Milo Thatch/Reader three-shot - Submerged (1/3)


Milo James Thatch… What was a proper way to describe someone like Milo James Thatch… ?

Milo was an interesting character. That you knew as much. He was in fact a brilliant genius, Linguist and Cartographer and well one day expeditionary guide that would be the one to find the treasured city submerged beneath the oceans called Atlantis. Sure, it was only a fabled myth of the great city below but Mr. Thatch just like his Grandfather was determined and persistent beyond compare. Thatch was indeed quite the character. He was as one would call a goofball to never be taken seriously, he even had the stereotypical nerdy appearance to him. It was only expected from Milo James Thatch, of course. He was after all a Thatch…

You had seen him him come and go, always had his head stuck up in the clouds. You were a receptionist at Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C while he was a janitor who looked so out of place amongst everyone. Thatch often was caught pondering and daydreaming on the job. You had met him personally actually. Milo had to make you smile every time you saw him. He was by any means that dark horse that stood out from everyone else. And that is how you took interest in Mr. Thatch. He wasn't like any of the others you knew in your common mundane life of work and more work. He didn't have to try hard to stand out all he had to do was be himself. He simply clashed with the monochrome blur of life.

Silly, Milo James Thatch… If only, he was good at not only reading just ancient dead languages but also other's feelings… Specifically, more so your own feelings towards the slender light brunette haired man that you saw everyday walk by with his dreams stretched out farther than he seemingly could ever reach. Oh, Milo if only you knew…

You were sitting down on a swivel chair and typing fervidly on your typewriter while at the same time juggling the phone that you were talking on at the same time. You typed with both hands while you had the phone propped against your shoulder and the side of your head as you talked to some of the museum's administration. "Yes, uh huh… Two fifteen? Are you sure? … Alright. Okay… Thank you, goodbye." Seconds from ending the phone call it began to ring again and you switched it over to the next caller to speak with. You didn't even have to look at your typewriter as you swiftly tapped the buttons on it with memory reflex of where everything was.

Milo Thatch was walking along the entrance foyer of the museum with a broom that he was brushing against the floor as he walked. He was whistling some random tuneless song to himself, his mind busy with thoughts of his presentation to the board members about his funding to go and search for a journal that would ultimately lead him to the lost city of Atlantis. He adjusted his circular glasses on his face and happened to glance over at you at the reception's desk where you typically were. Thatch couldn't help but stare as he watched you with perfect grace type on your typewriter while at the same time talking on the phone as you usually were caught up doing. Milo would be a down right liar if he said he didn't have a terrible crush on you. He always had to make sure to steal a glimpse of you whenever he was nearby or even stop to make small talk when you weren't up the wall busy with your own receptionist duties. He sighed longing and rested his head against the broom he had in his hands. One day he would find the courage to ask you out on a date. He couldn't imagine how someone like you wasn't already taken but there you were single and right in Milo's sight. 'One day, it'll happen.' Milo thought to himself as he continued to watch you with a light dazed smile on his face. 'I'll have the expedition of my dreams and also my dream girl. What's stopping me? Maybe, I should go up to her now and ask her.' Milo pulled away from his broom and waited for you to look a little less busy which seemed like an impossible feat since you were constantly bombarded with your work.

Milo cleared his throat and puffed out his chest to try and appear more confident than he was feeling. He started walking up to your desk where you were so busy talking on the phone you didn't notice him at first. He laid a hand down onto the counter of your workplace and ran a hand through his short brown hair with nerves building up inside him. He examined your pretty (e/c) eyes that were full of concentration and your (h/l) (h/c) hair that was done neatly in a cute style. Milo tried to think of a way to get your attention without being rude. He watched you finally say goodbye to the person on the other end of the phone and right when you put down the phone it rung again. Milo decided to quickly intervene before you grabbed ahold back on to the device that was practically stuck to your ear like glue.

You glance at the phone and then at Milo and blink a few times. "Mr. Thatch, I didn't see you there! Pardon me, I'm so busy as usual." You said with a chuckle while brushing a strand of your hair from your face. Milo felt his voice get stuck in his own throat as he tried to talk normally it came out in croaky noises. You tilt your head at him and find him amusing as he seems to be acting funny again. A typical quirk of Thatch, of course.

"Ahh, uhm, Miss. (L/n)! Um, really you can call me Milo! We don't need to be so uh formal." He replied and smiled sheepishly at you. You couldn't help but smile at him and nod your head agreeably.

"Okay, then Milo. What can I do for you? I heard from Mr. Harcourt that you were planning some sort of funded expedition. Is that true?" You ask him politely while even ignoring the phone that was ringing off the hook on your desk. Milo's brown eyes brighten at the mentioning of his expedition and he nodded enthusiastically like an excited child on Christmas day that couldn't wait to open up their presents. He opened his mouth and tried not to croak again and sound ridiculous in front of you.

"Oh, yes it is! Um, you see later today I'm actually getting to show my presentation in front of the broad of directors so I can get funded today for the trip." He said and scratched the side of his head, accidentally bumping his spectacles on his face to slant sideways across his face. He blushed furiously from feeling so flighty in front of you, he quickly went to adjust his glasses. You brought a hand to your mouth and tried not to laugh at his goofy antics.

"I see! You must be so excited, Milo! I know how passionate you are about this and I certainly wish you so much luck in your endeavors." You said to him with with a sweet closed eyed smile. His heart picked up in pace as you smiled at him like that. It was extraordinary how you could take his breath away so simplistically. Just however in the world was he going to get the grit to ask you on a date? He could hardly function correctly in front of you let alone ask you such a serious question or at least it seemed very serious to him.

"Why thank you, (Y/n)!" He replied graciously with a smile of his own, "You're too kind! … Although, I was wondering if… I mean to say I was wondering if you would… uh-" Milo paused as he could hear his heart beating loudly in his ears. He couldn't believe how strenuous this was turning out to be. He was about to take the intimidating approach to stand in front of a broad of directors but he couldn't even ask a beautiful girl a simple question? 'Get yourself together, Milo!' He chided to himself in his thoughts. You stare at him awaiting what he was trying to say to you. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down as he kept rambling on, "If you would… uhm… Would you like to go-out-on-a-date-with-me!?" He said to so rapidly that it came out incomprehensible, he slapped his hand onto his mouth with wide eyes as he stared at you in fear. You furrowed your brows in confusion and give him a odd look.

"Uhm, what was that, Milo?"

The red alarm inside Milo went off and the panic began to creep up and swallow him entirely. It was man over board for Milo and he was sinking fast. His eyes started darting frantically from you to the floor and his whole body felt like it started to shake as if there was a natural disaster taking place from within his own body. His palms were staring to sweat and his face was so red it felt like he was in a sauna. "Uh, look at the time I gotta' go!, (Y/n)! Uh, there's cleaning to be done and stuff! SO BYE!" He speed away from you without another word. You were left with your mouth agape and with wide eyes as Milo left you nothing but a passing breeze as he ran away like a complete coward.

'What was that Milo!? You idiot! You ruined your chances again!' Milo scolded himself as he was now hiding behind a corner and actually banging his head against the wall. He was earning some fairly odd looks from passing people but at this time he really didn't care. 'She's so easy to talk too but at the same time she makes it so I can't even breath let alone talk or think straight! How does she do that too me! Every time!' Milo kept banging his head against the wall until he eventually just left his head hanging there against it. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes as his mind was racing with thoughts of you and his predicament. 'I guess there's always next time…' He thought glumly and finally pulled back his head but was now looking more than depressed by his own incompetence. Before he knew it someone else would step in and take you away before he could. His heart couldn't take the thought of that happening.

With slumped shoulders and a heavy heart, he sulked around the museum as he continued to do his own janitor work. While taking every escape route he could to stay far away from you and the front foyer where your workplace was. He couldn't find it in himself to further embarrass himself in front of you for the rest of the day. Milo sighed again and kept a dark cloud following him where ever he went.


Milo was bamboozled, absolutely duped! His meeting with the board directors was supposed to be at 4 o'clock sharp like they had first inclined. Now those dirty rats moved the meeting to three thirty and not shortly after he receives a notice that he was considered a no-show so they canceled the presentation! Milo was furious! If this day couldn't have gotten any worse it just had! First he had to deal with looking a complete fool in front of you and then he had to be made the fool again out of the board directors! This was absolutely an outrage!

Milo was not going to settle with this. His dreams were on the line and if he didn't act quick there was no way he would ever achieve them! Milo stomped into work the next day with a nasty scowl laced across his face. He stormed through the hallways of the museum and was going to find those board directors himself and give them a piece of his mind! You were sitting at your desk per norm, you were typing on the typewriter and for once was not on the phone. You notice Thatch walk in this morning and he looked livid beyond belief! You had never seen such a bitter look his face that usually held smiles and laughter instead of what he was revealing now. You stopped typing and watched him with concern, "Milo!" You called out to stop him before he left the entrance foyer. Milo tensed up and became as stiff as a board. His fists had been balled so tightly that they had turned white from the pressure. Ever so slightly, he took a deep breath and tried to look over at you with the best smile he could fake at the moment. He didn't want you to see him angry like this! You would think he's a total hothead and that's not the way he wanted to present himself to you.

So he smiled in a way that was painful at the moment to produce when in actuality he was fuming inside. He slowly walked over towards your desk and kept that smile upright on his face, it probably made him look foolish again. "Why hello there, (Y/n)! Isn't today a GREAT morning?" He said to you while trying to keep himself from even hinting at the fact that he was furious. You gazed upon him with worry as you stand up from your chair and frown sadly.

"Are you okay, Milo? I saw you walk in and you looked rather piqued. Is something the matter?" You asked him in a way that was so sweet to him he almost wanted to just break down and tell you all his frustrations, but he knew better than to trouble you with his own problems that didn't need to concern your pretty little head with. His fake smile was lousy and he knew it. He never wanted to break up a conversation with you but right now wasn't a very good time.

"No! Everything is 'perfectly' fine! Nothing wrong at all! There are certainly no board directors I want to chew out. No, I'm great! … How about you?" He asked with gritted teeth that was upright in a smile. You didn't look too convinced by his dreadful act but you didn't want to pry into his business either.

"I'm fine… Um, are you sure you're okay, Milo?"

Milo tensely nodded his head and glanced over to the side when he noticed his boss Fenton Harcourt was walking through the hallway past the entrance foyer. He needed to go talk to him! "Uhm, please forgive me, (Y/n) but I really need to go uh go do something. So bye!" He rushed off again while leaving you another breeze of air that blew through your hair as he fled away. You frowned when Milo ran away from you. For some reason, you were getting the vibe that he didn't want to be around you. It would explain why he seemed always so eager lately to get away from you. Maybe, you were thinking too much into it but still it bothered you. Sighing to yourself, you tuck a strand of loose hair behind your ear and then return back to typing with a forlorn air now heavy set above your head.

"Mr. Harcourt! MR. HARCOURT!" Milo started to yell out to get the attention of his boss. The man pauses and glances back at Milo with an irritable look as if he already knew where this was going. Milo ran in front of him while breathing heavily. Harcourt crossed his arms and sternly gazed at Milo with obvious impatience.

"What is it, Mr. Thatch?" He replied in a monotonous drawl.

Milo took a couple breathes to calm himself down before speaking up again once he caught his breath, "I need to talk to you, sir! It's about about my presentation yesterday! The broad directors had pushed back the time when the meeting was supposed to be at 4'o clock! They canceled my presentation, sir! I really need to reschedule another possible time so I can show my presentation! … Sir, are you listening?"

Mr. Harcourt kept a tight lipped frown on his face as he looked at Milo seriously. "Yes, Thatch. I understand. But to be honest with you, your funding for the expedition is a no-show. At this institution we only fund expeditions that are set in fact. Your expedition Thatch is based in nothing but folklore and far-out legends."

"B-but sir!"

"No, Mr. Thatch. I think it is time you put your skills into real proper use and go fix that boiler that needs repairing."

Milo furrowed his brows in anger and reached down to take out a rolled up piece of paper from his pocket. Tearing it out, he opened it up and showed it to Mr. Harcourt. He glimpsed over it and shook his head at the paper that was a letter of resignation. "Then resign me to another institution, sir!"

The man shook his head firmly and almost rolled his eyes at Milo's futile attempt to get his presentation shown even if it had to be another institution that would accept him. "Mr. Thatch, no other institution will fund your expedition either without proof. All you're going to do is throw your career away like your grandfather did. Now if you wouldn't mind…" Mr. Harcourt said before brushing past Milo in a hurry to get away from him. Milo was left dumbfounded as he glanced down at his resignation papers and then back over to where Mr. Harcourt had left him. Milo frowned deepened and lowered his head dejectedly. He didn't even know what to say… Gulping heavily, he began storming for the front doors while once again passing the main foyer where you were. You were on the phone but noticed in the corner of your eye Milo was walking towards the doors with a sad frown that he wasn't even trying to hide this time.

You frown at the sight of Milo being upset. You couldn't stand seeing Milo like that, it seemed so unlike him. Rushing the person off the phone, you place it back down onto your desk and begin to stand up to run over to Milo before he left. "Milo! Wait!" You call out to him again, which he being unable to say no to you, he stopped dead in his tracks. If before was bad timing right now was even worse. Not just did he get to feel like an overlooked joke but now he got to play the part of the fool in front of you the one that he cares about. "Milo!" You say as you stand behind him with a concerned look in your (e/c) eyes. He couldn't find it in him to force a smile as he already felt like his heart had been ripped out of him. He looked back at you and tried not to frown but he couldn't quite force a smile either.

"Oh… Hi, (Y/n)…" He said in a voice that was more grim sounding than he was first intending.

"Oh dear, something is wrong. What happened?"

"It's nothing (Y/n). Thank you for you concern but… I'm just heading home now." Milo replied while adjusting his glasses and glancing over at the doors. You kept a firm frown on your lips and were bothered by the fact Milo never seemed to want to open up to you.

"Milo… We're friends. You can tell me anything. I promise I won't judge you. I just want to help." You told to him in a soft kind voice that Milo was having a challenging time to just disregard. He looked back at you in the eyes and saw that you were pleading to him to open up. He sighed and looked around before grabbing onto your hand suddenly and pulling you out the front doors to talk more privately. You were surprised by this action as he takes you outside to speak to you.

"You know about my presentation that I was supposed to have yesterday?" Milo brought up.

You nodded your head and replied, "Yes! How did that go? Did something bad happen?" He nods his head and fidgets on the spot under your gaze. You watch him carefully as he seems to have a hard time even talking about it.

"It didn't even happened… The board directors had changed the time on me to an earlier time and then rid me off as a no-show. I talked to Mr. Harcourt about the issue and if he could reschedule my presentation but then just told me that the board directors were never going to fund my expedition. I even tried to give him my resignation papers but he just told me that no other institution would want me either because I don't have 'proof'. But I'm telling you (Y/n) if they just would have funded my project then I could have brought them proof instead! They didn't even give me a chance…" Milo trailed off while adverting his eyes away from your own in shame. You frown and furrow your brows as you hear what poor Milo had to deal with those incompetent directory board members offing him and his dream like it was nothing but some whimsical fairytale he elaborated inside his mind.

You believed in Milo more than anyone else that he would be the one to find the lost city of Atlantis. You were unsure of how he would be capable of such a feat but you trusted him enough to have faith in him that he could. "I feel like personally going over to Mr. Harcourt and giving him something to really talk about. That's not fair! You didn't even get to show your presentation! Oh, Milo… I'm so sorry! Is there ever something I can do for you? That was just cruel what they did to you! You deserve a chance. I know out of anyone I've ever met that you would be the one to find the lost city." You said with a determination in your eyes. Milo was taken back by what you said and once again felt his heart quicken in pace from how passionate you were about his unfair circumstance.

Milo couldn't help the blush the dusted his cheeks, "Thank you, (Y/n)… I never had someone whose ever believed in me so much. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it. If I'm not funded there is so no chance of an expedition taking place, whether it is fair or not. I need the Shepherd's journal if I ever want to find Atlantis." Milo replied while looking back into your eyes that were still full with a burning fire.

