Cubby POV

I sat there in silence, my big blue eyes fixated on the cave entrance where Izzy had vanished into the night. Peter was grimacing his pain, wrapping a torn piece of his shirt around his wounded arm. He looked defeated, however the eternal sparkle of hope in his eyes had not yet dimmed fully, but it was pretty close. It was a sight I had never seen before. Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, struggling to mask his vulnerability. Jake, on the other hand, had retreated to a dark corner of the cave, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, his head buried in his knees. He was silent, but I could sense the waves of disappointment and regret rolling off him. We had failed. We had failed to save Izzy , and in the process, we had lost the kind, gentle girl we once knew. The Izzy who had laughed with us, shared secrets, and fought by our side was nothing but a memory. The Izzy I remembered wouldn't hurt a fly. She would most likely mistake it for a spider and run away squealing in fear. But now she was manipulating the heck out of us and threatening our lives. She is gone now. Forever.

I looked at Peter, his brow furrowed and his eyes clouded with a mix of emotions. Throughout this whole event he had been confident and defiant, but in that sliver of a moment, he seemed as lost and broken as the rest of us. As for Jake, the guilt he felt was very visible that I could practically taste it. It was a bitter, heavy problem that hung over us like a storm cloud.

"What do we do now?" I finally spoke, breaking the heavy silence that enveloped.

"Didn't you hear her Cubby? We die." Jake blurted.

Peter then looked at the raven haired teen, his expression a mixture of resignation despite the slash on his arm.

"Don't even start that with me Jake. We are not giving up! We haven't lost." he said, his voice full of determination but no cockiness.

"Well lets see," Jake started. "We're stuck in a cave about 50 feet high, we have no pixie dust, no possible way of getting off this island, we lost the only known cure for Izzy, our sole weapon is a wooden stick, you're hurt and me and Cubby probably have about two weeks left to live unless if she kills us sooner. So to me, yes we have lost. Peter, with his unruly red hair and freckled face, let out a sigh and then crossed his arms.

"Well, anybody would think so when you put it that way." he mumbled. Jake's despair seemed to overwhelm him as he buried his face in his arms again.

"We never should've come here," the raven haired teen continued, his voice heavy with regret. "I should've just listened to Cubby. There's no fixing this."

"Only if you're a quitter," Peter interjected, his voice firm despite the obvious pain in his arm. "And only if you're able to give up on your first matey so easily!" You could tell he wasn't gonna let Jake surrender to despair. Our fate depended on our determination to fight back.

"Well, a little something about my 'first matey'," Jake said, frustration lacing his words, "she wants to kill me. And Cubby. She wants you to suffer forever, and she wants to take over Neverland. I was just as reluctant to believe it as you were, but it's true! And if you're so confident in yourself, then why can't you fly? Where are your happy thoughts? Huh?"

"Jake, just because I'm confident doesn't mean I'm happy," Peter confessed, the weight of our situation bearing down on him. "To be honest with you, I'm just as infuriated and disappointed as you. And this place, this... this haunted island... this is the place where the sun never rises. This is the place where everyone is too afraid to go. This is the place of unhappy thoughts! And that's why she came here. Morgan fed on Izzy's guilt and pain and used it to her advantage. Izzy didn't fight back, and that's why she lost. We can't lose too."

"Yes, we can. And we will," Jake's voice wavered with despair, his gaze fixed on the rocky ground beneath him. "You're just denying it."

"I will deny that the sky is blue if it means you'll stand up to her again," Peter declared, determination surging. "But this time, I will be there to help you."

"You can't even fly anymore, Peter. What damage can you do?" Jake asked skeptically. In response, the thirteen year old stomped his foot on the cave floor, the sound echoing ominously.

"Plenty much! Flying isn't the only way I get out of trouble! I also got brains!" Peter retorted, trying to maintain my confidence despite the dire circumstances.

"Yeah, one that's the size of a walnut." Jake uttered.

"Hey! Stop trying to be a snarky pessimist and chicken out!" I snapped at him, a rare moment of frustration breaking through. "That's my job, remember?" I said, pointing at my chest before turning to face Peter. "I'll help you stop her, Peter. Now that we know what we have to do. And that big hearted, brave idiot back there will too." I said, pointing at the fourteen/maybe fifteen year old behind me.

"Well Cubby, like the idiot I am, count me in!" I heard Jake say, his voice determined as he marched up to stand beside me. "Besides, what have I got to lose except my life?"

"Would you stop it!" I demanded, turning to face him once more. "We don't have time for this! Izzy is counting on us!"

"What did we say the last time we were here? Crew mates forever! Now let's keep it that way!"

"Well, not to look a gift horse in the mouth," Jake mumbled, rubbing his chin. "Oh alright! When all else fails try again."

