Chapter 2: Sister
"GYAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed rather loudly, taking a huge step back from the laundry room. I was absolutely shocked or frightened that I first thought she was a ghost.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" I heard the girl suddenly scream as she frantically scrambled her way to a big pile of clothes that was in front of me and which I'm pretty sure that she made. She then hid inside it and though I didn't see her go in, I could still see the pile shaking.
'Was that a girl?' I thought to myself while trying to collect my thoughts. My heart, however, was beating rather loudly. 'How did this girl get in here? I mean… she doesn't look like a ghost… And why the heck she isn't wearing anything?'
"What's with a bunch of screaming…?" I heard Filyn speak up as I turned around to see her wearing a black tank top and black shorts. "Seriously, it's so early in the morning…"
"S-Sorry… but…" I pointed to the pile of clothes that the girl hid in before frowning at it. I could still see the pile shaking, pretty sure from the girl shaking in fear. "Somehow, there's this girl that somehow got in here…"
"Huh!?" This got Filyn caught off guard as she took a small step back. From the way she looked at me, she seemed to be in disbelief. "B-But… How did she get in here in the first place!? You told me once that nobody could get in… Are you saying that you're wrong!?"
"That's… something I can't argue with…" I looked down and sighed as I kept wondering about the girl in question. "Maybe we should ask her first…"
"Alrighty then!" Filyn exclaimed rather excitedly as she went up to the pile of clothes and gave it a little shake. "Hey, kid! Come out! We want to talk to you!"
Suddenly, the girl poked her head out but it was barely visible. Although, I did see tears streaming on her face. "N-No screaming?" She said between a few sobs, obviously afraid of me screaming.
This made me look down with guilt before I walked over to her and I reached out, moving the clothes out of her face, and wiped her tears away. At first, she was cautious about me, then, when I touched her face, she seemed to welcome it. "Yeah, no screaming." I told her as I kept wiping her face with my hand. "Look. I'm sorry I scared you… I just freaked out for a little bit…" I looked down again before facing her. "So don't cry, okay? You're going to be alright."
The girl just looked at me with her face in full view now. I thought she was going to hide again before she nodded before coming out. I was about to object to her coming out without clothes before seeing that she somehow found and wrapped in a rather large white towel, managing to cover herself.
When I took a look at her, the girl looked like a smaller version of me from the blue hair and how her face looks. While I was doing that, She bit her lip while clinging to the towel like a lifeline, seemed a bit nervous but didn't look like she was close to tears. Actually, she seemed to be a bit relaxed now.
'Thank goodness, she's not scared now… And able to cover herself…' I thought as I looked at her before smiling to myself. 'She looks cute…' I just shook that thought off before walking out of the laundry room and beckoning her to follow us. The girl got the message and followed us to the dining table.
"You must be hungry…" I told her, seeing her carefully sitting down on a chair as Filyn sat down on another chair opposite from her. "Just wait for a moment, I'll get you something to eat."
The girl just nodded before blushing as I heard her stomach giving an audible grumble. I just giggled at that before opening the fridge, took out the pot full with leftover curry before putting on the stove and heating it up. I then stir it up before seeing it boil before turning it off, grabbing some leftover rice, placing it on a plate and heating it up in a microwave. After hearing the beeping from the microwave, I then took it out and poured in the curry, grabbing a spoon, and placing the plate in front of the girl.
"Here's your food!" I said as I gave her the spoon while giving the blue-haired girl a smile. "It's hot so make sure you blow on it."
As she took the spoon from me, the girl looked at the curry cautiously before she blew on it and started to give it a try. I guessed she was hungry or something before I saw her looking at me with a wide smile on her face.
"You like it?" I asked, seeing her nodded before taking another bite from it. I then gave Filyn a disappointing stare. "See? At least someone likes my cooking."
"What!?" Filyn quickly stood up from her chair, glaring at me with a rather angry expression on her face. "Stop shoving words in my mouth, okay?"
I just rolled my eyes before giving Filyn a message to not speak. I then looked at the girl in question. "Hey, can I ask you something?" She then looked at me rather curiously. "I mean, there is something I ask about you so can you answer them for me?"
"Ummm… Sure!" The girl responded as she placed her spoon down for a little bit. "What do you want to ask me?"
