A/N: I've done it now. I have really done it now. Not only did I make a new AU, I have probably done the worst thing I could ever do to the poor babies (T^T). Please do not kill me guys, I'll try my best with this one, but I can't give you all the details!

Now the story I'm about to tell you is a story of great sadness. It is a story of survival, of death, of fear, and of love. It's heartbreaking, and heartwarming all the same. This, dear children, is the story of how we all met; how we've learned and loved. This is the story of how we survived the odds, and came to America.

April 10, 1912- Francis and Alice

Southampton, England was alive with excitement on this April morning. April tenth to be more specific. People from all across Europe, and even further beyond Europe, were gathering along the port of Southampton. Talk of a new life fluttered across the heads, and into the ears, of the people only fueling the hope many of the travelers were now sharing. However, there was one who did not share any of the excitement that floated through the air. Especially when she was getting her hair pulled out of her head as the crewman searched her for lice.

"Tell me again Francis, my dear cousin." She growled at the man that was being searched for lice as well, as another part of her long blonde hair was pulled again. "Why on God's good graces are we leaving England for America?" Her cousin sighed softly as his head was tilted back so that the small stubble on his chin could be searched as well.

"Alice, mon petit lapin, I have told you hundreds of times after I bought the tickets-"

"Honestly you've searched my hair twice now!" Alice interrupted him as she pushed away the crewman that searched her hair. "If I had any bloody lice you would have found it!" Without so much as another word to her cousin, or the crewman she pushed away, she grabbed her bag as well as her cousin's bag from the floor and stormed away from the inspection queue.

"Pardonnez-moi." Francis said with a sheepish chuckle as he hurried after her, trying his best not to loose her in the crowd of people.

"Alice, dear cousin of mine who annoys me so." Francis said as he finally caught up to her. Alice did not even look at him as she desperately tried to fix her hair that was now in tangled knots.

"We are going for a better life. England, and France, has nothing left for us." He explained.

"We could have still made a life here!" Alice protested, though she knew that Francis had truth behind his words. Alice however hated that she had to leave her home country; hated the fact that Francis had to sell most of their things, including the house in which Alice was born. Now they had nothing, and their only hope was a new life in America. Alice hated that so much. Francis rolled his eyes as he grabbed Alice's arm lightly, making her slow down in her fast paced walk.

"Alice," Francis said, and she knew by the tone of his voice that he was serious. "You know, as well as I do, that we can no longer have a home here. After my parents died, I was lucky enough to get shipped here to live with family. But even then, we still struggled. Uncle's business, your father's business Alice, was sinking fast and then it all went down hill-"

"I don't need you to remind me of that, Francis! But that doesn't mean we cannot still make a life here! There is no reason for us to get on that damned ship." Alice snapped. Francis sighed looking up at the sky, then back down at Alice, who refused to look at him. Francis knew what Alice was really scared of. It wasn't the fact of change- Alice simply hated change she wasn't scared of it. Alice was petrified of sailing, and of the water.

"Mon petit lapin," Francis said to his younger cousin as he brushed her hair back from her face. "You must trust me. This ship is said to be the fastest ship in all of England. And look at it! Nothing can sink it! You will never find a safer ship than this. We will be in New York before you even know it." Alice, however, still shook her head.

"Francis we could still build a life… I could have gotten married to one of the shop owners." She said quickly knowing that Francis never liked the idea. He had always told her that if she was going to marry someone, it was going to be because she loved him. "They never really struggled much… we would have been well off…" She trailed off as soon as she saw Francis shaking his head.

"And have you miserable the rest of your days, married to someone you do not love?" Francis asked as he threw his arm over her shoulders and gently urged her to keep walking. "Alice, you and I, have been miserable far too long. It is time that we have some happiness to ourselves oui?"

Alice couldn't deny it, and found herself nodding slightly. After her mother died, when Alice was young, it had been Francis who took care of her. It was Francis who took care of her when her father became a drunken mess, and it was Francis who protected her from her father's abuse. After her father died and their little bakery collapsed, it was Francis who tried to give the two of them a better life and tried to salvage the bakery. Alice recounted all of the things that Francis had done for her, and she realized that she could repay him by going with him to America. Even if the idea made her aggravated, it would mean the world to Francis.

"W-Well yes." Alice muttered. She let out a heavy sigh and looked at her cousin from the corner of her eye. "I still doubt that we're going to America for a better life. I think it's because you're running away from that fling you had." She said. Francis looked at her with a playful look as he pulled her onto one of the many boarding planks that led into steerage were the two would be staying.

"Fling?" He repeated stroking his chin. "Are you talking about that wonderful time I had with the most beautiful girl I had ever met? The girl who spoke French so beautiful she would have made any native Frenchmen green with envy? The girl with hair so soft, and beautiful, it looked as if it was kissed by the sun itself? My beautiful love with eyes so enchanting she has made me her most loyal servant-"

"Honestly Francis," Alice interrupted as she took the tickets from her cousin's hands and gave them to the crewman for inspection. "You must stop being so dramatic. It was a fling and nothing more." She said curtly, before taking the tickets back. Francis rolled his eyes again as he grabbed his bag more tightly.

"A fling? It lasted a year between us two!" He said defensively.

"And then she just left without so much as a word." Alice said as she walked through the hallways of the ship. "It was a fling that lasted longer than your usual flings." Alice replied as she looked at the numbers on the door.

"Alice you're so cruel to moi." Francis said dramatically. "After all I have done for you."

"Oh yes because dragging me onto this large piece of tin is really what I wanted." Alice said as the two went back to teasing each other as they always have done.

"Oh Alice." Francis said as they found their room. "I have told you; Titanic is our future! Our only shot at a new life for us!" He chuckled as he opened the door for her.

"Or it may very well be our doom as well." Alice replied curtly. Alice Kirkland hated ships, and Titanic was no different- no matter what Francis Bonnefoy may have told her.