Lost in the Dark

By E.M. Megs

Chapter 25 – Dying

Instead of passionately trying to argue her innocence, Haruhi let herself be led away as she tried to think of how to get out of this mess with internal fury. It seemed to her that Fusawa wouldn't hear any pleas of innocence anyway. And she knew that any soldier that tried to defy the General would be accused of the same treason. She caught sight of the twins somewhere, hiding among the few people there, as she was led to the tent that held the make-shift prison. That was… a cold iron cage with a cot.

It was empty, as it normally was unless they had a surplus of Narian captives at the palace dungeon. As soon as Tamaki and her father heard about this, she was positive that they'd do anything they could to get her out.

And she knew that all their attempts would fail.

So she sat on her cot, absentmindedly dragging her feet in shapes in the dirt, thinking of things that might have been but never would be. Thinking about what death might be like, yet knowing that she wouldn't be able to really experience it since she'd be the one dying. That was the paradox of it. Someone that was dying would never really know what they were feeling until they were gone. And then… What then?

Was there really some kind of afterlife where she would see her mother at last? Where everyone that she had known that had passed on would be waiting for her?

Children always envisioned the afterlife as a magical kingdom in the sky. But what could children possibly know of death? Children who were barely even alive could not possibly know what it was like.

The question plagued her, possibly a side effect of knowing that your death is coming very very soon.

Either way, she had nothing to do. There was nothing in the make-shift prison for her amusement. She wrinkled her nose and stared up at the tan cloth of the tent that sloped over the bars of her cage. She didn't even have a way to tell Kyoya directly what was happening on her end. She had to rely on the twins and Tamaki for that.

Somehow, that was unsatisfying. Relying on others to tell Kyoya what happened to her. They couldn't tell him everything that she had been thinking and feeling. They couldn't possibly even imagine what she would have wanted to tell him.

But what exactly would she tell him?

Good luck. Sorry I'm such a klutzy failure and that I didn't get the chance to reply to your proposal.

Sorry you put your trust in a woman doomed to die.

That? No. She didn't want to tell him that. She didn't want to apologize for knowing him. Because she was glad that she did. He was a brilliant man. Brilliant and surprising. Calm and refined. Not to mention he had wanted to marry her, curse and all. That was pretty damn rare, finding someone that wanted your hand even while knowing the dangers. She thought about her feelings for a moment but shook her head almost immediately. She still wasn't even sure if they existed. And she still didn't want to think about them quite yet.

No, she concluded silently. Perhaps it was better for the others to take care of telling Kyoya everything.

~o~

She wasn't allowed any visitors besides the random Private that would come and give her meals and Major-General Larsen, whom she really was beginning to despise if she hadn't already classified her loathsome feelings toward him as that already. He'd been deemed worthy to interrogate her, meaning that he was purposely flaunting both his authority and supposedly manliness at her every chance that he got. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn he was trying to flirt with her. And she never thought that she would meet someone cockier than Kyoya, but at least Kyoya had some respect. Larsen, it seemed had no respect for anyone around him but his superior officer, and sometimes even that was shaky.

She sighed as he sat outside her prison for the millionth time, drilling her on her activities the past few months while cleaning his cursed blade. The skin on her arm itched just watching the metal glint between silver, gold, and blood red in a fashion that would be disheartening even to someone that didn't know what it was capable of.

"For the thousandth goddamn time, I have never and will never betray Kira as a country. I have too much damn respect for King Yuzuru and Prince Tamaki."

"If you have so much respect for them then I don't understand why you would break a law that they enforce."

"I'd severely encourage a chat with Tamaki and Yuzuru if I were you," she shot back scathingly, "Being a woman does not immediately make me a nuisance to society and a hinder to the army."

"It does if you sleep with the wrong side."

She growled under her breath, partially repelled by this man's obvious inclination toward her even as she was convicted to hang as a traitor.

"What were you and Ohtori planning?" He sat back leisurely in his seat, talking like he was just having a conversation with any other colleague when she knew that this was anything but.

"Nothing that concerns you."

He smirked. "That's alright. You don't have to answer. General Fusawa already has testimony enough to know what you were doing. Overthrowing the Kiran army, ending the war in Narian victory, running off to marry him. Just a few to list." She felt sick to her stomach. Who had told them all of this? She had made sure that she and her colleagues were always alone when they were talking. "Oh… Not to mention more specifically: spying for him, giving him Kiran plans, lying to a superior officer, concealing your gender, interfering in a Kiran operation."

