Darkness.

Darkness.

Simo wheeled around her environment, eyes wide in horror.

Darkness.

The silence crushed her. She could see no one… Nothing…

Darkness.

A loud screech suddenly pierced through Simo's consciousness. She impulsively covered her ears, but the ear piercing noise continued.

A light.

Simo looked in the direction of the brightness, and suddenly…


"!"

Simo sat upright on her bed, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. She wiped some of the sweat off of her forehead and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Another nightmare…" she said to herself. Simo ran her hand through her hair, a ruffling noise echoing quietly through her room.

She sighed.

With a light thud, she collapsed back onto her bed, curling up in her blankets as she did so.

A light knock echoed through her room.

Reluctantly, Simo dragged herself out of bed, throwing her blankets over the bed as she did so. She readjusted the strap to her tank top as she walked over to the door.

"Yes?" she called. A familiar voice echoed from the other side.

"Simo?" the voice said. "It's me. You… uh… happen to be free today by any chance?"

Normally, Simo could care less if anyone saw her in her current attire, but sometimes the professionalism of being in the army gets to her head.

"Hold on," said she. "At least let me put on some cloths, damnit."


Outside the door Marco waited, his arms fiddling with one of the buttons on his uniform. This was the only day of leave his unit had before the expedition up north. As per regulations, soldiers still needed to have their uniforms on during leave, unless told otherwise.

Marco sighed.

He hated white uniforms. They stained too easily.

The door finally opened.

"Sorry I'm late," Simo said, the brass buttons on her uniform glinting in the sunlight. Her uniform, despite her complaints of being slightly too tight for her taste, seemed to fit her perfectly.

"I guess they weren't kidding when they said 'one size fits all,'" Marco said to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

The two descended the stairs which stretched from Simo's room to the street below. The sudden merge of 20th Century technology with medieval technology seemed to result in some… interesting architectural choices.

"I have to say," Simo said suddenly. "I never noticed how clean this place became. When the New Government said stuff about 'sanitation reforms' or whatever, I never thought they would actually do it."

"Same here," Marco replied. "No more stepping in shit in the middle of the street."

Simo could not help but laugh at the statement.

As the pair continued down the street, the sounds of shouting and talking echoed into their ears. A small crowd had gathered around what looked like a man standing on a wooden box.

At first, Marco thought it was some religious fanatic giving a sermon, but then saw the red banners some of the crowd held. Some of the banners had text written in unfamiliar characters, while others were written in characters he could understand.

"'The People's Party of Workers and Laborers,' huh?" Marco said to himself. "It's only been like, what, a week since independence? And already people are making political parties."

Simo shrugged.

"Who cares?" said she. "I'm just glad I don't have to worry about starving to death."

Marco sighed.

"You have a point."


As the two exited the city, a car rolled up to the two. At first, the pair looked confused at the strange contraption, but immediately snapped to attention upon seeing the occupants of the vehicle.

"At ease," Lieutenant Yahagi said. Marco and Simo immediately obliged.

"So where are you two off to?" Yahagi asked. "Enjoying the city?"

The two nodded, as both had forgotten to properly plan their excursion today.

Perhaps Yahagi noticed this as he nodded.

"Anyway," said he. "This Yank here wanted to see something interesting."

Yahagi pointed at Colonel Davis, who sat next to him at the wheel.

"You two want to join?"

Simo and Marco looked at each other.

"Yes sir," Marco replied, before the two climbed into the car.


"I sincerely apologize, Lord Fedor, but it is required by law for all citizens to pay their taxes..."

"To the underworld with you and your bloody taxes! I am a noble! Why must I pay anything to a peasant government!?"

Lieutenant Davis's car stopped in front of this interesting scene.

"Oh boy," Colonel Davis said, activating the handbrake of the car as he did so. "This could get rough."

"That police officer seems to be getting rather irritated," Yahagi observed. "I wonder if he will snap soon."

"No worries," Davis replied. "Just threaten to put some canister shot through the house and the guy will pay his taxes."

Marco and Simo shuddered at the idea.

"But did they even bring a cannon?" Marco wondered as Simo looked around.

She tapped on Marco's shoulder and pointed at a clump of bushes. A slight amount of armor plate stuck through the bush, as well as a tire.

"Is that is?" Simo asked. Davis turned around to look at where Simo pointed, and whistled.

"Well," said he. "They did bring an armored car."

Suddenly, the four heard the sound of flesh smacking against flesh.

They turned around to find the noble's fist dig into the police officer's abdomen.

"Get out of my sight, mongrel!" said he. Marco sighed.

"I thought nobles were not assholes like that guy," said he.

Simo nodded.

"That motherfucker is an exception," said she.

They heard the noble click his tongue as he headed back to his house.

"What a dick," the four chorused, before noticing a shadow dash towards the fallen police officer.

The person, a young lady no older than 15, knelt down beside the officer.

"Father!" she exclaimed. "What have you done!? This man his hurt!"

The noble slapped his daughter in response.

"That asshole!" the four exclaimed before jumping out of the car, weapons in hand (Simo and Marco held M3 Grease guns, conveniently stored where they sat). Before they could do anything else, however, the armored car jumped out of its hiding place, followed by a number of police officers.

"Lord Stephen Fedor III," said one of the officers. "You are under arrest for Tax evasion and Domestic abuse. Please, come with us."

The noble, with rifle barrels and bayonets pointed at his head (as well as the armored car's machine gun, ready to shoot up the noble's house) quietly obliged.


"I wonder if that was how things went during the French and Russian revolutions," Davis said as he drove back to the city. Yahagi shrugged.

"Probably with more bloodshed," Yahagi replied. He turned around towards the pair behind him.

"Sorry to waste your leave like that," he said. "We were not expecting to actually get involved."

"It's fine, sir," Marco replied. "There's plenty of time left in this leave."

"Is it okay if we drop you two off at main street?" Davis asked.

"Yes," Simo replied. "Thank you Colonel."

As the pair exited the vehicle, Davis could not help but wink at the pair.

"Enjoy the night you two," said he, before driving away.


Author's notes: Hey guys! I'm back! I'm not dead yet :D

Anyway, here is the next chapter some of you have been asking for. Hopefully this gets some worldbuilding out of the way until later.

Also, is it possible for someone to draw some art of this fic? I'm too broke to properly commission any artists lol.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you guys in the next one.

-SPSH Karl