Sad, Beautiful, Tragic:
A/N: I've been meaning to write a Charlena one shot for a long while. Here it is! Hope ya like it.
The little scythe charm lay on her hand as a single teardrop falls down her beautiful face. She closes her hand on it and thinks about Charlie – the first casualty of the Titan War. Luke had promised her. He had promised her that Charlie would be safe. Of course, that promise was broken. Charlie was gone now. She has no one left to love right now. Angrily, she throws the scythe charm to the floor and stomps on it as hard as she can. She tries to choke back a sob but fails.
She's on the grass now, sobbing loudly. She hears someone walk behind her but she doesn't acknowledge the person. A voice she recognizes to be Clarisse's swears loudly as she approaches her. "Gods, Silena, get up. It's alright." Clarisse says, trying to pick her up from the ground. Still sobbing, she grabs the trinket quickly and clenches her hand into a fist.
Clarisse whispers comforting words to calm her down but it's no use. Silena Beauregard can't stop crying. "It's m–my f– fault, Clarisse. It's my fault that Charlie died." She stammers. "What do you mean, Silena? Charlie didn't die because of you! Stop it. Stop blaming yourself. You couldn't do anything!" Clarisse says, trying to reassure her.
Silena wants to tell her that she's the spy for Kronos – that she's been the one providing information to the Titan Lord. However, something stops her. She knows that if she confesses now, the Titan Lord will come to know of it. A voice in her head tells her that there is still time. She can make amendments. She remembers that she is supposed to fetch Clarisse to help fight the drakon.
"Clarisse…You need to come with me," she says as she looks at the daughter of Ares. "Why?" Clarisse asks. "There's a drakon…It can only be defeated by the daughter of Ares. Please…We need reinforcements." She murmurs.
Clarisse's mouth presses into a hard line. "I'm sorry, Silena. I can help you with anything else but that," she replies bitterly.
"But, Clarisse, we need you! We're being flattened in the war." Silena insists. "Then it's good you're being flattened. Serves everyone right," she says. "I must go. Chris needs to talk with me about something." She adds she gets up to leave.
I lost. There's no hope. How will I be able to make things right? Silena thinks dejectedly as she heads towards the beach where she and Charlie had walked many a time. "Oh Charlie…I wish you were here with me. Of course, it's still my fault that I believed that lying bastard." She murmurs as she kicks off her sandals and lets her feet soak in the cold tidal wave.
"It's not your fault." A new voice tells her. Startled, she jumps and looks around until her eyes land on a beautiful woman. The woman is wearing a white sleeveless gown and she is beautiful – no she was the definition of beautiful. Silena knows who she is of course.
"Mom," she murmurs.
Aphrodite smiles at her daughter lovingly. "Hello, Silena. I wanted to talk to you about Charlie for quite a while. This Titan War had been holding me up a lot so I decided to take a break to finally talk with my beautiful daughter." The goddess of love tells her daughter as she approaches her. Her hand gently brushes Silena's cheek but her daughter retaliates. "Mom, after what I did, I don't deserve your love." Silena says looking shocked. She's shocked that her mother still cares about her despite what she's done.
"Just because you did something wrong doesn't mean that I hate you. Yes, it was a grievous wrong you did but you can fix it." Aphrodite tells her. Silena bites her lip. "Mom, my only option to fix this is not obliging to help. She's too stubborn!" Silena exclaims in frustration. "Clarisse? Oh no, sweetie. You can still make her help you. Think carefully." Her mother replies, her eyes shining with tears.
"Mom, why are you crying?" She asks.
"Think, love, what is the other option? I know it's ugly but the Fates have decreed that it's how you have to make things right." Aphrodite says stroking her daughter's cheek. This time, Silena doesn't resist because she realizes what she must do. Of course, that's what I must do. She thinks with renewed hope.
"I'll be able to meet Charlie again, right?" She asks her mom. Aphrodite nods. "Go, my daughter. You must go save the world. You must pay the price as well." She tells her daughter.
Silena knows that she's about to show her true form so she covers her eyes as the goddess of love vanishes. She smells perfume in the breeze that passes her as she walks towards the Ares cabin with a look of determination
It's easy to steal Clarisse's armor and electrical spear as no one's around in the cabin. The rest of the Ares campers are in the practice area – probably disemboweling a straw puppet. She goes back to the Aphrodite cabin and puts on the stolen armor. She grabs the electrical spear and heads towards the practice area. She makes sure that Clarisse is busy with Chris Rodriguez first. Then, she walks into the practice area. "Everyone, I have an announcement!" She shouts.
