It's that time of year again, when the ghost, ghouls, vampires, and other horrors of the night come out for one thing… candy. Wait—what!? They're actually kids in costumes? Ah, man… (Kicks random tombstone) … this day can't get any worse. (As a decayed hand rises from the dirt next to the tombstone)

Hello! Spooky narrator here with another Nepuween special. Before we let the Nep loose into the night, I would like to say that this will be tied to "From Here to Europa." Which is the most recent Neptunia story of mine.

For those that are new, the takeaway from this story is that Noire and Neptune are married with a daughter they received from their joined shares. I'm not sure on the level of spoilers for this story since it draws from a trilogy of stories that I made in the past, but I would still like to inform you about it. This story is designed to be a Nepuween special first and foremost, so please enjoy it for just that.

As for this being tied to "From Here to Europa" I'll explain this further at the end. For now, please enjoy this Nepuween story.

A Jack-o-lantern glowed hauntedly on top of the kitchen counter. The orange guts inside the pumpkin oozed out of every carved hole of the orange fruit. Next to the spooky face of the pumpkin, a three-year-old, Euri, sat on a chair eating cheese, ham, and crackers from a charcuterie board. Aside from her hungry red eyes gazing at the snack in her hands, she was also watching a video on her new tablet that rested next to her.

The twin-tailed mother, Noire, hummed a spooky tune while she waited for the oven to finish what she was baking. Feeling like her job had been completed, she took off her black apron to reveal a spooky pumpkin knitted orange sweater. "Are you enjoying the snack?" Asked Noire to her daughter while she patted her pink-colored hair. Her daughter's hair this time around was styled as half-up pigtails.

She joined her daughter in the stylish snack by stacking a cracker, cheese, and a slice of cured meat together and taking a bite.

"Really good, papa," she happily giggled.

Noire swallowed quickly and crossed her arms playfully. Her playful shake of the head was all she gave her daughter from that unsavory statement at the end.

The phone rang, giving her a startled fright. "Who could that be? Hello?" She said onto the end piece of the home phone.

The other line was eerily silent, and all Noire could hear was her daughter blissfully munching on crackers stacked with cheese and cured meats behind her while the faint sound of gaming emanated from the tablet.

Just then, the other line came alive with a creepy breath that sounded deep and slow. "Who's this?"

"What do you mean? You were the one that called me," said Noire sternly.

The breathing paused then continued again. "What's your favorite horror video game?" Came the deep voice that was trying too hard to sound creepy.

"Huh? If you're one of those pranksters, then I'll have you know that you're calling one of the CPUs of this nation." She harshly said with her back now turned away from her pink-haired daughter. She expected this level of threat would be enough to cause the casual of pranksters to hightail the call.

The slow creepy breathing continued. "I know exactly who I'm calling. Now, answer the question. What's your favorite horror video game?"

With the voice now repeating itself, she could almost be sure that it sounded like Neptune trying hard to mimic a deep voice. It wasn't the first time she tried to sound different. Of course, in the past, that was to help her get out of situations she didn't want to do. She covered the bottom piece and made a goofy face of annoyance that got her daughter to laugh. "That playful goofball. This is so like her to do this kind of prank." She uncovered the bottom piece and decided to play this game. "Hey, you there? Well, if I had to pick a favorite, it'll probably have to be Silent Woods. You can't go wrong with the classics. And how could you beat the setting of a sleepy town surrounded by fog, mystery, monsters, and psychological horror? I'll tell you—you add an everyman character named Berry. What about you?"

The deep voice on the other line sounded caught off guard by how passionate Noire had responded, but quickly composed themselves. "Why don't you take a guess?" Said the creepy voice.

"That hardly seems fair," stated the orange sweater girl.

"Okay, I'll give you a hint. The killer classics," said the voice on the other line.

Noire smirked and playfully gave it some thought. "Hmm... then how about Dogoos ate my neighbors? Splatterhome? Friday the 14? Am I in the ballpark, Neptune?" She accentuated the name with high cheery energy.

The voice on the other end grew startled and panicky. "What? I'm not Neptune—I'm… uh… the night slasher!"

Noire made a sound of playful fake agreement and she quickly pulled out her personal phone.

On the other line, a ring tone from a popular hedgehog game could be heard. "Aww, fiddle strings. How did you know it was me, Nowa?" The voice had stopped emulating a deep voice and her wife's lovable voice now flowed naturally.

