Chapter 18: Beginning of our Journey (Ultra Story)
The small fairy-like girl known as Croire floated outside the window peering into a room of the Basilicom. The room was painted black to resemble space, and stars were painted above the ceiling to give off an imaginative atmosphere. Along with the vast space theme mural that graced the four corners of the room, purple butterflies were painted to be floating around a purple planet. Most likely, this was the handiwork of Ultra Neptune.
At the center of this child-like room, a crib resided where the Ultra couple of Lastation had their attention solely placed.
Noire had just finished adjusting something in the crib that earned her a small pout from inside. "She looks so adorable," she said with dream-filled eyes. The past few weeks had been a trial of attrition for her, but looking at the adorable face in the crib made it worth it a hundred times over.
"That's because she's our little cutie, and no one else," replied Neptune, who looked proud with a dreamy gaze. She had fears and worries about being a mother, but when she saw her wife holding their daughter on that wonderful due date, all her fears faded away like ashes in the wind.
"Yeah… but why is she making that face?" Question Noire after allowing herself to snap back from her dreamy state.
"Maybe the ribbon you put on her isn't to her liking?" Spit balled Neptune with a shrug.
Both of them looked at each other and back to the crib.
The occupant of the crib was a small baby girl. Her hair was jet black just like her mother's and her eyes were as purple as her other mother's. Her gaze was that of someone that looked annoyed but also sleepy. On her hair, a pink ribbon rested neatly like a crown for royalty.
"Hmm… I'll let it ride for a bit. Who knows, she might grow attached to it," said Noire with hopeful fantasies in her mind.
Neptune looked skeptical but didn't dare to stomp on her wife's small fantasies.
They looked at the baby girl again who merely looked at them silently while eagerly sucking on her binky. That was the only action of wild activity that the small black-haired girl showed.
"We should let her get her nap in," said Neptune who wrapped her arm around her wife.
"You have a point." She sighed tiredly while leaning into her wife's embrace. "It almost feels like a dream that it's been a week since she came from the hospital to her new home," stated the black-haired CPU.
"I know, totally. It's been a whirlwind of activity with the others wanting to see the new addition to the Lastation family," happily said Neptune.
Noire then grew a sour face. "Yeah, everyone had shown up to see this little beauty, except for one."
Neptune didn't have to guess who her wife was talking about; it was only one person among their social group in Ultra dimension that had not seen their daughter. "I'm sure she wants to see her, but… you know how she is," lightly chuckled the purple-haired Lastation CPU.
"I do. I just wish she could not do the whole, 'distant emotion' thing with our daughter. If she does it with us, that's fine… but—she's just a baby. And babies can't tell when people are hiding their emotions and take everything they see as their definitive impression of that person."
Neptune sighed at the truth her wife was throwing out. Her eyes then caught a glimpse of something purple in the window. For a second, it almost looked like fabric from a purple dress. She smiled softly, knowing that she was close by, yet out of sight. "That is so like her."
"Huh? Did you say something?" Said Noire.
"N-no… I didn't say anything. Come on, let's get her some privacy so she can fall asleep, her cranky look might be because we're looming over her like prison guards."
They both exited out of the room after dimming the light down a bit. In the darkness, the white stars and purple butterflies illuminated the room with a magical atmosphere to it.
The CPU baby's eyes were starting to grow heavy when a purple portal appeared next to the window. With transfixed eyes, the CPU baby gazed at the small fairy-like being that emerged from the portal. The being's blond short hair and tan skin were the first things that she recorded into her growing brain.
The fairy-like being sat on a floating book that moved toward the crib. For the next minute, both occupants stared at each other without any words. Without them intending it, they ended up in a staring contest where none had blinked their eyes. It was until the fairy-like being had to close her eyes when they started to get watery.
