"Oh come now... you know who I am."

The smile she offered was... concerning. Kurome stared apprehensively, debating on whether to just nod and play along. Had this been a random idiot, she probably would have, even if it was just to get them to buzz off. The thing was, though, something about this woman felt... familiar. Kurome had no idea who this lady was, but a part of her was regretful for not knowing her name, almost as if it was a fundamental mistake of sorts.

"I..." And yet, she spoke the truth: her own truth, as she perceived it. "No, I don't." This was clearly a mistake, but she continued. "Who are you?"

"..." The woman stood there, both wordless and motionless, but not quite dead. Her face didn't so much as fluctuate as it did shift along a miniature spectrum. In her eyes were mystery, and though speaking falsehoods, she opened her mouth again, now with a plain tone. "No... no, you remember me."

"I don't."

"You do." It was so 'matter of fact' in how casually it left the face, not quite matching with the tone of her body language. It sounded nonchalant and almost playful in a way, but the body was stiff. Suddenly, her arms stretched out, kind of like how Linda would overreact to things: not quite cartoonish, but juvenile all the same. "It's me: Dreamsy."

Dreamsy?

That was something she could see her better half naming someone, and it did pick at the strings somewhere in the back of her mind. The problem was, however, Kurome couldn't center her mind on any one idea relating to the name. For all rights she should at the very least have known what it meant, or better yet, she should have been able to recall something related to the woman standing right in front of them; a woman who revealed herself in probably the most damning place in all of Gamindustri.

"What kind of name is that?" Linda being the one to break the silence probably wasn't the best course of action, but then again, when had Kurome ever been able to control what her roommates did in the moment?

"A name given by your better." Raw malice didn't just drip, but torrented from the final word. No shouting, no increase in volume or shaking of tone: just pure ill intent. Linda was taken aback though, as Kurome could hear the shift of her boots backing away with a slide; a back dash if she had to guess. Dreamsy's eyes fell on her again, and once more the voice smoothed out. "Tell them."

"Tell them what?" The constant questions must have done something, because Kurome did not expect the answer she got, nor the way Dreamsy's pupils shrunk as her shoulders fell.

"You don't even remember that?" Her voice dropped lower and lower, almost skidding across the floor. "The name you gave me... You forgot it too?"

That felt... somewhat right. She recalled none of it still, but the idea she named the mysterious delusional woman ahead didn't make her feel bad. In a sense, it kind of bubbled up some nostalgia. Was the woman bonkers? Probably, but she'd also make Kurome feel something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Nothing concrete, obviously, but enough to not immediately be blown off.

"I don't know who you think I am, but I don't know who you are." Perhaps more prodding would draw out some answers.

"Uzume." Kurome could hear an 'eep' from behind; it figured the super-fan would recognise the name first. "Uzume Tennouboshi: A lonely girl in an empty world... who at this moment appears to have no memories of her best friend."

That however, despite again feeling real, was just a bone-faced lie.

"I never had any friends there." A small grimace slipped into her tone. "I was alone, abandoned, and most of all... forgotten." Her eyes narrowed in on the woman, who merely watched on. A part of Kurome told her she was making a mistake, that innate wrongness with everything she'd said, and was soon about to add onto. But she had her memories back: there was nothing missing like before. The good times, the bad times, they were all there, just as she knew they were for her better half.

This 'Dreamsy' was lying, she had to be, and so Kurome called her on it.

"I'll ask you again, who are you?"

"I just told you everything." A pit opened up in Kurome's gut, and the air swirled away, leaving her short of breath. "I am Dreamsy, your friend." Her voice cracked, and the temperature dropped. "The friend who remained here for years, trapped in this decrepit worthless cage waiting patiently for you."

A shiver shot across Kurome's skin, like a billion little spiders crawling through the pores as they spun their webs, interlocking the fragile flesh in a woven thread of unbreakable bonds. Tied to the spot and unable to react, Kurome felt that internal knocking resound with every passing word.

"I believed you'd come for me... that you'd save me when they trapped me here." Her breathing was sporadic, and each syllable twitched out of tune. "Even when they took away my body and stuck a part of me in their stupid disk, I believed in you."

