What was it that caused him to crash? Was it his foot connecting with a branch from one of the many trees on the island? Or was it the lingering confusion and fear that distracted his mind? It was probably the latter, but not much was going through his head as he tumbled forward and landed hard on his side. Grass, twigs, rocks and various other things scraped into him as he skidded to a stop. Ow…Landing never was his strongest suit, and the shock of making it back to the island hadn't helped with that. He barely had time to check himself or even sit up for that matter before he heard the cocking of about three guns in his ear. Shit…These weren't pirates: that he knew. The guns were too modern; close to what you'd find on the streets of the mainland.

A groan escaped him as he let himself go limp against the ground again, face in the grass. Well at least he hadn't been found by the enemy, but right now he was barely recognizable. A hand quickly took him by the back of his shirt collar and lifted him from the ground followed by harshly slamming him back down on his back. The barrel of a gun was forced into his mouth and his eyes widened as he stared into two bright green eyes which quickly widened as well from their narrowed state.

"Oh shit it's Marcus."

His eyes halved down in an annoyed manner as the barrel was quickly removed from his lips. The girl that had forced it there, Mara, instantly took his hand and helped him up. The other two that accompanied her promptly returned their weapons to the holsters of their gun straps. Mara was the same size as Marcus, but the other two, both boys, were both taller than he was: one by an inch or two, the other by over half a foot. The shorter of the two, Thomas, stepped forward and smacked him on the back of the head,

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why didn't you inform that you were coming?! Do you have any idea how close she was to blowing your fucki-"

A hand slapped over his mouth before he could finish the profanity; the action coming from the taller boy: Lee. Marcus couldn't help but always be entranced by his eyes. Lee was a twin, and both of them were completely identical in every way except one: Lee's right eye was black and his left was blue. Though his brother, Jacob, who was back at their home, had both of his eyes blue. He rolled his eyes and reached out to Marcus, turning him this way and that. A light smirk formed over his lips as he arched an eyebrow,

"Nice landing. All right come on we have to move before we're spotted."

Marcus knew he was right and ignored the landing comment as he closed his eyes. A bandanna was quickly tied around his eyes and a dirty hand slid into his to lead him back to their home. There were about twenty other children here that made up the rankings: these three were just at the top and almost always travelled with one another. Muffled profanities were being spouted as they walked and he knew that Lee still had his hand over Thomas' mouth. The walk wasn't far, but it was still a bother to have to keep the location hidden from him even now. He'd been to the island so many times that he could probably find their home with ease, but of course he'd never tell any of them that.

The bandanna scratched against his skin as it was ripped away from his eyes by Mara. Her clear voice rang close to his ear and he hadn't realized how close she had gotten; his cheeks warmed ever so slightly from being so close to another person,

"All right, you know the routine."

The worry was clear in her voice, but it was a subject that no one in their small group had brought up since his crash here a few moments ago. Even Thomas had grown quiet as they all stared out across the vast spread of crystal clear water. There wasn't time to think about that now though…they could discuss it once they were back.

This was always Marcus' least favorite part about getting to their home…but then again it was always what helped him find his way there in his memory. Mara took the bandanna and tied it around her long brown hair so that it was in a tight pony tail.

"Deep breath."

He nodded to Lee's words and he took in as much air that his lungs could hold and dove into the water. The three of them followed suit behind him and the four of them kept close, except for Lee who swam ahead by about ten feet. It was daytime so that meant that the mermaids were sleeping, but there was always the chance that they would be awoken…and that wasn't good for anyone. Lee was the best fighter, excluding Peter, and had already had to kill a good number of them: he seemed to be the only one fast enough to do so. They never dared to lay a finger on Peter, so he never saw the point in fighting with them. Mara was the best with a gun, which was good for land but not so good in the water. Thomas was the smartest strategist, and it was due to his quick thinking and logical standpoints that there were never any casualties from a lost child while making this journey. There was a formation that all of them had to follow while swimming through, it was virtually flawless and could only be done in groups of three or more…which meant that no lost boy or girl could ever venture out alone…save for Peter.