It grabs the attention of the campers in the arena. "We must fight against the forces of Kronos! It has been decided!" She tells the campers. "But I thought we weren't going to fight because of the chariot!" One of the campers shouts. "We must put those silly arguments to rest! Silena Beauregard just came with the message that they need us." She says in reply. "So go to the other chariots we own and let's fight the Titans!" She shouts in as a battle cry.
Everyone else knows that it's no use fighting Clarisse – though this time, they were following the orders of an Aphrodite kid without knowing it. The Ares campers form a line and look up at Silena expectedly. She beckons them to follow her to the chariots.
Her plan is successful as they mount the chariots pulled of the dead horses that Ares had provided for them before. Silena is in the lead chariot. "Ares to me!" She shouts as the horses start to fly upwards heading towards Manhattan. Everyone else shouts in reply, still thinking that they are following the orders of Clarisse.
Almost immediately, Clarisse La Rue gets the feeling that something is very wrong. She stops walking immediately. Chris looks at her in a bewildered manner. "What's up, Clarisse?" He asks. "Something's wrong." Clarisse informs him. "What do you mean?" He asks again. In answer, Clarisse runs towards the practice arena. Chris still looks bewildered as he follows her to the arena. When Clarisse reaches the arena, she sees that there's no one's in there.
She curses. "Where are they?" She says in frustration. "Perhaps they're in the cabin?" Chris suggests. She runs towards her cabin again. Chris sighs, muttering something about never being able to keep up with girls. Clarisse bursts into the cabin and sees that no one's in there. The armors are gone as are the weapons. She also realizes her stuff is missing.
She curses again. "Silena, you stupid girl!" She shouts. "Chris, we need to go." She tells her boyfriend. "Where?" Chris asks. "To Manhattan, I think Silena leaded my brothers and sisters there to fight the drakon on her own." She states.
As they arrive in the place where the drakon is terrorizing the other demigods, Silena looks behind her. "I'll take on the drakon on my own! You fight the others." She commands. The Ares campers nod and they trundle onto the gravel to help the other demigods fight the monsters. She walks towards the drakon and starts to fight it. The drakon's eyes frighten her for a moment but she fights her fears.
I must make things right. She thinks, gritting her teeth as she slashes at the monster with the electrical spear. This annoys the drakon and its head turns towards Silena. It opens its mouth to spew poison but Silena moves quickly.
Again, she slashes at it. She must make it look like that she really is Clarisse. She must keep on dodging the monster before the real Clarisse shows up. She must take her fall later on. However, her fall comes earlier than she wants it to. As she tries to dodge the drakon, the poison hits her face and it hurts. She keeps her hand clenched on the scythe charm, not wanting it to fall – not just yet. She drops the electrical spear as the pain almost makes her pass out. She must not pass out just yet. She must be conscious enough to reveal that she was the spy.
The burning sensation is not gone. As she lay there, she hears Annabeth shouting to Percy. Some more familiar campers crowd around her. "Stop it! Give her some air!" Annabeth shouts to the campers. The other campers back away as Annabeth removes the now-almost-molten boar's helmet. She gasps when she sees Silena's once beautiful face.
"No! No! You stupid girl!" Silena hears Clarisse yell as the daughter of the god of war approaches her. "C-Clarisse," she murmurs as Clarisse cradles her head. "I had to do it. I had to make things right." She says weakly. "You stupid Aphrodite kid." Clarisse says sobbing. "I – I was the spy. I can see Charlie again," she murmurs weakly as she dies. The hand that was clenched a while back unclenches and the silver scythe charm is revealed.
Silena Beauregard is on board Charon's boat as it sails towards the other side of the Styx. Charon's skeletal face grins at her. "Your mother sure pays a lot of gold. Of course, it would be wrong to keep a hero waiting." Charon tells her. "I just want to see Charlie again." She murmurs as she looks over to the other side, hoping to see Elysium. The boat bumps against the bank of the Styx and Silena follows the other spirits to line to Erebus.
She crosses easily as the spirits part for a demigod anyway. She makes her way to the three judges who will be deciding her fate. The three judges look at her and she feels them scanning her whole life. "Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, guilty for killing many lives because of being an enemy spy." One of the judges speaks. "She tried to make things right again so she died a hero's death." A second judge says. "She will be granted a place in Elysium and she can try for rebirth if she wants." The third judge tells her.
Nodding at the three judges, the ghouls standing there walk over to her and accompany her towards Elysium. She feels nervous as she sees the gate. Standing in the gateway is Charlie – her Charlie! She ignores the ghouls' shouts of protests and runs toward Charlie, shouting his name.
He turns to look at her and smiles as she runs into his open arms. "You made it, love." He murmurs in her ears as Silena kisses his cheeks repeatedly. "I made things right again, Charlie." She says.
"I know, love, I know." He says as he slips his hand in hers. They walk towards Elysium together, feeling happy and contented to be finally reunited again.