Disclaimer: Annabeth and Clarisse are owned by Rick Riordan
Summary: Annabeth is having a terrible nightmare. A nightmare involving spiders…. ClarissexAnnabeth pairing inside
Note: Homophobia will not be tolerated. Any homophobic comments and they will be deleted.
Nightmare:
Harsh screams and erratic movement that resulted in limbs slamming into her face, woke the daughter of the god of war up abruptly, making her snap upwards, ready for a fight. But as she saw no one standing above her or hidden around her and her lover's quarters, and as she heard the disruptive sounds of her companion lying next to her was making, she turned, horrified realization crossing her face as she saw the disarrayed state Annabeth Chase, her lover and girlfriend was in.
Eyes wide, Clarisse moved forward and gathered the thrashing Annabeth up in her muscular arms, holding her close, tucking her chin over Annabeth's golden curls.
"It's alright, Anna," Clarisse whispered, holding her lover tightly, "It's alright. You're here with me. Nothing's going to get you, not when I can help it. You're safe."
Annabeth whimpered in her sleep and shook until she heard Clarisse's voice breaking through her veil of dread, waking her up. Her eyes opened and she looked up, seeing the tan face of her dark-haired lover. "Clarisse." Annabeth breathed out, relief flooding her system as she wrapped her arms around the stronger young woman's neck.
"It's okay." Clarisse whispered, "There's no one else here except us." She raised Annabeth till the blonde was now sitting on her lap, supported by her robust arms. She kept one of her arms against Annabeth's back, holding her in place, the other moved to the blonde's face, her hand cupping the other woman's chin and guiding Annabeth to look up at her.
Clarisse looked down at Annabeth; an emotion that was rare for the daughter of Ares to feel running through her; fear.
Clarisse, by nature, like all of her brothers and sisters-all the children of Ares, was aggressive, brash, and thought highly of herself-knew her prowess in combat was superior to nearly everyone in the camp, save for the son of Poseidon, the dead son of Hermes; Luke, and this beautiful woman in her embrace, but she was not incapable of kindness and love. If anything, Annabeth could tell anyone that Clarisse could love more intensely than anyone in the entire camp could. It was just that, given her heritage, she was a bit of a warrior first and all that came later.
But at the moment, the only thing on the dark haired woman's mind was the other half of her soul. She watched her other half intently, seeing Annabeth's face becoming drawn in confusion. "What's wrong Clarisse?" She asked, worried.
"I should be the one asking that, yah know." Clarisse said, voice stern, clearly not in the mood for Annabeth avoiding any questions about her nightmares.
Annabeth wrenched her face free of Clarisse's grasp and turned away from her lover's gaze. "It's nothing Clarisse," She mumbled, but Clarisse did hear, "It's just a nightmare. I only saw it in my head. You don't need to grill me or anything." Annabeth said it with confidence, but her entire body was shivering.
Clarisse narrowed her eyes and wound her arms tighter around Annabeth. The daughter of Athena was just as stubborn as she was. She'd never admit to what it was that truly was making her suffer-what just what was making her so afraid.
Clarisse shifted her arms so that she took hold of Annabeth's body, turning the blonde to look at her again. "Are you shitting me, Annabeth?" Clarisse asked, voice edging towards anger, "You've been having these nightmares for a while now." The daughter of Ares hesitated, "Is it because of what happened in Tartarus?" Annabeth stiffened and shot her head up, staring at the stronger woman.
Clarisse knew that she was treading on dangerous territory. Her, Annabeth and Artemis's time in the Underworld was a subject that neither of them wanted to ever revisit. It had been horrifying, and while Clarisse would never admit it, she had been terrified. Terrified for herself, yes, but even more afraid that she would lose Annabeth or their daughter…or both of them.
When she and Annabeth had braved Tartarus, and the Fields of Punishment to get back home, their little baby daughter in their arms, Clarisse had realized that no matter where in the Underworld she went, even if she ended up remaining in the very bowels of Tartarus itself, it would be Elysium, or even the Isles of the Blessed just to have Annabeth and their child by her side. She had even told Annabeth that herself when the tormented spirits of the Fields of Punishment had been closing in on them, before Athena and Ares had broken in and came to their rescue.
Clarisse watched, concerned that her other half was suffering from nightmares about the flames and darkness of the underworld, but Annabeth eventually slumped her shoulders in defeat and sighed, digressing, "It wasn't about the underworld, Clarisse," Annabeth hesitated, tears starting to form in her grey eyes, "It was just a childhood memory. That's all."
"Childhood?" Clarisse asked, pressing. Now her attention was truly focused. Annabeth had mentioned a few times that she left her home, believing that her family didn't care about her; which was one of the reasons why Clarisse sometimes needed to be restrained from storming into the home of the Chase family, and bashing both the heads of Frederick Chase and that of his wife in.
"About your father?" Clarisse nearly spat the word "father" out. She, like Athena, knew that Annabeth's mortal family didn't deserve her.
