Author's Notes:
Well, for those waiting for this, here is the sequel to Return of the Valkyries, Heroes of Eternity. There are a number of characters and for a recap of the last story, here are the added characters:
(Kyle) Kylane is Kunzite
(Matt) Matthias is Nephrite
(Zale) Zarek is Zoisite
(Jared) Janus is Jadeite
(Aren – Haruka's husband previously) Adriano is Adamite
(Cirocco – Setsuna's husband previously) Coen is Cordylite
(Ian – Michiru's husband previously) Ilar is Iolite
(Raine – Hotaru's husband previously) Ranae is Rhonite
Name – Planet
Kylane – Jupiter
Matthias – Mars
Zarek – Neptune
Janus – Uranus
Adriano – Venus
Coen – Mercury
Ilar – Saturn
Ranae – Pluto
The "Name – Planet" will be explained soon. ;)
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Heroes of Eternity
Chapter 1
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She dodged under the many feet as her cousin pursued her doggedly and a single-minded purpose: to get even. Laughter filtered through the halls as she ran full-tilt to her mother and aunt.
"Serena! I'm gonna kill you!"
The Crown Princess XIII, Serena, looked behind her to see her cousin Mina bearing down on her with an enraged look on her face and waving her diary above her head like a lethal weapon. Perhaps she had gone a little too far when she had read her cousin's diary, but it had had such juicy information, like who was now Mina's crush.
"Mom! Save me, she's gonna kill me!"
Serena bowled into her aunt with all the force of a wrecking ball. "What is all this about?" demanded her mother, helping up her sister.
"She read my diary, Mom!" Mina didn't bother with the crying act; she knew her mother wouldn't fall for that and for getting even with her cousin Serena, she'd need all the rage she could get, which was considerable.
"Serena…" The queen of Crystal Tokyo put a hand to her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. "Please, Serena. Please."
The princess looked down, ashamed. She had been asked repeatedly the past week to be at least on the acceptable side of behavior due to the people coming to Earth from the recently resurrected planets.
"The people from the planets nearest us, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter will be here within the next few hours and you are required to be there. I can only be grateful that your grandmother is on the Moon and didn't see you like this. She'd pitch a fit."
Serena's grandmother and grandfather, the Crystal Tokyo XI rulers, were spending the rest of their days on the renovated Moon Palace, where all royalty moved to as their retirement area. Serena thought it was incredibly boring up there, but perhaps when you were that old, all you wanted to do was just sit there and talk. The princess was just as glad; her grandmother was as straight-backed a queen as her mother was as liberal.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I'll try to be better."
"I hope so. Within the next two days, the people from Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto will be here. I'll be so busy that I won't have the time to correct your behavior. You're very smart and have excellent manners, but you must tone down your after-hours antics and keep them to after-hours. You're fifteen now; please."
She caught Mina's smug look and felt even worse. That is, she did until her aunt spoke up.
"And that goes for you to, Mina! No chasing your cousin all over the palace and screaming at the top of your lungs that you're going to kill her. Not only does your voice echo and give everyone a migraine, it doesn't help in tense situations. We've only just finished renovating the planets to be livable again ten years ago, and the independent governments, five years ago. This is our first chance to begin to set up our own Millennium, better than the Silver Millennium that the Sailor Senshi first died in."
Serena looked up at her mother and aunt. Though they were twins, they didn't look it. Her mother had silver hair, from her father's side, and her aunt had dark golden hair like her grandmother. They shared the same dark blue eyes, but other than thinking alike, there was nothing else to signify they were related. The queen was muscular and had worked out for most of her life, believing that her sister would inherit the throne. By contrast, her sister was almost wraith-thin and gentle looking. Both shared, however, a keen and sharp mind and worked hard to rule the country together and had, since Serena's father's death seven years ago. The Golden Crystal resided in Elysion until she married.
"Speaking of the Silver Millennium," Mina interrupted, "but are we going to resurrect the old custom of arranged marriages?"
"So you actually paid attention in classes?" retorted their teacher, Chandra, who had suddenly appeared by her aunt's side.
Chandra was a silver cat, said to be a direct descendent from Luna and Artemis, the original advisors from Mau to the first king and queen of Crystal Tokyo and before that, all the way into the Silver Millennium. She was strict when necessary and often had a sarcastic tongue. Mina and Serena were still working on finding her a date to loosen her up, but had so far come up with nothing.
Mina lifted her head regally. "Of course."
The queen shook her head. "Absolutely not. I believe that tradition should have died in the Silver Millennium. Even your grandmother would agree with me."
Serena's eyebrows rose in surprise. If her grandmother ever agreed with her mother, it was on some either dire circumstance or so rare that it must be paid attention to at once.
"Do you know who will be coming to Earth?" she asked.
"No, not really. Now, please, let me have a few minutes of peace before they get here."
The princess acceded to her mother's tired request and moved off with her cousin beside her.
"You know, if you wanted to know who it was I liked, you could have just asked me," the fifteen year old said.
"Sorry, but I didn't think you'd tell me. We've been so busy and growing apart over the year that I didn't think you would."
"Well, you're a dummy then! Of course I'd tell you anything," Mina contradicted passionately. "We're cousins! No matter how far apart we may be, physically or mentally, I'd tell you anything."
"Hey, if I was ever kidnapped like Queen Zoie, would you come get me?"
"Why do you ask?"
She shrugged. "I'm not sure. It just occurred to me when you said how far apart we may be. It reminded me of the Senshi! How they came out of retirement to save her because the first queen asked…"
"Of course I would come get you! All you'd have to do is call me!" her cousin told her confidently. "I'd hear you."
"Hey, if you could be a Senshi, which one would you be?" Serena asked enthusiastically.
"I would be…Jupiter of course! Because I'm so strong, you know!"
"I would be…Venus, the leader of course! You have to do what I tell you."
"I follow where you lead," her cousin played, and bowed.
"Let's henshin and save the city! Venus Crystal Power, Make-up!"
"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-up!"
They laughed at each other and ran out of the palace front doors and played at saving the city. Serena caught sight of three girls playing by themselves near a park and motioned for her cousin. The three of them glanced up as they approached. Their eyes widened as they recognized her as the princess from the crescent moon on her forehead.
"You're…!" stuttered a girl with short, dark cobalt hair.
"Whatcha playin'?" asked her cousin.
"Well, we were deciding if we should go to an amusement park or not," answered a tall girl with curly brown hair in a braid. Her green eyes blinked at them.
"Why don't you play with us?" Serena suggested. "We're saving the city as Sailor Senshi."
The last girl tossed her black hair over her shoulder and said haughtily, "You're playing make-believe? I'm too old for that."
"That's too bad," she replied and turned to the other two. "Which Senshi do you want to be? I'm Venus, and Mina, my cousin, is Jupiter."
"I'm Mars!" said the tall girl enthusiastically. The shy, dark blue haired girl looked at her companion for a moment before choosing Neptune.
As they turned to leave, the remaining girl called out, "Wait! I'm Uranus!"
With a smile, Serena welcomed her inclusion.
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End Chapter 1
See? Now you know why I put the names beside the planets. As a note, here are the names of the Senshi:
Usagi – Serena
Minako – Mina
Makoto – Lita
Ami – Amy
Rei – Raye
Haruka – Ruka
Michiru – Michi
Setsuna – Suna
Hotaru – Taru
I simply used an abbreviation of the Outers' names because I dislike their English names intensely.