A hero's crushing realization of human mortality

[herodrawing]

Miss Kanade?

Mr Yancy... and Raleigh, too?

[It doesn't take long for someone to break news to Izuru. The young pilot just stands there, in shock.]

I wasn't even there. I wanted to go to the concert, but...

Why did it happen?

[Some wannabe heroes try to act tough. Izuru is not one of them, at least not now. Tears start to well in his eyes.]

Comments

[ugyuuya]

[Passing by Izuru after returning from some of the funeral duties for the fallen pilots Yuuya pauses and turns to the younger pilot with a semi-complicated look on his face.]

Hey Izuru, come on sit down over here. [he guides the pilot to a seat in a semi-out of the way side corridor.] You have to realize that sometimes these things happen, it's never pleasant but it's a reality of what we do. Any one of the things out there could kill us just as dead as the Kaiju or we may be called upon to sacrifice ourselves like Kanade, TSFs carry extremely powerful self-destruct charges for dedicated anti-BETA operations, mostly Hive assaults but they are standard equipment.

Yancy died trying to save more lives, which he succeeded in and Kanade saved pretty much everyone who was present in that mission with her sacrifice. Nobody is happy that these things happened and sadly there isn't anything we can do to fix it but as long as you remember them then that's the important part.

Eishi get their name from a Japanese word that roughly translates as "guardian". It's not uncommon for a unit that has been too depleted to give up any chance of escape to buy other units to retreat or to complete a critical mission objective. I at one point said that the pilots involved with the UG group qualified for that name after their first encounter with the BETA but it would seem that it was a more appropriate name then I originally expected.

They died knowing the risks and what could or, in Kanade's case, would happen to them. You can be sad and there's no shame in crying over lost friends but remember that they stood proud even through to the end and that their sacrifices gave others the chance to live.

[majestic_keiki]

[At least he is not alone. Kei is there and as the tears begin, she quietly reaches out to give him a hug in an attempt to comfort him.]

[herodrawing]

I know this kind of thing happens.

[A loud sniff.]

Heroes... sacrifice themselves to save others, right?

But this was supposed to be a fun concert. Nothing more. And miss Kanade promised she'd take care of herself.

So many people lost their lives, instead...

[herodrawing]

Kei?

[Izuru is in shock but from all things he did not expect that.]

[majestic_keiki]

[Seeing his reaction, she just smiled awkwardly moving to let go in case she was just making things worse. She still wasn't sure enough of what to say to actually say anything, though.]

[cloningblues]

...Kanade sacrificed her life to protect us. If she didn't, even more people would die there. Including me and Kei, probably.

[herodrawing]

[Izuru actually doesn't mind.]

You were there too, right? It must've been horrible.

[herodrawing]

If me and Leos didn't stay back, we'd be there too.

Was there really no other way to save everyone?

[majestic_keiki]

It was...Even before the end there were numerous civilians dying and almost endless waves of Noise.

[herodrawing]

So even with miss Kanade's sacrifice, we didn't manage to save everyone?

[cloningblues]

Short of a miracle? No.

And it wasn't everyone. It was everyone who was still alive.

[herodrawing]

This... is not fair! It wasn't supposed to happen.

Noise weren't supposed to come to the concert, but they were there anyway, and so many too!

[majestic_keiki]

No...I think many of them died before we could even reach our units.

But she saved far more people than that.

[cloningblues]

Damnit, I know that! But... Life just isn't fair sometimes. You of all people should know this too.

[herodrawing]

I know, but this is a whole level of unfairness bigger than the usual stuff.

[herodrawing]

This kind of sacrifice is totally different than how it's shown in the comic books...

[majestic_keiki]

Yes, it is...But it was the sacrifice we could get. And things would have been even worse without it.

[herodrawing]

What will happen to Tsubasa now? And the Symphogear project?

[Izuru looks really uncertain.]

Will the Noise be free to do whatever they want and kill people unopposed, again?

[ugyuuya]

It's more those who are in a position to do things to save others is what makes a hero in the end Izuru. How many more people would have died if Kanade hadn't done what she did?

I just got back from a briefing that was held because Lt. Takamura wanted to have her own remembrance for Kanade and what she did. The final words she was saying were a will of sorts, leaving her life behind for us to carry on and that she was able to die peacefully knowing that she not only saved us but also the other survivors from the second division and audience. I can admit that the effect was notable but the calm she felt confuses me. I don't think that I could push the button in a similar situation quite as easily.

[Yuuya trails off near the end, his own sense of confusion carrying through as he finds himself vocalizing the same thoughts that were troubling him before he started trying to comfort Izuru.]

[herodrawing]

[Izuru lowers his head in thought, which also gives him a few seconds to pull himself back together.]

Probably... everyone would have died. And my friends were there too.

Miss Kanade saved everyone. I just don't think the price she had to pay for it was fair at all.

[break_the_nine]

No...

[Izuru, you aren't alone in the crying department. Despite a disagreement regarding Lana way back when, Leos really appreciated everything that Yancy did for him. He never really met Raleigh but he saw that interview on TV. He hadn't the chance to share friendship pudding with the brothers.]

No... No...nonono...

[He saw Kanade once. It was a tiny meeting, just her taking her medicine and the resulting conversation thereof. But he heard a lot of things about her. Idol. Heroine. Leos just bought his first Zwei Wing album as a reward for a job well done after he was done cleaning up and had planned to ask for both members to sign it.]

Nononoonono! No... Its not- they're... I don't...I.. -hic-

[Despite being older than Izuru by a fair margin he was all but a few steps from completely falling apart and sobbing himself into the floor. Loss... he wasn't good at dealing with it. And he was doing so well with therapy...]

[herodrawing]

Hey, Leos?

[Izuru looks at the miserable pile on the floor, very unsure about what to do.]

Not good... this is so not good.

[majestic_keiki]

I don't know.I haven't heard from them since.

I hope Tsubasa is okay. She didn't handle it well before...

[ugyuuya]

Well when it comes to it in the end that's what we sign up for. The level of commitment and sacrifice is what we can only hope and aspi- oh I can't even keep this up to myself anymore.

[Yuuya leans back and puts his head against the wall looking up at the ceiling.]

I was involved with the rescue team that pulled Raleigh off the coast and got to see the effects of Kanade's song first hand from my view over the battlefield with the Aerogators. This whole series of events has been one mess after another.

I wish Kanade were here right now so I could deck her in the stomach for pulling that stunt. It was bad enough with Willis or Seta but they can heal at the very least.

[Yuuya pulls himself away from his rant and calms down before looking rather sheepishly over at Izuru.]

Looks like I wasn't able to keep myself as composed as I was trying to. I just don't get how readily so many people here will dive in to injure or kill themselves to save others. I know I've run a few close saves but I always gauged what my unit could do against the window of action. It's a close thing and the margin of error was slim but I've never acted in a way that would willingly cripple or kill myself just to try to save another pilot. I'll do it if the order comes but even then I'll fight with all I've got to stay alive and come back. What happened there is noble and good but it's just frustrating because I can't console her final words and actions.

[herodrawing]

I wanted to talk to her, too. And now it will never happen.

I want to survive. Even if I tried to sacrifice myself to save others, the AHSMB won't let me. The Juria System forces it to live no matter what.

I... don't even know what to think about this anymore. We met miss Kanade only a few months ago, but it feels like much longer than that.