Author's note: I feel the need to point out here that I will be using the English dub first names for some of the Senshi, but keeping their Japanese names for others. This is mainly due to aesthetics (i.e. how the names mesh with the character's personality type). With all of them living in America, however, the last names will be changed up for most of them.
I don't own any of the characters presented in this work of fanfiction and make no profit by publishing this work of fanfiction to the internet.
The Senshi Fairy Chronicles
Chapter 1: Angel Undercover; Mina's Tale
Setsuna was prepared for young Princess Roxana to find her wings before any of the Senshi awakened. The time stream references to how this generation would gain access to their powers was unusually vague, leaving the Plutonian fairy to guestimate just when they would begin to show signs of active magic. Not wanting to miss any potential clue, Setsuna spent most of her time and energy studying the woven mass of threads at the gate's entrance.
A single orange thread suddenly took on a life of its own in the time stream, glowing like a star against the muted, dark backdrop. The Time Senshi frowned. Roxana's pink thread was running nearby, but wasn't yet glowing to give any indication that the girl had found her fairy wings yet. Who could the orange thread belong to? She closed her eyes, sifting through memories of a long bygone generation for information that her mind had clearly forgotten after so many centuries guarding the Time Gate against unwanted intruders. All at once, the name of one woman flashed across her mind.
Minako.
The green-haired woman scolded herself for not thinking of it sooner. The Senshi of Venus led the Inner Senshi and had close ties to the moon. A Venusian Senshi was expected to pose as a body-double for the Moon Princess she would later serve as queen, so the princesses and queens of the two realms usually bore a strong resemblance to each other in civilian form. Whenever both a Lunarian and Venusian Senshi existed (which had only happened three times in the annals of the Silver Millennium), the disguise field around Venus would cause her to resemble her Moon counterpart until the Lunar Senshi could transform, whether they actually looked alike or not.
True to tradition, Minako's reincarnate had activated before her princess. That brought a smile to Setsuna's lips. The smile turned into a frown once Setsuna noticed a dark wisp moving to overtake the brilliant orange thread. She hoped that the Wizards of the Black Circle would be long dead by now, but apparently they had clung to life and wanted to give the new Venusian Senshi trouble.
Crimson eyes hardened as Setsuna transformed and raised her Garnet Staff into the air. Trouble was about to find the Wizards rather than the fairy.
Mina Allen never stopped believing in magic. While the other kids in her grade scoffed at things like fortune tellers and cleansing of negative energy with certain herbs, the seventeen-year-old held tight to the notion that, while fakes did exist in today's society, so did the real practitioners. When an online article from Gardenia, California posted a picture of girls with wings, other teens and adults wrote it off as a hoax.
But not Mina. She'd studied the photographs in the article hundreds of times and couldn't come up with a good explanation for why some of those wings stayed in place. She'd dressed up as a fairy for many a costume party and no matter how good your wings were, they always started to creep up or down as the night went on, and elastic or rope harnesses were needed to keep them from falling off completely. There were no such harnesses on these girls, ergo they must be fairies.
Better yet, Mina now knew that she was a fairy as well: the fairy of Love and Beauty. It made sense, given that she'd been dreaming of a life in which she had honest-to-God fairy wings since she was about twelve. And the whole 'projecting your emotions on those around you' thing she'd been doing ever since the dreams began. And, last month, she actually sprouted wings. She was a damn fine looking fairy too, even if what was reflected in mirrors and windows wasn't what she saw when she looked down at herself. When she transformed, she wore a sparkly Greek-inspired mini-dress with gladiator sandals, armbands, a chain belt, a hair bow, and wings. However, while she saw shades of orange, navy and gold and her own blonde hair, the rest of the world saw a pink-haired girl in a green-and-pink ensemble.
