I told y'all it wouldn't be very long for the next chapter.

I do not own Austin & Ally

Austin POV

It's getting dark, I should really turn back.

I had been telling myself this for the last 20 minutes, but my legs would only will me to continue pushing forward. I had this pit in my chest that I was close to something, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I was praying my intuition was telling me Ally was close by, but my heart feared the worst. My throat tight, my head foggy, mouth dry. I was scared, honestly. Partially for myself; being alone in an unfamiliar place with nothing but a broken phone and picture of Kira and I in my pocket. Partially for Ally, God, I hoped she was okay. If I was this scared out here alone, I can only begin to imagine how she was feeling, especially if she was hurt. At least Trish and Dez had each other right now, and as long as they can make it back to the lagoon safely, they're golden. Ally and I have nothing right now. Not even each other.

We were always better together, rather than apart. She was my best friend, my sunshine on a cloudy day, the navigator to my driving, the songwriter to my music - the syrup to my pancakes. I could do anything with her support and her by my side. I felt invincible with Ally. I had never had a friendship as strong with anyone else before, not even Dez - and we had been friends since the 2nd grade. Ally and I can talk about everything and anything. From music, to school, to our families, to crushes and relationship problems, to my deepest fears and feelings that I wouldn't have dared tell anyone before her. Dez has always been there to support me and make me laugh and pull off crazy stunts and adventures with me, but we never really talk about the deep stuff. Of course I've talked to him about Kira - he has referred to himself as the 'love whisperer' before, and he does give pretty solid advice. But that's as far as the "deep" conversations go. I'm glad I have Ally.

"Ally! Where are you!" I called out yet again. I was met with nothing but a faint echo of my voice, followed by silence.

The ground crunched beneath my feet, loudly contrasting from the silence crowding the space around me. I looked down at the leaves and sticks that broke easily beneath my weight, and pressed forward. Not hearing anything else was both a good and bad sign for me. It was good that I wasn't hearing any immediate threats around, like wolves or coyotes or bears or other animals like that, but also not good because it meant we weren't on the coast of some mainland beach. We were alone here. Unless, of course there were cannibalistic islanders here, but this isn't a Hollywood horror movie. This was reality. The sad reality in which the girl I have been in love with just died in my arms. The reality in which my best friend is still out there, scared, alone, and missing. The reality in which our families think we're safe on a plane heading to Australia when we're stranded in the middle of nowhere. This reality sucks.

I stopped walking and put my hands against a nearby tree, letting my head droop and taking several deep breaths, trying to clear my head and focus on the task at hand. Finding Ally or finding the wreckage. I dropped my shoulders sadly, realizing that with the sky getting darker, I would have to stop searching at some point and try to make my way back to the lagoon or set up some sort of shelter for myself to protect from the elements. My shirt was torn in an effort to stem the bleeding from my shoulder, which thankfully had stopped. But it would do nothing to keep me very warm should the air cool off once the sun completely sets.

The smell of smoke made me perk my head up and look around the tree I was leaning against, noticing thinning of trees a ways ahead of me. Smoke meant fire. Fire either meant plane wreckage or someone had started a fire. Either one was an ideal situation to stumble upon right now. I maneuvered around the tree and took off running, carefully avoiding the dense trees until they thinned out and I was able to see something other than green. I reached the clearing and stopped in my tracks. I held my breath, listening to the sound of crashing waves and staring into slowly billowing smoke illuminated by a sinking sun. The wreckage laid out right in front of me, metal scattered a hundred feet away from me, several seats strewn about the sand. I could see several articles of clothing near the shore, even a guitar case discarded in the sand.

I let out the breath that I was holding in and started to catch my breath. I took a few tentative steps to my right, towards the first chunk of metal I could see. Part of the wing, maybe? I know a bit a bout cars, but nothing about airplanes, let alone jet planes. I could see past this part, and stared into the main cabin of the jet, well, what was left of it anyway. An entire side of it had been shredded off, enabling me to see directly into it. It appeared to have been ripped in half as well. I had a difficult time making out if anyone was inside as the sun had just set and I only had a sliver of moonlight to light the area. But I continued forward, hoisting myself into the cabin and steadying myself on the closest seat. "Hello?" I called out, hoping to get a response. But there was nothing. I sighed and began walking down the isle, looking at each pair of seats, hoping to see something, but again, nothing. I reached the end of the isle and looked to my left and a smile spread across my face.

