10,000 Leagues Under the Sea

"Steph," Stephanie Malone looked up from her computer screen where she had been busily writing out her speech for her class, a speech about whether or not Atlantis was in fact a real place. Stephanie had done this speech for several different schools, it was what she did as a job. Alerting the world that Atlantis wasn't just a mythical civilization that only belonged in books it was in fact hidden somewhere off the coast of Santorini, Greece. "Steph, there's a phone call for you," the male voice came again. Getting to her feet she walked out of her room finding her friend Jacob standing beside the counter holding their chord-less phone out to her.
"Thanks Jacob." she smiled taking the device.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie Malone," came a female voice on the other side of the line.

"This is she."

"This is Rose Thorn, I am inquiring as to whether or not this is the Stephanie Malone who has spent the past four years sharing information to audiences all over the world about the Lost City Atlantis?"

"This is," Stephanie spoke hesitantly not sure where this Rose Thorn was going with this. Unfortunately the brunette didn't get an answer all she was left with was a dial tone ringing in her ear. Pulling the device from her ear confused she placed it back on the charger.

"So who was that?" Jacob asked curiously.

"A Rose Thorn?"

"What did she want?" the dark haired male asked noticing his friends confused look.

"I have no idea."

"Weird." Stephanie nodded her head before heaving a sigh, "How's the speech going?"

"Nearly finished then I can finally eat!" the brunette stated earning a laugh from her friend. "I'll be out in a sec then we can go grab a bite to eat." The raven haired male nodded his head smiling warmly at Stephanie.

"Alright," with that Stephanie turned and walked back into her room.

Chloe was standing at the small wooden stall that she used to sell at the local market, this day fruits and vegetables were covering the table top along with a few different pieces of jewelry that she loves to make because it gave her something to do. Her friend Drakon had built the table for her and supplied her with the food to sell, of course they split any money that they make.

"You aren't a very good saleswomen, blondie" The deep voice of Drakon sounded from behind her, turning her head she looked at her dear friend from over her shoulder. Blondie had been his nickname for her since they were little children, he just couldn't say Chloe as a young child.

"I'm not going to start yelling at people, that will only drive them away. Besides I'm not a cocky, loud mouth like you" She said smiling at the blonde young man, they had been friends since they were in diapers and have been through a lot together.

"Someone has to be outgoing, nothing would get done if I wasn't" A cheeky grin formed across his face as he stepped out in front of the table, "COME ONE, COME ALL. BUY FRESH, DELICIOUS FRUIT AND VEGETABLES HERE!" He shouted out at the people passing by.

"Oh my gosh" Chloe murmured shaking her head in slight embarrassment at what her friend was doing, she was much more quiet though she was used to everything that Drakon did.

Stephanie finished up her speech that ended up being five and a half pages long, one of her longer speeches as she was performing it in front of a heap of history and science professors. Saving her work she got up from her spinning seat stretching out her cramped body listening to her joints crack. Moving her glasses off of her face she rubbed her eyes and smiled at what she had accomplished today. Exiting out of her room she walked into the Lounge room where her closest friend Jacob Watson sat watching a documentary about the animal kingdom. "Watson," she began quoting Conan Doyle's famous character,sitting on the long seat beside him draping her legs over his, "What's for dinner," she smiled at the way he rolled his eyes and looked at her.

"I decided last night, it's your turn Malone," he pointed out grabbing the remote and changing the channel. Stephanie groaned. She hated having to pick tea, she was the most indecisive person when it came to food.

"Pizza?" she suggested mainly because she was mentally too drained to even think about cooking for the two of them. Jacob nodded his head in agreement.

"Sure sounds good." nodding her head she got to her feet grabbing the phone punching in the numbers before ordering two large pizzas, one pepperoni and the other Hawaiian. The two sat in silence half-heartedly watching the trash that was on the television screen in front of them.

Drakon couldn't stop the cocky smile that formed on his face when he noticed a few more people heading over to the stall, "And what were you saying? It wasn't going to work?" He said smugly as he started helping Chloe with the new customers, this would probably be one of the last times she'd be working in the market.

I was fairly common to have the Royals set up an arranged marriage, especially for the males and Chloe had been chosen to marry the new King. She wouldn't need to sell items at the market once the wedding was over, in fact she didn't need to be there still however she did enjoy it.

"It's going to be so boring without you here, Blondie" He murmured softly to his best friend, knowing her though she'd still make her way to the market and everywhere else they went together.