Kurome felt as though the world deafened, and it came back, that sense of freeing movement. She recalled nothing still, other than that vomit-inducing swirl of unexplainable fever. There was a silver lining though, and it sat comfortably in her chest: a warmth, so unfittingly, latched itself in place and provided the heat of a candle, one who burned strong on a chilly winter night. It didn't last, as just when her heart felt warm, Dreamsy's body moved.

It hovered over the ground by an inch, unnatural in every sense of the word. Not a bend of her limbs or skin or hair could be seen, as if even the air itself made way for her approach. The motion stopped, and so she stood rigid above. Something akin to a smile was carved into her face, but there was no honest joy in her eyes, only a manic mask of meticulously crafted delusion.

Delusion... perhaps the only word to describe the lie Dreamsy appeared to exude.

"And after so many long years of loneliness: you came~" Slowly her hand twisted from its place at her side, and Kurome did nothing as it reached for her chest. She should have moved, slapped it away, attacked even, but a divine fear had settled in her heart. No, fear wasn't the right word: instinct fit so much better.

The natural will to survive.

Her hand never settled above Kurome's chest, but rather, it slipped into a certain spot, a certain pocket just a little way's off. She felt the fingers grace the thin fabric around it as she wrapped the item in her grasp. And just like that, the warmth above her own heart, Kurome's only source of direct comfort in this instance, was gone.

The fuel of her courage was stolen.

"I was so happy to see you again, so... excited~" Her face leaned in, never once breaking eye contact. "Uzume, my best friend, had finally come to save me. Of course-" Dreamsy's arm ripped away, tearing open the blazer and even ripping the thin shirt below from sheer force alone.

And now, in her open hand, was something both familiar and wholly forgotten... at least until now.

"I-It..." Something was... wrong. It didn't matter though, because Kurome's eyes hardened as she saw the hand open, and in it sat the blue cartridge who's mysteries she never thought would see the light of day. Clearly, she'd been wrong.

"That wasn't what happened." She toyed with the thing, and it was here the dark twin saw the spark of shadowed electricity. That darkness, while brief, had an unmistakable aura to it, and she knew right then that what she'd just seen was delusional energy; coursing not through only the cartridge, but the fingers of Dreamsy as well. "Being trapped here for so long gave me a lot of time to get used to things. Not having a body anymore; seeming immortality; oh, and complete and utter control of my prison."

From beneath everyone's very feet sprang a series of roots, wrapping around and restraining all at lightning speeds... although really, lightning had nothing on the evil roots.

"What the hell?!" Linda sounded awfully similar to Neptune there, but Kurome was focusing more on the way Dreamsy looked longingly at the cartridge, as if lost in some foregone memory. That didn't stop the others from vocalizing their complaints though.

"Hey, chu!" The mouse's tiny body swerved, bent, and struggled in a bid to loosen through the tangle of wood. "What gives!? Agh! Damn things! What the hell, chu!?"

"Ahh!" Uzi struggled just as hard. "No! Let me go! I don't wanna be tied up today!"

"It would be best if you unhand-! Pardon… did you just say today?" Sonya wasn't exactly all that worried... for some reason: he was more focused on his sister now, who just turned away with flushed cheeks. If one looked close enough, they'd swear the elder brother looked relaxed, even being somewhat restrained, as if there was nothing to worry about… but clearly, he was worried about someone. "Is there something I should know about?"

"C-can we not ask that sort of question when we're being wound up!?"

"Very well, it can wait."

"So... you do this often?" Lonk retained his sassy ways, even looking a little thrilled as he questioned Sonya, who just shook his head."

"Normally I'm the one to bind."

"Huh..." His head whipped over to the boss, who seemed focused and calm. "How about you? You haven't really said anything yet."

"I'd rather we focus on finding a way out of this before we choose to discuss things of that nature."

"Yeah, heh." Lonk gave a sigh. "I guess you're right."

