At long last, the day has come. Today officially marks the 100th anniversary of the day the Titanic sank. I ask all of you, my dear readers and reviewers, to stop and take a moment to reflect on the 1500 people who lost their lives on that tragic night. To us, who have seen the movie so many times it is now just a great movie. But to so many others, it was a horrific reality, and is just as much a part of history as any kind of brutal war.

Now that that's been said, let's move on to the story. It is very hard for me to finally let go of The Power of a Song after spending so much time on this wonderful story. If you haven't already guessed, I had to spend months watching the movie bit by bit in order to write this word for word from the film. And now, I'm done. There's nothing more to write, edit, or say. And to me, this is a rather emotional moment. I actually cried when I wrote the last scene. And now that this story is over, I ask that you readers that only read by don't review to please review this last chapter. It would mean the world to me if you would.

And now, I must give a shout out to my best reviewer, SurferGirl3000. You have been with me from the very beginning of this fanfic, and your reviews have always made me feel that this story was worth continuing and shouldn't be abandoned. I hope this last chapter is to your liking!

Oh, and to those of you that don't know, I went back and rewrote the first chapter. Please check it out whenever you have the time!

Fabrizio continued to cut through the last remaining rope connected to the tiny lifeboat. There were only a few last strands to saw through, and then he could climb in it. He would be rescued, and would be able to get to America, and live the American dream. But right then, a swirl of water splashed over him. He lost his grip on the ropes and was swept away by the current.

He was forced through the waters towards the nearly submerged windows leading to the Grand Staircase. As he was about to be sucked in, he clung onto the frame of the window desperately. He was lucky, and managed to push himself against the ship to free himself from the suction. He gasped for breath, and started swimming furiously through the icy water, only managing to stay afloat because of his life jacket.

Cal, still holding the little girl, scrambled over to where Fabrizio had just been, and climbed onto the ropes to avoid the water. It was a lucky that he did, because moments later, the entire collapsible began to tilt, and completely overturned before righting itself. He jumped down into the boat, set the child down beside him, and grabbed an oar floating nearby. He only allowed a handful of people to climb in, too, before starting to use the oar to swat the distressed men and women away to keep the boat from being swamped.

Jack, Rose, and Clara, meanwhile, were on the opposite end of the ship, and were fighting their way through the crowd to reach the nearest railing. When they managed to make it, they all peered over it, desperate to see how far the level of the water was beneath them. They all gasped. There were less than a few yards left.

"We have to stay on the ship as long as possible!" Jack nearly screamed at Rose and Clara to make sure they heard him over the shouts of everyone around them. "Come on!" He quickly readjusted Clara in his arms so that she would be on his back, and seized Rose's hand before pushing through the panicked, insane mob toward the stern of the ship.

"This way!" he shouted. "Hold the rail!" They were at the B-deck railing that Jack and Clara had climbed over earlier that day. The railing they had snuck over from the second-class decks so they could see Rose. Only now, they had to climb over it from the first-class decks with Rose so they could all survive. Jack set Clara down, and climbed over the railing first before helping her and Rose over. "Come on, Rose, Clara!" he urged. "Jump!" It was hard, because both Rose and Clara were wearing dresses, but they did their best. Rose went first, and leapt furiously over the railing. She landed clumsily into his arms. "Okay, Clair, you next! Come on!" Clara, squeezing her nutcracker to her chest, hesitantly let go of the railing, scared out of her mind. Jack just barely missed her. Luckily, a baker by the name as Charles Joughin saw her fall, and grabbed her before she landed. She knocked him down onto the deck, landing in a heap in his arms.

"I've got you, kid!" the baker shouted, helping Clara back to her feet as Jack and Rose rushed over. "You're alright! Don't worry!" He was about to say something else, but Clara pushed away from him, trying to get to Jack and Rose.

"Big brother! Rose!" she screamed as they ran up to her. They didn't say anything. Jack merely plopped her right onto his back again, and ran with her and Rose through the crowd.

"Get back!" Cal shouted, swinging the oar dangerously at the people still trying to climb into his boat. Then he spied a man trying to discreetly get in. "No!" he snapped, banging his skull with the paddle. "You'll swamp us!" The ship suddenly groaned, and the sound of something suddenly snapping made him turn. He watched in shocked horror as one of the flooded funnels broke loose from the ropes keeping it upright, and started to descend upon the people swimming frantically beneath it.

Fabrizio was underneath it, swimming like hell through the water in order to survive. He had to live. It was his destiny to make it America. It was his dream to earn enough money to bring his mother overseas and live with him. Then he heard the groan of the steam funnel, and he looked over his shoulder. He screamed along with the twenty or so people around him when he saw the funnel, He shut his eyes as the thousand pounds of metal thundered down on top of him into the belly of the ship.

Jack, using one hand to push people out of his way, thronged his way through the crowd, clutching Rose's hand tightly. Clara had both her arms around his neck, and was holding onto him and her nutcracker for dear life as they pushed their way to the railing. Around them, men and women were hauling themselves overboard, thinking they would have a better chance at survival off of the ship rather than on it. In front of the trio was a middle-aged man. He was walking in front of them slowly, with a blank expression on his face due to his zombie-like state.

"Ye," he whispered, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death-"

"You want to walk a little faster through that valley, there, fella?" Jack hollered, throwing the man quoting the bible passage out of his way as they ran past him. By now, the ship was starting to slowly raise the stern section out of the water, and they were struggling to reach the backmost railing in time.

As they used the railing to claw their way aft, they passed an entire group of people who had already given up. They were huddled around a reverend, who was standing before them and quoting the bible like the zombie-like man had. They knelt before him, praying as they sobbed dreadfully as their impending doom approached, or just stared blankly ahead, not wanting to envision what would happen next.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God," the minister said calmly as he held the hands of the people circled around him. "Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace-"

They didn't wait to hear the end of the prayer. Jack, Rose, and Clara just shoved their way through the cluster of people and kept dashing aft.

"This way!" Jack shouted encouragingly as they scrambled against gravity to reach the railing of the stern. "We're nearly there, Rose, Clair! Come on!" By some miracle, they succeeded in reaching a free area of railing by the Union Jack flagpole, and they flung themselves at it. Jack and Rose panted hard as they clung onto the rail with one arm each, and held each other with their other arm. Clara just wailed in fear as she held onto Jack's neck and her nutcracker tightly.

The ship was now rising even faster out of the North Atlantic. The ships' propellers were at least twenty feet out of the water, and all the people around them were screaming madly. Except for the reverend. Despite the chaos around him, he was still calm, and his voice, cracking with emotion, could be heard across the ship.

"… And I saw a new heaven, and a new Earth," said the holy man, holding onto the pipe beside him with one hand as he continued the prayer. "For the first heaven and the first Earth had passed away, and there was no more sea-"

Jack and Rose were silently listening, and were starting to pray, too, but not Clara. She was glancing frantically at the people around them. A young mother was holding her crying son as she rocked him gently with one hand, and clung onto the railing with the other.

"It'll be over soon." She cooed, hugging him tightly. "It'll all be over soon…" Clara felt tears come to her eyes at the sight, and looked in the opposite direction, only to gasp. Helga, with her mother and father, was clinging onto the railing next to them. Feeling her eyes upon her, Helga looked up, and met Clara's stare.

"Helga!" Clara cried, shocked that she and her parents had escaped from the lower decks. Helga just nodded to her, glad that she, Jack, and Rose were all right before glancing fearfully back down at the minister.

"… And he shall dwell with them," shouted the priest. "And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God…"

Clara looked away from the priest to stare up at the Union Jack flagpole. She was now remembering why it looked so familiar. It had only been two nights ago that she had been here with Jack and Rose, but somehow, it felt like as though it had been a lifetime ago...

"Jack, Rose…" Clara said, smiling up at them. They both glanced down at her. "This is where you two first met…" They smiled, remembering as well, before they both kissed her softly on her forehead. The three of them hugged each other tightly as they listened to the priest finish the prayer.

"And God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes," the priest nearly whispered. "And there shall be no more death. Neither shall there be sorrow or crying, and neither shall there be any more pain. For the former world has passed away…"

Jack, Rose, and Clara watched in shocked terror as the ship, now at a forty-five degree angle, continued to rise swiftly out of the water, and people, now holding on to anything they could grab, were sliding down the decks, screaming at the top of their lungs as they banged into walls and furniture. Others that were at the railing were now climbing over it, and jumping down into the water below in their panic. They watched as one such man smashed his head against the propeller in mid-jump, dying instantly before he even hit the water. The baker that had saved Clara, Joughin, merely climbed over the railing, but didn't let go. Instead, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his flask of bourbon. He took a long swig from it. If he was about to die, what better way to die than to die drunk in order not to feel pain?

"Hold on real tight!" Jack shouted as the ship groaned loudly. He and Rose clung desperately onto the railing in order not to fall down, and Clara hugged Jack's neck tightly with one hand, and held her nutcracker firmly with the other. She would not let go of it. She would never let go of it. There was a reason why she hadn't abandoned her toy despite this chaos. Her nutcracker was more than just a toy to Clara. Her nutcracker was the world, her reason for living. Without it, she would seize to be Clara Dawson, the musically gifted child. Her nutcracker was the reason why she even wanted to be a composer. She would never go anywhere without it…

Right then, the lights across the ship flickered momentarily before finally shutting off. People shrieked louder than ever when this happened, but then they screamed like hell at what happened next.

In the exact center section of the ship, Spicer Lovejoy was clutching onto the railing next to him for dear life. He refused to die tonight. He had caught criminals in the past, sucked the life right out of them. Now he would defy death. He absolutely refused to die tonight.

A sudden loud, tearing sound beneath him made him look down at his feet. He nearly yelled in horror. Not only the deck planks, but also the entire middle area of the ship was starting to split apart in two. The pressure of the water plus the ship rising out of it was too much weight. He grasped onto the railing next to him even tighter, and began to pray for his life.

Unfortunate souls that did not have the luxury of hanging onto the railings were now sliding into the deep abyss of steel and wires. Lovejoy shuddered when he heard their screams as the wires electrocuted them, killing them instantaneously. Then, the stern section of the ship, the side he was on, started to fall. His surprise made his grip on the railing slip, and he started to fall down the long, dark crevasse of burning wires and jagged steel.

Jack, Rose, and Clara screamed bloody murder, as did the hundreds of people surrounding them. The cracking of the ship had abruptly stopped the stern from continuing to rise out of the water. Instead, it started plummeting back into the ocean, leveling out. Once the aftershock subsided, many people started to cheer, thinking this meant they were saved. Alas, they were deadly wrong. The horror had only just begun. Mere seconds after the stern had flattened out, it slowly rose back up out of the water again, pulled by the weight of the flooded bow that had somehow remained attached.

Jack, Rose, and Clara clung onto the railing tightly in fear. Everyone around them was losing their grip on whatever they were holding, and starting to slide down the deck, falling into the gaping hole rapidly filling up with water. Jack watched them in pure terror. He could recognize that they would be next if they stayed where they were.

