Hello, all. Here's chapter twenty-five. This will be the last chapter before the epilogue. Enjoy :)

Lunar Eclipse

Chapter Twenty-Five

As the day wore on, Amaya and Yoshirou watched vigilantly as Kei slipped in and out of consciousness. To the couple's good fortune, every time he awoke he seemed to stay awake longer, and was increasingly aware with each bout of energy. Amaya and Yoshirou kept him alert by holding small conversations during his periods of awareness, to sharpen his mind and give him the motivation to keep fighting. They talked about school, music, volleyball - anything they could think of to hold their son's attention as he inched away from death's still-open door. Around 11am, after a few hours of alternating sleep and conversation, a nurse entered the room with a food cart and a smile.

"Lunch time!" she exclaimed as she pushed open the door, pulling the food cart inside behind her. She took a tray from the top tier and set it on Tsukishima's bedside table. The young man had been sleeping lightly for the last thirty minutes, and the clack of the tray hitting the table inches from his head was just enough to pull him out of his doze. His eyes fluttered open sleepily as he angled his head toward the noise, looking for its source. Amaya, who had been standing at the window on the far wall chirping absentmindedly at the sparrows dancing on the sill, noticed the commotion and returned to her son's bedside as Yoshirou kept a careful eye on them from a few feet away.

"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?" she asked as she ran her hand underneath the bed's railing. Finding the button she was looking for, she pressed and held it, lifting Kei's bed into a somewhat comfortable sitting position. Kei answered his mother's question with a soft groan.

Stepping around Amaya, who had seated herself in a visitor's chair at Tsukishima's bedside, the nurse made her way back around to the foot of the bed and checked the injured player's charts.

"I see..." she murmured as her eyes darted across the page, "Kei, you're doing very well. At this rate, you'll be back on your feet in no time!" She gave the family a cheery wave and pushed her cart out of the room. After the door closed, Kei let loose a tired sneer.

"Why is she so cheery? I'm laid up in a hospital bed," he grumbled, his voice still noticeably weak, "I can't be that healthy."

"What's the matter, Kei?" Amaya sighed, reacting to Kei's obvious discomfort as she massaged circles into the back of her son's hand, "You aren't in pain, are you?"

"A little," the blocker replied, "It's more of a low throbbing than real pain, though. My dislocated finger from the Shiratorizawa game hurt worse."

"That's because you're on morphine, and you're still out of sorts," Yoshirou interjected, joining his wife at Kei's bedside, "Trust me. If it weren't for the drugs, it'd be a lot worse." Kei broke eye contact with his father, looking down and away without offering a comment in return.

"Don't give me the attitude, young man," Yoshirou replied, raising his voice slightly above his usual calm, stern tone, "You look at me when I'm talking to you." Kei stayed still, unmoving and unwilling to obey his father's orders. "I don't think you understand what your mother and I went through these last few days."

"He didn't mean anything, Yoshirou," Amaya begged, tugging on her husband's arm, "He's tired. Don't do this now."

"Let me finish." Yoshirou turned his attention back to his son. "Kei, your mother was awake for these last two days wondering if you were going to live or die. I boarded an emergency flight on the other side of the world to get back here praying that you'd hang on in the meantime. Do you understand? We spent hours in this hospital afraid that we were going to lose you. The least you could do is show us some respect!"

"Yoshirou, stop!" Amaya shouted, standing and putting herself between her husband and Kei, "Your son just went through the most traumatizing experience of his life. He's tired, and he's in pain. Don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

"He needs to respect what you went through - what we went through."

"But why?" Amaya asked, gentle, earnest concern dripping from her voice. She softly caressed Yoshirou's chest and arms in an attempt to calm him down. "Why does he need to respect that right now? Why can't he recover first and deal with everything else later?"

"...Stop. Please."

Watching his parents fight was unbearable. Kei knew that they were both usually relatively calm people: his mother was easy-going and steady; his father was reserved and strict. Shouting from either one of them always meant that some sort of trouble was brewing. To see them going at each other's throats definitely meant that something was not okay. It scared him more than he'd expected it to. Before he could follow the thought, however, another occurred to him.

