Today was an average day in Gamindustri, birds were singing, children playing, NEETs gaming, dogoo's prancing, Noire overworking…
And Neptune was getting kidnapped by an extra dimensional portal.
Or at least she would be if Blanc wasn't holding under the arms and pulling for all she was worth, which is quite a lot.
"Ya know, I'll probably be fine." Neptune said conversationally, as the tendrils wrapped around her midsection coming out of the green oval tried vainly to pull her in. "This isn't my first rodeo, after all."
"Shut up." Blanc said through gritted teeth, as she dug her heels, deepening the furrows in the dirt under her feet.
"I mean, this has happened at least three times now, I can look after myself, I'll probably be back like… three weeks tops." Neptune said.
"No cha-What do you mean three times?!" Blanc exclaimed, nearly forgetting to keep pulling.
"I don't talk about the third time." Neptune said, gaining a thousand yard stare.
"This is no time for freaking Noodle incidents Neptune!" Growled Blanc, pulling all the harder. "And I don't care if you think you'll be fine. This is our first actual date in two weeks, we spent a lot of time freeing up our schedules. I was looking forward to this since Tuesday, and I'm not gonna let some stupid interdimensional portal ruin this for me!"
With a flair of light Blanc activated her HDD, and White Heart pulled with all her might. "Now give me back my girlfriend you piece of shit!"
The portal gave first.
Unfortunately that didn't mean it let go of Neptune.
White Hearts eyes widened in the split second before the portal catapulted forward enveloping both her and Neptune.
Before White Heart could register what had happened, she was floating in inky blackness, she felt numb all over, and Neptune was gone.
Tabitha, or 'Charlotte Hélène d'Orléans' to those in the know, which right now, amounted to no one except her uncle, looked at the window sharply as a distant boom sounded in the sky.
She watched a bright white light shoot through the blizzard outside, before impacting a short distance away with an earth shaking thunder.
Tabitha blinked, before getting to her feet. Curiosity peaked. This was deep in the mountains of Gallia, far from any roads, or airborne trade routes, there wasn't even much in the way of wildlife up here. So what was that?"
Her Dragon Familiar, Sylphid or 'Illococoo' to those in the know, which was just Tabitha, was startled awake by the tremor. "What is it big sis?" she trilled.
"Finding out." Tabitha said in what would be to us, would be french, but what the locals called Gallian.
She slipped into her heavy coat, wrapping her mouth with a scarf, and pulling the hood over her head.
As an afterthought she told Sylphid, "Stay here."
Sylphid looked sad, but then looked at the storm outside, and nodded. If Tabitha had opened the barn sized dragon door, all the warmth from the fire would escape, which would be bad for both of them in this blizzard.
"I'll be fine." Tabitha said to further placate the dragon. She was an ice mage in her element after all, and she wouldn't be going too far.
Slipping out the normal sized door. She shivered at the change in temperature, she cast a simple warming charm. To help stave off the cold, and walked off in the direction she saw the light fall.
Suddenly she found a pool of rapidly cooling and freezing water. Whatever must have impacted must have melted some of the surrounding snow. Before she could thaw it to see what was in it, the thin surface frost bust outward as a head of blue hair breached, coughed and sputtered, and then started muttering curses that would make a sailor blush.
Tabitha watched as the strange figure clambered out of the ice. She was a pale girl, taller than her, but not by much, her spiky chin-length hair, at least what was still visible under the forming frost, was a similar, but more vibrant and shiny blue then Tabitha's own, and had forlocks that went down to her waist. Most strange of all, was the odd looking metallic leotard. It was white, with black and silver trimmings, and segments that seemed to glow blue, with its arms unconnected from the torso, ending in white and black clawed gauntlets, with a matching pair of thigh-high boots. To crown off the whole ensemble was the quite frankly terrifying looking axe-like weapon she was using to support herself with.
Then the woman looked right at her, and that's when Tabitha notices the floating square shaped wings, and her strange pupil-less red eyes, each decorated with a strange symbol in its center.
Tabitha was internally spooked, she had no idea what she was looking at, an angel perhaps? She doubted it. Any faith she had in the founder had long withered and died. So she doubted she would warrant an angel. Unless it was here to punish her, which she also doubted.
