Disney But Gayer

Vol. 15: Atlantis- The Lost Empire

//TW: Gun violence (not light, like... lots of gun violence), regular violence, parental loss, shipwreck, mentions of drowning, mentions of massacre, death, and religious and cultural insensitivity//
Word Count: 25, 593

~Once Upon a Time~

In 9,600 BCE, an incredibly advanced city called Atlantis was in danger.

A group of ships was flying as fast as they could back to the city, trying to escape the enormous tidal wave following after them.

They had to warn the people before it was too late.

As the ships entered the city, the people in the watchtowers saw the wave.

"Everyone to the shelters! Everyone to the shelters, now!"

The message was spread through the city, the bellringers letting the citizens know there was no time to lose. As the citizens rushed to evacuate, another threat showed itself. A bright light, similar to a star, sending bright red beams around the city.

The royals were outside, and their guards urged them to hurry. "This way, Your Highnesses, quickly!"

"Kida, come on!" The queen took her son's hand and hurried him along. He dropped his doll, pulling against his mother's grip to get back to it.

"Kida, just leave it! There's no time!" The queen knelt down by her son, holding his hands.

He whimpered and looked sadly over her shoulder, reaching out for the doll again.

"Kida, please, just go-" A beam passed over her, and she didn't move out of the way in time. She turned, hypnotized by whatever was in the beam. It turned blue, and she was lost. Her eyes glowed the same blue as the beam, and it lifted her up into whatever it was, taking her away from her son and her people.

Kida cried out in alarm and reached up for his mother, crying harshly in frustration when he realized he couldn't reach her and pull her down.

"Mom," he screamed. "Mom! Mom!"

His father rushed to him, pulling him farther back into the safe area of the city. "Close your eyes, Kida." He wrapped his arms protectively around him as the sheltered walls around the city rose up, a huge protective dome.

Kida clung to his father, sobbing into his clothes as the wave crashed down over the dome. The central part of the city was safely sinking, but all those who hadn't made it in time...

His father held him close. "I know... just close your eyes, look away... you're safe now..."

"...Are you sure...?" he sniffled.

"I promise." He smiled sadly at his son. "As long as I'm here, you'll be safe."

Kida looked up at him and frowned softly. He reached up and clumsily wiped the tears from his father's face. "You really promise? For sure?"

He smiled, nodding. "For absolutely sure." He wiped his son's tears. "I promise."

Kida hugged him tighter, starting to cry again.

He blinked back his own tears, rubbing his son's back. "I know... I know..."

~~~~~~

11,513 years later...

In Washington, D.C, 1914 AD, Milo Thatch, in the basement of a history museum, was giving a mock presentation to practice before seeing the board.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. First off, I'd like to thank the board for taking the time to hear my proposal." He picked up his pointer, gesturing to a map pinned up behind him. "Now, we all know of the legend of Atlantis. A continent somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, that was home to an advanced civilization, possessing technology far beyond our own." He smiled awkwardly, pushing up his glasses. "That, according to our friend Plato here," He tapped the top of a bust of Plato. "-was suddenly struck by-by some cataclysmic event that sank it to the bottom of the sea." He cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses again. "Now, some of you may ask: why Atlantis?" He pulled up a pile of presentation cards. "It's just a myth, isn't it? Pure fantasy. Well, that is where you'd be wrong." He flipped to the next card. "10,000 years before the Egyptians built the pyramids, Atlantis had electricity, advanced medicine, even the power of flight!"

He cleared his throat, calming down. "Impossible, you say? Well, no, no, not for them! You see, numerous ancient cultures all over the globe agree that Atlantis possessed a power source of some kind." He was flipping through his cards at every other word. "More powerful than steam, than-than coal! More powerful than our modern internal combustion engines." He pushed his glasses up once again.

"Gentlemen, I propose we find Atlantis, find that power source, and bring it back up to the surface!" He flipped another card. "Now, this is an illuminated piece of text from a book called The Shepherd's Journal, said to have been a-a firsthand account of Atlantis, and its exact whereabouts. Now, based on a centuries-old translation of a Nordic text, researchers believe the Journal resides in Ireland. But, after comparing the text-" Milo cut himself off, grunting with effort as he struggled to pick up a heavy metal shield. "To-to the runes on this- Viking shield, I found that- that one of the letters had been mistranslated. So, by removing this letter and replacing it with the correct one-" He rubbed away the chalk writing on the blackboard with his sleeve, almost dropping the shield. "We find the key to Atlantis, The Shepherd's Journal, is not in- in Ireland, but Iceland." He smiled winningly at his props.

"Pause for effect..." he mumbled. He let out a huge sigh as he set down the shield. "Gentlemen, I- uh, I'll take your questions now."

His phone rang. He sighed, leaning over the blackboard to get it. "Cartography and Linguistics, Milo Thatch speaking."

The other person spoke, and his face fell. "Yeah- yeah, just a second..." He hung up, sifting through the sea of props in his 'office' to get to the boiler, adjusting some nobs and banging on it with a wrench, hopefully fixing it.

He slid back over the blackboard, picking up the phone again. "How's that, better?"

The other man on the phone gave him affirmation and he nodded. "Alright-"

"Don't let it happen again!"

"Yes, sir..."

He hung up, sighing softly. "Ok..." He slid back down the chalkboard and flipped it, showing a map. "As you can see, gentlemen, I've charted a map that myself and a crew will follow to the Southern coast of Iceland where we will retrieve the Journal!"

His alarm clock chimed. He grinned. "Showtime..." He quickly collected his cards, more scrolls of notes, and grabbed his jacket. "This is it. I am finally getting out of the dungeon." He smiled softly.

A tube shot down through the mail system. He frowned in confusion, opening it and reading the message.

"Dear Mr. Thatch, this is to inform you that your meeting has been moved up from 4:30 pm to 3:30 pm... what? But that was-"

Another tube went down.

"Dear Mr. Thatch, due to your absence, the board has voted to reject your proposal, have a nice weekend, Mr. Harcourts office?!" He slammed the letter down. "They can't do this to me!"

~~~~~~

"I swear, that young Thatch..." Mr. Harcourt shook his head. "Gets crazier every year. If I ever hear the word 'Atlantis' again, I'll step in front of a bus!"

Another member of the board laughed. "I'll push you."

"And I'd thank you for it," he chuckled in return.

They all laughed, and then they were interrupted with a voice they dreaded.

Milo's.

"Mr. Harcourt!"

"Good lord!"

"There he is!"

Mr. Harcourt stepped back, almost in fear. "How did you find us?"

"Mr. Harcourt, please, if you would just listen to me-"

The members of the board scattered. Mr. Harcourt tried hiding behind a potted plant.

Milo quickly found him, rushing up to him, keeping a tight grip on his papers. "Mr. Harcourt?"

"Where's a security guard when you need him?" Harcourt darted out from behind the plant and bolted to the exit.

"Wait- Mr. Harcourt!" Milo raced after him, almost losing one of his papers. "Sir- please, I have new evidence that- Mr. Harcourt!"

Harcourt summoned a taxi and quickly got inside, ordering the driver to move them forward.

Milo threw himself at the car, stopping it and leaning into Mr. Harcourt's window. "Mr. Harcourt! Sir, just- one moment of your time. See, I-I've done more research, there's evidence! Solid, true evidence, and if you would just listen-"

"Our museum funds scientific expeditions based on facts," Mr. Harcourt explained condescendingly, "Not legends and folklore. Besides, we need you here. We depend on you."

He blinked. "You- you do?"

"Yes! What with winter coming, that boiler's going to need a lot of attention."

His face fell. "Mr. Harcourt, I'm more than just a janitor-"

"Heinz!"

The taxi driver hit the gas, and they began to move forward. Milo gasped and ran after it.

"No- Mr. Harcourt! There's- there's a journal! In I-Iceland! I'm sure of it this time!"

"Faster, Heinz." Mr. Harcourt shut the blinds.

Milo took a deep breath and threw himself at the front of the car. He clung to the front side, trying to get through to him. "Sir, I didn't want it to come to this, but- uh- this-this is a letter of resignation! If you reject my proposal-"

Heinz, unfazed by a man on the windshield, swerved and threw him off. Milo flew off the car and onto the street, landing harshly on the cobblestone.

"I'll quit!"

Mr. Harcourt must have made another order, because the car began to back up until his window was at level with Milo again.

"You'll quit? And what then? Flush your career down the toilet just like your grandfather?"

"I mean it, sir! If- if you refuse to fund my proposal-"

"You have a lot of potential," Mr. Harcourt interrupted. "Don't throw it all away chasing fairy tales."

"I can prove it! I can prove Atlantis exists!"

"You want to go on an expedition? Here." He tossed a dime at Milo. "Take a trolley to the Potomac and jump in! Maybe the cold water will clear your head. Heinz!"

The taxi driver stepped on the gas and they were off again.

Milo sighed sadly, weakly picking himself up and looking at the dime. He pocketed it, collected his papers, and began the long walk back to his apartment.

~~~~~~

It had started to rain as he was making his way home, and now he was soaked to the bone and shivering.

He opened his door and took off his coat. "I'm home..." he called. "Fluffy? C'mere kitty, where are you?" He set down his papers and moved to turn on the lights. Nothing happened. He groaned.

"Great, power outage."

"Milo James Thatch?"

He blinked. Lightning crashed outside and the room was lit up for a moment. There was a woman, just standing in his apartment. "Wha- who are you? How'd you get in my apartment?"

"I came down the chimney," she said quietly, slipping her coat off. "Ho... ho... ho..."

Fluffy padded into the room and hissed at the strange woman, leaping into Milo's arms and pawing at his shirt.

He smiled softly down at his cat. "There you are. I'll get her out in a second, ok?" He scritched behind his cat's ears as Fluffy made himself comfortable, draped over his shoulders. "Ok, lady, I don't need your weird metaphors, I'd like you to leave my apartment and fix my lights if it was your fault. I don't need anything else to go wrong today, thanks a lot, buh bye." He opened his apartment door and gestured for her to leave.

She scowled. "My name is Helga Sinclair. I'm acting on behalf of my employer, who has a most intriguing proposal for you. Are you interested?" She jerked her shoulder so the strap of her dress slipped down.

Milo made a face. "Can you just- who is your employer, and how can I take myself off their hit list?"

"Please, you're not on a hit list. You're a... person of interest." She stood and sauntered over to him. "My employer is a man called Mr. Whitmore."

Milo backed away from her. "I'm not familiar... and I'd rather be uninteresting, thanks." He reached out and lifted her dress strap, not at all intrigued by whatever she was doing.

"I really think you'll want to take up this offer."

"And why's that? You'll fix my lights?"

Helga produced a gun and cocked it, aiming at the ceiling but ready to fire at Milo.

"Alright then, I'll go, sure, sure-" He hurriedly grabbed his coat and waited for her to lead him to wherever she wanted him to go.

~~~~~~

Leaving a stubborn Fluffy behind, they got into Helga's car and drove through the dark rain until they came upon a distant manor.

The car parked, and Helga hastily pulled Milo out of the car and into the grand estate, leading him through the halls.

"This way," she ordered. "Don't drip on the Caravaggio. Step lively, Mr. Whitmore does not like to be kept waiting."

Milo eyed her nervously, but did as told, scared of her pulling a gun on him again.

She pulled him into an elevator. "You will address him as 'Mr. Whitmore' or 'sir.' You will stand unless asked to be seated. Keep your sentences short and to the point. Are we clear?"

Milo nodded. "Yup."

She smiled a little cruelly. "And relax... he doesn't bite. Often." The elevator stopped and Helga pushed Milo out.

"O-often? What does that mean-"

The elevator doors closed, and Helga was gone back upstairs. Milo swallowed nervously.

He walked into the room, cuffing his sleeves. There was a painting above the fireplace, of his grandfather and another man.

"Grandpa...?"

"Finest explorer I ever met."

Milo jumped, looking down at an old man, wearing a robe and in an uncomfortable-looking yoga position. "Uh- hello?"

"Preston Whitmore," he introduced himself, changing his position. "Pleasure to meet you, Milo! Join me in a little yoga?"

"Oh- no, no thanks..."

"Suit yourself!"

Milo smiled awkwardly. "Um- did you really know my grandfather?"

"Oh, yeah. Met old Thaddeus back in Georgetown class of '66. We stayed close friends until... the end of his days. Even dragged me along on some of his fool expeditions. Thatch was crazy as a fruit bat, he was. He spoke of you often."

"He did?" Milo smiled softly. "He never mentioned you."

"Oh, he wouldn't," Whitmore admitted. "He knew how much I liked my privacy. I keep a low profile."

Milo nodded. "Uh-huh... Mr. Whitmore, should I be wondering why I'm here and why you sent a woman with a gun to collect me, or is this a normal daily routine for you?"

"Look on that table." He pointed to an end table with his foot.

Milo nodded again, a bit glad to be away from Mr. Whitmore. He seemed a bit unhinged.

On the table was a package wrapped in string and brown paper. It said:

To Milo
With Love,
Thaddeus Thatch

"This- this is from my grandfather?"

Whitmore nodded. "He brought that package to me years ago. He said if anything were to happen to him I should give it to you when you were ready. Whatever that means."

Milo tore the package open revealing...

"The Shepherd's Journal..." He laughed excitedly. "This- this is it! Mr. Whitmore, this is the key to getting to Atlantis!"

"Atlantis? Ha! I wasn't born yesterday, son." Whitmore stood up and walked behind a changing screen to put on clothes instead of his robe.

"No- no, Mr. Whitmore, look." He gingerly opened the book, taking a moment to just revel in its glory. "Clues, coordinates, it's all right here!" He laughed again. "My god..."

"Yeah, looks like gibberish to me."

"Well- that's because it's in a dead language that no one speaks anymore, it's still language." He flipped through the book, biting down on his knuckle to keep from shrieking. "Oh, it's all right here... this is incredible..." he whispered to himself.

"So it's... useless?"

"No- no, not useless. Just a little difficult. I've spent my entire life studying and learning dead languages, this is not gibberish to me."

Whitmore shrugged. "Eh, it's probably fake." He walked out from behind the screen, now dressed in a tan suit and a cane on his arm.

Milo took a deep breath and gently set the book down. "With all due respect, Mr. Whitmore, my grandfather would have known if this was a fake. I would know if it was fake! I will put everything I own, everything I believe in at stake. This is the genuine Shepherd's Journal."

"Alright, alright." He held up his hands. "So what do you want to do with it?"

"Well- I- I gotta get funding. I'll- the museum-"

"They'll never believe you," Whitmore countered.

"I'll show them! I will make them believe!"

"Like you did today?"

Milo faltered. "Well- no, but- how did you know- nevermind! Forget them! I'll find Atlantis on my own if I have to! I- I'll rent a rowboat if that's what I have to do!"

Whitmore smiled widely. "Congratulations, Milo. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. But forget the rowboat, son! We'll travel in style. It's all been arranged, this whole ball of wax." He pressed a button on his desk, and from it slowly rose an incredibly detailed model of a ship. Milo gasped.

"But... why?"

"For years your granddad bent my ear with stories about that old book. I didn't buy it for a minute, so I finally got fed up and made a bet with the old coot. I said, 'Thatch, if you ever actually find that so-called journal, not only will I finance the expedition, but I'll kiss you full on the mouth!' Then he found the darn thing, and never let it be said I don't follow through on my promises. Now I know your grandfather's gone, Milo, God rest his soul, but I'll get you to Atlantis, if it's there."

Milo's eyes widened, picking up the picture frame Mr. Whitmore had gestured to. True to his word, it was photographic evidence that he'd gone through with his kissing promise. They didn't look very upset with the outcome. He smiled softly. "Thank you, Mr. Whitmore..."

Whitmore's smile turned a little sad, almost reminiscent. "Your grandpa was a great man. You probably don't even realize how great. Those... buffoons at the museum dragged him down, made a laughingstock of him. He died a broken man. If I could bring back just one shred of proof... that'd be enough for me. Ah, Thatch..." he tapered off.

Milo smiled softly. "I understand, Mr. Whitmore... thank you, again. You'll get your proof, I know it."

"Well, then, what are we standing around for? We got work to do!"

"Well- yes, we'll need to get a crew, and- and-"

"Taken care of!"

"Engineers and geologists!"

