Author's notes: And we're back! It was hard work doing the proofreading and revision for this one, which included completely rewriting about a third of the penultimate scene, but I set aside a good chunk of time for it and I think I got it where it needs to be. Let me know what you think.

- Chapter 5: The Train Journey -

"I had a weird dream last night," Haruhi sighed as soon as Kyon plopped his bag down at his desk.

"Weird how?" he asked. That was one of the nice things about Kyon. You could always count on him to take an interest.

"Well, I guess the weirdest thing is that there wasn't anything weird about it. There weren't any monsters or flying cats or other sorts of magical creatures, the laws of physics and cause and effect weren't messed up, and nobody seemed drastically different from the way they usually are. It was like my dream world was just like the regular old real world."

"That has to be pretty unusual for you."

"Yeah, exactly. About the only big change was that we were at college instead of North High."

When she said that, Kyon went all tense, his back straightening up, his limbs stiffening. She had seen him do that before. She could never quite figure out what made him do it.

"...We were in college?" Kyon asked. "Who do you mean by 'we'? Who was in your dream?"

"Just you and me, mostly. But you were older, like college age."

"So what happened in this dream?"

"Oh, we were taking a class together, and I caught you napping. So I had to wake you up and drag you there so we wouldn't be late. That's all." She thought about telling him that in the dream he was her boyfriend and they kissed. It would embarrass him, like she told Dr. Uchida, but Kyon was always so funny when he was embarrassed. But no, she had to fight the temptation. He could misunderstand and think that she wanted him to be her boyfriend, and that would make it awkward between them. She couldn't let that happen.

It was strange, though, how good it felt to be kissed by him, even in a dream. It was almost like it wasn't a dream at all.

"I'm afraid to ask..." Kyon said. "But is there anything my sister and I should bring along on our trip?"

"Not really. Just a change of clothes." In the silence that followed he seemed to be expecting her to say more, so she thought a moment and added, "I guess it's always a good idea to bring plenty of money."

"Of course," he sighed. "And what would you do if I don't bring any money? How would you buy the stuff you want then?"

She shrugged. "Ask Aunt Kanae to buy it for me, I guess. I'm not planning on buying a lot of things."

There was a pause. A long one.

"Okay, what is it?" Haruhi demanded.

"Nothing. It's just, ordinarily you'd get angry about me suggesting that I wasn't going to do what you want me to."

"What do you mean, what I want you to do? You asked me what you should bring, and I gave you some suggestions. What I want has nothing to do with it."

"Really? Usually what you want is all there is to it."

"Don't be ridiculous. There's a limit to how much one person can want. No matter how caring and enthusiastic someone is, there are always going to be things they just don't care about."

"I guess that's true." He sounded like his mood had just improved, for whatever reason. "Okay, I'll bring money. Just in case."

They all met up at the train station Friday. Kyon, as usual, arrived last. Even his little sister arrived before him by hopping off his bike as they approached and running up to greet Haruhi. Haruhi gave her a piece of the candy she'd brought along. What could she say? The kiddo was a charmer. It was so strange to look down at that bright laughing face and think that even she would one day...

Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

"Sorry I'm late," Kyon muttered, instead of his usual quibbling about how he was almost ten minutes ahead of the agreed-upon time. It was nice that he was being polite for a change, but he was looking at Yui very oddly.

"Hi, Kyon," Yui said with a little wave. Her tone was friendly, but she was also looking a little sheepish. Was there something going on between those two...?

"Hey, Ishigaki." The friendliness in Kyon's voice definitely had some nervousness under it. Yeah, there was something going on here.

While Kyon was parking his bike, Yui sidled up to her and said, "Um, Suzumiya? You did at least tell Kyon that I was coming along, right?"

"Huh? Well, of course I -" Her mind drew a blank. "...Um, wait..." She thought back. Yui watched her with obvious concern. "Mmm... You know, I think I never got around to it."

"Suzumiya!"

