Hyperdimension Neptunia
Nepgear: A Savior's Tale
Chapter Seven: Torn In Two
Planeptune Streets?
"Hmmmmmmmm…" Plutia hummed to herself as she walked around town, "If I was a small fairy looking for groceries, where would I beeeeeee…?" She reached a populated street in the road with loads of food stands lined with people, products, and, well… food. "Oh, duh. The Marketplace!"
Plutia walked along the street and glanced at the stands, each one selling different fruits, vegetables, meats, and she even found an ice cream parlor. She continued eyeing the delicacies tempting her to snag up for herself, the poor girl not having anything to eat since following Noire out the basilicom. But just as she felt unable to resist, she spotted someone she was looking for, "Hm? Ohhhh! There she is!"
From Plutia's view point, she could make out a small fairy girl, small enough to fit in her hands. This girl had medium-length blonde hair in two pigtails tied up with teal ribbons with a purple and white headdress on her head. She wears what seems to be a purple gown along with designs that have orange coloring with a teal bow at the top. Her leg-wear consists of white stockings and purple shoes with pink circles on the center. She also seems to have bright purple butterfly wings behind her, and the book she was sitting on had a purple and pink cover, whitish-yellow blank pages, and a teal bookmarker with the face of a bear on one end.
From the looks of things, she seemed to be struggling to carry a few bags. So Plutia went up to the fairy girl and waved her hand, "Hello? Histoire?"
"Hm? Plutia?" The fairy girl, Histoire, lifted her head up to spot Plutia in the marketplace. She floated over to the CPU and asked her, "What brings you here to the market?"
"Weeeeelllll… Me and Nowa figured you would like some help with groceries… And she sent me to find you." Plutia answered slowly.
Histoire tilted her head in confusion, "Oh, did she? …You don't have any sort of excuse to skip out on your work and catch Z's instead of crooks, do you?"
"Nothing like thaaaaat! …Not this time." Plutia half-admitted, "Seeee… We found this girl falling from the sky, claiming to be a CPU like me. Nowa's looking after her in the Basilicom, and–"
"Noire charmed her, didn't she?" Histoire deadpanned. Plutia nods, and then Histoire lets out a sigh, "Haaaa, as much as I'd like to straighten out another of your messes, I'm afraid my hands are tied up with these groceries. It's going to take another two days to pick up everything and bring them over."
"You had juuuuust left the Basilicom yesterday morning when the sun came up, riiiiight?" Plutia stated as she took one of the bags and peaked inside. Her blissfully ignorant expression was replaced with an unamused one when she saw next to nothing inside, "...Really?"
"Come now, Plutia, don't be picky. Grapes are essential for revitalizing your body after a long work day." Histoire spoke with pride in her tone. Plutia, however, showed Histoire the open bag to her fairy friend, "...Uh huh. And the grapes in question?"
Histoire took a peek inside and saw that the grapes she picked out were… "What?! They're already dried up?! I just picked them yesterday evening!"
Plutia snatched the other bags from Histoire, "What else did you spend all day picking up last night?" She opened one and saw what she thought were pressed yellow/brown taffy and visibly gagged, "Eeeegh…! No one would want this candy on Halloween…"
"Candy?" Histoire peered inside the bag to see what Plutia thought was bad candy, "Th-That… That's impossible! Those bananas were still green when I put them in the bag!"
The third bag was opened up and Plutia's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head, "Gaaaaah! Is that… blood?!"
"Plutia, do not cause such a scene in public!" Histoire scolded, but then she took a peek inside the bag and had the same facial reaction almost immediately, "My strawberries! Nooooooooooo!"
"..." Plutia took a few moments to calm down before she examined the bags of ruined fruit, "Uhhh… Histoire? How long do you usually take to do shopping?"
"W-Well… As soon as I arrive, I would usually spend a whole day picking up fruits and veggies." Histoire answered as soon as she calmed down as well, "The next day is spent gathering fresh meat and milk, cheese, and other dairy products, with the last day spent on bread and frozen foods. Finally, I gather everything in little bags and carry everything on a long three hour trip home."
"..." Plutia dropped all of the bags of bad fruit on the floor in utter disbelief, "Three days… It takes you three whole days… to bring home food that's already gone BAD?! No wonder we never have anything to eat at the Basilicom!"
