Warzone // Harry Styles AU

Feel

As promised, the next day we returned to Harry's hospital room. When we got there, he was sitting up on the pillows, eating fruit and watching TV. He grinned at us as we stepped inside, and turned the TV off.

"Hey, mates," Harry said, taking a bite of an apple.

"Hey," we all chorused in return.

"How do you feel, Haz?" Zayn asked, scratching his head. I bit on the inside of my cheek, anticipating the answer.

"Alright," Harry answered, swinging his legs off the edge of the bed. Everyone smiled, and Harry gave half of one in return.

"What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly panicked. "Are you hurt? Do you feel dizzy? Do you need a nurse?"

Harry chuckled wryly, cutting me off. "I'm fine, Charlie. It's just..." he sighed, and we all held our breath, ready to hear what was on his mind. "How many did we lose?"

"Don't do this to yourself, Harry," Liam warned, but Harry wouldn't listen. He repeated the question.

No one answered. Harry looked from face to face, his gaze resting on me. "Charlie? How many died?"

I looked to Louis, who gave a small shake of his head. I avoided Harry's eyes.

"Charlie," Harry said sternly. "Tell me."

"Harry, mate, I really don't think you want to know." Niall said, fidgeting with his shirt. Harry ignored him.

"Charlie." It was no longer a question.

"Forty three," I said softly, and Harry swore.

"I should've been there, I should've helped..." he murmured. He shook his head slowly, dropping it.

"Harry, you were dying," Liam said, incredulous. "There was nothing you could've done."

Harry didn't reply.

"You did die," Louis put in. "If you would've tried to go back, we wouldn't have been able to bring you back."

Harry looked up sharply. "I died?"

Everyone in the room looked to me, and I bit my lip. "Yeah," I said softly. "You were gone for a while. Then you came back, and told Lou to protect me and Nessa, and then you were gone again."

Harry stared at me, shocked. "Then how...?"

Niall shook his head. "We're not sure, mate. The doctors gave you shocks, but honestly they didn't think you would come back."

I swallowed thickly, and Nessa held my hand. She had been silent the whole time.

Soon, it came time for us to leave. We promised to return the next day again, but were surprised to see Harry leaving the hospital when we came back.

He grinned at us. "They released me," he said happily.

"Is that... safe?" Zayn wondered. Harry laughed.

"I have stitches, mate. As long as I take it easy, I'll be fine," he chuckled.

We all mentally shrugged, and headed back to the car we had just piled out of. Harry sat in the passenger seat while Lou drove, and the rest of us were squished into four seats in the back.

I was thankful we didn't get pulled over.

We reached the house in only a few minutes, hopping out of the car and making sure Harry got in the door okay. He was wearing a white tee shirt and jeans that we had brought to the hospital one of the days before, because he didn't like the little gown he was in.