underratedbreadcrust

[underratedbreadcrust]

Hope — Sayid Jarrah

Summary: after crashing on the island, you and sayid have a talk about reality and hope.

Warnings: some light profanity. can be read as either romantic or platonic.

a/n: this doesn’t really focus on the main plot beside the basic details. it physically pains me to see that no one write for this show or this man so i decided to take matters my own hands. this is my first fan fiction ever so i am open to constructive criticism :)

Words: 1.9k

It has been two weeks since the plane initially crashed. Everybody was at first scared out of their minds over the fact that they were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no apparent rescue on the way. Obviously there was that small group of leaders that stepped up to distribute jobs between everybody and give hope to the rest not to give up.

You, of course, were not one of these people.

You were more of a logical person, always being condemned for not being able to see the positive side of things. Always being called too “pessimistic” about situations. Of course, you never saw it that way. Always appreciating when people would be straight forward with you instead of sugarcoating unfortunate scenarios because they weren’t emotionally mature enough to handle it.

Which is why meeting Sayid was... confusing, to say the least.

Your first meeting with him was less than ideal.

It was the morning after the crash, and you were currently walking along the shore of the beach, looking for your suitcase. Due to the initial panic of the previous day, you had no time to search for your belongings and had to sleep with a shared blanket of a person whose name you still hadn't learned. After searching for 20 minutes, you were about to give up until you spotted a certain name tag hanging from the handle of a familiar suitcase.

It was your suitcase...and it was outside of Sawyer's tent?

Thinking perhaps he had mistaken your stuff for his, you walk over and kneel to begin taking your things.

"HEY! THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" You quickly turn your head around to see Sawyer marching from a distance towards you. His eyebrows furrowed and a prominent sneer on his face. At first you were confused, but you quickly realized that he took your things on purpose.

"I'm grabbing my shit," you said in a neutral tone, only sparing him a glance as you turned back to digging for your things.

"The hell you are," he grumbled as he finally reached your side and yanked the case from under you. "This is mine."

You, on instinct, latched onto the handle. "Really? Cause, as far as I'm concerned, that's my name tag I'm holding on to!"

He continued to try to wrench the suitcase from your hands, but you didn't let your grip loosen.

"Damn! Just let go—" "What is going on?"

You stop pulling the case, but neither lets go as the two of you whip your heads towards the source of the sound.

Sayid stood there a few feet away, with an exasperated expression on his face.

You took advantage of Sawyer's distraction to force your luggage out of his grip and attempted to make a run for it, but Sawyer managed to catch your wrist.

"You little bit—" "Enough," Sayid's voice broke through, and his arm reached forward to force Sawyer to let. Once your arm was free, you turned to walk away before Sayid called out to you. "Stop."

You huffed as you slowly turned around to look at him. He was looking at you with a dissatisfied look. "What happened?" he asked in a tired voice.

You shrug as you look between him and Sawyer. "Ask him. He's the one who decided to steal my belongings." "Now look here, Missy—"

"Can you prove," he quickly interjects, "that it belongs to you?"

Your hand reaches around to pull at the name tag at the handle. You flip it so the big letters of your name are visible.

He sighs slowly and turns his head towards Sawyer, opening his mouth, no doubt reprimanding him. However, Sawyer beats him to it and lifts his hand in surrender. "Yeah, I know, I know..." He says defeatedly as he walks inside his tent.

You once again attempt to head in the other direction before you are newly interrupted. "Wait one second."

This time it's your turn to sigh annoyedly, as you cannot seem to leave the spot in which you're standing. Your whole body shifts to face his, and you only see him motion with his head in to follow him before he begins his journey, heading straight into the jungle.

You momentarily debate leaving him behind before you huff and begin to follow him, suitcase still in tow.

You follow him for a couple of moments, panting from the force it is taking to carry your possessions this far. Hearing this, Sayid quickly looks behind him to see that you have not put aside your stuff. "Just leave it," he blurted, "nobody's going to risk coming all the way out here."

The two of you were barely at the entrance where the trees met the beach. You were about to argue with him, but seeing his stern look, you thought about it twice and decided it was best to just leave it. After all, the two of you were already far enough from the others. Against your better judgment, you sighed defeatedly and let it go.

Seeing this, Sayid whirled around and resumed his walk into the jungle.

