Forbidden Fruit
Characters: "Esau", Claire
Rating: PG13
Words: 1581
Summary: Jacob's nemesis (since we're calling him Esau in fandom, I've called him that here) wants yet another thing he can't have---Claire.
A/N: Written for the Luau at lostsqueeand the prompt "mythology". I'm trying to go for the Persephone and Hades myth. And the whole Jacob/Esau thing is bonus myth, I guess. I have no idea where this came from. Also, in order to understand this, I should say that I've always assumed that Smokey=Christian=Esau, and in this story, I've extrapolated from that theory.
It was the main issue of course, but the island wasn’t the only thing they fought over, not by a long shot. There were smaller battles, all part of the larger one.
Where Jacob’s ‘job’, as it were, was to bring people to the island, it was his job was to get rid of them. The living belonged to Jacob, the dead to Esau. Small comfort, given how unlikely it was for Jacob’s arrivals to bring corpses along with them.
There had been something about Jacob’s manner that morning on the beach, something knowing and smug. More knowing and smug than usual. It was as though he had known. Known who was coming, known how special he’d be. They’d each wanted him as a possession and an ally.
The battle for Richard waged for years, although it went mostly unnoticed by the prize himself. Fire and light and darkness and water and all manner of imaginative ruses played a part. They’d wooed him with everything they had. In the end, though, Jacob had won. He gave Richard what was supposed to be a gift, as if immortality---life---were a gift.
But by winning, Jacob had lost. By giving Richard a part of himself and tethering them together like two halves of a whole, he was no longer the impregnable force he had always been.
Jacob had won, but he’d also paved the way for the ultimate loss.
***************************************************
The only thing to do after the battle for Richard was to wipe the smug grin off of Jacob’s face. The battle for the statue was the only thing more savage than the battle for Richard. In the end, Esau won, but at a terrible price. In order to create the thunderous black smoke that ultimately reduced the statue to nothing but a foot, he had had to give up his body, his solid form. He now had only the dead to choose from, and the smoke.
It was a win and a loss, and only time would tell which one was greater. Esau had deprived the island of children; the only way for more people to come and desecrate the island would be to come from the outside. In the meanwhile, all the women’s days were numbered.
***************************************************
The battle for Claire began the night of the plane crashed.
Of all the people who had come over the years, of all the people Jacob had brought, she represented everything Esau was against, everything he hated, everything that was Jacob. Her bright golden hair was the same shade as his. Her wide quick smile was the mirror of his, except somehow on her it was intoxicating rather than infuriating. Even her full, round belly, so picture-perfect pregnant, as if someone had put a watermelon under her tank top, represented hope, birth, faith in humanity---everything Jacob promoted and Esau had destroyed. Her very presence spelled defeat, for his job was to keep people away, not want to find ways to keep them.
Of all the fruit on the island, she was the most forbidden, but also the one he wanted more than he had ever thought himself capable.
He watched as she ate. The baby was dead inside of her, Esau could tell. It was his job to tell. For the first time ever, he didn’t want something to die, because he wanted her unharmed. Hopefully Jacob would find a way to have the Burke woman deal with her before it was too late.
But then Jacob appeared. In the firelight, on the first night, no one would ask any questions or wonder later on about the blonde man who was no longer in the camp. Esau watched and roared in the jungle, uprooting trees in anger and jealousy as Jacob touched her belly and revived the child.
Once Jacob touched someone, he or she was his. But the question was: did that make Claire Jacob’s, or only the child?
***************************************************
As he had told Jacob time and time again, it was always the same. New arrivals fought first with older inhabitants, then with themselves, and finally with those who came after them. They could never get along, never achieve the progress Jacob was always talking about. All they did was fight. It wasn’t upsetting; it was boring. Predictable and stupid and pathetic.
The Oceanic group was even more convincing proof of this than earlier groups. Just the mere hint of newer arrivals was enough to split them into warring camps. Even better was the fact that the addict was dead. He watched hungrily, and with satisfaction as Claire went with Locke, went with him to the place where the freighter folk were most likely to go. His two prizes were together, easier to keep an eye on.
Everything was going according to plan.
***************************************************
The explosion was tremendous, earth-shattering. It was the kind of explosion no one could survive. For the first time in centuries, he felt fear. Claire was dead, but she would not be his.
The stupid blonde oaf was running towards the burning embers, too late to save her.
But, to Esau’s surprise, she actually appeared to be fine.
That should have been a sign.
***************************************************
It grew more and more complicated. Locke was on the move and a play needed to be made---Esau’s first play in 50 years of this long game. He couldn’t miss this appointment. And yet she, too, was on the move. He needed to get her away from the hearer; Miles may have turned down the offer, but he might still beJacob’s man, knowingly or not. Esau was glad when the conman scared him away, forcing him to keep his distance.
