Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or characters not from Hyperdimension Neptunia
I only own Schwarz, Aegis Altair and Aria.
AN:If you have anything negative to say then say it in a PM not in a review, please.
"Yo! Shaz, what'cha doing here?!" Schwarz sighed, here comes Neptune, why was she even here in the first place? Wait... how was she keeping her pudding from sliding off... he might have to ask her for that later, Noire was under them with enough distance that they wouldn't be as easily heard if she wouldn't focus on sight alone. He turned to the grinning face of the girl and got a question to his head.
"Neptune," He called, "Mind if I ask you something?"
The girl grinned, "Finally! You know I was planning on kicking you around for a bit to make you pay for saying Chian wasn't important, but this got my attention. What'd ya wanna know? My favorites? Caramel Pudding! Oh, wait... are you going to ask me... that?! You perv!"
"...I don't know what got into your head but no," He frowned, "Why do you put up with me?"
Neptune blinked, the laughed, "Ah, that. Well, usually we don't associate with assholes like you buuut you're kind Noire's slave right now... so yeah, we can act without fear knowing Noire can just whip you back home! Wherever that home is now that the Eastern District is gone,"
"...I see." His eye twitched, "You do know I don't really act like a slave and her a master, right?"
She nodded enthusiastically, Schwarz sighed. The girl is on a sugar rush, "Really? Whatever then, I beat you once, I'll just have to put you down next time."
Schwarz's eye twitched, not that she reminded him, the Share Energy in his body was gone now. This time for good, so he could fight her with the injury in his chest as his only worries... he opened his mouth to ask her to fight him again but... she began babbling nonsense. He tried to get a word in but she didn't give him a chance, slapping his back repeatedly as she laughed... yeah, he really wanted to punch her right now.
"So yeah, Compa wants to go to the springs saying 'Nep-Nep why don't we invite Schwarz?' I don't think she realizes what she's saying, I mean, you're a guy..."
With that said the lilac haired girl pulled herself up and balanced on the rope, Noire noticed her and her eyes widened, "Neptune! Get down right this instant!"
"I don't wanna!" She even blew a raspberry, "Try and catch me Nowa!"
"I told you not to call me that!" Noire cried, then ran after the girl.
Schwarz blinked, well at least he was free again. Aria tapped his head and opened her palm, she found something, it was... a key? Kind of a really detailed key at that, what was it doing in his hair? Did one of the guys he skewered have one, it would make sense then. Still, how had he not noticed it before... he wonders what other things were hidden in his body.
"Shaz-boy!" Kamui called as he floated over to the roof he was standing on, "What are you doing here?"
He shook his head, he'll figure out that key's purpose later, "Nothing much, just hiding from Noire."
His fellow S-Ranker blinked, "You? Hiding? Is Take's Grandma coming back?"
"...Shut up," He scowled, "Anything you want?"
"Oh, no, I just wanted to inform you that a nap would do you splendidly right now." Kamui tapped at his bandaged chest, "With an injury like that you shouldn't be even outside of bed darling, listen to your doctors Shaz-boy, and smile every now and then."
"...I shouldn't sleep," Sleeping meant vulnerability, that one hour he needed to last three days was doable to determined humans and those that have insomnia but other than missing out on the benefits of sleep, sleeping also meant he would remember his past. He had been doing a decent job at stopping it from coming back to him... but it was always there... looming over his shoulder... waiting...
"Oh but you should! I know! I'll help you," Kamui grinned, the man... looked oddly threatening to his S-Ranker, his hands were encased in freezing air so he responded by lighting up his hand in crimson flames. Using Boreas was out of question here, while it held the form of a flame it has the element of ice, why he suddenly has it was a question to even him. His body should be rejecting it for even being that element.
"S-Stand back Kamui!" He was backed into a corner. "S-Shit!"
The man smiled creepily, "Now... sleep."
Faster than one his size should've moved, he grabbed hold of Schwarz's head and channeled sleeping magic. Thanatos' magic resistances did absolutely nothing to stop it, so there, on top of a random building, he fell to the realms of Morpheus.
"So you're Subject No.03?" Young Schwarz blankly nodded, the woman in front of him was his new master... the new alpha. "You don't seem all that strong to me."
He shook his head, "I only appear young... the reports should have said it, my strength other than being horrible in my early days, I am-"
"Yeah shut up and go kill a village or something, I don't care." Schwarz frowned, just a few minutes in and he didn't already like this woman. "...On second thought, mind telling me about yourself?"
"...I am named Schwarz, strongest points are Strength, both the Defenses and weakest is Magic. Speed is above average... in your words it is Strength is high A-Rank, both the Defenses are mid A-Rank, Magic is low C-Rank and Speed is Mid B-Rank," He replied, the woman hummed and walked up to him, gritting his teeth when she stabbed her sword through his chest, "...Durability... high... Pain Tolerance... higher."
Black Heart, scoffed and took out her sword, she let the kid's body slide off her blade as his face showed mild discomfort. She smiled cruelly ans took out a vial of liquid, on the outside it appeared completely harmless and it seemed like she was just ridding her blade of his blood, she chuckled, "You are a wolf, correct?"
