[Fic] "Hidden" -- Angel Sanctuary, Kira/Setsuna/Sara, Theme 26
Author: Elizabeth Culmer edenfalling
Fandom/Pairing: Angel Sanctuary, Kira/Setsuna/Sara
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Kaori Yuki, Hakusensha, VIZ Media, et al. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Theme: #26 - Hidden
Warnings: spoilers!
Note: Post-manga, so pretty much everything here is speculation. The story Setsuna tells Sara is a quick summary of early vol. 4.
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The Transient and the Eternal: Hidden
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Killing God and saving the universe didn't pay anything. Fortunately, Sara and Setsuna's parents hadn't been on speaking terms since the divorce, so it took their mother over twenty-four hours to explain anything to their father. That was enough time for Setsuna to find their father's account information and 'borrow' a hundred thousand yen, and that was enough money for them to rent a tiny one-room apartment and live off until they found jobs.
Setsuna spent a few days grumbling about the unfairness of everything -- "After all that, you'd think we could get a vacation!" he said -- before Sara lost patience and smacked him with the spoon she was using to serve the rice.
"We're alive and we're together. Everything else is just details," she told him. Setsuna smiled -- his special smile, for her alone -- and grabbed the spoon out of her hand. Sara reached for it, scowling "Setsuna! This isn't time for games. Give that back or dinner will be cold by the time we sit down."
Setsuna tossed the spoon over his shoulder into the sink, and stalked forward, a hungry light in his eyes. Heart racing, Sara circled the table and backed away, until she ran up against the bed. After everything, this was still so new and strange... "Setsuna? ...Oniichan?"
"Dinner can wait -- it's just a detail, right?" Setsuna said, and tackled her onto the sheets.
Some time later, Sara found the breath to agree that he had a point.
"But you have to be serious," she told her brother as they lay spooned together, his fingers running through her newly dyed hair. "We have a lot of new friends, but we don't need angels now. We need jobs, and money, and we need not to stand out. When we're older, it won't matter so much -- Mother won't be able to take me away from you -- but for now, we have to look like everybody else."
"I know, Sara," he said, his breath tickling along the rim of her ear. "I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid."
"Never an idiot!" she said, fiercely, and turned to wrap her arms around him. "You saved me! You saved us all."
Setsuna's breath hitched for a moment, and then he started to disentangle them.
Sara sat up, suddenly cold. "What's wrong? What did I say?"
"Nothing -- I just remembered dinner," Setsuna said, but she knew her brother, knew what a terrible liar he was. Maybe he could fool people who didn't know him as well as she did, but she could always tell when he was trying to hide something. She and Kira used to tease him about that---
Oh.
"I think it will be all right," she said, following Setsuna back to the table and pressing herself against his back. "Maybe he was always Lucifer, somewhere deep inside, but he was Kira Sakuya, too, and either way he loved you. As long as we all remember that, it's okay. And that other boy, Kira's friend, he did what he wanted, and we all would have died if he hadn't. He was a hero -- don't take that away from him."
Setsuna grabbed the chair in front of him; she could hear the metal creak in his grip. "I never told you," he said. "When you-- after you-- when... when I was destroying Tokyo, I couldn't face reality. So I made a dream world in my mind, where you weren't my sister and I wasn't Alexiel, so we could be together without any sin or obstacles. There was a Kira in that world, but he wasn't possessed by Nanatsusaya, wasn't Lucifer. He wasn't Kira-sempai."
He let out a long, shuddering breath, and Sara burried her face in the crook of his neck, making soft, soothing noises.
"Adam Kadamon told me he would stop time right after you-- right after, and that I had to save the world while God was sleeping. Then he told me to destroy the soul crystal that held Nanatsusaya. He told me to kill Kira. But I couldn't, because the world I wanted to save was a world with Kira-sempai in it. I couldn't lose him too.
"And now I have you back, but I've lost him anyway."
The chair back twisted in Setsuna's grasp, and he twitched, trying to pull in on himself, pull away from Sara. She wasn't about to let him do that -- she'd had enough of him hiding his feelings in some half-baked attempt to protect her. So her brother had loved his best friend too -- his male best friend? So what! Who was she to cast stones?
Sara ran her hands over her brother's chest, pulling him tight against herself and trying to show that she wouldn't let go, wouldn't leave him again. "You didn't lose him," she said, standing on tiptoes to whisper into Setsuna's left ear, the pierced one. "I told you -- as long as we remember, he's still here with us, in our hearts. And if being human changed Alexiel and Jibril into us, then I bet being human changed Lucifer too. Kira's not gone."
She flicked her tongue against the two studs Kira had given her brother, and the tiny cross she'd bought at a secondhand shop last week. Kira's earrings had a protection spell on them, fueled by all Lucifer's dark power. She couldn't do magic, not on purpose, but now she knew who'd she'd been, and she'd wished with all her heart that her gift would protect her brother too.
Setsuna shivered, and turned in her arms to face her. "Maybe Kira-sempai isn't dead, but he isn't here," he said. "You're missing the point, as usual." A hint of teasing had crept back into his voice, and his hand rose to brush through Sara's tangled hair.
"Of course he's not here," Sara said, relaxing into her brother's touch. "He's my friend too, but you're mine. Maybe once we're dead and we're all angels again, he can have Alexiel, but until then I get you." She sniffed, trying to copy Raphael's cool disdain, and added, "I do hope those conditions meet with your approval."
"I approve just fine," Setsuna said, with that special smile. Then he tugged on her hair and pointed toward the counter. "But I think dinner's gone cold."
