"You okay, Sticks?" Sawyer's voice came from behind her, making her stop dead in her tracks. Shannon debated on even turning around, but she knew he could outrun her, if he even cared to run after her. She didn't picture Sawyer as the type, but lately, he was full of surprises.

It had been a few days after the attack. They still couldn't put the pieces back together, and figure out what happened to them from that night they "disappeared", until the time they were found unconscious back at the crash site. There was still a hunt going on for Walt, and now everyone seemed to be in on it, unfortunately not for their concern over Walt, but for the fear for their own safety. All of the survivors wanted to know who, or what, was out there, after Shannon and Sawyer turned up beaten and left for dead by people unknown. Most were even scared to go to sleep at night. It was turning into chaos, slowly but surely.

It was late in the evening. Her head was still killing her after Jack had stitched her up, though she didn't have to worry about taking care of herself now, since he made true to his promise, and was right on her tail the moment she even winced in pain. Jack was becoming the surrogate annoying older brother, yet he could never fill the shoes of the one she carried a torch for.

Turning around to face Sawyer, she saw him propped against a tree, his attention now elsewhere. She walked back, coming up to where he stood, as she looked out over the wreckage and scattered people, trying to place where his eyes were glued to. And soon enough, she found his newfound interest: Jack and Kate. They were talking near his 'work tent', smiling awkwardly to each other, failing to make eye contact, as Jack shifted his weight nervously and Kate tried to hide the fact that she was blushing. This flirtation was getting on her nerves, she had never seen two people more timid in her life.

"Is that what it's like?" Sawyer asked, somehow having guessed she was already beside him, and looking in the same direction he was.

Shannon frowned over at him, before looking back out at Kate and Jack. She opened her mouth to question him, but he cut her off before she could. "Just like what you feel for your 'brother'?" he stressed the word purposely.

Now she was too confused to answer. Of course, it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out her and Boone weren't really related, and besides, maybe Sayid had told him.. But more than likely, he had just caught on by himself.

"I'm going to get some rest," she answered in an annoyed sigh, turning to leave Sawyer, as she headed back that way. She wasn't going there though, and he had known that, or else he wouldn't have stopped her in the first place. But now that Sawyer's jealousy was on the rise again, she figured he'd be too distracted to try and play follow-up with her.

It hadn't taken very long, to get to the rocks that rose up over the ocean in a sort of cliff-like formation. She could remember that one lady sitting up there, the one Boone and Jack had saved after the plane first crashed, the one who had lost her husband… And now it was Shannon's turn. But she didn't intend to go up there to grieve.

Shannon stood at the very edge of the cliff, looking down over the drop-off, at the water that lay below. She had decided she could finally defeat the 'others', the ones who had stolen her brother from her. If she couldn't have him in life, she would meet him on the other side. They couldn't keep her from this, and they couldn't keep them from each other. In death, there was peace. There was no damn island, or mind games, there would be her father, and hopefully soon, there'd be Boone.

Closing her eyes, she knew she had to do it fast, before she backed out. For some reason, she felt the need to stretch out her arms before leaning over, standing on the tips of her feet, as she tilted forward and let her balance go. The rush of wind hit her the wrong way though, she felt as if she was being pulled back, by a force stronger than she had imagined. It was only a few seconds later that her mind could focus on what was really happening; she hadn't fallen at all. Someone had grabbed her abruptly from behind, lifting her up in their arms as they snatched her back. Feeling the strong, tight grip around her waist, Shannon's eyes shot open in alarm, her hands instantly going to whomever had grabbed her, and trying to pull them off.

Her supposed-savior stood her harshly back onto the ground, before grabbing her arm and forcing her to turn around and face them. She was hoping deep down it was Boone, so that she could once and for all tell him that she had given up, and that she couldn't wait for him any longer. But it wasn't, it was Jack.

"What the hell are you doing up here, Shannon!" he yelled at her breathlessly, but he already knew. His eyes kept trailing to the cliff, and then back to her. He was the one who had pulled her back, of course he knew what she meant to do.

"Is it Boone? Is that why you're up here?" Jack asked accusingly. She was in too much shock to answer him. She was afraid he knew what was going on, and soon enough, he confirmed her fears. "Sawyer told me everything."

Shannon opened her mouth to answer him, when a crunch, followed by a few snaps, came from the woods behind them. Someone was there. Closing her mouth, Shannon looked over Jack's shoulder, trying to see if it might be him… He had come when she was first attacked, out in the jungle that day. Maybe he was here now, to try and save her again.

"Is that him?" Jack asked her, not turning around at first. Shannon could only look up at him dumbfounded. He believed her… She couldn't believe he bought her story, especially after only hearing it from Sawyer's mouth. Maybe it was the only explanation he could believe though, after both of them wound up missing and turned up as badly beaten as they were. There were too many mysteries on this damn island to doubt any answer.