"Atta boy Jake. Now here's what we're gonna do."


Jake POV

Izzy's silhouette stood stark against the reddish lunar hue, her eyes ablaze with defiance as she teetered on the precipice of the volcano's mouth. The lava below churned ferociously, its fiery tendrils reaching up like desperate fingers, hungry for the offering that Izzy held in her hand—the precious Forever Flower, its petals untouched by the impending destruction that loomed below. And just as she was about to throw it in, I interrupted her.

"Hold it right there, Izzy!" I called out, my voice barely audible above the ominous rumblings of the volcano. Balancing on the narrow ridge, I struggled to maintain my footing, my eyes fixed on her determined form. She froze mid-motion, her fingers still wrapped around the emerald stem of the flower. For a fleeting moment, her clenched teeth were exposed, a silent testament to her frustration before she regained her composure. With a defiant stare, she crossed her arms, unyielding.

"You are really starting to get on my nerves, Jake," she spat, her words sharp as volcanic shards. "Step aside. The grownup needs to do her job."I couldn't help but scoff at her audacity.

"Oh, so you're a grownup now? You want to take over Neverland, but you can't even follow its one explicit rule for children and teenagers: To NEVER grow up?" Her lips curled into a sneer, her eyes narrowing.

"Don't get all smart alec with me, young man. You are in enough trouble. Just shut up. Or I will have to punish you—correction, I will have to punish you right now. You're lucky I left you in that cave to have a few final moments with your friends before I liquidate you all," she continued, her voice dripping with disdain. "But it appears you'd rather spend your last sparks of energy barking at me like a little puppy, crying and complaining and tearily asking questions we already know the answers to." A surge of defiance ran through me.

"If doing that means there's a chance to get rid of you, then yes ma'am. After all, I didn't run up this mountain for nothing." Izzy let out a low, taunting laugh, her eyes full of malice.

"Quite the run, isn't it?" she remarked slyly.

"I'll say. But any idiot could've done it."

"And an idiot did." she mocked, pointing at me.

"Very funny."

"I know. I'm down right hilarious. But also, without all the climbing, how else do you think I keep this hourglass figure?"

"The flower Izzy. Now." I ordered sternly, with my hand out. She only inched closer to me and got in my face. For a second I thought she was gonna give me another sickening kiss, but I was wrong.

"Go fly a kite buddy," she hissed. "Better yet go fly away. If I give you the opportunity, why don't you just leave Jake? Leave for good. It is what you do best after all. Why don't you just go back to the real world, be a sophomore in high school, ride a skateboard, pick at your acne, do your homework, smell up your socks and forget that any of this ever happened."

"Because I don't leave the very second things don't go my way!"

"I think a very important point that you missed there is that I don't eitherI. I wait a good fifty years after things don't go my way and then I leave."

"Then we will do this for fifty more years." I stated.

"Yeah right." Izzy laughed.

"I'm not stopping until I get that."

"Ooh hoo hoo hoo," she cackled, rubbing her hands together. "Then we will have lots of fun," she muttered with an evil smirk. "But only when I get back! Tonight I return to Neverland and it will be mine! And as for you…what could possibly be more accommodating for a long lost matey?" she said, scratching the back of her head. "Oh I know! You could get your hind back in that cave with those other two morons. After all, you have so much in common: No future." she giggled.

"You won't get away with this-you can't get away with this."

"Aw don't try an' pull that on me. That's the oldest trick in the book-and it fails every time. But if you insist, you can steal the pixie dust back from me, but I'll have already destroyed the forever flower. Or I can keep the pixie dust, give you the flower and then leave. But I'll already be in Neverland while you're stranded here so you'll just lose. Either way I win," she said cockily. "I don't even know why you bothered to come back, Jake. You knew it was a dumb move to leave because as we all know, Cubby and I are too stupid to take care of ourselves. You also knew it was a dumb move to come back. Did you really think we wanted to see you? After what you did wrong? After what you knew you did wrong? And while you were out there on the horizon, you really did believe those lies you told yourself; 'This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! They will be fine! After all, I am a hero now! Who cares about them!?' Tell me sweetheart, am I wrong?"

"Yes! Yes you are! And you can stop calling me that! I am anything but!"

"Well that's a little rude. But I guess I should've expected that. You have a tendency to run away from affection and those who give it to you. Despite the fact that it may kill them in the end." My heart started to sink when she brought up poor Izzy whom she had manipulated and embodied to become this horrible nightmare.

"Say whatever you wanna say Morgan. Whatever tactics you used that worked with Izzy will most certainly not work with me."

