Whoo, there's a lot in this chapter so strap in!
There's no moon in the sky, Kei's retired them all for the next few days, unable to focus long enough to put any of them into orbit. He finds himself on the beach, back against the stone wall of the cliff, bare feet half buried in the sand. He'd left his glasses in his room so navigating the path down the cliff was more than a little treacherous.
But he's here now.
Even from so far away, he can hear the Palace singing. It's sings songs of joy, and songs of mourning, songs of comfort, and songs of rage. Even from so far away, Kei can hear the walls whisper, can hear the goings on within.
Bokuto wakes up in fits. Akaashi doesn't sleep. Sugawara has taken to roaming the halls until he collapses in a nook somewhere. Kuroo has been absent from the Palace for a couple of days, Kei can't stretch his sense out enough to look for him, and Kuroo's always been good at hiding. With Asahi still in a coma, the restoration of the forests has gone to Kiyoko and Yachi. They leave in the early morning, directing nymphs and other forest beings in regrowing the trees and restoring the earth. They return before the sun sets, and they stay out in the garden. Tanaka has lost his fight, rarely leaving his room. Moniwa, his team, and the various defense based gods have been working tirelessly to strengthen the Palace's automatic protection.
The Palace sings laments for Sugawara and Daichi and everyone involved with keeping Oikawa's status a secret. Most of the gods understand why the decision was a necessary one, but some of them still hold a grudge, they feel betrayed. Kei can't really blame them, but he also wishes they'd get over it. Now isn't the time to be building tension. The months following a war are always bad for them. They rebuild, calculate their losses, document everything down. They have to travel their realm and make sure the damage hasn't been catastrophic. Those with high magic potential often must be examined and put on watch to see if there'd been any corruption of their cores. The Demons are most definitely put on watch.
The Demons remain together, Kageyama joins them when he can't stand to be in the Forge anymore.
Kageyama.
The Palace sings the most comfort to him. He holes up amongst his fire and his elements, creating and destroying and creating and perfecting and destroying in a vicious cycle. Just as before, the weapons are perfect. Nobody died, but their injuries were numerous. Kei doesn't know what exactly happened when the Demons defeated the monsters, none of them have breathed a word about it.
Kei's fear is that it will become another series of keys.
He's tried to stay out of his workshop. The desire to destroy every single one of his keys has become incredibly insistent. He accepted the responsibility long ago, tricked himself into think he was okay with it. And maybe he was, for a while.
But not anymore, Kei hopes that he won't get anymore visits. He's only been awake for a few days now, and there's been a tension in his body that hasn't left. Every waking moment, he finds himself anticipating a knock on the door. He expects to find one of the gods, looking a wreck, to tell him a secret, just as they had before.
It happened in the dead of the night, when the sky was black. Kei could always be counted on to be awake at such an hour. So they would arrive, and they would tell him what they wanted locked away.
And Kei would do it.
It was fine at first. The first secrets he got were of little consequence where he was concerned. Then the bad ones started appearing. The dark secrets, the ones that made Kei stumble the first time he heard them. The keys that those secrets got locked in are still the heaviest in Kei's collection. There was a lull as they entered into a peacetime. No one came to him, Kei could put the practice to the back of his mind.
Then they were at war.
And after, while Kei was still reeling from the loss of his brother and the loss of his wings, while Kei was still swamped with worry and grief and anger, the gods came to him.
And his collection grew.
Kei eases himself down to sit, his back sliding down the smooth rock. When he woke, the pain in his back was practically non existent, at least by his standards. He draws his knees up and digs his toes deeper into the sand.
There's no use dwelling on the past, he can't do anything to change it. The only one with that potential ability is Akaashi, and there's still some doubt that he even can. He hasn't tried, won't try, Akaashi's too cautious for that.
After a few more hours, Kei stands up, brushing the sand from his clothes. He doesn't want to try climbing back up, not after he'd almost fallen on the way down. Instead, he extends a few strands of chain from each hand and sends them sailing up the cliff face. He doesn't repel so much as he simply makes himself lighter. He recalls his chain in reverse so they carry him up the cliff.
There's only a moment of quiet between Kei standing up and the scream that ripples through the air.
He runs inside, recognizing the scream as Yamaguchi's. For an instant, Kei fears the worse, his mind already procuring worst case scenarios. But he stops short at the front door as a wave of magic rolls through.
It's Yamaguchi's weapon summoning magic, but it's more powerful than Kei has sensed in a long while. He hurries inside and makes his way to Yamaguchi's room, knocking lightly on the door before pushing it open.
Yamaguchi is sitting straight up, a few star beasts surround him, one sits in his lap, looking at him in what is probably concern. About a dozen weapons hover in the air around him, his spear is the closest. He's breathing heavy, chest rising and falling dramatically.
"Tadashi," Kei says from the doorway.
The weapons and star beasts all vanish, and Yamaguchi looks up at him. The stars on his face are shining much too bright.
