Lost and Found

A/N: Hey guys. So, I know it's been a while but school's been running me into the ground and then my grandfather has been in and out of the hospital so life's been a little hectic. But as an apology I have a special gift for y'all…a chapter that's extra long! 15 pages in Word! That's like a record for me! Just a BTW for this chap… don't kill me please?

On a side note, I've been thrilled to see the reviews you guys have been leaving and it just makes me so happy to read them. I love to hear that y'all love my story! And I know my chapters aren't long, and there's a LOT of time between updates and I'm really sorry for that. But it's summertime over here in the States and that means 3 uninterrupted months of me being able to write! So, from now on I'm gonna try to make 15-20 pages my normal length but I make no promises. I feel bad about the long periods of time I make y'all wait for a chapter and I'm gonna get better and write more often. Well, I'll stop rambling now so you can read.

Enjoy! And don't forget to review!

~OPAddict

Chapter 7

Annabeth and Natasha made their way to the center of the training area with their weapons drawn. Natasha had a dagger in each hand, poised for battle. Annabeth raised her sword and spoke.

"Natasha, my sword is made of celestial bronze so if I hit you, it won't hurt you because celestial bronze doesn't work on mortals." Annabeth flipped her sword in a fancy display of skill as she spoke.

Natasha seemed wary but nodded anyway and crouched back down into her fighting stance. The two faced each other, watching and waiting for the other to make a move. Natasha moved first, attacking Annabeth's side with one dagger to distract the demigod while she went for the blonde's neck with the other.

Annabeth saw through Natasha's distraction and was able to dodge the first dagger and block the second with her sword. She pushed her hand away and took a few steps back before charging the assassin and pulling her sword back to whip it across Nat's face. Natasha's green eyes widened and the other Avengers gasped when the sword went through her head without causing any harm.

The assassin dropped into a crouch and swept Annabeth's legs out from under her, she climbed on top of the younger girl and held her daggers to her neck, "Dead."

"Well that was… boring." Percy's voice broke the silence of the group of men.

"But hot. So very hot." Tony spoke up and continued staring at the two women.

"Tony, one would kill you in a heartbeat and the other is underage and dead." Clint couldn't help but agree with the man in his head but knew he needed to point these things out out-loud for himself as well as Tony.

"These things do not matter. It was hot to watch, there aren't gonna be any consequences except being judged by you guys from just watching and appreciating a sexy scene when I see one."

"Well, I guess whoever's next since that was a really short and boring fight?" Percy looked at Alec and Clint as he spoke. The archer and the son of Ares walked to the center of the training area and crouched into fighting stances, both sets of muscled arms hovering in front of each of their faces. They decided to forego weapons and spar hand-to-hand. Alec, being the son of the god of war charged the assassin and threw a right hook only for Clint to duck under it and deliver a jab to his nose. Alec took a few steps back, dazed. If he had been alive, that punch would've broken his nose but since he was dead it only dazed him, opening him up for more attacks from the archer.

However, before the match could continue, Alec fell onto one knee with his head down. Clint stared at the teen bewildered before looking back to the group and finding all the demigods and Chiron were in a similar position. He spotted a man that looked as pale as a corpse with shoulder-length black hair who was facing the group. "Rise." The demigods stood and Clint and Alec made their way to the others. "Kronos has hellhounds who traced your journey, son. He's on his way here as we speak."

"Then where do we go? This was our last safe place." Percy ran both hands through his hair, what the hell were they gonna do?

"There is still one place Kronos would never find you." Hades inclined his head slightly and gave the living demigods a knowing look.

"You can't seriously mean-"

"I'm very serious, Perseus. Deadly serious. I'll be taking you all there now. Say your goodbyes, you have one minute." Hades crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the unmoving teens. "Well?"

Percy jerked and moved over to Annabeth and embraced her. "Thanks, Wise Girl. I'll let you know how everything goes."

