Why hello there, I didn't expect to post on this again so soon, yet here I am. This idea came to me one night and I've been dying to write it ever since. Classic one this one is. Also worth noting, just to avoid any potential confusion. None of these chapters (unless otherwise denoted) will be connected to one another, and yes AUs are definitely fair game (but I suck at those so don't expect too many). Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy it.
-marketvalueneps
Synopsis: IF, Uni and Nepgear are out dungeon crawling when something unexpected happens, leaving Uni with an immense feeling of guilt, will her guilt consume her, or will true love win out (you already know the answer to this).
The Guild of Planeptune was one of the few things the country could boast over its international competition, while Lowee's guild was home to some of the top adventurers, including the world-famous Golden Pair. Planeptune's ease of access to getting one's self acquainted with the basics and getting into the action was one of the biggest boons for the nation.
As three girls made their way through the impressive halls of the guild building, one couldn't help but grumble about potential policy blunders.
"I told Noire that if we raise the requirements for one to get a license to begin hunting that we would lose a lot of that sector to Planeptune but nooooo…" Uni mumbled to herself, catching the ears of the two girls walking beside her.
"Hmm? Did you say something Uni?" The ever polite Nepgear asked, tilting her head. Receiving a slightly panicked response, in the form of the ravenette quickly shaking her hands in front of her.
"N-no you must be hearing something!" Uni's ever-so-convincing response only served to further the planeptunians' curiosity.
"Are you sure? I could have sworn…" Nepgear responded innocently, however before more back and forth could be had between the pair, the last member of the group raised her voice.
"Jeez, if you two are gonna talk like an old married couple all day this is gonna take forever, I swear you two might be worse than your sisters…" IF called out to the pair who had fallen behind her pace, placing a hand to her head as she spoke. Her words generated an awkward reaction among both the candidates, with both voicing resistance, but IF was having none of it, "Yea yea whatever, c'mon we have to get out or else we'll be out too long" She shut down the pointless conversation while beckoning to the two young goddesses.
As the trio looked over the available quests, eventually deciding on 4 quests in roughly the same area of Otori Cave. Including defeating 5 boxer cats, gathering 5 hard shells, gathering 5 destructive fangs, and the key one was defeating a dangerous fenir that had been spotted heading into the area, which was strange because they were not native to the area. So the guild had a special request out for its extermination.
"Hello, we would like to take on these requests today" Nepgear greeted the receptionist with a bow.
"Oh my, and what do we owe the privilege of assisting Lady Purple Sister today?" The receptionist's eyes had widened upon seeing the CPU candidate of the nation.
"Oooh uh, you don't have to call me that, Nepgear is just fine, and we're just trying to help out all the citizens" Nepgear stuttered out her response, much to the chagrin of the veteran with her.
"Alright, alright Gear we get it" IF patted Nepgear on the back, taking to talking with the receptionist herself. "Say, can you put out these quests in our name?" IF asked with a little more authority, after all, she was one of the more recognized faces around these parts. The woman behind the desk nodded as she filled out all the proper paperwork.
"Everything should be good to go, I wish you luck, Miss IF, Lady Purple, and Black Sister." She finished with a bow, and the party set off to their location.
"You girls have everything you'll need?" IF figured the two being as responsible as they were would be more than prepared, but she figured she might as well check for extra caution. Years of adventuring with Neptune will do that to you.
"Yuuhuh I have all sorts of healing supplies as well as eject buttons and even a few stat boosters" Nepgear proclaimed, looking through the bag she always had clipped to her hip. She had long since taken to keeping enough items for two people. Again, Neptune.
"Ditto, I also have enough ammo to blast through an army of dogoos!" Despite not being her intention, Uni could see Nepgear and IF subconsciously shiver at the notion of *another* slimy army. Uni tilted her head but figured that could be explained at a later date.
The three nodded as they departed, heading north to their destination. Making idle chat as they made their way through absolutely pointless map screen random encounters.
"Say, Miss IF?" Uni started with a curious tone.