"Got 'em all. The best of the best. Gaetan Moliere, geology and excavation. The man has a nose for dirt. Vincenzo Santorini, demolitions. Busted him out of a Turkish prison. Audrey Ramirez. Don't let her age fool you, she's learned more about engines than you or I will ever know. They're the same crew that brought the journal back."

"Woah... where was it?"

"Iceland."

"I knew it! I knew it wasn't in Ireland, I knew it!"

"All we need now is an expert in gibberish," Whitmore pointed at Milo. "So it's decision time. You can build on the foundation your grandfather left you, or you can go back to the boiler room."

Milo let out a breath, falling into a chair. It was truly sinking in. "This is real... this is happening..."

"Now you're catching on, good on you, son."

"Well- first, I have to quit my job-"

"It's done, you resigned this afternoon."

"I-I did? I mean, I threatened to, but-"

Whitmore nodded, cutting him off. "I don't like to leave loose ends."

"My apartment, I have to give notice-"

"Taken care of."

"My clothes?"

"Packed."

"My books?"

"In storage."

"My cat?" He raised an eyebrow, unable to believe he could have gotten Fluffy in that short amount of time.

Mew. Fluffy appeared draped across his shoulders, purring contentedly and kneading his hair, shoving his glasses off-kilter.

Milo's eyes widened and he fixed his glasses, picking up his cat and putting him in his lap, petting him. "My gosh..."

Whitmore smirked smugly, and then his expression mellowed. "Your granddad had a saying. 'Our lives are remembered by the gifts we leave our children.' This journal is his gift to you, Milo. Atlantis is waiting. What do you say?"

He laughed excitedly. "I'm your man, Mr. Whitmore! I-I-I-I-I'm so excited, this is in-incredible, I mean- I mean-" He laughed breathlessly, positioning Fluffy on his shoulders and wringing his coat in his hands.

Whitmore smiled a little nervously. "You ok, son?"

"I'm great! I'm so excited- I can barely-barely hold it in!"

~~~~~~

And he couldn't, in more ways than one.

He hadn't realized how easily he could get seasick...

"Carrots... why are there always carrots... I didn't even eat carrots-" He gagged again.

Attention, the P.A. system boomed. All hands to the launch bay. To whoever took the 'L' from the Motor Pool sign, haha we are all very amused.

Milo quickly hurried down into the lower levels of the ship, looking around for someone to check in with. He grinned, hurrying up to someone who wasn't actively moving. "Excuse me, I- I need to report in?"

That someone turned and was revealed to be... Helga Sinclair.

"Yes, Mr. Thatch?"

He jumped, startled by the familiar face. "Oh! It- it's you! You- you don't have a gun this time, right?"

She only grinned.

"Ok then. But, about the reporting in-"

"Blondie! I got a bone to pick with you!"

Helga rolled her eyes and told Milo, "Hold that thought. What is it this time, Cookie?!"

An older man with a thick Southern accent glared at her. "You done stuffed my wagon full to bustin' with non-essentials! Look at all this." He grabbed a box, digging through it. "Cinnamon, oregano, ci-lan-tro. What in the cockadoodle is ci-lan-tro?" He threw the box back into the back of his wagon. He sighed, picking up a head of lettuce. "And what is this?"

Helga rubbed her temples. "That would be lettuce."

"Lettuce- lettuce?!" He frowned.

"It's a vegetable, Cookie. The men need the four basic food groups."

He snorted. "I'll give ya yer four basic food groups!" He held up three fingers. "Beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard!"

The intercom system beeped and the light turned red.

Helga sneered. "All right, cowboy, pack it up and move it out!"

Cookie grumbled and shoved the 'non-essential' vegetables back into his wagon.

The P.A. intercom beeped again. Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress.

Milo hurried to join the line, looking around awkwardly before the floor underneath them lowered, going down to another floor and revealing a life-size version of the model Mr. Whitmore had shown him.

"Woah..." He kept walking with the crowd, marveling at the ship. After a moment, he bumped into someone, seemingly moving too slow in his awe for other people to wait. He turned, apologizing, when he noticed the man seemed familiar. One of the people who'd brought back the journal...

"Hey, junior," he spoke with an Italian accent, "If you're looking for the pony rides, they're back there."

Milo blushed. "Well- I'm actually on the main- main team..." He noticed something had fallen from his cart. "You- um, you dropped your... dynamite..." He nervously picked it up and handed it to him. "What- what else do you have- um, in there?"

He started listing off items, counting on his fingers, "Oh, eh... gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, fuses, wicks, glue, and uh... paper clips. Big ones. You know, just office supplies."

Milo's eyes widened. "O-oh... ok..." He waved him off and walked away, not wanting to be that close to a cart full of explosives.

"Milo!" Mr. Whitmore walked up to him with a huge man by his side. "Where've you been? I want you to meet Commander Rourke. He led the Iceland team that brought the journal back."

Milo smiled, holding out his hand to shake the commander's. "It's nice to meet you."

Rourke shook his hand roughly. "Milo Thatch. It's a pleasure to meet the grandson of old Thaddeus. I see you got that journal. Nice pictures, but... I prefer a good western myself."

Milo held the book closer to his chest, nodding and turning back to Mr. Whitmore. "This is incredible... when you settle a bet, you- you settle a bet..."

Whitmore shrugged. "Your granddad always believed you couldn't put a price on the pursuit of knowledge."

Milo nodded, looking out on the ship. "Well, this- this'll be small change compared to what we'll learn on this trip..."

"Yes," Rourke agreed, "This should be enriching for all of us."

The P.A. system beeped. Attention, all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes.

"It's time," Rourke noted. He saluted and said, "Mr. Whitmore."

"Rourke," he responded. He saluted back.

Milo's eyes widened and he raced onto the ship. "Bye, Mr. Whitmore!"

Whitmore waved. "Makes us proud, son!"

Milo smiled, waving once more before the doors shut and they prepared to launch. As he entered the ship, looking out the windows, the crew began their work.

"Rig ship for dive!"

"Aye, sir! Rig ship for dive. Lieutenant, take her down! Diving officer, submerge the ship! Make the depth 1-5-0 feet."

"Make the depth 1-5-0!"

"Dive, dive! Five degrees down bubble."

"Take us down!"

Mr. Whitmore waved them off, giving them a thumbs up and crossing his fingers. Milo waved back.

The ship dove beneath the surface, and Milo gawked out the window. He hoped he wouldn't get under the sea seasick.

He gripped the book, and made his way down to the dorms, looking around for his room. He eventually found it, and happily walked inside, placing the Shepherd's Journal very carefully down on the side table, and lay down.

"Ahh!" A stout, round man appeared and shoved Milo off the cot, frantically rearranging piles of soil that Milo hadn't realized were there before.

"You have disturbed the dirt," he exclaimed in a French accent. "Dirt from around the globe, spanning the centuries! What have you done?! England must never merge with France!"

"Wha- who- Why is there dirt on my bed?!"

"You ask too many questions. Who are you? Who sent you?! Speak up!"

"I- I- Milo Thatch-"

"Bah! I will know soon enough!" He grabbed Milo's hand.

He jerked away from him, wishing he wasn't as skinny as he was. "Hey! Let go!"

"Do not be such a crybaby, hold still." He pulled out a pair of tweezers and pulled a speck of dirt from Milo's fingernail. "Aha! There you are... now tell me your story, my little friend." He put on thick goggles and let go of Milo's hand. "Parchment fiber from the Nile circa 600 B.C., lead pencil number 2, paint flecks... of a type used in government buildings. You have a cat, short-haired Persian, two years old, third in a litter of seven. There are all the microscopic fingerprints of the mapmaker and linguist!"

Milo's eyes were wide in confusion and fear. "How- how did you-"

"This is an outrage! You must leave at once! Out out out out out!" He tried shoving Milo out the door.

Milo stumbled, slamming into someone else in the doorway.

It was a taller man, looking like he'd just come out of a shower, a towel around his shoulders.

"Uh oh. Sat in the dirt, didn't you?" He chuckled, turning to the dirt man. "Moliere, what have I told you about playing nice?"

Moliere hissed.

"Ah-ah! Get back! I have soap." He held up a bar of soap, waving it in his face. "I'm not afraid to use it."

Moliere's eyes widened and he practically jumped back to his bunk, scowling at the bar of soap.

He laughed. "Back, foul creature." He chuckled to himself, setting down the soap. "Sorry about that welcome. I'm Joshua Sweet, medical officer."

Milo nodded. "Milo Thatch."

"Oh! You're my 3 o'clock." He looked to the clock and shrugged. "Eh, no time like the present." He went searching through his medical supplies.

"I- what?"

Sweet brought out a wooden stick, suddenly dressed in a white coat and stethoscope, and ordered, "Stick out your tongue and say 'ahh.'"

"Well, I-" He sighed softly and stuck out his tongue. "Ahh..."

Sweet pressed the stick against his tongue and looked down his throat. "So, where are you from?"

Milo attempted to answer, not even understanding what he'd said.

"Ah, Washington, you don't say? I have family up that way. Beautiful country up there, I think. You haven't seen it, have you?" He took the stick away and held up two large beakers. "I'm gonna need you to fill these up."

Milo choked. "W-with what?"

Milo Thatch, please report to the bridge. Now.

He let out a sigh. "Well, nice meeting you, gotta go, bye!" He ran out of the room, concerned that Sweet was going to make him fill those beakers later...

He made his way up to the bridge, trying to stay out of the way.

"Woah..."

This was the hub of the ship, and very technologically advanced. It was crazy...

Rourke's voice caught his attention. "Alright, let's have a look around."

"Aye, sir," Helga nodded, before turning to the other crew members and ordering them around. "Set course to 2-4-0 on the bow planes."

"Aye, sir."

"Welcome to the bridge, Mr. Thatch," Helga announced, not turning to face him. "Ok, everyone, I want you to give Mr. Thatch your undivided attention."

His eyes widened, and he coughed nervously. He wasn't exactly prepared to suddenly be giving a presentation. "Um- ok, guess- guess we're doing this now... um- slides, ok." He rushed over to the projector, pulling some slides from his bag and pushing his glasses back up. They seemed determined to always slip down his nose...

"So- what's important in this stage of the mission is to know about this. It's a creature that is said to be so frightening and monstrous that sailors were reported to be driven mad by the mere sight of it." He picked up a slide, fairly certain it was the right one, and put it in.

It was not, in fact, a monstrous creature. It was Fluffy.

Milo blushed. "Oh- no, no, I don't know why that slide's in there, that's my cat, not- not a monster, hold on-"

A young girl in the group snorted and whispered in a Spanish accent, "I used to take lunch money from guys like this..."

Milo looked through his slides, finding the one he needed, and popped it in. "Now- now this is the monster of legend. The Leviathan. It's said to guard the gateway to Atlantis."

No one looked very impressed.

"With that, I would have... white wine, I think," the man Milo had bumped into earlier said.

Milo shook his head. "It's not this size. It's larger than this entire ship. The Leviathan is a mythical sea serpent and terrifies some sailors to this day. It's written about in the Book of Job. The-The Bible mentions it! 'Out of his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out.'" He cleared his throat. "It's most likely just a statue or carving to scare off the superstitious."

"When do we dig?" Moliere asked urgently.

Milo smiled softly, turning off the projector. "We actually don't have to dig! According to the journal, past the Leviathan, there's a tunnel." He grabbed a piece of charcoal and began drawing on the board, showing a simple map. "We'll go down that, and come up a curve, to a pocket of air, right here." He tapped his map. "Past that, we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis. Y'know, sorta like a grease trap under a sink."

"Cartographer, linguist, plumber," Helga listed out under her breath. "You're telling me he's single?"

"You said there'd be digging!" Moliere yelled.

"Go away, Mole." She swatted at him.

The helmsman cleared his throat. "Captain... you better come look at this, sir."

"Ok, class dismissed," Rourke announced. "Give me exterior lights."

The helmsman flicked on the beams, and the dark sea in front of them was illuminated.

The seafloor was littered with sunken ships, like an underwater graveyard.

"Look at that..."

"There are ships here from every era..." Milo leaned closer to look out the window. "This seems like a good enough omen even without the Leviathan..."

One of the consoles beeped. The woman working at that station, Mrs. Packard, checked it out. "Commander...?"

Rourke didn't hear her at first, listening to Milo read out an inscription in the journal.

"Pre desh tem, lo tunug, nah geb. 'Enter the lair of the Leviathan, there you will find the path to the gateway.'"

"Commander?" Packard asked again noncommittally.

"So we just have to get past the statue, and then we're practically there!"

"Commander."

Rourke sighed, "Yes, Mrs. Packard, what is it?"

"I'm picking up something on the hydrophone, I think you should hear."

"Put it on speakers," he ordered.

She flipped a switch, and the bridge was filled with a metallic, whooshing noise. Like something metal was swimming by around them.

Milo frowned softly, looking back down at the journal to see if there was an explanation.

Rourke went over to her station. "What is it? A pod of whales?"

"No," she said. "Bigger."

"It sounds metallic... could it be an echo off one of the rocks?"

"Do you want to do my job? Be my guest," she retorted.

Milo frowned. "Is it just me, or is that getting louder...?"

The noise stopped.

"Whatever it was," Helga said, "It's gone now."

Rourke nodded. "Helmsman! Bring us about! Tighten our search pattern and slow us to-"

His sentence was cut off by something slamming into the side of the ship. The crew screamed, everyone getting thrown across the ship.

Down in the boiler room, Audrey was rushing around in a panic to fix all the damage, barking orders at the workers around her.

The ship took another hit, and it started taking on water.

Back up at the bridge, the Leviathan had revealed itself, and everyone could see what was going on. Milo clutched his journal, terrified. He knew there wouldn't be any tips on how to fight it off...

Rourke stabilized himself, glaring at the Leviathan. "Lieutenant, I want this lobster served on a silver platter, tell Cookie to get cooking."

"Load the torpedo bays!" Helga yelled. "Subpod crews, battle stations!"

The Leviathan attacked again, and people staggered into the battle pods.

Rourke called to them over the intercom, somehow staying calm through all of this. "Steady, boys, don't panic."

As they prepared to launch, the Leviathan stopped smacking the ship around, instead grabbing onto it and turning it. Milo slammed into the glass facing the creature. He gasped.

"Jiminy Christmas! It's a machine... Commander, it's a machine!"

Rourke nodded. "Launch sub pods!"

"Subpods away," an ensign shouted back.

Down in the engine rooms, the flooding was getting so bad Audrey had to close off the door. The other workers rushed to get inside before the door shut, but some were left behind for the safety of the rest of the crew.

The sub pods burst out of the ship at the Leviathan, catching its attention. They shot torpedoes at it under Rourke's order, and the Leviathan let the ship go to attack the pods.

Rourke nodded. "We're free! All ahead full!"

The ship moved quickly away from the mechanical monster, and as soon as they felt safe, Rourke ordered to fire from the ship's attack systems. The torpedoes exploded on the Leviathan, barely making a dent, and it went after them again, the markings on its body glowing blue, and shooting a huge beam of energy at the ship.

Audrey raced away from the damaged area of the ship, making as much distance as she could.

"Get me the bridge!" she demanded.

Mrs. Packard tapped her headphones. "Commander, it's engineering."

He flipped the intercom on.

"Rourke! We took a big hit down here, and we're taking on water fast! I don't wanna be around for when it hits the boilers!"

"How much time do we have?" Rourke asked.

"Twenty minutes, if the bulkhead holds." There was a loud crash. "You better make that five."

"You heard the lady, let's move! Move!"

Milo gasped, being shoved along with the rest of the crew. He clung to the Journal. "Where?!"

"Packard," Rourke yelled, "Sound the alarm!"

She pressed a button, and the siren began to wail. "All hands, abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship."

They raced to the escape pod, Helga holding open the door as they jumped inside.

"Move it, people," she barked, shoving them in. "Come on! Everybody grab a seat and buckle in!

Rourke strapped into his seat. "Lieutenant, get us out of here!"

The Leviathan turned back towards the ship, eyeing it.

"Lieutenant!" Routine shouted.

"I'm working on it!" Helga squawked. "Where to, Mr. Thatch?!"

Milo flinched, gripping his journal so tightly the sides were digging into his palms. "Um- we-we should be coming onto a-a chasm of some kind-"

As he spoke, the chasm came into view.

"Up there! Straight ahead!" He pointed frantically.

Rourke nodded, speaking into the intercom. "All craft, make your mark! 20 degrees down angle!"

The sub pods sent their affirmations and began to race towards the chasm.

The Leviathan chased after them, smashing pods and shooting more energy beams.

As they neared the chasm, Milo curled around himself, whispering, "It's only a grease trap, it's just like a sink, it's only a grease trap, it's just like a sink, it's only a grease trap-"

They dove, down into the crevice, followed by the remaining sub pods. The Leviathan reached down, slamming a few more into the crevice walls. It was just the biggest escape vessel and two pods now, so far down that the metal monstrosity couldn't reach them.

They were free.