"It's no big deal. He can see that you're coming now, right?"

"It's a huge deal!" She was talking in a harsh, scolding whisper now. "Kyon put aside all his weekend plans so that he could go on this trip with you. You could at least show him a little consideration. Even if you thought he would like having me along, you should have given him fair warning. Look at him now – he obviously doesn't want me here."

"Don't be silly. I told you, Kyon likes you."

"And I told you, whether he likes me or not isn't the point."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," she grumbled. Stupid Kyon, making Yui feel like she isn't welcome. I'm going to have a very long talk with him about this later.

Kyon was approaching them. "Hey. Are we waiting on anyone else?"

"Nope, it's just the four of us. That's the maximum number of guests my aunt can board."

"I see."

Yui nudged her. Ugh, she can be so oblivious sometimes. Kyon is obviously just disappointed that I didn't invite more cute girls.

...Either that, or he doesn't like it that I invited Yui instead of one of the SOS Brigade members. I can't think of why he would want one of them along badly enough to wish Yui wasn't coming, but I'm getting that vibe from him. I really hope that's not it.

Mostly because Kyon is right about these things an annoyingly high percentage of the time.

On the train, Kyon's sister was the most eager of her three guests to sit next to her. Haruhi was more than willing to let her have her way, and since there weren't enough free seats on the train for all four of them to sit together, that left Kyon to pair off with Yui on the opposite side of the train. That was best, anyway. It would give Kyon a chance to make up for his rudeness and show Yui that he really did want her around. And if he blew it, she would give him twice as stern a talk.

"Thank you so much for inviting me, Miss Suzumiya!" Little Sis grinned.

"Stop right there," Haruhi said, holding a finger in front of Little Sis's face. "First of all, what's this Miss Suzumiya stuff? You used to call me Haruhi. Second, I haven't done anything to be thanked for. I invited you because I knew you would brighten up the whole trip with your company, not because I wanted to do you any kind of favor. Understand?"

"Okay! But Kyon told me to call you Miss Suzumiya."

"Oh, he did, huh? Okay then, I guess I can live with that. Miss Suzumiya it is."

"Awww..."

"Don't grumble, kiddo. I hardly let anyone outside of my family call me by my first name, ever. That I would let you do it at all is a special honor! Anyway, it's important that you respect your big brother. Except when he's being stupid, of course, like when he didn't want you to come along on our island adventure."

"He's stupid a lot. You guys are always going on fun adventures, and he hardly ever lets me come!"

"Hey, I said no grumbling! We're all going on a fun adventure now, right?"

"Yeah..." She smiled. Kind of a wimpy smile, but a smile.

"And even if your brother is stupid a lot of the time, we still like him a lot, don't we? Remember when he wore the reindeer costume?"

Little Sis joined in with her giggling. Kyon shot the two of them a suspicious glare, which just made them giggle all the harder. He looked so ridiculously serious about their laughing at him. Much as she loved to see him smile, Haruhi hoped that Kyon never learned to have a sense of humor about himself.

During the ride they played word games, sang songs, and enjoyed the scenery. Haruhi knew every landmark, every hill, and every wooded area on the route to her aunt Kanae's house, and though Kyon acted bored as she provided her guided tour to them all, she could tell that he was impressed.

Yui, of course, was openly interested in it all. Archaeology was her main field of interest, but anything that offered the opportunity for exploring was enough to excite her.

"Aunt Kanae loves hiking," Haruhi told them. "I'm sure we'll get a chance to check out some of these places during our visit."

"Alright!" Little Sis beamed. "We can load up my backpack with a water bottle and snacks!"

"Sounds like another camping trip," Yui grinned.

Haruhi felt a flash of anger. "Hey, don't talk like this is just an outdoor adventure! I brought you all along so that you could get to know my Aunt Kanae!"

"Okay, okay. Geez."

"No 'geez'! My aunt is a very special person, and you should appreciate the chance to get to know her instead of just focusing on the activities!"