Finally moving, Jack turned towards the woods slowly. As if on-cue, the person who was lingering behind the trees came forward, revealing their dark features, and deep blue eyes.

Shannon gasped in, just upon seeing him again. Jack froze. The only one who had any sense to do anything at all, was Boone, who slowly emerged towards them, until he was standing only a few feet away.

As much as he tried to focus on both of them, Boone's eyes kept coming back to her, a sad, almost helpless look over his face, his hand twitching at his side, as if he wanted to reach out for hers.

"God Shan… Why are you doing this to me?" his voice came out weaker than before, when she had last heard him on that day in the jungle.

Looking down, Boone closed up the remaining gap between them, standing before Jack and Shannon, his features twisting up in fear and pain. "I'm- I'm so sorry," he started out, and neither of them had the courage to interrupt him with questions, there were just too many to ask. His words came out choked and quiet as he went on, and they could tell he was afraid of who was listening in… "I don't know where Walt is, he could very well be on the same part of the island I'm on.. I can't even be sure.. The people I'm with- I'm their only connection to civilization, which ironically, is us survivors… I can't tell you everything, I won't. You'll be in even more danger… But they watch you, they watch every step you take, we're almost like a pawn in their games. You've been manipulated and tortured, because of them… I don't know what they want, or what their plans are, but Locke was right from the beginning, we're not the only ones on this island… And I have to go back."

Everything was so silent after Boone spoke. Jack was the first to break this though, moving towards Boone as he wrapped his arms around him. Shannon could see the tears gleaming in his eyes as he hugged him. She could tell he still held out hope.

Pulling back from Boone, Jack looked down at him for the longest time, turning so serene, as he kept his hands on Boone's shoulders. "Let me take your place," his voice practically pleaded. She had heard how Jack fought so hard to save her brother, maybe he found this to be his chance. And as guilty as she felt, she couldn't help but pray there was a way, any way, for Boone to come back to her.

"Jack no, no-" Boone cut him off, shaking his head as he pulled away, frustration coming over him. "You're needed here."

"You're needed here too. You can't tell me there isn't a way, Boone. If they can make us think that you're dead, they can make you forget everything, and put me in your place." Jack tried so hard to convince him, it amazed her, he really wanted to take his place.. He wanted to save him. Things were so confusing, they were happening all too fast. Her new savior and her old one, debating on which one got to disappear from her life forever. The doctor and her lover. How could life go on without either of them?

"Jack… Where I'm at, it's worse than-" Boone stopped himself, only briefly, to look her way, as if he didn't want her to hear. But knowing she wouldn't leave, he had to go on. "Jack, you can never come back. They live in their own sort of purgatory there.. It is purgatory," he said in a mere whisper, stopping suddenly, when they heard soft footsteps coming from behind them..

No one spoke, no one moved. All three of them were too afraid. Feeling a hand grab onto hers, Shannon was the first to break the silence, yelping out as she jumped back. Looking beside her, her eyes wide in terror, she saw that it was only Sawyer, who had grabbed a hold of her hand. He smirked, giving her hand one final squeeze, before he let go, and turned to face Jack and Boone. She knew he must have been listening, she just knew..

"Then I'll go," he said to the other two, moving right past them, heading towards the direction that Boone had come. "I ain't no damn doctor, and I'm certainly not needed here. I think this might actually work out," he laughed, turning around to face his stunned audience, just before he entered into the woods. "Hell's been waiting for me for awhile, children. At least I'm going out with a bang- who would have thought of me as the martyr?" He said his final words, booming loud and triumphant throughout the jungle, everyone must have been able to hear him, even back at the campsite. And Boone was right, 'they' were always watching, and they came.

Flashback

"Is that what it's like?" Boone asked, turning away from the staircase to look over at her. They were both peering down at their parents, her dad and his mom, slow dancing in the dining room of their estate.

"What?" Shannon asked, having only come to watch and wait until they left the room, so that she could go down and steal some of the fruit they had laid out for a late-night snack just for them. Her and Boone had only been brother and sister for just over six months, but already he was calling her father "dad", and referring to her as his sister everywhere he went. And he wasn't a dorky, overly-excited ten-year-old about it either, he just brought it up as if it had always been that way for him, that he had always had a sister, and she had always been a part of his life.

"Being in love, that's what it's like," he had to answer his own question, since to Shannon, at the age of eight, it was a disgusting thing to talk about. "It must be great, to feel that needed."

Shannon looked over at him, studying the side of his young face, as he watched their parents wide-eyed, his hands clutched around the bars of the steps. Boone caught her watching him though, and as he looked over at her, a smile found its way over his lips. He looked at her like no one in the world had looked at her before, but at that time, she didn't know what to make of it.

To Be Continued…