True Love's Kiss
Pairings: Piper/Annabeth Pipabeth, past Percabeth and Jasiper
Summary: Piper will never go on a quest ever again. Not to save the world, not to destroy enemies, and certainly not to retrieve her mother's stupid enchanted locket. And she never will never want to see her half-brother Eros again, not after he trapped the two of them in this dream.
Or: That fic where Eros is a Pipabeth shipper and I made an entire plot to get the two a very extended Disney Land date.
On an irrelevant note: YES I AM PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE OF WRITING CHARACTERS IN A WAY THAT THEY DON'T SOMETIMES BABBLE LIKE THE DOCTOR! I am only mildly sorry about this.
Last note: HAPPY FEMSLASH FEBRUARY FRIENDS! THIS IS MY FIRST CONTRIBUTION!
Piper will never go on a quest ever again. Not to save the world, not to destroy enemies, and certainly not to retrieve her mother's stupid enchanted locket. And she will never want to see her half-brother Eros again, not after he trapped the two of them in this dream. But she supposed that she didn't really need to worry about ever going on another quest or seeing her douche-y brother, considering that she was never ever getting out of this situation.
Oh come on, sister, Eros' sarcastic, flamboyant voice echoed in her mind, it's true love, not rocket science.
With Annabeth, everything was rocket science. Things had to complicated, and half the time, Piper didn't know where they stood. Annabeth had broken up with Percy, but half the time it seemed like she still loved him.
Hell, not even Annabeth's dream world could be normal.
The dream that Piper's oh so helpful brother had sealed the two of them in was not the Wizard of Oz. It wasn't the Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, or an alternate timeline for their lives or any of those clichés that one might expect. The area they were currently standing in what seemed like the entrance to an amusement park. A small structure with a multicolored roof and several lines queued into what was quite obviously a theme park.
If dreams were gateways to the unconscious desires (like Freud and Jung had theorized) then it was pretty obvious that Annabeth's dream was to go to Disney Land. But Freud also theorized that the world revolved around his dick and that little boys wanted to fuck their mothers, so Piper wasn't sure how much credence she should lend to his theories.
Piper could see the tippy top of a tower in the distance.
"Definitely Disney Land," she thought. Then, she glanced side-ways at Annabeth, who was completely flabbergasted. She looked like she'd just been given a piece of poisoned pie: she wanted so much to indulge but she knew that it wasn't real and would certainly be to the detriment of her well-being.
Piper asked her, "So what should we do?" Annabeth normally had a plan up her sleeve. So Piper decided to leave the large decisions up to her. It would certainly help set Annabeth's mind at ease.
"Go along with it?" Annabeth suggested, sounding uncharacteristically defeated, but she still had stars twinkling in her eyes from looking at the castle's crown.
"You just want to go along with it?" asked Piper skeptically, though it didn't sound like all that bad of an idea. The dream seemed fun. The love god's voice rang in her mind: true love's kiss.
"Well," Piper thought, "Since I'm never getting out of this, I might as well fucking enjoy it."
When Annabeth was about to pass through the turnstiles, the blonde clerk stopped her.
"Ticket, please," the woman replied curtly.
"Ticket?" Annabeth asked, "Really? Even in my dreams I have to pay?"
The woman laughed, "I'm just kidding with you. It's the only thing that gets me through the day." Piper looked her over. She seemed familiar. Like Piper had known her from school or seen her on a television program or a movie. Suddenly Piper realized where she knew here she was from.
"You're that princess from The Black Cauldron," Piper said, in a complete eureka moment.
"You actually know who I am?" the girl asked in response, completely baffled that someone had remembered her.
"Of course," Piper said, "I didn't watch that movie all that many times, but I did like it as a kid. The Horned King scared the shit out of me." Annabeth seemed confused and the princess seemed ecstatic.
The girl laughed, "Sorry, it's just I'm a B team princess, hell, I'm a C team princess. People never remember that I exist. Our movie didn't get a sub-park. We ended up with shitty staff positions."
"Really?" Piper asked, "The whole cast?"
"Yeah," she said, laughing, "The Horned King has ended up running a dress shop over in Arendelle." Piper laughed so loudly at the images that sent to her mind.
