All Roads Lead Here by Teenage Anomaly

A/N: New and improved! Previously Called Seen Your Face, and I MAY change this name. I'm not really happy with it, but.... eh. Yes, that's right, I'm re-doing it. If you've wondered where I've been, well, now you know! Even if you read the previous version (which I'm going to leave up for a while, but not forever) you'll need to reread all the chapters I'm going to post, because I've changed A LOT about this story. Also, I'm gonna tell you now that there will be discrepancies and variances from the show. It's part of the story. However, I changed Katty's back story and a lot of the dialog, and even the plot a little bit. I hope you enjoy this new, improved SEEN YOUR FACE!

Summary: When a teenage girl is thrown into the mix, things begin to change. Small changes, almost imperceptible, but they're there. And a girl who's fighting to survive while fighting to keep things the same is having a hell of a time keeping her heart in order, too. Can she save the lives she's seen lost on a television screen, or is she destined to simply watch the cards fall where they may? Boone/OC/Sawyer, Jack/Kate/Sawyer, Sayid/Shannon, Claire/Charlie and later (MUCH later) Claire/Locke. Yes, you read right. :) Boone, Sayid, Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Claire, Hurley, Locke and later Benry centric.

Rating: T for violence, language, and sexual content.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own LOST or any of the characters or the songs featured at the beginning of each chapter. I own Katty, Elliot, any characters and the plot that are not connected to the show. THIS IS THE DISCLAIMER FOR ALL FOLLOWING CHAPTERS.

If you're looking for a new world
Just open up your eyes
Because it's
Not Quite Paradise
But it sure feels like home
Not quite paradise
We can rent to own
It'll be all right
No it's not quite paradise

Tomorrow's an illusion
Yesterday's a dream
Today is a solution
But you've got to let it be
And if you're looking for the answer
It's right before your eyes

Chapter One: Every Saga has a Beginning

"There's no need to be frightened, you know."

I looked up, bangs falling into my eyes, and saw a kindly looking- and frighteningly familiar- Arab man across the aisle smile at me. I forced myself to smile back at him, even though my teeth were clattering nervously. The light from the window next to him hit the side of his head and sent half of his face into shadow.

It was frighteningly ominous, foreshadowing that was all too real.

I could hardly think, I was so paralyzed with fear. Nerves made my stomach clench and unclench, and even though the cabin of the plane was comfortably warm, I was covered in goose-bumps.

But it was important- vitally- that he didn't know that.

So I clutched the plastic armrests so hard my hands hurt and gritted my teeth.

"I know," I lied, faking a smile. "I'm just uncomfortable with heights."

He looked like he didn't believe me, but nodded anyway and went back to staring out the window.

I stuck my hand out at him before I could loose my nerve. "I'm, um, I'm Katty. Katty Sherman."

He smiled at me again and reached over to shake my hand. His hand was long, brown, warm and unexplainably, inexplicably real.

Coincidentally, I'm an artist. I notice things like the way fingers bend and how a wrist-bone sticks out. I've always found hands and fore-arms attractive, and his were no expection.

"Sayid Jarrah."

It was only confirming what I already knew, but my stomach still jolted and I had to keep many different conflicting emotions out of my eyes. On one hand, I was super excited. And on the other, I was about to start hyperventilating, and one look in Sayid's eyes said that my emotions shone too clearly on my face.

"Cool name."

He laughed.

"You as well."

"So, what are ya goin' t' the States for?"

A strange look entered his eyes.

"I'm looking for an old friend."

"Girlfriend?"

He smiled, but not at me. Like he was remembering a better time. "Once. Maybe again, someday."

"That's the spirit," I said, trying to sound relaxed and not like the plane was going to go crashing down at any moment. Hard to do, when you know that the plane is, in fact, going to crash at any moment and that you MIGHT NOT LIVE. "What's her name?"

"Nadia," he said, and pulled a picture out of his shirt pocket. "Here."

I took the picture. Nadia, like Sayid, looked different from her TV counterpart. Her nose was straighter, the shadows under her eyes more pronounced, and with fuller lips.

Of course, none of them looked exactly the same either.

