Morg: Heyo! Let's do this!

Ikuto: I'm so ready!

Amu: Gross.

Morg: You're interested. Don't lie.

Ikuto: Yeah, Amu. Admit it!

Amu: Never.

~The Eighth Sea~

"Too late," Kiseki sneered as he stepped out of a slim street between two buildings. "Looks like you failed."

"Hello, Amu," Tadase smirked as he came out of a different alley behind them with his pistol trained on them. "Did you miss me, my little wife?"

Amu shuddered in Ikuto's arms. "What are we going to do?"

Ikuto squeezed her a little tighter. "We have to get away. We have to bind the magic."

"What are you whispering about," Kiseki practically cooed at them. "Come on now. Share your juicy little secrets with me."

Amu tightened the hold she had on Ikuto's jacket. She could feel how he pressed the book against her back as he held her to him. "We found the Pirate King's diary."

"Amu!" Ikuto gasped as he jerked back to look down at her. "What are you doing?"

"In it," Amu continued as she stepped out of Ikuto's arms and snagged the book from his hand. "Is a spell that will bind the magic and give control over all of the Eighth Sea to whoever does it."

"And that's what you were doing?" Kiseki asked skeptically as he looked from Ikuto's shocked face to Amu's determined one. "You were going to become the new Pirate King?"

"There's a catch," Amu said as she turned to look at Kiseki rather than Ikuto's betrayed face. "The magic is so powerful that one person cannot control it. That's why the Pirate King lost control. It has to be two people."

"Bind it to me," Kiseki demanded as he stepped forward. "I will take control."

"Two people," Amu reminded him. "Ikuto and I were going to share the burden. We wanted the others to leave in case something went wrong."

Tadase scoffed as he stepped closer to them. "Maybe I should have you and I do it, Amu. Maybe I should be the King to your Queen."

Kiseki made a noise that was something between a groan and a growl. "No, I will be the one to control this place and all of its power."

Ikuto looked from Kiseki to Tadase to Amu. Then he understood. He understood what she was doing. It was risky but if they pulled it off… "Why don't you both just share it?"

Kiseki paused as he tilted his head. "Didn't you just say it was like marriage?"

Amu laughed as she shook her head. "Ikuto was just trying to be romantic. It's nothing like marriage. It's just sharing power. Incredible and immense power."

Tadase took another step forward. "Fine."

Kiseki scoffed as he narrowed his eyes on his cousin. "Sure, why not?"

Amu swallowed hard before she glanced back at Ikuto. "Where's the best place to do this?"

Ikuto pretended to think about his answer as he tilted his head and lifted one of his hands to rub at his chin. "The square was where the powers of the Eighth Sea were the strongest. I think that's where we should go."

Kiseki frowned at them. "You will lead us there. If either one of you makes a move that we don't like, we'll kill you. We don't need you to read the book."

"That's true," Amu admitted. "You don't need us. We could give you the book now and be on our way."

"I don't like that idea," Tadase muttered. "Lead us to the square."

Amu wanted to reach out for Ikuto's hand but thought better of it as she walked beside him. She reminded herself that they'd already been through the city more than once. They could make their way back to the docks at a run without getting lost. Kiseki and Tadase could not say the same.

Ikuto kept his back straight and his head held high as he walked with Amu at gunpoint through the city. He didn't like having Kiseki armed behind him but there was little that he could do. "Are you sure," he muttered out of the side of his mouth while Kiseki and Tadase paused to admire something expensive in the rubble.

"No," Amu whispered back. "But I think we have to try."

Ikuto didn't respond. Tadase and Kiseki had finished looking at whatever had distracted them and were once again watching them. So he kept his mouth shut and walked with Amu through the crumbling city.

The square sat pristine in the middle of everything. The Grand Library loomed like a castle on the far edge of it. Despite having been there before, the place still felt eerie for its perfection.

"This is the place," Amu said as she came to a stop near the center of the square. "Can't you feel the magic here?"

"Sure," Kiseki said as he rolled his eyes and motioned with his gun for Amu to open the book. "Tell us what we need to do."

Amu let the book fall open in her hands. She skimmed through the pages until she found the one that spoke of the binding. "First, you must take a knife and cut your palm to expose your blood to the magic. It will infuse with you through the wound."

