I have been happy, tho' in a dream.
I have been happy—and I love the theme:
Dreams! in their vivid coloring of life,
As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife
Of semblance with reality, which brings
To the delirious eye, more lovely things
Of Paradise and Love—and all our own!
Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.
– By Edgar Allan Poe
--
Do you believe in Destiny?
Chapter 24 Part 2, Reality
--
"Do you want a Dharma nutribar?"
Sawyer glanced at Allen, shrugging as an answer. Allen sat down beside him on the fallen tree, giving him the nutribar anyway.
Allen took a deep breath, but Sawyer said quickly: "If you're gonna give me a heart-to-heart talk let me know so I can fire my gun at ya."
"I'm not gonna give you a heart-to-heart…"
"Good," Sawyer growled, taking a piece of the nutribar.
By the other one of the bonfires, Ana-Lucia, Lori, Jack and Desmond sat.
"So you took out the ammunition of his gun?" Ana-Lucia asked, fingering with her own weapon. Desmond glanced at it from time to time, like he expected her to fire it.
Lori nodded proudly.
Desmond grinned, tearing his gaze away from the gun. "Good job little sis."
Jack stared at Desmond over the fire. "You barely know what we're talking about." Lori turned her head, not looking at him but he knew that if she could she would glare.
"Yes, you're right. This whole Hostiles deal…" He gestured with his hands. "It's confusing. But I know my little sis has done something great, so good job."
"So, what?" Jack said, turning to Ana, "Andrea is going to…"
"Light up a black pillar of smoke when she's reached their camp," Ana answered with a tired voice.
"And why exactly would she do that?"
"Duh," Lori said, making Desmond chuckle, "'cause Michael and Flor are lying of course, compromised by the Others, something like that. It's good that you two came here, now we got the upper hand."
"I don't think they're lying," said Jack.
Ana took a shivering breath. "Okay, Andrea told me this was the part where I would punch you, but I'm gonna pass and instead tell you the obvious. They are lying. I use to be a cop all right, and now when I know it – I can see it clearly. How they acted so strange when they returned. How they were the ones to survive that man's attack. How they just wanted you – and only you to come along."
"It doesn't mean that –"
"Hey."
They all looked up startled at Michael. Jack was worried for one second that he'd heard their conversation, but he looked indifferent.
"Desmond, Ana, can I have a word?"
"Of course." Ana just sat on her spot.
"Alone?" Michael said between his teeth.
"Anything you wanna say you can say here, brother."
"All right, brother," Michael replied. "I just wanna say thanks – for coming here with an update on the situation, you know with Claire and Claret. But really, you don't have to come along. We're good."
Ana curled her lips up in something that probably was meant to be sweet, but came off more devilish."We can help."
Michael smiled just as poisonous back."You don't have to."
"Well, we're already here, it's the least we can do, Mikey." Desmond smiled, Lori too at the use of the nickname.
Michael pursed his lips. "So you're not going back?"
"We're not going back."
Michael exhaled deeply. "Okay."
When he left, Ana arched an eyebrow Jack's way.
"All right, all right. A little suspicious then."
Further in the trees, where the flames from the bonfire was just a faint flicker of light, Flor stood, leaning against a tree and shaking with quiet crying.
She wiped the tears away with her hand, but there only came more and more and more.
"It's okay if you're crying," someone said in a low voice.
Flor whirled around, and saw Sean's face in the dark.
She didn't deny it, only wiped away the tears again furiously, avoiding his gaze.
"Hey," he said gently as she began to cry again, walking over to her side and placing a hand on her cheek.
"I'm sorry." She sniffed.
He still had his hand on her face. "For what?"
She didn't answer him. She just leaned in and kissed him and tried to forget everything.
--
"Why are you not you pushing the button?"
Owen looked up; she was playing around with the other equipment in the room, the props to the illusion. Eko stood in the entrance to the room, his 'Jesus stick' (as Charlie called it) in his hand.
"We're gonna let it run down to zero," Owen answered. "That sounds like a lyric, you got pen and paper?"
Both Locke and Eko ignored her. The beeping sound was a bit unsettling after all. No wonder she was getting second thoughts about the whole thing.
She began to play with two wires, not considering a second that it could be dangerous.
Eko's gaze burned into Locke's. "Why are you going to do that?"
Locke grabbed the tape from the table. "This is why, watch it."
Eko eyed the tape carefully. "No, there is no time. I have to push the button."
Locke stopped him from reaching the computer, stood in his way. "Listen to me Eko, it's all a lie. Owen found this tape and this whole thing." He waved with his hand at the walls around them. "This whole thing is a hoax. An experiment. It was meant for lab rats, people to be studied while they were in here, believing they were saving the world. But they weren't – we aren't. So now, we're not going to push the button."
Eko smiled, but it wasn't a friendly, happy one. "I am going to push the button. For it is fate."
"I believed that too, but now I know there is no such thing as destiny."
Eko shook his head, almost in mocking and walked past him and in front of the computer, typing four.
"Don't do it!" Locke shouted, grabbing his arm.
"Locke…" Owen stood dropping the two wires on the floor. Eko swung the stick at Locke and Locke fell back on the floor.
"Guys!" she shouted. "Do you hear that?"
Both Eko and Locke stopped their destiny-testosterone-fight and listened.
"8… 7… 6…"
Owen and Locke looked at each other, Locke nodded to her and Owen nodded back to say she understood.
Eko rushed to the computer, pushed in the numbers and walked out into the corridor.
Owen smirked.
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"
--
The sun that met Bonnie in the morning was annoyingly bright.
Because just like when Rosalie's funeral had been, it was too happy, didn't fit the circumstances.
Almost all of their people were kidnapped.
And Rosalie was dead.
She swallowed hard and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. Tried to look determined as she called out for the survivors to wake up, there was going to be a meeting.
She leaned against the dining table, looked around at the group that began to form around her.
Finally, when she saw the last one join them she took a step forward, straightening her back and made sure that her eyes were glaring into theirs.
"Yesterday some of us left to get back the people we've lost and avenge those that have been killed," she said. Her voice steady and her gaze firm.
