(AN: This is, again, a completely separate canon from all of the other stuff involving these same seven characters. I write all seven within, and actually write from Levaios' point of view, which was just weird. This was inspired by an exercise in my Sociology class, where seven people with the jobs assigned to the characters were on the Cruise Liner, and only four of the seven could be saved. You'll see how it goes, here. Dedicated to the RP crew, as per usual.)

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CRUISE LINER DEBACLE

--by: lira-chan--

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It was New Year's Eve aboard the SO 101 Cruise Liner and the ship was sinking. The hour of midnight had not yet arrived, but no festivities would be enjoyed that night. While the SO 101 was one of the finest vessels of its time, the year was 1900 – or it would be in roughly an hour – and there was not room aboard even a luxury cruise liner for a full contingent of lifeboats. In fact, there were about enough boats to fit half the passengers, maybe slightly more. A lot of people were going to die that New Year's Eve, either from drowning or freezing.

Inside the navigation room, Levaios Adeleston watched the captain with a dismayed look on his face. He had commissioned the SO 101 himself; he was the owner and he had paid every last penny out of pocket. He felt somehow responsible, even though he hadn't actually built the ship with his own hands. The captain was trying, but there was nothing the man could do. They had hit an iceberg. In the gloom, it had been hard to make out, and in the end they were too close to avoid it. A horrible tragedy.

At that moment, Levaios heard a sniffle from outside the navigation room. Immediately concerned, he thrust open the door and walked onto the deck. He saw a young girl, perhaps about ten, with black hair and wearing a dark blue dress. She appeared scared, which was reasonable. The ship was sinking.

She had actually just come upon a small group of people. Levaios recognized one among their number instantly.

"Kisho!" he exclaimed, walking over to the young woman. She was wearing a smart business suit, her black hair cut to frame her face. Levaios experienced a strange sense of relief, coupled with new worry. His cousin's face was steadying, but it reminded him that her life was at stake, too.

"Levaios?" she asked, horribly businesslike, all things considered. "I forgot you were on the ship."

"It's my ship," he reminded her. "Of course I'm on it." Then he felt bad; they'd been at sea for about three days, and he hadn't made time to see his cousin, even though he had known she was among the passengers.

"I was busy," she said. An excuse, and not an excuse. She was an up and coming litigations attorney; she wouldn't neglect her work, not even on a cruise celebrating the new year.

"So what exactly happened?" another voice cut in. After seeing Kisho, Levaios had been briefly distracted from the sniffling girl and the small group of people gathered around his cousin. He looked towards the speaker, and frowned.

He knew this person, of course, and not just because he was Kisho's cousin on her other side. Many of the people on board might not even recognize him as a male; his shiny black hair was cut somewhat girlishly, and he was wearing a red Japanese kimono. He had been wanted in several separate murders, although Levaios knew there had been suspicion that they were connected. Somehow, he had escaped all charges. Levaios wondered if Kisho had anything to do with it, and also wondered if it had had any impact on her career. He had known Kohaku was on board the ship; he owned it, after all, and had looked over the passenger list.

"Kohaku?" he finally asked, not sure what to say to the man. This was not a meeting he had been looking forward to, exactly. He'd actually been avoiding the other male. Sort of. It wasn't hard, on a ship that large.

"Yes?" Kohaku replied, raising one hand to his mouth to cover his smile.

"Ah..." Levaios said nervously. But he was curious. "You had time to come on a cruise?"

"I know what you're insinuating," Kohaku said with amusement. "But I'm retired."

Levaios didn't actually know what Kohaku did. He just knew about the murders, and believed Kisho had once said that the rest of Kohaku's family was deceased. He wasn't sure if he wanted to inquire further.

"Don't worry about it, cousin," Kisho suggested. "I know we're sinking. And I know there aren't nearly enough life boats."

Levaios got the distinct impression that she was suggesting he pull some strings and ensure she was on board one of those boats. She knew he wouldn't do that; the matter of who went first into the little boats would be solved democratically. He knew of the "women and children first" policy, but while he did advocate for women and children's rights, and the rights of the downtrodden, something about such a heavy-handed and final policy made him uncomfortable.

