A/N: I have the BEST readers and reviewers on this website I swear! You guys totally blew me away with your reviews. Thank you SO much. It really does mean a lot to get feedback and hear your suggestions and if you're liking it or not. Thank you, thank you! Mwah!

I went back and edited chapters that needed it so some things have changed if you want to go back and read when you're bored LOL. Nothing major has been changed, just the flow of sentences and some parts were taken out/added so the story was more original content and less actual script.

In a week's time, I am leaving (for several weeks) for summer vacation now that spring semester at school has ended. Shew for surviving that, college is a beast. SO what does that mean? I am going to try to update a lot in the next couple of days and finish with Season One before the time I leave. The only way I'll do this though is if I get good feedback from you guys on the coming chapters. It's important and it motivates me to get things posted sooner. How much feedback? That's up to you but I need it. You'll see why and I'm hoping with what is coming up in these next few chapters you will be compelled to leave me reviews anyway. It's gonna be GOOD I promise. Sorta. I'll leave it to you on how you interpret me using the word good. Man, I'm babbling aren't I?

And OMG who saw "Two for the Road" this week? Blown away am I! Once again LOST has managed to grab me by my shirt and shake me all sorts of crazy. Wow. (zips lips shut). On with the reading!

Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen: DEUS EX MACHINA

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Something landed by her feet with a small thud and Faith peeked through the fingers pressed against her face to see a mango. A shadow fell over her stomach and she covered her eyes, looking up at Boone standing there. "Uh, thank you?"

"You look like you're hungry."

"Wow, you could tell that with me asleep huh?" She grinned as she sat up and he plopped down on the beach next to her. Faith nodded her thanks as he extended a small knife and she scooped up the mango. "I thought you'd be with Locke."

"I decided to take a break." Boone shrugged as he placed a piece of sliced mango into his mouth. He chewed for a few seconds then swallowed, licking his lips. "And he told me to come find you."

"Aha, so the truth comes out." Faith watched the peel of the mango curve back to follow the trail of the sharp blade. "And what would be the reason my presence has been requested by The Great Bald One?"

Boone smirked as he chewed on the fruit some more and swallowed. "He seems to think we're close to…" He paused to look around and check that they were indeed alone, "…to opening the hatch."

Faith chuckled as she popped a sliver of mango into her mouth, talking as she chewed. "And what do you think?"

He watched her grin at him before swallowing the fruit and shook his head, a smile appearing on his own lips. "I'm not so sure. We've been trying everything he can think of and nothing has worked so far. Whoever built this thing definitely knew what they were doing."

"That's a sign if I've ever seen one." Faith handed Boone back his knife and jumped to her feet, pausing to take a bite from what was left of the mango. "Guess this looks like job for… well, me."

Boone chuckled as he stood up as well. "If you can figure out a way to get into it, I'll do your laundry for two weeks."

"Oh now it's wicked interesting." Faith grinned as she turned to head into the jungle and Boone followed. She let out a huge sigh, "Wow, two weeks; what will I do with all that spare time?"

"You haven't won yet Faith."

"Yet is the key word grasshopper, I haven't won the bet… yet." Without looking, Faith tossed what was left of her mango behind them as they left and she paused at the sound of it splattering across something solid.

"Oh, son of a bitch!"

Faith froze, her eyes meeting Boone's. "Oops."

They both took off running, laughing the entire way back to the hatch.

&&&&&&

"Alright, let's try it again."

Faith looked at the metal hook Locke had connected to a long piece of bamboo and squinted at Boone from where she stood on the other side of the hatch. "What's this thing called again?"

"A trebuchet, however that's spelled." He shrugged. "But I'm calling it a catapult."

"Good call." Faith nodded. "I'm definitely going with catapult."

"It's called a trebuchet." Locke shook his head as he grabbed the rope connected to the end of the hook and pulled it back. "Because it's a trebuchet, not a catapult."

"How do you spell 'trebuchet'?"

He sighed and held the rope firmly all the way back. "There's a 't' on the end."

