Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out. Aura training sucked when ADHD was a defining factor to your entire personality. Percy's mind was bouncing around the room like a superball. Ooh! Imagine having a superball in a box made of vibranium. The vibranium never absorbs the energy and the superball just keeps bouncing! Dang it! Focus! Ren is focused, even Ruby looks relatively focused, even though with her face all relaxed like that she looked twelve. How old is Ozpin? Or Glynda?

"How does Ozpin look like a thirty year old when his hair is so silver?!" Percy finally demanded, drawing a disappointed glance from Ren and a quick 'hush' from Ruby.

"Percy, this is extremely important…" Ren trailed off. His vague statement just drew a groan from Percy.

"Why?!"

"Because parts of your memories are missing!" Ren's voice didn't raise so much as harden, but compared to his usual unflappable demeanor, it was practically an explosion.

"No they-". Percy's voice caught in his throat as he realized the truth behind Ren's comment. What did he have for lunch? How did he go from his fight with Weiss to meditation with Ren? When did he sleep? "But-...I do remember…"

His voice sounded weak even to himself. The cat was finally out of the bag, and Percy could no longer deny it. Something was wrong in Percy's head. Maybe it was because of that weird guy mucking about in his head, or maybe he was just losing it, surrounded by entirely unfamiliar people. Ren put his hand on Percy's shoulder and penetrated deep into Percy's psyche with his magenta gaze. "I believe I can help you, but only if you'll let me see into your soul."

"Fine." Percy said. It was not fine. "How does this work?"

"Close your eyes and relax. Let your mind flow where it wants to, and force your fear from your mind. Find a calm place, and just relax." Percy tried to relax. He really did want this to go away, but there was something there, in the back of his mind, like a warning sign that he couldn't quite read, like his dyslexia was showing up even in his mind.

"There's a door, in a room." Ren's eyes were closed and his hand was out, almost like it was grabbing onto something in front of Percy. Percy hurriedly closed his eyes again and focused on what Ren was describing. "There's a light coming from behind the door, but the room itself is dark, it's hard to see."

Percy envisioned it. The door was the same one as his apartment door back in Queens, with the knocker and everything, but as the room began to take shape, Percy realized that the room was no longer in his mind. He was in the room. "Trippy…"

"You get used to it." Ren murmured from beside him, seemingly unimpressed by the fact that he was in Percy's mind. Percy eyed Ren warily but continued through the door into an open pavilion, where thousands of armor clad warriors slammed their weapons on the ground in a unison beat with a pounding drum. In the center of the amphitheater, a bonfire raised higher and higher with each pound of the weapons. As the flame raised, and the chanting grew louder, a young man emerged from the flames, carrying in his upraised hands a burlap bag, soaked through with a gold liquid and a glowing sword. "That, however, is new."

"Children of Greece and Legionnaires of Rome, I have returned, I present to you the final head of the Lernean Hydra, and I give honor to my trainer and mentor, Percy Jackson."

Time began to skip forward, the fire died down and the daylight came and went, inversely proportional to the light in the sky. This time it was a woman who exited the flames, a quiver across her back and a peacock under her arm, squawking indignantly. Her eyes were covered in sunglasses, and she wore a flimsy red leather jacket.

"I'm back, bitches, and I just wanna shout out to all my friends and my BFF Percy!"

It continued like this, and it just got worse, soon, Percy was completely forgotten. There was someone new, but Percy didn't seem to mind.

"Sup." The last was a guy, he didn't even bother stopping, announcing himself or noticing anybody else, simply walking into the waiting arms of someone who promptly grabbed him and pulled him into a dark corner to do unspeakable things.

The memories were less coherent as things went on. Percy was leaning back on the beach, sleeping calmly as the waves split apart to greet him. A gorgeous blonde girl with a light tan and deep gray eyes. "Percy! There you are! It's almost time for sword practice!"

