We were bloody, battered, broken, exhausted.
Tamaki was dead.
It was all we could do just to find the strength to keep moving at all, much less drag ourselves back to the foyer to regroup, shoving unconscious Benibara Fan Club members out of the way as we settled in a corner. I allowed Mori to tend to my leg while I leaned against the wall, feeling numb as I stared off into nowhere, trying not to think about how Tamaki could have fixed it up in a matter of moments. My resolve to focus on the here and now was already slipping away.
Makeshift bandage wrapped somewhat securely around my leg, I slid down the wall, trying to keep it together. We weren't done yet. Sooner or later we'd have to head back out into the school and find the rest of the Zuka Club.
As it turned out, they found us. Or Benibara did, anyway.
"Hello, Host Club," she drawled, coming down the main stairs at a leisurely pace. The others sprang to their feet, but I stayed where I was, anger and grief battling inside of me, keeping me motionless. "Suzuran told me I might find you here. But I have to ask, where is that blond cretin…Tamaki?" As a knowing, triumphant smile crept onto her face, my emotions suddenly settled on one thing – righteous fury. It drove me to stand up and run at Benibara, who was casually leaning against the railing of the staircase now.
"YOU – DO – NOT – SPEAK – HIS – NAME!" I screamed. "This is all your fault! How could you? He was your brother! Family meant everything to him; knowing who you were, he could never have brought himself to kill you, and now because of you, he's dead!" I reached Benibara and made to punch her. Before I knew what was happening, she had grabbed my fist and twisted me around painfully so I was on my knees, both arms pinned to my back.
"I have no brother," Benibara hissed in my ear. "Do you honestly think knowing he was the illegitimate child of my father with another woman would make me feel affectionate towards him? That I would 'see the error of my ways' and make nice with you? This only proves my point about men, and I'm going to kill every last one of them, starting with the six of you."
She let go and shoved me down the stairs, and I tumbled down, nearly breaking my neck, coming to a rest at the bottom. Curling up into a ball, every inch of my body aching, I wished the world would just go away and leave me alone. The Host Club ran to where I had landed.
"Boushi, are you okay?" Kaoru pulled me into a sitting position and brushed my hair away from my face, where it hung limply. I laughed mirthlessly.
"Why do you keep asking me that? What do you expect me to say? Look at me. I'm going to die, we're going to die, everyone's going to die, just like Tamaki." My wavering voice climbed higher and higher as I spoke, breaking as Tamaki's name escaped my lips. Tears were building up behind my eyes and threatening to drown me.
Suddenly, Hikaru slapped me across the face. We all turned and gaped at him, and I lightly touched my stinging cheek; I was more surprised than hurt, really. "Hikaru, what–?"
"Get ahold of yourself, woman!" he yelled, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "Tamaki didn't give his life so you could just give up on yours like this. I can't promise anything, much less that we're all going to make it out alive, but we are NOT giving up. Do you understand me?"
I could see everything I was feeling – pain, sorrow, anger – mirrored in Hikaru's eyes, and I knew he was right. No one said this would be easy, no one said we wouldn't hurt. No matter how bleak our prospects were, giving up was infinitely worse than trying and failing. Tamaki never would have even entertained the idea.
That thought, coupled with Hikaru's tough love, cleared my mind and gave me new strength. I pushed aside all my emotions, all my distractions, until all that was left was a determination to end this once and for all. Standing up, I stretched a hand towards Benibara and made a beckoning motion. "Bring it," I spat.
Benibara had been taking her sweet time until now, watching us with a bored expression on her face. She was just toying with us, biding her time. The way she saw it – and I was half-convinced she was right – it didn't matter what we did, because we had no chance either way. But to heck with that, I was not going down without giving Benibara the fight of her life.
She snapped her fingers, her pendant flashed, and suddenly, a huge chicken-like creature appeared from nowhere. It was nine feet tall, with a bright red comb that was bigger than me. The idea of a giant chicken attacking us probably would have been laughable had the creature not been so frightening. It reared its head back and scratched at the ground, and when it crowed, blue fire streamed from its mouth.
"It's a basan," Kyoya said, and even he sounded frightened.
"And of frikkin' course it breathes fire," I muttered, fighting back panic. The only one left to tell me it was okay was me. I couldn't afford to be scared.
While I was giving myself a mental pep talk, the third-years had sprung into action. Mori tossed Hunny up into the air, and the smaller boy landed on the giant bird's head. It shook back and forth violently, and Hunny was thrown across the foyer. Mori made to run to his cousin, but Hunny, peeling himself off the floor, yelled, "Don't worry about me Takashi, I'm fine!"
