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Chapter Text

"I'm just saying dude! If you were a Jedi you could do no wrong, and have the power of the force on your side in a good way! You could easily beat up anyone you want!" Hurley gushed.

"But if you were a Sith you wouldn't have to follow the written code! And you'd be able to rule the world really easily, and cheat your way around using the force! The benefits are much greater." Charlie rambled.

The two of them had been arguing back and forth like this for an hour, as they made their way up to the Hatch. Jack and Locke had asked them to take the next shift there, and because there wasn't much else to do, they said yes.

"But dude, the Sith are like, the ultimate evil in the universe. Why would you wanna team up with that?" Hurley asked.

"Just cause they're the bad guys in Star Wars doesn't necessarily mean they're bad." Charlie stated, "I mean, the whole fascist galactic empire thing, yea that’s horrible there's no doubt. But the Sith themselves aren't just the Empire. So couldn't you be a Sith without being part of the Empire?"

"No way, dude." Hurley shrugged as they approached the outside door for the hatch.

"You think they have an TV shows in there to play on that old creepy projector they got stored in there?" Charlie asked, opening the door.

"What old creepy projector?" Hurley questioned.

"Locke said that him and Eko had found an old cassette and projector that told them about what this place was for. I'd imagine if you're gonna be in solitude for a long time that you'd be provided with something to do other than pressing that bloody button." Charlie explained. "Who knows, maybe they'll have some movies too."

"I hope they do. Gives us all something to do other than roaming around. Hey, maybe we could even host a movie night for everyone to take everyone's mind off of things!" Hurley beamed.

"That'd be a good idea, but how would we fit 48 people into this muggy place?" Charlie pointed out.

"We could bring the projector out to the beach!" Hurley exclaimed, "Then everyone could watch it from there tents!"

"Ok, but how would we plug it in?" Charlie asked. Hurley grew quieter as they finally walked inside the living area.

"That, does pose a problem." Harley finally spoke.

"Yea. Maybe we could try something el-" Charlie started to reassure Hurley before stopping himself mid-sentence. Sitting in the middle of the room were a drum-set, three guitars, and a microphone. All of them seemed to have come out of nowhere, baffling both Hurley and Charlie, who was practically awing at all the equipment. Desmond, who had the shift before them, walked out of the button room to greet the two grinning fellows.

"Heya!"

"Dude! Where'd you find all of this?" Hurley asked.

"Locke 'n I found it all laying down in that big concrete area out there." Desmond pointed to the other side of the hatch, or the area that Jack and Locke had first blown up to get inside of there. "Apparently I'd been sitting there for a while."

"And you never used it?!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Nope." Desmond smiled. "I think Jack and Sayid are the ones coming next after you for the rest of the night. So you should be here for 'bout two hours."

"Dude, can we mess around with these for a bit." Hurley asked.

"You don't have to ask me. I'm not the one who owns them. No one does." Desmond stated, before exiting the hatch leaving Hurley and Charlie alone. Both of them turned their heads to each other, smiling as if it was Christmas, before they ran closer to the instruments.

Charlie immediately picked up the first guitar he saw, giving it a strum before wincing at the broken melody that played from it. " 'Suppose this has to be tuned." He chuckled, starting to fiddle around with the turning keys.

Hurley ran up to the drums, sitting down on the circular seat behind them. "I haven't played the drums in forever." He gasped, picking up the drumsticks.

"You know how to play drums?" Charlie asked, shocked. Hurley smiled,

"Yeah dude. I used to play them all the time at home for fun. Never really thought about doing anything big with it." Charlie strummed the guitar again, this time letting it hum out a sweet sound.

"There we go." Charlie stated, as he started to strum 'You All Everybody' for practice. Hurley listened to it for a couple of minutes before joining in on the drums, playing a beat that sounded similar to the one in the song, but not exact. It didn't phase either of them though, as they continued to play, with Charlie eventually singing the lyrics.

Both of them seemed to be having fun, playing and singing, not really conscious of anything around them. But as soon as they got in the zone, the button started beeping, snapping both of them out of it. Charlie sighed,

"I'll get it." He put down the guitar and ran into the button room, leaving Hurley alone to think. He glanced at the instruments, then at Charlie, and then at himself as an idea formed in his head.

When Charlie walked back into the room, Hurley looked up at him and smiled,

"Dude, what if we held a concert at the beach?" He gushed. Charlie looked at him, a bit confused,

"What?"

"Think about it," Hurley stated, "we have all the instruments. All we need is two more people and we could start a band! Then we could play for everyone at the beach and provide a distractions so everyone could relax! Plus it would let you play some of your songs from Drive Shaft, as well as new ones you've written!"

Charlie started to smile, "and we could set up a stage right off the shore, so that you could see the sky and ocean as we play! Of course we'd have to be able to take it apart, but it shouldn't be too much trouble if we get help from Sayid or Michael!"

"Exactly!" Hurley exclaimed. "It would be perfect!"

"There's one problem tho," Charlie realized, "how would we convince Jack to let us do it?"

Hurley thought for a second, "we could just wait until we have a more concrete plan for all of this to ask him?" Hurley suggested.

"That might work. Assuming he hasn't lost his marbles by then, like he does every other week." Charlie responded.

"Alright then!" Hurley smiled, "Operation Island Band is a go!"

"Island band? That’s what we're calling this? We should give it a proper name." Charlie suggested, "Y'know like how they do it in those mystery crime shows."

"All those names are super far-fetched from what the actual mission is though, like they'll call a smoothie run 'Flying-Eagle Tackle Drop' or something" Hurley chuckled.

"So then what if we call it something less ridiculous," Charlie suggested, "like harmony avalanche takedown?"

"Dude, that’s perfect!" Hurley exclaimed.

"Then operation Harmony Avalanche Takedown is a go!" Charlie gushed.

And as they continued to come up with concepts for their idea, a new fate was set for the survivors of flight 816. A fate that could change everything for better,

Or for worse.

Chapter Text

The next day, Hurley and Charlie sat down just outside the beach camp jotting down a list of names of who they should ask to be in their band.

"What about Bernard? He seems like a musical type?" Hurley suggested.

"Probably not." Charlie sighed, "what about Miles?"

"I don't think Miles knows how to play an instrument." Hurley pointed out. "What about Sawyer?"

"Would he want to do it tho?" Charlie asked, "plus, we still don't know if he's knows how to play an instrument."

"But he's, like, really into music. It wouldn't hurt to ask." Hurley cheered.

"Alright then, which instrument? Theres Bass and Rhythm." Charlie gushed.

"I don't know man, your better at the musical side of stuff than I am." Hurley shrugged.

"Hm..." Charlie thought, "I think Sawyer would be good on Bass. He just seems like the type."

"Alright! So now we just need someone for the Rhythm." Hurley said, "how about Juliet?"

"Nah," Charlie sighed, "still don't trust her. What about Jin?"

"Why Jin?" Hurley asked.

" Well the man seems like he would enjoy it, plus it feels like most people here alienate both Jin and Sun from things just cause their a different ethnicity. Just doesn't seem fair." Charlie explained, "plus Jin seems like he'd be a good Rhythm guitar player, and he's our friend. It just wouldn't be the same without him." Hurley smiled,

"Alright then, so it's us Sawyer and Jin! That is, if they agree to join."

"Hopefully," Charlie sighed, getting up from is spot in the sand, "imna go ask Sawyer, you wanna find Jin and ask him?"

"Sure thing dude." Hurley grinned, getting up as well. "Time for part two of Mission H.A.T."

Both of then chuckled as they made their way to each person they were looking for.

Charlie had walked over to Sawyer's tent to see if he was lounging about there, but to his surprise he wasn't. He tried looking around camp as best he could, before going to Kate to see if she knew where he'd gone off too.

"I just have something to ask him is all." he beamed.

"Well, I saw him and Jack walk over that way on the shore." Kate told him, pointing to the left, "It looked like they were talking about something serious."

"Alright then, thanks!" He smiled. As he started making his way in the direction Kate alluded to, however, he noticed that her elbows and right hand were wrapped up in gauze, unlike when he saw her yesterday.

"Hey Kate," He called out. She turned towards him.

"Yea?"

"Are you ok? You look a bit more wounded than yesterday." She looked away from him.

"Oh! Yea... I just fell out of a tree getting fruit... it's nothing too bad..." She lied. Charlie couldn't tell however, so he continued on his way.

When he walked over to where Kate directed him, he started to hear faint yelling. Recognizing it as both Sawyer and Jack, he headed towards it curiously. Sure enough he found the two, Sawyer with his arms crossed looking annoyed, and Jack with his hands on his hips yelling. Not wanting to be rude, Charlie stepped up behind a tree to wait for them to finish, deciding to listen in on their conversation.

"Listen, until we know what's going on for sure, you can't tell anyone about what happened yesterday." Jack snapped.

"But they should know what's going on so there not oblivious to it, if it happens again!" Sawyer yelled. "Isn't that the whole damn point of us staying together! To help and protect each other."

"Were all together in order to survive. We don't know if it's going to happen to any of them, for all we know he's only going after us." Jack spat.

"Oh yea, as if a psychopath and a ball of smoke will focus all their attention on a damn spinal surgeon, two criminals, and a damn Iraqi." Sawyer jabbed.

"Do you really think what happened back there was just an isolated incident?! It's going to happen to us again, and possibly sooner if you don't keep your mouth shut!" Jack screamed.

"Well then I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Sawyer shouted, smirking for a second before scowling. Jack was pretty much fuming at this point.

"Sawyer, can you just promise me, that for once in your life, you'll keep quiet about it?" Jack insisted. Sawyer sighed, looking over to the sea.

"Fine." He muttered. "but I ain't doin anything else for you."

Jack started walking back towards the camp, a look of relief crossing his expression. As he moved away, Charlie slipped into view, pretending like he'd just gotten there. He passed Jack, he noticed that he had gauze wrapped around his arms the same way Kate's was, just flipped. Seeing that as odd, he continued up until he was behind Sawyer, lightly tapping his shoulder.

Sawyer turned around, looking annoyed.

"Heya Sawyer." Charlie gushed.

"The hell you want, hobbit." He sighed.

"I was just wondering, do you know how to play the bass guitar?" Charlie asked. Sawyer stared at him skeptically.

"Why ya wanna know?" He asked.

"Well, Hurley and I found some instruments down in the hatch so we wanted to start a band, and we figured you're be very much into music cause you seem like it, probably because your southern now that I think about it, so we decided we wanted to know if you could play the bass so we could ask you to join the band." Charlie rambled. Sawyer looked star-struck as he stared at Charlie.

"You still didn't answer the question. Can you?"

"… yes I can play the bass but that’s beside the point, you thought I was into music because I'm southern? That sounds like something I would say!" Sawyer babbled.

"Well, we didn't really say it out loud, I just kind of thought about it in the moment," Charlie stammered, a bit embarrassed. "but since you know how to, do you wanna be in the band?"

Sawyer thought for a moment, glancing behind Charlie to look at Jack and Kate who were happily talking together.

"Does Jack know you're doing this?" Sawyer pressed.

"No." Charlie muttered.

"Good," Sawyer smirked, staring back at him "better if that Jackass doesn't know. Anyone else other than the three of us?"

Charlie started to smile, "So you're in?"

"Might as well be. Gives me something to do other than reading the same books over and over again. Now is there anyone else other than me you and chewy?" Sawyer responded.

"Well right now Hurley's asking Jin, and if he says yes it'll be the four of us." Charlie gushed, walking back to the camp with Sawyer, trying his best not to ask about the gauze wrapped around his waist and stomach.

Meanwhile, while Charlie was fetching Sawyer, Hurley walked up to Jin's tent, seeing him and Sun simply sitting down and chatting about the baby. At least that’s what Hurley inferred, seeing as they were talking in Korean.

"소년이라면 아기 성호라는 이름을 붙이면 어떨까요?" Sun suggested.

"나는 그것이 소년이 될 것이라고 생각하지 않습니다. 하지만 만약 그렇다면 성호는 좋을 것이다." Jin chuckled.

"그래서 당신은 정말 우리가 딸을 가질 거라고 생각?"

"물론."

"H-hey guys!" Hurley chimed in. They both turned their heads towards him, both seeming very happy.

"Hello Hurley!" She smiled.

"Hello." Jin repeated, joyfully smiling.

"I was wondering if you know how to play the guitar." Hurley asked, pretending to

"I know how to play." He responded, "Why are you asking?"

"Oh! Cool! Charlie and I wanted to start a band, and we were wondering if you would be a part of it!" Hurley responded.

"A band?" Sun beamed, "why would you do that?"

"Well," Hurley began, "we thought that if we started a band and held a concert here at the beach, then it would be a fun way to lift up everyone's spirits. Plus it would give us an excuse to hang out more! So whad'ya say?"

Jin smiled as he thought for a moment. H looked over at Sun, who nodded her head, and then back at Hurley. "Alright."

"Awesome dude!" Hurley gushed. "C'mon! We've gotta go meet up with Charlie, and hopefully Sawyer." He started walking over to the beach spot him and Charlie were at before, with Jin trailing behind him.

Both Charlie and Hurley got to their spot at the beach at the same time, both appearing to be excited.

"Looks like part two of mission H.A.T. was a success." Hurley beamed.

"Mission Hat?" Sawyer jabbed, "What the hell is that?"

"It's just the name we came up with to talk about our plan." Charlie beamed.

"The Band Plan?" Jin asked.

"Exactly." Hurley smiled.

Sawyer smirked, "So is that the name of the band too?"

"Well, actually we don't have a band name yet. We were going to wait and decide with everyone here." Hurley smiled.

"Yeah! And now that were all here, what if we name the band Drive Shaft Two?" Charlie suggested. Everyone stared at him like he had three heads.

"Dude, were not naming ourselves after the band you were a part of before." Hurley sighed. "What about the Light Side Siths?"

"Like from Star Wars?" Sawyer chuckled, "Probably not. How 'bout the Haz-bins?"

"Sawyer, no. We're not naming ourselves that." Charlie sighed.

"Losties." Jin blurted. Everyone looked over at him. "What about Losties?"

Each person thought about it for a second, before smiling.

"Sounds good to me dudes." Hurley gushed.

"Same here." Sawyer agreed.

"Then it's settled," Charlie smiled, "from here on in, we'll be The Losties!"

Everyone started talking with each other about song ideas, while Charlie stared out into the ocean.

Everything would be fine.

Right?

Chapter Text

Nine Days Before The Concert

In order to practice with the instruments down in the hatch, the four of them had to sign up for hatch duty, so that no one else would be there. So when they approached Locke about it, he seemed quite intrigued.

"What made you guys decide to wanna take up watches in the hatch?" He asked.

Hurley stammered, "Well, uh..."

"We just wanted to take part in something more, that’s all." Charlie interjected. "We've been here for 120 days and haven't really contributed much."

Locke eyed Jin and Sawyer, who were standing behind Hurley and Charlie silent. Locke looked back at the two in front and smiled,

"Well luckily for you I was going to head up there today, so I can just switch out with you guys." Locke chirped. "Besides, gives me a better chance to try and find Keamey."

"Keamey's still alive? " Sawyer perked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yeah." Locke explained, "saw him a couple of days ago near here. Anyway, since Analucia and Eko are up there right now, it might be best if only two of you go there for the first 108 minutes. Y'know, if you're doing something you're trying to keep secret."

And with that, Locke winked, turned around, and headed into the jungle, leaving the group to be confused.

"Creepy." Jin shuddered.

"Definitely." Charlie agreed, "You think he knows?"

"He probably just suspects something." Sawyer said, looking dazed.

"Probably, but anyways who's gonna head up there first?" Hurley asked.

"How 'bout you and Sawyer?" Charlie suggested, "It's probably better if I check up on Claire and Aaron, and better if Jin checks up on Sun before we go."

"Yea." Jin nodded.

"That's fine with me." Hurley smiled, "what about you dude?"

Sawyer didn't respond, he just kind of stood there, lost in his thoughts.

Keamey was dead right? Him and Jack saw him lying there. But if it was fake then...

"Yo! Earth to Sawyer!" Hurley shouted. Sawyer seemed to snap out of his daydream. "You good man?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, let's just go." Sawyer scoffed, starting to walk into the jungle. Hurley quickly started following behind him, as Charlie and Jin made their way to their lovers.

For Sawyer and Hurley, it wasn't hard to make conversation amongst the two of them. While they were different in personality, they were similar in their likes and dislikes. So for most of the walk up there, they just talked about different shows and hobbies they used to do, things that they missed being able to try. But suddenly the conversation shifted from interests to crushes.

"So, how's Moonbeam and you doin?" Sawyer teased.

"Libby and I are fine. She actually wanted to go for a picnic tomorrow morning." Hurley beamed.

Sawyer smirked, "Ah, so you've got a date with Ms. Sunshine."

"I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call it that." Hurley stammered.

"Uh huh, that’s what they always say." Sawyer chuckled. "But, it's nice to see that someone on this rocks having good fortune."

