Author's Note: I know it's been forever. And I'm really really sorry. I just haven't been motivated. That sounds horrible, I know. And I'm sorry. Basically this is the second to last chapter. The last chapter is practically done, but it was too long if I put them together. (11 pages on 10 times new roman) so I cut it into two. The next one will probably be up next week. It'll be even sooner, if I get a lot of reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Flies. Sir William Golding, that bastard, thought of the idea first. I just take the boys and make them kiss. XD

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Jack knew something was bothering Ralph, and that's why he was in the bush to begin with, not because he found Jack's knife. The knife was a complete accident. Jack hadn't even told anyone he'd lost it!

Jack looked over at Ralph. He was walking with his head down, concentrating on something far past walking. He looked so worried, and Jack knew there wasn't much he could do to help. Not while Roger was running around. Jack reached out and touched Ralph's hand. Ralph smiled and looked over at Jack as their hands weaved together.

"I swear, Ralph, anything you want to say, I'll listen." Jack's thumb moved over the back of Ralph's hand. "I'll always be here for you."

Ralph smiled, "thank you, Jack." But he didn't say anymore. He didn't go into whatever was bothering him. Jack frowned, feeling worthless.

They got to the stream, but Ralph didn't let go of Jack's hand, and run up for a drink, like Jack through he would. Instead, he held on tighter, staring ahead like there were a thousand Roger's standing in front of them, that Jack couldn't see.

"Ralph—?" Jack reached his hand out, to touch Ralph, but as his hand came closer, Ralph turned and faced Jack.

"What do you think will happen to us?"

Jack grinned and held out his arms, Ralph let go of Jack's hands and hugged him tightly around the stomach. Jack put his arms around Ralph's back and held him. "Well, we'll all be sitting around one day, bored. You'll be about twenty-five, I'll be twenty-six. Then every nuke in the world will explode and we'll die of radiation poisoning from the ones that go off target and come near us."

Ralph laughed. "What a comfort."

Jack laughed with him, glad to hear Ralph's laughter again, and kissed the boy's forehead.

"I meant you and me."

Jack looked confused for a second. "What do you mean, you and me? We'll always be together, won't we?" Jack moved back, looking at Ralph in the face, worried.

"I meant… what if we got rescued… what would happen to us then?" Ralph's eyes showed no hope. It was a completely hypothetical question.

"I would beg you to come to school with me. I mean, sure Roger goes to school with me… but he wouldn't try anything back home. Plus Maurice and Robert and the rest of the choir would be there. I would hate to be away from you for so long… only seeing you when we weren't in school."

Ralph smiled and rested his head on Jack's shoulder, looking up at him.

"And we'd be best friends. It'd be just like it is now."

"But what about your parents? What about the school teachers and everyone?"

"What about them?" Jack rubbed Ralph's back, slowly.

"What… Wouldn't they… You know. People don't just go around Britain hugging like this, Jack." Ralph blushed softly, closing his eyes.

"I don't care. They will when we get back." Jack said, grinning. "It's not their business. It's nobody's business but ours… if they want to make it their business, then let them. It doesn't matter. Nothing they could say would ever change how I felt about you."

Jack felt Ralph's arms go tighter around his waist and he pressed his chest against the other boys, putting his chin on his shoulder, looking past him. And in that second, they were happy.

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Maurice stood outside the Chief's cave, failing his arms around, silently, while Robert and the other boys snickered behind him. "Just go in, Maurice."

"If he and Ralph aren't out yet, I don't want to walk in on them doing things…" Maurice stopped flailing, but he moved his head closer, to see if he could hear anything.

"I don't hear anything."

"But I'm sure they'd be quiet." Robert added, quietly.

"Why would they be quiet… you think you'd be able to hear one of them screaming a mile away." Maurice grinned and looked back at the boys, who giggled profusely, except Robert who blushed at some inside joke the other boys were unaware of.

Maurice started to hyperventilate himself, closing his eyes, bringing his hands up to his face to hold his hair back, seductively, out of the way. "Jack, Jack." He moaned, falling to his knees as the boys howled with laughter.

