Gus Porter was a doctor on a mission. He knew it was impossible for things to be as they appeared in the seemingly idyllic city of Atlantis. Immortality seemed lovely at first glance. Especially since the Atlanteans seemed to have developed a form of immortality that inhibited aging and, almost certainly, the associated mental degeneration. But the cycle of life and death existed for a reason. More to the point, the lack of death did not mean a lack of suffering. Indeed, as Gus suspected, it most likely prolonged it indefinitely. People with dementia would be left living a torturous half-life without the release of the grave. People gravely injured beyond the ability of medicine to heal would remain in pain indefinitely. He could think of at least a dozen more examples off the top of his head.

If Queen Camila was to be persuaded to undo whatever had caused the immortality, it would be this suffering that would cause her to change her mind. And if it didn't, if she was that callous to the suffering of her people, then it was probably a good idea to get out of Atlantis as quickly as possible. Anyone who was that callous could be a dangerous foe.

A part of Gus was reluctant to interfere at all. After all, these were not his people. Not even his species, really. It was not his place to tell them how to live their lives. Surely if they really wanted things to change, they could have overthrown Queen Camila themselves long ago. But Gus wasn't planning on directly interfering at all. He just wanted to give the queen the full picture and allow her to make an informed decision. The decision would be hers and hers alone. No one would force her to do anything.

Gus had attracted Mrs. Pines' attention by offering his services as a doctor to various unsavory operators. What could he say? They paid more and Gus had college loans to pay off. He tried his best to avoid working for anyone particularly bad, but he could not deny that his hands weren't entirely unstained. But during his travels, he'd developed a nose for tracking down the criminal underground. Atlantis may have been a lost city and not even inhabited by humans, but people were people no matter where they went. Soon enough, he found a bar where the shadier denizens of the city drank.

He thought it would be difficult to persuade people to talk to him, but the exact opposite turned out to be true. He couldn't get people to shut up so he could get a word in edgewise. He supposed it probably shouldn't have been all that surprising, since he was the first stranger they'd met in thousands of years. But slowly, painstakingly, he was able to get people's trust and they pointed him to an underground clinic hidden in the sewers of the city.

Gus was expecting some grizzled person with tattoos and a penchant for violence to greet him when he knocked on the door of the clinic. Instead, a girl no older than Willow answered the door. She had a fishhook in her ear and she looked absolutely delighted to see him. "Hi, I'm Viney! And…oh my gosh, you're a human!"

"Yeah, I'm Gus Porter," Gus said, giving Viney a firm handshake. "I thought everyone would have heard about our expedition. We're from above. We came here because, well, everyone's heard of the legends of the lost city of Atlantis and we wanted to see if they were true. And, uh, I heard about your unique…situation…"

Viney's face turned grim. "You figured out that there's a dark side to it. You must be pretty smart. Most people don't ever put the pieces together. Certainly not the queen."

She led him inside and into a room where dozens of beds were situated. Everyone in the beds was severely, mortally wounded. When mortality was restored to the Atlanteans, they'd die immediately. For now, though, they were kept in an endless limbo of agony and pain. Their minds were assuredly gone. At least, Gus prayed they were. "This is horrible…has someone told the queen?"

"Camila doesn't hear anything that doesn't fit in her viewpoint," Viney said bitterly. "As far as she's concerned, Atlantis is a perfect deathless utopia and no one and nothing will convince her otherwise. You have to understand, this didn't just happen by accident. We believe King Manny was responsible. We think he sacrificed himself – or maybe she sacrificed him to make it happen."

"I can't imagine the queen being the sort of person who would hurt her own husband."

"Yeah, you're probably right there," Viney conceded. "I was out of line. But the point is, Manny's death and the immortality are connected, and she probably thinks reversing it would make his death meaningless."

Gus nodded slowly. Things were starting to make a lot more sense lately. "What about the princesses? Do they know about this?"

"No?" Viney said, sounding baffled. "Why would they?"

"The queen may not want to listen to you, some commoner, but maybe she'd be persuaded if it came from her own children," Gus suggested. "They'd be able to give her perspective. I've seen her bend for the sake of Princess Luz. Maybe she'd do it again."

