August 4th - One Week Before Izzy Went Insane…

Cubby POV

The hot sunny summer day we had been yearning for had finally arrived! A little over a month had passed after we escaped the Jolly Roger and nearly every day, despite it being summer time, was gloomy, cloudy and cold. But today, interestingly enough, the sun was out, the skies were blue and there wasn't a single cloud within a hundred miles. We did have quite the sunrise this morning. The sky was bright red and it was rather humid and warm this morning, but we just shrugged it off to it being just the weather changing. We decided today was a good day to sail out on Bucky (since we hadn't done so in nearly seven years) and maybe take a quick dip in the ocean and then enjoy the warm, long awaited sun while lying on his deck. We had already sailed awfully far. Pirate island was barely visible, but we thought nothing of it. Big Mistake.

Izzy was at the helm of our little Buccaneer, Skully was perched up on one of the yards while I just walked around the deck for a while and eventually leaned up against the rail to stare at the beautiful clear skies and sea. They had been covered up by clouds for nearly five months and it felt so great to finally embrace them again. I paused from staring at the turquoise waters of Neverland and looked up at the tanned teenage girl steering the ship. Her signature rosy bandana was no longer worn on her head and instead was tied in a knot around her neck. She still wore her pink shirt, which had now taken on a faded hue and it was more fitted as she had entered her teenage years. Back when she was seven, the shirt seemed to envelop her like a pink tent. A similar situation had occurred with her purple pants, which had turned into a soft shade of lavender. However, her red boots were absent. During our time aboard the Jolly Roger, Izzy and I rarely wore shoes, as they just got in the way of our difficult tasks. We seemed to have developed a habit. Izzy's hair had undergone a slight lightening, reasonably so after all the hours we had spent under the sun's rays. Previously a deep chocolate color, it had morphed into a golden brown shade, radiating a luminous glow in the sunlight. And I'm glad it did. She needed something to brighten her up. I don't think she ever fully recovered from the brutal whipping Captain Hook had given her and I don't know if she ever will. Her midsection was still wrapped in white bandages to this day. She rarely smiled a real smile but she always did her best to keep us safe and happy. And I thought she was doing a pretty good job at it. I had also undergone severe changes in the past years. I lost my tubby appearance that I had as a toddler, since we barely ate and worked all day long. I am actually quite thin now. I don't know whether to like it or not. My dark blonde hair was about collar length since I hadn't cut it in so long and I had a bit of a tan. Well, not really a tan, it was more of a sunburn since I was descended from the fair skinned people of London. Although if you saw me now you never would've guessed that.

Izzy looked a little nervous at the wheel and was deeply focused as she steered. She hadn't driven Bucky in years, but she knew more about doing so than I did. Usually Jake was the one to drive being that he was, oh you know, our leader (Mind boggling, I know). Speaking of Jake it had now been six years since he left and he still hasn't returned. We've just come to the conclusion that he never will. Both Skully and I did miss him….a lot, but I could tell his absence was absolutely tearing Izzy apart, but I wasn't too sure. So I decided to ask.

"Um….Izzy." I squeaked a bit nervously as I headed up to her.

"What is it?" she asked in an oddly sinister tone, eyes still locked on the horizon.

"Uhm ... .do you by any chance miss—-."

"H-hold on Cubby," she said as she put a finger up. Her squinted eyes quickly bent into a fearful expression. "Oh no." she muttered as she quickly made her way down to the main deck, running over to the bow and finally leaning over it to look at whatever was in the distance.

"Oh no what?" I said as I quickly followed her and then stood next to her to see what she was looking at. "Aw coconuts." There, in the distance was a form of large dark grayish-blue clouds that were coming towards us. Quick.

"Crackers!" Skully exclaimed. "That's a storm if I've ever seen one!" Izzy shook her head.

"It's not just a storm," she said. "It's a hurricane! And it's coming right towards us!" she shouted in panic as she ran back to the wheel and tried to turn the ship around. But before she could do so, she was knocked to her feet by a powerful wave that made its way onto Buck's deck. But that didn't stop her. She shakily got up, now dripping wet and stomping through six inches of water to get to the wheel. I as well had taken a bit of a fall, only the wave pushed me into the railing of the port side. The salt water made its way into my mouth, but I had other things to worry about so I just swallowed it. Bleh! "We gotta get out of here!" Izzy declared as I immediately sprung into action. Before we knew it, the skies were filled with dark clouds and it startled to sprinkle…..and then drizzled…and then it started to pour.

