Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 4: Divergence.
Episode 4: To Mage or not to Mage.

By Razor Knight
Last update: April 4, 2025

Umi walked into her house, with Akane tagging along, and sighed. No, she was ready for this. "Mom, dad? Are you home?"

Her mother came out of the dining room and smiled. "Your father went to buy groceries," she said, then noticed she had brought someone along. "Hello, Akane."

"Hi, Miss Sayuki," Akane said politely.

"Did something happen?"

Umi nodded slowly. Her mother always seemed to know when she was uneasy, and usually she would be glad for it, but right now... "Uhm, nothing bad, but the bugs I told you about, they were also outside when we walked out of the theater."

"Oh dear."

Umi looked at Akane, then sighed. Sometimes 'show, not tell' was the simplest way to do something. She focused for a second, and her hand took on a greenish hue as energy gathered in it. "But I also figured something about those dreams I've always had."

Sayuki took a step back, instinctively. "What is-"

Akane shrugged. "Long story short, she's a mage now. Well, she always was, but I suppose she's better at it now."

Umi smiled as a small green orb floated up from her hand. "When I was little, I wanted to be a Senshi. I don't think that's possible anymore - if it ever was - but I think this is close enough."

Her mother took a deep breath and looked at her. "I... Sorry, that was shocking. Did you try fighting those monsters?"

"Try? She killed three of them, it was awesome," Akane said and hugged her girlfriend. Umi blushed at that, Akane really had no filter sometimes.

Umi's father walked in right then, noticing Akane was there. He also noticed the green orb hovering over his daughter's palm, which was shining with the same color as the orb. "No playing with magic inside the house, young lady."

Sayuki sighed at that. Her husband had always been far harder to shock than anyone she'd ever known. "Umi was telling me about how she killed three of those 'Gale' creatures with magic."

"Nice."

"Darling, don't encourage her."

Umi dismissed her 'attack' and sat down on the couch. "I always read about this group of heroes who risked their lives to save innocents, and they didn't do it to get fame, or money, or for fun. A part of me always wished I was like them. And now I know it wasn't just a silly dream to have. Of course I won't probably come up to a fraction of the power some of them had, but at least now I can follow their example."

"But you're only sixteen, you shouldn't be-"

"Mom, Usagi was fourteen when she won the Dark Kingdom Wars, and by my age she had dealt with at least two alien groups," Umi said. She understood her mother's worries, but she wasn't going to just sit and watch anymore. "Maybe a part of me always knew I could do more than just save myself or those I cared about. Today I realized that it feels good to save those who can't fight that kind of evil. Even though I got no thanks for it, knowing I saved people makes me happy."

Her mother smiled despite herself. "Fine, I won't tell you to not use your powers, but please promise me you won't do anything reckless."

"She snapped back at Calisto, I think she's done plenty reckless already."

Umi's father let out a gasp. "Prime Huntress Calisto? She was there?"

"She was taking care of those monsters and sensed me killing a few of them, so she... Gave me permission to fight evil. She said my power, my 'dreams,' were a rare thing, and could be useful for her group. I'm not a Demon Huntress but they will know who I am and won't mind me helping them."

Akane chuckled. "And her 'dreams' aren't even dreams anymore, right Umi?"

"True. When we were walking back, I 'saw' a car running over a puddle on the road and soaking us, before we got to the place where that would happen. It only took a split second for the vision to happen, and well, we avoided getting drenched in dirty water."

"Wonder if you can see lottery winning numbers now."

"I won't use my powers to cheat, no matter how much you beg me to," Umi said with a stare that made clear she was dead serious.

"Eh, worth a try," Akane said with a shrug.

One week had passed since that day. While at first she had been excited about her newfound powers, she soon realized something: she had almost nothing to do with them. In that week, no creature had shown up, at least not in her city, and she had not seen any crime happen near her. She wondered if the Senshi also felt like this when no enemies appeared. Bored, uneasy, wishing something would show up so she could use her magic powers for more than showing off to her friends and classmates. She wasn't going to go and patrol the city like some superheroes did in cartoons, though. Her grades were more important than "playing" hero.

