Morg: Heyo! Ready or not! Here's another chapter!

Ikuto: Who isn't ready?

Amu: Me.

Morg: Man, I don't know. Does it matter?

Ikuto: I suppose not.

Amu: I'm right here.

Morg: I know everyone will enjoy it.

Ikuto: I know what can guarantee that they will.

Amu: You both suck.

~The Eighth Sea~

"Well, Captain? What do you think of all of my hard work?"

Ikuto growled as he pushed Amu back against the wall of the Captain's quarters. He pressed in close to keep her there and grinned as she laughed. "I think the ship looks great, Amu. It's the teasing I could do without."

"Don't lie to me," Amu said breathlessly as Ikuto skimmed her nose with his own. "You've enjoyed it."

"I have," Ikuto moaned. "But I'm going to enjoy this more."

"Yeah?" Amu asked as she looked up into his dark eyes. "Show me what you want to enjoy?"

Ikuto pressed his mouth to hers in a hard kiss. He slid one of his hands from her waist up to her hair and tangled his fingers in it as he tilted her head to hold Amu exactly where he wanted her. He was a pirate captain. He knew exactly how to plunder what he wanted.

And he wanted her.

"Uh, Captain?"

Ikuto ignored the nervous voice outside of the door they were pressed next to as he licked his way into Amu's mouth. She opened up beautifully for him, moaning in such a sweet way as he tasted her.

"Captain! Ikuto! Seriously! Please, come out here!"

Ikuto groaned as he pulled away from Amu's swollen lips. "If we aren't about to be attacked then Rhythm is going for a swim."

"I heard that, Captain. Get out here!"

Amu stayed pressed against the wall. Her chest was heaving as Ikuto stomped out of the room. She raised a trembling hand to her lips before she shook her head and followed him.

Ikuto scowled at Rhythm as he came out the door. "What?"

"Look!"

Following Rhythm's finger, Ikuto looked off at the horizon in their sailing direction. There were black dots in the sky. Ones that were growing larger and larger far too quickly. "Get me the spyglass!"

Amu stumbled to the ship's edge as she looked over the sea. "They're flying!"

Ikuto cursed as Yaya thrust the spyglass into his hands. He lifted it and swept his gaze over the horizon until it landed on the creatures coming toward them. "Dragons!"

Kairi stepped up next to Ikuto and accepted the spyglass when it was offered to him. "What do we do?"

"What can we do?" Ikuto asked as he turned to the small crew he had with him. "We've been sailing to a group of islands we believed to have dragons. We cannot be surprised that we're encountering dragons. Not when we're this close."

"But we're not that close yet," Amu said as she stepped up to Ikuto's side. She wrapped her arm around his waist as he rested his across the top of her shoulders. "We have another few days of sailing left before we were supposed to reach them."

"Well," Rhythm said as he gestured to the sky. "Looks like they're coming to us."

"What are we going to do, Ikuto?" Miki asked quietly as she looked out over the waves.

Ikuto looked at Dia but she shook her head. "I can't see anything. I don't know what their intentions are."

Ikuto sighed as he looked at each member of his little crew. "We're going to stand here and wait. We're going to see if they're beasts or if they can be reasoned with. We will not attack unless they attack first. I won't order any of you below deck."

"We wouldn't go," Miki told him as she glanced back at him. "We chose to come with you. We're with you now no matter what."

Amu hugged Ikuto tighter as she pressed her cheek against his chest. "No matter what."

Ikuto nodded to his crew before he pressed a kiss against the top of Amu's head. "Then we'll stand our ground and see what happens when they get here."

Waiting for the dragons was almost agony. Partly because they could not just stop sailing the ship. They closed the sails to slow their momentum and then gathered around the helm while Ikuto held their course.

Amu stood with Miki on one side of her and Yaya on the other as they watched the dragons grow larger and larger. "The closer they get," Amu whispered to the other girls though she knew everyone could hear her. "The more I realize how gigantic they are."

Yaya nodded. "All we can do is hope they're friendly."

"Please," Miki said to the winds. "Let them be friendly."

The roars reached them first.

Amu shuddered as Miki grasped her hand and Yaya tucked herself into Kairi's arms. When Ikuto reached back, she put her hand in his but didn't allow him to pull her forward.

Nadeshiko and Rhythm hugged each other.

Only Dia stood apart. She kept one hand clenched in a fist against her heart while the other rested lightly on the railing of the deck. Her eyes stayed trained on the dragons as they flew closer.

Amu blinked as Dia turned her head to meet her gaze. Their eyes locked and Amu felt as though she understood what Dia could not say. Then Dia's gaze cut to Ikuto and returned to Amu. It was barely a flicker of her eyes but Amu saw it.

