This is Part 2 of a two-parter set of chapters, Chapter 14 being Part 1. Please read Chapter 14 before you read this chapter.

Chapter 15: Venus? Or Nepgear?

Asking around, Uni found out she had made it to the elevator, and had already left the Lastation Basilicom. After getting an idea of the general direction the Candidate ran off from the front desk, Uni began to track her down.

It took almost an hour, but Uni found her. Venus was sitting on a bench alone in the park, quietly sobbing.

Uni really didn't want to approach her. She was scared that Venus would hate her for what she said to her. But, she knew she owed it to everyone, especially Neptune AND Nepgear to try. And... she felt that she also owed it to herself...

So, Uni approached. Venus noticed and looked up at the young tsundere.

"H-hey, Venus..." Uni said meekly.

"You were right, Uni..." Venus said while sobbing. "I-I am just a replacement for Nepgear."

"I'm sorry... I... shouldn't have said that," Uni told Venus, though she didn't know if she meant it. Not yet. But she knew it was wrong to say...

"YOU WERE RIGHT!" Venus shouted back. "I'm... just here to be the n-new Nepgear. And I'm a b-bad Nepgear... And I hate it!"

"...What?" Now Uni was confused. Was she upset at what Uni said, or was it something else? "Did you not... want to be Nepgear's, um... successor... or something?"

"No... but everyone else does!"

"I don't under- What are you saying!?"

Venus tried wiping the tears from her face, only for more to come. "Flan said I wasn't as smart as Nepgear, that Neptune got me as a worse sister. Rom and Ram said I wasn't as fun as Nepgear was. Vert tried to treat me like her little sister, like how she did to Nepgear. Histoire told me I have to be as good as a Candidate as Nepgear was. And even big sis... Somehow I remind her of Nepgear... I know she does, and it makes her really sad!"

Uni thought back to Neptune's earlier slip-up. It made her annoyed, thinking Venus really was going to replace Nepgear, but Venus herself... "I... didn't know..." Uni replied. Thinking about it, she wasn't really paying attention at the time, but nobody else seemed to disagree with Uni when she berated Venus.

"Everyone... everyone keeps comparing me to Nepgear!" Venus shouted. "Like I need to be like her to make them happy! But I don't want to be like Nepgear... I don't want to... Nepgear is gone now, so... I was born to take her place. So you were right, Uni. ...And I'm not even good at being that..."

At this point, everything Uni thought about Venus, everything she knew about her, was shattered. The moment Uni saw Venus, she felt that it was the ultimate sign that everyone didn't care about Nepgear anymore, now that Venus was there to take the previous Candidate's place. And she immediately dismissed her... hated her because of this assumption.

But none of them really forgot about Nepgear. Instead, they seemingly kept expecting Venus to fill that void. Completely. But she couldn't do that, so these expectations were hurting her.

"You know, big sis tried calling us the 'Nepsisters' once," Venus continued, "b-but then she took it back. Why? Was it because my name doesn't start with 'Nep' like her and Nepgear? C-can't I just be a 'Nepsister' simply because I'm Neptune's sister? I want to be a Nepsister, too!"

"Venus, I-" Uni started, but she couldn't form the words.

"You're big sis... she told me that I should be the best little sister I could," Venus continued, still crying, "and I want to be a good sister, but... do I have to become Nepgear to do that?"

That finally got Uni to snap, realizing what she needed to say. "H*** no!"

"Huh?" Venus exclaimed confused.

"You're not Nepgear, you're Venus!" Uni finally explained, putting the words together. "And I'm pretty sure- no, I KNOW Neptune loves you! I mean, you're such a.. a... a lovable idiot! How could she not love you!?"

"Are... are you sure?"

"Of course, I know Neptune would do anything to help anyone! Especially her sisters! You two... you two are Nepsisters. I will not deny that! Ever!"

Venus began to wipe her tears. "You really think so?"

