Early update! Reason is at the bottom half of the AN. Please read, I don't have anything important to say or anything but just for the meme.
"Giraffes are heartless creatures"
- Unknown
"Now you're getting a hang of it." Percy praised, resetting his stance. "Again."
Pyrrha launched forward, feinting towards his chest before forcing the shaft of her spear against the pommel of his sword. Leaning forward and twisting her wrist in an awkward fashion, she thrust down, twisting Percy's sword out of his hand.
"Good enough." he nodded. "I think you've got the hang of it. Let's try a spar, then. Show me what you got."
Pyrrha rolled her eyes. As if she could have improved much since the last time they had sparred less than a week ago. But doing as he said, she got in her beginning stance and waited until Percy sprung into movement.
They sparred several times, taking up the next half hour with nothing but violent movement and dirty tricks. He had taught her a lot of those. A lot of things in general, really, but especially little tricks which could turn an even battle into a one sided decimation. Using the sun or dirt to obstruct vision, using an awkward situation to make her opponent uncomfortable enough to stumble, kicking your opponent while they were down, and even just pressure points that would cause a lot of pain — aura or no. He would teach her these tricks, she would use them, win maybe a spar or two, and then he would miraculously improve and stop falling for her tricks, usually punishing them burtally, and the process repeated.
When she was bone weary from constantly trying to keep up with someone half a decade older than her for a half hour, Percy called it.
"Let's take a break." he said, a single, solitary bead of sweat on his own forehead. Whether from the beating Mistralan summer sun, the half hour of spars, or a combination of the two, Pyrrha had no idea. But it didn't stop a small grin from crossing her face. It was the first time she had actually seen her trainer sweat, and it was certainly a huge accomplishment. Her ego was having a good day — or at least, less of a bad day than usual.
This was only reinforced by the conversation they had during break, while Pyrrha made sure to drink a very limited amount of water from her bottle.
"You've improved. You're doing a good job, Pyrrha."
And Pyrrha's ego soared to the moon. While Percy certainly wasn't cruel, he was definitely harsh. During training she very rarely got more than a 'good enough'. Usually, it was 'not good enough', before punishing her for her mistake with a punch to the mouth. It was only during reprieves outside of their spars that she got praise like right now.
Percy glanced over, noticing the look on her face before tousling her hair. "Don't get smug now. You've got a long way to go, you know."
Pyrrha giggled, fighting to push his hand away and duck away from it.
She had… warmed up to Percy in the last few weeks. When her old, impersonal trainer had been replaced (well, not quite replaced, but shoved to the side for a few days a week) she figured that the new one would be even more stuck up and disconnected, especially considering he was one of her father's friends. But Percy had smacked that notion right out of her.
Well, not quite…
During spars and in the middle of sessions, he was colder than any trainer she had ever met. He never allowed any real emotion other than the occasional discontent or disappointment shine through, and the very occasional approval when he thought she needed a morale boost more than motivation.
But during water breaks, or after training? He tried to talk to her so much it was almost awkward. But apparently, his strategy had worked. He'd wormed his way into her life as both a teacher and a friend. Or maybe an uncle, or a father figure, or an older brother, or… something. It was complicated. But she knew she didn't want it to change.
"How's history going?" Percy asked, ceasing his attempt at destroying the hairdo she had worked to perfect.
That put a dampener on her mood. "My instructor told me that what you said about Greece was wrong. That there's no proof. I have to redo the entire term paper, even though it's summer already!"
Percy sighed, leaning back on the bench against the arena wall. Technically, the information he'd given her wasn't entirely correct. But if Mistral had taken the place of Rome, then everything he knew pointed to him being right. And gods be damned if he was gonna let Pyrrha get punished because Percy wanted to teach her earth's history.
"I'll write them a note tonight kiddo, don't worry about it." he shot her a cheeky grin "I'll even write it in Greek"
Pyrrha blinked. "You can speak Greek?"
Percy nodded. "Everyone knows it in my old village. It's practically been hardwired into our brain over the millennia. I have a hard time reading or writing in any other language, to be honest."
And wasn't he glad that English was standard here, even in Mistral… for some reason.
"I — I could teach you, if you want."
Percy tried not to laugh, he really, really did. But that was just… adorable. Pyrrha looked betrayed as he held a hand over his mouth, struggling and failing to hold back his chortling.
