Dishonesty - Lost - Esau/Jacob
Title: Dishonesty
Pairing: Esau/Jacob, Charlie/Claire
Word Count: 2219
Rating: PG
A/N: Written with a 10_per_genre prompt. Doesn't really fit with canon.
Summary: Esau brings Charlie back from the dead to rescue Claire. His motivation, if he's honest, is mostly to mess with Jacob's plans.
He brings him back because he is bored. It is every bit as simple as that.
Esau sits at the edge of the clearing on the stump of a tree he felled for the occasion. His arms rest upon his legs and he watches as the water spills from Charlie's mouth. It is coughed out of his lungs onto the green jungle floor, salty sea water even though they are miles from the ocean. Charlie's blond hair is still dark with dead water and his clothes are soaked. They cling to his skin. Esau could have put him into something new, but he's a god, not a fashion designer. Bringing someone back from the death is enough of a miracle for one day.
Charlie rolls onto his side, coughing. His hand presses flat against the ground and he sucks fresh air into his lungs, nearly choking himself in the process. His eyes are wide and panicked. Esau watches without intervening, his head tilted to the side in disinterested curiosity. Humans are bizarre creatures, of that much he is certain.
"What the - " Charlie splutters. Esau imagines that there would be some creative swearing going on right now if the human could gather the air to fuel it. "What-"
"You're dead," Esau tells him. He likes the splutter of indignation that comes out in response.
"No I'm not," Charlie argues.
He is clearly no great debater.
"You, Charlie, were a sacrifice the island demanded." As a catchphrase, Esau thinks it's not too bad. He'll hold to it for a little while longer, until the next generation of Jacob's play-mates come up with something new. "How does that feel?"
"It feels pretty bloody rubbish," Charlie answers, as if grumpiness alone can chase death away. If that were the case, Esau thinks that humanity would have achieved immortality by now - and the island really would be screwed over. "Who the hell are you? And where am I?"
"You're on the island," Esau says, "and I'm a friend."
"'Friend'. Right." Charlie doesn't sound as if he believes him. Esau would be offended if he gave a damn. In front of him, Charlie begins to shakily get to his feet. "Where are Claire and Aaron?"
Esau smiles. He knows that it is a smirk but that doesn't make him stop. "That's why you're here, actually. There's a man on this island. He's taken Claire hostage."
Claire is tucked away safely where Esau has no hope of reaching her. He hopes that Charlie might have more luck than he does - because anything that can take a follower from Jacob's side is alright with him.
"Hostage?!" Charlie says. He sounds as if he might explode. It would be highly inconvenient if Esau had to bring him back to life again because of this.
"She's safe," Esau sighs at him. "I need you to rescue her for me. Go." He waves an absent-minded hand in the right direction and offers no more advice. Either this will work, or it won't. The outcome of this particular play matters little in the grand scheme of things, for him. His is a long game - but, for them, it is mortal. It is a matter of life and death.
He watches Charlie stumble away on newly reawakened legs, and he heaves a bored sigh. After a few thousand years, immortality begins to drag - there are only a limited number of ways of playing this particular game.
He's an expert at them all.
*
He can feel the charge on the air long before Jacob casually wanders into his presence. It's enough of a forewarning that Esau could easily vacate the area if he wanted to - but that's the point. He doesn't want to. He stays in place with his back against a tree as he sits on the ground with his lunch, the juices of sweet fruits making his fingers sticky.
Jacob smiles when he sees him and Esau returns the favour. It's a kind way of bearing their teeth.
"What are you up to?" Jacob asks.
It isn't an accusation; it doesn't have that kind of weight behind it. Esau is always 'up to' something or other and it is always something that Jacob will not like. The push and pull of their relationship never ends.
"I'm having lunch," Esau answers. He doesn't usually eat. It's such a human thing, something that he used to look down upon Jacob for indulging in. From the way that Jacob's brow furrows, he remembers. "Don't worry. It isn't poisoned."
"We both know that wouldn't work."
"1732, wasn't it?" He remembers it fondly, although the dates tend to blur. Centuries ago, he had watched with his head tilted to the side as Jacob gagged and choked on his poisoned fish. Death hadn't come, but it had given Esau ten minutes of entertainment all the same.
Jacob takes a seat on the ground in front of him, cross-legged and at ease. He accepts an apple when Esau throws it to him.