Suddenly, they saw the leaves start to move and Maurice looked up, expecting to see the red head to emerge and strangle him again, but instead, out walked Sam.

Sam looked different. His body glistened with water that hadn't dried yet, his hair wet and pushed back behind his eyes. Everything about him seemed like it was washed away.

"Oh, Sammy." Maurice said, sighing with relief. "How've you be—"

"Don't call me Sammy." Sam frowned as he walked past the group of boys, and into the hut, with his brother.

"Hmm." Maurice said, slowly, but not thinking much of it.

"Well go see if Jack's awake. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Bill said.

"But what if him and Ralph are mid-snog? I don't want to be strangled again." Maurice exclaimed, putting his hands to his throat and choking himself.

The boys laughed again, but something was different. They realized Jack was violent, regardless of the lover. Ralph hadn't changed Jack. He merely suppressed the beast. But the beast was still in there, waiting for something to strike out at.

Maurice suddenly got bored with strangling himself and sat down. Many of the boys followed his example. "So, what's going through your mind, boys? How are you feeling?"

Most of them shrugged but Robert spoke up. "I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Roger."

Maurice laughed, but the rest of the boys were silent. "There's no reason to fear Roger. You're not Ralph."

The words were true, but it wasn't much of a comfort to most of the boys.

"Roger only likes people he can manipulate. Well, really, isn't it the same for all of us? You think Sammy would be my boyfriend? No. Because what he says won't affect me." Maurice knew Sam was listening. "I don't care what anyone says, outside the Chief and Robert."

Robert blushed, from being included.

"'Sides. Sammy loves someone els—"

Suddenly a rock smashed against the cave, next to Maurice and his eyes grew wide. Sam stood, in a defense possession outside the hut. "Shut up. You don't know anything. You don't understand."

The boys were quiet. Sam picked up another rock. "You don't know what it's like to have someone all your life… and then just abandon you one day for an asshole who beats the living shit out of him. You don't understand." He threw the rock, missing again, but Maurice knew he missed on purpose. "So don't talk about what you can't understand."

In a second, Sam was in the hut again, leaving the boys stunned in front of Jack's cave.

"What's with the gathering?" Jack asked, grinning, his hand snaked around Ralph's waist. "You forget to invite your Chief to the party?"

They all shook their heads, and Jack knew something was wrong. Ralph felt it had to do with Roger, but really, what didn't have to do with Roger these days?

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"Eric, Eric, my darling brother." Sam wasn't really sure if Eric was asleep or not, but he honestly didn't care. "You're free now. Free like a bird." Sam dropped to his knees and ran his fingers over his brother's chest.

"What are you doing?" Eric asked, dryly.

"I'm starting our new life together." Sam said, grinning. Eric had an obvious look of confusion on his face. "Don't worry, Eric. It'll all make sense soon." Sam giggled and curled up in the corner, closing his eyes, drifting to sleep.

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"What happened?" Jack demanded, staring at Maurice. Maurice avoided eye contact. He didn't want to say. It wasn't fair of Jack to ask, and Maurice didn't feel like it was his place to say, anyway. After all, he didn't understand.

"Sam…" Bill started out.

"I don't understand." Maurice said slowly. "And neither do you."

Jack was taken back, and he looked at Ralph, who shrugged. Not one boy on the island knew everything that was going on. Only Ralph and Roger knew of their escapade, only Maurice knew where Robert's ticklish spot was, and only Jack knew about the weird dream he had last night.

And in that dream, a small-ish boy chased him and fought with him, until he finally tackled him, and started to slowly, painfully torture him to death. And at the second, he was saved by Eric, of all people, as he ran up screaming. "They're here!"

But Jack was sure his dream was irrelevant.

A ping of guilt went through everybody, at the secrets they'd kept from each other. They were guilty, yes, but still had no intentions of telling one another. To feel better in their own insecurities, many of the boys got closer. Robert was sitting between Maurice's legs, with Maurice's arms wrapped over his shoulders. Jack had pulled Ralph by the barely existing anymore belt loop on his practically ruined shorts, making the blonde boy closer.

