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

Surprise early Monday chapter for all of you guys! Because I love all of you!

I learned my lesson from Shadows. Each of the CPU Candidates gets their own chapter.

Chapter 53

Jumping away from Rom as the latter seemingly recovered from her mental damage and blasted at the bunny girl with a powerful ice spell, Gust landed near a building and turned before running up the wall to an outcropping one story off the ground.

"...How?" Rom asked as she gawked at Gust. "How did you do that?!"

Gust jerked a thumb to her ears and went back to mixing her stuff. "Gust is a bunny girl and can run very fast."

"...Including up walls?" Rom asked the blue-haired bunny girl, who nodded. "I see..." Clapping her hands, lightning started to arc and spin around her arms while traveling to her hands. "Then I'll have to hit a wide area, won't I?"

Gust stared, her pupils shrinking in shock at that as Rom snapped her hands out and bolts of electricity and shards of ice were blasted in a large, wide area in front of the CPU Candidate. Gust quickly jumped away and ran along the walls, moving up and down while she ran along the side of the building. "Dang it! Stop trying to..." Gust stopped speaking as she realized that she wasn't able to move anymore. Looking at her feet, she realized that she was on a rapidly expanding sheet of ice and sighed as she slid down to the ground.

Jumping off the wall, she landed on the street and gulped as the area around her was surrounded in ice. Turning around, she could only stare in horror as Rom walked forward, her eyes glowing while ice pillars erupted around her with each step forward. "Gust now understands why Neptune wanted to help you and Ram control your tempers."

"As one of Lastation's CPU Candidates, I'll put an end to you personally so Mistress Kei knows who's the best one." Rom stated while she raised her hand, which crackled with electrical power.

"...Who's your big sister?" Gust asked, hoping that there was still a bit of Rom in her mind still. 'Besides, I need more time.' She thought to herself as she continued to mix the contents in her inventory together.

"My big sister..?" Rom asked and grimaced as memories flashed through her mind of her lovingly calling someone "big sis", but what made it weird to her was that she couldn't see who that person was. "GRRR! WHO IS THAT?!"

"You don't remember?" Gust asked and sighed as her alchemist concoction was finished. Grabbing it, she looked at the glass beaker it was in. "Not a lot, hopefully will just induce sleep and not kill." Rushing forward, she jumped over an arc of lightning and landed on Rom's back.

"What are you dourk?!" Rom's eyes bugged out as the beaker was shoved into her mouth and some green liquid was poured down her throat. Letting out a gurgled scream, a pulse of power surged from Rom, sending Gust flying forcibly into the nearby frozen wall.

Gust grimaced and winced as she felt her ribs, spine and a few other bones protest from that. 'I am way too old for this shit.' She thought to herself as she slid down to the ground and looked at Rom, who was staggering from side to side. "Rom? Are you okay?" When Rom turned to her, Gust's pupils shrank as she saw nothing but raw hostility coming from the CPU Candidate. "Rom?"

"You..." Rom snarled as lightning swirled around the two of them. "You sat there and watched as Blanc beat me! You did nothing to stop her!"

Gust trembled and hoped that Rom didn't attack her. "That was months ago! White Void is dead!"

"LIAR!" Rom screamed at her. "I know I didn't kill her! She's still alive, isn't she?!" Holding out her open palm, Gust was preparing for the lightning around them to blast her. Instead, the lightning curved and bent towards Rom, blasting into her body from all angles. Gust was about to scream in despair when the lightning seemed to pool at Rom's fingertips, before streaking to the center of her palm and then lashing out at Gust, who was too injured to move. "Electrodestruction!"

As the blast hit Gust, she let out a terrible scream as the energy and light covered her body and lifted her off the ground.

Rom grinned while panting and chuckling. "Yes! That's right! Feel the pain! Feel everything I ever felt and die!" Her chuckling expanded into full blown laughter. "Yes! I know you hated me! I know you laughed about me behind my back! Blanc beat me and no one ever stopped her! You all deserve to die!"

"St...NO!" Gust cried out through her screams of pain. "PLEASE! AAAAAAHHH! ROM! PLEASE!? LET GUST TALK! PLEASE!?" She could feel the lightning tearing at her bones, her muscles and her organs, which felt like they were swelling up and were about to burst. "PLEASE!?" Gust was crying openly now. "ROM! GUST IS SORRY!"

