Waking Up { KATE }

[Daniel Faraday]

"Charlotte!"

Eyes snapped open, and for a brief second, he thought he was suffocating, until he realised that he was breathing so deeply that it shook the very core of him. Jerking up to sitting, Daniel frantically looked around, blinking the fog and blur out of his eyes. "No. Oh, no..."

...he was back on the Island. Bringing a hand up to his nose, he pulled back, seeing bright-red blood. "Oh no." he whispered, and frantically moved to standing. "Charlotte! H-Hey, Charlotte!" he yelled, though he instantly brought a hand up quickly to his mouth to cover it. He had no clue how he had gotten back on the Island, but however it had happened...it wasn't good. Looking down at himself, he realised that he was at least okay physically. The last thing he remembered was running towards the hospital, down the street as he yelled something into a cellphone...and then a sharp pain in his head...

His brows narrowed as he looked up, bringing a hand as he laughed, though nothing at all was funny. "Oh...wow." he whispered, though as he heard rustling in the bushes, he spun around to where the sound was coming from. Against his better judgment, he slowly started to walk towards the sound. "Charlotte?" he asked in almost a confused whisper, until he pushed back large jungle leaves---

To see Kate on her back on the dirt floor of the jungle. Instantly, Daniel rushed to her, sliding to his knees. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey," he said quickly, bringing a hand to touch her face. "Hey. Hey, Kate, can you hear me?" Daniel asked, lifting one eye open. "Open your eyes, okay, if you can hear me? Okay?"

However, something large and black caught his eye, and Daniel slowly looked up. And up. And up. Until he saw the dark wood of a ship.

"Oh wow. That's---that's a big ship. That's a big ship on a...very weird crazy Island. That's just...wonderful." Focusing his efforts on Kate once again, he tapped at her face. "Hey, Kate. Kate, c'mon, y'gotta wake up, okay?"

[Kate Austen]

It was a blissful sleep, filled with darkness and, for a change, no dreams. It was peaceful. That was something refreshing, almost new. The woman inside the body of the peaceful sleep considered it Heaven. For too long had she wandered the earth in a sea of confusion, running from authorities, running from love and completely lost amid the chaos that was her life. Now, all she felt was silence. There were no voices telling her what to do, where to go, how to feel. No one was chasing her. No one could see her. There was nothing but ... nothing.

Yes, this was Heaven. It had to be, for otherwise her mind would still be infused with confusion, decisions to be made, things to do, people to avoid. Grief. So many people had died. She was used to bad things happening to her, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that this was more about those who left the island than it was about her. Sawyer, Aaron, Hurley, Charlie... the list never seemed to end. It was as if the punishment for their freedom was death. She wondered when it would get to her, and it certainly seemed to have. The woman in the sleeping shell simply had no recollection of when it occurred, but she didn't mind. Heaven was peaceful and she'd like to stay for a while.

That was the thought at least as someone pried open her eyeball and let the light come inside. The woman hated the light, thinking it would bring her back to the chaos if she followed it. She pushed her eyes shut more tightly against it, but heard mumbling. Someone was speaking. It was a voice she knew and the woman took time to process this. He was calling to her. Kate. Yes, that was her, but who was he? Kate tried hard to fight the reincarnation of her consciousness, but it was futile as the man attached to the voice began tapping her face, not letting her lie in the peace she had come to love so much.

Opening an eye, one first to see who was intruding on her heaven, Kate let it adjust to the light. It was awfully bright here. She wondered if perhaps that had been purgatory and now she was in Heaven for real. She never thought she'd make it here that was for sure. As Kate's eyes focused on the man bent over her the realization of his identity finally struck her and both her eyes burst open. It was Daniel Faraday! Now Kate was fairly certain she had to be in Heaven. The man had died before she did. She attended his funeral.

"Daniel," Kate said still amid some shock at ending up in a place she never thought she'd earned. Her eyes came into more focus and Kate started looking around. This was way too familiar. ... "Oh no..." Kate wasn't in Heaven. She was back in Hell.