"...I have shown Wolf DNA in my system, why do you ask?" He suddenly felt like he shouldn't have said that. Black Heart brought out a collar and a whip, Schwarz took a step back involuntarily and slid into a stance, if he was going to die then he was going to die fighting... or so he thought, she just attached the collar to his neck and the chain-like designs weren't actually designs, they were seals.
"...10000 volts," She called.
"GRAHH!" Schwarz fell to his knees, panting as he was electrocuted. He held his words that wanted out, releasing them would only mean more pain... Schwarz looked at the amused woman's eyes and she uttered those words once more, and like before. Enough volts of electricity to kill a normal person coursed through his veins, the blessing he got was that it numbed him so much it didn't really hurt him the second time.
"Purple was right, this is fun!" Black Heart laughed, "I wonder if all the others are experiencing the same thing
Schwarz growled, but held his voice, lowering his head before his alpha he looked at her feet. The woman seemed to like that, "...Stand up, let's test how you fare against a CPU, pup."
"...Understood," This was his chance at revenge... or, was his chance, he clenched his hand into a fist and threw a quick jab. Only to find it blocked effortlessly by her, his eyes widened he tried to take a different approach and kicked her side, it was sad for him to say but that too, was blocked. "..."
"Is that all? I thought a fly was landing on me," She sneered, "Come on! Show me the merciless killer that bathe in the blood of his enemies!"
That sounded more morbid that what it really is, it wasn't his fault that they decided on that, he didn't even like the metallic taste of blood or the smell of it. True, he gets covered in it more than anyone ever does as this age but that was on the side, and by bathe she meant literal bathe because they wanted to see if he gained something new from it.
"...Acknowledged," His eyes glowed and his hair became spikier, now looking like a wall of spikes that had the tips turned both up and down at random spots. Schwarz crouched low, mimicking a wolf getting ready to pounce almost perfectly, and blasted himself off the ground and into the woman's awaiting blade. "Ngg..."
"Seriously, are all you this weak?" Black Heart scoffed, "Then again, you are facing against me, so anything other than's just ridiculous."
"D-Don't call me weak!" Schwarz cursed himself for the slight stutter, he didn't expect the CPUs to be this strong... the population must really hate them. Their power came from the hate of the people... he had read that this wasn't what it used to be, something happened to the properties of this dimension's Share Energy and thus changed the CPU's mentality and the source of their power... and existence.
"Why not? I'm just calling you as is," She laughed haughtily, "Now... bow,"
His head slammed into the concrete ground, no matter how much he struggled, it wouldn't budge... this woman was dangerous... looking at her with the corner of his eye he flared his power and got a kick in the face as a reward. His child body flew across the room and through several hundred rooms that had the thickness and density enough to support a bridge in their walls each. Once he stopped flying he puked out blood and gasped for air, his siblings and him were strong but not this strong...
"Oh? I fully expected you to die on that... no matter," She sounded impressed, whether by his durability or the amount of blood out of his body, he didn't know. "Stand up."
Her command seemed insane, his legs were shaky and weak while his spine struggled to align itself. His arms were bent beyond what any human could ever hope to endure, yet he stood up, the word of his alpha is the equivalent of the word of a CPU to a human. No matter how much he wanted to rebel, he knew that would be suicide...
She pushes up his chin and looked into his eyes, smirking, she then grabbed him by the throat and carried him like one would a bag. His movements were already limited with the loss of his arms, she didn't have to immobilize him with that spot on his neck... it completely sealed his movements if someone was quick enough to apply enough force on it or if he allowed them... either way, not good for him.
"How was he my Lady?" The scientist that watched all this from the top of a balcony protected only by a layer of glass asked.
Black Heart hummed, "...He's got potential, I'll give you that much, I'll be taking him now."
"Wh-What? W-Wait! Please my Lady!" The scientist ran towards them as fast as he can, but Black Heart got bored and just blasted a hole on the side, then flew out of it. "My Lady!"
"...Why so quiet?" She suddenly asked, "You haven't spoken a word after I kicked you, is something wrong?"
Schwarz silently shook his head, the flame in his eye all but extinguished with his will to live, his life was hers now... and he doesn't have a choice in the matter of what's right or what's wrong. He only hoped her influence wouldn't be strong enough to permanently make itself home in him in the form of a personality, or a split personality. That wasn't something he'll really appreciate... or even like at all.
"Speak!" She demanded, growling when he stayed silent, she kicked him until he was on the ground and stepped on his head, "You listen here and you listen well, I am your ALPHA! And you will obey every word that comes out of my mouth, understood?!
"...Understood..." He gritted his teeth, almost vomiting. "What is your order?"
She huffed, "Go out, familiarize yourself with the surroundings, make sure to kill several people on the way. We need to put in a good reputation for you."
Good in her eyes that is, which was basically having killed a random innocent bystander or having killed an kid for absolutely no good reason... was that evil? Well she needed to be in order to live on. Which brought an idea to her, "Wait a moment, don't move."
"Kei!" She called, tapping her foot impatiently as a young woman/man walked into the room and glared at the both of them, "Get me that collar, the one that transfer the hate he gets into me."
