He groaned softly as she finally let up and he was able to catch his breath as the pain slowly eased. He was quickly growing tired of that, but what could he do?

Slowly he opened his eyes once more to look up at her as she spoke again, his eyes growing wide and he fell speechless for a long moment. Part of him knew he shouldn't listen to her, but... part of him... maybe he was failing. Maybe he never would surpass his father... No! NO! He... he promised. He said he would! He had to... he had to...

"I..." he started slowly, "I... will.. somehow. I have to... I'm not a f-failure..."