"You can't do a good deep voice. Maybe if you changed into HDD, but you still can't fool me," stated Noire rather pridefully.

"I was only trying to keep you on your toes during Nepuween. You never know when the real deal might strike."

"Right... get back home so that I can clock you in the head," said Noire who made Euri laugh. "I think Euri agrees with me that her mama Neptune needs a lesson." She made her way into the living room while she waited for Neptune to respond.

"Well, jokes on you because the call is coming from within the house!" She yelled with a spooky dread to the way she said those words

"Huh?!" Noire then looked up and spotted Neptune at the top of the stairs while she looked through the bars that guarded against accidental falls. The purple-haired prankster had her hoodie up with a ghost mask over her face that did give Noire a quick second of fright—if she came clean to that claim. In one quick motion, she vaulted over the bars from the top stairs and fell toward her wife.

A flash of particles shined from below and the purple-haired ghost girl found herself in the arms of her wife, Black Heart.

Black Heart's teal eyes sternly and angrily pierced the other CPU as she yanked the mask off.

Neptune's face was like a deer caught in headlights. She tried to playfully kiss up to her wife by trying to kiss her, but that wasn't going to happen.

Still visibly upset, Black Heart was not having any of that. She one-handedly picked up her wife by her hood and sternly looked at her again.

"Nowa... come on—Nepuween! Also, I think you're stretching my hoodie."

Black Heart scoffed and dropped Neptune as she fell softly on the couch below her.

The white-haired CPU didn't waste a second and pinned the purple-haired girl underneath her with her smirk now replacing her stern expression. "During this time of year, I think a new horror game is due. How about a game where the purple-haired teaser is thrown into a dark spooky castle with no memory of her past?"

"Like amnesia?" Worriedly said Neptune while she squirmed underneath her wife.

"Hey, now that sounds like a good name. What do you say? I'm sure I can throw you from here to that run-down dilapidated hotel just a mile down the road."

Neptune grew panicky and her eyes showed that. "H-Hey now, you're just joking, right? Little old me is going to get her noggin bruised."

"It's not the first time that you face high five the ground, sweetie. I have faith in you that you won't suffer any bad injuries."

Neptune's face grew blue as she felt her body lift from the couch. Her wife, Black Heart, maintained her uncomfortably sunny smile while making her way toward the glass doors that led to their balcony.

"Nowa, I'm sorry, baby! Don't throw this Nep across the street!" She pleaded for her safety, and that's when Black Heart stopped her smiling and closed her eyes to ponder.

"Nah, here we go, Neptune. And if you try using some random girl to break your fall, you are so sleeping on the couch!"

"Ah, I would never do that, Nowa. This Nep only uses one girl to break her fall!" The purple-haired troublemaker heard a giggle and just as she felt herself separate from her wife's hands; two pairs of arms quickly wrapped themselves around her waist. Neptune then found herself sitting on the railing of the balcony while she gazed into her wife's teal eyes.

"Now that's what I like to hear." Black Heart connected her lips for a quick kiss toward her wife before letting her jump down from the rail and touch the safety of the balcony floor.

"Ah, sweet, sweet terra firma," joked Neptune while she comically hugged the ground.

Black Heart reverted and Noire leaned on the railing, feeling very satisfied. "Now, is all the Nepfoolery gone from your system? You have a bad habit of going overboard with your antics when it comes to Nepuween. Pfft, with you it's always trick and treats."

Neptune got up from the ground and happily hugged Noire. "I'll admit, I feel less energetic now to push you over the line because of that near-death experience, but let's see how the night progresses."

"Near-death? As if you couldn't use your HDD to avoid hitting some abandoned hotel," stated Noire with a smile.

Both went to the kitchen, where a clueless Euri was uninformed of the actions in the other room. She continued to eat the crackers, cheese, and hams happily while clicking on another video once the first one had ended.

Neptune joined her while using both of her hands to wolf down the large supply of food that resided on the wooden board.

The oven sounded off and Noire quickly opened it to reveal a tray of freshly baked cookies. The smell was heavenly and overpowering that both daughter and mother stopped eating to appreciate the aroma. "I hope you saved room for some spooky cookies," said the black-haired baker.

