Author's Note: Alright! I wanted to do my own take on the reigniting the oracle quest so this will start that off. This takes place nearly a year after all the madness with Gaea. I own nothing.

The Quest 1 Hunters

It had been nearly six months since the fall of Gaea, everything was going fantastically. Will should have known it would never last. She and Nico were in the area, Nico watching from a safe distance as Will tried to sharpen her skills, or lack of skills with a bow. Nico had come so far since the defeat of Gaea, she was even beginning to get her natural Italian tan back. She smiled more and had even taken to volunteering around the infirmary and had taken over Percy's sword fighting class when the daughter of Poseidon had gone back to her mothers for the school year. Jason had stayed behind in Camp Half Blood and had taken Nico under his wing. She had been reluctant at first but they were the best of friends now a days. She was also getting better at physical contact, Will was helping with that. They would hold hands around camp and Will was getting her used to random public displays of affection though she never pushed Nico past her own comfort zone. They had yet to actually kiss though they had been together for about four months. Will shook herself out of her contemplation of the daughter of Hades and pulled back the string on her bow taking a deep breath before she let the arrow fly. With a thud, it landed on the target. Not the one she'd been aiming for but it was a slight improvement. There was a muffled laugh from the stands. Will stuck her tongue out at her girlfriend and spotted Leo making his way towards the daughter of Hades before she went back to her practice. The great thing about this bow was that she never actually had to reload it, it was a gift from her father. Well-meant but she couldn't help but feel that it had been a bit misplaced when he'd given it to her. She'd tried giving it to one of the actually competent archers from the Apollo cabin but it only worked for her. She loosed a second arrow that struck the ground near her target. Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Will, Leo needs my help with something. I'll try to be back in time for dinner ok?" Will grinned lowering her bow and wrapping an arm around her girlfriend.

"Alright darling. I'll see you then." Leo made gagging noises behind them and Will flipped him off behind Nico's back. She wanted nothing more than to peck her girlfriend on the cheek but she always let Nico initiate these things, she didn't want to push the daughter of Hades away so she settled for running a hand through her hair before she raced off after the son of Hephaestus. They made an odd pair but after Leo's 'death' and subsequent resurrection he and Nico had gotten quite a bit closer, mostly due to Leo's persistent self-made mission to teach Nico everything about pop culture. Will blamed him entirely for Nico's addiction to Game of Thrones which Nico was trying to get Will into. They'd only gotten halfway through season one together but Will had taken to using Khal Drogo's term of endearment for Daenerys for Nico who retaliated in kind. Will sighed wistfully and turned back to the archery range.

"So, what are we doing out here? And why did you make me put on armor for this Leo?" The mechanic smiled sheepishly. He was wearing armor too though it was a bit big on him, clearly made for someone other than himself. Nico didn't really have room to talk though, hers was a bit big on her too and way too heavy. That was part of the reason she preferred her stygian iron blade to celestial bronze.

"Chill Batgirl. I just need your help getting rid of a few pests." Nico rolled her eyes as they ventured further into the forest.

"Why would I do that, what's in it for me Iron Man?" Leo flashed her a grin as he led the way towards a large rock formation.

"I'll show you why we're getting rid of them?" Nico shrugged, it wasn't like she had anything fantastically better to do. Plus, she'd heard from Chiron that the hunters of Artemis were headed in this direction and she really just wanted to avoid them. It wasn't that she didn't like Thalia but she didn't need the bitter reminder of her sister. Leo grinned at her slightly.

"So, you and Will? How's that going?" Nico rolled her eyes. It had been quite a while since Leo had been back at camp. He and Calypso, his immortal girlfriend, had taken to wandering the world to see as much of it as they could but it was nearing the holidays and Leo had decided to come back to camp to spend them with the people he considered family. Nico frowned slightly.

"Well I thought it was going great. But we've been dating nearly four months and we haven't even kissed yet and… What was that?" There was a loud rustling ahead of them and Leo dropped his voice to a whisper.

