Blue water covers a little less than half the porthole at Jack's side, only slightly higher on the right side than the left. It hadn't been above the window at all when he first got down here, and now it rises faster by the minute. He'd told Rose not so long ago that the iceberg didn't seem like much of a bump-- it seems he was wrong.
Lovejoy sits at the table across the small room, letting a lone bullet roll down the incline of the table. He catches it, and replaces it at the top. The sound grates on Jack's nerves-- he knows he's only doing it to torment him. If Cal's valet truly had any malice towards him, he would've shot him by now. Not the sympathetic sort, maybe, but still only a man doing his job. Lovejoy doesn't care what happens to Jack, or Rose even, just that he continues to be paid by Cal for doing his bidding.
He catches it again and loads it into his engraved silver pistol, looking at Jack with a faint smirk. "You know, I do believe this ship may sink," Lovejoy says, rising from his seat. It's obvious that he has no intention of going down with it. Jack has a sudden sense of fear for what that means for him-- handcuffed to part of the ship, with almost no one knowing he's here. He sure as hell isn't going to let me go. Lovejoy stalks over, "I've been asked to give you this small token of our appreciation," He says.
Jack never sees the blow coming-- he feels it before anything else. It swallows him whole, spreading out from his belly through the rest of his body, aching. "Compliments of Mister Caledon Hockley," Lovejoy says, and disappears from the room. Jack breathes through the pain.
There's still time, Jack tells himself. Maybe someone will be back. Maybe someone will help me. Maybe Rose will figure it out.
Even if she doesn't, Jack is glad that he at least had the chance to love her. Cal and Lovejoy and everyone else against them could never make him regret loving Rose, not in a thousand years. He wouldn't change any of his actions in the last few days if he had the chance, even knowing where they would get him. Not betting on a ticket for a ship bound to sink. Not saving Rose's life, nor falling in love with her and kissing her at the bow. Not drawing her. Not making love to her in that car. None of it.
When he's finally able to stand again, Jack sees that the key to his handcuffs is gone from the table.
The water now covers the window entirely. I can't even see the sky anymore, He thinks, although that could mean a lot of things, from this angle. But Jack knows that if this part of the ship has already sunk enough that the window is covered, there's no saving the Titanic. If this room was already underwater outside, it couldn't be long until it started flooding inside, too. The ship will sink, as Lovejoy had said. It's only a matter of time, He thinks. Time I don't have.
He can't die now, when Rose thinks he used her, for sex or that fucking rock. He can't die with her thinking that he would do that. I need to make things right with her, Jack thinks in desperation, even though he's done nothing wrong. It's Cal's jealousy that has him in chains, and nothing else. I need her to know I love her.
Jack has been sure of his own heart since he woke up this morning. He doesn't know why he didn't tell Rose, because he should have, in the gymnasium, or on the bow or in that car. He should have said it every chance he had, every minute of the day he spent with her, because she deserves to know. And if he gets the chance, he'll make sure to say it to her every damn day.
"Help!" He cries, the banging of his steel cuffs against the pipes furious. He's not ready to drown. He's not ready to die. I'm not ready to die. "Can anybody hear me! Hello! Help me!" But there's no yelling, no footsteps nearing. No sign that anyone was even there to hear him. I'm not ready to die, I'm not ready to die, I'm not ready to die. "Help me! Can anybody hear me?! Can anybody hear me?! Somebody, help me!! Anybody!"
"Mister Andrews!" Rose cries as she runs through the first class corridor. If anyone knows where they would've taken Jack, it would be him. Anyone else would be more likely to ignore her, or insist she had no business dealing with the sort of criminals that the Master at Arms would've arrested. But Rose knows that Mister Andrews will understand-- or at the very least, help her rather than try to stop her.
As she rounds the corner of a First Class hallway, she sees him to her left, helping to evacuate the ship as quickly as he can. "Mister Andrews, thank God," Rose breathes, rushing up to him. "Where would the Master at Arms take someone under arrest?"
"What?" Andrews asks, his hands on her shoulders, brow furrowed in confusion. His jaw clenches, hands tightening on her shoulders. She knows he wants her to leave as soon as possible, but she can't yet. Not without Jack. "You have to get to a boat right away,"
"No!" Rose answers, standing firm. She doesn't care if all the boats are gone by the time she saves him. I would rather die with him than live without him. When did her heart make that choice for her? "I'm doing this, with or without your help, sir," She insists, "But without will take longer."
