Saving the world is less easy than heroes make it think. It is an unsaid truth, not any less real.
The Senshi knew that firsthand, from now having saved the world twice.
The fact was...
Coming back from the future was weird. Sailor Pluto never mentioned the possibility of changes in the past, only the royals hinted that it was better for them not to meet their future counterparts directly.
When they saw Neo-Queen Serenity in person, when she and Usagi were in the same place at the same moment, face to face, even talking to each other for a brief moment, no one thought it'd make any huge change.
Still, it seemed like this is exactly what happened.
At their return, they found posters about heroes in almost any street, the news glorified them and something commonly known as "Quirk" was in everyone's mouth as the norm.
Ami was, of course, the first to research that.
And she made a discovery about herself too.
She exposed it all to the others a few days after their return, in an emergency reunion at the Shrine.
«As of today, 80% of the population developed this genetical modification, an increasing number of cases since the beginning of the 20th century. It appears the remaining 20% is now considered the anomaly. As a consequence, new regulamentations were made and...»
«Ami-chan...» Usagi interrupted, confused «What does it all mean?»
All those changes were really confusing to her and it only added to all the rest.
Saying goodbye to Chibiusa has been painful, bittersweet even when she thought that little brat she argued with so much was her daughter and she was bound to meet her again for sure.
If it still was "for sure".
If the changes in the world didn't somehow include the definite disappearance of Chibiusa.
She didn't even want to think about that.
It was better to focus on the present, which was weird and hard to understand.
Once back home, Usagi had realized her mother, Ikuko, barely remembered Chibiusa, which was predictable, but the scolding she received for being late was unlike any other before.
Ikuko complained lots about how horrible has been of her daughter to disappear without telling anything, with a few mentions of Usagi growing reckless and impulsive like her father. Except Usagi didn't see her father as anything but the calm and collected journalist who was the farthest thing from a restless soul.
"This has to end, Usagi! I won't see you, I can't see you becoming like your father. I don't care what the world says, you should focus on school and not following his footsteps! You have no idea how he came to be..."
"But mama..."
"No buts! With your grades... I was sure you didn't want to go to a hero school, but now you keep disappearing and... is that what you're doing?" Ikuko had stopped screaming, now doubtful, hurt. This hit Usagi like nothing she ever said before.
"You want to be a hero, Usagi-chan?" her mother asked, pained "You and your friends are hero training?"
Usagi just bowed her head and didn't answer. She barely had any idea what her mother was talking about and most certainly she didn't want to explain Senshi work to her, all the things she found out about herself, her previous life, all the pain and death she saw in past and present and even future.
For maybe the first time in her life, Usagi saw her mother in tears. But she couldn't do a single thing for she didn't understand why.
She had not said a word to her friends yet, they were too busy trying to figure out what the world ended up being.
Ami tilted her head, choosing how to put the news so that her princess and her friends could properly understand: «Almost everybody has supernatural abilities now. In theory, this wasn't real before we went to the 30th century, but it appears from the news it has been true for a long while. People have "quirks", peculiar abilities not unlike the ones we have as Senshi, that are unique for each person, that are registered in regular documents. Even we do» she added, moving a strand of hair behind her ear.
A plaque of metal showed up, embedded in her skin, with a line of blue that resembled her visor closer to her face.
Luna and Artemis chimed in «We made research with our operative center too. Everybody's documents contain the description of the person's quirk, which usually shows around four-years-old»
«So well before we became Senshi» Rei reasoned.
Makoto was still in doubt «You said we all have those too?»
Luna nodded «All of you were registered in preschool. You can easily access your own papers, but given we are in a new reality, you could as well ask your families and previous acquaintances, if you can»
Minako, who has been unusually quiet but in almost elation, jumped up «Mine first!» she exclaimed, and stuck an Idol pose. At first, nothing happened, then a sparkle came out from her skin, making her shine. She smiled more widely and shifted pose, the lights around her increased and in seconds she was shining like a firework.
«Isn't it amazing? I can emit light! I'm like a star!»
Usagi was, admittedly, in awe, a little were the others too, minus Artemis who must have seen it already.
«It increases my natural beauty, the glowing of my skin and also...»
«Minako» the white cat interrupted her «That's not the point»
After rolling up her eyes, Ami cleared her throat. Minako looked at her serious face and stopped sparkling, sitting back.
«As I was saying, we all have quirks. It seems like they mostly merged with our Senshi abilities, which corroborates the hypothesis that it was us who triggered this alteration»
«But... how?»
