When Yifan awoke, he realized that he was in a comfortable bed surrounded by fluffy pillows and blankets that he sank straight into. The confused dragon looked around for Kyungsoo and saw that he was alone in a huge room. His breath caught as he realized that his prince could be alone somewhere and in danger. He sat up quickly and ran towards the door as fast as he could-

        -until he was stopped by a harsh pull at his neck. Confused, the dragon looked down to find a metal collar secured tightly around his neck and a chain attached to it. In panic, the dragon began to claw at the metal and only succeeded in shredding the exposed skin. Yifan tried to use his strength to break the chain instead of the collar. He threw his weight against the chain, hoping that it would snap. Of course it didn’t. He tried this over and over, snarling in frustration at his inability to even get out of a chain and collar. His Kyungsoo could be in danger and he was uselessly fighting against his restraints, unable to break them. Yifan was ashamed of himself and continued trying to free himself. He didn’t even hear the shouts as Chanyeol called for the prince to calm the dragon down. Yifan heard this horrible howling and soon realized that it was his own vocal cords that were producing the sound. Suddenly his world froze as Kyungsoo’s wide, worried eyes came into his field of vision.

        “Yifan,” Kyungsoo said gently, his hands pressing against the dragon’s cheeks. “Breathe, Yifan, it’s okay.”

        Yifan’s breath hitched over a sob as Kyungsoo pressed his lips to the dragon’s nose, forcing him to meet the prince’s eyes.

        “I’m fine, Yifan,” Kyungsoo whispered, his breath ghosting over the dragon’s face. “Stop it.”

        Yifan sagged against the prince and buried his face in Kyungsoo’s shoulder. He tried to wrap his arms around the younger, but the collar bit at his neck once again. The dragon let loose a pitiful whine and Kyungsoo smiled at him gently as he moved forward, allowing the dragon to wrap his arms around him. Yifan snuggled into the prince and the deep rumbling in his chest began again. Kyungsoo sifted his fingers through the dragon’s dark locks and whispered reassurances into the dragon’s ear, calming him down enough so that he would stop hurting himself. After Yifan was calmed down, Kyungsoo moved to release the dragon, but Yifan whined again and curled himself closer around Kyungsoo. The prince sighed as he allowed the dragon to snuggle into his lap and nuzzle his face into Kyungsoo’s chest. Yifan took in Kyungsoo’s scent and sighed, completely content.

        After a while, Kyungsoo nudged the dragon in his lap and Yifan whined at the sudden movements of his prince pillow. He snuggled closer and wrapped his arms securely around Kyungsoo’s waist. Yifan turned his head so that one of his eyes peeked through the gap his arms made and he gave the prince the biggest puppy eyes the dragon could possibly manage. Kyungsoo shook his head and Yifan slowly unraveled his hold that he had on the prince and shifted so that he was no longer on top of Kyungsoo’s lap.

        “Good,” Kyungsoo said gently as he patted Yifan on the head. The dragon smiled at Kyungsoo, but the smile vanished quickly as Kyungsoo stood and started walking away from him. Yifan attempted to chase the prince down, momentarily forgetting he was bound, until the chain stopped him with a sharp rattle.

        “No!” Yifan whimpered, his arms reaching out towards his Kyungsoo. The prince turned and gave the dragon a soft smile.

        “It’s okay, Yifan. Go lie down for a while, okay?”

        Yifan shook his head diligently and continued reaching out for Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed and he tried again.

        “Yifan,” he said, his tone sharp. “Go lie down.”

        The dragon gave Kyungsoo the saddest look he had ever seen and turned his head towards the bed, then back to the prince.

        “Yes, go on,” Kyungsoo said firmly.

        Yifan pleaded with his eyes, but Kyungsoo’s mind was not to be changed.       

        “Go, Yifan,” Kyungsoo repeated, his voice stern. The dragon’s shoulders instantly sagged and he slowly made his way towards the bed. He climbed onto it and sat on the very edge of the mattress with a pout on his lips.

        “Yifan,” Kyungsoo said sharply.   

        With a whine of annoyance, the dragon moved toward the head of the bed and threw his weight down as violently and dramatically as he could, showing his prince how angry he was at the current arrangement. Kyungsoo shook his head and turned to leave the room.

        “Kyungsoo,” the dragon murmured from his place on the mattress.

        “Yes?”

        “You’ll come back to me?” Yifan asked, fear evident in his voice.

