~❧Timeskip - 10 hours later❧~

"U-ugh.." I muttered out loud. Dang it, did I fall asleep? The last thing I remember was treating Sting's wounds after Father came back with the supplies. I rubbed my eyes to get rid of the blurriness in my vision as I tilted my head left and right to check my surroundings. Lector was still fast asleep, and Lexi was knocked out on the floor. A large but quiet yawn escaped my lips as I stood up to replace Sting's warm towel. Just as I put my hand on his forehead to examine his fever, however, I felt his hand touch mine. My face immediately flushes red, and to my luck, he seemed to be waking up.

"W-wha..?" he murmured drowsily. His dark blue eyes lazily glance around his surrounding, and he soon realized that he was holding my hand when his eyes made contact with mine. His cheeks splashing pink in embarrassment, he quickly took it away. "U-uh, sorry," he muttered. My eyes grew wide and I reached out to stop him when he tried to sit up, which made the bed that he was lying in loudly creak. I opened my mouth, but then Lector woke up and went by his side with tears already flowing down his eyes.

"Sting-kun!!" he cried happily. Sting smiled, forgetting about his attempt while he petted his cat. I slowly bring my hands back to my side, cautiously watching.

"Hey hey, I'm alright," Sting chuckled as he ran his hand through his Exceed's fur. At the same time on the floor, Lexi was rubbing her eyes and grumbling about Lector waking her up.

Once their embrace was over, Sting tried to get up again, but this time, I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back down.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what do you think you're doing?" I cocked my eyebrows. He looked at me weirdly.

"Uh, getting up?" He looked oblivious to how he had a fever that was hotter than Natsu's flames.

"Um, with a fever like yours? Not going to happen," I furrowed my brows.

"I'll be fine," he waved off like it was nothing. I raise one of my eyebrows over the other. This boy was amusing, to say the least.

"Okay, what about a sprained leg?" I asked, crossing my arms. Sting's eyes grow wide and his arrogance wavered, but his cat lets out a stifled laugh in response.

"Please, Sting-kun can handle it," Lector says with pride for his friend. "He's handled worse situations than this!" His statement makes my curiosity peak, and I decide to play along.

"Okay, fine, get up," I stepped aside and gestured for him to stand up. Sting looked at me with reluctance, but shrugged and turned to the side of the bed. As soon as his feet touched the ground, however, his leg almost immediately buckled and he fell into my arms. "You're leg was sprained yesterday when you fell down the hill with me," I explained calmly as I noticed small tears prick the corner of his eyes. He gazes away from me as to prevent me from seeing them. I smiled, a nostalgic memory flashing through my head of a certain pinkette. I hook one of his arms over my shoulder, making him glance at me with slight surprise. "Here, is this better?" I asked, a warm smile painted on my lips. He was speechless at first, but then nodded and adjusted his position.

"Thanks," he muttered, looking away from me as he wiped his tears away. "I um, never got your name." Wait what? Did I not tell him my name? It suddenly occurred to me that I had not, and I mentally facepalm myself. No wonder he looked so confused, I probably would act like that too if I had just met a stranger whose name I didn't know.

"Oh, I'm Jessie, Jessie Celestia," I replied with a good-natured grin, "and this is Lexi." Lexi, who had just been watching the whole ordeal, waved hi. Sting paused for a second, before his eyes grew as wide as plates.

"The Jessie Celestia?? The multi-magic Mage of Sabertooth???" he asked as his eyes grew wider and wider. I slowly nod, unsure as to why he was acting so excited. I didn't really see myself as famous. "This is just my luck!" he bounced up and down in excitement. I quietly coughed to remind him that I was holding him upright as my grip on him slightly faltered from the sudden movement. "Oh, oops," Sting nervously laughed when he realized his mistake. I chuckle and carefully set him back down on the bed. When I did, I regretted it, because that is when the million questions came babbling out of his mouth. "What's it like being a multi-magic Mage? How old are you? Do you think—" I put my hand on his mouth, sweat rolling down my forehead from the bombard of questions. It reminded me of when I had first joined Sabertooth, and it was not an experience I wanted to repeat.

"Jeez, I can't even understand you Sting!" I chuckled. Said person tilted his head in confusion and opened his mouth, but I answered his upcoming question for him. "I heard your cat say your name a lot," I replied.

"Oh, I see," he simply responded. It was then that Father entered the room.

"Ah, I see the boy is awake," he mused, the tone of his voice his usual: calm and serious. "So, how you feeling? Sting was it?" Sting eyes widened once again and a wide smile quickly grew onto his lips.

"Y-you're Sabertooth's master!" he gasped in awe with his mouth wide open. Father gave a small grin at the gesture.

