Chapter 1: The Greatest Show
A/N: Hey readers. This is yet another interesting crossover between The Greatest Showman and Titanic. It's going to be one serious roller coaster. Just so you know, I have changed a few things and am featuring my characters from my "A New Beginning" story.
Just some background information. Emma Carson and her fiance Peter Whitman, with Emma's little sister, Sybil, end up sailing on the Titanic after laying Emma's deceased parents to rest in Ireland. The couple met Jack and Rose and helped the two realize their feelings for each other. Emma nearly died on the Titanic like Jack, but all managed to survive. Jack and Rose are expecting a child, all two of the young couples are now happily married, Rose repaired her relationship with her mother. Also note that Peter's sister, Holly Gregson, her husband, Carl, and their young son, Thomas are a part of this story as well.
So Barnum is still working with the circus, having managed to balance family life and being the circus director, instead of quitting. Phillip Carlyle and Emma Carson-Whitman are cousins who used to be close until circumstances in their lives sent them in their separate ways. Phillip is now engaged to Anne Wheeler.
All rights go to James Cameron for his movie characters, all the rights go to 20th Century Fox and all the other production companies for The Greatest Showman.
"Whoa, Emma slow down!" Jack calls out to her as he and Rose struggle to keep up. With Rose heavily pregnant, the poor redhead could not go very fast any longer.
The once star-crossed lovers were the happiest they could be; safe from their pasts, a roof over their heads, happily married, a loving surrogate family and a child on the way. Rose had long since mended her relationship with her mother, Caledon Hockley had gone off and married someone else, and both had a safe and warm place to call home. So much had changed since they'd met that fateful night on the ill-fated Titanic. While their story had a happy ending, they knew not very many people were that lucky on the voyage.
"Well, hurry up then, we have to get good seats," Emma insists. She held her husband, Peter's hand, while he carried Emma's little sister, Sybil, on his shoulders. The young Miss Carson-Whitman was extremely excited to be attending the circus, which was run and owned by her cousin, Phillip Carlyle. A cousin she had not seen in a long time but had grown up with him. Phillip would often be "dumped" at the Carson family home up in Canada for the summer, so his parents could go travelling without a child tagging along. Emma saw him as her "big brother," he taught her how to catch frogs, to spit really far and hang upside down from tree branches. She and her father often took him out on the family boat and Emma was the one to teach Phillip to swim in the lake. She fondly remembers that he wanted to be a writer and the two would sit on the front porch with stacks of paper in their laps, watching the sun sink behind the horizon of the lake and either drawing or writing. The young lawyer learned years later how rich the Carlyles were and how snobby they could be. They were the kind of people that Emma despised, but she still loved Phillip, as she could see that he had not inherited his parents judgemental and stuck-up attitude. He was ambitious and loving, which surprised her when he joined Phineas Taylor Barnum in developing a "freak-show" of bizarre acts from around the world. It eventually turned into a circus, a great form of entertainment, often much more interesting than moving picture shows.
Alas, the cousins had drifted apart and lost contact, mostly due to Emma meeting Peter, then the birth of Sybil, the death of her mother and father and then their voyage on the now infamous Titanic. The girl was now eager to get the best seats to see how far her cousin had come and hopefully reconnect with him.
Accompanying, the young couples were Holly Gregson, Peter's sister, Carl Gregson, her husband, and their young son Thomas, who was just as excited as everyone else to be going to the circus. Ruth DeWitt Bukater, Rose's mother, and heiress Margret Brown, known to everyone close to her as Molly were also part of the group. Molly had been the one insisting that the stuffy Ruth come and enjoy a night of amusement, much to the old woman's dismay. Ever since she'd become a "commoner," no longer apart of the upper crust of society, Rose's mother was becoming more open-minded and willing to participate in entertaining features of everyday life. It beat falling asleep at the opera, but even the circus seemed a bit too much for the blue-blooded woman, but she gave in and accompanied her friend and daughter to the show.
The group finally gets to the ticket booth to purchase the tickets. Emma looks upwards to the beautiful open-air circus tent down by the docks. She can just picture what it must be like for her cousin. At the end of every show, he can go and look out at the sea, reflecting the moon and stars.
The group then enters and finds good seats on the bleachers.
"Mommy, Mommy!" Thomas says in excitement. "Look!"
"Yes honey, that's the ring where the performers will be."
"What's that?" he asks, pointing at the ropes and hoops in the air, most likely for the trapeze performers.
"Those are for the trapeze people," Carl explains.
"If even the ropes get him excited," Jack mutters to Rose. "The kid will be having a field day when the actual show starts."
Rose giggles and interlocks her hand with Jack's. The two were so much in love and she couldn't wait for when they had a child of their own.
"If at any point, you feel you need to go, just tell me," Jack says with concern in his voice.
Rose gives out a rather annoyed sigh. She was approximately three months from giving birth, yet everyone was acting like she was going to pop at any moment. She hated how everyone treated her like she was made of glass, that she couldn't help out around the house or really do anything. She didn't want to feel useless and just sit there looking pretty, that was the life she was trying to escape from in the first place.
The audience began stomping their feet and a bass drum began banging, indicating the start of the show. A chorus of people begin harmonizing with repeated
"Woah
Woah
Woah
Woah
Woah
Woah
Woah
Woah
Woah…"
As the beat of the drum grows stronger, the excitement of the audience mounts.
