Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 4: Divergence.
Episode 1: The Girl Who Saw Fate.

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 3, 2024

"Sometimes I wish I was born before the war."

"I prefer peace, thank you very much."

She listened to her classmates with detached interest. It was far from the first time she'd heard such a discussion, and she had been involved in them a few times too. Some people - including her - still talked about them a lot. Those heroes of the past, before her time. Heroes who, if they were still around, would only be slightly older than her own parents.

Sure, there were still other mages out there, like the so-called Demon Hunters, but those who had been the main line of defense for years, the Senshi, had died defeating their final opponent, a group of villains who had been known as the "Dark Alliance" afterwards.

Still, she could agree with both sides of the argument. Sometimes she wondered how her life would have been, back when Senshi were still around and a new group of evil beings showed up almost every year. But she was also glad she had been born in a time of relative peace. While the Demon Hunters were - and even their leaders, the Primes, admitted this - not as strong as Senshi, they had still kept any threat that rose in check, for the last decade and a half.

"Hey, Umi, are you free after class?"

She turned to the girl talking to her. Her childhood friend, Akane Yukimine. "Sorry, I have cram school again."

"Ugh, so boring."

"Studying is important, Akane."

"Yeah, yeah, but you already have the top score of the class, and probably of the school too."

"Because I study, unlike a certain girl I know."

"I hate that I can't deny that, professor Mamizu."

Umi chuckled at the nickname. "I'll be free this weekend, we could-"

"I have a match this Saturday, but sure, we can go somewhere on Sunday."

Umi smiled at that. "At least you take that seriously. Always the sporty one."

Akane nodded. "The sporty girl and the smart girl. If this was a manga, I would almost expect some weird-looking animal to show up and tell us about some weird kingdom we are supposed to save."

Umi looked away for a second, then smiled. "Be careful saying that, it already happened in real life."

Akane blinked at that. "Oh right. Senshi did have talking pets."

"Anyways, I think I know where we could go this Sunday."

"Where?"

"It's a surprise."

"You know I hate surprises," Akane muttered, "but if it's you, I know I won't be disappointed. It's a date."

Umi blushed slightly at that, and then blushed brighter as she noticed a lot of their classmates were looking at them. The two were childhood friends, but lately, they had become more than that, and she was happy about it. But she still wasn't used to how blunt Akane could be. Some would say she was 'tactless' but she knew better, she just loved to tease her.

Despite being born in the city where, only decades ago, a lot of magical incidents had happened, Umi's life could seem boring at times. She didn't go out a lot, and she had few friends other than Akane, but there was definitely no magic involved in any of her daily activities. Except for...

"Umi Mamizu, now's not the time to be worrying about that," she scolded herself. After all, it was already Sunday, and she had a fun day to look forwards to. As she walked around the corner, she saw her friend was already waiting for her, and smiled. "Were you waiting for too long?"

"I just got here, myself," Akane said. "So, what's the surprise?"

"You know, that movie you've been talking about lately..."

"The one about the Senshi's fight with the Darklings? Yeah. No way to get a ticket for it, it's sold out for months." Akane said, sounding a bit more annoyed than she wanted to.

"Well, one of dad's friends works in a certain movie theater, and he said there were people who returned their tickets last week, so..." Umi smiled as she showed her friend two tickets. "Dad bought them for me."

Akane hugged her and gave her a kiss. "Damn, Umi, you keep that up, and I'll start liking surprises."

Umi stood there, dazed for a second before smiling. "Well, I certainly like surprising you."

Akane laughed at that. "So, should we get going?"

"The next showing starts in two hours, but there's a park near the theater, we could wait there."

"Sounds good, let's go."

"... Coach keeps telling me I could be a pro in the future, but-"

Umi smiled. Akane really liked football (to the point she didn't use the term most people in the country used for the sport,) and from what she had seen and heard, she was very good at it. She had scored four goals in the last match, and Umi was glad she had gone to see it. "You're good at it and you enjoy playing it, so you should keep it as an option, at least."

"Maybe you're right." Akane looked around. Not a lot of people in the park right now. "But there's things I like much more than football."

Umi chuckled. "Like what?"

"You, silly."

