Do-over (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

5. The whole thing starts. Again.

I tried to enjoy my time at camp as much as possible. I knew my fun and peace wouldn't last.

I couldn't wait for the capture the flag game that was coming up. Just the thought of playing the game I enjoy the most made me super restless. I constantly told myself to keep my mind focused on the present. Or was it the past?

My head always ached whenever I thought about time in general. I could be asking someone for the time and I would get a huge headache. It was like the very word itself had decided that it hated me for no apparent reason.

Before I knew it, I was reliving my very first sword fighting class with the Hermes cabin. Before it started, I walked over to the sword rack and scowled at every sword there. Just looking at them made my arm feel awkward. I wished I had Riptide on me then but it was still in Chiron's possession.

It took me way too long to get a sword that felt the most balanced, but it still felt like a lump of Celestial Bronze was attached to the pommel. Luke came to help me but he couldn't really do anything unless he had the ability to forge an exact replica of Riptide, which he didn't.

I tried to look like an amateur but it was so hard. Watching the Hermes kids and the unclaimed demigods practising with each other was torturous. I had to bite my tongue when I saw a mistake in Connor's footing. I had to stop myself from going over to a younger camper to teach him how to swing a sword properly. I had to mentally kick myself to not go over to an annoying son of Hermes and slap him upside the head for nearly chopping off his friend's hand. On top of all that, I had to act like I have never seen a sword before.

Luke partnered everybody up to do some sparring and unfortunately, I was his sparring partner. I honestly should have seen it coming but I was too focused on not trampling Travis for trying to get his brother to fall on his sword.

Luke came at me with his sword and I could tell he wasn't holding back. After fighting him a bunch of times, I realised that he had never once gone easy on me or anyone else at camp. I wanted so bad to just use the sword I had in my hands like I knew how to, but I couldn't. That would have been too suspicious. Instead, I let Luke beat me around, leaving me really bruised and in pain.

While I was trying my best to look like I was trying my best, I realised something. My mind held a ton of knowledge on sword fighting. I knew all the moves I knew back in my time and my puny twelve-year-old body knew how to perform those moves. The thing about it was that my puny twelve-year-old body was a puny twelve-year-old body.

I wasn't exactly physically capable when I was young and I felt so weak, like I couldn't even block a simple overhead strike without my thin arms crumpling. I made a mental note to get myself back to where I was before as soon as I could. I missed my old body.

Not only was I as weak as a baby, but I was also slower. I knew how to dodge swords and when to do so but my body wouldn't comply. It was like I had real-life lag and I would move a millisecond after I willed my body to move. A millisecond may not seem like much but it could mean life or death.

Luke stopped the sparring, giving me a bit of a break as I tried to catch my breath. He told everyone that he was going to use me as a demonstration to perform the infamous disarming manoeuvre. I inwardly grimaced at the thought of that particular move. Sure, it had been useful for me to use against dimwitted monsters but Luke or, rather, Kronos, had used it on me too many times. It brought bad memories.

I got into a ready position directly opposite Luke, readying my unbalanced sword. I forgot about the water bottle trick and I was hoping I could catch Luke off guard. He lunged at me, my body moving out of the way at the last second. I raised my sword to block his second strike, careful not to give him access to the hilt of my sword. I pushed back with all my force (which wasn't a lot) and somehow, Luke stumbled backwards.