But she had been testing her powers, and reading about magic, and had learnt a lot about it. Magic was quite useful, she could teleport, she could levitate (or "fly" as Akane had called it,) and she could even increase her strength, for a short while. Of course, her 'mana,' her magical energy, wasn't infinite, but apparently having high mana reserves, and recharging quickly after using magic, was part of being 'talented,' as Calisto had called her.

She also could sense other magical beings near her, as long as they weren't hiding their own magic, or if they were much weaker than her. So she had noticed, earlier that day, that there was someone following her. Someone who was either hiding part of their magic from her, or was quite a weak magician. However, she decided to find out either way. She stopped walking and looked around. "Okay, whoever you are, I know you're there. You're bad at hiding."

A figure appeared near her. A Demon Hunter, or rather, Huntress. "I was just testing your senses," she said, "and I'm impressed you could sense that little magic. Name's Hunter Seraph."

Umi rose an eyebrow at that. Seraph, that was- "Calisto's daughter?"

"Mother wanted me to check on you, and I was going to go back and report what I saw, but... I needed to ask you something before I do."

"Then ask. I have cram school later today, so I'm not quite free for a chat."

The woman didn't mind her snark. "Fine. Are you not aware of your friend's latent power?"

"My... Friend?"

Seraph chuckled. "I should say 'girlfriend' since you are obviously a couple. But yes, she's a potential mage. Either your magic sensing isn't that good after all, or a part of your mind 'blocked' you from sensing it."

"Why would my mind-" Umi started.

"Because a part of you doesn't want her to be taking the risks you may be taking in the future. It's not the first time I've seen something like that."

"Ugh. How can I have the best grades in my school with a brain this dumb?" Umi muttered. "So, are you saying Akane is a mage too?"

"I'm saying she has the potential to, at some point in her life, awaken as a mage. It could happen naturally, or worst case scenario, something bad could happen and-"

"Damn it." Umi remembered what that 'other Umi' had said, so she knew what Seraph meant. "Damn it, now what?"

"I can't tell you what to do, but I'll tell you being there for her may be the best you can do." She paused for a second then shrugged. "Or you could try telling her about it. Almost no evil overlords have been created by someone being told they're mages by a loved one."

"... I see you have the same sense of humor as your mother."

"That I do, I may not have her genes but being raised by two cynical mothers had the same end result. Anyhow, I'll leave you alone now, Mamizu, sorry for the stalking."

"No, thank you for warning me about Akane. I guess my 'seer' powers aren't flawless."

Seraph nodded at that. "Maybe we'll meet again."

Umi stood there, looking at the path in front of her for a few seconds, before she took her cellphone out of her pocket and sighed. No, texting just wouldn't cut it this time. "Hello? Akane? Yes, I have cram school but that's not important right now." She paused and chuckled at the answer from the other side of the line. "No, I'm not sick, but... Something more important than that came up. Are you home right now?" Another pause. "Okay. I'll be there in a second. Very literally." Without waiting for an answer, she put her phone back in her pocket, then vanished.

"So what's the matter? For you to skip cram school... Has some super-villain showed up?"

"Not yet," Umi said, not surprised at her girlfriend's train of thoughts. "Listen, you know I don't keep things secret from you, so I... I was made aware of something a few minutes ago."

Akane nodded. There it was, Umi's pattented 'serious business' tone. "I'm listening."

"You know, I like the way you are awed at everything I do with magic..."

"I'm not really-"

"... So what if you could also use magic?"

"Me, a mage?" Akane shouted.

Umi was glad Akane's mother wasn't around. "I read about it while searching for reading material on my own powers. Sometimes mages can be 'dormant' for many years, and some people never become mages, even though the potential is there. Sometimes a life-changing event can cause the power to awaken-"

"Like what happened to that 'other you' you told me about."