"Well, who are you?" I asked, crossing my arms before seeing her tilt her head. I guess she didn't understand what I meant so I clarified for her. "I mean, can you tell us your name?"
"Um…" The girl then looked down at the plate, trying to figure something before looking back at me and shaking her head. "I… I don't really know… My name, I mean…"
"You don't know?" I looked at her, seeing her nodding before theorizing what's going on with her. "So you have amnesia or something?"
The girl just shook her head again before rubbing it in thought. "Ummm… I don't know what amnesia is. So no, it's not it." She replied rather sheepishly.
"Well, amnesia is like losing your memories…" I told her before seeing that the girl still looked a little confused. "It's like you don't remember where you are or what you were doing before."
"Oh. I see." The girl looked at me with some understanding. "But, I'm pretty sure I don't have that… since I just woke up… and…" She then looked down rather sadly. "There was supposed to be someone there… but I don't know…"
"Wait, back up for a little." I interrupted her after hearing what she just said. Though it was just a theory, I have an inkling of a feeling on who this girl is. "Where did you exactly wake up from?"
"I woke up in another room." The girl replied, looking as if she was trying to recall something earlier. "It has this huge thingy in it. It looked so pretty too."
That made my heart skip a beat. No other room had something like that or than the Sharicite Room but that's impossible, right? I turned to the girl and asked, "Would this 'huge thingy' look like this?" I then shaped my two fingers on both hands into a diamond-shaped, which she nodded. This made my heart drop to the ground.
'That's impossible…' I looked at her with complete shock over my face. 'I've only seen this sort of thing in old books in Lowee… The history of a CPU and their…'
"Hey Sapphire, what's wrong?" Filyn asked as she looked at me really confused, immediately interrupting my thoughts. "You looked like you've seen a ghost."
However I ignored her before turning to the girl. "Here's my… last question." I said while I bit my lip with disdain for myself. "Do you know what a CPU is?"
"A CPU?" The girl repeated as she looked at me rather perplexed when hearing those words. "What's that?"
I looked down, recalling what Histoire told me once before. "A CPU is a symbol of a nation… The one who governs and protects their nation…" This made my heart wrench with sadness. "And… it's exactly what I am and… that's exactly what you are…"
The whole room went completely quiet, no one even spoke a single word. That's when we heard Filyn exclaim, "H-Hold on! You're not serious, are you?"
I shook my head as I looked down. "Yes, I am… she's a CPU… or at the least, only a Candidate…" I then turned my attention to the girl… no… someone I could call my own. "I know who you're looking for… and… that's me… And I'm your…" I took a deep breath to try to calm down before looking at her. "I'm your older sister."
My sister looked at me with surprise, as well as many emotions that crossed her face. "Big… sis…" She suddenly called out to me, and sounded like she was happy.
"Y-Yeah… that's me…" I looked down again, feeling my emotions well up inside me. At first, I resisted this fact but now, I don't know if I should feel happy or sad about this. My first half tells me I shouldn't deserve this at all, but my second half doesn't say that. Without zero warning, I went up to her and hugged my sister in her chair. "Y-Yeah… it's me."
"Big sis!" I heard her cry out as she wrapped her arms around me as well. I looked up to see Filyn still sitting there, smiling for some reason. So we were like that for a few minutes.
—
"What's wrong, big sis?" My sister asked me, tilting her head with confusion sitting on a couch, still having a towel covering her. We were all in the living room while Filyn was also sitting on a couch, I was pacing back and forth.
"Well, I'm trying to think of a name for you… Since I don't want you going around without one" I replied while thinking of a good name for her. "I got it! How about Aoi?"
However, my sister just shook her head before rubbing the side of her head with thought. "Um… that sounds a little flowery…" She replied while frowning at that name.
"Yeah and it's very unoriginal." Filyn spoke up while shaking her head. "I mean, naming someone with a word that literally means blue. Who would do that?"
"Oh… O-Okay…" I looked down again as I kept pacing around, trying to think of a name. "How about Lapis?"
My sister just shook her head again. "That sounds… a little… rocky?" She commented as she now looked at me with a confused look on her face.
"It's also really unoriginal…" Filyn commented on it as well, crossing her arms. "I mean, if you're named after a gem, that doesn't mean you need to name your sister the same."
