Wow, this chapter practically wrote itself. Amazing! The first half is probably my favorite part of the whole story. Kind of poignant.
Also, I don't know where all of this Ana-love came from. Usually I hate her, but for some reason while writing this story I just began to really sympathize with her. But, I'm still a Skater at heart, so there you go. Even when Kate is being kind of a sissy like she is here.
Anyway, read and enjoy! Just one chapter left after this, a kind of epilogue to tie everyone back together. But this is the end of the main action.
Desmond saw her running through the jungle, and instantly knew that something was wrong. After all, Danielle Rousseau was not the running type. She stalked, quiet and constant as a cat. He was the one who liked to run.
So he did just that, sprinting up the path until he was several meters ahead of her. He leaned against a tree and waited.
"Let me by," Rousseau said when she saw him against that tree. He looked at her with his sad puppy dog eyes.
"Danielle, what's wrong?"
She flinched away. "Let me by."
"Danielle. . ." he allowed his hands to move of their own accord, up and toward her face, gently carressing her weatherbeaten skin. She didn't move, just stared at him straight in the eye.
"Let me by."
He dropped his hands. He should have known, after what happened with Kelvin, that things couldn't go back to normal between him and the Frenchwoman. He regretted it, nonetheless. She had been his only friend on the island, the only thing keeping him from insanity, for the past two years.
"Tell me what's wrong, first."
"The Others have come," she said. "They're attacking the beach."
Desmond nodded. His mind flew back to the others. To the bald man, so full of his own destiny, and the beautiful brunette. And Jack, of course. Foolish Jack, who had been put on the Island to atone and achieve all that he had missed in his earlier life. But he'd completely missed the message.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing her by the arm. "Do you have an extra gun?"
Wordlessly she handed him a crossbow. A wry smile crossed his lips. "Well," he said. "It's not exactly what I had in mind, but it's better than nothing, eh?"
"We cannot just sit and chat," Rousseau said resolutely. "The Others are coming."
"Right, right, right," Desmond said, chuckling a little. He understood that the situation was dire, but he still couldn't help but laugh a little at the Frenchwoman's attitude. The funny thing was, he couldn't tell she was any more serious now than she was every time she saw that black smoke. "Let's go kick some Other ass."
"Dammit!" Sawyer yelled, following to the ground again. Kate was at his side in an instant. Ana just stared down, remembering her last trek through the jungle with the man. He'd fallen, just like this, and then he'd blacked out and nearly died. . .
"Are you going to help us or not?" Kate asked furiously. Ana shrugged it off. She glared down at them. At Sawyer, with whom she had connected in the hatch. But he wasn't thinking of her now, of course, he was all focused on his beautiful, precious Kate. And Jack, too. Ana stepped around their bodies on the ground.
"We don't have time to wait for him to keep falling," she said resolutely, continuing through the jungles. "We need the guns."
"He's been shot!" Kate protested incredulously. "It's not his fault!"
"She's right," Sawyer said. He stared down at the ground, hair obscuring his face. "Listen, Hotlips, you won't find them without me. But. . .Freckles. . .you can. . ." He lifted his face, and studied hers for a long moment, his eyes drinking in every little feature. "Kate," he said. "Remember our waterfall?"
She nodded at him, biting her lips furiously and blinking rapidly to keep her eyes from tearing up.
"They're back there. Behind the water. Take Sheera over there and get them."
"Sawyer. . ." she protested. His eyes narrowed, and a mask fell over his face. Ana watched. She had seen the desperation there for a moment, the longing and the aching need. She had the sinking suspicion that her own face might be showing the same expressions. Not that it mattered, she realized. Because nobody was there watching her. She turned her back, allowing the two to have their moment.
"Hey, She-man!" Sawyer suddenly hollered. Surprised, Ana turned to look at him. He winked in her direction, but his eyes were oddly expressionless. "Get your sweet behind over here."
She walked over, and knelt beside him, pushing Kate a little out of the way. With a grunt of effort, Sawyer rose to a sitting position, leaned forward, and kissed her.
Ana's eyes closed in surprise and pleasure. The kiss was light and teasing, not the furious fountain of passion she had always suspected. His tongue danced lightly into her mouth and out, just barely tasting.
She sighed when he drew back. His face was completely blank, but for just an instant he glanced at Kate and she understood.
"Thank you, Ana," he whispered. His eyes begged her to understand. And she did. Standing up, she tossed him a second gun.
"There. We'll be able to get more," she said hardly, and then turning to Kate, who was staring at the man with obvious surprise and hurt, said "come on, chica, we've got lives to save."