"Whatever." Faith crossed her arms as she took a step back. "I'm sticking with, what is a catapult for six hundred Alex."

Boone grinned but stopped short at the look Locke gave him. He cleared his throat and motioned towards the hatch. "Uh, yeah, let's try it again… with the trebuchet."

"Traitor." Faith muttered. She glanced down at the door blankly. "Fine, let's do this… again."

Locke said nothing, simply releasing the rope and the three of them watched as the metal hook arched downward quickly, the tip crashing into the glass panel on the door. Instantly on contact the hook splinted into tiny pieces and went flying in every direction.

Like dominos lined up to fall, the bamboo shaft broke in half as well, pieces shattering, and Faith covered her eyes, taking a step backwards. The island around them grew quiet and she peeked between her fingers to see the door still in one solid piece, not even a single scratch showing on the top.

"That was supposed to work!" Locke bent down and threw a piece of the bamboo onto the hatch. "Work damn it!"

"Locke… Man, your leg." Boone pointed down and Faith followed his finger to see bamboo sticking out from the older man's lower leg.

"Damn Locke, that looks like it hurts. You should sit down." Faith leapt easily onto the hatch top and then jumped to the side Locke was standing and staring down at his wound. "Sit down man."

He brushed away her hands and bent down, not even flinching as he yanked the shard from his leg and tossed it to the ground. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Faith frowned as she watched blood coat his pants leg. "You don't look-"

"I said I'm fine." Locke snapped and pushed past her, bending to grab his bag before he started to head back in the direction of the beach. "We'll just have to rebuild it."

"Why didn't it work? It should have, right?"

He nodded at Boone ignoring Faith who was watching him. "I know." Locke cleared his throat. "It just wasn't strong enough I guess, we'll come back tomorrow and build it again. That's all we can do."

"Actually, what we can do is leave it alone." Faith grunted as he stalked past her. "Seems like the best idea to me."

Locke paused and turned to glare at her. "If you don't want to be here then leave." He snapped. "Everything breaks with the right pressure. This…" He pointed at the hatch. "This will break. The island will show us. It will."

He left without another word and Faith shot Boone a look of amazement.

"Talk about having your wires short circuited." Faith whispered. "That man's about to blow caffeine style."

Boone nodded as he bent to pick up his bag. He grabbed hers too and tossed it into her waiting hands. "He's just under a lot of pressure. Getting this hatch open means a lot to him."

"Yeah and it kind of makes you wonder why doesn't it?"

"I guess." He started after Locke, glancing at her from over his shoulder when he saw she didn't automatically follow. "Faith, you coming?"

Faith glanced up from the hatch door. "Oh yeah, sure thing, right behind you."

"You alright? You look like you saw a ghost or something."

"Nah," Faith shook her head. "No ghost."

They continued after Locke without another word and the hatch remained there uncovered, the straight line of six numbers etched visibly inches below the glass panel.

&&&&&&

Faith chuckled as she watched Sawyer stick his face even further into the book he was holding up and she tilted her head with an amused expression on her face. "Having fun?"

Sawyer grunted and flung the book to the sand. He paused to rub his forehead. "Damn headaches."

"Did you go talk to Jack?"

"Uh, yeah, let me get right on that."

Faith shook her head as she paused to fill up her water bottle and cap it. "He is a doctor you know, it's kind of his job to fix problems like headaches and wounds."

"I'm aware of that." Sawyer snapped as he stood quickly to his feet. He glared at her, watching as she tucked her bottle back into her bag. "Or did you happen to forget already when Mohammed tortured me to death?"

She paused to roll her eyes at the same time she zipped up her bag. "If that had been his objective Sawyer, you wouldn't be here right now." Faith adjusted the straps onto her shoulder. "I'm not his biggest fan either but just go see the man okay?" She edged her way around him as she saw Boone glancing around near the path by the woods. "Especially before you get extra grumpy and kill someone with that stare of death you've got. It puts fear in the hearts of all ages."

"Go ahead!" He called after her. "Laugh all you want about it!"

