Always (a Deryck Whibley Fanfic) RMS Titanic / WWI AU

III: Nord Pas de Calais - Ajax

Monday 9th April 1917
Dunkirk Harbour
1.00pm
Boarding the S.S Minnedosa...

With Deryck now discharged from the Canadian Corps, we're on our way back to Ajax which I'm glad about and I guess he is as well, after sustaining the aforementioned injuries. I've had a look at different shipping timetables to see which vessel is going to Canada to take us home; I've found a ship that's to be carrying Canadian troops, it's the S.S Minnedosa that's owned by the Canadian Pacific Line. The ship will be leaving in the next half hour, so we have to get tickets sorted or we won't be leaving Nord-Pas-de-Calais; I am glad to be going home, but it's been five years since I've been on a ship with regards to the Titanic sinking, well five years on Saturday. So, I guess I'm worried that we won't reach our destination and end up sinking again, but the sinking of the Titanic taught lessons because ships are now equipped with more than enough lifeboats for everyone onboard, so at least that's one less thing to worry about but I don't want futile paranoia dominating my mind during this week long voyage home. I can't help but feel bad for leaving Dave and Jay who have to stay here fighting against the Germans, but hopefully it'll be over by tomorrow. I really hope this voyage is a lot better than our last, five years prior.

HALF AN HOUR LATER, 1.30pm...

Our voyage home is now underway, I have managed to get us two Second-Class tickets for the trip, the total cost of the two tickets is C$161.32 (£94.62) which seems extortionate but it's better than not being able to go home at all!. As we're walking up the Second-Class gangway towards one of the ship's officers who is checking other people's tickets, when I handed him our tickets he obviously has noticed Deryck's Corps uniform, and I guess he can tell that he's just been released from service. He then proceeds to say to him:

"Thanks for your service, son"
Silence. Oh, no! He doesn't know that Deryck can't hear what he's saying. I better say something to him before an awkward silence becomes the repercussion.

"Sorry, he can't hear what you're saying. He's not long been diagnosed with sensorineural deafness" I inform the officer.

"Sorry, ma'm I'll remember that next time" the officer replied rather sheepishly. I nodded in reassurance, he then let us aboard and I begin looking for directions to the Second-Class section of the ship, to see which deck we would be on; I discover by one of the other many passengers that Second-Class staterooms were located on E Deck. With Deryck following me like a lost puppy, we've located E Deck now all we have to do is find the right stateroom, I finally find the right one: E41. Well, at least that'll be easy to remember I thought.
We're now officially going home as I heard that the captain is going to start the engines for the Minnedosa to start her voyage back to Canada, I can't wait to get home and go back to normality, or what has now become normality due to Deryck's injuries. Anyone who comes up to us and starts to talk to Deryck, I will have to interject and inform them that they have to speak loudly or else he won't be able to hear what they're saying. When we came aboard with the rest of the Second-Class passengers, everyone's head turned towards us and many pairs of eyes stared at Deryck's uniform, but why?. He's just came from the battlefield, so staring at the both of us like we've did something terrible isn't helping. But what I didn't realise was that they were on the verge of congratulating and thanking him for his service to the Corps and country at Vimy Ridge. Due to this being a week long voyage, we're expected to arrive in Canada on Wednesday 18th April, by then hopefully Jay and Dave will be onboard a ship and on the way home too. How do we entertain ourselves for a week? Usually, Deryck has his guitar with him, but you can't take that into a war zone can you?. I hear there is the ship's library which is located two decks above us, so I guess myself being the bookworm that I am that's probably where I'll be, and also I guess Deryck could perhaps write more tracks for the band, because there is a writing room situated in the library so that could be beneficial for either of us.
Later on in the day as we're walking along the Second-Class Promenade Deck, I can't help but gaze intently at the number of lifeboats mentally counting how many there are. Here we go again with the lifeboat paranoia as I thought about my aforementioned mental turmoil about the amount of lifeboats aboard. As I was staring at the lifeboats, it reminded me of when we were all aboard the Titanic and of course she was sinking, so lifeboats were being lowered into the dark blue abyss of the North Atlantic, and unfortunately the captain's orders were 'Women and children first'. Which meant that I had to abandon Deryck, Jay, Dave and Steve which of course wasn't happening! Of course the rich First-Class snobs had something to say about it and also the officers that were helping to load the lifeboats (First Officer William Murdoch, Second Officer Charles Lightoller, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, and many other members of the White Star Line crew) tried to coax me into getting into one of the boats, but I wouldn't budge. I also distinctly remember hearing Ida Straus saying that she wasn't leaving her husband, Isidor: "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go". If she wasn't leaving her husband to get on a lifeboat, then I wasn't either. In regards of how we lost Steve, I can't really remember because up until we got picked up by the Carpathia in the early hours of Monday morning after the disaster and the hours waiting for rescue whilst needing to put up with hypothermia due to the -2 degrees Celsius of the water, was all a blur. As I come out of my trance, I notice that Deryck's gone. Where's he went to? I thought as I don't think I was away in my own little world for too long. The question is, how do you find just one person on a massive ship?. I end up finding him with the other Corps soldiers who are on this voyage home too, so that's where he's disappeared to? How do I survive a week with a large bunch of war-torn Canadians? (excluding Deryck), I already have him to deal with due to his shell shock and deafness; well instead of whining about them all like they're a nuisance, I could probably try and get along with them all, it's not as if we'll be going anywhere anytime soon. After getting to know the other Corps troops and feeling less like an outsider, I mentioned that I was going to check out the library on C Deck, I was expecting Deryck to stay with the other troops (Typical Edwardian gender roles, both parties doing separate activities), but he actually followed me to go up to C Deck. As I sat nose deep in a book I'd found to be interesting whilst scanning the labyrinth of bookshelves and Deryck a few feet away, writing a song it would seem in French as I'd had a glance at it a few minutes ago. I had only had a look at the title: "Ma Poubelle" whatever in the world that means! I then proceeded to ask him about the song: