The Island, November 2004
As nice as living in the hatch was, Emilie was glad she had been able to go back into the jungle for a night.
Desmond was paranoid, especially after the events of a month ago. Kelvin's habits had worn off on him, and he wasn't keen on roaming the island, despite wanting to do that for years. Emilie had much more experience than him, having lived in the jungle for two years.
Of course, everything changed when Kelvin died. Well, when Desmond killed him. Emilie never asked about it, but it clearly affected Desmond greatly. She wished she knew how to help him, but she could barely sort out her own problems, let alone those of someone else.
Whatever the case, the fresh air felt nice. It was nighttime, but the stars weren't very visible. Emilie had explored nearly the whole island, or so she thought, so she knew about the other people who lived on the island. She always thought of them as the Others, a simple but fitting name, until Desmond had informed her that Kelvin referred to them as Hostiles. Still, she wasn't planning on going with anything Kelvin said, given what Desmond told her about him.
In the two years she had lived out there, she actually managed to build a pretty good shelter. Once she accepted the fact that she couldn't fix her plane, she used the parts along with materials she found in the jungle to make herself a home of sorts. Desmond had given her one of the guns from the hatch, and she learned how to hunt and catch food, since Desmond wasn't always able to get out of the hatch. When he did, however, he brought food, water, clothes, and other supplies. But Emilie was sure that if Desmond and the hatch suddenly disappeared, she would still be able to survive on her own.
Granted, she didn't want to be alone, but if that was truly her only option, she would manage. Probably.
Emilie stopped walking abruptly as she realized she was about to walk into a tree, and she figured that she had spaced out a little bit. She checked her DHARMA Initiative watch and sighed, seeing that it was much later than she had intended to stay out.
She really had no idea what the DHARMA Initiative was, despite the Orientation video that she watched countless times. It was ridiculously vague, and parts of it seemed to have been cut out, giving even less information than it already intended to give.
Emilie pulled the communication radio out of her jumpsuit to make sure it was actually on, figuring that since she was away from the hatch way longer than she had intended to be, Desmond would have checked in. However, the radio was on and working perfectly. She frowned, confused. Knowing Desmond, he would have checked in an hour ago.
Maybe he's finally stopped being worried about everything, she thought, although she was skeptical of that.
"Hey, Desmond," She said into the radio. "You there?"
No reply.
"Desmond?"
Nothing.
There was no way he would be asleep at that time, not with the timer so close to the four minute mark. Something was wrong.
Emilie grabbed the strap of the rifle that was slung over her shoulder and quickly made her way back to the hatch. Was it the Others? Had they finally come for the hatch?
No, Desmond would have contacted her, he would have warned her. Still, something else was going on.
Emilie quickened her pace as she continued towards the hatch. She hesitated at the door, almost afraid to see what was inside. She could fight and handle a gun, but any seasoned fighter could take her down.
"One," Emilie whispered to herself. "Two. Three."
She burst inside, keeping her rifle steady. All the activity seemed to be in the computer room, so she promptly went there.
As soon as she entered the room, she took note of the fact that no one there was Desmond.
"Who are you people?!" She demanded.
Everyone in the room looked up at Emilie, and she finally got a clear view of them.
One man, with brown skin and curly hair, was sitting at the computer, and a bald man was hovering over his shoulder. A pale woman and a long-haired man were standing behind them, and all four were looking at her.
"Who are you?" The bald man replied.
"Answer my question," Emilie insisted, inching towards them with her rifle pointed at the unfamiliar people.
"Hey, there's no need for the gun, okay?" The woman said gently. "We're survivors of a plane crash, we don't want to hurt you."
"How do I know you're not an Other?" Emilie asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," The man sitting at the computer said.
"I live here, asshole."
"Let's all calm down," The bald man reasoned. "What we need to focus on is fixing the computer."
"You broke it?!"
We're dead, Emilie thought.
"Do you know how to fix it?"
"No!" She exclaimed angrily. "No, I don't. I don't even know who you are! Just tell me, where the hell is Desmond?!"
The bald man and the woman glanced at each other nervously.
"After the computer broke, he ran," The man explained. "Someone went after him, but…"
Emilie wanted to scream or puke or both. Desmond left her. He actually left her to die or worse. Her only friend, the only person she could count on, abandoned her.