"I will!" Faith called over her shoulder. She waved at Boone to catch his attention then turned back to Sawyer and continued to walk backwards towards the path. "I'd wave goodbye but I guess that's pointless since you probably can't see me." She grinned and ducked just in time to miss the mango as it went whizzing by her head.

She was still chuckling when she finally reached Boone and he gave her a weird look, glancing at Sawyer from over her shoulder.

"What was that all about?"

"I was just having a little fun with everyone's favorite friendly castaway."

Boone snorted and they began to make their way up the trail side by side. "That's a good one. What's wrong with him today? Let me guess, he found something else he didn't have in his secret stash?"

"Beats me really." Faith shrugged. "Said he was having headaches but who knows with Sawyer."

Boone was quiet for a few minutes as they walked and she listened as he cleared his throat.

"What happened with the two of you? I mean, you were all buddy-buddy and now you're…"

"Acting like a divorced couple?" Faith smirked as he shrugged and continued to not look at her. "What can I say, no reason to really stay with a man after you've already learned all his moves. What'd be the point?" She hid her grin as Boone looked over at her with wide eyes. "I'm just kidding, chill." Faith chuckled as she shoved him harmlessly on the shoulder. "Yo, you should see your face, priceless."

&&&&&&&

The sound of his heavy gasping broke through the quiet air and Locke rubbed at the top of his head with slow sigh. He sat up and looked around, scratching his chin and his gaze drifted to where his leg was bandaged.

"You're not fine, are you?"

Locke looked up to see Faith sitting across from him and he glanced around again at the still beach, everyone around them asleep and unawares. Slowly he shook his head, stretching to rub at his calf muscle. "No. I'm not."

"I figured as much." Faith's attention focused on the wound. "What are you gonna do when you start to lose feeling in your legs John?"

"I won't."

"What if-"

"I wont!" He spoke firmly, louder than before, and for a few minutes they waited to see if the sound had woken any of the others. No one stirred and Locke slid his hand away from the wound. "I'll be okay."

"Whatever you say Boss but just keep in mind I'm not carrying your ass back here if something happens." She stood up from the log she had been sitting on and stretched her arms as far as she could into the air. "No sir, I'll drag you back and fuss at you the entire way, now that's a promise."

Locke grinned and accepted her extended hand, nodding as she helped him to his feet. "Sounds like a fair deal to me. Let's get Boone. I've got something to show you."

"Like what? A surprise?"

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you." Locke shrugged his backpack onto his shoulder, his eyes not meeting hers. "Let's get Boone." He repeated firmly. "I think I was just given a sign."

Faith watched in silence as he turned away to head to where Boone was sleeping and she pressed her lips together as hard as she could, ignoring the pain even as it shot all the way down to her toes.

&&&&&&

"Wait, let me make sure I have this straight." Boone swatted a bug off his shoulder and he continued walking next to Faith, both trailing behind Locke. "You had a dream about a plane and so now we're out here looking for it?" He shot Faith a look. "Does he not remember how we got here?"

"Not that plane, a different one." Locke replied over his shoulder. "A Beechcraft, one of those small cargo planes. I had a dream it crashed here. We need to find it."

"Oookay Locke, answer me honestly, have you been using that wacky paste stuff that made me see my sister get eaten?"

"No!"

"Paste? Your sister got eaten?" She glanced between the both of them. "Did I miss that? Aw man, where was I?"

"Yeah." Boone looked away from studying Locke and nodded. "Locke put some weird paste on my head a few weeks back and it made me see all sorts of weird things. It made me see that monster that's on the island and I thought it ate my sister." He shrugged and looked away. "Turns out it was all just a big hallucination showing me what I was afraid to let go of."

"I could have told you that without the paste." Faith mumbled and paused, tilting her head. "Ah, so that's what was in the bag."

Boone frowned. "You knew about that?"

"Eh…" She was slow to answer but eventually nodded. "I knew he had something planned to help you figure things out but I didn't know what."

"Who thought of the idea?"

Her response was forgotten when Locke let out a low moan and fell to his knees.

"Whoa Locke, you okay?" Boone rushed forward to help him back to his feet and Locke nodded as he stood back up. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah… I'm fine."