Umi's smile grew wider. "And I like you more than studying. But imagine someone told you to choose between me and football, what would you choose?"

"I would just beat the crap out of whoever told me to choose."

"..." If she hadn't known Akane for most of her life, she would have been surprised at her answer. But since she knew her, she was just amused by it. "Way to dodge the question."

Akane leaned forwards until their noses were almost touching. "Do you really need to ask?"

"I guess not. But I would not want you to stop doing what you like for my sake."

"Yeah, I-" Akane stopped as they heard screaming in the distance. "What the heck is going on?"

It didn't take long for them to know what the source of the shouting was. Or rather, the source of the shouting was heading their way. A creature that looked like a man-sized humanoid insect. Umi had heard about them before, most people in Tokyo knew them well, even though nobody had seen one in a decade. One of the Gales. "No way, one of those, here?"

Akane was no coward, but she knew non-mages couldn't fight these monsters. She flinched as the monster grabbed a man's arm, and the man fell to the ground, unmoving, seconds later. "Umi, let's get out of here."

"Yes, let's-" She noticed movement in the corner of her eye. "Akane, watch out!"

The mistake the two girls had made, was assuming there was only one of those creatures near them. A second monster had noticed them, and snuck up on them from behind. Akane saw the claw in her shoulder and looked at her friend. "Umi, run."

"But."

"Nothing you can do about it, but I don't want you to tag along this time around. Go!"

Umi turned to run. She had to find help, maybe one of the Demon Hunters was- She heard a gasp and turned back, just as Akane fell to the ground. Akane's eyes, those bright red eyes she had fallen for, those eyes who always looked at her so warmly, were staring at her. Unmoving. Lifeless.

"Akane!"

Umi looked around. She was... In her bedroom? Had it all been just a nightmare? Looking at phone on the nightstand she shook her head. Sunday, of course it was Sunday. "Damn it, it's happening again."

The first time she had experienced something like this, was when she was six. She dreamed about a normal day, up until the point where she had tripped while crossing the street, on her way home from school, and a speeding car, whose driver wasn't paying attention, had hit her. She had felt the impact, felt darkness closing in on her. She had awoken shouting back then, too, and her parents had listened to her story, but had thought it only a dream, and so had she, until she came to the same place she had seen in her dream. Looking to the side, she saw the car. That same car from her dream. She remembered letting the light go red, and watching the car speed by, its driver talking on the phone and paying little mind to the road in front of him.

It wasn't the only time, either, but if this was some kind of 'magic,' it was not something she could willingly use. She knew from hearing the stories of the past, that Sailor Pluto, the Gatekeeper, had been rumored to have the power of seeing the future, and her warnings had supposedly saved the Senshi several times. But just like Pluto's power, her own power wasn't flawless.

At times, she would dream of something, but the events leading to that dream would not happen. It was strange, almost like she was seeing different realities. Was that even a thing?

She looked at the phone again and sighed. Six in the morning, not an hour she liked to wake up at on weekends, but she didn't want to go back to sleep. She saw her door open slowly and smiled despite herself.

Her mother was looking at her worriedly as both her parents walked in. "We heard you scream, are you okay?"

Umi shook her head. "Mom, dad, I... Had one of those dreams again. A vision."

"Oh dear. Was it bad?"

Umi smiled sadly as her mother hugged her. "Been a while since it happened, and it felt so real, I- Today's date was not as fun as I thought. I saw one of those 'Gale' creatures showing up, and we were going to run from it, but... There was more than one of them, and Akane got caught. I saw her fall to the ground, dead. I..."

Her father flinched as she started sobbing. "Damn, I'm sorry-"

Umi shook her head. "No, I'm... Actually glad it happened. At least I get a warning about it. And I can't even be sure it will happen like I saw it, last two times I had these dreams-"

Her mother frowned at that. "So you're still going on that date."

"Just promise us you won't let what you saw happen," her father said.

The girl looked at her parents in turns. "Of course I won't let it happen. If I see things are happening like I saw them, I'll tell Akane about it. We'll leave that date for another day. She's the best thing that's happened to me, if this dream was a warning, I will listen to it."

"Good. Are you going back to sleep?"