My name is Katty Sherman, and I was somehow part of a TV show.

---

I used to love the show Lost, when I was about fifteen. Thought it was great. Of course, I still like it, but I don't watch it religiously anymore. I used to know all the episodes, line for line, scene by scene.

Now I was sitting on a plane, Sayid next to me, Boone and Shannon in front of me, and Kate and the marshal two seats behind me. A year ago, I'd have thought that this was the coolest thing in the world. Now I was just scared. Why was I scared, you ask. Well, duh. Because I don't like heights. And I knew the plane was about to crash.

I'd had my carry-on in my lap as soon as I'd realized what was going on, and now I was just waiting, my leg twitching nervously. We hit the first patch of turbulence and the 'fasten seatbelts sign' switched on. It took me several tries to do it; my hands were shaking so badly. I didn't understand how the other people in the light-filled cabin could be so nonchalant, so comfortable, sleeping or reading or just not panicking, in general. I stared at them incredulously and got a few impudent stares back. One lady, in particular, oldish and ugly, glared at me. But then, she'd been glaring at me the whole trip. Probably because she was old and wrinkly and I was young and boisterous, aka, loud.

Do I tell him?

Sayid eyed me. "You looked terrified."

"It's cause I am, hombre."

He raised an eyebrow and seemed to be fighting off a laugh as he angled his body towards me. "Why would that be, Miss Sherman?"

I forced a smile. "Yeah, um, would you believe me if I said that the plane's gonna crash in like, two minutes?"

And there, but for the grace of God go I…

Sayid's warm expression faded and suddenly his face was guarded and a little suspicious.

Shit, I thought.

"No, I would not," he said. "But I would be curious as to why you thought so."

I laughed. "Dude, trust me. You don't wanna know."

"I thought I was supposed to be the terrorist?"

"I'm not a terrorist, I just know things-"

We hit the second, stronger patch of turbulence. By this point, I was so terrified, I could feel my body getting colder, and I could barely hear anything for my heart pounding so loudly.

Sayid raised his other eyebrow. I could see in his face that I wasn't fooling him, not one bit. "Why do you think that?" He insisted.

"If I live through this, I'll tell you on the island."

And at that moment, there was a jolt, and the world stopped, hung in suspended motion, and my eyes met Sayid's, and then my worst nightmare came true. We were plummeting toward Earth faster than I would have believed possible, and as I tugged on my gas mask, fingers fumbling, I could hear the screams. Air rushed past me and made it hard for me to see. Everything was a blur of blue and white.

It made crystal clear sense, though. I knew what was happening every second, and the real tragedy was that I couldn't do anything about it. I twisted around in time to see the tail section of the plane wrench away, saw people fly out the back, and the scream of the others were all around me, but I couldn't scream. My throat was locked shut. All I could do was tightly grip my arm rests and stare in front of me. I wanted to scream, but the wind took the sound out of my throat. Wind was rushing in, forcing its way around all of us, howling and screeching like a living thing. I looked over and saw Sayid staring at me in disbelief. He reached across the aisle and grabbed my hand and I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. I saw a man who looked like Jack fly out the back of the plane and braced myself, knowing that the crash was coming.

It did come. Loud, squealing and popping, the middle of the plane drove into the sand, skidding and sliding for about fifty feet before shuddering to a halt. My head banged into the seat in front of me and the world went fuzzy.

For a moment, there was silence. Then the screaming began again.

I was thinking clearly, but I couldn't move. It felt like I was pinned down by something, and my vision had gone fuzzy. I could see bright light shining into the cabin, a splash of blue sky, black smoke, swirling everywhere, the seats, people stumbling around-

Half unconscious, I felt someone undo my seatbelt and drag me out of the fuselage. I saw dark skin and recognized Sayid as he carried me. His skin was warm and I felt a strange, disembodied comfort at human contact. I was delirious, one thought going through my mind-

I can't wait to tell mom about this.

I didn't- couldn't- relinquish the hold on my bag. I was vaguely aware of being set down in the sand. I was still dazed.

I lay there in the baking sun, feeling the heat of the fires on my skin, hearing the screams from far away, and argued with myself.

