Gem of the Deep

Chapter 9

Destiny Fofilled

DISCLAIMER: Mummies Alive! is the property and trademark of Dic Inc. and the producers of that show. This page is intended for entertainment purposes only, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Disclaimer: TITANIC is a Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Lightstorm Production. Basically, anything that's in the movie isn't mine, and a copyright infringement is not intended.

Thanx again to Mia, who's allowing me to use her character Lyris in this story, and to Sekhmet, who's allowed me to use her character Joari.

1 1/2 Hours Previous...

Even minutes after the Titanic had gone down, time seemed to stand still for everyone waiting around, trapped together in the lifeboats like sardines in a can. Many of the boats were still half empty, others were nearly filled to full capacity. Yet, through it all, it gave little comfort to anyone having to watch as fifteen hundred souls went down with the ship they had called " unsinkable".
Unable to turn away, Joscerine still transfixed on the last area that she has seen the mighty ship, before it fell below them and out of their lives forever. Nothing could have ever prepared her for this... not even the Captain's calls, everyone's assurance that the Titanic could never sink. She herself had thought that once, and she hated herself for it.
Behind her, the woman that had been screaming out for her husband lay silent, resting her head on a companion's shoulder to her right. Margaret had turned away from the chaos, and was sitting to herself, looking down at her black gloved hands in depression for those out on the water. Her mother, to the right of her hadn't said anything for many minutes, and instead was turned away from her daughter, looking out to the horizon of the sea in hopes that anything would come and save them from this bitter cold.
Joari closed her eyes tightly, letting two or three small tears roll down the sides of her cheeks. All over them now, loud screams, whails for help and prayers for mercy echoed in the dark of night, drumming into her ears and causing her to shake more violently. Not from the cold, but from primal fear itself.
She couldn't help but think that she could have helped somehow. The boat that they were in now was only past half full, there could have been plenty of room for others. Her father and her friends imperticular. He had continued to tell her that everything was going to be alright and that they would reunite after the cluttering and movement was over, and she had believed him. Now he was probably splashing around in the water like crazy, just simply trying to stay alive and topside.
And her friends... they had been right there! Right in front of her face, and she had let them get away from her. All she would have had to do was to grab onto Lyris's hand and pull her into the boat, Nefer-tina would have followed... something could have been done. As soon as she thought that thought, Joscerine's jaw began to quake, and she covered her face with her hands, feeling the freezing surfaces against her cheeks. If only she could have seen what was going to happen in the future, she wouldn't have been as leniant.
The cries continued into the night, the same way they always had. The same way they always would, for her.

***

The stern of the Titanic didn't create as great a suction as one would have thought. When the mighty ship broke in two, all twenty-nine boilers had gone down into the dark, deep ocean without the hull, So that later on, when the end of it in fact finally went down, there was very little pull for anyone still on or around it's final descent.
Once the giant stern splashed into the black waves, the small flagpole disappearing along with it, large ripples pulsated through the crowd, making some jump and causing others to leave their flotations and such to be carried underneath the water's surface. But there were always dozens of others ready to take their places in a moment's notice. The sea was just that crowded.
Holding onto the deckchair as hard as he could as the last and final ripple passed by him, Johnathan held his breath. The waves slammed against them both, pulling the young man down under the water for the second time that night. The chair still held it's buoyancy even with the added force from the water. He struggled to get above the ocean surface again, his lungs screaming for air, even if it was way below freezing temperature.
His head practically shot out of the water, and he breahted greatly for a good many minutes before the fuzzy world around him began to come back once more. All the yelling, the splashing about, some trying to find lost loved ones struggling to survive in the burning water.
Gripping the arms of the promenade chair, he was able to pull himself almost all the way out of the water, with only his legs from the knees down still submerged. The wet wood was making the chair slippery, so it was a trial in itself just holding onto it long enough, let alone without his hands going completely numb and cold on him.
Johnathan could still see where the great ship had gone down. The ship that everyone has said could never sink, and yet did so, on it's maiden voyage no less. The ship that his aunt had asked him to accompany his cousins on to America, the ship that had become a sinking death trap only hours beforehand.
It took all of his strength to simply stay aboard to floating wreckage, and even more to not just decide to let go so tha he would be out of his misery forever. The intense cold, the screaming victims and the blackness surrounding all of them was the very definition of Hell for him. It not only slowed down your body and numbed your senses, it crushed your spirits as well.
The jumping water never once quieted down. As long as there were those who still slapped against the ocean surface to try and save themselves, than there was always a current in that otherwise peaceful sea. John couldn't rest his head against the bottom of the chair, the bumping waves would make it a less than comfortable ride. So all he could do was just lie there, half on, half off, and wait...
It was about ready to drive him insane. Minutes after the sinking, the sea was starting to quiet down, the waves slowed and there was an eerie silence approaching them all. He couldn't stand the waiting. What were they waiting for? For the boats to come and get them? If the people who were inconsiderate enough to put only enough lifeboats for half the ship's population on Titanic were running the boats, than he didn't think he wanted to be saved.
Yet the water... it was so cold, it gripped him completely. It was even worse now, because he could barely feel anything and he knew that that was a bad sign. Johnathan gripped and loosened his hands on the promenade chair arms, a last attempt to keep them from going completely, and making him slide off of the miniature liferaft.
All they could do was to wait, he finally realized after some careful thinking. He noticed how his breath was coming at longer intervals now, the bright white mist pouring out into the biting air, and disappearing moments later.
John sighed greatly, trying to grip the arms of the chair just that much more. He closed his eyes for awhile, blocking out the errie movement all over his field of vision. If his hands weren't attatched to the wooden arms than he would have stuck his fingers in his ears to blot out the loud screaming ringing in his ears at that very moment.
We have to wait, he kept repeating to himself over and over again. Perhaps this way he would be able to understand it. They'll come back, but you have to wait...

