A/N: For anyone who remembers me from 2010, and notices that this style is quite different than the one I had before, I do have an explanation. I've been illustrating an original manga project for a club competition, and haven't written since... forever. I'm not used to writing again (you can imagine the difference between writing speech bubbles and this), so I apologize if I add too much prose, having bad pacing, etc., etc. I'll probably remember how to write again after a while.

This story will probably have around 10-20 chapters, and end near April 15th, the 100th anniversary of Titanic's sinking. This story is (obviously) AU, and the characters are older as well (because 13 year olds don't go on transatlantic journeys by themselves in 1912), with Maka, Soul, Black*Star, and Patty being 19, Tsubaki being 20 and Liz being 21. I'm still deciding on Kid, because I'm planning for him to remain being a Death God in this fanfic (I love Shinigami too much to scrap him, so there has to be some common bond between him and his son!).

PAIRINGS: MakaxSoul, Strongly Implied Black*StarxTsubaki. Kid, Liz, and Patty will probably be "just friends". Probably.

I don't own Soul Eater.

Distant Lights

When I stared up at the huge ship, I felt like wondering why I was even here. Looking at the crowds around me, I felt so small and insignificant, and immediately found myself being swallowed by the hundreds of people and pushed away. It was so confusing. I wasn't at all used to seeing all these people at one time, considering how I spent the most of my time working as a clerk for an old bookstore owned by a close friend of my father's. Almost no one ever visited the old place, so I often found myself reading by the corner instead of talking to the customers. Thank goodness the owner of the store was so accepting- I can't imagine that many other people around this place would accept a woman reading anything more than poetry!

"2nd Class boarders only!"

I looked down at my boarding pass, which had the words "White Star Line" written in fine, black font near the top of the page, encircled by a neat flowery border. I had paid for a shared room in second class, in E73. I wasn't exactly sure who I was going to be sharing the room with, but I didn't think I needed to pay the regular price for a private room if I was going to be the only one in it. My papa, Spirit, had volunteered to pay the extra money, but I would have rather gone into third class than use money that came from him!

Back then, he had always cheated on mama, and broke her heart. She left us to travel the world, and now I'm going to now follow her steps by going to New York, and start a new and wonderful life for myself, and one day, maybe I'll become as successful as mama!

I gripped my pass even more tightly then before, as if it was the one and only thing that could allow me to reach my goals. It was only 9:00 am or so, and the ship wouldn't depart until 12:00. That gave me almost three hours' worth of time to explore the ship, which I knew would be just as grand as the papers make it out to be. As I stepped onto the gangway, I couldn't help but look around me and stare every once in a while at the first class passengers, whom I was so surprised to be boarding close to. The ladies all wore large and elaborate dresses that were meant to show off their womanly figure, with elegant hats adorned with many feathers and looped with lace. The men were dressed less extravagantly, but still all had proper suits and (some) dark hats. Even the children looked adults, their backs straight and many accompanied by a servant of some sort watching their every step. I looked down at my light brown-and-green dress. It was something that I had picked out for myself more than two years ago, and everyone always told me about how wonderful I looked in it. Now, all I see is a plain dress that does nothing for my figure, and instead just accentuated my flat chest and how bony I was under the layers of fabric. I'm sure that anyone could have just walked past me and mistook me for a third class passenger. I grimaced, and I could see a first class woman sneering at me. I eyed the family of a young man with white hair once before heading forwards again.

My luggage had already been taken away from me, and I gave a small nod as I showed my pass to the crew member that was greeting the passengers who entered the entrance doors. I felt soft carpet beneath my feet, and looked up to see a grand wooden stairway. I gasped and was confused at how fancy and elegant everything was. Did I enter the 1st class entrance by mistake? I knew it wasn't possible, but the lush textured carpet that I saw beneath my feet and the and the fancy wooden paneling with the gold lining seem to prove otherwise. As I walked up the staircase, I saw two cream-coloured fabric seats positioned beside each other, with a small dark wooden cabinet in the middle. Everything was even more beautiful than I had imagined! I treaded carefully alone the hallway (not many people were here, considering it wasn't necessary to board until 11:30), thinking the smallest sound would ruin the moment. There were paper slips placed in glass holders near the top left of every door, which had the names of the boarders that had reserved the room.

E65, 67, 69, 71...

I turned the knob on my door, and opened it slowly. To my surprise, there was already another woman there, who looked around a year or two older than me. She had long black hair tied up in a ponytail that ran past her waist, and she looked at me with a soft smile on her face. I hesitated for a moment, not expecting her at all to have already came.

"Hello," the girl stood up and patted the lap of her yellow patterned dress. "My name is Tsubaki."

She smiled at me again, and reached out her hand to me. I took her hand, and felt sure of myself for the first time this morning.

"Hello to you too! My name is Maka Albarn."

This is a basic introductory chapter, and I probably will update again today. Next few chapters will be longer. I really need to get used to writing in non-comic form.

Questions, comments, concerns? A review is always handy, and I love criticism!