«It can be a number of factors, but all are hypothesis» the genius girl replied «Our trip to the future, Chibiusa coming here with a second Silver Crystal, the meddling of future enemies in this time, Usagi talking with Neo-Queen Serenity, us being in proximity of our future selves...» Ami counted on her fingers «The list can go on. The slightest thing could have influenced this outcome»
The girls looked at each other, in doubt and silence.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs that led to the shrine distracted Usagi, so she was the first to see a dark haired head and jump towards.
«Mamo-chan!» she shouted happily. The boy smiled at her and greeted all.
«I'm late, sorry. I was trying to figure out some more through my classmates»
He explained briefly what the girls already discussed about, but he shifted the topic on another issue: «Quirks allow people to become heroes or supervillains. Heroes need to be registered though, otherwise using quirks in public is considered illegal. We'll need to be careful: should any other enemy appear, we're not allowed to intervene»
«What? But we save people!»
«I know, Usako, but apparently in this world heroes are professionals only. There are even academies for specific preparations that start after middle school and so on, like any other profession. Heroes are revered much more so than any other job and their earnings can be quite high too, depending on their popularity»
This rang a bell in Usagi's mind. A cape and a boisterous laugh. Blinding light and affectionate warmth.
She tried to hold to the feeling, but it disappeared as fast as it came.
«For now, we'll better wait for the heroes of this reality to act on villains and intervene only if this is something only we can fix» was the final decision on the matter.
To be honest, it was a relief. Not every instance was a burden to their young shoulders, the saving of the world and mere crime fighting alike were duties shared with a plethora of people.
«I think I recall something» Makoto was said «Memories, a little different than the ones from Silver Millennium»
She raised an arm in front of her face, staring at it intently. Under everyone's eyes, her skin turned in a wood-like structure, hard and full of small thorns.
Artemis nodded «Your quirk. Just as your files said»
«I have something else» Rei interfered, «I thought it was a vision in the fire, but then I realized it was just a memory. Of my mother»
Her friends turned quiet. Rei didn't speak much of her late mother, so this must have been something special.
«I think she was kidnapped by a villain. And she used her quirk to escape. It was fire-based» she revealed «I have to guess I inherited it»
Ami nodded «A lot of people develop quirks akin to their parents', either a variation of one parent's quirk or combinations of the two. Not always though»
«What is yours, Ami-chan?» Usagi wondered.
She touched her ear «It's registered as Hyper-Brain. I can memorize and learn any information I come across with ease. More than before» she added.
At Usagi's expecting gaze, Mamoru stretched his hand towards her. A single, red rose, emerged from it.
«I can help the growth of small plants in general, mostly flowers. I have yet to try if it applies to people and how. Not much in comparison to yours» he said, apologetic. Usagi shook her head and took the flower happily. Makoto, being the flower lover she was, was in awe.
«It's great, Mamo-chan!» then, with an afterthought, the blonde asked: «What about me?»
«You don't know?»
She shook her head. The laugh from before emerged again in her memory, a sting disappearing in front of watery eyes.
«Healing tears. It's a truly amazing gift» Mamoru praised.
«Very fitting for a crybaby» Rei added with a wink.
They laughed at that, then started to share what they recalled.
Aside from her mother's quirk, Rei remembered her being killed not by illness, but by villains. Her father did nothing to save her and the Heroes didn't come in time. As a result, Rei didn't trust heroes and decided not to take the road for Hero school, no matter how her father would have wanted it.
Makoto, triggered by the story, got sombered and muttered something about the possibility her parents had been heroes. They died in the field. She said no more, but the delusion of not having them even in an alternate reality stung.
Minako recalled using her quirk in auditions, being scolded for doing so, and not much more of interest. Her quirk was more aesthetic than power-based, but it had been useful against Ace and when she was Sailor V in general.
Ami had the most complete picture. She was able to get an enormous amount of information and used her smarts to put together the whole puzzle. Still, she only had the answers she learned beforehand or could deduce from what she learned.
Mamoru's memory of the new world was the clearest, which was a nice change for him since his childhood memories were hazy at best, but he knew a lot of this new situation.
Usagi, instead, was the most in the fog. Aside from not knowing her quirk, or anything related to it, she had to say she had no idea what happened to her family, the strange speech of her mom, the vague notion she remarried? That her father may not be the same person, too.
They discussed more, with no more answers they had before.
«So our brains are adapting to the changes, making us see memories to help, or we are melding into this alternate reality?» was the final question of the day.
Of course, no one knew.
Quick info:
This fic starts after the Black Moon arc for Sailor Moon and before the USJ arc for BnHA (I'm just started the third season of the anime, so shh! No spoilers please, if I get something wrong I'll work on it later, no need to tell me. Take this as an AU or Canon Divergence). Inspired by Xireana Prime's fic "Daughter of Peace".
Story already posted on Ao3