heartbeat // zayn malik AU

chapter thirteen

"But hold your breath,

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you."

- Secondhand Serenade [Fall For You]

At some point during my fall--which didn't actually last that long, considering how powerful and gripping gravity was--I closed my eyes. My mind turned itself off, leaving me with not even the luxury of thinking one last thing before I spilled my guts out all over the unforgiving pavement below.

So I was caught completely by surprise when a blast of air hit my cheek, accompanied by the feel of a pair of strong arms around my waist.

And the next thing I knew, I wasn't falling anymore. 

No, reopening my eyes revealed we were soaring, climbing back higher into the sky, getting further away from headquarters, where Kordin, Klaus, and Tasha were becoming receeding specks. 

I didn't need to turn to see who my savior was.

"Zayn," I breathed his name out in a quiet exhale.

He didn't respond, more concentrated on his descend; we landed atop a nearby building, and, both our knees buckling from a combination of fatigue and fear, crumbled onto the rooftop floor, our bodies sprawled out on the cold tiling. 

"You saved me. How did you-- Didn't Kordin try to stop you?"

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Zayn looked down at me, then cast rueful glances at his arms--which, upon closer inspection, I could see were bloodied and cut up. His shirt was ripped too, and red stained the frayed edges of cloth. "Fighting with demons isn't fun," he said shakily.

A half-laugh, half-sob gurgled in my throat; it was actually a most unflattering, demented sound to be making, but I couldn't care less.

"I- Thank you," I whispered. Even though I hadn't granted them permission, tears were leaking from my eyes, and I wiped them away with the back of my hand, irritated by the sappy show of emotion. Clasping Zayn's cold hand in mine, I said, "You saved my life," almost like I didn't quite believe I wasn't dead. "Again," I added as an afterthought.

He gave me an almost bashful smile. "It's only my job," he mumbled.

Quiet fell on us for about a minute, as I cast guilty glances towards the gashes on his once-flawless skin. My fault. All my fault.

"Valarie."

There was a sort of surpressed fear in Zayn's voice, and his fingers tightened around mine as I glanced up into his face, wondering why he'd said my name.

He didn't seem to know what he wanted to say himself. His breath caught repeatedly in his throat, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Fuck... I can't... What's wrong with me?"

"Panic attack? Just breathe," I said worriedly.

Beads of sweat broke out on his brow, and he shook his head. "It's not that. I just... my mind keeps replaying..." His sentences were disjointed and barely decipherable. Suddenly, his head jerked up, his eyes glowing with an indescribable fright. "You were dying, Valarie. You were falling, and Tasha wasn't letting me save you, she was holding me back, and I swear, if I hadn't been able to catch you, I don't know what I'd have done-" He broke off, staring at our entwined hands, his chest going up and down repeatedly.

"Zayn. It's okay. You saved me. You're the best guardian angel I could ever ask for." So freaking lame. Is that the best you can do, Valarie?

"No, I'm not," he said.

Ending the conversation, I slipped out of his jacket, cringing as the cold air seeped through the thinner fabric of my dress. Zayn's eyes followed my every move. "What are you doing?"