Author's Note:
This story, while called 'Return of the Valkyries' is NOT related to 'Walk of Valkyries'. That's more of a short story that ended where it began: one part. My email address has changed FROM GalaxyJM@aol.com to Guardian4@atlantic.net. If you send an email to me to GalaxyJM, I won't answer it. Please put Fanfiction or something similar in the subject line so I know what the email is about.
This story came about because I began to wonder what the Senshi would be like once Serenity I (Usagi) got off the throne. So…here ya go. Look for a sequel when this is done.
Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Sailor Moon, etc. Also, there are no Neo-Senshi or anything. That will all be explained later in the story. There are no other Senshi other than the ones we know in this story.
I thought it would be beneficial to add this chart here for you, so you can have a basic idea of the new people and faces.
Neo Queen Serenity I – Usagi
Neo Queen Serenity II – Chibiusa
Neo Queen Serenity III – Kynthia (Usagi's granddaughter)
King Endymion – Usagi's husband
King Helios – Chibiusa's husband
King Trion – Kynthia's husband
Crown Princess of Crystal Tokyo – Zoie (one-year-old)
Minako's husband – Kyle (Kunzite)
Makoto's husband – Matt (Nephrite)
Ami's husband – Zale (Zoisite)
Rei's husband – Jared (Jadeite)
Haruka's husband – Aren (Adamite)
Setsuna's husband – Cirocco (Cordylite)
Michiru's husband – Ian (Iolite)
Hotaru's husband – Raine (Rhonite)
For convenience, I named all the new Kings with the same first letter of their name. The Shitennou names I think are pretty able to figure out.
Return of the Valkyries
Chapter 1
Usagi laughed as her former Inner Senshi danced to an upbeat music. She had enjoyed growing old, and so did her friends. Luna wound her way into her lap, her black fur a tad pale with gray. Artemis laid on the table, his tail twitching in time with the music and Minako's dance.
Rei's white, calve-length braid swept threw the air and the other three women ducked in a practice motion that was so fluid it looked to be an integral part of the dance. Ami's shoulder length white hair bobbed up and down as she laughed. Both Makoto and Minako, unlike the other two, had gray hair, the same length. Minako had cut hers some years ago, once she no longer became a Senshi.
Even now, Usagi thought of the secret area in the wall that held a dark cherry red box containing sixteen objects of power: the eight henshin wands of the Senshi and the cloak clasps for the eight Kings of Mamoru's, their version of henshin wands, her Senshi's husbands.
Her husband and his version of the Inner Senshi were out at the moment. She couldn't even begin to wonder where the Outer Senshi and their husbands were. Ever since they had set their henshin wands and clasps in that cherry red box, they had been on non-stop traveling. There was also not one person that had guarded her or her kingdom during her reign that still had their original hair color; it was all gray or white.
Setsuna had the one that had enjoyed getting her gray hair the most. When Usagi had asked why, she had explained quietly that it was because she had not once envisioned that she would ever grow old in the first place.
They all had reveled so much in getting old that they were thought strange, queer. But since they didn't live in the center of Crystal Tokyo's fair city, she didn't much care. She and the other Senshi just preferred quiet lives in the country and rarely left it.
Though there was always that constant anxiety about there being no Senshi to guard the Royal Family. A knock on the door and Usagi answered it. Her daughter, Usagi –though still constantly referred to as Chibiusa to avoid confusion- smiled at her mother. Her rose pink hair was just receiving strands of silver, the sign of older age.
Now, while Usagi loved her granddaughter and thought that she was doing a wonderful job at ruling Crystal Tokyo, she couldn't exactly say she approved of her husband or anything that her husband did. But if Kynthia loved her husband, who was she to say anything or make waves? Besides, she didn't have to see Trion all that much, if at all. All in all, the two of them avoided each other like the plague.
Mother and daughter, both retired rulers of Crystal Tokyo, joined the others back in the living room. Usagi wore a simple, extremely loose white affair that was made of the softest cotton that she'd ever worn. Now that she wasn't Queen, she didn't have to worry about what she wore. It trailed on the ground after her.
"We forgot one," Chibiusa said as she sat down.
"Forgot one what?" asked Ami as she sat the drinks on the small table in the center of the room.
"A picture of the Senshi."
They froze and Luna and Artemis's head came up. Diana ran into the room with the picture in her mouth. She dropped it on the table, her always gray hair just beginning to turn white.
Usagi picked up the picture, saddened at the need to take all the evidence, pictures mostly, of the Senshi away. It was a picture of her and Mamoru halfway through their reign, a baby Chibiusa in her arms with her Senshi smiling happily behind her.
It was because of King Trion that her granddaughter knew nothing of their long and proud history. She knew nothing of the Silver Millennium, the Senshi, even her own grandmother's history before Crystal Tokyo. It was kept from her, because of her husband's attitude toward Usagi and her friends. He didn't like to acknowledge that they even existed and it would be dangerous to give that man any kind of information that could be used against them.