"Understood," The trap bowed and stared at him a moment longer before moving away, later coming back with a black collar in her hands and a chain in her other. She handed them to Black Heart and the woman dismissed her, "Have a good day."
"Yeah, yeah," She grinned, removing the collar she put on him back at the lab and putting on the black collar and attaching the chain on one of the curved spikes. The CPU grinned when he still gets electrocuted by her order, "Disappear,"
The chain vanished, gone as if it was never there, Schwarz frowned. When he moved his hand through where it used to be he felt nothing, not even the least bit of distortion in the space, his senses didn't pick anything strange, nor did his nose or his eyes. While he tried figuring out where the chain went Black Heart observed his actions and his behavior with a keen eye.
Curious... that was his most prominent trait.
It was understandable, ever since he was awoken, the only thing he has learned was killing and experiments. She wondered if there had been any mutations that have taken place, it might appear later of course, it always does... on the other hand he had only shared interactions with his sibling through a cage and even then they barely spoke to each other. Or so the scientists said to her.
"Hmmm..." Schwarz's brows furrowed, why was his attention so taken in on this? He wasn't a cat dammit, "Alpha..."
Black Heart chuckled, "Call me Black Heart, what is it?"
"...What are you holding?" He pointed to the... rather plain looking long sword, kind of a rarity from what he remembers...
"Ah, it's a longsword, do you know how to use it?" Schwarz nodded, remembering the motions those people that came in with swords and him copying them, surprisingly he cut through their numbers slower than he should have with a weapon, he blamed it on the fact that he was clueless on how to use it. As of now though, he had a rough idea so it should be doable for him. "Then this is now yours, remember to stab someone in the dick later with it, make sure to do it in front of the people they care about."
In his excitement in actually getting something, even if it is a weapon, he didn't hear the later part of her sentence. So he just nodded and went outside to familiarize himself and to make a good name.
Black Heart sighed, looking at the mountain of paperwork, she swore that her people was getting back at her with them, sighing once more she went behind the desk and went to work... hopefully she only had to do a little polishing if Schwarz succeeded in making a 'good' reputation for himself, the only person she had seen kill that effectively and quickly was Yellow Heart of Planeptune. Behind the doors, Kei chuckled.
"Hello~ Castrum!" Hermes laughed, breathing in the air in which he was born, really, two years away from here and yet hardly anything even changed! The school was still standing proudly as the tallest building in the whole village, second only to the Elder's home, still a giant orange pumpkin he sees. Maybe old Pryo Jack still lived there, who knows? He certainly didn't, "Hermes is back in town!"
"Calm: This is not the time to be announcing ourselves; Exasperate: Are you always this insufferable?" The young woman with ivory hair and paladin armor frowned, her head piece was like a crown by the way, "Insist: Come on, let's go. We don't have all day."
"Yeah, we still have until the day after tomorrow!" Hermes laughed, "Come on Labrys, have fun every now and then!"
Labrys frowned, "Denial: We are ordered to find the Linnea Borealis, 'fun' is not something we have time to spend!"
"Yeah but, come on, what are the odds of us finding them? Last I know the population in Castrum is around a hundred thousand, not including the branches in the other nations. Heck we might've even come to the wrong Castrum!" Hermes laughed, "Or not,"
"Annoyance: Shut your trap! We have company..." Labrys looked around them, only two? She was insulted... then again, they weren't widely known just yet so she could bear with this for a while. "Demand: Reveal yourself!"
Two armed men, one with a giant axe and the other with a staff, the man with an axe walked forwards, wobbling slightly for some reason. "Who are you?"
"Yo! The names' Hermes and this here is Labrys, say hi Labrys!" Hermes took her hand and waved it like on would a baby, "Ow!"
Labrys sighed, "Annoyance: Do not touch me, less you want another broken hand."
"Yeah, yeah," He shrugged, "How about you two?"
They looked at each other, then nodded. The one with an axe started, "I am Lauren and this is Trent, what brings you folks here?"
"...We're here for the festival," The sole woman quirked a brow at Hermes' choice of lies, "Mind showing us to the inn? I would do it myself but I haven't been here in two years so I'm not really too sure that nothing changed."
Lauren leaned closer to Trent, "Dude, this is a bad idea..."
Trent leaned closer to Lauren, "Yeah, but I don't really care... I need to find Noire!"
The axe wielder sighed, ever since they recovered he's been spouting 'find Noire' this 'find Noire' that, at first it was funny now after several hours of non-stop 'find Noire' it was just annoying. More so when they were assigned the duty of introducing visitors from other nations to their home, might as well go along with him for now. For the sake of keeping him out of trouble or to get rid of boredom or not encounter his teacher of a sister.
The woman was like Armageddon when teaching...
"Fine," He turned to the duo, sighing slightly when the man was jumping all over the place only kept in place by the woman's strange weapon... also an axe. "Mind if you let us show you around?" If it's not too much to ask."
"..." The woman turned to Hermes, who turned to where she was looking, before looking at her, sighing she decided to answer after all, "Appreciation: It is unwise to travel in an unfamiliar land, a guide better than Hermes, is very much appreciated and needed."
Lauren smiled, "Then follow me to an inn, it's not that far from here and it's one of the best ones in the village."
