"I'm sorry, I..." Jonghyun stared at Taemin until his own eyes watered. He pulled Taemin in for a tight bear hug, smothering his face into his student's shoulder. "Oh god, I thought you were dead! I... So you're not hurt right?" Jonghyun pulled Taemin at arm's length, surveying the boy with his eyes. It was as if until the moment he physically touched Taemin, he wouldn't believe the younger was actually alive. A small smile came as a response despite Taemin's still tear-soaked face. Taemin shook his head just slightly, a hand coming up to pat his master's shoulder. 

"I'm really sorry. , I shouldn't have-... I was just-... Dammit, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Jonghyun apologized profusely. Taemin stared at him for a long moment before sighing heavily. 

"Don't say that to me. I'm not the one that you have hurt," Taemin barely whispered. Jonghyun took in his student's words, his head slowly lifting to watch the still whimpering beast, pained and tired. He had to admit; he was trying his best to kill the beast, causing the injuries to be rather fatal and deep. It would be hard to even imagine how it would feel having injuries like these. He had vented all his anger on the Dragon. All the thoughts that he was the one who had sent Taemin up to his death, all the pent up emotions of not having saved Taemin before it was too late. Taemin was like his son, and if the Dragon did kill the boy, the Dragon would have to pay. The Dragon did pay, but for something not even his fault. Taemin is here, alive; he is unharmed, intact, and Jonghyun had nearly taken an innocent life away. 

Jonghyun took a step around Taemin, all eyes glued on the huge beast. Onew made a visible flinch, cringing as the human came closer. His tired eyes watched warily at the tiny human, drawing nearer with each step forth. Finally, unable to hold back his fear, he cried what seemed to be a plea more than a roar. Jonghyun lifted both hands in the air immediately as if to show he meant no harm. 

Behind him, Taemin was going half out of his mind. The Dragon kept giving him begging glances, as if asking for him to be saved. Then, it made this loud whine and Taemin felt his heart squeeze. The poor thing was petrified. It took all of his will not to run to the Dragon to sooth it and instead watched his master trying to calm the Dragon down. 

"I'm not going to hurt you, I swear," Jonghyun said but large droplets of Dragon tears just continued falling to the ground. It let out a weaker whine, scared and pained. Jonghyun took more steps forward anyway. When the Dragon deemed him too close for it to be safe, it struggled with its huge body to back away. His shaky claws dug into the ground, pulling itself up just barely. He gave a pained suppressed whine and dragged a claw to take a step backwards. He faltered and one foot lost its strength and folded beneath the beast. 

"Onew!" Taemin gasped in horror, giving in to his heart and running to the beast who fell right back to the ground again with a pitiful cry. It wheezed and panted heavily. Jonghyun backed away in shock. After understanding from Taemin's point of view, he was starting to wonder how he had missed it in the first place. A ferocious Dragon wasn't supposed to back away from him. If the Dragon had the strength to step back, it should have the strength to swipe him with a killer claw; but this Dragon didn't. This Dragon was scared of him, just like Taemin had said. An agonized cry came from the Dragon and Jonghyun could just make out Taemin's panicked comforting. It was then that he realized just how much the Dragon trusted Taemin. It made no protests when Taemin ran forth, and it was almost as if the two were having a conversation only they understood. The grunts, whines, cries, each different tone seemed to mean a different thing and it was like Taemin understood every and any thing the Dragon was trying to tell him. 

"Don't move, stay still, it'll hurt less. It's going to be better, I'll make it better. Trust me, Onew, I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. My master there, he just wants to tell you something. If he tries to hurt you, I'll be here, okay?" Taemin hushed. 

"Are you sure this is okay, Taemin? He doesn't look like he agrees," Jonghyun pointed out. The Dragon was looking at Taemin with doubt, a small whine cracking out his throat. 

"Trust me, Onew. Knight's oath, remember? I kept my promise the last time, didn't I? Can you trust me one more time?" Taemin tried to convince the beast. The Dragon let out a sharp grunt, staring at Taemin for a moment before squeezing his eyes shut tightly. "That's right, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," Taemin soothed, ushering his master forward while the other hand gave assurance to the Dragon. 

Jonghyun took brave steps forth once more with a different heart. Before, he was scared the Dragon would hurt him; but now, he was afraid the Dragon would hurt itself instead. He was afraid that he could hurt the Dragon again. He stood before the Dragon, feeling the hot shaky breath wrapping around his entire body. Taemin glanced at the Dragon whose eyes are still closed, too afraid to see what was before him. Taemin gave a small smile, and Jonghyun couldn't help but imitate that action. The Dragon was just too adorable. It was like a child, closing eyes shut so tightly that his face would squelch up just because of a horror movie - that was exactly what the Dragon looked like at the moment; and Jonghyun was its horror movie. 

Jonghyun raised an arm, his hand shaking just slightly from nervousness. Taemin took his master's wrist, slowly guiding it steadily towards the Dragon's nose. Taemin kept his other palm firmly on Onew, making sure his presence is known. Each millisecond dragged like they were hours as Taemin slowly brought Jonghyun's hand down to the beautiful golden scales. 

Jonghyun took a sharp intake of breath just before they made contact. 

I had some family emergencies so I am in Hong Kong right now and I had some time to write (because of the lack of internet, it is all I can do even though I haven't been touching my phone much this trip because of the things I need to do). I have been completely out of date for anything SHINee for the past week but I will be going home in about 24 hours... Or slightly more and then I will have a test on Friday. Sigh. Anyways, haven't ran this through word yet, so there might be some mistakes.