Chapter Two: A World Apart

Kagome wasn't sure how long she'd washed her eyes with tears, only that she shouldn't ever need to clean her vision again. She'd passed out somewhere in the hours of sobbing, and even as she came to consciousness the heavy feeling around her eyes from the tears clung to her face. She was still groggy, but the pain of her loss, and the fresh tears still leaking from her heart made her wish she'd of stayed in the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness. Nothing was better than the reality that faced her.

Though she had to stop and stare as she glanced out of the small circular window. She was several stories above ground, more than she remembered climbing when she'd first entered the strange large ship where she still seemed to be. Lush forests curled out around it. Mostly greens and browns mixed with the occasional other color. In the distance she could make out a line of pale tan sand and then the blue of an ocean or lake. It was impossible to tell from here.

She looked around the room she was in, the 'quarters' they'd afforded her were simple. A set of bunk beds that folded out from the wall, a small connecting bathroom, a desk and chair, and a small chest with uniforms and her backpack within. She picked up the yellow beaten thing and hugged it close, it was perhaps the last thing she'd have from her own home.

At some point while she was sleeping they'd changed her out of the soaked school uniform. Now she was wearing black pants and a white shirt, fairly simple but probably they'd done what they could for her. Her shoes were nearby but they were still wet. She dug through her bag and pulled out her sandals to put on instead. Looking over what she had.

Another change of clothes, so apparently they'd respected her enough not to go through her things, a good thing considering she didn't know where or when she was. She had almost a full bottle of shampoo and conditioner, a few packs of ramen, a few candies she'd been saving for Inuyasha and Shippou respectively, a first aid kit, and a few books and notebooks for classes. There was probably more buried but she didn't have the drive to look further.

"It looks a little normal." Kagome said to herself aloud. Glancing around she noticed they had put her bow and arrows on the desk and she had to sigh. She'd hoped that once Naraku was finished that she would get to put down the weapon forever...but that wasn't likely. Whatever this place was, it seemed that her bow and arrows would be needed yet.

She was trying to think about how her arrow could have been changed to such incredible effect when there was a knock at the door.

"Hey you awake in there yet? Aren't you hungry?" A cheerful voice asked a moment after the knock.

Kagome could feel the small growl of her stomach, as if it was replying for her, she hadn't eaten in a long while, she was probably skin and bones. Who knew how long she'd suffered silently at the jewel's entertainment. While she didn't really feel like eating, mostly she felt like crying more, her body wasn't going to allow her to ignore the now gnawing emptiness at the reminder food existed so directly. The door opened before she could answer and a young girl popped her head in. Dark hair up in pigtails with bows, a small pink sort of dress on with all the frill you might expect. A backpack of some small cartoonist figure with button eyes finishing the kid's ensemble.

"Hey, you are up." She said cheerfully. "You okay? I know the Colonel can be a real meanie sometimes, but you shouldn't let him get to you."

Kagome stared quietly a long moment, before remembering the man that had augmented her arrow somehow had called himself a colonel, it still seemed pretty strange. "Um...I'm okay I guess...is it the same day?"

"No way, you slept all night and it's almost noon." She said with a small huff, as if a bit jealous of the ability to sleep in. Then pointing at herself the youth announced. "I'm Anise."

"Kagome." Kagome held her hand out, going through the motions, it seemed the nice thing to do. Though the girl's needless chipper attitude made her feel her own misery that much more clearly. She shook hands numbly.

"Good to meet you Kagome...you should cheer up. You look like someone drowned your dog." Anise said, her own happiness coming down a peg as she mentioned it. "You really aren't a replica?"

"No..." Kagome sighed. "Look, it's weird, but I think I need to talk to the uh...Colonel. Or whoever is in charge if I can."

"Um..." Anise blinked curiously at her. "Well, yeah the Colonel is sort of in charge here, the Tartarus is his ship after all. He's out fighting the horde though."

"The horde? Like those demons from yesterday?" Kagome asked curiously, glancing toward her bow. "Alone?"

Anise laughed. "You really aren't from around here. He has some other troops with him but the Colonel could handle them by himself. You've never heard of Jade Curtiss? Jade the Necromancer?"
"No..." Kagome frowned a little. Waiting for them to call her a copy or whatever again. "Should I?"

Anise giggled again. "That's too funny. You weren't raised a noble in a closed off household that never let you go out?"

