all this has happened before

[lost_boy]

We were running. Running from Peter. Running toward the pirates.

It hadn't been difficult to convince the others this was our best option, not after all Peter had done. They knew now, they had seen what he was like, they'd been viewed under the cold, dismissive gaze of Peter Pan and understood he thought nothing of them. Of us. Because I may have been his favourite once, but it was clear I was too grown up, too close to being a man to be loved by him any longer.

I knew that had upset me once, but now, surrounded by my friends, running toward other friends, I didn't feel that same sense of loss that I had before. As with Charlie and Sal and Nod, I was choosing these good people, people I loved, and I was turning my back on Peter.

We crossed the Island, skirting the plans with the Many-Eyed, taking the path up into the mountains, toward Bear Cave, and then beyond. I paused at the cave, remembering Harry and his death here, but only for a moment. I had learned long ago how to mourn my friends while on the move and today was no different. My other friends needed me now, they needed me to lead them to safety away from Peter.

Leading the way down the mountain path, past the Marking Rock, I could see the camp and the cove in the distance, the shipped docked where it usually was when the pirates weren't away, raiding whatever places they were able to find. And I could see people. Pirates, yes, but familiar faces, too, and I picked up my pace, hurrying the others toward them.

[Coming together post! Gathering, as usual, Jamie and everyone who was with him at the tree is going to come to the pirate camp/the Jolly Roger, so feel free to have threads that take place on the ship or on the shore at the camp. Also feel free to employ fairies if you like, they'll be spying for Peter, who'll be coming soon enough. In a few days I'll post a second top level for Jamie and Peter's big final fight where Jamie will be losing his right hand.]

Comments

[lost_boy]

"Hot," I corrected without thinking and then my cheeks flushed a deep red. This wasn't the right time at all, not with Peter coming, not with the pirates staring at us suspiciously, but it had just come out and it wasn't as if I wanted to take it back.

I wasn't sure I had ever used the word before, but it was the only one that described what I was seeing now. It sounded a little silly in my accent, not like it did when the girls at school said it, but it was still the best word I knew.

"I mean... this is a bad time for this," I said. "I think Peter is coming or he might be trying to send the Many-Eyed and I always think you're hot, which you probably already know, because, well." I shut up quickly, not needing to get into that sort of conversation right now. "But you are."

[eddie_spaghetti]

"What?" He squawked, looking down at himself with a deep frown. "Seriously?"

He mostly felt sweaty and tired and frustrated and pissed off, which wasn't all that different from how he usually felt, but his body was a thing that he still struggled to accept, and having this brand new wrench thrown at him was really freaking him out.

"What the fuck do you mean, Peter is coming? What the fuck, what are we just standing around for? Oh my God, Jamie." Eddie gripped Jamie's shoulders, maybe a little too tight, but he still hadn't gotten a handle on his own strength.

[lost_boy]

"It's okay," I said, reaching up to hold onto Eddie's elbows. Not only could I see it in his eyes now, but I could hear it in his voice, too; it was so obvious that this was Eddie and it took a lot of my self control to not just hug him again. To let myself take comfort in someone familiar, even when he was different, too. I couldn't explain it, but it was all I wanted and so I compromised and reached up to take one of his hands from my shoulder, holding it tightly between my own.

"Even if he comes, we're all together now. He can't do anything to all of us. He's..." I paused, realizing something was true now that never had been before. "He's alone."

I still had to keep Eddie from him. If Peter knew how much I loved him, he would be in so much danger.

[eddie_spaghetti]

"Everyone? He can do something to you, Jamie. What the fuck, he could do something to you, and that would be enough, okay?"

It wasn't that he didn't care about everyone else-- of course he did, but if Jamie got hurt, even if it was just in this fake world they were all going to wake up from, he was completely convinced that he would have a mental breakdown. They'd have to carry him away on a stretcher. They'd have to lock him up in the loony bin. He'd be totally fucked. They all would.

"I don't care if he's alone, I don't want to see that freak. You know why? Because if I do, I'm going to punch him in his evil fucking face, that's why."

[lost_boy]

Over the past several days we had been here, I had seen a lot of bravery and kindness from my friends. Daine had gone back and forth, delivering as much information to me as she was able. Stan and Beverly and Eponine had come to my defense when Peter had begun to act out physically against me. Rosie and Regan had taken up the task of keeping people fed and keeping them calm, especially Luke, who had been so brave.

All of that meant so much to me, all of them wanting to help me, being true friends in all the ways Peter never had, it was what had changed me. Eddie most of all.

I almost laughed, but instead I reached out and I held Eddie's face between my hands. I knew I couldn't kiss him like this, so I just held onto him.

"I know," I said. "Because you're amazing. And we'll be okay, I promise. I will be okay. He won't be able to hurt me, not with you here."