[closed] karma has no price

[imthegoodguy]

Who: Benjamin Linus, Johnny Raflo, and maybe Yosuke Otoha.
Where: Scorpio
Summary: Two strangers with nothing in common meet.
Warnings: None so far.

Scorpio was difficult to navigate, but Ben found a certain charm in it. He'd gone there once to look for book stores and kept coming back for the cafes. He's sitting at one now, jotting down notes into a journal he had bought shortly after arriving in the city.

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[imthegoodguy]

It's a long story, and he would like nothing more than for this man, this fanged man to let him go, sit down, and let him tell it; but he knows he's not going to get that courtesy. He squeezes his eyes shut, licks his lips, and tries not to give in to the fear. That's what the old Ben would do, right? Maybe panic for a second or two, but recompose himself. Think of a way out of this. He'd find a way to get the upper hand. He opens his eyes, trying to meet Johnny's gaze as steadily as he can.

"There was a man," he begins, his voice shaky, "a man on the island who wanted Jacob dead. He used me to get to Jacob. He used the man I was, the resentful man--he used him. That doesn't excuse what I did, but you have to understand this is far more complicated than you think it is."

[not_heavens_adam]

Why? Why did people want Jacob dead? First there was the man who had killed Jacob seemingly on a whim in the bubble, and now there was Ben and the mysterious puppeteer he had mentioned.

A sensible part of Johnny-the part of Johnny that had adapted a voice eerily similar to the one belonging to the man he was now mourning-told him he ought to listen, that it might not be this man's fault entirely, that killing him went against everything he was trying to be these days; but he shut it down and let his anger and pain overwhelm it.

It took almost no effort to throw the man into the nearest table, barely even aware of the ruckus they were causing. In Johnny's opinion, Ben needed to know just how much this new information hurt.

"Are you aware of the life you snuffed out? How weak-willed were you that you let someone else pull your strings? Jacob was irreplaceable! I loved him and you took that away-!"

If he were a hundred percent honest with himself, he would know he wasn't angry at Ben, not fully. Yes, he was mad at what Ben had done, but more than that he was mad that he hadn't been there to protect Jacob. He'd failed at protecting someone who meant more than just about everything to Johnny-no matter how ridiculous it might be to expect that he could have done anything to change it.

Reason didn't matter in the face of grief.

He lunged, perfectly intent on sinking those elongating fangs into Ben's skin. He didn't even want to taste his blood, he just wanted to harm.

[bakegarasu]

There was a faint scent of alcohol, and then Otoha reached out and grabbed Johnny by the collar. He wasn't sure what's going on, not completely, but he knows that he couldn't let Johnny attack people. Not only was it just bad press in general, but he had no idea how angry Johnny was at the moment... and better to let someone who couldn't feel pain get attacked than someone who probably could.

[not_heavens_adam]

The sudden tug cut off his momentum and sent him back against Otoha.

He pushed against this person who suddenly had a hold of him, attempting to tear his way back to Ben. "Stay out of this, it has nothing to do with you! You don't know what he did-!" If he could just get his hands on him!

"How can you not understand what you did? You didn't know him at all!" Despite his anger, despite the violence he still wanted to cause, his voice broke on his last sentence and tears collected in the corners of his eyes before trailing down his cheeks. The only other time he'd wanted to kill someone so badly was when he'd discovered Jacob's lifeless body in that alleyway all those months ago.

[imthegoodguy]

"I know what I did," Ben says, his voice assuming a certain arresting command, authority that hadn't been there before. "I know why I did it. And I regret it, I do. But you...you don't understand. You don't understand what drove me to do it."

He stumbles to his feet, looking at Johnny directly. His eyes aren't entirely unsympathetic, but there's a great deal of anger there. "Jacob wasn't the man he made you believe he was. He was a distant man. A man who didn't care what people did for him, as long as it got done. How long did you know him? A few weeks? A few months? I spent almost my entire life serving Jacob. I sacrificed everything for Jacob. And he didn't even--"

Ben lets out a humorless laugh. "You know? I had this exact same conversation years ago. Someone else who saw Jacob as a father. She was going to kill me for what I did, just like you. And I told her exactly what I told you. Obviously she didn't kill me. She took pity on me. Which is more than I can say for Jacob. I suppose the lesson here is that Jacob is very...selective about who he chooses to associate with. Who he chooses to love." The hardness in his voice softens, as does the anger in his eyes. In their place is an almost childlike, lost sadness. "What did you do for him that made him love you so much?"

[bakegarasu]

Otoha wraps his arms around Johnny, doing his best to pin the vampire's arms against his body. He doesn't care if he gets hurt. Right now what matters is getting Johnny away from this.

When he looks back at Ben, his gaze is a bit sympathetic - or as sympathetic as Otoha usually gets. Giving everything to serve a person, who only takes and takes and doesn't care about you.. yeah, that sounded familiar. He didn't have a choice, really... but he doesn't know this guy's story. Maybe he didn't, either.

[not_heavens_adam]

The scent finally registered just as he realized exactly whose frame he was pressed against, and the two things combined made him calm down a bit. He didn't want to hurt Otoha, he wanted to hurt Ben.

Except he could feel the fight draining out of him. As frustrating as it was, Ben's words were not falling on deaf ears. He'd known Jacob a little over a year, a blink of an eye in his lifetime, but he refused to believe that that meant he knew nothing of the man; it wasn't the amount of time, it was how you spent it.

He stopped pulling against Otoha's grip and just let it stay there, he still couldn't guarantee he wouldn't do anything if it wasn't there to ground him. When he spoke, his voice was still raw with anger and pain, but there was a note of sympathy and uncertainty there as well. "I don't know why things were different for you, he never acted that way towards anyone; whenever I had a problem I knew I could find comfort at his cabin."

Maybe it was the island? That was the only difference he could think of, if it wasn't, then there was something else at play here that neither of them would be able to come up with.

"I'm sorry that was your experience, I can't imagine why things happened for you the way that they did, I just wish I could show you what I see." One of his hands came up to grasp at Otoha's wrist, half to garnish some form of comfort and half to tell his partner they needed to go.

"I would watch myself if I were you, Ben. Places like this...they have a habit of bringing back those who should be dead. I doubt Jacob would take any action against you...but I know what it's like to face the ghosts of Christmas past."

The anger and a bit of that gleam that could remind the world that vampires were predators returned to his eyes. "And know that, if he does ever show up here, I don't care if he's the new sign of the apocalypse, if you lay a finger on him I will break every one of your limbs off like they're made of toothpicks."

[imthegoodguy]

"I wouldn't dream of it."

And he means it.

[bakegarasu]

Otoha sighed, shaking his head. He didn't say anything to Ben, just tilted his head slightly and grabbed Johnny by the arm. He'd get the full story later. Right now he needed to get Johnny away from here. ... And probably feed him, too. It'd been a while.

"Come on." He started walking, doing what he could to tug Johnny along.