I have returned! Unfortunately, the next chapter (the last one) won't be as long as the others, and it'll take longer, because I'm going on vacation! (Last time I went to my friend's lake house; now I'm going to Florida.) But expect the last chapter by… eh. Uh, probably a week from Friday? Sorry, best I can promise.
Dedication: This one's for xlostangelx, who has also reviewed my stories faithfully. She also (you are a she, right?) writes stories that are really good, so check them out sometime! She's writing a Hubby story, The Key to the Heart, that's really good.
Disclaimer: Lost is not mine. Or the island. Or Charlie. Or the plane. Why does ABC get all the good stuff? Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, I guess. (sniff) Anyway, I also don't own any of the songs I used in the music battle. And the idea for the party was given to me in a review by CowboyswithDimples (awesome name), so thanks for that!
Chapter Sixteen: Return
Sydney Airport
"Are you sure you want to give Oceanic another go?" Ellie asked Charlie as they walked into the airport. They were surrounded by all their fellow crash survivors, and everyone was preparing to board another Oceanic flight, this time a huge helicopter, that would privately take them to the island.
Charlie laughed. "It's not their fault. Something about a magnetic field?"
Ellie laughed, too. It was practically a running joke at this point, trying to figure out the strange ways of the island. All they knew now was that the Others were gone and they wanted to return.
"Dude," Jake said, walking over to them with Claire. They both were still single, but they were becoming close. The more time he spent with Claire, the more kind he became. "We should have a party."
Hurley walked up to them. He was wearing a nice outfit, not a suit but close. He loved being the center of attention, because he always used to feel like a boring person on the side. "Did someone say something about a party?" Hurley asked with an excited grin as he adjusted his tie.
"It's not a bad idea," Kate said from Sawyer's side. The two had been inseparable ever since her sentence was lifted. "That way our time on the island won't get off to a bad start."
"Okay," Ellie said with a nod. "We should."
"Awesome," Charlie agreed. "The band used to throw parties all the time."
"I brought a stereo and a ton of party mixes in some of the boxes," Hurley offered. "They're battery powered, since I knew we wouldn't have outlets any time soon."
"We're boarding," shouted Bernard from the front of them, where he and Rose were sharing a bonding moment. Ever since they had gotten back to the real world, a wave of heaviness had spread over her, and she knew her cancer had returned. She was putting all her hope in their return to the island. She didn't know what else could cure her.
Meanwhile, Sun and Jin were both pacing around the gate, waiting for everyone else to load and speaking a mile a minute in Korean.
"They want to have a party," Sun joked lightly, hoping to change the subject.
"What if this doesn't work?" Jin asked desperately in Korean, ignoring her statement. "The move. What if you don't become pregnant again?"
"Then we'll try again," Sun said, praying that the island wouldn't take it back.
Finally the line moved up and they stepped on. It was a normal (albeit huge and luxurious) helicopter, but on courtesy of Oceanic, it was reserved only for the passengers. They laid all their things in multiple seats and moved back and forth, trying to decide where to sit.
Finally they decided. In one clump of the helicopter, Ellie and Charlie sat next to each other. Allison sat behind them, and a distracted Hurley sat uncomfortably next to her. They were discussing legal fees, but he felt a little embarrassed, remembering that the last time he was here, he had two seats.
Across from Ellie and Charlie sat Claire and Jake, taking turns rocking Aaron. Behind them and across from Hurley and Allison sat Kate and Sawyer. They mostly just took turns talking and kissing, but sometimes Kate would lean over and join conversation with Ellie and Charlie. Ever since everything with Allison had happened, Kate had become more fond of Ellie.
Rose and Bernard started talking with Michael and Walt. Sun and Jin sat near them. Sun talked a little with Michael, and Jin tried to join in, since Michael was probably their closest family friend. Still, Jin was still nervous about the baby.
Locke spent the beginning of the flight in his seat, looking anxious and embarrassed, not being able to move around at all. But Sayid sat next to him, and they talked fairly easily. Locke was interested in Sayid's ex-army life, and Sayid was stunned when he found out Locke was an ex-box company worker.
In all, they were meshing together and becoming friends quickly, each eagerly awaiting their move to the island.
The Beach
"We're back," Kate breathed happily. She couldn't believe how much she had missed the familiar setting of sand and trees.
