Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.

Chapter 22

"So..." Blanc began as she looked at her sisters. "I don't suppose you two have figured out who Peashy is, have you?"

"Huh?" Ram asked. "Peashy's pretty cool and fun."

"Uh huh, fun."

"I have to agree with them," C-Sha smiled from where she was sitting at the table, "after all," C-Sha reached over to grab a paper crown, "didn't she make you this?"

Blanc smiled softly. "Yes, but..." She looked at the little girl and sighed, her smile slipping softly. "Rom, Ram, do you remember how we recently went through a CPU Shift period?" Both of them nodded at her. "I thought it was over and we had managed to survive, but..."

"...Is Peashy a CPU?" Rom asked and Blanc nodded. "But then..."

"It seems that the people of Lowee have moved on from us." Blanc said softly. "I don't know why we're still alive, but..."

Rom suddenly burst into tears. "UWAHHH! I don't wanna die!"

"This stinks!" Ram grumbled and stomped her foot. "I wanna have more fun!"

Peashy had a confused look on her face. "Huh? Why would you die?" She sighed when no one answered her and stood up. "Hello! Pea to everyone! Pea wants to know!"

"I'm sorry," Blanc said softly, "I'll go and give Histoire a call to ask her about how a CPU retires. We still have some Shares left, so we'll be fine." When Rom cried some more and even Ram started to sniffle, she felt her own eyes start to burn with tears building up. "I... I'll make sure that you two can have normal lives after this at least, okay?" Both of her sisters suddenly hugged her tightly. Blanc turned to C-Sha, tears falling out of her eyes, "C-Sha, if... If I die, please help my sisters grow up to be fine people."

"Ah, sure, but..." C-Sha had nervous smile on her face. "Rommy, Rammy, will you two step away from Blanny for a moment?"

"Huh?" The two asked but did as C-Sha asked.

"BLANNY NO BAKA!" Peashy yelled and bonked Blanc on the head with a giant mallet...

...That let out a giant squeaky sound...

...Which caused Blanc to lose her hat.

"Now!" Peashy pulled the mallet off of Blanc's head and glared at her. "WHY ARE YOU SAD?!"

Blanc tried to get mad, she really did, but she couldn't find it in her to get mad anymore. "...Because the people of Lowee decided to move on from myself, Rom and Ram... And they chose you."

"Huh?" Peashy blinked in confusion. "But Pea isn't the CPU of Lowee, Blanny is. Pea isn't even a CPU of this world!"

Blanc stared at Peashy and she could swear a record scratch was just heard in the background. "Uh... Not from this world?"

"That's right!" Peashy nodded as she bounced the hammer on the floor a couple of times, getting a squeaky sound. "Pea's from another world! She's here because she wants her mommy back!"

"Who's your mommy, kiddo?" C-Sha asked, finding the whole thing rather interesting, but also finding relief that Blanc's fears were unfounded.

Peashy smiled brightly. "NEPTUNA!"

"Nep..." Blanc trailed off, her eyes widening. "NEPTUNE?!" Peashy nodded. "WHAAAAT?!" She screamed in utter shock, her eyes white and blank.

"Neptuna is Pea's mommy!" Peashy smiled brightly.

"But..." Rom spoke up, "you're a CPU, how can..?"

"Neptuna is Pea's mommy!"

"I don't know exactly how CPUs work," C-Sha spoke up, "but perhaps things work differently in whatever world Peashy's from." Peashy nodded at C-Sha. "Well, if you're a CPU, you have to be able to transform, right?"

Peashy shook her head and sighed. "Pea can't transform right now, that's why I want to find mommy!"

"...Well..." Blanc wasn't sure how to handle this new information. "Uh..."

Peashy smiled at Blanc and for a moment Blanc could swear that she wasn't looking at a little girl, but a CPU who had much more experience than her. "Pea knows. Blanny's people love her."

"Hey, I just realized something!" Ram suddenly yelled in shock and pointed at Peashy. "You said you're from the world that Neptune was in for a long time?" Peashy nodded. "Then you must be really old!"

"Hmm..." Peashy tapped her chin. "Pea doesn't know, Neptuna and Pea celebrated her one thousandth birthday almost a century ago."

"...You're... Over a thousand years old?" C-Sha asked and Peashy nodded. "But... You sound like..."