Kei moves into the room, approaching Yamaguchi's bedside but not sitting down.
"Sorry," Yamaguchi says, voice cracking. "It was just a nightmare."
Daichi and Sugawara had examined him for corruption, and Kei can see that his signature is as clean as ever. Kei knows that this sort of behavior, startling awake in the night, will be happening for some time, just like it did the last time.
He knows that.
There are no words that he can say, so he rests a hand on Yamaguchi's shoulder and squeezes.
"It will pass, just as it did before."
Yamaguchi nods but he doesn't look like he believes what he's hearing.
"I don't think they'll ever stop," he admits, bowing his head to his hands.
Kei sighs quietly and sits down beside him.
Yamaguchi's right. These are memories that won't leave. They may fade with time, but moments will stay, and they will present themselves with clarity.
"What was it?" Kei asks.
"Uh," Yamaguchi takes a moment to rub his eyes before drawing in a shaky breath, "the first time I- when I realized that I could let constellations possess me."
Kei remembers that day, remembers seeing Yamaguchi after he was released from the infirmary. He'd been shaken, and Kei had stayed at his side from the rest of day, and the next. Eventually, Yamaguchi returned to some semblance of normal, but he'd told Kei how frightening it was.
Yamaguchi can't always see what happens while he's possessed, maybe for the first few moments, but then he fades. It's dark, his senses are dulled, he panics.
That first time, Yamaguchi had been in that dark space for longer than he's ever been, then he wakes up in the infirmary. The worst part was that he'd been told how the constellation attempted to corrupt his mind.
Kei reaches for one of his hands.
There really isn't anything he can say that can fix this, so he stays quiet.
It rings around his head, an incessant buzzing intent on taking up every last bit of his focus.
He puzzles out why he didn't immediately say yes. Taking the time to relearn how to fly is a small price to pay for his wings, and Kei should have been able to nod, to accept, to pay that price, in a heartbeat. He should have agreed on the spot, should have told Daichi to put him to sleep and graft his wings on immediately.
But he hadn't.
Why?
He's narrowed it down to a few emotions, one of which is fear. It's an option that he doesn't really want to entertain, but it keeps whispering, offering up logical reasons that Kei really can't argue with. There is just one question he has yet to answer, and it's a simple question of 'why?'.
Why is he afraid to get his wings back?
He doesn't know, doesn't want to know. He wishes he could pawn the decision off to someone else. Write down a 'yes' and a 'no' then point blindly, or assign a number to each choice and have Yamaguchi pick a value.
However he goes about it, so long as he doesn't have to make the decision.
No one else has brought it up. Daichi hasn't tried to talk to him again, nor has Sugawara. Shouyou hasn't brought it up, and Kageyama and Yamaguchi have kept quiet. None of the others have even uttered a word about his attempted stunt near the end of the war.
It's not like he really wants someone to discuss it with him. But he knows that others are thinking about it. He can practically feel the looks they give him, and those looks are almost always brimming with concern.
No one was in their right mind, they have no right to judge him.
Kei draws in a sharp breath to quell his frustration, but all it does is make Natsu and Shouyou look concerned.
They're with him in his workshop. Shouyou told Natsu about the moons and she'd wanted to see them. Kei made himself go into his workshop and he banished the keys to the artifact room so he wouldn't have to think about them.
Yamaguchi is sitting on one of the work tables, a constellation bouncing from moon to moon, but Kei can't find it within himself to be irritated.
"I'm fine," he says, before either of them can question him. Yamaguchi catches his eye and raises a brow in worry, but he doesn't say anything either.
"If you're sure," Shouyou says. He's developed a tone that Kei would bet he learned from Yamaguchi, the tone that says 'we will talk about this later and I refuse to back down then'. Kei hates that tone, hates it with a passion.
Yamaguchi seems proud of Shouyou for developing it, which only serves to substantiate Kei's theory.
"That one's pretty!" Natsu points to one of the brightest moons in the workshop.
It's the one Kei made for the former Sun God, and he tells her as such.
Once the words leave his mouth, all he can see is that pair of massive wings drooping over the side of a platform, body already beginning to glow with red magic. He sees the emblem on the cloak and finds himself standing on a raised dais, gods all around him. He's taller than the Sun God, but he holds less presence. The room grows bright and a soft melody calms whatever nerves had lingered. He locks eyes with his brother, standing to his left. Akiteru looks up and opens an eye, locking onto Kei's gaze. He smiles warmly and nods before closing his eye and bowing his head once more.
The force of the magic that hits him makes him drop to his knees. It courses through him, teetering between too much and nothingness. Everything zooms in and out far too fast for him to follow. The world around him is amplified, he can feel each thread in his tunic and he can feel the individual feathers in his wings-
Kei blinks hard and he's back in his workshop. Shouyou's babbling to Natsu, and Yamaguchi is tugging his constellation out of one of Kei's tool boxes.