Sawyer noticed it, too, but said nothing. Instead he followed everyone to the beach, where construction workers were already setting up tents for them. Once the tents were up, they would start building houses all around the perimeter beaches of the island.
Hurley got out a large stereo from one of the boxes and set it on a fold-up table. "You guys ready?" he asked excitedly. Some people were just trying to enjoy the island again, but others were eager for a party.
They all cheered as Hurley popped in the first CD, but some of the cheers died down when they heard the music. It was a party mix Hurley had gotten from a DJ he knew, and it consisted of pop and rap. Most of the younger people clapped and sang along, but the older people looked bored.
"See, El, this is good music," Jake said with a grin.
Ellie faked puking as he turned around to talk to Claire. Charlie laughed from her side.
"Couldn't agree more," Charlie said. "Want to find a bigger, better stereo?"
Ellie grinned and nodded, and they ran off to look through all the boxes to find a good battery-powered stereo.
Claire had never been that into music one way or the other, but as Sun offered to take Aaron, she found herself dancing along with Jake. They were still just friends, and Claire didn't trust him with anything more, but she still found him to be good company, and he was getting better. They met up with Jenny and Andrew and they all became the stars of the dance floor—or rather, dance beach.
Back near all the boxes, Charlie and Ellie were sorting through them. Finally Ellie found a huge piano-sized box and opened it. It had a record player and a huge stereo.
"Brilliant," Charlie said excitedly, and he took it out. It was battery powered.
Ellie chuckled at his British phrase and leaned over to find one of her boxes. She had packed one huge suitcase and her guitar, but she also brought one securely taped box. In it was her huge CD collection.
"Here," she said, taking out a CD entitled 'Keeping Me Occupied Before the Apocalypse.' "It's bang-your-head, I promise."
Charlie nodded and put the CD into the stereo. London Calling by The Clash came bursting out of the speakers. Everyone listening to the party mix, which was currently playing an Eminem song, turned in surprise. A few of the older people seemed glad to hear music they had heard before, but everyone else "boo"-ed at the unfamiliar music. Hurley turned up the stereo and changed the song to Yeah by Usher.
Charlie grinned and turned up the volume on theirs, changing the song to Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen. Locke, Michael, and Kate clapped appreciatively in recognition of the classic. Even Sawyer had to laugh.
"Boo"'s still erupted from the other side of the beach, though, and before they could be stopped, an even louder Toxic by Britney Spears came out, courtesy of Jenny's friend Natalie, who was apparently a diehard Britney fan and had taken over Hurley's place at the pop side of the music battle.
"Do something they'll really hate," Ellie encouraged Charlie, laughing. Even though she hated the music the others were playing and she knew they hated hers, they were all having fun, and that was obvious.
Charlie nodded and switched it to Anarchy in the U.K. by the Sex Pistols. Although Kate, Locke, Sawyer, and Michael had all heard the song, they weren't as excited by it—punk rock was a very unappreciated thing. Everyone in the other clump of people winced and shouted, but Ellie and Charlie were cracking up and high-fiving each other.
Britney Spears had been their hardest one, so instead of playing something else, Natalie shouted, "TRUCE!" over to Charlie and Ellie.
Ellie shrugged. "Your call," she said to Charlie.
"We could play Ramones," he said, "and they'd probably scoff some more. Or we could just play Driveshaft as a truce."
"Why don't you guys just play?" Kate suggested. "It'll be like live Driveshaft, only with better guitars."
Ellie beamed at the compliment. "But we don't have drums," she said.
Kate shrugged. "They'll survive," she assured her.
Finally Ellie and Charlie set up their instruments. Everyone from both sides nodded in agreement, deciding that this was the best form of a truce.
The music battle pretty much ended there, and in its place was a series of mild songs that everyone agreed on from nineties-to-modern bands like Dishwalla played by the newly formed two-man band. Well, one-man, one-woman band.
Everyone started eating and drinking next, but they also helped the construction people, because they wanted the lost-on-an-island feeling to stay with them, not for construction workers to replace that feeling.
Kate and Sawyer ventured away from the crowd and off into the woods, where they cleared out an area and started a campfire with logs and a lighter. They spread out a blanket.
"I got all the memorial arrangements set up," Kate told him as they sat down together. She had been in this position a million times—in front of a fire next to Sawyer—but each time they seemed to be closer and know each other a thousand times better.
