CHAPTER NINE (GOOD) - PART TWO

"Give her the benefit of the doubt." Said Uzume once again, like a broken recorder or something like that. She was just being neutral, trying to be the rational and merciful part of the argument... Not that Neptune cared about that.

"I'm tired," Neptune said as she slumped her back on the couch with Uzume by her side She was drinking maternity milk once again and the effects were kicking in already.

If it was in another time there's no doubt she would laugh. She was invited to have a drink but she rejected as she remembered that she wouldn't drink any alcoholic beverage. When Uzume discovered she was pregnant, she quickly bought the medicine. And She was currently drinking it along with the milk.

"Then rest. There's no need to make this any hard on yourself. Some things are beyond your control."

"I don't even know where to start," Neptune muttered.

"Are you going to open the case so that that Nepgear will be arrested and be brought to prison?"

"Maybe... I'm still busy trying to find Noire's stepmom, Vert. I'm gonna find her. I heard, she was transferred to Leanbox's Basilicom. She is also involved in this as well. I don't think credits are the only thing she wanted from Noire."

She just kept drinking... the milk. She wanted to be drunk. She just wanted to forget what happened and sleep. Maybe this was all a dream, and she wold woke up tomorrow... That had to be, just a nigtmare...

PART THREE

Neptune felt the emptiness when she went home. All around her was purple but to her, it felt as if the color was being covered by black. She was just sitting on a chair when someone knocked at her door.

It was Nepgear.

Neptune emotionlessly glared into the girl's eyes. Nepgear wouldn't win in a staring competition. So she quickly averted her gaze.

"Believe me, Neptune. Every day ever since that happened, I felt miserable." Nepgear began looking at the ground nervously.

"Miserable? Doesn't look like it" Neptune said sarcastically.

"It was an accident! It was not my intention! I swear!"

"Is that all you wanted to say? Just an accident? Is that what you're trying to make me understand? if a single 'I'm sorry' was enough cops wouldn't exist" Neptune was trying with all her might to suppress her outburst of emotions.

"I was scared! I'm sorry!" Tears started to form in Nepgear's eyes.

"How I wish your pitiful words would ease what has been done. She was my best friend, my sister, my soulmate, my love, my family. How could you take her life like that?" Neptune didn't want to cry anymore. It would be her lose if she let herself cry again, she had enough.

"I want to ease your pain! Believe me!"

Neptune sat miserably. "You want to ease my pain?! Then let me talk to Noire again. Let her bid her goodbye. Let her say that properly to me. Let her tell me that it's okay and I should move on completely."

"I can't do that."

"Here. Here is my N-Gear." Neptune dialed as she turned on the volume into a loud speaker. She gave it to Nepgear and waited. The familiar automated message played.

'The number you dialed is no longer in service. The number you dialed is no longer in service.' Neptune smiled bitterly. "I always called her whenever I wanted and She would always answer my calls... Now, Make her answer the damn phone!"

"I-I Can't!" Nepgear continued to sob. Neptune's request was just impossible. Neptune rolled her eyes and snatched back her N-Gear from Nepgear's hand.

"I deserve an answer... She must talk to me." She repeatedly dialed Noire's number and the automated response is everything they keep hearing. Because of her shaking hand, the N-Gear slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor shattering and scattering the parts everywhere.

Neptune crouched down to pick the pieces. This time, her tears flowed freely. "You must talk to me, Noire... I have no one and you know that... I only have you. Please. Please." Neptune just kept on crying as she held the broken pieces of her N-Gear.

"Neptune." She heard someone speak. It was Purple's voice. Her embrace was as soft and tight as Neptune remembered. "Do not make it hard for yourself... Please... Just... Just let go."

"Stop telling me those things. It's so hard, Purple." Neptune said breaking away from Purple "You and your sister must leave. And please, stop coming after me... It's over."

"No, Neptune. Even if I always stumble chasing after you, I will never stop. I will always rise and you will still be my love, remember that."

Then they silently left.

PART FOUR

After her emotional flare-up, Neptune had the courage to talk to Nepgear. They talked over the phone. She wanted this dilemma to end.

-123-

"Neptune, I'm not gonna say this to anger you more... But you need to know something. It may or may mot help."

"Another lie?"

"No. When I... When I ran over Noire, there's a woman chasing her. Later on, I found out that the woman was Noire's stepmom. She was there at the hospital. I came after her stepmom left the place"

This sudden event caught Neptune's attention. "Vert knew all along? Was she there? Did she know that you were the one who ran over Noire."

"Yes. But I didn't know why she was chasing Noire before the accident happened. She just asked me to keep quiet about the whole thing. She said that she would not accuse me... That everything was just an accident... I think She can convince you that it was all just an accident. She will not give me any condemn me after I gave her a large sum of credits... And that's all I know..."

-123-

She must confront Vert immediately. Neptune needed a closure so badly. She made an immediiate resignation in Purple's company. She used her time just to track Noire's stepmom. Some people confirmed that the woman was in Lastation's Black Hotel. Purple kept on calling and texting her. Neptune wanted to answer Purple but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She wasn't ready to talk to her.

