Hi! I know I said I wasn't expecting to update but here we are :)

I got impatient so the ending might be rough (or the whole thing idk)

I ow

NOTE: I'm not sure how I feel about this story so uh-it might delete itself from existence. Don't be surprised if it does.

When Kageyama arrived at volleyball practice, he seemed super on edge and jumpy. Every little noise and movement triggered some sort of reaction and Hinata couldn't help but laugh.

"Looks like the king is on edge today. Wonder what he did…" Tsukishima commented as the raven-haired boy passed him.

A harsh glare from Kageyama told him that he wanted none of his shit today and Tsukishima heeded the warning and shut up.

"Dude, you're all jumpy, what's up?" Sugawara raised an eyebrow at him.

Kageyama took a breath to say something but Coach Ukai ordered them to do receiving drills before he could spit out what was bothering him.

Flashback

3 AM…

Kageyama woke with a start. A cold sweat trickled down his neck and he tried to sit up, but he couldn't move. He was aware of the presence of another person in his room but he couldn't pinpoint the location of where it was coming from. A shiver ran down his spine as he saw a long, centipede-like creature slither through the shadows in the corner of his room. From the dim moonlight filtering in through his window, the setter could make out a silhouette rising from the foot of his bed. It looked like the shadow of a grown man but the face wasn't human. Two hollow eyes stared at him and a wide grin crossed the shadow's face, or what he assumed was the face.

'I can't move! What the hell is going on?'

Kageyama felt panic rising in his throat as another shadow materialised in front of him. It looked human, except that its body bent at impossible angles and instead of a face, it wore a white mask, its expression stuck in a comically-exaggerated smile. The thing crawled up to his bed and jumped on him, pinning his arms and legs down with its sharp claw-like appendages. His breathing became labored and eventually Kageyama felt like he was suffocating. His eyes wide in terror, he forced each breath into his body. It felt like someone-or something-was crouching on his chest, growing heavier by the second. His lungs burned and his limbs ached. He needed to get up, away from this nightmare. He needed to wake up, but he was most definitely awake. The pain and fear he felt were real. He longed for the sun, knowing that it's light would bring him comfort.

'I need to get out of here, but I'm stuck! I can't talk, what do I do?!'

Black spots danced in his vision. His head pounded. He felt his last breaths escape him as he fell into unconsciousness.

End Flashback

Kageyama served a powerful ball at Daichi, who dove to receive it. He went through practice like this, almost with no thought at all.

"Alright, use this time to practice individually and work on improving your weaker points and positions." Coach Ukai ordered the highschoolers before him.

They all (minus Tsukishima and Yamaguchi) gave a shout of agreement and scattered to different parts of the gym. Sugawara found Kageyama and pulled him to the side.

"Hey, are you feeling ok? You seem really out of it. If you're tired or feel sick, you can tell me ok?"

Kageyama nodded. The smoothness of Suga's always comforting voice made him feel more at ease and he said something he never thought he'd say.

"Can I tell you something?" Sugawara nodded. "Promise to not laugh ok?"

The third-year smiled. "Sure, I promise."

Kageyama spilled what had happened last night and Suga looked at him with a calm expression.

"Sounds like to me you just had a case of sleep paralysis. Did you sleep on your back last night?" Kageyama nodded. "Sleep paralysis isn't uncommon and it usually occurs around three to four in the morning, usually if you're sleeping on your back. It was a hallucination. You weren't fully awake either. Don't sweat it, ok. You're fine, it wasn't real."

Man, Sugawara was really good at comforting people.

Suddenly, shouting could be heard and Kageyama turned around to see a ball plummeting towards him. He moved out of the way but it caught him in the stomach and he fell backwards into the wall.

"Are you ok?" Suga crouched over him, his eyes shining with concern.

"Yeah, just surprised I guess."

He stood up and saw Tanaka approaching him.

"I am very so very sorry. I lost control of the hit." He bowed.

