I literally had such a hard time keeping myself from going back five chapters and completely rewriting it all. I totally would have too... if only my goal wasn't to finish this fic this year. Why did I do this to myself again? Omg. I have enough trouble writing these chapters as is...

I feel like I broke OC fic laws, guys. An OC fic shouldn't be this long and have this many reviews. I love you all.

"Are you sure this is ok?"

I peeked through the curtains and watched as the white dragon slayer's head snapped up to stare back at me in a daze. The extremely tired look on his face was a bit hard to miss as you can just see him recollecting his thoughts and sit up straight before staring back at me with that same even look he always gave me.

"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" Sting blinked and for a while I almost mistaken him for someone who had never been in human contact ever in their lives.

"Sting." His name was already slipping from my lips as I pulled the curtain aside and leaned against the wall, crossing my arms across my chest as I stared back at him. "You had to break a window to get in here and you sort of just stole clothes in a sense..."

"Yeah and you're still wearing them anyways." He nudged his head towards the new outfit I was wearing and I felt my cheeks heat up, "c'mon I know you like it, Lils."

Somehow, I felt that Sting wasn't up to his usual teasing antics so I decided to drop it as he got up from his spot and lead me out of the shop. Through the window of course.

At least he had the courtesy to place a magic seal to keep robbers out and leave a note for the poor old seamstress.

Though he did with almost stiff rehearsed movements.

"Honestly, I used to do this all the time. She won't care if she knows it's me." I heard him try to reassure me as I turned my head to stare at the disappearing form of the shop for the umpteenth time before he pulled me around a corner and up a flight of stony stairs. I shot him a look and he only returned it with a small lift of his upper lip.

While we were at the picnic with my old guild, I wasn't exactly worried about his mood as I knew that there was at least one person who was going to take care of that if I couldn't. I even distinctly remembered hearing Cece and Ace whisper to each other earlier how Sting seemed to be acting differently than he had during the Games. Now?

Now, it seemed to me like he was just an empty puppet shell given a tiny conscious full of remorse and angst.

And though he did quite a good job hiding it a few hours ago, I noticed how he seemed to be slipping up every few seconds the more we continued to stroll through the streets in silence.

To think he was actually having true fun earlier... true depression doesn't fade- how could I possibly think this was an exception?

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go?" His melodious voice rang through my ears- would've rang through my ears if it hadn't sound so dead. What once emitted with leadership and pride now sounded as if a sound coming from a helpless child trying to act strong.

No comment, I reminded myself. Don't comment, it'll only hurt his pride more...

"Um, I was actually thinking of testing out my magic..." I confessed shyly as I accidentally bumped against him and felt his skin brush past mine. The simple action made me blush and I tried to hide it by suddenly fussing around with my hair.

Sting let out a small grunt.

"I bring you out alone, get you nice clothes and all you think of is to train?" the way he said it could have been misinterpreted in so many ways. But what stood out the most to me was that unlike before, he didn't sound so sure of himself. It sounded more like he was whining or grunting or something rather than teasing.

I felt myself shake nervously as I watched him shove his hands into his pockets out the corner of my eye. Sting's long strides had changed and now it matched up with mine in perfect harmony as we slowly made our way across one of Crocas' many decorated bridges.

Neither of us dared to say a word after that comment. The silence was heavy between me and Sting as I twirled my thumbs and tried hard to keep my footsteps steady. It was almost as if a dark fog had descended upon us and yet it was still as light as a transparent veil. It wasn't awkward, more like a cold blanket waiting to be warmed.

Walking through Crocas made me think back to a few days ago when we had our first outing alone.

Try as I might, the word outing was far from what I knew what the event actually was and no matter how eloquently I worded my sentences, I was still describing the same event.

In the back of my mind, I knew that Lily Harvard had her first date with Sting Eucliffe just days ago before she unfortunately died. That thought was suffocating.

"I like your pink hair. I like you the way you way, bunny girl."

Was what he said to me- to Lily that day before the seamstress whipped out a camera and stole a picture of us.

I wonder if he still thought the same of me now that he knew me. Lily had so many bloody feelings for him that it just clouded my judgment and back then, I wouldn't have hesitated to start imagining us away from this crazy life, living in a cottage somewhere raising a dozen kids.

But when Lily died, Lilian had to come back to surface. And Lilian wasn't Lily.

And so I wasn't allowed to keep Bunny Girl's feelings.

"So what's up with you and Archer Boy?" the White Dragon Slayer asked suddenly and with each word, I realized that the lull of his voice was losing its touch. Even with the knowledge that it might've only been because the words were as empty as stars, I couldn't deny that my heart no longer fluttered every time he spoke. A panic thought rushed through my mind as I slowed down.

Just when did I stop?

"Me and En?" Sting was slowing down too when he noticed I was lagging behind, he was giving me a sort of glazed look. Like he was seeing something else as his eyes twinkled with a curiosity of another kind. But there was still a frown etched on his face, betraying any suspicion that he let himself be caught in daydreams.

"If that's what his mother calls him..." I laughed at the small comment and we both sat ourselves down by the foot of the bridge. Shuffling around awkwardly so we wouldn't be in anyone's way.

I was watching Sting begin weaving flowers by their stems when I spilled my story out to him- my whole story. Each intricate knot was like a start of a new chapter- a new thought- a new adventure and it wasn't until now that I realized that my beginning was filled with En En En.

He was my childhood best friend, my playmate and I knew him even before I was disowned for being a magic user. We used to play together every day and we were inseparable. Even when we began to develop our childish pride and started arguing more and more, we still hung around each other like magnets.

In a way, En saved me from a life that was filled with days stuck in a room with old people. He was the opening out of my childhood cave and together, we did and learnt so many things that I wouldn't have experienced if I was never a mage.