Boone was suddenly aware he no longer had Locke's attention and he glanced over at Faith. "What's the matter?"

"That." Faith continued to look forward and she pointed up with her right hand.

He followed in the direction she was pointing and immediately his mouth dropped open. A decomposed body dressed in black priest's clothes and a white collar hung from the tree limb mere inches away from where they stood.

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"Okay, so let's think." Boone kept a slow pace beside her, once again trailing a few feet behind Locke. The older man was going much slower this time, a large stick helping in assisting with his walking. "We just found a decomposed body of what looked to be a priest back there right?"

"Bingo. A discovery, paste free." Faith rolled her eyes and continued to stare at Locke as if he'd feel her gaze burning a hole through his back at any minute. "A priest carrying a small knife and a loaded gun."

"Not to mention he had a wad of Nigerian cash."

"And gold teeth." She spotted the look Boone gave her right away. "What? He did." Faith slid her attention back to Locke. "Can't help it that I noticed, shesh."

Boone shook his head and frowned as once again Locke stumbled. "Locke man, seriously, what is wrong with you?"

Locke grunted as he started to fall but before Boone could move, Faith stepped forward and grabbed Locke firmly by the arm, holding him upright with surprisingly little effort. She stared at Locke as Boone glanced uneasily between them, the silence growing uncomfortable.

"Maybe I should go back and get Jack."

"No."

They both shook their heads and Faith released her grip, watching as Locke slid to the ground with a disgruntled sigh.

"Jack can't help me."

"Why not?" Boone demanded as he placed his hands firmly on his hips. "He's a doctor, he's our best shot."

"I'm telling you, no." Locke ran a hand over his head and he glanced up at Faith. "Please. We just have to keep going."

"Not until you tell Boone the truth." She crossed her arms and took a step back. "The whole truth about you. I want to hear it too."

Boone glanced uneasily again between them. "John? What's going on? Faith?"

"Tell him."

Locke nodded. "I was paralyzed for four years and used a wheelchair up until the point we crashed on the island. When I woke up, I could walk again."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. The island, I guess it changed me. It made me whole for a reason and now it's…"

Faith lowered her arms. "And now you think it's testing you by slowly taking it back?"

"Yes!" Locke's eyes flew to hers. "It is and if I don't push forward, if we don't keep going, I fail. I can't fail Faith. It sounds crazy but my dreams, the signs, whatever is out here, we're supposed to find it. It's gonna help us get into the hatch but we have to keep going."

She didn't say anything, merely looking towards Boone, and she watched as he cleared his throat and nodded.

"Just help me up, son."

Faith shook her head as she watched Boone help Locke back to his feet, this time basically carrying all of the older man's weight. To tell them this was a mistake wouldn't do her or Boone any good and neither would her leaving them to fend for themselves by this point. Suddenly she couldn't get rid of the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Times like this, she really did miss Sunnydale.

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They continued making their way through the jungle, both of them helping Locke and finally Boone collapsed with a sigh, shifting to drop Locke carefully onto the ground.

Faith stepped back as she regained her breath and watched the both of them situate themselves. "Is this worth it?" She paused to pull her hair back, thankful she had remembered to pack a hair tie in her bag. "How much longer do we need to carry you Locke before you realize there's nothing out here?"

"It's out here. I promise."

"Yeah, I know. You promise a lot of things, that's usually what liars do." She looked at Boone sharply. "And we know how far you can trust liars."

Boone ran a hand over his sweaty face, and they both paused at the sound of Locke laughing.

She narrowed her eyes at him, frowning but she noticed at the exact moment a smile lit Boone's face. Both men were looking past her and ignoring the apprehension that suddenly seized her, Faith turned to look.

Hanging precariously off the edge of the tall cliff was the exact plane Locke had described.

Boone's voice was ecstatic. "Oh my god, you really did see it!"

"Yes." Locke nodded still chuckling. "I did and there it is."

"Imagine that." Faith grumbled. She scanned the plane and the cliff. "So what now Boss?"

