Hello my lovely readers! welcome back to another chapter of Our Hearts Beat as One. Here is another chapter. I made sure to make it extra long. So without further aideu, enjoy!

To Arwen the Storyteller: Thank you. Glad to be back.

Chapter 2: Hello Big Brother.

Centuries have passed since the city of Atlantis vanished and mankind had developed at a steady pace soon believing that the city was nothing but a myth that was used as a lesson to mankind for reaching for more than what they were capable of.

Yet there was a man and woman that were taught since a young age that the city was real and that they only had to believe in themselves to find it. While the woman grew out of this dream, she still supported her grandfather and older twin brother. This twin brother's name was Milo James Thatch, an orphan that was raised by his grandfather Thaddues Thatch when he and his sister were both 8 years old. Their grandfather was a well-known man in the field of Cartography, Archeology, and Antiquities as well as languages, he was seen as a legend and Milo saw him as that as well.

He looked up to his grandfather for he was all he had and he was a great man that never allowed Milo to lose hope of reaching his dreams. Yet his grandfather was facing his own problems in his field. Thaddues has spent a majority of his career searching for the lost city of Atlantis, always believing that it had existed and that its ruins still exist but many criticized him as an old man that was losing his touch and his sanity.

His career was soon ruined as no one would take him serious believing him mad but he never allowed Milo to lose his dreams and ideals, but tragedy hit when he died due to a heart attack. This prompted Milo to continue his grandfather's work and work at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. hoping to prove his grandfather right and show the world that this lost city existed and that they could learn from it. Milo never realized that on a seemingly ordinary day, his greatest wish was going to come true.

--Washington, D.C. 1914--

The streets rumbled with the sounds of automobiles, heels, hooves, and canes as they passed a large building known as the Smithsonian. Within the building, there were many people milling around enjoying the various exhibits and meeting with their associates. Yet below them in the basement of the vast building was a man giving a presentation.

"Good afternoon, gentleman. Before I begin I would like to thank the board for taking the time to listen to my proposal. Now I know that you have all heard of the legend of Atlantis, the city that was lost to the sea, it was a continent that was in the mid-Atlantic which was home to a very advanced civilization that had technology that far surpasses our own. From what the scholar Plato wrote it was struck by some catastrophic event that caused it to sink to the bottom of the ocean."

The man that was speaking seemed to be in his early 30's with soft brown eyes hidden behind glasses, had brown hair, and had fair skin, he was tall and lanky but had muscles revealing a somewhat lean body. He stood within a cramped space that seemed to be filled with artifacts awaiting to be displayed upstairs, he stood behind a podium with a blackboard next to him.

He reached down into the podium and withdrew a set of flashcard, the first showing "Atlantis" with a watermark question mark behind it.

"Now I realize that many of you are asking why Atlantis? It's a myth and pure fantasy. Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. 10,000 years before the Egyptians built the pyramids, Atlantis already had electricity and advanced medicine and even had the power of flight.

It seems impossible, correct? But for them it wasn't, and many cultures around the globe believe that Atlantis possessed a power source of some kind that was more powerful than any of our modern combustion engines. So with this information gentleman, I propose that we find this lost city, obtain this power source, and bring it back to our world." He said looking around the room, making sure to use eye contact and once this statement has been absorbed, he continued on to next part of his speech.

"Now this is a photograph of a page from an illuminated text that describes a book known as The Shepherd's Journal. Which is said to have been a first- hand account of Atlantis and its exact whereabouts. Now if you can look over here, this centuries old translation of Norse text had historians believing that the Journal resided in Ireland. But after I compared the ruins that are seen on this old Viking shield,"

he bent down in front of the podium and struggled to fully lift the ancient petrified shield to his chest, " to the translation, I realized that one of the letters was mistranslated. So by changing the letter r in Ireland to the correct letter," he struggled to erase the r and write the correct letter, "we see that the Journal, which will be our key to finding Atlantis, does not reside in Ireland, gentleman, but in Iceland.Oof!" He finally gasped out almost dropping the heavy shield when he finally wrote the c down.

