Those of Us Alone

By AshleyEmerson

124K 4.7K 686

Midori was an orphan. Hardships make up her life and she's never had it easy. When she is given a home by Mas... More

Chapter 1: Enter Midori
Chapter 2: Years Past
Chapter 3: The Fateful Night
Chapter 4: Soo-won Betrays His Friends
Character Info
Chapter 5: Into the Woods
Chapter 6: Annoyances of a Third Wheel
Chapter 7: There's No Way for Me to Actually Describe My Pain
Chapter 8: The Priest
Chapter 9: Hurtful Words, Understanding, & Rooting for HakXYona
Chapter 10: God's Will
Chapter 11: Name the Chapter Author-chan!
Chapter 12: Yoon & I Get Dragged to Hakuryuu Village
Chapter 13: I'm as Clueless as You are in This Situation
Chapter 14: New Addition
Chapter 15: Well, Now You've Pissed Me Off
Chapter 16: Kija's Strength . . . And Weaknesses
Chapter 17: The Search for Seiryuu (The Other One)
Chapter 18: We've Arrived!
Chapter 19:
Chapter 20: Awkward Sibling. . . Stuff?
Chapter 21: How Angry is Yoon?
Chapter 22: Longest Chapter EVER!
Chapter 23: Kija vs Ungrateful Villager-Who Speaks More in this Chapter?!
Chapter 24: Digging Ourselves Out of a Hole
Chapter 25: Our 'Weird' Group
Chapter 26: Names and Ports and Trouble-Oh My!
Chapter 27: Stuck Between a Rock (Jae-ha) and A Hard Place
Don't Hate Me!
Chapter 28: Memories and Fights
Chapter 29: Nighttime Comforting?
Chapter 30: Psychological Issues
Chapter 31: You're Oddly Excited to Be Walking into Human Trafficking
Chapter 32: Intense Torture
Chapter 33: Bro-Bonding and Some Flashbacks
Chapter 34: A Dream-Like Plane
Chapter 35: Not Exactly the Type of Meeting I was Anticipating
Chapter 36: This Isn't the End
Chapter 37: The End of the Awa Arc
Chapter 38: Trauma Has Some Consequences
Chapter 39: Telling Some People is the First Step Towards Recovery
Chapter 40: A Run-In with the King
Chapter 41: Traveling Plans are Decided
Chapter 42: Every Journey has 'Pit-Stops' I Guess
Chapter 43: First Time in Chi'Shin
Chapter 44: We're Staying a Bit Longer Here Than I Thought
Chapter 45: A - Uh - Productive Night?
Chapter 46: A Familiar Place and A Familiar Face
Chapter 47: An Insane Wake-up
Chapter 48: Gaining Knowledge but also Confusion
Chapter 49: Putting My Plan Into Action
Chapter 50: Being Blushing Messes Together
Chapter 51: Down A Group Member
Chapter 52: Festivities Ended
Chapter 53: Travel Conversation has Surprising Results
Chapter 54: Memory or Nightmare? Maybe, Both?
Chapter 55: In Which Joo-doh Tries to Poison Us
Chapter 56: Everyone Needs a Little More of Tae-yon
Chapter 57: War-Council Interlude
Chapter 58: Capital Saika
Chapter 59: When Drama Ensues . . .
Chapter 60: Things Get More Heated
Chapter 61: Jae-ha's Insight on Midori
Chapter 62: Some Crying, Some Letters, and Some Leaving
Chapter 63: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Chapter 64: Guilt
Chapter 65: Story Telling through a Letter
Chapter 66: To the Battlefield We Go
Chapter 67: In Which Tae-jun Surprises Us All
Chapter 68: Naming Chapters is Hard
Chapter 69: And You Thought Awa was Bad Before
Chapter 70: And You Guessed It! More Letters!
Chapter 72: The Bad Idea
Chapter 73: The "Lovely" Town of Awa
Chapter 74: Public Speeches = Good Distraction?
Chapter 75: Transition~
Chapter 76: Oh No, a Filler While I Figure Out the Resolution to this Arc! XD
Chapter 77: Recollection of a Promise
Chapter 78: Planning Session

Chapter 71: Why are Idiots Running the Country?

230 6 0
By AshleyEmerson

Midori's POV

The air around the port of Awa is always, always depressing nowadays.

