Phos and the others' gratitude towards them
I'm noticing this new trend of everyone in HnK just... thanking Phos for helping them by suffering in their stead, basically.
It's interesting to see, I think. Since Phos always had this problem of feeling useless and worthless which is compounded by the way the old gem society has been constructed. But now, Phos has been 'useful' to a variety of characters in the manga, just not in the way they expected or wanted.
Because every time they help one of the characters with their pain, Phos' mental stability gets more and more broken down, more pain gets added each time someone sincerely thanks them for their help, those people often ignoring what Phos feels in favor of focusing on what they got out of it. Not only that, after expressing their gratitude, they just abandon Phos.
I already noticed it in the chapter with the fight with Cinnabar and then the confrontation with Adamant but chapter 95 makes this stand out even more strongly.
The earliest case I can think of would be Cairngorm:
Cairngorm leaves Phos' side after thanking them. They attain 'happiness' and 'freedom' (which is extremely debatable looking at their relationship with Aechmea but this is a whole other can of worms I won't open here) on the cost of Phos losing someone they thought they could trust and rely on. Not that Cairn really cares though, because Phos has already fulfilled their use to them.
Again, someone thanks Phos for helping them be happy... and again, the price for their wish was Phos being hurt. Helping Cinnabar is what started the story and since then, everything just went downhill for Phos.
This is subjective of course but I personally find these panels incredibly selfish on Cinnabar's part. Like.. 'Oh thanks to you going to the moon and waging war against the Earth gems and then being shattered by everyone and buried for centuries I could enjoy myself. I'm really grateful you suffered this much, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make friends with the others!" (*coughs* this is my bias towards Phos speaking, sorry.)
We saw that after the Moon gems left, Cinnabar was able to interact with the others and have a job, which is what they always wanted. And just like Cairngorm before, Cinnabar turns against Phos after their wish was fulfilled (fighting against them in the first raid, suggesting to bury them..).
The exact same thing happens with Adamant.
Again, these characters get to be happy because of Phos' action and subsequent hurt but they don't care about that part. That's why them thanking Phos feels so incredibly selfish to me, they're just brushing over Phos' pain.
Again, they say they're grateful towards Phos but they don't really seem to care for them though.
Because, after all, they just want to use Phos for their own gain, for their own happiness.
They're all so wrapped up in their own pain, their own suffering. Cairngorm suffered under Ghost's control, Cinnabar suffered through the isolation and loneliness, Adamant has suffered for so many thousands of years.... that they're all so quick to be "grateful" to Phos for suffering in their place, nevermind that none of that was ever really Phos' choice, that they were groomed, manipulated and pushed towards this.
Phos succeeded in obtaining what they always wanted in the worst possible way: to be useful.
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