To some miracle, there, staring back in my face, was a first aid kit. Whoever my guardian angel was, I would thank them for eternity. I quickly pulled it out of the case it sat in and opened it, looking at the bandages and patches inside. There was a flare gun inside as well as a flashlight. I grasped the flashlight and turned it on, illuminating a small beam of light in front of me. I swung it behind me to take another look at the seats that I could see better now. There was nothing there, no one there. I closed the kit and put it under my arm, keeping the flashlight tightly in my hand as I moved back down the isle and hopped back into the sand. I heard a faint beeping around this part of the jet and moved towards the sound, which grew louder the closer I got. Using my flashlight, I could see more debris in the sand, bits of luggage and more instrument cases, but pressed forward knowing I could look at those later. I wanted to find the source of the beeping.

I saw a rounded point and knew this would be the nose of the jet. It had no sides to it other than the main cone of the tip. Once again, I hoisted myself into the cabin and swung the flashlight forward, getting refractions of light back from the broken glass amongst the console. I looked forward and saw a body slumped forward in the captain's chair and my heart switched places with my stomach. My heart skipped a beat in fear as I made my way forward and spun the chair around to come face to face with the face of my label executive, Jimmy Starr. I let out a small yelp and stepped back in shock, quickly scanning the copious amounts of blood down the front of is suit and the immense shards of glass sticking out of him, especially paying attention to the one that jutted out the side of his throat. His eyes were closed, his chin pressed against his chest. I took a deep breath and redirected my eyes towards the console, watching a blinking red light turn on and off repeatedly, locating the source of the beeping. The words next to it read engine failure. My fists balled at my sides and I looked back to Jimmy's face.

"Goddamnit!" I screamed, punching my fist hard against the console, effectively breaking the blinking light and silencing the beeping. My throat burned, my eyes burned, my stomach flipped. Jimmy and Kira were both dead. What was I going to do? How were we going to get off this island? How was I going to tell anyone else what I found? I cursed under my breath and stepped backwards away from Jimmy, reaching down to grab the first aid kit I had dropped when I punched the console. I stepped out of the cabin off the side I had not climbed in and promptly sat down, hanging my head down low to stare at the ground. My only solace right now was the sound of the ocean crashing. It was peaceful, and it made me so angry. People were dead! People that I loved and cared about were dead! More could be dying and there was nothing I could do to stop it! I felt so defeated and so powerless, I felt hot tears running down my cheeks and I let them flow. I was alone and devastated. Sobs wracked my body and the only thing I could do was wipe them away from my face as quickly as they were falling. I sniffed and opened my eyes, noticing vomit in the sand close to where my feet sat. Lifting my head up quickly and swinging my flashlight across the area in front of me and my heart sunk deeper than before. My heart stopped beating and I stopped breathing.

There, mere feet away from me, laying in the sand, unmoving, was a body. A small frame, curled up, wearing a black sweatshirt with gray and white plaid around the hood and collar. I jumped to my feet and dashed over to the figure.

Ally.

"Ally!" I screamed out, dropping to my knees next to her, quickly rolling her onto her back, terrified that her eyes wouldn't be staring back into mine. My heart pounded and my head raced in the face of fear that I was discovering the body of my dead best friend. Her face was pale in the moonlight, her dark braids visibly caked in dirt, the hood that had been around her face now laid in the sand beneath her. Her lips were parted slightly, and in the faint light I had to look at her, I noticed that they still had their usual pink hue. My eyes flicked to hers and a wave of relief washed over me as her caramel eyes stared back into mine, wide in fear, but very much bright and alive.

I immediately wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her into me, holding her tightly against my body, her small frame fitting perfectly in my arms. "Ally, I can't believe you're okay! I've been looking everywhere for you. I was so worried." My voice shook as I spoke, my throat tightening as hot tears threatened to spill down my cheeks in relief. She hissed in pain and I pulled back from holding her, still supporting her back with my hands and surveyed her face. "What is it? What hurts? Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Austin, it's okay. It's my side... I got cut pretty bad in the crash, it's just tender is all." She shrugged lightly, sadly gesturing to her right side, her striped tee shirt stained a deep red from blood. I cautiously moved my hand from her back to her side, gingerly lifting her shirt to look at the cut, watching her face to make sure she was okay with my actions. She didn't stop me, merely moved her hand give me better access. The cut wasn't deep, but it was long, and nasty looking. I remembered the discarded first aid kit and my face lit up.

