Like I said, one shots! Enjoy!
Drake whistled to himself as he walked up the hill towards Fairy Hills. He was going to see if Nashi wanted to hang out with him today, or if anyone wanted to honestly. He had nothing better to do today anyway. He entered the lobby and walked up the stairs, pausing at the second floor and walking towards Nashi's door. He squeezed past a few girls from the guild and knocked on her door, waiting impatiently as the pinkette called for him to wait a second. Drake did so, and redrew his attention to the door as it opened.
"Hey Drake." Nashi greeted, brushing her hair. "What's up?"
"Well," Drake replied, shrugging. "I was bored, so I decided to come and see if you wanted to hang out with me today." Nashi made what looked like an apologetic face, and Drake flinched. "What?" He asked curiously.
"Well, I would." She said. "But I kinda told my Dad I'd um... go on a job with him today." Drake purposefully acted insulted, but truthfully he really wasn't. "Sorry." Drake sighed and waved her off.
"Nah, it's fine" he said. "I understand, you two gotta bond and all of that. It's cool."
"Really?" Drake didn't know why she was asking, of course it was.
"Psh, yeah. I'll see you later." Nashi nodded and closed her door, and Drake did his best not to sigh audibly. He walked down a few more doors to Ultear's room, and knocked on it, waiting for the girl to open it. She did, and looked a little confused.
"Drake?" She asked. "Can I help you with something?"
"Well," Drake replied. "Nashi said she was busy today, so I figured I'd ask you if you wanted to hang out." Drake grinned like an idiot at her and she chuckled. "So, how abouts it?"
"I appreciate the offer, Drake." She replied. "But, I can't." Drake frowned. Seriously?
"What do you have to do?" He demanded.
"My Dad wants me to go to Crocus with him for something" She replied absentmindedly. "I don't know, but he says I have to. Sorry." Now Drake felt pushed off. He wasn't going to say anything though.
"Ah, uh, okay." Drake managed t say, with Ul smiling at him weakly. "Well, uh, grab me a souvenir or something, okay?"
"Yep, totally." Ultear shut the door, and Drake stared down at the ground. he felt an elbow connect with his back, and he turned to find Elise walking away, covered by nothing but a bath towel. She'd just come out of the shower, apparently.
"Hey, Elise?" he called hopefully.
"Don't get your hopes up, Cyanide Breath" She called back. "I heard you asking Nashi and Ul, and I'm busy too."
"Doing what?!" Drake demanded. Despite what she'd try and tell you, Elise was never busy unless she wasn't around. She never did anything that would make her busy.
"My Dad and I are going up to the western mountains to see how many boulders we can break before we break a few bones!" She replied, more excited than she should've been.
"Right..." Drake replied slowly, staring at the ground. "You and your Dad..."
Drake hadn't looked up since he'd left the dorms, he was far to upset. All of them had blown him off for their Dads. Drake wasn't mad, jealous was a better way up putting it. Even Nashi could spend time with her Dad now, and Drake couldn't.
"Useless asshole..." Drake muttered to himself. "Never here for me...some Dad you are..." Drake turned to enter the guild, and slammed right into someone, who caught him and straightened him as he fell.
"Mavis, Drake." Damien said, slinging his bag back over his shoulder. "Watch were your going."
"Sorry." Drake muttered. Damien frowned.
"What's wrong man? You look upset." Drake sighed and looked up at Damien.
"All the girls blew me off for their Dads." he replied, grinning weakly. "You wanna hang out?" Damien rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and Drake rolled his eyes. "Of course your busy with Gramps, I shouldn't have asked."
"Sorry." Damien said. "Believe me, I would kill to get out of this, it's some shitty counsel meeting for the entire weekend. Dad says I have to go and see how he represents the guild or some shit so I can do it when I'm the Master. It's bullshit, if you ask me."
"But inescapable." Drake said, even more jealous now. he'd even settle for a shitty weekend if it meant he could see his dad. "Whatever, I'll see you later Damien" Drake entered the guild without another word to the takeover mage, taking a seat at a table by himself, resting his head on his. "This is stupid." he muttered. "Everyone else gets to hang out with their Dads but me."
"Hey Drake" Drake looked up curiously to find Simon sitting down next to him, and Drake felt confused.
"Hey." Drake greeted. "Why are you here? Aren't you going to hang out with your dad?" Drake felt stupid as soon as he said it, as Simon cast him a slightly hurt look, he paled. "Shit, right. Sorry man."
