Author's Note: Alright, here is it: my idea of what is in the hatch and why Locke want it so much.

7:30pm

She heard footsteps again but this time she was not afraid, as she could actually recognize the footsteps and panting breaths.

"Sayid…" she whispered.

"We don't have much time." He told her, taking her into his arms he quickly carried her out of the caves, not once failing to notice how she was shaking.

Danielle was standing guard outside the cave, waiting for the appearance of Boone and Locke any second. Minta heard the Frenchwoman muttering something to Sayid, but Sayid was too busy whispering soothingly to her, telling her that everything was alright now.

Sayid laid her down right beside his hiding place, he didn't remove her blindfold as she would not want to see what would soon happen. Bending down he promised her again: "We will soon go back and everything will be alright, but we must take care of Locke first." Her tear streaked cheeks jabbed into his heart, the worst part was that he could do nothing to stop their flowing, yet he must. "Minta…please listen to me.

"Don't be afraid, there is nothing to be frightened off. I want to you to think of the other time when you were blindfolded, remember the day that I asked you to marry me? I want you to think about that day, just think about it."

Her breathings calmed down to a faint breeze while her body no longer trembled so violently. As she became even more lost in her memories, she became very still, she would be unable to be detected if no one searched for her.

She could no longer hear the faint footsteps that were growing louder, or the crocking of the weapons, all she could hear was the same wave and wind that had greeted her before Sayid's proposal.

"Well, you go in then." Locke said calmly, confident that his plan would work. "I'll watch him." Referring to Sawyer, who was still unconscious, a lump at Locke's feet.

"I'm going to kill her the same way Sayid killed Shannon." Boone vowed, looking down at his bare hands.

Upon entering the cave Boone let out a loud scream of anger: she was gone, the discarded piece of rope seemed to mock him and his goal of avenging his sister.

He then heard the cocking of a gun.

"Hello John, no time no see." Danielle said very pleasantly, stepping out she immediately pointed her rifle to Locke, who aimed his gun at her.

"Danielle Rousseau." Locke spat the name out venomously, "You always have to intervene with my plans don't you? When we finally discovered the price we searched so hard for you had to ran away with it, then you sank the whole ship.

"Yes, I did it. And I killed Robert when you made him come after me." Danielle said sadly, "But Locke, you still don't understand don't you? Some questions are not meant to be answered." Her eyes lingered to the pendant that dangled from her neck. "When you landed back on the island you know that you are here, and you want to find this again."

"I will know the answer Danielle, you will not stop my second chance." Locke yelled, edging closer. "I will know the answer that solves the greatest mystery of life, I will have that pendant Danielle."

"How? You know that you cannot kill me as I am the only one who can decipher the riddle on the pendant, and Alex is not here anymore." She mocked, and Locke longed to slap that smile away.

"No, you are wrong. There is another one the island who can solve the riddle," he said- his moment of triumph has finally came. "Or at the very least he can make you cooperate."

The bullet was fired.

Looking down Locke saw the blood oozing very fast, yet there were no smokes around Danielle's rifle.

"You are not the only one who sneaks behind a man, and you are wrong too. I have no wish of helping you." Sayid said quietly and quickly, he had fired enough times in the firing squad to shot Locke straight in the heart.

It would be over in an instant.

Boone finally ran out, seeing his fallen mentor and his killer, he let out a scream and charged at Sayid.

"Don't do this Boone, I have no wish to harm you." Sayid said flatly, not lowering his gun as he knew he would have to shoot again. But from what he had heard, he now understand why Boone hated both he and Minta so much, he could despise Boone for wanting to hurt his wife but he could not fully blame the younger man as he knew how it felt, when you wanted to place blame on a bystander due to a 'what if?'

"You killed my sister!"

The gunshot was only meant to be at the feet, crippling instead of killing Boone. But Boone made the mistake of charging at Minta, in desperation the frightened woman stabbed him with the pocket knife clenched in her hand.

A thick stream of blood sprayed out, the knife struck right into a vein.

"Fool," Sayid whispered hoarsely as Danielle rushed to the fallen man and tearing a piece of cloth, pressed it over the bleeding spot. "If our place was swapped you would have done what I did. Boone, if you were rescuing Shannon and I came up to you to demand you to help Minta- would you have abandoned the one you love?"

Boone looked at the man thoroughly and finally realized his mistake. It was ironic, how all this might have been prevented just by these two sentences.

"I am sorry Sayid." He croaked out. "I am sorry for causing all this."

"That was John Locke." Danielle corrected. "He used you as he had used Robert…my husband."

"Alright, I'm going to wake Sawyer up, and then he and Danielle will carry you back to the caves, and hopefully Jack can help you." Sayid decided.

"Sayid…please, just do this one thing for me, let me die, you know I will die. I want to go, I don't want to stay here anymore." A faint smile appeared on his lip. "I can see Shannon, and she is finally willing to admit her feelings."

"You are going back to the camp first, you have to tell everyone what happened." Sayid said grimly. "Sawyer is still labeled as a kidnapper, I want you to proof his innocence. At the very least you own him that much."

Turning away from all of them, he went to his wife. She was half sitting with his pocket knife tightly clenched in her hands. Her face was completely pale, and surprisingly it was dry.

Taking the pocket knife Sayid carefully whipped the blood away on his pants so he wouldn't get his hand soiled, as he used them to pick up Minta once more. In his arms, she was so much more stiff and fragile.

"Minta, it is alright now." He repeated, finally taking the blindfold off. She didn't even know what she had done, he would make sure it remain that way. He would tell Jack that he was the one that stabbed Boone and they would believe him, his wife would never learn that she was responsible for killing a man.

"Sayid, is it all over now?" she whispered, her dark eyes staring right into his heart.

"Yes, it is all finished, we are going back to our hut." He whispered. "You can close your eyes and sleep Minta, I will watch over you."

As her eyes closed the first tear fell. Now she could finally release all the tears that had threatened to spill. Leaning onto Sayid she began to weep, finally able to release her emotions.

All this time Sayid carried her in his arms and repeated: "It is alright now."

Author's Note: In this story Robert was killed before they got on the ship. Just like to point that out. I don't know if Robert was her husband or lover as anniversary can be applied to a unwedded couple too, but I'm saying that they were married. The pendant and the hatch will be fully classified in the next chapter.