Annabeth let out a choked laugh, making Clarisse nearly growl protectively, "No, Clarisse, no. It wasn't that." Annabeth let out a shudder as she squirmed closer to Clarisse, "It was about spiders."
The daughter of Ares didn't say anything, at a loss for words for the moment. Spiders? There hadn't been any spiders in Tartarus or in the Fields of Punishment. Annabeth glanced at her lover and saw the dark haired woman's questioning face-stimulating a real actual laugh from the intelligent woman's throat.
"I'm sorry, Clarisse," Annabeth sighed, "I'm sorry….I've never told you this, have I?" She said it, knowing full well what the answer was, and looked Clarisse in the eye, keeping her voice steady, "Clarisse, you've seen how scared I get when there are spiders near me, right?"
Clarisse thought for a moment, recalling some of the few times she had seen Annabeth absolutely petrified. Almost all of those times had involved a spider or multiple spiders. Now she was truly curious. She had always wondered how a strong, intelligent woman could face down monsters, fight other demigods and stand up to the gods and face Tartarus itself with a brave face, and yet be aghast by a bunch of eight legged insects.
"Well, yeah," Clarisse started, trying to make light of the frightening situation, "I've really am so curious why you're scared of insects."
"Arachnids," Annabeth grumbled, smirking at Clarisse, knowing her lover always made that "mistake" deliberately to irritate her, "They're actually arachnids. You know that. But the reason for it…..is because a bunch of monster spiders attacked me when I was a kid." Annabeth took a breath, eyes becoming pained, "Whenever I was in my room, I always got so scared. These spiders would come out and attack me at night. I would tell my father and my stepmother, but they thought I was just trying to get attention, and the spiders' bites would fade away come morning. So I had no proof."
As Annabeth confessed all this to Clarisse, she was trying to fight off the oncoming tears, but was failing in her attempts. Her body began to quake and Clarisse's grip tightened, keeping her lover from shaking so hard that she'd slide off of her lap.
Clarisse also had to work to prevent herself from tightening her hold on Annabeth so hard that she'd potentially harm her girlfriend. Her teeth clenched at the thought of what Annabeth had to go through as a child. Clarisse hated to admit it, but she probably wouldn't have been able to deal with that as well as Annabeth had. Her life had been a lot easier than her girlfriend's.
She had heard about Annabeth, Thalia and Luke's adventures before Grover Underwood had found them; and knew that Annabeth's life sure hadn't been a bed of roses. Well, no demigod had the easiest of lives, but it seemed that like Luke, Annabeth had had a particularly hard life. Parents that were unworthy of her, being attacked by monsters almost every moment, loss of friends, the isolation; all demigods had to deal with that, but Annabeth apparently had gotten a particularly bad taste of it.
Clarisse let out a snarl that she had been holding in this whole time, embracing Annabeth protectively. At Annabeth's startled expression, Clarisse growled, "That dad of yours and your stepmom don't even deserve to look at you." Clarisse managed to calm herself for a moment and added, "I'm sorry about the spiders. I won't make fun of you for it in the future. Promise." And she made a mental note that if she were to ever cross paths with any of the Chase family outside of Annabeth ever again, she'd give them way more than just a piece of her mind.
"Thank you, Clarisse," Annabeth chuckled, earning a stumped countenance from her lover. Annabeth laughed louder at the sight, brushing a hand against her eye and wiping the salty and hot tears away, "Thanks for listening to my story. I just need you to understand that I can't deal with spiders." She added bitterly, eyes glaring at the wall, "Even if I didn't have a childhood experience with them, spiders are all kind of drawn to children of Athena anyway."
Clarisse felt confusion for a moment before remembering the story of Athena and Arachne; a woman who weaved a tapestry of all the gods-mocking them for their conquests and lives. In Athena's rage at the abhorrent act, she had transformed the weaver woman into a spider.
She wasn't as inept about knowledge as many of the campers claimed she was. She knew stories like the rest of them. Clarisse, wanting to soothe Annabeth; comfort her and look after her, rearranged her position on the bed so that she bended Annabeth backwards and was now lying on top of her lover, moving her body to lie in between the daughter of Athena's thighs.
Annabeth gasped at the sensation, feeling Clarisse more than likely deliberately brushing her waist against Annabeth's warm center, between the blonde demigod's legs. Annabeth arched her back a little but tried to stay quiet. Clarisse smirked at the effort. Even when Annabeth was at her most aroused, she fought her most natural desires with everything she was, just because she was afraid. Afraid that there was something far better than being knowledgeable or reading and fighting (the last part, even Clarisse had to confess to).
"Clarisse, don't," Annabeth whispered, closing her eyes, as if trying to block out the oncoming pleasure. Clarisse just looked at her for a moment, before her eyes darkened in desire. "Why not?" She asked, the curiosity in her tone diluted by how rough it sounded, "You really don't want to right now?" She slipped her right thigh against Annabeth's groin, causing a gasp to come from her lover, and at the same time, smiling at the feeling of Annabeth's wetness against her leg.
