Percy was growing rather sick of the conference room. It felt like every time things were starting to go to shit he ended up in this large room in the heart of the school, surrounded by the rest of the staff. The last seven hours were something of a blur. He was in and out of consciousness for most of it. He hadn't been too terribly injured following his fight, but the exertions of the week, mixed with the exertions of the fight itself had sapped him of almost all of his energy.

It was in those moments that Percy was truly thankful for Aizawa. In spite of their differences, the man was nothing if not a consummate professional and someone who genuinely looked out for Percy's best interests. While Percy was recovering and being shunted around into vehicles on their way back to the school, Aizawa and Vlad had been running interference with the students.

Which was another problem altogether.

The dust had barely even started to settle before the rest of Percy's classmates had surrounded him and began bombarding him with questions. But bless the teachers, and bless the Cats who were quick to corral the kids and give Percy som space.

Which had in turn led to an incredibly uncomfortable conversation with the Cats. Naturally they had questions, and Percy hadn't had many satisfactory answers. Thankfully, they were understanding enough to trust his judgement and allowed him to wait until they were back at the school with the rest of the staff.

They were met at the front gate of the school by Nezu, who had already been briefed on what had happened. He had immediately led Percy and the Cats to the staff room, leaving Aizawa and Vlad to handle the rest of the students before joining them later.

Percy let out a low breath, scratching idly behind his ear as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Aizawa had been right, it had been foolish for him to try and pretend as though the Shinto would take his presence lying down. If Amaterasu had been willing to travel outside her domain to threaten Hestia, then that should have been all the warning Percy needed. But he'd been foolish and selfish, and even a touch naive.

He'd gone so long now without having to worry about divine beings, that he had thought that maybe he could play pretend. He thought that maybe he could finally have the normal life he'd always wanted.

Or at least as normal as someone going to school to be a superhero could be.

But still, life had been so quiet on the immortal front that Percy had let his guard down. Gotten lax. He'd fallen into the trap of complacency and it was biting him in the ass. His friends would have questions, questions he didn't think he'd be able to answer. Questions he didn't want to answer. And what did he do next? He couldn't stay at the school, that much was certain. As far as Nezu had gone to improve the security measures around the school had gone, it wouldn't mean anything to a divine being when they came to attack.

When, not if.

For Percy was certain that they would attack again. Not only had Percy spent several days straight calling out the pantheon, but he had killed one of their kind. Or at least, he had killed as much as one could kill an immortal god. Percy didn't know how that nonsense worked, and he didn't think it mattered either way. The fact remained that Percy had drawn first blood, and he was certain that the pantheon wouldn't take the call to arms lying down.

He needed a plan of attack. He had never really liked playing on the defensive, and at the moment all of the momentum was on his side. He wanted to keep the pressure up while he had it. Ideally, he would make a beeline straight to Amaterasu and try and end the matter then and there. The only problem with that plan was he had no idea where to look, or where to begin. Was there a Shinto equivalent to Mount Olympus? He certainly hoped not. Strong as he was, Percy didn't trust his abilities to literally carve a bloody path through an entire pantheon.

He was still half-mortal after all.

Percy needed to find out as much as possible about the Shinto, needed to find out what they could do. Where they hid. He also needed to start making connections with the Shinto world. There had to be the equivalent of sea nymphs or divine creatures that Percy could speak to, maybe even other demigods.

He sighed, and leaned forward on the table, head in his hands as he rubbed at his temples.

He felt a calming hand on his knee and looked over to see Mandalay staring at him in concern. She put on a brave face as she squeezed his knee. A silent show of comfort and support. Percy smiled at her, and nodded his thanks.

A few moments later the door to the room opened and All Might, still covered head to foot in bandages, led a tired looking detective Tsukauchi into the room. Percy stood up and approached the police officer, gripping the man's hand in a firm shake.

"Detective," said Percy amicably, "I wasn't expecting to see you here,"

"Toshinori called me," said Tsukauchi, breaking off the handshake, "Something about a little tiff that happened at the Summer Camp?"