"Oh really?" she said, eyebrows raised as she slowly inches closer to me. "I know what'll get you to break. Here's a little secret of mine; Before I murdered your little angel, she panicked. She was scared. I could tell she regretted her decision, knowing things would be the way they are now. She wanted to live. Better yet I'm sure she wanted to see you one more time before she died. But it was far too late. I had already killed her. Such a shame. All the poor girl wanted was to be loved. But she never got such a thing. Not from her parents. Not from Peter. And especially not from you. And as far as I remain, she'll never ever come back."

"No! That's not true! You know it and I know it!"

"You really do have it all Jake-and what I mean by that is no real problems. No abandonment. No whippings. No rejection. No corruption. No cellulite. You had nothing but fame and glory. And what did the old Izzy have? Nothing. What was she? A nobody. She was just an insecure little screw up who cried alone whenever she had moments of self awareness." I tried my very best to keep from crying. No. Not this time.

"Th-th-th-that's what you think. But don't be so sure of yourself." I said, regaining my confidence.

"Oh and why not?" she asked, her arms crossed.

"I'll tell you why not!" the voice of Peter perked up. Izzy and I turned our heads but saw no one. Well that was until a dark vine that looked like black licorice encircled around Izzy's waist and jerked her down. She grunted and growled as she was pulled to the ground and even more so when the forever flower fell out of her grip. It fell, its delicate petals brushing against the rough volcanic rock and landing about two inches away from the volcano's lava pool. I peered over the large rocks to see both Peter and Cubby keeping a firm grip on the vine, trying to reel Izzy in like a fish. She kicked and squirmed, trying to get up-knowing she could take the both of them if she had her footing right-but she couldn't.

"Get the flower Jake!" Cubby shouted, his voice straining from the amount of strength being used.

"NO!" the pirate lass shouted, still squirming and trying to escape. My heart raced as I watched Izzy, her eyes filled with determination, reach for the blade strapped to her thigh. With swift motions, she cut the rope that bound her, freeing herself from Peter and Cubby's grip. The black skirted woman scrambled up the rocky terrain, like me, her eyes fixed on the precious Forever Flower, now lying close to the lava pool.

My muscles screamed in protest as I sprinted towards the flower, adrenaline surging through my veins. Izzy and I were locked in a race against time and fate. I could see her determination mirrored in her eyes as she lunged for the flower, her fingers almost grazing its lavender diamond petals. But just as she was about to snatch it, a sudden blur of green and feathers swooped down from the sky. A parrot, its wings vibrant and its beak sharp, snatched the Forever Flower from the ground. My jaw dropped in disbelief as the bird took flight, carrying our last hope away from us. But just as I was about to scream in frustration, I took a closer look at the bird. It was small, green with an enormous yellow beak. But what stood out to me were its tail feathers: One bright red and the other a striking blue. Hold on a minute.

"SKULLY!?" Cubby, Peter and I shrieked at the same time.

"The one and only!" our former pet squealed, flapping in the air with the pink and purple flower in his claws.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Izzy growled, getting up from her fall and stepping in the bird's direction. "Now give that here!" she exclaimed, making a jump to grab him but he only flew higher.

"Never!" the parrot shrieked. "Not until you let Izzy go!" The psycho pirate growled in frustration.

"How many times am I gonna hear that tonight!?" she asked.

"Until you do it!" the bird lashed out.

"Toss it here Skully!" I shouted up at him. Izzy pointed her blade up at the parrot.

"You do it and I will send you straight to birdy heaven!" she growled.

"You can't do a thing to me! Because you can't fly!"

"You wanna bet?" Izzy asked slyly, meaning to dig into her pixie dust pouch, only to realize she was digging into her shirt. She gasped, realizing her chest was bare. Her pixie dust was gone. "What!?" she let out in panic as her eyes darted around. I did the same and scanned the atmosphere for the yellow pouch to see that it was in Peter's hands. It must have slipped off of Izzy's neck when she cut herself free.

"Hah!" Peter laughed, victoriously as he sprinkled the dust all over himself and ascended into the air. "You don't have the Forever Flower or pixie dust! It looks like we've won now!"

"Nobody wins until somebody dies Peter!" Izzy growled like a rabid animal, twirling her blade in her hand. "And that somebody will be you!"

To Be Continued….

This one is very late. But my fanfic net had been acting weird. Chapter 21 keeps disappearing and reappearing for some reason and these random numbers also appear in the chapter names. I guess there was a server crash a couple weeks ago. But I still cannot see ANY views so thank you to those who review to let me know that at least it's being read. It still says 0 views and it's driving me nuts. I also know that the last chapter may have been a bomb cause it was kinda pointless. But I definitely know that the view count is in the thousands by now so TYSM! I've also made a couple digital watercolor paintings and sketches for this story so I may or may not post this story on wattpad bc there you can add pictures to the chapters. Any who, please review if you can to let me know the chapter's been read. Maybe it' just me that can't see traffic views anymore. Lol. Bye for now. ヮ