It has been almost a week since she discovered that that Vert was staying at the hotel. And finally, she found the address of the hotel. She was easily allowed to enter since Cave apparently claimed to know her.

"I need closure, please let me." Neptune mumble in her breath.

She was expecting the Vert she knew from a long time ago: Playing RPG Games... But Neptune was wrong once again. The woman in front of her was sitting in a wheelchair with her legs covered in dirty bandages, her usual confident and haughty aura banished and replaced with a shadow of what she used to be, her voice devoided of her haughty old self... She was just a ghost...

"What happened?" Neptune looked shocked.

The woman's face was covered in sadness. "Amputation above the knee. Diabetes complication."

"Since when?"

"Months after Noire died. I was expecting that you would come here anytime."

"I'm here to ask you straightforward questions. Are you also involved in the case? Were you there in the crime scene?"

The woman's eyes were focused on the floor. "I will not deny anything You deserve to know the truth."

"Then go on, spill the beans. Tell me all the things that I must know."

"I was planning to kill Noire Or have her plead for her life, I wouldn't kill her if she had begged. But she needed to give me my share from her inheritance."

Neptune's face slowly turns red in a heat of anger.

That was it...

That was it!

Money! Dirty and worthless money was the reason for this joke! Just for that!

"The night before she was run over, I was chasing her. I had a spear with me. She was stubborn. She didn't want to give me half of the inheritance that she got from my wife. All the credits and land were given to her by her mother. That left me with nothing."

"You... YOU B***!" Neptune was a few inches from exploding into an onslaught of fury against the invalid woman in front of her.

"I know I was a b***... An unlucky one if you can tell... Anyways, In her escape from me, she was suddenly hit by a car. To make things clear, I was there and I saw it wasn't the driver's fault. It was Noire who jumped right in front of the vehicle

"You... How could you do this to her...?" Neptune kept herself from sobbing.

"Even in her last breath, Noire really didn't give me what I wanted. She firmly refused to do so. She was too clever and stubborn. Maybe she knew my true intentions, or maybe her pride huge. Either way, She had her own testament. In that document she stated she wished for her belongings to be given to charity in case she died: All of her lands and credits, every single thing she possessed was donated. You see, she didn't inform anyone about this, not even you, because she knew you above everyone else, would suffer from her choices. That's also the reason why I had to leave their house and transfer here."

Neptune could feel the 'bomb' screaming to her, the hatred. the fury, the anger and everything inside of her mind demanded to simply let go. She wanted to punish the woman in front of her. But she needed to hear the whole story, not just fragments.

"When she died, I had a desperate idea. I released that girl from legal liabilities. She was so young and naive. I asked for a large sum of credits as a payment for what she did. I had a right to do that because I was the only remaining relative to Noire."

"Sounds perfect for a movie script." She commented. Her chest was filled with hatred and complete anger. She was so damn thankful that she's not a brutal person. If she is then there's no doubt that she will double the woman's suffering.

"I'm sorry. My bad luck just came early. Look at me, I'm almost lifeless. Fool. No used. I also have end-stage renal failure. My dialysis was continuous. See how ironic life can be? All the credits that I get from evil, just only came for my treatment. It just makes my life longer. But time will come, my body will give up."

Neptune looked at Vert intently. She's right, she was almost lifeless.

"The one who hit Noire was my new girlfriend's sister." She just wanted her to know jus how large the problem really was and the bad things it brought. "When I knew that, I hated their entire family."

Vert nodded. "I'm sorry. What happened was beyond your control. But your future is yours. It's fully within your control."

She was shocked at what Vert said. She was right, she may not be able to change anything anymore after those events - When Nepgear was just driving her car and unintentionally ran over Noire, or how she and Purple met and how she is an older sister for Nepgear. She cannot change anything of those things anymore. But she has the willpower to fix this problem at least.

"If you wanted to sue me, go on. I deserve to be punished. I will face and accept the crimes I've committed. I wish you can forgive me... With time"

She knows that there's no need to punish Vert anymore or make her suffer any further. Her karma was enough. She even doubted she could bear to see that woman suffer, or even die in prison given her current health. She turns around and leaves.

She gently caresses her stomach. "For you, my child, I will close the final chapter of my old life. Just give me more time."

[Somewhere...]

The young man with a familiar tuxedo watches in a great amusement, he sighed deeply in defeat.

Bad Ending: 99.9% - ERROR

Authoria won again, leaving the usual defeat of Deathia.

He just stares at the road full of busy cars, trucks, and all sorts of vehicles that human invented to move around and polluted the already tortured planet. Well, he wasn't a human so he doesn't care a single bit for such stupid things, He just morphed into this feeble form in order to make things easier.

He shook his head and turned around.

"It was decided then..."

Thanks to:

Derp'Koz

For Beta Read

One more chapter guys and gals!