I have once again returned. I always do! Anyway, this chapter has a sad title, I know, but it should be fun to read, and it's not necessarily bad. So read & review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, the characters, the island, or the filming gear. But it would be awesome to film my own version of Lost. (claps hands) DUDE! I should do that. (Not really…)
Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to astronomylover, who has loyally reviewed every chapter and deserves a prize! (This is the best I've got.) But thanks to everyone else, too!
Chapter Nine: Death
The Beach
The near-death experience that Jenny faced had affected all the survivors in surprising ways. No longer were people staying by themselves in tents or even the hatch. They all mingled amongst each other now, getting to know each other better. Even Jack only spent the time in the hatch that was needed to push the button, and once it was done, he'd trade off with Locke and come back to socialize. It wasn't a matter of popularity or even friendship, and a psychologist would probably say it was for fear of losing someone else. But to the islanders, it was just a matter of staying close and safety in numbers—they felt better when they were together.
Claire, Charlie, Ellie, and Jake were all taking a walk together, Claire cradling Aaron. They were an unusual assortment of people—the beautiful, angelic Claire, the has-been rock god Charlie, the unusual, grunge-y yet good-looking Ellie, and the athletic, smug Jake. They'd been through a lot of bad things, but somehow they were drawn to each other, and they had agreed to take a walk to try to sort things out.
Ellie and Claire had been friends since the Expedition crash, so they were talking decently to each other, even joking and having some fun. Charlie and Jake were shooting glares at each other when the girls weren't looking, but they managed to stay civil. Ellie still felt furious at the thought of being around Jake, but after all those years, she knew she'd be able to stand it. And as much as Claire hated Jake, she still felt like he had a hold on her—a hold a lot like the one Thomas had had on her before she was pregnant.
But that ended terribly, she had to remind herself. So will this, if I let it happen. But I won't.
An onlooker would probably assume they were double dating—Claire and Jake, Ellie and Charlie. Ellie and Charlie were certainly close at this point, though neither was certain of where their relationship stood. Claire and Jake, on the other hand, were at no such point. Claire didn't want to be in a relationship, especially one with Jake, as she kept reminding herself. Jake, on the other hand, was attracted to Claire in a way that he felt like he had to have her.
Whatever the pairings and friendships, they had walked for about an hour, and they were finally making their way bay to the main beach. But once they got there, the commotion startled them. Only an hour ago, everyone was getting along with everyone, and now everyone was shouting and pointing.
"What's going on?" Ellie demanded. "They can't last an hour without getting along?"
Claire looked concerned. "I think something bigger than that happened," she said, speeding up her pace as she rocked Aaron, trying to silence his crying.
They all sped up, looking for Jack, Kate, Sawyer, or Locke. But none of them were there. Finally Charlie found Sayid and ran up to him. Ellie, Claire, and Jake followed behind him.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked Sayid.
He pointed behind them, near the shores. "Either the island did this, or one of us did," he said in his thick Iraqi accent.
They all turned around, searching for what he was pointing to, and finally their eyes caught hold of what was making everyone panic: five dead bodies.
Somewhere in the Jungle
"D'you think you could slow down at least a coupla miles per hour?" Sawyer asked Kate wearily as they trudged through the jungle.
Kate rolled her eyes and stopped walking. "We can stop for a minute," she said, breathing heavily, "but not for long. I don't want to be away from our camp for too long. If something happens, they need both of us to hold guns."
Sawyer grinned, raising his gun. "We're already doin' that, aren't we?"
Kate laughed and sat down on a large rock. Sawyer sat across from her.
"So what are we going to do once we get there?" he asked her seriously. "'Cause—correct me if I'm wrong—it didn't seem like you had a brilliant plan last time you went in there and almost got yourself killed."
Kate let out a small smile. "I talked to Alex," she said, pitching the idea to him. "We could try to find her."
"That's an idea," he said with a nod, "but not a plan."
Kate rested her chin on her knee, thinking. "We could say that if any of them try to shoot us, their leader dies," she suggested. "Like I did last time."
"They wouldn't let us just take them and take them," Sawyer said. "They're bad people—they'd probably just say they'd let him die anyway."
Kate bit the bottom of her lip, thinking. "We could just make a fast entrance, grab some random people, hold guns to their heads, and say they die and their leader dies if anyone follows," she suggested.