"Strong, aren't they?" Dreamsy's voice flowed smooth again, as it did upon the first moments of the encounter. "They tried to seal me away, and while it ripped apart my body, they served only to bind me within the walls of their little trap: interwoven through their very walls. My energy flows freely between them, able to latch onto and harness any and all delusional energy, to manipulate as I see fit."

"Delusional energy?" Kurome felt that was an odd coincidence. "Not share energy?"

"I can only mold that which I'm made of." She twisted her other wrist, and spreading her fingers, they all got a front row seat to the shadows forming. There was a short burst, and floating just a little bit above the ground was one of the skeletons they'd been looking to deal with. "It took years, but after all the chaos Gamindustri has faced, I'd finally gathered enough power to manifest physical creations."

Someone sensible would have panicked, and while Uzi had that covered with her shrieks, Kurome instead focused on something else.

"Physical creations..." She eyed Dreamsy again, fully this time. "You said you were awaiting my rescue, but if you could make these things, why not just create a body and flee yourself?"

"I never had enough power..." A tiny, regretfully pleasant smile filled her features. "Until you came." She twirled the cartridge in her hand. "I felt your power the moment you stepped in, and even more when you took them. But when I tried to reach out to you, as my energy met with yours, the opposing powers clashed." She made a popping motion with her lips. "Like that, the influx of energy did something to the seal, and your body was split in two. I didn't understand it then... but I do now."

"What... what are you talking about?" Kurome regained that feeling again, only now the pain was so much she couldn't hide it away. The sweat rolled off every inch of skin, soaking the layers of thin clothes she wore and becoming irritating to the touch. She couldn't tell why, but she dreaded the next words to come out of Dreamsy's mouth, feeling deep in her own heart that whatever mentions were spoken...

They had to be true.

"A perfect being, especially a goddess, should have merely had her energy drained temporarily; as was the design of the relics altered to keep me sealed." Dreamsy looked at the thing shining darkly in her hand. "The pair were molded from their original purpose to instead drain energy, but it is only basic - being made by mortals and all, who barely understood what they rushed to construct. Due to this impossible foresight, they created a device designed solely to steal an even stream of energy. It couldn't tell the difference between share or delusion, only taking whatever power was weakest."

"Hey, crazy lady!" Linda's voice did something to Kurome, who'd become so overwhelmed with that lingering dread that her friend's shout whacked her right across the nose. Cautiously she looked towards her partner, and within Linda's eyes was a devious mix of both courage and annoyance. "What does all that nonsense have to do with Kurome? 'Cuz from back here, it's sounding like a heaping pile of bullshit."

L-Linda?

Just what the hell was happening here? Usually it was her to act as the sensible one: where did Linda suddenly swipe a pair? Speaking of, the cheeky gremlin actually put those stolen balls to use and sent her a grin.

"Don't fall for her trash." Linda's courage was... it was fake. Staring deeper now Kurome saw the cracks beneath the illusion. Her smirk was twitching; sweat rolled down her face as it had for everyone else; but most of all, Linda's eyes looked at her with two emotions. Kurome herself had emotion once... and then she'd lost it. But separated again after spending time as a whole had restored her sense of feeling, and even without Uzume around, Kurome knew what feelings were, better than most actually.

Linda wore a pair, both of which were so intertwined they'd essentially become one: courageous terror. Like a rubber prong, it would bend as it poked, but never for long as it could always bounce back, never to snap from anything but the absolute limits of the extreme. The girl was beyond horrified of everything happening, and yet she got off on calling the questionably divine wacko holding them hostage a liar.

Unfortunately, this did nothing to stop the false goddess, who carried on nonetheless; honestly, Kurome wished it had, especially for what came after.

"You don't seem to know when your opinion is desired, do you?" Dreamsy chose to breathe easy. "But that's fine: you don't know. Uzume knows though, so really, all you need do is look to her for this." Kurome could practically feel the center of focus as it stabbed her in the gut, but nevertheless Dreamsy spoke. "It, being so closely tied to me, allowed me to feel every twist of energy as you held it, and what dances it did. It struck fast at the weakest link, splitting both powersets in two, along the fragile bindings of opposing energy doing their best to hold you together."

