The Beginnings of an Olympian

21 | Sword Lessons

Some of the anger seemed to wash away, receding into him like the end of a high tide. He glared at Cameron once more and then looked at me. "It's Percy. Just Percy," he said and then turned without another word.

1st Person | Luke's POV
(Italics within the text below are thoughts not spoken out loud)
1105 words

He forgave me? I died a hero? What the hell is going on? Why was he so defensive? He doesn't actually care? Does he? And Annabeth. By the gods, Annabeth died. How? Why? What's happened since I died?

Zen snapped their fingers in front of my face to pull me out of my thoughts. "Yo, Commander! Snap out of it!"

Chaiya put his arm on my shoulder. "Are you alright? That was very... unexpected."

"Yeah.... yes. Yes, I'm fine. I'm gonna... I'm going to head down to the arena and help out there. You guys can go and see who else needs help."

"Commander," Cameron called out to me, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to get information from him. I didn't mean to make him upset; although, shouldn't you be happy he did? It means he forgave you, right? You could possibly reveal your identity too!" I knew Cameron felt guilty for antagonizing Percy, but he was also hopeful that I could reunite with my old friends. I didn't feel as hopeful as he did.

"I guess so. Thanks, Cameron. But try not to make any other deities mad," I said with a small smirk and light laugh. He nodded back and we all went our separate ways.

I headed down towards the arena to help with the sword lessons. I kinda had déjà vu from when I was a counselor here. But I didn't want to get stuck in my thoughts again so I repressed the memories and walked to the front of the campers next to a guy with messy black hair, pale olive skin, and dark-brown eyes. He wore a black shirt with a skull on it, dark jeans, an aviator jacket, and a skull ring. A second later, my brain registered that Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, was the instructor. Currently, the Apollo and Ares cabin was here which again surprised me.

Wouldn't the Apollo cabin be practicing archery? And why is the Ares cabin with them?

Nico had everyone split into 4 groups, each with about an equal number of Apollo to Ares campers. They began sparing and I was impressed that the Apollo cabin could keep up with those in the Ares cabin. Off to the side, I saw a dark-haired boy sparring with Clarisse. They were in full body armor and Clarisse was using a spear while the boy used a 2.5-foot xiphos. It looked unbalanced for him, but he was doing quite well. They both stopped when they saw me approach.

"Hey! I'm Alex! You must be one of the Chaos soldiers! Wait, was it you in my dream?" I nodded. "Wow, cool! So you're the Commander!" I simply nodded again.

"Well then, Commander, you can teach this new son of Poseidon. He's giving me a headache. The Stolls snuck him candy and now he's all hyperactive," she said while walking off.

Son of Poseidon? Percy has a brother? Did not see that coming.

"So can you teach me?! I bet you're great with a sword! My brother wants to give me lessons, but he's really busy getting deities to fight with us. I think he plans on talking to more Titans today."

"Titans? Why would they help? Why would he ask them for help?" I was getting a bit nervous at their choice of allies.

Alex shuffled on his feet not wanting to answer. "Well... that might have been my idea. We need more support and they don't want to die so I figured a temporary truce couldn't hurt. We got all the sea spirits to join us. Even Oceanus agreed. If we get enough support from the Titans, some primordials might help too." I was speechless.

They're asking the Titans for help? And the primordials? Why on Earth would they agree to that?!

"You're probably wondering why the Olympians agreed to ask for their assistance. Honestly, I am too. But Percy said they'd let him ask. He didn't say anything more, but he updates me on the progress since it was my idea originally. Kinda seems like a stupid idea now. I just hope he's not doing this for me, for nothing."

I shook my head. "No, it's a smart plan. Dangerous, but if it works, our forces will be that much stronger. Percy wouldn't go through with a plan unless he believed it would work."

He believed in me enough to hand over the dagger. Or at the very least, he trusted Annabeth enough who believed in me. Maybe he really has forgiven me.

"Hey, and even if it is for you, it's not for nothing. Now enough talk, let's train."

We did some basic maneuvers and I corrected his technique. Then I taught him a few new skills. One was the disarming tactic I showed Percy that first day. Alex got it on his very first try.

Not so different from his brother.

Clapping came from our right. I spun around and readied my sword, but Alex ran up and crushed him in a hug. Percy laughed, "That was a good move, Alex." I could tell he was genuinely proud of his younger brother. "You've got a good teacher," he said, now looking at me. "Say, you use that move often?"

I think he was getting suspicious, so I replied, "Comes in handy now and then. Not an uncommon technique."

He kept eye contact with me, even though my eyes were hidden, and then he asked if I would walk with him to the dining pavilion since dinner would be called in a few minutes. I hesitantly obliged.

Gods, this is killing me! Has he figured it out? It's one thing to think you've forgiven someone, but what would happen if he faced me. Would he still call me a hero?

"You seem very familiar, you know."

"Can't say I do."

"Ah. Well, I had a friend once. He taught me that same disarming maneuver."

"It's a good skill to know."

"I never told this to anyone. Not even Annabeth. But I'd hear his voice in my head when fighting: 'block', 'parry', 'strike', 'don't keep your grip too tight'. Even when I was fighting in the Battle of Manhattan and against Gaea's Giants it was his voice that I heard."

"Why have you never told anyone?"

He didn't answer my question. Instead, he said the thing that stopped me in my tracks. "I don't often hear his voice in my head anymore, but sometimes when I'm training hard with my sword, it comes up. So believe me when I say I'd never forget the sound of his voice... Luke."