"Ahhh…!" 'Oh no! If Plutia gets angry here, no one in the market is safe!' Histoire's eyes widened in fear, "P-Plutia, please! Not in front of–"
"Do you have any idea what it's like living off of nothing but fast food and takeout so Noire and I don't starve to death?!" Plutia shouted at Histoire as a dark purple aura appeared around her body, "Our own Basilicom manager brings home perishables that have already perished! And anything that does make it home is stale and tasteless! You could've killed us by now with how much time you take with simple groceries!"
"...Okay, Plutia. I realize I deserve punishment." Histoire sighed in defeat, "But do the shopkeepers? The citizens who also come here to feed themselves and their families?"
"Mmmmmmm…" Plutia glared at Histoire for a few seconds longer. She soon let out a deep breath as her aura faded, "Haaaa… No, they don't. But this will not stand any longer!" She took Histoire by the book she sat on and walked to a food stand, "Let's go. We're gonna do the shopping right for once."
"Huh? You're going to help me?" Histoire asked.
Plutia looked at the fairy girl with a soft smile, "Of course. You live with us too, and now we have another mouth to feed now. …Besides, you have the shopping list."
Histoire rolled her eyes as she took out said list… which unfolded several flaps and dangled from the book and Plutia's hand, "Alright. In addition to grapes, bananas and strawberries, we still need some carrots, potatoes, loaves of bread, a box of cereal, milk for said cereal…"
"...This is still gonna take a while…" Plutia said to herself as Histoire read off the list, "But at least we'll be finished sometime today for once."
Planeptune Basilicom
"..." IF lightly breathed as she laid asleep in a makeshift hospital bed. Compa watched over her friend and held a hand close to her heart, "Iffy…"
Outside of the room where IF and Compa were in, CFW Purple Heart leaned against the wall in silence. There, she saw Rei walking by and immediately moved in front of the woman. Rei looked frightened at the cloaked figure in front of her, "Eep!"
"...And what do you have to say for yourself?" CFW Purple Heart asked vaguely.
Rei shivered from her tone and knew exactly what she was referring to, "I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I–"
"Sorry's not gonna bring Nepgear back from whatever pocket dimension you zapped her into!" CFW Purple Heart raised her voice loud enough to shut Rei up before walking away from her.
Rei looked down toward the ground in distress, "Mmmmmmm…"
Compa walked outside and held a hand on Rei's shoulder, "Miss Rei… That wasn't your fault, was it? You didn't mean to… do that to Ge-Ge, did you?"
"No, I didn't. Please, you have to believe me! I never meant to– Ah!" Rei started to say before Compa suddenly booped her on the nose, "H-Hey! What was that for?"
"Just a small show of affection. Hehe~" Compa giggled before she walked past her, "Go lie down and try to relax. That worrying isn't good for your health."
"O-Okay…" Rei said as she walked off to her room, opposite from where Compa was going.
As Compa walked down the halls, she saw a dim orange glow in one of the rooms to her left. She walked over to the door, which seemed to be Neptune's old room by the door having a picture of her on the front and her name below the picture, and opened it up to walk inside.
Histoire lifted her head up to the sound of the door opening and saw Compa walking inside, "Oh, Compa. What brings you here?"
"I saw a light on and wanted to see what was up." Compa explained as she walked in Neptune's old room, "Did anything turn up with that console box?"
"Nothing of note, I'm afraid." Histoire said as she studied the orange swirl on top of the box, "But it does seem familiar to me for some reason…"
"Is this gonna be another 'Three Days Later' analysis thing?" Compa bluntly asked. Surprisingly, Histoire shook her head, "Not necessarily. Depending on how far back on my historical records I need to go, I should have an answer in three hours or by this time tomorrow."
"Three hours? Tomorrow?" Compa looked genuinely confused by those words… considering who she's talking to. But she perked up afterwards and started giggling, "Hehehe~ When did you start becoming a fast worker, Histy?"
"I have Nepgear to thank for the speed boost. The upgrade modules she made for my tome really helped my overall performance levels." Histoire said with a small chuckle in her voice. Then she spoke up as she floated up on her book, "Speaking of which, I've yet to update the other CPUs of Nepgear's disappearance. I'll be back to check on the Console again in… hopefully less than three hours."
"Okay. Bye, Histy." Compa waved as Histoire floated away, most likely headed to Nepgear's office.
There Compa stood, with the strange console box in the middle of Neptune's old room. She looked at it with a curious look on her face and reached out to pick it up.