He shakes his head to clear it and sits down on a bench. Not a moment later, Natsu is clambering up to sit beside him.
"Will you make a moon for Shouyou?" she asks.
"Oh! Would you?"
Shouyou's wings flap, blowing a short gust of hot air through the room. He doesn't pout, he puts on a brilliant smile. His eyes shine and he glows brighter. There's nothing but hope and glee in his expression.
Can Kei really say no to such a face?
No, the answer is no.
He nods, and Shouyou manages to flip himself in a circle without disturbing any of the moons.
"I can give it to you after your officiation."
It'll take that long just for Kei to come up with something he deems passable and acceptable for Shouyou. A number of their gods are still in healing comas, but with Oikawa's magic, the process is moving a lot faster than it did when he was asleep. Those not on the brink of death when they were put under had all woken already while Asahi and Terushima would still be out of commission for a short while. They can't have an officiation unless all the gods are present, and Asahi is one of their major ones.
In addition, Kiyoko, Yachi, and various nymphs have been busy regrowing all of the forest that was damaged during the war. Kenma and his beasts have been busy cleaning the waters of the monster blood while his nymphs perform checks in the deep sea. A number of older gods make back and forth trips between the Palace and monsters' home base, investigating the latter.
Kei has yet to mention the cave he left his monster in, and he hopes that none of the nymphs bring it up. He doesn't think he'll be so lucky though, all his luck was used up in the fact that nobody died.
That's how he thinks anyway, nevermind that it likely won't make sense to anyone else.
Shouyou starts rambling about how he wants his moon to look but Kei only holds up a hand to stop him.
"It's a surprise, you don't get to decide what it looks like."
Shouyou does pout this time but Kei steels his resolve and shakes his head. Eventually, the Sun God gives up, darting forward to give Kei a kiss.
"I'm sure I'll love it."
As the night winds down, Shouyou and Natsu have to go back to the Palace. Natsu is falling asleep, the flames she calls hair have turned from a crimson red to a soft orange instead.
Yamaguchi waves, and Tsukishima tries not to blush when Shouyou flies up just enough to give him another kiss.
Shouyou arrives early in the morning, Kageyama only a few paces behind him. He flies at Kei, keeping himself up with only his legs, so he can gesture with his hands while he talks.
"Asahi and Terushima are waking up today!" he says. Kei looks past him to Kageyama for confirmation
"Daichi's intentionally ending their comas because he wants to check in," Kageyama says. "But he said they're both fully healed."
"You and Tadashi are coming too," Shouyou decides. He jumps off Kei to move toward Yamaguchi, taking his hand and tugging lightly. "Let's go!"
Kageyama gestures for Shouyou to go a little ways ahead with Yamaguchi. He stays close enough that he's within their line of sight at all times, and Kei is grateful for the fact.
"What is it?" he asks, knowing that Kageyama wouldn't have told Shouyou to go ahead if he didn't want to talk.
"I told Daichi about your wings," he says.
"I know."
"What did he tell you?"
"That he could graft them back on. It would just take a healing coma."
"And what did you say?"
"That I needed time to think about it."
His conversations with Kageyama have always been a source of intrigue for him. Kageyama is blunt in his questioning, he doesn't try to soften blows or skirt around discussion. He also doesn't push if he can't find fault with the answer he gets. He'll take them at face value and figure the deeper meanings on his own at a later time.
Almost always, he's correct.
Kei likes that, he appreciates directness.
There's more to it than that, he knows. There's something about talking to Kageyama, Kei doesn't think that he judges people when they talk to him. If he does, then he's very good at hiding it. He's earnest, in a nearly annoying way, but Kei's grown used to it over the lifetimes.
"Okay," Kageyama says easily enough.
That's the extent of their conversation. They catch up with Shouyou and Yamaguchi and they arrange themselves one the path to the Palace. Kei ends up walking in the middle, Shouyou perched on his shoulder. Kei wonders if he got the idea from Nishinoya. Their little guardian can often be found sitting on one of Asahi's shoulders, and it's become such a normal occurrence that nobody bats an eye anymore.
They arrive soon enough and Kei keeps quiet as they pass through the gates. He hears the Palace's song even louder as they pass through the front entry, it echoes off the walls and waits in the rafters before swooping down in arcs.
Kei hasn't been back since he woke up. The Palace knows this.
Kei can tell that Kageyama can hear the song too, some of them are more inclined to it than others.
Upon entering the infirmary, Kei finds that they aren't alone.
Terushima's pack is waiting eagerly, a few of them nearly vibrating in their efforts to keep still. Nishinoya, Yachi, Kiyoko, and a few other forest based nymphs are waiting for Asahi, all crowded around his bed. They're the only two left as the others had already been woken up a short time previous.
The four of them take up a spot against the wall, Kei leans back and Shouyou jumps down from his shoulders to stand beside him.