***

45 Minutes Previous...

Joscerine looked up at the stars again, for what must have been the fifth time in the last two minutes. Her entire being was in a state of shock and fear, racking her senses and tearing at her, even through the heavy clothes that she wore. The girl was cold yes, but she didn't sense that. All she could feel around her was an eerie quietness, and a small flickering of death.
What was once a screaming, noisy sea before them lay now perfectly silent and the only sounds she could hear were the lapping of the water against the lifeboat's hull and the quiet sobs of other women as they gently pulled back on the oars of the long boat.
They were moving away. They were moving away from the victims stranded in the water, and out into open sea, never stopping or even thinking about turning back to help. She thought that the reason that they had only filled the boats half full was so that they could go back for survivors, but Joari began to sense that she was wrong. They hadn't been half filled on purpose... and they weren't going to go back for survivors.
She looked to her left where Margaret was holding a long oar handle in both her black gloved hands, pulling back on it, then pushing forewards, then pulling back again. It was an easy enough way to keep warm, that was one of the main reasons that they had started moving again.
" What about the others?" She asked quietly, looking down a her lap. The woman paused in her rowing for a moments time, wondering if that small sound that she had heard had come from Joscerine.
Joari glanced up at her again amidst a confused expression. " Aren't we going to go back? To help the others? That was why they didn't fill up the boats, wasn't it?" She wanted to sound as helpless and unknowing as possible, so that perhaps the woman would tell her differently, and she could still try to tell herself that everything would be alright.
Margaret looked at her with tired eyes. Even without the light of an approaching dawn, she could still see the fear and the mixed feelings in the girl's features. " Joscerine, I... we..." She couldn't bring herself to tell her what she knew was going on, she had seen how much fun Joari has been having with her new friends on Titanic, something that she hadn't seen in a very long time. " I think we might be too late already."
Joari gazed at her with more of a frustrated look. " Huh? Are you saying that when we had the chance to go back we didn't? That... that we could have been there helping everyone almost an hour ago and we didn't?!"
" Joscerine, please." The woman let one of her hands go from the wooden oar handle, and placed it sturdily on the girl's shaking shoulder. " We can't think about that now. We can't go about telling ourselves that it could have been different. We, we can't change the past..."
Joari quickly pulled away from the woman's grip, amazed and nearly angry at her all of a sudden. Her eyes became wide with recognition once more, and her mouth slowly parted ever so slightly. " You knew..."
" Please..."
" No, I can't!" She suddenly shouted, having the sudden urge to just stand up in that boat and scream at the top of her lungs how much she hated this, how much she blamed herself... Instead, she was able to contain herself for the mostpart, and only ended up talking in an extremely loud, strict manner. " You probably all knew! You all knew that we wouldn't go back, but you didn't tell me about it, you didn't tell anyone! So now they're all stuck out there because they didn't realize..." She kept her mouth open, but she just couldn't say anymore, the words just wouldn't come out. As much as she tried they wouldn't come.
Margaret looked down at her lap, a clear sign that she didn't know what to say either. She was more concerned with what was going to happen in the future, and not what could have been in the past. she hadn't thought that far ahead.
" And now they're dead." Joscerine announced sadly, sitting back in her seat with an air of guilt. Never before had she felt so lost in life, probably because she hadn't known what she could get out of it. Her friends had turned out to mean more to her than she had previously thought, and now the loss of them, along with her father, the one person that had almost understood her beforehand was enough to almost make her wasnt to jump into the freezing water after them.
Margaret gave her an astonished look. The girl sure changed moods awful quickly. One moment she wanted them to go back, then she was angry about them not going back and now she was starting back into the hole of depression that too many of them had fallen into, unable to climb out.
" They're not dead Joari." She told her calmly, her voice waving just slightly from the cold. " They couldn't be, it wouldn't be right. They're probably just conserving their strength, that's all."
Joscerine glanced out at the ocean, the screaming sea that was now calm and void of sound. It was was practically unbearable for her. People needed them and all these cowards could do was turn around and head in the other direction to save their sorry necks.
She replied to the woman's statement, even without turning around. " Do you really think so?" If it were possible, part of her wanted to believe that the others still had a chance now.
" I know so." Margaret smiled back, white mist coming from inbetween her white teeth. " Girl, I spent practically just as much time with those new friends of yours than you did, and Joscerine, they were different. I don't know how, and don't know why, but they just were. They wouldn't have given up without a fight, and they're still fighting now. Same thing goes with your father, the brave man that he is. If he can face down a roomfull of lawyers, than a little cold won't bother him."
Joari looked back, a small smile starting to develope on her chilled face. Her lips, still a little blue opened up and she couldn't help but giggle quietly in the back of her throat. " So, so they could still be out there waiting for us to come and get them?" She asked hopefully. The woman nodded happily, knowing that now the girl wouldn't be so melancholy anymore.
However, it was a little different in Joscerine's eyes. Before saying another word, she started to get up from her seat, brushing her coat off as she did so. Margaret watched with interest and curiosity as the girl started to get up to her feet, and started to turn around and head to the back of the lifeboat.
Joari was just about to take her first step when a rough hand caught her midway in. She looked down to her left, where Elizabeth, suddenly returned from her endless staring into space stood poised and refined, looking at her daughter with an icy stare.
" Joscerine, what are you doing?" She asked in a demanding tone.
Joari smiled happily, unable to contain her excitement. The news that she had just heard was too good, and she was too exciteable a person. One that couldn't take this sitting down. " Mother!" She exclaimed happily, pulling her arm away. " Father and the others are still alive, we have to go back and get them before it's too late!" She was talking in a loud whisper now, not wanting to arrouse the others in the silent boat.
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side. " How do you know this?" Carefully, she glanced over towards Margaret, who gave the woman an innocent smile and quickly looked away.
Joari tried to pull away again, but Elizabeth held fast to her. " Joscerine, please sit down right this minute! This is not a stable boat, it could turn over as soon as someone stands up. Now just sit down, be quiet and keep your immature thoughts to yourself!"
" They are not immature!" She defended, getting a madening face of her own. It was scary how much she actually looked like her mother when she did that. " And I'm not going to sit back down again. The person running this boat must know the truth." Small murmurs throughout the lifeboat began to develope, some whispering to friends side-mouthed, others just staring and even one or two pointing at the goings on around them.
Elizabeth turned left and right, embarrassement showing all over her features. She was not one to be use to commotion like this. Being the center of attension yes, but not in such a manner and she wasn't the greatest at tolerating it.
She gripped her daughter's arm even tighter, pulling down on it with amazing force to get her to sit down again. " Joscerine, sit down this instant! People are watching, you're making a scene!"
" This is about life and death! Who cares who's watching?!" The girl suddenly shouted, completely sick and tired of the material way her mother had been organizing this entire night. Many around them jumped at the quick rise in voice, but still stayed silent and solemn.
" I do, and if your father were here then he wouldn't stand for it either..."
"Just shut up!" Joari exclaimed loudly, yanking her arm from Elizabeth's grip. She was so quick, in fact that her mother nearly lost her balance on her own seat and almost fell off. Just in case she tried it again, Joscerine hurried passed to get out of her mother's range, bumping along the bottom of the boat with her tall black shoes, shimmying through couples sitting peacefully by themselves.
Elizabeth, mouth almost agape looked back at her quick daughter, eyes wide with astonishment. She looked back to Margaret, who was actually looking quite pleased with herself. She had started the fire in the girl's soul once more, and it suited her.
" Don't do that Liz, your face might stay that way." She chuckled pleasantly, gripping the boat oar with a little less force and continuing to pull back on it to keep the foreward momentum.

Joscerine pushed through almost every passenger sitting in that boat at the present time, sending a barrage of apologies out of her mouth in the process. Though the boat was just over half full, many of the women had placed their belongings and such on the seats beside them, creating a second barrier to where the girl wanted to go now.
At the end of the lifeboat, there was a small hanging lantern clinking silently against it's short wooden pole. The tiny luminescence given off by it made the world around them just that much more darker. Joari tried not to think about it, and remember that she was doing this for them, for her loved ones.
With one last push, she forced her way over the final bench, nearly tripping over the long fur shawl and handbag that one of the passengers had left there. Joscerine fumbled and quickly sat down on the seat behind her, grateful that it was there and she hadn't hit against the very bottom of the boat.
" Are you alright miss?" A voice asked through the darkness. She looked up and saw a silouette sitting taller than her a mere foot or so away. The light from the lantern made everything else look so dark, she didn't know to whom she was speaking.
" I, yes." She responded forcing a slight grin on her face. Suddenly, Joari's face brightened, for real this time as she remembered why she was this far away from her mother and Margaret in the first place. There was only one person that could be in charge of a lifeboat, minding the rudder.
" Um... excuse me?" She asked in a dainty voice, trying to sound as pleasant as possible despite the cold making her throat hoarse. " Are you, an Officer?"
The man, still dark and mysterious seemed to liven up so slightly himself. If she didn't know any better, the girl would have sworn that he was silently chickling at her. " Yes miss, Officer Harold Lowe at your service." He spoke with somewhat of a Scottish accent. Joari suspected that he was Welsh.
She could feel her heart begin to beat harder now, anticipation welling in her chest like a cannon. Before she could stop herself, Joari just blurted the entire thing out, never stopping for anyone. " Mr... OfficerLowe, wehavetogobacktofindtheothersthey'rewaitingforustorescuethemfromthewater, sopleaseturntheboataroundsothatwecanhelp...!"
Lowe held his hand up to shush her before any more undistinguishable words escaped the girl's mouth. " Miss, Miss! Please calm down. Now the ship's wireless was able to send a distress call to another boat in this area, and they'll be here to pick us up shortly..."
" But sir..." Joscerine began in a hurt tone. She knew where this was going. She had heard that voice more than once in her lifetime. Someone was trying to persuade her against her better judgement.
" Now Miss, if you'd please sit back down in your seat, we'll be away before you know it." Lowe told her in a stern manner.
" No, but I... no!" She started as the Officer whom she had counted on helping her in her quest simply turned away from her idea and began to help her up from the near bench. He carefully gripped onto her arm and lifted up, forcing her to her feet.
Joscerine was about to do what he told her, but then a keen sense of rebellion stepped in once more. The same rebellion that had given her the idea to invite the Rapses Party to dinner, the one that had instructed her to tell off her mother... she had told off her mother. There was something sinful... yet so refreshing about that.
Violently, Joari ripped her arm from the Officer's grip, surprising him and another lady sitting close by. " No!" She yelled loudly, glad that she could make a spectacle of herself and scream at the tops of her lungs of she wanted to. The whails for help from the ocean had stopped ringing in their ears, but she could remember exactly what they were like. And she expressed it with enthusiasm.
" Those people are out there, thinking that we will come back and save them from dieing!" She almost screamed, pointing a thin finger in front of the man's face. " It's your duty to go and help those in need! Now turn this damn boat around so that we can go and get them!!"
At first, he didn't speak. The slight murmurs that had been whispering through the boat for the past few minutes stopped as soon as the uproar occured. All eyes were on the back of the boat, amazingly wide with the recognition that a first-class, well-respected matron's daughter just spoke way out of line.
From far away, a voice echoed over them through the eerie silence. Joari stopped chewing into Lowe long enough to stop and listen to it with interest. It wasn't from anyone in the huge struggling mass in the water, it was too solid and strong. Those in the grip of the Atlantic for this length in time probably would have been too weak to talk over a whisper without pain.
A happy screech sounded from the front of the lifeboat as a young girl laughed and pointed out ahead of them. " Look, mummy! It's a boat mummy!" She announced over and over again. " Mummy" didn't respond however, perhaps she was still in shock from the sinking of the Titanic.
And yet, off in the close distance, Joscerine could see something almost hovering in the dark right in front. It was thick and long, bright in color. She squinted to get a better look at the object in the blackness. The voice grew louder and louder as it got bigger and bigger. At this point, she had forgotten all about her outburst, and like taking Margaret's advice had turned to the future instead of the past.
" Hello!" Lowe shouted loudly, making Joari jumped high in her place. He held onto the top of the small wooden post with the lantern attatched to keep him steady, and looked over the top of her head at the distant figure. At least he knew what he was talking towards.
Only after a few moments of a quiet boat and faraway yells was the outlined form to take shape in the darkness of the night. Joscerine sighed greatly as if a huge pressure had been taken off her shoulders.
Another lifeboat. They weren't alone after all.