"Hell no," Umi said. "I can still see her face when I close my eyes, I don't want to sleep right now. Guess I'll study for a bit before I start getting ready for today's... Fun."

Hours later, Umi was just done talking with Akane. It had all gone like in her dream. The idle chatter, the tickets, the kiss. She hated ruining the mood, but she would take that over losing her. "Akane, I need to tell you something."

Akane knew that tone. It was not a "fun times" tone at all. "Okay, I'm listening."

"I had one of those dreams again."

"Oh fucking hell, no. What happ- Will happen?"

Umi couldn't help but smile at her friend's colorful language. "In my dream everything went exactly the same until this point. The movie will start in a couple hours, so I suggested going to a park near the theater."

"Okay, and?"

"And two of those 'Gales' showed up in that park. One of them grabbed your arm and I... I saw you- I couldn't do a thing to stop it, I..."

Akane hugged her as she started crying. "Damn, almost like the first time it happened, huh? Or like when we met."

Umi let out a sigh and brushed the tears off her cheeks with her hands. "I would think you'd be more shocked about it."

"I'm better at hiding my shock than you, that's all," Akane said, "I'm actually terrified of going to that park now. But it hasn't happened yet, and now that I know about it, it won't happen. We're not going to that park. Heck, if you don't feel like it, we don't need to go to see that movie, either. I'm just happy to have seen you today."

"I... No, let's go see that movie. I won't let those dreams stop me from enjoying our date."

Akane smiled at her and gave her a soft kiss. "That's the spirit. Let's go."

Hours later, the two were walking out of the movie theater. "Well, that was... Okay, I guess. Not too different from what I've read about that war."

Umi nodded. "The actress playing Mars was really good."

"But the girl playing Sailor Moon was not. I get that Mars had the spotlight in those events, but really, why hire some newbie to play Usagi?"

"Right, she didn't even sound like-"

'Be careful. Fate can be changed, but it will fight you every step of the way.'

Umi stopped and looked around. No, that voice had been- Not even in her head, it was like someone was talking to her soul. It was hard to explain. What was that?

Akane noticed her girlfriend was scanning the area. "Are you okay?"

'You can do much more than just see "the future," Umi. And you'll have to figure that out quickly.'

"Who are you?"

Akane took a step back. "Umi?"

"This may sound insane, but... There's a voice talking to me about fate and changing it."

"It would sound insane, but remember how we met."

True, she met Akane a few weeks after she had that first dream. And in a way, she met Akane twice, for the first time. In that dream, she had walked by the red-haired girl, not really taking notice of her, but then the girl had shouted a warning, and the last thing she remembered of that dream, was looking at the shocked face of the girl, running towards her, then everything went black.

When she walked by that street, that same day, she had already decided to take the long route to her destination, but then she saw the red-haired girl from her dream, and she was walking down that street, not noticing the large fridge that was dangling from a rope which didn't look quite strong enough to hold that much weight.

Umi had never been much of an athlete, but when she saw that girl walking and saw what was about to happen, her body reacted without her knowing. Next thing she remembered was knocking the girl out of the way, and them both crashing to the ground, seconds before the rope snapped and the fridge fell right on the spot where that girl - Akane - would have been if she hadn't tackled her.

Of course, Akane had not really believed her when she told her about those "weird" dreams at first, but it wasn't the only time she had avoided injury - or worse - thanks to Umi's warnings.

'And yet, fate continues trying to correct its mistakes. Sooner or later, just seeing the future won't be enough for you to stop fate from happening. Unfortunately, 'later' may be already here.'

Umi found herself... Elsewhere. All around her, she could only see white, a blinding white, and she couldn't tell where the floor ended and the walls started, or if there even were walls, or a ceiling. She was confused and scared, but the voice seemed to sense this. She saw a woman appear near her, she was tall, white-haired, wearing a long dress, but her face... It was strange, like looking at a mirror, and that mirror showing you what you would look like in a few decades. "Who are you?" She asked, even though she was almost sure what the answer would be.

"I am you, and yet I'm not," the woman said. "I know you've wondered if different realities exist, and the answer is yes. I'm an echo from a future that did not happen, at least in this reality. I am what happened to a version of you that wasn't as fortunate as you were."