Then Kagome's stomach growled again and she glanced down at her grumbling belly then back to Anise. "I ah...could I get that food."

"Yeah come on." Anise waved her. "You can leave your stuff here, the Colonel said you could use this room for now. Mine's across the hall. Aren't too many female troops so the floor has extra rooms."

She went on explaining things about the Tartarus Kagome could only half listen to as she followed the young girl to a larger open room with tables and the smell of cooking eggs. Kagome couldn't help but have a small smile, food seemed amazing just then. She followed the girl along, picking up a tray and surprised that the food area was much like the cafeteria from her school. It was a familiarity that made her sigh, wondering if she hadn't just finally gone crazy. "Maybe I'm in a coma somewhere and this is just my brain tormenting me."

"So yeah, this is the cafeteria, they stay open throughout the day and then close after dinner. On the weekends it's more of a make it and clean it yourself thing so the crew has a break." Anise was saying once Kagome tried to start paying attention again. "I think that it's not the best but now that the community is getting bigger and we have buildings up and a small town it's a little better. We can go to the restaurants when we have a day off, switch it up a little."

"You don't know where Japan is?" Kagome already feared the answer but she had to ask. "America? Europe? China?"

Anise was just looking at her blankly. "Um...afraid not. You from a small area in the country somewhere?"

"I think I just need to talk to this Colonel." Kagome said, deflating a bit from her small victory of a cafeteria similar to home. "It's...probably complicated."

"Yeah..." Anise commented, watching the depressed girl with her while keeping the sad expression from her own face. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her but she knew it was serious just by watching. Jade probably wasn't going to help much there, she'd have to try to catch him and get him to be nicer. "Well, he should be back in an hour or so and I'll make sure he gives you some time."

"Thank you." Kagome smiled a little, she knew the girl was doing her best and it just seemed wrong to not at least try to show a little less gloom. "Is he really a Colonel? Above Major, below General?"

Anise giggled. "That's how the ranks go."

"He seems so young for it." Kagome said thoughtfully.

"Don't worry he'll make sure you understand how old he is soon enough." Anise commented with a roll of her eyes. "He talks constantly about how he's an old man to get other people to do work for him."

"He didn't seem that old. How old is he?" At least talking about this helped her not to dwell on what she'd lost. Perhaps just general conversation would get her through day to day.

"The Colonel? I think he's a little over thirty now." Anise answered uncertainly before shrugging. "He's an old fuddy duddy."

"He looks more like he's in his mid twenties." Kagome observed from what she could remember. "Isn't that very young still to be a Colonel? I thought they were all graying and getting round in the middle."

Anise giggled. "Yeah, well, our Colonel isn't really normal in any way."

"It's not nice to speak ill of people Anise." The voice drew the attention of both girls as Jade walked into the cafeteria, a few singed looking troops moving past the door or in themselves and heading to get food.

"It's not speaking ill if it's true." Anise said in a dry tone, sticking her tongue out at him. "You want me to bring something up to your office Colonel? Kagome wanted to talk to you if you can be nice for a few minutes."

"I'm always nice Anise." Jade said, a half smile almost ever present on his face as he chatted with the young woman. "And that would be lovely. Thank you for volunteering. Tell the chef my usual please. Kagome, care to come with me."

He gestured ahead of him, and his relaxed attitude certainly helped put her more at ease than Anise nay saying him had, she nodded and set down her cup, following after him. The office was larger than her room, but it was filled with filing cabinets along one wall, a desk, a chair, two chairs across from it, many maps took up the walls, more cabinets. There was a set of circular steps going up in one corner though the latch at the top of them was closed. There was another door half open leading into what looked to be a nice bedroom. Probably his quarters.

"Have a seat please. What did you wish to talk to me about?" He asked as he gestured to the chairs opposite his and sat himself. His attitude not as openly cheerful as Anise, but still professionally pleasant. Though she bit her lip as she sat, not certain how to explain it.

"Um...I...don't think I'm from your world." She blurted it out once she started, blushing at the matched raised brows and skeptical expression he offered. "Look, I know that you think I'm a copy or whatever, but I'm not...I'm from Earth...and this...doesn't really seem like earth."

She'd let her gaze wander to the unfamiliar maps, as she didn't want to look at him while he continued to stare at her, those ruby eyes were too intense for her. The silence dragged on long enough to be noticeable but she was trying to find anything familiar about the charts on his walls.

