Quick note, this is indeed a story in an alternate universe. Obviously none of this would've ever happened, but it could've. Enjoy. :)

February 10th - Present Day

Jake POV

"I-I-it can't be," I stuttered in disbelief. I looked around at what was left of our destroyed home. "Izzy did all this?" Cubby nodded. "A-and…..and she was….banished?" He nodded again. "But…..b-b-but how!?" I exclaimed, trying my best not to cry.

"I just told you. After she burned the place down, everybody came over here and had her kicked out. It's not that big a leap, Jake," the blonde boy said as he stepped out of his hammock and walked across the room to get a midnight snack. He grabbed something and bit into it. He came back into the moonlight to reveal it to be filthy looking apple, although it probably seemed pretty good to him after living on this burnt island for so long. "Apples, am I right? Ya eat 'em and a week later you're hungry again."

"I don't believe this Cubby." I said, running my fingers through my jet black hair in a worried manner, while he just continued to casually eat his apple.

"Believe it bud." he said through a mouthful of the fruit, his nonchalant attitude contrasting with my concerness.

"Why banishment though?" I asked.

"Because we didn't have long enough of a rope to hang her with." he said casually.

"Cubby!" I shrieked.

"Sorry." he said after a chuckle. How was he possibly laughing right now?

"Where did she even go?" I asked, lifting my head up. Cubby rubbed his chin, pretending to be serious, but then quickly dropped the sinister demeanor.

"Hmm. Don't know, don't care." he said with little care indeed as he bit the apple.

"Well I do!" It was true. Before Peter brought me to Neverland, I lived with my parents and three older brothers, all of whom were absolute jerks to me. In fact they were the reason I left the real world. I was the youngest of them and was always pushed around and made fun of by them. I had always dreamed of having a baby sister who I could just coddle and play with, while not getting beat up. And when I came here, Izzy became my little sister and a few years later….we…a uh….a little bit more than that. My parents had always dismissed my request for a little sister, saying I would just push her around and find her annoying. But I don't think I could push Izzy around. She wouldn't let me. I was her big brother. Which meant I was supposed to protect her. Not let her turn into an all out maniac. "Now tell me!" I demanded him.

"How the heck do you expect me to know!?" he shrilled. "The last place I saw her was on the horizon. She could be anywhere Jake. She could be a million miles away. And frankly, I'd like it to stay that way." I continued to stare at him. He knew more than that. The little liar. He only continued to munch on the apple while staring at the ground and it wasn't till about five minutes later that our eyes locked. I made sure my hazel eyes were absolutely peering into his blue ones. But he only seemed to peer straight back at me and then quickly stood up, menacingly stepping closer to me.

"C-cubby you have to tell me, I'm like her brother." I squeaked. He got out of my face.

"Uh, correction Jake," he said, putting one finger up as he turned around and walked away. "You were like her brother," He hoisted himself up onto the table, one foot resting on it, and the other hanging off the side, and continued to eat his apple. "I think she's disgraced you now."

"Why would she do that?" I asked as I leaned up against the wall.

"Because she doesn't give two hoots about you Jake," he said in an amused tone as if it were common knowledge. "She doesn't like you. I don't like you. Heck, Skully doesn't even like you," His smug smile slowly dissolved as he continued to stare at me. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

"What?"

"I asked if you're hungry. I haven't seen you eat anything since you've been here. You want something to eat?" I cringed, knowing what he 'something to eat' meant. It meant garbage.

"Oh no, it's ok Cubster. I-I'm fine." I assured him, despite the fact that I was starving.

"Aw come on. You're a big boy Jake. If you wanna stay that way you need to eat something." he insisted as he started to scavenge through the plate of rotten fruit.

"No really Cubby. You only eat every two weeks, I think you deserve it more than I do." But my words were useless. To my disgust, he came to me with a moldy slice of cheese in his hands and held it up to me.

"Here you go." he said, handing it to me. I held the rotten dairy with the very tip of my fingers and cringed.

"Thanks a lot."

"What are you waiting for? Eat it!" I took one more look at the cheese and got a better glance at the gross white and green splotches that were starting to form on it.

"Cubby, no," I sighed. "This is gross."

"It's called survival, you girl." he mocked.

"Hey shut up!" I barked.

"Jake, just be a man and eat it. You'll be fine. Izzy and I ate this stuff for years on the Jolly Roger and nothing too awful happened." I lowered the cheese out of my view and shot him a glare.

