Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.
Anyone want to take a guess where the story goes next?
Chapter 9
There was silence in the town square as the people stared in shock, unable to believe what they had just witnessed. While some of the older people who had been watching remembered when White Void had ascended to becoming a CPU and the brutal killing she had given her elder sister, even they couldn't believe it.
For Rom, the source of her torment, Blanc, was laying there, head removed from her shoulders, her body broken and in pieces. She couldn't believe it. "S...sis is... Gone?" She suddenly doubled over and started coughing and heaving, much to everyone's worry until her cheeks expanded and she started to puke everything that was in her stomach out.
"Rom?" Ram asked, hoping her sister was okay.
"She... She's gone..." Rom, her mouth, arms and parts of her body covered in vomit and tears running out of her eyes, said, as though she couldn't believe it. "Blanc... Sis... She... She's gone."
Before she knew what she was doing, Rom let out a scream to the heavens that had people worried she was going to transform into a CPU herself. However, after it became obvious that her scream wasn't one of her transforming, but of letting out her anguish and suffering, people calmed down. The next thing she knew, she felt a hand on her shoulder and Rom looked at the person who had touched her. "...You..."
Purple Heart was bloodied, obviously tired and injured all over. Despite this, she had a kind smile on her face as she floated just off the ground and gently pulled Rom towards her and let the girl rest her head on Purple Heart's chest. "It's okay, Rom. The monster is gone, she can't hurt you anymore."
Rom suddenly hiccuped and hugged Purple Heart, crying as years of pain, suffering and anguish came rushing out.
She didn't even notice as Ram joined her in the hug and started sobbing into Purple Heart's chest as well.
Both twins and everyone else noticed when Purple Heart suddenly reverted to Neptune and flopped down to the ground, out cold, however.
(-)
Chrome was the first one to react as she dropped White Nightmare's axe to the ground and ran over to where Neptune was and grimaced at seeing the way her body was showing the injuries she had sustained in the fight. 'To think that she was telling the truth. Purple Heart, huh?' Chrome smiled softly at Neptune. 'Maybe you can fix everything.' She thought to herself before looking up at people sharply. "What are you all doing? We have an injured hero who just fought against White..." She trailed off and turned her head, her eyes wide as she felt the air vibrate and a loud scream emanating from the CPU's dead body.
It was... Disturbing... On so many levels, to see a headless body suddenly jerk and spasm while glowing red and crackling with energy before a pillar erupted from the hole in the remains of White Nightmare's body as the body started to dissolve in front of everyone.
The sky itself turned red as the pillar of light split the clouds and caused them to twist and spiral as a result.
Eventually the body of the CPU was no more and a black and red gem was all that remained as it fell to the ground, shattering upon impact.
"That looks familiar." Chrome muttered softly. "Hurry up, we have injured that need medical attention here!"
"Um..." A nameless NPC spoke up, "she's not going to suddenly..."
"You heard her name." Chrome snapped at the NPC. "Purple HEART, not Void. And there was no further transformation after White Nightmare was killed, was there?" The NPC looked at Neptune and sighed, conceding the point. "Look, let me worry about that, let's get her and these two," she motioned towards Rom and Ram, "to some place that can look them over medically."
"The Basilicom has facilities for healing." Compa spoke up. "I once worked there before the CPU found out that I was healing her sisters after she hurt them and chopped my arms off, so I know that there's stuff there." At least she still hoped so, she owed Neptune that much for standing up for Rom and Ram in ways that no one else had ever been able to.
Chrome nodded and looked at Rom and Ram. "Will you lead us to the Basilicom?" The two nodded and Chrome followed after them, followed by Filyn, Compa, Warechu, IF, Linda and a few NPCs. 'I wonder... How long can Lowee last without any CPU ruling it.' Looking at Rom and Ram, she wondered just how much protection they gave if they gave any at all. 'Even if they aren't fully realized CPUs, would their mere existence slow the destruction of Lowee down?'
Chrome sighed, not knowing the answers or liking any potential answer to the questions she got. 'I'll have to get those two somewhere safe.'
It wasn't because Chrome liked them, far from it.
She was just concerned that the people might decide to vent their frustration out on the CPU Candidates since they couldn't transform and now that the CPU was dead and no new CPU was taking her place. And as much as Chrome sympathized with the rest of the citizens of Lowee, she knew that the twin girls didn't deserve that.
No one did.
(-)
Several minutes later...
