Lost Fic: Quid Pro Quo
Title: Quid Pro Quo
Characters: Richard, Ben
Words: 815 (LOL) =8 points for jjverse
Rating: G
Not my favorite thing I've written, but the idea was there. I'm not sure I interpreted it well.
If he had to count, Ben Linus would probably say that he had two people he could call friends on the Island.
Tom Friendly had been as good a friend as someone like Ben could ask for. After his surgery, it was Tom who came and carried him from bed to wheelchair and cooked Alex dinner when Ben could not yet stand. When Tom died at the beach on a mission Ben sent him on, Ben did not have time time to even send a thought to Tom's memory.
Richard Alpert, though Ben didn't care to admit it, knew him better than anyone ever had. Richard knew him as a sad child whom he had tried to protect and Richard knew him as the damaged man he had become.
When Richard left the Island, Ben could not fault him. Richard had spent a century and a half in the service of a man that was now dead and an Island that was very changed.
Richard left Ben in his place and Ben watched the plane that carried his last friend off the Island cross the sky.
***
It took Ben only one day to realize how very lost Richard would be off the Island. He had been sent to the mainland before, of course, but short visits on Island business hardly compared to having to live there for the rest of his now-numbered days.
Richard had helped Ben avoid his father when possible. Bloody bandages on a young boy's chest were changed by his careful fingers. He had sat with him patiently for hours as they poured over Latin textbooks. When Ben had doubted Jacob's orders, it was Richard who pressed his hand. Ben, Jacob loves you.
Ben didn't believe in that anymore. But he did now believe in making right.
Hurley made it easy for Ben to contact his people off-Island. They were faithful to him still and had no idea that Ben Linus was no longer leader of anything, let alone a group of people on a mystical Island.
Hurley allowed Ben this one last deceit and he had a birth certificate, social security card, and passport made for Richard. It took longer, but Ben's people were able to make it so Richard had gone to an excellent college and had excellent work history. This would be helpful, if Richard should ever wish to work despite the large bank account Ben had established in his name.
Richard had everything he could have ever needed or wanted. Sometimes, perhaps when Ben was feeling particularly lonely, he would allow himself to wonder if Richard knew who had done it all for him. Did he know? Would he smile and shake his head, remembering a friend on an Island he left without a backwards glance?
You could go visit him, Hurley would say. I know you'll come back.
But Ben would shake his head and squint into the sun as it set over the ocean.
No, Ben would say. There is no time for that.
Ben, now with all the time in the world, had no desire to steal it from his friend who--for the first time ever--was discovering what it felt like to live on numbered hours.
***
At night, when the sounds of the jungle closed in around him, Ben would think about Richard and wonder what it would be like to watch him discover his post-island life. He wonders, too, if Richard ever had the same doubts that now creep into Ben's thoughts. As adviser, was he giving the sort of suggestions that Hurley needed, that Richard himself would have given? Was he being the friend and companion that Hurley deserved?
Ben supposes he has as long as he needs--or perhaps even wants--to quiet the doubts. For now it's enough to know that Richard was once his friend and now has all that he could need.
***
Thirty years later (though Ben and Hugo had ceased to keep count of years), Hurley told him that Richard had died an old man in a fine nursing home. The nurses, Ben assumed, would smile kindly when Richard would speak of an uncharted island upon which he spent many, many years. Poor dear, his mind is going. Ben tried not to think of the world looking with pity on Richard Alpert, a man once so respected and wise. He did not deserve to be labeled as mad or senile. He had seen the greatest madness that no one would ever know about.
Why don't you go to his funeral? I'll go with you if you want, Hurley said kindly.
Ben blinked and passed off the wetness on his cheeks as spray from the ocean he stood before.
He didn't need to travel off-island to say goodbye to a friend he lost long ago. Richard had had everything he needed and he did not need Ben now.
There was no time for it, and Ben would smile at Hugo, his new friend, and think how strange was time.
Characters: Richard, Ben
Words: 815 (LOL) =8 points for jjverse
Rating: G
Not my favorite thing I've written, but the idea was there. I'm not sure I interpreted it well.
If he had to count, Ben Linus would probably say that he had two people he could call friends on the Island.
Tom Friendly had been as good a friend as someone like Ben could ask for. After his surgery, it was Tom who came and carried him from bed to wheelchair and cooked Alex dinner when Ben could not yet stand. When Tom died at the beach on a mission Ben sent him on, Ben did not have time time to even send a thought to Tom's memory.
Richard Alpert, though Ben didn't care to admit it, knew him better than anyone ever had. Richard knew him as a sad child whom he had tried to protect and Richard knew him as the damaged man he had become.
When Richard left the Island, Ben could not fault him. Richard had spent a century and a half in the service of a man that was now dead and an Island that was very changed.
Richard left Ben in his place and Ben watched the plane that carried his last friend off the Island cross the sky.
***
It took Ben only one day to realize how very lost Richard would be off the Island. He had been sent to the mainland before, of course, but short visits on Island business hardly compared to having to live there for the rest of his now-numbered days.
Richard had helped Ben avoid his father when possible. Bloody bandages on a young boy's chest were changed by his careful fingers. He had sat with him patiently for hours as they poured over Latin textbooks. When Ben had doubted Jacob's orders, it was Richard who pressed his hand. Ben, Jacob loves you.
Ben didn't believe in that anymore. But he did now believe in making right.
Hurley made it easy for Ben to contact his people off-Island. They were faithful to him still and had no idea that Ben Linus was no longer leader of anything, let alone a group of people on a mystical Island.
Hurley allowed Ben this one last deceit and he had a birth certificate, social security card, and passport made for Richard. It took longer, but Ben's people were able to make it so Richard had gone to an excellent college and had excellent work history. This would be helpful, if Richard should ever wish to work despite the large bank account Ben had established in his name.
Richard had everything he could have ever needed or wanted. Sometimes, perhaps when Ben was feeling particularly lonely, he would allow himself to wonder if Richard knew who had done it all for him. Did he know? Would he smile and shake his head, remembering a friend on an Island he left without a backwards glance?
You could go visit him, Hurley would say. I know you'll come back.
But Ben would shake his head and squint into the sun as it set over the ocean.
No, Ben would say. There is no time for that.
Ben, now with all the time in the world, had no desire to steal it from his friend who--for the first time ever--was discovering what it felt like to live on numbered hours.
***
At night, when the sounds of the jungle closed in around him, Ben would think about Richard and wonder what it would be like to watch him discover his post-island life. He wonders, too, if Richard ever had the same doubts that now creep into Ben's thoughts. As adviser, was he giving the sort of suggestions that Hurley needed, that Richard himself would have given? Was he being the friend and companion that Hurley deserved?
Ben supposes he has as long as he needs--or perhaps even wants--to quiet the doubts. For now it's enough to know that Richard was once his friend and now has all that he could need.
***
Thirty years later (though Ben and Hugo had ceased to keep count of years), Hurley told him that Richard had died an old man in a fine nursing home. The nurses, Ben assumed, would smile kindly when Richard would speak of an uncharted island upon which he spent many, many years. Poor dear, his mind is going. Ben tried not to think of the world looking with pity on Richard Alpert, a man once so respected and wise. He did not deserve to be labeled as mad or senile. He had seen the greatest madness that no one would ever know about.
Why don't you go to his funeral? I'll go with you if you want, Hurley said kindly.
Ben blinked and passed off the wetness on his cheeks as spray from the ocean he stood before.
He didn't need to travel off-island to say goodbye to a friend he lost long ago. Richard had had everything he needed and he did not need Ben now.
There was no time for it, and Ben would smile at Hugo, his new friend, and think how strange was time.