Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.

Man, my muse is not working well right now. I blame the moon!

Chapter 53

White Sister Rom's face suddenly turned blue as she shivered while blasting a random monster. "E...Eww... I think someone's looking at my butt!" She yelped and put her free hand over her butt and looked around for any perverts looking at her.

"You too, huh?" White Sister Ram asked as her face was flush as she blasted another monster.

Not far away, White Heart was twitching and fought the urge to put her hands over her own butt. 'If someone really is creeping out on me, Rom or Ram, I'll kill them!'

"Are you three done being silly yet?" C-Sha asked with humor in her voice as she blasted another monster. "Just for the record, I think that dog-lizard-thing monster was staring at your butts."

C-Sha fought the urge to laugh as all three CPUs turned to glare at the monster with similar red eyes and dark expressions on their faces before they let out a yell and pounced on the poor monster, destroying it and several other monsters in an instant.

(-)

"It's been awhile since we last met." Iris Heart said as she gave her other self a serious look.

"Indeed," Iris Queen nodded, "though I suspect that our last meeting didn't go well in my favor, as I was created by the memories of Neppy and she didn't see what happened." An identical sword to Iris Heart's appeared in her hands and she rushed forward, her blade clashing against Iris Heart's. "Tell me something, is it worth it?"

Iris Heart raised an eyebrow as she pushed her sword against her other self's sword. "I suspect you'll ask me if it's worth staying with Neppy after what she did to me?" She sighed when her other self nodded and she pushed the blade away. The two clashed blades several times, neither really putting effort into their fight as Iris Heart tried to think of an answer and Iris Queen waited for the answer. "Fine, I suppose it's impossible for me to held it inside anymore? The answer is: NO!" Iris Heart was rather shocked at how the Death Queen didn't laugh or even look surprised… In fact, her other self looked... Sad and understanding. "Not even a "huh?" Am I really that easy to read?"

"You and I are the one and the same." Iris Queen's answer wasn't loud, but despite all commotion that surrounded them, Iris Heart heard everything loud and clear. "And we both know that it's true for every CPU here. Though, Queen of North's hypocrisy never was aimed at her people, only her beloved ones."

Iris Heart growled. "Don't…" She kicked her other self away, who casually landed few meters away from her, obviously suffering no damage from CPU's attack. Not that Iris Heart was actually trying to hurt Iris Queen anyway. The truth was, she just couldn't muster any strength to fight at full strength. "Dammit!"

"You and I both know the truth." Iris Queen raised her head up to look at Iris Heart. "That you wanted to start a new life and that you were actually happy that you became me in the first place. As the Death Queen of Center you were loved, cherished and respected by our people, our husband… our children…" Both Queen and Goddess visibly quivered, feeling the cold agonizing flames in their stomach at the thought of everything that was lost to them over time.

Iris Queen's voice suddenly changed, quickly becoming lower, as audible malice appeared in her words. "You and I also know that you can't forgive Neppy for what she's done. And honestly, I don't see any reason why you should. Did she even listen to her own excuses: she kinda FORGOT about the seal?! When you and Peashy are pretty much a walking reminder of what she had done. Neppy sure enjoys preaching about the liberty of people of Planeptune, but seems that her own family is NOT included on that list, right?! It's okay for mortals to enjoy their free lives, it's okay to forgive them for targeting innocent hybrids, or Mole People who tried to integrate but CPUs are unforgivable right?! Oh what a just and kind ruler this Neppy, HUH?!"

Iris Heart gave her doppelganger a mixed look of despair and, unfortunately, impotent rage, as Death Queen words continued to hit her right into the place where it hurt. And those words hurt a lot. These thoughts had tormented Plutia for decades after the seal was placed on her and Peashy after all. Initially, she had accepted this as a rightful punishment for starting a fight in a highly populated area, but as the decades went on she had started to get annoyed at the fact that Neptune never gave her her freedom back. Deep down, Iris Heart didn't even want to stay in Planeptune anymore. She just wanted to move into under-cities, to be with her love… with her family. Was she asking for too much?

"Why?" Iris Queen asked softly, coming closer and gently putting her arm on downtrodden Goddess' shoulder. "Why do you keep allowing yourself to be tortured for so long? Just like you loved Neppy, I loved and cherished Frozen Queen of North, but Neppy really doesn't even have the honesty to admit her own shortcomings and faults. She sealed you into your human form, abandoned you and was going to leave you trapped in your human form forever and only unsealed you because of what a bitch Delusional Orange is."

Taking a deep breath Iris Heart raised her face to look into Death Queen's eyes. "I hate how she sealed me away, yet I can't help but admire and even love her." Iris Heart sighed softly before continuing with more steel and anger in her voice. "I can't control how I feel about her… but I'm twisted enough to harbor both deep admiration AND deep hatred toward her at the same time. But really... I can never ever love her as deeply as I did when she com to Ultra Dimension ages ago, I have my husband now but..." She sighed and shook her head, "more importantly, you're right, I just can't currently forgive her and I don't even know will I EVER forgive Neppy, even partly, after everything she had done to me! I would be even more honest with you, Death Queen of the Center, if I was ever presented with choice whom I want to be Queen of Mole people or CPU of Planeptune I would choose to be the Queen again instantly!"

Previously lifeless eyes of Iris Heart flared with life again, and Iris Queen eyes flared in return. "But even so I will NEVER betray my friends… my family! And I know that you would never do this toward your sisters, the other queens! It's time to put this incident to an end."

"Indeed!" Iris Queen grinned, adopting the same expression as her CPU self. "I think we both know what we need to do!"