"Yes, but from what I read, it's usually bad when it happens that way. Which is why, when Seraph told me about it minutes ago, I decided that cram school could wait."

Akane was better at taking shocking news than her girlfriend, but she did have a threshold. Sometimes, it just took her a while to react to bad news or shocking news. "Oh fuck, you're not kidding, I can really be a mage? Damn it!"

That reaction worried Umi a little. "Akane?"

"I... I may have joked about it in the past, but me, having magic? I don't want that kind of responsibility."

"Don't worry, I'll help you-"

"Damn it, why me?" Akane said, then gasped and looked at her hand. "It's warm..."

Umi saw fire appear on Akane's hands. "Calm down."

"Umi, I don't want this!"

Umi's eyes flashed white for a second - a thing Akane knew meant she was having a 'vision' and she frowned. "Damn it. Sorry, love."

"Sorry about wh-" Akane started right as Umi zapped her with magic.

Akane groaned and woke up, looking around. They were both sitting in a bench, in a park near her house. Memories of what happened before her unscheduled nap resurfaced, and she gave her girlfriend a short glare. "What the heck was that for?"

"I saw your house burning down," Umi said, not bothering to sugar-coat things. "I didn't feel good at all having to knock you out like that, but there was no time to think of anything else to do. Sorry."

Akane's anger was quickly replaced by a mixture of relief and guilt. "No, I should be apologizing. I just couldn't control-"

"Whenever I had those 'dreams,' I never went back to sleep. They scared me. So I understand magic can be a scary thing. But our magic isn't something we can just 'turn off' or 'remove' so... Will you let me help you get used to them?"

"What if I just don't use them?"

"I read a book that was mostly notes on what Sailor Mercury knew about magic, but it mentioned what happened to mages who didn't use their magic for too long. From what I read, the longer one goes without using magic, the more it can affect you, physically and mentally. The less trained or skilled the mage, the more chances they have of their magic going haywire. They could hurt themselves, or someone they cared about."

"Fuck. So I either learn to shoot magic blasts or go crazy. Awesome. Just fucking awesome."

"Simply put, yes, those are your options. I'm sorry, if there was a way to-"

"No, don't apologize, you did nothing wrong. Here I am, whining about getting magic, and you've been dealing with that for years. I'm such a loser."

"Don't say that, I wouldn't date a loser." She said as she leaned forwards.

Akane was surprised, Umi was rarely the one to initiate a kiss. But she didn't reject it. "I... Thank you."

"Okay, now... Can you feel your own power?"

Akane closed her eyes for a second. "Yeah. Why does it feel warm, though? Do you also feel like that when you use magic?"

"No, but it could mean you have an affinity with fire. If that's the case, fire magic will always be the easiest for you to use, and other elements will be tougher to handle. Not impossible, but it won't be easy for you to shoot light beams or freeze things."

"Wait, isn't that how Senshi-"

"Normal mages can also be like that, but from what I read, it's not seen often. See, you're no loser, you're a rare kind of mage. By the way, my magic is 'green' because, apparently, I'm a 'poison' mage."

"Heh, I'll have to be careful when kissing you, then, wouldn't want you going all Poison Ivy on me."

"Don't tempt me. But I can understand you having a fire affinity. Always the hot-headed one," Umi teased.

"Thief! Someone help!"

Umi found the source of the shout quickly, a man was running in their direction, holding a handbag, and a girl a bit older than them was picking herself up from the ground, and shouting at the man to stop. She focused to try and knock the man out with her magic, but then saw the man's feet were wrapped in flames. "Akane..."

The man looked at his own feet, and the shock made him stumble, falling flat on his face and dropping the handbag. "What?" Akane said as the fire died out, "it worked, didn't it?"

Umi shook her head at that, then walked to the man. "Please don't move, or we'll be forced to give you a lot more than a scare." Of course, she didn't want to hurt him, but he didn't need to know that.

