Changed the rating to R for nudity and lots of blood. Umm, this is the sadists coming out in me. Thanks for all that bothered to review, you know, back at Chapter 1, no one loves me! *Cries*

Wrong: Chapter 5

The night before the bonding ceremony was to occur, the two ran again through the forest, though in a more open clearing where they were harmed but little. Roger pulled Jack into the ocean and they swam as far out as they could before, too tired to go much farther, they crawled atop a large boulder and rested. Roger took Jack roughly (and a bit bloodily since there was all but no preparation), falling asleep on top of him. When he found himself still on him after waking up in the middle of the night, he took him a second time, Jack sleepily encircling arms around his neck. Exhausted, they slept through the rest of the night. They weren't awoken until hours later when Maurice yelled out to them from the beach.

"Is it morning," Roger voice was slurred from where his head rested upon Jack's stomach.

"I think so. We have to get up, don't we? How about we do the bonding thing tomorrow instead?"

"The food might go bad by then. Why did we sleep on a rock? Ow."

"You think you're in pain?" Jack reached down, swiping dried blood from his thighs.

"We really have to find some better way to do that."

"Maybe if we wish for it a boat carrying a crate of Vaseline will crash and it'll wash up on the island."

"I'm sure. Are you alright for the swim back?"

"I think so."

"Sir, everyone's already preparing," Maurice called back from the shore.

"Go back to camp and tell the twins to prepare the hut," Jack called back, still lying upon his back. He realized dimly he should at least stand, to confirm his control, but he couldn't quite force himself to get up yet.

He felt the pressure of Roger's head leave his belly and heard a small splash as he slipped back into the ocean. Jack watched him shake water from soft brown locks, skin golden beneath the morning sun. He reached out sleepily, tracing a finger over the curve of Roger's ear. He had never quite grown into them but Jack found that part of the charm. His ears were too large, his lips and eyes were a bit too small for his face, and his temperament was explosive. And he was entirely his.

"There isn't enough time to be contemplative," Roger's voice cut through the silence.

"Really, I wasn't in that far. I was just thinking you're beautiful."

"Watch out, you're melting so you'll probably slide right off that rock."

"Oh, hush, this is supposed to be a sentimental day. Give me a hand," Jack held out a palm to Roger and let himself be pulled into the water. The water was shocking to his hot skin and a little shudder ran down his body.

He turned to glance at Roger, but found the boy had already dived beneath the water. His figure was distorted beneath the surface and seemed to glow with the light from the sun. He resurfaced on the other side of him, lips glistening with water. In his right hand, he grasped a wriggling fish. It was a deep blue color, with a violet around the gills and fins, and was about the length of his wrist to his elbow. He held it gripped in his hand so it could almost not move and smashed it hard against the rock, crushing the head and splattering blood across the surface. Needless to say, it stopped moving.

"Breakfast?"

"Please," he reached over and pulled off a layer of meat and skin as Roger held it down. It wasn't that unusual to eat raw fish since the fire was kept up by the huts and it didn't seem worth the walk to cook them. At least, the usual fire was kept up there. The ceremonial fires were always on the beach.

He leaned against the rock, letting his body adjust to the cold water. The fish had a slightly bitter taste but he enjoyed the toughness of the meat, still warm from life in his mouth.

They leaned together, shoulders touching, just slightly curved to face each other. Jack watched Roger's sharp, white teeth tear off flesh straight from the little corpse, chewing with small, thoughtful bites. It had been surprising, earlier, when they found their teeth didn't turn green and fall out as the adults had always told them, if they didn't brush them. But it kind of made sense, they didn't eat any sugar or anything that would really rot them. Just meat and fruit and the occasionally greens when a boy had a stomach ache. Sometimes, the littluns would try to get the little milk they could out of the teats of a recently killed mother sow, but that was a rare and usually unsuccessful feat.

Jack swallowed the chunk of flesh and crept closer to Roger, helping him tear off parts of the meat with his teeth. Roger's eyes met his own and Jack could have sworn, if it was possible for Roger to, he would've giggled.

"You okay until dinner," Roger questioned spitting out little pieces of bone about two minutes later.

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's go get cleaned up so the twins can start doing the paint."

"Do you suppose it's noon yet?"

"I don't think we could've slept that long."

"Suppose not. I hope they don't stare."

