As always, huge thanks to my reviewers! Your reviews were so kind and encouraging this time. I hope ff.net will work better soon, so that I can finally upload.

@Bagheera: Funny. My name was inspired by my cat whom I named after – naturally - Kipling.

Note: Lately this story has become something that I never even dreamt it would be : political. While 'Lord of the flies' showed the fall of mankind and society, my story is about re-establishing it. That's so positive.... and I always believed myself a realist.. if not a pessimist.

But that doesn't mean I wouldn't agree with Golding's message. I just think that both sides are possible. Falling – and rising.

11 Rise

"You're too nervous."

"I'm not!"

Ralph tried to massage Jack's tense shoulders but was only rewarded with an annoyed grunt.

"After all it's me who'll have to talk in front of a crowd that once tried to lynch him!"

"You wanted to! And by the way, it's me who'll be lynched this time, if you'll fail."

"Nobody will lynch anybody."

"Shameless optimist!"

"Violence fanatic!"

"..."

They we're sitting on the hill, in front of Jack's hut, watching the sun rise higher, waiting for noon. Jack had sent Maurice, Robert and some littluns out to tell everybody that a great assembly would take place on the mountain at noon. It was true, Jack was nervous. He was a man of action, not of talk, and naturally he didn't trust in talk as much as he would have in action. If it hadn't been Ralph who would talk, he'd never have given his okay to this.

Ralph knew too well how much Jack's decision meant. It meant not only that Jack trusted him, totally, it also meant that he would give back the power he had once taken from Ralph. Of course, Jack would remain the unquestioned leader of the group. But he would, from the moment on that Ralph raised his voice to the assembly, have to share his power with him. To Ralph this showed more than the trust and friendship, if not love, that had grown between them. It showed how Jack himself had grown.

Somewhere near them, in one of the smaller huts that stood on the hill, the twins waited with Roger for his trial. Jack remembered well their identical smiles of grim satisfaction at Roger's downfall. And he wondered, what the look on their faces would be, if it was him. When they would judge Roger today, they would not only punish him for trying to kill Ralph. It would also be the other deeds.. killing, torturing.. Things that he himself had done. But he would not be accused. He would be the one to accuse. He knew this wasn't right – but he also felt no guilt.

He looked at Ralph, who was sitting next to him in the dry grass, his knees drawn to his chest and his long hair playing around his shoulders. His eyes were resting on the horizon, far away in day-dreaming. He didn't look frail or weak. His still too thin frame wasn't bent by the years of madness anymore, his eyes were calm, his face grazed by a small smile. Like if that inner glow, that light of charisma had found it's way back into him. That unbreakable optimism of their early days. And yet not. That optimism had been built on the hope for rescue, on innocence and naivety. But this new thing was faith in oneself. Ralph knew what the world, what people could be. He hadn't forgotten. But he still had faith.

As the sun rose higher, more and more boys came to the mountaintop. A new place for assembly had been build here in the last years. A round of stones and an area of soft grass, ideal for sitting. When everyone seemed to have arrived, Jack and Ralph went there and Jack mounted the biggest stone that was his. He held his hand out for Ralph, who took it and then they were both standing in front of the whole group. People were excited and wondering what was going on. Not only was the second time in two days that whole group had been called together, it was also Ralph standing next to Jack on the throne. Some of then also noticed that three of them were absent : Roger and the twins.

Jack looked around them. Then he raised his hands and everyone fell instantly silent. He waited a moment longer, and then he spoke to them.

"I have called an assembly."

"This will be a very important assembly. Very important! Today we will decide a lot of things. We will talk a lot. You'll listen, and you'll be quiet. This is important for every single one on this island. For you." He made a pause, looking at each of them, trying to make this clear.

"And you will not only listen to me. You will listen to Ralph, just like you'd listen to me!"

Astonishment.

"Listen to him. Listen carefully, and decide." He looked at Ralph, then he settled down so that Ralph was the only one still standing. Ralph looked at them. They were very silent, and looking forward to what he had to say. He took a deep breath.

Tension.