Trent merely nodded, his eyes snapped to the side when he saw a flash of black, thinking it was his Noire he immediately ran off to follow it. Lauren saw this at the last second and was just split second too late in stopping him, "Hey, Trent! Come back here!"
"...Sympathy: I feel your pain," She glanced at the overexcited Hermes, seriously, wasn't he born from here?
What a strange sight he should've been, a little kid barely reaching a person's waist, holding a sword three times his size. Schwarz felt uncomfortable with all the stares he was getting, ducking his head a bit he clutched his sword between his arms. Frowning slightly as he struggled to move in the crowd, it seems like today was a busy day in the capital of Lastation, well that was good for him too, more chances to 'make a good reputation' for himself. Who should he help first?
His answer was given to him in the form of an young woman struggling to lift several bags by herself, so he acted quick and stood at her side, "Miss, can I help you?"
She looked at him, then smiled, "My, it has been such a long time since someone offered something like that, here dear,"
The woman handed him one bag, he frowned when he realized he was being underestimated... no, showing off wasn't going to bring him good attention. So Schwarz just smiled... strange... and walked beside her, his sword hanging off his back. The woman eyed it, wondering why someone as young as him was doing with something as dangerous as a blade...
"Boy," She addressed, "Who gave you that sword?"
Schwarz smile dimmed slightly, "Its... a gift."
"Ah," Seeing that he wasn't comfortable with the subject, she backed off, "Where are you're parents?"
The kid froze, his mind going at speeds far faster than any human brain can, parents... that was a word he wasn't really all that familiar with. Brothers and Sisters were the only thing that mattered back at the lab, and that was only because it united the companies that kept them and made them share ideas while he and his supposed siblings were bonding...
There were some things that no man or woman should ever know, and he knew it all...
Back to the parents, he still wondered if he even had one, the scientist never answered his questions unless it was related to their experiment or it was something that could improve their combat capabilities. With Black Heart taking him in... no, it wasn't a good idea to say that his parent was Black Heart, the smell of hate and death was so strong that it was more prominent than the smell of food... it was... nauseating.
When he was in battle, his mind focuses on one thing and one thing only, to survive.
So the smell of death and blood never really bothered him until after.
"I... don't have one." He made sure to say that with sadness, if not to trick her then to build a persona in case someone heard him. The woman gasped, turning quickly to apologize, he only shook his head and smiled, silently saying he 'forgives' her. She frowned, but nodded and looked in front, though she did glance at him every now and then.
He silently released a sigh, good, she believed him. Lying was never really his strong suit, whether it was when he got himself in trouble or it was because he barely interacted with anyone unless it was to fight against them to the death. Either way, he was just glad that he didn't get caught. It would've been a pain to be doubted by the first person he tried to help.
"We're here," She announced.
The house wasn't anything special, just your regular western style house. He nodded and followed her as she came in, walking immediately to the kitchen he laid down the bags and he surprised to see that it was... black turtle beans, adzuki beans, soya beans, kidney beans and- who the heck even needs this many beans?! Why was it so heavy too?!
"Thanks for the help boy," He just realized he never gave her his name, "A little late but can I ask who you are?"
His lips thinned, silent for a moment before he nodded and spoke, "Schwarz."
"Schwarz... Schwarz..." She repeated several times, then smiled, "I'm Lyra... Lyra Vega... want some tea?"
Several hours has passed and so far... he had made good progress... somehow, was the fact that he saved an old lady from a out of control car that much of a good deed? Anyway, currently he was lifting some boxes that bought enough attention to him for some reason... really, maybe showing his strength to these people was a bad idea.
"Thanks kid," An man in his thirties smiled, taking two boxes in his arms and then moving to the truck behind him. Another did the same and soon after he was left carrying just one box, the truck left so he got the chance to sit down and relax a bit, so far so good, no screw ups yet and nothing bad in sight. Was the source of a CPU's power really hate? He was having fun... for once.
"Schwarz!" Lyra? What was she doing here? Her house was literally in the other direction, was she out on an errand, it would've made sense. The people were either working or... working. Seriously, there were no people resting. Even the homeless guys were working, in what you may ask, they were working with cleaning the streets.
He turned and saw that she was carrying several bags again, this time he got a peek into them and it was a lyre, was she in a band or something? "Lyra, what're you doing here?"
"Well, I was just about to head off to visit my brother and I saw you," Alright, he'll rephrase his question.
"Why did you call me?" Her eyes widened, then giggled.
She opened an cobalt eye and smirked, "No reason, I just wanted to greet a friend."
"...Friend?" What's that? Something you eat? "What's that?"
Lyra gasped, "You... don't know what a friend is?! How horrible!"
Was it really?
Was it really horrible that he didn't know what a friend is?
Well his retort was that he was four.
It seems that Lyra sees it that way, thus... the beginning of a hour long lecture on the importance of friendship and yet another hour of its benefits... he listened of course. What piqued his interest the most was the knowledge of them... accepting you for who you are, being there for you when you need it and... his attention was brought elsewhere after that so he didn't hear anything else.