Rom stared at Gust as she poured on the lightning. "And why would I..?" She asked herself and watched as Gust screamed and thrashed, jerking and spasming while something inside of her was screaming at her to stop. Sighing and ending the attack, Rom allowed the bunny girl to fall to the ground, groaning and twitching in pain while crackling from the attack. She waited while Gust panted and gasped for air. "...You wanted to talk, so talk."

"Be..." Gust whined and whimpered while grimacing with her eyes screwed shut. "Before... Can Gust... Ask..." She opened one eye up just a little bit and saw Rom's blurry image. "What... Was last thing... Rom remembers?"

Growling at Gust, Rom grimaced as her mind got hazy. "It was... It was..." She shuddered. "Why? Why does Blanc hate me so much?!"

Gust panted heavily. "Gust sees..." She rolled over and slowly pushed herself up. "Gust gave you a memory potion, was supposed to make you fall asleep."

"You tried to poison me?!" Rom screeched and the temperature dropped significantly. "How... WHY DO YOU HATE ME?!"

"Gust doesn't..." Gust tried to protest.

"YOU LIE!" Rom screamed at her while lightning crackled around her and smashed into the ground around her. "Only Compa liked me and Blanc hurt her! Ram gets hurt too because of Blanc! WHY DO YOU HATE ME?! NO ONE HELPS US! EVERYONE HATES US!"

"...You're right." Gust nodded as she got to her feet and staggered. "Gust did hate you..." She didn't flinch at the sheer rage and hate on Rom's face as lightning crackled around the enraged CPU Candidate. "But Gust doesn't hate you now."

"...Huh?" Rom stared at her in shock. "Liar! Even Blanc hates me and..!"

"Blanc's dead." Gust told her while she panted. "Please, you have to trust Gust." When Rom snarled, Gust sighed. "Rom, please..." Her voice was soft. "Please listen to Gu... No," she shook her head and took a deep breath. "I'll talk normally." She smiled at Rom's shocked face. "I could talk like this, but Gust, err, I've always spoken with my name like that, so, put up with Gust." She grimaced and tried again. "Gust..." She sighed and gave up. "Gust hated CPU White Void because White Void is the reason Gust lost her family and friends while Gust is forever stuck like this." She gestured to her body. "Gust is in her forties, Rom, and can never have children because I stopped aging when I was eight." She sighed and smiled at Rom. "But Gust hated you for no reason and I'm sorry." Tears started to well up in her eyes as she continued to speak. "Gust loves you and Ram."

"You lie!" Rom took a step back as Gust started to limp to her.

"No." Gust shook her head as her body crackled. "Neptune and Filyn showed Gust that she was wrong about you and Ram. You and Ram... Gust love you like you're her daughters."

Rom took another step back and trembled, but she wasn't moving away even as Gust got closer. "But... Why? Everyone hates me."

Gust shook her head. "No. Neptune loves you like a little sister. Gust loves you like a daughter. Chrome loves you too." She continued to limp and when she got close to Rom, she put her hands on Rom's cheeks and smiled as she looked up at the slightly taller and slightly bustier short-haired girl. "Gust can never have kids, so Gust sees Rom as a daughter..." She pulled Rom into a hug. "And Gust is so, so sorry for ever disliking such a good girl like you."

Rom was about to say something when something in her mind snapped. "G...Gust..?" She trembled and hugged Gust back. "What... What happened? My head hurts."

"Rom..." Gust smiled while tears came out of her eyes. "Welcome back..." Her smile and tears both increased as Rom hugged her back. There was fights and action going on around them, but the two just ignored it while they held each other.

"I'm sorry." Rom whispered and Gust shook her head.

"No, Rom did nothing wrong." Gust smiled and the two let go of the hug. "Gust is glad you remember now."

Rom gripped her head with her left hand. "Things are... Hazy. I don't remember everything, sorry."

Gust shook her head. "Gust will help you, okay?" Rom nodded and they turned to look around them. "We should find the others and help."

"Yes." Rom nodded.

To be continued...

No, these chapters aren't very long, but they took me days to write up fully!

Electrodestruction takes a bunch of small lightning bolts and turns it into a BIG lightning bolt.