A/N: Hey! I'm UnKnownSalvation (Sal for short) and this is an experimental fanfiction. By experimental it means that I can make it a full story if it's asked by enough people. Till than it will remain in current form. Thank you for reading this and enjoy the story.

P.S. This has nothing to do with the poll on my profile page.

What's Worth Living For?

Ch. 1 Breaking Through

It was around sundown and all was quiet in the tree house except for one room; the bedroom.

"C'mon man, you can't just lay down all week feeling sorry for yourself. You need to get your edge back. But seriously, I'm worry about you bro. You gotta eat something…" Jake said as he held up a bowl of soup to the expressionless face of his brother.

Jake was attempting to provide solace for Finn but after what happened with Flame Princess, he was starting to doubt he could make any progress. Everything he's tried hadn't helped matters at all.

He tried jokes:

"Hey, Finn did you hear about the race between the lettuce and the tomato? The lettuce was a "head" and the tomato was trying to "ketchup"!" Jake put on his best silly face while he waited for some reaction.

"…" Not even a hint of a smile could be found on Finn's face.

He tried entertaining him with puppets:

"Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to 'The Jake & Jake Show', starring Big Jake & Little Jake." Jake announced in a loud voice before bringing it down to a normal indoor voice.

"Hello Big Jake, why the long face?" Jake had morphed both of his hands to resemble little versions of him to use as puppets.

"I'm just so sad that I don't have a purpose anymore, Little Jake."

"Sure you do, Big Jake. You just got to look deeper in yourself and look for it."

"You know, I'll do just that, Little Jake. Thanks for cheering me up."

"I think we've all learned a valuable les-" Jake caught a glimpse of Finn rolling over to look away.

"..." Well it was a start but not in the right direction.

"Ugh… That didn't work."

He even asked the Ice King to come over and cause trouble just for Finn to do something besides lay in bed all day.

"FINN!" Ice King shouted in an epic booming voice. "I HAVE COME TO TAKE MY REVENGE! I WILL DESTROY YOU SO YOU MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO STOP ME FROM TAKING WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ice King was channeling energy into his fingertips to show off his freeze beams while he was laughing maniacally. Though the dread of the scene was soon lost as Ice King got a good look at Finn.

"…" Not a single care was given on that day.

"Wow…" Ice King muttered with his voice returning. "And I thought I had bad depression."

"Thanks for trying anyway. Now just leave."

"Fine," Ice King was about to leave before he had one thing to ask. "Hey are we still on for that jam session?"

"OUT!" Jake forcibly shoved Ice King out of the house and closed the bedroom window. He was about to turn to Finn before he turned back to the window. "And if I find out you took any princesses; I'll come to your house and punch ya so hard your beard'll fall off!" Ice King panicked and flew away fast to his kingdom. Jake finally shut the window and looked to Finn.

Jake was at his wits end. He had tried everything he could think of to get a reaction out of Finn but nothing worked. If he got a reaction, he could get through to Finn to probably help him.

"Come on, Finn! What happened to the kick-butt adventuring bro I used to have?!" Jake was on the verge of shouting in frustration but tried his best to keep it back. Jake turned to leave Finn to his moping when he heard something he hadn't heard in what felt like forever.

"He died with Flame Princess…" His voice was raspy from the very few fluids he drank but the message was still loud and clear for Jake. He was both ecstatic to hear Finn speak again but was also afraid. He had nothing to come back with...

Jake tried desperately to think of anything that could help bring Finn back from this pit of depression he dug for himself. After a while of thinking the only thing he could come up with was:

"Finn, what happened back there was tragic and I'm really sorry it had to happen. But you can't let that control your life. We need you man...I need you." With this, Jake went downstairs to make something for himself with nothing but a sad expression on his face.

"How is he?" BMO asked as he walked up to Jake on the walkway.

"Well I got him to talk… so I'm getting somewhere at least." Jake looked at the small robot as it clearly was just as worried as Jake was. "If only FP didn't have to lose her head… then maybe we could've avoided all this grieving. This is starting to make his moping about PB look like he got a splinter… at least it lasted for a day… not a week."

"Let me see if I can do anything."

