Loveless Dreams

Jared

I offered her my arm as we entered the castle doors just in time to see King Vincent's grand entrance. The ending was well put and a bitter sweet sort of beautiful. Red and black feathers floated gently back to the ground as Vincent bowed and welcome everyone kindly. It was an intricately designed room, with flowing red curtains covering the windows. The chandelier light reflected of the pale faces of other people, as they danced.

"Shall we dance?" I asked simply, as I fixed my mask. She nodded gracefully and we glided through the crowd, although I wasn't the most articulate dancer. I stepped on her feet uncountable times and apologized for every single one.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not so good on my feet. Sorry, again." I chuckled, looking over her beautiful appearance. She mystified me, I knew she was the one mystery i wanted to solve. She seemed to be graceful as a swan in water, as her lips curled into a broad grin.

"Why apologize, we all need to learn one way or another. Although i do hope my feet are able to walk by the end of the night. You sir are in bad need of dancing lessons." I twirled her closer and looked deep in to her purple pool irises.

"Then teach me, all knowing goddess of dance." I whispered, she laughed a little. She began explaining how to move lightly and glide with ease.

All I could do was watch her show me the moves, at times she'd lose herself in ramblings of when she was a little girl and how she taught herself to dance. Oh, how I loved when she rambled. It showed me how much she cared for what thoughts meant.

**Whitetiger, I believe we may have posted around the same time, for certainly I believe you would have seen Vincent.

xD

~Incognito

Oops. Sorry...I'll go edit. *blushes*

Ray

He sighed to himself before teleporting himself to the ball. It had been the answer he had expected, but she hadn't needed to be so harsh about it. This didn't mean he was going to go back on his promise, though. He jut fervently wished that she'd see how much he cared for her. Wasn't it the same for her and Vincent? Didn't she hope and - dare he say it - dream that he would notice how much she adored him?

With these thoughts in his mind, he remained somewhat passive during Vincent's great entry. He admired for a moment the King's clear masteryof what he was doing, but no more than that. And when the lights came back on, he set his sights on Lily. He had a promise to fulfill.

"Oh Lily?" He called, striding towards her across the ballroom. She turned away from where Vincent wasmdeacending the stairs, looking slightly annoyed, but at least not enfuriated the way Leslie would be. Ray was starting to think he'd picked the wrong girl. It seemed to him that there was more about Lilly to like. Knowing everything he seemed to about his situation wasn't helping in the slightest, though.

"What is it, Ray?" She asked, sighing a little.

"Leslie seems a little, erm, contrary tonight. As if she doesn't actually want to be here with me." He smiled a little, "Perhaps a dance with you could cheer me up a little? You could give me an new idea to capture her heart while we do, if you would be so kind?"

*Poor Ray....I'm sorry Billy for creating a character so loveable and unloveable. I'll give him a reason to like Leslie soon.....maybe.*

~Larinda~

"Oh dear, I'm afraid I'm babbling again." Ialmost faultered in my step but muscle memory kept me on my feet. It had taken decades for me to learn how to dance; I hadn't been a very graceful person before then.

"I don't mind." Jared said with a heavenly smile. I do wish he'd stop doing that, it was a bit intimidating--even to me, one who usually bypassed the opposite gender.

"I do believe you will be wishing you'd never said that later on in life. Now, keep your back straight, it makes things much easier." In truth, I hardly knew how to teach someone how to dance. All it really was is another form of expression, one that takes a lot of practice, but expression it is.

Jared stepped on my foot again, immedietly apologizing. I laughed, "When I was learning, I stepped on my foot more times than you are."

*Lilly*

I looked up at Ray and couldn't help but smile. He looked so lost and forlorn, like a puppy that had lost it's way.

"Sure, I'll dance with you." I said. As we started to dance, I immediately saw Leslie out of the corner of my eye, glaring at me. I looked back to Ray. "Don't look now, but your date is giving me the evil eye." As he turned to look, I grabbed his chin to turn him back to me. "I said don't look."

