[Third Person Pov]
Tony finally managed to pry his mother away from him, though she clearly wasn't pleased about it. Maria sat back with her arms crossed, her lips pushed forward in an obvious pout as if she had been personally wronged by the separation. Tony let out a small sigh as he returned to his seat, raising the back of his hand to wipe the faint trace of lipstick and moisture from his cheek before glancing over at Kane.
"Say, can you tell me something?" Tony asked after a moment, his tone shifting into something more thoughtful. "How was mom treated back when you guys were children?"
It was a question he had thought about asking before, but he had never brought it up directly with Maria. Tony already knew how that conversation would go. She would laugh it off, brush it aside, and downplay everything until it sounded like nothing more than childish teasing. If he wanted anything close to the truth, asking Kane was his best option.
"That's not any of your concern, Tony. My childhood wasn't as bad as you're thinking," Maria said immediately, shaking her head as if she could dismiss the subject before it even began.
"Like hell it isn't any of my concern," Tony scoffed without hesitation, leaning back in his seat. "You're my mom."
Kane scratched at his beard thoughtfully, clearly weighing how much he should say. After a moment he exhaled quietly.
"It's hard to say," Kane admitted. "If I had to describe it in one word, it would probably be… complicated. We came from a very competitive household. In that place, if you couldn't prove your worth, you might as well have been nothing."
Tony listened closely, his expression gradually becoming more serious.
"The nastiest and most competitive out of all of us was Justin," Kane continued, his arms folding across his chest as his face hardened slightly. "Despite being the oldest, he was also the most childish one out of the bunch. Most of that came from his inferiority complex."
Maria grimaced faintly at the mention of the name, her discomfort obvious. If anyone knew just how unpleasant their older brother could be, it was her.
"Our father had many children," Kane went on. "So many that Justin convinced himself the reason for that was because he wasn't good enough. In his mind, the only way to prove he mattered was to make sure the rest of us knew our place. And if any of us ever did better than him… well…"
Kane didn't finish the sentence. He simply let the implication hang in the air.
"Maria here," Kane continued after a moment, placing a hand on top of her head, "was the smart one. Always getting perfect scores on every exam she took."
His tone carried the unmistakable pride of an older brother remembering something he had always admired.
Maria immediately grew flustered, her cheeks warming as she swatted his hand away. "Stop that."
"And Justin hated that," Kane said with a faint snort. "Because as you can clearly imagine, he wasn't exactly the brightest one out of the bunch. So he made it his mission to torment poor little Maria over it. I suppose you could say that's where she developed the habit of thinking it was better to endure things quietly than to escalate the situation."
As Kane spoke, his hand slowly tightened into a fist.
"I suppose you could also say that in the beginning I wasn't much different," he added after a moment, his voice lowering slightly. "In that house, weakness was the greatest sin anyone could commit. Even though I didn't actively go out of my way to torment Maria like Justin did, I also didn't do anything to stop it. Most of the time I just stood there and watched."
His fist clenched tighter.
"And that ultimately makes me just as guilty."
"You're dramatizing everything," Maria sighed, shaking her head as if she wanted to brush the entire conversation aside. "You were better than that entire house combined."
"And you're downplaying it," Kane replied with a frown.
…
[Flashback]
A young Kane stood alone within the training grounds of their estate. The large metal training wall positioned in front of him carried a deep dent where his latest strike had landed. The sound of impact still seemed to echo faintly in the open yard. Sweat rolled down the side of his face and gathered along his chin before falling to the ground. His breathing was steady but heavy, the result of repeated strikes against the reinforced surface meant to test both strength and endurance.
He rolled his shoulder slightly before tightening his fist again, preparing to strike the wall once more. Just as he began to move, a faint sound of snickering reached his ears.
Kane paused and turned his head toward the noise.
Standing a short distance away were Justin and the twins, Matilda and Linda. The three of them were gathered together, watching something with poorly concealed amusement. Kane followed their line of sight and soon spotted a little Maria approaching them from across the yard.
She was small compared to the others, her arms full with a stack of notebooks that she carefully balanced as she walked toward them.