"And just what are you expecting to play on that thing?"
"Kyaa!" Compa shrieked as she turned around to see the cloaked girl from before who rescued IF. She brought her hands in front of her and bowed apologetically, "I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't have barged in without permission!"
"That's not what I– …Haaa, it's quite alright." The cloaked woman sighed and walked closer to Compa, "What were you gonna do with that console?"
"I just wanted to test it out and see how this works." Compa said as she examined the faintly glowing console, "I have a feeling… There's more to this than we see on the console's body."
As Compa said this, her and CFW Purple Heart hear a static voice.
"—Anyone... Please, save us…!"
"...What the hell was that?" The cloaked woman asked. Compa perked up, "Ah! It's that weird static again!" Compa looked down at the console, "It came up as soon as I picked this up."
"You're saying that voice came from… the console?" The mystery woman asked as she placed her hand on the top, a finger hovering over the Power Button.
*click!*
"Eek!" Compa yelped as she jumped up. The console shined a white light before a bright orange burst of energy formed around it, forming what seemed to be a wormhole of some kind as both women felt a strong pull towards it.
"Wh-What is this?! I can't… can't get away!" The woman in the cloak shouted as her body inched closer to the wormhole.
"Oh no! I can barely see the console, or anywhere in this room!" Compa shouted as she felt herself being lifted from the floor, "It's too strong! We're… We're getting sucked in! Kyaaaaaaaaah!"
"No no NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The cloaked woman screamed as she was sucked into the orange wormhole with Compa.
"What the…?! What's going on in there?" Histoire said as, just as she floated to the open door, the orange wormhole remained for a short few seconds before it closed up just as suddenly as it appeared. The console fell to the ground as the orange light faded, seemingly at low power.
Histoire had her hand to her mouth in utter shock, "No… I was too late…! Compa…! Purple Heart…!"
She floated in place for three whole minutes, wondering what she could even do now? That's when she heard Rei's voice speak out behind her, "M-Miss Histoire…? I heard yelling from here. What happened here…?" The woman who walked inside looked confused as she saw a white box with a faded orange pattern on it, "And what's that down there? It looks… out of place."
Histoire looked back at the console, then at Rei, and back at the console, "A forgotten object of Planeptune's past…"
"Huh?" Rei looked confused. Histoire floated in silence for a moment or three, but she shook her head lightly, "We have even less time than I thought! We have to hurry and find Nepgear!"
"W-Wait! We still don't know where–" Rei tried to remind Histoire, but the fairy zoomed past Rei without hesitation. This left Rei confused as she followed Histoire out, "What's gotten into her…?"
Unknown Location
"W-Wha…?" Nepgear's eyes opened up, and she found herself in a ruined wasteland. She gets up and looks around, "What happened here? Where am I now?"
Nepgear walks around the ruins as she searches for any signs of life. "Noire? Plutia? Where are you guys?" She called out just as she saw a few bodies laid out on the floor, "Haaa– Oh no! I'm coming!" As she approaches the bodies, she sees many familiar features on each of them. Traces of black, white, and green on their clothes and hair…
These were the other CPUs!
"No…!" She knelt down to the smaller bodies and her hand brushes against the pink hair on one of them. Ram, as far as Nepgear could tell, felt cold and lifeless. This left Nepgear with a horrified look in her eyes, "Ram… you can't be dead too…!"
Nepgear's hands were physically shaking as she saw the rest of the bodies: Rom, Blanc, Vert, Uni, and Noire were all transformed, but lifeless and unmoving. Strangely, she even found an untransformed Noire next to Black Heart's body, as well as the small frame of Neptune.
Neptune's dead again?! And she's grown her hair out! …And she's wearing blue & pink instead of white and purple…!
…That's not Neptune!
"PLUTIA?!" Nepgear exclaimed and stood up from where she knelt down. As the surviving CPU noticed a glowing blue light, Nepgear's breathing became heavy as a maniacal presence made themself known through the sounds of laughter, "Ah, hahahahahahaha! Too little too late, 'Ms. Nepgear'. The other CPUs have all been decimated by my unbound power. Surrender yourself with no resistance, and I might spare you the same fate… Might."
"I… can't do that… I have to fight for my people!" Nepgear's voice was shaky as she tried to draw her sword at the voice. But she noticed that she felt weakened… like there were only so many people that believed in her, 'This… can't be real. Am I… all alone? Why…? In my time of need…'
"I don't think you have any sway in this matter. Not after your friends and people are all gone." The crazed voice said as a pitch black silhouette appeared in front of the light, "But if you won't lay down your weapons or join my cause, then the least I can do is let you join them… in death, that is!"
