Hi! I'm so sorry this took so long. Thanks for waiting for this long, again i'm super sorry that i haven't updated in a while. Especially after leaving you guys on a cliffhanger i hope that's fine haha!

It took longer than usual because of a few things. for one, I'm doing this by myself now, my friend isn't working on it with me anymore, (she has her own reasons, and it wasn't because of any reviews this time don't worry) so it took longer to type.

second, i was grounded from my computer for a week and a half so i lost that time. third, i had to reread some books because i realized that i was making some mistakes in the story when typing it, and some facts didn't go with the story, like for example the Minotaur was kinda easy to defeat when Percy was 12 but then in this story it was kinda hard even though he's like 16 now lol.

these are NOT excuses, i promise haha! its really the truth.

anyways, thanks for all your reviews, they always make the day better ! :) and wow, not even that many reviews of why it's taken so long..that came as a surprise, but thanks so much anyways. everyone who reads/reviews/follows this-you guys are simply the best! :D

jonath9870: yay, glad you liked it! Oh yeah i did.. Thanks for telling me! :)

Mr Demigod: haha yeah sorry..they are in the Underworld, i mean not exactly a happy place is it? the wardrobe was the most i could do lol!

BlackholesA: LOL yes i agree!

merendinoemiliano: Thank you so much! :D

Laydybugz: hey! thanks for checking out this story, i'm glad you like it! I was rereading it and i realize what you mean now, i'm definetely going to try and improve that in the future. thanks for the feedback!

JiJi: haha that was my favorite part to write! :)

a person: glad you liked it it! yes i love writing cliffhangers but not reading them! (does that make me evil? oh well...) nope i did not, sadly haha!

Well hello there: yes i know and i'm really sorry. i hope this chapter is worth it. :)

Again thanks for waiting! Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

Chapter 16: A Pleasant (not) talk with Hades

Leo's P.O.V

Leo couldn't hold it any longer.

"What are you wearing?" he blurted out, earning some gasps and glares from his friends surrounding him. He immediately regretted it, wishing he could take it back.

Great way to start a conversation, he mentally chided himself.

The soldiers surrounding Hades tensed, reaching for their weapons. But Hades put a hand up, making them stop. He looked at Leo, who gulped.

He stared at Leo for the longest time ever, (he was pretty sure it was about five minutes) then cleared his throat and stood up.

Leo swallowed. Hades was a towering figure, his dark shadow falling upon the floor, covering all the demigods. He looked downright murderous.

"This, young boy?" he finally said in a deep, creepy voice that made you shudder, holding up his robes, looking at them in disgust as if they were filthy rags.

"This," he said, moving forward, closer to Leo. Leo stepped back a foot, his heart beating fast. Hades was staring at him so intensely that he was sure he was staring into the depths of his soul. "This, boy? Well, what-what, does this look like to you? Tell me, what does it look like to you?"

Leo opened his mouth to speak, but it seemed as though someone was clutching at his throat, because all that came out were small, meaningless squeaks and some gibberish.

Hades sat back down, much to Leo's relief. He spoke again. "That's what I thought. Well, this, as you asked"-he glared at Leo- "is the courtesy of my foul, arrogant, attention seeking, waffle obsessed, stupid, idiotic, tactless, unfair,-"

"Get to the point," Clarisse said, rolling her eyes.

Hades glared daggers at her but surprisingly didn't blast her out of his palace. "Respect, child! As I was saying, my brother Zeus-"

Thunder rumbled through the sky, rattling the palace.

Hades gritted his teeth so hard that it looked painful. "Mind you, my brother STICKY-STAN," he rolled his eyes. "He apparently thought everyone in Olympus could do with a wardrobe change. Specifically waffles."

"Apparently he was wrong.." Percy said, adding quickly, "Lord Hades."

"He most definitely was," Hades growled. "Don't mind this, now I feel like I'm a disgrace to this world."

Leo had to stop himself from laughing. The way he said "I feel like I'm a disgrace to this world, which I SURE wasn't already!" made Leo want to burst into laughter.

When he looked around, his friends seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"So, what brings you here?" Hades growled, making everyone gulp.

Everyone turned toward Annabeth, who had an expression that looked like "Why me?"

At last, she gave in and began talking. Leo was impressed at how brave she was able to talk, looking Hades right in the eye and everything. He didn't know where she mustered up the courage to talk like that.

"Lord Hades, with all due respect," she started after taking a deep breath. "We have come here to clear some confusion, get some information, and make some..some..some accusations," she finished quickly, rather pale.

Leo assumed that she was trying to look braver than she felt, because there was no way someone could say all that in one breath while looking at the Lord of the Dead right in his eyes. She was determinedly staring at him.

