Masquerade

5

  "Why did you come back?" He inquires in a whisper. He whirls them around. Crescent takes secret pleasure in the way her dress blossoms around her. The two dance to the muffled music seeping into the glass room through the doors.

Crescent lowers her gaze to the lace jabot wrapped around his neck. She slides her free hand down from his shoulder to play with the collar of his jacket. She pretends to pine over a loose thread. Morpheus slows their dance until it is a shuffle.

"I realized I don't care. I don't care if this is only a dream and you will are just a fragment of my imagination. I like you. I like this and I want to enjoy it." She confesses.

A gentle finger slides under her chin and lifts it up. Her green eyes meet his unnatural blue ones and she almost gasps. His lips curve up to form a soft smile. Crescent feels heat flood her cheeks. Morpheus trails his finger up her cheek, pausing mid-way.

"I can promise you that tonight will not be the last time you see me." Morpheus says.

"Why?" The question slips between her lips before she can stop it." "Why me?" She repeats in a stronger voice.

By now Crescent realizes they've stopped moving altogether. Morpheus reaches up with his other hand to capture a curl that's tumbled down from it's place on her head. He tucks it behind her ear and lets his hand fall to her bare shoulder, caressing the silk flesh.

"Because you are the one I've been waiting for."

"I don't understand." She mumbles.

"I've held this very same ball over and over again. I have truly lost count of how many times. Each time I have beens searching for the same thing, what you mortals call 'the one'. My queen." He leans closer. "And you, my queen, are the one."

Crescent furrows her eyebrows, causing a crease to form in the center of her forehead. Morpheus has to restrain himself from leaning over and kissing it away.

"You wish to know why you and not the undoubtedly number of women that have attended these balls?" She nods. "The answer is rather simple, my queen, because you are unlike them."

Crescent is rendered speechless by his proclamation. To think she is so special, so amazing is...well, there are no words for it. She's never been special to anyone but her mother and father. She does not have any actual friends, only her books. Her stepsister and stepmother do everything they can to undermine her self-worth not add to it. The sad thing is she has grown to believe them.

Desperate to be free of her negative thoughts she poses the first question that comes to mind. "Why is there so much silver?" He raises an eyebrow. "Around the castle, I mean." He gives the tiniest of smiles.

"Gold is made for daylight and waking moments. Silver is for the subtly and overlooked beauty of night." Crescent smiles at the beauty of the statement.

Morpheus pulls her into his arms. Instinctively, she wraps her arms around his neck. He almost purrs at the contact. He encases her with his wings.

Crescent takes a daring leap and presses her lips to his. Morpheus responds almost immediately, devouring her lips with his own. The same calmness flows into her and she presses herself closer to him. Despite the clothes separating them she can feel him. He nibbles at her lower lip drawing a moan from her. She runs her hands up the back of her neck and clutches at his hair, marveling at the silky texture. She tugs at it, drawing a growl from him. The kiss turns ravenous. He kisses her as if she's his last hope, his last breath. The passion brings tears to her eyes. She returns the kiss with the same ferocity.

Crescent breaks the kiss when her need to breath becomes dire. She rests her forehead against his, her breaths coming out in ragged pants. He reaches up and strokes her cheek. Crescent eyes flutter shut and she leans further into his touch.

He smiles at the sight. There's a softness about her that borders on innocence, but yet her eyes shine with a pain that consumes innocence. She is fierce in a subtle sense, a fierceness that comes from survival and endurance. There is nothing more beautiful.

Morpheus opens his mouth to speak when a darkness engulfs the room.