It seemed odd to her, but she didn't think about it too much. She'd found out about her powers only a few weeks ago, and she was already making a name for herself as a Santa Monica heroine. So what if she hadn't convinced them to believe in magic? So what if some tabloids thought it was a cry for attention? She helped people (usually in the getting-a-kitty-out-of-a-tree kind of way) and that was all that mattered to her.
She felt the surge of magic before the screams reached her ears. Someone with a lot of power was trying to hurt someone else in the park near her house, judging by the direction of the screams. Thankful that her parents were both at work this afternoon, Mina ran into her backyard, transformed, and flew over the heads of everyone in her neighborhood in an attempt to find the source of the screams.
Her ears led her to the playground area of her subdivision's kiddie park, where four grown men in god-awful black outfits were shooting beams of magic at people. Seriously, they looked like they'd just come off the stage at some Death Metal concert and while the look might have worked on younger men, these guys were easily in their thirties. Can you say fashion disaster?
"How much longer before the stupid fairy shows up here?" One of them, a pasty blond man with an ugly wide-brim hat, asked the others. None of the four had noticed her yet, their focus solely on causing destruction. Good, it gave her a chance to get into a more ideal position. She hovered behind a large tree, waiting for the most opportune time to strike. She got her chance when hat-man turned his back on her.
"Crescent Beam!" She whispered, allowing a crescent-shaped beam of golden energy to erupt from her right index finger and strike the creepy blond man's foot. She had enough sense not to go shouting attack names at people who were obviously trying to bait her out. Surprise was the only advantage she had and she was not about to waste it.
"What?!" Blondie growled, looking up at her as she floated out from behind the tree.
"You boys have some nerve, terrorizing all of these innocent people!" She glared down at them in the manner that a queen would look down upon a leper. It came naturally to her; she was convinced, after evaluating her oddly consistent dreams, that she had been a fairy queen in a previous life. "In the name of all that is pure and beautiful, you will be punished!"
"There she is! The last Earth fairy!" A black-robed man with a fuchsia Mohawk shouted.
"So I see, Duman." A pale man with vibrant red hair remarked, an arrogant smirk on his face. "I must say, I hadn't expected her to be so strong and cunning so shortly after gaining her wings."
"Hers will give us greater power than we already have." A dreadlocked man of African ancestry gave her a predatory smile.
"And what makes you think I'll just give them to you losers?" Mina narrowed her eyes, her body instinctively shifting into a fighting stance she didn't even know she knew.
"You won't be given a choice!" the redhead cackled, raising his hands to the sky and summoning a swirling vortex of ugly, hateful energy. The other wizards copied his actions, pouring their strength into the new vortex as it began pull on her body. She fought it with all her might, but it was taking her closer and closer to the nasty portal of nothingness.
"And you will not be given a chance." A new voice, this one female, rang through the air as a blast of deep red energy hit the ring leader, taking him by surprise and forcing him to drop his concentration. The pull weakened enough for Mina to put vertical and horizontal distance between herself and the portal. The redheaded wizard turned to glare at the newcomer, but his eyes widened with shock instead.
"You!" He sputtered as the other wizards dropped their focus in favor of gaping at the dark fairy that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Their expressions mirrored that of their leader. "You stood by Queen Morgana in the last days of Tir Na nÓg's splendor…and you still live?"
"Ogron, you always were a fool." Power pulsed from the newcomer as she advanced the shell-shocked men, her focus centered on the redhead. Mina couldn't take her eyes off the unusual stranger. She had long dark green hair—part of which was secured in a small bun with glistening hair pins, warm red eyes, and deeply tanned skin. Her black outfit was much more sophisticated and regal than Mina's and her dark wings were larger and more imposing. Despite having never seen this woman before, the blonde fairy couldn't help but feel that the older female was deeply familiar to her. "I am the Guardian of the Time Gate; the Dark Senshi from the lonely, cold planet at the edge of our Solar System. I have survived greater threats than you four imbeciles and will ensure that she survives as well!" She held her peculiar key-shaped silver staff out to the side, collecting a mass of garnet-tinted energy. "Dead Scream!"
