Captain Marvel felt a surge of emotion when she saw how concerned Thanos was for her.
So this was what it felt like to have someone care about me.
Her parents had divorced when she was young, and she had lived with her bastard of a father. She had hardly ever known what it felt like to have someone care.
Why was her father a bastard?
Because his cheating had driven her mother away. She had hated him ever since she was little.
She had always been fiercely competitive. Whatever she did, she had to be the best. She had to come first.
During a race, she had refused to let anyone pass her and accelerated without a thought for her safety. She had flown off the track and come away covered in injuries.
During pilot training, she had refused to give up in a rope-climbing exercise. Though her strength was spent, she had forced herself to switch ropes and fallen, injuring herself all over again.
It had happened countless times. No matter what she did, she wanted to come first. Even when she was covered in injuries, she refused to quit.
The truth was, she had done it all because she wanted someone to care.
Her father had spent every day out chasing women and barely came home.
After the divorce, her mother had never visited her either. Growing up without love from either parent had left her desperate for someone's concern.
The quickest way to get that concern was not to come first. It was to get hurt.
That was why she had left herself battered and bruised time after time.
But since becoming Captain Marvel, she no longer got hurt. And no one worried about her anymore.
All she saw in others' eyes was fear.
Only after