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Chapter Text

afternoon of september 22, 2004

when diana’s eyes opened, she had no idea where she was. her vision was blurred, and her ears were ringing, to the point where she couldn’t hear anything happening around her. she was trying to remember what had happened before she ended up here, but her mind was blank. there was a brightness from up above that made her eyes squint. was she outside?

she tried to move, but she could not. her back felt broken, and her body was overcome with pain when she tried to sit up. 

she felt around on the ground beneath her, and grabbed a fistful of sand. feeling extremely confused, she tried to look around her. that is when her hearing began to return. 

she heard piercing screams from all around her, and the loud sounds of machinery whirring. she felt the air around her became very hot all of a sudden, as the screams of everyone became louder and louder. 

diana was finally beginning to come to, and she finally remembered where she was before all of this happened. 

earlier that day:

diana took her seat in business class of oceanic flight 815. she was seated in the back of the section, and sat in the aisle seat, next to her boyfriend jonathan. her parents and her younger sister lily were seated in the tail section of the plane.

diana, lily, and their parents were all originally supposed to sit together, but when it was decided that jonathan would be attending their family vacation to sydney, australia, he had bought the two of them nicer seats in business class. 

the first six and a half hours went by relatively smoothly. jonathan and diana didn’t talk much, as the plane was quiet. 

at one point, jonathan stood up from his seat to use the bathroom at the back of the plane, and emmaline was left all alone. that’s when the turbulence started. 

it wasn’t bad at first, but it still made diana jump. she was never a big fan of planes, and this almost fourteen hour flight was not helping. 

“this is normal.” a man with an accent she didn’t recognize, sitting in the aisle across from her said. 

“what?” diana asked

”the turbulence. it’s normal. i’m sorry, you just looked quite uneasy.” 

“oh, sorry. you’re right, i just hate flying. thanks.” 

she felt a little embarrased that she became so anxious that she actually spaced out, but this man seemed nice. she felt bad.

“no problem.” the kind man said.

diana was going to say something else to the man, but was interrupted by another sudden burst of turbulence. this one was much more extreme than the last, and she could feel herself lift up from her seat. 

“attention passengers, the captain has just turned on the fasten seatbelt sign, so please make your way back to your seats.” a female flight attendent said over the intercom. 

diana looked back to see where jonathan was, but he must have taken a seat in the back of the plane when the fasten seatbelt sign was turned on. 

she looked over at the man next to her again, still feeling uneasy. 

”was that normal?-” diana’s words were cut off  by the most extreme bout of turbulence yet. an alarm started blaring, as beverage carts were racing down the aisles, and people who didn’t have their seatbelts on were flying out of their seats. the overhead compartments began to open, and luggage spilled out. panic ensued, as the oxygen masks dropped from above, and diana looked around anxiously. her family and jonathan were nowhere to be seen. 

she looked to her right, and the man she had been talking to gave her a reassuring look, like he was saying everything was going to be okay. it wasn’t. 

diana couldn’t move, as the entire plane seemed to be falling apart in mid-air. she was almost too afraid to look behind her, but forced herself to. when she looked, all she saw was the bright blue sky, and the seeming endless ocean waters below. the back of the plane had broken off, and landed somewhere in the ocean. 

diana’s vision then began to blur, and then, she saw nothing at all.

after coming to the realization that she had been in a plane crash, her fight or flight response kicked in. ignoring the pain coming from her back, she stood up, and stumbled around for a moment before seeing the scene unfolding around her. 

there were dozens of people running around, looking for loved ones, and just screaming for help. what was left of the plane was on fire, and pieces of debris and luggage were scattered all around the beach they had crashed on. 

diana looked around, and saw what looked like the plane’s engine emitting an extremely loud noise. there was a man standing dangerously close to it, and diana heard several people screaming for him to get out of the way. unfortunately, it was too late, and the poor man was sucked into the engine. 

the man being sucked into the engine caused a massive explosion that knocked diana back onto the ground, as flaming pieces of debris were flying everywhere

horrifed, diana got right back up, and began running around this beach, screaming for her family. 

“mom! dad! lily! jonathan!” she called out helplessly. 

she didn’t care that she was risking her life when she began running closer to the plane’s debris, hoping to find her family somewhere in there. 

“don’t go near there!” a familiar voice screamed from behind her. diana looked back and saw a man she thought she recognized running toward her. 

“please, my family! i can’t find them!” she cried. 

“we have to get away from here, now. this thing is going to fall any second!”

diana looked up, and saw what the man was referring to. one of the plane’s wings was hanging on by a thread, and was going to snap off at any minute. 

still, diana wasn’t going anywhere until she found her family. she tried to run further into the wreckage, but the man grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the plane. as they were running farther away from the wreck, diana heard the loud creaking of the wing coming off of the plane, as a huge explosion rung out from behind them. the two of them fell face first on the ground, as they felt the blast of hot air from the explosion. 

diana lifted her head off of the ground, and looked over at the man next to her. 

“are you alright?” she asked him. 

“i’m fine, are you?” he replied. 

“yeah.”

the man stood up first, and quickly helped diana up, and the two of them headed for the treeline, far away from the plane wreck. 

diana was still shaking, and hadn’t even begun to process what was happening to her. all she knew is that she couldn’t find her family. 

“m-my family, they were in the tail end of the plane. did you see it break off too?” she asked the man. 

“yes, i saw it. i don’t know where it broke off, but i definitely saw it happen.” he reaponded, sounding just as terrified as her. 

“what’s your name?” she asked him. 

“sayid jarrah.”

”okay sayid, i’m diana. i’m going to look for my family. if the rescue crews haven’t come by sunset, i’ll meet you back here.” she said, starting to walk away and continue the search for her family.

”wait, i remember now.” sayid said, grabbing her arm again. “the tail section, it broke off when we were over the water.”

diana froze. she remembered now too. she remembered that exact moment on the plane, right before she blacked out. she saw the plane break off into the ocean. 

in shock, diana started to run down the beach, looking for any signs of her family, or any of the tail section of the plane. 

“lily!” she screamed, now beginning to sob. she had no idea what she was doing at this point. she continued circling the wreckage, looking for anything. and yet, she found nothing. 

as the loud, whirring sounds of the plain wreckage began to die down, as did the flames. many of the other survivors had found their loved ones, and people were starting to gather together as the sun started to set. 

helpless, diana made her way back over to the spot she was at earlier with sayid. he was sitting on a piece of loose debris with a blonde man in a black hoodie. she took a seat in between the two of them and said nothing. he could tell from the heartbroken expression on her face that she had not found her family.

the air was cold, despite the many fires throughout the beach. diana was wearing a wine colored short sleeved turtleneck shirt, jeans, and black leather boots. the night breeze sent a shiver down her spine, as she crossed her arms together, trying to keep warm.

”would you like my sweatshirt, miss?” the blonde man sitting next to her asked. he spoke in a british accent. 

“oh, no thank you.” diana replied. 

“the name is charlie, by the way. charlie pace.”

diana had sworn she’d heard this name before, but she couldn’t quite remember where from. 

“i’m diana roberts. nice to meet you, under these circumstances and all.”

”well, the pleasure is all mine. have you met my friend here, what’s your name again?” he asked sayid. 

“sayid jarrah, and yes, we’ve met.”

”well, that’s lovely then. were you flying alone?” charlie asked diana, instantly killing the mood.

“no, actually. i was with my family.” diana responded. she was still trying to process the fact that she was the only remaining member of her family, and that she would never see any of them again.

”oh god, i’m sorry.” charlie said apologetically.

”it’s fine, you didn’t know.” 

after a few minutes of silence between the three, sayid finally said something.

”you think they would have come by now.”

”who?” charlie asked.

”anyone.”

diana was spacing out, not really paying attention to what charlie and sayid were saying, until a loud noise coming from the jungle caught her attention. the three of them turned around, not knowing what to expect. 

“what the hell was that?” she asked. 

“i have no idea. that was weird, right?” charlie said, sounding just as dumbfounded as she was. 

the three of them got up to inspect the noise, as well as a few other survivors. 

“does anybody see that?” a young woman with an australian accent asked. 

the noise only got louder as more people got up to investigate. as diana looked into the jungle. she could see the trees moving, as if whatever was making that noise was getting closer to the beach. 

“do you see that?” diana whispered to sayid. she was getting scared now, as was everyone else. she knew that monsters weren’t real, but was seriously doubting that fact in this moment. 

