Ralph was fighting against that mask.
He wasn't fighting against Jack, no; he couldn't. He couldn't harm the one he once cradled.
He could harm the mask.
He could kill it—stab it, burn it—he could destroy it, before it destroyed him.
He couldn't destroy Jack.
Ralph stared into the eternal emerald-and-ebony war paint smeared clumsily on Jack's face, damning it. His gaze lingered as the Mask slowly at away at Jack's skin, leaving nothing but bone and evil.
He couldn't stand it.
He—just—could not—
Jack charged, the Mask charged, at Ralph, brandishing his spear. It was still bloody from the last slaughtered sow, and Ralph hated it, too. But not as much as he hated the mask; the thing that murdered the one he loved. The beast who slithered into Jack's body and masqueraded as him.
But his eyes, his eyes—
There was one thing the Mask couldn't hide, and that was Jack's eyes. Clear; blue; sincere; strong.
Beautiful.
The eyes Ralph was faced with now were ice-cold and stunted. Abhorrent. Ralph could find no recognition in Jack's eyes now. His knees started to shake as the soulless Mask in his lover's body crept closer.
Gone. Jack was gone, and all goodness residing on the Island promptly fled, taking Ralph's hope with it.
There could be no hope without Jack Merridew. Ralph submitted to the Mask, shivering.
A/N: Hello again, Fanfiction! What's this? White Rose has a new story? And it's a silly little angst-bunny about That One Book I Read in High School?
Yeah…
My Bulgarian wife suggested Lord of the Flies to me on the premise of a good story with slash. And boy, did she not disappoint. If you haven't read the book already, which I seriously doubt, do so immediately and with the Jack/Ralph pairing in mind. If you have read the book and didn't notice this pairing, you've suffered severely and I implore you to re-read it with this pairing in mind.
Then again, you wouldn't be wandering 'round this part of the interweb if you didn't appreciate Jack/Ralph, would you?
{Dedicated to the aforementioned Bulgarian wife, for getting me so obsessed with this book I wrote fanfiction for it in math class.}