Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Compile Heart and Idea Factory and everyone else who worked on it.
See what happens when I get time to rest?
Chapter 25
"Urgh," Rei groaned as she as Uzume sat at the table, both of them grimacing at how their heads hurt. Neither of them were sure if they were hurting from the hangover or from Histoire's lecture...
...Which had been going on for almost three hours at that point.
"...and with that, I'll end this discussion." Histoire said, causing both CPUs to groan in relief. "Seriously, did you two not know about the effects of carbonation on Goddesses?"
"I was a human for most of my life until my other self gave Croire her powers and gave them to me." Rei said, wincing at the pain she felt. "I-I had no c-clue..."
"It's fine, I didn't either, Reizy." Uzume said softly as she gripped her head. "Nnngh! This is worse than that ice-cream migraine I had once back when I was in charge."
"HELLO!" Neptune yelled as she poked her head in with Blind Histoire following her, the damaged tome sweat-dropped at the yell and the groan of pain from Rei and Uzume. "How are my two favorite former bigwigs?!"
"Nepsy..." Uzume groaned and gave her a pleading look. "It feels like there's a bunch of mechs with drills getting bigger and bigger in my head, do you need to yell?"
"It was either that or Histy was going to play really loud music." Neptune giggled at the way they groaned. "Okay, I think I tormented you two enough, I'll get you something that'll fix you up really good!"
Both Rei and Uzume gave Neptune a bleary-eyed look as she walked into the kitchen and opened the glass drawer, grabbing some small glasses. "...Nepsy, why do you have shot glasses?" Uzume asked, wincing at the pain she was feeling.
Neptune just smiled at her. "Well, would you believe that I used to drink a lot of soda?" Both of them gawked at her and turned to Histoire, who nodded at them.
"Indeed. Not just Neptune, but several previous CPUs would, from time to time, party too hard." Histoire sighed heavily. "And Neptune, please stop exaggerating. You stopped getting drunk after the third time when I gave you... Oh..." She giggled as Neptune nodded while grabbing stuff from the fridge. "Well, needless to say, Neptune got drunk intentionally only once."
"...Only once?" Rei asked and Histoire nodded.
"Yes, the first time was, because like you, she had no clue about the effects carbonation had on a Goddess. The second time was because she was really thirsty and didn't pay attention to what she grabbed from the vending machine."
Both Rei and Uzume sweat-dropped, but they could see Neptune doing that.
"Ta da!" Neptune smiled as she held up two shot glasses full of some black and yellow liquid. "Drink this and you'll be fine in three seconds." She put them down in front of the hung over CPUs, both of whom gagged upon smelling what was coming from the glass. "Pinch your nose and swallow in one gulp or you'll puke all over the table."
"Speaking from experience?" Uzume muttered and sighed before pinching her nose, grabbing the glass and gulping down the contents in an instant. Rei repeated the motion next to her.
Neptune stepped back and waited for the results. "Three... Two... One..."
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Both Uzume and Rei screamed and stuck their tongues out, clawing at them. "WHA ISH THI?!"
"A really, REALLY nasty remedy that tastes worse than it smells." Neptune said while crossing her arms over her chest and nodding sagely. "But it works REAAAAALY well. You can't even feel your headache anymore."
Rei and Uzume just screamed and ran for the sink and grabbed some glasses and filled them with water. "WATER!"
"Should I tell them that only makes the sensation worse?" Neptune asked Histoire. Histoire just gave her a small grin and Neptune sighed as a gagging sound came from the kitchen. "There's some bread in the cabinet to the right of the glasses, put a slice in your mouth and after you eat it, drink some milk, that'll help." She looked at Histoire. "Hey, Histy, how come you knew all of that?"
"Do you remember some of the weirder things that I showed you were created by your predecessors?" Histoire asked and Neptune nodded. "The third generation CPU... She was pretty smart and very innovative..." Histoire smiled softly. "She was a good CPU, in fact, she's the one who created online services for Gamindustri when the internet was barely in its infancy."
"Wowza!" Neptune's eyes sparkled. "That was a long time ago then!" Histoire nodded at her. "So..."
