Battle Scars

Summary*

A lot has been said about Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, and the hero who returned the Golden Fleece. A drakon slayer she may be, but even she has lost a lot. Will she find love like the others did?

A/N: The parts that are italicized are either Clarisse's thoughts or dialogues.

The battle had been won. Percy had managed to defeat Kronos and the prophecy had come to fulfilment. Percy and Annabeth had found joy soon after. The lives that had been lost had been overshadowed by the comfort they drew from the presence of the other, but for Clarisse, it was not so. She had lost her own battle that day, and she was still fighting another. Another battle which seemed to keep raging with no sign of an end to it, but she was a fighter- a daughter of Ares- and she would not give up. Ever.

This wasn't the first time that I had lost a Battle, but it still hurt me the most. Maybe that's why I never made many friends. Silena had been the one person who had gotten that close, even if it had all begun with my instincts as a warrior to protect the weak. Not that I ever thought that of Silena. Now I know that Silena was strong in her own right, and I am proud of her, but it is too late, and I had no one to blame but myself.

My pride had cost me a friend, and I would not let it get in the way ever again. I should have known, at least after my quest, that my pride had never mattered on the large scale of things, but now I knew, and I wouldn't succumb to it ever again. If finding joy meant letting go of my pride, so be it. If finding Chris once more meant throwing my pride away, so be it.

The next few days saw a drastic change in Clarisse. If anybody noticed, they said nothing. Clarisse spent days holed up in the rooms trying to reach out to Chris Rodriguez- the camper who had been a victim to the sorcery of the Labyrinth. Clarisse had never known why she had felt compelled to do so, but she had done it each day, hoping to find the boy, locked away in the broken shell of a person who had lost everything. She hadn't known if she'd even liked him or known him before, but seeing him return in such a wretched state told her all that she needed to know. She wouldn't give up on him when he needed her. Not now. Not ever.

The first time she had approached him, her heart had twisted itself into a painful knot, but it never deterred her. It made her stronger. Each day she sat with him, his hands gently taken in her battle-hardened ones, she allowed her heart to swell with hope. She would tell him things about herself that no one knew. She would whisper sweet nothings every time he panicked. She would sing silly campfire songs with him if only to comfort him. Most of all, she allowed herself to be vulnerable with him. He did not need a warrior to find the light once more. He needed a person who would understand, and she would be there for him.

Time flew, and soon, the two of them decided that they would attend college. It was time they all went back into the world around them and tried to lead normal lives. They'd all seen their fair share of war and could hold their own if need be. The months that they spent away from camp worked miracles for the two. The more time they spent with each other, the more they discovered what they had been missing out on all the while, and what started as friendship soon grew into something more.

Together, they did things they had never done before. Things as simple as laughing, talking, and going to the movies like normal people would. They had opened up to each other like they would to no other. Chris had seen her change. He had seen the way her face would light up every time he spoke to her. He had noticed how she seemed to know exactly what he needed, and he had seen her forsake her love of fighting, for him.

If someone had told Chris a year ago that Clarisse La Rue could be gentle with anyone, he would have laughed like there was no tomorrow, yet here she was, willing to give up everything for him. He decided then. He would make her smile the way she made him. He would be there for her the way she was for him. He would do whatever he could to keep her happy. He'd do a lot of things for her. Any thing.

Alas! It was not meant to be. Demigods never stayed together for long because of the danger that it attracted. Both were the children of major Olympians, and they could only go so long without being attacked. All it had taken was one monster to stumble upon them,and things had gone downhill from there.

Chris knew he was a liability. He was still only regaining his lost sanity, and he was a far cry from a trained fighter. Clarisse would have to fight for the both of them, but he would not let that happen. He would not endanger her life any further simply for the pleasure that it brought him. He would not drag her down with him. If he really loved her as he thought she loved him,he would let her go.

Clarisse was a daughter of war. She would never agree with what he told her. He would hurt her now if it meant she would be safe from the monsters. Safe from him. Thus it was that it had all happened.

"Clarisse, I need to tell you something."

He had felt so torn when he saw a genuine smile stretch across her face. Her eyes were shining with hope,and he hated that he would be the one destroy them, but he thought that it needed to be done.

"You've been the light of my life these few months. You brought me back from the darkness. You saved me from myself, and I don't know how to thank you for all that you've done. I don't know what else to say Clarisse. You deserve so much more than me. You don't need someone who will pull you apart from your love for fighting. You don't need someone who will suck the life out of you like a parasite. You don't need someone who is broken beyond repair. You deserve much more than this Clarisse. You deserve much more than me."

He watched as the joy drained from her face until all that was left was confusion, and bitter anger.

"You know that's not true. You know that I do it for you and I don't mind. Why don't you understand? What is wrong?"

He should have known that there would be no other way. She would never understand why. He knew she would willingly give everything up for him, but he would not do that to her. Having no other way out, he said the very words he knew would hurt the most. He said the words that would make him hate himself for saying them, but he did it anyway.

"You love but a shadow of me Clarisse. There was nothing between us, nor will there ever be. There is another. My heart is lost to another. Mary."

Clarisse felt like she'd just been punched. She had heard that name before. It was what he'd called her when she had first approached him. Had it all been a lie then? An elaborate lie that had brought her down? Had it all been for nothing? Did Chris truly feel nothing for her like the way she did? Was it all a ruse to break her? If it was so,then he had won. The famed drakon slayer had lost the battle.

"Leave", she said quietly, the emotion draining from her voice. "Leave before I say or do something that we'll both regret. LEAVE!"

Her eyes blazed with anger as she turned away from him, her hands bunched up into fists, trembling with uncontrollable rage. Chris did not wait any longer. He walked away from the girl he had come to love without saying so much as a word. If only he had turned around once more, he would have seen for himself what he had done.

Tears streamed down her face in little rivulets, the lighting around her making them look like tears of blood. Had he turned around just once, he would have seen the anger give way to a torrent of grief. He would have seen the broken warrior he had left behind. He would have seen her bleeding heart, and known that it was he who was to blame for it. She had only ever trusted two people. One had died, and the other had left her, taking with him a part of herself that was no longer hers to keep. He would have seen that she had lost the one battle that had mattered to her. He, Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes, would have seen Clarisse La Rue, the drakon-slayer, daughter of Ares, walk away from him with another battle scar. The deepest and most grevious of them all. One that would forever be hidden from the rest of the world. One that would not heal for a long time to come.