Read the Author's note before reading, VERY IMPORTANT!

Hey! HQV here! This is a continuation of my Edge of Oblivion story. If you haven't read the original story, Edge of Oblivion, you need to read that one first, or I promise you will be confused. Before reading this one, read the other one.

I do not own Ouran or its characters. The only thing I own is the idea for the story itself. This is a very depressing story, and could be dangerous to readers who have depression or suicidal thoughts, do not read if you can't handle the dark themes.

Other than that, enjoy! Rated M for dark themes.

Brink of Destruction

Sequel to Edge of Oblivion

"I thought that I was, to a certain degree, an intelligent person. When I realized I was an idiot, I was really shocked!" - Tamaki Suoh

Chapter 1

Depression

The twins came back, and they were mostly back to normal. They attended to guests with a smile on their faces. They were perfectly synchronized once again, and they were comfortable. Everyone still tiptoed around them though, guests and hosts alike, because they were still rather unstable, and the club was worried about losing them once again.

One rather noticeable thing that had changed for the boys was their relationship with the boss, Tamaki. They completely ignored him. They would probably forever hold a grudge against the host king. Tamaki had tried many times up to this point to fix his relationship with the red-heads, but to no avail. They constantly insulted him and put him down. The blonde would fall into a momentary corner of depression, but would pull himself back out of it with the hope that the twins would eventually get over it. He would go back to tending to his guests with his usual gusto and perfect host smile.

Tamaki's life went on a continual wild, emotional roller coaster. As time went on the blonde would try to find the moments when the identical boys were in the best moods and try to approach them at that time. One day when he tried this the boys turned to him and downgraded him to the point where he ended up in his corner for the remainder of the day, not even getting up to leave when club hours had come to an end. It was hours later when Kyoya got up to leave after finishing some calculations and pulled Tamaki with him when he finally came back up out of his cloud of depression and went home, smiling the smallest smile he had ever adorned.

After a few months of this routine with the younger boys, it became obvious that the twins would not easily "get over it" as Tamaki had so desperately hoped. A dark cloud of black and deep purple depression started to follow him, and as time passed that cloud got bigger and bigger. Eventually Tamaki was no longer Tamaki. He no longer smiled often, and when he did it wasn't his usual, huge grin. It was more like a sad pull of his lips. He didn't fall into deep depression corners, instead the corner went with him, and it encompassed everyone and everything around him, making the world a much darker place.

Kyoya watched his best friend fall into a deep pit, and started to worry about the blonde. The shadow king would go home every day relieved to be away from the dark clouds of sadness. Kyoya wasn't exactly the king of happiness, but he at least knew how to smile even a fake smile, and his heart would never be as heavy as the heart that used to be so light it would drive him crazy.

It was that light heart and upbeat personality that changed Kyoya so much. It convinced him to be himself, to worry about things other than just his family life and the future. Tamaki brought friends into his life that he could never replace, because they were true friends. Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai were like the fun older brothers that he never had, because his brothers were stern and complicated. Haruhi is like a snarky little sister. Kyoya loved his sister very much, but there was something about how Haruhi treated him compared to Fuyumi. Even the twins held a special place in his heart. Tamaki brought that into his life, and he was more grateful for it than anyone would ever realize.

Kyoya's world that had become so good was about to come crashing down. The twins hated Tamaki, and Tamaki was about to lose it. He was falling apart at the seams, and it crushed Kyoya to watch it, though he would never show it or say anything.

He wondered what to do about the whole mess, but he continued to stay out of it for a while, until he realized that Tamaki would not be able to pull himself out. He came to a decision one day while he typed information into his laptop, sitting at a table across the room from the depressed Tamaki.