"I have something to help," I started, reaching behind me to grab the kit, quickly opening it and producing a large bandaid. I also grabbed the flashlight and some alcohol wipes to clean the wound, hastily opening one of the wipes to clean off my hands, Ally now supporting herself up with her arms behind her. I opened another packet and leaned towards her, "I'm sorry if this hurts, Al, but I have to do it." She nodded solemnly and grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it up to give me access to hold the flashlight in one hand, the wipe in the other. I started with the dried blood farther from the wound, and Ally jerked back.

"Sorry, cold," she chuckled.

"I get it, just try to stay still for me." I reassured her, sweeping the wipe closer to the wound, being very meticulous and gentle, trying to avoid any unnecessary pain. As soon as I made contact with the wound, she hissed out in pain once again, the hand holding her shirt folding more into a tighter fist than before. I finished cleaning off the cut and reached for the bandaid, quickly placing it over her chest and securing it in place, grabbing her hand and laying her shirt back down. "You were a trooper." I smiled at her, leaving my hand perched atop hers, rubbing the back of her fingers with my thumb. She smiled back, glancing down at our hands and sighed, looking back up into my eyes.

"We have a bigger problem now," she gestured to her legs and I looked down, pointing the flashlight in the same direction as my gaze and let out a throaty groan looking at her obviously broken foot.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath. Ally apparently still heard me.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I woke up back in the woods over there and hobbled my way over here falling several times in the process. I don't know what I'm going to do, Austin. I can't walk."

"I'll carry you!" I immediately offered, jumping up and reaching my hands out for Ally to grab in an effort to help her up. She grabbed both of my hands in hers and as soon as she pulled a bit, I groaned out in pain, releasing her hands and moving mine up to hold my aching shoulder. I had forgotten about the dislocation. "Shit, Ally, I'm sorry." I dropped back down next to her in the sand, finding her hand again and holding it tightly. "I dislocated my shoulder in the crash and it has a pretty nasty gash, too. But, I promise we'll figure something out. I won't leave you stranded here by yourself."

She nodded, "Well, I sure hope you wouldn't. It'd be a pretty douche-y move on your part," she snarked with a smile on her face. She turned her gaze from mine and looked out into the ocean, the waves still crashing peacefully. Realization seemed to flash across her face and her eyes grew wide, looking to mine. "Austin, have you found anyone else?" She questioned, her voice laced with pain.

I folded my legs beneath me, starting to run my thumb across Ally's hand once again. It was calming for me, having her hand in mine. She always kept me grounded and having some sort of physical contact between the two of us just made it that much easier to tell her everything.

"Yeah, I have.." I trailed off slowly, searching her eyes. "Trish and Dez are okay." I sighed, looking down at our hands, thinking about the series of unfortunate events that today held for me. "Neither of them was hurt terribly, we separated in the forest looking for you. We were supposed to meet at this lagoon Trish and I found, but at this rate," I trailed off, gesturing to the moon, "I don't think that's such a good idea tonight."

Ally nodded slowly. "Jimmy is dead." She spoke carefully but bluntly. Her face fell, and I watched tears spill from the corners of her eyes. I reached up to brush away the tears and she leaned her face into my hand.

"I know," I replied sadly, remembering his body slumped in the captains chair just feet from where we were sitting. "So is Kira." I choked out, removing my hands from Ally and wrapping them around myself as sobs pulled at my chest.

"Oh my God..." Ally trailed off, more tears spilling from her eyes and down her cheeks as she scooted over to me and wrapped an arm around my shaking shoulders, pulling my head down onto her shoulder, running a hand through my hair softly. "Austin, I'm so sorry." She whispered to me, her voice small. We sat there for several minutes, both crying, her arm around me tightly to comfort me, my arms still around myself. Neither of us spoke, even after I had stopped crying. Ally just understood that it wasn't something I was ready to relive.

More minutes passed us by, just sitting there by the water. It was a comfortable silence amongst a very uncomfortable situation. Being in Ally's arms was soothing, it helped me forget about how bad my chest ached and eyes burned. Watching the waves lap at the shore and the beautiful illumination of the moon off the water was a breathtaking sight. Ally shifted slightly, her arm slipping off my shoulders and lifting her head off of mine. "Are we gonna be okay?" She muttered.