They never punished her uncle, no matter how hard she used to pray.
That still left Tabitha pondering what she was looking at, when the other figure finally spoke.
"Hey you!" White Heart called over the blizzard, irritation evident in her voice. "You haven't seen a purple idiot fall down around here have you?"
Tabitha blinked, she hadn't been expecting that. Not that she had been sure what to expect, but still, definitely not that.
Still it had been albiones, so at least she could communicate. "Non." She said, shaking her head.
"Fan-fricking-tastic." White Heart grumbled, massaging her temple. As a snow filled gust blew by, White Heart shivered. As a Lowee native, and as a goddess with ice resistance, she isn't usually one to worry about the cold. But as it happens, standing in a blizzard isn't fun at the best of times, and she had just taken an impromptu bath in icy cold water.
"Hey, kid! Is there anywhere warm nearby? It's so cold I could cut diamonds with my… well it's pretty damn cold." White Heart finished lamely, realising that she was probably talking to a little kid, and should really be watching what she was saying.
Tabitha however was not as young as she looked, and thanks to a combination of her uncle and her friend Kirche, didn't have much in the way of innocence left. She blushed under her scarf.
Tabitha considered the situation. No matter how casual the strange… Girl? Woman? Whatever, was acting, she must be completely freezing, and seeing as how she was learning on the axe, she must be weak from either the fall or the cold. Tabitha looked into herself, and decided she still had enough of a heart, shrivelled and icy as it was, to not condemn the stranger to a snowstorm in the mountains at night.
"This way." She said, pointing in the direction she came with her staff. "Follow me."
Tabitha led her back to her humble little cabin, trying to ignore the fact that the stranger had started floating through the air.
Her Cabin was nothing special, a small well built stone and timber building built in a hollow between two peaks. It had been a… gift from her uncle, an address she could have while she attended Tristan academy so as to not raise suspicion as to her identity. Tabitha had taken to using it whenever home got too much. The only change she had made was a large double door for her familiar to enter and exit the building.
She opened the door to let in her floating guest, and shut the door behind her.
"Thanks." White Heart sighed in relief and floated over near the fire to warm up, the frost on her hair and skin already starting to thaw.
"Kyuu?"
White Heart Glanced over to the dragon curled up on the pile of bearskin rugs, who regarded her curiously.
Behind White Heart's back, Tabitha made a 'quiet' gesture.
"That your Dragon?" White Heart said conversationally.
"Oui." Tabitha said. "Sylphid."
"cute looking beast." White Heart said, " Cuter than the brutes back home at least."
Sylphid trilled happily.
White Heart made to move in Sylphid's direction, before she fell forward onto her hands and knees, to Tabitha and Sylphid's Alarm.
"Damn, I don't have much shares left." she growled. "Guess I gotta cancel."
Before Tabitha could even ask if she was alright. There was a flash of light.
When Tabitha blinked the spots away, she found that the girl's hair had become a brunette and shoulder length, and her odd leotard had been replaced with an equally odd fur lined, off the shoulder white and blue coat with brown trimmings. Her boots were replaced with similarly coloured closed-toe sandals. With a white ribbon tied to one leg. She wore an odd puffy hat on top of her head, that stayed on despite leaning forward.
Pushing herself back to her feet with her weapon, which had become a large hammer. Tabitha noticed that under her coat she wore a simple armless white dress that was pleated at the bottom. Her coat was tied at the front with a pair of brown straps going across her waist, and the front had two large hanging cloths shaped like arrowheads with large red gems embedded in them, that were larger than her fists. Finally as Blanc opened her eyes, she revealed dark grey-blue eyes with normal pupils.
Blanc rubbed her temple. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised, there are no shares around here, who knows where in the multiverse this is, with her luck so far, she wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even know what a CPU was.
"Sorry about that." Blanc said. And Tabitha was surprised at how soft her voice was, compared to before. "I ran out of share energy, I probably wouldn't have kept my HDD on for so long."
"Are you alright?" Tabitha said.
"I will be. Just a little bit of sleep and I'll be fine." Blanc said. "Thank you for letting me come into your home. But can I ask where we are?"
It was probably too much to hope that she was somewhere in Lowee and this girl just spoke with a french accent due to some character quirk. But it would be worth checking.