~~~~~~

The escape vessels came up on the other end of the 'grease trap,' and the reality of their loss really hit.

Sweet lit a candle and placed it in a hat, setting it off on the water in their makeshift memorial service.

The group of survivors watched as the little light source floated away, standing in somber silence.

Rourke lowered his head, before turning to them. "Seven hours ago we started this expedition, with 200 of the finest men and women I've ever known." He sighed. "We're all that's left... I won't sugarcoat it, gentlemen. We have a crisis on our hands. But we've been up this particular creek before. And we've always come through, paddle or no. I see no reason to change that policy now. From here on in, everyone pulls double duty. Everyone drives, everyone works." He turned to Milo, who was standing with his head lowered, the Shepherd's Journal clutched to his chest.

"Looks like all our chances for survival rest with you, Mr. Thatch. You and that little book."

Mrs. Packard sighed. "We're all gonna die."

"Ok, people," Rourke called to everyone present, "Saddle up. Lieutenant, I want this convoy moving five minutes ago. Moliere, you're on point." He sighed. "No, Vinny, Audrey's taking the oiler. You know the rules. I want you 50 yards behind that truck at all times. And Packard, put out that cigarette!"

Milo waited to be given orders for where to go, not wanting to get in the way of the rest of the crew. He'd gone over to the side of a truck no one seemed to be working with, hoping to not be underfoot.

Mew!

A small white cat came padding across the dirt over to Milo, the hair on his tail standing on end. He meowed in alarm and leapt at Milo.

He quickly caught him, stroking his back. "Fluffy...?"

Fluffy mewled, pressing his head roughly against Milo's chest. He kneaded his shirt.

"I know... we're safe now..."

Rourke walked over and cast an odd glance at the cat in Milo's arms. "...Can you drive a truck?"

"Yeah, of course." He hopped inside, setting Fluffy in his lap. "I... think." He sighed. "Look, it was a bumper car at Coney Island, my grandfather wasn't one for cars, but it's the same basic principle, right?"

Rourke raised an eyebrow.

~~~~~~

Milo sat in the passenger's seat of the truck being dragged along by another vehicle, at Rourke's orders.

He sighed softly, petting Fluffy absentmindedly. "I should've ignored Grandpa and learned how to drive..."

The trucks continued along the highway, only stopping for food, sleep, and the occasional roadblock.

Milo stayed away from the group most of the time, focusing on studying the journal so he knew exactly where they were headed and exactly what they needed to be prepared for along the way.

Along their trip, they paused once again for food, and Milo found a container of water. It had been a while since he'd drank anything, same for Fluffy, so he took a few sips and poured some more into a little bowl for Fluffy.

Vinny gasped melodramatically and grabbed the bowl. "You didn't drink this, did you?"

Milo's eyes widened. "Uh- yeah...?" He nervously picked up Fluffy before he could drink any of it.

"That's not good. That's nitroglycerin."

Milo's hand went to his throat, glad he'd caught Fluffy before he could drink it too.

"Don't move," Vinny advised. "Eh- don't breathe. Don't do anything, except for pray, maybe, if that's your thing."

Moliere snuck up behind Milo and screamed, "Boom!"

He yelped, jumping and losing his grip on his cat.

Moliere and Vinny burst into laughter. Vinny wheezed, "It was water..."

Milo glared at him, frowning softly.

Fluffy growled softly at Moliere, who hissed in return and scurried away.

~~~~~~

Eventually, they came across a chasm with no way to cross and a decorated pillar on their end.

Milo marveled at the pillar. "Look at this! It has to be a mile high, at least! And it's so beautifully carved... it must have taken them hundreds- no, thousands of years to make this... this is an amazing piece of history..."

Vinny pulled him away by his collar and blew it up. It fell across the chasm and landed on the other side, creating a walkway.

"Hey, look," Vinny chuckled, "I made a bridge. It only took me, what? 10, 11 seconds tops."

Milo stared at the pillar, absolutely horrified. "You- why- it-"

~~~~~~

Past the broken pillar, which Milo was still very upset about destroying, they ran into a giant wall, completely cutting off their path.

"Looks like we have a little roadblock," Rourke observed. "Vinny, what do you think?"

"I could unroadblock that if I had about 200 of these," he responded, holding up a stick of dynamite. "Problem is I've only got about... ten. Plus, you know, five of my own... and a couple of cherry bombs, and a road flare. Too bad we don't have some nitroglycerin, eh, Milo?" He elbowed Milo's side, chuckling softly.

Mole burst out laughing, leaning out of the truck. Milo blushed and glared at him.

Rourke sighed, before turning to Mole. "Well... I guess we'll have to dig."

He gasped, sitting up. "It would be my pleasure!" He cackled with delight as he fired up the drill and drove into the wall, getting only a few inches in before the engine puffed and it powered down. Mole wailed. "No! No! Stupid!" He banged his head on the horn, extremely disappointed.

Audrey scowled and took a look at the engine. "Agh, I don't understand it, I just tuned this thing up this morning! Uh... it looks like the rotor's shot. I'm going to have to pull a spare from one of the trucks."

Milo bit his lip, scared to interrupt her. But when she walked away, he hesitantly reached into the truck and spun some knobs on the boiler, and then banged it with a wrench. The truck spurred to life again, and he smiled, a bit proud of himself.

Mole shrieked with delight. "She lives!"

Audrey whipped around. "Hey, what'd you do?"

He chuckled nervously, putting down the wrench. "Um- well this truck's boiler is a Humac model P-54 stroke 813. Back at the museum- um, I used to have my office, in the, uh- the boiler room, and they had the same boiler line, just the 814. The heating cores in the whole H-Humac line are temperamental, so sometimes you gotta just mess around with- with it a bit, and it, um- it fixes itself... sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, thank you very much," she scoffed. Then she made a move like she was going to punch him.

Milo flinched away, holding his hands up in front of him.

She laughed, "Two for flinching!" She punched him twice lightly on the arm.

Milo winced, rubbing his arm. Mole cackled as he started up a machine again.

Soon enough, there was a huge tunnel dug through the wall, and they could continue on, Milo once again secluding himself with his cat and his book. He was fairly certain the crew didn't want him around, and anyway, it gave him more time to study the journal.

When once again they needed his help in direction, he peeked out from the truck, scanning the pages of the journal and looking around. "Yeah... this is it. It's gotta be."

"Alright, we'll make camp here," Rourke said.

The rest of the crew stared up at a large green glowing rock hanging about the cavern ceiling.

"Why's it glowing...?" Audrey asked.

Mole waved his hand dismissively. "It is just a natural phosphorescence."

Vinny sighed. "That thing is going to keep me up all night, I know it."

As they made themselves comfortable, Cookie began serving their dinner, which sounded much better than it looked.

"Come and get it!" He banged his spoon on the pot. "For yer appetizer, Caesar salad," He piled some slop onto Sweet's plate. "Escargot," some slop for Audrey, "and yer oriental spring rolls." Slop for Mole. He pouted.

"I wanted the escargot..."

Audrey wrinkled her nose, taking his plate and handing him hers. "Go for it... blegh."

Milo shuffled over, nervously holding out his own tray. Cookie smiled.

"Here you go, Milo. Put some meat on them bones."

Milo smiled, trying not to look too disgusted. "Thanks... Cookie..."

Sweet whispered to the others around the fire, "You know, we've been pretty tough on the kid. What do you say we cut him some slack?"

"Eh, you're right," Audrey sighed. "Hey, Milo! Come sit with us!"

He jumped. "Wait- really?"

"Yeah, park it here." She patted the seat next to her.

He smiled excitedly, sitting down. "Gee- I mean, thank you, I-I kinda thought you all never wanted me around..." He laughed awkwardly, trying to fix the situation by opening the Shepherd's Journal again.

"Milo, don't you ever close that book?" Sweet asked.

"You must've read it a hundred times by now," Audrey said.

"Well- yeah, but look at this, it doesn't make sense." He pointed to the page with his spoon. "In this passage here, the shepherd is leading up to something, he calls it 'the Heart of Atlantis', it might be the power source the legends refer to... but then it just... cuts off." He flipped the page, with more Atlantean that was apparently supposed to be meaningful. "There's no end, no explanation. It just stops flat. Like there's a missing page, but there's no evidence of anything like that!"

"Kid, relax," Vinny eased. "We don't get paid overtime."

"Well- yeah... I know I get a little carried away sometimes... but that's what this whole thing is about... at least for me. I want to discover something, I want proof! Some sort of evidence, I just- I gotta know... I don't know how you all feel about it, maybe you're just in it for the money-"

"Money."

"Money."

"Money."

"Money."

"Money."

"I'm going to say... money."

Milo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I set myself up for that one..." He winced a little as he twisted his head the wrong way.

Sweet frowned. "Something wrong with your neck?"

"Oh- it's always been a little sore, Fluffy likes to sleep on my shoulders so I kinda have to hunch to keep him comfortable-"

He stood and walked over to Milo, standing directly over him. He held his head for a moment before jerking it one way, then the other, then letting it go. "Better?"

Milo blinked, twisting his head. "Yeah... how'd you know how to do that?"

"An Arapaho medicine man. But, uh... more on your cat... where is he and do you think he'll like me?"

Milo eyed him. "Yeah, he'll probably sleep on your shoulder, hang on-" He got up and went over to his truck, coming back a few minutes later, holding Fluffy. He set him down on the ground. "Go say hi."

Fluffy yawned indignantly and slunk over to Sweet. He sniffed his knee for a solid minute before mewling and trying to climb up his leg. Sweet laughed and picked him up, setting him in his lap and stroking his fur.

Milo smiled. "He likes you."

Sweet lifted Fluffy to his face and kissed his nose. "Well, I like him, too..." he said in a babyish voice.

Fluffy purred and cast a glance at Milo, as if he should be jealous of the treatment he was getting.

Milo snickered. "Don't give me that look, I know you're the favorite."

Vinny looked between Sweet and the cat, looking jealous and a little affronted.

Sweet chuckled. "Do you want some cat time, too?"

Vinny crossed his arms and scooted closer. "Maybe..." he grumbled.

He smiled, moving over so they were side by side, and shifting Fluffy so he was draped across both their laps.

Vinny smiled despite himself and started petting the cat. Fluffy purred louder and squirmed so he was sprawled out across the two on his back.

Milo smiled softly. "Sweet, did you say 'Arapaho medicine man'? I need to hear that story."

"Born and raised with 'em," Sweet said, still staring down at the cat on his lap. "My father was an army medic. He settled down in Kansas territory after he met my mother."

"No kidding..."

"Nope." He pulled a tribal necklace from under the collar of his shirt, which Fluffy immediately tried to play with. "I got a sheepskin from Howard U. and a bearskin from old Iron Cloud. Halfway through medical school, I was drafted," Vinny frowned, "One day I'm studying gross anatomy in the classroom and the next I'm sewing up rough riders on San Juan Hill."

"Crazy..." Milo grinned, reaching over to bat Fluffy's paws away. "Uh uh, no. Not a toy."

Vinny, apparently forgetting there were others present, lifted Fluffy close to his face and whispered in a babyish voice, "That is not yours to play with, little thing, it's his, I'm sorry..."

Sweet smiled fondly at him. "That's adorable."

Vinny's eyes widened and he put down the cat. "No, it's not."

He chuckled. "Yes, yes it is." He petted Fluffy, putting his necklace back. "Isn't it, little thing?" he asked, smiling softly over at Vinny as he repeated his pet name for the cat.

Vinny blushed. "It's- it's time to pitch the tents. Before Cookie comes back with the main course."

Sweet just grinned at him, handing Fluffy back to Milo, booping the cat's nose for good measure before picking up the tent and starting to pitch it, grinning at Vinny.

Everyone else got their tents ready alongside them, seemingly self-sufficient except for Milo, who struggled with keeping it upright. Mostly due to Fluffy biting the rope and tugging it down several times.

"Fluffy- no, why-" He sighed in defeat, plopping down next to the pile that was his tent.

"Uh... aren't you going to set up the tent?" Audrey asked worriedly.

He sighed. "I'm trying... he's not helping." He pointed accusingly at Fluffy, who was currently purring and happily playing with the end of a rope. "I'm just outta practice... Haven't had to pitch a tent since the last time my grandpa took me camping."

Audrey stood and started to fix the tent, occasionally shoving Fluffy away with her foot when he got in the way. "I never got to meet your grandfather. What was he like?"

Milo smiled softly. "I mean, where do you start...? He was more like my father than anything... my parents died when I was really little, their car engine blew and they couldn't get outta the fire in time... I don't remember, but my grandpa told me later on. He took me in."

Audrey smiled and stepped away from the tent, having finished it. She sat down in her own and hugged a pillow. "He sounds like a nice guy..."

"He was... thanks, by the way." Milo rolled out his mattress, lying down in his tent. He chuckled softly to himself, reaching out to let Fluffy in the tent.

"What is it?" Audrey asked, hearing his laugh.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Well... I was just thinking... one time, when I was eight, we went hiking, and we passed this stream, and I saw something shining in the water. Yes, hi, Fluffy, those are my glasses, mhm-" He gently pushed his cat away. "I'm trying to talk, go bother Vinny if you want more attention."

Fluffy mewled in annoyance and sauntered over to the joint tent with Vinny and Sweet.

Milo chuckled. "Yes, I'm so mean to you... anyway." He turned back to Audrey, fixing his glasses. "So I see something in the stream, and I grab it, and it's a genuine arrowhead. And- gee, well, you'd think I'd found Atlantis, the way Grandpa raved about it. I realized when I got older that the 'arrowhead' was just some compressed shale mixed with some zinc pyrite that had fractured into an isoceletic triangulate."

"You're such a nerd," Audrey snickered.

Milo grinned softly. "Well, it's not like you're any better. I mean, you're a teenager and the chief mechanic of a multi-million dollar expedition. That's nuts!"

She blushed a little. "Well, I- I took this job when my papi retired. But the funny thing was- he always wanted sons, you know? One to run his machine shop and another to be middleweight boxing champion." She threw her fists around in mock-punches, wrinkling her nose. "But he got my sister and me instead."

"Well... what happened to your sister?"

She smiled proudly. "She's 24 and 0 with a shot at the title next month. Anyway, I'm saving up so Papi and I can open up another shop."

Milo smiled. "That's nice."

Mrs. Packard walked by them in a robe.

"Forget your pajamas?"

"I sleep in the nude," she said dryly.

Sweet tossed him a sleep mask. "You'll want those. She sleepwalks. It's scarring." He plopped back down next to Vinny in their tent.

Audrey called, "Come on, Vinny, it's your turn!"

Vinny just kept staring at Fluffy and petting his fur. "As far as me goes, I blow things up..."

Sweet smiled fondly at him, nudging his side. "C'mon, Vin, tell the kid the truth."

Vinny scowled and turned on his side, facing away from Sweet, still clutching Fluffy close to his chest. "...My family owned a flower shop. We would sell roses, carnations, baby's breath, you name it. One day, I'm making... about three dozen corsages for this prom. You know, the ones they put on their wrist? And everybody, they go, 'where is it,' 'when is it,' 'does it match my dress,' it's a nightmare. Anyway, I guess there was this leak next door, gas or something. Boom! No more Chinese laundry... Blew me right through the front window. It was like a sign from God. I found myself in that boom."

Sweet stared at him concernedly. "You never told me you went through a window..."

Fluffy yawned and broke away from Vinny's hug, who frowned at the loss. "Eh. It wasn't really important, I didn't lose anything I needed."

"You lost body parts?!"

Vinny flinched. "Just skin, Josh, calm down!"

"Vin- you-" He frowned worriedly, wrapping his arms around him. "That's bad..." he mumbled, burying his head in his shoulder.

Vinny grinned. "Well, maybe I'll lose more, if this is what it leads to..."

"Nuh-uh, no hurting yourself."

"Well, my job is explosions..."

"Not exploding yourself!"

"I only meant, getting hurt is sort of an occupational hazard, you are a doctor, that's why you're here!"

Sweet just grumbled into his shoulder, pulling him closer.

Audrey whispered to Milo, "In case you're wondering, they've always been this sappy."

Milo smiled softly. "It's cute," he whispered back.

She shrugged in admittance.

Milo smiled softly, shifting over slightly to let Fluffy onto the mattress. "You know how long they've been together?" he asked her.

"Longer than I've been alive, I think," she yawned.

Milo smiled. "Cute..." He hunkered down in his tent.

Neglecting a tent altogether, Moliere was furiously digging a hole and burrowing in it, laughing to himself.

Milo glanced over at him, a little concerned. "What's... Mole's story?"

Sweet looked up and rushed to tell everyone present, "Trust me on this one, you don't want to know. Vinny, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told Audrey when she asked, but you did, and now I'm telling you both, the kid's better off not knowing, like we all were." He blew out the lanterns.

Milo huffed softly. "But I do wanna know..."

Audrey whispered lazily, "Hmm, tomorrow... now, sleep..."

Milo sighed, rolling over and getting comfortable. He could hear Sweet and Vinny doing the same thing, and Mole chuckling lightly as he made himself comfortable in his hole. He smiled to himself, wrapping his arm gently around Fluffy before dozing off.

