Jack opens his eyes a LOT in this story, I just realized. I guess I'm subconsciously drawing that from the show, and the dramatic theme of Jack's enlightenment symbolized through the eye. A little guide to help you understand what's going on in this chapter, re-reading sections of Chapters 8, 10, 13 and 14 will be most helpful! Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Jack's eyes flickered open, his subdued awareness reaching. It was dark, quiet, and erringly calm. There was nothing but the gargled labor of his own breathing. He was weathered, but alive. For some reason unbeknownst to him in that moment, he knew that he was lucky to be alive. He sat up slowly, testing his body against its limits and he found that he had very little vigor to work with. All the energy and strength he'd once had was wiped clean, like he'd given it all away to something bigger than himself, something that had bested him. What the hell was going on? What was happening to him? Where was he?

Once upright, he watched as what he only knew to be firelight from nearby play lightly with the shadows on the crumbled wall at his feet. He struggled to stand, but once he had, he took his time walking towards this light, a narrow walkway guiding his movements. He stopped for a second, taking in a breath before he continued on. The bumps in the stone wall scratched against his palm, and it was a relieved pain, a welcomed sensation, because everything else felt numb, empty.

A few more steps led him into a wide, echoing room, lit by torches and a central fire that created its core. Four columns held the room upright. He leaned into the frame of its entrance, taking hold of the crumbling walls again, still woozy and quite tired, but the discovery of where he was would somehow lead him to where he'd been and how he'd gotten here, it had to and that was what kept him pressing onward. Sweaty and trembling, Jack moved down the three steps ahead of him and took in the expanse of the room. The entire atmosphere felt odd, eerily vacant. A small pool of water swam in the outer ring of the pit where the fire crackled and burned in the center of the room, clear and still in its glorified blaze.

On the nearby wall hung an embroidered mural of some kind, its unfinished end trailing the dusty floor beneath it. Jack stepped over to it, taking in the artistry of the piece. He never saw anything like it. The detail was so minute, so intricate that he marveled at the handiwork. The Greek lettering at the top was something he wouldn't dare try to decipher. His hand reached out to touch it, but before his fingertips could land upon it, he heard someone speak from behind him.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Jack turned and stared wordlessly, surprise caught up with a bit of fear, shone in his face. The shadow of a man sitting in a wooden chair in the darkest corner became apparent. As the flames flickered, they shifted the luminance within the room, revealing the deep blue of his eyes and the sharp form of his features.

"At least it will be once I'm done with it." An awkward silence persisted, leaving Jack's strangled breathing the only noise within the echoing space. The man shifted in his seat, still obscure within the shadows, hidden, cloaked. "You're finally awake. I have to say, you're a lot heavier than you look."

"What?" Was all Jack could manage, not sure what this mysterious man was talking about.

"I found you on the beach. You were unconscious, looked like you'd been there for awhile, so I carried you in here, waited for you to wake up."

Jack continued to stare, still speechless and confused. "Who are you?"

"You should sit, you must be hungry." The man ignored the command in Jack's tone, standing to move towards him. Firelight encased his entire form, leaving Jack to wonder how long he'd been here. He was relatively younger than his voice led on. He didn't look a day over forty, but for some reason, Jack felt like he was much older than that. It showed in his eyes, which were boring holes straight through him under a tired squint. He wore a simple, grimy white collared shirt and dusty dark pants, his bare feet shuffled against the floor as he walked over, the fire caught between the two of them.

"I caught breakfast at first light, there's plenty if you—"

"I'm not hungry and I don't want to sit down. I need you to tell me who the hell you are and where you've taken me." Jack said with as much bite as he could muster in his state. He could feel his temper rising as suspicion for this man burned through him. Why had he been found on the beach? Why couldn't he remember anything substantial past the last minute or so?

"I haven't taken you anywhere you don't want to be, Jack." The man said as he folded his hands together in front of him.

Jack held his breath, his eyes blinking as sweat continued to bead across his forehead, the warmth of the fire making him hot. "How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things; that tends to happen when you've been around as long as I have." The man stated. "I think a more interesting question is how it's possible that you disappeared from a plane in mid-flight."