Oikawa is emitting his magic, Sugawara acting as a conduit for it so it's more compatible with Daichi's own brand of magic.
The shrouds holding Asahi and Terushima in their healing comas fall away. Everyone waits with baited breath for them to wake.
After a few incredibly tense moments, Terushima opens his eyes, blinking slowly and utterly confused. Asahi follows moments later, looking panicked until Nishinoya all but collapses over him, hugging him tightly.
The infirmary erupts into a cacophony of chatter and crying.
Kei leans against the wall, nudging Shouyou forward to go greet Asahi.
"Did we win?"
Terushima's voice is barely audible over all the noise.
Kei finds himself smiling for a moment.
Daichi completes some diagnostics on the two of them before giving them the go ahead to leave whenever they get their feet under them. Kei slips from the infirmary the second he accidentally meets Daichi's gaze. He mutters a quick excuse to Yamaguchi before going.
He wanders until he ends up in the garden and he settles himself behind a tall hedge riddled with bright red and orange flowers.
It's not until he's comfortable and his breathing has returned to normal that he realized what he'd done.
He'd run away.
Yamaguchi's magic rolls through the air again, this time it shakes the very foundation of their home. Kei picks himself up and goes to Yamaguchi's room.
Already, all but one of the weapons have been banished and the star beasts are nowhere to be found. Yamaguchi is sitting up, having turned so his legs are over the side of his bed and his feet are on the floor.
"They're getting worse," Kei says plainly, sitting beside Yamaguchi. In what feels like a defeated manner, Yamaguchi drops his head to Kei's shoulder.
"I know. I think I should stop sleeping."
Yamaguchi's spear lies at the foot of his bed, easily within physical reaching distance.
"I don't think that's wise either."
"If it means I don't have to see all of this every night, I don't care."
They end up staying awake for the rest of that night. The following morning, Yamaguchi locks himself in his workshop.
Kei sits out on the cliff to bounce ideas off himself.
He stands by his earlier thoughts, moving back to the Palace could help both of them. Now that Yamaguchi's nightmares are becoming so frequent and so severe, it's the only thing Kei wholeheartedly believes will help.
The Palace will help keep him calm, will do its best to rid him of nightmares before they occur. Kei knows it's been doing so for Tanaka, and for countless others. It will have missed Yamaguchi.
But Kei holds back for a little while. He would like it if Yamaguchi would talk to him, maybe they could make this situation better on their own. Yamaguchi probably won't talk to him though, not past what Kei already knows anyhow. He's very good at keeping the worst parts to himself, to minimize worrying others, despite the fact that it just makes Kei worry more.
Kei's struck by the sudden realization that this is how Yamaguchi must feel about him most of the time.
It's not until Yamaguchi sends a spear through a wall that Kei realizes it's a 'now or never' scenario.
Yamaguchi's already sobbing when Kei enters his room.
"I can't-" he starts, "I can't, not anymore, it just keeps getting worse."
Kei sits down beside him and moves to pull him into a side hug.
"I've been thinking," Kei says, "it might get better if we move back to the Palace."
Yamaguchi doesn't say anything for the longest while and Kei's afraid that he's completely misread the situation.
"The Palace?"
"Yes."
"We? But you said you can't stand the Palace."
"That's not entirely true."
"I'm not going to leave you out here alone just so I can get some sleep."
"I know, so I'll go with you."
Yamaguchi is silent for a long while before he moves back a little bit. When Kei looks at him, their gazes lock.
"You're serious about this?" Yamaguchi asks.
"I've been thinking about it for a while now."
Yamaguchi lights up, jumping from the bed. He somehow manages to pick Kei up and spin him around. The stars on his face are shining and the star beasts all begin to appear one by one. Soon enough, Yamaguchi's room is nothing but a mess of glowing light.
"Thank you," he says, setting Kei back on the ground and pulling him into a hug.
Kei doesn't say anything, he just nods and tightens his arms around Yamaguchi
"Kei!"
He braces for impact as the little sprite comes running. Natsu jumps into his arms, her fiery hair already spelled to keep from burning him. She's wearing a dress made of airy pink and orange fabric, hemmed in white and shimmering. Kyoutani must have made it recently because his magic is still strong.
Natsu's all smiles as she holds out a lopsided crown of flowers. The petals are a deep blue, tipped in white, with silver veins that are just barely visible. Kei notices that they almost glow, though it's a little hard to tell in the bright light of the Hall. They glow in time with Natsu's breathing, pulsing just the slightest bit lighter with every inhale.
"I made it with Shimizu's new flowers," she says. She looks incredibly proud of this creation.
"Thank you, it looks very nice." He bows his head so she can put it on him, then adjusts her in his arms.
"The Hall looks really pretty."
They'd re-prepared the Hall for Shouyou's officiation, and it looks even better than before.