"Annabeth, you know I love you so much, so very much, but why do you have to disrupt nap time?!" Percy sighed and stood, cupping Annabeth's face and kissing her passionately. The two separate for a mere moment before Annabeth suddenly pushes Percy back, drawing a sword from her waist and holding in front of her.

"En Garde!"

"I'm not French."

"Donc, vous ne parlez pas Francais?"

"You're going to speak in French all day now, aren't you?" Percy asked, drawing a similar bronze sword. Ren and Percy 2.0 stepped back and Percy 2.0 covered his eyes.

"No, I remember this now, I don't want this back. I don't want to remember this." Ren patted Percy on the back, but when he looked up, it was no longer Ren, it was Rick again.

"Hello Percy." Rick said sadly, his form shimmering. "You have questions. Some, you probably didn't know you had, but I don't have many answers. You need to find Chaos. He is, unfortunately, in control right now. If you want answers, find him."

"Where?" Percy demanded, falling to his knees in desperation.

"Get lost and you shall find." Rick said, winking out of existence, along with the rest of the beach.

As the world faded to black, Percy ran his hand through his hair and whispered. "Why can't I just get a straight answer? Just once?"

Rick popped back up again, nodded sympathetically and said quickly. "Peter Port's classroom. But if anybody asks what I said, it was the first one."

"Thank you." Percy groaned and rubbed his brow as Rick disappeared. "Why cou-"

"Hey!" Rick interrupted, reappearing suddenly.

"Son of a-"

"Do you still have that scarf that Atropos gave you?" Percy stared at Rick for a few moments before he sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Percy replied tiredly.

"Oh! Ah! Yeah, that'd be me!" Chaos announced in a sing-song lilt. "You see, this next part that Percy does, it's gonna be important that he remembers doing it. Maybe he has these memories from before, but I'm a sadistic puppeteer, I want to make him watch as his past self messes up in the same way. Over. And. Over."

A blurry image of Chaos appeared beside the memory of Annabeth on the beach, drawing Percy to glare at him and growl under his breath. "You want to find me? You want your memories back? You want to find your purpose for living? You want peace? You want revenge?" Chaos punctuated each question with a shrill shrieking in the background and a spike of pain rocketing through Percy's head. "In the words of Vergil: The gates of Hell are open day and night- oh, screw it! The path to heaven is Hell! You want your new memories? Prepare to trudge through the old!"

Percy let the pregnant pause hang in the air as the image of Chaos' chest heaved up and down, his face red with rage. As he began to slow down and the screeching returned to a subtle shriek, Percy finally spoke up. "So what does that have to do with a scarf?"

The image of Chaos blurred for a moment and Percy's entire mind imploded, thousands of images flashed across it. A hodgepodge tape loop of every explosion that Percy had ever seen or heard flashed through his head at once, crushing his psyche with the noise and the light and the pressure. The searing heat ripped through the barriers of what he thought was real, and what was not, and he curled up into himself, trying to protect his mind from his mind. Pain was everywhere. His mind told itself that it was dying. Every nerve was telling every other nerve that everything was on fire, and as soon as it was there, it was gone.

"That is a taste of the power I have in here, so shut up, turn off your phone, and enjoy this feature presentation." Percy peeked his head out from between his knees and watched as his past self laughed and crossed blades with his fiancee.

Percy dipped to the right as a drakon bone sword cleaved through the air just to the left of his head. Annabeth followed up with a feint horizontal slash and stepped into Percy's guard to pommel butt him in the face. He just stepped in with her, dropped his sword to the ground, wrapped both arms around her neck and pulled her into a searing kiss. Annabeth did her best to stay in the game, but her grip still loosened slightly and Percy capitalized on it. With both of their blades on the ground, the pair broke apart and adopted new positions. Annabeth held her hands firmly in front of her, keeping a solid Pankration stance. Percy kept his body looser and allowed his arms to sway as he bounced on the balls of his feet. Percy watched as his past self suddenly stood straight as a rail and Annabeth did the same. Both returned to their swords and began to really try and kill each other. They no longer held back, and it was clear who was winning.