"Well… I'm sorry, Milo. I wish there was something I could do." Placing a single hand onto his shoulder comfortingly you smiled encouragingly at him, "Don't give up hope yet though. Who knows… Maybe something or someone will change their mind and then you can go off on your adventure. I truly wish the best for you, Milo. I mean it. You are a great friend to me."

Milo smiled back meaningfully and felt just a little spark of hope from your pep-talk, "I couldn't ask for a better friend than you, (Y/n). So thanks."

"You're welcome, Milo. I'd hate to do this to you but I really need to get back to work. I hope I get to see you again even if you might leave altogether." You say to Milo with a small frown working on your lips as you felt slightly guilty cutting him off like this. Milo kept smiling and shook his head quickly.

"I promise we will."

"I'm glad." You smiled brightly and then shocked Milo when you leaned in and placed a gentle sweet kiss onto his cheek. Milo stood there absolutely frozen on the spot with a dumb smile appearing on his face from your kiss. "Goodbye, Milo." With that you waved him a goodbye before turning back to walk back into the museum to go back to the receptionist desk. Milo's hand reached up to touch where you had kissed him and with that alone his horrible day was just a little better than before.

"Goodbye, (Y/n)…" Milo whispered to himself breathlessly as he watched you leave him. It took him awhile to regain his bearings when he went to head back home. His thoughts would have been on how terribly the day has gone but all he could find himself thinking about was you and how you brighten up his life.


When Milo returned home that day he was never expecting a blonde woman by the name Helga Sinclair to be waiting for him. She had brought Milo over to meet her employer, who had been a friend of Milo's grandfather. His name was Preston Whitmore and he had the very thing Milo had been searching for. Whitmore had given him a parcel from Milo's grandfather that turned out to be the Shepard's Journal. Whitmore was at first hesitant towards Milo, making sure to test him to see if he was truly committed to finding Atlantis. Milo proved to him that he was more than passionate about the endeavor and Whitmore came to finally let him on the whole secret he was holding back.

The expedition was all ready and set up to go. All that was left required for the expedition to proceed was Milo to take the place for his grandfather to translate the Shepard's Journal that was in a language only Milo knew how to read. Tomorrow was the day that Milo Thatch would get to meet the entire crew for the expedition and set on his way to the lost city that he was so desperate to find. When the next day dawned Milo was more than ready to finally proceed forwards towards his dreams that finally seemed in reach. Preparing to pack up everything he would need (including his cat Fluffy). Milo stumbled upon a picture that he had from the institution. There in the picture he saw himself standing next to you in a group picture. It was taken on your birthday when everyone got together to celebrate it at the museum. You were smiling next to himself, he felt his heart flutter at the sight of you in the photo. It was then he felt suddenly like he was missing something, an empty void inside his heart.

If he were to go on the expedition he might not see you for a very long time. Milo frowned to himself as he went over to a box of his things and set the picture carefully down into it. 'I should at least tell her that the expedition is happening… I might not see her for a long time. She'll probably be moved on by the time I'd come back…' Milo thought grimly to himself as he went over to stare over at his phone. Maybe, he should call you? He started to feel anxious as he stepped over was about to pick up the phone. His hand outreached towards it but paused before he actually touched it. 'It would seem almost rude to just say goodbye to her over the phone…' Milo's frown remained on his face as he continued to think, 'No, I want to see her one last time.' Milo brought his hand back from the phone and made a determined face. "I'll just go see her. I'll be kicking myself later if I don't." Milo said to himself before passing by his white persian cat Fluffy and walking out to go see you at your house.

Milo drove over to your house and went up to your front door. He lingered in front of the door before knocking as his nerves were coming back to torment him. 'Come on, Milo. Just knock on her door. Its not that hard.' Milo sighed and finally got the audacity to knock on your door. Milo stood there in anticipation as he heard you call out 'coming!' from the other side. When you opened the door Milo stopped staring at the ground in thought and looked up into your (e/c) eyes. You looked surprised to see him standing there as you certainly weren't expecting him to visit. "Milo! Hi there! I certainly wasn't expecting you to stop by! How are you doing? Please come in!" You say and open the door wider for him to enter through. Milo smiles at you and walks through the door with you closing it behind him.

"Hello, (Y/n). Sorry, for coming here so suddenly. I just really wanted to see you. I have something important to tell you." Milo explained as the two of you walked over towards your living room. Milo stood awkwardly in the middle of the room while you were trying to clean anything you saw out of place as quickly as possible since you hadn't expected him to come over.

"Oh really?! Well, please sit down and get comfortable. Would you like anything to drink or something?" You asked and Milo shook his head at your polite offer while saying a quick 'no, thank you'. You nodded your head and smiled at Milo as you took a seat in front of him as he sat down on your couch. "So Milo… Last time I saw you, you were quite upset. How is everything? Are you alright?" You ask him curiously.

He nods his head and keeps up a smile. He was quite excited to tell you that the expedition was still on! He fiddles with his hands and stares back at you as you watch him closely, "Yes, about that! I have very good news! It turns out that when I went home yesterday I met with a woman whose employer wanted to speak to me. It so happens that the employer named Preston Whitmore was a great friend of my grandfather and he had the Shepard's Journal in his possession to be past down to me! Isn't that great!? And not only that but the expedition to find Atlantis is already up and ready to go! I'm actually leaving today…" He trailed off while sounding full of excitement in his words until he came to the end when he realized again that he would not see you once he left for the journey to the lost city.

Your mouth fell agape from hearing this while your eyes widen, "Wow! That's extraordinary, Milo! I told you to still have hope! What are the odds? It seems like you are truly destined to find Atlantis after all! Oh dear, you must be so excited! I'm excited for you! You're absolutely so lucky to get to go on such an adventure!" You exclaimed while overjoyed for Milo that he would have the chance to finally reach his dreams of finding Atlantis. You could hardly contain your own excitement while at the same time you almost felt jealous that he got to go and do something so amazing! You never would be able to do something so incredible! You would just be stuck at the institution doing what you always did as a receptionist, picking up phone calls and typing for hours on end. Milo was so lucky!

Milo could tell even though you were happy for him that you seemed slightly envious. The tone of your voice made it obvious. It was then he wondered what would happen if you went on the expedition with him? He tried to swat away the idea, thinking it would be silly to ask you when you really didn't have any reason to go, it also might not end up being okay with the rest of the people that were going. Still, Milo found himself quickly fixated on the idea. What a better way to be around you then to go on a long expedition and find Atlantis together? It would be like all his dreams coming true at once! Milo bit his lip and tried to keep back from saying anything about it but he was finding it was hard not too when he wanted it so badly. "(Y/n), I have a question for you." Milo brought up while mentally palming at his face for giving into his temptation.

"Yes?"

"Would you want to go on the expedition with me?" He almost wanted to hide his face into his hands in fear of what your reaction might be. You stared at him with your mouth falling agape ever so slightly, you certainly weren't expecting that! "I mean! You don't have too! I know you're very busy and probably wouldn't have the time to-" You cut Milo off as on impulse you spoke up with a grin appearing on your face.

"I'll go!" You chirped excitedly. You didn't know where it came from but you knew you just had to say yes. It wasn't even very logical as you had a job to do back at the Smithsonian Institution. You couldn't be away from your job that long without getting replaced and you knew that receptionists were quite easy to employ. But the thought of sitting back and not taking up an adventure of a lifetime like this seemed insulting to give up. You would also get a lot of time with Milo, time that you never used to have with him from being constantly busy with day to day life. And who wasn't to say that maybe getting a new job would be better for you? The museum took up most of your time and you weren't paid much for all the work you put into it. Maybe, it was time to move on and go with the wind and see where it took you. Right, now it seemed to be leading you in this direction.

Milo seemed taken back that you actually agreed to go with him. His brown eyes were wide as he stared at you in shock. "Y-you mean it? I-I mean are you sure? There's not telling how long this expedition might last. I don't want you to get in trouble with the museum." Milo said with concern that you would lose your job if you went with him.

"I'm positive! I might get replaced at the museum but quite frankly I don't care. It's not like I can't get a new job somewhere else for probably much better pay. This chance is once in a lifetime and finding Atlantis with you would make my life feel like it was worth something. I know I'm not anything special, Milo… but if I could go with you. I would be honored and I promise I'll do whatever I can to not just be dead weight on the expedition." You promised him with a hopeful look in your eyes. Milo didn't care that you weren't a specialist of any kind and he certainly wasn't concerned that you wouldn't help out in someway. He mainly wanted you there as his companion to find Atlantis with him (and possibly become a couple along the way). He still was worried what the others might think but then again why would it matter? One extra person couldn't hurt anything or at least that is what Milo desperately wanted to believe.

Milo's lips twitched up into a grin, "Then it looks like you're coming with me!"

Your eyes sparkled in delight and you jumped up from your seat. Milo also stood up but wasn't expecting you to come over and bring him into a tight hug. His heart picked up pace while his whole face began to feel warm as you had your arms wrapped around his waist. "Thank you, Milo! I promise I'll help! We'll find Atlantis for sure!"

Your words to him blurred together as he was too busy focusing on the hug that you were giving him. This wasn't the first time you've hugged Milo but each and every time you did hug him he acted like it was the very first one that he's never received before. Gradually, he wraps his own arms around you and relishes in the closeness. You were so warm and soft to the touch, he could embrace you all day long. Of course, he was never that lucky as you pulled away. "Let me just go get some things together! I'll be right back! You just make yourself at home!" You exclaimed and went running towards your room while giggling along the way. Milo watched you leave the room with a dumb smile on his face. He couldn't get over how adorable you were. Milo stood there thinking about you and the expedition to Atlantis as you got your things together. It didn't take you very long since you didn't have a whole lot to bring except for main necessities. It took you a few minutes until you came darting back out with your luggage in hand and a grin on your face. "I'm ready to go!"

Milo looked startled from breaking from his thoughts as he hadn't expected you to get done so quickly. He adjusted his glasses on his face and smiled over towards you as you ambled on over towards him. "That was fast!"

"I'm one for light traveling!" You said with a wink before grabbing onto Milo's hand with your free hand. Milo glanced down at your hands but didn't get to react as you yanked him forwards to leave. Milo couldn't believe this was all happening and so fast! Not only did he get to go on the expedition of a lifetime but he got you his dream girl to go on the adventure with him all in the same day! Milo offered to drive in which you accepted and drove off with him to the location where the expedition would begin it's journey. You weren't sure what you were expecting but you were certainly not expecting what you both came upon when you arrived at the disclosed location. A gigantic submarine sat in the water of the ocean where you could see lot of different people on the dock boarding the incredible underwater craft. When you got out of the car with Milo, your eyes were focused mainly on the sub that would take you to Atlantis. The thing was absolutely massive! Milo was also gazing at the submarine with a proud feeling deep inside. It was hard to believe you both would be traveling in that to visit a lost city submerged underneath the sea.

"It's incredible…" You said breathlessly as you and Milo began walking closer towards the craft.

"I know isn't it?!" Milo replied excitedly as he glanced over at you with a grin. "This will be what takes us to Atlantis! I can't believe this is really happening! This is spectacular!" You nodded enthusiastically in agreement with him. The two of you were about to step on board when a tall muscular older gentleman stepped in front of you. He looked much like a soldier and had an authoritative and reposed air around him. He smiled and extended his hand out towards Milo.

"Hello there! You must be Mr. Milo James Thatch. My name is Lyle Tiberius Rourke. I'll be the commander of this here expedition to Atlantis. I'm in charge of making sure everything on this mission is ship-shape and I'm here to keep my crew safe." He greeted Milo and began to shake his hand. Milo was about to speak up but Rourke glanced over at you, "And who might you be? I wasn't expecting anyone else."

You smiled sheepishly at him and glanced at Milo who looked back at you and was about to speak up for you but you beat him to it. "Uh hello there uh Commander. My name is (Y/n) (L/n) and I'm a friend of Milo's. I am here to join in on the expedition, sir."

"Really now? I wasn't informed of this. What do you specialize in, girl?"

Milo finally butted in and spoke up for you, "I invited her, Commander. She is just a good companion of mine. She uh well doesn't specialize in anything but she is very well-rounded in skill! I've seen her work and she does more than an exceptional job!" Milo said to Lyle who was looking you up and down skeptically. His eyes were calculating and he seemed to be judging you before he even knew you. You felt somewhat embarrassed by being here and not 'specializing' in any specific criteria.

"I see… Well, I wish I would had been informed about this beforehand but seeing as she's here now she might as well make herself useful. I don't need just another mouth to feed. What exactly is your job, Miss. (L/n)?"

"I am a receptionist at Smithsonian Institution, sir."

"… Ah, a receptionist… Well then, welcome aboard the Ulysses… I suppose." Lyle replied dryly. He seemed less than amused that you were just some receptionist who had no real talent in anything that was specifically for being a member of an expedition crew. Your smile was now forced as much as his was. Milo was a bit annoyed by him making it seem like having you aboard would be a burden.

"(Y/n), will do great. I promise." Milo vouched for you and began hurriedly leading you away from Commander Lyle Rourke. Lyle being unimpressed watched you two speed away towards the entrance of the submarine that apparently was called Ulysses. Upon entering inside, you were left in awe at the interior of the gigantic submarine. Milo and you took a tour of the Ulysses and got to meet all of the crew that you would be accompanied with that consisted of: Vinny the demolition expert, Mole the geologist/digger, Audrey the chief engineer, Dr. Joshua Sweet the medical officer, Wilhelmina Packard the radio operator, Cookie the mess cook, and finally Helga Sinclair the second-in-command.

It was certainly going to take you some time to get to know everyone but so far you took a liking to Vinny the most. His snarkiness and use of cooking spices in his self-made explosives was fascinating to you if not humorous (especially when he played a little prank on Milo). Mole was for a lack of better words eccentric and had slightly creeped you out as he seemed to take a quick and outlandish liking to you, which was not so quite mutual and Milo rather didn't like it so much either. Audrey seemed like a tough sort of girl that was very sarcastic, tomboyish, and even somewhat aggressive in nature. She was alright but not quite the kinda girl you'd typically hang around in a day-to-day basis. Dr. Sweet was a kind man but boy was he loud and talked fast, he seemed to be very everywhere at once but for the most part he seemed like a good guy. Wilhelmina was an interesting older woman, she looked to be pretty laid back to you, the type that did what they wanted when they wanted, but she was friendly towards you and Milo, though she did have a terrible smoking problem. You wondered how she could possibly work in her enclosed small area with the place stinking up with the foul stench from her cigarettes. Then there was a small old man named Cookie who had a knack in his expertise in the field of culinary preparation. He was actually quite the superb cook and he also seemed to be be very kind if not even quite the funny one too. And last but not least was Helga Sinclair, that woman put you at unease the moment you met her with Milo. She was very callous and came across as being very serious, determined, and even a bit nasty. Helga immediately conveyed the impression that you couldn't quite trust her or at least she wasn't someone you wanted to be around often. She was much like Commander Rourke to you and neither of them gave off the friendliest of vibes. You'd avoided those two as much as possible.

So the trip started off smoothly. It was just a bunch of getting to know each every person on the crew. You found yourself mainly by Milo's side as he guided where to go with the Shepherd's Journal. You two obviously got along as much as you usually did. When you weren't hanging around Milo you would sometimes hang around Vinny but even you needed some time away from him and his cynical attitude. You tried spending some time with Wilhelmina Packard even though her smoking habit could be difficult to be around for long periods of time. She didn't strike you as being grandmotherly at first but she opened up to taking a liking to you and often let you help her, so it didn't seem like you weren't doing anything productive on the Ulysses. You'd typically work alongside her and you couldn't help but feel like she was treating you much like a granddaughter of some kind after awhile of working with her, not that you minded as you took a mutual fondness for her too.