"...Mom?" His parents turned to face him.

"Yes, honey?"

It was something that had been tickling the back of Kei's mind, something his subconscious had noticed, but refused to share with the rest of his brain until he'd dragged it out forcefully...

Where was his brother?

After Akiteru had lied to him so thoroughly, he'd tried to sever all emotional ties to the older brother who shattered his trust. He'd never admit it aloud, or even to himself, but there were times every once in a while when he missed all the childhood memories he and Akiteru had shared together. Despite that, he'd always shut them out. Burying emotions was always better than facing them; there was less of a mess to clean up afterward. Even so, Akiteru never gave up on him - it was something he had only just recently begun to realize.

So then why wasn't he here? He didn't have classes again for another week, so it was unlikely that he went back to the college. He could be at work, but he had a hazy memory of his doctor telling him it was Saturday, and Akiteru didn't usually work this early on weekends. Maybe he picked up an extra shift, or something else came up...

"Where's Akiteru?" His parents stared at him; not a sound passed their lips.

"I barely escaped death." he tried again with a twinge of sarcasm, "He doesn't usually skip out on big family moments."

Amaya's breath hitched in her throat, her heart jumping into her mouth. She knew Kei would ask about Akiteru eventually, though she had hoped to put it off as long as possible. Earlier that morning when Kei was asleep, Yoshirou had taken Amaya out into the hallway and asked her the inevitable: What would they do when Kei finally asked where his brother was? The funeral was in a couple days, so he'd need to learn the truth by then, but it wouldn't take the teen long to realize that the older brother who loved him more than life itself hadn't shown up to the hospital to visit him. At the time, Amaya didn't have an answer. She told him they didn't have a choice but to tell him the truth, but even as difficult as things had been up to that point, she still could never could have imagined that actually being in the situation would be this heart-wrenchingly difficult.

Amaya kept her face as still as possible as she and Yoshirou pulled their chairs back to Kei's bedside, easing back down into them. They did their best to keep all traces of emotion from their faces, but the effort was futile. Kei could read them like open books; he always could. Not only did the truth leak from their expressions, but from their mannerisms as well. When his father took his hand, his fingers were rigid and awkward. When his mother tried to speak, her voice was hardly recognizable, sounding like more of a soft croak than a smooth song.

"Honey... There's something very important your father and I need to discuss with you." Kei raised a tentative eyebrow. His parents were usually so good at keeping their emotions in check. But not only were they arguing with each other more than he'd ever seen, but they were visibly upset at the mention of his older brother? Kei was uneasy.

"We thought a long time about how we would break this to you, Kei," Yoshirou said, his voice quiet and stiff, "You need to understand that what we're about to say is a conversation we'd never thought we'd have to have."

"... What are you talking about?" Kei asked, fear bleeding into his voice. The raw emotion evident in his father's tone shot his unease into the sky. "Did something... happen?"

It was at that point Amaya started to cry. Tears streamed down her face as she met her son's frightened gaze. She didn't want to tell her precious little boy the news of his brother's death - she didn't want to be the one to do the damage. It was soul-crushing; she wanted to run away. Taking a deep breath, Amaya steadied herself. It was a task that needed to be done.

"K-Kei," Amaya began, her breath catching in the back of her throat, "I... I don't know how to tell you this, baby."

"Tell me what, mom?" He asked, eyes wide with fear.

"Akiteru..." Grief choked off her voice, and she fell apart into more sobs. It felt like there was an enormous weight in the center of her chest, crushing everything inside of her. "Akiteru passed away the night you went into surgery."

Slice.

If the day Kei discovered Akiteru's lie was the first severance, then the day he discovered his death was the second. All it took was a swing of the sword to shatter him again.

Slice.

Except it didn't stop at his head. He felt like different parts of his body were being lobbed off, one after another, each more shocking and horrifying than the last.

Slice.

It persisted until there was nothing left, until Kei was nothing more than a blood-drenched pile of mangled body parts on the floor. How could this happen? Akiteru... his big brother, the one who looked out for him, who would defend him to his last breath, give up the very core of his being to make him happy… dead?

Amaya watched as Kei's face blanched, the color of his skin draining into a delicate pallor. She instinctively took his arm out of concern and felt his whole body tremble with the magnitude of his shock. As the emotion began to trickle across Kei's face, Amaya could identify its nature - in the touch of light in her son's golden eyes, in the way his eyebrows arched and knitted together - her little boy felt betrayed. When Kei spoke again, Amaya could feel the hurt drip from his words, his tone saturated with anguish.

"... How did it happen?"

"It was an accidental drug overdose." Yoshirou answered. He breathed deeply, keeping himself calm and keeping his emotion under control. "Your mother was here with your coach, Akiteru, and your friend Sugawara, waiting for you to be out of surgery." He began to stroke circles into the back of Kei's hand, though more out of absent minded fidgeting than for his son's comfort.

"Your coach and Sugawara left to have a meeting with your team, to tell them about your injury, and your mother went home to grab your insurance information so she could fill out the forms, leaving Akiteru here alone. During the time she was gone, he... he slipped into a coma and stopped breathing. By the time she got back a half an hour later... his heart had stopped."

"A doctor came in and performed CPR until they could get him to the equipment that could help him, but even then it was too late," Amaya continued, still crying, "Later, they told me that Akiteru had been taking sleeping pills - probably to treat anxiety. He'd mistimed his doses and overdosed, and nobody helped him because it just looked like he'd fallen asleep."

Kei absorbed the information silently, forcing back the anger that was just beginning to overtake the betrayal in his mind, adding its fuel to the already burning flame. How dare he? How dare Akiteru lie to him, work so hard to build his trust back, only to take his own life in another selfish lie?

"Did you know that he was taking sleeping pills?" he asked.

"No..." Amaya replied, her answer ringing with resignation, "No, he never told us."

Just as he suspected. Once a liar, always a liar.

"Of course..."

"Kei!" Yoshirou bellowed.

"Kei..." Amaya whimpered, breathless and in a state of shock, "How... how could you? He's your brother..." Kei didn't answer right away, turning away from his parents' gaze. He tried to shut his anger down, but it refused, burning, blistering the inside of his chest. He hadn't fully reconciled with the first time Akiteru had lied to him. His brother's death not only piled on profound emotional damage, but dug up the old scars, too. How did Akiteru expect him to deal with this, especially now, while he was drugged up and in pain? Ultimately, he decided to simply keep a lid on it. Loud anger was dangerous - the only safe anger was a quiet one.

Several seconds passed in silence.

"... Fine." Yoshirou lowered his gaze, refusing to even look at the son who had disrespected him so completely. His voice carried the calm frigidity of an ice box. "If that's the way you want it, then go ahead. Trample all over your brother's memory. It's not like you didn't give up on him before."

And with that, Yoshirou left the room, the swift slam of the door ringing of finality.

"Honey, you need to eat."

Kei ignored his mother, refusing to even touch the food that waited on the bed table for the last forty-five minutes. It had been twenty minutes since Yoshirou had stormed out, and Amaya had spent that time chasing him down the hallway. She begged him to come back inside, to be there for their son during the darkest time of his life, but Yoshirou wasn't hearing it. He refused, his anger eating him up like she'd never seen. He retaliated by expressing his shock and disbelief at his son's complete disregard for his brother's life. Yoshirou couldn't believe Kei was capable of being so cold. Amaya tried to diffuse his anger by reminding him that Kei was stressed and traumatized by the events he'd just been through, but Yoshirou wasn't willing to hear it. I guess, she realized, he just needs his own space right now. She tried not to think about how similar her husband was to the son he was scorning.

"I'm not hungry."

Amaya sighed as she watched Kei pick at the IV lines taped to his wrist.

"Kei, don't do that," she said as she pulled his hand from the IVs, "You need the nutrients to heal, baby."

"... I'm not hungry." Amaya reached out and lifted his chin with her hand so that he would meet her eyes.

