WARNING : MISCARRIAGE
Telling that the situation in the palace was tense was the understatement of the century. There wasn't a situation. There was a catastrophe. There were chaos and absolute mayhem.
If anybody who knew the Alpha Emperor Harry Styles of Imperium even for a few seconds of their lives, they'd tell, he couldn't climb higher on the ladder of his uncontrollable fury and ruthlessness but the surprising fact was, he could and he very well did.
He had diligently made everybody's life a living hell in the boundaries of the Mischelin palace since the past fourteen days. Fourteen days since his blue-eyed omega had stood in his steed and taken the arrows meant for him, depriving the man of consciousness and providing him ill health to the extent of walking over and staying near death for an elaborate time period.
The incapability to protect one's Omega hurt an Alpha more than any physical weapon could and Liam Payne was aware of that. He recognised that bruise and sympathised with his friend but that was the problem, Harry wouldn't let anybody commiserate him. He didn't know of sympathy or empathy or kindness and had grown in his garden of thorns, threatening to sting anyone who came too close. Harry's tower of self-preservation was too high to be climbed upon and too strong to be broken but Louis had, and in a very intriguing way, seeped into it, tenderly planting roses in those thorns and making a home out of the tower which was why the Emperor was livid. The person he centred his entire existence around had been incapacitated, propelling the human back into his dark dungeons of restlessness.
Sighing, he returned to the West Wing which had been sealed off for anybody who wasn't Harry Styles or a healer for Louis Tomlinson but eventually Harry had given access to a few more people
Walking past the guards who acknowledged his person, he lingered around the King's chambers to see the head healer, Shawn Mendes immediately approaching him on seeing his presence.
"Commander Liam," the brown-haired man beckoned towards him urgently and steered him away from Louis' person to the balcony devoid of human presence.
"I need to tell you to convey something to the Emperor."
Liam's hazel rose, he knew Harry was extremely upset and in fact, all that he ordered out was execution orders of anybody who managed to hit a nerve and Liam really stayed on his toes to assure the safety of his own neck around his friend.
"Why can't you do it yourself?" He asked the Alpha who stood before him.
"Because he is a bloody arrogant bastard," He growled lowly, suppressing the volume of his response, "he induced a drop in six omegas yesterday night, Niall included and didn't have the decency to look after their safety and then snapped at me for an hour about how useless I am!"
Liam wanted to chuckle at the latter, typical Harry but was averted by the first part," How's Niall?"
"Stable. Asleep."
"Did you offend him in any manner?"
His whisky brown turned to the commander in chief, unimpressed at his priority. "I am extremely patient for an Alpha but that doesn't mean I wouldn't punch him in the face for the insults hurled at me."
"Which is why before I scratch his face off, I need you to tell him that if Louis doesn't arouse in the next five days, he is gone for good."
This revelation dropped like a bomb on top of Liam's head. Numbness overcame the skin which covered him and an overwhelming infusion of guilt, sadness and disappointment showered on him. He knew it was life-threatening but nothing the healers of Mischelin couldn't handle and Louis? Louis had hardly found his peace and Harry, his friend had so much more to learn, through his Omega.
"And Louis had a miscarriage today morning." Shawn added unhelpfully to the fellow Alpha's thoughts making Liam run his fingers through his hair in frustration.
"He'll be here in a few minutes and you need to tell him this," the alpha addressed, "I am positive if I do, I'll punch him through the process."
"He won't let you punch him through the process, he'll tear your hand off." Another voice gentled and a very fragile looking Zayn in dull black robes closed in, his mate was with a child too and had been vomiting his guts out every morning.
"How is he?"
"He is probably going to die if nothing works." Liam said crudely, annoyed at the discovery.
Zayn's eyes widened but before he could voice out even a word, an Alpha presence questioned, "Who is?"
With a deep inhale of air, Liam turned towards the source. Harry Styles stood there. He looked perfectly groomed in his burgundy robes with his hair neatly tied up in a bun but the bags under his eyes and the sudden loss of weight told a completely different tale. His eyes looked as though all the life which once resided in it had vanished without a trace, they didn't look determined, conniving or even alive.
"Omega Louis had a miscarriage this morning." Shawn disclosed fearlessly before the Emperor who's eyebrows twitched but expression remained thoroughly neutral. "We can deal with that later. How is his health?" Harry inquired ignoring the ground-breaking fact.
