Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationship:
Character:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2026-02-23
Words:
428
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
10
Kudos:
48
Bookmarks:
3
Hits:
282

what's after like?

Summary:

Somehow, he knows that the source of that pain is Doki Reiji.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Chest pain.

On the same level he registers every other sensation — there, certainly, though not as intensely as a human would feel it — Setsuna registers that he feels chest pain. Though he's certainly felt pain in his chest before (being struck there multiple times has made it something he's familiar with), this is different; although it's certainly pain, it feels... pleasant.

Somehow, he knows that the source of that pain is Doki Reiji.

He's already categorized many of Reiji's traits: friendly. Reckless. Open-minded. So, so open-minded — reaching out his hand like that, not leaving Setsuna's side even after he'd heard what Setsuna is... perhaps, in the universe he's from, such behavior is the norm. Setsuna has no reason to believe otherwise.

And yet, the assurance Reiji had given him — that implication that they'd meet again... it's something that Setsuna isn't sure how to process. How can Reiji be so sure that they'll see each other again? Is it simply because they're both holders of the title of Gavan? If that isn't the case, what could Reiji have meant by his words? The questions, and that nameless ache, are incessant. In all of his years of traveling, of fighting, this precise emotion is a novel one. Setsuna isn't sure what he's supposed to do with it.

The code he's programmed to follow has many tenets; loyalty, sincerity, compassion, respect... it isn't as if Setsuna is wholly unfamiliar with those concepts. He even has the capability to be subservient, to some degree. But those words feel woefully inadequate; none of them are quite right, and frankly, it's vexing. Is his programming failing him? Or is this simply something he's yet to experience?

(A faint thrill courses through him. To find a new emotion, after his thousands of years of traveling... has such a thing always been within him? Or has Doki Reiji somehow planted the seeds of something wholly original? Is that what the ache is — the feeling of something new, sprouting in his chest, taking up space that previously was empty?)

Regardless — somehow, despite having no concrete proof that he will see Reiji again, Setsuna finds himself trusting the red Gavan's words. Taking them as a guarantee brings Setsuna a sensation of relief. The pain does not cease, but it's one that Setsuna could grow accustomed to, if given the opportunity to do so.

(He rarely lets himself hope, but as he recalls the image of Doki Reiji's retreating back, he silently wishes that that next meeting would be soon. He's especially curious about Reiji's trick with the handcuffs.)

Notes:

sorry for kicking off this ship tag like this they deserve better than me lmao. alas

title from after like by ive