The pillars are bigger, bolder, and brighter, and Kiyoko's floating flowers fill the air. The wall murals are moving, colors swirling around and glowing. Sugawara's raised a circular dais in the center of the room, engraved with small suns and ornately woven designs of gold. The border is detailed with the events of the war, mainly their victory. Each god is represented with a symbol, some are rather obvious. Kei is a moon, Shouyou is a sun, Kageyama is a sword, Yamaguchi is a simple constellation. Iwaizumi is more abstract, most of the demons are, but after a few moments of puzzling, Kei can divine who is what.
The Palace itself is ready for Shouyou's officiation. Kei can feel its refrain in his heart with every passing second. The walls seem to hum as well, a palpable energy thrumming through the very infrastructure. It just feels lighter.
A handful of gods are milling about, making sure everything looks perfect. They're all dressed up in formal garb, and they look stunning. It's Kyoutani's work, all airy fabric and intricate designs, magic embedded in the threads.
Yachi is practically swimming in a sea of green, blue, and pink, the hems of her dress are embroidered with moving flowers, each petal an individual. Kiyoko is dressed in green and white, a shimmery tunic and flowing robe, the latter of which appears to be made entirely of petals. Tanaka is dressed in a deep red tunic, a shifting black sash tied around his middle. His cloak is hanging over one arm, it's a seething mass of flames. Nishinoya's garb is a mix of light yellows and white, more form fitted than the others but his sash crackles with electricity which occasionally travels along his body. Akaashi looks the most stunning, dressed completely in glowing white save for a light purple robe that nearly hurts to look at for longer than a few seconds. In each thread, the events of their history plays out, but it's just the good moments, only the best ones.
They still carry their weapons though.
Yachi's rapier is hidden by the swirling fabric around her, while Kiyoko doesn't bother trying to hide her bow. Tanaka wears his sister's bangles and his studded knuckles are a sure weight in his pocket , Nishinoya's sabers hang at his side, even Akaashi has his blades with him. This go around, there's no doubt that their enemy is gone, that there are no blatant opposing forces out there.
Kei can't blame them.
"Tsuki!"
Yamaguchi is dressed in midnight blue, hemmed in gold, and absolutely glowing with the constellations on the back of his robe. The stars speckling his skin glow even brighter, and he looks more well rested than Kei has seen him in a long while.
Each of Yamaguchi's fingers bares a ring, some even have two.
"Hi Tadashi!"
"Hello, Natsu. Are you ready?" he asks Kei.
"I believe so."
Truth be told, Kei would rather anyone else conduct Shouyou's officiation. The formula is simple enough, all he's to do is channel the blessing enriched power from the gods through him and then into Shouyou. It's the detail work that has Kei concerned.
It's a tremendous amount of power, and Kei has to send it into Shouyou without letting it kill him.
Kei hasn't slept at all in the week preceding this officiation day.
More gods begin to pour into the Hall. In the mix, the demons arrive, followed by nymphs and shifters, who amass themselves just outside the area surrounding the dais.
"Oh, I'm supposed to go sit with Kenma," Natsu says, pointing into the crows when she spots the nymph. He's dressed similarly to how he was during their last meeting, but there are more patches of luminescence shining across his skin.
Kei catches a glimpse of his butterfly sword, barely hidden at his side.
"Kei, can I say something?" her voice is quiet as she leans close to his ear, as if she's going to tell him a secret.
"I suppose."
"Everything's going to be okay," she whispers, "I saw it."
Before Kei can react, Natsu jumps from his arms and runs across the floor to Kenma. She stops herself before she runs into him. He looks nervous, as if he'll somehow put out her fire.
"I guess it's almost time to start," Yamaguchi says, putting a hand on Kei's shoulder and squeezing lightly.
"I guess so."
Yamaguchi joins the other gods as they begin to gather around the dais. They file in order, the oldest will be behind Kei, the youngest behind Shouyou. As they get into place, Kei moves to stand on his side of the dais. He takes a breath to calm himself and opens a pathway to his blessing for ease of access.
After a few moments, a hush falls over the Hall.
Shouyou arrives with Sugawara. He's dressed in a simple red tunic, a white sash sits around his waist, his short staffs tucked against his left side. Out of ceremony, he's wearing the flower crown that Natsu made him before the war. Sugawara is much more refined. Kei can't put any one color to Sugawara's garments, they seem to be evershifting, slowly yet all at once, with each movement he makes. He's shining too, amidst his fluttering fabric there is a light emanating from Sugawara.
Kei refocuses.
Sugawara walks Shouyou onto the dais, directly across from Kei. Shouyou smiles, soft and small.
"I won't speak for long," Sugawara says, voice echoing around the room, "a majority of us have seen this ceremony before, but that doesn't make it any less special. Today, after a dark period in our record, we are ready to officiate our new Sun God."
There's a loud cheering cry from the assembly, the Hall grows just a bit warmer.
With that, Sugawara moves to stand behind Kei, squeezing his arm in passing.
