Chapter 58

I look at all of my female friends, each if them with a guilty look on their face. I knew something was off in the battle, but I can't put my finger on it. All the while Martin sits alone looking as confused as I am.

"Jack…" Nepgear sounds discouraged and really depressed.

"Alright ladies, we just have to tell him the truth. He was gonna figure us out sooner or later anyways. And besides, maybe he won't take it too personally." Neptune is the next to speak.

Oh hell, something tells me that the pooch is about to get screwed on this one. It always happens to me for some reason.

"What exactly am I supposed to understand?"

"Let me break it to him." Blanc stands up and walks towards me. She places a hand on my shoulder before speaking. "Jack, we aren't exactly from around here."

"Well of course, you moved here only a few months ago." Damn I'm probably clueless.

"No… I mean we aren't from here. As in we're not from this world…"

Well I mean Neptune isn't of course. I'm sure they're just playing a joke on me just to see my reaction… but why doesn't it feel like that?

"Jack… let me tell you a story. Back in our home of Gamindustri, there live four goddesses. The four main ones are Neptune, Noire, Vert and I. Under them are the Goddess Candidates, those being Nepgear, Uni, Rom and Ram. But there is a fifth goddess there, one we refer to as…"

"The Deity of Sin…" Noire says in fear. Ok, this is getting really weird now. I don't think they're joking around after all.

"While we gain our juice through our people love, she gets her bad energy from the people's fear of her." I've never heard Neptune sound this serious before.

Goddesses, another world, and an evil Deity? This is becoming too much for me. But where do I fit into all this?

"There's a problem now… more than ninety percent of the world has complete fear in her than faith in us. There was no way we could fight against her." Uni chimes in with the rest of them.

"Therefore, we were forced to flee our world for our own survival, and potentially gather aid to fight this powerful emissary." Vert gets her two senses in as well.

"There was no way we could mash the evil goddess into the ground. She's just so scary!" Ram is genuinely afraid of this "evil goddess".

"Scary…" Rom is afraid as well.

"But if you're from another world then how do you have houses and apartments?"

"Our oracles converted our credits to this world's money before we fled. In other words, we could be considered rich. But we didn't want to stand out too much." Noire gives me an explanation.

"And the worst part is, that bitch divided herself into five separate parts. Which means we have to beat all five of them before we can fight the real thing." Blanc's really worried about this whole thing.

"Wait… so you mean?"

"Yes, what we fought tonight was one of those Pieces of Sin. They are known as the Bound Deities. And each one is very difficult to combat." Vert gives the rundown.

"There's one bound to each nation, and then one who links them all. We think your peer Andrew has made a covenant with the Deity of Sin to become the fifth Bound Deity." Noire is the next to speak.

"Andrew? So that explains why I was paralyzed on Halloween. And why he can regenerate so quickly whenever I wound him."

"Yes, when he used his dark powers on you, I used some of the power I'd saved up to lift the curse from you. I'm sorry we've kept this hidden from you for so long…" Nepgear explains her role so far.

But I ask again, where do I come into all of this? If they came to this world to flee an evil, why associate with a mortal? I can't possibly be anything important to divine beings.

"But while we're here, we can't exactly save our world and stuff y'know? So that's why Histy developed a little weapon we could use from here."

"Histy?"

"Her full name is Histoire, Tome of the World. That is just a pet name Neptune gave to her."

They're connected to Histoire? That means my dreams where I hear her voice are connected to each of my friends minus Martin.

"You can hear her in your dreams sometimes. But since you're not connected to any sharacite, it takes a lot of effort to even attempt contact." Blanc states as emotionless as ever.

"That explains a lot… but what's this weapon Neptune mentioned?"

"Isn't it obvious dummy? It's that game we all play!"

"It acts… as a portal… where we can control avatars remotely. You can too… you've been a big help to us so far."

So the game we all play is linking two worlds together? Damn this is some trippy stuff. I still haven't gotten the answer to my question though.

