AN: A late chapter this week, but I hope you'll enjoy it, regardless. I try to update every two weeks, but if I'm really swamped chapters might be a few days late, but I hope that's okay. Thank you all for your patience, and for your support so far!


Chapter 7

"So this is where those freaky sharp-fins live, huh?" A snort followed the observation. "Talk about a bleak place – you can't even see the sun at this depth."

Erza made a motion for her companion to lower her voice, but Cana seemed too preoccupied with her surroundings to make note. A tap to her shoulder did it, as Gray swam up to her side. "Oye, Cana, clench your gills, would you? Do you want them to find us or something?"

She rolled her eyes. "There's nobody around for a Poseidon-damned league, Fullbuster. Who's here to find us?" She waved at the open waters, silent in the darkness that seemed to permeate the place, making it near impossible to tell what time it was.

Erza took a moment to consider the wisdom of her choice in bringing these two in particular with her over the border, but someone had to stay back at the palace and do her job while she was off, swimming in foreign waters on a fool's errand. Her Lieutenant had been her first choice, of course, though arguably, Jellal was also her first choice in who to take with her. But when it came to defying laws, in which she might well not make it back alive, Erza wouldn't have felt quite as unconcerned having left her job in anyone else's hands.

"If you both keep talking, they'll be upon us before we've even reached the city." She shot her Second Lieutenant a look of warning, and he effectively clamped his mouth shut.

The humour fled off Cana's face, too. "Noted, Cap." She threw a glare in Gray's direction. "Who was it that needed to clench their gills?" she muttered in low tones, to which the merman responded with an obscene gesture.

Erza turned on them both. "I will shove you both tails first back through the tunnel and go on alone. Is that what you want?" she asked, her voice a calm sea, perfectly mellow.

Gray swallowed. "N-no, ma'am."

"Good." She turned back, gaze spanning the underwater scenery that stretched onwards into the dark, the shadows lit by the soft glow of the strange, green crystals that seemed to pop up wherever she looked. Must be how they handle being so far from the sun.

Cana swam up to her side. "Orders, Cap?"

Erza passed restless fingers along the skin of her arms, bare of her usual arm-guards. She'd left all her armour back at the palace, save a thin mail of scales, for the simple necessity of speed, in case they needed to get back over the border quickly. Her full set would have weighed her down too much, but without it she felt oddly exposed. "We find them, wherever they're being kept, and then we get back across the border without causing undue trouble. And preferably without being seen."

The dark-haired mermaid at her side snorted, a sign of disrespect for any other commander, but Erza had always liked Cana's blunt honesty. "And what are the odds of that happening?"

Erza offered a thin smile. "Slim, at best. It depends on where they're being kept, for one. And how well we'll manage to stay out of sight." She looked down at her tail, the silver colour bright against the dim black-and-green that seemed to be the two predominant colours in the sharkfolk kingdom. She'd never thought of her own colouring as particularly eye-catching until now, but with her hair, she might as well parade herself into the capitol and be done with it.

She glanced over at her Second Lieutenant, and the royal blue scales that seemed to stand out even in the underwater darkness. It was safe to say that they wouldn't exactly blend in. Only Cana, with her dark hair and dark green scales, wasn't immediately noticeable.

"How does it look?" It was Gray who asked, as he swam forward to join them. They'd come to a stop behind a large jutting stone rising out of the ocean floor, a poor attempt to keep out of sight as they planned their next move.

"Looks clear," she said carefully, though she didn't gesture for them to move forward. It wouldn't do them any good to be caught by a border patrol after they'd just barely crossed it. Not that Erza had seen sign of any since they'd arrived. Perhaps they thought the skeletons at the tunnel entrance served as a fair enough warning for anyone thinking about trespassing.

Obviously, that didn't work. She had no idea what had possessed level-headed Levy, the Grand Archivist's most promising apprentice, to even go over the border in the first place. And for Lucy to follow? Well, the latter wasn't too hard to swallow, if Lucy had gone to get her back. Erza couldn't think of anything that would have warranted the two going together, to do something that was such a painfully obvious breach of the law. But at the same time, she didn't want to think about the implications of the two having been kidnapped on the merfolk side.

War, the thought lurked, dark and ominous at the back of her mind. If the ruler of the sharkfolk, whoever that was these days, had sent someone over to capture mermaids, Makarov wouldn't stand for it. This, too, was Erza's mission, but she hadn't told this to her companions. If they were on the brink of a potential war with the sharkfolk, they would have to proceed with care. And if it did in fact turn out to be the mermaids' own fault, and that they'd been caught trespassing...

"Damage control, my dear. That is why it is crucial that you go. Your gift of diplomacy will aid you well, should you need it."