"Charlie Pace is alive," Jacob says. "Would you have something to do with that?"
The smile on his face is close to genuine. This dance ought to come to an end soon, but Esau knows that it won't. He and Jacob will stay locked together like this for eternity, never winning or losing the war. The stakes become meaningless when there are no consequences either way.
"I felt sorry for him," Esau says. "That's all."
They both know that he feels little empathy for Jacob's humans at all; he takes pleasure in picking them off, one by one, and he has allowed countless others to die on the island. There is nothing different about Charlie, really. If anything, he is even less worthy than some of the others who have been and gone. In Jacob's eyes, certainly, Esau knows he is no Richard.
"If he takes Claire, we're going to have a problem," Jacob says.
It is Esau's turn to smile. "You mean we don't already?" he asks, as innocent and naive as it is possible for a god to sound.
Jacob takes a bite from his apple and eats it slowly, taking his time. His eyes twinkle with amusement, and there is a threat on his face. It's almost enough to make Esau feel alive. "If anything happens to Claire, I'm going to have to get angry," Jacob says.
If he thinks that will be enough to make Esau return Charlie to the ocean, then it is proof that he still doesn't understand Esau at all. "And I wouldn't like you when you're angry," Esau quotes with a smile. Even gods read comic books.
Jacob holds eye contact with Esau at all times. They are both stubborn enough that neither one wants to look away first. "I hope we don't have to find out," Jacob says.
Curiosity flares and it sounds like a challenge to Esau's ears. He wants to push Jacob until he breaks; he wants to see how violent the outcome will be.
*
Charlie and Claire find a home in caves far from the beach, where the light is hazy and the water in the stream that trickles by is cool and fresh. Claire sits likes a queen with her back against the cold stone wall. Her hands are in her lap and she watches Charlie with a dazed smile on her face.
"Something is wrong with her," Charlie says, looking over his shoulder. Esau can see the twitching tension in all of Charlie's limbs, restless and worried, but he pays it little attention. "Jacob did something."
While that is undoubtedly true, Esau imagines that it is nothing to worry about. What Jacob does to his chosen ones is nothing short of kind compared to how Esau prefers to treat his warriors. "She's alive," Esau says. He struggles not to roll his eyes. "Isn't that enough?"
Judging solely from Charlie's exasperated expression, Esau gathers that, no, it is not enough at all.
Humans are endlessly frustrating, he thinks as he reluctantly begins to help.
*
"Where is she?" Jacob demands, cornering him at the edge of a cliff.
Esau is seated at the very precipice, his legs hanging over the sharp drop. He peers over his shoulder, squinting in the sunlight, and he smiles. "She's safe," he answers. He can tell that his vagueness irritates his companion from the heavy sound of his sigh.
He gestures to the spot beside him and Jacob takes a seat. They sit with no distance between them, arms pressing together comfortably. After an eternity, human concepts like personal space mean nothing.
"She's with the boy," Esau tells him. "She's happy. Isn't that what you want? Happiness for them?"
He tilts his head to the side to allow Jacob to get on with it when Jacob rests his head against Esau's shoulder. His hair tickles against Esau's neck. "She was one of mine," he whispers mournfully.
A lonely god. Esau would feel sorry for him if he wasn't too busy feeling resentful. He is not enough for Jacob. He never has been.
"She belongs with the other humans - with the boy." Humans are not welcome on his island, but damned if Jacob is able to accept that. It's the main sticking point between them, the central reason that they cannot get along. "You would ruin her."
Jacob opens his mouth as if to argue, but he seems to think better of it. They lapse into comfortable silence and Esau swings his legs back and forth over the cliff side. It is a long drop, and on ordinary days he would be tempted to give Jacob a small shove off the edge. It wouldn't kill him - centuries of experimentation have caused him to resign himself to a search for a true loophole - but it would be amusing all the same. Today is different. Today, they are both tired and worn out. It is time for a brief truce.
The sun sets and they don't move. It feels peaceful, like it had before humanity invaded.
It won't last.
For tonight, it is enough.
*
He stops protecting Claire and Charlie the following day, no longer shading their location from Jacob. If asked, he will say that he grew bored with them. He will say that they were more trouble than they were worth and he had other, better, bigger concerns.
He certainly won't admit that it was because of Jacob's open pain.
