Now I'm not going to give any warnings or pairings for this beforehand, because I don't want to give any hints as to how it will end. I will say that the actual chapters will be longer and much more involved than this bit- the prologue is more for establishing the story than actually telling it.
Enjoy.
Course Correction
Prologue
The baby was crying.
"Ssh...Aaron, honey, please..." Claire whispered halfheartedly, but she was crying too, silently, heavy sheets of rain pouring all around her. She stood alone only inches from the edge of a sheer cliff overlooking an empty section of beach, balancing her baby son on one hip and staring intently at something- a small object, perhaps- in the palm of her other hand. Her gaze was longing, broken, and her teeth were digging deep into her bottom lip as she struggled to keep herself from sobbing out loud. A tiny trickle of blood slid down her pointed little chin as one of the canines broke the delicate skin, but it was soon washed away by the rain. Shaking her head vehemently, she hoisted Aaron firmly up into her arms and began to walk carefully along the cliff's edge, staying as far away from the line of trees marking the edge of the jungle as she could.
"Claire!" A frantic yell echoed over the cliff, through the trees. Alarmed, she whipped her head around, searching for the source of the voice and failing, just for a fraction of a second, to pay attention to her feet.
That one wrong step was all it took. Her foot slid out from under her in the slippery mud created by torrents of rain, and she let out a terrified shriek, lurching violently backwards. She didn't dare throw out a hand to try to steady or catch herself for fear of losing Aaron, and it took mere moments for the mother and child to disappear over the cliff's edge. The baby's wailing grew louder and more frantic as his mother clung to him tighter, and the wind howled through her soaked hair as she fell, and the rain poured harder, and then-
Desmond jolted awake, sweating and shaking and gasping for breath. Frantically, he looked around in every direction, half-expecting to see a willowy little figure teetering on the edge of a cliff, to feel the mud between his toes and the rain on his face. But no, there was only his shabby makeshift tent in a secluded corner of the beach, and the sun above and the gritty sand beneath him. Slowly, his breathing returned to normal, and he tried to convince himself that what he had just seen was a dream and nothing more. But it wasn't a dream and he knew it- it was a vision, a flash. The first flash he'd ever had without...
Charlie.
It had been less than a week since that awful day when Desmond had paddled the little boat, alone, back to an entire camp that still expected there to be two people in it. Desmond knew despair- he'd lived it for more than three years- and he had seen it in every single castaway's eyes when he gave them the news of their lack of impending rescue and, more importantly, of their friend and comrade's death. And Claire had nearly had a panic attack then, screaming over and over that it couldn't be true, no, Charlie couldn't be dead, she and the baby needed him, and had even run senselessly out into the lapping ocean waves. It had taken Jin and an already crying Hurley a good two or three minutes to drag her back to dry land and restrain her before she had finally given up, going limp and sobbing brokenly into Hurley's shoulder.
They had held a silent vigil for Charlie by the sea that night. There was no way to give their unlikely hero a proper funeral, since no one had the heart to try to go down into the depths and bring his body back. It would have felt too much like disturbing his final peace. No one spoke, but no words were needed. Those who were religious sent him their most heartfelt prayers, and all thanked him silently for his selflessness, for his sacrifice. Even Claire had remained stoic through the service, but those who slept in the tents near hers had heard her crying quietly late into the night.
As for Desmond, he'd really had no idea what to do with himself in the days that followed. The classic case of survivor's guilt was eating away at him, and he found himself reliving Charlie's final moments over and over, coming up with so many ways he could have done more to help him and hadn't. And he was unbearably lonely, lonelier even than he had been in the hatch- Charlie was one of the few people who hadn't written him off as unsalvageably insane, one of the few who would talk to him- really talk to him. Charlie was the closest thing he'd ever had to a friend on that island. He would have killed just for the sound of his voice, for just a tap on the shoulder from guitar-calloused fingers- something to reassure himself that Charlie wasn't really gone like Desmond knew he was.
But in reality, it went even deeper than that. Desmond had tried and failed almost every kind of life imaginable, and they had all turned out to be worthless in the end. The hatch was the first place he had ever felt, ever been important, but he had never understood exactly what it was he was doing- he still didn't. But Charlie- saving Charlie- that had been different. It had given him a purpose- a real, meaningful purpose. For that one short month, fate had not been set in stone- he, Desmond the useless failure, could change the course of destiny, perhaps even his own. And of course, when Charlie finally went, he had taken all of that with him.
Desmond slowly got to his feet and pushed aside the cloth that served as the wall of his tent, quickly scanning the camp for pale skin and sunflower-blonde hair. He was almost ashamed at the tiny spark of excitement that flickered to life in the back corner of his mind. This time could be different- he had another chance to save a life, to save Claire's life. Another chance to change fate.
He owed Charlie- and himself- that much.
End Prologue
Like I said...chapters from here on will be in real-time, but that's all I'm going to say. Expect an update fairly soon. knock on wood
I think I abused hyphens.
Feedback is very much appreciated (and it will make me be alot more intent to update faster!)
