Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.
A bit of a short chapter, but I thought it was a good spot to end it where I did.
Chapter 3
Histoire looked up as Neptune walked in with a notepad in her hand. "Ah, Neptune, the Basilicom got some rather large expenses that just came in, do you know what that's about?"
Neptune nodded silently and finished writing on her notepad. "Yeah, I know, Histy. I made them." She said, her voice soft and, much to Histoire's surprise, kind of sad. "I'm kind of tired." She tore the sheet of paper out of the notepad and handed it to Histoire. "Please have that announcement set up for tomorrow, okay?"
"Neptune?" Histoire gave her a confused look. "What are you..?"
"...I'm going to go lay down, Histy..." Neptune sighed and trudged off, shuffling her feet as she walked.
"Neptune..." Histoire said softly, concern on her face and in her voice. "I've never seen her like that." She turned to see IF, Compa and Nepgear walk in. "Welcome back. What happened?" When they explained what they saw and how Neptune got really sad after giving them burgers, Histoire nodded and closed her eyes in thought.
"I don't understand. It's just food. I mean, I ate it, but..." IF had an upset look on her face.
"I think I know what happened." Histoire spoke up and opened her eyes. "This is just a guess, but perhaps Neptune knew an IF and a Compa in the other dimension? And due to being trapped there for over a thousand years, she knew them for their entire lives." She nodded at the looks of stunned silence that IF and Compa had on their faces as they realized that Histoire was right. "And no matter how close you two were with her, you only knew her a couple of years before she was trapped in the graveyard and only three years after that. What is five years of your lives compared to the decades that she knew your other selves?"
IF looked visibly bothered by what Histoire had just told them. "That doesn't... But we're not..."
"I'm sure that Neptune doesn't blame you, IF." Histoire said gently. "She's probably being overwhelmed with emotions right now and wants to try and calm down." Histoire looked at the paper in her hands and her eyes widened as a smile came to her face. "In fact, I think that Neptune has the right idea here."
"Huh?" Nepgear walked over to Histoire and looked at the paper. While Neptune's writing was still... Difficult to understand, but the message written on the paper was pretty clear. "Wow! That's a great idea."
Histoire nodded and turned to float off. "I'll inform the staff to have the announcement out and across Planeptune."
(-)
After wandering around the Basilicom hallways for a few minutes, Neptune finally gave up on trying to find a bedroom and just opened the first door that she came across. "This is... My office, right?" She asked herself as she tried to remember if was or not. Flipping the light on, she frowned in confusion. "If this was my office, there'd be a lot of papers... Oh right, Nepgear probably did them all." Letting out a yawn, she walked over to the couch and flopped on it. Opening up her inventory, she pulled out a blanket, one that was tattered, old and had fading colors to it before throwing it over her body.
Closing her eyes, Neptune found herself drifting off to sleep.
*Flash*
"Grandma!" A little blonde girl smiled at Neptune, who waved from where she was playing Peashy and a little boy. The little blonde girl ran with her arms wide to Neptune, who opened her arms and hugged the girl.
"Emi!" Neptune smiled and looked up as she saw an older Compa walking up to them. "Hey, Compa!" She let go of the girl and stood up to walk over to her daughter.
"Hey, Nep Nep." The blonde smiled at her. "Emi, you be a good girl for grandma, okay?" The girl nodded and went over to play with Peashy and the little boy. "Thanks for watching my daughter and Iffy's son today, Nep Nep."
Neptune rolled her eyes. "You know that things have been peaceful enough that I can afford to do this, Compa."
Compa looked uncomfortable. "I still don't like having to drop my kids on you on a moment's notice." She blushed at the amused look on Neptune's face. "It's not really fair to you and..."
"Compa," Neptune smiled at her, "I'm your mother, right? 'Sides, Plutie likes it when you two drop your kids off." She sighed softly. "How's life been anyway?"
"It's been great." Compa smiled at her. "Listen, after I get back from the medical conference, why don't we all go to the amusement park?"
Neptune's eyes lit up happily. "Ooooh! There was a new roller coaster ride too! Plutie and I had to have exceptions for us and P-Ko on all rides since we can't get any taller." She smiled brightly. "Alright, Doctor Compa, you go to your conference and don't you worry, your kids will be fine."
"I hope Iffy's fine." Compa looked a bit worried.
"Eh, she'll be fine." Neptune waved Compa's concerns off. "Besides, she has a kid waiting for her. You know that she won't get seriously hurt."
