"We're not going to make it, Tsuna," Byakuran says softly, his eyes lucid in a way they haven't been in months.

Yuni lies in the bed between them – so young but already frail and fragile and breaking – a small hand in each of theirs. She's not even thirty yet and here she is on her death bed. As much as no one has mentioned it, they all know. Tsuna runs a thumb gently over her knuckles, wondering not for the first time when things went so wrong.

"Perhaps the you from the Future-That-Wasn't had the right idea," he says idly. It's not the first time he's had that thought.

Byakuran gives him a wane smile. "Don't be silly, Tsu-chan, you know he didn't."

Tsuna shrugs. "If you can't change it, destroy it and start over."

"That only works when you have something to start over with," Byakuran replies, "And Future-Me-That-Wasn't wasn't really going for that."

Tsuna hums in acknowledgement. He's been quieter these days, prone to contemplation. Yuni and Byakuran have always been more inclined to Seeing things – Tsuna has always Felt. And right now there is so very much to Feel. Every Flame Death hits him like a blow to the chest, knocking the air from his lungs and leaving him reeling. The World is falling down around their ears and the three of them seem to be the only ones who notice.

That doesn't mean they aren't affected.

Their Guardians hover, worried and clueless, and watch as their Skies seemingly crumble before them. But Takeshi's and Daisy's Flames have already Withered to nothing, Skull's Flames Surged, triggering Hayato's and Zakuro's Surges as well, made all the worse by their volatile natures.

None of them seem to notice.

Yuni, when she's awake, looks at them all with sad eyes, but says nothing about their Flames consuming them from the inside out.

Byakuran eyes Kyouya and Gamma, though he doesn't seem to realize why most of the time given his condition, but Tsuna knows that it means they're next. He can feel it building up inside them, eating away at restraints and controls their wielders aren't even aware are there.

The Guardians don't realize it, but their Skies are waiting for them to die.

This is the result of maintaining balance through sacrifice. Eventually, the source became either unwilling or depleted. Checker Face miscalculated and is now scrambling to find a way to fix things.

Tsuna knows from the cold knot in his chest that it isn't going to work.

The Earthling used chains and puppet strings to maintain life. Tsuna doesn't believe in that. He doesn't believe in a life that can only be sustained by the unwilling sacrifice of others. What determines who lives and dies? How do those that live have more right to life than those who are sacrificed? Tsuna doesn't know. And he doesn't want to. That system has obviously already failed and he wants no part of it.

"We should change it," he murmurs.

Byakuran hums and looks at him with eyes so clear that Tsuna wants to weep. "It's a little late for that."

Tsuna huffs and looks back at Yuni, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest for a long moment. She's dying, her body is failing, slowly being crushed under the weight of the Sky. Byakuran is the same, his mind being pulled in so many directions that he can't keep up. He drifts more and more and it gets harder to pull him back each time. The Sky is a heavy burden and even divided between the three of them, they tremble beneath its weight.

Yuni's body is dying.

Byakuran is losing his mind.

And Tsuna is burning himself out trying to keep the three of them going.

This isn't right. This isn't right and Tsuna knows it. But he doesn't know how to fix it. Everything is too far gone to even attempt fixing it. If only they had acted sooner, when they were younger and things weren't so damaged. If only they could go back and –

Go back.

Go back.

Tsuna's head snaps up, eyes wide, mind whirling even as Byakuran gives him a curious look.

"We can change it," Tsuna says breathlessly, plan falling into place in his mind, his Intuition humming warmly. "We will change it," he says firmly, looking into Byakuran's eyes.

The older man's brow furrowed, "Tsuna…?"

"You want to time travel."

Both men jerk around at the soft voice to look into tired blue eyes.

Taking a shaky breath, Tsuna squeezes her hand, aware of Byakuran doing the same on her other side. "We've done it before," he says.

Yuni hums, fingers curling loosely around his. "You have," she corrects.

"Technically, Future-Him-That-Wasn't did it," Byakuran says, "He just experienced it."

Tsuna clicks his tongue. "Not the point."

"The point is you want to change things," Yuni prompts, caution in the pale lines of her face, as Byakuran looks between them warily.

And Tsuna is suddenly angry. Angry that no one is paying enough attention to see what's going on, angry that any of them are even in this position in the first place, angry that two of his closest friends seem resigned to their fate.