“yes.” he replied. 

the noise eventually faded, and after another minute or so, stopped completely. diana was still pretty shaken, and went to sit back down where she was before. her body was still pumped full of adrenaline, so there was no chance she was sleeping that night. she’d take a nap the next morning when the rescue boats came. 

sayid followed her, and sat down next to her. charlie went off somewhere on his own, so it was just the two of them. neither of them spoke for a minute, until diana realized where she recognized him from.

“you were sitting next to me on the plane.” she said to him. 

“i was.”

”yeah, you were talking to me when the turbulence hit. i remember now.”

”ah, i remember that. it seems like so long ago now.”

”yeah, it does.”

”i’m truly sorry about your family. i know what it’s like to lose someone you love dearly. it’s a terrible feeling.”

”thank you, sayid.”

after a moment, sayid got up, and told diana he would be back in a minute. when he returned, he handed something to her. it was a blanket. 

“i thought you could use this.” he said. she did, actually. she had been shivering all night, but didn’t have the energy to get up and look for anything to keep warm. 

“thanks, i appreciate it.”

”your welcome.”

diana wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, and her shivering eventually stopped. soon after, she found herself drifting off into sleep. she hoped that when she woke up, she would be back in her apartment in l.a., and that all of this was just some crazy nightmare. unfortunately for her, this nightmare was just beginning. 

Chapter Text

diana woke up the next morning before the sun rose. when she awoke, sayid was still sitting next to her, and he was still awake. she smiled at him, and excused herself. she needed some time alone to think about what happens next, and when the hell the rescue boats were coming. she walked up the beach for awhile, and when the sun rose, she made her way back, and joined a group of people that were getting to know each other. 

“hey, diana right?” charlie said to her, sounding surprisingly cheery. 

“yeah, hi charlie.” she replied. 

“we were just going around and getting to know one another a bit, if you’d like to join.”

”sure. hi, um, i’m diana, and i’m from los angeles. ”

she was then introduced to boone and shannon, who were from l.a. they were step-siblings. there was hurley, who was also from l.a. she also met a man named michael and his son walt, who were from new york. and of course, she already knew sayid and charlie. michael was the first to bring up the sound they had all heard from the jungle the night before. 

“does anyone want to guess what that sound was last night?” he asked.

”not really.” diana said. “it didn’t sound like any kind of animal.”

“whatever it was, it wasn’t natural.”

“does anyone have any sunblock?” charlie asked. 

“yeah, i do.” shannon replied, and got some out of her bag. 

diana was sure she was going to need some, too. wherever they were, the sun was beating on them like a drum. coming from l.a, diana thought she knew what a hot summer felt like.  but the weather back home was nothing compared to this. 

“so, i was just looking inside the fuselage. it’s pretty grim in there. do you think we should do something about the, uh… b-o-d-y-s?” hurley asked, not wanting to scare michael’s young son with the thought of dead bodies.

”what are you spelling, man, bodies?” michael asked.

”b-o-d-i-e-s.” walt said, correcting hurley.

diana began to tense up. she knew that the bodies of her family weren’t in there, but even the thought of it made her uneasy. 

“that sounds like a good idea.” sayid said, looking at diana reassuringly. 

“no, they’ll deal with it when they get here.” shannon protested. 

suddenly, a man in a white t-shirt walked over to the group. 

“i’m gonna go out and look for the cockpit. see if we can find a transceiver to send a distress signal, help the rescue team.” he said. “you’re gonna need to keep an eye on the wounded. if the guy in the suit wakes up, try to keep him calm, don’t let him remove that piece of shrapnel. you understand?” he said to boone. 

“yeah, got it.” he replied.

ouch. diana thought. she was counting her blessings that she made it out with only a few cuts and bruises.

”i’ll come with, i want to help.” charlie said. 

“me too.” diana chimed in. 

“no, i don’t need anymore help.”

”no, it’s cool. i don’t really feel like standing still, so…” charlie said.

”yeah, and you really don’t want to be going into that jungle alone, do you?” 

the man paused, and then nodded, agreeing to let charlie and diana go with him. 

“excellent.” charlie said with a smile, as the three of them met up with another woman, and they headed into the jungle. 

diana was really not ready for this heat, but she didn’t want to take off her turtleneck. 

september 21st, 2004 - one day before the crash:

it was almost midnight, and diana unlocked her hotel room door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake up her sleeping boyfriend. her and her sister went out to an australian bar, and had an amazing time.

when diana closed the door, the lamp next to the bed clicked on. her boyfriend, jonathan, was sitting up, clearly waiting for her to return. 

“jesus, you scared me.” she said. 

“i was waiting for you all night. why didn’t you tell me you were gonna be out this late?” he said sternly. 

“w-we weren’t planning on it. lily didn’t want to come back to the room, and i didn’t want to leave her in the middle of the city alone.”

”you couldn’t have called?”

”i meant to, but i never got the chance. i’m here now, and i’m really sorry i didn’t call you.”

diana didn’t want this to turn into a fight, but with jonathan, it always did. she began walking to the bathroom, but before she could, she felt jonathan pull her down to the ground by her hair. he held her down, and she could no longer move. she could smell the alcohol on his breath. 

suddenly, his hands were wrapped around her neck, preventing her from breathing. she was gasping for air, as tears filled her eyes. 

over the two and a half years they had been together, he had never been this bad. there was the occasional trip to the e.r. after some arguments, but he had never tried to end her life. 

eventually, diana was able to pry him off of her. she ran into the bathroom and locked the door, and stayed sitting against it for the rest of the night, scared for her life.

the next morning, they did not speak. she put on her short-sleeved turtleneck, hoping it would hide the bright red hand marks that covered her neck. 

“can i ask you something?” the woman that was with them, kate, asked charlie. 

“me? i’d be thrilled. i’ve been waiting.” he responded. 

“have we ever met anywhere?” 

“no. that would be unlikely.”

”hmm.”

”i look familiar though, right?” he asked. 

he wasn’t wrong. when he had told diana his name the previous night, she’d sworn she had heard it before. 

“yeah.”

”can’t quite place it?”

”no, i can’t.”

”yeah, i think i know.”

”what, are you famous or something?” diana asked sarcastically. 

“you all everybody. you all everybody!” he began to sing. 

“you never heard that song?” he asked. 

“i’ve heard it, i just-”

”you’re in driveshaft?!” diana exclaimed. “no way, my sister loves you guys. she went to like, all of your shows.”

”that’s us.” charlie said proudly. “look at my ring, second tour of finland.”

”you were in driveshaft?” kate asked. 

“i am in driveshaft. i play bass.”

”serious?” she asked again. 

“yeah. charlie. track three, i do backing vocals.”

”my friend beth would freak, she loves you guys.”

”give me their numbers, i’ll call them up.”

just then, the other man they were with, jack, walked over. 

“we got to keep moving.” is all he said. 

“they were good.” kate said. 

“they are good.” charlie replied. “still together. in the middle of a comeback, actually.”

as the group of four continued walking, it started to rain. at first, it was a nice break from the heat and humidity, but as it persisted, it only made diana feel uncomfortable, as her clothes were completely soaked through. 

“hey guys, is this normal?” charlie asked. “kind of day turning into night, you know, end of the world-type weather.”

”maybe, depending on where we are.” diana said. 

eventually, they reached the cockpit. it was almost standing upright, so there was most likely nobody still alive in there. diana, late, and charlie looked to jack for what they were going to do next. 

“well, let’s do this.” he said nervously. 

the tip of the plane had seemingly crashed here, after the fuselage broke off on the beach. what remained of it, stood upright in the middle of the jungle, which unfortunately was going to make it a lot harder to climb up. 

as the group looked inside, they saw the bodies. there had to be dozens of dead bodies, still in there seats, oxygen masks on. diana felt sick to her stomach. she knew her family wasn’t among the dead here, but she couldn’t help but think about them. 

“let’s get this transceiver thing, and get out.” charlie said nervously. 

the four began their ascent to the cockpit, climbing up the aisle. diana groaned, as she had to grab onto some of the bodies still in their seats, so she wouldn’t slip and fall. 

jack went up first, then kate, then diana, then charlie. as diana was nearing the end, she looked behind her and saw charlie struggling. she reached her hand back as far as she could, and pulled him the rest of the way up. 

when jack reached the door to the cockpit, it was locked, so he grabbed a heavy object off of the wall, and attempted to break the lock open. 

when he was succesful in getting the door open, the body of what looked to be the pilot flew out. diana let out a piercing scream, as her and charlie barely rolled out of the way in time for it to fly past them, and down into the aisle. 