And in the tent, Sam subconsciously reached out, and touched Eric's hand.

The silence dragged on, long and awkward. Every boy wanted to break it, but nobody knew how. It wasn't until the group outside saw Eric walk out of the hut, for the first time in what seemed like forever, rubbing his wrists and stretching like he'd woken up from a long nap. Needless to say, many of the boys gawked at him.

Eric just smiled. It was a new day for him. He was going to go find Roger, and beg him to kiss him; beg him to beat him. He just needed to be held. "Hey guys."

The hunters all looked at other members of their own group, before looking back at Eric. It was Ralph who replied, after breaking away from Jack's steal grip he had on his waist, that he walked up to Eric and said, "Hey, how you feeling?"

Eric watched Ralph approach, his eyes, again on the scar. That damned scar. When Ralph stopped in front of him, Eric brought out one of his hands, and ran his finger over it. Ralph winced, but didn't move away, even though he knew the rest of the hunters were watching the two boys.

"Sorry about that." Eric whispered, but every boy heard it. "I know Roger can be… mean." Eric grabbed Ralph's hand, and put the other boys hand over Eric's chest, his whole torso seemed to be a giant wound. "But that's how he shows affection. Don't be mad at him."

Eric smiled, dropped Ralph's hand and walked off into the woods.

Ralph hardly had time to let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding before he felt Jack press up against him from behind, his hands wrapped around Ralph's stomach and his chin on Ralph's shoulder.

"That's love." The boys heard Bill say. "Staying with someone who beats you… Eric must really love Roger."

Henry shrugged. "He's like a beaten wife. It's not healthy for someone to be that submissive."

Unknown to the hunters, Jack was biting lightly at Ralph's shoulder. But the biting soon got harder, and was followed by kisses and licks. Ralph melted into Jack's touch.

"Love."

"Love is not taking a beating, Bill!"

Ralph groaned quietly, leaning his head to the side so Jack had better access to his neck. "C'mere." Ralph said, before he lost all control, and he grabbed Jack's hand and began to force him into the woods, toward the mountain that the Beast had been on. However, they hardly got a quarter of the way there, before Ralph shoved Jack against a tree, and forcefully pressed his lips to the others.

Bill frowned, folding his arms. "Yeah? Well I bet you Ralph would stick with Jack if Jack did what Roger did to Eric…"

Henry shook his head. "He wouldn't because Jack loves Ralph. You don't beat someone you love."

"Oh, God. Ralph…" Jack gasped, tilting his head back, as Ralph made similar bites and kisses to Jack's neck. Jack forced Ralph's head up, and soon the two were joined at the mouth, tongue's fighting for dominance. Ralph pulled away, just as Jack was starting to enjoy himself, causing the other boy to growl, and Ralph bit again, on Jack's shoulder, only this time, he caused him to bleed.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Ralph licked at the blood, Jack's eyes closed, panting heavily, and tilting his head back. His hands were tangled in the blonde mess that Ralph called hair, keeping the boy close to the bleeding wound. Ralph's tongue toyed with the flesh, trying to work more blood out.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"ROGER!" Eric's voice cut through the forest.

The whole forest stood still with the new voice. Ralph pulled away from Jack, grabbing the boy's hand as Jack took off running. Jack gripped Ralph's hand tighter as he ran past his partner, but keeping him close, afraid of a potential ambush.

When he jumped into the clearing, he realized he was unarmed. He growled. Why was he always walking around unarmed, lately? However, when he looked down, at Eric's bloody body, he realized he wasn't going to need a spear anymore.

Eric was sobbing and smacking a bloody… something. This was even bloodier than when Sam had brought back Eric after Roger had gotten a hold of him. The amount of blood was only equal to the amount that had been spilled on Simon's cut up body, or Piggy's mashed in skull. This was a dead human body.

This was Roger.

Jack fell to his knees, as Eric stopped smacking Roger across the face. "Wake up! Roger, please wake up!" But Eric knew that it was hopeless. He sprawled out across Roger's bare and bloody chest, sobbing like he'd just heard the worse news of his life.