I sat up and looked at her intently. I opened my mouth to speak but Ally interrupted. "Don't just tell me what you think I wanna hear, Austin. Tell me what you really think." She pleaded. My shoulders drooped and I took a deep breath.

"I don't know, Ally. I really don't know." I replied honestly. "I'm hopeful that Jimmy sent out an SOS before we crashed, I'm hopeful that the jet has a GPS tracker, I'm hopeful that we'll be found soon, I'm hopeful that we can find other survivors, I'm hopeful for a lot of things here. But I'm also terrified that we won't be able to find food, that we won't be found, that our injuries are worse than we think and something is going to happen to us. I want to hope for the best, but Ally, I don't know."

She nodded solemnly, letting my words wash over her. I didn't want to admit to her that I was terrified, but Ally could always read me like a book and could see straight through my lies. I knew I would just be hurting her by keeping my thoughts to myself. She sniffed hard and cleared her throat, staring down at her lap. "I don't wanna die here, Austin."

"I promise you," I pulled her face towards me so she was looking at my face. "I won't let anything happen to you as long as I can help it." I hoped that my face emitted the amount of seriousness that I felt in my heart. I wouldn't let anything happen to Ally. I couldn't lose her, and I desperately needed her to know that she was safe with me. She frowned at me, a defeated look in her eyes that broke my heart.

"You're my best friend, Ally. Not knowing where you were the last few hours absolutely terrified me like you wouldn't believe. You were the first one that I thought of when I woke up. Even after losing Kira, I knew I couldn't stop looking. I knew how scared I was, and I didn't want you to feel alone. You and I... we're better together." I took a breath and ran my hand through my hair, searching for the right words that I ultimately didn't want to admit. But I knew I had to. "Look, I can put up this big 'tough guy' front and pretend like I can keep us all grounded and together, but the reality is, Ally, that as scared as I was for you today, in my heart, I knew that you could take care of yourself. That you don't need me. But I need you." I grabbed her hand in mine and continued. "You keep me grounded. You keep me together. You make me want to be the strong one. You challenge me. You understand me like no one else ever could. Ally, I would not be the person I am today without you." Words started pouring out of my mouth before I could even think of what I was saying, all I could do was listen as my feelings came out of my head and into reality. "So I need you to believe me when I tell you that I will stop at absolutely nothing to keep you safe until we're rescued. Okay?"

Ally stared at me, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips that she fought to hold back. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck and mine flew to her waist, holding each other equally as tight as the other. Her face was pressed hard into the crook of my neck and I could feel her smiling. My head rested easily against hers and I exhaled in relief. I meant what I said. Ally meant everything to me. Everything that I am, I owe it to her. She has changed my life in every sense of the way over the course of our friendship. I never thought that the cute brunette yelling at me for my corn dog drum solo would end up being the most important person in my life. She makes me laugh, she makes me think about the world through a different lens, she calls me out for being an asshole when I deserve it, she hears me out through everything I say - even things she doesn't agree with. She is one of a kind, Ally Dawson, and I am one lucky person to have her in my corner.

Ally POV

I should tell him, right? This is a moment. This is a good moment, in fact. Maybe a perfect moment?

No, Ally, don't be stupid. This is not the perfect moment - you are stranded on some island, completely alone. People died today! People you knew!

Well, maybe that makes it the perfect moment, after all, who knows if we'll get out of here in one piece. I don't want to die here, but I really don't want to die without Austin knowing how I feel!

You're delusional. If you tell him, then he's going to shut you out because there's no way he could ever reciprocate those feelings, especially right now - did I mention Kira, Austin's girlfriend, just DIED?

And he should know that someone loves him and cares for him! What if he does reciprocate those feelings for me? Everything he just told me definitely made me feel something more than friendly feelings...

It was like I had an angel Ally on one shoulder and devil Ally on the other, arguing in my head over the best course of action right now - do I tell Austin how I feel or do I just leave it alone? Here, being wrapped up in his arms, is the best feeling. Especially after everything he just told me. Is it possible that Austin has feelings for me too? I wanted desperately to believe he did. But I knew that right now he was feeling emotional, vulnerable, hurt and scared. His girlfriend just died, her father died, we were in a plane crash, everyone is hurt, and we are all alone. I don't blame him for saying those things trying to calm me down. That's all Austin ever wants to do - protect me. And I love him for it, even though he does know that I am fully capable of taking care of myself. Most of the time.

