Drake's Return

"Did I finally die?" Drake asked himself as he looked he looked up at the stars but he the way his body was aching was more than enough to tell him he wasn't dead yet. He quickly sat up when he heard explosions before realizing they were just fireworks and he grunted as he slowly got to his feet with a confused look. He took a few moments to process that he was back on Magnolia, though he wasn't sure howing he was gone and sighed in relief as he walked towards the celebrating town. Drake got weird looks at he walked down the street near the harbor he had woken up at and he was confused by the crowd staring at him until he noticed he was only wearing a pair of torn up pants. He silently prayed that the clothes store he used to go to was still there and smiled when he saw it still standing but quickly realized all of the lights were off. He banged on the door a few times, hoping he wouldn't have to find a clothing store that he wasn't familiar with and he was about to walk away when the lights cut on.

"I'm coming! Stop making all that racket!" Drake instantly recognized the shop owner's voice and when the woman opened the door she looked at him as if she was seeing a ghost, "You're back..."

"How long has it been?" Drake asked in a serious tone as he saw how much she had aged and she shook her head a few times to clear her mind before letting him inside, "It seems like it's been a while."

"Today makes seventeen years." She explained as she shut the door behind him and her words hit him like a truck, "What's going outside is the anniversary of Fairy Tail's victory in the war."

"Damn." Drake said as he looked out the widow at the happy people filling the street before turning to her and giving her an apologetic look, "I don't have any money at the moment but I didn't know where else to quickly get some clothes."

"Don't worry about that. Even though you were gone that wife of yours has been buying you clothes every year as if she knew you'd come here." She told him as she walked to the back of the store and came back a few minutes later with a dark red dress shirt, black pants and a black coat, "Take these and go change."

"Thanks." Drake said as she handed him the clothes before walking into one of the dressing rooms and his eyes widened when he saw that he had gotten older when he looked in the mirror. After changing into his new clothes he thanked the shop owner and she smiled as he left the store. He figured that if there was a celebration this big going on then the best place to find Mira and Maya would be the guildhall and began to make his way towards Fairy Tail.

"Get back here!" Drake heard a girl yell as he was casually walking down the street and looked over to see a man running from a girl with white hair that looked almost identical to his, making Drake instantly know it was Maya. He smiled as he watched her chase the man down until the man suddenly spun around and pointed a dark purple magic circle at her. Maya knew she couldn't dodge the dark magic ball he shot at her or else the townspeople behind her would be hit and was about to brace for the impact until Drake suddenly appeared in front of her. Maya was surprised when Drake knocked the attack into the sky with ease and gave the man a smug grin before throwing his coat at the man, causing the man to lose sight of him.

"Damn!" The man yelled as he put his arms to block whatever attack was coming but when the coat fell to the ground he realized that Drake had already gotten behind him and spun around just in time to take a punch to his jaw.

"Blood Dragon's Iron Fist!" Drake yelled as he delivered a fierce uppercut to the man's chin and Maya watched in awe as the man fell to the ground before she processed what Drake had said. She was in shock as she stared at him with wide eyes and Drake gave her a warm smile.

"D-Dad?" Maya asked as she tried to compose herself and she hugged him tightly when her gave her a nodded, "Mom always said you'd be back but I thought I'd never get to meet you..."

"I'm sorry Maya." Drake told her as he placed his hand on her head and she looked up at him with tear filled eyes, "Where's Mira?"

"She should be at Fairytail." Maya said as she wiped her eyes before grabbing his hand and nearly dragging him all of the way there. He could hear the sounds of partying as they stopped at the guildhall's door and she noticed that he seemed hesitant to go inside so she took matters into her own hands and forced him through the door.

"It's just like I remembered." Drake told Maya with a smile as he watched his old friends and some members he had yet to meet having fun before his eyes landed on Mira standing behind the bar and he was thankful that nobody seemed to notice to sit down at the bar. Mira gave Maya a small smile and grabbed a bottle from under the shelf for Drake.

"Here you g..." Mira's voice trailed off when she turned to hand it to him and the sound of the bottle shattering on the floor caught everyone's attention, "You're back..."

"I told you I wouldn't be gone forever." Drake told her with a warm smile before she kept over the counter and almost took them both to the ground with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry for being gone for so long."