For There Are A Few Good Men Left
Title: For There Are A Few Good Men Left
Summary: Jack drops a single stone into the river.
Characters: Jack, Ben, Ilana, Miles, Hurley
Rating: PG
Notes: My "in the end fic" @ jjverse. I made it AU-ish to keep Ilana alive. :)
This is for the ones we lost. Jack drops a single stone into the creek, but no one is there to see. He pretends they're nearby, pretends they can hear him. But no one is there.
There are a few left, scattered around. Ben and Ilana on the beach, making a life for themselves in the most impossible ways. Miles in the middle of the jungle, haunted by the dead that have been buried for centuries, making his way from one side of the island to the other. And Hurley, hidden away in the shadows, whispering to ghosts, starving himself and looking different each time Jack stumbles on him.
But none of them are there to see the stone fall in the water.
It's fine, Jack mutters, names coming to him in dreams, numbers in his nightmares. Richard is never there. Not when he needs him. Sometimes he appears, too early in the morning for Jack to care.
You'll bring people.
Jacob would want it that way. Richard shakes his head. They don't have to say it, but they know. It's a bad idea. It’s a terrible idea.
Jacob did it that way. And now he's dead. Jack doesn't respond to that. What could he say?
It feels empty without them all. Sawyer, Kate...the people he loved and the people he never got to know as well as he should have. Somewhere, below the horizon, he knows there’s a graveyard he'll never get to visit, but he pays his homage along the shoreline, letting the water soak his clothes, feeling the salt leave and briny layer on his skin. It is here he finds Ben, one afternoon, fishing.
I didn't know you could fish.
Neither did I. They say little else, and Jack silently follows him to his camp where Ilana stands, defiant hand on her hip. I found him, Ben says quickly, deferring her anger. And Jack knows: he's not welcome here. He moves to leave, but Ben stops him. You could...stay. If you wanted. Ilana says nothing - just pulls out another tin plate and hands it to him.
I hope you like fish, she snaps, dropping it onto the plate quickly, not meeting his eyes. He knows why: he'll never be her Jacob. He'll never replace him, ever. But he goes to them, sometimes, and eats in silence with them. Some days he watches from a distance. He stays away at night, to give them their privacy, but there are times when he has to know how they live together. How, in this world that was once Jacob’s, they can love.
For Jack, people are confusing. In this, he knows, he is very much like Jacob. He forgets now that he was one them, once.
This is for the memories we lost, he says quietly one afternoon, dropping a single stone into the creek once more. And still, no one is there to see it.
In the end, he will always remember them alone.
Summary: Jack drops a single stone into the river.
Characters: Jack, Ben, Ilana, Miles, Hurley
Rating: PG
Notes: My "in the end fic" @ jjverse. I made it AU-ish to keep Ilana alive. :)
This is for the ones we lost. Jack drops a single stone into the creek, but no one is there to see. He pretends they're nearby, pretends they can hear him. But no one is there.
There are a few left, scattered around. Ben and Ilana on the beach, making a life for themselves in the most impossible ways. Miles in the middle of the jungle, haunted by the dead that have been buried for centuries, making his way from one side of the island to the other. And Hurley, hidden away in the shadows, whispering to ghosts, starving himself and looking different each time Jack stumbles on him.
But none of them are there to see the stone fall in the water.
It's fine, Jack mutters, names coming to him in dreams, numbers in his nightmares. Richard is never there. Not when he needs him. Sometimes he appears, too early in the morning for Jack to care.
You'll bring people.
Jacob would want it that way. Richard shakes his head. They don't have to say it, but they know. It's a bad idea. It’s a terrible idea.
Jacob did it that way. And now he's dead. Jack doesn't respond to that. What could he say?
It feels empty without them all. Sawyer, Kate...the people he loved and the people he never got to know as well as he should have. Somewhere, below the horizon, he knows there’s a graveyard he'll never get to visit, but he pays his homage along the shoreline, letting the water soak his clothes, feeling the salt leave and briny layer on his skin. It is here he finds Ben, one afternoon, fishing.
I didn't know you could fish.
Neither did I. They say little else, and Jack silently follows him to his camp where Ilana stands, defiant hand on her hip. I found him, Ben says quickly, deferring her anger. And Jack knows: he's not welcome here. He moves to leave, but Ben stops him. You could...stay. If you wanted. Ilana says nothing - just pulls out another tin plate and hands it to him.
I hope you like fish, she snaps, dropping it onto the plate quickly, not meeting his eyes. He knows why: he'll never be her Jacob. He'll never replace him, ever. But he goes to them, sometimes, and eats in silence with them. Some days he watches from a distance. He stays away at night, to give them their privacy, but there are times when he has to know how they live together. How, in this world that was once Jacob’s, they can love.
For Jack, people are confusing. In this, he knows, he is very much like Jacob. He forgets now that he was one them, once.
This is for the memories we lost, he says quietly one afternoon, dropping a single stone into the creek once more. And still, no one is there to see it.
In the end, he will always remember them alone.