"He's a good kid, and he sure as hell didn't get that from me". "'What about the mother?'-'Well, that's a whole other story'"
Matt Murdock can't remember his mother. Not her face, or her voice. A whiff, a scent of a memory, perhaps, but nothing else. His dad never spoke of her, and soon he learnt not to ask. But what happens when, after more than twenty years, they inadvertently meet again?
This is the story of Matt's parents, their life together, how it all crumbled apart, and the treachery of fate that once more brought shattered blood together.
I came up with this idea while watching the second episode of Netflix's Daredevil. I was intrigued as to who Jack asks to take care of Matt once he's gone, on the phone. Presumably it's his wife/Matt's mother, however the conversation is kind of intriguing. But later, in the episode "Stick", young Matt is in an orphanage, and when asked about his mother, one of the nuns just says "Well, that's a whole other story".
So, what is that "story"? I searched around wildly for fanfics about it, but I couldn't find a single one. So that's what brought you this fic; since no one else had, I'd have to write it myself XD.
Although neither the movie or the series bring her up much, I researched the comic canon and this is what I found: her name is Maggie Murdock, and she and Jack had Matt when they were a young couple. However, when he was a baby, she started suffering from some sort of mental illness (I think it said it was postpartum depression but I'm not sure), and while having some sort of attack tried to harm him. Distraught with guilt, she fled and stayed away from her family, becoming a nun. Years later Matt comes to her church wounded and she nurses him back to life.
I gather that's basically what happened in the comics. However this fanfiction is going to take a different turn, in part because I'm kind of scared of touching upon mental illnesses in my writing, in case I offend someone, and also because the series itself is quite different to the comics, so I'll be focusing on following its tone and themes instead. It's going to be far more dramatic and angsty, hopefully XD. It's also somewhat based on a novel idea which I've kind of abandoned, and inspired by a roleplay/fanfic I was writing with a friend, but which ultimately died too. Hopefully this fic won't!
It's highly probable that in the following seasons they'll incorporate Matt's mother into the story, and therefore this fanfic will be an AU. But until then, I'll carry on writing it! It will be structured in two timelines: present day, from both Matt and Maggie's point of view; and past, from Maggie and maybe sometimes Jack's POV.
I hope you like reading this; if you have any comments or criticism, please let me know. Ireally appreciate constructive criticism, so if you have any ideas on how I could improve my prose/characterisation/dialogue, etc, I would love to hear from you!
Enjoy!
