Itsuka let out a jaw-cracking yawn. She loved U.A., she truly did, and she wanted more than anything to be a professional hero, but did they really need to wake up at six in the morning for training?

Her classmates shared in her sentiments, as they all grumbled amongst themselves as they followed their teacher out of the building.

"Quit complaining," rumbled Vlad King, their homeroom teacher, "Class A has been up for over an hour already." The teacher looked genuinely annoyed at the revelation. Not that Itsuka could necessarily blame the man. Not that it was necessarily their fault, but a lot of attention had been drawn to Class A over the first semester, and Vlad was nothing if not competitive.

"First semester Class A had their time to shine, but this next semester you guys are going to have your opportunity to show the country that Class A isn't the only first year class worth talking about!"

"So what are we going to be doing exactly?" Asked Tokage,

"You spent all of last semester learning the basics of heroism, and you've gotten smarter and more tactical as a result, but your quirks haven't grown," explained Vlad, "Your quirks are like a muscle. They need to be worked—pushed to the very limit—in order for them to grow stronger. So that's exactly what we're going to do."

"Is it too late to quit," muttered Awase as they walked through the tree line and into a large clearing at the base of the mountain. What they saw made Itsuka's stomach clench in anxiety.

Class A had been busy, very busy. An outsider looking in would call what was happening child-abuse, but the premier hero-school in the country could get away with a lot it seemed. Itsuka watched as the loud boy, Bakugo, was dunking his hands into water and repeatedly causing large explosions in the air. A ways away, she could also see Todoroki was sitting in a large oil drum, alternating between freezing and then heating the water. Everywhere she looked, students were doing strange or outright brutal forms of training.

"Holy shit…" Togake muttered, and Itsuka couldn't help but agree with her friend. This was…insane.

Vlad turned to address the class one more time, but before he got the chance, a shout from up above drew all of their attention,

"Look out!"

As one, Class B looked skyward, and someone let out a yelp of surprise. There, barreling toward them entirely too fast, was the very large form of the Class A president Percy Jackson. He was flying, or rather falling, directly at them at an incredible velocity, tumbling end over end through the air at them.

The man let out a loud roar, and right before he slammed into the group of students, he managed to stop his descent, a few inches away from poor Pony, who looked like she wanted to do nothing more than cut and run.

"That's…new," muttered Itsuka.

She hadn't known that Percy could fly, but she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. There didn't seem to be any kind of a limit to the kinds of things that Percy could do. Though it didn't look like he had much control over his flight yet, and it appeared as though it took a tremendous strain on him. He was floating upside down in the air, his face red and a thick sheen of sweat glistened off of his face in the early morning light.

"…'Sup," said Percy casually to his fellow American,

"H-hello," said Pony, her eyes wide,

Percy, with what appeared to be a tremendous effort, managed to flip himself right-side up, but maintained his position in the air,

"We're thinking of around noon," said Percy to Vlad, "Give the classes some time to get some good work in,"

"Makes sense," grumbled Vlad, "Anything I should know before you do it?"

"Don't stand near anything loose," said Percy, "Things get a little…windy."

Vlad grunted, and then gestured a dismissal to Percy. Nodding at the older man, Percy rocketed back into the clouds, nearly bowling over the assembled students in the shockwave of his rapid ascent.

"What was that about, sir?" Asked Itsuka,

"You'll see later," said Vlad dismissively, "Don't worry about it, for now, let's get you lot started on your training."

Itsuka sighed.

Some days, she really regretted coming to U.A.

BREAK

The teachers gathered them up around noon, much to everyone's confusion. The teachers and the cats, who were looking equally confused but followed the lead all the same, led the students a few hundred yards away from the training ground.

"Any idea what's going on?" Itsuka muttered to Momo as she wiped a dollop of sweat from her forehead,

"No idea," muttered Momo,

"I think it has something to do with Percy," said Itsuka,

"Of course it does," sighed Momo, looking incredibly put upon, and Itsuka related the conversation Percy had with Vlad earlier that morning,

"Huh…" said Momo, putting her hand to her chin, "Wonder what that's-"

She was cut off as Aizawa let out a sharp whistle. All chatter amongst the students ceased at once,

"This will be a short break as Jackson gets ready to do some independent training of his own," said Aizawa, "Get a firm footing on the ground and prepare yourself, Jackson tells us that this gets pretty windy at times."

"Oh no…" said Midoriya softly, and Momo shot him a glance out of the corner of her eye,

"He's going to power up," said Midoriya as quickly as possible, "Like he did against A-All for O-One."

Momo's eyes went wide. She, like the rest of the nation, had watched Percy's showdown with the strange faceless man, and had been in awe at what she had witnessed.

A hush fell over the students as they watched Percy slowly land in the middle of the clearing a few hundred yards away. Aizawa raised a hand to his ear,

"All set Jackson,"

There was a brief pause, and then an immense pressure began to fill the air. It was as though the earth's very gravity had gotten heavier. It was hard to breathe, and Momo felt herself having to inhale deeply just to get any sort of passage of air to her lungs. The humidity hit her next, slamming into her as though she had just walked into a sauna. A crack of lightning forked overhead, followed soon by a roar of thunder. Then the wind picked up. What had once been a still summer day, became a gale. Momo had to duck her head as she braced against the whipping winds.

