Lena didn't get scared easily.

Well, not real world stuff. Horror movies were a much different story. But usually, there were two possible situations when something did scare her like that, the first being that it was completely and utterly terrifying to everybody.

But the second one was worse. The second one was where something got inside her head, past all the invisible protective walls she had put up.

And that second form of fear was exactly what she was feeling.

Lena ran through the jungle, still finding it hard to breathe after her encounter with Henry Gale. He knew everything about her, all the personal details, all the darkness. Every single one of the Others did.

She tried so hard to keep people from finding out about her past, from seeing past her façades. But whatever personal protections she put up didn't seem to be enough.

She stopped running when she reached a stream flowing through the jungle. She practically fell into the mud, feeling the cold sludge beneath her hands, and making not attempt to get up.

What was wrong with her? How had this man so easily unsettled her and messed with her mind? Everything she had been trying to block out since crashing all rushed back to her. Joseph, Marie, her mother… everything.

…

"Lena, what have you done?" Marie yelled as Lena walked through her front door, covered in blood.

"I did exactly what you asked me to." Lena replied. "I found your guy, and I dealt with him." But, looking back on it, what she did wasn't really what Marie asked of her.

She didn't intend to kill the man. Even after what Marie had told her, about how he hurt her and he wouldn't leave her alone. But as soon as he opened his mouth and said all those foul things about her sister, rage took over, and he ended up dead. It was an accident, that was what she kept telling herself.

But Lena didn't even regret it.

"I covered the tracks and evidence, no one will find out what happened-" Lena began after seeing the worried look on her sister's face. Marie's interruption, however, made it clear that she was upset for a different reason.

"Did you kill him?" Marie demanded. Lena didn't say anything, but Marie seemed to figure it out from her silence. "I didn't want you to kill him, Lena! You weren't supposed to-"

"Well maybe you should have fought your own battle instead of getting me to do it!" Lena yelled, immediately regretting her shouting when she saw her sister's face. She spoke again, but this time in a quieter tone. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I needed to confirm that he couldn't hurt you anymore."

"I know." Marie whispered. "But there's still a problem. I'm, well…. I'm pregnant."

…

Lena shouldn't have killed that man, no matter what he'd done. She never should have killed anyone, ever. But she did, and she just couldn't seem to stop.

I was a good person once, I know I was, she thought to herself. But was that even true? At a young age, she was still stealing and lying for her family, and for herself.

Lena suddenly remembered her sword, and she gripped the handle tightly. As soon as her hand brushed against the cold metal, she felt better. But even the sword couldn't take away the awful feeling inside her.

She slid the sword out of the sheath and held it in the palms of her hands. Its usual glow had faded slightly, and she briefly wondered if that had anything to do with what she was going through at the moment.

Lena flicked the sword with her fingers, and it made a shallow cut on her left wrist. She led it bleed freely into the stream, and she watched her blood mix with the water. She didn't know what was going on with her, or why she had suddenly cracked.

Perhaps every little thing that had been happening on the island had chipped at her just a little, bit by bit, and Henry Gale's outburst was the last straw. It felt like her mind was scrambled and that she wasn't in control of anything, not even the sword.

She let out a loud scream. In the back of her mind, she hoped that no one was around to hear her, but she wasn't thinking rationally at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. But still, she really shouldn't have been surprised when she heard a voice other than her own.

"Lena?"

Oh fuck.

Lena scrambled to get up, trying to somehow look as if she was perfectly fine. She shoved her sword back into the sheath, messily tied a loose piece of cloth around her small wound, and stood up as fast as she could, just as the person who had spoken stepped into view.

Sayid.

"I, um… hi." Lena said awkwardly with a little wave.

"John said you ran from the hatch in a panic." Sayid replied. Lena mentally cursed. She had completely forgotten that Locke had been in the hatch as well. "And when I came to see if you were alright, I heard you screaming."

"Well, you must have heard wrong, because I am perfectly fine." She said, trying to sound convincing. She really wasn't fine, but she didn't want anyone to know that.

"If you're fine, then why is your hand bloody and shaking?" Sayid pointed out. Lena actually hadn't noticed that little detail. She looked down at her left hand, where her cut was still bleeding, and saw that it was, in fact, shaking. She clenched her hand into a fist in order to stop it, but she still felt pretty shaky.

"I-" Lena started to say, but she was cut off by the unmistakable sound of the smoke monster. And, from what Lena heard, it was coming right towards them.

"Shit!" She exclaimed. "Run!" Neither of them needed to be told twice. They took off through the jungle, wordlessly pushing branches and leaves aside as they sprinted as fast as they could. Sayid was much faster than Lena, but she managed to keep up alright.

But, the smoke monster was, well, literal smoke, and it was gaining on them quickly.

What Lena did next was a complete spur of the moment. She really had no idea what she was doing, and it was as if her sword was taking over her movements. She yanked it out of her sheath and sliced it through the air twice, making an 'X.'

From the center of the X, a transparent, shimmering gold sheet spread out, creating some kind of energy shield. As soon as the smoke monster caught up to it, it smashed into the shield and recoiled back.

"Since when can you do that?" Sayid asked. He had stopped a few feet behind her, and he was staring at the shield in awe.

"Since, like, one second ago." Lena replied breathlessly. It wasn't really her that had created the shield, it was the sword. But she noticed the corners of the shield starting to disappear. "I think it's fading, though. We should get out of here-" But the shield was fading quicker than she thought, and the smoke monster was nearly through.

The intense running continued, and for once, Lena was grateful as the island, as it had gotten her into great shape.

"Down here!" Lena whisper-yelled, pulling Sayid into a hollow tree with a small hole at the bottom. They crouched there together as the smoke monster hurtled past, not noticing them.

"Are we alive?" Lena whispered.

"Yes, I think so." Sayid replied with a slight laugh. And despite everything, Lena laughed as well. It truly astonished her how the events of the day had turned just like that, and it also amazed her how an encounter with a smoke monster made her day better.

Only on the island, she thought. Only in that place could something that crazy happen. The day Lena had seemed like a reminder coming from the island itself: The place was full of mysteries just waiting to be uncovered.