Don't kill me. Thanks.

I sort of ran into a blank when trying to come up with ideas for Child of Hecate, Choose Your Path. On the other hand, I came up with a new OC (no surprises there), inspired by Konno Yuuki (alias Zekken) from the anime Sword Art Online. Oops, spoilers. Sorry! :3

So this is going to be a Kane Chronicles/Harry Potter/HoO crossover, and I sincerely do hope I don't mess up too horribly.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot, Calliope Blitz, Clarissa Watson, Kane Eversley, Illori Contraire, and Therion Ravel-Sanguine. Heck, I don't even own the computer used to type this, nor the internet used to upload this.

* Illori *

* Contraire *

The day Illori left the Hunters was as clear as day in her head. "But it is best not to dwell on memories," She reminded herself as she trudged on.

She'd been a Hunter since the fall of Troy, typically making her one of the oldest demigods alive. If not the eldest, anyway. She wouldn't be surprised if she was.

She barely remembered why she'd joined in the first place. But the reason was always there, dangling precariously on the edge of her thoughts. After all this time, it was what was left of the old her. Gods change too easily, but the same could be said for immortals in general. Illori, she had been immortal, not counting the loopholes. After so many millennia, she'd changed repeatedly like a chameleon. She didn't even know who she really was. But every time she changed, that one reason and fact remained, lingering seemingly forever.

The gods wanted her dead.

Not all of them, but quite a large amount seethed at the fact of her existence. It was nobody's fault, really. What the Fates wove was their decision, but that didn't mean the gods didn't want to interfere. She was one of the "too powerful" demigods who, according to the insecure gods, should never have even been born. It was even more insulting that she was a daughter of one of the so-called "minor" gods – Hecate, to be specific.

Illori had cowardly fled to Artemis, and the maiden goddess took pity on her, taking the young girl under her wing. Nobody could find that in the myths. Nobody ever really paid attention to the children of the minor gods.

And now, several millennia later, she had finally stepped out of Lady Artemis' wing, determined to face her demise. But she would be facing it sooner that she realized. Hades himself wanted her dead, after all.

* Calliope *

* Blitz *

Calliope Blitz had done it. She'd found her long lost half-brother, and established a peaceful relationship between Greeks and Egyptians. She had vainly hoped the gods were finished with using her as a pawn. Of course, she was wrong. The gods would never stop bothering her, daughter of Hecate, legacy of Athena and Persephone, and recently champion of Hades.

Powerful demigods rarely ever had a happy ending. It was a fact, and sometimes Calliope found herself envying the average demigods. Compared to her life, theirs was practically stress free. It was funny, those words. "Average" and "demigod" didn't really make sense.

Calliope had defeated an empousa when she was barely nine years old, fought through the line of monsters that laid in wake along the way to Camp Half-blood, and had been a valuable asset during the war against Kronos. She'd waded through crowds of monsters, hacking away with her two trusty daggers. And after the Great Prophecy was fulfilled, it was her turn. She'd journeyed towards Brooklyn, meeting up with her brother whom she hadn't seen for years. Together along with Claire, they'd "borrowed" Athena's Aegis shield, fought through the Underworld to meet with Hades and Persephone, and foiled a plot by a bunch of crazed magicians trying to summon Sekhmet in the middle of New York City. They'd run into more gods, but going through all that could be read in their so-called series of "fiction" (cough yep, so true cough).

And now, and now, they were being sent on another stupid quest where a lot of people's lives were at risk. Totally unfair. The price of being born, Calliope supposed.

* Kane *

* Eversley *

Kane Eversley was beyond annoyed. Really? Seriously? He'd just gotten back from a cuckoo quest that involved "uniting" the Greek and Egyptian gods. He'd barely spent any time with his girlfriend (yes, he and Jaz were official), and suddenly the gods decided to throw ANOTHER quest at him. Was it fair? No. Did the Fates allow it? Yes.

Perhaps his life wasn't as tragic as some of the others. Poor Calliope, his half-sister, had suffered through not one, but TWO wars. While he had been playing video games somewhere in Miami, his sister had taken part in saving the world. While he was off managing trainees who were fooling around in the 21st Nome, his sister was defending Camp Half-blood from both Romans and Gaea. Innocent Claire had had a rather dysfunctional family, and had suffered equally with Calliope.

