Survival of the fittest- A Haikyuu apocalypse AU

Chapter 29

A/N: I'm sorry

It had been so easy.

Just, "Oh, whoopsies, I slipped and ate shit and now I'm dead!"

Or...undead?

Who fucking knows.

It had been so normal! Just another food run (one of the last ones before the store ran out of food) when all of a sudden--

A shrill scream pierced the air. It was kind of funny in a really morbid way, Tanaka thought, especially since they weren't the one bludgeoned with a steak knife. Then again, Chikara was sobbing and that was making him really sad.

"Why are you crying, Chikara?" he asked, "What's wrong?"

This just made him cry harder. Tanaka didn't understand. Why? Why was he crying? Nothing was wrong. It was a normal food run. Nothing had even happened! Frankly, it was pretty boring all in all. Just grabbing some shit, watching each other's asses, and...

oh.

His side was really starting to hurt now.

The serrated edges gripped his insides as hot, sticky blood spilled out. He groaned in pain as Chikara tried to help him up. No! He was going to get himself killed!

"Run!" Tanaka said urgently, "I'm only slowing you down!"

"No! I'm not leaving you here to die!"

"I'll be fine, Chikara. Go. I'll catch up."

"...you don't think I really believe that."

Ryuunosuke chuckled bitterly.

"No way in hell," he responded, "but I gotta try."

"Ryuunosuke?"

"Yes?"

"...can you-"

Ennoshita was briefly cut off by his own sobs.

"-can you say hello to Narita for me?"

Tanaka smiled.

"...of course I can. Thank you, Chikara."

And then the life faded from his eyes and Ennoshita was pulled away by hands he couldn't bring himself to recognize and Tanaka was gone. No superglue, no pinch serves, and no take backs, because this wasn't a game, it was real.

And maybe it just hadn't hit him until that moment.

But Ryuunosuke had been his best friend, and then more than that, and now he was gone because Chikara was stupid and human and he couldn't survive without some goddamned food and water.

No wonder Daichi felt so depressed.

He remembered people hugging him when he got back, whispered reassurances, and Kinoshita crying into his arms. He felt numb and explosive and everything was conflicting and it was all too much, too fucking much.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was firm and steady, just like Sugawara's and Tanaka's had been, just like Asahi's was, and just like his could never manage to be. He looked up and took in the eyebags and the shaggy hair and the five o'clock shadow and the worry-lines etched deep into the face that was so very there.

There, and harmed, and broken, but still Daichi.

He pulled Ennoshita into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and for the first time Chikara got an apology that felt real.

And then Ennoshita cried even more because now Tanaka was gone and everything was wrong, his best friend his boyfriend was dead, but Daichi was back. He'd lost his most beloved person, but got back his most important. An equal exchange, one of sacrifice that he would undo if he could, but then again, if he could undo this he'd want to go back further and undo everything.

An eye for an eye, a soul for a soul, he mused.

Hinata cried in the corner. Yamaguchi was next to him, leaning on the smaller boy with dull, hopeless eyes.

"I think," Daichi said while looking around, "that some of us probably need a hug."

Ennoshita snorted.

"No shit," he responded, grief lining his throat and thickening his voice.

"You're not alone," Daichi said, and patted Chikara's shoulder. The two sat in silence for a few hours more, until it was time to go to bed.

This might have been the very worst day of Chikara Ennoshita's life. If not, it was most certainly a top contender.

A/N: MY FINGERS SLIPPED IM SORRY-