With all the weird crap that had happened in her life in the last decade, Umi could not be skeptical about those words at all. "So you're me. Why do you look like... A supervillain?"

The woman chuckled at that, genuinely amused. "Hearing myself say that is humbling, but let me explain. In the reality where I exist, Umi Mamizu lived happily with her parents, and her powers did not awaken until one very fateful day. My parents, they died in a car crash when I was your age. My powers were awakened by the grief, and what I saw... I saw a different reality, where I was a somewhat different person, but that reality, it broke me. It was one where the Senshi were gone, unlike my own reality. A reality where I didn't lose my parents, didn't have this... Power, which I considered a curse back then. One where I was happy. One where I was not feeling the grief I felt."

"Wait, how does the Senshi not being gone change things for me... For us?"

"I know you're not aware of this because I wasn't, either, not until I looked back to that day. The day I was... The day we were born, was the very same day the Senshi 'lost,' or in some realities, like mine, would have lost, and yet didn't. Serenity, the one you know as Sailor Moon, did something which I considered foolish back then. She erased her reality, or at least that's what she thought had happened. That's what I believed had happened, too, for centuries. The ripple caused by her final clash with Aurite did a lot of things, and apparently destroyed both her and Aurite, at least the version of them that would have been in those realities. Is this too weird to follow?"

Umi was aware she had been looking around the area. "No, I'm... Worried about Akane."

"Wish I had met her, myself," the woman said, "but don't worry, this talk we're having is happening in your mind, and it will take but a split second in what you call 'reality.' Akane won't probably notice you staring into the distance for a split second."

"Good... Wait, you never met Akane?"

"I was a loner. My powers didn't awaken until I was your age, so things went very differently. I've seen your memories, so... Maybe that day you saved her never happened in my reality. Maybe that's why I never met Akane, because I hadn't been there to save her. Maybe if I had met her, things would not have been so grim. Anyways, I hated the Senshi for what I thought they had caused. For giving me the power to see what could have been, but not the power to change what had already happened."

"I guess since you're me, I would sound quite hypocritical if I said I wouldn't have reacted the same way."

"True. But I was lacking information, thanks to an entity that was a manipulative bastard."

"Was?" Umi repeated.

"Yes, the Senshi took care of that bastard."

"Wait, hadn't the Senshi vanished too, in your reality?"

"And here's where it gets weird. That ripple I mentioned? It somehow moved my soul to a different reality, the day I was born. To the reality that Serenity moved herself and all her friends to. That's why I could only see the reality where my parents were alive - one that had its facts altered so that it looked like it was one where the Senshi didn't lose. It was the reality where I was born."

"I only realized that much later. The reality I was 'moved' to was one where the Senshi won, because that Serenity, that Sailor Moon, was the same woman who had 'lost' in my reality. She had knowledge of what would happen, and could stop it from happening, much like you have done in the past. She defeated the 'Dark Alliance' and even though Tokyo was destroyed, she rebuilt it, improved it in a way, and revived all her friends."

"She also thought she had erased that other reality. She lived for centuries with the weight of what she thought she had done, on her shoulders. And I lived for centuries cursing her for that same thing, for that lie from a manipulative bastard. I became a villain, I decided to use some children who had latent magic abilities - orphans, like me, from a war that won't happen in your reality. Children who lived in the city Serenity rebuilt, her queendom of Crystal Tokyo. Children who lost their parents to a war the Senshi could have avoided, but decided not to as it could have destroyed their reality. Looking back, I know it was not an easy choice to make for Serenity, but back then I thought her a monster for it."

"Wow. Senshi had a 'queendom' and all. Nice."

The woman didn't mind the interruption. "At first I was a scornful monster, and I admit it. But those kids did something to me, fortunately, they changed me. They were thankful to me for giving them a home. They treated each other like siblings, and treated me like I was their mother. Without knowing it, I stopped wanting to destroy the Senshi for what I thought they had done to me, but I instead wanted to make them pay for letting that war hurt those children."

"But the Senshi defeated you."

"To make a very long story that involved a lot of 'impossibles,' yes. But Serenity was not the monster I always took her for. She saw herself as the villain of the war I started, she hated having to fight those children I sent to sabotage her reality, to foolishly try changing the past. She defeated us, yes, but there were no deaths, even though I became more and more aware that while the difference in power was not large, the Senshi had been warriors for their whole lives, but I was not one, and I could not teach my newfond family how to fight those who had centuries of experience.