"Yesterday we also found out that even more than we thought have been lost, Claire, Claret, Brian and Wendy. It seems that every time we turn our backs and look away they are right there. It's like they're watching us, always, those Others. And there's absolutely nothing we can do to strike back!" She slammed her fist against the table.
"At least," she said, "that's what they want us to believe."
In their silence she continued to explain about the army, why they had to do it, and how they would learn.
--
"Andrea! Fox!"
"What is it?"
Kim pointed at the land in the distance. "Look!"
She handed Andrea the binoculars and she looked through them in bewilderment. "Wow," she said quietly. There, on the island was a big, giant foot.
"It only has f-four toes," Fox stated the obvious.
Kim's eyes were round in wonderment. "And the rest of the statue is missing."
Andrea gave back the binoculars to Kim. "This island just gets weirder and weirder doesn't it?"
----
Fox screamed.
He tried to get his hands free but they were tied closely to something and he couldn't get it off. His eyes were met by a dark an eerie green light and he couldn't move. He couldn't move at all. He was back. He was back again in the closet and he would never get out.
"Whoa, calm down!" a familiar voice said, grabbing his hands and tying up the knots. "We had to tie you down for the ride. Calm down."
Fox looked at his side. There Ethan Rom stood, a wicked smile on his face, seemingly unaffected to the wreck Fox was.
"W-what…"
"Come on." He helped Fox down on the floor; he was swaying on his feet, barely being able to stand up.
"Are we in a submarine?"
Fox turned around; a woman was leaning against the wall, looking like she'd also been drugged like him. Her hair was long, a bit frizzy and she was wearing high heels. Something that Fox knew wasn't exactly the best type of shoes in a submarine.
Submarine.
"Come on," Ethan said again, still with the smile.
"I'm Fox Edwards," Fox introduced himself, happy that he didn't stutter.
"Juliet," the woman replied, looking worriedly at the ladder Ethan had just climbed up on. "Do… do you know where we are?"
Fox smiled faintly. "N-not really."
"Oh, okay." She took the first step.
When she was up on the top he heard her exclaim, "Wow."
And he knew why when he climbed up on the dock.
The heat – it was surprising. The big mountains in front of him, overgrown with just green trees – green plants – green everywhere. The dock went into the land, a broken sign at the end, the waves slowly rocking in around the dock's sides, bluer than any water he'd seen.
It was beautiful.
"Hello."
Fox tore his gaze from all the wonder around him to a man, walking towards them.
"Hey," Juliet answered faintly, her face lit up just like his in awe.
"It's wonderful isn't it?" The man smiled. "Hello Doctor Burke, Fox Edwards." He nodded to them. "My name is Benjamin Linus."
He held out a hand. Juliet was too busy staring at the sea to notice it, but Fox took and shook it.
"I'm really looking forward to work with both of you, as you see –" He turned around, gesturing a hand at the island " – We got something quite special here."
----
Margo put the beret on her head, it didn't fit her exactly. And it surely wasn't practical to wear on an island. But she liked it.
"Isn't that Wendy's?"
Margo swung around. Charlie was carrying Aaron in his arms, rocking the little baby.
"Uhm, yeah, yeah." Margo didn't take it off.
"You know Jack and the others are gonna get her back don't you?"
Margo nodded. "Yeah, I know. Why are you saying it to me?"
"Well, since you were friends I figured you might need some support. And I figured you were friends since she lied for you, saying she was pregnant when she was not. I hope you're gonna pay her back for that when she returns."
"She suggested I would name the baby Wendy junior."
Charlie nodded slowly. "Or, if it's a boy you could name it Charlie. Then the little fella will have good chances to become famous."
Margo laughed and Charlie smiled.
"By the way, Zidler's is absolutely torturing all of us with talk about you. So could you like… go over to him and tell him who the father is? I think Dom knows but he is the only one Zidler doesn't complain to so…"
"Why would he talk about me?" Margo asked a little too quickly.
Charlie grinned wider. "Now, why would he?" he said before he walked away, humming on You All Everybody to Aaron.
--
The blast doors screeched as they went down in the hatch. Owen raised her hands, shouting something that couldn't be heard over the loud sound.
"No!" Eko's scream was heard from behind the blast door. "John! JOHN! Let me in!"
Locke looked away from the door to Owen, who sat in the chair, twirling her hair with a smug smile on her face.
"How did you know how to do it?" he asked.
"How I knew how to do what?"
"Make the blast doors go down."
Owen shrugged. Honestly, she'd just played with the two wires; she was just as surprised as him. "I… I just experimented."
Locke still had distrust in his eyes, but seemed willing to let it go. "You're good at experimentation."
"Even better at singing."
"JOHN!" Eko shouted, banging his fists against the blast door. "LET ME IN!"
--
"Ooh, excellent." Kim took the bottle of the cupboard, opening it up.
"What are you d-doing?" Fox came up from behind her.
"Drinking, there's alcohol here." She smiled at him. "Want some?"
Fox looked at the bottle, his eyes suddenly turning sad. "No."
"Why not?"
Fox looked away. "We shouldn't be d-drinking when we're on a b-boat."
Kim guessed by the look on his face that there was a lot more to it. But before she could ask what it was – he left.
----
"Knock, knock." Juliet smiled and stepped over the threshold into the house – his house.
He'd left the door open. Why, he didn't really know. But everyone at the island – they were just too happy, smiling and trusting each other endlessly. Okay, maybe not, but it seemed that way. And maybe he sort of had some insane hope that someone would barge into the house and steal his belongings. To prove that the world was still horrible, just like the people in it.
"Hey," Fox answered.
"Can I sit down?" Juliet gestured to the sofa.
"Of – of course."
Juliet straightened out her skirt and took a deep breath. "So," she said and smiled nervously, "this is all really strange isn't it?"
"An understatement, b-but yes. R-really strange."
"Did you meet the therapist?"
"Harper?" Fox nodded. "She w-was…"
"Scary," Juliet said quickly.
"I was gonna say n-nice actually."
"Oh." Juliet blushed, twisting her hands together, her smile disappearing.
"Ben's nice," she said after a moment of silence. "He gave me flowers."
"And all I g-got from him was this house, bummer."
Juliet smiled again. "This whole place, it's not really what I expected."
Fox tilted his head. "W-what did you expect?"
