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

Chapter 49

"Well, well, well..." A familiar voice had Neptune opening her eyes as she saw Kurome standing in front of her. "We meet again, Nepsy." She had a pleasant smile on her face. "Though I wish it wasn't while you were surrounded by this black, murky field."

Neptune's eyes were barely open and she had a look of pure pain on her face. "What do you want?" She managed to croak out.

"Can't I just enjoy watching my junior?" Kurome asked while still smiling. "I mean, have you seen yourself? It's amazing to watch you scream in pain on the table. Here." She snapped her fingers and Neptune watched as a screen appeared next to Kurome and the blue-haired woman, phantom, Neptune wasn't sure, floated towards her. "Look, Nepsy, it's you."

On the screen, Neptune saw her body thrashing, twisting and jerking while screaming out in pain while black and white, though from what she could see the white was turning red in color, lightning crackled both around and into her body. "...I'm turning into a Void, aren't I?"

"Bingo!" Kurome smiled happily and grabbed Neptune's shoulders while turning her around to put her nose against Neptune's. "Aren't you excited, Nepsy? Now you'll be just like me."

"Like... You?" Neptune asked softly, her eyes dull and blank.

"That's right!" Kurome's eyes were full of glee and happiness. "You'll become a monster and destroy everything like I tried to have you do before."

"A... Monster?" Neptune asked softly, her eyes slowly closing. "That sounds... Not so... Bad..."

"Neptune!" Some voices that sounded distant to her caused Neptune to open her eyes.

"...Plutie? B-Sha?"

"Neppy..." Plutia had a sad look on her face. "You're not going to become a baaaaad CPU, are you?"

"I'm so tired, Plutie..." Neptune sighed softly. "I can't..."

"But Neppy..." Plutia smiled at her. "Didn't you help kill the me of here because I was a bad CPU?"

"I... Don't... Care anymore, Plutia..." Neptune sighed softly. "I can't..."

"Come on, Nep Nep!" B-Sha smiled at Neptune while giving her a thumbs up. "You're the great, invincible protagonist. Don't you have plot armor to protect you?"

Neptune smiled, though her eyes started to close again and both Plutia and B-Sha faded away while she sank deeper into the darkness. "No... I'm out..."

"Jeez, you idiot." Neptune blinked as she saw Noire, Vert and Blanc in front of her.

"Noire..?" Neptune asked softly. "Why are you here? Why is your hair black?"

"My hair's always black, you moron." Noire scoffed and grabbed Neptune's right arm, pulling her up. "Come on! Don't you DARE give up! I won't let my rival go away."

"And your friend." Blanc smiled at Noire, who blushed at that. "And you, Neptune, don't you dare lose to this." She gave Neptune a sad look. "I... I don't want to lose my friend!" She grabbed Neptune's left arm and pulled.

"But you're always mad at me." Neptune whispered softly as she started to slip out of their hands. "You told me to leave and never come back."

"I was mad, you dummy!" Blanc yelled and Vert suddenly was in front of Neptune, hugging the purple CPU.

"Ve...r...t?" Neptune asked, sighing as the hug felt nice. "I missed this hug." She rested her head on Vert's breasts and closed her eyes. "I could go away like this, I'll be happy."

"No!" Vert yelled and shook Neptune, causing her to blink and shake her head. "Please! Neptune..." A truly sad look came to Vert's face and Neptune wasn't sure why. "Don't lose. I want you to come back."

"I wish I could..." Neptune whispered softly as she slipped out of Vert's hug and sank deeper into the murky depths below. "I..."

"NEPTUNA!"

"Nep Nep!"

"Nep-ko!"

"Huh?" Neptune looked around. "P-Ko? Compa? Iffy?" Her eyes were mostly shut and she looked around in confusion as she saw IF, Compa and Peashy in front of her. "...Why are you two kids again?"

"Nep-ko!" IF was suddenly hugging Neptune and crying. "Mommy! Please! Don't... Don't lose! I'll never forgive you if you lose!"

"Nep Nep!" Compa hugged Neptune as well. "Please? Don't make Iffy and Ploo Ploo cry if you go. You'll make Ge Ge sad as well."

"Neptuna!" Peashy tackled the whole group at once. "No going bad."

"I..." Neptune blinked several times. "...Why? Why are you all..."

"NEPTUNE!"

Neptune tried to turn around but felt a pair of modest boobs press against her from behind as a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind. "...Nepgear..?" She whispered and looked down at the three kids that were hugging her and put her hands on the arms around her body. "...My family..." Tears filled her eyes as her body started to glow blue and white. "That's right, the Fearicite lied, it made me feel like I was alone..."

The three children let go of the hug, as did Nepgear as they got in front of her and were joined by Vert, Noire, Blanc, Plutia, B-Sha, Histoire, Uzume, Umio and even her bigger self was there.

