Percy tried unsuccessfully to conceal his yawn. His body was just not used to having to be up by six yet. When he was in college, he had crafted his schedule so that all of his classes were either in the afternoon or in the evening. He loved his sleep, and he was not a morning person. But even still, he had figured that he wouldn't have too much of an issue getting his body readjusted to a high school schedule. After all, he had spent four years waking up by six in order to be at Goode on time.

What naive fool he had been.

He drained the remainder of the coffee in his thermos as he opened the door to the classroom that had been assigned to him for his altered schedule. While the rest of his class was sitting in on math, English, and art history lessons every morning, Percy would be sitting in on etiquette, culture and world history courses. These lessons made up his mornings, before he would rejoin his class in the afternoon for their hero courses.

The room was abandoned when he entered, with even the lights still turned off. He double checked the room number, making sure he had the right room, seeing that he did, he looked at the clock on the darkened wall of the room. He shrugged, he was early, and there was still another ten or so minutes before classes were set. Turning the lights on, he walked over one of the desks in the front row. There was no sense in trying to hide in the back when he was going to be the lone student.

Taking his seat, he once again shrugged off the majority of his ill-fitting uniform, and rolled his sleeves up. He had gotten a new dress shirt, since he had torn the old one, and had made the conscious decision to get this one a full size bigger. It fit much better, and Percy felt like he could actually move in the damn thing. Not that he really thought he was going to be attacked while he was in school or in uniform, but years of monster attacks had taught him the benefit of a little cautious paranoia. Pulling out his phone, he popped in his earbuds, and set tried to meditate a little.

It had been something he picked up from Will after the war. He had been having…issues following his and Annabeth's trek into the pit, and Will had suggested meditation, as a way to calm the mind and body before bed. While it hadn't worked at chasing away the nightmares, that had been the year in therapy, it did work on getting his nerves under control, and setting him up mentally for the upcoming day.

Will had told him that he needed silence in order to effectively find his inner peace, but after a week of nothing, Percy had discovered that he could only meditate if he was listening to music. He figured it had something to do with his ADHD, something about giving his mind a small distraction as he relaxed himself.

Percy allowed his muscles to relax, as he focused on his breathing, allowing the feeling and sound of his every inhale and exhale to cover the sound of the music playing in his ears. He slowly felt his tension begin to ease away. The tightness in his back relaxed, as he his mind and body became sharper.

Then the hair on the back of his neck stood up on end. His body acted without his permission, as years of experience, and too many close calls forced his body into action. He jumped out of his seat, flipping backward with both hands on the back of his seat, as he used the desk as a springboard to throw himself backwards, a split-second before something crashed into the desk he had been sitting in, breaking it into a mess of splinters of metal.

Percy landed several feet back, his feet propped up on two separate desks, as water flowed into existence, floating around him in a protective service, undulating and flowing as it waited on the command of its master. There was a blur of movement to his right, and Percy jumped, as another body blurred into motion, trying to pounce on him from his flank. As the incoming missile flew under him, Percy extended the palm of his right hand, shot a blast of compressed air down at his target. There was squawk of surprise and a grunt of pain as the body was sent tumbling through the desks.

On your left

Said a voice in his head, and before Percy could stop his body, he turned to the left, ready to halt the oncoming attack. Only there was nothing there, only for Percy to be launched off his new perch, as something impacted him from the right. He felt something sharp dig into his side, and could feel them come close to puncturing the skin. He swiped out with his right hand, shaping his water in a hard cylindrical shape. The construct smacked hard into the his assailant, sending the second body sprawling. But with his focus on the attacker, he didn't have time to adjust his landing, and collided with the far wall painfully.

Half collapsing against the wall, he looked back up in the hopes of trying to catch a glimpse of his would be attacker, only to see the room was empty with only the destruction caused by the brief skirmish to keep him company.

