The three of us arrived early at Lastation the next morning and the staff guided us to Noire's room where she rested. Uni and Nepgear had worried faces back from Planeptune to here, all I had was guilt.

"Lady Noire had overworked herself for quite some time, she will likely be out of commission for maybe a day and then some for recuperation. The situation could have been lighter had we kept a better eye on Lady Noire's condition. We apologise Lady Uni."

The staff that attended to Noire before we arrived bowed towards Uni solemnly.

"Raise your heads, there is nothing to mope about what could have been done. Take this experience to heart and act from it should something similar arise again. I guess I will have to pick up the slack while Noire recovers huh?"

"We shall see ourselves out and leave you some time with Lady Noire."

The staff raised their bodies and promptly shuffled out of the room, leaving only the three of us.

"Sorry Nepgear, I'll have to do some work before we can actually deal with the engagement plans properly."

"No, no. It's not too big a deal, Noire in this condition is a priority. I'll swing by and help time to time if time permits."

"Thanks Nepgear."

While the two had that exchange, I slowly walked towards Noire. Looking at her peaceful sleeping face, you can still see the bags under her eyes. Is there anything going on inside her head while she slept? Is it empty or a dream or nightmare? If the latter, is it a lucid dream of happiness or a nightmare of heartbreak?

"...What a fool you've been, overworked now on this bed.
I've hurt you, so deeply as I ran away.
I look back, and see the pain I brought,
onto you with my actions and my words.

"I love you" were, words that I cannot say.
I don't even know back, what my feelings were.
If you could, if you could tell me why,
why you fell for me, in the first place.

But I'm a fool!
Should've known, with these feelings.
That I have too, fallen hard for you o' my dear.
I noticed too late and now I have to pay the price.
For this little fool's, rejection of love."

"Hoo..."

"To think Neptune of all people would break out into song over Noire's rest bed. Are we D*sney now?"

"Neptune singing! That's a first!"

"It was...a nice song..."

I turned around at the sound of four voices and see Blanc, Vert, Rom and Ram, standing by the door.

"Neptune breaking out into song..."

"...is quite uncharacteristic indeed."

Since when did Blanc and Vert had this much synergy to complete each other's sentences?

"Never mind the uncharacteristic singing from me, you guys are here to see Noire no? She's sleeping comfortably from what I can see."

"Her condition's not life threatening so it shouldn't be too big of a deal. But what's bigger is the epiphany you arrived at earlier no?" Blanc said nonchalant.

"Bigger than your chest (lol)"

At that quip Blanc looked visibly annoyed for a moment but then directed a question to me.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I... I want to be there for her when she awakes. I don't know how she'll take to seeing me upon waking but I want to try and mend this relationship that I messed up."

"Is this character development we're seeing? From Neptune of all people? I am thoroughly surprised by this development."

"A page for Planeptune's history book, shame Histoire isn't here to note it down."

"Seriously, when did you two suddenly get such synergy from?"

I don't remember the last time these two acted so in sync together but I understand where Vert and Blanc are coming from, seeing as it's me that's surprising them with my behaviour. I surprise even myself at this stage.

""Special circumstances""

They both replied the same thing, that's pretty sus. I looked over and Rom and Ram and they don't look like they know anything. Nepgear and Uni looked like they had an idea what transpired and honestly, I don't want to go there either.

"We'll just leave it at that explanation and go back to doing our own things yes? I'm sure the both of you have stuff to do and we have our hands full as well."

"Sounds like a plan doesn't it Blanc?"

Blanc only nods in response to Vert. I don't think I like what's going through her head right now but well, it's none of my business. But I do hope Vert comes out of it unscathed since she did a jab at Blanc's sensitive area earlier and that's going to come back to bite her later in whatever they're going to do.

"Then I shall continue to stay by Noire, even if she doesn't want to see me, I want to get through to her for my wrongdoing and apologise."

"Blanc and I shall take our leave then," announced Vert before turning to the twins, "Rom and Ram, do you two want to go back with us or stay with Nepgear and Uni?"

