It's been a little while, but I hope you enjoy this newest installment. I had a lot of fun with it.

I'll be doing my best to get this one out on a monthly basis until it's complete.

True to Erza's word, two Rune Knights were waiting for the women on the platform. "Thank you for coming," the shorter one told them. "As per your request, the ship is ready for departure. If you'll follow us, you can get underway immediately."

Lucy shot an irritated look at Erza, which the redhead did not take notice of. Great, now she wouldn't be able to pick up a toothbrush, or a hairbrush. Or deodorant, for that matter. She was going to be one miserable, ripe human being if this job lasted any real length of time. There was no way she was asserting herself in front of two authority figures and Erza at the same time, so she was stuck going along for the ride for now. Hopefully someone on one of the two ships would have the basic necessities she required. But if anyone – even Erza – had the gall to point out anything about her situation while on this job, Lucy was going to deck them. Even if she ended up breaking her hand on Erza's armor.

"Thank you," Erza replied with a firm nod. "We would like to reach the sugar transport ship as soon as possible. How long will it take to ferry us out to it?"

"No more than a day," the first knight replied, clearly the one in charge. "The ship is relatively close to Hargeon. The boat will take you out, and you'll reach your destination by mid-morning tomorrow." She indicated that they should follow her with a sweep of her arm. "This way. Since the attacks have been occurring Bosco waters instead of Fiore's, there hasn't been much we can do without the proper channels running their course."

"So that's why we've been hired." Lucy nodded in understanding as she side-eyed the pair of Rune Knights. "A few mages, hired by the transport company, to defend their shipment is less of political gaffe than the army 'invading' another country's waters."

The Rune Knight smiled slyly at the celestial mage. "I wouldn't know anything about it. We have no hand in any political maneuvers of Fiore's government," she told them with a twinkle in her eye. "We're just here to caution you that, while guilds under Era's authority have the autonomy to cross country borders without inciting an incident by itself, please do not do anything that would get you landed in prison. Era's ability to negotiate for mages belonging to a country other than the one in which they have been imprisoned is... not as strong."

"So you're saying that we're on our own if we call too much attention to ourselves." Erza let out a snort. "Understood."

As they made their way to the harbor, Lucy wondered how long Erza's temporary sugar fix was going to last. For all that the smoothie had been delicious, the actual amount of fructose in it wasn't very high – especially when compared to the daily dosage that Erza's body was accustomed to receiving. And then they'd be… stuck on a boat together… for almost an entire day.

Could Lucy possibly convince Virgo to bring her treats from the Celestial World for Erza, just to tide her teammate over until they reached the mother-lode of sugar? It might be worth a shot. Lengthening her stride a little, as she had begun to fall back slightly, Lucy caught up to Erza and tapped her elbow. Now that Lucy had her attention, she related her idea to the redhead.

Relief swept across Erza's face, and she grasped Lucy's hands in her own without slowing her pace in following the Rune Knights, forcing the blonde into a very awkward position as she kept up with her. "That would be… that would…" Erza sniffed hard, her eyes welling up with tears of intense gratitude. "You are so kind to me, Lucy," she gushed.

The red of embarrassment crept through Lucy's face, as she keenly felt the silent but attentive gaze of their accompanying Rune Knights. "It's… It's no big deal, Erza," she told her, sweat sliding down her cheek. "What else are friends for?" Probably not this, she internally conceded. The offer arose mostly out of a sense of self-preservation. Lucy couldn't help feeling a little guilty about that, seeing how happy it made Erza... and more than a bit conflicted over the thought that she was offering to - essentially - become Erza's drug dealer.

The heretofore silent Rune Knight coughed politely, drawing the pair's attention to him. "We've arrived at the harbor," he informed them politely, yet there was a distinct curl of amusement in his lips as Erza's released Lucy's hands and returned to her businesslike demeanor. "The ship is docked down this way."

"Good. Tell me, is the ship captained, or will we be in charge of sailing her ourselves?"

It was a good question, and one Lucy mentally kicked herself for not having asked about that particular detail prior to now.

"She has a captain already," the first Rune Knight reassured them, her gaze on Lucy's panicked expression as she did so. "So there will be no need to sail her yourselves. There is a crewman on board, as well, to take the helm if the need arises."

