Chapter 1 – The Goddess

She watches two men, battling fiercely, far from the hilltop. She watches them absolute boredom in her eyes, it is as if she had seen too much of this violence. It was nothing new to her, she yawned. Her body rested on a gaudy throne designed for her alone, sheltered by a stone roof, sturdy pillars supporting it standing on the marble floor.

She could see half the world from here, literally; it could either be her abnormal vision or this planet is just quite small. Tiny specks of fallen bodies scattered all over the meadows and deserts. Distorted corpses lay about the forests, internal organs fell apart in the mountains and the rest of the civilization drifted into the sea.

Two burly silhouettes still fought in the sunset, their elongated shadows made synchronized dance with their brutal moves. Though goddess watches with no expression, she cannot help feeling guilty that all these fights, and all these death was caused by her. Yet she knows it is not entirely their fault; she came here to be loved – not to be worshiped.

At last, one of the figures pierced his hands through the other's chest. The victim was too exhausted to scream, but she could see the from the movement of his facial features that he was in pain. It was nothing to her, she has seen worse, but she imagined how painful it is if her own heart is impaled. She wonders if the pain is the same as the time she felt unwanted.

The killer pulls away his hand, shoving of his victim onto the ground who collapsed like a ragged doll. She saw the killer, staring at his bloodied hands, then at the man he injured. Everything went static, she wondered if the killer is listening to his victim's last words. After a long pause, the killer dropped onto his knees, clutched his temples and screamed.

It was an agonizing scream.

The goddess shuddered at the frequency of his voice. Her guilt sparks even more, but her ego drove her to not blame herself. She was close to tears, but she rather not be discovered crying once the man climb up the hill to face her. She is after all, a 'goddess' – someone who is supposedly responsible to give happy blessings to her worshippers. She cannot show any signs of sadness, she should be a superior being on this very land.

At least, that was what the planet's people expected her to be.

She noticed the distance between the man and herself decreasing, as he was limping towards the hill, stumbling over dead bodies along the way. He swayed, lost his balance now and then, stopping for a while resting his hands on his knees. He was tired, she presume. It was a long and restless battle. She knew that he will not be arriving in a blink of an eye. There will be more obstacles on the hill that would delay his visit to her. Understanding his situation, she told herself that she would give him until midnight. She decided to sleep for a while. She saw him picking up a staff to support himself as he walks before closing her eyes. She must wake up before he arrived, a goddess in his (and his people's) eyes should watch over the land without any sleep.

Hours had passed, but it felt like minutes when she heard shuffling from outside the entrance. Her sensitive ears woke her up, and she automatically straightened herself on the throne. She made sure her posture was alright, her clothing in place and her silvery hair neat. A goddess must appear grand in front of her worshippers, even if there was only one left. She hoped that her face did not look weary from watching endless battles, although she knew that she would always look beautiful, as often told by these planet natives.

A burly man stepped into to doorway, standing like a strong warrior yet still firmly holding the staff. The light from the moons and stars allowed her to see the details of this survivor. He was breathing heavily through his jagged teeth, a few of them missing and broken. Cuts and bruises where everywhere, and a deep gash on his shoulder dripped blood onto the pure white floor. Sweat trickled through his thick fur. Small chunks of flesh were suck between his talons, a few of them missing and broken as well.

"Goddess", he gasped. He started walking slowly towards her throne. His legs were shaking – he was forcing himself to look almighty. The goddess true feelings were sympathetic, but her face was showing an expression of a proud mother beaming at her successful son. That was what these people wanted to see from her. That was what they all have been fighting for; to make her proud. To impress her.

As he reached several paces from her, he sagged onto his knees, hands still on his staff. That was how his people were supposed to prostrate to her. He tried to catch his breath, she let him calm down and search for words.

Then he spoke, "Is this...what you have always wanted?"

The goddess tilted her head, her smile disappeared. She did not expect to be questioned like this.

"Is this what you wanted to see?" he continued, "End of civilization? There is only one of us left! How can I live alone like this?"

The goddess' lips twitched. Is he blaming her now? But she tried her best to stay calm, and smugly gave this answer, "Indeed, you are alone now. We are alone. You have me".

"You are a goddess... how can I... just be with you?"

Anger flared in her eyes.

"Were you not the one who was most devoted to me?" she spoke, trying to maintain cool, "Is this not what you have always wanted? To be my warrior, my protector, the most ultimate being after myself?"

"But I...I have killed so many people..."

"Is that not for my sake?"

The warrior fell silent. He closed his eyes, aware of what he and the rest of his people had been doing all this while. Eversince the goddess came from the sky, everyone began treating her like a queen. Everyone, men and women, old and young were too engrossed in pleasing her. Everyone worked hard to build a better living, as they felt blessed and grateful that a heavenly body have decided to live on the ground with them.

Yet whenever there was a plague and despair, all have started to become more desperate to please her. They thought they had not done enough for her to stop disaster from occurring. She admitted that she enjoyed the attention, but she did not have the courage to tell them that natural disasters were beyond her abilities, she could not bear to see disappointment in their faces. She let them try as hard as they wanted. She do not want them to doubt her... let alone abandon her for not doing anything to make them happy. Even if it means killing off each other.

"We did everything, for your sake, it was true", the warrior finally said, "It was just now.. after I killed my very own best friend, I just realize... what we have been doing... is wrong. That is why I ask you, is this what you wanted? Do you have pleasure watching us murder one another?".

She could not help but to let out a chuckle. She smirked for a second, then controlled her expression back to normal and said, "Only now you realized that? I did not even order you to fight among yourselves, but your own feelings drove each of you into this massacre. It was your own determination to attain my so-called blessing, it was your own motivation to get my attention. All of you unconsciously commit this immoral deed... for my sake. I never said anything. Yet you are blaming me for your extinction?"

The warrior gritted his teeth. Clearly, he knew that what his goddess said was true. But... "Why didn't you stop us?"

Her lips thinned. She searched for appropriate words to explain why, she must be careful not to say anything that sound like a lousy excuse.

"How can I stop you? You all were so high spirited-"

"You loved it, do you? You love being treated like a god, do you, Jenova??"

"How dare..." She almost snapped, but stopped halfway. Suddenly she noticed that he did not speak to her like a devotee, then she snickered, "You were the one who thought I was a god. I merely played along".

The warrior cursed, stared at her with penetrating eyes, lifting himself up to a fighting stance. He could have instantly stabbed her if he still had strength. But his muscles were too worn-out to move. His energy lost as much as his blood did as he clambered up the steep hill. Realizing his weak state, he grunted, "Get out of here".

Jenova stood up gracefully, emitting a strange aura from her body. Some sort of pollen she released whenever she was furious. And she knew this aura was critical enough for creatures to touch as it had caused all living things to mutate. Including this warrior before her, he used to be astonishingly handsome before she accidentally turned him into a monster. So did other people. They all have died as monsters. And now she wanted to use this power to suck the life out of him. What is there to spare? The whole planet is dead, whether she left him live or not, it would make no difference.

The warrior dropped dead. She could feel a slight surge of energy seeping inside her. She barely used this skill, nor had she used any other skill she had. A part of her felt unfortunate to have gifted with such evil abilities. Yet it was a necessity for her own survival.

She ran outside of the temple, glided down the hill heading towards the crater where her vessel remained untouched.

A/N : It has been about 6 years since I last wrote a fanfic. I hope this one is ok. I decided to write something about Jenova, cos I don't find much of them. I am prone to accidentally do grammar or spelling mistakes, please note me if you find any. Thanks for your time and cooperation ^^