The twins looked at each other, then to Nepgear and Uni, then turned back to Vert and Blanc.

"We'll go home."


After seeing the Lowee Leanbox group to the door, Nepgear and I went back to my room while Neptune returned to where Noire laid in slumber.

"Blanc and Vert... They probably did that now didn't they?" Nepgear pondered with a slight blush on his face.

"Probably... It felt like an overnight thing," I replied. "But why does it feel like their relationship has been shoehorned in?"

"Maybe the writer can't think of anything else to put in?"

"If the sudden BlancVert is the best they can think of then they must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel for content." I sigh.

Feels weird for the both of us to be openly breaking the fourth wall when it has been Neptune's job for a long time, but even then, she never openly called out the writer like this. This whole thing feels like a mess, like a mangaka that got told his work is to be canned and that he should wrap up whatever loose ends is currently in the manuscript before the deadline. I rub my temple and sigh again, seeing as we're at an impasse until Noire wakes up and Neptune fixes up everything.

"What's wrong Uni? You're sighing quite a bit there."

I hear the concern in his voice, that part of him hasn't changed one bit.

"It's nothing, I just want Noire to wake up so we can clear up any misgivings and carry on with our lives."

"Same here," Nepgear responded as he put his hands behind his head and fell backwards onto my bed. "The atmosphere around feels a bit too gloomy for my tastes."

I just hope the writer can wrap this whole ordeal up nicely but I wonder about that honestly.

"Oh right, we have yet to hear anything about the item to turn you back into a girl."

"Well, we weren't certain of it existing anyway and I've already sort of gotten used to this body," Nepgear admitted as he looked at his outstretched hand. "If anything's a perk, it'd probably be h-having..."

"Having what?"

"...a kid..."

Ah, right. That is a thing we could do. But saying it like this is really quite embarrassing, so we just sat there in embarrassed silence.

"I-I guess that's one way of looking at things."

"Mhm... One day in the future I guess... When we're in a more comfortable situation we can properly think about it."


The next day, eyelid movement was observed on our sleeping beauty Noire.

"Hey you, you're finally awake." I murmured.

"Neptune? Why are you here?" Noire groaned. "Come to laugh at the sorry state I'm in? How about you go away?"

"I understand how you feel but... I'm here to apologise."

"What for? My broken heart? Save it."

The sound of a door opening was heard followed by footsteps.

"Noire! You're awake!" Uni exclaimed as she ran over to hug her sister.

"Uni..." Noire muttered as she tried to sit herself up on the bed.

"I'll help you up."

"Thanks..." Noire mumbled, "I see you're here as well Nepgear, thank you for keeping Uni company."

"No problem."

"...Noire" I called out, falteringly.

"I don't want to talk to you."

Her reply was curt and sharp, she's pushing me away like how I did a few days back. So this is the pain she felt as I ran away from her and her feelings that day, where she resolved herself to tell me how she felt. But today, it'll be the reverse except it'll be an even steeper hill to climb.

"I'm sorry, I just want to right my wrong."

"Shut up."

"I didn't realise how important you were to me until you collapsed."

"Shut up."

"When I saw you lying here, guilt overcame me."

"Shut Up."

"Guilt over the fact that I caused you harm."

"SHUT UP."

Tears were forming in my eyes as I continue.

"Pain as I realise that it took me this long to figure out that I love you too."

"SHUT UP!" Noire screamed. "What's the point of telling me this now!? You love me? Bullshit! You're just saying all this to satisfy your own ego! To save face! That's why you left me isn't it!? Leaving me the owner of a broken heart! I can't even trust your words any more! Get out of my sight!"

I'm shocked and hurt by her words that sting harder than getting hit by the final boss. I guess this is to be expected, maybe we will never see eye to eye ever again. I stand up and walk to the door, the tears in my eyes blur my vision. I step out of the room, and run towards the exit of the Basilicom, I'm such a hard headed fool and I hate myself for it. Is it wrong to want to keep the status quo between the four of us? But because I tried, I ended up breaking it in the process. I wouldn't be surprised if the next time we meet, we'd end up battling to the death. Why did I realise these feelings so late?

