A/N There's been some debate as to what the band's last song had played moments before Titanic's demise. In keeping in canon with both Titanic and A Night to Remember, the song Nearer, My God, To Thee (1997) will be heard instead.

Chapter 18

After bidding a last farewell to his band mates, a lone violinist begins to play a sonnet, only to soon be joined again for the final time, amongst the now panicking crowds on the boat deck.

Theme Song-Nearer, My God, To Thee-I Salonisti

Jesse stood at the Grand Staircase, as panicked people began to rush up the stairs, followed by water flooding the decks below, while not noticing Cal or Lovejoy among the panicked crowd. A pang of sadness almost overcame Jesse, as he remembered the time he was on the Olympic months prior, while he stared up at the large domed ceiling overlooking the staircase. Tears came to his eyes, as he hears a band playing a somber sonnet just outside the Grand Staircase entrance, despite the ruckus that was happening out, and the fact that this ship was going down tonight, on her maiden voyage.

Captain Smith walks into the wheelhouse, looking forlorn as the water creeps up the windows in front of him, and puts his hand on the wheel with passion, while he watches the water creep up the windows now.

...

Captain Haddock, upon reading the urgency of Titanic's distress, soon sends the most famous words to the stricken liner, which was now sinking faster.

"Commander Titanic. Am lighting up all possible boilers as fast as can. Haddock."

Soon he orders extra stokers to tend to the fires, before he makes a new calculation, and sets a new course, to help her dying sister. On Olympic's bridge, they yell, "Full ahead!" Engine telegraphs ring, as engineers scramble to make more power, even going as far to turning off their hot water and steam for heat to certain parts of the ship, for they needed to make as much steam as possible.

The Olympic races through the night, full steam ahead, as Haddock makes a prayer, while looking out into the vast, dark, open sea...

...

Thomas Andrews looks at his pocket watch, then adjusts the clock on the fireplace mantle, while in their stateroom, Isidor and Ida Strauss lay in their bed, peacefully asleep as the Atlantic rushes into their room.

"And so they lived, happily together for three hundred years, in the the land of Tír na nÓg, Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty." a young mother told her sleeping children, for they stayed too far down from salvation, and of no hope of making it to a lifeboat.

Jesse snaps back to reality, as water sloshes its way up the decks. He slowly backs away from the handrails, then makes his way to the Aft Staircase, through a corridor that led him to the smoking room, among the crashing sounds of dishes and glasses as they slid off of tables and shelves onto the floor, but he didn't notice a very distraught Thomas Andrews. He was seated at the table, eyeing intently at Jesse as he made his way through the smoking room, with the ever sloping floor under his feet.

I-I'm sorry, young Jesse...I failed to build you a safe ship... He thought sadly, as he watched Jesse for the last time, brushing his hair away from his eyes, then disappeared through the revolving door.

The Atlantic soon overtook the bridge, as passengers and officers began fighting over the last two collapsible boats. One was attached to a davit, the other had overturned in the chaos. While the passengers attempted to right the boat that was overturned, people on the other side began to frantically cut the ropes as the water slowly overtook the boats. The overturned boat began to slowly drift from the deck, while an officer shouts.

"There's no time! Cut those ropes loose! Cut 'em if you have to!" An officer and Fabrizio seemed to be the only ones with knives as they desperately tried to cut the boats free from the ropes, despite the shoving and desperation that was going around them.

In the Grand Staircase, the water came, as people desperately tried to get to higher decks. Meanwhile, a wealthy passenger and his valet watched in horror as the water crept towards them, while they sat as their fellow passengers fought their way to go up the higher decks.