"Nothing will change Drak, I'm not going to change just because I marry" Chloe told him however she wasn't truly sure what she'd be doing after she marries the King, she wasn't overly excited and she wasn't upset this was happening. She wasn't fully sure how to feel yet.

"Everything will change" Drakon told her in a serious tone that he hardly ever used, especially with Chloe. He secretly didn't want her to marry the new King, he didn't want to lose his best friend which would happen once she was Queen. But he loved how native she was, she saw and thought the best in every single person.

Stephanie had just finished the last slice of pizza when there was a harsh knock at her front door. Looking at Jacob who had a puzzled look on his face she got to her feet walking over to the door, looking into the peep hole she saw a woman dressed in a perfectly pressed outfit that consisted of a pencil skirt, a white button up shirt and a black blazer. Around her were two mean, burly men dressed in black suits and sunglasses covering their eyes even though it was eight at night.

"Can I help you?" the brunette asked from behind the wooden door.

"Miss Malone?" the woman spoke looked straight into the peep hole.

"Yeah?"

"I'm Rose Thorn I am here to talk to you about a preposition." the woman declared a shadow of a smile spreading across her harsh features. Slowly Steph pulled the door open, Rose Thorn and her bodyguards walked in silently.

Rose Thorn entered through the front door, her eyes quickly wandered around which was a habit of her's now. "It's nice to meet you Miss Malone, is there somewhere we could talk?" She asked seeing that the brunette woman had company, her preposition was a secret one that random people couldn't know about. Her raven hair was pulled up into a sleek bun that rested on the back of her head, once Stephanie had taken her into a separate room Rose needed to ask her question.

"I have read and heard the research that you've done about Atlantis, many people think it's a myth but there are a select few that know another wise. Including you Miss Malone" Rose begun needing to word her request the right way, she needed Stephanie on the team.

"I have a way that research can be worth it for you, there is a team starting to form. I want you to be on this team, you will be finding the lost country of Atlantis" She told the younger woman knowing this preposition would come as a shock to her, so she kept her mouth shut to give Stephanie time to process what was being asked of her.

Stephanie nodded her head, walking into her bedroom, slowly processing what the woman had just said. Exploring for Atlantis had been something she had wanted to do since a child, however now that the opportunity had risen she was hesitant. "You said country, it's actually 'city'." the brown haired woman corrected the older woman, "Ma'am," she quickly put on the end hoping not to anger the woman.

"Oh, my apologies, Miss Malone," the woman smiled as she awaited Stephanie's answer. Stephanie looked at the woman, she had to have been in her mid-thirties, she had shinny blonde hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail, her make up was professional and strictly business like.

"I will join your crew..." Stephanie began, "On one condition, My roommate and best friend Jacob Watson can join, he is an engineer and can help with vehicles or any other sort transport that may break down." Rose looked at the woman thinking over her condition.

"Very well he may assist." she agreed nodding her head. "very well Miss Malone, we have a meeting in Sydney in a weeks time where you shall meet your crew and you will give them information that they will need to find this lost City." with that the woman rose from her seat on the bed turning and walking out of the room. Stephanie followed behind her bidding her goodbye and watching as the body guards followed after her.

"So what was that about?" Jacob asked

"Pack your bags Watson, you're coming to Atlantis with me."

Once Chloe had sold all the fruits and vegetables that she had she watched Drakon take the stall down for her, she had always been curious about the world outside of the dome the city was covered by. It was something that Drakon often teased her about, he had never thought about leaving Atlantis or even trying because the city was his home and always has been.

He didn't feel the need to explore as he was happy where he was, he was happy with the life he had. "Stop Chloe, thinking about something that will never happen will only upset you" He said noticing the far away look in her eyes.

"Why? We could go exploring, there has to be someway to get out of here. We could be the first ones" However Chloe was happy saying that, though she wouldn't be brave enough to actually go through with her words. She knew she was safe in the city she was born into, there was mostly peace among the people and it was a nice life.

But there could easily be more to the world than the dome that they lived under, she sighed heavily knowing once she was married there wouldn't be any exploring to be done. She'd be needed to start a family and help rule along side her husband and King.

"Atlantis?" Jacob was surprised by his friends declaration, "Are you serious?" Stephanie nodded her head a laugh breaking from her lips due to her excitement, running over to the dark haired male she jumped into his arms.

