Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima; not me!
"-send someone back in time."
"Oh... does it cost money?"
"MASTER!"
Makarov gripped the end of his staff tightly, releasing a heavy sigh. "Hmmm... there should be another way."
"But what if there isn't one?" Ultear interjected, turning her face away, "None of us knows what is happening right now, bu-"
"The consequences of meddling with time," Makarov's eyes snapped open, glaring pointedly down at Ultear, "In the manner in which you are considering, can be grave."
"Actually!" a little hand started waving up and down over the crowd, "After Ultear came and told us what she found, I went and did a little reading!"
"Of course yeh did, Shrimp!" a large hand came and patted the top of her head, ignoring her disapproving face and the swatting hands.
"See, the kind of magic is... umm, can someone get me a stool?" it was hard to speak when she couldn't see the faces of everyone that she was talking to...
"Upsie daisies!" there was a broad chuckling 'Gihi!' and a little squeak of surprise as Levy felt herself hoist right off of the ground, lifted high over Gajeel's head and perched down on his shoulder like a little parrot. "There ye'are!"
"Gajeel, put me down!"
"Yeh wan'a cracker?"
"NO!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the loud, cracking voice of the master snapped anyone out of whatever amusement they might have felt, turning their attention onto him. "We don't have time for this!"
Levy shot an angry look at Gajeel who still looked proud at what a clever comment he'd made; that was unusual for him! But still, he got her in trouble with the master! "I'm sorry," Levy cleared her throat and shifted her bottom a little on Gajeel's shoulder, "Anyways-"
"Boney!"
The Solid Script Mage's hand grasped a lock of Gajeel's hair and gave it a firm tug to scold him for his rude comment, continuing on calmly, "The kind of magic that Ultear is talking about, it was created more for information purposes... The scientists who made it knew the risks of changing the future, so they created a kind of magic that would allow you to observe and interact with the past without changing it."
"But how is something like that possible?" Lucy asked, clearly interested. This kind of thing would make a fantastic story!
"As I understand it from what I read, the spell creates a parallel to the time period in which you go back... in one parallel, the world continues on as it actually did, and in the other parallel, you're allowed to interact with it and gain information. But as soon as you travel BACK to your original time period, the new parallel disappears, leaving the world as it was before."
"Ehh, I don't get it."
"Gajeel..." Levy sighed, "Let's think... let's think of a cup of water! Okay?" she gave Gajeel a little nudge with her foot, prompting him to put her down. She waded through the large crowd and crawled onto the counter-
"Hey! I just cleaned that!"
"I'm sorry, Mira!" Levy grabbed two glasses, entirely absorbed in her demonstration, "I'll get off in a moment!" she took two glasses, filling one of them with water. "This glass of water," she set the glass on the table, "Is the past." She grabbed another glass of water and held it in front of her. "When the spell is activated..." she set down the second glass, "This parallel is created." She took some soda and a colored juice, "You start interacting with that parallel," she added the juice and the soda, changing the colors, "And the past changes..." then she lifted the colored glass and pulled it away, "But when you deactivate the spell, the parallel vanishes, leaving only the original past!" she gestured to the original, untouched glass of water.
The only thing Levy could hear then was the sound of confusion. Yes, confusion did have a sound. There were a few coughs, some shuffling of feet, and a long, droning 'uhhhhhh' from one member who was still, desperately, considering the significance of water, and whether the second glass of water would be safe to drink.
"Ehh, I stil-"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER, Gajeel!" Levy stood up, clutching her hand into a fist, "Ultear, Gajeel and I will go. I know that we can do it, it'll be okay!"
"Master...?" Ultear turned her attention back to Makarov. These were his kids, and she wouldn't feel right in doing it against his wishes.
"I just don't wanna be getting any bills from the past!"