The Difference Between The Hero & The Martyr

The Difference Between the Hero & the Martyr

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Kazuha eats the divine punishment directly after shielding his partner with his body. It doesn't save Tomo from the shockwave and intense heat, but his injuries are minor compared to Kazuha's: severe burns in lightning patterns, branching from a clean gash running at an angle from his face down through his shoulder. You'd think he'd die on impact or not long after, but he doesn't even fall to his knees. Kaedehara stands firm to show he'll not be cowed by the display of power. Is it adrenaline that holds him up? Probably, but what does it matter? His mind focused solely on the survival of Tomo. When he turns to look at him, though, Kazuha's blood runs cold to see a face of betrayal glaring back at him.

"You idiot," Tomo says as he gets his own feet under him. "This is a duel, a duel with clear rules and honor riding on the opponents. Why- Why did you interfere?!"

"T-Tomo?"

"You dare dishonor me and everyone who stands against the Shogunate?!"

"No! I- I just- I wanted—"

I was being selfish, Kazuha thinks. I wanted to save your from becoming a martyr. He never finishes his sentence as the Raiden Shogun prepares to strike twice and take the life she's owed. Strong arms wrap themselves around him and haul him off to safety. Kazuha doesn't remember what happens after that.

He wakes up to find himself in a Resistance camp, being tended to by their medical team. Tomo is nowhere. General Gorou introduces himself and explains that his friend had dropped him off and left.

Gorou tells him, "He didn't explain very much—only that you survived the Almighty Shogun's wrath. Pretty impressive!" Kazuha, ofc, is only concerned about Tomo's whereabouts and wellbeing, but Gorou can't give him much information. "He never said where he was going next."

It's like the whole world shatters before him, and Kazuha tries desperately to get outta bed to hunt down his lover. "Don't- Don't leave me! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I hadn't meant—" He's silenced by pain and violent coughing. His body is weak, but Gorou still has to put strength into wrestling the hysteric patient back into bed, evidence as to what sorta person Kazuha was to survive the Musou no Hitotachi.

After winning their struggle, Gorou demands he rest, and then they will talk once he's better. "I'll see about sending ppl to find your friend." Kazuha can only slur out pleas for him to do so before succumbing to exhaustion. Whether it's from his condition or a sedative, no one needs to know.

Meanwhile, Tomo does not go back for his punishment at the Tenshukaku. He instead wanders Inazuma alone with the heaviest heart he's ever had and an even more burdened mind. He isn't just abandoning Kazuha; he's running from him. Forget about the duel, forget about the Shogun, the divine punishment, the Vision Hunt Decree! They angered him, boiled his blood, but nothing could compare to his beloved's willingness to forfeit his life for him. For him! You can't call it indignance or fury because the thought of Kazuha's grisly wounds doesn't ignite the urge to beat Shogunate soliders or curse Kazuha himself some more. It's to run.

Thanks to Tomo's reckless heroism, his partner's overwhelming love drove him to throw himself at death in his stead. Call him cruel, but he had to get away from Kazuha. He can't stomach the idea of ever having to see him in such a state again because of a thoughtless man named Tomo.

It's all his fault, and if he must separate himself from Kazuha to preserve him, then it's karma.

Listen, would anyone indulge me and entertain my TmKz power fantasy where Tomo still dies, but Kazu's a nine-tailed fox that tears Ei's puppet asunder, furiously searching for her when he discovers that's what the Shogun is?

It's equal parts sad and satisfying. The sadness comes from Tomo's death and Kazuha's survivor's guilt. As a powerful yokai who could've won a seat amongst the Seven millennia ago, he should've been there to eat the wretch before she could summon her sword. How could he've let another his most precious person die needlessly? He's learned nothing from his disgustingly long existence!

My satisfaction comes from watching this colossal fox that stands as high as the main building in Tenshukaku utterly demolish Raiden Ei's little to- puppet and forcing her to confront him in person. He demands retribution, recompense, revenge, whatever you wanna call it. He has half a mind to deprive Inazuma of their god. The only one who can put a stop to Kazuha's rampage is his lover, Tomo, and he's dead; so, there's a fat chance someone can use Talk no Jutsu on him. Alternatively, and this is a very slight alteration, Kazu reveals his true form when the Resistance storms Tenshukaku, ripping the head off the Shogun as she attempts to murder Aether.

Somnus: "Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I'll turn Ardyn into a flea, a harmless little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives...I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!" Spills the potion onto a plant and the plant dies. "Or, to save on postage"—grabs another bottle—"I'll just poison him with this!" Offers it to Gilgamesh. "Take it, Gil. Feel the power."

Gilgamesh: "Oh, I can feel it."

Y’know, I refer to Somnus as a king in the two or three posts I talk about him, but when I really think about it, an omega Somnus might be called a queen ‘til modern times. The ancient world was rife with rigid gendered traditions, after all, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they slapped a feminine title on him. Several editions of Cosmogony and textbooks probably have “Founder Queen” written on their pages, and so do the plaques accompanying his monuments. I’d say this changed in the last two centuries of Lucian history.

Imagine if Madara were on his deathbed with Hashirama by his side, but before he can die himself, Hashirama becomes a wooden statue decorated in stunning foliage with his hand forever in Madara’s. Madara sheds a tear and curses him for dying on him like that, but he’s smiling, and he breathes his final breath. At least he’s not leaving alone.

how to heal

hashirama doesn’t look any older, but madara can tell. his chakra is wilder, harder to tame. it feels less and less human, and more and more…something else. his limbs are stiff and they creak like old wood, and sometimes when he sits very still for a long time (as he tends to do more and more often now) madara is afraid he’ll never move again. he creates plants more, without meaning to, and more than once madara has gone out to the garden and found him covered in creeping tendrils of moss, or had to push back layers of layers of ferns just to find his face and cradle it in his hands. it feels like the forest is slowly—but with steadily increasing urgency—calling him back.

not yet, madara thinks, clasping hashirama’s rough-hewn hand in his own. not yet.

This is the cutest. I could look at this all day. Absolutely perfect. 💖

in which two dummies somehow start a courtship while thinking it’s a friendship