A/N: Thanks for the reviews and as a treat here's chapter two! I should tell you now that my updates wont always be as prompt because I do have other commitments, I will try to be as prompt as possible though.

Chapter Two: Masks We Wear

-Enchanted Forest-

The room was filled with hundreds of people in all manners of brightly coloured suits and elaborate dresses, their faces hidden away by masks in every shape imaginable, the great hall of the palace was decorated in a rainbow of colours with the ceiling sparkling as though it were the night sky itself and Laura took it all in with eyes that sparkled with wonder beneath the simple white opera mask that kept the upper half of her face hidden. Everything was almost overwhelming, the people, the colours, the music, so completely unlike anything she had ever witnessed before.

She was not normally one for extravagance and she couldn't help but feel slightly self-conscious and underdressed compared to the other partygoers in her simple pale yellow dress with its slight golden trim a large similarly coloured ribbon wrapped around her waist, her hair done in its usual loose braid that hung over her shoulder, her hand constantly toying with it in a nervous habit. The only extravagance she chose to wear was that of silk choker, a brilliant ruby inlaid at the front, her mother's.

"You look beautiful my dear"

Her father's warm voice drew her attention from the other guests and towards the man to her right, he was dressed in pale yellow jacket with golden trim and tassels at the shoulders that gave it a vaguely militaristic feel, his trousers plain and white while his face was hidden behind a bronze coloured mask that hid his eyes and cheeks. He smiled down at her and she smiled back, her cheeks heating slightly but his eyes soon began roam almost suspiciously over the other guests and Laura felt her stomach drop.

"Now remember sweetheart, stay close to me at all times"

She sighed softly as she turned back to look out at the other guests, "yes father". She followed the older man further into the room and stood by silently as he spoke to other masked individuals, probably dignitaries from other kingdoms or fellow dukes.

It was the fourth such meeting that the thought came to her, she waited until her father moved onto the next masked couple, both dressed elaborately in purple and violet, the woman's hair done up in a style that Laura was positive must have taken her most of the day to achieve and that was if it wasn't just some strange hat to go with the strange twisting mask that she wore. Positive her father was no longer paying attention to her she slowly backed away, making sure to draw as little attention to herself as possible she disappeared into the crowd.

Smiling softly to herself at her great escape she began to take in the room again, watching others as she danced and far too nervous to attempt it herself even if she had a partner, instead she attempted to see if she could recognise any of the masked individuals. Near the centre of the room she spotted a woman whom she was positive was Snow White if her alabaster skin and dark hair were anything to go by, her dress was the purest of white and highlighted in blue but was relatively simple despite her station and the man next to her and dressed in silver would have to be Prince James, their masks were matching and resembled bird's wings, silver for James and white for Snow. They appeared to be talking to a tall, slender, dark haired woman in a scarlet dress with a red cloak covering her shoulders, her mask was odd and although Laura couldn't be absolutely positive she was relatively sure it resembled a wolf.

"People watching my dear?"

An accented voice that brought to mind dark silk whispered in her ear and made her gasp as she spun around in mild fright and as she did so her eyes widened at the woman before her.

She was easily a head taller than Laura with hair as black as raven feathers that reached nearly to her hips; her wore a pure black dress that clung to her curves and left her shoulders bare and revealed tan skin with her arms covered by black silk gloves that reached well past the elbow, most of her face was hidden by a black mask in the curious shape of a cat's ears and behind it were a pair of impossibly dark eyes. Everything about her was dark, almost as though she were a shadow given life.

Laura opened her mouth to speak but her breath caught in her throat and her cheeks filled with blood, the dark woman grinned at her revealing brilliantly white teeth as she leaned into Laura's personal space and the younger woman had the distinct feeling of being a mouse before a hungry feline.

"What's the matter my sweet, cat got your tongue?"

Swallowing almost audibly and shaking her head to regain some sense, Laura attempted to speak again and her cheeks flared redder at the stammer in her voice, "Y-yes, um…who are you?"

The dark haired woman chuckled warmly as she leaned back away from Laura with a smirk, her impossibly dark eyes never leaving Laura's.

"That, my sweet, is a secret", she regarded the younger woman for a moment before reaching out one gloved hand toward her, "would you like to dance?"

