Serenity would have to say that she was a bit disappointed. Already she had danced with three men, each making her grow more and more saddened. Perhaps she had gotten her hopes up for nothing.

The first man she danced with had been quite a bit older; no amount of mask was able to hide the many sagging wrinkles which weighed down his face. He had been polite though, and she would not deny anyone a dance tonight. Besides, she thought, what's one dance to a man who must have danced hundreds? It will make him happy for awhile.

The second man had seemed promising. He was fit and tall and appeared to be quite handsome behind his rather large mask… until he smiled. His teeth, half fallen out and all black and yellow, snarled at her from behind his lips. His breath stank of alcohol and his words were slurred. He stepped on her toe once, and she was quite sure she'd be wearing bruises in the morning.

The third man had only been worse. His mask was falling apart, and she could barely reach his shoulders across his rather large belly that hung out over the top of his pants. He stank of sweat and work, and she found herself queasy after only a minute or so with him. She excused herself and slipped out of the crowd for a breath of fresh air that was more than welcome. She sighed, on the verge of tears. How stupid she'd been for hoping!

"Disappointing, isn't it?" came a voice from down the lane. A man sat on the thick stone railing of a balcony overlooking the ocean. Unwittingly, she walked towards him, urged on by the gentle way he spoke. "You come to these things, almost certain that tonight you will meet someone that you can truly love, only to find that not even masks can help hide the fact that you're still alone."

"You're right," she sighed, now standing directly below him. From here, she could see his features sketched in moonlight, a small white mask tracing his eyes and dark raven hair hanging in his face. "I thought that maybe tonight, maybe this time…"

They were silent for a moment, looking out over the silver lined waves and thinking of lost hopes.

"Just how did you get up there?" Serenity asked, breaking the quite saddening silence.

"I climbed the trellis," he said simply.

Serenity gazed at white trellis covered in a green vines. She removed her shoes, leaving them on the small walkway, and began to climb towards the balcony. She was intrigued by this masked fellow who spoke so somberly of the masquerade that everyone else seemed to be enjoying. When she reached the balcony, she found him waiting, gloved hand outstretched for hers.

She placed a delicate hand in his own, and he helped her over the railing. She had managed it quite gracefully until her foot caught on the edge, then she stumbled into the masked man, whom she found to be quite solid.

"So sorry," she said, looking up at him. She hadn't realized how close she was to him until she gazed up into his blue-black eyes. Her breath caught and she stepped away, an involuntary smile on her face. He resumed his position on the railing while she chose to lean against it.

She looked up at the Moon, her home. She had rarely seen it from the Earth's point of view, and each time she did she was struck by its brilliance.

"So what is your name, for the moment?" he asked.

"I haven't bothered to create one tonight. And yourself?"

"Endymion."

Serenity smiled despite herself. How lovely for him to have picked the name of the one Earthling anyone on the Moon respected! The tale of Selene and Endymion was quite different there, and it spoke of how he was loyal to her even though his planet persecuted him for it and how he was the father of the first Lunarian Queen.

"Then perhaps my name is Selene, for the moment," she said. Irony was wonderful in her opinion.

He laughed. "So tell me, Selene, how far did you travel for this masquerade?"

"Oh, not too far," she said, joining in on the laughter. It hadn't take them so long to get there, though the distance was great. She, of course, would not mention the assistance of magic in her traveling.

"I didn't travel very far either," he said. "Just out a window, and a couple of streets."

"Really? Out a window?" she asked. She did love to see him smile, she was realizing. A warm, heavy feeling lay in her stomach every time his lips moved, and she could not help but smile when he did.

"It was a daring escape, if I do say so myself."

"Are you a criminal then or just some sort of royal who shouldn't be caught at such things as this?" she teased, speaking her own truth without declaring herself royalty.

"I'm not at liberty to say," he said, somewhat shakily, though recovering quickly. For a moment he worried that she recognized him. But no, she had just been teasing him about his trip out of the window.

"I must say that my journey started out of a window as well," she conceded. "Though I not so much as climbed out as I did fall."

He chuckled, turning to her. Her heart sped as his gaze was directed at her, and she began to feel just a little dizzy. "You are quite funny; did you know that?"

"I do feel that I possess some wit," she said, winking at him.

He slid off the railing to lean beside her, their arms touching. What luck, he thought, that such a lovely woman would wander away from the party, climb a trellis, and choose to talk to me.

"I do believe you are the most charming person I've met tonight."

"Yet another coincidence, for you are the most charming person I've met."

He smiled down at her, and she felt his eyes wander to her lips. She saw him lean towards her and paused before quickly turning away.

He stopped and frowned, directing his stare towards the ocean. It did sting that she should turn away from him, for already he could feel the fall he was taking for her.

"Let's go to the beach," she said suddenly. She barely kept herself from saying the truth: she'd never been on a real one. The beaches of Mercury were covered in ice and snow, and the Moon's sea was bordered only by cold, gray rocks.