Someone had been spying on her. Her specifically. That was the only way that they could have known all of these things. The thought made her even sicker. Someone that she probably had once talked to in the camp had given her up. Possibly someone that she trusted.

The twins?

No. No, it couldn't be them. She was too good of a friend. They were her royal guards too. They faced too many pressures from their parents and her father to betray her.

Hunny and Mori?

It was possible. They had known she was a girl. They could have deduced her relationship to the Narian Prince. They were definitely observant enough to figure out what exactly she was doing. She had told them she was Moradian and her plans to try and end the war. But most of all…

They were gone.

They were no longer in camp. And the fact that she couldn't see them to know for sure that they hadn't ratted her out and then ran, was the most criminating thing.

"Silent for once, I see."

"If you already know everything then why do you have to ask me?" she retorted, exhausted. She was tired with living. Worn out from trying to be someone she wasn't for so many months. With trying to pull off three different lives – one with Kyoya, one as a soldier, and yet another as her father's daughter and Tamaki's best friend. She hardly even knew which identity was truly her anymore.

"The only thing that I want to know is why."

She looked over at the Major-General who, to her surprise actually looked curious and like he might be human. Then she stifled a gasp at realizing that it was the very expression she'd had in her Witching Dream from the Exodus Festival. She had somehow mistaken the humane face of Andres Larsen for the empathic expression of Akito's. This… was not how she had imagined things going and she sat up straighter. "Why… what?" she asked cautiously.

"Why would someone like you, best friend of the prince, child of a royal court member, someone with a future in military or government affairs, opt to dabble in and conspire in the affairs of the enemy country and utterly destroy that future?"

She was silent. She had never ever thought of what she was doing as bad. Never thought about it as destroying her future. Then she laughed. "For that… I refer you to none other than Narian Prince Kyoya Ohtori. But unfortunately, since you literally burned one of his closest friends, it seems that you'll never know." He looked confused and she couldn't help smirking. "He knows the answer, because he lives it. He lives to define his own future."

That was her last conversation with the man. Only two days before she died.

~o~

As expected, Tamaki threw a royal fit when he found out. Going so far as to show up at the camp itself to try and spring her free. She couldn't see the Prince, but she could hear him quite clearly, even from the center of camp. When General Fusawa entered her tent and glared, she looked back blankly. "What the hell did you do to the Kiran Prince?"

"You thought you could get away with hanging his best friend without trouble?" she responded in a monotone, without even looking directly at him. She snorted. "You're stupider than I thought."

His face swelled with rage for a moment then disappeared with her next words, "I believe I get a final request."

"Yes," he said, sounding slightly cautious, something that was odd for a man as sure of himself as he was.

"I have two small requests."

"You get one."

"I have two," she insisted and continued before he could reassert that she got one. "First, I want to see Tamaki and my father. Alone. And second, I want a promise from you that you will never harm or touch my father's person or position in the royal court because of your view of me." She stared him down, a trick that she had learned from Kyoya, until he nodded and looked away.

"Very well. I shall have the Prince brought in."

"And my father."

"Yes." His jaw tightened microscopically in annoyance. He left only to return with Tamaki backing him back into the tent, face enraged and voice raised. She almost took a step back with the realization that this was also one of the faces that she'd seen in her Witching Dream at the Festival. And with that came the realization that she'd foreseen her own death. The noose had been intended for her. Her stomach churned as she turned her attention to the Kiran Prince.

"Tamaki," Haruhi said by way of command. She had to calm him down or she wouldn't be able to think, let alone get him to. He jumped when she reached out and took his hand through the iron bars of her prison. "Leave it…"

"Your father will be along shortly, Marioka," the General said stiffly. She nodded her head at him while Tamaki just gave him a glare. She was quiet as the blonde arranged himself to kneel on the ground in front of the cage, keeping hold of her hand the entire time.

"Are you okay?"

"Did you tell Kyoya?"

His lips turned down slightly in a frown as she mentioned the bespectacled Ohtori. He was obviously upset about everything that concerned the Narian Prince. She closed her eyes as he answered, "Not yet. I'm holding off until you can tell him yourself."