Ogron put up some kind of distortion shield around himself, only to realize that the dark fairy wasn't aiming at him. Mohawk man tried to change into a smaller animal in vain; the large energy orb connected and sent him flying into the metal posts of the jungle gym nearby. His head hit first with a mighty clang, knocking him unconscious. The vortex created by the men dissipated at approximately the same time.
For his part, Ogron looked equal parts pissed off and scared to the point of peeing himself. He wanted to attack, but knew he was out-matched. And while he and the other three weren't paying attention, Mina landed safely on the ground near a group of scared children. They had taken refuge under the climbing dome when the bad men had shown up. Four sets of terrified eyes looked up at her.
"Shh. It's okay." She smiled brightly at them. "My friend is going to take care of the bad men. Let's get you kids back to your parents." She could see the concerned parents standing not too far away. "Crawl out of there and stick together while we make a run for it; I'll protect you." A quick glance over her shoulder revealed that dread-dude and hat-man were focused on the dark…what had she called herself? A Senshi? A Senshi who was handily fending them all off. Mina shook her head, turning her focus back to the children now clinging to her hands. "Let's run together, okay?" The kids nodded stiffly before they started moving.
They were almost to the children's parents when a flicker of movement caught Mina's attention. "Keep running! Go!" She shooed the children on, turning around to face hat-man.
"Fry, little fairy!" He growled, electricity arcing out from his fingertips toward her. She threw her hands in front of her and focused, summoning an orange-tinted circular shield that blocked the attack.
Instinct took over again, calling her to hold the shield up with one hand and call down an attack with the other. She didn't protest; how could she, with so many children and families around? There were too many people counting on her for her to doubt her actions. Her movements were a bit on the awkward side, but she managed to get her left hand into the air. "Love and Beauty Shower!" A spray of golden-orange sparkles erupted from her fingertips, shooting high into the air and falling down on top of the wizards. The positive energy seemed to be having a negative effect on them. They were beginning to project the emotion of fear far more than lust or anger. Blondie's attack lost a chunk of its effective force, for sure. She could also sense the people behind her gathering their own confidence. They were still scared and confused, but they weren't paralyzed by those feelings anymore. Hope was surging within them, giving her strength and diminishing the wizards' power.
Ogron seemed to have finally realized that they were losing. "Anagan! Grab Duman and let us make a tactical withdrawal!" He called out. In a pop of displaced air, the four men vanished from sight.
With a sigh of relief, Mina let her shield drop. The adrenaline buzz ebbed away, exhaustion taking its place. She'd used more magic today than she had every other day of the last month put together but refused to drop her transformation just yet. She wanted to speak to the other, older fairy first. Sky blue eyes met the dark fairy's red ones. "Thank for the help back there." She offered the woman a tired but genuine smile.
"You are very welcome, young Senshi." The woman responded kindly. "I believe we have much to discuss."
"That we do." Mina's mind raced to identify the woman. She knew that somewhere, in some flash of her imaginations or memories, she had seen the dark fairy before. Had known her name and worked closely with her.
"Miss fairy?"
"Oh?" Mina blinked, looking down at one of the children she'd helped rescue. He was about five years old with green eyes and brown hair.
"Thank you for saving me." He gave her a shy smile. "My big brother says that fairies are all make believe. But you're not! You're a real fairy! With wings and everything!"
"Aw, thank you." Mina smiled as a warm tingling sensation washed over her. She instantly felt rejuvenated. "Now you be a good boy and be nice to your mom and brother, okay?" He nodded vigorously. "Good. I've gotta go back to my family now." She shot a glance at the dark-haired fairy. "Are you coming, Set?" Wait, how did she know that? How did she know that the woman had once answered to that nickname? Come to think of it, how the hell did she know that the woman's name was actually Setsuna? She certainly hadn't known that a few minutes ago!
"Of course." Setsuna's smile broadened. "Lead the way."
