In Shallow Seas We Sail
Author's Note: So it's been roughly a hundred years, but here's the new chapter. Sorry, break has been nearly as busy as school! Plus, I re-watched Lost, so I watched Seasons 4 and 5 over break…also, a new Resident Evil game, and…well, I'm just a horrible person. I hope you all enjoy!
Sara
*
All these answers for the words that you omitted.
You omit them still.
Never thought I would find out,
but we're here now I'm aching for this, aching for it.
Piggy Bank Lies
[21]
Sawyer listened to the roar of the ocean, the thundering sound that had been bore into his consciousness, the roar that he could only attempt to duplicate with the box fan in his bedroom. It lulled him, as it always had, but even in his drowsy state, he could not find sleep. He focused on the sound, the steady rhythm of the churning sea, and tried to match his breath to it.
He lay on his side, facing away from the lumps in the sand that were his friends, his confidants on this mission that they knew nothing about – he knew nothing about it either. He didn't know what he was getting himself into, but he had to be here. They all had to be here, for one reason or the other. For life to go on, for any semblance of normalcy.
He became aware of something above to rush of the tide, voices. He turned toward them. In the dull light of morning, he could see two people sitting near the edge of the jungle, unmistakably Jack and Kate. He pushed himself to his feet; they stopped talking as he approached.
"Time to get moving?" he asked.
Jack looked at him for a moment, almost distrustfully, like they'd just crashed on the damn island that he'd stolen all the medicine. Jack shook his head. "Give them a little more time to rest. It'll still be dark in the jungle."
"Locke's gone," Sawyer replied, tilting his head toward the empty spot. After regaining use of his legs, Locke had hardly spoken a word and had obviously left at first light.
"Ilana hasn't even told us where we're going," Kate said.
Sawyer cast a glance at Ilana, sleeping near Frank farther down the beach. He lowered his voice. "We could go without her."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "We can't."
"Why the hell not?" Sawyer asked, trying to get his voice low, but there was an edge to it. To his right, Hurley rolled over, but his eyes stayed shut.
"We don't know where to go," Kate reiterated.
"The barracks. That's where she'll be."
"How do you know?" Jack asked. "The others, they move around. If they know we're here, they'll move."
"They don't know we're here," Sawyer replied. "If we don't give them time to move, they won't move."
The three fell into an uneasy silence.
"Listen," Sawyer finally said, "I'm not waiting for them to wake up – "
"I thought you said you trusted her," Jack said.
"I trusted her to get us here. She did. I don't trust her to get Juliet back. They've got an agenda. There's some reason she's here, but it ain't for us."
Kate spoke up. "I'll go with you."
"No, you won't," Jack said.
"I didn't answer your permission."
Sawyer watched the exchange with little interest. Kate would get her way; she always did.
"I came here to keep you safe, Kate. If you think you're going to go off to the Others without even hearing what Ilana has to say – "
"Keep your voice down," Kate warned coolly. "You came here to keep me safe? What's that even mean?"
Jack shook his head. "Nothing."
Kate continued to look at him until he stood, shouldered his pack, and looked at Sawyer. "Let's go."
Sawyer couldn't stop the smirk that spread on his face as he grabbed his pack and opened it. From it, he pulled two guns, handing one to Jack and the other to Kate. He pulled a third gun from the bag and tucked it in his waistband.
Kate looked at the gun as if it were a foreign object. "How did you—"
"That's the good thing about a private plane." He winked at Kate, and she rolled her eyes. "Still remember how to get to the barracks, Sacajawea?"
She shook her head and replied sarcastically, "I figured we could wing it."
"Road trip!" Sawyer replied. Ahead, Jack shook his head.
Just knowing they were going somewhere lightened his mood. He didn't feel bad leaving Ilana behind to fight whatever war she felt like fighting – it wasn't his war – but he hoped that Jin, Sun, Sayid, and Hurley would be okay with Ilana and Frank. He didn't worry about Locke; something told him that he would be just fine out in the jungle. (Something more told him that he'd see Locke soon enough.)
"What do we do once we get there?" Kate said, possibly to herself, but loud enough for the others to hear. Jack threw a glance at Sawyer.
"Get Juliet, get out," Sawyer answered.
"Then what?" Jack asked.
"Well, hell, Doc, you ain't ever had a problem being the leader before, you tell me."
"This isn't my decision. I would have stayed with Ilana."
"Well then get back there." Sawyer never varied his step, keeping up pace until he'd passed both Jack and Kate.
"Sawyer!" Kate called. He could hear her rush to follow him. Then, her voice low, she spoke to Jack. "Jack, it's Juliet."
Sawyer chuckled. "Left her once; he'd do it again."
"Sawyer!" Kate caught him by the arm. "We're going with you. Aren't we, Jack?"
Jack, shoulders squared, nodded.
"We're going to get Juliet away from them," Sawyer said, stare moving from Kate to Jack, "Away from Ben. Then it don't matter what we do next. We can go back to the damn beach, but she'll be with us." He turned then and kept moving. He could hear them fall in behind him.
