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
Epilogue
She sat on the balcony, holding her happy grandchild. Her eyes were sad, achingly sad. A figure alone, a stark contrast in her black dress against the light crystalline blue of the Tokyo Palace.
It had been three months since their deaths, the deaths of the greatest of ever alive. They had died in their sleep, peacefully and as young looking as if they had been in their twenties. Four months after the whole fiasco of Trion and the kidnapping of Zoie.
Chibiusa couldn't tell what Kynthia felt about Trion's execution. She hadn't mentioned him once since then and continued with her life with her daughter as usual.
They said hindsight was 20/20, she mused. Looking back, she could see that goodbye four months ago where her husband had been crying and acting as if he would never see them again. At the time, she hadn't seen why, couldn't understand that something in his eyes when he reassured late Mercury's granddaughter that they would be fine.
He only smiled sadly when she had asked and with the heartbreaking pain on his face every time she said something, she couldn't bring herself to mention it again. It had come as a shock when Serenity I and her husband had died, peacefully sleeping. She had never once contemplated life without her mother always there. The Senshi and Kings barely lasted three weeks more before they, too, followed their friends.
They were gone, even Time Guardian Pluto, her Puu. What was she going to do without them?
Chibiusa remembered reading the will of her parents, seeing the only thing they wanted after their deaths: the entirety of Crystal Tokyo to know about Tokyo, Japan. About who the Senshi were, everything they had ever hid about them. Kynthia had started construction for a room in which to house that special box, the small chest that held the Senshi and Kings' legacy for the people.
According to the will, a Senshi or King could only open it when they returned, once they were truly needed again. Serenity II didn't want to be selfish or wish harm on her people, but she almost wished they would be truly needed again, just so she could have a chance to say goodbye like Helios had.
"How did you know, Helios?" she asked, knowing he was there but not needing to see him.
"Because the Earth told me. They knew they were going to die too. Endymion told them."
"How did dad know?"
Helios came into the sunlight and out onto the balcony. "The Earth told him. The Earth has a spirit, Usa-chan, one that Endymion and myself knew intimately, him because of his previous heritage in the Silver Millennium and the Golden Crystal, and I…because I was a priest. Elysion is deep near the core of the planet and I spent most of my life there before I met you."
"Why didn't you tell me what was going to happen?"
"Because they asked me not to. They couldn't control the fact that I knew; if they could, they would have prevented me from knowing too. They just wanted to see you happy, a memory they could take with them when they left."
Kynthia came out to join them as the silence fell. Zoie strained to be picked up and her mother obliged her.
It would be a beautiful day, Chibiusa reflected on. Perhaps it was because the Earth was rejoicing at having its King back with it again, perhaps something else. She would strive to continue her life, to bring happiness to her daughter and granddaughter because that was what she knew her mother would have wanted.
She would not have wanted her to wallow in depression over her death. But Chibiusa couldn't move on just yet.
Every inch of her a queen, she stood and called, "People of Crystal Tokyo."
They gathered around under the balcony, faces curious and sad as they were reminded of the deaths of the greatest monarchs they had ever seen by her black dress.
"I am here to fulfill the last will and testament of my mother, Neo Queen Serenity I and of my father, King Endymion. Their wish was for you to know."
She detailed everything she had ever learned from her time travels, right down to her fears as a child. But she went farther back than just Before, of simply Tokyo, all the way to the Silver Millennium and the love that had started a thousand year old story. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kynthia listening avidly to all the details that she had not been privy to before.
"The Senshi died with my parents these three months past, but listen to me, people of Crystal Tokyo," she commanded as the murmurs started. "There is no need for fear. When we truly need them, in our hour of desperation, they will appear. That is their legacy for us, left by Sailor Venus and Earthen King Kunzite. They will not forsake us when we truly need them.
"But let us honor them! Let us strive to lean on ourselves so that when they do come back home to their city, they'll be proud of what we made with what their courage dearly bought! Let us make this kingdom something to remember, a people so proud of our grand history that nothing in the world can tarnish it!" she cried, her arms thrown up wide to the heavens.
The cheers were deafening.
"People of Crystal Tokyo," she said in a more moderate voice and slowly they silenced to listen. "My people, we must never forget Neo Queen Serenity I and King Endymion, nor the Senshi and Kings, but we must move past them. They loved us all and let us show them our love back by living with pride and caring for anyone who steps up to our gate.
Her voice raised once more in volume. "Let us show the world that not only does Crystal Tokyo have pride in what it is and its history, but that we will never turn away anyone in need. Let us show that Crystal Tokyo's heart is as big as its pride!"
Happy roars of approval sounded loud even out into the countryside.
The End.
Well, Return of the Valkyries is finished. Don't forget to look for its sequel! You probably won't be notified about anything like it for a while yet, but you'll know something about it in around a month. Look for an end author's note in one of my other stories currently being worked on, Army of Immortals or The Last Journey.
Thank you, every fan of this story who read this far. You are the ones that really finished the story; without you're solid support, I might not have been able to make it this far. If it wasn't for you, I would probably still be stuck in Chapter 14.