Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait. Just a warning, this one's packing multiple scenes included in it and is slightly longer than the norm. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it!
Stage 7. Lost in the Castle
"Don't. Ever. Do that. Again," breathed Uni with her dress disheveled. Sweat dripped from her face as she attempted to regain her composure.
Nepgear panted tiredly as she used her sword to stand herself back up. "Y-Yeah, please don't do that again Ram."
Crossing her arms, Ram huffed at her the two older candidates. "Whatever. I was just trying to help spring you guys loose."
Suddenly, Uni cocked an eyebrow. "Spring us loose?"
Nepgear knelt beside Rom. "Did something happen?"
Rom nodded. "Blanc has been acting... Very strangely lately."
"No joke," chimed Ram. "She's been coming home in a bad mood everyday. Last night, we thought we heard her crying."
"But Blanc never cries, so we thought that maybe she was mad at someone," explained Rom.
"And so," began Ram, "After we heard Noire tell her to throw the two of you in here, we came to rescue you." Looking around to survey their surroundings, Ram muttered, "Something fishy's going on around here."
"Tell me about it," replied Uni with crossed arms. As the group surveyed their surroundings, they all groaned in unison. After escaping that hallway, they found themselves in a strange hexagon-shaped room. Including the one the group had just entered from, there six doors on each side; but two of them looked like they were glued onto the wall rather than part of it. Above them was a strange diamond-shaped item surrounded by a cage-like material for the ceiling. It was pitch black when one stared beyond the cage-like material, leaving the group nervous to step beyond the door.
"Wh-What should we do?" asked Ram nervously.
"Hmm," Nepgear took a moment to look around the room, her focus returning to the diamond-like object at the top of the ceiling. "Uni?"
"Yeah?"
Pointing at the diamond on the ceiling, Nepgear said, "Could you try shooting that diamond with your gun?"
Uni looked at the ceiling and then at the diamond. Unsure of what Nepgear was planning, Uni replied, "Well, okay, but I'm not responsible if something crazy happens!"
Nepgear smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's a switch just like in the game on Blanc's console!"
"Right, like that's supposed to reassure me," complained Uni. Aiming at the diamond, Uni took extra care in living her gun up with its target. Once she was sure that her shot was a certain hit, she yelled, "Fire!"
A loud bang filled the room as fired off a round from her gigantic gun. While the twins had expected the diamond to be completely destroyed by the bullet, all it did was collide against it with a loud bang. Everyone stared up at the diamond in awe. There wasn't a single scratch on it.
"Well that was pointless," complained Ram.
"Ms. Uni's gun... Didn't do anything," muttered Rom.
Flushing with embarrassment, Uni yelled, "H-Hey! Don't say it like it's my fault!"
"No," chimed Nepgear while pointing at the doors on the left and right side of the chamber. "It's doing something."
The group then watched with interest as the doors slowly compressed themselves into the wall. They both opened, revealing pathways that looked exactly the same.
"Wh-What the hell?" said Uni aloud.
"There's two pathways," shouted Ram.
"But they look the same," mumbled Rom.
A ticking sound roused everyone from their conversation. Looking up at the diamond object on the ceiling, everyone soon noticed that it was a different color from before. Once clear as water, the crystal was now red in color.
Stepping forward, Nepgear nervously gestured to the two doors and asked, "S-So, which one door do you guys wanna go through?" The lilac-haired candidate only laughed nervously as her fellow candidates stared at her uneasily.
While all of this was going on, an unusual scene was taking place in the upper corridors of the castle...
Celestian Castle, Upper Corridor
Noire wandered aimlessly through the silent hall alone. If this were any normal day, Neptune would be walking by the black-haired CPU's side and cracking idiotic jokes and she'd be rebuking them. Today however was different. Remembering the events of the past few days, she sighed tiredly. "Why are we even doing this?" she asked herself quietly.
A pair of footsteps stopped Noire dead in her tracks. "I've never seen you here before. Are you lost?" asked a sullen voice.
The black-haired CPU immediately spun on her heel with her rapier at the ready. "B-Blanc!" Noire threw up a threatening face, but she could tell just from Blanc's indifferent countenance that her fellow CPU wasn't buying her tough-girl act.
"Relax," assured Blanc, "I'm not here for that. If you've already forgotten, we agreed that the corridors would be a no-combat zone."
