always ♡ ziall au (gotg #2) [COMPLETE]

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"what?" liam gasped, jerking back and out of niall's grasp. "this doesn't make sense, i...i have lou--"

"it's okay," apollo said. "this is a new day and age for us all, i suppose. multiple soulmates. i never would've thought."

niall looked pained. "but..."

"oh," apollo said, and then laughed. "no, it's not what you think. you two...you two are platonic soulmates. like brothers." liam noticeably relaxed. "see how the blue here is different than it is when you're with louis?" liam looked down -- it was true. when he was with niall it was more of a teal, but when he was with louis, it was deep, dark blue.

"but why now?" liam asked. he pulled niall into a hug when he understood what was happening. "ah, who cares? i'm so glad you're back, ni-ni."

niall beamed and squeezed liam extra hard. "you're okay?"

"i'm good," liam nodded, smiling. "lou's good, too. he'll be so happy to hear you're okay." niall smiles shyly, still cuddled against liam. "hey, where's zayn?"

"why do people keep asking me that?" niall whined. "i don't even know who that is!"

liam's eyebrows scrunched up. "what? how do you not know who your soulmate is?"

"i think hades did something," apollo explained. "i don't know what...but for some reason, niall doesn't remember zayn. like, at all."

"not at all?" liam's frown deepened.

"check this out," apollo said, pulling niall's gem out from under his shirt. he twisted the gem, and the color changed from blue to the grey color it was before.

"it's fading," liam said, sounding concerned.

"yeah."

liam looked up at apollo. "does that mean what i think it means?"

apollo nodded. "yeah, i'm pretty sure."

~ ~ ~

zayn jolted awake from a fitful sleep. he was drenched in sweat, and disgustedly brushed his palm across his sweaty forehead.

in his dream, he kept seeing flashes of...something. he knew it was just a dream, but the feelings he got from it were so strong, his heart was still pounding in his chest.

he couldn't stop thinking about how warm he'd felt. in his dream, he was laying there in a bed with a blonde boy, pressing little kisses to his fingertips. he was giggling, and the sound was like music to zayn's ears. everything had been quiet and perfect and warm, and zayn wished he could feel like that all the time.

moon of my life. the phrase suddenly popped into zayn's head, and for some reason, those words made zayn start to cry.

~ ~ ~
niall woke up earlier than he would've liked the next morning. out of habit he looked at his necklace -- there was noticeably less grey in the gem than there had been the day before.

that made him really nervous, and he sat up in his bed and stared at the wall for a few minutes, trying to understand the jumbled mess that was his life.

okay. so zayn was his soulmate. that was something he knew for sure -- they were soulmates, and they'd lost each other. so, as long as they found each other within the next six days, it would all be okay.

the only problem with that was that niall had no idea where to look. according to liam, if zayn was on the island, he would've found niall by now. somehow, niall felt that to be true, and knew that that meant zayn could be anywhere.

that thought frustrated niall. the world was so big, there was no way he could guess where zayn had ended up.

out of complete frustration, niall started to cry. he didn't know exactly what was wrong, but he knew only zayn could make it right.

~ ~ ~
"i'm joining your quest," liam told niall later that morning. "i want to help you find zayn."

"i don't even know where to start," niall sputtered, surprised by liam's decision.

"that's okay. if there's any way i can help, i will," liam shrugged, and niall loved liam so much right then.

~ ~ ~
zayn felt...off.

whoever this niall person was, he was important to zayn. maybe zayn had even loved him.

the bottom line was that niall was someone he'd cared about. and that meant that zayn would find him, and maybe that would solve the hole that was smack dab in the middle of zayn's chest.

maybe niall had that hole, too.