Drake knew something was up when the elite from a few other guilds showed up, but he elected to ignore it. He could hear whatever they where talking about anyway. They all bunched into the masters small office, and Drake listened in.
"meeehhhnnn" He heard Ichiya say. "What is the plan?" Plan for what?
"Attack, right from the front" Lyon asked hopefully. He heard Jura shake his head.
"Lyon, that'd be a stupid idea, Lyon." The master of Lamia Scale stated. "They'd be heavily defended. We're not talking about bandits here" Lyon murmured agreement, and there was silence. Or rather, people interrupted his listening.
"Hey guys!" Winter said cheerfully. Drake liked Winter, even if she was his ex-girlfriend, but that was a story for another time. It had been a mutual breakup, so they remained friends. He, however, didn't respond. Ultear, however did.
"Winter! It's so good to see you!" She jumped up, hugging the other girl. Ultear and Winter had always been close friends. "How have you been?"
"I've been great! Hey, is Nashi okay?" She asked worriedly. Simon slowly shook his head.
"She keeps getting closer to dying everyday, Wendy's doing her best, but there's isn't much she hasn't healed yet." Winter sighed.
"Poor girl" Winter then took notice of Drake, and sat down next to him, her eyes shining with worry. "And how are you, Drake?" Drake grunted in response, but she squeezed his hand. "Come on, you can tell me" Muttering about pushy ex's, Drake pulled his shirt off, revealing the wounds scattered across his back and chest. Winter traced a cold finger across them, making Drake shiver slightly.
"There," Drake said. Winter wrapped him in a one armed hug.
"Poor thing," She said, with a grin. "Want a kiss?" Drake snorted.
"Not from you, your terrible at it"
"I'm not terrible! You just taste sour!"
"Not surprising," Ultear said. "You were probably tasting poison." Winter pretending to look horrified. Drake had missed his friends from other guilds, but he could guess who Simon was dreading to see if Ichiya was here. Fortunately, She found them, flanked by her three idiots. She ran over.
"meeehhhnnn" Mami shouted. "The parfum of friendship! I have missed you all!" Ultear, even , grinned.
"Hey Mami? How are you?"
"Meeehhhnnn, I am fine. I was most displeased to hear of my friends capture by the enemy." Mami met Drake's eyes. "The parfum of apologies, Drake."
"It's fine, Mami." Drake replied. "I'm okay"
"No, you aren't" Winter replied. She slapped him on the back, and he flinched visibly. "You should've seen it Mami. There's barely any skin that isn't scarred."
"Speaking of scarred," Simon spoke up, which made Mami swoon, and the Trimens face palmed. "Where's Elise, she hasn't come in yet"
"Can't imagine why," Ultear agreed. "You'd figure she'd want to be around people instead of alone."
I can imagine why, Drake thought. He knew perfectly well why Elise wasn't here.
"I hope she's okay," Taro spoke up. "I can't imagine what you guys went through, Drake,"
"No, you really can't," Drake replied. "I'd prefer if we stopped talking about it, alright?"
"Fair enough," Akio told him.
After forty minutes of catching up, Drake decided he wanted to listen in on the meeting going on in the masters office again. He listened, and found what he was looking for.
"I don't care how we do it" Natsu growled. "I'm killing who did this to Nashi" Drake felt the same way, Apocalypse was going to die.
"Natsu, calm" Jura spoke. "We need a level head when we put this plan to action."
"I am level headed! What would you do?" Jura didn't respond, and Erza sighed.
"So, this is seriously what we're going with?"
"Yep" Sherry said. "Just one problem, we don't know where they are" Drake stood up abruptly, and walked towards the office.
"Where are you going, Drake?" Ultear called. He ignored her. He kicked the door too the office open, and all the adults stared at him.
"Not now, Drake." Master Laxus said. "We're busy..."
"I know where it is" He interrupted. Everyone stared at him.
"What?" Hibiki asked.
"I know where their guild hall is" He replied. Everyone remained silent.
"Drake, your hurt." Erza said. "There is no way your..."
"Than let me lead you there, at least." Drake said, getting angrier by the minute. He wanted to help.
"Your not coming," Lyon said. "End of story."
"Hold on now, meeehhhnnn" Ichiya said, standing up on the desk. "This young man is willing to lead us too are destination if it means vengeance. The parfum of a good friend!"
"Agreed." Jura said. "He wants to lead us there, let him. If he can fight, he can. This young man has a fire in him, I can sense it."
"Thanks you Jura-san, Ichiya-san" He spoke politely. Laxus sighed.
"Fine,but you'll see to your mother, not me"Drake growled under his breath. He knew perfectly well Laxus knew his mother was like a demon when it came too his welfare.
"Fine, I'll talk you her."
"No" Drake growled as his mother applied the disinfectant, although more at her answer. He felt the needle enter his back and sew up the wound that had reopened.
"Why not?" He asked through gritted teeth. She sighed.
"Because your not well"
"I'm fine"
"You split open your back walking over here!" Drake couldn't argue that point. Several of his back wounds had reopened. His mother was in the process of closing them up.
"I won't be doing any fighting, I'm just leading everyone there."
"My point still stands." Drake sighed, flinching slightly as the thread burned his infected wounds.
