Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran or any characters.
The low hum of the hyperdrive reverberates through the ship. To most this constant hum brings space sickness, but, to a lucky few, it brings true freedom.
It brings the freedom to travel from star to star, to live outside the laws of man, and the ability to find true happiness.
The man lounging sleepily in a chair on the bridge of the humming ship is one of these lucky few. Or so people tell him.
To the untrained eye he looks the same as any Spacer. His skin is bone white, so pale it's almost a mirror. His eyes are a swirling silver that causes the stars to envy him. Only his hair is wrong. To most, his hair appears to be midnight black, the same as any Spacer's hair. It is only upon closer consideration that the viewer sees the faint glimmers of blue. The blue flits through the hair, never appearing when you look right at it, but, never fear, it is always there, just out of your line of sight.
The man twitches and as his eyes drift shut his glasses slip down his nose, just a little. The glasses become the only imperfection on his person. His traditional black and silver Jumpsuit is immaculate and not a hair is out of place on his head.
There's a small sound and a healthy looking rat comes out of a tube on the wall. The tube is obviously meant to facilitate the rat's travel, for it is no ordinary rat. It's fur is as bright a blue as the winter sky and around it's neck lies a small silver and black collar.
The rat scurries up the table leg, so that it is now on eye level with the dozing man. The rat tilts it's head this way and that, as if trying to figure out what to do. Eventually it must figure out what to do, because it opens it's mouth and begins to speak.
"Kyoya! Kyoya! Wake up! We have news!" Now the rat begins to dance from foot to foot, obviously excited about it's news.
The man in the chair, Kyoya, lets out a low growl. Before the rat can heed the warning it's caught in Kyoya's fist. Before the rat can do more than squeal in protest it's flying through the air.
The rat makes a loud THUMP as it hits a bulkhead and slowly slides to the floor, where it lays, lifeless against the shiny metal deck.
The noise brings Kyoya to his senses. He jerks upright and stares at the lifeless rat for a moment. Then he coolly pushes his glasses back into place. Now his outfit is again immaculate.
"Damn it, Tamaki," he says sharply as he reaches over and flips a switch on the table in front of him. "Why'd you make me do that?"
The same cheerful, excited voice that came from the rat's mouth but moments before now comes from invisible speakers in the small compartment.
"You turned off your speakers! I had to get a hold of you somehow!" Tamaki whines excitedly, as only he can. "We finally got news! There's a lead that says what we want is in the city of Baghot on Faykal in the Zirca Delta Solar System!"
Kyoya groans as he stands up stiffly and makes his way out of the compartment. It was in his personal opinion that he was getting much too old to be running off on wild goose chases, but he wouldn't, no – couldn't – rest until he found what he was searching for.
As he leaves, the rat on the floor gets up stiffly, stretches, and scurries back to the tube. Kyoya doesn't even give it a second glance.
As he practically glides down the corridor he addresses the ship's archivist. "Mitsukuni, is Tamaki telling the truth?"
"Yes, sir!" A cheerful voice exclaims.
"Bloody brilliant," Kyoya mutters. "Tamaki, you have a course plotted for Faykal yet?"
"Of course I do! Don't you have any faith in me Kyoya?" Tamaki's voice sounds as if it's on the verge of tears when he asks this question.
"I have as much faith in you to plot a course as I have in Hikaru and Kaoru to protect this ship. I just like to check." Kyoya's voice is weary as he climbs up a ladder and begins twisting open the hatch to the bridge.
"Hey! Don't put him on our level!" Two voices, in perfect unison, chorus from a nearby invisible speaker.
"What's wrong with my level!" Tamaki shouts back, clearly annoyed.
Kyoya seems to tune out the resulting argument as he climbs into the empty bridge and carefully reseals the hatch. Moving swiftly, he walks over to the control panels in front of the large viewing screen.
"Ahem," Kyoya says firmly into the noisy squabbling. Instantly there is utter quiet. Kyoya speaks again, "Tamaki, pull up our plotted course so I can double check it."
Instantly a three-dimensional map appears on the viewing screen. As Kyoya looks it over, zooming in and out at various points, Tamaki begins monologing.
"I don't know why you insist on double checking it every time. I've never made a mistake before and I never will. I can't make mistakes, not with all of the resources at my disposal. And even if I do make a mistake, how is your pitiful human brain going to catch it? I don't care if the past two millennia have made you more intelligent than any human alive, that's still nothing compared to a Digibrain. When you saved our lives during that lab explosion and uploaded my brain into the digital world you opened doors for me that you can't even comprehend. That's the same for all of us. I mean, look at Mitsukuni. He's got every piece of information humans have ever created or learned stored in his memory crystals and yet, he can still work on quantum physics and write poetry while he looks things up for you. And then there's Takashi. He's working on a cure for space sickness and a half-dozen other illnesses at the same time. Humans can't do that. Only a Digibrain can! Hikaru and Kaoru are another example! They keep every weapon on this ship spotless and well-maintained as they work on inventing even more powerful weapons to keep your puny flesh alive. Oh, and what about Haruhi? In there, making you wonderful food, inventing new recipes, and offering legal counsel to at least ten clients every second? You can barely manage to eat and read the news at the same time! There's no way you're going to find a–"
Kyoya's voice pierces right through Tamaki's monologue, "Tamaki, you have us going to Jaykal, not Faykal."
The silence on the ship is so instantaneous that it's almost as if all life has left the ship at once. And then, slowly, sound begins to return.