A rush of air left Lucy's lungs. "Oh thank god."

Erza glanced at her companion curiously, but did not see fit to comment on Lucy's obvious relief. "One less concern for us, then," she told them. "This will leave us free to come up with a battle tactic, Lucy."

The blonde nodded, her relief swiftly turning to resignation. "Got it." Honestly, they hadn't even gone out to sea yet and she already felt like she was adrift. Erza had quite the way of bringing to the surface Lucy's full range of emotions in a short span of time.

Though it did bring up the issue in Lucy's mind about how they were to fight a creature of the sea effectively, given that neither of them could enter the water freely, and Lucy no longer had Aquarius.

Regardless, it was with relatively amazing swiftness that Lucy found herself standing at the dock slip of the boat that would take them out onto the open ocean. It was hardly more than a dinghy, she realized with a surge of dread. It was a fishing boat, with what appeared to be a small cabin, with a bunk bed below decks, but contained very little else aside from the rigging and fishing gear. The close accommodations would be tough to share with Erza for the time it would take them to get there, and they would clearly be sharing the bed given that the captain's other half would be taking one of the bunks for himself so he could switch with the captain halfway. It was going to be a rough night for her, the blonde was certain.

Lucy did spy a coffeepot in there, however, so at least she wouldn't have to worry about her caffeine fix. That was something, at least. Erza's sugar withdrawal would be enough to contend with on its own.

"Cozy," was all Erza had to say about the close quarters in which they found themselves. The assessment wasn't… incorrect, Lucy had to acknowledge. "Excuse me, Captain," the mage addressed the older man in whose care they had been left. "Do you have a sea chart of where we're going?"

He let out a chuckle. "It's just 'chart,' miss. Adding 'sea' to it would be redundant. And I do, but I need to finish a couple of last minute preparations first. As soon as we're under way, I'll get that for you lovely ladies."

While he hustled about along with his crewmate, Lucy turned to Erza. The woman's sugar fix must be wearing off, Lucy realized, spotting the telltale tapping of Erza's gauntleted finger against the small table at which they sat. "So," she addressed Erza, hoping to forestall the redhead from taking command of the vessel herself in her impatience (wouldn't be the first time Lucy had seen her do just that). "How are we going about this?"

Erza gazed at her curiously. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I mean… how are we going to fight that sea monster? For that matter," Lucy added, "did the Rune Knights happen to mention what kind of sea monster we'll be dealing with?"

"A soon-to-be-dead one," Erza replied, a dark look in her brown eyes.

Never stand between Erza and her sugar! Lucy thought to herself. "Right," she agreed aloud, sweat running down the back of her neck. "But aside from that, is it a sea serpent?" She thought she might recall Erza having said that, but she wasn't completely certain. "A giant shark? A kraken? A species of mole? Because I'm telling you right now – I'm not handling tentacles. No thank you. Not happening."

Her companion regarded Lucy sternly. "Isn't that something you should have found out before agreeing to come with me?"

There was no agreement! None! You dragged me here! Against my will and without a toothbrush!

Lucy cleared her throat, pushing all of her protestations to the back of her mind. "Be that as it may. Any ideas?"

With a shake of her head, Erza closed her eyes and sighed. "No, they didn't happen to mention it. I'm not sure that they knew, however. Otherwise that information would have been included in the job flyer. I assume it's a sea serpent, however. They're the most common nuisance to ships in this area of the sea. Krakens are usually farther out by the deep water trenches. Sea serpents prefer the warmer waters of the Boscoan Sea."

That made sense to the celestial mage. "Okay. So how do we fight this thing without it taking the ship down with it?" This was the most pressing concern for Lucy. She no longer had Aquarius's key, after all. And even if she did, the violent mermaid wasn't exactly the greatest option when she wanted to keep the ship afloat as well.

"I do have a plan, yes."

Lucy leaned forward a little, excited that Erza already had an idea about what to do. "What is it?"

"We hit it first," Erza stated simply. "We hit it really hard and make it regret ever threatening the sugar shipments."

Lucy outright slapped her forehead at that. "Oh boy," she muttered. "This is going to be more difficult than I thought."