I failed to think of a song for this chapter. But I'm sure if you reach into the very bottom of your hearts you will find one.

The Locke and the Key

Chapter Fifteen

Ewan's head popped up from out of the hatch. Squinting because of the painfully bright sunlight, he lifted himself out and hurried to the action. He stood behind Paolo and Nikki who were gazing at Eko lying in the ground. Ewan wondered to himself if Eko was dead as Locke hurried to his side.

"Eko…" Locke murmured. "Eko, can you hear me?"

He reached for Eko's head and pulled it to his chest. "Eko? C'mon Eko," his eyes begged for the man to wake up.

Suddenly, Locke bent down as Eko's eyes fluttered with all the strength he had left. He whispered something to John and then slowly closed his eyes. His body collapsed and John was the only thing holding him up. Ewan furrowed his brows as he watched.

"What did he say?" Sayid asked the question all of them were thinking.

"He… he said we're next," John's eyes scanned Eko, hoping to see some sign of life.

The group took this in. It was like being home alone. They all pretended Eko's words didn't scare them, but inside each of them were wondering what he meant.

"We will burry him here," Locke had stated clearly.

Ewan couldn't believe his ears at the time, but now he was waiting for Locke and Sayid to return with the tools for a proper funeral. He sat underneath a tree with tall, expanding branches that would block him from the sun. He fiddled with the remains of his breakfast--a banana peel. He ran his finger across the smooth, rubbery, yellow outside and stared it as he thought.

Eko is dead, Ewan thought to himself. I came out on this little adventure just… for fun. Just because… there's nothing else to do. And somebody DIES? This is not what was supposed to happen. How am I supposed to act? Everybody seems OKAY with Eko's death. But well… shouldn't we be mourning him? SOMEBODY should be--

"Ewan?" Desmond asked. Ewan stared up at him blankly. Des was not one to start up conversations. "You still hungry, brotha?" he asked as he looked down at the banana peel.

"Yeah," Ewan muttered. "Why don't we just go to the hatch and get some… I dunno… what do you feel up for? Mac and Cheese?"

Desmond tried to keep his laughter in as he snorted at this idea. "What are you kidding me?" he asked when he realized Ewan was not joking. Ewan stared at him and wrinkled his nose. Desmond bent down and looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Didn't anyone tell yeh, brotha?" he asked softly.

"T-Tell me what?" Ewan asked.

Des sat down pretzel style across from Ewan. He shifted round in the dirt until he felt comfortable and began, "Nobody ever told you what happened while you were gone?"

"Well, no," Ewan looked at him. He knew it was because he didn't talk to anyone other than Desmond, Sayid and occasionally Rose.

Desmond shook his head. "The hatch… John and I… humph. Well, John came up with this plan to see what would happen if we stopped pushing the button." Desmond watched Ewan's eyes widen as he continued. "I went with him, and when it came to the final minutes before the button went off, I… well I was reading the record of…." He paused and tried to start over again, "There was one day when I was in the hatch alone and… I had the same idea. What if I didn't push the button, yeah? So I didn't. I let it run for a few minutes… I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to cause any harm. But what happens when you don't push the button is… everything magnetic is pulled to the hatch. I think… I think I pulled your plane in from the sky."

He let it all sink in as Ewan eyed him in nasty disbelief. "That's not true," he said as he shook his head violently. It was as if he was shaking all the angry thoughts out of his head. Oh, how many times he had thought about what he would be doing if the plane hadn't crashed. "That's not true, Des."

"It is," Desmond smiled wanly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… to cause all this." It had finally hit Desmond that indirectly, he had caused many of the deaths on the island--including Eko's.

"But that's… that's bloody preposterous!" Ewan cried. "Why would--"

"Ewan, please," Desmond rested a hand on his mate's shoulder. "I know you don't understand but it's not… I didn't mean to make this all happen."

"Fine," Ewan huffed. "Sure."

"Just let me finish, eh?" Des folded his hands in his lap awkwardly. "Now, when I realized that I had crashed your plane, I told John. I told your boxman that it was all real but he wouldn't believe me. He threw the computer down and smashed it. There was no way to press the button."

Ewan had been turned away for the second half of the explanation, but now he looked back curiously. "What happened?" he asked.

