A/N Inspired by episode 1x13 'Haruhi in Wonderland' and set after the events of 1x25 'The dissolution of the Host Club.' Remember Haruhi doesn't know anything about why this is happening, not until episode 26, so forgive her any inaccurate dreaming. Ever had a dream where the emotions you didn't get to express during the day come out? This is one of those.

Haruhi through the looking glass

She was sat at the end of a long elegant table, draped with a white cloth. The table was completely empty, stretching on in just a river of white.

'What the...?'

Haruhi brushed her hand lightly over the surface of the cloth and it almost rippled.

"Where am I?"

The voice that answered made her jump.

"Isn't it obvious?"

She jolted her head up to look down the length of the table. In the distance she could see a fetching top hat sitting on golden hair and a pair of searing blue eyes like a reflection on a mountain lake. A tea cup was poised in his hand, halfway to his lips, but he lowered it under her scrutiny, extending his little finger to cushion the cup as it touched the table. The distance between them didn't seem to affect her ability to pick out detail. She could see every movement of his fingers as though he were sat next to her.

"Have you figured it out yet?"

His voice didn't seem to be muted by the distance either.

"How could I possibly know where I am?" Haruhi responded with a tinge of annoyance. "I've never been here before."

"Then how did you get here?" He smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye, knowing that he'd stumped her.

Haruhi stared around the room in bewilderment. Apart from the table there was an old grandfather clock in the corner, and a mirror stretched full length against a wall but that was it. The room itself wasn't very large, and seemed only built to hold the table. It was on her scanning of the area that she noticed something that made her heart thump unpleasantly.

"Where is the door?"

"You worry about the strangest things," the blonde tilted his head and shook it slightly. "You didn't come through a door."

Momentarily unsure how to process this information Haruhi lapsed into silence. The ticking of the clock filled the void and drew her eyes.

"Its three o'clock," she murmured aloud and her host lifted his tea to his lips.

"Yes, its always three o'clock here."

Now she knew she had heard that before.

"Because its always tea time?" she offered suspiciously, unsure why she knew that was the answer.

Guileless blue eyes met hers with a dazzle.

"Correct."

Her eyes flashed to the seats around him, looking for something she had a nagging feeling was missing.

"Aren't there supposed to be...?" she pointed, hoping he would finish the sentence for her. He didn't. "...other guests?" Her mind was grasping at a memory and couldn't quite reach it.

The beautiful blonde once more placed his cup on the table but this time stretched his hand out to her with a flourish.

"There's no one here but you, princess."

"Don't call me that," she muttered and pushed herself to her feet. "I have work to be doing."

"Always in such a hurry," her host breathed with a sigh. "It won't hurt you to stay a little longer. Why don't you drink your tea?"

"What are you...I don't have any tea..." she protested just as he tilted his head to the table and she looked down. A beautiful blue teacup had appeared on the table in front of her, its colour deep orange, steam rising gently from the surface. Haruhi stared at the cup for a long moment before finally sitting down with a sigh. If someone had gone to the effort to make her some tea then she supposed it was only polite to drink it.

"I couldn't agree more."

Her heart thumped with an unpleasant fright as the voice spoke right next to her ear. With a jolt she looked to the seat next to her which the blonde in the top hat now occupied. She hadn't seen him move. She was also sure that she hadn't spoken aloud.

"I don't think that we've been formally introduced," he said with a smile, standing to his feet and sweeping off his hat in a bow. "I am the Hatter."

Haruhi gave him an odd look.

"That's not what I was expecting you to say."

"Oh?" He gave a trademark dazzling smile as he placed the hat back on his head. "What were you expecting me to say?" She was completely unable to answer and the nagging feeling was beginning to become quite irksome. "Your name, princess?"

"Stop calling me that," she muttered before answering properly. "Fujioka. Haruhi."

With a graceful movement the Hatter swept up her hand in his own and placed a kiss upon it.

"Delighted."

In her surprise it took her a moment to retrieve her hand, and with an almost knowing smile the host lowered himself into his seat.

"What would you like to talk about Haruhi?"

"Why do you think I'm here to talk?"

"Why else would you be here?"

The ticking clock filled the silence as they stared at each other, one waiting, the other processing. A question popped into her head, and with it a hot burning sensation in her chest. It was not a pleasant feeling.

"Have you ever played the piano for a woman before?"

The question spilled out and she nearly clasped her hands over her mouth too late.

"You know I play the piano?" he was smiling at her but his eyes were sad. "I think you know the answer to your own question Haruhi. Only the one woman, aside from my mother."

The burning in her chest grew hotter and anger flared but she wasn't sure at what or who.

"Just the one. Right." She was curt. The next question tumbled out. "Why her?"

The Hatter didn't answer right away. Instead he got to his feet and walked over to the mirror. She could only see his reflection in the glass now, as though it already separated them.

"Well, she is very beautiful."

A clench in the gut.

"Is that the only reason?" she exploded, jumping to her feet and almost knocking the tea over.

"Careful Haruhi," his voice was calm and distant and she hated it. "Don't get jealous." It made her angrier, but it also made her calmer. She stemmed the quick response that she wasn't and sank back into the chair. She was here to talk after all.

"Why do I feel this way?" Another question that she hadn't really thought through saying but came out anyway.

"I think you know why Haruhi." His voice was so calm it was infuriating. It was like he didn't care and she could feel her emotions getting the best of her, building up before the dam of his dismissal. She was so used to expressing herself to him and his reaction that the void threw her.

"You can't do this Senpai. You can't leave us," she exclaimed, her voice was desperate.

"Us?"

"Yes us. The Host Club. You can't just leave us like this, break us up, and run off with some French woman." The bitterness in her voice surprised her. She wasn't sure when the Hatter had turned so completely into Tamaki, but now it was clearly the President standing before her, with his back turned, his Hatter suit now one of dazzling white.

"Are you sure that this is entirely about the Host Club?" It felt like a shot had pierced her heart and emerged the other side. "None of the others are reacting so strongly, so … jealously." He turned to face her and his eyes bared her soul. His face was as closed as when he'd made the announcement of engagement. "Are you sure?"

She didn't answer...couldn't answer. Now as she had then she sat silent, unable to speak.

"I guess that's the end of our conversation then." He turned back to face the mirror and watched her in the reflection. "Goodbye Haruhi." He lifted a hand to touch the glass and it disappeared into the surface.

Shock jolted her into action and she jerked to her feet, knocking into the table as the tea spilt over the side and her chair crashed to the floor.

"Wait!"

Now his arm was submerged and one leg had partially vanished.

"Senpai don't leave us. Tamaki!" She was running to him but knew instinctively she'd be too late. Stretching her arm she grasped for the sleeve of his shirt only for her fingers to collide with cool glass as he fully vanished. Fear shattered through her, embedding inside as she hammered her fist on the unyielding surface. "Senpai come back!"

Haruhi woke with a start, tears in her eyes. The dawn light was filtering in through the blinds and she knew she didn't feel like going back to sleep again. Silently she got to her feet and stepped over to her mother's shrine. Quietly she lit the incense and knelt back to gaze into the face of the woman she so loved and so missed. Like a little child she reached out a finger to touch the glass at her mother's face, and jerked back at the memory of the dream.

It seemed that no matter what she did there was always glass forever separating her from the ones she loved.