Sawyer laughed lightly. "You really like that idea," he said, "but there are others. Like, for instance, we could just take that girl hostage."
Kate raised her eyebrows. "Alex? Why? She's the only one of them that we have even slightly on our side."
"Therefore," Sawyer said with a grin, "she'll be the easiest to take hostage."
The Beach
Ellie, Charlie, and Jake ran across the beach to the dead bodies.
"Who are they?" Claire demanded from behind them, walking quickly but not quickly enough to catch up with them, since Aaron was in her arms and she couldn't run.
Ellie knelt to her knees to give them a closer look. Charlie stood close to them but kept his distance, obviously nervous about the dead bodies. Jake knelt beside Ellie, but he kept his hands at his sides, also obviously grossed out.
Ellie, who'd already had her share of deaths in her life, fingered their clothing. "None of us have clothes like this," she observed, referring to the shaggy shirts and worn-in cloth pants. She looked at their faces, noticing a lot of facial hair. "And I don't think they were washed in. I think they're Others, and someone killed them."
Claire, who had finally caught up to them, looked thrilled. "Really?" she asked. She looked disgusted but pleased. "Five Others? Isn't that really good for us?"
Ellie glared at her for the first time since the island. Ellie hadn't even disliked her this much when she kissed Jake. "Claire," she said, "they're dead. We can't wish death upon anyone. Imagine if they had families. Their children and brothers and sisters would've lost them."
Claire looked ashamed, but she didn't looked like she had backed down.
Jake spoke for her. "So what?" he demanded. "C'mon, you know they're terrible people. On some point, at least, admit you wanted this."
Ellie's jaw clenched tightly. "I wanted the Others to leave us alone," she said, "but I wouldn't wish this on them. Ever."
"But that's five of them who could've killed us!" Claire objected. "Isn't that good?"
Ellie shook her head, feeling like it was swimming in twenty-pound weights. "Claire," she said, "they're dead."
"You guys," Charlie said, "we don't have time to debate this. We need to get Jack and Locke. Where are they?"
Claire shrugged, turning her attention to him. "Hatch?"
Charlie nodded and left.
The Hatch
Locke and Jack were both standing in the dungeon cell of the hatch, facing Henry angrily. His legs, arms, and waist were tied to the wall, but they still felt nervous around him.
"Why the hell," Jack asked Henry in a seething voice, "would you wish our lives on anyone?"
"Why the hell," Henry asked in response, "don't you see how lucky you are?"
Locke's eyes darted to him, wondering if he'd heard him correctly. "Lucky?" he repeated. "You've kidnapped us, abused us, and attempted at killing us, not to mention the original causing our plane to crash."
"Actually," Henry said innocently, "that wasn't us. That was your friend Desmond."
"I'd place a lot of money on the fact that you made him do it," Jack retorted.
Henry shrugged. "Maybe, but that's still not the point. The island is so much better than any normal life. Can't you see that?"
"No," Locke and Jack said at the same time.
Henry shrugged. "It's your loss, then. We don't want this terrible life for you, though. We would've even let you join us, but our psychics said you'd be too nervous. You'd try to get out, and we couldn't have the likes of that in our camps."
Jack snorted. "We wouldn't ever want to join you," he spat.
Henry grinned. "That, too," he said.
"We're going to get off this island," Jack said, "and when we do, you'll all be arrested and probably put on death row. Depending on what country you go to."
Locke laughed lightly at this, but Henry cocked his head in a taunting way.
"You'd wish death on me?" Henry asked interestedly. "On any of us, for that matter?"
Jack looked pained. "I wouldn't wish death on anyone," he said, "but I wouldn't stop it if it helped us get off this island, or if it served justice."
"Well," Henry said, "I guess that's why you didn't stop five of my people from dying."
Somewhere in the Jungle
"Sawyer, I guess I get what you're saying, but we can't just take Alex."
Sawyer looked annoyed, but he could understand her concern. "Why not?" he asked. "It'd be good for her, us, and even the French chick. We need to get Alex outta there before she turns completely evil like them, and in the process we'll be getting her back to the French chick, her mom, who really wants her back. And we'll have another 'hostage' against them."
"But they'll just come take her back," Kate argued. "Rousseau won't be able to keep Alex from the Others."
"No," Sawyer agreed, "but we will. And I'm pretty sure Rousseau will agree to stay with us as long as she can be with her daughter."
