"Yes ma'am. We will ambush Kim Taeyeon right now." The two assassins bowed to their second young mistress, and left in pursuit of their target.

Meanwhile at some random clearing in the middle of a forest...

"We've been travelling for five days already... We should be reaching soon I guess..." Taeyeon told Sunny as they were packing up their tents.

"I guess-" Sunny started but was interrupted by Taeyeon, who shouted: "Sunny, weapon form NOW!!!" Sunny was puzzled by her partner's sudden request, but she did not hesitate a moment and immediately transformed into her weapon form, in a flash of bright yellow light.

As Taeyeon closed her hand around her short sword, she rolled forward immediately, narrowly escaping decapitation from a sword that was aimed at her neck. At the moment Taeyeon completed her roll, she turned 180 degrees as she stood up to face her attackers, bringing her sword up just in time to deflect a crossbow bolt aimed at her. She silently thanked her quick reflexes and her heightened awareness of her surroundings for saving her life, then she looked at her attackers and her jaw dropped...

"Umma? Appa?" Taeyeon asked in astonishment. Taeyeon couldn't believe what she saw, since her parents had disappeared without a trace six years ago and were presumed dead. Taeyeon had to learn how to survive on her own from then on, and that is why under her youthful looks, she was a person who was mature beyond her age, always calmly analysing every problem before taking the step she determined to be the best. Often she was right, and those who tried to mess around with her, had their butts kicked so hard, they could not sit down properly at least for a week. And that was before she had a weapon...

"It's been six years, little Taetae, we missed you lots and you've grown into such a pretty girl, just like your mom." Taeyeon's father replied with a smile.

"Too bad you took after your dad's height!" Taeyeon's mother added on, laughing. Then she turned serious and continued: "Enough talking, now lets let our weapons talk." Taeyeon saw her mom's finger close around the trigger of the crossbow, and immediately swayed to the right to evade it. The crossbow bolt then got embedded, quivering, in the tree that was behind the spot Taeyeon was standing a second ago. It shimmered, disappeared and reappeared loaded in Taeyeon's mom's crossbow, eager to be released again.

"Umma!!! Why are you trying to kill me? Where have the two of you been for the past six years? I knew you guys didn't die!" Taeyeon cried out, tears flowing in happiness that she was reunited with her parents, and in despair as she didn't understand why her parents were trying to kill her.

"We've been wandering around for the past six years until our second young mistress summoned us and instructed us to kill you. So, we have no choice but to comply. Today either you die, or we perish." Taeyeon's father replied, before charging towards Taeyeon with his sword.

Taeyeon brought up her own sword to block her father's attack and continued blocking all his attacks with ease, but never counterattacking when she had the chance. Her father was an expert swordsman, but Taeyeon's reflexes were enhanced by The Dissonant Blade's energy flowing through her, and Taeyeon's own reflexes were already faster than most people to begin with.

As she stood her ground with her father never managing to break through her guard once, she shouted in desperation: "Stop it! I don't want to fight my parents! You always told me I have a choice in whatever I do, so why don't you two have a choice to choose not to obey your second young mistress's instructions? Who is your second young mistress anyways?"

Her father replied calmly, as he continued attacking Taeyeon ferociously: "Our second young mistress is a very powerful person. Obeying her was the only way we could see you for the last time, before either of us leaves this world." In his mind, Taeyeon's father thought: "It hurts for us to do this, but it is necessary to do so, for this will only help to make you stronger. Love can be painful, but it will only serve to make both sides stronger and between us, it's love, isn't it..."

From the corner of her eye, Taeyeon noticed that her mother had moved into a position to get a clear shot at her, and was about to press the trigger of the crossbow. Taeyeon quickly deflected another of her father's attack and jumped back, narrowly evading another crossbow bolt, which whizzed by, barely a centimetre from Taeyeon's nose.

Taeyeon had enough. She threw her sword, point down into the ground, embedding it in the ground. "OUCH! THAT FREAKING HURT!!!" Sunny shouted. Taeyeon ignored her partner and while staring hard at her parents, she said: "You guys want to kill me? Fine! Come kill me, I won't fight my parents even if I die. I don't believe any parent would bear to kill their own flesh and blood."