"Pfft. Don't apologize, you're fine. I should've been paying attention. Now go before I change my mind skinhead."

They walked onto the court to continue practice.

Hinata approached Kageyama. "Hey, we should work on the new quick! It's better but I think we can make it even stronger, whaddya say?"

Kageyama jumped and turned around. "Don't sneak up like that, you turd licker." He looked at the corner of the room, where the image of the centipede creature flashed in his vision. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Also, yeah, I was about to ask if you wanted to work on it."

He grabbed a volleyball from the cart and walked back to where the energized ginger stood. He got ready to set, but stopped when he heard somebody cry out. He looked at the volleyball cart and saw Sugawara standing there, a dazed look on his face. The volleyball he held was then yanked from his hands by something and Kageyama saw a shadow pass behind the blond boy. He felt blood rush up his neck and across his cheeks as he ran over to the third-year. Suga's eyes were wide and shined with fear. He was unusually pale and he didn't look like he was breathing.

"Suga! What happened? What was that just now?" Daichi ran over to where the two boys stood.

"You mean you didn't… didn't see it?" Sugawara's voice quavered.

"Um… no? I don't know what you mean but you're really pale. You look like you've just seen a ghost. Are you ok?"

Hinata and Nishinoya had joined them at the ball cart and stood next to Kageyama, looking at Suga with confused expressions.

"Dude, you good?" Noya looked up.

"Yeah, I thought I saw something, then the volleyball I had was snatched by something." Suga became even paler as he saw something behind Daichi.

Kageyama followed his gaze and saw it in the corner of the gym. A human-shaped shadow crouched, hanging upside-down from the ceiling, a volleyball visible in it.

"Look! In that corner!" Nishinoya pointed behind Daichi. Everybody focused on it and watched as the shadow moved a bit, then sent the volleyball flying.

They followed the pathing of the ball and saw who it was aimed at.

"Tsukishima! Duck!" Hinata blurted out as the tall blond turned around to be greeted by a forceful ball to the face.

He fell to the floor from the force of the hit and Sugawara and Tanaka ran to his aid. They helped him up and Tsukishima's hand flew to his nose. The rest of the team followed as they assisted him to the bench where Takeda grabbed him a handful of tissues and a towel. He pulled his cupped hand away from his face and the boys around Tsukishima cringed, as the palm of his hand was covered in blood, dripping from his nose and off his chin. Next to Yamaguchi, Kageyama felt Nishinoya tense up at the sight of Tsukishima's bloodied hand and face. The shorter boy inhaled sharply as a drop of blood fell from between Tsukishima's fingers and splattered on the floor. Kageyama turned in time to see the blood drain from his face as his eyelids slipped closed and he tumbled sideways.

"Woah!" Kageyama thanked himself for his quick reflexes as he reached out and caught Nishinoya before his head smacked against the floor. He lowered the boy to the ground and looked at Sugawara for help.

He ran over and checked Nishinoya over. "He looks fine, I think the blood made him queasy. If so, he should wake up soon."

As if on cue, Nishinoya's eyes fluttered open. He looked around and sat up, the color returning to his face.

"Sorry about that, I… kind of have a thing with blood." He took a deep breath.

Daichi, Tanaka and Hinata had moved to block Nishinoya's line of sight so the bloodied scene was hidden from view. Kageyama glanced at the corner and saw the shadow… thing, still in the same position from earlier.

What the hell is that? What is it doing here, of all places?

He stood up and walked towards the corner in which the shadow lurked. He reached his arm up and he pulled back quickly when a shock of freezing air hit his fingertips. He looked back at the group and saw that they were all watching him. He looked back to see the thing had descended and was right in front of his face. The sudden drop in temperature shocked him. His lips cracked and he shivered. He was frozen in place. The shadow reached out to grab him but someone pulled him away. Kageyama drew a shaky breath as his knees gave out.

"Thanks, I don't know what happened there." He looked at who'd grabbed him.

Asahi looked back at him with wide eyes. "Yeah." He looked away and walked towards Daichi.