"So is there any way that we could get a map of this place?" Annabeth asked, "Or is it constantly changing? Is a dream even capable of maintaining the homeo-stasis that a map would require?"
"I have no idea what half of that means," the girl replied, but she took out a folded map labeled Disney Mind: A magical place inside Annabeth's head. Piper tried not to over think the connotations of Annabeth's dream world being this well organized and self-aware were, though Piper supposed that anything of Annabeth's had to have been well-organized.
Piper sat down at a bright, blue, metal, bench a few paces from the entrance to the park and Annabeth plopped down beside her. Piper wondered, briefly, why Annabeth had dreamed a world that still had a gigantic crowd at the theme park. People flitted from place to place with no clear destination in mind.
"Just like real crowds," Piper thought, a small smile curling on her lips.
Piper opened her map on her lap. It had lots of locations including Corona, Cinderella's Palace, and surprisingly, Camp Half-blood.
"I love the implications here," Piper said in a tone that heralded awful jokes.
"What are the implications," Annabeth asked. Piper assumed she was completely used to this sort of thing after years of dealing with Percy and his entire being. The boy was made of bad jokes and angst.
"That Disney owns Camp Half-blood," Piper replied. Annabeth rolled her sterling eyes so far Piper wondered briefly if they might disappear into the back of her skull.
"So where do you want to go first?" Annabeth asked, casually looking towards the map.
"Camp Half-blood," replied Piper, though she knew it sounded more like duh.
"I thought that you'd want to see more of it before we did that," Annabeth replied as though it were a perfectly reasonable response.
"Don't you want to go home?" asked Piper. She had no idea why Annabeth would want to be trapped in a dream with Piper of all people for longer than she needed to be. Piper had just assumed that they'd make their way to Camp Half-blood, get Annabeth to kiss dream-Percy and call it a day (no matter how much it hurt Piper to think so).
"Of course," she said, "But come on, going to a fake Camp Half-blood will not help us get back to the real one. And come on, we can tempt fate. They have a Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride. We can literally go see Rapunzel's floating lights. I think I'll stay in my dream world at least a little while."
"But-" Piper said, and Annabeth looked at her seriously.
"Do you want to leave?" she asked, "I mean right now. Would you prefer we leave right now? Start busting shit up in hopes that Eros will let is leave?" No matter how much Piper's morals wanted her to say so yes, to try to get Annabeth to kiss the boy she actually loved and to go back to the real world to reconquer his heart, her own heart couldn't get past the idea of having an amusement park date with Annabeth.
"No," she said, though only half of her meant it.
"Great," Annabeth said and she folded up her map, slipping it into her pocket, "I know where we should start."
"You want to ride the Dumbos?" Piper asked skeptically, looking over at Annabeth and then the ride.
"Yes," Annabeth stated, sounding slightly offended that Piper had even dared suggesting that it was a silly idea. Piper sent her another questioning look.
"Come on," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes, "We need to get in line." The wait time said an hour. People had queued around the ride- twice.
"I can't believe that we are inside your dream," Piper grumbled, "And we still have to wait in enormous lines."
The wait for the ride was not worth it. Okay, it was kind of worth it. Annabeth's face was lit up like a sparkler on the Fourth of July for the whole duration of the ride- which was a whopping minute. (One of the reasons why it wasn't worth it.) But Piper still couldn't shake the smile that Annabeth had on her face, one like a kid at well, Disney Land. And the fact that Annabeth casually slipped her hand into Piper's own wasn't unwelcome either.
So maybe the wait was worth it. But it would have been a lot more worth it had it been a half decent ride.
When they exited the ride, Piper looked to Annabeth.
"Okay," Piper said, "I'm choosing where we go next."
"Fair enough," Annabeth coincided.
"Let's go on The Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride," Piper said.
Piper had to admit that red roller coaster's stark contrast to the golden sand of the beach and the bright blue of the sea and sky was stunning. The line waiting for it, however, was not.
"Annabeth," Piper said as they got in line, "I don't understand why you dreamt up a theme park and proceeded to make the lines as long as they are in real life. We could ride all the rides in like, I dunno, an hour. But nope! You dreamt up lines as long as your list of enemies."