After a couple days on the Ulysses, you were currently sitting there talking to Mrs. Packard as she was leaning back in her swivel chair and taking break from her job (the fifth one in the last couple of hours). She took a drag from her cigarette and listened to you as you were chatting to her about your job as a receptionist back at the Smithsonian Institution and how stressful it was. Wilhelmina nodded from time to time to indicate she was still listening to you even though sometimes it didn't seem like she was when she had those headphones over her ears. "-And then my boss acts like I still never do enough. It's always like he's holding my job over my head all the time. Like if I mess up once he'll fire me for it and replace me. I'm just so sick of it. I don't even regret losing it if Mr. Harcourt does decide to fire me." You said in exasperation to the older woman who glanced at you as she tapped her cigarette, making ash fall from it.

"Sounds like good riddens' to that job. If you're not even paid well enough for it why bother? Sounds to me you're just staying for a different reason." She inquired while hinting at something you didn't quite catch. You raise an eyebrow at her and cross your arms over your chest as you stare at her.

"What do you mean?"

Mrs. Packard deeply laughed like that of a heavy smoker that she was. "Kid, you can't tell me you aren't staying at that dead-end job without some kind of reason. You certainly aren't there for the minimum wage or the stress it's bringing ya. What are you staying there for? I think I know.." She said while once again hinting at something. You furrow your brows in confusion and shake your head.

"No, the pay isn't something to brag about and it's a busy job but I'm very loyal to my career."

"Pft, loyalty. Ha, like that's what is keeping you there. You're staying there because of that Thatch boy. Afraid you'll lose him if you quit?" She says with a knowing smirk working on her lips. Your eyes widen at her accusation and you feel your face grow warmer than it already was down in such a tight enclosed space with her.

"Whatever are you implying, Mrs. Packard?" You reply in the offense.

"You know, kid. Don't play that innocent nonsense with me. I'm old I know how this stuff works. You can even keep it a secret with me. I'm not out to go tell him. You like Mr. Thatch don't you? The youngling seems to be rather attached to you too. I'm certainly no matchmaker but I'm thinkin' there's something going on between the two of you."

You stare at her in silence and felt absolutely humiliated but at the same time somehow you felt relieved someone actually noticed how you felt for once. You trusted Mrs. Packard not tell Milo so you decided confining to her wouldn't bite you in the back. "I-is it that obvious?"

She chuckled again and took a drag of her cigarette before blowing out a puff of smoke. You tried not to cough as it wafted in your air space. "It's as obvious as that giant mole on Helga's face. You two have it bad for each other."

"… You think Milo likes me back?" You ask unsurely as you felt butterflies flutter around in your stomach as you thought about it. Mrs. Packard gave you an expression that said 'duh'.

"I'll let you figure that out yourself even though I'm basically telling you he does. Every time I see him around you he's ogling you down with that stupid look on his face. Too bad the boy's too skittish to just tell you how it is. I never understood the whole holding it back thing. Why not just get it out there? What's it gonna hurt?"

"Possibly a friendship of many years. That's to say if he didn't feel the same way back." You told her while lowering your eyes down to look at your hands that you had set on your lap to fumble with anxiously. She rolled her eyes and looked at you with a tired expression.

"If he ruins a relationship over something like that then he's not a keeper to begin with. I'm telling ya, (Y/n). Pay more attention to the signs. They're all there." She advised you before she began going to mess with her radio's dials. It seemed like she had to get back to work. You noticed this and took in what she had told you. She began talking through the radio in a completely different conversation that left you to go and do something else. You stood up from your own chair that was next to her own and you walked out of her small office and began walking down the hallway to go find Milo. Perhaps, you should be more mindful of those 'signs' she talked about. You never thought Milo could like you back but what if it were true? What if Milo James Thatch really did like you back?

You smiled to yourself at the thought and kept up your search to find Milo in the hulking submarine. You ran into Mole unfortunately before you found Milo. Mole insisted that you spend time with him but you really didn't want too indulge in his slightly perverted nature towards you, especially alone with him. You were able to brush him off which left him quite crestfallen. You would have felt bad but you really didn't. You hoped you wouldn't run into anyone else undesirable in which you didn't thankfully. Instead, you find Milo reading over the Shepard's Journal in his room. You knocked on the door a few times and waited for him to call you in. Once he did, you strolled on inside and found his nose stuck in the book that was until he noticed it was you. His full attention then fully engages onto you, "(Y/n)! There you are! Where were you?" Milo asked with a sheepish smile appearing on his face while setting the Shepard's Journal to the side of him on his bed.

You smile back at him warmly and reply, "I was with Mrs. Packard and helping her with a few things. It seems I can make myself more useful than most of them say." You said with a dry humorless laugh.

"Oh, don't listen to what they say about you. You are plenty helpful around here. I'm just so glad you even came along with me. I was really hoping you would go. I'm thrilled you're here." Milo replied before patting the bed beside him for you to take a seat next to him. You blush a bit and go over and sit next to him like he wanted you too. You were very close together, almost touching as you sat there.

"Well, I'm glad to be here with you too. I couldn't miss out on a chance like this. To heck with Mr. Harcourt, finding Atlantis sounds much better on a resumé than working as some receptionist at a dead-end job, anyways." You tell him before giggling lightly. He laughs along with you and smiles fondly at you.

"I couldn't agree more."

You nodded and then glanced over curiously at his Shepard's Journal that he never had out of his line of sight. He noticed your gaze and went to look at what you were eyeing at. "You're translating that alright?" You ask as you reach over him to take the journal from his side. Milo fully trusting you, he lets you take the journal and lets you flip through it's contents. You raise an eyebrow as you examine the bizarre writings in the journal that made absolutely no sense to you. You put the book into different angles to try and decipher it but none of it helps, instead it makes Milo laugh. "You're looking at it upside down, you know?" He told you as he reached over and flipped the book over for you, though it didn't help much as you still couldn't read the ancient Atlantian writings.

You blush in embarrassment and hand the book back over to him, "How can you read that? It looks so complicated!" You tell him and he chuckles again at your cuteness.

"A lot of practice. Trust me, I didn't learn it in a day."

"I'd imagine!" You exclaim and shake your head in disbelief, "I can't even learn a new 'normal' language let alone an ancient one. I give you credit, Milo. I wouldn't have the patience to learn a language that no one else even could begin to teach you. Learning it on you're own seems rather complex! But I should expect that someone as intelligent as you would know how to do such a thing. You're a real genius, you know, Milo?" You compliment him as you give him a sweet smile. He feels his face get warm again and he felt the fluttering in his own stomach as you said such kind words to him. To be called a genius by you was a big deal to him. He felt like he had so much more to prove to be worthy of such a title by you. He smiled back at you meaningfully.

"Why thank you, (Y/n)! I'm glad I'm a genius- uhm- I mean I'm glad you think I'm a genius! uh, t-thanks." Milo stuttered over his words as he got nervous in front of you again. You noticed he was seemingly getting tense and you weren't sure if that was a 'sign' or not for you to be aware of. You think about to what Wilhelmina said and you wonder if you should drop your own hints to see how he responds. So with enough courage and adrenaline pumping through your veins at the very thought of your first 'hint', you discreetly place your hand onto Milo's knee and scoot closer so that your bodies were touching. Milo wasn't at all oblivious to this as he glanced down with his brown eyes at your hand that looked so soft to hold and feel with his own hand. You gained his attention back as he looks up at you in the eyes and you couldn't do anything but smile adoringly at him. His own smile works on his face and inherently he drawls in closer towards your face. You were shocked at how quickly it seemed like this was already going. Your cheeks and ears were burning from the heat rushing to your head. Milo placed his own hand on your knee and leaned in closely. You were both drawling in nearer and nearer towards each other like two magnets pulling in together. His eyes become half-lidded as he tilts his head and was just inches from your lips. You closed your eyes and were waiting for the collision of lips but it never came.

Milo had just got done swimming with Kida under the water's depths where he had read the murals that had spoke of Atlantis' past. He gasped for air as he rose to the surface. Right when he was able to regain his breath, he came in sight with the whole crew standing there menacingly with a bunch of guns out. "Have a nice swim?" Rourke asked with a faint smirk.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Milo asked as he looked unsurely at everyone. "Whats… What's with all the guns? Guys?" Milo asked but he was coming to know what truly was going on. He sighed heavily in frustration and hit the ground that he was clinging onto, "I'm such an idiot! This is just another treasure hunt to you? You're after the crystal?

"Ah, you mean this?" Rourke brought up as he revealed the missing page of the Shepard's journal that he had been looking for all along.

"The heart of Atlantis…"

"Yeah, about that. I would have told you sooner but on a need to know basis and well now you know! I had to be sure you were one of us." Rourke said before extending out his hand to Milo, "Welcome to the club, son." Milo shook his head and denied Rourke's offered hand.

"I'm no mercenary! Where is (Y/n)?" Milo exclaimed with anger. Rourke frowned and stepped away from Milo before gesturing over behind him. Vinny and Mole stepped out of the way to reveal you were sitting there on the ground tied up and gagged. Milo gasped, "(Y/n)! You let her go!"

"Just like you she didn't want to listen and be a good girl. So we had to do this to her. If only, you hadn't brought her in the first place as dead weight. She's just another one we have to deal with. She's only a liability now." Commander Rourke shook his head and gestured for one of his men to point his shotgun at Milo. Kida suddenly jumped out of the water and threw the man into the water and started attacking the rest. She tried grabbing a knife to stab a man but the knife was shot out of her hand by Rourke's pistol. The rest of Rourke's faceless men that were hidden behind gas masks grabbed onto Kida and began yanking her away.

"Mercenary, huh? I prefer the term adventure capitalism. Besides you were the one who got his here you led us right to the treasure chest."

"You don't know what your tampering with, Rourke!" Milo yelled as he got out of the water.

"What's to know its big, it shiny, and it's gonna make us all rich." Rourke said

"You think it's some kind of diamond. I thought it was some kind of battery. We are both wrong it is their life force! That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive! You take that away and they'll die!" Milo kept yelling at Rourke who didn't seem to care much about what Milo was saying to him.

"Well, that changes things. Helga what do you think?"

"Knowing that… I'd double the price." Helga retorted with a cruel smirk. Rourke smirked back and nodded his head.

"I was thinking triple."

"Rourke! Don't do this!" Milo insisted as he tried going near Rourke. Vinny got in the way and kept him from getting any closer. You were still on the ground and trying to scream to Milo but everything said was for naught as it only came out muffled. You tried running but they bounded your arms and legs from movement. You were completely stuck.

"Academics never want to get your hands dirty. Just think about it if you gave every stole artifact from a museum you would be left with an empty building. We're doing this providing our necessary service to the archeology community."

Milo glared Rourke and replied back, "Not interested!"

"I gotta' admit I'm disappointed. You're an idealist just like your grandfather. Do yourself a favor Milo don't be like him. For once do the smart thing." Rourke kept insisting for Milo to change his mind. You couldn't believe he was trying to use his grandfather as an excuse of what not to be. If there was anything to know about Milo, he highly respected his grandfather and wanted to be just like him the most. Obviously, Rourke's lack of knowledge of Milo was showing. Milo glared Rourke hatefully while Rourke sighed and snapped his fingers "Argh, I really hate it when negations go sour."

Rourke's men grabbed you and took you over to Kida. They threw you down on to the ground and then grabbed Kida and threw her down next to you before taking their shotguns and pointing it down at you two.

Milo's mouth fell agape as he saw what Rourke was forcing upon him. "Let's try this again." Rourke said before finally forcing Milo to back down.

"Fine… Just don't hurt them." Milo said with a venomously glare directed at Rourke.

"Good choice, kid." Rourke replied with a smirk before gesturing for his men to back off of you two. Milo looked over at you both sympathetically. It was the only choice he had… He couldn't let either of you get killed.

Shortly after, Vinny blasted the doors open to the emperor's throne room. Helga yelled out to the emperor for the Atlantean guards to drop their weapons, in which he did. The guards did as the emperor told them and the whole crew went inside to search the building for the heart of Atlantis. Your legs had been unbound so you were allowed to walk with them to make it easier instead of having to carry you around. The crew that you had once called your friends began ransacking the room, turning everything over as they looked for the crystal. Rourke started harassing Milo to give up the location of the heart of Atlantis but Milo was honestly not sure where it was.

"It's in the eyes of the emperor!" He had told Rourke. Rourke then went to start harassing the emperor for the location of the crystal chamber.

"You will destroy yourself!" The emperor yelled at Rourke.

"Maybe, I'm not being clear." Rourke suddenly lurched forward and punched the emperor right in the stomach. The emperor groaned and fell down to his side in pain. Kida gasped and yelled out for her father that was now on the ground. Milo walked over towards you and tore your gag from your mouth. You look at him graciously before glaring over at Rourke.

"He is a monster! He should be ashamed of himself!" You assert as you glare over hatefully at Commander Rourke who stood above the emperor of Atlantis.

"He's too consumed with greed to care." Milo replied back to you while also glaring daggers over at Rourke. Milo noticed on your arms that you had bruises where the men had gripped onto you and had thrown you around. Milo looked into your eyes sympathetically, "Are you alright, (Y/n)?" He asked as he brought out a hand to touch your cheek gently. You wanted to cry but you forced yourself to remain strong. You nodded your head while ignoring the pain that went through your entire body. He seemed to notice the sheer pain you were putting up with. He felt guilty that he ever got you into this to begin with. You didn't deserve to be in such a predicament. He wanted to keep you safe and all he ended up doing was putting you in a very dangerous position.

"Rourke this was not part of our plan." Dr. Sweet said as he kneeled down next to the emperor who had fallen to check and make sure he was alright. Rourke seemed less than bothered by it as he replied back carelessly.

"Plans change, doc. I suggest you put a bandage on that bleeding heart of yours. It doesn't suit a mercenary. Well, as usual diplomacy fails." Rourke said as went over and plopped down onto the throne lazily. "Now I'm going to count to ten and you're going to tell me where the crystal is. one, two, three…" Rourke started counting down as Rourke's men lifted up the king back up to his feet. Rourke was pointing his gun at the king and skipped over a few numbers, '"Nine." And just when Rourke was about to say ten, he noticed something strange happening in the middle of the room where a bunch of water was that had stones lying across the floor in a way that swirled in. "The heart of Atlantis lays in the eyes of her king." Rourke repeated as he realized the swirl of stones in the middle of the room was the location of where the crystal was. He jumped up from the throne and started making his way with the others towards the middle of the room. "This is it."

Milo glared Rourke as he sped for the middle of the room, "You gotta' listen to me. You don't have the slightest idea what this power is capable of!" Milo insisted on trying to change Rourke's mind again.

"I don't think he'll listen, Milo." You said back to Milo with a bitter frown on your face. Helga walked past you two and began to speak up in response to the two of you.

"True, Thatch but I think of a few countries that would pay anything to find out." Helga said with a smirk. You glared her down and knew that you had a right to have that bad feeling about her the second you met her. She was nothing but a snake in the grass who cared nothing about anyone except for money. You couldn't believe they all were in this to begin with even the ones you had considered your friends like Mrs. Packard and Vinny. Rourke stood in the middle of the room and had activated a large circular plate under him that began to lower. "Hurry, get on!" He said as he ushered Milo, you, Kida, and Helga onto the platform that was lowering down. You all stood on it and waited for it to lower down completely. Your eyes all widen when you saw the heart of Atlantis hovering high above in the air.

"Jackpot." Rourke said with a grin forming on his face as you all looked at the glowing structure in the air. It appeared as a blue white orb that had different various gigantic masks floating around it. You mouth was agape as you watched the masks spin slowly around the orb. Kida gasped and fell to her knees as a tear cascaded down from her eyes.

"The kings from our past." She said and then began praying in Atlantean to the heart of Atlantis in front of her. Milo and you looked back at her curiously while Rourke glanced at her a couple seconds later and spoke up again.

"Thatch tell her to wrap it up we got a schedule to meet."