"Thank you." Neptune smiled as each one disappeared in her mind, leaving her with just Uzume. "Uzume?"

"Don't lose, Nepsy." She made a fist and held it in front of her. "I won't let you face this alone. I swear."

Neptune smiled and made a fist of her own before bumping her knuckles against Uzume's fist. "I won't lose." She smiled as Uzume faded away. "Thanks, everyone, for being there." A warm, blue glow covered her and she closed her eyes as she floated upwards through the murk and sludge.

(-)

"Huh?" The scientist looking over Neptune stared in surprise as her body seemed to go calm while the lightning crackled across her body. "Did she die?" Looking at the datapad revealed that, no, Neptune was not dead as her life signs were still quite strong. "So what's going on?"

Suddenly there was a burst of energy from Neptune that blasted the bed and shackles apart and destroyed the equipment in the room while knocking everyone away from her. Her body floated in mid-air while black, white, red and gold energy surrounded her form. Lightning bolts of energy lashed out, striking at the equipment and destroying most of it while Neptune herself, despite the chaotic energy storm around her, remained calm and collected in the center of the energy mass.

(-)

"Well, Nepsy, color me impressed." Kurome smiled at Neptune as they ascended through the murk and muck. "You're almost free. Well, almost..." She smirked and snapped her fingers, a mirror forming in front of Neptune while Kurome slipped behind Neptune and wrapped her arms around Neptune's mid-section. "Look at you, such a big, nasty girl." She gave Neptune a light peck on the cheek and giggled at the dirty look Neptune gave her.

"You showed me that I was a Void last time." Neptune commented as she looked at her face. "I don't believe you."

"Oh, trust me, that was what you were becoming. You'll still end up there one day. But right now..." Kurome trailed off and gently carressed Neptune's chin. "This is what you really are right now."

Neptune looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair had gotten slightly longer with her hair still being lightly purple, but now there was red and black stripes going down her hair. But what made her most nervous was the fact that her left eye was covered in shadow and lightly glowing. "I..."

Kurome smiled while hugging Neptune and whispered softly, almost seductively, in her ear. "Even if you don't become a Void now, Nepsy... You can't stop it. Every time you draw upon your power... Every time you transform... The corruption will spread and get worse. Eventually you'll transform into a Void without warning."

"But..." Neptune stared as she got closer to the surface of the murky and dark depths of her being. "I fought it off."

Kurome chuckled and got in front of Neptune, smiling at her. "Is that what you think? You silly girl. Even if you fought off the Fearicite corruption this time, your being, your very essence is tainted beyond repair now." Neptune stared at her blankly and Kurome merely chuckled at her. "You will become a Void." She gave Neptune a toothy grin while she chuckled. "It is unavoidable, Nepsy. Becoming a Void... Is your destiny."

Neptune shivered as she broke through the surface and the murky, dark depths of her being and Kurome both disappeared in a flash of light.

(-)

Neptune gasped and took a deep breath as she regained consciousness. "What the Nep is going on?"

"I would like to know that myself." Neptune blinked as she saw a vaguely familiar middle aged man in a black suit standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest. "I get back to the Basilicom and there's a bunch of people running around like crazy because of a freak lightning storm because of you. And that was two days ago."

"Well..." Neptune tried to move and blinked as she realized that she couldn't move an inch. She looked at her arms and saw that they were in giant shackles that were part of a three ring system and looking down she saw that her feet were also in similar shackles and from the way her whole body felt cool, she could tell that she didn't have any clothes on. "...You dirty old man!"

"H-huh?!" The man jerked in surprise. "What gives you the right to say that about me?"

"I'm helpless, naked and you're a man." Neptune answered him, giving him a dirty look. "You probably want to do perverted, mean and nasty things to my cute little loli body and..."

"Would you stop it?" The man asked her, annoyance in his voice. "First of all, I've been married, so why would I want some under-developed, inexperienced little girl?" He looked at Neptune in confusion as she suddenly did a full body blush. "...Wait, you're not inexperienced?"

Neptune giggled nervously. "Ah heh... My body's well sampled and I certainly can't get married anymore."

"Oh," the man had a rather astounded look on his face. "My apologies for what you had to go through."

"Uh..." Neptune gave him a confused look. "What's with that?"

"Well, regardless, I don't think it's right that a little like you should have lost her virginity before she was fully grown."

Neptune twitched at hearing that. "Hey, buddy, I'm fifty three years old, okay?" The guy gawked at her and Neptune giggled at him. "I'm a CPU, I was born looking like this."

"...Well, it seems like you successfully made a fool out of me." He shook his head. "I guess I could tell you my name. It's Mr. Badd," he raised an eyebrow as Neptune gawked at him. "You know me?"

"Didn't you turn a bunch of little girls into ugly monsters and then turn them back to normal?" Neptune asked and giggled as he gave her a confused look. "I guess you work for Noire in this world too, huh?"

