Disclaimer: All rights to Rick Riordan. I own nothing, but the plot.

Themes of self-harm, anxiety, and depression are expressed within this story. TRIGGER WARNING! Please do NOT read if these themes upset you. TRIGGER WARNING!

Criticism is appreciated, but please no hate. Please review and leave me suggestions! Enjoy!

Will's POV:

The infirmary door opened at exactly 10 am. Kayla was reporting for her shift. She looked rough, with her hair in a messy bun and bags under her eyes. She walked right past Will without seeing him.

"You look terrible." He muttered.

She turned slowly. "You should look in a mirror yourself, Will. Did you sleep at all last night?" Will didn't answer which proved to be an answer itself. "You need to sleep, at least eat something."

He could have gone to breakfast with Leo, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper, but he had stayed behind, hoping to convince Kayla to let him see Nico.

"I can't-" Will's voice broke with emotion. "I can't function, not knowing what's going to happen to him." He looked up with big sad eyes at Kayla. "You have to let me see him. Please."

Kayla looked deeply into his eyes as if analyzing his emotions. If only she could see his true inner turmoil. She sighed. "I suppose you can go in. Just for a few minutes though."

"Thank you." Will almost cried in relief.

Kayla led him through the hallway and to the door. She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Brandon, who was sitting in a chair, nodding off, was startled awake.

"Kayla! I wasn't- Nico has been stable all night, with no change-" he saw Will. "What is he doing here?"

"I said that he could see him for a few minutes," Kayla responded. "Be gentle with him."

Will walked around Kayla and into the room. His focus immediately went to his boyfriend. Tons of wires and tubes were connected to his body. Will sat in a chair right beside the bed and grabbed Nico's hand. Nico's exposed chest was heavily bruised. His nose had been put back into place, but there was a bruise in the shape of a fist on his cheek. He looked like he was in bad shape. But the heart monitor indicated that he had a steady heartbeat. He was breathing steadily with the help of a ventilator.

"Who could have done this to Nico?" Brandon asked. "What would possess anyone to hurt Nico this badly?"

"I have no idea. Piper is talking to Chiron. We are opening an investigation to figure out who did this. Whoever did this had almost killed Nico. And they are going to pay for what they did." Will vowed. He looked to Kayla. "How long until he wakes up?"

"Chiron said that Nico was in a sort of coma. Medically speaking, he could wake up at any time. But something is going on in his head that doesn't want to allow him to wake up. We can't figure it out." Kayla explained. "But he isn't out of the woods yet. His injuries are severe and delicate enough that if one thing goes wrong, we could lose him."

Will crumbled his hands into a fist, longing to rip into his skin. This was his fault. "Why couldn't I help him, Kayla? What happened? I've healed injuries like that before?"

"You were scared, and you froze. It happens to the best of us." Kayla reasoned.

Will got up, walking towards the cabinet.

"I was talking to Percy yesterday. He said that Rachel wasn't having visions. Could dad being missing be the reason I lost my power?" Will asked. "Am I powerless without dad guiding me? Do I not have any skill on my own?"

"You've fixed people with your powers even when dad has been missing. He was still missing over the summertime when you fixed Nico." Kayla said, referring to Nico's first huge injury when Will had knocked himself out for days.

"Why couldn't Chiron heal Nico all the way? Nico is still in pretty terrible shape. When I've healed him before, he was perfectly healthy afterward."

"The skills you showed healing Nico in the past are phenomenal. Chiron doesn't possess the level of healing magic that you do. He's said so himself."

"So, you're saying if I hadn't freaked out, I could have fixed Nico?" Will asked.

"Most likely, but don't let that get in your head." Kayla chided. "It happens to the best of us."

"It doesn't happen to me. I'm head Healer. And I couldn't do it. I couldn't heal him. And it's my fault that he got like this in the first place."

"What are you talking about, Will?" Kayla asked. He spun around quickly at her words.

"We got in a fight and he was going to leave camp. I asked him to stay. I prayed that he would be forced to stay." Will shouted, jamming his finger into his chest. "And Aphrodite answered my plea and made sure he ended up like this! This is my fault! And then, when it mattered most, I was too weak to save him. I wasn't powerful enough to help him. This is all on ME!"

Tears were running down his face. He turned and punched a hole into the cabinet.