"Something like that," said Percy carefully, sitting back down,

"Well then," said Nezu, "Now that we're all here and present, Mr. Jackson, why don't you fill us in on what happened."

Percy gulped and shot a glance over at the Cats. They were going to be thrown head first into this mess, but there was no escaping this now. Better to just open up and tear the bandage off and deal with the aftermath later.

"Right," said Percy, looking over to the Cats, "You guys are going to have questions, and I promise that I'll answer them, but for now can you please promise to just wait until all of this is over and done with?"

The Cats looked confused and Mandalay's brow furrowed for a moment. The four glanced at one another, sharing a silent conversation, before Mandalay looked back at Percy and nodded. Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and turned back to Nezu.

"On the first night of training, Aizawa, Vlad, and myself talked and decided that we needed a better answer as to whether or not the Shinto would actually make good on their threats." Said Percy,

"And so you began to call them out, I presume?" Said Nezu,

"Yes," said Percy, "When I was in New York, Hestia told me that whenever I, erm, 'powered up' so to speak, she could feel it. So that got me thinking that the Shinto could feel it to."

"So you spent all week practicing in that transformed state then," nodded Nezu in understanding, and Percy grunted in agreement,

"Yeah, nothing happened until last night. I'd been keeping an eye out all week just in case something happened. When Tokoyami and I were walking around I felt the attack coming and called it into Aizawa. After that…" He trailed off,

"You killed him?" Asked Tsukauchi. It wasn't accusatory, but more of a genuine question of curiosity.

"Sort of?" Said Percy, scratching the back of his head,

"What the hell does that mean?" Asked Present Mic, his brow furrowed, "How do you 'sort of' kill someone?"

"Because you can't fully kill a god." Explained Percy, "Not conventionally anyway. There's too much power in them."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Thirteen, "You said that the rest of your family had passed away. Surely that means that they are dead then, yes?"

"It does," nodded Percy, scratching behind his ear, "Look it's complicated and I don't…really understand it. Nobody but the gods really know how this shit works and I don't even think they really know how it works but I'll try my best to explain it. Gods get their power and vitality from belief in their existence. For millenia, my family was able to survive because of their children's belief in them and their offerings. However shortly after the discovery of quirks and the wars that followed, the numbers of demigods in my family had dwindled to less than nothing and one by one my family began to die out because they had nothing to sustain them."

"That doesn't make any sense." Said Snipe,

"Of course it doesn't make sense," snapped Percy, "We're talking about divine beings. Entities whose entire existence spits in the face of all logic or reason. Artemis was the goddess of the moon and yet you look out the window and what do you see? The fucking moon. I'm not going to sit here and try and tell you how it makes sense because it doesn't. But that's the fact of the matter."

"To get us back on track," said Nezu, "You are suggesting then, that since Shintoism is still relatively strong here in Japan, that the god you…'killed,' will come back at some point?"

"That's my thinking exactly, yeah." Said Percy, "I don't know when or how long it will take, but as long as there is a belief in their existence that is strong enough to sustain them, theoretically the god or goddess should be able to reform."

"So this guy might come back?" Asked Midnight,

"Possibly," said Percy, "But I have no idea,"

"Any idea who it was that showed up?" Asked Cementoss,

"No," said Percy, "He said that he was the grandson of Amaterasu, but I don't know anything about Shintoism and it could be any number of her grandkids."

"Not many would have had a bow like the one you told us about," said Aizawa softly,

"That's what I was thinking," said Percy, "Looked like a holy weapon or symbol of power to me."

"Symbol of power?" Asked Vlad,

"Like my dad's trident," said Percy, "It's divine in nature and is a symbol of their power in every respect. Think of them as especially power artifacts."

"And that tells us…?" Asked Midnight,

"Absolutely nothing," sighed Percy, as he slid down in his chair and rubbed tiredly at his eyes,

"We're beating around the bush," said Aizawa bluntly, "Let's address the real reason that we're here right now,"

"Aizawa…" said Midnight warningly,

"No, I said this before and I was ignored," said Aizawa heatedly, "I warned you all that it was dangerous having him around while the gods were after him and now look at what's happened. He was attacked around the students, exactly what we didn't want to have happen."