Laura dropped her eyes from the woman in black, her own pale yellow gloved arms wrapping around her waist, "I don't know how…" she trailed off, waiting for the other woman to lose interest.

"But would you like to?"

At that Laura looked back up to meet the woman's eyes, she was smiling warmly at her and she once again found her breath catching at how beautiful and gentle it made the other woman. She raised a hand tentatively and placed it in a dark gloved one and said, with a barely there whisper, "Yes".

The other woman continued to smile as she led Laura to the dance floor and once there she spun to face her with an almost unearthly grace, her free hand dropping to Laura's hip and leaving the younger woman no other choice but to place her own upon her shoulder. Much to Laura's surprise the skin was almost cool to the touch, as though the other woman had just come in out of the cold, it was a gentle coolness which seemed to emanate from her entire body and Laura inexplicably found herself relaxing into the soft embrace as the taller of the pair began to lead her in the same slow waltz as the other couples.

Laura soon lost track of time as the two danced, held loosely in the other woman's grasp as she stared with an almost hypnotic trance into a pair of vaguely predatory dark eyes, her cheeks still suffused with warmth and her heart hammering in her chest for some unknown reason. It was near the end of their third or possibly fourth dance that the dark silk voice of the other woman spoke once again.

"I think I shall go outside to take in the night air before I retire for the evening, would you care to join me, my sweet?"

Laura had to almost physically fight back the urge to reply with a yes but it had been some time since she left her father's side, he would surely have noticed that she was missing and disappearing for an undetermined amount of time with the dark woman would hardly help matters once she returned to him.

"I'm sorry…" she trailed into a pause as she dropped her gaze to the side, finding it extremely hard to speak when looking into the other woman's eyes, "but I need to return to my father, I doubt he'd approve of my disappearing for too long"

"Do you always do what daddy tells you?" she could almost hear the smirk in the other woman's voice, as she turned back to look at her she noticed a flash of something in her eyes but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared while the dark woman released her and stepped back, smirking at her she continued with a bow "till we meet again, my sweet" and with that she took off in an almost glide into the surrounding crowd, disappearing with such speed that it was as though she was never there to begin with.

-Storybrooke-

Emma sighed for what must have been the tenth time that night, sitting at the door to the main hall of the Town Hall and regretting the fact that she agreed to Mary-Margaret's request to work "security" for the night almost as much as she regretted letting Ruby talk her into actually getting dressed up for the event.

She was currently dressed the part of sheriff, if she were in the old west. She wore a cream shirt beneath a brown waist coat, her badge clipped to the breast and a pair chaps over her usual jeans while her Stetson currently sat on the table next to her. She had her arms folded in front of her, one arm raised so she could rest her cheek against it in abject boredom.

The sound of the door opening barely had her reacting but her eyes did drift to it in time to see Regina Mills step in dressed, in Emma's opinion, as a cross between some kind of queen and a witch, all in black, although perhaps there was a bit of dominatrix mixed in, what with all the leather that was included.

"Madam Mayor" she nodded towards the other woman as she stopped directly ahead of her, "I'm surprised you're here, you don't seem like the fancy dress type", she raised an eyebrow along with her free hand in a silent request for a ticket.

"Miss Swan, I am not completely heartless and this is for charity and the school which Henry attends", she smiled falsely at the blond as she handed over her ticket and then pushed past and through the double doors to the hall.

Emma sighed again, "This is going to be a long night"

OOO

Mary-Margaret smiled at Ruby dressed in her Red Riding Hood costume, if you could call it that seeing as there was so little of it, as she walked past the refreshment table the younger woman was manning before continuing on. So far everything was going smoothly, the hall had been decorated fully, the band had arrived and set up with plenty of time before the first attendees appeared, even Leroy appeared to be behaving himself even if it he wasn't exactly in high spirits.

Not watching where she was going she bumped into someone and as she looked up to apologise she came face to face with David Nolan, wide eyed she stumbled over her words before finishing with a mumbled "sorry" and an awkward smile, her hands clasped in front of her.

"No problem," David smiled down at her and then grinned slightly, "Snow White, right?"

Looking down at herself, Mary-Margaret fanned out her dress slightly, she was wearing the blue and yellow outfit of the Disney cartoon, she then looked back up at David and took in the white and silver of his own outfit, completely with a cape which was currently draped over his left shoulder, she couldn't help but smile as she said, "Prince Charming I assume?"

