A/N: Wow, this chappie is really long. Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews. I am glad to be satisfying everyone's need for Ralph and Jack :DD They are rather irresistible together…. Don't own LotF, but I do own a really neat drawing I did of them. I wish there was a graphic novel of this book…

Sleep, as expected, did not come. For most of the night I lay propped against a tree, Ralph's shallow breath teasing my neck and chest. Every few seconds I thought I heard footsteps, the snap of a branch of the erratic breathing of Roger.

"He's going to kill us," Ralph said bluntly, when at last he spoke. The moonlight just barely managed to puncture through the trees; I'd almost thought the blonde boy to be asleep. "We're going to die."

"At least we'll die together," I replied, slight irritation tracing the words. I needed Ralph to stay Ralph, to be calm and logical. I could admit that I wasn't always the most rational, and that I had a history of putting myself first. But now there was Ralph to think of too. Ralph to keep safe.

He rolled over without ever pulling himself out of my lap, out of my arms. With his mournful eyes fixed on me, it was easier to let myself believe this would all work out. Like maybe we'd wake up still on the damned plane, and we'd go running to the pilot to turn around, anything but crash into this abandoned wreck of land. Ralph's lips grazed against my bare skin.

"If we're going to die," he whispered, nearly inaudibly, "I want…I mean, I need-"

I quieted him with a soft kiss, ensnaring my hands into his hair. As our movements and touches became rougher, I yanked him closer to me by the hair, causing him to cry out in pain. We were swept up in the moment, the rawness of our bodies, our hips grinding against each other. Ralph drew his fingertips down my back, clutching to me.

It must have been an hour that I held him there, stealing kisses and laughing quietly as his hands explored my body with some uncertainty. Every so often I'd tease him with my own caresses, and I'd revel in the way he shivered beneath my touch. It was like something straight out of my dreams, right down to the way he hummed my name, begged me for more.

Soon Ralph had rolled away from me, his face half concealed by the wild grass as he settled onto his stomach. I slid my body up next to his, planted a trail of kisses across his shoulder blades.

"I love you," he whispered. There was a pain in the words, like he was terrified he'd laid his heart on the line and I would only drive a stake through it.

Bringing my lips right up against his ear, I bit down lightly on the delicate skin there. "I love you too, Ralph." There. All of my demons were released at last. Ralph let out a shaky breath, angling his face so that his mouth collided with mine once more.

And the rest of the night was a blur.

XXX

"Ralph. Ralph, wake up."

I refused to open my eyes. I was safe in my bed, wrapped up in overdramatic sheets.

"Ralph. Jack." Someone shoved me hard in the shoulder. And then I remembered, remembered everything. The island and the fire and the tribe. Roger, standing strong with his sharpened spear. Ralph, laying vulnerable beside me. I remembered that I was supposed to die today, and I just couldn't bring myself to care.

My instincts kicking in, I dragged Ralph closer to me, not particularly concerned if I woke him or not. My vision came into focus upon Piggy, blinking at the two of us from behind his glasses. The jungle was silent around us, save the calls of a few unseen birds.

"Piggy," Ralph blinked sleepily, greeting his closest friend with some relief. All the while I stroked his blonde hair, ran my fingers through the snarled strands. "Piggy, what's happened?"

The boy glanced around with evident anxiety, like he was scared someone might be listening. "Roger ki- killed Simon," he choked out. The weight of the words became too much; he dropped down next to us. Ralph patted him on the arm gently. "All the kids are following him now. It's utter chaos. The fire's dying out, and- and-"

When Piggy's sorrowful eyes landed on me, I couldn't stop myself from flinching away from him. Ralph felt my body shift underneath him, adjusting himself accordingly. "Is it true?" Piggy asked quietly. "What Roger told us all?"

I didn't say anything, because he was Ralph's friend and so Ralph should handle it. I offered what support I could, caressing his shoulders and down his back.

"Yes," Ralph told him eventually. His voice was impossible to read. "Yes, Piggy, it's true. Me and Jack are…did…"

It was all he had time to say. A war cry pierced through the silence, causing us all to jump. "Shit," I muttered, shoving Ralph from my lap as I scrambled to my feet,. I pulled both Ralph and Piggy up. "Ralph, you have to hide."

But he only stood there, grasping my hand as hard as he could. "I'm not going without you," he said indignantly.

I let out a tiny sigh, leaning into him, breathing him in. He just crushed his body against me, pressing his lips to my collarbone, my jaw. Finally my lips collided with his, and it was everything a kiss ever should be. Ralph's hands cupped my face, thumbs pressing into the ski of my cheeks. "You…have to…" I panted between kisses. Ralph broke away without letting me go. "I can take care of myself," I assured him, some of my old arrogance sneaking into my voice.