"What the fuck is this," he breathed out,

Call it your trial run said the voice in his head again, and Percy instinctively plugged his ears, as though that would stop the voice.

Oh honey came the voice, sounding almost maternal That's not going to work. By the way, behind you

Percy turned, having forgotten in his panic that the only thing behind him was a wall, only for a foot to embed itself in his back the second he turned around. He was launched into the wall, breaking through the barrier like it was tissue paper. Skidding across the floor of the hallway, he had to jump out of the way as a clawed hand tried barely missed his eyes, instead, four sharp claws slashed across his cheek painfully.

Ouch, that looks like it hurt. The voice in his head winced, You know, for someone as famous as you, I was honestly expecting a little more. Especially from the way Rumi ranted about you. Man, talk about a disappointment.

Percy did his best to ignore the voice, ducking as another clawed hand jutted out. The arm passed over his shoulder, and Percy grabbed the outstretched limb and twisted. There was a pop, and grunt of pain, but Percy didn't let up, with a yank, he pulled his target in close, barely making out a male face, with pupil-less eyes, and black face markings. With his assailant within reach, Percy brought his knee up for a powerful blow to the abdomen. The figure let out a choked gasp as all of the wind was knocked out of him, before Percy dropped an elbow to the back of the man's head.

Only, Percy didn't feel the usual hardness associated with a blow to the head, instead, when he looked down, he saw that the back of the attackers head had flattened, almost like it had been run over, and absorbing the blow for minimal damage.

Two large arms wrapped around Percy's midsection, and Percy found himself tumbling end over end, as the man suplexed him into hallway's tile floor. Kicking his legs up and out, Percy leveraged himself, and reversed the position, so he was straddling the man's waist. He managed to level two hard hooks to the man's cheeks before a clawed foot collided with his bleeding cheek. He managed to recover from the blow, as a blonde haired woman with glasses and what looked like mechanical ears of some kind, regained her balance and cocked a gloved hand back for a strike. All the while the voice kept speaking in his ear,

By the way, speaking of Rumi, did you take her out? She refused to talk to us about it but it sounded to me like a date. Young man, just what are your intentions with our little bunny rabbit?

Growling under his breath, Percy ducked under the clawed swing, gathering water around his hands, he jabbed the woman hard in the chest twice. She bent over in pain at the force of the blows and Percy took the opening to slide under her arms on one knee, taking advantage of the slick tile floor. As he slid, he slightly solidified a tentacle of water, and wrapped it around her leg like a whip. Turning Percy yanked hard, and threw the woman down the hall, and into the massive form of the man that Percy had been fighting earlier. The two collided in cries of surprise, falling in a tangle of limbs.

Not bothering to look back, Percy took off at a dead sprint, hoping to find the nearest classroom with a teacher in it. He didn't know what was going on, or why the security system hadn't been alerted to the presence of villains.

Rounding a corner, he saw the large doorway to a room marked as 3-A. Without even hesitating, he yanked the door open, and dashed inside. Slamming it shut behind him, he wasted no time in shooting out a blast of ice, and freezing the door completely. With the only exit to the room blocked, he bent over, hands on knees, panting.

"Really wish I'd never come here," Percy huffed out,

Awe, you don't mean that said that irritatingly sweet voice again in his head, And you might want to look behind you~ it sang,

"Not falling for that shit again," Percy said still bent over, and then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He dropped to one knee and turned, trying to sweep the leg of the person behind him. He didn't even know if they were going to attack him, but at this point, he had just spent the last several minutes getting thrown around like a damn rag-doll, and he wasn't thinking clearly, so he completely forgot about the fact that he had been looking for a teacher.

