Around the room, flashes of color, absurd shapes, frighteningly realistic masks. A ball. A Masque. A small tribute to those who are almost forgotten, to those who lived so long ago no one is sure of exactly when. And to a time referred to only as the Lost Times.

Ball gowns and hoop skirts with fabric in every color imaginable. Tuxedo's with tails in blacks and tans and browns and greens. Gentlemen bowing, ladies curtsying. Masks covering at least part of their face, with the ability to transform them into something they're not. Into something they don't truly want to be. Or, maybe, something they want to be more than anything…

"This is it," Prince Moon whispered to himself as he stepped up to the double doors leading into the ballroom. "Tonight changes everything." And it would. Whether or not it would change in a good way depended on too many factors to name, and whether or not it would change for good depended solely upon his lover, whether he knew it or not.

With a nod to the doormen, they skillfully opened both doors in a dramatic fashion. With a quick deep breath and a smile he wasn't sure was real, Prince Moon walked slowly down the steps to the ballroom floor. As he did so, the music slowed to a stop and the room turned to face him. He couldn't make out anyone specific, save for his lover, who's walk and posture he could detect a mile away, but that was to be expected at such a ball. No one is supposed to be able to tell who you are.

Too bad it didn't work that way for him.

Prince Moon bowed slightly as he reached the bottom of the stairs, and managed to keep from laughing as everyone bowed or curtsied back to him. A gesture of his arm, and the room and music came alive again.

"It's magical," said a familiar voice at his side. "I don't see why these masque balls ever stopped being held."

"I agree," the prince said with a smile. "It's like everyone is transformed. I know that I know everyone here, to some degree, and yet I do not recognize anyone... With the exclusion of you, of course, Jamie."

"Why, of course," Jamie replied, his tone sarcastic. "It goes without saying."

"Yes, I know, but I do love flattering you."

"And, my dear, you are annoyingly good at it." Prince Moon laughed, and he could practically hear Jamie's smile.

"I try."

"Well, shall we?" Looking beside him, Prince Moon saw that Jamie had his arm held out for him to take, and he raised an eyebrow.

"As the Prince, it should be I who escorts you."

Jamie took a second to scowl before changing his expression so no one would see. As the prince held out his own arm, Jamie looked at it for a second and sighed before slipping his arm through.

“I will get you for this,” he whispered as they walked across the dance floor. Prince Moon simply smiled at him and tried to suppress a snicker. ‘Tried’ being the key word.

“If I were to do something randomly stupid,” Prince Moon asked Jamie a few hours and many dances later, “what would you do?” In between dancing with some of the ladies present, the Prince and Jamie had spent the few hours together, just being themselves and having a good time, as they always did. No matter what else they were feeling, or what was going on, when they were together, a part of them couldn’t help being happy. Couldn’t help feeling a sense of belonging.

“It depends,” Jamie answered, “on what the randomly stupid thing was. If you were to do something as stupid as, say, start singing rather loudly, I would be forced to act as if I did not know you. But if you were to do something even stupider, like propose marriage to me, then I would have to hit you upside the head before I agreed. Does that answer your question?”

”Yes, actually, it does. In more detail than I wanted.”

Jamie shrugged. “Nice to know.”

“So,” the prince started after a couple minutes of silence between them. “Will you marry me?”

”It depends. If I hit you in the head, will your guards knock me out or arrest me or something?”

“Hmm…. That’s a good question.”

”….”

“So, was that a yes or a no?” Prince Moon grinned as Jamie sighed, watching the people in the costumes on the dance floor.

”That was a yes, dear.” Jamie grinned suddenly. “But you’re the girl.” With that, Jamie walked away, leaving the prince open-mouthed behind him.

Around the room, people went on dancing; creating a last hope that something from the Lost Times could be remembered. In costumes that automatically adjusted size to fit the wearer however he or she desired at any given time with only a push of a button, and masks that obscured facial features so well they were almost like another face that could be easily molded to look like something else, it was all a tribute to how far the people had come since Masques had fallen out of style, hundreds of years before…. Or, perhaps, how far the people had fallen into something they could never get out of, with technology taking the place of everything.

But then, if two people such as Jamie and Prince Moon, a commoner and a prince, a man and a man, could find love in each other and be accepted unanimously, could such a world have no hope? Or, in the name of research and science, and love and faith…could such a world have any hope?

The people danced on, comfortable in their rolls for the night. Five couples found true love and countless others found amazing friendship. The magic, a kind of magic so simple no one would think of it as magic any more, washed over the people. Silently, quietly, unobserved, Lady Fate chose a road that she had previously discarded, taking not only everyone in that room but everyone in the world down a hard path that could very well save them all.

The music played, and the Masque continued.

XxX

A/N:: So, what'd you think? Like it, hate it, want more from this time/world/dimension/place? Review and tell me!