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"


Back with Uni, Nepgear, and Noire. Noire's bawling her eyes out on Uni's shoulder while Nepgear stands solemnly at the front of Noire's bed.

"While asleep..." Noire began between sniffled breaths, "I had *sniff* a nice dream...a beautiful dream..."
"A dream *sniff* where we actually got together, and I told her *sniff* 'If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up from it.' despite knowing that it was. *sniff* She told me 'If this really is a dream, then wake up and make it real.' I asked her how, when the real one ran away from me. She replied 'I am only a figment of your imagination, a phantom, phantoms cannot fill the hole in your heart. Only the real me can do so, plus you've constantly strived to be number one, why falter here after one failure?' Her words were true to an extent as some of those words came from my subconscious, telling me to go again. In response, I asked her to 'Then at least let me bask in this moment a little longer before I awake and retry.'"

As Noire recounted her dream, she stopped crying, her eyes still red from the tears earlier.

"But as you can see, it didn't go that way, I ended up rejecting her as she did me. I wanted to trust her words, but I couldn't despite me telling myself to redo and try and trust her again. Is it too late to apologise and redo? For both me and her?"

Uni looked at Noire with genuine concern on her face, as for me, I wonder when in that story did I start clenching my fist so hard that I've started bleeding. They both obviously care for one another but this melodramatic atmosphere ends here.

"Uni. I'm going to go look for Neptune."

"Nepgear..."

No more words needed to be shared between the both of us, we know what must be done.

"How are you going to find her when you don't know where she ran of to?" Noire asked solemnly.

"Sibling love," I responded. "I'll find her and bring her back to you so the two of you can properly talk this out and begin anew."

With that, I run out of the room, knowing Neptune, she'd run for the closest exit. Which just so happens to lead out to the forested area behind the building, luckily the chance of encountering a monster here is slim but I'm still searching for my sister in a sea of trees.

No time to think too deeply, she couldn't have run that far if she's going in one direction which means I have a chance of getting to her in this body. I'll just have to trust in my capabilities and stamina.

As I run in between the trees, my eyes dart about as I scan the surroundings for white and purple, two colours that would stand out even in a forest like this. In a corner of my mind, I am awed by the performance and if I were to go back to being a girl, I wouldn't be able to pull off this kind of stunt again unless I dedicated some time to upping my parameters. Not to say that the female body isn't great but if I did go back, I wouldn't need to run this much anyway and I could just fly at low altitude using HDD instead.

Not long after, I hear the sound of someone crying though faint, I decide to beeline towards the source. As I got closer, I reached a small clearing and found my goal. My lungs are screaming for air and my legs hurt like hell, but I finally found her.

"Neptune." I called out between deep breaths.

"Nepgear..."


"Come on, *huff* let's go back. *huff* She's waiting *huff* for you too."

"But... She doesn't want to see me any more..."

"For crying *huff* out loud.*huff* Now you're *huff* just like her."

"Eh?"

"I'm taking you back, *huff* to see her again. *huff* So you two can sort this shit out between yourselves."

"No!" Neptune protested as her body shone.

Tch, she's that desperate to get away, she's using HDD?

"No way in hell are you getting away Neptune!"

I managed to wrap my arm around her waist before she transformed and shot into the sky.

"Dang it Nepgear! Let go! You're heavy!"

"Stop squirming!" I protest. "I'll only let go if you promise me you'll come back with me to face Noire again."

Neptune looks at me and we lock eyes. Can she tell how determined and motivated I am to bring this all to a close?

Neptune sighs. "Fine, I'll go back with you. But since we're like this, I'll just fly us back."

"Thank you. I knew you'd understand Neptune." I sigh in relief.

As we landed at the exit we both ran out of earlier, Neptune changed back and we made our way back to Noire and Uni. I grabbed Neptune's hand to ensure she didn't run away again after all that transpired.

"We're back, and as promised, here's Neptune." I called out as I pushed Neptune in front of Noire.

