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-"Dialogue"-

("Inner thinking")

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Chapter 11- REFUND

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While Gray was up and about, trying to figure out how the station's inner bureaucracy worked, Aria was still in their shared bedroom finishing a cup of coffee and looking at her vial, which was definitely more filled at this point. Now she had proof that interaction did make it fill up faster and there were no side effects she could detect; even more, intercourse had proven to indeed be the type of interaction that yielded the bigger increase of potion in her vial it seemed. Not that there was anything bad with it, after all Gray enjoyed this types of interactions a great deal and so did she. The mercenary smiled. Indeed it was fortunate that she had partnered with the assassin; at this rate it was clear she would be heading back to her world sooner than expected, although there was one issue that had positioned itself at the front of her mind and priorities. Her mecha Soyakaze. Having seen the war machine made her uneasy, making her feel some sense of urgency and dread. The damage on it was far more than severe and she doubted she could get it fully working as it was supposed to, but she didn't need to; she just needed to repair it enough so she could activate the main operative system in order to get to get to the log files, and that was exactly was she was planning to do today, tomorrow, and for the next days until she achieved it.

After savoring the last drink of her coffee, Aria took a last look at her vial and placed it back in the compartment on her armor at her chest. Then she headed out towards the hatter's mansion.

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On his part, Gray was marching through the station along a couple faceless while they explained him how things worked around, surprising him with detailed workflows, precise process charts, full dashboards and some ultimate 1-page reports similar to the ones Aria had designed for the Clover tower. There was no doubt to him anymore that these faceless were indeed Aria's forces. Back in Clover Aria had fixed a lot of the horrible complicated processes at tower, and he could see her influence even here in how well and smoothly the train station ran. Not to mention that it was almost a whole small town by itself.

"And next is the Spa" - Lily, the faceless woman that was giving him the tour explained while pointing proudly at the entrance of the luxurious Spa and gym.

"Of all the things to set in a train station, there is a Spa?" - Gray frankly was surprised by this.

"Why not?"- Nora, the other woman and actual head of personnel and forces, smiled.- "People that are waiting from their train to depart or those who come back after a long trip have a nice place to relax and so do we." - She pointed out to the passengers and even some employees enjoying the facilities. There were massage tables, different salons for classes and activities, manicure and pedicure, and a connection to the big gym at the side.- "You should try it some time. It is free for employees." She smiled, crossing her arms and chuckling as if she had recalled some small joke.

"Maybe." - Gray contemplated this, after all, he might be able to get Aria to relax a bit. The more comfortable she felt the easier his dubious plan of convincing her to stay would be to put in action. And the more lively, safe and homely the station was, the better. However, he didn't exactly trust this faceless cards completely nor did he knew much of this restored country yet. - "But how safe it is. You have defended the station. How?"

"Pretty safe in general. We can easily detect and dispatch all the grunts they send so far, although it seems that a skilled assassin might be able to sneak in." - Nora passed him a report on it.

Gray looked at the paper. Unfortunately, the report seemed to deliberately lack detailed information on some aspects like the patrolling routes or their detection methods. At least, most infiltration seemed had been deterred before the attackers even got to the habitable zone or the administrative offices. "Now, what about…"

"Before that, Mr Lizard. What do you really remember?" - Lili, the younger faceless asked quite bluntly, causing Nora to facepalm.

For a second Gray was surprised at the question, but he hid it with a sigh. - "Not that much. I arrived along the last land change and my memory is still fuzzy from that." - And before they could inquire more before he knew more about them, he added. -"Which makes me wonder why you are so friendly with me and with the foreigner. "

Nora smiled all too politely. -"Lady Aria is not a common foreigner and you just happened to come along with her, but we have a special deal for you and we are sure you'll find it you can't refuse."

Gray narrowed his eyes, ready to lash out. But before he could say anything, the woman continued.

"Dont worry that much. Even though we know how to deal with 'the lizard' in needed case, we rather cooperate as long as the train station remains autonomous and safe." -She very deliberately waved her arm around. -"Don't you think we are doing an excellent job here? Look around. Our profit has increased far more than any record of this place ever showed, and we have done so while preventing useless deaths. We alone have managed to deter any holders from taking over so far and we are planning to let you stay around. After all, there was once a lizard in the train station before the country fell in the past."