"I appreciate it, I really do, but I'll be fine, kiddo. It's not so much the theory as the practice I have trouble with."
Pyrrha stared at him blankly. Sometimes, he forgot he was talking to a twelve year old.
"Anyway, I'll be training you every day for the couple months until you move to Argus. We're kicking up the training, too. I can't have you going to Sanctum and embarrassing me, can I?"
Pyrrha blinked, and he could swear a lightbulb turned on in her head with how much her eyes brightened. "Really? You'll be training me every day? Does that mean you'll be replacing Ms. Ariti?"
Percy shrugged. "No idea. Probably? All I know is that me and you are gonna be spending most of the day out here, and you're gonna be more tired than you've ever been."
If he was expecting her to be discouraged, he was dead wrong. "Does that mean I get to skip history?"
Percy snorted. "Probably not, but I'll see what I can do. If you're learning Greek history right now, I might be able to teach you a few things, actually. I'll just need to convince your dad."
Pyrrha sagged at that, and Percy winced. He'd forgotten, that was kind of a rough spot. Despite Percy's camaraderie with Alexander, and Alexander's genuine love for his family, he still had some pretty medieval notions about how families should be run. Not that it was likely uncommon among the noble families of Mistral, but it still wasn't ideal for raising your daughter to love you.
"Hey, don't worry. I'll convince him, alright? Now let's get back to sparring. I can't be letting you slack off too much."
With a groan, Pyrrha pried herself off the bench and walked to the middle of the arena, Percy following right behind her.
Several bouts of sparring separated by short breaks later, and the sun was almost down.
Pyrrha practically crawled back to the bench, letting herself slouch on it.
Her feet were sore. Her arms were sore. Her nose was sore. Her thighs were sore. Everything was sore from either exertion or being kicked, punched, and elbowed.
"Can I leave now?"
Percy chuckled, setting himself down next to her on the bench. "Yes, Pyrrha. We're done for today."
"Today is over!"
Percy rolled his eyes. "Get used to it. I don't have long before you go to Argus, so I'll need to make the time count."
Pyrrha didn't respond, just slumping against the wall and letting out a low groan.
"How about I try and take you out to fight some grimm sometime this month."
Pyrrha perked up at that. While still exhausted to the bone, the topic seemed to have piqued her interest. "I can actually go out grimm hunting? Nobody's allowed to do that until they make it to a huntsman academy at the earliest!"
Percy shrugged, capping Riptide. "I killed my first grimm at twelve. I don't see why you should be denied the opportunity, especially if I'm there to keep watch. I'll let you know tomorrow." he was careful not to mention that he would need permission from her father.
With the interesting topic over with, Pyrrha slumped again.
Percy nudged her foot. "C'mon, Pyr. You gotta head back and get your shower." She didn't respond, feigning sleep which she probably wished she didn't have to fake.
Percy sighed, observing the melting puddle of a twelve year old unlikely to move in the next few hours.
Standing up, Percy crouched down and put an arm under her legs, the other behind her head, and hefted her up. She had worked harder today than any day previously, and she deserved this small reprieve. The 'asleep' girl tensed slightly, but Percy decided not to mention it.
Percy carried her all the way back to her room, getting the odd look from a servant or two at the motionless Pyrrha in his arms. Setting her down on her bed, he walked to the door, glancing back just as he walked out, seeing the silently snoring Pyrrha laying there on her bed. Though she hadn't been sleeping before, she certainly was now. Percy closed the door with a silent click behind him, walking away from her room. He had a pretty long conversation with Alexander ahead of him.
A few weeks later Percy stood with a nervous Pyrrha on a bullhead platform, waiting for the bullhead itself to arrive.
"Are you sure this is okay?"
Percy turned to face her and sent what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine, Pyrrha. I'll be right behind you the whole time."
Pyrrha nodded uneasily, taking his word for it.
It had taken quite a bit of convincing to let Percy take Pyrrha outside of the city. Even after Percy had spent hours arguing with Alexander he had still felt unsure about letting his twelve year old daughter walk into forests swarming with grimm, and had asked for a professional opinion.
Said professional huntsman had taken one glance at the twelve year old and the seventeen year old without any formal training and emphatically advised against it. A single call from Qrow Branwen, a seemingly very well known huntsman, changed his mind quickly.
