Hi minna-san~! I'm sorry for being so late in posting this chapter! I had to finish a couple chapters in Jessie Celestia's Past for this to make sense! I suggest reading it before you read this chapter!!

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~Jessie's P.O.V.~

As I walked towards the park, I regretted wearing high heels. My feet were killing me by the time I could see the top of the huge tree. When I finally reached the park, I leaned on the big tree itself and waited for Sting to arrive. I was a bit early so I wasn't surprised that he wasn't here yet, but I started to get bored. Where is he? I thought to myself as I glanced at my watch. It was five minutes past the time we agreed to meet.

"Jessie?" I heard a voice say my name. I looked around for the source of the voice. That wasn't Sting's voice.. "Jessie?" The voice was closer this time. I turned to my right to see a rather tall man with messy black hair, a white shirt covered by a green coat and dark blue jeans with black sneakers. I looked at the man more closely. He couldn't be more than...three years older than me?

"Mark?" I whispered, tears starting to sting my eyes. I saw tears flow down his face as he ran towards me, and I ran towards him. As soon as I was in arm's reach he picked me up and twirled me around, and I let him.

~Sting's P.O.V.~

"Crap! I'm late! I'm late!" I cursed under my breath as I ran as fast as I could towards the park. "How the hell did I become late??" When I finally reached the park, I stopped for a few minutes to rest. Okay, next thing you need to do is find Jessie.. I scanned the area around the huge tree for any signs of her. What I saw next shattered my heart into a million pieces. W-why is Jessie hugging a boy like that? Could it be that she has a lover..? I walked a couple steps backwards, and started to run away. H-how could she do something like that..? I ran as hard as I could away from the park, tears threatening to come out.

~Jessie's P.O.V.~

"Mark..." I whispered when he put me down. "Is it really you...?"

"Yeah, it's me little sis.." he whispered back, stroking my black hair. Oh, how I've missed his signature warm smile and his caring voice calling me little sis...

"H-how'd you find me..?"

"Well, I'll admit it wasn't easy, but I had finally heard rumors about a certain famous multi magic mage here in Fiore."

"Wait, what do you mean 'here in Fiore'?" I asked. How far away did they drop him off?

"I searched everywhere for you and for the Skull Knights guild, but I could gather no information on either for a couple of years.." he answered.

"Oh.."

"By the way, why are you dressed so fancy?" he asked, looking at my purple dress. My eyes widened. I pulled away from Mark and sniffed the air. Crap! He was here a couple seconds ago! I hope he didn't... I sighed. Nope, he did, I have to set him straight! "Um, what are you doing Jessie?" asked Mark, confused as to why I was sniffing the air. Being a Dragon Slayer, I had super sharp smelling, but I couldn't explain that to him right now.

"I'll be right back!" I yelled at him before running towards the faint smell. I ran as fast as my aching feet could endure. Why did I wear stupid high heels?? "Sting!! Sting!" I yelled his name, having a fleeting hope that he would answer, but of course, the only answer I got were the echoes of me calling him. For what seemed like just an hour, I searched for him all throughout Magnolia, but with no luck. I finally stopped when I heard Mark calling for me.

"Jessie! What are you doing??" he asked, catching up to me. I was about to continue searching without answering him when he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm not letting you go until you answer me," he said firmly.

"I was supposed to meet with a friend of mine, but then I think he saw you and me hugging and got the wrong idea.." I sighed. "And now I'm trying to look for him."

"Oh, I see, bad timing then?" I smiled a little.

"Yes, a little, but it doesn't matter because I'm sure I'll get time to see him again."

"Well, you're not doing it today, you've been searching for him for three hours now!" Three hours? Huh, time went by fast. "Not to mention, it's 10:00."

"Alright, fine," I sighed. "I'll get in touch with him tomorrow.." Satisfied, he let me go. "So, where are you going to stay?"

"I actually have no idea," he admitted. "I just got here and immediately searched for you." I smiled.

"That's my nii-san for ya!" I giggled. "I think there's a good hotel around here." I grabbed his hand and started running towards the hotel.

~(Timeskip - at the hotel)~

"Y-you sure you can afford a room like this??" Mark asked nervously as he looked around his room, which was the penthouse.

"Um, unless I can't afford 'free', then yeah," I grinned.

"Please stay in this room as long as you like Jessie-sama!" said the hotel manager.

"You sure that this free?" I asked nervously. "I don't want to be a bother.."