He looked up at Tamaki, who was not paying attention to his guests that no longer enjoyed his company like they used to. Then he looked across the room to the identical boys. They were so perfectly synchronized that he couldn't even tell who was who. Normally he was pretty good at figuring it out now that he knew them so well, but that wasn't the case. He sighed, closing his eyes, and bowing his head a bit, a glint flashing across his glasses. Popularity of the club had fallen dramatically in the last few weeks, and he knew that this would upset Tamaki if he ever snapped out of it. He had to do something.

The raven reached up to pull the screen down to rest on the keyboard, closing the laptop with a light snap. He put the computer away in his bag and disappeared into the back room of the club room where he deposited his bag into his designated locker, and he took a quick swig of water from his water bottle. He closed his locker and returned to the main room. He approached the couch the blonde was sitting at, black notebook in hand, and sent his guests away. The blonde didn't even flinch or notice his guests had all gotten up and left at the request of the shadow king.

Kyoya attempted to address the blonde by calling his name, and when he didn't respond in any way or even acknowledge his presence the raven snapped his fingers in front of the blonde's face. Still no response. Getting frustrated, Kyoya was moving quickly from one idea to another. He knelt in front of the blonde, and put a finger on his chin, turning the other boys head to face him. Tamaki's eyes remained blank, and Kyoya could tell that he was still out of it, so he patted his hand on Tamaki's cheek lightly. His eyes remained blank and emotionless. The shadow king reached up and pulled on the king's blonde locks lightly enough to not hurt him, but hard enough that it would grab his attention, and when that didn't work he went to one of his last resorts. He didn't know what he would do if this didn't work. Something really drastic, probably.

The raven leaned forward and placed his lips lightly on the blonde's. Kyoya wasn't gay, and the last thing he wanted to do was kiss his best friend, but if it would snap him out of it he was willing to do it. It was a light kiss, but it had a charged energy to it. He tried to convey all of his feelings to his best friend and make him feel the worry and pain that he felt for the other in that small, friendly gesture. When he pulled away after a few seconds he looked back into blank, purple eyes.

Reaching his breaking point, Kyoya did something he never thought he would do to the blonde, or anyone for that matter. He didn't want to be like his father, but seeing no other option, he glared at the blonde and reached his hand up and slapped Tamaki hard on the cheek. Tamaki's head turned away with the force of the slap, and he blinked, putting a hand up to his now red cheek. He looked over to the raven who was kneeling in front of him, his hand still raised.

"Kyo… ya…" He looked confused, and Kyoya looked pissed off. "How long…" Kyoya glared harder at the blonde. His gaze could have burned a hole in the wall, and Tamaki cringed away from his best friend.

"A long time, Tamaki." He stood up and looked down at the depressed idiot before he noticed that everyone in the room was watching them. He turned toward Haruhi and asked her how long they had been watching. She said everyone had heard the slap and had turned to see what had happened. He sighed and looked back down at the boy he had just hit. He reached down and grasped Tamaki's upper arm, pulling him up off of the couch. "Stand up straight, Tamaki." He lifted the blonde's chin and fixed his posture before making a reach for the blonde's forearm. "Come with me. We need to talk."

He pulled Tamaki across the room with him, and they went into the back room. Kyoya sat Tamaki down at a table back there, and he went to get each of them a cup of the already prepared tea. He sat across from the other boy and took a sip of his tea. He set his cup down and pulled the blonde out of another distracted daze. "Tamaki!" He yelled, and the blonde's head snapped up. He didn't want to be slapped again.

"What?" Tamaki didn't look Kyoya in the eye, scared of the glare he could feel, the glare that would tear him to shreds. Kyoya shook his head slightly and pushed his glasses up on his nose using his index finger. He put the glare away and became the best friend that Tamaki had been to him so many times before.

"Tamaki, look at me." He spoke as soft and comforting as he would allow himself. Tamaki's eyes slowly made their way up to look at his friend's face. His eyes opened wide in shock at what he saw there. It wasn't the deadly, heart-stopping glare that he thought would be there, rather a soft look that screamed worry and pain. It was comforting to the blonde to know that his friend would drop his scary facade for him.

