okay, so, like somebody cared to point out, Annabeth and Percy had indeed come across Stymphalian birds before. Once in the Chariot Race in the beginning of The Sea Of Monsters. Also, in Demigod Files when Percy helps Clarisse retrieve her father's chariot. But only in the first case did Rick Riordan care to mention that the birds were Stymphalian. in the other, he just mentioned that they were pet's of Ares. So, I've edited the previous chapter the best I could. Thank you.

NICO:

Nico followed Hades into the palace where skeletal servants were running around here and there getting chores done.

He noticed the palace was a little different. Maybe Pluto had redesigned it?

"Uh, father", Nico began but Hades just waved his hand at him. They went deeper into the palace.

"Is Lady Persephone not here?", Nico asked, looking around for his father's wife.

"No", Hades replied dismissively, "She's on earth with her mother"

They walked into a huge room, as big as two football fields with a very high ceiling.

It was decorated well, with jewels and precious metals and beautifully detailed paintings of misery and pain, wars and famines, sorrow and hopelessness.

Oh, and also with bones.

There were huge black leather sofas and arm chairs. Fifty people Nico's size could fit into one of the sofas.

"So, long time, no see, son?", Hades asked trying for a smile.

"...You got me here because of this?", Nico growled.

Hades sighed. "I talked to your mother, Nico"

He got up and started pacing the room.

Nico's eyes widened and his lower lip quivered.

Hades sighed again. "The dead hear things Nico"

The dead technical don't hear things but Nico had been in the demigod business long enough to know everything was possible.

The problem wasn't that the dead heard things. The problem was what the dead heard.

Nico's knees went slack. What had his mother heard which was so urgent that she had to talk to Hades himself?

"Maria was a great woman, Nico", Hades started, his deep black eyes faraway, "She was the greatest mortal woman I had come across.

"I offered to build her a palace, down here in the Underworld, when the gods started hunting down my children after the war, but she refused. She said she wouldn't raise her children in the world of the dead. She was very brave and Zeus didn't scare her and she refused to live in hiding or to let me hide you and Bianca. She said she loved me and she would accept whatever protection I could provide on earth."

The hair on the back of Nico's arms and legs stood up. A cold feeling tingled his spine. This was unusual for a son of Hades.

Hades had his back turned towards Nico. He couldn't see his face but his voice sounded different, as if humbled.

"I couldn't", he said softly, "I couldn't save her. Zeus blasted the hotel she was in while I stood in the lawn with you and Bianca."

Nico's eyes stung. He was claustrophobic. He longed for an open meadow. Never before had he longer for one, except when he was in Tartarus.

"Nico", Hades said softly and turned to face him, his eyes serene, "Your mother was a smart woman. She had her heart in the right place"

Her heart in the right place.

The words rang through his mind. His whole body shook with grief. Images and memories flashed in his mind.

Him and Bianca playing in a garden while Hades and his mother sat on garden chairs: Hades and his mother taking him and Bianca out on a gondola ride, somewhere in Italy; Nico's sixth birthday, when Hades and Maria gave him Mythomagic figurines, and then Nico hugging them both with a goofy grin on his face; Maria dragging a very reluctant Nico with hair till his shoulders to a chair to give him a haircut; Bianca babysitting a short-haired Nico, chasing him around a cosy house to get him into pyjamas; Maria kissing his forehead and tucking him into bed; Nico crying after scraping his knee while playing and Bianca trying to calm him while Maria picked him up and patted his back.

Nico jerked out of the flashbacks and cried out, a low painful howl that seemed to shake the whole palace. Tears streamed down his face and he grabbed his hair and buried his hair in his knees, rocking back and forth in a depressing and monotonous beat.

"Death and love aren't so different, Nico", Hades murmured but those words were like a knife slashing across his chest. He had heard that from Cupid and now he was hearing them from his own father.

Waves of darkness rolled off him and whatever came in the way was consumed by the darkness and disintegrated.

"STOP", Hades commanded and the darkness subsided, but Nico still remained paralyzed. He had disintegrated a lot of furniture around him but the sofa he sat on was intact.

"Nico, please", said Hades. At better times he would've made of Hades for saying please to a mere mortal. But he had come to realize Hades was a father most demigods had wished for.

He had been present for as much of Nico's life, before his mother's death, as possible. He'd loved her mother very much too, Unlike Hazel's mother who hadn't been loved by Pluto or Jason's mother who wasn't really loved by Zeus.

"I've seen your future, Nico and I'll tell you it gets better. Hang in there", Hades said softly, "I've lost your mother, your sister and I don't need you to die too.