Viney shrugged. "It's not like we've got much to lose. It's worth a shot. But I gotta ask you something: What's your angle? Why do you care at all?"

"I'm a doctor like you, Viney," Gus explained. "I can't let people suffer without trying to help them. It's not how I'm built."

"Thank you," Viney whispered. "I grew up hearing stories of outsiders as savage beasts. But if they're like you, then they can't be all that bad." Gus gave a weak smile.

Princess Luz was ensconced in the royal palace, preparing for her date with Amity, but Gus was able to track down Princess Vee. It took her a while to persuade her to go to the clinic. A long while. Vee seemed to be concerned she was being lured into a trap. But Gus was nothing if not stubborn and he finally managed to get her to come around. Once Vee went to the clinic and saw the eternally suffering people there, she was absolutely horrified.

"I didn't know!" she squeaked, shying away from everyone's gazes like she was expecting to be hit. "No one told me! I had no idea! Oh, Kronos, what have I done? All these years, I've just been merrily going along my merry way while my mother was responsible for all this suffering!"

"This is not your fault, Vee," Viney said firmly. "And we can't say for sure it was your mother's either. We don't know the full story. But you need to persuade her to put an end to this. It's the right thing to do."

Vee looked over at Gus. "Will you help me? I'm scared to do it alone."

"Absolutely, Vee. We'll all help. We're going to fix this. I promise."

Amity was a dignified, refined individual. She was the utmost in composed and classy and calm and cool. Pois and careful stoicism were her watchwords, her guiding lights. There were no circumstances, she had long believed, under which she would ever lower herself to react in the same emotionally driven manner as other people. Especially not matters of the heart.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE A DATE WITH LUZ NOCEDA!" Amity screamed to the heavens, flapping her arms shamelessly and running around in a circle in her apartment until she got dizzy and fell to the ground. After sheepishly getting off the ground, she started panicking. She had a date with a literal princess. Actual royalty! What made her think she had a chance with someone so amazing? She was probably just a fling Luz was having because she was exotic and a newcomer.

There was a knock on the door. "Mind if I come in?" Aunt Eda called out.

"Sure, but if you try to give me a hand, you're leaving through the window."

Aunt Eda cackled and entered the apartment. Much to Amity's surprise, she was all dressed up for a night on the town too. "You like?" she asked, posing theatrically. "Raine's taking me to the theater tonight. I'm not gonna understand a word anyone's saying, but as long as they're happy…"

"Ooh!" Amity said, clapping her hands in delight. "Am I gonna have a…whatever the nonbinary word for uncle is…soon?"

Aunt Eda scoffed, but there was something fake in her nonchalance. "Doesn't matter what the word is, cause we're just friends. Whatever romance there was between us, it went away a long time ago."

"Friends," Amity said flatly. "Sure. Anyway, I'm getting ready for my actual date tonight, but…I don't know. I feel so inadequate."

Aunt Eda gave an evil grin and Amity suddenly regretted letting her into the room in the first place. "Well, I've got just the ticket for that. Stan's got this great-niece…"

"Wait, what? I have more family? Why didn't you tell me this?"

"And she taught me all about how to do makeovers," Aunt Eda continued, somehow managing to convey that there would be no further discussion of Amity's mysterious new family members. "I'm gonna have you looking amazing in no time!"

To Amity's considerable shock, Aunt Eda lived up to her promise. The two of them went shopping for a whole new wardrobe for her and had Amity's hair done up in a salon in classic Atlantean style. Amity had never looked or felt so good in her entire life.

"Oh, honey, you look amazing," Aunt Eda said as she led Amity over to the royal palace. "That princess is gonna fall head over heels. I'm so sorry we lost so much time. I never should have let my stupid pride get in the way."

"I don't want to waste time in guilt, Aunt Eda," Amity said. "I want to savor each and every moment I have left with you. Now you have a great evening with your totally not partner." Aunt Eda glared at her, unable to keep a blush off her cheeks at the thought of Raine. After giving a rude gesture, and then an affectionate smile, she walked off.