Mister Andrews shakes his head at her, but doesn't tell her no or try to shove her back towards the lifeboats the way Mother or Cal would, as if she's just some foolish girl who doesn't understand her actions. Though they are strangers, Rose knows that Andrews respects her in a way that very few others ever have-- Jack and her Father are all that come to mind. Perhaps he sees her determination-- that not even refusal to help her would sway her choice on this. "Take the elevator to the very bottom, go to the left," He says, turning her the other way. Bottom floor, to the left… Rose repeats his instructions to herself, hoping she will remember all this later. "Down the crewman's passage, then go right, and left again at the stairs. You'll come to a long corridor…"
"This could be bad," Jack says to himself, head against the cool metal of the pipes. His throat is raw from screaming, forehead damp with sweat. Is this how wild animals feel when they're caught in a trap? He's seen how wild animals fight, really fight, when they're afraid for their life. On some level it's amazing how even the most docile animals will get vicious when threatened-- of course, Jack never thought he would be the animal in question.
The angle of the room is even steeper now than it was before-- Jack can feel the uneven incline of the deck beneath his feet. It's not just a small lurch to one side, like when Lovejoy was rolling his bullet off the table, it's a steady downwards pull that will kill him if he doesn't get out. He doesn't know how far back the ship was hit, but he knows all sinking ships flood, and that if no one is even there to hear his screams, it means there's water creeping up the hall towards him.
Nobody is coming to save him. Nobody who would bother to save him even knows he's here.
Rose knows, His mind whispers. Somehow, it's not much of a comfort.
Behind him, Jack hears water trickling into his room from under the door, slow at first, but more by the second, and spilling back towards him. "Oh, shit!" He swears, hopping up on the desk, "Oh, shit!" The water is so clear-- it's not even a lot yet, it seems so harmless for there to be just one waterlogged corner, but it won't stay that way. If I can't get free, this water will kill me. I'm running out of time.
Jack pulls against the piping above, a leg braced against the walls, trying to break the cuffs, or the pipe, or both, or anything. I'm not ready to die, He thinks for about the tenth time that minute. I'm not ready to die.
"Excuse me," Rose says as she brushes past people in first class, towards the elevator. "Thank you,"
"I'm sorry, miss, but the lifts are closed," The man says when she runs into him. His hand blocks the doorway to her, uniform utterly pristine even in the chaos, like there's nothing wrong more than a little problem with the elevators. There are a small number of people gathered around, trying to go down just as she is. The difference is that they're going back for frivolities, for luggage, or just to say they saw the water. Rose is going back to save a life. And she's through with people telling her she shouldn't.
"I'm through being polite, god damn it!" Rose swears, shoving the elevator man backwards by his lapels, into the elevator and up against the wall. I won't chance Jack's life on courtesy and rules. She doesn't know what the man sees in her eyes, but she realizes now that it scares him, enough that he doesn't dare fight back. "Now take me down! E-deck," Rose demands, pointing at the lever.
They descend.
The water covers most of the floor now, flooding through the little slots at the bottom of the door. That the door is closed buys him some time-- it's watertight by no means, but it does staunch the flow. Water that is up to his ankles in here might be up to his calves otherwise. But how long before it starts going through the cracks around the hinges? Until it breaks? Until the window shatters? "Come on," Jack mutters to himself, tugging at the cuffs as much as he can "Come on, come on,"
He tries to pull his hand through the cuffs, thumb folded over and fingers pointed so it's as narrow as possible, but it does no good. He groans in effort, at the pain of the metal against his bones, but the cuff just won't slip off-- it's too tight. He's trapped. There's no escaping, and no help coming for him. He's alone. He's going to die here. I'm going to die here. I'm going to die. I'm not ready to die.
How fitting is it that he will drown in such cold water, when that is what nearly killed him so many years ago?
Rose screams as the water floods over her ankles, rising up to her knees, the fine silks of her skirts in a swirl around her legs. "I'm going back up!" The elevator man says in a panic, already moving towards the lever.