At seeing this Tamaki smiled a real smile for the first time in weeks. Small though it was, it was still a smile, and Kyoya was glad to see it. He continued, wanting nothing more than to fix the mess that had been created between Tamaki and the twins. "We need to figure this out, Tamaki. It does not profit anybody for you to be so depressed. You aren't yourself, and quite honestly, it worries me to see you like this."

Tamaki looked up at his best friend, and then down at his steaming cup of tea. He lifted the cup to his lips and took a small sip of the steaming, hot liquid. The flavor of the strong jasmine tea exploded in his mouth, and he swallowed, letting the warm solution slide down his throat, warming him from the inside out. "What do you mean?"

"Tamaki, you really are an idiot sometimes." The blonde looked up to see the skeptical look on the raven's face. Kyoya sighed heavily. "Oh, Tamaki. You can't tell me you don't notice the change in your own attitude and the way you carry yourself. You used to be the brightest person in the room, but now you are the darkest. I understand that you are upset about this situation with the Hitachiin brothers, but they should not be able to dictate or influence how you show yourself." He paused for a moment to look across the table at his friend, who had a stunned look adorning his face. "If the twins want to be upset and hold a grudge for their whole life, then that is their problem. You can't let it affect what you do or how you react. All I want from you is to see you smile again, no matter what is going on with the two redhead jerks. Snap out of it, idiot."

Tamaki smiled and responded. "I guess I can try. Thanks Kyoya. I owe you one."

"Good, thank you. Now go back out and make your guests happy would you?" Tamaki smiled and got up from his chair, leaving Kyoya alone once again.

Finally, maybe something will change now, and hopefully Tamaki's new found resilience will hold out for a while until I get a chance to talk to the twins… Kyoya thought at lightning speed. That ought to be a very interesting conversation. I bet it will be a much more difficult conversation as well. The twins are rather stubborn…well, at least Tamaki should be bringing in a bit of profit now. And in the end, Kyoya got what he wanted, at least for now: a raise in host club profits. The difficult part was still to come though.

Kyoya remained in his chair at the table a little while longer taking notes in his black book. He passed about an hour of his time this way before realizing the time and leaving the storage room for a moment to inform the guests and hosts that time was up, and that the club would be closing for the day. Once the ladies had left he noticed that two red-headed twins had also left. He would have to have that conversation with them the next day.

Tamaki had put on a face for the last hour of the club, but as soon as he was in the limo and on his way back to his house he let the dark depression filter back in, and by the time he was home he had fallen into an even darker pit than ever before.

The next day Kyoya arrived at the school and waited for Tamaki as usual, but the blonde never showed. Eventually the raven had to make his way to class without the other so he wouldn't be late. He spent the day looking at the empty desk next to him that was supposed to contain a blonde idiot that never did show up.

The host club was also void of the host king. Everyone noticed his absence. Haruhi stated that she could feel a distinct difference, good and bad. His eclectic personality from his good moods was missing, and so was his depressing cloud from his bad moods. Honey senpai wanted the blonde there no matter the mood because it just wasn't the same, and Mori senpai nodded in agreement. The twins paid it no heed, as expected. Kyoya spent the three hours doing his best to track down his best friend to no avail. He had intended to talk to the twins, but soon rejected the idea once the blonde had forgone answering any emails, texts, and even phone calls.

Kyoya pulled Haruhi aside toward the end of the host club for a moment to talk with her. She was the only other person in the club who knew Tamaki as well as he did.

Tamaki was something very special to Haruhi as well. He taught her how to have fun. He showed her that life was about more than just books and studying. Her life started to gain true meaning, and like Kyoya, she felt like the Host Club was some kind of family to her. She finally had siblings that she never thought she would be able to have. They teased eachother, laughed together, and cried together when necessary. She banded with them when Tamaki tried to leave with Eclair, She ran around with them on a beach in Okinawa and went along with their rediculous ideas. She learned about their pasts and what it took to bring them to this point in time and what made them all who they are.

