Chapter 6 - Oh Shoot!

Author's note: Spare me stones for the poor ol' writer? Anyway, if ya noticed, the cover changed. I thought about it; since he's the son of the referenced Pantheon from LoL, I'd make his look related to him rather than full-on armored Andre Thomas, y'know what I mean? Only the aesthetic changed. Enjoy!

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A family of two sat quietly, eating their dinner with contentment on their faces. Or, like the Mainers like to call it, supper. But someone had to halt the quiet, and the mother did so.

"How do you feel having had lessons with Miss McKenzie?" she asked while slicing her steaks apart. While at it, she lovingly looked at her son in thought.

"Well... It was boring at first, learning the keys and all. But when I got it down and we started playing, it was fun? I felt better? Yeah... better!" expressed the child with fingers to his chin.

In truth, it was actually Farah who suggested the idea to Lucy. Stating that when a person plays the piano, it gives them a sense of control. And a child who is losing a father's touch, a sense of control might aid him. From the looks of it, it has done wonders for Leo.

Lucy can expand her heart to the moon, but she will never fill the gap of a father. Nevertheless, she will cram as much as possible and aid it. With the amount of love Leo receives from his mother, his veins might get clogged soon.

'I can attest to that. Leo has watched that 'video' less and less, and it shows his mental improvement,' the mother of Leo reflected upon the changes in her son. However, even with the lessons, something needs to be added.

"A goal..." Lucy said aloud without meaning to, earning her son's attention. 'Right, a goal is needed. Else everything is but patches to a sinking ship,' still in her thoughts, ignoring her son's confused stare.

Placing her utensils down, she scanned her son's features. 'Ah, sometimes I'm looking at someone else's child. But he is without a doubt our.'

"Leonidas," the name uttered out of her shocked Leo. In months past, she has not once called her Leonidas. And he understood why. Villains were after them, hence their need for a new identity.

"Leonidas... Shimura Angelos..." Now she was starting to creep her son out. She said his full name!

"What do you want to do when you grow up?" saying those words, she got up and kneeled in front of Leo's chair. This was a topic that needed to be discussed. To hide forever would be logical, but it is not living.

And so, with whatever Leo decides he wants to do, she would be the one to adjust. If Leo chooses to live a quiet life, then a quiet life it is.

"What I want to do?" he repeated with a raised brow. He never thought of it. He was simply in a routine of waking up every morning knowing he won't see his dad. But will see people that will make him forget that and aid it, like the piano.

He never thought of thinking ahead; he was simply... a child.

And hearing his mom's questions set the gears in his head. Unknowingly, he activated his quirk, with signs of its usage in the form of glowing arms and a dim glow within his eyes.

Capes were all he could see in his introspections, but they were weirdly not enough. It screamed Hero, but did all Heroes wear a costume? No, not all did. His mom was the very definition of one.

And his dad always had his way with words, about standing and all. Frankly, at the time, he didn't understand it. But when he cried with his mom, both collapsed to the ground, none supporting them.

'A Hero like my dad is what I want to be. Someone to stand for us.'

But before he could say those words, he said something differently, making his mom tear up. "I know what I want to do, but what do you want too, Mom?"

The tables turning was something Lucy did not expect. Children or the youth usually did not think of what their parents wanted but what they wanted, and the parents adjusted, which most parents lovingly do.

Chuckling at this, she answered. "You won't understand these words now, but you will get it when you're older," cupping Leo's face tenderly.

"I want to be Yuna Shimura-Angelos. I do not want to hide. I want to live with my chin up and freely be myself," with red eyes, she gave her wish. To her, they were unattainable.

Affected by her tearing eyes, he teared up too. "I... I want to be like dad. He stood for us. So, I want to stand for us too. And that's by becoming a Hero."

Words were not needed in how emotional Yuna became at hearing those words. Hugging him tighter than she had hugged before, she had watery smiles from the tears.

"Then I guess you need a coach on your ringside, champ, haha."

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A boy can be seen swimming through the salty waters of Maine, but he isn't only swimming. Oh, no. He had strapped to his waist a few pieces of life vests to create drag while not risking his safety of sinking.

Along with him were his mother and Siren while on a boat, one motivating him loudly and the other contently clapping. Leo was given the task of only swimming as his exercise, as it was the least stress-impacting for his young body while gaining the most bang for the body.

Running is good, but prolonged running for a child's body is unhealthy. This is why swimming is the best option for training stamina, muscle strength and growth, and improving the cardiovascular system.

Pros to having a mom with a license in quirk training and therapy, add years of experience and a husband who was a pro into that resume.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep!*

When hearing a beeping sound, Lucy immediately whistled her whistle, signifying Leo's need to come aboard the boat again. Before her son could climb aboard, she took several bottles of her concoction.

The said concoction was an exceptional remedy to fight dehydration and the replacement of electrolytes. Even if the exercise is swimming, swimmers still sweat but do not notice due to being in the water.

Although, her son seeing said mixture, had a different face altogether. "Huff. T-this again? It tastes disgusting! Why can't I just have water or a sports drink?" he whined.

