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

This chapter effectively ends the Lastation arc of the story. About time, I hear all of you scream.

Chapter 65

Neptune looked at the metal band over her right wrist. "I'm kind of surprised this is so... Cool." It was actually a couple of metal bands that were inter-connected and made up of several metals. Plus it felt really comfortable on her wrist.

"Well," Anonydeath sounded pleased with himself, "I really don't like ugly collars. I save those for animals and people who are into that FREAKAY stuff!"

Neptune sweat-dropped as she thought about the time that she walked in on some people doing just that. "It... Takes all types, I guess?"

Anonydeath laughed at her. "Oh, don't I know it?" He cleared his throat. "Anyway, just don't push yourself too hard when you're in HDD and you'll be fine. That should filter out the Fearicite that's in your Share Crystal. And with the... Relatively positive outlook people have on you and the others, it should help."

Neptune nodded. Between the interviews and photo-shoots that had happened since the death of Noire, she could feel a decent amount of shares from Lastation to go with what she was getting from Lowee and Leanbox. 'I'm going to need them too.' She had no idea what was waiting for her in Planeptune, but she knew that they would be heading in that direction today.

"Hmm, I'm curious," Anonydeath mused and Neptune looked at him, "you could have had me arrested or executed for my role in killing Noire. The worst you did was have me placed under surveillance and Mr. Badd's currently in prison for his actions. Why? I'm sure that Little Uni would love to have our heads on pikes."

Neptune looked at him and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. "Because," and to his surprise, her voice was actually fairly serious, "I don't want Uni to go down the path of revenge." Her eyes were tired and haunted and Anonydeath wondered just what she had seen in her life. "CPUs that go down that path end up in a bad place."

"The world will eventually turn on you as well. I'm just saving you from feeling that pain."

Neptune didn't know if Rei was correct. But she did know that if she had heard that after dealing with everything in this world, she would have agreed with the other CPU.

Anonydeath watched as Neptune made her way to the door and he sighed. "Hey..." She stopped and turned to look at him. "Thank you." Neptune looked at him curiously. "For helping Little Uni, for trying to help Noire, for being a good person." Neptune jerked in surprise and felt her cheeks flushing softly. "This world would be better off if we had more people like you."

Neptune smiled at him. "Thanks!"

(-)

Elsewhere...

There was a knocking on the door and IF looked to it as Linda and Gust walked in. "Hey..." She greeted, her voice soft.

"Hey, yourself." Linda smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"

"You asked me that yesterday. And the day before that." IF smirked at her. "I'll tell you the same thing I told you then. It's weird not to have to get naked at least once a day and have someone rub their fingers all over every inch of my skin." She gave Linda and Gust a small smirk. "It feels nice not to have to worry about my skin cracking and breaking apart all the time."

"I'm glad." Linda smiled at her and reached forward, grabbing IF's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Neptune's doing pretty good and the others have taken a real shine to Uni."

"She's the reason I got treated, right?" IF asked, getting a nod from Linda. "I'll have to thank her when I get out of here."

"The doctors told Gust that IF can leave tomorrow." Gust smiled at IF. "Neptune wants to go to the last nation soon but she doesn't want to leave IF behind."

IF smiled at that. "That's good." At that moment a doctor walked into IF's room. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, just checking up on you." The doctor smiled at IF. "I'm still amazed that you could function with how badly damaged your skin and muscles were from the fire you were in." He shook his head in wonderment. "While we were able to clear up the dis-figuration and scars from your skin after repairing the damage, the pigment change to your skin seems permanent. Even your new skin cells are being made with that coloration."

"It's fine." IF smiled at him. "So I'll look like I'm a living flame or something for the rest of my life, at least I can do stuff to work up a sweat again."

"Well, it's pretty neat." Linda told her. "Besides, you're the only girl who has a flame swirl on her butt." She laughed as IF rolled her eyes. "So she'll be fine?"

"She'll be mostly okay, yes." The doctor told Linda. "She might need some physical therapy, but she should be okay."

After a few minor questions, the doctor left and IF sighed and slumped into the bed a bit. "I'll be so glad to get out of here."

"Hey..." Linda spoke up. "Um... Can we talk?" IF blinked in confusion. "About us?"

"And Gust needs to go now." The bunny girl turned and left the room.

"Uh..." IF blushed as the door closed. "Linda? What are..?"

"...I always kept myself back because I knew that doing anything to or with you could cause your skin to break apart." Linda said, fidgeting. "But... IF, I... I want to, you know, be more than friends."

IF felt herself blushing even harder. "That is, ah..." When Linda sighed she shook her head. "No! It's not that I don't want to!" She fidgeted on the bed. "It's just... You know, so sudden and... Ah, hell!" She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I... Um... Yes..." She finished miserably, her voice barely a whisper.

