The Masquerade

James hugged her tightly, closing his eyes as he tried to block out the others around them. “And you have mine,” he echoed softly in her ear.

They were so, so close. "Go on, go on..." I hissed under my breath.
They kissed.

I embraced Engel, briefly, but tightly.

"Yes! I knew he had it in him!" I said, patting him on the back, before turning to distribute further celebratory pats among Tasha's friends.

Evron and Thana did some complex high-five ritual and Engel embraced Boris, barely containing a small noise of excitement.

"Ah, he did it!" Engel beamed.



Her heart soared even as she knew she shouldn't be rejoicing. Tasha smiled, holding him close.

Even though he was elated, the feeling was finally overwhelmed by the feeling that people were watching, and he slowly opened his eyes. In the corner of his sight, he could see Boris and Kratzer together with Tasha’s friends, and they were... rejoicing. A different kind of worry swept over him and his cheeks flushed again at the thought of possible teasing. He’d never anticipated doing something like this so publicly. While still hugging Tasha, he laughed, weakly, and whispered.

“Our friends are watching,” he said. “I have a feeling they have been this whole time.”

Vala had spent the last few songs wandering through the room with Maahes in tow. Nothing that they had spoken about had been remotely serious, but she found comfort in that fact. Their earlier, peaceful meetings had always been with them only showing a small sliver of the people they really were, and their later ones had consisted of dealing with life-threatening situations.

It felt good to finally be figuring out the real Maahes.

And when she saw his friend James out on the dance floor with one of the newcomers - Tasha, wasn't it? - the temptation to join them was strong. She caught a glance of Maahes watching him, too, interest in his dark brown eyes. The rest of his guise may have changed when he took up the name of the Scarlet Lord, but those eyes always seemed to stay the same. She wondered if those were his real eyes peeking out.

"Hey, Maahes?" she asked, coming to a stop in the middle of the dance floor.

He stopped beside her.

She wasn't new to flirting. She wasn't new to love. But it never had felt like this before. They barely knew each other even after all of their meetings, but Maahes was like her other half. He could have been the love interest in the romance novels that she had always loved, and for the first time in her life she felt like something could come of this.

Maahes knew the truth about her, and he didn't hate her for it.

"Do you want to dance?"

He stared at her. For a moment, she wondered if she had misjudged the moment. Maybe he wouldn't want to dance with her. Maybe he didn't feel the same way - would she even want to dance with him if he didn't?

"Uh, sure," he said, his cheeks growing flushed as he took her outstretched hand. "I'd love to."

She smiled. "Me too."


Second and Lorcan both watched as Maahes and Vala joined the dance, their bodies swaying in harmony as the music played on in the background. A quiet tapping sound came from beside Lorcan; when he turned his head, he saw that Second was tapping his feet against the floor to the beat of the music.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do once they got back to Charlotte's home, but he suddenly knew what they could do while they were still here. "Second?" he hesitantly asked, looking past the mask at his best friend's dark brown eyes. "Do you, uh...Do you want to dance?"

Second met his gaze. There was a moment of hesitation - not because he didn't feel the same way, Lorcan knew, but because he wasn't sure if this was someone was supposed to do in a situation like this - but then a grin began to spread across his face. And even though Lorcan had been the one to suggest the dance, it was Second who grabbed onto his wrist and eagerly ran out onto the dance floor with him.


"I just realized something," Mira said, leaning up against the wall with a drink in hand. "You've never been to a dance!"

Asteri frowned behind his mask. "I have." He had been at her homecoming dance; it was when he took control of Kentaro's body for the first time. He admittedly had been too busy panicking at not looking like himself to take part in the actual dancing, but he had definitely attended.

Although, from the look on Mira's face after hearing his protest, she didn't think that counted.

She gulped down the remainder of her drink and placed her cup on the nearest piece of furniture. "We're going on the dance floor," she decided, grabbing onto his wrist. His frown became a smile. He had to admit that he had been wondering what it would be like to actually take part in one, and he had the rare opportunity to be himself here.

