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 to Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put Fanfiction or something similar in the subject line so I know what the email is about.
Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Sailor Moon, etc.
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 14
Nephrite watched his wife as she paced. "How long do you think it'll take before they come back?" she asked for the umpteenth time.
"I don't know," he answered back calmly from his seat.
"They better find him guilty," she warned the air dangerously. "Because if he isn't…"
Today was the day of the trial for King Trion. Nephrite had stared at the stars for hours the other night, trying to see what the verdict would be, but they simply told him to be patient, something that he seldom considered to be a virtue.
Her pacing increased in fervor at her silent thoughts. He didn't know what to say to her, not when he was feeling the same things she was. It had been three days since their scrying in the teleportation room. Three days of tense, tainted air; infected by fear, doubt, and worry. The monarchs were no better; they were just as worried as them, only having a harder time not to show it to the people.
The demand for Trion's head was growing among the citizens as well. They demanded vengeance for the treachery. What would they do if the council decided that Trion should live, or at least not punished as severely? There would be a riot once the people found out!
"The verdict came in," Jadeite told them as he flopped down on a sofa.
"What is it?" snapped Jupiter before he could even open his mouth.
Jadeite looked so grimly enthusiastic that Nephrite had the sudden feeling he knew what they had decided. He would only be so happy if it was…
"Guilty."
"YES!" his wife crowed, thrusting a fist in the air. "What's the punishment?"
If it was possible, the King's harsh smile grew wider.
"Death."
When the verdict and punishment was relayed to the people of Crystal Tokyo, there was uproar. Out of sudden fear, the Senshi and Shitennou surrounded the Royal Family I to protect them.
But the citizens didn't pay them any attention. It was like a mass of rolling waves, the humanity cheering in unforgiving harshness for their betrayed feelings. They were…bloodthirsty for Trion's death, payment for what he did to them and Kynthia. He could see by Serenity and Endymion's pale faces that they were upset at how strong and violent feeling toward the previous King.
The eight warriors escorted them back inside.
"I never thought…" Serenity murmured, almost horrorstruck and unable to complete her sentence.
"Neither did I," replied her husband. "Neither did I."
"Your Majesties!"
They whirled as one, hearing the high-pitched voice of Jupiter's granddaughter. But her elated face dispelled any fears they might have had about assault or such.
"Yes, Captain Asnee?" responded Endymion wearily.
She looked at him for a long moment, finally taking in his haggard and sad face.
"Sir, I have good news."
"That's been in short supply lately," quipped Zoisite.
"I received a message from our scouts not ten minutes ago. A man in armor, going by the name of Cordylite, contacted them. He said to relay a communication to the palace saying, 'The Outers are coming back successful.'"
Nephrite couldn't believe his ears at first. Trion had been convicted and sentenced, and now the Outers were coming back with Princess Zoie? It was almost unbelievable.
"When did they say they would return?" asked Venus skeptically, obviously sharing his belief. "Who were your scouts?"
"The three men, Jackson, Baird, and Brett. They didn't say when they would return though."
"Hmm."
The group was silent for a moment. Finally Kunzite broke it. "Captain Asnee, I want your best guards together and ready to go in five minutes. All of the guards must be well-trained. I want a retinue standing by. The group is to go to the outpost where these three scouts are placed. Whoever it was, they must pass them first. In order to go further toward Crystal Tokyo, I want to be sure it was the Outers. Even if they are dressed similarly to us, I want to be sure. You are to ask them a simple question."
When it was relayed to her, she nodded as she cataloged it in her mind. "And the correct response, Sir?"
Venus leaned down next to her ear and whispered the answer. She nodded. "Sir." Asnee dashed away to assemble the party.
"Come on Your Majesties. Let's get you some rest. It has been a very trying day," Mercury commented with a heavy sigh.
Asnee waited next to the three men, sometimes glancing out of the corner of her eye at Jackson. Knowing the signs and having a friend like that, she knew without a doubt that Samuel Baird preferred his significant others a little more male than her. Brett shifted a lot, always scanning the horizon.
Roshaun had signed the three on as Crystal Tokyo guards shortly after the attempted siege of the city, and they had, up to the present, been invaluable assets.