The loud cheer and hug that Linda gave her let IF know that she made the right choice.

(-)

Elsewhere...

"Are you ready for this?" Filyn, dressed in a black dress, asked as she looked at Uni, who was in a similar formal black dress. Uni shook her head and Filyn gave her a small smile. "I don't think anyone is ever ready for this."

"Um..." Uni looked at Filyn. "You're not wearing an eye-patch anymore?"

"Does it bother you?" Filyn asked and looked at herself in a mirror. While her eye looked almost normal, there was the fact that it glowed red and moved in ways that her other eye didn't that would tip people off that it wasn't normal.

"It's a little weird." Uni admitted and sighed as Filyn put her eye-patch back on. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Filyn waved her concerns off and smiled. "Thanks to the fruit loop, I can see through my eye-patch. It's kind of odd though, when I have to do that, my brain sees everything in kind of a dim light."

"Didn't Anonydeath say that would happen to protect your mind or something?" Uni asked, remembering that the guy had said that her brain might not be able to comprehend certain things and had set up fail-safes to keep her from getting an aneurysm or something similar.

There was a knocking at the door and Rom opened the door, the short-haired girl was dressed in a similar black dress. "It's time."

Uni nodded as she and Filyn followed Rom out, where they saw Ram, Neptune and Chrome, all dressed in similar outfits. Steamax was there as well, looking no different than usual, though perhaps he was a little cleaner than usual. "Thank you, all of you."

"You're the one who wanted a small funeral service for her." Chrome said softly as they walked into the main office, which had been rearranged for this day. Uni had only invited them and Steamax to the funeral, stating that since Noire didn't trust humans that she wouldn't have wanted any humans at her funeral.

"I just want to say my goodbyes to her." Uni said as she looked at a picture of Noire surrounded by some candles. "Hello, Noire. I..." She shuddered and stiffened as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She didn't even need to look to know it was Steamax who was giving her support. "I'm doing my best. I promise, I'll make you proud of me. So, please..." She tried to smile at the picture while tears fell down her face. "Please watch over me."

She found herself crying again and this time Rom and Ram both got close to her and reassured her. "Thank you." She whispered and stood up. "Sorry, I... I have no clue how funerals are supposed to go."

"You're doing fine." Chrome smiled at her. "We're here to remember her and say goodbye. So I think you're doing just fine."

Uni nodded and smiled softly while she talked about her memories of Noire and even though she broke down crying several times throughout the speech, she was able to get through it, thanks to the other CPU Candidates.

Chrome leaned in close to Neptune and whispered. "We're heading to Planeptune next. Are you prepared?"

Neptune closed her eyes and shook her head. "No... But I need to go. It's time to bring this adventure to an end. It feels like we've been in Lastation longer than we were in the other nations put together."

Chrome smirked at that and the two quieted down as they listened to Uni speak about Noire.

(-)

In another location...

The room was cast in shadow as two females entered it. Normally they would walk past each other without talking much, such was their interactions, but today the shorter one with red hair with white tips suddenly stopped and frowned. "Hmm..."

"And what's wrong?" The other one, a taller, more mature one, wearing a chain mail bikini, turned to look at the other girl, who was wearing skin-tight black shorts and a sleeveless black, skin-tight shirt that showed off all of her curves while leaving very little to the imagination.

"I don't know," the shorter one pouted. "I think something bad might happen to my wifey soon!"

Flicking some of her long, blue hair out of her face, the taller one frowned. "But what could be strong enough to do something bad to the mistress?" Her eyes went white and blank. "And she's not your wifey either!"

A third person, this one was a short, petite girl with blonde hair while wearing a yellow shirt and loose yellow shorts, entered the room. "That's right! The lady is mine!" She loudly declared.

"Screw both of you!" The short one with red hair yelled at them. "You can't have my wifey!"

There was a throat clearing sound and all three stopped to see the last person there. "RED, Mina, B-Sha, please stop fighting," the last person, a girl in a rather... Revealing French Maid outfit as the skirt barely went past the curve of the speaker's butt and the top was low cut and showed off a decent amount of the speaker's cleavage while keeping her stomach exposed, stood in the room. "You know my sister hates it when you three fight." Her voice was soft and somewhat meek. "And I dislike it when sister gets mad. She takes it out on me."

"I'm sorry," RED said, lowering her head. "I don't want my wifey to get mad at you."

Mina winced. "Apologies for my behavior as well. I don't like it when the mistress gets mad."

"Sorry, Nepgear." B-Sha apologized to Nepgear.

"Thank you." Nepgear smiled at them.

To be continued...

And a sneak peek into Planeptune we go! Whee!