“Are you sure about this, Neptune?”
“I’m sure you know this, but… raising kids is a huge responsibility. Look at me, my headaches from the twins are already cracking my skull”
“We don’t question your decision, but… are you really sure? Has the paperwork been done?”
“Yup. We’ll have to go to court to le-le-le…!”
“Legally, Sis…”
“Yup, legallers! Histy’s gonna help”
“Do you even know what you’re getting into? We’re not being sarcastic this time”
“I know… I know… it’s just that…
They just look so cute, y’know?”
----------------------------------------
Once upon a time, a certain purple haired protagonist stumbled upon two infants sleeping soundly in the living room of her Basilicom.
It was a serene sight like the morning dew.
Upon walking closer to get a better look at the infants, she’d notice a note on top of their blankets reading: ‘I will explain later. H.’
The sun was just rising, with the rays from said object spreading vitamin D all around, illuminating the two infants' faces. Said infants squinted their faces, reacting to the sun’s rays initially, but relaxing soon after and returning to their deep slumber moments later
Their legs moved, revealing a tag on each of their feet.
“IF, and Compa...”
----------------------------------------
“Still… who would’ve just left their children like that at the front of the Basilicom?” Neptune muttered to herself, sitting up now and taking a look at her surroundings.
Beside her to her right was her younger sister, sleeping soundly as an outstretched arm was slowly drifting down to her knee, and drooling…
Neptune sighed and gently placed Nepgear’s outstretched arm somewhere else. She could see that her younger sister wasn’t happy with such a sensation being lost from her in her sleep, judging by the frown on her face that had only just been drooling moments ago.
But now wasn’t the time for that.
And then farther to her right on the second bed was Compa, sleeping soundly and also smiling, dreaming of something. IF most likely.
Even though it was her fault that IF was even in a coma to begin with…
Neptune let out a quiet yawn and stretched a little, gently moving from her bed so as to not disturb Nepgear and went to the bathroom to shower.
On her way there however, it was hard not to notice the small plush that looked like her sat on top of the counter under the TV.
It even had her old outfit. That iconic parka dress, that had dirtied and became useless quickly once she and Nepgear were kicked out to the streets and had to live in poverty for a while.
“They still make plushes like this about me?” Neptune wondered to herself aloud, “Or was it something those two found in an antique store?”
She glanced back to the two women sleeping in their respective beds, “Not like I’d ask them anyway.”
Setting the plush down back on the counter where she picked it up, Neptune easily walked into the bathroom and went about her morning to take her early shower.
However, if she had turned the plush around at all, she would’ve noticed a piece of paper loosely taped to the back of it reading “From Vert”.
----------------------------------------
“Nothing like a hot shower to get you all warmed up for the rest of the day.” Neptune told herself as she walked out of the shower a few minutes later.
She dried herself adequately enough and quickly put on a spare shirt she had in her luggage, some panties (obviously), and some shorts. It wasn’t the outfit she was going to be wearing for the rest of the day, but it was something that she could wear for now until her hair completely dried.
As she finished changing, Neptune stood up and took a look over her surroundings once more. Nepgear and Compa were still sleeping, all of their N-Gears were on the nightstand in between the bed, and there was a plush of herself on the counter below the TV…
Neptune grabbed her N-Gear as quietly and as quickly as she could, and did the same with the plush of herself. Placing it gently into Nepgear’s once again outstretched hand, hoping it was enough of something to hold onto.
She grabbed one of the keycards to her room from the small packet and headed off to grab breakfast for the day.
Since this was a fancy hotel, with all expenses paid for by Compa, somehow, Neptune knew she could’ve just ordered breakfast directly from their room. But knowing that Compa would be crazy worried about her and Nepgear would be all over her, she decided against that.
When she got to the first floor after taking the elevator and made her way to the breakfast hall, Neptune would be greeted by… a face she did not want to see so early into the morning.
Out of everyone there at the breakfast hall, despite being in Leanbox, Vert’s long, flowing, golden blonde hair and blue eyes made her stand out amongst the sea of others with the same basic features as her.
It also didn’t help that she was wearing basically nothing. Even less so than what Neptune was wearing.