***

" I want those boats tied together!" Lowe shouted, passing the light of the flashlight over the entire group of all in all three stranded boats with cold passengers listening to his orders. They were all in an awkward group, there was no telling what would become of them once the ropes had been tied and the sides secured.
" O'er this way now!" A quartermaster shouted, taking a long, thin piece of rope and throwing it fron the lifeboat that he was in to the one beside it, the one in front of Lowe's. Another man caught it, and carefully wound it along the oar bindings and the remaining holes along the port side of the white boat.
Joari watched with wide eyes as this was going on. She knew that they all had a better chance of surviving if they were all together, but the faint memory of the people's petrified screams kept passing through her head and she couldn't shake them. Her mind started to wander again, remembering what Margaret had said about her new friends - " They were different, I don't know how, they just were..."
She had thought them unusual too, at first. And carefully, she picked up small tidbits of info about all the members of the Rapses Party, things that she hadn't realized she noticed. Like how Nefer-tina kept pushing her hair back away from her face, how Lyris always seemed in peace with the world, or how Prince Rapses acted the way that he did, carefree yet loyal. How even the others, whom she had never learned their names acted, the leader being always in control and so sure of himself, or how the other man seemed to be as straight and dignified as possible yet out of line enough to tell off her mother when she got arrogant. And the larger one, the one who had a lust for food... why hadn't she thought of these things before? The thoughts almost made her smile about the beauties of her subconscious.
But just as quickly as those thoughts came, they left, to be replaced with mental images of what must have been happening to everyone now. The screaming, the pain... Nefer-tina, always the strong one weakened by the cold, Lyris, the one at peace at war with the elements to stay alive... the leader with no way to stay incontrol of the situation. So much change could be experienced in just a few hours time.
" Alright, wind that part around the end of the boat stern!" Lowe's voice boomed, the only loud sound throughout the entire crowd of probably one hundred-and-twenty people. Perhaps he was the only one that could muster enough strength to do so.
Joscerine looked up at the Officer, still standing up at the end of the lifeboat, and giving orders to all around him. He was taking their security at heart and she knew that... but he still wouldn't go back. He wouldn't go back to search for survivors, and she knew that too.
Inbetween orders, Lowe happened to gaze down at her quiet form still sitting at his feet in the seat aft deck. He couldn't help but notice how scared she looked. But, unlike the others, this wasn't fear for her life, it was fear for the hundreds of others stranded in the icy Atlantic, her wide eyes and pleading voice showed that all too clearly.
Joari glanced up as he looked down, and the two locked eyes for a moment. She noted that his were tired and stern, but also had heart and the knowledge that she could only dream about. He saw fear and determination, disappointment most of all. Disappointed with him.
Quickly, Lowe turned away first, transfixing on the work that those in the other two boats were accomplishing. He had to be professional, take care of those already in his custody. He had an obligation to them.
' But don't you then have an obligation to all the other doomed passengers as well?' A small voice spoke up in the back of his head. ' The girl's correct, it's not too late. Swallow your orders and do what you know is right.'
The Fifth Officer glanced down at the girl once more. She wasn't looking at him now, she was turned away, looking in the other direction, out into open sea, into the open sea that she knew they would be headed into, instead of turning around and going back to save others.
" I don't believe this..." Lowe whispered to himself, too quiet for anyone to hear. This was definitly not what he had in mind. He still though that it might have been too late.
He turned around, looking back to where the large splashing mob lay nearly perfectly silent on the surface of the great ocean. Lowe then quickly turned around, the flashlight still held up beside his freezing right ear. " Listen men, we're going back!" Everyone in the three boats suddenly gave him their complete and undivided attension, some curious, others concerned.
" Sir..." The quartermaster began, thinking that perhaps this was some sort of joke.
" Yes, that's right, we're going back to them!" Lowe announced. " I want to transfer all the women from this boat into those two and I need a crew of six others to man the oars!" He pointed into his own boat, then flew his hand over the area of the other two lifeboats. And, just like his own, they were only over half full, so there would be plenty of room for all.
At first, Joscerine didn't believe him. He must have been doing this to comfort the women that maybe their husbands, brothers, nephews, uncles, whatever were still alive and would be returned to them. But after he started to give orders again, her heart began to race and excitement welled up in her again. Was he really going back? Going back to get her father and friends?
Slowly and carefully, the women from Lowe's boat, Boat 14 seemed to come out of their coma-like shock, and stand up in the vessel to get into the others. Mothers with children held their hands tightly as the kids hopped from one surface to the other, jumping over the short distance between the surrounding railings from one vessel to the other. The boat unsteadily rocked back and forth as more and more women left it, and the capacity lessened.
Only after a period of mere minutes Boat 14 was almost completely empty. Only about five others were still seated and another eight more were standing and readying themselves for the small hop into the second lifeboat.
Joari looked up at the Officer, still giving orders as they went along. Put that girl here, make room for so-and-so etc. It would have made her a little annoyed to hear the same voice over and over again if she didn't know why he was doing this. Her heart soared at the fact that someone out there, amongst those cowards sitting peacefully in the boats was going back to help.
For one split second, Lowe glanced down at her once more, as if to tell her that everything's alright and she had gotten her way this time. She smiled, the contours of her face lighting up from the swinging lantern at the back of the boat, and silently mouthed a small " Thank you."
Someone tapped her on her shoulder and Joscerine turned around to see who it was. It was a girl, about her own age with sandy brown hair tied back on her head and topped off with a simply yet elegant cloth-wire hat. " It's time to go." She announced to the stranger, only to turn around directly afterwards and follow her companions along the bottom of the boat to the aft deck.
Now, nearly content that everything was going to be alright, Joari had no problems following the others. She had faith in everyone and she felt that all was to be alright in the end. She knew her father would not give up, and she was certain that the Rapses Party wouldn't either. Carefully, making sure her heels didn't shift and bend in different angles, the girl inched her way along the bottom of the boat and reached the bow.
One more look back, a hint of courage, and one small jump. Joscerine was safe in the next boat with a smile on her face and fire in her eyes.

***

Present...

The oars dipped into the calm water without sound, and hardly any movement. They resurfaced, seemed to waver slightly, and then were thrust back under the icy waves, slowly pushing the boat along until it reached it's destination.
With a frog in his thoat almost big enough to choke him, Lowe held up his flashlight in one hand and the rudder handle in the other. The luminescence that passed over the black surroundings was a welcoming light yellow glow, but the second that it left, the spot was once again deathly cold and black as it always had been.
Then, suddenly, they saw it. The seven men in the boat couldn't look away from it, the image and the knowledge was just too horrid for them. There, sitting low in the water and just as still, was a body. Everything about it was completely frozen, all color had been drained from their face and was now a pasty white, and the frost was so thick it turned their hair nearly white as well.
Then, another came, and then another, each one looking remarkably similar to the first. It didn't matter what class they were all in now, no one could tell anymore. They were all the same , they were all equal. A terrifying thought.
Slowly, the persons began to multiply in numbers, tripling in mere moments and blocking the lifeboat's path through the massive group. Hundreds of men, even women and children were just sitting there almost neck-high in the dark ocean and not a voice among any of them.
Lowe gripped the rudder handle just that much more, watching how the white faces seemed to look up at everyone in the boat with wide eyes, frozen into position from the burning temperatures. The men maning the oars started to cease their pace and brought the boat down to a slow slide along the surface of glass-like calm. There had never been such a calm sea...
" Do you see anyone moving?" The Officer asked a little too quietly, a difference from his usual strong, stern voice. Everywhere he looked, all were still.
Two of the men, one from either side of the boat slowly started to bring in their oars from the water, the wooden panels dripping as they were brought into the confines of the vessel. One of them grabbed an extra flashlight from the bow of the boat, and turned it on to survey the area as well. The second, being careful not to lean too far, started to look over the front of the lifeboat. Carefully, he gripped the sleeves of one of the victim's life belts and pushed him aside so that the boat wouldn't run him over and be sucked beneath the quiet sea.
" No sir." Came a solemn reply as the man had to start pushing more and more passengers out of the way to keep the vessel moving at the speed it was. The ice water stung his hands, but it didn't enter his mind for a moment. When he pulled back another decesed person and suddenly his dead face looked at him with frozen, open eyes, he had no choice but to fall back, dropping the passenger into the water again.
" They're all gone sir." He added before gathering his wits about him and returning to his post at the bow of the boat. " Every one of them."
Lowe shook his head in an unhappy manner. He should have trusted his instincts and stayed away from here. He knew that this long of exposure in the burning ocean would have killed anyone, yet he refused to admit it to himself. He should have listened to his orders, instead of acting on a girl's hope for returning loved ones.
' You know you wanted to come back,' his concience started up again, mentally slapping him for thinking what he had. ' You had to try, and you're still going to try, admit it.'
" We should have come sooner. We could have done something sooner." He stated quietly, the flashlight slowly starting to fall from up next to his head, to down on his lap, still pointed out at the dead sea. " We stayed away for too long."
Everyone in the boat stayed quiet, some men rowing, the other two looking to see if they could see just a hint of the living. The bodies in the water continued to increase, bumping up against the sides of the boat like buoys, freakish expressions frozen on all of them. One of the men rowing stopped for a moment, and gazed up at the Officer with a spooked expression. " Sir? Sir, what do we do now then?" He asked, hoping that the entire idea would be dropped and they could all return to the cluttering lifeboats close by.
Lowe looked down at him with the same face, but a different idea in mind. " This is what we're going to do. We are going to do what we came here to do in the first place, and that is to find survivors!" He told him loudly, the shaking leaving his voice and the power returning. " They're out there somewhere, and come Hell or high water... and come Hell, we're going to find them if it takes the rest of our lives as well!"

