-El shuts her eyes against the light, mind running through her counterattack, since apparently she's going to be alive to give one-
She opens her eyes.
-El shuts her eyes against the light, mind running through her counterattack, since apparently she's going to be alive to give one-
She opens her eyes.
This is -
Not where they were.
It's a lot cooler, for one. The air's more humid. A forest, at the foot of a mountain path, probably shortly after morning or shortly before dusk. Birds chatter at their presence, startled. She's never heard anything like their calls before. The forest is old, trees broad and tall, canopy thick, undergrowth barely existent.
There's no immediate sign of their attacker.
- But there's Bellona, belatedly sliding into a ready stance, looking around warily.
"Yeah, I was kind of expecting to just be dead. When we get back to Amestris presumably Dante will just pick up again."
"Yeah, it's weird. Killing people should be a lot easier than teleporting them."
It starts getting dimmer as they climb - it must be dusk, then. The air's colder and drier than they're used to. The mountain's forested, pretty heavily, but they're able to get to an outcropping after a bit of climbing, as the sun's setting in the west - on the same side of the mountains as them - and the stars are starting to come out. The constellations are strange, unlike those over Amestris or even in the star charts of the world's southern hemisphere.
The forest spills out around the foothills for a while, fading into plains eventually. It doesn't look like any map they've ever seen, and the signs of human habitation are few and far between.
Tight nod. " - We should figure out somewhere to stay while we design that." Bellona doesn't actually need to eat or seek shelter, but El's going to need food, and clean water, and somewhere warm and dry to sleep...