Morg: Heyo! I'm glad to be getting back to this story. I'm really enjoying it.

Ikuto: That doesn't mean that the rest of us are.

Amu: Not at all.

Morg: So? That doesn't matter so much to me. I'm not writing for either of you.

Ikuto: Good.

Amu: Attitude like that is part of the reason that you don't own us.

Morg: Whatever.

~At the Water's Edge~

Pockets of steam and boiling water shot up into the sky all around the ship. There was nothing that the people on board could do except hold on and pray to any higher power that one of those jet streams wouldn't hit the bottom of their boat and send them all flying into the fiery ocean water. None of them would survive being in the water for long. The ocean was so hot that it would have melted their flesh off their bones within minutes.

The railings and anything metal on the ship was becoming too hot to touch. None of the merpeople on the deck wanted to think about how their fish were doing down within the hold. None but Amu.

Still feeling completely out of control, Amu took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. She lifted her hands out at her sides and focused on her breathing rather than all the chaos going on around her. The winds whipped at her hair and occasionally a too hot jet of water burst out of the ocean near enough to the ship to spray everyone with hot water.

Amu ignored it all. She moved all of her focus to the bottom of the ship. There she could feel the hull heating and the water inside the hold starting to get hotter and hotter. The panic from her familiars was potent within her mind, but Amu stayed focused.

There was too much going on in the ocean. Amu knew that if she tried to focus on any of it then she'd lose herself to it. If that happened then the circumstances that they found themselves in would only become worse. There no way that she'd be the cause of them all dying.

So Amu focused herself on the hold and used her powers to keep the water from boiling within it. She would not let any of her familiars die. Nor would she allow for any of the others to become hurt if she could protect them.

Staring at Amu, Ikuto sucked in a sharp breath. He'd never actually seen her using her powers before, but he just knew that that was what she was doing. He also felt better knowing that she was using them. Though he was worried at the same time due to the fact that he knew it was dangerous for her. She'd said that she felt like she was being pulled a part by the elements around her because of the volcano. Here she was facing it and still doing her best for them. "Some of you need to get back inside. We can't all be out here on the deck."

Kukai saluted before scrambling back towards the stairs to take him back up to the control room. "It would be nice to have someone up here to help me."

No one moved so Kukai gave a sigh before turning and pointed at the blonde mermaid. "How about you, cutie? Mind coming up here and giving me a hand?"

Utau looked around before being sure that the human was in fact talking to her. "Me? Why me?"

Grinning, Kukai sent a wink to the princess. "So if we die I can at least die looking at someone as beautiful as you."

Never before had someone said something like that to Utau. Of course people tried to flatter her. She was the princess. There was always something to gain by becoming her friend. But this human, he didn't know of her status. He also couldn't gain anything by saying what he was saying. Not if they really did all die. "I can't get up the stairs."

"If you don't mind being close for a bit, I'll carry you up."

Feeling her face heat up, Utau looked around at the others before back at the human. She gave a small nod of her head before returning the smile. "All right."

Tadase moved to grab onto his sister but she escaped his grip. "Utau! You can't be serious!"

Sending a scowl at her brother, Utau shrugged before dragging herself over to the first mate. "Why not? If we're going to die then I'll have the best seat in the house. I'm sure that we can see pretty far from higher up. And I've never been on a boat like this before."

"But you're a princess! You have to be protected! You should come down into the hold with me."

Whistling, Kukai turned so that he could pull Utau on to his back using her hands while bending over. Her tail still touched the floor of the boat, but most of her weight was now settled on him. He'd get her up the stairs. "You're royalty? No wonder. I mean, anyone as pretty as you would have to be."

He knew that her father was a king and his attitude towards her hadn't changed one bit. The human male that was carrying her up the stairs was still being funny and slightly charming. He wasn't suddenly respecting her more or scoffing at her being royal. Utau rather liked it. She kind of liked him. "Would you shut up?"

Just because she liked it didn't mean she had to let him know.

Kukai just laughed as he disappeared into the control room with his bird and his new mermaid companion.

Muttering under his breath about having to survive to take the crown someday, Tadase pulled himself back down below ship. He wasn't going to die just because his stupid sister suddenly had a death wish.

