Lost in the Dark
By E.M. Megs
Chapter 40 – The Light in the Dark
Three days later, the treaty was nearly complete. It seemed that having his life threatened by his own son and caused Yoshio to be a slightly less stubborn. Kyoya had taken to seating himself next to Haruhi instead of by his father. "Signing will not be enough to stop war from breaking out again," Fuko finally said. "There must be something else to prevent this from happening again besides the demilitarization of all countries involved."
Haruhi and Kyoya glanced at each other and under the table Kyoya's hand tightened around hers.
"A marriage between Kyoya and Haruhi or Haruhi and myself would be the perfect binding factor," Tamaki jumped into speaking.
"Haruhi has no connection to Nari that would be useful in a marriage to Tamaki," Fuyumi quipped. "However, she is Kiran royal court through her father?" Ryoji nodded. "Then Kyoya and Haruhi should be married." She glanced at Kyoya's father, who sat with pursed lips. Haruhi refused to look at the Narian King. If he had learned anything, she was about to find out what.
"It depends on whether they consent," Yoshio said at last. Haruhi's gaze shot to the Narian King who sat as stony-faced as ever.
"Yes," she whispered, turning her eyes to Kyoya. He nodded and smiled at her.
"However, there's still the problem of the Witch," Yoshio continued.
"It's simple isn't it?" Haruhi murmured. "We see her, we kill her. She had her chance."
"And here we thought you were against murder," Yoshio stated. "Though I agree. She has been warned."
"Murder is not needed," Ranka cut in with a strange look toward his daughter. Haruhi shifted a little in her seat while Tamaki looked at her oddly as well.
"Is she really relevant at the moment?" Kyoya asked. "When she comes around again, we will deal with her."
A murmur of agreement spread around the table. "Good. You'll all sign tomorrow," Fuko concluded. "That is, if everyone is in agreement with the terms. Any objections to what has been decided?"
No one spoke. Not even Akito, though he looked fairly disgruntled. "Then we will adjourn until tomorrow," Fuko confirmed with a grin. "And finally end this awful war."
~o~
The signing of the treaty was followed by the wedding ceremony of Kyoya and Haruhi, this time using Haruhi's real name. Yoshio was not in attendance, though he made it clear that he no longer would oppose their marriage. It was also a plus that she no longer had a curse making her sick.
It was almost perfect.
Almost.
Haruhi woke up about three days after their wedding and slipped out of bed. Normally this would have been enough to at least make Kyoya stir. Today, he was eerily still. She shrugged it off and continued to get ready for the day in the dim room. However, when she returned to check if he was awake several hours later, he was still asleep.
Kyoya loved to sleep in, but never did he do so when he knew he had duties to attend to and it was almost noon. She scowled and decided to open the curtains. "Kyoya. It's time to wake up. I understand that you're exhausted but really."
He didn't move a muscle. Not even a twitch. She would have thought he was dead if she couldn't see the rise and fall of his chest. She walked over and shook him.
Then she shook harder. "Wake up, you arse," she muttered.
Haruhi narrowed her eyes at him and said, "This is not funny, Kyoya."
Try though she might, nothing could wake her husband.
She decided to get Yuiichi and as she was about to head out of the bedroom she heard him mutter in his sleep, "Saren cut it out." She froze and turned to look back at him.
"Poison," she breathed and broke into a run to get one of his brothers. Both Yuiichi and Akito examined him and did everything they could to wake him but both seemed completely appalled.
"I don't know what to tell you, Haruhi," Akito muttered.
"You have to have some idea."
"Is there any way that the Witch could have poisoned him again?" Yuiichi asked sharply. Haruhi thought for only a moment before she shook her head vigorously.
"None. She never had the opportunity. And she doesn't have the magic to do so in the same way again."
"Maybe it's traces of the last one," Akito suggested with a shrug. "That's all I can think that would do this."
"Yes," Yuiichi agreed. "Sleep paralysis or sleep terrors. He has to come out of it himself. Though it isn't nearly as serious as when he was poisoned, he does have to just work through it."
"What the hell does that mean?" Haruhi growled.
"It means it certainly won't kill him. But it will inhibit his daily life. This likely won't be the last time that it happens, Haruhi. He will go through these periods occasionally, possibly for the rest of his life."
"It was probably best that he wasn't crowned king," Akito mumbled and Haruhi glared at him.
"When will he wake?" she demanded.