"What's going on?" Mina demanded once the two fairies landed safely in her back yard. She let her transformation fade away, not having the energy to maintain it any longer. "How did I know your name when we've never met? Where did you come from anyway? And who were those creeps?"
"Slow down, child. We haven't even been formally introduced yet." Setsuna remained completely cool and collected despite Mina's outburst. "I am Setsuna Meioh, fairy of Time and guardian of the Time Gate."
"Mina Allen, fairy of Love and Beauty." Mina frowned. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"As I said before, I am the guardian of the Time Gate; think of it as a pocked dimension in which time passes around it but not through it. This staff is the key to the gate, allowing me to travel through it to anywhere I choose." Setsuna held up the silver staff she had used against the wizards earlier. "I have been guarding the gate for the last seven hundred years, since the day that the greatest empire to span our solar system fell to a great and terrible darkness."
The story seemed far-fetched to Mina, but that pained look in Setsuna's eyes kept her from making any snide comments. "That's a long time to be by yourself." She murmured.
"It was worth it to see you again, Mina." The red-eyed woman stated, her gaze softening significantly. "When the Silver Millennium fell seven centuries ago, you and I and seven other women made a last-ditch play to save the royal bloodlines, even to the point of destroying the magical machinery keeping the life support systems on the other planets operational. Queen Serenity used every last ounce of her power, combined with all that we as Senshi could give her, to transport the souls of the seven other queens into the future to be reborn. I would have given my life as well, had she and your ancestor not ordered me to guard the Time Gate."
"So my soul recognized you even though I hadn't met you this time around?" The younger fairy asked. She'd started looking into old souls and past lives once the dreams started four years ago. Setsuna nodded an affirmative. "What's a Senshi? You used that term earlier also. Is that a special kind of fairy?"
"Very special." A small yet brilliant smile lit up the dark fairy's face. "A Senshi is a warrior-queen responsible for managing her planet and its surrounding moons. She possesses a very specific power type native to her world, and the title of Senshi can only be passed to a close female relative, usually from a mother to a daughter." She paused a moment, collecting her thoughts once more. "It does not work that way on other planets in other realms. The guardian always has a specific power type, but she is not always a member of the royal family. Some planets don't even have reigning families, due to their small size."
"There are other worlds out there?" the blonde's blue eyes widened. "Other planets with other people?"
"Yes. Earth once had a thriving trade relationship with several other planetary systems. However, after the Silver Millennium fell and a few generations passed, the people of Earth forgot that fact. It is why those men who attacked you earlier, the Wizards of the Black Circle, haven't moved on to another planet."
"They called me the last Earth fairy." Mina scrunched up her nose. "But I'm not the last Earth fairy, am I? I'm from another planet."
"Venus, to be precise." The queen stated. "It is your connection to your home planet and to the princess you will one day fight alongside that causes your disguise field to alter your appearance so dramatically. One of the core duties of a Venusian princess destined to be a Senshi is for her to act as a body-double to the High Moon Princess, as your predecessor Minako did for High Princess Serenity. The princess you will guard has yet to awaken to her powers, but she has pink hair and will one day have a green fairy form."
"And while everyone else sees the disguise field, I can see what I really look like." That made sense, in a weird sci-fi sort of way. "Will the disguise field stay in place once this princess transforms?"
"Not likely; once the princess awakens, the enhanced disguise field will fade and the only fairy form people will see is your true form." And speaking of fairy forms… "Summer break starts soon, does it not?" The blonde nodded. "Over your break from school, I will begin training you in how to better use your powers. The princess will join you once her task is completed."
"I understand." She would be pretending to be another girl for the next few months, and oddly enough she didn't mind. Setsuna was right; her ties to both her planet and her princess ran stronger than she ever suspected they could. She felt strangely honored to be asked to be a pretend fairy princess. Whatever this princess was destined to do, Mina needed to stick around long enough to get the Black Circle to leave her alone so she could actually do it.