"We're going there, we are actually going there, with a crew and all. You and I will be one of the first to discover the lost city of Atlantis," she pulled away her glasses were sliding down her nose, quickly she pushed them back before words tumbled from her lips. "Can you imagine what it will look like, a whole city underneath the ocean, imagine the people we may find.... Oh I am so excited Jacob... I have to pack," quickly she ran to her room grabbing her biggest bag and throwing open her wardrobe.

~

"Prince Neleus," the brown haired prince looked up at his advisor, Zosimos, he was an an older man with white hair and a frail looking body, however he was agile and quick. He was the advisor of Neleus' parents before they died, and now he was his. "Pay attention."

Neleus rolled his eyes but looked at the old man that had been speaking about stuff he didn't care for. "I'm listening Zosimos," he sighed earning a glare from the older man.

"Your highness it is one more day before your wedding, before your coronation. Please pay attention." half-heartedly the young royal nodded his head as Zosimos continued his speech about the wedding and the coronation making him one of the four kings of Atlantis.

Vasilios walked out of women's house with a smug smirk on his face, she had given him exactly what he wanted and it didn't even take him much charming to get into her bed. It was only making his ego bigger because he knew he could woo whoever he wanted, however he never once thought it had anything to do with him being King.

He walked through the streets towards his castle so he could bathe and get himself ready for the day, he was proud as people glanced in his direction. He wasn't going to hide the fact about where he had stayed the night, or what had gone on because he liked people knowing.

It made him feel stronger and more powerful, which is what he wanted. He could have easily spent the night with one of his wives, but that was different. He wouldn't get the same reaction from the people of Atlantis, he wanted to shock them constantly.

-

"Do you really think the highness, future King Neleus would approve of this? No he wouldn't because he's going to marry you and than turn you into a baby making machine" Drakon said using a high pitched proper voice for when he spoke about the future King, it was obvious he didn't like any of the Kings or royals because they all thought of themselves as greater than everyone else.

"It won't be that bad, we'll still be able to see each other Drak. I'll ask for you to visit the castle" Chloe told him although she doubted that her friend would ever step a foot inside any of the castles, there were people who admired the Kings and royals and who listened to their every word. But there were also people like Drakon who couldn't give a shit about them, Chloe wasn't either of them.

She listened to the Kings because that's what she had been raised to do, but she didn't love nor hate them. They were only normal people in her eyes, who had been lucky enough to be born into a royal family.

"What do i take?" Jacob asked as he walked up to Stephanie's room leaning against the door frame as he watched her animatedly packing her bags. "What are you taking, your whole wardrobe?"

"No. I just not sure what the whether will be like? If it will be hot of cold... so I am just giving myself options." she stated as she flung a pair of jeans into her bag.

"Right, are you taking your laptop?"

"Maybe... probably... yes," Jacob laughed before turning and walking to his room where he grabbed a bag and looked at his wardrobe, he seriously needed to do some washing.

~

Once Neleus was done with his lessons he walked out of the throne room, out of the castle and into the street, he wanted to enjoy his freedom as much as he could before he was to marry. Neleus had never met Chloe so he was afraid of what she may act like and what she may look like. What is she was cruel? What if she was ugly? The questions echoed in his mind but he quickly shook them away as he walked through the market that was starting to close as it was almost night.

Neleus enjoyed walking through the city enjoying the delicacies that enriched Atlantis, and there were of course the women. He was walking through the town when he spied two people playfully arguing, one was a male, strong in looks with a head of blonde hair, the other was a woman, very feminine in her looks and figure, she had long flowing brown hair. Slowly he walked over to their stall looking down at the small trinkets that decorated the table.

Slowly he lifted up a single thread of shells, "How much is this?" he asked kindly awaiting his answer.

Reaching his castle Vasilios cleaned himself up before changing into clean fresh clothes, making his way downstairs to the large over the top dining room where his dinner would be served along with his wives and children. He wasn't interested in marrying anymore women though he did love all of his children equally, he could be a jerk and be cruel but his children meant more to him than anything.

He only married beautiful women so he wouldn't grow tired of looking at them and his children would also be beautiful, after all they were part of him and he was pretty much perfect. He took a seat in his chair that was at the head of the long dark wooden table, as King he didn't have to do much other than mainly keep his part of the city in order.

Which worked well for him as most people were scared of him or just knew to listen to him, he could easily make a person's life a living hell and had done so a few times already.

-

Chloe rolled her dark eyes at Drakon as she turned to answer the person, a smile already on her face until her eyes landed on who was there standing in front of her. It was Neleus and although she had never met him before, she still knew what he looked like. Suddenly she couldn't think or speak because she'd never been this close to her future husband, she was nervous.

