I've been thinking for a long time about who is going to be killed off first. And I couldn't decide. So I did the only fair thing and drew names out of a box. And now I know who and how. But it won't be this chapter.

And I'm really focusing on the Temple right now…seems like fun. So I'm going to take some of the Team Jack-ers and some of the Team Locke-ers and bring them to the Temple…just got to figure out how.

Apple stared around this little village. Aldo, one of the people that lives there, had given her directions to where she could get some breakfast. But Apple wasn't that good with directions, and was still trying to find her way around.

She was walking past one of the houses when she overheard an argument. She recognized one of the voices-Lilly.

"I can't just sit here and hope that he'll be okay!"

"You have to follow his orders, and you told me he said not to come back," the other person said. "Ben will give out orders when he can, he said so. We have someone stationed in the look-out tower 24/7, there's no possible way we can miss him."

"But I have to know, Richard," Lilly said shakily. "I'm taking one of the Dharma buses and going back down there."

"No, you're not," Richard ordered. "Lilly, I know this is hard, but you brought two of them up here. You have to take care of them. Do whatever you were going to do to Claire to Abigail."

Apple was alarmed. What were they going to do to Claire, and more importantly, what was going to happen to Abby? Forgetting about breakfast, Apple turned around and ran back to the house that she and Abby were staying at.

"Hey Apple, I thought you were going to get something to eat," Abby greeted casually. Noticing her panicked expression, she added, "What's wrong?"

"We have to get out of here," Apple said urgently. "Right now."

Noe and her friend Caitlyn were walking around at their high school gymnasium where the graduation dance was held.

"So we'll be going our separate ways now, huh?" Noe questioned.

"Don't act all sad, this is a happy time," Caitlyn told her. "We survived high school! We can survive anything!"

"Yeah, that'll come in handy when we're both stuck on deserted islands, right?" Noe laughed.

"Exactly," Caitlyn nodded.

Noe looked around at all the people she had come to know. "It's just going to be hard to leave everyone I know here and go off."

"That's why they have this dance, Noe," Caitlyn told her. "To say our last goodbyes."

"Hey," someone interrupted. They both looked over. It was a cute boy from their grade that Noe had liked for a very long time. "You, uh, you want to dance?"

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows at Noe, who kept herself from laughing. "Sure, okay." Caitlyn was right. She couldn't spend her last moments with her friends moping that it was the last moments with her friends.

"Did I say stop?" Deacon questioned as both Derek and Noe froze in their spot, gaping at the deckhand who just passed.

"Who was that?" Noe demanded, pointing where the deckhand had just turned.

"Not that it's any of your business, but he's one of the deckhands here," Deacon answered. "Name's Kevin Johnson. Why?"

Derek shot Noe a look that clearly said don't tell the truth. "Uh, he, looked like someone I know. From back home," Noe lied.

Deacon gave her very deep look that was somewhat a mix of suspicion and confusion, Noe couldn't tell.

"We'll tell Sayid as soon as we can," Derek muttered under his breath when they started walking again. "And we can all confront him, together."

Noe nodded but remained silent. She was beginning to wonder what was up with these freighter people-they seemed all too calm about Desmond's situation, and now one of their fellow survivors, who had killed two of their own people, was on their same boat. Something wasn't right, and sooner or later they'd all need answers.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Don't you think it's about time someone went looking for them?" Tina asked.

"Well, yeah, but Locke says-," Valeria began.

"Since when have you cared what anyone says?" Tina interrupted, folding her arms defiantly. Valeria was silent. A grin spread across Tina's face. "You're worried. You don't want to leave Sawyer!"

"I-that's…" Valeria stammered.

"True?" Tina questioned. "Well, as much as I'm quite concerned for the safety of Sawyer, I think they'll be safe here with Locke. I, however, want to know what happened to our disappearing friends, Abby and Apple."

Valeria couldn't argue with that. She had no idea what happened to Abby and Apple and was concerned for them both. "I'm going whether you come or not," Tina told her.

"No, I'll come," Valeria said, rising out of her chair. "I can't just let you go on your own."