[Daniel Faraday]

"Daniel...

Kate's eyes jerked open, and the sudden action make Dan's body jerk back slightly in shock. "Hey, woah--" Daniel started, hands up as he watched her. "Hey. Hey, it's okay! We're---we're okay...I think. We're alive, so that's a plus! And sorry for--for that." he motioned to her cheek that he had tapped on. "I just wasn't sure if you were gonna, you know...wake up. But you did! So...so that's good..." His brows narrowed as he held out a hand, pressing it against her shoulder, his head tilting slightly as he took her in. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice lifting before his eyes caught site of the ship once more. It was large and looming and very ominous.

"Kate. Kate, we gotta--we've gotta move, 'cause...'cause I'm not exactly sure how we...got here. And the jungle's not exactly the best place--can you walk?" Daniel asked, lifting himself to his feet, though his legs were surprisingly unsteady for a moment. "You and I are here together, maybe the others are here, too? Hey, have you seen Charlotte?" he asked, holding a hand out to help her up. "She's gotta be here in the jungle somewhere."

Of course, his thoughts automatically took a turn for Charlotte; he had been running towards the hospital after he had heard that they had found her in the pier, and then...nothing. Not a fleck of a memory, nothing.

[Kate Austen]

Daniel was, well... Daniel. He rambled on acting a little nervous and Kate knew he was the real deal and not some strange hallucination. He apologized for something but Kate was unaware of what he was apologizing for because she was too engrossed in her current situation. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around how they were back in the jungle at all. She was in LA for Christ's sake. To be on the island after having been rescued and witnessed all the horrible deaths of so many people she knew only to be sent back to Hell incarnate was surreal, not to mention torture.

Daniel asked if she was OK and Kate nodded. She thought she was but she also thought she might be going insane. It sounded as if Daniel were just as confused though as he was trying to encourage Kate to move. He mentioned not knowing how they got here, so this was either a really bad trip on some drug Kate was unaware she ever took, or a dream or ... another of the unsolvable and unexplainable island tricks. Unfortunately, the last option made more sense than the first.

Following Daniel's gaze, Kate noticed the ship. Her eyes widened further as she knew exactly where they were and how dangerous it was to be here. That smoke monster thing was bound to find them. Suddenly Kate was all movement. She sat up and began to get to her feet as Daniel moved back allowing her the space.

"Yeah, I think you're right. We need to move," she said brushing off some of the foliage that had stuck to her clothing. Odd. She was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the last day she was in LA. Something else to think about later. "Charlotte?" Kate asked, puzzled by the question. "No... I haven't seen anyone. I was just ... in LA and then ... here. Sleeping." Kate looked from the ground where she had been laying back to Daniel. "Wait... you think more of us are here?"

[Daniel Faraday]

"Do you remember getting here?"

Daniel watched as she slowly stood up, and he extended a hand, though he stepped back to allow her some room to breathe. When she said she hadn't seen anyone, Daniel's brows narrowed. "Okay. Okay, um...if--if we find the beach, maybe we can find the others."

When she questioned if he thought there were more of them here, Daniel felt himself laugh, shaking his head slightly. "You think we're special enough to just be transported back here?" Daniel asked honestly. "No, no. I-I don't know if there's any other people here...but I hope like hell that there is."

Daniel started walking, though he realised quickly that he had no clue where to go. Looking back at Kate, he gave her something of a nervous smile.

"So...you know how to get back to the beach from this...really big pirate ship, right?" What was a pirate ship doing in the middle of the jungle, anyway?

[Desmond Hume]

He became animated.