"She was innovative, but she had some really crazy and weird inventions..." Histoire sighed and hung her head. "And she came up with them when she was drunk. The weird thing is, they worked, even if it turned her console into an absolute monstrosity."
"Oh yeah, that was a weird thing." Neptune giggled softly as she remembered the monster tower of cartridges and add-ons. "I told Plutie about that once and she thought it was cool and made her own version of it." Histoire just shook her head.
"You two enjoyed making them suffer too much." Blind Histoire admonished both Histoire and Neptune. "I understand the urge to make them suffer a bit, but you two seemingly enjoyed it too much."
Neptune rubbed the back of her head and giggled. "Well, it's kind of nice being on this side of the lecture for once." She grimaced at Blind Histoire's look of disappointment. "Well, uh, Histy, help me with yourself?"
"Do not worry, other me." Histoire said as both Rei and Uzume dragged their bodies out of the kitchen. "I do believe our torment of them is done."
"Nepsy, you do this again and I'll personally be your alarm clock." She had a dirty look on her face while grinning and flexing her fingers. "And you know how well I can scream, especially with my megaphone."
Neptune just smiled while chuckling nervously. "Okay, I won't. Next time I'll let Histy play loud music. By the way, how's your head?"
Uzume blinked a few times and looked around in awe. "...It doesn't hurt and it feels like a fog was lifted from my mind. How?"
"Yeah, it's nasty, but it works." Neptune nodded.
"I'm glad." Rei smiled nervously. "I-I wasn't l-looking forward to a-another few hours of a hangover." She blushed at the looks she got. "Ah, um, before Croire gave me my other self's power and turned me into a CPU, I sometimes drank alcohol and got really badly drunk, so..."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Neptune smiled at Rei. "We can't get drunk from alcohol. Don't know why, but it's funny when people try to drink you under the table at a bar." She blanched when Histoire gave her a dirty look. "Ah! Um! It wasn't me! When i was in Plutie's world, sometimes Noire would have me and Plutie go out to dinner and one time we went to a bar and someone challenged Noire to a drinking contest. She's pretty competitive, you know?"
Histoire sighed heavily. "I"m not sure what to do with this information, but if no one died, then I suppose getting upset now would be pointless."
"Um..." Rei spoke up. "I j-just realized... How is... How is Nepgear? The one we were supposed to watch that is." When she saw the look that Neptune had on her face she instantly went pale and slumped to her knees. "I-I failed, then it-it's all my fault..."
"No!" Neptune and Uzume yelled at the same time and Rei looked up at them.
Uzume knelt down next to Rei and smiled at her. "Reizy, come on, it's as much your fault as it's Nepsy's fault that she was brainwashed by the bad guys."
Neptune nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I get corrupted, brainwashed, stabbed and..." Her eyes went white and blank as she realized what Uzume said. "HEY!" She pouted as Rei giggled. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. But Maidgear's in the same boat as P-Ko is." She looked at Blind Histoire, who nodded.
"Yes, I checked her over, the same thing that happened to Peashy happened to Nepgear, she'll recover in a few days." Blind Histoire smiled in Rei's general direction. "Please, do not beat yourself up over what happened, this wasn't something that any of us could have planned for properly."
Rei nodded, but looked unsure. "...What if it hadn't been this world's Nepgear, but the other Nepgear that was with us when Cave died?" She trembled as she realized the horrifying ramifications. "They would have... They could have killed her then and..."
"Reizy!" Uzume interrupted Rei, who gasped in surprise as Uzume grabbed her shoulders. "The bad guys could have killed us when we were drunk and killed Maidsy when she was incapable of moving, but she's alive, right?"
"Ya huh..." Neptune nodded at Rei. "Maidgear will be fine, but she's hurting. If you want to apologize to her, just wait a few days when she wakes up, okay?"
Rei nodded, sniffling. "I-I'm sorry, it, it's just..."
"Don't worry about it." Uzume told her. "We got caught with our undies around our ankles while we were bent over, that's all." She blinked as Neptune started giggling. "Nepsy?" She looked at the other CPU, who had a grin on her face.
"Uzume, do you have stories to tell us about your time in Zerodimension?" Neptune just grinned at Uzume. "Or maybe you had someone special when you were the CPU, hmm?"