The new attacker, a woman with a dark green hair, and wide yellow eyes, jumped over the outstretched leg, and reared back a claw, but Percy was faster, at the apex of her jump, Percy shot a blast of compressed air directly into her midsection, catapulting her into the ceiling. She collided with a hiss of pain, and the ceiling cracked slightly from the impact. She fell to the ground, but managed to right herself midair with a cry of,

"Kitties always land on their feet little lion." Too overcome with battle lust, and adrenaline, he paid the words no heeds he dodged put of the way of another attack. As she was passing through the air, he reached out, and grabbed a fistful of her dark green locks. She hissed at the sensation, and Percy yanked, using her air as a fulcrum, and drove his fist into her cheek. She flew into the doorway, shattering the ice, and the door itself. As she righted herself, the two other assailants from before flanked her sides, each getting into a stance, and ready to attack.

Percy readied himself, already reaching out to summon a new wave of aquatic justice, before someone clapped their hands, and a familiar voice drew Percy's attention.

"I believe that will be enough all of you." Said Nezu, sounding a lot closer than Percy was comfortable with. The slight haze over his vision began to fade as he took in his surroundings. He was in an empty classroom, bits of plaster falling from the ceiling where Percy had launched the green haired woman, and Nezu was perched on one of the desks in the back, next to a lady with burgundy hair, and brown eyes.

Percy blinked. And he rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing clearly.

Nope, he was. She had a tail.

And giant cat paws.

And cat ears.

Slowly, he turned his attention to the three in the hallway, seeing them clearly for the first time.

They were also dressed like cats.

Slowly, carefully, Percy lowered his guard and released his hold on his element.

"What the hell is going on Nezu," he asked, his voice lower than normal as the effects of the battle eased away.

"I'm so glad you asked Young Percy." the principal said, climbing out of the desk and waddling down towards him, "Percy, I would like to introduce you to your teachers."

There was a flurry of movement, and Percy fell back into his boxer's stance, but Nezu placed a calming paw on his leg, and Percy relaxed somewhat, as he watched the four…cat people? Do some kind of intricate dance routine.

"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!"

"We've come to lend a paw and help!

"Coming out of nowhere…"

"Stingingly cute and catlike!"

"Wild Wild Pussycats."

And then the four posed.

They fucking posed.

"Oh my god the Ginyu Force is real," Percy couldn't help but muttered, Nezu's chuckle of amusement bringing him out of his stupor, "Nezu…" Percy said, the dregs of his sanity slowly leaving his mind,

"Oh relax dear student, I asked them to do this." he said, and the four relaxed, or rather the one with red hair relaxed, as the other three hunched over and groaned slightly. Percy hadn't been pulling his punches much. Nowhere near full power, he didn't want to accidentally kill someone, but enough that they would definitely be bruising in the morning.

"Why?" Percy had to ask,

"Well," Nezu laughed happily, "You seemed to have such an easy time with the entrance exam, I wanted to see what you could do against someone with actual experience and abilities. To be perfectly honest, after seeing you in action against some of the villains you encountered, I had my suspicions about your strength, but I wanted to see it tested first hand. These four were already here to be your instructors, and they were happy to help me out with my little experiment."

"Regret. So much regret." Said the blonde haired cat-lady, holding her stomach where Percy had pummeled her.

"Did you have to go for the hair," Whined the Green haired one, running her hands through her dark green locks, her cheek already sporting a nasty bruise.

Percy let out a shaky sigh, as a few drips of blood trickled down his cheek. "You, are actually a little insane, aren't you?" he asked Nezu, who just laughed merrily.

"Well," said the redhead, "I take back what I said before, I can definitely see how you were able to get away from Rumi for as long as you did."

Something clicked in his head, "You were the one talking in my head?" he asked, incredulous.

She smiled, eyes closed and head tilted to one side, "That's right. I'm Mandalay," she said, before introducing the others as Ragdoll, Pixie-Bob, and Tiger. "Nice to finally have a chance to meet you," she said with a slight bow,

"You too?" Percy said, sounding unsure. He turned his attention to Nezu who was still grinning manically. This was insane, this school was insane, and these people were insane. Percy sighed, dejectedly, as he wallowed in the realization of the utter shit-show his life had become,

"Is it too late to go to prison?"