The girl walked to them, and it was quite obvious she wasn't too sure what to think of her two 'rescuers.' "Uh... How did you-"

"Magic." Akane smiled at her and tossed the handbag her way. "Here you go."

"Th- Thank you."

Umi noticed Akane had quite a wide smile. "See, told you helping people felt good."

The man turned to look at them. "Who the heck are you? Hunters?"

"No, just two girls who can use magic, and were there at the right place and right time," Umi said, and took out the small artifact Calisto had given her. She fiddled with it while Akane kept an eye on the man, and found the right button to press. "Hello, Calisto?"

"Who is it?" The woman on the other side wasn't Calisto.

"I am... Umi Mamizu. I thought this would link me to Calisto herself?"

"Oh, she's... Busy right now," the woman said. "But she told me about you. I'm Circe."

"Oh, wow, another Prime?" Actually, Umi thought, that wasn't so surprising. Circe was Calisto's wife, after all. "Uh, you may be able to help me, we just... Caught a thief."

"A mage?"

"No."

Circe frowned at that. "I'll be there in a second." She was just done saying that, when she appeared near the two teens. "So, are you trying to be a Guardian now, rookie?"

Akane chuckled. "Nah, we were just sitting on a bench when that guy decided to steal a purse, so I sort of... Burnt his feet a little."

"You? Oh, you must be the girl Mio mentioned." She paused for a second as she noticed the confused look the two teens had. "That would be Huntress Seraph."

Umi noticed the man who was lying on the ground was staring at Circe in a way that reminded her of a rabbit staring at a wolf. "So, what do we do about him?"

"I'll call the proper authorities," Circe said. "While we Hunters don't actively hunt non-magical criminals, we also can run into 'right place, right time' situations at times. I stopped a bank robbery last week, but until the would-be robbers showed up, I was there just to make a deposit."

Akane looked at her own hands. "I... Wow. I think I'll be fine now, Umi."

"Good to hear," Umi said.

That piqued the Prime's interest. "Did something happen?"

"I was scared of using magic," Akane explained. "Almost burn my own house down, if not for Umi's powers..."

The girl they had helped had been silently listening on the side, unsure of what to say, but when she heard that, she gasped. "Wait, you mean you never did this before? Stopping a criminal?"

"A couple hours ago, I didn't even know I could use magic," Akane admitted.

"And you say you were scared of using magic? Why did you decide to help me, then?"

"I didn't decide anything, really, I just reacted. It was the right thing to do, even though I realize that my friend could have done it in a less messy way."

Umi shrugged at that. "I would have knocked him out with my own magic, but you were quicker to react."

The girl bowed to them. "Thanks again. To be honest, I wasn't expecting a mage to be around, that's why I was a bit shocked at first."

"Me neither," the man said, still lying on the ground and trying his best not to attract unwanted attention.

Circe was done talking on her own 'communicator' and nodded. "Well, I'll take this guy to his new 'home' now. Bye for now."

Akane blinked as Circe vanished, taking the man along for the ride. "I'll never get used to that."

"You can probably do that too," Umi said, "I can teach you how."

Akane noticed the girl they had helped was walking away. "I would love to learn that. Could be helpful during a match."

"Akane..."

"Just joking," Akane said defensively. She then took out her phone, which was vibrating, and sighed. "Oh shit. It's mom."

Umi nodded slowly. Akane's mother had not been too thrilled to learn Umi could use magic, for reasons obvious to anyone who had known her long enough. "That will be... Interesting."

"I don't want to tell her through the phone, so... Can you get me there?"

"Sure."

Akane's mother had long, wavy hair - unlike her daughter's short, messy hair - but the color was the same, and to Umi she had always looked like an older, less impulsive version of Akane. She was only slightly surprised when the two teens appeared inside her house, but recovered quickly. "Where the fuck were you?" And just like her daughter, she was fond of colorful language. "I was worried, you didn't tell me you were going out."

"Sorry mom, I forgot to leave a message, but I had a very good reason, I swear."

"Good to know. Tell me."