        “In a bit. Try and get some sleep until then, yeah?” Kyungsoo said gently. He watched as the dragon nodded and snuggled deeply into the blankets that surrounded him. Kyungsoo smiled softly at the sight and quietly shut the door behind him as he left the snoozing dragon behind.

        Kyungsoo quietly made his way toward the dragon a few hours later with Yixing following closely behind. Kyungsoo stood over the dragon and touched his shoulder gently. When the dragon continued sleeping, Kyungsoo leaned down close to his ear and said his name softly, trying not to scare him. It didn’t work. The dragon woke with panic-filled eyes and Kyungsoo leaned down to press his nose to Yifan’s before he could start completely panicking. Yifan calmed and Kyungsoo leaned back, but reached over to pet the dragon’s head gently. He leaned into the prince’s touch and the rumbling deep in his chest began.

        “I need you beside him, Your Highness,” Yixing said from the opposite side of the bed. Yifan hadn’t even seen him there, his eyes only trained on his Kyungsoo.

        The prince nodded and Yifan tried to hide his grin as Kyungsoo sat next to him. He heaved a content sigh and laid his head on Kyungsoo’s knee. The prince rolled his eyes, but allowed the dragon that bit of physical contact. Yifan’s eyes widened fearfully as Yixing reached towards the dragon’s neck. He shrank into Kyungsoo and the prince grasped his arms, holding him in place.

        “You are not allowed to fight him, Yifan,” the younger said sternly.

        Yixing unclasped the metal from around Yifan’s neck and winced at the damage the dragon’s claws had inflicted. Kyungsoo remained stoic as the dragon whined and protested at the treatment Yixing was giving him. He flinched from the liquid-soaked cloths that the physician was attempting to press against his wounds.

        “Kyungsoo, I need you to keep him still,” Yixing said, his voice ever-patient. Kyungsoo gave the dragon a stern look and Yifan averted his eyes.

        “Yifan,” Kyungsoo scolded, “stop fidgeting and just keep still.”

        The dragon said nothing, but would not move as Yixing continued treating his wounds. When he was finally done, Yifan’s eyes were drooping slightly.

        “I would like to make sure that they didn’t hurt his wings, if that’s all right with you, Your Highness,” Yixing said as he began placing his supplies back inside of his bag. Kyungsoo nodded and leaned down toward the dragon, instructing him to lie on his stomach.

        Yixing unfurled the wing that the men had been trying to remove and stretched it out. Yifan shrieked and attempted to pull his wing back towards his body, which only resulting in him experiencing more pain. Kyungsoo leaned down and whispered reassuring words in the dragon’s ear as he began rubbing Yifan’s scalp gently. The dragon relaxed, but only minutely, as the physician began to stretch the wing out once again. When Kyungsoo saw the tightening of the muscles in the dragon’s shoulders, he quickly told him to relax and not fight Yixing. Yifan whimpered as the man pulled at his wing to try and determine the origin of the pain. Kyungsoo was drawing patterns on the dragon’s bicep and gasped when an icy blue mark appeared where his fingertips brushed over the skin. Yifan’s whimpers turned to shrieks as the blue mark appeared and Kyungsoo retracted his hand, not wanting to cause the dragon more pain. The shrieks did not stop and the mark remained, even as Kyungsoo moved away from the dragon.

        “Yifan, what do I do?” Kyungsoo asked shrilly, but Yifan couldn’t answer him as wave after wave of torturous pain assaulted his body.

        “Help me restrain him!” Yixing yelled and Kyungsoo immediately snapped into action. They managed to snap the collar back onto the writhing dragon and Yixing told Kyungsoo to get on top of him. Kyungsoo looked at Yixing in disbelief.

        “His wing is broken, but with the way he’s thrashing, he’ll hurt it even further and break the other one too. Fold them down toward his back and keep them there as best as you can,” the physician ordered in a calm voice. Kyungsoo nodded and did exactly what Yixing told him. He leaned forward and whispered in Yifan’s ear that everything would be all right, even though he had no idea if the dragon could withstand the pain he was enduring.

        A few hours later, Yifan had fallen unconscious and Kyungsoo lay by his side. The king had heard of the events and attempted to have Kyungsoo moved back to his room, but the prince stubbornly refused. Wonshik did not trust the dragon, so he had Chanyeol sent to the lower level of the castle to watch over them.