While extremely hesitant, Noire finally lowered her sword and allowed it to disappear in a burst of data cubes. "R-Right. So, did you-"
"Yeah, I did," answered Blanc with a foul tone of voice. Strolling just past Noire, Blanc muttered, "I don't see why you could've done that yourself. Uni kicked and screamed all the way to the cell, but what can I do about it? Maybe Nepgear will consul her since her own sister is too much of a coward to." Cruelly looking back at Noire's stiff shoulders, she added, "After all, you should already be dead."
Noire's body stiffened at Blanc's words. They angered her, no, they enraged her. She wanted to summon her rapier and impale the shorter CPU square in the bosom for her harsh words, but instead she simply allowed Blanc to continue on her way, because she knew better than anyone that Blanc was only telling the truth. A faint and yet vivid memory of a few days ago surfaced in her mind.
"Oh my gosh, Noire!" screamed Uni as Neptune in CPU form arrived at her door with an injured Noire on her shoulder. Nepgear quickly came running out of the room to see what the commotion was all about, her eyes widening with astonishment as she got a load of Noire's condition. Covered in scrapes and bruises, both Purple Heart and Black Heart were in terrible condition. Their plugsuits were so damaged that electrical sparks were flying from them.
Panting heavily, Purple Heart said, "W-We made it, somehow." It was as she said this that Uni and Nepgear took note of the fact that blood was dripping from a wide gash in Purple Heart's arm. Noire on the other hand had a terrible looking slash wound on her left leg. Looking toward a trembling Nepgear, the CPU smiled. "Don't worry Nepgear, I'm fine." Revealing a deep stab wound in Noire's side, she added, "But Noire won't be if you can't heal her. Please Nepgear, I need your help!"
Nepgear nodded vigorously and quickly patted the blue bed on her left, presumably Noire's. "O-Okay! Hurry and put her down Neptune. She won't last much longer if she keeps bleeding like that-"
"No," whispered a barely conscious Noire. "Th-This is... Just how it is. A winner has to be decided or-" though her coughing and wheezing, Noire barely managed to say, "Or the people of Gamindustri will pay the price." A rare and gentle smile graced Noire's near-lifeless face as she looked up at a pale Purple Heart. "I know this is a lot to ask, but if it can be helped, could you at least let me talk with Uni one last time?"
Purple Heart was flabbergasted. "Noire-"
"Stop talking like that!" yelled Uni. Carefully pulling Noire from Purple Heart's back and laid the CPU on her bed. Looking down at her beloved sister and then back at the Planeptune sisters, Uni weakly muttered, "I won't blame you if you don't wanna do it, Nepgear." The black-haired candidate's shoulders began to quake as she muttered, "But please, do it for me!" Unable to keep her composure any longer, Uni fell to her knees in tears. "She's my sister! I don't want to see her die like this. Not like this."
Guilt filled Purple Heart's eyes. "Uni-"
"Shut up," growled Uni. Glaring at Purple Heart with every ounce of hostility her eyes could muster, Uni shouted, "Why are the four of you even doing this anyway? Things were going perfectly fine and now all of a sudden the four of you wanna kill each other?" Uni growled as she got to her feet. Summoning her gun and leveling it at Purple Heart's heaving core with shaking hands, the black-haired candidate muttered, "If you wanna get Noire, then you're gonna have to kill me first dammit!" Glaring at Nepgear, she growled, "That goes for you too-"
The sound of a powerful slap echoed through the room. Suddenly Uni found herself on the ground with Nepgear standing over her. Sobbing Nepgear asked, "Are you done yet?" Her tone was stern- unusually so for the gentle candidate.
Uni stared up at the sobbing CPU, realizing that Nepgear's eyes held an usual coldness to them. Was it anger or was it sadness? Uni didn't know. "N-Nepgear."
Ignoring her friend, Nepgear walked over to Noire and quickly reassessed the damaged CPU's wounds. "Neptune, go wait outside. I'll be done in about five minutes," she commanded. Looking back at Uni, she muttered, "It'll help Uni feel better too."
Purple Heart raised an eyebrow at her sister's unusual actions, but calmly nodded her head and left with a quick, "Alright."
As a green field of energy gathered around Noire's body, the white-haired CPU looked up at Nepgear with a dazed countenance. "Why are you helping me?" she asked weakly. The drained CPU looked down at her right hand with her vision in a blur. "One of us will have to die sooner or later," muttered Noire. After another fit of coughs, she asked, "Is it so that we'll owe you a favor? Or is it out of pity?"