She noticed this and pouted, pinching his cheek with him responding with what a human his age would've responded, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"That's what you get for not listening to me!" Lyra pouted, annoyed that he even did that, and here she thought he was such a nice kid... a nice kid that is in dire need of an haircut and clothes, but a nice kid nonetheless. "Now I'll start again, now you better listen this time, understand?"
Schwarz rubbed his cheek in confusion, why was he hurt? This woman didn't look like a fighter, she looked more like those mages that the scientist liked to drop on him... after they restricted his strength and tied him up so he couldn't move, thus was why he got such a strong defense in magic. Though that paled in comparison to the things they do to him physically, which was also why he was durable.
"They'll live their lives alongside your- hey, are you listening?!" Crap, in his thoughts he must've looked like he wasn't paying attention... technically he wasn't but still.
"Something about they'll live their lives alongside yours?" He tried, like hell he'll sit though her lecture again.
She smiled, "You were listening, good."
Yeah, he really should've kept his mouth shut for the moment and just endure. This might take a while and he had to go back in... three or so hours, but he had already built his reputation... not enough to be heard by the CPU right now though but it was getting there. Oh, but there was that one request that Black Heart asked him, something about stabbing something in the dick? His answer to why he hadn't done it was, 'What's a dick?'
"Of course," Schwarz nodded, "By the way I have to go now, it was nice seeing you again."
Lyra looked surprised, "Of course, you have people to help right?"
"R-Right," No, he was going to find out what this 'dick' was and stab it.
"So this is the best inn you got? I was kinda expecting something more... I dunno, extravagant?" Hermes scratched his chin, Lauren's eye twitched as the man asked yet another question. "So why'dya bring us here?"
"Like you asked, I showed you the inn," Took longer than Lauren expected, but that was mostly Trent and this guy's fault. Seriously, his friend runs off God's knows where just because he thought he saw something that resembled Noire, or something that would've helped him in courting her, and then there was this guy. One could not count how many times he had to apologize, worse things yet he didn't even know what he has to apologize for!
"Cool, hey, Labrys can you go with him I wanna go see the sights bye!" Hermes quickly said before he practically vanished, Lauren blinked as the man's surprising display of speed. Rubbing his eyes to check if this wasn't an illusion... ow, his pride hurt. On the other hand, the blank eyed Labrys actually showed emotion... though he wondered if anger was really the emotion he wanted to see.
"Fury: That man I swear!" Labrys roared, "Annoyance: Where do I check in? I have a man to hunt."
Lauren pointed to the counter, oh hey Akame was on duty, "Akame!"
She looked up from the counter, "Oh, Lauren, what's up?"
"Nothing much, just showing these visitors 'round town." He gestured to the smaller ivory haired woman, she appeared calm but her previous display just moments ago showed him that... she was angry. Hunter-in-training he might be, but rank doesn't matter to angry women. Trust him, he saw several men with significant ranking and power fall just from Akame's kicks when she's angry.
Woman wasn't even a fighter.
"Ah, I see," What with that look? "Then is it a room for the two of you?"
Ah, "No, it's a room for her and someone else,"
...Get that pitying look off your face, "How sad... that's two hundred Credits,"
Labrys reached into her breastplate and pulled out a... rather cute looking wallet shaped like a white bunny, pulling out the necessary bills she placed it on the counter and looked at him. Laughing nervously, he took the keys that Akame gave him and went up the stairs. Room 69... how funny Akame he was just dying from laughter. It seems the joke wasn't caught by the ivory haired woman.
"This is your room, here's the key don't lose it." The woman nodded.
"Gratitude: Much thanks. Request: Can you help me find Hermes? I don't want to be lost." She asked.
Lauren nodded, "Sure, I was planning on going out to look for him too."
"So this is a library," Schwarz muttered, looking at the tall building that was supposed to house more knowledge than most people would probably need in their lives, a place of information... and it was being used as a base for some underground legion with the sole intention of freeing themselves from their CPU. It wouldn't be that hard to leave and make their own city by themselves, though the threat of monsters were going to be high, it was still probably going to be a better place than this.
The people from what he saw were nice, they suffered yes, but they also grew from those suffering.
They became better people, being there for each other whenever they needed someone, thus criminal acts were rare.
...Or so it appeared at the surface, he saw it... the face behind the mask. They, almost all of them, were plotting something. Whether it was against someone in their group, city, country or against Black Heart, it didn't matter. They were hiding this with a mask that showed willingness to help and kindness, that dead body in an alley was just proof of this.
The homeless hidden far within the alleys, far enough that no one should be able to see them. The children that looked happy and energetic, forcing their bodies far beyond their starved selves could handle, were the most common. Their hate and bloodthirst were well hidden, not even Black heart could see it. Him though, he could smell it... the only thing he could compare the smell to was rotting dead bodies that have been left alone for months, and then multiply that smell times 1000.
On an unrelated note, Schwarz sometimes wonders whether the training (beating) he gets with Black here were lesser or greater than the training (experiments) he suffered through back at the lab... well at least he gets to eat three time every two days rather than the bare minimum of one time per week. Add that to the fact that he could sleep on a pile of hay rather than a pile of dead bodies was enough to make him think of pledging his unflinching loyalty as an individual, rather than his pack loyalty to her.