"You better, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth pulled back and gave him another kiss on his cheek. "Sorry, Percy. Just had to screw with him one last time, it's too funny to see him all jealous like this."

"Dammit, Annabeth." Percy smiled and shook his head. He moved on and grasped Alec's hand, pulling him in for a hug as well. "See ya, Alec. Oh, and if you and Annabeth ever start dating, I wanna know immediately and we'll have a nice little chat." Percy left Alec a sputtering mess as he smirked and made his way to Chiron. "It was great seeing you, thank you for everything." Percy smiled and shook the centaur's hand.

"You're welcome, my boy. It was a pleasure to meet your friends." Chiron smiled at the Avengers and stepped back from the demigod. Percy and Nico turned to Hades along with the Avengers. Hades instructed them to all grab onto each other and they were engulfed in darkness once again.

PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*PJ*

"Welcome to Olympus." The Avengers stumbled when they were suddenly thrust into a bright light from their previous darkness. They took in their surroundings and even Tony's jaw had dropped from the extravagance. The room was draped with black satin and lining the walls were silver torches holding green fire. Different artifacts the team assumed were trophies of adventures sat on columns along the walls. Several bookcases also encased the walls of the grand room. Two dark red couches sat facing each other in front of a large fireplace that was blazing with the same green flames as the torches. "You will stay here in my chambers until I fetch you."

"Lord Hades, just one question. How did you get the humans up here?" Percy looked at his uncle, wondering how the Avengers minus Thor had gotten through Olympus' barriers.

"Temporary immortality, I am a god you know. I can do almost anything." Hades smirked and disappeared into the shadows.

"Alright, well all we can do now is wait. Percy, why don't you-" Natasha stopped talking when an arrow head was pushed through her chest. She looked down and turned around to face her partner. "What the hell, Barton?"

"I wanted to test the immortality thing. It's true." Clint grinned, not fully aware of what he'd done just yet.

"And if it wasn't?"

Clint stayed silent for a moment as he thought. "Well, I figured a god wouldn't lie to us but I just wanted to be sure." His gray-green eyes widened in realization, "Oh, I get it. You're pissed 'cause if he hadn't given us immortality, you'd be dead. C'mon, Nat, you know me. I don't take chances unless I'm positive they won't end badly."

Natasha's green eyes blazed with fury as she ripped out the arrow and sent it flying across the room, burying it into Clint's neck. "Dumbass." She sat down on one of the couches and closed her eyes, preparing herself for a nap. The assassin allowed herself a smug smirk at the archer's cry of pain and indignity.

Percy watched the interaction with an amused smile. He couldn't help but remember when he and his friends at camp would mess around. His smile changed from amused to nostalgic. The demigod was startled out of his memories by a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around, he was staring into the clear blue eyes of Steve. "Hey."

"Hey. Could we maybe talk?" The super soldier's voice was soft so as not to attract the attention of his nosy teammates.

"Yeah, of course." Percy followed the man into the only abandoned corner the room (due to its lack of any bookshelves or artifacts) and leaned against the wall. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, we haven't really had a chance to sit down and really talk since you found out I was Captain America. I know we "talked" when you and Thor fought but I really just wanted to talk with you one-on-one and figure some stuff out."

"Look, Steve, I know that you believe Thor about the accusations made against me and that's totally fine. I mean, everyone else turned their backs on me; I don't see why you wouldn't. Besides, I knew it was too good to last, the Fates hate me way too much to give me a nice happy life." Percy smiled sadly at the blonde. "So, it's fine, believe your teammate. Just, please don't hate me. Or at least if you do, could you not tell me? I don't think I could handle it if I knew you hated me."

"Percy, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I just want to know what the truth is, I'm so confused about everything and I just don't know how to feel about anything right now." Steve took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Look, I'm gonna take this chance while I'm immortal because you might kill me when I tell you. Percy, I've l-" Steve was interrupted by Stark's voice yelling at them from across the room.

"Capsicle, Perce! Get over here we got questions and time to answer them!" The pair groaned and made their way over to the couches where everyone but Nico had gathered. His cousin sat in front of one of the bookcases, reading a particularly thick volume that Percy wasn't able to see the title of from where he was.

"Alright, I assume the questions are for me so, ask away." Percy sat back against the couch and prepared himself for the fiasco that was likely to follow.

He was pleasantly surprised when they didn't all start speaking at the same time and instead Bruce spoke up. "Did you really kill your mother?"

Percy's eyes darkened and his face became a blank mask. "No, I didn't kill my mother. What kind of sick bastard kills the woman who gave them life?" Percy sighed and shook his head. "You guys probably won't believe me but I guess I'll tell you the story anyway, we've got time to kill."

"Pun intended?" Nico spoke up from his place in front of the bookshelf.

Percy smiled at his cousin, "Screw you, Death Breath." Nico simply raised his middle finger to the son of the sea and continued reading. Percy shook his head. "Anyway, so my story."

*FLASHBACK*

"Happy birthday, mom." Percy gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and handed her a box neatly wrapped in deep blue with a white ribbon tied around it.

"Did Annabeth wrap this?" Sally smiled at her son, enjoying teasing him.

"How rude, I can make things look nice and pretty, I just didn't happen to this time. And yes, it just so happens that Annabeth did wrap that." Percy pretended he was wounded at his mother's statement.

Sally laughed and ruffled her son's hair, "I'm sure you can, Perce." She turned back to the box and opened it, gasping at what she found inside.

"I've been meeting with Dad and he's been helping me out with my powers. Do you like it?"

"Oh, Percy. I love it. It's beautiful." Sally cradled the fragile object in her hands. It was a statue of a water dragon rushing out of a large tidal wave. But what made it even more special was that it was made of solid ice that wasn't melting despite the heat of her hands. "Thank you." Sally smiled as she stood to place it on the small table full of small tokens next to the front door. The woman made her way to Percy and wrapped in a tight hug, "I love you so much, Percy."

"Love you too, mom." Percy smiled and returned the hug. He stiffened suddenly and pushed his mom behind him. He pulled Riptide out of his pocket and uncapped it. He stood waiting, facing the front door. A low rumbling shook the apartment and the door flew into the living room followed by a huge hellhound. The sheer force of the blow knocked several pictures off the walls and sent Percy's gift shattering onto the floor. A man followed the hellhound inside and stood waiting for the hound to kill the son of Poseidon.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded before being forced to defend himself against the beast of the Underworld. "Mom, run out of the fire escape, I'll hold them off!" Percy continued slashing at the dog as he felt his mother run.

"Ah ah, we need her to stay." The man's- well, teen's really, he looked to be about Nico's age- voice was laced with an accent and his violet eyes flashed as he waved his arm in Sally's direction. The woman froze and was forced to turn around by the magic that had taken a hold of her. She was dragged toward the violet-eyed teen despite her best efforts to fight the invisible force pulling her.

"Mom!" Percy gave a yell as he slashed the hellhound's head off. But he paid the pile of dust no mind as he turned to face the demigod that held his mother with his magic. He took a few steps toward the pair, Riptide raised and prepared to kill the young man should he have to but he stopped dead in his tracks when the teen pulled out a dagger and held it to his mother's throat. "What do you want?"

"We want you, Perseus. We want you and if you refuse, your life will come crumbling down around you starting with your mother's death." The teen's words confused Percy.

"Who's 'we'?"

"My master and our army. We want you to serve my master, he believes that since you have defeated him, you are strong and belong with his forces. Just as a dear friend of yours had once served him."