She placed the tray right next to the charcuterie board. The tray housed a wide unique array of cookies with so much personality. There were about twenty-one cookies with three different kinds. The first set was all black, most likely food coloring, with white chocolate chips, and regular chocolate chips in the center of the white to take on the appearance of eyeballs.

Neptune marveled at the creepy cookies of many eyes.

The next set were traditional ghost cookies that didn't need further explaining.

Euri looked to be a big fan of this set as she showed it with her hungry eyes while also finding the spooky ghost faces to be cute.

The last set was the most unique and it had both mother and daughter stunned. The last set of cookies were long and thin that resembled ghoulish green fingers. Noire even placed a slice of an almond at the front to emulate a fingernail.

"What do you think?" Said Noire pridefully.

"Papa, that's scary," said Euri rather amusingly than actual terror.

"It's for Nepuween, sweetie. In fact, aren't you excited to be trick or treating tonight?"

"Yeah! I'll have tons and tons of candies!" Jubilantly sang the little girl from her chair.

"That's what I like to hear, but I won't allow you to stuff yourself or the tummy ache monster will get you," said Noire.

Her daughter laughed sweetly at Noire as she went back to looking at the fresh baked cookies.

Neptune comically danced like someone winning a grand prize. "Oh, I'm so excited for her first candy loot, Noire."

"Yeah, she was still so young when her first Nepuween happened last year. Even though this is her second, it's the one that's going to count," said Noire rather determined to have her daughter have the best night possible.

"I guess we should get her ready once we have a try at all these cookies," said Neptune devilishly.

"Nope, you two are only allowed one cookie. When we get back, you can have another," said Noire.

"Oh fine. I'll get the ghostie one. What about you, Euri?"

"I want the witch's finger," excitedly said the pink-haired kid.

"How bold, I expected nothing less from my daughter," said Noire. She picked the green finger by sliding it between her index and middle finger. She then moved her hand toward her daughter's face as if she was going to poke her. Instead, she tapped her on the nose before placing it on her daughter's hand.

Both Neptune and Noire happily giggled when their daughter immediately started sucking on the green finger—right before she chomped off the tip of the finger.

"Too cute! But enough of that. Neptune, do me a favor and seal up the remaining crackers. Then put the cured meats and the fruit in the fridge. I'm going to get Euri's costume ready in the living room." She took a strawberry from the board, feeling unsurprised that both had left the fruit by itself.

"No problem. Say… what was the deal with this adult Lunchable that you brought?" In tangent with her question, she stacked a dizzying pattern of ham and cheese between two crackers while eyeing it deliciously.

"Huh? Oh, I got it as a thank you from some of the Basilicom staff workers. We all had a mini Nepuween party earlier today. We had cute finger food and plenty of soda pop."

Neptune stared at her with confusion and a full mouth that puffed out her cheeks. "You did?!"

Noire dodged a few remnants of food that launched by accident from Neptune's literal loaded question. "Yeah, everyone was there, Histoire, and all the Basilicom staff. I guess you were too busy to get the memo while trying to think up a way to scare me," said Noire.

"Hmm, yeah that checks out. Dang. But not to worry; the day is still young, and the night hasn't even started," said Neptune.

(Later on, that day)

Noire hummed happily under her breath. She worked on a purple full-body outfit that looked about the size to fit a three-year-old girl.

"Ki ki ki, ma ma ma…"

Noire froze as she oddly scanned her surroundings to verify if she did hear some semblance of a noise. The living room stayed quiet since her daughter was in her room playing and Neptune had left to pick up her Nepuween costume. The thought of that had her upset because if Neptune had come to her, she would have made her costume just like she was doing with Euri. Letting out a frustrated breath, she then relaxed again and continued to work on the suit.

"Ki ki ki, ma ma ma…"

"What the—! Euri!"

"Yes!" Came the sounds of her daughter from the open door in the hallway.

"Are you in your room?" Asked Noire, her knitting needle still in mid-work.

"Yes!" Came the innocently simple response.

"Hmm, okay…" Noire refocused on her work and chopped it up as just some Nepuween chitters that was probably in her mind.

"Ki ki ki, ma ma ma…" A deadly look sharpened in the black-haired girl's eyes as she decided to vault over the couch, expecting someone to be there.

Empty, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Noire relaxed greatly, completely unaware of the looming shadow behind her.

"BOO!"

