The Quest for Niall

ZAYN

Zayn now despised the man who kidnapped Niall more than a million percent.

They were having a happy ending to the kidnap (Yay, Niall's back!) when Louis went missing. Now they had to scour the whole dark mansion for Louis, which was the third-last thing Zayn ever wanted to do (last place was taken up by suicide, and second-last place was taken up by going to hell), at present. Zayn, with his friends, decided to stick together and set off to search for Louis. Sometimes they reached the end of a corridor which forked into two paths, and they had to choose which path to go on. They had spent so much time hunting for Louis in the immense mansion that Zayn's legs were like jelly. Sometimes Zayn felt that his knees were about to buckle and he would collapse. Soon, Niall, Zayn and Harry fell behind Liam, who was merrily skipping along. When Liam realized that the other three were far behind, he stopped, turned around and started scolding them, "Hey you lot at the back! We need to get to Louis fast. Get moving!"

"Gee, Daddy, if you're so energetic, why don't you carry me along?" questioned Niall.

"Who stopped you from asking? Come here."

Liam walked back to Niall, picked him up like a sack (again) and trudged ahead, Zayn and Harry staring at him, completely flabbergasted. They looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Liam.

After Niall was on Liam's back, walking was absolutely dreadful for Zayn and Harry. Niall shouted comments back to them like some kind of celebrity who was training his slaves. If they would fall behind, Niall would yell comments like 'Hey jelly-legs! Too wobbly to move? Get your legs moving!' and 'Yo floppy feet! I see a rest place ahead. Only two seats. Want to rest, you need to reach before us!' just to get Harry and Zayn alongside him. When they were next to Niall, he would act like a physical education teacher and give them lectures on physical health and things which he himself never did. Liam would add in at points where the 'jogging' topic came up.

Such a darling he was, Niall.

Soon, Zayn saw some light ahead. The others seemed to have noticed it too. The three of them ran towards the light (Niall was on Liam's back, remember?) as fast as they could, Niall yelling 'I told you that we would make it! I'm the best! I'm the best! I'm the best! Yes I am the best!' which was really not needed at that time. The light seemed to be coming from a large room. Liam dropped Niall off when he neared the door, causing Niall to stumble back, and broke into the room, Harry, Zayn and Niall (in that specific order) at his heels. The moment Zayn entered the room, Niall tugged him back. For a moment, Zayn got angry at Niall, but then felt like hugging Niall in gratefulness. Right ahead of him, there was an open pit with its heavy metal lid on the opposite side. Niall had saved him from falling into it. Liam, however, wasn't so lucky.

He had fallen right into the pit.

Harry had a little more luck than Liam. was clinging on to the side of the pit, trying to climb back up. Niall and Zayn tried to help him up, but a noisy current was dragging Harry down into the pit. They were losing grip on Harry's arms, and Niall and Zayn seemed to be getting sucked into the pit too. On and off, Zayn had to straighten himself to prevent himself from leaning towards the pit. Niall suddenly lost grip of Harry's left arm, and now Zayn and Harry were deliberately holding onto each other. Harry was trying to bring his left hand back up, but the current was too strong. Harry's hand was slipping from Zayn's. Now Zayn was literally holding onto Harry's fingers. "No, Harry!" yelled Zayn. Niall reached out for Harry's wrist, yelling 'I got you Harry!', but tipped into the pit. "Aaah! Niall, hang on!" cried Zayn. Niall caught onto the edge of the pit and tried to pull himself back up. Zayn was now holding only Harry's middle finger. In sudden panic, Zayn thrust his other hand forward and caught onto Harry's arm. Slowly, he started pulling Harry up, impressed and surprised by his reflex action. Soon, Harry had his left hand up, and helped Zayn push himself up. Finally, Harry got one of his legs on the edge of the pit, hauled himself up and collapsed behind Zayn, taking shaky breaths. Heaving a sigh of relief, Zayn turned to save Niall. Niall still had both his hands on the edge of the pit. Harry held onto Zayn, while Zayn reached out to Niall. He caught onto Niall's wrists and began to heave him up, Niall yelling over the noise of the current. Sometimes, Zayn's hands would slip slightly and Niall would go slightly into the pit. Niall shouted, "If I don't make it, remember me to all the pizzas in the world! Tell all the guitars you see that I love them!"

"Shut up Niall, you are going to make it!" Harry yelled back. "You definitely don't have a death-wish, and you can convey your love to all guitars and pizzas yourself!"

After another five minutes of yelling and grunting, Niall was out of the pit. The three of them then dragged themselves around the pit to its lid. They lifted the heavy lid, which was hard work, and threw it over the pit. Drained of energy, the three of them collapsed side-by-side on the cold marble floor, panting.

Harry looked sideways at Niall and grinned funnily. He then gasped, "Niall, don't you dare ever sign your death warrant again. You know, it will be invalid, right? I mean, how can a dead person sign their own death-warrant?" The three boys laughed. "Yeah, right. Like I can live forever", said Niall, in between chuckles.

"It would sound awkward, wouldn't it, giving immortal Niall a title like 'Death Boaran'. You know, 'Boar' and 'Horan' make 'Boaran'. Even 'Pizza lover who mastered Death and cheese toppings' would be equally awkward", wondered Zayn aloud. Harry grinned at Zayn, and Niall snorted. "Just imagine," said Niall, "if I were king of pizzas. It would have been the best time ever. I would stay up all night, eat pizzas but stay healthy, have loads of midnight memories, and just enjoy life to the fullest. That would just rock."

Niall looked sideways at Zayn, grinning. Then did he see the cut on Zayn's cheek. Niall's face fell. "Gee, when d'yu cut your cheek, mate?"

"Good Morning Niall," said Harry, waving his hands in the air.

"When that man smacked you in the head, I tried to save you, but the man gashed me on the cheek," Zayn explained.

Niall blew a strand of blonde hair out of his face. "That guy's gonna get a piece of the Pizza King soon." Then, looking around, "Well, unless any of you have any attachments to this room, let's move."

So saying, Niall got up and briskly walked to an exit on the far end of the room. Harry followed without any objections.

Zayn was pretty sure he had no attachments to the room. He got up, dusted himself, and followed his mates out of the room, having no expectations of what was about to happen next.

9{ch /