"Tamaki," she huffed, opening her eyes to stare up at the ceiling in annoyance. "You don't understand. I'm not going to be able to make it out of this. I can't escape this time. They're going to hang me." She was running out of ways to get through to his thick skull that she was trying to say goodbye to him.

"I won't let them," he insisted.

"You can't control them. Dammit. Your father told me himself that if the army caught me he wouldn't be able to help. I'm stuck, Tamaki. I'm stuck and there's nothing that you, or dad, or your father, or even Kyoya can do about."

"Namahi," her father's watery voice came from the entrance to the prison tent. She turned her gaze from Tamaki to him. He knelt heavily in front of her, just like Tamaki was, reaching through the bars to cradle his daughter's face in his hand. "My brave little girl."

"Dad," she joked, "Don't get sentimental on me."

"I will," he replied sharply, "I will because I love you. You're my daughter and I love you more than anything in the world. And I'm so proud of you, honey. For everything that you've done. Even if I don't get to watch you get married and I'm never going to have grandchildren, I'm still so proud of the young woman you've become." Tears prickled at her eyes like they were already flowing in hers. "I talked to Yuzuru as soon as I heard."

"He can't do anything."

"Yes, he can. There is one more thing that he can do and the military can't stop him." He stared her in the eye. "He can deport you." Haruhi stared at him, uncomprehending. "He can deport you back to the Narian Moradian territory where we came from."

"But… high treason…"

"Does not matter what the crime is. If you're a legal citizen of Kira but originally were a refugee or foreigner, he's allowed to deport you back to that country for any kind of violation."

Tamaki looked between her and her father. "But she… won't be able to come back."

"I know," Ranka murmured.

"And you'll…"

"I know. I don't care. I just want my daughter safe."

"You'll what…?" Haruhi asked, afraid of the answer. She stared at her dad, who was now avoiding eye contact. "Faetha… Teuti sha."

"Taki… wilt neerka betu aboin toi condus baye. You… will never be allowed to see me again, Haruhi. Unless… I go with you."

"No," Haruhi said, unable to deal with the thought of her father giving up the position that he had fought so long and hard for. "No. You can't leave. You can't… just… You belong in the Kiran royal court."

"The other option is disowning you, and I will never do that." Her father had a determined look in his eye. One that didn't falter nor change. "I am too proud of you to disown you. Raising you is my biggest and best accomplishment and I will never let that go."

"But… You didn't do anything wrong! I did! That's not fair! There's got to be another way!" She shuddered to think what Kyoya's father or Akito would do to her father if they learned that he was the Moradian king. "Dad… I don't want you to give up everything here just for me."

"You're my daughter! Haruhi, I've lived long enough. You've just barely begun to. All I want is for you to live. To continue living. And if that means that I have to be deported as well, then I'll do it. If that means going back to a country where my people are mistreated and scorned… I'd rather live like that than live here knowing that my daughter and wife are dead."

She stopped. "But… I need someone in the royal court. Kyoya needs you to be in the royal court. Dad…"

"I've made up my mind, Haruhi. We'll be leaving for Nari later tonight."

"No."

"Haruhi…"

"No. I get a choice in this too. And I don't want that. I'd rather die than see you treated like a slave or criminal in Nari." She stared hard at him. "Kyoya's never told a soul that I was Moradian because he knows how they're treated. He doesn't want that for anyone. Nor do I. Especially not my own father."

Tamaki was scowling. And she glanced at him briefly. He seemed slightly confused, but less so than she would have expected. "We're Moradian, Tamaki. Moradians are trash in Nari. Lower than trash. They aren't allowed citizenship and they definitely aren't allowed on the royal court. Which is another reason why Kyoya and I… We wouldn't work. Even if I wasn't cursed and something could arise from it, it wouldn't work." She looked away from him, back to her Dad, taking his hands in hers. "I love you, Dad. That's why I'm not going to let anyone take you away from where you're safe."

She kissed his hands. "If I escape, I'll find some other way. But I'm not going to let anyone else get hurt." Truthfully, her father's plan for her to be deported was probably her only chance save for Kyoya claiming that she was his prisoner. She gazed at Ranka for a moment then switched her eyes to Tamaki. "And you, Prince Tamaki, better not get into any trouble. I do not want to give your grandmother cause to dethrone you. Behave."