"We could cut you know," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes, "They aren't real people."
"No," Piper said, "I am not cutting. I might be a liar, and a thief, and not that great of a sword-fighter." Piper probably could have listed all of the qualities that she did not like about herself, but Annabeth tore her out of her self-deprecatory ranting.
"Your point?" Annabeth asked, not unkindly. They could both get lost in what they were saying. In that way, Piper knew the beautiful girl understood her.
"But I am not the sort of asshole who cuts in line," Piper finished, "it's against my moral code." Annabeth sent her a look that said, yeah, right.
Piper glared, "I am a very ethical person, Annabeth."
"Says the girl who "borrowed" a BMW," Annabeth teased.
"Different story," Piper asserted. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she didn't press the subject. They moved on to more vanilla topics for the remainder of the wait.
"Keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times!" said the voice of Mickey Mouse as Piper and Annabeth were finally allowed to board the rollercoaster.
"Was the wait worth it?" Annabeth asked.
"My ethical code remains unbreached," Piper said, "So yes. Well, kind of."
"Hold on tight," Annabeth said, and then, as if on cue (and Piper supposed that it probably was- it was Annabeth's dream, after all) the roller coaster took off at a high speed. Piper's loose hair blew back from the force of the takeoff. She felt her adrenaline racing, and she found herself laughing against the wind that was blowing in her face. Annabeth was screaming contentedly. In the distance, towards the rest of the park, Piper could see the tops of various castle, one she recognized as Cinderella's and one that was quite obviously Jasmine's.
Piper had been paying so much attention to the scenery, that she hadn't noticed their ascent until they started their drop. It felt like they were hurtling towards the earth, and okay, Piper had never actually been on a roller coaster with a drop like this before. She screamed like a murder victim in a horror flick as she tightly grasped Annabeth's hand.
Unintentionally, she told herself, completely unintentionally.
Her heart returned to her body when the ride stopped, but her legs felt wobbly as they exited. As she stepped off the roller coaster platform, Piper wished that she had other shoes: Converses were not known for their traction. She gazed out at the sun glittering on the pure, blue, ocean water. Surfers were playing in the waves. Kids were building sandcastles. Lilo and Stitch were performing tricks on their board that knocked all the others, quite literally, out of the water. Or, into it, that was better phrasing, seeing that their collisions with other boarders had sent at least two surfers into the water in the minute that Piper had been watching.
"It's so weird," Annabeth said, "I don't understand how this can be so real."
"I think that it's because you're you," Piper said with a shrug, "Even your dreams have to be realistic."
Annabeth considered it for a moment, and then seemed to judge that it was a fair point.
"So," Piper asked, "Where to next?"
Piper was surprised to find that there was an actual pirate ride, not like a little boat ride with creepy animatronics, but an actual pirate ship that sailed over a river around the park.
"So," one of the men said in a bad, fake pirate voice, "Ye lassies want to board the ship?" He was short, with a big red nose, a red cap, and a blue striped shirt.
Mr. Smee her mind supplied. So they were boarding a Peter Pan pirate ship?
"Yes" Piper said.
"Would we be standing here if we didn't?" Annabeth asked.
"Fair point," he said, "Come aboard all of ye, but make sure to step with yer right foot first."
"Cap'n Hook," the pirate said, "I've brought ye some new crew members."
"Oh Mr. Smee," the Captain complained, his clothing in a complete disarray, "Who are you even kidding? This is just a ride. I have no crew. I'm a sham, Mr. Smee. I am a sham."
"At least," Mr. Smee said, stuttering and sounding much less false. "You aren't being chased by the crocodile anymore."
Captain Hook elected to ignore Smee's comment. He tossed an eye-patch and a pirate hat in their general direction.
"Here," he said, overly apathetic to the whole situation, "Knock yourselves out. There are swords on the wall. Spar if you wish. Watch the scenery. Whatever. Just don't break anything." He slipped dramatically below deck as Mr. Smee scampered behind. Piper sent Annabeth a confused look. Annabeth shrugged and put the eye patch on. Piper gave in and put on the hat.
