Elizabeth Austen opened her eyes to be greeted by a blindingly clear blue sky penetrated by tall trees.

Everything ached. She could barely sit up, and the pounding her her head only got worse. But she had to get up, she had to see it for herself.

Elizabeth stumbled through the jungle, everything feeling so familiar even though she had never actually been there. The beach, she just had to get to the beach. That's where they would be, she knew. That was their plan.

"Is anyone there?!" She shouted, adrenaline taking over as she started to run. There was a faint sound of screams in the distance, letting Elizabeth know that she was close.

She burst out of the jungle, and for a moment, everything seemed serene. The sand of the beach was soft, and the waves were smooth. The sun was high in the sky, and there was barely a cloud in sight.

But it wasn't a peaceful beach, and it wasn't a normal island.

Elizabeth only had to go a few feet to her left when she saw it: The plane, or at least, what remained of it. The tail section was gone completely, but the cockpit was lying just a few feet away from the fuselage.

So it's not the same, she mentally noted. Good then, we won't have to go on an unnecessary hike in the jungle.

Unfortunately, she had bigger things to worry about than the parts of the plane that were either present or missing. She had to find her friends, or at least find someone. As well as that, they weren't the only people on the flight, and there were clearly other survivors.

She had to think. The cockpit was present, so the plane obviously didn't crash the same way as before. The tail section was gone, though, so that could mean something. It was already too similar, at least, similar to the stories Elizabeth had heard.

What would be there if it was an exact copy of the first crash? That was a question she should have asked herself before. If it was, what part would she play?

Not that she mattered. What did matter were the people that would need help if the theory was right: A pregnant woman, someone who previously couldn't walk, someone looking for their child, the child in question, someone about to get sucked into a jet engine… the list went on and on.

"Help!" Came a loud shout, louder than the others. "Somebody help me!" Elizabeth was snapped out of her thoughts as she turned towards the voice and saw a girl who looked around her age with her right arm trapped under a giant piece of metal. She had extremely curly dark hair that spilled over her shoulders messily, although that was probably the least of her concerns.

"Oh thank god," The girl sighed with relief when Elizabeth got there. She didn't sound nearly as pained as Elizabeth would have thought, with what was happening to her arm. The girl, however, seemed to notice Elizabeth's confusion and answered her question. "It's a prosthetic, don't worry. But I'm stuck, so I need you to pull it out."

"What?!" She exclaimed. "I can't pull your arm-"

"Just do it!" The girl interrupted loudly. Elizabeth nodded quickly, and positioned her hands on the arm, which was warm from the heat.

She closed her eyes, remembering the story her mother always told her. For five seconds, just let the fear in. Then focus on what needed to be done.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Elizabeth pulled the arm as best she could, since it was still trapped under the metal. The girl yelled in both pain and effort, and rolled away from her limb, landing face-down on the sand, but laughing in triumph.

Since there was no longer a body attached to it, Elizabeth was able to pull the arm free, and promptly dropped it in the sand. Accidentally of course, as she wouldn't just drop someone's arm on purpose.

The arm looked pretty realistic, and it was dark in contrast to the sand, matching the girl's skin tone. Who, meanwhile, seemed to have realized that since they were in the middle of a recent crash and that the plane was still unstable, it would probably best to get away.

"We should get away from here," The girl said as she picked up her arm.

"Are you going to be able to re-attach that thing?" Elizabeth asked, frowning.

"Yeah, probably," She replied. "Not right now, it'll take a little bit, but I can do it. I'm Anna, by the way."

"I'm Elizabeth," She said. "And you're probably right, we can't stay here, but I need to find my friends."

"Oh, yeah of course," Anna said. "Lucky me, I was traveling alone. Good luck, though." Elizabeth nodded, and with that, she and Anna ran in separate directions.

Please let them all be alive, Elizabeth mentally prayed. Being who they were, it was more likely they survived than they didn't, but she was still worried. What if the island didn't want them? What then?

"Daniel!" She yelled, trying to navigate through the chaos. Nothing had changed in the time that she helped Anna. People were still running around, shouting and searching for their loved ones. "Aaron! Anyone?!"

A loud scream pierced the air, and Elizabeth had just enough time to look over and see a woman being pulled into the jet engine that was somehow still spinning. She didn't have time to react before the entire thing exploded, sending her and the others near it sprawling to the ground.

Just like before.

The cockpit being present on the beach was her only hope of the crash not being exactly the same. Otherwise, everything was turning out mostly the same. Well, other than Anna. She didn't remember anything about someone with a prosthetic limb.

