A Little Different || PJO: TLT / Clarisse X OC

IV

Dreams aren't a strange thing in camp half blood. The thing about being a Demi god is that dreams aren't always just dreams, there's always meaning in it.

Ciara laid in her bunk in her cabin wide awake, she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned and turned and tossed but she couldn't sleep at all, she looked over at the clock. 11pm.

"So young. So fragile. So delicate" a raspy and cold voice said, it sounded... like multiple people speaking at once. But the same person is the multiple person speaking.

Ciara frowned and sat up, she was scared of the dark. She could only see the outlines and silhouettes of her siblings, she squinted her eyes a bit seeing a large black figure in the doorway.

Everything then started crumbling away into dust. She was now in the pitch black, she called out her siblings names. But no answer. The scene shifted, she was now in a dark forest. The one she was in earlier, she tried to walk but she couldn't. She felt weight on her feet. She looked down seeing a weird black sticky goo stopping her from moving.

"The gods do not care for you. You're nothing to them. You're nothing to anyone, no one needs you. You do everything everyone says because you like the feeling of being needed, but in reality you're just annoying to everyone. You're a pushover, you're not good enough. You never will be" the voice from before spoke, but it sounded more raspy. Wind howled loudly, ringing sound in Ciaras ears.

She shut her eyes tightly, when the wind and ringing suddenly stopped leaving silence. The only sound she could hear with her shaky breath, and her heart beating in her ears. She looked up seeing glowing eyes. Suddenly a mangled face popping out.

🏹🏹🏹

She gasped, waking up in sweats. Panting a bit, she rubbed her eyes. She looked down at her lap seeing the flower crown she was in the middle of making, she felt her heart sink as she saw a giant black dog. It snarled and growled its head lowered.

Ciara slowly stood up a bit scared and shaken. She slowly moved back, when the hellhound barked. She then turned around and ran. The giant smelly dog chasing after her, but it caught up within ten seconds. It used its nose to shove her aside. Making her crash into a tree.

She grunted and whimpered a bit as she looked down at the giant cut on her elbow, and arm. She looked up seeing the growling hellhound.

Fear in her eyes as it came closer. She wanted to get up and run, but that would make it worse it's catch up to her within seconds. And her ankle was also caught under a tree root.

She groaned in annoyance and frustration as she tugged on her foot trying to unstuck it.

A stick then hit the hellhound in the eye, causing it to bark loudly making it ring in Ciaras ears. She looked in the direction the stick flew from. Clarisse standing there holding a spear, but it wasn't the same it. The tip was more smaller and slimmer, and the handle of it was a lighter brown then the first spear.

She jabbed the electric spear into the hellhounds paw, shocking it and making it whimper. It backed away a bit, Clarisse swung the spear at the dog. And backed it away into a shadow of one of the trees. Once the dog was gone, Clarisse went over to Ciara and got her foot up stuck helping her up.

Ciaras hands and legs shaking a bit, still scared from what happened.

"You okay?" Clarisse asked as she gave Ciara some ambrosia, Ciara nodded.

"How do you do it" Ciara muttered as she sat down once they got back inside the barrier of camp. They sat on a bench near the Artemis shrine. Clarisse giving her a confused look.

"You're always so brave, you never hesitate or anything! You're good at fighting, all I can do it stupid stuff like crafting and playing instruments and dumb stuff! I can't even heal anything, I faint or vomit at the sight of blood. It's just so gross! I just... want to be like you. I want to know how to fight and stuff" Ciara said and side putting her head down at the table.

Clarisse chuckled. "Just.. practise I guess. Besides, it's a bit different. You don't fight things because you care and have a good heart. I do that stuff because I'm a daughter of ares, it's kind of in my blood"

"Yeah but like.... You train and practice like all the time! You're so good at it. Actually.. why do you always train, like literally ALL the time" Ciara said, not sure how Clarisse does it. How is she not so tired from it all?? If Ciara was Clarisse she would sleep for the next 6 years!

"Because. I have to be the best" Clarisse replied. Ciara a bit confused, Clarisse was already a really great fighter in combat. "Why?" Ciara said.

"Because... I need to prove myself" Clarisse said, getting a bit awkward beginning to fiddle with the cup the ambrosia was in. Ciara even more confused, Clarisse had already done.. so so much! What else did she need to prove herself for??

"Why?"

"Ciara if you say "why" one more time, I will bitch-slap you" Clarisse said, Ciara stopped and just looked at her. Waiting for her to give the reason. Also because she knew even though they were best friends, Clarisse wouldn't hesitate to slap her into next month.

Clarisse sighed "...Because my dad is the god of war. And I'm a girl" Clarisse responded.

"What does your gender have to do with it?"

"Cie, my dad is the god of war. My brothers already have his approval since they're guys, they're warriors. I'm a girl, so I have to work three times as hard to prove myself to my dad. I need to show him that I can do just as much as my brothers can" Clarisse said. Ciara felt a bit bad Clarisse felt like that, just because of her sex she had to prove that she can be a warrior to?

"But it's fine. Because I will prove myself to him, I might not be able to prove myself by going on a dumb quest like kelp-kid and wise girl and that wet dog thing that's barely a satyr. But I have other ways to prove myself"

Ciara looked at Clarisse, who stood up and helped her up. They began walking over to the big house to file report. Since it's camp half blood, if there's sightings of monsters and you see one, encounter or fight one you need to report it so Chiron and Dionysus can keep a look out.

Even though they have Thalias tree, as a barrier. It's still better to be safe. Chiron still gets paranoid when campers go out into the forest. He remembers from before Thalia turned into a tree, when there was no protection spell.

Everytime half bloods left camp to.. go on a quest, or wander the forest. They had to take at least a minimum of five golden Drachmas with them.... You know.... Just in case.

Gay 🫵

Word count: 1230.