~~~~~~

Late into the night, Milo woke up with his cat's tail in his face and a need to pee.

He clumsily grabbed a flashlight and a roll of toilet paper, gently moving Fluffy before crawling out of his tent, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He wandered into a secluded corner, hooking his flashlight under his chin and letting the beam wave around on the ceiling as he did his business.

It hovered over the green glowing thing for a moment and moved on, but it made the green thing glow brighter.

He didn't notice at first, but as he pulled up his pants, little green fireflies started to fly out of it, heading towards the campsite. A few of the fireflies fluttered close to Milo's face.

He swatted at them, annoyed. Eventually, they began to swarm. He smashed one with his toilet paper roll, and it went up in flames.

"Uh oh... so that's why there was a whole page about fireflies..." He rushed over to the other tents. "Fire! Fireflies! Wake up, fire!"

The fireflies descended upon the tents, setting them alight.

Inside his own tent, Rourke slowly opened his eyes, a scowl already on his face. "I'm going to kill him... Thatch, go back to bed-" he cut himself off when he saw the anarchy raging outside. Almost the entire camp was blazing, the crew running around in panic.

"Get some water on that fire," Helga barked.

"There's no time! Get us to those caves, evacuate, go! Move it, people, move, move!"

The crew raced for the trucks, leaving the inferno of their campsite behind.

Milo raced after the cars, too far from the vehicles to get in at an opportune moment.

Audrey opened up the back of one of the trucks and reached out for his hand. "Milo, jump, right now!"

He nervously leapt for the back of the truck, reaching out for her hand.

She grabbed onto him just in time, yanking him into the truck by her side as the vehicle behind them combusted.

Milo gasped, scrambling back. "Someone has Fluffy, right?"

She turned back and hefted the cat in her arms. "I got him," she panted.

Milo let out a sigh. "Thanks... I'm glad you're ok." He took the cat, petting him to calm him down.

"I'm ok, too..." Audrey grumbled. "'Cause, you know, I also exist behind the cat..."

Milo smiled at her. "Yeah, I was talking to you... sorry."

Her eyes widened. "Oh- um... thanks, Milo. I'm... glad you didn't die in a fiery explosion, too-"

The 'bridge' of rock the vehicles were escaping on crumbled under the weight and power of all the explosions and moving metal. The rock gave way and the trucks fell down into darkness.

After a moment of silence, Rourke lit a match. "Alright, who's not dead? Sound off."

There was a chorus of groans and mutters. He nodded, blew out the match, and leaned over, seeing if his truck's headlights worked. One of them flickered on, lighting up wherever they were. "Audrey? Give me a damage report."

Audrey sifted through the wreckage with a flashlight and a cut on her arm. "Not as bad as it could have been," she called back. "We totaled rigs two and seven, but the digger looks like it'll still run. Lucky we landed on something soft!"

Moliere dug around. "Pumice ash. We are standing at the base of a dormant volcano."

Helga sighed, cocking her gun before shooting it up at the ceiling. The blast lit up the area around it, and it showed just how far the volcano went. "It just keeps going..."

"The magma has solidified in the bowels of the volcano, effectively blocking the exit," Moliere observed when the blast hit the top.

Sweet held his hands up. "Hold on, hold on. Back up just one second. You're telling me this volcano could blow, at any time?" He looked nervous, glancing around for Audrey. He needed to check on her arm later...

"No," Moliere assured him. "That would take an explosive force of great magnitude."

He nodded, still looking around. "Speakin' of which... where's Vinny?"

Audrey pointed her flashlight in a distant corner, where Vinny was holding Fluffy in one arm and fiddling with a time bomb in the other. He looked up. "...I should do this later, huh?"

Sweet let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, you're ok... and yeah, yeah you should."

Vinny frowned and set down his bomb, shifting the cat so he could more easily hold him.

Sweet smiled at him. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine, you should check on Audrey fir-"

"That's already suspicious." He took the cat, revealing a cut on Vinny's arm that he'd been hiding. "Vin!"

He rolled his eyes. "I knew you'd get upset and the kid is more important, I would have definitely told you after she was ok."

"That's believable..." he muttered, taking his arm and looking over his wound.

Rourke looked above. "Audrey, report to Sweet for medical assistance... if we could blow the top off of that thing, we'd have a straight shot to the surface. Mr. Thatch, what do you think?"

There was no response. Milo wasn't talking, or simply wasn't there.

"Thatch?"

"Thatch!"

~~~~~~

Milo was alive, just unconscious. He'd been thrown away from the others in the fall, slamming his head on a rock. He was currently lying on the ground, slowly coming to.

There was... something in front of him. It looked like a larger version of a vaguely Polynesian tribal mask, painted with blue designs.

As his eyes focused, he gasped, frantically backing up, only to stop and hiss in pain. His head hurt, and there was a cut on his shoulder.

The mask lifted to reveal... a young man. The strange man had a dark skin tone with decorative tribal paint under his left eye and on his right upper arm. His hair was stark white, mostly cut choppy and short save for a thick ponytail coming down the side of his head, tied in a knot at the base. He was shirtless and barefoot with a crystal pendant hanging around his neck and a gold band around his left arm. He stared at Milo with wide, ocean blue eyes, seemingly analyzing his every tic and fidget.

Milo stared at him, wide-eyed. "H-hello?"

His gaze flickered to the cut on Milo's shoulder, slowly dripping blood. He lifted the pendant from his neck and held it close to the wound as it started to glow.

Milo leaned back slightly, scared and confused.

He pulled the pendant away and pressed his palm over the wound, his hand keeping the same blue glow as the crystal.

He winced, but then the pain slowly faded... What was he doing?

The man pulled his hand away and Milo's cut was gone. He smiled warmly and slipped his mask down again before deftly leaping away, followed by a few others that sprung from the shadows.

He gasped. "Hey- wait!" He picked himself up and ran after them. "Who are you?!"

The digger was following them now, the rest of the crew searching for Milo, but he couldn't care less as he chased after them. "Where are you going?! Come back!"

He raced up after them, stumbling out of the rocks and caves to be met with a grassy cliffside. "Wait! Who are you?!"

His voice echoed off the area. He had no idea where he was, but this place... it was beautiful...

His stunned silence was interrupted by the digger bursting through onto the cliff. The rest of the crew ran in after, slowing and gasping at the sight before them.

There was a huge waterfall, the top above the clouds of the area. It went all the way around in a perfect circle, and in the middle of the floating waterfall was an island. A city...

Cookie rubbed his eyes. "Sweet mother of Jefferson Davis..."

"It's beautiful..." Audrey murmured.

"I've got to hand it to you, Milo," Sweet chuckled, clapping Milo on the shoulder. "You really came through."

The moment was a bit ruined by the people who'd found Milo leaping down in front of them and holding up their spears threateningly.

"Nope, I take it back."

Milo grinned. "There you are..."

"Who are these guys?" Rourke asked.

"They- they gotta be Atlanteans! They helped me!"

"What? That's impossible!"

"It's not! I swear, they helped me." He stepped forward, waiting for one of them to speak.

The one from before stepped forward and lowered his spear but kept his mask on. "Neshektim, gabrin depn yo. Nebeh sa nakh, kahp tu oren toh. Not sol du benek tap."

Milo cleared his throat, nervously starting to talk. "Leb... ey... senik, dap, do weren tob. Lesol du penik dub."

The Atlantean handed his spear to his comrade and slowly took his mask off, becoming more animated as he spoke. "Prow etihm don konock mok enu gebleh tot bet kabarah kek."

"Kag- uh... wegenay... preed!"

He squinted in confusion. "'Kag wegenay-' wegonos preedos es esenen?"

Milo smiled, getting more confident. "Edo suen michay veotor."

"Dices linguam romae."

Milo grinned. "Parlez-vous français?"

"Oui, monsieur!"

Moliere gasped, "They speak my language! Pardon, monsieur?"

The Atlantean leaned down to hear him better as he started whispering. Whatever he said was evidently unacceptable, as the man pulled away and punched him in the face.

Sweet burst out laughing and clapped. "I like him. Bravo."

Milo chuckled, and grinned at the man he was speaking to. "Je m'appelle Milo! Nous sommes voyageurs d'Amérique du Nord."

"Est-ce que le francais vos seulement langue?"

Milo shook his head. "Non, nous parlez l'anglais, aussi."

He nodded.

Rourke stepped in between them and asked Milo, "How do they know all these languages?"

Milo sighed softly. "Their language is a root dialect, it's what most other languages can be built off of, it's very similar to Latin."

"Well, maybe English is in there somewhere." He turned to the Atlantean and plastered on a fake, diplomatic smile. "We are explorers from the surface world. We come in peace."

The Atlantean snickered at his halting tone of voice and responded, "Welcome to the city of Atlantis, explorers."

Milo glared at Rourke, before turning back to him. "Sorry about... him. I'm Milo Thatch. That's Sweet, Vinny, Mole, Audrey, Cookie, Mrs. Packard, Helga, and Rourke. What's your name?"

He shook his head like he was done trying to compute the information given to him. "My name is Kidagakash Nedakh."

Milo smiled. "Kidagakash. Can... I call you Kida?"

Kida smiled. "Ok."

Milo grinned. "Ok."

Kida bit his lip and grabbed Milo's arm, beginning to drag him away. "Come, you must meet my father."

"You- your father?"

"King Kashekim Nedakh of Atlantis. Come!"

~~~~~~

When the group had first gotten back into their trucks to go into the city, Milo would have sat with Helga and Rourke in the leading truck, leaving Vinny in a truck with Mole, which he was less than pleased with. But Milo had declined, instead electing to walk next to Kida, rambling on in whatever language seemed to communicate best with Kida that they were both fluent in, rearranging things so now Mole was in Milo's spot, saving Vinny from the Frenchman and giving him Sweet as a truck partner instead. He was much happier with that outcome. And it meant that he could hold Fluffy instead of Milo.

"Commander," Helga hissed, "There were not supposed to be people down here. This changes everything."

"This changes nothing, Lieutenant," Rourke snapped.

Finally, they arrived in the city and Kida led a small group of them to the king's crumbling palace.

He stepped reverently up to his father and knelt on the stones, closing his hands in front of his face to show respect.

Milo quickly copied his pose, nudging the commander and Helga to hopefully get them to follow suit.

They did not.

Kida spoke a greeting in Atlantean to his father, looking up when he was done. "These are travelers from... North America."

His father scowled, responding in Atlantean. Milo could understand them and figured he would translate for the others afterward.

"You know the law, Kida! Outsiders may not see the city and live."

"Father," Kida pleaded, "These people may be able to help us."

"We do not need their help!"

"But father! Our-"

"That is enough, Kidagakash! We will discuss this later. Now get rid of them."

Rourke, not listening to Milo's hushed protests, and not understanding the conversation that had taken place, stepped forward. "Your Majesty, on behalf of my crew, may I say it is an honor to be welcomed into your city."

Milo winced, frantically shaking his head at him. "Commander, that isn't-"

The king stood, with the help of his staff. "You presume much to think you are welcome here."

"But, sir, we've come a long way, looking for-"

Milo covered his face, groaning.

"I know what you seek," the king boomed. "And you will not find it here. Your journey has been in vain."

Route scowled slightly. "But we are peaceful explorers, men of science!"

"And yet you bring weapons."

He faltered. "Well- we need weapons, to remove obstacles we may encounter."

"Some obstacles cannot be removed with a mere show of force. Return to your people. You must leave Atlantis at once," the king commanded.

"Oh, Your Majesty, be reasonable-"

This time, it was Milo who cut him off. "Commander, trust me, you're not the boss in this situation, we need to do as he says." He glowered at him.

Rourke pursed his lips and turned back to the king. "May I respectfully request that we stay one night, sir? That would give us time to rest, resupply, and be ready to travel by morning."

The king frowned. "Fine. One night. That is all."

Rourke nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty." He turned and left the area. Milo bowed deeply before following them.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. He doesn't understand," he murmured, and left the room after them.

Kida stared sadly after Milo.

His father sighed. "Your heart is softening, Kida. A thousand years ago you would have slain them on sight and come home with stories of a victory."

He clenched his fists. "A thousand years ago the streets were lit. A thousand years ago our people did not have to scavenge for food and life at the end of a crumbling city, in the midst of a dying culture. A thousand years ago we were surviving, and now we are not."

"The people are content," his father said.

"They do not know any better!" Kida softened and knelt by his father. "We were once a great people. Now we live in the wreckage of what we used to be. The kings of our past would weep if they could see how far we have let ourselves fall."

"Kida..." his father said warningly.

"If these outsiders can unlock the secrets of our past, perhaps we can save our future."

"What they have to teach us, we have already learned."

"Our way of life is dying!"

"Our way of life is preserved." His father sighed. "Kida... when you take the throne, you will understand."

~~~~~~

Outside the king's meeting room, the crew was talking.

"How'd it go?" Sweet asked.

Milo shrugged, scribbling something down in his notebook. "The king and Kida don't really see eye to eye. Kida seems to like us, he said something about us helping them, but the king... well, first of all, he said there was a law in place saying that outsiders couldn't see the city and be allowed to live, which implies at least one group has gotten past the Leviathan and everything without the journal and gotten to Atlantis, and he demanded we leave. We have one night, and then we have to leave." He scribbled something else down, removing himself from the conversation as he looked over his notes and occasionally added something or scribbled something out.

"Hmm... if there's any way we can smooth things over with the king," Rourke said, "It'll be through his son. Someone needs to talk to him."

"I will go!" Moliere shouted.

"Someone with good people skills," Vinny mused.

"I volunteer!" Moliere said again.

"Someone who won't scare him away," Sweet agreed.

"I will do it!" Moliere yelled.

"Someone who speaks the language," Mrs. Packard put in.

"For the good of the mission, I will go!" Moliere announced once again.

"Thatch! Good man, thank you," Rourke said, grinning.

Milo blinked, looking up from where he was chewing on the end of his pencil. "What?"

Audrey grinned and punched his arm. "Go get him, tiger!"

"No- what- what am I doing?" He stared at them in complete shock.

Rourke patted his shoulder. "Talk to... Kida-ga-shnaga and smooth things over with his father. We need to stay here a bit longer and not get killed for it."

"It- we can't go against the king's orders, we're already pushing our luck- his name is Kidagakash!"

The others just walked away, leaving Milo to his internal panic about talking to Kida.

~~~~~~

After a few minutes, Kida exited the room. Milo took a breath.

"Ok, nothing awkward, you just be respectful, ask a couple questions, don't be too overbearing or annoying... you got this." He revealed himself from behind the wall. "Kida- where..."

Kida leapt down from a tall stone behind Milo and grabbed his arm, angling it up behind his back. He kept his grip as gentle as he could while still remaining authoritative. He hissed in his ear, "I have some questions for you, and you are not leaving my city until they are answered."

Milo gasped. "Well- ok. Please let go of me."

Kida let go of his arm and gently grabbed the other, pulling him away. "Follow me!"

