Title: Evanescent Rays

Author: Lady Dissonance

Pairing: Ralph x Jack

Type: Oneshot

Rating: Rated T for mild sexual content and mild gore. Warning: Gay. ;D

Note: Our teacher told us to "read between the lines" during Lord of the Flies and me, being the sick-minded fangirl I am, pictured this during Chapter 9. ^^;; It's meant to take place when Ralph and Piggy join Jack's group for supper and then things get out of hand and Simon ends up dead. It may not make a lot of sense if you haven't read the book. So go read the book now! That is all!

P.S. - William Golding owns these characters. Actually, he pretty much just plain owns. If anyone says this pairing is "ew" then I agree with you… they are an epic win. XD Enjoy!

P.P.S. - Please pretend that these characters are at least of age. ;3

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" The chant was a hungry thief in the night, stealing away the humanity of the boys. Even Piggy was caught up in the exhilaration, the wildness. Even Piggy became a savage.

Ralph stumbled out of the dance for only a moment, and then found himself awake again. Awake from the horrible nightmare that occurred in front him now. He rubbed his eyes and closed his mind to the steady chanting, the ancient pulse. He needed to get out before he became a monster.

He turned and began to half run, half crawl towards the only stable thing he could see; the large rock he and Piggy had been sitting on.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

All of them? Were they all so far gone? The madness, the hysteria… Ralph felt a sickness building in his throat. He wanted to yell, he wanted to scream. No, stop! Don't do this! But he couldn't. He choked on a sob as Piggy grabbed a spear and began hefting it like the other boys. He was alone? Why? His hand slipped and he went face first into the sand. Why? A flash of lightning, the rain beating down like drums. Why? His foot grazed something—a shell?—and began to bleed. Why? He kept going. Wh—

A hand grabbed Ralph and lifted him easily; slamming him back against the rock he had so desperately crawled towards. He choked on the air, a sound halfway between a cough and a sob. "Why?" He whispered, so quiet that it should've been impossible to hear, but the figure heard.

"Because," it said, "you don't belong to them." Flash. Jack's face staring down at Ralph intently. Flash. Jack was only inches away, his breath steaming in the cool night. Flash. Jack and Ralph were now nose to nose.

Ralph wailed, long and chilling. Jack slammed him against the rock again, hard. Ralph whimpered as his head smacked the rock. "I'm c-chief. I a-am. N-not y-you," he sobbed, blindly. Jack's hands slid up from Ralph's shoulders to his face, where he gripped the sides of Ralph's face, tears and rain mixing together.

"I can't allow that," he murmured, gentler than he had ever spoken before. One of his hands stroked Ralph's cheek. "I can't." He leaned forward and placed his forehead against Ralph's.

Ralph sucked in his breath, confused. "Wh-what? Why n-not? They don't belong to you! T-they belong to m-me!" Jack's gentleness seemed to leave him.

"No!" he screamed in outrage. "No!" Flash. He leaned back and slammed Ralph into the rock again.

"WHY?" Ralph screamed in pure anguish. "WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?"

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" The boys kept up their dance, shrieking, howling. Ralph's screaming couldn't be heard. No one even noticed that he and Jack were missing.

"I DON'T! I DON'T!" Jack shrieked. His head thumped audibly on Ralph's shoulder, rain plastering his red hair to his skull. Ralph froze, wide-eyed. Why was Jack Merridew—?

"I don't want you to be theirs." Jack's voice was barely audible. "If you're chief then… then they own you! Then you're theirs! Then…"

Ralph couldn't move, couldn't talk. He didn't even bother to wipe the rain from his eyes. Not that he was sure if it was rain or tears. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was the great Jack Merridew.

"Then I can't have you." Jack finished his sentence so quietly that even he had to strain to hear his own voice. But Ralph heard. Ralph was still dumbstruck, even more so perhaps. Jack finally risked looking up. When he saw Ralph's face, a dozen expressions passed over his own face until finally anger won out.

