Hey guys! Sorry for the delay hehe. Been busy lately, and even if the chapters are written already, I have to check them again before the beta and all. So hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 3

The girl and the crew

Once the submarines had been emptied and what remained of the crew was on shore, they hold a little ceremony in honor of all the crew members, friends and colleagues that had perished. Lighting a single candle held in a helmet, which Apollon gently put down on the water and set to drift, the crew stayed silent behind their commander. Zeus took a deep breath, and slowly started speaking.

"Seven hours ago, we started this expedition, with 200 of the finest men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left. I won't sugar-coat it, gentlemen. We have a crisis on our hand. But we've been up this particular creek before, and we've always come through, paddle or no paddle. I see no reason to change that policy now."

There was a small break, a moment of silence in honor of the lost ones. Yui silently cried, looking to the ground. This was madness… but they had come so far now, they couldn't back out. The loss of all those people made it even more important. Their death had to be significant. They couldn't let it mean nothing, which would happen if they backed up and went back home. They had to continue, march forward and keep going.

"From here on," Zeus spoke again "everyone pulls double duty. Everyone drives, everyone works."

As he climbed the stairs, he took another pause, and slowly turned around and looked at Yui. She looked up, as she felt every eyes on her, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"Looks like all our chances for survival rests with you, Miss Kusanagi" his voice was solemn as the words downed on Yui. "You and that little book"

These people, they counted on her. She had to lead them to the lost empire. She- she had to. She really was their last hope.

As everyone moved, following the orders that were shouted by the commander, Yui found herself not knowing exactly where she should go. Realizing the girl seemed lost, Zeus walked up to her.

"Do you happen to know how to drive a car?" He asked.

"Oh- oh yeah sure, I, hum. Yes I think I can manage. I mean, it can't be all that different from, er, driving a bumper car from Coney Island, can it?"

Zeus sighed. He didn't have much of a choice but to let her drive, did he? With that, he left her behind and went for his own truck.

"Alright. It can't be that hard, right Melissa?"

The cat meowed in agreement. Little did he know it would be the worst ride of his life.

Yui climbed in her truck and started moving. She took the lead of the group with difficulty, but thought it would only take a little while for her to get used to it. Except that 15 minutes later, she was still slowing everyone down as she failed to drive her truck properly. The cars honking and voices calling behind her definitely did not help her.

"Alright everyone stop!" Yui heard Zeus voice from behind. "Tie that car behind the drill right away and let's get moving."

Quickly, Yui found her ride tied right behind the drill driven by Anubis. With a small pout, she turned the wheel. Was she really that bad?

They slowly made their way through the caves, guided by Yui reading the book. Often, they had to stop to give her the time to figure out where they were, and where they should be going. The road was fairly lonely, as nobody wanted to talk to her. She felt rejected from the group, her only company being her cat.

On the first night, she ate dinner by herself. She fell asleep in her truck, as Zeus decided they were not stopping and making camp before they were close enough to the Atlantis, which was still fairly far away.

What kept her from thinking about it was the journal. She went through every pages, translating every word, one by one, trying to make sense of all the sentence and what they meant. About at the middle of the book, she realized there was something missing, like a page or something. The information was incomplete, and it was really odd. The book, over all, was in incredibly good shape, since it had been made centuries ago. She shrugged it off, thinking it mustn't have been anything important. Maybe the page had gold on it, which seemed more valuable to a thief than the whole thing in itself, and that was why they took it. Hoping the missing page wasn't important, she stopped paying it any attention.

They reached a stop at a crossroad. Indeed, the path separated in two, each path passing through another cave that were in fact the empty eyes of a giant sculpture.

"Kusanagi! Which path does the book says we should take?" Zeus asked as he joined her, helping her out of the truck.

Standing in front of the crossroad, Yui took the book out and started reading, moving the book in every sense so she could read the lines written in the margin of the page. Melissa, standing on her shoulders as always, stared with great interest at the path on the left, like he had smelled something. Making up her mind, Yui gave her answer to the commander as she replaced her glasses on her nose.

"The book says it's the left one!" she decided.

Some words were poorly written, and she had to guess their meaning. She hoped that she had gotten the right one, since anything could happen if they were taking the wrong one. She embarked again in her truck as they started moving again toward what they thought to be the right path.

The second they were about to enter it, a giant bug monster came out of it, launching toward them. A cry left Yui's lips as she saw the thing, the others yelling to back away from there.