Ikuto raised his hands when Tadase turned his gun on him. "I will stand here quietly."

"If you try anything," Tadase warned him. "I will shoot you."

"Understood."

Kiseki pulled an ornate dagger from his belt. He slapped it into his palm and dragged it across his flesh, not caring as he cut a little too deep.

Tadase, a bit more squeamish, took his knife from his belt and dragged a thin scratch across the center of his palm. He dug the tip in deep enough to draw blood but made sure the scratch was shallow.

"Next," Amu said as she continued to read. "You will give an oath to the magic."

"What sort of oath?"

Amu shrugged as she looked up from the book. "It doesn't say exactly but I imagine it would be something along the lines of, I swear to the magic of these lands that I will protect all the innocents of this world and protect the treasures here from those who would do them harm."

She felt a slight tingling in her palms and switched the book to her other hand, shaking out the first in the hopes that her use of them hadn't aggravated her wounds.

"I swear to the magic of these lands to wield the power in whichever way I deem best. I swear to protect the treasure and keep out any that would do it harm," Kiseki declared to the air.

Amu turned to Tadase and raised her eyebrow.

"I swear to the magic of these lands," Tadase started and then paused. "To enjoy the power the magic gives me and rule over the people with grace and poise."

"Sure," Kiseki snorted. "I believe that."

Amu bit back a laugh at them as she looked back down at the book. "Do you feel a prickling in your palms? Do you feel the magic flooding through you?"

"No," Kiseki said as he studied his bloody palm. "Nothing's happening."

Amu bit her lip as she looked down at the book. "Ah, you have one final step to take. Lift your palms to the air, like this," she said as he held up her right hand. "And declare, the magic of the Eighth Sea I bind to me!"

"The magic of the Eighth Sea I bind to me!" Tadase and Kiseki echoed together.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then it was almost as if the entire realm breathed into the square before a blast of power and magic rolled outward. Kiseki and Tadase were thrown from their feet. Amu staggered but Ikuto caught her.

"Run," she told him. "We have to run!"

Ikuto turned without hesitation and led her through the streets once more. "Amu!"

"I've got the book!" She yelled back as she slid around a corner behind him. "Do you have the map?"

Ikuto slapped his chest to feel the rolled-up map against his palm as he sprinted down a street. "I've got it!"

"They'll be stunned for a few minutes. We have to get out before they realize what we're doing!"

Ikuto took a turn so fast that he slammed into the wall of the building on the opposite side of the street. He lost a bit of speed but was thankful that it put Amu next to him rather than behind him. "They have control of the magic now," Ikuto reminded her. "They can manipulate this place however they want."

"We know that," Amu managed between pants as they rounded another corner. The docks were in front of them. They were almost there. "But they don't. And I saw something else in the book about locking the portal. We can seal it with the map and they won't be able to open it!"

"Amu," Tadase's voice rang out over the city. "Where did you run off to, my little bride?"

Amu grimaced as she kept running. They hit the docks and dodged holes and loose boards as they rushed for the wall that led to the portal.

Before their eyes, the buildings around them began to reassemble themselves. The pieces that had broken off and fallen to the streets leapt through the air to return to their places. The wood of the docks beneath their feet became sturdy with every step they took.

"What are you doing down by the harbor, Amu," Tadase's voice turned sharper. "Where do you think you and that mangy pirate are going?"

Ikuto slowed down. He didn't mean to. He felt as though every step he took was through some sort of sticky substance but when he looked, the boards were clean. "Amu!"

Amu turned back before she grabbed his arm and pulled him. "Come on! Don't stop now!"

"I think they're figuring out their powers!"

Amu tugged again. "Don't slow down!"

Ikuto wasn't sure what happened. One minute, he could barely lift his feet. The next, he was flying forward as the magic released him. He shook himself before he tugged Amu along as they made it to the wall. "Hurry!"

Amu jumped down from the dock onto the wall and waited for Ikuto to join her before she ran along the length of it.

"Oh, no, Amu. I don't want you to leave. You're going to stay here and keep me entertained, my little wife."

Amu shuddered as she felt the touch of something across the top of her shoulders. She reached up to brush the sensation away and was amazed when it left. She felt like a fly was buzzing her and she'd managed to shoo it away. "Ikuto, your father said it had to be two, right?"