A jolt originating in his torso reverberated throughout the entire of his body, causing his eyes to flutter and then open. The first thing Desmond felt was the soft pressure of grass against his skull as he lay upon it. Next, a pain on his arm that burned. He sat up and began to intake deep and steady breaths, unable to believe that he was...alive. Everything felt new again, his surroundings thrived with electricity. Air crushed him, making him aware that he was thoroughly dehydrated. Desmond looked beside him to see if he had anything on his person, but all that he owned were the clothes on his back – his blue shirt and black pants. Clothes that he had been used to wearing for so long, as if he had never left.

But surely he had?

“I’m dreamin’” he whispered to himself, but even as he said it he knew it wasn’t so. He was back. Standing up, he spun a 360 to assess the grassy plains he had been collapsed on moments before, but saw nothing or no one. Unsure which way he should head, he opted for North, figuring the worst was already happening. As he picked up a brisk pace, he tried to yell Penny’s name but there was no reply and so he stopped as his throat burned with the lack of hydration.

After two miles of plundering through the green overgrowths of threes and bushes, he came onto a clearing of shorter grass and lesser trees and...Daniel and Kate. Desmond slowed down to a halt and then cleared his throat. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on here?”

[Kate Austen]

Kate was as confused as Daniel seemed to be. Neither of them had a clue how they got here, but Daniel's logic made sense. If the two of them were here. perhaps there were others. Kate had no idea who it would be. She didn't say as much to Daniel for fear of sounding insane, but the last things Kate was remembering were not of rainbows and lollipops. She could have sworn she was dead, but now? Now that wasn't so obvious.

Daniel reasoned getting back to the beach would be a good place to start and Kate had no arguments. Standing around at the Black Rock was not her idea of smart. That smoke monster thing could show up at any minute, and while Kate already believed herself to be dead once, she had no plans to experience it again.

"Yeah," Kate said pursing her lips and remembering the route to the beach. "It's this way," she signaled with her hand.

She took a step to lead the way only to hear a shuffling in the brush behind them. Kate turned, hoping not to see the smoke demon that plagued the island of mystery and was relieved, if not even more confused, to see Desmond. He asked the same question she wished Daniel had had an answer for only moments ago.

"We don't know," Kate answered him. She looked at Daniel as if some confirmation to their theory there were more of them was just confirmed. A small vestige of hope played in her heart, but Kate knew better than to hope. "How did you get here?" she asked Desmond.

[Desmond Hume]

“How did you get here?”

A worthy question, but an unanswerable one. Desmond frowned, and shrugged. “I don’t know” he replied, his voice strained with exhaustion; he was so tired of trying to second guess the Island. “I woke up here, I was....with Penny and then...” a flash of memory swiped across his eyes, but he pushed it back, unwilling to accept the memories of before, “...and then I woke up here.” Desmond shrugged his shoulders again at the other two, and shook his head. “I woke up on this bloody island again.”

He stared at the two of them for a while, but when no one said anything (perhaps the shock was too overwhelming, or his company underwhelming) he asked, “What about you two? How did you two get here, or think you got here? And where the bloody hell is everyone else?” He found himself out of breath after he fired his interrogation to them both, so after taking a couple of deep breaths, he apologised. “I’m sorry, I just...don’t want to be here.”

[Daniel Faraday]

"Yeah, it's this way--"

Kate's voice was broken off by a voice that made Daniel turn. "Desmond! H-Hey! Oh wow. You--Hey. You're here." When Desmond asked how they had gotten here, and as Kate answered, Daniel looked at them both with concerned eyes and narrowed brows. Trying to piece all of it together in his head was starting to make it spin. "There's--They said Charlotte died. A-And--And your friend! Sawyer. Sawyer and the baby, they said they died, too."

Of course, it was crazy to say that perhaps they had never died at all. That they just...moved on. "I think...I think we might have been...called back here. Or--Or maybe we never left. Maybe--" Of course, none of it made any sense. But Daniel was used to not making sense. "We need to see if we can find anyone else. If they have the same story as us then...well, then we'll know."