So they were here now, standing on a platform and waiting for their bullhead to arrive. Percy tapped his foot impatiently for the whole five minutes it took for the bullhead to arrive.
"Go ahead and hop on! You're heading just north of here, right?" the pilot's voice crackled through speakers on the bullhead.
Percy nodded, though the pilot couldn't see it. "Just between Windpath and Mistral, yes." he hopped up onto the aircraft, offering Pyrrha a hand to hop up behind him.
"Wilco, we'll be there in about 10 mikes."
Percy didn't pretend to understand the jargon, but he got the general idea. Leaning back, he tried to calm his nerves as usual. For once, however, he wasn't the worst flyer on the aircraft.
"Nervous flyer?" Percy asked, glancing at Pyrrha. She was staring out the window and biting her lip, overreacting to the slightest turbulence.
Pyrrha nodded slightly. "It's my first time flying." she admitted.
Percy blinked. That was… not expected, he supposed. Sure, Percy's first time flying had also been when he was twelve, but he had very specific reasons for that, reasons Pyrrha certainly didn't have. He had also hardly grown up wealthy.
"Huh. Figured you would've been flown around for state dinners and stuff."
Pyrrha pursed her lips, raising a single shoulder in a half shrug. "I've never been anywhere outside our level. This is… this is a first."
Percy almost got whiplash with how quickly his head snapped to her. "You've never left level three? Ever?"
Whilst level three didn't sound particularly prestigious, levels got smaller and smaller as they got higher. Level one was pretty much exclusively for Haven academy and its headmaster, as well as a few other government buildings like the council chambers. The second level was for the few top dogs — perhaps half the council. Level three was for the rest of all the great families and a couple of the more powerful minor families. It's also currently where Percy was living in a hotel. Level four was for the richest of 'commoners' as well as the rest of the few dozen minor families, and after that was just progressively poorer and poorer commoners until you reached level 47, where nobody owned anything except for the clothes on their back, and most times even those were stolen.
Pyrrha shook her head. "I think… I think once father took me to level two, when I was younger. But it's so long ago now it's hard to remember. I'm rarely allowed to leave the villa, though sometimes father lets me go on walks with some guards."
Percy shook his head. "That's… that's horrible, Pyr. You should be able to go out and… see things."
Pyrrha covered up her wince with a smile, turning back into the bullhead to face Percy. "Well, that's what I'm doing now, right? Thank you, by the way. I have no idea how you convinced father to let me, but… Thank you."
Percy waved it off, even if yes, it was a very arduous process, and a stressful night. "All it took was a call from a huntsman friend of mine to reassure him I could protect you. I think he dropped Ozpin's name somewhere, though I'm not sure."
Pyrrha nodded at him gratefully, turning back to look out the window at the forests and lakes she had apparently never seen before. They remained in comfortable silence for a few more minutes, until Percy couldn't keep quiet anymore.
"When we get back, I should take you down the mountain. Show you some of the lower levels. It's important you see how your people are living, if you're going to inherit your father's place some day."
Pyrrha turned back again, blinking. "My… people?"
Percy nodded. "Your people. Your family name is a big deal, Pyrrha. Your family shares ownership of this country, and all the people in it rely on them. To be honest, it hasn't been going well recently. Mistral has been fracturing, in decline."
"Fracturing? There hasn't been a rebellion since the color rebellion. My teacher says Mistral has never lost land."
Percy chuckled, shaking his head. "That's technically true. If you look on a map, Mistral still controls all of Anima. But the map doesn't show you that there are tens of thousands of bandits allowed to roam around freely. It doesn't tell you that even cities as close as Windpath are essentially their own country. It doesn't show you that not a single person outside the city walls of Mistral has paid taxes to it in decades, or that grimm and bandits wipe villages out whenever they care to." Percy noticed the look on her face and quickly remembered he was speaking to a twelve year old. "Don't worry about it too much, alright? This won't be your problem for many years, not until you're a few years older than I am, at least. It's just important you know not everything is perfect. It's why it's important that I show you some of the city, at least."
Pyrrha pursed her lips and nodded, looking out the window again.
"What's that?"
Pyrrha was pointing out the window towards the tip of a short tower that was just barely visible over the treetops in the distance.
