DISCLAIMER: Hyperdimension Neptunia belongs to Compile Heart and Idea Factory.

Yuhitsu PlaneptuneNeptune: Yeah, yeah, thank you for your advices, I really appreciate it.

I hope everyone stay safe in this epidemic. Remember to wash your hands properly, do physical distancing, pray, and eat nutritious foods.

I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 23

"You came back!"

Said a voice from inside a book, as a small purple light came through the ceiling of the room where the book was.

The small purple light approached the altar where the book laid on top of, and slowly absorbed into the book.

"Please never do that without telling me again, you're making me worried sick."

A silence enveloped the room for several moments.

"I see, I'm glad everyone's okay. You've done a very good job for saving her life."

~o~0~o~

Somewhere else unknown...

There was a beautiful park located in an unknown city, the park was quite big, there were several fountains in there, and a field of flowers.

There was also a playground in there, many kids playfully playing with each other, while their parents watching them from afar.

However, there was a certain short purple-haired girl that unlike the other kids, she was all alone, her parents were too busy from their works, even though they tried their best to spend some time with her, it was not enough for her.

She was lack at social skills, and as the result, she almost never had friends in her life.

The little purplenette was sitting alone on a swing that was located in the edge of the playground, she closely observed as the other kids play with their friends, not even care if she was there or not.

"Hey squirts!"

A voice came from behind her, looking back the purplenette saw an older looking boy was standing behind her, glaring at her. Two more boys are standing behind him.

"W-What do you want?"

The little girl asked quietly.

"We want to play! So get off!"

She looked to her left, then back to the boy that's still glaring at her.

"But there's still another swings in there."

"Are you blind? There's only two swings left and there's three of us, idiot!"

"But-"

"I SAID GET OFF!"

The boy unexpectedly kicked the little girl on her back, sending her fall from the swing and into the ground with a loud thud.This of course, wasn't new to her. Due to her lack of social skills, the girl often get bullied by other kids, it was so often that she thought it was normal.

And the thoughts bring tears to her eyes.

"Ha! What a cry baby, pathetic child. Why don't you ran away and cry to your mommy?"

His two friends laughed along with him, making the little girl's eyes flowing even more tears.

She was about to stand up and leave, but something unexpected happened.

"Hey, you!"

The four of them turned their head to the right as a little girl with blue colored hair, wearing a rather revealing outfit, with a red scarf around her neck, pointed her finger towards the bulies. Her face was blurry for some reason.

"Leave that girl alone!"

The leader of the boys smirked.

"And what if I don't? What would you do, flatty?"

As the boy said that, time seemed to stopped. The blue-haired girl stuttered and shivered.

"Wh-What... did you... just... said?"

"Are you deaf? I said, what if I don't? What would you do, miss no boobs?"

"Grr! That's it! You're all will not making out of here alive!"

The girl charged towards the boys, and the four engaged in battles.

Despite her small stature, the bluenette was very skillful, she managed to beat the three of them without getting hit at all.

After she's done, the three boys ran away, crying out for their mama.

"That's right, go to your mama! Tell them to never mess with this future hero of justice of Gamindustri!"

After calming down, the bluenette turned around and saw the purple-haired little girl was still laying there on the ground, she was watching the entire fight between them.

Crouching down, the blue-haired girl smiled at her, and nicely asked.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

The purplenette didn't say anything for several seconds, before finally nodded slowly.

"Good."

The bluenette offered a hand, and the purplenette used it to stand up.

"Don't worry, I'm sure those meanies will learn their lesson to never messing around with innocent little girls, unless if they want this future justice keeper to come after them."

"T... ky..."

"What's that? I can't hear you."

"T-Thank you... for... saving me..."

The purplenette said, in a very low tone, but enough for the bluenette to hear it.

"Heh, no need to thank me, it was my duty as a justice keeper after all."

The bluenette said confidently, putting her hands on her sides.

"Why are you alone? Why don't you play with your friends?"

"I... I don't have any friends..."

"What? Why?"

"I-It's... complicated..."