"It's alright." Simon said quietly. "I was about to ask you the same thing." Now Drake was even more confused.
"But..." he began. "I'm in the same boat as you..." Drake turned to look at Simon to find him smirking at him, and Drake rolled his eyes. "Very funny, asshole"
"Yeah yeah" He said slowly. "They blew me off too."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." Simon sighed as he stared at the table. "They probably didn't tell you that so that you didn't get let down or anything."
"They didn't have to tell me they told you the same thing to let me down." Drake and Simon remained silent, and Drake wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. he and Simon weren't the greatest of friends, even though they'd known each other forever. They'd always really only interacted through the others, so Drake wasn't sure what they were going to do.
"Anyway," Simon said, breaking the silence. "What should we do?"
"I don't know." Drake replied slowly, "Maybe we could...go on a job?" Simon shrugged.
"Sure, why the hell not?" Both of them stood and walked to the request board, and stared at it curiously. "Remember," Simon said. "Look at the rewards split two ways, not six." Drake laughed with a smirk.
"That certainly sweetens the deal" he said, rubbing his hands together. Simon took a flyer off of the board and read over it, showing it too Drake.
"What do you think?" he asked, and Drake read the flyer carefully. Nothing to dangerous, just some guy wanting them to retrieve something important that was stolen. The reward was incredibly handsome for such easy work, just about 150,000 jewel each. "Good enough."
"Yeah, let's go." Simon walked the flyer over to Mira, who smiled as they approached.
"Just the two of you today?" She asked, and Simon nodded.
"They ditched us." He told Mira, who nodded understandingly. She wrote them off for the job, and Drake followed Simon out of the guild.
"Alright," Drake said. "So, we're splitting the reward 70-30 for me, right?" Simon laughed.
"In your dreams."
"Drake. Wake up." Drake lifted his head lazily to find Simon looking at him.
"Is it over?" Drake croaked weakly, and Simon nodded.
"Yes, the trains done moving." he replied. "Come on, we gotta go." Drake nodded and stood unsteadily, following Simon out of the train and into town. it was one of those towns that Drake had never heard of, but leave it to Simon to find a train, of all things, to get them there. Simon weaved in and out of people as he walked in the direction of where the client lived, and Drake made a face as Simon stopped in front of a mansion.
"Is this it?" Drake asked as Simon pushed the gate open.
"Apparently." Simon replied. "Don't do anything stupid, if he lives in a place like this he's probably a pompous asshole." Drake nodded in agreement. They reached the door and Simon rang the doorbell, one of those really expensive ones too. Drake waited will baited breath for who to answer the door. His hopes for an attractive maid were dashed when a middle aged man answered the door. Drake also didn't appreciate the dirty look he gave Simon and him.
"Can I help you?" he asked snobbishly, and Drake snickered.
"We're here on the job your boss put out." Drake took a quick listen in on the mans thoughts and frowned. "And you can do without the insulting there, buddy. We're here to help." The butler looked shocked.
"I didn't say anything." he said, astonished.
"Yeah, he does that" Simon excused. "We're the wizards from Fairy Tail, here to help."
"Please, follow me." Simon cast Drake a dirty look as they entered the mansion, and Drake shrugged.
"What?" he asked in a low tone as the butler lead them up a flight of overly fancy stairs.
"Can you not be a dick with your sound magic?" Simon asked. "I know it's your thing and all, but not now."
"Oh come on. This guy has such huge stick up his ass I couldn't resist." Drake chuckled. "What a weird guy, seriously."
"Just behave, Drake" Simon warned.
"What are you, my mom?" Simon didn't reply to that jab and Drake chuckled as they were lead through a door, and an older man was sitting near a fire.
"Sir," The waiter said. "The wizards have arrived" Drake noted how the older man seemed to look very happy to hear that.
"let them in, let them in! The butler stepped back, allowing Drake and Simon in. They stood behind the older man as he poured himself a glass of whiskey, taking a long drink. "I'm glad you're here." he told them. "I was at the end of my rope with local services."
"Care to tell us what happened?" Drake said, pocketing his hands.
"My daughter." The man said. "My daughter has been kidnapped. "The army won't help, says she ran away. I know she didn't though, she's been taken."
"Do you know by who?" Simon asked curiously, and the man nodded.
"Some bastards have been loitering around town lately." he said, "Been talking about a lot of things bandits would. Robberies, killings, etc. I'm willing to bet it was them."
"Interesting." Drake said with a laugh. "I love beating up assholes." No one responded, so rake just coughed awkwardly. "Do you have any idea where they're stationed?"
