Author's Note

Hello there, welcome to the start of my fanfiction creation. I realised there are a lot of concepts I want to explore with the Hyperdimension Neptunia series that I feel havent adequately been addressed in the series, nor in other fanfics I could find.

So I decided I'll write them myself. This is a quick one shot about a little idea I had for a depressed neptune and a more serious sibling relationship ship between Neptune and Nepgear. Simple, but an interesting juxtaposition to normal.

I hope you enjoy!

What remains unshared.

"-eptune we need to... are you even listening to me?"

Blinking sleep out of her tired eyes, the purple goddess glanced up out of the Basillicom window, to the skyscraper-filled sight of her home nation Planeptune. It was beautiful, yet unusually no pride stirred within her. Turning her gaze to just off her bed, she sighted the frantic looking Nepgear, rapidly tapping her foot impatiently. How long had she been waiting for her lazy, pathetic sister?

With this first thought however, came the sudden gut-wrenching realisation of what was wrong. It was one of those days. Crap. Regardless, she forced herself up and shot her little sister a dorky grin, the least she could do was not ruin whatever she had planned. Something about a new release in Lowee?-

"Yeah, yeah! Jeez Nep Jr, give me a sec kay? My poor, old bones aren't like they used to be. Oh, how you wound my soul with your neverending youth!"

"Alright sis, but hurry up! We've got to head to Lowee for..."

Nepgear looked upon her sisters face, and her eyes softened instantaneously. Figures, she could never hide how she felt from her own share-relation.

Neptune's smile didn't falter.

"Come onnn sis~ It's no biggie, I can head to Lowee, I've been dying to see Blanny and the twins for ageeesss now anyway."

Her younger sister stifled a sob as she softly moved over to sit on her bed, gently grasping her pale hand.

"Don't worry about it big sis, we're not going anywhere today, you don't have to move. I'll ask Histoire to call Blanc and let her know something more important came up"

Nepgear lay down, pulling the cover over the lilac pair as she hugged Neptune close.

"H-Hey, no need to make such a fuss about nothing Nepgear, you know Histy, she'll blow a fuse if-" Neptune protested in vain, silenced as Nepgear lovingly ran her hand through her hair

"You're not bad for this Neptune."

Her smile broke. A pained grimace slipped in place.

"Hey, it's kinda funny when you think about it, isn't it sis? You'd think having prayers aimed at you constantly would help your self-esteem!"

Nepgear said nothing, choosing to continue soothing her suffering sister.

"I-I'm such a failure as a CPU Nep jr, I have to set an example for e-everybody and I need to t-teach you how to be a good leader, a-and-"

"Sis."

"And if I-Iffy and Compa found out they'd be so sad and Iffy is stressed enough already with the guild a-and-"

"Sis, breathe."

"A-And you and Histy already do so much compared to me, I-I bet she wishes Uzume j-just took over. I'm pathetic a-and the other CPU's all k-know it."

"Neptune, you know none of them think that."

"I-I know that Nep jr, I-I just-" Silent tears began falling from her face, and she buried her tear-stricken face in her sisters comforting shoulders. As her little sister whispered soothing words in her ears, whimpers escaped the crying girl, overflowing guilt and self-loathing writhing for control.

"...I love you Nepgear, I-I'm sorry I'm so mean and such a bad siste-"

The candidate covered her sisters mouth, a trace of tears now visible in the corners of her eyes.

"D-Don't ever say that sis, you're the best sister I could ever ask for, I l-love you too."

A humourless laugh escaped from Neptune's lips.

"I really, really don't deserve you Nep jr."

Nepgear squeezed harder.

‐-‐-

"-Can you believe it? The Goddesses of Lastation, Leanbox AND Lowee all here to celebrate the BRAND NEW launch of the Loweean Switch-"

Excited ramblings of news anchors plagued the purple goddess's ears like static, as she lay corpse-like in her bed, dull eyes staring at the screen in front of her. Blanc's new console was innovative, there was no denying that. Both a home console and a handheld? It was unheard of, and apparently a concept Ram had mentioned offhandedly once in a tantrum. It wasn't hard for Neptune to mentally picture the scenario.

It had been a while since a Planeptunian console launch.

The static tuned back in.

"-though one does have to wonder, where is Lady Purple Heart? Perhaps she was busy, or maybe, conflict has erupted amongst the upper echelons?"

Tsk. Typical broadcasters, desperate to stir up whatever drama they could. She never did understand why Blanc would let reporters say whatever they felt. Neptune, while socially liberal to a radical extent, wasn't such a fan of freedom of the press. It came naturally to recall the sort of slander and public scrutiny hurled her way when she became CPU, and that was when patriotism was at its highest... The console war, huh?

She decided to end that thought there.

As usual, her perfect sister came through to save her from herself.

"I bought pudding Neptune! You'll never believe who I ran into at the store."

Neptune tore her eyes away from the screen to the enthusiastic candidate, catching her eyes. Nepgear, to her credit, didn't even flinch at the sight.

"-MAGES. was just stood there, about to put a spoon in a microwave. I asked her what the goodness she was doing and she told me something about an 'anomaly in the time-space continuum', whatever that means?"

Sounded like MAGES. alright.

"So turned out the owner of the place was a friend of hers, and as soon as she saw me she wanted to lend us a whoolee batch of pudding!"

She could swear Nepgear's carefree smile lit up the room for a moment. Watching on as her little sister ranted about this and that, a small grin crept it's way onto Neptune, a faint light returning in her lilac globes. Her little sister shot her a beaming smile, walking over and pecking her on the cheek, before meandering off into the vast Basillicom.

And if Neptune shed a few tears over how blessed she was with her share-relation... Well, nobody was around to see it.