Kida kept praying on the ground and you were the one to kneel down and place a hand onto her shoulder gently. She gasped and looked up at you. You smiled sadly at her and spoke to her in a soft voice, "Um, Kida… I'm sorry." You said to her as you brought her up from praying as Rourke had asked. Kida kept looking at you and she seemed to understand you weren't doing it because you wanted too. Milo frowned and glare over at Rourke who was now standing in front of everyone and looking up at the heart of Atlantis. He glanced down at a pebble on the ground and kicked it into the water. The second he did that the blue orb turned a bright fiery red color as if it was disturbed from what Rourke had just done.

"Come on let's get this over with. I don't like this place." Helga insisted to Rourke to pick up the pace. Rourke turned around to look at the three of you.

"Alright, Thatch what's next?" Rourke questioned Milo. You were so annoyed that Rourke was using Milo like this against his will. Milo had the journal in hand and spoke up in reply to Rourke.

"Okay, there is a giant crystal hovering hundred and fifty feet above our head over a bottomless pit of water. Does anything surprise you!?" Milo kept talking but your attention was drawn over to Kida. Your eyes widen in shock when you see the crystal on her necklace lift up into midair and point up at the heart of Atlantis as the crystal's light shone down on her. Kida's blue eyes washed over with a whitish hue as she went into a trance like look as she began walking forwards slowly.

"Uh guys…" You say to get the attention of Milo and Rourke who were arguing loudly with each other. They stopped arguing to look over at Kida who was walking closer towards the crystal. Milo tried to run after her but Rourke stopped him before he could.

"Talk to me Thatch. What is happening?" Rourke once again asked as he watched Kida walk in front of you all. Milo pointed at the journal in his hand and replied.

"Its says here that the crystal is alive somehow. It uh I don't know how to explain it! It's there deity, it's there power source!"

"Speak English professor." Rourke replied which made you roll your eyes at his stupidity. You all stared back at Kida as she looked up with glowing pale blue eyes that weren't the same as her usual eye color.

"It's a part of them. Look I'm doing the best I can here!"

"Well, do better."

Milo started shouting at him again but soon stopped when he noticed a voice was speaking out in Atlantean, it sounded like Kida. She began turning around as she was talking but she didn't seem like it was actually her talking.

"What did she say?" Rourke asked with a glower over at Milo. You looked over at Milo questionably and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know I didn't catch it." He obviously lied.

Kida walked slowly through the water until she was right under the heart of Atlantis. The crystal began to open up and the light shown down on her as she looked up at it. Something happened and her she began floating up in midair towards the heart of Atlantis. You four could only watch in astonishment as she was taken up into the crystal. The masks began to spin faster and faster around her and the crystal until she merged with the crystal. Nothing was left but Kida in the sky who was now glowing a translucent blue color that lit up the entire room in a faint blue color.

Milo was about to run to Kida again but Rourke held him back, "Hold your horses, Thatch."

"Kida!" Milo exclaimed out loud to the Atlantean princess. Her eyes opened in the state she was in and looked back at Milo. You stared in just as much disbelief as Milo was. Kida looked the same but so different as her body was replaced with this blue translucent glow. She said nothing but soon the huge masks above her began to topple over into the water around her in large splashes of water. She began walking forwards towards you all. Rourke was about to touch her but Milo stopped him, "No! Don't touch her!" He told Rourke.

Once everyone got back to the surface and out of the crystal's chambers. The crew began to seal Kida into a large metal box since she was the one that merged with the heart of Atlantis which was what Rourke wanted. You and Milo tried to run up to see Kida but Rourke's men began to push you backwards and away from the metal container she was trapped inside. They loaded her into the back of their truck and Milo shook his head in disbelief.

"They can't seriously be doing this to her! These poor people.." You said to Milo who nodded back and glared over at the expedition crew that had once been consider your friends. That was until they decided to team up with Rourke and do this awful thing to the Atlantean people. Milo balled his fists and began to speak up to the crew members who were all there to hear him.

"So I guess this is how it ends, huh? Psh, fine you win! You're wiping out an entire civilization. But hey! You'll be rich!" Milo said before looking over at Audrey. "Congratulations Audrey. Guess you and your dad will be able to open that second garage after all." Audrey looked away shamefully and got into the truck. Milo turned to look at Vinny who looked back at Milo. "And Vinny! You can start a whole chain of flower shops! I'm sure you're family is going to be very proud! But that's what it is all about, right? Money." Milo finished with a disapproving look at all of them. You had your arms crossed and were shaking your head at their greed and insensibility.

Rourke always being the first one to talk, scoffed and replied back, "Get off your high horse, Thatch. It's called natural selection. We're just helping it along." Milo and you glared Rourke for what he said and you were tempted to run and punch the man right in the face. How dare he say such a thing! You scowled and lowered your head, your (h/l) (h/c) hair falling over your face, you were absolutely fuming with anger right now. Milo glanced over at you and placed a hand onto your shoulder comfortingly. You glanced at him and frowned sadly which he turned back. These poor people were going to be destroyed all because these idiots wanted a quick buck. Innocent lives were being lost at the stake of money. It made you sick.

"Commander, we're ready!" Helga said over to Rourke as they were packed and ready to go. Rourke started trying to remember everything as he count on his fingers before suddenly turning and punching Milo straight in the face. You scream in horror and back away with your hands covering your mouth at what Rourke had just done to Milo. You bristle and run forwards and start pounding your fists into Rourke's firm muscular chest. Your hits weren't doing anything but you couldn't stand the man and it felt good to try and beat the daylights out of him. Rourke grabbed onto your wrists roughly to the point you would have bruises and shoved you down to the cold stone ground next to Milo. You hit the ground hard and hissed out in pain. Rourke shook his head and began walking past Milo and stepping on a picture of him and his grandfather that had fallen out of his bag when he fell.

"Look at it this way, son. You were the man that discovered Atlantis and now you're part of the city and get to be with your little girlfriend." Rourke said as Milo pulled himself up into a sitting position. Fresh blood was running down the side of Milo's mouth as he glared over at Rourke. You were still lying on the ground and groaning from the fall that had hit your head pretty hard. Milo glanced over at you in worry. He reached over and pulled your head onto his lap. You looked up at Milo with your (e/c) eyes and you had blood running down the side of your forehead where your head had hit the ground full force. Milo brushed some of your hair behind your ear as he looked down at you full of concern before glaring hatefully back up at Rourke. The crew members watched quietly as Milo sat there with your head in his lap, he reached over and grabbed the picture of him and his grandfather and looked at it with sad eyes.

Audrey got into the truck when Helga and Rourke said it was time to go. She sat in the truck and thought about what she was doing before sighing heavily to herself and getting back out. She began walking forwards over to Milo, you, and the Atlanteans. She grabbed onto Milo's arm and helped him stand up from where he had fallen. Once Milo was standing he looked at Audrey thankfully before reaching down and pulling you up by your hand. You groaned slightly but were able to get back on your feet with the help of Milo. You all looked over with a glare at Vinny who glared back with a frown. You looked at Vinny hopefully since you had been so close like you had been with Mrs. Packard. He within seconds started heading forwards to side over with you, Audrey, and Milo. Cookie and Mole looked at each other before decided to come on over too. Mrs. Packard took a drag of her cigarette and looked over at you guys. "Mrs. Packard?" You called out to her. She sighed and blew out smoke before she got out of the truck and began walking over.

"We're all going to die." She said before standing over at your side. You smile at her which she doesn't return but you knew she had a better heart than she let on.

"But if we die, we die together." You replied to her with a smile.

"But we still die." She replied and you rolled your eyes with a faint smile. She still was her happy-go-lucky self it seemed. Now it was just Rourke and Helga who were standing in between you all. Rourke rolled his eyes at seeing you all team up together.

"Rourke! You know this is wrong!" You yelled out at him. He ignored you and started going off on his crew for doing what they chose to do.

"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of. Robbing graves, plundering tombs, illegal parking, but nobody got hurt but maybe someone got hurt but nobody we knew." Vinny said.

Rourke scoffed, "If that's the way you want it than fine. More for me." Rourke said as he went to get into his truck. He started driving away with Helga and the rest of his men whose faces were hidden behind gas masks. The second Rourke and Helga drove away the Atlanteans crystals began to dim and the ocean's waterfalls came to a halt.

"We can't let him do this!" Milo yelled as he went running forwards. Vinny stopped Milo as he said,' Wait a second!'. Vinny must have placed explosives under the bridge because in seconds the bridge exploded behind them. You put your hands up to your face to cover your face from the explosion that had taken place.

"Okay, now you can go." Vinny said to Milo once the bridges were completely taken out.

You and the rest of the crew went back to the Atlantean throne room where the emperor was. Dr. Sweet had remained behind to be at his aid. Milo walked in next to you and Milo asked, "How's he doing?"

"Not good I'm afraid. Internal bleeding. There's nothing more I can do." Dr. Sweet said as he glanced over at the king who was lying there and dying. Milo and you stood in front of him and looked down at him with sad frowns.

"What a nightmare… and I brought it here." Milo said as he looked down in shame. You placed a hand on Milo's shoulder as Dr. Sweet continued to talk.

"Eh, don't go beating yourself up over it. He's been after that crystal since the beginning." Dr. Sweet said to Milo.

"The crystal! Sweet that's it! These crystals! They have some kind of healing energy. I-I've seen in work." Milo said as he held the emperor's crystal in his hand. You were surprised when the king leaned up a little and began speaking to Milo.

"No, where is my daughter?" He asked. Milo began to look sheepish and you rubbed back of your neck as you looked away awkwardly.

Milo had a hard time replying as he felt horrible to have to say it to the dying man, "She- she…-" The king cut him off as he spoke up again.

"She has been chosen. Like her mother before her."

"What?" You say at the same time as Milo.

"In times of danger the crystal would choose a host, one of royal blood to protect itself and it's people. It will accept no other." He told Milo and you.

"Wait a moment, so this thing is alive?" Milo questioned him in disbelief.

"In a way. The crystal thrives on the collective emotions of all that came before us. In return it provides power, longevity, and protection. As if grew it developed a conciseness of it's own. In my arrogance I sought to use it as a weapon of war but its power proved to great to control. It overwhelmed us and led to our destruction."

"That's why you hid in beneath the city. To keep history from repeating itself." You brought up.

"To prevent Kida from suffering the same fate as my own beloved wife." He replied back to you.

Milo made a confused expression and asked, "What do you mean? What can happen to Kida?"

"If she remains bonded to the crystal she could be lost to it… forever. The love of my daughter is all I have left. My burden would have become hers when the time was right. But now it falls to you." The king said as he took off his crystal necklace and began to hand it over to Milo. You gasp lightly as the king drops the necklace into Milo's palm. "Return the crystal, save Atlantis. Save my daughter…" The kind said before breathing his final breath. Milo looked like he was almost in tears as he watched emperor fall back and give out his life. The room was deadly silent for a moment as Milo held the king's crystal in his hand. You lowered your head as did Milo in respect for the king whose life was now passed on to the other side.

"You have been bestowed a great responsibility, Milo. We better not mess it up." You said to Milo who looked over at you with a spark of determination in his eyes. He nodded his head and took the crystal and began to clasp it around his neck. You watched him until he had it on, it gave you goosebumps as you saw him with the necklace on. Stepping forward you brought Milo into a hug that he returned. He rested his chin on top of your head since he was taller than you. You snuggled your face against his chest and kept embracing him before eventually pulling back after a couple minutes of silence. Leaning upwards you placed a soft kiss onto his lips that was quick but all the while full of love for Milo. He smiled meaningfully at you and went to grab your hand into his own.

"We won't mess this up." He encouraged. You smiled back at him and began walking out of the throne room hand in hand. Both of you had a determination building up like a blazing fire inside one another. You were going to get Kida back and stop Rourke and Helga even if you didn't make it out in the end.

"We're are you two going?" Audrey asked as the two of you walked together hand in hand.

"We're going after Rourke." Milo replied back to Audrey.

"Milo that's crazy!" She retorted back.

"I didn't say it was a smart thing but it is the right thing." Milo said. You and Milo kept walking down the steps of the emperor's temple to go prepare to stop Rourke.

Audrey sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, "Ugh, come on. Let's make sure the two love birds don't hurt themselves." The crew chased after Milo and you. You paused and looked at Milo oddly as he got onto a strange looking device that looked like some kind of Atlantean vehicle that had the form of a hammerhead shark. He gestured for you to get on the back which you did with much hesitance.

"W-what is this thing, Milo?" You asked him unsurely as you got onto the back and glanced off the sides nervously. Milo took the crystal and stuck it into the vehicle before placing his hand onto it. You yelp and reeled forwards to grab onto Milo's waist to keep yourself from falling off. You felt your cheeks warm up into a blush as you held onto him so closely from behind. Milo glanced back you and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry it's just some kind of flying vehicle the Atlanteans have." He said as the vehicle began to hover upwards into the air. Your mouth fell agape as you look off the sides again to see that you actually were floating up into the air.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Mrs. Packard actually said. You didn't know if she was being serious or not, she never looked impressed by anything.

"Have you ever drove this thing before!?" You ask and Milo chuckles anxiously and rubs the nape of neck.

"Uh, well no but I think I get the main idea as long as you don't put your hand fully on the-" Before Milo could finish Audrey put her hand on the glowing circle and Milo and you yelped as you went hovering backwards abruptly, hitting a wall roughly. Your eyes were widen and you were now clawing onto Milo like a frightened cat. "… Never mind... You have to do it gently!" Milo said mainly to Audrey who shrugged her shoulders carelessly.

"Hey, Milo. You gotta something sporty? You know like a tuna?" Vinny of course had to ask which made you snicker. Milo ignore Vinny's silly comment and began showing everyone how to use the hovering vehicle.

"All you gotta do it use the crystals! Kida showed me." Milo said before sticking the crystal back into the vehicle and began twisting and turning it in certain directions that everyone was learning how to do. Soon everyone was getting their own hovercraft except you as you wanted to remain with Milo on his that looked like a giant hammerhead shark.

"Alright, this is it we're going to save the princess and Atlantis! Let's do it!" Milo yelled out as he started the hovercraft up and began to fly up in the air in front of everyone. You held onto Milo's waist again as you both drove off with the crew and the rest of the Atlanteans that were going to fight with you. Rourke was back where the dormant volcano was. He had used explosives to blow up the top of the volcano to make an opening to the surface.

"I love it when I win!" He said while feeling victorious. Milo flew his hovercraft into the caves, your hair whipped wildly with the wind as you soared through the caverns on the search for Lyle Rourke and Helga Sinclair.

"This is so exciting!" You exclaim loudly as you feel rush of adrenaline pour into your veins as the wind breezed on your face and through your (h/l) hair. You felt free and like you could accomplish anything with Milo as long as you were together and with your team that had your back. You rose your arms in the air and shouted, "ROURKE AND HELGA, HERE WE COME!"

Milo smirked to himself as he heard you shouting out to the wind with fierce determination. "We got this!" Milo replied back while he concentrating on driving the Atlantean vehicle that he was much better at driving than trucks. You hooted and hollered you could hear other cheers come from the crew behind you, especially from Mole.

"Okay, here's the plan we come in low and fast and take them by surprise!" Milo shouted back at the crew behind.

Audrey yelled back to Milo in reply, "I got news for you Milo! First, it's not a surprise and he has a lot of guns!"

"Do you have any suggestions?" Milo shouted back in return.

"Yeah, don't get shot!" Vinny replied which made your roll your eyes. You felt a slight twinge of fear enter your stomach at the thought of possibly getting shot at by Rourke and his men. You snuggled your head close to Milo's back and tried to calm yourself until you reached Rourke's location. In the distance, after a few minutes, you could see Rourke had a giant red air ballon that was lifting up into the air and going upwards to the top of the volcano's opening. Rourke turned to see you all flying in on your hovercrafts.

"WE GOT COMANY!" Rourke yelled to his men. As soon as your team and Rourke's team collided, there was gunshots being fired off at you guys. You could hear the pings of the bullets hitting the hovercrafts metal. You ducked down low from sitting behind Milo and tried to make yourself as small as possible so you wouldn't stick out like a sour thumb to be shot at. Some of the hovercrafts were being shot down one after another which was making your nerves run on edge.

