Jack woke to a tumultuous feeling roiling inside of him, almost drowning out the pain of the knife-wound lancing through his side and feel of too-cool water drenching him, plastering hair and clothes against blood and sweat soaked skin.
He pulled himself a little away from the tree root he'd washed up on, lifting the hem of his shirt to inspect his wound.
The blood had all but washed away, and in its place something inky and black rose like steam from the injury.
He hacked, suddenly, body wracking in shudders as that same sick feeling rolled sharply through his gut. Images of turbid black smoke and a harsh, almost metallic sound flashed abruptly through his mind.
And then cool hands were on him, lifting him from the water, gently laying him down and cleaning him off.
"Jack. Jack, it's over. You did well."
That voice-he knew that voice. Jacob.
"Now, I need you to do one more thing for me, Jack,"
Jack peered up at him, one hand curling loosely in Jacob's shirt.
"That darkness you feel? Push it away, Jack. Focus on the Light,'' Calm blue eyes looked down at him solidly. (he was afraid, so, so afraid, but he pushed it down, stowed it far, far away, all for Jack, hoping, hoping desperately that he was right)(he had to be right, Jack had to be all right)
"Focus, Jack. The Light. The Light from the Source. The Light inside us, too, the Light we share together."
And Jack was so so tired, but he felt the honest conviction in Jacob as clearly as if it were his own. And if someone - if Jacob - could have that kind of belief – in him of all people - then he had to try.
So he pushed, pushed down the noise and the pain -physical and emotional, rents running deep inside his mind and heart - and reached.
And he remembered.
A moment - just a single, fleeting moment - when the water had started to flow back in, light blooming in front of him, before he had been split apart, spaces opening inside for some dark, insidious thing, before the water had carried him away.
It had been so warm and bright, not peaceful, as he might have expected, but just so, so alive.
And before that, with Jacob by the stream. Stepping up, to be the final Candidate, the one, the proxy Jacob needed to finally end things. Guilty relief had flashed across his companions faces, but it didn't bother him. This felt right in a way he didn't quite understand, not yet.
And Jacob had shared with him, shared his own light. And Jack had shared back. They had come together, two halves of a newly-made whole.
And slowly, slowly, the Darkness faded away, siphoning out of the openings the Light had made, the openings dark had taken advantage of, where it had tried to latch onto the inherent corruptibility of human nature.
Where it had succeeded once, perhaps even twice before, but failed here today.
And the Light rushed in, as it had always intended to.
Jack moved, mind shifting somehow sideways, senses stretching, brushing against the Island in ways they never had before.
His whole self moved, sliding upwards and through before coalescing on the banks on the top of the stream, where the waters reflected a beautiful gold-white light.
And Jacob trudged in from the jungle, carrying Jack's own body, his whole demeanor sad and apologetic, but at the same time so, so relieved.
(In which 'The Candidates' were simply intended to act as Jacob's proxy, in order to end things where he could not, and so Jacob never had to die. Also, the 'security system' of the Island (smoke monster) was not supposed to be 'dark' but simply became that way because 'people are bad'. This is also possibly why Jacob's 'Mother' was kind of crazy. She was only 'better' than MiB because she was also the Protector, which gave her some sort of balance - and because she was okay with staying on the Island. So, Jack, emerging from the Source, now sharing Jacob's faith, becomes 'good!smoke monster') (Or 'blatant wish!fulfilment fic' in which I abuse and twist the Lost 'verse because it makes me happy) (Also, I don't know anything about Latin, so apologies if the title is wrong in any way)