Chapter 8
The ringing from the second explosion still lingers in my head as I climb up a ladder, probably the last person below decks. I wonder if they will have any lifeboats left by the time I make it up there…probably not. At least I know Captain Testarossa and Chidori will mourn my death.
Bursting free, I let the chilly, night air run through my hair before stepping onto the boat deck. Indeed, there is not a soul there. Everyone has made it…thank goodness. It's 2:10 on my watch when I settle onto one of the deck chairs, resigned to my fate, because not a boat is left aboard.
"KASHIM!"
G-Gauron?
I whip my head towards the sound of the voice, and I see him. Gauron. He's storming over here, and never before has he looked so…pissed.
"Kashim! Where were you? You weren't on any of the boats! Why didn't you board one? Do you know how infuriating you are?" He rants on, his face contorted in an expression of pure anger.
"Well, I'm here now. I kind of had to free some passengers trapped below."
"Screw the passengers! Kashim, don't you dare disappear like that again. I swear that if you do, and you manage to make it out alive, I'm going to kill you," Gauron takes my face in his hands and locks his eyes with mine. And suddenly I realize something.
His eyes. They weren't filled with anger, but with anguish.
"You were worried about me?" I ask in disbelief. "Why would you be-"
But once again, fate interrupts us. The stern of the ship is slowly rising higher and higher, and with it, furniture begins to slide as well.
"Grab onto my hand," Gauron commands immediately.
I immediately latch onto it.
"On the count of three, I want you to jump with me, right there." Gauron points at a patch of deep, dark, and probably freezing cold ocean. "It's the closest place to a lifeboat that won't get us crushed by the funnels or sucked into the propellers*. When you surface, call for me, and we'll swim to the lifeboat."
"You're crazy," I say, dumbfounded. "If we miss the target, then we'll definitely be crushed by that first funnel."
"Just trust me on this." Gauron says. Then he smiles at me, softly. Startled, I look away, blushing. Who knew Gauron had a gentle side to him?
"One."
The chair beside me starts to skid across the deck, crashing into tables and other pieces of furniture.
"Two."
I don't realize I'm holding onto Gauron's hand with a death grip until he squeezes back, a squeeze that sends reassurance through my body. We'll make it.
"Three!"
We have to.
We jump. It's 2:17 when our feet leave the deck and the stern of the Heroic points skyward, like a prayer to heaven.
Thousands and thousands of needles enter my body. Writhing in pain, my body numbs as I lose my senses slowly, succumbing to the darkness. It's cold*. It's cold. Where is Gauron? I can still feel his hand on mine. Is he cold too?
He squeezes my hand. Swim, Kashim, he's saying. Swim with me.
With Gauron?
We're going to make it? The funnel hasn't crushed us?
Intense joy and relief floods through my body, warming it enough to allow my arms and legs to paddle. We're almost there. We're almost to the top.
Just a bit more, and we'll be free.
Then I feel Gauron's hand slip from mine. No! Don't let go! Don't leave me!
The water encircles me, stealing my senses as it drags me deeper and deeper, before dealing a final blow to my chest that sends a jolt like lightning through my body.
Gauron…
I black out.
Complete darkness. It surrounds me like fog- no, like smoke, so suffocating is it.
But who is that figure over there? His broad back, his firm, set shoulders, the confident and arrogant look on that face…could it be…Gauron?
"Gauron! Wait for me!" I call out to him.
But he only stares. His eyes…they're scary…so piercing, so cold, filled with disdain…
He turns his back.
"No! Stop! Gauron!"
"GAURON!"
"GAURON!"
I sit up quickly, shivering. Why is it so cold?
"Welcome back from the dead, Kashim. Did you have a nice dream about me?"
He's sitting right behind me, or perhaps to my side. Wait. Was my head in his lap?
I pull away quickly.
"W-what…what are…we doing…?" I ask, realizing that because of the intense cold, my teeth are chattering. I look around me. We're in a boat of some sort, and other people are sitting in the boat as well. Some are facing my way, though the expressions on their faces are hard to make out in the darkness.
Wait. Darkness? But what had happened to the Heroic?
Suddenly, the memories come flashing back to me.
"I…I was drowning…!" I splutter. "And you let go, Gauron."
"Correction, you let go, dear Kashim. You were struck in the chest with a piece of falling furniture, and I went back to retrieve you," Gauron insists.
"R-Really…"
I wrap my arms around myself, trying to stifle the cold. That's when I notice that Gauron's white jacket is strung around my shoulders.
"This is your jacket…aren't you freezing?" I ask him.
"Perhaps if you shared some of your body warmth, I'd be a bit warmer."
Then he pulls me into his chest, his arms tightly around my body.
At first, I sink into his chest readily, inhaling the sharp odor of cigarettes. My heart finally relaxes, the stress flowing out of it and dispersing in the night air. I burrow my head into the corner of his neck, taking up a position in his lap. Okay. So what. I'm just cold, that's all. Then I notice his arms are trembling.