"I do," Uni replied. Then she looked down. "Venus, I have to tell you, I'm... I'm sorry, okay! I was... angry. Angry because we couldn't find Nepgear, angry that everyone gave up! I wasn't ready to give up, so I thought they were against me. And I HATED them for it! I even hated my own sister! And when you were born, I thought that meant everyone was just going to move on, because 'now that you were here, we don't need Nepgear'. So I hated you too, and I took all of my anger out on you! I couldn't... I DIDN'T know what you were going through! And I'm an awful person for even THINKING that you wanted part of any of this!"

Venus could only stare, as now Uni was the one crying. If she knew anything, she didn't like seeing this. She leaned over and hugged Uni. "Please don't cry. I hate it when people cry."

Uni sniffled and wiped her tears away. "Wha- I- You're... you're really going to forgive me?"

"Of course. I just want everyone to be happy," Venus explained. "I don't want to be anyone else, I just want to be their friend."

Uni took a shaky breath. "Before we lost Nepgear, I used to look up to my sister. Heck, I wanted to be exactly like her. And all the other Candidates think the same way, we all look up to our big sisters, even... even Nepgear. So, it's hard for me to believe that there would be a Candidate that just... wanted to be herself."

"...But how could I look up to Nepgear. I don't even know anything about her!"

"What is that... supposed to mean?"

"No one has told me why Nepgear is so important. Nora told me not to worry about it, but... everyone keeps saying things about her."

"Seriously!" Uni exclaimed. "I mean, I know you never got to meet her, so I guess you'd want to look up to Neptune, if anything. But you're telling me that everyone is holding you up to Nepgear's standards, comparing you to her, and yet they never told you ANYTHING about her, not even your big sister!?"

"I heard that she was smart," Venus explained, "and that she was friends with everyone, and that my bis sis loved her. And she made a weird robot for Flan."

"You really got to learn how to say Blanc's name properly," Uni whispered to herself, before telling Venus, "that's just stupid, they expect you to be like Nepgear, but they won't even tell you what she was like!?"

Venus sighed. "I really wish I could meet her... I just want to know more about her."

Uni paused. Looks like it was up to her. "Nepgear... she was smart. Extremely smart. And she was kind and genuine. I don't think she said anything bad about anyone, not without reason at least. She was the kind of person that, if she wanted to be your friend, she'd do whatever it took to become that friend. And she was super likable, too. Hm, now that I think about it, Neptune is very similar, just a little more annoying. You know what I'm saying?"

Venus realized that Uni was telling her about Nepgear. This was what she wanted to know. So she tried to listen closer.

"Oh, and Nepgear loved technology, especially robots," Uni continued. "She loved tinkering with all sorts of stuff, and she carried around these little gadgets where ever she went. She even made a giant robot that... kind of looked like her, I guess." Uni wasn't sure how to describe Nepgear's Nepgeardam robot. "But, I think the most important thing is that she embodied what Planeptune is about. It's... it's not just the Land of Purple Progress, it's a place where friendships are made."

"A place... where friends are made?" Venus asked.

"Yeah, both Nepgear and Neptune made friends wherever they went, and whenever someone was in trouble, they would be there to help. Even when we didn't want it. And... I think you probably would want the same, if everyone would just... give you a chance... to be you," Uni took another deep breath, before asking, "Hey, Venus... c-can we start over?"

"Huh... what do you mean?" Venus asked.

"I... I want to get to know who you are. I don't want the bias I had when I first met you, and to just forget ever that happened with us before. So can we try again?"

"Oh... yeah, sure!"

"Thank you." And Uni held out her hand to Venus. "I'm Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation. Pleased to meet you!"

"Oh, uh, my name's Venus," she replied, grasping Uni's hand and giving it a good shake. "I'm the new Candidate of Planeptune! It's nice to meet you!"

"Same. Want to be friends?"

"Of course!"

"Awesome!" The Uni thought of something, and got up. "Come on, we should head back. I need your help with something."

"Yeah! What do you want me to help with!?" Venus replied.

"I need you to tell everyone something. Something very important."

