Disclaimer: I do not own Prototype or Adventure Time. All characters within this work belong to their respective owners.
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The Return of Darkness
"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills,
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Chapter 1
Jake's POV
It'd been a while since They'd had a break. It didn't seem so long, but now that he looked back on it, Jake realized that both he and Finn had been working on something or other almost non-stop for almost three weeks now. Not that it wasn't important, but all work and no play would make Jake a very dull dog.
So, that's what saw him sitting on the couch in one big, messy blob, playing Compy's Castle. As Jake thought on it, he wasn't sure which of their recent adventures had been the hardest. Finn said it was fighting that monster that ate the diamonds, but to be honest, Jake though it was having to collect all those weird flowers for that botanist. Stupid blue roses.
Casually, he looked out the window to see Finn, marching his way towards Flame Princess's house again, a single pinprick of light against the darkness of the night. Finn seemed to spend every free moment with her, not that it counted for much. She barely talked to him, or anybody for that matter. She seemed perfectly content to let Finn talk at her awkwardly, but as far as Jake knew, she still wouldn't open up to anybody. Jake was worried for her, but he knew that he could never be as worried as Finn was.
His thoughts were interrupted by the disappointing tones of the Game Over screen, and his attentions snapped back to his game. His only other thoughts on the matter were a few words, mumbled to nobody.
"Good luck buddy."
Finn's POV
The flaming house burned in the distance, the smoke curling upwards into the sky. It'd been a while since Finn had been able to visit, and he couldn't help but feel regretful about it. Flame Princess didn't talk much anymore, but he didn't like to leave her alone. She was in a dark place, and Finn didn't know why, but he couldn't help but feel nervous whenever he left her alone. As he approached the house, he saw her laying on the ground in front of her house.
She stared absently into the distance, tapping on the ground with her right hand, her left tucked behind her head as she gazed at the sky. She probably wasn't doing it on purpose, but Finn couldn't help but feel a stab of guilt as he watched her three fingered hand press into the ground, leaving three widening circles of charred grass. It was just one more reminder of how he'd failed her.
"Hi Flame Princess." Finn called as he approached.
"Hey Finn." She answered unenthusiastically. She hadn't even looked at him.
Finn lay down in the grass, about four feet from her. Sighing, he thought on his regrets, how he'd hurt her, and how he wished he could help her. But for the past few months, she'd been so quiet, almost dead to the world. She hadn't tried to hurt herself since that first incident right after the fight, but Finn could tell she was still trapped, locked in a cage of sorrow and regret. And it definitely showed on her face. It was thinner, and like her personality she seemed to burn less brightly every day.
"So," Finn began, "How have things been going?"
"Alright." She replied.
"That's good." Finn said. He waited a bit to see if she would say more. When she didn't continue, he tried prompting her to say something else, anything else.
"Things have been going good for me. Just last week Jake and I fought this HUGE monster, that ate diamonds. We had to lure it towards this cliff, then-"
"That's nice Finn."
"We also spent some time searching for plants for this botanist, and I saw some of the coolest blue roses."
"Ok."
Finn stopped short as he realized this wasn't leading anywhere. He sighed, and tried a different approach.
"Have you been doing anything recently?" he asked.
"Oh, you know, the usual."
"So, nothing new at all?"
"No."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"No."
Finn's sighed, staring at the sky in the hope that he could find some way to get Flame Princess to open up. But all that he managed to work up was a headache.
"So," Finn began, still fishing for something, "What're you thinking about Flame Princess?"
"Princess." She murmured, "what a joke."
Finn blinked, surprised to finally get a reaction.
"What do you mean?" Finn asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
"Nothing."
Thunder rumbled in the distance as the conversation once again ground to a halt. Finn stood.
"It's going to rain soon." He stated.
"I know."
"Well, I hope you have a nice day."
And with that, Finn turned, and left.
Flame Princess's POV
Flame Princess didn't move as Finn walked away once again. It was always the same. The same exact conversation, carried out through words that, though slightly different from time to time, always amounted to the same thing. How was she? What had she been doing? What was she thinking about? Questions that should be obvious, but apparently weren't. At least not to Finn. Ever since...
No.
The more she focused on it, the more it would hurt. That deep, inner pain that never seemed to go away. If only she could just forget. But such things aren't easily forgotten.
She could hear the gentle drone of rain in the distance, billions of droplets of water. Painful, stinging water. She did not move. When the first drop fell on her cheek, stinging like acid, she winced, but still lay in her spot. Slowly, another fell, and another, building to a steady drizzle. But still she remained.
