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@aol.com, 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.
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 3
Chibiusa stretched and opened the door she shared with her husband in the Crystal Palace. It wasn't the main bedroom of the royals, which was occupied by her daughter and her husband, but it was a special room that she had made when she had taken the throne, for her parents to stay there and advise her. It would never be occupied by Neo Queen Serenity I and King Endymion anymore, though. They had moved into the country just after the marriage of Kynthia and Trion, mainly because Trion and the others didn't get along together at all.
Helios was already out of the room and no doubt trying to ingratiate himself with Trion. Chibiusa seriously doubted he would get anywhere. Ever since he had met him, her husband had been trying to become friends with Trion (with the intention of trying to curb his attitude toward the Senshi) with absolutely no success whatsoever.
"Momma! Momma!"
Chibiusa threw open the door, hiked up the skirt of her lavender dress, and ran full tilt down the hall. She recognized that voice at once and the only time it ever called her 'Momma' like a child was when Kynthia had reached some point in her life that terrified and upset her at the same time.
Dark silver flashed in the light coming from windows and a warm, shaking body barreled into her. Kynthia sobbed in her arms and Chibiusa did the best she could to calm her down, but it was hampered efforts since she didn't know what was wrong.
"Kynthy, darling, please tell me what's wrong!"
"Zoie's gone!!! She's gone! I went to pick her up this morning and the room had been completely ransacked, totally demolished and little Zoie gone!" Her sobs punctuated her lamenting of her child harshly.
Chibiusa felt her body grow cold. "Kynthia, find your father and meet me at the front doors."
Kynthia looked up at the grim tone of her mother. She had never heard her speak like that, ever. "Where are we going?"
"To your grandmother's, now."
"Why are we visiting her? We should be helping Zoie, not going to see grandma Serenity. We have more important things to do! Why are we going there?"
"Because she has the only thing that can get your daughter back. Now go!"
Kynthia, tripping more than once from her long white dress, ran down hallway after hallway looking for her father. When he came into view and saw her, he dropped every single paper in the stack he was carrying and ran to her. "Kynthia, what's wrong?"
"Zoie's gone and Momma said to come get you. She said we're going to grandma Serenity's."
"I should hope so," her father replied, gripping her arm and towing her after him as he sprinted full out toward the front door.
"Why are we going there, Dad? What does grandma Serenity have that can help get Zoie back?"
Her father didn't say anything and they ran in silence to meet with Neo Queen Serenity II. He jumped in the driver's seat of the hover car and Kynthia snuggled into her mother's embrace to calm her down, frantic with the need to find her daughter.
The women didn't even wait until the car stopped before Chibiusa was jumping out, dragging Kynthia with her and yelling at the top of her lungs, "Mother! Father!"
The door was thrown open in a heartbeat by a white-haired person. "Kyle, please get my mother. We have a real problem."
Kyle took one look at Kynthia's distraught face and left them in the doorway. "Where is Kyle-sama going?" she whispered, too intrigued about what was going on than to cry anymore.
She had always had the feeling there was something different about her grandmother's friends, but she had no idea what it had been. By the way they acted, she knew her supposition was correct: whatever else her grandmother's friends were, they were prepared to act in a crisis.
Her mother, still gripping her wrist, pulled her along behind her as her father closed the front door.
"What's the matter, Chibiusa?" demanded her grandmother on the arm of her grandfather.
"Zoie has been kidnapped, straight out of the palace last night. The room was ransacked and destroyed. Kynthia found it that way this morning when she went in to see her."
Serenity I gasped then her face grew forbidding. "Chibiusa, get the box from the hall."
Her mother's hand left her wrist and she covered her mouth with her palm. "Mother, you can't mean…!"
"I mean it. Kyle, bring the Outers here. Now."
"As you wish, Majesty." Kyle bowed with a fist over his heart and left the house.
Majesty? Why'd he get so formal to my grandmother for? As far as I know, he hasn't done that before, Kynthia wondered. Who are the Outers? And what is this box for? Do we really have time for this? We need to get Zoie!
"We will get Zoie back," her grandfather told her, reading her thoughts quite accurately.
"Usagi-chan, what's going on?" Minako asked as she came into the room.
Her grandmother turned to her then gazed at Kynthia without saying a word to her. Her mother came back with a cherry red, smoothly finished, wooden box that seemed to be seamless. Minako's eyes widened and she stared at her grandmother with something like horror in her eyes.
"Kynthia, I need the Ginzuishou. Please give it to me."
Kynthia looked into her grandmother's blue eyes and gulped. There was something in them that made her tremble, made her frightened deep in her soul though she knew her grandmother would never harm her. Her hand glowed as she called that round silver jewel and handed it to her grandmother. As soon as it floated above her hand, it changed into an inverted pyramid with a rounded bottom. Kynthia's eyes went wide. It had never changed shape for her before.
"That is because you have not gained the full access of its powers," murmured her mother. "I never did either."
"Then how did grandma…?"
