LEGAL CRAPOLA: I don't own the rights to Fringe or Lost, blah blah blah. This is all just a story I came up with in my free time, and in no way reflects either show, yada yada yada.

OTHER CRAPOLA: This is the first episode in a Lost/Fringe crossover series. If you are just reading this for the Lost part, you'll be waiting a while until the next episode is released. The story is mainly about an original character, and how his oddly unexplainable, time travel-laden, multiple universe-visiting issues cause him to inadvertently tie together the stories of Lost and Fringe. During the course of the story, there will be flashbacks which shed some light on to his past, and the other odd events which have led him to the present.

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PROLOGUE

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"Patient #1542 has escaped."

*

It was freezing outside for Arvin Butler. The dead of winter was never kind in Boston, but this year it was particularly hostile. It could have been because of the seemingly endless onslaught of cold fronts coming in from the east, it could have been because last year was unseasonably warm. It may have also been because Arvin Butler had spent the last 18 years in a mental institution.

Butler ran through a forest of dead trees, wearing only a bathrobe and slippers. Snow a foot thick covered the ground, and fell continuously, heavily. He looked behind him, at the world he was leaving behind, and the guards who were trying to bring him back inside. They were heavily armed with tranquilizer guns, batons and tasers, and they didn't care about Butler, not at all. They were willing to not only bring him back, but beat him up. Butler knew that this wouldn't be an actual issue, not for him, but that it wouldn't make his escape any easier. He also knew that it would be unfortunate for their families, when they read the horrible truth in the papers. "Who am I kidding?" Butler thought, a smile coming to his face. "There's never a worry of the truth coming out when you're dealing with the media!"

Butler saw a run-down, brick building ahead, a supplies shack. Behind the shack, the fence passed close by, and there was a stairwell to the roof from inside. He knew this because of the time he spent with his "device", before the bastard doctors took it away. A tranq dart whizzed past Butler's head as he turned to run into the supplies shack. He jiggled the doorknob for a second, realizing that a key was needed. He decided on using the next best thing, and pounded his fist down on the doorknob. Arvin Butler appeared to be a middle-aged bald man, but his brute force was amazing. Butler entered the supplies shack while the guards trailed behind him, yelling and waving their fists comically.

-

Butler closed the door behind him, though it wouldn't actually shut anymore without a knob. He took a second to catch his breath and scan the room. There were a few cages with boxes inside them, and several boxes of different cleaning supplies and such were lying around the floor, piled up in some cases. At the back of the room, there was a staircase heading up, and a locked door on the right.

Butler reached his hand into the chest of his bathrobe, fished around, and pulled out a small box, with two wires attached. He checked the box over, trying to finish an inspection. Satisfied, he moved forward, looking for a place to hide.

-

The guard nudged open the broken door, his taser at the ready. He pointed it around the room, and carefully moved forward. Two guards were waiting around the outside of the shack in case Butler tried any funny-business, like jumping out a window. The guard inside the building was not worried about anything that a crazy old man could do, and in turn he wasn't being careful. Such a conclusion was reached as the guard passed two of the supply cages without checking between them, and Butler jumped out. Butler grabbed the throat of the guard, and smashed his head repeatedly against one of the cages. After knocking him unconscious, Butler took out his device.

The box was small, black, with a knob and a few dials. The wires attached to the box were odd. There were two thick, grey cords with a strap at the end. The strap had two very sharp spikes, and looked painful. Butler kneeled over the unconscious guard's body, and took the wire from the box in one hand. He opened the guard's mouth, and jammed one of the wires inside, where he penetrated the roof of the mouth with the spike-strap. Butler took the other cord and did the same to his own mouth, trying to hide his groans of pain. After finishing the process, he grabbed the small, black box, and began to operate the dials and knobs. When he finished, the transfer initiated.

Arvin Butler's face contorted and shifted painfully. He bit down on the cord to stop himself from screaming, as his eyebrows started twisting and bending. Butler took both his hands, and placed them on his nose, trying to mould his face in place as the transfer occurred. After a few more seconds, the process had completed.

Arvin Butler looked exactly like the guard, and vice-versa. He had taken the guard's clothing to disguise himself further, and left his old clothes on the body. Butler stood up, and walked out the door, leaving the body behind.

-

Butler walked out of the supplies building, past the other guards, and kept walking.

"He had an accident." It was all he said as he headed out of the snow-covered grounds of St. Claire's forever.