In The Woods ➳ H.S.

☙ f o r t y - o n e

I pass by some guards too, their glare burning right through my body, and I knew that they know who I am. Well, at least they think they know me. They think I'm the girl that fucked the prince one too many times and messed with his mind for him to start a war.

I was too determined to find the person I'm looking for to cuss them out on the spot, so I just walk pass them with my head held high.

A few hallways later, I spot a familiar face, her mousy brown hair reaching only her shoulders was greasy as usual, as if she couldn't care less about it. She stood on her toes as she attempted to reach a spot of the window. "Mia?" I called her attention and she turns to look at me when she heard her name.

"Annalyn?" She asks, and I'm momentarily shocked on how she knew my real name.

I shook it off, not wanting to lose more time. "Have you seen a man about this tall around here?" I say, putting my hand up to what I remember is Zayn's height. "Shaved head? With a nose piercing?" I ask.

And I'm a little surprised when she nods. "Yes. I saw him in the kitchen a while ago." She answers me, but this time I can actually see a sort of emotion in her.

It was the first time I had seen the slightest bit of anything in her, and I couldn't stop myself from asking. "Is there something wrong?" I ask.

She doesn't look at me at first, her eyes drawn to the floor as she bit her lip. She soon nods before letting her brown eyes meet mine. "I've been hearing things about a war," Mia starts "and I was just wondering if it was true, I heard you were there."

I think I'm partly the cause of it, actually.

"Yes, I was there." I say, not confirming the war yet. "Why?"

"I'm from a low village, you see. The fourth to the last, really." She says. "And I may seem safe way up here, but my family - if a war does start then they'll have to climb up the mountain and go through the towns and -"

"I thought your family sold you to pay their debts?" I question. "Why do you care if something happens to them?" I ask.

Her eyes widen at my question, but she doesn't miss a beat when she answers. "They are still my family, and family means nobody gets left behind - or forgotten." She says, and now I recognize the emotion behind her eyes.

It was fear.

And I felt it too as her words crush my heart.

I moved forward without saying a word, and placed my hand on her shoulder. "We'll find a way to keep your family safe, I swear on it." I say, meaning every word I say no matter how impossible it seemed. I know what it's like to worry yourself sick for someone, and how it feels to have the people you love taken away from you. I couldn't possibly let anyone else feel like that.

"So it's true then? There is a war?" She asks.

I nod and right then and there I could see her crumble. "I'm sorry." I say and she just shakes her head and takes a step back from me. She picks up the rag she had dropped before continuing her work.

She doesn't speak again and I take that as my cue to leave. "I'll keep my word, you know? I promise you." I say before heading off to the kitchen to find Zayn.

All the way there all I kept thinking about were her words. Nobody gets left behind or forgotten.

I certainly broke that.

When I open the doors to the kitchen I immediately find who I'm looking for as he went from counter to counter wiping all the invisible dust off.

I walk over to him and place my hand on his shoulder. He doesn't turn around, but he does stop his movements. "Zayn?"

He doesn't turn still, or even acknowledge me.

I begin to lose my patience and I pull on his shoulder to make him face me. His eyes are closed tightly as if willing me to disappear.

"Zayn." I call him again before removing my hand.

He hisses a little before opening his eyes and I'm shocked when I see that he looked as if he was both annoyed and scared.

"Why are you ignoring me?" I question.

"I'm not." He quickly defends himself, dropping the rag on the countertop as he crossed his arms.

"You are." I challenge. "I know you lied to me, Zayn." I say before he gets the chance to redirect the subject. "I know you lied about how my family died and I want to know why." My voice wasn't loud, but it was steady and underlined with anger

"You wouldn't understand." He says, shaking his head before dropping his gaze. "I did what I did to survive." He whispers, causing my heart to drop into my stomach.

"What do y- "

"Of bloody course!" The doors of the kitchen slam open and a nearly-bare Harry comes marching in.

I turn my head to him, confused on why his face was beat red and he looked ready to strangle someone. "Ha-"

"You disappear in the middle of the night and I find you with this joke!" He says as he marched forward, hands waving frantically around to exaggerate his words.

I slightly roll my eyes at him when I realize he was, once again, having a tantrum based off of jealousy.

"Would you just listen?" I cut him off as he practically foamed in the mouth in front of me. "I just needed answers and I-"

He groans before rubbing his temples in irritation. "Not this again." He mumbles before snapping his head up and looking to Zayn. "You, fucking tell her the truth or I'll have you hung before the sun even rises!"

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I had to put that Lilo & Stitch reference bc I could never watch that movie without crying idk why.

To those who didn't know btw "Lilo" in hawaiian means "Lost" so the title is like "lost and put together" and I'm crying bc that's actually how the movie is and omaygod I'm such a dweeb for this but idgaf.

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