The little girl tugged on the bottom of his shirt, and Levaios looked down at her. She was probably lost. He smiled at her, trying to be reassuring amidst all the chaos aboard the ship. He glanced back up at Kisho and Kohaku, warning them not to say anything. He was sure neither was particularly good with children. He looked at the other three men that had accompanied his relations, but they made no moves to assist the girl.

"Are you lost?" he asked, the obvious question.

"I was watching her," one of the men volunteered, holding up his hand to attract Levaios' attention. Levaios did not recognize him from the list of notable persons he knew were aboard the ship. And just from looking at his clothes – nothing obviously torn or dirty, but articles faded and careworn, with obvious patches – Levaios knew it wasn't a mistake on his part. This man was not their country's idea of important.

"Are you her father? A relative?" Levaios asked. He felt nosy, but he was concerned. A girl should be with her parents. This might be the last time she saw them.

"No," the man said apologetically. "She's friends with my daughter. But my daughter... Got sick... And couldn't come on the cruise. I said I'd still take her."

"Who are you?" Levaios asked, experiencing a feeling of deja vu and therefore unable to be polite.

"Xiang," the man said. Information came flooding back. This was Kisho's associate, the one who had been drummed out of the military. Levaios didn't know the exact details; something about a pregnancy. Kisho had actually seemed almost uncomfortable, relaying the news to him. Levaios could never tell when she was discomfited; her Japanese good manners made her very hard to read. This one time, he had sensed something amiss.

"Is your wife taking care of your daughter?" Levaios asked. He needed to puzzle this out, now that he was confronted with the man himself.

"I don't have a wife," Xiang said. He wasn't meeting Levaios' eyes.

This confirmed Levaios' vague suspicions about what Kisho had told him, all those years ago. Xiang had been the one to become pregnant, a feat previously thought impossible by science. He had left the military in utter disgrace, and had never recovered. He and his daughter were barely scraping by, on welfare. Knowing this, Levaios knew who the blue-haired man beside Xiang was. The physician Luke was a distinguished passenger. He was also Xiang's doctor, and had some sort of connection with Kisho. Levaios didn't know those details, either. Levaios assumed that it was Luke and Kisho who had gotten Xiang passage aboard the ship. And just look where that had gone.

"I'm sorry," Levaios said, unsure of what the proper words were. He didn't want to voice any of the unpleasant knowledge he'd found lurking in the back of his memories.

"Don't worry about it," Xiang said, holding out one hand by his side, at about waist level. "Come here, Analise," he said quietly, and the girl moved from Levaios' side to Xiang's.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," the final member of their spontaneous group said. Levaios recognized him too, of course. It would be a crime for him to neglect such a distinguished United States senator. Senator Zaiden Mallory was at the top of the passenger list. Levaios felt another unpleasant twinge; if he did survive this, he didn't want to be known as the entrepreneur who allowed Zaiden Mallory to perish in the icy seas.

"What do you propose we do?" Levaios asked. He still did not wish to commandeer life boats for anyone, not even the senator.

"Analise is a child," Zaiden said. "By standard reasoning, you should make sure she gets to a life boat, and now. Kisho is a woman." Zaiden looked to Kisho, giving her what appeared to be an uncomfortable look. Levaios remembered that they had worked together in the past. He didn't know the details. He realized that his cousin knew all of these people, and he only knew of them through gossip and happenstance. "She should be aboard a boat, too."

"You may be right," Levaios began, even though he was still privately questioning the logic that one person should be placed above another solely because of gender or age.

"But you don't believe it," Kisho completed, before Levaios could come up with a decent argument. "And you won't save my associates merely because I ask you to. Levaios, you are too noble."

From Kisho, Levaios wasn't quite sure if that was a compliment or an insult.

"Xiang might also count as a woman," Zaiden speculated into the quiet. "He's a mother with a child, anyway."

Xiang gave Zaiden a look that was probably meant to be dirty. It just looked kind of pathetic.

"We should go down to the site of the breach in the hull," Luke suggested, speaking for the first time.