The assembled gods take each other's hands as they bow their heads and close their eyes. Kei forces himself not to panic. He knows that the surge of magic and power will come from behind him, it will hit him like an attack.
He locks his eyes with Shouyou. The Sun God doesn't look the slightest bit intimidated or worried, he meets Kei's gaze and his wings flutter before stretching out behind him.
Kei can feel the magic building in the room. Each god begins to glow, growing brighter and brighter. The magic follows their joined hands, building as it passes between them until it's culminated into raw magical power. Kei can't see him, but he knows that Sugawara's glow is too bright to look at. Kei calls up his own magic in preparation, pulling all that he can from his blessing.
It happens all at once.
The magic hits square between his shoulder blades, coursing through his body in the space between heartbeats. His first instinct is to try and dispel it, but he pushes that aside and focuses on allowing it to collect and culminate before passing through.
His right hand comes up, fingers up and palm facing Shouyou. He can feel his magic shaping itself, and he feels the familiar sensation of his magic extending from his back, extending in the form of wings.
Kei knows his eyes are blazing, and it's a bit of start when he sees that his magic is not blue, but red. It bleeds light blue from his shoulder, darkening and gathering down his arm and into his hand.
Shouyou nods, but Kei hesitates.
His body is shaking with the effort it's taking to contain all of the magic flowing through him. There's so many different kinds. Some of the magic is raging, it's scorching and not content to be held by Kei. Other parts feel much more alive than they should be, while others are foreign in that Kei has never handled them before. Some of the magic is heavy, other parts are light as a feather, and Kei has to fight for it to stay connected, for it to remain intertwined as one mass.
What if he hurts Shouyou?
Shouyou takes a step forward.
Kei can't move, he doesn't feel stable enough.
Shouyou takes another step.
The magic leaps on its own and then all of Kei's focus is geared only towards controlling the flow of it. It fights against him, eager to rush its new host all at once. Kei won't let that happen.
All the same, Shouyou drops to his knees.
Kei sees his wings flap once, twice, then strain outwards. They ignite in a moment, flames spark from Shouyou's shoulders and race along until his wings are engulfed in fire. Shouyou's eyes shine white hot.
As quick as it had started, the ceremony ends. The flow of magic stops, and the flames along Shouyou's wings go out
Kei's first response is to check on Shouyou, but before he can take a single step, Shouyou erupts into a burst of flames.
His laughter fills the room as he shoots up into the air.
If possible, his wings have grown even larger, and he holds a constant glow. When he touches back on the ground, free of flames, Kei can see the more prominent physical changes. Much like how Yamaguchi's face is smattered with stars, Shouyou's face is covered in what look like burning embers that spread across his cheeks and nose. His eyes are now a deep crimson, and they show no sign of changing.
He's still laughing.
Then Natsu's on the dais with him, jumping into his arms, she's laughing too.
The Hall grows brighter and Kei can feel the pulse of signatures lighten as everyone breaks into a jovial mood. Suga's leaning on Daichi's shoulder, Nishinoya's taken up his spot on Asahi's shoulder as he cheers. Yachi's clapping and smiling as Kiyoko sends a green flare of magic into the air, making all the flowers hovering glow brighter and more brilliant. Bokuto's already started singing, adding trails of pink to the collection of lights in the air. The mural changes scenes, displaying past officiations, and the Palace sings louder and lighter than Kei's ever heard it.
A hand falls lightly on his shoulder and Kei barely keeps himself from jumping. Akaashi stands at his side, watching as Shouyou is quickly surrounded by various beings, all congratulating him.
"I'd look down at your hand," Akaashi says. Kei quirks a brow but does as he says.
There, in his right hand, is a blessing. It's heavy, warm, and unblemished save for a single line from the top to the bottom.
It's Shouyou's blessing, only slightly different from the former Sun God's.
"Everyone!" Sugawara's voice rings out. "There's one more thing to be done, then we can commence with the celebration!"
He turns to Kei and clasps his hands.
"Tsukishima?"
The crowd around Shouyou disperses enough for Kei to move closer.
"Your blessing," Kei says. He takes one of Shouyou's hands and places the blessing in the center of his palm.
Shouyou glows white and his wings take on a black shimmer for a few minutes before it all fades. The blessing is gone, and Shouyou is grinning wider. He jumps, locking his arms around Kei's neck and squeezing him tight.
The celebration that follows is more of an excuse for the lot of them to dance and drink and enjoy themselves as they rarely do. Bokuto and a number of nymphs provide the music and once the drink starts flowing, tensions simply bleed from the room.
A makeshift dancefloor begins in the center of the room.
Yachi dance with Natsu, the little sprite giggling as she spins. Terushima's team has taken to a jumble of limbs moving just barely in rhythm. Asahi dances with Kiyoko while Tanaka and Nishinoya have started some kind of competition with Kyoutani and Yamamoto. Even Yamaguchi's dancing.
