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

Hope you all had a good Easter.

Chapter 56

The sounds of metal on metal filled the air, combined with occasional yells and energy blasts as Purple Sister slammed her gunblade on the Frozen Queen's fans. "You're actually a lot stronger than I would have thought." The Frozen Queen said as she turned her metal fans to the side and grabbed Purple Sister's arms before spinning around and throwing her away. "All things considered, Planeptune's Shares in your world aren't that high compared to the Shares in my world."

"Your world?" Purple Sister asked as she got up. "But you're Neptune..."

"I was born in the Ultra Dimension, not the Hyper Dimension." The Frozen Queen said with narrowed eyes. She closed her eyes and sighed softly as she closed her fans. "I tire of fighting like this."

"Huh?" Purple Sister blinked as the Frozen Queen reached up and removed her mask, reverting her face to Purple Heart. "...What are you doing?"

"I do not wish to fight you as the Frozen Queen of the North, Nepgear." Was the answer she got as a large broadsword appeared to rise out of the ground. "Call me, Purple Queen." She smirked and rushed forward, swinging her blade at Purple Sister, who blocked it with her gunblade. "Impressive."

Purple Sister grimaced as she pushed back on the blade. "You took that off to make me hesitate, didn't you?" Purple Sister asked while pushing hard and forcing the Purple Queen away.

"If my face was enough to make you hesitate, you would have already been cut down." Purple Queen said as she held her sword down and to the side while she walked forward. "Still..." She narrowed her eyes as a blue aura surrounded her sword and she grabbed the hilt with both hands and swung out at Purple Sister, sending a wave of cold and ice that engulfed Purple Sister, leaving just her head, chest, hands and feet exposed.

"H...HEY!" Purple Sister gasped in surprise as she tried to move and found that she couldn't move much.

Purple Queen chuckled as she walked up to Purple Sister and lightly patted her cheek. "Did you know? That there were four reasons why Neptune wanted to return to this world, despite the other world being her home for so many centuries?"

"What?" Purple Sister asked in confusion, not understanding why her elder sister's other self was asking that question.

"It's simple..." Purple Queen said as she slowly walked around Purple Sister's body as the CPU Candidate tried to get free. "Her first two reasons are basically the same. IF and Compa, their deaths hurt Neptune in ways that you can't imagine." As Purple Queen got around behind Purple Sister, she saw that Purple Sister's butt was sticking out of the ice wall and chuckled softly. "Well, that is to be expected... After all, they were her best friends here and her daughters in the other world." She continued to walk slowly around the frozen Purple Sister. "While Neptune kept up with IF and Compa's descendants over the years, when she was, well, me for those few decades, she lost track of their descendants and after being freed, she never was able to find their descendants."

"...Does that mean that Iffy and Compa's descendants..." Purple Sister whispered and the Purple Queen could only shrug helplessly.

"I only know what Neptune knows and even if she's spent hundreds of years looking, she never found any traces of their descendants after returning as the CPU of Planeptune." The Purple Queen said softly. "The third reason is actually because of something that happened before she became me." Purple Sister gave the Purple Queen a confused look. "She grew tired of that bitch of an angel, who would come once a year, every year, to collect money and Shares from Planeptune and the other nations to take to Celestia. The worst part is, she demanded all of the missed payments for the years that your sister was me, on top of the yearly payments."

Purple Sister gasped, her eyes wide upon hearing that. "But that..."

"Nearly destroyed all four nations, yes." Purple Queen said, nodding. "It took nearly ten years to pay off the missed payments and it took nearly fifty years after that to recover fully after the demands were met."

"...No wonder big sis didn't like that angel." Purple Sister muttered before trying to get out of the ice again.

"Indeed." Purple Queen nodded. "As for the final reason," she reached up and gently cupped Purple Sister's chin, smiling softly. "Was you." Purple Sister stared in shock. "You were the one person that she wanted to see more than anyone else. She wanted to hug you, hold you, smile and laugh with you and spoil you rotten."

Purple Sister wanted to say something, but the memories of Neptune waking up early to cook breakfast for her and working hard so they could spend time together in the evenings, going on walks together all came flooding back to her. Even if it was for only a short while after Neptune had returned, her elder sister did spend what time she could spare with Nepgear. '...Now that she said it, it does kind of feel like Neptune was doting on me a lot, huh?'

Purple Queen sighed and let go of Purple Sister's chin. "Sadly, despite my feelings for you, it's time to say goodbye."

"Oh!" Purple Sister's eyes widened as she saw Purple Queen grip her sword. "Before we say goodbye, I have one thing I want to say."

"...What?"

"Surprise!" Purple Sister laughed as two large bits appeared just above her head, turned and fired at the ice, shattering it. "DEYAH!" Purple Sister yelled as she rushed out, swinging her blade at Purple Queen, who blocked it.

