Little bit of a wait there guys, no worries. I'm here, I'm here.

Enjoy!

Drake didn't have time to argue with Simon, has a hail of arrows flew down on them as soon as he disappeared into the tunnels. Dodging to the left, Drake activated his sound magic and swept the area, looking for the source of the attack. From the looks of it, most of the bandits had avoided the onslaught from the bombs, and had taken refuge where the bombs couldn't reach.

"Okay, so what now?!" Steph shouted over the explosions and arrow fire.

"We need to clear out the bandits!" Quinn shouted. "But we can't do that with your allies bombing the whole fortress!"

"Let them tire themselves out," Elise said, watching the bombs. "They'll want to deal with this themselves soon enough." If Drake knew the crew above the airship, that was a pretty accurate statement. Soon enough they'd descend down to the fight themselves.

Drake watched as a hail of tiny furry creatures descended onto some bandits on a higher ridge, knocking them down and forcing them to scatter. Looked like Sorano was getting bored. He watched as a few bodies descended from the airship, and landed nearby.

"Criminals!" Richard shouted, lifting up the earth beneath the bandits and sandwiching them. "We have come to rescue those we love!"

"Is it weird that I missed Richard?" Elise asked. "Like, even if it was just a bit?"

"Give him an hour, he'll get annoying again." Drake replied. The words had barely left Drake's mouth when Richard was joined by his father and Sorano, who landed a little after him. Together the three of them ran for Drake and the others, taking shelter underneath and ridge as well.

"Nice to see you kids again," Sorano said, watching the battle calmly. "Sorry to see is isn't under better circumstances."

"It happens," Steph said. "How did you guys know we were here?"

"We went back to Fairy Tail a few days ago," Drake's father said, his ears twitching. "Erza told us you guys took a job up North. We came to see you, and stopped an attack on that city over the border. Mayor told us where you'd gone."

"You stopped their attack?" Quinn asked, Sorano nodding. "Thank God, I was worried about that."

"Now we must clear this infestation!" Richard said, raising the earth to swallow a hail of arrows. "Will you fight with us, children?"

"Damn right," Elise said, body hardening into iron. "Shall we split up? These guys can't be that impressive."

"Do as you please," Sorano said. "Let's just get this over with." After she said this, Sorano disappeared into a flurry of creatures she'd summoned, going towards a group of bandits. Richard surfed the ground towards more, and Drake followed his father towards the higher ridge to deal with the bandits up above.

"So kid," Drake heard his father say as he reached the ridge first. "How you been the last few months?"

"Oh, so now you care, huh?" Drake demanded as his father spun, creating waves of poison that threw bandits everywhere. "That's a new one for you."

"Still got that chip on your shoulder, huh?" He asked as Drake reached him and stood back to back with him as the bandits recovered. "Still convinced I'm an asshole."

"I don't need a lot of information, you know." Drake replied as he swung a whip of poison at the approaching bandits, throwing them off the ridge and down towards Steph ad Elise. "You're a prick, no way around it."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." His father replied, grappling with a bandit that had gotten to close and threw him into his friends. "But, I gotta admit, it does hurt a bit that you keep acting like I don't give a fuck about you."

"You don't," Drake replied, looking over his shoulder at his dad. "And if you do, you have a piss poor way of showing it."

"Wow, really?" His father demanded, also looking at him. "I wasn't aware that I was a shit dad. Damn kid, thanks for pointing that out."

"Then stop acting like my anger isn't justified!" Drake shouted, turning to face his father fully. "Seriously, you aren't great at showing you care! All you do is piss me off and insult me! Why should I-?!"

Drake was cut off as his father blasted poison past his ear, and he heard a cry of pain from behind him. Turning, Drake saw a group of three bandits lying in a heap from the attack.

"You're right," Drake's father said, making Drake look back at him. "I do that a lot. And I'm sorry. But after being distant for most of your life, I figured being that kinda Dad was fine. But then Nashi died." Drake felt his stomach tighten at this.

"What are you saying?" Drake demanded, ignoring the fighting around them. His father rolled his eye.

"When Nashi died, I realised how close I came to losing you." He replied. "How close I came to losing my son. Do you have any idea what that felt like? To know the thing you are proudest of in your life nearly disappeared forever?" Drake didn't reply to this. This was a side of his father that he had never seen before. A side that seemed nicer, and easier to talk to.

"Erik just...Acted a lot differently with Kaida. Maybe he had an epiphany after you disappeared, I don't know."

The words of his mother from the divergent timeline rushed back to his head, making it all click together in his head.

When he and his friends had disappeared into the past during the Grand Magic Games, they created a divergent timeline where they had been gone for years. In this time, Drake's father was actually a father figure to his younger sister, Kaida. His mother had said that maybe losing Drake had caused him to change his ways. But after they had returned, this development had faded.

