Chapter 20: The Gift Wrapped in White
The basilicom of West Nepstation was especially rowdy today as Euri, Rom, and Ram ran around the home of the purple and black-haired goddesses. For being a simple game of tag, nothing was what it seemed when Rom and Ram were part of it as they used furniture and anything else in their vicinity to avoid being tagged by the other. The game even evolved along the way with it deviating to, the floor is lava, red light green light, and even leapfrog for the briefest of a minute before reverting to tag.
"I'm going to get you!" Shouted Ram as she head dived toward her sister and Euri, but they missed her as they jumped out of the way from the couch chair they were in.
Blanc silently had her eyes closed, but her anger had reached its boiling point. "Enough!" She roared throughout the room.
The three younger CPUs stopped and meekly stared at the angry force in front of them.
"When I agreed to babysit Euri, I did not agree to babysit you two as well! Isn't it time that you show Euri how mature you both act? Here's an idea, grab some colors and color quietly!"
"I'm sorry, Blanc. We just like having fun with Euri. She's our friend that's closer to our age and likes all the things we like," said Rom sweetly.
Blanc reduced her anger and sighed. "I get that. But could you three please do something quieter? I have a deadline to write for Uzume's wedding and I thought coming here was going to be a nice change of scenery for my writer's block."
"Sure, Blanc… but we didn't bring any toys with us," said Ram.
"We only brought colors and not paper," added Rom with a soft voice.
Blanc made a pout and rummaged through her bag. "Pfft, figures that they never have any damn paper… the whole world is their paper," she viciously murmured under her breath. She paused for a second when her hands grabbed a stack of papers. "If I give you this rejected manuscript, will you three color quietly?"
All three of the young CPUs quickly nodded happily while they stared at the stack of papers with joyfully hungry anticipation.
Ram snatched it from her sister's hand and regrouped with the other two. "Euri, today, we will show you how much fun it is to color on one of these," she said with a smile as if she was holding some sort of holy grail.
The pink-haired CPU didn't know what was going on, but when she saw that Rom had pulled out a bag of crayons, she clapped delightfully. "I want purple and black," she eagerly stated.
All three of them went to Nepgear's abandoned room that had been repurposed as Euri's room.
Blanc threw herself back on the couch and sighed contently with the silence she was granted. Her blue eyes landed on the computer that was on the coffee table that barely had any words on it. Determination rekindled, she confidently grabbed the laptop and placed it on her lap. Within her bag, she pulled out her notes that she had taken a week ago when she hung out with Uzume.
The memories of that one-week-long event had helped her remove the barrier between herself and the redhead.
Her biggest hurdle now was deciding on who she needed to write first. She had accumulated a massive portion of knowledge from the redhead that gave her so much insight. There were things that she learned that were critical to the story piece and others that were way too private, yet Uzume insisted that the story be as accurate as possible. She ultimately decided on starting with Vert as that was familiar territory.
She cracked her knuckles and began to type without pause. A couple or so hours went by and her position on the couch pressed deeper into the cushion to express how much she had been tensing during her work. "Hmm, it looks to be alright." She knew that her efforts could only go so much as she couldn't talk with Uzume's Vert to see if these flaws were also consistent with her.
Just then, her eyesight darkened when two small hands covered her eyes. "What the hell?!" She moved her head forward, forcing the small invader to roll off the top part of the couch and softly bounce next to Blanc.
The Boxwee CPU trained stern eyes on her invader, but her eyes relaxed when she noticed that it was Euri.
The Nepstation toddler had her hands to her mouth to stifle a giggle that rumbled at the core of her belly.
Rom and Ram then suddenly popped out from behind the couch with equal bouts of excitement. "Hay! You got her good, Euri," laughed Ram while she patted the back of the three-year-old.
"That's how it feels to be the one doing the peek-a-boo to someone else," smiled Rom.
Blanc fixed her hat and got up from the couch. "I hope that you're not teaching her delinquent stuff," barked Blanc with stern red-eye toward her little sisters.
Ram innocently placed a finger on her lips as a show to ponder on that statement. "No more than what Neptune might be showing her. Relax, Blanc, we were just showing her how to do peek-a-boo."
"I thought you were coloring?" Said Blanc, a bit upset at the sudden change in plans.
"We did Blanc, but it's been an hour since we finished covering that manuscript with all the colors of the rainbow," said Rom.
The brown-haired girl looked stunned as she let those words sink in. "Ah, crap. Has it been two hours already?"
"Ah… yeah. By the way, when are we going to eat?! I'm starving." Said Ram.
Euri and Rom both silently nodded behind the pink coat-wearing CPU candidate.
In conjunction with their hungry expressions, Blanc's stomach started to growl at her. "Sorry about that you three."
"That's one thing you need to know about our sister; when she gets to writing, an earthquake couldn't get her to stop," said Ram to a curious Euri that merely nodded in response.
Just when Blanc pulled out her phone to see what was nearby, a knock from the window balcony doors drew their attention.
"It's Vert!" Happily shouted the two CPU candidates. They quickly raced to open the doors to see a happily smiling Vert. In her hands, she held a bag of hamburgers that quickly ensnared the others with their heavenly smell.
"Well, hello! How are my two sweet loving sisters," she expressed those words with a slow emphasis that appeared to be like a personal high to the blonde CPU.
"We're doing awesome now that you're here with burgers!" Excitedly said Ram.
"Marvelous, just marvelous. Take these burgers and head to the table. Oh, and don't worry, Euri. I also have some for you," she said that earned her a happy cry from the pink-haired toddler.
Blanc relaxed and dropped to the couch again. She counted herself lucky that her wife had swooped in at the right time to fix the dilemma they found themselves in. Her nose raised and she now noticed that her wife stood behind her with a burger in her hands.
"Have you had anything to eat all day?" She asked lovingly.
Blanc did not respond right away and snatched the burger from her hands. "No, not really. I told you that I'm in deadline mode to get this story done for Uzume."
"I do remember you said that. Still, if you don't eat, you'll be in dead mode instead, dear. Well anyway, how goes the writing?" She said sounding genuinely interested in her wife's efforts.
Blanc chuckled softly at her wife's way of severing the drama. "I got the trials that you faced out of the way. I did tweak them around a little so that they shouldn't hit too close to home."
"Isn't that the point?" Asked Vert.
"This is more of a reference, and it shouldn't be taken as facts. That other… Vert, might not relate fully to these scenarios anyway. It's all one big shot in the dark and boy that pisses me off."
Vert smiled with a sweatdrop. "You have always been a perfectionist at heart. Just try not to overwork yourself. It's sweet what you are doing for them, and you know I support you all the way, right?"
"I know." They both exchanged a fervent gaze that was about a few inches from each other. Blanc, feeling very bold, captured the blonde's lips with an almost starving show to her kiss—maybe it had something to do because of her hunger.
"Oh my, save that energy for when the little sisters are not watching," she said seductively. She shifted gears and composed herself. "Eat and get back to your story, I'll run point on taming these little devils." she radiantly stated.
Blanc smiled softly and continued her efforts in her story. After a burger and a bottle of water to wash it down, she completely dived into her work like a diver going into the ocean.
(Uzume- Despair)
Her orange-colored eyes widened to the familiar sky that invoked a sense of nostalgia and dread. Just by looking at the crackling purple sky was enough to tell her that she was back in the zero dimension. This place that once felt like a home and prison caused her great anguish to see again.
