A/N: This story is relatively unedited other than very quickly looking over and plug into an online grammar checker, so if you spot any mistakes, let me know. Also feel free to drop constructive criticism.
There's Something About Dave
Chapter One
Maxim Horvath was not lying when he said that the Parasite Spell was particularly nasty; it was more common for sorcerers on the receiving end of the spell to die than not. Of course, it wasn't a given that they would do so; it could sometimes take days for a person to die from the effects of the parasite spell, and it was often quite painful to boot, which was what made the spell so popular amongst the Morganians.
Drake Stone was one of the lucky few who did not have to experience the crippling pain that came with one's bodily functions shutting down, one by one, until the spell reached the heart, lungs and brain. His body simply went numb from the moment Horvath's cane left his neck, and whether this was the man's intention or not was unclear; he certainly didn't like Drake by any stretch of the imagination, with his complete ineptitude and horrible taste in pretty much everything, but he had been useful to a certain extent and deserved, at the very least, a painless death. Instead he sat there, dimly aware of the goings on around him but helpless to do anything about it. Even as Horvath dragged him into his bedroom to keep the Merlinians from finding him upon their arrival he was very much awake, although it was impossible to tell. And had the dedicated Morganian been dealing solely with Balthazar Blake, it was entirely possible that he would simply die there, face half buried in the plush carpet of his nouveau-riche apartment.
But he was not dealing solely with Balthazar Blake, which Drake would, in the future, be eternally grateful for.
It was probably around seven or eight in the evening when Dave and Becky returned from their impromptu visit to France, both relatively unscathed aside from Dave's eardrums being slightly abused thanks to Becky's shrill screaming whenever the eagle decided to be cheeky and do crazy flying tricks. Of course, this also lead to Becky clinging to him for dear life, which he honestly couldn't complain about.
The two of them stumbled into Dave's apartment, laughing uncontrollably, Becky literally doubled over in laughter. Balthazar, who was sitting at the table with Veronica, looked up at soon as he heard the door close and the raucous laughter travel inside.
"Did you two kids have fun?" he asked, leaning back in his chair. The two of them stood up straight, the last few giggles escaping them as they caught their breath. "I'll take that as a yes." he said, looking at Veronica and smiling. She smiled back and turned back towards Becky and Dave.
"Sorry about running off without saying anything." Dave said. Becky walked over and collapsed on his couch, ignoring the various garbage strewn about, which Dave couldn't help but get embarrassed by now that he noticed it. He cleared his throat and turned slightly red, grabbing some of the nearest garbage into the trash bin. Balthazar raised an eyebrow at him.
"You saved the world, Dave, you deserved it," he replied, his version of a 'no need to apologize'. "Dave, you've mastered your powers. No need to clean by hand any more." Dave pursed his lips and shook his head.
"I think I'm still a little traumatized by the last magic cleaning venture, so I'll just stick to the old fashioned way, thanks," he said, walking over to the table they were sitting at and clearing off the old pizza boxes and chocolate bar wrappers. "Besides, Prime Merlinian or not, I'd rather have my ring back before I cast any magic unless I have to." Giving him a little smile, Balthazar reached into his coat and pulled out Horvath's cane, with the three stolen sorcerer charms still attached to it. He pulled Merlin's ring off of the end of it and tossed it to Dave, who just barely managed to catch it.
He opened his mouth to thank him for retrieving his ring, but like always, Balthazar saw it coming and held up his hand. "No need to thank me, it's yours after all." Dave just smiled at him and slipped the ring back on his finger, admiring the way the little silver dragon shook its head before settling down.
"Hey, what happened to Horvath? What did you do with him?" he asked, not having been around for the cleanup after the battle. Balthazar and Veronica exchanged a look, and Dave narrowed his eyes in slight confusion. "He didn't.. get away, did he?" he asked.
"When we went to go take care of him, he was already gone," Veronica replied, folding her hands together on the table. "It's really nothing to worry about, though; without his channelling item, he's completely powerless as a sorcerer." Balthazar nodded in agreement, and Dave did the same. He looked at the cane and very suddenly realized that the other two stolen rings were still attached to it, including the one belonging to the obnoxious entertainer with the gaudy clothing who had been with Horvath most of the time the Morganian had been chasing him. Drake Stone.
