"I'm ready."

"If you're sure." Viktor nodded with a smile, wanting only for Yuuri to be comfortable with the amount of information he was about to divulge.

Yuuri just nodded, finally coming into the room and facing the remaining six eyes that were fixed to him.

"You see…" Yuuri began, voice faltering after just two words. He cleared his throat, determined. Phichit's eyes caught his for a moment, and Yuuri was reminded of everything they'd shared over the years. Phichit had helped Yuuri through some pretty low points in his life, he deserved to know what had happened, after all he'd done for Yuuri.

His gaze then found Yakov's rage filled expression; the one he thought he'd be dreading. But the rage wasn't directed at Yuuri, it was sent out to the man who had killed Yurio. That thought startled Yuuri. 'The man who had killed Yurio.' Killed. Yurio. Those words just didn't go together. Anyways, Yakov needed to know who the fucker who'd hurt his skater was, and why he'd done it.

Then there was Otabek. Poor, sweet, Otabek who'd only ever shown emotion when Yurio was around. Who'd witnessed his love in pain, watching helplessly as his own body caused him to suffocate. Who'd been holding Yurio's hand as his heart stopped beating. He'd been through too much to walk through this blind. He needed to know why Yurio had jumped in so recklessly.

Finally, Yuuri's eyes returned to Viktor's. Viktor who knew what had happened. Viktor who loved him despite knowing everything. Viktor who only wanted to hold him close and keep the demons away. Viktor who had helped Yuuri so much in the past year and a half. Viktor. Yuuri's fiancé. A five-time Grand Prix champion. Viktor.

"I left practice early because I was tired." Yuuri's own voice surprised him when his mouth began moving with little forethought. His words were usually premeditated and very calculated, so to hear himself speaking with no prior plan was foreign, but he figured it might be better just to let it happen. "Viktor wanted to come, but I told him to stay. When I got home, there were four men in our house. They… raped me… All of them." Yuuri felt as though it was his first time saying that. Rape. It probably was. When else would he have said it? It wasn't exactly a common topic of conversation in everyday life.

"Yuuri…" Phichit's eyes widened slightly, but there was a hint of something in his eyes that Yuuri couldn't quite figure out. "I…"

"I know." Yuuri shook his head, regaining his comfortable eye contact with the floor. "Last night, I had a panic attack in my sleep and dreamed that I was running from something, and when I woke up I was still panicking, so I started to run. The man who attacked Yurio was one of them. He was about to… do it again when Yurio showed up and tackled him off of me. I was useless, but Otabek came in time and beat the bastard within an inch of his life. I'm sorry." Yuuri suddenly found the floor rushing up to meet his knees, his hands deciding to join in with the solid connection. "I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Viktor was on the ground in a second, crying almost as hard as Yuuri.

"Yuuri." Phichit skidded to the ground, wrapping his best friend in a tight embrace. "Oh god, Yuuri!"

"Yuuri, don't apologize." Yakov knelt down to the pile of skaters on the hospital floor, rage cast to he edges of his expression by the guilt that pushed its way through. "I'm so sorry this happened."

Yuuri just nodded, snuggling deeper into Viktor, wrapping an arm around Phichit, unable to do anything other than cry. And everyone let him. Because everyone else was crying too.

It wasn't until a nurse came into the room to check on Yurio's vitals that the pile of people untangled from each other and managed to get themselves off the floor, having cried themselves out, leaving tear stains on shirts and wrinkles where fists had gathered cloth.

"He seems to be doing well." The nurse jotted down notes she'd previously been mumbling to herself. Notes that completely flew over everyone else's heads. "If his condition betters or even remains stable, we'll try taking him off the respirator tonight."

"That's good to know." Yakov nodded. "May I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." The nurse smiled again. "Would you like to step into the hall?"

"Of course." Yakov followed as the perky woman lead him out of earshot.

"Yuuri." Otabek broke the five minute silence they'd been keeping up, causing Yuuri to flinch and peer up at him through messy bangs.

"Yes…?" Yuuri felt a touch of pride swelling in his chest when his voice didn't crack or shake. It was only one word, but one word coming out strong and clear was a start. A start he could built on.

"We need to stop." Otabek's eyes were softer than usual, bloodshot and drooping slightly. He was exhausted. Worried. "I'm blaming myself for this, and so are you. We can't."

"Otabek-"

"I know you're going to tell me it's not my fault, and I know that. Well… I kind of know that. But you're being a hypocrite. You blame yourself just as much as me. Yura won't have it. He'll beat us up if he finds out."

"You're right." Yuuri joined Otabek in smirking at the thought of Yurio's choice words if he found out how guilty the two of them felt.

"So… let's try." Otabek suggested, knowing there was no way he could get past it alone. And no way he could let Yurio help him with this.

"Together." Yuuri agreed.

The two just smiled at each other, holding eye contact for a moment before Phichit's muffled snicker brought attention to his corner of the room.

"Sorry, sorry!" Phichit cut his giggles short when he notices the eyes on him. "I just… I think that's the sappiest thing I've ever heard either of you say."

"I think so too." Viktor chimed in, pulling Yuuri closer to him. "And you've said some pretty-"

"We're not talking about that!" Yuuri flushed scarlet, throwing a hand over Viktor's mouth to silence him. Otabek just kept his head down and everyone laughed, a smile he couldn't contain pulling at the corners of his lips.