It has been a few days and his reputation has been great, Black Heart still hadn't heard of him and hadn't questioned him, nor did he talk to her... really, the only time he sees her was when they eat and when she gives him somethings to do. Like killing some monsters, clearing a route, and dealing with outsiders. Not that too big of a deal or challenge.
Currently he was in a mission to get into this place covertly and gather information, then report it to his Alpha. Progress so far was great, no one has spotted him or doubted him yet. To them he was just probably a random kid with tattered clothes wanting to read a book or get some education. Which was a great cover or so Black Heart said.
His plan was to knock on the door and act like what he just said, a kid wanting education, when he gains their trust he'll slowly ask questions that'll give him answers, vague answers but answers nonetheless. He could just figure out what they meant with Black Heart later.
"Hello?" Schwarz knocked on the door, making sure to contain his strength so that he doesn't accidentally blow it out of its hinges.
How surprised was Schwarz to see a tall bulky man with curly brown hair come out, how surprised was he to see a small kid knocking on their doors. This only lasted for a second before he smiled kindly, "What can I do for you?"
"A-Ah, Uh-Uhm, c-can you... teach me how to... read?" ..Alright, that was a grand failure, but he barely knew how to lie! Much less act. The man looked at him suspiciously before he opened the door and motioned for him to come in. "T-Thanks!"
"Your welcome, now follow me. I'm Tzu by the way," Tzu... that means teacher in one of the eastern language right? Black Heart taught him that... he didn't get a wink of sleep that night... then again, he was used to not getting sleep so that wasn't really anything to take pity in. Tzu led them towards a table where a young girl about his age with lilac hair was also seated.
The girl looked up and smiled brightly when she saw Tzu, was she his daughter? Then she saw him, her smile became confused. "Papa," Alright she's his daughter, "Who dat?"
"Honey, you can talk properly now," The girl sheepishly rubbed her head, poking a tongue out cutely and all that, "Now introduce yourself to... who are you again?"
"Schwarz," He bowed, "Its... nice to meet you."
"I'm Nepgear!" She chirped, "We're from Planeptune on a visit!"
"...Planeptune?" Shit, they weren't the ones he was looking for... but leaving them now was going to raise suspicion, "Papa! What's this?!"
Tzu leaned closer, "Oh, that's a Reality Marble, its like making a whole new world for yourself, only smaller. You can't have one at your age, or ever since it was banned by the Four CPUs."
"The four CPUs? Who dat?" Tzu's eye twitched, "Kidding, kidding."
"The four CPUs, Black Heart," They looked surprised as he started mumbling, "Green Heart, White Heart and... Purple Heart. Rulers of Gamindutri, the Hearts of Sol and Selene, Keys of the Ancient Hieroglyph..."
"Whoa, are you sure you don't know how to read?" Tzu asked, eyes wide in amazement at his words... crap. "How old are you?"
Coughing to regain control he looked to the side with a light blush of embarrassment, "A-About four."
"Hey, that's the same as me!" The girl shouted, before she was shushed by her father, "Sorry,"
Her father sighed, "Come, sit beside Nepgear, the lesson's about to start."
Maybe he should've picked a different lie... christ that was boring and embarrassing, well at least now he could read... wait... what was this letter? It looked like... the best he could say to describe it was ae 'funny looking.' His brows furrowed as his eyes scanned the texts, Tzu was surprised to see someone so young pick up reading so quickly.
Nepgear tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey..."
No response, she tapped him again.
Then there was this symbol...
No response, she tapped him again.
Then there was this rune...
No response, she slapped him.
Then there was this- oh wait, that was just the alphabet.
No response, she pouted.
Tzu chuckled as his daughter tried to get the kid's attention, good luck on that, he was so engrossed into the book that even when a thick book falling on his head didn't even faze him. If something as simple as a book meant to help a kid learn how to read got his attention this much, then what about a book teaching magic? Maybe they got a future mage in their hands right now.
"HEY!" Scream like a banshee why don't ya, Schwarz winced as he held his ear, "Oh, you finally listened!"
"What?" Might've sounded a bit guttural, but that somehow did absolutely nothing to her, "Nepgear?"
Crap, she was sobbing, oh by absolutely nothing he meant absolutely nothing positive to her, "C-Crap, c-come on you know I didn't mean it that way!"
..."Really?" Stop sobbing... please!
"Ah ah, you made her cry, mind keeping her company while I get her something to calm her down?" Man didn't even give him a chance to reply, he just... up and left. Tzu left him with his crying daughter while he didn't know a thing abut calming kids down. Still... even though he unintentionally made her cry, he should at least try to calm her down.
"N-Nepgear look!" Through her tears she spotted something...
"I-I'm so sorry..." Crap, he was so sure that the book with a pic of a giant mech was going to calm her down, "C-Can you please... get that for me?"
"Will you stop crying?!" Nepgear nodded, "Wait right there I'll get it for you in... five seconds!"
One, he left the seat and readied himself to dash as it was a few shelves away, how she managed to see it a well was beyond him but he'd rather use the time it'll take him to think to run.
Two, passed two shelves, three more.
Three, where is it... where is it... there!
