Summary: Locke's thoughts as he leads Boone through the jungle to the beech craft.

Characters: Locke, Boone, mentions of various 815ers.

Disclaimer: Seriously. I don't own this show.

Rating: PG-13

The Light leaving the Eye

Locke stands on the beach, watching the horizon. He's giddy as a child waiting for Christmas morning to arrive with its gifts and its miracles. The island has shown him the way. This is the day he'll find the answer, the day he'll open the hatch.

Boone is sleeping in the sand. The kid is all worn out. Locke has been working him hard and this task will be harder still. The digging, the excavating, the trebuchet - that was merely the foundation work. The real pilgrimage lies before them. He's sure Boone will sulk and complain, but he'll come along. He has to come. He's part of the vision. Locke doesn't know who Theresa is yet. He doesn't know how to find the plane. He doesn't know how to interpret the blood. But he knows he is being tested and Boone is part of the equation. He'll need him to find the answer.

Locke sees a sliver of sunlight glinting above the sea line. He can't wait any longer. He stoops over Boone. He prods his shoulder, he hushes him when he startles and then he gets him on his feet. Boone yawns and mutters, but he follows him without a fuss. Locke claps him on the shoulder, smiling encouragingly, while the kid just stretches and rubs his eyes, still trying to wake up to the world.

Boone has been a good servant to him. He's kept his promise not to tell. He's hidden the rope burns on his wrists and the lump on his head from Jack's critical eyes. Jack wouldn't understand the methods Locke has used to teach and strengthen Boone. Just as he wouldn't approve of how he taught Walt to throw a knife or how he tempted Charlie to ask for his drugs. If Jack had his way, he would wrap these kids up in cotton wool, like moths in cocoons, never letting them spread their wings, never letting them learn to fly for fear that they might fall...

Locke knows he will let Boone fall this day. He'll put his trust in the island to catch him. He'll let Boone take the bumps of their leap of faith and then he'll watch as Boone stands up again, stronger than he was before. And Locke will be standing there beside him, the strength and the feeling restored to his legs.

Then he will tell Boone that he is proud of him.

After Locke's knees fold beneath him, Boone becomes a crutch for him to lean on. Boone is supposed to be here, Locke reasons, this is supposed to happen. When they find the beech craft, Locke sees the broken fragments of his vision sliding together. Boone is willing to climb up to the plane when Locke asks him. Locke would commend the boy for his show of faith, but the truth is he never told Boone about the blood. He didn't want to scare him. He didn't want to meddle with the vision. Locke knows what he must do now. He must place Boone on the altar. He must raise up his knife and pray that the island will stay his hand.

The virgin mary statues and the heroin don't make any sense to him. Locke thinks of the little bag of heroin that Charlie burned on fire. The island may give you what you are looking for...but you have to give something to the island first. What the island gives it can also take away. Locke thinks he would give anything - anything that was demanded - to learn the island's secrets.

With that thought...the plane begins to rattle, its nose pitching towards the ground.

Locke can hear Boone's voice inside, airy and excited. He's found a radio in the cockpit. He's contacting someone. He's trying to get them rescued. After everything Locke has taught him about the island, Boone still wants to get them rescued. The kid never learned a thing. But Locke is worried now and he's yelling for Boone to get out. Because Boone is either going to bring rescue now or he is going to get himself killed. Locke doesn't want either of those things to happen.

His cries go unanswered. The plane falls from the cliff. The plane crashes to the ground. And there's Boone. And there's the blood.

Now that the vision has come to pass, Locke begins to feel his legs again. But he can't feel Boone's body over his shoulders. He can't feel the blood seeping into his T-shirt. He won't let himself think of what has been sacrificed. He will take Boone back to Jack. He'll let Jack wrap him up in cotton wool and he'll admit that he pushed the kid too far. But first he needs his answer. He doesn't have time to explain to Jack or the others who gasp at the sight of his bleeding burden. He has to get to the hatch.

Locke runs all the way. He doesn't know what he expects to find...but he is shocked to see that nothing has changed. There's nothing but the cold metal door shutting him out. Locke falls to his knees. He whimpers and moans. He bangs his fist against that cursed door. He smells the blood on his hands. He pleeds for the island to give him a sign.

The light blasts into his face. A pure white light that shines for a moment and then blinks out. Its fleeting beauty is enough to quell Locke's blasphemy. It feels like the eye of the island is winking at him. The answers will come. He must be patient. He must be faithful. He must obey.

Locke returns to the camp seeking only one answer more. As he steps onto the beach he finds this answer in a silent huddle of figures and a long dark hole in the ground. Jack has wrapped Boone's body in a sheet of tarpaulin as if he wants to protect the kid's eyes from the sand. Boone won't ever stand up again. Locke won't ever tell him he's proud. It's too late to even say that he's sorry.

It's my fault, Locke realises. He's covered in Boone's blood. His sacrifice or his mistake. It doesn't matter now.

He takes a step closer to the mourners. All that's left is to clean up the mess.

The End