There's a long drawn out silence between the two as they look away from each other, unsure who to start first.

""Um""

They both started at the same time.

"N-Neptune can go first..."

"No, you go first..."

If they bounce between one another like this we're not going to get anywhere.

"Neptune." I butted in.

"R-Right..." she replied before bowing a full 90 degrees towards Noire. "I'm sorry for leaving as I did during your confession! I wanted to keep the status quo between us but ended up breaking it into pieces instead!"

Noire looked at Neptune with surprise, a full 90 degree bow from her? That's not something you see every day and it's a full display of Neptune's sincerity.

"I-I'm... Sorry for telling you to go away earlier as well..." Noire looked away as she apologised, seems she still doesn't want to properly admit defeat. "Were you entirely serious when you told me your regrets earlier?"

"A hundred, no. A thousand percent." Neptune looked up in reply, "I really found out about my feelings for you after what you had to endure. Nepgear and Uni can attest to that."

Uni and I nodded as Noire looked at us.

"She uncharacteristically broke out into song as she looked at you by your bed Noire." Uni added.

Noire turned to Neptune in surprise and all she had was a chuckle and "Yeah."

"It was incredibly cheesy but I put my heart into it," Neptune admitted, "shame you weren't awake to hear it and now I'm too embarrassed to recite it again."

I facepalm myself mentally for not recording my sister's moment as a singer. Would've been great to keep it as a memory and for Noire to get back at her.

"All in all, I just want to go and redo our relationship," Neptune proclaimed as she made eye contact with Noire, "it might be a rocky start trying to find our ground again but I want to make it happen. We'll just take small steps at a time and eventually we'll come to fully trust and love one another with all our being."

Noire sat there dumbfounded at how unnatural a serious Neptune is for a good second or two before bursting out in laughter. The first time we've seen her in a mood that isn't sad, tsun, or neutral, and honestly, it feels refreshing.

"I'll take you up on that offer then, Neptune."

"Right, I don't know if you need more rest but we'll start working on it tomorrow together."

"I've got plenty of rest already." Noire retorted.

"Whatever you say, princess."


Shortly after our sisters made up, Uni and I had a wedding which rocked the whole of Gamindustri and it maybe became a public holiday for both Lastation and Planeptune. As for the item to return me to my original gender, it was found in the depths of an obscure dungeon a few months later and recovered by our sisters and co., I debated whether or not I wanted to take it for a good while but decided on after having a kid or two because we wanted to have physical proof of me and Uni's love. Maybe I can attempt to reverse engineer the effects should our 4 CPUs need it for obvious reasons.

Speaking about those four, Blanc and Vert made official statements on their relationship after they were caught having a date in Lowee. It was like that "Special Feeling" meme when they were interviewed with Blanc hastily covering her face while Vert just responds with an grin. As for Neptune and Noire, they've almost gotten back to how their relationship was before the ordeal as the months pass by. But this time they're a lot closer than before and honestly, it's going to raise your blood sugar level to levels that shouldn't even be possible.

As it stands, the current situation in Gamindustri has reached a new normal compared to before, with the next change either NepNoire's marriage or my kid being born (lol). But those are events to look forward to in the future to come.


Holy hell, this is back from the dead and actually finished. If you're somehow still reading this even after so many months of delay and no updates, I thank you for sticking with this to the end. I honestly have little excuses for not finishing this earlier and I'm guessing a lot of the people who read this when it was still "new" have already moved on and forgotten about it as one of those fanfics that never reached a conclusion because the writer is "dead".
My inactivity is likely due to the fact that there isn't any series that I really want to write fanfics for plus procrastination. The days where I was charmed by Neptunia are no longer and I'm thinking of writing something original. Though some may already know by past experience (if you are still around) that my upload schedule isn't the most consistent. Though I'm not sure where to put original work, but I'll find somewhere (if I can) and attempt something fresh(?)

Adios

PostEdit: Song Neptune sings is a parody of Yakuza 0's Baka Mitai that I came up with randomly