"I beg to differ, sweetheart," Clarisse laughed, stroking her limb a bit more against her lover's heat-forcing a cry from the blonde, "If what you're saying is true, then why is my leg currently soaked?"
Annabeth shivered in increasing arousal at Clarisse's vulgarity. She barely was able to whimper out, "I can't….I….I need to see Artemis."
Clarisse halted her ministrations when hearing that, now looking bewildered. Annabeth tried again though, this time, being allowed more leeway to speak, given Clarisse had paused. "Please," she mumbled, "I need to make sure she's alright."
Clarisse said nothing, a grimace immediately marring her face. She knew she shouldn't be so surprised by the plea. Annabeth had just had a nightmare about her childhood and about spiders coming after her. Of course she wanted to make sure their daughter was alright. Clarisse felt a moment of warmth sneak into her stomach. Annabeth was a far better parent than that stupid stepmother of hers.
Unfortunately Annabeth still blamed herself for them and their daughter being dragged into the underworld. Clarisse tried to suppress a growl at that thought, as her grip on her lover strengthened.
"Stop it, Annabeth," Clarisse said, knowing her voice was probably too harsh, as moved a hand underneath Annabeth's neck and turned the blonde to face her as she spoke, "You are not responsible for all three of us being in the underworld. Don't ever forget that. You are a wonderful mother. None of this is your fault. And Artemis is fine. You checking on her every five minutes won't change that."
Annabeth gaze turned to a scowl and she started squirming under Clarisse. As much as Clarisse would have liked to make a sexual comment, given what Annabeth was doing, she was fully aware that there was nothing arousing about Annabeth's mood right now. At the moment, her lover was focused on seeing Artemis.
"Alright, alright." Clarisse surrendered, lifting herself off of Annabeth, removing her leg from between the blonde's thighs, releasing Annabeth's arms and standing up from the bed. Annabeth slowly got up as well, limbs clearly a little shaky do to what Clarisse had just done, but she was trying to wobble out of the door down the hall.
Clarisse narrowed her eyes, walking over next to her lover and holding her arms out so that the blonde would have something to hold onto. Annabeth shook her head and pushed her girlfriend's hands away, her legs slowly returning to a solid state as she quickly walked more or less firmly down the hallway.
Clarisse groaned worriedly, following Annabeth to their daughter's room. Annabeth carefully turned the metal knob of the door and slowly opened it; trying not to wake their little one. Once the two demigods were inside Artemis La Rue Chase's room, Annabeth swiftly closed the door-leaving it open just a crack so that the light spilling in didn't completely overtake the darkness in Artemis's room. She then sneaked over to the child's bed, trying to be as silent as possible. She came close to the frame of the bed, looking down at Artemis. Clarisse stepped over carelessly, unlike her girlfriend.
They both lay their eyes over Artemis. The dark haired two-year-old child was sleeping soundly and peacefully. There was no evidence of any disturbance.
The two demigods watched as Artemis's face that looked so much like Annabeth's, crowned with Clarisse's chocolate brown hair shifted between inhaling and exhaling-the very image of a blissfully resting child.
"Happy?" Clarisse whispered so quietly, one might be surprised that Annabeth heard at all, "See? She's fine. No spiders or anything like that. Let's go before we wake her up." Annabeth glanced at the daughter of Ares before reaching out and stroking dome of Artemis's brown bangs from her face and then moving past the small girl's bed towards the door.
Clarisse and Annabeth walked out of their demigod child's room, closing the door stealthily and then the daughter of war turned to Annabeth. "See?" She asked her lover, "Everything is fine." Clarisse's face turned amused, "We are inside of the barrier-with the world's most well trained warriors in the camp who are all, I might add, demigods. And besides," Clarisse's face took on a dangerous visage again, "Do you think I would ever let anything or anyone hurt Artemis?"
Annabeth almost winced. She knew the answer to that question of course. If anything, including Clarisse's own father, Ares ever came near Artemis with the intention of hurting their girl, Annabeth understood that Clarisse wouldn't hesitate a second to maim, mutilate and utterly slaughter the threat to their child's life.
And Annabeth knew that Clarisse would do the same for her as well. She suspected that that was why Athena partially approved of her and Clarisse's relationship and that they had a child together. It was more than likely because the goddess of wisdom knew that her child and grandchild would always be guarded closely with Clarisse around.
Clarisse's face returned to normal as she outstretched her arm to Annabeth's, taking the other woman's hand in her own, prompting the blonde demigod to follow her back to their bedroom.
Clarisse turned their doorknob, opening the door and walked in, leading Annabeth in behind her.
Okay, second chapter should be coming real soon. Hope you enjoyed it and as I keep saying, any homophobic comments will be deleted.
Yeah, so if anyone is wondering, this is a post Tartarus and Hades fic about what would have happened if Clarisse and their daughter went to the underworld (instead of Percy and Annabeth) and all three of them got out.