The hairs on the back of Noire's neck stood up and her skin nearly jumped from the rest of herself. "Ahhh!" Quickly turning around, she crazily locked eyes with Neptune wearing a hockey mask.

"Got you, Nowa!" Happily declared Neptune. Her eyes were expressing great happiness behind the white hockey mask.

All traces of fright left her system, and a wave of deep abyssal anger replaced that emotion. "You little—" Noire pulled the mask off her wife and broke it in half with her hands.

Neptune comically shrieked in response to that, like when Peashy took her last pudding cup. "Nowa, I had to trade one of my pudding cups with one of the neighborhood kids for that mask," said Neptune with a single teary eye.

"You're lucky that's all I'm doing. Actually, redact that." Her tone was harsh and haggard like a wild asylum inmate proclaiming what they were going to do to the local doc that kept messing with their brain.

Neptune gulped as she knew she had just Nepped up.

Instead of physical or verbal abuse, Neptune found herself assisting her wife in their daughter's costume. Neptune held it from the arm sleeves, giving Noire a better sense of freedom to use both hands to finalize the tiny parts that had been giving her trouble.

"There, all done." Her smile was unmatched for one that took great pride in something related to her daughter.

From Neptune's angle, she could see the cute face of her wife as she cutely focused on her passion project, making sure she didn't miss any detail before mentally giving herself the green light. Their eyes met briefly with Neptune smiling at her wife's diligent work.

Instead of anger in those red eyes, a soft and adoring pair glanced back at Neptune. They could both feel that they had bonded emotionally from this moment that needed no words.

Noire leaned forward and captured her wife's lips and Neptune hummed cutely as the back of her head landed on the cushion. The kiss went on for minutes until breathing had become harder to gather.

"Hmm, you taste like candy," said Noire with a raised eyebrow and hefty breath. She couldn't control her desire and allowed herself to playfully bite her wife's lower lip ever so gently.

Neptune did not hide how much she had enjoyed that. "And you taste like pumpkin spice coffee, but I'm okay with that. Sorry… about the whole 'spooking you' thing," said Neptune with a sincere apology.

Noire sighed and rested her head on her wife's chest. "I really don't mind when you tease or bully me, you know? I know you do that out of love, and I would have been more upset if I unleashed my anger and struck you for real. Aside from that, it was fine. I… like it when we do this whole push and pull thing. It feels like out-of-bedroom foreplay," said Noire with a sexy smirk that was a Neptune exclusive.

Stars appeared in Neptune's eyes, and she smiled even brightly. "Oh my, how voracious of you to say something like that outside the bedroom," teased Neptune.

Noire comfortably laughed and playfully used her wife's forehead to push herself into a sitting position. "Oh, shut up. Instead of these ghost and hockey masks, why don't we dress up more appropriately later tonight when we get back?"

Neptune perked up happily. "Can you wear that sexy fighter outfit? The one that you made a few weeks ago?"

"Oh, I like that pick, but what about you—and no horror theme, got it?"

"Hmm… I might have something new that you might like," said Neptune without giving away anything else.

"Okay, I see." Noire felt disappointed and intrigued by what her wife had in mind. She expected her to use one of the many outfits she made for Neptune whenever they grew bold or were a bit passionately high after a wonderful date night. Maybe it was them reaching a state of pure comfort in their marriage or them trying to recapture that one night when they conceived their daughter. That night had no rival, and not only did they receive the greatest gift they could ever ask from their joined share energy, but had intimately joined to reach another worldly state of passion.

They were interrupted when they saw a flash of pink run across the hallway from the corner of their eyes. The pink blur was their daughter who had raced to the bathroom.

"Uh oh! Guess who ran to the bathroom?" Noire smiled and folded the costume on her lap, waiting for her wife to respond.

"When you gotta go—you gotta go," laughed Neptune.

"I'm proud how quickly she picked up potty training. We still need to clean her but at least she knows that she has to go to the bathroom," said Noire.

"Totally. Although, we might have to wait a bit. I think I saw her run in there with her tablet."

Noire gave her wife a stupefied look. "What? She does that?!"

"She's tied to the hip with that thing, you know. Nepgear sure didn't think it through when she gifted her that thing. She's so into watching all those kid videos on Neptube."

Noire showed a tired disgusted expression to the quality of videos that were labeled for kids, like when someone has the same food for the ninth time in a row. "Yeah... they might look kid-friendly but some of the content that they show, and talk feels a little off."

