A/N: Ok, so I have my proof reader, thank you Nirky. I did a lot of conversation in this, so I'm hoping I kept them as in character as I could. And I hope you enjoy, plus, please don't beat me for the ending of this chapter.

Chapter 2 : Dreams to Reality

"Kate, have you seen Locke?" A shaggy brunette of a man asked as he walked up to a thin, tom-boyish woman with long wavy brown hair.

She looked up with a bright smile. "Hey Boone, sorry but no." She was sitting on the beach, sand surrounding her and sticking to her baggy blue jeans. "Surprised he isn't with you though, you guys are attached at the hip lately."

Boone, the man, shook his head slightly, his mouth a small line of worry. "I know, and I haven't seen him all day. I know it's ridiculous, but I can't help this feeling of bad tidings." He sighed and sat in the sand beside Kate. "If he doesn't get back soon I may have to start hanging out with Shannon again." He chuckled. "And I already have a slight headache, her whine wouldn't make it any better."

Kate gave him an odd look as if appraising him. "You've been different lately, what's up with you?"

"Nothing." He shook his head, accenting the 'nothing'.

She let it go as she saw a tall, muscular man with very short brown hair approaching them. "Jack may know, why don't you ask him?"

Boone nodded slightly and got to his feet, wiping the sand from his dark jeans. "Jack, have you seen Locke?"

Jack squinted at him and put a hand up to shield his eyes. The sun was strong and it was to Boone and Kate's backs. "Yeah, I saw him go off into the jungle at about dawn this morning." He told him, then added as an after-thought. "With Sawyer."

"Sawyer?" Kate repeated. That got her attention. "Whatever would he want with Locke?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't stop to talk to them, I was on my way back to the caves to get more water."

Boone's once worried face contorted into one of complete and utter distrust. "I'm going after them."

"What?" Kate asked, brows furrowing in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "Why are you going after them? Locke can handle himself, and if he has Sawyer with him, that's even better. They can face any dangers the jungle can throw at them as long as the Others don't show up."

"It's not the jungle I'm worried about." Boone replied, exchanging a look with Jack.

Jack nodded slightly. "I agree with him." He turned back to Kate. "Locke never said a word to anyone about where he was going this morning, for all we know Sawyer might be forcing him into something. It's better to be safe."

"So you're going to go traipsing around the jungle together then?" Kate asked them, looking from one to the other.

"No." Jack replied, making Kate's stare land on him. "You two are."

"Me?" Kate voice went higher pitched. "Why aren't you?"

"Because Claire's due to have her baby soon." Jack explained. "Not only do I have to check up on her, but I want to stay close by her if she needs me. We still don't know what the Others did to her out there." He glanced into the jungle before looking back at Kate. "Please, just go with him. You can track them and I don't want people going into the jungle alone. It's dangerous."

Kate thought for a second before getting up from her seat in the sand. She flashed Jack a smile. "Alright Jack, but only for you." She held his stare for a couple seconds before turning to Boone. "Alright, let's load up on water and get out there. It's already been a few hours since they left, let's hope they don't know exactly what they're looking for and are moving slowly because of it."

Boone's eyes lit up with the idea of adventure and he moved quickly, scurrying to get his back pack and full it with bottles of water.

As he ran off Jack looked at Kate. "Thank you. I didn't want Claire to go into labour and not be here for her. I can't imagine how scared she must be right now."

Kate shook her head. "Don't sweat it."

"Do you even know where you're headed?" The angry rough voice of Sawyer asked the back of the older man he was following. Sweat was pouring off of him as he tried his best to not get scratched and bruised walking through the dense jungle area.

Locke looked back at him, amused. "No, Sawyer, I don't."

Sawyer's eyes widened for a second. "Oh that's just great, now ain't it? Theodore Roosevelt here has no idea where the hell he's leading us to. Oh but it gets even better then that." He exclaimed. "He's basin' it off a damn dream."

"I suspect you're referring to both the hunter side of Mr. Roosevelt and the leadership side." Locke stated. "Very clever."

"Well, not if you take it apart." Sawyer sighed. "C'mon now, why don't we just turn back now and you can admit you made the whole damn thing up. Save us both a heap of trouble."

"I didn't make anything up Sawyer, but you're more then welcome to turn back if you'd like." Locke told him, throwing another smile over his shoulder, knowing the conman wouldn't give up.

