Still super hyped for this arc, so I hope you guys are!
Enjoy!
"Nashi?" Drake called, limping along. He, like everyone else, had been decimated by Apocalypse's attack, and his old wounds had flared up a the mere sight of the former torturer. Limping along the countryside and sliding down a small hill, Drake continued following the smell of the Phantom Dove group and his best friend, praying to the First Master she was okay. She didn't often act on impulse like that, and it worried him to see her like that. That defiant, angry look she'd given him when she'd taken off worried him even more. Sighing, Drake rubbed the area Apocalypse had attacked on his side.
"Damn," he said with a small laugh. "I forgot how much it hurts when he does that." Shaking his head to clear the off the laughter that was about to come, Drake looked back down the path he was on and his eyes widened.
Nashi was sprawled out on the ground, circular burns all over her visible form. Drake limped over as fast as he could and shifted to cradle her in his arms.
"Nashi." He said, shaking her lightly. "Nashi, wake up! Please, you have to wake up!" Nashi's brow furrowed at his words and slowly but surely, her chocolate colored eyes opened.
"...Drake?" She asked weakly, voice hoarse.
"Thank Mavis." he said, grinning down at her. "I thought I'd lost you. What happened?"
"Ugh, that bastard attacked me as much as two torture sessions back when we were captured." She flinched and shook a little bit in his grasp. "That hurt like shit."
"I bet it did." he said. He watched her try to move, but he stopped her. "Don't move to much, you'll make it worse." Nashi groaned and her eyelid drooped.
"Is...Everyone else okay?" She asked.
"Well Damien and Ultear got the least of it, but they're still in pretty bad shape. Elise is out cold, and I don't know how long that'll last. Simon was conscious when I left, but he's still pretty bad.
"That's..." Her eyes drooped again. "That's good..." Slowly her eyes closed, but Drake could hear her heartbeat going strong. She'd be fine, her tolerance for pain had grown since last time Apocalypse had down this to her. Slowly picking her up, Drake started to limp back to the estate.
"I just hope this doesn't bite us in the ass." He said to no one in particular.
Once Drake had returned, everyone else was sitting around on the front lawn, covered in wounds.
"How is she?" Simon asked.
"Bad, but she'll recover." Drake replied, lying Nashi down. "You okay man? How's Elise?"
"I'll be fine." Simon replied, flinching as Ultear wrapped his arm in what appeared to be the remainder of a curtain. "Elise is still out cold, we did what we could."
"You were stupid to attack him, Simon." She scolded. "He got all of us, and yet you thought you could take him on your own."
"I had to try, Ul." He replied. "No one attacks my friends and gets away with it." Ultear rolled her eyes and tied another piece of curtain around Damien's wounds, and he growled.
"Where the hell has that asshole been for the past three months?" he demanded. "He had all the time in the world to attack us and yet he chooses now. Why?"
"From what he said, it sounded like he was given a mission from the Olympians." Drake said, making everyone go silent. The Olympians, the mysterious third and most powerful dark guild in the New Balam Alliance, had sent Apocalypse after something. Drake wasn't sure if the asshole has taken a detour to fuck with them or not, but it bothered him as well that after three months, Apocalypse chose now. Maybe it had something to do with whatever the Olympians had told him to do.
"What the hell could he be after?" Ultear asked. "I mean, there's nothing very important around here."
"Who knows. If the Olympians gave him the mission, it may be something we aren't even aware of." Simon replied.
"Yeah." Drake agreed. "That guild is as mysterious as..." Drake trailed off as his hearing picked up a familiar sound.
Drake?" Damien asked. "What's the matter?"
"That sound." Drake replied. "Do you guys hear it?" Drake watched all of his friends trail off for a moment, and before long, the sound of an engine filled the area.
"Sounds like an engine." Simon said as Drake stood.
"Not just any engine, an airship engine." Drake said, looking around. "And if my ears are as good as I like to think they are, that may just be our saving grace." Drake walked around to the back of the estate grounds and grinned. "Bingo." Flying in the sky just near the estate, was the familiar horse headed Blue Pegasus airship. Taking out his lacrima phone, Drake called the extension he knew would get him in the airships system.
"Hello?" The familiar voice came.
"Hey Mami, it's Drake." He said, and he heard the girl make a recognition sound.
Oh hey Drake! What's up?"
"Well, I'm glad you happened by in your airship Mami. Look out your left side mirror, you should see me firing off poison." Drake raised his hand and did as he told her he would.
"Alright, I see you."
"Good, come land the airship over here, we need you're help."
Once the airship had landed, and Nashi had Elise were put in the medbay, Mami put her hands on her hips.
"Alright well, care to tell us what the hell happened to you guys?" She asked.
"Apocalypse happened." Simon replied, and Mami's eyes widened.
That torturer from Phantom Dove?" She asked, earning a nod of confirmation. "Where the hell did he disappear to?"
"Who knows." Damien replied. "But wherever he went, it must've been secretive." Once tending to Nashi and Elise had finished, everyone left the medbay and went to the bridge, where Taro was flying the Christina, Ken was using Archive on a lacrima, and Akio was watching the open sky in front of them.
