*Note: All the Italics are thoughts*

He had her! A few more moments and she was his!

It had been fairly easy to pass the guards and enter the castle surreptitiously. All he had had to do was confuse them with a bit of dark energy and no one was the wiser. These moon-idiots couldn't even stand a bit of dark energy, he snorted, weak that's what they were. And--

Nikolaos stopped sneering and refocused on his mission. To find the Princess and exterminate her. He craned his head above the crowd to try and spot the Moon Princess.

How was he to do it, he wondered. His mother had told him to kill her. He had never intentionally hurt anyone that bad before. Of course he was just as nasty as the next person, but killing some one seemed...a bit harsh... Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a vivid red mane of hair and fury quickly ignited within him again. But before he could focus upon it, it whipped out of sight.

Ruby?, he thought furiously. What was she doing here?

"Sabotage", Nikolaos hissed the word. She was here to watch him fail. He would not fail, he would show them that he was just as capable as the most dangerous assassins the Dark Kingdom had.

From behind a pillar Ruby let out a deep breath. She had thought for one moment that Nikolaos had seen her. She had been watching him look for the princess and saw the uncertainty dawning on his face. Her fists clenched, Damnit, she thought, if that idiot gets cold feet now, he'll ruin the entire plan, and we'd never have another chance at this! Then she realized that she had been stationary for more than a minute and felt her heart jump when Nikolaos' eyes landed on her. She quickly ducked behind a large, elderly man with a spectacular handlebar mustache and sneaked off behind a pillar.

She would have to be more careful next time. Leaning back against the pillar, she closed her eyes and focused n the energy flowing just beneath her skin. She felt the rhythm of it pounding through her veins, and slowly formed an image in her head and willed it into existence. When she opened her eyes she was now an inch or so taller with a more pleasing voluptuous figure. Her vivid red hair had changed to a gleaming waist length chestnut brown that caught the light spectacularly, and enchanting deep brown eyes that could hypnotize easily. She glanced around herself quickly and checked to see if anyone had been watching. It didn't seem like it, the shadows had hidden her well. She stepped out gracefully from behind the pillar and resumed her careful watch of Nikolaos.

Nikolaos had swiftly shaken off his brief scare and continued to look for the Princess. Form the corner of his eye he spotted a girl with silvery floor length hair. There were milky white pearls woven in her hair that glistened as they caught the light and accentuated the pale silver almost translucent quality of her hair. She was just standing there a dreamy expression on her face, her mouth slightly ajar, completely oblivious to the milling crowd of people around her. She was staring up at the sky outside of the giant double-doors enthralled. Nikolaos suddenly had a strange urge to laugh, knowing it would incense her, but making it all the funnier.

He smiled a bit and watched her enjoy the breeze stirring the hem of her white dress. Suddenly a stronger breeze hit her and she closed her eyes in delight as the wind blew her bangs off her face. Nikolaos froze as he glimpsed what was hidden beneath her bangs, a golden crescent moon. This girl was the princess.

He was still standing frozen, completely taken aback when he realized that he still had a job to. Nikolaos took a deep breath and steeled himself. He walked purposefully toward her, intending to end the matter as soon as possible.

"Hello Princess," Nikolaos said warmly, expecting her to turn and greet him, but she did not. She didn't even seem to hear him. "Princess?" he asked. Again she showed no sign of having heard him. Was she deaf? Addled brain? "Princess", Nikolaos said again irritably. He had a mad desire to wave his hand back and forth in front of her face to see if she was even alive. "Princess" he finally snapped. Suddenly, she jumped, showing signs of life. Finally, he thought vexed, about time.

"Oh!" she gasped, the Prince restrained himself from rolling his eyes with difficulty. Idiot. She was hurriedly trying to smooth her dress and hitched a fake smile on her face. "Hello."

Nikolaos smiled a small grim smile and took the hand she was offering. he brushed his lips lightly against it and quietly mummered a hello in response.

He straightened up haughtily and looked into Serenity's face, examining her. He could clearly see the offending Golden Crescent mark on her forehead now that he was closer. She was much shorter than him, maybe a head and a half and didn't look very Princess-like, he thought reproachfully. Are we sure she's the real Princess?

One notable thing was her eyes, they were a beautiful deep blue and looked endless, but Nikolaos thought the depth was marred by the innocence they clearly showed. Her head looks pretty empty, he thought. They stared into each others' eyes a little longer until she seemed to regain herself and broke their gaze to sink into a curtsy.

Then she straightened up, her back now ramrod straight, the innocence in her eyes overshadowed by determination. He got the impression that she realized he didn't think she was very princess-like. He raised an eyebrow and bowed slightly to ask her for a dance. Her life would be ending soon, he thought carelessly, and then there would be no need to impress.

"Princess, would you like to dance with me?" Nikolaos asked in a low voice and stretched out his hand to her, a friendly smile playing on his lips.

Her eyes flicked back from his out-stretched hand to his face. He could see uncertainty warring with consent in her eyes as she slowly stretched out her hand toward his. His palm was tingling with anticipation. He was egging her on with his mind, go on, he thought eagerly, take my hand. Some of his wild excitement may have shown up in his eyes because suddenly she had pulled her hand away and was staring up into his eyes, scared and wary. He heard her voice, soft as a whisper, ask him," Who--who are you?" Nikolaos smiled, so the brat was not as unintelligent as she seemed.

"Nikolaos,"he said simply.

The tight lines around Serenity's eyes became more relaxed and this time she reached out to take his hand more confidently. Yes, he thought, yes! He leered even wider, but just when she was about to touch his hand, out of nowhere four girls crashed into Serenity and knocked Nikolaos' hand out of the way. The four new girls had their arms around Serenity as they all embraced her enthusiastically. Nikolaos' eyes tightened as he watched Serenity being pulled into the center of the group. All of them were talking excitedly and laughing. Nikolaos was driven almost completely out of Serenity's mind as she realized who had greeted her so enthusiastically.

Abominations, Nikolaos thought bitterly. Just when he had had her too. He would have to waste time waiting for Serenity to be alone again.

Nikolaos turned away disgustedly and vanished into the crowd. Serenity's ocean blue eyes were still watching him as she turned to excitedly greet her friends.