A/N I almost didn't write a chapter today... but here it is! :-D

A faint trace of sulphur lingered over the battleground as Will ran to the break in the line of pointed spikes.

He say Thalia fighting alongside another silver skinned huntress. As he watched, they slammed the hilts of their daggers into each side of their enemy's helmet; he slumped over, unconscious.

Will ran on.

He watched Percy and Jason summon a small hurricane that whirled around the opposing side, sending weapons, bushes, and campers alike flying. Percy's face was grimy, with two clear paths down his cheeks: tear tracks. Will realised he hadn't told anyone about healing Annabeth- Percy probably thought she she was dying or already dead. There was no time to correct him now. Jason's lips moved quickly; was he praying to his father, or trying to comfort Percy?

They didn't see Will, and he ran on.

Then he watched as Kayla shot a blunted arrow at an oncoming Até kid, and the boy sat down abruptly. He saw her lower her bow. Unfortunately, she saw him too.

"WILL! GET BACK IN THE TENT RIGHT NOW!"

Will stopped running and tried to explain. "No, Kayla. I'm going to stop this, and stop this now. I'm going to-"

She marched towards him. "William Solace, get-back-to-the-infirmary-now-or-so-help-me-Zeus-Apollo-and-Artemis-I-will-drag-you-by-your-hair!" She said this in one breath, at the same time firing a stink arrow into a small group of Eris and Enyo fighters.

"NO, Kayla! I'm going to go and-"

Kayla grabbed his hair and started walking. "No arg-"

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted. Looking around confusedly, Will noticed Clovis sleeping next to a tree not far off. The boy was emitting a strong feeling of sleepiness, and he would have loved nothing more than to lie down too...

He shook himself and ran on.

When he finally reached the centre of the battle field, he stopped. "Listen!"

Nothing.

"Listen to me!" He cried.

Everyone ignored him.

I wish Leo was still here, he thought. He liked the mischievous Latino boy, and missed him. They had become friends in the six months he had spent building the Argo II. He could probably make me a megaphone... or Piper. She could make people listen to me...

He cleared his throat and shouted at the top of his voice.

"STOP!.!.!"

Everyone stopped. (Except for small explosion in the distance.) They all turned to look at him.

His cheek stung where Thalia had hit him, and his ankle burned. His eye was still puffy. But he spoke strongly.

"What are we doing here?" His voice carried clearly across the field. "We are fighting over nothing; a petty argument. We are wasting time, energy, and blood." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone move. "More than five people have died because we could not talk things over. This ends now."

Silence. Then someone shouted. "But what about making them pay?" He couldn't tell where the voice came from.

"The Romans have a court system. We should do something similar. We can get Chiron, Reyna, and Dakota to judge for us: they will be impartial. Put down your weapons."

He could have been using charmspeak himself, he reflected, as campers and satyrs alike threw bows and spears to the ground, exchanging guilty looks and, in a few places, already shaking hands and hugging those they had been fighting seconds before. (The hunters also sheathed their weapons, but reluctantly.)

Will smiled. "We don't need to fight one another-"

Something jerked in the corner if his eye and he whipped his head around to see a girl kneeling by a bow, an arrow just leaving the strings. An arrow aiming for him.

Darla.

At once, the Nemesis girl vanished under a crowd of angry people, Apollo and her own cabin alike, all furiously realising the real reason for their fight in that moment.

Will could not move.

The arrow lunged closer. It was almost beautiful, really. The setting sun behind him glinted off of broken wheel shaped fetching, and the head was sharp enough to cut through ice.

It was coming closer.

The closer it came, the slower time seemed to go.

It had almost passed the point where his shadow stopped and the light started again.

Then something flashed before him. His shadow seemed to rise up before his eyes.

He only realised what had happened, however, when the arrow embedded itself in Nico's chest and the pale boy fell back on to Will.

A/N Ah ha ha ha *laughs nervously* PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

I was thinking about the reviews I got that commented on how I've seriously wounded at least two important characters so far... I reckon I just like Will being thrown from crisis to crisis. Or maybe I'm just a sadist. You guys take your pick.

Reviews would be appreciated... or I might just end the thing there...

:-P

~Fi