"I – I don't know. Not being on an island in the middle of the pacific for starters. Ah, only six months left."
"S-six months?"
"How long are you gonna stay?"
Fox shrugged. "I d-don't know."
Someone knocked at the wall. Fox turned his head around and saw Tom stand in the doorway.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," he winked at Juliet who blushed again, "but Goodwin is here, he wants to show you the Tempest."
"T-tempest?"
"It's a place where magic happens," Tom joked. "Come on, he ain't got all day."
----
"And that's why the old Godzilla is way better than the remake," Dom finished, chewing on a Dharma cookie, damn those things were addictive.
Kate and Kay rolled their eyes in unison, a technique they've learned from spending so much time with him.
"I still think the remake is better," Kate mumbled under her breath and Kay laughed.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ellie said, stealing a cookie from Dom. "But I think Dom's right."
Dom ruffled her hair. "Good girl."
"Eko!" Ellie shouted, dropping the cookie in the sand, jumping up and down. "Look, he's back!"
Eko stumbled out of the trees, holding his stick in one hand and his eyes glaring around at the camp. He staggered towards them.
"Eko, you okay?" Kate asked.
"Dynamite," Eko simply said.
Kay looked confused. "What… What do you mean by dynamite?"
"I know where it is," Dom answered slowly, not really believing that this was now happening, but far back in his mind excitement rose. "I can take you to it."
Eko nodded.
"Take him to what… What's going on?" Kay shouted after them as they left for the jungle, unable to follow because of her legs.
Kate did run after them though, catching up to them by the tree line.
"Eko," she said, "what's going on?"
"I need to push the button."
Kate's eyes widened and she turned to Dom for an answer. Dom just shrugged and followed Eko into the jungle.
--
It wasn't just her imagining things; everyone was really looking at her. Well, more scowling really.
Margo put a hand on her belly, feeling the little bump there and swallowed.
Bonnie was teaching a group down by the water how to point and shoot. Zidler was there she saw to her surprise, it looked like he was having a great time, (even though Bonnie glared at him from time to time) and he and Hurley were mostly fooling around.
"Margo!" She turned around and saw Bernard, Kaylee, Ellie and a few other people by the dining table. "Would you like to join us?"
Margo shyly strode over to them. "What are you doing?"
"We're learning moss code!" Ellie shouted happily.
Bernard grinned. "Morse code, actually. Bonnie said it could be useful. And we got two open spots since Dom and Kate left."
"Two?"
"For you and the baby."
Margo smiled.
--
Flor kept glaring at Michael, and Michael kept avoiding her gaze. They all noticed it. And they all had their own theories why.
"And then Inman," Desmond said to Lori, "he went out of the hatch. But this time I followed him, and then I found out he'd been lying. He'd been lying about everything. He'd been using me as a puppet. Going out every day to work on my boat, the Elizabeth while I stayed and pushed the bloody button."
Meanwhile, Allen was trying to discuss with Sawyer, who was quiet what he thought the Others really were. He said he thought they were aliens. Even though he'd only a day before said they were soulless bastards who all deserved to die.
"We're being followed," Sawyer muttered to Allen.
"What?"
"Just – just keep smiling, Baloo. Got your rifle ready?"
Allen nodded wearily, unsure if Sawyer was just messing with him or was earnest.
"All right. In five seconds we're gonna raise som hell, you in?"
Allen nodded again, holding his rifle in a harder grip, just in case. And if it was true – if those Others were in the forest now and he fired at them – he could kill them.
The thought didn't please him as it did before. It should. It should make him excited. Happy. Gleeful that he could punish them for what they did to his daughter. But it didn't.
"Five."
Sawyer fired three straight shots between the trees. It came too soon, the loud bangs and the shocked screams, he just ducked to the ground, praying that none of the bullets would hit him.
Desmond immediately pulled Lori to the ground and before Jack could see where they were shooting at – Sawyer had gotten one down.
Allen frantically rose to his knees and fired a bullet into the woods, missing by far.
"He's getting away!"
Jack ran over to the man on the ground. Allen got up to his feet and hurried after him. There was no question about it, the man was dead.
"Come on!" Sawyer shouted. "We have to follow him! Allen –"
"No!"Ana yelled, stunning Sawyer who was already crossing the creek.
"What do you mean no?" Sawyer spat, gesturing for Allen to come along. "He's gonna warn the rest of his people we gotta –"
"I said no!"
Allen stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Ana.
"Are you crazy?" Sawyer shouted. "We have to –"
"It doesn't matter okay?" Ana screamed at him and closed the distance between them – staring right into his eyes. "They already know we are coming."
"Ana…" Jack said in warning, but she ignored him, turning around to face Michael who was clutching his shoulder – staring at the body.
Allen looked from Ana to Sawyer. "What do you mean they already know?"
"Why don't you tell them Michael?"
Flor's eyes widened, her eyes flickering between them.
Michael just stared, caught off-guard. "What are you talking about?" he said, his voice shivering.
"Stop lying!" Ana shouted, taking a step towards him. "You know exactly what I mean!"
"I…" Michael looked at Flor who shook her head faintly, taking a step back as the others got closer.
"Tell us the truth, Michael!" she spat.
"Tell us what?" Allen asked, feeling like he'd missed something. Flor was getting more and more upset but no one was noticing. "What's going on?"
Michael glanced at Allen. "I don't know –"
Ana grabbed his shirt and pushed him up against the tree, her eyes glaring into his. "Tell us the TRUTH!"
"Ana…" Jack said again. "Just let go of –"
"TELL US!" she screamed again.
It was like something finally broke inside of him. Michael closed his eyes, not fighting against her anymore. "I'm sorry, but it was the only way."
Ana let go of him and took a step back, still staring at him furiously.
"They – they gave us a list."
Flor inhaled sharply, but everyone's eyes were on Michael as he continued to speak:
"A list with your names on it… They said, we had to bring all of you, and if we didn't… they…" Michael swallowed. "I had to do it so I could see my son again!"
Ana took the gun from him, he didn't resist. He just looked at them pleadingly, asking for forgiveness without words.
"It was you wasn't it?" Lori said weakly, all the edge on her voice gone. "It was you who let that man – in the hatch go?"
Michael looked down, nodding slowly.