*
Juliet sat on the edge of her seat, unable to stay still as the man, Esau, took the seat opposite her. "Juliet, I know you have several questions."
Juliet opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it. She wasn't getting anywhere with her questions, but she had the feeling that they weren't going to get answered, regardless of what she said. Instead, she nodded.
"You want to know if your friends are alright, why they are back here." The man rubbed a hand across the stubble under his chin, as if he didn't know how to answer these questions. "They are alright, safe, for now."
Although relieved to know that James and the others were alright, she couldn't keep from flinching at the latter part of his sentence. "For now?"
"A war is coming, Juliet, and you are all a part of it."
"What do you mean, a war?" She remembered what Richard had told her, that they were on different sides. He'd wanted her to come with him.
"I suppose you could call it a war of good and evil."
"What do you need us for?"
The man pursed his lips. "Juliet, you are a pawn here. You are what brought your friends back to the island. Sure, they all had their own reasons, but they will come to find you. Where you are, they will come."
"So that's the only reason I'm here? To bring them back?"
"Yes. Yes, Juliet, that is the only reason you're here."
Juliet could not stop the tears brimming in her eyes – her sole purpose here was to doom the people she loved. "W—why?"
"We need them."
"Why?" she cried.
"My brother believes he has chosen the right people to prove his point. A doctor who lets his anger control him; a criminal; a hired killer and his adulterous wife; a man bent on revenge; a killer; a con-man; and a glutton."
"I don't understand."
"All have committed cardinal sins, Juliet. My brother wants to fix them; he and your doctor friend have that in common," Esau said with a chuckle. "He picked some of them out from childhood, others only recently – two even after they came to the island the first time. They are anger, envy, pride, lust, gluttony – they are the things that are wrong with this world."
"No. No, they aren't those things, not anymore!"
"Juliet," Esau said condescendingly, "They are these things. They will always be these things."
"No – they've changed!"
Esau considered this and nodded. "It's true what you say. Some of them have changed. These, I suppose, are the ones Jacob was right about. However, as long as the others remain unchanged, they will pull everyone down with them."
"What do you mean?"
"Take your friend, Kate—she's on the run now; she won't turn herself in. She's here for herself. To save her pride."
'That's not true!"
"Is it not?" he asked. "And perhaps you would say the same for your con-man, who recently let his anger drive him to attack someone for saving your friend Miles' life."
"No," Juliet said, her voice only a whisper.
"And John Locke, who are this very moment is on his way here, a little ahead your blessed saviors, James, Jack, and Kate, who are on their way to save you."
"I don't understand. What side are you on, Esau?"
"I am on the side of humanity."
"And you believe humanity can't change?" she asked.
"That's exactly what I believe. Humanity needs sin. Jacob doesn't understand this."
"Jacob?" Juliet leaned forward. "Jacob is your brother?"
"He is. Juliet, this island heals people. He believes it can heal sin as well. He doesn't understand that sin cannot be healed. We are born in it."
"And now they're back and what are you going to do?"
"Oh yes, they're back. Jacob thinks they're back for the right reasons; I know otherwise. They haven't changed."
Juliet shook her head and stood. "I don't understand why I would want to be on your—your side. You have no faith?"
"And you do, Juliet?" It was Ben who spoke now. She'd almost forgotten he was here.
Juliet flashed a glare at him. "You want your sinner, Esau? Well, he's on your side already, and he hasn't changed at all!"
"Haven't I, Juliet? Didn't I allow you to go into the jungle?"
"So you could get that thing to come after me. So you could trick me into coming back here!"
Ben's lips curved into a smile.
"You let your own daughter die, Ben!"
Ben shook his head. "Now Juliet, where would you get an idea like that? I believe I just saw you speaking with her in the jungle."
Esau spoke up, "You thought you needed to change things, Juliet. You knew things weren't okay the way they were. You saved us all."
"I was dying!"
"But you knew what you were doing," Esau said, "You knew very well that you would make this all like it didn't happen."
"But I didn't. It didn't work, we remembered."
Esau went on like he hadn't heard her, "Of course, I needed the ones Jacob had chosen to be here, but so did he – I did nothing to get them back. Jacob even sent Ben to get you."
"He did?"
"He did," Ben replied.
"I—I," Juliet stuttered, "I can't stay here."
"You can do as you wish," Esau said. "You are free to go."
Juliet nodded resolutely and made her way to the door.
"But Juliet?" Esau called, "If you leave, they won't knew where to find you. They'll be here. They will be on our side."
"I'll find them," Juliet snapped.
"Will you?" But the smile on Esau's face told her the answer: no, she would not.
She reached for the handle, but the door swung open in front of her. She took a step back, unconsciously holding her breath.
"Hello," Tom said, looking at her uncertainly.
"H—hello," she replied, glancing only momentarily to the man whose arm Tom was holding. Tom looked past her. The man smiled at her.
"Found him walking through the jungle. Wouldn't tell me what he was here for," Tom said.
"Bring him in," Ben replied.
Esau stood again. "John, I'm so glad you could join us."