"You think you're so great Ralph! Do you even know how hard it is to cope with you? You're like the light of all the boys. And me… who do I have? It's always 'Don't argue, Jack' or 'Follow the rules, Jack' or 'You get the hunters, Jack'. I don't even care! I'll do whatever you want if you just look at me Ralph! Just once! I only want you to… to notice me, that's why! That's why I do what I do! For you Ralph! I can't let them have you because I want you! They can't have you! Not Roger, not Simon, not Sam, not Eric, not any of the littluns… and especially not Piggy! Don't you understand you bloody, bloody fool?" Jack slammed his fist beside Ralph's head at the end of each sentence. It was torn and bleeding.

The dance of the boys continued. "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" Roger and Piggy danced alongside each other, shrieking in unison. Sam and Eric were at the back of the crowd, pumping their spears up in the air as if praising the gods of rain. The rain beat down. Thunder cracked and lighting lit up the sky. Ralph and Jack's silhouettes were lit up for only a second, unnoticed by anyone but the moon, which hid its knowledge behind the clouds and dyed the world black again.

Ralph finally spoke softly. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm so sorry." He took the red haired boy's head and tilted it up to look him in the eyes. "I'm looking at you now, Jack Merridew. I see you. I notice you. So come back. Come back and join us, okay? Maybe… maybe we can both be chief, see? Just like it was. Except I'll go with you. I'll help you hunt. We'll be the best of friends, so come back."

Jack looked into Ralph's beautiful, clear gaze and straightened so that he was taller than Ralph. "No. If I can't have you to myself… no one can." Jack leaned forward and pressed his damp lips against Ralph's. Ralph was so stunned he almost didn't react. Almost.

"B-bloody hell!" Ralph pushed Jack away hard and wiped his lips frantically. "Not that, Jack! Not that! We're… we're both boys and… and it's not right, you know? What would the littluns think? We can't… we can't think like this…" Ralph's hand was over his mouth and his face was redder than Jack's hair. Lightning lit up the sky and revealed this to Jack.

He gently took Ralph's hand away from his mouth. "No one will know…" He murmured. Ralph's lips were softer than he could've imagined. His hand wove its way into Ralph's soft, damp blond hair and he pulled Ralph closer. "Just this once, Ralph."

"R-rescue…" Ralph stammered. "F-fire… not civilized… not… proper…" Tears of indecision formed in the corners of eyes. He had never felt so utterly hopeless and frustrated in his life. What was the right decision? Bring Jack back by…by… doing that… or letting the group get split apart.

Jack outright kissed Ralph this time. In only a couple of seconds, Ralph made his decision. He mashed his face against Jack's and kissed with all he had. Jack seemed at first surprised by this sudden fervour, and then excited. "Ralph… No idea… Longed for this…" He purred between kisses. His lips suddenly slid down to Ralph's shoulder and he caressed the damp hollow part of with his teeth.

Ralph sucked in his breath as he felt things he'd never felt before. "Jaccckkk…" He hissed with the sudden intake of breath. "Stop… feels… ah…" Ralph bit down on his lip to keep from making any more noises. He wanted the group back together so he had to let Jack do this. Yes that was it… It was for the group…

"Kill the beast…" Jack mumbled, his nails digging into Ralph's soft locks of hair. Ralph's whole body arched up to meet Jack's without Ralph's consent. Their bodies made loud wet slaps against each other.

The boys who danced around the fire still took no notice. From somewhere a little ways off, a small boyish figure was making its way through the trees. The boys screeched and beat their spears together.

"Cut his throat…" Jack ran his tongue along Ralph's neck. Ralph felt an odd dizzying sensation and slumped against Jack. He managed to raise one hand and put it against his mouth so no sound escaped. He felt a pulsing in his body that wasn't coming from the chants of the boys around the fire.

The boys around the fire could feel the air heating up rapidly, as if something big was about to happen. They danced even more frantically, almost desperately. The small figure in the trees caught sight of the fire and began to move towards it. Electricity tingled on the arms of every boy, and a strange tension made them all pant and sweat as the screams tore from their lips.