He turned toward his audience and whispered so they wouldn't hear, "Pause for effect." He said with a smile then carefully put the shield back down and brushed his clothes back into order before turning to the audience and saying,"Gentleman, I'll, uh, take any questions you have now." But before he could continue a shrill noise sounded throughout the room revealing that it was the phone, the man looked at the phone and sheepishly looked at his audience.

"Um, would you gentlemen, please excuse me for just a moment? It'll, uh, just take a minute." He said as he turned towards the blackboard and leaned forward causing it to tip backward onto a table so that he could reach the phone behind it.

"Cartography and Linguistics, Milo James Thatch speaking." The man, now identified as Milo, replied. Through the phone an angry sounding voice could be heard ranting about something. As the voice continued Milo's face could be seen falling into a grimace and look of annoyance.

"Yeah, got it. Uh, ju-just a second." He replied hanging his head down with a sigh and put the receiver down before shimmying down the blackboard. As he moved away the blackboard swung around and the silhouette of men could be seen patiently waiting for him to continue. Yet as Milo reached for a long string and turned on the light it was revealed that the men were not even men but a variety of masks, statues, and a skeleton.

Milo moved towards the "men" he had created, heading for the boiler that resided directly behind them. He climbed up on the table that they resided on trying to get closer to the dark red boiler which was currently the reason for the man on the phone to be ranting at him.

"S'cuze me, Mr. Carnegie." He murmured moving one of the masks to the side to get to the boiler. Milo started to figure out what was causing the issue by turning a few of the wheels which caused the boiler to groan and hiss at an alarming rate. Milo just knitted his brows and growled at the machinery, "Darn boiler," before he hit it with a nearby wrench which stopped the alarming noise. Once it was calm again he sighed and went back to the phone, once again climbing up on top of the blackboard.

"All right, how's that? Is that any better?" He asked keeping his head down as he listened to the person on the other side of the phone continue ranting at him telling him to stop messing around and do his job. He just sighed and said,

"Uh-huh. Yeah. You're welcome."

"Don't let it happen again!"

Was the last thing Milo heard before they hanged up."Right, bye." Milo said gloomly into the phone before letting out a deep breath and moving off of the board. Well that was great, he thought,might as well finish practicing before my meeting starts.

"Now as you can see by th-" He started before he noticed that a quarter of the map that he had drawn had vanished.

"Where the heck did it go?" he murmured staring at the board before he noticed that there was chalk on his sleeve and once he looked down, he found the piece of missing map. Milo sighed but quickly tried to continue while thinking of a way to explain the piece that's missing from the map.

"Uh, by this, um, ma-map, uh, tha-that…I've drawn," he quickly moved into the space that was missing on the map so that the piece that was sticking to his shirt would appear on the map, "I plotted the route that will lead myself and a crew to the southern coast of Iceland so that we may retrieve the Journal."

As he finished a clock on the wall cuckooed 4 times releasing a tiny bluebird. Milo glanced at the clocked and wiped off the chalk on his clothes smiling and saying,"Ah show time." He said but before he moved, clapping and cheering could be heard.

"That was wonderful Milo!" The voice said. Milo looked around which was the figure's cue to move out of the shadows. Milo turned around and it was like looking into a mirror of a female version of himself. She looked excatly like Milo but her features were softer and more feminized. She had soft brown eyes that were also hidden behind glasses. Her long brown hair was pinned up in a tight libarian's bun leaving just her bangs free, and had beautiful fair skin. She had a beautiful slim figure, D-size breasts, and wore a light blue chiffon and cream laced hobble dress with a decorative fixed blue chiffon waisteband. (If you've ever googled Milo Thatch Genderbend, she looks like that but with long hair)

"Mila! It's so good to see you little sis." Milo said as he rushed to hug his younger twin sister. "Or is it the Maginificent Mademoiselle Mila?" Milo said with a smile which caused Mila to playfully smack him on his arm.

"Mila is just fine big brother." Mila said sarcastically. "But I'm serious Mila, I went to your last concert a few months back. You were amazing! You trully have the voice of an angel and I hoped you got my gift." Milo said with a smile.