Yaya and Kairi exchanged looks before following the prince. If anyone was capable of dealing with him, they could. Not because they knew how to talk to him, but because they knew how to ignore him.

Turning to the other two merpeople on his ship, Ikuto crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you going below?"

Shaking her head, Rima moved a bit closer to Amu. She knew better than to break the pinkette's concentration. "We're staying here for Amu. I know that right now she's not entirely with us, but Nagi and I are her best friends. We will look out for her."

Shrugging, Ikuto moved towards the front of the ship to stare off in the direction they were heading in. More steam and water shot up into the air. "Suit yourselves. Either we get out of this or we don't."

No one could argue with that.

Hours passed without anyone truly relaxing. The water was becoming more and more calm. However, it wasn't until a giant explosion went off some miles behind them that any of the passengers on the yacht decided to breathe normally once again.

Coming back to herself now that she was sure that their fish weren't in any danger, Amu let out a huge sigh. "We're out of danger."

Ikuto could have hugged her. He had no doubt she was part of the reason for that. "Thanks to you?"

Shaking her head, Amu couldn't help the small smile on her face. "No, I didn't do anything but keep our fish from cooking in the hold. If I had attempted to do anything about all that back there then my powers would have just made everything worse and we would have all died."

Moving closer to the mermaid, Ikuto couldn't help but smile still. "So you saved us all by not trying to save us. How smart you are."

Amu decided that she wasn't going to say anything to that. She didn't really get the chance as the sound of the engine running stopped. There was a sputter and then silence except for the waves around them.

Turning, Ikuto looked up at the cabin just in time to see Kukai stick his head out the door. "We're out of gas. Completely so. We won't be moving until we get the sail up."

Nodding back at his first mate, Ikuto turned to find the three merpeople on the deck looking at him. There were also two faces coming out of the door to the cabin beneath the deck. "We'll put up the sail and keep going. Kukai and I know how to sail that way, too."

The others nodded and then moved back and watched as Ikuto brought the mast from storage. He and Kukai bolted it down onto the deck before attaching the rigging and then the sail. By the time they'd finished, the waves from the volcano eruption behind them had moved them quite a ways.

"All right," Ikuto said as he rubbed his hands together. "Now all we need is a compass and the wind."

It was then that everyone noticed that there was no wind.

Kukai turned in a full circle before scratching at his head. "So, we wait then for a breeze?"

Turning around, Ikuto looked back at Amu.

Nodding back at the captain, Amu shut her eyes. Something in her gut told her that what she was about to do was probably a bad idea. Her powers did not feel back to normal just yet. However, she could feel the wind not too far off. There was quite a bit of it and it was strong.

Grabbing one current, Amu redirected it towards their ship. "It's coming. Don't worry."

Her words were barely out of her mouth when said wind showed up. It was pushing them along the top of the water rather quickly.

Happily, Kukai turned to go back up the stairs and return to Utau. It wasn't until he got to the top and could see out behind them to where the wind was coming from that he realized that Amu hadn't just brought the wind. "Storm! Ikuto, there is a storm coming! We need to tie the sail down. Everyone get under the deck!"

Scrambling, the two humans did what they could to make sure everything was secure just as the wind really picked up and the waves became dangerous.

"You'd think we'd get a break! But noooo!"

Chuckling to himself, Ikuto ignored his best friend for trying to get everything done. The rope in his hands was already wet from the waves, but the rain starting to fall wasn't helping either.

Amu could only watch as Ikuto's grip slipped on his ropes and the mast swung around and smacked him straight in the chest. The captain of the boat stumbled backwards. For a second, he was teetering on the edge. Then he was falling.

Yelling, Amu scrambled to the edge of the ship before throwing herself in. She would never forgive herself if something happened to Ikuto. She had called the wind. She had brought the storm, even if she hadn't meant to.

Searching through the water, Amu found the captain. He was unconscious, but floating. By the time she reached him, the storm was fully over them. Through the gloom, Amu couldn't find the ship. So she did the next best thing. She kept herself floating with Ikuto in her arms. She would not let him die.

.

Morg: So maybe someone doesn't die.

Ikuto: Not yet.

Amu: What does that mean?

Morg: Nothing.