Lucy, smirking, "Sports drinks contain heavy amounts of sugar, young man. Sugar will make you thirsty, pulling-"

"Pulling the water from my cells and making me thirsty once again..." the training son finished for his mother. "Good. Glad you remember my 4th repeat," the mom praises.

"*Clap* Now, add more vests to your waists when you're done drinking that. This time, you're using your quirk! You and I have properly conditioned your body to stress it with your quirk. Now, hurry!"

Hearing that he could finally use his quirk after so many weeks of quirkless training made his mood skyrocket! "Finally!" He jumped back into the salty waters with a glow to his markings and body.

In the water, Leo patiently waited for the vests with which he would strap himself. But rather than pieces of vests, his mom dumped packages of life vests onto the sea. Making him hitch a breath.

Oblivious to her son's thoughts, Lucy hurried him to get strapping. Despite that, Leo's physical body was in no harm at all. Lucy was keenly observing her son, his breathing, posture in coming up the boat, and his pulse when he rested.

As for the mental part? It's covered as well, in the form of humming, by Siren herself. Siren has improved to the point where she can safely hum and have no one mentally dazed.

Whenever Siren hums, it cleanly travels through the water and even Leo's ears. Her voice was so melodic that the splashes of the sea held no power to disrupt its tune to listeners. And to the people who listen to her hum get to have the experience of feeling mentally relaxed and stress-free.

Lucy taught Siren to control her mutant quirk by training her vocals and pitch mastery. In doing so, she was able to dim down the strength of her quirk, although she is limited to hummings for now.

Another reason why Siren could improve so fast was because of her family. Apparently, her family booked all of Lucy's schedule. Earning her a temporary private specialist.

And this was Leo's training throughout the months leading to his Middle School Years, but with the additions of light weight-bearing exercises to improve bone density.

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"Pose #1,"

Leo posed in a manner where he stood straight as a board, listening to his mother.

"Pose #2,"

The next made Leo raise his knee and turn the upper body opposite it.

And as the continuous poses were ordered, Leo followed them without a complaint. He has started doing these poses for his mom since he began his weight-bearing exercises.

In her reasoning, she wanted his body to be in a healthy posture and to ensure he wasn't negatively affected by such training.

"Hm. Good. Glad you didn't secretly overdo any lifting." His mother commented while observing her son's posture. Deciding that she had scanned over everything, she made him wash up as she prepared supper.

Before heading for a wash, he asked with dead eyes. "Let me guess, lobster and crab again?" His statement earned him a laugh from his mother. "We're in Maine. What do you expect?"

"Hmm, a moussaka(Greek food)?"

"While that does sound nice, I have yet to go to the market. Tell you what, tomorrow after school, go to the market and buy the ingredients, then I'll make you a moussaka from home." As she said that, Leo gained a rather relieved smile on his face.

'Is eating seafood that tiring, to eat?'

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Class after class, Leo's head was dreaming through them all. Just the thought of not eating another food of the sea was enough to set his heart with joy.

And as he eagerly watched the clock tick, nearing 3:00 p.m., waiting to hear the last school bell. But what came was something different.

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

Suddenly, consecutive thundering shots made kids panic, and teachers shouted to keep their students calm.

With the sudden danger, an automated announcement played that all students were to remain in the safety of their classrooms. This managed to ease the worries of some, but not all.

One of them was none other than Leo, who was experiencing a stinging pain in his head. "Urk!" he groaned, but all ignored, thinking he was just panicking.

'Arh! M-mom said that I might experience this. If something dangerous is nearby, I'll feel a tingling sensation in my head,' he gathered to himself while trying to orient, too, scanning the room to see if such threats existed.

Discontinuing it due to not finding anything he knew was dangerous, he decided to try contacting his mom. But before he could, Siren's caller ID appeared flashing. However, gunfire rang out again within the school's walls, scaring them further.

Suppressing as much of his fear and remembering that she was in a separate classroom from him, he answered quickly in hopes of finding out her situation. Hearing her end, he could hear her sobbing.

"S-Siren!? Don't cry!" trying to calm her, "Can you tell me what's happening on your side?"

"L-Leo... h-help. I'm... in my locker," Siren whispered with sobs in between, fear evident in her voice. "Shhhh," he tried to soften her voice, "please s-stay quiet for now, okay?" He said it in a whisper, greatly affected by what was happening.

"Stay o-on the line with me, Siren. Just stay quiet as always, o-okay? I'll go to you; just promise to stay quiet."

Scanning the room, he observed that the teacher was busy getting tables and chairs to block one of two doors. Seeing this as an opportunity, he escaped through the other.

Making it outside the room, he spots no one for now but soon starts to feel a tingle on the back of his head. Trusting in this feeling, he made a beeline for the corner, ten meters from his place, trying his best to hide from sight.

In all the rush, he flew from his spot to reach there, not making a single noise from his movement. Leo, on the other hand, could hear steps from the other end of the hallway. Immediately thanking his lucky stars that he had made it to the corner that led downstairs.

Being in his last year of elementary, they were placed on the highest floor of their three-floored building. Without thinking anymore, he hurried to the ground floor, where all the lockers were located, specifically Siren's!

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CHEERS!

Hope you guys enjoy it, give some stones if you can!