"Forgive me for saying so, but weren't you of the opinion that he should call out the gods while at the camp?" Asked Cementoss,

"Because if he was going to be attacked, it was the most logical to do so where damage would be limited and risk to the students was minimized as much as possible," said Aizawa. "But now that we've confirmed that what I said all along is true, I think it's time that we bring the topic of discussion back up."

Mandalay, who had been goggling at Percy since the discussion began, grew pale as she realized what was being suggested,

"Wait…" she said, "You can't be suggesting that-"

"Mr. Jackson is not about to be thrown to the wolves, Aizawa," said Nezu sternly, "I have explained this to you before that-"

"Aizawa is right," said Percy softly, "I fucked up, coming back here without sorting this mess out first,"

"Percy-" Midnight started to say, but Percy cut her off,

"No, Midnight he's right. I knew that they were after me, I know what gods are like. I knew what was about to happen. I just…" He sighed, and swiped at his head, "I just wanted to pretend like that wasn't my life anymore. But that was…that was stupid. And now that I've killed whoever the fuck that was, it just means that they'll come after me even harder before."

He raised his gaze and met the worried and concerned gazes of the teachers,

"They attacked me at the camp, I have no doubts that they'll attack me at the school. I don't know what they're capable of or what they can or can't do. I don't know if they'll come after me themselves or send monsters to do it, but either way I'm not putting my friends and the only people I care about in jeopardy."

"No!" Shouted Mandalay and the others in unison, "Absolutely not!"

Percy looked at her, her eyes were wide and tears were starting to form in their corners,

"You're not just abandoning us like this! What, do you think we can't take care of ourselves? Do you really think that we can't help you-"

"Not against these people you can't!" Said Percy crossly, "I'm not abandoning you! I'm not just going to disappear and never come back, but until this is taken care of I shouldn't be near the school!"

"You'd be safest at the school!" Mandalay shot back,

"No, I can promise you that I wouldn't be," said Percy, "Mandalay…I know that you guys have had a lot dropped on you today and that none of this really makes sense but we aren't dealing with run of the mill criminals. We aren't dealing with people who would be deterred by some high-end security system. It doesn't matter how many bullets you shoot at them, they aren't stopping. My being here would only serve to put every single person here in the line of fire. I won't do that."

"You're being overdramatic!" Shouted Mandalay,

"No, he's not," said Aizawa, "You watched the fight in the forest Mandalay. You saw what that guy could do. If what Jackson said is to believed, then he was one of the weaker ones. What happens when someone with a little more firepower shows up? Do you really think anyone here would be able to be anything more than speed bump?"

Mandalay fell silent, her face red and heated. Without another word, she abruptly stood up and strode from the room. Pixie-Bob sighed and stood up as well, with the others following suit. As they strode from the room, Tiger placed a burly hand on Percy's shoulder,

"You do whatever you think you need to do. But you owe us an explanation, and you don't disappear on us, do you understand?"

"I do," said Percy. Tiger grunted, and with a squeeze of Percy's shoulder he left the room.

A tense silence descended over the room following the Cats' exit, eventually broken by detective Tsukauchi.

"What's your plan of attack, and do I need to have my superiors bring the departments to a higher status of alert?"

"Might not be a bad idea," said Percy, "I don't know when or where something is going to break out, but having the cops on alert for something to go down would probably go a long way towards mitigating civilian casualties."

"I'll speak to the local chief of police and inform him of the situation," said Nezu, looking at Tsukauchi, "And I'll speak with the Commission as well. They don't need to know all of the details but I believe we can conceive a convincing enough story to keep them off of your back while you…take care of this problem."

"Speaking of," said Present Mic, "How the hell are you going to deal with this? From the way you've been talking, it's sounds almost like you think the only way to end this is to just…kill your way through an entire pantheon."