***

The stars above them seemed to stretch farther than the heavens themselves, wrapping around the entire earth and engulfing it into a dark sea of shimmering lights. They folded around them all like paper on a birthday present, never any creases or folds, neatly arranged in perfect harmony with the universe. The starry sky twinkled and faded, brightened and flickered, while still the blue tint of the Milky Way swam by on an ocean of dark and light.
The water lapped gently against the wooden panel, hardly creating a current and the ripples never passing over onto the top of it. The black was almost like tar paper spread over the entire sea, it was that smooth and quiet. All they needed was someone to come and make a little noise, perhaps mess the paper up. Then it would seem more real.
He lied there, not a thought passing through his head. His mind was a complete blank now, the way it had been for what he thought had been an eternity, but never bothered to count the minutes. Only the lapping of the slight waves kept him from closing his eyes and vanishing from the known world, passing into the next one.
Something caught his eye, but he didn't react to it. He couldn't feel, he couldn't think... it was difficult to breathe. The air was cold, but not as cold as the water. The water that sunk into the plank beneath him and froze the wood, creating nearly a block of ice for him to lie on. He couldn't stand it anymore, there was no point in fighting it. Slowly, he started to close his eyes for the last time.
A flicker exploded in the distance, finally catching his attension and bringing consious thought back to his groggy mind. Slowly, he opened his eyes again but had no confidence in what he was suppose to see. It must have been his imagination, one of the only parts of his body that still seemed to work without difficulty.
Suddenly, there it was again. The same light that he had just witnessed passed over them, and then away, but was still there. He opened his eyes a little wider to get in the view that for so long he had been hoping for. Hoping and wishing that this time would eventually arrive. The light passed over him again, and he could actually feel himself able to move a tiny bit.
" A bo... boat." Presley silently mouthed, never a quieter sound heard by the ears of man. His vision was slightly blurred, but a faint outline of a slow-moving object in the far distance came to him, and he knew that it couldn't have been anything else.
" It's a boat." The boy repeated again, slowly gaining energy in his features, and slowly starting to move a little bit more in the long wooden plank. He had been lying on his side for the entire time, his ear pressed against his coat sleeve once more. The prince lifted his head up just a tiny bit and shifted the position of his arm. It felt good to move again.
" A boat... they came... they came to get us." Presley had to keep telling himself this to keep himself awake and occupied. As long as there was a hint that there was something out there, he couldn't go back to sleep, not now when they were on the brink of salvation. He hadn't believed his guardians when they had told him that they would come back to save the splashing victims, but he wished he had. He might have even fallen asleep too soon and would have ended up missing the vessel entirely.
The light passed over them all again , drowning the groups forms with a deep yellow glow, a very welcomed color change from the greys and dark blues and blacks covering them any other time. Presley watched as the light faded away again, passing over the crowd and to the other side of the silent, floating crowd covering the ocean's surface.
The prince's mouth slowly began to curl into a small smile, and he couldn't help but start to get excited again. He lifted his head higher off of the wooden plank, and steadied himself by placing his elbows on the smooth surface to prop up his figure. Out over them all, the dead of the night was watching him with each bobbing victim and causing the burning air to turn that much more colder from the horror.
Presley quickly looked down from the sight, and noticed that Nefer-tina was still there, positioned in front of him on the end of the panel. She was in the same, quiet form that he last remembered her, except that now, her eyes were sealed shut and her once soaked hair was dried, yet frozen with frost and covered by hanging ice sticking to the side of her white face.
He grinned at her. How excited she would be as well after hearing his news. Carefully, as to not rock the board, he brought himself down from his propped-up elbows and rested his chest back down on the cold surface. " Nefer-tina," He whispered, the smile on his face only broadening. " Nefer-tina..." Still, she remained still.
This didn't phaze the prince at all, however. He knew how out of it he had been only a few minutes ago, plus, he was on the raft. The boy gently lifted his hand from it's position, lying flat against the plank surface, and ever so carefully nudged her shoulder. " Nefer-tina, guess what?" He asked, never bothering to disguise the supreme joy that he was feeling.
He nudged her again, watching how her head merely moved back and like a springboard fell into perfect place again. " Nefer-tina... you guys, you were right. There's a boat here for us." Presley's eyes went bigger with the though again, but sagged slightly in confusion. Why wasn't she waking up?
The smile started to fade, but was still apparent on his face. He took his hand away from her shoulder, and began to shake one of her arms that were bent along the surface of the ceiling panel. " Nef? Nefer-tina?" The boy began to shake her a little more violently and started to raise his voice. " Nef, wake up! There's a boat!"
Now the smile was completely gone from the prince's face. Even as he shook her more and more, he never got a response. The charioteer's expression never changed and she never moved. It was always the same blank, solitary, and oh so cold feeling.
The light passed over them all again, drenching them in a golden glow.
Presley's heart started to pound in fear. This couldn't be happening, not now. How could it be? They hadn't been out there that long, and it wasn't as cold anymore. The water couldn't have been colder than the air. Quickly and without the excited tone in his voice, he gripped the dark blue sleeve of her coat and shook her again. " Nef? Nefer-tina?! Wake up Nefer-tina..." The boy was practically pleading with her now, willing to give anything to just hear her voice again. " C'mon Nef, there's a boat..."
Presley leaned closer to her face to get a better look at her. It was like looking into the past again, the way that she looked now. The charioteer was very pale, practically white and her dark hair was covered over with a thick layer of frost. Her blue lips were even darker now, and her eyes were closed shut by the ice forming on her long eyelashes.
Still, he tried, on and on, determined not to let up on her. " Nefer-tina, come on, wake up! We can't give up, there's a boat over there... Aw Nef..." He wouldn't give up on her, her wouldn't give up on any of them. They were the reason that he was safe and sound then, as they always had been and as they always will be, past, present and future.
The shaking continued, but nothing came from it. Her head would just bob back and forth ever so slightly and then return to it's original position. Presley tried harder, but there was still no response.
Finally, the boy just stopped in an utter pit of defeat. Instead of looking directly at her, he looked down from her at the new wooden panel. Breathing heavy, he closed his eyes as tight as he could to hide all the pain that he was feeling then. It was all his fault - if it hadn't been for him, than they never would have been here in the first place, searching for a gem that was lost forever in the deep depths of the Atlantic.
" Nef... you've gotta wake up..." He choked back a sob growing greatly in his throat without looking up. He gently nudged her arm, knowing full well that it wouldn't accomplish a thing. This only made him feel even worse and he breathed in greatly and closed his eyes tightly once more, trying to hold back a few tears starting to develope.
Slowly, he began to turn to the side, with a new idea in mind. Perhaps he wasn't alone in the sea after all. Maybe another one of his guardians was still alive, waiting for a boat as he had been. He brought his head up to the left, away from the panel and into open water.
Expecting to see something, he quietly whispered, " Ja-kal..." In a small, nearly helpless voice. Now it wasn't such a matter of trying to find someone out there alive so that they could be saved, it was so that he could find someone out there that was alive so that they could comfort him and protect him from the elements.
A moment passed, a quick recognition surged through Presley and his eyes grew wide in utter horror. His mouth dropped open, and the huge knot in his stomach got bigger. Looking out over the black sheet of water, he spied the life preserver that the leader had been gripping to the last time he saw him. Only... there was just the life preserver. The boy looked one way and then the other, panic welling inside him now. Where was Ja-kal? Could he have swam over to another hold somewhere?
The prince set his gaze back to the quiet, lifeless inner tube slowly bobbing up and down on the water's surface. There couldn't have been a way that Ja-kal would have left his only place of refuge. Now, the only thing that clung to the life preserver was the biting cold that struck them all and never let go. Syddenly, the prince had a thought and couldn't look at it for another minute and had to turn away directly afterwards. He knew what had happened now.
Now, quickly going into yet another state of shock and intense fear, Presley turned his head around moreso to the left so that he was almost looking over his shoulder. Through the darkness and the teary eyes that he was quickly developing, the boy could see and outline of three silent, immovable figures placed only feet away. It might as well have been a thousand miles.
Turned towards him, Lyris was stretched across the wide sheet of wood, her arms folded in front of her and her head resting on the sleeves of the long brown jacket. Her face was practically covered over by icy, dark auburn strands of hair falling around her face and in some places, actually frozen to it. Frost covered her head and clothing and the boy knew that the lifebelt that they were all told to wear did absolutely nothing.
Beside her, turned away from the boy, he thought that he saw someone clinging to the board as well, but couldn't have been sure. The light from the stars was not as bright as he though that they had been and distinguishing features couldn't be seen anywhere. Presley knew Rath, he had been the only person that was able to get anything other than the plank or life preservers to grip onto. And he also knew that it was too late.
The prince turned around even farther, looking to the back of the long wooden plank where he had see Armon clinking to it with his bundled-up golden arm. " Armon..." He whispered in the loudest voice he could, expecting to see the warrior's large frame silouetted in the dark of the night. But, as Ja-kal had been, there was no one there.
Instead, a terrifying sight past through him like an unforgettable dream. He wanted to close his eyes so tightly that he couldn't even open them up again to see the unmistakable truths of this modern-day Hell that they were all stranded in. There, only meters away from his freezing body, a little ways away from the floating plank, was a thick object sticking out of the water, bobbing around like all the other cold victims in the Atlantic. As the stars shimmered in the sky, a glint on the top of the object became apparent, and pretty soon, fingers... white cloth. Presley wanted to scream at the sight of it. Armon had placed the lifebelt on his arm so that it woundn't sink. Now, it was the only part of him that wasn't submerged underneath the black waves.