"You might have a point, Nowa," said Neptune. She did remember one time she saw Euri watching a Neptuber play a dress-up game that had the princess in her underwear. She made a mental note to check her video history for the ultimate proof if they were more leaning on the side of weird gray area videos.

"I'm done!"

The CPU parents glanced at the hallway from where they heard their daughter yell. Through a mental exchange of looks that had been forged throughout many experiences, they both took a step back from each other.

"Rock, paper, scissors—shoot!" They both yelled in unison and revealed their choice of finger sign.

Neptune's was a flat paper while Noire had scissors.

Noire sighed and folded her arms victoriously.

"Ah, dang. Looks like it's duty duty for me," said the purple-haired girl.

Noire innocently played with her hair while keeping her gaze away from her wife. "It's for the best. And lecture her that she shouldn't be having her tablet with her in the bathroom; it's unsanitary."

Neptune held a finger out like she just found the identity of the person that ate her last pudding. "I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to make me the bad Nep while you'll swoop in and comfort her with your spooky cookies."

Noire blushed and hummed to drown out the truthful words of her wife. "I think I hear the cookies ready in the oven," she walked away, leaving Neptune to shake her head with a small smile.

"Cookies were already out," said the purple-haired girl.

"Mommy, I'm done!"

"Eep! Coming, sweetie." Neptune blasted off from her location like the diligent mother she was.

A few hours later, the sky turned from blood orange to darkness as sunset drowned into the void of night.

The two CPU mothers held their breath in awe and excitement after dressing Euri.

"How do you like it, sweetie?" Noire grasped her hands together in anticipation with a held breath. Her pride was worlds apart from any other type she had ever had before.

Neptune merely stood awe-struck at the costume.

Euri hopped excitedly on the couch. On top of her head, stood two great yellow horns that rested on a purple wig that covered her pink hair. On her torso, she had a purple shirt with sleeves. Yellow covered her chest, and orange wings with yellow outlining stood majestically outward from behind her back.

Noire smiled at the next part as it gave the costume a more ladylike vibe. A purple skirt bounced up and down from all the jumping coupled with an equally bouncing purple tail underneath it. The tail also had yellow triangles going up its structure. Lastly, to finish it off simply, she had black pants with purple sneakers.

"I'm a dragon! Rawr!"

"Yes, you definitely are." Noire stood next to her while Neptune pulled out a camera to snap a few photos of this wonderful and memorable moment. When she was done, Noire did the same for her.

"Wow, I gotta say that this is one of your best works," smiled Neptune while she scanned the photos on the camera.

Noire held her head up high with a brilliance in her red eyes that one might think could have been rubies. "I work with what I got." While she tried to act humble, her wife snorted in a form of a laugh.

"But a dragon? Um... doesn't she know that dragons can fly?"

The orange sweater girl immediately pulled herself out of her dream-like state. "Shhhh! She's been watching Neptubers playing one of my old classics. She's taken a real liking to the young dragon that you play as. The way I see it, this might be the inch we need to show her that flying isn't all bad. This tells that she's interested in the idea but executing it is another story."

The excitement in the pudding lover could have been seen from Old Lastation. They both connected their hands and jumped in unison. "Oh, very cheeky, Nowa. I always did like that sharp brain of yours." Well then, I guess it's time for our costume change."

Neptune moved a few feet back and a purple show of particles washed over the hyper mother. When they faded, Purple Heart stood with a purple mage outfit and matching pointy hat.

Noire stood gobsmacked at the incredible detail work and beautiful outfit that her wife found herself in. "Neptune. Where the heck did you get that outfit?" An irritating sensation scratched in her brain as she also wondered where she had seen that outfit. It's from a video game, that much was sure.

Purple Heart remained quiet yet gave her wife a meek expression. "Umm, let's just say that it was a gift from a friend of a friend…" Her brows lowered, feeling the weight of the minor deceit. "And by a gift I mean I bought it."

Noire valued her wife's honesty—however, it still ticked her off. "Neptune! Did you use Basilicom funds to buy it? You could have just told me to make it." She could not hide the jealousy that quickly replaced the anger she had felt.

Purple Heart laughed at how cute her wife didn't even try to hide her emotions. "It wouldn't be a surprise if you made it, Noire. No funds were used from the Basilicom. Would you believe me that I did nightly guild work before Nepuween happened?"