"Austin?" I pulled away from his embrace slightly, our faces still in close proximity to each other. His eyebrows furrowed quizically for a moment but he quickly smiled and relaxed his forehead.

"Yeah?" He muttered back, his breath hot against my face. I adjusted my grip at the back of his neck, moving my hands up to lightly scratch the back of his neck and scalp. It was a mindless action, I just needed something to focus my mind. This seemed to get a bigger reaction out of the boy in front of me, however, as he closed his eyes and rolled his head back slightly into my hands, sighing at the contact. I smiled and continued my actions, and not more than a moment later he had opened his eyes to gaze at me again.

"I need to tell you something," the words came out of my mouth more quickly than I would have liked them to, and before I could think about the repercussions of what I was doing.

"Go on," he encouraged.

I swallowed hard, looking down at his lips and back to his eyes quickly. My heart beat quickened and I did my best to keep my demeanor normal, not like a girl having a momentary panic attack. I looked away from his eyes and past his ear to stare into the forest behind us, wondering momentarily what Trish and Dez were doing, and what else was lurking in those trees.

"Ally, what is it?" His voice brought my eyes back to his, and his eyes only held pure concern behind them. He wasn't smiling, not even a bit. I felt him tighten his hands around my middle which made me tense up at the contact with the cut on my side, but it didn't hurt as much now that Austin had bandaged it. I did my best to relax but it was no use.

"I.. uh, I just wanted to say that, I..." I searched for the words I wanted to say but stumbled over them. I sighed. "I'm really tired. And I was just wondering how we were planning on doing that." Austin chuckled a bit.

"I think we should make our way over there towards the main cabin to at least have some sort of overhead cover. Plus we don't wanna risk high tide coming in and getting wet, or getting eaten alive by the bugs in the sand," Austin started, gesturing over his shoulder to bits of the jet that I hadn't even made it to observing after discovering Jimmy. "I can help you get over there and we can sleep in the seats. It may not be the most comfortable arrangement, but it's better than nothing." He looked intently at my face, a small smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth.

God, I wanted to kiss him.

I nodded, pushing the thought of Austin's lips on mine out of my head and begrudgingly removed my arms from around his neck and pulled myself out of his lap, which up until now, I hadn't realized I had been sitting in. Austin stood and extended his good arm out to me, which I gladly took. I steadied myself against his shoulder as he reached down to grab the flashlight and first aid kit, handing the kit to me to carry as he directed the beam of light in front of us, sweeping it over the sand to illuminate our way. He gripped his arm around my waist and my arm went around his neck as we slowly made our way to the broken cabin.

The sleeping arrangement wasn't the worst thing I could've asked for. We chose the two seats closest to where Austin discovered the first aid kit, nestled into the closest thing this space had to a corner. He insisted I take the seat on the right, that way he acted as a barrier between me and anything that entered the open space. It also worked out that if we wanted to face each other to talk, Austin wouldn't be putting weight on his injured arm. We leaned the seats back as far as they could go and propped our feet up on the seats in front of us. We laid there for a moment, side by side, staring at the ceiling. It was Austin who broke the silence after a few minutes.

"I know I've said it a hundred times already today, but I'm really glad you're okay, Ally." He turned his body to face me and I did the same, a smile on my face looking into his sweet face and messy hair.

"Thank you for finding me." I whispered to him.

"I knew I would." He smiled, reaching up to touch the side of my face gently. I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. I felt his hand leave my face and slide down to my arm. I opened my eyes and directed my gaze to his moving hand. He dragged his hand slowly down my arm until he found my hand, grabbing it and entwining our fingers together. I started at our hands for a moment before looking back up into his eyes. He was smiling. "Goodnight, Ally." He gave my hand a squeeze and rolled from his side onto his back, adjusting his injured arm to rest on his chest, and closing his eyes. I continued watching him for a few minutes, admiring in the pale moonlight how his chest rose and fell with every breath, how even through a plane crash, his hair stayed impeccably in tact, falling just over his eyes in the cutest way. His lips were parted slightly, his breathing deep and even. It didn't take long to hear soft snores coming from him and I smiled, squeezing his hand and closing my eyes as well.

"Goodnight, Austin. I love you." I whispered softly, finally admitting it aloud with the upmost confidence since I knew Austin wouldn't hear me. Between the soft sounds of Austin's breathing, his snores and the ocean waves crashing, it didn't take me long at all to succumb to the exhaustion and fade into sleep.

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