The ocean was dark, plain and simply. Slowly, two small lights lit up the navy waters, sending small fish scurrying for cover. The lights roved looking for their objective. The submersibles kept falling until they hit the sea floor, two hours after first dropping. Inside of one, known as the Sina One, three men jolt to attention. One is Eren Yeager, a marine tragedy journalist and marine archeologist; another is Armin Arlert, an esteemed scientist studying shipwrecks; and the third is Connie Springer, the submarine's engineer.
"We're here," Connie grunts, Southern accent thick from drowsiness.
Armin walked to the sonar screens and watched carefully as Sina One scuttled along the water, lighting its way. A large, oddly-shaped object soon became visible. Connie piloted the submarine from the floor, face against his viewpoint.
"She's just a few meters to the left. Do you see her?" Armin exclaimed, voice light from sleep and discovery.
"Where do you se-oh, there she is." The Sina One kept trucking towards its destination. "There she is, same as she was back then; she sure has aged well."
They approached the railing of the broad bow of the ship, gliding over it easily. Eren came up to inspect the screens.
"I never get tired of seeing her..."
"Why? Because you're a thief?"
Eren held a camera in front of his face. "N-no, shut up!" He returned his gaze to the great ship, camera still poised in his hand. "I was going to say I never get tired of seeing her because of her story, her emotion... How she sank on April 15, 1912, on her maiden at 2:30 in the morning..."
"Eren, you're full of it," Armin mumbled, returning his focus to the sister submersible, Rose One. She dove down the starboard side of the ship while Sina One continued to inspect the forecastle deck, chains for anchors and caps in pristine shape. The Titanic was much bigger than she looked.
"Well, here we are, over two miles below the surface and enough pressure in the water to kill us in no time flat. This is our fifth time down here. Honestly, it never gets old seeing the Titanic like this..." Eren spoke to the camera.
The Sina and Rose continued their voyage, and eventually came to rest. The Sina landed on the deck house roof, and the Rose landed near the Captain's Quarters.
"Alright, let's get started," Eren concluded, walking back to Armin and Connie.
"Of course," Armin stated, grasping a joystick and donning goggles to control a robot-like camera, the Maria. The petite, red and blue cylinder glided towards the interior of the ship. "We are a go."
"Perfect."
The Maria swam through a small hole that was once the esteemed Grand Staircase of First Class. She kept going down and made her way into the First Class Reception area, and she continued on to view the ornate wooden carvings, a grand piano old and broken, and a chandelier smashed against the floor. Maria observed a woman's shoe, Scouting Legion Line porcelain, and a child's forgotten doll. She continued down a hallway, doors and sconces still attached, a reverie of a time long forgotten. The Maria entered a room marked B-52 and headed for the bedroom labeled B-54.
"Alright, here we go," Armin said, voice wavering with anxiousness and excitement.
"Be careful, and don't screw this up," Eren hissed back.
"I'll try..." Armin responded. He drove the Maria towards the bedroom and observed the fireplace and desk on the way. She glided into the sleeping chamber softly, dust settling against the headlights. The large bed in the center of the bedroom had long since withered away in the harsh climate.
"Head to that closet; I want to see what's inside," Eren ordered, sleepiness long gone as Maria slowly made her way to the rusted antique. "Be careful, Armin, she's fragile enough, as is."
Armin exhaled as he guided the arms of the Maria to cautiously open the door of the furniture.
"Oh, my god..." all three men whispered breathlessly as the lights of the robot shone on an old safe, rust covering the exterior.
'This...is actually happening...' Eren thought.
The daylight shone on the surface of the Colossal, the main research vessel of the Titanic embarkments team. The safe dropped unceremoniously onto the deck, metal soaked and covered in rust and barnacles. Several people stood on watching as the safe was recovered, among them Eren, Armin, and Connie, and also a platinum-headed museum exhibitionist named Mylius Zeramuski, who was looking to invest in the funding. A news crew was also nearby.