Now, unable to resist it anymore, the boy let tears roll down from his eyes and along his cold, white face. With blurred vision, he glanced back to Nefer-tina, still in the position that he had left her in. He felt more alone and scared than ever before. He wanted to tell her so bad, because she always knew how to comfort him. " There's a boat Nef." He told her, starting to sob more and more. He nudged her arms once more, holding onto the blue coat with his hands.
The searchlight from the lifeboat passed over them once more, and faint calls of urgency echoed around them, shattering the calm and quiet sea. Presley looked in that direction and saw the outline of the boat more clearly now, it's white sides shimmering from the reflection of the golden flashlight glow. It was like a ghost ship, coming in from the ports of heaven to bring them away from here and to freedom once more.
The boy leaned foreward and gently bumbed his forehead on his cold hands on Nefer-tina's sleeve, blocking out the sight and sounds of the recue boat. At first, he had been overjoyed by the approaching vessel, but that was before he knew, before he had come to grips that he would have been the only one out of them to even have a chance of rescue. Now, he didn't know what to do.
He wouldn't have been anywhere if it wasn't for his guardians. They were the ones that had always protected him, they'd always known what was right for him, even when he didn't listen. They taught him in every way possible, and gave so much more. He had been up on that panel for a reason, because they knew that it would keep him alive the longest. It was practically sacrifice.
Presley's head began to throb with all the jumbled thoughts going through his mind. Could he leave them all now, returning to a land he didn't know and never forgive himself? Perhaps he would just stay there, only to live out a slow, cold death like everyone else who didn't have a choice but to sercome to the burning Atlantic. But his guardians would have wanted what was best for him, he should obey their wishes. But the guilt...
" Why did this have to happen?" He asked himself, and partly the still form of the charioteer in front of him. He needed a sign, something to make his decision for him. It wasn't one of those "which candybar to get at the supermarket" type of decisions, he was talking about life and death. Death ruled over them all, but life was passing through it in the form of a lifeboat. Should he take it.
Suddenly, the boy felt very angry at the world and the foul luck that they had been delt. He looked up, over Nefer-tina's head, squinting as the search light went through their little group and the bright light shone into his eyes. He was angry at those in the lifeboat... if they never would have come, then he never would have woken up and saw all of his closest friends frozen around him. He was angry at everyone, the Captain, the shipbuilder, Titanic herself... even at his guardians for not being there with him now when it seemed like the bottom of his world had just fallen out beneath him.
He looked down, down below his neck. There, hanging silently and oh so gently rubbing against the ceiling panel was his amulet, the bright yellow glow far from sight. It had stopped directly after they had been thrown into the black water when Titanic sank and hadn't returned since. Carefully, Presley gripped the cold stone with his right hand, and started to pull up, bringing it up over his head and the rope attatched to it.
The prince looked down at the contours, the indentations and the writing carved into it with care. He didn't know what they meant, but it was for his benefit. Rath had said once that it was magic, and on many occassions he had seen the raw power of it come in full force. But what he didn't understand was that if it were magic, why couldn't it had saved them all instead of just him.
It was for his benefit.
Presley looked away from it with a hurt expression. He wasn't the prince anymore, he was just some lost soul drowning in a dead sea. His title meant nothing now, the past couldn't help the present and the future looked bleak. What was the use of keeping the amulet? The only thing it held now were terifying memories and distant thoughts of happy times.
He was going to go for it. Presley was going to signal for the lifeboat. If all of these things had come together to try and save him, he couldn't just throw it away. Fate was playing them all like puppets, and though he didn't want to he knew that it was best if he was given a second chance. It was what his guardians had wanted.
Slowly, he raised his hand, his amulet still clenched in it. Get rid of the past, get rid of the evidence. He was going to throw it away.
The lifeboat still proceded closer to them, going at a snail's pace to try and get through the masses of passengers bobbing on the water's surface. The luminescence left him for a moments time as the search light went to the other side of the floating mob, leaving them in practically absolute darkness.
Presley closed his eyes again, determination taking away the large hollow hole in his heart. He had to keep telling himself that this was right, this is what his guardians would have wanted for him. He would never forget them.
After holding the amulet up for a small time, the prince realized that he couldn't let go of it. There was somethng wrong, was it him? Presley thought that he could let go of the past that easily, but still the stone pendant remained clenched tightly in his warming hand. Warming hand?
The boy's eyes snapped open and he quickly looked up to where the amulet hovered over his head. His mouth fell open in utter shock and his eyes grew even wider a the sight. Up there, where his arm had been about ready to propell the object into the deep sea forever, a faint, very faint yellow glow started to develope in the center of the rock, getting brighter and brighter with each passing moment and warming his hand up in the process.
Quickly, Presley brought the amulet down to his eye level, and looked at the brilliant glow starting to develope. It was magnificent, almost the same way it had been on the ship. Unfortunately, it seemed that the second he brought it down from his outstretched arm, the light started to leave, and the dark color of the cold stone began to come back.
" No... no wait. Wait!" Presley exclaimed as his last flicker of hope began to flee in the night. He shook the amulet hard, but the light color never returned. Seconds afterwards, the glow was completely gone, and Presley was alone... again.
" Wait..." He whispered, the tears starting to come back to his eyes. He had been so hopeful for something to happen, and now it was gone. The boy decided that he had better finish the job quickly. The boat was getting awfully close to him and would spy him before long. Once again, he held his arm up high, ready to chuck the rock pendant underneath the dark waves.
But the warm, fuzzy feeling came back before he could let go. The prince looked up again and the light only started to intensify, the yellow luminescence starting to drench the entire team in it's welcoming glow. The dark water became flooded with bright light, the ripples sending small streaks of black over the calm sea.
Presley was even more confused now than ever. Why did it keep doing this and why did it only happen when he held it up over his head? The boy knew that he didn't understand magic that well, but even he realized that there was a pattern to this and the amulet wouldn't be doing it for nothing.
He brought the amulet down halfway from where it was, and watched as the luminescence from it seemed to dim. Then he brought it up as high as he could, and the light brightened considerably. Down, dark, up, bright. The prince continued this for nearly a minute, just testing out the stone pendant's powers while he waited for the rescue boat.
As if in a last act of strength, Presley was able to reach it higher than he ever did before. The light became almost nuclear as his arm strained to keep it up. He had to turn away from it, the light was purely blinding now and the once light yellow sea had began to rage in a small white current, tiny waves splashing up onto the ceiling panel and rocking the prince to and fro.
Suddenly, everything else in Presley's life seemed to be blotted out by something he could neither prove nor explain. As the light grew more and more unbearable, more lights passed out from the innermost crowd swaying through the ocean's surface. The prince turned sharply to his left as a second light, a smaller one, yet apparent all the same, slowly throbbed in the dark sea, mere yards away from him.
At first, he didn't know what to think of it. It could have quite possibly been the flashlight from the rescue boat, but it was too low to the water and far less bright. After seeing the boat last, it had been heading in his direction, but the luminescence was farther away, nearly in the center of the quiet victims. The prince watched it for quite some time, welcoming the bright light to the dark surroundings.
Then, without warning, the amulet in his hand did something that he had never seen it do before. Before Presley could react, the stone pendant that he held in his hand... jumped. Very little of course, but enough to make him notice it, and grip to it more so that it wouldn't fall into the black ocean.
The boy brought the amulet down from so high up, sad to see the light flickering and going out, but he had to look it over more closely. There wasn't anything different about it from what he could see. There had to be something going on... inside of it.
The flashlight glow washed over them all again, but Presley didn't notice, look up or even respond. The amulet was now dead again. After the light passed them once more, the prince held it up as high as he had just done. And like before, the pendant began to throb with deep gold light. Far off in the distance, the white glimmer started up again just as bright as ever.
Presley gasped, nearly dropping the amulet into the burning waters the way that he had tried to overcome before. His heart began to beat again, harder and harder, and the smile on his face started to grow once more. The prince reached his neck up higher, being careful as the ceiling panel rocked back and forth on the waters surface to try and get a better look at it. All he could see were the sides and tops of peoples heads as they motionless in the dead sea.
No matter, he didn't have to get a better look at what he knew was out there. The boy brought his arm down from high above his head just as the searchlight went over him again. The lifeboat was slowly moving away from their little group and out into open waters to turn around and try again. Even if Presley had wanted to now, he would have never been able to reach the boat in time.
The prince reached over to his left, and gripped the edge of the ceiling panel. Pulling himself as hard as he possibly could, the boy began to slid in that direction, the board's right side raising higher and higher into the night air. Just as Presley was about to make one final tug, he stopped and turned back to Nefer-tina, still sitting quietly on the end of the plank. The instant that the board had started to shift and rise up, the arms of her sleeves began to rip and pop from the top of the panel and even as the boy watched, the charioteer began to slide down with him into the dark sea. Only with her, she couldn't swim back.
He gave her an incredibly pained expression, and touched the blue sleeve. " Don't worry Nef... I'll, I'll get us back home." Presley told her in a dull whisper. The plank went down and down into the water and he could feel himself slipping at a quick rate. " I promise..."
Hitting the burning black waters was just like he had remembered them. Surely the sea was far more colder than the air and he understood fully why his guardians weren't there to protect him. His shivering came back in full force and for an instant he couldn't remember what he was suppose to do here. So much the prince wanted to get back on that floating panel and avoid the freezing feeling shooting all through his limbs and person. But he had promised himself and the others. He would try until he couldn't move anymore.

