“Oh yeah!” Neptune began, suddenly perking up. Neptune smiled brightly as she turned towards Noire. “You said this place was filled with bandits, right? I almost forgot about them!”
“That’s true.” Said Noire.
“No. She’s not a-” Histoire began, but Linda cut her off.
“Why don’t you two shut the hell up.” Linda said, as she pointed at Neptune with her pipe. “You think you can just wander into my territory and do whatever the hell you want? I don’t think so.”
“Your territory?” Noire began, as she placed her left hand on her hip. “The last time I checked this place still belonged to Lastation.”
“Really?” Linda said, giggling. “Did you hear that Pirachu? I guess I was wrong! This place belongs to Lastation.” Linda giggled even harder. “Yeah, these two are delusional.” Said Linda.
“Pirachu?” Noire muttered, under her breath.
“Do you know who that is?” Asked Neptune, in a low voice.
“No. I also don’t see anyone else here.” Noire said, scanning the area behind Linda. “Anyways. You need to get out of our way, or else.”
Linda’s smile vanished, her eyes narrowed at Noire. “Or else what?” Linda asked, in a voice that threatened to cut Noire down.
Noire aimed the tip of her rapier at Linda. “Or else were going to have to hurt you, though I’d rather not fight a human though.”
“Well… Don’t let that bother you!” Linda screamed, as she rushed towards Noire as fast as she could and once she was close enough, swung her metal pole. Noire parried the first attack and ran quickly to the left as Linda swung her pole again and again. Noire dodged left and right, avoiding each attack by mere inches.
“You little-!” Linda began, as she raised her metal pole high over her head and brought it down hard.
Noire quickly dodged the attack and ran around Linda. “Know it off.” Noire said, as she jumped back several feet.
“Noire! Nep her up already!” Neptune said, as she started punching the air with her free hand.
“No.” Noire said, shaking her head. “Look at her.”
Neptune looked at Linda like Noire asked and noticed exactly what Noire had. Linda was strong, but her movements were slow. Not only that, but Linda was also sweating and breathing hard. “She’s exhausted already?” Neptune said, confused.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you two. Linda arrived her about a month ago. At first she was accompanied by another individual, but I haven’t seen him in a while. As for Linda, she’s been fighting for her life the entire time and hasn’t slept since she arrived.” Said Histoire.
“You’re kidding. That’s impossible.” Noire said. “She’s been here since last month, right?”
“That’s correct.” Said Histoire.
“So you’re tell me that this girl hasn’t slept in thirty-one days?” Asked Noire.
Histoire nodded once more. “Yes. I’ve had to increase the healing effects from the Fairy Tower in order to keep her alive, but the tower was never built to keep people awake for that long of time.”
“That’s nuts dude! I would die if I didn’t get at least sixteen hours of sleep each day!” Neptune said.
“Shut up!” Linda cried, the girl was breathing hard. “I don’t need your pity! I need you-” Linda stopped taking and turned her head towards the left. “What? Alright! I’ll let you take care of them then!” Linda said, giggling evilly.
Noire and Neptune watched as Linda ran to the left side of the room and vanished into the shadows for a moment, before they heard the sound of something heavy being dragged along the floor.
“Uh-oh… Something big is coming!” Neptune cried.
“No. No it’s not.” Histoire said, sighing deeply.
A moment later a cinderblock was pushed into the light. The cinderblock had a face drawn on it in red paint. Moments later Linda appeared standing next to the rock. “I hope you two are ready to die!” Linda said, pointing at Noire. “Get them Pirachu!” Linda cried.
It felt like all the noise had been sucked out of the room at that point. Linda watched the cinderblock with a large smile on her face, while Neptune, Noire and Histoire stood there wondering if anything would actually happen.
“Yeah! You’re doing it Pirachu!” Linda said, as tears welled up in her eyes. “You’re beating them!”
“Um…” Neptune began.
“You can’t talk!” Linda snapped, pointing a stern finger at Neptune. “Pirachu just kicked your head off! So you can’t talk!”
“Oh! Sorry!” Neptune said, surprised.
“Neptune can’t talk? I think I like this Pirachu.” Said Noire, smiling mischievously. Neptune narrowed her eyes at Noire as she groaned under her breath.