"No!" She insists, "No, no!" Rose shoves him back and away from the lever, pushing forward. I need to find Jack first, She thinks. I need to save him first. She hasn't given up a lifeboat and come this far to save Jack only to be turned down now. She pries the cage-like metal doors open, and wades her way out into the flooded corridor, the water flowing around her knees.
"Come back," The man yells after her, but doesn't follow her out into the hall. Rose makes no move to turn back-- if he wants her back, he'll have to drag her there himself. "I'm going back up!" He cries again, half in a plea that she doesn't stay, looking at her like she's crazy. And maybe she is. Would it be so terrible? With all due respect, miss, Jack had whispered to her the night they met, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship here. Her heart aches at the memory. How could she have ever doubted him?
"I'm going back up!" He yells as the elevator is already moving, frantic and half soaked. The water rains down from the elevator as it travels back upward. He wouldn't be coming back for her, but Rose had known that on the way down. I'll have to find my own way out.
"Crew passage," Rose mutters to herself as she looks around for one. It was only minutes ago, but Andrews' directions already seem so fuzzy-- he had given so many, how could she possibly keep them all straight? At last, her eyes land on a sign above a narrow hallway. "Crew passage." She turns down it, passing stairs and empty rooms, shoving floating debris out of her way, chairs and luggage and other forgotten things.
Rose comes to a corridor with stairs to D-deck at her side. On her right is deep blue water, and to her left she can still see part of the floor. Left or right? What did Mister Andrews say? She wishes she could remember, but she can't. I can't remember. "Jack!" She yells in desperation, unable to tell where he is, although she knows it must be close.
Left, Rose decides, going towards the end with the shallower water. It will be easier to search first. The lights flicker, bathing her in shadows. "Jack! Jack?" She checks in one of the rooms, and finds it empty. Why doesn't he cry out for help? She wonders. Can he not hear me, or is he already gone? Rose doesn't like that thought. It spurns her onward, crying his name, "Jack!"
The water is almost up to Jack's knees when he hears it. At first he's not certain he's even heard it, but then it comes again, louder. Just the sound of her voice makes his heart stutter with hope, because he knows her voice, knows it's Rose, come to save him. Of the people who know he's been arrested, Rose is the only one who would come back for him. The only one who would even try.
"Rose!" He bellows, hoping she can hear him.
"Jack?!" She cries back, a little closer this time, lauder and more insistent. She sounds a little confused, like she's not sure where exactly he's yelling from.
"Rose, I'm in here!" Jack bangs the handcuffs against the steel piping he's chained to so there's more noise-- so she can find him easier. "I'm in here!"
"Jack!"
"I'm in here!" He repeats.
"Jack!" She yells again, this time close enough that he can hear her clearly, and splashing of the water as she moves through it.
"Rose!"
"Jack!" Rose cries as she pushes open the door, half soaked with saltwater and in a long pink coat. I've never been so happy to see someone in my life, he thinks, sagging with relief. Rose wades over to him, coat and skirts dragging behind her in the water. "Jack, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Rose says, placing a firm kiss on his lips and tugging him close, arms around his shoulders. She's breathless, covered in sweat and sea, the scent of Lily of the Valley long gone from her skin, but she's never been more beautiful to him. She came back for me, he thinks. Nobody has loved him enough to do that in a long time.
"That guy Lovejoy put it in my pocket," He pleads against her lips when they part, hoping she'll understand. He needs her to believe him. I'm not a thief, I'd never steal from her, Jack thinks. She has to know that.
"I know, I know, I know, I know," Rose promises with a shake of her head, still wrapped around him. He doesn't want to let her go, even though he doesn't have time, even though he can't even hold her in these handcuffs.
"Listen Rose," Jack starts, pulling back a little. "You're gonna have to find a spare key, alright? Look-- look in that cabinet right there," He says, pointing at the glass case across the room where there's at least twenty different keys hung up. He knows Lovejoy must have taken it before he left, but he remembers the shape of it, and the color. It's a big ship, the Master at Arms has to keep a spare key somewhere. "It's a little silver one, Rose."
"Silver one," Rose mutters as she looks at the cabinet, hands brushing over the keys. "These are all brass ones!" She despairs.
