With the release of the movie 'Titanic', a thread evolved on Forkni-L concerning Nick's presence on the doomed vessel as shown in the third season episode 'Black Buddha'. There was a suggestion made that Nick, due to his 'special' nature, might well have been able to alter the tragic events of that evening. As ever clinging to my denial like lichen to a stone, I found the suggestion to have great appeal. And so, out of such a retreat from harsh reality is fanfic born. Disclaimers: Nick and Claire belong to TPTB. Other names have been taken from historical accounts of that April night, 1912. ===================================================================== Titanic: A Knight to Remember (01/01) Erika 1998 Nearly an hour had passed since the great ship had struck the iceberg, but no one seemed particularly concerned. The band had set up on the foredeck and it was difficult for anyone to believe that there was any great danger while such cheerful music was being played. Claire was sure they were doomed, however. "It is the curse." She told Nick again and again. "The Buddha demands a sacrifice. The ship cannot be saved. I have brought this upon us!" Though he certainly had reason to believe in curses, he had not believed her. He made her stay in the cabin while he went to find out the ship's status. On the bridge, Captain Smith was calm, directing orders to the engine rooms and dictating mild distress messages to the radio men. Nick was told politely, but firmly that he should let the crew do their work and prepare to follow any instructions given by the staff in a manner befitting a gentleman. Dissatisfied, but unable to obtain anything more specific, he decided to return to Claire's cabin and attempt to keep her from doing anything rash. On the way, he passed through the main lounge and saw a man he recognized as having sat across from him at the captain's table that evening. The man had been introduced as Thomas Andrews, an engineer for the White Star line who probably knew more about the Titanic than anyone else onboard. Now Andrews sat quite still with his chin resting on his fists as he stared out at nothing. Nick felt a frisson of fear at the expression on Andrews' face and then strode over to stand beside him. There was no reaction to his presence. Nick hesitated a moment and then place his hand on Andrews' shoulder. "What is happening?" He asked quietly. Without shifting his glance, Andrews answered with calm precision. "The first six bulkheads have been breached. As the bow continues to sink, the water will rise over the top of the watertight doors and flood the remaining compartments. We have an hour. Possibly less." Nick felt himself grow even colder than his normal unwarm state. "What about the lifeboats?" "Insufficient numbers. They interfere with the clean lines of the ship and the ability to stroll about the decks unimpeded." Andrews' voice dropped until Nick had to bend over to hear him. "It was thought that they would never be needed. The Titanic," he whispered. "Is unsinkable." Nick hurried back to Claire's cabin, but found it to be empty. Returning to the decks, where some of the lifeboats were now being prepared, he found himself surrounded by increasingly concerned passengers. He tried to single out Claire's heartbeat from among the hundreds surrounding him, but fear increased the noise to a thunderous roar that sent him reeling. Then he saw her, standing calmly at the railing. He moved towards her and grabbed her arms. "The ship is going down." He yelled at her. "I can save you, let me bring you across as you asked." "It is no use." Her hands tangled in the lapels of his formal jacket. "It is my fault. The Buddha must sink with me to the bottom of the ocean, where it will never be found." she looked up at him with eyes wide and more than a little mad. "I can not live the rest of eternity with the memory of these deaths on my head. Could you?" He ran the heel of his hand along the fine straight line of her jaw and felt the fire rise in him. He could not save all of these people, but he could save this one. Once she was brought safely across, she would realize the foolishness of her objections. He tipped her head to one side and prepared to plunge his fangs into the soft white column of her neck. Rockets exploded overhead, illuminating the sky and causing a roar from among the passengers. "Look!" Cried one. "A light on the horizon! It's a ship!" Nick drew back, fighting desperately against the demands of his unruly beast. "They are all fools." She moaned breathlessly. "There is nothing that can save us." "No." He exhaled raggedly. "No, there is a ship. It must have seen the rockets. They will come. The curse will be unfulfilled." "If you will not believe me, then look!" She demanded, pointing over the railing. "There is your precious hope, growing fainter and fainter, until it