BEGINNING A/N; So, you might notice some minor changes in characterization and whatnot while reading the following chapter(s). Basically, I’ve found that my view of Sumin and the others has changed dramatically from what it initially was. Also, my writing style has definitely changed over the past year or so. Feedback on the story and on my writing is extremely appreciated, as always. I hope you enjoy this (reboot) of Conquer (which is a working title, now). Oh, and yeah, I decided to switch to past tense because I write more comfortably in that tense. Read on and enjoy!

CHAPTER 24

THE BRIDE-TO-BE

The following morning, they ventured into the city. A shift in Sumin’s attitude was duly noted by all of her comrades; her aloof demeanor gone, she’d returned to her witty and crude self, save for the considerable degree of understanding she seemed to share with Baekhyun. Even so, each of her companions elected to keep this to himself. “Look,” gasped Xiumin, pointing towards a shop b with paper lanterns. They were vivid in color, made of semi-translucent material that allowed yellow light to filter through them. Sumin chanced a rare smile.

“They’re beautiful,” she admitted.

Her long hair was loose, wisps curling around her face and flying easily in the passing breeze. If it wasn’t for her tattered robes, she’d look almost normal. Children ran between their legs, high voices filled with laughter and joy as the group of six strolled idly down the crowded streets. She felt the cool hilt of her beloved blade against her stomach, within easy reach. Her distrust of raucous places was nearly innate. The General had always made it clear to her that the more people present, the more alert one should become.

“What are we looking for, again?” Kai drawled lazily. He fiddled with a thin decoration hanging from the edge of a nearby stall, gaze flitting towards Sumin and then elsewhere. Sumin tensed. It occurred to her that she would never be able to tell her five companions about the events that had both preceded and followed the death of Baekhyun’s mother.

What she had seen in the Seeing Pool…

The dream that had followed that night’s events…

And the flashes of Sight that wracked her entire being…

“I have a very distinct feeling that there is a Force here,” replied Sumin simply. They were very clearly unsatisfied with that answer. But, there was little else she could offer them without revealing the disturbing details of the changes she’d seen in herself since her run-in with the Seeing Pool. It had taken her an extended period of time to piece together the details of what she’d seen, let alone to recognize she’d been looking into one of the mystical “mirrors of sight.”

The Seeing Pool was an ancient item of legend - one that Sumin herself had always doubted the existence of. It had always been the type of object that one could read about in books, but never seemed to have any real sustenance to it. Perhaps its function was what made the object seem almost too mystical to seem plausible.

Its function, in essence, was to reveal that which cannot be seen by the eye.

In legend, the Seeing Pool revealed to Yixuan Xing, Hero of Dawn, that he was an archangel. Her mother and father had read such stories to her when she was but a child. Even then, it had seemed out of grasp. Such stories made what she had seen even more…

Sumin was stolen from her reverie by a shove to the side. “Hey,” she growled. The stranger threw her an apologetic smile and broke into a sprint. “The nerve of people in cities,” muttered the ruffled girl as she patted out wrinkles in her rumpled robes. Kyungsoo approached with his arms crossed over his chest, looking thoughtfully towards where the person had disappeared to.

“Maybe it’s just me,” he whispered, “but did that guy give off a...vibe?”

She blinked. Had he? Sumin was so wrapped up in her own troubles that she’d completely forgotten that she had a mission to attend to. “Shall we pursue him?”

Kyungsoo nodded and the group followed him down the winding street. They received odd looks from the city’s occupants, who seemed intrigued by the band of raggedy travellers. As if just noticing, Sumin glanced at her companions. They were a motley group. Tao’s face was smudged with dirt, Kai had torn through much of his robes, Xiumin looked vaguely damp, and Baekhyun’s hair and outfit were singed. They were in desperate need of supplies, but lacked the monetary resources to fund such an expenditure.

“There he is,” said Tao, gesturing towards a quaint tea shop, where the boy sat chatting idly with the owner. Sumin narrowed her eyes. He did look the part of a Force. The group peered curiously at the fellow, unsure of what to make of the finely clad figure.