"Your father... he's under a lot of stress right now - " Kei turned away, breaking from his mother's touch. He let his tired eyes rest on the off-white color of the opposite wall. As he stared, he found himself wishing he could simply fade into non-existence, all his problems vanishing like a wisp of smoke on a strong wind.

"I don't want to hear about my father."

"You need to talk, Kei. Is this about what happened when your brother was in high school?" Amaya watched him freeze up all over again, shock rippling through his body like a bolt of lightning. He turned back toward her, the pain of a ruined childhood blazing in his eyes.

"I don't want to hear about my brother, either." Amaya sighed. She had her suspicions but hoped she wouldn't be right. She knew Akiteru's lie all those years ago had wounded Kei very deeply, and it was because of that wound he had a hard time moving on. The day Kei lost faith in his brother, he'd lost faith in everything else, too - and he'd never gotten over it. Amaya knew the only way to keep her son from self destructing now was for him to finally work through all the emotions he'd buried all those years ago.

"You know I love you very dearly, right, Kei?"

He turned away again.

Amaya pressed on at her son's silence. She reached up and brushed the hair from his face.

"And you know you can trust me with absolutely anything?" Kei continued to stare at the wall, his face unreadable. Amaya knew she'd never get anything out of him by force. She parented him the only way she knew how, by giving him his space, and always making sure she was in his corner - no matter what. Throughout their conversation, Amaya had seen the weariness growing in her son's eyes. He was wearing out; the light behind his gaze was dimming fast. Right now, what Kei needed to do was focus on getting better.

"Kei, how about you take some time to eat now - you don't have to finish everything, just eat as much as you can - and then you can get some sleep. I'll talk to your father again, and we can sort this out later, when you have a bit more energy. Is that okay?"

Electing not to fight anymore, Kei nodded slowly as Amaya pushed the bed table around in front of him. Kei took his utensils from the tray and began to pick at his food as Amaya sat down beside the bed and monitored him in case he needed her help. After a few minutes his eyelids began to droop as his movements became slower, and Amaya noticed he was reaching his limits. She gently placed her hands on his and guided his arm back down onto the table, coaxing him to put down the utensils. As Kei stared blankly at his half-eaten tray, Amaya watched her normally staunchly independent son fall backwards into exhaustion. Watching him like this - it was torture.

"That's okay, that's enough for now, honey. Get some sleep." She pressed the recline button on the bed, slowly bringing it back to its standard position. That done, as Kei began to drift off, Amaya leaned over him and kissed him delicately on the forehead. It both humbled and terrified her, feeling like everyone else in her life was spinning out of control, but it was these small moments of affection - the fact that her son needed her - that held her together.

Daichi couldn't stop thinking about how badly the last visit to Tsukishima had gone. He sat on his living room couch, flipping through channels and eating a lunch he'd hastily made out of last night's dinner leftovers. He was so distracted by his concern for Tsukishima and for his team that he had stopped paying attention to the television long ago. He'd tried texting Suga privately about the whole thing, but his vice-captain had neglected to respond, irritating him more than it probably should have. Daichi really was worried about the silver-haired setter - so much so that he'd even considered asking his mom about what he could do to help, thinking her experience in psychology would be useful, but ultimately he decided against it. He was worried about violating Sugawara's privacy. It was a little soon after the incident, after all. It was then Daichi made a promise to himself: If Sugawara didn't come around in another two days, he would talk to his mom.

By the time he'd finished his lunch, the television had been blaring some obscure game show for the last half hour. Turning off the TV, he swiped open his phone, brought up the volleyball team group chat, and scrolled through the messages. He'd organized another visit to the hospital this afternoon, since there was no school and Tsukishima was supposed to be awake. Most of the team confirmed their attendance almost immediately; the only player neglecting to do so was Sugawara. As Daichi sauntered into the kitchen to put his dishes in the sink, he found himself wondering if Sugawara would show up. He couldn't imagine he wouldn't, since he was probably still guilty about the whole mess, but as it came time for him to leave to meet with the team outside the gym, he couldn't help but to wonder.

