What Do You Fight For?[Hannah, Solomon]

Defeat was always a bitter pill to swallow. No matter how humble or prideful you were, suffering a defeat against what one considered a mortal enemy was the worst. Sickening. Detestable. Even after all this time, after all these battles, he remained unable to shift the tide of victory with his thunderous blade. Right before his very eyes, he witnessed his beloved rival suffer in a frozen prison at the hands of a merciless arrancar.

His mind replayed the scene, alternating between a state of consciousness in reality and dreaming of the horrific event which welcomed a nightmarish outcome. He was thoroughly outclassed in the face of such immense power, and what did he have to answer for his loss? Nothing. He hadn't even cleaved his blade through her statuesque frame. Slowly but surely, he wondered. What was he truly? Useless? Everyone seemed to be evolving past him, improving and elevating their talents. Yet, here he was. Confined to a hospital bed, staring aimlessly at the lights in the ceiling.

It was a struggle to move his tall frame. His body was still numb. Bruised. Wounded. He kept flashing back to those mocking hands that caressed his face, humiliating him for his inability to impact anything. Slamming his fist across the desk beside him, he rose up and leaned against the bed. Of course, the price of that bold act forced the numbing sensation to halt his body from acting any further, forcing him to rest against the bed. Defeatedly, he sighed, his sapphire gaze returned to the ceiling.

"Oh... Hannah. It's you... Sorry about that."

Noting her presence, he apologized dryly as he leaned against the hospital bed. He hadn't really expected to see her so soon after they reunited, but time was a rather deceptive mistress, leading them to cross paths once more. Since he couldn't imagine a more welcomed presence, he didn't regard her with anything close to disobedience. No matter his own frustration, he held a great deal of respect and even admiration for the first woman he met in this city. Chuckling dejectedly, he turned his head to the woman fully.

"I suppose you aren't wrong there. Don't worry. That's about the extent of what I'll be able to do. I can hardly move my body being rolling around and moving my arms in bed. Enough about me, though. How have you been?"

"True. After all, I'm laying over here and your standing over there." He retorted with soft sarcasm evident in his tone. There was nothing malicious behind it. It was simply a humorous acknowledgment of his poor predicament. He truly wanted to adhere to her advice, but a myriad of crippling thoughts continued to deafen his better judgment.

Solomon generally desired to rise up from his bed and return to training himself to exhaustion, desperately striving to unearth some unique skill that could help him improve his overall repertoire. He wanted something. Anything. The body proved superior in the honesty of its condition, forcing Solomon to sigh in defeat as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Being injured sucks. Especially after suffering a humiliating, near-death defeat. Even so, you aren't wrong. I'll lay here even if it bothers me. Will you answer my question regarding how you are now that I am motionless?" He ventured languidly.

"Does youth truly matter concerning the bitter sting of defeat?"

Solomon furrowed his eyebrows at her words, respectfully accepting her advice in one aspect yet deflecting it entirely from his mind in another. Defeat was natural. No warrior unless, he was the strongest under heaven and earth itself, could lay claim to a life without a loss. It was inevitable. An immutable certainty.

If these were simply losses in a spar or even in a battle with low stake, Solomon's frustration wouldn't fester as strongly as it did at the current moment. Who could accept defeat that promised certain death, that promised watching those you cared for suffer at the hands of someone else? He didn't wish to take her words as negligible, but he simply couldn't understand it at all. Age would never fix that.

"I humbly respect your advice. Your words do not fall entirely on deaf ears, but what is there to learn from battles to the death where I am always suffering a loss where I watch those I care for burned, stabbed, frozen, and hospitalized? It isn't about my ability. If these were lesser battles, with lower stakes? Fine. Let's call it an experience to learn from, but what is there to learn when I'm watching others suffer because of my inability...?"

What was the lesson? Did his ability even matter?

"I'm here... because of their inability?"

Solomon took a moment to parse her heartfelt words. His scrutinizing gaze peering off into the reflection of the ivory desk he struck at in anger moments ago. Easier said than done. How many times did he have to learn? How many times did he have to endure the pain of watching those he cared for hurt? First, it had been Giselle, a woman who risked her life for a mere rookie.

She could have let him die. He was the weak link. A fool in over his head. A whelp of a warrior who had no place on the battlefield. Second, it had been Kokuto who threw him out of harm's way in the same battle, and all he had to show for it was a stroke of lightning against his otherworldly enemy's frame. Then, there was Mizu. His most recent failure. He activated Letz stil with the intent of cleaving through his enemy's defenses, and all he did was shatter the ice barrier she formed in the midst of his attack. Another stroke of lightning amounting to nothing but a chink in the armor. A drop of blood if that.

"What about overwhelming defeat? The kind where you can't even deduce what you did wrong...? How can I learn from battles that are over before they begin... when I'm so severely outclassed?!"

For his efforts, he was repaid with the sight of seeing Mizu put up her own valiant effort only to watch Mizu frozen into a living statue of ice. A friend and rival defeated because of his inability to keep up. Sighing in exasperation, he found himself uncertain if he wished to acknowledge those first words, but she was genuinely trying to help, and so he didn't have it in him to simply ignore her words. His expression only welcomed a greater pain in his voice, as though he were almost on the verge of breaking down.

"I know this path would be hard, but I didn't think it would be so painful. Hannah... you are among one of the strongest kido users in existence. You are strong. I am... I don't know what I am anymore."