Allen realized it all, it took him over with shock and he couldn't even get mad, just so weak with everything. "You killed them," he said softly, feeling like his knees would give up under him. "You killed Rosalie and Naomi." He swallowed. "You took my daughter."
"Did you?" It was Jack. He was looking at Ana, who actually smiled at him, as confirmation for something that Allen didn't know.
"We had to." Michael looked away, like he truly regretted what he'd done. "I… You have to know… Rosalie was a mistake. She wasn't mean to – she just came into the room – we didn't have time to think…"
"You killed her."
Everyone turned to Sawyer. His eyes were dark. His face restrained like he was trying to hold all the emotions in but was failing.
"You killed Rosalie." His voice was low. Filled with underlying hatred.
"I'm… It's my son –"
"YOU KILLED HER!" Sawyer grabbed Michael by the collar, pushing him up against the tree again but now with a gun at his head. "YOU KILLED HER!" His fingers were shivering, wanting to fire straight into his head.
And Allen, he wanted it too.
"No, he didn't."
Sawyer turned his head around. "He just confessed!"
"No." Sean looked to his side, his eyes full of regret as he gravely said, "He said 'we'."
At his side Flor stood, looking at Sean with silent tears running down her face.
--
"So we're all gonna die? I never believed in that button nonsense."
"It is not nonsense," Eko answered Kate, following Dom who was leading them through the jungle. "Pushing that button is of outmost importance."
"Dom, you can't seriously believe all this?"
Dom didn't answer her. He looked around at the trees. "It's around here somewhere…"
"You've watched way too many movies," Kate stated. She wasn't too happy about that all the sudden her brother and Eko could communicate with their minds.
Somehow he got from the shocked expression on Eko's face that he needed dynamite, Eko though, at least seemed a little surprised that he didn't even need to convince Dom to show him it, but Dom acted like he knew that this would happen… somehow.
"We don't have much time, Dominic," Eko reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah hold your horses. It's… here."
"Whoa." Kate stopped Dom and Eko from taking the dynamite right away. "Slow down, it's very unstable. You gotta be careful." Oh God, she couldn't believe she was going to help them. "Let me," Kate gently took the piece of dynamite up, very slowly.
"Ah," Dom said and smiled, "it's the whole blowing up deal otherwise right?"
Kate glared at him, still not getting over the fact that no one of them had really explained the whole hatch deal to her. "Right."
--
"Andrea!" Kim shouted. "Look, it's it!"
"Give me the binoculars, Fox." Andrea said. Fox was staring out at the land, his eyes dim and his burrows wrinkled into a frown.
"Fox!" Fox still didn't seem to have any contact with earth, so she grabbed them from him anyway.
"Finally," she said as she saw the weird rock formation. It was a rock wall – but there was a hole in it. Almost like it was made that way. "We're here."
Fox turned around and walked away from them, not wanting to look at the island ever again.
----
Thus far, the whole place… seemed kind of nice.
It was strange though as Juliet said, he couldn't deny that. Mittelos Science was just a cover company, and the island obviously was not in Portland and the whole deal with the mothers dying and protecting their home…
He just tried not to concentrate on that so much.
He stood on the same dock he'd arrived to when he first came to the island, staring at the small sailboat by it. Ben stepped down on the dock, smiling at him.
"What do you think?"
"W-what do you mean?"0
"About the boat of course, isn't she a beauty?"
To Fox, it looked like any other boat in the world. Not even the name of it was special, Sarah.
"I-I don't really know."
Ben looked at him like he expected Fox to say something. And Fox would've happily done so, if he'd known what he was supposed to say.
"Uhm… Why did you w-want me here?"
"Do you know how to sail, Fox?" Ben asked, like he hadn't heard what Fox said.
Fox cast a worried glance at the boat. "Not really."
"Well then, come onboard."
Fox carefully (he didn't want to fall in the water again) climbed up on the deck. He looked around at all the ropes, and wondered what in the world he was doing here, talking to the leader of them about sailing.
"Aren't w-we supposed to head out for t-the Hydra today?"
"Yes we are. The rest are going to take the main boat but I thought you and I could sail with this, it will take longer but that's all right?"
Why would Ben want to sail with him?
Fox suddenly got a visual image in his head of Ben throwing him overboard, lying and saying that it was an accident.
But Ben was the leader. And they did what the leader said. So if Ben wanted him to learn how to sail… he would have to sail.
If Ben wanted him to jump overboard, he would have to jump overboard.
"No, that's the starboard," Ben said a long time later.
Fox could now happily jump overboard, he was that frustrated. Maybe this was a punishment they got when they'd screwed something up. He knew that taking out the entire barracks' electricity was bad, but it was an accident.
"Ben," Fox said, trying very hard not to sound too angry, "why am I here?"
"To learn how to sail."
"No, why j-just me?"
Ben smiled. "I like to get to know all the members better."
Fox still had the bad feeling that something was about to happen, that there was an underlying scheme to all of it. But Ben's smile was honest, even though Juliet always would describe it as creepier than the Joker in all of Fox's comics.
"Beer?" Ben offered.
"I don't drink."
"Ah." Ben opened the can. "It's because of your father isn't it?"
"How d-do you know about my father?"
Ben took a sip and then smiled again at him. "We do our research when we recruit new members. You could say – we know almost everything about you." He laughed, but Fox still had the bad feeling that he was actually telling the truth.
"Actually, I can understand." Ben said and put the beer away. "My father was too someone… who drunk a lot." He sighed and looked out over the sea. "But life goes on, you got to get over it. Stop dwelling on what mistakes your parents did and focus on the present."
"I thought Harper w-was out therapist."
Ben chuckled again. "Yes she is. She says you have refused continuing seeing her, why is that?"
"I don't have anything to say to her."
"Despite your past?" Ben searched his gaze, but Fox refused to meet it.
"You s-said we should focus on t-the present."
"Yes, I did."
----
"What are you gonna do?" Kate asked and grabbed Dom's arm as Eko placed the dynamite below of the blast door.
Dom shrugged her off. "Eko's gonna try to blow it up."
"I-I know that, but why are you helping him?"
Dom met her gaze. "Sis, can you please just trust me on this? We have to push that button. And if we can't then…" He turned away. "Please, just trust me for once, Katie."
