The Legend Of Twin Rocks

Daniel stood on the promontory that overlooked Onomea Bay. Below, the water churned and roiled as ocean waves dashed up against the Twin Rocks. The large, black rocks rose from the water like the guardians they were, protecting the bay. They made Daniel feel safe, fulfilled.

Jack said the Rocks were creepy. While Daniel almost always ended up on the promontory during his daily walk, Jack avoided the place. Daniel understood that. According to the legend, this was a place of death, and hard as he tried to hide it, Jack was sensitive to death, especially since the Great War.

The Great War had changed many things for them. Jack had nightmares now and a rattle in his lungs whenever the weather turned too cold. Daniel's eyes ached if he read too long. His eyesight had prevented him from serving in the battlefield and had worsened during his years in the War Office, trying to decipher scraps of code in poor lighting. They had moved to Hawaii for many reasons. Jack's health, Daniel's research on island cultures which he'd resumed after the war, their families' disapproval about their relationship. But mostly, because the people here lived closer to their past, untouched by the politics of the Great War. It was peaceful, and Jack and Daniel were in desperate need of peace.

Daniel drew in a deep breath of salt-damp air and realized he wasn't alone. He turned slightly. Matt Hammond, the grandson of their closest neighbor on the island, was staring down at Onomea Bay as if trying to see whatever Daniel saw.

"What are you looking at?" Matt asked.

Daniel blinked in surprise. The boy's parents had died, his father in the war and his mother in a factory accident, and since moving in with his grandparents several months ago, the teenager spoke little and never first. He spent a lot of time at Daniel and Jack's cottage, admiring Daniel's antiquities collection or helping Jack in his prize garden, listening to Daniel tell stories or just sitting with Jack on the porch. Jack said Matt had a restful spirit, and Daniel noticed that Jack had fewer nightmares on the days Matt visited.

"The Twin Rocks, mostly," Daniel replied.

Matt shrugged. "They're just rocks. Nothing special."

"Oh, no, those are very special rocks. As long as the Twin Rocks stand, the currents are too treacherous for anyone to approach the beach by water."

"So what? No one comes that way."

Daniel settled himself, cross-legged, onto the ground. "Not now. But the rocks weren't always there. The legend says the Twin Rocks are a gift from the gods who were pleased with their sacrifice."

"The gods." Matt gave the rocks a skeptical glance but joined Daniel on the ground, ready for a story.

"Have you ever heard of the lovers of Kahali'i?" When Matt shook his head, Daniel smiled and began, "Many, many years ago."

#

Dan'l stood on the promontory that overlooked Onomea Bay. Below, the water was as calm as a baby's cradle-song. Waves lapped onto the beach and then receded lazily back to the ocean. Beyond the bay, the ocean loomed, a never-ending stretch of water that mocked Dan'l with its deceptive tranquility. For over it would come the enemy.

It was always so when devastation struck. The survivors attacked the other villages to replace their losses, be they people, beasts, or provisions. In years past, the village of Kahali'i had been blessed with strength and resisted such attacks, but Dan'l feared for his home this time. The sickness of last moon-waning had weakened them, sending many of their number to the onward-blessed path. As shaman, Dan'l had foreseen the loss to their village and convinced the elders to store provisions until they had recovered, rather than attacking one of their neighbors. But the explosion of a fire-mountain had caused great destruction to their enemy across the sea, and by the end of the next moon-waning, Dan'l knew they would come to Kahali'i.

Dan'l looked downward once again. His lover Ja'k was on the beach, directing the villagers in their task of dragging heavy rocks to the bay. Ja'k's bronzed skin gleamed in the sunlight as his muscles heaved and strained with the largest rock. It had been Ja'k's idea to build a reef, to construct a barrier between them and the ocean. Dan'l knew it would not prevent the enemy from landing on their beach, but Ja'k was a man of action whose hands needed work, be it hunting, sharpening weapons, or pleasuring Dan'l.

Dan'l sighed and realized he wasn't alone. He turned slightly. The eldest of their village joined Dan'l by the promontory's edge and watched the intense activity below.

"It will not be enough," Ham'nd said.

"No," Dan'l replied. He stared at the rock Ja'k was trying to pull and shivered as his sight blurred.

"What do you see, shaman?" Ham'nd asked quietly.