Kate considered this. "But we'd have to keep Alex on the beach," she reminded him after a second. "We can't keep her in that dungeon in the hatch, especially not with Henry."
Sawyer shrugged. "So? We'll keep her on the beach."
"But then think of all the Others that will come to the beach and try to attack us. They know we won't kill Alex. They'll just start a war."
Sawyer's blue eyes glinted. "Then maybe we should fight in it."
The Hatch
"Jack? Locke?"
Charlie's British accent came, muffled, through the door into the prison cell of the hatch. Locke nodded to Jack, who opened the door.
"Hi, Charlie," Jack said. Locke did the same. Charlie didn't feel like replying to Locke, even though he was a little glad that they were talking again. Instead he turned to Jack to tell him what was going on.
"Jack, something really big happened," he said. Jack nodded, silently telling him to speed it up.
Charlie took a deep breath. "Uh…er… there are five dead Others on the beach."
Jack's head snapped back around to Henry. "You were serious?" he asked in disbelief. "How'd you know?"
"As I told you," Henry said, "we have very powerful psychics. One of ours alerted me of the situation when it happened."
"We've got to get people stationed back out there!" Jack said urgently to Charlie. "They'll come and fight any second."
"Yeah," Charlie said, "and you've got to come back, okay? The people are going bloody insane."
"Locke," Jack said, "sorry, but you've really got to stay here. If the Others come, they're going to stop by here and try to free Henry."
Locke nodded. "I've got a gun," he said. "I'll keep him here," he promised.
Jack turned back to Charlie. "Okay," he said, "let's go."
The Beach
The second Jack reached the beach, it was like everyone was under a spell. They all stopped fighting, and they all circled around him, waiting to hear what he wanted.
"God," Charlie muttered to Ellie when he returned, "they're so bloody obsessed with him."
Ellie nodded in agreement, glad Charlie was back to his old "bloody" self. "I feel so bad for Kate. She has just as many rights as Jack to give us commands, but the only person they listen to is Jack, because he's the sodding doctor." She imitated his British accent again when she said "sodding."
Charlie laughed in response and turned back to Jack, who was looking over the dead bodies, doing his best at making an autopsy. He scanned the back of their heads, which were all dented and extremely bloody. He winced at the sight.
"They were all beaten in the head," he determined, standing back up. He glanced around the crowd. "Wait. Do we even know who did this?"
No one said anything.
"Well, it had to be one of us, right?" Charlie asked. "I mean, who else would it be?"
Jake looked skeptical. "Sayid said something about the island doing it," he said. "I don't really believe in stuff like that, but we saw what the vaccine did to Jenny." Jenny was back in the Expedition survivors' shelter now, resting, but Andrew nodded on her behalf.
"You think the island hit these guys in the back of their heads with a club?" Ellie asked with a snort. She felt a little guilty about dismissing his idea so quickly, but she figured that if the island had done it, Jack wouldn't know why they were dead.
"It's like Jenny said," Andrew told her. "We have the island on our side now. How else would Jenny have…" He looked pained, but he finished his sentence. "…Survived?"
"The vaccine," Sun said from next to Jin, obviously wanting to take part in the important discussion. She was translating a mile a minute, but she managed to take part in the conversation, too. "Was it not the vaccine that cured her?"
Jack nodded. "It was," he said, "but it shouldn't have. Jenny made a point—it could've been the island's doing." He turned to look at everyone. "The Others have told me, Kate, and Locke the same thing: the island is magical and powerful. It's possible that it cured Jenny, but I'm not sure about this. It was clearly from a club or a bat."
Ellie's eyes turned to Andrew, who looked innocent. She remembered him having something like that on the ship, though…
"Charlie," she whispered. He glanced at her, and she continued, "Andrew brought a metal bat on the plane. I remember we were all wondering how he got it through Customs, but they let you bring anything if you check it. I think it was so he could play with a few of his friends."
"So?" Charlie asked, looking confused. "You think Andrew did it?"
"I know it doesn't seem like he can kill," Ellie admitted, "but Jenny almost died. Don't you think he would've wanted some revenge?"
Near the Others' Camp
"We're here," Kate whispered.
Sawyer nodded, scanning the camp for Alex. "So," he said softly, "we never actually clarified. Are we taking Alex, or not?"
