Author's Note: Well, I saw Episode 18 and I had the most bizarre thought: If it isn't for Shannon then Sayid and Danielle might not be such a bad pair. Cause they are both rather capable and intelligent, and both may have been soldiers. By the way, Danielle look really pretty in tonight's episode, or maybe I just didn't notice in "Solitary".

Another thing I actually suddenly noticed from Episode 17 was how alike Jin and Sun's story is to the idea in my fan fiction. And I honestly did not intend it to be so identical, I said that I kept up to date reading the script but I did not read every thing word to word, I guess the thing I really really want to read are always Sayid's part so I had quite a surprise… But then my story is not completely identical, Jin only started his involvement with crime after his marriage while in this fan fiction: Sayid went to America with the intention of carrying a clean slate.

Mortica Black Rose: I feel really touched that you put my story on you story alert list, so I guess I'm not doing so bad if one person really like my story and want to read it as soon as it come out.  This really cheers me up, thank you for all your reviews too, it really help and make me happy, I love reviews!

Disclaimer: See first page.

Once more Danielle was approaching the switches, causing the electricity shooting through his body. Writhing in agony he begged her to stop, suddenly remembering a man who had asked the same thing. He knew the man was innocent but yet he continued.

Sayid woke, drenched in cold sweat. Sitting up he had to take quite a few breaths before he could stop his body shaking. He must have caused quite a scene as a large amount of people were circling him, staring at him.

Half of them regarded him with fear, while the other half was disgusted by him. As the crowd slowly broke away Sayid heard one or two muttering a few racial insults to his direction.

"Maybe there is such a thing as Karma." He said bitterly.

Trying to ignore the vicious stares Sayid turned around with the hope of finding comfort in his wife's arms.

He hands grasped the empty blankets beside him.

All at one, his own personal worries vaporized. He only had one sole concern: to find Minta. He didn't need to worry for long though, as he soon heard her voice.

Jack had always thought of Minta as someone so gentle and fragile, but as she stood in front of him and Kate to half scream and half curse him, he realized that she did not always played the protected one in her marriage.

"You see yourself as the one responsible for everyone of us and yet you are doing nothing to stop this racism toward Sayid. What use are you then?" She swore angrily.

"Minta, Sayid is a torturer, it is not an anger of racism."

"He was! Was, not is. And how can you tell me racism doesn't exit after you heard all these insults involving the words Arab and Iraqi! I don't care what you do but you have to do something, you own Sayid this. Due to you, everyone now know the mistake he had made."

The day had already been hard enough for Jack so something inside him simply snapped.

"He tortured people in the name of his country willingly!" he yelled back. "How many hundreds had he tortured mercilessly as he did to Sawyer? No one forced him to torture Sawyer now, did they? He did it for you, how can I trust a man who do these things with his full willingness?" Jack said viciously, and as Minta started to protest, he added. "He always had a choice, he do not need to torture anyone if he truly find it so repulsive. No one could have forced him. I do not blame all the others for being disgusted with him."

"Yes, you are the hero." Sayid remarked out from the cave's entrance, his face very grim and dark. "No doubt you are the martyr, despising me for not being strong enough, hating me for wanting to live. But to you, of course, nothing can be the greater crime then being blinded by a false believe."

"You lived your by the death of the other!" Jack spat out. "But don't pretend to have done those acts due to the sole reason of fear, you did them as you tortured Sawyer, because they will benefit you. You could never have done all these tortures to all those innocent people without mercy if you only did them out of fear."

"He was young!" Minta butted in, resting her hand on Sayid's. "He was a young man with few choices in life so what was he suppose to do? He then did these actions because he was taught that they were his enemies and must be punished…"

Sayid leant his head onto her shoulder and Minta felt hot tears scalding into her skin. "At least you understand now, this is enough." He whispered. "Tell me Jack, you and Michael watched me interrogate…no, why do I still lie? I tortured Sawyer but if you really see me in the obvious wrong then why didn't you stop me?"

"Because of the asthma medications…" Jack began.

"And I tortured these prisoners of Iraq because I thought I was saving lives by finding the traitors that planted bombs in mosques and…schools…and helping those orphaned children like myself. I was merciless during my years in the Republican Guard, yes, I was even cruel. But if you were me, would you have truly show mercy to a killer?"