Now Presley knew how the lifeboat and those in it must have felt as they brushed their way around the mass crowd littering the surface of the sea. He could barely get anywhere as hard as he tried, and everytime he turned around, the group that he left behind, nearly abandoned, could still be seen through the dim light of the night sky.
The water freezing, the faces of those that he met horrific in appearance. Each one had it's own expression of terror or an air about it that made his heart go out to each and every one. He only wished that by saving himself and his guardians he would be able to save each and every victim of Titanic.
He pushed his way around, through and even over large groups, solitudes and pairs of dead passengers, simply trying to avoid their faces before their lives passed through him and made him too weary to continue. Over his head, he held the amulet in his warm hand as the golden light began to get brigher with each passing moment. Out in front of him, the small white light increased it's small blinking through the dark, guiding the prince towards it.
Presley had high hopes for their futures now. If he were right, then they were all destined to be saved. If her were wrong, he would be cursed to the same fate as all and there would be no chance of rescue for anyone. As he swam on, his limbs quickly began to go numb, he couldn't feel his fingers or toes and his mind was foggy. The only thing that kept him awake was the bright flashing in his hand and on the horizon.
Men, women and children... he saw them all, each frozen in time and doomed to be that way forever. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to end up like that. So many things he would leave behind in the process and too much that he hadn't experienced that he would never get to accomplish. Their faces of white watched him as the prince passed by, staring out into dead space like phantoms of the Atlantic.
Presley heaved himself through one more group with what he thought would be his last ounce of strength. Afterwards, the boy fell headfirst into the water but quickly resurfaces because of the large white lifebelt he wore. The amulet splashed down into the water with him, but was still gripped in his hand when the prince surfaced.
He looked right, left and out in front of him. The white light had faded away again. Quickly, he brought his arm up as high as he could to start the pendant's mighty glow once more. Presley watched the sea around him as the amulet began to throb with luminescence, waiting for the white sparkle to come back to his eyes. He waited, and waited.
Suddenly, it was almost as if a bright explosion became apparent right in front of him. The boy had to sheild his eyes from it with his other hand, still keeping the amulet raised. Moments later was he only able to open up one eye, still squinting by the light.
A fast wind began to pick up around him, turning the water from a calm sea to vast rapids. Presley yelped and tried to find something that he could grip onto, but the only objects in site were those of the frozen Titanic victims moving about in the newly created current. The black ocean soon turned into nearly a funnel, white waves crashing against each other and hurricane winds blowing about the crowd, dropping the temperature to far below zero.
Presley squinted out directly in front of him, water flying in his face, and the lifebelt doing nothing for buoyancy as he began to get pulled under by the exploding waters. The amulet's rope flapped in the wind, twisting around the boys wrist as the current changed direction.
Out in front of him, mere meters away, the white light passed through the rage of the elements like the North Star to a lost traveler. The prince saw it and started to go towards it, when the furious water slammed against him and pushed him back away from it. He bumped into another cold passenger and nearly dropped the amulet, but regained the right direction and tried ever harder to get to the light.
The winds picked up and the waves got higher, but all Presley thought about was getting to the light and keeping himself afloat long enough. The burning cold whistled through his wet hair and froze his skin, but he kept going on, pushing around the frozen passengers and plumeting through the icy waves. The light would come, the light would go, he would be sucked underneath and unable to get back up, the amulet would fall. The wind pushed on him and the sea crashed together trying to form a sheild that could never be broken. He could see the light better than before now, it was close, so close that he could feel heat radiating off of it, even through the cold dark ocean. Just a little bit farther...
' This is for you guys," Presley thought to himself, challenging to give himself enough strength to go through with what he had sought out and finish it. The black water raised up, higher and higher, turning into a great dark wall and started to head towards him at an alarming rate.
With one last yell, the prince swam for all he was worth, trying to beat the wave. It was coming from his right, all he had to do was go a few more feet and it would be cleared. The salty water stung at his eyes and his arms began to go numb but the boy pushed with amulet in hand with more determination then he had ever had before. Only a few more feet, the wave got closer.
" Uhg!" Presley shouted, pushing the distance and slamming against the light with amazing force. He sat there for seconds, breathing heavy and his lungs crying out in great protest. He gripped the amulet, which was still up in the air with all the might he could muster, and closed his eyes tightly to blot out the ferocious scene before him.
Finally, the boy opened up one eye and surveyed his surroundings with slight curiosity. Confused, he opened up the other eye, and just panned around the area, heart still beating like a steel drum. What was once a deathtrap, complete with crashing waves now lay a calm, quiet sea, countless bodies laying where they had fell, and the terrorizing winds were nowhere to be seen.
For the first time that night, Presley was thankful for that picture. The serenity, albeit horrifying was far better than a tropical storm right in front of him. Slowly, he turned around and gulped, his teeth chattering from shock and cold.
The lights, both white and yellow were dimmed down quite a bit now. His amulet wasn't bright at all, it was merely glowing through the blue expas of the night. And in front of him, the white light flickered on and off still but was quite visible through the blackened surroundings.
He swam towards it in a tired manner, forgetting about the cold, or even his lightened stone pendant. In the boy's plain line of site, there was a body, lying on it's back in the freezing water with his head tilted back down into the sea. The man was quite surely gone already, as with all the others, and he was wearing a white lifejacket like himself. But it was what he had that was the most important. The man's arms were drawn up away from him, creating a ninety-degree angle with the rest of his body. His white hands were cupped, but not that well, and what was inside of his hands was what brought Presley to him.
Quickly, the prince didn't hesitate to go right up to the man, gently slinging the amulet around his neck once again for the use of his other hand. Presley pulled harder on the man's hands, pulling with all the strength he had leftover from the battle. The white hands slowly began to pull apart and the boy furrowed his brow to try and get a better grip.
He pulled one last time, and was sent flying back into the black water, feeling the freezing sea against his entire person once again. The lifebelt pulled him up like always, but the prince knew that if it happened again, then he may not have had the energy to do anymore. He breathed in and coughed from the water, then looked over to the frozen passenger who's hands that he had been trying to pull apart. They were opened up.
Urgently, Presley lifted both of his own hands up out of the water, hoping and wishing that he hadn't lost it. The boy hadn't known it because he couldn't feel his fingers, but both of his hands had been cupped together like the man's milliseconds before he was thrown back into the sea.
Carefully, the prince slowly started to pull them apart, excitement welling up in him once more. First there was nothing, then a small point, then a shiny side... Presley could hardly contain himself. He had been right. The man that had his hands together had been the same one that had fallen fron the stern of Titanic, just before they went down, and at the same time that they had thought that their lives were most certainly doomed.
Presley brought his hands up to his chest and exhaled, letting the white mist roll out into the biting air. He was relieved and glad that the Jewel of the Nile was back in their possession.

