Days—it had been days since Key had last seen Taemin and yet, no signs of him.

No messages, no clues, no nothing.

“Kibum, will you stop pacing around in the throne room? Your feet are making a trail on the floor.” The Goddess sighed in frustration at the boy’s actions. Yes, she was worried about Taemin as well, but she would not go to the limits of tearing the area down.

The blonde-haired Angel whipped his head towards the Goddess with fuming eyes, steam practically coming out of his nose.

“Excuse me? How can you say that? Taemin is out there, right in the Demons’ side! The Demons, we are talking about!”

“Kibum—”

“My poor baby could be starved and dehydrated and shivering cold in one of those ing cells they have!”

“Yes I—”

“Taemin could be bloody well be ed madly by one of them and is on the verge of death right now!”

“Kibum, please—”

“I want him back home safely and you say that? Do you not care for him at all?”

The Goddess banged her fist onto the arm of her throne, shocking Key and the female house cleaners around her when they felt the surge of energy, shutting Key up for once.

She stood up quickly, her white gown flowing like an angry river as she pointed at Key who froze on the spot.

“I do not care?”

Key bit his lower lip as her eyes grew wider, as if provoking him.

“I do not care?” She scoffed, looked away for a second before averting her eyes back onto the shying Angel.

“How dare you!”

Even the females around her jumped at the second surge of vibration as the Goddess stomped her way down the stairs, standing in front of the throne as she pointed at Key.

“You dare think that I do not care for my own son? In the name of the Angels and Gods, I promise you, I delightfully care for my son like I care for a baby bluebird!” Her voice boomed out loudly, her tone powerful that nobody dare try to comment on her statement.

Her eyes were narrowed and stern, and Key could almost see flames burning inside them. She was angry and disappointed with the fact that Key thinks that she did not care for Taemin at all.

How ridiculous.

Key hung his head low, ashamed for lashing out at her Majesty like that. He should have known better than to be honest with his feelings and make wrong assumptions.

“I say this, because I knew this would happen one day. Taemin has grown, but a child at heart. Even if we protect him every single day, he’s bound to fall into the Demons’ trap.” She huffed and slowly went up and sat back down onto her seat, calming down.

“Which is why we must plan an attack and safely get him back; we must do this slowly and patiently, but quickly. I fear that if we stray too long, it’ll be too late and his life will be lost; if we do it impatiently and quickly, he will die,” she assured him, the female house cleaners nodded in agreement with her conclusion.

It is a two-way win—there are no other options of stopping him from his death. It is like saying, ‘If our body get too hot, we’ll die. If we get too cold, we’ll die.’

The Goddess stared at him with stern eyes. “Do you see why?”

Key only stood silent and nodded slightly.

“Good. You will have to understand that this is not something where we can just randomly do things as we please. We are not like you, Kibum and I hope you would keep that in mind.”

“I…I apologize, your Highness,” he whimpered. “I just… I did not mean to…! Oh, Taemin, I am so sorry!”

Her eyes softened, her chocolate brown irises were full of warmth as she watched the trembling boy sob in the midst of the throne room. She got up and gracefully walked over to the guardian angel, her dress making a trail of soft, sparkling snow.

Standing in front of him, she directed his head up to her, holding him by the chin as she saw his watery brown eyes and his tear-streaked cheeks. It was rare, too, for the Goddess to see him crying like this. Taemin meant so much to the boy that he swore to never let him out of his sight.

He was his only best friend too. Without him by his side, he has no one.

“Your Majesty—hiccup—I’m sorry…I’m—sob—a failure as a Guardian Angel…” He whimpered and looked down, avoiding eye contact with the Goddess.

“I failed to protect him. If I haven’t had to stay behind, he would’ve—he could have…oh, if I had known!” He wailed, wiping his tears continuously. The woman smiled softly and crouched down to Key’s eye level.

Doing this reminds her of how she first met Key when he was just a child—patting his head to comfort him from his crying and whispering soothing words to him.

He was like her son.

She then held the boy close, her arms wrapped around him as she hugged to silence his cries, rubbing his back in a comforting way.

“Oh, dear Kibum, do not put it as if it was your fault. You did not know this would happen. Nobody knew it was going to happen one day. Because of this, Angels are beginning to let down their guards and lose hope as they drown into a state of panic. We must not let that happen. We mustn’t fall for the Demons’ ways,” she told him and pulled away from the hug, holding Key’s shoulders.

She wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled warmly, “Just try to be strong for Taemin. If we can keep our guard up just a bit longer, we will be able to break inside and save our precious angel.”

The boy sniffed, wiping off his cute little snot with his sleeves and looked at the Goddess, “Really?”

She nodded, her brown hair swaying along with her head. “I can guarantee you about that.”

Key smiled and whispered, “Thank you…I owe you my life ever since you found me alone in that forest, gave me a caring mother and a good friend.”

It was true. His Mother was not blood-related to Key, but she was kind enough to take him into her home as a child added to her family. In addition to that, the woman was the Goddess’ closest friend—she could not have possibly refused a favor like that, as she too, pitied the young boy.

They were having their peaceful moment together until a male burst into the throne room, almost tripping over his two feet. He yelped as he was tipping, his balance off; he was trying so hard to keep himself upright. Key had to roll his eyes at this and the Goddess giggling at the silly attempt.

He was finally on his feet and let out a relieved sigh before clearing his throat and standing up straight, his cheeks burning red in embarrassment.

“S-Sorry about that; I can be so clumsy nowadays…” The brown haired male said with an awkward chuckle.

Key almost face-palmed himself at this and shrieked, “Aish, Onew-hyung, you are such an idiot—can’t even keep your feet to yourself for once?”

The latter only chuckled awkwardly at the statement.

“…I see. So you want us to plan an attack?” Onew then said in a serious tone, making confirmation from the Goddess, who nodded in response.

“Yes, we need to plan swiftly—slow and patient with the idea but be quick with the planning,” she said with a warm smile on her face.

He smiled and bowed halfway, “I assure you, I’ll get back our lovely Tae and be safely put in your hands.”

Key coughed and Onew chuckled, “I mean, our hands, since Key here is being a bit jealous that you get all of his attention.”

The Guardian gasped and slapped his arm playfully. “I am not jealous of her! She’s his mother, for fu—goodness’ sake, of course his attention would be directed to her only!” He almost cursed when Onew glared at him.

When I am around him, be sure not to swear, goddamnit.

He then pouted and mumbled, “Though I wish he paid more attention to me…” This made the brown haired angel laugh.

“Oooh, Key, are you jealous~?” He teased, laughing when he replied with, “You shut up, Tofu.”

The Goddess chuckled before she patted Onew’s head, saying, “I thank you for your cooperation in helping get our angel back.”

He smiled, “Anything for my dear ‘brother’, your Majesty.”

Key watched the duo bond in a family way before averting his eyes to the ground, biting his bottom lip as he thought of Taemin.

Taemin, we will come and save you.

He nodded to himself and looked up at the duo who was staring at him with a smile. His eyes sparkled of determination as he smiled back at them before they all went out of the throne room to alert the others of the plan.

That is right…we will save you.

Just hang in there, Minnie. Stay strong for us.