"What?" Jack stammered, the word coming out broken, his heavy breathing taking a turn for the worse. The pallor of his skin turned ghostly pale and he felt like he was going to topple over. He bent to support himself; his hands covering the bend of his knees. His eyes darted back and forth within the bright waves of the fire, dense with bafflement; the urge to vomit sickened him. He disappeared from a plane? How was that possible?

Broken memories began to resurface. There was a high, perfect sky. He remembered hot sand roasting his back, waves at his feet, the scorching bake of sunlight as he found it near impossible to move. His father's letter was the last thing he remembered of the plane, before the image of Frank on the floor of the cockpit, unconscious, reemerged. The terror on Juliet's face at the realization that they were crashing and the wide sky in front of him as he tried to get them out of there came rushing back to him, as vividly as if it were happening right in front of him in that moment. Jack soon realized that if he was here, where were his friends?

"Juliet and Frank—" He looked up at the man who stood before him, trying the best he could to catch his breath.

"They're fine." The stranger assured him, his blue eyes both calming and dreadful.

Jack closed his eyes, heaving a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if Juliet and Frank were dead because of him, because of what he had to do. They were out there somewhere, alive. He couldn't remember the transition between the plane and the beach and somehow he knew that this man knew more than he was saying about what happened, about how it was possible for all of this to be happening to him, how he knew his name, and how he knew that his friends were okay. He knew more, he had to. Another memory resurfaced, and it made him distrust him more than he already had.

"But I wasn't." Jack stated with accusatory spite, straightening from his slouched position, his entire body taunt with aggression. He watched as the man's face stood stoic and unaffected.

"I was hurt, badly. I was dying, that much I know for sure and the next thing I remember is I'm waking up here and not one scratch, like it hadn't happened at all." The puzzling stranger kept his composure, but he knew what Jack was implying, what he was accusing him of. He had been found out and it was too late to turn back.

"For the last time, who the hell are you and what did you do to me?" Jack asked, his tone leaving no choice but to confess.

"My name is Jacob," he finally delcared, his eyes growing solemn, "and I healed you."

Jack took a step back, not prepared for that answer, not prepared for much of anything. "How? Why?"

"The 'How' is a very long story, but the 'Why' is a little simpler. Because you're very important to me, Jack, and I worked very hard to get you back here."

"Back? Back whe—?" Jack cut himself short, closing his eyes before he bowed his head, nodding. "The Island."

Jacob nodded. "Yes."

Jack swiped a hand over his forehead, visibly taken aback, tears building in his eyes. While he wanted to rejoice, there was still so much he couldn't be sure of, there were still questions he needed answers to, mysteries that needed solving. His memory was all broken, fragmented, bits and pieces scattered, trying to fit, and he still felt like he could collapse at any moment. Nothing felt right, nothing felt real.

"What is happening to me?" He asked, his hand still holding his forehead. He could feel a headache coming as question after question came to mind. "Why am I important to you? I don't even know you. I know nothing about what you want from me."

"But Benjamin Linus does." Jacob said, his tone monotonous and low, but rumbling.

The change in Jack's features and in his body language told Jacob everything he needed to know. "You." He whispered, stepping closer. "Ben was trying to keep me away from the Island, because of you." Jacob confirmed it with a nod. "Why would he do that?"

"Because I chose you." Jacob confessed simply.

"For what?"

"For a very important job that I've been doing for a very long time, that I didn't choose for myself, but was asked of me by someone I thought I could trust, someone I wanted to make proud." Jacob explained.

"And what job is that?" Jack asked.

"Protecting the Island."

"Come on you piece of crap!" Frank screeched, banging the transceiver against his palm, then holding it back up to the perfect blue sky above. Static continued to blare through the speaker, much to his dismay.

It had been two hours since the rough landing, and with every second that ticked by, Frank grew more and more irritated. He outwardly cursed himself for ever agreeing to come back, quite a comical scene to behold for an onlooker. Juliet sat atop a few large rocks near the plane, her back to her frustrated pilot, staring in the direction of the tall mountains, her face blank of emotion, but the blues of her eyes swam. On the other side of those hills was where she worked each and every day for three years, where she thought she was changing lives, saving lives, but it was all a lie. Ben's lie, to get her to do whatever she wanted him to do. She resented herself for having been caught in his trap for so long, desperate for freedom. This place, once here, had a hold that wouldn't easily shake, and even in that moment, she could feel its grab.