“you okay?” jack asked everyone. 

“yeah.” kate said, diana nodding her head in agreeance. she was shaking terribly. partly because of the fact that she was soaking wet, and partly because she was surrounded by dead bodies. 

“i’m fine. charlie’s fine by the way.” he said. 

diana and kate then began to climb their way up into the cockpit, while charlie opted to stay behind. when they entered, the body of the pilot was still in his seat. 

“so, what does the transceiver look like?” kate asked. 

“like a complicated walkie talkie.” jack responded, as the three began the search for the transceiver. 

as diana reached over the pilot to see if he had it, he gasped loudly, and jerked awake, much to their surprise. he was coughing nonstop, and a large wound on his head made diana guess that he probably had a concussion. 

after jack gave him some water, and let him adjust to his surroundings, he seemed to calm down. 

“how many survivors?” the pilot asked weakly. 

“at least forty eight.” jack responded. 

“how long has it been?”

”sixteen hours?”

”has anybody come?”

”not yet.”

diana and kate looked at each other, disappointment in their eyes. even the pilot was surprised that no one has rescued them yet. even though she didn’t have much to go back to, diana wanted nothing more than to go home. 

“six hours in, our radio went out. no one could see us. we turned back to land in fiji. by the time we hit turbulence, we were a thousand miles off course. they’re looking for us in the wrong place.” the pilot revealed. 

“one thousand miles off course?” diana thought to herself. how the hell was that even possible?

”we have a transceiver.” he said, attempting to get up. he pointed near diana, and she found it on the floor, grabbed it, and handed it to him. 

“where’s charlie?” jack asked. kate left to go look for him, but diana stayed in the cockpit. 

“it’s not working.” the pilot said, defeated, as he was trying to get the transceiver to work. 

just then, as kate returned with charlie, a loud noise echoed from outside. it was the same exact noise they had heard the previous night. 

“what the hell was that?” the pilot asked, as the four of them shushed him. 

jack grabbed kate, and diana grabbed charlie, and pulled them both up into the cockpit. the two of them sat crouched in the corner, arms linked tightly, as whatever was outside got closer and closer. 

“it’s right outside.” kate whispered. 

“what, what’s right outside-” the pilot started to say, before being shushed by jack. 

the light from outside suddenly stopped, as the room became dark. it was right there. diana held her breath, making as little noise as possible, as it passed over them. 

jack and kate were looking out of the windows, trying to spot it. the pilot stood up, and walked over to the front window, which was broken. he put the transceiever on his seat, as the four of them looked at him anxiously. 

unfortunately, that proved to be a big mistake. the group watched in horrow, as the pilot was snatched up into the air, gone without a trace, as the loud noise of whatever the hell was out there, rung out. 

everyone was screaming, and as they looked out the window once again, they could only see blood. 

“what the hell just happened?” charlie asked frantically. 

just then, the plane shook violently, as diana felt around for something to hold onto. she then felt the heavy thud of the plane hitting the ground, being knocked over by that thing. 

jack scrambled to grab the transceiver, and when he got it, the four rushed out of their. kate and diana were first, and jack and charlie followed. unfortunately, the rain had started back up again, heavier than before, which made it hard for them to run in the slippery mud.

kate and diana ran for their lives, and didn’t even notice when jack and charlie got separated from them. once they realized, they hid themselves in a group of thick vines. 

“jack!” kate screamed. 

“charlie!” diana cried out, as the two were nowhere to be seen. 

“what the hell do we do, i-i mean do we wait?” diana asked frantically. 

“we’re not going anywhere without them.” kate replied. 

as the two prepared to turn around, charlie had managed to sneak up behind them without being heard. diana and kate screamed in fright, until they realized it was only charlie. 

“where the hell is jack?” kate asked him. 

“i don’t know!”

“did you see him?”

”yeah, he pulled me up.”

”where is he?”

”i don’t know.”

”how can you not know?”

”we got separated. i-i fell down, he came back for me, that thing-”

at that point, the rain finally stopped, and kate decided that she was going to go back and look for jack. charlie and diana glanced were weary about going at first, but decided to follow her. 

eventually, the three approached a large puddle, with something shiny sticking out of it. 

“what is that?” charlie asked. 

kate picked up the opbject to further examine it. it looked like a small, silver pair of wings.

all of a sudden, kate gasped, and pointed to the reflection in the puddle. the three of them looked up above them, and saw what she was looking at. 

“what is-” charlie began to ask. 

“it’s the pilot.” a familiar voice said. it was jack. 

he was right. up above them, laying on a branch, was the mutilated body of the pilot. he was completely unrecognizable, and covered in blood. 

“did you see it?” kate asked him, sounding relieved. 

“no. it was right behind me, but i dove into the bushes.” jack said. 

“guys. how does something like that happen?” charlie asked. 

diana had no idea. 

Chapter Text

eventually, jack, kate, diana, and charlie began their walk back to the beach. hopefully by the time they got back, the rescue crews would be there. jack tried to get the transceiver to work several times, but had no luck. 

“anything?” charlie asked. 

“you keep asking if there’s anything.” jack said. 

“pardon me for appearing desperate. but before the pilot was ripped from the cockpit, he did say that no one was gonna find us unless we get that transceiever working. so, is there anything?” 

“no.”

”okay.”

“what were you doing, in the bathroom?” diana asked him. “it’s just, kate told me she found you in there.”

”i thought you could tell. i was getting sick, puking. my one tangible contribution to the trek.”

”don’t say that. you’ve been the highlight of this trip, honestly. i’m glad you came.”

”every trek needs a coward.”

”you’re not a coward. if anything, i am. i just froze back there.”

the two laughed it off and continued walking, but charlie had an odd look on his face. diana didn’t worry too much, though. 

after awhile, they approched the treeline, which meant that the beach was right there. they could hear shouting coming from near the wreckage, and as they got closer, saw a fight going on between two men. 

diana quickly ran over, once she realized one of the men was sayid. he was having an altercation with a blonde man, diana was pretty sure his name was sawyer. 

“sayid!” diana yelled, but there was no getting through to either of them.

jack and michael attempted to break the two of them up, but it was no use. diana had no idea what the hell provoked this kind of fight. 

“i’m sick of this redneck!” sayid shouted. 

“you want some more of me boy?” sawyer yelled angrily. 

“tell everyone what you told me! tell them that i crashed the plane! go on, tell them i did it!” sayid said.

“if the shoe fits, buddy!” sawer retorted. 

sayid then muttered something in arabic, and walked away. 

“what’s going on?” jack asked. 

“my kid found these in the jungle.” michael said, holding up a pair of handcuffs.

”and this guy was sittin’ in the back row of business class the whole flight. never got up. hands folded underneath the blanket. and for some reason, just pointin’ this out, the guy i saw next to him didn’t make it.” sawyer said  

”thank you so much for observing my behavior.” sayid said, going after sawyer once again. 

diana knew that sawyer was just making racist assumptions, and she knew that sayid obviously didn’t crash the plane. she sat next to him, and she definitely wasn’t dead. she knew she had to put a stop to this. 

“stop!” she shouted loudly. sawyer and sayid stopped in their tracks. “sayid didn’t crash the plane, sawyer. i sat next to him too, and i’m perfectly fine.”

sawyer glared at her angrily, and sayid walked away from the group all together. 

“we found the transceiver, but it’s not working.  can anybody help?”

the group fell silent, save for one person. sayid. 

“yes. i might be able to.” he said. 

“oh, perfect! let’s trust this guy!” sawyer yelled. diana leered at him, and so did a few others. 

“hey, we’re all in this together man. let’s treat each other with a little respect-” hurley said, before being cut off by sawyer. 

“shut up, lardo.”

”hey!” jack protested. “give it a break.”

”whatever you say, doc.” sawyer said. “you’re the hero.”

as sawyer finally walked away, boone came over. 

“you guys found the cockpit?” he asked. 

the four of them nodded. 

“any survivors?”

diana wasn’t clear on whether or not they were telling people about the pilot, so she stayed silent. 

“no.” jack said. 

sayid then began looking over the transciever. “it’s dual-band military spec. chances are the battery is good, but the radio is dead.” sayid said. 

“can you fix it?” diana asked. 

“i need some time.” he replied, flashing her a small smile, before walking away. 

when the group eventually scattered, diana walked over to sayid. he was sitting alone, probably needing time away from everyone right now. he was taking a look at the transceiver, trying to get an idea of what it was going to take to get it working.

