DISCLAIMER: Lost and its characters are the property of ABC. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: SPOILERS for Lost episode 5x04.
And I would go to the ends of the earth for you (but not you for me)
By TheAgonyofBlank
Juliet sees Kate once in the days that follow.
The scream from the jungle is chilling – it rings in her ears and makes her shiver in her core – and a part of her doesn't want to know. But there's a part of her that's drawn to the scream, and maybe it's not the scream itself, but it's something. Something telling her that there's where she needs to be. So despite her fear and Locke's attempts to make her stay with the group, she pushes past him and forges ahead after James anyway.
Nothing can prepare her for what she sees.
Because right there, in the clearing, is Kate.
Kate, who left her for Sawyer. Kate, who left them all for a better life on the mainland. Kate, who was never coming back.
But even after all this time (and it's only been days, really, but it feels like much longer), Juliet finds her heart seizing in her chest at the sight of the brunette. And even though Claire is screaming in pain, and Kate is trying to talk over her screams, all that Juliet can hear is the pulsing of her blood in her veins, the erratic beating of her heart in her chest. She feels both hot and cold at the same time, and has to steady herself against a tree.
She's so close to Kate; close enough to reach out and touch her. Speak to her, like they used to. But she remembers, then, that Kate won't know her – won't have met her at this point.
She chances a glance at Sawyer, wondering if he feels anything like she does.
But of course he doesn't feel anything like she does.
He must feel ten times worse.
He can step out, he can talk to Kate like nothing's wrong. Whenever in time they may be, he has Kate – and Juliet doesn't doubt now that he's always had her. But he doesn't approach her, and Juliet thinks there must be a reason for it.
Whatever it may be, she doesn't ask.
And in the next instant, the flash happens – she's closing her eyes, raising an arm up to shield herself from the glare… and then everything's gone.
Just an empty clearing on a bright day.
And she was exactly how Kate had left her.
The End