"We have to move!" he shouted, letting go of the railing with one hand to climb over it. Clara's grip around his neck tightened. She didn't know what her brother was doing, but she could only pray she would not accidentally fall because of it. Once they were both safely over the railing, Jack gave Rose his hand. "Give me your hand, I'll pull you over!"

"I can't!" she shouted back, thinking he had gone mad.

"Come on, give me your hand!" Trusting Jack to know what he was doing, Rose reluctantly let go of the railing, and grabbed hold of his outstretched hand. He started to haul her over the railing. "I've got you!" He shouted over the deafening din of the groaning ship and the screaming crowd. "I won't let go! Come on, I've got you!" She did as he asked, and within moments, all three of them were safely on the other side of the railing. It was good they were, too. During the twenty seconds it took for Jack, Rose, and Clara to climb over, the bow had pulled the stern almost completely vertical.

"What's happening, big brother?" Clara screamed.

"I-I don't know," he shouted back honestly. "I don't know!"

The stern was now completely sticking straight up in the air. It bobbed gracefully along in the sea, slowly filling up with water.

Jack, Rose, and Clara could only stare fearfully down. Several hundred feet below them was the black, icy ocean, waiting to swallow them and the terrified people clinging onto the railing around them up into its dark depths. As though their words had the magic touch, the ship made a sudden, sharp jerk.

"Hold on!" Jack shouted, clinging onto the railing tightly with his free hand.

"Help me, please!" they could hear one terrified man scream out as he clung onto the Union Jack flagpole with all his might with both his hands and feet. "Someone, help me!" Within seconds after he screamed out his pleas for help, his fingers finally lost their grip on the steel pole. Like so many others, he plummeted down into the murky depths of the North Atlantic, screaming as he banged into the other people and sides of the ship while he fell.

Too saddened by what had happened to the poor man, Clara turned her head to look at Helga. She wasn't strong enough to climb over the railings, but by some miracle, she was still holding on. She felt Clara's gaze on her again, and silently pleaded for her to help her get over. Clara nodded, and tried to carefully maneuver her way closer to her. She was about to reach out to her, when Helga's fingers slipped away from the metal railings. Clara watched in shock as her friend screamed to the heavens while she fell down into the unforgiving, murderous black sea.

"Helga…" she whispered, not wanting to believe what she had just witnessed. She didn't know if Fabrizio was still alive or not, but she prayed that if he was, she wouldn't have to be the one to break the news that his sweet Helga was now dead.

Rose, on the other hand, was looking in the opposite direction. Her eyes were fixed on Joughin. Like them, he too had successfully managed to climb over the railings, and he was still drinking down the rest of his bourbon, hoping he was now too drunk to understand what was going on when he finally died.

Both Rose and Clara were brought back to reality by the ship suddenly sinking down. Jack held onto his two most precious girls tightly as the ship began its final plunge.

"This is it!" he shouted over the roar of pounding water as Titanic dropped rapidly down into the ocean.

"Oh, God!" Rose screamed, terrified beyond her own belief. "Oh, God! Oh, God!"

"Hold on! Both of you hold on!" Jack shouted reassuringly.

"We're going to die!" Clara wailed, burying her face into the crevice of Jack's neck as she hugged him and her nutcracker tightly. "We're really going to die!"

"No, don't even think that!" Jack shouted. "We're going to make it, you hear?"

They were now only a few hundred yards above the water, and approaching it faster with ever passing second.

"The ship is gonna suck us down!" Jack continued, ignoring the icy spray hitting his face. "Both of you, take a deep breath when I say!" Rose and Clara nodded. It was all they could manage to do in their terrified state. "Kick for the surface, and keep kicking!" he instructed. "Rose, do not let go of my hand! Clara, hold on real tight to my neck!" They both nodded again, staring fearfully at the swirling vortex of icy water. "The three of us are going to make it! Do you both trust me?"

"I trust you!" Rose shouted.

"So do I!" Clara screamed. "I trust you, big brother!" Jack nodded and stared back down at the water.

"Ready… ready... Now!"

Jack, Rose, and Clara sucked in as much oxygen into their lungs as they could as they plummeted deep into the ocean with Titanic. Jack and Rose let go of the railing, and Clara hung on tightly to both Jack and her nutcracker. Like Jack had predicted, the suction of the ship was forcing them down, and it took all their willpower just to hang on to each other. Jack and Rose kicked for the surface, grasping each other's hands as hard as they could. Clara clung onto her brother's neck, hoping she wasn't choking him with how hard she was hanging on. Suddenly, another man knocked into her small form, and she felt her nutcracker start to slip out of her grasp. Alarmed, she unintentionally let go of Jack to hold onto her toy with both hands.

The moment she realized what she had done, she sucked in a ton of icy water from screaming as she was swept away by the current from Jack and Rose. She screamed even harder as she tried to expel the water from her lungs, but it only caused her to suck in more. She was about to scream again, but then she remembered what Jack had said before: Kick for the surface and keep kicking! Fighting the urge to keep shouting, she forced her legs to kick as hard as they could through the artic cold water toward the surface. Her head finally burst forth from the surface of the waves, and she coughed up the water that she had swallowed. She struggled to breath. The water in her lungs combined with the freezing air was making it difficult for her to focus. When she at last came to her senses, she gasped. She was surrounded by over a thousand of terrified people, moaning and thrashing in pain as the brutally cold water of the Atlantic Ocean hit their bodies. It was nearly impossible to tell anyone apart.

"Jack! Rose!" Clara screamed, trying very hard not to panic. She couldn't find them, nor did they respond over the din of the surrounding screams. Men and women, young and old, adults and children, had lost all sense of reality from the torturous pain, and were clawing their way on top of anything they could grab: Floating barrels, tables, and deck chairs. Just anything they could find. Even onto other people, they were so desperate to survive. "Jack! Rose!" Clara kept on screaming. "Jack! Rose!" Her desperate screams were drowned by the other shouts in the air. Clutching her nutcracker tightly with one hand, she started to weakly swim through the people in attempt to find them.

"Jack! Rose!" she continued to scream again and again as she paddled through the water. As she swam, she passed by a man who, like her, did not have a lifejacket. He was gasping for air, struggling to stay afloat despite the severe torment he was enduring. He noticed Clara as she swam by, and completely lost hold of whatever sanity he still had left. With an estranged cry, he launched himself on top of her, forcing her to be immersed in the water in his efforts to stay afloat.

Horrified, Clara fought against him to resurface. "No-!" she tried to scream, struggling to keep her head above the seawater. The man ignored her pleas and forced her back under again. Clara started to scream, water gushing back into her lungs as she shoved and kicked at the insane man, desperate to free herself from him. "Jack! Rose!" she screamed over and over again. "Help me! Help me!"

"Clara!" cried a familiar voice. Clara struggled to turn her head. To her great relief and joy, she saw her brother and Rose swimming frantically toward her.

"Jack! Rose! Help-" her screams were cut off by the man pushing her head beneath the surface of the water yet again. Seeing the wild man trying to drown her, both Jack and Rose's facial expressions became angry and protective.

"Get off her!" Rose shouted, trying to yank the man off Clara's tiny body. The man couldn't even hear her in his crazed state-of-mind. He just pushed her away as he kept on trying to drown Clara.

"Get your hands off my sister!" Jack all but screamed as he punched him square in the face, knocking him out instantly. Freed from his grip, Clara pushed her way back to the surface, coughing out tons of water.

"Jack! Rose!" Clara cried, hugging them both tightly.

"Clara!" Jack shouted, he and Rose hugging her back.

"Are you hurt?" Rose shouted, needing to make sure that Clara could hear her over the noise. She shook her head weakly.

"No," she said. Rose hugged her tighter. Jack, although also overjoyed that Clara was okay, knew they had to keep going.

"Swim Clair, Rose!" he shouted. "I need you both to swim!" He quickly took hold of their hands, and started pulling them through the water. "Come on, keep swimming!" It was too hard for poor Clara, who had already nearly drowned twice in the past few minutes. She let go of his hand to catch her breath.

"Clara! Come on!" Rose screamed, trying to grab her hand again. Clara pulled away.

"It's… it's so cold," she panted, struggling to stay floating. "I need to rest…"

Jack just plopped her on his back. "Hold on to me! Keep swimming!" he shouted. She weakly nodded, but the moment he tried to start swimming again, her grip loosened, and she fell right off again.

"Both… both of you keep going!" she shouted. "I'll… I'll be right behind…"

Seeing as she couldn't keep up, they both nodded, and swam slightly slower in between the wailing people, fighting their way through the freezing water to find something to float on. When they were all a little ways apart from the rest of the screaming mob, Rose spotted some debris floating nearby that looked to be a wooden door with oriental carvings all over it. It had obviously been from first-class.

"Jack, Clara, over there!" she yelled, pointing toward it. They followed the direction of her finger and saw what she was referring to. They both nodded, and started swimming quickly over to it.

"Come on, Clair!" Jack shouted, seeing that she was lagging behind again.

"I'm… I'm coming! Hang on!" she called back, swimming with all her might.

"Keep swimming!" Rose said encouragingly. "Come on!" Clara nodded, and tried to swim faster. Jack and Rose reached it first, though.

"Here, get on it," Jack said, helping Rose climb on top of it before getting on as well. Then he turned to help Clara get on as well, offering her his hand. "Come on, get on top." Clara took his hand, and started to pull herself on, but it tilted and started submerging, and all three of them fell back off it. Jack and Rose screamed in shock as they resurfaced. He immediately helped her to get back on. "Here, stay on it! Stay on, Rose!" he shouted. When he turned to help Clara get on it, too, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Clara?" he shouted, fearing she might have been so weak she couldn't even resurface now. He was about to suck in some air and dive beneath the water to try and find her, when he was suddenly pushed out of it from underneath him, and onto the door. Surprised, he forced his way on top of it, gasping for breath. Clara emerged from the water moments later, struggling to dispel the artic waters out of her mouth as she breathed the nipping cold air. When she finally managed to breathe normally again, she nodded to herself, knowing what she had to do. All throughout tonight, Jack and Rose had risked everything to keep her safe: Jack had carried her on his back down in the Master of Arms office so as to protect from the piercing cold water; Rose had cut them both free from the handcuffs around the water pipe so they wouldn't drown; Jack had broken through a locked gate with a bench, and then again by finding the set of keys; they had both tried to get her into a lifeboat, and then they rescued her from the insane Caledon Hockley who had tried to murder her for whatever reason he had. But now, it was her turn to save them. She would stay in the water, sacrificing her life for theirs. It didn't even bother her that she would most likely die from the cold. She was prepared to do so if it meant they could live on and continue loving each other, because that meant her song could live on, too. It had to be finished, but it would never be if either of them were to die tonight. Her brother and Rose were her entire world, and she would never forgive herself if either of them died instead of her. She swam around the debris so that she could be face-to-face with Jack and Rose, who were both lying on their stomachs, and gripped each of their hands tightly with one of hers, and used the hand still clutching her nutcracker to keep her upper body somewhat floating on top of the door. Jack and Rose stared at her, heartbreak evident in their eyes. A sudden splashing behind her made Clara turn around. A man was swimming as hard as he could toward them, only managing to stay afloat because of the life vest he had on. Clara realized he was desperate to get on the door, too, and raised her hand to him, signaling for him to stop where he was.