Percy was the greatest swordsman of the last three-hundred years (after his rematch with Chrysaor), it was never in doubt of whether or not he could win. Now, he was simply forced to watch as his mind regained control of his body as Annabeth's body slid down his blade. Her blood splotched the sand and dripped down his sword, all the way to the pommel, making his grip on the blade even weaker than his grip on sanity.

"Annabeth…" He hesitantly whispered.

She looked up into his eyes and her dark, stormy gray examined him again, tearing him apart with a glare that could smelt ore. "You should have been the one who died. They didn't deserve it. You did."

"No, don't say that. Please, don't say that Annabeth." Percy implored, his breathing becoming shallow as he choked back sobs. Both Percy's felt the sting of tears on their cheeks, and both watched as their Annabeth tore a hole in their soul too big to be filled with one person.

"Zoe Nightshade, Bianca Di Angelo, Daedalus, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura." Annabeth continued to lay there, chanting the names of those who died during the battle of Manhattan as her Percy clung to her and pleaded that she stop, that she save her breath, that she hold on just a little while longer. Someone would come. Someone would help her. He clung to her and told her that it would be alright.

"I hope you never forget how many people died for you Percy Jackson. I hope it haunts you until your last breath. I pray you die with their names on your lips, because you didn't deserve to escape Tartarus." Percy kept shaking his head and muttering to himself until he couldn't stop it anymore. It had to be false, there was no way that Annabeth would say that stuff, she loved him, there was no way she would honestly curse Percy. It had to be a trick, or an illusion, there's no way it's real.

"It's an illusion." Percy gave a bark of hysterical laughter and pushed his face into his hands, trying to rub out whatever it was that was making him see this. "There's no way this is real, this can't be real. This isn't real. It's not real. It's not real. Not real. Not real. Not real…"

Another camper approached Percy on the beach and his eyes were instantly drawn to the blood splattered across the pale golden sand. "What the Hades is going on? Mr. Jackson! What is this?"

"Don't worry, Mavis, it's not real. It's fake, it has to be fake, why would Annabeth hate me if it were real. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It can't be real." Percy began to rock back and forth as he clutched Annabeth to his chest, giggling maniacally. He looked up at Mavis, his eyes wide and pleading. "Chiron will know what to do. He will. Get Chiron. He has to know it's fake. Please get him. It's not real. Don't worry. She's really fine, because it's not real. I'm not a murderer. It's not real."

"I'll go get Chiron." Mavis backpedaled a few steps and then began to book it to the Big House. The observing Percy stood up, began to wipe furiously at his eyes and followed Mavis into the distance. What happened next was already searing itself back into his memory, there was no need to watch the witch hunt again.

"So what now?" Observing Percy asked. "You gonna make me watch as the camp ran me out of New York? You gonna make me watch as my mother stared me down with completely blank eyes. Not even knowing her own son? You're trying to break my heart? Well, it's pretty freaking broken now! Are you happy?"

"Not yet!" Chaos answered. "The world needs to see what makes you you."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked darkly. "We're in my head, why does it matter what you show? I'm the only one who can see it."

"Oh, if only you knew how ironic that statement was." Chaos chuckled. "I know five thousand ninety-one people who would disagree."

"Fine, what's next?" Percy asked dejectedly, his shoulders slumped in acceptance. Chaos winced as the light in Percy's eyes died.

"How about your visit to the Hall of the mad?" Chaos asked, his voice laced with glee. A figure erupted from the ground and gestured for Percy to follow as walls and floors formed out of the primordial mist of Percy's addled mind. "Your discussion with Mania and Lyssa was quite...touching. I believe that they should be able to rattle some more of your memories."

Percy watched as a younger, darker, edgier, and in generally, more damaged version of himself tromped down the hallway, his hands clenching and unclenching in blind rage and a deranged sense that the entire situation was just a convoluted dream. He stepped into a psychiatrist's office and looked around, spotting another door on the other end of the room. "Fuck this! I'm sick of these stupid illusions. Come out here! We need to talk!"