The purplenette then turned around and prepared to leave.

"Thank you for saving me... I'm gonna go home now."

Before she could leave however, the blue-haired girl grabbed her hand.

"Come on, don't just leave all of a sudden, let's play!"

"Huh? But-"

"Come on! It'll be fun!"

"B-But I wanna- h-hey wait!"

Despite her complains, the blue-haired girl dragged the purplenette along with her, and together, the two of them spend the day playing at the playground, until it was dawn.

"Phew, I'm beat."

The two little girls were sitting on a bench, relieving their exhaustion after playing all day.

"Me... Me too..."

"But it was a lot fun, I enjoyed our time playing all day."

The purplenette looked at the girl beside her, her thoughts were full of question.

"Hey..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Why... do you want to play... with me?"

She asked, and the bluenette tilted her head in confusion.

"Other people calling me weird... they don't want to become friends with me... so... why do you want to become my friend?"

"I don't see why people calling you weird."

The bluenette answered with a gentle smile.

"I think you're a pretty nice girl. Although maybe if you're a bit more... confident with yourself, maybe people will stop calling you weird."

The purplenette sighed, looking down.

"I'm... I'm not good at talking with other people... My parents was a very busy people, they only spend a little time with me... I know that they're trying their best... but..."

She shrugged, and then she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning her head to the right, she saw that it was the blue-haired girl that put her hand on her shoulder, she was smiling.

"Well then, fear not, I will be around here for some time due to my parents business trip. From now on, you don't have to feel lonely anymore, I will be here with you, for now."

The purplenette couldn't say a word to reply, she could only stared at the blunette's still blurry face.

"You know, I never got your name, even though we spend the day together. What's your name?"

"Me?"

The purplenette asked, pointing at herself, and the bluenette nodded.

"M-My name is... Neptune... Who are you?"

The blue-haired girl smiled proudly.

"I am the future hero of justice of Gamindustri, N-"

~o~0~o~

"Nep-Nep! Nep-Nep, wake up!"

Neptune slowly open her heavy eyes, and the first thing she saw was a peach-haired girl shaking her body violently, making her dizzy.

"Compa, stop that! She's already awake!" A brown-haired girl came into her view, and she stopped Compa from what she was doing.

"Iffy? Compa?" Neptune asked softly, sitting up, she stretched her arms upwards while groaning, surprised at how stiff her body felt. "Good morning."

"Don't you 'good morning' us!" IF said with anger and annoyance in her voice. "Did you know how much we were worried about you?" IF asked, glaring at Neptune.

Neptune however, replied with something they didn't expect. "Uh... why are you worried about me? Did something happened to me while I'm asleep?" she asked in confusion.

The two of them fell silent after hearing the question.

"Um, hello? Anyone?" Neptune asked while waving her hand in front of IF and Compa.

"Nep," IF began. "Can you tell us what happened at Expo yesterday?" she asked.

Neptune tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? Why do you ask?"

"Just tell us, please."

"Hmm, well..." Neptune put her hand on her chin, and think. "We participate in the Exhibition Match, representing Chian's company, we faced a very strong robot, we defeated it, and then we finally succeed in taking down Avenir, everyone cheered up, we return to hotel, and then I fell asleep." Neptune explained with all honesty.

Both Compa and IF fell silent again, they stared at each other, and then back at Neptune.

"Is... is something's wrong? Is that not the answer that you're looking for?" Neptune asked, looking at IF.

Sighing, IF shook her head. "No, no, there's nothing wrong." IF answered. "Anyway," IF pulled out her phone and showed it's content to Neptune. "Lastation's CPU, Lady Black Heart, had personally invite us, she want us to be in her Basilicom in about two hours." IF explained, putting her phone back to it's holster.

"R-Really?" Neptune's eyes lit up in excitement. "Yippee!" She suddenly jumped out of the bed. "We're finally-ack!" she fell into the floor as her back spasmed by the sudden movement. "Owwiees... Why is my back so hurt?" after standing up with the help of Compa, Neptune rubbed her aching back. "Maybe I slept in a wrong position, better be careful next time." She muttered softly, before heading into the bathroom.

