Crimson
Disclaimer: Take two steps backwards. Close your eyes. Turn around in four perfect circles and go three steps forward, one right, and two more forward. There you will find the real creators of Lost – what? You hit a tree? Oh, gosh, I'm sorry! You can open your eyes now.
Summary: After an encounter with Cerberus leaves Kate injured and alone, she makes a deal with something she really shouldn't...
Rating: I'll put it as Teen, because I don't think there'll be anything really explicit... it is now getting darker, and (many) character deaths are guaranteed.
A/N – I'm such a bad, bad, writer. Didn't update very quickly. Deepest apologies. Look! Special angst chapter just to show how sorry I am. I don't know how good the angst is, this damn writer's block... I know what's in the next chapter, so it shouldn't take long. Guesses for next victim? You don't have long – Muahahaha! I know exactly how it will play out. The fun part of this job is working out inventive new ways of killing people.
Want to know what Jin speaking fluent English sounds like? Just look at Alex (played by Daniel Dae Kim) in The Cave (or one of the other movie's he's starred in, The Cave's a personal favourite). It's actually rather disconcerting.
Chapter twenty-eight
Less than twenty four hours later, Juliet was walking back onto the beach. She had pressured Jack into moving fast to get back, not sure why, but her gut was telling her she really shouldn't have left. And she knew from past experience that her gut was usually right.
There was a blur from the corner of her eye. She turned, and before she had time to register what was happening, she was being pushed backwards by an unknown assailant. Then she wondered if her brain was working properly – someone was yelling (at her, she guessed) but she couldn't understand a word of it.
She blinked a few times, and everything made sense. It was Jin, and he was screaming at her in Korean. Desmond and Hurley were holding him back – just.
And the forbidding feeling in her gut came screaming back to her. Sun. How could she have forgotten Sun?
Jin seemed to realise that she couldn't understand him, but that she had guessed what had happened. His English had much improved, but he reverted to Korean whenever angry or upset. He cursed in Korean, too, which had amused some people no end, and in return they learnt a few Korean insults as well. He drew in a deep, shaky breath.
"My wife... is dead," he said, having to pause to suck in more air over his grief. "And you... were not here... to save her."
"I'm sorry," Juliet whispered, knowing how empty those words were. How hollow and worthless, how little they would mean. She shouldn't have left.
There was no sound on the beach except the muted roar of the ocean. Guilt was hitting her even though in every other instance she hadn't been able to do anything. If she had stayed there was nothing she could have done. But she could have tried. Sun had been fighting hard, had made it so long. For a while, she had let herself hope.
For a moment, she wondered if Jin would continue his attack. Part of her wanted him to. The part of her that didn't enjoy getting beaten up was hoping the men on either side would stop him. They looked like they were ready to, but Jin didn't move. He looked helpless, lost, almost resigned.
In every other case, someone else had been there to spare her the emotional heartbreak of the husband and friends. Never before had she felt this much pain around her, inside her. She felt her own heart, all that was left of her innocence (even though that wasn't much) shatter, and crumble into the void that had been reopened by Death.
After the initial shock, Juliet allowed herself to cry. She sat in her tent and cried. She didn't notice Jack come in, and only realised he was there when he rested a hand on her shoulder. She didn't need to say anything, and he didn't let her. He just pulled her close while her body shook with contained sobs. Then he said something that surprised her.
"This is my fault," he admitted guiltily. Holding back her emotions, Juliet touched his face gingerly.
"No, it's not," she reassured him. "How could you possibly –"
"I left. I didn't tell anyone where I was going. You came looking for me. If I hadn't left, if I'd just... at least one of us would have been here..."
Juliet's stomach flipped uncertainly. No. That wasn't why she had gone – this was her fault. Her fault she hadn't been here, her fault Jack felt guilty. For an instant, she hovered close to telling him the truth, that it wasn't his fault. But then she shied away. Guilty Jack was better than Angry and Still Guilty Jack.
Juliet sat in her tent long after Jack left, her head buried somewhere between her knees. If she'd bothered to think about it, she might realise she looked a lot like an ostrich, but that wasn't where her train of thought was flowing.
She was thinking about how she could have stopped this. If she'd made Sun understand exactly what was at stake, made her realise just how final this would be, she might have been able to do something. Sun was a herbwoman, and probably had a dozen things in her garden which could have made her lose the baby. But Juliet had made promises, assurances. That she'd do whatever she could. She'd look out for her. She figure something out.
She'd made a promise, a vow to protect – and failed. She had come to regard Sun as a friend – someone intelligent, modest, and easy to talk to. Now she was grieving for someone who was – had been – more than yet another dead patient.
She heard Jack outside, talking to a few people. Probably explaining where they had gone and why. There was a pause, raised voices. Whatever he'd said, they didn't like it. Then she clearly heard him yell, "Two men are dead!"
"And so is a woman," someone said.
"And another will be soon," the second person muttered darkly.
Juliet lifted her head. Her? Was he talking about her? She felt drunk. Too out of it to identify the voice, to think about whether someone had just threatened her.
Jack had continued walking past and the only answer she could hear was a murmur.
No, she realised with a chill. They weren't talking about her. Somehow, in linking her and Jack not being there with Kate, they had come up with their own solution.
Juliet teetered. Should she help Kate, warn her of the hard feelings and threats the people of the camp were harbouring towards her? Or could she just let her head fall back down? That was an inviting idea – just lie down on her pathetic airline-pillow-bed and let sleep wash away her mind.
Here is where you press reviewy-button-thingy. In case you were lost. Pun intended.