Him? His suffering came later. He was thirteen when he first discovered his Egyptian heritage, though his mother tried to keep him away from it. He'd met Carter and Sadie after he headed to Brooklyn, having found the djed, and after that he'd helped them with the fight against both rebel magicians and Apophis. Then, of course, Calliope showed up at the 21st Nome's front door, demanding to see him. Oh, and dismantling every magical protection they had to get in, intimidating even the Kanes. He'd reluctantly left at the persistence of his half-sister, meeting up with Claire who had stayed behind at a mechanics shop. Then things escalated from there…

Now he was being called back to the battlefield.

* Claire *

* Watson *

Claire had mixed feelings. Apparently since she was descended from Aphrodite, she supposedly tended to take things more lightly. After a long, painful quest, she was going to be blunt – she wanted about a few years' break before going on another mission to save the stupid world. But unfortunately for her, the Fates had other ideas.

She'd faced early struggles, since her parents weren't exactly stable, and nor was her little brother. Learning she was a daughter of Hermes came as a huge shock, and unlike Calliope, she had been unable to accept it even after being attacked. While Calliope had been attacked by an empousa, Claire had been attacked by a Cyclops. She'd caused a nearby popcorn stand to explode and buried the monster in a mound of freshly popped kernels, one of the first signs that she was no ordinary demigod. A few days afterwards, her friend Jerry showed her that she was a satyr, and Claire had to head for CHB. Just right before they reached CHB, they were attacked by a flock of Stymphalian birds. Distressed, Claire astonishingly summoned a plume of fire with her hands, burning them to a crisp. However, the sudden burst of power caused her to pass out. In their little trio, Claire was the first to actively use her powers as a legacy of Hephaestus and Aphrodite. Overall, it equally made their quest easier and harder.

And now…they were supposed to save the world again. Wonderful. On a happy sidenote, at least Leo Valdez would help his – uh, what do you call someone who's your dad's descendant? Oh Hades, let's go with – half-sister crack jokes and lighten the atmosphere while on their way.

* Percy *

* Jackson *

Percy had discovered an entire new level of anger. Blue cookies for him!

Hardly a damned year since they'd fought against Gaea and straggled through Tartarus, and he and Annabeth were being forced to go on another stupid quest. Oh, another "if-you-fail-the-world-ends" kind of quest. Least to say, the plumbing went haywire when Percy found out about it. But hey, that's why Hephaestus kids were born right…? To fix things like broken plumbing caused by a P.O.'d son of Poseidon who was about to go tsunami? Definitely.

His whole life, he'd been used as a pawn for the gods. After the wars, he thought he could finally have a short break, maybe a year or two. But noooo, the world needed saving! Screw the world, he angrily thought to himself, let someone else save it for a change!

He wanted to spend time with his girlfriend. Relax, play Capture the Flag, sing songs around the campfire. Okay, maybe not the last, but you get the point. He wanted to be a normal demigod for once, as normal as a demigod could be. For once, he wanted to sleep at night without worrying if he was going to be alive the next day.

He didn't leave the nightmares out of the equation (though he did suck at algebra.) He couldn't go through a week without having at least one of them. And Chiron actually expected him and his friends to be ready to save the world again?

How – how – how juvenile could that be?

*Annabeth *

* Chase *

Annabeth was ready to stab something with her drakon bone sword.

Seventeen years of her life.

Seventeen years of suffering, being a pawn to the gods.

Seventeen years of fighting, of loss…she could go on forever.

She lost Luke, temporarily lost Percy to the Queen of Cows – oh sorry, Hera, traveled to Greece, had to go through FREAKING TARTARUS, and fought Gaea alongside previously murderous Romans.

She was, for lack of a better term, DONE with all this demigod madness. All she wanted to do was run away with Percy forever, but with a pang of guilt, she knew she couldn't. She couldn't leave her friends, and though it killed her to say it, no matter how angry Percy could be, he could never leave his friends to do it alone. Ha, he must have rubbed off her at some point in their relationship. Piper probably influenced her as well. A daughter of Athena thought strategically, and not impulsively.

