Oceanic Flight 815 lands safely on September 22, 2004. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course-correcting.
— Archive of Our Own summary
We saw the world explode is a Lost fanfic by whirly
. In it, a single change completely changes the world: for some reason, Oceanic Flight 815 lands safe and sound in Los Angeles, never being detoured to crash into the Island like it was supposed to. The passengers go on about their lives unaware of the calamity their mere existence now causes, all while continuously seeming to run into each other out in the real world; meanwhile, Eloise Hawking, Charles Widmore, and Richard Alpert struggle to comprehend the consequences of such a drastic timeline shift and what it means for the future.
The fic can be read on Archive of Our Own here.
This work contains examples of:
- Absent-Minded Professor: As in canon, Daniel's memory is absolutely shredded due to his time travel experiments, but that doesn't mean he's unintelligent. While his brain is scrambled, he can often forget who his parents are, and he has incredible short-term memory loss, he's still a brilliant scientist and is usually able to still puzzle out the situations he's in spite of the handicap. His memory and ability to speak his mind come back at an exponential rate once he's back on the Island.
- Adaptational Context Change: In canon, Widmore genuinely wanted the power he had as the leader of the Others and was only deposed when Ben and Richard both got tired of his leadership. Here, it's instead stated that thanks to Daniel's journal, Richard and Widmore knew from the beginning that Ben would eventually take his job, and he only kept the role for as long as necessary until Ben could inherit it.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Widmore is far nicer and well-intentioned than he was in canon. Here, his distaste for Desmond is no longer based in classism, he still genuinely loves Eloise, cares for Daniel beyond maintaining his role in the timeline, respects Locke as the leader of the Others, and, notably, does not care about maintaining his former power and in fact only took it until Ben could take it from him.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In canon, Richard didn't come to doubt Jacob until well after the latter was already dead. Here, he loses his faith in Jacob almost immediately after Ben dies, as Jacob continues to refuse to solve the problem such massive timeline deviations create and keeps Richard in the dark about what will happen next.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Jack and Shannon end up meeting in a bar in the first chapter for what appears to be a simple hookup, but it's later revealed that they're outright dating. When that relationship falls apart, she and Michael begin dating instead, which also gives her a closer relationship with Walt than she had in the show.
- Michael and Walt's relationship is drastically changed without them crashing on the Island. During their time there, while their relationship began with hostility, they gradually gained a genuine father-son bond. In this fic, a month after the flight, they still barely interact with each other, and it's noted that Michael is still nervous to try to punish him as a father should because of the upheaval he's had recently.
- Juliet and Desmond are stated to have had a Friends with Benefits-type relationship during their mutual time on the Island. In the original series, they barely interacted.
- Ambiguous Situation: After Eloise and Widmore realize that Daniel must have changed the past and thus created a new timeline, they don't know whether that means the universe's timeline has been completely rewritten or if there are now two distinct universes that exist simultaneously.
- And the Adventure Continues: The fic ends with just about everyone ready to face an uncertain future; Sawyer is finding his daughter, Jack and Juliet are starting some kind of relationship, Michael is getting back to his art with Shannon, Walt, Sun, and Jin in his life, Hurley is starting a relationship with Libby, Daniel and Charlotte are on the Island working on his memory, and Eloise and Charles are celebrating Daniel's newfound survival.
- Berserk Button: Eloise goes from calm to furious the instant that Richard tells her she's "allowed" to go back to the Island, taking particular offense at the notion that she was ever forced off in the first place.
- Big Brother Instinct: Jack takes one look at Claire and just about instantly becomes incredibly protective of her. Less than a day after they meet, he's grilling Charlie to make sure that he's not going to do anything to her or Aaron.
- Brutal Honesty: Just like in the show, Juliet doesn't like to mince words. She straight up tells Jack that nothing she's doing is his business, but he's the closest thing she has to a friend right now, so she'll gladly take his help.
- Butt-Monkey: Though he escapes his horrible fate of "death by shrapnel", Edward Mars does not catch a break after the plane lands, as the prisoner who made his life hell for three years is found not guilty of all charges.
- Commonality Connection: Jack and Juliet quickly bond over their fear of their sisters not recognizing them and having to meet a new nephew.
- Death by Adaptation: With Jack not on the Island to save him, Ben succumbs to the tumor on his spine. Rose also succumbs to her cancer without the Island to heal her.
- Dissonant Serenity: Jacob has basically no reaction to the realization that the timeline has changed and his candidates aren't coming to the Island, only telling Richard "They're coming" with a smile.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: After Ben dies, Juliet is so excited that she can finally leave the Island that she completely misses Richard's concerns about the stability of the timeline.
- Dramatic Irony:
- During her conversation with Charlie, Penny thinks to herself how ridiculous it is that she's chasing after a rogue electromagnetic signal one of her men picked up in the hope that it will lead her to Desmond, completely unaware that Desmond is actually the man responsible for it.
- After she lands at the airport, Claire considers calling her father but decides not to, noting that she doesn't even know his name or how to find him. The audience knows that not only is he long dead, but her half-brother was on the same plane as her to ferry his corpse back to LA.
- When Sawyer and Ana Lucia meet in a bar, she calls herself a murderer. He assumes she's trying some kind of roleplay, but the audience knows she's being completely honest.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Charles Widmore is just as amoral as in canon, but even he can't help but pity the awful life Locke endured before getting on Flight 815.
- Exact Words: To make himself seem more important, Arzt refers to himself as a "professor" instead of a "teacher", even though he only teaches high school.
