April 15, 1912
2:48am
The boats hadn't come yet. Frost had begun to settle on their heads as the cold water seeped into their skin and bones, and Max held on to Anna Marie as they floated on the makeshift raft that held them. They were both shivering, but clinging to each other for warmth, what little they had.
"It'll be over soon….the boats will come." Max tried to console her.
"Max….ah love you…." She managed to say.
"Don't you dare do that. Don't say goodbye. We….will survive." He firmly stated. "We will make it. I promise you, here and now….when we are rescued….we're going to get married, Anna Marie."
She smiled, trying not to cry.
"When we get to America, where you go, I will go. We will go to Yellowstone, just like we talked about." He recalled their first actual conversation, the morning after he had rescued her from falling off the stern of the ship.
How ironic.
"You and me, Anna Marie. You have shown me….how to live again. You have….shown me how to love. I promise you, here and now, that we will make it. And if I don't….you will."
The tears froze on her face as she looked up at him, memorizing his face, the face of the man she loved.
"Don't give up, Anna Marie. Promise me, here and now."
"...ah promise."
She tried her best to stay awake, listening to his voice, as he promised her a life together when they were rescued, the shivering from both of them making it harder to talk, but he did. She listened to his voice, holding onto him, wishing and praying they would be rescued even as the souls around them began to succumb to the cold.

1996

The explorers were on the edge of their seats as they listened to Anna Marie, who now wore a grim expression.
"What happened, Anna Marie?" Brock asked. "Did Max make it?"
She gave a long pause.
"Ah passed out at some point while floatin' in the water. When ah awoke, ah was on a rescue boat. We were soon brought to the Carpathia, where all the survivors had been sent."
She took a breath.
"They rescued me, but Max Eisenhardt died in that water, protecting me."
April 15, 1912
8:48 am
Anna Marie awoke to find herself in a boat, the sounds and sights dim in her half-frozen state. She couldn't feel anything, the cold making her numb. She drifted in and out of consciousness, and was vaguely aware of being pulled up to a ship, The Carpathia.
It was hours later when she finally awoke, coming to her senses as warmth was returning to her body. She knew she was in a warm bed, and that it was early morning. She opened her eyes, and could feel….a hand holding hers.
She opened her eyes, and there, laying in the bed with her, holding her like his life depended on it….
"Max?" She whispered, and he opened those slate blue eyes to find hers, a smile on his face.
"Thank God you're awake." He breathed.
She grinned, tears in her eyes. "We made it?"
"We made it, schatzi. We made it." He choked out, tears in his own eyes.
She wrapped her arms around him, tears running down both their faces as the reality of what they had been through, what they had survived, hit them both.
Once she felt well enough to move out of bed, they took a stroll, trying to find anyone else that had survived that they recognized.
They soon came across Ororo and Kurt, who came bounding towards them, and Kurt was overjoyed to see his sister, alive and well. Ororo had tears in her eyes as she hugged Max, and whispered to him.
"Thank the gods…."
The reunion was sweet, and as happy as they were to be alive, Max could see Warren Worthington standing not far away, with a man that Max didn't recognize.
But Anna Marie did.
"That's….Remy." She could see the look on Remy's face was one she had never seen before as Warren walked up to Max. Remy, with a somber expression, remained where he was.
"Glad to see you made it, Max." Warren spoke calmly.
"The same to you." Max acknowledged. "But judging by your expression, there is something that you're not telling me."
Warren nodded. "Charles Xavier is dead."
Warren and Max spent the next hour discussing what needed to be done once they docked in America, and Anna Marie was more than happy to spend time with Kurt, reunited with her brother once again.
Remy approached her hesitantly, and she smiled.
"Ah owe you, Remy. You saved my life, and Max's life."
He shook his head. "I took a man's life, chere. Somethin' like that is hard to forgive."
She took his hand. "You didn't have a choice. It was his life or ours. For what it's worth, you will hear no judgment from me."
Remy looked up at her, studying her for a moment.
"You love him, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yes, ah do. More than anythin'."
"...then ah wish you well, chere." There was a sadness to his tone, but a small smile as he slipped away from her, lighting a cigarette as he walked away.
When the crew of the Carpathia came around to get everyone's names, Max paused for a moment when they asked for his.
"...Erik Darkholme."
Anna Marie wore a slight look of confusion as he did this, and once the man had moved on, she questioned him.
"What are you doin'?"
"Changing my name, schatzi. When we dock in America, Max Eisenhardt will be a distant memory."
"Okay, ah'm confused. Why?"
"Warren and I have an agreement, an agreement that seemed overly cautious at the time, but now I am glad to have it. If, for any reason, something were to happen to me and Charles, Worthington Enterprises would absorb Eisenhardt Industries."
"But…in order to do that, you and Charles both would have to be…." The realization came over her.
"Precisely, my girl. He will claim that Charles and I both died on the Titanic."
"Max, why would you do that? Why would you pretend to be dead?"
"Because Max Eisenhardt was a lonely, cold and aloof man who had lost what it truly meant to live." He smiled. "And Erik Darkholme….is the man who fell in love with you."
She could have cried at that moment, and felt the tears coming. "But why Darkholme? That's-"
"You once told me you wanted to change your name to Darkholme, so that you and Kurt would have the same last name. Well, my dear, it is only fitting that I take your name, for it is you who showed me how to truly live."
The tears came down then. "You are a sentimental man, Mister Darkholme."
He smiled and caressed her cheek to wipe her tears.
"I am a man in love. There are some things that are too important to forsake."
1996
"So Max Eisenhardt died on the Titanic." Brock said in a resigned tone. "Any idea what happened to the diamond?"
Anna Marie shrugged. "After he drew me wearin' it, ah never saw it again. ah'm not sure if he had it with him or if it was left onboard. Ah couldn't tell you what happened to it."
Erik Darkholme specifically requested that he not be given a separate room from Anna Marie, having developed a slight bit of separation anxiety after the events of the Titanic. They had been given fresh clothes to wear, something to keep them warm, and he was in the middle of changing when something hard and shiny fell out of his pocket.
Anna Marie stared at the large, blue diamond on the floor of their cabin.
"Is that…?"
Erik blinked and then let out a laugh. "It would appear so." He picked the diamond necklace off the floor, baffled.
"I completely forgot I put it in my pocket. I grabbed it off the table when Charles came banging on the stateroom door looking for us, and didn't pay much attention to it after that."
"Still plannin' on sellin' it?"
"That would be a bit difficult now, wouldn't it? A necklace that is supposed to be at the bottom of the ocean, being sold by a man who is supposed to be dead?" He shook his head. "Warren is already doing me a massive favor with all the strings he is pulling on my behalf. It would raise a few alarms if the necklace suddenly appeared."
"Then maybe….we keep it for a rainy day."
"A rainy day indeed, schatzi."