"Sorry." he replied sheepishly.

We danced until the song ended, and right when it did, Leslie came over to me. "Who are you?" she asked in a snobby tone. I looked at her like she was an idiot, but then I realized that she didn't know who I was with the mask on.

I changed my eye color to a light gray and looked at her innocently. "I'm just a passerby. He asked me to dance. I was actually surprised that he was asking me to dance, a handsome man like him. One would've thought that he would have a date."

"Well, guess what, he has a date." she said, practically throwing herself on him. "You need to back the hell off."

I held up my hands. "So sorry." I said, and turned away to mingle and walk around. I was over by the window when Vincent walked up to me.

"And who may you be?" he asked, taking my hand and kissing it softly. Why was Ray the only one who knew who I was.

"It's me Vincent." I said, looking back out the window.

"Lilly?" he asked, his voice heavy with surprise. "That's you?"

I don't know f he meant that to be hurtful or not, but it hurt. I may not be the average girl, but I do have feelings. He made it sound like I was never attractive. I glared at hi slightly. "Yeah, it's really me." I said, lacing my voice with sarcasm.

He looked at me with such intensity that I started to fidget slightly. He reached up and took off my mask. I looked away from him, but he put two fingers under my chin and raised me up again. "You look beautiful tonight." he whispered.

I didn't know what to say.

"Dance with me." he said, taking my hand and leading me to the dance floor.

I did.

*Errrrrr ummm AliceRose uhhh I kinda have a problem with that. I'm sorry but the plan was Leslie to dance with Vincent while Ray dances with Lilly. So, Leslie wouldn't do that.....*

O_O

Well, um, just have it so that Lilly danced with him alredy, and then send Ray back to her to dance with you. I'm really sorry, I'll try to change it later if you can't fix it, but I won't be on again untill tomorrow. Once again, I'm REALLY sorry.

*No problem!!! I hate asking people to edit things. I'll be back soon with Leslie. I want to make a nice pretty post.*

Joshua:

Joshua watched as Becca went to sit near the exit, and then turned his eyes towards the king of nightmares, pulling the awful feathers out of his hair as he did so. What a spectacle he always seemed to wish to put out... he grimaced.

A cold embrace seemed to envelope him when he stared at the black haired male. A terrible feeling of complete lonliness as he remembered the stark lines, the curvy writing and the same repetitive black ink dating back for centuries. William hated pens.. in fact he loved quills more then any writing utensil imaginable.

A few lines though made his skin crawl. The lines that held a clammy hand around his neck, squeezing when he tried to pull away from the awful idea. The awful concept.

In the most beautiful of all his writing and yet the pages were tear stained and nearly destroyed. A simple sentence it was and yet it still ached in Joshua's chest. His god, William seemed to be, his master at the time and his words to Joshua were law. Maybe thats why it was so hard.

Love is just a hoax. The moment I realise it is the moment I will finally be free of this form. This awful inhuman form. These awful inhuman hands. This was not my body, not my soul, not me... and now I sit with tear filled eyes and a half-hearted smile as the bittersweet moment takes me away from everything and everyone I thought I loved... Oh what a hell this world has turned out to be...

Love was as William spoke... just a hoax. A cloudy judgement as William made the moment he gave up his immortality. Joshua could not ever think of the reasons of why he changed, and the more he read the more his questions became unanwered, fruitless. A cornucopia of endless questions and yet here he stood, his face filling heat as he watched with an anger beyond all others.

Why was he so nostalgic now? He did not know... but one thing he did know was that Vincent was the one who was dragging up bitter memories without even realising it. Even his very presence seemed to taint the night with it's blackened aura. It's twisted appeal. He loved and hated Vincent for these reasons...

~~

**Just to forewarn you all, I will be away for the weekend. ;D

Ooh, I've lost Lupus again!

**Psst! LaReina! I believe you are losing your touch with Storybooks. You are getting too... distracted? xD

**I will help LaReina.. but after this weekend. On sunday I shall help **