CC101- For the Fruk Valentine's Gift exchange, I got mysconesaredelicious. Here is your PJO request. I hope you like it.

As a Daughter of Aphrodite, Marianne should have adored Valentine's Day. It was the day of love, romance, and happiness. Of course they were just teenagers so there was always awkwardness too. It was a few days before the holiday and Camp Half-Blood was already feeling the effects. Due to most of the teenagers being seen as misfits and troublemakers, the heads of Camp decided that there was going to be a dance, like Prom. Thankfully there were no Kings and Queens but it was similar enough.

Marianne wanted to say it was enjoyable but honestly, the only thing worse than normal prom was prom with teenagers that had superpowers.

Already several campers had been sent to the infirmary due to fights and stunts to ask out other campers. Two sword fights, a broken arm from falling, burn marks during a race to impress a girl from the Ares cabin, and other miscellaneous injuries. She hated it. Her own cabin was being over run by other males and females looking for advice on dating and crushes. Marianne was about to pull her hair our. That's not what this day should be about! There should be no fighting! There should be no jealousy or lust. This day was a about one thing and one thing only!

LOVE!

Looking around her bunk to see everybody preparing for the day, she found herself sickened and raced out of the cabin before she could puke. Perhaps a stroll near the lake would do some good? She passed by a few people, said hello, but found herself all alone until she noticed someone else on the docs that evening. On the edge of one of the piers with her bare toes in the water and a thick book in her hands sat Alice Kirkland.

Marianne fidgeted a bit before approaching the other camper. Normally, one would expect that Marianne, a daughter of Aphrodite, would be in tune with her feelings. And she was, unless it came up to Alice. Alice was an enigma. Marianne both adored and disliked Alice. They had two very different personalities and Alice wasn't hesitant to let her know exactly how the English teen felt about her when they got into an argument. Alice's tongue was like a well sharpened sword and those that got in her way felt the sting of it's sharp edge. Yet at the same time, Marianne felt that Alice was one of the few people in all of Camp Half Blood that she could truly trust.

That was infuriating.

So what made Marianne trust Alice so much?

Marianne had the gift of charm speak. A gift from her mother that Marianne honestly thought of as a curse. She could enchant absolutely anybody to do or say anything that she wanted to. Before she came to Camp Half Blood, she used the gift to obtain money from anybody that she wanted then treated herself with the best clothes, makeup, styles. Boys fell at her feet, girls too if she was in the mood. All she had to use was turn on her charm. It wasn't until she turned sixteen when she came to the Camp that turning on her charm was quite literal. It was magic and a magic she barely knew how to control. It got her in quite a bit of trouble when she accidentally used it on other campers. She trained herself hard not to use that charm on others but it would slip out. And that's where Alice came into the picture.

Her charmspeak had absolutely no effect on Alice and Marianne was so excited. When Alice first came to Camp and Marianne tried to be her friend, they were decent friends. Then Marianne slipped up on her careful watch and told Alice about her gift. That in itself wasn't too important. Alice, being a daughter of Hecate, understood the problems of magical influence on other people. Alice herself joked about charming her brother's hair pink. So her secret was kept safe for the time being. The final nail in her coffin was when Marianne got in an argument with Alice over something, at this point she couldn't even remember what it was. But she intentionally used charmspeak on a few other campers to back her up.

And their friendship was over. Alice called her a monster to use those powers so lightly. Called her a slaver, forcing her will onto others.

It wasn't a pretty day and Marianne counted it as one of the worst days of her life.

"Are you going to just stand there or join me?"

Marianne came back to reality to see Alice had turned around to look at her with those pretty green eyes. It had been months since their fight and honestly, she had no idea where they stood. Was Alice beginning to trust her? Oh gods she hoped so. "Just relaxing." However, she did take Alice up on the offer and sat next to the younger girl, her sandals floating on the top of the water.

Alice returned to her book but did start up a conversation. "Shouldn't you be with your cabin? They are decorating the dance floor are they not?"

"I'm sure that they can handle it without me."

"Hm..."

There was silence between the two for a good half hour. Alice enjoyed her book and Marianne enjoyed the relaxing lakefront to sooth her nerves. It was at times like these that Marianne hoped with all her heart that Alice had forgiven her.