Kurome didn't get it initially, but Dreamsy shot true on the next pull of the trigger.

"Being so improperly fused, it was no wonder you split in two again: your soul never did heal truly, not as one." Her smile was drenched in pity. "You'd merely tied yourself to her: the other one. Really, the seal itself just split the ties."

.

.

"Can you guys hear me?!"

"What the *cough* what the heck happened?!"

"Did we screw up?!"

"Huh?" Nepgear squinted her eyes, doing her best to make out the scene. "Why is it so dark?"

"I don't think it's dark." Blanc's narrowed vision wasn't quite adjusted to see through the shadowy display, but instead born of suspicions. "Total darkness would be black. This is all gray."

"And cloudy." Vert turned her face towards Croire. "Is the room smoky?"

"Third time's the charm, I guess." Croire sighed, waving her hand out. "Seeing as you can… well, see it, I was hoping we wouldn't have any stupid questions." Crossing her arms, the dark fairy huffed. "Any other wastes of breath you bimbos need to air out?"

Nobody said a thing - which was strange, seeing as Neptune was present. Actually, taking a gander at Neptune, one would notice that the Planeptune goddess wasn't exactly listening to anything. For once, she looked focused, in the way only she herself could be. Neptune, for as much as the author likes to poke fun at her, always had a soft spot for people at large, especially those who were tied up in the cruel web of fate. The other leaders of the world were much the same, but they never empathized and cared so deeply about their people as Neptune did.

The mother and the child, who's HDD reflected that in both body and soul.

"No?" Croire got back on track. "Well good. Now focus up dipshits: this is important."

"Someone get the fans on!"

"Already got it!"

All voices so far were a mix of masculine and feminine, but they all sounded relatively middle-aged.

"Dammit. I thought we had it too..." There was a hitch in the claim. "Wait, what's that?"

As the smoke was sucked from the air and vision was again granted to all: the observers were able to see the bundled of tangled shadows, who webbed themselves together in an almost grotesque mass just barely forming the shape of a person: as if one long snake had twisted in on itself endlessly to create a human body, with its head out of sight somewhere within.

Just then, a man plopped in, and above his head a small '-1' appeared briefly, before fading away.

"W-what the hell?!" The guy that suddenly appeared, who also sported a deeply trimmed mustache, sputtered. He froze for a moment, dropping the clip-board he was carrying.

"Ugh?!" Noire covered her mouth, almost backing away herself. "It's disgusting."

She wasn't wrong, but with Nepgear, Blanc, and Vert too preoccupied with observing the creature, and Neptune not saying much of anything, Noire just assumed it was the common outlook.

"What... where am I?"

"Hold on, that voice..." Nepgear's eyes widened. "Dreamsy?!"

"What did you just say?!" Noire shot a glance to Nepgear, who just stared at the mass of darkness. The goddess looked too, and then back to Nepgear, and back to it, before all the pieces seemingly clicked far too slowly for one who liked to think of herself as the most sensible in the bunch. "Wait, are you trying to tell us that thing is Dreamsy?!"

"Bingo!" Croire followed it up with a series of laughs, before settling back down. "Now watch."

"Do you... do you guys feel that?" Mister mustache tried with a voice full of trepidation. "It's..."

"Hey... hey!" The collection of darkness drew near, reaching out for the guy. "Can you tell me where I am?"

Its limb phased through the man, who gave a deep shiver. This appeared to stun the vile shadow they now recognised as Dreamsy, who backed away slowly.

"W-what?" She tried again, and the guy jumped back, sucking in deep breaths. "Why can't I-?"

"Something wrong man?" One of the others said, only for the freaked out guy to speak.

"Yeah... I-I think we did something bad. Like, really, really bad."

"Well duh." The other man sighed. "We failed again. Damn, and I thought share energy would be enough too..."

"That's not it." Sir mustache said, quickly letting his courage drip down the drain faster by the second. "Can't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"Over there." He pointed, and the other guy shrugged as he started forth.

"What, over here?" He said it so casually, so easily... until he came into contact with Dreamsy, who tried reaching out again. Like the one before him, he too hopped back. "Holy shit!" He too began to panic. "F-fuck man, that is bad."