Kate turned to face him. She could just do what she wanted to do—she had a feeling it was the better option, anyway. But he looked honest, like he really thought his idea was good, and she knew that since she let him come, she should consider his ideas.
"Okay," she said, "but only because I like you."
Sawyer's lips spread to a wide smile. "Aw, thanks, Freckles," he said happily, and turned back to the camp. "See, now I have a stronger will to save our asses," he explained. "You should flirt with me more often."
Kate laughed, waiting for Alex to walk up to them like the last time. She didn't know how Alex had done it, but she had a feeling she'd be doing it again. "Maybe if we ever get off the island," Kate whispered. It wasn't until after she said it that she realized what she'd suggested: that she wanted to spend her life with him even after the island. She instantly felt nervous. "Not that we…" she stuttered, not sure what to say.
Sawyer didn't look fazed by it—at least, not in a bad way. He looked pleased. "I'm honored," he said.
Kate smiled, relaxed again, just as Alex walked up to them.
"Kate!" Alex whispered loudly. "What are you doing here? Wasn't taking our leader enough?"
Kate blushed, but looked at Alex certainly. "Alex, listen to me. You have to come with us. We don't want to cause any trouble, and we don't want to take any more of you hostage. We just want to take you back to the beach with us and ask you some questions."
Alex said nothing.
"You know we won't hurt you," Kate said softly.
Alex shook her head. "I don't know that!" she objected. "You killed some of us. Five of us!"
Kate and Sawyer both looked completely taken aback. Kate was too shocked to talk, so Sawyer did. "We did the what to the who, now?" he asked, sounding as confused as he felt.
"It might not have been you two, but some of your people killed ours," Alex said. "It's time for me to choose sides now, and I'm sorry, but I'm not choosing your side."
Kate glanced at Sawyer, unsure of what to do, but he looked pretty certain.
"Sorry, Frenchie," he said to her. He pulled out a knife and held it to her throat.
The Beach
"We've got to tell someone," Charlie said as soon as what Ellie was saying caught up to him. "Jack. We should tell Jack."
Ellie shook her head. "He doesn't deserve to be yelled at or shunned," Ellie said. "He was just doing what he thought was right out of revenge. Jack will make him feel terrible."
"Maybe he should!" Charlie argued, but Jack heard his outburst.
"What?" Jack asked him.
"Uh…" Charlie looked down nervously.
"They're still going on and on about how the guy who did this should be punished," Jake clarified to Jack.
"They're right," Jack said. Ellie glanced at Andrew, but he didn't seem fazed. Nice cover up, she thought to herself. "You can't just kill someone," Jack added. "It wasn't even in an act of self-defense. Just because there aren't penalties for our actions on the island doesn't mean we should act badly."
"But it was an act of self-defense," Claire reminded him. She didn't understand what the big deal was. Jack had gone on and on about how terrible they were, and Kate had said that if the Others wanted them on the island, they would stay on the island. So one of the survivors had killed five of the Others. Was that really such a bad thing? "They were just going to kill us, anyway."
Jack shook his head. "You can't just assume that, especially not when we have the prisoner as leverage."
"It didn't work, though," Andrew reminded him quietly. "Jenny was still shot."
Charlie and Ellie's eyes flashed to each other.
"But she survived," Jack reminded him. "They shot one of us, but didn't even kill her. And our payback is killing five of them?"
"No," Jake said, "they caused our ship to crash, they kidnapped Charlie and Claire, they kidnapped Walt, they kidnapped several of the tail survivors of your plane, and they attempted to kill Charlie. I'm probably forgetting stuff, to." He took a breath. "Our payback for that was killing five of them."
"He's right," Andrew said.
"You'd think so!" Charlie blurted out.
Ellie sighed. "Charlie," she muttered, "we're not sure yetYou can't just say that!"
But Jack was already facing Charlie again, a questioning look on his face. "What are you implying?" Jack asked slowly.
Charlie shrugged, sending Ellie an I'm-sorry-but-it-must-be-said look. He turned back to Jack and said, "Andrew had a metal baseball bat before the trip. And judging the circumstances and his opinions, I'd say he did it."
Near the Others' Camp
"Don't do this," Alex begged, but Kate was already tying her wrists together behind her back, and Sawyer was keeping the knife poised at her throat.