"O-ok." He let him pull him along, switching from staring at Kida to staring at his surroundings every few moments.

Kida led him up and down hills, in between stones and pillars, behind waterfalls and through clouds of mist. Eventually, they reached a deserted, wild area and Kida let go of Milo's hand, starting to ramble.

"There is so much to ask about your world! You are a scholar, are you not? What with your expertise in our language and your diminutive physique, you are clearly meant for nothing else. What is your country of origin? When did the floodwaters recede?" He stole Milo's glasses and put them on himself... upside down. "How did you-"

"Ok, ok, hold on." Milo squinted at him. "I have some questions for you, too, and you gotta give me time to answer. First of all, please give me back my glasses, I can't see without them and I'd like to see."

"You can see with this on your face? But it makes the world blurry and upside down!"

"Well, yeah. Here." He took them off him, starting to clean the lenses. "Lemme explain. One, you were wearing them upside down. Two, your eyes work fine without glasses. My eyes don't. Without them, everything is really blurry and I can't function properly because I can't see. So my glasses fix that. It changes the focus of how I see, so when I wear my glasses, the world looks like what it looks like when you aren't wearing them. Make sense?" He put his glasses back on, adjusting them.

Kida pursed his lips. "No..."

"Ok... um... basically, my eyes are broken, and my glasses fix them. Your eyes aren't broken, so glasses just make things worse because they're overcorrecting to the point that you can't see."

"O...k..."

"I know it's weird, you gotta actually need glasses to really understand. But anyway." He pushed his glasses back up his nose. "We both have questions, so let's go back and forth. You ask, I answer, I ask, you answer. Cool?"

"...Cool. What is your first question?"

"Well... um... how'd you get here? I mean, not you, personally, it was 11,000 years ago, plus a couple hundred, but your culture. How did you go from up there, to down... here? The only documentation is thought of as just a Greek myth."

Kida snorted. "We are not a myth, but some days I think we are becoming one... It is said that the gods became jealous of Atlantis, so they sent a great cataclysm and banished us down here to waste away. All I can remember is the sky going dark... and people shouting, running. Then a bright light, like a star, floating above the city. My mother, she... my father said she was called to it. She went... up... I never saw her again."

Milo sighed softly. "I'm so sorry, Kida... if it's any sort of consolation, I get how that feels. My parents died when I was little." They stood in silence for a moment before Milo computed what Kida had said and what it meant. "Wait a minute... you remember? You were alive in 9,600 BCE for when it sank? That- you must be 11,518 years old at least!"

Kida shook his head. "No, 11,517."

Milo blinked. "Oh. But- but still! You're thousands of years old! That-" He stared at him. "I guess... Lookin' good." He smiled awkwardly and computed what he'd said, his face going bright red. "Sorry... your turn for a question..."

"How did you find Atlantis?"

"Oh- well, I'll ya, it was not easy, but since we had the Shepherd's Journal, we actually made it." He pulled it out of his bag, showing it to Kida.

"Where did you find this?"

"Well, technically I didn't find it, my grandfather did, with the same crew we're with now. It was in a modern country, called Iceland. Everyone else believed it was in Ireland, but I knew it was in Iceland, and it was!"

Kida smiled at him. "I wonder how it got there..."

"Yeah... you happen to know who wrote it? One of the excerpts, it's been confusing me for weeks, it just cuts off in the middle of talking about something, and there's no evidence of a page being ripped out, I can't make any sense of it, but maybe if you read it..."

"You mean you can understand this?" Kida asked urgently.

"Uh- yeah, I'm a linguist, I study all kinds of dead languages."

"This, right here," Kida shoved the book in his face, "You can read this?!"

"Yes, yes, I can read Atlantean, just like you!" He smiled at him, a little confused.

Kida drooped in shame. "I... cannot read it."

"You can't... I'm sorry, Kida..." He frowned softly. "Why not? Do you know?"

"No one is left who can read our own language. Such knowledge has been lost to us since the time of the Mehbelmok."

"The Great Flood... well, I-I could probably teach you, if you want." He smiled.

Kida grinned. "Show me!"

"Ok. Here, this one's pretty simple." He pointed to a sentence, pointing to each word as he spoke. "Ledwig tem, she bom ben tem, pu ben tem..."

"Follow the narrow passage for another league," Kida translated. "There you will find the fifth marker..."

Milo nodded. "Exactly. How's my accent?"

"Boorish, nasal, and you add too much twang at the end." He tapped Milo's nose on the word 'nasal.'

Milo blushed. "Oh... I-I'll work on that."

Kida nodded. "Shall we go find the fifth marker?"

"I- I mean if you know where that is."

"With your help reading the journal, I'll find it."

"Alright." He smiled at him.

~~~~~~

"It looks like a vehicle..." Milo mumbled.

"Yes," Kida agreed. "I have found others like it at the other markers, but no matter what I try, it will not respond."

Milo nodded, kneeling down so he could read it. "Place crystal into slot..."

"Yes, yes, I have done that!"

"Put your hand on inscription pad."

"Yes."

"Did you turn the crystal one-quarter turn back?"

"Yes."

"While your hand was on the pad?" He looked up at him.

"Ye- no."

"Well, there's your problem." He stood up. "It's an easy thing to miss, and it's still incredible you got as far as you did without being able to read the instructions." He smiled awkwardly.

Kida gave a small smile in return and knelt down to the 'marker,' following the instructions. With his hand still on the pad, he turned the crystal back. The pad glowed bright blue and the vehicle lifted off the ground, giving off a low electronic hum.

Kida stepped back in awe and muttered praise in Atlantean.

Milo nodded. "You got that right..."

Kida cocked his head. "I wonder what we used to use it for... I don't remember it... why don't we use them anymore?"

"Probably just what was stopping you. You've forgotten how to power them. It was probably some sort of transportation bike. It looks sort of like our bicycles..."

"Ah..." Kida nodded, not knowing what a bicycle was. "How fast do you think it goes?"

Milo shrugged. "Dunno..." He leaned forward and pressed the inscription pad, assuming it was the go button.

It was. The vehicle zoomed forward, ricocheting off walls and trees before smashing into another wall, holding still and smoking. He winced.

"I'm so sorry-"

Kida burst into laughter and leaned on Milo's shoulder. "That was amazing...!"

Milo blushed softly. "But I... broke it..."

"In the best way I have ever seen!"

"Oh... ok." He smiled at him fondly.

Kida's stomach rumbled, cutting off his laughter.

Milo smiled softly. "You hungry?"

"Am I hungry? Do you eat?" He poked Milo's side.

Milo snickered. "Yeah, I eat. I'm just skinny. My metabolism is a little higher than normal, my grandpa said."

"Well, then, let us both get some food."

~~~~~~

Rather than simply walking there, Kida insisted they climb several stone pillars to get to the food. The ingrown vines were the only things keeping Milo from falling, that and the occasional assistance from Kida.

"Um- I think- it's your turn to ask a question..." Milo panted.

"Hmm..." Kida hummed in thought. "What has the world been like since Atlantis sunk? What is it like now?"

"Well- technologically we're only now- getting even close to technology like you had." He paused for a moment on a little ledge. "I don't know everything about what it was like, but we've sort of- well, most people- have written Atlantis off as a myth. No one believes you're real except... well, just us, really."

"...Ah. I see."

Milo sighed. "Plus, y'know, cultures are different, but that was the case before you sank too. Language, clothes, writing systems, government..."

"The entire globe has evolved, and we've started to disappear..."

"Yeah... I guess..." He hurried up after him. "But- once we go back, maybe you can come with us. Y'know, experience the new world. People will believe in you again."

"I do not think my father would approve. Your question."

Milo frowned softly. "Um... well, tell me about this place. I've studied your culture my whole life, but I wanna know what it's like now, not 11,500 some years ago."

Kida frowned. "Not much has changed, I am sad to say. Our people have resisted change for hundreds and thousands of years, and in doing so, we've started to regress."

Milo winced. "That's unfortunate... I'm sorry, Kida."

"I think you can help us," Kida grinned down at him. "But that is for later. Tell me more about your companions. Your physician, he is called Cookie, and he is attached to the man called Little Thing?"

"Oh- no. Our doctor is called Sweet. And 'Little Thing' is Vinny. Little thing is just his pet name for my cat."

"...Cat?"

"Oh- do you not have cats here? I'll introduce you later. His name is Fluffy."

"You titled your animal after his attributes? Is that why the other one is called Mole?"

"No- well... that's just a nickname. Like Kida for Kidagakash. Mole for Moliere." He blushed. "But, yeah, I named Fluffy Fluffy because he's fluffy, don't judge me..."

"...I named my doll Floppy."

Milo chuckled softly. "Then I guess we're both dorks."

"I'm a warrior. You are a linguist. I do not know what a dork is."

"Oh- sorry. Um... it's sort of a slang term. Like someone who's silly and cute. It's sort of a playful compliment..."

"You think I am cute, then?" Kida smirked.

Milo blushed. "Well- I mean, just- the naming your doll Floppy thing, um-" He covered his face.

"You are cute, too. We're not far from the food, just over the top of this stone, come on!" He sped up.

That didn't help with Milo being flustered, and he followed him, trying to get his face to turn back to a normal color before Kida looked at him again.

Kida reached the top and pulled Milo up the rest of the way, gesturing to the view. "Atlantis!"

Milo gasped. He was distracted from being embarrassed. It was gorgeous... it was real... He pinched his arm, wincing. He wasn't dreaming. He beamed, sniffling a little bit.

Kida looked over concernedly. "Are you alright?"

"What- oh, yeah, I'm ok..." He took his glasses off, wiping his eyes and taking a shaky breath. "It's just... my grandpa told me stories about this place... raved about it... and now I'm here... I just wish he could see he was right..."

Kida took Milo's hand in his. "He can see it. He sees it through you. So take a good look."

Milo smiled at him, squeezing his hand. "Thanks, Kida..."

He nodded respectfully. He waited a moment or two for Milo to take in more of the view, then urged, "Come on, we should go, the others will have been served by now."

"Oh- right..." He smiled, reluctantly letting go of his hand and waiting for him to lead him back down.

~~~~~~

Kida led Milo to an open building, radiating warmth and a delicious odor. He explained that was where Atlanteans went to eat community meals, specifically for special occasions, like the arrival of legal foreigners.

"It's gorgeous..."

"It's even better inside, let's go."

Milo happily followed him in, looking around excitedly. True to Kida's word, the rest of the group was already there, breaking bread with a few of the Atlanteans. Audrey was making pleasant conversation in Spanish with a girl roughly her age, Helga and Rourke were mostly keeping to themselves, Moliere was scurrying around obnoxiously, and Sweet was sitting with Vinny.

"C'mon, it's good for you! Eat," Sweet urged.

"It looks disgusting, Josh. I won't eat that," Vinny objected.

"Vin..." He pouted at him pleadingly. "If you don't look at it..."

"Don't look at me like that... don't..."

Sweet just pouted more, giving him puppy dog eyes. "Pleaseee?"

Vinny closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine."

Sweet grinned, kissing his cheek. "Thank you."

Vinny blushed and tried the food reluctantly. He wrinkled his nose at first, then relaxed. "It's, uh... actually not that bad..."

Sweet chuckled. "And this is why you listen to me."

"You know, one of these days, I won't."

"But until then... eat your food."

Kida laughed softly at the display and sat at one of the places, dragging Milo down with him. There were already bowls of warm food in front of them, which Kida immediately started swallowing whole.

Milo sat down next to him, slowly following suit. The food was very good...

"Do you like it?" Kida asked with his mouth full.

Milo nodded, swallowing. "Yeah, it's delicious."

Kida smiled proudly. "So, Sweet and Vinny are... married?" He looked over at them feeding each other.

Milo shrugged. "Sort of. Where we're from, it's not legal for two men to get married, but the way they act, it's close enough."

"We could marry them here."

He blinked. "Oh... I think they'd like that. How does marriage work here?"

"The shaman officiates, and the service is completely private save for the 'bride,' groom, shaman, and the king, if he chooses to attend, which I doubt he will in this case. They stand in the water in front of the king's palace and hang crystals all around. When the service begins, the shaman offers a prayer to the kings of the past while the... grooms exchange flowers and sip from a sacred chalice. When the shaman is done, together they place the flowers in the water. Then they all walk into the city together and celebrate with the people, there's music and food- and dancing!"

Milo smiled softly. "That sounds nice... I think if you told them it was an option, they'd be all over it." He took another bite of his food.

"I think you should tell them," Kida countered, grabbing another bowl now that he'd finished his own. "I'll convince my father to let the service be held."

"Oh- ok!" Milo grinned, getting up from his seat and going over to them. "Hey, guys? Kida just told me something you might wanna know about."

Sweet looked up. "What is it, kid?"

He grinned excitedly. "You two can get married here!"

Vinny choked on his food. "What?"

"You can get married here. Kida explained it to me, and there's no law against same-sex marriage." He grinned at them.

Vinny's eyes widened and he stared at the floor.

Sweet looked at him, excited but concerned. "Vin...?"

"Marry me."

Sweet blinked and beamed. "Gladly."

"When is this possible?" Vinny asked Milo.

"I'm not exactly sure, it seemed pretty quick in Kida's explanation, but he's gotta get his dad to agree to the ceremony... I'll ask, or you can."

Vinny put his head in his hands.

Sweet gently put a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly. "It's ok, Vin..."

"Hmm."

Sweet smiled softly, looking up at Milo. "Give 'im a minute."

He nodded. "Ok. I'll ask some more questions, we'll figure it out when you're ready." He made his way back over to Kida, grinning. "They're pretty happy about that..."

"Wonderful! If I can convince my father, we will be ready by nightfall."

Milo grinned. "They'll be happy to hear it..."

Kida grabbed his third bowl and started working on it.

Milo smiled at him softly. "You really were hungry..."

Kida blushed. "Well- yes! And I suggest you eat more as well, both of us are going to need energy for tonight."

Milo nodded. He took another helping. "I've never been to a wedding..."

"That is not what I meant."

"Oh. What- what's happening tonight, then?"

"I need your help with something. Will you?"

"Yeah, of course. What is it?"

Kida looked around. "Forgive me, but I would rather not share until we get there. Soon, I promise."

"Um... ok?"

"Thank you." He set his empty bowl down. "I will go ask my father about the marriage. I'll come find you after." He got up and left.

"Ok... bye..." He waved a little bit.

~~~~~~

Only a few hours later, the wedding service was in action. The king had, surprisingly, agreed to let it happen, as long as they were gone the next morning as Rourke had promised.

Milo was excited for the party after the service, but Kida told him there was somewhere else they needed to go and started leading him away.

"So... do I get to know what we're doing now?"

"You are going to help me read."

"Oh. Ok. I was worried it was something creepy or dangerous. Well, I'm happy to teach you, lemme get the book-"

"No, not the book, you're going to read a mural."

"Oh... where is it?"

"...Nearby." Kida stopped among crumbling stone structures near a body of water. The stones had Atlantean letters etched all over.

"Oh..." Milo looked around at the structures. "Well, this pillar-"

Kida grabbed a hollow lantern on a stick, propped against one of the rocks. "Do you want to help me?"

"Yeah, of course, the letters are just a little worn, c'mere-"

"No, with the lantern. It will be dark soon, and we'll need light when we come back up."

"Oh, yeah, ok." He turned. "So where're we going?" He took the lantern, looking around at the fireflies. "These guys are pretty cute when they're not in an angry swarm of death..."

Kida whistled and called the fireflies closer. They concentrated and landed up and down his arms, even some on his head. He giggled, "Could you open the lantern?"

Milo held it up, smiling softly at him.

Kida shook his arms out, corralling the fireflies into the lantern and closing the lid. A firefly escaped and landed on Milo's nose.

He crossed his eyes to look at it, smiling softly. "Hello. Please don't set me on fire."

"I won't let him." Kida reached up and took the firefly on his finger.

Milo smiled at him. "Thanks..."

"You are welcome." He shooed the firefly away and took the lantern from Milo, setting it against one of the stones. "Now it is time for reading."

"Ok." He turned back towards the pillar. "I think I can make out this... word..."

"That isn't the mural I was talking about," Kida laughed softly.

"Oh... what're... you doing?"

Kida slowly unwrapped the cloth from around his waist. "We are going to swim. You can swim, can you not?"