Maybe it was because of all the despair it accumulated with her or the shattered hope that she could have never been able to make this into the ideal utopia nation that she once believed she could.
Setting her gaze straight, her breath caught in her chest. "This is my old hideout," she said to herself when she witnessed the familiar structure in the distance.
An orange ball of light quickly descended upon her and danced around her head.
Uzume looked startled, but only for a second. "You must be that light thingy that Nepsy told me about."
The orange light responded to that statement with a radiant effortless float around her.
Uzume connected her fingers together and her expression lit up like a lighthouse. "Aww, Uzume's so lucky to have a super-duper cool awesome light buddy to help me on my journey—oh!" She caught herself and composed her energetic voice back to her regular tone of voice. "I mean, you're pretty dope… and we'll get through this in one piece," she said with energy that radiated confidence and coolness.
The light looked exasperated if that was even possible. Trying to shake off the last minute, the orange light floated toward the old base.
"Hey! You don't have to tell me that's going the right way," she said with a bit of sarcasticness to her voice.
Once at the base, she pushed through a boarded-up doorway and half stumbled into the open space that she had spent countless hours in. Looking around, dust danced in the air and melancholy darkness showered the room with the only light source coming from the purple hue outside. The orange light had seemingly vanished, most likely when she was trying to get through the entrance. Neptune had told her that the light buddies are more like guides and remain as passive observers unless a situation warrants it.
Her attention landed on a spot where she remembered Neptune and Nepgear huddled together as they made some of the best food she had in a while.
This personal respite ended when a chair from across the room screeched slightly, indicating movement from someone.
"Who's there?!" Her alertness went up along with her fists.
A shadowy outline of a girl appeared standing across from her where the chair resided. "Why ask a stupid question like that? Because of you, there's no other creature or people besides us. Nothing but dreams and nightmares to keep us company." A girl that resembled Uzume but with a blue and darker pallet swap faced her from out of the shadows.
"Kurome! How? I gave you the thrashing of the century when you and I adjusted our gloves and settled the score between us once and for all."
The blue-haired doppelganger smiled. "Yes, that's right. You did get one over me. You foiled my ambitions for a new world where all the ones I hated could richly live in despair. However..." It was swift. In the next second, she had closed the distance between them and landed a punch square onto the redhead.
Uzume went flying into a brick wall and shot out into the crackling dry dirt outside.
Kurome approached her, adjusting her glove with a pleased smile on her face. "... it would seem that I'm more corporeal than ever—perhaps on par when I still had the opportunity to seed my ambitions."
The redhead coughed blood and wiped it away from her mouth. "You'll never get your way. You've been gone a long time, and this is nothing more than a visit from a ghost," venomously said Uzume while standing tall and steadfast.
The empty dark blue eyes of Kurome narrowed dangerously. "Visiting... it's too soon to say that other me." She took in a relaxing breath, feeling the energy that surrounded them like spectators waiting for a conclusion. "This place, it isn't the true zero dimension, yet anyone but me wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Hmm, yes... it's telling me that this is all your doing. How odd for you to go to such extremes to reawaken an old nightmare." She materialized her megaphone and send a wave of unfiltered soundwave energy directly at Uzume.
Uzume evaded it by sidestepping but could not react fast enough to keep herself from getting hit again. This time, she landed near a giant rock that cut her breath for a split second.
"There must be some grand hope greater than this despair to warrant such stupidity." She began to laugh. "I guess it does benefit me in the end. I'll enjoy saying this. I'm no visitor, it is you who will be visiting before every cell that makes up your baseless existence is snuffed out." She paused again, feeling the energy in the air that composed the reality around them. She was fascinated and curious about its true properties. "I'm not sure how you did it, but you dragged up some ancient pseudo-magic share field. However, why... why am I sensing two share energies at work here?" She closed her eyes and concentrated. "Vert...? No, it's close yet different... and... intimate?!" She was no longer confident and the shellshock that came from her probing made her blush faintly and stumble from stray debris of rock on the floor.
This was Uzume's opening, and she used it by materializing her megaphone and cranking it up to full blast. The shouts she sent out picked her doppelganger and launched her directly at the upper wall of the hideout.
Uzume steeled her resolve then charged at her doppelganger. An exchange of blows between the two of them shook the surrounding area.
"What is this?! Vert?! Are you kidding me?!" Uzume lost steam because of her twin's displeasure but quickly got her head back into the fight.
"Hate to break it to you, but she's my wife," declared Uzume to her malicious twin.
The declaration caused Kurome to falter when a blow from Uzume's fist came crashing down on her. The force made the roof under them crumble and both hit the floor of the hideout impactfully.
Dust blanketed the surrounding area and for a moment, everything was quiet. "How truly pathetic. I guess that the people of Planeptune rejected you once again. How long until her people reject you? How long until she desires to cast you aside to save herself? You forget that I know what makes them tick as they were once ensnared in my delusions."
The dust settled and Uzume wiped the sweat from her forehead. "You don't know this Vertsy." Her orange eyes remained unwavering from the barrage of spiteful words from her malicious twin.
Kurome gritted her teeth with a puzzled expression.
The redhead gave her a hero's smirk. "I guess I should have been clearer. The Vertsy that's my wife isn't the Vertsy you knew."
"Pfft, a Vert from a different dimension? It almost makes sense now. How annoyingly pathetic."
Uzume brushed the dust off her and got into her stance. "Yeah, I'm pathetic alright. Just like you, who wants a world where only you exist and all others that wronged you get punished and erased."
It was Kurome's turn to radiate a villainous smirk. "We never needed anyone else. I never needed anyone else."
"Bullshit," angrily stated the redhead with her fist raised.
They reignited the vicious brawl, powerful blows were dished out and countered by the other. Unable to gain ground and with more environmental destruction dancing around them, they retreated to opposite sides of the now-destroyed building.
"Well, it looks like you just won't quit," said the dark version of Uzume.
Uzume huffed and regained her breath from this moment of respite from the fight. "Why are you smiling?!"
"Am I? Maybe it's the fact that I feel strong. Whatever this obscure share field is, it really wants me to go all out with you. Not that it's going to be a problem. Yes, it's saying that I can feel like this forever if I bury you. I'll definitely be able to get my revenge on those stupid CPUs and their equally stupid younger sisters."
"It will be a sunny day in this damn bitter-sweet place before I'll let you touch them! Time for our true one v one!" Uzume glowed radiantly, signaling the beginning of her transformation into her goddess form. "Uzume won't let you hurt Uzume's friends!"
Orange Heart struck her transformation pose and floated off the ground.
"Getting serious huh? Yeah, I don't mind at all. The bigger the fall the bigger the despair!" The blue-haired corrupted former CPU unleashed an aura of dark energy that equally matched the destructive power of her counterpart. "What's this? I'm unable to achieve my dark orange form!?"
"Ahh!" Orange Heart swooped down sharply during her counterpart's confusion. Her right arm gathered a spiraling energy drill.
Kurome raised her fist and connected with the spiraling energy drill from her counterpart. Their full-on attack canceled out leaving them reeling for a second before kicking up more dust.
The remains of the hideout were a thing of the past and the area around them became more barren than they originally were. Feeling like she was losing ground, Orange Heart took off into the sky for a breather. Her eyes widened when she gazed at the floating dust forcibly pushed out of the way to see Kurome gathering energy.
With her energy gathered, Kurome funneled it into her legs and blasted off with a jump.
"That's a thing?!" Yelled Orange Heart comically.
Kurome raised above her and landed another impactful hit in Orange Heart's face. Knowing that she had a disadvantage in the air, she latched onto the orange-haired CPU. "I might not be able to access my full power, but this is more than enough." She gripped onto her counterpart's shoulders with an iron grip and moved until her legs were positioned near Orange Heart's chest. Power swirled around her legs like a storm, and she unleashed the full force upon the chest of the sunny CPU.
Orange Heart gasped for air and her heart struggled to beat as she quickly spiraled down. An image of Vert, Umio, and the others flashed in her mind that allowed her heart to power through the abuse and pump with life.
Her focus and air returned to her, and she propelled sideways, a few inches from the ground that allowed her to land safely.
Kurome gritted her teeth and came crashing onto the ground without any damage. She witnessed her counterpart sucking in the air and determinedly glaring at her. "This is all pointless and tiring. Well not for me but for you. However, that tenacity of yours is stifling for me as well," she said as a joke knowing full well that Orange Heart's breathing was haggard.
"You're a meanie and a vile girl. If you want to totally beat Uzume why don't we settle this with a decisive super-duper amazing over-the-top full force attack?"
Kurome's eyebrow twitched at the sheer display of worthless words. "That's too many adjectives, how annoying... how utterly... you. But that idea seems swift and to the point. I doubt you have the power to take on the all-encompassing might of my negative share energy."
"Only one way to find out! Let's do this, you evil dummy." She had to rely on her hope. In a fight such as this, she would only be getting slower while her wicked counterpart would soon close the gap enough to defeat her.
Kurome charged up energy within her body from all the built-up despair and torment that she had endured for so long. Her power was surging that using this much might make her corporal body fade away. However, if she could remove that stupid happy-go-lucky attitude from her twin along with her life, then it wouldn't matter. The excitement of being reborn made her charge up even more.
Orange Heart trembled from the magnitude of negative share energy build-up. She was starting to understand how dangerous these inner walk trials were. She stood her ground and summoned her megaphone. "My friends... Umio, Nepsy, Gearsy... give Uzume the power to end this." She yelled into her megaphone and unleashed two massive glyphs beside her. They erupted like build-up volcanic pressure toward the wicked enemy.
Kurome unleashed all her negative energy in the form of a bounded field around her that pushed outward.
Their attacks connected, vibrating and ebbing at different levels of intensity.
Orange Heart's attack was failing her. She couldn't find the strength to rupture the expanding field of negative energy that was approaching her. Despair, pain, and exhaustion were getting the better of her and her footing was being challenged. She was being pushed and she was already at her limit.
Fear. Fear was the next emotion that set in. She tried to harshly lecture herself that if she didn't beat Kurome, then Nepsy and the others will have to take out Kurome who will become the new her, yet it wasn't enough.
One of her glyphs gave out, and her defeat was pretty much definitive at this point.
She closed her eyes to enter the last bastion of hope she had in her mind. It was a vision that flashed in her mind, containing her Vert in a state of sadness knowing that she was gone and replaced with this vile villain. The memory of them, waking up during a warm sunny morning filled her mind. The face of her Vert smiling at her just when she woke up. "No!"
She raised her megaphone and summoned all her lung power to emit a loud ear-piercing shout. A massive glyph behind her appeared and a new stream of energy shot out at Kurome.
The massive intensity of the blast shattered the negative field of the wicked CPU. It hit her head on and the blast carried her across the barren wasteland, upheaving the ground while at it.
The fight was over and Uzume had emerged victoriously, although a bit out of breath with a hurting voice.
Over where Kurome had landed, the ground underneath her had raised, making it a resting bed for the evil CPU that laid in a pool of her own blood. "Damn, you got me good. Can't feel anything below the waist down," she said weakly with one eye closed.
Orange Heart who had reverted to Uzume had reached the beaten version of herself. "You deserve to stay as a fading nightmare," she said with a stern frown.
A faint smile appeared on the wicked girl's face. "I'll never be a mere nightmare, me. You and I are the same. As long as you live, I'll never truly be gone."
The redhead relaxed her shoulders and tiredly released a breath. "You're right..."
The orange ball of light appeared between them and moved closer to Uzume.
Kurome observed the ball of light and began to mockingly laugh. "I see... you have three other aspects awaiting you aside from me. Shame, even though I had first dibs I just couldn't. Your dream... what was it? Our final attacks were fueled by our dream and nightmare respectively. It was stronger than the desire of my nightmare paradise where everything has fallen into despair."
"It was me waking up to see the smiling face of the woman that allowed me to share in her dream. She gave me everything; her love, her future, and a home to plant my roots in," said Uzume with a shaky breath as those words comforted her and made her heart swell.
Kurome disgustingly looked away. Her revulsion only lasted a few seconds before she started to laugh. "How... corny." With those final words, she disappeared in a show of blue sparks.
"That's what dreams are made of, other me," she somberly said into the empty air. Even though she hated her corrupted self, she found sadness that not even those words had elicited a redeeming response from her wicked twin.
The purple crackling sky parted aside to allow a ray of light to cast down. The redhead covered her eyes and reality shifted.
(Regret)
The sound of water, birds chirping, and the smell of fresh grass put her senses at ease. She forced herself into an upright position from a previous seemingly relaxed position under the shade of a tree. "Hey, give me a heads up when you do that. I'm feeling a strong whiplash coming on."
The orange ball of light danced around her for a bit before fading away.
Uzume puffed her cheeks and folded her arms to her waist. She casually stepped out of the shade of the tree and was greeted with a familiar sight. The smile on her face evolved into a full-blown child-like grin as she remembered this place.
It was a secluded riverbank from her journey across Gamindustri once she had been revived by Neptune and the others. Of all the eventful memories she did on her journey, she had camped in this spot that had quickly become one of her fondest memories.
As if out of nowhere a sizzling sound along with a distinct aroma of shiitake mushrooms assaulted her nose and ears. Regaining her guard quickly, she spun around to confront the source.
Her heart skipped with dread and something else once her eyes fixated on a purple-haired girl squatting near a makeshift stove.
"Hey, I hope you didn't forget that little old me was still here. Were you daydreaming again?" She playfully gave the redhead a fond warm smile.
"N-Nepsy…?" Her mind raced, wondering why this aspect of her looked like the older version of Neptune. She opened her mouth to speak, but a whole different string of words was generated instead. "I was thinking of maybe fishing near the river." Her eyes widened in horror, wondering why she said that. It was as if she had been anchored to a script from a play.
The purple-haired girl clapped her hands joyfully. "Oh, some fish would have been great but darn, foods almost ready," she approached the still motionless redhead.
Uzume's face went against her orders, and she chuckled with a smile. Her hand followed the betrayal and scratched the back of her head to feign ignorance. "Fishing will have to wait then."
The other girl hummed happily and softened her eyes. "Yes, it will have to wait." She boldly closed the distance and captured the lips of the redhead.
Uzume out of nowhere moaned and leaned into the kiss. The sensation of a thousand tail fin slaps that felt like Umio's attacks burned her face up with pain. The desire to fall into the kiss became a relic and she regained control of her body. Out of impulse, she shoved the other girl away from her. "What are you doing, Nepsy!"
The Neptune from Ultra gazed at the redhead, a set of emotionally shocked eyes cast toward the redhead. "Uzume, sweetheart what's gotten into you?"
Anger and clarity burned strong in the redhead CPU. "Cut it out. You're not big Nepsy! This is totally wrong on so many levels!"
