Neptune, Noire and Linda continued to walk down the long street until the abounded city finally came into view. By the time this happened, the sun had set over the horizon and it was completely dark. “I think we should stop now.” Noire said, taking a deep breath. “We all need to be at full strength tomorrow to deal with whatever monsters have settled into that area.”
“Not to mention all the other spooky things down there.” Linda said, hugging herself tightly. “Seriously. Ghosts roam that city. Also I heard some of the parallel worlds you can be sent are horrific. Like hell itself!”
“Cool!” Neptune said.
“How does any of that sound cool Neptune?!” Noire demanded.
Neptune looked deep into Noire’s eyes, but merely shrugged her shoulders. “Anyways, let’s set up camp!” Neptune suggested.
Noire wanted to say something to Neptune, anything to make the girl understand the horrors they were going to have to face the following day, but quickly changed her mind. “She’s going to figure it out sooner or later. I just hope it doesn’t cost her her life or sanity.” Noire thought.
Neptune and Noire took off their backpacks and started pulling out different items. They removed sleeping bags, battery operated lamps and even food. As the girls unpacked, they started to notice a small problem.
“I forgot about this, but we only have two sleeping bags.” Neptune said.
“It’s fine. It’s too warm to bundle up. Let’s just unzip them and lay them side-by-side.” Said Noire.
“Ooh. For cuddles?” Neptune suggested.
“For sleeping.” Noire said, slightly annoyed.
“Right, right.” Neptune said. “Don’t worry Noire. I won’t laugh when you offer to sleep in the middle of us.”
Noire sighed, but didn’t say anything. After a few moments, the girls managed to pull out most of the supplies from their backpacks. Noire built a small fire and soon the girls were cooking their dinner. A small pot of soup.
“I’m glad we packed soup, but is anyone else getting tired of it?” Neptune asked.
“Well… Yeah.” Noire said.
“I don’t mind.” Said Linda. “I’m starving.”
“So…” Neptune began. “I know I was acting cool and tough and all that, but I’m kind of nervous about tomorrow. Oh sweet Noire, tell us… How should we handle it?”
Noire shook her head. “I think our best bet is to stick really close together. Charge into the city, keep our eyes open for anything that looks unusual and head straight for the Fairy Tower.”
“Right.” Said Linda.
Neptune didn’t say anything as she pulled out the N-Gear that Nepgear had leant her. “Let’s have a peaky peak.” She said. Neptune began fiddling with the screen and controls on the N-Gear for a few moments. “It looks like the Fairy Tower is located in the middle of the city. If we keep following that road, we should reach it no problem!” Neptune said, handing the N-Gear over to Noire.
“Looks like it.” Noire said. “You know what? I really like this N-Gear thing. Where did Nepgear buy it?”
Neptune smiled proudly. “My sister made it! With her own cute little hands!”
“You’re kidding me! This thing is amazing!” Noire said, looking the device over. “I mean it looks like it would be low-tech, but it has amazing visuals and it can do all kinds of cool things. You’re really telling me your sister built this thing? That’s really cool.” Noire said, handing the device back to Neptune.
“Yeah it’s her pride and joy.” Said Neptune, as she slid it back into her backpack.
“Well my sister built her own guns!” Noire quickly added.
“Oh here comes the, ‘my sisters cool too’ talk.” Neptune said, giggling and shaking her head.
“Yeah. It was so cool watching her pick out each piece for her guns and put them all together. It was really impressive.” Said Noire, smiling proudly as well.
“Having little sisters sounds cool.” Said Linda. “I wish I had a few brats that did cool stuff too.”
“Yeah, little sisters can be great, but they can also be a handful.” Said Noire. “Like… Well it’s not her fault, but I’m worried sick about Uni and Nepgear.”
“Yeah. They’re capable enough and we know they won’t take candy from strangers or whatever, but we’d feel much better if they were with us now.” Said Neptune.
“Why didn’t you bring them with you two if you were worried so much?” Asked Linda.
“Work.” Noire said, dully. “Which seems like a bad excuse the more I say it.”
An awkward silence fell over the group. “Well… I think the soup is burning.”
