AN: Thank you so much for all the encouragement from you guys. I couldn't figure out for the longest time what the man in black would actually want Jacob to do since he can't hurt Jacob physically, but when I considered how LOST often has religious parallels, that opened up a realm of possibilities. I also inserted a little backstory theory of my own, since the cannon hasn't given one yet.

2.

Not one ray of sunlight could penetrate the thick, windowless cave walls, so Ricardo never had much sense of the time when he awoke. That morning, only the sudden thud of wood against wood startled him into consciousness. Peering outside his quarters, he glimpsed Jacob dropping one more log on the fireplace and then probing the flames with a stick. True to form, Jacob did not waver one moment, preparing to meet with the man in black like it was business as usual.

Stepping outside his quarter, Ricardo asked, "What must you do for him?"

Jacob looked up at the Spaniard with a blank expression. "See you tonight, Ricardus." Standing to his feet, Jacob exited the room, clearly not interested on shedding any light on the mysterious deal that he had arranged with the other man.

Staring after Jacob, Ricardo considered why Jacob had entered Ilana's room. Why would the little girl, born on the Black Rock and saved by Jacob when the shiparrived at the Island, be involved in Jacob and the smoke monster's agreement? Besides fearing child's fate, Ricardo would miss her company with Jacob absent as well.

Normally Jacob did not bother himself with the survival of those who were young enough to require care from an adult, but even Ricardo recognized the swiftness with which Ilana grasped new concepts, and Jacob had even taught her about the loom to occupy her with the tapestries. Ricardo suspected that she would later serve a greater purpose than just weaving when she aged further, and observed how Jacob pulled her back when she tread too close to the sea or chastised her if she wandered near the jungle on her own. However, Ricardo could not decide whether Jacob's protectiveness stemmed from genuine affection or just recognition of her future uses.

"I don't want to go," Ilana insisted, sticking out her lower lip. A single look from Jacob hushed her complaints at once, proving her remarkable obedience to him even at such a young age. Neither Jacob nor Ricardo knew how old she was, but she could not have seen more than five or six years, and only a few months at the Island. Clutching her tiny hand, Jacob led her out of the cave, and Ricardo could only watch their retreating backs.

Curiosity gripped Ricardo, as did a growing dread for what Jacob's actions suggested. As if drawn by a force other than himself, he waited until Jacob and Ilana were only spots on the horizon before venturing onto the beach and following their path into the jungle, even as he feared the consequences of defying Jacob. Though the clicks of the smoke monster were nowhere to be heard, Ricardo still could not shake the suspicion of the smoke monster in the trees that loomed over him as he tread carefully on the dry leaves beneath his feet, keeping an eye on Jacob and Ilana so he could vanish at a moment's notice if necessary. At one point, Jacob stopped walking, and every muscle in Ricardo's body froze. But Jacob must have decided he was imagining another's presence, for he soon continued.

After a walk so long that Ricardo would not have been surprised to find himself at the opposite end of the Island, Jacob stopped before a temple larger than any structure that Ricardo had seen there before. In front of the temple sat a stone altar that reminded Ricardo of the one at the Catholic church in which he grew up. Ilana's eyes darted from right to left as she studied the new area, absorbing the sights around her with a quiet concentration unusual for a young child.

Then the familiar noises of the smoke monster clicked and rattled round them, and Ricardo shut his eyes tightly and willed himself not to even twitch. Before closing his eyes, though, he caught the sight of Jacob. Shoulders squared and a slight smile on his face, he somehow radiated the definition of composure.

Without warning, Ilana yelped and tried to jerk her hand away, but Jacob glared her into silence. Startled by the sudden cry, Ricardo's eyes popped open, and he realized that Jacob's hands clasped hers so tightly that his knuckles had whitened.

"And here I thought you weren't coming."

Stepping out of the wild mass of trees, the dark-haired man approached Jacob. Though now they stood so close that their faces nearly touched, Jacob didn't balk in the slightest. "I never go back on my word."

"Of course. And you didn't tell the other one?"

"Didn't mention a single detail."

No one spoke for such a long time that Ilana's patience wore thin and she scuffed her shoes against the hard-packed dirt. The instant she moved, Ricardo noticed Jacob grimace ever so slightly.

"So tell me, Jacob—do you actually care for the girl herself, or do you only concern yourself with what she can do for you?"

Cocking his head to one side, Jacob answered, "That doesn't have anything to do with this."

"It doesn't have everything to do with this? Or do you really just see it as an obligation, and nothing more? Put her on the altar, Jacob."

