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

Interlude: Black

"So what's your answer?" Kei asked after a few more seconds of Noire glaring at her. "I don't have all day, so..."

"Fuck off." Noire stated, much to Kei's surprise. "I'm not stupid. If you're going through all of that to keep me in line, you've got plans in place to take care of me the instant I'm inconvenient for you." She glowered at Kei. "Even if I did everything perfectly, you'd still find some way, in the near future, to say that I didn't do enough and you'd kill Uni anyway. And when I eventually turn on you, you'd cut my connection to the Fearicite and kill me off."

"...And here I thought you were a complete idiot." Kei shook her head. "You're just a moron. You know that I uphold my end of the deal."

"But only to the letter, but not the spirit of the agreement." Noire pointed out. "There's no point in talking any further."

"...You really are heartless." Kei sighed and held up her hand, showing a badly cracked and damaged Fearicite crystal, causing Noire to stare at it. "I've almost repaired the Fearicite Crystal, though there's a chunk that's currently in the Planeptune CPU and currently transforming her into a Void." Though Kei was wondering what happened over two days ago and why the Planeptune CPU had suddenly caused the Fearicite energy that had been injected into her to go dormant.

Noire gave her a flat stare. "Why are you telling me this? I don't care about her."

Kei shrugged and put the Fearicite crystal away. "I just felt like it. The next time we meet, Noire..." She gave Noire a nasty grin. "Your sister will be the one executing you."

Noire glared at Kei and waited until she heard the door close behind her before lowering her head as she shuddered. "Uni... I..." Her voice started to crack as her eyes burned. "I never wanted you to become a Void... I wanted my little sister to be happy."

"Why?" Noire whispered as tears escaped her eyes and ran down her face to drip off of her chin. "Why does Uni need to suffer? She doesn't deserve it." Memories came, unbound to Noire as she thought about Uni.

*Flash*

Walking into the Fearicite Chamber, as she had felt a rather strange and unusual fluctuation of her source of power, Noire did a quick scan of the room and found everything to be in order. The chamber was empty, save for a floating, cold rock and a black haired girl with red eyes and a timid expression on her face and... "Wait, what?"

"Um," the girl fidgeted as she looked at the redhead. "My name is Uni..."

"I see..." The redhead sighed softly. "I guess that means you're the CPU Candidate of Lastation then as well as my little sister." Seeing Uni's eyes perk up caused something in Noire to stir, but she pushed it away like she did everything else. Another part of her told her that she needed to hate Uni and be as cruel as possible to her.

Uni fidgeted under Noire's intense gaze. "Ah, um..."

Noire closed her eyes and, much like the first sensation, she forcibly pushed that suggestion away from her mind. While it had been... Comforting and felt natural, she wouldn't do it. "After all, the world will beat her down enough." She whispered.

"Um..." Uni asked, fidgeting in front of Noire. "Did I do something wrong?"

Noire shook her head. "No. Now follow me." Uni nodded as Noire turned to walk out. Before she took one step, she looked over her shoulder. "I forgot, my name is CPU Black Void. When I'm like this, my name is Noire. Don't forget, I'm not telling you again."

Uni nodded and ran after Noire. "Um..." When Noire stopped, she shyly reached out and grabbed Noire's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Can I call you sis?"

Noire fought the urge to pull her hand away from Uni and looked at her, sighing. "Do what you want, I don't care." The next thing she knew, Uni was hugging her and she stiffened, her eyes going wide. "...What are you doing?"

"Hugging you."

Noire sighed and rolled her eyes. "Just stop. I'm a Void. I don't enjoy nice feelings like that." Uni pulled herself away from Noire, looking at her in confusion. "And just so you know, act like this around anyone but me and you'll end up with either a bullet between your eyes or some guy between your legs."

Uni gulped and nodded, she didn't understand that last bit, but decided to not question her big sister. "U...Okay, sis." She trembled as Noire stormed off and she followed after her.

As she walked away, Noire fought the urge to touch where Uni hugged her as her skin felt... Kind of prickly, but in a way that was very pleasant. 'What is this?'

(-)

It was later in the day when Noire got up from her desk and stretched. "Urgh, it's been a long day, huh?" She could go almost a week on little to no sleep if she had to, but she still liked to rest. Walking around her desk, the redhead made her way to her room when she found Uni sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, sound asleep.

Silently bending over, Noire picked her sister up gently and carried her to her room. When Uni sighed and shifted to cuddle against her, Noire looked at the sleeping girl in confusion.

"Noire..." The girl sighed softly, lovingly in her sleep.

Noire stared at Uni for some time, not moving and just holding her sleeping sister in her arms. After her mind stopped being a swirling mess of emotions, Noire nodded to herself. "Fine, Uni... I'll teach you everything about this world that I can..." She carried Uni to her sister's room and put her onto the bed and under the blankets, tucking the girl in. "...You aren't a human... Maybe..." She moved a loose strand of hair out of the way of Uni's face and felt the corners of her lips moving upwards. "Maybe you and I can get to know each other more later?" Noire whispered before leaving her sister's room.

As she closed the door, Noire narrowed her eyes in thought. "...I can't be there to protect her, my enemies will use her against me, won't they?" She sighed and lowered her head. "I hate this world." She muttered.

In order to protect Uni, to be kind to her...

Noire would have to be distant and cruel to her.

It was enough that she almost sank to the floor and cried.

Almost, because just before she gave into that emotion, a realization came to her. "A bodyguard," she whispered softly, "but I can't trust humans, I need one I can trust..." The progbots were out, they were nothing more than useful idiots and she didn't trust any of her council to help her.

"Well, I guess I have to make my own bodyguard for Uni then." One that wouldn't get tired or need time off to deal with personal issues would be best, but she wanted Uni to be independent. "Hmm... A ninja then?"

She'd figure out all the details later, but for now, Noire needed some sleep.

*End Flashback*

"And a month later, I finished Steamax..." Noire whispered to herself. She had skipped out on sleep, food and even work to build Steamax and make him as perfect as possible.

She shivered and sighed. "Uni... Steamax... I'm so sorry for failing both of you." Noire whispered while slumping as best she could. "Of all the people... You two deserve better than my failures."

End Interlude: Black

Hey, an interlude for Noire, and it works with the current plot instead of being a "Let's stop what we're doing and look at the past".

What a place to end the week.