Everything hurts. That's the first thing I notice. I open my eyes and can't see anything until they adjust to the dark of night. I appear to be laying on a branch. I make to move it, but the shuffling of the leaves under me make no sound.
"Gah!" I exclaim, but the sound is muffled. I rub my ears and they start to ring, which I'm pretty sure is a good sign. I stand, but almost lose my balance from a head rush. By now my eyes have adjusted and I take in my surroundings.
I'm still on the Island, except, now it's nighttime, the trees creating a canopy above me. There's a wall of rocks on my left that looks familiar. I know where I am.
I walk slowly towards my destination, and my hearing gets better with every step, the sound of leaves and twigs below my feet making their way up to my ears. It's so dark that I almost lose my bearings. I haven't been here in three years.
There's a giant sinkhole in the ground, the result of John Locke's decision to blow up the hatch. This isn't what the construction site looked like.
"They built it?" I hear to my side. Jack and Kate are together and Miles is off to the side of them.
"Yeah. They built it," Kate confirms for Jack, who looks around the sinkhole dejectedly. But not for long because…
Whack! Sawyer's foot collides with Jack's already bruised face, sending him into the sinkhole.
"Sawyer!" Kate yells. I run down to help. She climbs after Jack, but I go after Sawyer. I'm too late though, because he climbs into the hole after Jack, ready for another punch.
"You were wrong!" he yells. "That's the damn Swan hatch! Blown up just like we left it before we started jumping through time! You said we could stop it from ever getting built! That our plane would never crash on this Island!"
"Stop it!" I yell at him, catching up in the hole.
"This ain't LAX! You blew us right back where we started! Except Juliet's dead. She's dead, you son of a bitch, 'cause you were wrong."
"Sawyer," Jack manages to get out. "I'm sorry. I thought we were supposed to... I thought it would work."
"Well, it didn't!"
"The bomb must've gone off," Jack says, getting to his feet with the help of Kate.
"You think if an atom bomb went off, we'd still be standing here?!"
"I don't know."
"That's right! You don't! For once, you don't know!"
"Jack!" I hear from above. I look and Jin is standing there, looking frantic. "Sayid needs help."
"Where is he?" Jack asks.
"With Hurley at the van. Two minutes away. He's still bleeding. We don't know what to do."
"So what do you say, doc? Got another great idea to save Sayid? Maybe there's a nuke laying around."
"Hey, shut up!" Kate yells. I follow her gaze to the deep hole covered with debris.
"Help!" a muffled voice shouts from inside. Holy crap.
"Juliet!" Sawyer calls, running to the debris to start moving it. Everyone moves to help him.
"James?" Juliet calls.
"Oh, my God," Kate exclaims.
"Juliet!"
We continue to move the metal out of the way, but eventually we reach one that's too heavy to move, even with six people. "Hang on, Juliet! We're coming!" Sawyer calls.
"Jin! Flashlight!" Jack says, grabbing it and shining it into the hole.
"If we can move this beam, I think I can get down there," Sawyer says, still trying to move it. "It's too heavy. We need something to pull it. Jin! The van. There's chains in it. Go get 'em!"
Jin takes off, back to Sayid and Hurley. We all stand there, waiting with bated breath, hoping that Juliet is okay. I know I don't know her well. I really didn't even like her. But everything she did to help us get off the Island. Everything she did to help us keep cover at DHARMA. She's a good person. She doesn't deserve this.
It takes Jin about three minutes and we hear the roar of the van's engine. "I'll get the chain," Jack says, running up the slope to ground level. Miles and Kate follow to help.
Sawyer can't keep still. "Juliet!" he calls, goin back to tugging on the beam.
"Stop it!" I tell him, grabbing his arm and pulling him off. "Stop, Sawyer! The van is here, the chains are coming."
"She ain't makin' any more noises."
"Sawyer, she's a doctor. She's probably injured and needs to save her strength."
"Juliet!" he calls into the hole, but again, there's no response. Sawyer turns to me, his face holding the most pained look I've ever seen. "If she dies, I'll kill him." He says to me. And I have no doubt that he will.
The chain makes its way down to us and Sawyer and I wrap it around the beam.
"Okay Jin!" Sawyer calls. "We're good down here! Hit it!"
We all stand back as the van struggles to pull out the beam, but it eventually breaks. "Gimme the flashlight." Sawyer says, grabbing out of Kate's hand and heading into the hole, calling Juliet's name.
"Tia, I need your help," Jack says, breaking my gaze from the hole. I turn around and he's headed back up the side to the van. Sayid! I completely forgot!
Jack helps me out. Sayid is in the back of the van, blood pouring from the bandages around his gunshot wound. "Jack, I can't help him," I say, worried about the color his skin is turning.
"Even if I could get the bullet out, bleeding won't stop, there's nothing I can do for him," Jack admits, defeated.
"There's somethin' I can do," Hurley says. "There's a temple, if we can get Sayid there we can save him."
"And you know this how?" Miles asks.