Daichi tried not to think about anything else in particular until he and the team stood behind the door to Tsukishima's hospital room. As it turned out, Sugawara did show up, and so did Coach Ukai - he and Takeda-sensei even drove them from the school. When they came upon the closed door, Ukai took the lead and knocked as respectfully as he could. Amaya tentatively opened it, her face lighting up upon seeing her son's volleyball team.

"Come in," she said, opening the door as wide as it could go and stepping aside to let them in from the hallway, "Kei just woke up a little bit ago. I'm sure he'd be glad to see you."

The team filed through the open door, thanking Mrs. Tsukishima as they passed and surrounding their injured friend.

"What...?" said friend asked as he looked around the room at his team, the heavy cloud of slumber still hanging stubbornly over him like a thunderstorm, "What are you doing here?"

"You're our friend, Tsukishima," Daichi answered, the rest of the team - Ukai and Takeda included - nodding along beside him, "You were hurt, and we were worried about you. Of course we came to see you."

"Yeah, we did!" Nishinoya exclaimed, giving the smirky blocker an enthusiastic double thumbs up, "Glad to see you're still among the living!"

Tsukishima looked around at his teammates surrounding his bed, trying not to be embarrassed by the pitiful state in which they'd found him. It didn't seem to bother them any, he'd noticed. Nishinoya and Tanaka were absolutely brimming, as was Hinata. Daichi was stern, yet proud (though, honestly, how different was that from the captain's normal expression?). Ennoshita, Kinnoshita, and Narita were smiling very simply, obviously happy, but there was something about the curves of their smiles that told Tsukishima their minds were more focused toward the team's future. Kageyama seemed more frustrated than happy, but even he looked relieved that Tsukishima had pulled through.

He turned his attention to Yamaguchi, who looked like he was about to start crying out of joy. His lip quivered and Tsukishima could see the light from the open window reflect off the moisture gathering in his best friend's eyes.

"Tsukki!" he shouted practically tripping over himself as he fumbled his way through the group to his best friend's bedside. He let his tears flowed freely as he clutched the railing so hard he thought it might break, cracking into pieces in the palms of his hands. "Tsukki, y-you're okay! I was s-so s-scared! I can't believe you're… you're okay!"

"Hey," Tsukishima said, seemingly oblivious to the magnitude of the relief that Yamaguchi had just expressed, "How's your dad?"

Yamaguchi stopped, doing a mental double take. As if he needed confirmation that his best friend cared about him - the first thing Tsukki was concerned about was Yamaguchi's family.

"He's fine," the pinch server responded, smiling from ear to ear, "The stroke didn't do much damage. He spent the night at the hospital for monitoring, but there weren't any problems."

Tsukishima nodded as if this answer satisfied him. When he turned his attention away from Yamaguchi and back to the rest of his team, he saw Sugawara suddenly appear in his field of vision. The setter looked tired, clearly weighed down by the events of the last few days. He was also a bit twitchy, his hands fidgeting as he delicately avoided looking Tsukishima in the eye. He doubted the third year had been sleeping.

"Sugawara."

"Um…" he began, unsure of what to say. Everything had sounded so much better in his head as he recited it on the ride to the hospital. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck. As if possessed, Sugawara suddenly bowed deeply.

"I'm so sorry!" he cried, "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have to be here! You wouldn't have gotten hurt! It's all my - "

"Thank-you."

Sugawara shot up from his bowed position, stunned. Thank-you? It was his stupid idea to go to the convenience store that put Tsukishima in the hospital, that almost killed him! What could his teammate possibly have to thank him for?

"How - Why are you thanking me?"

"If you and Kiku hadn't reacted as quickly as you did, I would have died. I'm thanking you because you thought quickly." Sugawara hung his head out of embarrassment. Tsukishima's memory had to be addled by pain pills and blood loss. There was no way he could take credit for any of Kiku's initiative. Sugawara was certain he didn't do anything but hold them both back.

"Tsukishima… you're wrong. The action was all Kiku's. I didn't do anything but weigh her down."

"Sugawara."

The aforementioned setter lifted his head at the sound of his name.