Luckily, Ben and the rest of his team had abandoned Hydra Island long ago, very soon after his surgery. There was no one who could have witnessed the crash as far as she knew, not unless Ben instructed security detail to stay behind to patrol the place, but she doubted that. With the barracks having been so easy to invade by Kate, Sayid and Locke, she was certain that he was more concerned with securing it than anything else. So, for the moment, they were safe, but she wasn't sure they would stay that way.

She thought about Jack, about what happened to him. She didn't want to believe the worst; she couldn't bring herself to the thought. He was doing something so noble and selfless by coming back here, so courageous to face what was happening to him head on, but she was so scared for him, especially now that she wasn't with him, that she couldn't help him. She had never seen such bravery in all her life and her heart broke for the fact that wherever he was, dead or alive, he was most likely alone. She thought back to that night in his apartment, the guilt he felt over leaving his friends behind, how ashamed he was that he couldn't find the Island and how much of a disappointment he thought himself to be because of it.

Tired of sitting there sulking in her negative thoughts, Juliet returned to the belly of the plane. She grabbed Jack's bag from the floor and unapologetically rummaged through it until she found the device that Faraday had given him before they took off back in L.A. She hadn't told Jack that she saw the device exchange hands and that she heard the near-end of the conversation, Faraday's words loud and clear.

'But you can only detonate itonce, so be very careful with your timing, Jack. We've only got one shot at this.'

One shot at what? She thought to herself. Worry struck her, because Jack was the only one who knew what was going on, and what needed to happen next. She didn't know what she should do with the device or the information pertaining to it. Should she detonate it herself? But how? Should she wait for Jack? She had no idea where he was or how to find him, but she wouldn't let his sacrifice be for nothing. Should she just forget what she heard? She couldn't possibly do that. While she didn't know the specifics, if Faraday had rushed to get to Jack before take-off just to give him this device and to tell him that they only had one shot at something, it had to have been a matter of life and death.

After another minute or so of contemplation, she decided that there was only one thing to do.

Frank continued to try his best to secure a signal that could help him send a distress call. "You might as well stop trying. It's not gonna work." Juliet said as she approached him, getting his attention.

He turned, annoyed. "Oh yeah? How in the hell would you know that?"

"Because I used to work here, and live here." She confessed. "And I know for a fact that all communication off this Island is being blocked."

"By who?" He asked.

"My old boss." She explained.

"Well, that's just great." Frank sighed, looking glumly at the transceiver in his hand. When he was here before, with Dan and his merry band of scientists, the plane had landed smoothly, so there was no need to send a distress call, so he had no idea there was no way to communicate with the outside world, yet another wonderful reason why he shouldn't have agreed to this suicide mission.

Frank looked up at Juliet, his burly brows protecting his eyes from sunlight. "Is your old boss responsible for Jack disappearing from the cockpit out of thin air too?" He still couldn't believe what Juliet had told him once they were in the clear. Jack disappeared within a flash of bright purple light? What the hell was this Island and why would anyone in their right mind voluntarily come back? He thought.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." She readjusted her ponytail, pulling it tighter while walking back around the plane. Frank, curious as to what she meant and what she was doing, followed behind her. She kneeled to zip her pack and tie the loose laces of her boots.

"First, I need to get to the beach." Juliet said out loud, mapping out a plan of action in her head as she did so.

"I don't think now's a good time for a tan and a swim. We're kind of in the middle of a crisis here." Frank bristled.

"Jack's people," Juliet clarified as she tightened the laces on her right foot, "they're living on a beach, on another island entirely. If I want to reach them by tomorrow before sunset, I need to move now." She knew that she needed a canoe, and she knew exactly where to find one. Paddling it by herself over miles of water wouldn't be very fun, but she could manage. She just had to get to the other island before nightfall.

"They don't know what happened to Jack and I need to tell them." While she had never encountered Jack's group, she hoped that they would listen to her. With her luck, that surly Southerner who had given her such a hard time before would definitely keep tradition. She couldn't think about that. Jack was her friend and she owed it to him to tell his friends what happened, whether they believed it or not.

"Hey, wait a minute. What about me? What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Frank asked.