“hey.” she said, sitting down next to him. “any luck?” 

“not yet. thank you for earlier, that son of a bitch was accusing me of crashing the plane.”

”don’t worry about it. i don’t think any of those people are stupid enough to believe that.”

”obviously one of them was.”

“hey, can you keep a secret?” diana asked him. 

“what is it?”

”when we found the cockpit, and jack said there were no survivors. we lied.”

”what do you mean?”

”the pilot was alive when we found him. we were all in the cockpit together when that thing came. we were all looking out the windows for it, and it came in and lifted him completely out. we found him later, in a tree, completely mutilated.”

sayid was shocked. “when you say mutilated-”

”i mean he was completely torn apart, unrecognizable. there was blood everywhere, sayid. what the hell kind of animal could have done that?”

”are we sure this thing is an animal?”

”i honestly don’t know. what else could it be?”

”i don’t know, either.”

”promise you won’t tell jack? at least not yet, until we figure out what ate the pilot.”

”i promise.”

diana smiled at him, feeling a little flustered. she didn’t know why. 

diana watched as sayid further inspected the transceiver, tinkering with all of the little wires inside of it. as the two of them sat, hurley approached them, and sat down next to sayid. 

“chain smoking jackass.” he huffed. sayid and diana nodded their heads in agreement. he really was. 

diana hadn’t seen sawyer speak more than a few words to anyone the day before, so everyone’s first impression of him was that he’s probably a violent, racist asshole. 

“some people have problems.” sayid said. 

“some people have problems, us. him.” hurley said. “you guys. you guys are okay. i like you.”

diana smiled. “you’re okay too.” she said.

hurley chuckled. “okay, you’re diana, i met you already.” he said to her. “i’m hurley.” he said to sayid, holding out his hand. 

“sayid.” he replied. 

“how’d you learn to do all this?” he asked him. 

“i was a military communications officer.”

”really?” diana said, curious to learn more about him. 

“you ever see battle?” hurley asked. 

“i fought in the gulf war.”

”no way! i got a buddy that fought over there. he was in the 104th airborne. what were you airforce? army?” hurley asked. 

“the republican guard.” sayid said. 

hurley looked surprised, while diana looked at sayid intriguingly. she wanted to learn more about him. 

sayid continued to tinker with the transceiver, until he seemed to hit a breakthrough.

”did you get it to work?” diana asked him. 

“well, it seems to be working. i doubt it will pick up a signal from here, though.” he replied. 

“where will it pick up a signal, then?” 

“there.” sayid said, pointing up towards the vast, green mountains that towered over them.

“how soon can we go?” she asked. 

“we can gather some people right now and leave within a half hour.”

”perfect. if you don’t mind getting a group together, i’ll meet up with you in a few.”

”i don’t mind. meet me at the fuselage when you’re ready?” 

“you bet.” 

diana walked away from sayid, and over to the large pile of suitcases in the middle of the beach, hoping to find her own. after looking for a few minutes, she got lucky and found her bag. she walked to the end of the beach and into the trees, and hoped no one would see her.

the first thing she did was look for a new pair of clothes. the ones she had on were still damp from yesterday’s rainfall, and sweat. she picked out a navy blue tank top, jean shorts, and her old pair of hiking boots. before she was about to join back with the group, she remembered her neck. she rifled through her things until she found her makeup bag, and pulled out her compact mirror to examine her neck. there were still hand shaped bruises that covered her neck. the color had faded, but they were still somewhat noticeable up close.

frustrated and upset, she applied what remained of the melted foundation to her neck, praying no one would notice. the heat on this island was horrible, way worse than any los angeles summer.

after applying the finishing touches, and realizing that the makeup wasn’t doing what she needed it to, she decided she was just going to play it off if anyone asked. they didn’t need to know her personal business. 

after getting changed into more suitable clothing, diana jogged over to sayid and kate, who were getting ready to go. he handed her an extra backpack, and some water for the trip. 

“is this everyone?” she asked. 

all of a sudden, shannon came running over, with boone running behind, and calling her name. 

“i’d like to come with you.” she stated. 

“she’s not going. she doesn’t want to go-“ boone cut in. 

“the hell i’m not!” 

the two continued to argue, until shannon stated once more that she was coming with them. 

sayid and diana glanced at each other, not knowing what the hell to say. 

“i don’t think that’s such a good idea.” kate said. 

“what are you, two years older then me? please!” shannon said. “you’re going, aren’t you?” she asked charlie, who had just then joined the group. 

“yeah, are you?” he said. 

“yep.”

“look, everybody can come, but we’re leaving now.” kate said, and the group began to head into the jungle.  

Chapter Text

as their group began walking through the jungle, sawyer showed up, wanting to join them. sayid looked tense, probably wanting to finish what he started earlier. 

“finally showed up.” diana said sarcastically. 

“i’m a complex guy, sweetheart.” he retorted, making her roll her eyes. she said nothing, and kept walking. 

the climb to where sayid thought they needed to go was not easy. she was in no way an expert climber, but neither was anyone else there. one of the peaks they reached was so steep, they had to climb up, using the vines that were hanging down. sayid reached the top first, with diana right behind him. he reached his arm out to her, and helped pull her up to flat ground. the two of them did this for everyone else as well, until they were all up there. 

at this point, diana was sweating terribly, as was everyone else. as she tied up her hair, she felt her neck. the makeup was melting, and probably running down her neck. she nervously excused herself, and used some of her water to wash off the remains of the foundation. if people were going to ask questions, let them. she didn’t care anymore. 

when she returned to the group, they kept walking, and no one seemed to notice anything, which made her feel a little relieved. 

an hour went by, and then another, then another. the land they were walking on had flattened out, and it seemed like they were almost at the top. 

“okay, wide open space! we should check the radio, see if we’re good.” sawyer said. 

“we’re not going to have any reception here.” sayid said. 

“just try it.” sawyer persisted. 

“i don’t want to waste the batteries.”

”i’m not askin’ you to keep it on all day.” 

”we’re still blocked by the mountain.”

”just check the damn radio!” sawyer yelled. 

as sayid and sawyer were losing it with each other, and sayid had yelled something in response, a loud roar blocked out any of what he said. 

the group froze, and everyone jerked their heads in the direction of the noise. 

diana was frozen in fear, wondering if she was about to be eaten like the pilot. 

“oh my god.” shannon whispered, her voice cracking. 

whatever that thing was, it was approaching them. its footsteps echoed throughout the jungle. 

“what the hell was that?” boone asked. 

diana, concerned, looked to kate and charlie. trying to silently communicate that whatever was coming for them, was the thing they had encountered the previous day.

“something’s coming.” kate whispered. 

“coming towards us, i think.” charlie said. 

“come on, let’s go.” diana said to everyone. 

diana grabbed sayid’s hand, and the two of them led the way, running as fast as they could from whatever was approaching. she realized that sawyer didn’t budge as the rest of them ran for their lives, and when she tried to turn around and see what he was doing, sayid just grabbed her by the waist and they continued running. 

all of a sudden, the growling of the creature, and shannon’s shrieks stopped, as nine loud bangs rang out. diana, sayid, kate, charlie, shannon, and boone stopped dead in their tracks, as the shots stopped, and they heard a loud thud. 

diana, still gripping sayid’s hand tightly, and the rest of the group headed back towards sawyer, who had shot the thing down to the ground. it wasn’t quite dead yet, as they could still hear its pained cries as it laid on the ground. 

as everyone examined this “monster,” they realized it was no monster at all. it was a bear. 

“think that’s what killed the pilot?” boone asked. 

“no.” charlie and diana said at the same time. 

“that’s like a tiny, teeny version, compared to that.” charlie said. he was right. there’s no way this thing was able to do those things to the pilot. 

“guys this isn’t just a bear.” kate said. “it’s a polar bear.”

”that can’t be a polar bear.” boone said. 

“it’s a polar bear.” sayid said. 

it was pretty unbelievable, that a polar bear could live here in these conditions, but it definitely was a polar bear. 

“wait a minute, polar bears don’t usually live in the jungle.” shannon said. 

“spot on.” charlie said sarcastically. 

“no, polar bears don’t live near this far south.” sayid said.

”this one does.” diana said. 

“did. it did.” sawyer said, proudly holding his gun.

in all of this chaos, no one had seemed to question where the hell sawyer got a gun. 

