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

Chapter 77

"So, Histy..." Kurome smiled at the book fairy. "Why don't you finally tell Nepsy the real reason you asked her to kill the Voids of Gamworld?"

Histoire's face became sullen and she looked down. "...When I sensed a CPU Heart in Gamworld, I realized that there was a chance to fix everything..." She trembled and grabbed at her tattered dress as best she could, considering her mangled hand. "I..." She looked up, a look of remorse on her face. "I wanted you to kill the Void CPUs, because the only way to save this world, the only way to stop the Voids... It couldn't be done by the CPUs of this world. It would just continue in a cycle of hatred, pain and suffering."

"So asking a Heart that could transform could break the cycle, huh?" Chrome asked, getting a nod from Histoire. "It makes sense. We're not created from people's negative feelings."

"But without Sharicite, the few Heart CPUs that survived what happened sixty years ago couldn't transform." Histoire sighed softly. "In fact, I believe you're the final Heart CPU of this world."

Chrome sighed heavily, nodding. "I figured as much. I came to terms with it a long time ago." A small smile came to her face. "I have my sister, I know that my people never stopped believing in me. Even if Eden's gone now, I've avenged all of them."

"I see." Histoire said, a look of sadness on her face. "I... I really am sorry that I couldn't stop what happened."

"I admit, I should be more upset," Chrome looked at Kurome, who was merely smirking at her, "but the one who was responsible for what happened is dead. Even if she's a spirit."

Kurome merely shrugged. "Well, Nepsy? What will you do now?" Neptune looked at her in confusion. "The CPU of Planeptune..." She pointed at Neptune. "Is you. Or rather, the you of this world."

Neptune sighed and looked down. "...I knew it, I hoped that it wasn't that way, but... Deep down, I knew." She looked at Histoire and bit her lip softly. "...Histy..."

"Whatever your decision, I'll go along with it." Histoire said softly. "I suspect that I'm not the only one who feels this way."

"You aren't." Chrome spoke up. "I already pledged myself to you, Neptune. Whatever you want, I'll go along with it."

Neptune smiled at them. "Thank you." She reached up and rubbed her eyes as they teared up. "Thank you both so much."

Kurome suddenly chuckled and the other three looked at her, Histoire in anger and the other two in confusion. "Don't think that beating this world's Nepsy will be easy, Nepsy." She started to fade away. "Not with how corrupted you are."

The last thing they saw was Kurome's annoying smirk as she faded away.

"Come on..." Chrome said softly as she gave Neptune's shoulder a squeeze. "We need to go."

"I have a suggestion." Histoire spoke up. "This might sound weird, but how about we walk out the front door?" She could sense the stupefied looks on Chrome and Neptune's faces and she smiled. "Believe me, you taking me and Chrome out the front door will only have people shrugging, since the you of this world is known for being random."

Neptune and Chrome both looked at each other and shrugged. They didn't have any better plans.

"I hope this works." Chrome muttered softly.

(-)

"I can't believe that worked." Chrome muttered as they left the Basilicom. A couple of people had stopped them and wished them well and asked where Nepgear was, but when Neptune said she didn't know, they nodded and left them alone. "...What's wrong?" She saw the look of sadness on Neptune's face.

"...That Nepgear is the CPU Candidate here and when I said I didn't know where she was..." Neptune walked forward, her steps somewhat lifeless. "They acted like it was normal."

"Neptune?" Chrome asked softly as she could feel Neptune's mood quickly souring. "Neptune?"

"I've never been a good big sister, I'm always relying on Nep Jr. for everything..."

Chrome said nothing and pulled Neptune to the side and hid behind a tree as she pulled Neptune against her. She patted Neptune's back as the shorter CPU hugged her back. "I don't believe that for a moment." Chrome said to her. "I think you're a better big sister than you know."

"I'm not!" Neptune protested. "I was so mean to Nep Jr. for years. How did she put up with someone as selfish and mean as me?"

"But it's not you." Chrome said as she tried to help Neptune relax. When Neptune protested her again, she sighed. "Fine! Think of yourself as a bad big sister all you want, but I know that Peashy, Rom and Ram would all disagree with that statement." Neptune looked up, teary-eyed and somewhat hopeful and Chrome smiled at her. "Besides, if you're that worried about her, why don't we find the other you and stop her abuse of your sister?"

Neptune smiled softly as she let go of the hug and wiped her tears. "...Yeah, that sounds good."

(-)

Elsewhere...

Nepgear let out a faux bark that had Neptune looking back at her. She did a whimper and whine and Neptune sighed, shaking her head.

"Do you need to go potty, girl?" Neptune asked and Nepgear shook her head, whimpering. "Aww, such a smart girl." She reached up and scratched where Nepgear's ear was.

"Um..." Nepgear looked a bit nervous. "Can I speak normally, sis?"

Neptune sighed and pouted as she pulled her hand away. "And what do you want?"

"It's... Um..." Nepgear fidgeted slightly. "There's people here in Planeptune from other nations and..."

"Oh!" Neptune smiled at her. "I know all about it. I'll let my knights deal with them. But if they don't in a couple of days, I guess I'll have to do it myself." She sighed and looked upset at that. "I really don't want to, but then again..." A sinister smile came to her face that had Nepgear looking at Neptune in abject terror. "I guess I should stop putting off my plan like I have since I became a CPU, huh?"

"...Plan?" Nepgear asked. "What plan?"