"Are we on?" Eren asked the nearest cameraman.
"Yep, whenever you're ready."
"Open 'er up," Eren commanded. Cautiously, a technician crew started to cut the hinges of the safe. "Alright, moment of truth time. Have we really found what we've been searching for for God knows how long?"
The safe was slowly - almost agonizingly so - pulled open, and what was found inside was disappointing to say the least.
"Crap!" Eren exclaimed; all that was in it were pieces of paper, aged with water damage.
The papers were put into water within the Colossal's lab to separate them safely. Mylius was on the phone with the other investors, and Eren was pacing the floor like a caged animal.
"Eren, the others are worried.." Mylius stated, words carefully picked as to not send the eccentric man further off the edge.
"Dang it, hand me the phone, Zeramuski!" the brunet replied, voice louder than anticipated. Mylius handed him the phone readily. "Hello? Yes, this is he; yes, I know that it wasn't in the safe, but..."
"Eren?" Armin began, voice laced with an uncertain tone. "You might what to see this..."
The green-eyed male walked to the table where the shorter blond man was recovering papers from the safe. On the top one was a charcoal drawing of a nude young woman with dark hair and a radiant smile. She wore a pendant around her neck, and the shape vaguely resembled a feather. The initials MB were hastily written at the bottom. Needless to say, the picture was beautiful. Armin held up a picture of a pendant matching the girl's beside the portrait.
"A perfect match..." he whispered.
"Well send me down the river..." Eren remarked.
A news broadcast was playing on the television set. The announcer spoke of the recent discoveries of the Titanic by Eren Yeager and his team. An elderly woman sat in a chair by the window, listening. This type of news always piqued her interest.
"Annie, would you turn that up?" the woman asked. A younger, blonde woman came in and did as she requested.
"...many call you a thief, Mr. Yeager," the woman on the screen stated.
The young man at her side chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't go that far. And, besides, my team are experts, and we've recently discovered a beautiful drawing." The picture on the screen seemed to ripple with life in the water. "And it's fully intact."
The old woman stared in amazement, dark eyes fixated on the screen. Annie also seemed surprised.
"Well send me down the river..."
It was late at night when Mylius ran up to Eren, the Sina and Rose being prepared to ship out again. He was out of breath.
"What do you want now, Zeramuski? Can't you see we're busy?"
"Yes, and trust me, it's for a good reason."
The two men walked into the preservation lab, and Mylius handed Eren the phone and nodded. "You'll want to take this."
"Hello? Yes, this is Eren Yeager, who am I speaking to?"
"Mina Wagner, if you please," the elderly voice on the other end of the line stated. "I was calling to ask if you had found the Wing of the Water yet?"
Eren almost stopped breathing. He looked to Mylius, who simply smiled in return. "Alright, Mina, what do you know about the picture?"
The woman chuckled softly. "Why, the girl in the photo...is me, Mr. Yeager."
A roaring helicopter approached the Colossal Research Vessel; Mina and Annie were sitting inside. Both regarded at the Colossal fondly; it certainly lived up to its name.
Armin and Mylius watched the Sina and Rose being prepared for their next voyage. Connie approached soon after.
"That woman will be a liar; I can feel it!" Connie exclaimed, accent adding a lilt to his harsh words.
"Well, here's our chance to find out," Mylius remarked, turning to face the large machine.
"So, she said her name was Mina - then Brzenska-Carolina - Wagner, right? She would have to be almost one hundred and one years old by now!" Armin added, voice uncertain.
"Exactly! It's also said that she died at seventeen, on the Titanic," Connie responded. "She's a liar."
"Well, not exactly. Mina Brzenska-Carolina died on the ship; Mina Wagner was a famous ballet dancer."
"Look, she's the only connection we have to the Wing of the Water, right? That means be nice, no matter who she is," Eren chipped in, walking slowly towards the landing pad.
The helicopter landed securely on board the Colossal, and a wheelchair-bound Mina was lowered gingerly. Annie stepped out behind, and five suitcases were deposited.