Kyon stirred at that. "You're the one who suggested hiking in the first place."

"That's not the same as making it the whole focus!"

"Look, I'm sorry," Yui said. "That's not how I meant it, okay?"

She still sounded condescending towards the issue, but she also sounded genuinely sorry at having upset her. That wouldn't have been enough to convince Haruhi to let it go, but Kyon was giving her that look that said she was crossing the line from exhausting to reprehensible. A nagging voice at the back of her head was telling her that he might be right, and anyway, she was entirely not in the mood for a fight with Kyon right now.

"Yeah, I get it," she said. "And you know, it's not as if I don't want us all to have fun on this trip, either."

"Well, of course not!" Yui gave her a thumbs up. "One thing you can always count on with a Haruhi Suzumiya expedition, is everyone always has a great time!"

How silly is that? Even if it is the SOS Brigade's mission to find aliens, espers, time travelers, and sliders and have fun with them, I'm not some non-stop entertainment machine. And I definitely didn't give any thought to keeping my companions entertained on this trip.

It was a friendly sentiment, though, so she smiled and returned the thumbs up.

She noticed Kyon was now quietly smiling at her as this happened. She didn't totally get it, but that made the sickness in her stomach subside a little, and brought a nice warm feeling to her center. Sometimes she wished... She knew she could never allow it to happen, but sometimes she wished she could just lay her head against Kyon's chest, let him wrap his arms around her, hear him tell her...

"It's going to be okay, Haruhi."

She sobbed against him, "What are you, stupid?! People are shooting at us! How can you possibly think that it's going to be okay?"

He didn't answer, just ran his fingers through her hair in an effort to soothe. She could hear the train pounding down the tracks, but she held out no hope that it would get them safely away from the people who were after them. She didn't know who they were, but she felt that they were everywhere.

Kyon released the arm not tangled in her hair and used it to pull his phone out of his pocket, tap a contact, and put it to his ear. "Mishima! What's going on here?" he said into the phone. "...Well, tell those idiots to back the hell off, because what they're doing is the absolute best possible way to get the world destroyed. ...Are you kidding me? I thought you were the guy who has connections to every faction on the grid! ...Never mind, we don't have time for this. Just have some people meet us at the Kobe station."

He hung up. Haruhi frowned. "I thought you didn't trust Mishima."

"I don't. But you do, and I figure that at least means he wouldn't try to kill you. And I can't call Nagato or Fujinami without the call being traced."

This was starting to piss her off. It was like Kyon was telling a joke that only he was in on. "What's going on here, anyway? Why are people trying to kill us?"

He was silent for a moment. "Alright," Kyon sighed, as if coming to a decision long struggled over. "I didn't want it to happen under these circumstances, but... Haruhi, there's something I have to tell you."

She pulled her head just slightly away from his chest, and looked up at his face. He looked so... regretful. She swallowed. "Don't say it like that. You can tell me anything. Don't you know that?"

He breathed heavily, as though hefting the weight of what he was going to say. "Yeah, I know that. I was always going to tell you this, from the moment I found it out myself. But the timing was important... crucial, really. I wanted to tell you, but the time wasn't right. I don't think the time's right even now, but like it or not, you need to know."

She held back the urge to scream at him, "Just tell me already!" Kyon could be ridiculously slow sometimes, but there was usually a good reason for it. It was hard to think of something like that when there were people shooting at you, though.

"Remember that day in the cafe, when I told you that Nagato was an alien, Koizumi was an esper, and Miss Asahina was a time traveler?" Haruhi had a split second to wonder, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, why he was asking that, because he didn't wait for an answer. "Well, I know you said it's too convenient to be true, but there's a reason for that. It's something far more incredible than any number of aliens, espers, superheroes, or unicorns, or whatever you like. It's...

"It's you."

She stared at him. "What do you mean, it's me?"

"Dammit," he muttered. "This is so impossible to explain... Look, Haruhi, you're the most extraordinary person I've ever met. That would be true even if it weren't for what I'm telling you now, if you were just a normal college student who only a handful of people were interested in."