“where did that come from?” kate asked sawyer. 

“probably bear village. how the hell do i know?”

”not the bear, the gun.” she said, anxiously. 

“i got it off one of the bodies.”

”one of the bodies?” diana asked him. how could he go accusing sayid of crashing the plane, when he somehow could’ve snuck a gun onto the flight?

”yeah, one of the bodies.”

”people don’t carry guns on planes.” diana said to him. 

“they do if they’re a u.s. marshall, sweet cheeks. there was one on the plane.”

diana glared at him. sweet cheeks. ugh. he sounded like jonathan. 

“how do you know that?” kate asked him. 

“i saw a guy laying there with an ankle holster, so i took the gun, thought it might come in handy. guess what? i just shot a bear!”

”so why do you think he’s a marshall?” she asked him. 

“because he had a clip on badge. took that too, i thought it looked cool.”

”i know who you are.” sayid said to him. “you’re the prisoner.”

”i’m the what?”

”you found a gun on a u.s. marshall? yes, i believe you did. you knew where it was, because you were the one he was bringing back to the states. those handcuffs were on you. that’s how you knew there was a gun. that’s who you are you son of a bitch.” 

“be as suspicious of me, as i am of you.” sawyer said. 

“you are the prisoner.” 

“fine! i’m the criminal, you’re the terrorist. we can all play a part.”

diana’s blood was starting to boil. what an asshole. if she was sayid, she would’ve went after this son of a bitch already. unfortunately, kate beat her to it. when he wasn’t paying attention, she grabbed the gun from his back pocket, and pointed it right at him. 

“does anybody know how to use a gun?” she asked. 

“i think you just pull the trigger.” charlie said. 

“don’t use the gun.” sayid said to her. 

“why not?” diana asked. 

“stop. i want to take it apart.” kate said shakily. 

as sayid explained to her how to take it apart, sawyer just stared at kate, grinning. she ignored him, as he took the gun right out of her hand.

finally, after getting held up by the polar bear, and sawyer, the group continued moving. sayid and diana stayed up front, and little ahead of everyone else. 

“how the hell did you not go after him back there?” she asked him. 

“what do you mean?”

”i mean, that if i was you, i probably would’ve killed him. he can’t just say things like that.”

”i wanted to, don’t get me wrong. but it wouldn’t have ended well for him.”

diana chuckled. “yeah, it probably wouldn’t have.”

after walking for another hour or so, they finally reached a clearing, and were no longer blocked by the mountain. finally, a good place to try to get a signal. sayid took the transceiver out of his bag, as sawyer rolled his eyes. 

“oh, now’s a good time to check the radio! not before, but now!” he griped. 

“we’re up higher.” sayid said calmly. 

“yes we are.”

suddenly, sayid stopped walking. she could hear noises coming from the transceiver, not sure if it was good or bad. 

“what is it?” she asked him. 

“a bar.” he said softly. “hey! we’ve got a bar!” he said excitedly. 

the rest of the group ran over, eager to see what that meant, and if he could contact someone off of the island. 

“mayday! mayday!” he said into the radio. 

a high pitched frequency noise rang out from the other end, but nothing else. 

“what is that?” kate asked.

”feedback.” sayid replied.

”feedback from what? what would do that?” diana asked.

”i don’t know.”

”i’ll tell you what would do that, this guy not fixing the radio. the thing doesn’t even work.” sawyer said, the rest of the group ignoring him.

“no, no, no, no it’s not broken. we can’t transmit, because something else is already transmitting.” sayid said. 

“transmitting from where?” charlie asked. 

“somewhere close, the signal is strong.”

“somewhere close? like, on the island?” diana asked. 

“maybe it’s other survivors.” boone suggested. 

“what kinda transmission is it?” sawyer asked. 

“it could be SAT phone, maybe radio-“

”can we listen to it?” kate asked. 

“let me get the frequency first, hold on.” sayid said, as he played around with the device, looking for the right signal. 

“there’s no transmission.” sawyer huffed. 

“shut up.” kate said to him. 

“the rescue party, it has to be.” charlie said. 

just then, sayid found the right frequency, and everyone heard the voice on the other end. it was a woman’s voice, speaking something in french. 

“that’s french! the french are coming! i’ve never been more happy to hear the french!” charlie exclaimed. 

for a moment, the group was overjoyed, finally, someone was coming for them. 

“i never took french, what is she saying?” kate said. 

“does anyone speak french?” sayid asked. 

“she does.” boone said, pointing at shannon. 

“no, i don’t, what?!” 

“what the hell are you talking about? you spent a year in paris!”

”drinking not studying!”

as shannon and boone began to argue once more, a robotic sounding voice came over the radio. 

“iteration: 7294531”

as the woman’s voice began playing again, a beeping noise started coming from the radio as well. the battery was dying. 

“how much time do we have?” kate asked. 

“not much.” sayid said. 

“i’ve heard you speak french! just listen to this!” boone said to shannon. 

“i can’t!” she said. she was overwhelmed, frustrated. but they didn’t have much time left, and she was their only option. 

“shannon, i know it’s stressful, but you have to try, please.” diana said to her.

“do you speak french or not? because that would be nice.” sawyer asked. 

after the woman’s voice finished speaking, the robotic voice came on again. 

“that voice is weird, what is that?” charlie asked. 

“the voice, it’s repeating.” shannon said. 

“she’s right. it’s a loop. iteration, it’s repeating the same message.” sayid said. 

“does anyone know what the hell he’s talking about?” sawyer asked. 

“it’s a running count of the number of times the message is repeating.” 

sayid began doing the math for how long the message has been repeating, while shannon was still trying to translate what the woman was saying. 

“she’s saying, please, please help me, please come get me.”

“or she’s not, you don’t even speak french!” sawyer yelled out. 

“let her listen!” diana yelled back. 

“shut up man!” boone yelled as well. 

shannon continued translating, “i’m alone now, on the island alone. please, someone come. the others, they’re dead. it killed them. it killed them all.”

that’s it. the battery died, and that was all. the group stared at each other in disbelief. no one was coming for them. 

“sixteen years.” sayid said quietly. 

“what?” diana asked. 

“sixteen years, and five months, that’s the count.”

”what the hell are you talking about?” boone asked. 

“the iterations. it’s a distress call, a plea for help, a mayday. if the count is right, it’s been playing over and over for sixteen years.”

”someone else was stranded here?” 

“maybe they came for them.” kate suggested. 

“if someone came, why is it still playing?” sawyer asked. 

diana looked at sayid. they both felt completely defeated. 

“guys.” charlie said. “where are we?”

Chapter Text

where were they?

the somber group began walking back to the beach after coming to the realization that they weren't the only ones that didn’t know where they were. the rescue crews most likely didn’t know where they were either. 

“it’s getting dark.” boone said, after they had been walking for another hour or so. 

“let’s pick up the pace.” sawyer said. 

“we should make camp.” sayid suggested. 

“what, here?” shannon said. 

“yes, here.”

”i’m not stoppin’, ya’ll have a nice cookout.” sawyer said, walking away, as the rest of the group was halted. 

“good idea. walk out into the dark jungle filled with polar bears and pilot-eating monsters.” diana said to him. 

“ooh, if ya’ll are so worried about me, why don’t you give me the clip back.” sawyer said, waving the gun in the air. 

“put your gun back in your pants sawyer.” kate said to him, annoyed. “sayid’s right. if you keep walking, you’re not gonna make it to the beach.”

”yeah, why is that?” he asked. 

diana, kate, and charlie all looked nervously at the ground. they were the only ones that truly knew what was out there, and what it was capable of. 

“just trust me.” kate said softly. 

defeated, sawyer gave in and stayed with the rest of the group. they didn’t waste any time, as sayid began to build a fire right away. as the sun finished setting, their second day on the island was coming to a close, without being rescued. 

as they were sitting around the fire, sayid wanted to try and make sense of how the plane had basically gone missing. 

“this is australia.” he said, pointing to a large stone that he placed on the ground. “this is us.” he used a torch to demonstrate the plane. “two days ago, we take off from sydney. we fly along the same northeast route every commercial airline bound for los angeles does. now the pilot, you said he lost communication with the ground, correct?”

”yeah, six hours in, and then he turned around and headed for fiji.” diana said. 

“so we changed course. regrettably, no one knew we changed course. the turbulence hit. we know the rest.” sayid said, putting the flame out in the dirt, and taking a seat next to diana.

”the pilot, he said we were over a thousand miles off course.” kate said. 