"Check over here, Rose," He says, nodding at the desk to his left. Jack has no idea where the Master at Arms would keep one, but he has to get out of here somehow. I have to survive, I have to. If Rose came this far for him, and is still here even as the water rises, he has a terrible feeling that if he doesn't get out of these handcuffs, she'll die here with him. That she won't leave even if it means her own life.
"Rose," She hears Jack say from behind her. She turns, hair flying, a hand buried in the papers of the desk drawer. "How did you find out I didn't do it?" He asks. His eyes are wide, clear aquamarine, and his hair falls in a soft wave over his forehead. He looks so innocent, so curious, as if he doesn't already know. Like he's still surprised she came back to save him. He's so beautiful, Rose thinks.
"I didn't," She answers, finally, because she doesn't know how else to put it into words, what she'd felt on the boat deck under Cal's hard gaze in the white light of exploding fireworks. It's a pity I didn't keep that drawing. It'll be worth a lot more by morning. Rose can't describe how just that one sentence had told her all she needed to know-- that Cal would let Jack die just for loving her, that he hadn't taken the diamond at all. "I just realized that I already knew,"
Jack looks like he could kiss her-- he would if she was in arm's reach. The force of the love in his gaze should be enough to knock her over; Rose doesn't know how she has the strength to stand under it. The moment doesn't last. "Keep looking!" Jack says with a grin, motioning at the drawers. I'm not going to let him die, Rose thinks as she digs for it. No matter what it takes.
"No key," Rose says as the last desk drawer turns up empty. "There's no key!"
Jack swallows, heart growing heavy. "Alright, Rose, Listen," He says, trying to keep himself calm. "You're gonna have to go find some help."
Her blue eyes burn on his skin, reluctant to leave. Jack knows she is. If she leaves him now, she might never see him again. How long can it take her to find help? He doesn't know. Find it she will, of that he's certain. It was just a matter of how flooded the corridor was by the time Rose found it. Maybe she would be back to save him, or maybe the water would be too deep for her to make the return trip. Either way, it gets Rose out of here, because waiting is not an option. Jack won't sit here and watch her drown with him. He won't. He won't let her give her life for him. "It'll be alright," Jack assures her, even though he can't promise that. Even though he's not sure he believes it himself. I'll live with her, or I'll die, He thinks. But I won't die with her.
Rose swallows, eyes heavy on him. She wades over and drags him into a long kiss, warm hand on his face. "I'll be right back," She promises him. Jack nods. Rose shoves a floating chair out of the way as she makes for the door, her skirts slowing her movements, and rounds the corner to the left, leaving him alone.
"I'll just wait here!" Jack calls after her. He wonders if he'll ever see her again.
The lights flicker as Rose looks back towards the way she came. The first hallway is even darker-- she's not sure it was lit in the first place. It doesn't feel like it was so long ago that she came, but the level of the water tells her otherwise. It is knee high now, where it was only at her mid calf before. How high will it be if she gets back there? How long will it take for her to make the return trek? Too long. I'm going back up, the elevator man had all but screamed at her when she went down. If I go back that way, there'll be no elevator, She thinks. I'll have to find another way.
There might not be stairs back by the elevators, but there are some right here at her side, going to D-deck. Rose takes them. "Hello, is there anyone here?" She calls at the top, turning down the hall to her right. "Hello?! Is there anyone down here?!" Rose runs further, but doesn't see anyone nor hear anyone. She's alone, she's alone, she's alone. "We need help, hello!"
"Damn it," She swears as she runs back, facing empty hall after empty hall. Tears lump in her throat. I don't have time to cry, Rose thinks, even though it's all she wants to do, because she's not even sure she can find her way back to those stairs now, and Jack needs her if he's going to live. She can't leave him. She won't. I won't leave him, I won't. I won't let him die. "Can anybody hear me, please, hello! Hello!"
Rose turns back at the sound of footsteps. "Oh, thank God!" She breathes as a man runs up behind her, panting, the first sign of life she's had in minutes. He's third class, and pulls away from her, yelling furiously in some language that's not English-- Russian, she thinks it might be, but she's not sure. Rose knows he doesn't want to be here, she doesn't either, but Jack needs her, needs help, so she insists, "Wait, please, I need your help! There's a man back here, and he-- and he-- wait!" But the man shoves her hands away and runs down the hall and away from her, gone as quickly as he came.