He finally had the key to their salvation. Maat had said that if they got the gem, then they would all be returned to the future, and there he was, stranded in the middle of the North Atlantic nearly frozen to the core, yet he had it. He wondered if this was the most ironic situation in the world or not.
" Y,y-yes." He said joyfully, looking down at how small the jewel was in fact in comparision to the light that it created. It jiggled in his hands only because they were shivering so, but the brilliance of it never escaped his vision. No wonder Amenhotep had wanted it for the Queen, it was beyond a doubt the greatest and most beautiful thing that he had ever seen.
Presley looked right and left again, not expecting to see anything that would help him. " Alr-right," He began finally returning his sites to the crystal. " Le-let's go h-home." He waited for something to happen, waited for the light. Nothing happened.
With a confused expression, the prince, shook the gem slightly. " C'mon... I w-want to g-go home. Take us-s-s home!" The jewel stayed dormant, never even lighting up like before. Only the light from the stars magnified onto it creating the illusion that there was something there.
" You-you're th-the Jewel of th-the Nile, r-ight? Take us-s ho-home! San Fr-ans-s-sisco, 199...8" He tried again, shaking the rock even harder. Once again only the night sky created any light and the lapping of the water any sound.
Presley started to get frustrated with it, gripping to it harder and moving it harder as if it were a salt shaker. " Br-ring us b-back!" He shouted, unable to get that lost and desperate feeling from welling inside of him once again. The light never appeared again. Instead, the prince brought his arms back down and just stood there perpendicular in the freezing water with chattering teeth. " I wan-want to go ho-home..."
He thought back to the event which happened four days ago- It seemed like only four seconds ago to him. The instant that Maat had appeared inbetween the two torches and told them of what was going to happen. She had said something about getting home about the Jewel of the Nile, but was he really paying attension so hard as to remeber it?
Presley closed his eyes tightly and tried to remember, forgetting about how the cold was starting to freeze up all of his senses and he couldn't think as staight as he was once able. Images cam spilling back to him in reverse- the breaking ship, the lifeboats... the iceberg. He went back farther- the dinner party, his game of Old Maid with Armon... Ja-kal's attempts with the telegraph machine, the Scottish man on the deck as Titanic was pulling out.
He thought about how warm the air had been that day as the six of them had walked up the gangplanks and into the ship's lavish interior, complete with paintings and potted plants. How he had come here with new, fine clothes and how civil and bored he had to act. The hurricane that had brought them here, Matt telling them that if they didn't reclaim the crystal they would all die. Ra...
Presley's eyes snapped open as he remembered something, a thought that had been placed at the back of his mind for four days. Ra. Maat had said something about Ra. Talk about Ra? Talk to Ra? No... he closed his eyes and thought back even more, through the fast winds or the lightening in the library. Furniture being thrown about and papers going every which way. Once you get the crystal... speak ... of Ra... the... His mind was in a shambles, the boy couldn't think straight. He prayed that he could do this.
" Pray...Prayer of Ra..." The prince mouthed in an unconsious manner, his eyes still closed. He didn't know what was going on now. His mind had drawn a blank, yet he was able to speak freely and remember the past like nothing.
He finally opened his eyes, intent showing through them. The Prayer of Ra, it had to do something with that. But did he know what the Prayer of Ra was exactly? He knew something about Ra, a statement that he had heard so many times but had never had a chance to say himself. It was a foolish thought really, the boy couldn't have been that lucky. But he figured if there was a chance, he should take it.
Presley held the crystal away from him at arms length, hardly able to keep them up because of the cold. This had to be done quick, otherwise he wouldn't have the strength, or would forget about what he was suppose to say. " Pl-lease let this-s work..." He pleaded to himself and to anyone else who would notice or care. He closed his eyes tightly and carefully said in an almost whisper and unsure tone, " With the Strength of Ra."
After a few seconds passing, Presley opened his eyes up again and saw the crystal still snug in his hands out in front, just as sound and unanimate as before. The prince turned away from it, not wanting to see it anymore, and dropped his hands down to his sides, deep in the black fridgid ocean that he would be doomed to end his life in. Disappointment wasn't nearly strong enough to describe what he was feeling then. He had been through so much to get there, so much to get the gem, and it was all for nothing. He didn't care what happened now, it was so cold, he just wanted to leave the world behind.
" Is that anyway to think young Prince?" A woman's voice echoed through his ears. Presley's eyes snapped open in shock and confusion and he began to turn his head this way and that trying to find the cause of it. The dark night lit up the features of everyone around him, but none were alive... and if they were, they couldn't have had the strength to say something to him. Or read his thoughts for that matter.
" Wh-wh-who?" He asked a little bit louder, slowly making small circles in the water as he pushed himself all the way to the right to get a span of the entire area. " Who-who's th-there?"
A small, dainty laugh sounded very much in the same way that the voice had. It seemed distant, but was so loud to him and pronounciated that the person speaking had to have been right beside him. " A guardian angel." Came the call once again. " Someone to watch out for you..."
" Huh?" Presley asked in near frustration, but the boy didn't have time to finish the rest of his sentance. Instantly after the voice had finished speaking, the winds that he had pushed through mere moments ago began to come back, and the waves around him picked up as well. The prince was pushed around like a rag doll, thrown side to side and back and forth. He tried to scream, but for some strange reason he couldn't get anything out of his mouth. A bright pertrusion from the sea started to glow underneath him, and the boy realized that he had just dropped the jewel from his very cold hands. The waves became a whirlpool, pushing others away, but drawing Presley into it's deadly grip. The light at the bottom still grew brighter.
The prince couldn't have gotten away, not after such physical and mental anguish. He tried at a failing attempt to get away, but the current was too great and the boy soon found himself flying around a funnel of water at great speeds. The stars above were turning like a gyroscope and the cold, black surface of the water became fuzzy and distant to him. The sea slammed against him, moving onwards faster and faster as he went lower and lower into the whirlpool. The bright white light blinded him, the wind split apart waves and made them bang against one another. Presley's last thoughts were of him getting completely dizzy and light-headed.
And then the cold was gone.

***

" Here ya go lad." One of the crewmen stated quietly as they hauled another half-frozen person into the boat. He had the ends of a long wool blanket in his hands and as the passenger was lowered into the boat, the crewman quickly put it over him to try and keep him warm. This was the fifth person that they had rescued that night. A mere five in a sea of over one thousand.
Lowe was still behind the rudder as they started to manuvered the boat back into the silent mob for the fourth failed time in many minutes. Time had run out for practically everyone and if they were to find any more, they would have to move more quickly, and he knew this. They had been lucky to find the last survivor, by this time certainly it was too late for any others. Perhaps they should stop, it was a lost cause to them now.
They were just about to head back into the crowd, when one of the men at the front of the boat shouted, " Look sir! There's a ship sir! They've come for us!" The fifth Officer swung his head around in the direction from where the man was pointing. There wasn't anything out there, just the slowly lighting horizon on the edge of the deep sea.
" Are you sure?" He asked in an unconvinced voice. The man must have been imagining things that he wished would come true.
The second man at the bow reached out away from the lifeboat with a glint of excitement in his eyes as well. " Sir! I see it too sir! Left of the rising sun, there's a light!" The men at the oars had stopped rowing and were looking to the starboard to catch a glimpse of anything besides them in the fridgid air. Lowe still tried to pinpoint the place where the light was coming from, but couldn't see it very well. He surveyed the area for more than a minute before his eyes caught the sight of a tiny light speck in the distance.
" I'll be jiggered," One of the oarsmen announced happily as he saw the same thing that all the others had. " Guess we won't be stranded out here for much longer, they've come to get us!" Assorted cheers and happy wishes began to sprink up amongst the group as those manning the oars set them down and the lookouts moved away from their posts. Lowe looked back to the small light with a sense of accomplishment and a dwelling joy about the future. Of course now, he wouldn't be able to get the others to head back into the crowd.
All he could do was to slightly nod his head up and down with a half grin on his face in a nearly stunned position. " God rest ye all, Rest in Peace." He whispered quietly, never taking his eyes off of the small glimmer in the distance. Truely, it was the people in the water whom had been the real heros of Titanic and not them. He wondered if they could see the spectacle that he now could, salvation heading towards them at full speed and onto bigger and better things. Lowe carefully looked away from the brightening horizon and down to the floor of the boat. There, plain as day sat a small box, where most of their emergency blankets had come from. For the ship to see them in time they would have to get it's attension. And for that, they needed flares...
Even as the sun came up that crisp April morning, men working at the oars to head towards the ship and Lowe waving bright green flares in their direction, none of them could ever forget about what they had seen and the fofilled feelings of Destiny that they had all felt when salvation had come over the water in a small little vessel called Carpathia.