Juliet straightened, tying the sleeves of her jacket around her waist. "You're gonna have to guard the plane, so that once we find Jack and get everyone to this island, we can get the hell out of here."

"Guard it with what? My shoelaces?" He asked sarcastically.

She pulled a handgun from behind her and handed it to him, handle-side up. "Here, take this."

He took the gun from her, looking at her with wild, surprised eyes. She was only handing it to him, but the way she'd done it, so deftly, told him that she knew her way around weapons of the firearm variety. She was pretty, but she wasn't a priss, he realized.

"You always packin' heat like this?" He asked, admiring the piece.

She laughed, and it was genuine, her smile beaming. "I'm like a Girl Scout, Frank. I'm always prepared, and I knew exactly what I was coming back to. You never know when you need to shoot first and ask questions later." She watched as the surprise in his eyes grew wider.

"I get the feeling you speak from experience." He laughed nervously, making a mental note to stay on this woman's good side. He checked the clip, a full round, but he figured he might need back-up as he pushed it back into the cylinder. "You got an extra round of bullets?"

She dug into her pack and threw him a box. "Don't spend 'em all in one place, huh?" She joked before turning off.

He smiled, finding that he liked her very much. "I'll try my best."

While he was playing it cool, she could see the panic in his eyes. He was here because he was doing a friend a favor, and she had a feeling that he was the kind of guy who would always be there for his friends, no matter how crazy that favor was. She stopped short, her compassion calling out to her, and turned to him.

"Frank," Juliet called, "I know that the situation looks pretty grim right now, but I'm gonna find Jack and get us all out of here."

"I promise."

Jack stumbled back a bit, the wind having been blown out of him. Protect the Island? That was what he was supposed to do? How? Why? What in the hell did that entail? Minutes persisted before either of them spoke again, Jacob giving him time to digest the information. He paced back and forth, slowly, his brow knitted in thought, and his fingers folding his hair in every direction as they combed through. Jacob expected him to erupt at any moment, but once Jack stopped pacing a hole into the floor, he only had one thing to say, one question to ask.

"So, Ben knew this, the entire time?"

"Yes." Jacob admitted.

"How?"

"He worked for me," Jacob began, "I trusted him to perform certain tasks, but he stopped quite awhile ago, deliberately. He betrayed me, willingly and openly by letting you leave the Island. He wanted me to know that he could take whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, and he wanted you to leave of your own volition, which wasn't a very hard feat considering the fact that you've been trying to do just that ever since your plane crashed."

Jack began to pace again, but Jacob thought it best to continue to talk, before he wasn't allowed the opportunity. "He studied you, Jack. He found out what you cared about the most in this world and ripped it away from you, so that leaving it all behind would feel like you were free, like you were regaining control of the situation."

Jack didn't need to be reminded of why he left, of what he lost and why he felt like distance, if only for a little while, would be best for everyone involved. Ben hadn't used Kate against him for just the surgery, he began to realize. His plans went far beyond saving his own life, and he mentally kicked himself for playing right into his hands. While he had been manipulated and deceived, he was right about the tension between Ben and Locke on the docks that night. There was something weird about it, something was off, and he couldn't truly see it until it was too late to do anything about it.

Jack combed a hand through his hair again, disheveling it, mumbling to himself, but loud enough for Jacob to hear, "This is crazy."

"Is it really that crazy, Jack?" Jacob challenged him. "It is so unbelievable that every moment of your life has been leading up to this? That I brought your plane to this Island for a reason?"

Jacob's word choice struck a nerve with him, one that left him reeling. "Locke knew, he…" He couldn't get it out, the truth of it crushing him. It wasn't John's imagination or his desire to feel like his life had purpose and meaning, not entirely at least, it was real; it was standing right across from him, blue-eyed with short blonde hair that glimmered in the firelight.

"He was right about all of it, about Ben, about this, and I didn't believe him. I didn't…"

"John Locke only knows what I allow him to know, which isn't very much." Jacob said. "I need him just as much as I need you, just in a different way."

Jack once thought Locke dead, after having left him with Ben and his men, but judging from Jacob's tone, he was still very much alive. He was relieved, and he never thought he'd ever feel that way about John, but he did, so much so that he needed to see him for himself, to validate his existence.