Both of them closed their eyes and Haruhi herself swallowed back her sadness. "Tamaki, I want you to write…" she trailed off, a vague memory of the ring heating up when she first had gotten to camp hitting her mind. "What did Kyoya say?"

"What?"

"He sent me a message when I first got to camp but I forgot to check it. Did you see it?"

"No… But I have the ring with me."

"Do you have paper?" she asked quickly. Her father withdrew a small scrap from his pocket. She went about the receiving procedure to find a small back up of messages from the Narian Prince. Two of them were waiting for her.

I'd like for you to tell me when you get to Kira. Stay safe and don't take any risks.
Kyoya

Excellent. If The Witch is involved that just motivates me all the more. I'll get to work. Stay safe.
Kyoya

She stared at them on the paper then closed her eyes, hands shaking. He'd told her twice to stay safe and what did she do? She got herself arrested for treason. "Pen," she mumbled, "I need a pen." Tamaki looked around and then fumbled to grab one sitting on a nearby table and hand it to her. She wrote quickly, afraid that someone was going to walk in on them conspiring and have even more reason to kill her.

I'm sorry. I tried to, but I couldn't. They got me. They're going to hang me. I… Good luck.
Haruhi

She sent it quickly with tears in her eyes and wrote another, unable to stop herself.

And by the way… I will. Or I would. I would have married you. I just… I'm sorry. Be careful.

She sent it before she could rethink it, watching the smoky words sink into the glowing stone of the ring and disappear from her sight. She looked up at Tamaki and her father, pushing the paper, pen, and ring at them. "Stay in contact with him, alright? Don't let him do it alone or I'm sure he'll kill himself."

Tamaki nodded and brought her hand to his lips. "For what it's worth… You're my best friend and I'm proud of you too," he murmured as he dropped her hand and stood to leave. He stared at her for a moment with those sad, sad purple eyes. She drowned in them for a moment and then he turned and left the tent, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Bye, Tamaki," she said softly.

"Bye, Namahi." She looked after his hunched form until it disappeared behind the tent flap. She let out a sigh and turned her eyes toward her father. He looked at her sadly. She drew in a deep breath that rattled her ribcage with the sobs that she had been holding for far too long. She kept her hand clasped in her father's, waiting for the moment where he would have to go.

"I love you, Dad," she mumbled, pushing her face between two of the bars separating them.

"Sometimes I wish you weren't so stubborn," he sighed in reply, "But I love you too." He was quiet for a moment then he murmured, "You remind me so much of your mother. She was always the same way: stubborn, passionate. She always knew how to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences."

"I get some of that from you too you know," she muttered with a small smile. He just chuckled and nodded his head.

"You do." More silence enfolded them. Then finally, with a pained look on his face her father said, "I wish I could have given you a proper, normal life. Even if it wasn't in Mora, I wish it could have at least been normal."

"I probably would have ended up marrying Tamaki if that were the case, Dad," she joked half-heartedly. He made a bit of a face at the idea and shook his head. Although he liked the Kiran Prince enough to allow his daughter to be friends with him, he didn't like the idea of him being his son-in-law.

"Ironically… I think I'd actually prefer if you married Kyoya." She blinked a few times then tilted her head at him confused. "And I know that if you had been raised properly and as a female then you never would have met him… So maybe it was a good thing that you were raised the way you were." He paused just to take in her expression which was somewhere between shocked and amused. "He's a good man, Haruhi."

"I know he is." The flap rustled a bit, signaling the entrance of someone. They both looked up to find Larsen standing there with his eyes narrowed at them.

"Time's up," he growled in a low voice. He stood there and waited while Haruhi and Ranka looked at each other.

Her father seemed so pained, so sad. She hated seeing him like that. But she knew it would be worse if she had to see him being mistreated in Nari, so she held firm by her decision to turn down deportation. Her father leaned forward and kissed her nose – the only part of her that he could reach with his lips. She twitched it in reply. "I'm proud of you sweetheart," he whispered to her.

"I'm proud of you too, Dad." He withdrew and stood carefully. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I'll try."

"Go live with the Hitachiins if you have to, I don't care. Just don't be too hard on yourself."

"I won't."

"And do as Kyoya said, dammit. Drink that tea and take your medicine."

"I will." He scowled, beginning to look annoyed.