“Unfortunately this is what I was trying to warn you about. This place was at one time filled with bandits, but those bandits have long since moved on. Linda has been alone this entire time with no one to talk to. If I could have kept her company I would have. I would have told Linda how to escape, but I was unable to. To make matters worse, thanks to the monsters roaming around here Linda has been unable to get any sleep, her mental faculties have suffered quite a bit.” Said Histoire.
“Why didn’t she just leave?” Asked Neptune.
“If I had to guess. She and this Pirachu probably came in a different way and now that way is unavailable to her.” Said Noire.
“Huh. So what should we do now?” Asked Neptune.
“Let’s take her with us.” Said Noire. “We’ll drop her off at the hospital.” And with those words, Noire made her way over to Linda who was still watching the cinderblock with a goofy smile on her face.
“Be careful Noire!” Neptune cried.
“It’s fine. I’m sure Pirachu killed me already.” Said Noire, as she grabbed Linda’s hand and bent down. Moments later Noire stood with Linda draped over her shoulder. “Alright. Let’s go.”
“Right. Thanks for everything Histoire!” Neptune said.
“It as my pleasure. Please take good care of Linda.” Said Histoire, waving goodbye to the girls.
“Should I bring that thing?” Neptune asked, gesturing towards the cinderblock.
“No. Leave it behind Neptune. I need you to keep us safe until we reach the wall where we came in. Okay?” Said Noire.
“I’m on it!” Neptune said, running ahead of Noire and Linda.
Even though it was tricky, Neptune managed to keep Noire and Linda safe and only had to deal with a few monsters and robots that got in their way. Soon the girls were making their way through Lastation.
“We did it Pirachu. We took out the goddess and now Lastation is ours!” Linda said, dreamily.
“Uh-oh. Looks like she just conquered Lastation.” Said Neptune, fighting back her laughter.
“Yeah. She’s going to need some rest.” Said Noire.
Noire and Neptune managed to get Linda to the hospital. “Take good care of her.” Said Noire, watching as the doctors wheeled Linda through a set of swinging doors. “Well I guess we should head back home.”
“Yep. We did good out there Noire. I was a little worried about you considering you’re not as strong as me, but…” Neptune began.
“Oh please. I was the one who was worried. I thought you’d keel over the moment you realized they weren’t serving any pudding over there.” Said Noire.
Neptune and Noire stared at one another until they both burst into laughter. “Geesh Noire! When did you get a sense of humor?”
“Since I met you.” Said Noire. “Come on. We’ve had a long day so let’s go home.”
“Nice!” Neptune said.
Neptune and Noire walked side-by-side as they made their way back to Noire’s home. As they walked, the girls wondered where the next Fairy Tower would take them. “Oh boy… I just remembered. We didn’t get the information on the next Fairy Tower from Histoire.” Said Neptune. “To be honest. I really don’t want to go back through that factory.”
“It’s alright. I’m sure Histoire shares information between the Fairy Towers. We’ll just ask the one outside of Lastation.” Said Noire, matter-of-factly.
“Good idea! Gee Noire! You’re a super genius.” Said Neptune.
“I know.” Said Noire, smiling proudly.
“But you’re not as smart as my baby sister. She must have gotten all the brains in our family.” Said Neptune, sighing deeply.
“I agree.” Said Noire.
“Hey!” Neptune said, annoyed. “Don’t agree with me when I put myself down! It’s not nice.”
Noire giggled. “Sorry Neptune, but I believe in telling the truth.”
When Neptune and Noire reached the house. Neptune ran to the couch and plopped herself down. “Time to game!” Neptune said, grabbing a controller and turning on the television.
“Neptune…” Noire began.
“Wait.” Neptune said, holding up her hand. “I respect that this is Uni’s console so I asked her first and she gave me permission.”
“I know that, but I was hoping you’d help me clean up around here. If you don’t help me, Nepgear and Uni is going to have to help me.” Said Noire, as she opened a closet door and pulled out a broom. “We shouldn’t always rely on our sisters to take care of us. Sometimes we need to take care of them.”
