A/N: Whooo! Next installment. Tell me what you like/don't like/love/hate whatever...suggestions are open too. But no flames. I laugh at flames anyways. Constructive criticism is always ok! I don't own these babes.
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Every rose has its thorns.
Poison
"Wait, I almost forgot."
"Forgot what?"
"My paint." Ralph rolled his eyes. Trust the chief with his paint. He almost started to laugh.
"And you carry it around with you?"
"No." The Chief gave Ralph his most withering look. Ralph just looked back at Jack lazily.
"Can we move on now?"
"I need my paint."
"Hurry up then."
"I have to find some, dammit." He said, as he was crouched down near the ground, pushing some leaves around. He suddenly snapped up, putting his hand on his hip, giving Ralph an incredulous look. "Why am I looking here? Since when has anything but crap been on this floor?" He turned on his heel and plucked a reddish fruit off of a tree, cracked it open, and dipped his fingers in it, the dye eerily resembling very congealed blood. Ralph turned away as the chief used his red and stained, first and second fingers to color his face. He looked back as he finished; he had never liked the paint.
"I need some white now." He looked away as Jack found the white stuff he used for his paint. He didn't actually know what it was, nor did he care to find out, because the paint was something so savage to him that the whole island tradition of painting themselves disgusted him. The only possible benefit that it could have at all was that it severed some of the contact the sun beat upon them.
"You finished?"
"Yeah. Take a look. 'sit ok?"
"Sure."
They paused for words. It was quiet between them, the birds cawing around them, and the shrill noise of a bug coming from a nearby tree, just loud enough to make you wince. Jack looked back at Ralph from his higher point.
"You coming then?"
"Sure."
Jack grunted.
"Follow me. I know you know where it is, but...just follow me ok?"
"Sure." Jack shot Ralph a look over his shoulder.
"Is that all you can say?"
It wasn't, at least, not really. But Ralph was nervous. The screen was starting to flicker and shut in his head again, his thoughts being muddled and confused. His mouth was dry; he kept licking his lips, and though the sun beat down at that hour harder than any other time of day, he felt a chill, and shivered.
He was confused too. He looked at Jack as they walked and started to think of back home. Thinking about that was hard, not just because it hurt, but because thinking was starting to slip away, like sand between the fingers. The memories were still there, always lingering, waiting to be remembered, but being shot down each time, as if they weren't supposed to be alive. Technically they weren't, the boys were supposed to have gotten over all of their thoughts of home. Ralph though, was the only one trying to keep these alive, with the exception of Piggy and Samneric.
He wasn't sure why he couldn't keep his mind straight, and why his thoughts didn't make sense as he went back to remember them.
"Sorry. It's weird because, here I am, going hunting with the chief," he managed to say it with contempt, "and I hate you. Why go anywhere with someone who hates you?"
"Sucks to you," Jack said, throwing Ralph a mischievous smile as he used one of Ralph's phrases.
"Very funny."
They walked in more silence. Ralph felt as if Jack was taking him in circles, even though they both knew exactly where the camp was, from wherever they were. He played it down though, ignoring that fact and feeling safer than he had ever, since the beginning of being on the island. Which was ironic, he thought. Jack was what he was afraid of. But was that really true? There wasn't really a beast, and it definitely was Jack, but what was it? He was becoming muddled again, his thoughts clouding his mind.
"I'm not a prisoner, am I?" Ralph blurted, for a moment he let a trace of fear mingle with his words. Jack looked at Ralph, a look coming over his face as if that specific idea hadn't dawned on him until then. He could have actually taken him for prisoner, but what good would that do? Would he be like a slave? But he shook the thoughts away, much to Ralph's relief.
"No, of course not. I wouldn't do that." He didn't add to you, which is what he wanted to, but now was not the time. Could there ever be a time for that? But why had he even thought that? Would he really not have done that to Ralph, who had seemed like his biggest enemy? Perhaps he still was, but now, now was not the time to think about that.
