Jake had been noticing something weird with Finn recently. He seemed tired, sad; but Jake expected that much after all that had happened to him.
"Finn, you wanna come with me? I gotta run some errands."
"Nah."
Finn was sitting on the couch, looking forward with a blank stare. It had been four days since he had met his father and lost his arm. Was he taking it well? Jake couldn't really tell. He usually lets Finn does what he wants when he's upset, let him "feel it out", but Finn hasn't really said anything about it. They had visited PB and dealt with James II and his clones, which was fun, and Finn seemed fine then, but the reality of what happened was just now setting in.
"Okay, see ya' later then." Jake gave a small wave and climbed down the ladder to the first floor of the tree fort. "Pssst, BMO." He whispered, approaching the little robot.
"Yes Jake?" BMO paused the game she was playing and looked up.
"Do you think you could watch Finn while I'm out?"
"Yes Jake! I will make sure Finn stays safe!"
BMO stood up and walked towards the ladder. Jake nodded and left, closing the door behind him.
Jake got home later then he expected, it was already past sunset. He quietly entered the house and stretched upstairs to the next floor. BMO was sitting on the couch alone playing a video game with the sound muted. "BMO, where's Finn?" Jake asked. BMO exited out of her game, "Oh, welcome home Jake! Finn said he was going to bed, so I stayed here stand watch.".
Jake thanked her and went to check on Finn.
The boy lay in this bed wrapped up in his sleeping bag and animal furs, tossing and turning. Jake could hear the sound of Finn grinding his teeth, which he only does on occasion when he's stressed. "Ah Finn you shouldn't do that, it's not good for your teeth.". Jake stepped over the bed to get to his side of the room, tucked himself in his makeshift bed and went to sleep.
But sleep was proving to be hard to reach. Jake woke to the sound of Finn mumbling. "Finn? You awake?" Jake turned over to see his brother still asleep, curled up in a ball.
"…stop." Finn mumbled, "I… won't let you get away…". He was dreaming about his dad, he had to be. Jake felt sorry for him, he really did; there's only so much Finn could take. He was brave, but her was also really emotional.
The next morning Jake brought up that Finn was talking in his sleep, but he denied it and said he didn't remember having any dreams that night. The rest of the day went by and Jake decided to give his brother some space and not bring it up again.
The next night after Finn went to bed, Jake stayed up to see if he would talk in his sleep again.
"Martin stop."
"I'll rip your arm off…"
"Get back here…"
Finn was angry, vengeful even, but Jake knew he would get over it. Revenge and blind violence wasn't really in his nature, the kid just needed time to adjust. But for now, he just stayed quiet during the day and talked throughout the night.
This went on for a couple more days, as it progressed Finn was getting irritable. He was tired, the reoccurring dreams were preventing him from getting a good night of sleep. But Jake noticed something else too: what he was dreaming about seemed to change. At first it was anger; anger over the loss of his arm and his father. Finn even tried to build a tower into space, just to rip his dad's arm off. But with the help of Princess Bubblegum, he learned his lesson. He wasn't really angry at his father anymore, he was just… upset. The threats eventually turned into:
"Please come back."
"Why did you leave me..?"
"Please…."
Jake was worried about his brother, he couldn't let him go though all this inner turmoil without any help or support. The only problem was that Finn started to distance himself from everyone, he wouldn't really talk to jake, BMO, PB, no one really. He spent a lot of time alone; be it taking a walk or going on a dungeon crawl. Despite having all that time to clear his head, the dreams still plagued him in his sleep.
One morning, Jake woke up a little earlier to make breakfast. "Good morning Jake." BMO greeted as Jake stretched down the ladder and into the kitchen, "Good morning BMO.". He turned on the stove and got some pancake mix out along with a bowl and all of the other ingredients. "How is Finn?" BMO asked climbing up onto the counter. Jake shrugged and started mixing the pancakes.
"I'm not sure, he's been talking in his sleep 'bout some crazy junk. I'm sure he'll get over it though, he's got us to help him." He went back to focusing on the pancakes just as a certain human started to climb down the ladder into the kitchen.
"'Morning Bro." Jake tuned around to greet his brother but was met by an exhausted figure and a tired wave. It looked as if Finn was going to say hello but was cut off by his own yawn, he walked towards the table. "Want some breakfast?" Jake asked, lifting up a plate of freshly made pancakes. Finn slowly looked up and over at the dog, "Um… yeah, thanks." he answered, trying to sound as energetic as he could.
Jake placed the pancakes in front of Finn and went back to get some for himself and BMO. Once they were all sitting at the table, Jake noticed that Finn was just staring at his food, seemingly lost in thought.
"Why do you think my dad doesn't care about me?"
Jake was caught off guard by Finn's question. They looked at each other for a moment, neither of them had a good answer. "Finn, " Jake started, " The way he spoke to you… maybe he didn't even know he has a son…" Finn blinked then turned back to his food.
Good going Jake, now I think you've made it worse. "Im… not really hungry right now." Finn pushed the plate away with his arm and stood up, "I'm gonna go take a walk.. I'll be back later." He walked over to the ladder, hesitated for a moment, and went down. "Okay, just stay safe." Jake called after. The only reply was the sound of the door closing behind Finn.
Jake looked over at BMO, eyes full of concern, "We need to cheer this kid up.".
After a long day walking around in the woods, Finn just wanted to go home, go to bed maybe. Not that it would do him any good, he takes forever to falls asleep, and even of he does, he always wakes up tired. He's always thinking about his biological family. "Why did my dad leave me in the forest? Did he not want me? Did he really not know about me? Did my mom? Is… my mom still alive?" Finn's head was just full of questions, questions that he figures would never be answered.
"Great." He sighed to himself as he approached the tree fort. He didn't want to think about his parents, but the thoughts seemed to be always invading his mind, catching him off guard. It was a little past sunset and he knew Jake would be worried, so Finn quietly entered the house as to not alert him.
He started to make his way up the ladder and into the second floor. "Jake? You still awake?" He whispered into the dark and empty room. There was no reply so Finn walked over to the kitchen, he was a little hungry after not eating anything that day.
Suddenly he noticed a little note on the table beside the counter. Since Jake wasn't anywhere near-by, Finn knew the note was probably from him. He walked over too it, it simply said: "Watch me. -Jake"
Finn was confused for a moment, but then saw their holographic video player. He picked it up and turned it on, to his surprise, it was one of the tapes his dad, Joshua, left him when Finn and Jake went into his dungeon to retrieve the family sword.
The video was paused, so Finn pressed play. "Finn," A familiar message started, "If you're seeing this pre-recored holo-message, it's because you finished the dungeon that i made for you. I'm proud of you, you're gonna do great things in this world. I love you son."
Finn sat there in silence, the light from the video player made the room glow pink. For the first time in weeks, Finn knew that he didn't need the love of his biological parents, because his real parents, the ones that raised and protected him, loved him no matter what. He thought it was silly he needed to be reminded of that.
"Thanks Bro." He said to himself.
Ahhh gosh this is my first fic so I don't have much experience with writing, but what can you say, I gave it my all. Reviews are appreciated.