Cubby POV

Izzy's eyes fluttered open, revealing the familiar honey-brown irises that had been clouded by an ugly redness for far too long. The relief that washed over me was overwhelming. Her pupils sorta dilated as if they were shocked that they were not in control of a monster anymore. It was as if a heavy storm cloud had finally lifted, and the sun had broken through the darkness.

Weakly, she attempted to sit up, her gaze scanning her surroundings in groggy confusion. Her breathing grew shallow, and a look of realization crossed her face as she took in the extent of her injuries. Blood still leaked from her nose, her leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, and the deep bite mark on her hand looked painful and fresh. She looked at us all with a weak smile, yet she struggled to find a whisper.

"I-I-I'm s-sor….." But before she could say anything more, her smile dropped, her strength gave out, and she slumped back onto the ground, coughing before eventually going unconscious.

"Jake, you killed her!" I exclaimed as I frantically crawled over next to the teen.

"I didn't kill her Cubby!" he protested, despite going into full panic mode.

"You kicked her, you punched her, you bit her! Sorry brother but you killed her!" Jake, felt for a pulse on her wrist and put his ear up to Izzy's chest. He then lifted his head and let out a sigh of what was hopefully relief.

"She's fine! I…..I-I-I think." Peter then came over to us, dropped to his knees and took a good long look full of sadness at Izzy and her injuries. Skully flapped over and gently landed on Izzy's chest before lightly pecking her shoulder.

"For the love of all crackers Izzy….please… please wake up." the parrot pleaded, a few tears forming in his little eyes.

"She's running outta time you guys," Peter said, concerned. "We gotta get her back, and fast." he stated. I turned my attention back to Jake, who was gently combing a few strands of Izzy's ratted hair with his fingers. He then took the end of his vest and wiped her nasal area clean, not seeming to care if her blood got on it. After he was done, the hemorrhaging stopped and Izzy let out a loud exhale as if a heavy weight had just been lifted off her shoulder. Even though her eyes were closed and she showed no expression, I could tell it felt great to have that off her face. The green eyed boy continued to gaze at the little girl-now a tennager-who he had waited for so long and gone through so much trouble to see once again. He looked like he had fully blocked Peter, Skully and I out from the scene to have it be just him and the pirate lass. What in Neverland was going on? Never in a million years had I ever seen Jake look at Izzy, let alone anybody the way he was right now. Which teenage curse is it this time? Was it just friendship? Was it concern? Was it the fact that he had not been reunited with her in so long? Was I losing my own sanity and making all this up? Was it…the L word? Nah! Of course not! Jake was a bachelor for life…..is what I thought at first but now I wasn't so sure.

"Well!?" I shrilled at the teen. "What are you waiting for!? French her!" Jakes eyes widened and he looked at me in disgust.

"What are you talking about!?" he exclaimed.

"You know all too well buddy!" I shot back with an evil smirk.

"No I do not!"

"Jake you are many things, but I'm afraid that funny isn't one of them."

"Alright that's enough you guys!" Peter interfered. "For crying out loud, the girl is dying! Now let's go!" Peter said, starting to ascend into the air using his newfound happy thoughts from the real Izzy's return. I stuck my tongue out at Jake who just swatted in my direction before bending down and picking up poor Izzy like a baby-she obviously couldn't fly and she couldn't carry herself. Also neither Peter nor I were gonna do it so Jake it was. And to be honest (and I know right now is not the time for this) but they looked kinda cute together-well in my little clueless twelve year old opinion at least. Jake looked like he was carrying a kitten since Izzy was so much smaller and shorter than him. But despite the fact that we were taking her to safety as fast as we could fly, knowing her severe injuries, we weren't sure that she was gonna make it back. Well..make it back alive.

I sprinkled whatever pixie dust had not been spilled out of Izzy's pouch on myself and then on my crew mate. Together we took to the skies right behind Peter. I looked back at the hellish volcanic island for the last time. I never really thought I would ever return to this place and the thought that Izzy had been trapped here for six months was far beyond my comprehension. But thankfully, as we flew further, it disappeared over the horizon, its glowing orange-yellow aura dissolving in the cool blue and purple of the night sky. I never wanted to see it again.

After the long flight home we hurried our poor friend into my hammock-the only thing closest to a bed. I took the other sheet that I had used to create Jake's hammock and gently covered Izzy with it to keep her warm. The tip of her button nose was peeking out and her upper visage were the only things visible after I covered her up. We kept her in the same oversized clothes as her old clothes were too fragile and we did not have anything else to put her in. It wasn't much if not anything at all but it would keep her alive and that was all we needed.

Peter took a vine and a wooden stick and used them both to splint Izzy's broken limb that-by the looks of it would take about a month if not two to fully recover. And that was just recovery. Who knows how long it will take for her to fully be able to walk again. Until then we would have to carry her everywhere she needed to go. But luckily that didn't seem like it would be much of a problem for either of us. When he was done splinting her limb, Jake gently took Izzy's hand-the one that he had bitten-and began to very gingerly wrap it in a piece of his shirt he had torn off to make sure no further damage took place. I then assisted him in cleaning each and every wound on her-after all we were the ones who gave them to her. After we had finally finished cleaning her cuts and wrapping her wounds we all stepped back to just let Izzy have her rest. Peter said that we had already done all we could to help her physically but whether or not she wanted to wake up was her decision. And so, all we could do in the meantime was work on rebuilding the hideout and most of all….wait.

A week passed and Izzy still remained asleep.

And then another week but she still wasn't awake.

Then a month went by, but still, not a.

And even after two months of nothing but sleeping and slowly recovering day by day, Izzy still did not come back.

That was when we started to worry.

