Reconciliation Part 9: Details
Serena awoke slowly, listening to someone speak to her. After a moment, she realized that it wasn't aloud. Other than Darien, who was asleep next to her, she was alone in the room. This voice was telepathic, but it was not her mother. The presence was different, and very close. As she listened, the words were incoherent. She decided to find out who this was, and why they had awoken her, and HOW they had awoken her.
'Hello? Who are you?' She asked carefully.
The voice stopped, but it hadn't left. It was listening.
'Where are you?' She asked again.
The answer was not one of words, but of thoughts. Colours, pictures, and feelings that were skewed from reality. With a little effort, Serena was able to recognize love, warmth, comfort, and complete and utter disorientation. This person had no idea where they were, or that there was any other place from that spot, but it felt safe, wherever it was. The thoughts were simple, mostly of listening and thinking about the information it had just received. It was learning, and its mind was mostly empty. Everything was new to it.
Serena was way too confused to think about it anymore, so she tried to shut her mind and go back to sleep, but the voice kept going. Suddenly, Serena felt another presence. This time she knew who it was.
'Serena,' Serenity began, her mind-voice sleepy, 'Who are you talking to?'
'I don't know, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me.' She replied, confused.
She felt her mother yawn. 'Let me listen for a moment. Maybe I can…' Her voice stopped suddenly. Though the new, unknown voice had not.
'What is it mother? Do you know who it is?' She asked hurriedly, and somewhat concerned that her mother had stopped so suddenly.
'Listen Serena. This voice is new.' Serenity replied, somewhat in awe, and now fully awake.
'I realized that. But who is it? Where is it?' Serena asked, somewhat exasperated. This wasn't helping at all.
'Use your heart dearest. Follow the voice to the source, though I'm sure you already know where it is.' Serenity instructed her daughter, smiling.
'What? How could I already know?'
'Just follow the voice.'
Serena sighed aloud. 'Alright.' Carefully, she followed this new voice back to where it was coming from. It was close, she knew that, but she had no idea how close. Like flexing a muscle that hadn't been used in a very long time, Serena slowly moved closer to the origin of this voice, and stopped, completely shocked at what she discovered.
'What? But, how?' She asked her mother.
'You know very well how, my dear.' Serenity replied smiling. 'Now, what will you do?'
'I'm going back to sleep, that's what I'm going to do.' Serena replied, still amazed.
Serenity laughed. 'Good luck, Serena. Do not worry, everything will be as it should.' Then her mother's presence was gone. She had gone back to sleep.
Serena tried to do the same, but found that as long as the voice was still very much awake, so was she. After several hours, she was able to finally lull the voice to sleep. After which Serena quickly fell asleep as well. She had not used her telepathy so much in over a thousand years, and it took quite a lot out of her.
* * *
When Darien awoke, it was morning, and he could hear the sounds of the palace life. He stretched and realized Serena was still asleep next to him. Not wanting to wake her yet, she slipped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. When he came out again, she was still very much asleep. He shook his head and headed out of the room in search of breakfast.
Everyone except Serena and himself were already in the dining room, enjoying their breakfast. He was somewhat surprised to see Pluto and Rini still there. He was sure Pluto would have taken Rini back to the future by now, but he was glad she hadn't. He at least wanted to be able to say good bye.
"Good morning Endymion. Does my daughter still sleep?" Queen Serenity greeted him.
"Good morning everyone. Yes, Serena was still very much asleep when I left." He replied, smiling. He took the empty seat next to Rini, and gave her a quick hug.
"Meatball brains. We probably won't see her before noon." Raye remarked.
"I should imagine not." Serenity answered Raye's statement. "She was awake for quite some time last night."
Everyone turned various looks of either death or teasing on Darien. "Don't look at me. It's not my fault."
"Sure, Endymion." Nephlite teased.
"Uh-huh. How dumb do you think we are?" Lita added.
"It was not the prince." Serenity interrupted, surprising almost everyone. Pluto was the only one who seemed unsurprised by this. She was simply ignoring the silly conversation.