The one that looked like Ultra Neptune remained silent until a smile replaced her expression. "But I'm the one that you desire, a version of her that loves you unconditionally." She stood up and a serious scowl stared the other girl down. "You don't love me? You never even gave me the chance to say yes or no. Instead, you ran into the arms of any floozy who would give you a future—love be damned."
"Don't you talk about Vertsy like that! She has been nothing but supportive and patient with me. She saw a future together before I even could. I'm happy that my heart was able to respond to her feelings."
Mockery emanated from the purple-haired aspect. "Only because you forced yourself like some Stockholm victim."
If it wasn't for the knowledge from her great friend Blanc, the redhead would've been stumbling into this aspect's trap carelessly. "Stockholm... I admit, there was a lingering sense of obligation to force myself to love her when we first started dating. However, I slowly found myself no longer thinking that I had to be the ideal girlfriend and eventually it all started to feel natural. I wasn't forcing myself to put on a show and a brave face, but you know that other me. You failed to try to imitate big Nepsy. Heck, she found herself linked to another nation too soon before her love was fully definitive—just like me. She wouldn't talk down of others on that regard."
"Fine, looks like I've been seen right through. No matter. I got nothing to worry about because, in the end, I'm only alive because of you. Admit it, you still hold a candle in your heart for the other Nepsy. You can't stop thinking about what could have been."
"Are you my regret then?" She asked, sizing up the aspect in front of her.
"Something like that. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you want to kiss me and correct that regret."
An invisible force started to push her toward the purple-haired girl. "What's going on?"
The aspect welcomely opened her arms out. "Come Uzume. The heart's first love is a hard thing to rid of. Just embrace what you could have had."
"No!" Uzume dug her heels into the scraping dirt until she got a firm anchor to her footing. "Yes, I loved her and that's its own can of worms that I never resolve. Still, that doesn't give you the right to hold me for it. She and I, have found our own love."
"So, you won't fight for it?" The aspect furrowed at her with intense orange eyes that replaced the purple set that was there before.
"No, I'll fight for the love that I have for Vertsy. Yes, I loved her and I'm not an idiot to foolishly throw what we both have away." The invisible force dispelled around her, and she quickly stepped further away from the aspect since she had been merely a few feet away.
"You're just denying yourself."
"Like hell, read my lips. Vertsy is my love now. There will always be a soft spot for Nepsy—she's my friend too after all, but it's all Vertsy now."
The world around them started to lose color and the ground started to crack like glass.
The aspect looked at her hands and could see the same cracks of light appearing all over her. "Hear me out and listen well. You didn't beat me. You just drowned me out by believing your false words. This topic… does not end with me," she viciously stated.
"If my feelings for Nepsy were as strong as before, then I wouldn't have been able to break away from that kiss, so just think about that. Now disappear already."
The aspect exploded into sparks, leaving the redhead alone in a colorless world.
Uzume felt uneasy about this victory because the ball of orange light had not appeared yet. Did she fail? Did she have to go about this differently? She couldn't have failed. A rumbling started to shake the ground she was at with a massive looming shadow in front of her. turning around quickly, she was alerted to a giant tidal wave that emerged from the riverbank. A feat such as that was improbable but logic within this space did not abide by the rules of the real world.
Her lungs filled with water, and she thrashed around with the waves bombarding her like a pinball. More pressure from the wave assaulted her face and it all went dark.
(Dreamer)
She could not fathom the time gap until she awoke. Only that her lungs were granted the rich air she desperately needed. What followed next were warm rays of sun that felt otherworldly from any source of light she had ever felt.
The sounds of waves and seagulls surrounded her which motivated her to begrudgingly open her eyes. The whiplash from the waves was still fresh but once she opened her eyes, a small girl with dark blue hair was looking down on her.
Her gut reaction when she saw the girl forced her to compare her to Kurome and she quickly lifted herself.
"Oh good. You're awake," said the little girl as a fact rather than sounding worried.
An expression that couldn't be described better than shock filled the redhead brawler's wet face. "Kurome? Is my brain really running out of ideas?" Said a mystified Uzume.
The blue-haired younger girl folded her arms in an attempt that tried being serious but came off as a cute pout. "Hmph, I wish that was the case but it's even worse."
Uzume looked straight ahead past the dark blue head of hair of her villainous twin and inspected the beach area around her.
Beach tanners and beachgoers occupied the sandy beach with them oblivious to the redhead that had washed ashore.
Beyond the beach, a majestic white cityscape shimmered heavenly in the distance. In Uzume's words, it was everything she had wished for in a city that looked like it was ripped from her inner deepest fantasies. "I don't understand... it's so beautiful..." She was quickly slapped hard by a giant fan from the kid Kurome.
"Snap out of it. Stop admiring the enemy's home and get your priorities straight," barked the small evil girl.
"Are you really lecturing me about my priorities? Last time I checked, you were my enemy, and what's with this pipsqueak form of yours?" Even though she appeared angry, there was glittery amazement that was focused on the evil girl that deeply made her want to pat her on the head.
Enraged, she lifted the giant fan that made Uzume step back to avoid another mild vicious attack. "There's no time in focusing on that. Long story made short, I'm forced to be your guide because of my failure. Also, something happened to that light that had been with you. Whatever power or logic it follows, it spoke to me that you must be the one to rid our common enemy."
Concern cast on her face, as she wondered if this was all part of the trial or maybe something in her psyche had gone haywire. "There's no way in a hundred years that we would ever have a common enemy." She was pushed forward by a bystander accidentally bumping into her.
The female bystander dressed in beach attire hit the sand with two drinks in her hands.
"Oh shoot! Are you okay?" She said with concern.
The female bystander widened her eyes once she focused on the redhead. "Kyaa!"
Uzume flinched with panic and uneasiness from the horrified girl that looked at her as if she was a demon.
The loud attraction caused others around them to look their way. Just like the female bystander, their faces turned fearful with the color draining from their faces.
"Ah!" They all moved away from her like a walking disease capable of instant death.
Her heart grew empty and fragile as the last time people had acted like that, her powers of making dreams into reality had run amok during her time as Planeptune's sole CPU. "Please, there's nothing to be afraid of. Why are you all scared!" She was denied an answer as everyone on the beach retreated across the road toward the majestic nation.
"They hate you; they hate you for what you are," a bitter and sour expression flashed over the small girl's face. Maybe she too had felt the impactful memory that Uzume felt at that moment.
"What am I to them?"
The kid looked at her with an unreadable face. "An instrument of destruction."
Uzume rejected that statement with every cell in her body. "Bullshit! Bullshit! You're the one who is like that—not me."
"Such a childish brat. It's all the same to them. You must play the role or else your Vertsy will lose the Uzume she fell in love with."
Uzume calmed her nerves and focused on the cityscape. She couldn't fully explain it but it felt like destiny's hand was pulling her to that place, whether she wanted to or not. If she did have a say in it, she would have run back into the unforgiving waves where she came from.
"Ahh!"
"Kyaa!"
Both men and women ran away from the redhead. Their fear could only be measured to that of witnessing cosmic horror and an armored kaiju combined.
"I would say that this is pointless but how cliche that this is the attention we need to get her to come to us," stated the blue-haired wicked counterpart of Uzume.
"Who!? I... I just want them to stop being afraid of me! It's too much!"
"This was our fate, my naive me. We were ostracized and then forgotten making our suffering a distant memory that might as well not ever existed."