All her ‘outfit’ was, was just a strapless, pink and white one piece dress, a bra, knee-highs and a pair of loafers.
Knowing what Vert liked to dress in the past with, this was quite the shocker to her. But it did have it’s charm. The blonde’s hair being tied by a simple white ribbon into a ponytail also helped with her charm.
If she wasn’t already into someone else, maybe Neptune might’ve actually fallen for Vert. Also if she wasn’t a bitch, but that was neither here nor there was it?
“Oh, Neptune! Funny to see you here in the morning.” Vert greeted, noticing the purplette stand out amongst the crowd.
Which wasn’t that hard considering even in Planeptune she stuck out like a sore thumb.
Not wanting to spend the energy to get mad at the woman, Neptune sighed and gave the woman a small wave as she walked over, “Why are you up? You look like you’d be more of a late night party goer nowadays.”
“Oh, me? Well I’m not a partygoer, but I am a pro gamer actually.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’ve been up for a while, Neptune. I’m just here to refresh my energy, and then it’s back on the grind…” Vert paused, “Did you not know that I became a pro gamer, Neptune?”
Neptune shook her head tiredly, “No. Do you think I would’ve had time to keep up with everyone’s lives when I had to pull myself together to even live?”
Vert remained quiet, and Neptune sighed. “Look, just know that I hate all of you equally. I just can’t be assed to get mad at you right now because it’s early in the morning and I only came down to grab breakfast by myself.”
“By yourself?” Vert asked out of curiosity, noticing the select choice of words that Neptune had used, “So you came with someone?”
Neptune nodded, “More like I was forced to come. I would’ve liked to stay at my small shop, but Nepgear and especially Compa suggested that I take a break and go on vacation.”
Vert giggled, “How have Nepgear and Compa been nowadays? It has been a long while since I’ve seen them.”
“Nepgear’s turned into a pervert.” Neptune stated bluntly, “Apart from that, she’s made tons of money taking commissions as an engineer.”
“So then that means you don’t have to run that shop anymore, no?”
Neptune nodded, “But that would defeat the purpose of me having the shop in the first place.”
“Which is?”
“Do I need to tell you why I’m running a brick and mortar store during the age of online delivery and such?”
Vert once again remained silent as Neptune moved on to Compa.
“Compa’s married to IF. They’ve been married for a while actually. Apparently they sent out invites to everyone they knew. Did you go to their wedding?”
Vert shook her head, “Not at all. Maybe I have the email buried somewhere in my inbox, but I was knee-deep into grinding tournaments as a solo player.”
“They must’ve been sad to not have you at their wedding, I assume?” Vert asked not a moment later.
“IF was anything but sad when she saw what had become of me since my disappearance…”
“So then, why IF was in the hospital is because of…?”
Neptune nodded shamefully.
“...why don’t we get our breakfast finally? We can talk more after that, yeah?”
“Yeah…”
----------------------------------------
The entire time from getting their breakfast to eating it was in pure silence. Neither of the two women spoke to each other in the time between.
To be honest, with how their previous conversation had ended, who could blame either of them for staying silent until they had their fill.
“Man… Compa really did pick a nice ass hotel.”
Vert tilted her head, “I didn’t know you to be someone who swore in the past, Neptune. What-”
She cut herself before she asked a very, very, redundant question, and pissed off Neptune more than she already seemed to be talking to her.
“I’m glad I don’t have to tell you why I’ve picked up swearing and other habits you’ll see from me.” Neptune said in a relieved tone of voice for once as she drank the last of her glass of water. “Nothin’ like a nice glass of water.”
“I can see what you mean…” Vert muttered sheepishly, “...”
Neptune sighed, “Can’t really think of anything to talk about with me huh? Considering how forward I am with presenting everything that’s happened to me and how I’ve changed?”
Vert nodded, “Yeah.”
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Well, how has your pro gaming career gone then? You seem to pretty much be even more popular than you were when you were still a CPU.”
“I’m always number 1 in the solo leaderboards. The only woman there, and people like to lease my skills for their team to make a deep run in a tournament.” Vert immediately boasted, only keeping her language mild because of the person in front of her, “I blue ball them at semis though. I’ve already made enough Credits from my previous performances to coast for a lifetime. Not that I plan to coast for the foreseeable future.”