"We don't know. Could be anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days, even a couple weeks, though I doubt it's that severe." Yuiichi's hand landed on her shoulder. "He'll be fine. He may be a bit disoriented when he wakes and once he does I doubt he'll want to go back to sleep any time soon. But he'll be fine." With that he and Akito left her sitting by Kyoya's bedside yet again.
~o~
It took five days for him to wake and when he did, he didn't know where he was. Haruhi calmed him the best that she could, afraid that he had forgotten who she was as well until upon being questioned, he snapped, "Of course I know who you are, Haruhi."
She breathed a sigh of relief and kissed him, which he reacted to at first with surprise. "Do you remember what happened?" she asked him softly.
He shook his head. "I went to sleep with you one night and woke up next to Saren. She was pregnant. And it felt so... normal, yet not quite right. And I fell asleep there next to Saren and woke up next to you again." His eyes seemed to clear for just a moment. "It was the Witch again wasn't it?"
She nodded. "Not actively, but remnants, yes."
Kyoya swallowed and took her hand in his. "I felt it," he murmured, "You were married to Tamaki and that didn't..."
Haruhi burst out laughing. "Tamaki? Really?" she asked between breathless laughter. "If I ever married Tamaki, I'm pretty sure he'd drive me mad!"
Kyoya scowled at her. "Yes, yes, hilarious," he muttered drily. "At least this time I wasn't fighting for my life."
Haruhi calmed herself and explained, "Yuiichi called it sleep paralysis or sleep terrors. When you fall into a dream state that you can't be woken from. In your case, you fall back into the world that you were part of when the Witch's magical poison held sway over you."
"It's not dangerous is it?"
"Not to your life. It's just remnants from the magic that was once in your blood pushing you there. There isn't a threat that you'll be stuck there forever. As you said, you fell asleep next to me and woke next to parallel Saren. Then you fell asleep one night there and woke up here. You drifted."
"How long was I asleep?"
"Four days."
"Shit." He sighed. "Four days is a lot of time to sleep through when the world is in the condition it is. When I have a role to play in it."
"I know. I took care of it while you were... out." He nodded a silent thanks. She laid her head on his shoulder and admitted, "I was scared that it was going to be the same as before."
He waved her fright away. "Even if it were, I would have returned."
"How do you possibly know that?"
"Because I came back the first time. Because although there feels right in its own sense, it's not right as in here. It feels right until I've been there a day or two and realize that there's something wrong with all the right. Usually, it's when my mother appears that I notice it." He stopped and scowled as though he were trying to figure out if that description was actually coherent.
She giggled. "Very eloquent." Then she sat up and added, "I think you're still a little dazed. So I am going to go work. And you should... rest. You don't need to sleep. Just... rest. Get your bearings."
He sighed as though that were the most obnoxious thing he had ever heard anyone suggest and reluctantly nodded.
It happened three more times over the next month, each lasting at least three days.
~o~
"I told you," Kyoya whispered in her ear as they danced at the celebration ball that traditionally came with Narian weddings, especially royal ones, though this one was occurring over an entire month after the wedding itself.
"Yes," she muttered back, "because if you were wrong then the entire world would collapse, I'm sure."
"You wound me." His retort was cut off by Tamaki swiping his wife away.
"Tamaki!" she laughed as he broke out in a terrible rendition of a Moradian jig that the twins had probably taught him five minutes ago. The twins appeared as well and spun her around a couple times. She smiled and felt Kyoya's hand slip into hers. She caught sight of Hunny and Mori quietly watching them. Or rather, Mori was watching quietly while his cousin twirled around a girl at speeds that could have made a person vomit just from dizziness.
"That's Reiko," Kyoya murmured in her ear, "I believe she's the daughter of the former Gratweny ambassador, who is now free to come out of hiding because of us."
Haruhi nodded. "They're good together. Anyone who can keep up with Hunny is a saint." Kyoya chuckled and pulled her away from the twins and Tamaki, who had begun to argue among themselves, over what, Haruhi could only imagine.
He pulled her toward the balcony doors, to get them away from the crowds of people for a moment's rest. Kyoya was about to push them open when a bright light coming from outside stopped him. Haruhi stared out the windows at the row of Narian flags burning on their poles and felt ice grip her heart. "My Witching Dream," she breathed, a shiver running down her spine. Kyoya's hand twitched in hers. "The one from the Festival. The last image." She tore her gaze from the fires outside and angled her head toward the doors to the ballroom.
"She's here," Haruhi stated. Kyoya reacted to the statement by drawing his sword, which automatically had every guard in the room doing the same.