"But… what if you hurt them?" Kate turned to Eko. "What if you break the computer again?"
None of them answered her.
"Locke?" she shouted. "Can you hear me? Owen? Dom and… Eko is gonna try to blow this open with the dynamite! Can you hear me? He's gonna blow all of it up!"
No one answered her from the other side either.
"That's just…" She shook her head. "What if Locke's right? What if it's all really fake?"
Both Dom and Eko stared at her like she was the crazy one.
"Fine, if you wanna blow yourself up, that's fine with me, I'm out of here." She got more irritated when she walked away that Dom didn't shout to her to come back.
"John!" Eko shouted. "This is your last chance. Let me come in, let me push the button. Or I'm going to detonate the dynamite!"
"No!" Locke screamed from the other side of the door.
Eko took a deep breath and Dom handed him the lighter.
Kate turned around. "Guys…" She saw Eko make a cross in the air. "Maybe… this is a very narrow area…"
Eko lit the fuse.
"Dom!" Kate shouted, she darted over to his side and grabbed his arm. "We gotta get out of here, NOW!"
"Kate, you don't under –"
"I understand we're gonna get blown to pieces!" She yelled.
She heard the explosion from behind. The heat that closed in on them. She heard her brother scream her name and she jumped to take cover and then –
--
"They really blew it up, Oh dear Lennon they really blew themselves up!"
"We don't know that." Locke sat in front of the computer, playing around with a pen.
"I think they did. It's quiet." Owen ran her fingers through her hair, feeling sweaty and all the sudden guilty. "We should open the doors up –"
"No. They are fine."
"How do you know that?" All the sudden it was too real. The sort of harmless glee she'd gotten from telling the truth about the hatch had suddenly turned into something much more serious. "They could be seriously injured!"
Locke looked up. "And since when did you start to care about them?"
"I'm not heartless, Locke."
Locke chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
"I just never saw you as the worrying type. First thing you do when returning after Wendy and Brian's kidnapping is to help me – do this. Not to freak down, collapse in tears –"
"Oh, I'm sorry. You want me to do that now?" Owen snapped. "You know I can cry. But unlike other people, I prioritize. And no one needs a weeping little girl right now so I'm sorry I don't fit your standards."
"I never said you should cry. I just said I didn't think you cared."
--
"It looks abandoned," Kim whispered to Andrea. They were hiding behind a rock, looking at the seemingly empty village before them. Andrea held a rifle in her hands, ready to fire. This was the camp Michael had been speaking about.
"Never judge a book by its covers, honey." She carefully stepped out of their hiding place, leaving Kim to clutch Fox's hand in worry instead.
Andrea looked inside one of the open yurts, it was completely empty. She waved at Kim and Fox.
"Come on," Kim said and still holding hands they hurried over to her side.
"I gestured for you to stay," Andrea hissed.
"Oh, I thought you meant for us to come," Kim answered with a small smile.
Andrea opened another door, turning around but there was no one inside there either. And not in the next one and in the one beside that it was also empty.
Kim slowly walked towards a door in the hill, on it was the familiar 'Dharma' sign but with a door in the middle of the octagon.
"Kim…" Fox whispered. But Kim threw the doors open.
It was just the hill, not even a room. The door led to nothing.
"It's fake," she said, turning around to Andrea and Fox. "It's all just a stage."
Anna gripped her rifle harder, taking a shivering breath. "So he was lying."
"Or… maybe they've left," Kim said, not believing it either.
----
Juliet sighed. "He really creeps me out, Fox." She was sitting on a chair by the dinner table, a glass in her hand.
"Well, he's k-kind of nice."
"Nice?" Juliet laughed and took another sip of her drink. "He stalks me, and you, don't tell me you haven't noticed."
"You're drunk."
"I'm not drunk." Juliet put the glass away. "I wish I was though. Then maybe I would think it was just my imagination."
"W-what do you mean?"
"You know what the creepiest part about him is? It's not that he follows me around all the time, or his giant, round eyes. It's how he treats you."
"I-I still don't understand…"
"Come on, Fox! He's so nice to you, and not in the good way nice, but in the way he gives you… preferential treatment. You know that Ivan accidentally leaked a little of that gas in the animal cages? No harm was done but he locked him inside Room 23 for two days. Two days Fox! You go and test your electromagnetism stuff and one of the polar bears die and he gives you a pat on the back and says: 'It could've happened to anyone'."
Fox wasn't clueless. He knew this had been going on. He knew that for some reason Ben had taken him under his wing. And it used to freak him out – but now he'd just accepted it.
Not that he was going to admit it.
"You are so drunk." He took her glass away. "F-for your own good."
He helped Juliet to her bed. Locked her door behind him and crossed the barracks to get back to his own house.
His house.
He'd been on the island for three years now. And while Juliet got drunk he didn't do anything at all to celebrate – or detest the day.
It was not that he didn't miss his family. The thought of Matt almost made him want to drown a bottle of alcohol himself. But he just accepted that he wasn't going to see them again anytime soon.
"Oh, hey Ri-Richard." Fox almost walked into him.
Usually, Richard would greet him with a smile. But now he looked at Fox solemnly. "Hello."
"You g-going to see Ben?" He'd mentioned something like that to Fox earlier on the day.
Richard nodded. "Yeah, something like that. We got something to discuss."
"What?"
Richard chuckled but it wasn't glad. "You."
Weeks later Fox messed up again. And this time it wasn't really his fault. It'd been Goodwin's. But Ben had looked directly at him, and this time when they went to the Hydra Island, he got to visit Room 23.
It was all of his nightmares merged into one.
And after that he was always, always afraid of Ben.
Thinking about the nightmares, he sat in the couch silently. He could hear the rest of the people in the book club discuss – argue distantly. But he was too caught up in his own mind.
"There's no metaphor. It's by-the-numbers religious hocum-pocum," Adam said after claiming that the book wasn't even literature.
Amelia smiled slightly. The woman had the patience of a saint. "What do you think, Fox?"
Fox blinked, looking like he'd just woken up. "Uhm… I… I agree with Julie."
It didn't seem that Juliet and Adam had heard them.
"No metaphor?" Juliet snapped, leaning forward with the book gripped tight in her hands.