He won't help her. Nobody will help her. There's nobody left who cares.
"Hello," She yells again, even though it does no good. She's panting, and there's no help for Jack, and she doesn't have time. I promised myself I would save him, Rose thinks. She's promised it to herself more times than she can count tonight, but she means it with everything she has in her. She intends to keep it as long as she's breathing.
The lights dim to near blackness. Rose leans against the wall, breathless and terrified. How is she to find her way back to him in the dark? Find help in the dark? Find her way out in the dark? She's alone, she's alone, I'm alone. I'm not ready to say goodbye to him, Rose thinks, with tears welling up in her eyes and her heart in her throat. The ship groans underneath her, like the belly of some great monster that's going to swallow them up. If it gets the chance, it will. She can feel her heartbeat in her fingertips.
The lights come back on. Rose gasps for relief, trying to keep down her tears. There are soft footsteps approaching, clicking on the floor. "Hello," She says again, so they know she's there.
"Oh, miss, you shouldn't be here now," The steward says, dragging her away like one of the lifebelts under his arm. His grip is tight on her wrist, too tight, bruising. She will be purple tomorrow if he doesn't let her go.
"Wait, please," Rose says as they move. "There is a man down here, and he is trapped--" She explains, dragged further away, but he's not listening to her, not hearing anything she's saying.
"Yes, alright." He nods, pulling her along, babbling assurances to her that she can't hear properly, too frantic to make any sense at all.
"Please," Rose begs. He's taking me the wrong way, She frets, I can't help Jack if he drags me back to the boat deck.
"There's no need to panic, it's alright--" He insists, shaking.
"No, I'm not panicking-- you're going the wrong way--" She pleads, trying to wrench her hand free, even though it only hurts more, "Listen!" Rose screams, and feels her fist go flying before she can stop it, landing a blow right across his nose. The steward stumbles forward, leaning back on the wall, and his hand comes away with blood. It's on his face, below his nose. Maybe she's broken it, maybe it's just bloody. Rose breathes hard and lowers her fist, resting against the wall. He looks at her like she's mad. Maybe I am, she thinks again. Maybe I am, maybe I am. "The hell with you," He says with a shake of his head, and disappears.
She's not sure how she has the strength to carry on, to not just collapse here and now, but she finds it. Somewhere, in her, Rose finds it. She breathes, and catches sight of the fire axe across the wall, with a hose at its side. A respectable woman would go to get help, Mother's voice whispers in her head. There's no time for her to be respectable anymore-- she is the only help Jack has.
She's not sure when she became this creature of desperation and violence, an animal lashing out when threatened, but it feels like it's all she is now. All she has left. Rose takes the metal part of the hose and breaks the glass. She rips the axe from its place and goes rushing back to where she came, hoping she'll find the way.
Rose freezes at the sight of the stairs to E-deck, the water icy blue and covering all but the topmost steps. "Oh my god," She breathes. She remembers how cold it was, but on her calves, and ankles. How cold will this be, when it covers her up to her chest? How high is it for Jack back in that room?
She walks down, and braces against the black metal ceiling grate, pink coat floating behind her. An electric light explodes to her left. Even if I can get Jack free, Rose thinks, It will be a miracle if the electricity doesn't kill us on the way out.
The floor is no longer visible to her left. Rose doesn't have the time to think about this-- she only has the time to act. She leans the axe up in the grating, and pulls off her wool coat. In the water, the coat will only slow her down-- it's weight was heavy and dragging with just the hem in the water earlier, cold around her legs on D-deck. Here, it will provide her no further warmth, only hinder her movement. Freezing, was what Jack said about the water the night she tried to kill herself. Maybe a couple of degrees over.
Rose takes the axe and lowers herself into it, gasping at the temperature. Her feet kick aimlessly in the water-- the shoes don't let her swim, and the water is too deep for her to stand in. She grips the piping in the ceiling, the metal cold under her hand, and slides forward, kicking, bit by bit. Her skirts balloon behind her, the normally light silk now weighty. When her toes brush against the floor, Rose lets go of the pipe, and wades the rest of the way to Jack's door, hoping the axe will be enough to save him.