He gave a slight nod just as the lights dimmed slightly almost as if on cue, the music slowed and all around them couples stepped in close as they began to dance more intimately. David glanced around before returning his smile to Mary-Margaret and with a raised hand asked, "May I have this dance?"

The shorter brunette smiled and with the slightest of nods responded with "You may" as she place her hand in his and stepped forward into a light embrace as the pair began to dance. It felt right, to Mary-Margaret, to be held in his arms like this and almost vaguely familiar although she couldn't remember why as she was positive the two had never done anything like this before.

As they continued to sway to the music she finally raised her eyes to meet with his and for the briefest of moments the whole world seemed to disappear from around them and the pair slowly began to lean in.

"May I cut in?"

An almost teasing voice rang out beside them and broke the trance that they were both in, beside them dressed in a flowing dress with a similar colour combination as David stood Kathryn Nolan and beside her Mayor Mills.

Guiltily the shorter woman stepped away from him and smiled awkwardly at the blond with an overly bright "Go right ahead!"

Kathryn smiled at the school teacher before taking her place in her husband's arms, the pair dancing off into the slowly growing crowd and leaving the brunette with the Mayor as the two matched the married couple.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you, Miss Blanchard that he is a married man", the Mayor turned to the other woman with a smile that the school teacher thought was a little too satisfied with the situation. Glancing once more at the couple she turned to the Mayor with a tense back and said as clearly as she could around the lump forming in her throat, "No, you don't Madam Mayor" and with that she stalked off to continue her rounds, never seeing the satisfied smile on the other woman's lips broaden at her back.

OOO

Sheri watched the party from a shadowed area of the hall, even though she was able to attend the ball thanks to being a volunteer, she somehow didn't feel like she was actually a part of it, she hadn't even really dressed up, all she had done was buy a headband with a pair of fuzzy cat ears along with a tail that clipped onto the back of her jeans.

"You don't look like you're enjoying yourself kätzchen."

Jumping slightly at the almost silken voice next to her she turned to find a woman that could have easily been a model, she was at least a head taller than Sheri and dressed in what appeared to be a tailored Victorian style suit, a black cape with red lining that nearly brushed her ankles was draped over her shoulders while her black hair, the colour of raven feathers, was tied back in a high pony tail. Her eyes however where what arrested Sheri's attention the most, they were currently highlighted by a good amount of purple eye liner but even that wasn't what caught her attention, they were almost impossible dark, like twin pools of liquid shadow.

Sheri could only stare and as the woman's smirk grew at her silence she felt her cheeks flare with heat and silently cursed her pale complexion from making her embarrassment so obvious.

The dark haired woman chuckled as she crossed her arms over her chest and leant against the wall before asking with a raised eyebrow "Does my beauty astound you kätzchen?"

Sheri opened her mouth to reply but no sound escaped which only made her cheeks flare even redder as she lowered her own eyes from the other woman's dark gaze.

"Well aren't you just adorable, there's no reason to be so shy kid," Sheri looked up at the other woman again who was now smiling at her, it was gentle and seemed to soften her entire being making the dark woman much more approachable although Sheri's heart still thundered on in her chest, "I'm Carmen, Carmen Rouxstein".

Bowing her head slightly the shorter girl managed a barely there whisper of "Sheri".

"So you can talk!" the younger girl glanced up at Carmen through her bangs, her left hand rising to fiddle with them nervously as the dark woman smirked at her before glancing behind her and letting out what appeared to be an annoyed sigh.

Carmen turned her gentle smile on Sheri again before speaking, "Although I'd love to stay and chat more it looks like I'll have to head" pushing away from the wall she gave an exaggerated bow, lifting one side of her cape as she did so and looking at Sheri from under her eyelashes "I look forward to seeing you again, Sheri" with that she straightened and walked off, although glided would probably be a more accurate description.

Sheri watched Carmen go, she walked past a man who appeared to be Father Fitz, the local minister, but even as he turned to the dark girl she seemed to completely ignore him. Carmen's gentle smile returned to Sheri's mind and all she could think was one simple observation.

Her smile never reached her eyes.