[Barn]

Nepgear carefully blows out the candle inside the lantern before placing it back down on the floor. "That should do it. Though, I'm kind of going miss this place." She says, looking around at the now sun-lit barn. "What? You're kidding, right?" Uni asks. "No, I'm not. This building as a really nice feel to it." Nepgear replies. Uni rolls her eyes as she opens the barn doors.

"I know I shouldn't be surprised but.. Considering we were basically locked in here for a whole day, surely you would have some hatred to this dump." Uni protests.

"Dump? It's a lovely place. Besides, it saved our lives." Nepgear retorts.

"It didn't save our lives.. I did."

"Yeah.. Wait, what?!"

"Ha ha, I'm joking! But.. Let's skip the part where we were stuck outside in the cold, okay?"

"Agreed. As long as I get a little credit for the work I did.."

"Work?! What work did you do, besides light a candle!?"

"Hey! You're a lot heavier than you know!"

"No one will believe that!"

"Yes, they will!"

"No they- Argh. Whatever. I'll give you some credit, okay? Happy now? Can we get going?"

"Yes, thank you very much."

The girls begin making their way to the top of the hill, where the group was supposed to meet after clearing the monsters. In the distance they spot Rom, Ram, Blanc and Vert making their way over. "Rom, Ram! You guys are okay!" Nepgear calls out as she races over to them. Uni begins running towards them, too. Before long they reach the other group and embrace the younger candidates in a group hug. "It's good to see you two are okay." Blanc states as she comes to a halt. "Nepgear!" Vert cries out, happily as she pushes past Blanc. She grabs hold of Nepgear and holds her close, tightly hugging her. "I'm so glad!" She states. "Ah, yeah, me too, Vert! But, you're kind of hurting me.." Nepgear replies. Blanc looks around a little before facing Uni, "Hey, wheres Noire and Neptune..?" She asks. "They went off by themselves after you guys left." Uni replies. "Oh dear." Vert says, letting go of Nepgear. "Do you know where they went?" Blanc asks. "We didn't see them go but there was a group of Hyena's over there. Maybe they cleared them out.." Nepgear answers. Blanc and Vert look over in the direction in which Nepgear looks. "There's a heap of caves there, maybe they sought refuge in one of them." Vert offers. "Yeah. Let's go with that. Split up, I'll go with Rom and Ram, Vert can go with Nepgear and Uni. We'll search the caves one by one. Okay?" Blanc orders. "Yes Ma'am!" The group agrees.

Blanc leads Rom and Ram into one of the caves, leaving Vert alone with Nepgear and Uni. "Right then ladies. Follow me." Vert demands, halfheartedly as she leads the two candidates into a cave. They walk in silence for some time, looking around the cave for any signs of Noire or Neptune. However, they have no such luck as they reach the end of the cave. "Let's search the next one then.." Vert suggests, leading them back out of the cave and into the next. As the hours tick by Nepgear and Uni begin getting increasingly worried about their sisters, having no luck from either group. Finally, they reach the last cave. Nepgear and Uni hanging on to the last remaining hope they have as they enter the cave. Vert turns around and spots the gloomy faces on both of the girls, thus deciding to lighten up the mood, somehow. "So ladies..." She starts. Come on, think, Vert, think. Something to take their minds of this. Oh! "Did you have fun in that little barn of yours?" Vert asks. The question earns an embarrassing flush of red from both of the girls as they're caught off guard. "O-of course not. W-we were trapped in there during the storm! What type of f-f-fun do you think we'd be having in there!?" Uni retorts. "Hmm. Well, what other fun could I mean? You two were trapped in there for so long. Surely, you two would find a way to keep each other.. warm..?" Vert asks, winking at them. "W-w-w-what?!" Uni stutters, sounding somewhat like a robot. "W-we didn't do anything of the s-sort!" Nepgear protests. "That's right! Nothing like that!" Uni agrees. Vert lets out a chuckle before trying again, "Don't worry girls, your secret is safe with me~" She says, winking again. "S-secret..?! No! We said it was nothing like that..!" Uni argues, her face matching that of a tomato. "Now, now, ladies. Don't get so worked up about this. After all, survival instincts are survival instincts. Once they kick in, we do whatever we must to survive, right?" Vert asks. "No! You've got it all wrong..!" Uni states, her eyes watering from embarrassment. "W-wait.. 'Survival Instincts'..? You mean..!" Nepgear says, her face a dark crimson. "That's right. What did you think I meant..?" Vert asks, curiously. "Oh! It's nothing!" Nepgear says, awkwardly. "Huh?" Uni looks at Nepgear, slightly confused. Nepgear smiles reassuringly at her, "What Vert meant was, that we survived the storm in our own way. Same as how her and Blanc had. I feel pretty silly for taking it the wrong way.." Nepgear answers, laughing awkwardly. Uni looks down at her shoes, feeling silly for reacting the way she did, too. Meanwhile, Vert watches on with an approving smirk. Though, if they acted that way.. then could it mean that they really did something like that? Vert thinks as she continues leading them through the cave.

[Cave]

Right. I can do this! I'm Neptune, after all! Main of the game! Heroin of Gamindustri! CPU of Planeptune! Owner of everyone's hearts- Okay, I'm done now.

Slowly, Neptune leaned forward towards Noire. Her heart pounds in her chest as she draws closer to the raven-haired CPU. As she became only inches away Noires eyes locked on to her as she snapped out of whatever trance she was in. "N-Neptune..?" She says. But, it was too late for Neptune to back out now. She had hyped herself up too much already. "Nept-" Noires voice was sealed by a gentle kiss to her lips. Her eyes slowly closed shut too as Neptune pressed her lips onto hers. After a few seconds Neptune reluctantly pulled away. "..tune.." Noire spoke, softly. "Ha ha, Yeah?" Neptune answers, awkwardly. Noires face turns a dark crimson as she looks down awkwardly, "..Uh.. I guess, I.. L-love-"

"Noire!"

"Neptune!"

"KYAH!"

Noire almost jumps out of her skin as Uni and Nepgear race over to her and Neptune. "H-huh? Uni, Nepgear?! What are you guys doing here..?" She asks. "We came here to find you two. The storms over, we can go home now." Uni answers. "O-oh.. That's great.." Noire replies. "Awe. Nep what? You guys ruined a great scene, ya' know!" Neptune complains. "Oh goodness. I'm sorry. What was it that was interrupted..?" Nepgear answers. Neptune winks at her little sister, "Well, you see, Noire was just about to-"

"SHUT UP!" Noire yells out as she covers Neptunes mouth.

Uni and Nepgear look at them with puzzled expressions.

"I-it's nothing, really! Lets go home, already!"

As Noire and Neptune get up Vert walks out from around the corner. "Oh my. Perhaps they were issuing some 'Survival Instincts' of their own.." Vert teases as she winks at the two candidates. Noire and Neptune stare on, slightly confused, whilst Uni and Nepgear exchange looks of horror. "Whats this about 'Survival Instincts'?" Noire asks as the group begin making their way out of the cave. "Nothing! It's nothing!" Uni answers. Neptune ponders for a minute before answering, "Well, if you must know, Noire build a fire and then we-" "We don't wanna know!" Uni and Nepgear shout simultaneously.

-The End-