"It's just enough for this man and lady!" she told him. "You'll push it under, sir!"

"L-let me try at least," the man spluttered out, coughing out some water, "or I'll die soon!"

"You'll die a lot sooner if you come closer!" Clara replied, glaring warningly at the man. He stared at her for a moment, and then slowly nodded; realizing the child in front of him was dead serious to protect the two people on top of the door. Maybe they were her siblings. Maybe they were two dear friends of hers. Maybe they were complete strangers to the little girl, like how he was with her. He may never know, but he did know how to be courteous. Clara slowly relaxed when she saw him turn away.

"Yes, yes, I see," he replied, starting to swim away. "Good luck to you, then."

"And to you," Clara replied.

"God bless!" The man said over his shoulder before disappearing back into the mob of thrashing people. Clara slowly turned back around to face Jack and Rose.

"Wh-what about you?" Rose asked worriedly, not wanting anything to happen to the sweet girl.

"I'll b-be fine…" Clara all but whispered, breathing warm air on their clasped hands. "I-I'm a survivor, re-remember? A Chippewa F-Fall's Dawson…"

"N-no, Clara!" Jack struggled to say. "Th-the three of us have come this f-far already! I-I won't l-lose you! You can st-still get on!"

"I'll p-push it under…" she said faintly, not wanting to put either of them into danger. The cold was getting to her, and making it difficult for her to speak. "L-like I told that man… i-it's only big enough f-for you and R-Rose…"

"Th-then I'll get off!" Jack said, trying to carefully slide off the door. With a cry, Clara threw herself at the side of the door, pushing him back on. The door swayed slightly, but still stayed afloat.

"Don't d-do that!" Clara nearly shrieked, swimming back around to face him and Rose. "You don't h-have a life vest, big br-brother! You're t-too weak to stay fl-floating! I'm only floating r-right now because I'm h-holding onto the d-door!"

"I-I'll get off then!" Rose said.

"N-no!" Clara bawled, clutching hers and Jack's hands strongly. "D-don't you d-dare!"

"But… b-but Clara-!" Rose tried to protest.

"N-no!" Clara said firmly, looking them both in the eye. "If… If y-you both really l-love me, stay on the d-door… please!"

Jack and Rose stared at each other for a moment. Clara really did love them so much. She wouldn't let either of them get off this door so she could get on. She was determined to save them, no matter what. They looked back at her, and nodded desolately.

"It'll be al-alright, now…" Jack whispered, rubbing his hands over Clara's arms to keep her warm. She sighed, feeling the warmth spread throughout her body. He felt his tears freeze on his cheeks. It broke his heart to see Clara, his only little sister, shivering to death in this icy water. He wished to no extent that he could just take all the pain she was enduring right now away, and put it on his shoulders to bear, on top of the pain he was feeling, too. The thought of how agonizingly painful that would be didn't even faze him. She was his flesh and blood, his only family. He loved her more than he loved himself. She was much too fragile, too little to be able to survive going through these extreme conditions. For the first time since having met Rose, he regretted falling in love with her, because if it weren't for the love they felt for each other, Clara would be safely in a lifeboat, at least somewhat warmer than she was right now.

"St-stay strong, Cl-Clara…" Rose stuttered, giving her knuckles a gentle kiss. Clara gave her a weak smile and nodded. Rose could only tear up. Clara had been so determined to make sure that the three of them stayed together, she had jumped off the lifeboat to get back onto the ship. Rose loved that about her. She was so strong-willed, and had such a kind, determined spirit inside her. Children like her didn't appear every day. She was truly one of a kind. She and Jack hadn't even really convinced her to get in the boat, when she thought back on it, now. They had only convinced her enough so she wouldn't fight against Lightoller when he grabbed her to get her in. Rose gently caressed her cheek with her free hand, remembering how shocked and horrified she had been when she and Jack had witnessed Clara jump back onto the sinking ship. She remembered kissing each of her cheeks in a nonstop frenzy when she had come running back to them. She had been so overjoyed that Clara was all right, but her answer of why she had jumped back onto Titanic had shocked her even more:

"You guys jump, I jump, right?" she asked, reciting the words she had heard them both say while attempting to smile.

And that was the answer as to why she was out here with them in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, literally freezing to death as they pondered whether or not the other boats would come back to rescue them.

One man about a few yards away from them, Chief Officer Wilde, was blowing on his whistle frantically, desperate for the lifeboats to return.

"Return- the boats…!" he softly shouted, clutching onto the deck chair he was floating on as tight as he could. Jack and Rose swallowed at the sight of him. He was already succumbing to the extreme cold. Clara sensed they were both so worried about her, and decided she had to say something to try and convince them that there was still hope, and to ease the uncomfortable guilt they were feeling for being on the door instead of her.

"Th-the boats are coming back f-for us, Jack, R-Rose," she gulped. "I… I can h-hold on a little l-longer… they had to r-row away from the suction… but n-now they'll be coming b-back…" She shivered uncontrollably as she said this, her blonde hair starting to frost slightly.

Jack forced his blue lips to smile at Clara's determination to survive, and squeezed her hand tightly as his other hand tried to keep rubbing her arm in order to keep her warm. Rose kissed her knuckles, blowing hot air on their linked hands. Not wanting to be the only one to be receiving warmth, Clara tried to return their kindness, breathing hot air on their joined hands. It was difficult, because they were all trying to make small movements in order not to tip the debris back into the freezing water, but they managed, somehow.

"C-come back!" they could hear one women scream nearby. "For God's sake!"

"Please!" another man shouted. "H-help us!"

Jack and Rose forced themselves not to cry. Despite Clara's optimism, they had but slim hopes that any of them would survive. All they could do now was wait.

In Lifeboat Six, Ruth held her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the distressed screams. She couldn't bear to listen. What if Rose was one of them? What if she was out there right now screaming at the top of her lungs, begging to be rescued? Next to her, Molly Brown was trying to convince the officer in charge of their boat to have them go back and rescue some people, but he was refusing.

"You don't understand," Officer Hitchens said gently, trying to reason with the broad-shouldered first-class woman. "If we go back, they'll swamp the boat! They'll pull us right down, I tell yeh!" Molly Brown glared at him as she got to her feet. She wasn't going to stand down without a fight.

"Knock it off, yer scarin' me!" She snapped sharply. Then she turned to the other women in the boat. "Come on girls, grab an oar, let's go!"

"Are yeh outta yer mind?" Hitchens said, starting to lose his patience with Molly. "We're in the middle of the North Atlantic! Now, d'yeh people want to live, or d'yeh want to die?"

Hearing his words, all the women aside from Molly just shivered as they huddled together, not reaching for the oars. Molly just stared at them in disbelief.

"I don't understand a one of yeh!" Molly said, looking at each of crying women's faces. "What's the matter with yeh? It's your men out there!" One woman literally began to sob uncontrollably, but she still didn't reach for the oars. Molly couldn't help but glare at her. "There's plenty of room for more!" Hitchens finally lost his cool with Molly's insistence.

"And there'll be one less on this boat," he nearly shouted, "if you don't shut that hole in your face!"

Molly glared angrily at him, but sat back down beside Ruth, who was just staring sadly out at the thrashing bodies as she kept her hands over her ears. She had wanted to stand up beside Molly, and encourage the others that they should go back, but the fear of reaching it there too late and only finding Rose's frozen corpse was what kept her quiet. She would die from shock and grief if she were to behold such a sight.

Molly Brown wasn't the only person amongst the nearby boats that wanted to return, however. Two hundred yards away from the thrashing bodies was Lifeboat One, and in it were only ten or so people, among which were Sir Cosmo and Lucille Lady Duff-Gordon. The boat was only two-thirds full. They could easily fit more people.

"We should do something," said the voice of one of the engine room workers on the dingy collapsible, Charles Hendrickson. Lucille's hand squeezed Cosmo's tightly, and she pleadingly stared at him. Seeing the terrified look in his wife's eyes, Sir Cosmo hesitantly shook his head.

"It's out of the question," he said firmly to Hendrickson. Intimidated by the authority in his voice, the others in the boat, passengers and crewmen alike, slowly complied as they huddled together guiltily, wishing and praying that the horrifying screams would soon cease.

At that same moment, Fifth-Officer Lowe had taken the liberty of stepping up and taking charge of his boat. He was busy instructing the other few crewmen in his boat, Lifeboat Fourteen, to secure their boat to the other three that had managed to row up to them: Lifeboats Ten and Twelve, and Collapsible D.

"Bring in your oars over there. Tie these two boats together as well," he called out to the few men tying the boats together. "Now, make sure that's tied up nice and tight."

Lowe glanced hesitantly over his shoulder at the tortured souls in the distance, knowing what he had to do.

"Right, listen to me, men!" He shouted to the men not only in his boat, but also in all the boats. "We have to go back!" Everyone, men, women, and children alike, stared at him as though he were insane, but he paid no mind to them. Ever since he had been instructed by Lightoller to take charge of this boat, he had intended to go back. He would never be able to live with himself if he were to allow the people in the water to freeze to death. He was quite sure he would be mad to go back immediately, and that was why he had hesitated until now to say anything. It was cruel to say, but he had to allow some people to succumb to the cold. If they were to have gone back the moment the ship went down, they would have had every person in the water swamping the boat. But within the first five minutes of Titanic having completely sunk beneath the waves, the screams had somewhat subsided. They could risk going back, now.

"I want to transfer all the women and children from this boat, into that boat right now," he said, pointing to Lifeboat Twelve. "As quick as you can, please. Let's create some space over there! Move forward and out!" The women and children in Lifeboat Fourteen were somewhat hesitant to do as he said, but they did it nonetheless. He was a ship's officer, and he had a look about him right now that made it quite clear to them all that he would not take no for an answer. One woman in a shawl made a beeline for Lifeboat Twelve, and stumbled as she tried to climb into it. Lifeboat Fourteen rocked slightly when she slipped.

"Not too quickly, madam," Lowe said gently, placing his hand on her shoulder. She moved at the exact same moment, and his hand accidentally slid her shawl off. Everyone in all four of the lifeboats was shocked when they saw the shawled figure was actually an Italian immigrant man. He had disguised himself as a woman in order to escape the sinking ship. Lowe was enraged at the sight of him. This coward had taken the spot that one of the desperate souls right now that were screaming in agony right now had needed. He punched in square in the nose in blind fury.

"How dare you!" he shouted in disgust as the Italian slowly stood back up. He tried to say something in his native tongue, but Lowe just shoved him toward Lifeboat Twelve. "Get in there!" He shot one last look of anger at the man before turning back to the women that still had to get onto the other boats. "Come on, this way, madam."

Jack, Rose, and Clara drifted under the millions of stars up above as they shuddered violently from the cold. It had been at least seven minutes since Titanic had gone down, and as the time had ticked past, the screams around them had lessened. Slowly, at first, but then faster and faster, and all the three of them could make out now were a few faint shouts.

"Please…!" came one distinctive yell of the few random ones they could understand. "C-come back…!"

"It's getting quiet." Jack stated in a shaky tone. His voice was starting to wear out. Rose weakly nodded at the depressingly truth.