"She's a psycho. You're a hermit. I think I have the right to be cautious." Cubby rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth and shook his head.

"Fine. Don't eat it you sissy." he said, taking the disgusting food from me and throwing it back into his basket. When I saw he wasn't looking, I rapidly rubbed my fingers on my shirt to erase the very touch of the cheese from them. I cleared my throat.

"Uh…speaking of Izzy." I started.

"We're we even speaking of Izzy?"

"Well we are now. We gotta do something Cubby. Is there any way to cure her?"

"You can't cure a maniac Jake. That's just not how the cookie crumbles. And besides, I think you'd have to find her first."

"Do you think you know where she is? O-or where we could get a cure? We have to put an end to this somehow."

"Well judging by the fact that you refuse to eat or drink anything here I'd say the end is coming sooner than you think.."

"Could you please just be serious for one minute?" I begged. Cubby scratched the back of his head.

"Why do you care about her so much? What about Skully? Or what about Bucky who….you know….died!? Gosh Jake when you were eight years old you would've tried to look for her, failed and then forgotten about her and moved on."

"How can you say that? She loved you like a brother—."

"And she loved you too but you sure didn't let that get in your way of flying the coop with Peter! Now did you!?" There were tiny tears forming in his eyes, as well as mine. Oh no. Not again. "Izzy was depending on you two to come and help us! She made that stupid rooster call every night and you never listened! And now she's kicked out of Neverland! And they say she might have gone to the Island of the Bells so she can be burnt by the dragon and killed! There I told you! Are you happy!?" I let out a loud gasp as Cubby panted after the sermon he had just yelled, looking like he had just run a mile. The thought of his reveal of Izzy's location sent shivers down my spine.

The Island of the Bells was well, an island of bells obviously. It was where we had retrieved a new bell for Bucky after Hook had "won" him from us. But it was much more than that. It was far far off the coast of Neverland and was a small isle filled with lava pools and volcanoes. The sun never seemed to rise there and it was always night. And it was even home to a fire breathing dragon to top it off. Lovely. It sure was a horrifying place. Only someone who was completely out of their mind would go there! And that must be exactly why everyone thinks the Psycho Pirate herself lives there. It was a great place for exile. Nobody would dare come to find you. Izzy presumably has no pixie dust anymore so she would most likely be trapped there forever, unless she was able to swim the hundred mile distance back to Neverland. I shuddered at the thought and rubbed the tears out of my eyes.

"How long do you plan on staying exactly Jake? I'm getting a little tired of story time." Cubby said, tossing the apple core away and sniffing away his tears.

"This is my home too, you know!" I said, my voice raised as I grew irritated. The tan blonde boy hopped off the table and rubbed his chin.

"You know, it's so funny that you think you can call Pirate dead-land your home after you abandoned it for seven years and only come back when it's been burnt to a crisp." he lectured, putting his hands on his hips.

"I know what I did was terrible Cubby and I know this is my fault! But I don't need to be reminded of it every second!"

"Well then I'd pack your bag if I were you brother. I told you where Izzy is now, get out."

"It's the middle of the night, besides, the pixie dust Peter gave me ran out. I'm stuck here as much as you are." Cubby looked like he had just been shot in the foot.

"What!?" he shrieked. "I don't wanna be stuck here with you forever!" I scoffed.

"Well you haven't exactly been a picnic either!" I couldn't help but talk back.

"I mean we could always just kill each other," Cubby suggested and then raised his hand. "I'm for that idea."

"Never mind that Cubby, this isn't funny. We have to fix this!"

"Well…I do know someone who could help…..that is if he'd actually listen this time. But, I don't know if you'd wanna see him." he said nervously. I was contemplating on who he was possibly talking about, but then it hit me. Oh no. My eyes widened.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh nonononono. Absolutely not! We are not bringing Peter into this. The situation is already bad enough."

"Well it's either him or we leave things the way they are. We sure don't stand a chance against Izzy." Cubby said with a shrug. I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Fine. But I'm not gonna be the one to make the call."