"That would be Windpath." Percy answered, the bullhead shifting into a vertical landing even as he spoke.
"That's where you're from, right? Will you ever take me there?"
Percy considered that, hopping out of the Bullhead as it touched down.
"That's not where I'm from, but I own Windpath, yes. You know what." He smiled, getting an idea. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll take you there some time. After you see Mistral, though, and probably after you leave for Argus. Now, stay sharp." he said, changing the topic as Pyrrha also hopped out of the bullhead which took off with a wave from Percy. He started his lecture, walking backwards deeper into the forest. "Grimm, as I'm sure you've learned by now, are greatly attracted to negative emotions. Fear, pain, grief, anger. All that sort of stuff. It's like a gourmet meal for them to guzzle down a grieving human."
As Percy spoke, he let his thoughts run rampant. This was perhaps the least pleasant part of training — the bait.
"In fact, it's mostly safe out here if you're in a good state of mind. You're about as likely to die from a bear as you are from a beowolf. Well, that's not quite true, but you get my point. The reason grimm are so dangerous is because they've built upon their own legend. You walk into the forest, you're afraid because you're alone in a forest full of grimm, and all of a sudden there's half a dozen grimm in front of you who smelled your fear."
Faces flashed in his memories, faces he would never see again, faces he had left behind, potentially to die to Gaea should Annabeth fail to get out of Tartarus.
"The most important thing to remember is that most grimm are stupid. They don't know how to fight like we do. Most of them are stronger than us, faster than us, have sharper claws than we do swords, and tougher hides than we do armor. We have the advantage because we can think. It's why the older grimm are so dangerous."
Percy stopped his dive into his memories. Especially with his aura, the amount of negativity he had let seep out should be plenty.
"I'm gonna let you fight these things on your own, and only intervene once you get into the yellow. Once that happens, we're leaving. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
Pyrrha nodded, hesitated a moment, and then asked the question that had been niggling at the back of her head. "You said our only advantage is that we're smarter than them. I thought aura was the only reason we could fight back?"
Percy shook his head. "Remember when I told you I killed my first grimm at twelve, how I come from a village where we hunt grimm? We don't even have aura. I didn't get my aura unlocked until I got to Windpath." It was a bit disingenuous, considering most Greco-Roman monsters ranked a tier lower than the average grimm, and demigods were born with the innate advantages of being stronger and faster than most mortals. But it served his purpose in the end. If she thought the one thing she had over grimm was aura, she wouldn't be afraid to tank some damage to her aura to get a kill or two in. That wasn't ideal, considering aura was a literal life bar.
"Now, good luck."
Percy leaped into the air when he spotted a beowolf behind her, landing on a tree branch and observing.
Pyrrha only sensed the thing a moment later when it lunged at her like a tiger. She turned, raising her shield and hiding under it. Unable to find purchase in flesh, the beowolf slid over the shield and right over Pyrrha. Pivoting, Pyrrha turned and stabbed the thing in the stomach.
Percy shook his head and sighed, pulling out a notepad and jotting down some notes in ancient Greek. It seemed she needed to focus more on weak points and fatal spots rather than just… mid body stabs.
Percy kept watching her deal with the few grimm that showed up, taking notes every now and then on things she could improve, but mostly staying out of the way and letting all the grimm filter to her, letting experience teach her everything she needed to know.
It was only when a larger beowolf came charging through the trees straight towards Pyrrha that Percy got worried.
Don't get him wrong, Pyrrha was by now very good for her age, and it's not like he wasn't confident in her ability or something. But if a twelve year old managed to best an alpha beowolf on 73% aura, it just might be a first.
The thing was about 20 feet tall, absolutely towering over everything around it and running through trees like a car would run through traffic cones. Pyrrha quickly noticed the hulking giant of a grimm coming towards her, killed the ursa she was fighting, and ran…
...towards the alpha.
Percy shook his head. Willing to let her touch a hot stove but not quite willing to let her pour a pot of boiling water on herself, Percy hopped between a few branches until he was in front of her and dropped to the ground, halting her advance.
"And what exactly do you think you're doing?"
Pyrrha skidded to a halt, breathing heavily. "You did say that I should target the biggest threat, and to act like I was out here alone for real."