Various other gods are among them, but a good portion of them sit along the walls, talking freely and casually.
Kei doesn't see Shouyou all that much, flickers of orange and red here and there, but he's kept busy by others.
Surprisingly enough, Natsu approaches Kei before anybody else does. She's breathing fast, her hair growing and shrinking with each breath. But she's still laughing as she clambers into Kei's lap.
"See?" she says, "I told you it would be okay."
She reaches up to adjust the flower crown on his head. Kei's surprised it survived the ceremony.
"Yes you did," he replies after a moment. He wants to clarify, to confirm his theory, but Natsu is young.
"So, Shouyou's official, now?" she asks. Kei finds him across the floor laughing at something Kunimi's said, while Kageyama blushes furiously.
"He is."
"Can he do anything cool?"
"I guess we'll find out."
Natsu pouts.
"Do you think he'll be able to spit fire? I can do that," she says proudly, sitting up straight.
"Really?"
She nods before turning her face to the ceiling. She purses her lips a slender plume of fire erupts from her mouth, dissipating in the air after a few seconds.
"Impressive," Kei says.
Natsu runs off again and Kei remains unbothered for the rest of the evening. Once everyone begins to disperse, he waits at the entryway.
"Kei!" Shouyou spots him easily enough, making his way over rather quickly.
"Shall we take a walk?" Kei asks.
Shouyou nods and waves to Kageyama as Kei searches to meet Yamaguchi's gaze. Then they're on their way. Shouyou stays on the ground as opposed to Kei's shoulder.
Kei walks him past the Palace boundaries and towards the Spire he once called home. Through magical purposes only has it not fallen into disrepair. They climb the stairs and once they're almost at the top, Kei tells Shouyou to close his eyes. Slowly, Kei guides him to the balcony.
When Shouyou grabs hold of the railing, Kei raises a hand into the sky. His fingers glow dark blue and the mirage he's held for the majority of the night falls away.
"Okay, you can open them now."
In the night sky, backlit by stars, is Shouyou's moon. It's not the largest moon Kei's ever made, nor is it the smallest, but it is the brightest. Intermixed with hues of red, it still shines a pure white. Each crack and crater carefully placed, Kei finds it to be his best one yet.
He looks down to gauge Shouyou's reaction and it's nothing less than he'd hoped for.
The little Sun God is slack jawed and wide eyed, hands gripping the railing of the balcony. Almost perfectly, the moon reflects in Shouyou's eyes.
"You made that...for me?" he asks softly, still staring.
"You asked for one."
"I never expected-"
Shouyou wraps his arms around Kei's waist. Kei's hands come up automatically, one hand twining into Shouyou's hair, while his other rests on Shouyou's back.
"Thank you."
Shouyou's moon hangs in the night sky once again, Kei will admit to putting it in more rotations than his others, in addition to the one Shouyou was initially taken with.
It's been a peaceful night, with the slightest chill in the air.
"Hey, stargazer, you're all blank."
"Yeah, what's swirling around in that big head of yours?"
Bokuto sits himself down to Kei's left, and Kuroo takes his right.
He'd been trying to work his thoughts out alone. Why these two appear to have gone out of their way to visit is beyond him. Not many beings will make the trip to Kei's workshop, not that it's far, but the likelihood of being ignored and turned away is high.
Not that that seems to dissuade the two gods before him. Maybe Shouyou's easy acceptance into Kei's home has disillusioned the other gods.
"Personal matters," Kei answers.
He has nothing against them, despite Kuroo thinking otherwise. He's just not one for company, at least not tonight.
"Personal matters, huh? Anything we could help with?" Bokuto asks, his mechanical eye glowing bright and whirring along.
Kyoutani had gone maybe a little overboard with Bokuto's eye, Kei supposes he does that with most of his projects though. The eye allows for Bokuto to see signatures clear as day, gauge magical ability, and they even present him with a diagnostic like scan of his enemies when he fights.
It's an amazing feat of skill, one that Kei can respect, but it's unnerving when that eye is trained on him. All he can think of is Bokuto receiving information about Kei's faltering signature as of late, or the way his magic has been fluctuating with his whacked out emotions.
Bokuto doesn't need to see that.
"No, but thank you for offering."
Kuroo lays back, folding his hands atop his stomach and letting out a little sigh.
"Tsukishima?"
"Hm?"
"The war is over, you're not alone anymore. I know everyone more or less drifted apart after last time, and I really hope that doesn't happen again. I'm- We are extending an olive branch. I know you still haven't really sorted yourself out after Akiteru-"
"Your concern for my well-being means a lot," Kei says, he means it but his voice falls flat. "Your worry is misplaced, I'm fine."
Kei stands up as quick as he can and moves toward the door to his home, hoping that Kuroo and Bokuto will have the sense to leave him be.
They don't, of course they don't. He didn't really expect them to anyway.