Meanwhile, the Wizards of the Black Circle were planning their next move.
"I can't believe that old bat is still alive." Duman whimpered, holding an ice pack to his head.
"I don't recall her ever being that strong." Anagan winced as he moved his shoulder at a slightly wrong angle. One of the spells deflected by Ogron had hit him hard.
"That's because we never had to fight her directly." Ogron reminded his group. "Although her presence in the fight today troubles me. Why would the last Earth fairy matter so much to her? From what little I could gather about her during our rise to near-immortality, she is not even from Earth, originally."
"What kind of attack was the little fairy brat using on us, anyway?" Gantlos grumbled. He and the others were still feeling rather drained from the younger fairy's sparkle shower.
"Love and Beauty, hmm?" Ogron frowned. "That power source sounds familiar. Duman, do we still have those historical annals we took from the castle at Tir Na nOg?"
"Yes, although I am not sure where exactly they are at the moment." The magical shape-changer admitted. "You think the clue might be in there?"
"It's a long shot, Ogron, and you know it." Gantlos chided. "Those tomes contain nothing but old folk tales and legends!"
"Every legend has a basis in fact somewhere, Gantlos. Doubly so the annals of the Earth Fairies." The redheaded man admonished his blond partner. . "If the answer is anywhere in our library, it will be there. We will begin researching past fairies with that particular source in the morning."
"I've got it!" Duman's excited shout rang through the Wizard's lair the following afternoon. "I found who we're looking for!"
"About time." Gantlos grumbled, not enjoying the emergency research session. It didn't help that the tomes and scrolls they were combing through were the oldest in the archives of the Earth Fairies and had been collecting dust for several hundred years.
"What have you found, exactly?" Ogron asked, walking over to where the shape-shifter was seated on one of the couches.
"One of the old books made references to other planets Earth once traded with, namely the ones in this sun system. They call it the Sol planetary system in the annals." The magenta-haired wizard explained. "On the other planets in this system, there once existed a special type of fairy called a Senshi. She was the queen of her realm and held a very specific power type. The old realms fell to an unspecified enemy about 700 years ago after evacuating everyone they could to Earth."
"Senshi. Isn't that the word Setsuna always used to describe herself?" Anagan frowned, stroking his beard.
"It is." Ogron answered. "I suspect that the Senshi was likely the most powerful fairy of her planet. You said something about power types, Duman. Were any of them a match to the fairy we fought yesterday?"
A broad smirk lighted on Duman's face. "Indeed one does: Venus, Senshi of Love and Beauty, leader of the Inner or Guardian Senshi and protector of the High Princess of the Moon."
"The moon?" Gantlos scoffed. "I think we'd know if there were any moon fairies back in the day."
"No, we wouldn't." Duman shook his head. "Immediately before the destruction of the Silver Millennium Empire, the High Princess of the Moon married the newly-crowned King of the Earth Fairies. All children of the royal lines since then have had mixed blood, with most favoring the Terran side of their lineage."
"So the last Earth Fairy is the princess as well." Anagan mused. "I bet the Venus fairy we went after was a body-double, there to distract us and keep us from the real princess until she discovers her powers."
That alone was troubling, Ogron thought to himself. "So, there are two Senshi now in play. How many more are there?"
"Known? Eight, sometimes nine." Duman stuck his nose back into the book he'd been studying. "There was one for each planet in the solar system and sometimes one for the Moon Kingdom. Earth never produced a Senshi."
"So there are six, possibly seven more out there somewhere?" Gantlos frowned. Setsuna and the annoying pink-haired Venusian had soundly beaten them; against a full team of Senshi they were sure to lose. "I don't like those odds."
"But if Venus is the double for the High Princess, and the Princess is also the last Earth fairy, all we need to do is capture the princess before she can awaken her magic enough to call for her warriors." Ogron thought out loud.
"We'll have to act quickly." Anagan pointed out. "If Venus is awake, then the Princess will soon be as well."