"I'm not a kid!" Tina exclaimed. "I'm fourteen, and guess what? I've survived on this island as long as you have."

Valeria ignored this statement and simply said, "So we'll get going tomorrow morning, then?"

"Let's go now," Tina suggested and made her way to the door.

"Or now," Valeria muttered unenthusiastically, following her towards the door. Tina smirked. She figured she'd tell Valeria what she overheard the previous day when it was too late to turn back.

Noe sat on the steps of her school, waiting for her parents to pick her up. Her car was in the shop, so her mom was going to take her and Caitlyn home from this last day of school.

She'd been waiting for ten minutes before she was concerned. Usually her parents were strict about being perfectly on time. Fortunately, her phone rang. It was Caitlyn.

"Hello?"

"Uh, Noe? Where are you?"

"Where am I?" Noe questioned. "Where are you, and my parents?"

"I'm at your parents' car, waiting for you," Caitlyn told her.

"What? Where?" Noe asked, standing up and glancing around. "Wait…you're at the front exit, aren't you?"

"Yeah, and you're not, are you?" Caitlyn laughed slightly. "Alright, well, your dad says that we'll come to you, so it'll take less time. Be right there."

Noe hung up and resumed waiting. She heard a car to her left, but it wasn't her parentss. Then it occurred to her that a car coming from the front exit of her school would be coming from the right, so she turned her gaze that way, and saw the same car that she had seen before that had come from the left.

Smashed into the hood of her parents' car.

Edward, David, and Rocco were all sitting by a fire that was occasionally emitting loud popping noises. "What is that?" someone behind them asked.

"Firecrackers," they answered simultaneously without turning around.

"Where'd you get firecrackers on an island?" Simone questioned skeptically.

"You know, that's a good question," Rocco said. "Why didn't I think to ask that?"

"Because you're not smart enough?" David suggested jokingly. Rocco looked shocked. He was speechless.

"That's not an answer," Simone said. She folded her arms and waited. "Where did you get firecrackers on an island?"

"Chill," David said. Edward listened curiously and Rocco, thought looking hurt, also listened. "I found them in a shack up in the mountains on one of the first days here."

"A shack?" Simone asked. David nodded. "Take me there."

"I want to go!" Edward piped up immediately.

"Well, okay," David said, standing up. "I'm running out of gum anyway. But it's always in a different place, so it could take a while. You coming?" He asked Rocco.

He was silent, staring at the ground. "Come on, you know you want to," Edward smiled, nudging him on the shoulder slightly. "Stand up, let's go."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Dan, if there's one person on this island that can do it, it's you," Nat said comfortingly as the trio took a break at a small creek. He smiled at her encouragement.

"Should we get going?" Charlotte suggested irritably.

"Yeah, let's go," Dan said, offering a hand to help Nat up. Suddenly, the bushes rustled and Charlotte whipped out her gun.

"I'll get some water for the-oh," Mattie put her hands up. She was holding three canteens. "Don't shoot me. I come from Locke's camp with George and Kate."

"Is Miles with you?" Charlotte asked, knowing that she had been traded for Miles.

"No," Mattie answered. "They've got him. But he's fine, though. But I thought you two were with Jack at the beach."

"Jack wanted to communicate with your friends on the boat," Nat replied. "But it ran out of juice, so we're just going to get spare batteries from the packs we tossed out of the chopper."

"So what about that bag?" Mattie questioned suspiciously, nodding towards the bag Daniel was carrying. "What's in it?"

"Go ahead and show her, Dan," Nat said casually, glancing at Charlotte, who gave a nod that was unnoticed by Mattie. She was already opening the bag.

"What're the gas masks for, the-," Mattie was knocked over the head by Charlotte.

"Mattie?" Kate's voice called from somewhere not far away. "What's going on?"

The three people from the freighter glanced at each other. "Let's go." They ran off, leaving Mattie's unconscious body lying near the stream.

Noe sat in a visitor chair at the hospital. She was bent over and fiddling her thumbs nervously when a doctor came over and talked to her.

"Noelia?" she asked.

