Disclaimer The usual standard disclaimer- I don't own the characters, and GH characters belong to GH/ABC.  OLTL characters belong to OLTL/ABC, and AMC characters belong to AMC/ABC.  The only character that belongs to me is Rinoa Lockhart.  She's my original creation. Author's Note

This fic takes place right after the opening of Club 101.  However, AJ and Courtney did not end up going to the hospital, and neither did they run away.

I am a great fan of Skye/Jax, and I also like Nik/Gia, and AJ/Courtney.  I also like Sonny/Alexis and Emily/Zander.  I have very little respect for Liz/Lucky, and, truth be told, I don't really like Liz.  And I don't really like Carly, Kristina, or Ned.  You have been warned J

The theme of this fic is deception/illusion/masquerade.  All characters in this fic, or at least most, will partake in some form of a masquerade/pretense.

The main characters are: Skye, Rinoa, Jax, AJ, Courtney, Nik, Gia, Sonny, Alexis, and Rae.

Feedback is greatly appreciated, so please leave some, good or bad.

Prologue: Invitation to the Masquerade

Come one, come all

You are all invited to the Masquerade Ball

Will you take a chance

And stay for the dance

Or will you leave before the unmasking begins?

What lurks behind their masks?

A tortured soul, a secret life,

A troubled past, or a hidden strife?

Her name is Skye

And, as many will attest,

She is the Queen of Lies

Jasper Jacks is his name,

And playing white knight is his game

But can even he protect the Queen of Lies

From the Corinthos family ties?

AJ Quartermaine is the snake in the grass

Or… is that merely his mask?

Courtney Matthews is smitten with him,

And love is what she thinks it is

But is it love, or is it just a whim?

Sonny hates AJ with all his might

But even Sonny cannot win in this fight

Courtney has her own mind,

And, to her, Sonny's only trying to put her in a bind

Alexis is the calm and collected one

But even she can be undone

As Sonny's lawyer, she will defend

But can she fight her feelings to the end?

Nik and Gia are the royal two

And they think they are the ones who shall one day rule

They've been weaving a web of lies

And their friends are starting to catch on

Will this break their royal bond?

And that leaves us with the newest face

She has wit, beauty, and much grace

She is a child of dark, yet a child of light,

She is both wrong and right

She has a secret task,

Will it be uncovered along with her mask?

Come one, come all

You are all invited to the Masquerade Ball

Will you take a chance

And stay for the dance

Or will you leave before the unmasking begins?

What lurks behind their masks?

A tortured soul, a secret life,

A troubled past, or a hidden strife?

******* At the airport…

            Her entrance into Port Charles was as ordinary and nondescript as any other entrance could have been.  No trumpets announced her arrival, no red carpet was rolled out for her, and no one greeted her at the airport.  She was, as far as the naked eye could see, a normal, common visitor to Port Charles.

            But that was all the naked eye could see, and there was so much that the eye was blind to.

            Certainly, the eye could behold the woman's physical appearance: the brown highlights in the black hair that ran slightly beyond her shoulders; the smooth dark-toned skin; and the dark, mysterious brown eyes that masked her true identity.

            This woman's name was Rinoa Lockhart, and she was the secret, long lost daughter of one of the elite members of Port Charles society.

"Quartermaine, residence," Rinoa commanded softly as she gracefully entered the waiting taxicab.  Rinoa reclined back into her seat, her nose wrinkling delicately.  The seats in this taxicab were rock hard compared to the leather seats of her Mercedes convertible.

            She has waited over two decades to meet her mother.  She has waited on the side, waiting for the perfect time to reveal her existence.  And with her father's disappearance, her grandmother's helplessness, and her younger brother's downward spiral, it had become much too apparent that the time was now.

            Rinoa closed her eyes, and a small smile graced her lips.  Although she has already waited for over twenty years to meet her birth mother, it was an event that Rinoa really didn't care if she had to wait for another two decades.

Rather, she has been waiting, albeit impatiently, for the time when she can finally meet her younger brother.

            Nikolas.

*******

ELQ Office…

            Skye pushed the document away from her.  She spun her black leather seat around and looked out the window.  How could she think about business when her beloved brother was knocking on Death's Door?

            "Dumb AJ," Skye muttered.  Neither Courtney nor Michael could be worth Sonny's guaranteed wrath, threats, and harm.  Sonny was certain to retaliate soon, and, with the way things were between her and Jax, she wasn't going to have the luxury of trusting Jax to come to their rescue.

            No, trusting Jax to play the hero would be a foolish thing to do.  And Skye Chandler Quartermaine was no fool.  She was going to have to find a way to protect both herself and AJ on her own.

*******

AJ's Suite…

            It had started out as an "innocent" seduction.  It had started out as a task to earn and gain Sonny's sister's trust and friendship.  It had started out as a task to steal Sonny's sister from Sonny to teach Sonny a lesson on how it felt to lose that which was most precious to him.

            So where had it gone wrong?  What had happened?

            Simply put, Sonny's sister took on an identity.  Sonny's sister had become more than just Sonny's sister- Sonny's sister was Courtney Matthews, a young woman who was not only Sonny's sister but was someone who actually believed, defended, and liked AJ despite everything she knew about him.  And that made all the difference in the world.

            To reunite with Michael had once been his ultimate goal.  And, although it was still a goal, it was no longer his only one.

            Somewhere along the way, along the path of seduction and temptation, AJ Quartermaine had fallen into his own trap and had started falling in love with Courtney.  She was no longer just a tool to use to reach his goal, but, rather, had become a goal of her own.

AJ didn't want to lose Courtney the way he had lost Michael, and he would be damned before he lost her to Sonny.

*******

At the recording studio…

            "It's perfect," Kristina crowed.  "Ned, that's the perfect solution for both Alexis and Jax."  Kristina pulled a long strand of red hair away from her eyes.  "Alexis and Jax would be the perfect couple."

            "Wouldn't they?" Ned agreed.  "Sonny's going to break Alexis's heart if she keeps this fantasy of him, and my cousin would do the same to Jax if given the chance."

            Kristina frowned.  Skye and Sonny were definitely two people that she despised.  The two of them had dark auras, and even though Kristina had very little idea of the past that each person had, the fact alone that they had dark auras convinced Kristina that the two of them were bad news.  "I don't know what Jax sees in that viper," Kristina growled, her voice filled with venom.  "And no matter how much Alexis doesn't want to believe it, Sonny's never going to get over Carly."

            "Which is why it'd be best if the two of us help Jax and Alexis find their way back to each other," Ned said with a determined smile.

*******

Wyndemere…

            Gia nudged the door open with the end of her boot.  She cautiously peered in, careful to not make a noise.

            Liz was lying on her bed, asleep to the world.

            If only her memory would stay that way, too.

            Gia silently stood there in the doorway, wondering just how long it would be before Liz's memory of the night of the accident would return.  When, perhaps if, Liz's memories returned, would she come forth to the world and tell the truth?  Would she tell everyone that it had been Gia, and not Courtney, that had run the red light and had caused the accident?

            Damn you, Liz.  Damn Sarah, too.  Damn all the Webber sisters.

            If it hadn't been for Sarah, Gia wouldn't have been upset and have allowed the alcohol to impair her so much.  If it hadn't been for Sarah, Gia and Liz wouldn't have been arguing and Gia would have seen the red light.  If it hadn't been for Liz, they Gia wouldn't even have been on that road at that time.

            But there was nothing Gia could do to change the past.  And there was nothing she could do to prevent Liz's memory from returning. All Gia and Nikolas could do was wait and hope.