Title: In A World Without A Guide [3/?]
Character(s): Tamaki, Haruhi, Anne-Sophie, Yuzuru
Rating: T.
Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Hatori Bisco and related companies. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle & xxxHolic belong to CLAMP and related companies.
Spoilers: Almost none for Ouran, quite a fair bit for TRC.
Word count: 1819
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IN A WORLD WITHOUT A GUIDE
"I wonder if Haruhi is still at work," Prince Tamaki smiles to himself on the balcony, looking into the distance where the ruins are silhouetted against the horizon.
The desert sands are calm in the absence of wind, but the temperature has plummeted considerably. He can't help thinking of his friend, of whether she has brought enough clothing to keep warm and what she is doing at this instant. That is, if she can be called a 'friend' to him, which she can't… not anymore.
"Next time I see Haruhi, I have to tell her that I've fallen in love with her," he says with the absolute determination of a fool, a youth, or royalty – or all three, really – and closes his eyes as though to lock that promise in his head.
Only to open them again at a lovely sound, tingling music that he's never heard before.
Captivated, he leans as far forward as he can towards the origin of this unreal sound that reverberates through his body like a powerful, irresistible charm – the ruins are glowing faintly with something out of this world. Tamaki stares for a moment, feeling drowsier by the second and experiencing a growing awareness that the music is calling out to him, sinking into him to become a part of him in the same way that he sinks into the music whenever he plays an instrument.
Weightlessness comes over him; he is levitated by the haunting spell of the chiming melody in his ears and he thinks he can fly, suspended on the beauty of it –
The fruit from the market drops out of the folds of his cloak and tumbles to the floor, abandoned.
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Lamp in one hand and translation book in another, Haruhi descends the stairs to one of the larger underground chambers to see if she can begin deciphering any markings that may be present.
The movements of the people on the surface – scholars and heritage-preservers – gradually fade out as she comes into an open area and the light of her lamp spills on a curious symbol etched into the slabs of stone beneath her feet. It isn't one of the recognisable historical symbols of this country or the surrounding countries – not that there are many other settlements in this desert that they reside in, and certainly none as huge or prosperous.
She kneels down and brushes the dirt and dust away with her excavation brushset. Within the wide diameter of the circular room, she unearths a curve here, a curve there – those are petals, Haruhi thinks, and the symbol is a… rose?
The heat stress of the desert is too much for many plants, which definitely includes this particular flower. Carved into the ground, this exquisite rose in full bloom almost looks like a crest of heraldry. Excited, Haruhi picks up her materials to sketch this design in the pages of her personal notes; before she has drawn a single line, she is distracted by the shuffling sound of shoes.
Raising her head, she identifies the newcomer and blinks in surprise.
"Tamaki?" A smile tugs at her lips.
The boy turns to her, eyes glazed but friendly.
"What are you doing here?" she asks. A thought striking her, she says worriedly, "The King will be angry if he knows you defied him."
Tamaki doesn't respond to that, merely kneels down beside her with eyes fixed on the rose with a sense of wonder. Haruhi starts to say something when the entire symbol comes alight, washing her friend in brightness. "Tamaki, what – !"
She is cut off by a quake rumbling through the earth; trained to deal with emergencies, she quickly gathers her things and makes to seize Tamaki's hand to escape to the surface in case the ruins cave in, and grasps only at empty air.
"Tamaki, where are you!" she shouts above the loud grinding of stone. The crest is splitting apart into seven portions and each portion is retracting slowly to leave a gaping hole that appears bottomless.
Backing away from the expanding gulf of nothingness, she searches frantically for him and realises why she had not been able to reach him – he had been floating above the rose, and now he is seemingly lowered into it by an unseen force. From Haruhi's position at the circumference, she cannot stretch across the long radius to catch him at all. "Tamaki!"
Throwing caution to the wind, she jumps into the crater after him.
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Chaos breaks out amongst the rest of the workers on the ruins when unknown masked figures appear out of nowhere, armed to the hilt and obviously hostile to them. It's unnatural – magic – and none of these ordinary workers are equipped for combat. The people begin to move backwards nervously, clustering together in fear. "What – what are these guys?!"
Most of the shady figures are wearing a glove each with knives attached to it like claws, and their other hand is wielding a deadly weapon – the most quick-witted of the workers scramble for discarded metal poles and assorted tools for defensive purposes.
The shaking is felt all the way up in the palace, and the reigning monarchs dash to the rescue of their people and their son, sensing that the time has come.