"How about we spar?" Piper asked? Annabeth grabbed a sword off the wall in agreement.
Piper probably should never have asked Annabeth to spar, because she got her ass handed to her- thrice. Even in an eye patch, Annabeth was a much better swordswoman than Piper. When Piper was pinned, her thoughts went to places that were much closer to an R rating than one should be thinking inside of a Disney park.
"Best four out of seven?" Annabeth asked Piper as she helped her up.
"No thank you," Piper said, "I'd prefer to escape this with some dignity." She looked out from the ship's deck, though she briefly considering trying to climb the mast for a better view. She could see Tiana's Palace restaurant, the domes of Jasmine's castle, the striking gothic architecture of Notre Dame (which Annabeth had just whimsically pointed out) and Rapunzel's castle, where the lights were already starting to float. The sun was beginning to set.
"Alright," said Captain Hook, coming drunkenly up from below deck, "You lot, off my ship. Now."
Piper and Annabeth staggered off the ship.
"What now?" Annabeth asked, and then Piper gestured towards Rapunzel's castle.
"Fancy a trip to Corona?" she asked.
Piper didn't understand the logic, but everyone seemed to have cleared out of the park by the time they arrived in Corona. They gazed up at the castle from the stone bridge. The floating lanterns reflected on the sea. At the end of the bridge, to the left was an overhead sign that read "I See the Light Boat Rides!" Annabeth suggested riding it, and then they walked the path to the beginning.
A choppy haired, brunette, Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert greeted guests at the bottom. Rapunzel ushered them to their own personal gondola, and then had them sit down. They buckled their seat belts.
"Eugene and I met on a boat ride just like this," Rapunzel said, "It's a great place for people to fall in love."
Eugene glared at her playfully, "Blondie, you're gonna embarrass the kids." Piper was kind of surprised that he still called her Blondie with her brunette hair.
"It's true, though," she said, "Have fun you two!"
The gondola started sailing away. In less than a minute, they were out on the bay surrounding Corona. The lanterns were as thick as the starry sky, and Piper could see the lights of the kingdom as well. The houses that lined the mountain and the castle looked simply magnificent in contrast to the lanterns. It was stunning. Much more beautiful than anything Piper had ever seen. She could barely even fathom it, and Annabeth looked absolutely entranced.
Piper's hand found itself intertwined with Annabeth's. She heard the music start to play in the background and she could hardly take the splendor. The beauty of the lyrics, of Annabeth in the light, of the scenery and the lanthorns. Piper had to fight both the urge to start singing along and to kiss Annabeth. She wasn't positive that she actually wanted to fight either of them. She could feel herself leaning into Annabeth near the end of the song, but she pulled herself back.
She forced herself not to kiss her.
She couldn't stand the rejection.
Now that I see you
Damn that poetic irony.
After they exited the ride and Piper was suddenly struck with fatigue.
"We need to find somewhere to sleep," Annabeth stated.
"How about near Cinderella's palace?" Piper asked. They could see it very close. The grass surrounding it would be lovely underneath them, and if she was right, then they would be having a fireworks display.
Piper was correct. There was a fireworks display. She and Annabeth sprawled out on the soft grass.
"So I'm just asleep somewhere?" Annabeth asked starring up at the fireworks. Piper didn't know how she thought of these sorts of things at the most inopportune times.
"I guess so," Piper said, "I sort of stopped thinking about it a while after I realized he somehow put my consciousness into your consciousness. How does that even work?"
"No idea," Annabeth admitted, and Piper was impressed at the nonchalance in her tone. Normally, it took Annabeth a lot more effort and a more obvious blow to her pride to admit ignorance or error.
"So are our bodies together? Do we look dead?" Piper wondered, joining in Annabeth's musings.
"I bet we look like Romeo and Juliet or something: lovers who committed joint suicide," Annabeth said, disgust at the prospect evident in her tone. Piper felt a sting at this.
"I don't want to compared to Romeo and Juliet," she said, "Those two were such idiots." Piper regained a bit of her pride upon this realization.
"I'm gonna go to sleep," Annabeth drawled, "I'm tired."