Uni said nothing as she watched the exchange, sighing with relief as Noire's wounds started to disappear one-by-one.
No one said anything for several moments.
At last, Nepgear replied, "I'm helping you because I want to." Looking down at Noire, a strange feeling washed over the lilac-headed candidate.
A strange scene swam through Nepgear's mind- an image of Noire impaling herself over the Gehaburn. As she faded away, Uni lamented Noire's demise, she quickly asked Nepgear to end her life as well. As Nepgear reluctantly ended Uni's life, she and Neptune were left to mourn the deaths of their dearest friends.
Wincing at the scene, Nepgear muttered, "It's strange, but I feel as if I've seen something tragic like this happen before."
Noire closed her eyes as Nepgear continued to heal her wounds. "I see. Then, thank you, Nepgear."
Nepgear smiled while giggling a bit sheepishly. "Goodness, don't mention it. We're friends after all, so doing a small favor like this isn't a big deal at all."
The black-haired CPU looked away with a condescending smirk. "You get these cheesy lines from your sister, don't you?"
Laughing, Nepgear replied, "Probably."
Standing up, Uni hesitantly approached Nepgear's side. "N-Nepgear?"
The lilac-headed candidate smiled as the green energy field disappeared. Turning to Uni, she said, "Noire'll be fine. I just finished patching her up." Remembering that her sister was waiting outside, Nepgear sheepishly asked, "But, if it's okay with you, can I borrow this room for a moment? Neptune needs to be treated too and I don't really want her to have to wait much longer-"
Uni didn't even allow Nepgear to finish her question, embracing her fellow candidate while saying, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
Nepgear said flushed while sheepishly replying, "G-Goodness, you're making me blush, Uni."
Noire said nothing. Having finally regained her vision, she silently watched the two candidates from where she lay on her bed. She barely caught Purple Heart standing just outside the door, sighing with relief as she watched the two candidates make up. All was well once again.
Finally returning to the present, Noire bit her lip as she thought to herself, Neptune and Nepgear saved my life. The least I can do is make good use of it. Mustering up her courage, she turned and yelled, "Blanc!"
Just barely hearing the other CPU's words, Blanc turned around. Cocking an eyebrow, she asked, "What is it?" While the brunette CPU was willing to at least give Noire the time to speak to her, she wasn't entirely thrilled about it. What could she want now? I've already done her quite the favor. Thinking more deeply on that, she thought, Wait, that's not half-bad an idea. Having Noire owe me a favor could be useful.
Lost in thought, Blanc barely heard Noire shyly say, "...nk you."
A rare expression of shock reached Blanc's coutenance. Of all the things Noire did on a daily basis, expressing her gratitude in a normal way was the rarest of them all. Unsure if she had misheard the black-haired CPU, she asked, "Pardon?"
Frustration and embarrassment reached Noire's reddened countenance as she yelled, "I said thank you!" Seeing Blanc's mystified expression, she added, "B-But don't think this means that you've scored any freebies." Grinning with renewed life in her deep-red eyes, Noire proclaimed, "Uni wouldn't forgive me if I let you do me in over some funny business!"
Staring at Noire with confusion evident on her face, Blanc asked, "Is that all you had to say?" Turning her back to hide her smile, she replied, "Fine, but I have people rooting for me too, y'know."
Shortly after that, the two CPU went their separate ways. While they were off to their living quarters to prepare for yet another battle, a certain other CPU was in the middle of her own special endeavor...
Celestian Castle, The Library
"Ugh, this is infuriating!" complained Vert as loudly closed the lid on a gigantic, blue-colored book. The blonde CPU gazed about at the incredible amount of books lying around the room- making it appear as if the library had been struck by a typhoon of sorts. Sighing as she leaned against the old table she was reading on, she muttered, "I've been down here for two days already and have found nothing! How is this possible?"
Indeed, Vert had every reason to be frustrated. She cringed as a horrific memory returned to the front of her mind.
The sound of metal clashing against metal sounded as Noire tiredly parried a frontal assault from Blanc's axe. Vert on the other hand had just used her drill spear to scrape the edge of Purple Heart's sword. Unfortunately, it didn't seem as the purple-haired CPU was tired at all. Quite the contrary- she appeared as if she could keep going for days. The thought of this terrified the green-haired CPU seeing as Purple Heart had a gigantic gash on her other arm.
