A/N: Greetings, all. What a response on the last chapter! Glad to see I was missed. I'm pleased to say that with this chapter, I'm moving out of my rut of a lot of talk and nothing really happening. The action is coming folks, so hang on tight. Also, after this chapter things are gonna start jumping around in chunks. If things stop making sense, just let me know.
And for all those interested, go check out my new Numb3rs fic!
Yay, reviews! Oh how I love my wonderful reviewers. Cookies for everyone! You have saved my muse from dying a horrible death. Of course, muses are like fairies. If you believe, clap your hands! (sorry, I saw Finding Neverland) Only in the case of muses, you don't clap, you send reviews, and it keeps them alive. Okay, enough of my sugar-induced ramblings, on to the thanks!
Kiki-jdlover- Glad you like the story and that I'm doing all right on the descriptions. It's amazing how difficult it is to describe something when you can't really say what it looks like. Don't know when Charlie will come in, but Fiona is going to make friends with Claire, so I'm sure he'll be tagging along eventually. Stick around, things will be getting interesting.
artsygirl500- Aww, I was missed. How touching. I hope you do find this interesting. The next chapters are definitely going to start shaking things up. Stick around, and enjoy!
MariAmber- Yay, I've hooked someone! Don't worry about where this fic is going--it'll be all over the stratosphere by the time I'm done with it. Stay with us, things are gonna get crazy.
WashoopiCandi- Cool, my story is amazing! Sweet. Hope you stick around. Enjoy.
The Pirate Illusionist- Great name by the way. Glad you like it. I'd be interested as to where your idea would go. I hope you do deside to carry it out.
Phoenix-Talon- Glad you enjoy. I'll try to get around and check out your fic. It hasn't been easy working things from a blind woman's perspective, so I've gotten books about blindness and people who live with it. Hope I make the favorites cut. Enjoy!
nicole- Cool, I'm interesting. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Monica- Thanks for the compliment. Enjoy this next part!
Fox of the Nova- Glad you liked the nickname. I knew I needed him to call her something. They're gonna have a good amount of interaction. Sawyer's one of my favorites! Glad you like! Stick around, it's gonna be great1
And I would also like to thanks everyone who has read but didn't review. Lord knows I've done a lot of that myself. However, I do urge all of you to review. It makes me feel special, and it keeps my muse healthy. So save a muse, send a review!
Now, on to the story!
Chapter 4- Free at Last
Fiona awoke the next morning feeling slightly confused, till she smelled the ocean air and heard people moving near her. She sat up, automatically feeling next to her for her cane. It took her a moment before she remembered that her cane had been lost in the crash. Fiona hung her head and sighed, dreading another day of having to rely on someone else for everything.
Slowly standing, Fiona stretched her stiff muscles and cocked her head, carefully listening for anyone familiar around her. After a few moments, she growled in frustration. This was the part of being blind that she hated.
"Fiona!" she turned in the direction of the voice.
"Sayid," she answered. "How are you?"
The Middle-Eastern smiled at the girl's properness. "I have something for you," he said. Sayid gently took Fiona's right hand and wrapped it around something that was hard with a soft covering. Fiona picked it up and realized almost instantly that it was a long stick. It came up to her chest standing straight, and the end that Sayid had placed her hand on had cloth wrapped around it.
"I found it on the outskirts of the jungle. It looked long enough to serve its purpose," he said. Fiona felt tears well up in her eyes.
"Sayid, I…thank you," she said, hardly trusting herself to speak. "You have no idea what this means to me."
He smiled, and placed a hand on Fiona's shoulder. "Well, at least now you can get around the beach without hurting yourself." With that, Sayid patted her shoulder and turned to leave.
Fiona simply smiled, tears beginning to break free from their glistening prison as she ran her fingers over the gift, her fingers telling her what her eyes could not. The smooth wood was bumpy under her hands, the branch not being stick-straight. She guessed that it was some sort of bamboo, though she couldn't know for sure.
Fiona held on to the end wrapped in cloth, and placed the other end on the ground, experimentally taping it around her. It was a bit of a struggle to tap it on the sand, but she managed to get by gliding it just over the sand's surface. Fiona sighed happily, feeling as though her freedom had been restored. Without her cane, it had felt as though she had lost her legs. She took off down the beach to explore the surrounding area. Fiona Harper was sick of staying put.
John Locke looked down at the girl at his side, who shifted uncomfortably every time the wind changed. Fiona seemed to be trying her best to keep the wind blowing in her face, and was breathing heavily through her mouth. What he wasn't sure of was why.
"Are you okay?" he asked as she shifted yet again. Fiona pounded her cane into the ground in frustration.
"You can't smell it?" she asked in surprise. He merely looked at her in confusion.
"Smell what?"
Fiona growled softly. The smell of the decomposing bodies had been growing steadily worse in the heat of the Southern Pacific sun, and her sensitive nose was protesting heavily. Yet she seemed to be the only one who was truly bothered by it.
"That," she answered, pointing behind her to where she knew the fuselage to be. John nodded, poking the fire in front of them. Suddenly, Fiona leapt to her feet and spun around, facing the wreckage. Her cane swept the area in front of her as she slowly moved towards the fuselage.
"What is it?" he asked. She stopped a few steps into the darkness.
"There's something out there," she answered. The few people who were around stopped at her quiet words, and she felt the atmosphere around them freeze. Jack took a few steps in her direction and stopped a few feet away from her.
"How do you know?" he asked, when Fiona waved him into silence. A moment later, a loud crashing sound came from inside the jungle. Many of the survivors stood as something knocked down trees in the jungle seeming to head in their direction.
Fiona felt the ground vibrating from the creature's movements, and she stepped closer to the jungle, cane moving in front of her. She tilted her head, trying to discern what the creature could possibly be. It didn't sound nor move like any jungle creature she knew of…
Suddenly, John was at her side, a long arm snaking around her waist and pulling her to a halt. He stood close to her for a long moment to keep her from moving, and the crashing sounds faded into the distance.
"Perfect," Charlie said nearby, breaking the uneasy silence. Everyone slowly moved back towards their makeshift camps, huddling a little closer to their fires than before. Jack paused on his way back to the medical tent, and turned to where the young blind woman was being led back to a fire by a tall bald man.
Jack sat next to Fiona as they settled back down. "So…how did you know that thing was out there?" he asked her. John looked towards them as he stoked the fire, secretly just as eager to hear Fiona's response.
Fiona turned her head in Jack's direction. "I heard it," she answered simply, and turned back to the fire.
"Ah," Jack said, still confused. He caught John's gaze over Fiona's head, and the older man simply shrugged. After what had happened to him after they had crashed, he was more than willing to accept the quirks of Fiona's abilities.
"Okay then," Jack said, and walked off to where Kate was standing nearby. She looked at him expectantly.
"She heard it," he said in response to her unasked question, and without stopping, headed inside his makeshift medical tent.