BREAK

After a quick trip for the three cat-people to Recovery Girl, the four, minus Nezu, found themselves sequestered in a new, unused classroom.

"Sorry, again for the ambush, but like Nezu said, he wanted to test you a little more, and to be honest, we were pretty curious for ourselves to see how strong you are." Mandalay said, once they were all comfortably seated, they had forgone desks in favor of comfortable and sturdy chairs and a sofa. She passed him a water bottle, and Percy removed the ice pack from his eye to down in it. "You're pretty good though. A little rough around the edges but you pack a wallop." The kindly woman complimented,

"Says the one who didn't actually fight him," Grumbled Pixie-Bob, who was curled up on one end of the couch.

Mandalay ignored her, and Percy asked a question that had been bothering him, "How did you guys know where I was going to be?" he asked, "I decided on the fly to go into that room, and you seemed to know where I was going before even I did."

"That's me," waved the cheerful looking Ragdoll. She had seemingly forgiven him for his little stunt with her hair, "That's my quirk, it lets me know where people are, everything about them. I've trained it to the point where I can figure out what someone's plans are going to be even before they do!"

"Huh," Percy grunted, "That's cool." he complimented, then looked around at the assorted heroes, "So um, are the sneak attacks done? Or am I going to need to be worried about that for the next three years?" he asked hesitantly,

Tiger chuckled darkly, "A hero should always be prepared for an attack," he flexed out a pose, "At any time, and any place,"

"Fuck no," said Pixie-Bob, cutting across the man, "No way am I getting clocked like that again," she grumbled, before something very unsettling flashed in her eyes, "Though if you wanted to wrestle a little, I think that can be arranged," she purred, literally purred, like a cat.

"Not how I would have put it," Mandalay sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "But to answer your question properly, no, this was a one time thing, I promise," she said with a kind smile.

Percy just nodded, still barely finding the strength to look away from predatory look on the blondes face. It reminded him all too much of the looks the dryads would give him for the half-god to be comfortable.

"Right…" he said, "So how is this going to work exactly, he asked Mandalay, as she seemed to be the pseudo leader of the group.

Mandalay nodded and handed over a syllabus to him, outlying, it was different to the one he had received the day before. The one Aizawa had given him, had just been a general outline of exam dates and locations for him to be for his different classes. This one was a fully typed outline of all three of his alternate classes, outlying what was going to be covered and when.

"I'll be covering your basic etiquette classes as well as general education," she said, "Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob will be going over Japanese culture and customs and Tiger will be covering hero law and world history. This room will essentially be your homeroom for these classes."

"All right," Percy said, placing the syllabus into a folder he had withdrawn from his miraculously intact backpack.

"So what's first?" he asked, and Mandalay,

"First," Ragdoll said, "We want to check in with you?"

Percy gave her a confused look, "Check in with me?"

"We just want to know how you're doing." Mandalay said, vaguely gesturing around the room around her, "That's the other reason Nezu asked us to do this. We know that you're more than a little out of your depth here, probably a little overwhelmed. We figured you might have an easier time talking to some people closer to your own age about, that, than your classmates. And I know, I know you've been seeing Hound Dog and receiving counseling," she said, seeing the objection in his eyes, "but, well speaking from personal experience, talking with a guidance counselor can be pretty a little…clinical. It's helpful to be sure, but sometimes you just need to talk. I know we don't know each other, but we're going to be seeing a lot of each other, I want you to know that you can always talk to us about anything that you're not comfortable talking to your classmates or even Hound Dog about."

Percy shut his mouth at that, unsure how to really respond. Truth be told, he really did want to talk. His sessions with Hound Dog had ended with his enrollment, and honestly, they were mostly just talking about getting adjusted to the world, and making sure he wasn't about to have some kind of a mental break. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, as he collapsed into his chair. Having someone willing to listen to him? It sounded nice, and to be frank, bottling up his emotions had never really worked for him before.

