A/N: Hello everyone! I just wanted to give some quick thanks for all of you supporting this fic by reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it. I do want to say though- I understand I don't update this story that frequently. I am 25 and have a full time job and don't always get to write when I want to. I understand that it's frustrating waiting for updates! However, I wanted to kindly ask you to please be patient and understanding. Please don't constantly message me about updates or complain that I'm taking too long. I update as often as I can and I truly appreciate the support and understanding. Please remember that fan fiction writers do this for free. We appreciate you guys so much! But we are only one person. Thanks so much again for the support and understanding, and I truly hope you enjoy this chapter!
Freed looked down at the picture that Kei had thrust into his hands, the young boy's eyes shining earnestly. He waited patiently as Freed studied the image, a crease forming in the center of his brows.
"Is this current?" Freed asked carefully and Kei frowned a bit, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Erza and Jellal.
"It's from when I was little… I think I was about four." Kei explained, his small shoulders slumping. Lucy couldn't help but notice that the hope that had shone brightly in the boy's eyes had been snuffed out, replaced once again by a dull stare.
"And you're eight now…" Freed murmured to himself, lost in thought for a moment. "I'm not sure if this will help because it is not from the time period that you are from."
"Well, what does that mean then?" Levy asked, her voice pitched higher in near panic.
"You need to relax, Lev." Gajeel advised, rubbing her shoulders. "Don't stress yourself." His gaze flicked to her stomach anxiously.
"It means that we'll need to figure something else out." Freed sighed, swiping a hand across his face. Lucy felt Ryuu squeeze her hand in worry and she glanced down to see his green eyes wide with worry. She squeezed his hand back and mustered up a warm smile for him. There was no way that she was going to let anything happen to these kids.
Lucy noticed that Erza seemed to be eyeing Kei in concern. He had reclaimed the picture of himself and his parents, and was staring intently at it. His lips quivered as silent tears streamed down his face and dripped off his nose. Erza looked alarmed and hesitantly stepped toward her future son. Jellal swallowed hard and followed, his shoulders tense.
"Kei," Erza started, placing a gently hand on his arm. "What's the matter?" Kei covered his face with his hands and sobbed more audibly, drawing more attention from the guild members. The other kids looked uncomfortable and sympathetic, and unknown look seemed to pass between them, and Lucy felt her stomach drop. Something was horribly wrong in the future, but she didn't know the consequences of knowing.
"I-I," Kei began, gasping for breath between sobs. Jellal's eyes were trained on the boy and Erza looked scared. "I don't think I can tell you." Lucy could feel the tension and sadness in the room, it was palpable. Erza opened her mouth to reply, but a new voice behind them startled them all.
"Excuse me," Lucy whipped around to see who was speaking. "I think I may be of help."
"Ultear!" Gray and Jellal both exclaimed in shock and she smiled. Lucy knew that Ultear had helped them in the past, on more than one occasion. However, she couldn't figure out how her "timeless" body had been summoned here, and how she could help. The kids seemed to be confused, but most of all shocked.
"B-but you're not the Ultear we know…" Shutora looked at her curiously and Ultear let out a small laugh.
"I'm sure I look much different in your time. I look a lot different in the time too." She explained, her face turning serious. "It seems that the disruption in time has made it able for me to appear within Fairy Tail's guild hall." She looked around curiously, her faze passing over each child and finally resting on Kei, Erza, and Jellal. Her eyes looked sad, but determined. She made her way over to the trio where Kei's cries had finally subsided into sniffles.
"You were Dad's friend." Kei said as she stood in front of him, wiping at his puffy eyes. "But you don't look anything like Ultear from my time." She crouched in front of him and offered him a kind smile.
"That's right, I'm sure I look even more old than I do in this time." She chuckled and sighed. "The Ultear that you're seeing right now… I'm within the walls of time. Time has stopped for me, for this body. When there is a ripple in time, I can exist in the past, present, and future. The disturbance you six caused when you leapt through time alerted me. Of course it's Fairy Tail, you lot cause only trouble." She laughed warmly causing smiles and laughter to break out throughout the group. Even Kei seemed to muster a small smile. Ultear stood and faced the rest of the group.
"This is a rather curious and serious situation." She began; Lucy could have sworn that she saw worry flash in her eyes, but Ultear was ever composed. "Messing with time travel is not something to be taken lightly. However, I think that we can figure this out."
"We don't even have a picture or anything to visualize their time, how are we going to get them back?" Levy explained and Ultear's brow creased in thought.
"What if it doesn't have to be an image? Could it be something else from their time? Something personal, perhaps?" Lucy wondered aloud. Lucy caught out of the corner of her eye Stella gesturing for Natsu to pick her up. He scooped her up and help her close and gently rubbed her back as she rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed with tiredness. Lucy's heart squeezed; as much as she loved seeing Natsu interacting with Ryuu and Stella, and how much she'd miss them, she could only imagine the terror her future self and Natsu felt not knowing what happened to their children. She was determined to get them back safely, but they still didn't know how. Lucy's head was spinning and she could feel panic setting in.
As if the heavy blanket of anxiety that was smothering the guild wasn't enough, Lucy suddenly heard Levy yelp, her hand on her stomach and her face scrunched in pain.
"Levy!" Gajeel and Lucy both cried out and Porlyusica, who had been lurking in the back of the guild with a grumpy, but concerned, glare on her face, pushed her way towards the small woman.
