Stranded Memories

Rating: PG-13 for language

Disclaimer: I own crap. They wouldn't even give me the bloody Lost poster at Disney, and that ruined my day. FOX owns all OC characters and OC related thingys… and ABC owns sobs all Lost related things… even my Charlie… Yellowcard owns the lyrics to "View From Heaven." Damn, what do I own?

Summary: Little things can push people over the edge. That very thing happens to Seth Cohen. When something happens to him that sends him into a crashing situation, who knows how he will survive. Lost/OC Crossover.

A/n: This is gonna be fun! Another side-bar… this one I think will center on Sawyer, because he is soooo awesome!

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"Jack, Where's Charlie?"

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"He said he's gonna kill Cohen if he don't get you back…"

Charlie heard that loud and clear. It brought some suspicion to his mind. He knew that he couldn't trust Seth, but Ethan was going to kill him? It was probably all just some ploy to get Claire back. If Charlie knew one thing, he knew that he couldn't trust either of them.

He felt like bursting through the bush he was hiding behind and proclaiming that to both of them, but just listened to their conversation some more. Charlie knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

The other two were silent for some time. It was obvious that they both trusted Seth. Charlie couldn't understand why the two seemed so concerned. He could hear it in their voices, he could see it in their faces. He could sense it in their reactions.

Claire reached into her pocket and pulled out Seth's wallet.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Sawyer asked. I could hear the anger in his voice.

"I took it from him, okay?" Claire snapped. "I didn't believe him when he said that there was no one who would care if he died. He was unconscious, so I took it out of his pocket, simple as that."

Sawyer just looked at Claire some more. "What are you going on about?"

"Don't you get it?" she snapped. "That's the only reason I'm gone, the only reason that I'm here. He distracted them so I could get out. He said that… no one cared if he would die. I knew that was a lie. I saw the photographs. Sawyer. There's got to be something we can do…"

Silence. Charlie was confused. Seth was the reason Claire was back? The thoughts in his mind were conflicting with what was coming out of Claire's mouth. His eyes darted between Sawyer and Claire.

Sawyer snatched the wallet out of Claire's hands. He stopped and looked at the one picture. Then looked at Claire, then back at the picture. "Why the hell does he have a picture of you in his wallet?" he asked. Charlie was shocked. Why was the kid carrying around a picture of Claire?

Claire snatched the wallet out of Sawyer's hands and looked at it. She looked at the picture in disbelief. It wasn't her, and she knew that, but it sure looked at her. Then she realized. It was her cousin. She may have been a lot older than her cousin, but the resemblance was uncanny.

Charlie wished he could have seen the photograph. But he couldn't from where he was hiding.

"That's not me Sawyer," she said simply, folding the wallet back up and putting it in her pocket so Sawyer couldn't get it back.

"Well it sure as hell looks like you sweetie," he said.

Claire chuckled. Charlie smiled. He hadn't heard her laugh in such a long time. "It's my cousin… Aerin." Everyone had always confused the two of them. Their mothers were identical twins, which might partially explain why they look so much like each other.

Sawyer was about to say something, when he heard something and stopped. Claire must have heard it too. They both looked around. They got identical looks on their face.

"We got to help him," Claire said quietly and quickly before rushing off.

Charlie didn't know what to do. He knew he should run back and get help from someone. But then he'd never be able to find them in time. He fingered the gun that he had stolen out of the Halliburton while Kate and Jack weren't looking.

Maybe… just maybe.

Without any second thought, he followed them, still keeping a distance.

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They walked through the jungle, not caring. Claire was getting tired. She shouldn't have been walking around like she was. But she felt as if she had to. She was leading Sawyer. Taking command. That confused Charlie and Sawyer.

The woman was persistent.

Charlie followed behind, not tired at all. His hand was now holding the gun. He just had a really bad feeling that something was going to happen, and he just wanted to be ready. He just wanted to be sure he could protect Claire if he had to.

He really liked her.

Suddenly, Claire just stopped. Sawyer nearly ran into her. Charlie stopped. He couldn't see anything.

But the sight that met Claire made her scream. Her scream caused Charlie and Sawyer both to flinch.

There standing right on a rock in the middle of a seemingly deep pool of water was Ethan. And right next to him, tied at the wrists, hanging from a branch over the water was Seth. His head hung down limply and he was blindfolded.

Charlie saw none of it.

Claire fought back the tears. It didn't even look like Seth was breathing. Her breathing became unsteady and she couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was just hanging there. Not even fighting. He couldn't be… Claire didn't even want to think about it.

