Actions and Consequences || l.s. au ✔

EPILOGUE

AROUND 9 MONTHS LATER

Royal Palace of Lysandra, Valium

Louis took a deep breath as he finally closed the door to the royal chamber softly behind him.

 It was as if he was breathing in air after centuries of drowning. Louis was completely exhausted and barley functioning. He could not imagine what his mate was feeling right now. Everyone was in shock and still taking in the reality of what had happened. 

Of what had almost happened.

Liam and Niall were eagerly waiting for him and didn't waste a moment to pull him into a tight hug. Louis allowed himself to sag a bit. He had been so strong inside the room for everyone else. But now he was completely burnt out.

After what seemed like hours, when Louis felt he had regained some functionality, he slowly pulled back and observed the faces of his friends. He won't lie, they looked like shit. Pale faces, wet cheeks red rimmed tired eyes with huge dark circles. A perfect representation of how he himself felt and probably looked.

Scratch that. Louis looked down at his robes. They were completely soaked with blood. Harry's blood... Yeah, he definitely looked far worse than the duo.

Liam and Niall were still waiting for him to confirm the news and Louis didn't want to keep them in the dark agony any longer. Three days were more than enough. 

"He is stable." Louis sighed with enormous relief and gave his friends a worn-out smile. "The bleeding has stopped. Zayn and the healers say that he'll make full recovery within a few weeks. He's unconscious right now... but resting."

Niall huffed out a huge breath and leaned against the wall. "Holy hell!" Tension slowly left his body. "And the baby?"

Louis couldn't help but give him a teary smile. "You're an uncle Niall! With full rights of hogging!"

Three nerve wrecking days earlier, Harry had gone into labor. A labor which made Louis appreciate just how quickly and easily Solaris had come out. That pain was nothing... absolutely nothing compared to what happened this time round. Forget the healers, even Zayn was worried.

The labor lasted at least five times longer and Harry was utterly done by the end of it, with pain and exhaustion. It was a rough delivery, and Harry had to give his absolute everything to push the child out. But to their horror, the child wouldn't cry. Louis and Harry were so scared as prayers upon prayers were made to the Gods to save the baby. Thankfully, the prayers reaped fruit and the healers managed to make the child cry out.

But their happiness soon turned to terror as another problem reared its ugly head. Harry's bleeding wouldn't stop even after delivering the afterbirth. For three days, Louis, Zayn and an assortment of healers had been inside the chambers, trying everything they could to stabilize the High Omega but nothing was working out.

Sheets after sheets got drenched in blood as Harry's condition deteriorated by the hour. He was delirious with pain and blood loss and had been unconscious for most of the time. Everyone was terrified that they were going to lose him. Louis was losing his mind. Seeing your mate lose that much blood did things to you.

Finally that dawn, Zayn did his magic and pulled off one of the oldest tricks in the book as a last-ditch effort. They elevated the bottom legs of the bed to reverse the direction of blood flow. And that miraculously stopped the hemorrhaging. But Harry had lost too much blood and was extremely frail. He would be receiving intensive care for the next few days and it will be a while before he was allowed to resume is daily activities.