Drakon couldn't help but be amused at Chloe's loss of words, a small smirk formed on his face as he answered the royal. Only he made the price higher, not too high so Neleus would catch onto the price but enough so he'd get more money than usual.

"Will you take it? She makes it all herself" He grinned giving Chloe a little nudge with his elbow, she'd have something to say about the price later. "Yes I do but for you sir, it will be free" She said not wanting her husband to dislike her just because Drakon wanted to get more money out of the royal.

Neleus smiled accepting the string of shells, "Thank you..." he trailed off waiting for the brunette to give him her name. She was stunning, with her cascading, waves of brown hair, her sun kissed skin that even Apollo himself would have marveled at. her eyes were the darkest blue he had ever seen, like the depths of the ocean itself, it was easy for the young royal to get lost in their beauty. This young woman radiated beauty, beauty fit for a King. Neleus knew then that if he could have anyone he would choose her. Not only was she beautiful but there seemed to be more than meets the eye with her.

~

Stephaine was still deciding what to pack, she had narrowed it down to a decent sized mound of clothes sitting on the foot of her bed while the rest was strewn across the floor. Biting her bottom lip she looked at the size of her bag and the size of her pile knowing with certainty that she wasn't going to be able to fit everything in.

"Still packing are we?" the brown haired girl looked up when she heard Jacob's voice in the doorway, sighing she nodded her head. The raven haired male laughed, "Why don't you just take a few shirts, a pair of shorts, a skirt, one or two pairs of pants, two pairs of shoes and maybe a dress. I am sure they will have clothes there, they are a civilization that have been around for how long?"

"Thousands of years, but what if they just walk around stark naked, then what?"

"Then you'll be over dressed at every meeting," Jacob joked earning a groan from the brown haired woman.

"Fine I'll do what you say." Stephanie gave in and began to sift through the pile on her bed picking out a few items of clothing to pack.

Chloe's attention was fully focused on Neleus, Drakon could have been yelling her name over and over though she still wouldn't have heard him. Her dark blue stayed focused on the young King that was standing in front of her, she felt like pinching herself to be sure this was really happening.

However that would than make her seem like she was crazy, she wanted her first meeting with the King to be a good one so he wanted to marry her.

"I'm Chloe" She told him not sure if he had been told her name or not, or if there were even more women with her name. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir" She said not knowing if she should bow or anything, this was the first time that she had come face to face with a royal and she was nervous.

-

Drakon rolled his light blue eyes at how Chloe was acting, before she had been arranged to marry the King they both often made fun of all the royals including Neleus. But now it seemed like she had forgotten about all of that now that he was standing there, though he hadn't and he wasn't going to change himself or how he acted just because Neleus was a King.

He wouldn't change himself for anyone, Chloe knew that which meant she'd never get him into the castle. Of course unless there was a feast of food there for him, because food made everything better.

Neleus smiled at the young woman, "No my lady, the pleasure is all mine... Now if you will excuse me." with that he turned and walked off clasping the trinket in his hand as he walked back to his castle. As he walked he watched as the sun slowly dipped behind the horizon turning the sky to a violet before fading to a dark blue. Tomorrow Neleus was to be married but he would always have the trinket to remember Chloe by, if she wasn't the one to be her bride.

~

Stephanie had finished packing her bags, she had her notes and work all packed in another ready for her trip. Removing her glasses she fell onto her bed sighing as her eyes drifted closed and sleep overtook her. Dreams of the lost city danced behind her closed eyes.

FF

Drakon had been in the town center when he heard the news, he ran through the streets all the way to Chloe's house. He didn't bother knocking on the front door as he just ran straight on in, scaring Chloe on the way inside her home. "I'm sorry Chlo, the wedding isn't going to be happening. Not today at least" He looked at his best friend, he was furious with King Neleus now even more so then he was when he had planned the wedding.

Looking at the confusion and hurt on her face he continued, "People are here. People from the outside, they arrived somehow" He explained grabbing her small hand before he dragged her along with him back into the town center, this was the most excitement that Atlantis has ever had.

-

Chloe was still confused over what she had just been told, thankfully she hadn't began to get ready for her wedding. She was hurt that a group of strangers were causing her wedding to be postponed until who knows when, she was nervous of course but the idea had grown on her and she had gotten excited about being married to King Neleus.

Reaching the town center there wasn't anything that she could actually see, it was like the whole town had gathered around and she wasn't taller enough to see over the sea of local people. Her grip tightened on Drakon's hand as he started to push his way through the crowd of people with her following behind him.