"Yeah, what about you dude?" Hurley asked.

"Hm?"

"What's goin on between you, Kate, and Jack. I see you looking over at them a lot."

Sawyer pondered a moment.

"Nothin's going on between us. I don't ever wanna be with her again. I treated her badly, and she did the same to me." He sighed.

"But then, why are you always staring at her?"

Sawyer chuckled, "It's kinda funny everyone thinks I'm staring at her."

Hurley stopped walking for a second, staring at him dumbfounded. "Wait-" he started. Sawyer turned around to face him.

"You have a crush on Jack?!" He gasped.

"Yea, I like him. What about it?" Sawyer smirked.

"I just didn't think you were, you know-"

"Gay? Yea, I'm a Pansexual. I like all genders" Sawyer chirped. Both of them started walking as Hurley continued to question him.

"So then why don't you him out dude?"

"Cause he's a stubborn bastard. Spends too much time worrying about the next thing, never just taking time to relax. So I know for a fact if I ask him out he won't actually end up doing it, he'll end up finding something else to worry about. Besides, I don't think he's gay, or at least I don't think he'll admit it, so I'll settle for annoying him." Sawyer rambled.

"But dude, you'll never know if you don't ask. How do you think I ended up with Libby." Hurley pointed out.

"I know, I know," Sawyer started, "I don't know why I haven't yet. Guess it's just habit of circumstance." As they finally reached the hatch, Hurley got an idea.

"Dude, what if you asked him out as your date for the concert?" He suggested.

"Heh, ok then Drumstick, how am I gonna be his date while I'm on stage playing?" Sawyer said.

"Because then when it's done you two can hang out together." Hurley explained, "Plus if you're lucky, maybe something interesting will happen."

"Right" Sawyer laughed, opening the hatch door. Both of them descended into the bunker, Sawyer still shuddering a bit.

"Y'know, this place always creeped me out." Sawyer blurted.

"Same dude. What if it's haunted by some sort of creepy old Dharma worker?" Hurley suggested.

"What would that make us? The victims that would be haunted forever? Sounds more like something that whiskey king would deal with." Sawyer smirked. Both of them headed into the living area, where they saw Eko and Ana sitting and looking down at a piece of paper.

"Hope we're not interrupting your party." Sawyer teased. Ana looked up towards the two of them, running up to them with the note in hand.

"You want to explain what this is." She demanded, shoving the note straight into Sawyer's chest.

"What, what is?" Hurley asked.

"Read the note." Ana spat. Sawyer opened it up and looked at it, his eyes widening. Eko walked over and joined Ana's side.

"Do you know why your name is on this?" He asked. Sawyer stayed silent.

"Answer the ques-"

"Ask Jack." Eko and Ana glanced at each other. "You wanna know why I'm on here ask Jack." Sawyer repeated.

"Why would Jack know?" Eko questioned. Sawyer shoved the note back at them.

"Because he'll most likely know more about this than me." Sawyer snarled.

Analucia rolled her eyes, "Your lying."

"And what if I am."

"It poses a problem."

Sawyer just started walking into the button room, brushing Ana off.

"Hey!" She yelled, "You gonna tell us who Clementine is?"

Sawyer stopped walking for a moment, but it was very brief. And as he did he thought a moment.

"I ain't telling" He spat, continuing his way, away from everyone else.

Hurley looked at Ana and Eko.

"Uh, dudes. Can I, read that note?" Hurley asked, curiosity plaguing his mind. Ana handed him the note,

"Give it back when you're done." She sighed, brushing past him towards the door. Eko went and sat down on the couch.

Hurley opened the note and read this in his head:

Dear Sawyer,

You might want to watch out

Cause your dear sweet Clementine might not like

Losing her mother

You wouldn't want that would you?

I sent a note to three other people.

I want you all to show up at the dividing line

In two days

If you don't these threats will become real

See you soon James.

Hurley looked dumbfounded at the paper, before handing it to Eko, who left to go meet Ana in the jungle. He seemed confused and worried at the same time. Who would write something like that? Why would someone do that? He walked into the button room where Sawyer was, sitting in a chair just staring at the screen.

"Dude," Hurley piped up, "Are you, good?"

"Yea, I'm doin' real peachy." Sawyer snapped.

"I read the note." Hurley spoke, "Do you, wanna talk about it?" Sawyer looked up at Hurley and sighed, nodding his head. "Who was the girl mentioned in the note?" He asked.

"That would be my daughter." Sawyer murmured. "She's only two."

"When did that happen?" Hurley asked.

"Well, I met her mother through a long-con. I tried to con her, but instead she wanted me to teach her how to con. So I did, and I started to fall for her, hell I even tried to get the guy who hired me to lay off. But, instead of him letting it go, he threatened both our lives. So I conned her. She reported me to the police, had me arrested, and then three months later, told me she had a kid, one she claimed was hers and mine." Sawyer explained.

"Wow." Hurley gasped, "you two must've had a rough time raising her before crashing."

Sawyer shook his head, "I never met her. I never visited her, hell I kept on telling her mom that she wasn't mine." He admitted, "yet I still saved money for her, sent it anonymously. I guess I just don't wanna disappoint her."

"So, if she's only two, and her mom is somewhere else, how would this mysterious note hurt them?"

"I don't know." Sawyer admitted, "But think about it like this. Two days ago, something happened to me, Jack, Sayid, and Kate. Something Jack won't let me talk about. Now two days later, a man with the intention to kill everything is spotted alive, and I get a threat towards someone I haven't mentioned once while being here. Something tells me whoever wrote that, can and will do what they say they will."

Hurley just stood there, silently. He glanced down at the bandages on Sawyer.

"The thing that happened two days ago, is that how you got those?" Hurley asked.

Sawyer got up from the chair, ignoring the question entirely, and started walking into the living space.

"So, where are all the instruments?"

---------------------------------------

"I'm just saying Charlie, writing a love song for everyone wouldn't be a bad idea." Claire laughed, as Charlie was scrambling through their tent to find his notebook. It contained bits and fragments of song lyrics he'd been writing down since he came here.

"But wouldn't that embarrass you? Having a rock love song based off of you?" Charlie teased.

"Oh yes, the embarrassment," She smiled, putting a hand to her forehead. Charlie laughed, finally finding the notebook in one of their bags. That, and the surprise he had for her.

"You think Aaron's gonna be fine without me here for the night?" Charlie asked, looking into the crib, where Aaron was playing with a little plastic lid.

"Yeah, we'll be fine while you're gone." Claire reassured.

"Alright then," he beamed, "but before I go, I brought us something to eat first." He started taking out the surprise he brought for them, holding it up proud.

"Peanut butter." Claire laughed, "How'd you remember?"

"How could I not forget." Charlie smiled, "I was never able to give some to you. Figured now was a good time." He popped open the lid and tilted it over to her. She took her finger and dug it into the container, taking out a blob of peanut butter and putting it into her mouth. Charlie followed suit, both of them smiling and enjoying each other's company. But suddenly, Claire moved her head to look behind Charlie.

"Isn't that Ana and Eko?" She blurted. Charlie turned his head around to see what she was talking about. Sure enough Eko and Analucia had come back from the hatch, Ana looking pissed and Eko looking numb. Both of them headed up to Jack, which got the attention of fellow survivors. Charlie on the other hand, wasn't that concerned by it at all.

"Looks like that’s my que to head out," he sighed. He leaned in and gave Claire a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back soon, I promise."

And with that, Charlie headed over to Jin and Sun's tent to grab Jin.

"Hey Jin! You ready to go?" Charlie asked.

"Why yelling?" Jin questioned. Charlie just shrugged

"They probably just saw something that worried them." Charlie reassured.

"Are you sure?" Sun interjected. "If that’s so maybe it's not such a good Idea for you two to go out there."

"Maybe, we'll go ask them before we go, just to make sure it's safe." Charlie cooed.

"Alright," Sun murmured, looking at Jin and Charlie warily, as they made their way towards Jack, Annalucia, and Eko.

"He said if we wanted an explanation that we'd go to you. So explain." Ana demanded.

"Listen, I'm still trying to figure this out too. Sayid, Kate, and I also got notes like this, so it could be fake, it could be real, I have no idea." Jack rambled.

"Hey guys is everything alright?" Charlie asked as him and Jin reached the three standing there. "Jin and I we're going to make our way up to the Hatch, so we just wanted to know if it's safe."

"Everything's fine up there. We just found-" Eko started.

"We found something that isn't too concerning, so it should be safe to go up there." Jack interjected. Charlie and Jin just looked at each other before leaving the group and heading up to the hatch.

"Why is Jack lying?" Jin asked.

"Beats me." Charlie sighed, "We can probably find out if we ask Hurley and Sawyer."

"Ok." He responded. For the rest of the trek Jin and Charlie stayed silent. They usually never talked with each other, very rarely hanging out. But halfway through their walk, a question formed in Charlie's mind.

"So how's Sun's pregnancy?" He asked. Jin perked his head up.

"Good." He smiled, "We're very happy."

"Yeah, I bet. It's nice y'know? To have a child to take care of, to raise." Charlie stated.

"Yes." Jin chattered, "I've always wanted to."

"Really?"

"Yes. Back home in Seoul, it's something I always wanted. Sun's father is... hard. Having a daughter might ease that hardness."

"So you wanted a kid so her father could be nicer to you all?"

"Yes. I was told I couldn't, yet she is three months in." Jin smiled, "It is nice."

"Huh yeah. You thought of any names for the baby?" Charlie asked.

"Ji Yeon." He smiled.

"Wow. That’s an incredibly pretty name." Charlie complimented, "and don't worry, judging by how you act here, you'll be wonderful parents."

"Thanks."

Jin and Charlie approached the Hatch door, hearing loud musical noises coming from inside. So, with glee, they opened the door and walked down into the living space of the hatch where Hurley was talking about drum patterns.

"So, what if for this one I did a pattern sorta like duh, du-du-du-du-du duh?" Hurley asked, playing it after he said it.

"That sounds good, at least for that lyric." Sawyer agreed.

"Hey guys!" Charlie beamed, "whatcha working on?"

"Oh! Hey dudes! I came up with a couple of lyrics for a song we could sing, and I was trying to explain how the drum parts sound in my head." Hurley gushed.

"Really?" Jin gasped.

"Yea! Hey Sawyer, why don't you sing them what I came up with?" Hurley asked.

"I don't know." He sighed, "you sure you don't wanna do it?"

"Nah man, I can't exactly sing." Hurley chuckled.

"Yeah, why not hear what you guys got so far!" Charlie encouraged.

"Alright," Sawyer smirked, picking up the base. Hurley counted to four before he started playing, cueing in the small base work Sawyer added to it.

"Grasping to control, so I better hold on." He sang. "Sometimes I give myself the creeps. Sometimes my mind play's tricks on me. It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up. Am I just paranoid?" Then they stopped.

"Or am I just stoned?" Charlie sung. Everyone looked at him confused. "Well, you guys just kinda stopped, and that line just came to mind as a natural way to finish it." He explained, "actually,"

He went and reached into the bag he brought and took out his journal, "what if we made that whole section the chorus?" He suggested.

Hurley smiled walking over to the table in the side of the room and sitting down, Sawyer, Jin, and Charlie, following suit.

"Yeah dude!" Hurley beamed.

"What about the start?" Jin questioned.

"Well that all depends on what it is exactly the songs about." Charlie stated, looking over to Hurley.

"Oh, well, I kinda came up with the lyrics in regards to my bad luck. Y'know with the numbers n' stuff. I feel kinda worried about when they're gonna strike next, but at the same time, I remember how my mom said to me that I was making myself worried about nothing. So this kinda came to mind." Hurley explained. Charlie suddenly flipped through his journal and over to a page with a couple of sentences written.

"Ok, then what about this for the beginning? I wrote it awhile back, but I think it kinda fits." Charlie smiled, showing them the words on the page.

"Do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once?" Jin repeated, confused.

"Yea, it's kinda like saying your confused in a way." Sawyer poorly explained.

"Dude, that works perfectly." Hurley said, "Oh! And then what if right after that it went 'I am one of those, complicated fools'?"

"Might wanna replace complicated curly cue." Sawyer pointed out, "It don't sound right."

"Well, I'm trying to say someone who seems complicated, but is over emotional and really moody as a fake out." Hurley explained.

"So Melodramatic?" Sawyer asked.

"Yea!" Hurley yelled, "that’s what I was thinking of!"

"Alright," Charlie muttered, writing all that down with a pencil, "what next for that chorus part?"

"To the bone?" Jin suggested. "Something to the bone?"

"How 'bout neurotic?" Sawyer suggested.

"What does that mean?" Charlie questioned.

"It means someone who has Neuroticism, which is someone with more depressed moods, and who feel guilty, jealous, and angry more often than normal people. They've also got the whole anxiety shebang. So, if someone's singing about being paranoid and nervous, and then saying how they might be stoned, sounds like they'd be neurotic to me." Sawyer explained. Everyone just looked at him stupidly.

"huh?" Hurley piped up.

"It means someone who has a slight mental disorder." He sighed.

"Ohhhhhh." The other three realized.

"That sounds good, Neurotic to the bone, then I'll add 'no doubt about it' as a nice final tough to that section." Charlie beamed. "Now all we have to do is come up with the rest of the instruments and singing, speaking of which, Sawyer! Seeing as you are the only other person in this group who can sing, do you wanna be backup vocals too?"

"I mean, if that’s fine with you guys." Sawyer stammered. Jin and Hurley nodded their heads. "Alrighty then." he gushed, "sign me up"

"Great!"

----------------------------------------------------

A few hours had passed, with all of them playing and singing, and brainstorming ideas for their first song. Jin suggested they call it Basket Case, due to the fact he thought it was a cool phrase for the song, and the others had agreed. At this point, all of the lyrics and instrumentals for the song were all written down and planned out, the only other thing to do was practice. So, with their first song done, Charlie asked if they could discuss other matters in regards to getting the concert set up.

"So, if we're going to do this, we need to figure out 1 the stage, 2 the lighting, 3 getting the instruments out of the hatch and into the beach, 4 hooking them up so they can play properly, and 5 getting people to want to watch." He explained.

"That’s true. We still need the ok from Jack as to whether or not we can do it." Hurley sighed.

"Don't ask Jack. He's too busy with other things to even think about okaying this. We'll just do it without asking him." Sawyer snapped.

"But Jack will be angry, no?" Jin asked.

"Just leave that to me," Sawyer sighed, "I'll deal with his temper-tantrum."

"Alright, so going to number one, I was thinking we could ask Sayid and Michael if tey could build a stage. Eko might have some left over wood and bamboo from building his church, so we could use that in order to make it." Charlie said. Jin and Sawyer looked at each other, wearily.

"Look, that's all fine and dandy but-"

"Michael no good." Jin insisted.

"Look, I know what he did to you two was bad, and you haven't talked to him since, but don't worry. He seems to be changed now. If it makes you two uncomfortable, Hurley and I can ask him instead of you two." Charlie reassured. Both Sawyr and Jin sighed, nodding their heads in agreement.

"Ok, how about number two?" Hurley asked.

"Bugs of light." Jin blurted.

"You mean fireflies?" Sawyer asked.

"Ah, yes, fireflies. They're used in campgrounds in Seoul for light." Jin explained.

"Ok, but how would we find those here?" Charlie asked.

"We could put them in jars." Hurley suggested, "Like leftover ones from different food containers."

"Alright." Charlie stated. "What about three?"

"Simple hanso. The van." Sawyer smirked. "Why did we even fix it up if not to use it for things?"

"But how would we get the equipment into the van?" Hurley pondered.

"We'd ask some people from the beach to help us with carrying everything out of the hatch and into the van. Hell, we can probably just ask Yahoo and Bonsai to help us with that. Easy." Sawyer coaxed.

"Alright then, how 'bout four?" Charlie asked.

"Dude, what if we asked that science-y guy from the freighter, y'know Daniel?" Hurley suggested.

"And what's he gonna do, find a way to run a wire from here to there?" Sawyer laughed, "How much can he actually do."

"But dude, it's at least worth a shot." Hurley effused. Sawyer looked skeptical.

"Alright, just, don't get your hopes up." He sighed.

"Okay, then the last thing is number five." Hurley beamed.

All of them stayed silent, having no idea what to do to spread the word. In any normal situation, they'd post something on the internet to spread awareness, but this wasn't the normal world, it was an island with hatches and magic. So what could they possibly due to tell everyone?

"What if," Sawyer started, getting up from where he was on the couch and running into the supply room. He ran back out with a stack of notebooks, sticky notes, pens, and some tape. "What if we made a bunch of flyers out of these? Do it old-school?" He suggested.

"Well, we'd have to make enough for a t least 60 people, so that might take us a while, but its worth a shot!" Charlie bubbled.

"Alrighty then! What are y'all doin just sitting there? We've got stuff to do!" Sawyer beamed, placing the materials down on the kitchen counter.