“Oh!” Noire cried, as she grabbed a cloth and then the handle of the pot. After pouring the soup into three cups the girls held them out like drinks. “Cheers!” Noire said.
“Cheers!” Neptune and Linda said, gleefully.
After the girls finished their soup they laid down in the unzipped sleeping bags. True to Neptune’s word, she didn’t laugh as Noire squeezed between both Neptune and Linda. “Goodnight ladies.” Said Neptune.
“Night.” Said Linda, who sounded half asleep already.
“Night.” Said Noire.
***
“Okay… Yeah this is good. This is okay… NO! I can’t bring this one!” Came a frantic voice.
Noire opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. The sun was rising, but the sky still looked a bit dark. Sitting up, Noire looked down at the sleeping face of Neptune, but when she turned her eyes to Linda, she noticed the girl was gone. “Linda? Linda!” Noire cried, jumping to her feet.
“No! NO! This isn’t right!” Linda cried.
Noire turned and spotted Linda sitting on her knees near where the fire had been lit. Surrounding the girl were different kinds of metal pipes. Some were shiny and silvery, while others looked dull. There was even a golden pipe that caught Noire’s attention. “This isn’t any good!” Linda cried, as she summoned another pipe and then another. “None of these are right!”
“Linda?” Noire began, slowly walking up to Linda.
Linda turned towards Noire, tears were in her eyes. “Noire! Help me!” Linda cried.
Noire swallowed hard as she rushed over to Linda and placed her hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.” Noire said.
Linda took a deep breath. “Last night I had a nightmare. I feel into an alternate world and was surrounded by the scariest monsters ever! I tried to fight back, but my pipe broke during the battle! And then the monsters licked me!”
“Licked you?” Noire said, furrowing her brow.
“Yeah! It was terrible. I woke up hours ago and I’ve been trying to find the prefect pipe to use during our battle, but none of them seem right.” Said Linda.
“Well…” Noire began, as she looked around at all the metal pipes that surrounded them. “Are you sure you want to come with us? You can wait here and we’ll take care of the Fairy Tower and pick you up on the way back. We won’t make fun of you, I promise.” Said Noire.
Linda shook her head vigorously. “I can’t do that! I have to pay you back!”
“No you don’t.” Said Noire. “We didn’t help you because we thought you would owe us one later. Everything’s fine.”
“What’s going on?” Neptune asked, as she sat up.
“Linda’s freaking out.” Said Noire.
“Oh? Give her a hug or something. That usually helps.” Said Neptune, as she got to her feet. “Whoa. Did the guy in the red cap leave a bunch of pipes lying around?” Neptune asked, when she noticed all the pipes lying on the ground.
“No those are mine. I’ve been collecting them for a while now.” Said Linda.
Noire gave Linda’s shoulders a gentle squeeze. “I know!” She said, a thought suddenly came to her. “Why don’t you borrow a rapier from me? I have plenty of those.”
Linda took a deep breath, before she shook her head. “That’s alright. I’m okay now.” Said Linda. “I guess I just needed to talk to someone.”
“Are you sure?” Noire asked. Linda nodded her head in response. “Great. Neptune? Can you help me gather these pipes and-”
“Which of these pipes did you drop?” Neptune asked, as she cut Noire off. Neptune now held a golden pipe and a silver pipe in her hand. “This golden pipe? Or this silver pipe?”
“Very funny.” Noire said, annoyed.
“Or perhaps it was this rusted pipe?” Neptune quickly added.
After Linda gathered up all her pipes, she managed to find the one she could work with. After that the girls gathered their things. “We’ll leave the backpacks here.” Noire said, as she reached inside her backpack and pulled out some candy bars. “I have several of these.” She said, handing them over to Neptune and Linda.
“Thanks!” Linda said, as she stuffed two candy bars into her outfit, but opened the third one.
“Thanks Noire!” Neptune said, doing the same as Linda.
“Alright. Let’s get going.” Said Noire, getting to her feet.
Neptune, Noire and Linda made their way to the road and began walking towards the abandoned city. As they moved, the girls started to get more and more nervous, but they refused to let that stop them. They didn’t care what kinds of horrors they would face in the city. They would face them together.