"Nightly? Is that why I haven't been getting a good night's sleep? Because you're not by my side?"

"Aw, Noire." Purple Heart gave her wife a devoted expression of love and happiness all rolled into one wonderful smile.

Noire looked away, her face red like magma. "Umm... forget what I said!"

"Tonight, you can hold me like one of Plutia's stuffed dolls. I too have missed you holding me, and I would much rather have that than stalking and taking out Weredogoos, undead Horsebirds, infested creatures, and even more creepy spooky-themed monsters."

Noire didn't bat an eye at the weird creatures that her wife listed. Considering Gamindustri was always evolving, they were probably a new subspecies that started to populate. "I might just do that. And just like her, I'll keep going until all the stuffing comes out," said Noire in a tone that conveyed her annoyance wasn't all the way gone.

A while later, Purple Heart and her daughter stood outside the Basilicom while they waited for Noire to come out. Night had mostly conquered the sky and the lights of the streetlamps illuminated the area around them. Aside from that, she noticed that other people were walking about in costumes with their kids next to them. A smile formed on her face as she remembered that she always went trick or treating for her own sake, but now she had more reason to continue the tradition for her daughter.

The mage-dressed mother smiled warmly while she gazed at her energetic daughter run and jump across the sidewalk concrete.

"Rawr! I'm a dragon. Don't make me burn you!" She acted out how a ferocious dragon might respond.

Purple Heart squatted down and held her hands up. "Oh no, please don't burn me mighty dragon. I don't look good with a skin burn."

"Okay, give me candy and I won't burn you!" Challenged the small dragon to the mage. She held out a black cauldron basket toward the mage.

"I don't have candy at the moment, but I can take you to a place where candy is being given out."

"Take me now!" Happily cheered the young dragon.

Purple Heart ruffled her daughter's wig and stood up. "Okay, let's just wait for mama Noire, too."

"Yah!"

They heard the Basilicom doors open and close. "Okay, I'm all set." Noire emerged in a black dress and skirt that had a porcelain doll vibe to it.

Purple Heart grew fascinated at the cute mole that Noire had painted on the right part of her chin. That fascination shifted to curiosity and hilarity at the fact that she had a blindfold.

"Noire, you look… amazing?" She wanted to be truthful, but the truth would do more harm than good. Of course, Euri was still too young to understand that. She expressed her innocence by laughing and tugging on her mother's skirt while she pointed at Noire.

"Hmph, don't lose your jaw so quickly. This isn't the outfit that I'll be using later tonight," she said enticingly with arms folded.

"Noire, honey, please rotate a few degrees to the right," said Purple Heart.

Noire grew embarrassed and lifted the blindfold so that one of her eyes was able to see. Turns out she wasn't facing them when she said all that stuff. "Oh, maybe I didn't think this outfit all the way through." "You have more costumes, mommy?!"

Noire's heart skipped when she finally heard her daughter call her by what she had desired for a while. She wondered if her daughter was so caught up in the moment that she forgot to tease her or maybe this was the start of something new. "Ah! I have a lot of cool outfits. Say, maybe we can make a day out of it, and I'll show you some of the cool outfits that I made."

"They're cool?!"

Noire grew a bit hurt, and she regained her composure as she remembered that her daughter spoke with absentminded innocence. "Well obviously, I did make that dragon costume for you, and what do you think of the handiwork?"

"Really good!"

"Well, there you have it."

"Think it's time we get going before the neighborhood we picked out gets filled up by other people having the same idea," said Purple Heart.

Noire smiled and held up a car key that she produced from her skirt. "Right. Luckily, Euri's car seat wasn't taken out the last time we used the car."

"Feels a little wild that we have a car now." Purple Heart closed her eyes, remembering the day they got it, and the day that she almost crashed it as well. From then on, Noire had decided to do the driving.

"It was an inevitability. With Euri growing and needing to go to places, it just makes sense since… you know." An accepting, yet sad smile was produced from the black-haired CPU.

Purple Heart felt the sadness that her wife resonated with. The sadness that her daughter felt terrified about flying, something that they were so accustomed to. It was at that moment that the purple mage formulated a plan. "Yeah, say. Euri, why don't we fly to the car?" She lowered herself to get at eye level with her daughter to better communicate her desire.