"Why?" Kohaku asked, with some manner of scorn. "We're trying to live. It's flooded down there."

"We just should," Luke shrugged, as if they should accept his logic without question. Levaios wondered if it should even count as logic. Luke was a well-known eccentric.

"We should send Kisho and Analise to the lifeboats," Zaiden countered. "They, at least, should be let aboard with no question. We don't all need to die."

Even Levaios heard what was unspoken: I don't need to die, either, but I'll be professional until the end. I won't be that politician that forces his way to safety.

It was kind of noble, really. Levaios wondered if Kisho would say the same – and whether or not Zaiden would appreciate it.

"I'm not getting on one of those lifeboats now," Kisho said. Levaios realized that, while she wouldn't say it, she wasn't going to leave her associates. Kohaku would have a hard time getting on a boat, and probably Xiang too, despite Zaiden's joke about Xiang counting as a female. Luke and Zaiden were esteemed members of the community, and yet they were relatively young, able-bodied men. Typical reasoning suggested that they be admitted to a boat last, for they might have the best chance in the chilly seas. Levaios frowned just thinking about it.

"The hull," Luke suggested again, persistently.

Analise tugged on Xiang's shirt this time. "I think we should go down there," she said. Her voice was high and reedy, very much a small child's. It made Levaios even more uncomfortable. He didn't want anyone to die.

"Listen to the girl," Luke said. "Let's go."

Luke turned and started walking away, and Analise released Xiang to follow. Xiang trailed after her, obviously unwilling to let his charge out of his sight. Levaios hesitated for a moment, and then sighed.

"Let's just do it," he said. If they were all going to perish in the ocean, because of stupid rules and Kisho's stubbornness, they might as well see the cause of their doom first.

Levaios followed after the three, and Kisho followed him with Kohaku following her. Zaiden sighed quietly, and walked off with the group as well. Together, they descended the stairs leading to the lower levels of the ship. Two more flights of stairs, and they encountered the water slowly flooding into the ship.

"How are we going to get to the breach?" Zaiden asked. His tone was utterly polite, and yet it still seemed as if he was accusing Luke. They were wasting their time. They were all going to die.

"We keep going," Luke insisted. "It's just a bit farther."

That was suspicious. Obviously Luke did have a reason for leading them all down here. The water was icy cold, but slowly they all followed after Luke, who was flailing through the water and causing it to slosh up all around him. He led them unerringly, but when he stopped, they were not at the hull. Levaios still doubted if the breach could be accessed.

"What is that?" Xiang asked, when no one else spoke up.

It looked kind of like a boat, except it was fully enclosed, and it looked as if there was nowhere for passengers to sit. It was about six feet tall, white, and about three times as long as it was tall. It was apparently some sort of enclosed capsule, because there was no way something that big could be solid. Levaios wondered what was kept inside, and who had gotten this thing aboard his cruise liner.

"It's an escape pod," Luke supplied.

"What is an escape pod," Levaios asked. "And how did it get here?"

"I figured I should come prepared," Luke said with a shrug. "It's actually really close to where I estimate the breach occurred. We'll just have to push it into deeper water, and hope the hole is big enough."

"Explain," Kisho demanded.

Luke gave pause for a moment, obviously trying to come up with an explanation that would make sense to the group. Levaios suspected that he was really trying to explain another sort of contraption that should not, by rights, even exist.

"It has a hatch in the top," Luke said. "There should be room inside for all of us. It's a good thing Analise is small. It's air-tight, provisioned, and propelled by... Well, suffice to say it propels itself. If you get in this, you'll all live. I call it the Lemon."

"It should be yellow," Analise pointed out helpfully.

"I'll consider that when we're back on land," Luke agreed.

"I'll try it," Xiang volunteered.

"Me too," Analise agreed. Xiang offered her a relieved look; he probably wouldn't know what to do if his charge tried to stay behind.

"Oh, hell," Zaiden said. "It probably won't kill us. I guess it's worth a try."

Levaios looked from Kisho to Kohaku and back again, but they were both nodding their heads reluctantly. Levaios wasn't personally well acquainted with Luke, but rumor held that his inventions usually worked. They were also baffling to all other inventors of the age. Levaios wondered why Luke had gone into medicine as well.