Nepgear's eyes widened as she felt the ground beneath her crack open before a dark blue light, brimming with chaotic energy, erupted below her, engulfing Nepgear and the other bodies in the area.
"Noo! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Nepgear's cries were all that were heard as everything around her was destroyed.
Planeptune Basilicom?
"AHHHHH!" Nepgear screamed as she sat up from the floor in a panic, "Haaa, haaa, haaa, haaa…!"
She looked around to see an unfamiliar setting, yet it felt like home… At least, that's what Planeptune's Basilicom is supposed to feel to the CPU. But this wasn't the Planeptune she knew.
"Hey, you. Enjoy your little nap?" A familiar voice near Nepgear spoke out. Nepgear turned to see a familiar pair of red eyes gazing into her own… Noire was sitting near Nepgear on the floor?
"Oh Noire, it was horrible!" Nepgear shouted as she gave Noire a sudden hug, "Everyone I knew and loved was slaughtered! Blanc, Vert, Uni, Rom & Ram, you, another you, Plutia…! You were all dead, and I was powerless to avenge you all! I felt so helpless! I'm unqualified to be the CPU! I… I…! Waaaaaaaaaah!"
"Whoa, hey hey, calm down now… I'm right here… Everything's fine now." Noire said as she held Nepgear to comfort her, "It was just a nightmare… No one you mentioned is gone, and neither am I…"
Noire had a few questions on how she knew about certain names, as well as why Nepgear claimed to be a CPU earlier and then say she wasn't fit for the role…? But seeing Nepgear's mental state and reaction to her dream kept her from asking those questions right now. Either her Charm from earlier still had an effect on her, or there's some truth to Nepgear's words that Noire can't fully understand right now… Could be both, for all she knew.
After a few minutes, Nepgear pulled away and wiped her eyes, "...Thank you. I'm feeling a bit better now."
"Good. The pizza I ordered while Plutia was grocery shopping should be here any minute." Noire said as she got up from the floor and held a hand for Nepgear. Nepgear smiled as she took Noire's hand and was pulled up from the floor. Then she perked up a little as the twin tailed girl's words registered, "Wait… You're ordering out when Plutia was getting the groceries? Isn't that a bit redundant?"
"Urgh, trust me. Take-out is what kept us from starving to death from what Histoire picks up after three days." Noire said in slight disgust.
"Histy's here too?!" Nepgear suddenly shouted as she went and grabbed Noire by the shoulders and turned her around, "Where is she?! Is she okay?! What happened to Compa and Rei–"
"Hey hey hey, whoa whoa!" Noire raised her voice and pushed Nepgear off to interrupt her frantic episode, "...Histy? No one's ever called Histoire that!"
"...Wait, not even Plutia?" Nepgear brought up out of nowhere, "She loves giving people nicknames, doesn't she?"
"Don't go changing the subject on me. How do you even know Histoire in the first place?" Noire asked, a little suspicious of Nepgear's behavior.
Nepgear pouted, "I told you, I'm a CPU of Planeptune! Histoire's the Oracle, isn't she? All of Planeptune's CPU know–"
"Will you quit talking nonsense already?!" Noire yelled in Nepgear's face, "How many times do I have to tell you?! Plutia is THE CPU of Planeptune! And there's no such thing as a 2nd CPU in a nation! It's one per nation! That's the rule!"
"How could you say that?! You don't even have CPU Candidates here? Uni would be devastated to hear her own sis–"
BAM!
"Ack!" Nepgear fell to the floor hard from being punched in the face. She turned her head to face Noire, only to feel her throat being grabbed by a dainty yet powerful hand. Noire's violent blood red eyes stared into Nepgear's frightened violet eyes as the twin tailed girl growled, "You listen to me, brat, and you listen good! It's become alarmingly obvious that you know nothing about where you are and who you're dealing with! Planeptune may not have been around for long, but everyone in the nation knows three strict guidelines they will follow like their lives depend on it!"
Noire raised her free hand and held up her pointer, middle, and ring fingers for each 'guideline' mentioned, "One: Don't get Plutia to transform under ANY circumstances! Two: Don't get her even the tiniest bit angry! And number three: You don't ever… EVER say the name Uni around me! I don't care who you think you are, you're gonna adhere to these rules if you value your pathetic, mortal life! Do you understand me?!"
