Chapter Text
It was midday. Jack and his hunters went out, Samneric were still at Castel Rock on lookout, and Ralph was currently gathering up all the littluns.
"Okay, this is everyone," Ralph stated. "Let's get going."
They left Castle Rock and walked along the part of the beach where they used to hold meetings. Ralph sat down, and all the littluns sat around him.
Ralph started speaking, "Your new chief told me that I had to enforce the rules, so you know what that means? No more taking a dump in random places!"
The littluns started laughing, but Ralph spoke again, and they quieted down.
"We have a designated laboratory, use it. I've been telling you all this for weeks now, and none of you are listening. You guys elected me as chief, and you didn't do anything that I said, but now that Jack is chief, surely you'll listen to him, right?"
The littluns looked at each other.
Ralph spoke again, "I've been trying to keep things civil, but none of you are listening. You do know that Jack isn't as nice as I was, don't you? If Jack catches you guys doing something you're not supposed to, it won't end well.
Ralph's expression dropped, and he whispered under his breath while the littluns couldn't hear him, "I don't want anyone else to die."
A littlun raised his hand, and Ralph let him speak. "Ralph, why is Jack the new chief? I thought we were all staying as two separate groups, one with you and one with Jack."
Another littlun chimed in, "Ralph, did you lose in a fight against Jack? Is that why we are part of his group now?"
The littluns started laughing at thoughts of Jack beating Ralph in a fight.
Ralph sighed, "There was no fight, it's a complicated thing that doesn't concern you littluns." Ralph got back on track to what he was talking about, "As I was saying, use the laboratory unless you want Jack to get you. Also, you littluns are big enough to pick fruit from the trees, but that doesn't mean that you can wander into the woods whenever you want. Stay along the shore where Samneric can see you."
The littluns weren't paying attention and were laughing and playing.
Ralph was getting annoyed, "You kids need to listen to me! You guys elected me as chief, so you have to listen to what I'm saying!"
A littluns then spoke up, "well you aren't chief anymore, Jack is." All the littluns laughed.
"Oh yeah, I'm Jack Merridew, and I'm the greatest hunter of all time." Ralph was mocking Jack, "We don't need rules, we can just act out and hurt people whenever we want!"
The littluns started laughing, and Ralph smirked, so he kept it up with his mocking.
"Let's all paint our faces and dance around in a circle while we chant, bite, and claw at an innocent boy, because who cares about being normal civil people? All that matters is hunting."
The littluns got up and started dancing. Ralph even started laughing as he continued. "I'm the new chief, so that means I get to punish you for breathing too loudly!"
Ralph kept it up with mocking Jack as the littluns kept laughing.
Suddenly, while Ralph was laughing, he felt something cold wrap around his neck. It wasn't tight, but it sent chills through his entire body. The littluns stopped laughing and stared at the being behind Ralph, it was Jack.
"I see that you're having fun." Jack smirked, "Does making fun of me really give you this much joy?"
Ralph was frozen, even though Jack wasn't squeezing his neck, he still felt as if he made one wrong move, his head would leave his shoulders.
Jack sat down and pulled Ralph down next to him. The littluns also sat down in front of them.
Jack spoke, "Were you guys having fun going over the rules? I'm sure that all of you will use the laboratory from now on, right?"
The littluns quickly nodded, scared that Jack might do something bad.
"That's great!" Jack smirked, "I'm sure you weren't talking about anything other than the rules." Jack kept his cold hand around Ralph's neck.
The littluns were scared and just nodded to what Jack was saying.
Jack gave them the most intimidating smile they've ever seen, then spoke, "That's good, must mean that my wife is teaching you well, isn't that right, Ralph?" Jack turned to look at Ralph, who was sitting next to him, not daring to even blink.
Ralph saw the bloody spear in Jack's hand and knew that if he tried anything at the moment, Jack wouldn't hesitate to give him the same fate as the pigs that he hunted.
Jack stood up and pulled Ralph up with him before walking into the trees with Ralph's wrist in his hand, leaving the littluns sitting in the sand.
After walking for a while, Jack stopped and turned to look at Ralph with a somewhat angry expression. "I told you to have a talk with the littluns today, but to me, it seemed that you were just finding an excuse to put crap in my mouth."
"Why are you so angry? Just because I said stuff you didn't want to hear?" Ralph looked at him with a bored expression.
Jack gripped Ralph's wrist harder, "You shouldn't be saying bad things about me, even if they were jokes. You're my wife, you should be nicer to me. I haven't done anything bad."
"Nothing bad? So we are just going to skip over Simon and Piggy's deaths?"
Jack glared at Ralph, "Shut up!" Jack pushed Ralph against a tree.
Ralph was quiet but still kept his eyes locked with Jack's.
"Don't you dare ever bring that up again, or you might be next."
After a moment of tense quietness, Jack took his hands off Ralph and sighed. "Let's go back."
Ralph looked at him for a few seconds before following him back to Castle Rock.
In the evening, a fire was lit, and a pig was being cooked over it. Everyone was talking and laughing, but Ralph was staying quiet beside Jack. He was slowly eating the piece of meat that was given to him as he listened to Jack and his hunters talk about their pig hunt earlier that day.
Roger approached Ralph and smirked at him before speaking. "I heard Jack put you in your place again today. This could all be avoided if you stopped trying to pick a fight with him."
Ralph scoffed, "You're disgusting."
Roger laughed, "Did I strike a nerve? Looks like Mr. Wife still has an attitude."
Suddenly, Jack pulled Ralph closer, "Don't start an unnecessary fight today, I'm in a bad mood if you couldn't tell." Jack stood up and pulled Ralph with him as he walked to a spot away from the others.
Jack sat down with Ralph next to him like he always did and closed his eyed and he leaned back against a rock. Ralph looked at him, not being able to tell if he was angry or not. It was getting a bit awkward, so Ralph decided to say something.
"I shouldn't have mocked you behind your back earlier."
Jack laughed, "Aw, look at you apologizing, how kind."
"Yeah, next time I'll make sure to insult you straight to your face."
Jack rolled his eyes, and Ralph grinned at him.
"You think you're so funny, I swear you never change, you're always out to get me," Jack said, annoyed.
"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around, you're the one who is always out for my blood," Ralph stated.
After a moment of sitting in silence, Ralph started to feel his eyelids get heavier. The moon was the only thing letting light into his eyes right now, and he just wanted to rest. Ralph leaned his head against Jack's shoulder, and Jack pulled him closer. Ralph didn't comment on it, he could tell Jack was tired too, and neither of them really cared about starting an argument at the moment.
Ralph thought back to earlier, it was honestly pretty stupid of him to joke about Jack. It didn't do anything for him, and Jack didn't even seem that bothered by it in the end. Ralph felt like his day was a complete failure, maybe next time he would have more luck. Ralph felt his eyes fully close and drifted off to sleep.