First, the only sound is Kyoya's breath. Then, a light laugh rumbles through the ship as Hikaru and Kaoru express their joy at seeing Tamaki caught making a mistake. Before the laughter can reach it's peak, another sound joins the mix – the wail of Tamaki's cry as he realizes he's made a mistake.
Kyoya pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes as the wailing and laughter get even louder. With his free hand he hits "execute" on the screen when Tamaki puts the new plotted course up as he continues to wail.
Satisfied that the ship is now heading to it's proper destination, Kyoya leaves the noisy bridge and makes his way back to his peaceful compartment. The first thing he does when he reaches it is to flip the switch back into the "off" position.
Instantly there is silence in the small compartment.
Kyoya breathes a sigh of relief at the sudden silence and slumps back into the chair he had vacated not too long ago.
"You used to not let them squabble like that over the ship's intercom. You've grown soft."
Kyoya glances over at his bunk, no surprise registers on his face at the sight of the small blue rat relaxing there.
"I don't think soft is the right word for it. Rather, I've grown tired," Kyoya says softly as he sluggishly moves from the chair to the bunk. As he lays down he picks up the rat and places it gently on his chest.
"We're all tired. The human brain isn't meant to last this long. I know that only my love for you keeps me from powering down forever, despite the fact that I'm a Digibrain."
Kyoya reaches out and scratches the rat's ears gently while his other hand plays with the silver and black collar around the rat's neck. The collar houses a highly advanced computer that lets the Digibrains control and speak through the brain dead rats. "Do you regret that I made you all Digibrains without your knowledge?"
The rat shakes it's head firmly, "No, I don't regret it. None of us do. We were dying from the escaped fumes. You did the only thing you could think of at the time."
Kyoya nods slowly as his eyes glaze over, he's obviously remembering that traumatic day from two thousand years ago.
"I can still remember everyone's distinctive screams as the fumes invaded your lungs. I couldn't lose you, any of you, so I did the only thing I could think of."
"And we don't regret it or hate you for it. It may've been confusing and scary, but becoming Digibrains was probably the best thing for us. Anyway, if you hadn't done it you would've been left alone."
"You're wrong, Haruhi, I wouldn't have been alone," Kyoya says softly. "I had our son, Akihiko. He's the only reason I kept on living after the accident, when I thought I had failed to save you, not knowing that it was quiet merely because you were still learning how to communicate. Then, when he was gone and I found myself still here, along with those six rats, it was his children that kept me here. And then, when they were gone, it was you that kept me here." He looks into the rats beady black eyes and somehow finds comfort, as if he's looking into Haruhi's original soft, brown eyes. "I just wish I had paid closer attention to our descendents. If I had been paying attention we wouldn't be on this wild goose chase."
"If I can't find any other descendents what am I going to do when Fusao dies? What's the point of being here if we have no family left?" His eyes leave the rat and look up at the bare metal ceiling, "What's to keep any of us here once he's gone? If we don't find another descendent by the time he's gone then there can't be one out there. I'll be trapped in this body for eternity."
The rat crawls forwards until it's nestled in the empty spot between Kyoya's ear and his shoulder.
"Don't say things like that, as long as there are leads we have hope. Anyway, none of us will move on until you can come with us, we refuse to leave you behind."
Kyoya jerks in surprise at her words.
"What?" She asks calmly, coolly even. "You thought we didn't realize that you're like the rats?" She pauses, giving him time to realize that his greatest secret over the past two millennia hasn't been that big of a secret after all.
When she thinks he's ready, she continues, "I just want you to know, before you even think about shutting down and forcing us to move on – it won't work. The rat's brains may be dead, but their bodies aren't. Just like your body won't be dead. We really don't like that idea, and we don't plan to let it happen, but we've agreed that we won't rest until we find a cure for your body, whether your brain is alive or not."
Kyoya jerks upright, causing Haruhi the rat to scamper out of the way. "You idiot! Why'd you agree to that?"
Before Haruhi has a chance to respond there's a small click. A huge blue rat just flipped the switch on the table. Instantly the room is filled with voices.
"We aren't going to let you sentence yourself to a life like that!" Tamaki says clearly and forcefully.
"Yeah, who do you think we are?" Hikaru and Kaoru chimed in unison.
"Kyoya, we're your friends," Mitsukuni said simply.
"Yeah," Takashi, the big rat on the table, added.
As Kyoya listens to his friends, a tear slips slowly down his pale cheek.
"Face it, my love, we're not leaving you, no matter what." Haruhi adds from her spot next to him on the bunk.
Kyoya clears his throat as he adjusts his glasses, using the time to compose himself again. When he feels that he is in control again he speaks. "I should've known that you wouldn't let me do that. I guess if that's how you feel about it I will have to continue on this wild goose chase, maybe we'll get lucky this time."
"Maybe," the six Digibrains chorus to the Immortal Man.
xXx
Far away, an underfed boy of about eight summers moves through a dusty marketplace in search of pockets to pick.
One of the boys quick, bony hands slips in and out of a pocket before anyone notices. He's then quickly walking on in search of more targets, not knowing that he is a descendant of the Immortal Man, not knowing that he has unusual genes, not knowing that he's the very real goose at the end of the wild goose chase.
And certainly not knowing that he was about to embark on the greatest adventure of his young life.
Author's Note: A new, odd little story I put together. I won't be able to update this often (I'm really busy with student teaching), but I'll do my best. Please enjoy and let me know your thoughts. I did enter this in musicroom#3 for the Future prompt but I changed a bit to make it into a serial.
Enjoy! Read! Review!