Scooping her up in his arms, Jacob lifted Ilana above the altar before gently placing her on it. Gesturing for her to lie down, he guided her arms and legs so that she lay stretched out on the stone slab. Her large dark eyes blinked up at him, brown ringlets dancing faintly around her face in the light wind, but she said nothing. Had Jacob prepared her for whatever was to come, Ricardo wondered, or did she know nothing of the horrifying situation? Though Ricardo still had no way to discern the intentions of the two men (if they were men at all), he could easy guess if allowed his mind to dwell on it, but prayed to whatever god oversaw the Island that circumstances were not as dismal as they appeared.

Apparently, Jacob hoped the same. "Look, you just told me to bring her along. Why do you want her here?" When the man in black tossed a knife in Jacob's direction, he snatched it out of the air and inspected it as if looking for a trap. "You said this had to do with me."

"Don't play stupid, Jacob. You knew exactly what I meant when I told you where to meet me."

"It doesn't matter one way or another, because I'm not going to do it."

Arching one eyebrow in a challenge, the other man said, "You gave me your word."

"Before I knew that this had to do with her. If you have me go through with this, that would be—"

"A breach of the rules? I'll take the consequences. No matter what you do, I'm still trapped here, and no additional punishment could compare to that."

Jacob's eyes shifted from the child to the smoke monster in human form, from Ilana to the one who hated the girl's caretaker so much that he would have her killed in an effort to grieve Jacob in whatever way he could. Somehow, Ilana's face betrayed no emotion, and she did not knit her brow in confusion or tremble out of fear. In this way she completely imitated Jacob, who finally turned to the girl with the knife at his side.

Waiting all this time for either Jacob or Ilana to protest the scene unfolding before him, Ricardo slowly understood that once Jacob had given his word, there was no going back; as for Ilana, she would no doubt lay there silently even if Jacob held the knife over her at that moment. If anyone were to object, only Ricardo could be the one to do it, for whatever reason. As he watched, Ricardo's musings became clearer with the growing realization of what he had to do. But, after all, there remained nothing more that he could do—was he expected to reveal himself to the smoke monster, the guiltless murderer, who in fact prepared to force a man to "sacrifice" an innocent child? Obviously, there was nothing for Ricardo to do, precisely the reason that Jacob had told him not to come in the first place. Surely he had foreseen Ricardo's desire to interfere, but to interrupt this process would accomplish nothing, and to try to convince himself of anything else was foolish, wishful thinking.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Jacob said. "Kill this one, kill a thousand, you're still here. Looks like there's not much point to all this."

Forgetting to fear the outcome if anyone heard him, Ricardo began to pace the ground as Jacob and the other man continued to exchange words. I've made my decision, he told himself, and no harm will come to me. But the thought was not a triumphant one. Quite the opposite, the more he thought about it. Walking back and forth could no more distract his racing mind from the little girl than the sea from returning to the shore, and the tide of remorse haunted him with uncertainty. Despite all efforts, he soon wrestled with his choice in that solemn exchange between two sides of himself. There, he argued with one that said what he wanted to stifle, wrestled with its idea, listened to what he did not want to hear, and yielded to the mysterious power commanding that he reconsider.

After all, Jacob had even guaranteed Ricardo immunity from the smoke monster entirely. For that reason, and none other, did Ilana lay on that altar at all.

"Stop stalling, Jacob, and just get it over with." The man smirked, pleased to see Jacob delay so long. "Or get on your knees and beg me to come up with something else."

This time, Jacob raised the knife without hesitation. Had anyone who had not known him witnessed this display, they would not have suspected that any emotion plagued him at all. Still, his lips quivered, and his forehead dripped with sweat. But watching Jacob's eyes, which gazed steadily into Ilana's, Ricardo knew with utmost certainty that Jacob intended to carry out this horrible act, no matter how much he did not wish to.

"¡Basta ya!" shouted Ricardo, running up to the altar just as the knife descended. Seizing Jacob's arm, Ricardo pushed it back and then turned to grab Ilana. Pressing her to him, he said, "Only by killing me will you get her back, and that is no longer possible. Find something else for Jacob to do that does not involve the girl."

The man in black narrowed his eyes, face twisted in rage. "I can hardly hurt him," he said, glaring at Jacob. "Get away from her." But he could hardly make any threats, having already given his word that he would not harm Ricardo.

"What would you have accomplished in killing a child?"

When he responded, the man in black looked to his counterpart, breathing quickly as his anger visibly rose. "I wanted to see you beg, Jacob. And mark my words, I will get that much before I leave! You try to act like these people are your playthings—and maybe they are—but I'll find one you care about, and make you destroy them."