He returns to the caves in the evening to find that they are empty. No traces remain of the couple he had allowed to carve a home there. Even the blankets and belongings that he had grudgingly provided for them are now absent. Esau takes a few slow paces into the cave, looking around it with a sense of disinterest. The air is cool and fresh.
"I let them go," Jacob says. Esau turns to find him sitting near the cave entrance, his back against the stone. He is in the same position that Claire had been while Charlie struggled to look after her. Misery hangs on his expression. "I had to."
"They're no longer on the island," Esau observes. He can't sense them anyway. Jacob truly has freed them.
He would be shocked, if he hadn't manipulated the events himself.
"It was the right thing to do," he reassures Jacob, taking several easy steps towards him. He crouches down in front of Jacob with a serene smile on his face. "They didn't belong here."
Technically speaking, Charlie belongs to the dead and Claire belongs with her son. Their actions have unsettled the natural balance of the universe and Esau knows it will not take long for it to course-correct. It isn't his concern.
"Don't you get lonely?" Jacob asks, looking up at him.
Esau tilts his head to the side as if the word is new to him. "I have the island," he explains. He has a world all of his own, utterly perfect, and he has Jacob to play with, torment and comfort for all eternity. "You have Richard."
Loyal, immortal, annoying Richard. He has proven as impossible to kill as Jacob himself, and Esau has adapted by simply ignoring his presence. He is like an irritating fly, buzzing in his ear, but Esau has discovered that his only available strategy is to pretend that he is not there.
"I have you," Jacob adds, but he phrases it like a question. They are gods; they should speak with no uncertainty. They should speak and it becomes so.
When it comes to each other, the universe is uncertain and unsteady. The answers are fluid and prone to change.
Esau's smile is a small, smug thing. "Yes," he says. "You do." Better or worse, sickness and health, life, death and everything that comes after. They are linked regardless of what Esau tries to do. Jacob's relief is clear on his face, and Esau knows that it ought to make him feel angry and bitter to see it on his enemy's face. He ought to want to crush every trace of positive emotion that dares to surface, but in this case he relents.
He moves until he is sitting at Jacob's side, their shoulders brushing together. Their breathing matches. The air is cool and the island is calm.
Esau allows Jacob to call a silent ceasefire, a temporary truce.
He is peaceful for now.
He knows it won't last for long.
Pairing: Esau/Jacob, Charlie/Claire
Word Count: 2219
Rating: PG
A/N: Written with a 10_per_genre prompt. Doesn't really fit with canon.
Summary: Esau brings Charlie back from the dead to rescue Claire. His motivation, if he's honest, is mostly to mess with Jacob's plans.
He brings him back because he is bored. It is every bit as simple as that.
Esau sits at the edge of the clearing on the stump of a tree he felled for the occasion. His arms rest upon his legs and he watches as the water spills from Charlie's mouth. It is coughed out of his lungs onto the green jungle floor, salty sea water even though they are miles from the ocean. Charlie's blond hair is still dark with dead water and his clothes are soaked. They cling to his skin. Esau could have put him into something new, but he's a god, not a fashion designer. Bringing someone back from the death is enough of a miracle for one day.
Charlie rolls onto his side, coughing. His hand presses flat against the ground and he sucks fresh air into his lungs, nearly choking himself in the process. His eyes are wide and panicked. Esau watches without intervening, his head tilted to the side in disinterested curiosity. Humans are bizarre creatures, of that much he is certain.
"What the - " Charlie splutters. Esau imagines that there would be some creative swearing going on right now if the human could gather the air to fuel it. "What-"
"You're dead," Esau tells him. He likes the splutter of indignation that comes out in response.
"No I'm not," Charlie argues.
He is clearly no great debater.
"You, Charlie, were a sacrifice the island demanded." As a catchphrase, Esau thinks it's not too bad. He'll hold to it for a little while longer, until the next generation of Jacob's play-mates come up with something new. "How does that feel?"
"It feels pretty bloody rubbish," Charlie answers, as if grumpiness alone can chase death away. If that were the case, Esau thinks that humanity would have achieved immortality by now - and the island really would be screwed over. "Who the hell are you? And where am I?"
"You're on the island," Esau says, "and I'm a friend."
"'Friend'. Right." Charlie doesn't sound as if he believes him. Esau would be offended if he gave a damn. In front of him, Charlie begins to shakily get to his feet. "Where are Claire and Aaron?"