"I really am sorry," Kate said. "I don't want it to be this way. But we need to talk to them, and we need to get you back to an environment where you can be brought up the right way."
Alex said nothing as the Others began to walk up to them.
"She isn't your leader," Sawyer said once enough of them were looking at him, "but she's young, and she's one of your few 'next generation' members. Are you going to let her die?"
"You wouldn't kill her," someone shouted.
Kate lifted an eyebrow, hoping to sound convincing. "You sure about that? We killed five others without hesitating, didn't we?" She didn't mention that she was completely against this and still couldn't believe it had been done, especially not being talked through first.
Her mini-speech obviously worked, because those with guns slowly lowered them.
"Now, we don't want to kill anyone, as you know," Kate said, a rush of adrenaline coming to her that also came with a rush of guilt as Alex struggled with her wrists. "And we don't want to keep Henry—er, your leader—in our prison. So if you just agree to help get us off the island, then once the rescue comes, we'll let Alex and your leader go."
"We won't hurt you," said the second-in-command that Kate had seen the first time. "But we're not letting you off this island. It would risk exposure to this island, which can never happen. Our leader and Alex would both die for that cause, and we will let them."
Kate shook her head as Sawyer kept the knife at Alex's quivering throat. "How can anyone be so cruel?" she asked softly, her green eyes filled with disappointment.
"We got it," snarled one of the Others, "from the rest of the world. And we're here to escape from it. So as you can see, we don't care what you do: you are not getting off this island, and neither are we."
Kate glanced at Sawyer, unsure of what to do next. This wasn't what she'd had in mind.
"Let's just take her back," he told her. "We'll tell Doc and the others what happened. And we'll probably start a war. Because, goddammit, I am getting off this island."
The Beach
"Is that true?" Jack asked Andrew.
Andrew looked petrified. "No!" he said quickly. "I haven't used that bat since we crashed! I mean, I remember it was in my suitcase, but I didn't use it…someone could've easily taken it…"
"See?" Ellie whispered. "We're not even sure it's him."
Charlie said nothing.
"Whoever did this," Jack shouted, "we have bigger problems to worry about than you. Chances are, if Kate and Sawyer don't succeed in whatever it is we're doing, we're just going to get into a war, anyway. But the difference is that that's playing as a team, and this was solo murder. I'm not going to hurt you or put you in the cell. Just admit that you did it."
No one said anything. Andrew looked scared, but Ellie didn't think it was because he was worried about being caught. He just looked worried about being framed.
"Jake? Claire?" Jack asked, sounding tired. "Both of you were for this. Just admit it if you did it."
Claire's big blue eyes were wide and scared, but she said nothing, and again Ellie didn't think it was her. Jake didn't look scared, but he shook his head casually. Ellie couldn't imagine that he would be so calm after killing five people, so she crossed him out, too.
Jack looked supremely annoyed. "We have much bigger things to worry about than this," he said, "but none of us are going to trust anyone else if you don't be the bigger person and admit what you did." He circled, scanning everyone's face, hoping he could convince them. But no one said anything.
"Five people are dead, Jack," Ellie finally said. "Who could possibly admit to being the cause of it?"
A few people looked accusingly at her, but they knew she wouldn't have done it, especially those from Emory. They knew that Ellie had faced death in her life before and that she would never wish it on anyone.
"If you want to get off this island," Jack said, obviously not giving up, "then you're going to have to work together in this everlasting battle. And by working together we'll have to know what to expect from each person. If someone doesn't confess, we're going to expect that every person here is a murderer. We can't work together that way. At least if you confess, we'll know what to expect, how to station you, and what to tell you to do."
Finally, amidst the dead silence, came a reply: "I killed them."
Somewhere in the Jungle
Night had fallen—the Expedition survivors' fifth night—and the trio had stopped for camp. Sawyer and Kate both knew that it was a bad idea, but they needed rest from their day-long journey.
"She's already asleep," Kate said, cocking her head at Alex, who was resting peacefully. She didn't look mad with the situation. She actually looked almost excited, if she wasn't so scared of what the Others would do if she switched sides.
"You should go to sleep, too," Sawyer said gently. "I'll stay up."
Kate, who had been adding logs to the fire, sat down on the ground next to him, letting her back rest on his chest. "Let's just both stay up," she said. "We've been gone for a whole day and we still haven't even talked about…" She stopped talking.
