Rom scooped Alex into her arms and jumped from the monolith, taking off into the Sky in her HDD form heading for the one place she thought they could get some peace-
Leanbox.
[With Neptune and Max...]
Max turned to Neptune as the pair had been walking for quite some time only to find she was hunched over, clutching her stomach with a face that was somewhat blue and green. "Neptune!" He shouted as he raced over to her. "Are you okay!? I TOLD you, you needed to rest some more earlier!"
Neptune just focused on her breathing as she tried to think straight. "I'm...Fine." She weezed out but Max could tell she was lying. She was far from fine. She was hurting something bad and Max could almost...Almost instinctively tell due to their link.
"Neptune, look at me." Max walked back to her and stood in front of her. Neptune couldn't even look up without getting spirals in her eyes. She was... She fell over. "You're still not one hundred percent, are you?" He shook his head with a sigh as he sat down next to her and placed his hand on her head. "Your temperature isn't good. You are burning up...Neptune. I say we go back. I'm sure Blanc wouldn't mind."
Neptune looked to Max as though he was mad. "After what I said? No. I'll be f-fine... Just gimme a moment to rest..."
Max shook his head with a heavy sigh - Dealing with Neptune in this state was very difficult to say the least. He would have rather stayed at the Lowee Basilicom with the others for awhile longer...That, and Neptune could have relaxed a bit longer. "Neptune. Please. Just listen to me, you are very tired. Your body hasn't recovered properly yet."
Neptune frowned but it was mostly at herself. 'I want to...I want to help my nation...'
Max could almost hear what Neptune was thinking so he started to stroke her hair... Which Neptune flinched at. "I know you want to protect your people and be back in your home country... But think of it this way, if you can't protect yourself - Who CAN you protect?"
Neptune sighed out loudly as she tried to think. "I guess." She shook her head. "Alright... Let's head back." She slowly got up and almost immediately fell to the floor again. "Uhhh... Little help?"
Max scooped up Neptune into his arms and had him over his back like a bag which Neptune didn't think was dignified... In fact, Neptune went purple because of it. But that was okay. Just so long as no-one saw them. Then this would be...
Acceptable.
To Be Continued in Chapter 26. Sorry for the long wait on the update! ^^; Tons of things to do...And I wanted to make it interesting!