Neptune groaned loudly. “Noire… I hate when you make sense.” Neptune said, as she begrudgingly got off the couch and headed over to her friend. “Fine, fine. I’ll sweep up in here.”
“Thank you.” Noire said. “I’ll take care of the upstairs. You’ll see. Cleaning will go by pretty fast if we both work together. I’ll make dinner for us when I get done. Alright?”
“Right.” Neptune said, sadly.
After Noire finished speaking, she grabbed another broom and headed upstairs. At first, Neptune thought about doing a sweeping the floors for a few moments, before returning to her game. However, as she started sweeping the floor she started to focus more on that instead.
Neptune slowly made her way around the floor. She moved chairs, moved the table and soon had a smile pile of dirt ready to be swept up into a pan. After that she briskly moved around the living room sweeping around the couch. “This isn’t so bad.” Neptune thought.
The door to the house suddenly opened and Nepgear and Uni appeared. “Big sister?” Nepgear began. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Huh?” Neptune said, confused.
“You’re sweeping! Did something happen?” Nepgear asked.
Uni’s eyes went wide when she realized that Noire wasn’t in the room. “My big sister? Did something happen to her?” Uni asked, as she flew out of the room screaming Noire’s name.
“Whoa! What happened?” Neptune asked, surprised.
“That’s what I need to know! Did something happen to Noire when you both went to activate the Fairy Tower?” Nepgear asked, her eyes were filled with fear.
“Huh? No!” Neptune said, shaking her head. “I mean we ran into some monsters and a crazy girl, but that was it!”
“Crazy girl?” Nepgear asked, furrowing her brow.
A few moments later Noire and Uni walked into the living room. Uni was hugging Noire’s arm tightly to her chest. “N-Neptune you jerk!” Uni sobbed. “I thought my sister was dead!”
“Neptune!” Noire said, angrily. “Just because I asked you to sweep doesn’t give you the right to tell my little sister that I died!”
Neptune didn’t say anything. Instead she groaned loudly before turning her eyes back to the floor where she started sweeping some more. “Actually…” Nepgear began. “I’m at fault here. I was shocked to see my sister sweeping, so I thought something might have happened. I’m sorry.”
“Oh… I see…” Noire said, sighing deeply. Noire patting Uni’s arm as she turned her eyes to Neptune. “It’s so rare to see you clean that your sister naturally thought something horrible must have happened.”
“Sweep, sweep. All I do is sweep.” Neptune said, turning away from the girls.
“Sorry Neptune.” Noire said. “Anyways Nepgear? Can you do me a favor and play some video games with Uni? I’m going to finish sweeping upstairs and get started on dinner. Okay?”
“Sure.” Nepgear said, smiling nervously. “I’m sorry as well.”
“Big sis…” Uni began.
“It’s alright Uni. I had Neptune with me so I was fine.” Said Noire.
“Okay.” Uni said, nodding. Uni reluctantly released her grip on Noire’s arm, before she wandered over to where Nepgear was standing. Uni’s cheeks were bright red with embarrassment. “Neptune? I’m sorry I called you a jerk.”
Neptune giggled. “Oh don’t worry about it. I’m sure I had it coming.”
***
Later that night Uni found it impossible for her to get any sleep. Even though she didn’t want to admit it, she was worried about her sister for the last couple of days. Even though Noire is the strongest girl she knew, Uni still couldn’t help but worry about her. Today the flood gates finally opened and she released all of those feelings, but she still found it difficult to sleep.
Sitting up in bed, Uni threw her blankets off of her and carefully crossed her room to her door. Uni had to make sure she didn’t accidentally kick or step on Nepgear who was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor.
Gently opened her door she stepped into the hallway and into her sisters room. Now Uni was standing over her big sister. “Noire?” Uni breathed.
“Hmm?” Noire began, opening her eyes. “What’s wrong Uni?”
“I can’t sleep.” Uni began. “Can I sleep with you?” Noire didn’t say anything. Instead she slid over and pulled back the blankets. Uni smiled brightly as she climbed into her sisters bed. “Thanks big sis.”
“You’re welcome. Get some sleep Uni.” Noire said, before drifting back off to sleep.
“Goodnight big sister.” Uni breathed, before she too fell into a deep relaxing sleep.