"A black rock. The size of a small mountain. It stands at the head of Onomea Bay, in the very center. A gift of the gods to guard against invaders, now and in the future, by making the ocean rough where it must pass the rock."

The vision left him, and Ham'nd steadied him through the usual moment of disorientation. After Dan'l had recovered, Ham'nd mused, "Then Ja'k was--"

"Close," Dan'l said. "So very close."

How could he not be, when he slept every night with Dan'l, who was gods-touched often in his dreams? It was inevitable that such a contact should spill over to Ja'k.

"The size of a small mountain," Ham'nd said, shaking his head at his inability to imagine such a rock. "A very great makana."

"Ae, a very great gift," Dan'l agreed. "At a great price. The rock drips with blood, kupunakane."

It wasn't often that he called their leader by the respected title of "grandfather," but he felt a need of the reassurance that the word brought.

"Ah." Ham'nd nodded with sorrowful understanding. "The gods have not demanded a sacrifice in many years. I will speak of this vision at noon meal and ask for a volunteer."

Ham'nd headed back to the village. Dan'l continued to gaze at the ocean, frowning. In the past, the sacrifice needed only be willing. He knew his village. There would be no shortage of volunteers. The old and infirm were always quick to offer themselves in favor of those stronger and more able to provide for the village. Ham'nd himself might even volunteer.

"It will not be enough," Dan'l said.

#

An hour after the noon meal, Ja'k found Dan'l sitting cross-legged in front of their tent. Dan'l was gazing, not at the bones spread on a blanket before him, but into the distance. The expression on his face was bleak, and Ja'k shivered at the sight of it. He had never been comfortable with Dan'l's affinity with the kapu, that which was forbidden and sacred. Unfortunately, he couldn't have one without the other.

"Ke Aloha," Ja'k murmured, caressing the word and marveling anew that their shaman had agreed to become his beloved.

He swept the bones aside, knelt in front of Dan'l, and gently nudged him back to the physical, present world by dropping light kisses on Dan'l's face, starting at the forehead and following a line downward. Unlike the other males who cut their hair close to their heads, Dan'l kept his hair long in honor of the gods, and Ja'k took full advantage of that by tangling the fingers of one hand in the silky length. By the time he'd reached Dan'l's mouth, Dan'l was moaning and fully participating. Ja'k smiled against Dan'l's mouth, untangled his fingers from Dan'l's hair, and drew back reluctantly.

"You skipped noon meal. Again, I might add."

Dan'l's eyes, which had closed during the kiss, fluttered open. "Whaa?"

"You. Noon meal." Ja'k pressed a bowl with ka-lua into Dan'l's hand.

Dan'l stared at the food as if he didn't recognize it.

"Eat, Dan'l."

Dan'l shuddered, looking nauseated. Even though the shredded pork wrapped in Ki leaves was one of his favorite foods, he shook his head and set the bowl aside. "I can't."

"You're worrying about the sacrifice, aren't you?" Ja'k rubbed his hand along Dan'l's arm. "Don't be. We've had five volunteers already. You can cast the bones tonight and tell us which one the gods want."

Dan'l closed his eyes again. "None of them. The gods want none of them. I've already cast."

Ja'k raised an eyebrow. The gods didn't usually refuse the volunteers for their tasks, be they sacrifices or simple quests. During the last god-quest, Dan'l had cast the bones four times before the gods narrowed the volunteers down to one.

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure someone else will volunteer."

"It won't matter. The gods have chosen." Dan'l opened his eyes and stared at Ja'k with such intensity that Ja'k wanted to jump up and run away. "I'm sorry, Ja'k."

With the same instinct that made him the village's best hunter, Ja'k knew instantly what Dan'l was saying. He clenched his fists and shook his head in vehement denial. "No. No, Dan'l."

"It's a very great makana." Dan'l leaned toward him earnestly. Always so excruciatingly earnest. "It needs a strong sacrifice. It needs to be me."

"No."

"I've read the bones."

"You're wrong. Do it again. You're influencing it somehow."

Dan'l sighed. "Ja'k, this is what I do. It's what I'll always do. The gods have shown me the onward-blessed path. In every life, as in this, I will be the one who understands their secrets. The gods' mysteries will always be revealed to me." Dan'l reached out and cupped Ja'k's cheek. "I've seen your path too, Ja'k. You will be the Kanunu, the strong one, the one to protect me, ever and always." Dan'l feathered his lips over Ja'k's and whispered, "You can protect me from everything except my own destiny."