"Yea, what's up?" IF turned to face the gun enthusiast.
"Why isn't Compa coming today? I mean it's odd for me to see one of you without the other close by" Uni explained her rationale behind her question, however, she was stupefied by the response she garnered from the veteran.
"I mean isn't it natural for childhood friends to be close to one another. I mean it isn't that special for me and Compa, not that Compa isn't special, but it's only natural. And besides, she's a busy person and she's working at the hospital today, which reminds me I have to pick her up today so you two don't dilly dally today!" IF managed to get all of these words out in less than a few seconds, face beet red, quickly pivoting on her heel and continuing forward, leaving Uni behind in awe.
"What the hell was that?" Uni whispered over to her fellow goddess., who could only offer a soft chuckle.
"Haa yea IF tends to do that whenever someone brings up Compa like that" Nepgear explained with a sweatdrop making its way down her head. Uni could only offer a soft chuckle at this before said burnette could be heard calling for the pair, causing them to hustle to catch up. Eventually, the trio arrived at their destination, looking at each other for one last confirmation before entering the cave, they all took the plunge.
The group made quick work of the fodder mobs as they made their way towards the back of the cave, their teamwork and precision unmatched. Nepgear and IF quickly rotated and slashed through many of the mobs on the frontlines, with Uni providing accurate rear support picking off weakened mobs, and those that dared get too close to either of the frontliners. Both of said women had to admit, this was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience. They trusted Uni as she had proven herself on more than enough opportunities, but bullets whizzing by their heads just didn't feel right.
"Hya!" Nepgear yelled, hitting a multi-layered rapid strike combo on one of the poor boxer cats as it dissipated into pixels, Nepgear quickly surveying the battlefield noticed an approaching big shell, "IF" She called out, and the brunette quickly adjusted her sight, finishing the blue creature quickly with a dual slice of her qatars.
Unbeknownst to both of them, however, a black salamander had managed to flank both of the close-range specialists. But this was not for long, as the salamander quickly faded into pixels like the rest of its brethren as a bullet accurately pierced its skull, whilst missing both of the women.
"Man, I'm glad she's on our side…" IF could only shake her head at the raw level of precision the Lastation goddess candidate displayed.
"No kidding" Nepgear laughed, as someone who had fought her at one time, she could attest, those bullets hurt just as much as they looked.
The women made quick work of searching the area for any items they would need, finding one of the hard shells that were requested.
"Now that just makes 2 more hard shells, 3 more destructive fangs, and the fenir?" IF asked while taking a moment to catch her breath. As someone who had been doing this as long as IF she could do menial tasks like this for extended periods with no issue, despite her human limitations. The two goddesses, on the other hand, had the benefit of being backed up by essentially a nation of people with the share energy that flowed through them. IF had often wondered how it would feel to be able to use share energy. But she figured she'd have to leave that to the dimension-hopping IF that surely existed out there somewhere.
"Are you all good to push forward?" Nepgear asked with genuine care for her friends in mind, dungeon-crawling was something you had to make sure you put your all into, or else you could get seriously injured.
"Of course"
"Do you even have to ask?" IF then Uni responded, with the latter flicking her hand through one of her intricate hair ties, which led to the question, why did any of these girls bother doing their hair up? Surely it would just get ruined by the physical activity? Questions that surely never would be answered.
Within half an hour, the trio had collected all the materials that were requested by the guild, and were now shifting their focus to hunting a specific dog-like creature. A task that proved far more fruitless than one might figure.
"Man, where could a giant friggin' dog even hide!" IF bemoaned their current situation as she kept her eyes peeled, along with the duo with her.
However, in their surveillance for the elusive dog, the group seemed to lose track of their surroundings, and before they noticed, they were soon engaged with a King Dogoo, which in itself was not a particularly menacing foe. So the 3 took their battle stance, at large more annoyed than threatened by the appearance of the jelly royalty.
"Demonic Inferno!" IF started with one of her skills, igniting the dogoo, and knocking it off-balance, this was intentional to set up the next part of the combo. As she watched Nepgear dashed close to the jelly, this was a combo the two had performed many a time, it was a great way to start battles that required just a tad more coordination and firepower.
