Reunion

OblivionRose

***SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ FAIRY TAIL CHAPTER 336 YET***

AN: This one-shot was inspired by the recent chapter 336. This story is what I hope will happen to Ultear after performing her forbidden spell. Of course I know some parts may be a bit far fetched but please enjoy. I'll critique it more at the end.

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Trollshima (Mashima).

"BRING BACK MY LIFE'S WORTH OF TIME!"

The searing pain tore through Ultears body as her life force drained along with her magic to perform this forbidden spell. She had no choice, there was no way they could defeat the seven dragons. If only she could turn back time to before the gates were opened, then this whole disaster could be avoided. If she could sacrifice herself so that the others could live, then maybe she'd be able to feel like she atoned for her sins.

As the spell was performed and she felt the last bits of her energy and soul drain from her body she looked at the clock again to see how far back they had gone. However, she still remained in the ruined city and the clock's hand had only moved back slightly.

'One minute?!' This failure struck her deeply as her body went limp due to the lack of power remaining. Feeling defeated her last thoughts negatively rolled through her mind like a movie reel: she could see all of the horrible deeds she had completed in her life.

'My life… was only worth… one single minute…?!' Unable to feel anymore physical pain from her numb body, her last second thoughts burned in her mind as she fell. 'That's not even… I couldn't even save… a single person…'

The silence came and Ultear's lifeless body lay on the debris ridden ground. In her last moments of despair she felt regret. What will Jellal and Meredy think when they see her lifeless form? She'll never get to see Jellal finally man up and be happy with Erza. She'll never see Meredy's bubbly smile light up her day again. She'll never get to see her mother's apprentices another time. Her mother. Certainly her mother wouldn't be where Ultear was headed. Her mother had actually been an honest woman deceived by the people who kidnapped her as a child; whereas, Ultear was nothing more than a wicked witch who manipulated people and ruined relationships and in the end was a failure in selfishly sacrificing herself to save her friends.

Friends.

Could she even think that? It didn't matter now. Her soul had now departed from their world.

Opening her eyes she found herself in a sea of white. "Clouds?" She looked down to find herself in a white flowing robe and her wounds healed. She reached behind her back and above her head for wings and a halo out of curiosity but of course she wasn't an angel. She had committed too many sins to become something pure as that. "Is this the afterlife?" She pondered as she sat there contemplating.

"Ultear."

Ultear whipped her head around at the sound of that voice. It was all too familiar though she hadn't heard it since she was a child. The kind tone it held overwhelmed her, however when she looked she just found more clouds. "I must be imagining things…" She sighed. There was no way she could see her mother again even in death. However, the clouds started to clump together and she jumped back as they began to form the image of a person.

"Hello, Ultear." As the clouds finished forming, Ul's clear form stood before Ultear with a warm smile on her face.

"M-Mother?" Ultear whispered, entirely in shock. "H-How? What?" It wasn't natural for Ultear to be so flustered by something but death was a new experience for her and she had just watched her mother appear out of the clouds.

"I'm so proud of you Ultear." Her mother beamed with happiness and tears began to well in her eyes. She walked over to the startled Ultear and knelt down to hug her. Ultear noticed that her mother's body felt cool and moist, just like the clouds she was sitting on, yet solid enough to offer a gentle embrace. Tears like raindrops fell onto Ultear, until she felt the tears fall from her eyes too. Well, she was named after her mother's tears. Returning the hug she so wished to give her mother long ago as a little girl they both embraced in a mother-daughter hold for some time.

"It's really you." Ultear spoke softly. How was this happening? She didn't deserve this. She should be in purgatory paying for her crimes. But she held her mother until they broke the embrace to look each other in the face again. Ultear felt a sudden wave of uncertainty set in as she was still unable to understand the situation. "How am I able to meet you? I have done so many horrible things. I wasn't even able to save my comrades."

"But you did. You saved many friends and gave them an advantage for fighting the dragons within that minute. See for yourself." Ul spread a patch of clouds apart to reveal the devastated town being attacked by the seven dragons and mini dragons. Ultear peered over the edge to see everyone still fighting with a determined look on their faces as they dodged some of the enemy's attacks.

"I don't see much of a difference." Ultear flatly stated. They were still fighting and worn out. Sure it looked like they had a morale boost, but that wasn't much. The destruction was still there.

"Trust me, there is a great amount of difference. For one, I don't see my apprentice's hole riddled body on the ground as his blue-haired friend shrieks his name in pain. I don't see your pink-haired friend crying in stunned silence nearby. I don't see my other apprentice crying for a medic with tears streaming down his face. I don't see a son watching his father being crushed as the father tells his friend to take care of his son. I don't see countless mages getting battered and bruised because they were unable to see the incoming blows from the dragons. Unfortunately, I did see my daughter sacrificing her life to turn back time just enough to prevent all of these tragic events from happening." Ul looked at Ultear in the eyes to let her know everything she said was true. "That minute did make a difference."

"…" Ultear was stricken with silence as her mother's words were processed in her mind. Tears welled up in her eyes and she put her hands to her mouth to keep a gasp from escaping her mouth as she realized she wasn't a failure in her last moments. That one minute did make a difference. But how did her mother know for sure? "How?" She asked her directly, her voice more stern wanting to know the information.