"Why didn't you choose him to be your successor? Why me?"

Jacob paused, considering his answer very carefully before he spoke. "John is…impulsive. He leaps first; he's too quick to trust and susceptible to anyone who makes him feel special or wanted, but he is special. He allows his faith, his intuition to guide him in remarkable ways. He doesn't have to see it to believe it, and that gets him into a lot of trouble, but for him, it's worth it."

"But you, Jack, you're careful, you calculate every move, because you can't stand to be out of control. You're a leader, you were born with this ability to…motivate people, to inspire the best and most truthful part of them. They trust you, they depend on you, even though you don't believe they should. You're a cynic, for you there's no such thing as miracles, nothing is a wonder, it just is what it is. You don't want to be special, you just want to do the right thing, period. That's just who you are."

"I guess Ben wasn't the only one studying me." Jack noted, watching Jacob smirk lightly.

"Don't you see, Jack? You and John, you're the opposite sides of the same coin. What you won't risk, he will, what you can't bring yourself to believe, he does. You need each other more than either of you could have ever imagined."

"What about everyone else that was on that plane?" Jack asked, his anger building. "People died in that crash, lives were turned upside-down, ruined. What about them?"

"Sadly, they were sacrifices the Island demanded. They're free to leave if they wish." Jacob said, void of emotion or any feeling that Jack could detect. He could tell that he cared a great deal about his fellow survivors and couldn't fathom what he'd done to them so unceremoniously, but he had no choice. There was no other way.

Jack shook his head, completely revolted by Jacob's disregard for all the damage he caused, in the name of what he needed, what he wanted. Was this what he wanted? Could he be someone who felt so detached from the catastrophe he created in the name of the Island? Could he spend centuries with the guilt of that? If he decided to do this, would he lose all sense of compassion, of emotion altogether? There had to be something redeeming about this man, something that he could connect with, so he went in search of it.

"Who?" Jack asked.

"Who what?" Jacob retorted.

Jack stepped back near the fire, wanting to see his face when he asked the question. "Who were you trying to make proud?"

The question took Jacob by surprise. It was the first time in the conversation that the tables were turned, Jack suddenly in the driver's seat. He bowed his head, sadness playing on his features, but it was a guarded sadness.

"My mother, or who I thought was my mother. She, uh, she was manipulative and evil and…" Jacob paused, raising his head to lock eyes with Jack again while clearing his throat, his voice suddenly emotional, cracking, "her time was running out, so she needed someone to take her place. I was the only one around who could. I wasn't ready for it, but I didn't have a choice."

"So, she took me to a stream nearby, in the jungle, the very same stream from where this water comes," he kneeled down near the fire, his fingertips dipped into the thin pool of water that outlined the trench that the flames grew from, "and being so desperate to trust her, to make her love him, I drank, and ever since, I've been responsible for this place."

"And just like it had for her, my time is running out."

Jack could feel sympathy for Jacob swelling, relieved that there was still some part of him that could draw those emotions, which resembled human frailty at its most potent, but he couldn't hear any more, couldn't take in one more fragment of information. He felt like his head was going to explode if he was forced to listen to any more.

"I can't do this. I thought I could come back here and face this, maybe even accept it, but I can't. I'm not ready, not for this."

Jacob straightened, bringing his hands back together in front of him. "And I can't force you, it's not who I am, and it's not how I operate. I can only hope that one day you'll come back here and decide to want this, that you embrace it and all that comes with it, because once that happens, there is no turning back."

"And what if I choose not to protect the Island? What happens then?" Jack asked, terrified of the answer, but needing to know.

"This ends very badly…for all of us." Jacob confessed.

"What does that mean?"

"If no one protects the Island, then it'll cease to exist, and under no circumstances can that happen."

"Because of the energy that's inherent to it." Jack stated, recalling what Faraday told him about the Island's innate, unique properties, surprised that he remembered as much.

"Yes." Jacob said, impressed with what Jack knew. He wasn't the only one who had done his homework. "People have come far and wide, for thousands of years, to test it, to exploit it for their own gain. They come, they fight, they destroy, and they corrupt. It always ends the same."

"Desperate to stop that cycle for good, I created something from this energy, something that to this day, I deeply regret."

