The next day Mercedes was sitting under a large tree reading the letter that Minerva had written to her. As she was reading it she began to silently cry. She leaned back against the tree hugging the letter close to her and closed her eyes.

"It's my fault. I blamed Minerva and all she was trying to do was protect me. What do I do?"

She then got up putting the letter in her pocket and went to Fairy Tail. When she got there she saw Lisanna sitting at a table then she ran to her.

"Miss Lisanna, I want to ask you something."

Lisanna smiled at her.

"Sure, ask away."

Mercedes sat next to her then lowered her head.

"Do you and Miss Mirajane always get along?"

Lisanna blinked then smiled.

"All siblings will have their moments when they disagree with each other but that doesn't mean that they will hate each other. Whenever we have a little argument, true we don't talk about it then but soon we talk it over and come to an agreement of something."

"What does it mean to be a sibling?"

"Just like being in a family."

"A family?"

"Yes, a family isn't just a place that is a room with four walls. There is love that's unconditional. You know that sign we all make with our hands?"

"Yes. What does that mean?"

"It means,' No matter how far away you are from me, I will always be watching you.' Does that make sense?"

Lisanna saw Mercedes looking like she was about to cry then Lisanna hugged her.

"It's okay to cry, you're not alone."

Mercedes nodded.

Later on that day Mercedes was at Fairy Hills sitting on the bed. She was thinking about what Lisanna had told her then she remembered something growing up. She put her hand on her cheek and blushed as she recalled it.

"There was a time Minerva was gentle towards me when Father wasn't there."

{FLASHBACK}

Mercedes was sitting alone on the floor. She was being quiet as she thought about something. She was looking a new painting that she was working on. So far she had painted two tigers, a black one and a white one. Both tigers were playing together in the painting then she felt someone was looking at her then looked over her shoulder. Mercedes nearly fainted when she saw Minerva standing right behind her.

"What are you doing in here? You know Father will destroy your paintings."

Mercedes looked at the painting.

"I want to do more than train. I'm sure there's more to life than just getting stronger."

Minerva just looked at her then turned to leave.

"Alright, don't come crying to me if Father destroys this one."

Mercedes closed her eyes.

"Who said I would? I haven't forgotten what you told me."

Minerva stopped then frowned at the memory then left out of the room.

"Meet me outside in the forest in 30 minutes we're gong to train."

Mercedes looked at her but Minerva was already gone and she looked away.

"No matter what the weather is Father and Minerva both train me. I just hope I don't sick this time."

They trained after that but Mercedes was getting dizzy and wasn't able to keep up with Minerva. It was raining but Minerva could sense that the rain was going to come very hard soon. She looked at her little sister and saw that she was getting back up. Minerva frowned at her then approached her.

"If you can a hit on me, I'll stop the training for the rest of the day."

Mercedes stumbled to get up to stand on her feet. She was very dizzy and now she wasn't sure if she could even land a direct hit. She charged up at Minerva and started striking. As she was launching different attacks Minerva was either blocking or side stepping out of the way. Minerva kicked Mercedes to a tree and she was on the ground.

Minerva walked up to her and saw that Mercedes was passed out. Minerva frowned then felt her neck to check if she was still breathing.

'You gave it your all, keep that up.'

Minerva picked Mercedes up and went home.

When they got home Minerva had Mercedes to lay in a room on the floor since their father took the beds out and Mercedes had to train hard to earn them back. Minerva looked at her sister then she looked out the window to see that now there was heavy rain and thunder. Minerva didn't mind but she looked ahead and saw the painting of the tigers on the wall.

She just looked at the painting then she heard a weak voice.

"Min..erva..."

Minerva looked down at her little sister but to her surprise she saw that Mercedes eyes were closed.

"...sister...where are... you?"

Minerva frowned to that then she answered.

"I'm right here."

What surprised Minerva was her sister turned her way hitting her head on her knee. Minerva looked away annoyed.

"Just this once, but say a word about this."

Minerva layed on her side facing Mercedes then she brought Mercedes into an embrace. Mercedes had snuggled up to her and tucked her head under her chin. Minerva was under the blanket with her little sister then she looked at the painting then she inwardly sighed.

"Thank you...Minerva..."

Minerva looked at her sister then leaned closer and kissed Mercedes on the cheek.

The next day Mercedes woke up.

"What happened? How did I-"

She looked ahead of her and saw another pillow but the blanket was neat. Mercedes blinked then remembered everything that happened the day before and felt her cheek.

"Minerva..."

Mercedes looked behind her to see that her tiger painting was missing then she heard her father's voice in the hallway. Gemma came into the room and saw her laying in bed. He glared and went to her while talking.

"Why are you still weak? Are you trying to shame our family with your weakness. If a have a child it has to be strong. Even your sister is more worthy than you are!"

Mercedes didn't say anything to him nor did she look at him. Gemma then spoke again.

"Get off the bed and take off your clothes."

Mercedes was in shock. She never thought that her father would say something like that but then she did as she was told.

"Until you are back on your feet to train, you will not eat."

Just then Minerva came into the room. She frowned at the sight of seeing her little sister naked then she put a fake smile on her face.

"Father, if I may Mercedes has been showing signs of strength and ability in a wizard."

Gemma looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

Minerva pulled out a long narrow sword.

"She has been making her own weapons and training with them. For her age I have seen what she can do with a sword."

"Such as?"

"While wielding she coats them with fire and lightning."

Gemma then left the room.

"Punish this weakling yourself."

Minerva waited then looked at her sister who had her head down. Minerva turned around to leave.

"Put some clothes on and meet me outside."

Mercedes nodded.

"...thank you sis-"

SLAP!

Mercedes was in shock then she looked at Minerva who was glaring at her.

"What did I say about calling me that? Have you forgotten that I hate weaklings just as much as Father does. I also told you not to keep secrets from us."

With that Minerva left and Mercedes rubbed her stinging cheek.

"You were gentle last night, what happened?"

{FLASHBACK END}

After recalling the memory Mercedes closed her eyes.

"Now I understand. Minerva was only keeping it a secret from father but why did she lay next to me when I was sick? How does one person just change in a night then go back to how they were the very next day. Does she really care for me the way she told me in the letter? I want to know."

Mercedes got her bag then Erza came into the room.

"Mercedes there you are, what are you doing?"

Mercedes looked at her.

"Big sister, I have to find Minerva. I have so many things to ask her."

Erza blinked.

"She's in a dark guild."

"I don't care, I want to see her."

Erza smiled then nodded.

"Alright but I'm coming with you."

Mercedes smiled then ran to Erza hugging her.

"Thank you."

"Come on let's go."