This is my take on, surprise surprise, the whole Silver Millenium/Sailor Senshi storyline! Bits of Greek mythology are thrown in, so be prepared for that. A few things you should be alert for:
In my version of the Silver Millenium, Queen Serenity is the daughter of the Moon Goddess Selene; instead of following in her mother's footsteps and becoming a goddess, Serenity had a dream of uniting the Universe, so eventually the Silver Alliance was formed and the gods granted Serenity the power to rule in the form of a great artifact known as the Silver Halo.
There is at least one original character, because I'm including the Sun as an important planet.
The generals/Inner senshi romance may factor in, I'm not quite sure yet, but probably. I'm fairly certain the Haruka/Michiru coupling will. So yay for ruining some of the storyline for you!
I'm still learning, so reviews are appreciated immensely! Enjoy!
Title: Crystal Power
Author: AriallaZarinth
Chapter One: Crystal Birth
Email: crystalstarr89yahoo.com
When the universe was created, each god and goddess designated one planet as their own, pouring a little of themselves into that planet's Lifecore. As the millennia went on, the gods in power changed again and again, sons over fathers, daughters under mothers, lovers against one another. Planets were changed, created, destroyed; stars pulsed and faded. The gods sang and danced, fought and exiled each other. They grew bored, as people with vast power often do, so they invented another toy to amuse themselves with.
This new toy was Man.
The divine family realized that the Lifecores of almost all the planets would support this new animal with its powerful capacity for change. So they commenced to toying with humans, and eventually they realized that the Lifecores of their "special" planets had altered the humans.
The ones most affected were the dominant humans, the ones that had fought to the top and now ruled the human colonies on the planets.
Eventually, the most powerful of the gods -- rather, the ones whose planets' Lifecores had the most profound affect on the inhabitants -- decided they should make a set of artifacts to guide the people with their power. Whichever god had made the planet crafted a single Crystal; they added a certain essence of themselves, of their power in their sphere of influence, more finely-tuned than they had when making their planet Lifecores.
When all eleven Crystals were complete, the god and goddesses convened on how they were to be distributed. Ten of the members of the group argued heatedly, doing everything from suggesting each god give out his or her own Crystal to suggesting giving them to the humans to give out as they would.
Just when it seemed as if the Crystals would go to waste, the eleventh member of the council stood to speak. As the years passed, almost all of the gods with the most powerful planet Lifecores had been replaced as the leaders of a specific sphere of influence. Only one had stayed in power from the creation of the universe to the creation of the Crystals, and there was a good reason for that...he was Chronos, God of Time. The others quieted.
"No one has found a suitable solution to this situation," he rumbled slowly, dark eyes scrutinizing the ten men and women around him, "but I have a suggestion. Though most of our kind have more offspring than should be counted," he paused at the soft chuckle that passed around the group, "I have had only one child, a daughter. As you know, only someone of my blood could control Time. I believe my daughter -- Setsuna, she is named -- would be an excellent candidate for Crystal Keeper. Not only is she the only one capable of receiving my Crystal -- as a Crystal Bearer she would realize the full weight of choosing souls to bond with these Crystals -- but she could also take my place at the Gate of Time and thus make her choices from every human."
The gods whispered back and forth as Chronos stood, watching them all impassively. One by one they all stood, nodding acceptance to Chronos' plan.
&!&!&!&!&!&!&!&!&!&!&!&!&!
The place was an indefinite swirl of fog, a blip in the small places out of Time, notable only by the intricately carved double doors towering in the mists. When opened with the great Time Key of Chronos, they revealed a map of all places in Time and could be used as a gateway into any of them.
Chronos smiled down at his eighteen-year-old daughter, Sestuna. The young woman's deep green hair fell to her waist; she had pulled the top layer into a small bun. She wore a traditional senshi fuku: black breeches hugged her hips closely; a simple white tunic was tucked sharply into the breeches, topped by a short black jacket cut off at her hips. She wore a blood red crystal pendant around her neck. Proudly she held her Time Staff, the Time Staff her father had bequeathed unto her, though it wasn't yet the holder of the Garnet Orb.
"Sestuna, you must understand that this job will never be easy for you. You are forbidden to stop time, forbidden to leave your post. Not only are you the Keeper of the Time Gate, but the gods have decided that you are to be the Keeper of the Crystals."
"The Crystals?" Sestuna's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What are the Crystals?"
"They give great power to the ones who bind their Souls to the Crystals. There are eleven Crystals: the Solar Crystal, the Sapphire of Ice, the Topaz of Love, the Golden Crystal, the Silver Crystal, the Ruby of Fire, the Emerald of Nature, the Amethyst of Death and Rebirth, the Blue Crystal of the Sky, the Turquoise of the Sea, and the Garnet of Time."
"The Garnet of Time? Is that one yours?" The girl asked.
"No. /That/ is the Garnet of Time." He pointed to her pendant. He waved his hand and a clear glass case appeared before them. Sestuna curiously peered in, where she saw ten crystals, the same size and shape as her pendant.
The first was a fiery orange red-gold; it pulsed like the sun in the heavens. The second was a beautiful Sapphire yet it looked frozen solid, light reflected off the surface as it reflects off a frozen pond on a sunny winter morn in the wilderness. The third was a pure orange, as many shades of that color as stars in the sky; Sestuna felt a great rush from her heart as she looked at it. The fourth was gold, yet it made her think of sunny blue skies and lush green grasses and spreading green trees. The fifth was a pure silver color, catching what little light there was in the mists of Time and multiplying it thousands upon thousands of times; Sestuna felt a great peace wash over her. The next was the red of a blazing flame; it seemed as though at any moment the pendant would spontaneously combust into a flurry of glittering sparks. The seventh was the deepest green, the color of new leaves in the springtime and deep forests in midsummer. The eighth was a deep purple, closer to being black than anything, but streams of lavender rippled through it. The ninth was a beautiful baby blue, almost the exact color of the perfect sky of Earth, the Blue Planet. The tenth, and final, crystal was a deep blue-green, a turquoise color, the color of the ocean depths.
"These...these are the Crystals?" She whispered.
"Yes." Chronos regarded her carefully, much as he had watched the debates of the other Crystal-Creators, judging her every reaction. Setsuna straightened resolutely, staring him straight in the eye.
"What is my job?"
"Choose who you will give the Crystals to. Choose carefully, however, out of all the people of time and space, for one given the Crystals can never be taken back or change owners."
"One question: do I go forward in time to find the owners, or do I watch through all time then go back?"
"Your decision." Chronos bowed. "I leave you, Keeper of the Time Gate, and Crystal Keeper." With that he disappeared, leaving the glass case.
The mists rolled around the young girl as she hid the Crystals away from anyone's reach but hers. Sighing, she sat in front of the Time Gate, letting a random scene roll in front of her.
Hidden in the shrouds of the Time Mist, the Crystals pulsed, anxious to join with new Souls, to use some of the vast power inside.