“yeah, but, they’ll find us. they have satellites in space that can take pictures of your license plate.” charlie said. 

“if only we were all wearing license plates.” sayid said. 

“well aren’t you a pessimist.” charlie said to him. 

“basic photography, point:shoot. the satellites can shoot, but they must be told where to point.” sayid said. 

“oh. bolloks.”

”okay, really enjoyed the puppet show. fantastic. but we’re stuck in the middle of damn nowhere. how ‘bout we talk about that other thing.” sawyer said. “the old transmission abdul picked up on his little radio. the french chick that said “they’re all dead.” the transmission’s been on a loop for how long was it? sixteen years?”

no one really had much to say about that. diana didn’t even know what to think of it yet. could they really be in some uncharted, undiscovered place? there was no way. 

“we have to tell the others when we get back.” boone said. 

“tell them what, exactly?” shannon asked. 

the group started bickering over whether or not they should say something to the rest of the group, until sayid finally spoke up. 

“no one’s going to tell them anything. to relay what we heard, without fully understanding it, will cause a panic.” sayid said. “if we tell them what we know, we take away their hope. and hope, is a very dangerous thing to lose.”

diana knew that all too well. and she also knew that sayid was right. 

“so, we lie?” she said. 

they all looked around at each other, looking for someone to say something, before they all silently nodded. 

after this, the group was done with big conversations for the night. they all needed to get some rest, and boone decided to take the first watch. 

diana wanted to sleep, but she felt like she couldn’t. there was one other person that was feeling the exact same way: sayid. 

the night air was chilly, so they sat close to the fire. as they sat there for a moment, she could feel him moving closer and closer to her.

the both of them had enough deep conversations for one night, so they stuck to small talk, asking each other about their previous lives.

as the evening went on, diana was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. sayid felt the same. 

“we should get some rest. we’ll be leaving when the sun rises tomorrow, so we can get back to the beach before nightfall.” sayid said to her.

”you’re right, i’m exhausted.”

sayid chuckled. “goodnight.”

”night.”

the ground was cold, but diana did her best to get comfortable. she was shivering, but not nearly as bad as the previous night. sayid laid close to her, and she could feel the warmth coming from his body, as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

just as she fell asleep, diana was startled awake. it took her a second to fully grasp what was even going on. sayid had jumped up, and boone was standing over her. 

“what are you doing?” he asked boone. 

boone just stood there for a moment, while everyone else woke up. he had the empty gun in his hand. 

“standing guard.” boone replied. 

“d’you take my gun off me, boy?” sawyer asked him. 

boone was standing there with sawyer’s empty gun in one hand, and the clip that sayid had in the other. he must have stolen it off him, and woke him up. 

“you’ve never even used a gun! he’s against guns, he goes on marches!” shannon whined. 

“i don’t go on marches.” boone said. 

“give it back.” sayid said. 

“oh sure, give it to al-jazeera, we can trust him.” sawyer snorted. 

“al-jazeera’s a network, jackass.” diana snapped. 

“we should give to to her.” shannon said, pointing to kate. 

everyone looked to her. she had stayed quiet this whole conversation. diana didn’t mind giving it to her. in fact, diana didn’t care who had the gun, as long as it wasn’t sawyer. 

“yeah, i think we should give it to kate.” charlie said. 

“me too.” diana chimed in. 

finally, boone, reluctantly gave the gun to kate, who put it in her back pocket. 

after the latest, and hopefully last, group altercation of the night, diana was exhausted. it was decided that kate was going to take watch for the rest of the night, since she had the gun. 

diana walked back over to where she was resting before, and practically collapsed onto the ground. and sayid sat down next to her like before.

“you alright?” diana asked him. 

“fine. i’m not a fan of people stealing things off of me in my sleep.” he replied. 

diana chucked. “that’s fair.”

at this point, diana’s eyes became heavy. she was staring at the fire, and it wasn’t long before she drifted back into a deep sleep. 

several hours later, when the sun rose, diana was the first to rise. she quietly got up, grabbed her pack, and headed just through the trees, where she swore she saw some sort of fruit trees the day before. 

she was right, thank god. there was a huge guava tree, from which she gladly picked seven, one for everyone in the group. as she was putting the fruit into her pack, she heard the sound of faint footsteps behind her. she nervously turned around, wondering if she was about to face one of her fellow survivors, or some sort of animal. she was relieved, however, when she saw that it was just sawyer. 

“mornin’ sweet cheeks.” he said, with that fake grin plastered on his face. 

“morning.” she said to him. “do you need anything?”

”seems like we had the same idea. saw this tree when we stopped here yesterday.”

”good then. i already picked one for everyone. here.” she said, tossing him the fruit. 

“well, i appreciate it.”

”consider it an olive branch. i know we haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot, and i think we’ve both had enough negativity in our lives these past few days.”

sawyer seemed surprised. diana was being genuine, though. she hated fighting, and that’s the only thing their group had been doing in the past day. 

“alrighty then.” sawyer said to her. 

with that, diana made her way back over to the rest of the group, who were all awake now. she handed out the fruit to everyone, who were all just as starving as her. 

after their small breakfast, they began to head back to the beach. hopefully, they would make it back before nightfall. 

diana was a little nervous, since they were going to be lying to all of these poor people, who wanted out of this island just as bad as them. she thought, that if she was one of them, she would want to know the truth. but she also knew that panic would probably set in with all of them, which would only make their situation worse. in the end, she trusted sayid, and knew that he only wanted to do the right thing. 

after a much easier trek, they finally arrived back at the beach. sayid took the lead on talking to the big group, while the rest of them stood by him. diana still felt a little guilty, but knew it was for the best. 

in his speech to the other survivors, sayid suggested rationing their remaining food, collecting rain water, and gathering electronics for him to try and get the transceiver’s battery back. after he finished, he and diana began going around, looking through unclaimed bags, and asking people to lend them their cellphones, laptops, and radios.

when they had finished talking to almost everybody, and collected a pile of devices, it started to pour. just like it did when diana went into the jungle the day after they crashed. 

the two of them quickly ran to hide under a piece of debris from the plane, but it was too late, and the they were both soaked. luckily, they had stored away all of the electronics in one place before this, so they wouldn’t get damaged. 

as everyone else on the beach was running to shield themselves for the rain, diana and sayid laughed to themselves. it was the first moment of pure joy the two of them had felt in awhile. as the rain kept falling from the sky, they stayed underneath the debris, enjoying a few moments away from everything else that was going on. it felt nice. 

sayid looked at diana. he had never met anyone quite like her. her bright smile was contagious, her dark eyes could pierce right through your soul. as the two of them laughed at nothing, sitting there, he realized that maybe this place wasn’t that terrible after all. 

after what felt like forever, it finally stopped raining, and sayid and diana emerged from under the piece of debris. 

unfortunately, as the sounds of rain stopped, the moans of agonizing pain from the man inside jack’s tent were suddenly amplified throughout the beach. it was clear he was not going to make it much longer. 

the two of them sat down by the fire with charlie.

the man’s groans only became louder and louder, and everyone was starting to become worried. finally, sayid got up to go talk to jack, and ask him if there was anything he could do. he returned a moment later, saying that jack told him he was still trying to fix him. 

“seriously?” diana asked. “it’s not like there’s a hospital here, and there aren’t any painkillers. it’s becoming borderline inhumane.” she said. 

“jack said there was still a chance.” sayid said. 

“yeah, but, a chance for what? he gets better, but he still won’t be able to do anything.” charlie chimed in. “and no one’s coming anytime soon.”

as the evening went on, and the sun set, nothing changed. if anything, he got louder. hurley came around to them after it got dark and offered them some of the rationed food. diana accepted it gladly. she was starving, and one guava aa day wasn’t going to cut it for her. 

diana, charlie, and sayid sat around the fire, just like they did on the first night. suddenly, a loud bang rang out from the direction of the man’s tent. the three of them looked at each other, wondering what to do. 

“kate.” diana said softly. “s-she has the gun, right?” her and charlie started to get up, before sayid ushered for them to sit back down. 

“wait, shh.” he said to them. “do you hear that?”

”no.” charlie replied. 

“exactly.” sayid said. 

he was right. the poor man’s groans had ceased. the three of them let out a sigh of relief. 

diana felt bad for being so relieved that it was over. but then again, she’ll probably be haunted for the rest of her life by those noises that came out of that man. he was in so much pain. 

charlie excused himself after this, and left sayid and diana alone together by the fire. she found herself moving to sit closer to him, as the cool night breeze came upon them. 