She had made a promise to those children, one I thought was a lie to try and avoid defeat. But she didn't break her promise, she brought back the parents of those kids, and... Even after I had shown her how dangerous I could be, Serenity forgave me. I learnt that I could use the powers I had to do more than trying to change the past. All mages can, I just... I was too angry, too blinded by rage, to ever consider the possibility that I could have also been throwing magic blasts around, just like the Senshi did. Too blind to see my power wasn't a curse."

"That's a lot to take, but why are you telling me- Oh wait. I get it. You are me, in a way. So I could also be throwing magic blasts around. How?"

"I don't know."

"Seriously?"

"I am only an echo. A memory of a different version of you, that for some reason was sent to warn you about what you just realized. But I am not that woman you could have become, I'm just her memories, and some of the details are missing. For example, that woman forgot her own name. I didn't 'remember' it until I saw it in your mind. I was not Umi Mamizu. I was... Apsu."

"Apsu, really? I mean, good job on the pun, other me, but between the name and the dress..."

"I guess that old saying is true, we are really our own worst critics."

"So... How do I get out of here?"

"You just will it to happen, it's your own mind, after all. But remember what I said. Fate is not going to give up. You lived for a decade longer than it wanted you to, at least in this reality. If you don't learn to use your powers to their fullest, then... You could end up being what I am, in that other reality. I've already seen dreaming about losing her was shocking, so... What would happen if you really lost her?"

Umi frowned at that. She had wondered that, herself. "Don't worry, I don't plan on letting 'fate' or anything else beat me. I always hear about how the Senshi never gave up, and Sailor Moon beat her last enemy in this reality even though her friends had died and she had no way to bring them back. So if I'm a mage, like they were, I would be a disappointment to their memory if I just gave up without even trying."

"That's good. Good luck, Umi."

"That sounds like a farewell. What will happen to you now?"

"I am but a memory. I do not belong in this reality. I guess my mission was to make sure fate did not catch you by surprise."

"So you're saying you're like... A recording?"

"In a way. Magic is weird, but you better get used to weird from now on. Goodbye."

Umi saw she was back in 'reality' again. Akane was not looking at her in shock, so she knew what that 'Apsu' woman had said was true, it all had only taken a moment. "That was strange."

"What was? You were saying something about a voice in your head. What happened?"

"A lot happened, in a split second. Don't ask me why, because the answer is most likely 'magic!'"

Akane shrugged. "Frankly, being around you makes it hard to be skeptical about anything."

"Yes, I-" She turned around. "Crap. They're coming."

"Who are you talking about?" Akane asked, but then saw it. Umi had mentioned two of those things from her dream, but there were actually five of them, making their way down the street, and draining people. "Shit, let's run."

Umi frowned. She saw four people lying on the ground, after being grabbed by those beings. A flash of her last moments of her dream crossed her mind. "No. You run, Akane."

Akane growled at that. "Like hell I'll do that! We can't do a thing about-"

"That voice I mentioned? As I said, a lot happened in an instant," Umi said. She looked at her own hand, and it suddenly shone with a greenish light. "The pain I felt when I saw you fall in my dream... I don't want anyone else to feel it. I can at least stop them from hurting anyone else."

"Holy shit, you're a mage too?"

Umi smiled at that and gave her friend - her girlfriend - a soft kiss. "I thought all I could do was avoiding fate, but... I can actually fight it."

The mantis creatures were almost too close for comfort by now. "That's cool and all, but what can a newbie-"

Umi looked at her hand again and chuckled. "I've been using magic for years now. I just didn't know how I was doing it." A green sphere of light shot from her hand, punching straight through the face of the closest mantis, before correcting its course and removing the torso of a second one. "See?"

"Wow, you really are a mage?"

The three remaining creatures suddenly burst aflame. Akane looked at Umi questioningly, but the other girl shook her head. Before either could say a thing, a woman landed next to them. "While I do appreciate the help, I wasn't expecting an unregistered mage to show up. Who are you, kid?"