"Milo, they're already taking our guys out!" You yelled to Milo was carefully maneuvering the hovercraft away from any of the shooters so neither you or him got shot.

"I know, I know!" Milo replied back hurriedly, "WHOA, holy smokes!" Milo then suddenly yelped when Rourke's men were now attacking back with zeppelin airplanes that were shooting back with machine guns. You loudly gasp and hold on to Milo with a deathly tight grip on his waist as you were almost shot at by a fighter plane. "I thought you said they only had guns!"

"I told you it's not a surprise!" Audrey yelled back to Milo in annoyance.

"We gotta do something, Milo! We're never going to last out here like this!" You said to Milo who was trying to think hard on what to do to keep you and the rest of his team safe from the attackers. You fly back a hovercraft that Mrs. Packard was on she grins at you and suddenly throws you over a gun. You gasp and reach out for it and almost drop it but fortunately you were able to grasp onto the miniature rocket launcher she had tossed you.

"Kill some bad guys, kid!" She yelled before waving you off as she flew away. Milo glances at you in surprise as you look down at the rocket launcher with big wide eyes. You had never in your life shot a gun before this certainly was going to be quite a first, especially since it was a freaking rocket launcher! You would think this situation the coolest moment of your life but the fear sort of ebbed it away. You shrug your shoulders and decide to try to make use of it. You begin to aim the rocket launcher as you look into the scope. You aim it at one of the flying zeppelins that was going after Mole.

You bit your lip and mutter, "Well, here goes nothing." Clicking the trigger you hardly were prepared for the hefty kick back that made you stumble back in your seat. The rocket shot out of the rocket launcher you had and went zipping over and making a surprising critical hit on the airplane that began swerving back and forth, the driver obviously panicked. The airplane went flying down until it crashed into a rock wall and exploded. Mole jumped up in his seat excitedly and sent you a thumbs up with a toothy grin. You smiled sheepishly back at him and didn't believe you had it in you to something like that and to think you were just some little receptionist back in the day. Now you were flying on Atlantean hovercrafts in the midst of battle while shooting rocket launchers at zeppelin attack airplanes. No one at home was every going to believe you when you tell them about this, that if if you make it out of this alive. Milo had to admit it was sorta hot to see you shooting a rocket launcher at enemies as he drove. He would have to dwell on that later if he got the chance.

Milo flew over towards Vinny who had found someway to shoot out blasts of blue fire from his hovercraft. "Vinny new plan you and I are going to be decoys! Audrey, Sweet drive underneath that thing and cut it loose!" Milo ordered them which they went to go carry out. You aimed your rocket launcher at more of the planes and kept shooting out rockets. You must have had found your calling because you were a crack shot with a rocket launcher and hit them every time you shot out.

"No lie! This is sorta fun!" You exclaim as you stick out your tongue in concentration and take down another fighter plane that you hit dead on. "BOOM, baby! … Now I know why Vinny likes this stuff so much!" You laugh like a maniac as you keep shooting your rocket launcher. Mrs. Packard would keep coming by every so often to toss you some more rocket ammo which you happily obliged. Milo was too busy concentrating to laugh along too much with you but you understood his reasoning. Right, now you were sorta having the time of your life even though it was a life or death situation. Helga tried shooting you and Milo down, you were very tempted to take your rocket launcher and blow her to smithereens but even if you wanted too you couldn't get a good aim on her. Cookie now zoomed over with Mrs. Packard on his hovercraft. Mrs. Packard threw you another gun as apparently she was out of rocket ammo to give you. This time your were gifted with a scoped pistol. It wasn't as cool as the rocket launcher but it still was handy.

Now you were trying to shoot Helga as Milo kept flying around as a decoy with Vinny. You weren't as adept with a pistol but you weren't terrible either. Audrey and Dr. Sweet were now at the metal container that held Kida. They were attempting to release her from the hot air ballon that was raising her up towards the top of the volcano. Rourke had a machine gun and was shooting chains of bullets out at anyone he could hit. Milo flew by close enough so you could try to hit him. You shot out at him but missed by a couple inches. Vinny flew by and used his blue fire to zap the machine gun right out of Rourke's hands. He smiled at Rourke as he passed a mocking salute to him with his hand. Rourke glared back and noticed Sweet and Audrey working on freeing Kida. "Looks like someone is working over time!" Rourke said and then Helga went over and dropped an explosive that went off right next to them. Sweet pulled back Audrey and they got away safely by mere seconds.

"Okay, this is it. Any last words? Yeah.. I really wish I had a better idea!" Milo said to himself as he accelerated the hovercraft to go faster. You paused from shooting since you were going too fast to shoot properly. You looked over Milo's shoulder and watched where you were going. Milo made you scream at the top of your lungs when he suddenly jumped off of the hovercraft and grabbed onto the side of the hot air ballon.

"MILO!" You yelled out from his crazy and rather stupid decision to jump off and risk his life like he was doing. You panicked and had to keep the hovercraft working and steady before you crashed. Scooting up on the seat to where Milo had been sitting. You place your hand onto the glowing pad and begin controlling the vehicle. You were shaky at first but you got a hand of it rather fast (not that you had much of a choice).

"We're loosing aptitude! Lighten the load!" Rourke yelled out to Helga. The golden blonde began taking random barrels and throwing them off the sides to lighten up the air ballon.

"That's it!" She replied to Rourke. "Unless someone wants to jump." She said jokingly but was taken back when Rourke went behind her and grabbed onto her arms and threw her off.

"Ladies first!"

Helga gasped and was just able to grab onto the side of hot air ballon before she fell to her death. Helga leapt up and kicked Rourke straight in the face as she got back onto the air ballon's catwalk with him. "You sent me into this to kill me! You promised me a percentage!" Helga shouted in rage as she began kicking Rourke with sweepings of her legs. Rourke stumbled backwards and his face jeered to the side from where she made impact on his face. Rourke was able to grab onto her foot after a few heavy set kicks to the face and throw her off the side of the ballon again.

"Next time get it in writing!" Rourke said mockingly to Helga with a smirk as she went tumbling downwards with nothing to grasp onto this time. "It's nothing personal!" Rourke called out to her before going back to dealing with the situation at hand. Milo was able to climb high enough on the air ballon, he grabbed onto a single rope and went swinging forward as he smashed his feet right into Rourke. The two of them took a spill down to the next lower catwalk on the air ballon. Now Milo and Rourke were both on the same grounds. You were flying around and you saw that Milo was where Rourke was. You were scared for him as you flew around and went back to shooting at the Rourke's men with your scoped pistol. You were able to hit a barrel of gunpowder that exploded from the shot and killed off a big group of Rourke's minions. You grin at your success while at the same time hoping that Milo was going to be alright.

"Be careful, Milo." You murmur to yourself and try to keep your eyes on Milo as you flew around the air ballon that was still rising up into the air slowly.

"Well, I have to hand it to you, son. You're a bigger pain in the neck than I would have ever thought possible!" Rourke hissed as he came forwards toward Milo. Milo didn't know what to do so he stuck with his rather primal instinct and threw a punch at Rourke. Big mistake as Rourke grabbed the punch easily and then sent a heavy blow right into Milo instead. Milo reeled backwards and went right through the railings before skyrocketing downwards.

"Its take a lot to get under my skin but congratulations you succeeded!" Rourke said to Milo as he was able to hang off onto the side by merely just one hand alone. Rourke had a crazy look in his eyes as he eyed down at Milo. Little did anyone expect, Helga had survived her drop but was in a lot of pain on the rocky ground of the cavern. She groaned and reached over to take out her special pistol from his side.

"Nothing personal." She repeated what Rourke had said to her as she shot her gun that sent out a flaming blaze of fire up at the air ballon. It now caught on fire and Milo was hanging at the very bottom of the air ballon were there was nothing but hanging chains and the container which Kida was in for him to hold onto. You flew over where Milo was and started yelling out to him.

"BE CAREFUL, MILO!" You could only watch in horror as Rourke jumped down to Kida's container were Milo was hanging on for dear life.

"Tired Mr. Thatch? Darn shame! I'm just getting warmed up!" Rourke exclaimed with a crazed grin before he took a large pickaxe and swung it forward at Milo. The pickaxe smashed into the small circular window that was glowing blue from Kida being inside. Milo had just barely dodged the attack by dropping his one hand from Rourke's reach but now he was only being held up by his one free hand. You screamed at the top of your lungs in fear as Rourke grabbed Milo and held him up by the neck and had his pickaxe ready to smash right into his face.

You shouted in hysterics, "NOOOO! LET HIM GO!" and let off a single shot of your pistol. The bullet sped forward in a blur and shot right through Rourke's hand that was keeping Milo held up off the ground. Rourke immediately dropped Milo and cradled his hand as it was now bleeding immensely from the wound that you had inflected on him. He grit his teeth and stumbled backwards. You hover in closer and keep the hovercraft in place as you stand up on the vehicle and point the pistol straight at Rourke. "This is for Atlantis!" You cried out as you shot Rourke again, this time it shot him right in the chest. He fell down on the container and was now oozing blood from his chest. Your hands were shaking as your held your gun and you were about to shoot again until Rourke stood up and suddenly jumped at you on the hovercraft. You yelp as he grabs onto you by the scruff of your clothes and holds you over the side of the craft with ease.

"(Y/N!)!" Milo shouted out your name and began running over to tackle Rourke from behind. Rourke began flailing around to get Milo off his back.

"GET OFF MY GIRLFRIEND!" Milo yelled enraged as he began pounding on his back with his fists. Rourke still had you his hands and it wasn't until he dropped you when you started falling. You screamed but were able to grab onto the side of the hovercraft before you fell to your death. Milo kept pounding on Rourke from his back until Rourke grabbed back and gripped onto Milo and threw him down off of him.

"TIME TO DIE!" He cackles before going stomp on your fingers to make you let go. Milo roars out a yell and keeps persisting to save you as he shoved Rourke making Rourke turn to face him. He was absolutely a bloody mess now, if he didn't die some other way he was going to die of blood loss! Rourke runs straight at Milo like an angry football player as he tackles him down to the ground and begins punching him in the face over and over again. Milo kept taking the punches like a man and it wasn't until suddenly a piercing bullet went straight through Rourke's head. You were able to pull yourself back up and were sitting there with the gun in your hand. Rourke couldn't recover from this one and he fell limp on top of Milo.

Milo shoves him off of him with some trouble and is panting heavily. His face was swollen and slightly bleeding from the punches he had just endured from Rourke. You were sitting there shaking with a frightened look on your face. Milo quickly kneels in front of you and examines you up and down for any injuries. "(Y/n) are you okay!?" Milo asks you in nothing but concern. You answer him by jumping forward and pulling him into a hug while you dropped the pistol from your hand that was now out of ammo.

"Thank you, Milo." You cried into him. He hugged you back tightly to himself.

"Any time, (Y/n)." Milo whispered back you before planting a passionate kiss onto your lips. It wasn't the longest as you didn't have much time to relish in it, but it still made you feel like you were on cloud 9. Looking over to Rourke who was on the hovercraft with you, you frown darkly and kick him off the side of the hovercraft. He plunges down towards the ground where his final resting place would remain. Milo sets you on his lap as he drives the hovercraft down below where the container with Kida had fallen after the fiasco with Rourke.

Everything seemed like it was over when everyone regrouped back down at the bottom where Kida's container was. The air ballon had exploded and fallen down in a heap of flames that exploded again when it hit the bottom. Mole was the first one to panic and get everyone's attention as he yelled out, "The volcano! She awakes!"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with this!" Vinny defends himself even though he was holding a stick of dynamite in his hand.

"Hey, wait we have to get her back or the whole city will die!" Milo shouted as he began trying to hook up the container to the the same hovercraft you two had been on.

Audrey ran up to him and started arguing back, "And if we don't get out of here everyone will die!"

You and everyone else began as quickly as possible trying to get Kida hooked up to the the hovercraft before the volcano went off. You all tried leaving once she was hooked up but the chain that you all attached to the craft broke off the second you tried flying off with her.

"Milo don't!" You and Audrey yelled at the same time as Milo took a chain and started swinging back down to save Kida. He grabbed another chain while the ground was beginning to erupt with magma filling up the opening cracks on the ground. You could only watch in a panic as Milo attached the new chain to the container before jumping onto the container and yelling for everyone to start going. You and the crew were racing out of the volcano and through the network of caves that would lead you back to Atlantis. Lava spewed out of the cave but you made it out just in the nick of time back to Atlantis where you set Kida's container down to the ground. The Atlantean people were gathering up at the giant opening where you had first had taken off at. Milo leapt off of the metal container and made sure it settled down to the ground safely.

You jumped down from the hovercraft you had been driving and go over to take a spear from an Atlantean. They hand it over to you and you run over to toss it over to Milo.

Mole was freaking out that the lava was about to collide with the ocean and eventually Atlantis. You had to work fast before it collided!

"Milo! Move or the wall's gonna blow!" Milo rammed the spear you had given him into the container and began to open up the latch of the container. The bright blue light that was inside shone out and in seconds the container suddenly began to break into parts as Kida's almost magical like energy threw off the metal plates that had surrounded her. The masks that you had seen before at the heart of Atlantis ripped out of the ground from below where it had been kept in hiding. You and Milo watched in awe as the giant masks flew up into the air with Kida and began shooting off blue beams that began erecting these colossal statues around Atlantis that clapped and formed a forcefield around the the city that protected it from the incoming lava. The ocean had turned into stone around the forcefield and for a second everything was pitch black inside the city. That was until the forcefield cracked through the stone's wall and shattered it to pieces. The ocean came flooding back to where it was originally and the statues now remained standing in their places to protect the city of Atlantis forever.

Kida now back in her normal form, came lowering down from the sky and in front of you and Milo. He grabbed onto her before she fell to the ground as what she had just experienced probably would tire one out. Kida soon begins to wake up as Milo keeps her held up. Normally, you would be jealous of Kida being so close but you knew where Milo's heart was and it was with you. "Milo?" Kida spoke as she looked at him with a soft smile. She noticed something was in her hand and she looked down at her palm to see a bracelet that had been hers when she was just a baby. Kida clasped the bracelet in her hand and look between you and Milo. She grabbed on to you and Milo and pulled you in for a tight group hug. You were all smiling at each other and once you broke apart Kida looked over to see that Atlantis was safe and sound. The rest of the crew gathered together and everyone overlooked the beautiful city. You glance over at Milo and he glances back at you. You smile meaningfully at him and reach over to take his hand into your own. He intertwines his hand with your own and both of you gaze back out at the city together.

"Atlantis will honor your names forever. I wish there was more I could do for you." Kida said later after getting a ship ready for adventure back home to the surface world. Not to mention there was a hefty fortune to be taken back with you all. Kida had gifted each and everyone of you with a crystal necklace of your own. You look down at your own and admire how it prettily glowed a faint blue color.

"Thanks, anyways but I think we're good." Vinny said as he glanced over at the Atlanteans who were helping sash the ridiculously vast amount of riches into the ship's cargo. You giggle at Vinny's antics and shook your head.

"They'll take you as far as the surface." Milo said to the group. Milo had decided to stay down here in Atlantis with you. You didn't have much of a life back on the surface and what better way to start one then down here with the man that you love, who loves you back with all his heart.

"We're really going to miss you, (Y/n) and Milo." Audrey said with a faint smile.

Everyone started saying their goodbyes. Vinny was going to reopen his flower shop and Cookie had given a gift of some sort of slimy yellow goop that didn't look edible. Apparently, it was the bacon grease from the whole trip. Ew…

Audrey went over and said to you, "Hope you don't mind." Before going over and placing a quick kiss on Milo's cheek. You breathed out a laugh at the faint blush that was on Milo's face. You weren't even slightly jealous because you had no reason to be. Audrey pretended she was gonna hit him right after and giggled when he actually flinched.

"Ey, Milo, (Y/n)!" Mole started laughing as he had his arms out and was ready for a great big hug. You and Milo look at each other with matching grossed out expressions as Mole smelled like he had just crawled out of a dumpster.

