- episode 26 -

Kyoya, Mori, and Honey had stayed behind to deal with the Otori's private Black Onion force, leaving the twins and Haruhi to chase after Tamaki.

Hikaru was driving the carriage at breakneck pace.

"Hikaru! Slow down!" Kaoru shouted, grabbing on tight to a handhold as the carriage hit yet another rock and nearly sent him flying.

"I can't!" Hikaru said, clearly distressed as he whipped the reins harder. "Tamaki made the host club for people like us! Can you remember a time when we were ever happy without it? We never had any real friends. We kept ourselves separated from everyone. But that all changed for us because of Tamaki! That's why we need to bring him back!"

Haruhi watched from the back in slightly-awed silence, not wanting to interrupt their moment although she secretly agreed with Hikaru, but just then, the carriage hit an especially large bump and sent Hikaru flying.

Kaoru stopped the carriage and jumped off, running to Hikaru's side. Hikaru cried out in pain as Kaoru gently prodded his leg. Then Hikaru laid his arm over his eyes, biting down to take his mind off of his twisted ankle, which was throbbing more by the second.

"Haruhi!" he yelled. "You need to go and get the boss!"

"Hikaru," Kaoru said, leaning over him. "You know we can't ask her to do that. She doesn't even know how to drive a carriage! She's only a commoner, after all."

But Haruhi wasn't finished just yet. With a new determination in her eyes, she lifted the hem of her dress and leaped into the driver's seat, picking up the reins with her hands, and without casting another look back at the twins, drove on ahead.

As the carriage receded into the distance, Kaoru helped Hikaru to his feet upon Hikaru's command. "C'mon!" he said, ignoring Kaoru's worried glance. "Stop worrying about me! We need to catch up to them!"

Using Kaoru's arm around his shoulders, they began to slowly make their way after Haruhi.
At this point in time, she was blazing down a forest trail adjacent to the road Eclair's car was traveling. In a leap of faith, she made the horses jump onto the road, where she landed with a jolt, finding herself to be only about ten feet behind their car.

"Tamaki!" she yelled, ignoring Eclair altogether and calling out to someone she couldn't bear to say goodbye to. "Tamaki!"

Surprised, he turned, and his eyes widened as he took in the sight of Haruhi in a dress, driving a carriage like a madwoman. "Haruhi! It's dangerous! You need to stop!"

"Only if you stop first!" she yelled back. The distance between them was decreasing with each second. Soon, they were only five feet away. "We need you back, Tamaki! There isn't a host club without you! Kyoya-senpai, Mori-senpai, Honey-sempai, Hikaru, and Kaoru all want you back, too! I want you to come back, senpai!" she yelled, letting everything else fade away but him.

As he opened his mouth for a hesitant reply, the wheel hit a loose cobblestone, and she felt her balance shifting, falling away underneath her. She saw Tamaki's eyes widen as he called out to her, the car stopping, but then she couldn't see anything over the bridge. She was falling, falling...

Tamaki moved to jumped, but Eclair put a hand on his arm. Tears were in her eyes; she knew that she was a terrible person, but she couldn't help but cling to someone like him, because such people were rare. "I...I know where your mother is," she said. "I can take you to see her, if you want."

Tamaki gave her a strained smile, and she accepted that he would never be truly happy. Certainly not with her, and probably not even once he was reunited with his mother, because despite their presence, their was one girl that he would be searching for...

Blinking away her tears, she let go of his arm, he eyes taking him in for what she sensed to be the last time.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a proper host smile before he turned and dove into the river.
Eclair, feeling ashamed and unworthy, couldn't bear to see him with that girl. "I try to be good, and I end up alone," she whispered before wiping away her tears and turning to the driver, her eyes as cold as ever, just a facade to hide her pain and loneliness. "Continue on."

Meanwhile, Haruhi was submerged in the water, frantically trying to make an effort to break surface, but the material of the dress had caught in a rock along the bottom. She pried at it with cold fingers, but she didn't have enough oxygen to make much of an effort. Tamaki...she thought as she closed her eyes, the world fading away around her.

***

Tamaki dragged Haruhi out of the water, surging frantically towards the shore. "Please, please," he kept whispering as he waded towards solid ground, his feet getting caught in the thick sand. He couldn't finish his request, because he wasn't sure how far his selfishness could go.

Please...what? Please...open your eyes? Please smile? Please call my name? Please...just be alive? By this point, he had reached the shore, so he pulled her onto the bank and scanned her face, holding her forearms, which were covered in goosebumps from the frigid water.

