#so the authorial intent here is that serena danced w/ grace and gloria is the one in the wrong but if you can read it otherwise

[merryfortune]

Prince Charming Can't Tell Odette from Odile or Odile from Odette

Clover and Violets 2022

Day 16. Mask

Title: Prince Charming Can't Tell Odette from Odile or Odile from Odette

Ship 1: Athenashipping | Gloria/Serena

Ship 2: not applicable | Grace/Serena

Word Count: 1,815

Rating: T

Universe: Arc V - Canon Divergent

Tags: Not Canon Compliant, Teen Drama, Inspired by Cinderella, Inspired by Swan Lake, Love Triangles, Ambiguous Ending, Minor or Implied Relationships

   “Ugh, why do I have to wear a boy’s costume?” Serena complained as she stomped out of the change room in a tailed jacket and knee-high boots.

   Yuri quirked a brow, “You would rather one of those frilly dresses that most girls are wearing then?”

   “...No.” Serena mumbled and that put that to rest, leaving Yuri rather smug.

   The costumes in question were what was available after the third and second years had raided the costume box. Although, there wouldn’t have been much variety even if first years could go first to raid as most costumes were of elegance and debonair qualities as this was meant to be quite the upscale soiree for the duellists of Duel Academia. After all, held once a year and in grand esteem, a most important masquerade ball was hosted by the staff and it was quite the media circus due to the novelty of their school so no, dear students, you cannot go in anything less than your Sunday best. Certainly not as a ghost, zombie, or pirate either. Only princes and princesses were allowed at this ball. 

   “Here, don’t forget to wear this.” Yuri said and he handed Serena a mask.

   She sighed. She was really not all that fond of the sequins and feathers but once she got used to the feeling of the mask itself on her face, she was able to find it most acceptable to wear. Even if she wasn’t all that excited for the masquerade ball, it was mandatory to go, especially if one wanted to make it on the pro circuit like she. Knowing how to schmooze was an invaluable skill and one that Serena lacked so, she forced herself to go, knowing deep inside herself that she was going to stand by the refreshments table and do nothing else.

   She was most certainly not going to dance. She had two left feet and hated dancing. Or at least that’s what Serena was planning on doing.

   Serena spent at least forty minutes doing that, however. She was enjoying the likes of prawn cocktails and crab rangoons, downing fruit punch and other beverages, hovering by the table, making seemingly no impression on anyone. Yuri had long since abandoned her because whilst he enjoyed the dressing up part of the event, the music and the dancing was also not his forte but Dennis had roped him into a foxtrot and they were still going at it. 

   But Serena was all fine by herself. The mysterious girl who approached her, however, was not quite so fine leaving her to her own devices of awkwardness and seeming introversion. And Serena didn’t mind one bit.

   She was entranced by this student - this older student - and felt that she knew her from somewhere. She had to, they went to the same school after all and there was only a finite number of students, but all dressed up, Serena felt clueless. Especially before such beauty and she was extremely beautiful, like a tiger in the jungle of dim lights and confetti and crepe paper decorations.

   “I’ve been admiring you from afar, you know, your a promising rookie,” she complimented Serena, taking her away from the refreshments table and leading her effortlessly, gracefully, to the dancefloor, into a crowd of gorgeously furnished peers of theirs, “but I never found the right time to get closer. Until now.”

   “Really?” Serena felt a lump in her throat.

   “Yes, really.” she giggled cutely.

   Though Serena was the one dressed as a prince between them, this princess before her was taking the masculine lead in all her femininity. She looked the picture of a perfect fairy tale in her pale pink gown with all the frills and ribbons suiting such an image; her long blonde hair down and floaty as she moved. Her high heels clicked on the linenoum of the gymnasium floor as she led Serena through a waltz.

   “You are a very cute little duellist, I hope to see more of you.” the girl praised.

   Serena smiled awkwardly. She held onto the girl’s hand and she really wanted to ask her for her name but for some reason, she just couldn’t make the words leave from her mouth. Possibly fortunate as the girl continued to speak. Though she was speaking about all sorts of irrelevant things, nothing that would constitute as identifying information beyond just that she was a member of the Obelisk Blue Dorm - and Serena had half expected that due to how she carried herself. She suspected this student was a second or third year and quite the ace. 

   She had such a magnificent aura about her and Serena was all swept up in it, a burgeoning infatuation colouring her cheeks with blush. Her heart skipped a beat and she wanted for everything when these few magical moments - of over an hour of dancing, it would turn out - was over. And Serena still did not know who this mystery student was, just that when the clock struck twelve, she apologised and bowed, saying that it was too late for her.