After she left, Compa and IF looked at each other.

"Compa, do you think what I'm thinking?" IF asked, and Compa nodded.

"It looks like Nep-Nep can't remember the events after we defeated the bad robot." Compa said. "This is exactly the same thing that happen back in Planeptune." She muttered softly, looking at the bathroom's door with cocern. "Should we tell her about what truly happened yesterday?" Compa asked, and IF didn't answer.

After several moments had passed, she slowly shook her head. "No, I think it's the best to not let her know."

~o~0~o~

"Lady Black Heart, they've come to see you." A basilicom staff informed his goddess.

"Thank you. You may step out, now."

The staff nodded, Walking to the exit, he opened the door to let Neptune and her companions entered the round room with glass as it's walls, while he leaved the place.

Standing in front of a small room that covered by purple curtains. The party all kneel down in respect.

"It's nice to meet you, heavenly Console Patron Unit of Lastation! It's an honor to be here." Compa said respectfully.

The purple curtains were pulled to the sides, revealing the person who was standing behind it all the time.

"...Nice to meet you." the person was a young girl with black colored hair, tied in twintails, and has a red colored eyes. "I'm the CPU Black Heart, the guardian goddess of Lastation."

The party all gasped in surprise when they saw the CPU, especialy Neptune, who was clearly shocked at the fact that after all this time, a person who she saw as a friend turns out to be the CPU of Black Regality.

"Whoa, hey, hey, hey! You're that injured girl!" Neptune exclaimed in complete surprise. "I woulda never thought after all this time, I had a talk with a goddess!" she said with full excitement.

"I've heard your voice before, but I'm kind of surprised... you look no older than us." IF commented, crossing her arms.

"We don't age in Celestia, so that's probably the reason. This is living, so they say." Black Heart replied.

"Um, you're not talking quite like a goddess anymore..." Compa muttered softly, surprised at how casual the Black goddess is.

"It's only you three. Plus, we're not strangers or anything." Black heard said with a small smile. "You're all my guest, so there's no point of acting stiff and formal."

She extends her hand to the side, and then, a small blue gift box with black ribbons magically materialized in her hand.

"Anyway." she began. "Right after what happened yesterday at the Expo. The Sanctuary people came to my Basilicom, along with many other people who was present during Tech Expo." her expression became serious. "They told me everything about Avenir, from the attempted murder at the Expo, to their secret motives to take over the world using an army of machines that was illegally produced without my permission." she explained.

"Wait, does that mean you never knew about their true motives all along?" IF asked, and Black Heart nodded.

"Avenir were established many years ago, what did they do that time was to improve Lastation's technology in order to surpass the other landmasses." she then sighed. "Seeing how useful they are, I eventually let them become part of the Basilicom, the Parliament. As time continues, the company continuously grows until it almost covered the entire Lastation." she closed her eyes. "Many people suffers because of them, yet I didn't do anything, the company was too important for the landmass to be shutted down."

"Does that mean you're going to let them go?" Neptune asked, and Black Heart sighed before shaking her head.

"No, what did they do yesterday is far crossed the line. Avenir will be shutted down from their operation for good, we will interrogate each of their employees in case if they had another schemes up in their sleeves." She explained.

"Really?" Compa asked with happiness, and when Black Heart nodded, the party cheered in happiness at the news that their goal to bring justice to this land was succeeded.

Black Heart cleared her throat to make the party stopped, and when they do, she extends her hand that was holding the gift in front of her. "Anyway," putting her other hand on top of the box, she slowly untie the ribbons. "That's not the only thing I wanted to tell you."

The party all focused their eyes on the box that she was holding.

"After you guys left the stadium where the Expo was held, I sent a team there to investigate, and they found this thing buried deep in debris and metal scraps." from the box, Black Heart pulled out a small glass case containing an item that glows rainbow colors, and it's shape was like a piece of a puzzle. "Isn't this what you guys were looking for, by any chance?"

The party all gasped in surprise when they saw the item.