"You used an EXE Drive attack to shatter the ice?!" Purple Queen gasped in shock. "No one's ever done that to my ice cage before."

"Well, glad to be the first to do it." Purple Sister said as she swung her blade down while Purple Queen stepped back while pointing her sword down with the flat of her blade facing Purple Sister. Their blades clashed several times as Purple Sister swung over and over, each time her blade clanged with Purple Queen's blade, Purple Sister frowned softly. '...What is this... It feels so hollow...'

"Impressive bladework." Purple Queen said as she parried another attack, before spinning her large broadsword so that she pulled Purple Sister towards her and jabbed the younger girl right between her breasts with the pommel of her sword, knocking her onto her butt. "But you are at a disadvantage, I have decades of direct experience as myself and hundreds of years of experience from your sister. Noire must be a rather proud teacher."

"I'm surprised that you figured out that she taught me some of her bladework." Purple Sister said as she got up, rubbing her chest where she had been struck.

"I have all of your sister's memories, after all." Purple Queen said as she walked towards Purple Sister with the tip of her blade near the edge of the ground. "And the Noire that I know personally fights pretty similar to your Noire, though my Noire isn't above using every dirty trick in the book to win a fight, including dirt to the eye, flashing her breasts or shooting someone in the face when they're trying to show off."

Purple Sister gawked at Purple Queen. "...Well, never thought Noire could fight dirty, but I guess time changes everyone."

"Indeed." Purple Queen nodded before lunging in and swinging her sword over-head with energy surrounding the sword.

"NO!" Purple Sister cried out as she jumped at Purple Queen, her gunblade clashing against the large broadsword. "NGH!" Purple Sister grunted as the energy crashed around them, creating pillars of ice and cold. "Why?"

"Hmm?" Purple Queen asked as she calmly pressed against Purple Sister's gunblade. "Why what? Why do we have to fight?"

"No!" Purple Sister shook her head. "That's not what I want to know. I want to know..." She felt her right knee buckle under the pressure from the Purple Queen as she was forced down. "Every time we clash, I feel something from you."

"And what is that?" Purple Queen asked calmly.

"...Why are you so sad?" Purple Sister asked, causing Purple Queen to stare at her blankly, though the energy emanating from her sword dissipated. "Every time we clash, you feel... You feel so empty and sad."

"...Do you really want to know the truth?" Purple Queen asked Purple Sister, her eyes looking at Purple Sister sadly. "...Unlike the other Queens and the other Ouya and other Stadia... I'm the person you fought when Neptune was brainwashed by Kurome."

"WHAT?!" Purple Sister gasped in shock and surprise, her eyes wide. "B...But how?!"

Purple Queen gave Purple Sister a gentle look. "Plot convenience, antagonist powers, an over-look by Kurome or simply the author decided it would be more interesting. Take your pick."

Purple Sister sweat-dropped so hard that she thought that she was going to lose her balance. "Can't you come up with a less meta answer to my question?"

"...I'm technically still Neptune, you know."

Purple Sister just continued to sweat-drop. "...I suppose so." Her eyes widened as a thought came to her. "I...If that's the case, I want to ask you something." Purple Queen gave her a confused look, but nodded. "...If you're really Neptune, can you answer me... Do...Do you miss your husband and children?"

For the first time that Purple Sister had known the Purple Queen, a look of sheer sorrow crossed her face. "...More than anything in the world. I had to protect the people of Gamindustri, I thought that I could at least split by time between the surface and the under-cities. It didn't work out. I missed out on so much of their lives. It was because I was gone at the wrong moment that those cultists ruined everything."

"...Neptune." Purple Sister whispered softly. "...You really did suffer so much." She closed her eyes when she didn't feel any more pressure on the blade from the Purple Queen and she gently guided the blade down. "...I think, deep down, even if she lived here for a century, she'd still be unhappy."

"...Probably." Purple Queen said in agreement.

"...You threw yourself into your CPU duties, didn't you?" Purple Sister asked as Purple Queen looked down and to the side while hugging herself. "...In the end, you lost yourself in your duty as a CPU, you lost what made you happy..."

"...I was so determined to not let the cultists ruin anything again." Purple Queen said softly.

Purple Sister looked at the Purple Queen, but she didn't see the cold ruler that tormented people, she saw her elder sister standing in front of her, in pain. "...But you didn't see how your actions were hurting others..." She took a step forward and cupped her sister's cheek. "Because you were hurting so much, weren't you? You hurt Plutia and Peashy and didn't think anything of it."

Purple Queen sighed and pulled Purple Sister into a hug. "...I know I'm not Neptune, exactly, but..."

Purple Sister shook her head. "No, you, Purple Heart, Neptune... You're all the same person inside her, you each just show different levels of emotion."

Purple Queen just closed her eyes and smiled softly. "Thank you... Nepgear. I needed that."

Nepgear nodded, smiling.

Well, I do like to subvert expectations after all. I just hope it was good.