Looking up as she saw Rom and Ram walk into the Basilicom, Financier ran forward and hugged the two Candidates tightly. "You're both okay! I'm so glad!" She had felt a surge of power from the city and feared that Blanc had gotten truly fed up with the twins and had transformed to kill them. But seeing the energy rush from the center of town several minutes ago, she was worried that one of the two had become a CPU. 'Even if one of them is the new CPU, I'm glad that they're both okay.'
To her shock, they both hugged her back just as tightly and sobbed how sorry they were to her. 'Wait, if one of them is the CPU, then...'
"Excuse me..." A woman with long silver hair, a brown shirt and pants who was carrying a small girl with short, spiky light purple hair in a white hoodie who had an obvious broken leg among other injuries, spoke up. "If it's alright with you, we need to get this girl some medical help. Also, someone should make sure that those two are okay."
"Right." Financier nodded, she recognized Chrome instantly. It was hard not to.
After all, she was the only one who had stood up to Blanc in the past and had walked out under her own power.
(-)
After getting Neptune onto the medical bed so that the doctors and nurses in the Basilicom could set her leg and fix the other injuries that she had sustained.
When they realized that Neptune's legs had been dislocated at the hip joints, they had to push her legs back in, causing the small girl to sit up, screaming in pain before she flopped back down, still out cold.
"...I'm not sure if I'm impressed or worried." One of the doctors said while working on Neptune's legs.
As they pulled Neptune's broken leg and reset it, causing her to scream and thrash, but still stay passed out, the doctors determined that they were impressed. They didn't know anyone else who could sleep through severe pain like this.
As the doctors worked on fixing up Neptune's injuries, a few nurses, including Compa, gave Rom, who had been stripped out of her bloodied clothes and was laying on another table with just a thin sheet over her body in another room, an examination for injuries.
Rom shivered as she felt the nurses run their hands over her body to look for any injuries. "Oww..." She winced as she was poked on the side. "That stung." Sure, Blanc had hurt her much worse, but it didn't mean that what she was feeling didn't hurt.
"Don't worry, Lady Rom," one of the nurses gave her some reassurance. "We're almost done with this side. We'll have to check your back and give you a thorough examination."
"Um..." Rom gave her a confused look. "Thorough? Does that mean?"
"Yes, including internal exams." The nurse nodded at her. "You haven't had one in a long time and we're worried about any lingering injuries."
Rom whimpered as they finished up and rolled her over and lifted her rear up. She winced as she felt them start the examination. 'Not going to be able to sit down properly after this.' She groaned as she felt them get more intense and intrusive. 'This feels so wrong.' She knew it had to be done. After all, she could have intestinal injuries, hemorrhoids or worse.
It didn't mean that it wasn't embarrassing as all hell to have her bare butt up in the air and people looking at her more intimate places though.
The only thing that made her not try to rush out of there crying was the fact that she knew that Ram was likely getting the same treatment.
(-)
An hour later...
Rom twitched as the nurses got done with her, giving her a mostly clean bill of health and got dressed. "That was so wrong." Whimpering as soreness came from her rear end, Rom walked out after getting her clothes on completely and ran into Ram, who was standing in the hallway looking miserable. "Did they look at your butt too?"
Ram nodded, sniffling and looking like she was about to cry. "My butt's really sore now."
"So is mine." Rom nodded at her. "Um, I wonder if Neptune's done yet."
"Yes." Both girls jumped in shock and turned to see Compa smiling at them. "If you want to see her, I'll take you to her." Both of them nodded and followed after Compa. Ram went on her right side while Rom went to her left side. Both girls grabbed her prosthetic arms and walked with her.
As they walked off, Chrome sighed as she stood nearby and leaned her head back. 'Lowee is free... But what's going to happen next?'
"Um, Lady Chrome?" Financier spoke up, causing Chrome to look at her curiously. "Are you busy right now?"
"No, if you need me for something, I dunno what good I'd be, but I'll do what I can." Chrome answered her. "So what do you need?"
"I was wondering if maybe you would want to get those who live in your settlement to come back to the city?" Financier asked her. "It might take some time though, most of Lowee's airships aren't in working order, but I think there's a couple that just need some minor fixes and we can get them ready to fly to the South and move everyone to the city."
"Might not be a bad idea." Chrome admitted. "I'll have to call ahead, there's only a few working radios out there that will get any calls."