Hades raised his eyebrows. "Accusations? Who have you come to accuse?"

Apparently Hades was as oblivious as his brothers.

"I..umm.." Annabeth desperately looked to her friends for help.

Percy's P.O.V

No way he was going to let Annabeth do all the talking and live with the guilt if Hades blasted her head first out of the Underworld. He would take it from here.

"You," Percy finished, without thinking it over. His brain wouldn't have agreed if he'd thought about it, so he just blurted it out before he changed his mind.

Hades scowled, a menacing look on his face. "Pardon?"

"Pardon you," Piper said curtly. "He said, 'you'?"

Hades's scowl deepened. "I do not understand you."

"He said 'you'. Are you not capable of understanding what that means, Father? Or would you like me to define the meaning of 'you' for you?" Nico said, not looking at all scared when he faced his father.

Percy mentally made a note to get some pointers from this guy.

Hades clenched his fists and said loudly, "Don't you dare go using that tone with me, kid! I do not appreciate cheek from anyone, much less a bunch of weaklings."

"Excuse me, but weaklings?" Clarisse said, offended. "You calling me a weakling?"

"Would you like me to define it for you?" Hades said in a mocking tone.

Leo scowled. "That's Nico's line!"

"SHUT UP!" Hades roared. "And by the way, I do know what 'you' means, thank you very much. What I meant was, you seriously think I would be idiotic enough to steal some waffle? Why would I want it anyways, you all know that I only eat ONE type of food when I can."

"Which is.." Percy said.

"Pomegranates!" Hades spat. "Pomegranates are amazing! Oh noo, but do I -unlike SOME foul king of god darned Olympus- LOSE MY POMEGRANATE?"

Everyone stared at Hades. Calling him mental was an understatement, he seemed to be more insane than Zeus himself. Well..that was overexaggerating it. You couldn't get more insane than Zeus himself.

Hades was beyond angry now.

He wasn't even done yet. "DO I LOSE MY POMEGRANATE? THEN ACCUSE FILTHY MORTALS AND GODS OF STEALING IT? DO I NAME IT THE HOLY POMEGRANATE?"

Percy lost it. "HOLY POMEGRANATE?"

"YES, HOLY POMEGRANATE! HOW WOULD YOU LIKED TO BE CALLED THE POMEGRANATE THIEF? THEN DO I MAKE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT GO SEARCH FOR IT-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Annabeth held her hands up to stop him. "Zeus isn't-"

"I WASN'T DONE RANTING!" Hades thundered.

She continued nevertheless, "Continue later! As I was saying, Zeus isn't the one who sent us here. We came here because we wanted to! I don't think he has any idea we're here, for that fact.."

"WELL, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WOULD STEAL THE STUPID WAFFLE?" Hades nearly exploded.

"He's really ticked off about the robes, isn't he..looks like a madman when he's screaming all over the place..doesn't help that he's covered head to toe in waffles," Percy muttered.

"Dude, I know right!" Leo muttered back.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Hades shifted his glare to Leo and Percy's direction.

"Nothing!" they said quickly in unison. Annebeth gave them a "not helping!" look.

"Look, we didn't come up here just to get yelled at by you-" Nico started.

"Well, that's what you'll get!" he exploded. "So as I asked you, why do you think I would steal that stupid thing?"

Annebeth's P.O.V

Seriously, why were they making her do all the hard parts of talking to Hades?

She cautiously eyed her friends, who urged her to go on. "Well..umm..for one, you both aren't exactly very fond of each other.."

Hades snorted. "Well that's putting it ever so mildly."

"And well, you guys are rivals, and I assume you fight a lot.." she continued, looking nervous.

Hades frowned, clearly not showing any sign of denying it.

"And, well.." She helplessly looked at the others.

"It seems very likely that someone with that type of relationship with Zeus..would steal his most prized possession," Piper said quietly.

Hades didn't look convinced. "Well, based on what you're telling me..it seems very likely that I would be the thief. But I'm telling you I'm not!"

"Do you have proof?" Nico said, irritated.

"Do you?" Hades glowered at his son.

"Why would we need proof, isn't it kind of obvious?" Leo scoffed.

Annabeth was in deep thought. Was it too risky to tell Hades about her dream? Well, what was the worst that could happen..

"Why did you come here anyways, just to accuse me?" Hades spat. "You wouldn't have taken the risk of coming down here just because you thought I would have information!"

"No, we didn't," Annabeth spoke up. "We know you have information."

"And what makes you know that?" Hades glared at her.

"Well, I..er..had a dream," Annabeth admitted.