"What do you mean?" Mina asked, bewildered. "If Darien didn't kept Serena up, then who did?"
Pluto flashed Serenity a look, and Serenity shook her head. "I'm afraid you will have to ask my daughter when she joins us." Serenity replied. "And I do believe she is now awake." Serenity fell silent for a moment, they watched as she spoke to Serena telepathically. "She is on her way, though somewhat slowly."
Unnoticed by all, Amy had realized what Pluto and Serenity were not talking about, and turned a deep red, all the while silently attempting to become one with her chair, while wishing she hadn't scanned Serena the day before.
About a half-hour later, mostly filled with teasing Endymion, and in turn, the other reunited couples, Princess Serenity came wandering in to the dining room. She was still yawning, though she had managed to make herself somewhat presentable despite her obvious fatigue.
Queen Serenity raised an eyebrow at her daughter as she came stumbling into the dining room, and collapsed into her chair. 'Are you alright?' She asked concerned.
"I'm fine, mother. Just exceptionally tired. That voice just won't let me sleep." Serena replied aloud, too tired to speak telepathically. Pluto nearly fell out of her chair.
"Pu? What's wrong?" Rini asked concerned. Pluto was always calm and collected, and this reaction effectively drew all attention to her.
Pluto took a deep breath and recollected herself. "It's alright, Small Lady. I was just surprised, that's all."
Darien raised an eyebrow at Pluto. 'It must have been something big to surprise Pluto.' Just the thought worried him.
Pluto smiled at Rini and picked up the small girl. "Everything will be as it should, princess." She whispered.
Serena's stomach growled loudly, which was followed by a yawn. Queen Serenity covered her mouth with her hand a stifled a laugh. Raye opened her mouth to let out yet another jab at her best friend when Pluto cut her off.
"Your majesty," She began, putting Rini down. "May I speak with you in private?"
"Of course, Pluto. We can speak in my study." Serenity replied, standing.
"Mercury, I must ask you to come with us." Pluto turned to Amy, who was toying with the last of her toast, her appetite lost with the previous, if hidden, conversation.
Amy jumped when Pluto spoke to her. "O- of course." She all but leapt from her seat, to the questioning looks from the room. She kept her eyes on the flowing form of the queen while following her out of the room.
Serena was much too busy in her breakfast to notice that any more had occurred other than her mother and Pluto leaving the room, and leaving Rini behind, who promptly crawled onto Darien's lap.
"Princess Serenity," Pluto addressed Serena just before following the queen and Mercury.
"Yes Pluto?" Serena replied, yet again startling her friends with how much she was becoming like her past self.
"I must request you to join us in your mother's study as soon as possible." Pluto told her more than asked.
Serena was about to ask why, but the look on Pluto's face warned her otherwise. Serena nodded. Pluto's face kept the look of warning, but now it was to keep her from saying anything, than asking anything. Serena understood, somewhat surprised that she understood, and nodded again. Pluto nodded back to her and left the room.
Serena was left to wonder what was going on, so important that Pluto was involved. She quickly finished her breakfast, but with enough grace that even Raye was left agape. Serena was sorely tempted to make a not so nice remark about her hanging jaw, but thought better of it as she continued to keep as much grace and control as possible, which only served to astonish her friends even more.
She quickly kissed her beloved on the cheek before excusing herself from the room to join her mother. As soon as she was out of earshot of her friends, she let out her laughter.
'I think I'll have to do that more often. The look on Raye's face was priceless!' She thought to herself.
'That may be daughter,' Serenity spoke telepathically, surprising Serena. 'But we need you here. No more wasting time.'
She sighed. 'Alright mother. I'm coming.' She replied, hurrying off to her mother's study.
When Serena got to the large, wooden, double doors to Queen Serenity's study, Pluto opened one for her before she could even knock. Open entering, her smiles were met with two very serious faces, and one very upset one.
"Amy!" she exclaimed, embracing her friend. "What happened?" Amy only shook her head, so she turned on Pluto. "What did you do?" She asked, irritated. She hated seeing any of her friends upset.