Peashy nodded. "Pea sounds dumb because Pea is in human form. Pea's smarter in HDD!"

Blanc sighed and chuckled. "Just like Neptune then." She felt so much relief that her legs refused to work and she slid to her butt, laughing softly while tears came out of her eyes. "I...Had been worried so much." The next thing she knew, Rom and Ram were hugging her, both of whom were crying along with her.

C-Sha felt a bit awkward and stood up to walk out of the room, but as soon as she got near the pile, Rom reached out, grabbed her and pulled her down so she could let go of Blanc and hug the busty brunette. "Uh... Why are..?"

"Because C-Sha is nice." Rom said as she hugged C-Sha, who merely smiled nervously and looked at Blanc, who gave her a grateful look.

While the others were distracted, Peashy stood up and slipped out of the room.

(-)

Peashy sighed as she sat in a park, kicking her legs on the bench. "I miss my family too." She muttered and closed her eyes as her mind flashed back in time.

*Flash*

Peashy laughed as she, IF and Compa were all in the swing seats and Neptune was giving them pushes, running between each one like a demented squirrel and pushing them as they started to slow down while they tried to learn how to properly swing. "WHEE!"

"Higher, Nep!" IF yelled happily, her eyes sparkling in joy.

"YAY!" Compa cheered, just happy to be playing along.

Not far away, sewing some dolls together on a bench, was Plutia, who smiled sleepily.

The fun lasted until Vert, Blanc and Noire walked into the park with Noire telling Neptunee and Plutia that the Seven Sages had some sort of thing going on and that they needed to investigate.

Sadly for Peashy, that was the last time she saw IF and Compa at that age as they were captured by members of the Seven Sages while the CPUs were out and she became Yellow Heart.

*End Flash*

"...I really miss them." Peashy said sadly.

"Then why did you help Blancsy?" A familiar voice spoke up and Peashy blinked as she saw the blue-haired Uzume standing in front of her, giving her a neutral expression. "I told you to make things chaotic over here."

Peashy frowned at her. "Pea's a CPU! Pea won't hurt people!"

"I didn't tell you to hurt anyone," Uzume shook her head. "You really are stupid, huh?" Peashy gave Uzume a dirty look upon hearing that, but Uzume ignored it. "But if you don't help me in creating chaos and conflict, then you'll never get Nepsy back in your life." She smiled at the angry look on Peashy's face. "So, what will you do?"

Peashy slumped, a defeated look on her face. "...What do you want Pea to do?"

"Now, now... Don't get so upset," Uzume said gently as she held up a dark sphere that crackled with power. "This will help."

"...You're going to make me turn into a monster, huh?"

"Now you get it." Uzume laughed and slammed her hand into Peashy's chest, causing the girl to gasp. "Don't worry, it will take some time, you may want to get out of here before it consumes you though."

Peashy stood up and staggered. "NGH! No! Pea won't... Pea won't..." She turned and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. "PEA WON'T HURT ANYONE!"

"Huh? Was that Lady Peashy?" Financier asked as she looked at the direction Peashy had ran. "...She looked like she was in a lot of pain." Knowing where Peashy, Blanc and C-Sha were staying, the maid quickly made her way to the hotel room and knocked on it. When she was allowed entry, she walked in and saw the four girls on the floor. "Lady Blanc, Lady C-Sha, please help Lady Peashy."

"What's wrong with Peashy?" Ram asked, concerned for her friend.

Financier shook her head. "I do not know, but she ran past me as fast as she could go and she looked like she was in pain."

C-Sha suddenly stood up, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks. "Blanny, it may not be the same thing, but that sounds like me when I have to..."

"I understand." Blanc nodded and stood up. "Which way did she run?"

"To the West." Financier told Blanc. "I'll contact the guilds to the West of here to look out for a little blonde girl running really fast."

Blanc nodded. "Thank you." She looked at Rom, Ram and C-Sha and saw all of them looking at her expectantly. "What are you all doing? Waiting for an engraved invitation? Let's go already!"

Blanc knew that she could say she was doing this for Neptune, that she knew how much the other CPU would be sad if something happened to her daughter. She could say she was doing it because she owed Peashy a favor or because she knew Rom and Ram would be sad.

But the truth was pretty simple for Blanc.

Peashy was in trouble and she had to see if she could help the girl out, that's all there was to it.