Jack was standing on a level piece of land by the river, looking at his reflection as Eric carefully applied the last bit of paint to his body. Beneath Sam and Eric's eyes, Jack and Roger had marked each other. Jack had traced his hands with fresh blood and pressed them to Roger's abdomen, thumbs resting below Roger's navel and finger tips trailing along the hips. In return, Roger had marked the place right on the side of each hip, where they rounded just slightly, giving him an almost girlish figure. He could still remember looking down at him as he did this, and Roger's eyes had been slightly sad as he whispered, 'I would write my name across the small of your back, if I could remember how.'

Now Eric was tracing the outline of Roger's red imprint with black coal, making sure everyone would be able to pick it out immediately and mark it as Roger's hands. They were much too large to be the twins', and the fingers were too thick to be Jack's.

For the last hour, Jack had been standing perfectly still, allowing Eric to paint him as he instructed. There was a sun, with beams of light emitting, across his chest. Encircling his navel was a flower, branching off into vines and leaves that criss-crossed once, then skirted along between nipples and sides, went up around the balls of his shoulders, and then tightened around his arms, ending with a leaf in each inner elbow. From the elbows to the wrists, red flames leaped up, the black smoke traveling over the hands, ending at the tip of each finger. From his hips to his knees, his legs were an ocean of red, with waves crashing upon the pelvis, and black, evil looking fish swimming within. But along the calves it disintegrated into trails of blood, looking exactly like any liquid would as it trailed along window or flesh. Eric was extremely talented. A scar was painted in a complete circle around the ankle so it looked like he had been cut. Thorns covered his feet. In the small of his back, two sets of eyes, black and delicately pointed stared. And along the blades of his shoulders, two great, smoky wings sprouted, spanning from the balls of his shoulders right down to where Roger's fingers kissed his hips. His face was almost left bare, besides some charcoal tracing his eyes, and some designs along his throat that were used for hunting.

He quite liked the reflection he saw. He looked so different from the usual, dirty, scrawny teen he was. His face looked too soft, too gentle, against his body.

"You're breathtaking."

"Did you check on the others yet," he looked towards his mate.

"No, Sam just finished. He said I shouldn't come, something about tradition, but how can there be tradition when something is the first of its kind? How do I look?"

"Come closer, so I can see what you picked," he was standing in the clearing upon the hill, the early morning sun shining around him, blinding Jack. He stepped forward now, pink tongue darting out to touch his lips.

Jack stepped away from Eric, walking forward to meet his love. Sam had followed Eric's example, outlining the handprints on his stomach. It looked great, in an odd sort of freaky savage way.

Roger had chosen a darker sort of symbolism then he. Down his chest, there was a spear painted, almost looking three-dimensional, as it thinned near the bottom then appeared to sink into Roger's navel. Droplets of red blood trailed down below. On either side of the spear was a knife, with red stained along the blade, each groove was perfectly drawn. Entwined around his arms were the outlines of two snaked, with glowing red eyes, and Sam had appeared to try to even color the flesh with the juices from some weeds. They appeared to open their mouths and bite the vulnerable flesh between thumb and forefinger, eyes staring up from the back of the hand. His legs were also dyed green, as Sam attempted to scrawl out long, concealing grass from ankles to thighs, creating a sort of camouflage. Ironically enough, Roger had also chosen wings from his shoulders, but unlike Jack's, they were mutilated. They barely stuck out, appearing to have been plucked and burnt of almost all feathers, only slightly, scraggly ones remaining, and these were blackened. Blood dripped from them, trailing down his back. Sam had drawn lash marks here, like from a whip. And across his throat, the appearance of a scar, with blood oozing down to the collar. Jack reached out now, to gently touch this wound that looked so real.

"Don't, it's still wet," Roger grabbed his hand.

"We can go in a moment, Eric just has to finish outlining your prints," Eric had crawled after him on his knees and now was diving in with the charcoal before he could move again.

"I just spoke to Henry, he said the littluns are getting antsy and want to hurry to the feast."

"They can wait. Samneric, you two are already finished with your own paint, right?" The twins hadn't had any specific designs like the two to be bonded, just symbols they often used in hunting, mostly in black except across the face and shoulders.

"Yes, we completed them this morning."

"We better hurry up," Eric finished, climbing to his feet, "Before you two sweat the designs off."

They took hands, clasping them tightly together; not worrying about the designs the poor twins had just spent so long designing. They were just the palms; most of the other boys wouldn't be looking at their palms.