Their blades clashed and locked in a struggle as the lighting danced around them. Iris Heart nodded as she realized what her other self was telling her and what she needed to do. "Yes, I understand: I'm done with being a martyr for other people's sake. It's time for me to get my own share of happiness." Iris Heart's smile was serene and beautiful as she finally come to term with the question that tormented her for so long. "Once I back home, it's time for me to move to be with my family and this time I'll be the one to decide how long I'll stay there! And I will decide if I forgive Neppy or not. I will decide how my life should go!"

(-)

Not far away, Yellow Heart and Yellow Queen were bouncing from one building to the next as they bounced up while clashing against each other before they finally landed on the roof of two different buildings. Yellow Heart had some scuff marks on her body as she panted lightly.

A screen popped up in front of her and she saw Yellow Queen in front of her. "No need to yell when we can communicate like this." There was amusement in Yellow Queen's voice while Yellow Heart nodded. "Out of breath?"

"Hey, I've been trapped in my kid form for a few centuries, it's been awhile since I had these things," Yellow Heart grabbed her breasts and hefted them up before letting them go, which caused them to bounce wildly, "on my chest, okay?"

"Why didn't you leave?" Yellow Queen asked as she put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "You could have left after the cultists fucked everything up." Yellow Heart looked away slightly and her other self sighed heavily. "You really are just a good loyal pet for your mother, aren't you?" Yellow Heart snapped her head back and glared at her other self.

"Do you really think I could have just left Neptuna alone?" Yellow Heart snapped at Yellow Queen while throwing her hand to the side.

"And what about your husband and children?" Yellow Queen asked her with narrowed eyes. "Instead of fighting against Plutia, you could have joined her and left for people who wouldn't betray you. But you fought against her leaving, destroyed parts of the city and got sealed up by your mother."

"...I love them and I miss them." Yellow Heart said softly, sighing. "But I couldn't..." A gleam came to her eyes as she looked at the Yellow Queen with determination. "I couldn't leave Neptuna alone!" She launched herself at Yellow Queen, who jumped back to avoid the attack as Yellow Heart's attack destroyed a good section of the roof.

Landing on the edge of the building, Yellow Queen narrowed her eyes and ran along the edge of the building until she jumped to another building not far away. "And yet you fought with Plutia for centuries. How many times did you leave the room and not wish to be with her?"

Yellow Heart paused and bit her lip. "...I was at fault, I should have apologized to her sooner. I should have told her that I didn't mean it. But when I'm in my human form, I have the mental capacity of a five year old child and I was so angry at Ploot for wanting to leave that my younger self could never forgive her."

Yellow Queen watched as Yellow Heart floated down. "And yet you can forgive your mother for what she did to you?"

"...You know they both raised me." Yellow Heart said, but sighed. "...I can forgive Neptuna though. I was never mad at her. I saw her crying so much after she sealed us up."

"...You never went to hug her." Yellow Queen pointed out. "You never once comforted her."

"...What could I have said?" Yellow Heart asked her other self. "No matter what I did, I couldn't take her pain away." She sighed and looked down at where the other CPUs were fighting.

Yellow Queen saw her other self deflate and she shook her head. "It happens, you were once human after all, you're not perfect. Neither is Plutia or Neptune, no matter how much you look up to her."

Yellow Heart nodded. "...I know, but I think that Neptuna would have become like Rei if I abandoned her."

"Tell me," Yellow Queen asked Yellow Heart, "if you had to choose, to be a CPU or to give it up to be a Mole Queen, what would you choose?"

Yellow Heart closed her eyes and shook her head. "...That's unfair to ask that. Because I don't know."

"You really are too loyal to your mother." Yellow Queen said as she pulled out an over-sized pipe that Yellow Heart recognized as a rocket launcher and pointed it at Yellow Heart before pressing the button and launching, of all things, a giant boxing glove that hit Yellow Heart in the face and launched her into a nearby building.

"...I just had to be a practical joker when I was a Mole Queen, didn't I?" Yellow Heart muttered as she remembered all the things she did while a Mole Queen. "I really owe some people an apology for acting like a little brat." She pushed herself off of the building and flew up as several pies hit where she had been a moment ago.

"What? Didn't want to get hit with those pies?" Yellow Queen asked as she ran away from Yellow Heart, who was charging down with her claws glowing.

"Because those pies would have either been a stink bomb, exploded and made a huge mess and it's a PAIN to clean my hair in this form, or they would have dissolved my clothes." Yellow Heart said just as she got close to the ground before she swung out with her claws and several blue bladed energy waves rushed out.

Yellow Queen jumped off of the building as the energy wave passed by where she had been a moment ago. "Well, I know that we never had a problem with fighting naked."

Yellow Heart popped her head over the edge as she saw Yellow Queen bouncing off of the building, onto the next building and down to the ground. Sighing softly, Yellow Heart floated there and thought about the question Yellow Queen had asked her. "...I really don't know what I would choose." Yellow Heart said softly. "I want to be a good CPU, but if it means becoming like Kurome or Rei, then do I really want to be like that?"

She knew that unlike Kurome or Rei, she had friends and family she could turn to.

But Yellow Heart also knew that if things had continued the way they did, that she and the others would have ended up bitter and hostile to everyone out of sheer spite and frustration.

"...Even Neptuna would have, wouldn't she?" Yellow Heart asked herself. Shaking off the question, she launched herself at Yellow Queen. She had no clue what was going to happen, but she knew one thing was for sure...

She was going to see this through to the end.

Okay, the truth is, the Iris Heart vs Iris Queen part was causing me a headache. Big thanks to my beta reader for helping me with it.

And so, the typical "URGH, this took FOREVER" from me, because it took a long time for me to get done. Sorry for the wait, hope it was good.

Fixed some grammar issues.