"Izzy, this is an emergency!" I shouted, hoping that maybe her pixie dust could help us…somehow.

"No kidding!" she exclaimed.

"I said, Izzy, this is an e-mer-gen-cy!" I shouted again.

"You can stop saying that Cubby! I know!" What is she waiting for? Usually she always pulled out that yellow pouch before we even finished the sentence. But now ... .it seems like she's..forgotten. I looked up at her through the rain to see that her chest was completely bare! She didn't have the dust and I didn't even realize.

"Izzy, where is your pixie dust!?"

"Doesn't matter! It's raining anyway!" she growled, her voice as loud as the thunder. "Cubby, roll up the sails! Skully, you fly back home!" Izzy ordered as she struggled to turn the wheel.

"No way!" the green parrot argued. "I can't leave you mateys here!"

"Skully DO AS I SAY!" Izzy shouted with a hybrid tone of fear and frustration in her voice. "Now get out of here!" Our little parrot friend reluctantly did so and flew until we couldn't see him anymore. And now the real storm has started. I wasn't that worried at the beginning to be honest. After six years of torture, Izzy and I were professional sailors. We had sailed through many hurricanes while aboard the Jolly Roger. But that was when there were six of us working together. Now, it was just me and her.

The wind loudly howled, tearing through sails, threatening to rip them apart. Rain lashed against my face like a thousand tiny needles, stinging me as I cautiously made my way over to the rope ladder, preparing to climb up it and onto the foryard so I could pull one of the blue and white sails up. Bucky rang his bell frantically, almost giving me a headache. Izzy clenched the wheel, her knuckles white as she fought to keep control of the ship. It was chaos all around us, the sea roiling and churning, waves rising like towering giants ready to swallow us whole. Another wall of seawater had crashed down on the deck, leaving a foaming and bubbly mess.

"ROLL UP THE SAILS!" Izzy roared, still trying to keep the wheel under control and not get knocked over by a wave in the process. Her eyes were wide with determination, but I could see the fear lurking within them. On the Jolly Roger we had sailed through many treacherous storms but this was beyond anything we'd ever faced before. I climbed up the rope ladder, which was child's play to me now, unlike when I was a toddler who was too afraid to even get on the first rung, and eventually reached the yard. I took a quick glance at the enormous gap between me and the deck and couldn't help but gulp. I was twenty four feet in the air, only secured by nothing but my strength. One wrong move and I was done for. I sat up on the yard as if riding a horse. My bony legs were wrapped tightly around it as I began to work with my hands. With every ounce of strength I could find within my scrawny arms, I tried to just grasp one of the flying soaked sails, struggling to secure them as the ship pitched and rolled. The ropes whipped through the air like a bunch of snakes and I could barely hear my own thoughts over the loud clash of waves. "Cubby hurry!" Izzy screamed up at me with more fear than determination. The pirate girl heaved the wheel with all her might, and Bucky groaned as if protesting the strain. The ship lurched to the side, and for a moment, it seemed we might regain control. But the storm had other plans. A colossal wave reared up before us, a whole wall of foaming fury. Panic clenched my heart as I realized the wave was about to crash down upon us. "CUBBY WATCH OUT!" she screamed. I shut my eyes tight and gripped onto the foryard as the wave struck with a bone-shaking impact. Water flooded the deck, sweeping Izzy off her feet and knocking the air from her. I, on the other hand, clung onto the wooden yard for dear life, forgetting my task of gathering the sails and only focusing on surviving. My soaked blue and white clothes were clinging to my shivering body. Through the downpour, I glanced down at Izzy to see her struggling to stay upright, her grip on the wheel slipping. Poor girl. She couldn't steer and help me roll the dials up at the same time. We weren't gonna make it out of this if it was just the two of us. We needed another pair of hands.

