(February 10 - Present Time)
Cubby POV
After Peter left, Jake and I went back inside to sleep. We learned Izzy was thankfully not a psycho, although the reality of it all wasn't any better. The spirit of a deceased pirate teen named Morgan who used to live on Pirate Island had risen and snuck her way into Izzy's head and began to dissolve her mental barriers and well…it worked. Right now we assume that she's dwelling on the Island of the Bells after being exiled from Neverland. Peter had promised that he would return soon and hopefully with a cure for Izzy. So the only question now is what happens next?
I sighed and turned onto my stomach while lying in my hammock, trying to fall asleep . I frankly, was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Something told me that tomorrow had a lot in store for us and we needed our rest. I looked over at Jake in the hammock that I had made for him, hoping to see him asleep. But no. He was sitting up, wide awake,staring up at the moon through our makeshift window in a similar manner of how Izzy would when she was sad.
"Jake, can you just go to sleep already bud?" I whispered. I tossed a sheet at him, attempting to coax him into slumber. He flinched, his green eyes darting toward the ground as he scratched his disheveled hair.
"I can't sleep." he sighed, and I sensed the stress in his voice. Giving up on persuading him, I settled back into my hammock, hugging my pillow.
"Well, you're the only one who can't," I retorted, my voice muffled by the sheets covering my face. He just rolled his eyes.
"How can you sleep right now, Cubby?" he asked.
"It's easy, Jake. Just close your eyes and breathe slowly, and there you go," I replied with a hint of sarcasm. He knew I was trying to help, even if my words were only causing frustration.
"You know what I mean." he persisted.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," I admitted, my tone softening. "This isn't fun for me either, you know. But I just hope Peter finds a cure for Izzy and quickly. If he doesn't, we'll have to exterminate her sooner than we think—."
"Exterminate?" Jake repeated, his astonishment evident. "Did you just say we're gonna exterminate her? As if she were a cockroach?"
"Well, she ain't exactly a sweet little butterfly now, is she?" I asked, folding my arms in frustration.
"No, she's not, because that's not her. It's the ghost of that Morgan brat or whatever her name was."
"Not to point fingers at Izzy, because she's more of a victim than any of us, but had she not made such a dumb decision to listen to Morgan then none of this would have happened," I carefully articulated, trying not to spark an argument with Jake.
"It doesn't matter. She only did it because that girl—no, because that thing followed her and tortured and tricked her into doing such a horrible thing."
"Well, it already happened, Jake, and we can't do anything about that because we have no control over it. But what we do have control over is what happens next. And we can't do that on no sleep. So goodnight," I finally said, planting myself in my hammock and turning away from him. I heard him eventually lay down aswell and let out a heavy sigh.
As I lay there, attempting to fall asleep, a small feeling of guilt tugged at my conscience. I had snapped, barked, and sassed at Jake all day, and he just wanted to understand what was happening. He had discovered that his oldest and closest friend had been taken away from him and manipulated into becoming an all-out murderer. I licked my lips nervously, sighed and then eventually spoke.
"Jake?" I said in a softer, more gentle tone, breaking the silence.
"Yeah?" he answered, his voice tinged with weariness.I actually didn't know what to say as I didn't think he'd actually answer me. And so I just said whatever crept its way into my mind…..unfortunately.
"How many siblings did you have again?" I asked, straight out of the blue. I didn't roll over on my other side to face him. I was too nervous to see his reaction. He was quiet for a minute, before simply answering:
"Three."
"Were they boys or girls?"
"All boys. All older. All complete jerks," he answered. "You had two little sisters right?"
"Yes. But we got separated when we were shipped off to different schools in different places of the world." I explained.
"Do you miss them?" I heard him ask me.
"Of course. We were all sent to different countries. I was most likely never gonna see them again. Boy did I sure love them,"
I paused at the thought of my two dear little sisters with their rosy cheeks, luscious golden curls and their big blue eyes. But while I was in the land where children never grew up, they were both probably full grown women or even mothers by now! Then I started to think about my other sister. Izzy and I may not be related, but I and I alone would always be her baby brother. Jake and I loved her more than her actual family did. And her actual family….was no one. "Poor Izzy," I said with sadness in my voice. "She never had any siblings or any family. Her parents seem to forget she even existed at times. She must have felt so abandoned. And now this happens to her."
"Thanks for rubbing it in Cubster….again." I heard Jake mumble. After waiting a good long minute I finally turned over on my other side to look at him. However he had changed his position. He was still sitting up but his back was facing me now.
"You really miss her don't you?" I asked. He sighed.