"What are you talking about?" Dreamsy took another step. "Please, help me!"

"What the hell do we do? This is freaky."

"What are those idiots doing?!" Noire, who seemed to have lessened her disgust towards Dreamsy's current state, twitched with a frown. "Can't they tell she needs help?"

"Weren't you the one calling her an 'it' just moments ago?" Blanc chimed in, only for Noire to grumble.

"They can't hear her." It was Croire. "Hell, they can't even see her."

"I beg your pardon?" Vert inquired, and Croire rolled her eyes while waving her hand out.

"She's a being of pure delusional energy, and a weak one at that. The scarring ripped her from Heart Dimension and plopped her in this one: right at its source both in time and location. Sure, she survived, but any and all energy that wasn't actively contributing to the fueling of her soul was pretty much terminated."

"Then why can we see it?" Nepgear asked with a softer tone.

"Because you're goddesses, duh. You can see the souls of even the dead. Thing is though, you idiots tend to just ignore them; most human souls look no different than their living counterparts anyway, which is why Dreamsy looks so wild, you know, being a creature of pure delusional energy and all."

The group wasn't given much time to dwell before the men conversed again.

"Go regulate the flow of share energy."

"What?"

"You heard me." Mister mustache was getting serious it seemed. "Turn on the regulators."

"I don't see how-"

"JUST DO IT!"

"Okay okay!" The other guy backed down. "You don't have to shout."

As the guy ran away, one of the others from the back chose to chance a question; this time being a shorter woman.

"Why are we activating the regulators?"

"There's something wrong here, I can feel it." The man sounded calmer, apparently a little more relaxed with the 'regulators' soon to be switched on. "Whatever it is, I think it was lured in by all the share energy we produced. With any luck, this will keep whatever it is here."

"K-keep it here?" Dreamsy stilled in her darkness. "Wait... you... are you talking about me?!" She took a step back. "I-is it me?! Hey!" She took another forward, and then another, right up until she was in the quivering man's puffy face. "HEY! HEY! IS IT ME?! ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ME?! ANSWER ME!"

"What is that?!" The woman backed up this time, and then the man ahead, who was barely holding his own, spoke up.

"I-I don't know!" He grit his teeth. "Damnit! Isn't there anything we can do?"

"I may have something." The other woman, and last of the crew, chose then to toss in her two credits, and with much more reserved nerves than the rest. "All we're getting is a dark feeling, yes?"

"What gave it away, was it my panic?"

"I'll choose to ignore your sass." The woman took a step forward, shivering a little herself, but remaining stern. "Yes... it is quite dark."

"What do you have for us?" The guy started again, and the woman faced him.

"In Lowee, we tend to deal with spirits every now and then; dark entities included. And when we do, it's been proven that constructing a shrine is a good way to seal the monster."

"Seal the monster?" The man said.

"Seal the monster?!" Dreamsy reached out again, but besides a quick stutter in her breathing, the woman held no outward reaction as the shadow waved both hands within her. "I'm not a monster! I'M NOT A MONSTER!"

"O-okay." Mustache man nodded warily, and Dreamsy escalated in her desperation. "What do we do?"

"NO! NO, NO, NO; PLEASE NO!"

The group started to feel sorry at the sight, seeing Dreamsy cry so desperately at the pair.

"We can begin construction as soon as you wish, but it will take time." The woman reached into her coat, pulling out a stick of chalk. "For now, let's seal it to this space: we will construct the shrine here."

"NOOOOO!" Dreamsy cried, but the man just nodded.

"Alright."

And like that, the scene faded to white.

"That..." Vert let her shoulders go limp as she steadied herself. "How awful... to be sealed away without so much as a word, all based on your presence."

"Yeah..." Blanc's face fell into a hard glare, directed towards nobody but herself. "But... I think I know what this is."

"You do?"

Blanc nodded carefully.

"Yeah. Remember when I told you about the old man, the guy who supposedly made the shrines to seal away a great evil?"

"Oh heavens..." Vert understood now. "This is the story, isn't it?"