"Percy, you listen to me. Do not accept his offer. Whatever they do to you, or me, or anyone else you care about doesn't matter. You cannot pledge yourself to some master. You will find out who the hell this guy is working for and you'll kill them, to avenge whatever they take from you. If he kills me right now, you stab your sword straight through his heart, okay? I love you, Percy." Sally was glad that the magic hadn't prevented her from speaking. She knows what she said was harsh, but if she hadn't, Percy wouldn't know what to do with himself after everyone's gone. Loyalty is his fatal flaw. Gotta make sure my boy will be okay.

"Mom?" Percy could feel tears in his eyes, he couldn't lose his mother again. He'd fight for her; he just had to find out how to get that knife out of the demigod's hand.

"How touching. So, Perseus, what do you say? Will you join us or will I take pleasure in slitting your mother's throat?" The teen pressed the blade harder against the brunette's neck, disappointed when she didn't so much as whimper.

"I love you, Percy. Promise me you'll do what's right." Sally smiled with sadness and love at her son, wishing she could do more to ease the pain and confusion etched onto his face.

"Mom, I can't just let you die!"

"You can and you will. Think, Percy, you defeated his master and a close friend served him before. Who does that sound like to you?" Sally prayed Annabeth had rubbed off on her son.

Percy thought for a moment before realization dawned in his eyes and he glowered at the teen threatening his mother. "Mom, I'm so sorry. I'll find a way to bring you back, I swear on the River Styx."

Sally smiled sadly at her son, "Love you, Perce."

"Love you too, mom." Percy blinked and looked at the man that held a dagger to his mother's throat. Now that Percy looked at it, it looked exactly like the dagger Annabeth had given him for his eighteenth birthday. How the hell did this creep get my dagger? "I will never serve Kronos. Besides, as much as you seem to think your master will be rising anytime soon, it isn't happening. Luke did him in good, he won't be coming up for a long, long time."

The teen smirked, "Oh, so unwise." He dragged the dagger across Sally's throat and then stabbed it into her stomach.

"Mom!" Percy cried out as his mother's body fell to the floor and he dove forward. He shoved Riptide right where he knew the man's heart was just as his mother had told him to. "Fuck you." Percy twisted his sword and pulled it out of the man's chest, ignoring him and rushing to his mother's side. He gently tugged the dagger out of his mother's stomach and felt a tear roll down his cheek. He wiped it away and felt something sticky after. He looked down at his hand and saw it was covered in blood, he stared in horror as he realized what he had just wiped on his face.

At this moment, he heard footsteps rushing down the hall and he looked up in time to see Annabeth, Grover and Thalia at the broken-down door. "Percy, what the hell happened?"

Percy stared at his three friends with hopelessness in his eyes. He recounted his story but was met with skeptical looks from Grover and Thalia.

"It's just, Percy, there's no other body here." Grover's statement shook Percy and he looked to where he had sworn the man had fallen dead.

"W-what? But I… I stabbed… how is this… I don't understand." Percy mumbled, still clutching onto his mother's body. He watched as Thalia left, saying something about calling camp and then all Percy knew was blackness.

*FLASHBACK END*

"I woke up to find out that everyone thought I killed her and had some sort of schizophrenic breakdown and thought I was stabbing someone else. So, you guys can either believe me or not. At this point in my life, I really don't give a shit anymore." Percy made to stand up and leave but was stopped by Tony's hand being shoved in his face.

"Sit down, we have questions."

Percy huffed and settled back, raising an expecting brow at the Avengers. "Well?"

"So, this guy who killed Chiron and burned the Ares cabin from what we gathered in the Underworld also killed your mom and made you an offer to work for Kronos?" Clint's voice was full of confusion.

"Yeah, I didn't believe him when he said Kronos was rising and as you can see that's coming back to bite me in the ass." Percy shrugged as if it was no big deal but they could all see the regret and anger in his eyes.

"You told your mom you were gonna bring her back, why hasn't this happened?" Tony spoke up, staring at one of his closest friends intently.

