Title: Spread My Wings
Rating: (This Chapter) T (Just to be safe)
Characters (in this chapter): Charlie, Claire, Sawyer, Hurley, Ana Lucia, Jack, Shannon, Sayid, and Sun. This will probably be the only chapter that doesn't have Alex in it.
Warning: Character death (yes, there is going to be more death after the one in this chapter)
Ships: CharlieClaire, ShannonSayid, JackKate or SawyerKate (I haven't decided which yet), HurleyOC, and WaltOC (this story is going to take place over a span of many years, the last two won't be for a while)
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.
Author's Note: I feel powerful! I was the one who emailed them and got them to add the tailies to the character list for Lost! I also requested several other characters, Danielle, Rose, and Vincent, but out of those, only Vincent got added. But that's kinda cool since my next story is gonna be from Vincent's POV. Also, as a note for future chapters, I'm a writer, not a med student. Any medical stuff I talk about, I may not get it right, so just please ignore it. Thank you very much. Anyway, now to reply to the reviewers.
SGCFan4ever: Oh, yes, I am evil, most definitely. I am very evil. IMHO, death and scandal make for a very interesting (I almost said 'fun' but thought better of it) story. This story will contain both of those, but only a little bit of the latter.
L'ange des Miracles: Thank you. But remember, it's just more than just oh-my-god Claire and Aaron. Remember, they were gonna assign someone to guard Claire and Aaron…there were two bodies on the ground in the tent (grins evilly)
Hjr: (bows) I am not worthy. Your story, Conflict with the Others, it much better than my writing will ever be. But thank you for the review.
"Oh my god! Claire!" Charlie exclaimed, rushing over to her. He knelt down and cradled her head in his lap.
But most people were not paying attention to Charlie and Claire. They were looking at the blood covered body of the person who had been on duty protecting Claire.
"Freckles…" Sawyer whispered. He pushed his way through the crowd and over to her, keeling beside her.
"She's alive!" Charlie shouted. No one cared. After all, Claire just looked as if she had been hit over the head with something heavy. Kate was the one bleeding all over the ground.
"Two bullets, one in the head, one in the stomach," Sawyer answered the unspoken question.
"Is she alive?" Hurley asked, looking nauseous.
"Whaddya think, Lardo?" Sawyer snapped, trying to hide his pain behind harsh words and cold stares. A moment of uncomfortable silence followed this outburst.
"Damnit, Freckles!" Sawyer cried suddenly, his face twisted in pain and anger. He wiped the blood off her face, an unusually tender gesture for him.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. The only sounds were sobs from some of the castaways. Then Charlie spoke up.
"Who's the unlucky soul who's going to go inform the cave-dwellers?"
"I'll go," Hurley looked almost excited at the thought of getting away from the blood-covered scene. People nodded their consent. No one else would want to break the news to Jack that Kate was dead. Someone handed Hurley a torch, and he set off.
He arrived at the cave to find everyone asleep, as was to be expected at this our. He debated as to how to wake everyone up for a moment.
"HEY EVERYBODY! WAKE UP!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
"What the hell is going on?" Ana Lucia asked blearily.
"Hurley, what's wrong?" Jack asked sleepily.
"It's Kate," Hurley told him. Jack was immediately awake, "She…was shot," Hurley wasn't ready to say 'She's dead'. After all, there was a chance that Sawyer was mistaken…right?
"Shot? By who?" By then, the other cave dwellers were gathering around Hurley.
"We don't know," Hurley admitted.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on, let's go to the beach!" Jack exclaimed, his voice rising.
He and Hurley headed back for the beach, followed by everyone except Shannon and Sayid, who was still bedridden.
"Go. I know you are worried about Kate too," Shannon was shocked at the fear in Sayid's eyes.
She bit her lip, and then nodded, "I'll give you a full story when I get back,"
By the time Shannon reached Claire's tent, the rest of the cave dwellers were already there. Shannon saw Jack taking Kate's pulse as Sawyer cradled her bloody body.
"She's dead," Jack's voice was flat and empty.
Shannon's heart broke for him, and a sob escaped her lips. She wished Sayid were there to hug her and hold her.
Sawyer had his eyes closed, trying to block everything out. This couldn't be happening. Kate, beautiful Kate, could not be dead. But it was. He was holding her bloodied body in his lap, trying to act tough, when really all he wanted to do was break down crying. She was really truly gone. Then something flared inside of him.
"She did this," Sawyer spat, "Alex must have done this. That's why she was gone all day. She went back to her people and arranged this,"
"You're right!" Charlie exclaimed, "I never trusted her,"
People murmured their agreement. Shannon stared at them in shocked.
"How can you people think this?" She cried, "After what she did for me and Sayid"
"How else would you explain her being gone all day?" Sawyer growled.
"So it's settled, then," Jack muttered, "Tomorrow, we find Alex, rescue Aaron, and avenge Kate's death,"
Shouts of approval rang from the survivors.
"Shouldn't we wait until Claire wakes up?" Sun asked timidly, "Then perhaps she can tell us what happened,"
"YES!" Shannon shouted exasperatedly, "Someone here has sense. We can't just go and attack her without any reason!"
"Aw, shut up, Sticks," Sawyer shot back.
Shannon didn't reply. She felt tears burn her eyes. Yeah, she hadn't trusted Alex at first, but when someone saves your life; your feelings about them usually change. But everyone else was being so damn stupid! Alex had saved her and Sayid's friggin lives! Wasn't all that worth anything?
"I still say we go after her," Charlie declared stubbornly.
That was it. Shannon couldn't stand listening to those idiots for a moment longer. Besides, she had to go tell Sayid. If no one else would listen to reason, he would.
She turned on her heel and left the beach, choking back tears. It wasn't as much of a crushing blow to her as when her step-brother had died, but Kate's death was going to shake up the camp. And right after Sayid got attacked. She could understand why everyone suspected Alex, even though she knew that could never happen. Alex wouldn't do something like that.
Sayid was still wide awake when Shannon returned, sitting straight up on the airline chair that served as a bed.
"Shannon! What happened? Who did it? Is everything okay?" Sayid asked, his dark eyes looking at her with worry.
She felt a fresh wave of tears coming on. She bit her lip, and shook her head. Slowly, almost as if she were in a dream, she made her way over to Sayid. He embraced her, and for a long time she cried into his shoulder. It felt like ages before they finally broke apart.
"She's dead," It was more of a statement that a question, a question that hardly needed to be asked.
Shannon sat on the edge of the bed and nodded slowly. Sayid closed his eyes, as if trying to block everything out.
"Someone shot Kate, knocked Claire out, and took Aaron," Shannon continued in a choked voice.
"How could this happen?" Sayid asked.
"They think Alex did this, or helped at least," Shannon said dully.
Sayid's eyes widened.
"What are they thinking?"
"I know, that was my initial thought. But Sawyer brought the idea up, and he's never been one to think things through. Especially when he's upset," Shannon sighed, remembering all too well how she'd tried to murder Locke after her brother had died.
"Did any of them listen to reason?" Sayid asked frustrated.
"A couple people, Sun, Rose, Locke, the intelligent people," Shannon said bitterly.
Sayid sighed, "I wonder where Alex has been all day,"
"You're not saying you actually think-," Shannon gasped.
"No, no," Sayid cut her off, "I'm just saying that if Kate was attacked, then maybe Alex was attacked by those same people,"
Shannon's eyes widened in horror as she realized his point.
"You're right! I didn't even think of that!"
Sayid nodded sadly.
"But I'm afraid we cannot do anything now. It is the middle of the night, making us prime targets for whomever or whatever is attacking people. We will simply have to wait until morning,"