Umi was surprised. Knowing who this woman was, she would have never expected her to talk to her in such a calm, kind voice. "I... I'm not evil, I swear."

The woman laughed at that. "Trust me, I would know. But that's not what I asked."

"My name is Umi. Umi Mamizu." It's not like she could make up a secret identity on the spot, after all.

"I don't remember hearing any reports on you before. Are you new in town?"

Umi sighed and looked at Akane, then back at the woman. Prime Huntress Calisto, one of the three youngest Primes of Japan, and probably one of the strongest magical beings on the planet. It was hard not to be intimidated by her reputation, but Umi tried her best. "It's a long, weird story, but-"

Calisto shrugged. "My life is a long weird story. I doubt you can surprise me."

Akane chuckled at that. "What if she told you she can see the future?"

"Not the first time I heard that."

Umi sighed. "Akane, you don't know half of it. As I told you earlier, a lot happened in a split second. So, Prime Huntress Calisto, I apologize if I was butting in on your hunt, but there were innocents getting hurt or worse, and I had just figured out how my powers worked, so I couldn't just stand there and play the damsel."

Akane blinked at that. It was weird for Umi to be that assertive. Weirder still when she was talking to a person rumored to be able to blast entire city blocks to ashes in second. "Umi, don't-"

Calisto said something in a language neither teenager understood (she was, rumors said, not Japanese, even though she had been in Japan for decades.) "Nice, finally a new mage that isn't groveling and cowering in fear the moment I speak. Been a while. In any case, whatever your story is, trust me, it won't be too weird for me. After all, I used to help the Senshi, and those silly movies they make nowadays don't even come close to some of the shit I saw back then. I swear once you see one of your best friends absorb a nuke and use its energy to take down a ship the size of the city, it's pretty tough being skeptical about anything anymore."

Umi sighed. "Sorry about the outburst, I'm just... Too much happened in the last few hours. I've been able to see what could happen since I was six, but it usually happened in dreams. I saw myself be run over by a car when I was just a kid. I also met my girlfriend thanks to that power, as I saved her from being crushed by a very heavy object."

"So you are a Seer, like Setsuna."

"Like Pluto? Not sure if it's the same kind of power. Anyhow, for years I've thought that's all my powers were good for. It was just some weird power I had and I couldn't control it."

"And yet here you are, killing bugs with magic blasts," Calisto noted.

"Yeah. I had a dream earlier today. In that dream, I was on a date in a nearby park-"

"... The park where the first reports of these bugs came from, I bet."

"I'm almost sure that's the place. In the dream, Akane was attacked and I saw her die, I couldn't do a thing to stop it. So we decided to skip the walk through the park and come see the 'silly movie' instead. But I guess those bugs weren't happy just attacking the park."

"I just wish we could respond to these attacks faster," Calisto said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Without people like Hotaru around, we can't... Undo the damage, like the Senshi could. That's the one magic skill that nobody could replicate. Some people end up hating us for not being quick enough, and I can't blame them."

"Anyhow, as I was walking out of the theater, my powers... Warned me that these bugs were coming. I had a vision of a different me, in my mind, and the vision told me I could use magic for more than just seeing the future."

"And once told they can do something, mages with real talent can figure it out pretty quickly," Calisto said. "Anyhow, Demon Hunter protocol forbids non-registered magi from, in the words of my elders, 'running wild' hunting monsters. People could get hurt, wild cards should be monitored, blah blah blah and so on."

Both teenagers smirked at that. The rumors that the three 'Young Primes' weren't fond of protocol were apparently very true. "But?" Akane asked after a few seconds of silence.

"But your girlfriend showed real initiative, she jumped in to save lives despite not winning anything - material, at least - from it, and her power is something my group could use, in the future. She also is strong enough to kill one of those Gales in one shot. Those bugs may be weaklings compared to me, but half the rookie Demon Hunters would need to shoot at one of them for a while before taking it down. As I said, unregistered magi are not allowed to hunt on their own, and are heavily monitored when found."

"So, where do I sign up?"

Calisto laughed at that. "No need for that. I'm a Prime. Other Demon Hunters respect me because I've shown them respect too. If I say you're to be left alone, no Hunter will ever get in your way. Not unless they want one hell of a lecture from me and my friends."