"Just as he told it." Blanc crossed her arms. "Meaning next we'll see them return later and trap her in a disk."

"Damn, you harlots really don't care about spoilers, do you?" Croire tossed in casually as everything returned, and they were greeted to the sight of the developers again...

As they stared at the being of blackest fire.

As that flame faded, there floated what looked like Dreamsy… only her skin was pale, and her eyes burned a deep deep orange.

"As you can see, she hasn't taken her entombment very well." Croire pointed out, and even though it was merely a memory, they could all feel the evil seeping from her pores.

Before anyone could act or speak, one of the four - a man garbed in dark blue, and who's blond hair was now spiked every which way - dashed forth. It was the carefree one from before, and the one who was yelled at to turn on the regulators. On his back was a giant sword... which he didn't touch at all.

Instead, he shot his hand forward, and out came a fireball which hit the unmoving target head on.

"Why didn't she dodge?" Nepgear wondered aloud, but that question didn't last long when she saw the multiple copies of a much more normal looking Dreamsy. They floated silently, all looking down and surrounding a disk, which sat between all three.

"Got her!" He slowed his run, standing before the disk and taking it, all the while seemingly blind to the three before him.

"It... it actually worked?" The shorter woman from the furthest back tried, and the man walked over to the group.

"Yeah... but damn: I can still feel the darkness."

"It is quite potent." The taller, more monotone lady spoke. "We'll need to interlock it if we wish to keep it constrained.

"How do we do that?" Mustache man was here this time too, but he wasn't dressed in a lab coat like before. Rather, a set of red and brown overalls made up his attire. The woman pointed to what looked like a pair of game cartridges over in the distance. One was bright red, just as Uzume's was...

And the other was a dark vile blue.

"You can see her evil infecting everything, so we'll need to act fast." She looked at the blond spikey haired guy. "We'll build another shrine, deep below this one. It'll host our enemy herself. From then, we'll spread out, crafting shrines in all the nations to act as locks. We'll also need to alter the pair; this isn't about game connection anymore, so we might be able to change the prototypes to keep her restrained… at least for long enough to complete the other shrines."

"What will that do?" The timid woman asked, and so Miss fearless herself elaborated.

"If we just try to seal the power, this... monster will simply eat through the share energy of the shrine and escape. We'll use the disk as a temporary prison until we construct the shrines. Along with the twin cartridges, they'll siphon small bits of natural share energy from each nation, powering the shrine's sealing power itself to keep the beast contained."

"Will that even work?" Mustache asked, and the woman actually showed a bit of emotion this time... with a scoff.

"Of course it will: I've done this time and time again for much weaker problems. Yes, this is much worse, but it's no different than before."

"I..." He sighed. "Okay, we'll go for it; not like we have much of a choice in this anyways."

This all should have been heroic: four champions sealing away a beast. But with the context of it all, it seemed all the more tragic. Soon though, the idea of tragedy evolved into horror, as one of the three Dreamsys floated over, and her voice seemed to radiate from all directions.

"You'll never hold me..." She sounded both sad and furious, but soon enough, there was a deeper disturbance to join that pair of tones... one that was indescribable. "But I don't hate you... no. It's not your fault. Uzume wouldn't hate you, she'd understand, and so will I. Uzume... Dreamsy seemingly looked in on herself, clenching all her bodies tightly together. "You'll save me... I know you will."

"Heh." Croire's chuckle was anything but welcoming. "She did alright, but it was far too late."

"Croire..." Neptune... she didn't sound like herself: her words weren't playful or witty no matter how you looked at it. "What happened?"

"Simple: Dreamsy saw everything."

"What do you mean?" It was... raspy; everyone could see Neptune wasn't having a good time.

"I thought the extreme amounts of undead would be a good enough sign, but if you really need a direct explanation..." Croire smiled. "She saw everything Gamindustri has ever done: all the chaos, and all the battles. The Deity of Sin, the Gold Third, and yes... even the portions of Uzume's little spat with herself - at least the portion that went down in Hyper Dimension anyway." Shaking her head, the interdimensional archivist continued. "Thing is, she's learned that you all respond to trouble, and she's been growing her power from every crisis you've ever faced. After all, delusional energy forms naturally as a counter of share energy, even if its never used."