And then Nashi died.

Drake wasn't sure, but he was considering the idea that Nashi's death had caused his dad to have the same realisation as he did when Drake and the others had disappeared into the past.

"Don't get all emotional on me now," Drake's father said, snapping him from his thoughts. "We've still got asses to kick, so sharpen up and we'll finish this later." Sighing, Drake nodded and readied himself as more bandits came at them.

"You got it, asshole."

"That's my boy!"

Ultear could hear the sounds of fighting outside, but she opted to ignore them. It really didn't mean much to her at the moment anyway. She looked up as Zindo growled.

"What did you do?" He demanded, glaring at her. "Did you call for reinforcements?!"

"In a magic proof cell?" Ultear asked. "I know you're dumb Zindo but come on. We didn't do anything." Zindo watched her for a moment before he frowned even deeper.

"it's all going to hell..." He hissed. "But I'm not going to prison without finishing what we started." With this, He grabbed Ultear by the collar of her shirt and hoisted her up, directing her out of the room. Ultear stumbled blindly ahead as she was pushed, pondering what exactly was going on.

"Zindo!" The pair stopped as Aldin ran up to them, flanked by other bandits. "We're being attacked by mages! What do we do?!"

"Fight back, you moron!" Zindo replied, sounding pissed off. "What other option is there?"

"But they're way strong than us!" Aldin shouted back. "There's no way we can fight them off!" Zindo clicked his teeth angrily, and Ultear relished in this fact. She didn't know who was attacking, but it was apparent it was going great for them.

"Just hold them off until I come out from the basement," Zindo said, pushing Ultear forward again. "I have business to attend to."

"Zindo we'll lose!"

"So be it! I'm finishing what I started." With this Ultear was shoved down a different tunnel, this one arcing downwards. She knew that Zindo wanted her dead, but if he wanted that than surely he could've just killed her ten minutes ago and have been done with it. So where exactly where they going?

She soon got her answer as Zindo led her to a locked door, which he opened and shoved her inside. Ultear tripped on an outcropped rock and hit the dirt, making her cough as dust entered her mouth.

"Get up," Zindo hissed. Ultear didn't do so right away, opting to look around. It seemed they were in an open cave at the bottom of the mountain. At the far side of the tunnel was a door, and light shone in from it's edges.

"Where are we?" She asked as she got to her feet.

"In an escape route I had dug out," Zindo said. "And it's where we're finishing this sad story." Turning to face him, Ultear watched as Zindo drew the sword at his side. "Where one of us dies, and the other gets to escape before the mountain collapses on top of them. So, Ultear, shall we finish this?"

"...Go ahead and finish it, then." Ultear said, turning her back to him. "Make it quick."

This caused silence to come over the chamber, punctured only by the muffled sounds of combat above their heads. After what felt like an eternity, Zindo growled.

"What was that?" He demanded.

"Don't act like you didn't hear me," Ultear replied, not turning back to look at him. "If you want me dead, go ahead and kill me. What, did you want me to fight you?"

"...What the hell is this?" Zindo demanded. "Why the hell are you just standing there?" Ultear closed her eyes as explosions sounded above her.

"I'm done fighting, Zindo." Ultear replied, staring at the escape. "All I do is fight. Where has it gotten me? Nowhere. I fought, and I got that little girl killed. I fought, and I still lost Nashi. I fight, but nothing good ever comes out of it. So why bother."

"Where the hell is the Ultear that stormed my base two years ago?" Zindo demanded. "The girl that crawled back to Arkney because she needed to help them? Because I didn't come all this way to kill this Ultear!" Ultear cried out as Zindo hit her in the back of the head with the hilt of his blade, sending her into the ground. She took her time to get up, mostly because black spots had appeared in her vision and her head hurt.

"Sorry to burst your bubble then..." She hissed as she coughed up blood. "But that Ultear died a long time ago."

"Oh yeah?" Zindo demanded. "Well you better bring her back to life, now!" Ultear cried out again as Zindo slammed his foot into her leg. He didn't let up, either. He continued to slam his foot down on her legs, her back, anything he could get near. Ultear let him vent, there wasn't much of a point in stopping him. She had made him angry, after all. Soon the beating stopped, but Ultear didn't get a chance to ask anything before she felt a sword impale her leg. Ultear was forced to grit her teeth as Zindo twisted the blade around in her leg, making her feel as though her nerves were on fire.

"Get up!" Zindo shouted as more explosions caused the cavern to rumble. "If you don't, I'll make sure none of your friends survive!" Despite the searing pain she felt, this caused Ultear to feel even more. Despite what she'd said, she didn't want any harm to come to her friends. That was terrible just to think about.

"You wouldn't..." She hissed, looking over her shoulder at him. The grin on his face sent a shiver down her spine.