"You're both dying," he hisses, Sky blazing in his eyes.

Byakuran gives him a grim smile. "You say that like I don't know what it is to die," he says, eyes old, "You've killed me before, remember?"

"Byakuran," Yuni says reproachfully.

The white haired man subsides with a smirk.

"I'm not like you," Tsuna says, cutting off whatever Yuni is about to say, "I'm not like your grandmother. When people I love are in danger and I know how to stop it, I'm not going to sit around and do nothing because it's the way things are supposed to be or whatever bullshit you're about to try and placate me with. You might be resigned to your death, but I'm not."

Yuni blinks at him, the movement sluggish and bewildered.

"…You know how to stop it?" Byakuran repeats slowly, expression shrewd.

Tsuna reaches out and takes Byakuran's free hand with his. "I have an idea," he clarifies.

Byakuran hums and exchanges a speaking look with Yuni before they both nod.

Tsuna explains.

They listen.

"I can't do that, Tsuna," Byakuran says seriously, after he's outlined his thoughts, "This is the first time I've been lucid in months and even now, I'm not entirely sure this is real. I can't."

"You can," Tsuna says firmly, pressing fingers against the inside of the other man's wrist.

"But – "

"You can."

Byakuran pauses and Yuni squeezes his fingers weakly.

"You can," Tsuna repeats, gentling his tone, "You can because you deserve better than this. Because we deserve better than this. Because our Families deserve better than this. We deserve a chance to live our lives. This isn't living. This isn't even surviving – this is just waiting to die."

After a long moment of silence, Yuni says, "Checker Face won't be able to find any Skies to replace us."

They know this. The Skies had gone first after all. Tsuna had despaired when Xanxus had Surged and Dino had Withered – both of them had completely burned out in months and no one had been able to explain their deaths. But the three of them had exchanged grim looks while everyone else grieved and they knew.

Byakuran looks between them, lips pressed into a thin line before they quirk up at the corners. "Alright," he says with a sigh, "We've nothing to lose at this point."

"But everything to gain," Yuni whispers with a small smile.

"It'll work," Tsuna says, calling up his Flames and wrapping them around his fellow Skies, "I'll make it work."

Yuni chuckles softly, more a huff of air than anything, and Byakuran grins.

They close their eyes and summon whatever Flame they have left. The Mare Sky Ring glows where it rests on Byakuran's finger, the Vongola Sky Ring and Sky Pacifier flaring brightly in response.

They breathe out.

The Sky goes dark.

They don't breathe in.

Yuni opens her eyes and doesn't hurt.

She blinks and takes an experimental breath, in then out, repeat, and almost bursts out into hysterical giggles when she doesn't break down into those horrible hacking coughs that made her entire body ache.

It worked.

She sits up and is, for a moment, unsettled at how small she is now. Is this how the Arcoblaneo felt when they woke up as infants for the first time? Like your body doesn't fit quite right? But she can move and she doesn't hurt anymore and she can finally breathe and that alone is amazing enough that she doesn't care that she is now little more than a child.

She releases a small pulse of Flame, subtle enough to go unnoticed, and is torn between weeping in relief or breaking down into giddy, probably hysterical, laughter when she feels the steady, healthy, alive burn of familiar Flames around her.

Alive.

Her Family is alive.

It worked.

She smiles.

Byakuran opens his eyes and can hear himself think.

He's forgotten what that's felt like with all the parallel worlds clamoring for his attention. His ability to filter the information had steadily gotten worse as the Tri-ni-Set declined and Yuni's body started failing. It's been so long since he's been able to think this clearly; it's more than a little disorienting. But he knows what that means, that he can think clearly, that he isn't being pulled in countless directions.

It worked.

Clever little Tsu-chan and his schemes, Byakuran thinks fondly.

There's so much to do.

But suddenly, he has time to do it.

He smiles.

Tsuna opens his eyes and sees his old bedroom.

The one from his childhood in a house that is no longer there. Or at least, it hadn't been. The fact that he's in a room that no longer exists tells him everything he needs to know.

It worked.

There's no weight pressing down on his chest, no icy chill stealing the breath from his lungs anymore. He can breathe.

He can feel his mother down the hall, the neighbors in the next house over. He can feel the steady pulse of Flames that don't mean Active, but life.

It worked.

He smiles.