The ceremony was to be held on the beach, away from the fire but close enough they'd be able to congregate there right after. The others had been setting it up for the last week; creating decorations, getting rid of rubbish and such, setting up stands. They came to the area now. The boys were already gathered around the place the two were to be bonded in, anxious. They parted enough now for the two boys to enter. Two big skins had been cut as Jack had instructed, as round as possible, and they were placed side by side. Not releasing each other's hand, they knelt on these skins, facing each other. Everyone was silent. They finally let go of each other, only long enough to cross their hands over each other and grasp the opposite hands of each other. The twins came to them and tied first each set of wrists together, then the clasped hands. They stepped back and each picked up a skin that was folded upon itself.

"The ceremony will commence by presenting an earthly possession," Jack said in a loud, yet gentle voice. "My soon-to-be-bonded, I have had forged for you a necklace that I believe represents you, beautiful yet deadly, and strong. The only thing on this island that could hold the power you do, if something could hold your power. I hope my gift will please you, for I know nothing could ever measure your strength."

Eric stepped forward, set the skin upon the sand beside them, and unfolded it. He took the necklace from the skin. It was large and weaved from sinew. The teeth were those of the reptile's, as Jack had requested, and there must've been at least thirty of them on the chain. Each had a hole driven through the thicker part, to allow the string to follow through. It was obvious hours of work had been put into it. Roger lowered his head and allowed the necklace to be draped over his neck. It hung far down to the level of his nipples, the teeth white and sharp looking in the afternoon light. Roger leaned forward and pressed a kiss to each of Jack's cheeks.

"For you, I have had something small and beautiful made, as you, yourself, are small and beautiful. But they are still strong and unbreakable. If you wish to accept them, you will have to be put through some pain, but I never believed you would be unwilling to accept a small amount of pain. These earrings were made from metals donated from the boys' watches, and the jewels were found in the sea. Both of which you rule."

Sam approached cautiously with his skin. Inside there were two equal-sized earrings. They were almost tear shape, with greenish colored jewels sparkling inside them and metal molded and twisted around them, ending in a little curl at the top.

"Do you wish to accept them, sir?"

"Yes, but, hurry with them," Jack bit his lip nervously. Each twin took an earring and knelt beside Jack's body. He felt the cold metal touch his earlobe and shut his eyes against the pain. The twins looked at each other, leaning across to make sure that the earrings were even with each other. With a nod, they pushed in. Jack sucked in a breath sharply, but besides that, made no sound. The blood oozed slowly down his throat. His eyes were glazed over as he looked across at Roger. Undoubtedly, he had felt the pressure on his hands as he squeezed. He saw Roger's lips form three silent words.

"I swear to give my soul to you, my bonded, for eternity. I swear to hold you against me as long as you will allow, and stay by your side in whatever world there is beyond. I swear to treat you as a part of me, to do what I must to allow you to feel you may never fear me or have to avoid me. I will gladly follow the name the gods choose for us, and to be known by that name until my undying soul is extinguished."

Jack spoke this vow in a wavering voice, tears starting to build up in his eyes. When Roger spoke, they had already begun to roll down his own cheeks. He repeated the vow, stopping once or twice to catch his breath.

Samneric untied the bonds and, taking the recently scrubbed hunting knives, slashed each one's left wrist. This was done horizontally, as vertical slashes were the deadlier kind. Jack pressed against the flesh of his upper arm, urging the blood to flow. Using his forefinger, he gathered this blood in his hands, and painted stripes across Roger's face, down his nose, almost eyebrow-shaped on his forehead, and in stripes along his jaw. Roger traced Jack's eyes in blood, painting the lids and lips, making the lines that traced his cheeks as delicate as he could. They pulled each other close with their arms, embracing, but not allowing faces to touch, less they smear. The twins stepped back into the group of boys.

"We have now been tied together," Jack announced, not taking his eyes from Roger's face, "Tomorrow, we will return to camp to announce the name the gods have chosen for us. This name will come to us when we become one physically as we now are spiritually. Now, we will let the celebration begin." He turned to the group of solemn boys and grinned. They instantly grinned back and let out a whoop of excitement and raced towards the fire, already beginning to sing. Jack and Roger followed behind them, eyes glancing at each other from below lowered lashes. After the boys were finished dancing, they would feast on the reptile that had been stored in the cool water of a nearby cave, keeping it from rotting. They would hunt after that, every single one of them, no matter how old or sick. The beasts they would kill that night would serve as food for the boys while Jack and Roger were absent for the week. He would not allow them to hunt without him or Roger, as they always lead the hunt. Any who dare try would be punished.

Jack pulled himself from Roger's grasp and jumped into the ring of boys that ran around the fire. They jumped on top of him occasionally, especially the smaller ones, making him carry them upon his backs. When he laughed, his teeth were white against his blood-red lips.