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"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
- Walter Winchell
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"N-Niall..." I whisper faintly.

"Are you alright Lou?" He frowns, seeming confused. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

I just stare at him.

"I've been looking for you for over an hour!" He sighs.

"An hour?" I say weakly.

"Yes! There's a problem with the horses, one of them's about to go into labour..."

Suddenly something strange happens. His whole body begins to flicker faintly.

"Yes." He's muttering. "We need to get down to the stables."

Harry's words come back to me. I can only see Niall if he's aware of that he's dead, that he's in the present day.

I begin to panic, I'm going to lose him to his confused mind.

He disappears for a split second before reappearing.

"What's going on Louis? Where are we?" He looks afraid. I know that he knows but doesn't want to face this, it's easier for him to retreat back in his own mind.

"We're dead Niall."

It sounds harsher than I intended, but really, there's no gentle way to say that to someone.

"No... No we're not..."

"We are, you know it!" He shakes his head and begins to flicker again.

"Niall!" I say desperately. "If you pretend that this isn't happening then you'll be gone again! You've been looking for me for 300 years!"

"300 years?" He stares at me in shock and there's a long pause. "Well, where the bloody hell have you been?"

He's thinking hard.

"Oh my god... Sweet Jesus... I'm dead... I'm dead!" He whispers to himself.

I look at him carefully. He seems more solid now.

"What do you remember?"

"Not much." He exhales heavily. "Just me wife crying then... I dunno. It's all a blur really."

"Think harder." I urge him. I'm terrified that he's going to disappear again. He sighs then screws up his face in concentration.

"Well I remember Joanna crying, I hadn't been ill for long but somehow I knew that this was it, I was going to die...And then I was thinking about you, wondering if you'd felt as scared as I did." He stops and smiles suddenly. "But then I remember thinking that I was going to see you. And that was it, I just fell asleep."

"I wondered why you died smiling." I say quietly.

"You were there?!"

I nod.

"I watched your whole life Niall... Well the parts that you were in the house."

He thinks for a minute.

"I missed you Louis. You took me part of me heart with you when you died."

"Alright." I say, shoving him. "It's not a bloody romance novel."

He grins widely.

"What can I say? I missed you darling." He winks and then laughs loudly. I laugh with him, I've missed him so much. I can't believe he's really here.

"So what then?"

He thinks hard and his face suddenly lights up.

"That's it... I remember now! I was stood next to myself. I was trying to comfort Joanna but she couldn't see me... I didn't have a bloody clue what was happening, I was terrified. Next thing, this fella was stood next to me... Frightened the bloody life outta me, he did, anyway, he's stood there-"

"What did he look like?"

"Long hair, great big bloody huge wings... Crapped meself I did. He started going on about unity and divinity in all the lords creatures and all things coming to an end... I couldn't make head nor tail of what he was going in about-"

"Harry." I mutter to myself.

"What?"

"Nothing, carry on..."

"Well he said I had to go with him. For a second I felt so at peace... I just knew I had to go with him." He pauses and shakes his head at the memory.

"But you didn't?" I ask wonderingly.

"No. Because somehow I knew that you wouldn't be there. Don't ask me how, I just knew. Next thing, this lad gets quite upset, starts going on about 'rogues' and 'lost souls' and 'being damned to wander the earth'. Between him going on in his flowery language and Joanna screaming and wailing in the background I could barely think... But it just clicked inside me. I wasn't going to go with him, not without you. I wanted to see you, that was why I didn't mind dying. My mind was made up."

"You should have gone Niall." I say sadly.

"Nah." He grins. "I found you in the end didn't I? I do worry about Joanna though.."

"She was ok."

"How do you know?"

"I was here, watching."

"What happened to her?"

"She.. Er.. Well. She remarried."

"What?! How long after I died?"

"Erm... A year or so."

Nialls face is almost comical.

"Who too? Don't tell me it was Ed!"

I don't say anything but the look on my face confirms it.