"Kei, you can't bottle everything up, you know? That's what got us into this mess in the first place."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oikawa's predecessor, he waited until the last moment to tell us all about the magic that the monsters possessed. We were unprepared, despite the fact that we won."
"These feelings won't spark a war," Kei says, turning around to face them.
"Maybe not, but it will keep you from being happy. I carried around my secrets for lifetimes, and you did too. You carried everybody's-"
"This isn't about the secrets, Kuroo. I've made my peace with my aspect, I accept it. I said this is a personal matter."
"Is it about your wings then?" Bokuto asks, voice gentle as he stands. "That time in the field, the magic you were drawing, you got them back. Can Sawamura reattach them?"
Kei squares his shoulders and tries his best not to curl his hands into fists.
"He mentioned it."
"Then? What's the hold up?" Bokuto asks.
The two of them stand up but they don't crowd him, perhaps knowing the possible reaction they'll receive.
Kei's thankful for that much. Bokuto and Kuroo aren't quite Old Gods, but they've been around longer than Kei. They may appear brash but Kei knows them, knows that their strategic capability, at least in the field of reading other beings is concerned, is very nearly unparalleled. In interactions like this one, they know what they're doing.
"If you're not gonna tell us then talk to somebody else," Kuroo says, "you do have friends, you know?"
"I can handle this," Kei says, "I'm capable of making my own decisions."
With that, he turns around and hurries through the door, leaving Kuroo and Bokuto outside. They don't try to get in, and he keys into their signatures, staying put until they give in and leave.
"What was all that about?"
Yamaguchi stands in the hall, a crate full of star scrolls in his arms. They've both been working on clearing up their workshops in preparation for the move.
"Just Kuroo and Bokuto," Kei says, knowing that Yamaguchi won't let him pass by if he feels something's wrong.
"All the way out here? Did something happen? Urgent message?"
"No."
"Then?"
"They wanted to express their concern," Kei says slowly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"For?"
"Despite common belief, Bokuto is quite observant."
"That doesn't answer my question."
Talk to somebody, huh?
"My wings," Kei says, "I don't know if I want them back and I don't know why."
Silence reigns for far longer than Kei is comfortable.
"My workshop?" Yamaguchi asks at last. He sets down his crate and doesn't bother waiting for Kei's reply.
Kei finds himself being dragged down the hall.
Yamaguchi's workshop is mostly empty, a few crates of star maps sit in a corner and a number of worktables are still covered in tools and materials. A few star beasts hover around as well
"Daichi said he could reattach them?" Yamaguchi asks, clearing a spot at one of the benches for the both of them to sit down.
"He did."
"Then?"
"I don't know."
"You know nothing bad will happen when you get them back, right?"
"I know that."
"Then do you think you don't deserve to have them back?"
Hmm, there's a thought.
Kei closes his eyes, removing his glasses so he can rub the bridge of his nose. Is that what it is? Does he think he doesn't deserve them? There are things he feels he needs to atone for, but he knows that they don't make any sense. The outcome of the war was more than he could have hoped for, and that's his hang up.
He shouldn't need anything else. They won. Nobody died. The chances of that happening are miniscule, but they'd done it. What reason does he have to want when things turned out so well? A part of him hisses and whispers at him, telling him that wanting his wings is selfish. What right does he have to gain something when others have lost?
Yamaguchi's hand closes around his wrist.
"It's not selfish," he says, "they were yours to begin with, and they were taken from you. All you'd be doing is reclaiming what's yours."
The stubborn part of Kei refuses to listen, so he folds his arms across the table and drops his head.
"Frankly," Yamaguchi starts, "this is stupid."
Kei bolts back up, incredulousness splayed openly in his expression.
"You heard me. Out of all of us here, if there's anyone who deserves to get something back, it's you. I mean, this should be an easy decision but you're so intent on punishing yourself for something that isn't even your fault! I doubt you'll listen to anyone else, so I'll say it again. You deserve your wings, they're yours to take, so, sort yourself out, go find Daichi, and get them back."
Kei blinks slowly, processing the fact that Yamaguchi has just yelled at him.
"I figured soft talking wasn't going to work," he says, shrugging. "This seems to have done the job though, right?"
Then Kei's laughing, removing his glasses as tears begin to well up.
I do believe this was the longest chapter to date, so that's cool. Natsu was only supposed to be in the officiation part but she just ended up everywhere, I don't know, she's pretty great.
Well, we just have the epilogue left, then Sunbeams is done! However, there are still a number of parts of this story that remain open ended, as this is Tsukishima centric. So if you're curious about any of the other characters, feel free to ask. I was thinking of doing like a Q&A type of thing, maybe, over on tumblr, just to answer questions about the other characters, questions about the world building, and stuff like that. Or if you just want to clarify something, that's cool too. Just hop on over to the wire-pudding tumblr and I'll answer whatever you need.
In any case, thank you all for sticking with this story for so long, it means a lot! As always, let me know what you think of this chapter!