"Everyone seems to be dancing romantically right now," Mira commented, scanning the groups of people dancing as they stepped into the center of the room. "But you don't have to for a song like this. You just have...I don't know. You just have to dance."

"What if I don't know how?" he asked.

"I don't think anyone really does," Mira informed him. "At least, not our type of dancing. I think some people here might be doing the type of thing you'd see centuries ago. You just move your body to the music."

When she put it that way, it really didn't seem all that hard.

His grin grew. "Then let's dance."


"I really should have seen this coming," Rendra said.

She and Kartiel had been lingering to the back of the room, cloaked underneath a spell to prevent anyone from paying too much attention to them. They weren't technically invisible, but the spell achieved the same effect: one would have to focus incredibly hard to realize that they were even there, and Kartiel honestly doubted anyone would be looking that hard for them in the first place.

"Although I am surprised by the amount of couples from across realities," she added as an afterthought. Kartiel took a sip of his drink; he honestly hated the taste of the wine, but one had to keep up appearances. "That must suck when they go back."

Rendra let out a heavy sigh.

"I just wish Thymea was here," she whined. "But she's checking out that ghost town, and it was the only time Sirun would let her off..."

Kartiel admittedly wasn't paying much attention to her at the moment. His gaze was on the latest of the pairs to join the dance: Prince Asteri and Asmira Sapienti. They looked...happy. Everyone did, but they didn't have any of the same nervousness that the other pairs had at the moment. He could almost hear their laughter from his spot in the room. It reminded him of the dances of his younger years. Things had been so much simpler then.

Rendra suddenly perked up beside him. "I guess I'll just have to sneak in to a dance with her soon! Do you think Sirun would let me do that, Kartiel?"

"Probably," he absentmindedly replied, taking another sip of his wine.

She gave him a big, toothy grin. "Come on, Kart! It'll be fun!"

"I don't know," he said. She always had fun ideas and came up with the best adventures, but this one seemed a little too risky. Sneaking into an important ball like the kingdom's? They didn't even have invitations! It didn't matter that they were gods. They were kids, and grown ups didn't like kids that much.

"I can use my magic," Ria said with a confident nod. "They'll have to let us in!"

He smiled. That was better! No one ever could say no to Ria when she used her magic. And she really was right: when they finally got to the dance, dressed in the best clothes he could possibly make with his magic, they were let in without a single moment of hesitation. He just kept laughing and dancing and he wished the night would never end-

"Kartiel? Are you listening to me?"

He snapped out of the memory. "...Yes."

"You definitely weren't," Rendra correctly assumed, "but I'll let it slide. I think I'll let them dance for a bit more before I start up the next puzzle."

"That would be a smart idea."

She was giving him a strange look. He took another casual sip of his wine to show that he wasn't fazed by it, but then a gentle smile spread across her face. "Whatever you were daydreaming about, it must have been nice," she said. "I've never seen you with such a happy look on your face."

He glanced back at Mira and Asteri.

"It was," he simply said, and left it at that.

Damascus let out an audible cheer as James kissed the woman he was dancing with, after they had been staring so very obviously at each other. The cheer caused him to check himself for a moment- he had completely forgotten about he and Taber's conversation, and he just now realized that Lorcan and Second had joined the growing number of couples on the dance floor.

Suddenly beside himself, he glance over toward the refreshment table, where Boris, Kratzer, and a few others he didn't know seemed to be celebrating. His fluster from his personal confrontations from earlier had died down, and he felt a pang of want.

To go join the festivities with his brothers, of course.

He was being absolutely ridiculous, reading too much into everything and making it so terribly complicated for himself. What use was it all? Why should he let anything so silly keep him from enjoying the company of his brothers, his friends, his...

He turned to Taber, feeling lively and brave. "Would you like a drink? I'm absolutely parched."