And with that, then went to town, making as many creative flyers as they could think of, stretching well into the night,

As the threat of destruction grew near.

Chapter Text

Eight Days Before The Concert

Early that morning, about four o'clock, Hurley woke up from his sleeping state over the coffee table, due to the loud beeps coming from the button. Papers and sticky notes were scattered everywhere, stacks of unfinished and finished flyers piled up on the kitchen's counter. Sitting next to him was Charlie, who was resting on his back, his song notebook strung across his chest. Sawyer and Jin were fast asleep on the kitchen table, Jin's head on top of a stack of lined paper and Sawyer's face buried in the middle of a notebook. Both of them were also out.

Hurley just smiled, getting up and walking into the button room, wearily. However, when he entered the room his eyes widened, as he saw Benjamin Linus standing right in front of the computer, staring at him.

"Hello Hugo." He cooed, walking towards him.

"Guys, GUY-" he started shouting. Ben put a hand over Hurley's mouth, silencing him.

"Now, now Hugo, you wouldn't want to wake any of them up." He chuckled. Hurley just gave him a death stare.

"I need you to do something for me." He prompted, taking two pieces of paper out of his pocket, "I need you to give these to Sawyer, it's important that he gets these." He took his hand off of Hurley's mouth as he grabbed the papers.

"What are these? Are you going to threaten his daughter again?" Hurley asked.

"So he told you." Ben smirked. "What happens to her is all up for him to decide. As for those, it explains what I did when I struck him in the side."

"D-did you hurt all of them? Kate and Sayid too?" Hurley stammered. Ben just laughed.

"I never touched those two. Jack on the other hand," He smiled, "now that’s a different scenario." He started walking away, leaving Hurley

"I'd suggest you push that button. You only have about a minute thirty left," he told him, "Oh! And good luck with your concert. Maybe I'll drop by with one of my friends."

And with that, Ben disappeared, leaving Hurley by himself, absolutely terrified. He went up to the computer and pressed in the numbers, watching the clock reset to 108. As soon as it finished he stared down at the two papers, reading and combing through what they said. He sighed, knowing what he should do. So, he made his way back into the living space and walked up to Sawyer, lightly taping his shoulder to wake him up.

Eventually, Sawyer woke up, murmuring as he lifted his head. Hurley had to stop himself from smiling, due to the fact that there was a giant orange sticky note stuck to Sawyer's forehead.

"What?" Sawyer gurgled, clearly still tired.

"I, uh, I need to talk with you in the other room." Hurley whispered, nodding his head towards Charlie and Jin. "Also, you have a little something stuck to your face."

"Hm," Sawyer yawned, reaching for his forehead. He found the sticky note and took it of, getting up and following Hurley as he walked into the other room. Hurley reached out of his pocket and held the two papers out to Sawyer.

"When I went to go press the button, Ben appeared. He gave these to me and said I needed to give them to you." Hurley explained.

"Wait, Ben was here?" Sawyer asked, suddenly more alert.

"Yeah, dude. And he told me he attacked only you and Jack, so why are Kate and Sayid wounded too?" Hurley demanded.

"Because something else attacked them." He snapped, grabbing the papers.

He read them over in his head,

Dear, James
I realized threatening you wouldn't be enough motivation,
So I should explain what I did to you and Jack.
On the other paper, is a synopsis of what's in your wound
By the time it heals you won't be able to remove it
Which gives you three days left.
If you come tomorrow, I won't hurt your daughters mother,
And I'll remove what I put in your chest.
Noon at the divider
Don't be late,
I'll see you soon James

The ending of the first paper was the same as the note he got yesterday. He now knew who it was who sent it. So he read the second one.

Test Experiment 15: Brainwashing and Altering The Human Mind Remotely
Experiment Status: Successful
Notes: The experiment focused on taking the concepts found in the Hypersonic Effect and meshing them with the concepts of hypnosis in order to create a device that when injected into a subjects body, can remotely turn on and cause the subject to experience brainwashing. Essentially, the person with control over the device, would have complete control over the subject. Subject 337 was subjected to such conditions, yet was taken out of these conditions by unknown subjects from testing room 23. But the research gathered from there was used into the creation of the chip, which was helped in creation by an anonymous donor. The chip and device were tested on Subjects 137 and 202, by putting the chip inside one person's torso and one person's arm. It was proven to be successful. However, each time the person entered this brainwashed hypnosis and did what they were asked, the harder it was for the subject to come back from their brainwashed state, and the more and more violent they grew. It is recommended that this device is only used in dire situations and cases of insubordination. Please note that the following side effects will occur during the process: Complete change in eyes color, bleeding from the mouth and eyes in eyes color, shot periods of memory loss, and lustuious thoughts.

Sawyer stared at the second paper, unable to move. He couldn't understand what he was looking at. He couldn't figure out why Ben would do this to him of all people.

"Dude, we need to go get Jack now." Hurley stated, "Cause whatever he did to you, he most likely did to him too." Sawyer looked up from the paper.

"In the morning." He sighed, "It's too early to worry him. I'll go talk to him before I go and ask Daniel about making the make-shift mic's."

"Ok," Hurley consoled, wearily, looking concerned.

"Hey," Sawyer sighed, putting a hand on Hurley's shoulder, "I'm sure we'll be fine Hugo. Jack'll know what to do and he'll help us figure all this o-" Sawyer suddenly winced as he coiled into his side. Hurley went over to steady him.

"Dude. You need to go see him. Now." Hurley demanded, "don't put it off, especially if it's starting to affect you."

Sawyer stared at him before sighing, "Fine. But I shouldn't go alone."

Hurley gave a small smile before the two of them walked back into the living room. Sawyer went to grab some of the stuff he needed for Daniel, the list of equipment and the perfectly drawn models Jin drew up. He still found it surprising that the man was talented artist, yet he never showed off his work. As for Hurley, he walked up to Charlie's guitar, picked it up, walked into the middle of the room, and played the loudest broken chord Sawyer had heard in his life. This of course, woke up Charlie and Jin from their slumber.

"도대체!" Jin shouted.

"Bloody hell." Charlie screamed.

"Sorry," consoled Hurley, "I needed to wake you guys up."

"Well that sure worked." Charlie snapped, getting up and swiping the guitar from Hurley's hand.

"다음번에는 그렇게 하지 않시겠습니까?" Jin muttered.

"No one can understand you Jinbo." Sawyer sighed.

"Hey, why are you getting your stuff? What time is it?" Charlie asked.

"One, it's too early. Two, I have to see Jack about something urgent." Smirked Sawyer.

"Why?" Jin groggled.

"Cause Ben came and gave me this thing to give to Sawyer that talks about him and Jack." Hurley blurted.

"What thing?" Charlie questioned, a tone of anger lacing his voice.

"Good question. If you wanna come with me, I'd be happy to explain on the way. If not, me and Anton over here are gonna go. I'll still ask Daniel about the tech, so don't worry." Sawyer urked.

"Count me in." Charlie said, running around to grab the stuff he brought with him. "I wanna know what's going on."

"Fine by me shorty," Sawyer smiled, "You two gonna be fine here for now?"

"Yeah dude, we'll be fine. Just, make sure you tell us if you're ok when you get back." Hurley stated.

"너희들은 자신을 다치게 할 거야." Jin sighed.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"Be careful. Don't get hurt." Jin repeated.

"Got it." Sawyer nodded. He headed for the doorway, Charlie following behind him.

"we'll be back soon!" Charlie promised, closing the door behind him.

Sawyer and Charlie started making their way through the shaded trees and leaves, the light from the rising sun being the only thing to light their path. At first they were silent, neither of them talked. It wasn't until Sawyer winced for the second time that day, that Charlie spoke up.

"So, you going to explain what's going on?" He persisted. Sawyer glared at him, his eyes seeming to pierce him with a type of stubbornness Charlie couldn't quite place. But, Sawyer sighed, as he began to speak.

"I just need to know that what I'm about to say won't get repeated to anyone. Especially Jack. promised him I wouldn't tell anyone, but at this point you need to know. We're not gonna work together as a band if we keep secrets." He insisted. Charlie nodded his head yes,

"I give you my word. Now talk."

Sawyer half-smiled, before continuing on the path, "Three days ago, when Sayid and Jack were coming back from their hatch shift, and Kate and I we're going to meet up with them, we saw a figure in the distance. He was all misshapen from head to toe, appearing almost as an amalgamation of everyone here. Us, not knowing who or what it was, shouted to it, thinking if it was a person they we're most likely lost. But this thing, it wasn't a man, or a living thing, it was that monster.

"It turned around, smiling at us with this twisted, gleeful grin, before shifting into this big ball and dashing straight for us. Jack and I pulled out the guns we had on us and tried to shoot at it, but all it did was piss him off more. He ended up swarming all four of us and pinning us down. Of course, after he did this, the island psychopath had to show up.

"He called the monster the Man In Black, or MIB. Then he started talking to us, most of it was cryptic bullshit, but the thing that stuck with me, at least, was how he referred to us as being valuable. Of course, we weren't gonna just stay silent, so we spat back, trying to get him to let us go. That’s when he had the MIB wound Kate and Sayid, while he walked up and hurt Jack and I. Apparently when he did, he put this in both of us." Sawyer handed Charlie the second paper with the test information. Charlie read it over his eyes widening,

"And Jack doesn't know this is in him?" Charlie asked.

"Yep. That's why we're going to him." Sighed Sawyer, "Anyway, after we were wounded, it seemed like they were gonna take us with them, back to that mini island Jack, Kate, n' I had been on before. But, Jack grabbed my gun that was on the floor, and shot Ben in the shoulder. And then, that lunatic turned around, smiled, and tried to get him to put the gun down by threatening my life. But Jack said he wouldn't do it, cause apparently he was paying attention to half the stuff that man spewed out before. Of course, Ben didn't. The MIB released us and then they left, leaving Jack to try and help fix us all up."

Charlie looked at him, absolutely flabbergasted.

"Any you guys didn't tell anyone this, WHY?!" Charlie yelled.

"Because Jack thinks they're only gonna attack us, which is what I keep arguing with him about. Even if he's right, and they are just trying to get us four, what's stopping them from attacking everyone at that beach, just so they can capture us." Sawyer explained.

"Or what's stopping them from attacking the band." Charlie fretted.

"Exactly." Sawyer sighed. "Y'know, maybe I shouldn't be in the band. I could pose a risk for you guys, and I don't wanna do that. You got Aaron and Claire, Jin's got Sun and their baby on the way, and Hugo's got Libby. I don't want Ya'll to get hurt because of me."

"Sawyer, no. You shouldn't. Yes, with what's going on is a risk, but we risk our safety and our lives every day we wake up here. It won't be the same without you." Charlie consoled.

"The band could be the same. We've only been together as a band for two days."

"Yes, but why do you think we choose you in the first place?" Charlie smiled, "Your our friend. Whatever happens we'll be there. Whether you like it or not."

Sawyer smiled at the thought, "Heh, thanks shorty."

At that point, they had reached the calm and quiet beach, an unusual sight to be had. With haste, Sawyer and Charlie walked up to Jack's tent, Charlie waiting outside while Sawyer went in.

As soon as he opened the tent flap, he saw Kate and Jack sleeping soundly. Kate was curled up in a ball, grabbing onto a blanket tightly in her PJ's. Jack was turned the opposite way, almost looking uncomfortable about the person he was sleeping with, his left arm twitching a bit. Sawyer sighed, before kneeling down and tapping Jack on the shoulder, hoping to wake him up without disturbing Kate.

"Hey, Jack, it's me Sawyer." He whispered. Jack slowly propped himself up, opening his eyes slowly.

"Sawyer?" He yawned, "what are you doing here? I thought you were at the Hatch?"

"I was. But something happened." He sighed. Jack's head perked up.

"What happened?" Jack asked. Sawyer glanced over to Kate, nodding his head towards her,

"Might be better if we talk about this outside." He murmured. Jack nodded his head.

"Fine, just give me a second I have to grab a shirt." Jack stated. That’s when Sawyer realized Jack hadn't been wearing one the entire time. He lightly blushed, smirking.

"Why? Got something you wanna hide?" He teased.

"Maybe," Jack smiled, "I'm not like you, walking around with your shirt half open."

"Why would I wanna hide all of-" Sawyer started, before letting out a low hissing sound, coiling into his wound for the third time today. Jack pulled a blue t-shirt over his head, immediately going to Sawyer's side.

"You've been feeling pain in your wound too." Jack realized, as he helped Sawyer out of the tent. He saw Charlie with the two papers in hand. "What's Charlie doing-"

"He knows, so does Hurley. Ben approached them earlier today." Sawyer lied.

"Ben got in the hatch." Jack asked.

"Yeah, gave us quite the scare." Charlie sighed. Sawyer looked down near the bottom of Jack's tent, noticing a note left for Jack. He went and picked it up, handing it to him.

"I think this one's for you doc," he sighed. Jack took the note and read it out loud

"Dear Jack, Sawyer has what you need to know. Read his notes." Jack repeated. He looked up at Charlie. "Are those the notes?"

"Yeah," Charlie stammered, handing them to Jack. Jack read both them over, his expression growing more and more worried. When he finished it, he looked over to Sawyer.

"We've gotta get these out of us, now."

Chapter Text

"Dude, these eggs are so good!" Hurley gushed, wolfing down the breakfast Jin had whipped up. A couple of hours had passed since Sawyer and Charlie had left, and to pass the time, Hurley had been finishing up flyers while Jin decided to make breakfast for the two of them.

"Thank you." Jin beamed, "I used to do this each morning for Sun before work. Back before I was.." He was trying to find the right word.

"Sick? Let go? Promoted?" Hurley asked.

"Promoted! Yes. Before I was promoted." Jin smiled.

"Well, then, what happened when you were promoted?" Hurley asked.

Jin thought for a moment before half-smiling, "I became a bad husband."

"Oh," Hurley muttered, embarrassed he asked.

"It's ok. I've changed a lot since being here. We've become better." Jin reassured, "I've learned to control my temper, and be kinder." He sat down across from Hurley.

"That's good dude." Hurley said, "I mean, I would never want to hurt the people I love cause of a bad job. Why would you stay there anyway?"

"Because her father was the employer."

"Oh." Hurley realized, "Well, then why didn't you ask him to take it easier on you? He should've understood if you married his daughter." JIn just shook his head.

"Honor." He sighed, "I needed his respect, and to uphold his family honor. It's how we work."

Hurley smiled, thinking about that more, "I mean, trying to uphold honor is definitely something to admire."

"Yes, it can be." Jin sighed. "You don't do that in America?"

"No," Hurley chuckled, "We barely think about our families honor. We just do what we want, sink to different lows to get what we want. We betray, steal, lust, and never think about anyone but ourselves. It's definitely messed up dude."

"Really?" Jin gasped.

"Really." Hurley reinforced, "We're not as good as we're hyped up to be."

"Hm." Jin murmured, surprised.

"But, I guess it doesn't really matter. You know, considering that were here." Hurley murmured.

"Yea, I guess it doesn't." Jin smiled.

As they finished up their food, they heard the hatch door open, two sets of footsteps walking down. Curious as to who it was, Hurley got up and looked into the doorway, where he was greeted by Libby and Juliet.

"Surprised to see me?" Libby beamed, smiling. Hurley lit up, quickly scooping her up and giving her a giant hug. Jin walked up to Juliet.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hey," she responded, "How's Sun feeling?"

"Good." Jin beamed, "Much better now."

"Glad to hear it," she smiled.

"What're you two doing here?" Hurley asked, looking at them curiously.

"Well, Juliet and I decided to check up on how your Band was going?" Libby smiled, "Plus, I came cause I missed you, and to try and find things for our Picinic today."

"How did you find out about the band?" Jin asked.

"Libby told me." Juliet chuckled.

"So much for a surprise." Hurley murmured. The two women laughed, walking into the room.

"Man, this place is a mess," Libby sighed, "what were you guys doing?"

"Making flyers" Jin beamed. "We thought it would be a good idea to tell everyone."

"Yea! Which reminds me, I said I would go and hand these out to everybody today, I'll have to get them all sorted up." Hurley gushed, starting to stack them all up into piles, to wrap up neatly.

"Let me help you with that." Juliet smiled, picking up a few of the papers and stacking them neatly next to the stacks Hurley made. Jin had started cleaning up the plates that were on the table, while Libby went into the supply closet to grab some blankets and a basket.

"I should probably get going. I need to go find some jars." Jin stated, grabbing the bag he had brought with him. Libby tossed over a tote bag to Hurley for the papers,

"Cool! Hurley and I will leave with you," Libby said, closing the closet and walking into the pantry. Hurley gathered up all the papers, smiling as he headed towards the door,

"Do you need help with any of that?" He asked, slinging the tote of flyers over his shoulder.

"Yes, actually, can you help me carry this?" She asked, handing him a blanket.

"Of course!" He gushed, taking it, he looked over to Juliet, "Are you gonna be ok, y'know, being here alone?"

"Yea, I should be fine." She reassured, "You guys go on ahead."

