Author’s Notes/Rant:

So I know no one writes about Shannon anymore. She’s been killed off and practically forgotten. But I’ve been re-watching the series from the beginning and got inspired. I thought she was a really interesting character and was killed off too soon. Plus, it totally bums me out that Sayid lost her. I thought they were a really sweet couple and I hate that Sayid just gets the shit end of life all the time. Even in the flash-forwards. What can I say? I’m a sap and I wanted the characters to have some peace once they got off the island. So read, enjoy, and let me know what you think about the fic or my mini-rant. :)

At age 10, Shannon likes to think of her life as a fairytale. She’s the beautiful princess, Sabrina the wicked stepmother. She’s Cinderella when Sabrina forces her to do chores even though they have a maid. She’s Snow White when she’s sent away so Sabrina can speak to her father alone – her dolls play the seven dwarves. Being Odette from Swan Lake is her favorite and she dances around her bedroom.

As she grows older, she thinks less about being a princess, but the fantasy remains in the back of her mind. She dreams one day that she’ll find her Prince Charming and he’ll save her.

Then her father dies and Sabrina withholds his money in true wicked stepmother fashion. But Shannon knows now that her life is not a fairytale. No one is going to come save her.

ooo

After Boone offers her pity funds and she cries for a week over her shattered dreams, she makes the decision to stop. She picks a new narrative for her life. It’ll be like a movie. She’s the down-on-her-luck heroine who will achieve her dreams against all odds. Like Flashdance.

Headed for New York, she hitchhikes as far as Vegas and meets Philippe. There’s a drunken night and the Little White Wedding Chapel. She’s not the underdog anymore, not with a rich and handsome Frenchman willing to jet her off to Paris and St. Tropez. But Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face is way more glamorous than a steel-working Jennifer Beals any day, so she’s happy.

That happiness doesn’t last long. Philippe saddles her with Laurent all day, is verbally abusive and in the end, refuses to give her a divorce until Boone pays him off. She’s never seen this movie before and she doesn’t want to be its heroine.

ooo

Just nineteen and already divorced, Shannon knows she’ll never be the heroine of her own story. But maybe she can play the villain. Boone’s payoff of Philippe gives her an idea and after a series of flings, she finds another guy for Boone to chase off.

Then she meets Bryan and, sick of living in European countries that don’t speak English, she follows him to Sydney. It’s nice for a time, then she gets bored like she always does and calls Boone.

This time, it goes wrong and she loses her half of the money. Drunk and tired of being the villain, she goes to Boone once again. He’s always loved her, she wants a Prince Charming – maybe it can be him.

The next morning, she stares at herself in the bathroom mirror and is reminded of that scene from The Little Mermaid. The one where Ursula looks like a princess on the outside but looks in the mirror and sees her true evil, octopus self. Shannon knows what that’s like. She looks at herself and doesn’t see blonde hair and long legs. She just sees someone she can’t even bear to be anymore.

ooo

Shannon feels beautiful when Sayid looks at her, when his large brown hand cups her cheek or strokes her hair. She forgets about all the ugly, jagged pieces inside her, at least for those moments.

Sawyer calls her Jasmine to Sayid’s Aladdin and she scoffs. Her new island life is not a fairytale. But as Sayid joins her around the bonfire, she thinks maybe it could be happy.