"That would be our pest problem. But don't think we won't be coming back to your problems once we're done."

Will frowned looking around the dining pavilion again. It wasn't overly crowded given that it was mid-November and most campers were at home with their mortal relatives. Will had elected to not go home this year in favor of running yet another post war infirmary, her mother had understood and she still got her school work done, never had she been more grateful to be homeschooled. She frowned down at her plate. Nico still hadn't shown up. Neither had Leo for that matter, Will picked at her pasta absently as Chiron called for the camper's attention and announced the arrival of the hunters of Artemis. There was a polite round of applause as Thalia led the other silver clad girls into the pavilion walking alongside a small redhead girl who was glowing silver and could only be Artemis herself.

"This is an unexpected honor Lady Artemis." The applause grew a little louder but the air also grew tenser. It was almost never a good thing when a god or goddess showed up unexpectedly at camp. She inclined her head at Chiron and spoke in a whisper to Thalia who nodded and bowed before racing over to the Zeus table and embracing her little brother.

"I am here on an important mission Chiron. I need to speak with you privately." The centaur nodded and left the pavilion following the goddess towards the woods. Will speared a piece of pasta on her fork as the feeling of foreboding rose to obnoxiously distracting levels.

Artemis led Chiron just far enough away from the pavilion that no one would be able to overhear them. Then she turned to the centaur a frown on her face. One of Chiron's front legs pawed the ground nervously.

"This is about the Oracle, isn't it?" Artemis nodded. Though most of the campers remained in the dark the Apollo and Hades cabin's both knew about Rachel's precarious condition. About a month after the defeat of Gaea Rachel had fallen ill. At first it had seemed like a simple cold but it grew steadily worse and worse until she fell into a coma just over a week ago. Nico said that Rachel herself was not at risk of dying, at least not yet but something seemed off about the spirit of the oracle that rested inside her, as if it were being drained or poisoned.

"I am here to issue a prophecy in my brother's place. His oracle is dying and our father refuses to allow him to leave Olympus to help her. He is still angry with Apollo about his legacy's actions that nearly brought war upon us." Chiron nodded slowly. Zeus could be quite irrational when his power was threatened, it made sense that he would shift the blame from a dead legacy to their godly relative.

"I can see why you didn't wish to speak of this in front of the demigods. No need to insight fear just yet." Artemis nodded slightly.

"Not just that, one of the ones required for the quest wasn't present in the pavilion." Chiron sighed.

"No Percy went home…" Artemis cut him off.

"Not the daughter of Poseidon. The daughter of Hades." That made Chiron raise an eyebrow but he nodded.

"As far as I know she's still at camp. She was here this morning for her sword fighting class at the least." Artemis nodded. Chiron checked his watch it was nearly time for the campfire.

"Perhaps she will show her face at the campfire, if not we can send another demigod to find her. I'm sure she's fine." Artemis nodded and followed Chiron back to the pavilion.

Nico flipped over the body of a large black scorpion slashing the end of its sting off as she went. It screamed as black goo dripped from the now useless tail. Leo was busy with the other one, holding it off at least, they seemed rather flame resistant. It didn't take too long to finish them off and smash the nest full of eggs though by the time they were finished they were both coated in black goop and monster dust. Nico tried in vain to blow a strand of hair out of her face but gave up when another strand of black goop dripped down her face. She sighed and turned to the mechanic who had succeeded in burning off the goo.

"Remind me why I hang out with you?" Leo grinned sheepishly.

"Cause I'm cool and you get to fight monsters with me and I have an awesome hideout with better water pressure than the rest of the camp put together and a washing machine that cleans and dries clothes and armor in under ten minutes guaranteed?" Nico frowned at him slightly confused by that last bit until he walked up to the side of the cliff face that the scorpions had been nesting against and placed a hand on it lighting it on fire and opening a sealed door before gesturing her inside.

"Welcome to Bunker Nine Batgirl." Nico followed him into the side of the cliff.