"No clue." he replied. "However, a group of them hang out at the cafe near the towns entrance, so go there and find out where they're going. Go!" Simon turned on his heel to leave, so Drake followed suit. Drake entertained himself by flipping the butler off when he wasn't looking.
"What do you make of this?" Simon asked as they left the mansion, and Drake shrugged.
"Bunch of idiots who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground kidnapped the wrong girl." he replied. "We'll find these assholes, follow them to their hideout, knock some heads, blah blah, so on and so on, you get the idea" Simon nodded as he knelt down behind a bush in the square, and Drake stared at him like he had a screw loose. "What are you doing?" Drake demanded. Simon rolled his eyes and dragged him behind the bush.
"Over there!" Simon hissed, pointing towards several shady looking characters near the center of the square. "I'm not expert, but I'm pretty sure that's them. How are we supposed to hear them from over here?" Drake stared at Simon as if he had a screw loose and face palmed.
"Simon." he said. When the redhead turned to look at him, Drake tapped his ear. Simon paled and laughed awkwardly.
"Right, my bad" he excused, and Drake rolled his eyes. Pinpointing his hearing, Drake listened in on their conversation.
"Can we just go?" One asked angrily. "Seriously, let's just go."
"Agreed." The sleezy looking one said. "We spent too much time here, especially after we got that girl."
"Alright you bunch of pussies" The last one, who was apparently the leader, growled. "We'll go, jeez. You guys gotta calm down." They began to leave, and Drake motioned for Simon to move up after them. They could look relatively normal until they followed them outside of town, and Drake could hear them muttering to themselves about being followed.
"Slow down." Drake warned. "They're on to us." Simon nodded and slowed his pace, and Drake noticed they were much more relived as he did. Drake heard them enter a cave, and he followed Simon up a ledge where they could see the entrance. "So," Drake asked, nudging Simon. "Oberon and his trusty dragon companion gazed upon the enemy fortress, planning their next move before they delved into the depths to save the damsel in distress." Drake finished his monologue and found Simon staring at him with a bemused smile.
"is that an excerpt from your new book?" he joked, and Drake grinned.
"Hell yeah man. I'm gonna talk to Lucy, see if she'll write me one. I'll be famous." Simon snorted and rolled his eyes and he turned back to jump over the ledge. Drake followed suit and landed next to Simon, who approached the entrance slowly.
"Alright, here's the plan." Simon said. "We'll be careful not to alert anyone if we don't have to, and if we do, destroy everyone, got it?" Drake grinned devilishly.
"Can do." Simon grinned and pushed the wooden door open carefully, walking inside slowly. The cave was dark and smelled wet, and Drake did his best to warn Simon about puddles that may alert someone should they be stepped in. They walked on for quite some time without encountering anyone, and Drake began to worry. The echo in the cave made it so he could hear people moving around, but the echoes in the cave made it difficult to pinpoint where they were.
"Where the hell is everyone in here?" Simon demanded. As if on cure, smoke burst up around them, smoke that caused Drake's eyes to burn. he closed them and began to cough as he heard laughter spring up around them. "Shit!" Simon shouted. "You alright Drake?"
"Yeah," Drake replied, his eyes stuck shut from the burning.
"Look at these guildies" A man snickered. "Blinded because they didn't know any better that we knew they were following us." Drake felt himself go back to back with Simon, and the man continued. "Now we'll kill you while you can't even fight back."
"This is bad, Drake" Simon hissed through his coughs. "I can't fight them if I can't see."
"Calm down, I got this"
"How?!"
"You'll have to shut up and do exactly what I tell you, got it?"
"I...alright, shit..." The men advanced, and most drew swords or clubs. Drake pinpointed his hearing as best he could, glad they were in an open chamber. He focused as hard as he could, and the bandits charged.
"Draw a sword and swing left!" Drake shouted, and he heard Simon block. "Duck and swing at a 45 degree angle upwards!" Simon did as he commanded and Drake heard the bandit get disarmed with a smile.
"Holy shit..." Simon whispered.
"Don't get distracted!" Drake shouted. "Duck forward, sweep your arms out at 32 degrees to knock them over!" Drake did his own fighting with the sound magic, but Drake was far more used to it, Simon was fighting on Drake's command. "Requip into lightning emperor armor and spray lightning around us!" Drake ducked as he commanded Simon to do so and he heard the men cry out in pain as they got electrocuted.
"What the hell is happening?!" Someone shouted. "They can't see, but they're still fighting back!"