"Shit!" He yelped in pain, grabbing his hand.

He stumbled back and felt himself hit the wall. He slid down it, sobs ripping from his throat. He had broken down. Kayla and Brandon were silent, scared to move or say anything, for fear of worsening Will's anger. Kayla slowly approached Will. Through his tears, he watched as she knelt down before him. She carefully put her hand on his shoulder. He tried to flinch back, but she held him in place.

"Will, have you hurt yourself?" She whispered.

She wasn't referring to his hand. A couple of nights prior, after Nico had tried told Will he needed space, Kayla had found Will on the bathroom with a razor blade in his hands. She cleaned him up, but Will had refused to tell her what had happened.

"Not since that night-" his voice cracked.

"What's been going on? Because, as far as I was concerned, I thought you and Nico were fine. You were yesterday." Kayla said.

"He brought me to the Underworld for a mission and his father summoned us to the palace. He wanted to know about Nico getting beat up the first time. Hades told Nico he wanted to help, and Nico freaked out, calling me overprotective. He said- he told-" Will stuttered as the pain came back in his heart. "He said he needed some time to himself-and said he needed a break from me. I gave him some space, but I prayed that he won't leave… so this is all my fault!"

"No," Kayla interrupted Will's sobs. "This is not your fault. The only one to blame here is the kid who beat up Nico. And we are going to get to the bottom of this. We are going to find out who hurt him."

"Will?" A voice sounded in the hallway. Will hastily wiped his tears away. He stood and found himself facing Piper. "Hey- whoa, what happened to your hand?"

"Nothing." His voice was tight. He cleared his throat, slowly standing up. "What's going on?"

"I told Chiron about our suspicions. He arranged for a head counselor meeting in the Rec room." Piper's voice was steady, but her eyes were moving around. She looked at Nico, and they grew very wide.

"When?" Will inquired, forcing Piper's attention to focus back on him.

"Now. If you are ready."

"Of course," Will affirmed. "Kayla, will you-?"

"I'll keep an eye on him." She said.

"No," Will corrected. "Will you come with me? I don't-I don't want to go alone."

Kayla looked flattered. "Yes, I'll go find someone to cover my shift and keep an eye on Nico." Brandon opened his mouth to protest that he could before Kayla cut him off. "No, Brandon, you have been awake all night. You need to sleep."

"Thank you, Kayla," Will muttered. They followed Piper out of the room.

"And when's the last time you slept, Will?" Piper asked, concerned.

"We should go to the meeting." Will avoided the question as he led the way to the rec room.

Percy's POV:

Percy sat next to Annabeth around the ping pong table. Chiron had assembled everyone that morning. The room was full. Connor and Travis Stoll were drawing on an old paper, Miranda and Clovis were talking quietly. Clarisse sat next to Thalia. Pollux and Lou Ellen looked around at the table. Leo was joking lightly with Butch. Will, Kayla, and Piper were the last people to walk into the rec room. They say down at the table.

"Is everyone accounted for?" Chiron asked.

"Everyone who is able is here," Piper informed.

"Why are we all even here?" Clarisse asked gruffly. "I should be leading a monster-fighting class right now."

"As many of you know, last night, one of our demigods suffered a major injury during the game last night," Chiron explained.

"Nico?" Clarisse asked. "What's wrong with him this time? Summon too many skeletons?"

"He was attacked. By a fellow camper." Chiron said. The words caused silence to fall over the counselors. "We are opening an investigation to determine the attacker. Mr. Solace and Ms. Knowles will be giving us the information they have so far. Ms. Knowles?"

She looked towards Will, who was blankly staring into the distance. She looked stressed for her brother. She cleared her throat. "Nico has life-threatening injuries that we were not yet able to completely heal. He is currently in a coma, and we have no idea when he will wake up. Further examination of the injuries revealed that Nico had been brutally beaten. Nothing about who the perpetrator is was revealed on Nico's body, but the force and location of the injuries show that it was most likely a strong male with immense strength. Will may have information about who did it."

The table looked towards Will. He was trapped in thought, clenching his hands into fists. He looked truly awful, bags under his eyes, usually tan skin, pale and gaunt. The sparkle he usually had in his eyes was absent. Percy could see the underlying anxiety and fear the son of Apollo had inside of him.

"Mr. Solace?" Chiron asked, but to no avail.