Uzume blushed hard. "Nepsy! That's not fair! Uzume is a healthy girl who sometimes has urges and Nepsy shouldn't be digging into Uzume's private life in case she had a lover." Her voice pitched up several notches as she spoke more rapidly. "Uzume doesn't tease Nepsy about what she and Chiksy does from time to time. And Uzume doesn't tease Nepsy about her girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" Neptune blinked in confusion. "Uh..." Her eyes screwed shut as she tried to think who Uzume was talking about. "I don't think I'm dating anyone... I mean, Vert wants to marry me, but..."
Standing up, Uzume got in front of Neptune and poked her in the chest. "Uzume is talking about Chromesy! She and Nepsy are so close that it's like you two are lovers and Uzume could tease you about that." She frowned and pouted at Neptune, who had white, blank eyes while Uzume continued to speak. "And Nepsy leads her, Noiresy, Vertsy and others on because Nepsy's a big chicken and doesn't like to think about romance because..."
"Enough, Uzume!" Histoire yelled and got in front of Uzume, who blinked, her eyes wide as Neptune staggered back and fell on her butt, her face pale while her eyes were wide. "Yes, Neptune shouldn't have teased you about your comment like that, but..."
"Ack!" Uzume's face went as red as her hair. "I'm sorry, Nepsy! I was just flustered and upset and I didn't..." She trailed off as she saw Neptune wasn't responding, just staring out into space. "...Did I break Nepsy?"
Blind Histoire sighed as Rei stood up. "I think you forced her to face something she wasn't really prepared to face, Uzume. Let's get her to the couch and let her lay down. Meanwhile... Uh, Rei, was it?" Blind Histoire asked. When she didn't get a response, she sighed. "I can speak and hear and sense you're here, but I can't see what you're doing."
"OH!" Rei blushed hard. "I'm so-sorry, but ye, yes, my name is Rei."
"Okay, now listen, as someone who spent six decades living in despair because she watched her world turn to hell due to something outside of my control, only to have Neptune give me hope again, let me give you some advice." Blind Histoire smiled softly and Rei nodded, though Blind Histoire couldn't see it. "Do not blame yourself for something you couldn't stop. You made a mistake, don't let it consume you. Learn from it and figure out how to not let it happen again."
"O-okay." Rei smiled softly and helped Uzume lift Neptune up and carry her over to the couch to relax.
"You handled that well." Histoire said softly.
"I could do nothing but watch as my world was destroyed," Blind Histoire said softly, a truly distressed look on her face as she spoke, "I felt every CPU die, felt the Voids take their place and felt as total darkness consumed the world and could do nothing as the people lived in fear and despair."
Histoire stared at her other self silently. The amount of pain and suffering that her other self had gone through, she couldn't even imagine it.
Blind Histoire's face was screwed up like she was fighting the urge to cry as she gripped at her outfit. "I could do nothing. Everything was destroyed, all because I was helping my world's Uzume when she got corrupted by her evil self."
"I..." Histoire tried to speak, but found it hard.
Blind Histoire took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "If I can keep someone from feeling the same despair as I did, then it's fine."
"I'm willing to listen if you need to talk." Histoire said softly.
"That part of my life is over," Blind Histoire said to her. "And I won't let someone use the Fearicite to destroy this world like my world was destroyed." She turned her head to look at where she sensed Neptune was at. "...I owe your daughter too much to allow her world to suffer."
Histoire blinked as her other self giggled suddenly. "What?"
"I envy you." Blind Histoire told her. "You got to raise such a wonderful and loving CPU that loves you like a daughter loves a mother."
Histoire looked at where Neptune was and smiled softly. "...Sometimes it's easy to forget how lucky I truly am. Tell me, what do you think their plan with the Fearicite is?"
Blind Histoire shook her head. "I have no clue, but as soon as the CPU Candidates recover, we need to make a plan to find these people and destroy the Fearicite they stole."
No matter what, Blind Histoire couldn't allow the Fearicite to get used again.
Histoire just nodded, knowing that her other self knew better than anyone how bad Fearicite was.
To be continued...
Well, that was fun.