Author's note: This is my little take on a scene that could potentially happen after "The Lich" episode that just aired tonight (worst cliffhanger EVER!). It has allusions to that episode and to "King Worm." I'm not that skilled at writing about stuff like warp holes and time travel because it kind of makes my brain hurt, but I thought it was worth a shot! Anyways, if you were dying to see something happen after the end of "The Lich," then I hope this satiates your appetite a little until the premiere of season 5!
Finn loved the fall. It was not so busy as the harvest season, but not bitterly cold and dangerous like the winter. After he finished his morning chores, he was able to explore the entire day with his dog, Jake. Nothing eventful often happened. Sometimes he would forget to milk the cows or would get into some shenanigans at school, but other than that he lived in a care free district. They had all the food and provisions they needed.
Back when he was a baby, there were wars all over the place. A bunch of the chemicals in the air caused babies conceived during the war to be born without limbs. Finn himself remembered nothing of the war, so he didn't think much of the robotic left arm the government had fitted for him, besides the fact that it made him look cool. Finn's arm was just about the only mechanical thing Finn had ever seen in his life, aside from a few other guys at school who had robotic limbs.
Despite his peaceful, young life, Finn knew of the paranoia the adults expressed in hushed voices, when they thought all their children were asleep. They often met late at night, and expressed worry that the government held all the technology. Apparently the leaders did not think much of using the common people as pawns when they had a disagreement with each other, and the tentative peace from the last war could not last forever. Some people thought it was nice to live life the old fashioned way- so simple and uncorrupted- but Finn's mom was one of the ones who knew that lifestyle only made them powerless in a world where nuclear weapons were pointed at every country perpetually.
For the most part, Finn did not think of these secret, dark things. He knew if he asked about it, he would have his arm detached for at least a month as punishment (which made his chores take three times as long).
Finn had no idea just how little time he had left in his world of stability and comfort. One chilly fall night, he felt himself grow heavy and tired, almost like he had been drugged. Finn dragged himself up to bed and collapsed. Jake curiously followed, whining softly.
"What is it, boy?" Finn groaned through narrowed, sleepy eyes.
Jake cocked his head and gave a frightened whine.
"I'm alright, boy. Just a little tired."
As Finn's eyesight blurred with exhaustion, it seemed that Jakes eyes widened like large saucers. He then saw him stand on two legs, walk up to him, and say "You're not alright, Finn. Can you hear me?"
"Whoa, this is some cri-zazy dream! Did you just talk Jake?" Finn bolted up, suddenly refreshed.
Jake sat there, panting cluelessly. No, Jake couldn't talk. It was just a dream.
"No, it's not a dream!" shouted a girl behind him. Finn spun around to see Bonnibel, the district baker, standing before him, her eyes wide with panic. She was dressed weird- like some kind of fantasy princess in a big dress and a tall crown missing a jewel in a socket on the top. Stranger still, her facial features looked a little distorted and her skin was just as pink as her dress was. She had a rope tied around her petite waist and leading to a black abyss behind her that used to be the wall to his bedroom.
"What? Bonni, if this isn't a dream then why do you look so weird?"
"Finn, I am the real Princess Bub- I mean Bonni! This is another reality, but it is not the one you belong in! The Lich is trying to keep you here so that he can destroy everything. You being here is throwing off the balance of Ooo and causing it to deteriorate! He's going to keep throwing off the balance in all realities until all energy in the multi-verse is his!"
"Um, you were talking really fast there, Bonni, so I'm afraid you lost me. So, you um, wanna go to the hayride with me Saturday?" Finn looked down at the ground and blushed.
"Oh glob, he's got this infatuation in this reality, too?" mumbled Bonni. Suddenly, though, she straightened up and grabbed Finn by the shoulders. "Listen, Finn, I'm going to tell you a bunch of things and they're going to sound strange, so I need you to trust me, alright? Hopefully if you hear enough you'll remember something."
Finn grinned, elated that Bonni was touching him, and nodded. "Finn, there's another you, in another reality. You are needed there. There is a reason that the Lich has kept you here. It is because you are the only one who can predict his actions."