Putting two and two together, from what he was told from Faraday, Jack came to Jacob's conclusion himself, his eyes rounding. "The Smoke Monster."

Jacob nodded. "It was meant to be a security system, something so formidable that no one dare threaten the Island. I designed it so that I could control it, but it's since grown a mind of its own. I can still influence it, but only so far, for so long. Soon after I created it, I built a chamber on the other side of the Island that harnesses it, but it becomes more and more powerful, killing any and everything in its path, and Ben knows how to use it to his advantage."

"The Island traps it, keeps it from leaving to destroy everything else." Jacob said. "I was naïve to think that creating it was the way to defend anything. That which is made of man can never be perfect. It's my biggest mistake and I have no idea how to fix it."

Jack's mind revved with this information, and then it dawned on him something else that Faraday told him, about the Monster, the ever-growing build-up of the energy now that the Hatch was gone, and how disastrous it would be if nothing was done about it. He remembered a device of some kind, something that he had to detonate to fix things, a one-off that he had to be very careful with in terms of timing. Jack continued to sift through his fractured memories until Faraday's words broke through.

'It's an Electromagnetic Pulse Device, ELMA for short…It'll disintegrate the Smoke Monster, and hopefully eradicate the instability.'

With his splintered memory piecing itself back together, Jack needed to move, now. "I have to go." He said, backing away from the fire and turning towards the opening, marching with one-tracked intent.

Jacob attempted to stop him, not having told him everything yet. "Jack—"

Jack didn't even turn to address him as he continued to walk out. "I need to find my friends, and Juliet and Frank so that I can—"

"They're not here, Jack." Jacob confessed, his voice the loudest it had ever been, desperate to stop Jack from fleeing.

Jack, his attention peaked, stopped in mid-stride, turned and walked back to where he once stood, his fury spiking. "What are you talking about? Where are they?"

Jacob stood silent, not sure how to break the news. It was Jack's turn to raise his voice, his patience snapping in half. "Jacob, where are they?"

"It's not a question of where your friends are, but when you are." Devastation hit Jack in the gut, leaving him powerless.

"Oceanic Flight 815 and the plane that you disappeared from don't crash here for another two-thousand years. You're in 2000 B.C." Jacob explained.

While devastation and rage were clearly marked on his face, Jack didn't have time to ask questions, physically exhausted from all the asking he'd already done. All he needed to know was one thing. "How do I get back to the present?"

Jacob's eyes grew somber, pleading. "Trust in what I'm telling you. You don't just yet, I can see it in your eyes, you're not ready to, but sooner than you could imagine, you're gonna have to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life, and the fate of this Island. It's the same decision I had to make, only I didn't know what I had to give, what I had to sacrifice."

Jack still looked uneasy and unconvinced. "It's a leap of faith, Jack. Ben won't stop. He will not stop until he's won, until the Island and everything I've ever done to protect it is destroyed. You'll know when it's time. The Island will be done with me by then, but it won't even have begun with you. I—"

With that, Jack was gone, phasing out of existence at the blink of an eye, right from where he stood, with no warning or welcome. It was like he was never there, the space he once occupied unmarked, unscathed by his sudden, swift vanishing.

Jacob stared at the spot from over the intensity of the flames, neither shocked nor terrified, but a grimace of sorrow and worry etched their way into his features. He knew what was happening to Jack and why. He also knew that he needed a big, emotional push in the right direction in order to have gotten this far, something to motivate him, to be the stepping stone on his way to not only forgiving himself, but also allowing himself redemption. Christian's letter was that timely motivator. He had been behind it all, working with his old and trusted friend, Eloise Hawking, to make sure that Jack received it and read it, the key to unlocking the journey he must take.

She herself had been to the Island many times before, beginning in the summer of 1977, when the war between them had begun, because of the incident that threatened to destroy the Island and unleash havoc and terror onto the rest of the world.

She was a strong, courageous young woman, determined to find what she was looking for, no matter the costs. Her investment in the success of the DHARMA Initiative and its intent to exploit the Island put them at odds with one another, until he revealed himself to her when she was walking through the jungle one brisk day, alone, left to her own thoughts and defenses. He explained the special nature of the Island, and how if they worked together, they could protect it. He allowed her and the Initiative to stay on the Island as long as they vowed to never exploit what they discovered. She reluctantly agreed to those conditions, and their partnership began from there, and so did a deep, abiding, unexpected friendship.

