Chapter I. - Part 1

The first thing that Harry acknowledged of the world was that he had an awful headache. It wouldn't have been a first, he was an international popstar after all, and a party or two was always available when your name was Harry Styles, but he most certainly didn't remember a moment from this one (which was never a good omen). He just hoped that he hasn't done something utterly random, which scored a billion points on the embarrassment scale. He was good in talking his way out (except for his younger days when he was ready to explain to everyone that by how much pussy Matt would get he meant that the X Factor winner would be able to buy many cats.) Still, nearly seven years and countless interviews later, there were rather limited situations he wouldn't be able to talk himself out of (though Lou would certainly joke that it was only because his dimples and curls.)

The second thing was that the level of noise was just too much for his sensitive state of mind. He grabbed his head, still with eyes closed and put his hands on his ears.

"You okay there?" The voice was unfamiliar, but came from such a close distance that Harry felt the need to open his eyes. He had no idea where he has fallen asleep (or lost consciousness, but he dared to hope it was the former). He noted that he was sitting on a grey seat and everywhere he looked the walls were white and it was full of people, but it was broad daylight instead of the darkness of the night he has been expecting.

A man probably in his early thirties (or late twenties) was standing right in front of him with his hands full of folders and in some sort of uniform. He was rather everyday looking with dishwasher blonde hair and rather simple features, so Harry had no recollection of him at all. Being a popstar meant meeting a lot of people, so he might have actually met the man before.

Harry looked around feverishly and tried to spot any familiar faces, but there didn't seem to be any. What was worse was that he couldn't even come up with a trend – there were girls and boys obviously in their teenage years, but then there were people who could have easily be his parents, or in some cases, grandparents. What was the most surreal in the whole experience that no one even seemed to care that Harry freaking Styles was sitting just there even though the place was packed with people and there were many teenage girls. It has been years (about seven, really) since he had seen so many teenage girls at one place not even noticing him.

"Yeah," he muttered and that seemed enough to the guy, who with a swift nod, turned around and left. He noted that he didn't seem to be the only one fazed and that the guy walked up to a couple of people to probably ask the same question. It was around the same time that Harry finally spotted someone he could recognize – Cher Lloyd. But to his greatest surprise there was something off with the singer, she seemed so young, like when they first met in 2010. Harry was just about to stand up and go talk to her to finally get some answers when another alarmingly familiar face came into his view.

Over the years, Liam Payne had a lot of different hairstyles and had many different faces according to the media. When Harry first met him, most said that the older boy looked like Justin Bieber (an association that Niall probably didn't like very much at the time, because he wanted to be the one called that, not that he looked anything like the Canadian singer), a few said he looked like Zac Efron (something Liam liked a lot, because at that age he was a big fan of High School Musical). Later he was said to look just like Justin Timberlake. When Harry first saw the Justin Bieber/Zac Efron lookalike, he was, of course, completely sure that it was just someone who looked like the sixteen-year-old version of his old friend and bandmate (probably wanted to look like him as well or maybe a younger Bieber), but Harry has known the boy turned man for seven years and he has seen so many photos of the other over the years that there was no way on Earth he would ever not recognize him. His mind was trying to come up with an explanation – Payno was trying to relive the good old days, so he had a new haircut. It seemed possible of course, but the hair was most certainly not the only problem with the picture. Liam seemed impossibly young. His arms were free of any tattoos.

It seemed that Liam didn't notice him though, because his attention was on a camera and it seemed that unlike Harry, the older boy has been noticed and they were making an interview with him.

*** A microphone was pretty much shoved into Liam's face. It was nothing new to him, it had been years since something like that could surprise him, but everything else that has happened since he woke up was in fact surprising. Especially as he had no idea where he was until he realized that the setting was familiar, as was the buzz in the air.

"How are you feeling about advancing to the boot camp stage of the X Factor?" the man who shoved the microphone in his face asked while a less than enthusiastic cameraman was filming it. This was probably a joke, Liam decided, or a very weird dream where he knew that the whole setting was impossible. He didn't want to be the buzzkill though (he had been called that before just one too many times), so he went along with it.

"It's nerve-wracking. I've been here before two years ago, so I feel the pressure of making the cut. I hope I will be good enough to get to the Judges' Houses. I really want to do this and prove that I'm ready for the whole X Factor experience," he said confidently, though at every word he was kind of waiting for the, "Oh, burn! That was a good joke man!" comments or someone cracking up, but it didn't happen. Instead the man just nodded.