disappears entirely." As she spoke, the light did indeed grow dim, flicker hesitantly and then go out. A sigh emerged from the crowd and someone began to cry. Nick thought about all of the children on board, especially the ones on the lower levels and grabbed ahold of Claire's arm with a grip that would not be argued. "Come," he growled. "You are going into a lifeboat." At one of the crowded lifeboat stations, he thrust Claire into the arms of a crewmember. "Make sure she gets in." He instructed the man, emphasizing the point with a deep echo of power. "Yes sir." The man agreed blankly, but Nick was already gone. Looking down at the ship from high above, it appeared as if nothing were wrong. All the lights along the masts were blazing and the crush of frightened passengers on the deck was not evident. But he knew this placid mirage would not last. He pointed himself towards the horizon where the faint light had last been seen and sped through the chill air with desperate speed. Within minutes, the light appeared drifting quietly on the ocean. As it grew larger, he saw that it was indeed a ship, but most of the crew appeared to have gone to bed. He landed silently on a deserted portion of the deck and made his way cautiously down to the wireless room. There was no one on duty and the machinery had been shut down. Studying the equipment for a moment, he donned the headphones and flicked a few switches. Twenty years ago in America he had worked the nightshift at a railroad telegraph office and he recognized the familiar taps of a distress call. He quickly jotted down the Titanic's message and position and headed for the bridge. On the way, he managed to acquire a thick, dark coat and a hat to cover up his formal evening dress and bright golden hair. "Sir! Urgent distress call from the Titanic!" He shoved the message at one of the two men on the bridge. "Eh? What's that you say?" The officer took the message with a deep frown and scanned it quickly. "Sinking? Why that's preposterous!" He squinted at Nick. "Who're you? You're not the regular operator. He went off-shift hours ago." Nick looked the man in the eyes and let the awareness of his power fill the space between them. "Who I am is not important. The Titanic is sinking. You must go to their aid. You will make all possible haste to answer this distress call. Is that clear?" "Yes." The man agreed dazedly and then seemed to snap out of it. "Gibson, prepare for a new course heading. And you, whoever you are--now where'd he go?" He stared at the space where Nick had been, but he had disappeared. "Hmph, all right Gibson, roust the crew and get Evans back on that wireless. I'll speak to the captain. The Titanic is going down." Back above the Titanic, Nick could see that about half of the lifeboats had been launched and the downward slant towards the bow was much more noticeable. From below decks, Nick heard a great clamoring and went to investigate. Amidships, the main entrance to the third class section was being blocked by crewmembers. Fearing a rush for an insufficient number of lifeboats, some of the ship's officers were trying to contain the vast flood of hysterical people. Nick confronted the officer in charge with his most intimidating manner and convinced him to dismantle the barricade. As the mob stampeded up the stairs past him, he knew there were few options left to them. He could only pray that the other ship would arrive in time. The ship's stern was rising higher into the water and Nick could hear the groans and cracks deep within the Titanic's frame as it was forced to deal with stresses that it was never designed to bear. Beneath it all was the sound of water rushing over the watertight doors into the inhabited sections of the ship. Slipping past the decreasing stream of steerage passengers, he moved with blurring speed down the corridor, listening for heartbeats behind the closed doors. He found a family of eight huddled together in one darkened room and convinced them to put on their life preservers and move up the stairway. Further down the hall, he discovered two children, lost or abandoned by their parents. He carried them on deck himself and handed them to a crewmember before returning again and again in his race through the endless corridors. One woman insisted that she and her children would wait for her husband to return. With her own heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears, Nick persuaded her of the danger and sent her fleeing down the hall, whining children in tow. One and two at a time, Nick moved the inhabitants of the lower decks up towards their only hope of survival. On his last trip, Nick skimmed through waist-high water into the room of an elderly couple. They had resigned themselves to their fate and were standing in eachother's arms when Nick picked them both up and practically flew topside. It was