"See you." Jin smiled, walking out the door, with Libby and Hurley close behind. And with that, the three were off, leaving Juliet to her own devices

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Heya!" Charlie grinned, walking towards Sayid and Shannon, who were sitting by the edge of the beach, eating some fresh fruits with each other, "How's your head injury doing?"

"It's doing ok. Bit of swelling and pain, but it's doing fine." Sayid reassured.

"Well that’s great to hear." Charlie smiled, "Jack just wanted to know."

"Of course he did," Shannon sighed, "When is he ever not asking about people's health."

"True," Charlie chuckled, "Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

"What do you need?" Sayid pondered.

"Well, I need you and Michael to help build something." Charlie explained, "You see, a couple of people, including me, decided to start a band, and we wanted to play a concert here to lift everyone's spirits. The only problem, is that we'd need a stage, and as you can see, there are none that exist here."

"And, where would we put this stage? We'd have to build it so that it's not blocking other structures or foot traffic here at the main beach." Sayid pointed out.

"Oh, I uh, didn't think about that" Charlie stuttered, looking a bit ashamed.

"What if you just put it over by the sand near Eko's church?" Shannon suggested, "It's not like there's any other places it can go."

"That could work." Sayid agreed, "But we'd need a lot of materials, and a lot of hands."

"Well, I'm sure that everyone in the band would be willing to help, and when I ask Michael I'm sure him and Walt will help out too." Charlie beamed.

"Don't forget about me." Shannon said, "I'd be willing to help too, and who knows, maybe Boone will too."

Charlie was a bit shocked by Shannon's eagerness to help out. It didn't seem like something she'd want to do. Then again, she did help out with the transmitter and Rosseau's map, so he shouldn't be shocked.

"Great! Well, I'll leave you to be to enjoy your fruit. Do you know where Michael is?"

"He should be over with Bernard." Sayid told him, pointing towards Rose and Bernard's tent.

"Thanks!" Charlie smiled, heading over. When he got there, he saw Walt and Rose playing Backgammon right next to the tent.

"When did you get so good at this?" She smiled, moving one of her pieces.

"Don't know." Walt shrugged, "I usually play with Mr. Locke, but he's still not back from his trip."

"Hey there!" Charlie greeted.

"Hey." Walt said, keeping his focus on the game.

"Well hello there," Rose beamed, "You want to play against him after we're done with our round?"

"No than you. Actually, I came here looking for Michael." Charlie smiled.

"My dad's inside with Bernard." Walt stated.

"He's helping us out with our roof. We think there's a hole in it." Rose explained, "I'm sure they're not doing anything too important though, so head right on in!"

"Thanks." Charlie said, entering the tent before him. Sure enough, Michael and Bernard were holding some tarp up to the roof, as Michael sealed it in.

"There you go. Should keep the roof together." He told him.

"Thanks!" Bernard smiled.

"Heya guys." Charlie greeted.

"Oh, hey Charlie!" Bernard grinned.

"Hey man," Micahel sighed, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to talk to you for a sec. Got a minute?" Charlie asked.

"Sure. You don't have a hole in your roof, do ya?" Michael teased.

"Heh, no, but I've got a project." Michael looked at him curiously.

"What kind of project?" He asked.

"Well, recently me and a couple other blokes started a band, and we wanted to build a stage where we could perform on." Charlie explained. "We already asked Sayid and he said he'd be willing to help, but I thought you'd also be a huge help in building it."

"Wait a minute, you decided, out of everything going on, starting a band would be the best decision?"

"Well, we thought it would help with relaxing everyone." he murmured, feeling embarrassed.

"Well, alright then, where you gonna build it?" Michael asked.

"Well, were not exactly sure, but we were thinking next to Eko's church." Charlie said, "But were going to need a lot of materials, probably like the stuff you got from the raft."

"I can make that work, but we're both gonna have to chop down a lot of bamboo and trees to do it."

"I'd be up for that." Charlie grinned, "Oh, by the way, Jack wanted to know if you had any sort of spare ripped clothing he could borrow."

"What?" Michael questioned, "Why would he need that?"

"Beats me, do you have some?" He insisted.

"… yea. From when I got my son back from the others. I'll give it to you on the way to my tent." Michael responded, heading over to his tent with Walt following close behind. "Who's in this band of yours?"

"Oh! It's me Hurley, Sawyer, and Jin! We actually wrote up one song to sing already." Charlie gushed. Michael's face grew pale.

"Sawyer and Jin are in the band, and their ok with me helping?" Michael gasped.

"Well, to be honest they're not exactly keen on it, but I was able to convince them. They still don't trust you though, after what you did." Charlie cooed.

"I was just getting my son back. You'd do whatever it took to get Aaron back, wouldn't you?" Michael insisted.

"They were willing to get your son back already. You didn't have to lie to everyone about it."

"But what would've happened if I did, and more people came. What would they have done to Walt if I didn't comply with what was being asked? The others aren't people you should mess with. Their leader guy, Benjamin, if he wants something he'll get it. So, I didn't wanna risk anything. Yea, it sucks that nobody trusts me, and yea it sucks that I don't have my best friends anymore, but I did what I thought I had to in order to save him."

"Alright, but you still didn't have to do it the way you did."

"Maybe," Michael sighed, "But there's nothing I can do now."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well hey there Dr. Electric." Sawyer laughed, leaning up against the side of a tree as he stared out to Daniel and Charlotte, who were fiddling around with different old metal pieces from the crash in the clearing with the van.

"Oh, uh, hey they're Sawyer." Daniel stammered.

"What the hell do you want?" Charlotte insisted.

"Woah, slow your roll there princess, I just wanted to ask you guys some sciency questions." Sawyer smirked.

"First of all, it's Scientific not Sciency, second of all, why do you wanna ask me about stuff like that? You've never shown an interest in it before." Daniel asked.

"Well, I'm mostly asking for my friends. We started this band, and we wanna hold a concert out on th' beach. Only problem is, there ain't exactly and electrical outlets out there, or microphones." Sawyer explained.

"So you want us to figure out how to fix that?" Charlotte asked.

"Exactly." Sawyer nodded his head.

"Well, realistically speaking we'd need some sort of larger power source," Daniel rambled, walking over to his notebook to turn to a fresh page, "then we'd need to create wires that could safely carry that electricity over to the beach at a reasonable distance, and then be attached to an adaptor so you could use it. However this tube would need some sort of cooler to make sure the energy inside of it doesn't overheat." Daniel explained. Sawyer stared at him confused.

"What?"

"It basically means we'd need to make a large extension cord."

"Oh," Sawyer realized, "Well then how would we make that?" He asked.

"Well, all we'd really need is a bunch of thin and long metal pieces that are tied up together, and a power source. At least for the basic stuff." Charlotte huffed.

"But don't wires need-" Sawyer let out a hiss before holding his side, continuing as if nothing happened, "Don't wires need some sort of complicated gizmos to them?" Daniel and Charlotte looked at each other before continuing.

"Not really. Most wires are made of conductors of electricity, and metal is capable of conducting energy." Daniel explained.

"Oh," Sawyer murmured, "Well, what about the microphones?"

"Those might be a bigger problem, because that would require certain types of technology we don't have. Did any of your friends have any ideas for what they thought could work." Daniel asked.

"Yea, Jin drew up a couple of ideas for them," Sawyer took out the papers he took from Jin earlier and handed them to Daniel. Him and Charlotte looked at them thoroughly.

"This could certainly be doable, for the most part. But somethings on here are most likely near impossible with the stuff we have." Charlotte sighed, "But, we'll see what we can do. Just, don't get your hopes up."

"Heh, don't have to tell me twice." He whispered, turning around to walk away.

"Hey, Sawyer," Daniel yelled.

"Hm?"

"You might want to go see Jack about that side. It's, uh, a bit darker than it should be." Sawyer glanced down to his side,

"Already on that Rocky the Raccoon." He smirked, before walking away to the beach. "Thanks."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack was pacing around his tent, his hand over his mouth as he thought. He was getting impatient, he wanted to get this over with. Earlier in the morning, Sawyer had agreed to let Jack try to find and take out the chip Ben put in him, and in return Sawyer would do the same with Jack's guidance. But, instead of doing it right away, Sawyer had to run some arrands quickly, so Jack had been sitting and waiting. He asked Charlie to help him find some things, but he still wasn't back with them. And to top it all off, Kate had been interrogating him all morning.

"So you and Sawyer did nothing when you got up and left at 4 am in the morning?" She insisted.

"Yes, nothing happened, he just wanted to talk," Jack reaffirmed, for the third time. "Why are you so insistent that something more happened?"

"Cause your fidgeting, not checking in on anything. And you keep on wincing at you arm." She sighed.

"I'm not-" he brought his arm in, holding it tightly, "I'm not wincing. Your just being paranoid."

"I'm the one being paranoid? You won't stop trying to figure out what happened with Ben and MIB. Your so worried about tomorrow when the solution is simple."

"And what would that be? Running in with guns and shooting everyone? Getting other people to follow and put all those people they threatened at risk? One wrong move and they all die."

"But his threats are empty."

"How do you know that."

"Am I interrupting something?" Charlie piped in. Both of them stopped and looked at him.

"No, no you're not interrupting anything. Did you get the stuff I asked you for?" Jack asked.

"Yea, it's all here in the bag," Charlie smiled, "I hope you didn't have a color preference."

"What stuff?" Kate snapped, trying to take the bag. Charlie moved back, keeping it behind him.

"I don't think this is yours to take," He said, handing the bag off to Jack.

"Thanks." He sighed.

"What are you gonna do with the stuff in there?" Kate insisted.

"Why you wanna know?" Sawyer piped in, surprising everyone, "Think we're up to somethin' illegal?"

"With you involved, always," She teased, immediately changing her mood, she went to walk over to him, but he pushed her aside, walking up to Jack and Charlie.

"You got everything you need doc?" He asked.

"Almost, just got to get some things from the tent, I'll be right back." Jack smiled, heading into his tent.

"So, how'd it go with Daniel?" Charlie asked, hopeful.

"Well, he said the whole power chord thing would be possible, but the microphones are the bigger issue." Sawyer sighed. Charlie looked a bit sad.

"Don't worry though, he said he's gonna see what he could do. Knowing him, he'll probably come up with something genius that we can use for the concert." Sawyer reassured.

"What concert?" Kate asked.

"Oh! We started a band." Charlie smiled.

"… what?"

"You surprised freckles?" Sawyer smirked.

"… you decided to make a band?" Kate sighed.

"Yes, we did, I'm sure your shocked, anyway Sayid and Michael sadi they'd be willing to help build the stage, but their gonna need extra hands, so I volunteered us all to help out. Is that ok?" Charlie rambled.

"Sure, just don't expect me to make conversation." Sawyer sighed. Jack came out of his tent, carrying a backpack.

"You ready?" Jack asked.

"Yep." Sawyer grinned.

"Are you sure you guys don't want me to come? It might be better." Charlie offered.

"Thanks, but we'll be fine." Jack reassured, "besides, it might be good if you spent some time with Claire."

"Where are you two going?" Kate asked.

"Just up the beach." Sawyer sighed.

"Oh well then I'll go with you." Kate insisted.

"No Kate, you won't" Jack snapped.

"Why not? What are you guys gonna do that I can't join you for?" Kate spat.

"Does it matter what we do freckles?" Sawyer jabbed.

"Yea, because you're keeping it a secret." She laughed, "why won't you just tell me what you're doing."

"Cause you don't need to know! God, can I just do something for once this week without you digging your nose into it?!" Jack yelled. Kate looked shocked, while Charlie and Sawyer looked uncomfortable.

"I'm... just...gonna go..." Charlie whispered, sliding away from them towards Claire.

"Fine," She gritted, walking away with her fists clenched. Sawyer and Jack looked at each other, before turning around and heading down the beach.

For the first couple of minutes, both of them were quiet. Jack was scowling while Sawyer didn't really know what to do.

"So," he started, "looks like freckles and you aren't exactly on speaking terms anymore."

"Yea, well I could care less. I've gotten so tired of her routine where she switches between the two of us." Jack sneered, "she can stay with you for all I care."

"You think I want her to stay with me?" Sawyer sighed, "I'm sick of it too, I hate it. I don't even like her that way." Jack looked over to him confused,

"Wait, but if you don't like her, why'd you make-out with her back when we were captured?"

Sawyer smiled, "I don't know doc, if someone wanted to make out with you would you turn it down? Besides, she only did it cause she thought I was gonna die."

"That's pretty selfish." Jack said, "leading her on like that."

"She does it to us." Sawyer pointed out, "You've just gotta play the same way she does."

"So act like you?" Jack teased.

"Oof," Sawyer smiled, pretending like he was offended, "there's nothing wrong with acting charming."

"I don't think charming's how I'd put it." Jack laughed.

"Well then, how would you put it?" Sawyer smirked.

"More like, being a jackass." Jack smiled.

"Hey! I am not a Jackass." Sawyer chuckled. Jack eyed Sawyer, raising his eyebrows, "Ok fine, I can act like that a lot."

"Anyway, if you don't like Kate, who do you like?" Jack asked.

"Ah, well, that’s for me to know and you to find out. Besides, I might ask them about it soo-" Sawyer suddenly toppled over as he hissed, holding his side. Jack had tried to catch him, but at the same time this happened, Jacks elbow and arm spiked in pain, causing him to pull them close to him.

"H-how much farther are you planning on going?" Sawyer asked. Jack looked behind them, not being able to see the camp.

"This should be good." He sighed, dropping his backpack. Sawyer brought himself upright, sitting down on the sand.

"So, how's this gonna work exactly?" Sawyer questioned. Jack started taking some of the old and battered clothes from the bag and layed them down on the sand like a tarp.

"Your gonna lay down on the tarp, I'm gonna re-open the wound, then I'll look around for the chip and pull it out carefully, and then I'll seal everything back up." Jack explained.

"Then I've gotta do that to you with your elbow." Sawyer shuddered.

"With my help. I'd do it myself but, I can't exactly reach there." Jack sighed. He took out some tools he brought, like a scalpel and gauze, and then took out some mini bottles of alcohol. Sawyer looked at them confused.

"What, you planning on getting us drunk?" He smirked, "Didn't think you'd do that sheriff."

"It's for the wounds. To disinfect." Jack smirked. Sawyer just turned away,

"Oh," He murmured, looking disappointed. Jack just laughed at him.

"If there's some after, maybe we can each take a shot." Jack suggested.

"Alrighty then." Sawyer smiled. Jack finished setting everything up, making sure he knew where everything was. He looked at Sawyer.

"Are you ready?" He asked. Sawyer nodded, pulling off his shirt,

"Yea, let's get this over with."

For the most part everything went smoothly, Jack was able to open up Sawyer's wound and find the chip, although the size of it was about the same as a dime, with a tiny bump in the center that was empty. When it came to Jack's arm however, things were a bit different. Sawyer was immediately nervous, especially with having to do something he'd never done before, which caused him to be a bit unsure about it.

"Are you sure you can't just do this yourself? I mean I know you can't really see there, but I could get a mirror, or tell you what your doing-"

"Sawyer," Jack smiled, looking at him, "everything's going to be fine, alright?"

Sawyer looked at him skeptically, "But what if I-"

"You won't. Trust me." Jack assured. Sawyer sighed, unwrapping the gauze around Jack's elbow. Everything after that went ok. Sawyer was able to figure out what to do with Jack's help, and he was able to find and take out the chip. He started wrapping up Jack's elbow, relived it all went ok.

"Not bad for your first time." Jack smiled, trying to lift the mood.

Sawyer smirked, "Well, good thing I had an ok teacher helping me."

"Just ok?" Jack chuckled.

"Yea," Sawyer beamed, "not the best, but certainly the most helpful."

"Well, that’s certainly better than-" All of a sudden they were both interrupted by a loud blood-curdling scream, seemingly a girls voice. Both of them turned their heads immeaditly towards the sound.

It was coming from the camp.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You what?!" Libby laughed.

"I'm serious! I did win the lottery! It brought me all this bad luck, so I'm happy to be rid of it." Hurley beamed.

"But all that money, and you're happy it's gone?" Libby smiled.

"It was cursed money." Hurley corrected, "So yea, pretty much."

Libby just laughed, as Hurley went to get another piece of fruit from the basket they'd brought. He thought for a moment before turning to Libby.

"Hey Libby," He started, "I was thinking about it, and, I don't really know much about you. We always talk about me, and what I like, but never about what you like. So, why don't you tell me something about you?"

Libby looked down at her hands, fidgeting with them, "Oh, um, well, there's nothing really interesting about me."

"I'm sure that’s not true," Hurley beamed

"No, really, I don't have much of a story to tell. I went to school, got a PhD to do therapy, married a man who passed due to a sickness, and that’s pretty much it." She sighed.

