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Clarisse wanted to dismember the stupid fucking piece of plastic around her shin and ankle. There were straps ducking everywhere that she was supposed to wrap around her ankle and shin, and in her opinion, it was much more trouble than it seemed like it would be worth.
Will called it an "AFO". Clarisse called it a stupid piece of shit.
The only saving grace of it was that wearing it allowed Will to clear her for capture the flag. She had misses playing it, and the thought of getting to pulverize campers out in the woods made her nearly giddy with joy.
Will had sent her out of the infirmary with the pair of AFOs, after she had spent the entire morning complaining to him that she wouldn't be able to participate in capture the flag.
Now, she was sitting on the edge of her bed, wrestling with the most annoying piece of equipment she had ever seen.
After a few more minutes of trying to figure out where each strap went, she gave up and flipped back onto her bunk. The written instructions that Will had given her were no help, the diagrams made her confused than she already was, and the actual writing wasn't in ancient Greek, so her dyslexia had a bitch of a time reading it.
She hasn't even gotten one AFO on, and there was less than fifteen minutes until the starting horn sounded.
Clarisse registered the sound of Silena's wheelchair rolling into her cabin, and sat up.
"How are the AFOs going, 'Risse?"
"Horrible. It's like some fucking puzzle just getting the damn things on. These things are so bad that they should earn a spot as a form of torture in the Fields of Punishment."
Silena sighed, and rolled up to just in front of Clarisse.
"Give me your leg, Clarisse,"
She ordered sweetly.
Not one to disobey her girlfriend, Clarisse lifted her leg into Silena's lap, and resumed her position of lying on her back on her bed.
Leant against one bedpost was Maimer (what iteration of Maimer it was, she had lost count). It had gone into semi-retirement after the whole nerve damage debacle, and Clarisse couldn't wait to get some blood on it again.
In the middle of her admiration over her spear, Silena instructed her to "swap legs"
Clarisse dutifully obliged, and stared at her (unfortunately mandatory) armor which rested at the door of the bed.
When she had gotten her personal armor out of the armory yesterday, it had a thin film of dust on it from disuse. She had cleaned any dirt or debris off it, and polished it to a shine.
It looked as new as the day that Beckendorf made it for her.
"Okay, you're good now."
Clarisse was surprised. Good? What did Silena mean? Did she finally tame the beast that was her AFOs? She looked down to her feet, and there her AFOs were, perfectly fastened in a way that didn't pinch on anything or restric any blood flow.
Silena was truly a miracle worker.
Clarisse tentatively stood up. She doubted that the braces would actually make a difference, but as soon as she beared weight on her legs, it took her breath away.
For the first time, legs finally stopped acting like limp noodles, Clarisse couldn't even remember a time when standing felt this stable.
Her nerve pain had decreased down to a level that never happened when she was standing anymore.
The wood floor creaked under her first few cautious steps. Her movement was steadier than ever, and she didn't even need her cane.
Clarisse felt like she could conquer the world. Or, a group of teenage demigods, at least.
She leant down and kissed Silena.
"Thank you. I have no idea how you manage to make those fucking things work, but I'm willing to take a miracle here."
She put on her armor, the instinct as natural to her as breathing. When she picked up Maimer, the grip was familiar like an old friend that you hadn't seen in a long time, but still remembered every detail of.
Clarisse must have looked even a fraction as giddy as she felt, because when Silena looked up at her, she smiled brightly.
"Kick ass out there, sweetheart. I better see a bunch of people come into the infirmary because of you."
"I'm not sure how much Will would appreciate that, but I'll make sure to beat some sense into those punks. Gods, I've missed this."
Silena kissed Clarisse on her cheek, and sent her on her way.
The Ares cabin was on the same team as the Athena cabin, so Clarisse met up with Annabeth to talk strategy.
Annabeth looked surprised to see her.
"You up for this?"
"Of course I am. Besides, I think Silena wouldn't let me go if I wasn't. Will cleared me, and I'm going to trust his judgement.
Annabeth chuckled. Judging by the happiness on Clarisse's face, she was ready to wreak havoc on the other team. And that boded excellently for her plan
"You ready to beat all their asses, Clarisse?"
"You'd better fucking believe it."
…
Clarisse was sent deep into the forest, to try and locate the opposing teams flag, with instructions to capture as many enemy campers as she could along the way.
Within fifteen minutes of the start, Clarisse already had sent several campers on their way to the infirmary. She didn't main anyone, but a fair few of them would have some nasty bruises.
She would feel bad, except for the fact that she knew that Will and Silena, and the rest of the people volunteering in the infirmary were capable enough to hand it.
Also, she was having too much fun to care. Her AFOs were working better than she could ever dreamed.
She hadn't lost too much muscle memory, thank the gods, and it showed in her fighting. Nobody was able to even touch her, and she felt on top of the world.
Fighting was the time that she felt the best, it was a shot of endorphins into her system every time she hit someone. Being finally back was the biggest hit of delayed gratification she had ever felt.
Out of the corner of her eye, Clarisse could spot the smallest hint of red fabric billowing in the wind. She sprinted towards it, spear in hand, and snatched the flag up before any of the guards could catch her.
Quickly, however, they heard her run away, and began pursuing her.
Her legs didn't hurt, she didn't trip, and she was able to use her legs to their full potential.
Running through the forest, campers on her tail, Clarisse felt more free than she had in a long time.