Harry fell flat on his face.

It wasn't his fault.

Louis just burst in like that, and Harry hadn't seen him in lifetimes, and his initial reaction was to run to him. But his limbs felt heavy, and head felt heavy, and the ropes were tight around his ankles and wrists. So he fell to the floor. He curled in on himself so that his shoulder and hip took the impact. Still the sound was piercing, the smack of bone to cement. It just happen to be his hurt shoulder, too. He screamed through his tape in pain. He could feel the change in air as Liam thrashed beside him to try and get to him. Then he tilted his head up and saw Louis running towards him, and in his peripheral Zayn was running to Liam.

But then he was being pulled up harshly to his knees. After the moment it took his blurry eyes to focus again, he saw two Louis' stopped not two feet from him. No, not two. He blinked hard. One Louis. He whined, pulling against the hold on him to try and reach his boyfriend. His eyes flicked over and he saw Zayn on his knees, prodding at Liam's body. He couldn't get past the injustice. Liam was being touched by his love, why couldn't Louis be touching him?

Then he heard why. "Another step and I kill 'im." Harry jolted at the sentence, mind not connected to his body, then felt the cold barrel of a gun in his hair. His mind was screaming Who cares?! Shoot me! If that means Louis will come closer then shoot me! But that didn't make any sense. Harry made desperate sounds behind the tape wrapped around his mouth.

"I know, baby. I'm here. Just hold on."

Louis' voice. That was Louis' voice. God was it always so angelic? Did he always sould like an angel?

"I'd never of thought. The great Louis Tomlinson. Brought down by some over-grown twink."

Louis flinched at the jab, fist clenching by his side. "Let him go. You have me now. You don't need him."

"Please, Louis. This isn't about him. Or you. It never was. It was always about your talent and your usefullness to this organization."

"Okay, then I'm back. Use me," Louis begged, "You can let him go!"

Harry was trying to keep his heavy eyes open, not wanting to lose sight of Louis' face. Next to him he could barely hear Zayn's whispers. "Don't worry, Li. I'm going to get you home. I'm so sorry. You're okay."

He didn't want to look at them and draw attention in case they made Zayn step back too, but he'd never seen them together, and it seemed he'd missed quite a bit. He didn't have to worry about that though because then Zayn stood up on his own and came to stand next to Louis. "Let the boys go," he requested. "We'll do whatever you want."

"Actually I quite like this boy." Harry was yanked back by his hair to look up. He took in the features above him, blurry as they were. Slowly the face came into focus and Harry growled up at his captor when recognition hit. "He's been quite useful to me."

Then Harry's tape was being ripped off and Harry rasped out his best, "Louis!"

Louis did surge forward then, couldn't help it, towards Harry. "Back up!" Harry felt the barrel pressed to his head harder.

"Louis, please," Harry begged.

"I'm right here, baby." Louis looked like he wanted to move again but his limbs were frozen.

Harry looked up, "N-Niall, please. Let me go. I'm sorry."

"You know," Niall smirked, keeping his eyes on Louis, "Your boy here is very talented. Maybe even more talented than you. At least where it counts. Did you know he can bend completely in half?"

Louis was seeing red as he took the thinly-veiled references in. "I'll kill you. If you so much as touched him against his will I swear-"

"Oh no, little Louis, you misunderstand. He was completely willing. Begging, actually. You know when his voice gets so low, when he's close and needs just a little more."

Harry was cowering, folding in on himself. He couldn't stop looking at Louis, no matter how much hurt and confusion he saw there.

"I don't underst-You, you-together-with... Like before...Niall?" He looked to Harry, who was biting his lip and crying silent tears. "He's the one you slept with. At school? After Leslie?" Harry let out a sob, which Louis took at confirmation.

"I was actually trying to get info on you, but Harry was just a very lovely bonus prize. My job was just to see if 'The Louis Tomlinson'," he said the words with disgust, "had really gone and shacked up with a civilian. Turns out the relationship wasn't as steady as you thought," Niall laughed.

"I didn't know," Harry whimpered and bowed his head.

"I know, baby." Louis snapped his fingers, "Hey. Look at me." Harry looked up through wet lashes. "I love you. No matter what. No punishment. It's forgotten. I love you."

Harry felted more relaxed in that moment than he had in weeks. He'd practically decided he'd never see Louis again, and knowing they'd ended on a bad note, in anger, was killing him. Now he knew he wasn't bad. Louis still loved him. "I love you, too, Daddy."

Niall sucked his teeth and petted Harry's hair, much to Louis' disdain, "Man, how do I get him to do that for me? What's the trick?"

"I will kill you," Louis repeated his new life goal.

"No," another voice, a feminine one, rebutted, "you won't."

"Mum!" Niall greeted. "Look who's here, mum. Just like you wanted."

Anne stepped into the bright lights of the arena, smiling at Niall kindly, "I see that, son. Very well done."

Harry was fighting to get up and run to his mom, but Niall's grip became bruising and he was so weak. "Mum?"

"Hello, Harry. How are you?" She clicked her tongue as she did a once over. "Oh I told them the sedatives weren't necessary." She lifted his head to assess him, "You'll be alright, love."

"What-" Harry didn't understand why she wasn't helping him, why she was just standing there looking at him. "You have to leave. Get out."

Louis looked between the two, mind working a mile a minute, but apparently Zayn was way ahead of him. As usual. "You played us. You planned it. All of it," Zayn concluded.

"Mum?"

"Shush, now, Harry dear," Anne finally moved to comfort Harry, putting a gentle hand to his cheek. "Don't worry. You're safe." She smiled down at him. "You always have been."

"I don't understand."

"The voice," Louis uttered in awe.

Anne looked up at the title and smiled. "Hello, Louis. It's nice to finally meet you."