"I-It's just gonna t-take them… a c-couple minutes t-to get… th-the boats organized…." Clara said optimistically, breathing hard as she forced her blue lips to move as she clutched their hands and her nutcracker tightly. The cold was making it very difficult for the three of them to speak at this point.

Jack and Rose merely frowned. They both knew that there weren't going to be any boats. They had been waiting far too long. They could both see Chief Officer Wilde, who had been blowing his whistle furiously just a few minutes ago, but now he looked as though he was in a peaceful slumber. He had lost his battle against death, in reality.

"I d-don't know about either of you…" Clara suddenly continued between her chattering teeth, glancing up at them. "B-but I intend to w-write a… st-strongly worded letter to the W-White-Star-Line about all this… About m-mocking that st-stupid book…" Clara took a deep breath before shivering fiercely. Then she smiled as she gently shut her eyes. She was completely exhausted, and just wanted this torture to be over with for good.

Rose tried to smile at her comment, but couldn't because of numb her cheeks had become from the cold. Then she attempted to move her head to look at Jack. He was gently caressing Clara's wet, frozen hair, doing his best to comfort her. Feeling her gaze, he turned to look at Rose, and gave her a weak smile. She forced her lips to turn up slightly. They loved each other so much, but fate was going to force them to be separated. Jack and Rose had never even had the chance to tell the other of how they felt, and they didn't have to; they were soul mates. They were able to understand what the other thought just by looking into each other's eyes. Destiny had brought them together on Titanic, but now it was going to tear them apart by having it sink. How unfair it truly was. They had fallen in love only two days ago, and it had only been a few hours ago that they had expressed that love. It was almost astonishing that they had been so carefree and happy when they had first kissed for the first time just that afternoon at the bow of the ship. As much as Jack and Rose didn't want to admit it, they knew that there wasn't going to be any boats to rescue them, and that was why they both said what they did next. It wasn't how either of them would have ever dreamed of telling the other, but they would have to say it now, because all of the odds were against them surviving. It was the most difficult thing for Jack and Rose to tell each other, because they both meant it from the bottom of their hearts.

"I love you, Jack."

"I love you, too, Rose."

Clara's brain was working much slower than usual due to the freezing temperatures, and she was trying to make sense of what had made her brother and Rose confess their feelings to one another right then. She could tell they were in love, even if they hadn't told each other, but why was it important to tell one another right then? There was going to be other opportunities, right? But then it all made sense: They were telling each other now because they were both giving up. She would have screamed from the shock if she had had any strength left. She squeezed their joined hands to get their attention. Somehow, she had to convince them. She had to convince them not to lose hope. They loved each other so much, and she wouldn't let them throw that away just because of this horrible tragedy. Her song would die with them if they didn't survive.

"D-don't you two do that…" Clara began in a hoarse, but firm voice. She almost sounded angry that Jack and Rose were even thinking that thought. "Don't s-say your goodbyes… neither of you… Not yet… do you both understand me?"

"Clara… it's so cold…" Jack whispered, shivering to stay warm. It was a struggle for him to listen to what she was saying, because all he could concentrate on was the pain from the freezing waters.

"L-listen, big brother, you and R-Rose are gonna g-get out of here…" Clara told her, she herself believing the powerful statement. "You're b-both gonna go on… and y-you're gonna have… l-lots of babies…" she continued, managing a lovely grin. "And… And you guys are gonna watch them grow… Y-you two are gonna die as old… as old married f-folks… warm in bed t-together… So not here…" Jack and Rose felt their hearts ache at Clara's words. They both so badly wanted to believe her, but how could they? If any boats were coming back to rescue them, they would have come by now. Clara forced herself to go on, whispering the next sentences with shocking determination so Jack and Rose could understand how important it was to her for both of them to survive. "Not this night… Not like this… Do you both understand me?" She swallowed thickly once she finished, trying to sooth her aching, frozen throat. The cold was slowly engulfing all of them, and it was like they were suffocating themselves whenever they tried to speak.

Jack so badly wanted to believe his little sisters' words, but everything seemed so helpless. It was so sweet of Clara to try and fill him and Rose with hope right now, but all he could think about was how unbearably cold it was.

"Cl-Clair, I can't even feel my body," he said weakly. He could see his misty breath puff out in front of his face as he spoke.

"And I c-can't speak any l-louder than this," Rose added in a quivering whisper.

Clara forced herself to tighten her grip on their hands, willing both of them to feel it as her eyes brimmed with tears. She wanted, no, needed them to understand how important it was to her for the two of them to survive, and how wonderful it had been for her to watch them fall in love. She went on with what she was saying with passion ringing in her voice.

"J-Jack, Rose, I was wrong… from the very b-beginning," she said. Jack and Rose stared at her, puzzled by what she meant. She was truly having trouble getting this out. Her words sounded choked up in her throat, like she was trying to hold back great sobs. "Titanic… wasn't cursed… because it brought you two together… Winning those tickets, big brother… was the best thing that could have ever happened to us… I got to watch you fall in love with Rose… And I got the opportunity to start writing a beautiful love song for you both…" She whispered, forcing herself to smile. "So I'm thankful for that Jack, Rose… I'm so thankful…" Jack and Rose couldn't help but smile back as they heard her touching words. They had seen how her blue lips had trembled from the cold as she spoke, and they could feel how weak her breath was on their faces. The freezing temperatures of the waters were slowly making their way to Clara's heart, but she had to keep going, for the sake of their love.

"B-both… Both of you…" she attempted to say as she repositioned her upper body on the door a little with the hand holding onto her nutcracker. Her other hand gripped Jack and Rose's linked hands as hard as she could while she looked both of them in the eyes, needing them to see how desperate she was for both of them to understand. "Both of you… must do me this honor… Jack, Rose, you both must promise me… that you'll both survive… That neither one of you will… give up… Neither one of you…" Again, Clara was choking up at her own words as her tears started to flow down her tiny cheeks, freezing within seconds. "Promise me… that my love song for you both will live on… that it will be finished… It can't ever be finished… if either of you die… My song… my song for you both… It has to be finished!"

Tears started to gather in Jack and Rose's eyes, too, and both of them so badly wished to cry, to let their emotions take over. But their throats were in so much pain, that all they could manage to let out were gasping sobs as they saw how much effort it was taking out of Clara to say this.

"No matter what happens… no matter how hopeless…" Clara let out a painfully big breath of air as she went on. "Promise me now, Jack, Rose… and never let go of that promise…" Jack and Rose could see the painted determination on her face, her tearful turquoise blue eyes that was pleading with both them to survive. They could see how meant this meant to her. For her sake, they would promise her this.

"I promise…" Rose whispered hoarsely.

"So do I…" Jack whispered, clutching Clara's hand as tight as he could. "I promise…"

"Never let go…" Clara whispered, wanting them to always remember this moment.

"We will never let go, Clara…" Jack said softly as he promised the most meaningful promise he could ever make.

"That's right, Clara…" Rose said, kissing her forehead gently. "We will never let go…"

Relieved that they had did this for her, Clara gently kissed their knuckles in gratitude as she smiled the biggest smile she could make.

"Thank you…" Clara whispered. "Thank you…" Jack and Rose smiled back at her. "While we wait," she said in an ever so soft voice. "Will… will you both sing for me?" Jack and Rose nodded.

"Of course," Rose whispered, stroking her wet hair out of her eyes.

"Sure," Jack told her. "Get nice and comfortable…" Clara nodded, and shut her heavy eyelids and held her nutcracker tightly as Jack and Rose turned onto their backs to look up the night sky, both of them still clutching onto Clara's little hand. With an ever so slight nod to each other, they both softly began to sing.

Fifth-Officer Lowe held out his flashlight in front of him, illuminating the dark waters and floating bodies and debris as Lifeboat Fourteen slowly rowed to the sea of frozen corpses.

"Right ahead, sir," one of the crewmen in the boat shouted as they approached. Lowe nodded in reply.

"Do you see any moving?" he called out.

"No, sir," said one of the rowers as he carefully maneuvered his oar around the first dead body. "None moving, sir."

"Check them!" Lowed shouted, determined to save at least one life. "Bring that oar up here. Check them, to make sure!" One crewman turned to the first dead body he saw near the boat and grabbed the man by his lifejacket. He nearly screamed. The man was ghostly white with death, and his lifeless eyeballs seemed to be staring straight into his soul.

"These are dead, sir," He said, gently letting the man go. He knew he would be haunted for the rest of his life by the memory of the frozen corpse.

"Ahead, easy," said Lowe, still looking for any sign of movement among the bodies.

"Careful with the oars." Said the crewman who had looked at the man with the open eyes. "Don't hit them." The rowers nodded as Lowe shouted out to the quiet sea,

"Is there anyone alive out there?" Silence responded. Lowe gulped and called out again, "Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone alive out there?" His voice echoed in the still night, and again, there was no reply. Lowe was about to shout out again, when he saw something that made his very bones chill.

Floating in the water beside the boat was the corpse a young woman in a lifebelt, her arms securely wrapped around a bundled up, frozen infant. Lowe shed tears at the sight of the mother and child. This was, without a doubt, the worst moment of his entire life.

"We waited too long…" he murmured to himself, still staring at tragic sight. He shut his eyes tightly and turned back to the other crewmen. "Keep checking them! Keep looking!" He screamed. He had failed so many people by waiting as long as he had to order the boat to go back, but there had to be at least one soul out there that was still alive. He had to save at least one life.

"Is there anyone alive out there?" Lowe shouted out to the floating corpses in the water as Lifeboat Fourteen continue to search for anyone still alive. "Can anyone hear me?"

A disgruntled shout not to far away made every head in the boat turn, searching for the person who had called out to them.

"Over there!" cried one of the men, pointing off into the distance. Lowe flicked his flashlight in the direction of the man's finger. A Chinese man was waving to them as he floated on the large dining room table from first-class he had found, still shouting to them in Chinese.

"I see him!" Lowe shouted. "Pull! Pull! Pull! Put your backs into it!" The foreigner kept shouting to them as he reached out his hand so they could haul him into the boat. "Bring him in! Help him out! Bring him in, quickly!"

"Aye, sir!" shouted one of the crewmen as he the others pulled him into the lifeboat.

"Now, cover him with those blankets," Lowe ordered. "Keep him warm!"

"Here's the blankets!" shouted one of the crewmen as he handed three blankets to the two men that were trying to assist the Chinese immigrant to sit up in the boat. "Cover him up!" They proceeded to bundle him up. The foreigner sighed in content, feeling the warmth of the blankets.

"Right," said Lowe, turning the attention of the others back on him. "There may still be others. Keep looking!"

Jack and Rose stared motionlessly up at the great canopy of stars directly above them, reflecting upon the millpond surface of the black sea as they floated upon the wooden door. Their hands were locked together with Clara's, whose upper body was slumped over the edge of the door as she weakly held their hands and her nutcracker. Their voices had long since given out from singing to her. It had seemed like hours ago that Titanic had sunk and they were forced to endure this excruciating pain, but it couldn't have been that long. With every minute that ticked by, they felt themselves grower weaker and weaker, and by now they couldn't even scream from the pain because it was simply too hard on their frozen throats. It was driving them both mad.