Jack looked into Roger's lifeless eyes as he brushed a strand of hair from dead boy's face. The body cold already and the thought of Roger so cold choked Jack up. For a second, Jack forgot about what Roger had done to him, from the constant attention seeking to trying to attack Ralph, all Jack wanted was for his friend to be alive, and be by his side again.

Roger had always been there. Roger had saved Jack so many times, Jack hardly knew where he would be without him. He wouldn't be on this island, he wouldn't be sitting here; he wouldn't be alive.

Jack knew that he'd had some close calls in life. From random accidents of almost falling, and being snatched out of the air by Roger at the last second, to that one time last summer when Jack mistook Vicodin for Tylenol and took too many of them, and Roger called the hospital when he found Jack unconscious a few minutes later.

He'd be dead, if it weren't for the bloody corpse in front of him.

Jack took Roger's hand in his, and he felt like crying. It wasn't fair. He was just a boy; he was only twelve years old. Why did nature… or god… or whatever was up there take Roger away from him at such a young age?

It wasn't until he saw Ralph sit down beside him, with silent tears streaming down his face, that he realized what Roger had done in his short little life time. He was responsible, souly, for one murder, and one of the attackers at another. He'd forced two boys into… god knows what, and who knew if there were more boys, who just didn't want to talk about it. He'd also tortured at least half a dozen kids, just to watch them squirm. He was a monster. A monster that was better off dead. Jack reached up and brushed away Ralph's tears as Ralph looked at him.

How could he? How could Ralph cry over the dead body of someone who tied him to a tree, cut a hole in his chest, and force him to do things with him?

Ralph knew it was more, even if Jack didn't. Jack didn't know about that time that they kissed. It wasn't love, it wasn't even lust. It was forced. And Ralph knew that Roger only wanted to be accepted. He only wanted Jack. And he never could get what he wanted, he was dead now.

Ralph saw pity in Roger that nobody else could see, because he knew what it was like, to be on the outside looking in. He'd spent a long enough time alone on the island. But Roger, Roger had to deal with being alone all the time, around his friends and family. A little sadist wouldn't be accepted in normal society.

"Who?" Was all Ralph could say, causing Jack and Eric too look over at him.

Neither boy knew. It was obvious it wasn't any of those three, and who else was there to hate Roger besides the beat on current lover, the murdered's ex-lover/wildest fantasy, and the rape victim?

Suddenly it dawned on all of them. The jealous person who loved Roger's current lover. "Sam." They all muttered quietly, and had another moment of silence, looking down at Roger.

It was Jack who stood up first, unable to take the sight of his ex-best friend's mangled body anymore, and the sound of his boyfriend and Eric crying next to him. He knew, being a chief, what he had to do. Sam had to be punished. But what could he do? He couldn't just take Sam away from Eric, either. It wouldn't be fair, and it wasn't his place.

Ralph stood up and hugged Jack's arm tightly. Jack, so use to the affection now, didn't even look up, let alone blush.

"Wh… What are we going to do, Chief?" Eric said, quietly, looking up as he held Roger's hand tightly, like he would wake up and squeeze his hand back, reassuringly at any second.

Jack sighed. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Eric wiped his tears on the back of his hand, drying off his face, trying to seem like a grown-up, and not a child. "What's fair is fair. Roger got what came to him, for killing Piggy, so it's only fair Sam gets what's coming to him."

Ralph made a pained noise, obviously against killing anyone, and Jack looked mildly surprised. "A-are you sure, Eric? There could be another way…"

"No. It's the only way. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, Jack. Sam deserves it."

"And what of us?" Ralph spoke quietly, burying his face into the nape of Jack's neck as Jack wrapped his strong arms around the blonde boy. "Then someone will just kill us for killing Sam."

Eric smiled, causing the other two boys to shiver. The look of longing, hopefulness, and sadism that was in his eyes looked way too similar to Roger's.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

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I'm sorry again. Remember: I love reviews.