Sawyer was the only one who took any action against Ethan. "Damn it you son of a bitch," he cursed angrily.

"I see you have the girl," Ethan said, totally ignoring Sawyer's cursing. "In exchange for Seth… is there anyone else?"

Claire was shocked. Sawyer really was as bad as everyone thought he was. "No…" he said quietly, realizing what an idiot he was.

Charlie was still there. He pulled the safety on the gun. This all still had to be some sort of set up. Some way. Somehow. He moved himself so that he could see everything that was going on. Claire, even from behind looked frightened. Sawyer's tough guy demeanor was failing as well. And Seth was just hanging there.

Sawyer stepped defensively in front of Claire. He knew that coming alone was a bad idea. But who knew what Ethan already did to him. He could be dead for all that Sawyer knew.

"Remember what I said?" Ethan asked. His tone was creepy, penetrating into Claire's skin giving her goose bumps. She never wanted to see his face again. She never wanted to hear his voice again. It was all too soon. The tears began to fall.

"I get Claire, Cohen isn't killed. Simple, isn't it?" He smiled.

Sawyer didn't know what to do. "I'm giving you five seconds to make a decision, or I may just kill both of you and take Claire anyways. So who is it going to be, Sawyer? Claire or Seth?"

He didn't know what to do. He could only give a shit about himself and hand Claire over. But there was the has-been. He would kill him if he ever found out. Then there was Seth…

"Five."

Shit. Damn. How the hell was he supposed to choose?

"Four."

Charlie got ready. He already knew what Sawyer was going to do. It was obvious. He cared more about the kid than anything else. It was a bit odd when he thought about it, but neither were very liked by the other castaways, they must have become friends or something.

"Three."

Claire's breathing was heavy. She was terrified. For her own life. For Seth's life. And it was all in Sawyer's hands. Unless she ran. And nothing good would come of that. Ethan could easily kill Seth (if he wasn't already dead) and Sawyer then come after her without batting an eye.

She was paralyzed with fear.

"Two."

Ethan pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it out toward the rope that was holding Seth between life and his watery grave just a few feet below. All he had to do was cut the rope. Seth was out. He made sure of it. Those weren't any ordinary drugs. He cut the rope, Seth was dead. No question.

"One."

Seth simply hung there by his wrists, not even aware that within the next few seconds his life could be over. That within the next few moments he would cease to exist at all. He seemed at peace.

"Too late…"

With that, Ethan quickly cut the rope with the sharp edge of his knife. A loud splash was heard as Seth fell into the water. A wave of bubbles issued from under the water.

Without a second though, Sawyer dove in, clothes and all, leaving Claire all alone with Ethan. Or so they all thought.

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As soon as Sawyer dove into the water to retrieve Seth, Ethan laughed. It was as if it was far too easy. He jumped from the rock easily onto the shore near Claire. He smiled. "Hello deary," he said with a smile, grabbing her arm tightly.

Tightly enough to bruise. Then out of nowhere Claire punched him, hard. She hated the man so much, and heaven knew she would take anything over going with him. Ethan laughed, and just tightened his grip. "You bastard," Claire cursed, now kicking him in the shins. A brief spasm of pain shot across his face, but there was no difference. Claire was doomed and she knew it.

The sound of a gunshot being fired hit everyone's ears. Ethan suddenly let go of Claire and looked at his arm in horror. He was bleeding quite profusely.

He ran.

Charlie ran over to Claire. He couldn't believe he had done that. He could have jut as easily shot Claire, but he didn't. He had saved her. Sawyer and Seth couldn't say that much.

Seth.

As soon as Ethan was gone Claire went running towards the water, but Charlie stopped her.

"No." He held her close. He could feel her trembling as she looked at the water. Some more bubbles came up. There was nothing she could do. Charlie was holding her so close, so tight. She fell into it and began sobbing.

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The water was freezing. But Sawyer didn't care. He could just make out Seth's form falling downwards. He couldn't believe that the water could be that deep. It didn't seem that deep from on the surface.

He was quickly running out of air. The cold water didn't help any. But he was so close. He couldn't stop now. A few final bubbles released themselves from his body, and the water was still.

Shit.

Sawyer pushed himself. Seth had hit the bottom, and it was dark. It sent dirt swirling around, so he couldn't see. The dirt got in his eyes, causing them to burn even more. But he had to get to Seth. He had to.

A lightheaded feeling came over him when he realized that he had to go up for air, but he wouldn't without Seth. The kid had been alive when he fell in, he could still be alive, if he was at all conscious.