"I know you're worried and all, but this is ridiculous. I'm not going to barge in there demanding they show me who did those things to Elise..." Drake trailed off, realizing what he'd just said. He'd only told Meredy what had happened.
"Who did what to Elise?" Drake didn't respond. His mother concerned face appeared in front of him. "Drake? What did they do?" Drake stared back at her, before looking away.
"Doesn't matter. Point is, I'm leading them there, weather or not you want me too."
"God,you are just like your father"
"I'm nothing like him"
"How so?"
"I don't abandon my loved ones" They had another staring contest before she rubbed the bridge of her nose, slightly irritated.
"Drake, I already told you he left..."
"Because Jellal needed him, yeah yeah yeah. You've run that river dry" Her next comment was interrupted by the communication lacrima buzzing. She turned to answer it, and Drake threw his shirt back over his back, feeling his shirt snag on the wires in his back. His mother returned, looking confused, "Who was it?" Drake asked.
"Levy, it was about Elise" Drake was silent. "She's been in the shower for over six hours. Apparently she's herself in and the water hasn't stopped running since she walked in. They don't know what to do."
"And?" Drake asked, waiting for what this had to do with him.
"They want you to try and talk to her, they say maybe you can get through to her because you were there with her" Drake grabbed his coat, feeling worried. He had a bad feeling about this. Worse case scenario was suicide, but Drake didn't think Elise was that depressed.
Drake knocked on the Redfox door, waiting patiently. Gajeel answered the door.
"So Shrimp got a hold of ya, huh?" He asked gruffly. Drake nodded. "Alright, come on" Drake followed Gajeel stalked through the house, and Drake followed him. They walked up a flight of stairs, and Drake caught sight of Levy sitting, completely out of ideas, on the floor outside the door. Drake could hear the shower running. Levy got up when she saw him approaching.
"Oh, thank god you came!" She said desperately. "Elise has been in there all day, she won't say a word!"
"You didn't have Gajeel break the door down?" Drake asked.
"I figured I'd ask you first, that was the final plan" Drake nodded, and turned to look at the door.
"Elise?" He called out worriedly. "Are you in there?" Silence. Drake listened intently, but all he could hear was Levy's heartbeat going a million miles an hour and the shower running. "Elise? Come on girl don't make me break the door down." More silence.
"Elise, please!" Levy cried. "Let us help you!"
I'm in here. Drake felt terrible hearing Elise's voice. She sounded more unhappy than she'd ever been, but at least he knew she was alive.
"Are you okay?" Drake called, ignoring Levy's look of shock.
I'm alright, just having a shower. Drake sighed.
"You've been in there for six hours." He told her. Silence. Drake sighed.
"Is she okay?" Levy asked.
"Define okay" Drake replied, watching Levy carefully. "Can I go in there?" Levy's face contorted.
"She's in the shower" Levy said defensively. Drake chuckled.
"I've seen your daughter naked before, she's really bad at closing her door when she changes." Drake ignored the looks he received. Drake drove his shoulder into the door. It gave easily, and he walked in, with Gajeel and Levy watching. Elise was sitting smack in the middle of the shower, completely naked, staring into the distance curled into a ball. Drake sighed. "Elise?" No response. He walked over and turned the water off, but she didn't move. He snapped his fingers, nothing.
"Elise?" Levy tried. Still nothing. She just sat there, curled into a ball. Drake stepped into the shower,, pulled his coat off, and wrapped in around her shoulders. He sat down next to her, right in a puddle, and remained silent. No one spoke for a moment. Drake turned to her.
"I'm going to lead everyone back to Phantom Dove" He told her. No response, not even in her head. Drake didn't dare listen, he was afraid of what he'd hear. "We're... gonna get all of them. You hear me?" Still no response. "I'm going to make sure whoever hurt you... WON'T make it out alive, not after that" Elise still didn't respond, and Drake sighed. He was about to get up and leave when Elise rested her head on his shoulder.
Don't leave, please. He heard. I'm scared when I'm alone. He turned to her.
"Your parents were worried about you" He said flatly.
I know, but I can't speak to them, not after what happened.
"Elise, you can't just..."
Go through what happened to me and then you'll understand. Drake didn't have a response to that, so he remained quiet. They just sat in the wet shower for a moment, before Elise stood up. Thanks for coming, I feel better. Before he could say anything, she got out of the tub and walked away.
"You still have my coat" Drake called out, but she ignored him. She strode right past her parents, and down the other hall. Drake decided he should probably go, so he got up to leave. He was stopped at the door.
"What happened to her?" Gajeel demanded. Drake would normally be intimidated by the older dragon slayer, but he knew it would be bad for everyone's health if he said a word, not just his.
"You'd kill someone if I told you" Drake replied. He began to leave when he felt the smaller figure grab his wrist.
"Drake, please tell us," Levy whispered. "I want to help her."
"You want to help her?" Drake asked. "Go see Doranbolt and get her memory erased, as soon as possible. Tell her Nashi and I got captured, she wasn't with us, whatever you have to do" Drake met Levy's tearful gaze. "Because believe me, She'll never speak again if you don't" Levy watched him carefully before releasing him. He looked at Gajeel. "I'll take my leave, then. Keep an eye on her" Then he left. As he stalked through town, rage and worry for his friend all he could think about.
Sorry Mom, but I'm going to have to kick some ass too.
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