"Oh.. wow. uh hey... Goodbye Mole." Milo said before very quickly patting Mole on the head with his fingers. He looked confused to why Milo didn't hug him so he tried to hug you again. You put up your hands in defense. "One hug for me! Just one! Please! OH PLEASE!" He begged pleadingly to you as he neared closer towards you. You started backing away from him while shaking your head.

"Uh… Mole no offense but you smell really bad... Like REALLY bad." You told him, which he sniffed under his arm and started falling to the ground while gagging at his own body oder. You rolled your eyes and looked over at Sweet who was saying his goodbye to you and Milo.

"Are you sure you won't stick with us? I'm sure you would be a hero with finding Atlantis."

"Eh, I don't think the world needs another hero. Besides I hear there's an opening down here for reading gibberish." Milo replied back to Sweet though he was mainly glancing at you with sweet smile.

"What about you, (Y/n)? You would be renown and not just some busy little receptionist anymore." Sweet tried to tempt you but you shook your head too.

"Nah, I like it down here. Besides whose going to keep an eye on Milo and make sure he doesn't get into trouble?" You tease as you smirk over at Milo who was looking away and blushing at your comment.

"Well, goodbye then Milo and (Y/n). Have a good one, you two."

"We will." Milo replied as he glanced over at you with a smile. You smiled back and then looked at Mrs. Packard who looked as grumpy as usual and unfazed by the whole emotional scene of saying final goodbyes to each other.

"Are we going home now?" She asked impassively. You snickered and went over and brought her into a hug which she was defiantly not expecting. She smelled horribly of smoke but you couldn't help but love the old lady. She really had been like a grumpy old grandmother to you during this adventure. She brought up her arms and didn't seem to know how to react at first.

"You can hug me back, you know?"

"I'm not the most touchy-feely person." She replied blandly. You smile though when you feel her finally give in and hug you back before letting go and giving you the quickest of smiles that was only seen by you. You smile back at her and speak up.

"I'm going to miss you. Thanks for all the advice you have give me along the way, Mrs. Packard."

"No problem, kid. It's what I do. Goodbye, (Y/n). Try to keep Thatch in line. Call me." She said before writing down and handing you her phone number before then walking with the others over the pile of treasure that was still left out and ready to be taken into the ship. You smile down at the phone number and pocket it before looking over at Milo.

"I didn't think you were so close to Mrs. Packard, (Y/n)." Milo said with surprise as he glanced over at the old woman who had treated you much like granddaughter the entire trip.

"Let's just say she's given me so really helpful advice along the way." You reply to Milo who nods with a forming smile on his face. You all walk over and sit by the treasure as an Atlantean was going to take a picture of you all. You held hands with Milo as the Atlantean took the picture and had a copy made for each and everyone to have for their own.

You looked down at your black and white photograph fondly. You would always treasure it for as long as you lived. Your memories of this trip will never leave your heart and mind. It had been the adventure of you and Milo's dreams. Now you lived as citizens in Atlantis as Kida took her rightful place as queen of Atlantis. A couple days after your expedition and your friends had left and gone back to the surface filthy rich. You and Milo stood on top of the tallest tower of Atlantis that overlooked the entire city. You held onto each other's hands as the wind blew through both of your hair. You turned to look at Milo and smile lovingly at him.

"I love you, Milo…" You say to him.

He takes your hands into his own and you gaze into each other's eyes. "I love you too, (Y/n). Very, very much." Milo replies softly back to you.

Your (e/c) eyes sparkled in the light of day as you remained there holding each other's hands. "Wanna go race on the hovercrafts?" You ask him suddenly. He doesn't even get a chance to even speak as you start yanking him to climb back down the tower eagerly. When you reached the ground after climbing, you both started running hand in hand together to get to a hovercraft where the two of you would race. Finding a group of them, you jump onto one that was a in the shape of a dolphin while Milo got on one that looked like a tiger shark. You place your crystal into the hovercraft's ignition and he does the same. Looking over at him with a large grin you speak up, "Are you ready, Milo?"

"I should be asking you that!" Milo replied in amusement as he grinned back. You laugh as you place your hand onto the glowing pad and go flying forwards in a blur. Milo too places his hand on the glowing pad and starts racing you through the open sky around Atlantis. You and Milo both fall into light-hearted laughter as you try to beat each other. You fly off into the distance of the bright blue skies with Milo, both of you truly having the times of your life.

Deep under the submerged city of Atlantis you found your true home and where your heart belonged. Sometimes, the most extraordinary adventures take place underneath the most unexpected of places. You sometimes wondered if you made the right choice by staying down here in Atlantis, but every time you saw your soon to be husband. You knew that your decision had been the right one. And you never regretted the day when you became Mrs. (Y/n) Thatch. That was an entire different adventure of it's own, one that you were ready to take on with open arms.

Instead, the sound of alarms start blaring ridiculously loud throughout the Ulysses. Red flashes of lights are seen blinking on and off and Milo and you quickly tear away from each other to look around in puzzlement at what was going on. "What's happening!?" You say loudly enough to speak over the alarms.

"I'm not sure!" Milo replies and swiftly stands up to his feet in which you follow right behind. The two of you rush out of his room and go into the hallways to see some of the crew members running back and forth through different doors. "What's going on!?" Milo hollers out to get one of their attention. Audrey was the first one to stop and look over at Milo.

"We're being attacked!" She replied back in a hurry before running off to do her job to make sure all the engineering of the submarine was in check. You and Milo's eyes both widen at the same time as you look at each other in disbelief.

"Attacked by what!?" You bring up and start rushing over to a large window that outlooked the outside. Milo tried seeing what was apparently attacking the submarine and there he could see in a blur of what looked to be a ginormous lobster claw. Milo looked startled at what he saw and you noticed. "What is it!?"

"Look!" Milo pointed out as both of you saw the sweeping of another claw before suddenly feeling the submarine take a hit. The whole entire place shook from the impact, making you both stumble back and forth. "This isn't good! Come on!, (Y/n)! Let's go see the Commander!" Milo grabbed your hand and began pulling you along as you both went running straight for the front of the Ulysses.

Upon entering the front of the Ulysses where the Commander and Helga usually were you could see in front of the giant window to the outside. There was a colossal robotic leviathan like creature that was in the shape similar to a lobster attacking the Ulysses. You stood there with your hands over your mouth as you stare at the creature in horror. Milo too stood in complete and downright bewilderment at the leviathan. Commander Rourke was running around like a chicken with his head cut off as he went to different controls to steady the submarine.

"What is that thing!?" You utter in disbelief as you watch it swim around the Ulysses and begin to attack it from another side. The submarine lurched back and forth and everyone was stumbling in the direction it went.

"No way, this can't be happening! I thought it was only a statue… The leviathan that guards the gates to Atlantis!"

"Uh well, it's hardly a statue now, Milo! It wants to kill us!" You exclaim loudly and almost fall over from the Ulysses lurching to the side again. Milo grabs onto you before you fall, you look up at him graciously before looking over at Commander Rourke. "We have to get away from this thing!" You yell to him as he's frantically working at the controls alongside Helga.

"I'm going to kill it before it kills us!"

"Are you crazy!? You'll get us killed! There's no way you can stop this! We must try to get away from it! It's the only way!" Milo yelled at Rourke who smashed his fists into the controls in outrage.

"If it takes some lives to get through this then so be it! We will get to Atlantis! This mission is not over yet!" Commander Rourke responded back to Milo who looked taken back by what he said. You shook your head and felt terrified at the fact you might die here by this monstrosity and the Commander was hardly making the best of decisions. You couldn't believe he was willing to let innocent lives die because he was so dead-set on plowing right through this thing that you had no chance against.

"Fire torpedoes!" Rourke said over to Helga who quickly obeyed and began clicking buttons on the controls to send off the torpedos at the leviathan. They shot through the water and collided with the leviathan but it hardly made a dent into the mechanical creature. The leviathan soon started shooting off beams of light that damaged the ship further. Rourke grit his teeth and ordered out more torpedos and for smaller attack submarines to be sent out to fight. No matter what Rourke send out at the leviathan it absorbed the assaults against it like a giant sponge.

It wasn't seconds later when Audrey ran inside and started hollering at Rourke in panic, "Sir, the Ulysses is taking in water! There's nothing I can do! If it hits the boiler we're all done for." She said to Rourke who was deeply glaring the leviathan that was in front of the submarine again. "We have to escape now, sir! We only have about twenty minutes if that!"

The Commander scoffed at Audrey's words before finally giving in, "FINE! All hands to abandon ship! Hurry up now!" Rourke finally commanded. Everyone began running to the escape sub that would be their only chance of getting away. Everyone crowded inside the smaller emergency submarines and began to shoot off away from the Ulysses. You could only look back and watch through the windows as the Ulysses was soon reduced to nothing but a shipwreck of debris when it exploded. You were breathing heavily and look terrified as the smaller sub you were inside sped through the water with other subs following. Now it was just a matter of fleeing away from the leviathan before it got to your submarine!

"Where to Thatch?!" Commander Rourke asked as he glanced back at Milo as he was driving the sub with Helga. Milo looked startled and began panically flipping through the pages of the Shepard's journal.

"W-we're uh looking for a crevice!" He replied back hurriedly. Rourke narrowed his eyes and focused on driving while Helga talked through the radio to the other subs to inform them what was going on. You were practically clawed back onto your seat as the submarine you were in was speeding away from the leviathan. You glanced back behind you at the leviathan and the others ships that were desperately trying to escape. You gasp as you see those dangerous beams shooting off from the monster and taking down other ships around you. Over the intercom you could hear people screaming as their ships were blown to smithereens. You felt sick to your stomach at the thought that men were dying because of this thing that very well could kill you if you didn't get away in time.

"I found a crevice!" Rourke said as he began driving the submarine towards the opening. With as much power as possible, Rourke slammed on the accelerator and the sub went for the opening as fast as possible. Everyone gasped as they were pushed back in their seats from how fast the sub began to go. Rourke drove the sub back and forth to dodge the incoming strikes the leviathan was shooting at you. You squeal and grab onto Milo's side as you begin trembling in fear. He looked as terrified as you were and held you back to himself while you both were panicking together. The submarine went deeper inside the cavern until finally there was a cave that lead upwards where you could get away from the leviathan. Rourke drove up and the glass of the sub was cracked by a hit but you were all able to make it to safety just in the nick of time. The sub resurfaced at the top of the water where you could get out into a large spacious cave. The remaining subs make it to the top and everyone starts to get out of the underwater crafts and get onto land.

When everyone is on land, you all were looking out in grieving for the ones who had not made it through the encounter with the leviathan. Dr. Sweet had made a small lantern by putting a single candle in a soldier's helmet to commemorate the souls that had been lost. You felt an overwhelming depression upon you as you thought about the now deceased. The very same people that you had spoken too and seen living were some of the ones that were never going to be seen again. Milo puts a hand on your shoulder in comfort. You reach out and hold onto him which surprises him slightly but he gets over it as you begin to softly cry into his chest. He holds you and lets you cry for a moment. Everyone else grieved in their own way for the lost ones as Rourke makes up a speech.

"We started this expedition with two hundred of the finest men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left. We have a crisis on our hands but we've been up this creek before and we've always come through with a paddle or no paddle. I see no reason to change that policy now. From here on then everyone pulls double duty, everyone drives, everyone works. Looks like all our chances of survival rest with you Mr. Thatch. You and that little book" Commander Rourke said as he gestured over to Milo. You had let go of Milo and looked up at him as everyone also turned to look at him also. Milo stared back before Mrs. Packard spoke up.

"We're all going to die." She replied, obviously being her usual sardonic self and not having much faith in Milo. But unlike her you had complete faith in Milo that he would pull you all through and you would all get to Atlantis one way or another. It was then everyone was sent back to work to get ready to get a move on. You remained with Milo as you walked over to a truck and just stood there awkwardly. Milo was nervous being alone with you and watching everyone work while he did nothing. Noticing a horn on the truck, he glanced at you who was busy watching everyone before squeezing the red ball on the horn that made it honk. You cringed from the sound and looked over at Milo with an odd expression as he kept honking the horn over and over. He seemed rather fascinated by the horn as he kept doing it, he must have been bored. You couldn't help but laugh at him but you quickly stopped when Rourke stepped on over and literally tore the horn right off the door of the truck. 'What a killjoy.' You think to yourself as Rourke gives Thatch a disapproving look.

"Are you sure you're checked out on this class of vehicle?" He asks which Milo looks up at him sheepishly.

"Uh.."

"… Can you drive a truck?"

"Tch, of course I can drive a truck! Sure! You got your steering, gas, and your brake! … And of course the metal uh.. looking thing." He said while jumping into the truck and trying to show off that he could indeed drive. Apparently, Milo wasn't used to this kind of thing as he grabbed the clutch and didn't even know what that was. You weren't any kind of truck expert but you at least knew that 'metal looking thing' was a clutch. Sometimes, you wondered how Milo was a genius since sometimes he could be so slow. Rourke didn't look impressed by Milo especially when he started to attempt on driving the truck. You brought a hand to your face in embarrassment for him as he kept accelerating than braking, accelerating than breaking again. You could hear the truck screeching every time it went forward and then stopped abruptly. You were lucky enough to be in the truck with him so every couple seconds your head went flying forwards before slamming back into the seat from the sudden stop.

"M-Milo! Your driving is painful!" You whine as he keeps starting and stopping and holding up everyone that was behind him. It wasn't until Rourke stopped Milo and forced you to switch places. You smiled sheepishly at Milo as he pouted in the passenger seat as you took the wheel and drove just fine. "Sorry, Milo." You said and he shrugged while still pouting. You rolled your eyes at his pitifulness and continued to follow the vehicle in front of you as you all progressed forwards into the caverns for hours on end of just driving.

Milo was still leading the way (while of course almost accidentally leading the expedition into a monster's cave) you rolled your eyes and showed him that he was looking at the map backwards.

A few more hours driving you stop to take a break. You sit down at a table while Milo takes out a flask and begins to drink it. Vinny runs over and gasps at what Milo had just done. You look over at them strangely as Vinny freaks out. "You didn't just drink that did you?!" He says in a panic. Milo looks so innocent as he nods his head. "That's not good! That's nitroglycerin! Don't move, don't breath, don't do anything!.. Except praying?" Vinny says in warning as Milo panics and starts holding throat while panicking. You narrow your eyes and suspect something was up right off the bat. This was Vinny we're talking about. Why would there be nitroglycerin in a flask that you're supposed to drink out of?

You're assumption was correct once Mole came over and cried out, "BOOM!" It scared Milo out of his wits as he freaked out and covered his head as if he was ready to explode. Vinny and Mole start laughing hysterically as they walk away from him after that little prank was done on poor Milo. You roll your eyes and walk over and snatch the flask away from Milo.

"They tricked you, silly. You didn't drink nitroglycerin. Why would they put that into a drinking flask?"

"Why do they always prank me!?" Milo replies in annoyance as he glares Mole and Vinny as they walk off.

"Well, you're kinda gullible, no offense." You retort and laugh a little as Milo looks shocked by what you said.

"I am not!"

"Yes, you really are." You say and playfully shove Milo's shoulder with a smirk on your lips. He begins to pout childishly which makes you only laugh more. "Come on, Milo. We need to get back to driving." You grab onto his arm and begin pulling him along with you to go back to the truck. Milo follows you while still insisting that he's not gullible which you didn't buy for a second. You got back into the truck and ignored Milo as he kept whining. You merely rolled your eyes and could only smile to yourself as you began to drive back on the path to Atlantis.

You noticed a lot through your trip that Milo was disregarded by the crew most of the time. You usually hung around the fire when there was a campfire going on while Milo would sit in the background and look over the Shepard's Journal for the trillionth time. You were sitting by Mrs. Packard and talking to her for awhile when you had looked over at Milo longingly. You wished he would spend more time with you and not be so enveloped with that book he never had out of his sight. You couldn't imagine how much Milo would freak if someone actually took that book away from him as a prank. That would be hard though considering the only time he wasn't looking through it was when he was sleeping. You sighed and went back to talking to Mrs. Packard about some funny story of one of your past experiences while working. You kept glancing back over at Milo wishing he would come over but he never did.

