Author's Note:

As I have said at the beginning of the story, I never intended to write this. It was only through a YouTube video made by one of my favorite content creators, MatPat (or rather more well known through his channel Film Theory), which dived into the possibility that Jack maybe a time-traveler in the Titanic movie. The inspiration came from that MatPat video and that inspiration led to this.

I don't believe it to be true but MatPat did bring up some interesting details like certain places that Jack talks about not existing until after 1912 and even carrying a bag that wouldn't exist until the 1940s. It actually started to win me over a little bit until certain plot holes and inconsistencies in the theory itself started to show by the halfway point. But the theory video did show expose James Cameron for not doing such a great job in researching some history. Sure, he got a lot of the stuff about Titanic right but when it came to things outside of Titanic, he seemed to have dropped the ball there.

Plus, he really should have done his homework when it came to how he portrayed 1st Officer Murdoch. I understand what he was going for and I like the idea, as it adds to the tragedy and heartbreak. But the problem was that Murdoch was a real person who never did any of the stuff in the movie. It should have been an original character.

So, yeah, I just chop it up to just continuity errors on the filmmakers part (not just James Cameron, though he does hold a lot of responsibility). None of it is proof that Jack is a time-traveler (though I do recommend watching the video, it is a lot of fun and full of info I didn't even know about). My explanation for the historical inaccuracies is that in the movie's universe, certain things are different.

I loved the idea of the time-traveler aspect but not for Jack. But the idea held enough merit for an original character to take the role. Hence, the creation of Taylor Huston's character, who has somehow gotten more involved in my future plans.

In my original plan for the story, Taylor Huston was originally going to die during the sinking of the Titanic, but it felt very dissatisfying and unearned.

Just to add something else, MatPat's video revealed something that blew my mind and would end up becoming a vital part to my story. The fact that in this film's universe, Rose and Jack Dawson are kinda (indirectly) responsible for the collision with the iceberg. No, seriously, really think about it! Rose was high society woman and if she had jumped, Cal and Ruth would have gotten the ship to turn around to find her. Regardless if she had lived or died from exposure, the ship would have missed the iceberg. But when Jack saved her, it kept the ship on the same collision course.

Now, to say that Jack and Rose are at fault for the ship sinking and causing over fifteen hundred people to die is wrong. None of the blame should be on them. Every opportunity that could have been taken to save the Titanic or even just the passengers, was never taken by anyone. Whether it be Captain Smith listening to Ismay's demand to speed the ship up, or that the binoculars were not there for the night-shift watchers to see icebergs from afar, or the fact that the lifeboats were not up to the number needed for every passenger. Hell, even right down to there not being any red flares. And there's still so much more that played into Titanic's sinking.

So no, Jack and Rose (as far as I am concerned) are not responsible for Titanic's sinking, even if the attempted suicide moment would have possibility saved the Titanic. Or maybe Titanic would have met its fate regardless if she had jumped. Who knows!

Sadly, Jack and Rose's story has officially ended, so we will not see them again. Unless I write a one-shot story to see how they are doing later on, but I have no desire to do so (...yet... maybe...). But yeah, I purposely left their fates unclear in the coming times ahead. Sure, I have a summary written down on what their lives will be like from then on and when each one of them will die, but I wanted to leave their lives unwritten in this so that the imagination can take over. I like to think of this kind of story-telling as how we view unresolved mysteries and events that we never truly know the answer to but yet time itself knows. It's a lot like that.

In retrospect, I really wish I had come up with more original scenes for Jack and Rose. I said in my first couple chapters I would but ended up getting more invested in what Taylor was doing. It was only more towards the end that original material came in. One major problem was that I couldn't think of anything to do with them at the beginning, except add new dialogue or put a twist to something.

I also tried to add more character to Ruth and Cal, despite their villain natures from the film. In the film, we get one deleted scene in particular that shows Ruth and Cal boarding the Carpathia and passing by the third-class passengers, hoping to see Rose among them. I get why the scene was deleted but I wish it would have made it to the final cut, because it added more layers to their characters. I couldn't recreate that scene in my story but I wanted to give them moments that helped reveal their vulnerable side.