Thomas quickly moved so that he was under Marcus who then wrapped his arms around his neck and closed his eyes: even during this part he wasn't allowed to see where they were going…which was why it was his least favorite stretch of the journey. It was dark, he couldn't breathe, and he had no idea how long it would be until he could breathe again. He hated this part so much! There was a sudden change in pace and his eyes closed tighter, his grip tightening on Thomas' neck as he felt them urged further through the water. What was happening?! Something was definitely happening! He stupidly tried to listen…halfway expecting to hear a piccolo.

Quicker than he'd expected, their heads broke the surface, but only his, Thomas' and Mara's. They all took in large gulps of air. They weren't at the other end where they needed to be, but they needed air. A streak of light poured in from a hole in the underwater cavern: their only light source. Marcus was the first to speak,

"Where's Lee?"

Thomas was the one to answer him, still being grasped onto by Marcus. He turned his head ever so slightly to try and look at him: his light brown hair pressed against Marcus' cheek, cold and wet,

"One of them woke up. He'll be all right…"

Even if Thomas was right, Marcus couldn't help but be terrified for him. They'd been swimming for almost a minute, and now he had to fight something underwater that's soul intent was to drown him! Calm down…it's Lee, and he's killed more of these things than anyone on this island. He had to keep reminding himself of that. A shrill scream sounded through their small air pocket and was soon muffled by water as Mara was harshly pulled down beneath the surface. Her head promptly resurfaced and she growled as she kicked hard at what had pulled her. Marcus' death grip on Thomas' neck only tightened from it, but his heart picked up pace again when he saw Lee's head move up next to her, laughing.

"You sick son of a bitch!!!"

Mara was the one to yell it as she moved to punch Lee in the face, but he caught her wrist before she could. Her fingers splayed out and she slapped him instead. He tossed his head back, getting his black hair away from his eyes as he rubbed his cheek,

"Yeah ok I deserved that, but I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."

He spoke between laughs as she lunged forward towards him again, forcing his head under the water. Thomas rolled his eyes and kicked Mara hard in the side,

"Hey! You can kill him after he gets us through!"

The annoyance was evident in his voice and she let Lee come back up for air. At this point Marcus didn't know what was better for his health: facing Kira again, or surviving the rest of the way to the lost boys. He was the first to take in air before they all went back down to finish the rest of the way through. They were much further than he had realized: it only took about a minute before they resurfaced on the black sanded beach. He rolled off of Thomas' back and landed on his own to rest against the smooth surface for a moment. All of them did, and it was then that he saw the blood dripping down Lee's skin. Deep bite marks littered his left leg and arm. Were he to remove his clothing you'd see that he had scars all over him from the various fights and battles he'd taken part in…he was probably the most scarred of the lost boys, but it barely fazed him.

"Shit…"

Lee's voice was pained as he quickly pulled a tooth from his leg. He moved it into his pocket, but Marcus knew that that was only its temporary home. Lee wore a necklace that strung through the tooth of every mermaid that he had killed, and it was almost full now. His eyes closed tightly and he bit down on his bottom lip as he walked back into the water; letting the lagoon wash out his wounds as much as possible. It was times like this, when Marcus could look at Lee without feeling awkward, that he wondered how he was even still a lost boy. He looked to be about Peter's age, sixteen, but he'd always looked that age to Marcus. Of course none of them aged, and if they did it was at an extremely slow rate, but had he come here when he was sixteen? And he was so tall…the same height as Peter, he could easily be older than sixteen, that was just Marcus' guess.

The youngest of the lost boys was a girl named Hiromi who was only about five years old in appearance; Lee had to be the oldest. The only other he could think of that could possibly be older than him was another girl named Shana. She wasn't exceptionally tall, though she was the tallest girl there, but she looked older than the rest of them…possibly even seventeen, but he knew that she couldn't be: that was too close to being a grown up and Peter would never allow it.

"All right all right come on. You can get healed up when we get home, Lee. Stop being so primitive about it."

Mara took him by the back of his shirt and pulled him out of the water, moving back over to Marcus and tying the bandanna around his eyes again. Her hand moved into his as they started to walk once more. The smooth warmth of the sand was lost and replaced by cold grass. After a short walk there was another stop: they were there. The bandanna was taken off of him again, only now he was facing all three of them. A smile stretched over Lee's lips,

"Happy thought."

The moment the last syllable left him, Mara pushed Marcus' shoulder hard, sending him back over the highest cliff that Neverland had to offer.