"Who's paying?" Sawyer asked with genuine interest.
"Hurley and Sun, mostly," she replied. "Allison and Jake agreed to donate some, and Jenny and Andrew said they'd donate their wedding fund for it. They want to get married here on the island."
Sawyer nodded. "That's good," he said honestly. He'd made enough jokes and sarcastic remarks lately. For once he just wanted to spend some time being normal, and Kate appreciated it.
"Hey," she said, turning around and looking up at him. "I know I've been moody and pretty depressing lately…"
He laughed slightly. "It's okay."
She smiled. "Thanks. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you…" She shrugged. "I love you, and even though losing Jack was and is hard, I know I made the right choice."
He couldn't say how glad he was. He had been ready to support whatever decisions and actions she made, because losing someone could be hard—he knew that better than anyone else. But the fact that she didn't regret being with him made him feel happy and confident.
He couldn't help but feel himself gazing into her soft green eyes for a second. But then he shook himself out of it—he had to have some tough-guy status left—and he leaned in for a kiss, a kiss that reassured Kate even further about her decisions. They kept at it and let things go their own way.
"I've developed strange flaps of skin that look slightly similar to blisters," Ellie informed Charlie with a grin, scanning the marks on her hands from playing. After almost an hour of playing and the crowd dancing and partying, they had agreed to stop.
"Didn't you bring any picks?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Yeah, but I had to keep up the tradition," she explained with a grin.
He laughed and rolled his eyes, glad that her strangely abnormal side was still there. The good, weird parts were, but she'd stopped spiting people. It seemed like everyone had changed, but all for the better.
"Hey," Claire said, walking up to them with Aaron in her arms. She had reclaimed her baby from Sun after the dancing and music died down. Jake, as usual, was standing loyally at her side. She was too exhausted to confront him about it. Could he not take a hint, or was he really not interested in romance any more?
Whatever his reasons, she asked Ellie and Charlie her original question. "Have any of you seen Kate? She was going to help me put some of Aaron's things into our tent."
Charlie shook his head. "No. She went into the jungle a little while ago. Haven't seen her since."
Ellie chuckled slightly. "Sawyer was with her."
Jake caught on and laughed with them. "Sorry, Claire. Looks like Kate won't be back tonight."
Claire laughed and sat down next to Ellie and Charlie. "Then do you mind if I sit down here?" she asked, even though she already had. "Sorry, I couldn't afford backstage passes."
"It's kind of pathetic that this is all we'll be doing on the island," Ellie mused as Jake sat down next to Claire. "I mean, me and Charlie. Playing our guitars."
"Yeah, has anyone worked out anything?" Charlie asked. "I mean, like, do we get any money?"
Jake shrugged. "I don't have a clue," he replied. "I don't even know what I'm going to be doing. I'm just sick of college football."
"Please." Ellie snorted. "Your coach replaced you on the team, and you didn't have anything else to do."
Her comment stung a little, but it was the truth, and Jake knew he deserved it. He was willing to put up with anything from her.
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Charlie absentmindedly strummed a few notes on his guitar. Ellie examined her sort-of blisters, and Claire fiddled with Aaron's blanket. Jake looked down in shame.
"Look, you guys, I have to talk to you," he finally said. He stood up, probably to make his talk seem more important.
Claire looked up expectantly, but Ellie and Charlie seemed more reluctant. They were used to having him around at this point, but after he was a complete idiot to Ellie and tried to beat up Charlie, neither of them liked it much.
"I know I've done a lot of stupid things. Okay? I used to be an idiot. Sometimes I still am."
Claire looked at him almost sympathetically and started to object. "You're not—"
"Let the man talk," Ellie interrupted with a grin, obviously enjoying this. Charlie couldn't help but smirk at hearing it, either.
"I know I treated you like dirt, Ellie, and I don't ever expect you to forgive me. But I'm trying to get better, and if you want me to, you can stop…" He looked at a loss for words.
"Bringing you down?" she finished for him. She smiled, a touch of sympathy tickling at her mouth, too. "Okay, fine. But I'm allowed to feel how I want." She considered her other options. "Oh yeah, and I can talk about you behind your back."
He laughed. He knew it was only a joke, and that she wouldn't do it. Much. "Deal," he said with a nod of approval.
"Don't I get a speech?" Charlie asked hopefully.
Jake laughed. "Sorry I hit you, but I was kinda upset."