There was…a lot to unpack. A lot of dirty laundry, and a hell of a lot of baggage. Guilt that had been building in his chest for months, raging with the desire and the knowledge to try and build himself a life here. It was overwhelming at times. He knew these…strange cat people were here to try and help. If they were literally anything like the other people in his life at the moment, they had good hearts. They genuinely cared. He could see that in the eyes of the burgundy-haired woman. The imploring way in which she gazed into his own sea-green orbs. She just wanted to help, and he wanted her to help him. He wanted to be better, because he was so sick of feeling the way he did.

"Can you promise not to tell anyone about it?" He said, his voice soft,

"Of course. What's said here, will stay here, that goes without saying." Mandalay assured, kindly.

Percy nodded, "I'm…I'm not doing great." he admitted, "It feels like I'm just kind of going through the motions you know? I fight, because fighting is all I know. I don't know how much Nezu told you about my life before, this," He said gesturing to the air around him. Mandalay confirmed that Nezu had not told them much,

"It wasn't ideal. I've had to fight to survive since I was twelve…Because of people being after me…people who wanted to either capture or kill me because of what I am. There was a couple of incidents, a few years ago, and I thought that maybe everything was over you know? Anyway, I got complacent, thinking the danger had finally passed, and I thought that maybe I had my chance to finally be happy, have a normal life." He laughed bitterly, "Boy was I dead fucking wrong. Just when I think I can finally stop fighting, this happens. When I woke up, I just didn't know what to do, so I fell back to the only thing that I know how to do,"

His knuckles clenched as he spoke, "Fighting," Mandalay finished for him and Percy nodded.

"Like I said, I've been fighting since I was twelve. In a way, it's kind of comforting, you know? Cause even though everything here is so unfamiliar, and so different, at least I had that. Just because there are girl's with bunny ears running around, or giant mutant alligators, doesn't change the way I feel when I fight. The sound of my blood rushing in my ears, the way my problems just kind of disappear, and I can finally drown out all of the voices, telling me that I shouldn't be here. Telling me that it's my fault everyone is gone. For months, that was the only thing keeping me going. That and the drive to meet with someone here at the school. After a few months, I figured it was a lost cause, but it was my only shot, so I kept going. If nothing else, then maybe even if I didn't find a way to get home, I'd get unlucky, or some villain would GET lucky."

He fell silent again for a moment, allowing the rush of getting all of that off of his chest sink in for a moment. Allowing the brief light, and airy sensation that shot through his body at finally allowing himself to open up about the things that had been eating away at him for months. He hadn't felt like…that since he'd come to U.A. Since he'd been given a chance to reinvent himself, and start a new life. But that didn't mean that on some level, part of him would always be considering that easy way out.

Before he knew it, he was speaking again.

"Back home, we used to have this thing. We'd gather round, and we'd try and point out each other's greatest weakness, you know? Identify the weakest part of yourself so you can try and improve on it. Want to know what mine is?" He didn't expect an answer, "Loyalty. Personal loyalty is my 'fatal flaw' as we referred to it. Doesn't sound like much of a weakness, right? How can being loyal to people be a weakness? Well I'll tell ya; if I had to choose between saving the world, or saving my friends, I'd choose my friends. Every. Fucking. Time."

His fists clenched tightly together, and he had to fight with himself to keep from using his power, "So now I'm here, and I'm surrounded by all of these great people, these great kids. They're trying so hard, so desperately to be nice, and kind, and considerate, and they want to be my friend. And gods above don't I want that too. I want people I can rely on, I want people I cant trust, and laugh with, and spend my time with. I want to be happy. But I just can't." He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to stem the flood of tears that were threatening to break free,

"For months, I've been on my own. Just me. No one else, and it's been so lonely. I hate it. I hate being alone, more than anything I just want to be with people. But every time I talk with someone, every time I feel like I'm making some kind of personal connection. I see their faces, or I hear their voices, and I just shut down!"