Gray unconsciously took his hand towards his neck-. "What do you want?" -He growled, knowing full well that he was the original one and that he had gotten worked with Aria's forces to get into Diamond and to get to her when she was fighting the Jabberwocky. Their smugness and overconfidence wasn't exaggerated either, no matter how annoying it was.

The younger female giggled and placed her index finger by the corner of her lips.- "Easy. We offer you the same deal as Lil Master Nightmare. We don't get in your duties and you dont interfere with us. Of course, besides that we want you to deal with other holders as he is way too … young and inexperienced to do so. And there's one more thing." -She then giggled again.

"Let me guess, it's about the foreigner, isn't it?" - He crossed his arms and was ready to go and buy several packets of cigarettes. There was no way this wasn't about Aria. Everything else was already covered. However, If there was anything that surprised him was that they didn't seem to want to use him as an assassin, and he could only guess why was that.

Both women grinned at the same time.

"But of course!" -Lili giggled. -"Lady Aria can choose anything and everything. She can choose where she wants to stay too, or who she wants to have some fun with. Which I would like to get details about if you don't mind. MANY details … the more the better..."

"Ehemm…" -Nora interrupted.- "To make this short and because at the moment you are in close proximity to lady Aria, we simply want you to help protect her and ensure her stay in this location until she regain her memories."

The women smiles were conniving, but the deal was quite clear. Aria didn't trust them much at the moment because she didn't remember them; Gray however was her partner and more; someone they could use to indirectly convince the foreigner to stick around. Also they knew of his skills and reputation from Clover or his old past in Diamond; someone skilled enough to not only provide protection to the foreigner, but also a holder capable of at the very least keeping other holders and territories at bay while they merrily directed this place.

Gray didn't like this. The deal was good and relatively fair and advantageous, there was nothing bad with it really, in fact it let him free from doing extra work at the station like he used to do here or in Clover. He could get extra time with Aria and keep and eye on her while focusing on somehow convincing her to stay. But he really was hating these faceless attitude and how much all this deals were starting to come around him. There was the deal with Aria's armor-creature, there was Jericho Bermuda, there was Nightmare, and now there were this faceless. He was starting to feel too tied up.

He huffed and turned around reaching for his package of cigarettes and lifting one.- "So you want me to help you keep the foreigner and the territory, and in exchange you are going to help me to win the game?"

"I take you agree then."- Nora smiled.- "But don't get too confused. The foreigner can chose. Perhaps you are a toy for her to choose too, like those cute stuffed animals."- Her smile became a smirk.- "We are not supporting your game, holder. But take it as such is you feel more comfortable with such notion."

"Whatever. Make this place more comfortable for her liking then." -Gray grumbled and turned around, making his way out and knowing they would do that, after all, they wanted Aria here as much he did, and in the meantime he would go and do something about the contract that brought him to the station in the first place.

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Not long after he had finished all of his remaining cigarettes and after buying a new packet, Gray found himself entering the museum and heading straight to the director's office to take care of his contract regarding terminating Nightmare. However, he had to break into a closed exhibition to evade the men and women following him since he entered the building and now he was finding himself jumping inside a painting full of playful and cute kittens. As he turned around to wait for the nuisances to appear so he could kill them already, he felt the lizard on his neck squirm around, affected by the painting's magic. The sensation was weird, but before he could get out of the painting, another person entered the piece of art. Rather than the faceless of the territory following him into the painting, the one who appeared next was none other that the man Gray was looking for. Jericho Bermuda, the dodo.

"Since you're back I assume you failed?" - The museum's director curiously asked, looking a little disappointed but smiling, crossing his arms and showing no sight of wanting to start a confrontation.

"I'm here to give you back the money." - Gray sighed and pulled out the entire money that Jericho had paid him in advance and tossed it to the older man, surprising himself for a second and remembering that back in Clover he himself was older too.

"Hm, a shame, but alright. Thank you for giving me a fair refund." - Jericho lightly laughed, putting the money away. - "Now, you can check out the museum if you want or I can escort you out before my men get killed for approaching you."

"I'll find my way out." -Gray knew that Jericho was still determined to get Nightmare's role and territory, but for the moment it seemed that the dodo was focusing on various things. After all, the country had only been restored pretty recently and there was the conflict with the hatters or the castle, so Jericho's attention was divided for the time being.

After Jericho showed him the exit, Gray took his time to scout around everywhere he could in all the territories that edged on the train station, all while occasionally continuing to rub his neck over his tattoo which felt strange for some reason.

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AN: Yes, Im still writing, just very slowly