Happily Ever After the Apocalypse

Chapter 22: Another Unexpected Reunion

In the stale stench of the prison, Vera Le Fleur is introduced to Thomas Jefferson/Maximus Kennedy for the first time, and she can see why Serene has fallen so hard for him. He's attractive, smart, and confident. 

After some interrogating, which was at times uncomfortable for everyone present, Vera feels completely confident that Max is indeed a good man. She doesn't feel that uneasiness that Alexander Hamilton had caused in her. She feels peace, respect, and complete trust in him. 

They hatched out their plans all together, while Suzette worked fervently on making their costumes for the ball. All of them are in good spirits now and can feel the energy building for their mission the next night. After some time, Max unenthusiastically leaves Serene in the prison, which he realizes is the hardest thing he's ever had to do. Nevertheless, he still has to meet with his Brothers and give them the Constitution.

Max reenters the fort's courtyard for a second time that night. It's much later, and much of the crowd has dispersed now, with the occasional drunk person lying on the ground in an alcohol-induced slumber. He stealthily makes his way to the booth that his comrades had occupied earlier and finds that it has changed completely. No signs of the earlier skirmish with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum are evident. 

Max walks around to the back of the stall, taking extra care to make sure that no one is following or watching him. He then walks to an area under some trees, where all of the traders keep their horses while they made their trades. There, he finds the horse who he knows to belong to George Washington. The horse is a noble steed but has been dressed down and groomed to look like an ordinary pack horse. To complete its look, the horse is still hitched to a pull cart. No one would ever suspect who this horse belonged to. He looks around again and places the parchment in one of the saddlebags of the horse. He still sees no signs of any of his Brothers, so he steals back into the tunnel and goes back to his room.

As he enters the room, he sees Claudius is sleeping while sitting up in a chair. He wakes up when Max shuts the small door in the back of the room and nervously laughs, "I'm so glad to see you, Maximus. I was beginning to worry that I was never going to see you again." 

Max smiles big, walks over to him, and grabs him by the shoulders, "Claudius, I found her, and she is everything and more than I've been dreaming about." An expression of apprehension crosses Claudius's face, "What about the document? Were you able to find it?" Max grins even wider, "Yes, I found it. She actually found it and gave it to me. I couldn't find any of our Brothers, though, so I hid it in one of the saddlebags on Mr. Washington's horse." 

Satisfied, Claudius finally smiles, "Well done, Maximus!" After a moment, he quizzically looks at Max, "But why are you still here, then? You know where your love is. You have completed your mission. Why have you not made your escape, as we had planned?" Max chuckles, "She wouldn't hear of it. She's as much a part of this resistance as we are. She says we have to be there to help, so she will not leave here until the Princess and my father have been arrested." 

Now, it's Max's turn to show worry on his face, "Claudius ...she is with child ...my child. I have to protect her at all costs." Claudius emits a warm, proud smile at his best friend, "You have my word, Maximus. We'll do all that we can to make sure nothing happens to her. You can count on your Brothers."

In the darkness of a prison cell, it seems that Suzette has worked up some kind of dark magic crafting Serene's dress. By combining the two dresses with some additional fabric, Suzette has crafted the most magnificent ball gown any of them have ever seen. 

After working through the night and barely sleeping during the day, they are ready. Vera fixes Serene's hair into a braided bun, rivaling those of Maria's in elegance. She also applies thick lines of kohl around her eyes and an iridescent malachite ointment on her eyelids and below. In the ball gown, with her hair up and makeup done, Serene is unrecognizable and looks as much like a princess as any of them could have ever imagined. 

The top of the dress consists mostly of the wooden beads with her mother's tunic and beautiful red embroidery covering her chest and flowing out directly below into a full ball gown. Her swollen belly is hardly even visible beneath the flowing gown. In contrast with Serene's splendor, Vera and Suzette look as plain and indistinguishable as any servant, although Vera's natural beauty can't help but shine through her costume a little. 

The three women gather together and say a small prayer before they embark on their mission. Serene feels the pistol in her pocket for reassurance. Once they enter the tunnel, the three women go through three different doors. Suzette heads to the kitchen. Vera goes through the door leading to the armaments room, and Serene enters through Miranda's door.

Miranda gasps when she first saw Serene, "Serene, you look so lovely." Serene gently smiles at Miranda who is also quite made up for the ball, "You look quite lovely yourself. Miranda, I just want to thank you so much for everything you have done for me, my grandmother, Thomas, and the baby." 

Miranda smiles, "I would do it all over again, you know ...for you." She gently touches Serene's face, "Now, let's go do this thing. It's time for my mother to pay for everything she's done." They stop by Megan's room to fetch her. Megan is also done up quite nicely and for first the time that Serene has ever noticed seems to be actually happy.

Serene notices Suzette standing near the main door collecting tickets from the party goers but is careful not to look in her direction. When they enter into the great Parliament hall, Serene can see Maria and the General standing next to one another but not speaking. They both look horribly uncomfortable and are scanning the room for anyone else who they can talk to. 

Once Maria spots Miranda, she crosses the room in her direction. Serene sees her coming and quickly but casually turns her back to Maria and walks in the direction of the food tables. As Serene approaches the tables, she sees her grandmother behind one of the tables and begins to head in her direction. She locks eyes with her when she's still several feet away and notices an odd look on her face. 

This immediately concerns Serene, but it becomes clear to her why her grandmother is looking that way when she feels a large hand grabbing hard on her arm. She turns to the person grabbing her and to her surprise sees the face of Alexander Hamilton staring back at her.

Serene would have smiled at seeing him, but the look on his face is like nothing she has ever seen. It's a mixture of insane exuberance, panic, and desperation. It scares her to see him this way. He pulls her against his body and hugs her tight, "You're alive! I can't believe it. This is the happiest day of my life." 

She pulls back from his embrace and can see tears in his eyes, "What do you mean? I don't understand." In a flash, his face changes to the reserved and calculating look she has always known, "I just thought that I had heard that something bad had happened to you ...when I was traveling." 

A little relieved at his change in countenance, Serene whispers, "Yes, something bad did happen. Maria found out about all of our plans. She imprisoned me and my grandmother, ...and Alexander, she killed everyone in the Fox camp." He nods in response. She continues, "But, we are going to make her pay. This is it. It's happening today. Your friends are here..."

As soon as these words leave her mouth, Marcus begins looking around the room, searching for anyone he knows from his past, but he sees no one. He looks back to Serene and strokes her hair. "Let's leave here. I'll take you far away from here, where we can be together forever, just you and I." 

Utterly confused by his response, she replies in nearly a hiss, "What? ...Did you hear what I just said? This is it. Everything that we've been working on, all of the training, everything is happening tonight." Then, the expression on her face softens, and she says while smiling gently, "Alexander, help us. We need you." 

His heart lifts when he hears this, and he looks at her face. He pulls her close to him and kisses her hard on the lips. She immediately pulls her lips away from his and slaps him hard across the face. He lets go of the hold he has around her waist and puts his hand to his cheek. She instantly sees a seething darkness enter his eyes and becomes extremely frightened by the man standing before her. 

She also becomes worried when she realizes that they're making a scene and people, including Maria, are beginning to look at them. She turns away from him and begins to walk away, but he catches her arm again. He squeezes hard, nearly crushing her arm bone. She stops and struggles in vain to get free from his grip. She tries to punch him in the side, as she had done to Max the night before, but she cannot make contact. He's now pulling her, while still squeezing hard on her arm, heading toward a back door. She tries to reach the blade in her boot but can't because he's moving too fast.