Vert's breathing went rigid as threw up a barrier to observe her situation. As Purple Heart attempted to hack her way through the barrier, the green-haired CPU took note of Noire's heavy breathing and progressively slowing movements. It didn't help that Blanc had managed to inflict a wound on Noire's leg that was similar to the one she gave to Purple Heart. If Blanc could just wear her down a little more, she could take out the black-haired CPU. A loud cracking sound roused Vert from her thoughts- allowing her to see that Purple Heart was almost finished demolishing the barrier. Moving out of the way just in time, she barely avoided Purple Heart's barrier-shattering slash.
Having moved away with speed that would've nearly equaled Noire's, Vert swiftly zoomed past Blanc- darting for Noire. Having realized Vert's intentions, Purple Heart immediately began to fly after her. "I won't let you!"
Purple Heart's attempts to stop Vert were halted completely when she caught sight of Blanc approaching her at incredible speed. Having placed her sword in front of her, Purple Heart just barely managed to keep Blanc's axe from ripping her in half. As they struggled to overwhelm one another, Purple Heart could only watch helplessly as Vert drew closer and closer to her white-haired friend. Finally, she yelled, "Noire, look out!"
"Huh?" Looking down and just barely catching sight of the rapidly approaching Vert, Noire gasped and attempted to defend herself with her gigantic sword, but alas, she was far too late. The whirring of a drill followed by the piercing of flesh and the gushing of blood filled the room. The warm liquid caught itself on Vert's drill, causing it to fly in multiple directions. Some splashed itself clear onto Vert's face, allowing her to taste the horrible liquid. Some fell below, splattering onto Blanc's back and some splattering onto Purple Heart's left shoulder.
Vert could only stare in utter shock of what she had just done. She had wounded and may soon be the one to have killed Noire. "N-Noire?" What was she doing? Confusion had filled her as she stared at Noire's shell-shocked face. Everything went blank as the taste of blood assaulted her taste buds. She hated it. She wanted to spit it out. It terrified her. Finally the whirring of Vert's drill stopped.
At last, Noire sprung back to life. As she coughed and wheezed up a small puddle of blood, the white-haired CPU grabbed onto the drill spear muttered, "I hate to say it, but congratulations, Vert; you got me." As she said this, she forced herself free from Vert's unusual weapon and quickly began to fall from the air. Time seemed to stop as the CPU all watched Noire plummet to the ground.
A loud crash sounded, at last awakening Purple Heart from her stupor. "Noire!" Purple Heart's scream overtook the room, causing Blanc and Vert to freeze in place. The purple-haired CPU dashed over to the white-haired CPU, carefully pulling her up and screaming her name. She tried everything until finally getting a weak response- her name and nothing more. Desperate to save her friend, Purple Heart quickly slung Black Heart over her shoulder and began to hobble away despite her own injuries. Looking up at the two floating CPU with a hateful glare, she threatened, "If either of you attempt to follow me I will terminate you both without mercy."
The two floating CPU were paralyzed. They only looked on as Purple Heart hobbled away. Huffing, Blanc asked, "Well, are we going to finish things then, Vert?"
No answer.
"Vert?" Looking up, Blanc took note of Vert's shaking form. The green-haired CPU's fingers went limp, allowing the drill to fall from her hands and disappear in a burst of data cubes.
"Wh-What have I done?" Vert asked herself quietly.
Blanc hesitantly gripped her axe. After a moment of silence, she finally sighed and descended to the ground. "Your transformation is going to wear off soon. Get down here or you'll die from the fall."
Vert said nothing, only staring down at her blood-stained hands.
Taking note of this, Blanc rolled her eyes and walked away. As Lowee's CPU stomped away, Vert heard her say, "This whole thing is stupid."
After Noire was nearly killed in the last conflict, I lost all of my nerve and secluded myself here in the library. Who knows how many more times the three of them have fought since that day, reflected Vert. The blonde CPU huffed with frustration as she looked around. Even after two days of searching through countless books, she had found nothing. All of the shelves had been cleared save for one. There remained a single book on the shelf. It possessed a red cover with a title that read, "Historical Accounts of Great Celestia." Cocking an eyebrow, hope glittered in Vert's eyes as she took hold of the book. "At last! This book is sure to contain an answer."
Hours passed, but with Vert's incredible stamina, she briskly read through the nearly four-thousand paged book. At last, near the end of the book, she had found something. "There it is! A CPU who had split herself into five pieces," cheered Vert. Reading on, she learned numerous things, but she had finally found what she was looking for, "How to restore a goddess fragment to its rightful owner." Thinking about it for a moment, Vert mumbled, "But didn't Umbra say we'd have to kill each other?" Remembering the warning they had received at the beginning of their adventure, the CPU's eyes widened with realization. "That's it!"