        It had been almost a week and Yifan still had not woken. Kyungsoo had no idea what to do. With each passing day, the feeling of hopelessness grew. Chanyeol tried to console the prince, to tell him that he did nothing wrong and the dragon’s state was not his fault, but Kyungsoo wouldn’t listen. The prince barely ate and never left the dragon’s side. He curled up beside Yifan and would talk to him endlessly. He didn’t dare touch the dragon, though, in fear that it would only cause things to worsen.

        Wonshik decided that enough was enough and headed for the lowest floor of the castle. When he reached the cell that the prince had been staying in, he could hear a quiet sniffling. With a sigh, the king pushed the door open and stepped inside.

        Kyungsoo was lying by the dragon’s side and quietly crying. Wonshik walked over and placed a reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder, hating to see the boy cry.

        “He should have woken by now,” Kyungsoo sniffed.

        Wonshik patted the prince’s back, but said nothing.

        “This is your fault!” the prince said, whirling on his father to throw an accusing glare at the man.

        “And how exactly is this my fault, Kyungsoo?” Wonshik asked sharply.

        “You tried to remove his wings!”

        “The wings that he carried you away with, yes. I tried to remove them. I’m only trying to protect you and you know that,” Wonshik said patiently.

        Kyungsoo said nothing, but continued to glare in his father’s direction. With a defeated sigh, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the icy blue mark that still adorned the dragon’s bicep.

        Kyungsoo gasped as he felt a shock start from his lips and travel down the rest of his body. He heard the dragon inhale deeply and looked up to see Yifan’s eyes lazily open.

        “Do you have any idea how badly you scared me?” Kyungsoo asked the dragon, punching him in the shoulder.

        Yifan blinked slowly. “How?”

        “How? How? You’re unconscious for over a week and you ask me how?” Kyungsoo’s voice was getting louder with every word. Yifan winced at the volume and the news that he had been unconscious for so long.

        “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. The prince heaved a heavy, exasperated sigh and collapsed on the sheets. He reached over and pet the dragon’s hair gently.

        “It’s fine. Just don’t do it again.” Kyungsoo allowed the dragon to grab his hand and bring it to his lips gently. Yifan kissed his fingers, one by one, and Kyungsoo could feel his face warming at the dragon’s touch. Wonshik cleared his throat and Yifan sat straight up, his arms around Kyungsoo protectively. He snarled at the king and brought Kyungsoo close to his chest.

        “Yifan, no,” Kyungsoo said sternly. “Let go.”

        “Mine,” the dragon growled, glaring at the king.

        “Yifan,” the prince snapped, his tone sharper. He pushed Yifan’s arms away from him and the dragon let out a pitiful whimper.

        “I said no,” Kyungsoo explained. He pulled back when Yifan tried to reach for him. The dragon deflated, his shoulders sagging as a pout formed on his lips. He gave the prince pleading eyes and tried to move closer, but Kyungsoo stopped him with a look.

        “I don’t like you being around him, Soo,” Wonshik murmured quietly. The dragon gave Kyungsoo a look of pure terror at the king’s words and the prince motioned him to come closer. Yifan attempted to wrap his wings protectively around both of them, but soon realized that they were bound.

        “No!” Yifan whined as he tried to reach back to untie his wings. He was becoming more and more panicked as he realized that he was unable to remove the binds. Yifan was vaguely hearing someone trying to talk to him, but he wasn’t paying attention. He only wanted to free himself so he could protect his Kyungsoo. That was the only thing that he cared about.

        The next thing Yifan knew, there was a giant standing over him with a crimson blade to his heart. The dragon froze, completely taken by surprise.

        “Don’t hurt him, Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo cried from his place behind his father. Yifan was confused at the protective stance they had taken. Like Yifan would hurt him. The dragon’s scared eyes met Kyungsoo’s and he whined softly.

        “He’s not going to hurt me,” Kyungsoo snapped as he tried to move toward the dragon. Wonshik blocked the prince’s path and pulled his son behind him once more.

        “I don’t want you around him. He’s dangerous,” Wonshik said sharply as Kyungsoo tried to argue.

        “He would never hurt me! Look at him!”

        Wonshik’s eyes darted toward the dragon. “He’s still dangerous. He’s a dragon. All dragons are the same. Chanyeol, do it.”

        “NO!” Kyungsoo screamed maneuvering his way around his father and launching himself at the giant and Yifan. Chanyeol hesitated for a fraction of a second, but then followed the king’s orders and plunged the sword straight into Yifan’s heart.

*dances away into the night* love you guys~