Earthland-1, Clover Town, X790: Meredy

The ward came down like an iron gate, and the crystal went white. "What the–?!" Meredy blurted. How? Why? she wondered.

Ultear frowned. "Grimoire Heart. Some of that was their Master Hades. Some of it was new."

Jellal raised an eyebrow at the Time mage. "New? I don't understand."

"He – that Hades – has recruited, or will recruit, a talented mage in my place," Ultear explained. "They've worked out our interference, and they're trying to block us." Jellal frowned.

"Wait, 'or will recruit?' How does that work?" Meredy asked, glaring at the crystal ball. Wow. I never really got how scary we were back when we were the bad guys.

"If time could not flow both ways," Ultear replied, jaw tight and teeth bared, "my magic would be impossible. This new mage doesn't wield the Arc of Time, but Hades – Precht – was always going to undo causality. The Grand Magic World wasn't going to have a past or a future, just an eternal moment that could change for any wizard, like a fantasy."

Jellal rumbled some wordless objection, but said nothing. I know. It was always crazy. But we were crazy too, so we couldn't see it. Meredy frowned. "We can break through, right? After what we've done, we can't stop now," she insisted.

Ultear nodded. "There are verges, nexus moments that we are drawn to by connection. If I can get ahead of Jellal's enough, we should be able to prevent the tragedies in the Tower." She concentrated, magic gathering in tremendous force around her. Jellal joined in with rune formulas that Meredy couldn't even follow. Unable to think of anything else, Meredy linked to her adopted mother and shared all the magic she could summon. Guilt and shame radiated from Ultear, but her sheer determination shone like a star, driving away the darkness that threatened to drown her in despair. I love you, Mom, Meredy thought, and the despair fled from Ultear's emotions. Let's do this.