Fic Dedicated to Botany Paladin, who requested this fic in response to Dishwasher 1910's fanart of this sort of situation.
The first time Pyrrha walked into the arena, they were terrified. They had changed her diapers, watched her take her first steps, healed her most insignificant wounds, and wiped away the most earth-shattering of her tears. And now they had to watch that innocent little girl they had raised fight.
They knew how their little girl had grown up. Thetis had unlocked her aura, Peleus had trained her.
They knew that their little girl was strong.
But they were still her parents.
Pyrrha was quiet for her age, and she would remain that way for her whole life, but she was always perceptive. So she could see the unshed tears in her parent's eyes.
The hug caught them off guard.
"Mother, Father, relax." She said sweetly. "You've done everything you could."
The strength in their little girl's arms comforted them more than her words ever could. But as if to contradict that, their daughter continued speaking.
"You both trained me, and loved me as much as you could." She smiled at the next words. "And because of you both, I'm one of the strongest people in this arena."
Thetis cut her off with a tightening of her arms around her daughter.
"No, sweetie. You're the best. "
Pyrrha smiled. She was a humble soul. The thought of superiority over others had never crossed her mind. However it had crossed Peleus's.
"Your Mother's right. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."
Pyrrha could feel their love, and their worry. So her smile softened, and she spoke again to reassure her parents.
"...I'm the best."
When she let go of them, they got a good look at their daughter.
Thetis was taller than most women, and Peleus was shorter than most men, but their daughter had gotten the tallest parts of them both, so when Pyrrha was in heels, she towered over both of them.
She stood strong, tall, and proud.
In short, when she walked into that arena, she looked like a huntress.
But all her parents could see was their little girl.
Soon, the rest of world began to worship their daughter. She had money, fame, and security.
But her parents still worried.
Where the rest of the world saw a celebrity, they saw their little girl, more lonely than ever before.
For all that Pyrrha was the strongest girl in Mistral, she was still their little girl who needed Peleus to clean her tears after yet another friend abandoned her to her fame. Pyrrha was the top of her classes, but she was still their little girl who Thetis counseled on the subject of cute boys.
When they heard that she had decided to go to Beacon, Pyrrha was ecstatic. Her parents rejoiced for her, and they encouraged her to go.
They knew Beacon was the best place for her. But it was in Vale. And while Pyrrha had travelled alone before for tournaments, something about this was different.
So once again, they were seeing their daughter off.
Pyrrha had gotten ready, doing one last check, tightly securing a crimson sash to her side when her parents found her.
Once Peleus's arms opened in invitation, the Nikos family hugged goodbye once more.
"Sweetie, just remember, we'll always be here for you if you need it."
"And remember-"
Pyrrha smiled.
"I know, I'm the best."
They had asked Pyrrha to call them after she had settled at Beacon.
She hadn't.
They worried. Worse and worse scenarios ran through their heads each day she was gone.
Weeks after she had arrived, they stopped waiting for her to call, and instead took the liberty to call her first.
The video call found their daughter in a small room with chaos unfolding behind her. Something crazy was going on behind with amused shouts echoing behind her. Their daughter's head had feathers and what looked like pancake syrup in her crimson locks, and Pyrrha could barely hold the phone upright.
But the thing that stood out the most on Pyrrha's face was the blinding smile on it.
The Nikos couple was stunned. Their little girl hadn't smiled that much in years.
They hung up quickly, they could call back later.
In the meantime, while waiting, her parents cried ever so slightly.
Pyrrha called back, hours later, and with her hair in significantly less of a mess. But the smile was still there as Pyrrha gushed about Beacon, her team, and her partner.
Her parents could barely get in a word in edgewise as their normally so quiet daughter spoke for minutes on end with nothing but praise for Beacon.
By the time Pyrrha had slowed down, they didn't really have anything else to say. Peleus and Thetis were quiet, almost unnerving their daughter, so Thetis quickly stepped in to cover for their thoughts.
"Sweetie...just...remember, we always love you, okay?"
Pyrrha smiled.
"Don't worry mother. Remember, I'm the best!"
They had waited for the final day of the tournament with great anticipation.
They had never seen team JNPR fight before, and they were concerned that Pyrrha hadn't gelled with her team.
The first fight was...unorthodox. Thetis more than once had to be restrained from shouting invectives at the screen, particularly where Pyrrha was concerned. But JNPR won. And Pyrrha, no matter how unusual her team was, clearly loved what she was doing.
JNPR had sent their daughter ahead to the final matches. Of course they did.
After all, she's the best.
The final day of the tournament had their daughter fighting someone from Atlas. A redheaded girl, with unknown abilities.
But that was okay. They didn't need to worry about their daughter.
After all, she's the best.
Then something changes. The girl from Atlas was strong. Very strong. And quick, and unorthodox, and everything that Pyrrha was and more.
Her parents worried.
For the first time in a very long time, Thetis and Peleus were back in that arena, watching their little girl walk into an arena.
And just like that, something happens. Through a screen, and a camera a continent away, they see fear on their little girl's face.
Then their little girl morphs before their very eyes.
Her eyes shifted from calm and collected to hold fear, and determination, in quantities little girls don't possess.
She looked guarded, on edge, and most of all, dangerous.
In short, she looked like a huntress.
And she did what all huntresses do.
She fought.
And her parents could only watch as that huntress killed a poor girl on live TV.
Everything else is a blur after that.
Beacon falls.
The Grimm are at their doorsteps, and are a welcome distraction for the two.
The Nikos parents push past their feelings until they have the time to breathe.
And then they braced themselves.
They did not know what awaited their daughter. But they suspected that their little girl may need her parents once more.
So they waited. Waited for the news to come to interview them, waited for Atlesian troops to descend on their farm, waited for Beacon faculty to arrive carrying their daughter in chains.
And they waited.
And they waited.
And they waited.
It wasn't until months later that a bedraggled group of teens arrived on their doorstep.
They knew them, of course.
Pyrrha had spoke of them so much, and the Nikos household had obsessively rewatched the Vytal festival since the end of the tournament.
All of them were there. Not just her team, but everyone Pyrrha had mentioned so lovingly in her calls.
That made her absence so much more confusing.
They all waited at the edge of the property. None appeared to want to approach the couple, but simultaneously all refused to leave.
The couple was much in the same position within the doorway to their home.
Finally, the boy with blonde hair broke the stalemate, and walked forward with the air of one dragging the weight of the world.
Thetis was going to greet her daughter's partner when she noticed the ornamental designs on his shield. The bronze designs on his shield.
She froze in her tracks just ahead of the boy, and Peleus's hand had locked itself onto the doorframe with a death grip.
Neither could speak when the blonde boy pulled out a red sash from his belt. It was the same one Pyrrha had so lovingly attached to her hip when she had left home.
It had been washed many, many times in the meantime, but even now, months later, the fabric still held was the faintest whiffs of smoke and blood.
She sank to her knees clutching the cloth, and the boy fell to his knees to hold her in comfort. She couldn't even speak out of the sobs, and her husband was doing his best to walk to his wife without collapsing into anguish himself.
Ever so faintly, both of them could hear what the blonde boy said to them as he desperately tried to hold back his own tears.
"I'm so sorry. Pyrrha, she...she was the best."