"This guy Jacob told me just before we got here." At the name, my head jerks up, remembering the conversation I had with Richard. The one where he told me about the man who gave him the gift to never age.
"Who's Jacob?" Jack asks.
"Does it matter? Can you fix Sayid, Tia?" Hurley asks me.
"No."
"What about you Jack?"
Jack shakes his head.
"Then you're gonna have to let me do it."
We get ready to leave as the sun comes up. Hurley instructed Jin to take up to the Temple, whatever that is. Hurley grabs his guitar case out of the van. "Are we gonna sing Kum Ba Yah on the way?" Miles asks.
"It's not a guitar man."
"Then what is it?" But Hurley ignores the question, making a cot for Sayid in the back.
"Hey Miles, you mind hangin' back?" Sawyer calls to him. He's picking up two of the shovels we ditched. I guess he's gonna bury Juliet.
"You got it boss."
I grab the stretcher from the back of the van. Jin is the only one who knows the way to the Temple and se says there's too many trees to take the van.
"I'll make sure to leave a trail so you can follow us," Kate says to Sawyer.
"I ain't followin' nobody Kate." I sneak a peek at her and I can tell she's hurt by his bitterness. I can't blame him. He just lost Juliet. And frankly, I don't think Kate has a right to be so concerned.
"You guys ready?" Hurley calls to us.
"Whenever you are," Jack says, settling and unconscious Sayid into the cot. He and Jin pick up the handles and we head into the jungle.
"That's a big wall," Hurley states at our arrival. He's right. The giant wall is too high to be climbed and it's too flat to get a good footing anyway. There are paintings on it, just like in that room Eloise and Richard took us to underground.
"How're we gonna get him over the top?" Jack says, eyeing the wall's height.
Hurley walks closer. "We're not, we're bringing him in through here." There's a rather large hole in the bottom of the wall leading into a dark cave. Kate, Hurley and I go first followed with some difficulty by Jack, Sayid, and Jin.
Hurley shines a light on a skeleton sitting off to the side. Kate grabs what I assume is the skeleton's backpack and shakes out the contents.
"Who brings a book into a cave? And why is his arm missing?" Hurley asks. And he's right. The arm of that skeleton is missing.
Suddenly the room is completely lit as Kate has found a torch. Jin sets down Sayid for a moment and comes closer. "It was ripped off when he was attacked by the black smoke," he clarifies.
"Well, this is gonna be awesome," Hurley says. Screw him. This was his idea.
We walk deeper into the cave. No one talks until Jack grabs Kate's arm. "Watch your step," he says. There's a giant hole leading down somewhere I can't see. There's a small bit of ledge at the side of the hole and I worry about getting Sayid across, but eventually and with difficulty we all avoid the hole.
I'm the last to cross and when I get there, Jack asks, "Where's Kate?"
"She was right over there," Hurley says, pointing ahead with the hand not holding the guitar case.
"She was the first to cross," I note, thinking she may have just gone on ahead.
Jack starts calling her name, walking deeper into the tunnel. All of the light is gone, but I hear Hurley breathing beside me.
Then it's gone. Drowned out by loud whispers. Whispers that I haven't heard in a long time. I feel a sharp blow to the back of my head and the next thing I see is black.
I wake up surrounded by a group of people I assume are the Others. Kate, Hurley, and Jin are there with Sayid, still on his stretcher supported by two of them. The Others all have guns.
Jack is thrusted out a door to the side, which I assume is the entrance to the cave. He looks like he just regained consciousness. Without speaking, an Other pokes me in the back with his gun and I follow them through a grouping of trees and look out onto a giant…well Temple. It looks Aztec and is surrounded by people dressed in dirty clothing.
"Guess we found the temple," Hurley says.
They walk us to the foot of the Temple where there's a door. Four or five men shuffle out of it, all carrying guns. Two of them are not. An Asian man with long hair and a taller Caucasian with round glasses. The Asian says something in his language. Japanese maybe? "Who are you?" The tall man with glasses translates.
"I know who they are," an Australian accent says. It's a woman. She looks familiar, but I can't quite place it. "They were on the first plane. Oceanic 815 along with me." Oh, she was the stewardess on the plane.
Asian says something in Japanese again, this time speaking to Glasses, who's face turns confused. "You sure?" he asks. Asian just walks away.
"Shoot 'em," Glasses says to the Others, who all raise their guns and point at us, loading the chambers.
We all protest, but Hurley's voice is the loudest of all. "Jacob sent us!"
Asian is back, getting all up in Hurley's face. "What'd you just say?" Glasses translates.
"I said, Jacob sent us. He said, you would help our friend" Hurley explains, pointing to Sayid.
Asian says something else. "He wants you to prove it," Glasses says.
"Uh..." Hurley hesitates. Asian shouts at the Others, who all cock their guns again, but Hurley shouts, "He gave me that guitar case!"
"Did you look inside it?" Glasses translates.
"Maybe," Hurley admits.
Asian walks over to the case, carried by an Other. He sets it on the ground, opening it and revealing one of those Egyptian things. What do they call them? An Ankh. Asian picks it up out of the case and smashes it against his knee, breaking the Ankh in two. "Dude!" Hurley shouts.
