Overture, Act II: The Divine Summit

A few hours later, Histoire was sat on a round table in a room on Celestia. It was very rare of an occasion but the oracles sometimes had the privilege of visiting Celestia. During the ascension however, they had all journeyed here for an emergency meeting. The reasons? Quite obvious. On Histoire's left, was Mina whose face was not even the least bit cordial. Directly across from her sat Chika who did not look any less pleased. The only one who seemed to be even remotely professional in composure other than Histoire was Kei, who sat on her right. The air was tense, Histoire had to say something. "I understand this must be very baffling for all of you." She began. Kei rolled her eyes at her, but she continued. "Especially after what has happened in the recent years-"

"Baffling? That's putting it lightly. I didn't know you were a master of euphemisms Histoire!" Chika spat, cutting her off.

Kei nodded. "I must agree with Chika on this one." She chimed. "There's no single word to even describe the recent events. Histoire, all the lands are now without goddesses. You claimed in your e-mail that you had a business proposal for us, and I'm not one for beating around the bush." She said coldly. "I want to know what it is, or I'm leaving. I don't plan to invest more than I receive either." She added.

"What else could she take from us?" Chika asked with a sarcastic voice. "She's already taken our lands after that girl assimilated all of the nations into one single nation under Planeptune's rule." Venom dripped from every word that left Chika's lips.

Histoire flinched. She expected them to be bitter, but not outright hostile, though they had every right to be. Her goddess had not just killed their goddesses, but people they loved and respected. Biting her lip, she dared to ask, "Is there anything you'd like to say on the topic Mina?"

Mina shook her head. "I always told the twins that if you don't have anything nice to say, than to not say anything at all." She explained. "And quite frankly, I have nothing nice to say to you at all." She said darkly.

Histoire sighed. "Very well then Mina. My deal with you three is this: I may know a way to bring the goddesses back." She offered.

The room went dead silent. No one dared say anything. Mina's eyes immediately met Histoire's with shock. Chika's expression completely locked into one torn between disbelief and hope. Kei for the first time in her professional career lost her composure completely with bewilderment. "That's absurd!" Kei yelled. "No one can bring back the dead! Not even you Histoire!" Kei growled and rose from her seat. "This is ridiculous! I'm leaving." She exclaimed.

"Wait Kei," Chika began, "Let's… hear what she has to say." She finished softly.

Kei understood Chika's motivation, but the thought of resurrecting the dead was utterly ridiculous. Even for with Planeptune's scientific prowess, they've never resurrected a human from the dead. Especially given the current circumstances, since the goddesses, didn't leave bodies to revive upon their demise. Regardless, giving Chika hope with a claim this ludicrous didn't amuse Kei in the slightest. Still, the idea of being able to see Noire and Uni again was an overwhelming prospect. She had to admit; even she wanted to defy logic, just this once. "Fine," Kei finally said, "I will stay, but this theory better be sound Histoire. I'm not one to enjoy wasting my time." She warned.

Histoire looked over to Lowee's oracle. Today especially, she was almost as quiet as the goddess she once served. "Do I hear any objections from you, Mina?" She asked calmly.

Mina shook her head. "I'm listening, go on." She replied.

Histoire leaned back in her chair as four lights surrounded her. The oracles could easily identify them as the Purple, Black, White, and Green discs. Histoire looked their way. "These four discs give half the protection a goddess gives when fully active. These discs are also how your lands sustained very little damage when I pulled them up from our world, and into this dimension away from the Graveyard and that monstrosity." She explained.

Each of the four lights found their way to a respective owner. Purple went to Histoire, Black to Kei, White to Mina, and Green to Chika. Chika nodded. "Yes, we know the basics of the backup defense discs." Chika replied. "You gave them to us the day the oracle system was set in place, remember?" She asked.

"What I didn't tell you though Chika is that these are also made to store small amounts of Sharicite, as well as fragments of power from the original goddesses of Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox respectively." Histoire added.

Kei seemed intrigued by this new piece of information, but it didn't quite fit together yet. "That's all very interesting Histoire, but what does that have to do with reviving the goddesses and the candidates?" She asked curiously.

Histoire shook her head. "I guess I shouldn't have worded my offer the way I did. What this will do is free their souls from the gehaburn. I cannot bring them physically back to life, but I can put their souls back into the flow of reincarnation. Unfortunately, that means there's a chance that all eight of them will be rendered human. We will have no control over whether they will be goddesses at birth once again or not. What makes it worse is that we will have to completely use up the miracle functions on these discs if we do. Doing so will render all four backup discs useless, or at the very least much weaker than before." Histoire explained.