She strode into the jungle, hacking at the branches in her way. She could hear the rustle behind her of the other women.
"It's not that far," Kate said in a low voice. "Ana when—"
"I don't want to talk about it," Ana said. She had to keep her voice strong and her back straight.
"But you were just going to leave him there. . ." Kate almost whispered, clearly not wanting Ana to hear.
"Sometimes there are things more important," Ana said. She didn't say more important than what, thought, maybe because she didn't have the answer.
A few minutes later she ran out of branches to chop at. One step forward and she found herself in a beautiful clearing, with the rushing sound of water. On her right was a huge, beautiful waterfall.
"This the place?" she asked, shaking her head to push dark, overgrown bangs out of her eyes.
"Yeah," Kate said. She dropped her pack on the ground, and headed over to the waterfall. Ana followed close behind.
"There's only room for one person," Kate said, when she came to the stone wall over which the water flowed. "Stay here on the bank, and I'll throw the guns to you."
Ana hated staying behind, but she recognized the wisdom of the suggestion. She dropped her own pack, and fingered the gun tucked into her pants nervously. She glanced around, expecting one of the Others to come out any moment.
"Got it!" Kate yelled from somewhere behind the waterfall. Good for you, Ana thought sarcastically, still eying the jungle all around them. Kate's face appeared suddenly from behind the water, a briefcase caught in one hand, and several rifles in the other.
"Ready?" she asked. Ana nodded her head.
"Go ahead."
It was a slow and laborious process getting the guns out. Yet again, both women had to wonder how Sawyer had managed to spirit them away in the first place. Ana refused to think about him too long, though. How he was out in the jungle, injured, possibly even dead. . .no.
"Stop!" Ana finally yelled as Kate ducked behind the water again. "That's all we can carry. We'll take these back to the beach."
"Okay," Kate agreed, and carefully crawled back across the steep stone precipice. She grabbed her pack again, the briefcase, and two of the shotguns, while Ana shouldered the rest.
"Come on," Ana said, smiling at the other woman. She could tell that Kate was scared, and worried about Sawyer, and the other survivors. For an instant she felt like she could understand her as a woman, not just as the love interest of every damn man on the island. They weren't so different, really. She smiled a little at the other woman.
"Let's go kick some Other ass."
Hurley panted, and leaned against a tree. "Can we be done running yet?" he asked.
Jin stucked his face up close to the larger man, and shook his head, looking intense and muttering something in Korean.
"Whoa, dude, I don't speak Chinese," Hurley protested.
"Ozzers," Jin said urgently, pointing toward the shore. "Sun. Ozzers."
"Okay, okay," Hurley stood up again. "I get it."
"We can't all keep running," Locke said suddenly. Everybody turned to stare at him. He hadn't said a word since Sayid had been murdered. "Bernard can't, anyway, and I don't think our buddy Hurley can."
"I . . .can. . ." Hurley said, but he could hear the doubt in his own voice.
"Jin, Libby and I will do another run through the beach," Locke said. "Try to distract them again. But you two try to get back in the jungle. Hurley, you'll have to watch out for Bernard."
Hurley looked at the older man. He wasn't looking so good, he thought. Kind of a weird grey color. Then his eyes traveled down a little, to the man's chest.
"Dudes. . ." he said. "Dudes, I don't do so good with blood."
"Hurley, you have to do this," Libby said earnestly. She was crying. She'd been crying since the battle had begun. Hurley wanted nothing more than to take her tears away.
"Okay," he said. "Yeah. Yeah, I can take care of him."
"Ozzers," Jin said insistently.
"I know!" Locke yelled, losing his temper for just a moment. "Goddammit, I know. Hugo, be careful," he said. Hurley nodded his head.
"Yeah, you guys, too."
Locke nodded, and then in a minute he was off and running again, Jin at his heels. Libby turned to look one last time at Hurley, sympathy written large across her features, and then she was following him. Hurley hated the thought of her out there, basically just bait for the Others.
He looked back at Bernard, and then, sighing, stumbling over to him and sat down beside him. He opened a water bottle, and poured a little over the lips of the injured man.
"Dude, looks like it's just you and me."
Jack almost dropped Michael when he reached the hatch. Three bodies were lying outside of it, two shot, and one who looked like his head had been halfway-crushed. No wonder Sawyer and Ana had looked so banged up, if they'd been attacked by all these men.
He dragged Michael down the hatch, and heard the timer angrily counting down. He was surprised it was still going. But he didn't have time to go punch in keys and hit a button. It was looking like they would all find out what happened when it counted down to zero.