"Hey, Balthazar, can I see Horvath's cane for a second?" he asked. Balthazar gave him a strange look, but didn't question him, handing over the cane. Dave untied the pentagram necklace from the cane before slipping the second ring off of it. "What do you think happened to that little girl? And that Drake guy?" he asked, holding up the two sorcerer's charms for emphasis.
"Knowing Horvath, he probably used the Parasite Spell to steal their energy to break the seal on the Morgana layer of the Grimhold," Balthazar explained. "They're probably dead by now." Dave nodded and pursed his lips, tucking the two charms into his pocket.
"That's, uh.. unfortunate." he said, fingering the illusionist's ring in particular. He was about to turn away when he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and shook his finger as though telling himself not to speak. This obviously didn't escape Balthazar's notice, because he cleared his throat to grab his apprentice's attention as Dave turned once again to walk away.
"Something on your mind?" he asked. Dave turned back towards him and narrowed his eyebrows.
"That.. doesn't bother you? The fact that Horvath just.. did that to them?" he asked. Balthazar shrugged a little.
"Not really," he replied, putting his hand over Veronica's on the table almost subconsciously. Dave gave him an almost disbelieving look, and he sighed. "It's a war, Dave. People die in wars. And it's always better when it's the enemy dying." Dave scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, I, uh.. I guess that makes sense," There was a slightly awkward silence, and so he turned towards the couch and coughed. "Hey, uh, Becky? Do you want a ride home?" he asked. Becky sat up, fixing her hair.
"Yeah, sure, thanks." she said, standing up. As Dave moved back towards the door, he turned back towards Balthazar and Veronica.
"I don't think Bennet is coming home tonight, but if he does, just tell him your my aunt and uncle or something," he explained. Balthazar gave a little nod, then turned to Veronica and leaned towards her, whispering in her ear as the other happy couple left.
"Thanks for driving me home, Dave," Becky said, leaning in and kissing Dave on the side of the mouth before she got out of the car. Dave turned as tomato red as a teenager on his first date, which she smiled at. "Drive carefully, okay?" He smiled at her, his adorable dorky smile, and nodded.
"Definitely. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" She nodded and slammed the door behind herself, walking backwards towards the door to her apartment building.
"I'll be waiting." she replied, waving to him as she slipped inside. He watched her for a few more moments, as she fumbled through her purse to find the key to the inner door, before driving off. Really, he was more than glad to drive Becky home, even if it was in Balthazar's obnoxious British car, but it had been more of a reason to get out of the apartment than anything. Balthazar may not have cared about the two Morganians, but Dave couldn't in good conscience ignore them. There was, after all, the chance that they were still alive, if Balthazar said that they were probably dead by now.
After much weaving through traffic, he pulled up outside the building where Drake Stone's penthouse was located. There was, of course, nothing to say that the two Morganian's were even here, since they hadn't seen them when they'd gone looking for the Grimhold, but it was the only place he could think of.
He felt sort of awkward walking through the fancy lobby towards the penthouse elevator, even more so when the receptionist gave him a little sneer, and he made a tight fist as he stopped in front of the doors. He made a motion like he was swiping a key card in order to mask the true nature of how he was breaking into the apartment using magic, like Balthazar had, and tried very hard not to make eye contact with anyone until the elevator arrived and he stepped inside, slumping against the wall as it carried him up the many floors. When he reached the top he quickly jumped out and switched the lights on; it didn't look like anyone else had been through there since he, Balthazar, Becky and Horvath had, presumably waiting for the owner of the penthouse's say so.
