Sorry, I disappeared for a whole month when I said I wanted to get this story done this year- yah... don't count on me for anything guys. The only excuse I have is that I got caught up in another fandom and forgot this fic entirely. Please this month has been a bit cray cray for me. Talk about dedication, hey? Hahaha.

Anyways, I took a few lines out of the last chapter so really, I just kind of gave you guys a huge spoiler (well not really since I'm going to write about it in this chapter but still). But story wise, this fic will operate on the assumption that Lector stayed dead. Ok? Ok.

Yah, I planned on replying to all you guys' reviews too but I just- I'm a terrible person, I hope this chapter makes up for it.

"You kissed me though." I repeated in disbelief, pushing him away as I stood up.

My chest was growing heavier and heavier by the minute as I watched him get up as well and stare back at me with his sharp gaze. His words had cut me like knives and I felt like crumbling right then and there if it wasn't for his hold on my arm.

Too bad his touch wasn't what I wanted right now.

"Sting, you don't understand," I started once again, already choking on the air needed for each word to form. "You were the one who kissed me."

The dragon slayer only stiffened at that as he lowered his forehead until it touched mine and whispered, "Not the right thing to do, I know but-"

A sob was beginning to form in the back of my throat as those words tumbled out of his mouth like rain falling from the sky. His eyes, once sharp, had softened once again as he gave me that strange look. That same strange look that he gave me before he-

I had to push him away before I gave in to these stupid delusions.

"Is this a joke to you?" I took a step back as tears began to fall. My voice croaked and really, it was all I could do to keep myself from falling to my knees and breaking down in front of him. "The right thing you could've done was not lead me on."

"Please just let me explain-"

"And explain what?!" I snapped as he took a step forward and I took a step back. "Sting, you told me that you didn't like me that way after you kissed me. What am I supposed to believe?!"

"Believe me," he pleased as he raked a hand through his hair tiredly. I didn't want to say anything to him as I watched him stand there, balling up his fist as he tried to find the words.

Lily liked him too much to actually give him a break and pretend to be understanding. Lilian? Lilian was a big ball of hard hurt and Sting wasn't doing any better.

"I lost my best friend, Lils" He started after taking a huge sigh. All of his walls had finally shot down, and he looked so weak. Like he was his own personal object of what he loathed the most, "Lector was taken away from me just like that. I don't want to lose you too."

The Sting I knew would've never told the story like that; he would've sugarcoated it with vicious spices and sauces. Sting Eucliffe would've told a heroic tale of how his cat was struck down by an evil dragon and died a noble death. The fact he was being so straightforward almost made me want to go and jump into his already open arms. It made Lily want to go and jump into his arms and wallow in our self pity.

But I had to separate myself from the dead girl.

"You should've thought about it before you kissed me, Sting." Lilian had choked out through my lips. I was crying like there was no tomorrow and there was so much space between me and Sting, that I could have ran and he wouldn't be able to catch me once I turned the corner. "You shouldn't have got me thinking that this was going to be a real thing."

"Lector died in front of my eyes, Lily." He choked out, staring at me with a small growl in his voice. "Thinking about this, whatever this is-"

"You can't just say that!" I screamed back in between sobs, my knees were already shaking as I glared at him, "I liked you- fell in love with you, ok?! For the longest time! And you can't just-"

"Lily-"

"Lilian." He looked shocked as I cut in quickly. I was shaking my head, "I'm Lilian now. Lily's dead. You've already lost me."

And I ran.

Ran as fast as my legs could take me until I couldn't take it anymore and collapsed.

I was right, I could never ever be anything more to Sting Eucliffe than just a sister.

I was such a fool, I should've stopped being Lily when she 'died'. Should've thrown away that mask the moment she was burnt to ashes, but instead I clung to her like a second skin. And look where it got me.

Crying alone on the corner of some street, that's what.

I must've looked like a mess, I certainly felt like a mess. I didn't even know who I was anymore- Lily had managed to break down Lilian's walls only to leave this.

This being the embarrassing heap of blue fabric balled up in the corner; I felt like I just had my heart torn out. And it wasn't just like those somber moments where I saw Sting canoodle along with another girl- no, I literally felt like there was an empty space in my chest where something used to be.

It was a pain like no other.

Not even what I had to go through when I was kidnapped could be compared with this hollow feeling.

When I became Lily Harvard and met Seira at Sabertooth, my sole intention was to just get stronger and maybe return to L'arc Sibyl like I was away on a ten-year mission. Meeting Sting was not in my plans. Knowing of him was a granted thing, the mage was famous after all. Knowing him was a whole different thing entirely.

I didn't count on actually meeting and talking and falling for Sting Eucliffe.

I heard a lot things about love, and foolish as I was back then; I shook it off as an urban myth. Because Lilian Evan never experienced it. And she only believed what she experienced.

That's why I kept trying to shake Sting off when I thought I somehow contracted a disease or something. Because there was no way to explain the way he always managed to tug my heartstrings or my feelings while he was around.