"They were sad that I went into exile. They wanted me to return to them and it was I that made them forget about me in order for them to move on!" Shouted Uzume.
The young wicked Kurome shook her head in denial with an angered face. "No... that's not right. I would never do that. They sealed me and I made them forget so I may plot my revenge." Her thought process halted sharply. For a full minute, she remained motionless with only her eyes searching for the truth… for the reality that she accepted long ago.
Feeling annoyed with her counterpart's selfish denial, Uzume grabbed her by the dark shirt collar. "You're not even making sense anymore, Kurome. The thing with you is that while you wanted to make others fall into delusion, it was you who was delusional all along—you just wanted to punish someone so that they can feel what you feel."
Kurome balled her hands into fists, crushing the handle of her fan in the process. Her gaze shifted past the redhead and all anger immediately vanished and was replaced with annoyance. "There's no time to bicker like this! She's here."
From above, an orange contrail descended with all the showmanship of a hero. The dust parted and the CPU of the majestic nation struck a hero pose. "Evil badie, Orange Heart has arrived to stop you terrorizing my people."
"It's my aspect... did she just call me the bad guy?" She turned around to confront the kid Kurome who had retreated behind a mailbox and out of sight from the hero Orange Heart.
"Surrender, evil Uzume. It was foretold that an evildoer that looks like me would one day invade my home."
Uzume couldn't fathom the title this aspect had labeled her. She was the one who was the Hero and they were here to stop her from being joined with Vert. "Wait, I haven't done anything wrong. I don't know why they are running away from me! I'm not the one whose evil!"
Orange Heart cracked her knuckles and began her assault without relent. The area had been evacuated making the now ruined street and empty buildings the ideal arena for a hero's battle.
Uzume hadn't forgotten her purpose as to why she was here. It was to make her union with her wife Vert as fully realized too that of the others from Hyper. However, her body weighed heavily on her as if her warrior's spirit had been disconnected from her. Why... why would she feel villainous if she did strike against her HDD version?
Unable to force herself to fight, Uzume dodged and rolled behind a car.
"Be gone evil-doer!" Orange Heart used her megaphone and blasted the car upward.
"Damn..." Uzume pulled out her megaphone and blasted the now mid-air car back toward her counterpart. Using this moment where Orange Heart's line of sight was blocked, she made her way to where her evil kid counterpart was hiding. "You, talk now! Why can't I fight her?!"
Kurome gave her a spiteful stare. "You've been calling me delusional this whole time, but you haven't stopped and realized it."
"Stop being cryptic and tell me!" She threatened her with their faces close to each other.
The kid version of her dark self swung at her with her big fan. The many repeated hits that it had dished out finally caught up with it and its creases and sturdiness had diminished to the point of uselessness. "You're holding yourself back. This place, it's Planeptune the way you always dreamed it to be. A paradise of happiness where it stands so majestic that it's practically unchallengeable. If the sealing never took place, who knows if this could have been a reality," she said with a disdain for everything around her.
"My paradise?" Those words comforted her like an old friend that made her hang her head low.
"Get it through your head. You are no hero here but just like me... a villain."
Uzume took the moment to look at herself on a piece of broken glass from a building window that lay near her. Her appearance mirrored Kurome exactly. "They see me as a monster."
The kid Kurome closed her eyes, trying to distance herself from her counterpart's emotions. "I cannot sit by and watch this insult of a paradise and you cannot allow this dream to become a reality."
The more Uzume gave it thought, the grimmer it reflected in herself. "If this paradise is truly unchallengeable then the ones after me would… Nepsy and the others would have never needed to be realized as CPUs. They don't exist and... my Vertsy's world would never have connected to hyper.
"The hero becomes the villain," smiled the wicked kid CPU.
Uzume grimaced and turned away, refusing to accept the words. "I am not you."
"Sadly, we are. I cannot relate to these other aspects, Regret and Dreamer, but I can relate to you. Tell yourself whatever self-righteous mantra you desire. You do it out of a selfish desire none the less and they will only see you as what they believe... a monster."
Uzume's anger flared up and her warrior's spirit had returned. She gave the world around her one bitter-sweet glance and accepted her next actions. "If it's for my wife, then a demon I will play."
It would have been logical for the dark CPU to make fun of her counterpart's resolution however, she found nothing that motivated her to do such an act. Instead, a feeling of jealousy seeded in her heart at the fact that the redhead to this day never knew loneliness the way she felt. "Good, show this delusional you true despair."
"I so hate you," she said defiantly as her one act against a fate that was unavoidable.
"Hmph, I'm right and that's all that matters. You have everything you need to end this, and I have nothing else to give." With her role fulfilled and passed on, she vanished like dust in the wind.
Uzume stepped out of her hiding position to alert the Orange Heart in the sky. "Yo, if you wanna fight then you leave me with no choice." A flash of malicious dark light emerged from within her. Aesthetically, her power-up was nothing short of a true villain's trump card but it didn't feel like that to her. Her energy was as pure and as bright as all her other times. She entered a state that was her HDD yet did not reflect it on her overall appearance that hadn't changed. "Right, she's the unchallengeable Orange Heart whose form is only hers. While I feel just as powerful as my HDD, I won't be able to be her."
The protector of Planeptune gasped in horror from such vile evil she was sensing. "Evildoer, Uzume will defeat you in the name of Planeptune!"
"Yeah… you keep saying that—then do something!" She yelled angrily at many things that reflected within her and toward the other Orange Heart.
The hero charged at her.
Uzume allowed herself a smirk at the idea of a fight as ludicrous as this. Regardless, she stood ready to do what she must. "I'll hold you to that. Dream smash fist!" Energy swirled around her right fist, becoming a drill.
Orange Heart gasped and instinctively raised her shield at the last minute. Drill and shield connected, pushing them back violently.
Orange Heart speared through an office building window. Like a true hero, she recovered quickly just in time to see the wicked invader leap on platforms until she reached her through the shattered window.
They both held each other's hands back, trying to overpower the other once contact was made.
"I know how you see me. That's the role I must play, other me. So, you better grit your teeth and give it all you got!"
"You evil badie! You are not Uzume. Uzume protects the weak, creates not destroys, and is a totally good goddess!"
"Oh yeah, well… since it's just the two of us. You suck your thumb when lightning strikes and when no one is looking. You daydream about virtually anything from the normal to the absurd. You think being dependable is cool, and if I'm being honest, you're pretty cool. You also secretly wish for a pink tea set to play tea party with your plush baby critters."
"Huh!? Kyaa!" Orange Heart faltered slightly from having the villain reveal some of her private and intimate thoughts. Also, calling her cool seemed to have done a number on her concentration.
"The thing is... I am you and you're just an aspect who seems to have deluded herself in thinking this is all real."
Tears and rage started to flow from the protector of Planeptune. "Zippy your mouth! Uzume will not be fooled!"
"I see. That's too bad. I guess we do have a difference. The difference between you and me, I know when to wake up." She unleashed more dark energy outward that caused the ground underneath them to give out. Together, they spiraled down countless floors.
Orange Heart tried to stop her momentum with her flight, but Uzume's relentless punches kept pushing her down. "Go away!" The protector of Planeptune lined up her megaphone for a point-blank shout to her evil counterpart.
"Too slow!" Boasted the redhead as she also pulled out her megaphone at the same time.
Their combined point-blank range shot them in the opposite direction. Unfortunately for Orange Heart, her crash destination was the first floor.
The impact came and shattered the tile, making it move across the floor like tidal waves.