Her face became warm. "Seriously? You think now is an appropriate time to try smooth talking?"

"I'm not smooth talking. This is just the truth."

Honestly, that was what made it so embarrassing. In middle school she had heard flattery from enough guys to make her roll her eyes every time. But whenever Kyon said something nice (which happened with frustrating infrequency), it was always because he meant it with all his heart.

"But there's something else about you, something that makes even powerful matter-shaping aliens interested in you. You -"

He suddenly stopped talking, grabbed her arms, and moved her to the other side of him. She had opened her mouth to object to his manhandling when she saw one of the other passengers on the train had drawn a gun. Kyon was shielding her.

There was a loud bang. The gun muzzle flashed. And just like that, Kyon collapsed against her.

"Kyon!" she screamed. She couldn't hold him up, so she collapsed to the floor with him, cradling him in her arms. He had a bloody hole in his chest, and there was a confused look on his face. The light was fading from his eyes. "Kyon! Stay with me! Please!"

He stared at her face. "Hu... Haruhi..."

"Don't talk! Just stay alive!"

She became aware of a loud clicking. It annoyed her, that someone would be so disruptive while Kyon could be No no no no no! I'm not even going to think it!

"I'm not going to let you do that again."

That voice. It wasn't the gunman's voice.

It was her own voice. But it wasn't coming from her mouth.

She looked up. The gunman had his weapon trained on her, and he was pulling the trigger, but the gun wasn't doing anything. But as strange as that was, there was something far more eye-catching happening. The walls of the train were melting and reforming into metal casts of a face – her face. And those metal casts was talking, to the utter terror of the other passengers.

The gunman included. He now had his phone out. "Code red! I shot the Chosen. I thought I could shoot her right after, but she's stopped my gun!"

"You aren't going to hurt me anymore," said one of the metal faces.

"You aren't going to hurt anyone anymore," said another one.

"See how..." The third one opened its mouth farther than any human jaw could reach. "...you like it!"

There were three more loud bangs, in quick succession. The gunman screamed and fell to his knees, the phone cracking on the train floor. He had bloody little holes in his arm, knee, and stomach.

Passengers were frantically scrambling over the doors, trying to pull them open and get off. "It's not safe to exit the train between stops," said one of the metal faces. "Don't panic. I will keep you safe until we get to the next stop, then let you off there."

Kyon's eyes were drooping. "Kyon!" Haruhi cried, and started slapping his cheeks. "Don't fall asleep on me! I don't even have any clue what's going on here!"

She thought she heard him groan faintly, and then his eyes closed.

"No! Didn't you hear me, Kyon? You can't fall asleep! You -" She broke for an involuntary sob. "This can't be happening! Wake up, Kyon! Wake -"

"- up!"

She found herself sitting bolt upright, no longer on the train floor. Yui, Kyon, and Kyon's sister were all staring at her. Especially Kyon. Yui and Little Sis were staring at her like she'd had a particularly loud sneeze, but Kyon was staring at her like she had just unscrewed her left forearm and replaced it with a cybernetic attachment. Hmm. That would be pretty cool.

"What do you mean, 'Up'?" Yui asked.

"Huh?" She shook her head to fully dislodge herself from her daydream. She used to have daydreams all the time, but ever since she started the SOS Brigade, it was like her brain was too interested in the real world to wander off like that. Being out of practice, shaking herself out of it didn't come quite as naturally and instantly as it used to.

"You just shouted 'Up!' all of a sudden. Were we supposed to do something?"

"Um... No. I just got a weird chill all of a sudden. It made me shout."

Yui nodded. Little Sis made a "Hmm!" of vague satisfaction and went back to coloring in her notebook.

Kyon, though, was still staring at her, and it hit her what was so different about his stare. That daydream... whatever it was, whatever had brought it on...

Kyon had just seen the same thing she did.