"Have you ever heard about the great things my children did? Never. That was because the Olympians hated me and my children. But you've shown them what children of mine can be and you've changed the way they think about us! That's a great accomplishment. You've done a lot for Olympus single handedly"

Everything Hades had said was true and satisfied Nico's thirst for knowledge and it did give him some kind of peace. Hades being so frank (probably because Persephone wasn't present) had brought Nico closer to the truth about himself.

"What did mother say?", Nico asked his voice still unsteady.

"I'm sorry that she's the only ghost you're not allowed to see", Hades began.

"What did mother say", Nico asked again cutting his sentence off.

"Your mother heard about your feelings towards certain people", Hades replied calmly.

The blood drained out of Nico's face and his heartbeat increased. He wanted to open up the ground and slip into wherever it took him. He wanted to jump off a cliff. Or maybe into the river Lethe and lose all his memories. Maybe he would lose his feelings too.

"Did she ask you to reserve a special place in some exclusive torture chamber for me?", Nico asked, his voice breaking up. His mother came from a time where being homosexual was a sin worse than murder.

"What you must understand, Nico, is that your mother wasn't a normal woman.", Hades replied quickly, obviously concerned with Nico's tone, "When she came to the underworld, her memories weren't stripped from her. She remembered everything. She fell in love with me. She didn't lead a normal mortal life. She only wishes the best for you"

"That's what she had to tell you so urgently?", Nico said, now angrily. He couldn't figure out what he felt or why he felt. Once more his feelings were twisted into knots.

"She wants you to be careful. She said she didn't care who you loved as long as you made the right decisions", Hades sighed, "She wanted to make sure you were okay and for me to tell you that it was okay"

Nico saw an image of his mother, wearing an old fashioned black velvet dress with a string of petals around her neck. She had her hair tied back and a matching hat. She smiled warmly at Nico and touched her fingers to her lips.

Tears streamed down Nico's face. Time went by. It was hard to decide how much time had passed. Time was different in the underworld.

Hades and Nico sat there for a very long time, silent. The screams of souls from the Fields Of Punishment could be heard.

"Sooo", Hades began, "Percy Jackson, eh?"

Nico groaned, "Father, we're not doing this"

"Well, I guess he isn't that bad", Hades went on, "I guess he is appealing, considering he's the greatest living hero and quite a good warrior. He does have an attitude problem, though."

"Father", Nico began but Hades went on.

"Homosexuality isn't really a new thing, you know. Zeus once seduced one of Artemis' hunters by turning into Artemis. I'm sure many of Artemis' hunters are homosexual. Also, Apollo had this secret lover who, Zeus was sure, was a man. Once I-"

"Father", Nico growled through gritted teeth and Hades raised his hands in defeat.

"Fine, but I just want you to not do anything stupid", Hades replied, "You've made me proud and I'd like to keep it that way"

Just then a rumble shook Hades' palace and a woman walked into the room.

She was tall, and wore a dark blue shirt with black pants. Her clothes fitted her well, and Nico could tell she was muscular, like a warrior. Her dark hair was wavy and tidy and hung loosely about her shoulders. She wore spectacles with not-so-thin frames which gave her a slightly casual look.

"Hades!", the woman shouted, putting her hands on her hips, her cold grey eyes scanning the room and lingering on Nico for about five seconds.

And those five seconds made Nico wish he was invisible.

She didn't look like the way she had the last time Nico bad seen her in Olympus. She looked like the CEO of some hip billion dollar company. She made Nico recede into the giant sofa.

"Athena", Hades greeted sourly, "I see you've made yourself comfortably welcome in my palace."

"As welcome as one can be here", she replied dismissively. "It's good that the kid is here too, he might as well hear it out"

She waved her hand and a beautiful silver chair appeared and she sat down.

Hades looked as confused as a god could. He had been dressed casually, probably to make Nico feel comfortable but Athena was treating him like an intern at her firm. He ruffled his hair and looked at Nico.

"I don't know what you're talking about", he said honestly.

"Oh, of course you do", Athena replied casually, "You've seen your child's future just like I have"

"And my future, with all due respect, is none of your business, Lady Athena", said Nico finding his voice at last.

"Oh, it's all my business. Ever since I saw that your fate crossed my daughter's and that boy's, I had to come here", she explained. "I definitely wasn't going to talk to old fishface"

Nico's heart hammered against his ribs. Did his face really cross Annabeth and Percy's? Was there something big hurtling towards him that may or may not end up well? Athena was the smartest Olympian, and if she had descended into the underworld to talk about this, Nico was definitely scared.

"So", she said leaning towards Nico, a cold smile on her face, "You're going to help me or what, boy?"

Her tone didn't suggest he had a choice.

Okay, so the next chapters might take some time. I've to read the Heroes Of Olympus again, get my facts straight. Get my thoughts together and stuff.

Aaaand, suggestions are welcome.