"But you don't have like, a favorite memory? Or something you absolutely love?" Hurley asked. Libby thought for a moment, smiling a bit,

"Well," she started, "I do enjoy boating. Me and my husband used to do it all the time on the weekends, up at Chesapeake bay in New York. We would do all sorts of things, like claming or just relaxing. It was nice."

Hurley smiled at her, "Sounds like it was fun."

"It was," She half-smiled, "Don't know if I'd do it again after all of this though."

"Yea," Hurley laughed, "I guess not huh."

"Anyway," Libby beamed, "how's your band going?"

"Oh, we're doing alright. We've started writing up some more music this morning before you came. Jin had this idea for a song, well more like a tune. There aren't any lyrics yet." Hurley gushed, "and once the flyers are handed out, who knows, maybe some other people might volunteer to help make songs too!"

"I don't think that’s how a bands supposed to work." Libby chuckled.

"Maybe," Hurley stammered, "but were not exactly a 'real' or 'professional' band. Plus, we started this because we wanted to lift everyone's mood up. Singing people's songs will definitely help with that."

"Most likely," She smiled, "Y'know, I always see you trying to help out everyone else here. Don't you just ever take a break? Make sure you're doing ok?"

"I don't need to." Hurley murmured, "Coming up with all these ideas and doing them, that’s already fun for me."

"But I constantly see you getting stressed out over it! You know you don't have to try and make everyone else happy all the time, right?" She asked. Hurley just sighed,

"I don't get stressed out over it. I enjoy doing it, alright?" Libby looked at him skeptically. She didn't want him to burn himself out. But she wasn't entirely sure how to get him to do that.

"If you say so," she murmured, "but I'm going to help you pass out all those flyers. There's at least 40 people here at the camp, so you're going to need at least an extra pair of hands to pass them out."

Hurley smiled, "Alright then, thanks."

And with that, both of them got up, cleaning up the remains of their picnic, and headed around the camp handing out the flyers. Most people seemed enthusiastic about it, saying they thought it would be fun. Others thought it would be pointless, or were confused by the idea, but overall people seemed pretty stoked about it. The only problems that came were when Hurley and Libby went to give Mr. Eko and Ana-lucia a flyer.

When they knocked on the side of their tent to see if they were there, nobody responded. Instead the response they got was an eerie kind of silence, something that seemed unusual. They tried knocking again, only to get the same response. So without any other choice, they opened the flap of their tent, only to be met by two pairs of lifeless eyes.

Laying in the center of the tent was Ana and Eko, with two big gashes straight through their chests, revealing flesh and pouring out deep red blood that had seeped into everything around them. Right above them was a little white note, addressed to Kate and Sayid.

Libby let out a blood-curdling scream, immediately grabbing onto Hurley and hiding her face into his arm. Hurley just stood their shook, looking away so he didn't faint on the spot. He couldn't believe it.

Many people had flooded over to where they were, including Charlie, Jin, Kate, and Sayid, who were petrified given the current situation.

"Why did this happen?" Charlie asked, flabbergasted, "They weren't doing anything! Who would do something like this?"

Kate walked in the tent, taking the note attached to the roof of the tent, "I think I know who." She stammered. She turned around and showed them the paper. Sayid, Jin and Charlie stepped inside the tent as well, while Hurley stayed outside to comfort Libby.

"What does it say?" Sayid asked. Kate opened it up and read it aloud,

"Dear, Kate and Sayid
It's funny how you thought
Planning to bring other people would work
But that’s not the game
Your fates are sealed to two paths
No others
Noon at the divider
Don't be late
I'll see you soon"

Charlie and Jin looked at Kate and Sayid, while both of them had a pale expression.

"What did you do." Jin snapped.

Chapter Text

Sayid and Kate just stared down at there now lifeless friends, absolutely mortified. They didn't expect this to happen, nor did they want it. Jin grew more annoyed, wanting an explanation.

"What did you do." He gritted, this time getting their attention. Sayid took a shaky breath getting ready to explain, but before he could, Jack and Sawyer burst into the tent, seeing the two corpses that laid inside. Both of them looked shocked as Jack lifted his head up to the group.

"What happened?" Kate handed Jack the note as he read it aloud. Sawyer looked at Sayid and Kate skeptically.

"Y'all wanna explain what the hell he's talking about?" Sawyer snapped.

Sayid sighed, putting his hand up against his forehead, "Kate and I had been discussing the meet up tomorrow with Ana and Eko, seeing as they found Sawyer's note yesterday. Kate and I thought up an idea for how to guarantee everyone's safety, so-"

"We asked them if they would follow us, armed, to the meet up and shoot the others if things got heated." Kate murmured, petrified. "We basically recruited them to try and help us kill the others." Jack looked up at them, fuming,

"So you did the exact thing you were just yelling at Sawyer and I for doing?" Jack spat.

"So you two were lying?" Kate asked.

"Kate that's not the point! Ana and Eko are dead! Seemingly because you got them involved in what's going on, as well as getting them to plan to kill an entire group of people!" Jack yelled.

"They already got themselves involved by finding that note! We thought it would be safe if they helped us. We don't know what Ben is going to do." Sayid warned.

"Yea, well look where that got you. Because they died. This is why I asked you guys not to tell anyone." Jack Snapped.

"No doc, that had nothing to do with it. I told you this was gonna happen. I said to you the first day after the attack that there was nothing stopping them from killing and hurting whoever is here just to get us four. Ana and Eko were in there way so they were killed." Sawyer realized, "We can't stop anyone from getting involved."

"Yes we can." Jack growled, "because if we keep our mouths shut, this won't happen to anyone else."

"So what are we gonna tell everyone outside? Make up a lie that spreads distrust throughout the place. We can't hide this one, we have to tell them what happened. We have no choice." Sawyer yelled.

"Wait, but how did Ben kill them? Wouldn't we have seen him?" Charlie asked. They thought about it for a moment.

"What if someone else at camp killed them for him." Kate suggested. Jin shook his head,

"No. Couldn't be. How would someone be convinced to do that?" He pointed out.

"They could be tricked into believing they'd be able to leave the island, like Michael was." Sayid cooed. Jack and Sawyer looked at each other, with dread in their eyes. Sawyer sighed,

"Or they could be mind controlled." Everyone looked over to Sawyer and Jack curiously.

"What do you mean?" Kate asked. Sawyer looked over to Jack, doubt in his eyes.

"We have to tell them. You know that." He whispered. Jack sighed, knowing he was right.

"The others developed some sort of mind-altering technology a while back, seemingly made to keep subordinates loyal to them. They looked like this," Jack started, taking out one of the chips from his pocket and showing it, "If they're present within a person's body they can be activated to cause a person to be controlled and compelled into doing different actions against their will."

Sayid looked at Jack confused, "How did you get your hands on them?"

"Because, we found out Ben put these inside of Jack and I. That’s why we were down the beach, so we could take them out." Sawyer muttered. Kate widened her eyes,

"So you two found out about this and didn't think to tell us, why?" She snapped.

"Because they weren't in you two." Jack stated, "There was no reason to get you involved,"

"But you had me involved." Charlie pointed out, "And I still have barely any clue as to what's going on."

"So then why can he get involved and not us?" Sayid insisted,

"I-, I don't know alright I wasn't exactly thinking right." Jack admitted.

"Seems to be something consistent," Kate whispered. Sawyer heard her comment,

"Well I'm sorry freckles, you try having to take care of everyone in this goddamn place and figure out the ominous bullshit a psychopath is spewing out at you." Sawyer yelled. Jack seemed taken aback, surprised Sawyer said anything at all.

"Wait, how would we know for sure someone was mind controlled?" Jin asked. Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking about it. There was no concrete way to confirm whether or not someone was mind controlled. As they all stood in silence, Sayid glanced down to the ground, noticing a shiny object hidden within the sand. He knelt down and picked it up, dusting it off to reveal a tiny metal circle with a bump in the center. Everyone was looking at him.

"If they left their chip behind."

Sayid handed the chip to Jack, who compared it to the one he had out. They were exactly the same in every aspect. Jack's eyes widened.

"So if someone was mind controlled, who could it have been?" he asked.

"Something we should focus on a bit later," Sayid suggested, "For now we should clean up the bodies and bury them. Then we should meet up together and continue our discussion."

"But what are we gonna tell them?" Sawyer asked, pointing outside.

"We'll just tell them we don't know what happened until we do." Kate suggested, "It is technically the truth."

"Alright," Jack huffed, "Sounds good for now." All of them then existed the tent, Jack, Sayid, and Kate addressing the group while Charlie, Jin, and Sawyer went over to Hurley and Libby.

"Hey," Charlie said, "Um, how are you two doing?"

"How could someone do this?" Libby shuddered, leaning against Hurley, "Why would anyone do this?"

"We, don't know," Jin sighed,

"But were gonna find out." Sawyer reassured. Hurley looked up at his friends.

"Dude, what if it was Ben?" Hurley asked.

"Well, that’s what we suspect, but we still don't have enough evidence." Charlie sighed.

"What do you mean 'don't have enough evidence'? We found the chip on the floor. The ones that only the others have." Sawyer snapped.

"But we don't know for sure if that was put there by an other?" Charlie pointed out. They looked at Charlie confused.

"What do you mean?" Hurley asked.

"Think about it," he started, "how would Ben sneak another other in the camp to put a chip in someone, when several of us have seen all of them and know what they look like. Wouldn't somebody have noticed? No, the person who did this most likely wasn't one of us, nor were they an other, rather they used to be an other."

Jin's eyes widened. "No," he stated, "It couldn't be Juliet. Not after everything she's done for us."

"I'm with Jin on this one," Sawyer agreed, "Juliet's helped us more than she's hurt us. Why would she do this?"

"Don't know," Charlie admitted, "But if she
did nothing wrong, why isn’t she here?”

—————————————

Juliet sat down at the table inside the hatch, drinking a cup of coffee with her hands shaking. She hated waiting, especially in this situation. It felt like she was waiting for a death sentence or something, slowly and steadily. All it did was make her insides start to turn. After a few more sips of her drink she sighed, getting up and going to the hatch door, knowing they were here. When she opened it up she was right, looking out at Ben and MIB, both looking at her viciously.

"Are you going come in?" She asked. Ben smiled back at her,

"Of course." he cooed. The two of them stepped inside, following Juliet into the living space.

"Y'know I always thought they made it really cozy in here," Ben chattered, "must make living here more fun."

"Please skip the pleasantries," Juliet sighed, annoyed.

"Fine," MIB stated, "Where's the key?" Juliet turned around and went to the bookcase, pulling out Our Mutual Friend, that had two rubber bands tied around it at all times. She undid the bands, and pulled out from the middle of the book a key with a black, hexagonal, dharma swan hatch logo on it. It was connected to a long silver chain, that when connected made a necklace.

"Here," She said, handing it to Ben. He took it,

"Thank you," He smiled, putting it in his pocket.

"Is she gonna be ok?" She asked.

"Yes," MIB smirked, "Ben already sent someone to make sure your sister is ok." Juliet sighed, relieved.

"Thank you for letting us use you," Ben started, "You really do make the perfect killer. You know what to do if anyone asks?"

"Yes," She stammered, fidgeting with her hands. He looked at Juliets arm,

"You might wanna get something to patch that up." He cooed, referring to the rather large gash on Juliet's forearm.

"You did the right thing. Once were able to do what we need to, everyone here can leave." MIB reassured, "and Jacob won't be able to hurt anyone anymore."

"Yeah," she muttered, "that's what you keep on saying."

Ben eyed her suspiciously, before turning towards the exist, "Well, I hate to cut our visit short, but I think you'll be expecting some company soon."

The MIB and Ben moved towards the other hatch door, opening it and walking out,

"See you soon," he called out. Juliet didn't respond, she stayed still in the center of the room, holding her hands as they started shaking again. What did she let them do?

Not two minutes after they left, the Hatch door flew open as Sawyer, Charlie, Jin, and Hurley burst through the doors, seemingly worried. She quickly pulled her arms to her chest, hiding the wound that was on one of them. All of them saw Juliet, standing there looking petrified at their appearance. Jin sighed,

"See, I told you she was here."

"But you never know, she could have just gotten here!" Hurley pointed out.

"Yea right, like blondie over here is gonna outwalk fast and furious over here." Sawyer smirked, pointing over to Charlie. He ignored the comment walking straight up to Juliet.

"Did you do it?" He asked. She looked at him dazed,

"Do what?"

"Did you kill Analucia and Eko?" She looked straight into his face, shocked and horrified.

"Ana and Eko are dead?!" She yelled. Jin walked up in-between the two, pushing Charlie away,

"Yes. Ana and Eko are dead. Charlie thought you did it cause he's being..." Jin explained.

"Delusional." Sawyer finished, "Just like Hurley."

“Listen, it’s not impossible that she could be behind it. She used to be one of them!” Hurley yelled.

“And Daniel and Charlotte used to work for the freighter crew that tried to kill us. You don’t treat them differently cause of it, do you?” Jin snipped.

"Well, no I don't, but this is different cause there was a murder, seemingly orchestrated by the others, and she was an other, so how do we know she didn't do it?" Charlie insisted.

"Oh my god Charlie, she was here the whole time! We found one of those chips in the tent! How much more proof do you need! Like we thought about before, someone else was most likely brainwashed into doing it!" Sawyer spat.

"But weren't those things, like, inside you?" Hurley pointed out, "So how would someone that was mind controlled take that out of them without them being wounded?"

"Wait, are you guys talking about the mind control experiments?" Juliet asked. Sawyer looked over to her,

"You know something about them?" He eyed. She nodded her head,

"Yes, I do, it was one of the things I was working on." She explained,

"Wait, so is he right then?" Jin asked. Juliet nodded her head,

"Yes, the chip has to be inside of someone in order to work. If someone took it out they'd have a wound like you and Jack." She half-lied. Sawyer noticed something was off.

"Ok then, see she did nothing wrong." Sawyer said, walking up to Juliet carefully. "You should stop accusing her of it."

"Ok," Charlie huffed, not convinced she was totally free of wrong-doing.

"Well, if you don't have any more questions for me, I should probably get going down to the beach to help Jack out with the burial." Juliet stuttered, immediately turning and walking towards the door. Sawyer grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. He saw the gash on her arm.

"Wait a minute," He started, "Why's your arm wounded?" Charlie, Hurley and Jin shot their heads over to the two, curious.

"Oh, I uh, I cut myself when I was making a salad to eat." She squeaked. Sawyer narrowed his eyes.

"On your forearm?"

"I'm very clumsy."

“Where’s the salad?”

“Where do you think? I ate it.”

“You made it in the kitchen right?”

“James, where else would I make a salad? In the bedroom?”

"Then you won't mind me checking, would you?" Juliet looked at him confused. Sawyer let go of Juliet and walked over to the closet to get something. Everyone else looked confused,

"Uh, Sawyer? I don't think she'd put a knife in there." Charlie nagged. Sawyer just rolled his eyes, pulling out a blacklight.

"Wait, why is that in there?" Hurley asked.

"Cause some of these are built into the celling. What you never noticed them there?" Sawyer pointed out. All of them looked up to the celling and saw them, right next to the regular lights.

"Oh, well what are you going to use that for?" Jin questioned.

"To check if her story's true." Sawyer explained.

"And how's a blacklight going to help you do that?" Juliet asked.

"Well, if you didn't know, whenever you clean up blood it doesn't actually disappear, not entirely. It usually leaves behind a stain, one that can't be seen unless there's a UV lights. Cops actually do it quite a lot at crime scenes. Only true way to get rid of blood is with bleach, and assuming from blondies face, I'm gonna assume she didn't wash off the knife or sink with bleach." Sawyer smirked.

"How'd you know I'd rinse off my wound?" She asked.

“I’ve seen Jack do it.” Sawyer stated, his face turning a little red, “you’re a doctor to, so I’d assume you’d do the same.” He opened the silverware drawer first and turned on the light. Juliet grew worried.

“You don’t need to do this, isn’t it a bit-“

“Why, should be nothing to hide.” Sawyer insisted. He moved around a few things in the drawer, before closing it and walking over to the sink. He put the light over it, looking for a few seconds before glaring back up at Juliet.

“Wanna explain why there’s nothing there?” He spat. Everyone started staring at her.

“I-“

“Juliet,” Jin started, “Did you kill Ana and Eko?”

Juliet started backing away from the group, scared, "N-no, of course not, why would I-"

"Why'd you lie then?" Charlie asked, walking up to her, "Doesn't make sense if you aren't hiding anything."

"But I was here the whole time, for the most part!" She exclaimed, "I left here a couple of hours ago just to take a walk, you can check the pearl station if you really don't believe me!"

"Then we will!" Hurley responded, "Me and Charlie will go down there and check."

"We will?" Charlie asked,

"Yes we will," Hurley insisted, heading to the hatch door. Charlie followed suit,

"You better hope your story matches up blondie," Sawyer said, "Cause if it don't, there's gonna be a problem.”

————————————

Charlie and Hurley made their way to the Pearl Station, cautiously going there as fast as they could. If Juliet was lying, they didn't wanna leave their friends alone with her for even a second. As they were walking however, they bumped into Russo, who pointed her gun up at them.