"Someone's coming," Baird whispered.
Roshaun and Keahi had remained back at the palace, to continue their normal duties, so out of the four of them it was only Asnee and Nixie. The other guards made up of a fair amount of men and women numbered in the teens. Asnee was taking no chances, not with the veiled warnings from Kunzite and the others.
"Hold," Nixie called.
Eight people approached, weary in appearance and looking quite authentic of Senshi and Earthen King. But she still had to make sure. She loved her city and would not see any harm come to it while she was alive, especially if she had made a mistake; it would be doubly hard to bear.
"Who are you?"
"Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn of the Sailor Senshi for Neo Queen Serenity I," answered a woman with long green hair, "and Kings Adamite, Iolite, Cordylite, and Rhonite of the Earthen Kings for King Endymion."
"If you want to prove that you are who you say you are, answer this question," she shot back, rather gently. From their tired expressions, she couldn't bring herself to give them a hard time. "Back Before, which of the five enemies that faced the Sailor Senshi were once allies in the Silver Millennium: Queen Beryl, the Four Sisters, the Witches 5, the Amazoness Quartet, or the Animamates?"
"None," replied the woman. "It was not Queen Beryl, but rather her subordinates that were once allies: the Shitennou, Kunzite, Zoisite, Nephrite, and Jadeite. They were given a new chance at life, placed at the same age of the Senshi, into bodies that the original soul had just died in. A while after that, their comrades, Adamite, Cordylite, Iolite, and Rhonite, though never brainwashed as they died in the final battle on the outer planets, were also reborn, though they grew up as the same from childhood as the Senshi."
"Welcome back, Outers, Kings," Asnee told them with relief. "I had been warned by Kunzite to be wary of more good news as we've already had a rather large gift."
A few smiles, though more than enough were exhausted. "That's sounds like him," commented the one said to be Iolite.
"Do you have the princess?" asked Nixie immediately.
Saturn came forward, holding the baby out so Nixie could see her. However, when Nixie attempted to take the child to hold, Saturn's hands jerked back. At her shocked look, she managed an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but we'd rather she didn't leave our care, not after what we went through."
Nixie's expression cleared. "Oh. I understand, Hotaru-sama."
The eight of them stilled. "What did you call me?"
"Your name."
Suddenly the retinue and all found themselves surrounded. "As we've established our identity, perhaps you would do the same," growled Rhonite dangerously.
"What would you ask us?" replied Asnee, shaking.
"Who are you?"
"Asnee, Jupiter's granddaughter, and Nixie, Mercury's granddaughter."
"If so, answer this: When you were little, a child fell from a tree out in the yard. Who was it and what was the injury?" snapped Uranus.
"It was Camdyn who fell from the tree; he climbed too high even though I'd warned him. I was always climbing trees back them, but that was the one that I wouldn't climb. He said that he wasn't scared of it and would climb it to show me not to be afraid. Camdyn lost his footing as a branch broke halfway up. And he wasn't injured because Keahi, Roshaun, Nixie, Bronwyn, Vasanti, Brooks, and I managed to catch him."
The circle of people surrounding them immediately relaxed. "Sorry to be so suspicious," Neptune commented softly, "but we didn't know you had learned who we were."
"We should be thanking you," replied a guard. "If it hadn't been for your message about Trion, we would have never known that traitorous wretch was planning on killing Queen Serenity III. I'm very glad he's being punished."
"That was the large gift we had," jumped in another guard, this one a female. "They found the verdict and convicted him not long ago. The city was in a joyous uproar."
"What was the verdict?" asked Saturn quietly.
"Death," was her prompt reply.
Asnee noticed that the eight of them looked as pale and sad as the others back at the palace were. She didn't understand why, though. Why be sad about a criminal, a BETRAYER, getting what he deserved?
"Let's let them rest," she suggested. "They've been traveling for a long while and are probably very tired."
They simply nodded without speaking and slowly moved toward the tents that were set up for them, their thoughts obviously heavy.
End Chapter 14.
Scrying is a spell in fantasy novels that allow a mage to see something not where they are. I just thought I'd mention that if someone out there reading this doesn't read those kinds of books or didn't know what it was.