Ul smiled knowingly and sat down next to her daughter. Looking at the vast sea of white clouds and endless blue sky she said, "Ultear, did you know that I'm technically not dead."

This bit of information confused Ultear completely. Didn't she die when the ice was melted from Deliora? But as she thought back to her fight with Gray and how she had fallen into the ocean she remembered she had experienced that previous embrace before while sinking in the sea. "You are the ocean." She stated, able to put her words into meaning in her mind. Her mother was ice turned to water released to the sea and can evaporate into clouds if she prefers a birds-eye-view. "Then how-"

"You are technically not dead… yet. You're currently in the realm between life and death." Ul spoke matter-of-factly. "Time magic is a mysterious form of magic that has no definite outcome."

"But shouldn't I automatically be dead because I gave up my life force to turn back time?" Ultear questioned. "Regardless of the time line, I committed the ultimate taboo to trade my life in order to manipulate Earthland's time. Even if time were to move forward or backwards by another source, my body should remain lifeless because my soul became time so to speak."

"That's where time has no definite outcome. You died during that moment during that timeline to save all of your friends. Yet there is still the possibility of that timeline being altered by another time control source so you don't have to sacrifice yourself to save all of your friends." Ul stated once more.

"The Eclipse Gate." Ultear responded knowing that was the other magical device capable of changing time. The only way for that to happen would be someone to travel back in time and prevent her from performing the spell though, right? Or perhaps if someone were able to stop the dragons from entering in the first place then her past self wouldn't have performed the forbidden spell to save everyone. But how?

"Looks like one of your friends discovered how to turn back time." Ul spoke softly as she pointed at the scene below. Lucy ran holding a book and standing beside the Eclipse Gate. Then everyone seemed to try attack it?

"They're trying to destroy it?" Ultear thought about the plan and realized how simple it was. If only she were down there maybe she could've helped them by aging the magical device until it fell apart. It seemed like they were having a hard time destroying it.

"Have more faith in your friends, Ultear. Don't forget that they're by your side." Ul reminded her, knowing that their time together would end soon.

The next thing Ultear saw, Natsu crashed through the Eclipse Gate with two giant dragons destroying the machine completely. Ultear was amazed by the damage but couldn't help but chuckle seeing who the culprit of causing the destruction was. The hot-headed loud-mouth always managed to destroy something intentional or not from what she had witnessed and heard about him. "Can you believe that kid?" She said to her mother.

As she looked over to her mom she noticed she was starting to fade. "Wait! Don't leave yet we still have a lot to talk about!"

Ul smiled at her daughter as her form began to revert back into the clouds. "Our time together is over. You need to go back and help your friends."

Ultear understood that with the gate being destroyed the people from the future wouldn't be able to go back in time and cause all of the destruction and she wouldn't have sacrificed her life to stop the disaster. But she still wished to spend more time with her mother, after all, this is what she had always wished to accomplish when she started learning time magic. A way for her to reunite with her mother and relive things the right way.

But she knew that she had to go and return. Glancing down she noticed her body was beginning to glow and could feel time beginning to unwind to reverse these terrible events. "Mother. Thank you. This was a nice reunion." Ultear smiled with tears forming in her eyes as she watched her mother with tears streaming down hers.

"Know this, Ultear." The tears on her face began to dissolve into cloud as she disappeared into the clouds. Her voice called out from the sea of white to finish what she was saying, "I have and will always love you as my only daughter."

The bright light encircled Ultear and she could barely see the sea of clouds and sky anymore, but she still spoke in return, "And I will always love you… Mother."

"Ultear! Ultear! Wake up! Are you okay? Ultear!" A concerned voice called her name multiple times border lining panic. Ultear could feel her arm twitch slightly as she shifted her body to get used to being on Earthland.

"Oh thank goodness!" Meredy exclaimed as she hugged her friend and mother-figure. "You weren't moving for so long I thought something had happened to you when time reversed. It was the most disorienting thing ever but-"

"I'm fine, it's okay." Ultear cut her off. So it appeared everyone still had their memories of the 'would have happened' events that had occurred in their previous time line. Ultear looked around to find herself in the same place her and Meredy were right before the dragons were released a bit distant from the city. The city was still intact and no large monsters terrorized the people. She let out a sigh of relief as she realized she was back.

"What happened to you? Why were you passed out?" Meredy asked, still slightly concerned about Ultear.

Ultear reassured her with a smile and simply said, "I just had a short reunion with my mother."

End Notes: Okay, I'll admit there are some flaws in the reasoning of this story. I highly doubt Ultear is going to survive (even though I really want her to) but I hope that Mashima has her meet her mother SOME HOW. And for her to discover she wasn't a failure in her last minutes, because that's just too harsh. I actually originally planned for it to be a hurt/comfort story by making Ultear permanently dead, but I liked the idea of her returning to Earthland and getting a second chance after her mother reminds her that she's not completely evil. So anyways, I wrote this to pass the time until I wait for this Friday to see what happens next! Supposedly in a recent tweet of Mashima, he says things will be explained in the next chapter so I'm looking forward to it!

Please review to let me know what you think about this story and also if you have any theories for upcoming Fairy Tail chapters! ^.^

Thank you for reading and have a great night/day/whatever time it is for you!