"Go nuts, BMO," Jake said as he went downstairs but decided to do something other than go eat as his appetite didn't need to be attended to. "If you need me, I'll be at Lady's house." BMO walked into the bedroom to see a sight he didn't want to have to get familiar with. He walked over to Finn's bed and sat himself down in front of him.

"Finn, everyone is worried about you. I know you're still upset, after what happened, but please, you need to stop this." BMO pleaded with its friend.

"BMO, please go away." Finn muttered, all the while trying not to look directly at BMO.

"Finn..." BMO began. "Jake and I just wanted to cheer you up. There's no reason to get upset at us."

"What part of 'please go away' did you not understand?" Finn asked, now getting irritated. BMO didn't respond, but it did upset him to see his friend in such a state.

"Finn, come on. Would Flame Princess want to see you like this?" Bad choice of words from BMO as Finn got visibly angry.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER!" BMO jumped and ran out of the room in fear as Finn continued to vent.

"Wow," A voice suddenly made itself apparent though Finn knew the voice too well to need to look in its direction. "And they say I can be mean."

"What do you want, Marceline?" Finn asked the vampire in irritation. Marceline, if Finn's memory was right, was wearing an outfit that was similar to the one she wore when they first met, though was color differently as the boots were black with her pants gray and her tank top blue.

"I just drop by to check up on you." Marceline replied. "Seriously, I haven't seen you for quite some time."

"Well there's a reason for that..." Finn said darkly.

"I know," Marceline said floating above him. "Bonnie told me." Finn growled the moment Marceline mentioned PB's name.

"Don't you ever mention her name in front of me! EVER!" Finn shouted at the vampire, causing her to recoil in shock though his raspy voice prevented his shouting from being very loud. Marceline wasn't used to seeing Finn in this state. She's seen him upset before but compared to this… not even close.

"Oh," Marceline muttered. "Hot topic..." She began to think hard about the situation and how she could improve it. She almost began to chuckle at the scene as she, the vampire queen, was trying to comfort her human friend, though she held the chuckle back to prevent Finn from getting upset even more. Finn began to calm down as he realized she didn't mean to get him upset like she used to. She stopped trying to upset him long ago.

"I'm sorry about that Marcy." Finn apologized to the vampire for his behavior. "It's just that...I want to be left alone, that's all."

"What's this?" Marceline floated upside down in front of Finn but maintained enough distance to not make it awkward. "Ooo's greatest hero's giving up on life?"

"I've got nothing to live for!" Finn shouted, before rolling over to look away from her. "Ever since I lost her, I don't see any reason to keep on living."

"What was your reason for living before you met her?" Finn was shocked by this question as it seemed to calm him down. Finn had to think about it for a long time and in the meantime there was only silence between the two. After heavy thinking to the point that his head started to hurt, Finn found an answer he was satisfied with.

"I...I...I just want to protect the ones around me… to keep them safe… and make sure that nothing bad happens to them." Finn finally replied as Marceline moved back in front of him, though a tad bit closer than before.

"See?" Marceline said with a smile that Finn found surprisingly warm which was weird considering who was giving him the smile. "That wasn't so hard to figure out. I know you're sad about what happened and you have every right to be but lying in bed all day moping about it isn't going to help anyone." Finn knew Marceline was right, as was Jake and BMO. He had to go apologize to them when he got the chance. Finn sat up on his bed as Marceline float down to the floor.

"You're right, Marcy. Something like that won't get me anywhere." Finn admitted. He felt sort of better coming to the realization that he could still be sad… though he still needed to be optimistic.

"Good boy! Now come on, there's a scary movie playing at the theater and I think we should give the crowd a real scare..." Marceline said deviously. Finn couldn't help smile, something that he hadn't done for a while and decided to accept the vampire's invitation, hoping it would help him feel better. As Marceline whisked the young boy with her for what would be a rather interesting night, Finn was already glad that to have people like Jake and BMO and… Marceline as well.

A/N So if you guys liked this story, be sure to tell me so I can decide it's fate.

Will it be a one-shot forever?

Or will there be more to this story then meets the eye?

You decide!

Sal out!