Surprisingly enough, I don't think I have as much to say about this chapter. And Giselle is a total Tsundere. XD (At least, that was how I tried to portray her, not sure if I got it right. Also, look that up on TvTropes if you don't know what a Tsundere is. That site is amazing and I may or may not reference it often during these notes.)
Disclaimer: Lord of the Flies does not belong to me at all, it belongs to the wonderful William Golding. I repeat, not mine at all.
Ralph cleared his throat, surveying the crowd. "Well then." He began uneasily.
Giselle yawned as the others began to swarm the platform, sitting comfortably, taking her place beside Ralph, who stood. Piggy also flanked Ralph, sitting near and offering no help. Ralph instead looked to her for a brief moment and she gave him the standard shrug, the gesture clearly stating, deal with it yourself.
At her rejection, he then realized that he knew everything he was going to say. He spoke. "We're on an island. We've been to the top of the mountain and we've seen water all around. No houses, no boats, no people. We're on an uninhabited island with nobody else on it." The mention of the top of the mountain reminded her of her race to the top with Maria. And the look on her face, as she watched that pig screaming for help. I wonder what that was all about.
Jack broke in. "You need an army for hunting, hunting pigs."
"Yes. There are pigs on the island."
"There was squealing-"
"It broke away-"
"Before I could kill it-but-next time!" Giselle could only scoff silently at Jack's attitude, at how serious he looked, but she decided to hold her tongue for the same reason.
Once the meeting settled Ralph continued. "So you see, we need hunters to get us meat. And another thing-" And another thing, and another thing, and another thing. That was all she heard after a while, and she allowed her mind to wander. Eventually, she found her eyes resting upon Ralph, taking in his figure and the blond hair that fell in his eyes slightly. Ralph's rather good looking I suppose. She then promptly mentally slapped herself. Don't be stupid. What good does thinking about useless stuff like that do?
It was then she noticed the small boy in the crowd, watched as the others poked and prodded at him, trying to force him forward when he clearly did not want to go. The first thing that caught her eye about him was the mulberry colored birthmark, right on the side of his face. He stood now, lip quivering as he muttered. Giselle could tell he was about to cry, and she watched with interest. The other boys pushed him towards Ralph.
"All right, come on then." Ralph said.
The small boy glanced around in panic.
"Spit it out kid." She offered dryly.
Ralph scowled at her.
She offered him a smirk.
The small boy held out his hands, yearning for the conch, and snatched his hands back when they began to laugh.
"Give him the conch!" Piggy shouted. "Let him have it." The laughter had hindered the small boy speechless, so Piggy kneeled down and interpreted for the rest of them.
"He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake-thing." Piggy reported.
The snake thing? She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "What snake-thing?"
"Now he says it's a beastie."
"Beastie?"
"A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it."
"Where?"
"In the woods."
It had grown darker, leaving the numerous objects in the forest open to interpretation now that it was harder to see what they truly were. Trees, rocks, vines, could easily turn into ominous things at first glance. Only the light of day could bring them back to reality. A collective shudder rippled through the group.
"You couldn't have a beastie on an island this size." Ralph explained to the wide-eyed child. "You only get them in big countries, like Africa or India."
She resisted the urge to add, 'Africa isn't a country, it's a continent.'
The crowd chattered, mostly protests from unconvinced littluns and the older ones insistence that there was in fact, no beast. Giselle had heard enough and stood, reaching for the conch. Jack snatched it before she could get to it and she sneered at him, but deciding to stay true to the 'no conch, no say' rule, she would wait.
"Ralph's right of course, there isn't a snake-thing. But if there was, we would hunt it and kill it. We're going to hunt pigs and get meat for everybody. And we'll look for the snake too-"
She noticed the defeated look on Ralph's face and glared at him. What are you just standing there for with that kicked dog expression? Speak or I'll do it for you.
Apparently he got the gist of her message. "There isn't a beast."
He tried again, this time with a sort of force behind his words. "I'm telling you, there isn't a beast!" With that, he lifted the conch. "Now we come to the most important thing. I've been thinking. I was thinking while we were climbing the mountain." He flashed a grin at the other three, Maria, Simon, and Jack. "And on the beach just now. This is what I thought. We want to have fun, and we want to be rescued."