All four of them tensed. Bringing the goddesses and the candidates back would be great, but to possibly render them human? Or even worse, none of them knew when exactly they'd all be reborn. Mina was the first to snap. "That's absurd! What if it doesn't work at all? That'd be a complete gamble on everyone's national security!" Mina yelled.

"She's got a point," Kei chimed, "We'd be taking a huge risk. On top of that, rendering them all human doesn't help us much either. And what of their human friends? There seems to be more downsides to this deal than up." Kei asked.

Histoire nodded. "IF and the others are already part of the reincarnation cycle naturally. The only reason the goddesses weren't included is because their souls are trapped in the sword." She explained. "However, if they are born human, they can be made CPUs by giving each a quarter of the original goddesses' powers. The candidates can have their powers restored with a tad less. Therefore, if we did the same again it matters not, if they are human or not now does it?" The tome added.

Chika sighed. "I see. What I don't understand is why we'd be giving them only a quarter. Why can't we just give them the entire disc?" She asked.

"That's because there probably won't be more than a quarter to give this time. Am I correct Histoire?" Kei asked.

Histoire nodded. "That is correct." She replied. "They were born goddesses originally. Just to restore them would take twenty five percent of the discs' powers. Even before that, we'd require at least twenty percent from each disc to give to each candidate, and another twenty from each to free them from the sword. And earlier, I used ten percent from each disc to purge the gehaburn of its curse so that no one can use its dark power. That's already seventy-five percent, and I vouch that we use the rest of it to protect our lands." Histoire explained.

Kei put a thoughtful finger to her lips. "The numbers do look bad, I will admit. We need to each dish our sixty-five percent of our discs' powers just to revive them all. And ten percent's already been used up. That leaves us twenty-five percent to defend our lands with. Even worse, if it doesn't work, we'll have wasted all of that energy for nothing." Kei mumbled to herself.

Chika nodded. "It's already a big risk, but I propose we make another wager: we each also divvy up five percent of our discs to each goddess, giving them another ten percent from each land's worth of power." She said.

The group looked at her as if she had gone mad. "Are you out of your mind?" Mina yelled.

"If we do that and it doesn't work, Gamindustri will probably be destroyed by the onslaught of remaining monsters!" Kei exclaimed.

"But say it bestows them with a new power!" Chika yelled. "What if it gave them a power strong enough to defeat Arfoire? They'd have another thirty percent of power each, strengthening the goddesses to forty percent, and the candidates to thirty-five. I'd say it'd increase our odds a lot more than they are currently!" She reasoned.

Mina shook her head. "And if it doesn't? Chika we all want to see them again, but being pointlessly reckless isn't going to get us anywhere-"

"And here I thought you'd understand." Chika cut her off. "Of all people you loved those three like daughters!" Chika yelled. "Wouldn't you do anything to have them back?" She asked quietly.

"Not if it means be reckless, and foolish. If she were still here Lady Blanc, nor the twins would want me to carry myself so disgracefully." Mina replied through a forced tone.

Histoire sighed. This wasn't going anywhere very quickly. "Arguing is getting us nowhere." She said to the group. "If this keeps up, we'll all be without goddesses. At this rate, nothing will be done and all of Gamindustri will collapse either from the impending monster onslaught or the lack of stability!" She added. "How about this: should we agree to this plan, we all get one request each. That request must be carried out by the other parties. The only request I will ban is the taking of shares from any of the four nations. We saw how well that turned out recently. Agreed?" She offered.

Kei sighed. "It's still a ridiculous plan, but I guess… I'll agree to it if that's the case. My condition is this: I want Planeptune's scientific knowledge database." Kei demanded.

Histoire was shocked. She hadn't thought Kei would take advantage of such a fragile situation to make serious, political demands. "Do you realize what you are asking for? Planeptune prides itself on its scientific advances!" Histoire replied.

Kei shook her head. "Aside from share taking, you said anything goes. That is my condition. Lady Neptune and Lady Noire were friends so the sharing of information shouldn't be such a big deal should it?" The grey haired oracle said exasperated. At that moment Kei finally understood Lady Noire's sentiments regarding Planeptune folk: they're slightly crazy and that madness of theirs was contagious. It didn't help that the three oracles held a great deal of spite with Planeptune for what their candidate had done to their nations as a whole.

Histoire knew what Kei was up to. It was all a matter of taking Planeptune's know how and Lastation's technology and work ethic to create something to top the other nations. She was already plotting to take shares indirectly! She sighed. A deal was a deal. "Very well, I will have a copy delivered to your doorstep by tomorrow Kei." Histoire said in defeat.

Kei smirked. If anything, she would at least fulfill Noire's dream of surpassing Planeptune. "As we are talking about the entire database, I want the magic-fusing technology research data my intelligence tells me you finished working on in secret with Lowee." Kei added. Histoire furrowed her brow. Kei was really going for the gold, she wanted everything and she was going to make sure she got every last zenny of what she was asking for.