“I can tell that you’re trying to restrain your wording there.”
“What? You really want me to be boastful and break the tightrope faster, Neptune? I am trying to make amends for my actions at the very least after all.”
“And you’re failing. I don’t care what you tell me. I still hate all of your guts for everything you did to me and caused me to go through.”
“But it was all for your best interests.”
“Fuck no it wasn’t. You guys were being selfish and the tone you always gave me was so condescending.”
“That’s not true.”
Neptune’s face at this point clearly showed her irritation at the topic, “Not true my ass…! The only time the three of you ever showed concern was when I decided to officially adopt IF and Compa.”
“That’s because it was such a left turn for you to actually take responsibility for anything. If anything I expected you to give up and push them onto me instead.”
“This conversation is over. You can go fuck yourself, Vert.” Neptune suddenly stood up from the table and moved to walk towards the elevator
“You raised them fine, but what if you had messed up? I don’t think that they would’ve ended up as they are now if you had raised them even slightly differently.”
“Stop talking to me, tits for brains. That’s the thing about you, you know? You never know when to shut the fuck up or be less blunt about your opinions.” Neptune spat as she walked.
She turned around to face Vert. “Do you ever stop to think about why Blanc always hated your guts? Or why Noire barely tolerated you a bit more than me? No? Then you’re no better than me you bitch.”
“Stop trying to insert yourself into my life again. Nepgear may have saved your life then, but don’t expect next time to be so lucky.”
As Neptune walked away, all Vert could think to herself aloud was, “Why is she so possessive about those two? She couldn’t have possibly been such a big influence on their lives, right?”
----------------------------------------
When Neptune returned to her room, she would find Nepgear and Compa chatting amongst themselves, having their own breakfast that they had ordered to their room.
“Oh, Sis! Did you go to the breakfast hall?” Nepgear asked, her mouth full of pancake as she spoke, “I was wondering where you went off to.”
Neptune chuckled slightly, “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Junior. But yeah, I did go to the breakfast hall.”
“Why though?” Nepgear questioned after she had swallowed her piece of pancake.
“Oh, Nep-Nep! Did you see the plush of you under the TV?” Compa asked to quickly change the topic
“Yeah I did.” Neptune said with a nod, “Did you guys buy that from an antique shop or something?”
Compa shook her head, “No actually! That’s from Vert. You are right that it’s from an antique store though. Apparently she bought it as a gift of reparations. Though I’m not too sure what she means by… that…”
Neptune violently threw the plush into the nearby trash and huffed angrily, “Stupid fucking bitch…! You think this is enough for the shit I went through…?!”
Compa broke into a cold sweat, “I’m assuming you met her at the breakfast hall and it didn’t go well?”
Neptune groaned and sat on the small sofa next to her bed, “How are you so spot on, Compa?”
Compa giggled sheepishly, “I mean, you raised me, Nep-Nep. Of course I can easily guess what made you mad. You got mad at a lot of things when IF and I were growing up.”
“What about me, Compa?” Nepgear asked, “What can you tell about me?”
Compa hummed, “Well… judging by how skinny you are compared to how you were last time I saw you, you didn’t eat much. And you’ve gotten a bit more intimate with Nep-Nep.”
“I am not skinny!”
“You’re not. But you’re skinnier than I last saw you, and that concerns me. Especially as a licensed nurse, since you’re more likely to catch diseases and so on. You and Nep-Nep aren’t CPUs anymore after all.”
“You don’t have to remind me…” Neptune said with a sad sigh, “Though I guess not being immortal has made me value life more.”
“Sis, that’s way too dark.” Nepgear said bluntly as she stared at her sister, “Even for you now. That’s way too dark of a thought to have.”
Neptune chuckled sheepishly, “Is it? My bad.”
Nepgear shook her head, “Anyway. When I’m finished with my breakfast, what do we want to do today?”
The lilac-ette looked at her older sister first. Who only gave her a shrug in response and said, “You guys dragged me here. So I had no plans to begin with.”