"You helped to keep me from bleeding out. I was there, remember? Kiku couldn't have done the things she did without help."

"But I was completely useless! All I did was shut down. She's the one who came up with everything. I just sat there and trembled."

"You kept my bleeding under control while she readied the bandages. You handed her supplies whenever she needed them. To see someone as traumatically injured as I was and help takes tremendous courage. My parents could have lost both sons that night. Thanks to you, they didn't."

Sugawara contemplated this notion for several minutes. He thought back to the night his teammate was in surgery, not wanting to imagine what Mrs. Tsukishima would have done if her only remaining child had died. Even if Sugawara knew he couldn't forgive himself, he knew that Mrs. Tsukishima would forgive him for anything, and he realized… maybe that was somewhere to start.

"And what about you, King?" Tsukishima asked as he turned his attention to Kageyama, a sarcastic tilt to his voice, "You look a little down. Were you hoping I'd kick the bucket so you wouldn't have to deal with me anymore?"

Kageyama scoffed, not meeting Tsukishima's gaze. Tsukishima's eyebrows flew up in surprise. He won't look me in the eye… Don't tell me Kageyama was actually worried about me. In any other situation, Tsukishima realized, Kageyama would have confronted him immediately. The fact that he didn't obviously meant that something Tsukishima said had hit home. He actually was worried.

"You're such a bastard, you know that?" Kageyama said, "We need you on the team for Nationals. We can't win without your read blocking, and you know it. That's what I was worried about."

Tsukishima let a scowl pass over his face.

"Who told you I wasn't playing at Nationals? Did the doctors tell you that? My parents?" The team stared at him in surprise. Once Kageyama brought it up at the team meeting, they'd all assumed it was a given. Gunshot wounds took several months to heal completely, especially with the additional injuries Tsukishima had received to his internal organs. He'd never be fully healed by the time they played at Nationals.

"We still have a couple months. I'll be on the court. Don't you dare count me out."

Ukai had never seen his first year blocker don such a determined expression. The coach hadn't really thought about it much, but Tsukishima's attitude and overall demeanor toward volleyball had undergone some big changes during the time since the Shiratorizawa game. Sure, on the surface he was still the same smirky, sarcastic kid who hated it when his peers got out of hand, but on the court he was different - he was evolving. His brow furrowed a little more when he was entranced by the ball. His eyes shone a little brighter. His step, a little quicker. It had taken Ukai more than a week to notice such slight changes, but those small changes quickly added up to big ones.

So when Ukai heard Tsukishima confidently proclaim that he would definitely be playing at Nationals two months from now, he wasn't exactly surprised, but he was, in a way, dismayed. If only the teen knew how improbable that was.

"Tsukishima," the coach began, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived, "You're a smart kid; I don't think I need to tell you how improbable that is. I may not know too much about medicine, but I have enough common sense to know that you won't be full speed in just two months."

"I didn't say I'd be fully healed," Tsukishima responded, a calm determination ringing in his voice, "I said I'd be on the court."

"Tsukki," Yamaguchi joined in, clearly concerned for his best friend, "My uncle's a paramedic; he's seen stuff like this before. You'll probably be able to walk around by then, and maybe even function somewhat normally, but you won't be able to exert yourself in a game."

"Then I'll do what I can. I just need to be able to play long enough to read and time our opponents' spikes." Amaya spoke up from the back of the room, her presence having been completely forgotten by the team.

"If that's the case, baby," she said as she parted the waters, making her way to her son's bedside, "You need to take care of yourself. You need to get enough sleep, eat solid meals, and follow the doctor's orders to the letter. I know how hard this is going to be for you, but if you're going to have any chance of healing enough to play, you can't skimp out on anything. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. I love you very dearly, Kei. You're strong enough to overcome this." Tsukishima nodded, unsure of what to say. Before conversation with the team could resume, heads turned at the sound of the hospital room door slowly creaking open. As the crack between the door and its frame widened, Tsukishima saw the last person he expected to see step over the threshold: His father, Yoshirou. Yoshirou strode over to the foot of Tsukishima's bed, his back straight and his eyes focused, keeping every bit of his dignity about him.

