Defeating your enemy makes you a hero. Losing to your enemy makes you a victim. Daning with your enemy? That makes you his dance partner
~~~
Gasping.
Heavy breathing.
The cold filled up my lungs and drips of blood fell off my sword. I glared at my opponent as his ginger hair relfected the moonlight.
"Well m'lady, shall we continue? It'd be a shame to stop now after all that damage you did to me." His usual flirtatous voice speaking.
I took a deep breath with a sigh following behind it. I stood up straight looking at my blade. The moon was relfected off the clean parts as some blood was still dripping off.
"You know, the moon is beautiful tonight."
I looked up at the moon then back to him, except he wasn't staring at the moon. He was staring at me. A small grin was on his face as he looked at me in a playful manner.
The ginger man then looked at his wrist watch. "Oh my will you look at the time. I'd love to continue this battle m'lady but unfortunately I need to make dinner for my younger siblings. We can continue this next Saturday, at midnight. Go to the Frozen Palace and say 'Commedia Dell'arte.'"
I look at him with a confused expression on my face. "Why do you always reschedule our duels. Scared you can't actually beat me?"
"That's a good question.. You'll have to beat me in a duel to the death in order to find out then."
I small 'tsk' left my mouth. "Whatever you say.."
"Oh and there's a dress code."
"Dress code..?"
"Yeah, for next Saturday. Come in your most formal dress you have and bring your most secrative weapons. Can't walk in with a sword now can you?"
I started to think about what he was talking about. I thought this is supposed to be a duel not some dance. I looked back at him as he let out a small chuckle over my confused face.
"Try not to think so hard about it m'lady, you'll end up getting wrinkles."
I rolled my eyes at him and did one last motion to get most of the blood off my sword before putting it in my sheath.
"Oh and bring a mask. Perferably one that covers your eyes."
"If I end up going, do you promise not to back out of the duel?"
"Promise. Well m'lady, I better get going before my sibings wreck havoc on the city. Until next time."
He did a small bow someone would do before a dance and slid into the empty forest.
I sighed and walked back towards my small home. I thought about what he said. "Oh and bring a mask." What did he mean? I hope it isn't anything I'll regret too much. When I arrived back to my small house I went towards my closet in search of any nice dresses. I had a few but one really stuck out to me. An off the shoulders red dress with a small cut on the of sides to reveal the leg. I found a pair of some black heels. I looked around my place for some weapons that I could possibly hide. I then found a leg strap to hold some weapons in place. This will be good. I grabbed a small blade and put it into one of the place holders on the strap. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw how elegant I looked. Now I just needed a mask. I took everything off and changed into much comfortable clothing and headed out towards my sister's place.
Once I arrived I knocked a few times. When she didn't answer I did our special knock we created.
"What do you want Y/N."
"It's nice to see you to Signora."
She opened the door and pulled me inside.
"What. Do. You. Need."
"A mask."
"You have plenty at your place, just get one there."
"A masquerade mask."
"You could have just said that in the first place. What color theme are you going for? Who invited you? When is it? Can I come?"
"Slow down on the questions sister. I'm looking for something that has red and black but covers my eyes. It's next Saturday, and no you can't come."
"Next Saturday..?"
"Yeah."
"Who told you?"
"What?"
"The Masquerade Ball next Saturday is only for special members. Who invited you?"
"How do you know about this? And someone invited me, it's none of your business.."
"I know about it because I'm one of the special members. Now answer me truthfully, who invited you."
"Someone."
"Y/N."
"Won't tell."
"Then I won't do your mask."
I stared at her with a shock expression on my face, and a small smirked was plastered on hers.
"Okay fine.. Well, the person who invited me was uhm.."
"Come on I won't tell or do anything to him."
"My enemy."
"Him? Y/N you could do so much better."
"He said that we'll continue our duel to the death there since he keeps running away."
Signora's hand reached her face as she face palmed. I looked slightly confused but wasn't going to question.
"It isn't my place to say anything. Look, I'll make your mask for you but you mustn't say anything about you and me being siblings."
"Deal."
"Meet me next Friday. I'll have it ready by then."
"Thank you Signora! Alright bye love you!"
"Love you too Y/N.."
"That hurt me inside when you said that she could do better.. Why must you be so rude to me, Signora?"
"You do anything to her and I promise you won't live to see another day. Do you understand, Tartaglia."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Do you understand."
"Yep, understood."
