Impeccable (Zayn Malik AU)

vi. Nightmare

"You would really kill your own father, Irene?" I froze then, my grip on the gun loosening slightly, but still tight enough to pull the trigger. My father? Impossible...Daddy is...

The man pulled off his black hood, exposing his dark eyes and jet black hair, exactly like mine.

"D-Daddy..." I whispered, and he smiled grimly at me. No...there's no way...

"Hello, darling. I've missed you." My father wrapped his arms around me tight in a hug, I didn't move, too confused to move a muscle.

I dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap, my limbs unresponsive to my brain, and a soldier dressed all in black like me grabbed me, restraining me. I struggled to free myself, but soon another soldier came to assist my captor, and it became impossible to move.

"Sorry, Irene, but I don't know how loyal you are to the Royal family. This is a job that must be done." He captured me, and now I couldn't move. Tears pooled in my eyes as my father stared at the Royals, and I realized I had failed. I failed the people I swore I would protect. I failed.

My father raised his hand and barked an order, and a firing squad emerged. I sobbed as I stared into the eyes of my family, my home. They stared blankly back, Sebastian's eyes full of fear. I mouthed an I'm sorry to him, and he mouthed something back that made my weak beating heart flutter in sadness. I screamed for my father to stop, but he didn't.

With one snap of my father's fingers, triggers were pulled. With one snap of my father's fingers, everyone fell dead.

A pile of dead royal bodies lay in the throne room, and my father walked over to me, scooping me into his arms. I didn't fight back, what was the point if I couldn't save the ones I had come here for in the first place.

He walked up the red velvet steps of the thrones, and sat right in the King's. A crown was placed on his head by a soldier, a tiara on mine. I choked on my sobs as I saw it was one a soldier had stolen from Odette, the faintest blood smear on the band evidence of it.

"Isn't this better, Princess Irene?" My father laughed, and I sobbed more. I turned my head to see what was left of the Royal family, only to regret it seconds later.

Laying on top of my dead friends' body was a dead Sebastian.

I screamed.

I screamed until my throat felt hoarse, my body began thrashing and shaking without my command. My conscious yelled at me to wake up behind a foggy curtain, but my heart was racing, tears were falling down my cheeks, and adrenaline pumped through my body, my muscles awakening and coming alive in mere seconds. Get up! My conscious yelled once more, ITS NOT REAL.

"NO! NONONO!" I heard myself scream, and suddenly hands were upon me, pushing my thrashing body down into the covers. Suffocating me. Survival instinct took over, and my hand immediately reached under my pillow, where my pocketknife was. No one touched Irene Salvatore, no one suffocated her. She was invincible. She wouldn't die, not here. But my hand was yanked away from my pillow, pulled high above my head.

"Ivy! Wake up!" I heard a familiar voice yell. Zayn. My eyes wouldn't open, though.

I'm trying Zayn! I am! I screamed more, out of frustration this time, but my body wouldn't stop shaking. It wasn't until a soft voice whispered in my ear that I finally caught my breath.

"Ivy, please wake up. Nothing bad is going to hurt you, everything's ok." Sebastian cooed, and I felt my body tire, my screaming gradually stop, and my lungs finally getting the desired oxygen they needed. The hands gradually left my arms and legs, and I felt my bed sheets pulled off me, only to have someone new slip in next to me before they were returned.