This one sounded so much better in my head but oh well. I liked the idea and might actually turn this into something longer in the future. It's a possibility with everything I'm writing for this.


Thalassophile: (n) One who feels safe/comfortable around seas/oceans. A lover of the sea

Trapped and free. That's what Ultear Milkovich was because of one minute. She thought about that day often, how she'd realized that she was weak. She's been so ready to kill Rogue that day to prevent him from becoming like the future version that had appeared though the Eclipse Gate. But she didn't, instead she'd gotten the idea to cast Last Ages and turn back time so that they could prevent this crisis. She had successfully cast the spell at the cost of her time, her life, for a single minute.

She was naive then, believing that she was worthless. But she'd watched as time passed her by and looked back to that day to see that she'd given them all the time they needed to win that fight. She'd saved their lives and they continued to fight.

She stood on the beach and let the waves brush over her ankles, though she couldn't feel the water. Not like she used to. After she and Meredy had fled Tenrou, she often visited the ocean to hear her mother. She'd been so alone growing up, believing that her mother had not only abandoned her but had replaced her. She learned far too late that hadn't been the case.

I miss your voice, mother.

When she would would come to the ocean, she could hear her mother. Feel her holding her as she lay in the water. She spent that time apologizing mostly, wishing that she could have grown into a daughter that she'd be proud of. That just couldn't happen. She'd committed too many evils to ever atone for her sins and now that she only existed as an idea, she was powerless to even try.

All she could do was watch and wait until she found a rift in the timeline. She'd found one and aided the Sky Sisters for as long as she was able. It hadn't been much and it had caused one of the girls to lose her magic. But it saved countless lives. She had to remind herself of that whenever she doubted. It's what her mother would have said to her if she could hear her.

It hadn't stopped Ultear from coming though. She still drifted in the water and talked to her mother, believing that somehow her mother was able to hear her. It still comforted her which was a big thing since she was alone in this state. She told her mother about all that had happened since Zeref and Acnologia had been defeated. She was happy that her guildmates of Crime Sorciere had been pardoned. They were finally free of what she had trapped them in long ago.

She's okay with being alone and eventually forgotten because it means that everyone else gets to live on and be free. Just like her. Yes, she was trapped in the distortions of time but she was also free remain with the ocean. With her mother.