"Hers was better," he mumbled, but he accepted it.
"Okay, and… Claire," Jake finally said, turning to look into her cloudy blue eyes. "I shouldn't have pulled you into my insane, stupid ways of life."
Claire blinked at him. She didn't bother to object; he was right.
"But I did, and I'm really sorry. The truth is, I really care about you, and I think you bring out the good in me, which is why I follow you around like a puppy." They all got a kick out of that. "But I'm done expecting things. Maybe some day I'll find someone who's right for me—though being on the island kind of narrows down my options—but I know it won't be you, and I don't expect anything except for you to let me continue to follow you around like a puppy, because I think that's the only way I can stay good."
Claire laughed. "Can I get you a collar?" she joked. It was her own way of accepting his twisted apology.
"We," Ellie announced, "are a bunch of sad, strange, random little people."
"Hey, I am a person of high morals," Charlie said. "I'm not sad. I take offense from that."
"Well, strange and random," she corrected herself.
"You're telling me." Jake laughed. "We get stranded on an island, and when we get back, what do we decide to do? Go back."
He was right; it was a very strange and random decision, coming back to the island. At least, that was what it would seem like. But they all had good reasons behind the decision, the most important one being that they wanted to stay together. And even though they separated a lot—the four of them, Kate and Sawyer, Michael and Walt, and Sun and Jin—there were things that were keeping them together. The strongest glue, the thing their minds always wove back to, were the deaths they had all faced. Libby, Ana Lucia, Jack, Boone, Shannon, and the others all brought the rest of them together, and that was how they would spend the rest of their lives: on the island, together.
"You know," Ellie said with a shudder, "we're kind of like the Others."
Claire's eyes shot up. "What?"
"I'm with Claire on this one," Charlie agreed.
Jake shrugged. "Ellie has a point. We came back to the island to get away from the real world… we'd probably be mad if another plane crashed, because that would really be an invasion of our privacy…"
"Okay, we are like the Others," Charlie admitted. "But there's one difference."
"Please don't say 'we're the good guys,'" Claire begged. "They said that, too."
"Nope," Charlie said. "We're the cool guys."
And that, they all decided, was that.
END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN
(and almost end of Fate—keep looking for update on Epilogue)
Sorry this one wasn't as long, but not as much needed to be said, and I had a vacation to return from and another one to pack for. I'm leaving for Florida soon, but I'll have the epilogue up by… eh. Hopefully, if I write fast, by next Thursday. It's the best I can do.
Anyway, I know this chapter was drippy—WAY too drippy for my liking, especially since I've been reading some funny stories—but it was the last chapter of a drama. Save for the epilogue, which I hope everyone reads!
Speaking of everyone… here are my lovely reviewers' responses:
astronomylover: I wasn't sure if the mayor thing was a good or stupid idea, so I'm glad you like it. That'll happen in the epilogue. I didn't mention Sun's baby in this chapter either, since I doubt there was a doctor on the island (well, a doctor with the necessary machines) but you'll see all about it next chapter. Thanks so much! I'll miss your reviews when this is over!
xlostangelx: I forgive you for not reviewing (just kidding—nothing to forgive). Here's your dedication chapter, and I wrote up there that people should read your stories. You really do deserve more reviews—they're really good. But I can't explain people. When I read a story I like, I review. Some people are butts and decide not to. Eh. Anyway, thanks, as usual!
CharliesHoodie: Just a short hiatus! Real writers' hiatuses (hiatusi?) are much longer. Anyway, I'm going to miss your reviews, too… I'm still waiting for inspiration for a good idea. I thought about a parody for the first season just having different things happen, like different people going on the hike and someone else sewing up Jack, et cetera… but I might not use it. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for the review!
CowboyswithDimples: It's okay—reviewing can be tiring. I'm just glad you've been reading and enjoying. I decided to use your party idea (and I twisted it around a little and added the music battle), so thanks a lot for that. I gave you credit in the disclaimer, too. Your review was really encouraging, I'm glad you decided to leave me one. :P
There you go—your VERY long review responses. Thanks to everyone, and anyone who's read my story, if you liked it, PLEASE leave a review next chapter. I'm going to ask a few questions to see what you thought about it at the end, so please leave a review & answer them. Anyway, I'll write as fast as possible, but like I said, I'll be in Florida… so… yeah.
KISSBANGX3