Hades sighed, irritated. "Demigods and their dreams.." he muttered.

"Yeah, I know it's pretty annoying," Percy admitted.

"As I was saying," Annabeth continued, ignoring Percy. She recalled her entire dream to Hades. Surprisingly, he didn't even show the urge to interrupt even once, which was a lot, coming from a god.

Hades scratched his chin, apparently thinking. He finally said, "How do I know that you aren't lying? That this so-called dream isn't made up?"

"L-lying? You seriously think we came down here to tell you about a fake dream?" she spluttered in rage. How much more stupid could Hades get?

"Okay, fine I can tell this isn't a lie.." said Hades. "But what gives you all the right to enter my palace-uninvited, mind you-and come talk to me as if we are EQUALS, and expect me to just give you answers?"

"Look, we traveled all the way down here, and we had to deal with your crook of an assistant Charon-"

"OH, HOLY OLYMPUS DON'T MENTION THAT STUPID GUY IN FRONT OF ME!" Hades yelled in disgust. "He is a disgrace to this world, I've been trying to replace him for ages. Madman, he is, won't even let me fire him! Thinks I need him to get people to the Underworld, as if! I can do it by myself-"

"Umm, but don't you need him-" Leo started.

"SILENCE!" Hades screamed. "Alright, fine. I do know who the Waffle Thief is!"

Everyone looked around in alarm. Hades was finally admitting it? It was too good to be true!

"But," he said, making everyone sigh. "Why should I tell you?"

Clarisse's P.O.V

This guy was insane. And she thought her father was crazy..

"Why should you tell us?" she growled. "Oh, I don't know..maybe-maybe because WE DON'T WANT TO BE STUCK IN AN ENCHANTED WAFFLE SHIP AND EAT WAFFLES FOR THE REST OF OUR LIFE WHILE SEARCHING FOR ONE WAFFLE THAT COULD LITERALLY BE ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANET?"

Percy shrugged. "She makes good points when she's yelling."

"OF COURSE I DO, YOU PILE OF SEAWEED!" Clarisse scowled.

"I don't mind you calling me that..you know, these days it seems like no one can get my name right. I've been called Perry Johnson, Seaweed Brain, Kelp head, heck even Peter Jonas-"

"Who would call you Peter Jonas?" Leo wondered aloud.

"I'm pretty sure Mr.D called me that once-"

"If you don't shut up then you'll have a new nickname in the next minute called Dead Jackson!" Hades snarled. Percy shut up almost instantly.

She tried to hide her smile. Clarisse really had to agree with Hades this time. These people got sidetracked way too easily, and for the stupidest reasons too. She couldn't believe people like that existed.

"Back to the important thing at hand-" said Clarisse.

"I wouldn't call this waffle important," Hades grumbled.

Clarisse ignored him. "We're not leaving until you tell us who the waffle thief is."

"Quite a temper you got there, little girl," Hades rolled his eyes.

"Answer me!" Clarisse was getting impatient with this guy. How long would he stall?

"I don't think so," he stood up from his throne. "In fact, to reward you for having the nerve to come down here and step your filthy feet on to my palace-I think a life sentence in prison ought to teach you a lesson!"

"A life sentence?" Leo's eyes were wide.

"Yes, !" Hades looked pleased with himself. "Then I will never have to see your stupid little faces ever again! GUARDS!"

Skeleton warriors made their way up to him.

He looked around, as if daring anyone to protest.

"Okay, then!" said Nico. The others stared at him in disbelief. What was he doing?

Hades raised his eyebrows, caught off guard. "Er..what?"

"I said okay," Nico smiled.

Clarisse shook her head. The place was probably doing something to his mind. She realized that she should take matters into her own hands before things got messy.

"What he means is-"

"I mean exactly what I said," Nico gave her a look out of the corner of his eye that said, Don't interfere.

She was confused. What was he up to?

Piper's P.O.V

Piper knew that Nico wouldn't purposefully get them killed. She let him talk, praying that he was doing the right thing.

"Well..I-what are you talking about?" Hades tried to look angry, but he looked more confused at the moment.

"I guess it's over! Take us to prison. Do as you wish," Nico shrugged and put his hands up. "Who are we to decide how you run your world?"

Hades looked very confused. "So..you're not even going to-umm..fight? Disagree? You're just going to..go along with it?"

"That's right," Nico said, faking a cheerful look.

Hades was bewildered. Piper tried not to laugh at the look on his face.

"You're just..agreeing with me?" He looked less than angry, and the smug look had been wiped right off his face and replaced by bewilderment.

"Yes," Nico said simply.