Percy pinched the bridge of his nose, back to the charging alpha. "Yes, act like you're alone out here. Which means when you see a dozen and a half foot tall alpha beowolf, you run. Try to think of a way to take potshots while you run, but don't charge straight at the thing."
Pyrrha peaked around him. "Uh, Percy, it's getting really close."
Percy rolled his eyes, taking out his scroll and calling the number for the bullhead. "We're heading home for today. They should be able to get your location from the scroll, just tell them we need a pickup." Percy tossed Pyrrha the scroll.
"Percy, it's really close!"
It only took a second of concentration for Percy to combine his senses, the instincts from his aura working in tandem with his natural ability to sense bodies of water. Shoving Pyrrha a few feet backwards into a tree, he leaped directly into the air.
Seconds later, the enormous claws of the alpha beowolf missed Pyrrha by half a foot, and Percy came down right behind the swipe, pivoting to face the beast. Pulling out Riptide, he did exactly what he told Pyrrha not to do, and charged directly at the thing.
Furiously, it took another swipe at him. This time, Percy slid underneath it in a baseball slide. A couple years ago he'd have stayed near the pseudo giant's ankles and given it a death by papercut. Now, however, he could do better.
Percy launched himself at the grimm's face, kicking off its chest and forcing Riptide in through the bottom of its jaw all the way to the top of its head.
Percy let himself drop to the ground as the alpha grimm dissolved into black goo, capping Riptide and turning to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha, for her part, was staring at him.
"You… you just… That was an alpha grimm. That took five seconds."
Percy shrugged, walking over to collect his scroll from her outstretched hand. "What can I say, I'm not a pushover. What'd the pilot say?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "He said he'll be here in fifteen minutes. But you — you're barely old enough to start at an academy, right?" she asked, refusing to move past what had just happened in front of her.
Percy, however, didn't feel like staying on the topic. Checking his scroll, Percy responded. "Fifteen minutes, huh? I guess that gives you a few more minutes to train, considering your aura is still high enough. I'll come help you clean up in ten."
Percy didn't wait for a reply, scurrying up a tree and letting himself rest on a branch.
Pyrrha shook her head, glancing up at him. "We are so talking about this on the way home."
The rest of their time in the forest was occupied by the groups of grimm sending themselves at his student. He had to admit, she was doing incredibly well for someone her age. While she managed to take more hits than was ideal, he didn't expect most kids her age to be able to hold up a single grimm, and not only because they weren't technically allowed to have their auras unlocked.
Percy sighed. He had less than a month left with her. Less than a month left until he was granted the title of a minor family, until things had to get kicked into high gear, and he'd have to stop pretending nothing was wrong.
He'd make use of that month.
I've forgotten to do this like 3 chapters in a row, but something something discord something something pat-reon. Both links are on my profile, or a few chapters back.
Thought I'd mention that if you ask me a question that asks for spoilers, I probably didn't answer. Some of you will notice that if you asked a question I only answered half of it... probably because the other half included spoilers.
Hope you enjoyed. I think this was a good chapter, probably my favorite so far for its length. This chapter was pretty short, but this is what you get for bugging me about weekly updates. That being said, next chapter things pick up quite a bit, and it's close to twice as long.
Enjoy the Et Fide chapter tomorrow. (2 uploads in a row, huzzah!)
Happy Birthday GrimReaper02! (Edit: sorry I couldn't post it on Saturday for your actual birthday, but... happy birthday anyway? Spend your birthday money on some GME.)
1/28/21 Edit: What the FUCK happened to society. Holy shit when I wrote this AN like 4 days ago I was a levelheaded individual that didn't invest in Gamestop and Blackberry and lose 8 thousand dollars in a day.
I liked an AOC tweet and a Donald Trump Jr. tweet in the same day. I've become assimilated. Help. I did not expect getting back into trading to end up like this. Updated a few days early because by the time Saturday rolls around I'm not sure if society will still be on its feet.
For those of you reading in the future; things are uncertain. I'm on my last mortgage. Dumpster diving the only option. You know how this turns out, and I hope you either send me food stamps or send me a letter on my yacht.
Uh something something fuck melvin capital and robinhood and also citadel. That's all I hope you have a good weekend, please join me in prayer for GME tomorrow.
Next Chapter February 6