"I was wondering why there were roses delivered to my dressing room." Mila said with a smile.

From a young age, both Milo and Mila have shown having intellectual gifts. Both of them were taught to read and speak many languages due to being raised by their grandfather. However while Mila was just as smart as her older twin brother Milo, she also showed an interest in music and singing so at the age of 8, she would pratice the piano and for her 9th birthday, she got her very own violin.

At the age of 10 she join her school and church's choir group and by high school, she would always get solo parts to perform in front of their school. Once she and Milo graduated College, she tried out for a musicle play in New York and by the age of 26, was on tour all over the states and became known as the Magnificent Mademoiselle Mila.

She would always go on stage and sing while playing either the piano or her violin. Both her and Milo's favorite song that she performed was called Ashes of Eden which was a song that she wrote and sanged at their grandfather's funeral.

"Anyway, what are you doing back in Washington?" Milo asked as he moved away. "I just thought I would be here to wish my older brother good luck." She said as they both moved on to a small side table.

Milo began retrieving a few rolled up papers and books, with a small smile. Well, this is it, He thought, I am finally getting out of this dank place. They moved to another table that held a small wardrobe like object that seemed to be glowing from the inside.

As Milo reached it he picked up a photograph that stood in front of the wardrobe. He and Mila smiled as they stared at the photo. It showed their grandfather Thaddues sitting on his favorite armchair wearing his exploration outfit and helmet posing for the camera while on the side a young Milo and Mila of 5 years old were grinning at their grandfather trying to climb up onto the arm.

They both could still remember that day, their father was trying to have a serious photo taken but with a bored young Milo and Mila well that wasn't possible so he gave up and soon lifted them both up into his lap. Milo had tried to grab his exploration helmet and when he couldn't reach, his grandfather grabbed the helmet and placed it on Milo's head. For a few seconds it fit perfectly but soon it slipped down covering his eyes. Milo and Mila both chuckled at the memory and set the photo aside and reached for the wardrobe.

The doors of the small wardrobe were opened and residing within was a few tea light candles and his grandfather's helmet. Milo removed it from the stand and carefully placed it on his head, it seemed to finally fit him, until it slid down and covered his eyes. Darn it… He thought as Mila began laughing until a whooshing sound filled the air. Milo pushed the helmet off of his eyes and saw that a message tube had arrived. He reached into the mask that was holding the tube and extracted the paper that was within it.

"Wonder what this is about?" Mila asked as Milo began reading the letter.

Dear Mr. Thatch,

This is to inform you that your meeting today has been moved from 4:30 pm to 3:30 pm.

"What?!" Mila cried looking up at the clock that read 4:05 pm. Another whoosh was heard as another message tube arrived. Milo quickly grabbed it starting to feel the spark of panic in his stomach.

Dear Mr. Thatch,

Due to your absence, the board has voted to reject your proposal. Have a nice weekend, Mr. Harcourt's office.

Mila's mouth dropped as her brother read the letter outloud. She couldn't believe it those idiots! She couldn't believe this was happening to her brother! She knew that he's been planning this presentation for 2 years and now that he finally had a chance to show it and they just rejected it because he was uninformed of a changed time!

"They can't do this to you!" Mila yelled as she took the damn letters and began ripping them up. She wasn't going to allow this to happen, she was not going to allow Milo to get rejected a 68 time without at least getting a chance to show what he found. So Mila quickly grabbed his materials, helmet and coat, shoved them into Milo's arms and shoved him out of the boiler room where he began to race down the halls to get to the board members before they left the museum. Mila began to calmly walk out of the boiler room because it was a bit hard to move in her stiff dress but Milo knew that she would catch up to him. She grabbed her white coat and blue umbrella too as she walked out and down the halls.

Above the bustle of the visiting museum, a group of 5 men exited one of the meeting rooms, complaining about their wasted time and how annoying Milo Thatch can be.