Mori nodded. He turned and started climbing up the chicken's hind leg. When he was standing on its back, he started pummeling the crap out of it, for all that was worth. I had no idea if he was hurting the basan, but he got its attention at least. It began spinning in circles trying to catch a glimpse of its attacker, looking rather like a dog chasing its tail. Again, it would have been comical if we hadn't been trying not to be trampled by its huge talons.
Finally, the beast got fed up. Flapping its wings so hard that Mori nearly fell off, it started blasting the martial artist with fire – and probably realized too late that was a bad choice. Mori barely managed to leap to safety before the basan's entire body caught fire. We watched in horror as it flailed around, screeching in pain. Finally, it just kind of turned to dust which scattered as if by some unfelt wind, leaving only a faint scent of fried chicken behind.
Benibara scowled and started to summon a new monster, so I started yelling whatever came to my mind to stall her. "You're a coward!" That got her attention. "You hide behind people who would call you their friend, behind these creatures, and control them from the shadows. In reality, you're just a scared little girl who lost her mommy and can't do anything on her own."
Part of me couldn't believe what I'd said. I knew how it felt. If someone had played that card on me when my loss was still fresh…but I'd at least made peace with my mother's death. Benibara had been letting it fester for years now.
"What did you just say?" she snarled, taking a step towards us. "I'm a coward, am I? Hiding behind others, controlling them from the shadows?" Benibara was dangerously close now, and her amulet was glowing with a sickly light, casting flickering shadows on her face. "I'm not a coward, I'm the only one brave enough to do what has to be done for the sake of womankind. It's time to show you just what I can do when I step into the light!"
I caught my breath and stared, transfixed, as Benibara began to transform. Her eyes became as yellow as Hikaru's when he changed and her skin turned a pale green, beginning to form scales. Her legs melded together and grew into a tail three feet long. Her perfectly manicured nails became claws, and her teeth fangs. "Playtime's over, Host Club," she hissed, her now forked tongue darting out between her lips for an instant. "Now, you die."
We had only a moment to process what was going on, and she struck. Knowing I was the weakest link of the group at the moment, she lunged for me. I threw myself out of the way a split second before she made contact, but I didn't see her tail until it was too late. As thick as a grown man, it whipped back and struck me in the stomach, and I flew backward, coming to a stop only when I collided painfully with the wall. I slid slowly down it, clutching my chest and struggling to catch the breath that had been knocked out of me. Every bone in my body felt like it had been broken, but by some miracle, when I could breathe again, I managed to stand up.
In the minute or so I had been incapacitated, all hell had broken loose. Hikaru lay unmoving a few yards away from me, blood streaming from his arm, and his brother was nowhere to be seen. Hunny and Mori were trying to get close enough to Benibara to fight her, but between her tail and her apparent ability to belch fireballs, they weren't having much luck. Strips of paper were flying at Benibara from Kyoya's notebook and wherever one touched her skin, it left an angry red welt, but they were hardly enough to even distract the she-demon.
I wanted to rejoin the fight, but I had to check on Hikaru. Crawling over to him so as not to attract Benibara's attention, I tore off a strip of fabric from Tamaki's jacket and wrapped it around Hikaru's wound. He still didn't stir. "Hikaru, please, wake up," I whispered tearfully, shaking him by the shoulders. "Don't do this to me, you have to get up, do you hear me?"
Just when I was starting to fear the worst, Hikaru let out a moan and blinked his eyes open, sitting up blearily. I laughed in relief and hugged him.
"Ow, ow, careful," he said, pushing me away. Wincing, he rubbed his side. "I think I broke something."
"Can you stand?" I asked, standing up and holding my hand out to him. Taking it, he pulled himself up with great difficulty, but once he was up was steady on his feet. He nodded his thanks, his eyes travelling from my face to his make-shift bandage to the torn jacket.
"Milord's?" he asked quietly.
"He gave it to me before…" I couldn't finish the sentence. I wouldn't.
"Yeah," Hikaru murmured. He pressed his lips together pensively, then said, "We're gonna do this. All of us. For him."
I could only nod before Hikaru suddenly grabbed my arms and shoved us both back on the ground, where we rolled to the right before finally tumbling to a stop. Peeling myself off of Hikaru, I looked around to see why he'd tackled me, and spotted a smoldering crater in the ground where we'd just been standing. Benibara had evidently spotted us and tried to kill two birds with one stone.
Rolling to hide behind a pillar, Hikaru yelled, "Get out of the way!" I flattened myself on the floor and felt something huge and hot singe my hair. Gasping at the close call, I jumped to my feet and threw my arms out in front of me on a whim, hoping and praying my plan would work. Another fireball was heading straight for me, and I concentrated as hard as I could on pushing it back towards Benibara. I could feel slivers of white-hot fire lash out against my palms before it finally stopped, and then slowly, slowly, began to retrace its path, gaining momentum as I started to win the mental battle against the blazing projectile.