"If he doesn't wake up in the next four days, his death is inevitable." Liam supplied.
Rage coursed through Harry in a flash with surprise brewing underneath but before he could act upon it, Zayn intervened, "Harry, no!"
"Shawn. You better make it evitable!" He growled trying to reach out to him but was stopped by the Omega's person.
"You can't keep shouting at everyone around who are trying to help!" Zayn snapped at him. "Everybody here is worried, okay?! You aren't the only one."
"Then why isn't anybody doing anything! Why isn't he awake!?" Harry scowled with wrath embedded in his voice. "You listen to me Shawn, I don't give a two shit about how you do it, I want my Louis back in my presence."
"Your Highness," the Alpha gritted his teeth and sighed, calling out for patients, "He is an omega, regardless of his capability and strengthened immunity. He has survived high past the benchmark of average Alphas who are hit with the same poison but nothing we administer is helping him."
"Then search through your scrolls and your healers and bring him back."
"We are trying our best!"
"It's not your best if he isn't awake!" He shouted, again.
Shaking his head in dismissal, Liam intervened and diverted the origin of the source, escorting him away from the already angered healer.
The black haired omega looked at the clearly vexed Alpha who rubbed his temples in frustration.
"Shawn," he began, placing his hand on his clothed arm, "you cannot hold this against him." He advised, as though, he was aware of the taller man's thought process like every Omega knew. Their instincts were surprisingly much more accurate than most of the Alphas or Betas, often being the reason as to why Omegas were seers or astrologers.
"You've been serving Mischelin for a year, Shawn, so I wouldn't expect you to know about the finer details which run in the intimacy of these walls," he said conversationally, "but this isn't just a case of an Alpha losing his Omega, this bond they have runs much deeper than that, it's more severe than that of blood."
"Old magic?"
"If it exists, yes." Zayn conceded with a bob of his head and carried on to a narration, "Since Louis arrived at Mischelin, he had always been an oddball. He didn't know how to flatter Harry, he was taken up by his beauty, definitely but Louis is more of a," Zayn tried to pinpoint the right word, "confrontational person who would rather coat his words in sarcasm rather than flattery. At first, it was probably a physical attraction but I've seen their bond strengthen. As time passed," he elucidated further, "it seemed like they had always known each other and had just been away from him."
"I've known Harry for twenty years of my life, Niall for seventeen and Liam for twelve, we've been together for quite a while and trust me none of us can understand him the way Louis does." Zayn explained. "It's just astounding, the way they fit into one another and rare."
"And believe me when I say this to you, Harry isn't shouting at you for the sake of his mate, he is pleading you to save his friend, confidant, lover and mate, he just doesn't know how to put it out there." Zayn shrugged, assuring he got the point and added a request, "Forgive him and please return his Louis back to him, as soon as possible."
"He will, I assure you, create life a living hell for anybody whose name isn't Louis Tomlinson until he wakes up." He certainly with his lips thinning into a line.
Shawn looked at the omega who consolidated a few facts before him. He'd accept that he was still new to Mischelin and was uninformed of many of the truths which ran through the water laden palace but this tale of misery which intertwined the alpha and omega in an unbreakable bond of what exactly, he did not comprehend. The storyline of the two had been repeated by a countless number of times by anybody who resided in the palace but the authenticity couldn't be verified until now.
He saw how easy it was to get vexed by the Emperor but it was also easier to vex the man since his entire purpose of life pooled into the hardly alive body of Louis Tomlinson.
It was still a little confusing. Their relationship. Between Harry and Louis. And it grew even more complicated after what Zayn revealed that they were somehow inflicted by old magic. How could a couple be inflicted by an entity stronger that destiny and be unaware of it for such a long period?
"Don't think too much about it, Shawn." Zayn voiced out, smiling at his dilemma. "Please help us out. It's not a plea from Harry but from the three of us too, we really need Louis in our lives."
Shawn sliced down the sweat beads attached to his skin and looked at the sleeping figure of Louis who held the affections of his own Omega and the others.
"I'll go through my texts and books again." He resigned with exasperation which caused Zayn to smile lightly and move away to leave Shawn in contemplation.
