Planeptune's CPU laid unconscious on her bed, with countless bandages as the only thing covering her torso while Histoire spoke with one of the Basilicom's medical specialists outside the room.
"How is her condition?" Asked the worried Oracle.
"I can't say for sure. For now we managed to put her life out of danger, but she lost large quantities of blood. If she had arrived to us a minute later, we might have been unable to save her."
Because of their constant fights against monsters or even against each other, it wasn't rare for the CPUs to suffer injuries during their fights.
Normally the Oracles would tend to them if the wounds weren't too serious, but every nation's Basilicom had a team of specialized doctors just in case an emergency such as this one were to take place.
The CPUs themselves never felt like it was necessary, as they had never faced an opponent besides Magic that was capable of pushing them to such a pitiful state.
Right now, Histoire couldn't find words to express how glad she felt for taking this safety measure.
"She might not wake up for a few days, but there shouldn't be any issues regarding her health."
"I see...You may leave now."
The doctor lowered his head to the tome before raising it up again, turning around and leaving. Histoire closed her eyes and sighed with relief knowing now that at the very least, Neptune's life wasn't in peril anymore.
She then raised her head and looked at Neptune lying on her bed through the open gap on the door.
Just seeing her in this state was painful for the oracle. Even if she complained a lot about the Planeptune CPU's laziness, there's no way Histoire would ever wish for her to suffer something such as this.
Wishing to give Neptune some peace and quiet, the tome flew down the hallway to where Nepgear and the other CPU Candidates were waiting.
"Histoire! How's Neptune!? Is she going to be okay!?" Asked Planeptune's CPU Candidate with an anxious tone and expression after getting up from the couch the moment she saw Histoire.
"It's okay, Nepgear. It might take some time, but Neptune will recover." Said the Oracle with a smile, glad that she could at the very least offer some comfort to someone today.
"Thank goodness..."
Nepgear lowered her head and made a relieved expression while getting teary eyed.
The moment she saw a blood soaked Alex entering the Basilicom with an unconscious Neptune in his arms, she could feel her heart nearly stopping for a moment.
While Rom and Ram comforted Nepgear, Histoire turned around and contacted the other Oracles who stayed in their respective nations to keep things under control.
"How's the situation over there?" Asked Chika with a stern expression.
"Neptune will recover. The doctors got to her just in time."
"That's good to know." Said Mina with a smile.
"What about Alex?" Asked Kei this time.
The tome simply shook her head with her eyes closed before opening them and looking at her fellow oracles with a saddened expression.
"I'm afraid I don't know. I already sent Compa and IF to search for him, but I've yet to hear any news from them."
"Seriously!? Ugh! Right when we need him the most, he disappears!"
Chika felt very irritated because of this situation and it was easy to tell from her tone and expression. While looking at the Oracles discuss how to proceed, Histoire began recalling the events that took place less than an hour ago.
While the Oracle and Nepgear waited for Neptune to return, they were shocked and horrified when they saw an injured Alex entering with her in his arms, both covered in blood, most of it belonging to Neptune.
The tome didn't hesitate to contact the Basilicom's medic team as soon as possible. While they took care of Neptune, Compa, who had arrived with IF and the other CPU Candidates shortly after being called by Nepgear, tended to his shoulder injury.
"Alex, what happened!?" Asked Histoire to the young boy, whose expression she couldn't see because of his bangs covering his eyes.
Alex didn't say a thing, as he just kept silent.
"Hey, Alex! What happened at the Graveyard!?" Asked Uni this time, who was growing impatient with his silence. "Where are our sisters!?"
After seeing the awful state in which Neptune was, the other CPU Candidates could do nothing but worry about their elder sisters.
"Alex...where's big sister?" Asked Rom.
Despite all the people around him asking the same question over and over again, the young boy remained silent.
At this point, the CPU Candidates were fearing the worse happened.
"I think this will be enough of an answer." Said IF while showing them a video on one of her cellphones.
In it, the girls saw a video of Green, Black and White Heart tied by what seemed to be thick cables.
"That's Big Sister!" Said Uni with shock.
In the video, Magic's voice could be heard repeating the same message over and over again.
"People of Gamindustri. Our goddess' resurrection is near. In four days, the Deity of Sin will be reborn and those who refuse to put their faith in her shall be annihilated, starting with these foolish CPUs."
"No way, they beat our sisters!?" Said Ram with widened eyes.
"But how!?" Asked Nepgear.
"It's my fault..."
Everyone turned around and looked at the young boy, who finally broke his silence, but still didn't look at them.
"Wait, Alex...What do you mean by that?" Asked Histoire.
"I screwed up against Magic, and everything fell apart after that..."
"A-Alex...I don't think-"
"Then it's your fault!?"
Nepgear was trying to say something reassuring to Alex, until Uni cut her off.
"Eh? Uni?"
"Big Sister...she's stronger than anybody else! If she lost, it's because of you!" Yelled Lastation's CPU while tearing up. "This is all your fault!"
Uni quickly turned around and ran away while crying.
"Uni, wait!" Said Nepgear while running after her.
Rom and Ram followed after them, leaving Alex alone with IF, Compa and Histoire. The Oracle then turned her head and looked at the young boy.
The last thing she remembered before her flashback finished was Alex's expression.
"It was my fault..." Said Uni who was sitting on the couch while making a saddened expression. "I shouldn't have said that to him."
The CPU Candidate understood well that blaming Alex for what happened wouldn't help at all, but she felt so angry with herself for not going with Noire and the others that she ended up taking it out on him instead after seeing the chance to do so.
"Uni, please don't blame yourself. I'm sure we'll find him soon." Said Nepgear in an attempt to reassure her friend.
Histoire looked at the CPU Candidates for a moment. Sending them to fight Magic by themselves would be insane as none of them besides Nepgear were specialized in close combat. Even if Magic wasn't there, the other felons and the Deity of Sin would remain an issue.
Right now, the best chance the tome could think of was finding Alex and snap him out of whatever got into him.
'Alex...just where on earth did you go?' Thought the tome while looking out the window at the night sky.
[Elsewhere]
Under the same night sky, Alex was sitting with his head lowered and his forearms resting on his knees as he leaned his back against the base of a large tree located in a forest in Planeptune.
After walking aimlessly for hours, the young boy decided to head into the depths of the forest as he didn't know where else to go at the moment.
He knew that with the broadcast, the other nation's were definitely in chaos meaning that travel amongst them was surely out of the question.
Even if he had wanted to go back home, he knew that he didn't deserve to.
Returning back to Lastation would just mean that he ran away.
'This is what that clone was referring to huh? Heh. The fact that I'm even thinking about going to Lastation proves his point. I run away. I always, run away. It's all I've ever done.'
The young boy didn't want to see anybody right now, or rather, he just couldn't bring himself to do so. How could he after what he did to Neptune? To the other CPUs?
Even now after washing his hands so many times, Alex could still feel the warm blood soaking his hands and recall the image quite clearly every time he closed his eyes.
"It's all my fault, and here I am even considering to run away. I'm such a spineless coward." Muttered the young boy to himself.
"Is that how you feel, young boy?"
After hearing a female voice, Alex raised his head and looked around, seeing someone approach from ahead.
That someone, was non other that the pink haired fox girl from Lastation.
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Chapter 42: Complete