Once the girls were just outside the city they summoned their weapons. “Let’s go!” Noire roared.
“RIGHT!” Neptune and Linda shouted.
The three girls charged into the city. As they ran they kept their eyes open for any signs of life. They ran down the long street and soon the Fairy Tower stood before them. “There it is!” Noire cried, pointing the tip of her rapier at the device.
“Were almost there!” Linda cried.
Soon the girls reached the Fairy Tower. Neptune pulled out the memory stick and slid it into the USB port on the terminal. “We did it!” Neptune cheered.
“Don’t cheer yet!” Noire cried, turning her eyes towards the city. “I’m sure something’s going to attack us at any moment!”
“Right!” Linda said.
However, as the seconds slowly turned to minutes, nothing happened. “Huh?” Neptune said, dropping her arms to her sides. “Where are all the monsters, ghosts and other creepy things?” She asked.
“Where? They’re…” Noire began, glancing around the city.
The buildings stood tall and empty. The sound of the wind howling between the buildings could be heard, but other than that, there was nothing. “WHERE IS EVERYTHING!?” Noire screamed, her voice echoed and reverberated off the buildings.
“This city is empty.” Came the voice of Histoire.
“You have to be kidding me!” Noire and Linda cried.
“Unfortunately not.” Histoire said.
“Histoire?” Noire began, turning to the holographic fairy girl. “Since I can remember, which isn’t very far, is that this city was abandoned because of something terrible happening here. Monsters, ghosts and parallel worlds! You can’t tell me that never happened.”
Histoire shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Linda said, shaking her head. “I’ve been terrified of this city since I can remember too. Why?”
Neptune crossed her arms in front of her chest and started pacing back and forth. “Ah-Hah!” Neptune said, as though she had just figured something out. “Histoire buddy? Can you tell me if this Fairy Tower had been moved?”
Histoire didn’t answer. Instead she closed her eyes. After a moment her eyes opened and she nodded. “Yes. This Fairy Tower was located several miles away from this city.” She answered.
“Moved?” Noire said, confused.
“I thought so.” Said Neptune. “Back in Planeptune, there was another Fairy Tower that had been moved from it’s original spot.”
Linda looked the giant Fairy Tower over. “Well who moved it?” She asked, aloud. “This thing looks like it weighs a billion pounds and it’s bolted to the ground.”
“I do not weigh a billion pounds. I weigh about… twenty thousand pounds.” Said Histoire, puffing out her cheeks in anger. “Anyways. That question is restricted information. Are you two okay with Linda hearing it?” Histoire asked.
Noire and Neptune turned to Linda, who looked slightly hurt by this. “I’m cool with it.” Said Neptune.
“I don’t mind.” Said Noire, shrugging her shoulders.
Very well.” Histoire said. “The only way someone could have moved it, is if it was moved by the administrator.”
“And who would that be?” Noire asked.
“Ah-Hah!” Neptune said, once more. “Let me guess. It was Histoire?”
Histoire nodded. “Yes. Only the original Histoire could have moved this Fairy Tower.”
Noire’s shoulders sagged. “So why would she do something like that?”
“Well. Technically speaking it’s happened several times in the past, but only at the behest of the goddesses.” Histoire explained.
“So we need to ask Black Heart or Black Sister why they moved it?” Noire asked.
“I wouldn’t bother.” Said Neptune. “No offense, but they didn’t seem that reliable.”
“Hey…” Noire said, annoyed. “Anyways Histoire, when was the Fairy Tower moved?”
“Nearly a month ago.” Said Histoire.
“When was the city abandoned?” Neptune then asked.
“Nearly a month ago.” Said Histoire.
Noire and Linda’s jaws dropped. “N-No. That can’t be right.” Linda said. “I remember hearing stories about this city since I was a kid!”
“I can’t believe it either.” Said Noire. “None of this is making any sense.”
Neptune merely shrugged her shoulders as she made her way over to Histoire. “Histoire buddy? Could you please tell me where the final Fairy Tower is?” Neptune asked, as she held out the N-Gear.
“Sending the information now.” Histoire said.
“Thanks!” Neptune said, smiling brightly. “I think those two are going to be out of it for a while.”