He shared things with her that he hadn't shared with anyone else, swallowed by solitude for so long that there was no one to share it with, and while everyone knew her to be cold and unfeeling, calculating for the most part, he knew someone completely different. She was warm and attentive, she made him feel like the center of her universe, and he loved that feeling. If he were ever being honest with himself, he had fallen in love with her, but he never told her, because there was no future for them. His role and all that came with it never allowed him the luxury of true love, of lasting companionship. It was a fate of loneliness, more tragic than death.

She left the Island for good when she retired from her field post within the Initiative, but she still kept in touch. He thought of her often. She was in her early sixties by now, he remembered, still as beautiful as she ever was. She was his confidante, the only person he could trust to help him thwart what Ben was planning, and she had, no questions asked. Her son Daniel proved to be crucial in getting Jack back to the Island, just as his mother said he would be.

Their association was a well-kept secret, one that benefitted them both in exceptional ways. Daniel, when he came to the Island some twenty-five years after his mother, was spared the same fate as his fellow scientists, because he had promised her he would protect her only child as best he could, by preventing the Monster from killing him, using what little influence he had left to spare his life. He wished that he could have spared all the lives lost over the many centuries because of the raging creature he thought would be an asset to his purpose, but that was blood on his hands and there was nothing he could do to wash it away.

He had been one step ahead of Ben's deceit this entire time, implementing a plan that could have backfired at any moment, but one he had to risk. Ben will no doubt learn about Jack's return, and he will stop at nothing to stop him from claiming his fate. He anticipated desperation, then anger, and then revenge.

He told Jack all he could in the time he was allowed, had given him all the information he deemed necessary, now it was all up to him, and the clock was ticking, so loudly that it was all Jacob could hear.

"I hope we're not too late."

"Jack? Is that you?"

Kate asked, her eyes searching the space that surrounded her. She saw nothing, only felt, but she called out anyways. Jack was here. He was back on the Island. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. She smiled, her tears coming freely, gladly. He had come back just like he said he would. She cried out loud, laughing through happy tears.

But, her feelings of excitement and anticipation soon turned to panic. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. She sensed it with this new innate apparatus that somehow drew her to Jack like a magnet. He was in trouble, in serious danger and she couldn't inhale with it, her breaths coming out short and shallow. She remembered the whisper that had called her name all that time ago, the feeling it gave her under the layers of horror that collapsed over it. The familiarity of the voice had stayed with her, like a puzzle she had to solve. Fear rang through her at what she finally came to discover. The voice belonged to Jack. He was calling out to her, needing her. Had he been in trouble all this time? Had it taken her this long to realize it?

She hopped out of bed, grabbed her jeans and pushed her legs into them. Her hiking boots were next, as she pushed her feet into them, tying them quickly and tightly. She moved around frantically, pulling a shirt over her head as she grabbed for Jack's watch, pushing it into the safest pocket of her pack.

She began to horde her bag, but she didn't know where she was going, she just knew that she had to go. She didn't know where else to go but the beach, to enlist help. The more people out there looking for Jack, the better. What was she going to say to them though? That Jack was back and in trouble and that they needed to find him? That just wasn't enough, nothing seemed to be, not for them. Who would believe her? Asking them to trust her had gotten her nowhere, so, she was certain that no one was willing to help her, let alone believe her. According to the majority of the group, Jack coming back was a pipe dream that was never coming true. What evidence did she have that Jack was back to begin with, let alone in need of help? She didn't give a damn about proof, not after everything she'd already experienced without one shred of physical verification.

All she knew was that she had to find him, she had to save him.

She approached the door and looked back into the cabin over her shoulder, dreading to leave it, but for Jack, who drew her to this cabin in the first place, she'd do anything. She knew that she would find the cabin again, of that she wasn't worried, not anymore. It always seemed to find her, now that she thought about it. She only worried that she was too late.

She pulled the strap of her rifle over her shoulder as she turned the doorknob, greeting the jungle, her old friend, with determination and speed. She closed the door behind her and sprinted into the direction from which she came the last time the cabin appeared to her, making a beeline for the beach.