The she-demon let out a horrible screech as, caught unawares, the fireball consumed her. I caught my breath hopefully, but when the flames had dissipated, Benibara was still standing, albeit burnt and raw. "How…how dare you!" she cried, her voice cracking in pain.
"That's for Tamaki," I said defiantly.
Suddenly, a wild-man yell rang out, echoing in the huge room, and Kaoru jumped down from an upper balcony, where he must have been laying in wait for the right moment. The ginger landed on Benibara's back, wrapping his legs around her thick torso and his arms around her head. The snake woman flailed around wildly, trying free herself from Kaoru's grip. The younger Hitachiin hung on for dear life and pressed his palms hard against Benibara's temples, and the next moment, she was screaming in pain, clutching her head. Kaoru launched himself off her back, landing just out of reach of her tail.
The tide is turning, I dared to think. We just need to keep running her down. "Host Club, go!" I cried, channeling Tamaki's commanding presence in battle.
We resumed our attack in full force, hope giving our tired bodies new vigor as we fought on. The twins and the third-years would run in all at once, overwhelming Benibara by sheer numbers long enough to get in a good strike, and retreating before she could seriously hurt anyone. Kyoya continued to bombard the she-demon with exorcism slips, while I telepathically threw every blunt object I could muster the strength to lift at her. Benibara was strong, but her injuries slowed her down, and I could hear the effort it was costing her in every breath she took.
Finally, I saw my chance and took it. Benibara had left a huge gap in her defenses for too long, and I knew she was wearing out. As soon as I thought she wouldn't be expecting it, I ran straight at her and lunged.
"Bou-chan, what are you doing?" Hunny yelled. Rather than attacking, I had grabbed for Benibara's amulet. If it was the source of her powers, what happened to her if something happened to it? My fingers closed around the unassuming stone and I yanked, letting out a cry of triumph as the chain was ripped from around her neck. Before I could attempt to destroy the jewel, however, Benibara's long, clawed hands grabbed me around the torso and lifted me into the air, squeezing hard.
"Nice try, little girl," she hissed. Addressing the rest of the hosts, she yelled, "If anyone comes any closer, I snap her in half!"
The Host Club backed off immediately, and my heart sank as I realized what I'd done. It was over. I couldn't escape her clutches, and any minute now, I was going to die. With another man down, could the rest of the hosts pull off a victory? Would they even have the opportunity?
Tears filled my eyes as they swept over my friends, desperate for one last look before the end. As they caught Kyoya's gaze from over Benibara's shoulder, he inclined his head towards the amethyst, then jerked it backward, staring meaningfully at me.
Trust me, he mouthed. His hand twitched, and my eyes were drawn to the movement. In his fingers he held a small strip of paper he hadn't used yet, and I understood what he was trying to tell me. I nodded my agreement, and he mouthed, 3…2…1…now!
In one last ditch effort, I lobbed the amulet as hard as I could in Kyoya's direction. With a scream of fury, Benibara turned around, holding me in one hand while trying to retrieve the stone that was just out of her grasp with the other. In one fluid motion, Kyoya lifted both hands in the air as if holding a bow taut with the exorcism slip in place of an arrow, and when he let go, the paper flew through the air. All eyes followed its graceful arc, watching as it zoomed towards the stone. When the two objects collided, the amethyst shattered into a million pieces, purple dust raining down on us all.
Hikaru and Kaoru let out whoops of glee that were drowned out by Benibara's horrific cry of anger and pain. Dropping me, she began to writhe around on the floor, slowly shrinking back into human form until she was nothing more than a sniveling, powerless young woman, burned and bruised. "I'll…I'll kill you all, I swear it…" she sobbed.
"Just shut up, you pathetic excuse for a human being," I said in disgust. Still not giving up, she struggled to her feet and threw herself at me. Simply stepping to the side, I watched as she tripped over her own feet and collapsed, shaking from the effort that one action had taken.
"What are we going to do with her?" Hunny asked.
For a while, no one answered. When it came right down to it, none of us were willing to take her life.
"Hikaru, Kaoru, for now, you know what to do. I'll see to it she gets what she deserves," Kyoya instructed, adjusting his glasses. The twins nodded and knelt beside Benibara, who was mumbling incoherently, laying on her side and rocking back and forth. Looking hesitant, the Hitachiins each laid a finger on Benibara's head, and she was still. Straightening up, they looked around at each other and the rest of us in a state of confusion.
"It's over," they said in unison.
"You're right. We did it," I breathed, letting it sink in. A laugh of joy bubbled up out of me. "Tamaki, we-" I broke off, grin frozen on my face as the realization hit me again. The laugh died as quick as it came. I stared at the empty space next to me, where Tamaki should have been.
We saved the world. We won.
So why did it feel like we lost?