Another scream sounded, much closer than the last. Ralph whispered that he loved me as he let me go, and then he ran into the jungle, disappearing into the shadows.

I stared after him longingly for but a moment, and then it was like clockwork. As if on que, roger strolled into the clearing. He was alone. In his hands he held his spear, and the blood was dried over his face. Piggy whimpered beside me; I shot him a look of pure annoyance. I didn't want to be responsible for him, not with the way Roger was positively gleaming.

When there was only a few inches between us, Roger came to a stop. He crossed his arms over his bare chest and scowled up at me. "Go back to the littluns, Piggy," he spat without ever looking away from me. "I don't want to have to kill you too."

It was all the warning he needed. Besides, it wasn't as if he owe me anything. I had only ever tried to hurt him, tried to tear him apart. He gave me one last look before scurrying off as fast as his fat legs would let him. Something in that look told me that he was counting on me to keep Ralph safe.

We stood perfectly still for a long time, tensed shoulders as we stared each other down. Every so often my gaze would flicker to the spear in his grasp. Waiting for him to stab me straight through.

"Roger," I said at last, slowly, deliberately. Tried to catch some emotion in those depthless gray eyes, but there was nothing. "You don't have to do this."

"Of course I do!" He cried, sounding more like the child he was. I almost expected him to stamp his feet in tantrum. I noticed how his ribs poked through his skin, even with all the hunting we'd done. He would always appear as a corpse. "You were supposed to be mine, Jack."

In spite of it all, I scoffed at his words. It was almost easy to fall back into an old pattern of things, where I was in charge and Roger looked on with adoration. "I was never going to feel that way for you," I told him. And a hurt rose up in his face, but Roger concealed it quickly behind his mask of anger. Fury.

With a savage scream he lunged at me, pinning me against a nearby tree. His little fingers pressed into my throat, hard enough to make me gasp out. "Why, Jack?" He shouted in my face. "Why couldn't it be me?"

Frantically I tried to push him away, to free myself. But I couldn't. "Because," I choked, strangled words, "I cant, Roger. I cant love anyone except him"

With that he released me, and I fell to my knees, gasping for air. I raised my gaze, so dripping with venom, to meet his own. I refused to believe that it could end like this. I was Jack Merridew. I never, ever lost.

"It's exhausting, you know," Roger drawled, walking around me, kneeling down in from of me. "Always getting what you want." I knew what was coming next, my heart pounding as fear roared within me. Roger lifted his spear a little.

In a sudden flash of motion, I threw my body into him, tackling him down. Roger grunted as my shoulder collided with his chest, sending him sprawling amidst the creepers and brush. All but literally pouncing on him with animalistic strength, I held him down by the upper arms. Roger tried to flail against me, but I was bigger and stronger than him.

But Roger would never stop fighting back. I supposed that, in that way, he was more like me than anyone else on the island. There was a fire that would fuel him till the death. A flame that drove him mad.

"You'll never win!" He cried out, like even still this was all some big game. Even with Simon's blood soaking his hands, traced over his face. Roger ripped at my hair till I screamed; using my vulnerability he flipped me over onto my back.

Roger laughed, for now he had the upper hand again. The edges of my vision were blurred with red, my mind tainted with the image of Ralph. I didn't know where he was, if he was okay. That thought alone was enough to drive me to my own insanity.

So I did the only thing I could think to do. Because sometimes we had to deal with the pain, in order to end up stronger. "Roger," I shrieked, loud enough to get his attention. It was just enough to buy me some time. Seconds, really, if that. Then I pulled his face down to mine, and kissed him.

It didn't take long for Roger to melt into me. For a moment it was like none of it had happened, like I'd never woken up to Ralph's golden face above me. Roger dug his nails into the skin of my chest, down and across my sides. My tongue grazed against his teeth, and we rolled over in the grass so that I was on top again.

I broke the kiss long enough to whisper his name once more. My fingers were grasping blindly around me, searching, searching. Until they collided with it. It seemed to weigh more than it ever had, a dark certainty held in my grasp.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, and our eyes were both still closed. I wasn't sure if I was really sorry or not, actually. Roger's eyes flew open as I sat up, but before he could react, I forced the spear straight into his stomach.

A horrible gasp left his lips, hands flying up to clutch to himself. Already blood had started to pour forth from the wound. Roger opened his mouth as if he would speak, but no sound came. My hands were still gripping the spear, knuckles white against my skin. A tear slipped from the corner of Roger's eye, and then they were lifeless as ever, once and for all.