She nodded once as she swallowed hard.

Another roar seemed to make the boards beneath their feet rattle.

"Seriously," Amu muttered to Miki. "We just fixed this ship. I swear."

Miki smiled weakly and squeezed Amu's hand. "I'll help you give them what for if they do any damage."

Amu resisted Ikuto's tug as he tried to pull her closer to his side once more. She squeezed his hand and held on for dear life but stayed behind him as another roar made her knees tremble.

Dia looked back at the three dragons approaching them. They each glinted in the sun. The light reflected off their colorful scales in rainbows. They were almost too dazzling to look at. They were beyond beautiful.

Amu gasped as the first dragon flew over their small ship while letting out a roar. The second and third broke off to round them before coming to hover far enough away from them that the beats of their giant wings did not send them staggering in the gusts of wind.

The first, that flew over them rose high into the sky before it doubled back in an arc to dive toward the ship. It veered off at the last second to skim the top of the water with its feet before stopping next to the other two.

"You have passed the first test."

Ikuto looked from one dragon to the next. It was impossible to tell who had spoken. "We don't mean you any harm."

"But you do mean to find us. Correct?"

Ikuto swallowed hard as he nodded. "We are looking for the last piece of the map."

"It was brought to us long ago," a new voice said. "We guard it."

"You have passed the first test but there will be more before you are able to claim the map piece."

Ikuto dipped his head in another nod. He gathered his courage as he felt Amu squeeze his hand again. "What must we do?"

"One of you will join us now. The rest will follow on your ship."

Dia turned to look at Amu again.

Amu dipped her head in the smallest of nods. "I volunteer!"

"No!" Ikuto spun as he pulled on Amu's hand. "You cannot go!"

"Accepted."

Amu smiled as she let go of Miki's hand and stepped up to Ikuto. She pressed her hand against his cheek as he stared down at her with tears in his eyes. "I love you."

"Amu," he gasped. "Don't go."

"One of us has to go, Ikuto. And while I can sail, I'm much better at fixing things. You have to follow with the rest of the crew. You're a few days away. I know you'll make it there soon."

Ikuto lifted his arms to crush Amu against his chest. "I don't want you to go. We're a few days away. If something happens, I won't be able to save you."

Amu's smile weakened as she blinked back tears. She did not pull her hand away from his face as she made him meet her eyes. "You cannot send someone else. You are needed here. It has to be me."

"Amu."

"I love you."

"It is time to go."

"I love you, Ikuto."

"No, Amu."

"The first trial was passed. It is time for the second to begin."

"I love you, Ikuto. Now. Let me go."

Ikuto forced his hands to drop from where he had his fingers digging into Amu's shoulder and back. "I love you, too."

Amu smiled as she leaned up on her toes to press a gentle kiss against his lips. "I'll see you in a few days."

Ikuto stood stunned as he watched Amu step away from them to the side of the ship.

Dia stepped forward to put her hand on Ikuto's arm.

Amu faced the three dragons with a straight back and her chin up. "I am ready."

"Climb to the top of the mast and jump. One of us will catch you."

The gasp she heard behind her had Amu smiling. All her life, she'd loved the feeling of flying when she'd jumped. All her life, she'd been preparing for this moment that she hadn't known was coming.

Amu turned and smiled at the rest of the crew. Then, without a word, she made her way to the small mast and began to climb the rigging. She reached the Crow's Nest and then climbed the last of the mast. She felt a small moment of fear as her brain reminded her that she was not tethered by a rope. A slip from that height that caused her to hit the deck would be very painful. Falling into the water wrong meant her death.

Amu pushed the fear away as she steadied herself. She felt the ship move beneath her on the waves before she let go and stood to her full height.

With one last look down at the crew, Amu looked out at the dragons. "I'm ready."

"Then jump."

Spreading her arms out to the side, Amu took a deep breath.

Then she jumped.

She jumped out and away from the ship's deck just as the wave made it sway slightly to the side. She would not hit the deck if the dragons went back on their promise to catch her.

Arcing through the air, Amu kept her gaze out over the ocean. She was poised perfectly that if she had to, she could turn her jump into a dive without harming herself beyond being bruised and tired.

Just as she brought her hands closer to her sides to press them over her head, a large body of glittering scales appeared beneath her.

Amu landed hard on the dragon's back. She scrambled to catch a hold of the scales as the breath was pushed from her lungs. She caught onto the spot where the dragon's wing connected to its back and held on as she tried to remember how to breathe.

Gasping, Amu blinked her eyes open against the wind. Looking over her shoulder, she caught sight of the small ship growing smaller and smaller behind her.

Amu sat up a little higher once she was sure of herself and how the dragon moved. Then she lifted her hands and laughed as she tipped her head back to look up at the sky.