"Woah, dude, were ok, were from the beach!" Hurley yelled, hands up. She tilted her head, realizing who was there.

"Oh, it's just you two." She sighed, pointing her gun down.

"What are you doing out here?" Charlie asked.

"I was looking for Ben. Juliet told me he would be near here at some point." She explained. Hurley looked at Russo confused,

"Wait, you saw Juliet today?"

"Yes. She was taking a walk when I found her. Covered in blood." Russo responded, narrowing her eyes. "Has something happened?"

"Well, two of our people are dead, and we assume Juliet did it." Charlie told her, "And from what you just told us, it sounds like she 100% did it. But right now all we need ot get is the tape from the Pearl."

"But one of your people is already there." She said.

"Wait, who?" Hurley asked.

"The man with the scar on his face." She told them, "He took a man down there, one wearing some sort of military-like outfit."

"Locke," Charlie realized,

"Dude, do you think the other guy is Keamey?" Hurley asked him.

"Well, there's really only one way to know." Charlie said, he looked towards Russo, "You wanna come with us? You might find Ben on the way."

"I'm better alone." Russo scoffed, before taking off away from them. Hurley and Charlie looked at each other confused, before continuing on their way, this time with a greater speed. Once they finally got to the Pearl, they opened the top and climbed down inside, meeting a smiling Locke, and a worried Keamey, who was tied up to a chair.

Charlie and Hurley's eyes widened.

"Hello there," Locke smiled, "What can I do for you?"

"Uhhhh, we just, wanted the footage of the swan hatch from today." Hurley squeaked. Locke walked up to the TV's and hit a couple of buttons, as Charlie looked at the screen.

He could clearly see an image of Juliet leaving the hatch and coming back seemingly covered in blood play out as it was rewinding, the final nail in the coffin for Charlie. Hurley, meanwhile, stared at Keamey, who was staring Hurley down, trying to speak, but only muted mumbles escaped his lips. Locke turned back around and handed a tape to Hurley,

"That should be a recording of everything from that camera in the past 24 hours." Locke cooed. Hurley just looked back worried.

"Uhhh, yea. Thanks." He stammered. Charlei and Hurley headed out the Pearl, worried and confused to what Locke was doing. However, that didn't concern them. What did was the person sitting in the Hatch.

So as quickly as both of them could, they ran back to the Swan.

————————————

"So, how did you actually cut your arm?" Jin asked. Juliet looked down to the ground.

" Accidentally tripped and cut it on the side of the table in the button room." She told him, her face turning red from embarrassment.

"So then why didn't you just tell us that?" Sawyer insisted.

"It's kind of embarrassing." She sighed, lying.

"No, it's not, and you know that." Sawyer accused. She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe for you." She muttered.

Suddenly all three of them heard a loud banging noise, as Charlie and Hurley dashed into the hatch holding the tape, Charlie giving Juliet a death glare.

"You," he spat. He walked up to Juliet. "You killed them, you cruel son of a-"

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down Hazbin. What did you guys find?" Sawyer asked.

"She left here alright. And when she came back she was soaked in blood." Hurley gasped, handing Jin the tape.

"No I wasn-"

"Yes you were." Charlie gritted, "And not only do we have video evidence, but Russo told us she saw you exactly like that."

"You two saw Russo?" Jin exclaimed.

"Yea, we found her looking for Ben," Charlei scoffed, "but that’s not the point! She murdered two of our friends and needs to be brought to Jack right now!"

Everyone in the room stood silently, glaring down at her. A sick kind of tension seemed to fill the air, crawling its way through every nook and cranny. Juliet sighed, rolling her eyes before a smirk came across her face.

"Fine. You caught me. So what are you gonna do? Handcuff me?"

"We should. Sawyer where are the handcuffs?" Charlie spat.

"They're all chopped up,"

"They're all chopped-, wait what?” Charlie started.

“Yea, when Ben was released from the armory by Michael they took and cut up the handcuffs. We don’t have any.” Sawyer explained.

“Then what are we gonna do with her?” Hurley asked.

“Why not just have her hang out in the button room until Jack, Kate, and Sayid get here.” Jin suggested. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, except for Charlie. He just crossed his arms.

"Well if she's going to be in there someone should watch her to make sure she doesn't do any funny business." He demanded.

"Ok, then I'll go with her, and I'll take the tape," Sawyer smirked, grabbing the tape out of Jin's hands, "might help if I watch it for myself."

"Why? Do you still think she's innocent?!" Hurley yelled.

"No, of course not chewy, but I wanna watch it to see if y'all missed anything." He smiled, "Sometimes it comes down to the details."

"Fine." Charlei murmured, "Just don't let her do anything to you." Sawyer smiled, walking over to the button room with Juliet following him.

"Don't worry shorty." he called out.

Once Juliet and Sawyer were in the button room, Juliet sat down in the metal chair, while Sawyer walked over to the old T.V. cart that sat amongst the many panels and wires in the back. Both of them could hear everyone else in the other room playing on the instruments, seemingly creating a new song. Juliet stared at the blank computer screen in front of her.

"So what's gonna happen now?"

"Well, you'll most likely be kicked out of camp. At least that's what I'd say if you actually did something wrong." Sawyer explained. Juliet looked confused.

"You still think I'm innocent? After I admitted to what I did." Sawyer nodded his head, leaning against the T.V. "Why?"

"Cause the entire time you've been making up lies on top of other lies, if that makes sense. I don't know why, but I think this entire time you've been making up absurd lies in order to have everyone believe you killed them." Sawyer explained. "When I was with the others, they conned me into believing I had something in my chest that would kill me. Not a single thread was left for me to believe anything other than what they told me. So, forgive me for assuming you would do the same."

"So if I really was doing that James, then why did I get caught?" She asked.

"Because you wanted to get caught."

He pressed a button on the screen of the T.V, that turned on the screen, playing the tape from the beginning, 24 hours before now. On the screen you could see the band all playing in the middle of the room, seemingly happy. Sawyer pressed the fast forward button, so that the footage would go faster. As it did different things happened, such as the group making the posters, Ben coming with the note, and Juliet and Libby's arrival. The rest of the tape was just Julliet doing different things around the room for the most part. One part of the tape was all scratched out, something that happened about an hour and a half ago. But Juliet never left the hatch. The tape stopped, and Sawyer looked over at her.

"Your covering for someone, aren't you."

She just stayed silent, glaring at him with a dull stare. He narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you co-"

"I'm not covering for anyone. Your being delusional. This isn't some sort of illusion." She spat, emphasizing the last word.

Sawyer perked his head up, noting what she did. He started thinking in his brain to what she might be referring to. Is she talking about Anthony Cooper? He thought this all was an illusion. But he's been dead forever now. What about that guy the others mention a lot, Jacob? He seems more like something they're faithful in rather than something that's made up. Suddenly it clicked in is head, as his expression grew pale.

She's talking about that thing. The Man In Black.

Before he could ask her what she meant, the door to the hatch opened as Jack, Sayid, and Kate walked in the doors. Sawyer poked his head out of the room to see them, as well as the band, who apparently didn't hear them come in, as they were still playing.

"Uhh, what are you guys doing?" Jack asked, confused. They all stopped playing.

"We were just practicing while waiting for you to get here." Charlie smiled. Jack still looked confused.

"Practicing for what?" He said. Hurley looked over at Sawyer.

"Dude, didn't you say you were going to tell him!"

"Yea, I was gonna tell him, y'know, after he's done dealing with the crisis of the week." Sawyer snapped.

"Wait you still don't know about their band?" Kate asked.

"What? No, I didn't know they started a band, when did this happen?" Jack questioned.

"Not important right now doc, what is however is the person in here." Sawyer stated, nodding his head at Juliet.

"Yeah, she's the one that killed Ana and Eko." Charlie spat.

"No, she didn't." Sawyer sighed. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

"...what?" Sayid gritted.

"Dude, we have VIDEO EVIDENCE of her leaving here and coming back all covered in blood! She has a wound on her arm, and Jack has the chip that was most likely inside of her when she did it! We even have Russo's account of her walking in the woods!" Hurley yelled.

"Plus, Desmond just told us Juliet was the last one he saw with them!" Kate explained, "How could she be innocent?"

"Cause what they saw ain't her." Sawyer started, walking into the middle of the living room. Juliet followed behind, meekly.

"What do you mean by that?" Jack asked.

"Well for one, the tape Charlie and Hurley claim shows Juliet leaving the hatch and coming back covered in blood doesn't actually show that. In fact it shows the opposite." He explained, " The wound on her arm, while bad, isn't as deep as the ones Jack and I had which contained the device were claiming she was influenced by."

"Ok, but that still doesn't excuse what Russo and Desmond saw? How would you explain that?" Jin pointed out.

"It's like I said before. What they saw wasn't her. I know this might seem crazy, but what if what they saw was that thing?" Sawyer shuddered, "The thing Ben called the Man In Black?"

Sayid shook his head, "It couldn't be that thing. We don't know what it can do, but if it could transform into other people, why didn't it do that before?"

"Maybe so we wouldn't suspect it of doing anything." he insisted.

"Oh come on, there isn't enough evidence to show that. Juliet clearly did it, and you should just stop making excuses." Charlie condemned.

"I ain't making excuses! Look, I know there isn't a lot to go off of, and I know Juliet refuses to say anything about it, but I need you to trust me on this." Sawyer murmured, looking over at Jack. Jack sighed,

"Look, Sawyer, I trust you, but a lot of what you're talking about isn't actual evidence, it’s a bunch of 'what if's'. We don't know if the MIB can change his form, we don't know how deep a wound needs to be for the chip to work, we don't know if the tape you saw was edited. I'm sorry, there's just no way to know. I think your just overthinking it."

Sawyer looked away from Jack, a somber expression crossing his face. He looked over at Juliet, her hands shaking as she looked back at him sadly.

"I told you," she whispered, "I did it. Thats all there is to it." He looked away from her sighing as the alarm started to go off for the button. He walked back into the button room,

"Fine," he scoffed, " whatever you say sheriff. You're the final say anyway."

Jack watched as Sawyer left, frowning. He thought about saying something to him, but he refrained from doing so, thinking that it wouldn't make a difference. Kate just rolled her eyes at him.

"So, what should we do with Juliet now?" She asked.

"Well," Hurley started, "Seeing as she was mind controlled, maybe we should just have her stay here for now, before you tell everyone what happened."

"But we can't-" Jack stopped himself, "I know, we have to tell them, but when they find out the truth, they won't want her here. Hell, they may not even believe us."

"Well, the only thing we can hope for is that they'll believe it." Charlie sighed, "I mean, if it was me I'd probably think you all had gone mad, but hopefully that won't happen."

“Well, then who’s gonna stay here and make sure she doesn’t leave?” Jin started.

“First of all, I’d appreciate it if you stopped talking about me like I’m not here, I’m not an object,” Juliet sighed, “second of all, I’m not gonna go anywhere. I don’t need someone to watch over me.”

“But what if-“

“I won’t run off Charlie.” She insisted. “There’s no point.” Charlie wearily looked at her, still unsure.

"Fine," he sighed. "but if you do leave, I'm going to hunt you down and bring you back."

"I don't think you'd be able to do that." Sayid smiled.

"Hey! You'd be surprised." Charlie nattered, "I could catch her if I wanted to."

"But can you even track?" Kate laughed. Charlie just looked away embarrassed,

"Yeah, well, I'd still try." He insisted.

"Well, we should start heading back to camp. The funerals going to start soon." Jack half-smiled. Everyone agreed, making their way outside the hatch. Before Jack left he looked back at Juliet, who stared right back. He frowned, before joining everyone else outside.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Ana and Eko were good people." Libby started, "They always did their best to help out everyone here, even if it meant risking their safety. They truly cared for everyone, and they stuck it out till the end. They were the best friends I could've asked for." She took out of her pocket Eko's necklace, studying it before she dropped it into Eko's grave, leaning up against Hurley who was standing next to her mournfully. "Goodbye."

Sayid tried to give Libby a comforting smile, before he started to shovel sand, and burry the two. Everyone else that was around started to move back, turning their attention to Jack in hope that he would have an answer for all of this. He sighed,

"We found out more information on what happened to them. It's a bit complicated though."

"Why's that?" Desmond asked.

"Well," Jack thought for a moment looking over at Sawyer, who was leaning up against a tree next to Charlie and Jin. He thought about the paper he'd read over and over that day, his friend that he'd trusted who now was guilty, and what Ben and the MIB had repeated over and over the day of the attack. He looked back at the crowd,

"We found out that the monster had killed them." Everyone gasped and looked at each other shocked, including everyone who knew about Juliet.

"But, how did it get in here without anyone noticing?" Boone questioned,

"I'm not sure, but I can assure you that that's what killed them. How it did it is something were trying to figure out." Jack explained. As he continued on, explaining and answering everyone's questions, Charlie looked over to Sawyer.

"So he believes you, huh?" He said, shocked,

"Apparently," Sawyer smiled, just as shocked as Charlie.

"How though?" Jin asked.

"I've got no clue." Sawyer responded.

"Probably just doesn't want everyone to know about what happened, so it makes the perfect excuse." Charlie figured. All of them nodded their heads in agreement.

“I guess were still gonna need to figure out what to do with Juliet.” Sawyer sighed.

“Why don’t we just let her carry on with her day and let her go? Nobody will know any different.” Jin suggested.

“Everyone except for us.” Charlie reminded, “but that’s probably what he’ll do.” All three of them watched as the crowd started to fade away, Jack walking towards the three of them with Kate in step behind him.

"So, you believe me?" Sawyer smirked.

"Not really, there's still a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense about your theory, but, I guess a part of me trusts that your right." Jack smiled. Kate walked over to Sawyer, leaning against him.

"You know both of you are insane." She sighed. Sawyer pushed Kate away from him, moving closer to Charlie as a way to make sure she didn't do that again.

"Yeah, anyway, we should get heading back over to the hatch." Charlie suggested. Before Jack could respond, Sun and Claire made their way over to everyone.

"Jack, do you think that monster could be waiting for us in the jungle?" Sun questioned. Jack just shook his head,

"I don't know, but you don't have to worry about it, all of us are going to deal with it." he reassured.

"But what if you guys get attacked while you're out there?" Claire pointed out, looking directly at Charlie, "It's nearly dark! You guys shouldn't go out there."

"태양, 걱정하지 마세요. 우리는 해치에 가는 것이 안전할 것입니다." Jin reassured.

"여기 누군가가 다쳤다고 할 때마다. 난 당신이 죽게하지 않을거야.우리가 가는 길에 아기가 있을 때가 아니야, 진." Sun retorted, putting her hands on her hips. Jin sighed,

"Alright then, I will stay here."

"You too Charlie." Claire asked, "I don't want you getting hurt out there."

"Fine, I guess there's no band practice today. But that’s fine, we already played a bit beforehand." Charlie gushed. "Besides, I've gotta make sure you and Aaron are ok." Claire chuckled a tiny bit before walking back over to her tent, Charlie following close behind. Jin and Sun did the same, leaving Kate Jack and Sawyer behind.

"You two should go check on Juliet," Sawyer suggested, "I'm gonna go see if sunshine and moon ray are doing ok, and if Apu needs help."

"Why don't I go with you?" Kate smiled, moving over and leaning on Sawyer again. He pushed her off towards Jack, shaking his head.

"How bout no freckles. Besides, I'm sure you and the sheriff over here have things to work out." He said, quickly moving towards his friend. As he did he saw Libby still standing there, petrified and still in Hurley's arms, looking pale and worn. Neither of them moved as he approached them.

"Hey dude," Hurley muttered.

"Hey... um... how are you two love birds doing?" He asked. Libby just stayed quiet.

"I, uh, don't think we're doing ok." Hurley admitted, "It might be best if you just give us some space, if that’s ok."

"Yeah... yeah," Sawyer sighed, "I'll just, go see if our resident torturer needs help. But if you need anything Hurley, just ask me." He smiled and then walked away. Hurley looked down at Libby.

"Hey, um, do you want to go lie down?" He asked. Libby shook her head.

"Ok, then why don't we just go on a walk, you know, away from here." He suggested. She shook her head again.

"Okay then..." He murmured. He just kept on holding her, not really knowing what to do. He'd never seen her like this before, even when any of them had come close to dying. She seemed, detached from reality, dissociated. Suddenly she spoke up,

"What if were next."

"Hm?"

"What if they come for us next?" Libby repeated, looking up towards him.

"They won't come for us next. I promise" Hurley smiled.

"But how do you know? I'm sure Ana and Eko didn't think they were going to die either. What if they kill us, and then your friends, and then-"

"Hey! Calm down," Hurley reassured, Libby moving closer to him, "It's going to be fine ok? Everything's under control, were going to stop them. This won't happen again, alright?" He went to sit down on the sand, pulling Libby down with him. The two looked out to the sea,

"Everything will be alright."