Erzsébet had been watching them, safely hidden within the jungle. They seemed to be conducting a meeting on that platform. She could barely understand a word of what they were saying, but it looked important, whatever it was. The deep sound of what she now realized was the conch had drawn her here, and she was pleased with what she saw. There were little children there, young ones, and girls too, like herself. In fact, she almost wanted to go up to them and introduce herself, but that could very well end badly if the civilized way they seemed to conduct themselves turned out to be just a facade, for whatever reason. After all, she was an outsider in more ways then one. They were sure to question her, and she knew she probably wouldn't be able to understand half of it. She resisted the urge to made herself noticed by them. Keep your head. I know you want to, go but you must find out a little bit more about them. She recognized a lot of them from the plane, however.
As a red-haired boy got up and started shouting things and waving his hands wildly, indicating movement she felt a jolt of fear and prepared to turn and run. However, they weren't even headed in her direction, and she watched with interest as they made their way to where they were going. They sure seemed like they were in a hurry. The fat boy was grumbling to himself, and soon he too went after them, cradling a shell in his arms. They appear to be going to the mountain...
Not willing to stick around the deserted platform and surrounding area, she left, hoping to follow the group at a safe distance.
There were littluns scattered around, that was the first thing she noticed when she made it to the mountain. She stayed within the thick leaves of a jungle plant, watching them play. They were interesting to watch, running about on unsteady legs, wrestling in the dirt with one another, screaming out a language she could barely understand. Somehow, it felt safe to approach them. She rose from the bush, slowly as if not to startle them. They did not notice her at first, too busy with their own concerns. Slowly, however, a young boy began to make his way towards her. On his face was a mulberry colored birthmark. Erzsébet raised a hand cautiously.
The chances of him being Hungarian were rather slim. She tried to contact him in her own language anyway. "Hello. How are you?"
He gave her a blank look, and that was all she needed to know. Alright, apparently he isn't...at least it was worth a try.
Instead he pointed behind her. She turned to look, and at first was unsure what the little boy was pointing at. Then she saw it. The thick, juicy fruit hanging from the trees, so sickeningly ripe they looked as if they would fall with one simple shake of the tree.
"Are you hungry, little one?" She asked sweetly, making sure to put emphasis on the fruit as she pointed so he could perhaps understand by body language rather than words.
He nodded, understanding what she was trying to convey. With that, she delivered a swift kick to the tree and the fruit came raining down. The littlun let out a thrilled squeal and she grinned happily to see the fruit had gained the other children's attention and they came to her, kneeling to pick up the fruit to eat.
"Good?" An English word.
They nodded absentmindedly, too occupied with the fruit to bother responding.
Then the sky lit up brightly, and the littluns scattered, screaming. The red hot blaze came quickly, unexpected, eating up the trees. Fire!
"This way children, please don't be afraid! Please, come this way!" She begged, waving them over her way, but they weren't listening, too blinded by the smoke and their own fear to notice her. "Please!?" No results. They were running straight into the fire. "No, no, no! Please come back!" It was pointless, the fire was growing, and the adrenaline began to pump through her veins, screaming at her to leave. A frightening crackle sounded through the air as another tree caught fire.
She had no choice but to take off into the woods, leaving the fire to blaze on, trying to block out the pained, frightened screams of the littluns as their flesh burned. They didn't know where to go, they didn't understand me. It isn't my fault. I tried. I tried to save them. She allowed these thoughts to run through her head, trying to justify her abandonment of the children. However the unsettling feeling remained. She ran, and ran through the jungle, falling all over herself trying to get away from the smoke and fire. Her lungs were burning, crying for clean air and all she could do was keep going.
Her legs gave out shortly and she fell to the ground, to the darkness, the breath knocked out of her. She had gone unconscious, only for a moment. When she rose, she stood and watched. The fire crackled in the distance, and she watched in awe. How far did I run? Her throat was too dry. Water, I need water. That was the only thought on her mind and she got up to search for it, figuring she was now safe from the fire.
She found another pool of water, this time much bigger than the first one from earlier. She had no time to ponder the consequences, of what would happen if it was dirty water, it looked clean, and it was water and that was all that mattered to her aching limbs and dry throat. Scooping it out with her hands she drank ravenously, gulping down the cool liquid. It was then she realized how hungry she was, and her only option was to drink herself full and so she did. There was no fruit to eat, and that thought gave her a painful reminder of the poor littluns, happily eating without a care in the world, until the fire came out of nowhere. A weak, raspy voice could be heard. Erzsébet didn't know who it belonged to, but she could recognize the desperation in the tone. Her failure to save the littluns she had encountered prompted her to seek out this person and aid them.
"Keep talking so I can find you."
