***
The moon hung high in the air. The owls hooted silently in the dark, the small forest surrounding the Jiro's household was dead silent as it was still very much the early hours of night.
Hah…hah. Max heaved a deep breath. His muscles burning with pain, eyes unfixed as sweat poured from his skin like he had just dipped in water.
I can't stop now. He gritted his teeth, gripping his practice sword. It was a wooden blade, crafted to be similar to the weapon that hung loosely around his neck.
He swung once more, the sword blurring, striking the tree with force over and over again.
Why isn't it working? He thought to himself. He stared at his hands, trying to feel the energy he had once had, his power, his gift.
He tried harder to activate his quirk…but it evaded him each and every single time. Like it was telling him he wasn't worthy of it no longer…
"Hah!" He slashed once more. The deep slashes, formed from previous attacks, deepened further.
The sword fell uselessly to his side, his arm shaking with pure exhaustion. His head falling to the tree as he closed his eyes in small respite. But…
Can't even use your quirk. The voice spoke once again. Its voice echoing in his head, mocking and full of malice. You expect to avenge your parents? It laughed at its question, like the question itself was ridiculous to ask. How…pathetic you are Max. How…weak.
Max gritted his teeth, his body shaking with exhaustion now added with pure anger. "I'm not weak!" He forced his tired body to stand straight, though his body screamed for rest, he refused.
I won't stop. He thought, crouching down to pick up his sword. Even as his hand shook to grip the blade, he forced it to clench around it as he got up.
Going into a stance, he continued to swing and swing and swing. Even as his body forced him to rest, he refused. Even as he vomited, he continued. Even as sleep wanted to take him, he forced on. He wouldn't stop until he was strong enough. Strong enough to kill Raphael.
***
Jiro yawned, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she got up from her bed. She glanced at her clock to the side, it read 4:00am.
Eleanor had already come to her room to wake the girl up, but she didn't need to as the anticipation to train under the woman didn't let her sleep through the night.
"Well, I did ask for this." She muttered to herself. There wasn''t use complaining about it. This was simply the cost of her wanting to get stronger. Though, she would need to get used to getting up this early.
"Come now Jiro, you can talk to yourself later." Eleanor spoke from behind her door.
Jiro blushed beet red. Oh now this is just embarrassing. She had forgotten the woman was waiting behind her door. She quickly got up from bed as she wore a simple sport shirt with shorts and some shoes.
She closed the door behind her, turning to the woman. "I'm ready…" her voice trailed as she took in the figure of Max trudging on the stairs as he leaned on it, if you could even call it that as his body seemed to vibrate with each step even though he tried to hide it.
Their eyes met each other. "...Max." She spoke slowly.
"Oh, Jiro." He glanced to her side, "Grandma."
"Max, w…why are you shaking?" Jiro asked.
Max blinked, almost as if he was confused with the question. He then looked at his shaky legs. "Oh, this is just a minor exhaustion. Just went for a morning jog." he answered with a smile.
A jog? Jiro thought suspiciously. She didn't know what kind of jog would make one shake as him they had ran a marathon ten times over. He was lying to her.
"Max—"
"Sorry Jiro, I'm a little bit tired." He cut her off, pushing himself off the stairs as he stood. He almost stumbled but caught himself as he smiled. "I'm a bit tired, I'll join you guys to train if that's okay Grandma." He said.
Eleanor stared at her grandson, and Jiro could tell the woman didn't believe a word the boy said. But even so, she nodded. "Don't be late Max."
He nodded, walking past them. All Jiro could do was watch as he entered his room.
She turned to Eleanor but the woman shook her head. "Let him be Jiro, do not push more than necessary." She said, turning. "Let us go."
Jiro bit her lip slightly at the words of advice. She knew she was right, trying to push Max wouldn't work. But that didn't make it all the more terrible as she could just watch.
I need to get stronger. She thought to herself as she followed Eleanor out to train.
Jiro stood under Eleanor's gaze, the woman silently observing her. The two were in the forest surrounding her family house. A perfect place to train.
What is she doing? Jiro thought. The woman simply stood in front of her as she observed, her eyes glowing a deep golden. Must be her quirk. She thought, seeing the similarities between her and Max's. Seems it was a hereditary one
Her questions were soon answered as Eleanor spoke. "You are very weak." She said.
Jiro coughed at the blunt statement. Am I that bad? She cried comically inside. She knew she didn't have the strongest quirk, but it wasn't that bad.
"You assume I am talking about your
quirk." Eleanor continued, almost like she was reading her mind. "That is where I have to change your mindset on that.
"Yes your quirk isn't the strongest, but that doesn't mean you yourself cannot be strong. What I meant by you are weak was your current way of viewing a hero."
"A hero? She repeated. How was her view on a hero weak.
"You must be wondering why your view on a hero is weak." She spoke.
Jiro's eyes widened. Is her—
"No, I don't have a mind reading quirk." She cut her off. "It is just obvious from your cadence, girl." she smiled amusingly.
Jiro blushed in embarrassment. Being in Eleanor's presence was like being under an x-ray, you couldn't hide anything.
"Since you already know of our family's secret due to Max giving you the knowledge of it, you have as much responsibility as Max." She circled around her.
Jiro nodded. "Yes ma'am."
"Well, now that you know it. Time to begin you're training." She stopped in front of her. Her earrings glowed gold as it shifted, fluttering into golden sparks as it formed a giant war spear, even taller than her.
Jiro gulped at the weapon's sheer size. Of that thing touched her….
"Well," Eleanor spoke, cracking her neck slightly. Jiro had a bad feeling. "We can talk about the intricacies of being a hero, but the best training is always best experienced." The woman's mouth stretched into a wide grin, an expression she didn't know she would ever see on Eleanor's face. "So try to survive okay."
"What?!" Jiro scrambled back, as a blade came crashing down where she previously was. She's not joking. She scrambled up as she ran into the forest. Her training, or as Eleanor would put it, torture, beginning.
***