Libby stayed silent again, simply lying in Hurleys arms. She was smiling now, but still silent. He held her close thinking over what he just said.

Everything would be alright.

Right?

Chapter Text

Seven Days Before The Concert

A cool ocean breeze blew throughout the air as Charlie was sitting at the edge of the beach. He felt tired, his legs and arms practically jello, but he couldn't bring himself to sleep. Something was nagging at him, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't figure it out. So instead, he decided to stare out at the sea, watching the waves as they crashed, slowly and smoothly, hoping it could calm himself down.

He would've stayed up all night by himself, if it wasn't for Hurley, who had jolted awake after he got a nightmare. His mind had started to wonder about the events of the past few days, convincing him that things would only get worse from here on out. So he walked out of his tent, leaving Libby alone, and spotted Charlie awake.

Quietly, he went towards his friend, joining his side on the sandy floor, watching the tide.

“You couldn’t sleep either?” Charlie asked, solemnly.

“Yeah dude,” Hurley admitted, “I can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier, you know with Ana and Eko… and Juliet.”

“Yeah. I bet she’ll do it again.” Charlie snapped, “but nobody will probably listen.”

“Yeah..." They both were silent for a bit. Not sure how to continue their conversation. Hurley spoke up again, "but we can’t really do much.”

“But isn’t there?” Charlie asked, “isn’t there more we could do to help and protect everyone?"

Hurley stayed silent for a moment, "I don't think so."

Charlie turned towards Hurley, a sudden fury filling his body. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we're already doing the band as a way to cheer people up. It's not much but, there's nothing else we really could do." Hurley explained.

"That's not true." Charlie gritted.

"But dude, what else is there?" Hurley asked.

"We could go and help our friends when they go off today." Charlie snapped. "We can't just let them wander off out there alone."

"Everyone who's already tried to help has died man."

"Yeah but, maybe if we just sneakily helped-"

"Charlie we can't do that, Ben and the monster, man, thingy, are too much."

"But we can't just be sitting ducks."

"Well what would you rather, people start dropping like flies over this?"

"No, of course not I just," Charlie put his hands over his head, running them through his hair, "they're our friends Hurley. Practically our family. Shouldn't we at least try?" Hurley let out a shaky breath as he looked back at the camp.

There were too many things for both of them to risk. He had Libby, who had become a grief stricken mess over her friends deaths, he couldn't leave her when she needed him most. Charlie had Claire and furthermore Aaron, both of which who relied on Charlie as both a partner and a father. They both had roles to fill out for the people they loved. They couldn't go on a suicide mission for four people who could handle themselves.

Although to Hurley that might've been where the conflict was. Jack was always making these decisions and acting heroic all the time but everyone knew the stress and pressures of it were starting to catch up to him. Kate had always been an independent kind of person but now she was starting to rely on her fellow castaways more than ever. Sayid always made sure everyone was doing ok and was able to keep a level head in the most stressful of situations, yet even now Hurley had noticed that Sayid had been losing his control over his emotions. And Sawyer, someone who was snarky and closed off to most, had been willing enough to share a part of his life with him almost 24 hours earlier, something that had taken him aback. So while normally, these four people would have been able to handle themselves, it certainly seemed liked they were loosing it.

Hurley turned back to Charlie, not sure what to say.

"We can't," was all he was able to muster out, "We just, can't"

Charlie looked down to his feet, letting his thoughts of worry and defeat weigh his head and body down. He let out a raspy breath, feeling as though he was letting himself down. "Well even if we can't, we shouldn't pretend everything is alright."

It became silent between the two of them again, both of them unsure what to say next. They both had looked back out to the sea, focusing on the tide as it crashed and the starry sky behind it. Both of them were so preoccupied with their thoughts that none of them had noticed that behind them, out in the distance, MIB was watching them.

He was studying the two of them very meticulously, his arms crossed as he did so. He seemed to be calculating something in that moment, something that was making his head wander. His compliance, Ben, walked up behind him, glancing over where he was looking.

"Do you think they'll be a problem?" He cooed, "If so we could always get rid of them." MIB shook his head,

"No, we can't get rid of them. I need them." He spoke. Ben turned his head confused,

"What do you mean?"

MIB turned his head, "They're the last pieces we need."

"...I thought that was supposed to be Tom and Ethan"

"You assumed that because I said I couldn't find them. You choose those two. But that's not how it works. You know that. I told you what the book said. A torturer with a sharp mind, an old soul in a young body, a troubled man with a steady hand, a regretful person with a wild spirit, a kind man who'd give up the world, and a jovial person with a cunning motive. You can't just choose people to fit the molds, you have to find the people mentioned in it. Or we can't get rid of Jacob, can we."

Ben crossed his arms, "I'm starting to think this has nothing to do with your brother, but rather your bloodlust." MIB furrowed his brows,

"You dare question me Bejamin?" He asked.

"I do. If these were the other people we needed why didn't we get them as well. Why didn't you realize this sooner? Now we can't complete your plan to 'get rid of' your brother, which I find to be a cover up as of now." Ben snapped.

"If one minor inconvenience wavers your conscience that my intensions are not to free the people under his control then you're not the man I believed you to be. I didn't realize because I didn't take the time. Have patience, and everything will fall into place." Ben eyed MIB, slowly smirking at him.

"Of course, of course, just like before. Everything will go as planned." Ben turned and started walking away, "and when it crumbles again because you forgot something I’ll be right here.” MIB fumed, grabbing Ben by the collar of his shirt and dragging him away from the camp, slamming him against a tree.

“Do not, mock me. Or you'll end up just like your father. You wouldn't want that, would you?" MIB's formed cracked and shifted, changing itself to look like the man he had mentioned. Ben looked away as best he could, maintaining his composure.

"Sorry," he murmured. MIB let him go, shifting back into his original form. Ben fell to the ground with a thud, tilting his head up slightly as MIB started to walk away.

"We should start getting ready for our puppets to show up" MIB cooed, "Let's go." Ben lifted himself up and looked over to Hurley and Charlie.

He knew the two of them would cause trouble. It was in their nature to try and help when things are grim. It was the nature of the whole beach operation. As admirable as it could be seen, it always made things convoluted and complicated. It's why Ben preferred to be sycophantic above all else to others. If those two wanted to get in the way, if they wanted to help, the best thing they could do is what they always do. Follow and help.

Ben smirked, catching up to MIB

Noon was looking to be quite fun.

Chapter Text

Jack slowly opened his eyes, staring straight up at the lights above the hatch. He let his eyes linger for a few moments, letting his eyes be filled, helping him wake up more. He closed them again, taking a long beep breath. Today was the day, and he had no clue how he was gonna keep his friends safe.

He rolled over onto his side, re-opening his yes once again, this time staring at Kate who had followed him here. She was laying soundly on the couch curled up and sleeping soundly. They had talked the night before, Kate and him apologizing for yesterday, but he still felt true to what he had told Sawyer. He didn't wanna go back in forth with her. So he was gonna tell her that, bluntly. Eventually.

He then looked down at his hand and his arm and the gauze wrapped around it. When Ben had talked to the group and had cut everyone, he had been talking about needing them in order to stop Jacob, the man the others had once praised, but now their leader was trying to get rid of. What had made Ben's mind waver? Why did he need him, Kate, Sayid, and Sawyer? There are plenty of other ways and solutions to getting rid of him, right? Maybe he could convince Ben and the monster, the MIB, that they weren't needed. It was the closest thing he had to plan, so it would have to do. Otherwise, they might as well be walking up to them on a silver platter.

He finally got himself up, shuffling into the living area and yawning, making sure Juliet was still in the button room. Of course she was, simply sitting and staring into the blank screen as the timer ticked down.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Hey," she responded, "It's just about 9. If your planning on getting where you need to go by noon, you should get ready to leave soon."

"Yeah," he yawned, walking up to her, "but um, about yesterday, if you know anything about what's going on, please tell us. We don't have much to go off of."

He stood next to the table, leaning up against part of it. She looked away from the computer and stared Jack in the face, wearily. "If I could tell you something I would."

"Juliet, our lives are at stake. If you know something and we die because you didn't tell us-"

"Your lives are not the only ones involved." She snapped. "So no Jack, even if I did know something I couldn’t tell you. And if you died from not knowing it, that wouldn't be my fault. I'm doing what I can to protect myself and others. Just like you."

Jack sighed, looking away. "I know, I know... I was just, hoping I guess.." He started to walk away, "I'm gonna get Kate up, and we'll go and meet Sayid and Sawyer at the beach. Stay here please."

"I will." She stated, turning back to the computer screen. Jack gave her a half-smile, before turning and walking into the living space.

He approached Kate as quietly as he could, trying not to wake her up for now. She had an assortment of things on the table in front of her. A book, a gun cartridge, and a notepad. Inside it had a list of ideas for what could be done about today. Ambushing or even tricking Ben and the MIB into thinking they were wrong, similar to what Jack's plan was. The pen sitting next to the notebook was broken, seemingly from too much pressure put on it. Ink was splattered all over the table, a stain that'd be hard for him to clean up later.

Later, yeah. There'd be a later.

He knelt down to Kate and nudged her arm,

"Wake up," he whispered, "we need to leave". Kate slowly fluttered her eyes open, letting a yawn escape her lips. She propped herself upright, rubbing at her eyes and smiling slightly.

"Good morning Jack" she mumbled. Jack just smiled.

"Sleep well?"

"Not really, you?"

"Yeah, not really." A somber tone filled the room as Jack went and sat next to Kate.

"You think we're gonna be able to come back." Kate asked. Jack frowned,

"I hope we do. If we don't well, we'll all have each other. The four of us." Jack consoled.

"Yeah. Yeah.." She looked down at the ground, fidgeting with her hands a bit. Jack just let out a sigh. There wasn't much either of them could do to lift their spirits. So there was no sense dwelling on it. Only thing to do was to put on the face, the same face he put on whenever he needed to lead. His façade.

He got up from the couch, walked up to the armory, and simply grabbed a few medical supplies that were in there, along with some food for the road. Kate had gotten up shortly after, and grabbed her backpack, tossing her notebook and broken pen into it, taking out the bullets and spare gun she had in there.

"So, what's the plan?" She questioned.

"I'll tell you when we get down to the beach." He reassured her, "better to tell all three of you, you know?"

"Mhm." She breathed, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack noticed it, and looked up at her. She looked straight back.

"Kate," he sighed. She moved in closer to him,

"You think when we get back, we could maybe hang out? Just the two of us?" She asked.

Jack shook his head, "No. Kate, I-" he stopped himself for a moment. Right now didn't feel like the time to say anything. But, if he was gonna die, he might as well get something off his chest. "Kate, I'm tired of you going between me and Sawyer like this. Leading us both on. I need you to stop this. Please."

Kate simply looked at Jack annoyed, "I'm not leading you two on, I don't like Sawyer-"

"You were just flirting with him yesterday."

"-and I don't wanna be with anyone but you. Ok?" Jack just sighed, backing away from her and focusing on his backpack, zipping it up.

"I'm not doing this Kate. Especially not today." He walked out of the armory and looked over at the instruments lying around on the floor. A band was certainly an idea. His eyes glanced down to the base, a slight smile cross his lips. Kate saw this and knew, without any words spoken, what Jack was thinking. What was happening.

"Let's go." She snapped, making her way to the hatch exit, "Bye Juliet."

"Goodbye." Juliet piped up. Jack walked into the button room one final time to check on Juliet.

"You've got everything you need?"

"Mhm, now go." She smiled, "and hopefully everything goes well."

"Yeah," Jack nodded, "let's hope it goes well"

--------------------------------------------------

"Hey there McClain," Sawyer teased, approaching Sayid at his tent, bag in hand. Sayid glanced up for a moment from his pile of things that were scattered out on the beaches sandy floors.

"Hello Sawyer," he smiled, quickly moving his attention back to the floor. Sawyer plopped himself down next to him, following where his eyes were focused.

"Whatcha doin?" He asked.

"Figuring out something."

"Bout what?"

"What we can bring to defend ourselves."

"We can't remember? Can't bring a weapon." Sawyer huffed.

"Ben never specified what counted as a weapon or not in his demands." Sayid pointed out, "so anything can be used that wouldn't look deadly."

He grabbed the gun cartridge that sat in the pile of stuff, opened it, emptied it out, and closed it up again, placing it in his bag. Sawyer looked at the other things Sayid was considering bringing, a flashlight, a cardboard box, loose change, and mangoes. He let out a small chuckle at the mangoes, picking one up and spinning it around in his hands.

"Heh, an a mango is gonna do the trick huh? What, are we gonna play a carnival game? See who can knock over the monster an Ben the fastest?" He joked. Sayid smiled at the comment for a moment, before frowning again.

"If that's what you're thinking of doing you'll end up dead, but by all means go ahead." Sayid spoke. Sawyer put the mango back, frowning as a result.

"I was just joking around" he muttered.

"Well today is not much of a joking one." Sayid sighed.

"Well joking is better than moping"

"I'm not moping Sawyer," Sayid reassured, looking up at him, "I'm just trying to find a way to help. This situations complicated."

"Ain't nothing complicated bout it." Sawyer snapped, his anger flaring up, "find a way to kill the bastards without weapons."

"And how do you plan on doing that when your bag is empty, or semi-empty, and you're joking."

"I ain't sure, but I'll figure out a way. And when I do I'll make sure that son of a bitch Ben stays dead." Sawyer yelled.

"Well, let's figure out how then," Sayid smiled, handing Sawyer the flashlight in the pile. Sawyer went and grabbed it, smiling, the two of them starting to discuss. If they brought enough things that weren't considered weapons, then they could most likely take the two of them out. So, they both started to fill their bags with blunt objects, as many as they could fit without forgetting essentials. As they were however, Sayid noticed the inclusion of a pill bottle, labeled Zyprexa.

"I thought Jack had all the medical supplies." He questioned.

"Yeah well, gotta keep some of em for myself you know?" Sawyer scoffed, brushing off the question. Sayid tilted his head a bit, not convinced.

"You know that’s an anti-psychosis medicine right?" Sayid asked.

"Mhm"

"So then why would you need to keep it for yourself?"

"I-" Sawyer's face tuned pale, from both fear and embarrassment, "Just, I know someone who needs these. They have BPD, borderline personality disorder. And they don't wanna go to Jack bout it so, they go to me about it."

Sayid smirked, "Mhm."

"Tell anyone an I'll steal your girlfriends makeup bag"

"Don't worry, I won't tell. But, your gonna run out soon."

"I'll be fine." Sawyer sighed, "Now back to the blunt object collecting please." Sayid nodded, the two of them resuming they're sorting and collecting.

As they did Charlie, Hurley, and Jin eyed them, Charlie thinking about last night's conversation with Hurley. It bothered him a lot still, not being able to do anything. But, he figured his friend was right. The only thing he could is send them off and hope things play out smoothly. But still, he felt like he was letting them walk into danger. A sentiment the rest of their band seemed to share.

"Huley are you sure-"

"Dude, yes, I'm sorry we can't help." All three of them looked at each other sadly.

"Will they be okay?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, yeah they should be." Charlie fretted.

"And if they aren't?" Jin pouted.

"Then.. Then I don't know." Charlie admitted. All three of them glanced to the ground, trying to ignore the shared feeling everyone at the beach felt. Who was gonna step up if they get hurt? What about the band, what was gonna happen to that? Even without the band, Sawyer was their friend. What was gonna happen if he goes? The more they thought about it the more their worry seemed to swell and grow.

"Um, maybe we should go to the hatch? Practice a bit as a distraction?" Hurley suggested.

"Sure," Charlie sighed. "But, I wanna talk to Sawyer first."

"Alright," Jin half smiled, "Hurley and I will go up to the hatch first"

"Okay. Be safe." Charlie warned, turning around and waltzing over to Sawyer and Sayid. Hurley and Jin went in the opposite direction heading for the hatch. Both of them stayed silent the entire walk.

"Do you guys need anything else?" Charlie asked, crossing his arms.

"No, I believe we're all set. Thank you" Sayid grinned, zipping up his backpack standing up. "We should be fine with what we have."

"I hope. If it ain't enough to at least knock em out then I don't know what we're gonna do." Sawyer gasped.

"We're gonna negotiate if that doesn't work." Jack chimed in. Him and Kate were slowly approaching everyone. "Maybe we can convince them that there's another way to get rid of Jacob."

"Wait that's what this is all about?" Sawyer and Charlie asked.

"Yeah, Ben told us this when he attacked us the first time." Jack eyed, "Don't you remember?"

"Doc, I barely paid attention to half the stuff he said." Sawyer admitted.

"Of course you didn't." Kate scoffed, "You never pay attention to anything around you."

"I do pay attention to stuff, just not Ben's rambling." Sawyer snapped back.

"Anyways," Jack continued, "That's what we'll do. We'll try and talk to them and convince them they can kill Jacob without us, and if that doesn't work then we'll attack them."