"Of course," Financier nodded at her, "um, what are you going to do about the other nations? Even if the CPUs don't bother with anything outside of their territories, they might..."
"They won't," Chrome answered her, "CPUs of this world have never cared about anything outside of their own nations, even if not dealing with the problem would cause more problems in the long run." In this case, Chrome was thankful that no CPUs would bother to come to Lowee and check out what happened. At most they would assume that a new CPU had come to power in Lowee and they had no reason to head to the nation to check it out.
At least she hoped that was the case. 'I wonder if they know that there isn't a new CPU yet.'
But the bigger question the plagued Chrome was...
"What will we do now?" After living so many years under the tyranny of a CPU, the fact that there wasn't one running things made Chrome wonder just what the people would do.
Financier had no answer for her.
(-)
"Wow..." Neptune looked around, seeing nothing but blackness, "I know I'm not dead, because I don't see any Angels coming to send me back to Hell." After all, King Yama had warned her that she had no chance to go to Heaven after she died again. "I mean, I save four dimensions, one of my predecessors, I raise three kids, my sister's turning out to be a really good CPU, though, hmm... Maybe it's cuz I was pretty mean to her in Plutie's world? Or maybe it's cuz I let Plutie do THAT to Nep Jr.? Yeah, probably, then again, I blame that one on the writers, every other part of the franchise that Nep Jr. and I are in we're super close to each other after all. Or was it because of what Kurome did to me and then I tried to kill Nep Jr.?"
Then again, Neptune had to wince as memories of how she had used Nepgear as a maid and how she had really started to slack off with her Goddess duties after Nepgear was born. "Am I a bad sister?"
Images of what the blue-haired Blanc had done to Rom flashed through her mind and she shuddered. "Nah uh! I didn't do that to Nep Jr.! But I suppose I could be a better big sister if and when I get home."
"Well, that's fascinating."
Neptune's eyes lit up as she heard that voice. "HISTY! Where are you? Did you get warped to this dimension too? Or are you calling me like you did when Nep Jr. and I got sucked into Uzume's console?"
"Um... I think you're confused, but I certainly know your voice. Who are you?"
"Oh, Histy," Neptune smiled brightly while looking around. "Come on out, it's me, Neptune!"
"...I see." Histoire's voice said, some trepidation in her voice. "You know who I am, so that will keep things short. Neptune, please, I implore you... Travel to the other nations and save the CPU Candidates from their fates."
"Uh... You mean to stop them from turning into CPUs?" Neptune asked, making sure that she got the information correct. She knew that she wasn't intelligent in a lot of ways, and how many times had she been called an idiot by everyone? Even Uni, Rom and Ram, despite how polite and nice they were to most everyone, treated her with disdain for how stupid she was at times. 'I wouldn't be surprised if Nepgear thought of me as an idiot sometimes.' She thought to herself.
"Yes." Histoire's voice confirmed for her. "I'm sorry, I'm running out of time and I'm getting tired. Please, save the Candidates and guide them to a new path."
"No pressure," Neptune said, her voice somewhat snarky as she spoke. "Hey, Histy... Where are you?"
"I will speak more... In the future... Do not... Worry... I... Do not... deserve..."
When the voice disappeared, Neptune bit her lower lip. "Sorry, Histy, but I didn't get that last bit." When there was no response, she sighed. "Great, next thing I know she's going to ask me to go around looking for shiny rocks that come together and make a key or something."
Sighing as she didn't get any response from anyone, Neptune shrugged. "Well, I guess I've been in my mind long enough, time to wake up!"
When nothing happened, Neptune sighed and hung her head. "Great, now I'm trapped in my own mind, I wonder why, oww oww oww!" She suddenly yelled and grabbed her left leg, wondering why it was hurting before remembering how it had been broken in both her human and HDD forms. "Owwies, I know Blanc was bad, but that was really mean." Not even the CFWs had done that when they were captured, bound with tentacles and had their shares drained for three years. "Then again, that was pretty bad too." She giggled as she felt herself fading out of her mind. "Oh! Time's up! Finally!"
(-)
Grimacing as she woke up, Neptune groaned as she felt pain shooting up from her legs. "Oww, oww, oww..." She tried to sit up and see how badly her legs were messed up.
Tried to because she noticed that there was someone sitting next to the bed and dozing off. When the person heard Neptune's voice, their eyes snapped open and blue eyes looked at Neptune curiously.