Percy visibly deflated, shoulders falling, head looking down at the ground. "I tried. I tried so goddamned hard to get her back. But I couldn't. I couldn't save her. I-" His voice failed him and he allowed a few tears to fall. Remembering how he had failed his mother saddened him to his core and he knew if he didn't pull himself together he'd fall into the same depression as he had when he couldn't save her.

Nico stood and approached the group. He kneeled in front of his cousin and took his hands. "Percy, you did everything you could. You did everything short of diving into Tartarus to look for her."

"I should've done more! I should've searched Tartarus and if she wasn't there I would've stormed Olympus looking for her! But what did I do? I gave up when I didn't find her in Elysium because I didn't have the heart to think she could be anywhere else!" Percy completely broke down after his outburst, falling to the floor in his cousin's arms. Sobs wracked his body as he clung to the only family he had left.

"Percy, you would've died and Sally wouldn't have wanted that. We both know how pissed she would've been if you died looking for her. I'm sorry dad and I couldn't do more to help but you know what might've happened if we tried searching Tartarus." Nico rubbed small circles into his cousin's back. The first time Percy had come to him after Sally had died had been to ask for the other demigod's help to find his mother. After they had searched and come out empty-handed, Percy had broken down and Nico had been totally clueless on what to do. As time passed and Percy was falling deeper and deeper into his depression, Nico had stopped by more often to help his cousin and had become very good at handling emotions.

"It's not- not your f-fault, Nico. It's mi-mine."

"Shh, no it's not. It's no one's fault but his. And we're gonna find him, Perce, I swear. We'll find him and take care of him for good."

The Avengers sat in stunned silence at the sight of Percy's breakdown. They would've never expected to have seen such a strong person break but they all knew crying wasn't a sign of weakness; it was a sign of someone who had been strong for too long. They allowed the demigod to cry in silence until his sobs had died down and he was straightening himself from his crouched position on his cousin's shoulder. He wiped his red-ringed eyes and sighed.

"Sorry you guys had to see that," His voice was hoarse from the sobs, "So, I couldn't find my mom anywhere. Now, I guess we can assume Kronos has her and that the guy I "killed" isn't dead and has been making good on the promise to ruin my life. If you guys still don't believe me, that's great. Just, put up with my murdering ass until we get this situation under control and you can go back to a Percy-free life." Percy didn't move from his spot on the floor across from his cousin. "So, anymore questions for the mother-murderer?" Percy's empty, bitter tone made the Avengers flinch and look guilty that they had thought for even a second that this teen had killed his family.

"Perseus, I offer my humblest apologies. There is no excuse for my behavior and I shall spread word through Asgard that your name is to no longer be soiled with the lies that have tainted it these past years." Thor had dropped to one knee and bowed his head in Percy's direction. Self-deprecation was flooding through the god; he had believed rumors of a great hero without a single doubt in his mind. He had been shocked and there had been evidence to prove the statements made against the teen but he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.

"It's fine, Thor. Yeah, you were a dick but you didn't know any better. There was motive and evidence, hell I can't be mad at you. My own father believed I killed all those people. If the man who made me thought I was guilty, how were you- someone from another world- supposed to know what the truth was?" Percy smiled; glad that someone who had been so adamant in believing he was guilty had changed his mind. "Well, I'm glad I changed your mind so easily, I thought we'd have to go through all of this with you still pissed at me. Don't know why but hey, I ain't gonna question it."

"No offense, Perseus, but you do not seem that good of an actor, unlike Lady Natasha and Agent Barton." Thor was now looking at the teen and smiled.

Percy laughed, "Thanks, Thor, I appreciate that." He looked around at the others, waiting for their responses.

"I wasn't really sure who to believe so I can't say I knew you were innocent all along but I can't say I thought you were guilty either. I'm just glad you didn't kill any of your family." Tony shrugged and gave a small smile.

"Thanks, Tony." Percy smiled at his boss.

"Like Thor said, you ain't that good an actor, kid. Just wanna kill the sonofabitch that really did this." Clint spoke up, Natasha nodding her agreement beside him.