He reached out, feeling around the floor of watery pit. He let the last of his carbon dioxide out and pushed himself to the limit until he finally felt a hand. It had to be Seth's. It wasn't cold. He grabbed them and pushed off the bottom, making sure he was propelling himself hard enough to get both of them up.

It seemed to take forever and ever. He could feel the urge to breathe come upon him. But he didn't. He could see the break between the water and the air. It was so close.

He broke it and took a deep breathe of air. He turned to look at Seth. It was Seth. He felt overjoyed. He quickly pulled him out of the water and onto the ground near where Charlie and Claire were standing.

Not bothering to catch his breath, Sawyer took the wet blindfold off of Seth. His head fell to the side.

"SHIT!" he cursed. It was then that he saw no steady rise and fall of his chest. He wasn't breathing.

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Sawyer looked up at Charlie and Claire, "Do either of you… you know to do CPR?" he asked quickly, still extremely out of breath since he had held his breath for so long.

Claire shook her head, and just looked at Seth. Fresh tears came to her face.

"No buts. Get out. I don't think you understand that all I am is… well, I'm not important. Maybe you never noticed, but I'm the one that they hate. They could kill me at any time. It doesn't matter. You… people care about you Claire. No one cares about little old Seth Cohen, you know…"

Charlie shook his head too. Even though he still held a deep disliking for Seth, he still wanted to take back thinking him dead, or even saying that he was going to kill the kid. He felt like shit.

"Damn it," Sawyer cursed. "Son of a bitch. Must I do everything?" With that he tried to help Seth. He had seen the doc do it plenty of times, or once. But same difference. If Jack could do it, he sure as hell could.

After breathing into Seth's mouth, he immediately began pumping his chest, or more like pounding on it because he had absolutely no clue what he was doing.

He paused for a moment. Nothing. He tried it again. Charlie and Claire just stood there. "Well, could one of ya at least do something a bit useful and go get someone?" he asked before trying to resuscitate Seth once more. He couldn't stand it if the kid would die.

But slowly, he was beginning to lose hope. Lose faith. He could still find a weak pulse (he wasn't sure if he was doing it right, but he sure as hell hoped it was). So Seth was still alive. But Sawyer couldn't help by feel that he hadn't gotten to him in time. He could have swam faster, and then he wouldn't be as dead.

As all this was going on, Charlie looked at Claire. "I'll… I'll go get Jack," he said quietly. Claire grabbed onto him and shook her head, not allowing Charlie to move any more than he already had.

"Ethan's still out there Charlie," she said almost as quietly as Charlie.

He didn't say anything to her, but she could see the look in her eyes. Her eyes went back over to Sawyer and Seth and she nodded, letting go of him. With that he ran off into the jungle the way that they had come. Claire just watched as he sped off, a feeling of worry and dread coming over her.

She continued to just look at the empty space that Charlie had run off into. She couldn't understand why she was having such a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Neither of them had noticed that the gun that Charlie had used to shoot Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

But she was quickly brought out of her daze when she heard a coughing. That sure as hell didn't sound like Sawyer. She heard Sawyer let out a sigh of, "Thank God." She turned quickly and Seth was coughing up water, but his eyes were still closed. Peacefully, almost serenely. If it wasn't for the fact that he had almost died, Claire would have thought that he was only sleeping.

The coughing stopped, and his body relaxed. She just looked at him for a bit. He looked even worse than when she had left. At first his breathing was ragged and Claire just knelt down next to him. She knew that there had to be something she could do to help him, but he had to fight this one out on his own.

Slowly, his breathing became steady.

Her eyes moved over to Sawyer. He was lying on his back, trying to catch his own breath. She could see why the man was so exhausted. Claire got tired just looking at him. She felt her arm where Ethan had grabbed her. The skin was still tender and was beginning to turn black and blue.

"Claire?" she heard someone say. She knew it was Sawyer.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"The whole jumping into the water thing, never happened. Okay?" he said. Claire was confused. Why would Sawyer ask something like that? Sawyer knew that he couldn't be considered going soft, what good would all the working to build up this reputation do him if he just blew it.

"Why?" Claire asked. "Are you afraid that people will actually see that you're not that bad of a person after all?" She asked.

Sawyer was silent. Claire had a point, and he knew it. It wouldn't really be that bad, would it.

Both of their eyes once again fell on Seth. He was so peaceful looking like he was simply asleep, except for the fact that he was soaking wet, and had bruises all over him. The look on his face was so… neither of them could explain it.

"The limey little runt went to get Jack then?" Sawyer asked, breaking the silence. It had nothing to do with Claire's last statement, but he felt the need to have a change of subject.

Claire laughed. "You're still at it aren't you?"