Jesse makes his way outside once more, where the situation has become even more desperate as people begin shoving one another, like clusters of ants bumping into each other, as they made their desperate getaway to reach the stern. Some begin jumping off the sides of the ship; others were forcibly pushed overboard, as most of the lifeboats have long since launched away. Jesse looks down the side of the ship, as people below try to swim for their lives, and all the lifeboats have rowed a considerable distance from the ship. A young man, who appeared to be first-class, sits on the railing next to Jesse, as he takes out a cigarette, and slowly but shakily places it in his mouth. They both lock eyes for a few moments before the young man gave a salute to Jesse, then finally jumped overboard. These people clearly knew they had to survive the impending danger. He knew he had to make that call soon; if he stayed, the mighty Titanic's suction will pull him down. Jesse shakes his head in sadness, as a single tear rolled down his cheek. The lights began to flicker, then dimmed some more. Never did he see anything so beautiful, yet very tragic. He once again shakes his head in guilt.

What the hell am I thinking! People are dying on this ship. Jesse thought, as he looked off into the horizon again. He was lost in thought once more as he remembered a year prior, when the R.M.S. Olympic was the biggest thing humans have ever dared to put together. During the past summer he and his father arrived to the docks in New York to see the Olympic complete her maiden voyage. Here he is, on the largest man-made structure, the Titanic, after having been a passenger in the previous sister ship. He had hoped Titanic would be a success, just like her older sister. Instead, it's going down, on her maiden voyage, after all the hard work her workers performed to put her together, and to put her to sea. Three years, to be exact, to build her, from keel to the fitting out. Now she's going down tonight. This will be a story for the ages...

Soon, he heard metal groaning followed by the sounds of heavy cable snapping, then turns his attention. At the front, a second funnel has fallen, while somewhere deep within the ship, he could distinctively hear something exploding.

Jack and Rose suddenly appear, after coming out of one of the quarters. They too see the desperation as people begin trying save themselves. They finally spot Jesse, leaning against the sloping rail, as if he's hypnotized. The couple shake him, snapping Jesse back to reality. Jesse embraces the couple again.

"What's you plan of action?" Jesse asks, as someone screamed from a distance. Rose looks at the two men.

"We're going to have to stay on this ship for as long as possible." Jack says. Jesse swallows. Rose could sense fear in Jesse.

"Okay, you guys do that." Jesse says, slowly stepping over the railing. Jack looks at him, tears beginning to come. Rose cries as she grabs Jesse's arm. "Wait, Jesse. What are you doing?"

Jesse hesitates, then takes a deep breath, before continuing. "My time has come...to abandon ship." Jack tries to coax Jesse to stay, tears now coming to his eyes.

"The water's freezing! Y-you're going to die! Please stay with us!" Jack began as he tried to choke back tears, as Jesse gave a small smile. He too has tears in his eyes, but he knew this must be done.

"I know that, Jack. Now come here." he says, arms outstretched. The trio hugs for the last time, before Jesse is over on the other side of the rail. He lays down on the sloping deck, his hands on the railing. He looks up at the couple, smiles, and says in a quiet voice, "See you on the other side." before releasing his grip from the railing. Everything comes to a slow motion as Jack and Rose yell "NO!" before Jack turns away to sob. Rose, extending her hand through the bars, sobs as Jesse puts up his hand, signaling a "V" before crossing his arms and disappearing among the people who were also sliding down the sloping deck. Jack turns to where a few seconds earlier his newly discovered friend was, who has now disappeared among the crowds, and into the freezing water below. Jack puts his head down, before realizing he must carry on with his plan. He helps Rose, who was still sobbing, and they both made their way to the stern.

Meanwhile, Trudy was trying to hang on for dear life, as a passenger begins to lose his grip with her. Jesse sees this, as he tries to avoid a fatal collision with the two passengers. He tries to scoot by kicking the deck in his boots and pushing his body with his hands, while in near free fall as he slid down the deck. He manages to slide down past the young maid, just inches, as the man tries desperately to keep holding on to her. Suddenly, they both lose grip, and Trudy screams, not too far from Jesse, as she too, slides down the deck and into the freezing water.