She would never forget her time at Ouran Academy thanks to Tamaki. He made it memorable, and to see him so depressed made it hard on the girl, and she knew it was hard on Kyoya, too, which is why she was quick to converse with him about the whole thing.

Their conversation was short, but it got the raven thinking. "Haruhi, where do you think Tamaki is?"

"I don't know, senpai, but it is odd, isn't it?" Haruhi looked around the room to assess the situation with a slight frown.

"It's very odd. I don't know what to make of it. I can't get ahold of him in any way, including email, and even phone calls." Kyoya dropped his serious facade and let himself show a bit of concern for just a moment.

"You're worried, aren't you, Kyoya-senpai?" Haruhi made Kyoya look her in the eyes, and he sighed heavily before nodding just a little bit and then shaking it off like Kyoya does.

"I think we need to figure out where he is, home or otherwise. It would be in all of our best interests." Haruhi nodded, looking at the ground, before responding.

"Alright, I agree. If he isn't here tomorrow either, then we will go looking for him." She looked up into Kyoya's face with a determined expression. "One of us should also talk to the twins to express our concern, among other things." Both teens looked over at the synchronized, smiling twins, and Kyoya nodded.

"I'll talk to them. I had plans to talk to them anyways. We need to resolve this conflict between them and Tamaki."

"Sounds good. You talk to them, and then we will see what tomorrow brings." Haruhi turned to walk off, but paused, looking over her shoulder. "Good luck." She turned back and went back to her awaiting guests.

Kyoya looked in the direction of the twins, who were cleaning up the table that had held guests only moments earlier. He quickly made his way toward them before they were busy again or they decided to walk away. Approaching them, he addressed them politely.

"Hikaru, Kaoru. I need to speak with you for a moment. Would you lend me a moment of your time?" The boys turned in, facing each other, but looking in Kyoya's direction. They briefly looked at each other, then turned back to the raven and nodded once in unison.

The trio made their way to the back room and sat at the same table where Kyoya had sat with the missing blonde the day before. Kyoya started off immediately to hopefully avoid a really awkward situation. "I need to know something, and I need to know it now." He sat down across from the twins and got right to the point. "Did you do something to make Tamaki not show up today?"

"No." They answered quickly and together, but their answer was sloppy, and they wore similar expressions of amazement. Both boys' jaws dropped. Hikaru picked up for the two of them and spoke alone. "Just because we don't like him doesn't mean that we would go so far as to do something to him that would make him disappear. We don't like him, but we don't hate him that much. If you think that we do, then we can just leave and not talk to you either."

"That's not what I was implying, and I didn't think you would. I just needed to make sure." Kyoya responded quickly, not wanting to send them away once again when they had just gotten back. "I need you to help me with something." He pushed his glasses up on his nose using his index finger and eyed the boys very seriously.

"Okay…" Kaoru responded hesitantly.

"I know you don't like Tamaki, but if you haven't noticed, he is in a bad spot right now, and he needs help. You two are great actors and you could make him believe that you have forgiven him, even if you truly hate his guts. I just need him to believe that you don't. We need the real Tamaki back, feelings aside. Can you help me with that?"

The boys' eyebrows raised, skeptical, and Kaoru spoke for them. "So, basically, you want us to act like we like him even though we don't just so that he will be normal again?" Kyoya nodded, and the boys glanced at each other before speaking in unison. "We will have to think about that. We'll let you know tomorrow."

"Thank you for considering it. You can return to your guests now." Kyoya excused the boys, took some notes in his black book, and then returned to the room to close down the club once again. Once the room was empty except for himself and Haruhi he gathered his things and the two of them left the room, turning the lights off on their way out the door.

Hey! Here's the sequel that some of you requested. I hope you enjoy this one, but buckle up. It'll be one hell of a ride. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review.

-HeartQueenVivaldi