Ralph awoke in pain. Somehow, he'd managed to roll over onto his stomach in the night, and lay on his wounds. He winced as he sat up. His eyes scanned the cave, at first not remembering where he was or why he wasn't dead.

Ralph held his head in his hands, bringing his knees to his chest. That's right. The hunters had beaten him. He'd lost.

Ralph was running through the island when he fell onto the beach. He twisted so he'd land on his back, but as soon as he was able to look up, Jack was looking down at him, grinning, with a spear to Ralph's heart. Ralph breathed heavily and closed his eyes in defeat. He waited. He waited minutes that felt like days for Jack's spear to ram through his chest.

Though he only got a couple of scratches. He couldn't even be sure Jack made those, as he thought back on it. Jack's spear was at his chest the entire time he felt the pressure and had a bruise there today, but it didn't break the skin.

'Oh yeah.' Ralph thought. 'From running through the forest… sharp twigs got me, I bet.'

A sudden noise in the corner threw Ralph back into the cave. Ralph looked up. He hadn't noticed the figure before. A body was stirring across from him, waking up. Did Jack have more prisoners? Ralph crawled closer, trying to see who it was. He didn't need to move far to see the red hair. It was Jack.

Ralph grinned. Jack was curled onto a ball on a bed made of leaves and pigs skin. He'd wiped off most of the mask with his arm, which looked funny. His breathing was slow and steady, but looking at his eyes, Ralph could tell he was dreaming.

With his guard sleeping, maybe he could make a run for it…

Ralph crawled to the front of the cave and moved the skin away to look out. Sam was starting a fire, Eric was sitting back, farther, with his back against a tree and his head held in his hands, and Roger stood over him, sharpening his stick that was sharpened on both ends. Every so often, he would prod Eric with the bottom with it. Roger never drew blood, but it always made Eric flinch.

Suddenly Roger let his knees go and slid down the tree next to Eric. Ralph could see Eric's body tense, but he didn't cry out. Sam went on without know. Roger grinned, feeling the body next to him shiver and he moved closer. Eric's eyes closed tighter and tried to stay where he was. Eric was trying not to move.

Roger took Eric's chin in his hand and turned is face, and said something in his ear, which made Eric stand up, give a small bow, and leave.

Roger went on, smugly, sharpening his stick.

There was no way Ralph could make it past Roger… Roger had radar for people sneaking away. So Ralph started to crawl back into the cave.

"What are you doing?"

Ralph looked up and saw Jack looking down at him. He didn't look angry. Mostly tired, Ralph thought. Jack grinned. "I see you're on your knees before me."

Ralph quickly stood up, getting a head rush. He moved his arms around like he was about to pass out, and Jack grabbed his arm, holding him up. "You gotta clean that off." Jack's voice was quiet and he walked out of the cave with Ralph's arm clenched in his hand.

Roger looked up once the two got outside. Ralph was protesting, trying to tell Jack that he could, in fact, walk on his own, but Jack just grinned and continued to drag Ralph by his arm.

Roger scowled.

"Where are we going, Jack?" 'Oh this is it!' Ralph thought. 'Finally! The final blow. I can be safe. I can go home. I can be with Simon and Piggy!'

Jack grinned. "We're going to wash you up, of course!"

Ralph looked confused. "Well… Doesn't your chest hurt?" Jack looked back at Ralph and Ralph nodded slowly. "Well you gotta get the sand out of it."

"Sand wouldn't be in it at all if it wasn't for y-"

"Roger." Jack interrupted. "You were on your back. It was Roger who rolled you on your stomach."

"Under who's command?" Ralph pulled his arm out of Jack's grasp, now that nobody was around to see. Jack looked back at Ralph, sighing. He'd expected this. Jack waited for Ralph to yell, to fight, to try and escape. But it his amazement, Ralph just sighed and walked toward the nearest body of water.

Neither boy spoke as they walked. Finally, they got to the stream. Jack started to wade out into it, but Ralph stayed at the edge. "What?" Jack asked.

"Why'd you bring me down here?" Ralph asked again.