A deafening crack split the air, drowning out the storm's roar. I looked down, horror rising in me as I saw the mast cracking. It was going down, and if I stayed up here any longer, I would go down with it. had to get off the yard! As I was contemplating how to do so, another humongous wave came crashing against me and I felt my limbs unwrap from the foryard…and I fell off it. I screamed and grabbed one of the flying ropes and for a split second I was in mid air before I was fully slammed down on the deck by another wave.

"OH!" I let out as I felt my entire body fill up with pain and shock after that great fall.

"Are you ok!?" I heard Izzy shout from…..well somewhere. I had no idea where she was.

"Yes!" I shouted. I looked up and the sails were already ripped to a shred. There was no point in rolling them up anymore. I was about to get up and go help Izzy, when I felt a plank of wood give out beneath me. Oh no. I looked down to see the entire deck was falling apart. The Buccaneer was on the brink of surrender.

"No!" I screamed, my voice swallowed by the chaos. It was too late. Bucky's mast groaned, tilting at an angle before crashing into the sea. Izzy screamed, her voice lost in the storm, as the ship was torn apart. Time seemed to stretch as Bucky listed to the side, water surging over the deck. My heart pounded in my chest, and I fought against the currents, clawing my way towards Izzy. Her eyes met mine, wide with terror and realization, and in that moment, I knew. We were losing Bucky.

"Abandon ship!" she shouted as she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me off of what was left of Bucky. He rang his bell once more, but even faster and louder as if saying: "Wait! Don't leave me!"

"Izzy No! We can't!" I let out stubbornly, trying to pull her back. But she was much stronger than me and it was impossible to escape her iron grip.

"WE HAVE NO CHOICE!" she yelled as she pulled me along. I started to cry heavily. "I'M SORRY CUBBY!" And with that, she grabbed me and we jumped off the ship, and we were now treading in the stormy ocean. We were pulled under a wave every five seconds and it was nearly impossible to breathe, but we never let go of eachother. I looked back at Bucky one last time. The ship groaned, before slipping beneath the waves. Izzy and I clung to a floating piece of debris, the storm's fury carrying us away from our sinking ship. The world around us was a wall of water, rain, and darkness. And as the tempest raged on, I couldn't shake the feeling that we weren't just losing a ship. We were losing a friend. Bucky was more than wood sails and a gold bell, he was our companion, our protector, and now, he had just been swallowed by the merciless sea.

Izzy POV

We had little time to mourn Bucky for we had our own survival to worry about. Breathing heavily, we huddled together on a large piece of driftwood, our bodies pressed close for warmth and support. The hurricane still raged around us, the waves towering over our small float, threatening to engulf us at any moment. Each crash of water against the driftwood sent shivers down our spines, and I could see the fear in poor little Cubby's eyes.

"It will be ok Cubby," I said, my voice determined despite the uncertainty that gnawed at my heart. "We're gonna make it home. I hope." He nodded, his little teeth chattering as he tried to speak but couldn't.

As the storm raged on, we clung to that piece of wood like our lives depended on it, and in a way, they did. The hours stretched on, and the darkness of the storm seemed to meld with the darkness of the ocean, making it impossible to distinguish between sea and sky. But even as the wind whipped around us and the rain soaked us to the bone, my blonde crewmate and I held onto each other. We kicked and kicked and kicked and as time went by, so did the hurricane and the dark clouds. I didn't realize how long it had been until I saw the light of the golden hour, peeking out from under the clouds. The wind eased, and the waves gradually subsided, leaving us battered but alive and that was all that mattered. As the sea grew calmer, our piece of driftwood gently carried us towards the shores of pirate island.

Exhausted and half-frozen, we finally felt solid ground beneath us as the driftwood washed ashore. We stumbled onto the sand, our legs like jello. We fell face first into the cold sand. The sun was now visible and it was floating slightly above the ocean, creating a beautiful sunset. Cubby had passed out asleep on the sand, poor guy. I pushed myself up and looked around to see pieces of Bucky slowly making their way to shore. My face bent in agony.

'This is your fault Jake.'

To Be Continued...

There will only be one more flashback, I promise Lol :D But the next one is the most important of them all.