#draft*

what makes him a hero? i. he is always front and centre, the first to take a hit, the first to take a stand, no matter how high the risk, how high the cost. he protects everyone, even those that have done nothing to deserve it, even those that have done everything not to. ii. he fights for what is good, what is right, he makes it his cause; he won’t stop fighting until there is no fight left. he doesn’t always win, but when he does, he hardly lets himself feel the victory – there are so many more battles left to fight. iii. he lets his mistakes weigh down on him, until he no longer stands tall, until he stops feeling like a hero at all. he holds his losses in his heart and they eat him up inside, like maggots; his heart a forgotten graveyard on a battlefield. iv. he would lay down his life (again, and again), if it would save even one other life. his life means nothing to him if he can’t save the people he cares about (after all, what’s he worth anyway). when heroes are a dime a dozen, he feels like just another soldier, just another life to trade.