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They are beautiful.
That’s the first thing everyone thinks when the Setters appear, emerging from the thick fog like a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, all elegance and gracefulness. They walk in perfect formation, every step taken with military precision and everything under control around them.
The rest of the groups always watch them in silence, as if the smallest of noises would make them disappear before their eyes. The Setters are worshipped like the gods of the old religions were once… they are the deities of this new world.
It’s something some of them cherish and some them despise.
Nothing good can came from the things they do, not when you get that reverence by killing things that once upon a time where your friends and family… that not so long ago were like you. And where is the greatness in killing something someone that can’t think rationally?
“You have that look on your face again.”
“It’s the way my face is.”
Tooru laughs, bright like the sun and happy like a child, as if he wasn’t covered in dark blood and putrid bowels. “You’re thinking too loud again, Suga! They are monsters and, technically, they are already dead.” He runs a hand sticky with blood and dead flesh trough his hair, and even then he makes it looks like an elegant move, all stylish and flirtatious. “Right, Keiji?”
“Zombies are zombies,” the boy says, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it is, Suga knows that, but still unsettles him.
“It’s just—” he moves his hand and his sword shines under the sun. The blood shows off a new colour that way, almost a soft pink. “What if one day it’s the head of one of us that the others have to chop off?”
“That’s not gonna happen.” Keiji never raises his voice, but he doesn’t need to. His eyes, always focussed on the next goal, are the most gorgeous and deadly thing anyone can find.
Suga’s never been on the receiving end of his most intimidating gaze, Keiji always looks at him with love and warmth and lust; but right now the way Keiji’s looking at him it’s nothing but terrifying.
Tooru moves the weight of his body from one leg to another, his injured knee making it hard to keep still. “Why are you talking like this now, Suga? You’re not being your usual refreshing self, what is happening?”
“Nothing! I’m fine, just a little tired, I promise you.”
“No, I’m with Tooru.” Keiji grabs his forearm with enough force to bruise, but Suga doesn’t notice it. He can’t feel anything: it doesn’t matter how hard Keiji tightens his grasp, the nerves on his body aren’t working. Not since last week’s fight. “That thing got you.” It’s almost inaudible, but in the silence of the after-fight, it’s like the bang of a gun.
“Keiji—"
“I don’t know how you’ve remained this long without losing your humanity, without losing your mind… but you’re not human anymore, right?”
“What?” Tooru’s voice cracks, even if he tries to use a light tone. He’s looking at them nervously, hands running through his hair constantly. “You can’t be serious, Keiji! It’s Suga, he can’t… he’s not a monster! He’s just being a little weird, like always.”
“No.” In an instant, Suga’s back is pressed against the hard ground and Keiji has his t-shirt rolled up all the way to his chest. Suga doesn’t fight; it’s not worth it.
Tooru screams, his eyes are so big and frightened that Suga would laugh if they where in any other situation; but Keiji remains calm and collected, his gaze glued to the long scratches that run from Suga’s collarbone to his ribs and the teeth marks on his hip. His white skin is almost ghostly now and the bruises that don’t fade are scattered around his torso.
“Yesterday you said no to us. I didn’t realise then, occupied as I was trying to stop Tooru’s hand while it was wandering down my body, but when we were lying in the afterglow… I realised you hadn’t been with us for a week. No kissing, no touching— not even hugging or holding hands. You where afraid of us finding this.”
“…Yes.”
“How are you doing it?”
“I don’t know. I saw the marks and tried to kill myself, but— my mind was still mine. So I waited.”
“You must have done something.”
“I don’t know more than you do, Keiji, please,” Suga’s voice is so low it’s almost a whisper now. Keiji releases him, hands trembling and eyes watering. “Kill me. Kill me now and forget me. Forget everything about me.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No, I can’t do it.”
“TWO MINUTES AGO YOU TOLD ME ZOMBIES WERE ZOMBIES!”
“TWO MINUTES AGO THAT WAS AN HIPOTHETICAL SITUATION, THIS IS FUCKING REAL.” Tooru screams from the top of his lungs while tears fall down his cheeks. It breaks Suga’s heart, because Tooru is the most composed of them, the one that always carries a shield around for protection. And it’s awful and terrifying seeing him like this— all broken and distressed, knowing this is his fault.
“Sorry to break it to you, love, but this fucking nightmare has been real for some time now.”
Tooru shakes his head, falling to his knees and grabbing Suga’s hand with one of his, while the free one somehow finds his way to Keiji’s one. “I’ll call for an assembly with the other groups. Hell, I’ll even send Kageyama to do it since he’s the fastest we have. We’ll bring the Aces, the Blockers, the Spikers and the Liberos, and I promise you we’ll find a way to solve this.”
“There’s nothing to solve, Tooru. I’m doomed.”
The kiss that follows is hard and rushed, all desperation and fear. “I’m not giving up on you. I believe in all of us.” He brings Keiji closer and their foreheads end up touching, all three of them. “I feel invincible with all of us together and I’m not gonna give up on any of you. I’m not gonna give up on us.”