"Gallia." Tabitha said.
"Do the names Gamidustri, or Lowee mean anything to you?" Blanc asked.
Tabitha shook her head.
Blanc sighed, Well it's happened, she's finally got dragged along with one of Neptune's extradimensional adventures, and Neptune didn't even have the good graces to fall nearby. So much for their date.
"What are you?"
Blanc looked up to the stone faced bluenette.
"I'm a CPU, and my name is Blanc. What is your name?" Blanc said.
"Tabitha. What is a CPU?" she said.
Blanc sighed. "I guess you don't have them around here… I guess the simplest way to put it is that we are goddesses."
Tabitha's brain froze.
Blanc huddled a little closer to the fire, hoping to dry her clothes a bit.
Tabitha just stared at Blanc.
She just claimed to be a goddess in the most casual way possible, like someone would describe the colour of her hair. Her first instinct was denial. Despite ostensibly being an atheist there was the knee jerk reaction instilled from a young age that the founder was the only true god, on top of that was the newer but more firm belief that there was no god, that the founder was just a man that has long since been dead and buried, as no merciful god would have allowed… her to happen.
But she had seen that form she had, which her first thought had been angelic, and there was the casualness of the declaration, if she had been trying to get something out of her, she probably would have made a bigger deal out of it. There was also the fact that why would someone lie like that, when all it would bring would be trouble from the church, who would be quick to brand any self proclaimed god as a Heretic.
So in short, it was a statement that was completely unbelievable, yet with no rational motive for such an outlandish lie. Delusion perhaps?
This warranted further questioning.
"Goddess?" Tabitha said.
"Yeah." Blanc said. "I guess it's also the head of state. Where I am from each nation is ruled by a goddess."
Tabthia blinked. "Head of state?"
"I suppose I should introduce myself properly." Blanc said, and she turned to face Tabitha properly, and her hammer vanished into square motes of light, accompanied by a strange noise. "I am Blanc, CPU of Lowee, its goddess and ruler, from the world of Gamindustri, located in the Hyperdimension. Not that I expect that means anything to you."
Tabitha looked at where the hammer vanished, before looking back at Blanc.
"I don't really expect you to believe me." Blanc said, sighing. "But I come from another dimension… Another world if that makes more sense."
Blanc gave a shallow bow. "I know this is sudden, but would you consider putting me up for the night? I'll probably leave tomorrow once I get my bearings. I have to go searching for my friend."
"Your friend?" Tabitha said.
"She was with me when we… got lost, but we got seperated." Blanc said, "Please, just put me up for the night, and give me directions to the closest town or city, so I can start looking." Blanc said. She didn't like begging, but needs must when you rely on the kindness of strangers.
Tabitha was silent for a minute, before she said. "Alright."
Blanc blinked. For some reason she expected this to be harder, Tabitha gave off the vibe of someone who goes out of their way to be alone, and Blanc lacked the charisma of Neptune when it came to instantly making friends. Nevertheless she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
She gave another short bow. "Thank you."
Tabitha looked out the window. "Getting late."
Blanc followed her gaze. Storm out the window sure seemed to be getting darker. "I guess so." It was then that she looked around, and noticed only one bed in the single room cabin, and the floor was stone. "So… is there anywhere I can sleep?"
Tabitha gestured to the bed in the corner. "You can take the bed."
Blanc blinked. "Are you sure, where will you sleep?"
Tabitha shrugged and picked up a pile of blankets, and put them next to her dragon. "I usually sleep with Sylphid."
The dragon was a nice big warm body after all, and it feeds her desire for physical closeness with another. Shame she couldn't do it at the academy. Kirche helps, but not much, as she is… busy most evenings.
Blanc starred, then nodded. It was honestly a pretty cute mental image she thought to herself. "Do you mind if I retire now then? I am still exhausted from burning my shares."
Tabitha nodded. "Go ahead."
Blanc walked over, shulking off her coat, which also disappeared into particles, as did both her shoes, the ribbon on her foot, and finally her hat.
She went to undo the straps on her dress, before remembering she had company. She turned to Tabitha. "Sorry, do you mind turning around for a second?"