Milo stared at him. "Uh- I can- I can swim pretty gay- I-I mean, pretty guy- pretty good, pretty good, I can swim pr-pretty good..."

Kida laughed. "Are you sure? You seem... frightened."

"Oh- nah, nah, I'm not scared, I'm fine, really..." He laughed nervously.

Kida laid the cloth on the ground and stepped into the water. "Good. We are going a fair distance, but do not worry. I will carry you if you can't swim there."

Milo nodded, awkwardly following Kida's lead, and after a moment, he plopped his bag on top of his clothes and followed him into the water, his face very red.

Smiling, Kida took his hand and instructed, "Hold your breath," before doing the same and dragging them both under the water.

Milo swam quickly after him, keeping his eyes open. Kida's crystal necklace emitted a glow, so he couldn't lose him in the darkness.

Eventually, after they'd been swimming for a while, Kida found an air pocket and pulled them both into it. "Are you alright?"

Milo panted. "Well... I mean, I didn't drown, so that's a win." He grinned at him.

Kida smiled back. "Good. We'll be under for longer this time, ok? The words are under the water and I cannot read them."

"Ok." He took a deep breath and dove back under the water, waiting for Kida to lead the way.

Kida ducked below the water and grabbed Milo's hand again before swimming downward, pulling Milo along with him but keeping enough distance so he didn't kick him. The glow from the crystal seemed to get brighter the further down they went, adjusting to the lower levels of light.

Eventually, they came upon the mural Kida had been talking about. It depicted Atlanteans crowded around a bright blue star of some sort, with a circle of words around the image.

Kida held up his crystal to light it better so Milo could read it.

Milo swam up to the area of words closest to them, beginning to read. His eyes widened and he swam farther up, fascinated by the writing. They'd been under for very long by that point, and there were more bubbles coming out of his mouth, and it looked like he was losing air.

Kida's brow creased and he put a hand on Milo's shoulder, pointing up inquisitively.

Milo shook his head, trying to look back at the words, get as much information as he could to tell Kida. Only a few seconds later, it looked like he was about to lose consciousness.

Kida frowned and gently cupped Milo's face in his hands, pressing their lips together to give him more air.

Milo's eyes widened, freezing and slowly sinking, shutting down from shock.

Kida gurgled in alarm and wrapped his arms around Milo's waist to pull him up. He swam up, back to the air pocket, shoving Milo's face into the oxygen before his own.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?"

Milo just stared at him, wide-eyed. "You- uh- me-" He made a choking noise.

Kida let go of him and inched away in the water. "I... apologize."

Milo blinked rapidly, seeming to get back some of his brain function. He swam forward, bumping into him. "No, no, don't apologize! It's fine, I mean-" He backed up awkwardly. "It's ok... I- I don't- I don't mind."

"But... I broke you."

Milo covered his face. "No, you- um- so, here's the thing- I'm not broken-" He dunked his head under the water, trying to make himself understandable. He resurfaced, rubbing a hand over his face. "You just- it surprised me, and I didn't know what... to do... so I just kinda..." He shrugged. "Sorry..."

Kida hesitantly hugged him. "It is alright. What did you read from the mural?"

Milo blinked, taking his focus off of the fact that Kida was being very affectionate. "Um- it's a whole history of Atlantis, it's fascinating..."

"The light I saw. The star in the middle of the city. What does the writing say about that?"

"I-I don't know yet, but we can find out." He took another breath, reluctantly pulling away from Kida and swimming back towards the mural. Kida followed soon after, holding out his crystal for a light source.

Milo swam around, trying to find the passage. He stopped suddenly, treading water at one specific point. His eyes widened, and he grabbed Kida's necklace, pointing at it and the words frantically before swimming up to the air pocket.

Kida followed soon after, looking worried. "What is it?"

Milo laughed excitedly. "The heart of Atlantis! That's what the missing page is about! The bright 'star' you saw, what I thought was a power source, they're the same. It's some kind of crystal, like that!" He gestured at his necklace. "This is incredible!"

Kida blinked slowly. "That... cannot be..."

"It's what's keeping all of this- you, Atlantis, alive!"

"Then where is it now?"

"I don't know! You'd think something that important would have been in the journal-" He stopped, his eyes wide. "The missing page... we have to find it, that's how we can help your people, we have to find the heart!"

Kida smiled widely. "The heart, this will bring my culture back?"

Milo nodded. "We just have to figure out how to make the power stronger, I'm sure we can do it." He grinned at him.

Kida clasped his hands in front of his face, biting his lip to keep the huge smile away.

Milo smiled at him wider, reaching out to take his hands. "We have to get back..." he murmured.

Kida sniffled quietly. "Thank you, Milo..."

Milo gently cupped his cheek, wiping away his tears. "It's no problem..."

Taking a shaky breath, Kida opened his eyes, leaning into Milo's' hand slightly. "Not for you, but it has been for us. But now we could be saved. So thank you."

He smiled at him. "Of course. Any time."

A little reluctantly, Kida pulled away and said bluntly, "We could be running out of air now. Are you ready to swim back?"

Milo blinked at the sudden change. "Uh- yeah... yeah, I am..."

"Then I will see you on land." He ducked below the water and started slowly swimming back, making sure he wasn't too far ahead so Milo could still use the glow of his necklace to guide help back.

Milo swam after him, his mind whirling with where that page was...

Eventually, Kida stopped swimming, just treading water for a moment, before pointing up to a stream of distorted light and swimming away from it.

Milo frowned softly and attempted to follow him.

Kida intercepted him and shook his head, pointing back up to the surface.

Milo frowned again but reluctantly nodded, surfacing. He took several breaths before wiping his eyes and opening them. Instead of seeing empty stairs, or a party, he saw the crew standing at the stairs, all looking at him holding guns.

"Uh... guys...? What- what's with all- all the guns...?"

Rourke smiled coldly.

Milo's eyes widened. "Of course... I'm such an idiot..." He glared at them. "This is just another treasure hunt for you. You want the crystal."

"Oh, you mean this?" Rourke pulled a paper out of his bag and showed it to Milo. It was the missing page from the Shepherd's Journal.

Milo glowered at him. "The missing page..."

"Yeah. About that, I would've told you sooner but it was strictly on a need-to-know basis, and, well, now you know! I had to be sure you were one of us. Welcome to the club, son." He held out a hand to Milo to help him out of the water.

Milo pulled away from him. "I'm no mercenary."

Just then, Kida's head broke the surface of the water. The moment he was visible, one of the crewmen grabbed him and pulled him out by his hair. Kida grunted in surprise and jerked out of his grip, grabbing his weapon and using the momentum to shove him in the water.

A few of the others surged forward to apprehend him, but Kida fought back ferociously and brought down every single one of them. It was only when Rourke fired his gun, just barely missing Kida's face, when he calmed himself.

Erring on the side of caution, four men moved forward and grabbed Kida. They kept him still with two men holding each arm in case he decided to struggle, which he didn't, as there were guns pointed at Milo,

Milo nearly threw himself at the men holding him back, but that would only make things worse and he knew it. "Leave him alone! You don't know what you're tampering with, Rourke!" He lifted himself out of the water, glaring daggers at them all.

"What's to know? It's big, it's shiny, it's going to make us rich," Rourke laughed.

"You- you think it's some kind of diamond?! It's their life force, Rourke! If you take that crystal, you'll be responsible for the murder of an entire civilization!"

Rourke's eyes widened. "Well... that changes things... doesn't it, Helga?"

Helga nodded somberly. "Knowing that... I'd double the price."

"I was thinking triple," Rourke countered.

"Rourke, don't do this! Are you that heartless to murder thousands of innocent people for a paycheck?!"

Rourke raised an eyebrow. "Think about it, Milo. If you gave back every artifact in your museum that was taken by force, that people died getting, you'd be left with an empty building. We're just providing a necessary service to the archeological community."

He glowered at him. "Not every stolen artifact caused the extinction of an entire race."

"Then I take it you're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"No! Because, unlike you, I have a thing called a heart!"

Rourke lowered his head. "That's... disappointing, Milo. It really is."

Milo just glared at him. "I'm so sorry I'm not recklessly homicidal."

"I hate it when negotiations go sour." He nodded to his men.

The mercenaries holding Kida forced him to his knees while another man walked up to them, pointing a gun at Kida's back as he struggled.

"Kida!"

"Let's try this again," Rourke said coldly, taking out the paper again. He shoved it in Milo's face.

He glared at him. "Fine," he spat.

Rourke smiled. "Wonderful! Now put your clothes on."

Milo angrily pulled his clothes on, reaching over to collect Kida's as well, hoping to be able to give them back to him at some point.

Rourke handed him the page. "Let's move, men! Milo, lead us to the bounty."

~~~~~~

Ignoring any and all of Milo's objections, the crew blew the king's room's doors open, aiming their guns at the guards and the king himself. Milo up at him, bowing his head.

Helga, keeping a grip on Kida's hands behind his back, cocked her gun and aimed at his head. "Tell 'em to drop their weapons, now."

Kida shook his head, gazing pleadingly at his father.

The king's eyes widened. "Kida..." He quickly ordered his guards to do as Helga had instructed. They slowly dropped their spears. The king started worriedly at Kida. "Oh, my son..."

"Spread out," Rourke commanded. "Search everywhere!" He turned to Milo. "You're not applying yourself, son, there's got to be something else!"

"There isn't anything else!" He glared at him. "All it says is 'the heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king'."

Rourke pursed his lips and stomped over to the king. "Then maybe ol' King Cole can help us fill in the blanks. How about it, chief? Where's the crystal?!"

The king glared up at him. "You will destroy yourselves. Let my son go."

Rourke scowled and lifted the king by his collar. "Maybe I'm not being clear..." He punched him in the gut.

"No!" Kida shrieked.

The king fell to the floor, a hand on his stomach. Sweet ran up to him, glaring at Rourke. "Commander, this was not part of the plan!"

"Plans change, doc," Rourke shrugged. "I'd suggest putting a bandage over the bleeding heart of yours, it doesn't suit a mercenary."

Sweet just ignored him, trying to examine the king and make sure there wasn't immediate damage. Across the room, Vinny was tightly gripping his gun, staring at Rourke's forehead, as if imagining that it was a target.

"Well, as usual, diplomacy has failed us." Rourke sat down unceremoniously on the king's throne and took out his weapon. "Now I'm going to count to ten and you're going to tell me where the crystal is."

"One." He cocked his gun. "Two." He aimed at Kida. "Nine-"

The crew gasped, Milo glowering at Rourke.

He cut himself off, looking over the king's head. The stones in the pool of water... they matched the cover of the Shepherd's Journal perfectly... and could only be seen from the throne.

"The Heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of its king... this is it!" He threw the book unceremoniously at Milo as he stood up. "We're in!" He walked into the water, standing in the center. There was a platform there, and as he stepped on it rumbled. "Hurry, get on!" He waved to Helga and grabbed Milo, basically throwing him in after him. Helga pulled Kida in after her.

Milo stared at him sadly. Helga had let go of Kida's arm... he could at least have a bit of dignity. He grabbed his clothes out of his bag and held them out to him. "Here-"

Helga snickered to herself and slapped Milo's hand, sending the clothes back to the water.

Rourke smiled, laughing softly. Milo snarled slightly.

"You won't let him have the slightest bit of dignity, will you?! Does that make you feel better about murdering him and his people?! Dehumanizing him for the fun of it?!"

Rourke rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Milo, fine, he can put his clothes on."

Kida scowled and reached down for his clothes, dressing himself with shaky hands.

Milo stared at him sadly. In Atlantean, he quietly murmured, "I'm sorry."

Kida whispered back, "My father..."

"Sweet's with him... he can help him, I promise..."

"Will he...?"

"What are you two talking about?" Helga demanded.

Milo glared at her. "I'm so sorry that me empathizing with someone because their father was just assaulted upsets you."

Helga snorted. "I don't care about that. You could've been plotting a coup."

"With what? Clothes and a book?!" He rolled his eyes. "Yes, we're very much a threat to you and your loaded pistol."

"Shut up," she growled.

"Lieutenant, play nice," Rourke warned as the platform lowered them into a cavern.

Milo smiled at Kida, trying to be comforting, and then his attention was captured.

The Heart of Atlantis.

It was floating high above a pool of water, surrounded by large stone carvings of people's faces. It emitted a bright blue glow, just like Kida's necklace.

Kida stared up at the carvings in awe, a tear slipping down his cheek. "The kings of our past..." he breathed. He quickly knelt down as low as he could go, pressing his forehead to the ground, whispering an ancient Atlantean prayer.

Rourke sighed. "Thatch, hurry him up, we're on a schedule."

Milo glowered at him. "He's in prayer, I can't interrupt him, how would you feel if you were in church and someone forced you to leave?"

Rourke glared at him before nodding to Helga. She cocked her gun and aimed at the back of Kida's head.

Milo's eyes widened, but he reluctantly knelt down and put a hand on Kida's shoulder. "Kida... I'm so sorry, but you have to get up, I'm sorry."

Kida looked up and slowly stood, hugging himself tightly.

Milo took his hand for a moment, squeezing it slightly. "I'm sorry..."

The stones above let off an odd sound, like hushed speaking. It almost felt like the kings of the past were really in those stones, offended that Kida's prayer was interrupted.

Rourke hesitantly kicked a stone into the water. The crystal turned red, sending beams out around itself.

"Let's get this over with," Helga advised. "I don't like this place."

Rourke nodded. "Thatch, what's next?"

He grit his teeth. "There is a giant crystal hovering 150 feet above our heads over a bottomless pit of water, and you ask what's next. I don't know! This isn't a tomb raider guide!"

Standing just behind the scene, Kida looked up at the hovering stones. One of the beams landed on him, and the crystal turned blue again. He murmured the Atlantean word for 'mother' and his eyes began to glow milky blue.

"Move it!"

"I don't know how, aren't you listening?! Unless you miraculously learn how to fly, that is staying where it is, where it's supposed to be!" Milo almost said something else, but cut himself off. "Kida?"

Kida slowly stepped forward, as if in a trance. He stared intensely up at the heart. It seemed as if he were trying to get closer to it.

Milo reached out for him, but Rourke held him back. "Kida."

Kida turned. He stared at him, before murmuring in Atlantean, "All will be well, Milo Thatch. Be not afraid."

He turned away again, and stepped onto, not into, the water and started walking across it like a solid surface. He stepped directly under the heart and was lifted up into the center of it. The stones spread apart and circled him as his entire body began to glow brilliant blue.

Milo watched, terrified of what going into the heart would do to him. "Kida-"

The spinning stopped and the glowing dimmed ever so slightly. Kida lowered slowly back down to the water and began walking across the distance to land. His entire body was blue and glowing, just like the heart had been. As he gained distance, each of the stones dropped into the water, one by one. Everything ethereal about them was gone, now inside Kida.

He stepped onto the ground and stood eerily silent, gazing ahead blankly and swaying slightly like a shallow wave of the ocean.

Milo stared at him worriedly. "Kida...?" he whispered.

Kida didn't answer.

"What's wrong with him?" Rourke asked.

"He... he absorbed the heart..." he murmured. "He is the heart now..."

"Well, then... that makes it much more portable." Rourke grinned.

"No! Don't touch him, don't- don't do anything! You have no idea the power that thing contains, and now that it's inside him, there's no way of knowing how it'll come out. You can't sell a person!"

"Clearly you are not a historian," Helga scoffed. "Civilizations were built off of sold people. Commander, how will we move him back up?"

"He'll go up on his own... we'll just... push him in the right direction."

Milo glowered at them, hating how helpless he was.

~~~~~~

Once they got back to the surface, Rourke and the rest of the crew led Kida onto a piece of metal, and put up more metal walls around him, one with a glass window, so they could monitor him. Audrey placed the top on, and was securing it in place before they pulled it onto the back of one of the trucks. Milo stood by, held back by two other crew members with guns, glaring at all of them like he'd like to throw them all in the bottomless pit in the crystal chamber.

Inside his newly made cage, Kida stiffened, and his glass window solidified even more, becoming a barely-translucent blue.

Milo bit back his rage, keeping his voice calm. "So... this is it. You're wiping out an entire civilization, but hey! You'll be rich!" He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Congrats, Audrey. You and your dad'll be able to open up that new shop after all."

Audrey slammed the door of the truck behind her, hunching over.

"And, Vinny! You could open up a whole chain of flower shops, I'm sure your family will be very proud." He sneered at them.