"Yeah."
"We'll get her back. I know we will," I assured him. "But we aren't getting anywhere by fretting about it for the rest of the night alright?" The teen nodded, although a smile hadn't made its way into his face like how I had expected. Instead he just simply laid down in his hammock. "Goodnight." I whispered.
" 'night."
We went to sleep for real that time.
After what seemed to be forever, that night finally ended. At dawn Jake and I both woke up and I offered him a piece of fruit which he reluctantly took and ate, but not without another lecture of my "disgusting" eating habits. We didn't have time to bicker right now though. The morning had returned and so did Peter Pan.
I immediately ran outside onto the beach when I saw the green boy himself land on the sand. Jake was still inside, panicking that he couldn't find his red bandana as he frantically searched around the hideout. Izzy's pixie dust pouch (that was now a glowing sparkly gold again) around Peter's neck and what seemed to be a small sack that looked like it was made of leaves that were sewn together, in his hand. The leaf bag had some sort of light purple glow coming from the inside as the leaves that covered it were not completely opaque. Peter had a proud smile on as he held the mysterious glowing bag up.
"I told you I'd find a cure!" he said with major satisfaction that was visible in his brown eyes. "Sure it took all night and I had to pull a few strings but anything for Izzy."
"You mean…you really found a cure?" I repeated in disbelief. Peter nodded with a childish grin. "You mean we're really gonna get Izzy back?" His smile dropped a bit when I said that and my hope took a bit of a hit as well.
"That part is going to be a little bit tricky."
"Why?"
"Did you get the cure!?" we heard Jake call as he ran out from the hideout into the morning sunlight, trying to tie his red bandana around his forehead in the process. When he had the scarlet fabric fully tied he dropped his arms to his side and stood next to me. Peter held up the leaf pouch and smiled.
"I sure did." he said as he opened it and took out the most beautiful thing I had ever seen; A flower. A crystal flower. It looked like it was carefully constructed with tiny purple and pink crystals and it created a beautiful glowing lavender aura. Both Jake and I stared at the amethyst-like flower in awe as Peter held it in front of our eyes.
"Woah." I let out in amazement.
"That is beautiful," Jake commented, his eyes still locked on the glowing flower. "But what is it?"
"This is a Forever Flower," Peter said, cupping his other hand around the crystal to show off its glow some more. "It only grows once every ten years. Sprouting from the Forever Tree, these flowers are said to heal anything and anybody, no matter the case."
"You sure they can heal a corrupted pirate girl?" Jake asked, one hand rubbing his chin.
"I don't know. But it's worth a try isn't it?" Peter asked as he put the flower back in the leaf sack and secured it tightly.
"Well…" Jake dragged on in uncertainty.
"Of course it is!" I stated firmly. "Jake, somewhere, somehow, I know our Izzy is counting on us. And if this is the only way we can help her then we've gotta act fast."
"I know that Cubby. But are we sure this is gonna work Peter?" he asked, looking from the ground up to the redhead.
"To be honest with you Jake, no. I don't know if this will work. But desperate times call for desperate measures and I'd say this qualifies as such, wouldn't you? To tell you the truth I have not seen nor dealt with anything like this. My battle with Morgan all those years ago was a violent one and it was quick. But for her to go so far as to wait five decades for everything to go wrong in Izzy's life just shows what we're up against. And keep in mind you guys that we are still fighting Izzy at the same time. Morgan has complete control over all of Izzy's hateful and uhappy thoughts, which includes her hurt, aging and possible resentment toward you and I, Jake. It will be as if we are fighting both of them in the same body. Morgan will fight until somebody dies, either you or her, but she will not stop. But if we kill her, then we kill what is left of Izzy. Do you understand?" Jake and I both nodded.
"But Peter….how do we use the forever flower?" Jake asked.
"That's where we run into a bit of a problem." Peter answered, scratching his head a bit flustered.
"What do you mean?"
"Well…in order to heal someone, the forever flower has to make contact with their injury or the area where they've been affected the most. But ... Izzy's pain is not a physical pain. So….I'm not quite sure how we'd use this for that. But one thing is for sure: If this crystal breaks, then we're toast. We'd have to wait about ten years for another one to grow and who knows what will happen by then if we don't stop her now." We were all quiet for a moment.
"So…what now?" Jake asked. Peter looked like a bucket of water had just been dumped on him.
"What now!?" The thirteen year old repeated, astonished. "What do you mean what now? I found the cure, I got the pixie dust, all we have to do is find Izzy. So mateys, it's anchors away!"
To Be Continued...