Forgetting that sleep was a thing, Cubby and I made our way up to the tippy top of the highest hill of Pirate "Ash Land" in order to signal Peter. Did I really want that smug little brat's help after the fight we had two months ago? Absolutely not. Honestly at this point I was rooting for Hook to catch him and sink him to the bottom of the oceans But I had to lay that aside for the moment. Every day, more and more Nevelandians were living in fear of the Psycho Pirate and what was left of our Izzy, not this maniac, was slowly fading away every passing hour. We had to cure her before it was too late and before she was gone for good. Now as much as I hate saying this, Peter might be the only one who knows how to fix this situation. The boy was praised and worshiped by all of Neverland even though he isn't even present here a majority of the time. But now, here I was, standing on the top of a mountain with Cubby, screaming my lungs out, looking like a complete imbecile, trying to imitate a rooster crow.

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DO—*cough*" I couldn't help but cough. My throat has been dry since crow number 17. Cubby rushed to my side, and harshly patted me on the back to get me to stop.

"Louder!" he urged while gripping my shoulder, his optimism unwavering. I massaged my sore throat and swallowed hard.

"This is ridiculous, Cubby. Peter's gonna think I'm an idiot."

"Oh please, Jake, don't be ridiculous," he said as he put a hand on my shoulder as if trying to be reassuring, but we certainly couldn't have that. "The guy spent seven years on the ocean alone with you. I'm sure he already knows you're an idiot."

"You can stop it, smart mouth," I said through teeth, gripping his hand and throwing it off my shoulder. "We've been at this for hours, and still no sign of him." I said, dropping my hands to my side.

"Yeah, well, welcome to the club. Try going on seven years of being unanswered."

"Why does everything have to come back to that?" I grumbled.

"Does it?" Cubby teased.

"Yes!" I retorted.

"Sorry, I must not realize. The image of you crowing like a dying bird is too priceless a sight." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"You know, Cubby, not once have I seen you do the call tonight. What gives?" His expression turned more nonchalant.

"Ah well, you see, Jake, everybody in Neverland is in hiding, and they just don't want me telling anybody on the outside about them."

"What does that have to do with making the call?" I inquired, confusion in my olive eyes.

"If anybody in Neverland recognizes my voice trying to call for Peter then they'll think something is wrong."

"Well…something is wrong." I stated firmly.

Cubby sighed, his resolve unwavering. "Well, I mean, they'll think someone whose name starts with an 'Iz' and ends in a 'zy' is back. Nobody else but Neverland and I know about her and we plan to keep it that way."

"Well, what do I look like to you? A rat?" Cubby chuckled and I could possibly see the smart alec comment that was about to come out of his mouth, forming in his mind.

"You do a little bit around the nose, but that isn't the point," He shook his head before continuing. "I mean no newcomers or trespassers. I've already told you more than I should have."

"Does Peter know about Izzy?" I asked, my voice filled with curiosity.

"I don't know, " Cubby admitted. "If he did, I figured he'd be back by now. But he isn't so we gotta make him come back. You're right Jake. Things can't go on like this. We gotta fix Izzy before it's too late. And that means that we're gonna cock-a-doodle-doo until Peter hears us. I don't care if you hate him. It's not about you. It's about saving our Izzy I've told you all I know so there's no backing out now. You're in too deep. You know too much. I'm the man of the house now and you live under my roof so your Brazilian hind belongs to me! Now crow!" I rolled my eyes at his last sentence and stepped forward a bit, cupping my hands around my mouth to elevate my voice. I cleared my throat and then started to yell at the now clear starry night skies.

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DO! PETER PAN, WE NEED YOU!" I dropped my hands to my side and just listened to the echo that my yell had made slowly dissolve. Nothing happened. No green bright shooting star came piercing through the sky. 'Hah!' I thought. 'Never far from a friend in Neverland' my foot! I hung my head and kicked the ashy dirt before standing up straight again and turning towards my old friend. I sighed as he looked at me confused. "The only way he can hear us is if we do this…..together." I said.

"But Jake, what if anybody hears me?" he protested.

"It's not like they're gonna come over here anytime soon so I doubt they'll do anything," I reassured. "Come on," I said, motioning for him to stand next to me. "For Izzy remember?" Cubby sighed and slowly made his way to my side.

"Yes." We both cleared our voices and readied our throats.

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DO! PETER PAN, WE NEED YOU!" we shouted together. But still, nothing.

"One more time." he encouraged. Before we both shouted together once more:

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DO! PE-." We were interrupted by a bright green light in the sky and a boyish, mischievous laughter that was followed by a: "COCK-A-DOODLE-DO!"

To Be Continued…..