Umi nodded at that, then grimaced and her hand lit up. "We missed one," she said and aimed her arm up, shooting a blast that caught a very surprised 'Gale' in mid-air, its lifeless body smashing into the sidewalk.

Calisto looked at the bug's vanishing form, then at Umi, and sighed in exhasperation. "Seers..."

Akane smiled and put an arm aroud Umi's waist. "So, is she free to go, officer?"

The older woman gave her a short glare, but still smiled. "A spunky seer with a spunky girlfriend, that's cute. Don't worry, I have no intention of stealing her from you. Circe would kill me if I ever go chasing young girls." She looked at Umi and frowned. "Out of curiosity, do you have a... Hero name? Trust me, nothing will sound too ridiculous to me, after all, one of my best friends was "Warwitch."

Umi shook her head. She didn't want to wear a mask, to use a fake name to hide. 'Apsu' was right, the power she had was no curse. Maybe if she had been born decades earlier, she could have helped the Senshi, stopped them from meeting their supposed end... But she was happy with how things were. The Senshi were not around anymore - and whether they died or simply 'switched' realities was unimportant to those living in her reality. She had never thought herself a warrior, she had never considered fighting evil to defend those who couldn't was a choice for her. But that had also been true for one Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon, or so she had heard. Up until today, she had been someone who could safely run away from danger, since she could see it coming. But it felt good to actually fight back. She was no Senshi, and she doubted she would ever come to a fraction of the power even the weakest of them had, but she would still do her best to protect her world, to protect the ones she loved.

"No. No offense, but I don't want to wear a mask."

Circe chuckled at that. She hadn't wore a mask for decades, either, not a physical one, and her 'Huntress' name was just a formality, as the whole world knew her 'civilian' name. "Fair. Well, if you see any trouble and need help dealing with it, use this."

Umi caught the item and blinked a few times. She knew what these were, but how? "A Senshi communicator?"

"No, that's a device we Hunters give to those who haven't learnt to use communication magic yet. It's based on what the Senshi used, yes, but don't worry, I didn't steal it from any corpses."

Akane looked at the older woman. The fact this woman could probably vaporize her on the spot did not really matter much to her. "Has anyone told you you have a weird sense of humor?"

"I have yet to meet someone who has talked to me for more than five minutes and hasn't told me that - or thought about it. Anyhow, we'll meet again, Mamizu."

Akane blinked as the woman vanished. "I heard about teleportation, but that was still weird to see. So... 'A lot happened in an instant' huh?"

"You don't know half of it, very literally so. Let's go back home, I'll tell you about it while we get there."

"Want me to help you explain it to your parents?"

"Oh, that will be a lot of fun. 'Yeah, we did get attacked by those Gale things even after we tried to avoid it, but don't worry, I killed three of them, because I found out I can shoot magic blasts now.'"

Akane laughed at that. "My girlfriend, the magical girl. I never thought I would be able to say that."

Umi smiled. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from evil things."

Akane rolled her eyes at her girlfriend. "Don't let it go to your head, miss talented mage. You're still a nerdy girl who can't run for more than one block without running out of breath."

Umi looked at her. "I guess I'll have to do something about that. Can't be much of a superhero if I can't chase after the bad guys."

On the way back home, Umi explained what she had seen in her mind, as best as she could. For the first time in her life, she understood why she had been given her powers. Fate wasn't out to get her, much despite what that other version of herself - 'Apsu' seriously? Silly name - could think. Fate had chosen her to fill a part of the void the real heroes had left when they vanished. The story of Umi Mamizu had been a rather boring one up to that point, but her future would be far from boring. But that is a story, perhaps, for another time.

A/N: The name of the main character of this story was the main hint on who she was (or who she would have been in a different reality.) Apsu, or Abzu, is the god of fresh water in Sumerian mythos. What can I say, I love my puns.

A fair warning: Some of these 'divergences' may only last for one single episode, while others could take many to be told. And you may see new versions of old stories here too, if I do get around to rewriting them. I may even alternate between different 'divergences' instead of just focusing on one of them at a time. Haven't planned ahead for this one, because I wasn't planning to continue writing for the "Aeons" saga.