"Yesterday," he began, "..yesterday I was asked to tell a story. Let me tell you a story. A story of a group of children, stranded lonely on an island. They were not normal children. They were very brave, and they managed to survive without any help. They were brave. They made fire, they hunted wild animals. They didn't give up. This group of children was you." He smiled at them, and they smiled back, for they had been praised.

"You were very brave, and no one would ever question this. But there are things, things that happened on this island, that should not have happened. Do you remember a boy named Simon? Simon is dead. Has any, any of you ever been hurt by him? Has he ever said a bad word, or done a bad thing? No. Simon is dead. Simon is dead, because we all, every single one of us killed him." A painful silence descended over them, when he had finally said the unspeakable. They were staring at him, horrified, with open mouths and wide eyes. And he was staring back, bitterly, but also understanding them.

"Nothing can bring Simon back. There was another one of us, one called Piggy. Piggy is also dead. Now, who has killed Piggy?" No one answered him, they all looked away, or to the ground.

"Roger," someone finally said. Ralph nodded.

"Roger, indeed. Has anyone tried to prevent Piggy's dead? No? No one? How brave you were. You killed the enemy. You killed the beast. You made it bleed, the evil beast." He paused for breath, noticing how agitated he had become. Their faces were masks of terror. Even Jack was shocked by the drastic words.

"I'm sorry," he said into the silence.

"I'm sorry that I had to tell this story. And I want to never have to tell it again. And therefore we need rules."

They looked at him. Did they understand? They looked rather blank, still to shaken to react.

"We need rules. Of course we already have rules, but these aren't enough. You!" He picked a random littlun who startled and then grinned nervously.

"You. Has anyone since you were on the island ever done something to you that wasn't right?"

"Umm.."

"Has anyone ever hurt you, or treated you badly, or has somebody taken something that belonged to you?" Ralph asked the boy, trying to look friendly. Finally the boy brightened, like someone in school who has solved an especially difficult task.

"Once... once Henry threw a bone at my head!"

"But only because you hit me with a stick!"

"I didn't!"

"You did! It bled!"

"No!"

The two were screaming at each other like little children. Ralph smiled despite the serious situation.

"Okay! Now calm down, please!" he said loudly and they sat down again, glaring at each other.

He picked another boy, who happened to be Robert.

"Has anyone ever hurt you?"

"Well... not really.. there was this one time though.. when I was the prey in a game..."

Ralph turned around, picked another one.

"You?"

"Roger beat me. And he broke my spear!"

"You?"

"Percival stole my socks!"

"You?"

"Um.. once.. once.. once the Chief..."

"Okay. It seems most of you have once been hurt or anything. I guess you reacted somehow?"

"I gave it back!"

"Yes, I made him pay!"

"I ran away!"

"We had a fight!"

Ralph nodded and waited until they had calmed down again.

"But wouldn't it be much better, if every time something like that happened, you could go to Jack, or to me, or to someone else who is responsible for it, and tell them and solve your problem? Wouldn't it be better if things like these wouldn't even happen at all, because everyone knows that they are forbidden?"

Nodding.

"Wouldn't it be better if we had rules, and laws?"

Sounds of agreement.

"Of course we can't have laws for everything. But there is one law, that we need, before all others." He looked at Jack, who stood up. He looked very serious.

"Nobody," Jack said " nobody shall be killed."

Ralph stood at Jack's side, feeling pride and anticipation.

"Whoever agrees should raise his hand!"

They were looking at each other, at their leader, waiting for anyone to begin with raising his hand. Naturally none of them wanted to be first. Birds were singing. The sun was hot. Jack felt sweat running down his bare back. And then, almost in unison, so that later no one was sure who had been the first, they raised their hands. They raised their hands, everyone, until finally Ralph and Jack raised their hands, too.

At was as if everyone felt that this moment was special, almost historical. And at last, the glamour and joy of it made them laugh and cheer together. Even Jack and Ralph were grinning and laughing with relief.

"You did great!"

"No, you did great!"

"We both did great."

They decided to have Roger's trial the next day, for the matter was far too dark for the happy boys to discuss now. When it seemed like everyone was already going, Jack suddenly clapped his hands, surprising everyone, Ralph included.

"Wait! There is another thing we have to tell you!"

Jack grinned wickedly and then he grabbed the unsuspecting Ralph and kissed him, hard. Everyone stared.