Chapter 17

The next morning, Changmin awoke in a panic, the bond with Onew disappeared. Without anymore thoughts he jumped out of bed and went downstairs, "Onew?" He called out in hopes what he was feeling in his gut was nothing more than an oncoming stomach ache. Walking from room to room, he looked for his guardian, "Onew, where are you?" This wasn't supposed to be happening, what was even happening, he couldn't understand it. He and Onew spent the night together so if Onew left he would've known, but he didn't feel anything at all. Changmin stood in the living room of Key's house, the house that he and Onew were supposed to be looking after together, but Onew, his guardian, the person that meant more to him than any of life's necessities was gone, and what was worse, the bond that he and Onew created had vanished. Collapsing on to the couch, he released a sob, in all of his years of having a guardian, he didn't think this would happen.

             A guardian is supposed to stay by his protected, this held true from the time the guardian and protected met. During their time together, the guardian and protected form a bond that ties them together and it can't physically be broken once it is established, but it's not like it hasn't been done. Sometimes a being can dissolve or temporarily remove the bond; however, it is only done by the most powerful beings, namely dragons. There is a heavy price, the guardian’s protected becomes hidden, that’s how a guardian and protected pair can dissolver or temporarily get rid of their bond. However, for a whole bunch of guardian’s and protected to some how loose their bond, is something that only wicked guardians, usually guardian’s that have lost their protected to death, can only accomplish and even then, they would need to be very sly and sinister.

            Changmin grabbed his phone, and dialed Taemin’s number in hopes that some how Jonghyun’s cabin has reception. Unfortunately, his hopes came crashing when there came no answer from the younger boy. Gulping, Changmin threw his phone across the room, grabbing his head with worry, frustration, and sadness. “Onew, where are you? Onew, come back….What did I do?” He couldn’t figure out what happened. Onew seemed fine when they went to bed the previous night.

            -flashback-

“Come on Onew, stay with me, you’ve done it before what’s the problem, I’m here for you.” Changmin said with a warm smile. Onew was still frightened after what happened, he didn’t want to hurt Changmin in anyway so he tried to stay away from him. “W-What if I hurt you, Changmin?” The human smiled and said, “there is no way you would, come on Onew, I’ve trusted you for so long, now how about you trust me a little bit.” This threw the vampire off, it was true he was the one who asked Changmin to trust him, but he never thought this would happen. Onew smiled and got into bed next to Changmin and embraced him tightly, “I’m sorry Changmin, this is the first time I’ve been this nervous.” Changmin returned the embrace, “No worries, you’re always there for me so now it’s my turn, now sleep.”

            -End of flashback-

Changmin got out of bed and grabbed his phone; he was going to look for Onew. The vampire was his guardian and he had grown to care for him, no it was more than that he loved the vampire, even though he, himself, probably would never have the courage to admit it. Grabbing his jacket, Changmin ran out of the house in search of his guardian.

             Once he got out to the main street he ran toward the town’s gate where the sound reached Onew first. When he arrived at the alley, he gulped and walked into the dark depths. Looking around hoping to find some sort of clue as to where Onew could’ve gone, Changmin began to feel like he understood what Key must’ve felt all of those years before Jonghyun came along. It felt horrible to not have Onew around, and the emptiness that he felt from his bond disappearing was slowly becoming more and more noticeable. ‘Was this the feeling that Key had all this time?’ Changmin had wondered to himself. He stopped, he couldn’t begin to describe how lonely he was becoming and now that he had a taste of what Key had suffered through, there was no way he would be lying to say that he felt bad for the boy. He continued his search, looking around the alley when he stumbled upon a figure, the figure looked familiar, “Onew?” Changmin spoke up with a bit of hope in his voice. The figure turned and pounced, indeed it was Onew and he was crazed. Changmin struggled trying to get Onew to release his tight grip. Onew was not himself; he was crazed, like a wild animal. “Onew knock it off! Stop it!” He pushed the vampire off of him and stood up. “O-Onew answer me!” Changmin tried, but the vampire was not having any of it, he charged as if Changmin was an animal that he was about to ensnare. The human backed away and ran off back to the safety of Key’s house.

            Jonghyun awoke early and sat up sleepily to find the space next to him empty. Curious, he got out of bed and quietly went downstairs to look for Key. The vampire noticed the door was open slightly, he went out to see Key standing by the lake, his feet within the lake. Jonghyun smiled as he watched the human walked in the lake, soaking his feet. Jonghyun could visually see Key’s shoulders relax and this made him happy. Jonghyun made his way to the younger, “hey, why are you up so early?” Key looked over his shoulder to see Jonghyun walking over to the lake. Key walked over to the vampire and said, “I couldn’t sleep, I wanted to soak my feet in the lake and relax.” Jonghyun nodded and came a little closer to the younger boy. “May I join you?” Jonghyun wondered. Key blushed and nodded. Jonghyun walked into water and stood in front of his protected. “Key…there’s something I need to tell you…” Jonghyun was dreading this, he lost the bet, he was happy being Key’s guardian and he was slowly feeling something more, it was making this bond form faster and stronger. He was falling in love with Key and that was something he wasn’t sure he was ready to handle.

            Key looked at Jonghyun and smiled, “what is it?” Jonghyun opened his mouth to say something, but immediately shut it and went on high alert. “It’ll have to wait we have unwanted visitors.” Key instinctively got closer to Jonghyun and whispered, “Should we go see?” Jonghyun nodded hesitantly the two carefully made their way out of the lake and went into the forest. Jonghyun held Key’s hand tightly, not wanting to loose the younger. Jonghyun was curious, his cabin was supposed to be in his territory, and another being entered it easily and he was not going to let that pass. They walked until they came across a large cave and in the entrance lay, in dormant, was a dragon. Gulping, Jonghyun looked at Key and then backed away, “this dragon has a dark aura, he’s no friend and I don’t plan on trying to take it on my own.” Key understood, a large dragon against a single vampire is a little unfair and unreasonable. To take on a large dragon, a group of vampires is the only way to even try taking it on. The pair quietly and quickly left and went back to the cabin.