"Not the welcome I was thinking of but I'm not sure what I expected," the Witch said as she strode into the ballroom. The guards circled around her, placing themselves between the guests and her.
"You aren't welcome here," Kyoya called.
"Indeed. I believe I banished you, Maia," Yoshio confirmed from off to Haruhi's left.
"So I'm breaking the law. What's new?" She strode nonchalantly to banquet table, sending magical bolts at a guard who tried to get in her way with a scowl. "I'm starving and this food looks divine."
Haruhi swallowed and stepped toward her. "This is the second time you've interrupted my wedding celebration, Grandmother. What do you want?"
"Oh. Is this your wedding celebration? I didn't know."
Kyoya's hand gripped Haruhi's arm gently but she brushed him off. "What. Do. You. Want?" Haruhi asked again.
"I'm starving. The tribes refuse to take me in. There's food here. None of you have the power to stop me. And you aren't dead yet." The bolt that she sent flying toward her was deflected by the combined energy of Haruhi and her husband.
"You think you're invincible?" Haruhi asked her.
"Do you think I can actually be killed?" the Witch retorted, taking a step closer to her granddaughter. "Do you think you can actually kill me?" Haruhi glared at her grandmother as she sent a man who moved to attack her flying with the flick of a finger. "Did you think banishing me would actually work?"
Haruhi swallowed and shook her head. "I knew it wouldn't. What do you want? Really."
"I want to make a deal."
"We're not bargaining with you again, Witch," Yoshio cut in. Yuiichi stood by and just observed.
"Well I'm not going to survive in the world unless I suck it up and bargain with you," the Witch hissed. "Do you think I like crawling back into this place? Where she lives among your family of Warlocks, corrupting you all just by living."
"What deal?" Haruhi asked.
"I want land that I can live off of."
"And what are you proposing to give us in return?" Kyoya growled.
"Your lives."
Yoshio had his sword at her throat before she could react. "What's stopping me from slitting your throat right now?"
Maia scowled at him and shrugged. "A single sword won't kill me."
"I bet two will," Kyoya retorted, joining his father in aiming his blade at her throat.
"There won't be peace until I'm dead," Maia said with a malicious grin. "But when I'm dead there will be no one to do what I can." Haruhi raised an eyebrow, looking bored. "He still has them, doesn't he?" she continued, glancing at Kyoya. "The sleep paralysis. Where he sometimes can't be woken up for hours, sometimes days at a time and comes out of it confused, like he's in another world." Haruhi swallowed, disturbed at her accuracy. "I could fix that. It's remnants left of my magic after all."
Kyoya glanced at Haruhi briefly and then straightened his sword with a clenched jaw.
"Don't," Haruhi said, placing a hand on Kyoya's shoulder. He turned to look at her oddly while the Witch smirked.
"She said so herself. There can't be peace until she's dead," Kyoya muttered to her. "Besides, our business isn't hers."
Haruhi looked at him and murmured, "She's trying to rile you up. Don't let her." Then she leaned up to whisper in his ear. He growled and begrudgingly strode away.
"Would an apology help matters any?" Maia asked, eyes trailing Kyoya as he left.
Haruhi spoke before Yoshio could say or do anything, stepping forward. "No, that isn't good enough," she spat. "You don't just get to cause chaos for over 20 years and then get off just by saying 'sorry'. The world doesn't work like that, grandmother."
"You wouldn't have pity on your grandmother?" the Witch asked in what she guessed was supposed to be a sly manner.
"No. Because you are wretched and vile and you don't need pity. You need to feel consequence. You killed my mother and Kyoya's. You started a war that has devastated most of the continent and resulted in the elimination of two nations. You nearly killed my husband. You're responsible for the deaths of thousands if not millions of my people. And you never felt remorse for any of it." Kyoya returned with something in his hand. "I thought for a long time about what I wanted to do to you when I finally got to take care of you."
"Murder?" her grandmother asked with a malicious grin.
"No. Death would be too easy for you." She held up the pendant that Kyoya had brought her. "I'm not sure if I'm even strong enough to do this so Kyoya, you're going to need to lend me your strength." She barely perceived him nodding his head as Haruhi strode forward to press the pendant into her grandmother's hands.
"You're giving me a piece of jewelry?"
