I froze for a moment. If that wasn't the right key, then there must be another one somewhere. I quietly scurried to Suho to tell him the news.

"It doesn't work." My voice was merely a whisper, "I think there must be another one somewhere..."

While I spoke, Suho's eyes were only glued to the Chimera as he gradually lowered his voice until he stopped singing all together. He nodded as he slowly raised his hand to point at the sleeping beast. I soon realized what he was trying to tell me. The other key was peeking out from underneath one of the lions front paws. 

I looked back at Suho who was now gesturing for me to go and take the key. I was hesitant, but obeyed as I made my way to the lion's paw.I crouched down in front of the Chimera. I could feel and hear her breathing as the hot breeze coming from her nostrils blew some of my hair out of my face. Just one critical move could put us all in danger. I couldn't afford to wake her. Every little pull at the key made my heart pound. I took deep and steady breaths as the key got closer to being free from her grasp. Sliding from underneath a claw, the Chimera twitched slightly, causing me to flinch. She must have felt it. It felt like my heart was about to burst through my chest. Luckily, it wasn't enough to awaken her and the key was finally free. I crawled away from the creature until I was at a safe enough distance to stand up. I held up the key in order to show Suho and he replied with a bright smile.

 

We stood at the cage as my fingers fumbled with the keys, putting the useless one in my pocket and opening the door with the other key. As soon as the door was open, Suho rushed to the guardian and started untying him, nerves obviously getting to him as he breathed shallowly and his hands shook like leaves. While the last few knots were being untied, I tilted the guardian's head to face me and popped a couple of the juicy berries from earlier into his mouth. The heat in the room was unbearable and he had been stuck in the room for longer than Suho and I so he must have gotten really dehydrated within that time. 

The guardian slowly opened his eyelids in response to the berries, chewing them slowly as he did so. After swallowing them down, he gave me and Suho a weak smile. 

I knew this smile anywhere. However this time, there was something different about it. Though I still recognized it, it wasn't how I remembered it before. His time in the room had certainly affected him, not only physically, but mentally.

It was a broken smile. 

A smile that used to always bring happiness to people, had managed to transform into one of great sadness. 

I felt my heart crack.

"Chanyeol..."

[A/N: SORRY FOR SUCH A SHORT UPDATE! AND FOR TAKING SO LONG! I don't think I can set certain dates to publish new chapters, when school starts back I don't know how much free time I'll have and I also need to plan this story carefully, in which my good friend Rawrily_rubiez kindly offered to help me with since he is interested in fantasy ^^ also if I haven't mentioned already, my dongsaeng Taemiyu has also been a great help in formatting the chapters whenever I don't have access to a computer :3 I really am thankful of you both! and of course you too! the readers willing enough to read this story up until now (and having a crapload of patience /shot/) <3 Until the next update, bye for now!]