We'll know what? Daniel's brows narrowed slightly. "I'm starting to not be surprised at anything on this Island anymore." Daniel said honestly, and then looked at Desmond seriously. "Hey! Hey, have you--have you seen Charlotte, Desmond?" Daniel said Charlotte's name slowly, a small look of hope crossing his face for a brief second. "Charlotte. Have--have you seen her? Around here?"

[Kate Austen]

So Desmond was every bit as befuddled as the rest of them. Kate didn't like where this was going. She was pretty sure she was dead before she woke up, and now she was alive and well in a place she hoped to never see again. The greatest question in Kate's mind was more about how she got here. Why she was here and who else that might be here were somewhere vying for number two in her mind.

Of course maybe it should have been at the front of her mind. A numbing yet incredibly exciting thought fluttered across the front of Kate's mind. If this was where the three of them ended up, and if it was in fact where Kate ended up after she thought she was dead, then maybe... Was it possible that this was where they would all end up? Could... could he be here?

Desmond went off a bit on them, snapping Kate back to the present and looking around because of his raised voice. Desmond immediately apologized and, while Kate understood his confusion and frustration, she was concerned that their noise would bring on the darker presence none of them anted to encounter. "It's OK, but we need to go," Kate said to him.

Daniel asked about Charlotte again. He obviously sincerely believed they were all here. Kate felt the nervous excitement within her at the prospect but did not lose sight of where they were. This was not the place to be for this conversation. Before Desmond could reply to Daniel's inquiries, Kate asserted herself again.

"We can talk about it on the way to the beach." Kate looked around nervously. "It's not safe here."

[Desmond Hume]

Other options were currently unavailable, and so Desmond saw himself travelling with the other two - unsure of what the plan was, if one had even been formed. He shook his head at Daniel, "I haven't seen anyone brotha, besides you two." he let a few moments pass before he asked the obvious, "Has anyone seen Penny? About your height, Kate, blonde hair...uh..." he shook his head, at a loss. Nobody's face, not even hers, came to his mind at the moment.

A few minutes passed. Desmond began to feel the burden of the sun, its heat bearing down upon his shoulders. He sidled up next to Kate and mumbled in her ear, "Why are we going to the beach? You don't know if anybody else is even here. Or what if we run into the wrong kind of anybody? Like the Others?"

He bit his lip nervously. Desmond didn't like this. Too many years had been spent fearing this island, and the feeling of terror wasn't about to cease now. But what other options did he have? To split from Kate and Daniel and risk all of them being killed? Or to follow them and....risk all of them being killed? He groaned. "I guess we don't have a choice."

[Richard Alpert]

The Black Rock was large, even from this distance. Looming in the distance like both a beacon and a harbinger, Richard watched as the dark ship came into view. From the distance, he could see the back of three people's heads; Kate Austen, Daniel Faraday, and Desmond Hume.

"Penelope isn't here." Richard said finally as he stepped towards the three, leaving the group behind him to catch up as he pushed ahead, overhearing Desmond's question about his girlfriend. "She wouldn't be here, Desmond. You know that." He looked over at Daniel, giving him a slight nod of acknowledgment before looking at Kate and doing the same. "So I think it's safe to assume that you're the only three that showed up right here. We should get moving if we want to find your other friends."

However, as the group that had been following Richard moved closer, he stepped back to let them have at least a moment to reunite.

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

After what felt like an eternity, everyone had finally stopped yammering and continued on their quest. With each step the sky seemed to darken, and an overwhelming sense of dread and doubt began to settle in Sawyer’s heart. What if they didn’t find any of the others? What if Richard was wrong and they weren’t even here? What if something had already happened to them?

The questions plagued him, souring his mood further and he fell into utter silence.

That was when he saw it.

Suddenly he felt like he was transported back in time. He could remember the first time he had seen the imposing and decrepit ship. Locke had brought him here under false pretences, claiming to have captured Ben. Little did Sawyer know that it was someone else Locke had captured, and that he would soon be facing a moment that would change his life; a moment he had been waiting for since he was a young boy.