Sawyer grinned, putting his arm around her and resting his chin on the top of her head. "Us?" he finished for her, enjoying the romantic moment. He was surprising himself, not to mention Kate, with what a romantic he was turning out to be.
Kate smiled softly, even though they were both facing the same direction. "I'm sorry I left," she said quietly, her soft eyes focusing on the flickering flames.
Sawyer stroked her arm gently. "I'm sorry I drove you to leave," he replied.
"At least we're both together now," she said, her eyelids starting to droop. "I've got to tell you, it's a lot better than being by myself."
"Oh, c'mon, you'd still have little Frenchie without me," he reminded her jokingly, referring to Alex.
Kate chuckled, but said sleepily, "You know it wouldn't be the same."
Sawyer thought of all the things he wanted to say to her. The two most important things he could think of were also very hard. He wanted to apologize to her for that dreaded day back before he left on the raft, when the two were bickering cruelly at each other, fighting for a spot on the raft. He'd never forgiven himself for that. The other thing, again, was to tell her that he loved her. But Kate was so used to running away that he didn't want to scare her and give her the chance. But whether he wanted to say anything or not, it didn't matter, because she was already asleep.
He glanced down at her, tousling her long, curly brown hair, and leaned back, his eyes facing the stars, enjoying the perfect moment. But he was interrupted by the snapping of twigs and several whispers.
"Are they asleep?"
"I think so."
"Then go ahead, take Alex back! And once you have her, kill them both!"
The Beach
The second Jake said it, everyone seemed to back away from him.
"Why?" Ellie demanded, feeling terrible for accusing Andrew.
Jake looked angry with them for being angry with him. "Because I had to!" he said. "I was just batting some pine cones into the water out of sheer boredom that night, and then I turned around, and there were five Others there!"
"Did they try to hurt you?" Jack asked him immediately.
Jake glanced down.
"Well?" Charlie demanded.
"No," Jack admitted. "They were headed toward the hatch and whispering stuff about killing whoever was waiting there. But think about it—I saved you and Locke, and I stopped them from taking Henry back!"
"Did you ever consider that we could just hurt them, lock them up, and have six hostages?" Jack suggested hotly. "Wouldn't that have been a little better?"
Jake didn't say anything.
"He was just trying to help," Claire finally said. "I know it was wrong, but I can see how he thought it was right. You shouldn't yell at him like this. What's done is done."
Jack waited a second and nodded. "Fine," he said, and turned to the crowd. "Now you all know," he told them, and left.
Charlie and Ellie left to apologize to Andrew while Jake walked up to Claire.
"Thanks," Jake said softly. "I really appreciate it." He touched her arm softly.
Claire snapped her arm back, but his soft, heated moves were sickeningly similar to Thomas's. How could her heart flutter so wildly for someone so terrible? "I didn't do it for you," she said. "I did it because they could've hurt my baby, and you stopped them." That was, really, the only reason she'd ever wanted the Others dead. They'd taken Rousseau's baby, and she had an everlasting fear that they'd take Aaron, too. Seeing five of them dead had been reassuring, if nothing else.
But she hadn't done it for Jake. She'd done it for her son, who mattered more to her than anyone else.
Somewhere in the Jungle
Sawyer didn't want to wake Kate, but he knew there was no other choice. He quickly nudged her. "Get up," he whispered urgently, and grabbed his gun from the back of his pants. Kate looked around, saw the Others nearing them, and shot up like a bullet. She grabbed her gun and stood in front of Alex, who had woken up but said nothing.
"Go away," she snarled. "We've got your leader and your teenager. Do you really want to fight us?"
As they glanced amongst each other, Kate realized that they didn't care at this point. Kate glanced questioningly at Sawyer, who was dangerously close to one of them. She noticed that his gun was down and started to say something, but it was too late—quick as a flash of lightning, one of the Others grabbed Sawyer by his long, tangly blond hair and held a gun to his head. "Drop your gun," the Other ordered to Kate.
Kate didn't hesitate—her gun fell to the floor.
As soon as the Others aimed their guns at Kate, a loud clap of thunder sounded, and rain suddenly began to pour. The Other holding Sawyer jumped as the thunder sounded, releasing Sawyer's hair momentarily. He shot his gun the second Sawyer moved, causing Kate to scream, but Sawyer was able to duck. The bullet was safely a few feet above his head.