Uzume used a mid-air backflip and grabbed onto a stray piece of broken rebar that came from the structure of the building when they both decimated it with their combined megaphones. She dropped down to the ground floor and approached the impact center where Orange Heart had landed.
From the dust, a shaky Orange Heart stumbled out of it. "Why... if you are Uzume, then why? This is our utopia, our perfect world."
Uzume exhaled to calm her nerves and anxiety brought upon by the haunting question. "This dream was never meant to be, me. It had ended too soon allowing others to step in. I now have a new dream that I must protect."
The response caused Orange Heart to give her a stare powerful than the heat of a thousand suns. "What about this dream?!"
A grim face cast on Uzume. "That's up to you, me. This world will have to take care of itself."
"No! Sharing field activate!" She raised her arm that had her shield and a glow of light shined brightly.
Uzume steeled herself as the blinding light engulfed both. The share field created a pocket dimension completely sealed off from Planeptune.
"Pulling out all the stops, I expected nothing less." She gasped at the marvel of the pocket dimension that her counterpart created. Within this space, everything looked different from when she utilized the field to take out the dark CPUs in the past.
It had floating platforms, yet they weren't decrepit runway platforms like the ones she was familiar with. Instead, they were pristine pieces of road floating in the sky with gold detailing underneath where the floatation devices attached to the platforms resided.
A dark galaxy-like sky was absent and replaced with a warm sun that was also operating as a massive energy ball of share reserves.
"Amazing… share energy in the form of a sun… unchallengeable is right if you have a cool trump card like this."
The cumulative share energy that took the form of that of the sun shined brighter than anything she had ever seen. Even the sun that she witnessed when she arrived now felt like a pale imitation of this grandiose source of power.
Orange Heart floated higher and higher, letting her skin soak in the overflow of share energy from her nation.
Normally a Sharicite was the source of a CPU's power but with Orange Heart being the sole protector of the world along with it being a perfect reality only onto her, it was possible that she bonded her share field and the source of her power together.
Uzume could not share in this miraculous once in a lifetime sight. While visually it shined magnificently, the rays felt cold and numbing to her skin. "Huh? Wait a minute, that share sun is my little orange guide. What the hell, you're supposed to be on my side?!" She yelled at the sun.
"This world is Uzume's world, and you are not welcome here anymore!" She raised her megaphone that now shined with an aura of gold. Two imposing glyphs appeared side by side to Orange Heart.
"Ah crap, she's using my ultimate attack on me. I... I... don't know what to do." Her lower lip started to quiver while her hands grew shaky. Her mind raced trying to figure something out, yet they all converged to the same fatal terminus. Her knees buckled involuntarily, resulting in her falling to one knee. Hopelessness rang through her mind like the unavoidable truth.
The dual blast fired toward her without mercy in a spectacle of power that she could only dream of.
Uzume fell into her fear, her sadness, and her despair as her failure as a CPU, as a hero, and as a wife, all came crashing inside her heart. That's when something intrinsically changed within her. Perhaps it was necessary or all part of some hidden flight or fight response.
Her power shifted and the dark aura that she used before evolved and pushed outward the projection of the upper body of a transparent Dark Orange.
Dark Orange's massive upper body protected her against the blast.
"W-what?! T-that thing, what scary thing is that?!" Yelled Orange Heart.
Uzume removed her hands from her eyes and gazed at her unlikely protector. "Dark... Orange?" She moved her arms and the massive machine of dark properties moved in synch with her. "So, this is how I must defeat you... with the power that once threatened to destroy the world. Can't say I'm overly comfortable or happy about this but... you are my hope. My despair... be my salvation to tear down this old dream!"
"Monster. Monster, monster! You are seriously okay with fighting me with something that low?!"
"I share in your disgust, me. You took the words right out of me. My back is pressed against the wall and this unlikely ally is the only thing standing between me and my new dream. No matter how I slice it, this is a necessary evil at the moment."
"You disgust Uzume, you don't deserve to be a CPU." Her two massive glyphs enlarged with her full might from herself, and her shares funneled into them.
Uzume imposed her will onto Dark Orange and the dark armor giant unleashed a field of negative energy toward her enemy.
Their mighty attacks clashed in the middle just like when she fought Kurome. Anything that the negative field consumed returned it to what Uzume's share field had been in the past.
Orange Heart gritted her teeth and gazed up at her share sun. The field before her had started to eat away at the sides of the sun. "See what you're doing? You're bullying my world's hope. Can't you see this world is perfect? You can't..."
"A world without my friends and Vertsy is no perfect world at all!" Fired Uzume.
"You think I don't have friends in this world? This whole world is my friend!" Roared Orange Heart
"Ahh!"
"Kyaa!"
One of her glyphs shattered but managed to dispel the negative share field from Dark Orange. They both recoiled and they stared at each other with all-encompassing hate.
Orange Heart fired her other glyph and Uzume met that attack. She motioned her body to strike a punch and Dark Orange mimicked the movement with a massive arm meeting the blast.
Light and dark danced around each other, trying to choke the other out where fist and blast met. The glyph extinguished but not before taking out the right arm of the dark armored giant.
From this, Uzume had secured her victory. With the two glyphs gone, she quickly motioned her other arm and Dark Orange reached to the heavens to grasp at Orange Heart in a vice grip.
The CPU of Planeptune screamed in agony from the overwhelming weight of metal crushing her body.
Uzume stood there like a statue, unable to deliver the killing blow.
"Kill her! Squeeze already!"
The enraged words pierced through the empty air that made Uzume look around in anger. She couldn't find the origin of the voice but knew that it was Kurome... maybe from the depths of her mind.
She refocused on Orange Heart who started to cause cracks of white light to appear around Dark Orange's hand. Shutting her eyes tightly, she raised her arms and slammed her down into the bottomless void, resulting in her breaking out of her share field and back to the older reality.
Orange Heart had been defeated. Her unyielding power had met its match and through timing and being over trumped, she now laid spiraled on the ground of her nation's demolished street.
The share field and Dark Orange were gone leaving them with no sense of fight left.
"This was paradise, Uzume... this was your home." She said sounding broken and her eyes devoid of life.
The sun had hidden by dark clouds the moment Orange Heart had been defeated and, in its place, rain began to bombard them. "It was never meant to be. Things… didn't play out like that and I'll only be living a delusion if I pretend otherwise. Pfft, I'll be no better than her if that's the case."
Orange Heart gave her a weary smile devoid of life in her eyes. "You are like her," was the last final haunting statement that Orange Heart uttered before fading away.
"I know…" she said with much sadness.
The orange ball of light appeared out of thin air and resonated with the redhead. Uzume narrowed her eyes, still feeling the betrayal from the entity. However, through a mental link that made her understand the ball of light, she came to see the logic of it all. "I... I see. So, it was all part of the plan?"
It hummed sternly at her doubtfulness.
Her frown grew into uneasiness from what she was feeling through the communication with the entity. "She really was the ideal me. Fine, I'll do it. You need me to pull the trigger in a manner of speaking." She held onto the ball of orange light, her sad eyes casting tears that could be seen from the light. "It must be done, or else I'll be the new dreamer in this place." With pain and sadness on her face, she raised the orange ball of light and smashed it onto the concrete. Veins of burning light infested every inch of the majestic nation from the roads to the buildings. The last harrowing experience she witnessed was the nation itself crying out. Then there was silence with the world around Uzume being nothing more than falling embers in the darkness.