"Mirage dance" Nepgear called out as she gracefully sliced through the gelatinous creature, dashing through and repeating the steps.
As Uni looked through her scope and caught the eye of the graceful skill being performed by her international counterpart, she couldn't help but stop for a moment and realize just how graceful she looked while performing her skill, it really was like a dance. Looking through the magnifying lens, she couldn't help but notice how pretty the other goddess really was.
As Nepgear finished her skill with a last dash through the monster, finishing angled back towards where she had come from to yield to IF. Nepgear quickly dashed far past that and was quickly rushing towards where Uni was positioned, which Uni thought was odd, that was until she heard the lilac goddess call out,
"Uni behind you!" She yelled, and at that moment Uni flicked her head around, only to be mere feet from a vicious fenir that had somehow managed to sneak up on her.
"Ehh?" Was the only thing she managed to squeak out as she watched in slow motion Nepgear tackle her. Uni watched in horror as the claws of the creature dug into the skin of the girl on top of her. Only snapping out of it with the feeling of a warm liquid pooling around her.
"Shit!" IF yelled out as she disengaged with the dogoo, intercepting another scratch intended for the pair with her qatars. "Uni! This is bad! We need your power!"
Feeling the whole world come back to her at the moment, fully comprehending what had just transpired in front of her, Uni quickly moved the girl on top of her to a safe location.
"You bastard, you'll pay for what you've done" The cold words left her mouth as she materialized a black share crystal in front of her, engaging it she quickly felt the common surge of power overtake her form changing along with it. And soon, Black SIster stood where Uni had been, fully armed. Taking a quick look to the side, Black Sister fired a round aimed at the already very weakened king dogoo, vaporizing the royal being into a grand display of pixelation.
Looking back towards the beast responsible for this disaster, she could see it had managed to push back IF, who fell, relatively uninjured, by Black Sister's feet. She could feel her rage build even more at this, aiming at the wild beast, she quickly fired a shot aimed at its chest, with the beast managing to only get hit in the leg, this still greatly wounding it. Howling a vicious roar, it charged full speed at Black Sister, who simply activated her boosters and floated unharmed above the attack, causing the wolf to charge headfirst into the wall.
"I won't forgive you, Brave Cannon!" Black Sister yelled, floating up more and angling the powerful blast at the beast. Exhaling, and descending down to the ground, knowing very little, if anything could live her strongest skill. Landing, and taking a look at the cloud of smoke, Black SIster was shocked when the highly damaged beast emerged. The beast, apparently deciding if it had to die anyway it was going to take someone out with it, launched a final desperate attack. The attack, however, was not in the direction of Black Sister. It was towards the injured Nepgear who lay on the ground nearby.
Quickly deducing what the monster planned on doing, Uni set her boosters to max output, stepping off the glyph on her feet she sped toward the location as fast as possible. Arriving just in the nick of time, she used her oversized gun as a pseudo sword meeting the fangs of the fenir. While locked with it, however, she could feel herself quickly losing ground, gritting her teeth she couldn't seem to manage to halt the progress of the beast towards her felled best friend.
Before her eyes, however, a blur sped past her and she could see the fenir start to lose its physical form, shattering into pixels, signaling its defeat. IF had managed to dash through it, landing the killing blow. Letting out a sigh, Black Sister turned to IF.
"Thank you"
"You idiot, why didn't you just shoot it!" IF scolded the young goddess.
"I uhh…" Uni looked to the ground, ashamed she didn't think of that, before quickly realizing the situation they were in, seemingly IF seemed to share the thought, as the both quickly turned their attention to the fallen candidate.
"Crap, this is bad. We're gonna have to get her to someone who specializes in healing magic quick" IF quickly deduced from the size and depth of the wounds on the young woman's back, along with the growing pool of blood by her side.
"...it's all my fault" Uni simply stared at the scene in front of her, tears quickly forming in her eyes. "She could die and it's all my fault" Her tears fell rapidly as she fell to her knees.