"G-Guhhh… Ahhhhh…!" Nepgear's breath choked as she heard everything Noire had to say. She couldn't focus on anything else, even as she felt it difficult to breathe. But wait, if Nepgear's a CPU, then why did she feel like she was gonna–
Noire tightened her grip on Nepgear's throat after not getting a response, "I said! Do! You! Understand?!"
"Nnnnh… Y-Yes…" Nepgear said softly. Noire released Nepgear's neck and got up off of her, "Don't make me have to tell you again, kid." She then turned and left the room.
Alone in Plutia's room, Nepgear turned on the floor and held her throat, coughing and steadying her breathing again, "Urgh… *cough, cough* Haaa… I… I'm sorry…"
"Who are you apologizing to? She left you alone after nearly choking your life out." Arfoire's voice spoke up as soon as she knew no one could hear her.
"I didn't think I'd make her that mad at–" Nepgear stopped talking as her thoughts registered something important, "Wait… choke my life out? But I'm a…! I-I can't die normally! At least, not by choking or lack of air!"
"Urgh! Planeptune CPUs and Tunnel Vision. Name a more iconic duo." Arfoire mocked Nepgear with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Remember when you couldn't even transform to save yourself from a 'Plane Crash' skydive? You couldn't access your HDD. In fact, you and I both can't access our powers anymore now that you're a human. Why do you think I haven't taken control of you yet like I did before?"
"Hu… human? I'm just a… normal human? But how…? How?! How is this possible?!" Nepgear held her head and got herself up in pure panic, "I can't be! There's no way! I… I…"
Nepgear ran out of the room and called out, "I NEED SOME AIR!"
Planeptune Park?
Nepgear ran out to a nearby lake and collapsed on the grass. She lifted herself up and rubbed her head, "Nnnngh… Okay, yeah… That hurt a little more than usual…" She sat on the grass and looked towards the lake, "I don't understand why this is happening… But at least being choked to death cleared up that Charm thing Noire used on me before so I can think things over clearly."
"Those two… they said Planeptune was only recently formed when we met." Arfoire spoke up in Nepgear's head, "We could've been sent back in time where the first goddesses roamed the lands."
"That can't be right. There had to have been other Lastationite CPUs before Noire was even born. She also didn't have any idea what Lastation was…" Nepgear pointed out, "Wait… that can't be right. How could Noire be here when there is no Lastation?"
"Search me, kid. I'm not the one who shoved you into that time warp hole or whatever that was." Arfoire said.
Nepgear perked up a bit at that, "Hey… hey, you're right! For once, you really aren't the bad guy here! Too many of our games do that where you're nothing but a 90's cartoon villain."
"THAT'S your focus point of this story?!"
"Owowowow– OUCH! What did I tell you about screaming in my head like that?!" Nepgear said as she held her head in pain. She then saw a green glow in the distance and turned her head, "...Huh? What's that over there?"
"Some stupid plot point in this messed up fanfic, I'm sure." Arfoire deadpanned.
Nepgear stood up and dusted herself off, "I'm gonna go take a look… Hopefully Noire's calmed down by the time I get back."
"It looks pretty far from here… You sure you wanna do that?" Arfoire asked. Nepgear nods, "I'm sure it'll be fine. I may not be a CPU anymore for some reason, but I'm still a capable fighter." Nepgear said as she ran off to the green light.
Unknown Location
"Hmhmhm~ The output seems stable enough." The voice of a mature, sensual woman spoke to no one in particular as a green light faded from around her.
The woman took a look out at the field she was in, gazing over at the nation of Planeptune from up the high cliffs, "Planeptune has only been around for a short while, and yet the people love the adorable, small CPU. As if Lowee hasn't given the people enough of a misconception that the small approach is the way to go." She smirked to herself as the wind blew through her hair and clothes, "But I know the cold hard truth, and what Gamindustri really needs. After all, whether it's a console's hardware or a woman's bust size… bigger will always be better. …Hm?"
The woman spotted a cute girl with purple hair walking into the Virtua Forest, looking around as if she was on a Search Quest in a dungeon. The taller woman then looked at her left hand as it clutched into a green rhombus shaped object, "Then again… Who says the little guy can't grow up to do big things?" She smirked as a red glow shines in the crystal in her hands.