"Spill his blood…" Jack bit down on Ralph's neck harder than he expected. Ralph cried out and his hand dropped from his mouth to Jack's chest. He dug his nails into Jack's chest and suppressed a moan. He couldn't take the aggressive tension building up in every part of his body. He let himself go.

The boys let themselves go at that moment, and they were one mind, one heart, one body. One savage that had the intensity to kill. "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" The small figure finally reached the edge of the trees. No one had seen it yet. But it saw them. It saw the two boys on the rock, tangled passionately into each other's embraces.

"Jack, I am chief." Ralph growled. "I am." He slipped his tongue between Jack's lips and did things he didn't know were possible to do with tongues. He turned himself so that he had Jack slammed up against the rock and was kissing and touching passionately. He felt dangerous, aggressive. He was the chief, and Jack would listen to what he said.

Jack felt the aggression too and nipped back at Ralph's lips. He let his lips make a hot trail down Ralph's body. A bestial cry tore from the pits of Ralph's stomach and out of his throat. "Mine." Growled Jack in a voice that was more dangerous than even the threat of the beast. "Mine."

The boys tore at each other frantically, panting and only letting up on the kisses to gasp for air. Jack's tongue was everywhere on Ralph's body, and Ralph fell to his knees. "Yours." He gasped in defeat. Jack pulled him closer and suddenly stopped the kissing, the touching.

He just simply stopped and stared straight into Ralph's eyes. "I. Love. You." He said fiercely, tears—or was it rain?—streaming from his eyes. "Please don't ever leave me."

The boys around the fire came to an abrupt stop, as if some force had compelled them to stop. The storm had stopped too—the eye of the storm had come. The climax was almost at its peak.

"I won't now, Jack." Ralph said in a hushed, reverent voice. "It's because… I think I… I think I… I…"

Jack smirked, and for a second, he was the old Jack. "Just say it you twit. And then stand on your head and say "Wizard" like you always do."

Ralph grinned, sad yet happy at the same time. "Sucks to wizard. This is wacco. This is smashing. I… I love you too Jack Merridew!" Both boys thought about what they had just said and then burst into laughing sobs.

"I'll always protect you, Chief Ralph." Jack said as he shook the rainwater from his hair. The moon resurfaced from the clouds for a second, and the island was bathed in a pale white. The other boys had all frozen and were watching the moon in awe, unaware of Jack and Ralph sitting on the ground, clinging to each other and looking very much like two innocent children hugging.

"You'd better, Chief Jack." Ralph said as he tightened the embrace. This time, instead of the fiery passion, there was an innocent, childlike wonder between the two of them. A pure and true love like none that the island had seen.

And then the small figure crawled out of the forest. "The beast!" A child shrieked, perhaps a littlun. Jack was up immediately, half of his body in front of Ralph, hiding him from the beast, as the moon hid from the horrible scene that was about to take place.

The calm before the storm was over. The wind picked up and the rain began again. The thunder and lightning were back, fiercer than ever. "I won't let anything happen to you!" Jack yelled over the wind. "I'll kill it once and for all!" Ralph moved to grab Jack but missed. Jack ran into the fray as the chanting started again.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" Ralph got up, head pounding from when Jack had slammed him into the rock, and stumbled into the group, taking up the chant. He and Jack would kill it together! And then they would be free, free to live. Free to… to love.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" The group began to pound on the beast as the wind whipped around them. Ralph caught sight of Jack and for a second, their eyes met. There was something in Jack's eyes… guilt? Why? The question tore at him, but then he remembered the fiery passion he'd felt with Jack.

It filled him to the brim, the aggressive fiery passion, and he began to hit the small, screaming beast, over and over. Jack was on the other side hitting, stabbing, killing. Everybody, everybody… faces blurred together until it was only Ralph and Jack, releasing the tension that had built up between them through beating at the thing that had split them apart.

