Visionary [Louis Tomlinson AU]

[15] The Lost Superhero

            “Are you alright, Louis?” Jill questioned, giving Louis a smile that almost had a pitying tinge behind it.

            Louis tried to ignore that, only thinking about the fact that she also must have known about Zayn and his parents and everything else going to hell in his life, and she obviously didn’t stop it, so she was just as much to blame. “I’m fine,” he snapped instead. “Can we just get on with this?” He held his arm out then, almost as if asking to be prodded for his blood or encased in a sleeve to test his blood pressure.

            Jill complied then without much conversation, seeming to understand Louis’ moodiness.

        After ten more minutes, Louis was hooked up to what seemed like a hundred different machines in various ways, the usual needles, sleeves, and wires. Everything was going smoothly as it should have, but then something caught his eye, something that made his stomach drop and his blood run so cold he was surprised it didn’t register on one of the many monitors.

        Just through the tiny window in the door leading to the hallway, Louis spotted an oddly familiar head of hair walk by. He didn’t know how he identified it by a flash of hair, but something in his gut told him that it was yet another of the many secrets woven in his life about to be revealed.

          So Louis did exactly what he probably shouldn’t have done: He bolted.

      The few other scientists in the room with Jill didn’t even have time to process Louis ripping himself from the machines, painfully yanking needles out and undoing the Velcro sleeves.

          Before any of them could react, Louis was free and running for the door. Luckily, they didn’t lock them, so he was able to race out past his mother, Edward, and a couple other scientists, following the hall towards the front where he saw the person go.

       “Wait!” He suddenly shouted, not even caring who heard. He just had to stop this person, because if it was truly who he thought, it could be life changing and disastrous all at once.

           Louis burst past the front desk next, surprisingly fast for someone who had been ‘sleeping’ for months prior. Still, he burst out into the mild air, spotting the person he had been targeting walking leisurely down the marble steps, hands in their pockets.

         “You-“ He wasn’t able to stop himself. Louis darted out and grabbed the person’s shoulder, twisting them around in an almost aggressive way. And of course, it was them, exactly who he thought.

           “Hey Lou,” Niall greeted with a cheery smile, though also mildly confused as well. “What’re you doing here?”

             Louis was breathing a bit harshly through his mouth from his running, but the confusion on his face was still obvious. “No, I think the question is: What are you doing here?”

         Niall raised his eyebrows a bit, though he almost was beginning to look nervous. “Nothing Louis,” he finally said, shaking his head. “Just meeting a friend.”

            “Oh really?” Louis almost sneered. “So where are they then?”

              Niall was obviously uncomfortable with that, seeing as it was clearly a lie.

            Louis was beginning to really get scared though, truly. If Niall was here, at this building, in that wing, he had to… No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t be so stupid.

           Apparently you were, a voice countered in his head, and Louis began to squeeze his eyes shut and open them repeatedly, as if it would all disappear and he’d wake up on the tour bus with his band mates again.