lost_boy | all this has happened before

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"But everyone is okay?" Although plenty curious and clever, Aggie hasn't traveled a wide range from the ship. There's something that feels off about the forest and has since the moment she woke up. In a way, it reminds her of Cabeswater and the ley line, but this place doesn't respond nearly as warmly to her presence. She senses that it already has a master and has no need to change loyalties.

"I wonder why that is. Us being split up."

"Probably some Darrow nonsense," Rosie says, unable to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Though she's almost certain she'd be all the more suspicious if the city ever stopped doing the strange things it does, that doesn't at all mean she approves of them. "Make Jamie and me and all the rest of us think we're the only ones here, make you think you've been kidnapped by pirates. Make Eddie old and think he's been kidnapped by pirates, which...he's really an old man now? Goodness."

The longer she talks, the more further afield she's getting; she dismisses it all with a wave of her hand. "Whatever the reason, it's done now, and we're all together. Or mostly together. And everyone's...I think everyone's fine, we had to run away from the tree because Peter tried to attack Jamie, but we're all as safe as I suppose we can be."

"I mean, he's not old old. He's, like, forty." It's frankly one of the least important things in this equation. It does seem particularly unfair to get double-tapped by Darrow's mischief but at least the ship gives him a safe recourse away from the dangers of the island. Waking up under a tree sounds very...exposed, especially with those many-eyed monsters out there.

"People on the ship kept talking about a Peter," she adds, expression contemplative now. "It sounds like they're afraid of him."

"Still, older than usual," she says, unable to stop herself before she lets the matter drop. Considering that based on her birthday, she herself was meant to be a much more grandmotherly age, Rosie supposes she doesn't have quite that much space to argue--not that that's ever really stopped her before. "Poor Eddie, though. He's probably having an attack."

Rosie nods, seeing the thoughtful look on Aggie's face. "They're right to be," she says, the faintest of shivers running down her back as she recalls the sharp glint in Peter's eye and the way he smiled at all of them with those pearly little teeth. "He's...just like Eddie looks old now, but he's really young? Peter looks tremendously young, but something about him seems as old as the Island. And as dangerous."

Aggie nods, supposing it's fair enough. Age is slightly relative for her, counting plenty of grown adults, mortal and immortal, as her peers. Being centuries old herself only further complicates matters. "He's not taking it well but..." Well, he's had to accept it, hasn't he? At least plenty of people who woke up on the ship have long experiences in Darrow.

Rosie's description of Peter checks out. "To be fair, you could say the same thing of me." It's not meant as a reassuring comparison. Although Rosie doesn't know her full history, Aggie knows full well that her powers are semi-public knowledge among their friends by now. "More reason not to trust him."

"You could, but you're Aggie," she says, as though that settles the matter--and for her, it does. Though she knows next to nothing about the other girl's past, and only just enough to leave her in awe about that almost electrical magic she's able to do, Rosie trusts her far more than she does Peter. "You don't go around throwing people to the spiders or anything like he does."

Mentioning it only reminds her of it, and Rosie shudders. "Right. Also, there's gigantic spiders that live in the middle of the Island. I haven't seen one, I don't want to see one, but Jamie said that's where they live."

"It took me a long time to get to this point," she says, not dismissively. It still sounds to her like she had a better sense of morality than this Peter Pan has ever had but that doesn't cancel out her own misdeeds. And she likes to think, even at her worst, she wouldn't attack bystanders without provocation, and definitely not for fun.

"Yeah, the Many-Eyed. I've seen them." Aggie makes a face, refusing to appear properly afraid.

"It's not a bad name for them," Rosie says, managing to smile a bit at the bravely fierce expression on Aggie's face. "But it certainly makes them sound like...well, both exactly what they are and something slightly less terrifying. Which hardly seems fair."

That there isn't anything fair at all about any of this, Rosie leaves unsaid.

Aggie sincerely doubts that 'fair' has anything to do with places like this. Not when it looks beautiful and feels monstrous, ruled by a boy who seems very much the same. She also knows that Rosie doesn't need telling either.

"Well, you keep close to me and I can keep you safe," she promises. Her powers are one of the qualities that earned her welcome on the pirate ship.

"Believe me, I haven't any intention of going anywhere by myself," she says, sighing out a faint and mirthless laugh. The offer is still one she appreciates, and she looks over at Aggie, a slightly less tense set to the frame of her body. "For however much longer we're trapped here."

"I've got your back," Aggie promises. This island isn't the first time she's had to look out for herself and a friend besides. If she has the power to keep her friends safe, she'll use it. "Let's get closer to the fire and warm up. There's hammocks onboard to sleep in. They're not bad as long as you don't mind feeling like a caterpillar."

all this has happened before

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