"What do you need, Perseus?" A voice inquired from behind past Percy. "We're rather busy here, would you mind scheduling an appointment for a visit in the next three weeks-" Percy cut her off with his blade to her throat. He pushed lightly on her throat until she had been backed up into her high-backed chair.

"I want you to help me." Percy took a few quick pants and leaned forward. "I think I'm having delusions, and I'm just so angry. I keep having this- this- this feeling, like I've done something unforgivable. I can't get it out of my head. Annabeth...is dead…"

"Percy, you aren't insane. Annabeth is dead." The Percy in the memory frowned and looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up and swiftly decapitating the goddess.

"Well, then there's no reason to hold back now." Future Percy winced and tried to close his eyes, but even as they closed, he could still see the memory from the first person now. He wiped his blade off on the arm of the chair and looked at the gold gushing out of the decapitated head at his feet. He prodded it with his toe once and then shoved his blade into its mouth, flicking it up into the air for him to catch with his hand and stare into its eyes mercilessly. "This head used to shrink heads. Maybe I'll crush her's."

POP!

Past Percy stared down at the golden mess that seeped from between his fingers and flicked his hand a few times, splattering chunks of brain matter and an eyeball onto the floor. Two soldiers stepped into the room and were disarmed before they even registered that Percy of the memories had moved. The blood was moving just as fast as it showed in the movie when a limb was removed. They both fell to the ground faster than it usually shows though...maybe it was the fact that he had cut off their legs as well. "Sorry, I need to get going. I'm late."

"Huh, nevermind, not as touching as I remember…" Chaos paused and Percy could practically hear him shrug. "Oh well, how about them Amazons, they were cool."

"I killed thirty of them during my training."

"It was in the Coliseum, they didn't expect to escape alive, did they?" Chaos replied jovially. Percy 2.0 resisted the urge to facepalm and simply walked toward the light. Chaos stopped suddenly and sighed loudly, looking dejected. "Percy. We need to have a serious conversation. Stop here."

Percy stopped again and looked at the hovering apparition. "What do you want?"

"I'm not an inherently bad guy Percy." Chaos began, looking down and swallowing thickly. "I'm a bad person, but not because of my maniacal desire to rule the world. I just do evil things. I am a bastard, but not because there's nothing I'd rather do, but rather...I'm all-powerful...and I guess it drove me to do bad things."

Percy snorted derisively and rolled his eyes. "Sure, when I'm bored I love causing torment to other people."

"I'm doing this because my boredom overwhelmed my morality. I didn't care anymore that I was being cruel because it felt so good. It was like a high that I could keep going as long as I kept coming back and being evil. I became bad because I was bored! I am a bad person, but only because the good side of me was so weak." Percy stopped and glared at Chaos, causing the all-powerful deity to cower slightly in shame. "I don't expect you to stop hating me, but I'll stop now. I can't stop Nyx, or what she has planned, but when you're done...I can send you home. I'll give you a choice. I'll stop altering things, I'll stop bugging you, but you'll remember. I'll send you back to nap time before your fight with Annabeth. You'll remember the adventures, the wonderful things that happened, the friends you made. Or I can send you back without any memories of what has happened. It's like it never happened, or...you can continue to discover the multiverse. You can find worlds beyond your wildest imagination, or you can have Annabeth back. But don't choose now...wait, think...and please...try not to hate me."

Percy paused for a while in thought and shook his head. "Take me through the rest of my memories. I'll consider it when we're done, but I can't stop hating you. Probably never will."

The pair continued to walk to the light, passing into it and ending up in a warehouse. "There's no reason to watch the training again, it'll come back to you. But this conversation you had with Hylla, it's important. You'll need it to heal"

"Let's do this."Percy cracked his neck masculinely and marched toward the pair that sat on the floor.

