Chapter One:
Finn watched with satisfied eyes as the tree exploded. A slow smile began to grow on his face; the wave of heat and the bitter smell of smoke only making the smile grow as time wore on. He and Jake had saved a group of Nom-nums from the tree's carnivorous jaws, and the Nom-nums began to cheer when the fire died down, celebrating that their enemy was gone.
Jake, who had been looming over the small patch of grass, shrunk back down to his normal size, dancing as he walked over to Finn.
"Mission accomplished, dude. Let's head home,"
Finn grinned and nodded tiredly, stretching his sore muscles and slipping his well-used sword into his green backpack.
"Alright, man. See ya'll later, now stay out of trouble, you hear?"
The little creatures, which had been pooling at his feet and climbing up his legs, let out small screams of joy as their small, white hands waved farewell to their heroes.
Finn sighed happily and climbed onto Jake's back, a feeling of euphonium flooding his sixteen-year old body. This was why he was a hero. It wasn't for the princesses, or the violence, not even for the glory. It was for that feeling that made him invincible, the knowledge that he saved lives; the random acts of heroism reassured Finn that he was good.
The two brothers traveled in moderate silence, listening for the sounds of night as the sun dipped down over the horizon and they neared their home.
"Good day, huh?" Jake asked as Finn climbed down from his back and onto the ground, the giant dog shrinking down to Finn's size and putting an arm around his brother.
"The best!" Finn laughed, opening the front door and tossing his backpack to the side.
Jake grinned, heading towards the kitchen upstairs. "We gonna celebrate with some Hazelnut coffee?"
"Yeah man! I'm all about Hazelnut coffee!" Finn yelled, fist pumping the air. Jake just laughed and began making the coffee, watching out of the corner of his eye as Finn began to dance around the living room.
"Would you like some music?" Beemo asked, his electronic voice interrupting Finn's dancing.
"Sure Beemo, play some tunes!"
BMO smiled excitedly and began playing an electronic song, joining Finn's dance party.
"Oh, oh, man... This is my song!" Jake yelled, beginning to dance with his spoon, spilling hot liquid all across the floor. Finn laughed and began dancing across the floor, a smile on his face.
"Yeah, oh yeah Jake! You shake those doughnuts!"
Life was so simple, so happy, and he never wanted it to change.
A couple hours later, night had settled and the room was dark. The only lighting in the house was the lantern hanging above the doorway, and a few candles flickering in the corners, casting eerie shadows across the floor.
Jake was passed out on the couch and Beemo was lying in a heap of dirty laundry muttering something about CPUs to himself. Finn smiled, sipped his mug of coffee, and sat down on the small window seat he and Jake had built a couple summers back. The teenager leaned back onto the pillows, sighing happily as he looked out into the night.
Midnight, oddly enough, was Finn's favorite time of the day. Everything was still and silent, the stars twinkled happily above, and the only thing coming at him was the morning.
Just as he began to close his eyes, a worn blanket pulled up to his chin and the empty mug sitting next to him, Finn heard something. The rustle of leaves outside, the slight squeak of the front door, the clink of moving dishes.
Something was downstairs.
His blue eyes flew open and he groped in the darkness for his extra sword he kept around just in case, hissing Jake's name to try and wake him up.
"Don't worry Lady, Jake's got you..." Finn groaned and rolled his eyes; so much for Jake's help.
The sixteen-year-old slowly creped down the stairs, wincing every time the staircase made a noise. He paused at the bottom, not even daring to breathe as he listened for another sound of the intruder.
"Hello!" he yelled, his voice piercing the silence. "Who's there?"
Silence.
"I know you're in here, just come out!"
Once again, Finn was greeted with a moment of silence before the sound of glass breaking shattered the night. He silently cursed himself as he ran into the kitchen to find glass scattered across the floor and the door wide open.
Without even thinking, the blonde ran across the glass and into the open field next to the tree house.
"Who's there?" He yelled, ignoring the glass as it dug deeper into his bare feet. He heard a rustle ahead of him and the uneven breath of the thing pause, as if it was holding its breath. "I said who's there? I know you're out here!"
And then the chase began again.
Whatever it was, it was slow. Within minutes, Finn had caught up with the thing- but every time he came close, they disappeared. It seemed to weave seamlessly in and out of sight, disappearing one moment and then turning up behind a tree the next. But Finn wasn't about to give up.
And then it made a fatal mistake. It ran into the forest, and started right towards the dead tree. The fallen tree was so large there was no way around, over, or under- it was trapped.
A smile began to form on the blonde's face. Two evil things in one day, it was almost too good to be true.
Finn's grip on his sword tightened as he cornered whatever it was, the fallen tree behind it and the only way out back into the open was through him.
"Whatever you are," Finn whispered, knowing that it was listening. "Just give up, there's no way to escape!" Then he heard the scraping sound of someone attempting to climb the tree- something Finn himself had tried to do a while back but had ended badly.
Either way, it was escaping
Finn let out a yell of pure frustration, blindly throwing his gleaming sword towards the tree in a last attempt to stop whatever it was. There was a scream when metal hit tree, and then the painful noise the creature hitting the ground and it's low moan of pain.
Finn inched forward, attempting to find whatever it was by the weak moonlight. The only sound being his own breath, and then he felt the point of a sword being held to his stomach, the thin fabric of his blue shirt not even hoping to protect him as the tip threatened to break his skin.
