Nepgear squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could. When she opened them back up the girl who introduced herself before as Neptune, was still standing in front of her smiling brightly. “You look… so much like my big sister.” Nepgear said, taking a few steps backwards. “You’re not my big sister, are you?” Nepgear thought, fearful that something had caused her sister to age by several years.
“I wish, but no. I don’t have any cute siblings like you.” Said Neptune, as she reached behind her back and pulled out a strange book. When the book opened, Nepgear gasped. Sitting between the books pages was Croire.
“Croire what are you… What’s going on here?” Nepgear asked, suddenly feeling like she was going crazy.
“So you know who I am?” Croire asked, crossing her arms in front of her. “Let me guess. My big mouth other self told you?”
Nepgear turned towards the Fairy Tower and spotted the holographic version of Croire smirking. “That’s right. It’s your fault for leaving me alone for so long. I had to use some idiot to help me get back.”
“What do you mean?” Nepgear asked, confused.
“Don’t listen to her.” Said Neptune, giggling. “Croire here in my book is the original. The Croire over there is the name of the AI who’s supposed to help adventurers when they use the Fairy Tower.” Neptune explained. “As you can see she isn’t very friendly.
“Hey!” The original Croire said, annoyed. “Calling her unfriendly is the same as calling me unfriendly.”
“Which is why I said it.” Neptune said, her voice trailed a bit as she spoke.
“Oh? Well who’s the big jerk who helped you to travel here, huh?” Croire asked.
Neptune giggled. “I’m sorry Croire. I still love you.” She said, giving Croire’s head a small pat.
Croire grumbled loudly, but she didn’t shoo Neptune’s fingers away. Nepgear watched this for a few moments, before she suddenly felt tears form in the corners of her eyes. “W-Why are you two being like this? I’m missing my big sister right now. I have no idea where I am.”
Neptune and Croire’s smiles instantly vanished. “See? You’re such a big jerk Neptune!” Croire snapped.
“Hey! Who are you calling a jerk?” Neptune snapped back.
“You you jerk! Croire said.
“Only a jerk calls someone else a jerk you jerk!” Neptune said, before she and Croire began growling at one another. Neptune sighed deeply before she made her way over to Nepgear. “I’m sorry sweetie. I’ll help you.”
“Really?” Nepgear asked. “How? Where are we right now?”
“Right now you’re in a pocket dimension.” Croire said, matter-of-factly. “And this pocket dimension is actually located in our dimension, but oddly enough it’s connected to your dimension as well.”
“How? Why?” Nepgear asked.
“Well…” Croire began, as she closed her eyes and searched for the data. “About seven years ago we were working on our alternate dimension technology. We were actually visited by a ‘special’ guest that told us that it was possible. Not only that, but they also told us that I had the ability to do it stored in my memory. So after a search that took about three months, I managed to find all the information we needed to travel between dimensions.” Croire explained.
“Unfortunately our technology wasn’t exactly perfect. We made a few mistakes and this Fairy Tower was one of them.” Said Croire.
“One of them?” Said Nepgear.
“What do you mean?” The Fairy Tower’s Croire demanded. “I was sent to this stupid dimension three years ago! I had no one to talk to or anything! You know how lonely that is?” The holographic girl demanded.
“Yeah, yeah.” Said the original Croire, blushing a little. “Anyways during one of our experiments we accidentally sent this Fairy Tower to another dimension and lost contact with it. We tried to find it as soon as it vanished, but it was gone. It took us about six years to find it.”
“Wait…” Nepgear said, confused. “You said you were stuck here for three years.” Nepgear said, glancing over her shoulder at the holographic Croire.
“I was.” Said Croire. “You calling me a liar?” She demanded.
“It’s obvious isn’t it?” Croire said. “Time passes differently here.”
“That’s right.” Nepgear said, suddenly remembering something her sister had told her. “My sister ran into the forest and suddenly appeared behind me seconds later. She said that she got lost for a few hours before making it back here.” Said Nepgear.
“That’s how unstable this dimension is. If I had to guess. She ran right into this dimension before making it back into her original dimension.” Said Neptune. “She’s actually lucky she managed to make it back at all.”
“Wait. Your dimension is unstable?” Nepgear asked.
“Oh right! Were not in our dimension!” Croire said, smiling proudly. “We actually created a pocket dimension. That’s why it took us so long to find the Fairy Tower. We didn’t even think creating a pocket dimension was even possible.” Said Croire. “This pocket dimension is being manipulated by not only our dimensions natural frequency, but your worlds natural frequency.”
“What does that mean?” Nepgear asked.
“It just means…” Croire began.
Nepgear shook her head. “No. That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Huh?” Croire said. The fairy like girl opened her mouth to snap at Nepgear for cutting her off, but Neptune placed a single finger on top of her head.