Four, turning around he dashed towards Nepgear.
Five, placing the book in front of her with grace and elegance one benefiting of a demonic butler he collapsed on the table.
...Why did that tire him out so much?
"Oooh~!" At least she's not crying anymore... though, he feared that he just helped with the birth of a rather... interesting addict. "Hey, what's this?!"
"Uh..." He won't lie, robots weren't his specialty, too much oil for his tastes. "I think that's the... what was it called again, the Schwergewehr, it's a weapon."
"It sounds like you!" Well, that mouthful of a weapon and his name, Schwarz, are kind of similar but... or he thinks at least. He wasn't really all that familiar with weapons. "...Schwarz?"
What's with the sudden change of tone? "What is it?"
"Are... are we friends?" ...Damn, now he remembered that he hadn't visited Lyra today. Her grave must be so lonely now.
Leaning back at the seat he looked at the glassed ceiling, "...Yes."
The girl smiled brightly, then her eye caught something, "Oooh! What's this?!"
"That's the Core, its the most vital part of a machine," Nepgear's face scrunched up in thought, "...Do you even know what vital means?"
"O-Of course! I-it, uh, it means... its super unimportant, right?!" The complete opposite Nepgear. Oh, here comes your dad... with several scary looking men with rifles pointed at his scalp... they were not friendly. "Papa?"
"N-Nepgear, honey, run away with Schwarz. Papa can deal with them, gah!" He had two choices, take Nepgear's hand and run or take these people's head and run off with them. Either way, it would paint a huge mark on his back... where were those legion members? They would be really handy right about now... alright fuck you too Plot Convinience. Schwarz took the girl's hand he turned and ran.
Realizing he was too fast for her, he stopped for a moment and carried her piggyback- style.
"S-Schwarz! Wait, Papa's!"
Bang!
"Gone..." He gritted his teeth, "You're papa's gone..."
"No..." Schwarz glanced at her, the lilac haired girl's eye were blank. The flames and will to live extinguished, "Papa's strong... he won't die..."
Strong as you say he might be, he saw those gloves... they bore the symbol of Lastation's forces. If he remembers right then they were under the direct control of Black Heart and they will tell her anything they see, meaning they'll see him acting like he's not a merciless killer like he is in battle and like she wanted him to him to be.
Bang! Bang!
Nepgear began hitting him on the back, "Go back! Go back! Go back!"
"I can't!" You'd die Nepgear, and he wasn't too keen on letting a girl die but... why does this girl smell like Black Heart? No... it was more like another CPU and... one of them? Some sort of strange mix between between... what smells like Arseid and his DNA and probably the CPU of Purple. Glancing at their path his eyes widened at the sight of two men and one woman with two rifles and shotgun respectively, Nepgear saw them as well and buried her face in his back.
"Hand her over," The woman, he'll call her 3 if they don't give out their names, "Or else..."
Letting the girl down he turned to the woman, "How cliche... and how stupid..."
3 quirked a brow, "How is this cliche and stupid?"
...Well, there goes his cover, "Because... you don't stand a chance."
Faster than the untrained human eye can see he dashed behind them, quickly snapping the man's neck and kicking the other one away he turned and face the barrel of the saw off shotgun. 3 smirked and pulled the trigger, fully expecting to see blood splatter against the wall. Schwarz sighed, already predicting what her thoughts were and was kind of amused, true there would be blood splattered against the wall but it wouldn't be his.
It would be the man, whose neck he had just snapped, used as a human shield. Hopefully Nepgear didn't see that, throwing the now headless body away he went for her shins. His lips twitched up as he faced the woman face-to-face and used his other leg to kick up her head, surprisingly it stayed intact... she must've went along the force.
Hearing bullets being loaded he began moving erratically, the man who he kicked away tsked, his target was moving way too much and too quickly to score a proper shot or even and one. Jumping side to side was easy, but moving in circles around his comrade in a clockwise and randomly counter-clockwise manner was too much for him.
"What are you doing?! Shoot him!" The woman shouted, "You didn't see me hesitate in blasting a kid's head off! Even if you miss I'll only be hit in the legs now shoot!"
"...Roger,"
First shot, miss...
Second shot, hit... Target standing.
Third shot, hit... Target standing, shown no sign of damage.
Fourth shot, miss...
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eight, Ninth... miss.
"Tsk," So he only managed to score five shots in twenty bullets... such a waste, looking over at his comrade he saw her kneeling with the shots that missed in her legs. She wouldn't die, their Captain would make sure of that. The kid on the other hand, was standing with his left arm having three holes on his left and two on his right, it was surprising since the holes were wide enough that you could see through them.
"Schwarz!" Nepgear cried. "H-Hold on, I'll help you!"
Schwarz looked at his arms, "Hm, that was more disappointing than I thought."
Suddenly a black magic circle appeared by his ear, "Schwarz."
"Alp-" "Black Heart" "Black Heart, what do you want?"
"Oh? Is that the way you talk to your Master, Schwarz?" Nepgear looked confused as she looked around them to see where the voice was coming from, "Anyway, how's the situation?"