"Elizabeth!" An unmistakable accent pulled her from her thoughts, although that sound was one that filled her with relief.

"Daniel!" She yelled back, struggling to stand after the explosion. A figure stepped into her line of sight, one that she knew all too well. It was Daniel, and he was running towards her faster than she had ever seen.

"You're okay," He sighed with relief as he helped her stand. "The cockpit, it's here, she was wrong."

"I know," Elizabeth replied. "Did you see any of the others?"

"No," Daniel shook his head sadly. "But I'm sure they're fine. They know to meet at the beach, so we should just get away from the wreckage." As he said that, a piece of debris fell from the plane, causing another explosion to occur on the other side of the wreck, further enforcing his point.

Elizabeth and Daniel ran from the burning plane, far enough that they were safe from any further damage. She surveyed the people once again, hoping to see any sort of familiar face. However, she was even more surprised when the familiar face found her.

"Dan! Elizabeth!" Relief filled her as both of them turned at the sound of their names. Three people were running towards them: A girl with long dark hair, a boy with blue eyes and pale skin, and a girl with blond hair and a once-pale skin tone that was tanned from the sun.

When the three of them reached the other two, they all ended up in some sort of awkward group hug, although Elizabeth didn't care. She was just glad they were alive.

"Does anyone remember the exact words of the theory?" Elizabeth asked breathlessly. They had all memorized it, but in the chaos, she just couldn't form the words in her mind. In her opinion, it was crucial that they figured out what parts of it were true.

"I think we have bigger things to worry about right now," The dark haired girl, Ji Yeon, snapped, clearly angry. "For example: Where the hell is Charlie?"

"I don't know." Daniel replied worriedly at the mention of his older brother. "I haven't seen him. Clem, Aaron, what about you?"

"Well if we did, he would be here," The other girl, Clementine, said. Clearly, she and Ji Yeon were in similar moods, which wasn't surprising considering they had just been in a plane crash.

"We'll find Charlie," Said the boy, Aaron, calmly. "The five of us made it, so he should too." If the theory was right, Elizabeth added silently. And so far, because of the cockpit and Anna, it wasn't.

Daniel smoothed his messy brown hair back, his blond highlights more present than ever in the sun. Clearly he was worried about his brother, and Elizabeth couldn't blame him. She didn't have any biological siblings, with her father having died before she was born and her mother having no children other than her, but Aaron was basically her brother, and if he was missing, she wouldn't stop looking for him.

"The theory was," Ji Yeon began, suddenly breaking the silence. She was best under pressure, so it wasn't surprising that she had regained her bearings first. "That if we flew an Oceanic flight from Sydney to LA, on the exact day flight 815 crashed, the crash itself would turn out the same, or mostly the same. 21 years later, in our case, and being who we are, we would survive because the island needs us."

"I knew this was a mistake," Clementine muttered.

"Then why the hell did you come on the plane?!" Elizabeth retorted. She still had faith in the island, as she always did. Without it, after all, she wouldn't exist.

"Let's not fight," Daniel intervened. "Charlie is still missing. We need to find him, and then find the Others." Elizabeth nodded, backing away slightly. She looked back out at the broken plane, and the reality of it all set in. People died in the crash, and people were probably going to die even after.

And it was all their fault.

Being who she was and what her family history was, Elizabeth probably should have hated flying.

But she didn't. She loved the feeling of being in the air, the takeoff and the landing. A lot of the times she wished that she could fly on her own, to just soar through the air like a bird.

However, that particular flight was not one that she enjoyed. Not because of the flight itself, but because Elizabeth knew that it wouldn't be landing in its intended destination.

Her friends were scattered across the plane, and she had to hold herself back from going over to any of them. Her mother told her that flight 815 was in the air for six hours before it crashed, meaning that the flight she was on was going down soon.

As if on cue, the plane started to shake. Only slightly, but enough to make Elizabeth nearly jump out of her seat. Her self-control diminished, she glanced a few rows behind her to see who was closest, and found the familiar brown eyes of Daniel Hume.

They made eye contact for only a moment when the plane started to shake again. It wasn't like a minute ago, which had just been light turbulence. The plane jolted violently, sending anyone without a seatbelt on flying forward or to the ceiling. Bags dropped out of the overhead compartments as the plane began to spiral out of control.

They were going down.

A/N: So, yeah, here's a new fic! For now, updates will be every Friday, so keep a look out for those. And, for anyone confused as to how Elizabeth exists, I'm going with the theory that Kate was pregnant at the end of the show. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story!