"And Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

He squeezed her hand gently and murmured, "I love you too, honey."

~o~

She couldn't sleep. She could never sleep. Especially in Kira. Now it was even worse since she knew that she was about to be killed come daybreak. She stared up at the darkened fabric of the tent roof, seeing shadows of trees flicker over the top of it as they swayed in the summer breeze. She heaved a soft sigh and closed her eyes.

"Oi! Who's there!" one of the guards from outside called.

She sat straight up in her cot. That definitely wasn't normal. They were in the middle of a heavily guarded military camp, practically in the center. No one could have sneaked up on them.

Or could they?

Her hopes soared for a moment then crashed back to the ground as the silhouettes of the guards outside settled back down. No. No one was going to break in and save her. Who would be stupid enough to do that? Unless of course Tamaki…

No. Even he wasn't that stupid. And Kyoya wasn't rash enough to do something like that.

The twins?

No. She'd specifically told them not to do anything.

Why was she even thinking about this? Just because of one guard's mistaken call in the darkness? There was only the slimmest chance that she would make it out alive, and even that chance was so dismally small that it hardly even existed.

There was a crack of a branch outside. Her heart raced as she rose up from her lying position again, ears perked. There was nothing and her heart almost calmed until the flap to the tent entrance moved. A shadowy figure entered and she stared as they started fiddling with the lock. They were short and relatively fit, from their outlines. Another, taller form entered quickly and muttered in deep baritone vocals, "Hurry, Mitsukuni."

Her eyes widened. "Hunny? Mori?" she whispered, surprised as much as shocked. Hadn't she assumed that they were the ones that had given her away? Why the hell were they here now then? "What are you doing here?"

"Tama-kicsi asked us to help you," Hunny replied in a quiet voice. Finally, the man got fed up with trying to pick the lock and muttered something under his breath. His eyes glowed orange for a moment and burned then faded into the darkness again. She scowled. Where had she seen something like that?

"How did he find you?"

"We were nearby the castle. He knew where to look." The lock, smoking fell to the ground. Haruhi couldn't do anything but stare at it in confusion. Hunny swung the door open quickly and motioned to her. The door's creaks cracked through the quietness. "Come on." He held out a hand. She stared at it like it might bite her. "We'll explain everything soon, come on."

"Don't have much time," Mori intoned from the flap. She could see him ducking his head out, keeping watch with his keen eyes. She drew in a breath and cautiously took hold of Hunny's hand. Immediately, he pulled her out of the iron barred encasing that surrounded her and out of the tent beside him. She knew better than to ask questions now where they could be heard.

The two led her between tents, weaving in and out, checking for other soldiers whenever they had to be in open ground. Finally, they reached the tent she shared with Hikaru and Kaoru. By now, she knew, both twins would be sound asleep. "Hurry," Mori whispered in her ear, pushing her into the tent. "Gather your things."

She nodded her head, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She entered the tent, not expecting to see Kaoru awake and armed on his bed. In a flash he was up with the knife at her throat. "Kaoru," she whispered, arms instinctively wrapping around her friend's neck.

"Haruhi? How-?"

"Mori and Hunny cut me loose. Be careful, okay?" He nodded. "I'll stay in touch." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek quickly then flitted over to her bed, gathering her few things into a bag. Clothes, two small knives which she slipped into either boot, her sword (which she was surprised to see there considering that she had been deprived of all of weapons when she was arrested). Kaoru passed her some food that they had leftover from dinner and she stuffed it in too. She looked around quickly for anything she might be forgetting then turned to leave.

The younger twin stopped her and pulled her into a hug that she returned. Then he held out his hand to her. Nestled in his palm were a small stone and a few tiny bags stuffed with something. "Your father wanted me to give these to you before you were hung. He said they were your mother's good luck charms and that you should have them." She stared at them a moment then nodded her head and took them from him, pushing them gently into her pocket for later inspection.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

"Namahi," Mori called softly into the tent. She looked at the entrance then back at Kaoru. He nodded respectfully to her.

"Until we meet again, Princess," Kaoru whispered, taking her hand and kissing the back of it before letting her leave.

"It will be soon if I have my way," she muttered back, over her shoulder.

"Good luck, Haruhi," Hikaru's voice wafted from his bunk. Haruhi smiled as she disappeared from their view, out of the tent and after Mori and Hunny.