…
The Island, September 22nd, 2004
"What's happening? Desmond? Desmond?!"
Emilie raced after her friend as he sprinted past her, through the jungle and towards the hatch.
He burst through the hatch door, and Emilie was about to follow him when the ground started shaking.
"What did you do?" She yelled as she heaved herself inside.
Desmond didn't answer her as he frantically typed the numbers into the computer. The clock no longer showed the timer, instead showing red and black hieroglyphics.
Once he pressed Execute, the room stopped shaking and the timer went back to normal. But Desmond? He was still panicking.
"What have I done?" He muttered to himself. "What have I done?"
"Desmond," Emilie began. "What happened? Where's Kelvin, what-"
"Kelvin's dead. I killed him."
"Y-you what?!"
"Emilie, not now."
"Not now?" She echoed incredulously. "You just killed a man! What do you mean 'not now'?"
"Emi," Desmond sighed. "Not. Now."
"You need help," She reasoned. "You can't isolate yourself, okay?"
"What, like you?"
"You're the one who told me to stay away from the hatch!"
"And yet here you are!"
"Because you just killed someone!" Emilie yelled. "What part of that isn't registering with you?"
She frustratedly ran her hands through her hair. How could they get through what just happened?
"I'm sorry," Desmond whispered eventually. "You were just trying to help. Sorry."
"It's okay," She replied, genuinely meaning that.
"No, no it's not, I… I…" He trailed off, clearly not sure of what to say. "You wouldn't leave the island without me, right?"
"Of course not," Emilie said, thinking that was obvious. But whatever just happened had set Desmond on edge. "Just like you'd never leave without me?"
"Of course."
…
The Island, November 2004
"You're lying. You… you have to be lying!"
"Sayid, fix the computer," The bald man instructed before turning to Emilie. "Listen…"
"Emilie," She said. "My name is Emilie."
"Emilie," The bald man said. "My name is John Locke, and I swear we're telling you the truth."
He proceeded to tell her the group's entire story, from the plane crash to the very moment they were living in. All of it, including Desmond running away.
And Emilie believed them. A story so intricate, so detailed and precise couldn't be fake. Not just that, but the expressions of the other three while Locke told the story were what really sold her.
"There's still the problem of you possibly being an Other," The man at the computer, Sayid, pointed out.
"Focus on the computer," The woman said. "I'll take care of this."
"I have proof," Emilie offered. "Over here is all my stuff, and I can take you to my crash site."
"Crash site?"
Then it was Emilie's turn to tell her story. She went into enough details to be believed, but didn't get into the personal stuff.
When she was done, she looked at the rest of them, waiting for their reactions.
"Dude, I believe her," The long-haired man said.
"Yeah, I think she's telling the truth," The woman added. Locke nodded in agreement, and Sayid sighed but nodded too.
"Now, the computer?" Emilie suggested. "So we don't, you know, die."
"I've got it," Sayid muttered as he continued. "Hold on…"
"Sayid, now would be nice," The woman urged.
"I'm working on it, Kate."
Emilie and Kate simultaneously sighed.
"There!" Locke exclaimed as the screen turned on. "Now, there was a code, he made me enter it."
"I can-"
"No," Sayid interrupted Emilie as Locke slid into the chair. "Just because we believe you doesn't mean we trust you."
"That makes total sense," She muttered sarcastically. "Fine, figure it out on your own."
Emilie wasn't sure what was going on, and frankly, she didn't want to. Some guy named Jack showed up, he and Locke argued, but the timer was reset eventually.
However, according tot Jack, Desmond was gone.
I'll have to go back to the shelter, Emilie thought, with the place she'd made from the plane wreckage in mind.
"Where are you going?" Kate called out was Emilie walked away.
"My old shelter," She answered without turning around. "Don't follow me."
"Don't be ridiculous," Kate scoffed. "Come back with us."
"Seriously?" Emilie questioned. Kate only nodded.
"She weighed her options. On one hand, she didn't know any of them and couldn't exactly trust them. But, on the other hand, there was safety in numbers, and maybe living with the 815 survivors wouldn't be too bad.
"All right," Emilie decided. "I'm coming with you."