"I heard that another guy tried asking you out to the dance. Are you not going?" Alice eventually asked.

Marianne sighed. It was so like Alice to find her issues with pin point accuracy. With her issues in controlling her charmspeak, she feared that no one could ever like her for herself. That without her talent, the people in Camp would abandon her. Inside of her the fear of abandonment and fear that the friendship she had were fake battled daily. "He was just desperate. He'd been turned down by three other girls. He didn't want to be alone."

Alice set her book aside and kicked her feet in the water. "Why don't you ask someone then?"

Marianne narrowed her eyes. "I think we both know the answer to that question, Alice."

That at least made Alice look a little guilty. "Sorry."

This pause was not nearly as comfortable as the one before it. Awkward as Hades. With the issues of Valentine's Day smacking her in the face, Marianne eventually gathered up the courage to ask Alice a question that had been on her mind. "Alice, do you think we can ever be friends again? You know that I'm sorry about what I did."

Alice made a face and stood up. "I don't think so. My feelings have changed. I don't think friends is something we can be." The girl looked uncomfortable as she looked into the lake. "Good night." Alice quickly left, leaving just Marianne and the moon.

Marianne cried herself to sleep that night.

The next few days up to Valentine's day were torture. She was reminded every single second that she didn't have a date and probably wouldn't. Her cabin practically had a waiting line for advice and a few more people asked her out for the dance. She turned them all down. Feeling sick, she had even stopped trying to figure out what she was going to wear for the dance, positive that she wasn't going more due to herself than anything.

It would be her first Valentine's Day alone.

Gods did she hate Valentine's Day.

Then it was the big day. Her bunkmates were up at the ass crack of dawn preparing for the day. Marianne slept in. By the time that she managed to stop lazing around and get up, it was almost noon. Dragging herself to some food, she was bombarded with everything Valentine's Day. How could her mother accept how perverse this holiday had turned love? She left with almost nothing eaten off her plate in disgust of those around her.

Going back to the lake to calm herself away from the Camp, Marianne was again surprised to see Alice was reading on the pier. Alice had dressed up very nicely, in a light blue dress that was charmed so that a long and beautiful silver snake and gold snake worked their way around the dress in a mesmerizing pattern. Obviously her dress for the dance. Upset, Marianne turned away to go find another place before she found a bouquet of red roses were in her hands and several white rose petals danced around her.

Curious, she looked up to see that Alice stood up and walking towards her. She was casting small charms with her hands. There was a shy look on her face that surprised Marianne as Alice stopped in front of her and the petals rearranged themselves to ask in the air, "Will you go to the dance with me?"

"Because my feelings have changed." Alice admitted. "I no longer see you as a friend but I hope that you can accept me as a girlfriend for the dance tonight?" She sounded so hopeful and there was a cute blush dusted on her pale cheeks.

A few seconds later, Alice looked thrilled and Marianne realized that she had been nodding yes since the petals asked her the question. Dropping the flowers, Marianne hugged Alice to her tightly as she tried not to cry in relief. "Yes! Yes of course!" What made the difference between Alice and those boys wasn't their gender, how they asked, or any feelings on Marianne's part. It was the simple fact that she trusted that Alice liked her for herself. That Alice sincerely wanted to go on a date with her.

Date...

Dance.

OH GODS ABOVE THE DANCE!

Marianne stepped back. "I have to go! My outfit isn't finished and my makeup needs done." Picking up the flowers, Marianne gave one of the biggest smiles that anyone had seen on her since the beginning of the month. "I'll meet you up at the dance! Six o'clock!" Kissing Alice on the cheek, Marianne raced back to her cabin. Feeling like Cinderella, she worked on her own dress until five o'clock before turning her attention to her makeup. At six, she was all dressed up and ready to go.

Her own dress was red before going down to a light pink and then a small tail of yellow. It had a lather longer slit on the side than she had intended but with the heels that she wore, it was perfect. Walking out of the cabin, she saw Alice standing at the end of the row of cabins. Smiling, she held her head up high before wandering over to her date with a hope in her heart about her future love life.

So she prayed to her mother to thank her for sending Alice into her life. Even if Alice wasn't her soulmate, Alice gave her hope about love. And that was enough. That was enough for this Valentine's Day.

CC101- Well thank you for the prompt! Please review!