Back at their starting point, at the beginning of the crossroad, Yui analyzed the text again, and realized one on the word wasn't what she thought, and the right path was actually the correct answer. Her face bright red, she shyly pointed at the correct path as her colleagues stared at her, unimpressed.

They started moving again, and nothing attacked them this time. A few hours passed, and Yui was sleeping lightly in her truck when they came to an abrupt stop, waking her up instantly, and sending Melissa to the ground.

"Break time!" Zeus yelled from behind as the crew started pouring out of the trucks, chatting together.

They had been rolling for hours non-stop, and everyone was tense. The loss of their friends was too fresh in their memories. Chatting casually made it better in some way.

Yui climbed out of the truck, yawning. She grabbed a gourd and drank it all in one shot. The food made by Dionysus was… questionably alright, but he almost only served wine to drink, and Yui had some trouble finding water. Somehow, her gourd kept disappearing.

"Oh tell me you didn't just drink that" Loki said as he approached her, fiddling with a red box.

Yui nodded, suddenly afraid of what the man was going to say.

"Uh-oh. Not good. That was nitroglycerin."

The young woman gasped as her hand reached for her throat. Oh lord. What had she done? She couldn't die now! She was so close to her goal, she couldn't die! Tears filled her eyes, and she tried to fight them back.

"Alright, don't move, don't move a single inch, also don't breath. To be honest, all you have left to do is pray" the man said, the beginning of a smile tearing at the corner of his lips.

Almost giving in to fear, Yui closed her eyes. She didn't see what was coming next…

"Boom!" the light voice of Anubis rang from behind.

Yui yelled as she jumped hard, stumbling a few steps in front of where she was standing. The two men left her behind, laughing together at their good joke as they walked away… or so they believed. Yui sighed in exasperation. She wouldn't survive long enough to see the Atlantis, especially if these pseudo-specialists kept tricking her like they just did.

They started moving again about 15 minutes later. A few days passed like this, as they crossed colder places, warm zone and so on. Loki blew up a magnificent column to make a bridge, which horrified Yui. Did anyone in this crew have any respect for the architecture of the past? Or anything? It sure didn't feel like so. A thousand year old column that must have taken years, if not decades or centuries to create, had been blown up in mere seconds.

But instead of giving in to all the negative feelings, Yui kept reading the journal. Every once in a while, she would look at her and Thor's picture, reminiscing of old times. Sometimes, she swore she could hear his voice, telling her to never give up. Not after coming this far. Telling her that his life shouldn't have been in vain, and that she needed to succeed.

Melissa wasn't enjoying the voyage either. He would have been fine staying back at the big house, where mice ran in the rooms at night, and where he could have made a feast. Yet he was stuck here, and despite being with his master, whom he adores, this whole trip sucked a lot. Lots of water, barely anything good to eat except that guy's weird food, and no toys to play with. An incredibly boring trip, in Melissa's opinion.

The cat turned and looked at Yui, who was absorbed by her book. She barely petted him these days. Deciding he wanted all of her attention, Melissa left his place on the truck's bench and jumped right on the book, purring.

"Melissa! You're going to break the journal!" Yui exclaimed in surprised as she forced her cat to move aside.

"Mrow" Melissa replied, giving his the big round eyes.

Yui always fell for that trick.

As expected, the woman sighed and gave him a smile. She closed the book, put it back in her bag at her feet and gently grabbed the cat, putting him down in her lap. She started petting him, and Melissa started purring louder.

"I have been neglecting you. Sorry, Melissa" Yui apologized as she scratched her cat behind the ears.

Melissa closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. Finally, he had all the attention he deserved. And he deserved a lot, especially for putting up with this stupid expedition.

They suddenly came to a stop, and Yui stopped petting Melissa, who opened his eyes and turned around. What was going on?

"A wall" Yui whispered so only her and Melissa could hear. "Let's go see what they'll do"

At first, Melissa jumped on the bench and wanted to stay behind, pouting. It was his time after all. Why did it have to end?

"Come on big baby, let's go see what's happening" Yui chuckled as she extended her arm toward the cat, inviting him to jump on her shoulders as he usually did.

There was a pause, and finally Melissa resigned himself and jumped on the shoulder. He was also curious as to why they had stopped anyway- and if the reason they had stopped was good enough to excuse the fact his petting session had been cut short.

Yui jogged toward the small group standing in front of the wall. Mostly, there was Anubis and Loki discussing with Zeus.

"Laevatein, can you blow up that wall?" Zeus asked to the bomb man.