“Hold it Croire. I think I know what’s she’s asking.” Neptune said. “Nepgear? It’s alright. What were here to do is send the Fairy Tower back to our dimension. We’ll take you with us to our dimension for a moment and send you back to your own. Okay?”
“Really?” Said Nepgear, hopefully.
“Really.” Said Neptune, smiling warmly at the girl. “I know all of this is scary, but I promise you you’ll be fine. I have a soft spot for cute girls like yourself.”
Nepgear blushed a little. “Thanks… Neptune.” She said. Nepgear took a deep breath before she added. “I don’t want to make you feel awkward or anything, but you look like my big sister.” She said.
“Really? Was she a Nep too?” Neptune asked.
“Yeah.” Said Nepgear. “She means the world to me.”
“I get it.” Said Neptune. “I might not have any siblings, but I get it.” Neptune suddenly looked down at Croire. “Well Croire? Let’s get started, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Said Croire. “I just need to do a few tweaks to the Fairy Tower. You idiots should stay here and not wander off.”
“Do you need any help?” Nepgear asked. “I’ve been wanting to see inside the Fairy Tower and…”
“Heck no!” Both the original Croire and Fairy Tower Croire said, in unison. “She wants to take me apart!” Said the Fairy Tower Croire.
Neptune giggled as she walked up to Nepgear and patted the girl on the shoulder. “You’re a curious one aren’t you little sis?”
“Little sis?” Nepgear said.
“Oh! Sorry!” Neptune said, holding her hand up to her mouth.
Nepgear shook her head. “No. It’s okay. Do you mind if I call you big sister?” Nepgear asked.
“Of course!” Neptune said, happily.
Just as the words left Neptune’s mouth, the girls heard the sound of several twigs snapping and the rustling of leafs. “This isn’t good.” Neptune said, twirling on her heels and summoning two swords.
“What’s going on?” Nepgear asked, as she summoned her energy sword. Nepgear’s question was answered when several strange creatures appeared out of the forest and from behind buildings. The creatures stood well over five feet tall, they had long arms and legs and strange cylindrical bodies. Their skin looked translucent and they had strange orbs located in the middle of their bodies. Not only that, but strange veins were connected to those orbs and ran throughout their entire bodies.
“These are dimensional monsters. They live in unstable pocket dimensions like these. These things are bad news.” Neptune said. “Croire? Call me if anything happens.”
“Right.” Croire said.
The creature’s roared an otherworldly roar that sent chills down Nepgear’s spine. “Oh my goodness.” Nepgear cried, all the color drained from her cheeks.
“Hey little sister?” Neptune said, turning to Nepgear and smiling. “Just take a deep breath and follow my lead. Okay?”
Nepgear wasn’t sure why, but she knew she could trust this Neptune. “Right.” Nepgear said, regaining her courage.
Neptune and Nepgear suddenly rushed forwards and launched an attack on the strange creatures.
Neptune was faster and managed to reach the dimensional monsters first. Leaping into the air Neptune brought both of her swords down on one of the monsters easily cleaving it in two. After that she leapt between two of the monsters cutting them down as she flew past.
Nepgear watched as Neptune easily killed three of the strange monsters in mere seconds. Unlike regular monsters these creatures didn’t simply blink out of existence. Instead their bodies seemed to fade until they vanished completely.
Nepgear ran to one of the creatures as well and easily sliced through it. After that she cut down several others. “These things aren’t as tough as I thought they would be.” Nepgear said, aloud.
“Their roars are worse than their bite.” Said Neptune, as she cut down several more of the monsters. “If you’re not used to them, they could overwhelm you with creepiness, but you’re doing great!” Neptune said, smiling brightly at Nepgear.
“Thanks!” Nepgear said, as she cut down another monster.
As the seconds slowly turned into minutes the amount of monsters started to dissipate until none of them remained. Nepgear took several deep breaths before she made her way over to Neptune.
“Good work little sister.” Neptune said, patting the girl on the head.
Nepgear blushed. “Thanks Neptune.”
Neptune and Nepgear returned to the Fairy Tower. To their surprise a huge section of the Fairy Tower had been open and several large pieces of machinery were lying on the ground.
“Wh-What happened here?” Nepgear cried.
“It’s fine. I just had to rewire some stuff.” The original Croire said.
The Fairy Tower’s Croire screamed and pointed a stern finger at Nepgear. “Turn around! This is private!” She cried.
Nepgear quickly turned around. “Sorry!” She cried.
“I told you she would look at my insides! This is so embarrassing!” The Fairy Tower Croire said.
“Whatever.” Said the original Croire.
