Oriental Express

[serpentoflore]

**From Factory of Darkness (Gaia)**

The first thing Jenova noticed was a small village. It was night, the inhabitants completely asleep. There were a few water filled areas where some plants stood, perhaps rice. Jenova walked towards a clearing outside of the cluster of houses, trying to figure out where this dark doorway had led her.

[King Edgar]

A large black rift tore open in the center of town, the gravitational force imploding a terribly makeshift well nearby. A man, clad in green and blue-toned armor and silks fell from this abyss, a woman in tow but slightly in the shadows. Heartless swarmed around the blond man, and he stuggled with them, his spear swinging wildly around his body.

"I say!" he shouted, opening his eyes to see around him. He couldn't concentrate on his surroundings just yet, and so he threw out Longinus, raising it above him.

"Thundaga!" Lightning jolted from the spear's tip and crackled in a large, radius burst centered on the king. The Heartless were slammed with electrical pillars and sent into the shadows once more. When they were all defeated, he dropped to his knees to regain his composure.

[serpentoflore]

Jenova blinked, noticing that a few villagers had woken up. Thunder magic, she remembered materia capable of calling such magic through Cloud's memories. Was the person named Garland capable of it? She took a look at the person using the magic, noting he looked regal.

She quickly ran towards the figure, grasping his arm. She wasted no time pulling him away from the center of the village and towards the small clearing. Hopefully the villagers would go back to sleep and leave the incident alone. If they didn't, Jenova doubted she could act like this world was her home. She let go of his arm, looking at him with her arms crossed beneath her breasts.

"Are you called Garland?"

[terra]

Terra was dazed and confused after landing out of the rift, the bolt of lightning both started and woke her up. She watched as the shadows were cleared from her surroundings.

Her eyes still pale and her hair still flared up, she saw Edgar being pulled out of the enter of the town. Again Terra moved out of instinct again feeling her Esper half still feeding off her emotions and fallowed the two to the clearing, pulling her crystal sword out of it's scabbard along the way.

Terra came up beside the woman pointing the blade to her neck, "No his name is not, and best be quick on what you want with my friend for i am not a patient woman right now!" Terra said while staring at the woman in front of her.

[serpentoflore]

Jenova had no time to keep in mind that these people may just be as lost as she was currently. Moving her hand swiftly to the hilt of Masamune, she knocked the blade away from her neck in one swipe. The woman in front of her seemed angry, thankful for the skill her body remembered as if it were pre-programmed within. Moving back, she held the sword with both hands, examining the woman.

"Answering for him is rather presumptuous of you." Her voice spoke, sounding a bit cynical. "Attacking someone merely because you see them as a threat is something a fiend would do. Even a fiend would wait to see if it was truly a threat." A chuckle escaped her lips a moment, holding the sword in an attack stance. She did not move forward or show signs of attacking other than the stance. "Let the man answer. My question was not addressed towards you."

[terra]

Terra raised the point of her sword toward the the woman, holding her tongue for the sake of her anger would take the best of her. With a bit of a "growl" she looked over to Edgar.

[King Edgar]

A swift moment passed, and the king had been swept away from the sleepy town, only to feel a sudden shock grasping his arm; he couldn't tell what, but a jolt passed through his armored gauntlets, and he felt moderately ill.

But then as quickly as he was assaulted, he was let go; a short exchange and show of some skill and the two women were staring at Edgar. he raised both arms up and waved them, a bead of sweat rolling down his forhead. he let out a nervous chuckle a moment before catching himself and taking a regal, dramatic stance:

"I am King Edgar Roni Figaro, ruler of Figaro and maestro of machines. Terra, you must never address a being of such beauty in your drab fashion; where is that sense iof propriety Celes taught you? Surely after the fall of Kefka that alongside magic surely did not just cease to be."

He gave the woman a low bow and spun Longinus around twice, his hand fidgety and itching to fight should he have to. A lecher though he may have been, he knew deception liked to rear its ugly head beneat pretty guises.

"Now, who might you be, miss?"

[serpentoflore]

Jenova lowered her stance, replacing Masamune in the scabbard. Should she have to draw again, it would be easy. Still, the two didn't seem to know who Garland was, and Edgar didn't even seem to react to the name. In fact, it was like she had set some sort of dramatic response to happen. She highly doubted they were from a world called Cornelia either. A dead end.

"Now, who might you be, miss?"

Look at both Edgar and Terra, she put a hand to her chin. Who was she? She had Cloud's memories and certainly someone similar was there... Still, it didn't explain who she was. She hadn't expected such a question so early on.

"Jenova." She spoke, placing her hand down. "My name is Jenova."

[terra]

"Terra, you must never address a being of such beauty in your drab fashion; where is that sense iof propriety Celes taught you? Surely after the fall of Kefka that alongside magic surely did not just cease to be."

After Edgar spoke, she looked to the ground letting her breathing slow as well as her pulse. Terra returned her sword to it's scabbard and began whispering to herself "calm down terra, calm down"

Within moments her hair began to change color back to it's original green and the paleness in her eyes started showing color again. After a few deep breaths she regained her composure, and with a smile she looked to Jenova.

"Jenova, please forgive my coarse actions but unlike the prince her" she nodded her head at Edgar "we all don't melt at a pretty face. i was worried for my friend and for that i apologize." and with that she bowed and turned her attention to her surroundings, taking in and trying to figure out what this place was .

[King Edgar]

" 'King', you mean, Terra; I am a king." Edgar smiled and turned back to Jenova, giving her a wink. "Indeed, I own an entire desert and south country; it belongs solely to myself...and parliament...though I have absolute say."

The king chuckled, and inched closer to the Calamity, and bowed again. "So I can not help you find this Garland you speak of, but I can offer you our blades in assistance. We are rather skilled mages and warriors, so our help would bring you much closer to this man. He's not an ex-lover, is he?"

[serpentoflore]

Jenova blinked at the question. What was an ex-lover? Certainly someone she had never even met couldn't be one. "I doubt that someone I don't even know could be of that title." She spoke, seeming a bit annoyed at the thought. She looked at both of them, uncertain on if they could be trusted.

[terra]

Terra rolled her eyes, forgetting Edgar never got that joke when sabin used to call him that.

Terra looked around at the small village."Jenova, could you possibly tell the "King" and I where we are?" she asked motioning toward the village "Is this your home?"

[serpentoflore]

"I don't know what this world is." She commented, looking at the two with a hand to her chin. She should probably search for Garland and leave the two in the relative safety of this world. Still... leaving them behind made her feel odd, as if she was obligated to at least give them a guarantee of safety. "What world do you come from?" Her eyes looked them over again.

[King Edgar]

"We come from the glorious world of ruin, Cosmos. A once-splendid place, now in repairs after a...calamity."

He frowned, but then quickly smiled, looking over to Terra for reassurance. "But we manage! It is truly a new start, and a wonderful future lies in store for Cosmos."

He then looked around, and shivered slightly in the night breeze. "But that world seems to have escaped our humiliating defeat and abandoned us. We could, I don't know, help you...find this Garlic, was it?"

[serpentoflore]

Jenova took a few moments to figure it out, her hand moving from her chin. "You may feel uncomfortable." She commented, opening a corridor. She entered, leaving it open long enough for Terra and Edgar to go through.

**To Cornelia**