Pluto shook her head. "She should not have scanned you yesterday. Now she knows things she should not. It is too soon."
"What are you talking about?" Serena asked, perplexed.
"The voice, Serena." Serenity answered. A look of understanding dawned across Serena's face.
"Oh! I see. Though she would have known sooner of later. As will all my friends." Serena continued, irritated.
"It should not have happened yet." Pluto continued, equally as irritated. "The future has been jeopardized."
"How?" Serena asked, letting go of Amy to fully face Pluto.
"It is not yet clear what will happen once everyone is told." Pluto answered, calmly again.
"Well then let's find out." Serena spat and headed for the door.
"Serena, wait!" Amy stopped her halfway out the door. "Don't you think you should tell Darien before anyone else finds out?"
All the anger flew from Serena's expression as she looked into her friend's blue eyes. Slowly she nodded.
"Tell me what?"
The two spun around to find Darien and Rini walking towards them.
"Darien…" Serena trailed off, her face going white.
"Serena?" Amy said, getting her attention back. "It will be ok." Amy smiled and hugged Serena. "Hey Rini!" Amy called the little girl. "You haven't seen the palace yet have you? How about I show you?" Rini readily agreed, desperately wanting to see more of her ancestral home.
After the two left, Darien walked up to Serena and kissed her. "Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me?" He said, getting right to the point.
"There is something I need to tell you, but not here." Serena said, looking around for a more private place. "Let's walk to the lake, in the gardens."
Darien nodded and took Serena's arm. The two walked in a comfortable silence to the lake. It was a beautiful place, in the center of the garden, it was surrounded by flowers of every kind. Serena sat on the edge of the lake, took off her shoes and suck her feet in the cool water.
Darien sat on the grass behind her and wrapped his arm around her. He kissed her ear and began his way down her neck. "Now, what is so important that we had to come all the way out here?"
Serena sighed and Darien stopped. He came around beside her and took her hands in his. He looked into her eyes, and she saw all the love and reassurance she would ever need in their depths.
"Darien…" Serena started, taking a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." She watched as his face dropped, then the widest grin she had ever seen crossed his face and he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her. There was no way he was ever letting her go now. "Serena, this is wonderful. It's a good thing we're already engaged."
Now she was confused. "Engaged? That announcement my mother made at the ball? But wasn't that just an attempt to get my memory back?"
Darien sighed. "It was. But haven't we technically been engaged since the Silver Millennium?"
"True." Serena agreed, "but we died, several times."
He sighed. She was right.
"I always wanted children, but I never wanted to have them before I got married. I wanted to do it right, be a bride first." She said wistfully.
"You will. We'll get married right away; here on the moon, where it was supposed to be." He told her.
"You'd really want to do that? Not just for the baby?" She asked carefully.
"Of course I want to marry you. I always have. I love you, Serena. And I'll love the baby too. We'll be a family."
"Oh, Darien." Serena smiled and kissed him. "I love so much."
"Now we just have to tell your parents. Won't they be surprised?" He told her.
"Oh, my family on Earth. My Dad's going to kill me, and you."
"Why don't we just invite them here?" He suggested.
Serena seemed to like the idea for a moment, then shook her head. "Nope. My Mom hates traveling. It would be better if I went to them. We should all take care of everything down there anyway."
Darien pouted. "Don't you want to raise the baby on Earth?"
She smiled. "Of course I do, but I think we'll need to wait until the people get used to us before we take them over."
"Already a Queen." He smiled, brushing his hand on her cheek. "We'll figure out what to do when we get there. First we need to tell everyone here. I assume Amy already knows?"
"Yes she does."
"That's why she was blushing so much." Darien finished.
Serena stood, excited. "Let's go back, I can't wait to tell everyone." She looked ready to run back to the palace. Darien was about to stop her from running when she stopped suddenly herself.
"What is it?" He asked concerned.
"The baby… I can talk to her."
"What?" He was very confused now.
"You know that my mother and I are able to communicate telepathically." He nodded. "Apparently, so can the baby. I guess we should call her Rini now."
"It's Rini? Are you sure? And you can talk to her? Already?"
Serena laughed. "Now you're sounding like me. I'm pretty sure it's Rini, otherwise Pluto would have brought another child back from the future."
"Yes, she would have had no choice." Darien agreed.
"I can talk to her, though it's mostly feelings so far. She doesn't have words yet." Serena paused. "I wish you could hear her, it's truly amazing."
"Then you'll have to tell me everything." Darien said, holding her. He planted a kiss on her forehead. "Didn't you have some people you wanted to tell?"
"Of course." She replied heading for the palace again.
* * *
That evening, all her friends were gathered around the table in the dining hall. The Discovery had returned to Earth that afternoon, and they seem to be optimistic about the Moon Kingdom, though they still had their reservations about a prince that represents the entire planet. It took quite a lot of reassuring the Discovery team that none of them, not even Prince Endymion had any intentions of taking over the planet. Explaining how Earth would now fit into the new cosmic platform was something that was to be discussed on their trip to earth the following week.
Now that everyone had finished eating, and dessert had not yet been served, Serena and Darien were going to make their big news known to everyone.
Darien tapped his glass and they stood. "Excuse me everyone." They waited a moment as all eyes turned to them.
"We have some news that we all wanted you to know." Serena began.
"You're getting married!!" Mina squealed.
"Yes, Mina, we're getting married." Serena confirmed.
"So soon?" Nephlite asked.
"I think a thousand years is long enough to have to wait." Darien replied jokingly.
Everyone laughed and cheers of congratulations started. Through everyone was a little perplexed when they didn't sit down again.
"What, there's more?" Raye chided.
"Yes." Serena replied smiling widely. She looked over at Amy as if she would say it for her, but Amy just smiled. Serena took a deep breath and Darien squeezed her hand.
"We're expecting." Darien said for her. He was just as excited as she was.
"Well, that would explain the wedding." Lita joked.
"This is definitely a night of surprises." Jadeite commented. After a moment of more congratulations, filled with a lot of squealing from Serena's friends, dessert was brought in.
* * *
Four days later, the entire party was on there was to Earth. Pluto was staying to keep an eye on things on the moon and Rini, though they hated to see her go, had gone back to the future. A temporary Moon Embassy had been set up in a remote location in Switzerland.
First, they met with the UN. Many nations were very reluctant to accept Endymion as their Prince. After much reassurance that nothing would change for quite some time, and every country would retain their sovereignty once he did resume his duties; they decided to put off any formal decision until after the meeting with the world leaders.
The meeting with the world leaders, where they were all formally ushered onto the world stage went very well. After everyone was convinced that nothing would change when Endymion took his throne, he would play a figurehead like the ruling body of England and be their representative on the cosmic forum, they agreed to let him become the true Prince of Earth once again.
After a week of negotiations with all different countries it was decided, or rather Darien informed them, that the ruling palace would be a new Tokyo, who amazingly, was happy about the decision. Queen Serenity had already returned to the Moon, still being the Queen, she was needed to return to her duties as Pluto also returned to hers.
Once all the high profile negotiations were completed, Serena, Darien, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina returned to Tokyo. They still had to break the news to their families. In their civilian identities, they were able to move around as they had before they left. Raye's grandfather and Amy's mother and already figured it out, and understood why they hadn't been told. Mina's parents flipped, but gave in knowing there was nothing they could do about it, insisting on an invitation to the Moon. Lita and Darien had only to leave their old apartments and jobs.
Andrew was hurt that Darien hadn't said anything, but was happy when Darien told him about Serena's engagement, leaving out the baby. He already knew that the palace was to be built in Tokyo, but was very surprised when Darien told him that it was him and Serena that would be living there.
Serena's parents were an entirely different story. Serena's father hit the roof and her mother passed out when she told them about being Sailor Moon and the Moon Princess. Even with the presence of the scouts and Darien's generals, Serena's father still tried to kill Darien, which was why they had all come.