"I believe you." They certainly weren't the words she was expecting, a shocked expression glancing back to him before he added. "There is much that has happened that has opened me up to the realm of possibility. You obviously aren't from here, and you at least state you aren't a replica. What's left, however improbable, is still possible."

"Right..." Kagome nodded slowly. "I figured you'd think I was lying. So...now what?"

"Well, you don't have to stay here, though I think it would be best for now until I can escort you back to Grand Chokmah." Jade smiled lightly at her confused expression and added. "Capital to the army I work for and my home. Whatever arte you used yesterday, people will want it."

That got her to frown. "You mean my holy arrows? But...I just did what I had to do..."

"Well, it is a arte unlike we've seen before. The thought had crossed my mind that you might be a Kimlansca spy. Though given your actions and expressions I doubt that now." Jade explained as best he could. "Whatever it is you do, with those holy arrows, a lot of people would be interesting in learning to do themselves."

"Look, I don't mind helping people if they're innocents, but I'm not going to just do anything you want. I won't let you make me a test subject or cut me up for experiments." Kagome said defensively. Getting the alien modern world vibe of him wanting to cut her open. Though his expression turned dark when she even suggested it.

"That is not something I would allow." He said with a shake of his head, bringing her attention to his strange coffee colored hair. "I am warning you however, that regardless of where you are from, what you did yesterday will spread, rumors will get out from the few people that saw it, and some people may want to the very things you fear."

"So...what do you want then?" Kagome eyed him skeptical that he wasn't one of those still. She had a hard time reading him in general, which usually wasn't the case for her and it made her extra nervous in a situation that already called for paranoia.

"Stay here for now, til we finish our assignment here. Help with the monsters if you are hoping to protect innocents. There are few on this world more innocent or more in need then the replica's at this settlement. If you'd rather not be in the field of battle you are welcome to stay here on the Tartarus 2. I hope that you will let me observe your arte again however, if I could figure out how it works I could possibly avoid future heartache for you." He answered politely, rather more diplomatic than she was expecting.

"No personal interest?" She had to see what he'd say.

"Of course there is," He replied honestly. "It's more of a you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. I feel for whatever you have gone through before this, it must have been difficult, but it is mutually beneficial to look into how your abilities function and how you could have ended up here. If you got here, we must concern ourselves with more possibly following."

"Right..." She said thoughtfully, sighing lightly. "I suppose I can do that. Thanks for being honest at least."

It did mean a lot to her, she'd faced lies for so long, it was a nice thing that he chose to be honest instead of trying to butter her up. She was sure he was probably being nicer than he usually was but she couldn't know that until she spent more time here.

"You still look tired. Whatever happened, it seems as if it took a lot out of you. You are welcome to rest as long as you need." Jade replied.

Jade himself knew it was a little out of character to be so kind, but the girl looked like a harsh word might send her into tears again and he really didn't want to deal with that. She was obviously through something she didn't want to talk about, she winced visibly if only slightly whenever he mentioned it. It went deeper than she was going to willingly talk about right now, and he had the time that he didn't need to dig just now.

"Thank you but I think I'd rather be busy." Kagome answered. "I'll start trying to help whenever you want."

"Well, first thing I'll need to assess your combat readiness. After that..."

He was interrupted as a siren went off around them. It made Kagome jump but he only looked around with a frown creasing his face. A moment later an intercom came on. "Horde of monsters approaching fast from the rear. They are not slowing down."

He was on his feet then and heading for the door. Remarking. "Apparently now is a good a time as any. Bring those bows and arrows of yours."

End Chapter

More sad Kagome, but she has good reason. I hope to make her less emo as soon as I find it being logically possible. Cliffhanger! Whoo.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

MasterJ633 - Glad you enjoyed it, hope you keep reading. I try to throw in small funny moments.

Ringotsune - Abyss is easily my favorite tales. Jade is just win and makes the game for me over many of the others. Though the game, like all the tales games i've played, is just good alone too.

Amekoryuu - Don't I know. I still have a hard time writing Jade. He still felt off for me this chapter.

Abyss King - Sorry it's hard sometimes for me to get inspiration but I try not to leave things without saying they will no longer be updated.

Radio Boxes - Thanks! I did finally get around to it!

Ithielda - those snack bribes were bound to work someday.

KaUiA - Eventually I'll put in other Tales folks, but for now I'm building slowly.