Jesse, after doing the daring sliding stunt, reaches the water, feet first. He was pulled underwater, before being pushed back out from an unknown force below him, possibly from an escaped air pocket from the interior of the ship. He swam his way back to the surface before gasping when his head broke the surface again. Jesse shakes his wet hair, then rubs his face with his hands, while he tried to fight off the extremely cold, biting air. It was now much colder than when he was in the bowels of the ship, as he tries to swim away from the stricken liner. Once he adjusted for the cold, he began swimming for it, as far as he can go, away from Titanic. His body began to take a toll from the brutally cold Atlantic waters. He was beginning to feel his muscles in his arms cramp, and he had to stop.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something floating nearby. Jesse carefully and slowly swam near it, only to find it was a deck chair. He puts his arms up, as the cramping began to slowly subside. Somewhere in his shoulder. The chair doesn't provide much buoyancy, but it helps keep his head out of the water, as he leans over the chair. He looks back at the stricken Titanic, the stern now higher off the ocean, and the propellers just feet from the water below. He could hear the awful screams as people on board try to save themselves for the last time. The ship tilts ever slowly as the bow is pulled in by the Atlantic. With the staunch form of the ship, Jesse wanted so badly to draw the magnificent ship in its current form. He shook his head in shame, telling himself this is not the appropriate time, but he knew the image will be in his mind for years to come. Still on the deck chair, he kicked his legs to propel forward, to try to keep the circulation of the blood flowing throughout his body, despite the bitter cold air, and at the same time, to try to get away from the Titanic's suction, as the ship suddenly makes groaning and popping noises deep within.

Suddenly, there is a huge deafening noise, like a thunder immediately after the lightning bolt has struck. Jesse takes one look back, moments before the lights began flickering. The screams on board began to amplify, as it began to cycle in his mind; followed by metallic scraping. Soon, showers of sparks appear, as the weak lights try to stay lit. The awful screech of metal to metal sound is heard, then a tremendous series of violent explosions would soon follow, as it echoed over the screams of the people below and those remaining on deck. Pieces of the ship begin flying in all directions, and Jesse was nearly struck by a mysterious piece from the ship, then splashing only feet from where he was, when suddenly the ship's lights flickered, then finally went out completely, bathing everything in complete darkness.

The Titanic is splitting! Holy crap! Jesse thought as he watched in complete darkness, but clear as day, as the stern completely tore away from the bow and slammed back into the water, as peoples' screams become more intense. Then it slowly gets pulled upward again, followed by more metallic groaning as the stern rises higher and higher out of the water, while the bow below drags it as the two parts of the ship are only joined by the ship's double bottom. The bow section finally breaks free, allowing the stern to bobble like a cork, and it stands on end. Even from afar he could hear the hot boilers sizzling as they fell out of the dead ship and into the ocean, as they began rupturing and exploding from the extreme temperature shock over the screams of the people.

In the lifeboats where Eric and Karl were sitting in, Karl immediately looked down and closed his eyes, just before the liner broke in two, like his heart, as he began sobbing quietly now, letting his tears fall to the boat as he tried to block out the awful sounds, and of his friend who might have died…

Eric looked on, completely mesmerized, as he saw the whole thing unfold right before his eyes, and his mouth hung open. He was too paralyzed for emotions, despite the fact that Jesse might have been still in the ship, with that Rose woman. The stern soon gave a metallic roar, as he watched it slowly disappear into the black, freezing abyss of the Atlantic, as women behind him cried for their husbands and friends who were still on board.

Back in the water, Jesse could hear a series of booms, followed by a violent explosion somewhere beneath the surface as the remaining air pockets are forced out of the stern, and the remains of the once graceful ship began tearing itself apart as it continued its fall into the depth of darkness.

Whether or not Jesse actually heard it, because a few moments later, he thought he heard the mighty Titanic slam into its final resting place, over the agonizing, painful and awful screams and cries of the people that were all around him now.