~o~

Once a good mile or two from camp the cousins stopped her. She turned to them expectantly. "I thought you were the ones that ratted me out," she said by way of explaining her surprise at seeing them. Hunny shook his head while Mori merely smirked slightly. "Why did you leave then?"

Hunny swallowed slowly then murmured, "Let's keep walking. I'll explain while we go." She nodded her head and let them lead her down a southeastern road. Hunny was quiet for a long time, then her said, "Takashi and I are Gratweny. But we're also supposedly Narian spies." She looked at them sharply. "We lived in Nari in hiding for a while until it got too hard. Takashi's mother was killed in an accident and he and his little brother, Satoshi, were sent to my family by his father. To prevent suspicion of our families, Takashi and I decided to enroll in the Narian army where we were sent to Kira to permanently spy. We created lives for ourselves here and after a year we actually were able to join the army."

She tilted her head, not quite understanding. "Who… exactly… do you work for?"

"First Prince Yuiichi Ohtori," Mitsukuni said quietly. Her eyes widened and she had to stop just to stare at them without tripping.

"Kyoya's brother?"

"Yes," Mori intoned his own say into the story. She almost expected him to explain more, but he didn't.

"Is that why…? Tamaki and Yuiichi both asked you to free me?"

"No. Tama-kicsi hinted at us trying to help you but couldn't order anything outright. Yuiichi did the same because of how your news was affecting his brother, however, he didn't want to interfere. That was only part of it though. Were it only for that, then we wouldn't have acted."

Her mouth curled down in a frown. "I'm a seer," Mori said and those three words made her stand straighter and her muscles stiffen just in shock. She stared at him but he just nodded his head solemnly. Seer. She'd only heard that word once, when she was little and Yuzuha had been telling her an old story. It was a rare power. As rare if not rarer as Tamaki's mother's power to control water, which was ironically what made her so sick. But it wasn't genetic like other magic. It couldn't be passed down. It just struck someone randomly.

Seer's power had been sought after for generations. The ability to know any possible futures as they happened as well as the futures that were concrete was tremendously powerful. Even a Witch couldn't see that through Witching Dreams. Witches saw only possible futures and only snippets at that. That was why her Dreams were always so vague. But seers… Seers saw it all. Whether they wanted to or not.

"You weren't meant to die, Haru-kicsi. Not then. Takashi and I originally left because the Kiran army was beginning to catch on to us like they were to you. Takashi saw that it wasn't safe anymore. And… Just before we came, after Tamaki had talked to us, Takashi had a premonition."

"More like prophecy," Mori interjected quickly.

"You weren't meant to die, Haru-kicsi. And that's why we saved you."

"What was meant to happen to me then?" she asked.

Mori's face screwed up out of his normally passive expression into one of reprimanding. "We can't tell you that," Hunny said quietly, "The future isn't meant to be seen, Haru-kicsi. Not even by seers. That's why the power is so rare."

"We can tell you the prophecy later," Mori said, passive expression back in place. Hunny nodded in affirmation. She sighed, one more question plaguing her mind.

"What did you do to the lock? I don't think I've ever seen that kind of magic."

Hunny grinned suddenly, and even through the darkness that she had vaguely seen their expressions, his teeth gleamed. "Fire elemental," he said mischievously. She nodded quickly in understanding, not needing to ask any more. He had literally melted the lock on the inside to make it open. That much she could understand now. It also explained why he was always so warm when he hugged her. "If I draw from the elemental energy I can also do normal stuff," he added, "Freezing's a bit difficult but I can make it work."

She nodded again, no more questions coming to mind. Then she heard it. The dreadful bell coming from far off. The one that signaled that a prisoner had escaped. Mori acted quickly and said, "Run to Pait."

"We'll try to lead them away from you. Once we're across the Narian border they won't bother coming to look for us anyway, but you need to get to Pait as soon as you possibly can. Don't stop until you get there. We'll meet you at the Narian palace, understand?"

She nodded her head quickly and they took off running in the opposite direction that she was heading, disappearing over a hill in a matter of seconds. She took a moment to process before starting to run herself, expending all of the energy she had in her sleepless body into pushing herself farther and farther from camp. Her pack bounced against her back and her mother's good luck charms shifted around in her pocket as she ran but she didn't pay any attention to them.