"Shut up and get them!"
"Requip into a long sword and swipe into an 56 degree angle downwards!" Drake coughed out, and Simon obeyed. "Now use a mace and break three weapons to your left; one at 72 degrees, one at 54 and another at 27!" Simon listened to every command to a fault, successfully taking out every bandit he could. Drake knocked back more than his fair share of men, and turned when he heard several running at Simon.
"Simon, Flight Armor set and jab three different times to your right!" Simon obeyed, and the men fell over from the attack. Simon backed up to Drake, who laughed. "if we keep this up, we got this easy!"
Drake laughed as he jumped up and down, stretching after the fight. Simon was rather elated as well.
"That was some pinpoint hearing, Drake" Simon said. "Good job, without you I'd have been toast."
"I know, aren't I awesome?" Drake held up his hand for a high five, and was surprised when Simon gave him one, rather enthusiastically. "Now, shall Oberon and his trusty dragon companion rescue our fair maiden?"
"Wasn't she a damsel in distress outside?" Simon asked with a grin, which Drake returned. The two of them proceeded in silence. Drake sighed and pocketed his hands.
"I gotta say Simon," he spoke up. "We have to hang out more, we get each other."
"That we do." he agreed. "We make a great team, outside of the big one obviously." Drake nodded and placed his hands behind his head as they walked, and soon he picked up on a person with his hearing: small, frail, and calling out for help. He took off running and he heard Simon do so behind him without another word. Drake rounded the corner and found the cell, with a teenage blonde girl crying out for help.
"Hey, are you okay?" Drake asked as he knelt down in front of the cell. He knew what it felt like to be caged like an animal. The girl was staring at him wide eyed, and Drake did his best to look like a friendly face
"Are you...?" She managed.
"Here to rescue you, yes." Simon said, slicing the doors lock off and opening it. The girl crawled out and Drake lifted her up and helped her walk. He had to admit, he was slightly off put by her staring.
"What is it?" Drake asked, trying to not sound irritated.
"What's your name?" The girl asked warily, and Drake smiled.
"Drake" he replied. "Drake from Fairy Tail, at your service." She seemed extremely out of it, but Drake shrugged it off. It was probably nothing. She was in a pretty bad shape, Drake was surprised that she could even speak.
"Well that was depressing" Drake cast a look over at Simon s he said that, wondering what he meant. "That whole situation, I mean."
"Oh, yeah." Drake agreed, "That whole 'military won't help me' was pretty stupid. Glad we could help him."
"Yeah" Simon said with a smirk. "Now we just have to ride the train home." Drake choked and stared at Simon, who smiled back with a laugh forming on his face.
"You're the devil"
Nashi sighed as she walked down to the guild. She felt bad for blowing Drake off for her Dad, she hadn't exactly done it nicely. From what she'd heard, everyone had had a similar engagement that day, ad everyone had to turn Drake down. Nashi hoped he wasn't mad at them. Nashi saw him sitting by himself with a drink, and she bounded over to him, crashing into him as she landed in the seat next to him.
"Shit!" he shouted, spilling a little of his drink. "Put the brakes on sooner Nashi, Mavis."
"Sorry." Nashi said, grinning at him, and he made a confused sound.
"What's got you so happy?" he asked, taking another sip as he looked at her.
"Well, I am free today..." Nashi said, and Drake didn't seem to catch on. "And I feel bad about blowing you off a few days ago, so..."
"Ohhh." Drake said as he understood. "Now I got you, alright." Nashi laughed and re-positioned to sit more comfortably.
"So what do you want to do?" Nashi asked, and watched Drake make a face. "What?" She asked curiously.
"Well, the problem with that is that I have a prior engagement I was about to go and do, so..." he made an apologetic face, and Nashi frowned.
"With who?" She asked, no one else but her was back yet except Elise, but she had a broken wrist.
"Drake!" Both of them turned to find Simon leaning against the door with a grin on his face, waving a flyer around. "What are you waiting for dude, we gotta go!"
"I'm just talking to Nashi, hold on!" Drake called back, which earned a smile and an eye roll. "Sorry Nashi, I gotta go." Patting her on the head, he got up and ran to Simon, who laughed at something he said and wrapped Drake into a one armed hug, both of them leaving the guild. Nashi sat there for a moment, stunned.
"What the..." She tried. "Did he just blow me off for Simon?"
Yes he did Nashi, yes he did. I like this chapter more than that whole previous arc, so you know that says something about it. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!