Akane grimaced. This was part of the reason she had been scared of having magic. "Mom, I- Would you be mad if you knew I am also a mage?"

"You what?"

"Miss Yukimine, magic is not something we choose to have, but-"

The woman smiled politely, despite her shock. "Umi, I've told you before, call me Nao. I know I reacted a bit badly to hearing you could use magic, but-"

"And you're doing it again," Akane said.

"Sorry about that, but you know I have a damn good reason to-"

"I know! I know. But I can't bring him back. It's likely nobody can. Hating everyone who uses magic won't bring him back. Hating me because I just found out I can-" Akane stopped as her mother hugged her. "Mom?"

"No, I don't hate you, I could never hate you. I was just shocked at the news. But how can you- Is magic contagious?"

Umi had to stop herself from laughing. "Well, in a way it is, but that only works from parents to children. Hereditary condition, one could call it."

Nao stared at Umi and her eyes widened. "Oh. So, how can she be a mage, then?"

"I read a lot about magic in this last week, so I know that a lot of people can have 'latent' magic abilities, but most of the time, the person won't ever become a mage. At times, magic can be awakened by a traumatic experience."

"So even if she hadn't been 'awakened' now, it could have happened later?"

"And the end result could have been bad. I... Saw a different version of me, thanks to my power. In that other reality, my parents died in a car accident, and I became a villain."

"That sounds bad. Wait, how is all that linked to her not being home when I got here?"

Akane looked at Umi, who understood what she meant, and nodded at her. "I was scared of being a mage. I wasn't happy at first when Umi told me."

"Because you thought I would hate you."

"That may have been a small part of it, but no, not just because of that. I wasn't sure I would be able to stay in control. And those fears almost made me- If Umi hadn't stopped me and taken me away from here, I would have burnt the house down."

"What?"

"I... Knocked her out with my magic and teleported us both away," Umi explained, "because I 'saw' what was about to happen. But I don't blame her, I know magic can be scary. I could never sleep after I had one of those dreams I've told you about. I think one reason I didn't learn how to use my magic properly until now was that I was scared of my own powers, too."

Nao looked at her daughter. "You don't seem to be scared of that now."

"In part, that's also thanks to Umi. I woke up in the park and as we talked about it, I started to realize magic wasn't such a bad thing to have. But then, some idiot tried to steal a girl's bag, and I just reacted, I set his feet on fire."

"Nice," Nao said, then shrugged as the two girls looked at her surprisedly.

"Long story short, I'm going to be teaching Akane what I know about magic. Unless you don't-"

"I know my reaction to you telling me you could use magic wasn't the best either, Umi, but I know I shouldn't just blame all mages for what happened back then. That was one asshole who happened to have magic powers, and who used them to get things he didn't deserve. That kind of people don't need magic to become criminals, he could have been an asshole with a gun instead. If Haru hadn't tried to be a hero, he- He was too reckless at times."

"I saw her today, she took that guy I stopped to jail," Akane said. "Prime Huntress Circe."

Nao smiled sadly at that. Circe had been the one who had caught the man responsible for her husband's death. She hadn't been in the best of moods back then, and had said a lot of things she didn't mean to say, but afterwards she had talked to the Huntress about it, to thank her properly. Circe had told her then, that the man had not been captured, but he wouldn't be harming anyone again. While the Demon Hunters would not hurt humans unless forced to, that man was insane with power, and had tried to defeat someone who was probably one of the three strongest mages in the world. Insane or not, that man did not die a villain, he died an idiot.

"Mom?"

"Don't worry, just remembering some things. I'll be fine. But it's a bit amusing, isn't it? You two always talked about the Senshi, you really liked them, even though they were gone before you were born. And now you can both use magic like they did."

Umi sighed as she decided to tell the woman something else she had learnt recently. "Them being gone may be why I have magic. That's how it went for that 'other me' I saw. Apparently, I was born the same day they had their final battle, somehow that affected me. May have affected others, too."