None of the Senshi's children or, especially, grandchildren knew that they had been Senshi. How they could have kept it from their children, she didn't know, but they never once connected, say, Sailor Venus to their mother, Aino Minako, not even as they grew older. Usagi didn't know how they did it, but they did.
Chibiusa and Helios were the only ones closely connected to the royalty that knew they existed. Usagi felt sad at the burden her Senshi had to bear. There had not even been Senshi for her daughter. By the time the Senshi's powers had matured enough to be split down to any children they might have had, it was already Kynthia's age of reign and with her husband, impossible with the need for secrecy.
"She's just missing so much, Mother," Chibiusa said sadly. "So much history and she's always asking questions that I would very much like to answer but can't."
She sighed. "I understand how you feel, but it is for the best. You go to the palace often, the only one of us who can stand Trion; how is my dear great granddaughter, Zoie?"
The others laughed at the bright light that shown in her eyes as she thought of granddaughter's child. Usagi's white hair only accentuated that brightness.
"Usako?" called a voice as Chibiusa finished describing the baby.
"Mamo-chan? We're in the living room."
A moment later, her husband, his hair gray going to white, entered with Kyle, Jared, Matt, and Zale at his heels. Jared waved his gray, shoulder length hair from his face and pecked his wife on the cheek. Zale, who had virtuously kept his gray hair the same length, huffed and sat down next to Ami. Kyle's silver hair shown white now, as he had aged. Matt also was white and tied in a braid.
Helios appeared a moment later, his naturally white hair still short but growing a tad shaggy. He sat on the arm of his wife's chair and held her close to him.
"It's a good thing that our version of the constitution says the power of ruling must be shared and decisions made together. If it wasn't, Crystal Tokyo would be in ruins by now. That man has no ability to rule a kingdom, I swear," commented Jared.
"Give him a little credit, Jared," Usagi said gently. "Kynthia loves him."
"That's for sure, though I can't see how."
"Well I can't see how I love you sometimes," retorted Rei, "but I do anyway."
"Yeah, but I'm so much better than him."
Laughter filtered around the room. "When are the Outers supposed to get here again?" asked Minako.
"Day after tomorrow," Ami answered promptly. "They said they had a surprise for us."
"I wonder what it is?" Makoto pondered.
"We'll find out soon enough," Kyle said.
"Mother, I really wished you would come back to the city," pleaded Chibiusa. "Though I love coming out to the country, I can barely make the time what with Kynthia always asking advice on affairs of state. And you really want to see Zoie."
Usagi sighed again and leaned back in her chair. This was an old argument between them. "You know I would love to see Zoie, but Trion and I…Trion and all of us do not get along."
"We have to tell her eventually. Kynthia just thinks that you all are simply some eccentric friends of her grandmother."
The Senshi and Shitennou exchanged glances and looked at Usagi. "We can't," said Minako gently. "You know we would love to, but we can't even tell our own children."
"I'm sorry to keep bringing it up, but I can't help it."
"We understand."
There was a banging on the door and Usagi started. "Are we expecting anyone else?"
"Not that I know of," answered Luna and stood up to look out the window. If it was possible, she would have turned white at what she saw.
"It's Trion!"
"Speak of the devil," murmured Rei.
Makoto stood up. "I'll answer it."
Usagi fought a smile. Makoto knew very well that Trion hated to look up to her and was intimidated by her. It was because of some innate instinct as basic as the need for food when you were hungry.
Usagi strained her ears to hear what was going on in the hall by the door.
"Where is she?"
"There are many 'she's here. Which one are you referring to?"
"You know damn well which one. Kynthia's grandmother!"
Makoto sighed. "Why do want to talk to her?"
"That's my own business."
"I'm afraid that if you can't tell me why you want to talk to her, you can't."
Silence for a moment and Usagi could imagine Trion grinding his teeth together in frustration.
"I'll be back later. You'd better let me in then!"
The sound of a door slam finished the conversation. Usagi knew that if it had been any other than Makoto, he would have forced his way into her home.
"He's getting antsier as the days go on," Matt observed. "I think he can't wait until we all die."
"I almost want to live forever, just to spite him," Minako stated, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair, watching in the window as Trion's car drove away.
"Don't say that," Usagi told her, without much conviction. She didn't like the way Trion was ruling her country. But she constantly had to correct herself whenever she thought that; it wasn't hers anymore. She was retired.
"You know," Zale began with a speculative look at her, "Aren* said he would talk to Trion for you, if you wanted."
Aren, or rather Adamite, was Haruka's husband, fifth in command to Mamoru's Kings. Unlike Kyle, Zale, Matt, and Jared, who had found the Senshi before Crystal Tokyo had been founded, the other four of his Kings had only come around after the first few years of the country thriving.
It had never been confirmed as a fact to the others whether Haruka and Michiru were a couple* or not, but it was obviously not when Haruka had, against all odds and bets, married Aren, who had begun a ruthless campaign of courting her. It had all been blows at first as one by one he had accidentally stepped on subjects that the tall woman felt extremely strong about.