"Jack!" Rose says as she steps back into the room, breathless and soaked, missing her pink coat. Her hair is half damp and matted. Her lips are almost blue already, He notices, and she can't have been in it for long.
"Rose," He says, looking back at her. So far, kneeling on the desk has spared Jack from the worst of it, but he senses that's about the change. In one way or another.
"Will this work?" Rose pants, lifting a red fire axe from the water.
Jack feels his heart rise to his throat at the thought of it, but he doesn't have much choice in the matter. She couldn't find help, obviously. At this point, it's the axe or death. "I guess we'll find out," He says. "Come on," Jack pulls his hands apart, bracing himself. Rose moves towards him, the axe held high, but a second thought makes him stop her last minute.
"Wait wait wait wait, wait," Jack insists, and Rose falters, eyes wide and a little confused. Jack has swung an axe himself before, but he's certain Rose never has. He knows the axe will break through the cuffs, but this is more of a question of how much of his hands it goes through first. He's an artist, and he needs his hands-- he would certainly prefer that they got out of this as unscathed as possible. "Try a couple practice swings over there," Jack suggests, nodding at the wooden cupboard on the opposite wall.
Rose turns towards the cupboard, and after a moment swings the axe at it. It sticks in the thin wood paneling, breaking a small hole through to the other side. "Good," Jack nods. "Now try and hit the same mark again, Rose. You can do it." He's sure she can, if she really puts her mind to it. Nothing seems impossible for her. He has to have faith in her, if he wants to live.
She swings again, and the axe hits about a foot to the right of the original hole. Jack feels his stomach drop into his toes-- We don't have the time it would take for her to get good at this, he realizes with a shred of panic. They need to get out of here, and it needs to be now, regardless of whether or not Rose can come close to hitting the same thing twice. I just have to hope she can hit it good once.
"Okay. That's enough practice," He says, swallowing down his fear. Fire axes aren't meant to be sharp, so at least there's that. Maybe it won't do as much damage if it hits his skin. "Come on, Rose. You can do it. Listen, just hit it really hard, and really fast. Come on," Jack pulls his hands as far apart as they'll go, clenching his fingers into fists so they're better protected. "Wait," He says, remembering what his father used to tell him when he was learning to chop wood, "Open your hands up a little more-- good--"
"Like that?" Rose asks, widening her grip, voice thick with desperation.
"Right," Jack nods. It'll be fine, he tells himself, heart racing. "Listen, Rose," He says. Rose looks at him, the fear palpable in her blue eyes. She's shaking, and he can't be sure how much of it is from the cold and how much is of fear. "I trust you." He wants to live. Even a one handed artist is better than a dead one. Jack moves his head to the other side of the piping to keep himself from moving, and shuts his eyes. "Go!"
There's a horrid clang in the next few moments, and a shriek, and Jack feels the chain between his wrists go slack, the links dangling against his skin. He holds his hands up, looking from the severed cuffs back to Rose, grinning and laughing. "You did it!" He exclaims, hugging her, kissing her on the cheek. He loves this girl, he loves her, loves her. Holy shit, I can't believe that actually worked! Jack thinks, laughing, because he's not even hurt-- there's just a small scrape on the fleshy part of his thumb, and it's not bleeding at all.
"Come on, let's go," He says, hopping down from the desk and into the water. The cold hits him again, like it did all those years ago. "Oh, shit, this is cold!" He swears as they trudge through the water, now up past his hips. "Oh shit, shit, shit!!"
Rose gapes back down the hallway when they make it outside, the water midway down now touching the ceiling in parts and climbing higher. Even closer, more water is flooding down the stairs from D-deck-- it's obviously impossible to pass. "This is the way out," Rose says. If it was even close to that high a few minutes ago, he wonders at how she even managed to get back for him.
"We have to find another way. Come on!" He says, taking her hand. I won't let this be where we die.
Sorry, no real notes this time! Turns out Spring Break is excellent time for writing. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible (It should be fairly short, I promise) and after that, there's only one more chapter of movie stuff I want to cover before getting into New Content. Yay! Also, guess how many times these guys say each other's names in this scene? It's too many (Just kidding, they're adorable) Hope you guys enjoyed this, and Best Wishes!