"I will if you don't get up," he replied. "So stand up, Ultear. We're finishing this." Despite the anger she felt rearing up, Ultear forced out a laugh.

"You're such a fool, Zindo." She snarled, defiantly staring him in the eye. "If you kill me here, my friends will make sure you never have the chance to hurt anyone ever again. They'll hunt you like an animal, and they'll kill you like one." Zindo glared angrily at her, but Ultear refused to budge. She wouldn't grant him the satisfaction of fighting her.

"Why won't you fight?" He demanded. "Do you want to die?"

Ultear had been asking herself this same question for years.

It wasn't something she ever spoke about, a secret she kept deep inside of herself. With what Nashi had gone through growing up, she felt terrible that she felt such a way. What right did she have to feel this way? Nashi was the one who had been bullied. Drake didn't have a constant father figure, and Elise had been abused by Phantom Dove. Simon didn't have a constant father figure either, and he had an immense amount of pressure to uphold a family legacy. Not to mention Damien thought he killed his little sister. And Steph? She had to readjust after spending eleven years away from her family, only to be torn away again.

What right did she have to feel this way? An overbearing mother? A stripper for a father? She didn't have any right to speak up about her own feelings, they were inconsequential. Especially when all her friends had so much more to complain about. Despite this, there was always a looming rain cloud around her. Sometimes she felt great and it was like nothing was wrong, but when things went wrong, Ultear felt horrible. Like the aforementioned rain cloud clung to her like a virus. She always drove these feelings away around the others, because it wasn't important. She'd never mentioned the weeks she spent crying all day after Keiko and her family died. She didn't mention the times she came close to jumping from the dorm roof after Nashi's death. What good would it do bringing any of that up? None. It would only cause more heartache. So she kept to herself. Like she always did.

"What a question," she replied. "Do I? I don't know. What I do know is that I'm tired, Zindo. I'm so tired. Every day feels like a hurdle. Every time my friends and I get into trouble, I fight alongside them. Not because I want to, but because I have to. And I'm so tired of it. What good ever came out of it anyway? I'm done fighting." Zindo didn't immediately reply to her, so Ultear laughed. "Look at me, venting my issues to the man about to kill me. I'm a mess."

"...That you are, kid." Zindo agreed, another explosion causing the cavern to shack violently. "But I'm not letting you pity party you're way out of this. If you won't fight me, there's no point in letting you live any longer!" Ultear closed her eyes and waited after he said this. She could hear Zindo rearing back to stab her, and she didn't move. She didn't want to.

That was, of course, until Zindo cried out in pain following an explosion. Ultear looked over her shoulder to find Zindo rearing back, hand smoking from some sort of explosion. The sort had been flung across the room, and lay there motionless.

"What the hell was that?!" Zindo demanded, looking back towards the door where they'd come from. Ultear did as well, and she felt like her heart stopped.

Standing in the doorway was a male figure, despite the fact that his eyes were covered by his bangs, the scarlet colour immediately told Ultear who was standing there.

"S-Simon?" She asked weakly. He didn't answer her, but Ultear flinched as Simon looked up. There was a scar down the side of his face, but what shocked her the most was the rage flowing from Simon's face. Veins were popping out from his face, and Ultear felt herself shying away from the look in his eyes. He had only taken a few steps inside the chamber when Zindo made his move.

She watched as he drew another sword from his inventory, used his telekinesis to throw it at Simon. With one mighty swing, Simon tossed the sword to the side, impaling it in the wall. Without missing a beat he raised his free hand and a blast of magic burst forth, hitting Zindo in the chest and forcing him away from Ultear. Simon walked forward and stood in between her and Zindo, watching as the other man got to his feet.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Zindo demanded. "Are you the cause of the explosions up there?"

"...You could say that," Simon replied, voice also showing just how livid he was. "But that's not important. What is important is I'm going to run this sword through your stomach and twist it. I'm going to watch the life drain from your eyes."

The tone of voice he used left Ultear no room to doubt these words, but her mind was elsewhere at the moment.

"S-Simon..." She started. "H-How long...How much of that did you...?"

"Shut up," Simon said, not even sparing her a glance. "I'll deal with you once I'm done with this asshole."

"B-But..."

"Ultear, shut up!" Simon shouted, raising his voice. "I said I'll deal with you later!" Ultear lowered her head fearfully, scared he'd whirl on her in his fit of rage. She knew Simon had a temper problem, and it didn't seem to have improved at all.

"What kind of saviour shouts at the princess?" Zindo demanded, drawing out another blade. Simon readied his own blade, taking an offensive stance.

"The same kind that's going to make sure you never hurt anyone ever again." he replied. "You want to end this said story? I agree. Let's end it."

This seems like a good stop for today. Closing in on chapter three hundred, huh guys? I hope you enjoyed leave a review! Let's try and get five!

Chapter 298: Simon vs. Zindo.