"I swear that young Thatch gets crazier every stinking year!" Mr. Carnegie cried out throwing his arms out. He was wearing a rich brown fur coat, with a blue scarf, spectacles, and black top hat. The other men nodded their heads in agreement. Each of the men wore rich brown or grey coats as well as a variety of top hats and each wore spectacles and carried an umbrella with an elegant handle.

"If I ever hear the word 'Atlantis' again, I'll step in front of a bus!" A nasally voice belonging to a Mr. Walton yelled out.

"Ha ha ha! I'll push you!" Mr. Carnegie exclaimed shoving Mr. Walton resulting in the other men to laugh. As they all began to lose themselves in their laughter a voice quickly stopped them and filled them with dread.

"Mr. Harcourt! Sir!" Milo cried running down the hall in an effort to catch the board members. While that was happening, there was another figure calmly walking down the hallway but they were too far away for the board members to see.

"Good Lord! There he is!" Mr. Walton cried out, looking at Milo in horror.

"Members of the board, uh, wait! I just need a word!" Milo exclaimed dropping a number of papers in his rush to get to the members. Yet as he neared the board members they scattered, racing into different rooms and locking them. As they each raced into a room Milo continued to call for Mr. Harcourt, who was unsuccessful in getting into a room like the other members. He banged on each door as he passed but all were closed and locked forcing him to try and hide his large frame behind a skinny potted plant.

"Look Mr. Harcourt, You have to listen to me! Please, if I could just have a minute of your time I could-" Milo cried before stopping as he saw Mr. Harcourt hiding behind the plant and the other members had already hidden themselves in different rooms. He carefully approached the plant that hid Mr. Harcourt.

"Uh, sir?" He asked moving aside a few leaves of the plant so that he could see Mr. Harcourt, who gave him a closed smile and suddenly thrust his umbrella at Milo and opened it pushing him back and throwing his papers everywhere giving him a chance to escape. Milo quickly got his baring, flabbergasted at what had just happened. Really? He can't spare a damn minute? Milo thought as he raced to catch up to Mr. Harcourt after picking up his papers. Did Mr Hardcore seriously just do that to him? Mila thought to herself as she continued to walk after her brother as he raced out.

"Wait! Mr. Harcourt! Please sir! I – I have new evidence tha- Please, Mr. Harcourt!" He cried as Mr. Harcourt raced into his car. Yet luckily he was able to grab Mr. Harcourt's car door and stop him from leaving.

"Stop! Sir, if you – could you please hold-" Milo exclaimed trying to hold his car door and grab the correct materials from under his arm.

"Yes! Here it is! If you can just look here-" He said dumping the other papers into his car and opening up a map but before he could continue, Mr. Harcourt interrupted him.

"This museum funds scientific expeditions, based on fact. Not legends and folklore!" He cried shoving the papers he was given into Milo's arms. "Besides, we need you here. We depend on you." At this point Mila had walked out the door and now saw the confrotation between Milo and Mr. Harcourt.

"You, do?" Milo asked in surprise.

"Yes! With winter coming, that boiler's going to need a lot of attention." He answered hitting Milo's cheek before ducking into his car again.

"Boiler?"

"Onward Henry!"

"Wait! There- There's a journal!" Milo yelled running alongside the car trying to show Mr. Harcourt his map. "It's in Iceland! I'm sure of it this time!" But Mr. Harcourt ignored him pulling closed the curtain hoping it would show Milo that he was not interested. Yet as soon as he did this a thud could be heard at the front of the car, Mr. Harcourt looked forward and was shocked to see that Milo had jumped onto his car and was hanging on with all his strength. Mila also saw this from where she was standing and began to quickly walk after her brother, making sure he didn't hurt himself too much.

"Sir, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this, but this is-" Milo said pulling out a piece of paper out of his coat and slamming it against the windshield, "a letter of resignation. If you reject my proposal, I'll—whoa!" He cried out as the driver maneuvered his car left and right throwing Milo off.

"Sir! I'll quit!" He exclaimed raising himself up onto his arms already feeling a dull throb on his left shoulder from where it connected with the street. Up ahead the car stopped and backed up until it stopped next to Milo. Mr. Harcourt pushed aside the curtains and glared down at Milo.

