Felix, Cas, Pan and I were congregated in Pan's tent. Felix stood lazily, chewing the inside of his cheek with the usual bored look on his face, Cas looked a bit shaken as he paced Pan's quarters and nibbled his thumb nervously. Pan had sat me down on his bed of pelts and cushions on the ground; during the journey back to his tent I had become faint from seeing my dagger wedged in Bill's arm, to the horrific fatal thud of Felix's club against the skull of the dark haired pirate who attacked me, and mostly from the shock of the whole situation. My knees had felt like jelly walking back to camp and walking in a straight line was a challenge. Pan chuckled to himself as I stumbled into him; his arm made its way around my waist keeping me steady and on my feet, manoeuvring me away from bumping into any trees as black dots blurred my vision.

A silver goblet was pressed into my hands by Pan as I slouched numbly on his animal hides, he took the small dagger that I had clutched in my hands and put it on the bed next to my lap. The liquid inside it was familiar. It was the sweet wine he had offered me when I came here for my assessment. 'Drink,' he urged as he sat beside me, 'it will help with the shock.' I nodded, taking a shaky sip of the red syrup. I licked my lips, my focus was coming back to me, I didn't feel like I was in a dream any longer.

'What do we do?' Cas uttered concerned. 'They have rarely got that close to camp before, and they're targeting recruits- well, Anya. They wanted her for something…'

'Mm, so pirate attacks are another trouble that points back to you, Anomaly.' Felix drawled with a cold smirk, I returned his remark with a brief scowl.

'Now, Felix, Cas; where's your sense of adventure?' Pan said, tilting his head to the side, resting his elbows on his thighs. 'We should be grateful that something so exciting is finally happening. It has been rather dull around here recently and I was beginning to worry that the pirates had lost interest.'

'But-' Cas started but was silenced by Pan's voice.

'But nothing,' Pan stated, 'let's throw the new recruits in the deep end. Cas I want you to train them harder, get them prepared for a fight. Felix you are to tell the Guard the situation and get more weapons prepared.' Pan stood as he listed all of the preparations, one hand on his hip, the other stroking his chin. I rolled my eyes as he, Cas and Felix wittered on about strategy, spying, weapons and guarding the camp. Cas insisted bravely that he would watch the pirates and update Pan on any developments and Felix arrogantly made wise cracks about gory battles he couldn't wait for as he swung his club playfully, smirking to himself.

'And what do you want us mere Gatherers to do?' I said abruptly which silenced them as they all turned to look at me sat on the bed. 'I guess we could collect some big scary sticks, or maybe find a particularly intimidating pinecone to ward them away?' I popped the empty goblet on the floor next to my feet, there was a pause before Pan chuckled. I straightened myself up and waited for his smart ass response with a raised eyebrow.

'That information only concerns Gatherers, which you no longer are part of,' I frowned as he paused with a sly smile, 'I'm promoting you.'

'W-what?' I gawked.

'What?' Felix uttered in shock, his mouth hanging open and his eyes full of disgust.

'You mean to Hunter status?' Cas questioned, equally as shocked as Felix but his manner was more impressed than offended.

'Well, she will have to start as Hunter, get her used to some blood… and then possibly she can go up to Fighter, I haven't quite decided yet.' Pan shrugged and then looked at Felix who was glaring at him. 'She has shown an element of potential-'

'She has shown dumb luck!' Felix hissed, making Pan raise a disapproving eyebrow at Felix's remark.

'I don't believe luck played a part in it.' Pan countered with a smirk. 'I believe it might be a natural gift.' Felix shook his head in disagreement but argued with Pan no further, he wouldn't dare, Cas cleared his throat before speaking up.

'I can train Anya with the Hunters tomorrow-' Cas offered but Pan silenced him, waving his hand and scrunching his eyebrows.

'No, she will need special attention, I will train her myself.' Pan said nonchalantly and I blinked, waiting for him to tell Cas he was joking.

'You're kidding right?' I laughed nervously and Pan looked at me with his playful green eyes, shaking his head.

'With your nausea and of course your incredible need to run off all the time I think you would be quite a handful for Cas when he has so many others to train.' I pursed my lips anxiously, I did not want to be trained by Pan, I didn't want any alone time with him whatsoever. 'Any more questions?' Pan looked at Cas and Felix, both uttered a small no, 'you're dismissed.' They both turned to leave, I stood too and began to follow them out. 'Not you,' Pan called out, Cas glanced over his shoulder at me and raised his eyebrows, wishing me luck. We were alone. 'Sit back down, I haven't forgotten your little act of disobedience earlier.' I walked back over to where I was sat with Pan before and slowly perched myself back on the bed. I avoided eye contact with him, looking at my hands in my lap and twiddling my thumbs. 'When I say "get out of my sight" I mean go back to camp.' I shrugged, still avoiding eye contact. 'That way you are less likely to run into pirates.' He picked up the dagger I had left on the bed and examined it, he ran his finger along the sharp blade making a small incision, he winced, his button nose wrinkling and flashing a glimpse of his baby white teeth, he laughed lightly to himself. 'This little bastard can do a lot of damage… who gave it to you?' I decided it was best to not mention names, I didn't want Tiger Lily in trouble with Pan.