When Dan'l would have moved away, Ja'k gripped the hair at the back of his head to pull him closer. He crushed his mouth onto Dan'l's and kissed him with savage passion. Dan'l responded eagerly, his tongue fighting Ja'k's for dominance. When their need for air broke them apart, Dan'l fell back with a gasping laugh.

"I love you too," Dan'l said fondly, his face and voice lighter. He picked up the abandoned ka-lua and started eating.

Ja'k wished he felt lighter. Instead, a dark weight had settled over his soul. He could barely breathe past the lump that had lodged in his throat.

"You said the sacrifice had to be willing," he choked out.

Dan'l swallowed his mouthful of food and gazed solemnly at Ja'k. "Do you think I'm not?"

Ja'k wanted to scream, How can you be, if it means leaving me? But he said nothing.

"If the enemy came and we were forced to fight, you would be at the front, willing to die for our people. I'm no less willing to die to save our village, Ja'k." Daniel finished the meat roll and licked his long, slender fingers. Despite the gravity of their conversation, Ja'k felt his cock stir traitorously beneath his loincloth. "Think how many others will be saved by my one death. When she's born in two moon-wanings, Sam'tha's child will know her father. Cass'dra will wed Dom'c without fear of capture and rape. Ham'nd will find the onward-blessed path peacefully in his sleep."

"The village needs you, Dan'l. You're the shaman."

"With two very able apprentices. Jan't knows the herbs, and Tel'c hears from the gods. Together, they will do well enough."

Ja'k stared at his lover. He could not imagine a life without Dan'l. Dan'l gave purpose to his life, meaning to his existence. Without Dan'l, he would be only a shadow of a man. Without Dan'l, he might as well be dead.

"If the gods want you, they'll have to have me too." Ja'k gathered the bones and held them toward Dan'l. "Cast them again."

Dan'l stared at the bones as if they were poisonous. "What? No."

"Look, Dan'l, I can't live without you. You do this, and by next moon-waning, I'll have killed myself. The gods know that. Cast the damn bones."

Reluctantly, Dan'l accepted the bones. He jiggled them in his hands and slanted a glance in Ja'k's direction. Ja'k nodded firmly, certain he had made the right choice. Dan'l sighed, muttered something about stubborn fools, and turned his concentration on the bones. He peered at them through half-closed eyes. After a minute of silence, he murmured an incantation, blew gently over the bones, and tossed them onto the blanket before him. Then he opened his eyes and studied the bones.

"Oh, Ja'k," he said and fell silent when his breath hitched.

The silence lengthened. Ja'k shifted uneasily.

"Well, what do they say?" he demanded at last.

"Ae." Dan'l lifted teary eyes. "They said yes."

#

The sun dipped below the horizon in a glorious blaze of color, brilliant oranges and delicate pinks, as if to celebrate Dan'l and Ja'k's last night. Dan'l had ordered the villagers to remain inside their tents, without light or sound until sunrise, while the gods worked their great magic, so he and Ja'k were alone on the beach. While they watched their final sunset, they sat together on a blanket, leaning against the large rock Ja'k had hauled to the beach that morning. Dan'l's head rested on Ja'k's shoulder, and Ja'k's arm encircled Dan'l's waist.

As the stars brightened and the moon climbed high enough to reflect off the still water of Onomea Bay, Dan'l knew it was time. He straightened and reached for the two half-coconut cups he had set on a small, flat rock beside them. He handed one to Ja'k. Ja'k slowly twisted the cup, watching the liquid swirl within.

"This is going to taste terrible, isn't it?"

Dan'l smiled. "Probably. I haven't actually tested it."

"No, I can see why that would be a bad idea." Ja'k stuck a finger in the liquid and stirred it. Stalling. "This isn't how I saw it ending, you know. I was kinda figuring on a spear through my gut."

"Are you afraid?"

Ja'k pondered the question. "Of death? No. You've told us often enough that death is just the doorway to the onward-blessed path." He looked up, and Dan'l saw the fear lurking within the depths of dark eyes, the fear that provoked Ja'k to honesty. "But leaving you, that terrifies me. The thought of going on alone, without you in my life... Dan'l, promise me you were telling the truth about our onward-blessed paths."