“What’s the plan, Chief?” Xiumin asked, looking to Sumin.

Sumin smiled grimly. “You won’t like it.”

. . .

“You’re right, I don’t like it.” He inched behind the rest of the group, grimacing as they approached the alleyway the stranger had ducked into after leaving the tea shop. “Sumin, you can’t think this is a good idea! This is idiotic!”

Flicking her dark hair behind her shoulder, Sumin scowled at the boy. “It’ll be fine,” she promised.

“I like this idea,” Tao chirped.

“Of course you do,” snapped Xiumin.

The stranger turned around, having noticed that he was being followed. “Are you lost?” he asked the boy behind him. A grin flashed over Kai’s features momentarily, disappearing as he swung his fist squarely into the jaw of the boy. Sumin smiled; she loved a good brawl now-and-then. Tao clucked his tongue from behind her.

“Bad form,” he scolded. The rest watched intently as the fight ensued within the alley. Despite being initially caught off guard, the strange boy recovered by lunging for Kai’s legs, effectively knocking both of them to the ground. The scuffle continued in a flurry of fists and kicks and curses. Kai had volunteered himself for the role, much to the chagrin of Tao, who had been itching to prove himself to the group.

“I’m confused,” began Kyungsoo, “what was the point of this?”

Sumin rolled her eyes. “You can’t tell? I’m trying to draw out his power, if he has one, by putting him under stress,” explained Sumin. Xiumin narrowed his eyes at the careless girl.

“At the expense of Kai?”

“Well, it’s not like he would fight a girl!” Sumin frowned, returning her attention to the scuffle, where little progress had been made. If anything, they both seemed increasingly less into the fight. “What’s he doing? He’s supposed to be pushing him until he’s desperate.”

Kai collapsed to the ground, heaving labored breaths. “Enough, enough,” he sighed as the stranger fell in front of him. “Clearly you’re not what we thought you were.”

“We? And what did you think I was?”

The others filed into the alley. “Nothing,” answered Sumin curtly. “Now, hurry on, and pretend this never happened.” She glanced at Kai and shook her head. He simply shrugged. Standing, Kai reached down to help up the boy, who accepted his hand with little more than a suspicious glance.

“Say,” Kai began, “you haven’t seen anything strange around here, have you?”

“Other than you lot, no,” he replied. “Except, maybe, the prince of this region.”

. . .

“I didn’t know there was royalty outside of the royal family,”

In truth, there was not. However, in regions where sovereignty and identity was very important to the people, there tended to arise regional leaders - mock royalty, without the hierarchy or history of the real royal family. Such was the case for the city and surrounding province of Sinseonghan. They were a proud people, tied strongly to their heritage and the legacy of their land. Despite popular resentment for local royalty, there was little the capital forces could do about it.

Sumin shrugged. “I suppose the bigger concern here is that a Force might be a prince,” she sighed. “The difficulty there is that royalty will be widely recognized, making remaining incognito far more difficult. And on top of that, it’ll be a lot harder to get a prince to come with us.” They stood at the gates of the palace, frowning up at the large structure.

“The question is: how do we even talk to him?” pointed out Baekhyun. “And isn’t he engaged to marry today? I don’t think he’ll be strolling around, then.”

Sumin frowned. “You sure are a pessimist.”

“You’re one to talk!” chorused the remaining boys.

The group fell quiet as they observed the large expanse of wall separating them from the palace on the other side. There was neither a clear way over the wall nor a passage through it. Kyungsoo paced behind them, deep in thought. “I seem to remember someone in my village talking about how peculiar royal weddings are,” he muttered. “What was it again?”

“If I put a cloth over your head, will you fall asleep like babies do and stop talking?” Sumin said, smiling bitterly at the boy. His lips twisted into the beginnings of a scowl, held back only by the sudden realization that visibly washed over him.