Euri's excited and untamed energy from before extinguished quickly like a candle once those words manifested to her ears. Her body language looked reserved and shy now.

"Neptune!"

The mage sent out a pleading look to her wife for her trust that Noire could only agree and put her faith toward her wife's plans. Purple Heart then locked eyes wither fearful daughter who had been hugging her cauldron basket. "Hear me out, sweetie. I pinky promise that I won't let anything happen to you."

Euri nodded and hooked her pinky finger with her mother's finger.

Purple Heart gave her a proud warming smile. Without words, purple wings of light appeared behind her mother.

Euri gazed at the wings, completely spellbound by how beautiful they looked. This wasn't the first time she saw them. The thing that made them truly beautiful in her eyes was the fact that they never failed to allow her to get used to their beauty. The way particles of light and light fluctuations across the wings danced were unique, like snowflakes. In this sense, their beauty was ever evolving.

"Let's do baby steps." Purple Heart floated a few inches off the ground without her wings hardly making a sound of struggle. The flying mage floated effortlessly to her daughter's side and picked her up from her legs and upper back. Purple Heart grabbed her basket and gave it to Noire and then she proceeded to rotate her in her arms until Euri's stomach was facing the ground.

The little CPU was now one foot off the ground in a superman flying position, and her mother had floated behind her so that they were both horizontal.

The high nerves and frights had perpetually kept Euri in a state of silence. That balance of silent fear was disturbed when her mother started flying forward gently. Euri could feel her mother's protective arms around her yellow dragon belly that gave her the calm she needed to break out of the fearful silence she had been in. Feeling bolder now, Euri stretched her arms to allow her fingers to glide across the concrete floor. The idea that the only part of her body contacting the ground happened to be her tiny fingers was all too comical for her. Feeling like she could enjoy herself, she lined her arms out forward. "Yay!"

A smile of relief spread across Purple Heart's face. Their "training wheels" level of flight ended when they reached the car of the CPUs.

Euri was securely seated, and Purple Heart closed the door on a still smiling Euri, who looked to be replaying the moment in her head.

Noire placed a hand on her wife's shoulder to grab her attention. "Wow, Neptune. That was too heartwarming to watch."

"It was more nerve-wracking for me. I would hate to make her cry on Nepuween right before we head out for candy," confessed the purple-haired CPU.

"But you didn't. You got through to her and showed her a small experience of it to help her overcome the fear she has. Those who never face their fears are always ruled by them, after all."

"We know that all too well. The day that we revealed our love to each other comes to mind, sweetie." Purple Heart gave her wife a dreamy look that gave the black-haired girl a red blush.

"There you go saying stuff like that again, right before we're going to do other plans. We should really be going now before there's no parking left."

"Agreed. The night is still young." The costume mage winked at her wife tantalizingly for she couldn't wait when they got back from Euri's Nepuween so that they could start theirs.

"Neptune! Passenger seat—now!"

"Okay, umm… Noire, you might want to take off the blindfold completely instead of only seeing through one eye. Lack of depth perception is a real thing," said Purple Heart, chuckling softly.

"I… I knew that…." Nervously laughed the one-eyed CPU.

The End

I have a final story arc for "From Here to Europa" that I'm working on. Sadly, I haven't gotten around to finishing it up. Mostly because of work-life, my focused interest in my current ongoing second story, and an inability to genuinely piece what I have planned out into a worthwhile story that I feel satisfied with. That's only temporary since I'm slowly ironing out little plot problems along the way.

Since I'm dealing with a bit of writer's block, I decided on doing this Nepuween story that takes place after the events of "From Here to Europa." It didn't seem right to add this to "From Here to Europa" as the next chapter after this one would be going back to where we left off.

The factor of Halloween plays a part in this reason, since I wanted to get this out on time but would conflict with what's going on in the "From Here to Europa" story.

What makes this a bit tricky is that I really wanted to make this, but since it's Nepuween, the events of this story are a few months further in the future. Meaning that the ceremony that was discussed in the last chapter of "From Here to Europa" had already happened. That's why it feels right to make this one a standalone story that happened after.

I thank you all for reading this story and hope you can all wait a bit longer for the next Neptunia chapter for my other story.

For those that are new and are interested, I hope that you check out the trilogy of stories that connect with this one in my profile starting with "Same Person Different Entity." From there, the descriptions in the stories will guide you.

Have a good Nepuween everyone!