"Uni. Now is not the time for this!" IF practically yelled out.
"But… But Nepgear…" Uni could barely manage out in her distraught state.
"I'll tell you one thing, she absolutely will die if we don't get moving. Now. You can have time to throw yourself a pity party all you want when she's safe, now get up, now!" IF ordered, she was not gonna have one of her friends die like this. As she saw Uni weakly get to her feet, IF remembered how Nepgear had mentioned she brought escape buttons, reaching to the bag she knew Nepgear carried, IF fumbled around for a moment before bringing out the so-named item. Placing her hand on Nepgear and offering her hand to Uni, she quickly dramatically slapped the red button, and the trio found themselves out of the cave in an instant.
"Uni. Town is pretty far away, we likely won't make it if we walk back. Transform and fly, take her as quickly as possible, go find Compa, she'll know what to do!" IF ordered. She hated taking control out of her own hands in this situation, especially considering the mental state of the goddess she was entrusted with, but she had no choice.
Uni gave a weak nod as she once more appeared as Black Sister. Gingerly taking the fallen girl in her arms, she steeled herself and set off as fast as her boosters would allow, leaving IF behind as she quickly took out one of her many cellphones and made a few important calls.
As Uni sped through the skies with the barely moving form of the goddess she was holding, she couldn't help but feel the overwhelming sense of guilt taking hold. If she had been paying more attention, if she had looked behind her like Noire had taught her time and time again then none of this would have happened. Forcing her eyes closed and shaking her head to rid herself of the thoughts, she continued forwards. As IF said there would be time for that later. But what was important right now was the girl she was carrying in her arms. If she lost Nepgear… If she lost Nepgear… She kept repeating the worst-case scenario in her head over and over again to will herself to move faster.
After what could only be described as the worst flight of her entire life, eventually, Uni made it to the hospital where she knew she could find Compa. Touching down, she quickly rushed inside, and was greeted with the worried and expected eyes of Compa… and Neptune accompanied by Histoire. Uni transformed as she handed off Nepgear to the capable hands of the nurse, she looked over to the Planeptunian goddess and oracle as she felt the tears work their way back to her eyes.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… this is all my fault" She managed out between sobs.
"Woah, calm down little Noire, I'm sure whatever happened Nep Jr was more than willing to accept whatever storyline became of it" Neptune tried her best to reassure the lastation candidate. While she was absolutely out of her mind with worry, she knew that her worry would accomplish nothing at the current moment, and decided to try and help the sobbing goddess as much as she could.
Within a few hours, Nepgear's state had stabilized, and throughout the coming hours and days, she would frequently be visited by her friends and family. From Blanc visiting with Rom and Ram, to Vert frantically rushing over upon hearing what had transpired. To all of the gold third visiting and offering their best. All of them were greeted by the same sight as they entered, and as the left. Uni. She had not left the room from the moment they let her inside, and as far as anyone knew she hadn't slept either. At one point Noire had done her best to try and convince her younger sister to leave, but to no avail.
At the current moment, Uni was not alone in the room, as the purple-haired sister of the occupant also sat in relative silence, before she willed her mouth to ask the question on her mind.
"Hey, Uni, do you uh, do you mind telling me what happened?" Uni had never once explained what had transpired, and no one had thought to ask IF for her perspective.
"..." Uni, however, was silent.
"C'mon, I just want to know. I promise on my whole pudding stash I won't be mad" Neptune offered Uni a wide smile, eventually, Uni started up.
"Nepgear… she… she took a monstrous fenirs attack for me because I wasn't paying enough attention. Miss Neptune… I wouldn't blame you if you were mad at me. It's my fault she's like this!" Uni stood up with her hand grasping her heart, it hurt so much. She just wanted it to go away. Maybe if people blamed her like they ought to that would make her heart stop aching so badly.