The party had gotten awkward. The mood was ruined, most of the guests have left, and those that remained were now speaking in hushed tones.

Blanc, the twins, and Vert had decided to remain quiet. Neptune had found a table to sit by herself, Noire could tell she was trying her best not to cry.

Noire and Histoire were standing to the side.

The black CPU sighed. "Well, this celebration is a failure."

"I'm sorry, Noire," Histoire replied.

"It's okay. Though, I am concerned that what Uni did and said will be a bad look on the nation. Over what to my people might seem like a petty feud."

"Most certainly. But what about Uni herself? You talked to her right?"

Noire was silent. She didn't feel like it was her place to tell the fairy that her sister liked Nepgear.

"I think she understands what she did wrong," Noire decided to say. "She went to find and apologize to Venus."

"A-are you sure that Uni-" Histoire started.

"I understand your concern, but she's my sister, I trust her," Noire interrupted.

"Could you tell me what exactly you said to her?"

"...Sorry, it's a private family matter," Noire replied. "But... she's still feeling frustrated about Nepgear's disappearance, and wasn't taking the change well. I just wish I realized earlier." That last part wasn't a lie, at least.

"I just hope this doesn't give Venus a bad view of Nepgear," Histoire said. "Nepgear could be a good role model, you know."

"Uh, yeah." Noire didn't disagree, Nepgear was a good, hard-working Candidate. But something about that just didn't sit well with her.

Little did she know, she was about to get an answer as to why.

Just then, the Noire's party greeter called out, "excuse me, could I have your attention?"

This was odd. No more guests were coming, and he wasn't obligated to call out people's arrival if they came back, only quietly seeing them off when they left.

Looking over... oh, thank goodness, both Uni and Venus had come back, and while there were signs of crying on both their faces, they seemed pretty chummy.

Uni spoke up, "hey! Is everyone listening, especially our guests from the other nations!?"

Noire knew Uni was calling out the other CPUs, as well as Histoire. There were no elite guests from other nationalities, given they had no business celebrating a nation that was not their own.

"What is this about?" Histoire asked.

"This better not be another tirade from you!" Blanc shouted.

"Absolutely not, I assure you," Uni replied back. "But you are REALLY going to want to hear this. After all, Venus has something important to say."

Neptune seemed to gain interest in this. This was her sister after all, and she was very upset earlier.

Noire asked, "Uni, what is this about?" She wasn't sure if this was good or bad. She really hoped that whatever this was, it meant they mended things, and Venus was being treated better.

"You'll see, don't worry," Uni replied. "Venus?"

The Planeptune Candidate stepped forward, and shouted, "I am Venus, the CPU Candidate of Planeptune!"

Everyone was stunned. All of this... to introduce herself?

"We know," Ram finally said.

"No you don't!" Venus shot back. "I like cookies, and fighting monsters, and playing games with big sis and Nora!"

Ram shrunk back at this, and Blanc had a "what the f***" look on her face.

"Yeah, and I'm really strong, and I love my big sis very, very much!"

"...That's really nice," Vert said.

Some of the other guests tried to say something, not sure what was going on, but Blanc jumped in, shouting, "What are you doing, you d*** idiot!? Do you think-"

"I am an idiot!" Venus interrupted and exclaimed, proudly, which sent another wave of shock among everyone, because who is proud of that? Even Blanc had to stand down after her verbal counter. "But I'm a lovable idiot!" Venus continued. "That's what Uni said. And all I want is, uh..." Venus didn't know what to say next.

"You want to make people happy, and befriend them," Uni whispered to Venus.

"I want to make people happy, and befriend them!" Venus proclaimed. "And I'm going to do that by being myself!"

Histoire spoke up. "That's... great and all, but what are you expecting to happen by telling us all this."

"Well... uh, you're the one expecting things!" Venus shot back.

"Um... well, I do expect you to be a responsible CPU Candidate, but I don't understand what you mean by that."