Tabitha raised her eyebrow, wondering what she had to worry about, considering how little that leotard had left to the imagination. Still she turned around.
She heard that odd noise again as presumably her dress disappeared, followed by a few more.
"You can look now."
Tabitha turned around, not knowing what to expect, only to find Blanc in a quite frankly adorable and very comfy looking, baby blue dress, only just barely long enough to hide most of the bloomers she wore underneath, she now wore a different poofy hat, this one matching her current outfit.
Without much ceremony, she climbed into bed, with her back to the room. "Good night."
"bonne nuit." Tabitha said.
Having nothing better to do. Tabitha changed into her own pyjamas, and wrapped herself in her blankets and sat on Sylphids bearskin bed, and leaned against her chest.
After a while, when she was sure that Blanc had fallen asleep. She whispered to sylphid. "What do you think?"
Sylphid blinked, as she was just getting ready to doze off herself, and trilled inquisitively. "Kyuu?"
"About her." Tabitha elaborated, "You can talk if you are quiet."
Sylphid was a rhyme dragon after all, they were more in tune with magic then the mages were, not that anyone will admit it, and Sylphid's unique senses for these things had helped more than once before."
Sylphid looked at the sleeping girl at the other side of the room, before saying as quiet as a dragon could. "I like her, she feels nice."
"Nice?"
"She's kinda… Well she's a little icy like you sis, so she probably likes ice magic, or is quiet… but she also feels warm like Kirche, especially before she turned all normal so maybe she's excitable... but for the most part…" Sylphid struggled to put into human words what she was feeling. "She feels… bright."
"Bright?"
Sylphid made some uncertain trilling noises, before an epiphany struck. "Ohh I know, she feels like she is made of hopes and dreams."
Chapter notes:
Last plot bunny, I think I'll skip the disclaimer this time, those who know, know.
This one only got four preferences, but that shouldn't surprise me, after all, I was asking a bunch of people out of all these people reading a touhou/HP crossover, out all these other Touhou/HP crossover stories, what do think of this one, which is neither touhou of HP.
But yeah, I feel that Neptune/Blanc is a really underrated ship. Sure Neptune/Noire is a lot funnier, but I feel that Neptune and Blanc would unironically just make a really great couple. Because when you take away the memes, which tend to cast Neptune as a fourth wall breaking memelord, and Blanc as a non stop rage machine, they are at the end of the day, extremely chill people, Sure Neptune cracks a lot of jokes, and Blanc has her anger issues, but they are both the kind of people who will quite happily waste away an afternoon just relaxing, either with a video game or a good book, or just napping. I can just imagine the scene of Neptune snoozing on Blancs lap while she reads quietly, it just gives me cozy comfy vibes.
The reason I had them start in the relationship, because honestly their dynamic of being in a relationship seemed more fun to me, then them engaging in a romance.
But yeah, I think this story mostly came about when I noticed all the similarities between Blanc and Tabitha, both being short, petite, taciturn book worms with Ice powers (Blanc even has blue hair in HDD), so my brain went "how can I make a story out of this?" And the result was this.
Small note on the timeline, this is before Louise and Blancs second year when the Familiar summoning is supposed to take place. Which might lead some of you to wonder why Sylphid is already here, and there is a funny story behind that. As I mentioned in my other FOZ story, I had only watched two episodes of the anime before giving up, nor had I read the LN or manga because I realised I just wasn't going to like Saito as an MC, and most of the stuff I know about cannon, has been pieced together from about a hundred fanfictions. But there was something I did notice that was weird in those first two episodes, that They didn't show Tabitha summon Sylphid, nor show the Dragon in any of the shots of the summoning (unless I am remembering wrong), also in many of the fanfiction I read, Tabitha and Sylphid often had a pseudo-sisterly relationship, which I feel would be too sudden considering how little time they had known each other. So then I had the weird idea, what if Tabitha had actually summoned Sylphid before the springtime summoning? Now probably the LN contradicts this, but I thought it was a neat enough idea, so now it's my own personal cannon, hence why she is here.
As for why Tabitha is so accepting of the weirdo falling from the sky, call it part curiosity, part compassion. Plus she probably thinks this is far too much of an elaborate attempt to kill her, even for her uncle.