"It's science-fiction!" Adam said, waving with his own copy and almost hitting Stephen with it.
"And since when was –" Juliet begun to shout. But her shout was abruptly interrupted by the walls starting to shake.
Fox flew up, looking startled around. The floor underneath them vibrated. It almost felt like an earthquake. What if – the Tempest – Oh God, what if it was his fault?
"To the doorways!" Juliet shouted, taking Fox's arm and dragging him with her. "Everyone, the doorways!"
The shaking ended as fast as it came. Surprised yells could be heard from outside and they all followed Adam out.
Ben walked over to the middle of the grass, looking up at the sky.
Fox followed his gaze, and what he saw was something that could barely be described. Something no human should see. Something that shouldn't happen.
A plane in the air broke apart, crashing down on the island.
"Goodwin," Ben said quickly, seeing the smoke whirling up in the distance, "did you see where the tail landed?"
Goodwin tore his gaze from the sky and nodded. "In the water, probably."
"Run and you can make that shore line in an hour." Ben turned around. "Fox, get up there to that fuselage."
Fox exchanged startled looks with Juliet.
"There may actually be survivors; and you're one of them," Ben continued, like he hadn't noticed the shocked expressions of their faces. "You're a passenger – you're in shock – come up with an adequate story if they ask. Stay quiet if they don't. I want lists in three days. Go."
"Ben!" Juliet yelled. "You can't send Fox out there, he hasn't got the right training he's not –"
"Would you like to go instead of him?" Ben interrupted her.
Juliet looked down at the ground. "Uhm… uh…"
"Didn't think so," Ben said quietly. "Ethan." He turned to the man on his side. "You go with him. Make sure he does what he's supposed to. Go!"
Fox shook his head at Juliet who nodded sadly.
When he ran after Ethan towards the plane…
He hoped no one had survived.
----
"How did you know?" Jack asked her.
"Know what?" replied Ana.
"That Michael and Flor had been compromised."
"I didn't know for sure," she answered. Michael and Flor were walking in the front; all of them had their weapons out pointing at their backs. "But I scared him to confess. Working as a cop makes you learn things."
"Well, I'm sorry for doubting you."
Someone cleared their throat behind him.
"And I'm sorry for doubting you too, Lori."
"Jack!" Allen shouted. "Look!"
They turned around, far away in the distance, over the trees a black pillar of smoke swirled up in the air.
"What is it?" Lori asked her brother.
"Black smoke, Andrea's signal. But... that's miles from here, brother." Desmond turned to Jack. "We are going the wrong way!"
"Where were you taking us?" Ana yelled at Flor.
Flor looked down at the ground, looking like she was about to cry again. "We were taking you to their camp –"
"Stop it, Flor." Michael sighed. "There's no use to lie anymore. They're here."
Sean swung around, his gun pointing at the trees surrounding them in the clearing. "Who's whispering?"
Whispers filled the air but they didn't see where it came from. Sawyer was just about to release the trigger when the fell to the ground – a dart in his neck.
"RUN!" Jack screamed. Desmond grabbed his sister's hand and they began to flee from the scene. Flor and Michael bent to the ground, covering their heads.
Jack reached for Ana's hand but a dart hit her on the leg and she fell over in the grass. Allen fired two times into the trees, collapsing on the ground and shivering in spasms as another dart hit him.
Sean tried to carry Allen. "Run, Jack!" he shouted.
Jack had just come up to Desmond and Lori when a dart came from nowhere and hit Desmond in the back, he fell over and Lori knelt down by her brother. "Des!"
"Lori, come on!" Jack grabbed her arms and tried to make her stand up. A dart flew by his ear, almost hitting him.
"No, Desmond… wake up! No!" she yelled as a dart hit her neck.
Jack stood up and fired his gun, hoping to hit their attackers before he picked Lori up in his arms and started to run again. She was scarily light in his arms, but she was shivering and her eyes were closed.
"Hold on," he said to her and stumbled, tripped over a rock. But he couldn't' stand up again. He looked down at his leg and saw a dart there, he took it out, tried to stand up but it was too late.
He saw people… heard whispers… everything was a blur… now everything was black.
--
"Hello? Are you guys alive? Dead? Please answer!" Owen yelled, her voice was getting hoarser and hoarser, but she just wanted a confirmation that they weren't a pile of dust.
"Hey!" someone shouted back.
"Oh, praise you – me, whatever. Are you all right?"
"Not really! Eko is out and Kate's… You have to open the door!"
"Are they badly hurt?"
There was a moment of silence. "Yes!" Dom yelled.
"I think you're lying!" Owen shouted back. Locke chuckled behind her.
"Yes, but you have to open the door! You don't understand!"
"Enlighten us, please," said Locke.
"Okay, you know there was a guy named Desmond living down here in this evil lair right? Only it's not evil, it's like reversed, he was actually saving the world. And I know you don't think that." It sounded like Dom muttered something like 'idiots' under his breath. "But he was. There was an incident here and all of that is true. The button is true. And if we don't push the button everything will end like if they hadn't been able to blow up the meteor in Armageddon. And we actually got proof."
"What kind of proof?" Owen and Locke asked at the same time.
"Us, we are the proof."
Owen glanced at Locke who looked just as confused as she felt.
"What?"
"We are the proof."
"I don't get it!"
"On September the 22nd, the guy Desmond failed to press in the numbers and push the button. So everything went insane and our plane, well, it went boom and crashed on the island. When he didn't push the button – our plane crashed. Don't you get it? It's all real!"
"How do you know this?"
Dom didn't answer.
--
Jack blinked and squinted against the light when the hood was pulled off his head. Lori was shivering slightly by his side, and he wanted to tell her that they were on a pier, that they were all okay. He saw Desmond, Sean, Ana and Allen also tied up and gagged on the other side of her. They looked at him, like they wanted answers, but he couldn't give them any.
Flor and Michael were standing, none of them bound. Flor was shivering more than Lori was, but she wasn't crying. Michael watched them all. And Jack hoped that when he looked into his eyes that he saw all the hate he was feeling.
He turned his head around and saw a boat come up to the pier. Ana straightened her back, trying to see over their heads what was going on and Jack met her gaze. A look of worry passed between them before he focused his stare on the man climbing out off the boat.