"Yes, that's right, and I take it you're feeling better?" Father asked. Sting opened his mouth to answer, but he paused and just nodded instead. "That's good," Father nodded. "Well, I'll be going now, I have things to do. For now I'll leave you two alone." I shot him a glare, knowing what that meant. Sure, he wasn't a great person to bond with, but he still had his jokes and often liked to tease me from time to time. He knowingly grinned as a response to my glare and turned around to leave.

"Wait! I want to join Sabertooth!" Sting suddenly shouted out of the blue. His words stopped Father cold and both him and I stared at him wide-eyed.

"Wait, what?" we both questioned in unison.

"I would like to join Sabertooth! It's why I came here in the first place!" Sting answered, stumbling out of my grip and hurrying over to my father. I instinctively opened my mouth to stop him, but he seemed to have forgotten about his injury as he was standing in a normal position. That gave me time to think as I thought that his words confused me. I was quite far away from the guild when I "bumped" into him, and he was being chased by thieves.

When we didn't say anything, he looked around the vicinity for something. When his eyes landed on the locket, he grabbed the it and held it out to Father. "I-I didn't know what it would take to get into this guild, so I stole this golden locket from some thieves because I thought it was worth something!" he stammered an explanation. I frowned as I saw Father's reaction. He looked really surprised when he saw the locket, and he slowly took it from Sting's hands to examine it. He brought it close to his face and watched it twist back and forth, the diamonds faceted into the angelic wings that were the locket's "doors" sparkling every time it tilted in my direction.

"I'm afraid it's not worth anything," Father said nonchalantly, handing the locket back to Sting.

"B-but that can't be!" Sting stuttered, frantically examining the locket. I myself frowned at what Father had said; I was so sure that it was real gold, and if I were to take a closer look, the diamonds would probably be just as real. So why..?

I glanced at my father, who warmly smiled at Sting and patted his spiky blond hair.

"Don't worry, there are no conditions you need to be or have in order to join Sabertooth," he comforted. "All you need is my daughter's permission." Both Sting's and my eyes widened at the words he had just said. Sting stared at me with huge sad puppy-like eyes, and I rolled my eyes at my father.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Of course you're in!" I chuckled. Sting's eyes shone with glee and he tackled me into a hug. "Hey you're—" I stopped there as I felt the warmth of his body wrapped around me. It feels so..comforting.. I thought in my head as I hugged him back. What's wrong with me? My heart's racing and I can feel my cheeks burning. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lexi smirking and Lector gasping with a delighted smile on his face, but I decide to ignore the both of them. "Wh-what about y-your leg?" I stumbled over my words, hoping he wouldn't notice my red-hot cheeks. Sting pulled away from me and gave me a thoughtful look.

"Huh, I forgot about that," he shrugged. "Oh! You know what, here!" Sting came closer to me and wrapped his arm around my neck.

"W-w-wha--" I stammered, my face flushing an even deeper shade of red. I soon realized, though, that Sting was trying to put the necklace around my neck. "O-oh, Sting, I-I can't accept this," I gently push him away. Sting tilts his head in confusion.

"Why not?" he asks, oblivious to the obvious answer.

"Why? Because it's stolen of course!" I answered in a "duh" tone. Wasn't that crystal clear??

"...Oh." Sting looks at the locket with guilt. I panic, suddenly realizing that I could have worded that better.

"Er, I mean by thieves, not you," I quickly correct myself. "Oh whatever. The point is that it belongs to someone!"

"Well, actually.." Father suddenly joined the conversation. Sting looked up in surprise when Father placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think it'd be okay if you were to keep it Jessie."

"Huh??" I gawked, "but--"

"Trust me, I'm sure that it's okay if you have possession of this," Father cut me off. I frowned when I saw something flash through his green eyes.

"Well, if you say so.." I said reluctantly, unsure if that was really the right thing to do. What if someone was looking for this locket??

I could have pondered the cons for keeping the locket even longer, but I was pulled out my thoughts when I felt Sting come in contact with my skin, making it feel warm. "I think the locket looks great on you!" Sting beamed, his hand on my shoulder. "I don't see anything wrong with you keeping it." Heat creeps all the way to my ears at the sound of his compliment.

"I-if you say so.." I mumble, pushing my hair away for him to put the necklace on me. He grins and fastens the necklace around my neck.

"So, are you ready to get your mark then Sting?"

"Hai!" he exclaimed as he jumped up. I couldn't help but giggle. He was so antsy. Kinda like Natsu-san.. I mentally slap myself. No! don't think that. This is not a time to be a crybaby!!

"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go get your mark!" I grinned. He nodded and we followed Father towards the lobby.