Sawyer mumbled something about the 'arrogant hunter' which Locke didn't catch.

"We're here." Locke told him, after another twenty minutes of walking in silence. He stepped out into a small circle of cleared area that must have been no more then eight feet wide in diameter.

"And lookee here, there's no ringin' phone." Sawyer told him, walking up to stand beside him on the outskirts of the circle. "So why-" The words died on his tongue as he saw a log in the middle of the circle looking horribly out of place in the barren area.

The log was exactly as Locke remembered it from his dreams, same lines, same bark, same scratches on the side, everything was exactly the same, even the small, dark blue flip phone sitting on it.

"So, go on then, go get it." Sawyer suggested, looking around warily. He didn't trust this one bit.

Locke walked slowly towards it, testing his footing for any traps, eyes darting from side to side looking for any trace of another person until he stood right in front of it, looking down on it. He half expected it to ring.

"It's just a damn phone, pick the thing up." Sawyer had grown bored of watching the scene before him. Locke was being too cautious for his liking, it was just a phone after all. Yeah, just a phone, in the middle of the jungle, on a deserted island with no footprints or anything surrounding it, in perfect condition, but it was just a phone.

Locke reached down and picked it up. He turned back to Sawyer before flipping it open, already knowing what he'd find. The phone read "No Signal" in the same big block letters that he saw in his dream. Locke sighed. "It has no signal out here, it's no good to us."

"You're tellin' me then, that we just walked for four hours in this damn jungle for no good reason?" Sawyer's eyes narrowed dangerously as he took a step towards Locke. "I think I would have preferred you makin' up the whole damn thing."

"Now, Sawyer, calm down, I'm sure there is a reason, the island just hasn't told us what it is yet." Locke told him, standing his ground.

The phone shook.

Locke lifted it wide-eyed and looked at it. He glanced at Sawyer whose face mirrored his own.

The phone shook again.

Sawyer regained his composure. "Must be set on vibrate." He said with his usual smirk.

The phone shook again.

Locke hesitantly flipped the cover up. "It's an in-coming message." He stated.

"You said the thing had no signal." Sawyer replied.

"It doesn't." Locke's voice was just a whisper as he pushed the right button to get into the messages. There was one sent just a minute ago.

"What does it say?" Sawyer asked him, curiosity raised.

"It says," Locke started to read, " 'Head's Up'." He paused. "That's weird."

"Yeah, just a little." Sawyer agreed, distracted by footsteps in the jungle coming from behind him. He turned just in time to see Kate and Boone walk out. "Well Freckles, I know you can't live without me, but you really didn't have to follow me all the way in here."

"Shut up, Sawyer." Kate replied to him, rolling her eyes.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Locke asked them, looking to the sky.

Sawyer groaned. "See, now you're just bein' paranoid."

"No, there's something up there." Locke told him.

"I see it too." Kate agreed, lifting her hand to shield her eyes as she looked into the sky.

Sawyer finally looked up too. He saw a big hard ball plummeting towards them, fast. "Move." He told them all, looking at the other three, watching as none of them moved They were too distracted by the ball that was about to hit them all. He swore under his breath and moved quick, pushing Locke to the side he lunged at Kate, toppling over with her on the jungle ground.

The ball hit, right where Boone was standing, the only one Sawyer hadn't gotten to.

Locke got up from where Sawyer had pushed him to and walked to it. It was about three feet in diameter and an odd greyish colour. He circled it, looking for remnants of his friend. He found none. He bowed his head to hide the tears that were forming there from the other two.

Kate covered her mouth in horror as Sawyer helped her to her feet. "Boone…" She gasped, feeling a lump form in her throat. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as well.

"Ain't that the damnedest thing." Sawyer said as him and Kate walked over to where Boone had been standing moments before. Even Sawyer was a little quieter then usual. "We got us a genuine fortune teller."

Locke choked back his tears and looked at them. "You know what this is?" He asked them.

"Enlighten us." Sawyer replied.

"This is excrement from an airplane." Locke sighed and shook his head. "That noise we heard was from a plane passing over head. Not only did we lose a great man, we missed our chance to get off the island. We should have kept our eyes to the air, we should have followed the message. The island was trying to help us."

Sawyer wrinkled his nose in disgust of the smell. "Well, there's one thing we can be thankful for." He said calmly.

"And what's that?" Kate asked him weakly, still horrified from what happened to Boone.

Sawyer smirked. "At least he died with dignity."