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English
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Published:
2025-04-27
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674
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1/1
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savior complex

Summary:

Kafka and Himeko enjoy a sweet victory at the end of it all.

Notes:

I haven't been writing much or at all as of late, so I'm clearing out some old short and sweet prompt fills from my tumblr and posting them on ao3 for archival purposes.

Work Text:

Kafka connects the final cable, watching the panels light up in a firework of information as statuses switch from red to green, a cascade of solutions trickling down through the system.

“There,” she sighs, her fingers numb from the effort of re-wiring. It’s not her niche in life, but Himeko asked her to finish it up, so she does. The one woman in the universe who could make her crawl on all fours without the immediate promise of a reward for good behavior, and she sent her deep in the nest of cables. “It’s looking good.”

The green lights reflect in Himeko’s eyes, open wide in amazement.

“Your brilliant plan worked.” Kafka brushes her hands, snapping the fingertips until she can feel them again. “One day you’ll have to explain this to me, you know. This desire to protect. To save. I just don’t get it.”

She doesn’t have to look to know Himeko’s rolling her eyes. They’ve been over this before: Kafka always suggests they skip the whole saving everyone else and save themselves, go somewhere private and watch it all burn from afar. There’s beaches where the sunset looks like Himeko’s hair spread out like a halo across the sky, where the sand glows golden like her eyes. It’s romantic, Kafka argues, and yet Himeko never lets go of her ideals, of which there are so many, and how they ruin what could be an easy romance between them.

“Getting here has taken so much out of you. Do you still think it was worth it?”

Himeko doesn’t reply. Kafka likes to imagine she’s smiling, that she’s pressing her lips together in that way she does when focusing hard. The counter steadily ticks up on the screen, the promise of everything she’s fought for, everything she’s sacrificed for, right at their fingertips.

So close. So tantalizingly close.

“I would have taken you someplace special, you know. I figured you wouldn’t have any place left to go after this. That maybe you’d want to stay for a while. With me.” She chuckles, shaking her head. “I know, don’t laugh. I get bleeding heart sentimental too at times. You could stand to indulge me more.”

She pushes the hair back out of her face, letting the progress bars fill up. Though she doesn’t know half the stuff that’s gone into this, she knows each little piece of it was a hard-won victory for Himeko. It’d be cruel to let her down now, here at the edge of all things.

The launch program finishes loading, ticking for a long, slow minute at 99% before flashing ready. Kafka doesn’t look back over her shoulder as she presses go. If she did, she might not have the strength to do it, because she doesn't believe this world is worth saving.

“And now, everything’s done.” Kafka rubs at her face, stepping back to the wall and sliding down until she’s sat next to Himeko. She takes her still-warm hand in hers, bringing it up to her lips and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “You should have been here to see it. Might even rival you in beauty.”

It’s a lie, but a good one. She can’t bring herself to look at anything but Himeko, which feels sacrilegious when this precise, perfect moment was everything she wanted.

“Was it worth it, Himeko? Were all these planets, all these lives, were they worth dying for?”

The silence hooks its barbs in her, a bittersweet cruelty here on the brink of a brand new universe aching to be reborn.

She touches Himeko’s cheek, wiping at the blood stains that should have been hers, catching a red lock of hair between her fingers.

“Was I worth dying for? Let me guess. You’d say yes. That’s the worst thing about you. You die for love.”

She presses her mouth to Himeko’s, stealing the last traces of warmth left on her skin, keeping her eyes shut tight.

When she next opens them, all of this, and Himeko too, will be gone.