Thanks for all of you guys' support.  I had pretty much given up in these series, but then all of you guys gave me such great compliments and I thank you guys so much! ^_^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~No One's P.O.V.~

'Um...from here..we go..' Sting trailed off in his head as he looked around our surroundings.  There were no paths nor impressions of one whatsoever, so it was hard to know if he was going the right way or not.

"Ano..Sting.." Lexi sweatdropped, her wings drooping.  "Do you know where we're going?"  Said person was startled at the sound of her voice.  For the entire trip, no one had been saying anything, so the abrupt stop of it made him flinch.

"Of course I do!" he wrote his lie in the air.  "I just.." He didn't write anything after that, knowing that he'd have to confess to something that he didn't want to.

"Sting-kun can't read maps.." Lector said in a tired tone, confessing for the Dragon Slayer.

"WHAT?!?" Lexi shouted, screeching to an abrupt stop.  "Why did we give him the map then?!?"

"Because Dr. Dana-san gave it to him, so I just thought.." Lector confessed, stopping as well.  Lexi facepalmed.

"Oh my Mavis Lector.." the magenta-colored Exceed groaned.

"You don't know how to read a map?" Hornet spoke up, his eyebrow raising while curiosity was hinted in his voice.  Sting turned his head towards him, quite surprised that he actually spoke up.  He furrowed his brows and looked away.

"...Yeah," he admitted after a couple seconds.

"No one taught you?" Hornet frowned.

"My parents...I never knew them and a dragon wasn't exactly the best mentor for something like maps," Sting explained.  Lector and Lexi looked at him with a stunned face, which made him realize what he had just confessed to the person who's not to be trusted.  'Why did I just tell that to someone like him?!' He cursed himself in his head.  'I didn't even think twice whether to tell him or not!'

At first, Hornet's dark blue eyes grew wide, but they then softened.  "I see," he said softly.  He held out his hand.  "Here, give it to me." Sting's eyes widened and then narrowed in suspicion.

"Why should I give it to you?" he asked him.

"Because I can read a map," the red-headed man answered calmly.

"Who's to say you're not going to lead us into a trap?" Lexi growled.

"Do you think I know this forest?" Hornet asked, cocking his eyebrows.  "Even with a map, I wouldn't know a thing about going back to...the guild." He paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, why would I want to go back after..it's quite obvious I was just used?" His voice grew quiet near the end, and anyone could hear the sincerity in his words.  Lexi, Lector, and Sting were all taken back by it, but Lexi was the first to talk.

"Fine," she forcefully agreed, but then went up to Hornet's face and growled, "But I swear, if you betray us, I'll ignore Jessie's wishes and rip you to shreds myself." Sting noticed pain flicker in Hornet's eyes as he heard her name, and he would be lying if he said that he didn't too. 

'Jessie...how was she doing? It had been a couple days since our failed rescue mission.  A couple days of her having to survive even worse torture than whatever she had before.'  Sting clenched his fists, remembering the immense pain in her eyes and the fact that she had lost her Fairy Tail mark.  He himself couldn't fathom what it would be like to lose your guild mark.  'If I lost the Sabertooth mark, I would..  Sting could feel bile rise up in his throat as he remembered what he had done to the multi-magic mage all those years ago. 'It was inexcusable, but yet...she still could love me.  How do I live up to that..?'

Sting was pulled out of his thoughts when he thought he saw Hornet's eyes travel over to him.  However, Sting told himself that he might've just imagined it.  If Hornet had, however, he hid it pretty well as neither Lexi nor Lector noticed. 

"Noted," he said in a bored tone. "Am I allowed to take the map now?"

"...Yeah."  Lexi glanced over to the blond and nodded.  He nodded back and held out the piece of paper.  Hornet gently took it from his hands and muttered a tiny "thank you." 

He then studied the map for a short time before pointing west and saying, "This way."  The three of them nodded in silence and started following him.  As they walked, Sting placed a hand on his forehead, a small buzz-like sound faintly filling his mind.  It could be described as blurriness if it wasn't a sound.  Soon, it got so loud it was getting hard to concentrate on where he was going.  The spiky-headed blond abruptly stopped walking and tried to collect his thoughts, but every time he thought of one thing, it faded away in an instant by a crackling sound.  The noise was similar to wood cracking when burned.

"Sting-kun?" Lector frowned.  Sting could hardly hear his buddy's voice, and opening his mouth didn't do any good as no sound would come out.

"Sting, what's wrong?" Lexi asked, flying towards him.  "You okay?"  Sting wanted to answer.  He wanted to say that he was fine, but his damn voice wasn't working and his damn head started to fill with foreign images and sounds.  He could barely make out Hornet as he bent his knees so that he was eye-level with the blond.  To Sting, it was like he could see the redhead one moment, and then he would become a blurry red-orange blob the next.

"Hey, can you......me?"  Sting could barely hear him, and even then his mind refused to comprehend it.  His heart was racing as fast as the speed of lightning and adrenaline was being pumped into him for no reason.  It was like his mind was in the middle teleporting to someplace, and the noises he could make out were shifting from the forest he was in now to another place he was unfamiliar with.  At first, he could only make out a few images, not the whole thing.  After a few seconds, however, he could vaguely make out what the images and noise were.  Fire everywhere, burnt rubble, a woman saying calm words to Sting himself somehow.  Sting's eyes shrunk to the size of peas as he heard screams of pain, and there was only one word, just one word he could make out.

Hornet. 