“You’re a genius,” he said, staring at Sumin wide-eyed. “In royal weddings, the bride’s face cannot be seen for the entire expanse of the wedding!”

Sumin blinked. “And?”

Kyungsoo grinned. “You’re not gonna like this.”

. . .

“You were right,” Sumin snapped. “I hate this.”

They snickered. Irritated, Sumin aside the paper curtain to slam her fist into something - someone, perhaps - but paused as she took in the reactions of her five companions. Heat rose to her cheeks and the skin not clad by her traditional outfit suddenly felt as if it had been doused in fire. She wrinkled her nose and turned away from them quickly. “Enough of that,” she coughed, glancing at their agape mouths. “It’s not like you’ve never seen a woman before.”

Kyungsoo snorted. “Didn’t realize you were a woman, really.”

She let out a short laugh, followed by a reminder: “I’m armed, by the way.” He promptly backed away. Sumin left out that accessing her weapon would be a struggle given that it was tucked behind layers of silken fabric. The hanbok they’d rented with what remained of their funds was of the wedding fashion - pearly white, intricately laced with gold detailing, and fastened with a yellow lotus flower. Sumin fiddled with the heavy garb they’d fastened into her braided hair and was promptly scolded by the woman who had helped her into the intricate attire. The boys cleared their throats.

“Where’d you even fit weapons in there?” muttered Tao with a grimace. Sumin could only cough.

“There has never been a prettier bride,” said Kai evenly. Sumin straightened slightly at this.

“It’s strange,” chorused Xiumin and Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun neared, offering a curt smile, and settled the veil onto her head. He held onto Sumin’s shoulders momentarily and sighed. “You’ll do great,” he said, “because it’s your fate.” Sumin stiffened at the dreaded word. Fate.

“Yes.”

The palace loomed just outside and the city was decorated in hues of gold, fushia, and blue, as if to mimic the sky, just for the occasion. Sumin held her breath. If she failed here, then they’d have to resort to more drastic measures. Measures that, in truth, they could not afford to risk. A golden handcart awaited her and she climbed, grudgingly, inside. Her heart pounded. She had never been like other girls, dreaming of a fairytale prince to sweep her off her feet. The General had raised her to be her own knight in shining armor, her own prince. But, now...

Sumin was to be married.

WEDDING HANBOK

A/N; I don’t mean to bore you all with a long author’s note, but I have some things I want to get out of the way before I jump back into this story. First of all, this story will be under renovation. I don’t know exactly how long it’ll take, but I want to re-write the first 23 chapters to (1) fit my new writing style and (2) smooth out some issues with the plot. I don’t plan on changing any major substantive element, so it won’t be necessary to go back and read those chapters unless you really want to. Secondly, I have not written fanfiction in a very long time. Furthermore, I’m not nearly as into EXO as I was when I originally wrote this. I’m not going to let that affect the quality of this story, however. Finally, I remain unsure of my ability to deliver consistent updates. I’m going to pre-write as many chapters as possible, but after that, who knows? The fact that so many of you have stuck with me despite my inability to keep writing is so touching and I wish I could personally thank each and every one of you!

p.s. I’m thinking of incorporating some other groups into this story (possibly). Thoughts?

p.s.s. I totally forgot where a lot of the plot points I set up were leading to, so… what you’re gonna see is a whole lot of me just reinventing this story. But, I think you’ll enjoy it. I’ve improved, I believe, and I think I have a lot more to offer to this story, now.

NOTES ON THE ACTUAL CHAPTER: I know the Seeing Pool, the dream, and the Sight are new. However, they (including what Sumin saw in the Seeing Pool) will be explained in subsequent chapters. Also, any ideas as to who the prince/Force is? I tried to give some very subtle cues. AND HOW CUTE IS BRIDE!SUMIN. SO CUTE. If you’ve got ideas, suggestions, criticism, etc, feel free to leave it below! As always: comments, subscribes, and comments are loved. Until next time, lovelies…

p.s. I was lazy when editing, so I would not be surprised if there were some mistakes. Please excuse that.