"Haruhi," he said, his voice faltering momentarily. Her lips were pale, as though all of the life had flowed out of her. "Haruhi...What do I do?" He hesitated before starting CPR. It's not a kiss, he tried to convince himself. I'm doing this to save Haruhi's life. It's not a kiss... His original embarrassment faded after a few minutes as he realized that Haruhi still wasn't breathing. He started another round of CPR when something struck him in the head.

"Ow, what the heck-" he began, turning and rubbing his head to find Hikaru on Kaoru's back. Hikaru only had one shoe on, because the other had been directed at Tamaki's head.

"What are you doing, you pervert?" Hikaru asked.

"I am not a..." Tamaki began, but he was already blushing, so he turned away from them. "Go away."

"What's with her, by the way?" Hikaru asked as Kaoru helped him down and supported him.

Tamaki remembered why he'd been so scared a moment earlier. "She got thrown off the carriage and into the water. I went after her and managed to get her on land, but..." He looked at Kaoru with worried eyes. "I've tried CPR, but..."

"Move it, pervert," Hikaru said roughly, shoving Tamaki out of the way and hobbling over to kneel beside the even-paler Haruhi.

"Hikaru! Your ankle!"

Hikaru glared over his shoulder at Kaoru. "Forget my ankle! We've gotta save Haruhi!"

Kaoru, about to protest, just shut his mouth, nodded, and went to kneel on the other side of Haruhi.

"Did you check her pulse?" Kaoru asked, looking up at Tamaki, who was caught off guard. "Huh? Oh, no. I forgot to," he said regretfully.

Kaoru pressed his fingers against Haruhi's neck, and when his lips straightened into a tight line, he bent down to put an ear to Haruhi's chest, trying to find a steady beat, any beat...

"So?" Tamaki asked fretfully after a moment of silence. "Will she be okay?"

Kaoru just looked at Hikaru, who read the look on his face and looked down at Haruhi's face instead.

"Well? What is it?" Tamaki asked, taking a step closer to them, but he stopped once he saw the tears in Hikaru's eyes, and he watched as they fell and landed on Haruhi's white face.

"Hikaru..." Kaoru said, tears falling from his own eyes, and he went to stand behind Hikaru, putting a hand on his shoulder as Hikaru pressed his knuckles in the ground, leaning forwards as more tears spilled out.

Tamaki just remained where he was, his feet frozen into the ground. It's my fault...she came for me...If I'd just gotten Eclair to stop the car sooner...

After a while, Kaoru walked a few feet away and pulled out a cell phone, holding it up to his ear and speaking quietly. "Yeah? Kyoya? You...need to come here. The bridge. You know which one, right? Yeah." He flicked his eyes towards the motionless Tamaki. "He's here. And bring Honey and Mori. Yeah. Bye." Then he hung up, tucking the phone in his pocket and going back to stand beside Kaoru.

Kyoya, Honey, and Mori arrived fifteen minutes later by way of the Otori company car.

"Tama-chan!" Honey yelled, smiling brightly and holding Usa-chan. Mori was following him with a small smile on his face, and Kyoya was hiding a smirk behind his hand as he readjusted his glasses.

Tamaki, startled, looked up at them, but then he looked back at the twins, huddled over Haruhi...

"Tama-chan!" Honey yelled, coming up to him and giving him a hug. "You can't ever leave again, okay?"

"Mitsukuni," Mori said in a low voice, and Honey turned. "Kaoru! Hikaru!"

Kaoru turned, but he couldn't offer Honey a smile. Instead, Honey saw the tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong, Kaoru?"

But Kaoru couldn't answer, so Honey turned to Hikaru instead.

"Hikaru, what's wrong with Kaoru-" he began, but as he drew closer, he soon realized the problem and became silent. Mori stood beside him, having caught on earlier. Kyoya fell in beside them, frowning and opening his mouth, but even he couldn't speak. Finally, he pulled out a cell phone. "Yes? This is he. Put me through to your head of staff. Yes, it's an emergency. Can you get an ambulance to my location? Yes, I'm at..." His voice trailed off as he walked further away.

***

The ambulance came ten minutes later, but there was no point. Haruhi was proclaimed dead upon arrival.

***

All of the host club members came to her funeral to pay respects, both to Haruhi and her devastated father, who had been forced to bury his entire family.

Tamaki, however, didn't show.