They were both as white as freshly fallen snow, like the other dead bodies around them, and their only focus was on the infinite cosmos up above. They briefly glanced at each other, and then looked back up at the stars. They both knew they were dying. They had waited far too long for a boat to come back, and they were both going to die any second now. They wouldn't be able to fulfill the promise they had made to Clara.

Just then, a great streak of light dashed across the dark sky. A shooting star. Jack and Rose couldn't help but frown when they saw it. Somewhere out here, amongst these frozen bodies, one unfortunate soul had finally lost their battle against the frigid temperature of the water, and was now on their way to heaven. They would be joining that poor person any time now. At least it wasn't Clara. Clara… that reminded Jack and Rose of what she had requested, and they softly began to sing again.

"Come Josephine," Rose sang in a whisper, barely registering how hoarse her voice was, now. "In my flying machine…"

"And it's up she goes," Jack sang, barely moving his frozen lips. "Up she goes…"

"Come, Josephine," they sang together in a barely audible whisper as they both felt the white light of heaven hit their faces. "In my flying machine…" Then they both heard something: A vague, far off voice amongst the stillness of the night.

"Hello… anyone hear me…? Is anyone… out there? Hello!" They both realized the light they were feeling was an actual, faint light out here in the real world. With much effort, Jack and Rose forced their heads to turn in the direction of the light, ripping away their hair that was frozen on the wood of the door. There was a black mass sailing through the water, and the light was moving along with it. At first, Jack and Rose wasn't even sure what the thing was, but then, to their great relief and joy, they realized that it was one of the lifeboats. A lifeboat had actually come back for them! They had survived the sinking! They were going to live to see the next day! They were going to be able to keep their promise to Clara! Clara… they both turned onto their stomachs to see if she had seen the boat, too. She hadn't. She had been so tired, she had fallen asleep in the water, and it was only because Jack and Rose were hanging onto her hand that she hadn't floated away. Their hearts softened as they saw how the frozen crystals in Clara's hair framed her cute face. They hated to wake her from her peaceful slumber, but it was for life's sake.

"Clara," Jack whispered, gently shaking her wrist with his and Rose's hand to wake her. The metal of the handcuff on her wrist jingled, but she didn't so much as stir.

"Clara," said Rose in a somewhat louder voice, as she used her other hand to shake her little arm. She still didn't move.

"Clair," Jack said, shaking her wrist harder, "Clair, there's a boat…" Clara just continued to dream on.

"Clara," Rose whispered, shaking her arm as hard as she could. "Clara?"

"Clara?" Jack said, shaking her with all his might. "Clara?

Clara's head wobbled lifelessly upon the wooden door, only moving from the force of their shakes, but she still didn't awaken. Her face was whiter than either of theirs was, and the hand holding her nutcracker was now only holding it because of the ice frozen between her hand and the toy. Jack and Rose slowly began to realize why she wouldn't respond.

"Clara!" Rose cried out, shaking her frantically.

"Clara!" Jack cried as loud as possible, desperately praying for this not to be true, that his only little sister was still here with them. "There's a boat, Clara!" There was no movement from the little girl.

Jack and Rose slowly burst into tears from the little strength they had left. This couldn't be real. Sweet little Clara was now just another of the frozen corpses floating around them. She was gone. Gone forever. They slowly laid their heads back down on the wooden door and kept on crying bitterly as the lifeboat rowed past, not noticing the heartbroken couple mourning over the life of the little girl in the water. After several moments, though, Jack and Rose's eyes snapped open, remembering what they had promised Clara: They had to survive. They had to finish her beloved song. They had to get the attention of the boat.

"Come back!" Rose shouted hoarsely, she and Jack leaning up slightly to see the boat. It was practically invisible against the blackness of the night now, and the light from the flashlight looked like an impossibly faraway star. "Come back!"

"Come back!" Jack called out in a barely louder voice. It was no use. Their screams weren't even loud enough to be heard from fifteen meters away. "Come back!"

"Come back! Come back!" Rose kept on shouting, desperate for the boat to turn around. "Come back!"

"Hello!" Jack and Rose heard Fifth-Officer Lowe shout out as he and the other men in the boat continued searching for survivors. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Come back!" Jack screamed hoarsely. "We hear you! Come back!" The lifeboat continued to sail away. Rose dejectedly looked around for something to attract the attention of the men in the boat. Then she spied the whistle frozen in the mouth of the dead Chief Officer Wilde. She cleared her throat to get Jack's attention.

"Jack… the whistle!" she pointed at the dead officer. Jack nodded. They had to get that whistle. They both started to slide off the door, but a sudden tugging on their hands made them look back down at Clara. Their hands had frozen together over the wait. Jack and Rose sadly looked at each for a moment. They would have to let her go if they were to get to the whistle. With heartfelt sobs, they both painfully yanked their hands out of her grasp, breaking apart the thin trail of ice that had gathered in between their palms. Jack then saw her nutcracker. It was a miracle she still had it. Over the course of everything they had been through during the sinking, she still had it with her. He wasn't sure if Clara would want him to do this or not, but without a second thought, he tried to pry her hand away from the toy. Seeing him struggle to free it from the ice surrounding Clara's hand, Rose helped. Together, they successfully got it out of Clara's grip. They would treasure her nutcracker and the memory of Clara forever. They would never ever forget this little girl. Jack and Rose glanced at each other. It was time to say goodbye. They each grasped her hands tightly one last time as tears gathered in their eyes.

"We'll never let go…" Jack whispered, gently stroking Clara's wet hair.

"We'll finish your song…" Rose whispered, kissing her forehead lovingly.

"We promise…" they each kissed her knuckles one last time, and then they let her go. Clara slowly sunk beneath the dark, murky waves, peacefully dreaming on as she faded down into the deep abyss of the ocean to join the Titanic. They continued to cry as they watched her fade away until her body was no longer visible from the darkness of the water.

Jack and Rose just stayed there for a moment, but then they remembered the whistle and the boat. They grabbed each other's hands tightly before slowly sliding off the door. They both shouted hoarsely and shut their eyes tightly when they felt the icy water penetrate their pores once again. They both were so exhausted; they could barely move their heavy limbs, but they forced themselves to swim toward the body of Chief Officer Wilde. When they reached him, they both grabbed onto the deck chair he had been staying afloat on. Jack ripped the whistle out of his mouth, and brought it to his lips. He blew it with every ounce of air he had for several moments before Rose snatched it away and started to blow upon it as well, not wanting him to run out of breath. They both watched the men in the boat whip around at the sound of them blowing the whistle.

"Turn around!" they heard Lowe scream at the men in the boat as Jack took the whistle back from Rose and started to blow on it again. They continued to take turns blowing on it until the boat was right next to them, and the men were hauling them both in, covering them up with warm blankets.

Jack and Rose held each other's hands tightly as they slowly opened their eyes, returning from that tragic night to the present day. The sound of the whistle seemed to echo throughout the very room. Their eyes were shining slightly, but unlike their listeners, they weren't crying. They were both silent as they took in the expressions of those in front of them.

Lizzie wasn't even bothering to hold back her sobs. She could hardly believe that such a tragic thing had happened to her grandparents. She had even told Brock herself that they had never even mentioned that they had both been on Titanic before, and now she knew why. Not only did they not wish to relive seeing her Great Aunt die in front of them, they had also wanted to spare her the horror and sorrow of everything that had happened during the final hours that the doomed luxury liner had been afloat.

Lewis Bodine had tears streaming down his cheeks. He felt incredibly guilty. He had been so rude and cocky when he had learned that the people in front of him had claimed to be on the Titanic, and had even accused them of being publicity seekers. He had even gone so far as to be a smartass to them by showing Jack and Rose that stupid computer graphic of the ship going down. How he wished he could find a way to apologize for how rude he had been to them and skeptical of their story.

Bobby Buell was shaking with grief as his tears rolled down his face. From the beginning, all he had cared about was how much money they were spending per day. He had backed Brock into a corner, forcing him to get the old folks in front of him to hurry up with this tragic tale. How he had wanted to know this story was beyond him, now. He had forced these people to hurry up with telling a story that still hurt them deeply.

Brock Lovett could only stare sadly at Jack and Rose as he cried silently. Yes, he had thought about the tragedy of the Titanic in the past, and had imagined what it must have been like for the survivors, but Jack and Rose's tale of the reality of what had happened here on that terrible night eighty-four years ago had hit him like never before. He had been too blinded by his greed for fame to stop and really think deeply about it. He was no different than a goddamn grave robber. He had disturbed the resting place of over a thousand innocent souls that had perished here, and all because of his desperation to find a stupid diamond necklace. A necklace, he now realized, that was truly worthless to the couple in front of him whereas compared to the little nutcracker in Jack's hands that they had as a token to remember sweet little Clara.

"Fifteen hundred people went into the sea," Rose said calmly, bringing everyone out of their thoughts, "when Titanic sank from under us." She stopped there, letting everyone take in the vast number of lives that had gone down with the Ship of Dreams.

"There were twenty boats floating nearby," Jack said solemnly, willing to let none of his emotions be heard in his voice as he spoke. "And only one came back. One."

"Seven were saved from the water. Ourselves included." Rose said with a trembling voice.

"Seven," Jack emphasized, his voice wavering with grief slightly at the memory of the unfortunate souls that they had both seen freeze to death. "Out of fifteen hundred…" They were both silent for a moment to collect their emotions. When they were both calm again, Jack and Rose looked back up at their semicircle of listeners.

"Afterward," Rose continued, "the seven hundred people in the boats, had nothing to do but wait…"

"Wait to die… Wait to live…" Jack murmured softly, looking down at Clara's nutcracker with tearful eyes.

"Wait for an absolution," Rose said. "That would never come…"

Dawn stretched across the horizon; the soft glows of the sun slowly lighted the North Atlantic to reveal twenty lifeboats floating along upon it. Some were overturned, and had desperate survivors sitting on top of it to stay out of the frigid water as they bobbed along the surface of the ocean. Others were right side up, and had as few as ten or so people in them, to as many seventy all cramped together. It had been an hour and a half since Titanic had sunk beneath the waves, but not a single one of the seven hundred survivors in the twenty lifeboats had slept a wink.

In Collapsible C, Bruce Ismay just stared blankly in front of him. He didn't know what to think. His ship beloved ship was now at the bottom of the ocean, and he was going to be the one people blamed for sure. He had been the one that had convinced Captain Smith to give the order to speed up, and because of it, they weren't able to turn in time to avoid that iceberg. He could never expect forgiveness for the poor families that had lost their loved ones…

In Collapsible A, Caledon Hockley was trembling as he rocked the little girl on his lap, overcome by grief and repulsion for his previous actions. How could he have done that? How could he have become so angry, that he had lost his common sense and tried to kill poor Clara? He was disgusted with himself. She, Rose, and that gutter- Jack, probably hadn't even survived because of his reckless deed. If by some chance the three of them had survived, he would find them, and apologize, hopeful that they would forgive him, despite being highly unlikely. He would even break off his engagement Rose. Compared to how he had acted towards her even before she met Jack and Clara, her actions were no different than how a saint would react. The man in front of him suddenly offered him a flask. He kindly accepted. Alcohol was probably the only thing in the world that could calm him down, right now.