"Dad please. You don't understand." Serena tried to calm her father down while Amy and Mina woke her mother. Sammy was at his friend's house.
He was too angry to speak coherently. Just then Ilene woke up and after a minute realized what was going on. She took Serena into the other room to talk to her while the generals contained her father.
"Serena honey, why didn't you tell us?" She asked, concerned and hurt.
"I couldn't Mom. It was too dangerous. I couldn't out you and dad and Sammy at risk like that."
"But you could have been hurt, or killed. Oh Serena!"
"Mom, trust me, you don't want to know everything we had to do."
"No, you're right, I don't. But I do want to know how you can be both my daughter and the Princess of the Moon."
Serena sighed and related the long story about the Silver Millennium to her mother.
"Goodness. I certainly hope not everything you did was like that."
Serena just shook her head. By now the noise from her father had stopped so they went back to the living room. Her father was just sitting, talking to Darien rationally.
"Dad? Are you ok?" Serena asked when she saw this.
"I'm fine dear. I just realized what a fool I was making out of myself in front of royalty." He stood up and walked over to her. "I'm happy for you dear, but I don't understand how you can be our daughter and the Princess."
"Mom?"
"I'll explain it to him, don't worry." Ilene reassured her daughter.
Serena hugged Darien and they sat back on the couch. It was just the four of them in the living room as the general and the scouts had gone outside once Serena's father was normal again.
"We just have one more thing we need to tell you." Serena began.
"What's that dear?" Ilene asked.
"After so much time, Darien and I are getting married." She told them happily.
He mother nodded and held her father down. "Congratulations dear."
"We're going to have the wedding on the moon, in the palace. That's were it was supposed to be." Serena continued.
"When's the big day?" Her father asked, getting into it after realizing how much in love the couple before them was.
"In about three weeks. We don't want to wait anymore." Darien told them.
"Three weeks doesn't leave you much time to get everything ready." Ilene pointed out.
"Actually we got engaged before we came back to Earth, so they should be almost ready." Darien replied.
"We are invited right?" Serena's father almost demanded.
"Of course." Serena giggled. "You're still my family. But do me a favor and don't tell Sammy. I want to see the look on his face when he gets to the Moon."
"Serena that's hardly fair." Ilene told her.
"I guess you're right. He'll be surprised enough as it is. Just try to keep him from telling anyone. I don't want anything to happen to you now that you know everything, and the only way for you to lead a normal life is to keep my relation as princess a secret."
"Of course dear. You're right, everything would change if people knew about you. Sammy will understand, I'm sure."
"Would you like to meet everyone?" Serena asked.
"Sure." Serena's father replied.
The four went out to the backyard where everyone was waiting and Serena introduced her parents to her court and Darien's generals.
"Geez mom. Are you throwing a barbeque without even telling me." Sammy said, making his presence known. Then he realized that Serena was there when she turned to see him. "Serena!" He exclaimed and hugged his sister.
"Oof! Careful Sammy." Serena hugged her bother back. Darien was immediately at Serena's side. "It's ok." She mouthed to him. They hadn't yet told her parents about the baby, and didn't plan to until after the wedding.
"That's a good idea Sammy. Why don't we have a barbeque?" Ilene asked Serena happily.
"I love to mom but we really do have to get going. I promise we'll do one next time." Serena replied after Sammy let her go.
"What do you mean get going? You just got home, you can't leave again." Sammy told her indignantly.
"I'm sorry Sammy, but we have to get back. You'll be seeing me again really soon, I swear." She told him.
He just grumbled something incoherently and stormed back into the house. Just as everyone was leaving, Ilene grabbed Serena and pulled her off to the side.
"Serena, there something you're not telling me, isn't there?" She asked with a knowing smile.
Serena sighed. He mother was too smart. "Yes, there is. I'm pregnant."
"Oh Serena I'm so happy for you. I'm sorry to see you leave, and everything's changed so much…" she trailed off.
"I love you mom." Serena hugged her mother and finally, she left.
With everything taken care of on Earth, they returned to the moon to finish preparing for the wedding.