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"Oof!" Haruhi just barely curls into an awkward crouch, ignoring the stinging scrapes caused by the fall. Scanning the chamber wildly, she catches sight of Tamaki lying flat on his back in the centre of the rose symbol – the engraving on the ground is illuminated at the core and Tamaki is somehow fused with it. Strange shapes sprout from his body… it takes Haruhi a while to recognise that they are petals like those of the flower that he is embedded in, and these petals that are made of light are swiftly closing in on her friend, burying him as he submerges into the rock itself!
"What's going on?" she asks, confused and unnerved. "Tamaki, can you hear me? Wake up!"
After testing the boundaries of the symbol to ensure that it isn't hazardous, she hops onto it and hurries to his side to drag him out before he is lost to her. "Tamaki, no!" Jumping as far as she can and dodging the petals, she manages to close her fingers around his wrist, and pulls with all her might.
Tamaki is successfully dislodged, but the momentum flings them across the room in a rolling skid until they slam into the curved stone wall. Horrified, Haruhi observes that her friend is still cradled in a rose that is growing from his back – right in front of her very eyes, the flower breaks up and shatters into hundreds of petal pieces that scatter above her head like a firework, only to vanish before they can touch the floor.
Repeating his name to no avail, she feels the skin beneath her hands go frighteningly cold… lifeless.
There is a lone corridor attached to this chamber. The plate that had retracted must have opened to this room below, and if she remembers correctly, all of the tunnels eventually lead to the main one, which leads outside. He's too heavy for her to carry, not that it's stopping her from trying; mustering every ounce of her strength, she slings him across her back and attempts to haul him out of here to get help.
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At an intersection of roads, a masked man trips her up and is about to finish her off with one blow – she uses her body to shield Tamaki's, even knowing that it is futile – when King Yuzuru arrives to lop off the man's head with his sword. The masked figure goes down in a crackle of electricity.
"Is – is he not real?" Haruhi gasps. "What is he?"
"Is my son all right?" the King asks curtly, taking on another two comrades of the previous man.
"I – " Haruhi says helplessly, gathering her friend up again. Thankfully, Queen Anne-Sophie rushes onto the scene. "Your Majesty!"
The Queen can't even bring up a tight smile – a true anomaly for a person famed for her radiant amiability. Placing the tips of her slim fingers on her son's forehead, then doing the same towards Haruhi, Queen Anne-Sophie's beautiful face becomes marred by a sorrowful frown. "Oh, my."
King Yuzuru comes round to them, remaining on the lookout for more enemies.
"I have read your memories," the Queen announces. "Light in the form of petals emerged from Tamaki's heart, and they broke up and disappeared, didn't they?"
Haruhi nods, suppressing her panic.
"What does that mean, dear?" Yuzuru asks, more apprehensive than Haruhi has ever known him to be.
Anne-Sophie returns his gaze. "I was afraid of this. Those rose petals were our Tamaki's mind – his essence."
Haruhi gapes.
"The memories that Tamaki had within him, from the time he was born until today… His mind has scattered from him, and the pieces of his essence are no longer in this world."
Yuzuru is similarly fearful and shocked. "What did you say?!"
"That can't be!" Haruhi agrees, willing it to be false. "Then where are they?"
"A body without its mind is no more than an empty vessel." Pained, Anne-Sophie looks at her husband. "If we don't do something, our little prince will be…"
… Dead? Haruhi thinks, going cold herself.
"Isn't there something I can do?" she interjects, foregoing all politeness.
The two royals continue to be locked in a non-verbal exchange that she doesn't – can't – understand.
"There is," Anne-Sophie says firmly.
Yuzuru's shoulders slump a fraction. "Yes, there is something that can be done. Listen to the Queen, Haruhi – our son is in your hands. Protect him with everything you've got! Go!"
Gripping the rod of her priestess's staff, the Queen flicks a lightening spell at Tamaki and orders, "Come, this way!"
Despite Tamaki's height, Haruhi is able to lift him to rest against her chest – as they run away, she can hear the stampede of enemy soldiers flooding the corridor behind them.
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"Pay attention, Haruhi," Anne-Sophie says urgently when they have put enough distance between them and the pursuers, "I am now going to send you both to a place where someone from another world lives."
The magical circle of the Queen expands beneath Haruhi's feet as she prepares to cast.
"Another world? Who are we meeting?" Haruhi asks, almost overwhelmed by the pounding adrenaline. Tamaki is slightly unwieldy in her arms, but she isn't letting go. "What should I do once we get there?"
"She is the Dimensional Witch," Anne-Sophie instructs, swirling her staff. Unexplained winds blow in the confined space and the world warps. "Please tell her everything that's happened, and ask her how to save our Tamaki! Good luck, children!"
The last thing that Haruhi sees are a pair of concerned eyes; her heart clenches, for they are so much like those of a friend who may never open his eyes again.