Resistance still sparks, but it isn't long until the repercussions of our actions are shoved back in our face. Part of this was due to people aligning with me over the current Lord, Dante.

The other part . . . well, they arrived today.

And they certainly weren't quiet about it. General Geun-tae, General Joo-doh, His majesty, and Gramps all arrived today. They aren't the most subtle people, and Dante Kumuji wasn't, unfortuantely, an idiot.

They had informed the lord that they were coming, and that they wanted to meet with me, if he would permit it. At least, that's what Dante's right-hand-man, Riko, was announcing to the people that were herded like cattle into the square.

"If Miss Midori is able," Riko continued, an ugly smirk crawling its way upon his face, "we hope that she will step forward today so that we can escort her to our Lord's residence for this private meeting."

There was no movement from me, nor was there any from the residents of Awa who stood around me. It was in the middle of a rainy day, so every woman was wearing a thick veil over their heads, including myself. It was the only way for me to appear on the streets without gathering unwanted attention.

And this was definitely unwanted attention.

~~~~~~~~~~

After we were so ceremoniously dismissed, I was quick to be one of the first people back to the safe house.

I had almost stormed through the door, shutting it quickly and ripping the veil off, "Apparently, being powerful does not exclude you from making stupid decisions!"

"Midori?"

I turned quickly to see Toku sitting at the bedside of our newest patient, Kota. Kota was the kind of person to throw caution to the wind when passionate, and that is what got him poisoned and stuck on bedrest.

I sighed, before giving off a small smile, "Toku, Kota." I walked over to the sink and proceeded to wring out the soaked fabric of my overdress,  "The city announcement just ended. Just be happy you missed it."

After deciding that I was dry enough, I moved to Kota's bedside to begin his check-up as he spoke, "What was it? Somebody get whipped?"

Rolling my eyes, I checked his fever, "No, thank goodness." I pulled back, looking him in the eyes, "Your fever's down." I pulled out a stool and sat down, exhausted, "Apparently, the King decided that he wanted to meet with me, and made the wise decision to tell that to Dante."

"What?!" Both males yelled out.

I went to answer, but flinched as the door swung open to reveal a soaked and highly annoyed Gi-gan. As she came in and slammed the door, Kota, Toku and I tried to formulate words but we were all at a loss for what to say to our steaming captain.

I, unfortunately, was targeted, "I thought these allies of yours were supposed to be smart, Midori?!"

You see, the problem with being unable to form any words is that when you're put on the spot, you can't think very quickly. And when Gi-gan is expecting an answer, it is especially hard to figure out the correct words to say.

I've not always been good at 'correct' when I'm surprised, unfortunately, "I said they were powerful, not necessarily smart . . ."

A quick lesson in talking to Gi-gan: Do not use me as an example, unless you want to get yelled at.

"Is that so?" I slowly began to curl in on myself as the elderly woman got madder, "Then, please, explain to me then how they're going to help us?"

I held my hands up in surrender, but spoke quickly, "Well, I've got to talk to them first."

"You're not about to give yourself up."

I huffed a laugh, "I'm not that desperate." The door opened and closed, revealing Yuri - who was coming back from her job in Dante's 'palace'. I smirked slightly, watching as she took off the long, opaque hair cover that was required as part of the uniform, "Hey, Yuri!"

Said girl looked up, a question visible in her eyes, "I don't know what you want, but it's probably a bad idea."

"Any chance I can borrow your uniform?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Gi-gan and I were sitting side-by-side in the carriage that takes workers up to Dante's residence, both of us wearing matching brown and tan dresses with a long brown veil-like headdress that began by wrapping around the forehead and hanging straight down our backs. 

As dusk began to fall, we were passing street lamps, illuminating one of us or another helpless worker of the corrupt Lord of Awa.

"This idea is very reckless."

I leaned onto Gi-gan's shoulder, trying to appear nonchalant, "But . . . It's the only one we've got."

________________________________________________________________________________

. . . Hi, guys . . .

It's been what, 8 months since I've updated? I'm VERY sorry. :/

I can always seem to think - "Oh, this will be great. Let me put this in the story" and then I get stuck on how to get there. . .

Not much of an excuse, but it's really the only one I've got, so . . .

Anyway, how are y'all doing? I'm good - still alive.

I'm hoping that the next few chapters will be better than this one, I find transition chapters kinda hard, so I apologize again for taking so long to update :(

Thanks, everyone!

~Ashley

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