***

Presley opened his eyes slowly not knowing what to expect before him. The last thing that he could remember was going down into the sea, a bright light down below him... it was so cold there.
The prince didn't know where he was now. There wasn't anyway to tell, everything was white. He couldn't see wall, a ceiling or even a floor that he was supposidly standing on at that point. Everything was a bright white haze. No wind, there wasn't even a feel to the place. It just... was.
Presley looked down at himself and nearly jumped at the sight. All of his old 1910 Edwardian style clothes were gone, replaced with the exact same ones that he had wore when he had gone to the Sphinx four days ago, his signature pull over, shorts, sneaks... even his old red backpack was slung over his shoulder like nothing had ever happened.
Most importantly, it wasn't cold anymore. The boy could feel his fingers and arms again, along with everything else, and his mind was in a state of readiness that it had always been in before that dreadful night. The lifebelt had vanished, and his amulet was still around his neck in it's usual dull, unlit fasion.
" Bravo young Rapses," The same woman's voice announced pleasantly around the continuing slaps in the distance. " You truely proved yourself to be capable of handling any situation."
" Who's there?!" Presley asked cautiously, hoping that their ill-fated voyage hadn't taken another turn for the worse and he hadn't ended up in something of a parallel dimension, or even worse, hadn't made it at all.
A form began to almost materialize through the light, and an outline of someone sitting on a chair started to show through. First it was hazy, just like everything else surrounding him, but soon the arms of the chair became clear and the form began to look more and more human. The woman had a long white dress on flowing down to the floor, and was clapping har hands together at a slow pace. She had a pleasant expression on her face and a serenity about her that couldn't help but calm your nerves. Nevertheless, the prince had something to pick with her.
" Maat?!" What are you doing here?!" He exclaimed loudly, starting to get angry again. This had been the goddess that had left them for dead on a sinking ship and thought another thought about their demise. Presley wasn't too pleased about seeing her again.
Her face brightened up a bit, and she carefully chuckled again. " You're wrong my prince, I had never intended for you all to be lost on Titanic. I have been keeping a close eye on you all throughout your journey." She moved her head from side to side, letting her light blue hair wave in the air. It seemed to float there for a time, making the boy think once more about where he actually was.
But anoyther thought entered his mind. How could she have answered a question he had never said? Presley eyed her funny. " How are you... are you reading my thoughts?!" He asked in near anger.
" It's not that hard to do, you have a very loud mind." The goddess told him, still in her pleasant tone and perfect posture on the chair which had turned out to be an Ancient Egyptian throne encrested with layers of marble and white quartz.
" Well stop it! It's rude!" He shouted, crossing his arms across his chest. The prince quickly turned away from her and faced in the opposite direction, still only bright white meeting him there as well.
Maat chuckled to herself, placing a hand over her mouth to be polite. " Very well young prince. I will stop invading your thoughts." She lifted herself off of the throne with little or no effort, and the white dress flowed down her legs and past her feet. The Goddess began to float over to the annoyed boy, trying to keep her promise the best that she could.
Presley turned his head around to face her as she was coming over. " Thanks." He replied, his tone still unhappy and agitated. After a few moments of silence between the two, the prince circled around the entire area, just looking for anything that wasn't gleaming and white. " Where... where are we?" He asked in near astonishment.
Maat placed a hand on her hip and reached her neck up to match the boy as he looked at where they were. " Ah, young one, this is my domain. The far reaches of the Western Gate." She announced pleasantly. It was returned with a completely blank expression, so the Goddess continued on. " Let me explain to you something... the crystal belonged to the Queen, it was a part of her. She was your mother, so therefore, it is a part of you..."
Presley groaned and placed his hand on his head. It was starting to hurt again, just like in economics class... The last thing he needed was more riddles. He got enough of those from Ja-kal.
" The Jewel of the Nile reacted with your amulet because it as well is a part of who you are. It was only a matter of getting you all to see that before you were able to obtain it." Maat began to lose the cheery expression that she use to have and began to show signs of regret. " I knew that I couldn't shape your destinies, but also knew that you were all capable enough to follow the clues that I left you. I never took into consideration the past..."
" Oh, you mean like the phrase in the old book on the bookcase." The prince acknowledged. " And us not getting into the lifeboat?"
"... And the ashtray in the dancehall, and the young child in the flooding hallway. If your guardians hadn't stopped, then they would have been caught up in the wrong part of the ship." The Goddess finished, crossing her arms in front of her, the unhappy expression fleeting now. She knew that Presley hadn't actually known of the dancehall mix-up nor the race in the hallway. " But I couldn't control things such as the past. People's feelings or personalities."
" Or guys falling from the sky and knocking the crystal out of the way." Presley took his hand off of his head as things began to make more sense to him now. " Wait a minute!" He suddenly realized. " This means that you were there the whole time! You traveled back in time with us!... Then what was that big spazy act that you put on in the Sphinx? We would have wanted you to come with us to help."
Maat smiled at him. " I had to make you think that you were going alone. If you had known about me, then you would have depended on me. But then, what would that have accomplished for you young Rapses?
The prince thought. " Well, we wouldn't have spent all that time running around the ship like crazy, we wouldn't have had to go to that dinner party, we could have gotten off of the ship before it sank, we wouldn't have had to stay in that freezing water..." He began counting out reasons on his fingers, never stopping for another word to get put into the confersasion. " We could have had the Jewel of the Nile quicker..."
The Goddess waved off all of his reasons like nothing. " Basically, you wouldn't have had to work. Maat would have done all the work for you while you sat around and took in the luxuries of Titanic." She smirked at the boy and looked away. " You would have gotten nothing out of it, trust me."
" You could have at least given us more clues. Cutting it a little close, weren't you?"
Maat suddenly glared at him with agitation and Presley lowered his field of vision. He wished he hadn't said that, he forgot how moody she could be. " Cutting it close? My prince, I gave out far more than enough clues to the whereabouts of the gem, too much to the contrary. I could have left you there with nothing, no clues, no hope... who do you think made you want to throw out the amulet and start the magic within the Jewel of the Nile?"
The boy closed his eyes for a moment. He had been trying so hard to forget about that time, and he had, for a moment. Now all of the images of those stranded in the water, of his guardians unable to respond to him, and the fierce waters he went across to get the crystal. Maat might have been there to help them, but she didn't know of all the pain and suffering that she had put them through.
Maat slowly began to float away from him, and back towards her elaborate God's throne. She was feeling extremely tired now. Sending herself and six others to the past had nearly drained all of her energy. " It matters not anymore." She stated flatly, suddenly spinning around to face the boy once more. " You're safe, and I got what I wanted."
The Goddess held her right hand out, palm flat to the sky. Seconds passed, and an orb of white light, even brighter than the surroundings began to materialize on top of it. Presley's eyes grew wide at the sight. The light was nearly blinding and he wanted to turn away, but something kept him glued to the glow. A large crash of lightening fell from the sky, hitting the orb straight on, and transforming it from a fuzzy luminescent ball to something a little more solid. The Jewel of the Nile.
Maat clenched the gem with her hand after the lightening had vanished. Presley saw the object before she did so, and began to run towards her. " Hey, wait! That's ours, we got it!"
She held out a long finger to shush him up. " Correction young one, I got it. I hid the existance of the gem in the history book that you found, I gave the clue of Titanic. I brought you to the past and I'm the one that helped you find it."
" But why?! Why drag us into all of this?! If you wanted the crystal for yourself, why not go back in time on your own and get it. It wouldn have taken less time and none of this would have happened!" The prince was beginning to get angry again. If he hadn't known she was a God, he might have started to play out some Egypt-su pretty soon.
" A God cannot interfere with the lives of mere mortals." Maat explained, turning around once more, and this time, actually getting to the white throne. She sat down in it and the chair slowly began to rise up off of the floor. " I needed someone to help."
Presley clenched his fists tightly. " But you used us! You used all of us! We could have been safe, at home, living the normal... living our lives out the way that we always do, but you tricked us and sent us to do your dirty work!"
Maat closed her eyes tightly and let her hair fall down past her shoulders and arms. A slight wind picked up out of the blue and though it was fuzzy and white in her realm, the prince could see a mist starting to roll in from the borders. It started to cover up his feet, and the bottom of the Goddess's chair.
" I brought you to the past not so that you could challenge it, but so that you could learn from it, unless you have not yet figured it out." Maat told him, eyes still closed tightly. " The only reason that I let you live was because you were the son of the Pharaoh and because you had all proven yourselves worthy to be freed. You were pushed both to physical and emotional limits, and you passed all tests and obstacles."
" Tests?" Presley intergected, stopping in his tracks at the goddess's words. " What tests, what are you talking about?"
" The true have proven themselves, tha's all that matters." Maat replied calmly, the mist falling out from behind her. Thunder began to roll up above their heads, though there was no mension of clouds in the skies. The winds picked up even more now, returning the prince's memory to that dreadful time out on the water's surface.
" You shall be returned to the present now," She told him in a stern voice, gripping the arms of her chair with intense force. " As if nothing had ever happened, you shall be brought back to your Sphinx. Your memory will be fogged, your senses unclear. All will be as if the adventure you have just witness had been nothing but an afternoon nap..."
Presley was about to say something, but suddenly a large bolt of lightening struck right in front of his feet, making him jump back in surprise. He fell backwards, landing on his backpack. He couldn't see Maat anymore, this was because he was under the rolling mist now, he couldn't see anything. Even his hand right up against his face was difficult to spy.
" Wait! Maat!" He shouted, standing up to escape the fog. When he stood up, the bright white place that he was so accustomed to had evaporated, and had been replaced with a dull, graying atmosphere similar to stormclouds. The raging winds began to push on him greatly while even more thunder and lightening screamed at him from above.
" Maat!" He shouted again. He was getting pretty annoyed with being pushed around by the earth's elements. " What about the others?! What about them! You said you wouldn't let anything happen to them!!" A crack of thunder made him jump, and the wind was so powerful that he was pushed over because of it. This time when he landed, a bright white light began to form underneath him, gripping onto his backpack and determined not to let go.
The prince tried to get away and find the goddess once more, but the instant that the glow had a handle on him, the entire floor seemed to transform into liquid. Presley scrambled helplessly, reaching out to grasp any solid that he could. The light began to pull him down and he was powerless to stop it.
He couldn't feel anything below his neck now. Somehow the bright luminescence was able to combine the bright light of the Jewel of the Nile with the numbing power of the icy Atlantic. Rushing memories can back to Presley as his mind tried to plot them all out. The good times, the bad times, the times where he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. He wished he could just forget.
As his head passed down underneath the bright surface, he closed his eyes tightly in preparation for what was about to come. The thunder, lightening and dark stormclouds seemed to vanish beyond his reach and the white light inversed to a sea of darkness covering him like a sheet.
Just before he blacked out, he thought that he had seen Maat's face peering down at him from a glowing cloud over his head. But he couldn't have been sure...
He couldn't remember...

To be Continued in Chapter 10: Aftermath of a Disaster
Return to the Gem of the Deep Homepage