He stopped, but the sword continued to dig into his flesh. "Don't come any closer," A new voice whispered, so soft Finn could barely hear it.
He squinted in the darkness, his eyes only having the light of the moon to see his enemy with. Finn's eyes caught onto something, a little sliver of moonlight reflected on his stolen sword as the person moved, illuminating their face momentarily. Or rather, illuminating her face momentarily. A quick flash of the light revealed a dirt-covered girl with patches of clean skin and a pair of green eyes.
The girl's fingers gripped the sword tighter, her nails jagged and dirt saturating her hands. Finn hesitantly raised his hands, signaling his surrender, but also buying himself time to think of a plan. She looked human, but he quickly quashed any excitement that he began to feel- there was no way he could get his hopes up again. Either way, she didn't seem evil- maybe she was just hungry.
"Good," she whispered, her voice raw from being unused. "Just stay there."
Finn sighed, interlocking his fingers behind his head. Then he glanced down at the girl, his eyes shining with a brilliant idea. "Hey, are you evil?"
That startled her. She looked at him cautiously, probably expecting foul play. "No," The girl answered slowly, adjusting her grip on his old weapon. "I'm not evil."
"Oh," Finn said, grinning as he scratched his bare-feeling head; the thought that whoever this was might be lying flitted through his mind, but he quickly dismissed the thought. "Are you lying? Because that's my deal as a righteous hero. I only kill evil things."
She scowled, "I told you, I'm not evil!"
Finn shrugged, "Alright... Since you insist that you're not evil... I think I'm going to head home." The girl's brow furrowed as he waved goodbye and glanced over his shoulder and into the forest. "Eh... Feel free to keep the sword, it's a spare. You're going to need it if the Why Wolves find you,"
"Why Wolves?"
"Yup, they're these evil creatures that are slave to bloodlust and inquiry, they're bloodthirsty beings that will kill anything they can!" He failed to mention that they mainly ate house creatures- but that wouldn't hurt anybody.
She paused, slightly lowering the sword as she looked down at the ground. Finn yawned, then glanced back down at the girl. It was getting early in the morning, the sun was beginning to break through the sky, and he was just plain tired. She was probably just the princess of somewhere, running away from home and to stubborn to ask for help. Nothing that he really needed to concern himself with; and it was certainly nothing that a night's sleep for both of them couldn't help.
"Listen, if we're just going to stand here- I think I'm going to go home. It's late and your family is probably missing you," The girl winced, and then looked back up at the sixteen year old.
"Tell me, hero. Are you like they are in the stories? Do you save princesses and slay evil things and help those who can't help themselves?"
Finn shrugged, grinning slightly as he answered. "Of course I am!"
The girl watched him warily for a moment, then the sword dropped to the ground. Finn watched in slight amazement as she began to smile slightly, looking up at him with a different look in her eyes that he couldn't quite name. "Well, I need a hero." She blinked slowly, looking back down the ground before meeting Finn's eyes again. "Are you up for the challenge?"
Finn grinned, "My name is Finn, the human boy."
Her eyes flickered upwards, as though she was shocked by his response. She paused a moment before smiling back at him hesitantly, "My name is Vienna."
Finn walked over to his new partner, kneeling next to her and picking up is sword from the ground. "Well, Vi, do you have somewhere you belong? Do you have a family or something?"
She sighed and shook her head, refusing to meet his gaze. "No, I don't belong anywhere."
"Well then, let's head back to my place. What'd you say?"
Vienna loosely gestured towards her ankle, which- even in the dim lighting- Finn could see was severely swollen. "I hurt my ankle when I fell, I can't move."
"Well," Finn said, adjusting his body so his back was towards her. "Hop on, you're going to be riding the Finn Express."
"No,"
"Well, it's either the Finn Express or the Why Wolves."
He heard Vienna sigh, and then hesitantly wrap her arms around his neck. "If you try to do anything funny..." She warned, slowly bringing her legs around his waist. Finn stood up and slipped his arms underneath her knees, trying to ignore the choking grip the girl had on his throat.
Oh glob. He had forgotten the glass in his foot.
But, like a true hero, Finn gritted his teeth and pushed himself forward. But with every step the tree house seemed farther away, Vienna seemed to gain ten pounds, and the glass seemed to shove itself deeper into his feet.
When they reached the halfway mark, a trail of bloody footprints following them, Vienna finally spoke. "Finn, you mentioned that you were human?"
"Yeah, why?"
She never did answer, instead favoring to lightly place her head on his shoulder. But softly, as they drew closer to the front door and the sky above them began to lighten with the morning sun, he heard her whisper two words.
"Thank you."
A/N: Hello and welcome to the first chapter of Impetus- my first Adventure Time story! But, before we continue, I want to clear up any confused feelings or immediate dislikes: this is NOT a Finn/OC story... Unless you want it to be. In case you are confused (as I'm sure you are- heck, I was confused in the beginning too), this story is all about how you read and interpret it, that's what determines who the main pairings are; not who I, or my lovely beta, want them to be.
Anywho, enough about that. Thank you to my reviewers- it really meant a lot to me that you liked my itty-bitty prologue enough to review!
I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter and decide to leave me a comment- thank you once again!
~Ella