Jake POV

"Give her time, you guys!" Peter urged, his voice tinged with desperation. He had been flying around our magical world, announcing his return and trying to bring everyone out of hiding. The news of the 'Psycho Pirates' demise had spread across Neverland like wildfire, and things were slowly returning to normal. Well, almost everything.

"But Peter, it's been months! Are you sure we shouldn't…you know, do something?" I couldn't help but feel the frustration bubbling up inside me.

"Magic like this does not work overnight," Peter stated calmly, his red hair tousled by the wind.

"Well, I figured it wouldn't take a little less than sixty-three days," I muttered, growing more agitated by the minute. "How much longer do you think it will take?" I pressed, desperate for an answer.

Peter ruffled his hair, his frustration evident. "I…I don't know," he mumbled, his usual confidence shaken.

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked, my voice laced with desperation.

"I don't know." Peter replied, his tone strained.

"What exactly did the Forever Flower do?" I pushed, hoping for some semblance of understanding.

"I don't know!" he snapped, his patience wearing thin.

"What do you mean you don't know!? Aren't you the 'guardian of Neverland'? Shouldn't you know this stuff!? Should I have even trusted you with something like this? Are you just too immature!?" My frustration boiled over, spilling into my words.

"Look, I don't want to argue with you again. Sometimes the only thing you can do is stand aside and be quiet! Let her do what she wants! If she wants to come back, then she will. If she doesn't, then she will stay this way until she eventually dies! But if that happens, don't be mad at me for it! I wasn't the one who did this to her!" Peter's voice cracked with emotion.

"Oh, the heck you didn't!" I shouted, my anger consuming me.

"What do you mean by that?" Peter's voice trembled with a mix of confusion and hurt.

"It was your stupid quest that ripped us apart and led me to abandon my crew! That's how Morgan slithered her way into Izzy's mind!" I accused.

"Well, it was your stupid choice to come with me! You could have said no! But you didn't! You didn't think it was such a stupid offer back then, did you!?" Peter retorted, his frustration mirroring mine.

"I was eight! And naive! I believed every pretty lie that was fed to me. But now I see just how blind I was." I confessed, my voice breaking with regret.

"No…no, you don't. Because if you did, then you'd be worrying more about Izzy and less about something that happened almost a decade ago! And if you're still caught up on that and all you want to do is pout about it, then fine by me! Just as long as you go and sulk on your own!" Peter's words were sharp, a finality in his tone as he turned away. But as he did, I turned my eyes towards Izzy's vegetable form. She looked so sad, numb, and completely missing the spark that made her who she was. In that moment, the realization finally hit me – seeing Izzy awake and alive again was infinitely more important than constantly finding someone to blame.

I took a deep breath, swallowing my anger and frustration.

"Wait." I called out, my voice softer this time. Peter turned back, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" he spat.

"Now I'm not saying you're right, but I am saying that maybe…we can point fingers later. And for now just…worry about clearing the dead plants on the island, get things back to normal and just…just stop arguing."

In the midst of our unfinished conversation, a faint sound interrupted us. A low moan escaped from Izzy's lips, her eyelids fluttering as if struggling to open. Both Peter and I fell silent, our attention completely drawn to Izzy's awakening form. The room seemed to hold its breath as she groaned softly, her fingers twitching.

"It can't be." I whispered, my voice catching in my throat.

Her eyelids cracked open and I noticed that something was...off about her eyes. They looked...almost...white? Confusion clouded her gaze as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. With bated breath, we watched as awareness gradually dawned in her clouded eyes. The room seemed to brighten as her gaze focused on us, a glimmer of recognition replacing the confusion. Before I could think, I immediately ran to the door and opened it.

"Cubby! Skully!" I shouted into the grotto, my voice extremely hyper, sounding like I had just eaten 5 pounds worth of sugar. "Come here!" I didn't want to wait for them to get here and quickly dashed back to Izzy's hammock that thankfully did not become her coffin.

"Izzy, it's us. You're safe now." Peter said gently, his voice filled with relief.

A weak but nervous smile tugged at the corners of the girl's lips, her hand trembling as she reached out, searching for reassurance. Peter gently took it, a large smile sprawled across his face. Strangely enough though, Izzy didn't look down when Peter began to squeeze her hand. Instead she sorta searched around with her other hand. But we were too happy to realize that something was very very wrong.

"Oh you're alright!" I let out as I hugged her, my heart swelling with relief. I could feel her heart absolutely racing in her chest. And I think I can say that mine did the same but for a different reason. Izzy, still not looking me in the eye, began to touch my face and adventure around it with her fingers, as if that were her only way of knowing it was me. "What are you doing Iz?" I giggled as I took her hand off my face and gently put it down at her side. That seemed to have triggered something inside her. Izzy lifted her hand yet again and started to rapidly wave it infront of her face as she blinked her eyes again and again. And then, after seven years, we heard Izzy, the real Izzy, speak.

"What time is it?" she asked, a strange sense of panic in her voice.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Peter, what time is it!?" Izzy repeated, more alarmed at the time.

"Izzy we don't know. We don't have a clock." I said.

"That's not what I meant!" she exclaimed. "Is it night time right now!?" she exclaimed. I was absolutely bewildered by her question. There was a window-tiny as it was- that let in a beam of the glowing morning sunlight that was in plain sight.

"Um...no." I answered her, confused.

"Oh no." Izzy mumbled to herself.

"Izzy what is it?" I demanded. "There's daylight in plain sight. Why do you ask?"

"Jake," she said my name, in all seriousness. "I can't see it."

To Be Continued….

Ugh! Finally! Sorry this one took so long even though nothing really happened. A had a bit or writer's block. Unfortunately this is not the ending like how I thought it would be, there's probably 1-2 more chapters left after this, yes ik i already said that. Bye for now and ty. :)