Dan'l gazed back steadily, giving the promise with everything he had, body, voice, and heart. "We will always be together, Ja'k. In every life, in any time, in any place. Nothing separates us, not even death." Dan'l reached out and cupped Ja'k's cheek. "Ever and always, Ke Aloha."

The tension eased from Ja'k, and his eyes took on their usual teasing glint. "You're sure about that?"

Dan'l smirked. "Gods-touched here, remember? Drink up."

Ja'k clinked his coconut half against Dan'l's and without hesitation, lifted it to his lips and gulped the death-potion down. He finished with a shudder and waited while Dan'l drank from his own cup.

"About as awful as I expected," Ja'k commented as Dan'l returned the empty cups to the flat rock. "What now?"

"Now we wait for sunrise."

Dan'l scooted downward and stretched himself full-length on the blanket, lying on his back so he could see the stars. Ja'k followed his example. After he had settled, he drew Dan'l closer until his head was resting on Ja'k's shoulder.

When several minutes of silence had passed, Ja'k asked quietly, "What's going to happen? Will it hurt?"

"No," Dan'l whispered back. "We'll fall asleep and not wake up."

Ja'k contemplated that for another few minutes and then asked, "How long will it take?"

Dan'l huffed a laugh, scrambled up, and straddled Ja'k's thighs. Ja'k regarded him with the wary expression that always masked his face whenever the gods contacted Dan'l. Despite the apprehension Ja'k was feeling, Dan'l's proximity had its usual result. Ja'k's loincloth tented as his cock stirred to life.

"You're like little Tess'a, wanting to know how much longer until noon meal."

Ja'k stuck out his lower lip in imitation of the child's petulant pout. "I just want to know what I'm going to feel."

Dan'l lowered himself over Ja'k's body. Their cocks brushed. Ja'k hissed. Dan'l planted his elbows beside Ja'k's head. Leaning on his lower arms, he dipped his head and captured Ja'k's pouting lip with his teeth. He nibbled gently. Then he raised his head and gazed at Ja'k, who stared back, eyes heavy-lidded and dilated with lust.

"Me," Dan'l said in a low, husky voice. "The last thing you're going to feel, Ja'k, is me."

With a moan, Ja'k squeezed his eyes shut.

"Me touching you." Supporting his weight on his left arm, Dan'l reached down with his right hand and circled one of Ja'k's nipples with a fingertip. After a minute of teasing, he pinched the nipple lightly.

Ja'k gargled an exclamation of surprise and arched into the touch.

"Me kissing you."

Dan'l trailed kisses along the line of Ja'k's jaw. Ja'k lifted his chin, offering access to his neck, and Dan'l obliged by licking a path over Ja'k's throat. Dan'l wriggled backward, bumping their cocks again, his mouth never leaving his lover's body as he nibbled and kissed his way down Ja'k's chest.

When Ja'k moved to touch Dan'l in turn, Dan'l reached out to the sides and pinned Ja'k's hands down. Ja'k subsided, letting Dan'l have his way. Dan'l smiled and latched onto a nipple, giving it a little tug. Ja'k bucked and then forced himself to settle. Dan'l laved one nipple and then the other. Ja'k began to breathe heavily. Muscles twitched in his efforts to not squirm.

While his mouth was busy with Ja'k's nipples, Dan'l's hands attended to their clothing. He unfastened the loincloths, tossing his own aside and pushing Ja'k's out of the way. He felt Ja'k's cock graze his stomach as it bobbed upward, freed from the loincloth. Dan'l sat up, nudged Ja'k's legs open, and settled between them.

"Me loving you," he murmured and then lowered his head again to take Ja'k into his mouth.

"Dan'l! Oh, gods!"

Ja'k's entire body went rigid as he fought to keep from thrusting. One hand flew up to clutch Dan'l's hair. The other scrabbled frantically at the blanket, seizing it for purchase. Sweat gleamed on his skin.

Dan'l hummed contentedly around the cock swelling in his mouth. He loved Ja'k like this. Loved how completely Ja'k surrendered himself. He loved the depth of Ja'k's trust. The hunter, with all his strength and power leashed, became open and vulnerable to the shaman's touch. It was a gift he gave only to Dan'l.