"No. I'm cursing you. Maia Venefica, you will be cursed to live without your magic for as long as this pendant resists you. It will be trapped as usable by any wearer except for you until the day where you feel true remorse and true suffering. The day that you understand the terror and pain—the fear that I've been living in for the past 20 years; the day that you understand the awful anguish you've caused this land for so many years will be the day that access to your magic will be returned to you. Until that day, you better find some other way to live because you won't be doing it here." She shut her eyes and thought hard about what she wanted to do, only pausing to reach back and grab Kyoya's hand.
"You can't do it," Maia said spitefully, "You said it yourself you aren't strong enough."
Haruhi smirked at her and retorted, "You've been doing magic by yourself, grandmother. I have four Warlocks and some of your lineage to help me." The Witch's mouth didn't open again though she did try to drop the pendant.
"You try to get out of this and I won't hesitate to chop your head off, Witch," Yoshio growled.
Haruhi felt a chill and a vague spike of nausea run through her as the curse she was enacting rushed through her. She channeled the energy through the Witch and into the pendant, sweeping any magic that hers found with her. Kyoya squeezed her hand and she felt a secondary flow hit her. When she could almost feel all of her magic and the Witch's draining, she then felt a third weaker flow that made her eyes shoot open. She used it to finish the curse off and then blearily looked around to make sure no one else was touching her.
"Haruhi?" Kyoya asked, just as spent as she was. "You alright?"
She nodded and snatched the pendant back from the Witch before returning to her husband.
"You're still banished, Maia," Yoshio said strictly, returning the conversation to the now-magic-less woman still standing before them. "I want you out of this country. You're lucky I agree with Miss Fujioka that death would be too easy for you. Leave this palace and I might even let you live if I undoubtedly see you in the future."
The Witch snarled at him and, just to test her luck tried to shoot the retired Narian King with a bolt of magic. A mere spark shot out and caused Yoshio as much harm as static electricity. She then let out a shriek and stormed out of the room.
Haruhi stumbled a bit and Kyoya caught her arm, his own balance wavering. "I think we should go to bed," Kyoya suggested. "Continue the party another day."
His wife nodded in agreement. "Now that the crisis is averted, I think so."
Kyoya pulled her to him by the shoulders and gingerly began to walk in the direction of the door that would take them to their bedroom. She pulled him to a stop in front of his father. "Give this to Yuki or Fuyumi." she said, handing him the pendant full of magic. "I think... It was Mayumi's. Meaning that they're the ones that deserve it."
"You don't want it?" Yoshio asked her curiously, turning it over in his hands.
"No. I have enough magic of my own and... I have Kyoya and my father. There's nothing else that I want."
Yoshio nodded and let his son and wife leave.
When they reached the room, Haruhi sat on the bed and thought while Kyoya prepared for bed. "Something wrong?" he asked as he climbed into bed and noticed that she hadn't moved. Haruhi glanced at him and shook her head.
"I'm not sure yet." She stood and prepared for bed as well as Kyoya watched her with a small frown. He didn't push the topic when she crawled into bed and let him pull her close.
~o~
A week later Kyoya found her sitting by toilet in the bathroom with a look of terror on her face and hurried to her. His hands cradled her head carefully while she wiped her mouth with a towel. "Are you ill?" he murmured in concern.
"It's not contagious, I'm sure," she mumbled, pressing her face to his shoulder with a grimace.
"And how do you know that?"
She lifted her head and refused to look him in the eye. Then she swallowed and closed her eyes. "Because I'm fairly sure that I'm pregnant." She stood up and strode swiftly from the room while he knelt there and processed. Then he, too, was on his feet and rushing after her.
"That's wonderful news, Haruhi," he said as he caught her arm. He spun her around to look at him. "Why don't you seem happy about it?"
She heaved a sigh and drew her robe tighter around her. "I don't want to talk about it right now, Kyoya." She moved to turn away but he stopped her.
"You just told me your pregnant and you don't want to talk about it? Haruhi, this is possibly the greatest news I've heard since the finalization of the treaty that let me marry you."
"That's the thing," Haruhi murmured, "the treaty was finalized and signed but the terms aren't complete yet."
"They're working on it. Demilitarization doesn't happen in one day. Rebuilding doesn't occur in one day, not even one month." He took her hands and noted the look of devastation on her face. "Why are you unhappy?"
"Because we're still rebuilding. And there's still misunderstandings between the Narians going to Mora to help out and the Moradians there who think that they're coming to oppress them more. And Kyoya, I'm not ready for a child. I'm not ready to raise a child. Not when there's still so much going on and so much to do."
"No one said that you had to do everything, Haruhi," he said gently.