When Nepgear looked at Compa, the woman beamed a smile, “Let’s go shopping! Get everyone some new clothes and also some things to help spice up Nep-Nep’s store!”
“Huh?”
“You still have access to your inventory, right Nep-Nep?”
Neptune blinked in confusion, “From being a CPU? Well I never actually tried to use… it… WOAH?! WHAT THE NEP?! WHAT’S WITH THIS KATANA?!”
“Wait, let me see if I still have access to mine too…” Nepgear said, “Mmmm… I don’t have access to mine though. Why is that?”
“It might be because of…” Neptune suddenly didn’t want to finish that sentence she had started
Compa and Nepgear only nodded. Nepgear speaking first, “I guess going into that form gave you access to your inventory again, Sis.”
“I had a feeling.” Compa said simply, “But not for this reason…”
Neptune waved her hand dismissively and put the katana back into her inventory, poofing away as fast as it appeared. “Don’t think about it too hard, Compa. I’m just glad that I have access to begin with.”
Compa gave a weary smile, “I suppose that’s true…”
Neptune stared at her hands idly, “Two decades huh?”
----------------------------------------
“Hah… how can you carry this many bags, Compa?!” Neptune exclaimed in slight discomfort.
Okay maybe major discomfort.
She had offered to Compa to carry the bags instead of her, considering the congo-haired woman had seemed uncomfortable. But when she actually started carrying all the weight…
She quickly realized she had offered too much.
“Sis, I can also take-”
Neptune shook her head and flashed a pained smile to her younger sister, “It’s fine, Nepgear. I’m the older sister here. You’re not that fit right now.”
Nepgear sighed, “Pass me a bag or two at least. I know Compa said I’m skinnier than normal, but I should be able to handle at least that much.”
“If you say so.” Neptune said, obliging and letting the woman take a bag or two off of her, “Oh thank goodness that actually feels slightly more comfortable now…”
Compa gave a nervous sweat as they walked along the sidewalk of Leanbox’s capital, “I guess I’m just used to it. I did carry that antiquated syringe gun that was way too heavy for me back then…”
“I honestly don't want to know what you use as a weapon now.” Neptune mumbled under her breath
“Don’t think I didn’t hear you Nep-Nep!”
“Eep!”
The trio’s shopping efforts proved fruitful. In Neptune’s inventory were items that no one would be able to normally carry. Such as a few sets of holographic projectors and… that’s about it actually. She relented on at least getting a few of these to make her shop look at least more presentable on the outside.
As for why she was carrying so many bags despite being able to shove them in her inventory? It was at Compa’s insistence. Truly she didn’t know why Compa was so insistent that the bags stay outside and for them to carry them all, but it’s not like the purplette could exactly say no to her ‘daughter’.
“I’m kind of hungry honestly…” Neptune mumbled, her stomach grumbling to drive her point home.
“We did kind of spend a ton of time in that one clothing store, yeah.” Nepgear said sheepishly, looking to Compa with a weary look on her face.
Compa nodded her head fervently, “Of course! Both of your clothes are old fashioned and somewhat raggedy! If you’re going to be interacting with everyone again then you need to look presentable!”
“Even though you’re the one who basically forced me to be sociable again?”
“Yes.”
Neptune sighed sadly, “Well, that still doesn’t change the fact that I want food.”
Compa pouted, “Can’t you wait till we get back to our hotel, Nep-Nep?”
Neptune’s stomach groaned once more. Nepgear’s stomach now also joins in the ‘symphony’.
“..Oops.” Compa hit her head slightly and made a face, tilting her head sideways, sticking her tongue out and closing one eye.
Neptune put a hand to her head, “Where’s the nearest restaurant?”
The trio walked around for a while, looking and failing to find a restaurant nearby them, let alone a food court belonging to a mall nearby.
All the while, Neptune was getting continuously irritated with the severe lack of restaurants in their area.
“Seriously…?! Not a single restaurant or food court in sight?!”
Someone coughed behind them, “Do you need help navigating Leanbox?”
“I’m not taking help from you, thunder tits.”
