lost fic: bury me in honor - jack/juliet
Title: bury me in honor
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Jack/Juliet
Word Count: 1,059
Rating: PG-13
Summary:He's never been good with trusting people. She's never been good at giving people a reason to trust her. It's a mine waiting to explode.
A/N:Starts off late S3 and jumps to post-finale. It's a culmination of many prompts/challenges. For starters, lostsquee's ficlet challenge - the prompt was saffron and archaeology. Also lostfichallenge's missing scene challenge and the sacred_20 prompt, exodus
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. Title taken from Violet Hill by Coldplay
They go through a drought not too long after Jack returns from being held captive. The make-shift wells they've made dry up, and Jack offers to make the trip to the caverns. He does this mainly because he's grown tired of his fellow castaways watching his every move around Juliet. Juliet offers to go with him. He figures it's born of the same motivations. Kate pretends she's not glaring at the both of them and Sawyer chuckles under his breath which makes Jack's hands twitch for reasons he can't quite pin down yet.
The walk there is peaceful - it always is with Juliet. She knows the value of silence, knows that Jack's mind is always racing a mile a minute and filling the space between them with words would be nothing more than filler. And Juliet is still processing her new life as part of the 815 camp. They're both enjoying the few hours they have to be themselves and not worry about how no one else approves.
Once they get to the caverns, Juliet tries to hide how impressed she is with them. Jack smiles though when she runs her hand through the cool water and starts filling the bottles. She glances to her left, ready to beckon him for help and instead catches sight of the cavern inhabitants. She raises an eyebrow.
"They were here when we got here," Jack says automatically.
"Given that they're mostly bones, I could have guessed that, Jack."
Jack bends down next to her and begins filling bottles with her. "Do you have any idea who they are?" he says, trying for casual and failing miserably.
"No," Juliet says, shaking her head. There's something about the way she dismisses the possibility that tells him she knows more than she'd like to admit.
"Are you lying?"
Juliet looks up at him, head tilted to the side as if considering the question. "Are you ever going to stop asking me that?"
Jack continues what he's doing as if they're not tiptoeing on a dangerous path. He's never been good with trusting people. She's never been good at giving people a reason to trust her. It's a mine waiting to explode.
"You didn't answer," Jack says.
"I'm not lying to you," Juliet says, glancing at the bodies and then back at her work. "Some of the older Others were stones like those around their neck though. I've never seen anyone with white or black."
Jack decides to keep pushing, mostly out of curiosity and not because he wants to know how much she'll tell him before she shuts him out. "Do you know what they're for?"
Juliet smiles. "Some of the Others think they keep evil spirits at bay. Amelia actually gave me a yellow one. I used to wear it sometimes."
"Why don't you wear it any more?"
"It went missing." Juliet looks away and Jack knows that "went missing" is just another way of saying it was stolen. Still Juliet elaborates. "Ben didn't believe in any of it. Neither did I though. I just thought they were pretty."
Jack watches as Juliet trails off, partially in her own world. He can only wonder if she's thinking about Ben or maybe Amelia and how different life was then as opposed to now. He wonders if any of it has actually changed. She's still an outsider. She still has to walk a fine line.
Juliet shakes herself from her thoughts and follows the trail of the water. "Is it really sanitary to drink water from here when it's so close to them?"
Jack stares at her for a second considering the thought. "No one's died so far."
"Well that's encouraging," Juliet says sarcastically, and the smile is back on her face, making Jack feel less guilty about pushing the whole trust issue.
As they're leaving the caverns, Juliet looks back and smiles.
"I think this would be a nice place to be buried," she says, as if it's some sort of conclusion.
Jack furrows his brow. "We'll be off this island by then."
He says it with such confidence that she has to admire the optimism that went missing from her so long ago.
---
They didn't hit a reset button. Instead they set off a bomb that threw them back to their proper time. Sayid heals somehow, but by the time they dig out Juliet, she's long gone.
When Sawyer sees her cold and lifeless, he slips away into what almost becomes a catatonic state. Kate stays with him, and Jack is too distraught to care that she does.
There was a time - so long ago - where he thought he could love her, and then she had pushed him away and used Kate as an excuse. Still he never forgot her. She was one of the major reasons he had to go back - because he promised to save her and he wanted to prove to her that he could.
Instead, he had caused her death.
"We should bury her," Miles says, rubbing at his temples, his eyes closed. Whatever he can hear, Jack doesn't think he'd want to know.
Jack nods and Kate is able to convince Sawyer that it's what's best. Sawyer is too far gone to make decisions which in Jack's mind is good because he knows what Juliet would want done - knows in his heart it hasn't changed.
He asks Jin and Hurley to bring Juliet to the caverns. Meanwhile, he goes to the Barracks. He rifles through Ben's house - through bedroom closets, shoeboxes and desk drawers until he finds what he's looking for.
The yellow stone is in a box filled with ten to fifteen companions of different colors. It feels the same in the palm of his hand as the ones he found on Adam and Eve.
When he reaches the cavern, Juliet has already been wrapped in cloth. Sawyer can barely stand, and Kate takes on most of his weight. Jack instructs them to lay her next to the other Others.
"Why here?" Sayid asks Jack because no one else seems willing to.