Annabeth started snoring before Piper could even tell her goodnight. Piper found this very, very odd.
"Well hello, little sister," came a voice from above her. Piper looked closer and saw the youthful, impish face of Eros.
Well, Piper thought, that explains that.
"How goes the romancing," Eros asks, sitting down beside her.
"It doesn't go at all," Piper asserted.
"Ah, Piper," he said, "You just have to believe. You're in a fabulous environment. Everything is perfect for romance. Love is in the air."
"Aye, there's the rub," Piper stated, "She doesn't love me, Eros. We'll be stuck here for eternity if you try to force it."
"Oh ye of little faith," he replied, rolling his red eyes, "I am the god of love, I know what I'm doing here."
"You look thirteen and you tote your little NERF gun around like a weapon of mass destruction," Piper dead-panned, "Sorry for not trusting your all-knowing advice."
Eros grasped his heart, "You wound me, sister. Remember, I am the one trying to set you up with your dream girl."
"I wish you weren't," Piper muttered, "This isn't moral, trying to force her to fall in love with me like this."
"When has love ever been moral?" he asked. She glared at him so hard that she momentarily wondered if she'd turned him to stone.
Sadly, she hadn't because he responded, "Piper, it would have happened without me. I'm just giving you two a nudge in the right direction."
"Eros," Piper said, but her brother disappeared into a guest of wind. Rose petals littered the ground where he had stood.
"Gods damn it, Eros!" Piper shouted, but he was obviously out of earshot. She screamed at the sky. The sky did not respond.
Piper awoke to sunlight shining brightly in her eyes.
"Urgh," she groaned.
"Annabeth," she said, shaking the girl that was sleeping beside her, "Wake up."
Annabeth grasped her own hip, as if looking for her dagger.
"Calm down," Piper said, "There are no monsters."
"Oh yeah," Annabeth said, forcing herself to sit up, "Disney Land." She stood up.
"So what are we going to do today?" Annabeth asked.
"I dunno," Piper said, standing up, "Walk around until we find something?"
"Sounds like a fine plan to me," Annabeth replied.
After a few minutes of walking, Piper and Annabeth came across a large sign with familiar script. It read Star Wars Land.
"That sounds like fun," Annabeth said.
"No," Piper said, "Just no. Nope. No way."
"I thought that you loved Star Wars?" Annabeth asked.
"I do," said Piper, "I don't want to see Disney fuck it up."
"Personally," said Annabeth, "I think that Disney has a very good track record for doing things well commercially. Besides, they can't fuck it up any worse than George Lucas did with the prequels."
Piper glared, "No. Just no."
"Fine," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes, "Whatever. Let's see if there's anything we want to do."
They took an uneventful ride on the teacups, which did not have a long line at all yet, because the park was presumably not open yet. One shouldn't ask Piper how Annabeth's dream world worked. She had no fucking clue.
They eventually came to another large sign. This one read MARVEL in red and white script.
"God damn it!" Piper replied, "Is there anything that Disney doesn't own?"
"That one Anastasia movie," Annabeth replied, "That's owned by 20th Century Fox." Piper let her breath in frustration.
"Oh look," Annabeth said, pointing in the distance, "It's Mount Olympus! I guess that Disney kind of owns that too." Piper was not happy about how many of her favorite things had been bought out by Disney. Annabeth clearly liked rubbing that in.
"Let's go see it," said Annabeth.
"Fine," said Piper, "Anything's better than seeing what they've done to The Avengers."
After arriving at Mount Olympus, they spent a good twenty minutes looking at the architecture before they met the characters.
"Herc," Meg said while laughing, "how many times has she knocked you on your ass now?"
"Three," Annabeth replied.
She looked so cute when she was being smug.
"I beat her once," Hercules grumbled.
"You have got to stop plowing through this with just your strength," Annabeth said, "A smaller, swifter opponent will be able to use your strength against you." How did she look so attractive when she was giving attractive criticism?
"Like you've been doing this whole time," Hercules stated.
"Basically," Annabeth replied. Piper needed some air. It really wasn't good to watch Annabeth fight Hercules so much (and be so fucking attractive while doing so).