"Sawyer and I have things to use in our backpack. Flashlights, boxes, things like that they can't consider weapons." Sayid coaxed, "We'll hand them out when we're getting close."

"Sounds good." Kate sighed, "Now let's get this over with already." She turned around and started storming off into the jungle, everyone else staring at her confused.

"Well.. Freckles definitely ain't too happy. Whatcha do to upset her doc?" Sawyer jabbed. Jack looked back at him, a somber expression crossing his face.

"I'll tell you on the way there, come on," he muttered, turning around and trudging to follow Kate. Sawyer tilted his head sighing, looking over to Sayid and Charlie.

"Guess that means we should go too."

"Yes, I guess so." Sayid agreed.

"Will you guys be alright?" Charlie asked, glancing between the two of them.

"We'll be fine Charlie. Promise." Sawyer reassured, giving him a half smile. Charlie didn't grin back.

"Alright. Just, be safe okay? Don't let them take you." He demanded.

"Don't worry shorty," Sawyer smirked, "I ain't gonna let that happen. Neither of us are." Sayid and Sawyer smiled, and started making their way into the jungle with Kate and Jack, off to their doom. Just as they we're about to enter into the jungle, Sawyer turned around and looked back at Charlie.

"Hey um, if I don't get back soon, or make it back at all, do y'a mind doing something for me?" He asked. Charlie nodded his head,

"Of course. What is it?"

"Don't give up on what you're trying to do. The band, helping everyone, if the four of us don't come back, promise me you won't give up on making everyone here smile. Promise me you'll help em."

Charlie smiled, a melancholy feeling filling up his body, "Sawyer, your gonna come back. All four of you will. You already promised."

"I know, just, preparing for the worst." Sawyer reassured. He turned around and took a step, wandering into the unknown.

Charlie watched until the four of them were no longer in sight, sighing as they left his vision. He wanted to do something, he needed to do something. But he couldn't do it alone, or without a reason. It almost felt like it did back when everyone first crashed here, when Claire got taken. He had wanted to help her and help get rid of her kidnapper. But when it came down to it, when he held out the gun to Ethan, he couldn't bring himself to shoot him. He couldn't bring himself to help out. He didn't want that happening again.

He walked over to Aaron and Claire, grabbing some of his things so he could meet up with Jin and Hurley at the hatch.

"Are you heading back to the hatch?" She fretted.

"Mhm," Charlie said, "Don't worry, I'll be okay. That monster thing, it won't come after me."

"How do you know that?" Claire asked.

"Cause, it's probably half way across the island by now. That smoke thing never stays around for too long as it is." He claimed.

"I don't know, I just don't want anything happening to you." She stammered.

"Nothing's gonna happen to me. I'm just gonna be with Jin and Hurley making some more songs. Including one about you" he teased, hugging Claire from behind and resting his head on her shoulder.

"Oh really?" She smiled, turning her head towards Charlie a bit, so she could rest it on top of his hair.

"Mhm. And, it's gonna be brilliant." He kissed her on the neck "Just like you."

"Charlie," she giggled, "your so cheesy today."

"Well, I'm just appreciating what I have." he grinned, "now, I'm gonna head up to the hatch. Anything you and Aaron need?"

"Not for now," She smiled, "thank you though. Be safe okay?"

"I will" he beamed, grabbing his stuff. He waved bye, and started making his way towards the hatch.

As he turned around his smile faded slowly into a frown, his mind still on his friends endeavors. They'd be fine, they were always fine. Everything will be fine.

---------------------------------------------------------

"So," Sawyer started, "what made strawberry up ahead angry at you? Thought you'd two work things out."

"We did, last night." Jack sighed

"Don't really seem like it."

"Well, she's upset now cause I finally told her off. Nicely, at least."

"Ah," Sawyer smirked, "Finally stood up for yourself doc."

Jack just shook his head, "You saw me do it yesterday, but yeah I did. And clearly she doesn't like that I did."

"Well, she's gonna have to like it. I swear if she don't an she does something to y'a I'll-" Sawyer stopped himself, realizing what he was gonna say. Jack looked over to him curiously.

"Um, anyways," Sawyer muttered, "If she gives ya trouble for it you can tell me doc."

"Heh, I don't need a bodyguard Sawyer, she's not gonna hurt me. Kate wouldn't hurt someone cause she's angry." Jack chuckled.

Sawyer widened his eyes, looking at Jack with an exaggerated doubtful look, "Y'a sure doc?" Jack smiled,

"Yeah I'm sure. Kate's nice, she's not gonna steal my things. Unlike some southerners I know."

"Hey," Sawyer snapped, jokingly, "I only did that twice."

"And both times you did it cause you we're angry."

"Yeah, cause it was my stuff first."

"It was everyone's stuff."

"I found it," Sawyer protested, "Finders keepers."

"You know, I'm surprised you still haven't tried to take back the stuff I won back months ago." Jack snickered.

"well, like a certain someone told me, when I want my stuff I'll get my stuff" Sawyer jibbed.

"Mhm, we'll see about that cowboy." Jack smirked. Sawyer stopped walking, looking at Jack shocked. Jack stopped to and turned back to him.

"Uh, Sawyer?"

"You- just called me a nickname." He gasped.

"Oh, yeah" Jack murmured, lightly blushing. "I just figured, you give everyone else nicknames so, someone's got to give you one. If you don't want me to I won't call you any-"

"No, no it's fine. I like it." Sawyer admitted, also blushing slightly.

"Alright then cowboy," Jack smiled, continuing to walk. Sawyer followed suit.

"Can you two stop flirting for five minutes?" Sayid chimed in, smirking, "Your gonna fall behind."

"We're not flirting." They yelled. Sayid and Kate just looked at each other.

"Mhm. Whatever you two wanna tell each other." Kate snapped. Jack frowned, while Sawyer rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"We just stopped for a second anyways." He muttered.

"Jack, how will we know when we're there? I know you, Sawyer, and Kate have been here before." Sayid pondered.

"It's a giant clearing, trust me, you'll know it when you see it." Jack assured.

"Last time we we're there they threatened to take freckles. Think they'll do it again?" Sawyer joked.

"With any luck. I'd be better off with them then sticking around the camp to watch your band." Kate ranted.

"Well excuse me. We're trying to do something to make everyone happier." Sawyer argued.

"Yeah, and all you'll do is make people annoyed by you guys. I mean, why the hell would you even decide that out of everything going on, forming a band would be the best idea." She spat.

"First of all, it was Charlie's idea, not mine. Second of all, there ain't nothing wrong with doin something fun for once. An thirdly, the whole reason for doing it with everything goin on is to lift people's spirits. It's a hell of a lot better than sitting here and complaining about everything."

"Well, it's a stupid idea with a bunch of stupid people."

"They ain't stupid." Sawyer yelled.

"Yes they are. All four of you."

"Kate," Jack interjected, "Stop taking out your anger on Sawyer."

"Stop assuming I'm taking my anger out on him" She denounced.

"That's what it seems like."

"Well of course that's what it seems like to you, when are you ever not assuming things about everyone."

"I don't do that I try to help out the camp."

"Well you do a pretty lousy job at it."

"He does his damn best Kate. You try bein put as the sheriff for a bunch of people who don't respect anyone."

"Guys.."

"I'd handle it a lot better than he does."

"Guys."

"I'd like to see y'a try"

"GUYS" Sayid shouted.

All three of them looked over to him, seeing that he was staring at something behind them. They all followed his eyes, seeing the clouds of black smoke surrounding them. Ben walked through it, eyeing all four of them with a devilish smile.

"Hello."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie was waltzing through the jungle still, on his way up to the hatch. At this point he was convinced he might've gotten lost along the way, despite going there before. Something just seemed to be taking him longer than usual. Maybe it was his mind being distracted. Nevertheless he tried to find his way back on the path again.

As he did, he heard footsteps in the distance, not far away from his. He froze in place, dread filling his head. What if it was an other, or Ben? He quickly pulled out something from his bag and pointed it in front of him. It was a water bottle. It wouldn't do much but it was something. Eyeing his surroundings, he turned around in a circle. Following the sound until he saw the bushes in front of him shake and move, revealing Russo.

"Oh thank goodness it's just you" he gasped, relieved. She looked at him confusingly.

"Why are you out so far from your camp."

"Oh, I was trying to make my way to the swan hatch. Kind of got lost along the way I think" he said.

"Yeah, the hatch is back a mile to the left." She stated, "now if you'll excuse me, I'll be back on my way." She walked passed Charlie and started moving deeper into the trees.

"Alright. Hey uh, are you still looking for Ben?" Charlie asked. Russo stopped.

"What do you mean?" She questioned.

"Yesterday, when Hurley and I saw you, you said you we're looking for Ben. He's with that smoke monster thingy and some of my friends. Apparently he's helping to kill Jacob." Charlie explained. Russo turned to Charlie, a cross expression appearing on her face.

"I never saw you or your friend yesterday." Charlie eyes widened.

"What?"

"I was with my daughter Alex all day. I was never in this part of the island." She told him. Charlie was taken aback, his mind swarming even more than it already was.

"Then, what did we see when we're going to the pearl station?" He exclaimed, putting a hand to his forehead.

"From what you've told me, MIB." She confidently stated, "It can turn into anyone it wants."

"So he can shapeshift." Charlie shuddered, a chill running down his spine. "Then, Juliet didn't murder those two, why would they try to pin it on her?"

"It could be possible it was payment for her leaving the others. But that shouldn't be your biggest concern right now, your friends are in bigger danger than you realize."

"Why?" Charlie squeaked, starting to fidget with his hands as his body seemed to fill with dread.

"Cause MIB and Ben are lying. They're not trying to kill Jacob. They can't.

Jacob is already dead."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kate, Sayid, Jack, and Sawyer all stared Ben and the smoke that surrounded him, watching as the smoke compacted and shifted its form into something more human like, with grey and white hair and darken eyes.

"Sorry for the smokier form, easier to travel that was as I'm sure you'd understand." MIB cooed, a smirk appearing on his face.

"What do you want, Ben." Jack spat.

"Now, wait a second Jack. I figured we should try and be more formal about this" Ben smiled.

"We ain't here to talk nice bug eyes." Sawyer snapped, "why do ya need us for your whole, killing the deity man plan."

"And how do we know the people you threatened to hurt are safe." Sayid asked.

"Well, you're here aren't you?" MIB smirked, looking at Sayid and Sawyer, "and your unarmed, for the most part. Take off the backpacks you two."

Sayid and Sawyer turned to each other, looking at each other with a knowing look. They took them off, placing the bags right behind them.

"Good," Ben grinned, "Now, as to why we need you to kill Jacob, it's because he's an immortal being. We, or rather MIB, has found a book that says how to kill him. And you’re the missing pieces. Well, we're missing two but we didn't figure out who those people were until earlier this morning. We'll have to go back and take them later."

"You're not taking us." Kate sneered, "Just like before we're not gonna let you kidnap us. Not again."

"Before I wanted you three so I could fix my back. This time we need four of you to get rid of someone who has treated people unjustly for years. Everyone's problems will go away, and we'll be able to finally be free from this island, maybe even get off it." Ben assured.

"Why not just shoot him." Sawyer questioned.

"He's immortal, we already said that." MIB sighed, "You don't tend to listen well do you."

"Well that can always be easily fixed." Ben soothed. Jack and Sawyer glanced at each other, before looking back at Ben, smirking.

"If you're talking about those mind control chips you told us about, they're not gonna work." Jack warned.

"Well of course you think that Jack, but anyways," Ben continued, "If you four, and the addition of two of your friends, were to do what was said in the book, you'd be able to free everyone on this island. You could free your friends, see your families, finally go back to your lives. All it takes, is one simple following of instructions. So, do you want to stay here and live helplessly on this island, or do you wanna leave?"

------------------------------------------------------

Charlie burst through the hatch door, running into the living room where Juliet, Jin, and Hurley we're sitting and chatting. He started heaving heavily from how fast he ran here.

"Dude, whats wrong?" Hurley asked.

"We need to go help our friends." Charlie panted.

"But, we cannot. We already said-"

"No you don't understand they're being lied to Jacob is dead."

"Wait what?" Juliet exclaimed.

"Russo told me that at the beginning of the month she had found and killed Jacob in front of that smoke monster thingy and Ben and the smoke have been telling Jack and Kate and Sayid and Sawyer that they were needed to kill him when that’s obviously not true because Jacob is already dead which means that the smoke is playing everyone including Ben and they're gonna die If we don’t go and stop them." Charlie rambled, barely taking a breath.

"How do we know she is not lying?" Jin asked.

"Cause she didn't see us yesterday. Me and Hurley. That was an illusion, or someone else. And she told me that the smoke thing can shapeshift so yeah, when Sawyer and then jack said it was the smoke he was right somehow. So they're setting things up in order to hide something. We need to find our friends and tell them and stop Ben and MIB before they all die." He explained.

"..yeah no he's right they we're using me as a scapegoat." Juliet sighed.

"Dude, but what about our-"

"Who cares about what's going to happen anymore. If whatever they're planning goes into action then it won't be just them who die, It'll be everyone. We've been on this island for almost half a year. Everyone here has become a family, our own little group of people. We're not leaving anyone behind." Hurley and Jin glanced at each other, a hopeful spark in their eyes.

"So, I'm going to save my friends, my family. Who's with me." Charlie asserted. Hurley sighed, looking back up at Charlie.

"Dude, we're gonna die doing this." He stammered.

"We will help." Jin smiled, "for our friends." Charlie grinned

"Great, grab what you can and let's get going." He demanded.

"If you need guns, Jacka and Kate left there's in the armory. There should be a few rounds." Juliet told them.

They all nodded, running around to grab what they could from every part of the room, anything sharp. Charlie and Jin grabbed the guns that we're left, loading them and holding them out. Once they gathered everything they could, they started making their way to the door. Hurley stopped for a second.

"Wait, where's the clearing they were gonna be at. None of us have been there." He pointed out.

"Oh," Charlie muttered, "Right."

"It's about two miles east from the pearl station. You'll be able to get there quickly. Go fast and be safe." Juliet smiled.

"Got it." Jin nodded, as the three of them ran out of the hatch and started bolting towards their friends, hoping there was still time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack shook his head, "No, no there's no way that would happen, your lying."

"Yeah," Sawyer agreed, "We're just supposed to believe that killing him is gonna get us out of this hellhole? There ain't no way."

"He could be telling the truth though." Sayid noted, "And if he is, we'd be able to save everyone here."

"And having a least some idea that we might actually leave here is better than staying." Kate snapped.

'Ya'll are insane." Sawyer spat, "There ain't no way I'm ever helping to kill Jacob. I ain't letting you throw me or anyone here into those damn cages an cells again."

"We figured you and Jack would refuse to help," ben sighed, "which is unfortunate really. I wouldn't have wanted to resort to this, but unfortunately you don't seem to want to comply. So I'll do that for you James." He pulled out a small device, with a few buttons on it. It was labeled with the number 15. Ben pointed it towards Sawyer.

"Ben it's not gonna work, I took out those devices." Jack smirked, "You can't get him to do anything."

"Heh, except I still can. See, when I gave you that paper, I edited out a certain part of it. Then, of course with the little Juliet murder stunt we pulled, we had to get her to not tell you two the missing part of that paper." Ben started. Jack and Sawyer's eyes widened, while Kate and Sayid looked over to them concerned.

"If you noticed, the devices in you had a little bump in them. A hollow bump. The last part in order to get the mind control technology to work, is to let what was in that bump enter the subjects body, and take out the metal chip that was used." Ben gleamed. Sawyer suddenly recalled what Juliet had said before, The chip has to be inside of someone in order to work. She was lying.

"So that, the mind controlling technology, is inside of you still." Ben went and pressed a button on the device he was holding. "Rest well James."

Sawyer suddenly collapsed to the ground, seeing pain filling up his entire body. He started to shake, his eyes closed as he tried his best to overcome the pain and adrenaline filling him up from head to toe. Kate and Sayid we're staring at him with horror in their eyes, Jack stepping back and fearfully looking at his friend. After a few moments, Sawyer couldn't fight against it for much longer, letting the tension in his body fade away as the last part of his control disappeared. He stopped shaking, standing up slowly, his eyes still closed. The corner of them had started to bleed out in an assortment of colors, almost holographic. Once he was fully standing up straight he opened his eyes, now completely filled with color. His face was expressionless.

"Turn it off." Jack stuttered, looking at Ben and MIB, who were smiling delihgtfully. "Turn it OFF" Jack yelled. Ben ignored him, noticing three figures moving in the distance.

"Oo, I think some friends have decided to join us." He gleamed. He pressed another button on the device. "Sawyer, go get Hurley, Charlie, and Jin."

Jack, Sayid, and Kate turned around them, seeing Hurley, Jin, and Charlie standing there armed, looking at their band member confused.

"Sawyer?" Jin gasped.

He closed his eyes and opening them again, letting them look normal. The only difference was the color of his iris being pure white. He turned around to face the three of them.

His expressionless face turning into a smirk.