Amity paced around nervously outside the gates of the palace. Luz was supposed to meet her there. Just when her paranoid thoughts had caused her to start to worry Luz had stood her up, that she was just playing a trick on the human stupid enough to become infatuated with her, she heard a thud as Luz fell to the ground. She had tried to scale the walls outside the palace and then jump over to Amity, but hadn't stuck the landing.

"You could have gotten through the front gate, couldn't you?" Amity said.

"Yeah, but…I thought it'd look cooler if I did it this way," Luz said, her face red with embarrassment. She looked Amity in the eyes bashfully. "You look really pretty."

Amity let out an undignified squeak. "So do you!" she finally managed to get out. "Oh, wow, I didn't even think you were going to show up."

"Sorry!" Luz said with a wince. "I lose track of time sometimes."

"Well, it doesn't matter! You're here now. Let's make this an evening we'll never forget!"

Luz did her level best to live up to that promise. She took Amity out to dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town. It took all of Amity's self-control to make it look like she was enthusiastic about eating something that was still eating (though she drew the line at the "fairy pie" Luz wanted to have for dessert; fortunately, Luz bought the fib that Amity was full). Then they went to the theater themselves; the same showing Raine and Aunt Eda were attending, as it happened.

No matter how much Eda protested otherwise, the two of them were almost certainly on a date. If it walked like a date and it quacked like a date, it was definitely a date. And to Amity's glee, it looked like the two of them were getting along swimmingly. Even if Aunt Eda did embarrass Amity to no end with winks and knowing looks.

As for the actual play itself, Amity didn't understand a word of it, because it was in what seemed to be an obscure dialect of ancient Greek, no doubt the original Atlantean language. But even if she'd been entirely fluent, the fact that Luz was holding Amity's hand the whole time would have left her completely unable to parse a single word that was being said. Amity was falling and she was falling fast. She'd be absolutely devastated when she had to leave in a week. She just hoped desperately they could talk some sense into the queen. Amity would be happy to stay and never return to the surface, if only it meant she could be with Luz.

"So how did I do?" Luz said, bouncing on her feet eagerly as they left the theater. "I haven't been on a date in an almost literal eternity. The guys and gals here are so shallow. Everyone thinks I'm a weirdo."

"I'd think some people might be able to put that aside to date the princess."

Luz shrugged. "Not really much point. I'm never gonna be queen, so why bother? Everyone hates me here. I'm just the Luzer to them."

"Not to me," Amity said ardently. Before anyone, least of all her panicking mind, could stop her, she had her lips pressed against Luz's lips. She could have sworn she felt stars form behind her eyes. "Was that too much?"

"Not enough!" Luz said immediately. Amity leaned in to kiss her again, but Luz pushed her away very gently. "Sorry, not now. I'd love to, but I can't afford to get distracted again. There's things I have to show you."

Luz led Amity over to what appeared to be some sort of garage, looking around her frantically to see if anyone was watching. "When we lost our magic, we lost a lot more than that. Magic was the way our civilization operated. Those great mechanical wonders in that journal of yours, they really could only be activated by magic. I was wondering if you had some insight about how to make it work without magic."

Amity's eyes lit up when she saw what was before her. She was looking at what appeared to be a mechanical, metallic pegasus. It was inert, but Amity imagined that when it was active, it would serve as both the equivalent of an aircraft and a car. Amity could only imagine what the surface realm would be like if it had access to such technology.

Amity stared at the device, looking at it extremely carefully. She had no memories of her father, but Steve had been gifted with mechanical devices and Amity had inherited that passion. A hunger was forming in her to know how this craft worked, to make it work to her desires. And, of course, to impress her beautiful date so much that maybe, just maybe, she'd say yes if she wanted to be her girlfriend.

Then, before her very eyes, something extremely strange happened. A design, glowing a golden fire, appeared in the air, shimmering in an almost mesmerizing pattern. It was quite unlike anything Amity had ever seen before. It reminded her of Norse runes slightly. A few seconds later, it was gone. Luz appeared to not notice its presence at all. Acting purely on instinct, she traced the design on the dashboard of the craft and then it revved to life.