"It's what she wanted," Jack says simply as he lays the yellow stone on top of her heart. To himself he adds - It's about time she got something she wanted.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Jack/Juliet
Word Count: 1,059
Rating: PG-13
Summary:He's never been good with trusting people. She's never been good at giving people a reason to trust her. It's a mine waiting to explode.
A/N:Starts off late S3 and jumps to post-finale. It's a culmination of many prompts/challenges. For starters, lostsquee's ficlet challenge - the prompt was saffron and archaeology. Also lostfichallenge's missing scene challenge and the sacred_20 prompt, exodus
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. Title taken from Violet Hill by Coldplay
They go through a drought not too long after Jack returns from being held captive. The make-shift wells they've made dry up, and Jack offers to make the trip to the caverns. He does this mainly because he's grown tired of his fellow castaways watching his every move around Juliet. Juliet offers to go with him. He figures it's born of the same motivations. Kate pretends she's not glaring at the both of them and Sawyer chuckles under his breath which makes Jack's hands twitch for reasons he can't quite pin down yet.
The walk there is peaceful - it always is with Juliet. She knows the value of silence, knows that Jack's mind is always racing a mile a minute and filling the space between them with words would be nothing more than filler. And Juliet is still processing her new life as part of the 815 camp. They're both enjoying the few hours they have to be themselves and not worry about how no one else approves.
Once they get to the caverns, Juliet tries to hide how impressed she is with them. Jack smiles though when she runs her hand through the cool water and starts filling the bottles. She glances to her left, ready to beckon him for help and instead catches sight of the cavern inhabitants. She raises an eyebrow.
"They were here when we got here," Jack says automatically.
"Given that they're mostly bones, I could have guessed that, Jack."
Jack bends down next to her and begins filling bottles with her. "Do you have any idea who they are?" he says, trying for casual and failing miserably.
"No," Juliet says, shaking her head. There's something about the way she dismisses the possibility that tells him she knows more than she'd like to admit.
"Are you lying?"
Juliet looks up at him, head tilted to the side as if considering the question. "Are you ever going to stop asking me that?"
Jack continues what he's doing as if they're not tiptoeing on a dangerous path. He's never been good with trusting people. She's never been good at giving people a reason to trust her. It's a mine waiting to explode.
"You didn't answer," Jack says.
"I'm not lying to you," Juliet says, glancing at the bodies and then back at her work. "Some of the older Others were stones like those around their neck though. I've never seen anyone with white or black."
Jack decides to keep pushing, mostly out of curiosity and not because he wants to know how much she'll tell him before she shuts him out. "Do you know what they're for?"
Juliet smiles. "Some of the Others think they keep evil spirits at bay. Amelia actually gave me a yellow one. I used to wear it sometimes."
"Why don't you wear it any more?"
"It went missing." Juliet looks away and Jack knows that "went missing" is just another way of saying it was stolen. Still Juliet elaborates. "Ben didn't believe in any of it. Neither did I though. I just thought they were pretty."
Jack watches as Juliet trails off, partially in her own world. He can only wonder if she's thinking about Ben or maybe Amelia and how different life was then as opposed to now. He wonders if any of it has actually changed. She's still an outsider. She still has to walk a fine line.
Juliet shakes herself from her thoughts and follows the trail of the water. "Is it really sanitary to drink water from here when it's so close to them?"
Jack stares at her for a second considering the thought. "No one's died so far."
"Well that's encouraging," Juliet says sarcastically, and the smile is back on her face, making Jack feel less guilty about pushing the whole trust issue.
As they're leaving the caverns, Juliet looks back and smiles.
"I think this would be a nice place to be buried," she says, as if it's some sort of conclusion.
Jack furrows his brow. "We'll be off this island by then."
He says it with such confidence that she has to admire the optimism that went missing from her so long ago.
---
They didn't hit a reset button. Instead they set off a bomb that threw them back to their proper time. Sayid heals somehow, but by the time they dig out Juliet, she's long gone.
When Sawyer sees her cold and lifeless, he slips away into what almost becomes a catatonic state. Kate stays with him, and Jack is too distraught to care that she does.
There was a time - so long ago - where he thought he could love her, and then she had pushed him away and used Kate as an excuse. Still he never forgot her. She was one of the major reasons he had to go back - because he promised to save her and he wanted to prove to her that he could.
Instead, he had caused her death.
"We should bury her," Miles says, rubbing at his temples, his eyes closed. Whatever he can hear, Jack doesn't think he'd want to know.
Jack nods and Kate is able to convince Sawyer that it's what's best. Sawyer is too far gone to make decisions which in Jack's mind is good because he knows what Juliet would want done - knows in his heart it hasn't changed.
He asks Jin and Hurley to bring Juliet to the caverns. Meanwhile, he goes to the Barracks. He rifles through Ben's house - through bedroom closets, shoeboxes and desk drawers until he finds what he's looking for.
The yellow stone is in a box filled with ten to fifteen companions of different colors. It feels the same in the palm of his hand as the ones he found on Adam and Eve.
When he reaches the cavern, Juliet has already been wrapped in cloth. Sawyer can barely stand, and Kate takes on most of his weight. Jack instructs them to lay her next to the other Others.
"Why here?" Sayid asks Jack because no one else seems willing to.
"It's what she wanted," Jack says simply as he lays the yellow stone on top of her heart. To himself he adds - It's about time she got something she wanted.