"When do we go and hunt?"
"Soon."
"Are we going with your, er, tribe?" Jack stopped and looked at Ralph again. He noticed he had been doing this many times, stopping and looking at Ralph. He really thought about it, nodded his head even.
"I don't think so. I don't really want to anyways." He said before he really knew what he was thinking.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
It wasn't quite the silences that were frustrating the both of them, because they weren't awkward. It was the fact that they had nothing to say. You'd think that they would be talking about something, but they weren't.
"Well this is weird."
"You think so?" He paused. "What is?"
"Well, this, you know? I feel that you should hate me, and be trying to kill me..." he trailed off.
"But I don't. So why push it, Ralph?"
Silence again. This time it may have gone for half an hour until one of the boys said anything at all.
"Are we going hunting or not?"
"I don't really want to anymore."
And it was true, neither of the boys wanted, nor really cared to go hunting that day. Their initial excitement had ebbed away to a calm contentment that they wanted to preserve. If anything, now they were actually sleepy, though they had had a good night sleep and the sun was just past its zenith.
They didn't notice, that with walking all their distance, that they had come upon the mountain where the beast lay.
"Jack, shouldn't we go see if the beast is still, well, there?"
"We could. And if we see it, we can kill it. I am in fact, a hunter, and I can sing C sharp better than anyone." Ralph grinned in spite of himself. It was refreshing to see the regular Jack again. He felt chilled again, and shuddered. It was funny, he thought, how Jack could be almost two wholly different people.
They walked up the mountain, which took then a considerable while, and by the time they reached the cave, the sun was no longer so high up in the sky, and hung low casting long shadows and shade. Both Ralph and Jack shivered; the wind had picked up a breeze, not too noticeable, but when they weren't under the sun, it was a biting cold.
"Should we head back? Maybe we can come again to –"
"No. We should go now. There's still some light."
"Sure."
"Don't start that again."
The cave was chilly, seeing as it never got any light, but after a quick inspection, they saw it was clear. The beast that they had all supposed lived in the cave was not there, and it really would make a great fort. The light was ebbing quicker now. Jack straightened up and dusted his hands on his legs.
"I think this is a good spot, what about you?"
"Sure." He added hastily, as Jack sent him an exasperated look. "But um, for what?"
"To sleep."
"But, god, isn't it going to be cold?"
"We have fire don't we –oh, no. We don't."
"So what are we going to do?"
"How were you ever chief? You keep asking me what to do, and if something's ok, man, I don't know how you were ever elected. It probably because you were handsome or something."
"Er."
"You know, it always about the looks. The better looking one always gets the job. I'm better than you, but..."
"Er."
"See? You're gobsmacked. I don't know how on earth you were able to keep those assemblies even going. What goes on in that pretty little head of yours?"
"Er."
"Nothing, I know. You don't even have to tell me." He looked around him, as if he was going to tell a secret so dear to him. He leant forward, his face a hair breadth away from Ralph's. "Do you still remember?"
"Remember what?" The words remember intrigued him. He didn't like to do a lot of remembering. It hurt too much; but he needed to.
"The way life was. You know, you had a pretty good system going until the stupid beast –"
"The beast wasn't real."
"Shut up. Anyways, it was a good, model civilization. Kind of like back home." He said back home eagerly, like he was waiting for a response from Ralph. But Ralph just turned away, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"Home...yeah. There's still some light outside, I'm going to find some leaves and crap so we don't have to sleep on cold, hard and gray stone." He got up and left quickly, his shadowy figure fading into the red light, which was fading as well. Fading. He could use that word so many times. Use it for so many things. Memories, will, survival, hope of being rescued, light, friends...everything.
He shook those thoughts away, like he did to most everything else. He needed leaves right now, and soft ones too. After he found them, he trudged back in, facing his back to the already long-gone sun. He just needed some sleep, that's all.
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