"So, Percy...You've spent quite a bit of time in the arena, but not every match is going to be officiated like ours. In fact, a lot of the time, fights aren't going to be like ours at all. There's going to be sabotage, there's going to be dirty hits, there's going to be ball shots, there's going to be distractions in the form of flirting, crying, faked injuries, all sorts of things. So you need to learn to do the same. You are a weapon."

"Please tell me we aren't going to go full Karate Kid, are we?" Hylla rolled her eyes and sighed.

"No, I'm talking about using your sexuality as a weapon." Percy gave her a suggestive look and she slumped in disappointment. "I'm going to teach you how to flirt in the middle of the battle. I'm going to teach you erogenous zones to exploit in battle to distract and throw off your opponent. This is just as weird for me as it is for you. I'm just as opposed to flirting with you as freaking possible, so don't read into it."

"You sure know how to make a guy feel special, don't you." Percy smirked and rolled his neck, gesturing for Hylla to lead the way.

"This is going to be awkward as Hades."

Hylla was right. It was awkward. Hylla and Percy flirted, and flattered and in general tried to fluster their opponent for months, each learning some things they'd rather not know about each other. Time sped up for Percy 2.0 and Chaos as they watched old Percy and Hylla practice skills that Percy 2.0 still used. "I'm kinda bored." Percy 2.0 muttered, rolling his eyes as the final day came and the duel began. "I remember that Hylla groped me and finally won. I remember-" He cut himself off and his eyes widened. "I remember that Ares shows up as soon as the match is called and he kills dozens of Amazons...I remember trading my life for Hylla's."

"Well, that's not how I remember that. Anyway, the important stuff you have down?" Chaos asked hesitantly. Percy nodded and rubbed his brow again. "Well...the rest of your memories aren't really important. You'll get them back over time, or you could read the book."

"What book?"

"Ah, nevermind. Continuing. You're going to wake up back with Ren. I know Rick promised you that your memories would be there in Port's room, but actually, just look for your scarf and your briefcase. Those are actually in there now." Chaos paused nervously. "I'm about to say something that's going to make no sense, but-...I love you."

Percy opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, he opened his eyes and was laying in an infirmary bed with a throbbing headache.

"Oww…"

Ren leaned over him and frowned. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Your concern is touching, but…" Percy nodded side to side slowly in a 'sorta' gesture and closed his eyes again. He slid his body to the side and cracked his neck again, and then his arms and his back and finally his knuckles. "Judging by the cracks, I've been out for a while. How long?"

"Two days, Mr. Jackson." Ozpin entered the room in typical mysterious fashion and positioned himself at the foot of the bed. "You're quite lucky that Mr. Lie was so quick on his feet. If you had stayed in the practice room much longer, you would have undoubtedly ended up in a coma. Now, back to Mr. Lie's question. How much do you remember?"

"Everything will come soon, but for now, just the really important stuff. Like most of my life before- err, Beacon." Percy paused and looked around again. "Where's everyone else?"

"I encouraged them to go about their business." Ozpin paused and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Miss Schnee, Miss Xiao Long, and Miss Rose are in the ballroom, preparing for the dance, though half-heartedly, and Miss Belladonna is in the library."

Ren nodded to professor Ozpin and then to Percy before stepping out of the room. Percy looked up to Ozpin and asked softly. "Professor…?"

"Yes Mr. Jackson?" Ozpin responded kindly, sitting in the chair beside Percy's bed.

"You remember those stories you read for me before?"

"About the heroes?"

"Yeah...can you tell those again?" Percy inquired demurely, sidling back into the pillows.

"Yes, I believe I can, but when I'm done, you should go find your team. They need to know you're alright." Ozpin smiled at Percy's miniscule nod. Meanwhile, just outside the door, Glynda frowned deep in thought before smiling widely, causing those around her to gape in surprise. Glynda hadn't heard Ozpin smile in quite a while, but Percy seemed to be tearing down his barriers one by one.