"Well, everyone expecting things of me!" Venus then pointed over to the other CPUs. "They all want me to be Nepgear!"

"Wait, what?" Noire responded. Even Neptune seemed confused.

Before anyone could say anything more, Venus pointed to Blanc. "Flan wants me to be as smart as Nepgear, or else I can't be a good sister."

"I never said that!" Blanc retorted.

"You did!"

"I said that Planeptune would be better off with a different Candidate, nothing about Nepgear herself!"

"You said what!?" Historie exclaimed. Was that why Venus never wanted to go back to Lowee. What a horrible thing to say!

Before Histoire could even think about lecturing Blanc, Venus then pointed to the twins. "Rom and Ram want me to be fun like Nepgear, and I don't know how they want me to be like that!" And then to Vert. "And you tried to suffer-cake me, so I would be your sister. I don't want anyone else to be my sister, except for Nora."

Vert was very distraught upon hearing this. Noire had a better chance to be sisters with Venus than her? What did Noire have that she didn't.

Histoire was fuming. Did they all really have these expectations for Venus? She understood that they still must've missed Nepgear, but expecting a new Candidate to fill the void-

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Venus... who had pointed at her next.

"And you, Histy, you want me to be the same kind of Candidate Nepgear was," Venus told her. "But I'm not as smart as her, and I don't know who she is. I don't know how she learned things, okay! And you're being too hard on me!"

"...A good role model," Noire commented, a hint of anger in her voice.

"Listen, I want to be friends with you, but I do not want to become Nepgear to do that! I just want to have fun and... be Venus! And I'll be a good, no, a great Nepsister on top of that!"

Venus had gotten herself quite riled up in her big speech, and was now catching her breath.

The goddesses were dumbfounded, unsure of how to respond. But one of the other guests spoke up, "so, is the party over?"

"Yes," Noire quickly said. "I'm sorry, this is not how I was expecting things to go, but I have to talk with my fellow goddesses, and Histoire." And she glared at said goddesses and tome.

As people began to shift outside, Neptune came up to Venus and Uni.

"Hey... Venus, did I... do something bad to you, too?" she asked her sister.

"Uh..." Venus didn't know how to respond.

"I... maybe we should go home now," Neptune said.

"Neptune," Noire called out, "are you sure you can't stay?"

"I just... have something important to do with my sister."

Noire didn't know what that meant, but, "okay. Maybe it's better if you're not here for this next part. Please, treat your sister well."

"Yeah..."

"Hey Venus," Uni said. "I'll see you later. I promise."

"Promise?" Venus replied.

"Yeah. I can't leave my friend hanging, can I?"

Venus smiled, and even teared up a bit, and then she pulled Uni into a hug.

"Oh- okay, you can let go- now," Uni said, feeling crushed.

As Venus let go, Neptune told Uni, "Yep, that's Venus's friendship hug!"

"Noted."

Noire couldn't help but stare as the Planeptune CPUs left with the rest of her guests. She felt bad for them. But once they were gone, Noire turned back to those that remained.

"Um, so, Noire, if I may..." Histoire started.

"No, you may not," Noire harshly said. "Go join them." And she pointed to the other CPUs.

Histoire hung her head low, and flew by Vert.

Uni came up by her sister. "So..."

"Okay, explain to me why you felt the need to treat Venus like a replacement for Nepgear."

"Well, you see, I..." Vert tried to say, but she couldn't come up with anything.

"She's boring!" Ram shot back.

"Um, Ram..." Rom tried to speak up.

"So, what?" Noire countered. "Doesn't mean it's okay to make Venus feel like she can't live up to someone she doesn't even know! Why not find other ways to have fun with her. She said she likes fighting monsters, right? So, perhaps a fun type of duel. Did you try a snowball fight when she was in Lowee?"

"We did... but it went kind of wrong," Rom replied.

"Noire, please, I think if we just ask Venus to consider the values Nepgear had, maybe it'd be better," Histoire spoke up.

