That's Our Secret (Chrisse Fanfic)

Clarisse

"Sherman, you're in charge, got it? Lights out at 10. Don't disappoint me." I bark at my half-brother. Grabbing my electric spear, Maimer, I run out of Cabin 5 and down to the sword fighting arena.

Technically I'm not supposed to be here, but I never get in trouble. After Silena died Chiron gave me a week to use the arena at night. It's been a couple of months but he hasn't said anything. So, just about every night I come down here. Chris knows, but he doesn't say anything. Occasionally when he can't sleep he'll come down and we'll spar, or he will just watch me. I tell him I hate it when he watches me and I think its awfully creepy, but secretly I enjoy it. It makes me feel like I'm worth something, like my fighting skills are worth watching.

I set up a row of five dummies and grab a sword to warm up. With every strike I feel my anger and sadness ebb away.

Stupid Kronos. Stab.

Stupid Luke. Slash.

Idiotic Silena. Stab.

Silena, my sword shakes in my hand when I think her name. We hadn't been friends for long, but I feel as if I knew everything about her. Well, except that she was a traitor and enemy spy. I feel tears well up in my eyes and try unsuccessfully to blink them out.

Oh gods, Silena. Everyday I miss you more.

No, I tell myself, be strong. Don't cry, crying is for the weak. Silena would want me to be strong for her. Not a weak, crying mess.

Chris thinks I have gotten better, but the truth is every morning I wake up and another wave of grief hits me. All I can think about is what I could have done better, what I could have done to save her.

I shake my head and go back to training, anything to keep my mind off of her. I slash and stab for the next couple of hours, not quite ready to practice with Maimer. At about 12:30 I decide my sword fighting skills are adequate enough and set up dummies for spear throwing. Whenever I practice with Maimer I always use two practice spears as well, just to make sure I know how to use a wide range of weapons. Using the first practice spear I throw it at the dummy and pierce its head. I throw Maimer, piercing where the heart should be. Since Maimer is electrically charged it crackles as it flies through the air. That's one of my favorite sounds in the world, along with Chris's voice and a good battle cry. I throw the last spear and hit its stomach. As I grab all three spears and repeat the process, I can feel myself calming down and getting into a groove.

Suddenly I hear a twig snap behind me, I wonder how a monster got past the camp borders? I shake my head, it doesn't matter. I turn around and do what I do best. Throw.

"What the Hades Clarisse, you scared me to death!" I look down and see that the voice came from my idiot boyfriend, Chris.

I walk over to him and help him off the ground, giving him a sheepish smile.

"Don't be so dramatic, Chris," I say teasingly, "You are dating a daughter of Ares, you're going to get hit with a spear at one point or another."

"True," he says dusting himself off, "But it didn't have to be the electric spear." He leans down to kiss me but I pull away.

"Not until I finish training Chris, kay?" He pouts but sits down on a bench.

I don't mention the fact that it's 12:45 and both of us should be in our cabins sleeping, and neither does he. I know that he's too scared to go to bed, and he knows that I'm trying to get my mind off Silena. Sometimes, we just understand each other completely.

I practice spear throwing for a little longer, before I decide to move on to hand-to-hand combat. I'm putting my spears away when I feel a pair of calloused hands wrap around my waist.

"Chris," I say with a start, "what are you doing?!"

"I'm bored, Risse, I've been waiting for hours." He whines, gods he can be so childish sometimes.

I lean forward, like I'm about to kiss him, but then lean back, teasing.

"Someone's playing hard to get, what's that about?" Chris says. I smirk and wiggle out of his arms, starting to run around the arena. His eyes light up with understanding and he starts to chase me. Normally, there is no way I'd let him catch me, but tonight I'm tired and he tackles me easily.

Upset that he caught me so fast, I flip us over so I'm lying on top of him. I'm going to tease him again, saying I haven't practiced wrestling in a while, but then I realized I'm being mean. Even I don't remember the last time we kissed.

Leaning forward, I flutter my eyes closed and press my lips to his. It's a little awkward because I'm lying on top of him, but we make it work. One of his hands cups my cheek and his other hand rests on my back, pushing me against him. My arms frame his face. After what could be seconds, minutes, or hours we break apart, both of us gasping for air.

We lay on the ground, side by side, holding hands. We lay there until we catch our breath, and then long after that. It's a comfortable silence though, we know each other so well that there is no point filling the space with words. Until, Chris does.

"I love you, Clarisse, and I have for a while now." At first I'm shocked, he loves me? We've been dating for less than a year! But then I realize love is the only word I could ever use to describe the way I feel about Chris.

So I say, "I love you too, Chris."

-Yay! I love Clarisse, she is such an underrated character! Hopefully she isn't too OOC, I tried my best, although I did want to show a softer side of her. Writing about Silena made me so sad, I think her death is one of the saddest in the PJO series. I also think Clarisse and Silena's friendship is under appreciated, so I tried to show how much her death affected Clarisse, even if Clarisse didn't want to admit it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please comment and I'll update as soon as possible!!!
Stay safe!

;)