"True." Compa smiled at her and opened a menu before tapping it a couple of times. "Alright, you have Emi's spare clothes now, take care, I'll be back soon."
"Bye!" Neptune smiled and waved her daughter off. Turning to the three kids who were playing, she grinned and ran over to them. "Okay! Let's go on the merry go round!"
"YAY!" All three cheered at the same time.
*End Flash*
Neptune smiled softly in her sleep as she dreamed about that time in her life. "Ngh, P-Ko... No... Put the spider down... Zzzzzz!"
(-)
Meanwhile...
Nepgear smiled as she looked at the screen with Noire, Vert and Blanc on it. "Hello."
"Ah, Nepgear." Vert smiled at her. "You seem to be in good spirits." Nepgear nodded and Vert sighed softly. "I'd love to chit-chat, but with how things are going here with the rumors, I'm afraid I don't have time for idle chat."
"Agreed," Noire huffed as she flicked her long black pigtails behind her shoulder. "I'm not upset that you're calling, I'm just stressed out right now."
"Well..." Nepgear smiled at the others. "Why don't you three, as well as Rom, Ram and Uni, come to Planeptune in three days? We're going to have a special event in the park. Everyone's invited and that includes all of you."
"But I'm..." Noire trailed off and shook her head. "You know, that sounds great, actually. I could use a break from this stress."
Blanc rubbed her eyes and nodded. "I agree with Noire. What time would be a good time to show up?"
"Oh, it's all day." Nepgear smiled at them. "But the big event will be around noon for lunch. We'll be serving food for everyone."
"Oh, a picnic then? How lovely." Vert smiled and clasped her hands together. "And Nepgear," she winked at the purple-haired girl, who got a flustered look on her face, "if you want, you can always become my sister. I'm sure that Planeptune will be fine with Histoire watching over it."
"But that..." Nepgear tried to protest. "That wouldn't be right! I can't just abandon it! Especially since Neptune..."
"Nepgear, while you haven't given up hope that she'll return, don't you think it's time to accept the facts?" Noire asked as she looked at Nepgear sadly. "Neptune isn't going to be coming back and you need to go through the succession ritual. Or do you want Planeptune to have a new CPU soon?"
Nepgear frowned at Noire. "That's not fair, Noire! You don't know what happened. Neptune..."
"I find it admirable that you believe that she'll return." Blanc said softly. "But..."
Nepgear growled and balled her hands into fists. "Fine! Since none of you want to let me talk, just come to Planeptune in three days then and you'll see what I was trying to say!" She shut the communication off, much to the shock of the other three CPUs.
Staring at the blank screen with a dumbfounded expression, it took Vert's brain a few moments to process what happened. "...I don't think I've ever seen Nepgear so angry."
"Well, I'm curious now." Noire huffed. "I guess I'll have to find out in three days what she was trying to tell us."
"What?" Blanc snorted. "That Neptune somehow magically came home?" She sighed and shook her head. "I miss that loud idiot."
"I'll let her know that you do." Noire smirked as the call ended. When the screen was off, Noire leaned back into her chair and sighed. "...You aren't the only one, Blanc." Not that she'd ever admit it to anyone, but Neptune really did make things more fun for everyone.
Even when she was being a brat, or when she seemingly went out of her way to annoy everyone.
Noire sighed and closed her eyes. "Everything's felt so... Dull since Neptune disappeared." There wasn't much she could do about it though.
Standing up, Noire walked out of her office and almost ran Uni over, who had a bag of groceries in her hands. "Oh, sorry."
"It's okay." Uni smiled at her. "I thought I'd get some stuff to maybe make some snacks." She fidgeted under Noire's look. "I just..."
"Want to make them together?" Noire asked and smiled at Uni's pleased expression. "It's been awhile since we made snacks together, huh?"
"Yeah!" Uni smiled happily and the two went to the kitchen to do just that.
"Oh, Uni," Noire said as they entered the kitchen, "Nepgear invited all of us to Planeptune in three days for a picnic in the park and said there was some sort of announcement that would happen then."
"Planeptune Park Picnic, huh?" Uni muttered and smiled, "sure, it would be nice to get out of the office and not deal with a ton of rumors about us all the time." Part of her wondered what announcement Nepgear would have, but decided she could wait for it.
After all, it would be nice just to hang out with her friends again and catch up on current events.
There were a few days between getting back from Zero Dimension and the CPUs coming over to complain about their problems. Why not use that time for a picnic in the park?
Yes, that's what Nep was doing in the previous chapter.