He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his fist. He sighed and leaned back, "They'd say I'm being stupid. I know that. Annabeth, the girl I left behind, she'd beat my ass if she could see how stupid I'm being. But just because I know that I'm being ridiculous, doesn't mean I can change how I'm feeling." His voice had grown softer, sadder, "So, I've been shutting people out. The few people who've tried to get close, I've been trying to keep away. I just want to do my own thing right? But that's just raging with all of this other shit in my heart and there are time's where I can't even think straight, cause I'm feeling just a million different things at once!"

He deflated a little,

"But that's not the worst of it, you know?" he asked, not expecting an answer, "The thing no one here can ever really understand, is how surreal this is. All of this is kind of like some sort of sick fantasy. The only heroes we had back then, were in comic books. We didn't have telepaths, or rabbit-girls, or anything like that in real life, it was all fictional. And I spent so much of life as a kid wishing more than anything that I could be a superhero, and now, here I am, in the future, living out that fantasy." He didn't know when it happened, but when the tears started to roll down his cheeks, he couldn't bring himself to care. All of the emotions he had been bottling up for months finally boiling over the tipping point.

"And I love it!" he said in utter frustration, "How screwed up is that? Everyone I know and love-my mother, the woman I was going to marry, my friends-all of them; they're all dead and what am I doing? I'm playing superhero and loving every fucking second of it! I love that I get to fight bad guys, and get a costume, and get to save the day. I love that my greatest wish as a kid is becoming a reality, and all it cost me to fulfill some stupid childhood fantasy were the lives of every person I care about!"

He stopped talking, his own internal despair and shame overriding his ability to speak. He didn't know what the breaking point had been, most likely it had all just been compounding, and seeing the Cat's had simply pushed him over the edge, but the dam had finally broke, and every negative thought, every despairing emotion was coming out.

Percy was vaguely aware of movement in front of him, but didn't register it until a pair of calloused hands gently held his cheeks, and drew his attention.

"Percy, look at me," Mandalay said, guiding his gaze to meet hers, "Listen to me. You didn't choose this. You didn't choose to be here. And I don't mean U.A. You were taken, against your will. You have nothing to be ashamed about. I understand what you're saying. You think you're betraying their memory, spitting in their faces, but you're not. Percy you have been forced into an impossible situation; one I would not wish upon my worst enemy. There is no dishonor in making the most of a terrible situation. You have done, what you have needed to, in order to survive. In order to carve out a life for yourself. I won't pretend to understand what you're going through, but I have lost before as well, and I'll tell you what others told me."

"It is not a betrayal of their memory to move on. It is not a betrayal of their love for you, to try and find happiness. But do you know what is a betrayal of their love? A betrayal of their memory? Giving up. Laying down, and allowing the darkness inside to consume you. That's a betrayal of their memory. They would want you to be happy, they would want you to live your life the best you possibly could. But you can't have a life worth living, if you spend it blaming yourself for something you couldn't control. Don't betray their love for you, Percy, and don't think you have to carry this burden alone."

Percy swallowed thickly, and nodded. He knew the woman was right, he knew that if his mother or Annabeth could see the way that he was acting, and was feeling the way he was, would tear him a new one. He knew they wouldn't want him to be torturing himself the way that he was. The problem was, just because he knew that Mandalay was right, and knew that he couldn't keep blaming himself, didn't mean acting on that knowledge was going to happen overnight. But as he looked at the woman in front of him, and gazed upon the supportive smiles of the others in the room, Percy knew that even if the road ahead of him was going to be a long one.

He wouldn't have to face it alone.

AN: introduction of the Cat's! And a meltdown! Percy you poor beautiful broken baby boi. It's all just too much and he can't hang onto it any longer. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next time, Percy takes out his pent up frustrations by beating on his classmates!