"That is a long story." She would say no more.
The crystal glowed and her mother was dressed in a white gown that flowed past her feet. White wings were shaped by the material at her back. On her head sat a delicate crown made of silver and crystal and in her hands floated the Ginzuishou. A white staff with a diamond inflected crescent moon engraved just below a holder appeared in her left hand. Gently she set the Ginzuishou in the indentation on top of it. It fit perfectly. Oddly enough, her white hair glowed, flew up in the air, and when it floated down again, it was a beautiful blond color.
"Helios, I need the Golden Crystal."
"Trion would never give you the Golden Crystal!" Kynthia protested, knowing her husband full well.
"It doesn't matter if will give it or not," her grandfather told her gently. "Helios, before becoming King of Crystal Tokyo, was once a priest of Elysian. As such, he can take the Golden Crystal from anyone, even such as I."
"Priest of Elysian?" she repeated, baffled.
"As you wish, Your Majesty." Her father knelt and held out both of his hands, cupping them in front of him. A golden light she knew well appeared and that round golden crystal formed. He handed it to the taller man and it too changed. It became the same size and shape of the Ginzuishou in her grandmother's hands.
It glowed golden and his clothes formed into a black suit with the symbol of a rose on the lapel. His cape flowed down to his feet and on the inside it was a garnet color. On his head, a golden crown appeared with normal spikes, but at the very center of it was a golden sword, the hilt shaped like a rose. A black staff appeared in his hand, topazes and ambers embedded around an empty holder near the top and down its entire length. The staff itself was about as long as his torso, perhaps longer. The Golden Crystal settled on top of it. His gray hair flashed gold and it was midnight black and silky looking.
"Why…?"
"Trion will never have the full access to the powers of the Golden Crystal, and unfortunately neither did Helios."
Kynthia's pale sky blue eyes stared at her grandfather, but she couldn't find anything to say. Her father stood up and a tense silence filled the air while they waited for the 'Outers' to come, whoever they were. Makoto, Rei, Ami, Zale, Matt, and Jared entered slowly. They took one look at the box on the table and whatever they might have said was chased from their minds apparently.
"Zale-sama, what is going on?" Kynthia asked.
Zale's green eyes locked with hers. "War."
She turned hesitantly to Rei, whose hands were clenched fists. "Rei-sama, what's the matter?"
"I felt something last night, but I didn't even give it a second thought. I should have jumped from my bed and came to the palace!"
"How—"
The front door burst open and Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, Hotaru, Kyle, Ian, Aren, Raine, and Cirocco came in, fury in the tall woman's steps. "What's going on?"
"Haruka-sama," Kynthia sobbed, "Zoie is gone, kidnapped last night."
"All right. Hurry up and tell me who it was so I can kill him."
"Haruka-san," her grandmother said quietly and she looked at her. "Please, I have something to ask of you all. I hate to do this to you, which is why I'm asking instead of—"
"We know, Usagi-chan," Minako said gently. "We already agree."
"Thank you."
Her grandmother turned to the chest that her mother was holding and touched a finger on the top of it. Her grandfather followed suit. Luna, Artemis, and Diana wound their way into the room and sat down, looking grim, if it was possible for cats to do so.
The box glowed iridescently for a moment and then a seam appeared. Of its own accord, the newly formed top opened to show nine strange pens and cloak clasps of various colors. This was what was going to save Zoie? A bunch of pens and cloak clasps?
Before she could say anything angrily, Minako stepping forward caught her attention. She watched an orange pen as if mesmerized. Slowly she picked it up and a smile crept its way onto her lips. She held up in the air and yelled, "Venus Crystal Power, Make-UP!"*
Orange and yellow ribbons and stars flowed around her and her clothes dissolved. Her body wasn't that of an older female, but that of young, mature woman. Her gray hair turned a paler version of her grandmother's and a red bow formed at the back of her head. More hair seemed to materialize and flow down to waist. She had pale yellow, puffy sleeves, a star in front of the bow on her chest, a two-layered skirt of two yellow colors, and white boots with stars edging the yellow colored strip.
She posed with an arm raised in the air, wearing that strange outfit. Then she knelt on one knee in front of her grandmother.
"Your Majesties, Sailor Venus, Soldier of Love and leader of the Sailor Senshi for Neo Queen Serenity I."
Minako's husband stepped up to the box and grabbed a pale coral cloak clasp. It practically exploded with light and with a swirl of dark gold he was dressed in a uniform Kynthia had never seen before, complete with gray cape. His pants were black as well as his boots, but his jacket was a dark gray lined with even darker silver than her hair, verging on black. His hair, once white, was now a pale silver color. He knelt in front of her grandfather.
"Your Majesties, Heavenly King Kunzite, Chief Tactician and leader of the Earthen Kings for King Endymion."
And as if it was a floodgate, all of her grandmother's friends stepped up. In various colors, they were different, each changed. And no longer were their hair in various shades of gray and white, but in a variety of colors. The females of the group all had outfits like Minako's, but in various and obviously signature colors.