Vinny looked down in shame, leaning away from Sweet.

"Sweet... I mean, you could go back to medical school, get your degree. Bet your parents'll be thrilled."

Sweet turned away from him slightly.

"But that must make you happy, right? Cuz that's what all this was about. Just money."

"Get off your soapbox, Thatch," Rourke called back. "You've read Darwin. It's called natural selection! We're just helping it along."

"Commander! We're ready!" Helga called.

Rather suddenly, Audrey got back out of the truck. She stomped over to Milo and stood firmly next to him, crossing her arms.

Vinny and Sweet followed soon after, taking their place on Milo's other side. Mole and Cookie followed. Mrs. Packard sighed.

"We're all gonna die."

And then she got out of the truck, too.

Rourke rolled his eyes. "You can't be serious!"

"This is wrong," Audrey shouted, "And you know it!"

"We're this close to our biggest payday ever, and now's the time you decide to grow a conscience?"

"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of," Vinny called back. "Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking, but nobody got hurt! Well, somebody probably got hurt, but nobody we knew."

Sweet nodded, twisting the ring that Audrey had given him the night before, made a bit hurriedly out of some scrap metal for his and Vinny's wedding. He took Vinny's hand. "This isn't right."

Rourke growled. "Fine, if that's how you want it. More for me." He walked back to the truck, hopping inside and slamming the door, content with leaving the rest of them behind.

Milo's face fell, and they crossed the threshold of the city. The Atlantean's crystals stopped glowing, and the waterfall almost immediately faded to a trickle.

He growled and started to run after the truck. "We can't let him do this! Kida!"

Vinny ran after him and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Kid, no! Wait, and watch."

Milo struggled against his grip, but then just watched helplessly as Rourke looked out from the truck window, pulled a fuse, and the bridge, their only way out, exploded.

The Atlanteans gasped and murmured amongst themselves in worry. Their deity was gone, and with it, their prince.

Milo stared at the debris slowly sinking into the water, and back up at the truck. The metal prison that held Kida. "No..."

Sweet broke the silence by calling him from the king's chamber. "Milo! You better get up here!"

~~~~~~

Milo walked into the chamber to find Sweet packing up his medical bag. "What's going on? How is he?"

"Not good, I'm afraid," Sweet sighed. "Internal bleeding. There's nothing more I can do."

"Oh no..." Milo sighed sadly. "This is a nightmare... and I brought it here..."

"Now, don't go beatin' yourself up. Rourke's been after the crystal since Iceland."

"The crystal... that's it!" He pointed to the king's necklace. "The crystals, they have some kind of healing property, I've seen it work before! We can-"

The king held up a hand. "No. Where is my son."

Milo stopped in his tracks. "Your- Your Majesty, he... I don't know what happened, but the Heart of Atlantis... it's inside him now, it is him... and- Rourke took him. We couldn't stop him, I'm so sorry..."

The king nodded gravely. "He has been chosen... like his mother."

Milo blinked. "What?"

"In times of danger... the crystal choses a host. One of royal blood, to protect itself, and its people. It will accept no other."

Milo faltered. "W-w-wait a minute. You-you're telling me this thing is alive?"

"In a way... the crystal thrives off of the emotions of those who came before us. In return, it provides power, longevity, protection." He held up his necklace. "As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own. In my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war... but its power was too great to control. It overwhelmed us, and led to our destruction."

Milo nodded. "That's why you hid it... to prevent history from repeating itself."

The king weakly nodded. "And to keep Kida from succumbing to the same fate as my beloved wife..."

Milo's breath shortened. "What- what d'you mean, what's gonna happen to him?"

"If he remains bonded to the crystal, he could be lost to it. Forever." He lowered his head. "The love of my son is all I have left... and when I am gone, yours will be the strongest he has. My burden would have become his... but now it falls to you." He lifted his necklace over his head and handed it to Milo.

He hesitantly took it. "M-me?"

The king made a fist around Milo's hand. "Return the crystal. Save Atlantis." He leaned back on his throne. "Save my son. Protect him..."

His eyes closed, and his hand fell back to his side. The crystal in Milo's hand flickered out.

He stared down at the king in shock, before slowly lowering his head.

A moment of silence lingered in the air. The king's guards knelt down on one knee and bowed their heads in mourning.

Milo stepped away from the king, staring down at the crystal. He couldn't- he couldn't do this. He wasn't a fighter, he was a linguist. A linguist and or boiler monitor. It'd be crazy...

"So..." Sweet said gently, "What's it going to be?"

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"I followed you in, and I'll follow you out. We all will. So it's your decision."

"My- my decision?" He laughed. "You wanna leave this up to my decisions?! I think we've seen how effective they are! Let's recap: I lead a band of mercenaries to the greatest archaeological and cultural find in recorded history, thus enabling the kidnapping and or murder of the royal family! Not to mention, personally delivering the most powerful and dangerous force known to man into the hands of a homicidal nutcase, who's probably gonna sell it to the Kieser! Have I left anything out?!"

"Well, there was the time those fireflies destroyed the camp before you could translate the page," Sweet added.

"Thank you!" He stormed off, plopping himself down on the steps, glaring at the ground.

Sweet came to sit next to him. "You know, it's been my experience, when you hit the bottom, you've only got upwards to go."

"Oh yeah? And who told you that?"

He waved his hand nonchalantly. "Oh, just some guy... Fella by the name of... Thaddeus Thatch, I believe."

Milo blinked. Grandpa...

He looked back down at the crystal in his hand and made a fist around it. Without a word, he got up and walked out of the room.

~~~~~~

"Hey, Milo," Audrey called, "Where are you going?!"

"After Rourke," he said shortly, not stopping.

"That's crazy!"

"I didn't say it was the smart thing!" he called, continuing to walk. "But it's the right thing."

Audrey huffed, trying to lean on Vinny's shoulder despite the height difference. "...Come on, everybody. We've got to make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

They followed Milo down the steps, finding him climbing what looked like an old ruin of a fish statue.

Audrey slapped her own forehead. "Milo... what's going on?"

"Just follow my lead." He shoved the crystal into the slot, following the same instructions that Kida had. The fish powered up, beginning to float, its lights flickering on. He whooped.

"Ok, it's simple. All you gotta do is-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got it." She climbed onto the fish and pressed the inscription pad.

"No, no no, wait-"

It was too late, and the fish flew backward into the wall. Milo sighed. "You gotta do it gently."

Audrey blushed and crossed her arms.

The Atlanteans gathered around the scene, whispering in curiosity and holding their crystals.

"How is this done?" one of them asked.

Milo grinned, hopping down and going to another vehicle. "Kida showed me. You gotta use the crystals. Here." He put the crystal in and put his hand down. "Crystal in, quarter turn back, keep your hand on the pad, and be gentle." The vehicle powered up, and he hopped in. "Come on!"

Collectively shrugging, the Atlanteans each found a vehicle of their own and followed the instructions with care. Soon enough every warrior had their own ride, and even some brave civilians had joined the cause.

Most of the crew had grabbed a ride as well, and they were ready to fight.

"We're gonna save Kida! We're gonna save Atlantis! Or we're gonna die trying! Let's go!" Milo zoomed off towards the cave and the volcano, the rest of the fleet after him.

Audrey, Vinny, Sweet, and Mole came up beside him.

"What do we do now?!"

"We're gonna fly in low, take 'em by surprise!"

"I've got news for you, Milo! Rourke is never surprised, and he's got a lot of guns!"

"Great! Do you have a better plan?"

"Don't get shot!"

He just sighed and flew faster.

Inside the volcano, Rourke and the rest of the mercenaries had blown up a hot air balloon, and unblocked the magma at the top of the volcano.

Rourke hooked the cage Kida was in up in the balloon, and then he saw the Atlanteans.

"We've got company!"

"Take off," Helga shouted. "Take her up!"

The crew began firing at the ships, preparing small aircrafts to go after them in the air.

"Holy smokes!" Milo dodged the bullets coming his way.

"I told you he's never surprised!" Audrey shouted.

Across the cave, Vinny was barely dodging, completely under fire with no cover. He ducked, accidentally hitting the inscription pad. But instead of flying forward, an electrical blue beam zapped out of the ship, destroying one of the trucks. He looked down at the pad, his eyes wide. The Atlantean next to him watched and did the same. Another blue beam.

He grinned. "Now things are getting good..."

"Are you alright?!" Sweet shouted to him.

"I'm fine! Do this!" He sent another blue beam at the trucks and laughed.

Milo flew up on his other side. "We can't let them reach the top of that shaft!" He pointed at the slowly rising hot air balloon.

They nodded, and Milo zoomed off, only to be met with an airplane. He turned back, trying to evade the gunfire.

"Ok, new plan! Vinny, you and I are decoys! Sweet, Audrey, you fly under it and cut Kida loose!"

"We're on it!" Sweet and Audrey flew off to the cage as the doctor pulled out a medical saw from his bag. Audrey leapt from her vehicle and positioned herself on top of the cage, sawing through the chain that held it up.

"I thought... you said..." Audrey panted from the effort, "This thing could... cut through a femur... in 28 seconds!"

"I know, but metal isn't a femur! Less talk, more saw!"

"I am perfectly capable of multitasking-!"

"Just focus!"

Above them, Milo and Vinny were circling the balloon. They were drawing Rourke and Helga's attention, dodging their gunfire and shooting back at them.

Rourke grabbed another gun and kept firing, until Vinny shot it out of his hands. He grinned and saluted before flying away, firing down at another truck.

Helga growled, out of ammo. Rourke looked down and noticed Audrey. "Someone's working overtime."

Helga grinned, unhooking one of the bombs on the balloon and dropping it, down onto Audreys' vehicle. Sweet nodded and grabbed her.

"Alright, girl, time's up, let's go." He tossed her into his ship and flew away.

Across the cavern, Milo took a deep breath. "Ok, Milo. This is it. Any last words." He groaned. "Yeah, I really wish I had a better idea than this!" He turned his ship and flew full force into one of the balloons on the aircraft. His ship kept going in a wall, and he grabbed onto one of the ropes, dangling.

"We're losing altitude! Lighten the load!" Rourke ordered.

Helga raided the craft for any nonessential cargo and threw it overboard until they were stripped to the bare minimum. "That's it, unless someone wants to jump!"

Rourke smirked, grabbing her arms. "Ladies first!" He shoved her.

She screamed as she fell, just barely grasping onto one of the bars on the craft. She growled in fury and swung herself back up, kicking Rourke in the face.

"You said we were in this together!" She kicked again. "You promised me a percentage!"

"Next time, get it in writing!" He grabbed her foot the next time she kicked and flung her off the craft. This time, she didn't come back up.

"Nothing personal," he called down. "It's just business!"

Milo, still dangling from the ropes around the balloon, cut one of the ropes he was hanging onto, and swung down, kicking Rourke in the face.

Rourke grunted in pain and fell down. The two lost their footing on the uneven aircraft and fell down to the bottom of the craft, right above the swinging blades, and Kida. He very quickly computed what had happened and righted himself. He smiled sadistically with a bloody lip. "I have to hand it to you, Milo! You're a bigger pain in the neck than I would have ever thought possible!"

Milo pulled himself upright, trying to punch him. Rourke very easily stopped his hand and shoved him against the railing of the platform, breaking off the weak metal. The blades caught on it as it fell, holding it in place and keeping Milo from falling.

Rourke leaned over the edge ominously. "I consider myself an even-tempered man. It takes a lot to get under my skin, but congratulations! You just won the award!"

Milo scrambled to get off of the piece of railing and onto the chainlink holding Kida's prison to the craft.

Below them, Helga had, surprisingly, not died.

She groaned, looking up at the balloon as it slowly rose up the volcano. She growled, grabbing the gun from her belt buckle and weakly aiming it at the balloon. "Nothing... personal," she ground out, and fired.

The bullet shot up, ripping a hole in the main balloon and making it quickly fall towards the ground.

On the craft, Rourke looked up at the rip, and smashed the glass box containing an axe for fire emergencies. He jumped down to the cage where Milo was hanging, swinging the weapon at him.

The axe blade shattered the window on the cage and got lodged among the glass shards. Rourke grunted in annoyance and finally ripped the axe free.

Milo's eyes widened, and he hurriedly checked to see if the axe had managed to go far enough to touch Kida, not just the glass.

He looked fine... and the shattered glass was glowing with the heart's power...

He could make use of that. He grabbed a jagged piece just in time for Rourke to grab him by the collar and drag him up above his head.

"Tired, Thatch?!"

Milo panted, staring down at him in terror. He tried not to grip the glass shard too hard, in fear of cutting himself, and brought it down on Rourke's arm, leaving a slightly smoldering, blue cut. He dropped the glass and scrambled away from him, right below the blades, as Rourke's attention was captured.

The commander looked just in pain at first, and then his arm twisted of its own accord. Out of the cut grew a second layer, a crystalline blue slowly covering his entire body, random lines of red around him, his eyes and mouth glowing the same red. Rourke attempted to scream, but all that came out was a distorted echo. He froze as if he'd been turned into a statue.

Milo sighed heavily. "Thank Heaven..."

The statue moved. It made the same echoed, distraught scream, and reached up for Milo, climbing up higher than he had. For a moment, Milo thought he was done for.

The metal railing finally snapped, and the blades began swinging again. Right into Rourke, shattering him. The pieces of the statue scattered, evidently strong enough to break the chains, as the ones that fell onto the chains snapped them, and sent Milo and Kida tumbling down.

The remainder of the craft, a flaming mass of cloth and rope and metal, came plummeting down on top of them.

Milo yelped, and quickly rolled the cage out of the way, leaping after it as it rolled down the incline that was there.

As his friends flew down next to him, cracks appeared in the floor and the ground began to shake.

"The volcano..." Moliere whispered in fear. "She awakes!"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with it," Vinny defended, waving around a lit stick of dynamite. Then he realized it was lit and quickly put it out, blushing slightly with embarrassment.

"This here would be a good place not to be!" Cookie said.

Milo gasped, and quickly grabbed the loose chain, hooking it around the cage. "No- wait, we have to get him outta here or the whole city'll die!"

"And if we don't get out of here," Audrey yelled, "We'll die!"

"Just do it!" He shouted, throwing her the rest of the chain.

She groaned melodramatically but did as he said. The crew rushed to secure the cage to their vehicles to fly it out of the volcano.

They surged forward, and the hook on the cage broke off. Milo gasped.

"No!" He leapt off again and grabbed on the chain, winding it around the cage.

"Milo, hold on!" Audrey shouted back.

He leapt onto the cage, clinging to it, positioning himself so he could hang on and look through the window to check if Kida was ok without a nutcase swinging an axe at him in midair.

Kida's face was drawn tight, but otherwise he looked undisturbed and unharmed.

Milo had no clue how long being bonded to the crystal was too long, and he didn't know if he could bear if Kida was gone...

The vehicles raced forward undeterred, having to evade flaming debris every once in a while. They flew back towards the city as the lava slowly picked up speed and went after them.

Soon enough, they were back in the city, skidding on the ground as the ship's halted. Milo unhooked the chain around the cage, looking frantically over it for some way to open it.

One of the warriors handed him his spear, and he used it as leverage to open the door.

"C'mon, c'mon, open, please please-"

It popped open.

Kida glowed even brighter, sending out a sort of neon blue shock wave that expelled the walls of the cage away from him. He rose into the sky above the center of the city as the stones took on the same ethereal illumination. The runes and symbols etched into the stones lit up all around the city. Atlantis shook as the ground burst.

The stones from under the cavern, the kings of the past, shot up into the sky, beginning to circle around Kida. They rapidly gained speed until they became a barely visible mass of light and wind.

Then, suddenly, a beam of light shot from the center and targeted a sunken statue around the watery border of the city. It began to glow as well as it pushed itself out of the water, revealing itself as a sort of automaton, made completely of rock. A few more followed suit soon after, creating a perimeter around Atlantis.

As the lava surged toward the city, a magical shield spread out from the automatons, reinforcing itself until it was solid and unwavering and safe. The lava crashed down over it and swam around it, flowing over and hardening as it cooled.

A dome of rock was left over the shield. Then it cracked.

Tiny streams of blue light spurted from the cracks, slowly breaking down the frozen lava until it shattered, taking the shield with it. The city and its people were safe, and the danger had subsided.