"The voice is-"

"Me. Yes."

"Why? How?" Zayn piped up.

"I can't believe you fell for my son. I mean really. My son," she chuckled like they were talking about funny childhood memories.

"Hey," Niall grumbled. "Mum." Not sure this makes sense here in the flow of Anne talking

Anne turned to the small blond and kissed his cheek, "Nialler, you're my son, too. But you know you have to share with Harry and Gemma when I'm at home."

Niall rolled his eyes and set his jaw petulantly. Harry was amazed. This was nothing like the easy-going guy that had made him feel so comfortable nearly two months ago. "Fine," Niall spat.

Anne nodded to Harry, "Get him up. His knees must be sore."

Niall pulled Harry up by his hair, making him yelp. Anne gave him a stern look but merely stood by. Harry looked to Liam, "Liam too. He's way worse off than me." Harry heard Zayn growl at that.

"Of course, if you want." Anne nodded to the man, one of the guards Harry saw in the hall while they were hiding, that was holding Liam . Liam stood with a groan and Zayn rushed to him to steady him. Liam tried to smile but the tape over his mouth pulled at his cheeks and Zayn softened instantly at the gesture. Bound, beaten, and gagged, and still trying to reassure him.

"How could you hurt your own son?"

"I'd never do that." Anne kept a firm hand on Harry's arm, keeping him still with mostly her intimidation. "Whoever was responsible for his shoulder will be killed, obviously. And I didn't know that Niall slept with him. Like he said, his mission was purely informational." She gave a disappointed look to the blond, "We'll discuss your behavior later."

"What?" Niall asked, shrugging, "Look at him. He's pretty." Niall noses at his earlobe, making Harry flinch and Louis snarl.

"Mhmm," she pursed her lips, "Later, Niall." With that she was turning back to Louis. "I'd never hurt, Harry. The preliminary beatings looked far worse than they were and they were necessary to get you to obey. Bruises mostly. Which he gets frequently from pigs like you leaving them on his body when he goes away on holidays. No real damage done."

"Liam?" Harry asked.

"Yes, well," Anne addressed Harry, "Liam here wasn't my concern. He was only a happy coincidence we stumbled upon when Zayn here," she sent an chilling smirk to the dark-haired boy, "went just head over heels for the little whore."

"Hey!"

"Calm down, Malik. You're lucky we kept your boy around at all. You'd probably of done what we wanted even without him. Just for Louis. But we figured the extra incentive was a nice touch."

Zayn was shaking his head, like the truth was an Etch-A-Sketch he could make disappear. "You didn't have to hurt him. He didn't do anything wrong," Zayn pleaded.

"Nothing except choose you," Anne agreed.

Liam made a noise to get Zayn's attention. Zayn could barely get the courage to look at him, but when he did Liam's eyes didn't hold contempt or hatred. But love. They were filled with forgiveness and kindness. "I'm so sorry," Zayn said anyway. Liam gave him a soft look, eyes smiling. Zayn nodded, if not understanding, at least accepting that Liam didn't regret it. This. Him. That somehow he figured Zayn was worth it.

"You used your son to what? Teach me a lesson?" Louis brought their focus back.

"No dear," Anne sighed in annoyance. "You're the one that fell in love. That was none of my doing. I was simply showing you that we are your life. Your love. There is no one, not even my darling boy, that comes before this organization. It was unfortunate that Harry was involved, but I couldn't just lose my two best assets."

"Leslie?" Harry asked quietly, not really wanting to know.

"Unfortunate, really. But she had to go. What I told you, Louis, was mostly truth. She'd caught wind of our little secret, and was getting far too close for comfort. She was on your list before I even knew about Harry for sure."

"You killed one of your best friends," Harry cried, still so confused.

"I am sorry for that. I know you two were close. But there are sacrifices we must make in this life, Harry. You'll learn that one day."

"I've learned already," Harry grit out.

"Oh sweetheart. This is why you could never take over. You're so sensitive. That's why I've groomed Niall for this from the day he was brought to me. So young and willing," she tapped Niall's nose endearingly.

"I'd never even met that guy before like a month ago!" Harry nearly screamed.

"For good reason, love. I worked so very hard to keep my home and my professional life separate. To give you a normal, happy life."

"I thought you were a government official," Harry stated his confusion.

"I am, I am. It actually comes along with doing what I do."

"Which is?"

"Kill people," Louis answered for her.

"Protect this world," she corrected, "These people that don't know and don't care about the real threats that I," she emphasized, "save them from."

"How many people have you killed, mum?" Harry squirmed, "And bloody hell, can you untie me?"

"Too many." Anne nodded to Niall, who huffed but took out a knife and cut the ropes. "Better?"

"Liam too."

Anne nodded to his captor and Liam was cut loose as well. Liam nearly fell over without the person holding him up, but Zayn rushed to him and swung an arm around his bruised torso. "Lean on me. You'll be okay." Zayn brought a hand up and pulled his tape off gently.

"Zayn," he whispered.

"Hi there," he greeted quietly, just for them.

"I'm so-"

"Don't you dare. None of this is remotely your fault. I'm sorry. I did this. Are you okay? You look tired. I mean good, of course, but tired-" Liam shut him up with a small chuckled and a press of his lips to Zayn's. Not exactly the most appropriate time, but Liam didn't know if he'd get another chance. Zayn held strong onto Liam and reminded himself to be gentle with him, trying to hold back from digging his fingers in and pushing into his mouth. The kiss ended too soon, but lasted a hundred years.

"I forgive you."

Zayn let his forehead fall to Liam's, and felt his big hands on his hips. "Thank you," was all Zayn could find to say. He turned his head to look at Anne, but kept close, not willing to give up their closeness just yet. "What now? What do you what from us?"

"Very good question, Mr. Malik."