Hi readers! I'm awesomekittycat, and this is my 9th story. It's going to mainly be in Annabeth's POV, but I might change it.

My dream is the same as normal—the day Percy died.

We were all together—Thalia, Grover, Percy and I. Mount Olympus was falling apart. Kronos was destroying it.

I relive jumping, not making it. Percy catching me, holding me. I wanted to just stay there, but we couldn't. So we kept moving. I watch Thalia get pinned by Hera's statue, us struggling, having to leave her.

That was the last time I saw her.

I go through heading into the throne room, Percy fighting. I feel the hurt of me hitting my head, and Grover trying to help me. Then I hear it—the same sound, over and over, every night—Kronos laughing. I look up, see Percy laying in a puddle of blood. Not moving. I struggle to my feet.

"Your hero is dead, girl," Kronos laughed. My chest constricts. "He made the wrong move and razed Olympus. Do you want to join him in the Underworld?"
"Percy," I whisper, stumbling forward to where he lays. I franticly feel his chest, feeling for the heartbeat.

I can't find it. "Percy!" I cry, shaking him. As if that will bring him back. As if that will change anything. I start to cry, silent and hot.

"It's useless, girl. He's dead. There's nothing you can do."
I stagger to my feet. Grover is frozen, staring at his dead best friend. "Grover, run," I hiss at him. He takes a few shaky steps, and stops.
"He's dead."
"Yes, Grover. Run!"
Grover blinks, looking at me. "I won't—"
"GO! Get Thalia and run!"
He hesitates, then leaves.

Kronos laughs at me. "What can you do that he can't? You're hurt, weaponless. It's useless."
"Today, maybe," I spit. "But I will fight you, Kronos, and I will win then. Count on it."
He looks taken aback for a single second, then shakes it off and starts to glow harder. I grab Riptide out of Percy's hand and run, Kronos's heat burning my back.

I wake with a start, sitting up. I'm in a rundown building off the main road, and I'm supposed to be watching. I curse myself and leave the building, leaning against the wall. My thoughts invariably go back to my dream. The running, the burning…

But that was three years ago. Now, I'm 19, living in a Titian-ruled land. I'm one of very few resisters, running from the monster bounty hunters rather than embracing them and living under hard rule. That's what most of the humans do, now. Before, when they tried to resist, they all were killed. There're about 8 million humans in the entire world.

I'm currently trying to find followers to my cause. But demigods are very rare now, and none of them are very willing to stick their necks out for my cause. I try to convince them, but it's always hard to get anyone to sign up for painful suicide.

The only reason I've survived this long is I don't get attached to anything. I'm fine with leaving places burning, or clothes, or sometimes, in extreme cases, people. Others will go for their favorite possession, but I don't. I run. I'm always running.

The only thing I've kept for the last three years is Riptide. It seems to accept me as its new owner, because it appears in my pocket when I drop it and is perfectly balanced for me.

"Annabeth!" A voice calls, interrupting my thoughts. I look up, see a girl hurrying toward me.

"What, Katie?" I ask. She takes a deep breath.

"It's empty."
"The hideout?"
"Yeah. Completely clean, like no one was ever there."
"And you don't know who it was, or where they were heading?"
"No clue."

I curse. We were closing on a resister, hoping to recruit him. But now he's gone, with no way to track him.

"We might as well head back. It's unlikely we'll find anything now."
She nods and starts walking, to our base for now. I join her, studying the sky. It seems wrong, its blueness. Everything else is gray and dark, scared and sad. It's like it's trying to give us hope.
"Sh!" I hiss, pulling Katie back into an alley. A car zooms past seconds later, spraying dirt and gravel in our direction. "Don't move." I listen, but it's heading away. Carefully, I creep forward and stick my head out of the alley. The street is just as empty as before, just as silent. "Come on," I motion Katie forward. We carefully creep forward, staying alert.

It's half an hour later when we reach base—the same place that was our base when were in the middle of the battle, where we slept and camped. It seemed temporary then, it seems temporary now.

"Anything?" Travis Stoll asks when we step into the building.
"No," Katie says, shaking her head. "They cleared out before we could reach them." She sighs.

"Well, it's okay. I think they came here."
"What?" Katie exclaims. I raise an eyebrow.

"A demigod came in a few hours ago. Went right through our defenses, too. We keep trying to talk to him, but he insists he'll only talk 'to our leader'. He's really weird."
I groan inwardly. I'm tired, dirty, and really want a snack. But I have to put my duties first.

"I'll go talk to him." I start to the door. "He's in the basement, right?"
"Yeah. Um…Annabeth?" Travis says, nervous. I look back. He and Katie are shoulder to shoulder. Holding hands. "I know you don't usually allow it…"
I bite my lip. They look so hopeful. "Fine."
"Yes! Thank you!"
"But!" I hold up a finger. "Don't expect to find a shoulder to cry on if one of you dies."
They giggle and run off.

I head down to the basement. Jake Mason waits for me.
"I think he's a Hephaestus son, about 18."
"He won't talk?"
"Nope."
"I'm going in. Be ready to zap him."
Jake gives a nod and pushes a button, unlocking the door. I step in and shut the door.

"Are you the leader?" Asks the small, scrawny boy sitting in a plastic chair.

"Yes. And you are?"
"Hey, I came to you. I get to ask questions."
"And we're the ones who have you in a cell with about 12 different kinds of lasers zeroed in on you, ready to disintegrate you if you make the wrong move. So you'll answer our questions."
He pouts. "Fine, but you have to answer some of mine, too. We'll take turns."
I roll my eyes. "Fine."
"Okay! I'll go first! What's your name?"
"Annabeth Chase. I'm 19. Yours?"
"Leo Valdez. I'm 18 or so. I don't keep track anymore. Are you being hunted by the Titians?"
"Yeah, I'm a demigod. Technically their granddaughter, but we don't dwell on technicalities. Are you one?"
"Probably. I never knew my dad."
"Any particular skills?"
"Hey, it's my turn! Uh, why do you dare to oppose them? I mean, they could just decide to kill you and boom, you'd be dead."
"Because their leader killed my best friend. Now, do you have any skills?"
"I'm a mechanic. And, well…" He trails off and holds his hand out. It lights on fire.
"You must be a son of Hephaestus. He's the only one who has fire-user kids."
"Huh. Is Hephaestus the best and awesomest?"
"He's…it's complicated. All the Olympians were different in their own ways, had their own skills. Did you have a hideout recently vacated?"
"Yeah, I left because all my defenses were saying that I was about to get company."
"That was us." I prop my leg up on the other chair.
"Oh." He looks scared.
"So. Do you want to join us?"
"What's 'us' mean?"
"Our group of resisters."
"Do you have a name?"
"No."
"Well, you should. Somehting like…the Avengers!"
"We aren't superheroes. Answer the question."
"Which one?"
"Do you want to join us?"
"Sure."
"Good. Jake, disarm the lasers and give him the tour," I call.
"Wait! Is your only purpose to avenge your friend?"
"Basically, yes."
"Then the Avengers is a great name."
"Annabeth doesn't like that name," Jake says, coming in. "Come on, little man. I'll give you the tour. And don't smile as much. People don't like it."
"What, you like being hopeless?"
"Yep."
"That was a rhetorical question," Leo grumbles. "Oh, Annabeth! I have a friend, we got separated a while ago. Do you think you could help find her?"
I think about it. "Our tracking devices are down, but if they were fixed, we could probably find her."
"I'll help fix those!" Leo says, leaving.
I watch him go, shaking my head. Happiness and hope come in strange forms these days.
There we go! I hope you like, please review! I'll probably update soon.