Ruth does have a backstory that I made a summary for, one that explains so much about her. I saw it as a way of making her the opposite to Rose. But I ultimately decided not to use it, mainly out of fear that it would become an exposition dump. I tried to think of a way to tell her backstory but I never could do it right. Instead, I left clues as to what her backstory is. While my summary is ultimately the canon version to my story, I'm leaving it up to you to decide what her backstory is.

And as for Cal, it wasn't much but it was an inner thought process and slight flashback moment. I figured not much was needed to help us understand his behavior and beliefs, even if they are wrong.

I'm glad that I was able to add scenes for other characters like Cora, Trudy, Tommy, and Fabrizio. Cora was a lot of fun to write about, though I wish I could have done more for her. Trudy was bit harder to write for, due to not entirely knowing where to go with her. Fabrizio and Tommy were easy enough. The one character I really wish I could have added to the mix was Helga, but I almost forgot about her entirely until the sinking parts.

I was going to have Tommy and Trudy become a couple but I could never find a way to make the relationship work. Plus, it felt a little too forceful in trying to pair them. Jack and Rose felt natural, as did Fabrizio and Helga, but this one... it just didn't feel right.

As for Taylor Huston, his story will continue and conclude in a future project of mine known as "Convergence", which feature his final mission and will be my biggest story ever on this site. However, I will not write it until all of my other fanfiction stories are done. There's a reason for this but I won't reveal anything. And even though Taylor's story will conclude in "Convergence", he will actually be appearing in another story of mine, "Serenity". Like I said, I have plans that involve him.

Speaking of which, there are a TON of deleted scenes that I wish could have made it into the movie but I understand why there were taken out. It's why I've always wanted to see an Extended Edition of Titanic. Speaking of which, I remember watching a cut like that on some tv channel back in the early 2000s but for the life of me I can't seem to find any trace of info about it.

Sadly, James Cameron has declared that he will not make an Extended Cut due to being fully satisfied with the film he made, despite being infamous for making Extended Cuts of his films. And a lot of times they helped to make them better. The best example being Terminator: Judgement Day. Even Avatar, the one film that didn't need an Extended Cut, got one!

Hell, I recreated some of these deleted scenes in my story because they helped give scene-time and development to certain characters, even Jack and Rose. One in particular has a line from Jack that plays a part in the literal last sentence of the story itself.

But seriously, there are a good number of deleted scenes that would help improve the film that I want to see as part of a cut that we can watch. Granted, not all deleted scenes need to be in such a cut, especially the terrible Alternate Ending (and no, it is not a version where Jack lives). Sure, it would be close to a 4-hour film (probably longer), but if we can get Extended Cuts of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Zack Synder's Justice League, then I am demanding the '#TitanicExtendedCutDamnIt'!

So, yeah, this is the official end to my Titanic story. It's been a hell of journey to get this one done. I hope I remained true to the movie and to the real-life event without disrespecting anything or anyone involved. I wanted to keep its themes and lessons alive in this one, with a touch of my own creativity in there.

While this story doesn't have that level of tragedy or lose of life as the movie did, I hoped to try and make up for it by throwing so much at Taylor in this. Out of everyone, he suffers the most to prevent this tragedy from occurring. I purposely left the decision of who is right or wrong up to you guys. Or if both sides are right at all.

All of it is based off my own realization in life about the choices we make. I always hear how people say "I had no choice" when it's obvious that we do have a choice. But I often asked myself what that line truly means to have a choice and why some people say they don't. Well, I eventually came to the realization that it's more about which consequences of those choices can we live with. While we don't fully realize it, consequences are unavoidable. We suffer them in some way or form, no matter how little or big. But we do have a choice in choosing the one we can live with.

I want to thank all of you for reading this story. I will write Convergence in the future, but only when all of my current fanfiction stories are finished. So it'll be a while.

I never would have imagined that a story that began as an inspiration from a YouTube video would evolve into a story about a man struggling to make a difficult decision and the burden of just knowing he will suffer consequences outside of his control, regardless of what the decision is going to be. And now, that story is going to continue past what I intended. Hell, it's literally part of my endgame plan now.

I apologize for grammar and continuity mistakes on my part. I try to fix them but there's only so much I can do as all of it done by me, even the editing.

But thank you for the support and the reviews for this story. Especially you, Josie Robbie and Number Ten!