"You agree that you deserve to be sent to the prison?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," said Nico.

"You know that you've done something wrong?" Hades said, kind of starting to look angry now.

"Of course," Nico replied.

Hades's eye was twitching, and his face was becoming redder. "You agree that you have wronged me?"

"Yes," he said tonelessly.

"I have all rights to arrest you!" Hades tried, trying to get a rebellious reaction out of his son.

"You do," Nico said.

"STOP AGREEING WITH EVERYTHING I SAY!" Hades bellowed, red in the face.

"Okay!" Nico agreed.

"AARGH!" Hades exploded, in rage.

One of his skeleton warriors tapped his shoulder, still waiting to arrest the demigods.

"YOU'RE FIRED!" Hades yelled in the guard's face.

"Why did you fire him-"

"BECAUSE HE IS AN UNGRATEFUL, FILTHY SERVANT WHO THINKS HE CAN JUST ARREST YOU WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!"

"You're the one who gave him permission to arrest us," Piper pointed out.

"SILENCE!" Hades thundered, pretending not to hear her.

She rolled her eyes.

"It was supposed to be a punishment! And clearly you don't take it that way, so...," Hades stopped for a second. "And you better get going now, because you're making me sick!"

"We're not going until we get at least a little of what we came for!" Percy scowled.

"We didn't journey all the way to the Underworld to get nothing!" Piper exclaimed.

"Well, that's what you'll get!" said Hades savagely. "The best I can give you is-I can pretend this never happened, and you can scurry along and go back to where you came from!"

Annabeth crossed her arms across her chest stubbornly. "Not happening."

None of the demigods showed even the slightest urge to move, and they were all glaring at Hades.

Piper knew that it wouldn't be easy to get Hades to tell them what he knew, but she didn't expect him to be this stubborn.

The more she thought about, the more she became sure that Hades and Zeus were similar in almost every single way, though both gods would disagree deeply with that.

Hades sighed. "Fine, what do you want?"

"We want you to tell us who the thief is. Or admit it if it's you," said Nico.

"That's the one thing that I can't tell you!" Hades said again. "First of all, you're the ones on the quest, why should I do your dirty work for you? And second of all, Zeus would kill me if I accused anyone that he wouldn't want me accusing! And third of all, I DIDN'T DO IT!"

"Ok, assuming that you didn't do it.." said Percy, still not sounding convinced. "Zeus can't kill you, you're immortal! And second, you're not doing our "dirty work" for us, we're just asking for help! Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes," said Hades, rolling his eyes.

Leo groaned. "Can you at least give us proof it's not you? You're making it really obvious that it's you."

Hades glared at him. "Fine. You asked for it."

"The Waffle Thief..is right here. Standing in this very room!" Hades blurted out, instantly regretting it by the look on his face.

Everyone gasped.

"So quick to blame me all the time.." Hades grumbled. "This is exactly why I don't have kids of my own."

Nico just rolled his eyes while Hazel looked startled. "Umm, but-Lord Hades, you do have kids-"

"SILENCE!" Hades yelled again. "Do not remind me!"

"Wait, wait!" said Jason. "Are you sure? The thief is in this room?"

"I believe that's what I said," he grumbled.

"But-" Percy looked around at his friends, alarmed. "That means that it's..one of us!"

"Oh come on, it can't be any of us," Annabeth glared at Hades. "He could easily be lying. Trying to trick us! If it was one of us, why would we have come all this way without us admitting it? Do you think any of us enjoy being on this quest?"

Everyone shook their heads. There was no way.

"Look kids, you asked for information and you got it out of me. Now do you mind leaving?" Hades stood up.

"That can't be the truth though," Annabeth argued. "How could it be one of us?"

"I don't have the answer to that!" Hades thundered. "But you could discuss it later! Now, OUT!"

Annabeth still looked troubled. Piper, on the other hand, was staring intensely at Hades.

And as much as she didn't want to believe it, she had an uneasy feeling that maybe..Hades wasn't lying. Of course, it was much more likely that he was. But..what if he wasn't? Then what?

The more she thought about it, the more he became sure. If-just IF, Hades was telling the truth, that meant that one of them was the Waffle Thief.

If Hades was telling the truth, the Holy Waffle was planted right on their ship, beside the betrayer.

HAHAHA I wish i could see the look on your faces right now! Please tell me your suspects!

And who knows..maybe the sequel to this could be...THE POMEGRANETE THIEF! (i know thats not how you spell pomegranete but..whatever lol)

I know i made Hades look a bit-fine a LOT crazy in this chapter but i thought it would be funny so yeah haha! I hope you liked that chapter! :D