Chapter 11: Mission Impossible

Of all the scenes he’d think he’d face when he got home, Baekhyun wasn’t expecting this one.

He bowed his head and backed out of the room slowly, muttering an apology under his breath, absently wondering why he was the one leaving, when it was his house. Shouldn’t he be screaming at the two people lying in a compromising position on his bed to get the out of his house?

“This is not what it looks like,” Jongin said, smoothly getting off of Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo nodded, confirming Jongin’s words, sitting up from Baekhyun’s bed and straightening his shirt.

“Jongin just tripped.”

“…And you two just so happened to land on my bed?” Baekhyun asked in a tone that clearly said he did not believe a word they said.

“Coincidences happen, Baekhyun,” Jongin replied, getting up and walking towards him. “But we weren’t expecting you until much later. What happened?”

“Oh my god, I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if I came home a few minutes later…” Baekhyun whispered, a bit horrified.

“I already said, it was an accident,” Kyungsoo insisted.

“OH MY GOD, are the first two buttons of your shirt ed?” Baekhyun screeched, pointing an accusing finger at the offensive object.

Kyungsoo looked down and nonchalantly buttoned them back up. “I ed it because it was a bit stuffy here. Jongin didn’t do it.”

“Uh… huh…” Baekhyun said a little uncertainly, taking a seat at his desk, spinning around in his chair, eyeing his two friends nervously.

They seemed terribly casual and relaxed after being discovered lying on a bed together.

“Seriously though, why did you come home so early?” Jongin asked again, when he thought Baekhyun had finally calmed down a little and wasn’t about to have a panic attack.

“Umm…”

Baekhyun’s mind flashed to the scene earlier, at the Palace. An familiar piercing pain returned, clawing at his heart, as he remembered how coldly Chanyeol’s voice was when he told him to leave.

Why’s he so moody anyways?

“…Um. Chanyeol told me to… go home and meet with you guys or something,” Baekhyun said quietly, not really meeting Jongin’s eyes.

“Why?” Kyungsoo asked immediately, noticing that there was a change in Baekhyun’s tone.

“I… don’t know?” Baekhyun replied truthfully.

“That’s weird though,” Jongin said. “My brother usually wouldn’t be the one to tell you to leave..”

“He’s right,” Kyungsoo added. “What, did Princess Joohyun appear or something?”

Baekhyun stared up at Kyungsoo with his mouth open, thoughts about Kyungsoo being a mind-reader immediately occupying his brain.

“I was right?” Kyungsoo asked, a bit surprised.

“Wait… so Chanyeol told you to leave because Joohyun appeared?” Jongin asked disbelievingly.

“No! He didn’t tell me to leave,” Baekhyun said hastily. “He just… told me to go meet with Kyungsoo. I guess he was thinking about the sake of the battle…”

“Uh, that does not sound like my brother at all.”

Baekhyun shrugged and began spinning around in his chair again. Kyungsoo and Jongin stood there watching him go round and round in silence, both thinking about Chanyeol’s odd behavior.

“You didn’t happen to say anything about only seeing him as a best friend, did you?” Jongin asked suddenly, after Baekhyun’s fiftieth (give or take a few) turn.

Baekhyun stopped abruptly, the edge of his desk scraping against the side of his chair, gaping at Jongin, seriously considering the idea that these two people were aliens and knew everything that was going through his mind right now.

“Are…you…serious?” Jongin gritted out, understanding Baekhyun’s surprised face expression right away.

“Um. Yes?”

“Oh god,” Jongin muttered, face palming himself.

Baekhyun watched in bewilderment as Jongin walked around in circles muttering about “two immensely stupid idiots” under his breath. Baekhyun glanced over at Kyungsoo with questioning eyes, only to see his friend looking at his feet with a thoughtful and almost… sad expression.

“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun asked hesitantly.

“Hmm?”

“Are you a-“

“Dude, are you like, really an idiot or just pretending to be an idiot?” Jongin interrupted with a huff, stopping his pacing and moving to stand in front of Baekhyun with his hands on his hips.

“I-“

“You know what, just ignore that question,” he said in a slightly exasperated voice. “I’m not even going to try and comprehend what’s going on through the minds of the two of you.”

“Hey, that’s just mea-“

“Do you guys ignore everything that presents itself in front of your face? I mean, it’s seriously shoving its up your face, and you two just can’t seem to notice it,” Jongin continued. He didn’t seem like he was about to end his fit anytime soon.

“What are you ta-“

“I swear, you two are li-“

“Jongin, quit it,” Kyungsoo interrupted.

Jongin immediately shut his mouth, eyes flickering over to Kyungsoo, confused by his serious tone.

“I was just speaking my mind!”’

“We don’t need to know about your opinions,” Kyungsoo snapped. “Are you going to continue on with this ridiculous bantering or actually talk about the important stuff?”

Jongin opened his mouth again, probably to retort with another comment, but Baekhyun stopped him.

“Kyungsoo’s right. Let’s start planning instead.”

Jongin grudgingly agreed and headed out to the living room, plopping on onto a comfortable loveseat. Kyungsoo took the high chair that faced it, while Baekhyun opted for a soft footstool.

