"It's getting dark and it's getting cold and the nights are getting long..."

Song: This Is The Thing

Artist: Fink

Blood.

There was so much blood.

Scarlett rivers flowed in paths through the sparse grass, cutting deep into the dirt that showed through in the empty patches. It flowed out from the source, the thick, hot liquid seeping into the ground and smothering the blades of grass it came into contact with. The greens and browns of the ground were completely blanketed with the garish red where the blood spread, commanding it be taken notice of. It was practically glowing in the darkness, a blaring sign of what had just happened.

I had never seen so much blood.

Fear.

Fear like I'd never known intoxicated my body in those moments. Fear of the unknown, fear of what had just happened, and fear of how I would handle it. An uncertainty so heavy flashed through me that my muscles nearly gave out. Or rather, the few remaining muscles that seemed to be under any illusion of control. This was fear that took control of my body, cell by cell, nerve by nerve, until it had infected every single atom I possessed. It crept through me, stealing the warmth from my blood, clouding my brain, harassing my heart. This was fear that took me over with a grip so tight, I was certain it might never fully release.

Pain.

This was a different kind of pain that what I'd grown used to feeling. This wasn't the dull ache, the constantly lingering feeling of being kicked in the stomach only to fall down a mountain that always seemed to accompany a broken or damaged heart. This was visceral, ragged, flesh-ripping pain. The source of the pain couldn't be located, and it seemed to shift from place to place in my body as if it were confused about what it was actually feeling. One second, a white-hot knife ripped through my gut only to shift to my shoulder and tear through the flesh there. A razor sharp spear would gash through my thigh before pulling out and shoving straight through my lungs. My body was confused, focusing the pain everywhere yet nowhere all at once.

The world seemed impossibly silent around me but I was oddly aware of the scream that ripped from my throat. All I could comprehend were those three things: blood, fear, pain. The blood that stained the ground and spread farther and farther commanded my sight. The fear that paralyzed my entire body and took over me completely commanded my heart. The pain that ripped through me and tore me apart commanded my touch. This was too much, far too much, and I couldn't handle it.

Maggie stood next to me, her hands clamped over her mouth and her eyes wide with shock. She stood perfectly still, like a pillar planted into the ground years ago that hadn't moved an inch since being put in place. She was only visible through my peripheral vision, however, because my eyes were frozen on the pair a few feet ahead of me. There they lay in a sinister looking puddle of blood quickly growing around them. Neither of them moved, giving away nothing as I tried to force my feet to move.

The bullet had hit someone, I just didn't know whom.

The visceral pain I was feeling was purely psychological, my brain playing tricks on my body and forcing it to believe I actually was hurt. But it wasn't real- I wasn't hurt. The blood wasn't mine and there was no sign of an injury anywhere on my body. As I realized this, my foot jerked forward toward the two. A mirrored action by Maggie told me that she, too, while paralyzed with fear and shock, was relatively unharmed.

That left two people, both of whom were motionless in a blossoming pool of scarlet blood.

Fear struck again, this time more intense than anything I'd ever felt. My mind whirled in a thousand different directions, all of them ending in Harry bleeding out on the lawn while Ben rose from the ground, a demon determined to haunt me for the rest of my life. I felt sick, and the bile that rose in the back of my throat was too strong to stop as I emptied my stomach on the lawn. The vile content of stomach acid and bile landed with a sickening sound, mixing hideously with the blood that had managed to snake its way toward me.

I raised a tremor-stricken hand to wipe my mouth, removing the lingering acidic waste that had just left my throat before I stumbled forward. My stomach heaved in my abdomen when my bare foot landed in a sticky, hot river of blood weaving through the patchy grass. A heavy sob choked from my throat as I fought off the urge to run away from the carnage forever, too much of a coward to face what I feared the most and discover if the man I loved so desperately was even alive.

Somehow, miraculously, my feet managed to carry me forward, landing over and over again in the sickly warm blood. I could hardly breathe between the ragged breaths that tore from my lungs and the impossibly heavy pounding of my heart. My entire limbs shook, every step growing shakier and shakier while my arms positively quivered by my sides.

They were feet away now and I still couldn't tell what had happened. The darkness of the night blanketed them, hiding any possible clues from me. Vaguely, I could hear Maggie's sobs echoing around the yard as she watched me inch forward, too terrified to move any further. A trembling arm rose out in front of me, my fingers splayed awkwardly as they reached into the vulnerable night air.

