1996
Shiki Granbell sat at his desk, looking over two lists with great frustration. One list was a record of items lost and the other list was a record of items recovered. The location to where these items had been found was one that was known by everyone in the world. A tragic landmark if you will, left at the bottom of the sea. A monument to a lost a dream. And a tomb for many lost lives.
It was the RMS Titanic. A British luxury passenger liner that sank on April 15, 1912, en route to New York from Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage. The largest and most luxurious ship afloat, the Titanic had a double-bottomed hull divided into 16 watertight compartments. Because four of these could be flooded without endangering its buoyancy, it was considered unsinkable. It was supposed to be unsinkable, that's what many had declared but fate had other plans. Shortly before midnight on April 14, the ship collided with an iceberg southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland; five compartments ruptured and the ship sank. Some 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers died.
For as long as he could remember, Shiki had been fascinated by Titanic's history and as a boy, he dreamed of someday seeing the remarkable vessel with his very own eyes. That dream came true last year, when he took his first submarine trip down into the abyssal depths of the North Atlantic, practically free-falling for hours through two and a half miles of blackness, until the glorious ship came into his sights. It was even more incredible than he imagined it and his mind could only wonder to what it was like before it sank into the deep blue.
But as the year went by, his appreciation for the ship turned into a hunt for artifacts that he could sell profit. Though a large number of possessions and items had been ruined beyond repair by the wreckage, there were was an impressive number of ones that managed to stay in one piece. Examples being a brass pair of binoculars, the deck bell, two china cups, a violin, some fine silver, and many more. But there were three artifacts in particular that Shiki had been searching for.
A golden pocket watch. A rare blue diamond necklace that had been called The Heart of the Ocean. And a silver and gold bracelet with the name Wendy encrusted in diamonds. All three were worth a fortune and if Shiki was to find them, he'd be set for life. Twelve times he and his crew had gone down into the sea and searched the ship for those three valuables and twelve times they had not found one trace of any of them. He couldn't even find out who the original owners of those three were.
"Shiki!" One of his team members, Weisz Steiner, came running into the office excitedly. "Epic news man! One of our radars picked up something that has the same consistency as a vault!"
"A vault?" Shiki said.
"Yeah and what do people usually keep in vaults?"
"Holy shit!" Shiki said standing up quickly. "Alright call the team and tell them to meet me outside!"
"Aye-aye captain." He said with a salute. "You think this might be it?"
"It better be, one more failed search and we'll have to pack up. The bill for all our equipment is as long as my arm."
Soon the crew members were outside at the docks and loading up all the equipment in the submarine for one last trip. Once again they were lowered into the cold and dark waters, sinking down below, with their fingers crossed. Two lights flashed from the submarine, shining through the ruined ship until a medium-sized, iron vault came into sight and could be viewed through the underwater camera.
"There it is!" Shiki cried out, getting excited.
It took some time, but eventually they were able to retrieve the vault from the underwater debris and bring up into the surface.
"Cha-ching!" Weisz said high-fiving Shiki once returned on board their ship.
"I can't believe we actually did it." Shiki said. "We actually found them. We brought them back."
"Yeah we did! And it's all thanks to my incredible radar skills. Come on, who's the best? Who's the best, baby?" Weisz teased. "Say it. Say it. Say it."
Shiki rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"You are Weisz."
"Yeah baby!"
As the saw was cutting open the vault, the team started their celebration early and they pulled out all the stops. Cigars, champagne, they even called in a camera crew to tape their discovery.
"Alright, crack her open!" Shiki said.
The vault's door came off, out spilled water and sand. Shiki bent down and began to dig through the contents of the vault for any sign of the three treasures he had been seeking. Unfortunately all he found were wet papers that went pieces as soon as he touched them and a worn and wet sketchbook. All cheering instantly died down and disappointment rose up in it's place.
"Shit!" Shiki cursed.
That mishap led to Shiki getting a phone call from his investors who were not pleased with the recent events.
"Yes I know they weren't in the safe. But don't worry about it, there's still plenty of places they could be in." Shiki told one investor over the phone. "Yes I'm aware that you've invested a lot of money into this project and I can assure you there will be results. I just need more time."
In the same room, the tech crew was cleaning up the sketchbook that had managed to survive being underwater for so long and as they were clearing away the water and sand of one page, Shiki saw something that peeked his interest.
"Hold on, I'll call you back." He hung up the phone. "Hey guys, let me see that."
Once the page was cleaned, the tech crew handed it to Shiki who was instantly amazed. On that page was a perfectly sketched drawing of a young woman posing nude on a sofa bed. Shiki recognized her as Lucy Heartfilia, a first class passenger who vanished the night Titanic sank. She was believed to be dead even though her body was never found, not even at the bottom of the sea. Years ago, her father paid a crew to search for her body in order to give her a proper burial but they found nothing.
Shiki noticed some writing at the bottom of the picture.
April 14, 1912. ND
"I'll be damned." He said in astonishment.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, local florist Rebecca Bluegarden was enjoying a leisurely breakfast with her 101 year old grandmother. Rebecca had been caring for her grandmother for almost ten years, they were very close. Always had been since Rebecca was a child.
"You wanna watch the news while we eat this morning Grandma?" Rebecca asked her. as she poured the coffee.
"It is awfully quiet this morning, isn't it?" The old woman said. Her face was a wrinkled mass, her body was shapeless and shrunken underneath her dress. Although her brown eyes were just as bright and alive as those of a young girl.
"Yes, Rebecca. Turn it on."
Rebecca handed her grandmother a cup of coffee and turned on the small TV that sat on the counter top. She flipped through the channels until she reached the daily news and today's story happened to be about Shiki and his recent discovery.
"Of course everyone knows the familiar stories of the Titanic." Shiki said on screen. "The nobility of the band playing to the very end and all that. But I'm interested in the untold stories. The secrets locked deep within the Titanic."
"He's kind of cute, isn't he Grandma?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh?" The old woman giggled. "Is that why you like to watch him so much?"
"No." Her granddaughter denied while blushing. "I just like to hear the stories of his findings. I love history."
Her grandmother just smiled and sipped her coffee, then she and Rebecca turned their attention back to the TV.
"Take a look at this drawing that we found just today." Shiki said.
The video camera panned over to the picture. The old grandmother was suddenly galvanized by the image, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"I'll be damned." She said.
That night as Shiki was trying to decide whether he should pack up or make another treasure hunting attempt, he received a phone call.
"Look I know you're pissed off about investing your money into a failed operation!" He snapped thinking it was his investors again. "But give me a break! I'm only human!"
"I beg your pardon?"
At the sound of an elderly female's voice on the other end, he realized that he had made a mistake.
"Oh excuse me, I am so sorry." He apologized and adjusted his tone. "I thought you were someone else. Yes, can I help you ma'am?"
"I saw that picture you found on the news this morning and I was wondering, do you know who that is?"
"Yes. Her name was Lucy Heartfilia. She's one of Titanic's greatest mysteries. No one knows for sure if she survived the wreck or not."
"Would you like to know what happened to her?"
"Sure. I'd also like to know what happened to the golden pocket watch, the blue diamond, and that Wendy bracelet. But it looks like all four of them are going to remain a mystery."
"Don't be so sure. I happen to know what happened Lucy Heartfilia and where those three items are."
Shiki almost dropped the phone.
"Okay you have my attention Miss...I'm sorry what;s your name?"
"Lucy." She answered. "Call me Lucy."
"Funny." He chuckled. "You have the same name as the woman in the picture."
"I should hope so, because the woman in the picture is me."