With the screams and the adrenaline and the blurriness, Sting couldn't think and didn't as he tackled the red-headed man whose name he could hear for some reason.  Hornet was pretty shocked as they both fell to the ground, Sting's knees pressed against the man's chest while he held onto the color of his shirt.  His hands were furiously shaking, and he himself had absolutely no idea what he was doing.  It was like he was in some kind of adrenaline-fused trance.  "S-Sting-kun?!" "Sting?!?" Both Lector and Lexi shouted his name, but Sting couldn't hear them.  The screams and the crackling sound of wood burning were ringing in his ear, and Hornet's name was embedded in them. 

After a couple seconds, Hornet snapped back to his senses when a sharp pain bloomed across his chest.  It was due to the teenage blond shifting his legs so that his kneecaps are over where his heart should be.  He was also slightly suffocating as Sting was choking him with the collar of his shirt, but yet he made no move to stop Sting.  Maybe he deserved it, he thought to himself.  'No.  I do deserve it.' Perhaps death was what suited him.  Maybe death would erase his sins.

"Sting-kun, what are you doing???  P-please get off of him!" Lector grabbed ahold of the feathery lining of Sting's vest and tried to pull his best friend away from the redhead.

"Sting, what the hell has gotten into you?!" Lexi shouted at Sting, hovering beside Lector and assisting him.  "At the very least, I wanted to get a crack at him first..but not out of the blue like this!  Think about Jessie!"  At the sound of her name, Sting's head immediately became empty, and he was left heavily breathing and completely clueless as to what was happening.  The two exceeds immediately pulled their dazed friend away from the redhead before he could further hurt him.

Sting mumbled something incoherent, his breaths long and heavy.  Sweat poured down his forehead while his heart gradually started to calm down.

"Sting-kun??" Lector spoke softly and with concern.  "Are you okay?"

"Lector?" Sting's voice sounded severely harsh and could barely be heard, but he turned around to face his Exceed partner. He started harshly coughing due to the use of his vocal cords, but Lector let out a breath of relief anyways. "What was that about, Sting-kun?" Lector asked, his brief smile of relief fading. He helped Sting stand up, and he stumbled before being able to stand properly. Sting ran a hand through his blond locks and sighed.  He opened his mouth to say something, but decided that wasn't the best idea. He rubbed the front of his aching neck and shrugged instead.  He really didn't know.  There was just..this weird buzzing sound got into his head, and then...and then... His own mind trailed off, involuntary shudders going down his back.  Lector frowned in concern and tried to help comfort his partner and best friend.

Meanwhile, Lexi had gone over to help Hornet.  "'Ey, you all right there?" Lexi asked, her furry paws grabbing ahold of one of Hornet's hand.

"..." Hornet stayed quiet as she helped him up.

"Oi, I asked you a question." A tick mark formed on Lexi's head as she became irritated by the man's silence. 

"..Yes, I am fine," he muttered quietly, lightly pushing Lexi away from him and standing up by himself on his own.  Dusting off his black baggy jeans, he picked up the map that he had dropped when he had been attacked.  "We should continue." His voice sounded empty, but he acted like nothing had happened as he started walking once again.  Furious, Lexi clenched her paws and tried to stop her claws from growing too sharp.

"Hey! Come back here! Are you just going to ignore what happened?!"  She was going to retort more things, but immediately stopped cold when Hornet turned around and locked eyes with the magenta-colored Exceed.  They looked empty and broken, but yet his expression was one of calmness.  Lexi's anger immediately turned to pity, and it reminded her of the look in Jessie's eyes during their...failed rescue.

"We need to head back soon, right?" Hornet replied, his voice sounding hollow.  "So we should probably continue before it gets too dark."  Lexi wanted to protest, but she knew that he was technically right, and that it would be wrong to yell at him at this point. 

Sting looked at the poor man.  Although he couldn't see his broken eyes as the redhead was facing him, he felt the weight of guilt once more.  He opened his mouth to apologize, but he realized that he was still voiceless.  He decided that "writing" an apology wouldn't be too effective, so he kept silent and instead, his mind starting churning with thoughts about the peculiar man.  Even though he felt guilt for what he had done just seconds ago, there still was a small spark of burning anger in the back of his head.  Did he think that the person in front of him wanted revenge from Jessie? Yeah.  Was he the reason that his best friend and love is captured and in immense pain?  Hell yes.  Did he completely trust him?  No. Did he clearly know what the relationship was between this guy and his Jessie? No, but it definitely was one that Jessie cared about, hence the reason why she let herself get captured (Sting knew for a fact that Jessie was a person who could never be captured so easily). Does he think that he feels guilt for what he's done?

...Well...

Sting let out an inaudible sighed and ran his hand through his naturally spiky blond hair once again. Either way, Sting knew there was an inexplicable connection between him and his love's kidnapper.

"Sting-kun."  Sting was snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to face his brown-furred friend.  "What should we do now?" Lector asked, unsure of what to do next.  Sting glanced back at Hornet, only to see him start walking again. He saw Lexi sigh before she turned to face the two of them.

"Alright guys, we're gonna continue. It's gonna be dark soon, so we should get going," Lexi announced in a soft voice.  She eyed the both of them and nodded before going after the redheaded man.  Sting and Lector shared a glance of worry and confusion before reluctantly following the two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a heads up for you lovely readers, I have been editing and adding a couple tidbits here and there in the entire Jessie Celestia series!  Nothing plot-changing, but my writing had been really bad when I first started this, and I would like to think that it has improved, so I'm adding some elaboration on a couple parts, like the meeting between Mark and Jessie, and I plan to edit how Hornet feels throughout this hell of a ride later as I feel like I didn't show it well enough  ;)

Thanks so so so much for sticking with me minna-san!

~Crystal