"Yes!"

"And we know that both Kiseki and Tadase were bound, right?"

Ikuto glanced back at her without slowing as he ran along the wall. "Considering we can hear Tadase's creepy musings and Kiseki lit up back there like a star, I think so."

Amu looked down at her bloody hands. "But your father didn't say it had to be only two, right?"

Ikuto caught her looking at her hand and choked as he ran. "Amu! What did you do?"

"I didn't mean to!" Amu yelped as she flicked away Tadase's use of the magic again. "I was just showing them how!"

"You linked it to you!"

Amu lifted her bloody hand for Ikuto to see as he looked back at her once more. "Not on purpose!"

Ikuto groaned as they neared the portal. "I swear that if you have to stay here, I am going to be so mad!"

Amu couldn't help but laugh as they finally reached the portal. She opened the book to look through it as quickly as she could. "Let me see what it says!"

Ikuto turned back to scan the harbor. "You better read fast! I can see them both standing on the docks. It looks like Kiseki has realized that he can create things because he's making one hell of a ship."

Amu skimmed through the book once more. She muttered to herself as she read as fast as her eyes could. "Go through the portal, Ikuto."

"No," he said firmly. "We said together. I will either go through with you or I will stay here with you."

Amu sighed as she found the passage about the binding. "It does not say it can only be two, but the stronger the will of the oath the more control the person has. So they both control more of the magic than I do."

"What does it say about leaving?"

"Only that two have to be here always."

Ikuto held out his hand for hers. "Then we go. They won't be able to follow."

Amu snapped the book shut as she took his hand. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Ikuto told her as he squeezed her hand in his. "We jump through. Swim to the rocks and lock the portal. Deal?"

"Deal," Amu said with a nod as she turned toward the shimmering wall before them.

Ikuto sucked in a deep breath before he jumped. He did not let go of Amu's hand until they surfaced on the other side. He made certain that she scrambled up the rocks of the unnatural island outside of the portal before he followed her.

"Ikuto!" She yelled as she caught sight of the battle between the dragons and their little ship. "Our crew!"

Ikuto pulled the map from his pocket and watched as it shimmered until it showed the portal once more. It was open. He held the map out and looked at the portal. "Lock."

The ripples in the center of the arch began to slow until the image of the ship Tadase and Kiseki had built and were sailing toward them faded from sight.

Ikuto looked at the map and saw that the portal was locked. "How do we know that they can't just open it again? Or create one somewhere else. What did the book say?"

"Let me see the map," Amu said as she handed him the book. She took the map into her bloody palms and felt the last of the magic she was tethered to fuse with it. "For as long as the new Pirate Kings rule over the Eighth Sea," she told it in a firm and solemn voice. "This portal and all others shall be sealed. No one shall enter the Eighth Sea and none shall leave."

The map, already a burning golden color, began to shine brighter and brighter. Amu held it away from her as she turned her head away from the light.

"Drop it, Amu!" Ikuto yelled as he lunged to knock it from her hands. "It's burning!"

Amu watched as the map consumed itself. "If the portal has to stay locked forever, then there's no reason for a key."

Ikuto nodded as he looked at the ashes floating in the water. He glanced back up at her to grin but was thrown off balance as the island they stood on began to rumble and quake.

"It's sinking!"

Ikuto turned and dove into the water and swam away from the artificial island. He kept the diary in his grasp as he put enough distance between himself and the sinking island that he wouldn't get sucked down with it.

Amu followed him as fast as she was able. Stranded in the water, she could only swim and watch as the two ships and the dragons continued their battle. "We have to help them!"

"How?" Ikuto asked as he treaded water to look at her. "They don't know we're here. Our best bet is that the Navy will give up and retreat once they realize that Kiseki isn't coming back."

Amu watched the battle for a few more minutes before she shook her head. "They're not going to give up."

Ikuto spun in the water. He focused on the last bit of the island as it completely sank away. Then his eyes landed on something on the horizon. Something incredibly familiar that made a lump form in his throat. "Don't worry," he told Amu. "Reinforcements are coming."

.

Morg: Well, well, well.

Ikuto: Oh come on! Just finish this!

Amu: It's easy. Just type the end.

Morg: Not yet!