With a shrug, Jacob said, "I guess we'll see." Their faces reflected the opposite of one another, the dark-haired man trembling with fury he could do nothing with, while Jacob slouched nonchalantly, eyelids drooping as if he were tired. "What do you want me to do now?"

"Get out of my sight, Jacob." A second later, the other man dissolved into a cloud of black smoke that hovered over them, waiting for Jacob to leave.

Jacob picked Ilana up and set her back on the ground. "You heard him, Ricardus." Taking Ilana's hand again, Jacob led her away from the temple and back into the jungle. This time Jacob had actually invited him to follow, and Ricardo wanted to escape the smoke monster as quickly as possible. But Ricardo still paused a moment before venturing after them, anticipating Jacob's anger for interfering when told to stay away completely.

However, Jacob said nothing for the entirety of the walk back to the shelter. The three walked in awkward silence, Jacob quiet as usual, but Ilana unusually so. Although she could listen to others for hours on end, she and Ricardo often spoke when they had the chance. As for Jacob, Ricardo could only assume that he must want to wait until the smoke monster was out of earshot to yell.

But even when they reached the cave, Jacob only entered his private chambers without a word to either of them. Lacking anything else to do, Ricardo sat in the main room. Rocking in Jacob's chair and staring at the tapestry in progress, Ricardo mulled over the implications of Jacob's actions until he noticed Ilana spinning thread on a small table to the side.

Despite her blank expression, reminiscent of Jacob's, Ricardo decided he should at least say something to her. After all, lying on an altar while a surrogate father held a knife over one's head would be enough to shake an adult. "I am sorry that you had to go through that."

Studying the cord intensely, Ilana said, "What?"

Louder this time, he said, "I am sorry that you had to—"

"I heard you, but why are you sorry?"

"Well, you must have been terrified. No child should have to face what you have been through."

One side of her mouth turned up in a tiny smile. "I wasn't scared."

"How could you not fear what might happen to you?"

To Ricardo's surprise, this time she laughed, the sound bouncing off the cave walls. "Jacob wouldn't let me get hurt. He knew you were coming. Of course he couldn't tell you to, because the other man told him not to, but he knew you'd wanna see what was going on."

Eyes wide, Ricardo demanded, "He told you this?" If it were so, then perhaps this was all part of some grand scheme—wasn't everything, on this Island?—and no harm had been done. In fact, Jacob might even be pleased that Ricardo had unknowingly fit so well into his plan.

"No. Ouch!" Having just stabbed herself with the needle on accident, Ilana sucked on the tip of her index finger. With a sigh, she returned to the thread and continued, "He tells me a lot of things, though. Secrets."

"Secrets?"

She grinned and glanced up at Ricardo. "I can't tell you, or Jacob won't tell me anymore. But he says I'm safe as long as he's alive, and he can't die."

Nodding slowly, Ricardo reminded himself that children trusted so much more quickly than adults. Perhaps that explained her unwavering belief in Jacob, regardless of her young age. But if Jacob had expected—no, intended for Ricardo to follow them, then why had Jacob appeared so anxious, even afraid, the previous night?

"I guess I was a little scared, just in case you actually didn't come. Jacob said not to worry, that he told you to and you would never disobey him, but you took a long time. We heard you coming, but you didn't say anything for a long time. Don't tell Jacob, but…." Ilana lowered her voice to a whisper. "He looked really scared. Especially yesterday, when he hadn't figured out a plan and he thought he might really have too…." She spoke the words in awe, as if astonished that anything could rattle Jacob. "The other man would say it's because Jacob just needs me for his plans later, but he doesn't know anything. That's why he's always so mad. I know more than he does." She laughed again, as if without a care in the world.

Ricardo stared at her, marveling at the complete and utter belief she had in Jacob, even when he stood over her with a knife.

That night when Jacob emerged to eat with them, Ricardo expected either an explanation or complete silence. But instead, Jacob started off the meal by saying to Ricardo, "I should really teach you how to use that loom. No use to you sitting around here waiting for others to come."

"When will the others be here?" said Ilana, cutting a piece of fish. She spoke the word "others" with strange familiarity, having heard so much from Jacob about things to come that she nearly knew them already.

"In good time, Ilana."

"May I ask a question?" said Ricardo, hoping to discover more about the events of that day—how much had Jacob carefully orchestrated, why couldn't Ilana tell Ricardo what to do since Jacob couldn't inform Ricardo himself…and more than anything, he wanted to know if Jacob had genuinely feared for Ilana's life, or just worried for his future plans if Ilana was killed. Not that he could ask that outright, of course, but perhaps through the course of conversation, an answer would make itself clear.

Jacob tapped his lower lip in consideration and then shook his head. "Not today, Ricardus."