'No one.' I mumbled, building up the courage to look at him. 'I stole it.' He quirked a brow at me and then smiled.

'Clever girl.' He said, mostly to himself, and examined the blade once more. He then held it out for me to take, 'here,' I was about to take it but then scowled and looked at him, he groaned and shoved the blade handle in my hand, closing my fingers around it. 'You'll need it with your new position.'

'About that… Pan, I don't want-'

'Peter.' He corrected coolly with a blink.

'Huh?' I scrunched up my face in confusion, did he just ask me to call him… Peter?

'Call me Peter, seeing as we are going to be training together.' He smirked and slouched back on the bed, propping himself up with his elbows.

'Yeah, like I was saying, I don't think I should be a Hunter… or Fighter. I know I complained about Gatherer but I think I've given you the impression I want to stay from that escapade, but I don't. So maybe it's best if I just stick to Gatherer and not have you waste your time training me or anything… and then I don't have to call you Peter either-'

'Anya, shut up.' He chuckled and I frowned at him. 'Gatherer is too boring a job for someone like you.'

'I'm taking that as a compliment.' I said with a sly smile which made his eyes glimmer as he watched me.

'Besides, even if you were still Gatherer I think we need to be on first name terms.' He said as he ran his hand through his murky blonde hair with a yawn.

'We do?'

'Mmm,' he said approvingly, 'I see too much of you for you not to.'

'But, Felix calls you Pan? Cas calls you Pan?' I countered, still somewhat baffled.

'Yeah, but they're my… workers, I see you more as a friend or ally.' He then scrunched his face to the side. 'On second thoughts we are more allies than friends.' He laughed and it made me snigger slightly. 'You don't call me Pan and I won't call you Anomaly, deal?'

'Fair enough.' I shrugged, he held out his hand for me to shake and I did, his soft palm made my hand prickle pleasantly.

'Go to bed now,' Peter said with a yawn, 'we have a long day tomorrow.' I nodded and stood up, making my way towards the entrance of his tent slowly, fumbling with the dagger in my hand. Fear tingled along my spine as I neared the outside of the tent, what if the pirates came back? What did they want with me? I spun around and looked at Peter.

'Peter, what do you think the pirates wanted me for?' I blurted out. He stretched his arms up, his shirt rising and revealing his creamy skin, he got up from the bed and walked over to me.

'I guess… just because you're different.'

'Do you think they'll come back to camp tonight? Get their revenge on me?' I babbled and Peter shook his head.

'No, they wouldn't dare, and even if they did I believe with all my heart that you would put that dagger to good use on them.' He said as he flicked away a stray clump of hair that was dangling on my forehead. 'Now sleep, you'll be fine.' I nodded and went to walk away again, 'Anya?' He said and I span around to look at him. 'I promise I won't let anything happen to you.' I took a deep breath and hoped with every inch of my body that he would keep that promise. I walked as quickly as I could to camp, my dagger clutched in my hand. Each time I looked back I could see Peter stood at the entrance of his tent, watching me walk safely back to the others.

As soon as my foot touched camp I was tackled by Sophie, I held her close and hugged her back twice as hard, concealing my dagger in my skirt once more when I was free from her grip. Sophie's arms were safe and they shielded me from the glares of Felix and Emilia. 'I was so bloody scared.' She gushed. 'I thought for definite Pan was going to kill you.'

'Nope, pirates nearly did though…' I shuddered, glancing around the forest checking there was no one lurking in the trees.

'Felix told Roger all about it so I've been informed, you are crazy.' She laughed and I chuckled with her. 'But you have been promoted, you can fight with me, I'll need you with me. We can help each other train-'

'But first,' I said and linked arms with her, 'can we sleep? I'm exhausted and I need someone by my side tonight. I am not sleeping alone.' I laughed and she squeezed my arm as we went back to our corner together. I curled up on my bed; Sophie by my side, I shut my eyes immediately, I did not want to see people gawking at me or glaring at me. I also needed to prepare myself for my session with Peter tomorrow, physically and mentally.

It's not that long but hey, it's a chapter! After a long time out to recover from a pretty horrendous few months I finally opened this story and could write again, and it felt so good to finish a chapter! I would like to say thank you for the constant support and interest from you during my hiatus via reviews and PMs, you have all waited so, so patiently and hopefully we can get the ball rolling with more chapters. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you soon! xoxoxo