then that he saw the lights of a second ship steaming rapidly towards them. All of the Titanic's lifeboats had been launched and there was no way to leave the deck of the ship except by jumping several stories into the dark and freezing water below. Near the sinking bow, however, the water was only a few feet below the level of the deck and many people began climbing over the railing at this point. Several lifeboats had remained in the area and those with few passengers returned to the Titanic and started picking people out of the water. The other ship also lowered boats that headed towards the foundering Titanic. When Nick saw this, he moved into the press of people still trapped on the stern. Looking around he saw a young girl holding the hands of two smaller children. "Here," he told the girl, taking one of the children in his arms. "Why don't I help you get into one of the boats, okay?" The girl looked at him with frightened eyes and then nodded. Nick picked up the other child and smiled at the girl. "Now you just put your arms around my neck and hang on tight. Close your eyes and imagine that we're flying." He flew up over the railing with his precious cargo and angled towards one of the boats picking passengers from the water. Sliding gently into the water, he kicked towards the boat. "Here!" he called out. "Take them, please." Hands reached out and plucked all three children from him. Someone grabbed for his arm, but he skimmed away. The other ship had started intercepting lifeboats and as soon as the passengers were brought on board, crewmembers rowed the empty boats towards the scores of people who were now bobbing in the water. Nick continued to load himself down with weaker passengers and glide down into the water near the waiting boats. In the confusion and panic, he was able to perform miraculous feats of strength and speed that he could never have gotten away with otherwise. The Titanic continued to angle more steeply towards her bow, which was almost entirely submerged. Few people remained on deck, but those that did either slid helplessly into the water, or clung fiercely to the railing at the stern. The stern was now so high in the air, there was no way to jump without risking serious injury. Nick heard the snapping of cables well before anyone else and he saw the great seventy-foot stack begin to sway as gravity exerted its inexorable pull upon it. With a fierce cry, he swooped beneath the crumpling stack, grabbed onto the back of a boat and shoved it out of harm's way just as the stack smashed down at an angle across the water where the boat had been. Dazed and dripping, Nick was pulled out of the water and he watched with the rest as the lights of the Titanic flickered once and went out. Moments later there was a great rending and tearing as a large section of deck simply disintegrated and the stern tore away. The water-filled bow slipped into the water and the stern leveled off as it too began to take on water. Those who had managed to hang on to the railing around the stern during all of this were now able to simply let go and swim off towards the boats waiting to pick them up. Nick manned the oars of his boat and propelled her with great strokes towards invisible and often unconscious survivors. An hour after the Titanic had disappeared, another ship arrived and began taking up the few remaining lifeboats and searching the surrounding waters. There were no more individual survivors and very few bodies recovered. In the pale light of false dawn, Nick allowed himself to be brought aboard the second ship. Someone draped a blanket over his shoulders, but he stripped it off and handed it to the nearest shivering child. A hand gripped his arm and he turned glazed, haunted eyes on a face that should have been familiar to him. "Nick." Claire said simply and Nick gathered her against him with a gentleness verging on reverence. "Claire," he breathed. "You made it. I wasn't sure." After a long moment he pulled away slightly. "How... how many, do you know?" She nodded sorrowfully. "More than two hundred unaccounted for, though that number may drop as the confusion ebbs." She looked up at him and stroked a hand along his cheek. "There are tales already being told of a golden-haired angel who carried people out of the ship and flew them to safety." She smiled at his speechless reaction. "The Buddha has slipped into the depths along with its victims. A thousand fewer than there might have been, were it not for you. If there ever was a curse, I believe you have broken it." "Setting one curse against another," he murmured against her skin. "There's irony for you." "Not always a curse, my angel. For all those who lived through this night, it was a blessing." THE END ================================================================= Comments and well-intentioned criticisms are welcome at: Erika