"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that," said Percy heavily, "Because that's not a fight I'd be able to win." He sighed and scratched absently behind his ear, "I need to do some research. Find out where the local myths and monsters like to congregate. If I can figure out where Amaterasu is holed up and confront her face to face, maybe we can put a stop to this mess before things get too out of hand."

"I have a sneaking suspicion that there isn't going to be much in the way of talking if you and her meet up together kid," said Snipe, and Percy grunted. He had been feeling much the same way.

"Don't suppose anyone here practices Shinto?" Asked Percy, and sighed when the collective teachers shook their heads, "Figured as much. Would have been too much to ask for a break in life I guess."

"I would suggest speaking to young Todoroki," said All Might, speaking up for the first time, "I know his father, and know that they are a fairly traditional family. It would not surprise me if they, or rather Shoto, practiced the religion himself. If nothing else, I'm sure he would have more to offer you than anyone here."

Percy nodded his thanks, and stood to leave,

"You'll have two weeks before the start of term to get this mess sorted out, Mr. Jackson," said Nezu, "And you'll be needing this." He deftly reached into a vest pocket and hurled a small rectangular object at him. Percy caught the object deftly and looked at it. It was a small identification card, similar to a driver's license. It had his real name and his hero alias, along with several other important identifying characteristics like height, weight, and blood type. At the top of the card, in large green letters, were the words "PROVISIONAL LICENSE."

"What is this?" Asked Percy,

"Just as the title says," said Nezu cheerfully, "It's a provisional hero license. Normally you'd have to be tested with the other prospective heroes to earn the right for it, but given the circumstances and given what you did with All Might against All for One, the Hero Commission was willing to listen to reason with me and issue you with one of these. While it's not a full blown hero license, it will let you use your powers in the name of hero work without worrying about the authorities. Mind you, you have to be with a registered pro hero first but all the same, it should give you the opportunity to do what you need to uninterrupted."

Percy narrowed his eyes,

"This is your way of keeping tabs on me, isn't it?" He asked,

"Quite so," said Nezu, "You might be stronger than any one in this room, but you're still my student, and quite dangerous. Did you really think I would let you loose onto the country unsupervised?"

"No," grumbled Percy, "Gonna need to call Rumi I guess." He turned his attention back to the teachers, "If there's nothing else?"

"There's not," said Nezu, before adopting the first genuinely serious expression Percy had ever seen on the rodent's face. "All joking aside, Mr. Jackson, please exercise caution and care. You might be an asset of my school but you are still a student here and I do care for the safety of all my students. Do not take needless risks, and if you ever need help, I know you now know that you do not have tackle such things on your own."

In spite of the situation, Percy smiled.

"I know, and I will."

BREAK

He shouldn't have been surprised. Given everything that had happened, Percy should have known that his friends would have had questions. Though he hadn't expected to see the Big Three.

"Percy!" Called out the familiar, high-pitched squeal of Nejire moments before the turquoise missile barreled into his chest. Instinctively wrapping his arms around her so she wouldn't drag him to the ground, Percy let her try and squeeze the life out of him for moment before gently depositing her back on the ground.

"What are you doing in my house, Nej?" Asked Percy, glancing behind her at the assembled students from Class 1-A and the rest of the Big Three.

"Trying to stop you from doing something stupid, probably." Said Nejire spritely, and Percy sighed,

"Mandalay called you, didn't she?" He asked,

"Yup," said Nejire happily, before poking him roughly in the chest, "She sounded really upset, what did you do?"

"It's not what I did, it's what I'm going to do," said Percy around a heaving sigh.

"This have something to do with what our cute underclassmen were telling us happened at the Summer Camp?"

Percy shot a glance at his surrounding friends, who were all lounging around on his furniture. Most averted their gazes, but Tokoyami, Shoji, and Yaoyorozu kept their gazes firmly on him.

"Guess I'm not talking my way out of this one," muttered Percy, and Nejire giggled,

"Nope, so have a seat. Yaoyorozu and I made hot coco!"