In Lifeboat Six, Molly and Ruth were huddled together to stay warm. Neither of them had said a single word, but there was no need to. The fact that they had someone in this boat that they knew was a great comfort. New money and old money no longer made any difference. The fact that they were both alive right now was all that mattered.

In Lifeboat Fourteen, Jack and Rose laid together at the bottom the boat, swaddled in blankets. They were both as white as the fading moon above. They were both exhausted, but neither of them dared to try and sleep. The memory of sweet little Clara lying dead on that door was the only thing either of them could think about. She had been only an innocent little girl, with dreams bigger than the ocean itself, but now she would never fulfill those dreams. She would never see her hometown of Chippewa Fall's again, or go back to the pier in Santa Monica, or become a renowned composer. All that was left of her was her beloved nutcracker. She was gone, and would never come back.

A sudden light next to them made Jack and Rose come back from their thoughts and turn their heads slightly. Fifth-Officer Lowe had lit one of the emergency flares, and was waving it madly over his head, obviously trying to get the attention of someone faraway.

"We're saved!" he shouted happily, still waving the flare. "Praise be to God! We're saved!" The others in the boat looked in the direction he was looking, and started to cheer in joy and relief. Jack and Rose slowly sat up and glanced in the direction everyone was looking, wondering what was going on. Then they saw it. In the distance was a great ship, looming larger with every passing second as it came toward the scattered lifeboats. It was much smaller than the Titanic, and only had one steam funnel, but it was still a ship, and it had come to rescue them all. Jack and Rose just stared silently at the ship, not joining in the cheers of the fellow survivors in their boat as the crewmen rowed toward it, eager to get on board.

Jack and Rose didn't say a single word when their lifeboat finally rowed up to the ship. They were the first of the lifeboats to reach it. They both just stared emotionlessly up at the black bow of the ship, reading the name of their savior that was stamped across it: Carpathia. They watched as the crewmen on the Carpathia yelled out orders as they threw down a rope ladder from the gangway doors so the survivors could all climb aboard. The rope ladder wasn't very long, so it wouldn't be too long or hard to climb it. Nonetheless, Rose, who was the first to board the Carpathia, still needed help to climb it, as she was still very weak from the time spent in the water. Jack went after her. Being sleep-drunken and overcome by grief from the death of Clara, he was very shaky on his legs as he grabbed hold of the ladder and started to slowly, but surely climb it, doing his best to hold on to Clara's toy as he did. With the help of the crewmen behind him, he was able to make it all the way to the top, and was helped over the side of the ship, and onto the safety of deck by two of the Carpathia's crewmen.

As he stepped away from the ladder, he saw Rose behind one of the crewmen, obviously waiting for him, and his face lit up when he saw her. In his rush to be near her again, he nearly tripped, and stumbled on Rose. She only supported him, and with the assistance of a nearby volunteer, helped him to stand back up. Once he was upright again, two kind crewmen wrapped warm blankets around both of them, replacing the old ones they had left in the lifeboat. Jack and Rose didn't say a word as they did this. They were still in shock, and they could only acknowledge each other. The crewmen weren't offended at all as they walked away from them. They couldn't even imagine the terror they had both been through. Jack and Rose silently made their way through the crowd of people on the deck that were trying to catch a glimpse of the Titanic survivors. Their curious expressions swiftly changed to those absolute horror when they saw the state of Jack and Rose, and they all automatically stepped back, clearing a path for them as they walked by.

As they passed through the crowd of onlookers to find someplace on deck they would be able to sit down at, two more crewmen approached them. The first wrapped them both up in yet another warm blanket to keep them warm, as the other offered them both large, hot cups of tea. Jack and Rose just kept staring ahead blankly, not seeing the drinks they were presented. The crewman that had wrapped the blanket around them quickly realized this, and took one cup the second crewman had offered them. With gentle hands, he took the hand near him that Rose was using to keep the blankets wrapped tightly around her, and placed the cup of tea in it before doing the same with Jack.

They went straight down to the third-class section, and quickly found an empty wooden bench facing the ocean. They settled there. As they sipped their tea, the shock slowly started to wear off them and they watched more survivors make their way down to the lower levels they were at. Like them, there were many who were simply staring blankly ahead, not even acknowledging anyone, and others just wept bitterly, not caring what other people thought. Just watching all of these sad people made Rose want to cry, but she held back her tears. Now wasn't the time to cry. She had to stay strong for Jack. If anything, he should be the one crying right now. He had just lost his little sister, and when the protective wall he had built around himself right now to block out the terrible truth finally came tumbling down, she would have to be there to comfort him.

She tenderly laid her head on his shoulder. Jack didn't look at her as he wrapped his arm around her waist. His eyes were still taking in the survivors around them. By now, there was a quite a fair amount of people on deck. Most of them were women and children, and including him, there was but a handful of men. Everyone was reacting differently. Some people were standing; others were lying down or sitting on the benches. Some were with what was left of their families, and others were completely alone without anyone left in the world. Some people were mourning as they cried hysterically, and others were very quiet as they stared solemnly at nothing at all.

He paused suddenly when he saw a little girl and her mother huddled together on a blanket near them. The woman was singing softly to the little girl as she stroked her blonde hair, hugging her tightly as the girl buried her face into her chest and cried. His heart broke when he saw her, and he looked down at Clara's nutcracker in his hand, holding it tightly. That girl looked so much like Clara. What would she be doing right now if she had survived, too? Would she be crying like that other girl was, or just stare blankly at nothing at all like him and Rose? Without meaning for it to happen, a lonely tear slid down his cheek, and landed on the beard of the nutcracker. He turned his head a little, not wanting Rose to see as he wiped it away on the blanket covering his shoulder, but she did. Rose knew he needed to cry. He needed to mourn for her. She set down her finished cup of tea and tenderly wrapped both her arms around Jack; silently telling him it was okay for him to cry.

That was all it took. With a choked sob, Jack started to cry hysterically. His entire heart was throbbing, and everything was completely surreal. Less than a week ago, he had been in Europe with sweet little Clara, the only family he had left. They had always been together, through the good times, and the bad. The two of them had been working to go back home to America, and fulfill their lifelong dreams. He had had so much planned once they docked in New York. With the little bit of money they had made back in Europe, he would exchange it for American cash and buy train tickets out to Santa Monica. He was going to get a steady job, and actually settle down from now on so that she could go to school. She was going to get a decent education so she could go on and go to college, and then one day become the composer she had always dreamed of becoming, but now, none of that would happen. That so-called lucky hand of poker had changed everything. Titanic had killed his sister, Clara Dawson. Why did God have to make him endure so many tragedies? He had already experienced these emotions five years ago when their folks died, and he had been given the responsibility of practically raising Clara. Why oh why was he being forced to relive them all over again?

As Rose continued to hold him against her, anger started to flow through him. He wanted to blame someone, anyone, for her death, but there was no one to blame. The sinking had been nothing more than a tragic accident, and as much as he wanted to pinpoint the entire disaster on someone in particular, it was impossible. If he wanted to hate anything, he ought to hate Titanic itself, but that was something he absolutely could not do. He could never hate the ship itself, because on it, he had met Rose, his soul mate. Rose… what was he thinking? He may have lost Clara, but he still had her. He would have probably already killed himself if he didn't have Rose right here with him right now, silently telling him that everything would be okay. He wasn't going to be completely alone. She was going to be there with him from now on, pulling him out of his misery and darkness in times like these.

His sobs gradually subsided. He rubbed one of his eyes with the palm of his free hand before turning to look at her. He was surprised to see she was crying, too. He felt like an idiot. He was mourning over the loss of his only sister, not even noticing that as she comforted him, Rose had been crying for her as well. How could he have been so stupid? Rose had said before that she had thought of Clara as the sister she never got to have. She had loved her, too. Here he was thinking that he was the only one suffering right now, while Rose had been trying to hide the pain she felt from the loss of Clara away from his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered hoarsely. "I'm a wreck. I can't even call myself a man."

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked, blinking away her own tears to look him in the eye.

"I just cried like a baby, and didn't even realize you were crying, too. I shouldn't have been so weak. I should have been the one comforting you, just now…"

"Don't say that!" Rose said in a surprisingly sharp tone that caught Jack off guard. "Don't even dare to think that! It's perfectly natural that you cried just now. You miss Clara. She was your sister, and yes, I miss her, too, but you need to cry for her more than I do, right now. I need to be here to comfort you. You comforting me over everything that has happened can happen later. Right now, you need properly mourn for Clara, the sister you just lost…"

Hearing her words, Jack hugged Rose tightly. He was one lucky bastard to have found Rose, someone who cared so much about him, and he couldn't help but love her even more for that. Rose simply hugged him back. When he finally broke away, he stared down at Clara's nutcracker that he had set down on his lap. He held it up as fresh tears started pooling down his face again.

"Rose," he said in a hoarse voice. "Did Clara ever explain why she carried this thing with her everywhere?" Rose shook her head. She wasn't quite sure where he was leading with this, but she could tell that whatever he said next would be painful for him to tell her. "Well, it was because it reminded her what made her want to start writing music in the first place. You see, one of the last things that she could remember the two of us doing with our parents before they died was going to see the ballet, The Nutcracker, at Christmastime." He paused when he saw her eyes widen in recognition at the name of the famous ballet, and then glanced back down at the toy nutcracker. "She was enchanted by the story itself, especially since she happened to share the name of the fictional little girl in the production, but what she truly fell in love with was the music she heard that night. To this day, I can remember the look on her face when we left the theatre as she hummed the melodies from the show. Mom and Dad had originally thought she had fallen in love with the show, so as we were leaving, they ended up buying this toy nutcracker from the souvenir stand out in the lobby after the production ended. I'll never forget what she said when she held it for the first time:

"Someday when I'm older, I'm going to write enchanting music just like the music I just heard!"

Rose's lower lip trembled. The thought of what had motivated Clara in wanting to become a composer was so sweet, but now she would never get to follow that dream of hers. She was about to lean her head on his shoulder, when she saw something that made her abruptly break away from his embrace and turn around to face away from him as she adjusted her blanket so none of her hair was showing. Jack was puzzled by her behavior.

"Rose, wha-" She cut him off by shushing him, placing a finger to her lips. She discreetly nodded in the direction of the stairs that separated the third-class decks from the first-class. He gazed curiously toward them before swiftly turning back around, adjusting the blanket he had on around his shoulders to cover up his head and hide Clara's nutcracker beneath his blankets when he spotted what Rose had seen.

Cal, looking awfully out of place and quite a mess, was strolling down the stairs that divided the decks, searching desperately for Rose. He had to find her, and if she, Jack, and Clara had survived, she was certain to be down here with them in third-class. There was no about that. A lone steward saw the scruffy tuxedo he had been wearing from the wreck, and approached him.