Neptune, and subsequently Nepgear and Compa, turned around to see a pair of blue eyes staring them all straight in the face. A smug look on her face as to Neptune she still wore that same outfit from her encounter with her in the morning.
“But you’re hungry, no?”
“Of course no-”
Neptune’s stomach groaned
“O-Okay so what if I am?”
“I can direct you to a nearby restaurant. Since this used to be my nation after all.” Vert said smugly
“And what if I refuse?”
“Do you even know your way back to the hotel, Neptune?”
Neptune grit her teeth, “Fine.”
Nepgear and Compa gave weary looks to each other, and then to Vert, but in the end decided to follow along. They were also starving after all.
----------------------------------------
“I thought I told you not to insert yourself into my life after this morning, Vert.” Neptune said bluntly to the blonde haired woman sitting across from her.
“You did say that, yes.” Vert confirmed with a nod.
“Then, why?” Nepgear asked instead
Vert smirked, “Because when I saw a group of foreigners get lost in my home nation, of course I would be compelled to help wouldn’t I?”
Neptune took another bite into the burger she ordered, “Bullshiph…” she took a bit to chew and swallow her food before she continued, “We just stand out like a sore thumb.”
Vert nodded, “That’s correct. But I also wanted to confirm something for myself…”
Neptune instantly shot a glare towards the big titted behemoth woman, “Don’t you fucking dare, Vert.”
Ignoring Neptune’s obvious rage at what was about to happen, Vert shifted her attention to the person she was going to ask the question to.
“Desu?” When Vert’s eyes landed on her, Compa was very much confused.
But as soon as Vert asked her question, she would soon later find out why.
Without any warning, without any hesitation, without any remorse, and as quick as the emotions of a woman changes, a slap heard all over the restaurant happened.
It was obvious that it didn’t lead to any good conclusions.
“I WILL NOT BE HAVING ANY OF THIS, VERT!” Compa shouted, “YOU WILL NOT BE DISPARAGING NEP-NEP IN ANY SORT OF WAY!”
Vert sat there with a confused look on her face, lightly touching her cheek which had just been slapped.
“But why?”
“WHY?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHY?! NEP-NEP WAS A GREAT PARENT AND SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO!”
Vert shook her head, “This doesn’t add up. That’s not how I remember Neptune at all…”
Compa suddenly stood up and walked over to where Vert sat, pulling the woman up from her clothes and pulling her closer.
“Neptune gave up so much for us, Vert. Her and Nepgear worried day after day to make sure we were fed, that we didn’t get ourselves into trouble or hurt ourselves, and made sure that we grew up to be upstanding citizens. Among other things I’m not remembering right now.”
“... That’s still not-”
“And…?!” Compa spat instantly, “Out of the four of you, Neptune cares the most. While she doesn’t actually do her job as the CPU, doing all the boring paperwork, she was always connecting with everyone in Planeptune. Making sure they were all okay, helping the elderly, doing more humanitarian work than the other three of you have ever done apart from “Oh, donating to charity should be enough”.”
Compa suddenly threw Vert to the ground, and said woman let out a groan of pain.
“Now leave. Or else I’ll actually finish what Nep-Nep started.”
Vert dusted herself off and glared at the trio, “This isn’t over.”
“It is. OVER.” Compa emphasized, “Do not. Insert yourself into our lives any more! NOW GET OUT!”
She gave an ominous smile, “Right, Nep-Nep? Ge-Ge?”
Both women nodded and gulped, “R-Right…”
Without another word, the blonde woman scurried away and Compa returned to her seat as if Vert hadn’t distrubed the trio and nothing happened in the first place.
“Now then, where were we?”
Neptune broke into a nervous sweat, but still smiled regardless, “Thanks for sticking up for me, Compa.”
The congo-haired woman in question waved her hands dismissively, “It’s nothing, Nep-Nep. I would never stand for that in my life.”
Tears would start to form at the edge of Neptune’s eyes. Nepgear, who was sitting beside her, pat her sister on the back and sheepishly smiled, “Come on, Sis. You don’t have to be that emotional. We’re still out in public after all…”
Nepgear and Compa had to order their food to go and ask for directions back to the hotel they were staying at after that.