"Thanks, guys."

"Sorry, Percy." Bruce pulled off his glasses and "cleaned" them with his shirt tail but it just made the streak across the glass.

"For what, Jolly Green?" Percy had taken to calling Tony's best friend the same nicknames Stark did.

"Doubting you." Banner looked directly at Percy as he spoke, not backing down from this.

Percy smiled wide, "It's alright, Jade Jaws, no harm done."

The Avengers and Nico turned to Steve expectantly while Percy suddenly became very interested in the floor beneath him. He heard shuffling and he was abruptly yanked up by his shoulders. He was crushed into the broad expanse of chest that the man hugging him possessed. The demigod felt Steve's face bury into his hair and he smiled, snuggling his face into the man's neck. "Thank God," Steve breathed low enough only the two of them could hear. "Oh, thank God."

And if Percy felt wetness in his hair, he didn't tell a soul. He was just relieved that Steve believed him and was so happy to realize his innocence. He squeezed the blonde's waist and nestled his face further into his neck. He felt the man chuckle and made a small questioning noise. "Your eyelashes tickle." Steve kept his voice low enough for only the two of them.

"Oh yeah?" Percy blinked rapidly. He smiled widely when the supersoldier squirmed slightly and laughed.

"Stop it." Steve lightly admonished, laughing quietly before pulling away. He found his teammates had retreated to the opposite end of the massive room along with Nico. Each of them had their face stuffed in a book, looking for a way to fix this mess. He was thankful that they had given them as much privacy as they could.

"So, what were you gonna say earlier that you were scared I was gonna kill you for saying?" Percy's heart ached when Steve pulled away.

"Uhh- well," Steve ran a hand through his hair, "I was gonna say that I l-" Steve was once again interrupted. One of the massive doors was pushed open and a small head poked inside. Percy and Nico immediately dropped to one knee when they saw who it was.

"Lady Hestia." They both murmured.

"Thank you, you may rise. Might I ask what so many of you are doing in Hades' chambers and who all of you are?" Hestia raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

"Well, y'see, we have a bit of a huge situation and Hades is sorta hiding us here until we find a way to fix it all." Percy scratched the back of his head and gave the goddess a sheepish smile.

Hestia blinked at the boys' answer and nodded. "Very well." She ducked out of the room and closed the door quietly.

"I'm glad she's so concerned that we have a huge situation on our hands." Tony's voice practically dripped with sarcasm.

"The gods technically aren't supposed to get involved in our affairs but they make some exceptions." Percy shrugged. "What can you do?"

"Well, with or without divine assistance-not including you, Thor- we need to figure out what we're gonna do." Natasha spoke up, looking up from the heavy volume in her hands.

"Yeah," Percy hummed in thought. "Well, we need to figure out what we're up against."

Nico groaned, "Do we have to?"

"Do you wanna continue living?" Percy retorted. "You know where they are, right?"

"I feel like I'm missing something, is it just me?" Tony looked around at his fellow Avengers who shook their heads. "Right, so, mind filling us in?" He stared pointedly at the demigods.

"A few campers survived the attack on camp, as you know from the three that came to ask for my assistance. Well, Nico's been keeping up with them for these past couple years and he knows where all of their emergency bunkers-or whatever you want to call them- are. We need to ask them about Kronos' army so we have an estimate of what we're going up against here." Percy snapped his fingers as a realization dawned on his face. "Chiron said Grover brought in a new camper, a child of Hecate. I think the guy I supposedly killed was a child of Hecate."

"Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking." Nico groaned and rubbed his face.

"And what is he thinking?" Tony leaned toward the two.

"We have to find Grover."

A/N: So, what did you think? Did you like it? Did it suck? Let me know please! And I just want to throw out there that the first person to tell me the Transformers quote I slipped in here and who (in Transformers) said it will get a special surprise in the next chapter! Pretty please review! :D

~OPAddict