The Void of Planeptune continued to grin in amusement. "I can't tell you, Nepgear. Not yet." She winked and turned away, rubbing her hands together while a dark, sinister smirk covered her face. "Just wait for the surprise. I'm sure that you'll enjoy it when I reveal it." She looked over her shoulder and her smile continued to unsettle Nepgear. "And even if you don't, don't worry, I'll make sure that you won't be able to complain when I implement it."

For some reason, Nepgear wasn't reassured by those words. 'Still,' she thought to herself, smiling at Neptune, 'I know that she cares for me. Big sis wouldn't let something bad happen to me.'

(-)

Elsewhere...

"Gust is tired." The bunny girl muttered as she, Compa and Warechu walked through a random area of Planeptune. As far as Gust could tell, it was a residential area as there were nothing but private houses, small yards that were surrounded by fences and people mulling about talking to each other before heading inside.

"I'm sorry, Gust," Compa pouted as she looked around, "I thought that taking a transporter to a random location might help us out."

"At least we aren't facing down robots, tentacle monsters or monsters." Gust said and sighed as she saw a yard with a mother watching over her young children. "Gust just wishes there was a place to sit down to eat."

"Well, maybe..." Compa trailed off as she saw someone with blonde hair walking in their direction while looking down at some sort of device in their hands. "Excuse me." She said when they were close enough.

"Huh?" The person looked up and Compa smiled at the person, who they could tell was a girl now that they were close to her. "Can I help you?"

Compa smiled at her. "Yes, I'm a bit lost with my friends here and we were wondering if there was a rest place or something nearby that we could stop at."

The girl gave her a raised eyebrow and pointed to the side. "You're about an hour away on foot to the nearest diner in this section of Planeptune."

"Nerts." Gust grumbled. "Gust doesn't want to walk for another hour."

The girl looked at the two of them and at Warechu before smiling softly. "Well, if you don't mind waiting for an hour for the bus to come by, you can stay at my place." The three looked at her and she smirked at them. "Surprised?" They nodded and the girl laughed at them. "It's okay though, I got nothing to do today since Nep Nep isn't seeing me today."

"Nep Nep?" Compa asked, tilting her head. "A bit short, purple hair, purple eyes, really nice girl who helps those who need her?"

"The visual description sounds like Nep Nep." The girl nodded, "though helping those who need her isn't accurate. She'll help if she wants to, but..." She shrugged. "Oh, I should introduce myself." She smiled at them. "My name's B-Sha, one of Nep Nep's closest people."

Compa had a confused look on her face while Gust sighed. "Gust thinks that she is talking about the Neptune from here, not our Neptune."

"You have a Nep Nep too?" B-Sha asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Wait, before you tell me, how about we get to my place and you can explain it to me there?"

"How can we trust you?" Warechu asked as he narrowed his eyes. "The last time we went to someone's place we ended up nearly getting killed several times over."

B-Sha scratched her head. "Hmm... Well, you can sit in my front yard until the bus shows up and we can talk there?"

"Gust just wants to sit down." The bunny girl groused as B-Sha guided them to her place, which happened to be two houses away in the direction that they had come from. "This place looks nice." She said as she looked at the yard, which was pretty small and mostly dirt and the house was a yellow one-story building.

"It's easy to look nice when I barely live here." B-Sha admitted as they entered her yard. "Just wait right here," she said and went inside.

"I hope that she's not planning on pulling out a trap or something, Chu..." Warechu muttered.

A few moments later, B-Sha returned from inside with some folding lawn chairs. "I really should get more furniture for my place, but I'm glad that I have these."

After unfolding the chairs and getting settled into them, everyone sighed in relief as they got off of their feet.

Well, except Warechu, who was sitting on Compa's lap and cuddling against her.

"Must be nice to have a pet that can talk." B-Sha giggled at Compa, who tilted her head in confusion.

"But Warechu isn't my pet." She said, her cheeks turning slightly red. "He's, um... Special."

"That's right, Chu." Warechu said, nodding his head and B-Sha looked at them in confusion before her eyes widened.

"Oh! Okay." B-Sha smiled at them. "Whatever works for you, I guess. So, can you tell me about your Nep Nep?"

Compa smiled at B-Sha and nodded. "Yeah, she just showed up at our outpost one day randomly and things got really exciting shortly after that..."

As B-Sha listened to the story that Compa, Gust and Warechu told her, she found herself unwilling to stop them.

"...And then we met the CPU of Lastation and..." Compa trailed off as a honking sound was heard and B-Sha looked up to see the bus coming down the street. "Oh! That's our ride!"

B-Sha sighed and nodded. "Yeah. The diner's got some good food and there's a motel not far from there if you're looking for a place to stay for the night." The three of them nodded and got off of the lawn chairs with Gust and Compa stretching before they all said their goodbyes and went to the edge of the street to wave down the bus.

After they got on the bus, B-Sha bit her lip softly. "...Their Nep Nep sounds really nice." She sighed before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a cell phone and dialing a number.

"What do you want, B-Sha?"

"Hey, Mina..." B-Sha began, "you wouldn't believe what I just found out."

As she walked inside to tell Mina what she had been told, B-Sha wondered if she'd ever have the chance to meet Compa's Neptune. 'She seems so nice.'

Even if she didn't care for sharing her Nep Nep time with Mina and RED, B-Sha still liked them as people.

To be continued...

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