"Sir, I don't think you'll find any of your people down here. It's only steerage." Cal just shrugged him away. He would believe what the man had said when he saw it himself. He walked through the clusters of people, glancing in every direction as he searched for Rose. A flash of red in the corner of his eye made him turn. There was a woman whose back was facing him, and she had long, somewhat curly hair, just like Rose's. She was standing by herself. If that was Rose, it meant that the Jack and Clara hadn't survived, and there was a chance she would take him back. He ran right up to the woman, desperate to see if it was indeed her.

"Rose!" he cried hopefully, running around to face the woman in front. The woman jumped, nearly dropping the cup of tea she was sipping. Seeing that it wasn't Rose, Cal nodded apologetically to her before continuing on, and hopelessness spread across his face once again.

Jack and Rose watched Cal continue to trudge across the deck from the corner of their eyes. They had to stay very quiet, and not attract his attention. Only by making him think that neither of them had survived the sinking could they ensure that Caledon Hockley would never bother them again.

They continued to watch him until he right near them, looking about everywhere. They both casually turned their heads away as he glanced in their direction, completely missing them. Jack and Rose held each other's hands tightly, both of them praying he wouldn't come any closer. Their prayers were answered. After another moment or so, Cal finally shook his head and sighed. They watched with relief and joy as he turned back around, and went back up the stairs to his area of the ship.

"That's the last time either of us ever saw him," Rose said to the others. "He married, of course, and inherited his millions."

"But the crash of '29 hit his interest hard," Jack explained. "And he put a pistol in his mouth that year."

"His children fought over the scraps of his estate like hyenas," Rose said, "or so we read…"

Jack and Rose stood hand in hand on the deck of the Carpathia, watching silently as the ship sailed past the silhouette of the Statue of Liberty. It had been three days since Titanic had gone down, and they would be docking any minute. They didn't even care they were being soaked to the bone in the drizzling rain. After all they'd been through, a little rain was nothing.

They were back home. They were really doing this. They were about to start their new life together. Yes, it was going to be without Clara, but they had to move on. They had promised her that they would live, and that was what they were going to do. Even if she wasn't with them in person anymore, she would forever live on in their hearts, and so long as they had her nutcracker, she would always be with them. An officer saw them standing there at the railing and approached them.

"Can I take your names, please?" he asked politely. Jack opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Rose was answering the officer.

"Dawson," she stated confidently and without hesitation. "Jack and Rose Dawson."

"Thank you," he said before carrying on. Once he was out of sight, Jack stared at her in shock.

"Did you really mean that?" he whispered. She nodded, smiling kindly up at him.

"Of course, Jack. I said back on Titanic that I was getting off the ship with you when the ship docks. This may be a different ship, but I'm still getting off with you, so it's the same to me."

"This is crazy," he said, grinning at her wet form as he wrapped his arms around her. "I guess I still find it hard to believe that you're choosing me over the life of luxury in first-class." At this, Rose turned to look back at the Statue of Liberty, which to her was symbolizing her eternal freedom from the confines of first-class.

"Can you exchange one life for another?" She asked, speaking more to herself than to him. "A caterpillar turns into a butterfly after leaving its cocoon." She turned to face him again, smiling happily. "If a mindless insect can do it, why can't I? Is it anymore unimaginable than the sinking of the Titanic?"

Hearing her words, Jack felt tears stream down his face, and he pulled her into a passionate, loving kiss that expressed all the love he felt for her.

"And that's the end," Rose said, holding Jack's hand tenderly as they stared into the faces of Brock and the others. "After that, we took compensation that the White Star Line had offered the survivors and boarded the first train out of New York to California."

"We had wanted to move to Santa Monica originally, but the apartments there were too expensive at the time," Jack explained. "So we instead found a place in Los Angeles, and by the time World War One had actually started off in Europe, the prices in the area had gone done considerably, and we were able to move, along with our now three year-old daughter, who happened to be conceived from our time in that Renault on the ship. We had our next child, our son Michael, just before America posted the draft requiring me to go and fight in the war, and when I came back, we had our next daughter, whom we decided to name Grace, before finally settling down into an average, middle-class lifestyle."

"…The only thing we ever found on Clara is that photograph," Bodine said after a few moments of tense silence, as no one was even sure what to say now. "Aside from that, there's no record of her at all."

"No, there wouldn't be, would there?" Jack said sadly, glancing over at the picture, the drawing of Rose, and the sheets of music. As he and Rose had told their story, the museum experts had finally found a way to preserve them, and had even been kind enough to put all of them into nice picture frames. Rose gestured for someone to give her the photograph, and Lizzie promptly handed it to her. She and Jack stared at it sadly for several moments, looking at Clara's happy face as she held her nutcracker and the Heart of the Ocean. When they both eventually looked back up, they were smiling.

"We've never spoken of her to anyone else until now," Rose stated, shocking everyone in the room. "Not even to your mother, Lizzie."

"You never told her who her namesake was?" Lizzie asked, not believing her ears. Jack and Rose smiled as they shook their heads. There had been a time they had debated on whether telling their first daughter, whom they had named Clair, about her late aunt, but they had decided against it.

"People's hearts are deep oceans of secrets, Lizzie," Jack replied as Rose held up the picture frame so everyone could see Clara in the photograph.

"Well, now you know who the little girl in this picture is: Clara Dawson," she said. "And that she sacrificed herself in order to save us…"

"In every way that she could sacrifice her life to save ours…" Jack added, swapping the nutcracker for the picture so he could get a good look at his younger sister once more. "For eighty-four years now, I had hoped that I would somehow see this picture again, because this is the only photograph of her in existence…"

"She exists now, only in our memories…" Rose said, leaning her ancient face against his shoulder to keep staring at the picture.

Lizzie felt conflicted. It had been over two hours since her grandparents had finished their tale of their time on the Titanic, and had afterwards decided to go to bed. How they could sleep right now after not only reliving that tragic memory of the girl who had been her Great Aunt dying in the ocean, but also because of all the festivities going on, astounded her. After realizing that Jack and Rose had no idea what had happened to the Heart of the Ocean once Cal had taken it from Clara that last time they were both in the Millionaire Suite, Brock had personally called the sponsors of the expedition to tell them that the Keldysh would start sailing home first thing tomorrow. Then he told the rest of the crew. They had been ecstatic, and had promptly brought out the stashes of alcohol they had been saving for when they had finally found the diamond to celebrate and brought down their portable radios from their cabins. Sure, they might not have found the Blue Diamond of the Crown, but they were finally going to get off this ship. They were going to be on dry land again, and see their families for the first time in over three years, and to them, that was something worth celebrating.

Lizzie wasn't sure what she should be doing. She had originally planned to go back to the cabin with her grandparents and go to sleep, but they had both politely told her to go and enjoy the party, telling her they needed some time alone right now. She had nodded, and did what they said. It was natural they needed some time apart at the moment. She had then tried to find Brock in the crowd on the deck, joining in the festivities, but he was nowhere in sight. She could see Bodine and Buell off in the corner, drinking down shot glasses with some of the submersible operators.

"We're getting off this God forsaken stretch of ocean!" She heard Lewis shout joyfully before draining his glass. "We're going home!" Bobby and the other men cheered before gulping down their glasses as well. Lizzie ignored them, having spotted Brock by himself on the deck below, standing by the railing, far apart from the rest of the celebration. He glanced up as she walked down the flight of iron stairs and went over to him.

"Hey," he said weakly. She grinned and nodded over her shoulder at the rest of the crew.

"Come to the party," she said. "If I get drunk enough, I've been known to dance…" He chuckled slightly, but shook his head while he glanced down at his hand.

"You know, I was saving this for when I found the diamond," he said, holding up an unwrapped cigar so she could see it. Before she could say anything, he promptly threw it overboard. They watched as it floated away on the dark waves.

"I'm sorry…" Lizzie said hesitantly. What else could she say? Sure, the man in front of her had tried to originally force her to help him get her grandparents to tell him of their time on board Titanic, but that seemed like a lifetime ago. Now, the man she saw was no different than someone who had lost everything they had ever worked for.

"For three years," Brock said softly, "I've thought of nothing except Titanic… But I never got it… I never let it in…"

Lizzie just smiled comfortingly.

Jack and Rose made sure that Lizzie was long gone before slipping out of their cabin. Jack carried Clara's nutcracker as Rose walked behind him with her hands cupped over her heart. They had to be quick. Lizzie could come back to check on them at any moment.

They silently went down to the stern of the ship. They were both dressed in their nightclothes, and were walking barefoot. They smiled to each other when they finally reached the stern railing. They were finally about to do it. They finally were going to do what they had even come out here to do. With a nod, they wrapped their bony fingers on the railing, began to hoist themselves up so they could lean over the edge.

From the deck above, Lizzie had turned her head away from Brock slightly, and saw her grandparents. Her eyes went wide with fear.

"Oh my God!"

She started to run. Brock whipped around, confused, but then he saw what she had seen.

"Jesus!" he breathed, dashing after her. Neither of them knew what Jack and Rose could possibly be thinking. Sure, they had never obviously gotten over the death of sweet little Clara, but were they really going to kill themselves so they could join her? Had remembering their painful memories of their time on Titanic messed with their delicately old heads?

Jack and Rose just stood there for several moments, looking down at the waters below. It looked exactly as it had eighty-four years ago when they had last been here: dark and unforgiving, lying in wait to swallow them up. With a sigh, they both turned their heads to look at one another, and they nodded silently. This was it. It was now never. Rose reluctantly looked at Clara's nutcracker that Jack was still holding, and let one of her hands slip away from the railing-

"Grandma! Grandpa!" came a scream behind them. Startled, Jack and Rose abruptly turned around to see Lizzie and Brock running down the stairs toward them, obviously thinking that they were trying to jump overboard. "Wait, please don't-"

"Don't come any closer!" Jack ordered as he and Rose stepped down from the railing. They weren't planning to listen, but what Rose had in her hand made them both freeze in shock.

"We'll drop them!" Rose warned, swinging the Heart of the Ocean in a pendulum manner as Jack stepped closer to her so she could put the diamond around the head of the nutcracker. Once it was over it, they both held the toy from its legs as they backed away to stand at the ledge, and they warningly held it out over the water, silently telling them that they would do as they said if they took another step toward them.

Brock could only stare at them with his jaw dropped. His eyes were bulging from seeing his holy grail not only in front of him, but also from the fact that it was dangling on the chest of the nutcracker that the girl on the Titanic had treasured was over the edge of the ship.

"You two had it this entire time?" he whispered. Jack and Rose just nodded, and they couldn't help but laugh as they recalled how they had found it.

Jack and Rose broke away from the kiss after a few moments, and just stared at each other lovingly. Jack was putting his hands on her waist, when he felt something strange protruding from the pocket of the black overcoat Rose was still wearing. Something hard and round with jagged edges.

"Rose, what do you have in your pocket?" he asked. Rose gave him a puzzled look.

"My pocket?" she questioned, reaching into it. She immediately found the strange object Jack had felt, and quickly pulled it out. Their eyes went wide when they both saw what it was, and they could only stare at each other in shock. It was none other than the blue stone meant for royalty that Clara had been so enchanted with: the Heart of the Ocean.

"The hardest part about being so poor, was being so rich," Rose stated. "But every time we thought about selling it, we thought of Cal, and somehow we made it without his help."

