Earthland-2, Land of Isvan, X774: Ur

Ur laughed as Gray and Lyon fought and played. Gray conjured snowballs from the air, firing them at the lighter-haired boy, while Lyon turned his into hungry snow-mouths that chomped through the air like flocks of piranhas. "Boys!" she blurted, too amused to be exasperated. "It's a snowball fight, not a war!"

Gray and Lyon paused to turn outraged looks on their mentor. "I'm gonna win!" they both shouted, their voices so perfectly in time she couldn't have picked out one from the other. They returned to their fierce duel, and Ur couldn't help but laugh again. When was the last time I felt like this? she wondered.

"Oi, Ur!" an unwelcome voice called down. Gray and Lyon stopped dueling, both staring up in awe. Ur looked up with considerably less admiration, laughter vanishing. "I didn't know you were starting your own guild. Those two look like handfuls." Gildarts smiled down, holding a cloak-hidden bundle of some sort in one arm while giving her a thumbs-up with the other. "Good for you!"

"Gildarts," she hissed. It's not his fault, Ur insisted, forcing herself to regain control. "I'm not interested in your antics right now."

"You know Gildarts Clive?" Gray blurted, jaw agape.

"We fought a monster together," Ur explained. "He seemed impressive, at first."

Gildarts' smiled vanished. "I guess I deserved that."

Ur hadn't felt cold in a very long time. In that moment, ice gripped her heart, and she trembled. "How did you know?"

"I had help," Gildarts explained. "More like 'led by the nose,' really, but Ur...I'm here to make it up to you, I swear."

Ur shook her head, closing her eyes so she wouldn't cry in front of Clive. "There's – nothing to make up. Besides, even you can't undo what's been done."

"Unless the Bureau lied to you," Gildarts replied, voice gentle as the breeze, and Ur looked up in shock. He has something in his arm, she realized, a long-dead hope coming back to life. He pulled his cloak back, and there she was – her beautiful Ultear, becoming her miracle for the second time. "She wants to come home, Ur."

"Ultear?" Ur whispered. Her first steps were tentative, disbelieving. Fear tore through her, that it would be some cruel lie, that her wonder child would vanish in the wind again. "Baby?"

"Mmm...mommy?" Ultear stirred and turned, eyes blinking open. "Mom, are you there?"

"Ultear!" Ice-Make forgotten, Ur scrambled up the snowbank, clawing at the ground like a madwoman. Hair whipped behind her. Fingers turned red and raw from the desperate climb. She didn't care. "ULTEAR!"

Ultear's eyes widened as she woke, then reached out for Ur with trembling hands. "Mom!" Those eyes were already red from tears, but she started crying again all the same. "Mom, I wanna come home!"

Ur leaped the rest of the way to her baby, snatching Ultear from Gildarts' arms and holding her with fierce abandon. "You are home, baby. And mommy's not going to let anyone take you away ever again."