Flying.

She was flying.

XXX

Ikuto stared hard at the horizon.

Dia stood at his side. She kept her hands to herself as she also watched the spot where the water met the sky. "She will be fine."

"You couldn't see what was happening when they were approaching."

"I couldn't. Not until they decided to test first and see if we would attack. We didn't attack despite our fear. So we passed."

Ikuto's hands tightened on the helm. "But you knew Amu would go with them."

Dia nodded. "I knew the moment the dragon above us joined the other two that it had to be her."

Ikuto shook his head. "She could be in danger."

"She's not. She will pass their tests, Ikuto. And we will arrive in two days' time. You will be able to hold her again when we get there."

Ikuto's shoulders slumped as all his fight left him. He was worried. He was so worried. "I don't want to lose her."

"You won't lose her to the dragons."

He let those words comfort him for a moment before he sighed. "You didn't say that I wouldn't lose her at all."

"I might be able to see pieces of the future, but even I know not to make any sort of promise like that."

Ikuto forced himself to chuckle at her attempt at a joke. "I love her, Dia."

"And she loves you," Dia reassured him. "To the point that she was willing to go with those dragons to help you."

"Is it worth it?"

Dia sighed as she kept her eyes on the sea. That was the question she always dreaded the most. "As much as anything else ever is."

Ikuto shook his head at that answer. But he didn't press her for more. "Have you seen anything about the others since we separated?"

Dia closed her eyes and let her mind go. She usually tried to keep to the future of the people she was with. It was far easier than trying to see someone else's future. But she'd been with the crew for a long time. She knew them even if they weren't physically close to her at the moment. "I see them sailing into a port. There is a close call but they manage to get away. I see them hiding out on the ocean for a few days while putting distance between them and their pursuers."

"I don't know whether to be happy or upset that our plan is working," Ikuto sighed. "I don't like putting them in danger without being there to protect them."

"It is a helpless feeling."

"It is worse," Ikuto said as he finally turned to look at her. "Knowing that even if you do see something going wrong for them we can't change our course and rescue them."

Dia dipped her head in a single nod. "I can spare you those visions."

"I made you a promise, Dia, when you became part of my crew. Do you remember what it was?"

Dia smiled as she lifted her head to meet his gaze. She closed that small amount of space between them and let Ikuto pull her into his side in a hug. "That I'm not alone anymore. That I'll never be alone again."

"I'm here, Dia," Ikuto said against the side of her head as he squeezed his arm around her to pull her closer to him. "I am here and you are not alone. You will tell me what you see because you will not suffer any of these visions alone. We are here. We are your family."

"You take care of me," Dia said softly.

"Family cares for family," Ikuto said firmly.

Dia sniffled as her captain hugged her. "I'll tell you. I won't stay silent in an attempt to spare you or anyone else."

"If you don't want to come to me then tell one of the others."

Dia nodded as she hugged Ikuto back before releasing him. "I swear, Ikuto. I swear I'll tell you what I see."

Ikuto nodded back at her as he let her go so she could gather herself once more. "I am here, Dia. If you need me."

Sniffling, Dia nodded again as she wiped away her tears. "Every day, Ikuto. Every day, I thank the heavens, the earth, the winds, and the sea that you saved me from that place."

"And every day," Ikuto said he used both of his hands to hold the helm in place against a large wave, "I work hard to make sure you never regret coming with us."

Dia laughed as she watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon. The stars began to twinkle in the night sky as she stood at Ikuto's side. "I don't have to see the future to know that I will never regret that decision."

"And I don't need to see it to know that I will never give you a reason to."

Dia nodded again before she turned to head down to the galley. "Don't stay awake all night, Captain. Let Rhythm take over when he comes to offer. You don't want to be exhausted when we reach the island."

Ikuto sighed as he looked up at the stars to make sure that he kept them on course. "I'll think about it."

Dia shook her head as she smiled and went below deck.

Ikuto didn't bother to watch her go. He was too busy praying for the winds to push them harder and faster.

Amu was with the dragons. There was no telling what was happening to her. Even if they didn't mean her harm, they were dragons. They could easily kill her on accident.

With his fears clouding his mind, Ikuto stayed firm in his spot at the helm. If all he could do was steer the ship, then that's what he would do. That's what he would do because it was all he could do. His sister was in danger because of their plan. Amu was with the dragons.

His crew, both parts of it, were counting on him to lead them through.

So he would stand there and steer the ship.

Because it was all he could do.

.

Morg: Well, there's that.

Ikuto: It had such a good start, too!

Amu: I like the ending.

Morg: Because there are dragons?

Ikuto: I don't.

Amu: Because I got away from you.