How was that reveal last chapter? Either way, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Hikari was left in shock upon hearing Spiral refer to the snow spirit as his mother.

"Spiral… did you just call her…" Hikari gasped.

"Yes, the snow spirit-" Spiral said before shaking his head. "No. Yukimaru (Age ?), is my mother."

"Wait, you accepted a job to kill your own mother?!" Hikari shouted in realization.

"I would never do that!" Spiral shouted back.

His outburst scared Hikari a little bit and Spiral settled himself down.

"I'm sorry." Spiral said. "I had to come on this job because I'm the only person that can finish it without anyone having to get hurt."

"What about the Saber Tooth guys?" Hikari asked.

"… Well, what are you gonna do?" Spiral shrugged.

"Spiral, what brings you out here?" Yukimaru asked.

"A request has been put out to put an end to the eternal winter this land suffers." Spiral said.

"Oh…" Yukimaru chuckled. "I'm afraid that's quite impossible."

"Why is it impossible?" Hikari asked.

"Because I learned how to control my blizzards years ago." Yukimaru answered. "Northdell has always been a winter wonderland and it's been so long that the current generation has been indoctrinated to use me as a scapegoat."

Spiral and Hikari had silly, dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Are the townspeople really that stupid?" Spiral asked to no one in particular.

"However, I CAN hold back the snow clouds until winter." Yukimaru said before praying.

While Lionel, Eden and Volt waited outside the ice wall, they looked up at the sky to see the snow clouds begin to disperse away from Northdell.

"… Do you think the wind changed direction?" Volt asked.

"I guess those two finished the mission." Lionel said.

"Spiral…" Yukimaru said. "In return for helping you and your allies, I would like you to stay here for a while."

"H-how long are you planning on having him stay?" Hikari asked nervously.

"Not long." Yukimaru answered. "A month or two."

"A month?!" Hikari exclaimed before clinging onto Spiral's arm. "I can't go that long without Spiral!"

"Be patient, child." Yukimaru said. "By the time Spiral returns to the guild, he'll be even stronger than before."

"Wait." Spiral said. "You're keeping me here for training?"

"And to spend some time with my son." Yukimaru replied. "It HAS been almost 13 years since I last saw you."

"… Why did you abandon me then?" Spiral asked. "If you cared so much about me, then why did you leave me at the orphanage?!"

Yukimaru was lost in thought for a few seconds before finally speaking.

"I left you there because I DID care." Yukimaru said. "The cold weather around me was gravely affecting your health. By the time you were two, you became very sick with an intense fever. It was then that I realized that my magic was both a blessing and a curse. In order to save your life, I had to leave you in the care of that orphanage. Words cannot describe the amount of tears I shed on that day." Tears started to roll down her face. "When I heard that the town of Sophia was massacred, I feared that you were killed and hoped that if anyone survived it was you. I actually returned to investigate and when I didn't see your body and the ice that had formed during the tragedy, I knew that you were still alive. To say that I was relieved is an understatement. And now I see you have grown into an incredibly powerful wizard."

Yukimaru then went over to Spiral and gave him a motherly hug.

"I cannot express enough how proud I am of you, Spiral." Yukimaru continued tearing up.

Spiral felt his body overflowing with emotions at that moment and could barely move it.

*She's not lying…* Spiral thought. *Even with her icy, slow heart, I can feel her honesty.*

Spiral then started to tear up and hugged Yukimaru back.

After a few minutes of waiting, Hikari had come out of the ice cave, with the ice wall Spiral had created shattering upon her touch.

"Wow, when there's no magic energy supporting it it's ridiculously fragile." Hikari said to herself. "Talk about a glass cannon."

"Hikari, where's Spiral?" Eden asked.

"He's… going to be staying here for a month." Hikari said. "It's for… training purposes."

"... Okay." Eden said. "We might as well go see the mayor and collect our reward."

"Uhp-pup-pup!" Hikari said as she got in front of the two guys and blocked them. "I'm holding onto Spiral's portion of the reward until he comes back, got it?"

"You looooove him!" Volt teased.

"Does every Exceed do that?" Hikari muttered.

September 14, X790

In the town of Belnesse, which wasn't that far from Roseshade, a festival was going on in celebration of 100 years since the town's founding. The festival was complete with numerous stands where people could play a variety of games and a miniature amusement park. Jason was walking around the festival and taking in the sights. However, he was being watched from the alley by two wizards.

"We've already gauged the strength of Sakura and the next one on our list is Jason Lexus." Foster said to Meredy, who was in the alley with him.

"This is boring." Meredy said. "How about we check out the festival?"

"What if we get caught?" Foster asked.

"Don't be such a party pooper!" She pouted. "Come on! Let's ditch these capes and we'll blend right in!"

"What about my shirt? Our guild insignia is plastered all over it."

"I brought you a spare." She pulled out the exact same sleeveless shirt Foster was wearing only without the insignia.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Foster asked with an anime sweat drop.

Meredy grabbed Foster's wrist and pulled him out of the alley and into the crowd of people. Without the capes or insignias, they appeared as normal civilians or travelers to the rest of the crowd.

"Ooh! Let's go on the Ferris wheel!" Meredy said as she started to drag Foster.