"That's all nice and dandy, but where do I come into this mix?" I need some answers.

"You see Jack, you have the blood of an ancient Gamindustri hero coursing through your veins. We needed your help liberate our world at any cost." Noire states.

"Basically, we needed to get you on our side no matter what it took." Uni clarifies it even more.

Blood of another world's hero? As I seem to recall, all of my ancestors have been born on this world and have never world hopped before.

But if they needed for me to stay with them, and Nepgear and I have been going out, wouldn't that mean that she's just been with me to keep me with them?

Oh shit… I give off a look of sudden realization that everyone seems to catch onto. Nepgear seems to take this the worst out of any of them.

"Nepgear… was everything we had up to this point just a show to manipulate me into helping you?"

"I can't answer that…" That response breaks my heart.

"So you never loved me to begin with?" I'm almost yelling and am on the verge of tears.

Nepgear lets out a single tear. "I'm afraid I can't answer that either."

I'm really heartbroken now. It's one thing that most of my friends have been lying to me for around four months. But it's another thing when the person you love never loved you to begin with.

"What do you mean you can't answer?!"

"It started out that way… but when we actually became a thing, I started to develop real feelings for you. Jack… I did something really bad and I'm sorry. But it was for the good of my home…"

"You never loved me to begin with, so what makes you think I'll take your side this time?!"

"Jack…"

I look away from Nepgear. I'm done with it all, I just can't stand here any longer. I've lost a lot of precious things tonight… including my girlfriend.

"I've had enough of this, I'm leaving!" Before anyone could stop me, I jolted out the door and ran across the street to my apartment. The one last place where I won't experience the feelings of sorrow.

As soon as I enter I feel a nip in the air. It's freezing cold in here and it feels just as bad as my now ex-girlfriends apartment. In the distance I can hear my brother sobbing.

Walking past the kitchen and down the hall, I see that his bedroom door is open and he's curled up on the floor crying into his knees. He doesn't notice that I'm here yet, so I'll leave him be.

But from the looks of it, his girlfriend finally left him. Probably after that fight they were having earlier. I hate to sound cynical here, but he kind of had it coming.

What makes this an even more pathetic sight is the empty liquor bottles lying right by him. Already drinking this much? He's going to kill himself with that.

Walking past the pathetic sight of my brother, I enter my room and lock the door behind me. I don't want anyone else to intrude on me during this time.

Throwing myself onto my bed, I hug myself almost and lie there crying silently into my arms. I'm such a fool to believe that a guy like me could get a girl like Nepgear without any severe consequences.

There I go again thinking about Nepgear… she betrayed me. I don't want to see her ever again. For a matter of fact, I don't want to see any of them ever again. Including Martin, he'll just remind of all this.

"You despise them don't you?" I hear a calm, almost motherly voice in my head.

"I do, but what can I do about it? Compared to them I'm only an ordinary mortal." I'm responding to the voice in my head now, what else have I got to lose?

"Even ordinary mortals can possess great strength. And with my help, you could overcome those who have wronged you and rewrite yourself." A tempting offer…

"I just don't want to be alone…" More tears stream down my face.

"Don't worry…" I feel a ghostly figure hug me from behind. My instincts tell me that she's motherly but pure evil. "As long as I'm with you, you'll never be alone."

"What's your name before I accept this offer of yours?"

"You may call me Arfoire."

"Very well then…" A dark feeling wells up inside me. Before I know it a malicious and mischievous grin is on my face from ear to ear. With Arfoire I can take what was lost and rewrite myself.

"I accept…"

A/N: What a twist? And a twist indeed. What's going to happen to Jack next? I mean, his friends sort of betrayed him.

Actually, this chapter went through a lot of debate as to whether or not it was genuine that he would feel betrayed. If you don't like it, then too bad it's my writing.

Please leave a review, follow/favorite, or just read because you love it. But until then, see you in the next update.