(Acceptance)
Besides Uzume, Kurome had materialized again and carelessly twirled around the embers. She was no longer in her kid form and her wicked smile had never been so bright. She stopped and cocked her head to give her counterpart an approving smile. "Well done. Now, wasn't that fun? I owe you thanks for this final piece of entertainment. You destroyed the perfect version of yourself and now you'll never be whole."
Uzume grew hardened to refuse her counterpart any sign of weakness. "You can go to hell, me. I didn't do this for you. And for the record, I am whole with the love I feel in my heart."
"Vertsy, right? The thought of falling for her feels like a delusion in itself. I never would have seen that one coming. I guess she doesn't matter to me anyway." Her words were sharp, yet they left an empty feel to them as if she didn't definitively believe it.
"Goes to show how different we are. Maybe we were one once, but our experiences deviated."
Kurome frowned and closed her eyes. "Yes, rightfully so because I didn't need you anymore and figured you would die off in zero. Ironically enough, I was the one to die off. Say… any hope of a second chance?"
The redhead laughed at the question that was practically an insult. "You're a hundred years too late for that, me."
Kurome scoffed and did not look overly upset. "Oh well, I wish I could say this is goodbye, but I am you and you are me, never forget that." She too evaporated with the embers, leaving Uzume alone.
"I won't, which will make me sure that I never end up like you."
"Uzume..." A disembodied voice rang through the darkness.
"Vertsy... is that you?" Said Uzume as she turned around to see a grassy scenery come into focus.
A blonde woman stood at the precipice of a hill overlooking a nation that was quickly identified as Leanbox. "So, tell me Uzume. Do you have any regrets, anything you would have done over again?" Vert turned and waited for her wife to respond to her.
Uzume's smile broke into a helpless grin to finally see someone that she wanted to all along. She relaxed, feeling that this encounter wasn't built to ensue a fight like the others but more of an acceptance. "Nothing. Yeah, this so not dope redhead might have fumbled hard on a lot of things, but I always had my people's interest at heart. Then I met you and all the others, that's something I don't think I would have ever known. So, no... I don't regret it. Maybe that's selfish of me but the world took care of itself without me. Now it's time I take care of myself and my amazing wife."
Vert childishly giggled while grasping her hands together. "Then take my hand and let us create the nation of your dreams."
Uzume stretched out her hand and when she did, she noticed the color of her outfit had changed. A cold chill ran through her as she immediately came to realize that she was dressed in Kurome's outfit.
Vert gave her a sympathetic stare and moved forward. "Uzume, I love you even at your worst. As your wife, it's up to me to set you straight if ever the need arises."
She blinked and gazed at her outfit to see that it had returned to normal. In honesty, she should have been more concerned and fearful of what that meant, but her fatigue ruled her mind more. She took in her wife's sweet words and used both of her hands to hold onto Vert's hand. "Right, ditto." She placed her cheek on her wife's soft hand and accepted the aspect that was her wife. The one that only challenged her to accept her future and leave her past with a clean slate that she did all she could.
And with that, she awoke from the dream.
(End)
"And done!" Blanc jumped from the couch not even realizing that she, along with the couch, had been decorated with silly serpentine streamers of various colors. She blinked a few times after the imposing cheerfulness that made Vert, Rom, Ram, and Euri stare at her from the dining table. "What the hell is all this?!" She barked struggling to move away from the couch that had practically melded with her.
"Oh, welcome back darling. You seemed to be in a wonderland of writing and for the life of me I couldn't disturb your concentration," said Vert as she took a bite of salad.
"So, you let those two do this to me?" Annoyingly spoke the brown-haired girl.
Ram slurped up spaghetti from her plate and angled her fork toward her older sister. "We were showing Euri how to properly dress up a tree for later on in the year."
"Aren't all those colors just wonderful, Euri?" Said Rom before chewing a meatball from her plate.
"Vert…" Her tone came off as weary and disappointed at the fact that her wife didn't have her back.
The blonde looked at her with a sheepishness that also said that she would have done it all over again. "I couldn't say no to these two, you know that. Besides, you once wrote through a snowstorm and didn't even realize it."
Blanc blew air out of her mouth that caused one of the streamers to fly off her. "Whatever, please get me out of this," she pleaded to her wife.
Vert immediately got up and went to work, trying to unbind her wife. "But of course. Did I hear you correctly that you got Uzume's story done?"
Blanc blushed and gave her wife a reserved expression. "Well... more or less. I had to use what I knew and what she confided in me. There was also a theme she wanted me to impose on the story that… might have been lost in translation."
"I'm sure you did wonderfully. Say, why don't I read it and I'll give you my two cents?"
"You can read it, but later. And away from these two crazed coloring fanatics," said Blanc with a dark shadow and red eye if they got any funny business about messing with her story.
(Ultra Dimension- Leanbox)
The time had come when it would be the day that Vert and Uzume had their official wedding.
Vert adjusted the veil. She practiced lifting it to make sure it was in place with the assistance of a mirror in front of her. She inspected her overall dress for any slight imperfections. She was dressed in a white wedding dress that had an orange corsage on her left wrist and a green decorative flower on her left side. On her upper body, a gold Leanbox insignia rested between the valley of her breasts where the skin and dress fabric met. Above that, she had black transparent fabric that only covered the area between her breasts and neck with a small window of exposed skin where her cleavage resided. A green jeweled necklace shimmered beautifully around her neck
Once she was satisfied with her appearance, her eyes then glanced to a book on her makeup desk that had an orange cover and white ribbon wrapped around it. "How long has this been here?" She had been so busy that she completely neglected this oddly captivating book that looked like a wedding present. There was a card attached to it that she read. "To my Vertsy..."
She undid the ribbon and opened the book. Time passed on and she found herself on the last page. A few tears hit the pages of the book as her smile grew. "Oh, Uzume…" She glanced up at her mirror to see the open doorway with the redhead in mind standing nervously. "Uzume! I thought we were going to do the whole 'not seeing each other until the big moment' thing." She played it off that she had been bothered, but it didn't do much when she inspected her wife dressed in a white tuxedo and orange tie.
"Come on, Vertsy. You look gorgeous in anything, and the best sight is when I see you smiling at me when I wake up."
"Hmph, well sorry if I like putting in a bit of effort," she scolded her with a fake stern expression. "Hmm... a tuxedo... very masculine. However, you're still too adorable in that."
Uzume panicked and her face grew red. "I… was thinking of a dress as well, but—that this would be cooler," she said with her voice getting a bit high pitch.
"Indeed, very cool, my dear," she kissed her on the lips before lifting the book that had aroused her interest. "Did you write this?"
"About that…" she stepped out from the room and motioned for someone else to come in with her.
Vert looked surprised when Blanc from Hyper walked in wearing a blue and white dress. "Blanc, what an unexpected and pleasant surprise."
"Hello, um… Vert. I was the one that wrote it. Uzume wanted to give you a wonderful wedding gift about a story if you both got the chance to do the inner walk trial. She and I have been talking a lot and I've gotten to know her well to be able to write that story."
Vert smiled humbly. "Ah, Uzubae, I can't say that this story didn't make me weak in the knees with love."
Both Blanc and Uzume widened their eyes comedically at the nickname that the blonde had slipped out.
"Ah, Vertsy, I thought that nickname was for only when we were alone. I feel so embarrassed," she said while covering her eyes.
"Oh, my bad. I'm just so enraptured by this story. It got really amazing when I started reading Uzume's side of the story."