Get up, you useless coward, and help them.

I can't move.

Yes you can, idiot, it's all in your head. You're lucky you aren't dead, and you're just gonna lay here?

I dragged myself to my feet and ran back into the chaos.

The first person I saw was Sawyer, face down in the sand, and apparently not breathing. I dropped to my knees next to him and flipped him over. He wasn't breathing. I had no idea how to do CPR, not really, but I'd seen enough TV to get the basic idea and, anyway, it was Sawyer. He couldn't die. I wouldn't let him. Panic threatened to overwhelm me for a moment, but I fought it back. I angled his head back and slid my mouth over his, trying to ignore the fact that I was basically making out with him, trying to ignore the way he tasted, the way his lips felt, the fact that it was Sawyer, as I blew air into him as forcefully as I could before drawing back and pushing on his chest with all the strength I had in me. Nothing. I repeated it, rewarded when Sawyer drew in a deep, gasping breath, his eyes snapping open. My heart skipped a beat.

"Crash," he mumbled. A surge of warm relief washed over me, and it felt like the breath of life. Okay. I could do this. My head was clear again. I sighed and heaved his arm over my shoulder and slid my arm around his waist, doing my best to drag him away from the crash. He was heavier than I anticipated, but adrenaline and fear gave me strength.

Panting, I dumped him in a sand dune, as far away from the fumes of the plane as I could get. He groaned as he fell against the ground, but didn't open his eyes, and I ran back to the plane.

Before I'd gotten very far, though, I tripped over something and face-planted into the sand.

I lay there for a minute, listening to the mayhem all around me, before heaving myself to my feet and turning to see that I'd tripped over Edward Mars.

I'm not proud of what I did next.

Without even thinking about it, I scrambled over to him and, mumbling apologizes, pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled the key out of it.

Then I was up and running again, shoving the key into my bra, where I would forget about it for a while.

Instantly I was surrounded by smoke and confusion and screaming once again. I tried to make sense of the babble and was nearly knocked to the ground when a man in a suit barreled past me. He turned to help me, then dragged me after him. It was Jack.

"Pull him out!" he shouted, pointing to a man whose leg was pinned under a piece of debris. I looped my arms under the man's, and pulled as hard as I could once Jack, Locke, and a man I didn't know lifted the piece of metal. I gagged upon seeing the bloody gash on the man's calf. Jack beckoned to me again and I stumbled to him. He ripped a piece of my shirt off and tied it around the man's leg, making a tourniquet and also baring half of my stomach. He then ran off to Boone and Rose, and I darted to Claire, who was screaming in fear and pain. I put a hand on her back, trying to steady her.

"Hey! What's wrong?"

"I- I'm having contractions!" she shouted, her face contorting.

"Hey, you!" I turned and grabbed the back of Hurley's shirt. "Get her away from the fumes and time her contractions. If they get any worse, call out for Jack, okay?"

She nodded and Hurley grabbed her by the arm.

I stood still, taking a breather, watching the scene around me. It was so surreal, I was still wondering if maybe, maybe I was dreaming.

But then a man was sucked into a jet and I knew I wasn't.

The thing exploded with the force of a bomb, sending fire into the air and knocking over a wing. I saw Jack running at Hurley and Claire, gesturing wildly for them to move. A piece of metal flew my way and I knew I wouldn't have time to get out of the way, even if I could move-

A heavy weight hit me, crushing the wind out of me and pinning me to the ground some ten feet away from where I had been standing. Except this weight was warm, had arms, and hair, and breath-

"Sawyer," I gasped, still breathless. I tried to sit up, coughing.

"You got a death wish, kid? You almost died just then," panted Sawyer, rolling off me. I looked at him, still dazed.

"You okay?"

He levered himself up on his elbows and stared at me. "Shouldn't I be askin' you that?"

"Well, you stopped breathing earlier and you were unconscious… I thought you were dead."

"So that was you, then, givin' me the kiss of life?"

"Yeah, lucky for you I'm not picky."