Percy rolled his eyes, but acquiesced and took a seat on his couch between Mina and Yaoyorozu.

"How did you even get in here? I could have sworn I locked up before leaving," said Percy,

"You did," said Mina happily, "But Yaoyorozu made us a key,"

Yaoyorozu flushed crimson and averted her gaze, twiddling with her thumbs as she did so.

"Of course you did," snorted Percy, as he took a steaming mug of coco from Nejire, who set herself down on the ground in between Mirio and Amajiki.

"So," said Nejire expectantly, "Start talking,"

Percy rolled his eyes, "I would, but I don't exactly know what you want to know,"

"You could start by explaining what happened at the Camp," said Tokoyami, "You lied to us,"

"How do you figure," said Percy, his eyes narrowing at the accusation,

"You said that you were only preoccupied with reconciling with your past in New York," said Shoji, "But clearly you were worried about far more. Tokoyami told us that you weren't surprised when you were attacked. Almost like you had been expecting it to happen."

"You've been keeping things from us, Percy." Said Tokoyami, "And I think we deserve to know the truth. All of it."

Percy sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"That's a problem," said Percy, "Because I quite literally don't think I can explain it to you."

"The fuck for?" Said, surprisingly, Bakugo,

"Because you literally wouldn't believe me," said Percy,

"That's not fair," said Yaoyorozu, "All of us have talked to you about our problems. You've helped us, and now you refuse to let us help you. You've been keeping things from us Percy…you keep telling us that we're your friends, but your actions say otherwise."

Percy didn't quite like how close to home that hit. His stomach tightened uncomfortably, and he averted his gaze. He ran his metallic thumb over his fleshy fingers, his mind flashing back to that moment in the USJ when he'd seen Shigaraki charging at Tsu. The way his body had reacted instinctively to put himself in harms way over her. These were his only friends here. They were supposed to help him and he was supposed to help them in turn. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair that he'd been keeping things from them.

"You're right," said Percy quietly, "I have been lying to you. I've been lying to you since I first met you."

He let out a shaky breath, and felt his leg twitch anxiously as it tapped a nervous rhythm into the carpet.

"Might as well start from the beginning," said Percy, "I don't…I don't actually have a quirk."

"…What?" Said Kirishima, "Um…dude, I know that you're trying to be honest here, but I don't think that's the right way to start."

"I'm being serious," said Percy, "And I know that this sound ridiculous, but I am being honest with you. I don't have a quirk. Never have."

"Then your powers are what? A gift from god?" Snorted Bakugo, and Percy shrugged,

"You're closer than you'd think," said Percy, "And…fuck it, you're not going to believe me anyway so I'm just going to say it. I'm not fully human. Remember how I said my dad was lost at sea?" His friends nodded,

"Well…that's not true. Truth is, my father wasn't lost at sea, my father is the sea. My mom really was a normal human named Sally Jackson. But my father was the Greek god of the seas, Poseidon."

Percy looked up, his foot tapping a faster and faster beat into the carpet. He was met with the incredulous gazes of his friends.

"…okay so you need to go to the hospital." Said Amajiki softly, getting to his feet,

"Must have gotten hit harder than we realized during that fight," muttered Yaoyorozu,

"Do you think we should call Recovery Girl?"

"I don't think she can fix crazy,"

"That's rude!"

"What! The guy just said he's half-god, does that sound like something a sane person would say?"

"That…actually explains a lot." Surprisingly, that comment had come from Midoriya. And muttering around the room came to an abrupt halt as the rest of the students directed their attention to the boy. He was holding his chin in his hand and his eyes were slightly crossed as he muttered an incoherent storm under his breath.

"The fuck are you talking about you idiot?" Grumbled Bakugo, though his voice lacked the usual heat behind the degrading insult. Midoriya jumped,

"I-I…" he stuttered for a moment, his face flushing under the gazes of all of his classmates,

"It's okay Deku," said Uraraka kindly, rubbing a soothing circle on his back, "Explain what you meant."

