𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿 | ᴄʟᴀʀɪꜱꜱᴇ ʟᴀ ʀᴜᴇ

o1.

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚 : 𝘼 𝙣𝙤𝙩-𝙨𝙤-𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙥𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙚

⟰

I was actually having a pretty good time before the oracle collapsed on me.

It was going like normal, I started of the day cursing my father for not claiming me yet, having breakfast with Milo, then going to archery and being amazing (like always). After destroying everyone in archery, I made my way to the forge to help out the Hephaestus kids (if they even needed it cause they are all crazy talented).

Charlie greeted me with a big bear hug, and I almost started crying. I'm not sure why, but every time I make contact with Charlie, I get this bad feeling. Like, as if he's gonna die soon, but that's not possible. Charlie couldn't die. He's too strong and amazing. It's been like that for the past few days. He practically smells like death to me, but nobody has noticed anything wrong, so I kept quiet. Maybe I was hallucinating again?

"Mornin' Mar!" Charlie let go of me and ruffled my hair. He led me towards his station and proceeded to let me do my thing. "Nobodies havin' any difficulty yet, so you can continue making those flowers for your girl." He informed before laughing as I swatted his arm. "She's not my girlfriend!" My cheeks were burning like fire as I tried defending myself. "Yeah, and I'm not in love with Lena." He shook his head, a fond smile placed on his pretty face as he thought about his girlfriend. He continued working, leaving me to be in the little corner of his station in the forge. As I was finishing things up with the flower, I accidentally burned myself.

"Ow- Fuck!" I cursed out, dropping the flame thingy. Charlie turned around and rushed forward "What happened? Are you okay?" He kept on bombing me with questions — ever so caring, Charlie was.

"Yeah, I just - I just burned my arm. It's fine, Char." He didn't listen and whipped out his medical kit. "Finally got one, I see! It's about time that Silena's words went through that thick skull!" I laughed slightly, knocking on Charlie's head, causing him to roll his eyes. "I got it for you, dummy. You're always getting hurt." He put some weird cream that helped me and covered my arm in bandages. "I'm no kid of Apollo, but this is what I got. Keep it on for a month and keep on changing and re-applying the cream every night before you go to bed, alright?"

I saluted and nodded at Charlie. "Yes, Sir, Charlie Sir!" I tried jumping off of the table, but I just ended up falling on him, causing him to laugh. "Mar! You're gonna break something!" I let out a laugh before saying,"Oh yes, sir, Charlie, Sir! I'm going to break your heart when I steal your wife!" Charlie let out a gasp before tickling me."Is that so, Madame Amara Dimitriou?!" We kept on giggling on the floor when we heard a loud cough in front of us. I looked up and almost killed myself on the spot.

There she was in all her beauty, Clarisse La Rue. She was scowling at Charlie. When her eyes met mine, they softened just a bit as she smiled at me. "Hey, uhm- can I talk to you for a minute?" I froze above Charlie, who I just knew had a shit eating grin on his face. I quickly got up and made my way to her. "Mar- wait!" Charlie called on our way out.

Clarisse looked irritated and kept walking, but I gathered every ounce of courage I had and held her hand, telling her to wait. "Mar! Listen, I want you to religiously clean your wound and re-apply a new bandage every night, okay?" I let go as I hugged him tight, breathing in the smell on comforting death and burning metal. "Alright, Char, see you tomorrow." He nodded and kissed my forehead, the same place where he had accidentally dropped his tool on my head when I was around 7, the first time we met each other. I smiled slightly as I bid him goodbye. He always kissed that part of my head as a traditional sorry.

"Let's go then?" Clarisse's husky voice brought me out of my thoughts. I smiled nervously at the girl and followed her. "You're... not gonna kill me, right?" I asked as we entered the camp forest. She let out a little laught, "I dunno, let's see how I feel when I get there." I let out a little chuckle, not really sure if she's telling the truth or lying. "We're here." She announced before turning to me. "Amara, I need a favour from you." Without missing a beat, i replied."Anything you want, I'll do it." Even if you want to hide a body - What? "You can't tell anyone about this, okay?" I nodded, listening in.

"I need you to fix my teddy bear." I stare at her. She looks so pretty here, Apollo did her well with the lighting, I might send him a prayer for thanks back in the cabin later. He always did her amazing, perfect angles and everything. Her pretty brown doe eyes stared down at me as I said nothing. When I finally found my breath, I responded, "Sorry, you just took my breath away, but yeah, sure, I'll fix it." Clarisse huffed, blush tainting her pretty cheeks as she stared at me. "His name is Sir Muscles." I couldn't do it anymore, I started laughing. "Shut up! I was fucking 5 years old okay?!" I nodded, still laughing at the pretty girl in front of me "Oh course, of course, madame Muscles!" I saluted her, resulting to she smacking my arm playfully. "Shut the-" Clarisse was cut off by someone running towards us. We froze, staring at each other. She pulled out her spear and I twisted my ring, revealing my black sword made of Stygian Iron. We both relaxed when we saw the Oracle of Delphi staring at us. "Oh, it's ju- Wait what?!" I stared at her, and to my surprise, she stared back. Chiron appeared not far behind. "Ah girls, help me-"

"The unclaimed half-blood must race,

must find what has been hidden without a trace,

she shall venture without her beauty or revenge,

go back to ones birthplace,

when the moon shines and the sun dies,

the daughter of war must get the fatal mark of her lovers spark to find the ancient mark of time,

find his heir,

before he who has risen commits more than just a war crime."

And then the bitch collapsed on me. Chiron stayed frozen as I screamed when she fell on me. I could feel the death from her. It was freaking me out. I almost felt her give some of that death to me when she made contact with me. I pushed her off of me and stared at Chiron in doubt. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat and fixed his posture before saying, "Well, young ladies, looks like you both got yourself a quest."

Never mind, I take back what I said about Apollo being cool. Fuck the dude.

"Hell no. I just got back from... there, I'm not going anywhere!" Clarisse started to breathe heavily, body shaking. I ran towards her with Chiron behind me. "Clarisse? Clarisse breathe!" I held her hand as she squeezed my head, it hurt almost as much as being hit by lightning but it was fine. "Clarisse, look at me and breathe, okay? In... out... In... out... breathe with me. C'mon Clarisse, Breathe." After she calmed down, she looked at me dead in the eyes. "This never happened." I just nodded as she stormed away. "Clarisse, where do you think you're going?" Chiron asked the girl who informed them that she was packing for the quest. Chiron looked back at me before walking towards me. "Come, young one, I will take you back to your cabin so you can prepare for your quest." I said nothing, feeling rather numb.

"Chiron, I... I have something to tell you." Chiron stopped, turning to look back at me. "Yes, young one, what is it." I took a deep breath and sighed as I fidgeted with the silver ring that Charlie had made for my 14th birthday.