There would be time. It was she who made the choice of his new form, the only one he could appear as in order to get her away from her companions. Christian Shepherd was one of only a couple of forms he was allowed to use. It took awhile, and a lot of lies, but he was finally able to convince her that Aaron would be in danger as long as they were together and that for the good of her baby, it would be best to leave him. And then her hand was in his, following him wherever he wanted to take her. She’d touched him and was now under his spell, but she still wasn’t completely his. Not yet.
“What are you doing here, dad?”
“To a cabin. To a place where you’ll be safe.”
She was still in a daze and not herself. That explosion had done something to her, changed her. It was probably why he’d been able to convince her. It was probably why she’d been willing to talk to her father in the first place. But she was finally with him, and he didn’t want to think of reasons why this was anything other than success.
“How did you get here?” She asked too many questions.
“I’ve been here for a long time. Long before you came. Don’t think about it.”
***************************************************
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He kept her with him in the cabin, channeling everything he had sensed from Christian to keep her talking. Soon, her friends had either left on the helicopter or flashed into the past. All was going according to plan: Locke was on his way to 1954 and Claire was with him. All there was to do for three years was to wait for Locke’s return and to enjoy his conquest.
However, there were two problems.
The first was that she still wouldn’t eat. It was as though someone had told her not to take food from strangers. And it was imperative that she eat, and eat from his hand. But she always somehow managed to find fruit on her own.
The second problem was that, as the days went by, it was becoming less and less satisfying to be with her as Christian. Although being her father had been the only way to get her, the last thing Esau wanted was to be her father. He wanted her to look at him in another way. He wanted to stop talking about her childhood and how she’d secretly longed for a father.
One day, he remembered the other option. ‘Christian’ bid Claire goodbye one day, accepting all the tears and hugs and protestations that went with it.
Later that afternoon, Claire’s new companion was a priest who claimed to have been living alone in the jungle ---à la Rousseau---for years.
“You remind me so much of someone I knew, Yemi,” she kept saying. “Of a man who was on the plane with us.”
Unfortunately, a priest was just as hopeless a form for getting what he wanted as her father had been.
***************************************************
One day, Richard found them. She’d all but wasted away, continuing in her reluctance to eat. Richard regarded the priest warily and Esau wondered if he’d been warned by Jacob. There was no way to keep her, not when it was clear that the only way to get rid of Richard was to kill him in front of Claire. He watched Richard lead her away, probably to take her to Jacob. It was heartbreaking, and practically inevitable.
Like the island, he was going to take her. Jacob was always taking what was Esau’s.
However, it wouldn’t be long before Locke’s return. And then he would win for good and take everything back.
Rating: PG13
Words: 1581
Summary: Jacob's nemesis (since we're calling him Esau in fandom, I've called him that here) wants yet another thing he can't have---Claire.
A/N: Written for the Luau at lostsqueeand the prompt "mythology". I'm trying to go for the Persephone and Hades myth. And the whole Jacob/Esau thing is bonus myth, I guess. I have no idea where this came from. Also, in order to understand this, I should say that I've always assumed that Smokey=Christian=Esau, and in this story, I've extrapolated from that theory.
It was the main issue of course, but the island wasn’t the only thing they fought over, not by a long shot. There were smaller battles, all part of the larger one.
Where Jacob’s ‘job’, as it were, was to bring people to the island, it was his job was to get rid of them. The living belonged to Jacob, the dead to Esau. Small comfort, given how unlikely it was for Jacob’s arrivals to bring corpses along with them.
There had been something about Jacob’s manner that morning on the beach, something knowing and smug. More knowing and smug than usual. It was as though he had known. Known who was coming, known how special he’d be. They’d each wanted him as a possession and an ally.
The battle for Richard waged for years, although it went mostly unnoticed by the prize himself. Fire and light and darkness and water and all manner of imaginative ruses played a part. They’d wooed him with everything they had. In the end, though, Jacob had won. He gave Richard what was supposed to be a gift, as if immortality---life---were a gift.
But by winning, Jacob had lost. By giving Richard a part of himself and tethering them together like two halves of a whole, he was no longer the impregnable force he had always been.
Jacob had won, but he’d also paved the way for the ultimate loss.
***************************************************
The only thing to do after the battle for Richard was to wipe the smug grin off of Jacob’s face. The battle for the statue was the only thing more savage than the battle for Richard. In the end, Esau won, but at a terrible price. In order to create the thunderous black smoke that ultimately reduced the statue to nothing but a foot, he had had to give up his body, his solid form. He now had only the dead to choose from, and the smoke.
It was a win and a loss, and only time would tell which one was greater. Esau had deprived the island of children; the only way for more people to come and desecrate the island would be to come from the outside. In the meanwhile, all the women’s days were numbered.
***************************************************
The battle for Claire began the night of the plane crashed.
