Chapter 101
Ana moved through the jungle at a good pace, not noticing the rivulets of sweat that were running from her forehead and pooling at the base of her throat; she moved with a purpose. She didn't know where Sara was, but she had a good idea of where Kate might be, and she set out that way.

She had come a little unhinged, as if the sudden removal of her happiness had wiped out her center of reasoning and she was just a machine, going on instinct, and her instinct was to destroy whatever stood in between her and what she wanted. In her mind, befuddled by the constant stress of yo-yoing emotions and broken heartstrings and betrayal, Kate and Sara had become the enemy; Sara because of what she represented to Jack, and Kate because...well, because she fucking hated her.

She figured Kate and Sawyer had gone back to the hatch; they couldn't pass a bed by without falling into it, and there were four, so they were probably still there. She had the gun clenched tightly in her hand as she walked and she loved the feel of the grip, though it wasn't cool anymore; it was warm and slick where her hand was sweating around it and she shifted it to the other hand for a while.

Jason was gone; that part of her life was over and done with and she let it go without a glance; Danny who? Captain what? The names and titles meant nothing anymore, she belonged to the Island and Jack, and if she couldn't save one she was damn well going to save the other. If Kate died Sawyer's power died too and Ana grinned madly to herself as the Island whispered to her, urging her on.

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The three of them walked slowly down the echoing, antiseptic hallway and Hanso said, "I was experimenting one day in my lab, back in the real world. I was alone, everyone else had gone home but I didn't have anything to go to, so I stayed, fiddling with the settings and such, looking for a wrinkle. I had given up and was looking over some data when an amazing thing happened; a groaning, clanking roar came out of the magnet chamber, and when I glanced in to see what was making the racket I was frozen, it was a huge black cloud, rolling and groaning. I went in and looked into it and I was...enthralled by it, so I stuck my hand out," he mimicked the action, his eyes faraway as he continued, "and it disappeared. I took it back, quickly, afraid that it was gone, or worse, but it was fine, no worse for wear. So I got braver, and I stuck my whole arm in. Fine. Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the cloud and I came here. The Island. I explored a little, but I was afraid to go too far, in case it disappeared and I was stuck here; after a minute of looking around I climbed back in and arrived back at my lab."

Jack stared at him, eyeing him carefully. "It didn't damage you?"

Hanso shook his head. "Not the first time. It's painful, though. It feels like you're being squeezed through a very narrow tube sometimes, and other times like you're being flattened and slid under a door. But it always hurts."

Shrugging, Jack said, "It didn't hurt when the plane was taken. At least, not then."

"Of course not. You were inside the plane, right? Kind of a protective shell." He waved away the question. "Anyway, when my assistant came back the next day I told him about it and we tried to recreate the conditions exactly, and we succeeded, opening the portal again and this time we both went, but only he went back. I stayed to explore. There were already some people here, but they were few and far between; the tesseract was very random and it only took a few people a year, and those were accidental." He paused as they came to a pair of swinging double doors. "I charted and tested the whole Island over the course of time and came to realize with the magnetic forces already here, I could build a replica of the chamber at my home lab and learn to control the tesseract enough so that we could explore other worlds and realities. On my twenty-third birthday I came into a good deal of money and I set out to make my dream my reality." He rested his hand on the swinging door and pushed it open. "Welcome to my dream."

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Sara came down the stairs early, Vincent padding next to her, and noting that Kate and Sawyer were still asleep, she tiptoed to the computer Ana had been playing with the day they saw the Oceanic crash. She wanted to see hers; she was sure it was going to be horrible, but it was something she needed to do. She tapped around with the buttons and the sceen blazed on with the long list of green lettering and she scrolled up until she came to the last one. "Oceanic Private Flight 16." She held her breath then tapped execute.

The screen went blank and she gasped as it came back on, her tiny plane puttering across they sky; suddenly a long tendril of smoke reached up from the bottom of the picture and wrapped itself around the fuselage of the plane, drawing it in until it was covered in the cloud, then with a snap it vanished, leaving a blank gray screen before it flashed back to the green screen.