Neleus had been alerted to new people arriving in Atlantis. Quickly he dressed and hurried down to the center of the city only to see that there was already a sea of people crowding the new people. He moved forward each person stepping out of his path to let him through. It wasn't long before the royal was standing before the small group of people. All of them were in awe as they drank in their surroundings.

"Your highness, these people, they don't speak the native tongue," Neleus turned and saw that there was a young soldier standing next to him, "They speak English." he clarified using the city's native tongue as to keep his knowledge from the outsiders hearing.

Neleus nodded his head at the young man, turning his attention back to the group he spoke in English as well as he could. "Welcome to Atlantis."

~

Stephanie was glad to be on dry land again after what they had been through, they had faced the kraken, or at least that's what she called it. A large robotic animal that lurked around the depths of the ocean. They had lost many men after the attack. The only people left that Stephanie knew were Jacob, Rose her right hand man Luke, the mechanic; Angela, their cook: Cricket, the doctor: Jesse, then there was the bombs expert Pyro, Stephanie didn't know his real name but everyone called him Pyro. and a few other men and women that Stephanie didn't know the name of.

The team had been making their way through a large cave they had discovered after their attack, it was a cave above land, thousands of leagues under the sea. She hadn't read about it but it made sense. They had been going through when they had been surrounded by strange men that had forced them out of their vehicles and made them walk. None of them spoke english, Stephanie had tried to speak greek but none of it had worked.

And now here they were, they were standing in what Stephanie could only describe as Atlantis. "I told you it was real," she pointed out shouldering her friend. A chuckle left his lips as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder.

"You sure did Steph," he smiled. She looked at the man who stood before them, he was handsome man and he could speak English, he welcomed them to Atlantis which Miss Thorn thanked him for. The crowd parted another three times so there were four men regally dressed surrounding the explorers.

"The four Kings of Atlantis," Stephanie said.

As soon as Vasilios had heard about the strangers, he was instantly making his way over to where the crowd had formed. Glancing at the three other Kings, he took a step forward his eyes focused on the strangers. Mainly the beautiful brunette who had black rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.

He didn't know much English but hopefully what he did know would be enough, "Why are you here?" He asked not knowing if these strangers had a King among them or someone in charge, so he simply just asked the question to the whole group so at least someone would answer him.

He would need to talk with the other three Kings to see what they should do with the strangers, no one wanted more of them to arrive in their city because everything was fine without people arriving from somewhere else in the world.

He also didn't know how dangerous or if these people were going to be a threat to Atlantis, if they were than he wouldn't think twice about taking things into his own hands and letting the soldiers go after them.

-

Chloe stayed close to Drakon as they reached the front of the crowd, her deep blue eyes widened when she saw the group of strangers that had entered the city. She has never seen this happen before in her life, she wasn't sure if anyone actually knew how to enter Atlantis.

Everyone including Chloe was waiting for these strangers to answer King Vasilios, she placed her hand onto Drakon's arm just in case anything turned sour. However she knew that Drakon would make sure that nothing happened to her, "This isn't going to be good" He murmured to her though even if he had yelled it out, no one would pay any attention to him.

All eyes were on this group of strangers and she hoped that the Kings wouldn't decide to punish them for coming to the city.

Rose Thorn stepped forward unfortunately she wasn't sure which one to answer, she was unsure whether to thank the younger King for the welcome to Atlantis or the other King about why they were here. Instead she gripped Stephanie and pulled her in front of her. A squeak left the young woman's lips when she was pushed forward to speak. Turning her head she looked at the younger King that had spoken first thinking it only normal to thank him for his welcome to Atlantis.

"Thank you your Highness," she curtsied to the best of her ability, it was a little shaky but that's all she could do. It wasn't every day she met a King. "For your welcome to your home." she was relieved when she received a smile from the brown haired royal. Stephanie turned her attention to the other King that had spoken.

"Your Highness we simply come to Atlantis to see the wonders that enrich it, we mean no harm to your beautiful city, simply to bask in the beauty of it." Stephanie said, inside she was terrified of what may happen to her and her crew but she prayed that they would be merciful.

~

Neleus listened to the young woman, he couldn't help but smile at her innocence. From her words he knew she was telling the truth her and her people meant their home no harm, they simply wished to see the beauty that was Atlantis and he saw no problem with that, however it depends on what the other three Kings had to say about this intrusion. Neleus however was a little annoyed as it was his wedding day and coronation.