“do you think we’re ever going to get rescued?” diana asked him, out of the blue. 

“it’s been days, and no one has come. i’d say our odds are not great.”

”yeah, you’re probably right. it’s not like i have anything waiting for me back home, anyways.” diana said, half joking, half wanting to break down crying. 

“i’m sure that’s not true.” sayid said, trying to comfort her.

”what about you? family? girlfriend?” diana asked, trying to change the subject. 

“that’s quite a long story.” 

“i’ve got all the time in the world, apparently.”

“another time.”

”okay, but i’m holding you to that.”

sayid chuckled. “alright.” 

diana looked at him as he watched the fire in front of them burn. she couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering if he was deep in thought, or just spacing out. although it had only been a few days, she was starting to forget what life outside the island was like, and how she had only met all of these people less than a week ago. 

”it’s crazy how your life can change just like that, in the blink of an eye.” she thought to herself.

Chapter Text

after a few another surprisingly normal day or two, life went on for the diana. it had been almost a full week since the crash, and at this point, many survivors had lost hope of getting rescued anytime soon. 

it was late, on their fourth night, diana had been asleep for a few hours, with sayid just a few feet away. vincent, walt’s dog, would not stop barking. michael and walt were trying to calm him down, but it was no use. something was bothering him, and they had no idea what. 

eventually, as everyone in the camp had woken up, noises began to emerge from inside of the fuselage. it wasn’t anything diana had heard before, but it definitely wasn’t whatever monster lurked in the jungle. 

a group of people began to surround the fuselage, curious as to what was inside. diana stuck close to sayid, hoping it wasn’t another polar bear. whatever it was, it was loud, and knocking things over inside. 

“what is it?” diana whispered to sayid. 

“i have no idea.” he replied. 

“someone’s in there!” claire cried. 

“everyone in there is dead.” sayid said to her. 

“sawyer.” jack said. 

“right behind ya, jackass.” sawyer snorted. 

jack, wanting to find out what the hell was really in there, began to approach the fuselage with a small flashlight, as kate, charlie, and sawyer followed him.

as sawyer shined his light on whatever was in there, it growled loudly, and the four of them started to run away from the fuselage. whatever was in there was now coming out, and it was angry. 

sayid, reacting quickly, grabbed diana by the waist and pulled her away, and the two took off in the opposite direction of the wreckage. once they found a safe spot behind a piece of debris, they crouched down, his arm pulling her closer to him, protecting her from whatever was running through their camp.

diana unknowingly buried herself in sayid’s arms. she felt safe with him, and he wanted to protect her. he held her tightly to his side, as they peeked over the the sheet of metal they were hiding behind.

the camp was chaos, with everyone trying to dodge whatever creatures had emerged from inside the plane.

all of a sudden, the pack of animals that had disturbed their camp, stormed past sayid and diana, and sprinted quickly back into the jungle. the two of them then quickly rejoined the rest of the group back on the beach. 

the group stood there frazzled, wonderinbt what in the hell just happened. 

“boars.” one man said quietly. 

that made so much more sense than what diana was thinking, and she was glad that it wasn’t a pack of baby polar bears or a herd of whatever ate the pilot. 

charlie got scraped up pretty bad, and as jack was fixing them, he suggested they get rid of the bodies that were still sitting there. that’s what had drawn thr boars in the first place. 

“bury them?” charlie asked. “there’s a whole bunch in there.”

”more than twenty.” sayid said. “digging will be difficult without shovels.”

”not bury ‘em. we need to burn them.” jack said. 

“we can’t do that.” diana said softly. “they’re still people.” 

she knew that the bodies in there did not belong to her family, but she was still opposed to burning them. it wasn’t right. 

“i know they’re people.” 

“burning their remains, they deserve better than that.” sayid said to him.  

“better than what? being eaten by wild animals, because that’s what’s gonna happen. any bodies we bury are not gonna stay buried for very long. i know this seems harsh, but it’s not about what they deserve. they’re gone, and we’re not.”

those words cut diana like a knife. she hadn’t told jack, and she hoped he wouldn’t say something like that in front of her if he knew. 

“what you’re saying may be true, but for us to decide how these people are laid to rest, it’s not right. no regard for their wishes? their religions?” sayid said. 

he looked over at diana, and knew how badly she wanted this conversation to be over. 

“we don’t have time to sort out everybody’s god-” jack started 

”really? last i heard we were positively made of time.” charlie interrupted. 

“look, i’m not happy about it either. but we crashed a thousand miles off course, they’re looking for us in the wrong place. it’s been four days. no one’s come. tomorrow morning we need everyone to start collecting wood, dry brush, and turn that fuselage into a furnace. wait before the sun goes down tomorrow night to start the fire.” jack said.

”if he’s so eager to burn the bodies, the. why’re we waiting til sundown?” charlie asked. 

“he’s hoping someone will see it.” kate said quietly. 

diana was feeling sick to her stomach with all the talk of burning bodies. she excused herself from the conversation, and walked down the beach and sat down near the ocean, away from everyone else. 

the cool nighttime ocean breeze hit her face, sending chills down her back. the salty smell of the tide made her think of home, and closing her eyes for a moment, she could see it. 

the bright l.a. sun beat down on twenty three year old diana’s face. she had just served one of her last table’s before she clocked out. the restaurant she worked at had an outdoor patio, which unfortunately, was her section. it was days like this that made her wish she lived somewhere like antarctica.

as she handed the check to her last table of her shift, and started to walk away, the gentleman at the table, who was wearing a button down shirt with nice dress pants, stopped her. she noticed his police badge and gun on his belt.

“excuse me, miss?” he said to her.

“is everything alright, sir?”

“yeah, everything’s fine, i just was wondering what your plans were for dinner tonight.”

diana rolled her eyes, and turned back around. she had become used to men’s unwanted advances since she started working there out of high school, and had learned to just walk away.

“i have a boyfriend.” she said, trying to get him to back off. even though, she really didn’t have a boyfriend.

“no you don’t.” the man snarked.

“how do you know?”

“your body language. you’re tense, probably because you don’t like getting hit on, which i understand. but me, i’m not hitting on you.”

“really?” she asked. “then what are you doing right now?”

“i’m asking out the pretty waitress at my favorite restaurant.”

diana was intrigued. most of the guys that hit on her were just assholes. but this man, he was different. he had charm, he dressed nice, and he wasn’t the ugliest guy she’d ever seen.

“if i were to say yes, where would you take me?” she said, a small smile forming on her face.

“well, i was thinking dinner and a movie, but we don’t have to come here.”

diana chuckled. “good.”

“yeah. hey, i left my number on the check, so you can call me when you get home?”

“yeah, i’ll do that. see you tonight, -”

“jonathan. jonathan west. and you are diana, something.”

“diana roberts. i’ll see you tonight, jonathan.”

“see you tonight, diana.”

as she picked up the check, she saw that he had, in fact left his number on there, as well as a twenty dollar tip.

she shivered at the thought of returning to her old life, without the people she loved most. but then she thought of jonathan, and their last night in australia, and wondered if she’d like to see his body burned in the fuselage. 

after sitting there for awhile, gathering her thoughts, she sensed someone approaching from behind her. she turned her head slightly, only to see sayid standing there. 

“may i sit?” he asked her. 

“go ahead.” she replied. 

“are you alright?”

”yeah, i’m fine. just needed to clear my head for a bit.”

”that’s good to hear. i just wanted to make sure you were alright, after jack suggested that we…”

diana sighed. “i don’t want him to, but i also know that there is no way for me to stop him.”

”i don’t want him to either. it’s not right.”

”i know. but what are we gonna do about it?”

”i don’t know yet. but i think we should go back to camp, you’re freezing.” 

to be fair, she was freezing. she was still wearing the tank top and shorts she had on since they climbed the mountain two days ago.

”alright.” she muttered, as the two of them made their way back to camp. 

although she didn’t get much sleep the previous night, diana woke up with a surprising amount of energy the next morning. she found sayid working on trying to triangulate the distress signal they had heard in the jungle several days ago. 

“do you think you’re gonna get it to work?” she asked him. 