It was him. The man they'd captured. And with the way every one of the Others were looking at him – he was their leader.
He strode up to Jack, bowing his head. "Hello, again," he said calmly, like he was talking to them over a cup of tea.
He frowned slightly at the sight of Desmond and turned around.
"Well, then," he said to Michael and Flor. "Let's take care of business, shall we?"
--
"Dom," Kate groaned and rolled around on her back. She blinked, her ears were ringing and it was dark around her. She struggled up on her feet and leaned against the wall. "Dom!"
She stumbled over the broken furniture and rubble on the floor.
She touched her own arm, it was bloody. Lights sparked above her head and she ducked, leaning down to Eko's side.
"Hey, hey Eko? Are you all right?" He was passed out, so of course he couldn't answer her. "Wake up!"
Far away, she heard the faint sound of the timer going off.
"Dom!" she shouted and left Eko's side, stumbling through the tunnel. "Dom!"
Dom stood up; he'd been sitting by the blast door and ran over to her. "Kate, you okay?"
"No," Kate answered in a shivering voice. "I… my ears…"
On the other side of the blast door Owen was walking back and forth, twirling her hair and biting her lip. "What if what he says is true?"
"It's not."
"What makes you so sure?" Owen spat.
"He's lying."
Owen stopped and looked up at the timer; it had reached down to four minutes. "He sounded kind of convincing to me."
"His story, how would he know all of that? No, he's lying."
"We have to push the button."
"No." Locke stood up, but he was still by the computer. "You saw that tape Owen! You know that this is a lie, that this is just a cruel hoax. It's not real!"
"I don't believe that anymore." Owen ran over to the keyboard and typed in the number four.
"Don't!"
Owen pressed in fifteen. "I have to!"
"No!" Locke grabbed the computer and slammed it against the floor.
Owen put her hands over her mouth, shivering in shock. "Oh… no… you…"
"It isn't true!" Locke looked at her.
"But, what if it is?"
"What happened?" they heard Dom shout from behind the blast door.
"Locke destroyed the computer!" Owen shouted back.
She heard someone else speak in a low voice, maybe it was Kate, but it could just as well be Eko.
And then Dom screamed, "Open the blast doors or we're all gonna die!"
"If I do that are you gonna kill me?" Owen asked Locke in a grave voice.
Locke shook his head. "No, I will not."
Owen walked over to the two wires and began to rub them against each other; soon the blast doors screeched and went up.
She hoped Dom knew how to save them.
--
This was not really how Dom had planned to spend the day.
He had great plans before, it involved wine and Kaylee, but now it was all just dreams. But not like that dream he'd had in the night. The dream that wasn't really a dream but a memory. A memory of something that hadn't happened yet.
He left Kate by Eko's side as soon as the blast door went up and rushed into the room with the bookcases.
Owen came in front the other entrance, her hair in a mess and her eyes big and horrified.
Dom glanced at her before he started taking out books from the shelf.
"What're you doing?" Owen asked.
"Our Mutual Friend – it's a book. I have to find it."
"Why?"
"So I can save our asses."
Owen walked slowly up to his side and began to search through the books her too. Her silence surprising.
"Dom!" Kate stumbled into the room and stared at him throwing books over his shoulder. "What the hell is going on?"
"The end of the world."
"Stop joking around! You're acting – why is it so important to push the button? What does a book have with it?"
"Everything."
"Dom –"
"Katie, I love you little sister, but you're annoying as hell." Kate huffed at his words. "Can you please shut up and help me find the right book?"
"Is it this one?" Owen handed him the worn-out book.
Dom stared at it for a moment before he opened it, a key slid down in his hands. The key.
"What's that?" Kate asked in a high voice.
"That," he said and held it up, "is a key."
But it wasn't just a key, he knew that. He held it hard in his hand and Owen and Kate followed him into the computer room where Locke stood, looking at the timer that was going down to one minute.
Dom knew what he was supposed to do. And it freaked him out. Maybe there was still a chance he didn't have to.
But when he saw the computer on the floor, he knew there was none.
The timer reached down to one minute, and the alarm sounded higher.
There was no other option.
"What are you doing?" Owen asked as he ran his fingers over the floor until he found the grate and pushed it open.
"I'm going Harry Stamper," Dom answered and climbed into the hole but didn't get far as Kate grabbed his wrist.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Dominic?"
Dom looked up at her sadly. "I'm gonna blow the whole thing up. So you have to get out of here, Katie."
Kate grimaced like she always did when she got confused. "Blow what up? Dom… How did you know where the key was?"
"I just knew. Please, Katie let me go."
"No," she growled, holding on tighter.
"I have to do this," he almost pleaded.
Kate shook her head. "No you don't have to. You're gonna blow up something and I guess you're involved in that too."
"Kate. It's okay. I'm a murderer. My life ain't worth much."
"Me too."
"No," Dom said and shook his head, "you're good."
He smiled weakly. A tear spilled down Kate's face.
"Uhm… can you tell… Oh God, I can't believe I'm turning into a cliché but – uhm, Kaylee… you know…" Dom clenched his teeth.
Kate nodded. "I know."
She released the grip of his wrist. And with one last grin Dom disappeared into the dam.
The timer reached zero.
"System failure. System failure."
Eko sat up slowly, trying not to get too dizzy. There was a loud alarm ringing, and a voice repeating 'system failure'. His eyes widened when he realized why. When he stood up he had to duck again as the forks from the kitchen flew towards him and to the magnetic wall.
"What the –" Owen's words resulted in a scream as she was almost hit by a knife, but Eko had pushed her out of the way just in time.
"It wasn't fake, it wasn't fake, it wasn't fake," Owen repeated. She pulled her hair back and mumbled to herself. "It wasn't fake."
T´he walls shook, the floor trembled. The air around was filled with things flying towards the wall.
Owen ran past him, avoided the washing machine and disappeared out of sight.
Eko ducked and managed to get into the computer room. Locke was holding the table, shaking and squinting against the metallic objects that flew and broke all around. It was chaos.
Eko looked up at the timer. It was red and black with hieroglyphics. The metal around it crumpled like paper.
He turned to Locke again, not mad, not angry, just shocked.