"Hey, Ram..." Neptune smiled softly. "Where's..." She turned her head when she heard some whimpering. On the left side of her bed, she saw Rom, resting her head on the bed with a distraught look on her face as she whimpered in her sleep.
"No, please... No... Sis, please... No..." She jerked in her sleep and Neptune looked at Ram, who was looking sad and unsure as to what to do.
"Hey, Ram, can you help me get Rom into bed with me?" Neptune whispered as Ram nodded and ran around the bed to Rom and helped get her into bed and moved her so that she could rest her head on Neptune's chest while Neptune wrapped an arm around Rom's body. When she saw how Ram looked somewhat longing at the scene, Neptune patted the open spot next to her. "It'll be tight, but if you want to cuddle, go ahead, just don't kick in your sleep." IF, Peashy and Compa had been kicking fiends in their sleep as babies and Neptune remembered how much of a pain it was to sleep when they were in bed with her.
Seeing Ram's eyes light up and she ran around the bed to get into bed and settle down next to Neptune, hugging her and cuddling against her. "Thank you, Miss Neptune."
Before Neptune could answer, Rom started whimpering and twitching her sleep again. Neptune hugged her with one arm. "Shhh... Rom, it's okay. The monsters are gone..." She said softly to the trembling girl. "They're all gone now. Just rest, no more scary monsters will hurt you. You're safe now."
Neptune wasn't expecting a response from that, not in the slightest. "Do you mean it?" Rom asked, her eyes cracking open, shocking Ram and Neptune. "I'm sorry, you woke me up when you hugged me." She sighed and buried her face into Neptune's chest. "I'm sorry, I'm just... I'm horrible. Sis always..."
"Stop it." Neptune snapped at Rom, causing both girls to stiffen, remembering what Blanc did to them when she spoke like that. "First of all, that wasn't your sister, that was a monster that looked like your sister."
"But..." Ram spoke up, trying to protest, but she stopped when Neptune pinched her shoulder.
"I know your real sister." Neptune smiled at them, causing both of them to stare at her in shock. "Your real sister might have a temper and would probably chase you around if you make her mad, but she would never hurt you. In fact, if either of you were crying, she'd either tell you to stop crying or beat up whatever made you cry."
"But..." Rom trembled. "Blanc was our sister..."
"Nah, that wasn't Blanc." Neptune smiled at Rom, who gave her a confused look. "The real Blanc is a real sweetheart who wouldn't ever want you two to be hurt."
"She sounds nice..." Ram said softly.
"Then why isn't she here?" Rom asked, trembling and tearing up. "Why were we left with a monster as our sister then?!" Tears fell from her eyes as she started crying. "Why would our real sister leave us with a monster?! Our sister left us! She didn't save us! She wanted us to die!"
Neptune was starting to panic as she heard Rom's rants. 'Neppit! How can I..?' Her eyes widened as an idea came to her. 'I'll do for her what I did for Iffy and Compa!' She smiled and nodded at that. "Well..." She waited for Rom to sniffle and look at her. "If you want, I can be your big sister for now."
Both girls stiffened and trembled in fright.
"...What?" Neptune gave them a weird look. "Why are you afraid? The worst that I'll do is eat the last pudding in the fridge if you were saving it."
"...What is with you and pudding?" Rom asked as she giggled softly. "You... You won't hurt us?"
"Nah uh!" Neptune shook her head and lifted her hand off of Rom to hold up a finger. "It's the job of the big sister CPU to make sure that her little sister, or sisters in this case, grow to be proper CPUs and protect and nurture them. If you want, I'll be your big sister and show you how to be a real CPU, not a monster."
The next thing Neptune knew, she had twin girls hugging her and bawling their eyes out while calling her big sister.
Neptune lowered her hands and hugged them both to her. "Don't worry, I'll protect you both and no one will hurt you again, okay?" The only response she got was more crying from them. 'Histy, I don't know what's going on here, but if all the nations have CPU Candidates, then I'm going to help them if I can.'
Neptune hoped that she wouldn't screw this one up.
To be Continued...
Ever listen to the audio drama where the Candidates were swapped with the CPUs? Blanc had Nepgear as her sister, Neptune had Rom as her sister, Noire had Ram as her sister and Vert had Uni as her sister in that what-if scenario. It is the most adorable thing ever. I won't spoil the contents, but I will say that Vert and Uni's interaction in their what-if reminded me of how they interacted in Shadows of the Heart.