While he worshipped Ja'k's cock with his mouth, Dan'l stroked his fingers over Ja'k's hole. Ja'k shivered and spread his legs wider. Dan'l pushed two fingers inside, working them gently. Ja'k tossed his head.

Dan'l brushed the pleasure nub. Ja'k cried out, his eyes flying open and his fingers spasming in Dan'l's hair. His hips jerked upward. Dan'l drew back just enough to avoid being choked by the involuntary thrusting. He swirled his tongue around the head and grazed the nub again. Ja'k strangled another cry. He yanked at Dan'l's hair, pulling his head up.

"Inside," Ja'k gasped. "Need you.inside me."

"I didn't bring anything."

"Don't care. Want.feel you." Ja'k gazed at him with smoldering eyes. "Last thing."

Dan'l surged upward and caught Ja'k's mouth in a desperate, hungry kiss. Their tongues stroked and clashed until Dan'l was breathless and dizzy with desire. He straightened, slicked his cock with spit, and pushed Ja'k's legs up. While Dan'l caressed the trembling thighs and poised himself at Ja'k's entrance, Ja'k waited. Trusting. Open. Dan'l's, ever and always.

Dan'l thrust forward, pushing past the first tight ring of muscles. Breath stuttering, Ja'k grabbed for the blanket again. Dan'l paused to give Ja'k time to relax. When Ja'k was ready, he grinned and teasingly flexed over Dan'l's cock. Dan'l bit back a groan and slowly worked his way into Ja'k's body until he was buried deep.

"YES!" Ja'k hissed in pleasure, his legs coming up to wrap around Dan'l's hips.

Dan'l was gods-touched. He had been transported to the heavens, witnessed marvels beyond mortal understanding, and seen visions that left him crying for more. But none of this compared to the ecstasy of Ja'k's body welcoming his. Nothing matched the utter bliss of plunging himself again and again into Ja'k's heated channel and hearing Ja'k chant his name.

They were joined. Connected. One. It was a spiritual experience more potent than any other Dan'l knew.

It almost came as a shock to him when Ja'k suddenly yelled and threw his head back. Seed shot from Ja'k's cock while his body clenched around Dan'l. Dan'l thrust once more into the heat. Light flared in his brain, as if every vision and every miracle were being rolled into one intense explosion that seared him from the inside out.

When he returned from the paradise that had recently claimed him, he found himself draped over Ja'k, their seed drying between them. His head was cradled against Ja'k's heart. The steady thump was slowing, Ja'k's chest rising less frequently. Dan'l pulled himself free of Ja'k's body and lifted his head. Ja'k slept peacefully, meeting the onward-blessed path with a small, contented smile.

Dan'l raised himself and gently kissed his lover's forehead. He had purposely given Ja'k a larger dose of the death-potion. In this one thing, this final act, Dan'l had chosen the role that normally belonged to Ja'k. He resettled himself at Ja'k's side, his head on Ja'k's shoulder, one hand over the barely-moving chest. Then he turned his gaze toward the moonlit ocean where he knew the gods would provide a miracle for their village. Protecting Kahali'i as surely as Dan'l guarded over Ja'k's last breaths.

When a new day brought its first light into the sky, Dan'l closed his eyes and continued along his onward-blessed path.

#

Ham'nd descended the path to the beach and knew something was different. He could hear the ocean. Not the familiar swish of waves gently lapping up on the shore, but a loud, crashing splash that became more deafening as he grew closer. Then he passed the last palm tree and saw the source of the commotion.

As if attached to each other, two large formations of black rock stood at the entrance of Onomea Bay. Foamy water churned at their base. Waves that had once flowed smoothly to the shoreline were now smashed upon the rocks. Ham'nd knew that any boat that tried to enter the bay would suffer the same fate.

"Shaman?" he called, searching for the lovers who had made such a gift possible. "Hunter?"

He walked farther onto the beach until he found the remnants of the men's presence. A blanket. Two loincloths. Two cups. Nothing else. No bodies. No footsteps leading away from the beach. No signs of their existence except.

His eyes were drawn again to the head of the bay and the twin rocks that protected it. Guarding the village, as the hunter and the shaman had always done. He sighed and bowed his head.

