Written in the Stars April 12th, 1912. 6: 48pm by Adréa
Disclaimer: The song is from Aida, so credit to Disney. The Scarlet Pimpernel... I don't know who it belongs to now, but it was written by the Baroness Orczy. Well, everyone else seems to own the X-Men. Marvel, Fox, Warner Brothers, Universal, etc. etc. Why can't I? Look! They'll work for twinkies and beer! It's true! They did this fic for twinkies and beer. Although I had to throw in a few steaks and peeps somewhere...
Author's Notes: I tried to make it not exactly like Cameron's movie! But some things kinda snuck in there and stuck. Be prepared for suckiness! (that even a word?) Big shout out and thanks to my best friend JenN who unknowingly gave be ideas and knowingly gave me every ounce of support she could.
Author's Notes2: I don't even own Amy and Jenn for they are based on people I know. I'm currently working on another fic involving them that would go much farther into their personalities, so sorry if you don't understand things or what not because they aren't well developed in this one. Now, on with the show!
There was hardly anyone around. A few crewmembers now and then, but everyone was at dinner. It was hard for her to find the outside deck, she didn't know her way around. But after asking one of the men, she arrived at the Boat Deck. The sun was already halfway done setting, but it was still beautiful. The colors intertwined like in a romance novel, creating a splendor of fiery passion across the sky. The wind cooled her exposed skin, providing the perfect setting.
Reaching at one of the folds of her dress, Marie pulled it back, revealing a hidden pocket just big enough to fit a book in. All of her gowns were tailored like that. She pulled out the well-worn paperback. Often, she would read parts over and over again before continuing on with the next. She could quote some of the paragraphs by heart. They were her only escape in her imprisoned world. Her father hated it, but her mother encouraged it. Always complaining that Marie would simply die of boredom if it weren't for those novels.
A lot of times, when they were alone and nothing was planned, Marie would read the novels to Irene. She enjoyed them as much as her daughter did, but with being blind, she couldn't just read them. And it was an embarrassment to have one of the servants read them aloud to her.
Pulling the delicate piece of lace she used as a bookmark, and separating the pages, Marie began to read, using the sunset as the only light. Once it was gone, she would go back inside. One of her favorite passions was reading by the sunset, watching as the pages slowly turned the different shades the sky would as the light went down.
Already buried into the midst of deep passion, Marie hadn't really noticed the adult couple walking along near her. She noticed enough to lean against the railing, providing them with enough passage for them to continue their hand-in-hand walk uninterrupted. But they stopped after just passing her, turning slightly as if to watch the sunset.
Stealing a glance at them, the woman was watching the sunset. The man... well, she couldn't see what the man was looking at. The red tinted glasses he wore hid his eyes from the rest of the world. Red tinted... it was so odd, she had never seen that before. She wondered why they were like that, or if the guy was just plain rich'n'weird.
The couple looked at her at the exact same time and smiled. Marie found herself smiling back, even with the deep flame of jealousy burning inside her. She would never smile like that, so pure, so real. It was always forced, always an act. Nothing made her truly smile like a lover could. And nothing ever would.
They moved towards the railing, just next to her. Marie pretended to be engrossed in the book again, but it didn't seem to fool them.
"It's beautiful out here, isn't it?" the woman asked her.
"Yes..."
"I am Jean. Jean Summers. This is my husband, Scott."
With a slight nod of her head, she acknowledged it. "Marie Darkholme."
The lovers exchanged glances, then smiled again at her. It would have been unnerving if it weren't for the fact their smiles were so genuine towards her.
Suddenly, the woman turned her head sharply to one side, just as a man burst through the door. It was the same gruff man who had been staring at her at dinner. The one who really didn't look like he belonged in wealthy clothes. The woman was already moving towards the door before the man even spoke, her husband close behind her.
"Some lady inside is havin' a breakdown or somethin'. X wanted me to get you."
A breakdown? The blood drained from Marie's face and the book fell from her small hands, forgotten as she gasped and a hand covered her mouth. She ran past them, pushing the gruff man aside roughly.
It was very unladylike, but this was an emergency.
Racking her brain, her mind retraced the directions given to her backwards to find her way back to the Grand Staircase and into the Dinning Area. Beauty and elegance were completely forgotten as she raced down the stairs, having to greatly use the railing else she'd fall or trip over her dress that she didn't even try to keep out of her way.
Sure enough, the person having a breakdown was her mother. It happened, not frequently, but when it did it was a frightening experience for everyone that knew her. The ones that didn't know her simply pinned on delusional ramblings from a person that should be a mental patient. But people that knew her and knew of her breakdowns knew far better than that.
"We're going to sink! The ship's going to sink! Oh God! So many deaths! So much chaos! We're going to sink!" her mother was in the middle of a tirade, concerned and intrigued people gathered around her, trying to calm her down. Except her father. Her father always tried to seemingly make things worse.
But Marie knew, he had to do it. For every time her mother had a breakdown and spewed out seemingly random things... those random things always came true. She predicted the deaths of people they knew, she predicted the events of the next day. She predicted things that wouldn't even happen in their own lifetime.
The most absurd one she heard was when she was young. The first time Marie could remember her mother having a breakdown. Something about a great battle on the Statue of Liberty. A powerful machine. A great sacrifice. And she saw Marie there... a young Marie. But it was set after the turn of the millennium, so it couldn't be possible. It had frightened her, because she didn't understand at the time. She still didn't understand and it still kept her awake at night after her mother would have a breakdown.
"We're going to sink! We're going to sink!" Irene just kept repeating the same phrase over and over again. It was the end of the breakdown. She would continue to repeat it for a few minutes before finally passing out, as always happened.
But the professor, with the help of some of the people at his table, helped to lay her down, and for him to sit on the floor next to her. He put his hands to either side of her head and whispered comforting words to hers. Words that soothed her and brought her back to the present. The ragged breathing became more rhythmic as her mother slowly regained herself.
As soon as she was of a sane mind, Robert took her and proceeded to carry her to their quarters. He called for Marie to follow, and she obeyed silently as the room returned to normal. The band began to play again, people began to converse again and returned to eating. The excitement was over, and no doubt by the end of the voyage almost everyone would have forgotten about this incident.
Until it happened, which probably wouldn't happen for many years.
Except there was always a chance that this voyage was the one her mother predicted.
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