"W-well…" Began Midoriya, "T-think about his p-powers…they don't make sense." As was common with Midoriya, as he began to speak about Percy's abilities, he lost his stutter completely, "Percy doesn't just have one or two quirks, but almost like he's got nearly a dozen. Then there's the fact that his powers are so much complex and developed than any other quirk I've ever heard about."

"I mean, that doesn't really mean anything does it though?" Said Sero,

"True, Todoroki does have multiple quirks too." Said Tsu thoughtfully,

"Yeah but not like Percy's," said Midoriya, "Todoroki has control over fire and ice, but only on a superficial level. He can throw blocks and walls of ice and summon fire, but there isn't much refinement to it…erm, no offense Todoroki,"

"None taken," said Todoroki pensively, who was looking thoughtfully at Percy,

"Erm yeah, anyway," said Midoriya, "You contrast that with Percy, and if you even look at just one of his abilities, they're too complex to be normal quirks. Especially with what we know about quirks and their origins. He doesn't just have the ability to summon water, but he can shape and control to an absurdly complex degree. Even down to a microscopic level."

Percy arched an eyebrow at that, he hadn't think he'd ever done something or said something for Midoriya to have noticed that little tidbit, but the boy was far more observant than anyone seemed willing to give him credit for.

"He can breathe underwater, water heals him, he can shape and shift the state of matter of water itself, that is far too complexly developed for someone to be able to do with their quirk. Especially for someone from the first generation of quirk users."

"What do you mean?" Asked Mina, tilting her head in confusion, but this time it was Yaoyorozu who answered.

"He means," she said, "That the original holders of quirks had abilities, but they were nowhere near as refined, developed or powerful as they are now. It is well-documented that quirks get more powerful as they descend through the generations. Growing more powerful with each successive line, it was what led to the rise of quirk marriages some century ago in the first place."

Todoroki's hands tightened slightly at the reminder, but few seemed to notice the glowering expression on his face,

"Exactly," nodded Midoriya, "Percy's from the first generation of quirk users, he shouldn't have such a developed quirk, let alone multiple developed quirks. Not only does he have his water abilities, but we've seen him use wind, earth and even lightening. Then there are his physical attributes. He's far stronger, faster, and more agile than any of us are and that can only be indicative of additional quirks, and those are the only ones we know of."

"I can also talk to horses and sea creatures," added Percy, somewhat unhelpfully.

"Back up a minute." said Iida, "This is all very interesting and all, but we are making a grand assumption that he is even telling us the truth about being from the past."

"I am!" Said Percy hotly, "I lied about a lot to you guys, but I really was born in 1993."

"Then how did you end up here?" Asked Kirishima,

Percy frowned, and felt his hand tighten painfully as the memories of the attack that landed him in the future played out in his mind. He felt someone sit down on the couch next to him, and saw as Nejire took a seat on his left and took his hand in hers, squeezing it comfortingly. He smiled ruefully at her, thankful for the support.

"That's…a very long story." Said Percy, "But I'll try and condense it. Long story short is that I was on break from college back in the States. My father contacted me and I met up with both him and Susanoo."

"The god of seas and storms?" Said Todoroki, and Percy nodded at him,

"He'd apparently been heard rumblings in his domain that there was something occurring in his seas and that they may be related to the Greek pantheon. I was asked to investigate it, so I did. I travelled around the seas near Japan for a couple of weeks before I found something." He frowned, and rage and indignation shelled up inside of him,

"But it was godsdamned trap." His eyes flashed dangerously, as the air pressure in the room became slightly heavier and a clap of thunder reverberated outside the apartment, causing several of the other students to jump in surprise.

"My grandfather," said Percy, "Kronos, the titan of time, set a trap in order to either kill or get rid of me."

"Why would he do that?" Asked Uraraka innocently,

"An even longer story," sighed Percy, "But to put it simply, he tried to kill off the gods of Olympus and take over the world and I was kind of heavily involved in stopping him." He shook his head, "Anyways, he trapped me, and using one of his few followers, used his symbol of power, the sands of time, to send me forward into the future…" he trailed off, his eyes becoming distant, "And well…you know the story from there."