“i hope to. if we can get these antennas into the jungle, up high enough, hopefully it will be enough to triangulate the signal.”

diana was glad he knew what he was doing, since she was pretty much oblivious. 

as the two of them were talking, they could hear an argument break out between sawyer and hurley. diana wondered if arguing was the only thing this guy knew how to do. 

they were fighting over the last bag of peanuts from the plane, but luckily jack and sayid broke them up before anything bad could happen. 

when jack asked why they were even fighting over them in the first place, hurley gave everyone the realization that none of them wanted to hear. they were out of food. as people started freaking out, jack and sayid were quick to try and calm everyone down. 

“we can find food.” sayid suggested. “there are plenty of things on this island we can use for sustenance.”

”and exactly how are we gonna find this sustenance?” sawyer retorted, before a knife came hurling towards him, sticking into one of the plane seats, right next to his head. 

“we hunt.” an older, bald gentleman said. diana did a double take. where did that knife come from? she thought. 

“how’d you get that knife on the plane?” kate asked him. 

“checked it.”

”you either have very good aim, or very bad aim, mr. …” jack said to him. 

“locke. his name is locke.” michael said, glaring at the man. 

“okay mr. locke. what is it that we’re hunting?” jack asked. 

locke suggested that they hunt the boars that came into the camp the previous night. they were piglets, and he said that he needed at least two others to distract the mother so he could get one of her babies. 

sawyer was hesitant at the idea, saying that locke’s one knife wouldn’t be enough to protect three people. that’s when he went over to a large silver briefcase, and opening it with his foot, revealed six more knives. everyone stood there stunned, wondering who this strange man was, and what the reason was for him taking a briefcase full of hunting knives on a plane. 

kate and michael ended up volunteering to go with locke, and kate was going to take the antenna that sayid had fixed up to try and triangulate the signal from the french woman once they got up high enough. 

diana was helping collect firewood when charlie came up to her. 

“hey charlie, what’s up?”

”nothing much. i did have a quick question, though.”

”shoot.”

”do you know how to catch a fish? or know how someone should go about catching a fish.”

diana was a bit puzzled, but she had been fishing in the bay with her father a few times. unfortunately, they had no boat here, or poles, or bait. it was going to be a challenge. 

diana and charlie enlisted hurley to help built a spear from the wreckage, thinking that that would be the most efficient way to go about this. hurley took the lead, plunging the spear into the water when he thought he had seen a fish. charlie wouldn’t quit pestering him, which annoyed him. diana was laughing too hard to be of any help. 

when hurley kept missing, he got even more frustrated. “crap! crap! crap!” he exclaimed, plunging the spear into the water, and getting all three of them soaked. luckily, diana was wearing shorts and they weren’t in to deep, but her shirt was pretty damp from all the splashing. 

“want me to try?” charlie asked hurley. 

“knock yourself out.” he said, handing him the spear. 

the two of them stood behind charlie, as he finally spotted one. when he went to stab it with the spear, he dove into the water, all the way under. and he didn’t even get it. diana and hurley were laughing hysterically, even though charlie swore that he was so close to catching it.  

diana was up next, even though she knew she wasn’t going to get close to catching one. she tried multiple times, hurley and charlie trying to give her tips on what to do, but unfortunately, she never came close. after seeing how soaked she was, she decided to call it a day, and her and hurley walked back to the beach. charlie, however, was determined to catch a fish. 

she ran into sayid on her way back, who looked at her, puzzled. 

“fishing. with charlie and hurley.” she said to him. 

“ah, i see. did you catch anything?” he asked her, grinning. to be fair, she looked insane. she was soaking wet, her hair was a mess, and she was carrying her boots. 

“guess.” she said to him, making them both laugh. she started walking again, needed to put on a fresh pair of clothes, but sayid stopped her. 

“by the way, claire was looking for you. i think she had something for you.” he said to her. “she’s over by the fuselage sorting out belongings.” 

diana wondered what she could possibly have for her. “alright, thanks. i’ll head over there in a minute.” she said to him, then finally going to change. she opted for another pair of jean shorts and a pink tank top, which was seemingly all she had packed. she put on a dry pair of socks and her boots, and tied her hair into a low bun. 

when she headed over to claire, she and a group of others had been organizing everything from the fuselage. they salvaged every passenger’s personal belongings, alive or not. 

“diana, there you are! i wanted to talk to you about some of the stuff i found earlier.” claire said to her, as she walked over with a bag of things. 

diana felt a lump in her throat as she realized whose things these were. she had salvaged most of her things, so she knew none of this was hers. the two of them walked over to where it was less crowded, and claire handed her the bag.  

“i was looking through some of this stuff earlier, and i found all of this.” she said. inside the bag were a few of her sister’s clothing items, along with a small stack of photos from their family vacation in australia. diana’s eyes began to swell with tears. she hadn’t seen any of these yet, as her sister had gotten them developed the day before they left. “i wasn’t sure if they were yours or not, but i saw that you were in some of these. i’m sorry, diana.” claire said softly. 

diana wiped her eyes, trying to calm herself down. she didn’t know what else to do besides give claire a hug. she didn’t know how to thank her for finding these. “thank you so much, claire. you don’t know how much i appreciate this.” she said to her. claire seemed a little surprised when she went in to hug her, but she wrapped her arms around diana, knowing how terrible she must’ve felt. 

“of course. hey, so i don’t know if you heard about the memorial that we’re gonna have tonight, but i’d love it if you came.” claire said to her. 

diana wiped her eyes once more. “no, i didn’t, but i’d be happy to come.”

”yeah, we were just gonna read off names from people’s passports and driver’s licenses, things like that. i thought that we should, you know, since these people deserve some kind of goodbye.”

diana was glad that someone else was finally thinking like her. “that’s a great idea claire.”

”what were their names?” she asked diana. 

she took a deep breath. “james and heather roberts are my parents. and lily roberts is my sister, the one whose pictures you found.”

”thank you. if you need anything, you know, before then, i’m around.”

”thank you so much claire, really. i’ll see you tonight.”

“see you tonight.”

diana went to put her sister’s bag with her own. she realized while talking to claire that she hadn’t taken any time to sit and process all of this. everything has been so hectic since they crashed, and with no rescue crews in sight after almost a week, she wondered if she would ever get the time to process. 

as the sun began to set, a small group of the survivors formed in front of the fuselage. all of the firewood they had gathered was brought in, and it was lit on fire. the bright orange flames radiated a brilliant heat all throughout the camp.

diana found sayid in the crowd, and squeezed through everyone to get over to him. 

“how did it work out with kate and the transceiver?” she whispered to him. 

“it didn’t work. i’m going to keep trying, though.” he said. he sounded a bit annoyed, and diana didn’t want to bother him any more than he already was. 

“damn. i’m sorry sayid.”

”it’s alright. you wouldn’t mind helping me fix it, would you? i’ll probably start again tomorrow.”

”yeah, that’d be great.” she said. 

when the sun had set completely, claire stepped up to the front, with all of the names of the deceased passengers. boone and hurley were up there as well, holding torches. as she began to read off all of the names, diana became tense. she was trying her hardest not to cry again. 

“james, heather, and their daughter lily roberts. they were on a family vacation to australia, and they lived in los angeles. they looked like very kind people.” 

as claire was saying the names of her parents and sister, diana looked down at the ground, holding back tears. sayid noticed this, and he took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. she squeezed his hand, and let out a small sigh of relief when claire finished that she didn’t mention her. she didn’t want people acting weird around her if they found out. 

once the memorial had ended, everyone went off to get some rest for the night. diana said goodnight to sayid, and thanked him for trying his best to make her feel better during the memorial. as diana began walking over to where she slept, she saw someone out of the corner of her eye who was walking behind her. sawyer. she wouldn’t have thought much of this, except for the fact that he was usually on the other side of the beach, away from everyone. 

“hey.” he said to her. 

“hi.”

”i, uh, i just was wonderin’ if you were doin’ okay. i mean, i figured since you seemed upset, at the thing.” he said softly.

”i’m fine sawyer, thank you though.” she said. she was a little surprised that sawyer of all people was checking in on her. 

“your parents?” he asked. 

“and my sister. why?”

”jus’ wonderin’. i’m sorry.” he said, looking at the ground  

“thank you.” 

he mumbled something in response, and walked away. diana was still stunned that he actually had feelings, and didn’t notice when sayid came over. 

“what was that about?” he asked her. 

“nothing, he just said he was sorry, you know, about my family.”

”oh, he did?”

”i know, i was surprised too. but right now, i think all i need is to sleep everything off.”

”of course. get some rest.” he said to her, as he went over to where he slept, a few yards away. 

“you too.” she said to him.