"Was that your plane?"She jumped at Kate's voice behind her; she'd been so engrossed in the video that she hadn't heard her come up. She turned and Kate was behind her, her arms crossed as she gazed at the screen with a mixture of horror and pity.

"Yeah. I wanted to see it." A tear leaked from her eye and she wiped it away, hastily.

Kate glanced back at the sleeping Sawyer and she nodded at the computer. "Is ours on there?"

Sara hesitated, then nodded. "Yes." She scrolled down a few lines then stopped on the Oceanic 815 line, glancing at Kate before she hit execute.

The same grainy video popped up and Kate stared in horror as the three tendrils ripped the plane in pieces and vanished with it as people and baggage tumbled through the sky. The screen flashed back and Kate sighed shakily. "Shit."

Sara laughed. "Gives you a little different perspective on things, right?"

"Yeah." She smiled at Sara, tearing her eyes away from the screen. "Did you sleep good? Vincent is some protector." He glanced up at her with raised eyebrows, his tongue lolling out.

Sara grinned. "Uh huh. But it's his smell that keeps 'em away." She laughed as he rolled his eyes and stomped away towards the hatch door; Kate glanced at Sawyer as he beagn to stir and stretch.

Sighing, Kate grinned at Sara ruefully. "Hope you're ready for a hike." She went to Sawyer, kneeling on the mattress next to him as he groggily cracked his eyes; seeing her leaning over him he grabbed and pulled her down on top of him, kissing her as she turned her head away in disgust. "Ew, James. Morning breath." He held her and kissed her anyway and she didn't fight it.

Grinning lazily at her as he released her lips he said, "Yours ain't a basket of peaches either, sweetheart." He sat up, groaning a little and pulling the cellophane wrapper from his arm, beaming at Kate as he tossed it aside. The sun wasn't high, but it was bright and he rubbed his eyes as he stood, stretching a little more than necessary when he caught Kate watching him with a sly little half-smile. "Anyone seen Vincent?"

At his name he came trotting in, followed by a happily hooting Kotori. Sawyer sat in one of the chairs that ringed the table and Kotori dropped into his hand, chittering and hooting for a few seconds before Sawyer nodded and patted the little owl on the head, handing him to Kate. She played with him for a few seconds then he hopped from her to Sara, hooting and blinking his big blue eyes at her. "Hey, little guy," she said, and he hopped up to her shoulder and settled down, clamping his claws into the fabric of her top.

Kate laughed at Sara's little grimace as she looked down at Sawyer. "What's up?"

He yawned and ran his hands through his hair. "I guess Butch and Jackass had a fallin' out, 'cause him, Locke, and our scruffy-lookin' friend have arrived at the Foundation, and she ain't with 'em."

Kate was a little alarmed; she hated Ana, but she couldn't imagine Jack letting her wander off alone in the jungle. What had happened? "Where is she?"

Sawyer shrugged. "Hootie doesn't know. None of them have seen her." He cocked his head at the concerned look on Kate's face. "You worried about her?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Aren't you?"

He held her gaze for a second then nodded, smiling. "Yeah. A little."

He seemed a little embarassed and Kate decided not to help him. She shook her head, grinning. "Bunny."

He jumped up from the chair, grabbing her around the waist and burying his face in her neck, growling, "I told you not to call me that in front of anyone else." She shivered as his lips brushed her neck and she pulled away, smiling as his hand cupped her belly for a second.

"So, what do we do, James?"

He reached for his shirt, slipping it on and buttoning it, except for the last two, which had been ripped off; he grinned to himself at the memory as he slipped his shoes on then stood, picking up his pack and Kate's. "Well, I guess we're going to the Foundation."

"What about Ana?"

He hesitated, glancing up at the sky. "She'll be fine. She's not our responsibility."

"You saved her last time."

"Yeah, but I knew where she was, and that she was in trouble. This is a little different." He took Kate's hand. "We have our purpose, Kate, and it's time to get to it. Okay?" He let her hand go and kissed her, then motioned towards the stairs. "Ladies first."

She sighed and nodded, and Sara wrapped her arm around Kate's shoulder as they passed by him, headed back out into the jungle.