The room fell silent for a second, but Nejire's grip on his hand remained firm. He didn't know if she actually believed him or not, but he was thankful for her support and presence all the same.

"This is…insane," said Kirishima under his breath, "Absolutely insane man,"

"I know how it sounds," said Percy softly, "Which is why I didn't say anything. I know it sounds insane, I know it's ridiculous. Believe me, I've been there. I didn't even know the truth myself until I was twelve and I ended up at the camp."

"The camp," muttered Jiro abruptly, and everyone turned to look at her. "Pardon?" Asked Yaoyorozu,

"I don't know if anyone else heard it, but on our first lesson with All Might, he mentioned that Percy had worked at a summer camp run by his parents as an instructor. That was why he wanted Percy to help as a teaching assistant." She turned and looked at him, "That's why you didn't want to talk about it right? Because it was a summer camp for-for people like you? For…for half-gods?"

"Demigods," corrected Percy, "But yeah. It's where I learned how to fight, how to use my powers. It was the only place where I was safe."

"Wait a second," said Shoji, "The teachers,"

"Huh," said Mirio, who was looking strangely thoughtful, "Mask guy-"

"Shoji," grumbled Shoji,

"Has a point," continued Mirio, "They probably know all about this. They were the ones to deliver the press conference after all."

"They do," confirmed Percy,

"And they believe you?" Asked Tsu,

"Didn't have much of a choice in the matter," said Percy with a shrug, "They interviewed me with someone with a quirk that told them when someone was telling the truth. But yeah, they've heard all of this, heard before I ever joined U.A. and they believe me."

"I feel like we're getting away from the original point of this discussion," said Tokoyami quietly, his brow furrowed in thought, "Which is the attack."

"Kind of hard to focus on that when Percy is calling himself a god," said Mina,

"Half-god," sighed Percy,

"Whatever," said Bakugo, "But bird-brain has a point, the fuck happened at Camp? Who the fuck was that?"

"It goes back to what actually happened back in New York." Said Percy, "I really did go there to see my mom's grave, to have some closure. But while I was there…something else happened."

"What?" Asked Kirishima,

"Give him a minute and he'll tell us!" Said Mina. In spite of her apparent incredulity, she was wildly interested in the story.

"While Rumi and I were in New York, we were summoned by my aunt." Said Percy,

"Your aunt?" Asked Yaoyorozu,

"Hestia," explained Percy,

"Goddess of the hearth if I'm not mistaken," said Yaoyorozu,

"That's right," nodded Percy,

"Wait, so the Greek gods are real?" Asked Sero, "And still alive?"

"Not so much anymore," said Percy, his tone morose, "Hestia is the last one as far as I'm aware. The rest are gone. Faded. But anyways, she summoned me and Rumi over to where she was living and what she told me was…illuminating."

"What was it?" Asked Yaoyorozu, "The Shinto gods know I'm here in Japan, and some of them want me gone." Said Percy,

"Who?" Asked Todoroki,

"Amaterasu," said Percy, and Todoroki's eyes went wide,

"Damn," he whispered,

"You're familiar with her?" Asked Percy,

"You believe him?" Asked Aoyama,

Todoroki ignored him and focused his attention on Percy,

"She's the equivalent of one of the Greek's most powerful gods." Explained Todoroki, "She's the guardian of the kingdom of Heaven. She wears the necklace which gives her command of Takamagahara, which is where the gods reside. It's the equivalent of Olympus I guess for you."

"I don't suppose you know where that is by any chance do you?" Asked Percy,

"Unfortunately not," said Todoroki, and Percy sighed,

"Didn't think so, but I had to ask."

"Wait I feel like I'm missing something," said Mina, "Why does Amaterasu want Percy to leave Japan?"

"I was hoping you might actually have an answer for me there Todoroki," said Percy, "Any idea why Amaterasu would hate children of sea gods?"

Todoroki frowned, but nodded, "It's an old story, but as it goes there is a rather deep hatred between Amaterasu and her brother Susanoo."

"Why?" Asked Percy, scooting forward on his seat,

"As the story goes, Amaterasu had a hand in getting Susanoo banished to the underworld, and in revenge Susanoo threw a flayed horse into Amaterasu's weaving chamber, before summoning an enormous lightning storm on the heavens that desecrated the heavenly palace killing one of Amaterasu's maidens and covering Amaterasu in dirt and mud. In shame and rage, she hid herself away in a cave and cast the heavens forever in shadows."

"Well that would do it," sighed Percy. Combined with what Percy's father had done following Percy's disappearance, it was really no surprise that she would have such a hatred for any and all persons related to the sea.

"Fucking hell this is a disaster," Percy muttered, slumping back into the couch and rubbing at his face tiredly.

"So Amaterasu threatened to kill you if you came back, didn't she?" Said Tokoyami,

Percy nodded, "But I didn't know if it was pure bluster or if she was being genuine, so I waited it out. I wanted to see if they would make the first move."

"No you didn't," said Shoji, his mask creasing as he frowned, "You were calling them out,"

"How the fuck…" said Percy incredulously,

"Why else would you make such a show of using that enhanced power of yours," said Shoji, "You were calling them out, trying to provoke them into attacking."

"It wasn't my idea," said Percy quickly, trying to defend himself as several eyes shot in his direction.

"Vlad, Aizawa, and I all decided that it would be best to see if they would actually come after me and that if there was going to be a fight then doing it where there would a minimal threat to civilians and you guys was the right way to go about it. So we decided to call them out and see if they actually were going to make true on their threat."

"Which was why you were so on edge all week." Observed Tokoyami thoughtfully,

"Exactly," said Percy,

"And your predictions came true." Said Tokoyami, "You were attacked."

"Wait," said Kaminari "Are you really saying that the guy that you fought was a-a real god?"

"The genuine article," said Percy,

"That explains the blood," muttered Midoriya,

"Pardon me?" Asked Yaoyorozu, somewhat startled,

"The blood," repeated Midoriya, "On the man that Percy was fighting. He was bleeding, but his blood wasn't red, it was gold. And then there's what happened when-when…" He trailed off, looking slightly sick.

"When I killed him," said Percy sternly, and the rest of the class with the exception of the Big Three flinched painfully,

"You killed him?" Asked Mirio, more inquisitive than accusative,

"Didn't have much of a choice in the matter," shrugged Percy,

"Yes you did!" Said Midoriya hotly, "There's always a choice,"

"No, there isn't," said Percy calmly, "And it's not like he's dead-dead. More like he's reforming. He'll come back, but it'll take some time."

"It doesn't change the fact that you were fully prepared to kill him!" Said Midoriya, "This keeps happening! You don't fight to subdue, you fight to kill! It happened when you fought All for One too! Heroes don't kill people!"

"That's a very naive worldview Midoriya," said Percy carefully, "And while I'd like to agree with you, that's just not the way the world works. Life isn't a comic book. If I punch someone through a building, they probably aren't getting back up again, and if I have to kill some murdering ass-clown who doesn't give a damn about how many innocent civilians get caught in the crossfire, so that those civilians can go home to their families at the end of the day then so be it."

"That doesn't…" Midoriya started to say, but couldn't find it in himself to continue, so he simply sat back down on his chair and folded his hands in his lap.

There was an uncomfortable silence around the room for a few moments while everyone processed what they'd been hearing. It was clear to Percy from the expressions on several of their faces, that most of them didn't believe what Percy had told them. At the end of the day, that was fine by him. He knew they wouldn't believe him, he just hoped that he hadn't ruined his friendships with them by holding back the truth.

"So what happens now?" Asked Amajiki, his soft voice echoing like a thunderclap in the silent room,

"Now," said Percy heavily,

"I try and figure out how to salvage this mess."