Of all the people who had come over the years, of all the people Jacob had brought, she represented everything Esau was against, everything he hated, everything that was Jacob. Her bright golden hair was the same shade as his. Her wide quick smile was the mirror of his, except somehow on her it was intoxicating rather than infuriating. Even her full, round belly, so picture-perfect pregnant, as if someone had put a watermelon under her tank top, represented hope, birth, faith in humanity---everything Jacob promoted and Esau had destroyed. Her very presence spelled defeat, for his job was to keep people away, not want to find ways to keep them.
Of all the fruit on the island, she was the most forbidden, but also the one he wanted more than he had ever thought himself capable.
He watched as she ate. The baby was dead inside of her, Esau could tell. It was his job to tell. For the first time ever, he didn’t want something to die, because he wanted her unharmed. Hopefully Jacob would find a way to have the Burke woman deal with her before it was too late.
But then Jacob appeared. In the firelight, on the first night, no one would ask any questions or wonder later on about the blonde man who was no longer in the camp. Esau watched and roared in the jungle, uprooting trees in anger and jealousy as Jacob touched her belly and revived the child.
Once Jacob touched someone, he or she was his. But the question was: did that make Claire Jacob’s, or only the child?
***************************************************
As he had told Jacob time and time again, it was always the same. New arrivals fought first with older inhabitants, then with themselves, and finally with those who came after them. They could never get along, never achieve the progress Jacob was always talking about. All they did was fight. It wasn’t upsetting; it was boring. Predictable and stupid and pathetic.
The Oceanic group was even more convincing proof of this than earlier groups. Just the mere hint of newer arrivals was enough to split them into warring camps. Even better was the fact that the addict was dead. He watched hungrily, and with satisfaction as Claire went with Locke, went with him to the place where the freighter folk were most likely to go. His two prizes were together, easier to keep an eye on.
Everything was going according to plan.
***************************************************
The explosion was tremendous, earth-shattering. It was the kind of explosion no one could survive. For the first time in centuries, he felt fear. Claire was dead, but she would not be his.
The stupid blonde oaf was running towards the burning embers, too late to save her.
But, to Esau’s surprise, she actually appeared to be fine.
That should have been a sign.
***************************************************
It grew more and more complicated. Locke was on the move and a play needed to be made---Esau’s first play in 50 years of this long game. He couldn’t miss this appointment. And yet she, too, was on the move. He needed to get her away from the hearer; Miles may have turned down the offer, but he might still beJacob’s man, knowingly or not. Esau was glad when the conman scared him away, forcing him to keep his distance.
There would be time. It was she who made the choice of his new form, the only one he could appear as in order to get her away from her companions. Christian Shepherd was one of only a couple of forms he was allowed to use. It took awhile, and a lot of lies, but he was finally able to convince her that Aaron would be in danger as long as they were together and that for the good of her baby, it would be best to leave him. And then her hand was in his, following him wherever he wanted to take her. She’d touched him and was now under his spell, but she still wasn’t completely his. Not yet.
“What are you doing here, dad?”
“To a cabin. To a place where you’ll be safe.”
She was still in a daze and not herself. That explosion had done something to her, changed her. It was probably why he’d been able to convince her. It was probably why she’d been willing to talk to her father in the first place. But she was finally with him, and he didn’t want to think of reasons why this was anything other than success.
“How did you get here?” She asked too many questions.
“I’ve been here for a long time. Long before you came. Don’t think about it.”
***************************************************
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He kept her with him in the cabin, channeling everything he had sensed from Christian to keep her talking. Soon, her friends had either left on the helicopter or flashed into the past. All was going according to plan: Locke was on his way to 1954 and Claire was with him. All there was to do for three years was to wait for Locke’s return and to enjoy his conquest.
However, there were two problems.
The first was that she still wouldn’t eat. It was as though someone had told her not to take food from strangers. And it was imperative that she eat, and eat from his hand. But she always somehow managed to find fruit on her own.
The second problem was that, as the days went by, it was becoming less and less satisfying to be with her as Christian. Although being her father had been the only way to get her, the last thing Esau wanted was to be her father. He wanted her to look at him in another way. He wanted to stop talking about her childhood and how she’d secretly longed for a father.
One day, he remembered the other option. ‘Christian’ bid Claire goodbye one day, accepting all the tears and hugs and protestations that went with it.
Later that afternoon, Claire’s new companion was a priest who claimed to have been living alone in the jungle ---à la Rousseau---for years.
“You remind me so much of someone I knew, Yemi,” she kept saying. “Of a man who was on the plane with us.”
Unfortunately, a priest was just as hopeless a form for getting what he wanted as her father had been.
***************************************************
One day, Richard found them. She’d all but wasted away, continuing in her reluctance to eat. Richard regarded the priest warily and Esau wondered if he’d been warned by Jacob. There was no way to keep her, not when it was clear that the only way to get rid of Richard was to kill him in front of Claire. He watched Richard lead her away, probably to take her to Jacob. It was heartbreaking, and practically inevitable.
Like the island, he was going to take her. Jacob was always taking what was Esau’s.
However, it wouldn’t be long before Locke’s return. And then he would win for good and take everything back.