She remembered well the old mer-king's words before they'd left for the border, under the cover of darkness, so as not to alert anyone to the nature of their mission. Aside from King Makarov, only three other people knew where they'd been sent and why. Of her Royal Guard it was only Jellal, and at Makarov's insistence, the General of the Royal Army had been briefed as well. Being who he was, Gildarts had offered to go in her stead, but Makarov had stressed the importance of stealth, and that if they turned out to be in the wrong, Erza would be their best shot at avoiding a full-out war. Not to mention, sending his top General wouldn't exactly incite a feeling of friendship, if they were caught and tried before the shark-king. Better it be three, nondescript merpeople looking for their friends.

"Do we even know where we're going?" Cana asked, drawing her eyes back from the shadows to meet Erza's. "I mean, they could be anywhere. Would they take them to see the king, you think?"

"It's hard to say. But with luck, they'll have taken them to the capitol," Erza said.

"And that helps us how?" Gray crossed his arms. "We still don't know which direction to go in."

Erza hummed. "You don't. I've studied maps."

Cana blinked, before her brows drew together. "Maps? We have maps of this place?"

"The kingdoms weren't always separate," Erza reminded her. "The maps are considered relics, and they've been kept out of the public's reach for a reason."

"To keep people from wanting to go over the border," Gray supplied. "Smart. Make it seem inaccessible, and you'd think twice before crossing."

"How in the depths did you get past the old hag to see them?" Cana asked, an incredulous grin stretching over her face now. "I can't believe she'd just show them to you. Old 'Luyusica barely lets anyone into the repository." She peered closer. "You wouldn't have broken in." But by her tone, she wasn't entirely sure.

Erza smiled. "One of the Grand Archivist's apprentices is missing in enemy territory. I only had to ask."

Cana smirked. "Well, it makes it easier for us, anyhow. So, which direction?"

Erza looked out over the sprawl of rocks and jutting crystals, and tried to conjure the map she'd studied in her mind. Having been etched on the wall of the royal repository, she hadn't been able to take it with her, and she'd only had a short few hours to memorise it before they'd had to leave. Thankfully her memory was a good one, and it was fresh enough in her mind for her to picture it easily. It wasn't far to the capitol by her own estimation, but distance on a map was one thing, and the terrain was foreign and she had no idea what they could meet on the way. Patrols along the border might not be the king's main priority, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be guards near the city itself, especially if that's where the royal palace was.

Only one way to find out. "We head north. Keep at my back, and be on the lookout for sharks. And keep quiet."

Her companions nodded, for once not offering any verbal affirmations, and as Erza pushed out into the dark waters, they followed silently at her back.

From what she remembered from the maps, the capitol wouldn't be far out of their way if they cut a straight path northwards. But the problem wasn't in getting there as much as it was in figuring out where they were keeping Levy and Lucy. They wouldn't hold them at the palace, at least not with the possibility of the two being spies for the mer-king. Erza knew better, of course, but she had no way of knowing what sort of monarch it was that ruled these waters. Makarov hadn't been any wiser – the kingdoms had been separated longer than he'd been on the throne. It was Queen Mavis who'd first created the border, although why the old king had been unable – or perhaps unwilling – to explain. But Erza hadn't needed a history lesson, only the knowledge of how to get there and back, preferably without any casualties, or Poseidon forbid, starting a war.

They proceeded at a slower pace than she'd have liked, but the shifting shadows seemed to have a life of their own, and keeping out of sight of whatever eyes watched from the dark proved a bigger challenge than she'd initially thought. But despite the creeping darkness they weren't discovered – in fact, they met little but skitterish wildlife and clusters of the same, glowing green crystals. Gray and Cana stayed mostly silent, though she doubted their voices would have carried far in the pressing dark that seemed at times like it was solid to the touch. But always there lurked the glow of a green gem in the distance, showing them the way as they swam through tunnel-like rock formations, following the slant of the ocean floor as it delved further down into the deep than Erza had thought possible.

Then at last, she spotted it – the rising spires of an underwater city that could only be one thing.

Holding up a hand in silent command, she dove behind a rock, effectively cloaking her silver tail in shadows. Her companions followed, cutting swiftly and silently through the water.

"That it?" Cana asked softly.

"According to the map, yes. I doubt they've moved it in the last few centuries. It's hard to tell if it's inhabited from this distance, though."

"One of us should scout ahead," Gray suggested. "See if there's a way into the city where we won't be spotted."

Can shook her head. "That'll take forever, can't you see how huge it is? I say we split up to cover more ground."

"And what, get us all caught? No, we send one, and whichever of us it is will look for information on where they keep their prisoners. Then when we've got a lead, we'll see where we go from there."

