Final chapter is here! Hope you guys enjoy it, and the entire story for that matter!
All I saw for a while was darkness. I felt very nauseous, until the point where I actually blacked out. Some time later, I woke up in the camp infirmary with a splitting headache. I felt worse than when I was stung by a pit scorpion my first day at camp. I slowly opened my eyes to see various blue sweets on the nightstand next to me. Next to the nightstand, Annabeth slept. I looked up, and saw Clarisse gazing out the window. As far as I could tell, no one else was here. I smiled slightly.
"So we're friends now, huh?" I asked Clarisse in a groggy voice. Clarisse turned around so fast it almost made me sick. Clarisse made her way next to my bed, and helped me adjust pillows so I could sit up in bed. I just noticed the tears in her eyes.
"You really scared us, you jerk. We thought you were dead." She took a shaky breath.
"So you brought my body some sweets then?" I asked. Clarisse laughed.
"Hey, as Nico said, the dead need to eat." Clarisse shrugged. "And of course we're friends now, Jackson. We survived a freaking endgame war!" Clarisse shouted a bit loud, waking Annabeth.
"Clarisse," She mumbled. "I'm trying to sleep here." Clarisse grinned.
"Then I guess you don't want to say hi to Percy?" She asked. Annabeth shot off her chair, and was next to me, giving me a bone-crushing hug, in less than a second.
"We thought you were dead!" Her voice, like Clarisse's, was very shaky. I put my hand on her cheek.
"Yeah, well, I'm still here, Wise Girl." I said. "How long was I out?" I asked.
"Few days." Clarisse said. "Two days ago, Chris and our parents gave up hope." Clarisse looked down at this.
"Clarisse and I knew better." Annabeth said. She kissed me right there, and I kissed back, with no hesitation. What seemed like forever, we heard Clarisse clear her throat. Annabeth and I split apart, and saw Clarisse munching on a blue chocolate chip cookie.
"You guys were kissing for a few minutes. Don't think it's good if Percy passes out...again" Clarisse said.
"Yeah, true." Annabeth said. "And Clarisse, are you eating Percy's cookies?" Clarisse shrugged.
"Got hungry." She said.
"Oh geez" Annabeth said, facepalming herself.
"It's fine, Wise Girl." I said. Half hour later, Chris, Poseidon, Ares, Athena, and Chiron were all in the infirmary. It didn't seem so cramped, probably because Annabeth sat on my bed next to me.
"I'm just so glad you're alive, my son" Poseidon said, pulling away from our first ever hug. I smiled at this.
"Thanks, dad." I said, again for the first time.
"Yes," Athena said. "If you were gone, who'd take care of my daughter?" The room filled with laughter as I put my arm around Annabeth.
"Well done, punk." Ares smiled. "I guess now that you and Clarisse are friends, I don't see a reason for us to be enemies." Ares patted me on the back, and I felt very proud.
"Percy, my boy" Chiron walked over. "What you did, the sacrifice you made, proves that you truly are a hero." Chiron smiled at me.
"Well, I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't have you, Chiron. Thank You" Chiron smiled.
"Percy." Chris spoke up. I looked over at him. "Clarisse told me everything. I seriously can't thank you enough for taking care of her while I was...er...away." Clarisse rolled her eyes.
"Percy only helped. I was fully capable of taking care of myself." Clarisse huffed. The room again filled with laughter. Chris spoke up again.
"If you ever need anything Percy, Clarisse and I are at your assistance." Chris confirmed.
"Already said that when we pledged our friendship." Clarisse told him.
"Well excuse me for being late to the game." Chris said. The room, again, filled with laughs. A week later, me, Annabeth, Clarisse, and Chris were sitting in my cabin. As a show of thanks, Chiron had the Hephaestus cabin reinforce an Xbox one with Celestial Bronze, allowing demigods to play it without attracting monsters. With it came all four of the Call of Duty Black Ops games. The four of us have been playing all night.
"Chris, can you get the barrier?" I asked. Chris controlled his character to open the door to the pantry in the map. We were currently playing Voyage of Despair on BO4 zombies, which set us in a never-sinking-but-somehow-sinking Titanic.
"How many more doors?" Clarisse asked.
"One. Then we can get to the stern and get teleportation, and Pack-A-Punch."
"Let's do it then!" Clarisse smiled. Fast forward five minutes, and the game was over.
"Percy, you had to get me!" Annabeth said.
"I couldn't get you! The hammer guy was right there!" I protested.
"Okay guys, calm down, we can play again tomorrow." Chris said.
"I'm down" Clarisse confirmed.
"Same here" Annabeth and I said in unison.
"Anyway, Clarisse, we should get going. Night Percy, Night Annabeth." Chris said, fist bumping us.
"Night guys." Clarisse said, hugging both of us. She hugged me a bit longer, just so she could whisper to me: "Thank you Percy" I whispered "Your welcome" back, and the two of them took off into the night.
"You taking off?" I asked Annabeth.
"I think I'll stay here tonight." She said. "If that's okay?" I smiled.
"Of course it's okay." I said. I shut the Xbox off, and we both got into bed.
"Wise Girl?" I asked.
"Hm?" She responded.
"What happened to the artifacts?" I asked.
"When the restoration was complete, the weapon dislodged. Ptolemy got his crown back, Piper got her dagger, and Thor got his hammer." I had to smile at this. Then it occurred to me.
"What about Riptide?" I asked. Annabeth produced a ballpoint pen from her pocket.
"This?" She handed me the pen and I smiled, setting it on my nightstand.
"I love you Percy." Annabeth whispered.
"Love you, too, Annabeth." I responded, and in no time flat, we were both fast asleep.
Thank you guys so much for your feedback with this story. Be sure to read chapter one of my new story, Tides of War, out now. With that story, I wanted to do something that's not common, just as a challenge, so it is a Perisse ship. I still ship Percabeth as #1, but I wanted to see what I could do with a Percy x Clarisse scenario. Hope you enjoy it, and thank you all so much!