Ami, her hair a dark blue and short around her face, knelt. "Your Majesties, Sailor Mercury, Soldier of Wisdom and Chief Tactical Advisor for the Sailor Senshi of Neo Queen Serenity I."
Rei, her hair grown shorter too and a black with purple highlights, knelt. "Your Majesties, Sailor Mars, second-in-command of the Inner Guard, Soldier of War and Chief Spiritual Advisor of the Sailor Senshi for Neo Queen Serenity I."
Makoto, her hair done in a ponytail and longer yet shorter, brown as the earth, knelt before her grandmother. "Your Majesties, Sailor Jupiter, Soldier of Protection and Chief Offensive Coordinator of the Sailor Senshi for Neo Queen Serenity I."
Haruka, shocking Kynthia with her show of rare subservience, knelt on one knee as well. Her hair was now sandy blonde. "Your Majesties, Sailor Uranus, second-in-command of the Outer Guard, Soldier of the Skies, and Head of Intelligence for the Sailor Senshi of Neo Queen Serenity I."
Michiru's hair shown turquoise in the light and was shorter than Kynthia remembered it to be. She knelt next to Haruka. "Your Majesties, Sailor Neptune, Soldier of the Depths and Chief of Palace Security for the Sailor Senshi of Neo Queen Serenity I."
Hotaru and Setsuna knelt at the same time. Setsuna's hair was a dark green, but a good degree shorter than it had been, flowing a bit past her waist. Hotaru's hair was black, like Rei's, but only around her neck length.
"Your Majesties, Sailor Saturn, Soldier of Death and Rebirth and Head of Investigation for the Sailor Senshi of Neo Queen Serenity I."
"Your Majesties, Sailor Pluto, Soldier of Revolution and Head of Perimeter Security for the Sailor Senshi of Neo Queen Serenity I."
Kynthia was reeling with shock, but it wasn't over yet. The husbands of her grandmother's friends each grasped a cloak clasp of a different color. They each changed into strange uniforms with black pants and black boots. The only differences were piping on their jackets and none had cloaks like Kyle.
Matt knelt down in front of her grandfather, his hair color matching that of his wife's. He wore a dark gray jacket with burgundy piping. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Nephrite, second-in-command, Chief Spiritual Advisor for the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
Jared's hair had somehow miraculously been cut in the space of five seconds and it was now as blonde as the sunlight streaming in through the open windows. The color piping on his jacket was a dark blue. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Jadeite, Chief Offensive Coordinator for the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
Zale's hair resembled spun gold tied with that same green ribbon that matched his eyes. Green piping adorned his jacket. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Zoisite, Chief Technological Advisor of the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
Dark silver hair returned to Aren and dark hazel eyes fumed with anger. Black was his color piping. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Adamite, Chief of Security of the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
Cobalt hair, much darker than Ami's and about as long as his waist defined Raine. Like his amethyst eyes, his color piping was a pale purple. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Rhonite, Chief of Intelligence for the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
Cirocco's vibrant blood red hair color drew her attention, but his gray brown eyes were still the same. His color piping was a dark brown. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Cordylite, Chief Sage for the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
Ian had light brown hair that that went down to his neck that framed a good looking face. His sunset colored eyes glinted angrily with steel underlying them. The color piping on his jacket was a dim aquamarine. "Your Majesties, Heavenly King Iolite, Chief Sniper for the Earthen Kings of King Endymion."
"What…?" stuttered Kynthia.
"Stand up, dear friends," her grandmother motioned. "I need your help. We must get my great granddaughter back."
"We promise we will," answered Minako.
"Minako-sama…what's going on??"
The blonde looked at her. "When you see me like this, I am Sailor Venus. Please do not call me Minako; only Venus will answer."
"But aren't you both the same thing?"
"Yes and no."
Her grandmother wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "I promise we'll get Zoie back. And the Senshi will help us. There are no better people to do this."
"Senshi?"
"It will all be explained on our way to the palace. I'm afraid, though, that the only way the Senshi will help you is if Trion is not in a ruling place at this terrible time."
"I don't understand…"
Serenity I looked deeply into her eyes. "Kynthia, will you step down temporarily and let me take the throne until we get Zoie back?"
Kynthia, her eyes tearing up at the thought of her daughter, murmured, "Of course, grandma Serenity. I know I'm young and I know you would know what to do in a situation like this."
"You are not so young anymore; you have wisdom if you know enough to know when you need help and what conditions to agree to."
Kynthia managed a confused smile at her grandmother and the strange people behind her.
End Part 3.
*I know that the Crystal Power transformation is different than the fuku, but let me explain. I went searching on the internet to find out for certain if they turned like that, eternal, by yelling out eternal power or something. Turns out, they don't, not in the manga, which I'm…going by to some extent. Crystal Power also turns them into their 'Star' form in the last arc of Sailor Moon, which I think is their final form. So…there you go. Just think of them in the eternal Senshi form that you find in fics like that.