Within minutes, the rain began to pour, beating down on her like a thousand stinging insects. A deluge of agony falling from the sky. She grit her teeth as steam rose from her body like smoke from a burning forest. It was as if the very heavens knew of what she'd done, how she failed her people, and punishing her for it. As minutes dragged by, she could feel herself growing cold.
She'd started four months ago. Finn had no idea, and that was just the way she wanted it. If he knew, he would try to stop her. She didn't want him to worry about her, at least not any more that she already did. She didn't know why she did this, but every time it rained she would go walking, or simply lay in the grass and wait. The pain was excruciating, but in the end, she was always alive. Perhaps that was her reason, though it made little sense. But then, her life hadn't made sense for almost two years now.
Minutes turned to hours as she lay there, mulling over her thoughts, her personal demons. It was a joke, now that she thought about it. Princess. Princess of what? A burning shack in the middle of the grasslands, home to the last survivor of her doomed species? Somehow, she got the feeling that Finn would call her something else if he could. Some name that didn't remind her of all that had happened. She'd go by a different name too, if only she knew of one. But unfortunately, no one had ever called her by anything other than Flame Princess. It was the only name that she'd ever known. The one thing that had always been irrevocably hers, and she would probably wear that empty title for the rest of her life, however long, or short.
"What is it I'm looking for?" She asked herself, the droning of the rain her only answer. She supposed she was looking for someone to blame, someone to punish for what happened. Someone other than herself. She had the rain to punish her, and she couldn't really punish her father or Rot. Both were dead, her father having killed himself trying to destroy them, and Rot having been killed by Alex.
Rot and Alex. Those two were a mystery. She'd only ever seen Rot the one time in the tower, but stories of the atrocities he'd committed to both the Candy Kingdom and her own proved that he was a monster, and one that justly deserved his fate. He'd burned to death in the fires of the castle moat, but why did he do any of this in the first place? What drove him to such horror? She could only wonder why he would choose to attack the Fire Kingdom of all place, but now it was too late.
Alex on the other hand was more of an enigma. Finn had explained to her about how they met, but hadn't given much back story on him. From what she'd gathered, Alex hadn't been too detailed either. She hadn't gotten to know him much herself. They barely interacted before... well anyways, she was in a really dark place afterwards, and before she stared to get better, he'd left. Of course, gotten better probably isn't the best term.
Finn did mention that Alex and Marceline would spend a lot of time talking when they were on the road. She didn't know what the deal with those two was, but somehow she got the feeling that if anyone knew the full story of Alex Mercer, besides Alex himself, it was Marceline. She hadn't seen the vampire queen since then, but then again, she couldn't remember the last time she'd left her house. Finn mentioned that she seemed a bit bitter about Alex leaving, and that she'd been having some kind of feud with Princess Bubblegum. Not that she could blame her, the Princess could be a real witch-with-a-b at times.
Whatever the case, Alex and Rot were connected, somehow. And whatever Rot did to her father probably had to do with that too. Maybe...
No. Whatever the case, it was unlikely that Alex was responsible for all this. But he was connected. Perhaps she should look into this. It had to be more fulfilling than wasting away in the rain.
"Huh?" Flame Princess muttered. She must've been thinking for longer than she thought.
The rain had stopped.
An Unknown Location
In a dark room, a large vat of black ooze sits illuminated by several lights. the vat is connected to several tubes, leading off into the darkness of the room. The ooze shifts in its container, flecks of green swirling around like stars. Two figures stand in front of it, their forms just barely distinguishable in the dim light.
"It it time?" one asks, his voice deep and powerful. It comes from the man on the left, his body shorter, and round. His left side was thin, almost as if burned, but without any of the scarring. Like all the life had been drained from it. But his right half was powerful, with muscles bulging beneath his skin. A large maul is slung across his back. A dark shadow radiates from his eyes, twisting like a strange black mixture of fire and smoke.
"No." a second voice answered, this one higher pitched, and louder. It almost seemed to be a shriek. This came from the second figure, whose body was large, and fat. His long, pointed nose and shark-like teeth made the man look an unusual combination of ridiculous, and menacing. He suddenly doubled over, coughing as an arm not unlike his own, but far thinner snaked its way up his throat, grabbing the front of his shirt in an attempt to pull itself out of his stomach. A harsh chomp and hideous slurping sound soon found the arm back in the man's gullet, where it belonged.
"Apologies." The second man gasped, wiping his mouth. "My brother still tries to escape from time to time. He just won't seem to digest properly."
"Perhaps swallowing some of our little concoction will put him in his place." the first offered.
"I think not my friend." the second stated, his tone indicating that the two were not friends at all. "I know that your mind does not belong to that body, but even that mind is not entirely your own. I intend to keep my free will to myself."