Ben was hunched over Harry still, pinning him to the ground as he had been before the gun had gone off. His shoulders, from what I could see, were still, but there was no movement from beneath him, either. I opened my jaw to speak, to call out to Harry, to say anything, but my body refused to cooperate. Terror had taken complete control.

I was inches away now, close enough to reach out and touch Ben's terrifyingly still frame that pinned Harry to the ground. I couldn't see any part of Harry other than his legs, which were still. Ben's body hovered limply over Harry's covering his chest and face and making it impossible to decipher anything in the dark.

My attempt at swallowing failed and got stuck in my throat as I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, giving myself one tiny moment before the rest of my life was decided. If it was Harry's blood I was standing in... if it was Harry who had gotten shot...

My life would be completely, without a doubt, over.

I couldn't live a life without Harry.

My hand was shaking so bad I could hardly control it as I reached farther into the darkness toward Ben. I watched in detached shock as the space closed between my fingers and his shoulder while my heart attempted to hammer its way out of my chest. Closer, closer. With a sudden uncoordinated lunge forward, my hand collided with Ben's shoulder, shoving firmly to the side in a hastened push.

I might have been screaming, but I couldn't tell. His body fell to the ground and a solid thunk sounded as his weight collided with the earth. Blood, red and terrifying covered both of the bodies lying before me. It seeped into their clothes staining the fabric a bright crimson that seemed to burn into my eyes. The source of the blood continued to spew the liquid onto the dirt, the dark red trails streaking down his chest before dripping to the ground. The ragged hole of torn flesh and ripped skin that was the source of everything stared me in the face, multiplying the thousands of feelings I was already fighting by a hundred.

The ragged hole in the chest of the man I did not love.

Ben.

A strangled gasp erupted from my throat before echoing in my ears. With it, the sounds of the world returned to me as if all my sense had come back to life the moment my eyes found the source of the blood, the wound that was not inflicted on Harry. My Harry.

I fell to my knees instantly, smearing the blood further on my skin without care. My body dropped next to Harry's, my hands clutching at his chest, feeling for holes that should not be there but finding none. He was, predictably, absolutely covered in blood, his body getting the full blast of Ben's wound before the blood had landed on the ground around them.

"Harry!!" I shouted hysterically. Tears flooded down my cheeks and dropped to mix with the other fluids on his chest as I leaned over him.

He was alive. His chest rose and fell softly beneath my hands, the movement so shallow it was impossible to see. He didn't seem to be conscious, though I didn't know why. As far as I could see, he hadn't been shot. Besides, I'd only heard two shots go off- the first had missed completely, and the other was, very obviously lodged deep into Ben's chest.

My hands, which were still shaking violently, drifted over his chest to hold his face. My thumbs tried in vain to wipe the blood away, but it was nearly impossible. The crimson stain only smeared further, already coagulating in the night air.

"Harry!" I shouted again. My voice sounded absolutely mad. "Harry!"

His eyelids twitched slightly at the sound of my voice but didn't open. My heart nearly leapt into my skull.

"Harry, please wake up! I need you to wake up!" I sobbed frantically. Tears continued to gush over my eyelids while the sobs wracked my body, interrupting my words while I tried to talk through them, but to no avail. My words remained hysterical and disjointed.

"Harry!!"

My hands pushed his hair out of his face. I was horrified to see the extensive amounts of blood covering his skin and melted into his hair because I knew a vast majority of it wasn't his. I shuddered as my hands groped at his skin in an attempt to rouse him. Why was he not responding?

"Harry, please," I cried. "I love you, please wake up!"

His eyes flickered again, this time opening fully before closing halfway. I sucked in a gasp of a breath and shifted even closer to him.

"Harry," I whispered, my face close to his.

"Halle," he murmured. His eyes flickered once more before opening fully. "You're okay."

His statement held so much relief that it immediately flooded through me and lifted some of the weight I was feeling.

"Yes, Harry, yes, I'm fine. Are you hurt?"

"Ahh, no."

"I'm serious, Harry, are you hurt? You were just unconscious," I said. My voice was weak and pitiful now that he had woken, the frantic tone from before lessening slightly.

"Bastard was trying to strangle me," Harry said quietly. His voice was deeper and raspier than usual, the damage inflicted by Ben making his voice sound like it did in the morning. "No air."