"Will!" Kayla whisper shouted. Will looked up at his name being mentioned. He noticed everyone staring at him.

"Sorry, what's going on?"

"We asked for you to give us information about who beat up Nico."

"Right." Will cleared his throat. "A couple of days before the Solstice, I returned to camp and discovered that Nico had sustained major injuries. He revealed to me that he was beaten up. Because he was gay. And a son of Hades."

"Gods," Miranda said. "Do you know who?"

"No," Will responded. "He didn't tell me, and I don't think he knew who it was anyway. The only lead I have is the fact that Nico has had problems with Drew in the past."

Annabeth looked like she tasted something particularly sour. No one really liked Drew, as she had a streak of being a bitch.

"You think Drew beat him up?" Clarisse asked, incredulously. "Now, I'm sure I could put him down, but Drew?"

"No, we don't think it was Drew. But I think that Drew might have been involved." Piper mentioned.

"What does Drew have to do with Nico getting beaten up?" Clarisse looked towards Will.

"Me," Will said so quietly, it almost went unnoticed. He looked up as he spoke. "Once upon a time, Drew had a crush on me. I vehemently refused her advances, but she kept trying to come onto me. She finally got the message that I was gay when I started dating Nico. Nico has had problems with Drew before. She told him that he should kill himself and that he was worthless."

"How long has this been going on?" Chiron asked, apparently shocked at the amount of hate and bullying going around at camp. Percy was too. This was supposed to be a place of acceptance. But those who were different continued to be ostracized. It hurt his heart.

"Since the summer," Will said.

"And you didn't think to report it?" Chiron asked. "Not even when Nico was attacked by this camper the first time?"

"Nico made it very clear that it wasn't my battle to fight. He asked me not to say anything." Silence fell around the table.

"Not saying anything could have cost Mr. di Angelo his life, Mr. Solace." Chiron admonished.

"You don't think that I'm perfectly aware of that?" Will snapped.

No one truly knew what had been going on in Nico di Angelo's life. This information all shocked Percy. He wished he would have been able to be there for the son of Hades. It killed him to know that Nico was struggling so much. He knew that Nico self-harmed, but he thought it had stopped after the summertime. Maybe Nico was struggling more than he thought.

"Drew might have problems with Nico, but she didn't beat him up. Who did?" Leo asked.

"Isn't Drew dating some Ares camper?" Pollux questioned.

Realization dawned over Percy. "That makes sense."

Annabeth looked at him. "What does?"

"At Capture-the-Flag, the game we won, Ares and Drew were both giving Nico the evil eye. I asked him why. Maybe that's why."

"Nico also got some strange injuries when training with the Ares cabin," Will supplied.

"Who is Drew dating?" Annabeth asked.

"Aaron Stevenson," Piper said. The name caused chaos to break loose.

"Aaron? No way!" Connor said.

"I can't believe this. We are really good friends." Travis mentioned.

Clarisse was about to speak when Will stood, slamming his hands on the table, almost overturning it. "Are you kidding me? I helped that camper! I patched up his hand. And he beat up Nico! He almost killed him!" Rage ignited in Will's eyes. Percy was beginning to realize that there was a violent tornado under Will's usually sunny demeanor. "He is going to pay."

Percy felt a shiver go up his spine by the conviction in Will's words. He sounded ready to kill this camper. And, if given the chance, it appeared that he would.

"Aaron is one of my closest siblings," Clarisse sounded betrayed. "I can't believe that he would do something like this!"

Annabeth held up her hand for silence. Just like Chiron, she always got silence when she asked for it. "From what I'm hearing, this isn't typically in Aaron's nature." Everyone started talking at once, forcing Annabeth to hold up her hands again. "One at a time, please. Clarisse. You first."

"I would trust Aaron with my life. I can't believe that he would do something like this." She said.

"Connor and Travis? What do you have to say?" Annabeth directed at the Stoll siblings.

"We've been friends with Aaron since he first got here about a year ago. He's never struck me as the type to do something like this." Connor explained.

"Well until recently..." Travis added.

"What happened recently?" Annabeth's eyes narrowed as she asked the question.

"A month or two ago, she started dating Drew," Piper answered.