We had landed where Sayid had originally dropped me and I grabbed my bag, pulling the strap over my shoulder and standing up. I felt weak and shaky, but I knew that I was in one piece, with only minor bruises, and I had to help the people in worse shape than I.

"Katty!" I turned to see Sayid running towards me.

"Sayid!" He put his hands on my shoulders, his eyes searching my face.

"Thank God you are all right."

"Yeah." I pulled away from him. "I'm okay, amazingly. Got some pretty impressive bruises, but that's whatever. What about you?"

"Still a little on edge, thanks for askin'," said Sawyer, stepping up to my shoulder. Sayid looked at him warily.

"Sawyer, this is Sayid-"

"I don't recall tellin' you my name, sweetheart."

I paled.

Things were beginning to calm down. With the jet out of the picture, the beach was less dangerous, despite the old fires still burning. The screaming had died down, too, to muted whimperings. I looked to the fuselage and grabbed both Sawyer and Sayid.

"There might still be people in there! C'mon!"

We ran to the fuselage, tripping and sliding over the sand. I got there first and slammed into the metal wall before twisting around and falling on my hands, inside. Sayid and Sawyer reached me, the latter chuckling. I looked at him.

"Nothing about this situation strikes me as funny."

He shook his head. "Maybe not, but that landing of yours sure was great. Nice shirt, by the way."

Sayid shook his head and pushed past us, but I grinned at Sawyer before following the dark-skinned man.

The inside of the fuselage looked like something out of a horror movie. Bodies and blood were everywhere.

My stomach twisted and clenched and I made a face.

"Is anyone alive in here?" I called, and heard a low groan from the back. Sayid and I looked at each other before rushing back there, Sawyer right behind us.

"Where are you?" asked Sayid and a little boy, no more than three years old, stumbled out from beneath a body, rubbing his eyes. He looked at us, tears on his face.

"Mommy?"

Sayid moved towards him, but I stopped him and took a step forward.

"Is your mommy in here, love?"

The boy nodded and pointed at the body he had been hiding under. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"Your mommy's gone, love."

He shook his head, tottering forwards, and threw his arms around me. I was frozen for a moment, but then I wrapped my arms around the kid and picked him up easily- he was light as a feather. I looked at both Sawyer and Sayid.

"Can you guys go through the luggage and see if you can find anything that might be useful- especially medicine? I'm gonna take care of this kid."

The boy had buried his face in my shoulders, his little arms around my neck. I carried him out of the plane, trying to keep him from seeing any of the carnage. I could hear Sayid and Sawyer shouting at each other and sighed.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" I asked the boy.

"Elliot," he mumbled.

It was like bad deja vu.

"Well, Elliot, my name's Katty. I'm gonna take care of you, okay?"

I sat down next to my bag, the kid still clinging to my shoulders like a spider monkey. "Elliot, let go of me for a minute, okay?"

He did, sitting back in the sand, regarding the scene around him with a solemn face.

"Did the plane fall out of the sky?"

I laughed, leaning back on my elbows.

"Something like that."

---

"I've brought food," said Sayid, dropping an aluminum-wrapped package in my lap. I looked up at him.

"Thanks."

"How is he?" he asked, nodded at Elliot, who was sleeping, covered in a flimsy airplane blanket I had found. I shrugged, unwrapping the aluminum and taking a hungry bite out of the sandwich.

"As good as can be expected. Geez Louise, this is good!"

Sayid laughed. I squinted at him.

"Wrot?" I asked, mouth full.

Night had fallen on the beach. Sayid and I were sitting with Charlie, Hurley and Elliot, and none of us were talking, just feeling the heat from the fire and trying to take it all in. I dug into the ham sandwich, closing my eyes in ecstasy.

"I've been so hungry."

"You aren't the only one, believe me," said Charlie, nodded. Hurley shook his head.

"Dude, you're tellin' me."

I was scared out of my mind, but I felt peaceful, at the same time. Like I'd been away from home for a long time and had finally come back.

That scared me more than anything, that feeling of belonging.

"You owe me an explanation," said Sayid quietly. I choked and he patted me on the back.

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

Now what the hell do I do?

TBC...

"Not Quite Paradise" by Bliss