Taeyeon's father shook his head and said: "Giving up already? I thought you were stronger than this. Looks like I was wrong. Goodbye, my little Taetae, may you have a blissful afterlife." Following, he walked up to Taeyeon and brought his sword up for the killing that would slice Taeyeon's head clean of her body.

Taeyeon just stared at her father, disbelieving what was happening in front of her. How could her father do this? She started to tear, but she held the tears back, she would not cry in front of him. She was not afraid to die, she was just sad that her own parents would be the ones who would kill her. As her father brought his sword into a sweeping cut, to separate his daughter's head from her body, a brilliant yellow light flashed, causing him to involuntary take a step back and drop his sword slightly while continuing the sword .

"I don't care who you are! But I WON'T let you hurt MY Byuntaeng!!!" Sunny screamed as she turned back into her human form and embraced Taeyeon, while using her own body to shield Taeyeon. Then, she exclaimed in pain as Taeyeon's father's sword opened a gash across her back. Thankfully, it wasn't a deep cut, since Taeyeon's father had moved back slightly and dropped his sword slightly.

"Sunny are you okay? Why did you do that for me, you silly girl?" Taeyeon asked her partner, concerned for her partner's welfare. Taeyeon didn't mind dying, but she just couldn't bear seeing Sunny die because of her.

Sunny smiled slightly and told her partner: "I'm okay. My dearest Byuntaeng, I can't live without you, so if you want to die, I will die with you. I guess... it's love, isn't it?"

Hearing that, Taeyeon made up her mind and said: "Sunny, let's kick their butts so hard, they won't have any left!" Sunny just smiled and turned back into her weapon form. Taeyeon then summoned her power and warped the space around her to make herself invisible, before shouting at her parents: "I can tolerate you two hurting me, but I can't stand you hurting my weapon and partner. You two are going to pay dearly for that, I assure you!"

Taeyeon's father smiled and replied: "That's the spirit! But we're your parents and we will always know where you are, even if you're invisible..." As he ended his sentence, Taeyeon's father immediately his sword at the location where Taeyeon was at. Taeyeon swiftly dashed away, warping the space around her to speed up her escape.

Taeyeon continued by dashing behind her mother and attempting to stab her in the back. Her mother sensed her and immediately rolled forward, twisting around to fire a crossbow bolt at Taeyeon. Taeyeon dodged it easily and dashed to behind her father, attempting another backstab, which her father easily blocked without even needing to turn around.

Taeyeon silently cursed her luck, as her father blocked her stabbing attempt with his sword, without even turning around. In this manner, she tried all manners of attacking her parents, head on, backstab and so on, to no avail. No matter how fast she was, her parents could predict her actions with pinpoint accuracy. Taeyeon started to panic, but she maintained a calm exterior, as she tried to calm her heart down.

"Kim Taeyeon! Keep your cool! Analyse the situation and think of the best solution like you always do! THINK!!!" Taeyeon thought to herself while dashing around, trying to break through her parent's seemingly impenetrable defence. "Taeyeon! Soul align with me! It will let you use my powers!" Sunny whispered to Taeyeon. "Oh right! Soul align! Arghhh, how could I forget that!!! I'm such an idiot!" Taeyeon mentally reprimanded herself.

"Thanks for the tip, Sunny!" Taeyeon told her partner, before shouting: "The Dissonant Blade, SOUL ALIGN!!!" Taeyeon and Sunny both felt their souls coming together to match each other's rhythm and slowly become one. A connection opened between the two of them and they could feel what the other was feeling, know what the other was thinking and most importantly of all, know that they were one entity.

Taeyeon's parents saw her soul aligning and smiled. They told each other: "Now things are going to get interesting..." Taeyeon saw the sparks arching across the blade of her sword, and one word appeared in her head: Dissonance.

Taeyeon smiled and dashed to her father and as their swords met in a deafening clang, she uttered the one word: "Dissonance" and the sparks arched over to her father blade and then all over his body. With a scream of pain, as he felt the dissonance spread through him, disrupting all his body functions, Taeyeon's father fell to the ground motionless.

Taeyeon was too angry at her parents, she had already decided that they were undeserving to be her parents and therefore she had no qualms in killing them. As soon as her father fell, she lunged at her mother, who released another crossbow bolt at her.

Taeyeon warped the space around her such that the crossbow bolt would harmlessly arch over her head and continued her forward charge. Momentarily defenceless, Taeyeon's mother accepted her fate, as Taeyeon plunged her sword, deep into her mother's heart. As her mother fell, she removed her sword and proceeded to wipe it clean of blood.

Taeyeon realised with a shock that there was no blood on her sword, even though she had just stabbed her mother in the heart. Just then, the bodies of her parents shimmered in the light and became translucent.

Her parents stood up and smiled at her, saying: "We knew you could do it! You've passed your first test! You have shown your love for your parents and your weapon, as well as your fighting capabilities. You have the potential to go far, our little Taetae"

Taeyeon was completely taken aback, and without thinking, she blurted: "Haven't I just killed the both of you? And what test are you talking about" She tightened her grip on her sword, ready to defend herself from any attack.

"Yes, we are dead. We died six years ago, when our weapons died. There is something you should know about the relationships between weapon users and weapons... When a weapon meets his or her destined user, they will form an inseparable bond and their souls will be forever entwined. If either is about to die, no matter how far the other is from the dying partner, the other will feel an irresistible urge, which forces the other to go in search of his or her dying partner. Once found, the dying partner will be satisfied and die in the arms of his or her partner. After witnessing the death of his or her partner, the surviving one will feel a sense of emptiness and lose interest in everything else, eventually losing the will to live and will die along with their deceased partner." Taeyeon's father explained to Taeyeon.

Taeyeon's mother then added on: "So before we decided to settle down and have you, we were trained assassins working for the king to carry out clandestine missions. During this time we found our weapons and they fell in love with each other, just like we did. After we decided to retire early, as we did not want to taint our hands with the blood of others anymore, our weapons decided to go travelling around the world. However, six years ago, they both caught an incurable disease and were both dying, which compelled us to find them before they die. The urge was so strong, we left immediately without leaving any note and we're sincerely sorry about that. Once we met them, we held them in our arms and watched them die then we followed them soon after, losing the will to live within seconds of their deaths..."

At that point, Taeyeon's parent's weapons transformed into their human forms and were translucent like their partners. They apologised to Taeyeon for taking her parents away from her at such a young age. Taeyeon accepted their apology, as she knew it wasn't their fault for catching the illness. She took a while more to digest all the information her parents just told her and then asked: "If you guys are dead, why can I still see you?

Her father chuckled and replied: "Well... We were worried about you, so we were unable to cross over to our afterlife and remained as wondering souls on this world, watching you grow up. Then, yesterday, our second young mistress summoned us and tasked us to ambush you as a test. She revived us temporarily so that you could see and fight us, so after you killed us, we returned to being souls again. We would have returned to becoming souls anyways after seventy-two hours, when the spell effect ended. She was kind enough to let us stay visible to you for a while to talk to you before leaving. She is a very understanding person, after all she knows the pain of separation as well."

Taeyeon was bursting with questions to ask, but she sensed that their time was running out, so she asked the one that she knew she had to: "Who's your second young mistress?"

"It's someone you know. You'll be meeting her again pretty soon. Anyways, our time is up, we've got to go. Hopefully, she would let us talk again sometime..." Taeyeon's mother replied before the four of them vanished into thin air.

Taeyeon absentmindedly scratched her head, wondering if she was dreaming. She pinched herself and it hurt, so she decided it wasn't her dream. Sunny had already transformed back into her human form and told Taeyeon: "No point thinking too much, maybe we'll get some answers when we reach Serene Mansion."

"Suits me!" Taeyeon replied happily and they finished packing up and continued travelling towards SM, after tending to the Sunny's wound.

"It's love, for sure!" Taeyeon and Sunny both thought, as they reflected about the relationship between them.