Nothing had been the same since.

Stopping in his tracks, haunted eyes fixed on the Black Rock, he relieved those few minutes again and again in his mind. That stinging realisation when he realised who the man was, that feeling of finality as the real Sawyer began to read the letter... the utter rage and heartbreak when, after twenty-seven years of carrying it around, it was ripped to shreds before him. He could feel the chains tighten around that bastard’s neck, hear him gasp and gurgle as the life was taken from him. Then his body jerked and fell still. It had been over. A moment he had built his whole life around achieving and it was over in seconds. The real Sawyer was dead, and with him the false persona James Ford had created. But who was James Ford anymore?

He was still working that out.

Suddenly a different voice broke through his thoughts, one that brought him back to the present. Taking a few steps toward where Richard stood, addressing someone other than their small rescue group, James felt as if he was stepping out of a fog, or perhaps the time warp he’d just escaped was still in effect.

For as his eyes fell on Kate, time seemed to stop.

[Kate Austen]

Desmond seemed slightly flustered over wondering where Penny was, just like Daniel was Charlotte. They both were so distracted by their apparent loss that evidently they did not realize where they were. Kate was slightly annoyed with this but also completely understood it. She had no one in her life that quite equaled what Desmond must have had with Penny, but she remembered what it was like to love someone and miss them greatly in their absence. It was like missing a part of yourself... Worse than being stuck on the island, Kate thought fleetingly.

"Why are we going to the beach? You don't know if anybody else is even here. Or what if we run into the wrong kind of anybody? Like the Others?" Desmond questioned then groaned after his own contemplations and coming to the same conclusion Kate had. "I guess we don't have a choice."

Finally, Kate thought. She wasted no time in beginning her trek toward the direction she remembered the beach being in. Of course that was the part of the beach she was used to going to. It didn't mean there was anyone there, just that it was (hopefully) safer than here. Pretty much anything would be she reasoned. That mysterious smoke monster had shown up here more often than the beach, and personally Kate would rather face the Others than that thing.

Speaking of Others... a voice entered the fray that Kate did not immediately recognize. She turned abruptly, stalling her departure from the danger zone, and looked back at the man who addressed Desmond. "Penelope isn't here. She wouldn't be here, Desmond. You know that." he said and Kate put a name to his face as one of the Others she had seen with Ben. Richard looked over at Daniel then Kate and nodded "So I think it's safe to assume that you're the only three that showed up right here. We should get moving if we want to find your other friends."

"What the ....?" Kate began rhetorically. She stepped forward, approaching Richard cautiously and yet her stance holding the confidence of a woman not easily intimidated. Her eyes piercing and filled with nervous curiosity. "What do you mean our other friends?"

Just then she saw movement in the brush behind Richard and saw someone else step from it. Kate took in a quick breath as he came into view, the air catching in her throat as she inhaled and making breathing nigh impossible. The hair stood up on the back of her neck and Kate was fairly certain her heart fluttered while her stomach sank to her feet. Kate blinked several times, thinking she was seeing a mirage, or dreaming... or perhaps it was the monster mocking her, but it couldn't be real. He couldn't be real.

"Sawyer...," she breathed out, the quiet exhale not really audible though her lips could be easily read. Kate took a staggering step backward, her head turning side to side in disbelief.

He can't be real...

Kate looked at Richard, then Desmond and Daniel, wondering if they could see Sawyer too or if she were just imagining him. Her heartbeat quickened as anyone's would seeing a man she cared about seemingly back from the dead. Tears welled in her eyes as Kate looked for someone to help her from her apparent fading grasp on reality. She wanted it to be him, she really did but Kate knew it was impossible. She saw Sawyer in the casket. She watched him be lowered into the earth. Sawyer was dead.

This can't be happening...