"Nah, I don't have enough explosive anymore. Got a few cherry bomb left, about 10 dynamites bar, maybe a few things I made myself, but not enough to blow our way out, especially since we don't know how thick the wall is. I mean, maybe if we had some nitroglycerin, right, kitten?" Loki replied nonchalantly, checking through his bag full of explosives, sending an amused look at Yui as he finished his sentence.

"Is there another way around, Kusanagi?" Zeus turned toward the linguist, who was surprised to get attention.

"No, this is the only way the book mentioned" she replied curtly.

By now, she had memorised the entire road to the Atlantis and barely needed to check in the book to know if there was another way around.

"Alright. Ma'at, the drill."

"Wouhou!" the geologist exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air like a child who just heard the best new of his entire life. "Time to shine like a gem!"

He quickly climbed in the machine, and everyone stepped back behind so they would not get crushed. Yui sat back down in her own truck, ready to go again, but something went wrong.

The drill had started spinning normally, but as soon as it touched the wall, it shut down. There was no apparent reason for it to stop moving, and it was all in all very strange.

Takeru passed next to her and went straight behind it, not even sparing a look for her. He opened the doors leading to the engines and climbed in, inspecting everything. As the minutes passed, Yui wondered what was happening. She climbed out of her truck again, and followed Zeus, who was also going to inspect what was happening.

"I can't find the problem" Takeru sighed as he got his head out of the engines to look at the commander.

"Keep looking" Zeus said, walking off.

"If- if I may suggest-" Yui said, but was cut off by a dark look.

"I am the engineer on this team. You are the linguist. I'm not going to do your job, so don't come and do mine" he grumbled.

He shuffled in the back of the drill some more, cursing under his breath.

"Don't touch anything, Weed, I'll be right back" he told her as he walked toward his own truck.

"W-weed? Who the hell is he taking me for?" Yui talked to herself as she turned around and looked at the engine.

Slightly bothered by being called a weed, she climbed in and started turning the wheels of the boilers. It seemed like a problem she faced a lot back at the museum, and she should be able to fix it. Finishing up, she hit the pipes with a wrench Takeru had left behind, and the machines roared to life.

"She lives!" Yui heard Anubis exclaim up front, making her smile.

She climbed out of the truck, a smile on her face. She knew she could do it. She knew it was something she was capable of, and that despite not being the engineer on the team, Takeru could have at least listened to her.

"How did you do it?" said engineer asked, eyes wide as he stared at her and the now functioning drill.

"Oh, nothing very impressive. The boiler in this machine is a Humac model P-54 stroke 813, and we got the 814 back at the museum. The heating core of the Humac line is always, you know, it's a bit temperamental. Turned a few wheels, a few hit with a wrench in the right place- common problems with these boilers You just have to persua-" she started rambling, standing straighter as she proudly announced her doing, in a way to prove she was in fact right.

"Yeah yeah, whatever Weed, shut up. Now go back to your own job" Takeru muttered as he closed the doors and walked back where he was coming from.

"My name is Kusanagi, not Weed!" She called back as she walked to her truck too.

"Exactly what I said. Kusa right?" Takeru smiled back at her "Doesn't it mean the same thing?"

Yui felt her face turn red as she promptly climbed back in her truck. How dare he…? She hadn't spoken her mother tongue in years, and didn't think that it would backfire on her that way. To believe just correcting him on her own name… this boy was really frustrating.

The drill now perfectly working, they started moving again toward the lost empire. The rest of the road happened without a problem. They finally reached a point that was indicated on the map. It was a huge sort of lantern made of rock, carved directly on the ceiling.

Zeus decided to make camp there, right before the bridge, as there was enough space for everyone to settle down with their tent, and keeping the trucks and the drill close.

They lighted up fires and sat down in small groups around them… well, except for Yui and Melissa, who chose a nice place where they could settle down a wooden box to use as a table. Yui would probably go through the Shepherd's journal yet once again.

"If only Thor was here" She whispered, looking at her picture.

She missed him greatly, especially now that they were so close to their goal. She was just about to succeed. Yui wished her mentor and friend could have been there to see her succeed.

Back at the fire, the group of experts were looking at her, barely eating the food Dionysus had made.

"Maybe we should cut her some slack? Can we invite her with us? Can we?" Apollon pleaded as he put down his tray of food.

"Yeah you're right" Takeru sighed.

"Oh yes let's invite the kitten so I can have some fun~" Loki mused as he unwrapped a candy.

"How about you keep your tricks to yourself for once, Loki" Balder said, munching on something that looked like dry meat.

Where did he get that anyway?