She chuckled, a little amused and honestly unsurprised. Evron and Thana were the types to never let her hear the end of this. Then again, that's what friends were for.

"Perhaps we shouldn't keep them waiting," she said softly. "I don't know about your friends but mine are going to badger the hell out of me until they get to talk to you. May as well get it over with, no?"

Fortunately for Damascus, Taber had also been too distracted by the kiss to keep up the conversation. There were so many couples here - he could already see several of them making their way to the dance floor. It was odd. On one hand, he loved seeing genuine romances and cute couples. On the other hand, he'd never been around so many at once. Most of the couples he knew would never have dared step on a dance floor, if only because they were either shy or not all that good at dancing. Hnng, he'd have to find Eremia sometime and dance with her. But an invitation was an invitation.

"Sure!" he said. "I'd love that!"



The nerve of that so-called god - Eremia asked him a simple question, and he stood still and disappeared into the crowd. She made her way through the masses, trying to find him. Did he suspect her of anything? Did he not trust her? Perhaps she'd been too bold, her timing had been too coincidental.

Ugh, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. No matter - unless Taber got drunk or something, she had no reason to stop looking. And the wolf had enough good sense to know that he and alcohol didn't mix. Well, hopefully.

James looked over to them, and let out a quiet sigh through his nose. “That’s probably best,” he said with a nod. He took her hand and began to lead her to them through the crowd.

Damascus nodded and led Taber over to the refreshment table, smiling brightly at those he knew and those he didn't alike as he walked.

He stopped beside Boris and Engel, raised his eyebrows and picked up a cup of reddish liquid.

"This is so exiting!" He whispered loudly. "I've never heard James mention a love interest before, but if this is a recent development I'm honored to witness it-"

He cut off his gushing as James and the lady approached. He noted with appreciation that they were hand in hand.

Gulping the punch greedily, he attempted to quell any exclamations of congratulations that were lying in wait. He didn't want to make James and his companion nervous or embarassed before he even had a chance to be introduced to her.

James looked a little apprehensive at the prospect of introducing his sweetheart to his friends and brothers, but it brought great joy to my heart to see him anxious for a happy reason, for once.


Oh, and there was Damascus, come to celebrate with us. Though my nerves were not remotely ready for his presence, it relieved me to see him in good spirits, presumably, God willing, beyond the confusion and fatigue I had left him with.
His spirits had always been resilient, and I was grateful more for that than for life itself.

James. We were here together for James.

I dispelled all thoughts of gloom, and waved fervently to James, and Tasha.

"I don't know how far back they go, but I suspect this has been a long time coming." I whispered back.

She kept to his side as they wove, sighing inwardly. This was going to be...interesting, to say the least.

Thana was the first to greet her, a smile dancing on her lips as she greeted her commander in Plainspeak. "I didn't know you were on the prowl, Tasha," she laughed, narrowly dodging a smack from Evron.

Tasha didn't dignify this with a response, instead turning to Boris, Auryon, and Damascus. She dipped her head by way of greeting.

James met his brothers with a polite smile and a nod of his head. Thana’s foreign words were lost on him, but he turned to Tasha’s friends and gave them the same non-verbal greeting.

“I’m aware none of you have formally met Tasha Hunter,” he said, looking to Boris, Kratzer and Damascus. “And you have yet to meet me,” he said, looking to Tasha’s friends. “My names is James Hawke.”

Thana extended her hand to him. "I'm Thana," she said. "This is Evron. It's an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Hawke." She fought hard to keep the smile off her face but its ghost still danced across her lips.

Tasha extended her hand to James' friends. "Good to meet you all."

Damascus beamed and shifted the drink in his hand to shake Tasha's.

"Hello, Ms. Tasha! It's wonderful to meet you. I'm Damascus, James', ah, honorary brother," he moved their hands up and down a few more times than necessary, and moved in to murmer to her.

"It's been a very long time since I've seen James so happy. Thank you."