This was the first time you had gotten the chance to talk to Sayid. Ever since the crash, you took notice of the way he took charge in such a desperate moment, almost as if he had experience with tragedies. Despite it only being a day, you were already intrigued by the reserved and serious man in front of you. Curiosity getting the best of you, you couldn't resist striking up a conversation.

"So, what'd you bring me out here for?" You asked in an expectant tone, wanting to know if perhaps he found you as intriguing as you did him.

"I needed someone to help me collect wood for the signal fire," he stated bluntly, not looking back to you as he continued to trek forward.

You huffed, his answer breaking any illusion you had that he might find anything, beside the task at hand, interesting.

"And you couldn't ask another guy because..." you questioned in a confused tone. "You just happened to be the person that was the closest and most available at the moment," he responded, still in that no-nonsense tone that you hated sounded attractive. His accent is reaching your ears and echoing in your thoughts.

"Whatever..." you muttered as you finally came to a stop and began to pick up the wood next to where Sayid was gathering his pile.

After a few moments, the both of you had gathered enough wood and were beginning your trip back to the main campsite.

Not being satisfied with the lack of communication on his part, you try again at breaking the silence. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

You roll your eyes and ignore the sarcastic response. "What do you think our chances are of getting rescued?" At the words, he comes to an abrupt stop, causing you to almost crash into his back, before quickly composing himself and turning around to peer at you with a curious look.

"I think the same as everybody else, that it is only a matter of time before help comes," he states in clinical tone, almost as if he's reciting from a manual the words he should say in a situation like this.

You stare at him with a deadpan expression. "I am asking you because I want to know what you think, not everybody else."

His eyes are conflicted for a couple of seconds before they are overcome with reality. "I don't think anybody is coming."

Your eyes widen at the sudden confession. You knew that by asking Sayid, you were going to receive the truth, whether you liked it or not. That still doesn't mean you were fully prepared for it either.

Which leads you back to the present moment, sitting around the signal fire, which has been burning nonstop for 2 whole weeks. Right now, it was your shift to guard the fire, making sure nothing would put it out. You were too busy poking the base of the flames to notice a figure approaching you by the side.

At the sound of footsteps, you whip your head to see Sayid sit next to you on the log you were currently seated on. Ever since that moment in the woods, you hadn't had the chance to speak to Sayid again. It was certainly not by lack of trying, but he was always so busy, making sure that everything within the camp was running smoothly. After a while, you gave up making an effort to communicate with him, believing yourself to only be getting in his way.

"Hey," you greeted with a slight smile, wanting to make him feel as welcome as possible after weeks of no contact. "Hello to you," he replied back, although with a more serious demeanor.

You couldn't let go of the words he told you that day, despite being the ones you anticipated from a guy like him. Even you thought the words to be true before he told them to you. Yet, as the time passed by, you couldn't help but learn to appreciate the small community that has formed as a result of accident. 

"Did you guys manage to find anything out there?" Earlier that day, Sayid went out with a small group in hopes of tracing a signal that could lead to a rescue. His eyes only looked at mine for a moment before they resumed staring at the fire. "We found nothing."

You didn't believe him.

But you also knew that no matter what you said, he would not talk about it, so you also shifted your eyes to gaze at the fire.

"You know...even if you find nothing out there, I believe it's all going to turn out fine," you stated, with perhaps for the first time, an optimistic tone.

"You believe?" He asked with a doubtful expression.

Your eyes turned to stare into his, trying to project all of your thoughts into him. "Yes, I do. Sure, the whole plane crash was unfortunate, but the way everybody here has gathered and given their best, even knowing that they might not get home, is heartening." Sayid still eyed you with an unconvinced stare. "What I mean to say is that before getting on that flight, I used to think optimism was just something people used as an excuse to ignore the issues around us...but these past few weeks have changed my mind." My eyes begin to light up as I think of all the moments I have shared with the other passengers, good and bad.

"You are putting a lot of faith into something that has no evidence supporting it to be true," Sayid interjects, his eyes boring into mine, in an almost defiant way.

"Maybe... but I choose to believe that belief alone is going to be enough to get us home. Hope is one of the most powerful feelings; it drives people towards goals that appear near impossible to others. Haven't you ever fought your hardest for something, despite all of the signs indicating failure?" His gaze turns distant, almost as if he were remembering an instant like the one I described.

Multiple minutes pass by again, silence overtaking the midnight air. You assumed the lack of a response meant the conversation ended before Sayid spoke up again. "Perhaps you are right," he responds, with a feint and almost unperceivable smile.

"There just might be hope for us after all."