"Then why didn't you tell her about those values," Uni jumped in. "I was the one who had to tell her who Nepgear even was. Until then, all she really knew was that she was smart and friendly. That barely scratched the surface of Nepgear!"

"Why didn't YOU do it before now? Or Noire, or heck, even Neptune!?" Blanc countered.

"I don't know, maybe it's because it's a hard subject to talk about! Especially for Neptune. And I had to be the one to hear her out. She'd love to meet Nepgear, but she hates feeling like she's being compared to her!"

Noire listened to this, and added her two cents. "Look, I've been there for Venus since day one. And do you know what I'VE told Venus? That she shouldn't worry about what happened to Nepgear, And that she should just be the best little sister she could be. And over time, I've gained her trust. That's why she's willing to call me 'second big sis'. But you... you all clearly expect her to live up to Nepgear's standards, when that is too much for her!"

Noire then directed her attention to Histoire. "Especially you, Histoire. I'm guessing that you agree that what's going on is not good, and yet... you are still part of the problem. I thought you and I were on the same page, but apparently, you also were expecting more of Venus than she could understand, only adding fuel to the fire. You said Nepgear should be a role model, but it looks like that ship has sailed. I mean, I knew Venus had problems with the other goddesses, I was there when she got upset with Vert being too lovey-dovey! But it looks like the crux of this problem was Nepgear herself!"

Vert didn't have much to say before, but now she shrunk away. At this point, she was starting to feel awful about this whole thing.

"I'm not going to defend my behavior earlier, but need to say this, perhaps Venus was only able to contextualize how felt when I berated her," Uni added. "So why, Histoire, didn't you try to talk to her about her problems, instead of putting unrealistic expectations on her?"

Historie was defeated. She heard about the issue with Vert. She heard Venus say that she didn't want to go back to Lowee. And yet, she did nothing about it.

"Okay, you know what!" Blanc shouted, "to me, this isn't about what Venus thinks of Nepgear, it's about the fact that she isn't as capable. I thought Planeptune would be fine under Nepgear, but now, instead, we have a Candidate even worse than Neptune! And okay, maybe I used Nepgear as a comparison, but that doesn't matter. Venus is an incapable moron who can't do anything!"

"Blanc!" Histoire responded in shock and anger.

"I thought you didn't care about Planeptune?" Noire shot back.

"Okay, maybe I care a little bit. But be honest with me. Venus can't pronounce either of our names right, she keeps confusing my sisters, and beyond names, she's oblivious as f***, and she doesn't show any signs of anything special. I'm not saying she needs to make robots, or know how to put guns together, but something that shows how she'd contribute to her nation!" She turned to Histoire. "You agree, right!?"

"I, uh, you've made some good points... but, I uh..." Histoire sounded.

"Hey, don't try to get everyone to agree with this!" Uni shot back. "What are you even thinking! I made the mistake of not even bothering to know her, so maybe you should-"

"Oh, screw you!" Blanc interjected. "You haven't even been her friend for more than five minutes! You know what, we're leaving!" And she grabbed her sister's and left.

"The h*** is her problem," Uni said once she was gone.

"...I should leave, too," Vert said, and walked out, followed by Histoire, who was ashamed and didn't have anything to say.

Uni sat down, and her expression fell. "Noire, I'm sorry for ruining the celebration."

"Uni, it's okay. This was not the first Lastation Founder's Day, nor will it be the last," Noire said. "But with all those guests present, you know what you did and said is going to spread, and possibly cause rumors. That could really hurt our Shares. So I expect you to address the nation to apologize for that outburst and for causing such a large argument as a result. You aren't going ANYWHERE until you do that!"

"I know..."

"Listen, for all intents and purposes, I am proud of you. I mean, what you did was not okay, but as far as I can tell, this needed to happen. Venus really needed this chance to vent her frustrations, and you gave her that chance, and became a friend she desperately needed as well. I knew everyone had trouble getting along with Venus, but I didn't know it was this bad, and quite frankly, I am appalled."