"Yes?" Noe said immediately, looking up at the doctor. "How are they?"

"I'm one of the doctors who was called to the ER for you parents' accidents," she introduced herself. "And us doctors…did all we could. I'm afraid that neither of your parents survived the accident."
Noe didn't know how to react. Tears were already spilling out of her eyes. "Wh-what about...what about C-Caitlyn?"

"I'm afraid that she didn't survive either," the doctor said solemnly. "Would you like to see them?"

Noe bit her lip and shook her head, sobbing. This was supposed to be a good time, hadn't Caitlyn said that? But there was no celebrating now. Her parents were gone. Her best friend of five years-gone. What did she have left?

Not knowing if the doctor was still there or not, she came to a realization. "I-I was at the wrong exit. I made them come over."

Noe had left the room that she was staying in to investigate. Desmond was now better, his memory back, and Derek told Sayid about Michael. That left Noe to her investigating.

She glanced into a dark room that's door was open. Curious, she pushed it open farther and stepped inside. A folder on a table caught her eye.

Cautiously, Noe moved closer. It looked as if it belonged in the file cabinet that was beside her. She wondered who had carelessly leave something like that out, deciding that it must not be too important, so she picked it up and read it.

THE TEMPEST

Purpose: chemical weapons research

Produces, stores, and releases toxic gases. May be used as a defense. Lock down and prepare gases for own use after Linus is captured.

Noe ran her hand over the words, noticing the design of the paper it was on. It was grayish-blue in color, with a dark gray symbol shaped as an octagon with a picture of a wave in the middle. Below the wave, in capital letters, was the word DHARMA.

And the realization crashed. Heart racing, she dropped the file and ran out of the room to tell Derek, Sayid, and Desmond, because all of their friends on the island are in grave danger.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Mattie! Mattie, can you hear me? Wake up!" Kate was saying. She splashed water on the creek onto Mattie's face, and she started to stir.

"What happened?" Mattie said with a slur in her voice. She sat up and looked around dizzily.

"We don't know," George answered. "We heard talking, and then running, so we came over, and you were unconscious."

Mattie swore under her breath. "Those freaks from the freighter knocked me out. Can you track?"

"Well, I can try," George answered, sounding confused. "But…you're not seriously thinking about going after them, are you? We should get Jack."

"And waste more time?" Mattie questioned. "No. Jack doesn't know what he's doing, let's go ourselves." She pushed herself off the ground and swayed on the spot for a second.

"Whoa, you okay there?" Kate asked, putting a hand on her back to keep her steady.

"How about I go find them, and you and Kate go back to see Jack about that head injury?" George suggested. "Look, he's a doctor, and he knows what he's doing about that."

"How about we stop talking before they get even farther away?" Mattie said bitterly and started moving towards where she could see a plain trail.

"Come off it, Noe, it's not your fault," said Noe's friend, Jayme.

"It is!" Noe exclaimed, fresh tears forming in her eyes.

"No, it's not," Jayme argued.

"I went to the wrong exit!" Noe told her. "I let them come over to where I was! I could've stopped it!"

"So, what?" Jayme said sarcastically. "You were supposed to know that they'd crash? Noe, you never could've seen that coming."

"But I should've," Noe muttered. "I assumed that everything would be alright. I should have known that anything could happen."

"Caitlyn and your mom weren't wearing their seatbelts, Noe," Jayme said, sitting on the arm of the chair and putting her arm on Noe's shoulder. "And your dad was driving, he didn't stop. If anything, it was their fault."

"Don't say that!" Noe yelled. "If it's not my fault, then I wouldn't feel so guilty!"

"You just want to blame it on yourself," Jayme said quietly. "You want to know that there was some different way it could have been, that there could've been a chance."

Noe stood up and turned away, fists clenched. She didn't understand. No one would.

My character's so evil. But someone had to go into a spiraling depression, and I thought, why not have it be the character who we all love?

This chapter got longer than I thought. So, as far as ships are going, I'm thinking, Noe/Derek, possibly Simone/Rocco? And Arwen-Aileon gets to choose for us who has the next flashback.