I just ignored Filyn's comments on the name and thought. 'Okay… not Lapis…' I thought to myself as I still keep pacing around. 'What about something from our nation's past… I know that there's Uranus and…' My eyes widened in realization. 'I got it!"
"How about Venus?" I asked her, worrying that it's not good enough. "I mean… if it's not good enough, I could think of something else…"
"I like it!" My sister now named Venus exclaimed with her eyes sparkled with glee. "It had a ring to it, and it sounds really cool!"
"I-I see…" I said before feeling heart wrenching in pain. Then I felt myself getting dizzy before shaking my head. "I'm going to call someone real quick… so I'll be right back!" I then quickly rushed my way to my office, shutting the door behind me before sliding my back against, letting myself fall to the ground. After that, I brought my legs to my chest and stayed like that to sort out my thoughts.
'I should be happy, but why do I still feel sad?' I asked myself, not being able to give an answer. 'Why don't I feel happy?' I looked up to the ceiling. 'Do I deserve to be with her?'
'You don't deserve this… And she doesn't deserve you…'
'No, I do deserve this…' I argued against myself, though it was half-heartedly. 'I have to be strong… for her sake…'
'If she knew who you were, she would never love you…'
'I won't show that person… I never will…' I thought half-heartedly as I sank my head into my legs. 'I have to be strong…'
'One day, she will see the real you… One day, they will see the real you… A monster… A liar… They will never love that person…'
Suddenly, my vision started to glitch before immediately shaking away those thoughts before slowly standing back up before walking to my desk to pick up the phone before dialing a number. It rang for a few seconds before I heard a click and heard a woman's voice saying, "This is the Lowee's Basilicom, how may I help you?"
"Hello? Is this Mina speaking?" I spoke up in a rather cheerful tone. Even though I sounded cheerful, I really didn't feel that way. "Because it would be a weird coincidence if it was."
"Um… yes? This is her." I heard Mina said in bewilderment. I could tell she was confused who this was. "Sorry, who is this?"
"Oh come on, Mina! Don't you remember me?" I asked, still in this cheerful tone. "It's me! Sapphire! You know… the CPU of Planeptune!"
"Oh! I'm sorry Lady Sapphire for not recognizing you!" Mina said rather worryingly.
"Nah, nah. It's okay! It's still in the morning." I said before chuckling to myself. "Actually, could I cancel today's meeting? There was something that came up for me and I don't think I can make it."
"O-Oh, I see…" Mina muttered to herself on the other line. "I'll reschedule it a day after tomorrow… And I'll tell Lady Shift that."
"Thanks! And congrats on that event a few days ago!" I smiled before hovering over the 'end call' button. "Okay! Bye!" I pressed it and put the phone back before sighing in relief.
'I don't know how I can stay like that for that long…' I thought before shaking my head. 'No matter… I'll have to go back to… Venus…But… Maybe, I should take both of them out…'
As I made my way back, I felt rather depressed or exhausted for so many reasons. One because of the many thoughts running inside my head and two because keeping up that personality takes a toll on me. When I finally made it back, I saw Venus and Filyn were talking and laughing at each other so I stood there while listening to them. Though, it was only Venus that was laughing.
"Filyn… you're so funny!" Venus said before giggling at the red-headed girl. "Tell me another one!"
"Okay, then… what do you call—?" Filyn was about to say before noticing me standing there. She saw the look I gave and looked at me worryingly. "Oh, welcome back Sapphire."
"Hi big sis!" Venus exclaimed happily before looking at me with concern when she noticed the sad look on my face. "Um… are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" I lied and internally I didn't want Venus to worry about me. I had Filyn for that sort of thing. I then scratched the back of my head very awkwardly before quickly changing the subject. "Either way, let's get you some clothes. I don't want you to walk around in just a towel."
"Okay." Venus said, not sounding like she was convinced before getting up. "So, where are we going?"
"Um… just follow me into my room…" I said rather awkwardly as we walked our way towards my room. I slowly opened the door before turning on the lights then looking back at Venus. "So… um… I usually don't let anyone into my room… but… um…"
The room was a lot less organized and a lot more messy. Clothes are almost litter everywhere on the floor, save for the table that has my computer and glass cabinet that is filled with random collectibles from different nations. Also, it has a closet that is supposed to be filled with clothes. Though it looked mostly terrible, my sister looked at it with shock and awe.