Coach Ukai stood up. "Listen up guys, there's clearly something weird going on here and I don't like it. We'll go to my store, stay together."

They all nodded and followed him as he and Takeda walked towards the doors. Ukai fumbled with the keys in his hand and clicked the lock open. However, when he went to push the door open, it jammed shut with a slam and he backed away. He tried to push it open but it didn't budge. He gave an uncertain glance to Takeda who returned it back to him. They turned to the boys behind them and it went without saying. They were stuck. The air froze and the lights went out. Behind him, Kageyama heard someone exhale quickly and saw Sugawara's limp frame fall to the ground, the shadow person on top of him.

"Suga!" Kageyama ran up to go to his fallen teammate but a strong arm grasped his wrist and held him back.

"What the-" He turned and saw Asahi, who shook his head, a serious look on his face.

Kageyama gave up trying to pull out of his grasp and backed up with Nishinoya and Tsukishima. He felt sick to his stomach. What was going on?

"Duck!" Daichi dove over Kageyama as a volleyball slammed into the wall behind them.

He stood up slowly and took in the scene. Sugawara was passed out on the floor, Tsukishima held bloody tissues to his face, Nishinoya had to keep himself from fainting, and everyone else was in a state of shock and panic.

Suddenly, Daichi doubled over, clutching the front of his shirt, his face screwed in a pained expression.

"Daichi! What's wrong?" Takeda crossed to him. The teen dropped to the floor, blood staining the front of his shirt.

Asahi collapsed soon after, a gash evident on his neck. His blood leaked out onto the floor, pooling beneath him.

Nishinoya inhaled sharply as the trails of crimson crossed the floor, circling around him. The shadow came down on him and he backed away, eyes wide. Kageyama felt a burning sensation spread across his arm and saw the outline of the shadow's hand on his wrist. He tried to wrench himself free but the feeling paralyzed him and the thing yanked him away from the group. Shouts came from behind him and he tried to get free but the thing had such a good grip on him. He felt himself being lifted from the floor and saw that the thing was levitating. The wind whistled through his ears as he was launched at the windows. He braced himself for impact and smashed through the window, glass pricking his skin. He fell to the concrete below and hit the ground roughly with a thud.

Kageyama woke up roughly and gasped as he shot up, covered in sweat. He was laying on the floor of the gym, his teammates in a semi-circle around him. A volleyball rolled on the ground in front of his feet and he looked up at the face directly in front of him. Tanaka's eyes were wide and he spluttered on his words.

"I am so-very extremely- sorry- like- really, really- are you ok?"

The raven-haired boy took a deep breath and swallowed thickly.

"What happened?"

The things he saw earlier flashed through his mind. He looked at Sugawara, then at Daichi and Asahi. They were ok. It must've been a dream. It was a dream. He sighed from relief.

"I was serving and the ball lost control. I am very sorry." Tanaka looked and sounded sincere.

"You're fine."

Coach Ukai broke through the circle.

"Luckily, you were only out for a few seconds. You smacked your head pretty hard there, Kageyama." He held out his hand to the confused teen and helped him stand.

He looked over and saw Tsukishima with Takeda, a bloody tissue in his hand. Kageyama's heart began to pound.

"What happened to Tsukishima?" He tried to keep his nerves under control.

"Oh, a spike hit him in the face. Nose bleed." Sugawara spoke up.

"We'll get you home so you can rest up. And don't try to argue with me, I've already decided this." Daichi planted his hand on Kageyama's shoulder.

He opened his mouth to say something but everybody shook their heads. He sighed and walked with Ukai and Daichi to the gym doors. As he left, something in the corner caught his eye. A dark shadow loomed over the corner of the gym next to the cart of volleyballs. Kageyama's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to point it out but when he blinked, the shadow was gone…

The doors closed behind him with a slight bang and he shook his head to clear his mind. It was fake, a dream, it was fake.

Fake…

Fake.

FAKE...

:)

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