Chapter 18

When the two arrived back to the cabin, they noticed that Minho was up and out on the front porch stretching. He noticed the two and waved, “where were you two?” Jonghyun looked at Minho and said, “There’s a dragon in a den not far from here.” Minho looked at the direction of the den and looked at Jonghyun, “A dragon in your territory? Why didn’t you challenge it?” He wondered. Jonghyun motioned Key to get inside the cabin. “That dragon had a dark aura about him, and I’m someone who can’t see auras at all. I could feel it.” Minho was curious about this dragon so he said, “Show me.” Jonghyun nodded and they went back to the den and sure enough, the large beast was still there sleeping soundly. Minho’s eyes widened, he couldn’t believe how much negative energy he was feeling a little threatened by it. “Let’s go we can’t leave Taemin and Key alone.” Jonghyun nodded and they quickly and quietly left the beast where it was and headed back to the cabin. “Minho, I need to tell you something.” Jonghyun said as they were walking back. Minho remained silent, listening to his friend, “I-I think you won the bet.” He admitted looking down at his feet as if this was something to be ashamed of. Minho looked at the vampire and smiled, “What makes you say you lost?” He wondered. “W-well, I like being Key’s guardian I got to see him rely on people and actually share the work. On top of that I….think I might…never mind, its stupid.” He quickly said and continued walking. Minho smiled again and said, “You love him don’t you.” Jonghyun froze slowly turning his head to meet his friends gaze he wondered, “Is it that obvious?” Minho shook his head, “No, actually it’s normal. I feel the same way towards Taemin and Onew feels the same towards Changmin. It is ultimately the protected that decides what happens to their guardian.” Jonghyun’s eyes widened, “what! B-but what about the time we spent with them?” Minho nodded and said, “Yeah, it’s true that we spent a lot of time with our protected, but you have to think about it this way; a lot of upper class families arrange marriages, and the children do it whether they want to or not, the guardian is no where in the picture in that situation. Another thing is, we guardians have lives outside of our protected, and they may already know this. We guardian’s may have girlfriends and families of our own.” Jonghyun released a sad sigh, “then we aren’t guaranteed to even end up with them.” Minho chuckled, “You never know, maybe, you should tell Key how you feel. Then he would at least know your feelings for him, right?” Jonghyun nodded, “Yeah, you’re right, I’ll tell him when we get back.” Minho nodded approvingly.

            When they returned, Taemin and Key were in the kitchen cooking breakfast. “Minho hyung, where did you go?” Taemin wondered when the two entered the cabin. Minho didn’t tell Taemin where the two went in order to not raise any nervousness from the human. Jonghyun looked at Key who was setting the table, he needed to tell Key the truth, but for some reason, nothing was willing him to go and talk to him. He was worried, maybe even afraid of the human’s reaction. “After breakfast, we should head back home.” Minho said sitting down at the table, “Are you ok with that, Jonghyun?” The older vampire nodded while the two humans seemed a little disappointed. “I think we should check up on Onew and Changmin, I’m getting a weird feeling.” Minho said again. Jonghyun nodded, “I agree.” The two humans were a little unsure what made the two vampires become so careful all of a sudden.

            The group was heading back home after those nice few days of relaxation. Key felt a bit better after sometime away from Cold Stone, but he suddenly got a bad feeling, he began to wonder why Minho and Jonghyun were wanting to get back so urgently. He knew something was off. Jonghyun and Minho didn’t seem to be on alert, though, even though they were the ones who said that they should be heading back in the first place. Taemin seemed to be relaxed, not suspecting anything. ‘Perhaps it was because of the dragon?’ He thought to himself. He had never seen a dragon before so maybe because that was it, they were leaving for safety, or could it be because of what Jonghyun said, ‘Not an ally…’

        Jonghyun was still unsure of what the hurry to go home was, but if Minho was feeling uneasy about something, then there was nothing he could say to persuade the younger that nothing was wrong, but something was off. That dragon that he saw could have something to do with it. He looked at Minho and said, “Is it because of the dragon?” Minho sighed and nodded, “That dragon trespassed on your territory without any hesitation, I saw the aura too, but I’m not worried about the dragon itself, I’m more worried about what it is doing close to Cold Stone. Onew must’ve sensed something, so I want to go back for safety, that’s all.” Jonghyun knew Minho was right, but something told him that things were going to get rather rough and he didn’t want anything to happen to his friends or his precious protected.

                        When they arrived, Minho and Jonghyun were immediately on high alert. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t safe for either the protected or the guardians. They walked down the familiar roads until they came to Key’s house. The owner of the house opened the door and walked in, it was dark, “Hello? Changmin hyung! Onew hyung we’re back!” The door to Key’s room slammed open and down came Changmin and released a sigh when he realized it was Key and the others that returned. “Hyung what happened?” Taemin wondered. “Where’s Onew?” Minho asked. Changmin saddened and sniffed before replying, “He’s gone, he disappeared, I have no idea what happened.” The four boy’s were shocked before Changmin continued to explain what happened, “On the day that you guys left, we were heading back and Onew heard something and he began to loose control, I managed to snap him out of it, but he was frightened so I tried to stay with him, but the next morning when I woke up, he was gone. I looked everywhere for him and when I did find him, he was crazed like the ones Jonghyun and Key encountered.” By this point Changmin was sobbing, he couldn’t believe he let this happen. Changmin walked up to Key and placed his hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, “I-I’m so sorry, Key….if this is what you felt all these years before Jonghyun then its hell, I’m so sorry!” Key saddened he didn’t want pity, from anyone, especially because Onew was missing, he somehow felt at fault. Jonghyun stepped in and said, “Hyung, you need to calm down, relax we’ll find him.” Changmin nodded and Jonghyun lead Key upstairs to his room.

                        Jonghyun placed their bags on the floor and said, “Key, there is something I need to tell you.” Key looked at Jonghyun and sat down on his bed, “go ahead, you’ve been trying to for a while now.” Jonghyun gulped and said, “w-well…i-its something like this….the whole thing about me being your guardian…it was a bet.” Key’s attention went to the vampire immediately, “W-what?”

Would you believe me if I said that this fic is almost finished?

I hope you would cause its true!

Hope you enjoyed the chappie!