"I told you already." Jack said, going under. When he came back up, he put his hair behind his ears and spit water at Ralph. "You gotta get the sand out or you might get an infection."

Ralph frowned and started to wade in; he was into his hips when he said. "Why do you care?"

Jack shrugged and came closer to Ralph, splashing water on his chest, trying to get the sand out, but not on his face to annoy him.

Ralph sat down, so the water was at his neck. Jack looked down at Ralph for a minute, before he sat down too.

Jack started to run his hands across Ralph's chest, trying to clean off the wounds. He was surprised when Ralph didn't push him away. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind him say. "Secret bathing sessions?"

Jack looked and saw that Ralph was surprised by the voice. Roger stood, leaning with his back against a tree, eating a piece of fruit.

"What's it to ya?" Jack asked.

Roger grinned. "'s nothing to me. I wanted to see if the prisoner was putting up a fuss. He put up a fight as you were leaving camp, ya know."

Jack frowned. "He's not anymore."

Roger took another bite to hide his grin. "Some slaves tend to think they're not slaves, you know, Chief. Not mine, 'course. I taught mine real good." Jack rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Next time, you might think about who you make your plaything out of." He shot a look at a bewildered Ralph before he turned and walked off, tossing the fruit behind him.

Jack muttered some angry things that Ralph couldn't hear, as he washed the clay off of his arms and face.

"That's why you're keeping me alive?" Ralph asked, sounding confused.

"Wha?" Jack said, looking at the smaller boy.

"I'm just your slave?"

"Don't listen to what Roger says." Jack kept washing himself, even though he was clean enough.

"Well am I?" Ralph demanded, standing up angrily.

Jack laughed and stood up. "Do you want to be?"

"No." Ralph said truthfully. "Well am I just your pet… your little plaything?"

Jack laughed harder. "You'd rather be my plaything?"

Ralph sighed and said. "I'd rather be your equal. I'd rather be your chief."

"Well, Ralphie. That's not going to happen any time soon." Jack giggled. Ralph frowned.

"So what am I?"

"Whatever you want to be."

Ralph didn't answer. Jack was only playing mind games. He was a pet, a slave, to Jack. But Roger had a pet too.

"Who's Roger's pet?" Ralph asked.

Jack shrugged. "He's got lots of them, I bet. People are so scared of that he could do if they protested, they let him do things."

Both boys were quiet for a few minutes before Ralph said. "Are you Roger's pet?"

Jack blushed a shade deeper than his hair. "No! Of course I'm not! I'm his Chief. I'm his superior"

Ralph laughed. "Oh. So he's your pet."

"He's not either! Me and Roger… we're not like that."

"Oh really?" Ralph giggled.

"Don't talk to me like that, or I'll give you to Roger. Let you find out what it's like to be his pet."

"Or you could just tell me." Ralph grinned again.

"Don't talk to me like that. I'm your chief. Never talk to me like that again!" Jack looked really angry, and still Ralph couldn't smile at the look. Jack looked so frustrated…

Jack stood up and shook his head like a dog, getting water off him. "Get up. We're leaving."

"What if I don't want to?"

"I'm your chief and you'll do as I say!" Jack grabbed Ralph's hair and pulled him from the water. Ralph gasped and stood up. Jack let go and stormed off.

For some reason, a reason Ralph couldn't understand, he followed Jack without force. There was something about the way Jack was acting, talking, that made him… like Jack. He liked to pick on Jack. He liked when Jack touched him.

'No.' Ralph thought. 'No it can't be. I can't like Jack.'

But as he walked Jack calm down in front of him, watching how his muscles moved with the skill of a hunter, he couldn't believe he never noticed before.

'But Jack. Jack's not like that.' Ralph thought suddenly. But then he thought of how mad he'd gotten when he accused him of Roger as being playthings. He looked embarrassed. Were Jack and Roger more than just a Chief and his second in command?

(NA: Well this is gunna be kinda long I guess. I wanna thank Moi, Ruki, and All Apologies for giving me ideas. I'll use those ideas and anymore that anyone else gives me. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, and if you review, I'll probably get motivated and put it up faster. wink wink -Tomi Sama)