"For now." The first chuckled sinisterly. "But back to the matter at hand. What more preparation do we need before we can proceed?"
"We have the test subjects we needed, collected from my citizens who "volunteered", here at the offsite location for the substance, where we can extract more material for our experiments. My castle was too close to the Candy Kingdom, and you made the error of destroying yours, so this abandoned bunker will make due."
"Yes." said the first, "but what more do we need?"
"Well," the second continued, "while my own ability to study this substance is considerable, we'll need someone with a far great intellect than my own to make full use of it. In addition, we would do best to enlist the aid of someone who can wield this power efficiently, and to deadly effect."
"And I am incapable of such feats?" The first demanded, displeasure clear in his voice.
"No." the second interjected, "However someone else would be preferable. A bishop, in lieu of our queen."
"And if I am the queen, I suppose that makes you the king. Weak and slow."
"Your jests do not amuse me." the second growled, "But I suppose they do hold a grain of truth. While on the subject of bringing new pieces to the board, it may be prudent to find an occult specialist. Someone who is skilled in the magical arts might also be of use. And I'm sure there are a few others whose talents we could use."
"Do you have anyone in mind?" the first asked.
"As a matter of fact I do." The second replied, presenting a stack of files pulled from a hidden pocket. "These people should serve our needs nicely."
"I suppose I am the one who will be doing the recruiting." The first mumbled, taking the files and storing them in a bag tied to his waist. From that bag he then pulled forth a blindfold, wrapping it around his face and obscuring his strange eyes.
"That is correct." The second answered.
"Well." the first said matter-of-factly, "I suppose the sooner I go, the sooner I can be done with it."
The first said nothing more as he continued his way out, whistling a small tune. Once he was gone, the second banged his fist against a nearby wall.
"Stupid usurper Flame King." he growled, "Who does he think he is talking down on me? If his power were not so much greater than my own, I'd have his beheaded carcass hung from the walls of Castle Lemongrab."
His gaze shifted to the large vat in the center of the room.
"Perhaps..." He muttered.
"No no no." he said, dismissing the thought immediately. "I don't know exactly what it does, and I don't want to risk losing my mind to whatever has ensnared the rest."
A pained moaning sounded from the shadows. With a speed deceptive for his size, Lemongrab leapt at the noise and slammed his fist against the chain link fence that surrounded the area the tubes connected to.
"SILENCE!" He shrieked.
The "volunteers" were being noisy again. He hated that.
It reminded him of his brother.
The Candy Kingdom
It was nighttime. A cold clear night. The kind of night that would be perfect for stargazing. And at the top of the highest tower in the castle, that's exactly what Princess Bubblegum was doing.
"Fascinating." She muttered. "How could a constellation form so quickly?"
Her thoughts were interrupted by a chill wind blowing through her hair. It carried with it a strange scent. An odd mixture of sulfur, and plasma. If she didn't know chemistry, she probably wouldn't be able to so accurately place it. Nevertheless, she knew exactly what the smell meant.
"Bonnibel." Came a cold voice behind her. She didn't turn to see who was behind her. She didn't need to.
"Marceline." She replied. "What brings you here?"
"You know." Marceline stated cryptically.
"I know many things Marceline. What happens to be on your mind at any given point isn't one of them." the Princess snapped.
"You're the one who sent him away."
"He left of his own volition." she countered. "He could've stayed if he'd wanted to, and I couldn't have stopped him."
"True." Marceline admitted. "But I read the letter you sent him. You weren't even close to subtle about the fact that you wanted him to leave."
"Subtlety isn't always necessary. Nor is it always welcome." The Princess said. "I'd think you of all people should know that."
"Careful Princess, your claws are showing." Marceline quipped.
The Princess frowned. Marceline was being very passive towards a remark that would normally send her into a tirade. She obviously wasn't going to be swayed from this topic.
"So what do you want to know?" PB asked.
The voice came from right behind her, in a low, menacing whisper.
"Where. Is. Alex?"
She let out a small chuckle at the question, looking back into her telescope.
"How should I know?"
Marceline growled behind her, the breeze exiting the window telling her that the vampire Queen had gone. She gazed once more at the new constellation.
"I think I'll call it... The Hourglass Eye."
The Grasslands
A man in a ragged cloak and hood stood at the top of a hill, staring at a large tree in the distance. The night was cold, and the lone wanderer had been walking all day. All day, every day, for six months. He let the oversized knapsack he carried fall to the earth.
"This spot will do."
Well, here's the first chapter of the sequel to my other story Of Men and Monsters. Let me know what you think.
Also, as you can probably tell, I'm working on a group of villains. If anyone wants to send any suggestions for villains and powers that they might have, please let me know through either the reviews or PMs.
You support is appreciated.