My Beautiful Fairytale

[24]: Healing

[A/N: Friendly reminder that this story was edited and character names have changed! If you are lost you may want to go back a chapter to refresh :)

Kolya is now Kieran
Noah is now Niall
Krish is now Cris
Scorpio is now Sergio]

Niall POV:

Kieran was worried. He was tense and I could feel it by standing next to him.

I slipped my hand in his as we entered the room, which seemed to be a court for tennis or something. He looked up and smiled at me, squeezing my hand gently.

Isaiah was standing on the court, tensely bouncing a volleyball. He ran his fingers through his black hair frustratedly.

Oh, it was a volleyball court. Duh, Niall, Zay used to play volleyball.

Isaiah's expression was distraught, tense. Overall he looked like he was just in pain. I felt for him, the constant wringing of emotions throughout your brain was painful.

He noticed us and shot us a terse smile. "Hey guys," he called. "How are you?"

"Good. Obviously you're not," I replied, indicating his body language and strained voice.

His fake grin fell and he said nothing, just held the volleyball in his hands.

Kieran pursed his lips, but didn't say anything. Cris stood at Isaiah's side, placing a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. I stayed behind, standing awkwardly. I didn't know what was going on, so obviously I was out of the loop, but I guess I was there for moral support.

"You need me to toss for you a little?" Kieran asked, holding out his hands for the ball.

Isaiah dropped it in his hands and backed away.

Kieran stood next to the net, and waited until Isaiah had run to a certain point and threw the ball up. Isaiah jumped and hit it, the sound ringing through the gym like a gunshot as it hit his hand, then the ground on the other side. I didn't know how, but every time he hit it seemed to tell me how he was feeling.

I sat against the wall, watching them. Kier kept tossing the ball up, setting I believe, and Isaiah kept hitting it—spiking—making the slap sound like a freaking massacre was happening in this very gym.

Cris stood beside me at the edge of the court, watching. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, so I could say something to Zay, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to break the silence. Besides, based on their expressions they'd want Zay to tell me himself.

So, I just watched. Obviously, volleyball had something to do with it, some sort of sentiment behind it. That much I knew, because it wouldn't have been such a big deal to Kieran. But I didn't know a thing about volleyball, let alone the positions. I could probably name a bump, a set, a spike and a serve. That was it.

Isaiah jumped and missed the ball. When he landed, he wasted no time yelling at Kieran and telling him to toss better and higher.

Kieran frowned. "Zay, calm down and think. That's the whole reason we came here."

Isaiah grunted, running his fingers through his hair desperately. "I know, I know. I'm sorry," he said anxiously, crouching and covering his head.

"Do you feel any better?" Cris asked, coming up behind and carefully looking at him.

He hesitated, then shook his head. "No," his voice came out strained and sad. The type of voice a moment before someone starts crying. The calm before the storm. I was already up on my feet, making my way over.

I watched him take in a shaky breath, and cover his eyes with his arm. I couldn't tell if it was to shield his eyes from the horrors of his mind, or to hide his pain from us. Either way, I knew what that felt like.