"I know, I know," she replied impatiently, waving a hand. "I'm not worried about me, Kyoya. I'm worried about bringing a child into a world that isn't ready for it. As much as we've already progressed this is still not a place where I would ever wish for a child to live."
He sighed. "It will never be perfect, Haruhi. It's impossible for the world to be perfect." His hand cupped her cheek and she looked into his face for a moment before wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest.
"You're still unwell," she mumbled into his shirt.
"I get better every day," he answered. "The sleep paralysis happens less often and lasts for shorter periods of time."
She shook her head. "Every time I'm always gripped with the terror that this time you might not come back."
"I always come back and I always will. For you." He paused long enough to kiss her forehead then added, "And now for our child."
He smiled at her and held her. That night at dinner, they announced her pregnancy and Yuiichi suggested that they move to Mora. "You could be governors of the territory. Ensure the the treaty is being carried out there yourselves if that would ease your anxieties any. I'd be happy to give you the position and start rebuilding a wing of the old palace if need be."
Kyoya glanced at her with a questioning raise of an eyebrow and her eyes widened. "It's up to you," she muttered, excusing herself. "I'll follow you anywhere."
"Then we accept," Kyoya said as she reached the door. Haruhi stopped only for a moment before continuing.
~o~
They rebuilt the Moradian palace. The war-torn villages. The broken communities. Haruhi and Kyoya moved into the new Moradian palace a couple weeks after Yuiichi suggested it. Living there felt odd to Haruhi, perhaps because she had been born there, perhaps because the community was still wary. Kyoya quickly proved himself to Moradians as a worthy governor by allowing average citizens to come to him with any problems they encountered. His rough Moradian improved very quickly.
They rebuilt Nari and Kira and all of the support systems that had been destroyed between them and Mora in the two decades of war. Kyoya slowly rebuilt his relationship with his father at Haruhi's prodding.
And they built a family. Their daughter was born that winter and they named her Kotoko after Haruhi's mother. When they told Ranka, he cried. They heard nothing from the Witch but rumors of where she had last been seen, roaming the countryside looking for work and food. Kyoya's sleep paralysis eventually tapered until it rarely happened.
During a thunderstorm one night several years later, Kyoya held an at ease Haruhi while she cradled their 5-year-old Kotoko to her. Kotoko, like her mother had once been, was terrified of thunderstorms. The child had only fallen asleep moments before, feeling safe in her mother's arms.
Kyoya squeezed her a little and she hummed sleepily. "Why aren't you afraid anymore?" he murmured in her ear and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
"It's just light," Haruhi answered. "And thunder is just the sound of the light coming down to the earth. It lights up the darkness for just a split second and the entire world is clear for that instant. Nothing can possibly get lost in the dark with that kind of light."
"Were you lost?"
"I was. But I found my way with all the flashes."
Kyoya grunted contentedly and settled down to sleep while she watched the storm rage outside the windows of their home.
The history books nicked named them the King and Queen of Light since they had been the ones to bring an end to a dark period of time. When Kotoko was old enough, her parents told her their story and she, like all the rest were completely amazed by them.
"There was a time when Mora wasn't a threat..." Haruhi began the long story of the war and the two people who met and fought to end it.
~o~
A/N: Cheesy ending is cheesy. But I had to bring the title in somehow. I think I only ever intended for Lost in the Dark to be the working title until I found a better one but then I just got lazy and didn't want to go through the effort of changing it.
Apologies for the delay. Finals hit hard. Then break became ultra busy. And then school hit hard again. It's a vicious cycle. I also had chapter 39 finished in December but I didn't want to post it until I had 40 done too. So that's what happened there.
This is it folks. No more. The end. Sha-bam pow! I dunno. It's been almost 5 years. I can't believe it took me nearly 5 years to write this entire story but I'm super thankful to everyone that supported me while doing it. Thank you for your patience and your love and your reviews! You've been lovely readers, despite my inconsistencies (in plot, character, and updating, ha!) Kudos to everyone!
I don't know what my next project will be, or if I'm even going to write anything else now. (I think I need a break). But I have some ideas and y'all should look out for it. Also is probably worth mentioning that I've started posting all my stuff over on Ao3 so if I update anything else anywhere it'll probably be there. (Yes I'm still working on Memory of Murder and that will still be updated here but I'm awfully stuck and life is crazy so don't expect that to be updated for a while. Possibly not until summer.)
Thank you all again for reading and I will see you on my next writing adventure!