"I guess we should all climb aboard," Levaios decided.

Luke went first, seeing as he was the owner of the craft. Levaios swiftly discovered that there were small groves in the wall of the vessel near the center, which Luke ascended in order to access the hatch on the top. He popped it, and disappeared inside. Everyone looked at one another, trying to silently decide who would go next. Finally, Kisho climbed up the side of the contraption, lowering herself partway inside but stopping with her head and shoulders still poking out.

"There is a ladder down to the inside," she informed the watching group. "It seems fairly well made."

From Kisho, that was probably a compliment.

"All right, here goes," Zaiden said, moving over to the near wall of the vessel. He gave everyone a mock salute, climbed up, and followed Kisho inside.

Kohaku went next, and then Xiang helped Analise inside, vanishing from view along with everyone else. By some sort of agreement, Levaios had gone last. He finally climbed the slick stairs in the side of the strange boat, peering down into the hatch when he got the chance. It was a relatively small opening, perhaps two feet across at the widest. There was a lever on the outside of the hatch, presumably used to open the passageway, and a small wheel mounted on the inside. The ladder down was sturdy and made of metal, and the floor Levaios could see appeared to be flat, even though from the outside the bottom of the vessel seemed curved. Levaios couldn't see anyone through the opening, but then Luke's head appeared, and the male beckoned Levaios inside.

Levaios descended the ladder, and when he was on the floor he looked around. There were seats mounted against both side walls, and everyone was sitting quite comfortably. They appeared to be padded with bright green cloth. The inside mostly looked as capsule-like as the outside, except towards the front there were all sorts of navigation apparatus.

"Is it satisfactory?" Luke asked, as if daring anyone to deny the excellence of his vessel.

"It's fine," Kisho told him. "Are you sure you can get this contraption out of the cruise ship?"

Levaios again wondered how the capsule-boat had gotten inside his ship in the first place. It was a relatively small vessel, but it was still a good bit larger than, say, any of the doors on the cruise ship.

"I guess we'll see if she's in deep enough water to steer," Luke said cheerfully, before moving to the control panel at the front. Levaios glimpsed a small window on the front, which looked rather like a curved porthole. Through it, the hall of the cruise ship could be seen, as well as a large amount of water. Just in that short time, the water level had risen considerably.

What followed were some of the most harrowing minutes of Levaios' young life. He had no idea how Luke managed it. The craft began to glide down the hallway, rapidly picking up speed. Somehow, it made its way down a staircase – or that was what Levaios assumed, from the ridiculous amount of jostling. Levaios wished Luke would install some sort of restraints for the seats for the vessel's next voyage. Of course, Levaios had no desire to be on that voyage. Once he was back on dry land, he might even swear off sailing.

They seemed to be completely underwater, and there was one unpleasant minute where things just felt tight. There was a horrible screeching noise, metal on metal. But then the pressure released – perhaps Luke had done something – and the noise ceased. Levaios hoped they were experiencing smooth sailing, and almost wished there were portholes in the sides of the vessel, so that he could see where they were.

Everyone was quiet while Luke navigated their rescue. But once they seemed to be free of the cruise ship, the talking resumed at low volume.

"I guess it worked," Zaiden admitted. "Damn. Are you sure this thing can get back to the surface?"

"It has a special pressure system," Luke said tersely. He didn't seem to like being questioned.

"Can I look out the window?" Analise asked, standing up from her seat. Xiang reached towards her, as if to pull her back down, and then dropped his arms. He was evidently just about the worst mother-hen.

Analise moved over next to Luke to get a view through the porthole, and Luke continued to steer. Xiang rearranged himself on his seat, and Kohaku leaned forward.

"I told you it would be an adventure, cousin," he said, obviously speaking to Kisho.

"At least we aren't all freezing back by the iceberg," she countered. "I need to get back to work."

"Busy, busy," Kohaku teased, but without real malice. "I need to get back to being retired."

"I never believed you for a second when you said you quit," Kisho confided.