"G-Gauron…?" I ask, hesitantly. He flinches, not saying a word.
Not wanting to further interrogate him, we just sit in total silence for a moment, save a few voices from other passengers drifting across the sea.
Then he finally speaks up.
"I thought I'd lost you once, Kashim. Back on the ship. I was trying to convince myself that it was you, that you would never die, even when I tried so hard in the past to kill you."
"Thanks," I mumble.
"But," he continues, ignoring me, "that little piece of doubt in my mind kept tugging at my chest. Perhaps because I'd come so close to losing you before, when you passed out earlier, I finally broke." He pulls me away from him to look me in the eye. His are filled with uncertainty and hesitation, two things I'd never expect to see in them
"Perhaps this doesn't sound like me at all, Kashim. Perhaps you'll go on through the rest of your life and continue believing that I'm a raving, mad lunatic whose goal is to destroy the world. But if only you would understand, Kashim…"
He stops talking. I don't say a word back. We just sit there, opposite from each other, staring into each other's faces. Then he looks away, into his lap.
"I'm glad."
Startled, Gauron asks, "What?" He scans my face for any sign of deception. There isn't any.
"I'm glad," I say, my words spilling out before I can hold them back in, "because I think…I think that I'm in love with you."
Seconds pass, and the reality of what I'd just said hits me in the face. I bring my hands up to cover it. "Agh…I mean…what I meant is…"
"What did you mean, Kashim?" Gauron asks, his traditional smirk starting to show. He takes my face in his hand, pulling it closer to his so that he can stare straight into my eyes. "Continue."
"W-what I mean is…is that I'm glad b-because you're worried about me, and so-"
His lips crash against mine, our clumsiest kiss yet, but also the most…real one.
Me, in Gauron's arms, my fingers clutching his hair, our bodies pressed so close that we can feel each other's heartbeats, each one rapid and completely in sync. The universe holds its breath as Gauron's warmth floods into my passion-filled blood.
Finally, by what seems like hours later, we draw apart. I sink lower into his lap, my hands resting on his arms, which are entwined around my waist.
He gives a sigh of pleasure. "So I guess the plan did run smoothly, after all…" He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
My eyes fly open. "Wait. What plan?" He deceived me to get me to confess?
"Calm down, calm down, Kashim. Everything I said just now is true. I'm talking about the sinking of the Heroic. You didn't seriously believe that a ship in my command would just randomly run into an iceberg, did you?" Gauron looks at me, appalled, and slightly offended.
"Wait…then…that means…you sank this ship on purpose? You endangered so many lives just for the sake of your fun?" I ask, my voice ringing with disbelief. I should've known that something like this would happen…
"Well, I was just a bit curious, you see. About what would happen if I reenacted the Titanic, you know, the tragedy, with us as the main actors." He grins boldly. "And perhaps things didn't turn out quite as I intended…I didn't think you would be so determined to play the part of the hero, Kashim. But a little improvisation isn't always too bad. Though you almost gave me a heart attack."
All the while that he's ranting on and on, my mind is just reeling in shock, my mouth completely agape. How could he…
Then another thought occurs to me. "You. You sent that fake letter to me, didn't you? Don't deny it, I know you did it."
"I'm not denying anything, Kashim."
"But how did you manage to pull it off? That was an official envelope from Mithril. It was even stamped!"
"I've captured at least one or two Mithril ships, Kashim. And they're always equipped with a postal room. It's pretty easy to figure out that their envelopes are navy blue when the entire room is covered in navy blue envelopes," Gauron explains matter-of-factly. "Honestly. You'd think that a such a 'top-secret military organization' would learn to change the ways their letters are sent after having some of their own ships captured.
"Writing the letter wasn't hard either- honestly, that little lady Captain was so annoying, always hanging around you…"
I don't hear a word he's saying. Exasperation has taken over, and I'm so tired that I don't even have the energy to shiver anymore. Gauron looks down, noticing the lull in conversation.
"Sleep, Kashim," he whispers in my ear. "I'll protect you."
Only half-awake now, I reach up and pull him closer to me, snuggling into his lap.
"You're warm, Gauron…"
A laugh. "Idiot…I'm soaking wet."
*Propellers, funnels- Many passengers died that night jumping off the ship and getting sucked into the propellers or crushed by the funnels.
*Cold- The water that night was at a temperature of 31 degrees. One could suffer from hypothermia if staying in it too long.
Well, that's the end of my first fanfiction ;w; (yes, my first!)
I know I have plenty of room to improve on, but I wanted to be sure to post it today, so that hopefully people will remember the Titanic on its 100th anniversary, and always.
Sorry about the rushed story. I have a tendency to do that. I've never published any complete, prose writing online before, much less a romantic fanfiction.
To all Full Metal Panic! fans, and Titanic fans. May the Titanic and the families of the people aboard live in peace.
Wow! A review already ^ ^ (My first!) Thanks to The0Hidden0Key, you made my day :)