"And after all the battles we've faced, there's certain to be an abundance." Vert was right on the money, and Croire smirked.

"You got it, milk jugs." Resting her hands behind her head, the dark fairy kept spilling her stuff. "With so much chaos at every beck and call, her powers quickly outpaced the shrine's weakening effect, so much so she'd shattered that aspect of them after your first bout with the Deity of Sin."

"So she was free?" Noire asked, only to be shot down.

"If it were that easy, we wouldn't be here. She destroyed that part, sure, but she still didn't have enough power to escape. Like it or not, she was locked there until she could muster that strength. Being a creature born from the delusional extract of a goddess meant that it was a tough order to fill. She could only escape if she had a body again, because even if she stopped the weakening effects of the shrines, she couldn't exactly leave them. They couldn't stop share energy anymore, yeah, but they still clung to any and all loose souls surrounding them, regardless of moral or physical alignment."

"Why would they do that?" Blanc found herself at a loss. "Wouldn't that mean they'd trap innocent souls too?"

"They do." Croire twisted a crooked grin. "Why do you think so many monsters end up gathered around them?" She kicked her legs playfully in a smooth rhythm. "Without a body, and so full of resentment, the lost souls forge bodies from their own malice."

"You mean… the monsters surrounding shrines are human souls?!" Noire nearly fell over, and Croire shrugged.

"Hey, if it's any consolation prize: when a monster dies, the energy that made up their body and soul returns to its base state and slithers away, able to form a new soul again later outside of the shrine's reach."

It wasn't much of a relief, but it was better than nothing.

"What changed?" Apparently, it was Vert who took charge to keep things rolling.

"Simple." Croire cupped her cheeks. "Uzume found the shrine, and upon tampering with it like an idiot, provided the perfect amount of energy to change things."

"What... does that mean?" Nepgear tried warily.

"It means Dreamsy's resurrection is at hand..." Croire clapped her hands. "And guess who's the first person on her mind?"

"Uzume!"

It was Neptune who shouted, standing there in all her HDD glory. Croire merely tilted her head as everyone recoiled from the sudden shift of appearance. With a smirk, the record keeper asked

"Think you can get to her first?"

Neptune floated there, shutting her eyes, but nevertheless choosing to speak.

"Hopefully, I won't have to."

"Do you honestly believe Dreamsy has kept her sanity after all these years?"

Neptune spared no time in delivering her answer.

"If she loves Uzume enough to keep on fighting, then yes, I believe she did."

Croire just chuckled, falling back on the pages of the book she hovered atop.

"Suit yourself. Oh yeah, and just so you know..." The dark one leaned up. "She's been feeding on everyone who's been mucking around in the shrines. She has full control over them at this point, and seeing as you lot have been speaking of carvings, I'd wager she set them up herself to keep you suckers coming back. Right now, she's definitely powerful enough to create a new body."

This time, it was Neptune's turn to smile.

"Good. We can greet each other face to face."

Shaking her head with a sigh, Croire whisked away the scene, and they were all back in Planeptower, right as they'd left it.

"Fine, do whatever you want." She then hissed under her breath. "It's not like I busted my ass for you wenches or anything to give you that stupid warning."

Croire was then pulled surprisingly into a soft hug... smothered right in Purple Heart's chest.

"I mean this from the bottom of my heart, Croire: thank you."

"G-get your hands off me, bitch!"

Never a normal thanks from Croire, but honestly, they'd have it no other way.

Author's note

...

A long one this time.

I won't lie, I still don't feel up to writing, but it was either force it all out, or split the chapter into two smaller ones, and to me, that last option didn't really feel fair. So here we are, with most of the stakes set: all of which hinge on Dreamsy's potential insanity.

Is she crazy, is she not? Who can say?

All that matters now is how Kurome reacts, and what Dreamsy does; seems she knows there are two 'Uzume' running about - wonder what that means?

Anyway, catch you next time.