Sara gave up and laughed.
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End
Fandom/Pairing: Angel Sanctuary, Kira/Setsuna/Sara
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Kaori Yuki, Hakusensha, VIZ Media, et al. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Theme: #26 - Hidden
Warnings: spoilers!
Note: Post-manga, so pretty much everything here is speculation. The story Setsuna tells Sara is a quick summary of early vol. 4.
---------------------------------------------
The Transient and the Eternal: Hidden
---------------------------------------------
Killing God and saving the universe didn't pay anything. Fortunately, Sara and Setsuna's parents hadn't been on speaking terms since the divorce, so it took their mother over twenty-four hours to explain anything to their father. That was enough time for Setsuna to find their father's account information and 'borrow' a hundred thousand yen, and that was enough money for them to rent a tiny one-room apartment and live off until they found jobs.
Setsuna spent a few days grumbling about the unfairness of everything -- "After all that, you'd think we could get a vacation!" he said -- before Sara lost patience and smacked him with the spoon she was using to serve the rice.
"We're alive and we're together. Everything else is just details," she told him. Setsuna smiled -- his special smile, for her alone -- and grabbed the spoon out of her hand. Sara reached for it, scowling "Setsuna! This isn't time for games. Give that back or dinner will be cold by the time we sit down."
Setsuna tossed the spoon over his shoulder into the sink, and stalked forward, a hungry light in his eyes. Heart racing, Sara circled the table and backed away, until she ran up against the bed. After everything, this was still so new and strange... "Setsuna? ...Oniichan?"
"Dinner can wait -- it's just a detail, right?" Setsuna said, and tackled her onto the sheets.
Some time later, Sara found the breath to agree that he had a point.
"But you have to be serious," she told her brother as they lay spooned together, his fingers running through her newly dyed hair. "We have a lot of new friends, but we don't need angels now. We need jobs, and money, and we need not to stand out. When we're older, it won't matter so much -- Mother won't be able to take me away from you -- but for now, we have to look like everybody else."
"I know, Sara," he said, his breath tickling along the rim of her ear. "I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid."
"Never an idiot!" she said, fiercely, and turned to wrap her arms around him. "You saved me! You saved us all."
Setsuna's breath hitched for a moment, and then he started to disentangle them.
Sara sat up, suddenly cold. "What's wrong? What did I say?"
"Nothing -- I just remembered dinner," Setsuna said, but she knew her brother, knew what a terrible liar he was. Maybe he could fool people who didn't know him as well as she did, but she could always tell when he was trying to hide something. She and Kira used to tease him about that---
Oh.
"I think it will be all right," she said, following Setsuna back to the table and pressing herself against his back. "Maybe he was always Lucifer, somewhere deep inside, but he was Kira Sakuya, too, and either way he loved you. As long as we all remember that, it's okay. And that other boy, Kira's friend, he did what he wanted, and we all would have died if he hadn't. He was a hero -- don't take that away from him."
Setsuna grabbed the chair in front of him; she could hear the metal creak in his grip. "I never told you," he said. "When you-- after you-- when... when I was destroying Tokyo, I couldn't face reality. So I made a dream world in my mind, where you weren't my sister and I wasn't Alexiel, so we could be together without any sin or obstacles. There was a Kira in that world, but he wasn't possessed by Nanatsusaya, wasn't Lucifer. He wasn't Kira-sempai."
He let out a long, shuddering breath, and Sara burried her face in the crook of his neck, making soft, soothing noises.
"Adam Kadamon told me he would stop time right after you-- right after, and that I had to save the world while God was sleeping. Then he told me to destroy the soul crystal that held Nanatsusaya. He told me to kill Kira. But I couldn't, because the world I wanted to save was a world with Kira-sempai in it. I couldn't lose him too.
"And now I have you back, but I've lost him anyway."
The chair back twisted in Setsuna's grasp, and he twitched, trying to pull in on himself, pull away from Sara. She wasn't about to let him do that -- she'd had enough of him hiding his feelings in some half-baked attempt to protect her. So her brother had loved his best friend too -- his male best friend? So what! Who was she to cast stones?
Sara ran her hands over her brother's chest, pulling him tight against herself and trying to show that she wouldn't let go, wouldn't leave him again. "You didn't lose him," she said, standing on tiptoes to whisper into Setsuna's left ear, the pierced one. "I told you -- as long as we remember, he's still here with us, in our hearts. And if being human changed Alexiel and Jibril into us, then I bet being human changed Lucifer too. Kira's not gone."
She flicked her tongue against the two studs Kira had given her brother, and the tiny cross she'd bought at a secondhand shop last week. Kira's earrings had a protection spell on them, fueled by all Lucifer's dark power. She couldn't do magic, not on purpose, but now she knew who'd she'd been, and she'd wished with all her heart that her gift would protect her brother too.
Setsuna shivered, and turned in her arms to face her. "Maybe Kira-sempai isn't dead, but he isn't here," he said. "You're missing the point, as usual." A hint of teasing had crept back into his voice, and his hand rose to brush through Sara's tangled hair.
"Of course he's not here," Sara said, relaxing into her brother's touch. "He's my friend too, but you're mine. Maybe once we're dead and we're all angels again, he can have Alexiel, but until then I get you." She sniffed, trying to copy Raphael's cool disdain, and added, "I do hope those conditions meet with your approval."
"I approve just fine," Setsuna said, with that special smile. Then he tugged on her hair and pointed toward the counter. "But I think dinner's gone cold."
Sara gave up and laughed.
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End