"Umm… did you enjoy the Vert arc in the beginning? Please speak your genuine criticism," said Blanc with a soft voice.
"Well… it's a tad outdated for me. I mean, you seem to know me a fair bit—which is to be expected and we shouldn't go into detail," she said with an innocent smile. "Hmm, the first part being nothing but gaming and a modest amount of Yaoi being my only life did hit home, but now that I have Uzume in my life, those things have been allocated to only fifty percent of my life now," she said cheekily that caused Uzume to blush.
"The second part as conflicts between having no sisters and too many sisters were entertaining to read, but I have sisters now," she said with an eager tone of voice to explain herself.
"Huh?" said Both Blanc and Uzume.
"Just between us gals, Neptune visited me earlier and gave me this beautiful purple bracelet. She revealed her right wrist that had the item of topic on display. She told me since I'm married to Uzume, she and Nepgear are now my sisters-in-law. Isn't that sweet of her?"
"That cheeky Neptune. I guess family life has made her soft on that front and she felt especially charitable to say that. I just hope that my Vert doesn't find out about this," said Blanc.
"As for the third portion of my part. Well, that was more of a small horror story that's too close to the chest—all the pun intended." She gave Uzume a hopeful yet sad smile. "Uzi, would you still love me even if my breasts suddenly got smaller?"
Uzume uneasily looked between Vert and Blanc.
One could tell that Blanc was also interested to hear the real response from Uzume and verify if she was accurate from the depiction that she wrote in the story. If not, maybe she needed to hit the redhead a few times with her hammer.
"Y-yes, darling. I love you for you and even if your appearance changed that's not enough for me to see you any different."
Vert lowered her eyes disapprovingly yet gave her wife a second chance with a smile on her face. "But my boobs are a plus, right?" She insistently got close to her wife with a shadow underneath her veil.
Uzume gulped and glanced at Blanc who already knew what answer Vert wanted. "Yes, they're a plus," spoke the redhead.
"Good, anything less and your pleads to use them as a pillow to suck your thumb while it's stormy would be denied."
In the next second, Uzume retreated to the corner of the room, not caring if she died right now because of the overload of embarrassment. She almost did the first time she had to tell Blanc about that. She now hoped that the book never got read by someone else that wasn't them. "I could just die!"
Vert, looking unphased about her wife's statement, turned the book a few pages. "Ah, now losing the people's faith, that is a nightmare for any CPU. Almost like when you lose a save game of over one hundred hours. Hmm, yes I can see this having an effect on me if Uzume and I had been able to do the trials when we first agreed to our union."
What do you mean?" Asked Blanc curiously.
"I merely speak about the fear of the unknown. At that time, we didn't truly know how the people would react and we only had the hope that together we could bring Leanbox into a golden age. This feels more like a reminder that my darling wife helped me restore my nation from such an unbalance of hype about CPUs joining together."
Uzume stopped covering her head in the corner and looked at her wife. "Vertsy..."
"Uzume, you're not a failure of a CPU the way you depicted yourself in this story. I could be considered a failure that I couldn't stay relevant while people talked about Noire and the mysterious new CPU being together. It was like that on two fronts with them also chatting about how amazing Blanc and Plutia were doing together. Regardless, you are my strong and very cool wife who I can depend on with my life, my love, and my massive game collection."
Blanc wholeheartedly laughed contentedly at Vert adding in some humor into an impactful moment.
Uzume beamed at her warmly and tiptoed to kiss her wife on the lips.
She then looked hesitant and cheekily spoke. "Does that mean you can depend on me to lead the attack in the next raid boss we fight?"
Vert looked caught in headlights and a flash of memory at the progress they had made in their current co-op game set in. "O-Of course dear," she struggled to release those words.
Uzume laughed and hugged her tenderly. "I'm just messing around. I felt like I had two left thumbs when I couldn't get the boss's attack patterns down in time before having to wipe. If only I could just lay repeated blows to it until it dies."
"I'll let you pick out the next game, how does that sound?"
"Like married life," sweetly whispered Uzume to her wife.
Once Blanc exited the room, Vert sighed noticeably as if desiring her wife to look her way. She had been laid out on a sofa looking a bit blissful and spent.
Uzume had been fixing her tie in the mirror after a brief make-out session that went a little too far as soon as Blanc exited the room. "Vertsy?" The flushed cheeks of Uzume had not gone away as she turned to her wife to gaze at her magnificent beauty.
The blonde switched between shyness and brave until she finally conveyed herself to say what she wanted. "About the story... about this Kurome... you mentioned some of the details to me but now, I understand a side of you I always wondered about."
Uzume relaxed her shoulders and held onto her wife's hand. "I wanted to be transparent with you. For what it's worth, there was a part of me that was pure evil and lonely. I did tell you that I was sealed away in another dimension, right?"
"Yes, and I remember you called yourself a 'relic' a word most shameful that doesn't reflect you at all; who has nothing but adoring value."
"Thanks, Vertsy. I wanted you to know that side of me. While she and I split and became two different beings, it's only natural for me to take responsibility for her actions as she was me and I was her. I was a corrupted CPU who fooled herself into thinking the world hated her. And… somewhere down the line, I no longer became the original Uzume anymore."
"And you think that will make me see you differently? That the side of you that was corrupt would make me stop loving you?"
Uzume remained quiet, wanting to allow her wife to help her through the abyssal thoughts that she always had.
"Did Neptune and the others stop loving you when they found out? No. They accepted you for who you are now. The good in you persevered and found a reason to live."
While she had found peace in the past, the fact that she shared a life with Vert had surfaced those feelings of doubt. "Thanks, I feel a lot better, and I just never found a perfect time to tell you." Her expression grew surprised when Vert cupped her face with her hands.
"I desire nothing more than my wife to feel at peace. Like Blanc's story put it: I became the half piece to your heart that is now completed, just how you are my half to my heart. Know that I'll always give you an ear if you have any more woes to get out of that cute head of yours. Just know that it doesn't change what I feel. I see a girl who is shy to let the world know how sweet she is and not some dark and sinister girl."
"Uzume's face turned bright red, and she tried her best to not explode into a mess of happy emotions. "I know..." she puffed in the air and produced a happy grin. "Look at us, being all serious and dramatic during this special day. Come on, everyone is probably going to think we're not going through this."
Vert smirked and folded her arms. "Hmm, that will not do. The wedding altar is ready to go, and as for the ballroom afterward… the catering and band have already been paid for. Did I mention I already reserved plans for our getaway honeymoon?" She said softly to her ear, sending shivers down the redhead's back.
Uzume hummed from the stimulation and then laughed happily. Everything that had happened to get her to this point was a blessing and she wouldn't change anything for the world.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I originally wanted to write Vert's trials, but it wasn't clicking with me the way Uzume's story did. I also had ideas for Blanc, but it felt like I needed to twist the story around to fit it in, and then it would sound awkward when reading it. I decided to work with what I had and write it out this way to finally put a bow on this story.
This was the final chapter of From Here to Europa as a fresh start is needed for me.
There's a Nepmas story in the works that complement this story but that will be the new start to the final—and yes, I mean the final story for this Neptunia timeline I've worked on for the past few years. It blows my mind that Same Person Different Entity was 2017. As a writer, I gained a new appreciation for the dedication and scope of story works that perfectly weave and create amazing worlds and characters. It's one of the motivations that aspire me to keep writing and to share my stories I dream up with amazing people like you!
From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all a happy December holiday month and great luck and joy in the new year!