To Hold Up the Sky (Percico/Pernico)

Chapter 5: Quest Troubles

Nico and Percy watched food, drinks, and other nasty items get chucked across the table with dismay. Fists connected with jaws, and teeth with skin. People screamed and yelled at one another. Thunder boomed in the air constantly from the insults thrown carelessly about. In the midst of the chaos, Nico could see who was sitting right in the middle of it: Clarisse. Knocking down demi-god after demi-god with her brutal fists, she began to draw her sword from her belt.

Percy seemed to have recovered from the shock. He pushed his way through the mass of angry campers, leapt onto the table, and screamed, "STOP!"

Everyone turned to look at the son of Poseidon, their fists lowering to their sides. But the looks they were giving one another showed that many of them weren't done.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODS DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Percy said. Many suddenly had an urge to look at their feet, studying each of their toes intensely.

Clarisse pushed aside many of the campers to get up to the front. She crossed her arms across her chest and said, "What do you think we're doing? We're obtaining our honor!"

Nico glared at Clarisse. "And how in the name of Hades does fighting our own campers 'obtain honor?'"

A dangerous look flickered in her eyes, evil flames seeming to burn straight into Nico's soul. "Watch it, punk. You don't know anything about honor. You've always ran and hide, nothing more."

Nico rolled his eyes, getting irritated with her. He didn't have time for this. "Whatever."

Clearly that was not the thing to say, for she yelled at him, "You ran because you're a fag, didn't you, punk?"

Shadows in the corner of the room grew larger, looming over the council threatenly. The ground started to shake as skeletal warriors tried to push their way out of the ground. People looked at Nico nervously as he deepened his glare, officially moving it another level up. "What did you just say?" Nico said, the coldness in his voice making a few of the campers shiver.

"Guys," Percy warned, hand gripping his sword at his side.

Clarisse moved to put her face an inch from Nico's. "You know what I said, punk."

"Guys," Percy tried again.

Nico moved in closer, the shadows getting thicker and skeletal hands popping from the ground. "Oh yeah? What makes you think that?"

Piper spoke up, putting her charm into her words. "Nico, Clarisse, back away from each other. Lets just all calm down and-"

Clarisse turned to whisper something in Nico's ear, voice barely audible. "You just can't stop drooling over a certain son of Poseidon, can't you, Nico?"

Piper stopped trying to charmspeak the two as Nico snapped, for he wanted nothing more than to hurt a certain daughter of Ares. He punched her in the face with all his might, giving her a slight bruise on her cheek. His hands reached out to grab and claw at any skin it made contact with, rage consuming him.

Happy to have provoked the son of Hades, Clarisse delivered a blow to back to his face, leaving a larger bruise on his cheek than what Nico gave her. Furious, he went harder and harder, receiving a worse blow in return.

But sadly the fight didn't last more than seconds. Nico felt himself get pushed into a wall by a different body. He struggled to get out of the person's arms, but found it was a death trap. He glared at a smirking Clarisse, who wiped her mouth with her hand.

"Thanks for confirming my suspicions, fruitcake." Clarisse mocked, going over to her place at the table. Nico sent another one of his signature death glares at her, for he was beyond mad.