"You would have been old enough to…"

"He was only thirteen!" Minta screamed. "For goodness sake Jack, when he joined the Republican Guard he was only a boy of thirteen! What were you doing when you were thirteen? What was I doing at thirteen? Certainly not thinking about how to support four other siblings in a country with no beneficial aids!"

Flashback

Sayid accepted his report from his teacher who was bursting with pride as he had graduated as the top of the school, scoring an especially high mark in Maths. But yet the thirteen year old boy looked at his report with no obvious enthusiasm.

"Sayid, you can easily go to University if you continue with these marks! Right now, you can go to one of the fines school in the country." His teacher said eagerly.

The young boy shook his head. "I like learning and being in school but I can't continue. Future education will be too demanding, I simply cannot afford to do it. Right now, I only just earn enough from my part time job to pay for our food and house."

"What do you plan to do then?" this was asked in great dismay. "You know, your parents would have wanted you to go to University."

"I am not their only son, let along the only child.." Sayid said simply. "My parents wanted one of their children to go and by not going to school myself, I will make sure that at least my baby brother can go to university when he reach the age."

"What will you do now?" his teacher asked once more.

"I'll work." Sayid said determinedly. "I will work for whoever that pays me the most. I want to have more food for each meal, right now we are all starving. I figured out that if I start to work now, when Amir reaches eighteen he will have the opportunity of going to the University in Baghdad."

His teacher watched Sayid leaving, calling his siblings to him. It was with a great pain to watch the three girls linking hands and skipping gaily, a contrast to Sayid's dragging steps. His baby brother grabbed onto Sayid's pant for protection, still sucking his thumb.

This particular teacher knew Sayid's family story too well, having been his father's employee. Sayid was born as the son of the local principle and his mysterious young bride from Baghdad. She was a social outcast due to her modern clothing and none-traditional attitudes. She was frowned upon, even though she did cover her body as the law required. But her husband adored her so much that no one dared to suggest anything to him. No one knew why she gave up her superior education at University to come to the much more backward Tikrit.

Three years after Sayid was born, triplet daughters followed. The couple was to have another son when Sayid was eight years old. A few weeks after his baby brother's birth, his parents died due to a bomb being placed in a classroom. Rumor was then that this was a resistance work against those who worked for the government.

What was clear was that Sayid was now head of the family. He was no longer the little boy who chased a following classmate around the playground in the attempt of putting mud in her hair, after she shoved his face into the mud. He withdrew from everyone, scavenging food for his siblings.

At ten he found a part-time job, working as a clerk in the mechanics shop as he was very talented in doing sums. Often, he would watch the mechanic at work, his eyes taking in every detail of the way the numerous pieces are joined.

"Why don't you become my apprentice?" the mechanic suggested as Sayid started to add up all the earnings. "You will be paid much higher and one day you will be able to open up your own shop."

"How much do I get?" Sayid asked steadily. "How much do I earn as an apprentice and then as a master?"

"What?" at this cool and precise calculation from a thirteen year old boy, a shook was not unnatural.

"I want to know the exact amount of money I can make." Sayid repeated. Hearing the pay he shook his head. "That is simply not enough."

"Look Sayid, the place to get a very high pay without any further education is in the army but that will be very difficult. The military is very demanding…"

Sayid nodded briskly and snapped tha ccounting book shut. He marched out of the shop knowing that he could endure all hardship if he would earn money for his family, he would do anything.

"And you are only thirteen…." His former employer whispered.

His age actually didn't intervene at all. No one asked him how old he was until six years later. But by then it no longer mattered as he was old enough.

Sayid worked a total of fifteen years for the Republican Guard.

Author's Note: Yes, I know that Sayid only worked for five years and he probably did it after his university education, but hey: this is a fan fiction. Well, when I watched Solitary I thought Sayid was very ambitious as: 'You're my superior office, Omar, for now.' Bascially in my story, he's doing it cause he thought it was the right thing to do, I supose it's kinda the idea of The Greater Good. But he is not a completely saint who truly believe that this is all for his country, there were also a bit of his own greed and selfishness too..

Originally, my idea of Sayid not giong to University was because he didn't have enough money for the fees, but then I did a bit of a read in the encyclopedia and found out that education in Iraq is actually free, so I had to change him into not having the time to be a student.