"I think that I'll take a look around," Piper said.
The garden at the base of Mount Olympus was lovely. Topiaries and statues littered the ground and a fountain spouted constantly.
"If there's a prize for rotten judgment," Piper started singing, softly, "I guess I've already won that."
"No one is worth the aggravation," she said, remembering her breakup with Jason, "That's ancient history, been there, done that."
"Who do you think you're kiddin'? She's the earth and heaven to you! Try to keep it hidden," sang a chorus of voice from behind her.
"HOLY FUCK!" Piper shouted as she turned abruptly around. The Disney muses were dancing behind her.
"Honey, we can see right through you. Girl, you can't conceal it. We know how you feel and who you're thinking of," they sang. Piper glared at them.
"No," she said, "I am not doing this."
"Oh come on," said one, "You're supposed to sing along, trying to deny your love for her."
"And the we'll continue to sing about how silly it is," another chimed.
"And how you'll eventually give in to your feelings," still another added
Then the shortest said, "And then there's a big kiss at the end."
"No," Piper said, "I am so not doing this. I'm not in love- this is a crush. And Annabeth does not like me back."
"You really are clueless, aren't you?" asked the last one.
"I am not clueless," Piper grumbled.
"You're gonna need a lot of help then," said another, "You're gonna need to see the love experts."
"Do you mean those trolls from Frozen?" Piper asked, but the muses had already turned to stone. Their expressions were neutral, but she could tell that they were mocking her. Piper sighed. She'd have to trek all the way back up the palace where Annabeth and Hercules were probably still sparing.
Piper hated stairs.
"I don't want to ever walk again," Piper said dramatically as she finally came to the top of the stairs.
"There you are," Annabeth said, "I was beginning to worry that you'd gotten lost."
"Not lost," Piper said, "Just exhausted."
"Well that's too bad," Annabeth said, "Because we're going to walk to the other end of the park." Annabeth ended the line with a smirk that Piper should not have found attractive.
God fucking damn it
"Snow White's Scary Forest Ride?" Piper asked, "How could anything relating to Snow White be scary?"
"I have no idea," Annabeth said, "But I'm excited to find out."
"We'll have an hour and a half to mull it over," Piper drawled, looking at the long line.
"Keep all hands and legs inside the vehicle," Doc said.
"They know that," Grumpy grumbled.
"Let's find out what this is," Annabeth said as they sat in their cart. Piper took a deep breath and the ride started at the heart-stopping speed of fifteen miles an hour. The trees were scary solely because they didn't look like real trees. The fake owls were mortifying because it looked as though their strings might snap at any moment. The music was horrific because of how off-key the violins sounded. The bog water was frightening because the moss that coated the top layer seemed utterly toxic. The only enjoyable part was exiting the ride in the Dwarfs' cottage, which was a lovely gift shop at the end.
"How did the quality of the rides go from actual Mount Olympus to that?" Annabeth asked.
"I don't know," Piper said, rolling her eyes, "It's your dream." The shelves were lined in Snow White merchandise and in the corner was a glass coffin with what looked like a wax reconstruction of Snow White's sleeping body (or more likely, Piper though morbidly, her corpse).
"That's kind of terrifying," Annabeth said, clearly talking about what Piper was thinking about.
"I know," Piper said and she shuttered. Then she thought more about Snow White as an actual film.
"I wonder if your true love is going to kiss your sleeping body like Snow White's prince did," Piper said. Then she realized the horror of the idea. Percy kissing Annabeth's sleeping body would be so much like him kissing her corpse. She shivered at the thought.
"Piper, that's ridiculous," her words were like chocolate, rich, and authentic, "They're here with me." The words sounded so sincere. The way that Annabeth was looking at her was so pure and loving, that Piper almost allowed herself to be swept away. But she reigned her emotions in.
"Of course," Piper said, trying to ground herself, "Percy's probably here." She forced herself to remember the things that she'd allowed herself to forget. Annabeth didn't love her, no matter how she was looking at her, or what she'd just said. This wasn't real. Piper must have accidentally charmspoken her. She must have, she must have done something wrong. No matter what Eros said, and no matter how she felt, Annabeth didn't feel that way for her.