"Alright, now," Mami said, sitting down in a seat in the center of the bridge, "Tell us the full story."
"We took a job from the guy who lived in that estate we were near." Drake told her. "Turns out Apocalypse tortured the guy and made him write th job to lure us there."
"Damn." Ken said, running a hand through his hair. "That blows."
"After he revealed himself, he destroyed us pretty quick." Simon continued. "Didn't even hold back for a moment. Elise blacked out from Mest's programming, and Nashi chased after them and got herself hurt even more."
"Smooth move." Taro said, keeping the airship stable.
"And then they left us there." Simon concluded. Mami made a face and nodded, before she grabbed a weird looking device and brought it up to them. She clicked a button on the back of it and did a few circles around the them.
"what the hell are you doing?" Drake finally asked as Mami stopped doing whatever the hell it was she was doing and brought the device over to Ken, who took it and plugged it into the console, then used his archive too start doing something.
Hello?" Simon asked. "Earthland to Blue Pegasus?"
"What?" Mami demanded.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ultear demanded. Ken sighed and turned around.
"We're tracking Apocalypse's magical signature to see where he went." The Archive mage told them. "So that we can track him down and take him out." Everyone stared at the Blue Pegasus mages like they were insane, and it was Damien who finally spoke.
"What?" He asked.
"We're tracking him from the magical signature he left on you so we can find him and track him." Mami replied. "Easy enough for you?"
"Yeah uh, I guess." Drake replied. They all watched Ken's Archive screen as it ran a scan on Apocalypse's magical signature, before a basic looking map appeared on it, and a blinking red light starting moving up the screen.
"Looks like he's moving north." Ken said.
"What's in that direction?" Mami asked.
"Not much if I recall." Taro said. "Some trees, mountains...Oh shit."
"What?" Ultear asked.
"Era is in that direction." silence fell on the bridge of the Christina, before Drake finally spoke.
"That's where the council is, right?" He asked.
"Yeah." Mami replied. "That's probably not good. What could Apocalypse want there?"
"The Council?" Simon offered. "Pull a Tartarus?"
"Unlikely." Damien replied. "The council's still run by some pretty powerful people, people I doubt even Apocalypse would try and cross."
"Then what is it?" Mami said, rubbing her chin.
"Who knows." Akio said. whatever it is, we have to stop them before they pull it off."
"Agreed." Taro said, pressing a few buttons and pulling a few levers. "The Christina's on autopilot to Era, we should be there in a few hours." Drake sighed and leaned against the wall, Rubbing the bandaged part of his arm.
"Well," He said, "I guess we've started our next quest to save Fiore as we know it, huh?"
Apocalypse took a deep breath as he and Quintus waited outside council headquarters.
"Ready?" he asked.
"When you are." He replied. Both of them nodded at each other and entered the building, and Apocalypse made his way toward the front desk as Quintus hung around the entrance.
"Excuse me." Apocalypse said to the cute girl behind the counter. "Where can I find the public files?" He smiled for added effect, and she smiled back.
"Normally citizens cant enter there." She said. "But since you're so cute, I'll let you in." She pointed him to the door across from them, and Apocalypse made his way in and waited until Quintus appeared next to him, forming up from a shadow.
"What're we looking for?" he asked.
"It won't be in the public records, it'll be closed off." Apocalypse replied. "Which is where your shadow ability comes in." Quintus nodded and followed Apocalypse into the room, dominated by filing cabinets stacked to the roof. After walking around for a little bit, they found what appeared to be a heavy metal door with a sign telling them to stay the hell out.
"I think we found it." Quintus said.
"Alright." Apocalypse said. "You've got five minutes, tops. God knows if anyone's watching." Quintus nodded and dissipated into a shadowy mist, disappearing behind the door. Apocalypse knew if he just hung around the door he wasn't allowed behind anyone who saw him would be suspicious, so he began to wander around aimlessly, checking a few files for no good reason, learning far more than he even cared about several local families and when a local bar downtown had been banned. Rolling his eyes at the files, he put the back and wandered back to the metal door just in time to see the sae shadowy mist reappear holding a file.
"Got it." Quintus said, tossing it to him. Apocalypse caught it and opened it, reading the first few lines.
"Silverridge." He said, turning and throwing the file in the nearest cabinet. "It's there."
"You sure?"
"Positive. Come on, let's go." Apocalypse and Quintus turned and left the file room, looking as normal as anyone else there. Once they got out, Apocalypse got directions from some woman standing outside, and he smiled as Lennix, Ramin and Shuichi walked up to them.
"Find it?" Shuichi asked.
"Silverridge." Quintus replied. Lennix smiled.
"Good, so we get there, find what we need, and destroy Fairy Tail."
"Seems pretty simple." Shuichi said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's do this." Apocalypse smiled at the groups enthusiasm.
Pretty soon, Fairy Tail will be nothing but a pile of ash.
What are they planning, exactly? I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get ten!