After extensive searching, he found the first victim hidden carefully in a small closet-type storage room off of the main living room area, where the Grimhold had been kept; it was the little witch girl, Abigail Williams. He checked her neck and wrist for a pulse and found nothing, and cringed; she may have been a Morganian, but she didn't deserve this. He stumbled out of the closet and into the other room where he managed to open a window and stick his head out of it, breathing deeply. Living in Manhattan he'd seen plenty of dead bodies on television, but this was his first time seeing one in person. Leaving the corpse of the girl after much deliberation and finally deciding that it was best left to someone with little more of an idea of what they were doing, he reluctantly began searching for the other sorcerer, Drake; he couldn't imagine Horvath would go to the trouble of hiding him somewhere else, provided he'd also been attacked here, and there was always the chance he wasn't dead. He searched every room thoroughly and was almost convinced that he wasn't there until he walked right into the master bedroom, the last room to check, and found him lying face down in the carpet. He ran over to him and flipped him over, putting his head to his chest and finding a heart beat.
"Oh man, you're still alive," he gasped, looking at his face. Drake's eyes were glassy and dull, his skin was pale, and his veins were frighteningly clear beneath his skin, but his slow-but-steady pulse and the faint rise and fall of his chest didn't lie. Dave opened and closed his mouth a few times, flexing his hands uncertainly; he really hadn't been anticipating that he'd find one of them alive, even if that had been the whole point of his coming here, and he had absolutely no idea what to do. It wasn't as simple as it had been with Balthazar; there all he'd had to do was jolt his heart back to life, a simple matter of resuscitation that would have been just as possible with a defibrillator. But Drake's problem wasn't that his heart wasn't beating.
Dave put both of his hands on Drake's chest and closed his eyes tightly, clearing his mind as per his training. Okay, the Parasite Spell. Really, he hadn't known that there was even a spell called that until earlier when Balthazar had mentioned that was what Horvath had probably used, but it was a spell, so it couldn't be that difficult to figure out. He was the Prime Merlinian after all. He bit his lower lip and tried to focus, really focus, without clouding his mind.
And suddenly there it was, coursing through Drake's veins in a spectrum of light invisible to the mortal eye. Static blue, the spells residual effects filtered through Drake's body, rendering him in a state of near death. The Parasite Spell was dangerously close to reaching vital organs and thus shutting down important bodily functions, a fact which really didn't help how nervous Dave was. Even if Drake had followed Horvath around like a lost puppy and assisted him in his plans, the idea of a mistake on his part causing his death was petrifying at best. He wasn't about to be responsible for anyone's death (well, aside from Morgana of course, but that was a different matter entirely as she had been threatening the destruction of the entire world). Feeling the static-like charge in the air that came with the use of magic surge around him, he tried very hard to focus on the source of the spell's power, slowly starting to draw it out of his body. It manifested itself as a physical blue glow around Dave's hands as he pulled it from Drake's body, and after about a minute he fell back to rest against his heels, shaking his hands to dispel the vile magic like water.
"Okay, time to get up now," he gasped, a few beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. The solution may have been simple, but it didn't make it any less tiring. He leaned forwards again and gave Drake a light pat on the cheek, tilting his head to the side. His eyes were still open and glassy, but colour was starting to return to his skin, which could only be a good sign. "Come on, get up." he prompted, shaking him a little.
Very suddenly, Drake's eyes cleared and he jolted up, almost knocking Dave backwards. He let out a loud gasp, drawing as much air into his lungs as he possibly could, which caused him to dissolve into a coughing fit. Unsure of what more to do, Dave just pat his back as he choked. Once it had passed and Drake cleared his throat a few times, he immediately pulled his hand away and kind of moved back, quite unsure of what Drake was going to do. To be perfectly honest, he didn't think Drake was particularly evil; a little malicious, perhaps, but he struck him more as an upgraded high school bully than a truly evil man. Still, there was always the chance he was wrong about that, and he really didn't want to chance it. So he just sat back and waited for Drake's reaction.
Drake could not say that he enjoyed his time under the influence of the Parasite Spell. He was literally left to lie there and wait for his death, a death that could take hours or even days to reach him, and he could do nothing about it; even if he could move, his ring had been taken from him and he most likely didn't have the knowledge or spell casting ability to be able to reverse the effects. It was the most emotionally wrenching thing he'd ever had to experience, knowing he was going to die here thanks to trusting someone no reasonable person would have.