"Someone's gonna have to climb up there and see what's in it." He glanced between the two of them. "Obviously it's not me."

She rolled her eyes but nodded. "You're such a faker." Faith grinned at Boone. "I don't suppose you love climbing tall cliffs do you?"

He glanced at Locke and then shrugged. "I can do it I guess."

"Good." Faith nodded again. "Glad to know I won't be climbing up there all by myself." She motioned at Boone with her hands. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

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"I don't think I've ever climbed anything this high before." Boone shot Faith a nervous look as they stared down at the ground below them. "I think I might puke."

"Puke on me and you're a dead man, I mean it." Grunting, Faith jerked on the plane door and it gave way easily with a low grinding noise. She grinned as she dropped it over the side of the cliff.

"Let me go in first." Boone squeezed her shoulder.

"This thing could go at any minute." Faith shook her head. "I'm quicker than you and I weigh less. It's safer if I …"

"Please." He turned her slightly towards him. "If anything happened to you…"

"Don't make this some Hallmark card type moment Boone. I'm going in and that's final."

"Fine." Boone shrugged. "I'll just come in after you and we can argue about it inside the plane too."

Faith rolled her eyes but she saw the look of determination on his face and let out a loud sigh as she moved forward. She extended her hand to help him into the plane and squeezed it hard before letting it go. Faith nodded in satisfaction at the wince she received in return. "Suits me." She paused listening as the plane groaned and creaked under the additional weight. "But as soon as this thing starts to bitch any louder, I'm shoving you out."

Boone ignored her, crawling past the seats to look around. "Check this out, I found some maps."

She peered over his shoulder. "Says Nigeria and that's one for Sahara. What this plane doing all the way out here? It has to be at least ten years old."

"Think it belonged to the priest?"

Faith looked up. "I think you might be right." She started to point when the plane suddenly shifted forward and Boone was thrown back, Faith reaching out blindly for support from the wall. "Shit!"

Boone stumbled and the decomposed body of another priest, the thing she had begun to point at, fell on top of him. Immediately he panicked and threw it to the side, the whole time screaming.

"Boone!" Locke's voice was loud as he yelled from his sitting position. "Faith! What's going on?"

"We're fine!" She yelled back. "We're…" Faith frowned at the sight of something small by her feet. "Standing in a pile of clay statues of the Virgin Mary?"

"You're kidding me." Boone's jaw clenched as he snatched one up. He glanced down again to see a small bag at his feet. "Let's get out of here."

"I'm with you on that." Faith double-checked to make sure he was behind her as she climbed out and he grabbed her hand, nodding as he cleared the plane door.

"It's nothing but clay statues filled with Heroin Locke!" Boone threw the statue and they both watched as it tumbled down the cliff, breaking near Locke and scattering bags of the drug in all directions. "That's it!"

"No, that can't be…"

"Well it is." Faith rubbed at her forehead. "Boone, let's…" She opened her eyes to see him halfway back inside the plane. "Boone! Get out before-"

"Faith, there's a radio!"

"Boone, don't!" Faith watched as he ducked back inside.

The sound of him fiddling with the radio mixed with the groaning of the plane as it creaked loudly and Locke began to shout from the ground. She blocked everything out, climbing back in as well and reached to grab Boone by the back of his shirt.

"Hello?" Boone turned the knob and static filled the plane. "We're survivors of Flight 815, do you copy?"

"If I have to drag you out unconscious, I will Boone. Let's-"

The static on the line wailed loudly again as someone responded back. "----- survivors of Flight 815, copy."

Boone looked over at Faith, the look of surprise and shock clear on his face. "Did you hear that?"

"Boone, come on, we have to go!" Faith jerked him away from the radio and froze as the plane suddenly tilted forward. "Oh, this is gonna suck."

The tree branches holding the plane suddenly gave way and Faith jerked Boone behind her just as everything slid forward. The sound of Boone screaming was the last thing she heard and Faith barely even noticed as the tail end of the plane flipped completely over, the darkness flooding her mind, and she succumbed to it without even so much as a fight.