Esau smiles. He knows that it is a smirk but that doesn't make him stop. "That's why you're here, actually. There's a man on this island. He's taken Claire hostage."
Claire is tucked away safely where Esau has no hope of reaching her. He hopes that Charlie might have more luck than he does - because anything that can take a follower from Jacob's side is alright with him.
"Hostage?!" Charlie says. He sounds as if he might explode. It would be highly inconvenient if Esau had to bring him back to life again because of this.
"She's safe," Esau sighs at him. "I need you to rescue her for me. Go." He waves an absent-minded hand in the right direction and offers no more advice. Either this will work, or it won't. The outcome of this particular play matters little in the grand scheme of things, for him. His is a long game - but, for them, it is mortal. It is a matter of life and death.
He watches Charlie stumble away on newly reawakened legs, and he heaves a bored sigh. After a few thousand years, immortality begins to drag - there are only a limited number of ways of playing this particular game.
He's an expert at them all.
*
He can feel the charge on the air long before Jacob casually wanders into his presence. It's enough of a forewarning that Esau could easily vacate the area if he wanted to - but that's the point. He doesn't want to. He stays in place with his back against a tree as he sits on the ground with his lunch, the juices of sweet fruits making his fingers sticky.
Jacob smiles when he sees him and Esau returns the favour. It's a kind way of bearing their teeth.
"What are you up to?" Jacob asks.
It isn't an accusation; it doesn't have that kind of weight behind it. Esau is always 'up to' something or other and it is always something that Jacob will not like. The push and pull of their relationship never ends.
"I'm having lunch," Esau answers. He doesn't usually eat. It's such a human thing, something that he used to look down upon Jacob for indulging in. From the way that Jacob's brow furrows, he remembers. "Don't worry. It isn't poisoned."
"We both know that wouldn't work."
"1732, wasn't it?" He remembers it fondly, although the dates tend to blur. Centuries ago, he had watched with his head tilted to the side as Jacob gagged and choked on his poisoned fish. Death hadn't come, but it had given Esau ten minutes of entertainment all the same.
Jacob takes a seat on the ground in front of him, cross-legged and at ease. He accepts an apple when Esau throws it to him.
"Charlie Pace is alive," Jacob says. "Would you have something to do with that?"
The smile on his face is close to genuine. This dance ought to come to an end soon, but Esau knows that it won't. He and Jacob will stay locked together like this for eternity, never winning or losing the war. The stakes become meaningless when there are no consequences either way.
"I felt sorry for him," Esau says. "That's all."
They both know that he feels little empathy for Jacob's humans at all; he takes pleasure in picking them off, one by one, and he has allowed countless others to die on the island. There is nothing different about Charlie, really. If anything, he is even less worthy than some of the others who have been and gone. In Jacob's eyes, certainly, Esau knows he is no Richard.
"If he takes Claire, we're going to have a problem," Jacob says.
It is Esau's turn to smile. "You mean we don't already?" he asks, as innocent and naive as it is possible for a god to sound.
Jacob takes a bite from his apple and eats it slowly, taking his time. His eyes twinkle with amusement, and there is a threat on his face. It's almost enough to make Esau feel alive. "If anything happens to Claire, I'm going to have to get angry," Jacob says.
If he thinks that will be enough to make Esau return Charlie to the ocean, then it is proof that he still doesn't understand Esau at all. "And I wouldn't like you when you're angry," Esau quotes with a smile. Even gods read comic books.
Jacob holds eye contact with Esau at all times. They are both stubborn enough that neither one wants to look away first. "I hope we don't have to find out," Jacob says.
Curiosity flares and it sounds like a challenge to Esau's ears. He wants to push Jacob until he breaks; he wants to see how violent the outcome will be.
*
Charlie and Claire find a home in caves far from the beach, where the light is hazy and the water in the stream that trickles by is cool and fresh. Claire sits likes a queen with her back against the cold stone wall. Her hands are in her lap and she watches Charlie with a dazed smile on her face.
"Something is wrong with her," Charlie says, looking over his shoulder. Esau can see the twitching tension in all of Charlie's limbs, restless and worried, but he pays it little attention. "Jacob did something."
While that is undoubtedly true, Esau imagines that it is nothing to worry about. What Jacob does to his chosen ones is nothing short of kind compared to how Esau prefers to treat his warriors. "She's alive," Esau says. He struggles not to roll his eyes. "Isn't that enough?"
