Desmond groaned as he finally returned to consciousness. His head was pounding, and his body still ached from being bathed in electromagnetic energy. The waves of the ocean somewhere nearby soothed him.

Slowly, but surely, he was able to pry his eyes open and adjust to the sunlight. He was lying in what was once a makeshift tent. The bamboo frame still held, but the tarp blew with the wind, letting the blazing sun shine straight on his face. Bloody hell, couldn't someone have left him in a better spot? Somewhere with shade?

"Good morning." A familiar nasally tone said beside him and a small bag was tossed onto his chest. "Want some breakfast? I'm afraid we don't have any bacon and eggs."

Ben sat beside him with his back against the bamboo trunk, reading Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse and snacking on a partially melted Apollo bar.

"Morning." Desmond mumbled. "How long was I out?" He picked up the packet that Ben tossed him and read the label: CHOCOLATE MUESLI. Good old DHARMA.

"About a day." Ben replied non-chalantly, glancing at him over his reading glasses.

Looking around, Desmond spotted a set of utensils half-buried in the sand, grabbed the spoon and tore open his muesli bag. "Got any water?" Ben extended him an Oceanic bottle. "Thanks." The Scotsman poured a little into his bag, infusing it with the powdered milk and making his breakfast edible. "So... Jack got it all fixed up, did he?"

"Well, we're here." Ben shrugged. "Whatever happened down in that cave, the Island stopped sinking. Unfortunately the plane's already gone, so returning you to your wife and child... it'll take some time."

Desmond frowned. "But I can go home, right? I mean, your people, the Hostiles... you know that right bearing, how to get away?"

Ben shook his head. "The bearing doesn't matter anymore. Hugo is in control now." He motioned vaguely behind him. Desmond crawled out of the tent and saw Hurley sitting in the middle of the beach camp, chin resting on a fist, staring out at the ocean. "Give him some time, Desmond. He's had to take on a massive responsibility. Least we can do is wait a little to let it sink in."

"Every moment I wait... is a moment when my wife and son are worried sick about me. OI, brother!" Desmond shouted, getting Hurley's attention. Like Ben, the big guy seemed to be in his own world, barely noticing Desmond was there. "I hear you got a way off this Island. You mind sharing it?"

Hurley simply stared at Desmond blankly. "Uh..." he looked over to Ben, who shrugged. "Just... go, I guess?"

"Just go? With what, where?" Desmond demanded.

"Locke had a boat." Ben suggested loudly to help Hurley out. "As I recall, it was originally yours so you shouldn't have a problem managing it. It's probably still near Hydra Island."

Desmond turned back to Hurley. "And that's it?"

"... yeah. Have a cool life, dude." Hurley said and extended his arm, which Desmond shook, looking slightly confused.
"You're not coming, mate?" he asked.

Hurley and Ben exchanged glances. "Nah, I'm staying. I got a new job. Protect the Island."

Desmond raised an eyebrow, and nodded towards Ben. "And what about him? I mean, no offense, but you're not getting on my boat."

"None taken." Ben deadpanned, having returned to his reading. "I wasn't going anywhere anyway."
"I'll look after him." Hurley said with a bit more confidence in his voice. "You want us to help find your boat?"

Desmond shook his head, smiling. "I'm good. Did, uh... did Jack ever come back up?"

"... he's gone, dude. But hey, if I see him around, I'll tell him you said hi."

"Sure." Desmond said in a resigned tone. He took a random abandoned backpack lying around, filled a water bottle and was about to set off. For all of this time, Hurley looked at him, frowning and finally spurted out: "Hey, hold up!"

Desmond looked back at him, frowning.

Hurley bit his upper lip. "Could you, uh... do me a huge favor and stick around? I mean, there's still other people on the Island. Maybe they wanna go too? And I just figured, it'd be best if they all went with you. Don't wanna start building rafts again."

"And how long would that take? To get them all together, I mean?"
"24 hours." Ben interjected, and stood up. "I can get them here in 24 hours. Maybe even less."

Hurley blinked. "You can?"

"There's a certain type of wood in the jungle that makes a lot of black smoke when burned. We build a big enough signal, then everyone who's still alive will come and find us here." Ben explained.

"Okay." Hurley nodded and looked at Desmond. "That cool with you?"

