Chapter 23: Fooling the Redeans
Molly and Melvin entered the throne room first. Then came Princess Serenity followed by Prince Endymion. As they entered they each bowed or curtseyed to the King and Queen.
When she saw Prince Endymion, Queen Ralcea became worried. However, when she noticed his red eyes she smiled smugly at King Rodo. Turning back to Princess Serenity she said, "Welcome back daughter. I must say I'm surprised at who you've brought along."
Princess Serenity smiled at the Queen, "I thought you might be Mother," she felt Endymion tense slightly besides her but she continued. "But I assure you that he is on our side."
Rodo motioned for them to come forward, "And how did this happen?"
Serenity took a deep breath and started on the story she had made up. "You see, Father, when I arrived at the park to use my Crystal I had failed to plan for one variable." 'Gezz, I'm starting to sound like Amy,' she thought to herself. "I had planed for the possibility that the Sailor Brats," 'I'm sorry guys.' "And their friends might try to stop me. However, I neglected to consider what would happen if Prince Endymion had the courage to fight me with his crystal." 'Endymion, you do know that I don't mean any of this, don't you?' "This is probably because Endymion has only ever used his crystal once, and that was with my help."
Ralcea smiled, "Ahhh, so the scouts had a secret even from us, did they?"
"Apparently, Mother," Serenity continued. "So, there we were in the park. Prince Endymion and his Golden Crystal vs. me and my Silver Crystal. I wasn't sure I could defeat this powerful new crystal, so I thought, 'Why not have him join us? He is apparently much stronger then he seems.' So instead of trying to defeat his crystal with mine, I simply tried to turn him to our side."
"But how did you know he could be turned?" Rodo asked.
"I knew because he had already been turned away from the scouts twice before. Once by Queen Beryl and once by Wicked Lady," Serenity explained. "I also figured that, if I'm to rule in your place some day, I would need a King. And I have gotten used to being told that Endymion and I will one day marry." Serenity watch the two rulers. 'Will they buy my story?'
"Prince Endymion, come forward," Ralcea demanded. Endymion stepped forward, never hesitating. He looked the Queen squarely in the eye. "Why should we except you as a follower. You have been part of the conspiracy against our beloved daughter."
"If you'll pardon this, my Queen," Endymion denied. "But I was being used by the Scouts just as much as your lovely daughter, Princess Serenity."
"Oh were you?" Rodo asked skeptically. "Do explain."
It was now Endymion's turn to convince these rulers. "If you'll remember, during the Silver Millennium communication between my Golden Kingdom and the princess's Moon Kingdom was strictly forbidden. At the time the scouts were willing to respect that. However, Serenity and I meet and fell in love. The inner scouts and my generals thus meet and decided that this was the perfect way for them to get the power they had always craved. When we were reborn the only thing I really remembered was my deep love for Serenity. Because of this it was easy for Luna and the scouts to corrupt me along with Serenity. I am just thankful that she has finally been able to free not only herself, but me as well." Endymion stopped and waited for the Redeans reactions. Serenity stepped forward and took one of Endymion's hands and also waited.
"You believe in him then, Serenity?" Ralcea guessed.
"Yes. With all my heart," Serenity confirmed.
"Then he shall stay as you're betrothed," Rodo decided. "Shall we arrange rooms for him, or is that unnecessary?"
Serenity smiled, "Separate rooms are unnecessary. We have been apart for too long as it is."
"Fine then. I'm sure you could all use some rest. We shall discuss our next step tomorrow. Goodnight darlings," Ralcea dismissed them.
"Goodnight Mother," Serenity and Endymion said together. They turned and left, followed by Molly and Melvin.
After they left Rodo smiled at Ralcea, "To think we didn't know about this other power, as strong as the Silver Imperium Crystal."
Ralcea nodded, "It's a good thing Serenity was able to turn Endymion before he caused us any trouble. She must really be under our control to be able to turn someone else."
"I suppose that their strong love for each other helped," Rodo decided. "Their face off was probably simply a test to see who would end up following whom. And if Endymion's already been turned twice before it's not surprising that Serenity won."
Molly, Melvin, Serenity and Endymion didn't speak until they had closed the door to Serenity's bedchamber. ":Sigh: Thank goodness that they bought our stories," Serenity breathed. "I was so scared they would see right through them."
Endymion took her hand, "I'm not surprised. For a second I thought you really were still evil." He kissed her cheek. "You are a lot stronger then even I thought."
Molly looked at them, "I could've sworn both of you were evil. There's no way the King and Queen wouldn't buy it."
Melvin nodded, "Come on Molly. Lets go get some sleep." Molly and Melvin left.
"Was I really that convincing?" Serenity asked, leading Endymion onto the balcony. "I hope you know I didn't mean anything I said."