Her jealousy burned, but she couldn't let Annabeth do something that she'd regret. Something that would hurt both of them.
"Annabeth," she said, "Don't you think we should be getting to Camp Half-blood now? True Love's Kiss is waiting," Piper said.
The more bitter, spiteful part of her spit out words that tasted of poison, "Percy waits."
Annabeth glared and she coolly- no coldly said, "Of course. Silly me." She looked bitter and her glare looked like it could freeze it's onlookers. Her gray eyes, which Piper had always found beautiful and soft, looked hard and cold. Annabeth turned from her and stormed off.
Fuck
Piper searched everywhere for Annabeth (starting at Camp Half-blood. That was not very fun because it was just a bunch of kids in orange t-shirts and a couple of satyrs) before looking where she really should have to begin with. She found her on the steps of Notre Dame.
"Go away, Piper," She muttered from her position with her head cradled on her knees. Piper sat quietly beside her.
"Annabeth," she asked softly, "Are you alright?"
"No," Annabeth said, her voice almost a whisper.
"Everyone keeps trying to force that relationship with Percy on me," Annabeth said quietly.
"Aphrodite, Grover, all of the camp, Eros," Annabeth said, and she cradled her head in her hands in a moment of uncharacteristic vulnerability, "That's why I broke up with him. Yes, I broke up with him. I just couldn't take the expectations. We weren't in love, not the way that everyone wanted us to be. And now you too? Piper, I thought that you were different."
She looked up, directly into Piper's eyes, "I guess that I was wrong."
"I'm sorry for forcing that on you, Annabeth," Piper said, "It was wrong. I was wrong." Annabeth looked at her like she didn't believe a word that she was saying.
"I won't try to force you into a relationship with Percy, or to make you mend it or whatever else," Piper said, trying to infuse her words with aspects of an oath, "If I have to, I'll stay with you in this dream. Forever. Hades, living in a theme park wouldn't be so bad." Annabeth looked a bit happier than she'd been, but Piper could sense that the answer hadn't been what Annabeth had been looking for. Piper wondered what she'd done wrong.
Annabeth pushed a tear out of her eye. They sat in silence for a while-thirty seconds at least. Piper listened as Annabeth's breathing started to steady.
"If we're going to be here forever," Annabeth said, trying to force humor into her voice, "I have somewhere I want to go right now." Piper didn't even bother asking, because she was sure that Annabeth would answer her own question.
"Let's go to Arendelle," Annabeth declared. They started towards the snow queen's kingdom.
The blue roofs of the palace were angular and stunning, but Piper was surprised that the door wasn't open. For two reasons, one, because all the others in the entire park were, and two, the whole entire movie had a theme of open doors. Piper thought that Elsa would have learned her lesson. Annabeth knocked on the door firmly. The door opened quickly and then Anna bounced outside.
"Elsa!" she said in excitement, "We have visitors!"
"Yes, Anna," the queen replied, sounding leagues less excited than her sister.
"Come on in," Anna said, gesturing for them to enter. The main hall was lovely with multicolored tapestries, paintings on the walls, and a chandelier fluttering down from the ceiling.
"Welcome to Arendelle," Anna said, "What brings you here?"
"Erm," Annabeth said, sounding confused and a little bit defeated, "Eros."
"Oh yes!" Anna said, "Isn't it romantic."
"Yeah," Olaf said, and Piper nearly fell on her back. She had not noticed the snowman. Due to his sudden appearance he was certainly startling.
"They're such a cute couple," he said and Piper could almost see the stars in his eyes.
"Wait?" Piper thought, "Couple?"
"We're not a couple," Piper said, a bit too quickly. Annabeth stiffened.
"Oh you aren't," Anna sounded downright crushed. Elsa looked embarrassed and then she sent them an apologetic look for her sister's lack of tact.
"Well," Anna said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant, "If you're in Arendelle, you'd better go meet Kristoff's family. They're really amazing. Olaf, would you take them to the clearing?"
"Sure," he said, "I love adventures." The look on Annabeth's face said that she kind of regretted taking an excursion to Arendelle.