Turning toward the jungle, Kate began to try to run away from her vision. If this was a dream, it was not one she could handle anymore. Kate mourned for Sawyer too long to still be dreaming he was alive, to still be feeling what she felt upon laying eyes on him. Kate couldn't take it anymore, not the dreams, the nightmares, the guilt and shame she felt when she thought of him... the love.

Kate felt the tears run down her face as she ran away toward the beach and where she hoped to find some sense of peace. What she thought was a mean and spiteful vision from the island aimed at torturing her already tormented soul was the same the thing that kept her feet moving despite her heart wanting to go back and embrace him. If Sawyer was real... if he were here... Kate wanted to know but was afraid to find out.

What if I have finally gone insane? Kate asked herself as she paused in the jungle catching her breath. She was so confused, so terrified of the possibilities, and of the fact she was on this god damned island again. She needed some help. She needed to be told everything was fine, it was going to be all right, and that she wasn't going crazy or seeing dead people like Hurley...

God, where was Jack when she needed him?

[Jack Shephard]

He was silent for most of the walk. For some reason, Richard had felt the need to pick up the pace. Of course, Jack knew that he was just as eager to find the others, and yet, he was more confused, shocked, and awed that he was back here to begin with. He remembered dying. He remembered everyone around him, minus Richard and Alex, he remembered watching every single one of them die in different ways. He had seen Sawyer's head when it had been blown off. He had seen Kate's lifeless eyes stare back at him. He tasted Juliet's blood in his mouth when he kissed her, before he watched the life fade from her eyes. And yet, they were all there. Walking. Talking. Being annoying, in Sawyer's case, and yet, Jack wouldn't have it any other way.

Jack's fingers stayed laced with Juliet's as they walked, Jack keeping his eyes down to the ground as seconds shifted into minutes and seemingly into hours before he heard the distinct and clipped voice of Richard speak in the distance.

"Penelope isn't here--"

"What do you mean our other friends?

The voice could have stopped him cold, and it did stop his steps violently, starting at the sound of her voice. His brows narrowed deeply as he lifted his head up to see her face in the distance.

He had seen her dead. Much like Juliet, he had seen her dead and lifeless and it had taken him to a place that Juliet couldn't have even broken him out of. When his father, or his drunken hallucination of his father had shown up, he remembered asking him why. Why did he have to do this? He remembered pleading for the first time in his life to the man that sat in the chair, telling him to bring them back. They didn't deserve it. Bring them back, if they never remembered him, that would be fine, but just bring them back. And somehow, his prayers had been answered. Kate's lips moved in almost silent words, and then Jack took a step forward as she staggered back, and then bolted off towards what had to have been the beach. For a brief second, he stood, blinking, unsure if what he had seen was merely his imagination or simply the dead truth. She was alive.

He glanced at Juliet, a silent apology in his eyes as he released her hand to follow Kate. He gave Sawyer a halfway glance as he followed Kate, hearing twigs snap and break under his shoes. He stopped as he came out to a small clearing, and turned to try to remember which way the beach was. She had to be going to the beach, right? He heard the sound of twigs snapping, and he broke off into a run again, holding up a hand to stop the onslaught of thwacks that the large leaves were giving him, and as he pushed a large leaf out of the way...

She was standing there, chest rising and falling harshly, and he could have sworn he saw her shaking, and what he didn't realise until just then, was that he was shaking, too.

"Kate?!"

The word came out confused, as if she wasn't really there. Why had she ran if she was really here? Was this all a giant dream like he had told Juliet he thought it was? Would he wake up in his dark hotel room with the smell of vomit and scotch around him?

Would he wake up alone?

"Hey! H-Hey, it's--it's okay--"

Although his brain told him to stay, he found himself stepping forward to her as he pushed the large green leaves out of the way to step out of trees. He stumbled slightly on a large tree root, and caught himself from sliding down onto his back. He wanted to stop them, wanted to be the strong one for her, but he felt the burning tears sting the back of his eyes as he looked at her form.

Alive. Terrified, but alive.