"...I'm going to ignore most of what you said there." Mr. Badd told her. "But I work for Noire, or rather," he chuckled, "I used to work for her. Running the media to feed false information to the general public about their CPU to keep the Fearicite energy charged up was a pain, let me tell you."

"Why?" Neptune asked him. "Why would you..."

"You're a CPU, you should know how the Voids work." Mr. Badd explained to her. "Without the negative emotions from the people, the CPU can't transform or fight."

Neptune hung her head. "But why? Why do you need to?"

"Because the idiot who calls herself a CPU refused to do so." Mr. Badd scoffed. "She cares so much about order that she never realized what it would do to her. So she hired me, since I own the media, to stir up negative emotions for the people, she didn't care to try and do it."

Neptune looked at Mr. Badd. "...It almost sounds like Noire isn't a bad guy." She blinked as Mr. Badd laughed. "What?"

"Good and bad are simple concepts and those who believe in them end up like you; captured, stripped, disgraced and discarded in front of a crowd of people so they know who's in charge."

"...Can you tell me... What's happening to the others?"

Mr. Badd smirked at her. "I don't know if it will do you any good to know, but as we speak, Black Void is locked up in a prison cell all on her own while that older CPU is chained up in another cell all by herself, you're here and the CPU Candidates are currently enjoying some time with Anonydeath."

Neptune paled as she heard that. "No... NO! Lemme go! Lemme go!" She thrashed and struggled but found that her restraints weren't budging. "Please!" She begged Mr. Badd, tears welling up in her eyes and falling down her face. "Please... I can't..." Memories of having to fight Yellow Heart for ten years flooded her mind. "No!" She trembled as she remembered the pain of her daughter not remembering who she was. "Lemme go! Lemme go!"

Mr. Badd frowned as he watched Neptune thrash and struggle to get free. He was interested in knowing just why her hair had streaks of black and red in it now and why her left eye was glowing red. 'In fact, that glow is getting brighter.' He took a step back as the glow became like fire that erupted from her eye as she gave him a pleading look.

"Please... I..." She lowered her head while shuddering and sobbing softly. "I can't go through that again. I fought against my daughter for ten years because she was brainwashed... Please... Let me save her."

Mr. Badd was about to say something about how CPUs couldn't have children, but something stopped him. The way she talked about her daughter, the genuine pain he heard in her voice and the way she was crying now.

Mr. Badd stood there, a contemplative look on his face as he looked at Neptune. "I do deeply apologize, but I cannot let you go." Neptune looked up and the glow in her eye dimmed, revealing her black Sclera and red iris. "I have to go now, but if you feel like talking, just know that whatever you say will be recorded."

Neptune watched as Mr. Badd turned and left. "...Anything I say?" She whispered to herself, before a small smile formed on her face. "Well then..." She took a deep breath. "Neeeep Nep Nep Nep Nep Nep!" She started singing to out loud to pass the time.

Sadly, for the people recording and listening...

She would continue singing those same words for the next ten hours straight.

(-)

Meanwhile...

Noire looked up, glowering at Kei as she walked into the cell room. "What do you want?"

For some reason, Kei had a rather calm expression on her face. "I'm here to offer you a deal." She chuckled as Noire raised an eyebrow at her. "Swear your allegiance to me, right now. Unconditional and you will do whatever I tell you to do, and I'll tell Anonydeath to undo the brainwashing he's doing to your precious little sister." Her voice dripped with mockery and disgust.

"You..." Noire growled at Kei.

"Not only that, I'll let you go and you can be with your little sister without worrying about her, so long as you do what I say."

"Cut the crap," Noire narrowed her eyes at Kei, "we both know that without the Fearicite Crystal, I'm completely powerless and you broke it, remember." She blinked as Kei chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"You think I was studying the Fearicite Crystal for my own amusement?" Kei asked her, though Noire knew the question was rhetorical. "I know its composition... And I can rebuild it." She smiled as Noire's eyes widened in shock and realization. "So how about it? Pledge your loyalty to me, your sister gets freed from the brainwashing and she'll never have to worry about anything ever again and on top of it, I'll rebuild the Fearicite."

"...And how do you know I won't just betray you the instant that you do?" Noire asked and Kei just smirked at her.

"Because your little sister was injected with a nasty concoction." Kei chuckled as Noire went pale and suddenly tried lunging at her, but was stopped as she couldn't move from her position. "Not only does it cause her body to break down at the cellular level, killing her in less than twenty-four hours in the most painful way without a serum that Gernia G. created, I can also detonate it remotely and kill her off."

Noire's pupils were pinpricks as she panted and glared at Kei. "You..."

"Let's not waste time with idle and meaningless threats." Kei smirked at her. "I want your answer and I want it now. Swear yourself loyal to me or you can watch as we turn your baby sister into a perfect killing machine."

Noire could only glare at Kei.

To be continued...

...Have SOME faith in me, sheesh!