"Alright I'll call her. Hey Weed! Come over here!" Takeru called her, smiling.

"Yes come sit with us! Come sit with us!" Apollon added, looking like a kid.

"A-are you sure you don't mind?" Yui called back from her seat, surprised by the sudden invitation.

"Come on, just come sit with us, Miss Kusanagi" Balder added, showing her a rock next to him.

She slowly got to her feet and walked toward the group, sitting down on the rock Balder was showing her. She sat on it, putting her tray of… strange food on her knees, opening her book and starting reading as she ate. The others made small chat together as she read. Despite her not participating, it felt better than eating alone. And Melissa seemed to appreciate the attention he got from Apollon.

"Hey Weed, don't you ever put that book down?" Takeru commented after a few minutes of staring at her.

"Yeah, you must have read it a dozen times by now, Yui Kusanagi" Tsukito added as he slowly ate his own food- the Caesar salad, according to Dionysus.

It looked more like someone threw up. And it was way too greasy for anyone's liking.

"I have but… there's a part that just doesn't make sense. I keep reading it over and over again, but I can never quite understand what they meant. You see here, in this passage, it seems like it's leading to something. He calls it the heart of the Atlantis, which I am guessing is the power source the legend refers to. But after that… it cuts off. It looks like there's a missing page."

"Oh just relax, kitten. We're not paid overtime y'know."

"Oh-oh. I know, sorry" Yui blushed heavily, a small smile finding its way to her lips. "I just get carried away sometimes. Thor and I could ramble hours like that when I was younger." She laughed to herself, remembering the old times. "But this is so amazing! You know what this is about! Teamwork, adventure… unless you guys are in it for the money?"

"Money" Takeru and Tsukito said, at the same time, the engineer shrugging.

"Money" Anubis also added, finishing his plate.

"I have to admit I'm in it for the money too" Apollon said.

"Aaah I'm gonna go with money" Loki answered.

"As much as this is going to be an amazing discovery… money is my answer too" Balder admitted as he gave the last of his food to Anubis, who seemed to love it.

"I guess I kinda set that one for myself" Yui laughed, massaging her neck.

"Is something wrong with your neck? Can I help you with it? Can I?" Apollon pleaded as he passed behind her.

"Uh, sure I guess…"

Apollon picked Melissa up, put him on the ground and got to work. In a few seconds, he twisted Yui's neck in different direction, making it crack loudly.

"How do you feel now? How do you feel?"

"I… I feel a lot better! Thanks Apollon" the young linguist smiled at him.

They chatted together for a while, Melissa passing from person to person to be petted, until he got back to his master. The evening was overall very nice, and Yui hadn't had this much fun since she left for this expedition. The men were actually very kind and funny, save for the weird nicknames.

"Alright now that you all ate your entrée, here comes the main course!" Dionysus announced, coming back with his cauldron full of- of whatever that mixture was.

"No no we're fine! I'm not hungry anymore"

"Ah I'm, eh, watching my line"

"Thank you we've had enough"

"Alright then, I'll be keeping it for next time. I'll be keeping it. Anyone want wine?"

"No!"

There was a common sigh of relief as the cook left. Dionysus was really nice, but his cooking was, erm, how to say. Horrible. Yes, horrible was the word.

After that, they started setting up camp for the night, as it was getting fairly late and they needed their rest. Everything was going okay for everyone… except Yui.

Yui hadn't set up a tent since the last time she and Thor went camping, which was a good decade ago. And Thor was the one to set up the tent, not her. So her knowledge in tent building was very… little.

"You should set up your tent, kitten. I'm not letting you sleep in mine~"

"I-I did set up my tent…" she said, disappointed as she looked at it.

It didn't look like a tent at all. It was as disastrous as Dionysus' cooking.

Loki sighed and shook his head. He put down his own mattress and came to Yui's rescue, setting her tent up correctly for her. The girl stared at him do, grateful that he didn't leave her to her problems.

"I'm a little rusty at it I guess" she joked once Loki was done.

"Not just a little, I'd say"

"I haven't gone camping since the last time Thor took me there." Yui admitted as she could finally settle down in the tent.

"I never got to meet him. What was he like?" Takeru asked as he finished setting up his tent too.

"Oh, where should I start" Yui smiled as she unrolled her mattress. "He took me in when I was a kid, all alone. I was far from my home, and my parents had died. He found me and he raised me. He was more of a brother to me really." She laughed fondly as she remembered him and all their adventure.

