One By One (One Direction Fanfic)

Accidents

*Liam's POV*

We'd hit the edge and Zayn had gone over. I had to admit it happened a lot quicker than I had suspected it would. I thought he would hold on to his sanity for longer than that. I thought he was stronger but he obviously wasn't. He'd found that rock and if I hadn't have caught him he would've done it. He would've slid that stone across his wrists and let himself bleed out. It was now official, I was glued to Zayn's side from that point on.

"Why Zayn?"I asked and he shrugged.

"I just wanted to. I thought it would be better."He said and that's when it was for sure. He had tipped over and pretty soon he would go hysterical. His weak grip on sanity would slip away and he would spiral into the oblivion death would offer willingly and happily. I guessed from his behaviour we had a day and a half at best. I watched him gather rocks and sit back down at his tree.

"What's wrong with him?"Niall whispered as we stood a few feet away and watched him play with those rocks he'd found nearby.

"He's going through the stages of genie-lamp separation anxiety."I said quietly keeping an eye on him."Eventually he'll have to be under constant watch to keep him from killing himself at every possible opportunity."Niall looked at Zayn and I saw the sparkle drain from his wings.

"What happens if he does kill himself?"He asked even though he knew the answer to that question.

"Niall, you know better than I do that the most powerful magic on earth couldn't bring someone back from the dead."I replied and he sighed.

"I know I just hoped there would be a different answer than that one."He said shaking his head. I then heard a sound, much like one a dying whale might make. I looked at Niall and he looked sheepishly back at me.

"Was that your stomach?"I asked and he nodded."Well, let's go find you something edible then."That sparkle that his wings had previously lacked was back in its full force. You might even say they shone brighter than ever. The thought of food made this boy so happy it was laughable and I actually did laugh. I was glad to have something to smile at after what Zayn did. We searched around the area for something to eat and I found a vegetable garden with a little shack beside it. The shack looked well taken care of and it was clean. I could tell this was somewhere a woman lived from the flowers that graced another smaller garden closer to the shack. A man would never plant flowers or keep it that clean. I sneezed once and rubbed my eyes. That was weird because I didn't have allergies. We gathered a little of everything in the garden then dashed away not wanting to get caught by whoever owned the cottage. When we got back Zayn was perfectly fine. No suicide attempts while we were gone. I figured I could leave him for a couple minutes without something terrible happening.

"Look Zayn, we brought food."I said patting him on the head to get his attention. I figured messing with the hair would probably get it the quickest. He didn't say anything he just placed the rocks he was playing with in a pile then walked towards Niall who had all the food.

"Here Zayn, here's a tomato and some cucumber."Niall said handing it to him.

"Niall, keep an eye on him I'm going to go get food to Harry and Louis."I said and he nodded."Eat up Zayn."He shook his head placing the tomato and cucumber with his rock pile and looking away from it. I picked it back up again shoving the food in his face and he pushed it away. I know it might have been slightly mean but you have to be forcefully with genies sometimes. They're a selfish and a stubborn breed of magic folk.

"I'm not hungry."He mumbled and I sighed.

"You have to eat Zayn."I said sternly shoving the food in his face again. He complied and took the food from me hesitantly as if it would kill him if he ate it. I watched him for a couple minutes to make sure he didn't put it down again.