Summary: The alternative dramatic ending of the last episode. Someone leaves and someone stays behind. Finito la comedia. It may be the beginning of a new story for the remaining members of the Ouran Host Club. Tamaki will not be included in the scene but his presence still lingers among them. What will become of planets without their Sun? When there is no king, there are no subjects.
The season of anarchy
When you think that you found It, at the very same moment you lost It and when you think you lost It then you'll find It.
Abu Sayd ibn Abi-al-Hayr
Prologue
Now or never … and never came.
If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.
Ernest Hemingway
He was gone. As well as the world. He took it with him without even looking back. The young blond man never witnessed the carriage and the girl in white.
It shouldn't have happened. An unexpected, unbidden fortuity is not welcomed in those kinds of romantic stories where only miracles rule. It's called Force Major and it has the power to either bring unique happiness or throw you into the deep abyss of despair.
Suddenly an axle snapped. One violent jerk. Her resolve had been broken by the sharp crack. And her hope disappeared as the red car vanished over horizon. Foamy horses dragged the lopsided carriage for about hundred meters and stopped abruptly, panting . For a moment her world submerged in silence. She felt hollow like there was no blood in the vessels, no air in the lungs and no thoughts in the mind.
Not even a dull ache, not a shred of emotions.
Like an empty vase.
Senseless.
The same numbness that overcame the little girl who had been told about her mother's death. Then, despite her father's embrace she faced the Force of circumstance alone. But on that faithful day even Ryouji wasn't there, by her side. Abandoned. She would be alone once again. The moment passed.
All together the bustling of rushing vehicles, loud shouting , drivers' rude comments, heavy puffing of horses and then her own constricted breathing surrounded Haruhi Fujioka. She looked around, confused by the overwhelming ocean of sounds. The realization screamed in the chamber of her conscience, its echo reflected from the blank walls. There was no chance for her to deny the Force of reality. She never did try and thus she couldn't let herself cry in the middle of a busy high way.
Because Haruhi Fujioka can't afford tears. Not here and not now. And, perhaps, never. For she thought only a foolish man believed in the old proverb "Never say never". She failed. And no one could mend it. The weak forget their failures while the strong build their life experience. Her mind acknowledged the fact that Tamaki Suoh most likely would not return to his beloved "daughter". Somehow she knew that her enchanted prince had been erased from her existence. But not from her heart. For she was anything but oblivious. Haruhi would ignore those troublesome feelings until after tomorrow.
The time had not come yet.
More then that as surprising and insensitive it may seem Haruhi Fujioka hadn't ever deplored that horrible twist of fate. And even as years swept past her she remembered it without regret. Because that annoying Force of Life works by its own ironical laws. Why? Maybe because , fortunately, that treacherous axle belonged to the rear wheel, not the front one.
The brunette in white firmly gripped the reins and horses pulled the broken coach dutifully towards the flank.