"Could you repeat it again for the sake of editing? You don't have to use the exact same words, though it would be preferred." Liam hesitantly nodded and more or less delivered the same speech. When the interviewer nodded again he tensed. Something was not quite normal – hell, nothing was. The joke was taken too seriously.

"Your name, age and job, please," the man asked again and Liam automatically replied: "Liam Payne, sixteen, student." Though why he said sixteen was beyond him. Maybe because the whole X Factor idea – then again he was there for the X Factor boot camp at fourteen as well, so probably it was just an automatic response. After all since the band had been formed they have been asked about their experiences on the talent show million times.

"Good. Thanks." And then the interviewer left with the cameraman and Liam felt utterly puzzled. All around him people seemed to buzz with excitement but all he felt was utter confusion and a very bad headache which he didn't even notice until then. He sat down on one of the seats next to a man who seemed vaguely familiar. If this really was the boot camp of the seventh season of X Factor, then the man probably was around at least until the end of it.

"You don't seem well," the rather rounded man remarked and Liam shook his head.

"Nah, it's a bit..." he wasn't sure what to say. Saying aloud that with every passing second he became surer that he was going crazy was not something he wanted to do. But there were just too many slightly familiar faces around for this to be a joke. He put his elbows on his knees and in frustration he ran his hand through his hair only to realize that something was not right, even with that. It was just too damn long and to his utter astonishment it seemed it was ironed. That was the moment he looked down on his arms and noted that there was not one tattoo on them.

"I know what you mean. You seem like a rather young lad, how old are you? Fifteen or sixteen maybe?" the man asked and Liam blinked a few times to make sure that he really was seeing his own arms.

"Sixteen," he muttered. Okay, then this was no joke – only the dream theory remained. Because there was no other way he could have been sixteen again, was there? When he said that age to the interviewer before, it was an automatic response to the setting and a play-along (because the man didn't seem to recognize him). Now though it seemed just a bit too real and he looked the part of being sixteen.

"Cheers!" Liam looked up automatically when he heard the familiar Irish accent. If this really was the X Factor, then there could have been many saying that as in 2010 after years of leaving it out there was an audition in Dublin – so the Irishman Liam would have wanted to see more than anyone was most probably not the only one around from the nation. Still, he had known the same Irish lad for seven years and he has spent endless hours listening to his voice – singing, during an interview or just having a night in or out, talking endlessly.

To his astonishment, he spotted a familiar dyed blonde head. The problem was that it wasn't supposed to be blonde – Niall hasn't dyed it recently. (Probably to appear different to his One Direction days, though Liam had to admit that he kind of missed the blonde hair, it was just so Niall, even if it wasn't actually his natural look.) The blue eyes had tears in them, but what made Liam tense were the crooked teeth and the baby face of his friend. Out of all of them Niall has changed the least over the years (the fact that he was the only tattoo-less helped as well), but there were still differences between sixteen-year-old the twenty-three-year-old version of his friend.

"Liam, my roommate!" Niall practically jumped into his arms, which was awkward because he was still sitting on the seat. Niall was always affectionate; there was a reason why he was labelled the 'cute one' of the band. However, if this really was the X Factor boot camp, then he has just met the (again) blonde Irish boy.

"Nialler?" the nickname slipped out of his mouth automatically and the boy still in his arms stiffened.

"Payno?" Niall's tone was vulnerable, Liam could hardly hear the question. This time Liam really hugged Niall back who put his head in the crook of Liam's neck as he always did while hugging. Their strange hugging session was causing some attention, but Liam most certainly didn't care and it looked as if his long-time friend didn't either. It seemed that whatever crazy reality he stepped into, he at least wasn't alone.

*** When Niall pretty much jumped into (strange, too young looking) Liam's arms, he didn't exactly await any real recognition. Liam and he shared a room in the hotel where the contestants stayed during boot camp, but other than a 'Hey, Niall' he most certainly didn't think he would get more. From what he had seen so far of this strange world/dimension/time/dream or whatever it was he was currently living in, no one seemed to recognize him.

Nialler. The Liam Payne of the real X Factor boot camp would have never called him that – but another version of him, one Niall remembered a whole lot more surely did. It was his Liam. Well, not his, because that sounded something out of a fanfiction the fangirls tended to write, but from the world (and time) he knew.

"Well, there are already two of us," Niall simply said while he leaned back. He looked around and spotted Matt Cardle, the winner (or would be the future winner) of the seventh season of X Factor. He was wearing his usual cap and he seemed just like Niall remembered from the X Factor days. He was talking to a pretty brunette Niall couldn't place and it all seemed like a TV show to him, but deep down he had an inkling there was more to it.

Notes