"And that is how Jason managed to navigate the sea of monsters." Ozpin finally finished his last story, leaving his enraptured audience of one to simply smile in the deep miasma of imagination that he had been submerged in. "Now, I want you to go find Team RWBY and apologize for scaring them. They haven't been in the best of moods since you've had your accident."

"Neither have I. I've been unconscious." Ozpin closed his eyes in exasperation, as emotive as the enigmatic man could get and gestured for Percy to leave the infirmary. Percy stood up and looked down at his chest and frowned. "Did you give me a tattoo while I was out?"

"No." Ozpin stood and saw what Percy was referring to. "I believe that is something you've had for a while. Perhaps your memories of that will be restored eventually, however, many people believe the owl to be the symbol of Athena, and it carries the crossed bow and trident...well, this can be translated into a blessing of three deities. But more on that later, for now, find team RWBY."

"Got it." Percy hopped out of the room quickly, grabbing his T-shirt as he closed the door, sliding it on as he slipped past shocked nurses and gaping doctors. He rammed through the doors and found himself outside, whipping his head left and right as he excitedly scanned the ground for his friends.

He then realized he was lost. He saw a pair of passing students and recognized the girl instantly, absolutely enthused at his sudden increase in memory power. He quickly dashed over to her side and pulled her into himself. "Hi, you're Emerald, right?"

"Yeah?" She looked over his shoulder at Mercury's hunched form, growling silently as he clutched his stomach in laughter.

"Where's the library?" He still felt like he was floating on cloud nine until another memory came back. They just weren't stopping. "Did you just pick my pocket?"

"No."

"Oh well, I'm broke anyway." Emerald rolled her eyes, pulled away and pointed the library out to Percy before continuing her journey with Mercury. "Thanks for your wallet, by the way." She patted her back pocket and growled, looking at the empty wallet that had replaced her own.

"Screw him."

Percy didn't hear her last comment, he was too busy analyzing the wallet. There was something wrong with it, like when you try to stare into a light too long and you need to blink. He felt like he wasn't supposed to be looking at it. It seemed to be…-

"Shrouded in Mist." Percy stared harder, his eyes squinting as his stare turned into a glare. He barely managed to avoid a crash with another student, but finally he figured it out. "Ichor. This thing is practically dredged with dried ichor." He threw open the door to the library and let his eyes skim around the room, searching for one of his favorite brunettes.

There, in the corner, Blake was glaring down at a computer screen with all the ferocity of a mountain lion. Silently (or as silently as he could), he skittered through the book cases and hopped onto a chair beside her, loudly skidding up beside her. "Good afternoon."

"I'm not interested Ya- Percy?!" Blake finally looked up from her research and nearly collapsed when she stood up too quickly. Percy caught her and lifted her into his arms, observing the huge black bags beneath her eyes. He rolled his eyes before quickly carrying her off deeper into the library to find a semi-comfortable couch before (delicately) tossing her onto it and sitting beside her legs. "Percy, now's not the time! I have rese-"

Percy quietly placed a finger on her lips and frowned. "If you move, I will find you, and I will bring you back here, now shush." He quickly skipped away to find the rest of team RWBY. Blake began to get up again, only to be pushed back down by a silent hooded figure.

"You need to hear what happens next, so let's talk." The hooded figure squatted in front of Blake and sighed. "If I tried, I could just send all of the information I'm about to share straight into your head, but you need context, so please listen to me. I have answers."

Blake hesitated at the word answers. She needed answers, she needed lots of answers...maybe she could hear them out…

Meanwhile, Percy was finding himself lost yet again. He looked around and spotted a vaguely familiar pair wandering through the pavilion, yet again. He traipsed over towards them and once again marvelled at how fantastic it was to have his memories back again. "You must be Cinder!"

"What the-?!" Her eyes narrowed and widened at the same time and she felt every muscle in her body scream. She remembered everything that The Lady had said about this boy, and considering what The Lady herself could do, she knew that she was no match for him here. "Y-yes, that's me. What- ahem, what do you need?"