"But you're okay now?" I asked desperately. My eyes stayed locked on his while I hovered over him. His back was flat on the ground and he had yet to move but he was at least awake and speaking to me.

"I'm fine, Hal. I'm okay."

A different sob choked from my throat this time- a sob of pure, utter, blissful relief. My chest collapsed forward to his with complete disregard for the blood staining his clothes while my arms locked around his neck. He winced instantly at the contact and I tried to pull back, but his arms snaked around me and held me to him tightly.

I could feel the tears leaking down my face still and the way my body shook, but the contact from Harry and the confirmation that he was alive and unbroken was doing wonders for calming me down. I clung to him, my body cramped and wet with blood that wasn't mine, and refused to let go.

"He's dead."

My heart lurched in my chest at Maggie's words. I lifted my head from Harry's neck but didn't release him from my grasp as I turned to look at her. She was knelt beside Ben, her finger pressed to the inside of his wrist as she felt for a pulse that wasn't there. Her face was white as a sheet, and I could tell from the ginger way that she touched him that he was already starting to grow cold. The wound on his chest had stopped the gushing blood, and a gray pallor had already started to settle over his skin.

There was no doubt in my mind.

Ben was dead, and Harry had killed him.

Before this realization could even sink in, another voice sounded out into the night air.

"What the fuck have you done?"

I didn't think it was possible to experience any more fear in such a short time, but I was proven wrong as terror ripped through me yet again. I recognized this voice, but it did little to comfort me. My head whipped in the direction of the voice and saw him standing a few feet away, completing the triangle between Harry and I, Maggie and Ben's body, and himself.

Miles.

"What the fuck did you do?!"

He looked absolutely livid. Red tinged his face as blood flushed beneath his skin, and the veins stood out in sharp relief in his neck as he shifted his harsh gaze back and forth between the carnage on display.

"Is he fucking dead? Did you fucking kill him?!" he roared, taking a menacing step toward us. His eyes locked on Ben's body, which had grown even paler in the few short moments since I'd looked away. Maggie had backed away wisely, raising her hands slowly by her side in surrender. My arms stayed locked around Harry's neck as he shifted beneath me, pushing himself off the ground to sit up in front of me and block me from Miles.

"I didn't mean to, man," Harry said calmly. I knew he was anything but calm on the inside, but he needed to be to avoid another situation exactly like what we'd just gone through.

"You didn't mean to? You didn't fucking mean to?" Miles spit in rage.

"He pulled the gun on me," Harry defended. He managed to push himself to his feet, tugging me with him and tucking me behind him in a slow yet strong action. If he was in any pain, he showed no signs of it.

"So you took it and shot him?!"

"No, I tackled him and knocked it out of his hand but he got it back. He had it against my head until I managed to move it," Harry explained. Unlike with Ben, Harry didn't move forward. Maybe it was because Miles hadn't pulled a gun on Harry, or maybe it was to try a different tactic after the last one had failed so spectacularly.

"So how'd he get shot then, huh? Drive by shooting in this small ass town?" he growled sarcastically. His eyes were bulging in a very similar way that Ben's had. I shuddered behind Harry and tried to fight off the mounting terror, petrified of a repeat show.

"He tried to strangle me and almost did. I had no choice. He was going to kill me any way he could," Harry said slowly. My heart already ached for him, certain his calm words were positively shredding him inside. No matter what he said, I knew he was not okay with just having killed someone, even if it was someone like Ben. He would surely be absolutely devastated and destroyed inside.

"You had the choice not to fucking kill him!" Miles shouted. His eyes twitched slightly in a deranged way as if deciding something. In a split second, he reached behind him and pulled something from the back of his jeans before straightening his arms out in front of him again.

For the second time in less than thirty minutes, I was staring straight down the barrel of a gun. Harry took a step back, his hands finding me behind him as he held me behind the shield of his body.

"I should have done this ages ago. You've always been selfish and a shitty person," Miles whispered in a deadly quiet tone. Unlike Ben, who had been solid and firm when he'd aimed the gun at us, Miles shook unsteadily. It was clear he was unsettled by what he'd discovered here, and it had unhinged him.

"No, Miles, don't," Harry said evenly, backing up further.

"About time you get what's been coming to you, Styles."

"Miles-"

"Goodbye, Harry."

"No!"

I watched with paralyzing dread as a dark glint struck his eye, the slightest movement of his hand capturing my attention as he prepared to pull the trigger and shoot the gun aimed right at Harry's chest.