Behind the bleachers, people hear.
"Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for…" Emma turns to see the shadowed man behind the bleachers.
"Been searching in the dark, your sweat soaking through the floor
And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore
Taking your breath, stealing your mind and all that was real is left behind."
He begins heading around the circus tent until he begins going into the centre of the ring.
"Don't fight it, it's coming for you, running at ya
It's only this moment, don't care what comes after
Your fever dream, can't you see it getting closer
Just surrender 'cause you feel the feeling taking over.
It's fire, it's freedom, it's flooding open
It's a preacher in the pulpit and you'll find devotion
There's something breaking at the brick of every wall it's holding I'll let you know…"
The man, who everyone assumes is the ringmaster comes to the centre.
"So tell me do you wanna go?!"
Just then the entire ring of the circus explodes into a myriad of colours and fire. Jugglers throw their props in the air, fire breathers explode the concoction out towards the audience, trapeze artists soar into the air on rings, with an explosion of confetti and fire. A woman throws knives at another woman spinning on a wheel that looks like a bulls-eye. There's a woman with very pale hair and eyes, do some fancy acrobatics. A man covered in tattoos turns for the crowd in some form of dancing.
"Where it's covered in all the coloured lights
Where the runaways are running the night
Impossible comes true, it's taking over you."
Then all the other performers in the ring join in the chorus of the song. "Oh, this is the greatest show!"
"We light it up, we won't come down."
"And the sun can't stop us now," everyone sings together.
"Watching it come true, it's taking over you."
"Oh, this is the greatest show." The performers sing.
A large herd of riders on horses and two large elephants come into the ring. "Colossal we come these renegades in the ring." The ringmaster sings. "(Woah) where the lost get found in the crown of the circus king. Don't fight it, it's coming for you, running at ya, it's only this moment, don't care what comes after, it's blinding outside and I think that you know. Just surrender 'cause you're calling and you wanna go…"
There are more explosions of fire, many of the performers dance in a circle around the ringmaster. Several trapeze artists go spinning into the air. The audience goes crazy in awe, everyone keeps cheering at the top of their lungs.
"Where it's covered in all the coloured lights
Where the runaways are running the night
Impossible comes true, intoxicating you."
A small man comes out dressed in a Napoleon costume, riding on top of a baby elephant, waving joyfully to the crowd. Thomas seems particularly excited, waving at the little man as he passes by. Sybil is a little overwhelmed by all the spectacular scenery, but she seems in awe of the visual show in front of her. Several animal trainers direct lions to jump through flaming hoops. There are now four elephants performing, doing the designated poses. The audience is on their feet in excitement, applauding the entire time.
"Oh, this is the greatest show
We light it up, we won't come down
And the sun can't stop us now
Watching it come true, it's taking over you."
The performers dance to the tune of the song as the ringmaster hands his top hat to an elephant.
"Oh, this is the greatest show. It's everything you ever want, it's everything you ever need
And it's here right in front of you
This is where you wanna be (this is where you wanna be)
It's everything you ever want
It's everything you ever need
And it's here right in front of you
This is where you wanna be
The hat is then passed to a pink-haired trapeze artist and then through the hoard of circus acts, including two men who seem to be joined at the chest, a very tall man in funny striped pants, a woman with white hair and eyes, a few jugglers, until it's handed to a bearded lady in a beautiful dress, who takes the hat handing back to the ringmaster. All jaws drop with her powerful voice.
"This is where you wanna be!"
"When it's covered in all the coloured lights.
Where the runaways are running the night
Impossible comes true, it's taking over you
Oh, this is the greatest show
We light it up, we won't come down
And the sun can't stop us now
Watching it come true, it's taking over you"
Just then another figure comes out from behind the bleachers and Emma's jaw drops in shock.
"This is the greatest show!"
She lets out a scream of joy realizing it's Phillip and she jumps to her feet. She feels tears come to her eyes as she can barely contain herself. He's dressed in a red suit with a top hat and cane, indicating that he was also the ringmaster.
"When it's covered in all the coloured lights…" the performers sing.
A young trapeze artist with pink hair lands down next to him and gets very close to him. If anyone can tell, the two appear to be in love. "Where the runaways are running the night. Impossible comes true, it's taking over you.
Oh, this is the greatest show,
We light it up, we won't come down and the walls can't stop us now!
I'm watching it come true, it's taking over you
"Oh, this is the greatest show!"
Phillip and the pink-haired girl sing together.
"'Cause everything you want is right in front of you
And you see the impossible is coming true
And the walls can't stop us (now) now, yeah
This is the greatest show (oh!)
This is the greatest show (Oh!)
This is the greatest show (oh!)
This is the greatest show (oh!)
This is the greatest show (Oh!)
This is the greatest show (oh!)
(This is the greatest show)
This is the greatest show (oh!)
This is the greatest show!"
Once the song ends, the entire room bursts into applause, everyone is on their feet in a flurry of ecstasy and euphoria. Even Rose, despite how much her feet hurt with the pregnancy, is up applauding the show. Emma is cheering the loudest for her cousin, tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe how much Phillip Carlyle had grown… how much they both had changed. Little Thomas is beside himself with excitement. Sybil is a little overwhelmed by all the noise, but she smiles as Emma bounces her up in down. Even Ruth is applauding the group with much approval and excitement.
What they had all seen was truly the greatest show on earth.