"The sacrifice has been accepted."

#

Daniel fell silent at the story's end. Matt Hammond, who had been leaning forward, intent on Daniel's words, straightened with a scowl.

"That's it?"

Daniel lifted an eyebrow.

"It was a trick, right?" Matt demanded. "They couldn't just disappear like that."

"Their bodies were never found. The lovers were gone, never seen again. Only the Twin Rocks remain, a testament to their love and their courage to sacrifice for the good of their people."

Matt gave a little disbelieving laugh. "Come on, tell me the rest. Where'd they go?"

Daniel shrugged. "On to their next life, I suppose."

Matt stared at him, gnawing his lip. A minute later, he asked hesitantly, "You think that's true? The stuff about onward-blessed paths and living over again?"

"Every legend has its truth."

Matt considered that, gazing out at the Twin Rocks. Daniel waited in silence. All his life, he'd had dreams and flashes of insight, and if he waited long and quietly enough, they solidified into a startling comprehension. He knew the boy needed something more from him.

After a while, Matt looked back to Daniel. A tear had left a wet track down one cheek. "Do you think I'll see my parents again?"

"I think it's possible. One day you'll have a son. And let's say your son has a son and decides to name him George."

"That's my dad's name," Matt said, his eyes widening with awe.

Daniel nodded, unsurprised that the name he'd spontaneously chosen had meaning to Matt. "Then one day you'll look at your grandson George, and maybe it'll be your father looking back at you. Of course, he won't know he was your father once upon another lifetime. Sometimes we'll dream about bits and pieces of our former lives, but not enough to really remember."

Daniel suspected his dreams were more complete than most. They didn't always deal with the past. He saw glimpses of future lives as well. A second war. A huge cylinder for viewing the stars. An adding machine the size of his palm. A stone ring with odd markings. And Jack. Always Jack. He didn't look the same in most dreams, but Daniel always knew him.

Matt was gazing at him shrewdly. "You remember, don't you? The shaman in the story. Dan'l. That was you."

"Perhaps," Daniel said with the smile that Jack always called enigmatic. He stood, brushing sand from his clothes, and felt an inner sense of completion as he turned his gaze toward the Twin Rocks. His smile widened. "Perhaps."

#

Jack chucked the last weed and rose stiffly. He stretched, rolled his shoulders, rotated his neck, and flexed his knees. As he finished working the kinks out of his body, he glanced to one side and saw Daniel watching him. Jack grabbed Daniel's hand, tugging him into an embrace.

"You were gone awhile."

"Mmm." Daniel moaned appreciatively into Jack's welcome-home kiss and then pulled back to explain, "Matt was up by the promontory. I think he was looking for a reason to keep living. We talked."

"Yeah?" If anyone could talk a person into living, it would be Daniel. Jack had needed a few of those talks himself since the war. "What'd you tell him?"

"The moral to the story."

Jack was almost afraid to ask. Daniel's stories were deep, layer upon layer of detail tied up with an intricate bow that served as the moral. Half the time, Jack was sure he wasn't getting the meanings at all.

"Right. Which story?"

Daniel gave that enigmatic smile of his. "The one that hasn't ended. The one that will go on, ever and always."

"Oh." Jack nodded in perfect understanding. He knew that one. "Our story."

Daniel rewarded him for the right answer with a kiss that promised the type of night that usually left Jack screaming. Jack grinned. He loved nights like that.

The End.

Hawaiian words (any mistakes in usage are mine):

makana - gift
ae - yes
kupunakane - grandfather
kapu - the forbidden and the sacred
Ke Aloha - Beloved
ka-lua - shredded pork wrapped in leaves
kanunu - strong one

contact Writer_sharae:  Feedback@pepesplace.co.uk

All stories are copyright of the individually named author 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007
All art is copyright of the individually named artist 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007
Please do not take or archive either stories or art without permission.

Jack & Daniel characters are copyright MGM, Gecko Productions, Showtime, Secret Agent and anyone else  I've forgotten.
No copyright infringement intended.

The owners/moderators of this group, in accordance with applicable law, review, remove, and report to authorities any attempts to post depictions of underage models.  Furthermore, we understand that compliance with this legal obligation can not be construed as converting us to 'producers of pornography' for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 2257.