It was a pity crush at first but the more he hung around the more I fell.

A few years later, I finally understood how all those girls felt whenever their idol just strolled past.

Sting had managed to slip into all my thoughts and even when I was facing my own inner turmoil, I would always end up thinking of Sting Sting Sting.

It was unhealthy, I knew it was and now it had to stop. It had to stop before-

"Lilian?" A syrupy voice called out, I looked up from my ball and wiped my eyes as the blurry form of Azalia stared back at me. "Don't just stare at me, get up."

"What do you want," I murmured and remained curled up on the ground. The look Azalia had given me almost seemed like she was actually worried, and we all knew just how easy it was for me to misunderstand a look. She only groaned at my stubbornness and pulled me onto my feet with that dainty grip of hers.

We both didn't say a word as she pulled me into her carriage, her in her mass of golden trim frills and outfits that not even Princess Hisui would wear and me in my wrecked dress that I had stole from Mrs. Greeney's closet. I didn't dare lift my head from the ground until I was shuffled in and Azalia was seated across from me.

"You were right," I said finally after a long dreary silence as the carriage began to move. My sister shot me a confused look as I continued to play with my thumbs, my voice still shook with each word, "I could've been the Lilian Evan we both knew if I didn't fall in love."

"With Sting Eucliffe," she added and relished in the fact that I had shuddered when that name slipped from those lips. "Now, I wonder what brought this on..."

"I'll do it," Azalia stared back at me with a bewildered expression as I picked myself up. There was no other way. With this, I wouldn't hurt anymore. This was how I'm going to get rid of Lily Harvard the Bunny Girl, "I'll help you with your little problem."

If I had looked out the window then I would've noticed that I wasn't the only one making a revelation.

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"Lil-!" Sting cried as he watched her retreating back disappear into the evening crowd, he felt his chest grow heavy as he quickly lost sight of her.

He really didn't know what had happened in those last few minutes with the girl; he just remembered her asking about his fairly nonexistent relationship with Lucy Heartfilia and him staring at her soft lips. He was so tired; from the Games, from Sabertooth, from everything.

And he had let pure instinct take over him and before he knew it, Sting's lips were on top of Lily's.

He was grabbing at her soft pink locks, stroking her painted cheeks, tracing circles onto her porcelain like skin. He was kissing Lily Harvard with nothing but pure instinct and as he nipped and relished in her taste, he couldn't help but feel like this was wrong.

They broke apart for air and Sting realized just what he missed.

Lily had been what he needed to strive forward and defeat Natsu Dragneel, she was a reminder of Lector's wish. He had no feelings for her, none that were more than just what you expected from a brother-sister relationship. They had been unofficial partners for years and it was mainly him who coined her Bunny Girl.

Then she died.

Taking Lector with her.

Sitting beside him was a girl he knew nothing about; she wasn't Lily- she didn't have her pink hair, her bunny ears, her painted cheeks. She was Lilian Evan Orelohr. Sting didn't know this girl.

But she stared back at him with Lily's blue eyes and he couldn't just-

He had to push her away and that was what he did.

"This is wrong," he whispered as he tried to clear his head, "I don't- I don't like you that way."

He thought he could differentiate between the two girls; could get himself to accept that Lily was no more but the kiss had brought surface thoughts that had never crossed his mind before.

Lilian wasn't the weird one- Lily was.

Lilian wasn't his best friend- Lily Harvard was Sting's best friend in human form.

Lily had died that day in the Domus Flau and in her place came Lilian Evan Orelohr and with the sudden appearance of the blond girl came a surge of feelings he thought he bottled up long ago.

Sting didn't know just how events could have unfolded this way as his knees gave up on him and he crumbled onto the ground.

He had lost so much.

And now he was going to lose something he thought he never had before.

The girl might've not been Lector. Lily might've been his best friend, his sister.

But Lilian was somebody special.

She wasn't like the other girls who he played like puppets, she actually had feelings for him. She had told him she had liked him. Had fallen in love with him.

And she had ran out on him just as he realized his own feelings for the girl.

Sting let a growl escape from his lips as he picked himself up.

He wasn't going to lose her this time, he was going to get her back.

He was going to get Lilian Evan Orelohr.

Urgh, how do I english.

See, if you guys had picked the bittersweet ending then I could've ended this in like two chapters where Sting and Lilian meet each other in like two years or something and start it all over again where they introduce themselves like they were never partners. Cliche I know but I couldn't think of anything else. But you guys wanted a happy ending, so now I have to really think.

I hope you guys aren't disappointed with this chapter, I actually looked back to check if I didn't make any contradictions. Hopefully this answers all your questions. Sting didn't like Lilian the same way she did because he still thought she was Lily and didn't fully know his feelings until he kissed her. It's like a shoujo manga development. In this case, Sting's the- oh god.

I'm going to end this before I terrify myself further.

Review?