When everyone went back to driving, you all came upon a road block that was a large pillar that had intricate designs carved within it. "Wow, that is amazing! This has to be like a half a mile long! It must of taken hundreds, no thousands of years to make-" Milo was cut off when Vinny set up the rest of his explosives by the column and grabbed onto Milo and pulled him back as he went over to blast off the explosives. In seconds the column that Milo was geeking out over was tossed over to make a bridge.

"Hey, look I made a bridge. It only took me like… What? Ten seconds? Eleven tops." Vinny said as Milo looked horrified at what Vinny had done. You rolled your eyes and had to drag Milo away from going off on Vinny for destroying such an artifact.

You traveled through thick snow and eventually came across another road block. Vinny didn't have enough explosives to take care of it this time as it was basically a giant wall that was in front of your path. Mole tried digging into the wall but the digging tank went up in smoke when attempted. Audrey had to be the one to come over and try to fix it. You were surprised when Audrey stepped away to get something Milo stepped in and with just a little tweaking and few hits in the right place. Milo got the thing to work again. Milo leaned against the truck and smirked at you coolly as if he was trying to impress you for what he did. When Audrey came back over he told her what he had done which made no sense to you since you knew nothing about engineering. Apparently, Milo was at least pretty good at his old job even though it totally wasn't his thing. Mole was now able to clear a path through the wall which he did with much grandeur.

Finally, you come across another ginormous cave that was dark and was actually lit up by a glowing fixture that was on the ceiling of the cavern. It glowed off an ominous green color that made it look slightly creepy. Rourke decided to make camp here in of course the most unnerving of places. You didn't have much a say in it though as you stood there staring up at the fixture with everyone else. Soon enough, everyone relaxed and sat down in front of a fire while Cookie was serving this God-awful slop of mystery food onto each and everyone's plates. You were sitting next to Vinny and Mrs. Packard as Cookie came over and dropped a glob of that nasty stuff onto your plate. And to think you actually thought Cookie was a decent cook at one point, apparently he was running low on editable food. Mole was staring over at you and drooling over your food. You made a face at the food and handed it over to him which he gladly took. You looked over in the distance to see Milo sitting away from everyone as usual.

"You know you guys have been pretty tough on, Milo. Could he sit over here for once?" You ask the group who all look at you. They sigh and agree that they have been unfair to Milo. Audrey look over at Milo and calls him over to sit with you.

"Really? You don't mind?" Milo said as he got up from where he was sitting to come walking over with his 'food'. "Gee, this is great! I mean it's an honor to be included-" Milo sat down next to you and the second that he did Mole had placed down a whoopee cushion under his seat. The little bag made a farting noise as they typically do and within seconds Mole fell backwards on the ground and began laughing hysterically at his stupid prank.

"MOLE!" Everyone shouted in annoyance at the short little chubby man that could be so childish at times.

"Eh, forgive me I could not resist!" He replied while making an 'innocent' face. Milo acted like he was not at all bothered by the prank as he went back down to looking at the journal in his hands.

Audrey stated what was on your mind as she spoke up to Thatch, "Hey, Milo don't you ever close that book?" She asked which was a very good question because it was beginning to bother you how obsessed he was with that journal.

"Yeah, you must have read it a dozen times by now." Dr. Sweet added and you nodded in agreement.

Milo made a thoughtful look as he replied, "I know, it's just this doesn't make any sense… You see in this passage here it says the Shepard says there's something leading up to the Heart of Atlantis. It could be the power source the legends refers to but than it just cuts off. It's almost like there's a missing page."

"Kid, relax. We don't get paid over time." Vinny responded back to Milo.

"I know, I know. Sometimes, I get a little carried away but hey that's what this is all about right!? Discovery, teamwork, adventure! Unless maybe you're just in it for the money." Milo said unsurely as he looked over everyone. You looked at them as they all started saying money. You smiled at Milo and spoke up.

"I'm not here for the money, Milo. I'm here for the same reason you are." You said sweetly which made Vinny roll his eyes at the blatant flirting that you were doing. Milo smiled over at you warmly at what you said. It made Mole begin to act like he was choking on his food which broke up the sweetness of the moment as you went to glare at Mole. He smiled at you and waved his hand at you which made you roll his eyes, especially when he started making a 'kissy' face at you.

You sat there for the rest of the time getting to know one another, especially Dr. Sweet. When dinner was over Mrs. Packard glanced at you before looking at her food and dumping it into the fire with everyone else, "Thank God, I lost my sense of taste years ago." She said which made you snicker. She was always such an optimist, Mrs. Packard.

Soon enough everyone was calling it quits and getting reading for bed. The crew started settling up their tents. You decided to make yours next to Milo's tent. You put up the tent without much trouble but when you looked over at Milo you had to place a hand on your mouth to stifle your laugh at his pitiful excuse of a tent. It was sagging down and looking like it would fall apart if someone merely brushed up against it. You step over to look at Milo who was examine his tent carefully. You tap his shoulder to get his attention, he looks at you and smiles sheepishly. "H-hey there, (Y/n). Nice tent." He complimented your tent which made you smile at him.

"Thank you, yours is uh…" You paused and tried to think of a word. Milo sighs and runs a hand through his hair in embarrassment. It was obvious his tent was a disaster in the making.

"It's horrible isn't it?" He cut in and you grit your teeth as you smile at him, you didn't know what to say back to that. In all honesty, it was pretty horrid. You shake your head and grab onto his tent and start adjusting it to fix it until it was properly done. Milo watches you with nervousness as you finish fixing his tent and go to look back at him. "T-thanks…"

"You're welcome, Milo. If you need anything else just ask." You told him politely. You step over closer towards him and decided to give him another hint. You remembered when you almost kissed Milo back in the Ulysses and it pained you to think it didn't get to happen because of the leviathan ruining the moment. You step up on your tippy toes and place a placid kiss onto Milo's cheek. It was like your lips had the ability to make his cheeks warm because they flared up in heat from where you had kissed him. You smile shyly at him and before he got to say anything you left to go change into your (color) pajamas, leaving Milo there to stand there with a surprised expression. He placed his hand where you had kissed him before grinning to himself while trying suppress from yelling out in glee.

Once you got back to your tent you laid down on the sleeping bag you had and looked out at Audrey and Milo as Audrey asked Milo what his grandfather was like. Milo started talking reminiscently about his grandfather and how he was like a father to him and how they went on a camping trip together and found an arrowhead that Milo had been fond of when he was little. You hugged onto your pillow and listened with fascination at Milo's story. He was so cute when he was thinking and telling a story the way he was. Milo continued to talk to Audrey, asking her about her life. You listened until you saw Mrs. Packard walk by in her clothing.

Milo looked up at her and asked, "Forget your jammies, Mrs. Packard?"

"I sleep in the nude." She replied as she walked along like it was no big deal. You bit your lip to stifle a laugh and looked over at Milo's appalled expression. Dr. Sweet threw him a sleeping mask.

"You're gonna need these. She sleep walks." Dr. Sweet said as Milo picked up the sleeping mask with a look of confusion and disgust laced across his face.

"And me I just like to blow things up." Vinny brought up as he began talking about himself.

"Come on, Vinny tell em the truth." Dr. Sweet replied as he grabbed Vinny's sleeping mask and let it go as it slapped back onto his face. Vinny started talking about his past about his family that owned a flower shop. Defiantly, not something you expect him to be doing, especially when it didn't involve explosives. You glance over at Mole who was digging his own hole to sleep instead of having a tent. You really thought that guy was really weird.

"What about Mole?" You ask and Dr. Sweet replies.

"Trust me you don't want to know. What's your story, (Y/n)?"

Milo looks over at you interestedly as do the rest of the group. You shrug your shoulders, "Nothing interesting, I'm afraid. I grew up in (your hometown) and didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life. I moved to Washington D.C and got caught up in a job as a receptionist at Smithsonian Intuition. I really didn't like the job but stayed there doing truck loads of work everyday. I'm probably fired now though since I came on this expedition. Not that I care, it's not like I can't get a new job." You told him while being perfectly honest. They nodded their heads with interest while Milo was the one paying the most attention. You glance over at him and smile, "Good night, Milo."

Milo smiles back and replies, "Good night to you as well, (Y/n)." You kept smiling at him until Dr. Sweet turned off the lanterns. Everyone then quieted down and laid in there beds to sleep. You laid there thinking of how much you wished you could go over to Milo's tent and sleep next to him with his arms around you protectively. You hugged onto your pillow tightly and pretended it was Milo as you laid there feeling a bit forlorn. Milo was in his own tent thinking of the same exact thing. He longed to have you in his arms and cuddle into you as you slept together. Of course, neither one of you had the courage to do it. You both remained in your separate tents dreaming of each other in longing.


That night you woke up to someone shaking you awake and basically yelling in your ear. Your (e/c) eyes snap open and you look to see Milo there shaking you away and yelling the word "Fire!" Still in a groggily state, you look at him like he's crazy. "FIRE! (Y/n) wake up! THERE'S FIRE EVERYWHERE!"

"Fire?" You mumble sleepily and sit up on your bed while rubbing your eyes with your arm to get rid of the sleep in your eyes. Milo yanks on your arm and pulls you up and out of your tent and you gasp when you see what was outside your tent. Millions of fireflies scattered across the air buzzing around and causing actual fires wherever they went. Your eyes widen in horror as you gasp in shock. "What's going on!?"

Milo didn't answer you as he grabbed onto your hand securely and kept yelling on about the fire which was beginning to wake everyone up. When Commander Rourke got out he was going to beat Milo up for waking them up but was taken back when he did see the fireflies flying around and causing a wildfire. Soon everyone was getting out of their beds and rushing to get any kind of water they could find to get rid of the flames. Rourke cut in and commanded everyone to get into the vehicles and start driving away from the fire. You and Milo were running as fast as possible together away from the fire to get to the truck that was driving away that Audrey was inside. Milo pushed you forwards and you were able to latch onto Audrey's hand and she pulled you inside. You gasp as you turn back to look at Milo who still hasn't made it inside. You reach out for him desperately and he picks up his speed with all his might just enough to leap forwards and grab onto your hand. You begin pulling him in and thankfully Milo was light enough that it wasn't a terribly difficult task. He was able to get aboard the truck with you and Audrey. Now the vehicles were driving over a long wide bridge that began to break when stalagmites from above began falling and crashing into the bridge. The whole bridge tumbled backwards, making everyone else go with it. You were screaming alongside Audrey and Milo as the trucks started bumping into each other like a bunch of bumper cars. Soon the truck crashed and everything went black.

You weren't unconscious but you felt like you were lying on a bed of spikes and were slightly sore from the crash. Commander Rourke was the first to get up and light up a match in the darkness, "Alright, whose not dead? Sound off."

Everyone started groaning and calling out to inform that they were indeed not dead. You groaned out and tried moving to get up from where you were. Helga put on a lantern that lit up the place enough to see. You got up and brushed yourself off before looking back to see the others who seemed to be okay. "How did we survive that?" You say aloud and Mole was the one to reply back to you.

"We landed in ash. We are standing in the middle of a dormant volcano!"

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. It certainly doesn't sound good." You said and began to rub the side of your neck that slightly hurt from all the jarring around that had taken place. Mole giggles and leers over towards you, you looked at him in annoyance and shove him away with your hand.

"It could blow at any moment!" Mole said before making an explosion noise with his mouth. You narrow your eyes and look at him in disbelief.

"It can!?"

"No, no, no I'm joking! It would take an explosive force of great magnitude!" Everyone glanced over at Vinny who of course was messing with a time bomb that he had in his hands.

"Maybe, I should do this later, huh?"

Rourke was now figuring out a way to get out of the dormant volcano that you had found yourselves in. It was then you noticed that Milo wasn't with you guys. "Um guys… Milo isn't here." You spoke up as you looked around at the others but saw no Thatch around anywhere. Everyone took their flashlights and began looking around to see if they could find Milo but he was nowhere to be seen. You felt slightly panicked as you weren't finding him. Had he survived the crash landing!? Where was he!? You all searched for Milo but couldn't find him anywhere. "Milo!" You called out, your voice echoed out but no response was heard. 'Where is he!?' You freaked out in your mind. 'He has to be here somewhere!' "MILO! Where are you!?" You called out again but still no response.

You heard Milo's calls in the distance suddenly and your heart lighten up a little from hearing him. He was okay! Thank God! You tried following the sounds of Milo's yelling while everyone else followed. It wasn't until you saw a crevice in the wall where you had heard Milo's voice last come from. "He went through here!" You tell the others and begin heading through the crack in the wall. Once you got to the other end you were standing on the ledge of a grassy cliff that overlooked the most ethereal thing you had ever seen in your entire life. You ran over to Milo' side and both of you stared with mouth's agape at the landscape ahead of you. There in the distance was a giant circular ocean that had waterfalls falling off the edges and into an abyss of nothing but lava. In the middle of the ocean was a ginormous city that you realized was Atlantis.

"My God…" You said breathless as you looked out at the sight. Milo turned to look at you as you stared out over the city, you couldn't tear your eyes away from the sheer beauty of it. "It's beautiful!"

Milo kept staring at you before looking back at the city, "It's Atlantis! It's really Atlantis!" He exclaimed in excitement you look back at him and jump onto him with a death grip of a hug. He stumbled backwards a little as you tackled him with your embrace. You wrapped your arms around his waist and soon he did the same back. You stood there in an embrace, you almost wanted to cry from how emotional you were getting from being here and finding Atlantis with the man you came to love over the years.

"We did it!" You whisper to him which makes him smile into the hug that neither one of you wanted to break from. You only broke from it when suddenly the drill tank smashed through the wall and the rest of the crew began running out to see the lost city for themselves. Everyone was wide-eyed and had their mouths agape as they viewed the splendor that was Atlantis.

"Milo, I gotta hand it to you. You really came through." Rourke said as he patted Milo's back in a job well done fashion. Everyone's admiring of Atlantis suddenly came to a screeching halt when masked people came jumping down out of nowhere. They had giant masks on that covered their entire face. They had spears that they were threateningly pointing forwards at you all. "Holy cats! Who are these guys!?" Rourke said as he reached down to his hip, ready to grab his holstered gun if needed.

"They gotta' be Atlanteans!" Milo exclaimed in excitement.

"What?!" Helga snapped at Milo, "That's impossible!"

The Atlantean that was in front of the group started speaking up in a language you never heard before. She pointed at you all but was speaking seemingly at Milo.

"I think she's talking to you…" You said to Milo who glanced at you nervously before looking back at the masked Atlantean. You gestured him forward which he did take a step forwards towards the one that was speaking. He listened carefully to what she was saying and responded back in the best way that he could. It was a little overwhelming to him since he had never spoke full conversations in Atlantean before. She responded back and soon Milo was starting to get the hang of it and he replied back much more coolly than before. You could only watch and were shocked when the Atlantean took off her mask to reveal a woman. She had dark skin, bright blue eyes, and pure long white hair that was as white as snow. She had blue tattoos on the right side of her face and she was wearing a blue bikini top, had a blue sarong type skirt on, and wore a necklace that had a faint blue glowing crystal attached to it. She was very gorgeous even to you in a very foreign way.

Milo even said something to Kida in French which Mole perked up and began grinning to himself. "That's my language!" He sped forward and went to whisper something into her ear. The woman kneeled down for him and when she heard what he said in French, she glared Mole and punched him hard in the face. Apparently, whatever he said was pretty offensive. You tried not to laugh at Mole' misfortunate but you couldn't help yourself, he so deserved it.

"Ooo, I like her!" Dr. Sweet said and began clapping.

"Eh, it's about time someone hit him. He just better be glad it wasn't me." Audrey also said as she pointed at herself. You shook your head and chuckled and soon the Atlanteans and your group began to converse to each other. Apparently, the Atlanteans didn't just now their own language and French but they also knew English.