"I-Is that...?" Compa stuttered.

"The Key Fragment!" Neptune exclaimed, happily taking the glass case from the ravenette's hand. "We finally found it!"

"Looks like working for Passe and fight against an evil company, wasn't a waste of time at all." IF commented with a satisfied smirk.

"With this, there's only two more to go, and then we can save Histy!" Compa said happily.

Turning her head to face the black-haired CPU. Neptune bowed with full respect. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! Please, tell us what to do in order to repay your kindness, your majesty."

"What did I tell you about not being formal around me?" Black Heart asked, looking at Neptune with slight annoyance.

Giggling nervously, Neptune scratched the back of her head and apologized. "Hehehe~ Sorry, sorry, my bad."

Sighing, Black Heart watched as Neptune pulled out the Lastation's Key Fragment from the glass case. Putting the glass case down, Neptune then unzipped her parka slightly, showing her the Planeptune's Key Fragment that she wears around her neck with a cord.

As she brings the fragments closer towards each other, Neptune could see that the two items was almost look exactly the same, with the only differences is that the Planeptune one has a purple gem on the center of it. While the Lastation one has a black glowing gem on the center.

Just like the Planeptune one, the Lastation's Key Fragment are also has a hole on it's edge, and Neptune slipped the cord's edge through the hole, before tied the two cord's edges together again and put the necklace back on.

"So," Black Heart began. "What are you guys going to do now?" she asked curiously.

"We have to continue our mission to save Histy." Neptune answered while zipping her parka up. "Unfortunately, our business in here is done now, so we're going to the two remaining landmass to find the other Key Fragments." Neptune explained.

"I see." Black Heart nodded in understatement. "I guess, all I could say is good luck, then."

~o~0~o~

Several minutes later

"Do you have to accompany us? I mean, I like the company, but aren't you busy and stuff?" Neptune asked, confused as Black Heart accompanied the party to the Basilicom entrance.

"It's not like I wanted to accompany you or anything. I'm just... here to get some fresh air." Black Heart said, looking away a little bit.

The party didn't say anything after that remarks.

"Well, if you say so." Neptune said with a shrug. "We'll be leaving now, once again, thank you for helping us finding the key fragments, it means a lot for me." Neptune held her hands in front of her, and the ravenette took it and shake it. Taking back her hand, Neptune smiled at the CPU. "See ya!" she said, turning around.

The party was about to leave when Black Heart called out Neptune's name, stopping them from their tracks.

"Hey, Neptune."

Looking back behind her, she asked the Black CPU in front of her.

"What is it?"

"Do you... still remember that day when we're talking about the goddesses?" she asked softly.

Neptune titled her head at the question, but decide to answer it anyway. "Yes, of course I still remember that day." Neptune said with a nod.

"Then..."

"Hmm?" Neptune was confused when Black Heart slowly approached her.

When their distances were just a few centimeters meters away, Black Heart suddenly lunge forward and hugged Neptune tightly.

"Thank you, for forgiving me."

Those words were came as a whisper, behind her, IF and Compa's jaw dropped, completely shocked at the CPU's sudden action.

"What are you talking abo- EEP!"

What was even more shocking however, was Black Heart suddenly bite Neptune's neck. Even though her bite was gentle and not harmfull, it was more than enough to make Neptune squirmed in surprise.

"Okay that's all I wanted to say, good luck on your quest, I will always be here if you need me byeeeee!"

As Black Heart said those words at the speed of a mosquito's wings, she quickly released Neptune from her hug, then ran into the Basilicom, slammed the door behind her, and locked it.

"..."

No one can say a word for what just happen.

"What... the heck... just happen?" IF asked in total confusion.

~o~0~o~

"So it really is true..."

Black Heart muttered softly, she was leaning against the Basilicom door behind her that she locked, savoring the taste in her mouth.

"She really is not her..."

To be Continued...

At least I didn't get nightmares when I wrote this.

Well guys, this chapter mark the end of Lastation arc.

The next Chapter will be the start of Lowee's arc.