“Not whatever! This is all your fault! I was sent to this stupid pocket dimension and forgot about for six years!” The Fairy Tower Croire cried.
“We didn’t forget about you, you idiot.” Said the original Croire.
“It’s still your fault!” The Fairy Tower Croire said.
“I know… I’m sorry.” Said Croire.
Neptune and Nepgear giggled nervously while the Original Croire completed her work. Even though Nepgear was really curious to see how the tiny Croire was able to lift the giant machines that were located inside the Fairy Tower, the girl decided to not look.
“Alright. I’m finished.” Said Croire. “The problem was a simple one. The internal power-”
“Shut up!” The Fairy Tower Croire cried.
“Anyways, we can leave now.” Said Croire.
“Great. You take care of the Fairy Tower.” Said Neptune, as she turned to Nepgear and extended her hand to the girl. “Okay. So I’ll take you to our dimension. The moment we leave, this pocket dimension will vanish.”
“Wait.” Nepgear said, shaking her head. “What if someone or my sister walked back into this dimension? What will we do?” Nepgear asked, holding her hands close to her chest.
“Not happening. The first thing I did was seal off all entrances to this pocket dimension.” Said Croire. “The only thing that could have gotten in were those dimensional monsters.”
“That’s a relief.” Nepgear said, before she reached out and took Neptune’s hand into her own.
The moment Nepgear took Neptune’s hand into her own, a large white doorway appeared behind Neptune. Neptune smiled as she started backing up leading Nepgear through the doorway.
One moment later, Nepgear and Neptune stood in the middle of a forest, but this one didn’t look foggy or dull. Instead it was filled with vibrant greens and singing birds. The sun overhead was large and warm on their skin. “Wow…” Nepgear said, glancing around the area.
Besides the Fairy Tower, nothing manmade existed there. “Where are the buildings?” Neptune asked.
“Those buildings never existed in our dimension. They only existed in your dimension.” Said Neptune.
“That’s weird. The buildings in my dimension didn’t have furniture, but they did in the pocket dimension.” Said Nepgear.
“Dimensional hopping can be weird.” Said Neptune, giggling and scratching the back of her head nervously. “I’ve seen some things in my life.”
Nepgear smiled. “Thanks for everything Neptune.” She said.
“Aww. It’s my pleasure!” Neptune said. “I wish we had more time together, but I should send you on your way.”
“Right.” Nepgear said, as a large door appeared behind her. “See you Croire’s!” Nepgear said.
“Whatever!” Both Croire’s said, in unison.
“Bye Neptune!” Said Nepgear, turning and disappearing through the white doorway.
The moment the doorway vanished, Neptune sighed deeply. “What’s wrong with you?” The original Croire asked.
“Nepgear makes me wish I had a little sister of my own.” Neptune said, shrugging her shoulders. “That’s all.” The moment Neptune stopped speaking a large shadow fell over her. Looking up Neptune’s smile vanished. “What the heck is that?” She asked.
***
Neptune and Histoire continued searching for Nepgear, but it was impossible to locate the girl. They moved from building to building and even tried to check the forest, but no matter how many times they ran into the forest they only reappeared back in front of the Fairy Tower.
“This is freaky!” Neptune said, her hands were shaking by her sides.
“Neptune. I feel…” Histoire began, but before she could finish speaking the fairy girl had vanished.
“Histoire? HISTOIRE!” Neptune cried. “Oh… I don’t like being alone like this…” Neptune fell to her knees as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “Ooh… So this is how it feels to be Noire.”
Neptune felt tears trickling down her cheeks, but her tears stopped when she noticed something had changed in the forest. The fog that once dominated the area had suddenly vanished. Not only that, but the green had also returned to the forest as though by magic.
Neptune’s eyes went wide when she noticed something else was changing as well. In a split second several sections on the Fairy Tower had been opened and large machines were now on the ground. A second later the machine parts were inserted back into the Fairy Tower and those sections that were once open were now closed. After that the entire Fairy Tower had vanished.
Neptune slowly got to her feet. The moment she stood fully erect Nepgear was back in front of her.
“Big sister!” Nepgear cried.
“Little sister!” Neptune sobbed, before she threw her arms around Nepgear and started crying. “I missed you Nepgear!” The girl cried.
Nepgear couldn’t help, but cry as well. “I missed you too!” Nepgear said, holding her sister close.
After the girls managed to settle themselves down, they looked into each others eyes. “So what happened?” Neptune asked.
“It’s a long story, but… I actually got help from the original Croire and Neptune.” Said Nepgear.
Neptune furrowed her brow. “You met another Neptune, huh?” She asked.
Nepgear nodded. “Yeah. And she helped me out a lot.”
Neptune giggled and smiled proudly. “Of course she did! All Neptune’s are awesome like that!”
