The Man in Black sat silently, staring into the flames. It was about time for the other Candidates to come back from 1977. He had promised to reunite Sun with Jin, and, although he was a liar, he intended to keep that promise. Although he despised humans, he didn't despise them all equally. He had nothing personal against Sun, with the exception that she was one of Jacob's "chosen", so he had no problems with giving her what she wanted.
He had met so many people over the past several centuries… for such an isolated place people sure did come and go a lot. Hell, they even managed to move the island on occasion!
Out of all of them, there was only one for whom he felt deeply. Although he didn't like to admit it, one of the reasons why he promised to reunite Sun with Jin is because he knew what it was like. For her, it had only been 3 years since she had separated from Jin. For the Man in Black, it had been over a century. He had gone about 130 years without seeing or hearing from the only woman who had ever touched his heart. If what he had could even be considered a heart… When he was in his Smoke form, he retained every single memory of her. Every single detail.
The last time he had seen her was in the 1880s. Out of nearly 2,000 years of loving her, he only spent about 25 of them with her. He knew she had come back a few times since then, but she never sought him out. She sought Jacob out, sure, but never him. How she managed to keep him from detecting her exact whereabouts when on the island, he didn't know. Though he suspected Jacob had something to do with it.
And that was why he hated her so deeply. He hated Jacob too, and even more so because of her. The Man in Black only felt two emotions where she was concerned: deep love and deep hatred. He could never compromise with her. He could never just "let her be". She was either all his, or dead. She betrayed him with Jacob. He would kill her if he could right now, but he knew Jacob and the Island both protected her from him.
But then, death might not even be enough to get rid of her forever. After all, the woman had a tendency to pop up randomly in time. How she managed to time travel so effortlessly only the island itself knew.
She had promised him to help him leave the island, but Jacob somehow convinced her otherwise. On his "Things to do when I get off the island" checklist, murdering her was #1. He wanted to wrap his hands around that pretty neck of hers and squeeze and squeeze. Or maybe he would just stab her in the heart, like she did his.
He would enjoy watching the life leave her hazel eyes… which were a mixture of all of the autumn's colors... green, brown, gold, and even some red. Having spent eternity on the hot, tropical island, her eyes were the closest thing to autumn he had ever seen.
The first time he looked into those eyes were the second time they looked into his. The second time he looked into them was the first time they looked into his. And this is why he, better than anybody, knew about the annoyances of time travel. He knew, better than anybody, that What Happened, Happened, and that destiny was a fickle bitch.
"John?" a voice brought him out of his thoughts. Sun's. "You should be sleeping." He told her. "John." How he hated that name. How he hated John Locke. And here he was, stuck in John Locke's body. "I can't sleep." she said. "I can only think of Jin." She was starting to annoy him. He felt like giving her immortality just to make her wait a few hundred years, out of spite, but then realized he didn't have that kind of power anymore. Not since he took over John's body. Besides, he didn't want to put up with her for longer than he had to.
He forced himself to smile John Locke's smile, except that the warmth in John's blue eyes was no longer there.
"Don't worry, Sun. I promised you. You'll see Jin soon. As long as you stick with me, I'll help you two get back to Seoul."
"I only hope so." She said. It was obvious she didn't wholly trust him. "I just want Jin to meet our little girl."
"And he will." He tried smiling again. The light from the flames almost made her shiny black hair appear blue. He supposed that if he were an ordinary mortal man, he would find her attractive.
"What's going on?" Another voice asked. Less feminine. More annoying.
"Nothing, Ben. Don't you people ever sleep?" He asked, jokingly. Except that he really wasn't joking.
He still couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to thank Linus for killing Locke and making Locke's body available to him for possession, or punish him for it. He missed his old body, but knew that he needed to take Locke's appearance in order for his plans to come into fruition. He also knew that he needed Linus in order to kill Jacob for him.
And if SHE was there with Jacob, he would partake in some killing, himself.
"We have a long way to go, tomorrow. We need to find Richard and the Others." he said. "And then I'm going to have you to take me somewhere, Ben."
"Me?" Linus replied. "I thought YOU were the omniscient one, John. Weren't you supposed to take us somewhere?" "What about my husband?" Sun asked again. "Aren't we going to look for him?"
"Okay, folks! Just wake a guy up, why don't you?" Chimed in another voice. The pilot's.
"Obviously we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I need Ben to do me a favor, and I promised Sun to help her find Jin. So why don't the three of you just get some rest?"
"WHAT favor? What can I possibly do for YOU?"
"I really want to find Jin!"
"If you really know how to fix my plane, I'd appreciate it if we'd get started ASAP."
The Man in Black sighed. His three companions were REALLY starting to get on his nerves.