   Serena could only watch, a question on her lips, as this girl fled away from her and met with another student, also of long, blonde hair and in a dress of opposite, darkened colours of her and then vanished. She watched as they disappeared into a hallway, scurrying off, and she wondered whatever could be the matter. Serena didn’t even notice as an exhausted Yuri trudged up to her.

   “Oh my,” he gasped, seeing how starstruck her eyes were, “someone is in love.”

   That snapped Serena out of her dreamy, fugue state and she ruffled up immediately, “Am not!” she snapped.

   “We’ll see about that.” Yuri hummed.

   “Whatever, let’s go, this place sucks, I’m bored.” Serena complained and Yuri deemed only half of what she said as being genuine.

   Yuri shrugged and escorted the rather danced off her feet Serena back to their dorm. They parted at the entryway and Serena returned to her room. She collapsed onto her bed as soon as she could, only tearing off that mask that she had forgotten she was wearing at all before going to sleep where she dreamed of that mysterious girl she had spent all night with. She fell asleep to the memory of her dry, floral perfume and the elegance of how she twirled her, still feeling as though she were in that waltz. One step, two step, and then back and forth, Serena sighed and slept especially well.

   In the morning, she was still in a daze and that was probably quite good because in the morning, as she pulled herself from bed and dragged herself to the dining hall, she discovered something. She had caused quite the ruckus the night before at the masquerade ball and she had no idea how or why. She was still wearing the costume with its puffy pants and its epaulette-having shoulders and she wasn’t the only one. 

   The girl from the night before was still in her costume, too. 

   She stole Serena’s breath away in her bleary, not a morning person state realised as all the buzz was because of them. The dining hall had become quite the parade as people tried to work out which way it was going to be and Serena felt her spirits lift in disbelief as she got closer.

   She was standing on a table, her back turned to the entryway that Serena approached from. The dress was the exact same, the baby pink and the white frills, the glimpses of glass slippers underneath all the excess of her gown. And when Serena was finally at the edge of the table, her hands placed upon it as she looked up in wonder to the girl, she turned around and giggled.

   The chiming sound of her mischievous laughter was exactly what Serena had remembered the night before. Her heart began to pound faster and she tried to ask what she had been dying to ask all night.

   “Can I finally know your name?” she asked.

   “Of course, my sweet.” she replied and she flipped her long, blonde hair off her shoulder but Serena could have sworn, was it always that gold a tone or was it merely silver because of the dark lighting of the ball?

   She tore her mask off and revealed her face. Serena felt her stomach drop. There were a few girls around across all the dorms with long blonde hair, which was why she didn’t want to get her hopes up that it was either of two, possibly three, specific Obelisk Blue dorm third years that she had managed to charm but miracle of miracles. Those piercing yellow eyes, Serena was enraptured by just how feline and hungry they were. She was… Unmasked, she was one of the Tyler sisters but being a head down, thumbs up kind of girl, Serena was uncertain which one.

   Especially as her sister burst in, “Stop it, older sister, why are you tormenting me like this?”

   The whole dining hall stopped to gasp as the other Tyler Twin, who had significantly lighter hair than the one on the table, raced in. She was crying, clutching her heart as she tried to catch up to the brouhaha that was unfolding as very rare morning entertainment.

   “Serena, Serena, please,” she begged, “it was me who danced with you last night, not Gloria. She stole my dress just… just to torment me! She knows I have an admiration for you, one she does not possess herself.” She panted and cried, her face going red as she tried to convince Serena of what had happened last night in the dark and in the dancing.

   “She lies, she is simply envious of what you and I have,” Gloria sneered, yet her expression was neutral, “it was you and I who spent all night together before the midnight curfew. Please, Serena, surely you know which twin you have become so enamoured for.”

   "No!" Grace yelled, protested. "It was us. We were the ones who danced all night, surely you know who it truly was, who was under the mask?" Her demeanour was hot and fiery, fighting against her sister unfair or was it just as Gloria said? It was just some ruse of envy.

   “I… I, um…” Serena stammered as she glanced between both sisters who demanded her attention but she could hardly hear their pleas over the sound of her heart pounding. She didn’t know and it struck her like thunder and lightning that she did know and the uncertainty, the agony, was killing her, ruining that dream of admiration and beauty.

   She had to choose, to discern, and so she gathered herself to speak through all that clouded her judgement and she could only hope that in the precious few seconds that would follow, it would be the correct name that she spoke.