Inside the Ankh is a piece of paper that Asian reads. When he finishes, he asks Glasses something, who turns back to us. "What are your names?"
"Hugo. Hugo Reyes," Hurley says immediately. He turns to us. "Tell him."
"Jin Soo-Kwon."
"Kate Austen."
"Tia Samuels"
"Jack Shephard."
"What about him?" Glasses asks, pointing to Sayid.
"Sayid Jarrah," Jack says.
Asian starts giving out orders. "Pick him up," Glasses says, pointing to Sayid. "Get him to the spring."
"Hey, excuse me," Hurley says, stopping the commotion. "I carried that case across the ocean and like, through time, so I wanna know what that paper says."
"The paper said that if your friend there dies, we're all in a lot of trouble," Glasses says. He starts leading us into the Temple. Inside, there's a pool of dirty water, like a spring, constantly splashing. "The water isn't clear," Glasses says. "What happened?"
Asian says something in response, then goes to the edge of the pool and pulls out a knife. He slashes his hand, creating a small cut, but his blood flows visibly. "What is he doing?" Kate asks.
"I don't know." Jack says.
Asian dips his hand into the water and pulls it out, but it's unchanged, still cut and bleeding. He walks back over to us and points at Sayid, asking us a question. Glasses clarifies. "Who did this to him?"
"My fault," Jack says. "I didn't shoot him but it's my fault."
Asian explains the situation, all translated by glasses. "If we do this there are risks. You understand?"
"Do what you have to do," Jack says.
"Take off the coveralls, put him in," Glasses translates as the Others strip Sayid of his DHARMA suit and put him in the water, head first as Asian turns over a large hourglass timer.
"What the hell are they doing?" I ask Glasses, but he ignores me.
"Can unconscious people hold their breath?" Hurley asks.
"No," Jack says. In the water, Sayid's body begins to twitch and convulse from lack of air. "He's awake, let him up," Jack shouts, but he's ignored just like me.
"What are they waiting for?" Jin shouts.
"That's enough!" Kate joins in.
Jack starts walking toward Asian. "I said, let him up!" he shouts, but this guy who seems to be in charge uses some kind of crazy martial arts that throws Jack on the ground.
Over at the pool, Sayid continues to twitch. "You're not saving him! You're drowning him!" Hurley shouts.
I look at the hourglass, which is almost empty as Sayid stops moving. "Your friend is dead." Glasses says.
The Others pull Sayid out of the pool and Jack runs up to him, checking his pulse. There must be nothing, because Jack starts chest compressions. "Jack," Kate says, running up to him. "Jack, stop, what are you doing?" But Jack continues trying mouth resuscitation. "Jack, he's dead." She grabs his arm, stopping him. "He's not coming back, stop it!"
"Thought you might like a little something to eat or drink," the stewardess from Oceanic asks us, standing with two children. "Zach, Emma," she instructs as they lay down a small pile of fruit. "Then take the rest to the people over there."
When the kids leave, I turn to the stewardess. "Who are those men? The Japanese guy and the tall one?" I ask. My throat is raw from crying. I may not have spent much time with Sayid these past few years, but he was my friend. There was once a time where I would have given my life for his. He was my partner.
"Dogen and his translator Lennon. Dogen runs the Temple," she answers before leaving.
"Just drop 'em in here," an Other to my right says. I look over as two big guys drop an unconscious Sawyer and a pissed-off Miles beside the pool.
I get up and run over to Miles. "Hey, what happened?" I ask.
"They jumped us in the jungle," he explains. "Jim took four of them out, before one of them hit him with a damn rock."
Kate moves over to check on Sawyer as the translator, Lennon comes out of a door and walks over to Hurley. "You, come with me."
"Come with you where?" Hurley asks, but Lennon just waves to the door.
We all sit in silence for a few minutes, Kate trying to wake up Sawyer. It takes about five minutes before commotion breaks out.
A bell starts sounding throughout the Temple. Dogen and Lennon come out of the door with Hurley behind them and the three run outside. Lennon is yelling instructions and what I think is a small firework goes off. We all just sit, waiting for someone to tell us what to do.
The commotion goes on for a few minutes before Hurley is back in the room with us. Kate manages to wake up Sawyer.
Lennon walks over to Jack. "You Shephard?" he asks.
"Yeah."
"We need to speak to you privately."
"If you've got something to say to me then say it," Jack says. "Otherwise just leave me alone."
"I don't think you're understanding me here, I'm asking politely, you either get up and come with us on your own, or I'll have you dragged out. Because we are going to have this conversation and it's not going to be here."
Jack stands up and walks in front of Lennon. "Is that right."
Jack is grabbed by some Others who hold him back. "Jack!" Hurley shouts, stopping the fight.
We all follow his gaze to Sayid, who lies on the ground and starts stirring. "Oh my god," Lennon exclaims.
I jump up from my spot and run over to where Hurley and Miles sit beside Sayid. I see his eyes open and look right at me. "What happened?" he asks.