"Fucking hell!" Someone grunted, and Momo's hand darted out and caught a girl from Class B as she stumbled in the wind and nearly fell,

Momo blinked in surprise as rain began to descend rapidly from the clouds. Thick, heavy drops fell from the sky and pelted down on the amassed students. It was as if the very weather itself was responding to the amount of sheer power being exuded from Percy. Momo glanced back to the clearing, and could see the ethereal blue glow of the tattoos in the darkness of the sudden storm.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Percy vanished. A moment later, a shockwave nearly tossed Momo and the others off of their feet. She looked up into the sky, and barely managed to make out the glowing blue spec of light darting through the clouds. There was a booming clap of thunder, Momo blinked, and Percy was floating in front of them.

It had been one thing for Momo to have seen him on television, looking as he did, but it was something else entirely to see it live and in person. The tattoos were unsettling to be sure, but what really captivated her attention were his eyes. Percy's eyes were already impressively green…but they were terrifying when he was in this state. He no longer seemed to have pupils, as his eyes glowed a shining, bright white.

Her eyes traced along the veins on his arms, unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, they were almost moving and shifting. His muscles and veins were undulating, almost as though they were tearing and reforming step-by-step.

"Sorry about that," said Percy, his voice reverberating even more deeply than usual, "Still trying to figure out how to deal with that."

"Can you stop that?" Asked Aizawa, gesturing vaguely to the clouds.

Percy looked up, and blinked in surprise. Then, with a wave of his hand, the rain and wind stopped, and the clouds began to part.

"Whoops," He grunted apologetically, "Kinda lost myself for a minute there,"

"How long can you keep this up?" Asked Aizawa,

"Long enough," said Percy vaguely, "I'll head over a ways, get some work done. I still don't have great control over this thing yet, and I don't want to accidentally cause a rockslide or anything."

Aizawa grunted, "Be careful," he warned.

Percy nodded, and then with another burst of power, he streaked into the sky. They all watched him for a moment, until he was little more than a speck in the sky. Not for the first time, Momo was struck by just how wide of a gap there was between any of them and Percy. Even between Percy and their teachers. To a certain point, it was incredibly disheartening. Momo had been insecure about her capabilities since she first came to U.A., but those insecurities only seemed to grow every day that Percy grew more and more comfortable being a hero.

Yet, she was equally proud. She was proud of herself for how far she had come. Percy had once told her that she can't measure herself against the weight of others. People have different strengths, different capabilities. Even he had limits to what he could and could not do, and Momo had made far greater strides than she could have ever imagined in the past few months.

Moreover, she was proud of her friend. She had admired Percy for some time. Really, ever since the USJ. To go through such trauma, and come out the other side in one piece was an incredible feat that Percy needed to be proud of. Moreover, she didn't know of anyone who had to overcome the mental hurdles that her friend had needed to overcome.

So while she was still a little insecure about her own abilities, she wanted so badly for Percy to succeed, and she would celebrate his every success.

She would celebrate with her friend.

Even if that was all he ever was.

BREAK

Percy groaned as he got out of the hot spring. While he was getting used to the strain that his father's gift had on his body, it still hurt like all hell when he got done with it. The others were going to be making dinner soon, so he toweled off and got changed back into his civilian clothing. Making sure to keep his senses finely tuned the entire time.

It had been his idea to try and draw the Shinto's attention. If they were going to be coming after him, Percy wanted to know and he wanted to know sooner rather than later. If a showdown needed to happen, then Percy and the teachers were all in agreement that it should happen far away from civilians, and where the students would be able to get evacuated quickly.

Walking out of the cabin, Percy was about to make his way over to the dining table where Todoroki was ladling spoonfuls of curry onto plates for the classes, when Percy caught sight of a flash of red. Turning his attention to the spot, he was surprised to see Kota slinking off into the darkness. Swallowing the feeling of agitation welling up inside of him, Percy made a decision.

Grabbing a pair of plates, Percy followed Kota. The boy had wandered through a small un-manicured path through the forest, leading to a small cave about half a mile away from the cabin. The cave was hollow, and was more of a tunnel leading to a small cliff overlooking the forest below.

Kota was seated on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling over the rock face, staring up at the stars in the sky.

Walking up to him, making enough noise that Kota wouldn't be surprised that someone was there, Percy placed one of the plates down and then took a seat beside the young boy.

Percy didn't say anything, instead he simply began to dig into the curry. It wasn't the best thing in the world, but with how hungry he was, he would have eaten plain lettuce and would have been happy about it.

He saw out of the corner of his eye as Kota reached out and grabbed the offered plate, and began eating as well.

Percy didn't speak, and they continued to eat in silence. When Percy was done, he placed his plate on the ground and leaned back onto the rocky cliff, staring up at the sky. It was a cloudless night, and he had a perfect, unimpeded look up at the stars in the sky.

"What are you doing?" Asked Kota, disrupting Percy's star-gazing.