"That sounds like a fine idea," he agreed. They swiftly passed by the fact that she had just rejected him as they climbed down the trellis. Serenity took his hand as they walked down to the beach and giggled with delight when she felt the cool sand between her toes.

"I do love the ocean," she said. Her face was lit by some internal light of happiness.

Darien, or Endymion as he was known to her, could only watch her as she twirled along the edge of the sea, lifting her skirts to keep them from getting wet. The waves washed in around her feet, tugging softly at them.

"How wonderful!" she said under her breath. Something shifted in Darien's mind.

"You're not from here, are you?"

She turned to him, smiling regretfully. "Not quite, my dear, but please don't question my any further."

He did not. Instead, he removed his shoes and joined her in the waves. They walked hand-in-hand along the shore, talking softly. It seemed that only a few minutes had passed when the sky started becoming blue, dawn approaching swiftly.

"Oy! Endymion!" came a playful voice from the edge of the beach. The couple, as they had become in the last couple of hours, turned to see four men, waving for him to hurry up.

Darien turned sadly to the woman he had come to know as Selene; it hurt him to think he may never see her again.

"Please, may I know your name before I go? I should like to see you again soon."

She frowned, looking down to the sand. "I'm afraid I cannot say. And something tells me you cannot reveal your name either."

"Sadly, no. But please, Selene, give me something. A glance of your face, a bit of your name, something so that I may find you again."

"I can't," she breathed, close to tears. "There's nothing. I shouldn't have come here. I can't ever see you again."

"Dar- oomph! Endymion! Hurry, we'll be late!" came the voice again.

Tears now fell from Serenity/Selene's eyes, her chest aching with sadness. Endymion placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Please…"

She made one final mistake of looking up into his eyes, now a very deep blue as the sky lightened. She kissed him, and it felt as if her heart was taking flight inside her chest, rising and rising towards the stars. His hands slid down to her waist, pulling her close. He tugged softly on her bottom lip and felt her draw nearer as he did, their bodies pressed into each other until no definite line could be drawn between them.

Whistles and cat calls sounded from up the beach, but they barely penetrated the consciousness of the two. They separated, but stayed close and Serenity whispered quietly,

"I am from the Moon."

Then she ran away from him and past the four men on the street. She disappeared, still barefoot, into the dissipating crowd, finding her friends quickly and not stopping to explain the tears still flowing down her cheeks.

Darien stood on the beach, stunned to his very core. He'd been so overwhelmed after having finally kissed her that her words had taken a some time to sink in. Then he gazed up at the face of the Moon, which seemed to mock him. He removed his mask and walked slowly up the beach.

"Were you that bad of a kisser?" quipped Jadeite, only to receive another elbow in the stomach from Nephrite. Darien walked past them, leading the way home.

"She did seem to leave in quite a hurry," Zoicite said. "Crying, no less."

"It had nothing to do with the kiss," said Darien sharply. A silver glint caught his eye, and he hurried to the bottom of the trellis to find Selene's shoes, still sitting there after hours had passed. He picked them up, and carried them with him, giving a hard glare to Jadeite who had already begun to form the words, "Stealing women's shoes now, are we?" For awhile they were all silent, but silences never did last long with the Generals.

"So what was it then?" Nephrite asked. "Was she secretly married?"

"Was she secretly a man? Did she see you without a mask on and was too horrified to stay?" Three simultaneous elbows slammed into Jadeite's chest. This affected him little, however, for his night had been spectacular.

"It was much worse than all of that."

"Well, what was it then?" asked Zoicite, suddenly impatient.

"She's Lunarian."

The Generals stopped in their tracks, letting this soak in. They then continued forward, rushing to catch up with Darien.

"As in, peace and love and 'magic' to everyone, Lunarian?" Malachite asked, his face taking on a curious look.

"Yes."

"As in 'the Earth is too close-minded about magic and should learn to accept it' Lunarian?"

"Yes! It doesn't change; she's from the Moon."

The were quiet once more, thinking it all over. What nasty luck, they thought. It was too bad, really.

When they were back on castle grounds, Jadeite began burst out in laughter, startling them all.

"I fail to see what is so funny," Darien said angrily as they reached the rope of linens hanging from his window.

"It's the irony of it, really. You picking the name of the Earthling who loved the Moon Goddess for tonight's masquerade."

When the irony finally dawned on Darien, he grew angry, and began climbing the wall quickly up to his room. Irony was horrible in his opinion.

Author's Note: My dear readers, I fear that I have made a mistake in writing this fic that I hope you can excuse me for. In creating the pairs, I accidentally diverged away from the standard General/Senshi pairings of Ami/Zoicite and Raye/Jadeite. By the time my mistake was discovered, I had already written a great deal featuring the inverted couples. Therefore, I will continue on will my slightly askew couples and hope that it does not bother anyone too much. When you read Ami and Raye's accounts of the masquerade, I think you'll see how it was impossible to correct such a mistake for I had already began to shape the characters in different ways.

Thank you for reading this chapter and incredibly long author's note.

Until the next time,

Ai No Senshi