"Oh, so you haven't gotten used to the idea that we will someday marry? And you don't believe in me with all your heart?" Endymion teased.
Serenity smiled, "That's not what I meant. And the thought that we will marry someday still seems to good to be true. I'm always worried that something drastic will happen and take that dream away from us."
Endymion picked a red rose from the vine growing on the balcony railing. He handed it to Serenity, "Nothing! Will ever keep me away from you. We will marry and rule as King and Queen someday." He kissed Serenity sweetly. When he pulled away his eyes were teasing again, "Isn't Rini enough proof of that?" He took her hand and lead her back inside.
"You're right, of course," Serenity sighed. She put the new rose on her vanity table and they prepared for bed. As they laying there, just glad to be together, Serenity smiled at a memory that surfaced. "If our future daughter, landing on my head isn't proof enough, what is?" They both laughed and then fell asleep in each others arms.
When Amy, Zoisite, and Trista stopped working for the night, they decided to stop by Bunny's and Darien's place to see how Bunny was. They had been doing research at headquarters, and hadn't spoken to anyone sense they started.
When Pearl heard a knock at the door she was very happy. Although Luna was still there, Pearl had been lonely after the meeting. "Hello," she said cheerfully as she opened the door.
"Hello Pearl," Amy returned. They all went into the apartment. "Where's Bunny?"
Pearl looked at Luna. "She's not here," Pearl finally said.
The other three looked at her in surprise. "Not here? So where's Darien?" Zoisite demanded.
"With Bunny," Pearl mumbled.
Trista put her hand on Pearl's shoulder, "And where might that be?"
Pearl looked down at Luna. She really didn't want to be the one to tell them what had happened after they had left to do research. Luna got the hint and answered for her, "Bunny, Darien, Molly and Melvin are in Elysion." The other's gasped. "Don't worry, they haven't turned evil again or anything, and they haven't been kidnapped. They are going to try to find out about the Redeans first hand."
"So you're telling me that Bunny was willing to fake being evil, just to get some information?" Amy asked, clearly astonished.
"It was Bunny's idea in the first place," Pearl commented.
"I can't believe you guys let them do that!" Zoisite burst. "It's crazy! Luticrist! What if they get caught!"
"Calm down. Have faith in them," Luna insisted. "They wont be caught, and they may be able to gather valuable information for us."
"Luna's right," Trista agreed. "The Prince and Princess can take care of themselves. Meanwhile, we should get some rest. The sooner we solve the mystery of the Redeans, the sooner they can come back." Everyone agreed. After making sure Pearl was all right on her own they all left to get a good nights rest.
When Princess Serenity awoke the next morning, it took her a moment to remember what had happened the day before. She rolled over to see if Endymion was awake yet, he wasn't. She got out of bed carefully, trying not to disturb him, and went to the wardrobe to choose today's outfit.
She chose a rose satin undergown, toped with a dark green overgown. The overgown had small flowers on vines embroidered on it, which must of taken months to do. She put on satin rose dancing slippers and tied dark green ribbons in her hair. Then she put the rose from the night before with one of the ribbons.
When she was finished she turned back to the bed. Endymion was awake and watching her with a strange expression on his face. "What? Don't you like my outfit," she asked.
Endymion shook his head to clear his mind. "It's not that," he denied. "I was just thinking how beautiful you look in Medieval, European clothing."
Bunny blushed slightly and pointed to the wardrobe, "There are some Medieval cloths in there for you too."
Endymion went to the wardrobe and chose a black satin shirt and linen knee breaches. He toped this with a red sleeveless tunic with ivy vines embroidered over it. Finishing with black knee high socks and black buckle shoes, Endymion turned to Serenity for her approval.
Serenity smiled, "Well, there's one good thing about being evil. We do get some wonderful cloths. You look very handsome." Serenity gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now we must hurry. The King and Queen always have breakfast with Molly, Melvin and I. They try to make us feel like a family."
When Endymion and Serenity emerged from their room Molly and Melvin were waiting for them. "Come on, you know your 'parents' will gets suspicious if we're late for breakfast," Molly urged. They all started off toward the dinning room. As they walked Melvin turned to Endymion, "Remember, they will watch you for a while. So don't start asking to many questions right away." Endymion nodded, they had reached their destination.
As always Molly and Melvin entered first. When Serenity and Endymion entered the King and Queen keeped an eye on him. They could tell he was on their side, but he had just turned, so they must be careful. "Good morning Endymion, Serenity darling. I trust you sleeped well," Ralcea greeted.
"Good morning Mother," Serenity returned. "Yes, we had a very restful night." They all sat down to a breakfast of pancakes, sausage and bacon. Just like every other breakfast Serenity had had with the Redeans they had polite conversation while they ate. When they finished, they moved into the parlor, where the real conversation would begin.