Purge (Larry Stylinson au)

Chapter 1

"Louis! Watch out!"

Harry dives to knock his boyfriend out of the way. The bullet just misses his shoulder and he whips around to shoot the man who sent it his direction.

"Thanks love, dunno how I didn't see that," Louis says shakily, steadying himself and turning to aim a bullet at a Purge trooper coming up at him from behind.

"It's what I'm here for, isn't it?" Harry teases slightly, drawing his knife and throwing it at a particularly aggressive soldier from the other side. "To keep you alive?"

Louis chuckles slightly as he catches the hand of a man beside him, flipping his wrist and sending the bigger soldier crashing to the ground, groaning in pain. "Oh, so you're the one keeping me alive, then?" He aims his pistol at the man squirming on the ground beneath his boot and shoots him straight in the heart. "Could've sworn it was the other way around, darling."

"Just keep telling yourself that, babe," Harry smirks, giving Louis a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Stop that, you sap," Louis giggles, shoving his boyfriend away. "We are literally in the middle of the battlefield."

"Yeah, and you're both gonna get shot if you don't shut up and bloody focus," Niall calls from where he's fighting three Purge soldiers by himself a few feet away.

"We are focused!" Louis protests, aiming his pistol behind his back and taking down a Purge trooper without even looking.

He smirks at Niall's shocked face. "See?"

"Shut up, Tommo."

Harry grins, blocking the punch of a particularly angry soldier, and landing a kick to his groin. Beside him, Louis's knife fighting with two different troopers, holding his own easily.

"So Lou, after this, I was thinking," Harry starts, getting his boyfriend's attention, "you, me, the quiet corner of the training courtyard? I found some nice wine in the kitchen. We could have a little date night, what do you say?"

"Make it through this battle and I'm all yours, my love," Louis says, smirking slightly and stabbing one of the soldiers he's fighting in the chest.

Harry laughs, already looking forward to evening. He continues to fight his way through troopers, moving slowly away from Louis as he does. He's not even sure how this many soldiers had gotten here to fight them, they were only trying to take down a small Purge base. As soon as the compound exploded, though, it seemed a whole army had shown up. Now their only goal was to get through the masses alive to run home.

Harry desperately wants to get home. He wants to make it back to the Resistance base where he can have some quiet time with Louis. He's been tired and achy for weeks, and the constant missions and scouting parties have only made it worse.

Maybe during their date that night, Louis could give him a back rub. He knows that would really do wonders for his aching muscles, and he's fairly certain Louis will oblige.

He shakes his head, pulling himself back to the present. They have to make it home first before they can even think about doing anything else.

As he ducks behind a boulder to avoid the gunfire of a line of Purge soldiers, he sees Liam standing to his right, in hand to hand combat with a trooper twice his size. Liam seems to be doing all right though, and he's even smiling a bit, which is a good sign.

To his left, Zayn is crouched on top of the hill with his rifle, shooting down every trooper he sees. Zayn is the best sniper in the resistance and Harry always feels better when he's on high ground, picking off enemies every few seconds.

Then there's Niall and Louis, fighting close together against maybe 20 troopers. They shoot into the fray, hitting soldiers more than they miss, and somehow, they always manage to dodge the bullets shot at them.

Harry stands to shoot down the soldiers that are running at him. It takes him less than five seconds and they're all lying dead on the ground. He turns around to celebrate his victory, but his eye catches on Louis.

Louis, who's grinning widely as he whirls around to strike another opponent.

Louis, whose eyes widen as the soldier a few feet in front of him pulls the trigger of his pistol with a devastating bang.

Louis, who jerks in shock as the bullet buries itself deep into his chest.

Louis, who makes no sound as he looks down at his shirt, quickly soaking with bright red blood over his heart.

Louis, who's falling, falling, falling, as if in slow motion, arms spread and body limp.

Louis, who crashes with a sickening thud onto the ground.

Louis, his beautiful Louis, who now lies motionless and broken on the forest floor.

Louis, his angel Louis, who just died in front of his eyes.

Harry's vision tunnels. Suddenly everything happening around him doesn't matter. Never mind that ten people are shooting at him. Never mind that he's dropped his pistol and knife and is now completely defenseless.

Louis is dead.

Louis is dead.

Louis was shot.

And Harry couldn't save him.

Someone's screaming. Harry doesn't know if it's him or not. He thinks it probably is. His throat hurts and he can't get enough air. The only thing he can think to shout is Louis's name.

LOUIS

LOUIS

LOUIS

PLEASE NO, LOUIS

PLEASE

LOU

lou

louis

Broken, sobbing, and screaming, Harry stumbles across the battlefield to the unmoving lump that was his boyfriend. His heart feels like it's shattering into a million different pieces. Something's clenching at his throat and he just can't get enough air.

He can't breathe.

He can't scream loud enough.

Nothing he can do can release the raw pain building up inside him and it hurts. It hurts so bad. He can't comprehend what's happening.

Tears are streaming down his face and he feels a pair of strong arms wrap around him.

"Harry, leave him, we have to go now," Niall says urgently.

"NO!" Harry screams, struggling to break free from Niall's arms. "NO I'M NOT LEAVING HIM. NO, PLEASE, NO!"

"Harry, come on," Niall says, tears choking his words. "We have to go. It's not going to do anyone any good if we get shot too."

"Let me," Harry begs, sobbing. "I don't care anymore. I don't care, I can't leave him. Louis! LOUIS!"

Then another pair of arms grips his and Liam is dragging him away with the help of Niall. Together, they get Harry off of the battlefield, running into the forest.

Harry doesn't even notice. He's too busy struggling to look over his shoulder at Louis's lifeless form, lying crumpled and bloody on the ground.

Eventually, he stops screaming and just cries, relying on Niall and Zayn, who has joined them, to lead him away from the fighting as Liam defends them from the back. He buries his face into Niall's shoulder, clinging onto him desperately. He doesn't know how long they've been walking when Niall finally makes him lift his head.

They've reached the Resistance base.

Scarlett meets them at the entrance. She's smiling. "Nice job, lads, the mission was a success," she says, but it sounds like she's underwater to Harry: just background noise.

Her smile fades when she sees their faces. Then she inhales sharply.

"Where's Louis?"

And Harry breaks.