"How do they know all these languages?" You asked Milo who looked at you and replied as he adjusted his glasses.

"Their language must be set on a root dialect. Just like the Tower of Babel!" He said to you. You 'oohed' and looked back at the Atlanteans in fascination. Never in your life were you expecting to meet actual people who were said not to even exist in the first place. If only, you could go rubbing this into Mr. Harcourt's face right now. He would never believe that you were seeing these sights and were actually capable of finding Atlantis the lost empire.

"Welcome to the city of Atlantis!" The white-haired woman said as she gestured with her arms back at the city. "Come you must speak with my father now!" She said as she reached forward and grabbed onto Milo's arm. You were left standing there alone as she was now taking Milo away. You felt a twinge of jealousy wage inside your self that came out of nowhere. You tried to ignore it but it lingered in the depths of your heart. You began walking over a wooden rickety bridge that led over the pit of lava from down below. You tried not to look down as you felt terrified to be walking along over such a scary place to be. If this bridge fell like the last one you would be falling into burning hot lava. Not your preferred way to go out of this world. You huff and glare over in the front of you as the Atlantean woman remains holding Milo's hand as she takes him towards Atlantis. Yes, the jealousy was not dying down well if not only getting worse. Perhaps, you were just being over defensive, it's not like this woman would steal Milo's heart away within seconds of meeting. Or at least that is what you told yourself. You frown the rest of the way and begin to walk with Dr. Sweet who was much more optimistic than you were at the moment. He kept talking your ear off but your mood at greatly soured and you just wanted to be left alone.

You all continued to walk until you get to Atlantis. Milo, Rourke, and that Atlantean girl go to meet the emperor of the city. You stay back with the others and keep pouting to yourself as Milo is away. "You look murderous." Mrs. Packard mentioned as you sit down next to a tree and glare off into the distance. She stood there beside you smoking her cigarette as she spoke to you.

"I'm fine." You replied bitterly. She laughed dryly and shook her head.

"You certainly sound fine, kid. I'll bite, what's wrong?" She asked before taking a drag of her cigarette. You glance down at your lap and full out frown.

"I'm just being insensitive. That's all." You reply back, obviously not in the mood to be making much conversation but Mrs. Packard seemed to not care if you were wanting to be alone.

Mrs. Packard flickered her cigarette, making the ashes fly. She glanced at you and replied, "Let me take a stab at this one. It's something to do with that Atlantean chick. I saw you making the phrase 'if looks could kill' have some truth to it when you were staring at her from behind as Milo and her were holding hands. I have good news for you, kid. You're not insensitive… just jealous."

You grumbled under your breath and went to stand back up and lean against the tree as you waited for Rourke and Milo to get back. "It's silly of me though. They were just holding hands."

"You really need to seal the deal on this before he does go off with another gal. Keep on waiting and there's not telling what that blockhead will do. Just tell him how you feel."

"I-I can't…"

"Well then, you know what you're going to get if you don't try? Zip, zero, nothing at all. I'm just warning ya, kid. I've seen plenty of heartbreaks happen in my ancient lifetime. Mainly they were based on stupid decisions and yours will end up the same if you don't take action." She advised you. You sigh heavily and nod your head that hangs low as you both fall silent. You stared down at the ground while she continued to chain smoke. Audrey and Dr. Sweet were talking to one another while Mole was being Mole and doing something with the dirt around him. Helga was leaning against a tree and looking annoyed as she usually did for no apparent reason. Cookie was sitting down on a log and talking to himself about something you weren't sure, you weren't paying that close of attention. It took a few more minutes until Milo and Rourke came walking up.

"How'd it go?" Dr. Sweet asked them curiously. Your head perked up when you saw Milo and you couldn't help but feel glad that the Atlantean girl was not with him at this moment.

"Well, the emperor and his daughter don't seem to see eye to eye. She seems to like us, okay, but the king I don't know… I think he's hiding something." Milo replied as he began rubbing the side of his neck as he talked.

"Well, if he's hiding something I want to know what." Rourke replied.

"Someone needs to talk to that girl." Helga brought up which made you cringe. You knew where this was going and you didn't like it. They started talking amongst each other who would be best to go and eventually they decide on unsurprisingly Milo who hadn't even been paying much attention. You wanted to object and say that someone else should go but you didn't want to sound like you distrusted Milo to deal with the situation since he was perfectly capable of doing it. You just didn't want him to spend any extra amount of time with that Atlantean princess as possible. For some reason she really bothered you as someone you needed to watch out for. Not that you believed she was a bad person but you worried Milo might like her instead of you if he hung around her.

"Thanks for volunteering, Thatch." Commander Rourke said which made Mole cry since Mole kept begging to be the one to go see the princess. What a pesky deviant he was! You crossed your arms and look annoyed as Audrey only makes you even more irritated when said to Milo

"Go get em' tiger."

You rolled your eyes and Milo looked over at you noticing your off putting demeanor. Milo steps up to you and smiles sheepishly, "Looks like I have to talk to the princess." He tried engaging in a conversation with you. You nodded your head slowly and appeared nothing but agitated that he did have to go talk to her.

"Seems so." You reply a bit nastily. He cringes a bit from your tone and is completely oblivious why you are in such a sour mood.

"Is something wrong, (Y/n)?" Milo asked you unsurely. You look into his brown eyes and wished you could convey what you were feeling through your eyes alone but Milo didn't seem to be catching it even though he was already lost in your own eyes. You both stared at each other before you finally responded back with a painful forced smile.

"No, nothing is wrong, Milo. Good luck with the princess." You tell him while trying to sound a bit more pleasant but it was very difficult. He smiled back softly and nodded his head.

"Thanks, (Y/n). I appreciate it. I swear if I get the chance you and I should take a stroll through the city together. Just you and me." He said while surprising himself that he was confident enough to say that to you. You blinked a few times and then nodded your head.

"That sounds lovely. I'll see you soon." Patting Milo on the shoulder affectionately, you smile sadly at him and begin to walk away. He watches you and feels like he somehow did something wrong. He wasn't an expert at reading feelings or emotions like he was different languages but he got the impression you were upset for some reason. Milo was left with his own feeling of dread if he had made you angry with him somehow. That was the last thing he wanted. Milo sighed and began heading out to find the Atlantean princess that even he wasn't really looking forward to meeting. His thoughts were solely on you as he went off on his way.


It was the early evening and you were now sitting inside a hut with the rest of the crew as it was dinner time. Atlantean cuisine was like something you had never seen before with creatures that you had never even imagined. You were afraid to eat anything as you considered yourself a bit picky when it came to food. You were sitting next to Vinny as Dr. Sweet, Vinny, and you were watching in disgust as Mole was quickly devouring these little green creatures that had many eyes. They hardly appeared edible, even worse than Cookie's mystery guck that was supposed to be food. You almost a gagged from how horrid the sight was, Mole was so gross! You turned your head away in distaste and saw Milo sitting next to the Atlantean girl whose name you found out was Kida from Milo at some point during the day when you had briefly ran into each other.

She was talking his ear off about something as Milo was trying out the Atlantean food that he seemed fascinated in. You didn't care how gross it was that he was eating the stuff. You were just upset at the fact that he was still with Kida. He's spend basically the whole day with her already. Was he still going to stroll around the city with you like he said he would? Your jealousy was reeling its ugly green head as you glared Kida from afar. She was so busy talking to Milo she had no idea you were staring at her. Milo seemed too occupied with eating to notice either. 'No one said Milo had to spend the whole day with her.' You think to yourself in annoyance as you watch them. It wasn't until Vinny brought back your attention when he prodded your shoulder.

"Are you going to eat or are you afraid as I am?" He asked before prodding back at the green creatures that Mole was still eating. You shook your head with a frown.

"Afraid." You replied back and shoved the green creatures that you did have over to Mole. He thanked you with his mouth full and continued on chopping down the rest of the 'food'. You sighed and stood up from your spot at the table. "I'm going to take a little walk. See you later." You began heading out of the hut. Kida was still talking about something but Milo's attention was taken away when he noticed you walking away with the most depressing look on your face. He felt that sense of dread come back and it was then he realized that he promised to go for a stroll with you through the city.

"Kida.. Hey, Kida. Can I go do something for awhile? I won't be long I just need to take care of something." Milo tried to get away as he kept looking from Kida to back at the door that you left through. Kida tilts her head before nodding to Milo.

"Of course, go ahead." She said, "Are you going to see that (Y/n) girl?" Kida asked with a soft smile. Milo rubbed the back of his neck nervously and nodded to her. "She seems to like you very much. Please tell her I said hi." Kida said before letting Milo off. He nodded again before going off hurriedly to find you. You weren't that far away as you were walking along the docks that were bare of anyone nearby. Milo sped over towards you and almost ran into your back from how quickly he went over. Milo grabbed on your shoulder which made you gasp in surprise. You turn around swiftly to face Milo who you looked surprised to see.

"Milo? What are you doing?" You ask him as he takes his hand back from your shoulder and smiles sheepishly down at you.

"I came to walk through the city with you like I said I would." He replied with a soft smile. You honestly didn't think Milo was going to waste his time to come walk with you. You were more than thrilled he kept his promise to you.

"Really? You still want to do that?" You ask him unsurely and he quickly nods in response.

"Of course, I do! Why wouldn't I? I've spent a lot of time with Kida now I think it's your turn." He said in which you nodded and took his hand into your own. He glanced down at your hands and felt a warm blush heat up his cheeks.

"Then let us walk together. The city is beautiful at night." You said as you began to smile back at him, your heart felt happier now that he was here with you.

"You are- I MEAN it is!" He sputtered and felt like a moron in front of you. You swore he just said that you were beautiful but you weren't too sure. Maybe, it was just hopeful thinking. You and Milo now holding hands walk along the docks together. You couldn't stop smiling now that you were with him. It seemed like you were walking through a very pleasant dream as the ocean's waves crashes gently into the dock. The reflection of light could be seen on the waters. It was truly a gorgeous night to be walking together. "So.. (Y/n)… How has you adventure been so far? It's too bad we only get to stay in Atlantis for a day. It seems like there is so much still here to discover." He told you in which you nodded in agreement.

"It's been the best thing in my life so far. I've never dreamed of doing something like this. I can only laugh when I think of what Harcourt's face would be if we told him that we were the ones that found Atlantis. He and his stupid board directors can kiss us goodbye. We have bigger fish to fry." You said with a grin appearing on your face. Milo laughed and nodded.

"We don't need them. There is not telling what life will be like when we return to the surface." Milo replied with a grin of his own. You smiled to him decided to show another hint that you were dying to show. Mrs. Packard's voice was in your mind repeating that you needed to take action. You gradually lean up to Milo's arm so that your head his rested against his arm. Milo glances down at you and gulps nervously while at the same time fully enjoying having you so close to him. His heart was doing flips in his chest from you being so near.

"Milo…" You spoke up after a moment of just walking in silence. He looks back down at you questionably as you spoke up. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"W-what is it?" He responds unsurely. You paused from walking and let go of Milo to look up at him in the eye seriously. He stares at you questionably as you speak up, "Do you have anyone special in your life? Like a girl you love? I just want to know because there is this person I like and I'm too afraid to tell him I like him. I fear I'll might ruin our friendship if he doesn't feel the same way back. What do you think I should do?"

Milo wasn't ready for that rather loaded two questions that you asked of him. His heart was hammering in his chest because he knew he would have to flat out lie to your face that he didn't like anyone when he knew he loved you dearly. But he couldn't tell you… could he? Milo gulped and tried to think hard on what to say to you. You look at him in anticipation when he finally responds while sounding a bit shy.

"Sounds like you have a similar problem of my own." Thatch started off saying. Milo went to sit down at the side of the dock, his legs dangling off the sides and his feet close to the water. You sit down beside him and stare over at him in curiosity. "You see, I also have this girl that I fell in love with years back but I've been too inept to tell her how I feel about her. I'm worried about a couple things like if I will ruin the wonderful relationship we have or I'll scare her away if she doesn't return my feelings. I'm also worried if I wait any longer she might find someone else that can actually find the courage in themselves to just tell her that they love her. Then I'll lose my chance forever. I couldn't tell you what to do other than to tell him how you feel. It's just actually telling them which is hard." He explained while telling you his own dilemma while keeping out the fact that the girl he loved was you. You didn't know whether to feel elated that he liked someone or if you hated it. There was a chance he could be in love with someone other than you. Maybe, even that Kida girl! You tried to hold back the jealousy that wanted to rip you apart.

"May I ask who that girl is? Is it that Kida girl? Or maybe Audrey?" You can't help but ask him. He cringes and shakes his head quickly at what you had said.

"Uh no… Defiantly not Audrey! I hardly know Kida. She is nice and fascinating person but I would only consider her a friend." Milo said which made the nipping jealousy inside feel like it crawled up and died at his reassurance that he didn't like Kida that way. You then smirk at him and playfully nudge him with your elbow.

"What about Mrs. Packard?" You tease which makes him act like he was gagging on air. You laugh at him as he makes a disgusted expression from what you just implied.

"That's seriously wrong!" He exclaimed which made you snicker. You leaned your head again his arm again as you sat there. Milo tensed up and remained perfectly still as if he was afraid of accidentally bumping your head or something by accident and then ruining the moment.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." You say quietly as you go back to smiling and enjoying the closeness with Milo. You reached over and placed your hand on his knee like before. Milo's face goes red as you repeat this action like before. "Now who do you love?" You ask again. He panics inside and doesn't now how to proceed without telling you. You look into his eyes that were so easy to get lost into. He gazed back and found himself saying things without really thinking.

"I love…" He started off saying as he kept his eyes on your own (e/c) orbs that seemed to look into his soul. "I love y-… uhh…"

"Hmm?"

Milo couldn't take it anymore leaning towards your face, he caught your lips into a kiss. Your eyes widen for a brief moment while his eyes close as he kisses you. He had no idea what overcame him but he couldn't stand it anymore. You felt a surge of bliss run through you as you begin to kiss back. Milo keeps you two lip-locked before going to pull away but before he did, you reach out with your hand and force his face to stay near your own. You weren't finished with this just yet. He seems surprised but he managed to keep kissing you for a moment before you felt like you needed to part away. The both of you just looked at one another without saying a word. Milo was the first one to speak up, "I-I'm sorry… You must be terribly angry at me right now."

"Why would I when the man I've loved for all these years has finally kissed me?" You say to him while confessing your feeling towards him. His eyes widen from hearing that you felt the same way he did. Milo's lips twitched up into a grin and he reached out to hug you from where you were sitting on the dock. You embraced him back and you could hear Milo whisper into your ear.

"I love you, (Y/n). I have for a very, very long time. I can't even describe in any language I know how happy I am right now."

The two of you remained embracing again until eventually standing up together and grabbing on to each other's hands as you gazed into one another's eyes lovingly. "I love you too, Milo." You say the words that you had been dying to say for so long. Milo leans back in and kisses you again. You instantly reciprocate the kiss that was much more passionate than the first time. Once you parted away Milo glanced off into the distance with a fond smile on his face.

"Seems like dreams do come true. I find Atlantis and I get you too. What more can I ask for? It feels like nothing could possibly go wrong." Milo said to you which you smiled back meaningfully to him.

"Dreams do come true, Milo. Now it's just a matter of finding a new dream." You told him which made Milo have a thoughtful face.

"I think I have an idea but let's keep us going slow for now. We just became official after all." Milo said and obviously hinted at the fact that his dream had to do with something in the future for the two of you. Perhaps, marriage? You blushed deeply at the thought of being Mrs. (Y/n) Thatch. Milo spends some more time with you at the docks until he finally had to get back to Kida. You felt much better about it now that your feelings were out in the open.

You placed a soft kiss onto his lips and sent him away to go do whatever he planned on doing with Kida. You went to return back to the hut with the others with a bright lovey-dovey smile on your face. If only, you had been aware of what you were getting yourself into. You would have remained with Milo then but then again it was too late.