“How many men are there under Soyeon’s control?” Baekhyun asked immediately after they all settled down.

“There are about fifty-five thousand streltsy, and twenty-two thousand five hundred of them are in the Capital. I’m almost sure she has at least two legions biding to her every command. Everyone else swore to stay neutral,” Jongin reported.

“How many of them are our spies?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Less than one third of a legion.”

They were quiet for a second, mentally calculating the amount of soldiers.

One thousand four hundred.

“That’s nowhere near enough if she has over ten thousand legionnaires,” Baekhyun stated quietly.

“We still have nine cohorts from the First Legion,” Kyungsoo reminded him.

“That’s still not enough! That’s only about thirty-seven hundred extra men! We have less than half of the soldiers she has.”

“Not to mention the fact that Chanyeol will probably bring about two hundred of the most highly trained men with him on his trip to prevent his assassination,” Jongin remarked grimly.

“That leaves us with five thousand men. Against two legions.”

“Don’t worry,” Jongin said. “Chanyeol’s trip this time is to China. His motive isn’t to just pay respects to the Emperor, but to ally himself with China. If he manages to go through the negotiations smoothly, we’ll have reinforcements sent to us immediately.”

“Then we have to hold the streltsy off until his return,” Baekhyun replied, suddenly feeling anxiety numb his muscles.

“That’s only if he gains China as an ally,” Kyungsoo said.

“I believe in him.”

Jongin and Kyungsoo both looked up from their hands to stare at Baekhyun.

“What?” He exclaimed defensively. “I do! Don’t you guys?”

Jongin couldn’t help but feel a smirk crawl onto his face.

“Of course we do,” he said, letting a bit of amusement sneak into his voice.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Baekhyun demanded, throwing a cushion at Jongin, who caught it easily.

“Like what?”

“Like… like you know what I’m thinking!”

“Do I?”

“I don’t know!”

“Guys… guys… Can you two quit your arguing? You’re giving me a headache,” Kyungsoo mumbled, closing his eyes.

“Sorry,” Baekhyun muttered, not feeling apologetic at all, and shot a glare at Jongin’s direction.

“Childish…” Kyungsoo muttered to himself.

“Shut up,” Jongin said, earning a slap on his knee.

A small scuffle broke out and quickly ended with Baekhyun’s clearing of throat.

“This is what I think. The First Cohort will stay in the Palace to protect the Emperor, the Empress, and the prince and princesses,” Baekhyun began.

“What princess?” Jongin asked idly. “The freakin’ rascal isn’t even in the country. Lucky her. Sehun will be leaving the palace, and I, myself, will be fighting, so there’s no point.

“Protect the Emperor and the Empress then,” Baekhyun said, exasperated. “The Second, Third, and Fourth Cohortes will divide themselves into teams to ensure the safety of the boyars, especially those that pledged their loyalty to us. I think Soyeon will attack the noblemen with probably less than a thousand men. Since we have over four hundred fifty soldiers in each cohort, there’ll be at least thirteen hundred men. That’s more than enough. The rest of the men will surround the Palace, in preparation of an attack.”

“You want… a bit over 3.6 thousand men to defend against a nine thousand, possibly ten thousand men army?” Kyungsoo asked in disbelief.

Baekhyun let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. “There’s nothing else we can do, but hold them off until Chanyeol returns,” Baekhyun mumbled wearily.

Baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut and prayed desperately for Chanyeol to be able to get through the negotiations with the Chinese Emperor. Ever since the new Emperor rose to the throne, they had virtually no contact with China, save for the few envoys they sent. He wasn’t sure of the new Emperor’s attitude to the alliance, and didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he did not agree to Koreal’s offer.

Then we’d all die. And the empire will fall to Soyeon’s hands.

no, I am not letting that happening.

I worked my off for this. I’ll win this battle even if it’s me against ten thousand.

“That bastard better return with a damned legion of five thousand soldiers,” Kyungsoo said firmly.

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A/N: Yes, yes, I know. WHAT HAPPENED TO BAEKKAI'S HEART TO HEART TALK??? Lol, sorry guys. Next chapter. Will start writing now xDD.

Okay, so, some to say. I decided on what country Chanyeol's ruling (like... finally). It's Korea, and since I did not ever mention the country's name in any of the previous chapters, I didn't need to make any big changes. I just changed my first Author's Note and fixed some typos. Or whatever. Yeah.

Uhh... See, as I promised, the chapters are getting longer, aren't they? :D

Okay, I've been meaning to say this for like, the past couple of chapters, but I kept forgetting!

The song Baekhyun was singing/humming when he was looking for Chanyeol is actually called "Babo" by Juniel and Yonghwa. The song's freakin adorable, so yeah. Lol. So... anni2604, congratulations for getting it.. part right :D Lol. When I first heard this song, Yonghwa's "Because I'm a Fool" popped up in my mind too. xD

@foreverparadise - Lolololol I was going to DIE laughing at your comment xDD

Yes, guyses, keep the comments coming. I jump around and squeal like an idiot when I read them (did I spell squeal right?).

School started and I feel like dying >.> After the first four days, lol. It's okay, but... ;__; Dislike school.