With that, Vert began to read on with more vigor than ever before. No one could possibly know how long she had been in that library; however, with the smile she now wore on her face, one could hardly say that it was a waste of time. Just as it seemed as if there was finally a light at the end of this dark tunnel, another problem was quietly slithering towards the CPU, particularly, towards the one who began this entire ordeal...
Celestian Castle, Planeptune CPU Living Quarters...
Until today, this room had been occupied by the lively Planeptune sisters. This evening, only Neptune remained. She sat in her room with her back pressed against the windowsill. Curled into a ball was a small girl in a world of hurt. Remembering the past few days, her despair could only deepen. As the one who started the entire ordeal, Neptune considered this entire situation her fault. "Pigtails nearly croaked because of me," muttered the lilac-haired CPU.
Histoire worriedly floated around Neptune's head. "This is why I told the four of you to stop this nonsense," chastised the small fairy. "Now, let's go and make up with everyone. We're sure to find a way around this if we just keep searching."
Neptune shook her head. "But Umbra said we-"
"And you're going to trust a demon? Neptune, I knew you were a bit slow, but this is ridiculous. This has to be some kind of ploy," insisted Histoire.
The lilac-haired CPU considered it for a moment. "Hey, good point Histy. The bad guys usually make up all sorts of lies these days to get the hero to do something bad, right?"
Just as Histoire's hopes were rising skyward, a horrible voice interrupted her happiness. No, Neptune, I can assure you that I've prescribed your best option, echoed the voice.
Neptune quickly looked around the room. "Alastor?"
Correct. If you want a better option, allow me to ask you this: how badly do you actually want to save your friends?
"Is that some kind of joke?" asked Neptune. "I'll do anything to help my peeps! Fo' sho!"
Histoire's palm met her face. Is she talking to herself? Thinking about it a little harder, Histoire finally realized what was going on. "Neptune, don't listen to him! He's lying!"
Hmm, if you insist. Then here's the deal: Come back to the tower where I am sealed. Take the lower path this time and meet me at the Gehaburn's sealing chamber. I'll give you what you need to resolve this ordeal, but only if you can beat me, replied Alastor with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Frowning, Neptune cried, "Bring it! I'm a lot stronger than you anyway." With this, she dashed out of her room.
"Neptune, wait!" yelled Histoire. Alas, the fairies warnings fell on deaf ears. Neptune was long gone by the time the fairy floated out the door. Sighing heavily, the fairy muttered, "What should I do?"
"Histoire!" yelled a familiar voice.
"Hmm?" Histoire turned on her right to see Vert speeding toward her. "Vert? What is the matter?" Getting a load of the bags beneath Vert's eyes, she asked, "What in the world happened Vert? You look terrible."
Heaving, Vert replied, "We can worry about that later. Where is Neptune? I need her to come with me right now!"
Given the current situation, Histoire was slightly distrustful of Vert's words. "And why is this?"
Vert materialized the giant book she was reading from her key items pouch. "I found it," she answered cryptically. "I found a way to restore everything."
Histoire's eyes lit with joy. "Oh that's wonderful, Vert!" Remembering their current situation however, urgency quickly replaced the fairy's joy. "But we have little time to waste. We must catch up to Neptune immediately!"
Cocking an eyebrow, Vert asked, "Are they going to fight this late in the evening?"
Shaking her head, the small fairy replied, "No, that's not it. That demon has apparently called Neptune to some sort of challenge. I'm positive that it's a trap!"
Blanching, Vert immediately sprung to life despite her exhaustion. "I will go and fetch Blanc and Noire! Please try to find and stop Neptune!"
"Understood," replied Histoire.
As the two dashed off in opposite directions, Vert thought to herself worriedly, This isn't good. If Alastor gets to Neptune before we do- The CPU's thoughts were interrupted as she tripped on her heels. Immediately picking herself back up, she regained pace as she thought, I have to hurry!
Author's Notes:
What does Alastor have planned for Neptune? What is this apparent fix that Vert has found for their troubling situation? And will Noire forgive Vert for nearly killing her? Better yet, will Nepgear, Uni, Rom, and Ram make it in time to join the party? A sudden twist brings about maelstrom of urgency and action! See you next time in Ultradimension Neptunia Crimson Odyssey!