A/N Hiya guys! This is more plotty stuff carrying on from last time, but there is a tiny (read, very tiny) bit of fluff...

Enjoy, please!

It was difficult, but Will eventually managed to persuade Nico to take him to Cabin 5 before going to the infirmary.

"But after that, you're going straight there. No more detours!"

"If that's what you want..."

"What I want is to get somewhere you can sit down! You're heavy!"

"I'm also half blind, with a sprained ankle."

Will won that argument. Nico grumbled all the way down the hill, but when they reached the collection of cabins he stopped.

After they had navigated their way carefully over the ground before the cabin (only a few individuals knew where the landmines were, and they were not part of that group) and hammered on the door (they had to hammer, anything quieter than that would simply not be heard over the 'music' blasting from the speaker by the window), they were admitted by a girl of about 13. She stared openly at Will as she took them down a staircase to a spacious office. It was crammed full of spoils of war: fangs, claws, a hydra head, a pair of harpy wings, and a hunter's bow were easily visible, along with several other, nastier objects.

Clarisse did a double take when she saw Will's face. "Someone blacked your eye for you, then? Don't know, don't care. Shove off, I'm busy."

Will wrinkled his nose, or tried to. He kept forgetting that it too had been broken... Clarisse's attitude, whilst expected, was not one of the things he felt he could cope with just then. He was about to say something, when Nico ducked out from under his arm and stepped towards the girl, leaving him to wobble on one foot, then hop backwards and collapse onto a three legged stool.

"Your cabin-mates didn't just 'black his eye', Clarisse," he growled. Will shivered slightly. The aura coming off the Italian was positively lethal. He was glad it wasn't directed at him.

Clarisse's face displayed nothing but shock. "My cabin mates? What're you saying?"

This could be interesting. Normally, Will preferred to fight his own battles, but he wasn't feeling quite up to arguing with anybody just yet. Plus, Nico seemed to be doing fine without help.

"You heard me. Two Ares campers cornered him in the woods. They decided that we could be rid of him, and took it upon themselves to act on it. Oh, yes. And Darla was involved." As he spoke - spat, more like -, he had walked right up to the girl before him, and now they were almost toe to toe. Small curls of black fog drifted from his shoulders. To her credit, Clarisse did not back away.

"Right. Who was it, and where are they?"

"So it wasn't your idea?"

She looked offended at this. "Of course not! If I decided to kill our best healer, then one, I'd be stupid and need replacing; and two, I'd do it with a knife. My guess I'd that they were just trying to cause pain."

"It worked." Will's voice was thick due to the build up of blood in his nose.

"Who was it?" Clarisse was suddenly business like.

"Sy and Benji," came the furious reply.

"Where are they now? I can't believe you would let them get away with beating up your boyfriend..."

Will felt his face heat up. He and the other boy spoke together:

"He's not my boyfriend!" (Yet, anyway.) Clarisse rolled her eyes, but didn't press the point.

Nico shook his dark head and continued.

"You're right about the other part, though, Clarisse. They're currently cooling their heels in Australia somewhere. They should be back... later rather than sooner."

Clarisse looked satisfied. "Nice. I'll find some nasty job for them when they get back."

She turned her back on them and walked off. The meeting was over.

"Infirmary."

"No." Will shook his aching head. It hadn't hurt at all during their talk in Cabin 5, but was back in full force now.

"INFIRMARY!"

"NO!"

"Will, you can't even walk. Your face is a complete state, and I'd wager you have other bruises than just your eye and ear. You should at least get that cut looked at!"

Will looked past Nico's concerned face and over to the white block that was the building that he was trying to avoid.

"Nico, if I go to the infirmary, what do you think will happen?"

"How hard did they hit you? In the infirmary," Nico said slowly and patiently, "they will heal you. That's what they do in infirmaries, Will."

Will rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was, what will they do when they see what happened?"

Nico paused for a moment, then continued dragging him towards the building. "Firstly, heal you with that healey magic you do. Then, they'll try and find Sy, Benji, and Darla, and kill them. Win-win!"

Will shook his head. "I'm the only one that does the 'healey magic', as you put it. Also, I don't want them to revenge on them. Isn-"

"How could you not want revenge?! Okay then, they'll get revenge for me. Now, stop arguing. I'm the doctor this weekend, remember?"

Will opened his mouth, but then the world flipped inside-out, upside-down, went dark, and then did it again, only in reverse.

Will retched. "Nico! You know I hate shadow travel!"

"Well, we're in the infirmar-"

"OHMYGODS WILL!" Someone screamed nearby, and he looked up to see Kayla running towards him. Nico stepped back abruptly, and Will toppled over.

"OW! Gods, Nico!"

Kayla turned her head over her shoulder, and screeched, "Mike! Get in here! Mike!"

Mike dashed in to the room, scalpel in hand as a makeshift weapon, and peered into the corners for monsters. Having ruled out an attack, he glanced at Kayla, then over to Nico, then finally at Will on the floor. He swore. "What happened?"

With his and Kayla's help, Will stood up and limped over to one of the free beds, where he sat down heavily. "I tripped over a tree ro-"

Kayla raised an eyebrow. "I doubt that."

Will would have been happy to leave it there, but then Nico opened his mouth and told them everything.

Mike and Kayla's faces grew steadily more shocked as he spoke. When he had finished, Kayla reached absently for a roll of bandages, and started wrapping them around Will's right arm. "Mike, alert the rest of the cabin, please. Then tell Athena and Hermes. Whoever you like. No-one in Nemesis gets off free." Will started to protest; she set his nose roughly, and he gave a squeak of pain instead. "No, Will. This is our decision: they don't get away with this." Mike left.

Will had a feeling she meant it. He glared at Nico. Does he even understand what he's started? This is war!

Kayla seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for as she finished binding his ankle she spoke again. "This is war now."

She turned to leave, but Nico stopped her. "Is that all you're gonna do for him?"

"What do you expect me to do, Nico?"

"Ambrosia! Nectar!"

She shook her head, "Will will explain," and left.

The other looked at him in askance.

"I'm intolerant, Nico. Can't have either Ambrosia or Nectar... I just have to wait for it to heal."

Nico's scowl deepened. He strode up to Will, who was now reclining against the pillows on the bed, and bent slightly so that their faces were on the same level.

"Heal fast, then, Sunshine."

He pressed his lips to Will's forehead- the only unbruised part of his face, excluding his mouth- then turned abruptly and swept from the room. "I'm going to bring them back to face the music..."

Will brought his left hand up and touched the face where Nico had kissed him. "I'll try, Death Boy."

A/N What do you think?! This is getting more serious... (I don't write the story: it writes itself. I just put the words on the page...)

Reviews are always appreciated! I'm not a doctor, so if you think the medical stuff I'd wring then please tell me!

Thanks guys!

~Fi