"I told you this would happen," She snapped and Shutora and Yaje looked terrified. They were staring at Levy with pure horror as she cried out again, this time nearly doubling over had it not been for Gajeel supporting her. Lucy could nearly see the panic setting into the other children as Shutora and Yaje clung to each other in desperation. The two eldest children seemed to give the others guidance and security, but with them starting to panic, Lucy could tell that it wasn't fair off that the other kids were going to be in a full-blown anxiety attack.
"It'll be okay, we are figuring this out, now." Lucy stepped up, Natsu glancing at her fearfully. Levy's eyes met her, pure terror flashing through them. Lucy rushed to her friend's side, leaving Ryuu in the comfort of Natsu's arms. "Levy, listen to me, it's going to be okay."
"Luc-" Levy tried to speak, but another painful contraction ripped through her small body. Lucy shook her head and quickly clasped Levy's hands in her own.
"Go with Porlyusica to the infirmary, it will be okay." Lucy promised and Levy paused for a moment, but eventually nodded, squeezing Lucy's hands. "I will not let anything happen to them." Lucy whispered as tears spilled from Levy's eyes. Porlyusica ushered Levy, and a terror stricken Gajeel, to the infirmary while the rest of the guild was left on the brink of a panic attack. Lucy stepped quickly over to Shutora and Yaje, who had tears in their eyes, and scooped them into a quick embrace.
"Everything is fine, we are doing this now." Lucy assured them and the nodded silently. "Freed, do you think that what I said earlier would be good? Something besides a picture to help project them back?" Freed rubbed his chin in thought and Lucy took the opportunity to glance around the guild hall. Stella was actually sleeping in Natsu's arms, not a care in the world, while Ryuu clung to Natsu's side looking fearful. Briny was sandwiched between Gray and Juvia looking worried, and Shutora and Yaje were stilled linked by one hand, their knuckles turning white from squeezing onto each other so hard. That finally brought her to Kei, Jellal, and Erza. Kei still clutched the image of his family, but was happily embraced Erza, Jellal comfortingly resting a hand on his head. He looked happy and Lucy's heart squeezed again for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
"Kei, I think I can help," Ultear stepped towards the three, anxiety written all over their faces. "But I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened… In the future."
"Isn't that bad for us? In the future?" Gray asked hesitantly. "If something… If something really bad happened, I want to help. But I always thought that if you messed with the future… With fate…" He tapered off and swallowed hard.
"While that is true, it's only true if the people involved are aware of the future." Ultear explained and Lucy felt confusion set in.
"But… We are now aware of the future." Juvia shook her head in perplexity and Ultear smiled at her sadly.
"Yes… As of right now you all know far too much about the future." Ultear agreed, one hand propped against her hip. She paused, as if to find the right words to say, and Lucy felt as though they would not like what she was about to tell them. "However, for me to fully help you…" She sighed and glanced around the room. Each little family clinging to one another. Lucy scurried her way back to Natsu, Ryuu, and Stella so she could soak up every moment with them. Her heart was sad and heavy; she ultimately knew what Ultear was going to say.
"For me to help you and for everything to remain the same in the future, I will have to take away any memories of this day. You are not authorized to know the future, that is why time control magic is a form of black magic."
"So, what? We won't remember them?" Natsu choked, startling Stella for having spoken up in what seemed like an eternity. Ultear placed a sympathetic look on him.
"Correct." Shock and sadness seemed to reverberate around the entire guild hall and parents seemed to squeeze their respective children a little tighter.
"It's not like we've never dealt with time travel before! Look at… Remember…" Natsu tapered off, not being able to finish his sentence, only able to place a heartbreaking stare on Lucy. He could only be remembering Lucy's future self.
"I know, that was a different circumstance though. In that situation, the future was going to be altered. You needed to know that future so you could erase it. Those who were involved in that future, realistically, no longer exist at all." Ultear explained and though it was the hard truth, Lucy understood what she was saying. "For this instance, we do not want to change the future, but keep it the same. For that, you must lose all memories of the children and what you learned from them. But if it is any consolation, they will not forget."
"S-so we were worried for nothing?" Yaje asked cautiously and Ultear shook her head.
"No, you were right to be worried. A paradox can still happen if Levy gives birth to you two while you are still in this time, that is why it is imperative for you all to return to your time as soon as possible." The twins went back to looking fearful and the group was startled by Kei's voice ripping through the silence.
"Forget about not altering the future, our future needs to be altered! They need to remember this!" He gestured wildly to Erza and Jellal. "Please… Please let them remember, I-I can't go back to…" He faltered, sobs wracking his body once more. Ultear looked sorrowfully down at the boy and Jellal and Erza looked borderline terrified.
"Why don't you finish telling me what ha-" Ultear's sentence was cut off as Jellal spoke, a sad look on his face as he stared at his future son.
"I'm… Dead, aren't I?" A collective gasp sounded and Ultear looked mournfully at the small family. All Kei could do was nod and cry harder into Erza's shoulder, who had gone rigid and white.
"I was afraid of that," Ultear sighed sadly and Jellal let out a shaky breath. For a few moments, all that could be heard was Kei's heartbreaking sobs. Lucy felt herself tear up as she watched a white faced Erza and Jellal try to comfort Kei. He settled down after a while, sniffling loudly as he stared wide eyed up at his parents.
"Can't I stay here with them?" He turned and directed the question at Ultear who shook her head gloomily.
"I'm sorry, Kei, but if you stay here, you won't end up existing." Kei's lips quivered, on the verge of another breakdown. "However, I believe I can help. I cannot make a solid promise, but if you can tell me, in detail, everything that you know about how Jellal died, I may be able to… Stop it. I know this will be hard, but-"
"I can do it." Kei stood tall, a determined blaze in his eyes. "If it can potentially help save my Dad, I'll tell you everything you need to know."