heartbeat // zayn malik AU

prologue

"And I, will swallow my pride,

You're the one that I love

and I'm saying good bye."

- A Great Big World [Say Something]

"Zayn! Zayn!" The high-pitched child's voice echoed through the dark alleyway, desperation and fear evident in each hurried utterance of the name. "Zayn!"

The little girl ran into a patch of moonlight, silver beams turning her black hair to the color of dull steel. The ends of her nightgown were ragged and torn, and she was clutching a one-eyed teddy bear to her chest. Tears rolled unchecked down her chubby cheeks, and her dark eyes were fringed with red from all the crying she'd been doing.

Footsteps sounded on the hard, unforgiving pavement of the alley. The girl shivered at the menacing sound, letting out a loud wail--probably the worst thing she could do, as it alerted her pursuer to her exact location.

There was the sound of running, and suddenly two powerful arms went around her from behind.

Letting out a bloodcurdling scream, the girl kicked her captor in her chest, hard, half-hysterical from shock and fear.

"Annie! Annie, stop! It's me!" the young man yelled, holding her away from her in order to avoid her flailing legs. 

Tilting her face up so that she could see her dark-haired holder, Annie's sobs receded a little bit. "Zayn," she whispered joyfully, burying her face against the muscles of his chest. 

"Annie," he repeated, hugging her close to him. "It's all right," he crooned into the seven-year-old's raven locks. "Everything's going to be okay."

But she was no longer listening to him. Her eyes had gotten huge, like a pair of saucers, and she raised a trembling finger, pointing to a shadowy figure. "B-behind you," she stammered, too scared to speak properly.

Zayn whirled around just in time to see a cloaked figure advancing towards both of them.

And then his eyes lit on the gleam of silver. A knife.

Swallowing hard, the vein in his neck bobbing up and down, he whispered, "Annie, stay completely still. Don't move, unless I tell you to run, and then if I do, run like the wind."

Mutely, she nodded, giving a sorrowful whimper as he put her down and released her from his arms. She reached for his hand, desperate for assurance, but he was already walking away from her, towards their armed stalker.

"What do you want?" Zayn hissed at the black-cloaked person, rage lighting his normally tranquil eyes.

"Out of the way, you freak," the man responded. His hood fell back, revealing something far more frightening; a gaunt, drawn face, with bloodshot eyes whose drunken crazed look made even Zayn want to retreat. He didn't, though. Annie needed him, needed him to protect her from her own father. "She's my daughter. You have no right to keep her from me."

Squaring his jaw, Zayn snapped, "You're no father. Child Services will be here in the morning; they're going to take her somewhere safe. Away from you. And I'm not going to let you hurt her till then."

"And jest who do you think you are, keeping a man from his own child?" the man sneered, revealing crooked, yellowed teeth.

An angel, a bloody fucking angel, so get out before I kill you. "I-I'm a Godsend, that's what I am," he hissed. "Now get your sorry ass out of here."

Instead of heeding the warning, Annie's father took an unsteady, lurching step towards him. "You might act all tough. Tattoos and weirdly-styled hair, hm?" he said. Zayn could smell the reek of alcohol and vomit on him from where he stood. "I know your type. You're nothing but a nosy do-gooder who can't keep to his own business. I'll teach you a lesson."