"Please, it's no trouble at all!" he waved off. "After all, you saved this hotel and my life from a certain Salamander!"

"Alright, if it's no trouble.." I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask!" he reminded me before taking his leave.

"You're very famous in these parts, huh?" Mark grinned, sitting down on the bed. "You even faced the so-called Salamander before!"

"Well, actually.." I sweatdropped.

"How strong is the Salamander? What did he look like?" Mark started to ask a bunch of questions about him.

"Wait, are you a fan of him?" I asked. If he was, Natsu would never let me live it down.

"Huh? Oh no, I just heard that he was really strong, even that his guild had beaten Sabertooth." My eyes widened.

"Y-yeah, h-his guild did," I stuttered, my voice getting quiet.

"Something wrong?" Mark noticed the change in my voice and frowned.

"It's just that...why didn't you come back to Sabertooth?" I turned around to face him. To see him again, his chocolate-brown eyes and messy black hair, it was something I never thought I'd see again. "If you were alive all this time, I mean I know that you were probably in a different country or something, but..."

"Oh, I just didn't think Father would want me back," Mark answered nonchalantly, but I could hear the twinge of sadness in his voice. "By the way, how is he? When I was watching the Grand Magic Games, I didn't see him anywhere, just some mean old guy." I gulped, now knowing how to explain this.

"H-he...passed away six years ago Mark.." I explained, my bangs shadowing over my eyes, but even then I could still see his eyes grow wide.

"O-oh, I didn't hear about that.." he quietly muttered. "I..Oh my god." He ran a hand through his hair, his face turning pale. "I..I didn't think he would..." I shook my head and gave a sad smile.

"Don't worry about it. Father and I knew you were alive, and you proved him right!" I beamed.  "I am sure he'd be happy knowing just that."

"I, yeah.." Mark murmured quietly, still looking shaken up. Okay, maybe being blunt was not the right way to go, I thought to myself, but I have an idea that'll cheer him up! Ever so slowly, I crept towards him and, when the moment was right, pounced right into him!

"H-hey, what're you doing?" he stammered, trying to pull me off of him.

"Cheering you up onii-san!" I smirked, and started tickling him.

"Hehe, stop, I can't *heehee* breathe!" He said in between laughs.

"Not until you admit that you're not sad anymore!" I said with an evil smile.

"I *heehee* am not *hehehe* sad!" He managed to say before breaking into a fit of coughs. I jumped off of him.

"That wasn't too hard was it?" I grinned.

"Says *cough* you.." he grumbled. I smiled cheekily yawned. 

"Well, I'm going to go to bed now," I announced and requiped out of my dress and into my plain purple pajamas. Erza had taught me requip magic a long time ago, but I use it as a traveling space instead of a armor and sword space. I crawled onto the other side of the bed and took ahold of the covers.

"What already? I thought you grew up," Mark joked.

"Oh shut up," I laughed.

"What? It's true."

"G'night onii-san."

"Night, little sis," Mark chuckled and lightly kissed me on the forehead, which made me smile in return.

~Sting's P.O.V.~

I walked into my hotel room tired and heartbroken. "Whoa, Sting what happened?" Lector asked when he saw me in poor shape. Rogue, Yukino, Lector, and Frosch all crowded around me and tried to comfort me as I explained to them what happened.

"Do you know who that boy was?" asked Rogue. I shook my head.

"No, but they were hugging and Jessie was smiling..."

"I'm sure Jessie has some sort of explanation.." said Yukino.

"Fro thinks so too!"

"I-I think I'm just going to avoid her for a couple days.." I sighed.

"What? Why??" asked Lector.

"I have a lot of guild paperwork that I've been putting off, and I think I need to work on it first," I lied. Although that was true, that wasn't the real reason. The real reason is that I don't think I can even look at Jessie anymore without my heart breaking. Everyone looked at me with worried eyes, but knew that I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Well, if you say so.." said Lector, obviously not trusting my answer.

"Come on guys, let's give Sting some space," whispered Yukino. Everyone nodded and left me alone in my room, except for Lector.

"You know, if you ever want to pass a message, I'm your exceed.." said Lector as he snuggled up in my arms.

"Yeah, I know," I said with a warm smile. I lied down on my bed, looking up at the white ceiling. After a couple of minutes, I heard Lector snoring softly, and I soon joined him, my mind on one thing and one thing only. Does that mean..you never loved me Jessie?