He'd all but accepted the fact when he had heard activity in his apartment, the primary sounds being frenzied footsteps. He didn't let himself get too excited about the fact; most likely it was just one of his employees or some other normal person. He highly doubted that Horvath had had a change of heart, or that the Merlinians had decided to come looking for him. Of course, he was completely right on the first account; Horvath had vanished following the battle that ended in Morgana's defeat (not that he knew that). On the second account, however, he was quite mistaken, which he realized when the Prime Merlinian, Dave if he remembered correctly, stumbled into the room and looked at him with a surprised 'Oh man, you're still alive'. Of course, he could only judge this from his voice and the small but of peripheral vision the carpet allowed him.
He heard soft, carpeted footfalls, and was quickly turned onto his back where he could see the silhouette of the young sorcerer in the darkness, illuminated only by the light from the hallway. A head was put to his chest and when it was confirmed that he was alive, Dave visibly debated what to do for a few seconds before he felt hands on his chest. Within moments after that he felt a strong pulling sensation, followed by an odd tingling starting in the tips of his toes and slowly working its way up. Then, with a snap, he felt himself being pulled back into the world of the living, along with some verbal encouragement from Dave. His lungs were desperate for air, and he gasped to appease them, but he simply started coughing. As Dave patted him on the back to help him through it, he felt a deep, unimaginable gratitude for the saving of his life. After all he'd done, he hadn't expected to be saved by anyone, particularly not the guy he'd been actively trying to kill this entire time. He cleared his throat a few times, his entire body shuddering, and watched as Dave backed away slightly. He turned to look at him, gasping.
"You.. saved me. Th.. thank you." he said, unable to express his gratitude any other way. He clutched his chest, breathing as though he had just run a mile. Feeling was slowly returning to his lower body, but he kept a hand on the floor to keep himself balanced.
"Yeah, I guess I did," Dave replied, clapping his hands together. He looked torn between being uncertain and grinning, obviously quite proud of himself. "You don't need to thank me, I just.. did what I had to do." Drake looked at him, face flushed and lips slack. His brain could hardly formulate an idea at all, much less one for how to properly express his thanks. He stuttered a little, trying to push out at least another thank you, but the only thing his brain managed to come up with was to put his hands on either side of Dave's face and pull him forwards, crushing their lips together in something that vaguely resembled a kiss. He could feel Dave stiffen and freeze under his hands, but he merely focused on pecking quick kisses to Dave's pursed lips. He would have been tempted to add little thank you's between each peck had what little was left of his rationality not realized that was a little too desperate, and even after having his life inexplicably saved that was not something he was willing to do.
Dave shocked him by returning his last few kisses, if only for brief moments at a time. When he pulled away, he kept his hands on either side of the younger man's face.
"I'm so sorry for trying to kill you. You are by far my favourite person of all time."
Dave practically had a heart attack when Drake grabbed his face and kissed him without any sort of hesitation, couldn't help but let his eyes widen as he started to press quick, smaller kisses to his lips. Towards the end he caught himself puckering his lips to meet each kiss as it came. He wasn't entirely sure why he did- his brain really wasn't in control of the rest of him at the moment. When Drake finally pulled away from him, apologizing for the whole trying to kill him thing and declaring him as his favourite person ever, he merely stared back, lips flapping like he was trying to say something but merely couldn't force the words out. A sudden realization seemed to light up Drake's face and he pulled his hands away from Dave's face, pointing at him with both.
"Sorry, knee-jerk reaction. I, uh.. yeah." He pulled his hands back, balling them near his chest and grimacing in an embarrassed manner. Dave shrugged and clapped his hands, determinedly not meeting Drake's eyes.
"No, no, it's fine. I get knee jerk reactions like that all the time," he said, giving him an awkward thumbs up. They just usually don't involve kissing other men. "I'm very happy that you're alive and all, but I really need to get going. Balthazar doesn't know I'm here, you see, and I don't think he'd be very happy about me helping a Morganian.. I mean, not to say that you didn't deserve to be helped or anything, Balthazar just has this thing-" Drake put up a hand in the universal 'stop' gesture.