* Hazel *

* Levesque *

Hazel Levesque had mixed feelings about Hecate. The goddess, after all, had (despite how much Hazel hated the idea) helped them rescue Percy and Annabeth by killing Clytius. Then again, Hecate was also the reason Hazel had been born too early, thus nearly destroying the world during World War II. Hecate was also not exactly a goddess, but a Titan, daughter of Asteria and Perses, which put some pressure between friendly relationships she had with demigods. Hecate had also sided with the Titans during the second Titanomachy, but turned back to the gods during the second Gigantomachy.

Now, they were supposed to embark on another stupid world-breaking quest for her. It didn't come as a surprise that she would be included – she was a user of the Mist, and apparently a "favorite" of the magic goddess. Well, if being a favorite of a god was like this all the time, then Hazel understood Jason even more. The poor guy, after all, had been manipulated by Hera since he was a mere toddler.

What intrigued Hazel even more than their impending deaths was that there were a couple of others joining. The discovery of the Egyptians had been recent, and the quest had been done by a trio of other demigods. Though Hazel was relieved to see that the Seven had gotten a break, this occurrence latched onto her thoughts, forcing her to wonder why. For once, the gods hadn't used them, instead forcing the job on some random demigods.

Said demigods were supposed to be joining them, which put Hazel on the edge. The Seven were treated as idols, and some demigods were like, REALLY obsessed with them. At least Frank would be there.

* Frank *

* Zhang *

Frank Zhang was probably the only praetor of the Twelfth Legion who ever charged into battle as an elephant.

Eh? It was highly possible. Either way, he was a very busy praetor, with arranging meetings with Camp Half-blood and keeping the legion in check. Reyna, having more experience, occasionally gave him advice and helped him out. The camps were getting along quite fine, things were great with Hazel, and for some reason, Reyna no longer looked like she was holding the weight of Rome on her shoulders. She seemed happier these days, and to be Frank, Frank was grateful. A moody Reyna was not good.

So when he and Hazel received news that, they were once again needed for a quest, he wanted to shapeshift into a horse like Arion and ride away with his girlfriend. They were only starting to recover from the fight with Gaea, and Frank was cool with that. But now? Of all the horrible timings, this was definitely a 7 on the Demigod 1 to 10 Danger rating.

And of course, the quest involved Hecate. Gods were scary, true, but Hecate held a special place in Frank's heart. She was the goddess of magic, and had helped his girlfriend fight Clytius. There would always be a part of him that was fearfully grateful for that. From what he could gather from the Hecate demigods from Camp Half-blood, it was clear that their mother's nature was truly unknown. She was the goddess of crossroads, and those places were exceptionally terrifying places to demigods. Not every demigod survived meeting the Dark Lady at the crossroads.

Besides being flat out terrifying, Hecate's loyalty wasn't exactly steady. She'd sided with the Titans before, and Frank really didn't know what to make of that. Romans were always known for usurping and backstabbing and, well – Percy Jackson definitely did not approve of that.

But Frank was a born Roman. His father (though he still didn't like it) was Mars Ultor, Roman god of war. He was forced to fulfill his duty, and he knew with a pang that sacrifices were to be made. It was how Rome lasted for so long.

* Jason *

* Grace *

Jason Grace was NOT a happy Pontifex.

Things had been considerably more peaceful after the war against Gaea. The most eventful things happening would be the occasional fight between Mars and Ares demigods or Demeter and Ceres demigods growing things EVERYWHERE. Jason was okay with that. Several shrines including but not limiting to Morpheus, Nemesis, Kymopoleia, and Janus were going well in construction. He had also discussed giving Khione a shrine out of sympathy. Action figures were needing the praetors' approval , though Jason highly suspected that it was a rhetorical question.

He was managing to do his job, spend time with Piper, and have fun playing either war games or Capture The Flag. His new job required him to travel to and fro camps. Fortunately, Hermes must have blessed him or something, because there was never any traffic. Damn, those pegasi did clog up the skyways sometimes.