*Hehm… I still remember the day we first met.* Foster thought.

(Begin Flashback)

In the summer of X785, Crime Sorcière, at the time consisting of Jellal, Ultear and Meredy, had arrived at a town littered with rubble, debris and corpses.

"This is just… horrible." Meredy said. "I hope there are survivors…"

They continued walking through the destroyed town and as they passed by a house, they could hear movement from the inside.

"There's someone in that house." Jellal said.

"Maybe it's a survivor." Meredy said.

"Or maybe it's a straggler from the Dark Guild that attacked this town." Ultear said.

As Jellal opened the door, the others prepared themselves for what may have been behind it. When it opened all the way, they could see a young boy about 15 years of age sitting in front of two dead bodies with his head down. The boy was startled and quickly turned his head toward the door.

"It's okay…" Meredy said, trying to keep the boy calm. "We're not here to hurt you."

She walked over to him to get a closer look at the corpses that lied before her and the boy.

"You know… I was in your position once." Meredy said. "My hometown was destroyed and I was the only survivor."

Ultear cringed at the memory of what she and Grimoire Heart did all those years ago.

"I want them to pay..." The boy said, tightening his fists and clenching his teeth.

"We'll make them, I promise." Meredy said as she gave the boy a reassuring smile.

The boy looked at Meredy for a couple of seconds, took a deep breath and calmed down.

"…. Thank you." He said. "But are you sure you three can defeat an entire Dark Guild on your own?"

(End Flashback)

Foster and Meredy were riding on the Ferris wheel with the latter taking in the view and the former looking at Meredy while taking occasional glances at the ground below.

"Are you having fun, Foster?" Meredy asked.

"Oh, yeah." Foster answered. "Definitely."

As an awkward silence fell upon them, the two looked down and away from each other.

(Begin Flashback)

The boy waited on the edge of his destroyed town, waiting for the three wizards to return. After a few hours of waiting, in the direction of the setting sun he could see Jellal, Ultear and Meredy walking toward him which prompted the boy to run up to them.

"You can rest easy." Jellal told the boy. "The people of this town can finally rest in peace."

"You took down an entire Dark Guild by yourselves?" The boy asked.

"Yes, now if you'll excuse us we have to get going." Ultear said.

As Jellal and Ultear turned around, the boy clenched his fists.

"Please take me with you!" The boy said. "I want to pay you back for avenging my home."

"We might not act like criminals, but we are deemed so by the Magic Council." Jellal said. "If you come with us, you'll be just as much of criminals as we are."

"I don't care!" The boy said. "I want to become stronger, to help you out as best as I can!"

"Please, Ultear?" Meredy asked. "He seems intent on helping us regardless of the consequences."

"… Well, Jellal?" Ultear turned to Jellal.

"… Very well then." Jellal said, pulling out a book from under his cape. "Maybe we can put this book we took from them to good use."

(End Flashback)

Foster and Meredy continued walking throughout the festival until Meredy stopped and pointed at one of the game stands.

"Oh, look at that teddy bear!" Meredy shouted.

A large, pink teddy bear was by far the grandest of the prizes available to win at the hoop shoot booth.

"Sorry, miss." The booth attendant said. "But in order to win that, you need to get all three balls through the highest hoop."

The highest hoop was almost 15 feet high.

"Maybe your boyfriend is cocky enough to try and get it." The booth attendant said.

"I'm not her boyfriend!" Foster exclaimed with a slight blush on his face. "… But I'll try to win it for her anyway."

Foster paid the attendant his money and was given three balls. He picked up the ball, focused on the highest hoop and threw it. With one try the ball went through the hoop, which left the booth attendant speechless and his mouth agape.

"Lucky shot!" He said.

Foster smirked as he readied the second ball, focused and threw it into the highest hoop with success again.

"Yes!" Meredy cheered. "Two down, one to go!"

"Don't get too cocky, kid." The booth attendant leered at him.

Meredy looked at the attendant's arm to see that he had his hand underneath the counter like he was preparing for something. She turned around and performed a Sensory Link on her and the booth attendant. As Foster was ready to toss his shot, Meredy held onto her mouth with one hand and tickled her ribs with the other hand, stifling her laughter. The Sensory Link caused the booth attendant to burst out laughing before Foster could make the shot. Foster raised his eyebrow, realized what was going on and proceeded with his shot. The third ball made it through the hoop which left the booth attendant in utter shock and Meredy canceled the Sensory Link on the two of them.

"We'll be taking that teddy bear now." Foster said. "Oh, and cheaters never prosper."

The booth attendant reluctantly handed them the bear, which Meredy grabbed and hugged… The bear was also almost as tall as her.

"Thank you, Foster!" Meredy said with a huge smile on her face.

As Meredy and Foster walked away from the booth, she took her left hand (her right arm was carrying the bear) and used it to hold onto Foster's hand as they walked. This caused Foster to blush and he noticed the blush on Meredy's face, too.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I wasn't originally planning on revealing Foster's backstory or his crush on Meredy this chapter, but I had to think of something once I finished up Spiral's part of the story and that seemed to be the best thing to come up with. Anyway, stay tuned for next time!