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.]

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[lost_boy]

"Elio!" I called as I ran, desperate to leave Peter and the Many-Eyed behind us. "Magnus!"

I could see others, too. Eowyn and Ellie and Aggie. Familiar, welcome faces, although I wished I could have come for them sooner. Through speaking with Daine, I had known they were here, but it wasn't as easy to get away from Peter as just leaving. He was always watching and if I had tried to go before now, I knew I would have only invited danger and possible injury to the people who had been with me. Now there was no choice. Not with the way Peter had attacked me.

I jumped over a fallen log, turning back to help others, then made for the camp. My shouts had drawn attention, not only that of my friends, but of the pirates, too, and I could see them glancing between me and Elio. Too late I realized my mistake. They had thought Elio was me and that might have been what was keeping everyone safe.

"It's Jamie!" one of the pirates shouted. I recognized him. He wore an eyepatch and I had been the one to take his eye. "There's two of him! It's that boy's magic again!"

I didn't know what was happening, if we would be welcomed or not, but I knew I had to get to my friends.

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

Eowyn had not awoken in this place of Corsairs-who-were-not with her sword, but she had obtained one since her arrival. She had been glad of that sword when they encountered the creatures that were here called the Many-Eyed. They reminded her of the tale of a large spider demon in the Ephel Duath, one which she hoped never to confirm to be true.

She stood guard outside the camp they had established on the shore with steel in her spine and on her hip. If any threatened those who were within the camp, she would defend them.

[ghost_holder]

When she first woke up, Aggie had observed that the island looked unreal, like someone's funpark version of a place. In some ways, she still thinks that, but she's also seen that the island is not so benevolent as that. There are wicked creatures and hungry monsters, whose presence is almost a relief. Better to know the dangers of the place rather than persist in a false sense of safety.

Monsters, Aggie is good at fighting. It comes of having been one herself. It keeps her wary as she sits by the campfire. The crack of a branch makes her stand, spinning around with her hands up, power surging to her fingertips.

"Stop!"

[lost_boy]

Peter had come for us. He had come for us all.

I wasn't surprised, I had known it was coming, he would never be able to stay away when every single one of us left him behind, but even so, I wasn't really prepared for it. I wasn't sure anyone was. Telling people what Peter was like had been easy enough and I felt like my friends understood, especially those who had seen him now, but then suddenly he was there, a laughing boy with sandy hair, a bright smile, and round cheeks. He looked as much like a fairy as I imagined the little ones did if they ever stopped flitting around his head.

And he was flying. Set against the bright sunlight that streamed across the water, he looked like an angel coming in to save us all, but I knew what his real intentions were. Even without the sword in his hand, I would have known.

"I loved you, Jamie!" Peter called as he came over us all, hovering there in the air with his sword flashing in the sun. "The Island loved you and it would have protected you. It would have kept you young forever, but you stopped loving me! You stopped believing." He paused, staring down at me in disgust. "You grew up."

"I did!" I called back at him. "I did grow up, Peter. I grew up and I learned how awful you truly are. How cruel and heartless and selfish! I don't want to be like that, Peter, like you. I never did!"

I had hurt him, I could see it, but I didn't care. He gave a cry of anger, done with speaking, then flew at me, but I had my own sword and it came up in a flash, clanging against Peter's as he tried to bring it down upon my head.

We fought and clashed, our swords ringing. Peter laughed cruelly as he flew in circles overhead, refusing to come down. I had had this fight before and I knew what I needed to do, but the rock that flew at him suddenly wasn't my own. It took him by surprise, both the rock itself and that anyone was daring to help me, and he cried out again when the rock clipped his shoulder. It threw off the trajectory of his flight and he tumbled to the side, low enough that I could grab his arm and yank him down.

Peter hit the ground with a crack, but he didn't let go of his sword and he was up again in an instant, matching me blow for blow. He had taught me how to fight, he knew me better than almost anyone, but I had learned a lot in my time away from him. I slashed at him, cutting his arm, and the Island soaked up his blood, as it always had.

I knew I couldn't kill him. I just had to beat him.

It was a pirate who distracted me. A mistake, nothing more, I knew it hadn't been done on purpose, but he stepped closer, too close, and I worried suddenly it was Eddie. When I glanced in that direction it was the opening Peter needed. His sword slashed out again, the blade going beyond mine, too close to my body I realized, and then it cut clean through my right wrist.

My sword dropped to the ground. My hand dropped with it. Blood sprayed and I stared in shock at what had been done to me. It was the same thing I had done to some of the pirates in the past, it was my signature, and Peter knew it. My stomach turned and I thought I might throw up, but I didn't.

Instead, as I stared and shivered and swayed, the edges of my vision began to go black.

[This is it! Get involved in the fight, be the one who threw the rock, be a witness, help Jamie in the aftermath, jump in at whatever point you'd like. It's up to you if Peter gives up or keeps on fighting if you'd like to chase him off. The fight will always end with Jamie losing his hand, however, so that can't be stopped. >:D]

[a_regular_bitch]

Lisbeth has frankly had enough of this shit.

She's stuck to the shadows, mostly, aware that she's been transplanted, a thought that had gutted her badly enough to vomit over the side of the ship on which she'd awoken. Her first thought, after all, had been of Sam, of whether she's see him again, whether she could claw her way home.

Darrow, she'd realized, is home now, not Sweden.

Staying quiet and observing has led her to the conclusion this might not be permanent, and that it may only be something to survive. Lisbeth knows how to just survive; she resorts to disguises, never lets herself be seen for long. She's perched on a dock, crouching and watching her fishing line, when the commotion comes from far off, and then she's moving to examine it.

For the first time in days, as she recognizes even more faces, she smiles.

[underthefloor]

Surrounded by pirates, it isn't hard for Octavia to get her hands on a sword. It's different from the blade she's used to, but she's a warrior at heart, and Indra and Lincoln trained her well. She gets used to it quickly enough.

Now she's patrolling, keeping an eye out for any threats. Most everyone here can hold their own, but Octavia can't just stand by and wait for something to happen. She needs to be in motion, she needs to act. She needs to do what she can to keep people she cares about from being hurt.

[daughterofawolf]

Eponine is scratched and bruised from their earlier fight with Peter, and the long hike here, splatter-burned from the acid blood of the crazed Many-Eyed they'd dealt with, but she's dealt with cold that threatened to take her toes, too, or with starvation. With tiny Luke hanging tight to her back for half the journey -- brave thing, he'd wanted to walk the whole way, but she'd seen him flagging and it wasn't worth getting them all separated -- she'd kept herself stoic. It likely helped her as much as it helped him, pretending it doesn't hurt.

When they get toward the camp, though, she picks up, running down towards faces she recognizes - faces she didn't even know were here until Jamie shouts their names and she realizes they're there.

She knows -- she knows -- that this isn't going to be simple, that there's likely to be a fight, and she skids to a stop at the camp, setting Luke down. "I want you to stay here," she instructs him, "and don't go anywhere until we come back, unless you can find an adult we know." He nods, big eyed.

Eponine takes off down the beach, splashing through the sting of salty tide to find those she knows.