"Sayid did what?!"

"He tried to kill the guy in the hatch." Jack repeated. "He would have succeeded too, if it weren't for Ana Lucia." Well, three cheers for Ana Lucia, Lena thought sarcastically.

"Do you know why?" Lena asked. Sayid was usually the voice of reason, the guy with all the common sense. Why did he do something like that?

"No." Jack sighed. "But I need your help. I think he trusts you, and I just need you to calm him down."

"And what makes you think I could do that?" Lena replied. She was not very good with people, and she was even worse at calming people down. Usually she was the one that needed to be calmed down, after all.

"I don't know if you can." Jack said. "But out of everyone here, you have the best chance." Lena let out a very long sigh as she contemplated it. And the more she thought about it, the more she knew Jack was right.

"Okay." Lena said. "I'll try."

…

It wasn't hard to for Lena to find Sayid. He hadn't even gone that far from the hatch. He had found a spot in the jungle that overlooked an area of the beach that was unoccupied.

"Did Jack send you?" Sayid asked without turning around. Lena noted that it was becoming a very common occurrence for her to walk up behind Sayid and he addressed her without looking to see who it was. Maybe he just always assumed it was her. You're getting predictable, Lena.

"Yes." Lena answered honestly. "He said you tried to kill someone."

"One of the Others!" Sayid exclaimed defensively, suddenly angry. "You've all forgotten! Ethan, who kidnapped Claire, nearly killed Charlie, and did kill someone else! And let's not ignore whoever it was that stole Walt off the raft. These people deserve to die."

"Jack also said you tortured the guy before you even knew who he was."

"Well I was right, wasn't I?" Sayid replied. Lena glanced down at the ground. The guy standing before her was not the Sayid she had come to know during their time on the island. But, she could also tell that neither was a front, a mask. There were many sides to him, and she just happened to see more than one.

"Look, I don't know why Jack sent me here." She said. "I mean, I know why, but I don't know why he chose me. I don't think he knows why he chose me. So… I guess I'll go now. I don't have anything to offer."

Lena started to walk off, back towards the beach. Why did Jack think she could do anything? After all, no one on the island really knew each other. At least, not that well.

"Wait." Sayid called out. "I never did take you up on that offer. To talk, about what happened to Shannon." Lena froze in her tracks. Despite what he had said earlier, Lena had not been expecting Sayid to actually do it.

"Uh, alright." Lena said, walking back over and sitting down next to him. "Say what you need to say, let it all out. I'll listen."

"People didn't understand how strong she was." Sayid began. "Not on the outside, but on the inside. Everyone underestimated her, they all thought she was a joke. Especially after Boone died, she felt useless. She didn't deserve what she got, not at all. She died before her time came."

Sayid continued on and on, talking about Shannon and who she was and how much she meant to him. Somewhere along the way, he had started to cry, but Lena didn't say anything.

She understood most of it now. He was keeping everything locked up inside him, every emotion. And it was all coming out. Shannon had gotten to see that side of him, the side that didn't any emotions back. And now Lena could see, Sayid was not the man he wanted everyone to believe he was.

Deep, deep down, he was a better person than even he thought he was. Something had happened in his past, something bad.

…

That afternoon, the absolute best thing ever happened.

It was a pretty normal afternoon, up until that point. Sayid was doing much better, and he had gone a bit further into the jungle to get some fruit. They couldn't live off just the DHARMA food, after all.

Lena had been helping Jin and Sun with fishing, and she had just finished changing out of her fish-smelling clothes and into semi-clean ones when she heard some shouting outside.

And, as it turned out, Hurley attacked Sawyer.

He seemed to have shoved him into the tent, because all she saw was two blobs under the tarp fighting. A few feet away from her, Jin and Sun were watching the whole thing go down as well, along with a few other people. Everyone was incredibly amused.

Sawyer crawled out of the collapsed tent, but Hurley followed, punching him over and over, repeating nicknames that Sawyer had once called him.

Jin had apparently decided to have some pity for Sawyer, as he ran towards them and pulled Hurley away. Lena, for one, didn't want to break up the fight at all. Especially after the whole thing with the pads, she felt that Sawyer deserved it.

…

Nighttime brought a shift in the hatch. And a shift now meant more than just pressing the button. It also meant guarding the Other, who's alias was Henry Gale.

Locke had given Lena permission to talk to him for a few minutes. She didn't want to do much, just get a feel for who he was.

She had not been expecting someone so weak-looking, still bloody from Sayid's torture. And yet, there was a dark look in his eyes that scared Lena. It scared her very much.

"So, you're the newest one they sent to interrogate me." He said. "Are you going to stab me, or something?" He pointed to her sword, which was resting in the sheath at her hip, as per usual. Her stropped her arm so that it covered the handle, and continued on as planned.

"Trust me, I'm not going to interrogate you." Lena said. "If Sayid and Ana Lucia couldn't do it, I have no chance whatsoever."

"Then why exactly are you here?" 'Henry' asked. He had a creepy way of talking, as if he knew every secret in the world. Although, Lena doubted it.

"I thought I'd see it for myself." She replied. "You're famous, you know. Everyone's talking about Henry Gale. Well, that's not really your name, but we don't know yours."

"No." He said. "But we know yours, Lena Hale Ashford. We know everything about you and the rest of your friends. We know about your sister, Marie, and what you said to her the day before your flight. We know about your mother, who died from cancer. We know about the man you killed while working as a detective. And we know about Joseph Hale, how he jumped off a bridge. Quite a shame, isn't it, that you couldn't save him. You can't save anyone Lena, because no matter how much you pretend, how much you convince yourself that you feel guilty about everything you've done, you're a killer, just like the rest of them."

Lena panicked and practically ran from the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Breaths came in odd bursts as the room swam before her eyes. She held on to the end of a nearby table as she tried and failed to catch her breath.

The Others knew those things about her. They knew about her past, they knew about everything. Henry Gale had tried to hit her weak spots, and he succeeded.

Lena was terrified.

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! It is officially 2021 (so technically I haven't updated since last year). I'm not usually overly optimistic about anything, but hopefully this year will be better than the last one. Have a good New Years Day, and I will see you all on Sunday with the next chapter!