"What?"

"Never mind," Sawyer said, slowly getting to his feet. "Charlie went to go get Jack, but that don't mean we can't work our way back."

He picked up Seth as if he was nothing. And it was true. He was thin to begin with, but he hadn't eaten in a long time, and just being on the island with little food was bound to do something. But not even Sawyer was expecting him to be that light.

Claire got up off the ground. "I guess," she said quietly.

With that the three of them started working their way towards the caves.

Sawyer stopped along the wayto try to make a makeshift stretcher, because he was beginning to get tired, but failed and just said screw it before they continued on.

The entire way there was no sign of Charlie… or Ethan.

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They made it back to the caves and both of them were exhausted. Jack was the first person they ran into.

"Thank God you're okay Claire," he said sounding a bit upset. "We thought we could have lost you again."

Sawyer laughed from the background. He wasn't as wet as before, but he was still soaked. And Seth was slowly slipping from his grasp. He wasn't Superman. That was for sure. "Yeah, and I ain't worth the space I take up, am I doc?" he asked sarcastically. "I could use some help here, after you're done worrying about the one of us who isn't really hurt."

Claire wondered how long it would be before Sawyer went back to his old ways. Maybe it was just something about Jack. The two seemed to hate each other for some strange reason.

Jack's eyes went from Claire to Sawyer and Seth. "Seth?" he asked.

"No, just someone who happens to miraculously look like Seth," Sawyer said, rolling his eyes.

"What- how?" Jack asked, obviously confused.

"We don't have time Jack. Seth's hurt. He's not waking up either," Claire said, ending both of them. Sawyer still looked at Jack with immense hatred in his eyes, and Jack was too busy helping Sawyer move Seth over towards all the medical supplies.

Claire felt useless at the moment. She wondered why Charlie hadn't gotten Jack. He had run ahead, and he should at least have met them at the halfway point.

She went over to ask Jack about it, but he shooed her away. Jack was checking Seth out for any cuts, bruises, anything. She just sat down. Sawyer sat down near her.

Everything was silent as they watched Jack do his work.

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Slowly, it began to get dark. Claire was getting worried, she hadn't seen Charlie at all. Jack was still tending to Seth, who still had yet to wake up.

Sawyer had left a while ago, leaving her all alone. The bad feeling was slowly returning. Not caring anymore, she walked over to Jack.

"Jack, can I talk to you?" she asked.

He stopped what he was doing and turned around to look at Claire. He looked exhausted. "What is it Claire?"

"Have you seen Charlie at all?" she asked. She needed answers.

Jack shook his head. "No, why?"

Shit. Claire knew she shouldn't have let him go out on his own. "Jack, Charlie was going to come and get you. I would have thought he would have been here. But he's not."

A shocked look came across Jack's face. "Crap…"

"Jack, where's Charlie?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. But this isn't good."

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There was nothing we could do during the night. But the bad feeling just kept growing, and then the fact that Seth had yet to wake up and she was the only one that had been there. It was driving her nuts.

Claire stayed near Seth the whole night, not getting a wink of sleeping, hoping that maybe Charlie would come ambling in saying that he got lost.

Charlie never came.

The sun rose and Claire wanted to go out right away, but Jack wouldn't let her go. So she just stayed there, by Seth, hoping that he would wake up.

But it wasn't until late afternoon when he began to move. Claire couldn't stop the smile from appearing across her face. The sun was shining directly on his face. Jack kept telling her not to let him use his left arm, he thought it was broken. So she made sure that it was well protected in the makeshift sling that Jack had made him.

A painful groan came from Seth as his eyes slowly began flickering he was waking up.

And Claire had no clue where Jack was.

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A/n: This was a little on the long side, but I hope you liked it:D And the end isn't the greatest. I started going back into the land of first person. xD.

If anyone is still confused, just tell me in a review and I'll try to clear some things up for you. And I'd also like to add, for those of you who knew the original plot for this, the story got changed so much, it went back to the original plot. Ain't that funny? Haha.

Thanks to the reviewers. You know we luv all y'all!

alexis- All the Newport stuff from last chapter was in Seth's head. None of it actually happened, but he thought it did.

Pumpkin Muffin - you all are gonna hate me by the end of the next Seth chapter.

paige fan - Haha. I should have made that a bit clearer. Haha. The greatness of Dominic Monaghan. Adam Brody was on the View today instead of the cast of "Lost" it was a bit angering.

Harper's Pixie - Yeppers. And that isn't the end of it! I need to watch this week's Lost to get some ideas for my next part. Yayness for Ryan in the next chapter!