"And besides," Jack said as Bobby and Lewis ran down from the party on the decks above, having heard Lizzie's scream. "Clara had always loved this necklace. She saw it as a real treasure, and she would have never have forgiven us if we didn't treat it as such, too." Lewis and Bobby's eyeballs popped out of their heads when they were finally close enough to see what was hanging from the neck of the nutcracker that he and Rose still held warningly over the edge of the ship.

"Holy shit…" Lewis mumbled.

"Look, Jack, Rose," Brock said desperately as he took a few cautious steps toward them, "I don't know what to say to a woman who tries to jump off the Titanic when it's not sinking, or to a man who happens to be related to a little girl who jumps back on it when it is…" They couldn't help but snicker slightly from his phrase of words. "We're not dealing with logic here," he continued. "And I know that… but please… both of you… think about this for a second…"

"Oh, we've been thinking about this for years!" Rose proudly exclaimed. "We've been planning it, even!"

"And we've come all the way here to put it back where it belongs," Jack said. "To return it, and this nutcracker, back to their only rightful owner, Clara Dawson!" They both began to turn back around.

"Wait!" Brock cried, stretching out his hand slightly as he took a few more steps toward them. "Just… just let me hold it in my hand… Please… Just once…" Jack and Rose stared at each other momentarily. The way he looked right now was very déjà vu compared to how the two of them had first met. Ever so slowly, they both brought Clara's nutcracker back over the railing, and slowly lowered it toward Brock until the diamond itself was resting in the palm of his hand.

For a few long, agonizingly slow moments, Brock just stared mesmerized at the Heart of the Ocean, the trophy of his three-year quest. It was just as he had always envisioned it to look like. Infinite sapphire blue depths that shamed the ocean itself, and it fit perfectly in his hand, just how he had always thought it would.

"My God…" he whispered to himself in amazement.

"You looked for treasure in the wrong place, Mr. Lovett," said Rose in a wise voice. He hesitantly tore his eyes away from the diamond to meet their eyes.

"Only life is priceless…" Jack said with a smile. "And, in the words of my sister, making each-"

"And every day-" Rose added.

"Count." They finished together. They slowly moved the nutcracker away, and the diamond began to slip out of his hand. Without looking away, Brock tightened his grip on it, not wanting to ever let it go. Jack and Rose looked pleadingly at him. He could see how much this meant to them, and with slow reluctance, he allowed his fingers to uncurl around the stone. He watched in slow motion as it slid out of his hand. Then, without warning, Jack and Rose grinned happily as they threw Clara's nutcracker and the diamond over their shoulders, and into the sea.

"Jesus, no!" Lewis nearly screamed as he rushed to the railing as Bobby let out a strangled cry while falling to his knees, his hands tearing through his hair. Bodine got there just in time to see the nutcracker hit the water, and start to sink down beneath the waves from the weight of the diamond, both of them disappearing forever.

"That really sucks, Goddammit!" he screamed at Jack and Rose, but they paid him no mind. They were still watching the Heart of the Ocean drag Clara's beloved toy deeper and deeper into the heart of the ocean itself. Then they turned around to look at Brock.

He was frozen in shock, his hand still out stretched toward them. It was evident that he was at a loss as what his reaction should even be. When his eyes met theirs, he could see the wisdom shining through them, and it brought an ever so slight smile to his face. Jack and Rose smiled back. Then Brock started to laugh. Lewis, Bobby, and Lizzie stared at him, but he didn't stop. How could he not laugh? When he stopped and thought about it, it was actually very amusing. He had just wasted three years of his life. He had thrown away his family, all over a hunk of crystallized carbon. Jack and Rose were absolutely right. Compared to how he had tossed what ought to have been the most precious jewel's in his life away, them throwing the diamond overboard was funny. Lewis didn't seem to share his thoughts.

"Very funny! That's just great!" he shouted, storming angrily back to the decks above. "Meanwhile, I'm gonna call my wife and tell her, 'Hey, we found the diamond, but threw back into the ocean!'" Lizzie snickered at his comment as Brock turned to look at her.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked her. She nodded, laughing as he escorted her back up to the party. Jack and Rose just smiled to one another before heading back to their cabin. There was still one more thing they had to do.

Once they were inside, they went straight to the dresser that displayed all of their pictures. They were their memoirs of the life they had shared together, and each one of them proved that they had kept the first half of their promise to Clara. Jack and Rose smiled as they looked at them.

There was a picture of Rose in a theatrically lit studio from her days as a silent picture actress, and one of Jack in a suit at his first concert, playing the piano for the first song he had composed after Clara had died. He had titled it, A Life So Changed, and had dedicated it to every soul that had gone down with the Titanic. It had even won a few awards. There was a picture of them from their wedding, and pictures of their times they had been on vacation, such as the two of them in Wisconsin at Lake Wisota with their fishing poles, holding up their catches, to one where the two of them were standing next to a flying machine of their own, with white scarves wrapped around their necks. There were even photographs and sketches Jack had made of their children and grandchildren growing up. From the day they were born, to the day they had children of their own. They smiled as they looked at all of them. Then they picked up the photograph of them on the Titanic with Clara, as well as one other, before heading over to the piano they had brought with them. Until this lost picture of Clara had been found, this other picture had always been their favorite. It had been taken during their honeymoon. They were sitting together on horses right in the surf of the Santa Monica beach, with the rollercoaster on the pier in the background. They each had large cones of chocolate ice cream in their hands that they were licking as they grinned back at the camera.

They gently set both photos on top of the piano. They were both silent for some time as they looked at the two photographs.

"Are you ready to hear it, sis?" Jack said finally as he and Rose sat down on the bench of the piano, both of them staring at the photographed image of her. "Are you ready to hear your finally finished song?" The silence of the night answered him.

"I think she said yes," Rose said with a smile. Jack chuckled before glancing back at the picture.

"I hope it's everything you ever dreamed of, Clara," he whispered. Then they both looked down at the finished song that was in the stand. It had taken them nearly a year after Titanic had gone down to allow themselves to reopen the still fresh wound they still had from her death in order to try and attempt to learn how to learn to play the piano and write down the notes, and another three years after that to correctly be able to write down the notes that Clara had written down for both the vocals and the piano itself when she was still alive. Over the next two decades, they had spent all their time working on it, adding on to where the original author had left off. By the time the Great Depression had been ending in America and World War II was starting, they had finally finished the song. Sure, they had known that Clara could hear it whenever she wanted now that she was up in heaven, but somehow, Jack and Rose always felt that she would have wanted them to play it for her here, where she had died. And that was what they had come here to do.

With a smile, Jack began to play the piano to her song as Rose began to sing the lyrics, which, in her memory, they had decided to call My Heart Will Go On.

It was truly beautiful. Yes, the underscore from the piano represented the love that they had shared while on board the Titanic that had inspired Clara to start writing this in the first place, but the words were in her honor. They could easily be mistaken for someone pining over their lover, but they had been written to remember the spirit of a truly wonderful little girl. The reason the two of them had even lived through the shipwreck at all was because of Clara, and the power of a song.

When they were done, they smiled, and looked up at the picture of Clara. She was still smiling brightly in the photograph, but for some reason, she seemed to be smiling brighter than ever, now.

"I knew you would like it…" Jack said tiredly. He and Rose felt exhausted.

"Should we go to bed now, Jack?" Rose whispered. He nodded, and they climbed into bed. They both shut their eyes at once, and were very still in each other's arms. Neither of them saw from the window of their cabin, two shooting stars suddenly streak across the sky.

Jack and Rose were in the ocean, and approaching the ghost ship of Titanic. Were they perhaps dreaming of being in one of the submersibles? They stared at each other and grabbed each other's hands before glancing back at the wreckage of the ship, lighted by mysterious moonlight. Moonlight that shouldn't have been able to reach the bottom of the ocean. As they passed over the ruined decks and into the interior of the ship, a strange force behind them seemed to propel them both forward. It was almost like they were flying, now. Then the refrain to Clara's song sounded from the strings of a violin, deep within the ship. At first, Jack and Rose thought they had imagined hearing the music, but it steadily grew louder. The next thing they knew, the rusticles hanging from the windows and ceiling in the wreckage around them vanished. The mutated moss and seaweed on the corridor walls was fading away as well. The ship was slowly transforming back to its original breathtaking glory as the violin continued to play. Jack and Rose were completely enchanted. Neither of them had ever experienced a dream quite as real and magical as this one was.

Their flying finally slowed down as they turned the corner. A porter smartly dressed in his uniform was standing beside the ornate entrance to the first-class Grand Staircase. Before either of them could say a word, he opened the door, and ushered for them to go in. Jack and Rose went in, only to gasp.

Underneath the restored glass dome above, were the souls of the people that had gone down with the luxury liner. Men decked in black ties and tailcoats, and women fashioned in beautiful multi-colored gowns and sparkling jewels filled the exquisite foyer, and among them were their long lost friends. Trudy smiled brightly to Rose as she and Jack passed, curtsying politely to her mistress as the members of the orchestra that were across from her bowed kindly to them while Wallace Hartley kept playing the violin. Captain Smith nodded, as did Officer Murdoch. Cora and her parents waved happily to them. John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim were near Tommy, who took off his fedora hat as they approached, and smiled his toothy Irish grin. Across from him were Fabrizio and Helga, who smiled kindly at them. At the foot of the stairs was Mr. Andrews, motioning for them to go up the steps. It wasn't until they saw the figure of who was at the top of the stairs, staring at the marvelous clock, did Jack and Rose realize why they were all here. They had come to welcome them both back.

At the top of the stairs, a little girl with blonde hair that was dressed in a dark green dress, had her back to them, and was staring intently at the intricate angels guarding Time on either side of the clock. As they began going up the marble staircase, the little girl turned around to face them, and Jack and Rose both felt tears start to gather in their eyes when they saw that it was Clara. She looked exactly as how they remembered her. Her bright blue eyes were sparkling with joy at the sight of seeing them for the first time in over eighty-four years, and her smile was the biggest either of them could ever remember seeing it. She had her nutcracker once again, and was holding it against her chest with one arm, and around her tiny neck was the Heart of the Ocean, shining as beautifully as ever in its radiant sapphire glory. When they were no more than a few steps away, Clara stretched her arms out toward them, and Jack and Rose saw their reflections for the first time in the glass covering the face of the clock. The wrinkles of their old age had disappeared, and they were once again seventeen and eighteen years old. Jack was wearing the clothes he had worn when he and Clara had walked with Rose around the first-class decks, and Rose was wearing a beautiful white dress she had never seen before, but none of that even mattered. The only thing that mattered right now was that Clara was right in front of them.

Jack quickly scooped his sister up into his arms, and hugged her tightly. Tears were flowing down his face. Then he passed her to Rose. Rose was crying, too, and hugged Clara just as tightly as he had. Clara hugged them both back, tears flowing down her tiny face as well. When Rose finally released her from the hug, Jack pulled them both tightly into his chest, embracing the two most important people in his life. Rose and Clara both hugged him back as the audience around them smiled and applauded at the reunion between them. They were all together again in the heaven of the Titanic, and Jack, Rose, and Clara knew that nothing would ever separate them again.