We joined L'Arc Sibyl together, did jobs together, did the S Class Exams together and hell, we even got promoted at the same time. He was as big an influence on me as I was on him. And it was En who in the end, drove me out of the guild.

I remember telling Sting and Rogue that I was infused with a lacrima just like them. But I never told them the true origins of Bunny Girl. Even thinking back on it made me want to choke on my spit.

Time there felt like centuries beyond each experiment to the next. The pain was traumatizing and the emotional restraint I had to keep upon myself was just too stressing back then. No one understood my plight. No one understood me.

Sting stopped me however when he saw that I was having a hard time collecting the proper words, successfully changing the touchy subject to another.

"So the reason why he jumped you at the park..." He tied the last knot tightly before handing the floral crown to me with a slow grace.

"Was because he hated the Lilian Evan Orelohr who left L'arc Sibyl without him. He hated me for leaving" him.

My fingers curled around the flower crown that was still hanging loosely from his grip. I tried to ignore the fact he literally just plucked flowers from a pot placed conveniently beside him and tried to focus my eyes on the one sunflower weaved in the crown.

The bright yellow petals reminded me of one stellar mage in a bunny suit.

"What about you and Lucy Heartfilia?" I found myself asking.

The look Sting gave me was almost as surprised as I was at how straightforward I was at voicing something that had been bothering me for days.

"What about me and that Fairy chick?" He asked with a little bit of emotion wove into his voice. I had to shut my eyes as I felt his fingers brush past my cheeks as he placed the crown on my head lazily.

"Don't you like her?" Don't blush. Don't blush. Don't blush.

Sting let out an amused chuckle at my expression and carefully ruffled up my hair as he jokingly said, "Who's asking- you or Bunny Girl?"

"Bunny Girl." I found myself blurting out and he only laughed some more. Letting the whole town hear his dead chuckle as he leaned back against the stone pillar supporting the bridge. "I saw a picture of her fall out of that man journal of yours. And the looks-"

"Giving her old man's diary was probably the longest job I've ever had to do." He cut in briskly, as he groaned and for a second I thought he legitimately felt exhausted over the topic, "actually it might've been her old librarian but all I know is that I'm never granting death wishes again."

I felt uncontrollable relief wash over me with those words.

I knew I had to detach myself from her feelings but I couldn't help it. All this time I thought the White Dragon Slayer had liked the ex heir to the Heartfilia Konzern when actually, he was just tired and debating when was a good time to get his dead client's death wish over and done with.

I could've laughed at the irony. Would've too as I felt tears well up in my eyes.

Oh god, how silly was I...

"It was actually my first job in Sabertooth," he was saying with surrendered sighs, "the guy was already dying and he wouldn't shut up about his young mistress who disappeared alongside Fairy Tail. He said he wanted her to have something from all her former servants as well as having something of her mother's."

A smile was beginning to form on my lips when I turned back to look at my companion despite myself. So that was it. That was it.

There weren't any hidden feelings other than just that.

He was just trying to finish his first job.

The smile was replaced with a incoherent murmur as I stared at Sting who was staring back at me with eyes filled with something. For a moment I was scared I had just been dragged around town by the red carnival freak.

"Sting?" the whisper almost died in the silence that fell between us, his eyes flickered a bit as it began to turn almost gentle. Watery and soft like feathers trapped in the rain.

We stayed like that for what seemed like hours until I realized he was slowly inching closer towards me, his gaze never leaving mine. Entrapping me in his presence as I felt myself growing faint.

"Sting, what are you...?" I asked once again only to be shushed by a lingering finger. My eyelids fluttered when I felt his nose brush past mine.

He still didn't break eye contact as he leaned in closer and closer. Our lips just a tease away.

My mind was a mess; I was frozen stiff as the thoughts of what this could possibly lead up to ran through my head. Lily's emotions ran a bullet train over mine and I could already hear my heart hammering in my chest as my eyes began to flutter shut.

This was it, wasn't it? All I ever wanted...

He was going to kiss me.

He was going to kiss me.

He was going to kiss me!

I could feel his hand trace its way to the back of my neck. My mind was just about to explode as the more delusional part of me imagined a wedding taking place with doves flying through a cerulean sky clutching crimson ribbons of-

With a yank, I felt his lips on mine in a furry of emotion and I lost myself in his storm.

Both hands were on me now; playing with my hair, stroking my cheek, pushing me closer against him and encouraging me to reciprocate his passion. Before I could even put a thought to it, my arms were already wrapped around his neck and I followed shyly to his gentle nips and loving dance.

Sanity was far beyond me as I fell into a blanket of pure bless, all of this seemed almost too good to be true. It definitely sounded too good to be true. But the logical thoughts failed me as I felt his tongue ask for permission that I was too happy to give. I melted in his grasp the moment I let him in as I let out a low moan at his taste.

For a moment, I was just Lily Harvard having one of her crazy dreams.

I couldn't have been any happier as I tugged on his hair lightly and tilted my head in response to his as we both broke for air, staring at each other with half lidded eyes filled with a sweet sin.

I was having an epiphany. Never mind getting over the lull of his sweet not-so nothings, I was falling for him all over again. Maybe even deeper. A dark blush enveloped my cheeks as I stared back at him, forgetting all about the circumstances. I was too caught up in the memory of the kiss to care.

And I stared and stared.

And he stared back.

What happened next broke my heart into a million pieces.

Writing this was so freaking hard man. No joke. It was hell.

I was never good at heart to hearts. My side was more like two long sentences about the last person who managed to piss me off of the top of my mind. And even then it sounded more like I was joking hahah.

Next chapter: Somebody Special

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