Niall’s pov.

I knew that there was something seriously wrong the moment I put the sword through James body. The scream that came from Winters mouth was ear piercing but I didn’t know what went wrong as I didn’t touch her with the sword. I let the sword go and pushed James out of the way and that’s when she collapsed, I was just in time to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Winter?” I tried to stay calm but I was definitely panicking on the inside and that panic grew when she didn’t respond. Her limps were numb, she was pale and her lips blue, she was definitely under cooled and that’s when I saw the blood on her chest and it was increasing way too fast. I had to get her out of here, so I took her in my arms and made my way out. I kept my eyes on James though because this all seemed way to easy, there was no way he was really dead but I couldn’t risk it to stay here for another second if I wanted Winter to survive.

“Hang in there Winter.” I kept repeating this until we were out of the woods. I made my way into the town and brought her to the local doctor, praying her could help her.

“Excuse me.” I yelled when I entered the practice and the nurse who was sitting behind the desk immediately jumped up, she was definitely shocked to see me standing here, with an unconscious woman in my arms.

“Doctor!” she yelled through the intercom and within a few seconds the doctor came rushing out. “What’s wrong?” that’s when his eyes fell on us and he didn’t waste any time and motioned me to follow him into his office, I put Winter on the treatment table and he immediately opened cut open her coat and sweater and there is was, it was a stab wound and a deep one. It was still bleeding but that wasn’t our biggest problem, the problem was that she was indeed under cooled and that her body was going into shock.

“Mr Horan, listen carefully, I need you to grab blankets and a heater, you can find them in the cabinet behind the desk, if we don’t get her warm within a few minutes she will die no matter what.” I nodded and didn’t waste one second as I ran towards the cabinet. I yanked it open not minding the things that were falling out, I grabbed the blankets and the heater and ran back, I plugged in the heater and put it on the highest mode and put the blankets around her, except for the spot where the stab was visible.

I started rubbing her, just to get her warm again and in the meantime the doctor was working on her wound. It must hurt badly and I began to feel guilty for not being able to find her earlier.

“What happened to her?” The doctor asked me while working on Winter but how could I begin to explain what had happened without sounding like a total freak, I had to think of something that he would believe.

“She got lost and hurt herself when she fell down.” I know it still didn’t make sense and I could tell that the doctor did not believe me at all but he kept his mouth shut and continued working.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally sat up and got up to wash his hands. “She will be fine, she just need some rest and she will probably wake up when she is ready but the moment she wakes up, she does need to take medicine and it’s better if she stay’s inside for at least a week, just to be sure she didn’t catch laryngitis, if she does though she needs to go to the hospital right away.”

I just kept nodding and thanking him for all his help. I didn’t want to stay here any longer and as soon as we arrived at the house, I put Winter in the car and I started to pack and get Quinn, to go home but I just couldn’t help but watch over my shoulder, just to be sure that James wasn’t here. I had never moved this fast through a house but within a few minutes the car was packed and Quinn sat in her car seat. I jumped behind the wheel and drove away from this horror village.

Winters pov;

A few days later

I felt warm and safe, which was a weird sensation because I couldn’t remember when I felt safe but I just felt at peace, which must mean that I was home right? But what if I opened my eyes and it was all a dream, what if I was really dead or still with James which was as close as hell, maybe I just keep my eyes closed, just to be safe.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed but I felt a shock going through my body when I felt a hand gently touching my cheek, this couldn’t be James right, this had to be Niall, I mean it felt safe but it wasn’t enough to make me open my eyes just yet, as I was still not completely trusting this new environment.

Winter please open your eyes.” I heard Niall say, I mean it sounded like Niall and it wasn’t the first time that I heard him say this, this must mean that I was indeed back home and I really wanted to open my eyes but I just couldn’t, not right now.

The sun was too bright and as I opened my eyes, they immediately fell on the body who was holding me tightly against his chest. “Niall?” I whispered but it was loud enough to wake Niall up and he moved right away. “Winter?” he whispered back and I just nodded and that’s when I felt his body trembling. “You are finally awake.” I smiled at him “I’m sorry.” He looked shocked when I said that. “Why are you sorry, you did nothing wrong, I’m just sorry that I couldn’t protect you.”