"You should be appalled at me. I feel so bad, I took my anger out on Venus for something she didn't even want!"

Noire sighed. "I was appalled, but you stepped up, and made it right. Besides, I didn't even know how much you really cared about Nepgear. I can't even fathom how you feel..."

"...I'm not going to be allowed to go out searching again, am I?" Uni solemnly asked.

Noire sat down next to Uni, and put her arm around to comfort her little sister. "I'm not going to tell you what to do. To be honest, this whole time, I do feel like we've set Neptune up to feel that she is forever alone now, with no one there to help her. It's none of our faults that Nepgear disappeared, but there is nothing we can do about it anymore."

Noire continued, "but please, think about this, if Neptune kept looking, but never found her sister, then what would happen to her? It might take a while, but she'd lose heart, stop on her own, and well... she'd still end up depressed. Or she'll never stop, and that'll probably drive her insane, which could hurt her and her nation. Both options are horrible, but depression does sound like the lesser of two evils, if you ask me."

"I... didn't think about that," Uni replied, "maybe I went crazy. Or I'm starting to."

"Besides getting angry, I don't think so, but it is likely to happen. And it was inevitable with Neptune. I just want you to think about that. And hey, you know I am trying my d***edest to help Neptune out of this. I visit her often, and this is why I try to help out Venus as much as possible."

"...So what do I do now?"

"Beyond your apology, I don't know... But I think you should at least take a break. You promised to see Venus, right? Focus on that. You really pushed for Venus to be herself, so help her with that and get to know her. Become the friend she REALLY needs."

"Yeah, I can't do that."

Noire then hugged Uni. "I can't say this enough, but I love you. And I'm sorry things happened as they did. I wish I could undo all this, and fix everything."

"You doing your best..." Uni said, tears in her eyes. "I just wished I realized that earlier."

"I know..."

The flight home was quiet. Venus had grabbed her normal clothes before they left, but Neptune didn't give her the chance to change back. She just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Venus didn't know what to say. With Uni's help, Venus was able to say exactly what she wanted everyone to know, but she didn't know how to address her sister. She didn't think Neptune really did anything wrong, or at least, she didn't know exactly what she did wrong. Uni couldn't come up with anything either.

Neptune, now Purple Heart, however, her mind was running wild. She was trying to think about what she wanted to say, and was merely waiting for their return home, so she could say it in private with her sister.

She knew they'd be alone. Histoire was asked to stay behind, and it would take a while for her to catch up. She just wanted this to be between her and her sister.

Soon, they arrived at the Planeptune Tower, landing on the balcony. Once they were inside, Venus began to remove the flower in her hair, undoing her braid.

Purple Heart turned back into Neptune, and said, "Venus, I want to know... do you think that I want you to be Nepgear?"

Venus looked over, tears forming in her eyes. "I... I think I remind you of her... and, I think it makes you sad, but... I don't know."

"...You think that I'm sad because of you?"

"No, I-I... I don't know! I don't know!" Venus cried.

"Venus, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to accuse you of that." Neptune, trying not to cry herself, approached her sister. "It's just... Venus, you're my sister! And I love you! I've always loved you, just as you are! I love Nepgear, too, but for different reasons. I..."

Neptune held back a sniffle as she tried to meet her sister's eyes. "I've been having that dreams, Venus. Terrible dreams, nightmares, even. Ever since Nepgear disappeared, I keep having dreams about her, where she berates me, for abandoning her, for forgetting about her... A-and when you were born, they only started getting worse! Now, both you and her are there, and you two are fighting. And sometimes, she's just trying to straight up kill you. And... and it- it feels like I have to pick between you two!"

Venus looked down. "B-but why?"

"I-I don't know! My dreams just keep telling me that I can only have you, or Nepgear," Neptune explained. "...Not that it's much of a choice. Nepgear's already gone..."

"But why!?" Venus repeated. "Why can't you have both of us!? I want to be sisters with sis-gear, too!?"