"Ah, shit. Why did I even do that?" Uttered Croire under her breath which earned a joyful giggle from the baby. Her eyes widened as this was the first time she had heard her laugh. She grew serious and gazed at the baby from different angles. "So… you're little Blake. Hmm… you don't look all that special to me. Ugh, black hair… looks like you got most of her qualities," stated Croire with an annoyed face. She hardly resembled anything like Neptune, except for the eyes. The eyes were a different story. Maybe that's why she had that staring contest, for they were the same eyes of the one that was almost like a daughter to her in terms of having to baby her so many times in the past. She allowed herself to discard her bad mood, a mood that she didn't know why she had.
She had always been moody, rude, and distant with both Noire and Neptune, but over time, it quickly turned more into a façade than genuine emotions and feelings. She no longer hated them but didn't know how to properly be closer to them. One could say that it was her own style of tsun that she needed to overcome, however, both CPUs knew that her behavior wasn't something authentic anymore and could see how much she cared for them.
"I guess I should introduce myself then, the names Croire, so don't forget it," she said with a shine to her arrogant smile.
Blake happily giggled in response that made Croire feel ashamed about how she did her introduction. "Hmph… I guess you can call me Crostie, if it makes it easier," she grumbled under her breath like a cantankerous old man.
The binky from little Blake had popped out of her mouth, with it, whimpers of sadness from the crib emanated. "Come on, don't be such a baby. Why do you even need this thing? Hmm… if it shuts you up, then here." Croire gingerly shoved the binky back into Blake's mouth who sucked on it as if it was candy.
A set of happy eyes greeted the tanned floating girl that made her swallow abruptly. "Chill it with that look—all I did was give you a stupid rubber sucker." She continued to gaze upon the small child that was the symbol of love from Noire and Neptune of this dimension. She had seen countless CPU babies during her existence, but this little one, known as Blake, was worlds different than those other forgettable ones.
A warm smile then appeared on her face the longer she admired the baby girl. "I guess you are kind of adorable—when you're not crapping your pants or whining pathetically. Looks like it's up to… cool Croire to show you how to grab this world by the horns. Yeah, I'll make sure that you stand head and shoulders above these lame CPUs. You'll show them how a real CPU looks like," she said pridefully. Her gaze landed on the pink ribbon that looked like an eyesore. She floated forward and undid the ribbon, then she rotated her body so that she was staring at the purple tome book that she always had underneath her. Its pages flipped wildly until they stopped in a new section that hardly looked as if the book had been flipped to a new entry at all. Her small hands rested on the page and she paused for a bit while she let it all sink in. Then with a new resolve, she tore that page from her tome book that generated rainbow sparks in the air. "You better not tell Neptune that I can do this—she'll never let me live it down."
Blake happily tried to reach for the beautiful sparks, but sadly they had already vanished.
Croire moved her hands across the page she had torn away with a seldom look that she hardly even gave to anything else in her life. "Shit… why am I making this so hard? I blame your purple-haired mother for making me so sentimental." With eyes closed, she crumpled the paper in her tiny hands. Once she was done, she released the grasp she had on the paper to reveal a purple ribbon in its place. "I tore out an important record from my book and turned it into this even stylish one than that ugly eyesore Noire gave you." She nestled it upon the head of hair of the little one. The ribbon seemed to glow faintly for a brief second that made Blake yawn softly as If she received a dose of warm milk along with a gentle rocking motion from her black-haired mother. Her eyes then started to grow heavy with each passing second.
"Please don't lose it, okay? That record… that memory… is of the day I encountered your bug fanatic of a mother. That was also the day that my life completely changed—for the better I might add. I prefer you keep that between us, okay?" She didn't get a response as Blake had snoozed off to dreamland.
"I guess this is the part where I say, sweet dreams," she said sarcastically. Her tone then changed to a serious one. "Sweet dreams, little Blake. I have a feeling that this is the start of a long journey between you and me, one with a lot more records to be had. So… better make them interesting." she said with a warm smile at those fun days ahead.
This one is short but I'm still trying to get into the swing of things. The next few chapters will have an arc that will get the story going with a nice storyline than the usual daily Nepnowa family moments. I'll see you all until then!