Time Travel and Fixing The Future

III

Pov. Chris

After Travis, Conner, Katie, and Miranda disappeared, we split up to search for them. I teamed up with Clarisse, Thalia, and Reyna. Part of me was worried about them, but another part thought they might be playing a prank. I vowed to myself that if it was a prank, I'd be furious, even though they are my step-siblings.

After about 5 minutes of searching, the glowing orb appeared again, and this time, we didn't have a chance to react. Suddenly, both Clarisse and I were absorbed by the sphere.

As we flew for a while, I felt like I was falling, and when I tried to get up, I realized someone had fallen on top of me. It turned out to be Clarisse, judging by the curses she was muttering, including ones directed at Travis, Conner, and even Leo.

I managed to help Clarisse up, and as she reluctantly accepted my hand, I lifted her. After assisting Clarisse, I looked around and was shocked. We were in the Half-Blood Camp, but it wasn't the one I knew. It was the camp from before the Titan War.

"What the Hades!" Clarisse thundered, more of a command for someone to answer than a question. I looked at the campers, and some were trembling. Before I could speak, my stepbrother Conner's voice echoed.

"Hey, Clarisse, Chris, to answer your question, the Fates decided to send us into the past." Before I could comprehend what was happening, still processing that we were in the past, I heard my girlfriend swearing. Without much thought, I grabbed her hand and started calming her. "Riss, calm down. There's nothing we can do. But we'll get back sooner or later. Now, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out..." Clarisse gradually calmed down. So, I looked around the camp, and everyone from the past was staring at us, probably expecting us to get punished, not calmed down. I decided to ignore that and turned to those from our time, still holding Clarisse's hand tightly, occasionally squeezing it to let her know I'm with her, and asked, "How far back in the past are we, and why are we here?"

"It hasn't been claimed yet, and we're here to change their future, not ours, considering this is a different timeline. These two timelines will continue simultaneously, unaware of each other's existence, so when we go back to our time, everything will be as we remember," Travis replied as if it were something simple, leaving both me and others shocked.

"What?" I asked, confused. "How do you know all this? It doesn't sound like you at all." He looked at me offended, "Hey! That's not true. I can be very smart if I want. But I know this because if it were the same timeline, we should have been in their place, and nothing from what happened would have occurred." He answered nonchalantly.

"Okay, setting aside what he said, we need to introduce ourselves with full names and godly parent," Miranda said. I signaled Clarisse to go first. "Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares," she said, and then looked at me for my turn. "Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes," I said, approaching the others.

"I have a question," a mini Annabeth said, looking at both Clarisse and me. Clarisse smiled upon seeing how small Annabeth was and calmly said, "Yes, Annabeth?" Her voice sounded calm. "Are you...?" She didn't know how to continue the sentence, so she left it hanging. Clarisse smiled and nodded affirmatively.

"Oh, gods!" she exclaimed excitedly for some reason I didn't know. I'm definitely going to ask Annabeth from our time about this. I think she noticed the confusion on our faces, so she said, "It seems fate works so intricately! Most likely, my future self will answer your questions." It left me even more puzzled, but I didn't have time to react as that shining orb appeared in the sky again, and four more people fell from it.

To understand the last part, I recommend reading "Here and Back Again." I don't know the person who wrote it, but the story has stuck with me over the years.