The voice answered her, and she felt a spark of hope at the voice made her even more determined to find the owner of it. A female littlun tumbled from the bushes, and subsequently erupted into a fit of frantic coughing. At once she gathered the small, dirty child in her arms and carried her back to the pool. First she cupped her hands and caught water, giving it to the child to drink, and then worked on washing the soot off her.
Figuring she could try for a conversation with the child now, she spoke. "Vhat-What name you have?" Stuttering, she sighed to herself, just knowing she probably hadn't structured that sentence properly at all.
"Catherine." The child answered, coughing weakly. Well, she understood at least. The littlun looked up at her, staring with bright blue eyes. "You sound funny. What's your name?"
I believe she asked me for mine...Either way. "I am Erzsébet."
"Erzsébet." Catherine repeated. The little red-head girl yawned. Then it dawned upon her, that she would have to get this child back to where it came from, back to those others who were having the meeting on the platform near the beach. It would be stupid to try and take care of the girl, they would probably be out looking for her anyway. She was most likely of them, because Erzsébet hadn't found any other groups while traveling the jungle.
"I'm taking you back to those people I saw earlier, the ones who went to the mountain. Let's go." Urging Catherine to her feet, she gripped the littlun's hand and began to lead her to the beach where she had first saw the others, hoping they were still busy at the mountain doing whatever it was they were doing there. In fact, she bet they were the ones who had started the fire in the first place, figuring she could get in and out real quick. Just drop her off at the platform you saw them gathering around, and then make a run for it. Easy.
She had been walking for a while now, and eventually found her way back to the place where she had been observing them, this time without the sound of the conch, which was what led her to them in the first place. It was deserted as far as she could tell, so now she took the time to act. Swiftly so she would not get caught, she picked up Catherine who was soon to fall asleep, and ran across the sand, hoping to make it to the platform. When she got there she quickly placed the drowsy child upon it.
"Good-bye!" She waved.
The girl let out a weak protest and then clung to her arm.
"...Please let go. I-I have to go now." She was never good at denying young children. Until now, that is. When she heard a rustle in the bushes, she tore herself from the littlun's feeble grasp and darted down the beach in panic, not daring to head straight into the woods. It would be a fatal mistake, she'd run right into them. She listened to the rhythmic pounding of her feet as she ran through the sand, and that was when she realized, someone was chasing her.
Figuring she had run far enough away to not run into anyone else, she took a sharp turn and veered into the jungle. Whoever was chasing her was persistent, and to her dismay she could still hear footsteps behind her. A frightened yelp slipped from her lips as she felt something clamp down on her arm, jerking her around until she was facing her pursuer, a boy with dark hair falling into his eyes. They stood there, staring at one another, she wasn't sure for how long but the glint in his gray eyes was unsettling.
The intense look in his eyes prompted her to speak. "Let me go, I didn't do anything please I'm sorry I won't bother you anymore I was just dropping off the girl I found I don't mean any harm I'll stay away please please, I beg of you let me go!" Words came rushing out of her, with only a few words of it being English. He looked taken aback for a moment, but then he grabbed her wrists and she felt the air being knocked out of her as he slammed her against a tree.
Gasping for breath, she looked at him again, and she cursed herself for shaking like she was. I shouldn't show fear...Yet I can't help it. Vainly she tried to shop the shivers that racked her body, and could not. "Let go?" It came out sounding like a question.
Fingers found its way to the left side of her face and she gasped, flinching at the cool touch as he cupped her face. By doing so, he left one of her hands free and she briefly contemplated hitting him, but she had a feeling that would only make him mad and he looked like a person one certainly did not want to anger. Murmuring something in his own language, he peeled his hand from her face and she felt fingers coiling around her still wrist once more.
He said one word to her. "Roger."
Having a feeling it was his name he had just given her, she felt compelled to do the same. Almost shyly, she looked away as she revealed her name to him, instead focusing her gaze on the ground. "Erzsébet."
Glancing up just to catch him nod, he let go of her and promptly turned and ran off, leaving her confused and most of all, frightened at his abrupt leave. Will he be back? Deciding almost immediately that she certainly didn't want to stick around to find out, she fled, deeper into the jungle, unsure of where she was going, all she knew was that if the rest of his people were anything like him, she wanted nothing to do with them, and vowed to stay away.
Okay here's something only half-related. Anyone willing to do a South Park/LotF crossover, or a Hetalia/LotF crossover, I'll love you forever. (Hetalia one with genderbends, mayhaps? They are a guilty pleasure, I can't help but love Fem!Italies and Fem!Prussia. XD)