"Freeze! Drop the gun right now!"

I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath until a breath so big it was painful sucked into my lungs. My gasp sounded out around us followed quickly by the blissful sound of Miles' gun landing in the dirt with a soft thud. Harry, Miles, Maggie, and I all whipped our heads in the direction of the voice to see flashing red and blue lights so bright it was a miracle we hadn't even noticed until now.

"Down on the ground, all of you!" shouted a cop from a few feet away. There were three cop cars pulled into the street, surrounding us and Harry's car. Six cops stood scattered around, all of them with their guns raised and pointed in different directions at each of us.

My legs collapsed out from under me as I hastened to follow their command. I'd had more than enough guns pointed at me tonight to last me a lifetime. My body landed with a huff in the dirt, followed quickly by Maggie and Miles. Harry lowered himself gracefully to lie next to me. His hand closed around mine that was raised above my head in surrender. I felt his fingers wind around mine before he brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

"It'll be okay, Hal, you hear me?" he whispered. "It will all be okay."

I couldn't respond as the crippling fear flooded through me yet again. I should have been relieved at the arrival of the cops, but now all I was afraid of was them taking Harry away from me for a crime he'd been forced to commit. My head turned toward Harry's, where my eyes locked on his. His gaze was intense and determined as he looked into my eyes.

"I love you. I'll always love you, no matter what happens," he said fiercely.

"I love you, Harry."

He looked almost relieved when he heard my words, his features relaxing slightly as he blew out a heavy breath. I jumped when I felt movement next to me and looked over my shoulder to see a cop hunching behind Harry. Something metallic glinted in his hands before I saw Harry's face get pushed into the dirt when they ripped his hand from mine to haul his arms behind his back.

"No-"

I was cut off by the metallic clicking of the handcuffs that were being tightened around Harry's wrists. The same thing was happening to Miles a few feet over while Maggie and I remained relatively ignored by the police.

"You two are coming with us," said one police officer in a grim voice. I couldn't see who it was but it didn't even matter.

"No! You can't!" I shouted. I placed my hands on the dirt to push myself up in protest but someone placed a hand on my back to push me back to the ground in a huff.

"Don't fucking touch her!" Harry roared from next to me, his voice livid.

"Keep it down, son," said the gruff cop. "Don't make this harder on yourself."

"Then don't touch her!" Harry yelled into the dirt. His cheek pushed firmly into the ground while he fought to release some of the pressure being put on him. Suddenly, two of the cops gripped under his arms and hauled him to his feet while two other did the same with Miles next to him.

"Wait, Harry!"

"Halle, it'll be fine," Harry called over his shoulder, his eyes finding mine as the cops steered him away from me and toward their squad cars.

"Wait, you don't understand!" I shouted at the cops, attempting again to get up and run to Harry only to be pushed back down. I watched helplessly as they ripped open the back door and shoved him inside by placing a hand on top of his head. "Harry!!"

"Hal, I-" his words were cut off by the slam of the door, locking him away from me and sealing off whatever he'd been about to say. My heart pounded heavily in my chest as I watched the cop who'd shoved him into the back stroll around the front and throw himself into the drivers seat.

"Harry!" I shouted again. It was pointless- he couldn't respond. Tears flowed down my cheeks again and my fingers dug into the dirt as I watched the car start up, the lights flashing relentlessly while the engine roared to life. A red glow washed over the gory scene from the brake lights before the car pulled way, taking Harry with it.

"And the things that keep us apart keep me alive. There are things that keep me alive, keep me alone."

So! A few things: first of all, I need to say another HUGE thank you to everyone who has read my story and helped get it out there! Every day, it gets closer to 1 million reads and I am just in complete and utter shock. Thank you so, so much.

Second, some amazing people have made fan accounts for a lot of the main characters of Resolution on twitter! They're absolutely incredible, so please follow them. You won't regret it! They are:

Harry- @HarryResolution

Halle- @HalleResolution

Ben- @BenResolution

Miles- @MilesResolution

Jay- @JayResolution

Olivia- @LivResolution

Annie- @AnnieResolution

Maggie- @MagResolution

Resolution Fanfic Twitter- @resolutionfic

Resolution Quotes Twitter- @ResolutionQuote

Resolution Instagram fanpage- @Resolutionfan

My twitter- @styles_legend

I don't run any of these except my own, so please let their hardwork be appreciated and follow/interact with them, yay!! Much love to all of you :) <3