"What's so funny?" Takeru couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, you see, this one time we were hiking along this stream, and something shiny in the water caught my eyes. I was eight back then, and very curious. So I reached out for it and realized it was a genuine arrowhead! The way Thor talked about it, you would have believed I had found some sort of lost civilization. It was only when I was much older that I realized the arrowhead was just some compressed shale mixed with zinc and something shiny in a triangular shape."

"That is so cute!" Anubis commented as he passed by, on the way to his own tent, holding a small wolf plush toy in his arms, looking more child-like than ever.

Anubis was really… odd.

"So how come you, a girl, became a linguist?" Takeru kept asking as he settled down on his mattress.

Everyone was pretty much ready to go to bed, but they all looked at Yui expectantly.

"Well, I grew up hearing about the Atlantis and everything from Thor, so of course it rubbed off on me" she giggled "I just find it absolutely fascinating. History is amazing, dead languages are so interesting and full of knowledge. But mostly, it was because of Thor. As I said, finding the Atlantis was his dream to start with, and eventually it became our dream. I wish he could be here with us right now."

"I'm sure he looks after you wherever he is, Yui" Balder smiled sadly at her.

"So how did you guys end up on this expedition?"

"My dad retired from his job. His and my dream is to open up a new machine shop, but he is now too old to go on with it. I'm here to make money so we, too, can accomplish our dream. I mostly heard about it from my brothers, since they were already on the team back in Iceland, and I easily got the job. I wished I had gotten to be part of the first expedition and meet Thor too, you know."

"How about you, Loki?" Yui turned to him as his tent was next to hers.

"My parents used to own a flower shop, and I worked there. One time I'm making those prom bracelet with flowers that girls wear, and it was a nightmare. 'Does it match my dress? Is that the right color? Where is my flower?!' Horrible nightmare, I swear. Then there was this explosion next door and I found myself flying through the windows, and then I just had an illumination, and here I am. Is that enough for you, kitten?"

"Yeah pretty much" Yui laughed gently.

Meanwhile, they saw Anubis turning around on four legs, like a dog preparing his bed, and finally laying down with a sigh of contentment.

"What's Anubis' stories though?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know! You really don't want to know!" Apollon said. "Take-Take, you don't say it to Miss Fairy. You said it to me, and now I'm scarred for life. Scarred for life!" he threw his hands in the air in a very dramatic way.

An evil smile stretched on Takeru's lips as he was about to reply, but Balder cut him off before he could say anything Yui might regret hearing.

"Time to sleep, kids" Balder said as he blew on the small flame burning in the oil lamp.

Yui was curled up on her bed, Melissa close to her, but she couldn't sleep. Her mind ran at a thousand miles per second. Finally deciding to go take a walk around camp, she left the warmth of her bed and her cat behind, her satchel containing her most precious belongings on her shoulder.

Melissa decided to accompany his master, scared that something might happen to her. He silently followed her around as Yui's flashlight illuminated the way in front of her. The night was fresh, but it felt good.

As she walked, she illuminated the cavern, watching the strange architecture, especially that of the lantern. As the light passed on it, the green glow they had seen earlier started burning brighter, and small dots of light came flying down, but Yui hadn't noticed them.

She kept walking until she got to the precipice. She started walking back toward camp as the bugs arrived around her. She swatted them away with the back of her hand at first, not hitting a single one. Finally, she took an unused book and hit one with it. The book instantly caught fire, making her drop it to the ground. She stared at the light bugs go, her eyes finally setting on the camp, where the first bugs already were landing on the tents. Eyes wide, Yui had only seconds to think.

"Fire! The camp is on fire!" She yelled as she ran through the rows of tents.

"Kusanagi, if you don't go back to sleep I swear- oh dear lord" Zeus started, without ever getting the chance to finish his sentence.

The whole camp was ablaze. Akira happened to pass by, ordering the others to throw water at the burning fires.

"Get us to the caves!" Zeus ordered to everyone as he gathered his stuff quickly and running toward the trucks.

Rapidly, everyone was in the trucks, driving toward the caves up ahead, right after the bridge. The urgency of the situation made everyone forget their fears and forced them to go forward, toward safety.

Halfway through the bridge, one of the truck containing gas caught fire, and exploded. It sent other trucks into chaos, and all the explosion finally made the lantern break up ahead, falling directly behind the vehicles.

Everyone desperately tried to go forward, but alas the drill was too heavy, and fell backward, bringing everyone down with it.

Screams, tires screaming from the breaks being hit hard, and crashing sounds were all that could be heard in the cavern. In the pitch black darkness, there was no way to find out if anyone had survived.