"I think I'll go and check on Sina and Rose," Connie chirped, before walking away briskly.
Annie was putting away belongings, and Mina was dusting off old pictures when Eren and Armin approached them.
"So, how do you find the room?" Eren asked, a smile glinting in his voice and face.
"Oh, it's fine, thank you, Mr. Yeager," Mina responded, a gentle smile gracing her aged visage.
"Is there anything you need, Mrs. Wagner?"
"Yes; I would like to see my drawing."
Mina stared at the portrait in the water, her eyes sweeping across every detail. She remembered trained eyes sketching out everything, and having to lay there for hours. She sighed contentedly as she reminisced.
Eren held up a picture of the pendant. "The Wing of the Water, made for the royal Reiss family of Stohess, specifically for the king's daughter, Historia."
Mina laughed softly. "It was quite heavy, too. This was the only time I ever wore it."
"This is really you, Nanna?" Annie said, her eyes fixated on the water-bound portrait.
"Quite the catch, wasn't I?"
"Records say it was purchased privately by a very rich man; do you know his name?" Armin asked, gazing at Mina.
"Auruo Bossard, I would say, for his brother, Daz."
"Your fiancee, as an engagement present."
"The date on this picture...is April 14, 1912..." Annie murmured.
"Precisely; the very same day the Titanic sank."
"And, Mrs. Wagner, anything you can tell us that will lead to its recovery will be compensated for," Eren chimed.
Mina sighed again. "I don't want anything in return, Mr. Yeager."
"Nothing?"
"Well, I would like my drawing..."
"Of course."
The four crossed the room to a table load out with multiple objects. "These all came from your staterooms..."
Mina lifted a mirror engraved with a crossed sword pattern. "I can't believe it still looks this good. I certainly don't, though." She picked up a beautiful brooch of a rose. "This was my mother's... The only thing she didn't want to leave behind was this..." she laughed humorlessly. Her hands finally settled on a unicorn hair comb. Her wordless reverie was enough to tell a thousand stories.
"Well, Mina, are you ready to go back to Titanic?"
They turned to face several cameras on the far wall, each holding an image of the ship. Mina stared intently at one that held the bow railing.
Armin smiled gently. "I can pull up a simulation, if you'd like..."
Annie turned the wheelchair to face Armin's computer screen.
"Armin, she might not-" Connie began.
"No! No, please, I...I want to see her again..."
Armin talked in time with the animation. "Okay, so we know she hit an iceberg on her starboard side, and compartments are filling rapidly, making the bow sink and the stern rise. Of course, this gets faster as time goes on; the bow can't support this weight, so she splits straight down the middle. Even though the stern is level again, the force of the bow's impact causes the stern to rise vertically before sinking into the water, two hours and forty minutes later.
"The bow eventually hits the bottom about half a mile away from the site, and the stern splits apart from the impact."
"Hmm, thank you for that, Mr. Arlert, but it certainly felt different."
"Will you tell us, Mrs. Wagner?" Eren questioned.
Mina's dark, vivid eyes scanned each screen carefully. Her visage explained her emotions perfectly, the perfect image of sorrow in reminiscence. Her wise eyes stung with hot tears. She placed a hand over her mouth in a silent attempt to muffle her quiet sobs, memories flashing like a wildfire.
"I'm taking her back to the room," Annie stated, starting to wheel her away.
"No, Annie!" Mina exclaimed, her voice strong and clear, and her eyes fierce.
"Please, Mina..." Eren mumbled.
"It's been eighty-four years..."
"Try to remember-" Mina held up her left hand, revealing a small scar across her palm.
"It's been eighty-four years...and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in..." Eren set a recorder near her; he knew it would be a long story. "Titanic was called the 'Ship of Dreams'. And it was... It really was..."
The submersibles' cameras panned to show the bow railing, as if it heard its story being told. It almost felt like a shift in time, like being back in 1912...