"You have your spoon in an awful lot of pots," Kohaku returned with a shrug. Levaios noted that he neither denied nor confirmed Kisho's accusation. He wondered what she meant. What did Kohaku do for her?

"I need to get back to work, too," Zaiden agreed. "Time off is a luxury for the rich."

"Aren't you rich?" Kohaku asked, tone of voice mild.

"I would say yes," Zaiden agreed, and then flashed a grin. Levaios remembered it from the newspapers. "But not rich enough."

Levaios wondered what Zaiden did, other than politics. He obviously got his money from somewhere, and it wasn't just his salary. Was it kickbacks? Levaios didn't know Zaiden well enough to say.

"I need to get back to my daughter," Xiang put in quietly.

Levaios wasn't sure what he had to get back to. He had a lot of responsibilities, yes, but after this disaster with his cruise ship, he wasn't sure if he dared to show his face in public.

"Don't worry, cousin," Kisho said, looking over at him slantwise. "Zaiden will help you with the PR when we're back on land."

"I will?" Zaiden asked.

"You will," Kisho agreed, with an air of finality. Zaiden didn't argue.

At that point, there was a slight lurch, and then a feeling of lightness. Luke stood up from the controls and moved back towards the rest of the group. It wasn't far to walk.

"I believe it's the new year," he commented cheerfully. "Let's open the hatch and get a look at the world of the next century."

Everyone rose at once, and Luke climbed the ladder and opened the hatch. It was still nighttime, of course, but the slight change in the quality of the light – and the fact that water didn't come rushing in – proved that they had surfaced. Levaios moved to the very bottom of the ladder.

"Mind if I come up?" he asked.

"Sure," Luke agreed, descending and making a grand gesture for Levaios to climb up.

Levaios ascended the rungs of the ladder slowly, finally poking his head out of the gap. He could see stars through the clouds, and a faint sliver of moon. He looked around for his ship, the lifeboats. He saw a few small shapes on the water, but it was dark out, and he couldn't see his ship. He couldn't even see the iceberg.

"How will we get to land?" he asked, climbing back down. There was no land in sight, but it was dark.

"I'll get us there," Luke assured him, with no signs of faltering. Levaios hoped Luke's equipment was as good as the young physician seemed to think it was.

But it was late at night, and everyone was tired, and Analise had already curled up on the padded benches and fallen asleep. Most everyone remained seated, talking quietly, and Luke remained at the front, steering them towards land – or so Levaios hoped. Levaios himself poked around the craft. There was what seemed to be a closet at the rear, well-stocked with food, and pillows, and blankets. Levaios wondered if Luke had somehow known they were going to crash; this was a lot of preparation. He carried the blankets and pillows out, and gave everyone crackers. They munched quietly, and Levaios, at least, managed to curl up on the seats with a blanket and fall asleep.

When Levaios awoke, it didn't feel like they were moving. Everyone else was awake, eating something or other from the stores. Luke was sitting on the rungs of the ladder, and the hatch was open. Sunlight streamed in from above.

"Where are we?" Levaios asked curiously. He found that he was hungry, too.

"Baltimore Harbor," Luke returned, with absolute certainty. Levaios wondered how they had gotten there so fast; that wasn't even where the SO 101 was supposed to return to port. "You can get out and look around, if you like. We're pretty well docked."

Levaios looked around at everyone else. Xiang looked tired in his worn-out clothes, eating some sort of sandwich. Analise was next to him, her dress rumpled. Xiang was leaning in to her, probably missing his daughter. Kohaku was next to Kisho, and they were both eating carefully while watching Levaios.

"Go ahead," Kisho said. "We've already seen."

From that, Levaios deduced that they were safe. They weren't dead. He didn't even need to see land, to stand on it with his own two feet, to believe it. Nevertheless, he climbed the ladder and stepped out onto the top of the vessel. It was hard navigating his way down to the dock; the stairs on the side of the craft were slick with seawater. Somehow, he made it to land, to terra firma.

Levaios only noticed much later that day, when they had all gone their separate ways and Zaiden had given him an address at which to come calling, that his expensive pocketwatch, his wallet, and even the cufflinks on his sleeves, were all missing.