“You saved me in the end, that is enough for me.” I felt a tear falling on my hand and it was as if all his stress was coming out. “I was so afraid that I had lost you.” He hiccupped and I just held him tighter. “It’s okay, I’m back home safely thanks to you, so please don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it, it’s just stress.”

“I know but I’m okay and alive thanks to you, so please let’s just focus on that okay?” I was leaning on my elbow so I could touch his face and I gently wiped away his tears.

“Where is Quinn?”

“I will get her.” Niall jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room. This gave me the opportunity to sit up and I was happy to see that I was clean, my chest did hurt though and as I lifted my shirt, I was shocked to see the cut, I was happy that it was healing but that could’ve gone seriously wrong. I quickly changed my clothes and returned to our room, where Niall was waiting with Quinn and the moment Quinn saw me, she began to squirm out of Niall’s hands and I quickly took her from him and cuddled her tightly and Niall followed soon and together we stood there for a long time.



A year later.

“Quinn, come to mommy.” I called after the little toddler who was running around the dressing room. It was quite funny to see and the fact that she had everyone under her spell was also something to see, especially the guys. Louis and Harry were here to support Niall’s first solo performance but instead of focussing on Niall, they were really busy playing with Quinn. I sat down on the floor when the little Quinn wobbled towards me.

“There is my baby.” I put her in the air and as she was giggling, Niall came walking in but he wasn’t looking happy, I immediately picked up the change in the air and I quickly gave Quinn to Harry who also noticed the change in Niall. He nudged Louis and they walked out of the room.

“What’s wrong?”

“Have you been looking into history books lately?”

“Why?”

“Just answer the question Winter.”

“Yes I have, I just wanted to know if anything had changed.”

“Why would you do that? Don’t you think that we already risked enough?”

“Yes of course but I couldn’t help it Niall, I just had to know and I did find something.”

“I know you did because whatever you did this time it brought a little present to us.” I couldn’t help but stare at him dumbfounded because he really had lost me in this.

“I didn’t really do anything, I just looked information up about Lady Blackwood and Catherine Horan but that’s all I did.”

“Yes and someone found out and well she is here.”

“She?”

“Yes, Lady Horan is here.”

“Excuse me? Did you fall on your head or something because that is impossible, how would she know I was looking her up?”

“I don’t know but I do know she found out about James and she is here for you Winter.” I shrugged because if she was anything like James, she was probably stuck in that forest and there was no way I was going there.

“I’m not bound to a forest Winter.” I turned around so fast that I felt dizzy for a second when I focussed I was actually staring at Catherine and to say I was afraid, well that was an understatement.

“Catherine.”

“Winter, I needed to talk to you in person but I don’t have a lot of time but I want to thank you for saving James’s soul.” My mouth was now really hanging on the ground because I really felt like my head was going to explode.

“I’m not sure what you are talking about because I did nothing and you know we killed him right?”

“You didn’t really kill James but you two did free him from evil.”

“What do you mean we did not kill him, Niall put a sword through his heart.”

“Well it wasn’t really his heart but it was close but because you died for a second, he died too but as he died, he was freed from whatever dark energy was inside of him and you send him straight back to me and that’s why I needed to speak with you. I’m so grateful for saving him and just know that this will be the last time you will see me or James, you are finally free to live your life the way you want.”

She hugged me and before I could say anything she disappeared in front of my eyes and I couldn’t help but smile at Niall. “Did this really happen are we free?” He smiled back and nodded but before he could say anything, he got called on stage and Quinn was given back to me.

We waited till the show was over and as we got outside we headed to the car but I just really wanted to walk. “Niall can we walk home?”

“Sure let’s go.” He put Quinn in her stroller and as he took my hand he started walking. Niall was softly singing and Quinn was giggling and I couldn’t help but smile as I cuddled closer to Niall. “Are you happy?” Niall whispered to me and as I turned to look at him I nodded. “I have never been so happy.

Notes

So that's it. I think the hardest thing to do is to write a good ending and most of the time I'm not quite satisfied with it and to be honest I'm really afraid that you all won't like this ending but I really tried my best.

So let me know if you liked it and please let me know, when you got hooked on the story and at which point it was blowing your mind. I'm really curious to see what you guys liked the best about this story because I thought this story wasn't going to be big but you guys proved me wrong.

Thank you all so much for reading and supporting me and thank you the most for your patience with me. I love you all and if you ever want to ask me something or if you have a suggestion for a short story just let me know.!!

xxx