"Kei."

Tsukishima looked up at his father.

"Dad."

"I believe I owe you an apology. I thought a lot about what I wanted to say to you, and I realize I said a few hurtful things earlier that I'm not proud of, so... I'm sorry." Tsukishima could see the pride in Yoshirou's eyes recede like the tide, watching remorse rapidly take its place. "I know you're just dealing with this situation the best way that you can, and I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I've been so wrapped up in the fact that I lost my son, I nearly forgot that you also lost your brother. I let my own grief blind me from understanding yours."

Yoshirou sighed, pausing his speech briefly to gather his thoughts. In the weight of the silence, Yoshirou brought his hand to his eyes, hoping the pressure of his thumb and index finger would halt the wave of tears he knew was coming. As he watched his father take this very personal moment, Tsukishima heard a small sound akin to a whimper escape Yoshirou's lips and realized that he was crying.

"I love you, Kei," the businessman breathed, weeping in front of others without embarrassment for the first time in decades. He walked around the bed so that he was directly beside Tsukishima, pulling him into a hug.

"It doesn't matter what happens, I will always love you." Very quietly, Tsukishima began to cry as well, his breath coming out in harsh rasps. He didn't understand it. He was absolutely fine a minute ago. Now, he felt overwhelmed, swamped with all the grief he'd locked away after he received the news hours ago. He tried to shove it back down, swallow it like he'd done with all his other emotion, but found himself unable. His brother was dead. His brother was... dead.

"Dad, I..." The words felt clumsy and awkward on his tongue, speaking with an emotional intensity he hadn't tasted in years, "I miss Akiteru... I wish this never happened." Yoshirou hugged his son tighter.

"I know. I miss him, too." Yoshirou pulled back, holding Tsukishima by the shoulders at arm's length. "Kei... You and I are a lot more alike than either of us would like to admit. But you need to understand, no matter how much we argue, you're my son, and I will never abandon you. This recovery process will be the slowest and most painful ordeal you will probably ever face, and I will be by your side through every minute of it."

Sugawara watched Tsukishima and his father silently as they shared what he figured was probably their first tender moment in years. Sugawara had never met Yoshirou personally, but Amaya and Akiteru were both kind, amicable people and he knew Tsukishima's foul attitude had to have come from somewhere. As humble as Yoshirou was at the moment, Sugawara could see from the way he dressed and his pride upon entering the room that he was usually a lot more stern and formal.

"Yeah! And not only do you have your parents behind you, you've got us, too!" Tanaka shouted with his hands balled into fists at his hip, striking a proud superhero pose. Nishinoya shouted in agreement, joining in as Daichi belly laughed along with them, patting Tanaka on the back as he did so. Asahi laughed sheepishly at Nishinoya as Ennoshita, Kinnoshita, and Narita all let loose a chorus of yes's. Hinata smiled broadly, rambling to Kageyama about how 'totally cool' their team was going to be now that they had a player who'd narrowly escaped death. As Tsukishima's moment with his father passed, he listened to his idiotic teammates with more interest than usual. Did they really mean it - everything they'd said? Tsukishima felt himself become overwhelmed by a new feeling, one he hadn't experienced since he was a child.

Trust.

For the first time in several days, Sugawara found some semblance of inner peace. He almost couldn't remember the last time he felt this... calm. Tsukishima was going to live. He was going to play at Nationals. The team was together, whole once again. Sugawara looked down at his feet, letting himself become absorbed in the feeling. There's only one thing amiss, he noticed, Akiteru. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that the pain of the gaping hole Akiteru's passing had left in their lives would linger for a long, long time. However, he was also sure that there was nothing he could do about it. Tsukishima and his parents, Yamaguchi - they would all have to handle Akiteru's death in their own way, at their own pace, and Sugawara knew that he couldn't let the bitter taste of the whole ordeal sour the peace he'd worked so hard to achieve.

Tsukishima was alive, and the team had reconciled.

For now, nothing else in the world mattered.

And there you have it. We're almost at the homestretch, folks ^_^

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