He was also the only one that Haruka had ever met that could beat her in physical combat or could bench more than her. The man was 6'1 with short, pale blonde hair that verged on dark silver and dark hazel eyes that smoldered with suppressed emotions. Oddly enough, the predominant eye color of their many children and grandchildren remained green.
"No, I don't want to interfere. It's none of my business anymore, remember?"
"You don't believe a damn bit of that nonsense that you just spouted, Usagi, so don't try to fool me," rumbled a deep voice in the doorway.
She whirled around to see Raine, or also known as Rhonite, Hotaru's husband, leaning in the doorway, a frown on his rough features. Though his hair was gray, it had originally been as blue as cobalt, darker than Ami's had been before, and about as long as his waist. His amethyst eyes blinked benignly at them, though Usagi knew that anyone other than them he would look upon with distrust. The only person he trusted above Mamoru and the other Kings was his wife. He had slowly come around to the other Senshi a few years after everything had settled. The man didn't place his trust in someone that he hadn't seen could be capable of upholding it.
He wasn't an especially tall man, but he held a fighter's aura. His torso was shaped like a lean bull and he had ruggedly handsome features, unlike his close friend, Cirocco, Setsuna's husband, who had what would be called elfin features.
"Raine! I thought you all weren't due for two more days!" exclaimed Rei with a jaundiced eye at her husband. He shrugged innocence.
"Our transportation was faster than we had thought they would be."
"With you in the car, who wouldn't be hurried to get you out? The driver thought you were going to turn around and eat him, I swear!"
Ian, a.k.a. Iolite, the love of Michiru's life, waltzed in with a smile on his face. He and Jared, the jokers of the Kings, shared a grin. They were disasters waiting to happen together, but to give them credit, they were also some of the hardest fighters in the group.
When he had been young, the artist's husband had often posed for his wife's paintings, since he was such a good 'subject'. He had had light brown hair that that went down to his neck that framed a good looking face. His sunset colored eyes only added to that sexy appeal he had. Now his hair was white and cut shorter, but he had lost nothing of his appeal. Michiru entered in just behind him.
Haruka barged her way in only to drop down on the sofa lengthwise, effectively claiming it as her own for the rest of the night. "So, how's our short fuse?"
Haruka constantly referred to Kynthia's husband as the 'short fuse' or 'the inept fool' though never around Usagi's granddaughter, on orders from her originally blonde friend, who she maintained would be the only Queen she held in her heart and would protect.
"Where are Setsuna, Hotaru, and Cirocco?" asked Ami politely as she made room for Michiru to sit down.
"They're coming," was Ian's vague reply.
"So what's our big surprise?" demanded Minako, who obviously couldn't hold her impatience any longer. Some things never changed.
"It's coming," replied Aren as he entered. He took one look at Haruka's commandeering of the couch and dragged her off it. A few pillow tosses and he was down, sitting diagonal from one end to the other. Haruka stood up, punched him in the side, and proceeded to make a pillow out of him! He only shrugged it off.
Usagi shook her head in amusement but didn't comment.
And then Setsuna, Cirocco, and Hotaru entered, each with an end in their hands of a large oak box. It didn't seem to strain them, carrying it, so Usagi refrained from offering to help. They set it down on the table.
"You wouldn't believe what we found! We just had to show it to you guys," Hotaru told them, giving Chibiusa a welcoming hug before sitting down. Hotaru's hair, once a dark black, was now a bright white and her always pale skin emphasized by it.
Usagi quickly opened the box and gasped. The others crowded around and grasped her arms in their excitement.
One by one, the former Inner Senshi, guardians of the Royal Family I, pulled out the paintings inside the box with the gentleness of holding a baby. One was of a sunset of their city, Tokyo, before Crystal Tokyo had been created. And another had captured the Inner Senshi's enthusiasm as teenagers, as the wind blew their hair about on a small hill with a lake near it.
There were a few more, all of the past Tokyo, but none as touching as those. "Where did you find them?" whispered Usagi as her husband looked over her shoulder.
"In an antique shop in England, well two were there anyway," answered Cirocco. "The other two were found in America."
She looked up at Setsuna's husband Cirocco, a.k.a Cordylite. His white hair had once been a vibrant blood red color, but his gray brown eyes were still the same. He was wiry and thin, but with an aloof beauty, much like that of certain paintings of elves. Setsuna had been the other Outer, besides Haruka, to put up a fight against love when it saw her. But Cirocco had been calm and collected about her refusal. It was when he had gotten frustrated, finally, and said he couldn't be patient anymore with her and that he would no longer try to pursue her that she confessed she did love him.
"They're wonderful," Ami murmured.
"We thought you might say that," muttered Haruka proudly.
End Part 1
* - note on the new names and faces. Those names are also names of minerals, like Kunzite and such. I figure, if Mamoru's Shitennou had minerals as their names, might as well continue the tradition.
* - another note, I didn't put Haruka and Michiru together in this one for obvious reasons above.