He hurried to the armory, hoping that maybe Sawyer had overlooked one gun when he'd been taking them out. But the armory, sure enough, was still empty of guns. Henry Gale lay on the floor, a scalpel sticking out of his throat. Jack ignored him, and ran toward the supply room.
He grabbed his medical bag and hurriedly shoved in all of the bandages and the medicine that he could, and then hurried off to the beach, praying that Ana, Kate and Sawyer had been able to find the guns.
The sun was at its height when he stepped out of the hatch. He stared at it for a moment in amazement. Could it really be so beautiful, when there was so much death and pain going on? It didn't seem to make sense.
"Brother."
He spun around, coming face to face with what he could have sworn was a figment of his imagination.
"Desmond?" he said, confused. Right behind the man was a familiar figure as well. Jack shook his head. Rousseau?
"The Others are attacking," Rousseau said. Desmond rolled his eyes and nodded.
"Care to join us on our Other-hunt?" Desmond asked.
"That's where I was headed myself," Jack said carefully, throwing his medicinal supplies over his shoulder. Desmond held up a crossbow, almost cheerfully.
"Well, we're not the best prepared, but hey, it's better than nothing, eh brother?"
"Sure," Jack said warily. He turned and began running down the path toward the beach. He could hear the heavy footfalls of Desmond and Rousseau close behind them. Where had they come from? He wondered. How had they even known?
It didn't matter. He couldn't hear anything from the beach. He was certain that he and Kate had heard gunshots while they were in the jungle. What did it mean that they had all ceased?
God, he prayed. God, if you exist, don't let them dead. Don't let this all be upon my head.
Sun cried silently, tears running down her face. Her lips moved, but no sounds came out.
Claire cried softly. Low, whimpering sounds came out of her mouth ever few seconds. Whenever she heard herself, she would duck her head and gently kiss her baby's head.
Rose didn't cry. She had seen her husband shot, and had seen Locke carry him off down the beach. Rose was too scared to cry. Last time, when he husband had been stranded on the opposite end of the island, she had felt that he was still all right, that they would one day be reunited. But this time, she didn't feel anything.
Charlie didn't cry, either. He just kept looking at Claire, and feeling an overwhelming rush of sadness. They couldn't go like this, knee-deep in water, staring at enemies they couldn't even see. He had to do something, anything to make up for his failure. He began to walk off the sandbar. Nobody stopped him, although Claire said his name, once, softly.
He walked up the beach, resolute, and stood in the center, shading his eyes a little and staring out at the jungle.
"Well?" he yelled. "Where are you? Come on out, you buggers, come on! What? You afraid of me!"
"I highly doubt that," Locke said, breathing heavily. Charlie nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. Where had the man come from. But there, just behind him, was Jin and Libby.
"Hey!" Charlie said, his voice sounding oddly cheerful in the stillness of the afternoon. "Where did you guys come from?"
"We were running decoys," said Libby. She was the only one who had noticed the dark figures coming out of the jungle. "But I think we've waited a little too long this time."
Charlie turned around, fearfully, following her eyes. Coming out of the forest were six men, all armed, pointing their guns at the small group on the beach.
"Well, looks like this might be it," Locke said. He turned and smiled at everyone. "It's been a pleasure serving with you men."
But Jin was having no part of the martyrdom. He reached down, grabbed a pole from what was once Sawyer's tent, and ran head first toward the Others. Charlie and Libby followed by example, while Locke simply walked behind them, his arms held up toward the sky, smiling beautifically.
The Others, he figured, were of the Island. And if the Island had decided that it was his time to go, the best he could do was accept it peacefully.
"What are they doing?" Claire asked. She saw Jin grab a piece of tent, and run toward the jungle. Sun shrieked, and began running out of the water. Charlie and Libby picked up bits of plane remnants as well.
"Sun!" Claire screamed. She clutched Aaron to her chest. She couldn't take him with. She couldn't, she had to protect him!
A gunshot fired, and Claire shut her eyes. Then another, and another. Too many guns for six people. Terrified, she opened her eyes. Two of the Others were on the ground, along with Libby. Charlie was clutching his shoulder.
But why weren't the other four firing?
She squinted. It was hard to make out faces on the blindingly white beach. But the four remaining Others, she could see, had their hands up in expressions of surrender. There, behind two of them, were Kate and Ana, guns held at the men's heads. And on the other side, Danielle with her shotgun, and some man Claire had never seen with what looked like a crossbow.
And there was Jack, kicking up sand as he ran, and then skidding to the ground alongside Jin, his medicine bag open almost before he'd hit the ground.
Claire began to laugh, and to frantically kiss Aaron's small head. They were saved, after all. They weren't going to die.
They were saved.