Nao thought about it for a few seconds then her eyes widened. "Shit, you're right, I remember watching the news that day, I was really shocked about them being gone."

"I always wished I had met them."

Nao smiled at that, then looked at Umi with a frown. "Wait a minute, don't you have cram school today?"

Umi nodded. "I did, but when I was told of Akane's latent power, I didn't need to think twice to know what was more important to me."

"That's... Good, in a way."

Akane shrugged. "Professor Mamizu already studies more than enough, anyways."

"You, on the other hand," Nao said, "don't even try being average at school."

"Guilty as charged," Akane said with a sigh.

The spaceship was not hiding - it would be difficult for it to hide, given its size - but it didn't need to get too close to their target to get all the data they needed on it. On the ship's bridge, two creatures observed a certain world, amazed such a primitive place was the one they had been seeking. "So that is the planet."

"Yes, the locals call it 'Earth.' The world where our other ship vanished, a few klergs ago. We need to find out what happened to them. Preliminary scans of the planet show no signs of them, but also, no weaponry strong enough to have been able to take them out."

"What about mages?"

"There are some, but none with enough power to destroy one of our ships."

"Let's send a single carrier, then. Let's see if this planet's defense forces are any better than those in the last twenty or so worlds we've conquered."

Some would consider the creature's confidence to be a flaw, but there were reasons for it. They were the last Kh'Sun, but they had been claiming and depleting world after world, for such a long time, not even this ship's leader was sure how many tlarks had passed since then. Their reaping would not stop, not in this planet, not in the next hundred planets they visited. It was the way things had been since the creature's near-legendary ancestors first started their endless journey, escaping from the dead world they once called home.

When Umi called her earlier that day, she could feel the worry in her voice. Now that she saw her friend walk to her, she knew she hadn't just imagined it. "Umi, what's wrong?"

"There's something coming. A huge ship, and they're not here to make friends."

"Space invaders?" Akane said with a chuckle.

"It's not a joke!" Umi almost shouted. She then flinched and looked away. "Sorry, I just-"

"Damn, if it has you that worried-"

"I've been training, but not just my magic blasts. I can use my old 'dreams' much better now, so I started trying to see if there would be a way to win... I... I saw you die many times, in many ways, and I saw myself, too, die a lot. And no matter what I try, no matter what we do, those assholes just take over."

"Wait, what are those creatures?"

"Remember those things the Senshi fought, the Kh'Sun? Seems that wasn't their only ship."

"Oh fuck no. Watching that in a movie scared me witless, and you're saying we'll have to fight them ourselves?"

Umi nodded slowly. "I saw us decide to just run away, but... There's nowhere to run to. They'll take over, drain this planet until it's a lifeless rock, and leave any survivors to die slowly here, taking the rest with them as slaves."

"Shit, that sounds bad, but... Umi, you're not like this."

"Like what?"

"You never give up without at least trying, love. That's one of the things that made me fall for you."

Umi blushed, but then bit her lip. "I guess I was doing that, huh. I'm not sure how Usagi would fix this, but I know she wouldn't just run away. I could complain that they're not around, but... I just need to get better at using my power."

"But isn't that harmful? You say you saw me and yourself die a lot, isn't that-"

"There's no word that could describe how it makes me feel, to have seen, to have experienced so many deaths. And that's exactly why I want to stop them from happening."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"I'll go talk to the Primes, warn them about what's coming. I'll ask them to help me train. I need to be a lot better at these 'visions' of mine, and fast."

"How fast?"

"They'll be here exactly one month from now."

"... I'll tag along then. You've taught me enough that I know I could use my magic to fight, but not to fight against thousands of airships."

"Well then, let's go save the world."

"... Or die trying."

Umi looked at Akane and sighed. "Not if I can help it."

A/N: At this point, I could probably get away with calling the Kh'Sun a running gag.

Anyhow, like with many episode titles I've used in the past, I regret nothing. I also don't regret leaving this one in a cliffhanger. I have a plan for this particular reality, and maybe some others I've created before.