"I'm facing three people, one of which I have killed, one is kneeling on the ground due to her ally being a bad shot, and said ally's blood is all over the wall," Said ally blinked and looked around him before his eyes widened as there was a giant ass hammer flying at him, Nepgear was forced to look to the side as the man's head was crushed and his body fell. "So yeah, the job's a complete failure."
"...If you are not here in two hours, you will have your memories of the reason you failed erased and forever gone, never to return, I can't have my slave think he failed a mission after all. I need him to have complete confidence that he'll succeed... no matter what." Black Heart demanded and destroyed the circle in a shower of black flames... on the other hand, the woman was now a burni- smoking pile of flesh on the floor. Schwarz quickly picked up Nepgear before she could see the dead bodies... more than she had already, and made his way towards Planeptune.
Should take him half an hour, good thing they were already at the borders.
"W-Wait! Papa's sti-" Nepgear shut herself up as she saw the holes in his arms, her white dress was slowly being stained blood red. "S-Schwarz stop!"
"No can do," They were close, "I'm going to drop you near a Resistance Base, try to live till I see you again, alright?"
Didn't know why the hell he said that but it kind of worked(?) For one she wasn't crying as hard so her, small blessings, now the only thing crying was his body for carrying something with his barely intact arms. Schwarz had no doubts that he would forget her in a few days, weeks if she was lucky, she didn't really have that large of an effect to be considered important after all.
The girl has been strangely quiet, it has been ten minutes and they were about to pass the borders separating Lastation and Planeptune and not a word has been said from her. She wasn't sleeping, her breathes were far too erratic, she was dead as he could still feel her body warmth... why does it feel so cold all of a sudden? Schwarz looked down and saw ice magic starting to cast, it was a lock-on magic so no matter what he does it would hit.
Might as well melt it then.
... No, that was a bad idea, he had Nepgear on his back. Raising his body temperature hot enough to melt ice before it could form was going to kill her, if not melt away her skin, putting her in eternal pain. This was bad... this was very bad... still... he had no choice. He still had about three seconds until he was frozen, so he had to find a steam to place Nepgear in.
They weren't after him.
They were after her.
"K-Sha..." Huh? Where was she? "K-Sha..."
She struggled to open an eye, so she settled for sound, "W-Where are you?! W-Where am I?!"
"K-Sha... you have awoken..." K-Sha frowned, her arm felt like there was something going up an down along its length and her legs were encased in something that felt like sand. After a few minutes of silence and waiting for the voice to speak more she finally managed to open an eye, which widened like plated immediately.
"W-Where am I?!" Tomb, mummies and trap all over. The ceiling had strange marking on them while the walls held the same, in the center was a tomb that stuck out not by its small size nor by the seemingly over designed coffin, it was its color. Black and Purple. That made it stand out. Either that or the ridiculously large amount of books scattered around it.
"K-Sha... Gold of Lastation." O-Oh, was that a compliment? She's very sorry but she's only supposed to give out lunch boxes to Schwarz... speaking of Schwarz, where was he? Usually he's around her side whenever she gets herself into trouble...
"Oh, the last one's awoken." A feminine voice, she couldn't see much as the only thing visible was a blue beret but she sounds kind, "So? Are you, mysterious voice, going to finally tell us what the hell's going on?"
"C-Sha... Gold of Lowee." '...Appearance is unfitting for landmass,' The voice said, "...Have you no words to say? B-Sha, Gold of Planeptune. S-Sha, Gold of Leanbox?"
Another female voice, "What words should I say? There is literally nothing I could say about this situation."
Yet another, only this one was younger, "Yeah! That's gonna cost ya missy!"
"...I would prefer the name, Istoria." The now named Istoria muttered in annoyance, "...Oh, you were not supposed to know that yet... please remove that from your memoire this instant."
"...Too late for that," The third female voice muttered, "So? What did you bring us here for. I was kind of busy making a film I'll have you know."
"Do not worry," She chuckled, "...Besides, your film would've been a echec,"
"A what?" The fourth voice asked.
"A failure," Istoria answered, chuckling slightly as she heard something snap. "Do you have something to say now Gold of Leanbox?"
"You never know until you try," The third voice answered, "...Mind answering my question?"
Istoria sighed, "Very well, I have brought you here for one reason and one reason only..."
Blue beret asked, "And that is?"
"...To be honest, I have oublie the reason since Gold of Lastation took so long to wake up," S-Sorry...
Probably better if she voiced that, "I-I'm sorry..."
Beret sighed, "Alright then, while you try to remember why you brought us here, mind answering how you brought us here?"
"I took control of some people, ordered some jaegers to bring you to a place which name shall not be mentioned and then toss you into a dimensional rift in which you have spent several weeks sleeping in."
AN: Very busy week so sorry for the longer than usual wait, thanks for reading and hope you continue doing so when more comes out. Feedback is much appreciated.
I would like to remind everyone that this is my first story (not my only story) and thus will probably make mistakes like OOC characters. Please forgive me if I don't live up to your expectations, I'm trying as hard as I can.
-Schwarz is downright evil... kind of what I planned, so yay(?)
-Also, Evil vs Evil loosely translates to Conflict solves Conflicts which also loosely translates to Wars... or that's how I see it.
-This is fanfiction, so anything could happen.