Hello lovelies!
Gods, we're getting so close to the end.
But there's still a twist up ahead, so don't give up on me just yet ;)
Got some Leo and Penelope in this chapie for you all!
Bout time too.
Okay, so I'm not Rick Riordan * big gasp *
and I hope you like this, it was lots of fun to write :)

Chapter seventy-one: Return of the Lost
~ Leo's POV~

Drifting. Endlessly drifting without a rest, without any idea of where he was drifting to.
Vague memories of faces, familiar faces that were complete strangers at the same time.
The idea that he'd forgotten something, something important that came into his mind every now and then but vanished just as quickly.
There were only two things Leo was sure of: his name and that there was someone here he had to find. He couldn't remember her name, but he knew he had to search for her, in the endless grey crowd that shifted all around him.
And so he went on, searching and searching for someone whose face he could barely remember.
It tormented him, this half forgotten image. The only thing about it he could clearly see were a pair of eyes, bright and intense. Their colour was startling, yet he couldn't remember what it was called.
How long had he been down here? Somehow he thought several weeks, although it felt like several years. Maybe time passed differently in the field. How had he gotten here?
No idea...
Drifting on and on and on and on...
He had to find her...
Even if he wasn't sure who she was...

Suddenly, Leo felt a pull. What was that he wondered, turning into the direction the pull had come from.
It was as if somebody had grabbed his clothes and was pulling him along a certain path, making him follow. Leo was curious, or at least that's what he thought it was called what he was feeling, and so he obeyed without resisting, letting the invisible force guide him. Was it perhaps the girl?
When he came to a stop, he found himself at the edge of the field.
Leo stared, he hadn't thought the fields ever stopped. What was there beyond the grey mass of whispering voices?
Apparently, three..people.
Yes, three people were standing in front of him, looking surprisingly solid for ghosts, and colourful as well.
He squinted at their faces.
They seemed so familiar, and Leo felt sure he knew them.
"Leo?" One of the people, a girl with choppy brown hair, said uncertainly.
Leo focused his attention on her. She was pretty, yet she wasn't the girl he was searching for, this he knew instantly.
Still, her face stirred something inside him.
A memory he realised, mesmerised as it drifted to the surface of his mind, clearer than anything he'd seen lately.
"Pipes, you all right?" he asked the girl who was sitting behind him on a bronze dragon.
They were flying high over the clouds and there was another boy there as well, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
The girl scowled "Don't call me that"
"Okay, fine." Leo said "You don't like any of the names I make up for you."
That was all, just a tiny figment of his past, but it was like a candle in Leo's clouded mind.
He turned his gaze on the girl again and tried to speak. "P..."
It was more difficult than he'd thought. His voice was too unused.
Again, he tried, willing himself to form the words. "Pip..er"
The girl, Piper, broke into a relieved smile. "Oh, Leo!" she tried to hug him, but her arms went
straight through his chest. "Oh gods, sorry! I'm so glad we found you, Leo!"
"H..how?" he managed, now looking at the other two.
Names came to his mind, why he didn't know, but he could pair them with the faces in front of him
"Annabeth. Nico."
"He remembers quite a lot" Nico said, raising an eyebrow. He was holding something round and steaming. A burger, Leo realised. He stared at it, sudden craving awakening in his inside.
Nico noticed his gaze. "Yeah, yeah, this is for you don't worry. Took me two more to get you here."
Leo had no idea what the boy was talking about, but he reached out to take the food Nico was now holding out to him. Oddly, his hand didn't pass through it, and quickly Leo brought the burger to his lips, just in case it would vanish again.
The taste was so dazzlingly intense, he was stunned for a moment.
And then, more memories came rushing back to him, faster than before.
His name was Leo Valdez, he was a demigod, these were his friends. He went to Camp Half-Blood.
With every bite, more things cleared from the fog in his mind.
They'd gone on a quest. Bite. Romans and Greeks were at war. Bite. Penelope! How could he have forgotten her name?!
Leo was horrified, as he remembered what had happened to them. Gaia taking them prisoner,
sacrificing themselves to stop the goddess from taking their strength, him choosing the fields of Asphodel because of his silly hope they might be rescued, and Penelope following him, trusting him, giving up everything to be with him.
And he'd lost her in the mass of whispering souls.
"Pen" he said to his friends, still finding it a bit difficult to talk.
"We know." Annabeth said grimly, and turned to Nico. "Are you ready for another round?"
"Another?" Leo asked.
"We already tried summoning her. It didn't work." Nico pointed at a pile of burger wrappings at his feet.
Leo felt worried for a moment, but then realised what the problem was.
"Won't work" he said, and even smiled a little.
"What? Why not?" Annabeth demanded.
"Need brownies." Leo explained.
Penelope didn't like burgers. She liked brownies.
"Of course!" Annabeth cried, smacking her forehead and startling a nearby ghost. "Piper, have you got the plate?"
Piper nodded, and took from her bag a big round, golden plate. She concentrated for a second and
suddenly a batch of fresh chocolate brownies appeared, smelling so delicious, Leo felt like devouring them all.
But he held back, knowing that these were not meant for him.
Piper gave the food to Nico, who held it above his head and started muttering words in a language
Leo could not understand.
"He's summoning her" Annabeth explained quietly, as they all watched with baited breath.
Nico stopped, looking expectantly into the crowd.
Nothing happened.
Leo was starting to get worried. What if Penelope was so lost, they couldn't bring her back?
What if when they did, she wouldn't recognize them?
Nico resumed his muttering, now with a crease on his forehead.
"How did you - what happened?" Leo asked Annabeth very quietly.