"It looks okay." Venus said, complimenting my room as she looked around. "But, what are we doing here?"
"Well…" I started searching around for what I'm looking for. I then headed to my closet to start digging through there. "Ha! I got it!" I exclaimed as I brought out a small white dress with straps, which was the one I wore once before. "Since we don't have anything else that could fit you, this should do for now though it might be a little big for you." I said as I handed it to her.
Venus then took it from my hand and inspected it for a second. She then looked up to me before blushing as she looked off to the side. "Could you um… help me with putting it on?"
"Oh. Um… Yeah, sure…" I said before I walked up to her. She seemed to look a little nervous about dropping her towel so I placed my hand on her shoulder to try and reassure her. "It's okay to be embarrassed about your body. But no one is going to see you other than me. So… um… let your sister help you."
"O-Okay. I'll try." Venus said nervously while biting her lip before a few seconds later, she dropped her towel.
—
After a few minutes of helping her with putting the dress on, which I might add was a little hard to do, we walked back to the living area where Filyn was. She still was sitting on the couch playing a game on one of the consoles we bought from Lowee. From the looks of her focusing on the TV's screen, she was probably playing one of our nation's platforming games. I then heard a game over theme before following with a frustrated groan.
"Come on! Why can't I beat stupid level!?" Filyn frustratingly exclaimed before seeing her about to throw the controller on the ground. I felt Venus hide behind me in fear.
"Probably because you waited too long instead of keeping the character on the move…" I spoke up, catching the redhead's attention. "Oh and please don't throw the controller again… I don't want to pay for another one…"
"Oh! Welcome back again, Sapphire." Filyn said as she rubbed her head awkwardly before turning to Venus, seeing her hide behind me. "Hehe. Sorry Venus…"
Venus then peaked her head out from behind me before revealing her clothes. She's now wearing the white dress though, since it was a little big, one of the straps is slipping. "It's okay…" She piped up before looking at the game that Filyn was playing with interest. "What's that?"
"It's called Blue Hedgehog… one of our games in this nation." I started to explain the game to her as I crossed my arms. "It's the first game in the series and a 2D platformer. The goal is to get to the end goal without dying."
"Hey! I was about to explain it to her!" Filyn exclaimed angrily before shaking her head. "Either way, the problem right now is that I can't get past this 'Labyrinth Zone' or whatever that it's called!"
"I see…" Venus said, showing some interest in this game before smiling excitedly. "Hey, could you think I can try?"
"You?" Filyn looked at her with disbelief before crossing her arms in thought. "Are you sure you want to try? It's actually kinda hard."
"Yeah!" Venus said excitedly as she looked back at me while smiling rather brightly. "It shouldn't be hard, right?"
'You poor soul…' I thought to myself while looking at her with pity. From how much I know about this game, she had no clue about the game itself. 'Shehas no idea how long it took me to complete this game…'
And without warning, Venus took the controller from Filyn, sat herself down on the couch, and started to play the game. Few minutes into figuring out the controls and going into the level and she already got a game over before turning to me with tears welling up in her eyes. "B-Big sis, I-I died…"
"It's okay…" I said before patting her head, calming her down. "When I said keep your character on move, I also meant avoiding enemies and stuff that can hurt you like spikes and spears. And you should time your jumps as well, those are also important."
"O-Okay…" Venus said before wiping her tears away and focused her eyes on the game. I was rather interested in how she played so I sat right next to her while watching the game. After a few minutes later, she got another game over which made her sobbed a little. "I died again… A-And what was that scary music…?"
"Oh you were about to drown…" Filyn told Venus while crossing her arms. "If you see something bubbling from the ground, make sure you stand right next to it and wait for a big bubble to pop up. Those are potentially your lifelines in the water."
"There's something you don't see everyday…" I muttered as I rolled my eyes. "Filyn actually remembering what to do in a game… I hope you can apply this to real life…"
"S-Shut up…" Filyn shot back before shaking her head as she turned to Venus. "Just remember what we said, okay?"