Luz let out a shriek of delight. "OH MY TITAN!" she screamed so loud Amity was surprised she didn't rattle the very walls. "You did it! You are the best person ever!"

Amity posed seductively and then promptly ruined it by losing her balance and falling to the ground. "Uh, yeah…let's just pretend that didn't happen. So…am I good enough to be your girlfriend?"

"Amity, if it were biologically possible, I'd want to have your babies right now!" Luz said. Amity's vision faded a little as she came close to fainting. "Yeah, I'd love to be your girlfriend! I can't believe you finally did it! But…but how?"

Amity told her all about the glyph that had suddenly appeared before her. Luz looked completely in awe. "Wow…" she whispered. "It can only be a blessing from Kronos. He wants things to change. That must be why he brought you here. When Mami finds out, she'll fix everything! I know it!"

Luz walked over to the workbench and rummaged through the drawers and then brought out two swimsuits, neither of which looked like they covered so much. "Well, I warned you we'd be swimming, so put on the suit, and there'll be one more stop on our journey."

Much to Amity's relief (and, simultaneously, faint disappointment), Luz hid behind a curtain as Amity changed into her swimsuit and then reversed the process when it was Luz's turn. Amity did her best to try to avoid looking at Luz, because her heart beat so fast it assuredly was not healthy whenever she caught a glimpse of her girlfriend showing so much skin. She'd have to ease her way into such things, she decided. Better not jump into the deep end right away.

"I hope you really can swim, cause we're jumping into the deep end!" Luz announced when they reached their destination, what appeared to be a long abandoned temple with a pond in the center of it on the outskirts of the city. "I found this place ninety years ago, but I haven't figured out how to get past…well, you'll see soon enough." She gave Amity a pill that, according to her, would allow her to breathe underwater for a limited amount of time, and the two of them quickly dived into the pool.

The pond appeared to be a lot deeper than it looked at first glance. Amity and Luz swam down and Amity could see ruins buried deep beneath the surface. One of them had a door that looked to be made of near solid, unbreakable metal with absolutely no way of opening it. Amity's first idea was to grab Hunter and bring him down there to deal with it, but she wasn't even sure Hunter's vaunted arsenal would be enough to deal with the door. And then it happened again. Another glyph, different from the one she'd used to activate the craft, appeared before her.

Amity traced the glyph on the door and stood back, acting on some intuition she could barely describe. Seconds later, fire blasted through the door. Amity wasn't sure how given that they were underwater, but she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Inside was what appeared to be some sort of a temple. It was one of the most elaborate Amity had ever heard of, certainly the most elaborate one she'd ever seen. But Amity barely noticed the elaborate frescos and vibrant colors of the temple. Her attention was fully drawn to the pulsating, purple heart beating above the altar, floating in the air apparently of its own power. It must have belonged to a giant back in the day.

Luz frantically gestured upwards. Amity had no problem with following her back to the surface. The heart was really freaking her out. "Oh, man, this is so not good. If Mami finds out I was there, I'm so screwed!"

"I don't understand," Amity said. "What was that?"

"That was the heart of the Titan," Luz said, reverential awe filling her voice. "The heart of Kronos himself. I never thought it was real. I thought it was just a metaphor! We shouldn't have been there. We committed blasphemy against Lord Kronos just by looking at it!"

"Uh, but did we? I mean, I found the glyph. Why would it have been shown to me otherwise? Doesn't that mean Kronos wants us down there?"

Luz squirmed, looking deeply uncomfortable. "I don't know. I have to think about this."

"Let me escort you home," Amity suggested. "I'd feel more comfortable if I knew you got there safe."

It took a while for them to get back to the palace because Luz kept on interrupting their journey to make out with Amity, who gleefully acquiesced to the delays. But eventually, they finally reached their destination. As soon as they got into the palace, Vee walked up to Amity, looking frazzled and nervous. She explained what Gus had shown her that morning, how there were people who had been condemned to a hell without end because of Queen Camila's decision to make Atlantis immortal.

"You have to help me persuade her to fix things," Vee begged. "She won't listen to me alone."