"Watching the stars," said Percy,

"What are you doing here," said Kota in agitation,

"Stars are clearer up here than they are down there," said Percy,

"Then go somewhere else," said Kota through clenched teeth,

"Nah, I don't think I will," said Percy, yawning slightly and stretching languidly, "It's pretty nice up here,"

"You're so annoying!" Seethed the boy,

"Man, if I a nickel," laughed Percy,

"Just go somewhere else and leave me alone," said Kota, grumbling to himself,

"What, you think you're the only one who gets to sulk?" Said Percy with a snort,

"What would you know?" Snapped Kota, "What would you have any idea how I'm feeling,"

"Probably better than anyone else," said Percy with a shrug, "I lost my mom and dad too,"

"So that's what this is?" Sneered Kota, "You came up here to try and 'relate' to me? Did Mandalay put you up to this,"

"Nope," said Percy, "Your shitty attitude did,"

"What?" Said Kota, thrown off balance by the statement,

"Look," said Percy with a groan as he sat up, "Far be it from me to tell someone they should be bitter about having a tough life, believe me I get it." He shrugged, "But you gotta learn how to deal with it kid,"

"My parents were killed because they were stupid enough to want to be heroes, and now I'm stuck around you wannabe heroes all week!" Said Kota angrily, "You don't get to tell me how I deal with it."

"Sure I do," said Percy, "Because you're disrespecting your parents memory,"

Kota tried to punch Percy.

Percy calmly snagged the tiny gistand threw it off to the side. Kota, thrown off balance, nearly toppled over the edge of the cliff, but Percy reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt,

"Look," said Percy, "It's completely fine and normal for you to miss your parents, hell, I don't even blame you for being pissed at heroes for what happened. I probably would be too in your position. But that attitude of yours? It disrespects everything your parents would have wanted from you. What they sacrificed."

"What the hell would you know what they wanted? You weren't there! You didn't know them!"

"No," conceded Percy, "But they died fighting a villain, protecting innocent lives and holding out long enough for help to arrive. That tells me everything I need to know about them." Percy hefted the boy into the air, and held him in front of Percy,

"They gave their lives so that others might live. They epitomized what it means to be a hero, and here you are, spitting on their legacy. On their sacrifice. They gave their lives not just for the innocents they were protecting, but for you, and how do you thank them?" Percy glared, and Kota flinched at the expression,

"You act like a bully. You get into fights, you attack people for no reason other than the fact that you don't like that they like or want to be heroes. That spits in the face of what your parents gave their lives for." Percy sat the boy back down on the rock beside him. Tears had started to stream down his cheeks, and his shoulders were beginning to shake.

Percy rubbed a soothing circle on the boys back. He had been difficult on the kid, but he felt that it was justified. Kids could handle a hell of a lot more than anyone was willing to give them credit for. Kota needed to hear that his actions were unjustifiable.

"It's okay for you to be upset," said Percy, "But what's not okay is to work your problems out on other people."

"I'm sorry," sobbed Kota. Percy didn't know if he was apologizing to Percy, or to his parents, but ultimately it didn't matter. Percy knew that the boy knew he was in the wrong, and that was all that mattered to Percy.

He stayed with the boy for some time, until the hour was late and Kota had worn himself out. Percy carried the boy and their empty plates back to the cabin, well past the point in which everyone else had already gone to bed. Mandalay was waiting for him when he came inside.

"How's he doing?" She asked softly as Percy passed the sleeping boy over to her,

"Better," said Percy, "We talked for a bit, and I think he'll be a little better,"

"What did you say?" She asked, and Percy shrugged,

"Just shared a little life experience,"

Mandalay smiled at him, and leaned over to give him a soft hug,

"Thank you, you didn't need to do that,"

"Your family," said Percy, returning the embrace, "Which makes him family. We do that for family,"

Mandalay stiffened in the embrace for a moment, and Percy felt something wet drip onto his shirt, taking a step back, he saw that she was crying. Though she was smiling at him. She placed a paw on his cheek,

"You've come so far," she said quietly, "I'm so proud of you,"

"Wouldn't have been able to do it without all of you," said Percy, "So thank you,"

"Of course hon," said Mandalay, "It's like you said, we're family."

As Percy lay in bed that night, he reflected as he often did, on how far he'd come. He decided that, regardless of the circumstances that had brought him here. Regardless of how difficult things had been, or how hard of an adjustment it was. He was happy.

He was happy here.

At the edge of the forest, a figure watched as the lights to the cabin finally went out.

His orders were clear, he was to mitigate the damages to the mortals at all cost.

So he would bide his time, but sooner or later, Percy Jackson would be isolated.

And then he would feel the wrath of the Shinto.

AN: So, a shorter chapter this time, but a necessary one. Wanted to show that Percy has made progress with his own mental health and use Kota as a foil to represent that change. Don't know how well it came across but overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Though I'm guessing all of you are far more excited about the next chapter, and believe me, you should be. The next chapter is pretty much just one long fight. A lot of action, to make up for the lack thereof lately. So I hope you're excited because after this, things get only more and more intense. We're nearing endgame for the first book, of which I'm planning a couple, so get excited! As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week.

All My Love and see you next week,

LilDB