And so the day of the Ball began. I once again got into the red dress and got all my gear and weapons ready and slipped on my mask over my eyes. The small black mask with red gems stood out from the rest of my outfit. I fixed my hair and slipped on my heels before heading out, but not before grabbing a matching fan. The cold winter air brushed passed my skin making me shiver ever so slightly. I walked towards the Frozen Palace where the ball was taking place. A man with a white mask was standing outside checking the list of guests.
"Name madam."
"Oh uhm.. Commedia Dell'arte."
"Right this way." The masked man said before gesturing towards one of the empty escorts.
I followed where his arm leaded me to and stopped at one of the escorts. A tall male stood before me until another voice was heard.
"I'll escort this one. You can get the next pretty lady."
The first escort stepped aside as another tall man stepped into view.
His face hidden away by a simple mask. His hair, dared to be shown, would give him away.
"Fine evening isn't it m'lady." His sly voice said before grabbing my hand and bowing down to give it a small kiss. "You wouldn't care for a dance, would you?"
I stared at the man who just smiled back. I took his hand as he guided me to the dance floor and put one hand around my waist. I put one hand on his shoulder and let my other hand be brought up to the air waiting for him to join. A small sequence of music started to flow into the night.
The masked figure and I slowly dancing following the lead of everyone else.
"You're a natural at this m'lady."
"I know who you are, only one person calls me m'lady."
A small chuckle came from him as he whispered into my ear. "I was wondering when you were going to say something."
A shiver was sent down my spine as we continued to dance. "Just fight me already."
"As you wish."
He moved his head away from my ear and smiled at me. He slowly slipped his hand off my waist as I did the same. Now we were standing in the middle of the dance floor. Couples dancing narrowly avoided us as we stared into each others eyes.
"Well, lead the way m'lady."
I rolled my eyes and slowly made way to one of the open balcony's.
"Now where did we leave off, m'-"
In a swift motion I pulled out my small blade and held it against his neck. His hands shot up in the air in a surrendering way.
"Woah, quick with our hands aren't we now?"
"Stop calling me m'lady."
"Why not? M'lady~"
In a swift motion he grabbed my hand and took my blade out of my grasp.
"Don't be so eager to kill me yet. The fun hasn't even begun." He pulled out a blade of his own and stared at me intensely. "Now, shall we begin?"
I pulled out my fan and flared it out revealing pairs of blades that were evenly placed at the end of each fold.
"Oh? That's new. This should be amusing.."
In a sudden act, we both dashed towards each other. He pushed his blades towards my arm before I narrowly dodged. I slashed my fan against his stomach leaving a small cut with blood quickly drawing out.
"First touch this time, keep up the good work m'lady."
"Do you even try?"
"Maybe. Depends on how I'm feeling and today I'm feeling ecstatic."
I was about to respond before he ran up to me and dug his blade into my stomach. I looked at him in a death stare and quickly closed my fan and stabbed his side. He let out a loud groan of discomfort and looked at me with a flashy smile on his face.
"Let go."
"Not until you let go of your blade."
"Fine, on a count of three we both let go at the same time."
"Fine."
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
But instead of letting go he dug his blade deeper in as I did the same with my fan. I let out a loud yell and let go of my fan as my hands found their way towards his body. He slowly let go of his blade as he just realized what he did. He put his hand on my stomach trying to stop the blood from pouring out.
"You asshole."
"Sorry m'lady, something just washed over me."
"You better be sorry."
I glared at him through my mask while still in discomfort and he looked at me with a worried look on his face. I tried to glare at him longer before my vision became blurry.
"M'lady? M'LADY-!"
What happened? I remember fighting to the death with him and then fainting. Am I dead? I was about to move until I felt the pain in my stomach.
"Just rest m'lady.."
"Where am I.?"
"Uhm.. My room."
"What-? Ouch.."
"Please just relax m'lady.. There's nothing to worry about."
"You could strike at any moment."
"Now why would I do that to you?"
"Considering what just happened, my guess is probably a lot."
A small chuckle was heard from him. "I'm very sorry.. Something just came over me, as if I couldn't control myself.."
I looked up at him as he sunk his head in sorrow. I brought one of my hands towards his face and held his cheek up so he would look at me.
"It's fine, I guess.. But that hurt you know."
"Please, like you didn't do the same."
"I didn't dig it in that far."
"Whatever you say."
I gently fell back onto his soft comfortable bed and stared out the window.
"Say, what's your name?"
"Hm? Which one?"
"Just give me any. One I can call you."
"Call me Ajax. And you Y/N?"
I was about to respond when I then realized what he just said. I sat up and looked at him as he also just realized what he had said.
"I never told you my name.."
"Well.. You know what they say.. The walls in these buildings talk."
I stared at the suspicious man who calls himself Ajax.
Just who is he..