"I bloody knew it!" He shouts. "Remember when we were at school and he was always passing her notes about sweeping her off her feet and the taste of his love and all that?"

"Calm down! Nothing happened until after you died! At least she was happy!"

Niall sits back, scowling.

"Cheeky bugger... I'll make sure his 'legs don't work like they bloody used too' if I ever see him again."

I try and hide a smile.

"He looked after her and your kids anyway."

"Wonderful." He grumbles.

"Anyway, carry on.."

"That's it." He says moodily before looking at my face. "Alright, alright..."

He thinks again.

"Actually, that is pretty much it. All I can remember after that is looking for you. I just had to find you. Sometimes it's like now... I know I'm dead... But mostly I don't feel like that. It's like I only saw you five minutes ago and I just have to find you. Every now and then another one of those fellas with the wings would pop up and try and get me to go with them, but I couldn't. Not till I'd found you."

"Well now you can." I say quietly.

This complicates things, much as I'm glad to see him I have so many other things to think about.

"Not without you." He says adamantly.

"Jesus Christ Niall do you fancy me or something?" I snap.

"Charming! I spend 3 centuries looking for you and you're not even happy to see me!"

"Of course I am." I sigh. "I've missed you."

He grins. I forgot how easy it is to make Niall happy. He's like a bloody excitable puppy or something.

"What's going on anyway? Who are those blokes with wings and all that? Why could you see what was going on but I couldn't?"

"I accepted I was dead straight away. I wanted to move on but they wouldn't let me..."

"Why? What do you mean?"

I sigh and take a deep breath before explaining as much as I know.

When I'm finished Nialls staring at me.

"I don't believe in angels." He mutters.

"Yeah, well neither of us believed in ghosts and look how that turned out for us."

Niall looks at me for a minute.

"Why didn't I get an angel?" He sounds offended.

"You're bloody welcome to mine if you want." I mutter.

"I'm going to-"

At that minute there's a huge commotion from downstairs.

I'd forgotten about Adele's party but I suddenly remember where we are.

There's shouting and screaming from downstairs and I freeze in fear at the thought of Adele. I can hear a woman screaming and the sound is so animalistic, so heartbroken that it sends a chill through me.

"What the hell..." Niall mutters.

"We need to go check." I say. I don't want to, the screaming is so concentrated, so oblivious to all the commotion round it. I don't want to know what's causing it.

I'm about to make myself appear in the hall but then I realise that Niall probably doesn't know how to do it and I don't want to lose him.

"Just stay close to me... And the people you're going to see... They look a little different, don't be scared. And DON'T walk into anyone!"

He nods, looking overwhelmed.

I open the bedroom door and he follows me towards the top of the stairs. There's a crowd of people at the bottom, all talking and shouting.

Niall gasps at the sight of them and moves closer to me.

"Stop touching me!" I mutter.

"I'm not touching you!"

"You are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Niall I'm going to trip over you in a minute-"

"Louis..."

"I've told you, they can't hurt you-"

"Louis..."

"And I need time to think-"

"LOUIS!"

"WHAT?!"

"I think we have a problem..." He whispers, point behind me.

I turn back to the crowd and notice it's parted. I spot Adele, tears streaming down her face. What on earth is going on? I follow her gaze.

Lola-Rose is laid on the floor and I wonder what she's playing at. Next to her I can see her mother, screaming on her knees.

But that's not the problem.

Because next to her own unmoving body... Lola-Rose is stood, staring round in fear at the commotion.

Suddenly she spots me.

"Louis!" She grins. "And Niall! You found each other!"

Niall and I stare at each other then back to the body on the floor and the little girl stood next to it.

"Oh crap..." Niall mutters.

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AN- Hope you liked this chapter? Any thoughts on what's happening?

Please vote/comment and all that jazz because it makes me so happy :D

Also, does anyone know anyone who could make me a trailer and/or decent cover?

I'm dedicating this to @BlastedStyles thanks for reading love x