All's Fair [ A Harry Styles AU ]

epilogue

a/n: This story has been different than anything I've ever written before. I told myself this year, I would try to confront darker topics in my writing. Thank you to those who read and reached out every week. You are the reason I will continue to share my writing on this platform.

Warning: This chapter will contain a character death and graphic description of physical injuries. 

Harry's never liked silence.

Even with his job, the fact that it requires silence more often than not. He likse noise, the way it shapes the air and travels to every set of ears in the area. It's calming to him, as opposed to the quiet, that unnerves him. Silence makes him think.

He's not sure if the symphony of hospital machines beeping and whirring counts as silence, though. They've been an oddly comforting presence for the past two hours, their steady patterns keeping Harry from going completely insane.

His torso protests with languishing shocks of pain as he shifts in the hospital chair he's been perched in for hours. The doctors had fussed over him, insisting on bringing in a hospital bed if he wanted to stay in the same room. To placate them, Harry had settled into it for a few moments, his body almost sighing with relief. As soon as everyone left the room, though, he realized he couldn't see Priya because he couldn't rest on his side. So he'd nipped into the hallway, stolen a chair from the waiting room, and here he was.

His hand is limply intertwined with Priya's, scared to both let go and grip any tighter. He's never seen anyone look more fragile. After a complication in surgery because of the way the bullet ripped through her, Harry was sure that he'd lost her. When the doctor explained to him that they'd been able to revive her, he finally made it clear he would not be separated from her now that she was out.

Rightfully so, as she's been unconscious since she got shot. Harry's heart feels more intact now that the color is back in her skin. But this silence is overbearing for one reason — it's not filled with Priya's bright presence. Her big smile and soft laugh, her inquisitive eyes and gentle touch. It feels empty without her. He feels empty without her.

So much has happened in the past few hours, and as day melts into night outside the agency hospital, Harry's jaw tightens as he recalls everything. He leans his head down and brushes his lips against Priya's bruised knuckles, the three words he was finally able to say her came too late. He mumbles them against her skin, "I love you." He sighs and closes his eyes, tears stinging behind them, "M'so sorry, baby. Just... come back to me."

While Harry was able to deal out the  justice his father deserved, he would never be able to forgive himself for what happened with Priya. The ache in his neck is enough to make him lower it, resting his head by Priya's hand and succumbing to his recollection of what happened after she fell unconscious.