Viva La Vida

Part 11

So.

Niall is a scheming Irish bastard, and Liam didn't really see that one coming at all.

There's a short, electrified silence that makes the hairs on Liam's arms stand up, and then Louis raises a hand timidly. "I have a question."

"Fire away." Niall's permissive arm wave is a grand gesture fitting of a man who has successfully shell-shocked a room full of people who are not easily shell-shocked.

"The whole fuckin' point of this rebellion is to get rid of the establishment. No offense, but Liam is definitely part of the establishment. So. This isn't going to work, mate."

"Already thought of that," Niall says calmly. "You're wrong about trying to get rid of the establishment. That's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to get rid of Simon. If we were tryin' to do away with the establishment, we would be destroying the monarchy and putting in a different system—maybe democracy, maybe something else—but the point still stands that the actual establishment we have no problem with. It's the people that run it."

Everyone stares at him blankly, and he sighs deeply, running fingers through his hair before flopping down on the foot of Liam's bed. "I see you're not convinced. Lemme explain this better, yeah?"

"Okay," Harry says, drawing out the two syllables for long enough that his suspicion seems almost a tangible thing in the room. Zayn is quiet in the corner, eyes narrowed to molten slits and arms crossed over his chest; it's impossible to tell what he's thinking.

"Okay," Niall says, shooting Harry a glance that's utterly unimpressed with his disapproval. "This is why this is a good idea. Number one, like Azoff says, we need the noble support. Who do the nobles love better than Liam? Nearly all of them would be willing to get behind us if they knew that the power was going into his hands. Number two, the commoners love Liam enough that they wouldn't mind him getting the throne. He's never done anything to make them hate him, and he's enough of a change to make everyone feel like something was getting done, but nothing drastic enough to make anyone feel threatened. Number three, the boy's a born leader. Have you ever seen him work a room? Give him fifteen minutes and a crowd that's half-willing to listen, and he'll have them all ready to die for him by the end of it. He can get anyone who's on the line on our side real fast. Number four, I trust him. I trust him to do right by the country. He will do what's good for the people, and he will listen to the people, and he will fix what they want fixed. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body, and he won't let the power go to his head. I think that if we can pull this off, the country'll be in a much better place with him in charge. Sure, there'll be people who don't trust him because of Simon, but there'll be people who won't trust the new king no matter what. I think we have the best chance with Liam as our figurehead, not as our puppet."

There's another silence where the sound of everyone's frantic thoughts is almost audible, and then Liam slowly says, "While that was all very gratifying to hear, I don't think that's going to work out, Niall. There's no way in hell Azoff would let that happen. There's no way in hell Simon would let that happen. And there's too many people that hate me—there are too many Michaels who'd rather see me dead than on the throne. People aren't going to trust someone who comes from the same stock as the people who've been hurting them all these years, and I can't really blame them." He pauses. "Would you like me to keep going, or have I blown enough holes in your plan for you to give it up?"

"You definitely haven't," Niall says cheerfully. "You're right in saying that Azoff won't let it happen. Well, I say he can go suck a dick."