“Now arriving at South Station. Now arriving at South Station. Please check under your seats for any personal belongings. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a nice day.”

As we stepped off of the bus from Amherst, a grey skyline met my gaze. “Back in Boston, huh?” I muttered under my breath.

After being disconnected from this world for a couple of months (although it was ten years in real time), it felt strange to see Boston changed.

The stores and offices across the bridge of the main city had been torn down, and replaced with factories, from which smog was constantly pouring out.

“Well, it was always garbage ridden. Not like much has changed.” Vanessa bumped my shoulder with a smile as she deboarded to my left. She was wearing blue jean shorts, and a black, long-sleeved hoodie that did little to hide her silhouette. Her hair was done up in a bun, with a strand of her bangs coming down one side of her face. It was a look that complemented the aviators she wore on her face.

“Get out of the way you two. You’re blocking up the bus!” Hazeel complained from behind us. Vanessa merely smiled and led me a few steps more by the arm, allowing our company to get out of the vehicle as well.

Hazeel was in a specially made tracksuit, one that one of the Valkyries, Sasha, had knitted together especially for the tall woman. Deciding that Hazeel’s usual outfit wouldn’t cut it in America, she had gone for something that breathed and was easy to put on.

That being said, she had her zipper open below her chest, and was showing a serviceable amount of décolletage from her tank top. She had decided to let her hair flow freely, and it currently reached the small of her back in length.

We had taken a special bus, with decals and stickers designed to give us the maximum amount of clearance from the city guards as we entered. Of course, it was piloted by-

“I still don’t understand why this fossil decided to come with us.” Hazeel said in Azurian, and pointed to Alpha.

“Leo, I have no idea what your lover just said, but her tone was incredibly rude just now.” Alpha rolled his eyes as he spoke, and stepped out of the driver’s seat after we all got off.

“It wasn’t anything too bad.” I reassured him with a smile. I was surprised with his ability to discern the insult, but tensions needed to be kept to a minimum, a fact that I was sure to check with Hazeel before we stepped into the station.

“Come on guys, let’s get our things inside already.” Katherine said, and the other members of the valkyrie unit behind her nodded in agreement.

We started moving things from the bus to the sidewalk, and soon, everyone had their own suitcase ready to go. Alpha and I entered the station first, however, and we were accosted by two armed security guards.

I instantly tensed up and prepared to call on Dantae and Hazeel should I need to, but Alpha offered his hand to one instead. “Ah, Chad. So this is where they sent you! You left without so much as a goodbye before.”

Chad, the larger of the two guards, shook Alpha’s hand and smiled. “Sorry for the short notice, but you know how they are about the job rotations.”

Chad was a tall man, and stood about a head taller than my six foot frame. His skin was a nice bronze, and dark green eyes shone warmly in his hairless head as he spoke with Alpha.

“Come on man, you know you’re not supposed to criticize the government when you’re on duty. Do you want to be fined again?” Chad’s partner, a smaller man with short hair, pale skin, dark brown eyes, and a long beard nudged the big guy with his gun.

“Haha, don’t I know it.” Chad turned to his partner, and then back to Alpha. “Alpha, sir, this is Michael. Michael, this is the Director of Militaristic Affairs in Amherst, Alpha.”

Michael, for his part, looked starstruck. “Wow, what’s a bigshot doing here? Is your real name Alpha? I-”

Michael was cut short as Chad pinched him on the shoulder. “Listen man, you can’t just go asking those things. Some things might be classified information…”

Chad trailed off as Vanessa and Hazeel stepped into the almost barren station, each pulling along suitcases as they spoke. “Holy hell. Tall girls are so my type. Is she with you, Alpha?”

Chad pointed behind to the two of them, and Alpha turned to follow his gaze. “Yes,” he chuckled, “but I should point out that they’re-”

Chad walked by without letting Alpha finish, and stopped in front of Dantae and Hazeel. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Chad, and I’d like to officially ask you out on a date when you get back from wherever you’re headed.”

He took Hazeel’s hand in his, and kissed her glove. Hazeel had a confused look on her face and turned to Vanessa for an answer.

What she got was not what she was looking for, however, and she immediately wrenched her hand away from Chad’s embrace. He looked disappointed as he stared into her eyes. “Is there something about me you find lacking?”

Instead of deigning to answer him, Hazeel strode over to me and grabbed my collar. I probed her mentally, but I was pretty sure I knew what was coming, not that it negatively affected me, anyway.

I decided to take matters into my own hands, and grabbed the collar of Hazeel’s tracksuit in turn. She had a confused look on her face, which was exacerbated when I brought her in for a kiss.

I explored her mouth for a moment before letting her go, a blush on her face. So it’s ok when you do it to me, but when something is done to you in public you get shy about it?

Shut up! You’re supposed to follow the normal pattern, not break it! She mentally yelled at me as she went back to Vanessa’s side, standing slightly behind her.

“Well, as you can see, she’s taken.” I said to Chad, who looked visibly deflated.

“Oh man, I’m so sorry about hitting on your girl. I just kind of lost track of myself.” He sighed and then turned back to Hazeel. “Sorry about that.”

“No harm no foul.” Alpha chuckled. “We’re actually in a hurry if you don’t mind. Could you direct us for the track to Washington?”

“Ah, that time of the year again? Boss gonna chew you out this year too?” Chad grinned, despite some more weak protests from Michael.

“Haha, you know it!” Alpha laughed as we got onto platform one. After the Valkyries, the Minami Siblings, Leresa, Vanessa, and Hazeel got onto the luxury vehicle, Chad stopped Alpha and I from boarding.

“Alpha, sir, why are a majority of your assistants female?” Michael asked. Instead of reprimanding him, however, the old soldier just shot him a wry grin.

“What can I say? If you live as long as I do, you have to get your joy from somewhere.” A perverted smile spread across Chad’s face, and they shook hands once more.

“Here’s my phone number. Let’s have dinner sometime after I come back.” Alpha handed the soldier a piece of paper as the door closed, and waved as the private train left the station.

We started to head to the back of the train, but were stopped by Dantae and Hazeel being accosted by two figures. They turned to face us as we approached.

“Mr. Alpha, we were sent by the Supreme General to escort you.” The red and green Vanessas from before greeted us. “This person is of a suspicious origin. We request an immediate order to throw her from the train.”

“I see.” Alpha nodded, and snapped his fingers. The Vanessas looked at him in confusion, and continued to have that expression even after Hazeel separated their heads from their bodies with her sword.

I let out a long sigh as I watched their bodies dissipate into smoke, which Dantae immediately absorbed into her body. "Leo, Paris." She said after recovering from the shock.

"Fuck." I muttered under my breath. On a trip to Paris for a mission right before the whole Christian incident, we arrived to find the area nothing but a desolate wasteland. Instead, the French city had been encapsulated into a pocket dimension.

When people died in there, they- “We’ve been had.” I told Alpha. He looked at me in confusion, so I explained it to him in detail.

“Christian isn’t threatening the world with Dimension Eaters. Earth has already been eaten.”