Hey there everyone! This is just to say, if you like to read while listening to music, I suggest those 2 tracks for this one-shot, both coming from the OST of the movie by M. Night Shyamalan "Lady in the Water" and composed by James Newton Howard :
Lady in the Water: Prologue
Lady in the Water: The Healing
I hope you will enjoy this! Please R&R! Oh, and I don't own neither Atlantis: The Lost Empire nor any of its characters. Disney does.
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Milo looked around the table in sudden realization. Obby had just finished swallowing the stones Mole had fed him with and the lava dog soon rushed again to the geologist's side to beg for more. Vinny and Audrey were talking animatedly about the Italian's flower shop which appeared to have been blown away yet again by another Chinese laundry. Mr. Whitmore was listening to them while Mrs. Packard just kept chatting with her friend Marge, an activity which did not prevent her from using her monotonous tone. Atlantis's Queen wasn't there anymore.
"Hey, where's Kida?" Milo asked, more for himself than for his companions.
No one seemed having heard him anyway, safe Mr. Whitmore who looked around too, apparently trying to find the beautiful Atlantean woman. Once he had scanned all the dining-room unsuccessfully, his eyes focused on Milo again and he shrugged his shoulders.
"You should go and try to find her."
Milo nodded and stood up.
"It is not as if my mansion was that big, huh?" The millionaire added playfully, his eyes sparkling with mischievousness.
Milo smiled in return and exited the dining-room to look for Kida. Mr Whitmore's mansion was barely lit – it seemed that the old man definitely favoured fireplaces - but the moon shone brightly through the numerous windows and French-windows, lighting the scholar's path and guiding his steps onto the cold, smooth tiled floor. After having checked numerous rooms in vain, Milo finally spotted an already-opened door and headed for it. Pushing it gently, he eventually found the queen of Atlantis. Kida was sitting on the windowsill, apparently gazing outside. The snow had completely covered the earth, naked trees erupting from the soft white texture to cry and pray for the spring to come, reaching out their desperate branches towards the sparkling fireflies the night had dressed itself with. Although Milo did notice Kida's head was slightly too bowed, he didn't want to force her to tell him what was wrong by being blunt about it and thus opted for a softer approach.
"It's even more beautiful when the snow melts."
The queen turned slightly her head to take a look at him from the corner of her eye and then returned her attention to the window she was gazing through but not really seeing through. Kida sighed. She had hoped Milo would not come after her and enjoy himself with his long-time-no-seen friends. She didn't want to bother him with her own problems, although it was quite difficult to tell if the doubts and worries that had entered her mind could actually be considered as exclusively her own problems. But Milo somehow always seemed to know when she was troubled and always succeeded in being by her side whenever it happened.
"This time there was no leviathan. But how do we know there are not other Atlantean weapons out there?" she asked him quietly.
It was Milo's turn to sigh. Rubbing his neck in both disappointment and embarrassment, he tried to find an answer to her question and finding no one, he decided on just ignoring it for the moment.
"Uh, not looking at the scenery, huh?"
Kida shifted on the windowsill to face him but remained sitting.
"Maybe the Crystal's too powerful. Maybe it should remain buried." She stated while looking down at her feet. Lifting her head again, she could tell he was shocked by her words.
"But your people, Kida, they've regained so much. Could you put them in darkness again?"
She did not respond and turned her back on him once again, her hands clinging onto the windowsill for support, her head bowing with the weight of the royal responsibility that crushed her and her eyes closed in a desperate battle to chase her doubts away. Milo remained motionless and silent for a moment, wondering what he should do to help her, what he could say to comfort her. He couldn't bear to see her like this. He had to do something!
Kida's eyes opened when she felt a warm hand caress her cheek. Milo had made his way towards her and was now sitting by her side on the windowsill. A strange smile played on his lips. She could not tell whether it was amused or sad, tender or worried. Probably all of those. She lifted her own hand to cover his.
"Kida, I hope you don't expect me to realize all the work I have done since I decided to stay in Atlantis was worth nothing?"
"How can you say that?"
"Well, you just told me you were thinking of hiding the Crystal forever again. If that ever happens, having restored your culture to greatness would prove it was pointless."
"Milo, if more people get killed because of the Crystal's power or because of Atlantean war machines, I cannot ignore it! I just can't."
"You are not responsible for the damages war machines may have caused."
"My father-
"Your father was a great man, Kida, and you know I really mean it, but he made a terrible mistake when he used the Crystal as a weapon. He decided to bury it to prevent this mistake from ever happening again, but he also buried your people's source of knowledge. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying the Crystal's something we should not be careful with; I am just saying that no matter how powerful it is, your people need it! Kida, you have yourself observed the decay of your people, and you were so eager to stop it."
"Yes, but if the knowledge we can get from the Crystal leads us on the paths of war, then it is dangerous."
"Knowledge has always been both a blessing and a curse. It is just the way it is. The difference is that ignorance can never stop evil. The only available weapon against knowledge is knowledge itself."
Kida's eyes widened and a tender smile appeared on her lips. She leaned against Milo while her arms found their way to embrace around his neck. He wrapped his own arms around her and placed his chin over her hair, unconsciously rocking her.
"Milo?"
"Mmm-hmm?"
"Do you think the Crystal's helped you?"
"Me? Well, let's see…The Crystal's Atlantis, in some way, right?"
"I suppose we could say that, yes."
"Then, yes, it definitely helped me! I mean, come on, before I found Atlantis I was just…nothing, actually! I had a poor job, my colleagues did not care one bit about me, much less about Atlantis, my only friend was a cat, I worked in a cellar and lived in a rundown flat, I was a bookworm-
Milo interrupted himself when he heard Kida giggle. She pulled back from him, though her arms still embraced his neck, and looked up at him, one eyebrow raised and a typical half-smile crossing her face.
"Okay, I still am a bookworm!"
She kissed him lightly on his cheek.
"But now I do have a social life, I discovered I had qualities I did not expect myself to have, I have friends, I have even found the time to built up some muscles thanks to your abominable training –God knows how I have succeeded to undergo it- and I have found a wonderful woman to share my life with, who also happens to be a remarkable ruler."
"That's only because I have you by my side."
"Rubbish! I've nothing to do with that."
"Liar!"
"Liar!"
"Liar!"
"Lover."
She watched him lean closer to her and locked her eyes on his parted lips that waited to meet hers. Love, peace and calm flooded through her during the kiss, blissfully invading every part of her frame. When he broke the kiss, she knew all traces of worry were gone, at least for the time being. She ran her slender hand through his silky brown hair and chuckled when he brushed his nose against hers.
"Thank you, Milo."
"The pleasure's mine. See, I'm quite glad Obby befriended Mole!"
"Why?"
"Because I finally managed to kiss you without worrying he'd interfere."
They both laughed.
"Well, if you feel better, I guess we should go back to the dining-room."
"Yes, they are probably waiting for us."
"Ready to eat Cookie's'meal'?"
The queen's only answer was to pull a face. He reached out for her hand, and all the love in the world was in their finger's embrace.