★ 𝟐 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 ★ p. jackson

002

"Alright, what did you want to show me." It was bright and early the next morning, and the sun was beating down on the camp, per usual. Campers scattered about to find their friends or get some practice in before noon.

"Oh, look who showed up." Beckendorf lifted the welding mask from his face to looked at his sister.

"Make this worth my while before I decide to leave, Charlie." Em crossed her arms over her chest. An older girl, around 18, laughed at the conversation from her welding station.

"Alright alright, Jeez you're just like mom." He laughed but Em frowned slightly. "Sorry, forgot."

"It's ok." Their mother was a sore spot for Esmeralda. She had little memory of her, not having seen her in four years.

"Come, its right over here." Em perked back up and followed Charlie towards the back of the forge. He stopped in front of the work bench and pulled a rag off of something. "Tada!"

Em looked at it, then at him, then back at it. "It's a sword." She said unimpressed.

"Yeah," he smiled

"Don't you guys make like hundreds of these each week." Em was struggling to understand the importance.

"Oh my gods, it's for you dim wit." He picked up the sword and handed it to her.

"You made me a sword?" She looked at him in awe as she took it in her hands.

"Well yeah, you always talk about how much you dislike the one you have now, and you can never seem to find one that's just right so I decided to try. Chiron gave me a little advice."

She shifted the weapon from hand to hand, and it felt just right. "It's perfect." She ran her finger over the little details in the hilt, "you engraved my name in it?" She smiled running her finger over the word 'Esmeralda'.

"Just minor details." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" She put it down and flung herself on top of him into a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She jumped excitedly.

"You're welcome, why don't you go try it out." He smiled as she grabbed it and ran out of the forge.

"Love you!" She called as she ran.

"Love you too Emmie!" He yelled back, laughing slightly to himself.

~

It was quite easy to find Luke on a day like today. He could be easily be spotted helping other campers or training on his own. Esmeralda ran up to Luke as he assisted a Percy with his sword work.

"Good, now try the disarming move." Luke said.

"Alright," Percy looked uneasy but he gave it a go, to his surprise, he got it first try. "Woah."

Luke stared down at his sword in disbelief. "That's great Percy, hardly anyone gets it first try, try again."

Percy tried again but this time failed, "Beginner's luck maybe?" Luke said.

"Luke!" Em yelled grabbing his attention.

"What's got you so excited this morning." Luke turned to the younger girl.

"I got a new sword! Wanna test it." She waved the celestial bronze weapon around.

"Alright bet," he raised his own sword and prepared to brace himself. Em was no baby when it came to sparing, she was either all in or nothing at all. Luke trained her so it made sense that she was good with the weapon. She was quite fast when it came to fighting, but you need a little bit more that speed to be a good swordsman.