"Who is the Lich?" asked Finn curiously.
"He is the destroyer of all life, the ultimate evil. Let me ask you Finn- do you know what your governments were fighting over?"
Finn thought hard. He had heard about all the wars, but never the reasons. "No, I guess not."
"That's because the reasons aren't real." Wispered Bonni, closer to his face than she had ever been, "The Lich has control of them all, but him throwing you into this world caused him to stop acting in it because he knows that you can anticipate him!"
"Look, Bonni, this is crazy. I'm just a boy- I don't have any powers."
"Ahh, that's what I thought, too. However, when you got dragged into this universe, I found a single piece of your hair left behind. Luckily, I had invented a new machine that allowed me to see people's dreams through their DNA samples. All of the prophecies about the Lich were there, clear as day."
Before Finn could say anything more, Bonni blew some powder in his face and Finn saw gigantic monsters made of penguins marching towards him.
"Ahhh! What is this?!" shouted Finn, backing up with alarm.
"Calm down, it's just a flash back. This is a dream about the reign of Gunters that nearly destroyed my kingdom only a few short months later. This is just one of the examples of the prophetic visions you possess, Finn!"
Finn felt more powder poof in his face and saw a small man made of a peppermint in a suit talking to him. He was trying to warn Finn that he was in a dream, and that he was in danger, but then his face got all fuzzy, like bad transmission on a radio.
"Don't you see yet, Finn?" asked Bonni desperately. "You are warned every time before something bad happens, but the Lich distorts it through his servant, the worm. You must strengthen your mind to see past him!"
Finn felt a strange feeling come over him. His hands were cold as ice as he felt memories he had never seen before flood his mind. The talking Jake. The royal version of Bonni. The Lich. Suddenly it all felt so real.
His voice choked as he whispered, "I remember, PB."
"Oh, goodness, Finn!" she cried, pulling him into a protective embrace. She pushed him back just as quickly and said, "Listen very carefully. By analyzing all of your dreams, I have deduced that the reality I am from is the one in which your mother cryogenically froze you as an infant before your arm fell off. She knew the wars were coming again. In this reality she made slightly different decisions, which is why you're still here now, but she knows now that the wars will soon start again."
"What's going to happen to us?" breathed Finn frantically.
"What's going to happen is this: Tomorrow your mom will call you into the house about something important. She is going to want to freeze you before you are killed. You can't let, her, though. You must stay here through the wars and die in this reality. If you die in this reality, then it will allow you to stay alive in the reality of Ooo. This is the only way we will have a chance to maintain balance long enough to defeat the Lich."
"I'll do it!" said Finn with conviction.
PB blinked several times, stepping back, "I would have thought a farm boy would have a stronger fear of death."
"I'm really afraid, Peebs. But I'm starting to remember you, now- to remember Ooo. This world is all I feel like I know, but if it's about to go down and flames, then I'll go with it. Maybe that way I can do my part to save you and my mom from this Lich guy in at least some reality."
Bonni gave him a warm smile, her eyebrows turned upwards in pity. She did not have the heart to tell him that his mom did not make it in either reality. "I see in any universe, Finn the Human has the soul of a hero." She bent down to kiss his cheek and then gave two pulls on the rope.
"You must remember this when you wake up tomorrow, Finn!" she shouted as she was pulled back into the portal.
Finn sat and buried his face in his hands, trying to wrap his brain around what he must do. Suddenly a feeling of cold darkness made him forget everything and all he could see was the gigantic face of something worse than death. Spiraled horns on either side of endless pits for eyes. Leathery decaying skin blowing around rotting gums with long, yellow teeth. And then, an unhinging jaw that threatened to suck out Finn's life through his eyes.
Finn bolted upright in bed, breathing hard. He was drenched in sweat. His dog, Jake peered at him curiously through sleepy eyes as he curled himself into a tight ball by Finn's feet.
"Oh, hey Jake." He looked around him and sighed with relief. "Just a dream."