She was out of breath a few miles later and slowed to a walk.

And the running-walking intervals continued that way all the way to Pait, when she finally figured it was safe enough to rest for a moment. The mountains of the small country were relatively safe compared to the forest to the north. She plopped down under one of the few trees, watching as the sun drifted further down in the sky. It would get dark soon. Not too soon though. She still had enough time to get to the Paitet palace, assuming that she could find it.

Truthfully, she'd only ever seen Pait's capital on a map. She'd never even been in the country for that matter. It was somewhere smack dab in the middle of the mountains though. She knew that.

So she sat there under that tree and tried to get her bearings while simultaneously trying to catch her breath. Finally, just as she was ready to go, she heard the loud clatter of rocks shifting. She jumped and turned around.

Was it possible that she'd been followed?

No. That couldn't be. And why would they follow her across the Paitet border? She shrugged it off as paranoia and continued walking on her way.

But then she heard it again. This time it was a branch breaking against the rock of the mountain. She turned again and thought that she saw a large shadow out of the corner of her eye. But it was gone the second that she tried to look at it more closely. "Mori? Hunny?" she called out, apprehension gnawing at her stomach while she also hoped that it was her two friends.

She stayed there, looking behind her for a moment then shook her head and started walking again, though she did draw her sword just in case.

The third time she heard the clatter of stones along with the pounding of footsteps. Running footsteps. And they weren't human either. She whirled around just in time to see a huge litriad lunging at her. She let out a gasp and dove to the side, feeling its body whip past her, claws almost snagging her legs on the way. She scrambled back to her feet and ran as fast as she could, any fatigue she had felt previously gone. She had lost her sword, but didn't mind that as she ran for her life. One bite from that thing would cause pain so terrible that it would paralyze her.

What the hell was a litriad doing in the mountains?

Her only explanation was that the Kiran army had succeeded in training at least some of them and had sent this one after her.

And then, to her horror, another one appeared.

What made her so important that they dispatched two litriads just to kill her?

Flashes of her time with both Kyoya and Tamaki flashed through her head as the second one lunged at her. She ducked and took the opportunity to draw one of her knives from her boot, stabbing it swiftly in the stomach on its way past her. It howled in pain, which seemed to only make the first one angrier.

She huffed with annoyance and kept running. She attempted to stab both of them whenever she could but knew that eventually they'd break through her defenses and catch her.

And then she'd be litriad food.

Not the most pleasant way to die.

And then, to her immense relief, she saw a town over a small hill. She yelled as she dodged another litriad lunge. More memories broke through the barrier of her mind, the most surprising being the last kiss that she and Kyoya had shared.

She sucked in a breath and stumbled a bit.

That was the only chance that the litriads needed. One grabbed her left leg in its jaws while the other prowled to her side. She screamed as litriad poison hit her flesh, instantly causing it to burn with agonizing slowness. She stabbed the one at her side a few times and it howled in pain. The one on her leg bit down harder.

She screamed again, tears now falling down her cheeks. The second came back and this time lunged for her chest, where her heart was. She raised her hand and stabbed it in the chest before it reached hers, effectively killing it.

The pain in her leg was unbearable. Darkness started to spot her vision.

The litriad's grip on her leg loosened and she vaguely heard it yowl with pain as it reared back because of some unknown force. She heard swishing, Narian yells, and assumed it was a dream that she was drifting into.

A shadow moved over her just as the darkness consumed her, a final word coming from her lips, "Kyoya…"

~o~

A/N: You all didn't actually think I was going to kill her by HANGING did you? NO! THAT DOES HER NO JUSTICE! THIS IS HARUHI WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.

Ahem… This one is actually almost 6500 words… And well written if I do say so myself. It seems that my best work comes when I feel like my brain's only half-functioning. This is also my attempt to integrate Hunny and Mori into the story more, as requested.

SO! I've been home from school sick with an unknown illness for two weeks. Besides schoolwork, reading, and sleeping, I have nothing else to do. Thus, this appears only a week later! YAAAAY! (I haven't even been to my second semester classes yet… This kind of saddens me.)

Kudos to: Goldpen, Nessie-san, Shizuka, isara-love, Obscurity Within Mercy, WonderingStarNightmare117 and Koharu Veddette!

Ugh. I am so tired. Megs go sleep now. (Again.)