(-)

K-Sha sighed as she sat on a bench, looking troubled. "Noire won't... She won't look at me, she stays so close to Uni and..." She trailed off as a shadow came over her. Looking up, she stared in surprise as she saw a purple haired girl in pajamas standing over her. "You're..."

The girl smiled at her. "My name's Plutia." She then sat down next to K-Sha. "Why are you so sad?"

"I..." K-Sha sighed and slumped, realizing that this was probably the only time she could talk about how she was feeling. "There's a girl I really like, and I want to at least be friends with, but she's so fixated on her sister and... I think she'll just forget me."

Plutia nodded and idly kicked her legs. "Yeah, it's sad when you love someone and they don't love you back like that." She said softly. "It's even worse when people you love stop loving you, huh?" K-Sha gave her a surprised look and Plutia had a pained smile on her face. "I messed up with some of my family awhile ago and they disowned me."

"What?" K-Sha asked Plutia, who sighed.

"I made mistakes and over-reacted to things. I wanted to make it up to them, but they never forgave me." A look of longing appeared in her eyes. "I miss them all, but some of them are dead and I can't apologize to them anymore."

"I'm sorry." K-Sha said, unsure how to respond to that.

Plutia took a deep breath as she willed the pain in her heart away. "But even though I loved her, she took everything from me..." Plutia smirked softly. "But I was a baaaad person though."

"You aren't though!" K-Sha told Plutia. "Maybe you're a little weird, but I don't think you're a bad person."

Plutia shook her head. "No, I did baaad things and got a lot of people mad at me." She sighed softly. "I just want her to love me too. But she always talked about going home to see her sister, or her children or friends, she never loved me like how I loved her."

K-Sha stared at Plutia in surprise. '...She...She's... She's like me.' She stood up and got in front of Plutia. "That's terrible! You should have tried harder!"

Plutia shook her head. "She knows I love her, but she never loved me like that." Plutia smiled at K-Sha sadly. "You should know that... Well... If you don't tell her, you'll lose her, but even if she knows, she may not love you back."

K-Sha stared at Plutia and nodded. "...Yeah, I know, but... How should I tell her?"

Plutia smiled at her. "Ask her on a date." K-Sha's eyes lit up. "Because she won't know unless you do."

"You're right!" K-Sha nodded and grabbed Plutia's hands, shaking them. "Thank you, Plutia!" She let go, turned and ran off, leaving Plutia behind.

Plutia just watched K-Sha run off sadly. 'I still love you, Neppy, why..?'

*Flash*

Neptune looked at Plutia, who was blushing and squirming. "Plutie, I..." She didn't know how to respond and took a step back as Plutia stepped towards her.

"Please, Neppy?" The girl smiled at her nervously. "I love you, please... Love me back."

"But you want me to stay here..." Neptune answered and Plutia nodded and Neptune found her back against the wall while Plutia got right up against her. "Plutie, you know that I don't..." She was stopped as Plutia leaned in and kissed her on the lips. For a moment, Neptune froze and returned the kiss while Plutia hugged her.

"Stay with me, Neppy... Love me, stay here, please?" Plutia asked Neptune as she rubbed Neptune's back. "I love you, Neppy."

The next thing Plutia knew, she was on her butt and Neptune was panting from pushing her away. "Neppy?"

"Plutie..." Neptune shook her head. "I don't love you like that. Sorry, but I don't."

Plutia glared at Neptune, tears coming out of her eyes as she stood up and turned into Iris Heart. "Why?" Iris Heart said as she got on her knees. "Neppy, I'm literally putting my heart out here for you!" Tears welled up in the strong-willed CPU's eyes. "You've lived here for more than two centuries now! I'm begging you! I'm throwing my pride away! What more do you want from me?!"

Neptune shook her head. "I'm sorry, Plutie... I just don't love you like that."

Iris Heart glared at Neptune and stood up, tears falling out of her eyes as she turned and fled to find some monsters to vent her frustration on.

Neptune watched Plutia go and slumped to her butt. "...I'm really sorry, Plutie..." She whispered.

*End Flashback*

Plutia put her face into her hands and her knees on her legs as she silently sobbed. Even centuries later, the pain of rejection still hurt.

'And I screwed up so much with the others too.' Plutia lamented, wishing she could go back in time and use her HDD on her younger self to make her a better person.

She might not have lost everything if she had more restraint after all.