* * *
Harry had been through a lot in his tender age of twenty six years. From wars to conspiring Nobles, walking through deceit and fraternizing with betrayal was a commodity he often indulged in. Seated amongst conspirators who were perpetually bloodthirsty and had the vision of the throne in their eyes was exhausting but amongst the ceaseless death threats, assassins and accidents, he had never once been desperate.
Desperation was something unknown to the young Alpha. He had tasted it once when his sister and mother passed away and had promised to never let it lurk around him and then there was Louis. Louis, who challenged every brick in the wall, he had so sedulously built around himself. Who dared to penetrate through those walls and had the audacity to make the cold-hearted Alpha feel something beyond ruthless, something he was confident, he didn't want to feel. There were countless number of people in his life who had been in and out of his life in the past six years, attractive Omegas, adorable Betas, a few rare Alphas who had so willingly thrown themselves at him but he just couldn't bring himself to even remotely associate with them because they didn't smell, taste, touch or feel like Louis and most of the time weren't him. Never him. The time he spent with the blue-eyed man was so precious that he could have so many repetitions of his meetings with the Omega and he'd still be greedy for more.
After such a ceaseless time span, Louis was finally his. Just his and even then he was taken away from him and seemingly for good. He had blinked and Louis was already gone, laying on his bed, lifeless, hardly breathing but breathing, nevertheless which kept his unfaltering fury within the gates of limitations. He couldn't lose Louis and that was why he took every path possible to at least guarantee his safety which seemed as though it was all in vain.
He knew his temper in accordance to Zayn and the others was extreme but he had no choice, anger was an instinct to him. It came as naturally as breathing and if the topic pertained Louis, faster than breathing. He was unreasonable, impatient and easily infuriated but he had no choice, his nerves pressed into the cores of his blood, extracting all the source of the little happiness, he ever had the fortune to possess.
The sun could shine all it wanted but the moon was always the subject of poetry and Louis was that poetry.
Moving back to his own chambers, he observed the healers weren't present. Giving orders to not let anybody be admitted into his quarters, he let his guard slither down and took his seat beside his mate's limp body which was shrinking steadily. Running his fingers through his soft mane, Harry leaned down to peck his forehead.
"Wake-up, Lou, you can't leave me alone here." He whispered into his ears, "Come back to me, baby."
At these sentences, the Omega stirred. His skin waved and his breathing hitched which caused Harry's green hues to stare at him in the promise that his eyes will flutter open to leak the soft azure gaze which would finally permit Harry to breathe again.
Waiting for a reaction, Harry's peer stilled on Louis' person but instead, there was a sudden spurt of blood from his mouth, making Harry widen his eyes in desolation, screaming to everyone who was present at the door who could remotely help him.
When help did arrive, Louis was doubled over on the floor still unconscious with Harry's burgundy robes drenched in his blood. Helplessly wiping the unconscious man of the viscous liquid with his silk handkerchief which was dripping of a concoction of other bodily fluids and a promiscuous amount of blood.
The healers immediately launched themselves into positions to separate the pair. Assisting the Omega and warding off the Alpha from the specified room to change his clothes, the healers began to check Louis for any signs which contributed to his 'inevitable death'.
The next time Harry went back to Louis' chambers were two nights later. Even though he received timely updates while performing his courtly duties alongside the other ministers and noblemen, entertaining them only as much as his responsibilities could permit and swiftly relegating himself to the solitude of the newly constructed floor which on his orders was completely devoid of any guards except for the two architects who had helped in the installation of the brand new wing which was supposed to be Louis' gift for the first moon after their mating.
Discarding the thoughts, he approached Shawn for his regular update to know there was absolutely no improvement in his health except for it worsening and Louis' skin losing the little glow he acquired in the past month on halting of his suppressants.
"We have diagnosed his stomach ulcers and he hasn't been vomiting any blood." Shawn listed the positives before the temperamental Alpha. "The wounds due to the arrows are still healing but there has been no sign that his body is accepting the medicine we provide for him due to the lack of response."
"Is his death still-" Harry just began when they noticed Louis having convulsions and spitting out a slime green like liquid with a few stains of red which brought a stoic expression on the Emperor's face but his eyes pained looking at his omega in unrest, as he stood there doing absolutely nothing to help him while he writhed in pain.