"He means it, sir. If you refuse to fund his proposal-" Mila began as she arrived next to his car and stood beside Milo.

"He'll what? Flush his career down the toilet just like your crazy grandfather?" He asked. "You have a lot of potential, Milo. Don't throw it away chasing fairy tales, don't become your grandfather." Mr. Harcourt said looking down at Milo.

"But I can prove that Atlantis exists!" Milo said angrily.

"You want to go on an expedition?" He asked before he threw a Nickle at Milo's feet. "Here. Take a trolley to the Potomac and jump in! Maybe the cold water will clear your head. Henry!" He yelled before the car drove off drenching Milo in water and Mila's dress skirt in water as it passed. Milo spluttered as the water hit him completely soaking his clothes and his letter,this can't be happening. Up above the sky roared with thunder and lightning and as Milo looked up all he saw was his mood reflected in it. I'm sorry grandpa.

"Oh Milo, I'm so sorry." Mila said gently as it began to rain and she took out her umbrella and held it over Milo. Mila gently helped Milo up and walked him to her car where her chauffer named George was waiting for her.

"Do you want to go back to my place?" Mila asked Milo gently as they sat in the back. "No, just...just take me home to my apartment." Milo said gloomily as he looked down. "Okay." Mila said gently as she gave George her brother's address which George glady drove her to. Once they arrived, both Milo and Mila got out. Mila grabbed her suitcase full of extra clothes.

"George, take the next week off. I'll be staying with my brother." Mila said which caused both Milo and George to look at her in surprised. "Are you sure, Ms. Thatch?" George asked in surpise. "I'm positive George. You have done so much for me that you have more than earned your week off." Mila said as she took out a pale manilla envolope. "Here, this is for you and your family. There is 3 grand in it." Mila said with a smile which caused George to smile at her in return. "Thank you Ms. Thatch." George said as he drove off while still thanking her.

"Sis, you don't have to do this." Milo said gloomily. "I'm not doing this because I have to but because I want to." Mila said with a smile. Milo smiled back as they both walked into the building.

Within a dark apartment the front door opened reveling Milo and Mila soaked to the bone, not really noticing how much they were dripping onto the carpet.

"I'm home. Fluffy? Here sweetie." Milo called out as he kicked his shoes off hoping to just get out of his wet clothes and cuddle with his pet cat. Mila moved towards his living room, pausing to try and turn on the light, yet it did not. "What the heck?" She murmured and just as a flash of lightning went off the silhouette of a tall thin woman was seen.

"Milo James Thatch and Mila Elizabeth Thatch?" She asked turning to face them. Milo jumped in fright but quickly recovered and shoved Mila behind him, protecting her from this strange woman in his apartment.

"Wh-who are you?" Milo asked.

"How did you get in here?" Mila asked annoyed.

"I came down the chimney. Ho, ho, ho." She answered slipping a pale fur stole she had down her shoulders trying to look seductive. "My names Helga Sinclair. I'm here on behalf of my employer, who has a…intriguing proposition for you. Are you both interested?" She said the last slipping down a strap of her long form hugging gown. Milo stared at her and quickly looked her up and down. She had long golden blond hair, which was hidden in a beret type hat, and hazel eyes with a pair of plump lips, she appeared to be 5'9 and had fair skin but no-where near as fair or as beautiful as Mila. She was extremely attractive but not Milo's type of woman.

"Yo- your- your employer? Heh. Who's your employer?!" Milo asked already feeling the weight of this day settle into him. He doesn't want to deal with what the crazy girl was talking about and didn't want to end up being killed over false hope. She smirked at him and Mila and slowly strutted up to them until they had a foot of space separating them. Milo swallowed and backed up a few steps until he realized what he'd done and scowled standing his ground. This just caused her smirk to widen.

"His name is Mr. Whitmore."

Oh my! It sure looks like our favorite scholar can't catch a break huh? What will happen next? You'll just have to read to find out. So until next time my lovely Readers, READ AND REVIEW!