Until all it was a bloody pulp of a… of a… of a… He felt a hand grabbing his shoulder. Ralph. Ralph. Ralph. "Ralph, Ralph, RALPH!" He didn't even blink. That. Was. Not. A. Beast.

Jack screamed Ralph's name. Everybody in the group had realized. They stood there watching Jack. He was shaking and crying out Ralph's name. When Ralph turned to look at him, his stare was completely blank, as if he didn't even see Jack. It was even worse than when he had been chief. He didn't even seem to recognize his own name.

"Simon… Simon… Oh God… Oh God…" Except, though there should've been some sort of emotion, coming through those words… there was nothing. No emotion. Ralph kept repeating it over and over. Like a broken record. Was that what he was, Jack wondered, broken?

"God damn you Ralph, look at me! Look at me!" Jack began to cry as the light of dawn caressed the trees and ground, and the fury of the storm dissipated. "Please… Ralph…" The fair haired boy swayed a little and then stumbled back.

He was shaking like a leaf, his whole body shaking, and sweat dripped down his body. "NO!" He cried in bitter agony, emotion finally coming back to him. But it was such a raw, primal grief that it had almost been better when he hadn't had any emotion. Jack tried to shield the view, placing a hand over Ralph's eyes and holding him against his chest.

Ralph shuddered violently and then shoved Jack harder than he had ever shoved anyone. "Don't TOUCH me. Don't… don't… dirty hands…" By this point it was hard to tell whether he was talking about Jack's hands or his own. He turned and ran, ran faster than anyone. Piggy, who had looked on in disbelieving shock, ran after him followed by Samneric and a few littluns.

Jack stared after Ralph slowly, then hung his head and proceeded to sit down. Roger stood up and shuffled awkwardly until Jack nodded at him. "Go ahead and scout out a hunting place." Jack muttered tiredly. He placed his head between his knees and heaved a weary sigh.

"Haha." One of the boys laughed nervously. "Ralph is a big crybaby anyway, Jack. Don't worry about him."

Jack looked up dangerously. "What's your name?"

"W-Wilfred."

"Tie him up, Robert, Maurice."

The two boys nodded and took the boy away.

"Everyone, we'll go back to Castle Rock. Move now. Roger will find us there. Robert, Maurice, bring Wilfred."

The rest of the tribe got up heavily and began making their way back from the beach. Jack stayed a little while longer. He got up as soon as everyone was gone and made his way over to the rock he and Ralph had been at. He laid a bloody hand on it.

"Yeah… Sure… I'll protect you." He muttered bitterly. He hadn't even been able to protect Ralph's innocence. If only he had stayed with Ralph. Or stopped the dance. Or… or… something! The look in Ralph's eyes would haunt him for the rest of his life. Even if Jack killed someone, he could deal with it, cold as it sounded. But Ralph's light… it had been distinguished. The happiness in his eyes was gone. And it was Jack's fault. Instead of protecting him, he had destroyed him. "Ralph…" Jack murmured quietly, with only the sun to hear his words. "I'm sorry." Then Jack turned and walked, a lone figure, away from the beach without looking back.

That night, when the sun and the moon were in the same sky, only for a few seconds, they shared the story. The story of Ralph… of Jack… of the only innocence on the island being destroyed. They wept tears of in the form of evanescent rays. The sun that shone on Ralph and the moon that shone on Jack… The sun and moon were so far away from each other though they shared the same sky. But, like the two boys, the sun and moon were both needed to keep balance. The light and the dark. They can never be together, but they can never be apart. For all of eternity, stealing small moments when they were together in the sky, yet always being a sky apart… Yes, the only thing that they can do together is cry those irreplaceable, evanescent rays.

THE END. ;^;

(Not really. Maybe I'll do another Jalph fanfic like a sequel to this one. Argh why does my computer not recognize the word Jalph? It's supposed to recognize my OTP! Jeez had to add it to the dictionary. *shakes head* Dictionaries these days. Anyways, enough of my complaining. Hope you like it and see ya around! ^^)