But after hardly a few months of typical demigod life, and he and Piper were once again called for another annoying quest. And oh ho, this time, oh wait, no surprises here – FAILURE EQUALS END OF THE WORLD. Jason was really about to crack from the pressure. Ever since he was a kid, people had always looked up to him because he was a son of Jupiter. Then he rose to praetor despite being of the Fifth Cohort. He disappeared because of good ole Juno's plan to reunite the Greeks and Romans, and eventually became one of the seven half-bloods who answered the call. They fought Gaea and lost Leo temporarily, all while under the stupid pressure of having to save the world. When was anything ever easy or fair? Jason could answer that: Never.

All of the Seven had suffered more than any demigod could possibly could, and now Jason understood why any of them would be so worried about each other. They couldn't lose each other. Percy would be lost without Annabeth. Frank…Hazel was practically his life. Leo? He'd stayed away from Calypso for so long. Poor Calypso would have her heart broken one more time if he died. And Jason…he couldn't think of living without Piper. The mere thought of it constricted his throat, making it hard to breathe.

* Piper *

* McLean *

Piper McLean had been happy after the war with Gaea.

Besides the part where they nearly strangled Leo to death for making them worry about him, nothing majorly unusual had happened. Jason had dutifully taken the job of Pontifex Maximus (Percy kept calling him a car), and had managed to spend a lot of time with Piper despite the continuous to and fro travel between camps. Greek demigods sometimes were sent to Camp Jupiter for extra training, so they could learn how to not trip over a teammate, and stuff like that. Roman demigods, in turn, were sometimes sent to Camp Half-blood so they could learn how not to run away screaming if outnumbered. Basic, friendly things like that simply showed Piper that peace was in fact possible.

But now, they were once again called upon by the annoyingly persistent gods who insisted on making their lives as difficult as possible.

Plus they had to do another quest. Not for the first time, Piper wanted to go up to the Fates and charmspeak them to give them a happy ending. A few months of being happy with her friends and boyfriend…why couldn't it be forever?

Stupid gods. Stupid Fates. For once, just ONCE, Piper wanted to live without worrying about impending quests or her friends dying. A few months of that feeling was wondrous, and Piper and the rest of the Seven craved it even more.

They had to do the quest. Because according to both the new augur, Rachel, and Ella, if they failed, yay typical Armageddon! It was times like this that Piper just wanted to fly away with Jason. Guilt gnawed at her for even thinking that – she couldn't just leave the others. She doubted Jason could do that as well.

If they had to die, then they'd go down fighting. As a family.

* Leo *

* Valdez *

Leo was ready to scream "FLAME ON!" and jump off the tallest building on earth.

Seriously, he was done with all this crap. Quests, end of the world, dumb prophecies, blah blah blah. Make him re-build the Eiffel Tower in a day. Force him to invent a time machine. ANYTHING but another quest that could get them and the entire world killed.

He'd recently come back to camp with Calypso and Festus after a few detours. After a serious discussion (read getting hit a lot by electricity, charmspeak, gold, angry animals, water, etc.), he and Calypso had headed for the Empire State Building to gain an audience with the offended gods. (Oh, please, it wasn't Leo's fault that his amazing mechanical skills overpowered their magic.) Calypso had gotten a full pardon, and then almost immediately set up camp in the strawberry fields of Camp Half-blood. Where she was going to stay permanently was still undecided, but for now, Leo enjoyed coming over and eating her famous beef stew.

Leo didn't want to leave her. Especially not when they'd spent such a short time together. Compared to the war days, the recent happenings were so bizarrely normal that Leo wanted it to stay like that forever. To go back to being target practice for monsters? Yeah. No thanks.

They were going to be accompanied by some other demigods and some Egyptian magician, which was cool with Leo. What was not cool with him was that they weren't even going to bring Festus. He and the dragon had bonded considerably after they'd gotten out of Ogygia. Now they were forcing him to leave both Calypso and Festus. But oh no, he couldn't defy the stupid Fates. Their redhead mortal Oracle, the harpy who was Percy's Cyclops brother's girlfriend, and some new augur in Camp Jupiter all agreed that if even one of them bailed, the world would be destroyed.

Hephaestus no was Leo letting the world die. He guessed it was time to bust out some new cool inventions, make tacos, get more people on Team Leo, and save the world again.

That went considerably well. Next chapter might come faster if you review! ;3

Gods, please help me manage 12 characters. ^^"