The Scotsman put his backpack down. He was very keen on returning to Penny and Charlie, but he knew the distress of being stuck on the Island better than anyone. So long as Linus wasn't coming, he was willing to take anyone who wanted with him. "Aye. That's cool."

By that night, around 20 Others had found their way to the beach camp and claimed the old tents of the Flight 815 survivors. It was ironic in a way, as now they themselves were survivors of the final conflict between Jacob and his brother. Between the Monster's raid on the Temple and Widmore's mortar attack on those who'd followed him, there just weren't many people left on the Island. Desmond had also brought Bernard and Rose on the promise that if they attend, they'll be left alone for good afterwards.

"Where's Richard?" Cindy demanded to know.

Ben addressed the Others: "Richard has left the Island." This was followed by disbelieving snorts and head shakes. "I know it's difficult to believe and I know you have no reason to trust us, but now that all of this is over, we can have a fresh start."

"Doing what?" Cindy spat. "Jacob is dead! And you killed the only person who could've gotten us off the Island!"
"I can get us off the Island." Desmond stated, gaining everyone's attention. "I have a boat. You're welcome to join me."

Cindy threw her hands up. "Then what are we even doing here? Let's go!" Murmurs of agreement emanated from the Others.

Ben turned to Hurley, speaking quietly so nobody else could hear. "Hugo, this is it... unless you want me to lie to them, there's nothing I can do to convince them to stay. This is your part."

Hurley gulped and looked at his new people, who were all heading over to Desmond's side. "Here goes... alright, everybody listen up! My name's Hugo Reyes, but you can call me Hurley..."
"We know who you are." One of the Others said, a young boy about 12 years of age. A slightly older, 15-year old girl stood beside him. "Yeah, everyone knows you. You're on the list."

"Exactly!" Hurley said and pointed at the girl. "Did you hear that? I'm on the list, Jacob's list..."
Cindy interrupted him, and spoke with a venomous voice: "What does that matter? Jacob is dead. Everything that he wanted crumbled into nothing."

"That's not true!" Hurley protested. Cindy smirked. "Oh yeah?"
Hurley scowled. "Yeah. He got exactly what he wanted. A candidate... who could take over his job. Someone could do what he did, but better!"

"... who?"

"Jack. The best man for the job. A leader... a doctor... someone who could help people and-and guide them... a real hero! But he died, so that this Island we're on wouldn't fall apart. And now he's gone and he... he made me the Protector. But the thing is... I don't have a clue what to do. I'm not Jacob and I sure as hell ain't Jack. So if you wanna leave, I'll let you leave. You can all get on Desmond's boat and sail right outta here. If you stay... then you can all relax. No lists, no shooting at people, no weird rules that nobody understands. Okay? We chill out, we-we eat chicken and tell stories and live our lives. Cause look at what we have here. I mean... this beach is like, free, we don't pay taxes, there's food and water forever in the jungle... why can't we just live here? This is our island. And the only reason anyone will be here from now on is because they want to be here. I promise."

5-6 of the Others switched sides with cautious steps, and then half a dozen more. Cindy stayed firmly on Desmond's side, however, and kept a strong grip on the children. Hurley nodded at them. "Alright. You guys have a safe trip."

"Send me a postcard every once in a while, will ya?" Desmond joked and headed off with his followers. Hurley turned back to the 13 people(11 Others plus Bernard and Rose) who'd decided to stick with him and smiled. "Alright, so I figure we'd probably be best off back where the DHARMA folks used to live. And you two-" he turned to the old married couple. "You probably wanna go on home, right?"

"That's right, but you and your people are welcome for tea anytime you want, so long as you leave your guns far away." Rose smiled at him. Bernard patted Hurley on the back. "Good luck, Hurley. You're gonna need it with this sour bunch."

Hurley watched fondly on as Bernard and Rose disappeared into the night. "Okay. We move out first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime... anyone wanna play Truth or Dare?"

The group stared back at him as if he was an alien.

"Sure." Ben said, standing up for his new boss. "We'd be delighted. Everyone, please form into a circle now, thank you!" He started clapping his hands and the Others began to react on his instructions by instinct. Hurley grinned - maybe he could have fun doing this, after all...