"Sis-gear", huh? That was a really cute nickname. Neptune wished she could've used it before. But the rest of what Venus said confused Neptune. "I thought you hated Nepgear..."

"I hate being expected to BE Nepgear. I want to be myself! But I also REALLY want to meet her, too!" Venus replied.

"You... do...?"

"Of course. I want to be sisters with both of you! To be Nepsisters!"

"...You mentioned that before we left," Neptune noted.

"You said we were Nepsisters before," Venus explained. "But you took it back! But I... I really want to be a Nepsister. Why can't I? Is it because my name doesn't start with 'Nep'!?"

"N-no- yes- no- I don't-" Neptune stomped her foot in frustration. Venus was starting to get upset herself, though, and Neptune noticed. "I'm sorry, I just don't know what to think anymore!"

"Neptune, are you sad?"

Neptune was silent.

Venus spoke louder, "Big sis, if you're sad, tell me! I want you to be happy. So... so... so... if you're sad, then be sad with me! So I can make you REALLY happy!"

Neptune looked up at her sister. Was... this her way of saying that she shouldn't...

Neptune remained silent for a while. For so long, she just wanted to hold back her feelings, and forget all of the painful memories and frustration. But she never could...

But looking up at Venus, with her pleading eyes... She realized that she was wrong. Pushing everything, everyone away... it was hurting her, and it was hurting everyone else. Especially her sister.

So, for the first time in almost a year and a half, Neptune let herself cry. Not just failed to keep her tears in, but purposely let it all out, clutching her sister hard as she buried her face into Venus's small chest and loudly sobbed.

"I MISS HER SO MU-U-UCH!" Neptune cried. "I MISS HER, SIS! I-I WANT MY SISTER BACK! I WANT NEPGEAR BACK! I WANT MY FAMILY TO BE WH-WH-WHOLE! AND I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! WAH-HAH-HAH..."

And Venus's response? She just wrapped her hands around Neptune, rested her head on top of Neptune's, and comforted her big sister.

And they remained like this for the next several minutes, while Neptune's tearful cries could be heard throughout the whole floor, although it was empty, save for the two of them, echoing through the dark.

When Neptune started to calm down (but not completely stop the waterworks), Venus pulled back and said, "if you're ever feeling really sad, then please, come to me. Let me make you feel better."

"Th-thank you... you're the best Nepsister ever, Venus," Neptune told her. And she meant it.

"R-really?" Venus beamed.

"Of course. V-Venus..." Neptune confirmed. "You know... I never once thought you were here to replace Nepgear... but I never really thought to ask why you were born. But now that I see you, so much more clearly..." Neptune smiled happily at her sister, blinking the tears out of her eyes. "I think you're here to help us. We all need someone to help us feel better. We all miss Nepgear, we're all sad because of it, and now you're here to help us through it all!"

Venus sniffled. She was starting to cry herself. "I'll help you all you want. I'll make everyone happy!"

"I know you will... I know you will..."

Author's Note: They say that the goddesses are born of faith and wishes. The people of Planeptune could see the sadness that their goddess, Purple Heart, was feeling, due to her sister's disappearance. And deep down, they wanted someone to help her, to help her not feel alone anymore.

Venus's birth was no accident. She's not here to fill the void of Nepgear, she's here to heal the rift.

So, Venus' problem was not that she was feeling pressured to live up to Nepgear's standards, her problem was that she felt she HAD to, and that she couldn't be herself. Uni let her feelings for Nepgear cloud her judgment, and as a result, she pushed everyone away, including her own sister, and especially the new Candidate. And Neptune had tried so hard to bottle up her feelings, and forget about everything, but she couldn't forget, and was lost in a war of the mind, over which sister she wanted.

But now the quartet is healing. Venus was able to put her foot down, and establish who she is, and she also has the friend she so desperately needed. Both Uni and Neptune have their chance to open up, and let their emotions pour out. And both pairs of sisters are able to mend things between each other.

So that's it, right? That's the B plot. Venus needed her chance to grow, and Uni needed to get over her denial. Well, yes, I said this chapter would be the end to the B plot, and that is... mostly true. But there are a few more things I need to address.

First of all, Blanc. When it comes to the characters who had real issues, UNI is the important one, not Blanc. To explain, I'm going to first say that their issues with Venus are not on the same grounds.

As I said, Uni let her feelings for Nepgear cloud her judgment, and she immediately assumed Venus was, effectively, the bad guy. In short, she never even bothered to get to know the new Candidate. Blanc, on the other hand, did get to know her a bit. Her opinion of Venus is solely based on her first impression of her. Sure, it was probably not enough, and Blanc needs to cool it, and learn more about Venus, but she does have an understanding of who Venus is. Like Blanc said, for her, it wasn't about Nepgear herself.

So, is this important to the story going forward? Of course it is, Blanc's hatred towards Venus is very important. But it's not going to be as big a deal as Uni was. It's not big enough of a deal to be the continuation of the B plot, or even for it to be its own C plot. It's eventually going to meld into the A plot, but I will say this, it won't be for Blanc's dislike of Venus, but Blanc's current mindset.

Also, Rom and Ram will have their role to play, too, however minor. You're just going to have to wait and see.

And now for the second thing, the aftermath of the B plot. Yes, Venus and Uni are friends now, and Neptune and Uni have opened up to their respective sisters. But one chapter isn't going to be enough to really establish all of these new relationships!

The next couple of chapters are going to be revolving around our main quartet here, along with some other characters. Besides, we probably want a breather before we jump back into the A plot, right?

Trust me, once we get back into the A plot, the gears are going to start turning, and they'll be turning hard! Steamax is still out there, getting closer and closer to possibly getting Uni's answer. Those unknown robots are still at large, and the threat of Parallax looms. And let's not forget that Venus still has yet to obtain her HDD. From this point, there won't be a break in the action until the end. So you're going to want this last breather.

How many chapters until we jump into the A plot? Honestly, I don't know yet. I have two or three breather chapters planned, a few of them small, and I want to try to come up with a couple more. But I don't want to make too many, as well.

Now, something I just thought of as I was writing this author's note. I never considered this, much less planned for it, but I never thought about the stages of grief when writing this. But now that I think about it, Neptune has gone through them. Those first three months she searched for Nepgear, she was in denial. She was briefly angry with the goddesses, Stage Two. And the following year, Neptune was back and forth with both Bargaining and Depression.

And thanks to Venus' help, Neptune is now approaching Acceptance. It won't be a quick journey, but she now getting the support she really needs.

So, now going to end with something kind of funny, kind of related to this story, kind of not. So, I have been preparing a new story in the Zelda world (it's part of the reason my story "Sapphire the Hedgehog" is on hiatus. I needed the break to try something new). I'm working on the first three chapters, as I do with every new story (in fact, I should be ready to release this around the time I make the next chapter of this story), but I also need to make Cover Art, since I make my own Cover Arts for my stories.

Well, I was gathering the reference images for the sketches, and one of the characters I was going to draw, since she'll be a part of the story... I don't want to say who it is, since I don't want to reveal the characters for this story until it comes out, but I need to reveal her to make my point here: It's Lana. I was looking at Lana, and I realized "did... did I base Venus's design on Lana's, and then forget about it?"

Seriously, the side ponytail, the skirt with tights underneath, even the cheerful, girly attitude. Obviously, it's not one-to-one, but there are enough similarities, that if I didn't do it intentionally, I did it subconsciously. And I did go back to read what I wrote about Venus's development process, just to see if I could get myself back in the mindset I had when I was creating her, and yep, no mention of Lana. Best I can tell, I really wanted to do something with the idea of an ABXY button hair accessory, and beyond that... I guess I thought I was just making a cute character.

But it is kind of weird for me, causing I am now drawing Lana, which for me, is Venus 2.0 (but, I guess it is more like Venus is Lana 2.0...?).

But with that, this is where I'm ending this two-parter. I hope you enjoyed!