nightburst | hidden to all eyes but ours

TITLE: hidden to all eyes but ours
FANDOM: Gundam 00
CHARACTERS: Tieria Erde, Setsuna F. Seiei
WARNINGS: N/A
WORD COUNT: 723
CHAPTERS: 1/1
NOTES: title is from amalee's cover of tabi no tochuu. written for a friend <3
SUMMARY: A snapshot from Tieria and Setsuna's long voyage. Setsuna/Tieria

"It was a difficult two years for you."

He will not phrase it as a question. There is no need when they both know it is a fact, useless to argue. Or, in other words, Tieria does not wish to brook argument and let Setsuna downplay the isolation his Innovation has brought him.

Setsuna does not answer at once; Tieria expected this. He hovers over Qan[T]'s dashboard in patient silence, allowing Setsuna the space to collect his thoughts.

At last, as though coming to an agreement with himself, or coming back to this plane of reality, Setsuna replies.

"Yeah."

A simple, singular word, imbued with weight and devoid of self-pity.

Tieria -- that is, Tieria's projection of himself -- hovers over Qan[T]'s dashboard, facing his companion.

"It's understandable," Tieria continues. "You're the first of your kind."

And when he'd finally met another Innovator, it was moments before the man perished.

A shadow crosses Setsuna's face upon the recollection.

"There was nothing you could do for him."

"I know," Setsuna says, and adds, before he can rethink making this admission, "I felt him die."

"I thought as much," Tieria says, soberly. "It may have been the wrong decision for me to sleep as I did."

"What do you mean?"

"I may have been able to help you, as a fellow user of quantum brainwaves." He pauses. "...And as a friend."

"I'd still have struggled. The others reached out to me. They tried their best. I couldn't meet them halfway."

Setsuna makes a reasonable point. Tieria folds his arms. He is vaguely dissatisfied, his stubborn self half-tempted to voice disagreement. He refrains only because the point is moot.

What happened, happened. What didn't, did not.

"You earned a rest," Setsuna says, just before enough time has passed that the topic would be assumed to have concluded.

"I suppose I did die, if only in the physical sense."

"Then you died a second time. To save me."

"It was the best option available. You survived, and though I wasn't thinking this far ahead, it's allowed me to accompany you on this journey."

"Dying is dying," Setsuna states. "I won't forget what you did for me. For all of us."

"I would do it again," Tieria says. "First Innovator, I believe in you wholeheartedly."

I trust you unconditionally.

There will be many Innovators. There is only one Setsuna F. Seiei.

Only one person who could have saved both Earth and ELS. Who would have wanted to.

"Tieria Erde. I won't let you down."

"You don't need to say it. I know."

A flicker of a smile plays about Tieria's lips.

For a time, they leave it at that. Setsuna nods off. Tieria reviews information within Veda, checking on Laetitia's status.

"You worry a lot," Setsuna had told him not long ago at all.

"Excuse me?"

"Laetitia Erde will be waking up because you're worried about everyone."

To most others, Setsuna would have appeared impassive, but Tieria knew better. That statement was imbued with a subtle tone of amusement.

"I'm reasonably concerned," Tieria had countered.

"Fair."

Setsuna had smiled, then, warm and encompassing like the cardigans Tieria so favored. It had come to him with an ease that had once seemed impossible.

Now, Tieria takes in Setsuna's dozing face. Unguarded, even peaceful.

Eventually, his eyelids flutter open. Muscle memory leads his hands to Qan[T]'s controls as he sits up straight. He double-checks their trajectory.

"If we'd diverted from our set course, I'd have woken you myself," Tieria says. "Go back to sleep."

I know you're exhausted, he thinks.

Authoritative Tieria is not a Tieria easily swayed. Setsuna leans back in the cockpit's seat once more, seeking what comfort he can.

Tieria thinks that will be the end of it, but a few minutes later, Setsuna addresses him.

The persistent buzz of his thoughts often keep Setsuna from sleep; until he shares what's on his mind, rest will not find him again easily.

"You're here now."

"Hm?"

"You're here now, Tieria. That's what matters."

Without waiting for an answer, he shuts his eyes once more.

At times brown, at times gold, those eyes that ever seek out the horizon.

Gently, warmly, to himself, Tieria says, "You're right."

Now rest. You've earned it, too.

He'll watch over him as always.

Never again lonely, never again alone.