Modest Seduction - Book 7 (Larry Stylinson AU)

Chapter 1 - When you fall in the deep and I'll always find you

When you fall in the deep and I'll always find you

His scream rips through the night air, Dakota looks up at the sky and her tears blur the stars above. She wants to run to him, to beg him to stop. Tell him he's breaking her heart, even though she can't even remember his surname. She is a shell of who she was, she wants to be saved by him. How can she be saved if he leaves her forever? He's taking the easy way out.

She is so close, only steps from him but he feels like he's miles away.

Rain begins to drop from the sky, as if the world is crying along with Niall's never-ending pain. He screams so loud that it's deafening. Louis lunges forward, expectant that Niall will throw his body from the roof. Niall doesn't move, he puts his hands to the sides of his head and screams again.

As if the thoughts in his head are deafening, the sound of every word that flows through his mind is too loud. His face is red as he screams out all the pain residing in his chest.

Heartache.

                      Heartbreak.

                                                Chaos.

Zayn falls to the ground, his entire body trembling and he covers his ears. He can't watch, Dakota realises, she stares at him in horror. Are they so used to pain that they expect this?

She stares at Zayn, he shakes his head from side to side and mumbles, "Not again," over and over.

Harry stands, helpless as he watches Niall, his own heart breaking in unmoving silence.

Niall stops, his lips pursed as he stared at her with wide eyes and a broken soul. He reached out for her, "You're here," he whispers to the night.

She stared back at him, unsure where to go and what to do. She had this idea in her head that everything would fall into place, when she returned to them. She expected that they would hold her, their voices enough to wake her from this nightmare. Yet, here she is. Cold, isolated and completely lost as to what she should do.

Stay? No.

Run? Yes. 

She steps back, shaking her head never letting her eyes tear away from Niall's pale face. He stretches out his hand, "I'm sorry I scared you–"

"Don't," she holds up a hand to her mouth. Trembling fingers swipe at the tears that fall from her face, he is a stranger, they all are.

"I was so lost without you," Niall said. He ignored the spectators that litter the roof, his friends that stare in horror. "I'm not who I used to be."

"None of us are," Louis interjects.

"I, they told me we were toxic for each other." Dakota stared at Niall, "We fought and I broke your heart, just like you broke mine."

Niall flinched, his jaw clenched. "Yes," his voice croaked and rough from the screams.

"So, why are you doing all this..." She gestured to the roof, "If we hated each other so much?" Dakota glanced to Harry who stared at his feet, as if interrupting a very private moment.

Technically this was a private moment, it was the first time Niall had seen Dakota and spoken to her. She knew, deep down it should be a bigger deal, but her mind was empty, this meant nothing to hear. No matter how much she wished it were different, her life was foggy and memory blank. I wish it were different.

Silence.

"You, we..." Niall closed his eyes. He sucked in a deep breath, "You are stubborn and opinionated, but we found something in each other."