As the dust cleared, a little beam of blue light shone through the clouds. Milo squinted up at it, picking himself up and creeping forward.

Through the clouds floated Kida. He wasn't glowing blue anymore. He didn't even look conscious...

He raced forward, holding out his arms so he wouldn't topple to the hard stone. Kida floated slowly down into his arms, and the beam vanished. He leaned heavily on Milo.

Milo beamed. "Kida..."

Kida slowly opened his eyes, still depending on Milo to hold him up. He looked confused and very tired.

Milo laughed, out of shock and pure joy. "Kida- you're ok!"

"Milo...?"

He nodded, still beaming at him. "Yeah, it's me... I'm here..."

Kida tried to stand on his own, almost immediately staggering under his own weight.

"Hey, hey... take it easy, you're ok..." Milo helped him to stand, his arms wrapped firmly around him.

Kida smiled gratefully. "Milo, where is my father? Did Sweet help him?"

Milo winced. "Kida... he tried, he did... but... he was bleeding internally and there was nothing we could do... I'm so sorry..."

His face fell. "Wh...what?"

Milo pulled the king's crystal out of his pocket and held it out. "I'm sorry... we couldn't save him..."

Kida took the crystal from him, his hands shaking slightly. He stood still and silent for a moment, before pitching forward and throwing his arms around Milo's neck, pulling him close.

Milo caught him, hugging him close. "I know... I'm so sorry, Kida..."

"They're both gone..." Kida sniffled. "Will you go, too?"

Milo's eyes widened and he hugged him even closer. "No- no, I'm not going anywhere... I promise, I promise, I'm not going..."

"You really promise?"

He nodded. "I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

"...Thank you..."

Milo nodded, just wrapping his arms tighter around him. "Are you ok...?"

Kida sighed tearfully. "I... I do not think so... but I will be, if you are here..."

"Ok... you'll be ok, then..." He smiled down at him, trying to comfort him, but he knew there wasn't much he could do to take the grief away. Kida had just lost the last person in his family, and he wouldn't just be ok in a few days...

Kida pulled back just enough to look up at Milo, smiling softly despite the tears in his eyes. He was rapidly becoming exhausted, physically and emotionally, but he had one thing he needed to say before he collapsed. "I love you..."

Milo's eyes widened in shock. "I-" He staggered a bit under Kida's weight, and kept helping him up, though his heart was beating so fast he was wondering how he hadn't collapsed himself.

Kida frowned. "Do you... not feel the same?"

Milo jolted, and instead of shutting down, he went into mental overdrive. "What- no, of course n- I mean- I do! I do! Of course I do, you just- um- hi."

Kida laughed a little breathlessly. "Silly..." His eyes fluttered closed and he leaned more heavily against Milo, fast asleep.

Milo tightened his grip, unsure if he was strong enough to pick him up, so he just stayed where he was. He smiled down at him, his face very red.

Sweet and Vinny walked over, smiling softly at the two of them.

"You ok, Milo?" Sweet asked.

He nodded, still staring at Kida. "Fine..."

"Should I, uh, take him off your hands?" he offered kindly. "I need to check him out anyway."

"Um- yeah, yeah..." He sort of reluctantly handed Kida over, reminding himself that Sweet could help him. He needed to calm down anyway...

"So, how'd it go?" Vinny asked.

Milo blinked. "How- how'd what go?"

"We know you love him," Sweet scoffed.

"Yeah," Vinny nodded, "It's not very hard to see."

Milo went red. "Well- I- he- you didn't answer my question!"

Vinny patted his shoulder. "It's ok, kid. Just calm down, we can talk about him- it later."

Milo sputtered a little bit more before shutting up, just covering his face with his hands.

Vinny chuckled and poked Milo in the side before walking away with Sweet.

Milo just groaned a little bit and kept hiding from the world. Would Kida even remember what he said? Did he even mean it, or was he just so out of it that he made things up?

~~~~~~

Sweet had just finished Kida's checkup and deemed him physically fine. He'd need rest for a few days, but after that, he'd be back to normal with no permanent repercussions.

He was now lying on a cot in the Atlantean palace, sleeping.

Milo was sitting next to him, worrying. About when he'd wake up, about what Kida had said, about what he'd said back...

He sighed softly, covering his face again.

"If he didn't mean it, I can just go home with Fluffy... It's ok..." He groaned. "Did you mean it?" He meant it as a rhetorical question, not expecting Kida to answer when he looked up.

Of course, Kida was still asleep. Although, Fluffy slunk into the palace to keep Milo company, pushing against his side and meowing up at him.

Milo smiled softly. "Hi, Fluffy... do you think he meant it?" He leaned down handpicked up his cat, looking back at Kida as he mindlessly petted Fluffy. "Do you think he remembers? What if I'm going crazy and all this is a dream and I spent the past day and a half running around my apartment screaming..."

Fluffy mewled discontentedly and squirmed out of his grip, apparently upset with his attitude. He roamed the room aimlessly for a while before finding a new nap spot.

He sat down on Kida's head, softly kneading his hair.

"Oh- Fluffy, no, don't do that, he's resting..." Milo reached out to pick his cat up. "Fluffy..."

Fluffy hissed quietly and swiped at Milo's hand, waking Kida. He looked up at the cat on his head and smiled.

Milo froze. "Fluffy," he muttered scoldingly. "You woke him up..."

"Milo, is this your... cat?"

"Yes..."

"...I love him. Don't move him."

Milo chuckled softly, his thoughts curbed for the moment. "Ok..."

Kida giggled and reached up to scratch Fluffy's head. "Does he ever do this to you?"

Milo shrugged. "He usually goes for my shoulders..."

Fluffy purred. Kida asked, "Is he staying here with us?"

Milo blushed. "I- I mean I thought so..."

"Good."

He nodded, looking down at the floor and fidgeting with his fingers. After a moment, he spoke. "Did you mean it?"

"Did I mean what?"

Milo bit his lip. "I- um- wh-when- um, when- when you said you-you... love me..." He looked away, his heart pounding.

Kida tried to sit up, his arms shaking from the strain. "I do love you, Milo."

Milo noticed he was shaking before the words computed in his mind, so he surged forward, helping him to sit up. "Hey, just lie down, you need rest-" He blinked. "H-hi."

Kida grinned, not laying back down like he should've. "Do you... love me, too?"

Milo nodded slightly, a bit frozen. "M-mhm..."

"Could you say it out loud before I pass out again?"

Milo nodded, though he still didn't say anything. He harshly bit his lip, trying to get his brain to work and his mouth to move. "I-I, um- I love you, too," he rushed out.

Kida smiled wider, visibly a moment away from physical collapse. "Thank you."

Milo just nodded, slowly pushing him down onto the bed. "Now rest."

"Hmm... how long...?"

"As long as you need. I'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

"But who is... going to..." He yawned. "...Take care of... my people...?"

"It'll only be a little while, Kida... I'll be here, I'll help if I need to." He bit his lip, before hesitantly leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss to the tip of his nose.

Kida sucked in a tiny breath and almost immediately fell back asleep.

Milo's eyes widened. "...Do Atlanteans have an off button I don't know about...?"

Fluffy mewled quietly and curled up next to Kida, falling asleep with him.

Milo smiled softly, beginning to relax. To be honest, he needed some sleep... he hadn't slept since before the camp had burned down... and everything since then was just one adrenaline-pumping thing after another... but things were calm now... he was exhausted.

Kida wouldn't mind if he just took a quick nap next to him... would he?

He slowly crawled onto the bed next to him, curling gently around him and drifting off. This was nice...

~~~~~~

A few days later, the crew had packed up and been celebrated, and gotten a hefty reward for helping to save Atlantis.

Now, Milo and Kida were saying their goodbyes as they finished packing their reward into the ship, giving them one last present.

Kida gifted them each their own crystal pendants, making them a part of the city.

"Atlantis will honor your names forever," he said, draping the last necklace over Vinny's head. "I only wish there was more we could do for you."

Vinny smiled, holding up his hands. "Thanks anyway... but I think we're good." He looked over at his shoulder at the piles of gold being brought into the ship.

Milo chuckled. "That'll take you as far as the surface."

"We're really going to miss you, Milo," Sweet said, wrapping an arm around Vinny's shoulders. "You really do look good in a necklace, husband."

Vinny blushed. "Shut up..." he muttered, hiding a smile. "...husband..."

Sweet smiled and kissed his cheek before turning back to Milo. "But we are going to come back and visit, I hope you know."

Kida smiled. "We will await you."

Milo smiled at them. "I'm holding you to that, you know."

"I'd expect nothing less." Sweet scooped Vinny up into his arms and carried him into the ship.

Milo stifled a laugh.

"Josh, put me down."

"Hmmm... no, I don't think I will."

Vinny groaned, putting his head on Sweet's shoulder. "Why."

"Because you're my husband."

Audrey, walking past them, scoffed and rolled her eyes. "They're even worse now that they're married, Milo. How could you."

Milo laughed. "It's not like you live with them."

"Still." Audrey pulled back her fist and jerked it towards Milo's face.

He flinched away, grinning a little.

She smiled. "Two for flinching!" She lightly punched him twice on the arm.

Milo chuckled softly. "Bye, Audrey."

"Bye, Milo. I'm going to miss you. Which is why I'm demanding that Sweet and Vinny take me along when they visit." She turned on her heels and paced onto the ship.

"Oh yeah, I'm expecting all of you to come visit!"

Fluffy meowed and scratched at his leg.

Milo smiled softly. "Don't worry, Fluffy. You're staying with us." He picked up his cat, petting him softly.

Kida pursed his lips and 'discreetly' stole Fluffy from him, holding him close to his chest. "I am not sorry."

Milo smiled softly at him. "I wasn't expecting you to be."

Sweet came back out of the ship and clapped Milo on the shoulder. "I know it's useless askin', but are you sure you want to stay? There's a hero's welcome waiting back home for the man who found Atlantis."

"I don't think the world needs another hero," he said, smiling softly. "Besides, I hear there's an opening down here for an expert in gibberish."

Vinny stomped back out of the ship. "Josh, I can walk fine, and I don't need rest, it's not like I actually got shot."

Sweet frowned. "But they weren't bullets, they were lasers, you could be affected by something we don't know yet!"

He stared at him tiredly. "I'm fine. Tell him I'm fine," he said, gesturing to the group at large.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Sweet, let him walk, he's alright."

"We don't know that..."

"Yes, we do. Fine."

Sweet pursed his lips and picked Vinny up again.

Vinny sighed. "Why are you like this?"

"Because I'm a doctor and your husband. Don't lie, you love it." He kissed his nose.

He rolled his eyes, hiding a smile. "Debatable..."

"Well, then, shall we have that debate? Do you love me or not?" He peppered tiny kisses all over Vinny's face.

Vinny turned red as he made a very embarrassing squeak, pushing his face away. "Are you going to put me down?"

"Hmm... fine. But only so we can take the picture. Then I am carrying you back on the ship." He put him down. "Milo, you got the camera?"

"Yeah." He smiled softly at the two of them, Vinny slightly pouting.

"Good, now give it to someone so you and your boyfriend can get in the picture with us."

He smiled a little bit, going over to another Atlantean and having a brief conversation before helping him set up the camera and pulling Kida over to the other. He blinked slightly as they got there, 'boyfriend' sinking in. "B-boyfriend...?"

Kida frowned. "What is boy friend?"

Sweet chuckled. "It's when you're in love with someone, but you're not married or engaged... yet."

"Oh... boyfriend!" He smiled and kissed Milo's cheek.

Milo's eyes widened and his face went red.

Vinny snickered. "Another word you might want to know... twink."

Sweet covered his mouth to stop himself from bursting out laughing. Milo went even redder, if that was possible, and groaned.

"Shut up!"

"I... don't understand," Kida said quietly.

"Don't ask," Audrey told him.

Milo just grumbled something at Vinny and tried to calm his face down so he would semi-normal for the photo.

Kida patted the top of his head. That didn't seem to help his situation.

The Atlantean with the camera finally figured out how to work it and signaled to Kida that he was ready to take the picture.

Milo smiled softly, slowly beginning to calm down. "Say gochk!"

The crew repeated, "Gochk!" as Kida stifled a laugh, blushing a little.

Milo snickered, still grinning for the picture. The camera flashed, and he covered his mouth to keep from laughing more.

When the picture was taken, Kida burst out laughing. "Gochk? You really made them say-"

Milo nodded, trying not to howl. "Yes, yes I did."

"I cannot believe you!" Kida leaned on Milo's shoulder to keep himself upright.

Milo kept giggling as he wrapped an arm around Kida. "But it's funny."

"So you do have a sense of humor." He tapped his nose.

Milo blinked. "Well, yeah... who said I didn't?"

"You, with every move you do or do not make. I thought you were too precious to be funny." He kissed his forehead.

Milo blushed softly, fighting a soft smile. "I- I'm not precious..."

"Yes.. you are!" Kida grinned and scooped up Milo, holding him bridal-style.

Milo squeaked, his eyes widening. "Kida!"

"You squeaked!" Kida laughed virtuously, wobbling a little under the weight. "You are precious."

"Hey- hey, put him down, you still need rest, that's too much strain on your body right now-" Sweet reached over and tried to get Kida to put Milo down.

Kida pulled away from him, holding Milo closer. "But... I love him..."

"And you can love him just as much when his feet are firmly on the ground and you're not risking more damage to yourself. Hurting yourself hurts Milo, you know."

Kida frowned and put Milo down, swaying on his feet.

Milo smiled softly. "He's right, you shouldn't strain yourself..."

"But I like holding you..."

"I know, but you can't hurt yourself." He paused. "Look, you can hold me, just not in a way that overexerts you."

Kida raised an eyebrow. "How else is there?"

"When we're lying down, for example."

He pursed his lips. "...We need to try this as soon as possible."

Milo blushed softly. "Ok."

Sweet looked up at the slowly darkening sky. "We should get going... don't wanna worry Whitmore than we already have..." He grinned at Milo. "Plus, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can visit."

Kida smiled. "Safe journey, travelers."

"Thank you. We'll see you soon. Maybe Whitmore'll come..." Sweet grinned at them. "Bye."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on," Audrey groaned, pulling on his arm. "We've got to go."

Sweet chuckled. "Alright, alright, girl, I'm comin'."

"I don't see any walking," she snorted.

Sweet laughed softly. Vinny mussed up her hair and started walking back into the ship waving back at Milo and Kida.

She wrinkled her nose, but followed him in.

Milo smiled softly. "Bye! Good luck!"

Sweet went up the ramp, waving back at him. "Bye, Milo! See you soon!"

"See you!" He waved back, grinning. Kida waved with him, clumsily copying the wave.

The ramp, with no one on it, lifted up and closed the ship as it took off. It disappeared through the crowds and Milo and Kida continued to bid them farewell. That is, until Kida got tired and had to go back. Then... they cuddled.

~~~~~~

"Let's go over it again," Whitmore sighed, "Just so we got it strai- right. You didn't find anything?"

"Nope," Vinny said, shaking his head. "Just some, uh, rocks. And fish. Little fish."

"What happened to Helga?"

"Well, we lost 'er when a flaming zeppelin came crashing-" Cookie started, before Mrs. Packard smacked him over the head with her umbrella. He cleared his throat. "Missin'."

Whitmore smiled. "That's right, and Rourke?"

Sweet smiled. "Nervous breakdown. You could say he... went to pieces."

"In fact, you could say he was transamorgified and broke into a zillion-"

Mrs.Packard lifted her umbrella threatening over Cookie's head. He cleared his throat and fixed his tie. "Uh- he's missin' too."

"And what about Milo?"

"Went down with the sub," Audrey piped up.

Whitmore smiled a little sadly. "I'm going to miss that boy... at least he's in a better place now."

He shifted through the pictures they'd taken of Atlantis, smiling softly, until he found a small package amongst the pictures.

To Whitmore
From Milo

He curiously untied it, opening it to find a small picture of Milo and Kida grinning at the camera, and on top of it... another Atlantean crystal necklace.

Dear Mr. Whitmore,

I hope this piece of proof is enough for you for now. If you come visit, you'll get even more. But this sure convinced me.
Thanks. From both of us.

- Milo Thatch

Mr. Whitmore smiled softly down at the picture, tucking it into his pocket, before gingerly slipping on his piece of proof.

He'd need to start planning another mission to Atlantis...

~The End~