Des struggled to carry on. "Well… Kelvin had taught me this one way. One way to end it all--"

"Kelvin… the guy who was in the hatch with you, yeah?" Ewan asked.

"Yep," Desmond continued. "The only problem was this one way… it was to turn a key and… if you turned the key you wouldn't have to push the button anymore. But… nobody knew what would happen if you did so." He took a deep breath and made sure that Ewan understood. "So I turned the key and there was this bright, white light--"

"And the sky," Ewan declared. "The sky turned purple didn't it!"

"I dunno…" Desmond looked puzzled. "Couldn't see the sky, brotha."

"Well, when we were on the boat… the sky turned purple. And there was a bright light. And a loud sound. And the Earth shook… what… what happened to you, Des?"

"Well after the bright light I don't remember much," Desmond lied. "I just woke up in the jungle naked."

"Naked?" Ewan asked with a smirk.

"I have no idea," Des laughed. "I had a few scares on me and a lot of bruises, but I'm alright." He looked down at himself and moved his arms around just to prove it.

Ewan's face turned from a childish smirk to a caring and loving expression. "You sure you're alright," he looked Des over and reached his hand out to push his hair off his face.

"I'm fine," Desmond smiled and let out a small laugh.

Ewan slowly slid his hand off Desmond's forehead, "Nothing's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Hmmm," Ewan brought his hand back to his lap. He could tell Desmond was lying simply by the way he looked him in the eye. The crinkles of his smile were different too. He would have to bring this up at a later time though. He didn't want to trouble Desmond anymore than he already was.

"It's getting darker," Paolo noted. He watched the bushes round him to check for any sign of Locke or Sayid. Nikki was huddled close to him. Ewan wasn't sure if she was really cold or if she just wanted to be next to Paolo. He couldn't blame them, though. He and Desmond were a mirror image just a few feet away.

Des looked up at the sky and squinted as he watched the clouds glide over the sun. Then he turned back to Ewan and asked quietly, "How long do you expect they'll be out?"

Ewan shrugged. "Do you know where Locke and Sayid were going?" he asked Paolo and Nikki. Both of them shook their heads no.

Nikki replied, "I thought the said they were heading back to the camp."

Paolo wrapped his arm round Nikki and added, "I like it how they just expect us to sit here and wait for them."

"Get used to it," Ewan snapped.

The four of them sat there, staring at each other for quite sometime. They had nothing in common, nothing to talk about and nothing to do. Eko's body was positioned only a few feet away from them, a blue tarp covering him. Ewan began to wonder when Locke and Sayid would be returning and giving them instructions on what to do. He really hoped that they didn't want him to help burry Eko. He wasn't sure if he would be able to.

Suddenly, Desmond looked up. His eyes widened and his head still like an animal in danger. Ewan watched him nervously, wondering what was up. "Listen," Des whispered to Ewan.

Soon he heard it. The rustling of leaves. "It's Locke--" Ewan cried but Desmond covered his mouth.

Some more leaves rustled and Desmond turned to Ewan urgently. "That's not Boxman…" he muttered.

Now all four of them were staring at the bushes near Eko's body with their eyes alert. Nikki and Paolo, who were closest to the sound, heard a deep growl. Paolo turned expectantly to Desmond, "What is it?" he asked as if Des should know.

Okay, kiddies. I'm sorry to break the news to you, but this is the last chapter of Locke and the Key. Don't cry. Please don't cry. DON'T CRY! Gosh... wipes shoulder with tear stains. I wanted to end the story at a good number (15. One of the lost numbers AND just a good number in general) so I'm stopping here.

But there is NO WAY I could ever stop writing about my two awesome "brothas"--Ewan and Des. So there will be a new story coming out. Like a follow up. Sequal, if you will. And don't worry, it'll be soon. Very soon. I'm not sure what the name will be yet, just check out my profile by eh... next wednesday? That's December Sixth.

If you'd like me to PM you telling you the day that I get the new story up--REVIEW! All reviews for chapter fifteen will be replied to and in the reply I will tell you the title of the new story. NO, this is not some scheme just to get you all to review. It's just easier.

This is a terribly long ending "paragraph" so I'll just close it up with--it's been fun, my brothas.