"Here you go," Maria said with a gentle smile as she reached them, handing each of them one of the notebooks from the stack.
Justin grabbed one first, flipping it open while the twins took theirs as well and began glancing through the pages.
"Look at that," Justin snickered after a moment, his lips curling with mock amusement. "Maybe you are useful for something other than eating our food."
Maria's smile tightened slightly, though she said nothing in response. The expression on her face looked strained, but she kept it there regardless.
Once they had their notebooks, she turned as if she intended to leave.
Before she could take more than a single step, Justin casually stuck his leg out.
Maria didn't notice until it was too late.
Her foot caught against his leg and she stumbled forward with a small gasp. The stack of remaining notebooks slipped from her hands and scattered across the ground as she fell to her knees. Her skin scraped against the rough stone, leaving her knee red and already beginning to bleed.
The moment she hit the ground, Justin and the twins burst into laughter.
Kane watched the entire scene from where he stood.
Maria remained on the ground for a moment, staring down silently as her shoulders trembled faintly. Slowly and carefully, she pushed herself back to her feet. She brushed at her palms and knee, wiping away the dust and small streaks of blood as if it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Kane watched the whole thing without moving.
He slowly shook his head. 'Pathetic.'
The thought surfaced in his mind with blunt clarity.
He wasn't only referring to Justin and the twins. The word applied to the entire situation. To Maria for allowing it. To the others for enjoying it. To the household that made it all seem normal.
He turned his attention back to the training wall, raising his fist again as he focused on his exercise.
Not long after, he heard someone approaching.
"Kane?"
He turned slightly and saw Maria standing beside him now. She held a single notebook in her hands and extended it toward him.
"What's this?" Kane asked with a frown as he took the notebook and looked down at it.
"Your homework," Maria replied with a small grin. "I did it for you."
Kane's frown deepened immediately as he looked down at her.
"Why?" he asked bluntly. "I never asked you to do this."
Maria shifted slightly under his gaze, appearing a little timid, though she didn't withdraw the gesture.
"I know," she said quietly. "But I figured it must be hard balancing all your training with your school work on top of that."
"What?" Kane blinked, caught slightly off guard by the reasoning.
Maria gave a small smile then. It was a soft smile, one that carried a faint hint of self-deprecation.
"I know I'm not the strongest," she said. "And with my quirk I'll probably never become a hero."
For a moment she looked down at her hands before lifting her head again.
"But what I can do with my quirk is help with small things like this," she continued, her voice growing brighter. "Now you can focus all your energy on your training and give it your best with nothing to distract you."
Kane stared at her silently for several seconds, completely at a loss for words.
"You really are pathetic…" he finally muttered.
Maria's smile dimmed slightly at the remark, though it didn't disappear.
"I know," she admitted. "But it's the least I can do to help and support everyone while they work toward their goals. Everyone is trying their best. I shouldn't be slacking off either."
She lifted the remaining notebooks in her hands slightly and nodded in Kane's direction.
"Now excuse me. I still need to take these to Destiny and Henderson."
Kane's eyes briefly dropped to her scraped knee and the faint blood along her palm as she turned to leave.
He then looked down at the notebook in his hands.
Opening it, he quickly realized that Maria had carefully copied his handwriting almost perfectly. The letters matched his style so closely it was difficult to distinguish them from his own work. Not only that, the problems written inside were all correct, and the subject matter was something far beyond the level expected of someone Maria's age.
"…Maria," Kane called out subconsciously.
"Hm?" Maria stiffened slightly before glancing back over her shoulder, her expression cautious as if she expected another harsh remark.
Kane let out a quiet sigh and shook his head.
"Thank you."
With that said, he turned back toward the training wall.
Maria's face immediately lit up. Her expression brightened into a wide, genuine grin that showed all of her teeth.
"You're welcome, Kane," she said happily. "Good luck with your training."
Kane simply hummed in response as he raised his fist again.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Justin and the twins watching from the side, their expressions twisted with clear disdain.
Kane's hand tightened around the notebook for a moment.
As he stared at the pages Maria had carefully prepared for him, a quiet thought surfaced in his mind.
'Maybe I'm the one who's truly pathetic.'
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