"You have the prettiest hair," Olaf said to Annabeth, "it's all swirly, like snow. But it's kind of golden, like sunlight." Piper fell a bit behind on their way out of the palace.
"Anna," Elsa said, sounding exasperated in an affectionate way, "You're not playing matchmaker, are you?"
"Yes, no," she said, a blush on her face, "Maybe?" Piper almost laughed, but she didn't want the pair to think that she'd been eaves-dropping. She quickened her pace.
They came to a clearing. The rocky surface was covered in moss and boulders littered the ground.
The trolls, Piper thought.
"Hello, love experts," Olaf said, "We need your help." The trolls popped out of their roly poly position and stood up on their feet. One looked from Piper to Annabeth back to Piper again.
"Oh," she asked, "Another couple that can't see what's right in front of them?"
"Yep," Olaf replied.
"Do we need to sing another song?" she asked.
Olaf said, "Yes!" at the same time as Piper shouted, "No more songs!"
The troll sized them up, and then they started to sing in unison, "It looks like you're both fixer uppers. You've got a few flaws. You've been hurt, she's gone through hell. And neither of you gives a damn for the laws." Piper wanted to scream.
"The best way to fix these fixer uppers up-," they sang. Piper snapped.
"She doesn't love me, alright!" Piepr shouted.
"She's in denial," Olaf sing-songed, but Piper just continued with her tirade.
"There isn't some great cosmic love story going on right now," she yelled, "She doesn't love me, she doesn't love Percy. There is no big damn kiss coming. Do you hear me trolls! Do you hear me Eros?" Annabeth looked at her with hopeful eyes. Then she smiled a big, wide, photogenic smile that would have made Piper want to leap for joy if she hadn't been so frustrated.
Then Annabeth took a few steps towards her and sealed their lips in a kiss. Piper's world stopped. Electricity shot through her body. Piper froze. Bright light swirled through the air as Annabeth's lips swirled against hers and suddenly, they weren't in the clearing anymore.
"Wait," she asked, "What?" They were in the Big House. Curled together in one of the rooms in the infirmary. Piper was confused; had simply worked? And wait? Annabeth had kissed her?
"You kind of confessed your love for me after trolls sang. You thought that I didn't love you," Annabeth said, slowly, "But I do, I love you. I kissed you. Eros did a cool "True Love's Kiss" thing." Annabeth stated this as if it were obvious.
"You love me?" Piper asked, because that was preposterous. She couldn't understand-no, couldn't even comprehend it.
"Yes," Annabeth said, sounding exasperated, "I love you, Piper."
"What about Percy?" Piper asked before she could shut her mouth. She hadn't intended to pour Germ-X into Annabeth's open wound.
"Piper, I already told you. Percy's my best friend," she said, "People were trying to force the relationship on us. We became too codependent but I didn't really love him, not the way I should have. I'm glad that I ended it. The relationship wasn't good for either of us."
Piper raised her eyebrows and then took in breath, "And you think that we'd work better?"
"To be honest," she said, "Yeah. I love you Piper. It took me like a week inside my head with you to realize, but I really do. You're funny and smart. You have these awesome powers but strong morals and you love your friends and family so much. Hell, you would have spent an eternity inside my head trying to have a great time. You tried to help me figure out what was best and not force me into a relationship because you-you didn't even think I liked you back."
Annabeth paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, "You're kind of an idiot, but you're mischievous and hilarious. I can't even completely explain it- you're just you. And don't you even dare ask if I'm thinking clearly, if you could have charmspoken me. I'm thinking more clearly than when I was with Percy. I'm still thinking about Reyna, Percy, Grover, L-everyone." Annabeth looked like she'd shared her fill, but it made Piper's heart race like it did on one of those rollercoasters.
This thing wasn't unrequited.
She hadn't charmspoken her into it.
Annabeth didn't regret it.
"Do you think that we should let everyone know we're okay?" Annabeth asked her.
"No," she said, surprisingly calm for the state of her beating heart, "just let me hold you for a while," Annabeth smiled and melted into her embrace. Annabeth's body in her arms and her blonde hair across her shoulder didn't even feel amazing, like she'd expected. It just felt right.