Judging solely from Charlie's exasperated expression, Esau gathers that, no, it is not enough at all.
Humans are endlessly frustrating, he thinks as he reluctantly begins to help.
*
"Where is she?" Jacob demands, cornering him at the edge of a cliff.
Esau is seated at the very precipice, his legs hanging over the sharp drop. He peers over his shoulder, squinting in the sunlight, and he smiles. "She's safe," he answers. He can tell that his vagueness irritates his companion from the heavy sound of his sigh.
He gestures to the spot beside him and Jacob takes a seat. They sit with no distance between them, arms pressing together comfortably. After an eternity, human concepts like personal space mean nothing.
"She's with the boy," Esau tells him. "She's happy. Isn't that what you want? Happiness for them?"
He tilts his head to the side to allow Jacob to get on with it when Jacob rests his head against Esau's shoulder. His hair tickles against Esau's neck. "She was one of mine," he whispers mournfully.
A lonely god. Esau would feel sorry for him if he wasn't too busy feeling resentful. He is not enough for Jacob. He never has been.
"She belongs with the other humans - with the boy." Humans are not welcome on his island, but damned if Jacob is able to accept that. It's the main sticking point between them, the central reason that they cannot get along. "You would ruin her."
Jacob opens his mouth as if to argue, but he seems to think better of it. They lapse into comfortable silence and Esau swings his legs back and forth over the cliff side. It is a long drop, and on ordinary days he would be tempted to give Jacob a small shove off the edge. It wouldn't kill him - centuries of experimentation have caused him to resign himself to a search for a true loophole - but it would be amusing all the same. Today is different. Today, they are both tired and worn out. It is time for a brief truce.
The sun sets and they don't move. It feels peaceful, like it had before humanity invaded.
It won't last.
For tonight, it is enough.
*
He stops protecting Claire and Charlie the following day, no longer shading their location from Jacob. If asked, he will say that he grew bored with them. He will say that they were more trouble than they were worth and he had other, better, bigger concerns.
He certainly won't admit that it was because of Jacob's open pain.
He returns to the caves in the evening to find that they are empty. No traces remain of the couple he had allowed to carve a home there. Even the blankets and belongings that he had grudgingly provided for them are now absent. Esau takes a few slow paces into the cave, looking around it with a sense of disinterest. The air is cool and fresh.
"I let them go," Jacob says. Esau turns to find him sitting near the cave entrance, his back against the stone. He is in the same position that Claire had been while Charlie struggled to look after her. Misery hangs on his expression. "I had to."
"They're no longer on the island," Esau observes. He can't sense them anyway. Jacob truly has freed them.
He would be shocked, if he hadn't manipulated the events himself.
"It was the right thing to do," he reassures Jacob, taking several easy steps towards him. He crouches down in front of Jacob with a serene smile on his face. "They didn't belong here."
Technically speaking, Charlie belongs to the dead and Claire belongs with her son. Their actions have unsettled the natural balance of the universe and Esau knows it will not take long for it to course-correct. It isn't his concern.
"Don't you get lonely?" Jacob asks, looking up at him.
Esau tilts his head to the side as if the word is new to him. "I have the island," he explains. He has a world all of his own, utterly perfect, and he has Jacob to play with, torment and comfort for all eternity. "You have Richard."
Loyal, immortal, annoying Richard. He has proven as impossible to kill as Jacob himself, and Esau has adapted by simply ignoring his presence. He is like an irritating fly, buzzing in his ear, but Esau has discovered that his only available strategy is to pretend that he is not there.
"I have you," Jacob adds, but he phrases it like a question. They are gods; they should speak with no uncertainty. They should speak and it becomes so.
When it comes to each other, the universe is uncertain and unsteady. The answers are fluid and prone to change.
Esau's smile is a small, smug thing. "Yes," he says. "You do." Better or worse, sickness and health, life, death and everything that comes after. They are linked regardless of what Esau tries to do. Jacob's relief is clear on his face, and Esau knows that it ought to make him feel angry and bitter to see it on his enemy's face. He ought to want to crush every trace of positive emotion that dares to surface, but in this case he relents.
He moves until he is sitting at Jacob's side, their shoulders brushing together. Their breathing matches. The air is cool and the island is calm.
Esau allows Jacob to call a silent ceasefire, a temporary truce.
He is peaceful for now.
He knows it won't last for long.