"..." Neptune was silent for a moment before once more a smile took form on her face, this one, however, was much wrier. "I'm so proud of you Nepgear" Neptune quietly spoke to Nepgear, before quietly getting up and leaving the room. Leaving the remaining occupant tearing up once more.
Uni didn't get it. This was her fault. Nothing would change that. Why won't people at least let her take the blame for what she did? Uni grabbed her aching heart once more as she began sobbing.
After a few more hours passed, Uni had managed to calm herself and continued her monitoring process. Eventually, she noticed a stirring in the bed. With bated breath, she watched as the sleeping beauty began to stir to life once more, and soon her eyes fluttered open for the first time in 4 days.
Uni couldn't describe the string of emotions running through her at that moment. Joy, exhilaration, relief, shame, anger. The complex string of emotions she felt was not aided when Nepgear opened her mouth and in a raspy voice she spoke,
"Hey, Uni…" She managed out with a smile. Somehow in the endless string of emotions, she was feeling, Uni managed to call in one of the doctors, who immediately started performing all sorts of tests on the candidate after shooing out the black-haired goddess.
After an agonizing hour, Uni was allowed back into the room, only she wasn't alone, anyone and everyone who could have access to the room were gathered as they bombarded the girl with endless questions and cries of support. Eventually, after many more hours passed, just two remained. Uni and Neptune.
"Heyo Nep Jr, I kinda heard what happened" Uni instantly froze at the CPUs words, somewhere in her heart she was hoping that Nepgear would simply forget what had happened and they could just move on. But the purple-haired goddess seemed to have other plans in mind. "I just want to say I'm real proud of you" There it was again. Uni's heart felt like it wanted to shatter at that moment from all the strain. But as she sat there still for the coming minutes, eventually she saw as Neptune excused herself to head home for the day.
"Uni… You don't have to stay here" Nepgear turned to her friend.
"..." More and more strain was put on Uni's heart. She couldn't take it anymore. She was approaching her limit.
"Uni?" Nepgear seemed to almost be able to read the state of her friend, but even she was shocked as Uni quickly stood up, face flushed with tears, grabbing her chest as hard as she could.
"It's my fault! It's my fault you're like that! It's my fault you almost died! It's my fault…. It's my fau-" Unis' sobs were quickly silenced as Nepgear brought her friend close to her. "Why won't anyone blame me?!" Uni pleaded in a desperate voice. She had been pushed to her very limit. Combined with the lack of sleep she had gotten, she was in a broken state.
"Because I did it because I wanted to save you, Uni" Nepgear softly whispered.
"Why…" Uni still could feel the tears leaving her eyes.
"Because the thought of losing you was worse than anything that monster could have done to me" Nepgear brought Uni even closer.
"Don't you think about how I feel! Seeing you… I could have lost you… and then… and then…"
"I know, I'm sorry" The pair stayed in that position for a few minutes while Uni tried her best to compose herself.
"Nepgear, promise me you'll never put yourself in danger like that again," Uni asked as she clutched her as tight as she thought she could, which admittedly was not very.
"You know I can't do that, we're goddesses." Nepgear did her best to try and explain it.
"Well then, well then promise not to do anything where I can't help you" Uni reformed her demand.
Nepgear chuckled as she backed away for a moment, "I can do that, just promise me something, Uni?" Nepgear calmly said as she looked into the red eyes in front of her.
"What would that be?"
"That you can't go anywhere where I can't help you either" Nepgear let the final words leave her mouth as she brought her face closer to Uni's, eventually joining them.
Finally, Uni felt all the tension inside her heart unwind in that briefest of moments.
"I think I can do that…" Uni peacefully said as she cuddled up next to the lilac goddess, letting sleep finally overtake her. Sure the doctors would throw a fit with her when she finally did wake up, even against Nepgear's wishes. But Uni didn't care. Nepgear was safe, and really, that's all that mattered to her. Someday, someday Uni would repay the debt to the woman she loved, but as long as she knew she was safe, she could rest as peacefully as her lover could.
Hope you guys enjoyed this one, I really think this one turned out well, and keep an eye out for when this silly nonsense updates in the future.