"Where's the ballroom?" Those intense green eyes refused to let her go, so even as she tried her hardest to open her mouth, or point in the proper direction, or anything, all she could focus on was how much she felt like she was suffocating, or maybe drowning. He smiled and his eyes grew blindingly bright, piercing through her and tearing apart her darkness encrusted soul.

"South-east building…" She responded, trying to swallow the thick lump in her throat. As the boy walked away, she spotted a glowing green symbol above his head, but as he moved, it seemed to rotate like a dice, turning gray, and then silver, and finally a bright, fiery red.

The rest of the day, Cinder Fall was unable to stop her hands from shaking.

Percy, of course, didn't know that, so he spent the rest of the day in complete ignorance to the pain he caused, until he finally found Team RWBY in the ballroom. "Ah! Just who I wanted to see! Weiss, Yang, Ruby, we need to go to the library!"

"Aw, I hate the library." Ruby whined.

"Don't tell me you've become obsessed with researching the White Fang as well." Weiss was unconvinced.

"The who now?"

"Come on, Blake's probably there anyway." Yang encouraged. The three shared a look and nodded conspiratorially.

"Let's go. Leave no teammate unhelped." Ruby said seriously.

"Unhelped isn't a word, Ruby." Weiss said distractedly. "But I too am worried about Blake."

"Come on then, I'll take you there." Percy began whistling as he lead them across campus, but was soon stopped when Weiss whacked him over the head.

"Stop that." She growled.

"Sorry." He responded. He looked up at the looming facade of the building and smiled. "We're here."

Leading the team to the corner of the library was easy, getting Blake to listen was a different story.

"You just had to bring everyone, didn't you?" Blake asked angrily, trying to get up from her place on the couch, but Percy and Yang simply pushed her back down. Percy sat at her feet and kept her trapped there as Yang gently placed Blake's head on her lap, running her hand through Blake's obsidian locks. "Can't you understand that I need to do this?"

"I think you're going to drive yourself to death." Yang supplied. "What happens when you do find out what's happening? What would you do if Roman Torchwick walked in to this room right now?"

"I'd fight him." Blake growled, trying to sit up, only to be pushed back down easily by Percy.

"You'd lose."

"No! I would stop him!" Blake tried to sit up again, but Yang pushed her back down.

"You can't even stop me!"

"Blake! Think about this logically!" Percy demanded.

"Oh, that's rich, Seaweed Brain. Logic? Tha-" She stopped as Percy stood, tears flowing down his cheeks. He picked her up by her collar and growled carnally at her.

"When you lose sleep, what happens?"

"I- I don't know?"

"You get weaker, and your grades slip, what happens then?"

"I don't know."

"You fall behind in class. What then?"

"I. Don't. Know."

"You're forced to retake tests and you're held back a year. What then?"

"I don't know!"

"You fall behind on your training. You stagnate. What about then?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"You're forced to drop out...then where will you get your training? Where will you finally gain the skills to defeat Roman Torchwick?!"

"I don't know…" Blake whispered. She looked exhausted, her eyes were even more dim than when they started. "So what do I do?"

"You go to bed, get a solid ten hours of sleep, and you take a day off. I'll cover your shift if it'll make you feel better." He gave her a somber smile before he lifted her off her feet and growled at her. "But you never, NEVER, call me that again."

"Only one person can call me that, and she's dead, so don't try it again." Blake barely held back a whimper as Percy glared into her soul.

"Can you tell us about her?" Yang asked, knowing that talking about deceased loved ones was never easy, but it needed to be done. "I mean, I don't want to pry-"

"No, it's fine. But not now. After the dance." He placed Blake on her feet, barely keeping her from falling to her knees. "For now, I need to see a mustache about a scarf and a brief case."

…

"Was that a euphemism?" Blake asked.

"I hope so..." Weiss muttered. Ruby stared off into the distance and wondered to herself.

"What's a euphemism?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."