- For Want Of A Nail: For some reason, Oceanic Flight 815 doesn't divert course to land on the Island like Daniel's journal said it was supposed to. This is because Daniel's plan to reset the timeline actually worked. This drastically changes everything about the world going forward:
- The original survivors, rather than landing on the Island and thus becoming the people they were destined to be, simply go about their lives in the various corners of the world they were going to. Though Rose succumbs to her cancer, the rest continue on as though nothing ever happened.
- Without Jack to save his life, Ben succumbs to his cancer, thus allowing Juliet to leave the Island. The same chapter reveals that Desmond has been assimilated into the Others' community, and the dialogue implies that this occurred even before September 22nd.
- Insane Troll Logic: Shannon hears that Jack is heading back to Sydney to try to find his long-lost half-sister and somehow concludes that he's actually breaking up with her.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Eloise has already determined that no matter what happened to Oceanic 815, Daniel still has to be sent back to the Island so that he can go back in time to die; the fact that nothing has happened to his journal that she has is proof of that. It's ultimately subverted when she realizes that Daniel's plan to reset the timeline must have worked, meaning that he's not going to die anymore.
- Even without the crash, Michael still becomes well acquainted with Jin and Sun, including helping Jin learn basic English, by being the man in charge of building their house.
- Even without Jack as a character witness and Aaron to consider, Kate is still found not guilty of all her charges.
- Charlie heads back to London after Oceanic 815 lands, but thanks to a chance encounter with Penelope Widmore, he ends up back in Sydney, where he and Claire start getting closer just like they did on the Island.
- Despite the different circumstances behind his arrival, Locke's legs are healed as soon as he's within the Island's range.
- Daniel and Charlotte still go to the Island together and develop feelings for each other.
- Karma Houdini: Kate ends up being found not guilty of all her charges, presumably because of the lawyer Hurley hired for her.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: Despite his previous paralysis, the moment that Locke arrives on the Island, he stands back up and walks onto the land like he owns it.
- Like Father, Like Son: The first scene of the fic is Jack getting shitfaced drunk in a bar, just like his father was doing the night he died.
- Not So Above It All: As Eloise and Widmore have a serious conversation about the fate of the timeline, Eloise still takes the time to dig at him that Penny is closer to finding the Island than he has ever been.
- Oh, Crap!: Eloise's entire world gets uprooted when Oceanic Flight 815 lands safely in Los Angeles instead of crashing on the Island like they're supposed to.
- One Degree of Separation: A lot of the 815 passengers end up becoming acquaintances of some kind after they land, with none of them ever realizing that they were all on the same plane.
- Michael builds Jin and Sun's house for them and later helps them adjust to life in New York.
- Charlie meets Penelope Widmore in London and makes an impulse decision to join her on her trip to Sydney, where his brother Liam introduces him to Claire and Aaron.
- Hurley's mom sees a news story on Kate's trial and has him hire a good lawyer for her.
- Jack and Shannon have a chance encounter in a bar and start up a relationship.
- Boone serves as Sayid and Nadia's wedding planner.
- Sawyer and Ana Lucia also meet in a Miami bar the night before he intends to fly back home.
- Kate happens to be visiting Cassidy on the same night that Sawyer finally decides to visit his daughter, and this is after they had already happened to cross paths when her ex-husband arrested him in Miami.
- Hurley is one of Bernard's dental patients and he pays for Rose's funeral. After the funeral, he also runs into Leslie Arzt and Libby at a Starbucks.
- When Shannon moves to New York, she ends up dating Michael, thus bringing her closer to Walt as well.
- Refuge in Audacity: Widmore introduces himself to Locke by being completely honest about everything - his plane was supposed to crash on an Island, he was supposed to gain the ability to walk, he was destined to become his leader, and they met two years before Locke was ever born because he was time-traveling at the time. It's so ludicrous that John thinks he can't have made it up, and Locke ends up agreeing to go to the Island.
- Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: The chaos and stress resulting from the timeline change leads to Widmore and Eloise going from bitter enemies to something resembling their relationship from their youth.
- The Reveal: Oceanic Flight 815 didn't crash because Daniel's plan to reset the timeline with Jughead actually worked.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Even though the plane doesn't crash, Eloise, Richard, and Widmore all remember their past encounters with the 815 survivors that will never happen and, most damningly, Daniel's journal doesn't change from its incorrect information. After they conclude that the past has indeed been changed, Eloise and Charles realize how weird it is to remember a timeline that now no longer exists.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: When Jack goes to Sydney to meet Claire for the first time, Shannon concludes that he must be trying to break up with her, so she torches the relationship by straight up fleeing LA without telling anyone where she's going.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- The over 200 people who originally died in the plane crash and the events afterward, including Edward Mars, Boone, Shannon, and Dr. Arzt, are spared with the plane landing safely in LA.
- Without the survivors landing on the Island, Ethan and Goodwin are both still alive.
- With the revelation that the timeline has indeed been changed, Daniel is not going to go back in time to be killed by Eloise in 1977, which will also presumably spare Charlotte from her death by time flashes.
- Time Skip: The timeline of events jumps back and forth between months at a moment's notice.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: When Widmore introduces himself to Locke, he reveals that they met when Widmore was seventeen, but Locke won't remember it because it won't happen for another month.
- Villain Respect: Widmore remembers his hostile encounter with Locke from the 1950s very vividly and still respects Locke for it in the present day. Despite having had a knife thrown at him, he firmly believes that Locke is one of their own, calling him "special" and even advising Richard not to give up on him when Richard doesn't see anything unique to him.He had seen John walk across the island as if possessed the land, as if he could claim the canopy of trees as his own property, his only home. Charles had shared the feeling. John Locke had been on the island and he hadn’t been scared of it. He was one of them – Charles Widmore had seen him with his own eyes.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Miles, Lapidus, and the Man in Black remain unaccounted for by the end of the fic; this is especially notable for the former two since Daniel would have mentioned them in his journal.