She gave him a quick summary of the events in Athens and back at camp, but without going into
detail.
"Why are you here?" he wanted to know.
Annabeth hesitated. "Let's wait for Penelope, okay?"
Leo nodded, reluctantly. Piper gave him an encouraging smile.
Suddenly Leo felt a tingle down his spine and he turned around to see a shape coming out of the fields, following a faintly glowing path toward their tiny group. Had he looked like that as well?
When she drew near, Leo's heart almost stopped.
She didn't look anything like herself. Her hair was grey, as was her face and skin, and the formless clothes she wore.
Still, it was all Leo could do not to grab her and kiss her, he was so happy to see her.
But when Penelope stopped, and looked at all of them, she had a faraway look on her face.
There was no recognition there. Not even when she met Leo's eyes.
"Penelope?" Piper asked, and Pen looked briefly at the daughter of Aphrodite, yet didn't speak.
Instead, she turned her gaze over to Nico, who was still holding the brownies and now offered one to her.
"Eat this." he told her, and Pen obeyed, stretching out a hand to take a slice.
She ate it, but slowly, not like Leo who had wolfed his burger down.
They all waited, hardly breathing, for her to give any kind of reaction, any sign that she knew who they were.
When she finished, Pen looked at Leo again, and now her expression seemed confused.
"Who.." she whispered, stopped and then tried again. "Who..are you?"
The words shattered Leo's heart, but he tried hard not to show it.
Seeing Penelope and having her not recognize him was the most painful thing he'd ever experienced, more painful than fighting Talos or slowly dying in that earthen cell.
"I'm Leo." he said, and reached out for her. She moved back, hesitantly, her eyes still fixed on him.
"Leo.." she repeated, murmuring the word like an incantation. "Leo."
He didn't know if he was imagining this, but there seemed to be a trace of longing in her tone, as if she knew there was a meaning to his name, but simply couldn't figure out what it was.
Suddenly, Annabeth spoke up, loud and clear.
"Penelope, do you remember us? Piper, Nico and Annabeth. And this is Leo. We're your friends. You saved us by coming here. Remember?"
Annabeth's tone was calm and Leo watched Penelope's expression become even more confused.
He felt really bad for Pen, it was obvious how much this situation pained her.
"Why are you here?" he asked Annabeth again, who nodded at Piper.
"Piper, the vial."
Piper opened her right hand to reveal a little glass bottle with a tiny amount of golden liquid inside.
"Open it." Annabeth told her.
Leo was transfixed by the liquid, and apparently Penelope was, too. They both stared at it, and Leo
could feel his whole body yearning to touch it, drink it, make it his. It was far more powerful than his craving for the food.
"Whoa, there." Annabeth said, putting a hand on his chest. He'd drifted forward without meaning to. Of course her hand went through him, but it made him lose his focus.
Piper was struggling with the stopper.
"I can't..get it...out!" she cried in frustration.
"Give it here." Annabeth said, taking the vial. She tried her best as well, yet the little glass remained tightly sealed.
Annabeth offered it to Nico, but he shook his head.
"The gods" he said, and they all stared at him.
"It's obvious, isn't it? Hermes told us to get to Olympus this evening and that Leo and Pen had to come willingly. Apparently they don't want them to drink it just yet."
His words made no sense to Leo. Olympus? But they were dead, stuck in the underworld for ever.
Or were they?
While he was thinking, Piper, Annabeth and Nico seemed to had reached a decision.
"Okay Leo, here's the deal" Annabeth said, and her grey eyes looked like molten silver. "We need to get to Olympus. But you guys have to want to come with us. Got it?"
Leo nodded, how could they not want to go. He looked around to Penelope, sure she was going to
agree with him, but there was uncertainty on her face.
"Why?" she asked, her voice still quiet.
Their friends seemed taken aback.
"Because" Piper said "we might be able to bring you back. You want that don't you?"
Penelope looked at her, her eyebrows drawn together.
"I don't...remember. Just cold..narrow earth." she mumbled and Leo realised what was going on in Pen's head.
The memories that were coming back to her weren't good ones.
She was thinking of their time as prisoners in Gaia's embrace. Of course she wouldn't want to go back to that.
"Listen, Penelope" he said, the words forming more easily. At least this time she didn't flinch back when he took her hands. "I know what you're thinking of. That was bad, but Gaia's gone. And there's lots of good stuff up there, too. Remember Camp Half-Blood? The beach? The lake? Our crew on the Argo II?"
Penelope was looking at him, her eyes wide, and it seemed every time he mentioned a new part of their old life, a spark of recognition flashed in them. He continued, more rapidly.
"We always went on walks, through the forest or by the lake. Remember that time I fell in and you refused to help me out until I'd asked that naiad if she'd seen Nemo? The way she laughed at me?" Was it just him or was she starting to return some pressure with her fingers?
"Or when you practised sword fighting in the arena. You were rubbish at it, so we went down to the beach."
Penelope still didn't say anything, but there was a silent tear rolling down her cheek. Leo knew she
was in there somewhere, fighting to get out.
"Come on, Pen" he whispered, his voice hoarse. "Remember us."
Silence hung between them.
Nobody moved.
And then Penelope's eyes widened, and she gave a strangled cry, before breaking down in his arms,
sobbing, but finally, Leo knew, remembering.
"Hey there" he murmured to her, stroking her hair. "It's okay. You're back. You're back."
They stayed like this for a few minutes, until there came a cough from next to them.
Leo had almost forgotten about the others, and he turned to them, still hugging Pen close to him as she cried.
"I hate to interrupt this" Nico said awkwardly "but we really need to get going."
"Yeah." Leo nodded, and nudged Pen. "You coming or what?" he asked her with a smile.
She looked up, and it seemed like her eyes had regained a little of their colour. They were sparkling
with tears, but Pen managed a small smile.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."