"Okay…" Venus muttered before wiping her tears away again before diving into the level again. And time and time again, she kept on dying over and over again despite our tips on how to play the game. However, she is still determined to reach the end goal which is something I can applaud her for but…
"Venus? I think you should stop for now…" I said as I put my hand on her shoulder. "We can save this for the next time we play this…"
"Alright…" Venus pouted before setting the controller down. "That was really fun! "Well, despite the scary music…"
"Yeah… the music was… scary…" I admitted to Venus before shaking it off and turned Filyn. "Hey! Filyn? Could you do something for me?"
"What is it?" Filyn asked, tilting her head to the side while giving me a rather quizzical look from the abrupt question.
"Could you buy some clothes for Venus?" I asked while crossing my arms before putting them on my lap. "And if you're going to ask why I can't buy some myself; it's because I just want to talk to Venus about something." This made the girl in question look at me confused and a bit curious.
"Oh, I see…" Filyn muttered with understanding before turning to Venus with a rather kind smile. "What sort of clothes do you want to wear?"
"Um…" Venus rubbed the side of her head in thought for a while before telling the redhead what she wanted to wear. "Something cool? Um… nice? Um… I really don't know…"
"Nah. It's okay…" Filyn said while waving that answer off with her hand, still having a kind smile. "I'll see what I can find…" She then walked towards the door.
"By the way Filyn, make sure to use the fire exit stairs instead of the elevator." I said which made her groan before leaving the room. I knew she hated taking the stairs and probably despised taking the Planeptune Tower's stairs but I don't want to risk her identity being found out by the Basilicom's workers, since no one knows what we both look like.
"Um… Big Sis? What do you want to talk about?" Venus spoke up, turning my attention towards her. She looked at me with huge, cute eyes filled with curiosity which made me smile a little.
"Well first, it's about your room arrangement…" I looked down before taking a deep breath and looked back up. "Unfortunately, we don't have a room prepared for you because of how… unexpected your arrival was…" I sighed before crossing my arms again. "So to fix that, I've decided that I'll let you room with me for now…"
"Really!?" Venus shot up while looking at me with excitement. I slowly nodded before I was suddenly hugged by her. "Thank you, big sis!"
"Yeah… and another thing…" I looked down to my feet again with a rather sad expression. "Tomorrow, we're going outside to show you around so please stay close to me and…" I took another deep breath while still looking down. "I suggest you to not talk to the citizens, try and make friends with them… or even tell them that you're a CPU…"
That's when Venus released me from her hug and looked at me confused. "Um… But, why?"
"Because not everyone is a good person… And…" I looked at my sister's face with a calm but hurt expression. "They could hurt you… badly…"
"O-Oh… Alright… I understand…" Venus nervously agreed as she nodded slowly. I then pulled her into a hug, holding her tight.
"Thank you…" I muttered softly that no one could hear as I pulled her closer to my chest. "Thank you for understanding…"
'I'll never let her experience the same thing I have been through… And that's a promise…'
With Filyn…
"Argh! Where do I even start!?" Filyn exclaimed frustratingly as she scratched both sides of her head with both of her hands. She was standing in a shopping mall, looking around. "Venus said something pretty or whatever she said but… argh!" She then looked up before smiling. "Sapphire seems to be in a good mood… maybe because she has a sister now? But her eyes…" She then shook that thought off. "I shouldn't worry about her now but… what if she turns into her Corrupted Form… and in front of Venus of all people…"
Filyn just sighed as she kept walking around for a few minutes until she saw an outfit in a window. "Would Venus like this? I wonder…" She then just looked at it for a few minutes before pointing at it. "I've finally decided! That's the one she's going to wear!"
After walking into the store and purchasing it, Filyn walks out triumphantly with a bag in hand. "Hehe! I, the great Filyn, is triumpa—! triumpu—! Actually nevermind…" She walks back to the tower before groaning at the fact that she has climbed the stairs again.
That's all for now! Thanks again to decode9 for helping me with some dialogue stuff for Venus.
The reference in this chapter is pretty much one Sonic reference about the water level, though it was originally supposed to be the Marble Zone since I couldn't get past that one but changed since decode9 told me water level is frustrating in the first one.
As for the new character herself, Venus is supposedly a bubbly airhead that is very social but very emotionally fragile and should be at least different from another version from the Nepsister story.
And for the miscellaneous stuff, I'm still going to have the "Glitch" thing I mentioned in the rewrite story but it's going to be called "Corrupted'' instead for a reason I won't go any further other than it sounds better.
Either way, Please Review and Stay Safe!