The Others started to run toward them anyway, since Kate and Sawyer had no weapons, but they tripped over a long above-ground root. Each one of them stumbled, giving Sawyer and Kate time to retrieve their guns. The Others finally dropped their guns and raised their hands above their heads.
"Have you ever heard thunder here?" asked one of them in disbelief. "I didn't know the island thundered."
"Oh, so now we're talking?" Sawyer asked with a snort as he tightly tied each of their wrists behind their backs.
"He's right," Kate muttered, "it's never thundered before. And what was with the root out of nowhere?"
Sawyer hadn't heard Jenny's declaration before, but he made the same one now. "I think," he said, "that the island's fed up with them. Freckles, I think it's on our side now."
Kate smiled, reassured by this fact. "Finally, an ally," she sighed, and turned to Alex. "You could be, too," she said, but Alex said nothing.
"Hey," Sawyer said, his eyes fixing themselves on Kate's. "Back there, when they told you to drop your gun. You didn't have to. You could've saved yourself."
Kate just gave him a sarcastic look. "You really think I'd do that?" she asked in a teasing way, but her eyes were full of affection.
"I guess not," he admitted. "I just… I'm not used to it, Freckles."
"Then get used to it," she suggested, and stood on her toes to finally get her third kiss from him. And even though the four Others and Alex were groaning from around them, they didn't care. Because they were together, and that was all that mattered.
END OF CHAPTER NINE
I've done a lot of Sawyer/Kate and not very much Ellie/Charlie, I know, but TRUST me, I LOVE writing the Ellie/Charlie. It's my favorite part. So there'll be more. Next chapter will have some, and the two chapters after that will be pretty much the defining Charlie/Ellie chapters. Just a heads-up.
There's also a whole lot of action in the next few chapters, so if you like that, be sure to read. Well, I hope you'll read anyway, but…eh, you know. Anyway, here are my beautiful reviewers' responses.
Charlotte Temples: Your review made me so happy. It was so long and pretty and positive and encouraging. So you're awesome. ANYWAY, I update fast, so you won't have to be waiting too long for each chapter. And I TOTALLY agree with you about Charlie. Of course, I love him WAY more than anyone else, seeing as how I am freakishly obsessed with him. I once drew (on the back of a Blue Ribbon Grill kids' menu) a picture of a guitar, microphone, and amp, plus a sign that said DRIVESHAFT and a border around the whole thing out of the words "I LOVE CHARLIE PACE." It's hung up in my room now. Heh. Anyway, back to the point… I'm glad you like Ellie—I always try to make my OC's likeable, since that's not the reason readers read Lost fanfics. And I'm sorry about your ex-boyfriend (he sounds like a jerk), and he DOES sound disturbingly like Jake. Anyway, this is VERY long, so I'm going to wrap it up. Thanks, and bye!
xlostangelx: You're becoming a lovely faithful reviewer too. Thank you mucho. Anyway, your idea is AWESOME. For my stories I just have a little outline saying chapter names and a little about what happens in each chapter and expand it from there, but I hadn't come up with how Sawyer would tell Kate he loved her, and I love your idea, so I probably will use it. (That was SUCH an awesome scene, the I Never.) Thanks a ton for the idea and the review!
astronomylover: You're back! Well, here is the chapter dedicated to you (and the 2nd-longest one yet). Hope it's worthy! I think it's great that you review people's stories for praise, because reviews are my favorite (and only) form of praise for my story. I hope you liked the Sawyer/Kateness—it was a little too cliché and then a little too cocky in my opinion, but hopefully both in a good way. Anyway, hope you liked your chapter, and thanks so much!
samdean4567: Welcome back! Thanks!
meangenius: Thanks for all your awesome reviews—you're caught up now! Woot-woot! Anyhoo, sorry about the getting-shot-and-leaving thing, but I guess I figured they wouldn't come back after they shot Jenny. Whatever. And there was a lot of Skate that should keep you occupied in this one, and there's a lot of Chellie in the next chapter, so you can look forward to it.
THANKS TO ALL MY BEAUTIFUL, FANTASTIC, AWESOME, TUBULAR, RADICAL REVIEWERS.
If you want to be that awesome, you can review, too.
Until chapter 10—
KISSBANGX3
PS: Blue button. Er, periwinkle button. W/e. It's your friend. :P