Locke stared at him, fear clear in his face. "I was wrong," he shouted over the turmoil around them.
Dom crawled through the narrow tunnel until he reached the fail-safe mechanism. He opened the lock – the word 'CAUTION' met him and he smiled weakly at that. He inserted the key into the hole with just a moment of hesitation.
"Going out with a bang!" Dom grinned at his words, then his smile faltered. His life wasn't flashing before his eyes. Things didn't go in slow motion. The noise was getting unbearable to his ears. Everything was too real. Too present.
He took a deep breath.
"Time to face destiny."
He turned the key.
Famous last words.
--
The world is ending.
It was a thought that crossed many minds as the sky turned brighter and brighter, the painful, groaning sound louder and louder.
Now we're gonna die.
Was another thought that came after the first as the sound threatened to break their ears and there was no way to escape it.
What the hell was that?
Was the third thought when the noise and the glow faded.
At the beach, Ellie ran over the sand towards the big square thing that'd fallen from the sky. When she inspected it closer, she saw it said 'QUARANTINE'.
--
"Michael, Florence." Ben greeted to the both of them, but then his gaze turned to Michael only.
"Your son is in that boat." He nodded at it. "You are free to take it and leave."
"Wait… what?"
"I meant what I said. We had a deal and we're now going to fulfill it. I suggest you leave right now."
Michael looked at the woman on his side. "But what about Flor?"
Ben glanced at her. "You didn't follow your end of the deal completely so we're going to do the same. You came back without one of the person's one the list, Rosalie and returned with two that weren't. Unfortunately that means that Florence will have to stay."
"But…" Michael protested.
"Now leave before I change my mind and force the two of you to stay."
Michael looked at Flor who was not looking at either at them but on the boat.
"Go," she said. "You can still save your son."
"Flor…"
"Go!"
Michael nodded and ran to the boat. Flor looked away, but they could all hear Walt shout in happiness at the sight of his father.
Ben nodded at a black woman standing by Desmond's side. She removed the gag from his mouth and Desmond inhaled deeply.
"You, Mister Hume are free to go back to the camp."
"What?"
She tied up the knots around his hands. "Go back. Your job is to tell the rest of the people there that they can never come here."
"I'm not going without my sister."
One of the men pointed a rifle at Lori, smirking.
"If you do not go," the woman said, "we will hurt her. Go."
Desmond put a hand on his sister's shoulder, she nodded and he walked away from them.
Jack stared at Michael when he drove the boat away from the pier, and Michael stared back. Now there was no asking for forgiveness in his eyes.
A hood was pulled over his head, and again there was only darkness before his eyes.
--
"What was that explosion?"
"The child – Ellie said Eko was asking for dynamite."
"Dynamite can't do that sort of thing, the whole sky turned violet."
"I thought it was more white than purple, really."
Margo heard the survivors discuss the earlier events when she crossed the beach. She was still shaken up from it, still expecting the ground to vibrate like it'd done before.
Dom and Kate still weren't back. Owen was gone too. Wendy was kidnapped. Aaron was in Charlie's arms, his mother gone.
Sometimes the world felt horrible.
"Aliens." Margo flopped down beside Zidler by one of the bonfires.
He looked up surprised. "What?"
"Aliens, I think aliens did it. They've finally invaded earth. And that big flashy thing, that was their spaceships. And the violet thing was their laser beam when they beamed up the president."
"And the shaking?"
Margo grinned. "They were playing You All Everybody with intergalactic mega sound."
Zidler laughed quietly, but he still had that look on his face – she couldn't place it. It wasn't sadness, or betrayal.
"So," he said and cleared his throat awkwardly, "who's… uhm… who's…"
Maybe it was disappointment.
Margo searched her mind for the fake person she'd come up with. "Andrew… Hubbs… Hobbs, I mean. He's the father… or not. He's not really you know but biologically I-I…" Her voice trailed off when she saw something that was close to a smile on Zidler's face.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
She poked him on the arm. "Tell me."
"I… I thought it was Dom's that's all."
Margo had to restrain herself from screaming, hormones really were scary. Why would Zidler think it was Dom's? She didn't need a reminder that the father of her child was in love with someone else and would never like her.
But then something else came to mind.
"Then why were you so nice to me? When you thought it was Dom's?"
Zidler looked down, pretending to be immensely interested in the sand.
Margo's eyes widened. Her breath got caught in her throat.
She felt so stupid when she realized why.
She did the only thing she could to make it right.
She moved closer to him and he looked up. She leaned forward, looking into his eyes, and she was scared, terrified.
She hesitated.
Zidler didn't when he kissed her.
--
He laughed as he looked down at the land beneath them, the trees, the wondrous hills and mountains. All the beauty.
The woman at his side didn't laugh; she even glared at him, like she was angry of him to be happy.
But he was happy, it was stunning, how could anyone not be overjoyed by the wonderful sight of the island?
The sound of the wind and the helicopter drowned everything else. But he was sure that if he was closer to the island, closer to the jungle, he would hear the amazing sound of all the life in there.
"We are here on an important mission."
"But it's so brilliant!" He laughed again.
"What is that noise?"
He stopped laughing, looking around at inside the cabin. The helicopter lurched and he was thrown to the side. "What's going on…?"
"It's malfunctioning!"
The sound became even louder and he covered his ears, outside he could barely see the trees and the island anymore. Everything as getting whiter and whiter…
"It's going down!" someone screamed but he couldn't hear who.
"Here, Frederic." Someone handed him a backpack when he realized what it was he stopped covering his ears, putting it over his shoulder.
The noise started to fade.
"WE'RE GOING DOWN!"
The helicopter door opened.
And he jumped down into the jungle he'd admired.
--
Author's Notes: Awesome. The Freighter folk are here.
The next chapter won't come until, well, about one to two weeks. But don't worry, on the day of the season six premiere I'll post that special, with some hints for those of you who over-analyze about the next season.
And so, I beg of you that in the future don't talk about season six in the reviews. At all. Don't even mention you cried. A lot of us don't have the chance to see it the same day as everyone else, for an example us in Sweden, so please no spoilers!
(And, ahh! So excited!)
And guys, you are wonderfully, brilliantly, crazily, awesomely awesome. Thank you for your reviews!
Namaste.