A laugh from above them cut through their bickering. "Interesting plan, but I could make it easy for you and just tell you where they are."

Erza would have liked to think she was past rookie mistakes like being caught off guard, but the new voice almost made her choke on her tongue. Her hands scrabbled at her waist for her dagger, but as she proffered it, the shark looking down at them from the rock above their heads didn't even flinch. She heard Cana and Gray both draw their own weapons, the latter swearing an oath at being taken by surprise in such a way.

An unnervingly warm smile stretched across the dark, scarred face peering down at her. "I apologize. I didn't mean to scare you. Well...maybe a little."

Erza's brows furrowed in a glare. "Explain yourself, shark. Know that if you attack, I won't hesitate to take you down." She raised her dagger, the jagged tip catching the light of the nearest crystal.

The shark looked at it, before following the length of the blade to meet her eyes. "I believe you," he said, sounding much too amused for Erza's liking. "Which is why I won't attack."

"Cap?" Cana muttered in a low tone.

Erza didn't answer immediately, mind racing as she considered the possibilities before them. On the one fin, he was only one shark, and they had the advantage of numbers. On the other fin, if he'd been able to catch them off guard so easily, there might be more of his kind still hiding in the shadows. Damn it!

The shark's smile curved wider, to a sharp, toothy grin. "You know, if you make the mistake of thinking you can outwit a shark in his own waters, you will be caught. Best be glad it wasn't by someone else."

Erza didn't lower her dagger. "And why's that?"

"Because any other shark would have handed you over to the king by now," he answered smoothly. He still hadn't reached for his own weapon, though she could see it strapped to his back, a massive blade that looked to be carved from an enormous tooth. And if he could swim so fluidly and gracefully carrying such a weight, she didn't doubt he could draw it if he wanted to and easily block whatever attacks they tried to land on him. But he had his arms crossed over his chest, as though in a silent demonstration that he wasn't about to do anything of the sort. Why, though, Erza didn't know. If she'd caught three armed sharks hiding in merfolk country, she wouldn't have hesitated in drawing her sword.

Cana wasn't so easily charmed. "And you won't?"

He didn't release Erza's gaze as he spoke, "I won't."

"Why?" Gray asked.

This time he did look up, and seemed to assess them each in turn. At length, he finally answered, "Because I know why you're here...and I wish to help."

Cana barked a laugh. "Yeah, we might be tourists, but we're not gonna fall for that. Cap? Oye, Scarlet."

Erza said nothing, and didn't take her eyes off the shark as she turned his words over in her mind. "What's your name, shark?"

If her address insulted him, he didn't show it. "Pantherlily," he said, with an easy smile. "But you can call me Lily."

His familiarity unnerved her, but Erza refused to be thrown. "And why should we trust your word, Pantherlily?"

"Because you are merfolk in a kingdom of hungry sharks, and though I'm sure your intentions are nothing but honourable, our good king has no heart for your kind. And trust me when I say you'll need help if you want to save your missing mermaids."

"Where are you keeping them?" Gray pressed.

"They're imprisoned, I can tell you that much," the shark answered. "And on orders of the king, they're to be executed. If you accept my help, I'll tell you where to find them. Better yet, I'll help you get them out."

The sincerity in his voice made Erza's resolve waver, but she still didn't lower her dagger. "Give me one good reason for why you'd go against your king in this way, and we'll consider," she said then. She felt Gray and Cana tense at the declaration, but she held up a hand to still their protests. She would let him speak, if nothing else.

"Because I know someone with whom you share a common interest."

"Who?" Cana sounded dubious, but then Erza didn't blame her. This whole ordeal was fishy.

The dark finned bull-shark didn't miss a beat. "The crown prince."

Erza refused to let her surprise show on her face. "And why would the crown prince care about the fate of a couple of mermaids?"

Her reward was a knowing smile that assured her that, whatever the answer was, he wasn't going to tell her. Her curiosity piqued despite her efforts to stifle it, but the clever gleam in his eyes hinted at something far beyond the simple imprisonment of a pair of mermaids.

Levy, Lucy, what in the depths have you gotten yourselves into?

Then his expression turned severe, and the change was such that it made her eyes widen in surprise. The scar cutting across his brow furrowed sharply, giving him a much more menacing look than his earlier smiles had. It would seem his patience was up. That, or he was sensing he wasn't getting anywhere by playing nice.

"You might consider making up your minds," he said, and Erza felt her heart drop at his tone. And there was no laughter in his low drum of a voice now, but rather the promise of something quite different – something that made her wonder if she shouldn't perhaps have brought Jellal with her after all.

"Because we're running out of time."


AN: For those of you hoping to see Jellal, I'm hope you're not too disappointed, but Erza couldn't just up and leave her post and take her second-in-command with her.