"We all know how Drew is," Butch spoke up. "And once Aaron started dating her, he got a mean streak going on. He started bashing his friends and was typically in a shitty mood. He did everything for that girl. He thought she was the world."

"Yeah, he started skipping classes and neglecting chores about a month ago," Clarisse mentioned.

"So, Drew probably talked about how much she hated Nico to Aaron and Aaron decided to 'teach Nico a lesson'," Kayla used quotations. "But, why so harsh? Aaron could have killed Nico; he almost did. That seems a little extreme."

Will sighed deeply, and all eyes turned to him again. "Aphrodite decided that she wanted to give my love life a little drama. I believe that she either put the idea in Drew's or Aaron's head about beating Nico up."

Percy knew all about Aphrodite interfering in his love life with Annabeth. He looked up at her and she looked down at him, both thinking about all the shit the love goddess had put their relationship through. He lightly squeezed Annabeth's hand before turning his attention back to the discussion at hand.

"Whoa, when did this all happen?" Thalia had a confused expression on her face. "When did you talk to Aphrodite?"

"At the Solstice," Will mentioned. "Nico and I had gotten into a fight and Aphrodite had talked to Nico. He didn't tell me exactly what they had discussed. Just that she seemed very interested in his love life."

The son of Apollo was holding back. There was something he wasn't saying. And Piper seemed to be concealing something too. Percy hadn't failed to notice the way she was looking at Will.

"But why does Aphrodite have a problem with Nico?" Miranda asked. "Why did she want to create drama?"

"Drama is kind of my mom's thing. I don't know why she does half of what she does." Piper explained.

"Okay, but even if Aphrodite did get inside Drew's and Aaron's heads, they still acted of their own volition," Lou Ellen said.

"So, Aaron did it?" Leo asked to clarify.

"We don't know if he did…" Annabeth started, but she was cut off.

"I can't believe this!" Clarisse slammed her hand on the table. "My cabin is violent sometimes, and Aaron has been acting strangely. But it's hard to believe he would do something like this." She looked at Chiron. "I want to lead this investigation. I want to figure out if someone from my cabin interfered. I want to make sure that whoever dared to beat up di Angelo is brought to justice."

"That would be a conflict of interest," Chiron explained. "It would be too personal for you because he is a member of your cabin."

"It's a conflict of interest for all of us," Percy remarked. "We all care about and want to protect Nico. We all want justice for him."

"It has been decided that Annabeth will lead the investigation. She will be the most objective." Chiron nodded in Annabeth's direction.

"We need to keep this under wraps because we do not want the perpetrator to know we are looking for him. If you have information regarding this situation, please let either me or Chiron know." She instructed.

"The bruises and cuts on Aaron's fist were consistent with punching someone incorrectly," Will provided. "He was also the only one who knew where Nico was."

She looked at Will. She considered him with sad eyes. "Aaron's hand being bloody and the fact that he was near Nico is just circumstantial. We need a witness or actual evidence."

"There was no one around Nico." Piper pointed out. "And if there had been, they would have said something."

"The only witness we would have is Nico," Kayla informed. "And he is currently indisposed. We have no idea when he will wake up."

"We can't just let Aaron continue on without consequence!" Will complained. "He could hurt someone else."

"But we can't accuse him of doing anything without concrete evidence either." Annabeth looked at Will sadly. "Innocent until proven guilty."

"What more evidence do you need?" Will spat. "You have motive. You have witnesses indicating a change in Aaron's behavior. You have a physical injury on Aaron. Aaron's body and build fit the description of who is believed to have beaten up Nico. Drew hates Nico. What, do you need a written confession? Do you not want Nico to get justice?"

"I never said that. And, of course, I want him to get justice," Annabeth defended. "My job, however, is to remain objective. We cannot 100% prove that Aaron did it so the investigation will continue. We just want to make sure we catch the right guy."

Will pushed his chair back and stormed out of the rec room, slamming the door behind him. Kayla visibly winced as the door slammed behind him. "I'm sorry for him. He is a little stressed out about Nico."

"Should someone go after him?" Leo asked. "He looked ready to kill that kid."

"Will isn't typically a violent person. He won't do anything rash. He just needs time to cool off." Kayla explained.

"We will just wait this out then," Annabeth concluded. "We won't be able to prove anything until Nico wakes up. Please do not discuss the contents of this meeting outside of this room. Thank you all for coming."