"Oh, Vee, can't this wait until tomorrow?" Luz said. "I was thinking about inviting Amity upstairs to see my bedroom…" Amity was proud of herself. She only gave an indelicate squeak instead of fainting outright.

"Sure, let's just have all those people be suffering for another day, just cause you wanna hook up with the human," Vee said sarcastically. "Great plan, Luz!"

Amity glared at her. "Hey! Don't talk to her like that! This isn't her fault!"

Vee tried to take a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry. I just…you don't understand how horrifying it was. All this time, and I had no clue."

Luz hooked her arm around Amity's. "Well, if I'm going to have the hardest conversation I've ever had to have with Mami, I want my girlfriend beside me." Vee grinned and gave a thumb's up to her.

Amity's heart was racing a million miles an hour as the three of them walked over to the throne room. Luz and Vee may have been immortal, but she definitely wasn't, and she'd already broken into the most sacred space in Atlantis that evening. If Queen Camila found out, she was a dead woman walking. No, everything would be fine, she kept trying to tell herself. She'd just be there to provide moral support to Luz, that was all. Heck, if everything went well, she probably wouldn't have to utter a single word. They'd be able to handle things in a reasonable, rational manner with no drama whatsoever.

"Camila Noceda, in the name of Lord Kronos, I am removing you from your throne and placing you under arrest," Luz announced as soon as they walked into the room. Amity immediately did a face palm. Of course her girlfriend would go into the situation in the most ill-conceived way possible.

"This was not the plan, Luz!" Amity hissed.

Luz blinked at her. "Wait, there was a plan?" Okay, fair.

"Mami, we've discovered evidence that you've sentenced innocent citizenry to constant pain and suffering by denying them the gift of death," Vee said in a much gentle tone than her sister. "I've seen it with my own eyes."

Queen Camila stared at her, uncomprehendingly. "This is not a funny joke, mija. There is a time and a place for such pranks and this is neither."

"It's not a prank!" Luz shouted. "If Vee says it's true, then it's true!"

"The outsiders have been spreading lies," Queen Camila said. "It is not enough for them to spread their disease of war and death across the surface realm. No, they seek to bring it to our paradise beneath the waves. They are motivated by spite and envy."

"That's not true!" Amity shouted. "We all mean well! Well, everyone except Odalia, but she's the exception who proves the rule!"

Luz stepped forward. Amity could see the fear in her eyes despite her boldness. She was afraid of what her mother would do when she learned the truth of what they'd discovered. But she was proceeding onward anyway. Amity was so proud. "Mami, tonight, Lord Kronos gifted Amity with a way to access the magic that was once our birthright. Vee, give Amity some paper."

Vee left the room briefly and returned with a pad of paper and a pencil. Amity drew the first glyph on the paper and tapped it and a circle of light appeared in the air. It floated into the air and Amity watched it, utterly entranced. She was wielding real, true magic.

"It…it's just like the ancient texts said," Queen Camila whispered. "It's true. Kronos blessed you. But why?"

"Because he knows it's time to put this era to an end," Luz said gently but firmly. "It's time to return to a mortal existence. We will have our magic returned to us and with Amity's help, we'll take our place among the nations of man once more."

Queen Camila was silent for a while. She turned around, and when she turned back, a single tear was sliding down her cheek. "You…don't understand what you're asking. Everyone here will die!"

"But before they do, they'll live," Amity said. "I understand what it's like to grieve. I do. I lost my mother. She was taken away from me before her time. But all things eventually end. It's just the way of things. This will be painful, but it has to be done."

Queen Camila nodded and Amity couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "I suppose it was inevitable this would happen," she said. "Luz, Vee, thank you. And thank you too, Amity. You let me see the truth. I've been lying to myself for far, far too long. All right, let's get moving. We have to go to a pristine, unsullied temple where the Heart of Kronos lies."

"Yep, totally unsullied," Luz said, biting her fingernails nervously. "Never been touched."

Queen Camila opened the doors to the throne room and Odalia was on the other side. She drew a pistol and pointed it at Queen Camila's head. She was flanked by at least a dozen of her mercenaries, all armed with rifles. "That sounds like a lovely plan, Your Majesty," Odalia purred. "Would you care for some company?"