Histoire nodded. "Very well then, that seals the deal with Lastation. I will go last. Chika, what is your condition?"

Chika sat back. "If we go through with it, I want Planeptune's forces to make up the main front of the military until the goddesses return. If they ever do that is." It was yet another hefty request.

Histoire knew she was in trouble. They all probably had the intention of making sure Planeptune had a very rough time recovering in the near future, but for what Histoire was going to ask for, she might as well let them have three requests each. Histoire could only nod her head, because she knew that when she lays out her request that they were not going to like it. There had to be a fair trade somewhere. "Very well, and I will make sure that they are distributed evenly amongst the four nations." She said again in defeat. At least if she said that, her nation would keep some of its military protection.

Everyone looked towards silent Mina, who immediately realized it was her turn. Her request was the odd ball. "I want full custody of the three of them if they're born human." She said quietly. Kei raised a surprised eyebrow, while Chika decided to stare into space in the opposite direction. "I don't trust anyone else to take care of them as well as I did." She explained.

It was a simple request, but the other oracles understood it completely. For obvious reasons though, Histoire let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Very well then, if that's what you really want Mina." Histoire replied.

"I hate your candidate for what she did, but I can't risk the happiness of Lady Blanc and the twins for that." Mina admitted. Histoire said nothing to that, she couldn't. "Which is why if it doesn't work, I want Planeptune to give Lowee a third of their artillery assets." Mina added.

Histoire and Kei paled. The people of Lowee were already really skilled in the art of war. One could even say they were even born masters of war. Give them the weapons, and their army is close to invincible in a fight amongst the people. Histoire had no choice though, especially after what Mina just said. "F-Fine. That seals that deal I take it Mina?" Mina nodded. Technically she made two requests, but she'll only get one of the two depending on the circumstances.

Histoire now prayed more than ever that all went well. Finally, it was her turn. "You're all going to hate me for what I want." She warned.

Mina raised an eyebrow, while Chika and Kei remained indifferent. "Just remember Histoire, I refuse to invest more than what I'm getting back." She countered.

"As long as it isn't too much, I won't mind." Chika muttered.

"…" Mina said nothing.

"…I want to release Nepgear from the sword." Everyone went silent again. Not a single soul in the room dared to breathe. "I know you three had every intention of leaving her trapped in the sword, but I don't think Neptune, Rom, Uni, or even Very would ever approve of punishing Nepgear-"

"Do not bring Vert into this!" Chika yelled. "If they reincarnate I doubt Neptune would notice anyway if we don't tell her!" Chika exclaimed. "The girl was such an oblivious child-"

Kei crossed her arms. "…Somehow, I had a feeling that would be what you would request. It was to be expected though, I suppose." She muttered.

Mina broke her silence. "Then, how about this? We let her out, but we don't give her, her candidate powers? In fact, that'd leave all of us some extra energy in our backup discs." She offered.

Chika raised an eyebrow. "I guess it would render the girl harmless if we did that." She said more to herself than anyone else in the room.

Kei shook her head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple." Kei theorized, looking to Histoire for confirmation.

Histoire nodded. "I did say that any deal we name other than the taking of shares is legal. Therefore, to make me keep my end of the deal, you must also agree to mine." Histoire explained.

Mina growled. "Damn it… Fine. You can have your candidate back, but I expect you to keep her on a leash. Am I understood Histoire?" She demanded angrily.

Histoire nodded. "Yes, I promise you something like before will never happen again Mina." Histoire replied.

Kei sat back, finally relaxed. "So, with that I conclude that our deal is complete?" She asked.

Everyone nodded to each other. "Very well then," Histoire said, "I need you three to come with me though." A door seemed to open on its own to their left.

Kei seemed puzzled. "Where are we going?" She inquired.

Histoire's face seemed uncertain. "We're going to the chamber of gehaburn. Or more specifically, we're going to try and get the girls back." She explained.

Without another word the remaining three oracles followed Histoire out the door and through the corridors, off to the chamber where the once cursed sword lay sleeping. A deal was made, a deal made completely on hypotheticals without even the guarantee that the three actual humans of this group would ever see their goddesses again, they grabbed hold of this single remaining chance. What happens next is all up to the gears of destiny now…

Author's Notes:

I hope this explained a few more things. I figure that since this is still part of the prologue, that I should at least update this part as quickly as possible. The next chapter will be explaining the situation with the oracles. After all, there's currently no guarantee that they'll even see the goddesses again should they be reborn perhaps a full century from their current time. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter despite the massive info dump. On the bright side, one more prologue chapter and we'll finally be at the actual story! Stay tuned! ^ ^"

Next Time – Overture, Final Act: The Gamble