"I get it. He doesn't like Morganians. It's understandable. We're not a particularly likeable bunch," he said, nodding a little. He stood up and straightened his clothes, fumbling against the wall to find a light switch, until he found it and turned the lights on. Dave blinked a few times, his eyes having adjusted to the darkness, but Drake completely covered his eyes with his arms. It was pretty obvious that he'd been in here for a long time. After he shook his head a few times and blinked away the sudden blindness, he turned back towards Dave, who was in the process of standing. "I know you said I don't need to thank you, but.. thanks again. If you ever need anything-"
"Oh, no, no, don't worry about it. You don't need to do anything for me," he insisted. "But, um, there is something you have to deal with- that little Abigail girl? She's, uh.. she's.." Drake walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, I'll get someone to take care of it. Now get cracking before your master gets suspicious." he encouraged, walking back and holding the door open for him. He walked Dave to the elevator and opened it for him.
"Now don't go following any more strange sorcerers," he laughed, trying to lighten up the situation. Drake snerked, putting a knuckle to his lips. It made Dave happy to see him laughing at his comment. "Seriously, though.. be careful. Horvath is out there somewhere." Drake nodded as Dave stepped into the elevator.
"You too. I doubt he's going to be too happy about you beating Morgana. You.. did beat Morgana, right?" he asked. Dave had almost forgotten that Drake had been incapacitated for the fight against Morgana, despite having just revived him.
"Of course I did. That's my job." he said as the door slid closed and the elevator began to descend.
Dave grimaced as he glanced at his watch, noticing how late it was. He'd been expecting the trip to Drake's to be short, but because he got caught up after saving him, it was now almost nine thirty. When he came in the door, trying to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible, Balthazar looked up from what he was reading at the kitchen table and lowered his glasses.
"That was an awfully long trip to Becky's and back." he noted, turning back to his book as Dave kicked his shoes off and hissed.
"I, uh- I took the scenic route." he said, walking over and collapsing onto the couch, letting out a loud sigh.
"You're a-"
"-bad liar, I know." Dave cut him off mid sentence and rolled over onto his side, using one arm as a pillow.
"Where'd you go?" Balthazar asked, licking his thumb and turning the page.
"Nowhere special," he lied again, hoping that Balthazar would uncharacteristically not call him out on that one. Luckily for him, however, Balthazar merely raised and eyebrow at him and shook his head a little. Clearly he didn't see it as worth prying into, which Dave was thankful for. Like he had told Drake, he couldn't imagine that Balthazar would approve of his rescuing him. "Where's Veronica?" His attempt to change the subject was extremely thinly veiled, but it thankfully worked.
"Oh, I sent her over to the hotel," he said, slipping his bookmark in to keep his place. "I just thought it would be a good idea for me to wait here for you to remind you that you'll be getting up early tomorrow morning for training." Dave groaned.
"Balthazar, I just defeated Morgana. I know that doesn't mean my training is finished but can't I have at least a one day break?" he asked, sitting up and looking at Balthazar pleadingly. "We could.." The light bulb going off in his head was practically visible. "We could go look at apartments instead." he suggested. Balthazar raised both eyebrows at him, tucking his book into his jacket.
"Looking at apartments?" he repeated. Dave nodded.
"You guys can't stay in a hotel forever," he pointed out. "and there's definitely not enough room in this apartment for all of us. Bennet just got a new job, he can pay the rent on this place on his own. And I can get a new job, too. We'll be able to afford some place a little bigger, a little more storage space- hey, maybe we can even get some place closer to the lab so we don't have to commute as far." Balthazar considered the option, tilting his head side to side.
"I suppose we could do that instead," he relented. "You'd still have to get up bright and early, though."
"Bright and early is practically my middle name," he replied, giving him an awkward grin. He really was used to getting up early; he'd had mostly morning classes since freshman year, trying to leave afternoons free for various part-time jobs and such. "I'll set my alarm for six. Is that early enough?" he asked jokingly. Balthazar gave him a little smile.
"For tomorrow, sure."