The treehouse which houses Ooo's greatest hero was often known as a place filled with laughter and love; the last nine days, however, have crippled its owners emotionally and now the house is silent for most of the day, a silence only broken by tactical murmurings and worried whispers.
Finn the Human stands in front of various large sheets of paper that have been hung on the walls. He scribbles meticulously, standing back to look at his work before grunting in irritation and tearing down the sheet nearest to him. His brother Jake lies on the floor, a passive way of giving up. He sighs and rolls to face Finn.
"It's no use, bro" Jake says, looking up at his brother "we just ain't got the big brains to do this bizz. We're not the brains, we're the mad brawn"
Finn wheels around.
"But the brains were always PB, Jake! And now… and now she's against us and we're the ones that have got to make the globbing plan! Come on just think!"
"Look Finn" Jake pulls himself to his feet. "Maybe this isn't our fight, maybe-"
"What, so we sit back and let them hurt the Flame Kingdom?!" Finn's voice raises before cracking at the end of his sentence. He scrubs a hand against his face, trying to wipe away tears that he can feel forming in his eyes. This is the last thing he wants. The last thing he ever wanted.
Jake opens his mouth to respond but the beginning of his sentence is drowned out by a loud knocking on their door. The brothers had previously enjoyed being able to unlatch the door and welcome anybody into their home but the last nine days have changed their actions completely. Finn reaches for his sword and draws it whilst Jake grows to a frightening size, raising his hackles.
Before either can call out to the potential intruder the final member of the household runs into the room and towards the door.
"Door! Door, door, door!" cries the video game machine excitedly.
"BMO wait!" Jake lunges forwards and grabs his friend, taking him away from the door.
"But Jake! Someone is at our door!" BMO insists, struggling in Jake's arms. The brothers had resolved not to tell the little machine yet as not to worry him.
"Dudes. It's me. Let me in" a female voice carries through the door.
"Marceline!" Finn calls out, relief flooding his voice as he drops his sword. Jake stretches forwards to open their door although muttering something sounding vaguely like "untrustworthy" under his breath.
Marceline steps into the treehouse which is the first thing Finn notices; she's walking not floating which is already abnormal. Her usually cocky stride and cheeky smile is replaced today with a nervous energy. He notices the Vampire Queen looks exhausted, as though she hasn't slept. She probably hasn't, he notes, as it's the middle of the day; she should be sleeping now.
He'd seen her only the day before when she'd turned up to ask what in Grod's name was going on. She's still wearing the same clothes, he notices, which means she probably hasn't been home since leaving the treehouse yesterday. The only difference is that her hair is more disheveled and her collar is turned up against her neck, covering it despite the fact that she also carries an umbrella to ward off the sun.
"We need to talk" She says as Jake closes the door behind her. She won't look at either Finn or Jake.
"About what?" Finn asks. His stomach turns. This can't be what he thinks it is; he won't believe it.
"Finn…" she sighs and finally looks at him. "I'm gonna tell you this once and only once. You need to back down. This isn't your fight, Finn"
"I'm not a kid Marceline. We can do this, we can do it without hurting anyone, just listen to me, I'm figuring it out and then-"
Marceline laughs humourlessly, sending chills of dread up Finn's spine.
"You really think there's a way to do this without people getting hurt?"
"So you're just gonna go in for me? I don't need you to protect me, Marceline! We've fought side by side before, we can do it now, right?"
Marceline averts her gaze again; clenches her fists, shoves them deep into her jacket pockets.
"Right?" Finn echoes his previous question. Marceline doesn't move, stands still as a statue.
Jake shrinks back to his normal height and walks walks up to the Vampire Queen.
"Marceline, you better not be tellin' us what I think you are" his voice is firm, the usual hint of a joke completely gone.
"Telling us what? Jake?" Finn's voice raises in urgency. He's confused. It's like there's a secret between Marceline and Jake. It's like there always has been. Like he's always held a grudge about something.
Finn had always just assumed it was his crippling fear of vampires.
"She's turnin' against us!"
"W-what?" Finn feels his stomach drop. His chest aches. She can't be… she wouldn't-
"Listen, Finn-" she turns to him, finally looking at him again but Jake interrupts her.
"Just say it, Marceline. Stop with all the sneakin' and the hiding"
"you can't!" Finn cries. "You and PB – you don't even like each other, you're barely even friends! You're never together for more than five minutes, you barely even know each other… you-"
He is cut off as Jake scoffs.
When Finn had met Princess Bubblegum and later Marceline he had been a child. He had never questioned that the two didn't get along as that is what he'd seen. He'd never particularly paid attention to their relationship as he'd never felt the need to. He'd just wanted them to be buds because they were his buds and he wanted to hang out with both of them.
Jake, however, wasn't a child and wasn't naïve, either. He'd gotten wise to the time the two monarchs had spent together; how sometimes he and Finn would call the castle at night and be answered by Peppermint Butler because PB was "in a meeting" whilst Marceline was also conveniently not home. He'd gotten wise to all the time PB needed Marceline for "looking into the science behind vampires" or "monarch only meetings" when no other monarch in Ooo was invited.
He'd spent years looking at the way that Finn looked at PB, at how she'd never noticed him and never would and no, he couldn't hold a grudge because of feelings being hurt but he'd just wish the two would come clean. Save Finn years of heartbreak when he thought he'd had a chance.
"We don't want to hurt you-" Marceline sounds almost like she's pleading
"So it's we now, huh?" Jake asks, growing so that he's the same height as Marceline.
"But you can't just go charging into war after some girl you've got feelings for!" she continues ignoring Jake's comment.
"Ain't that exactly what you're doing?" Jake raises his voice, finally winning her attention. She turns to him , square up.
"Back down Jake. You don't know squat so stop blabbing your damn mouth before I make you"
"Nah, I've had enough, Marceline. I don't care what you two get up to but when it's war? You walk about, actin' the tough Queen but she asks ya to jump and ya do! Ya can't storm in here saying this isn't our fight when it ain't yours either! You're letting her manipulate you! Jeez, at least we're taking the right side!"
"Oh, in your opinion!" Marceline growls, snapping her teeth at Jake. "And no one tells me what to do, got it?"
"Then do what's right!"
"I am"
She turns to Finn before continuing. Malice has creeps into her voice.
"I don't wanna hurt you, Finn, but if you don't back down I will. And you need to know that you've got no hope. So back the Hell down before I get the Nightosphere on you and your little girlfriends ass. Yeah?"
Finns feels the tears well in his eyes, wipes them fiercely with the back of his hand. He'd always known that Marceline's moral code may not be as righteous as his own but he'd never had to question her sense of right and wrong before, not seriously. Not until now.
"Marceline… I don't… I don't understand. You're not with us and – what about PB? I'm confused, I-"
"I'm serious, Finn. Back down" she looks away although he's pretty sure he sees her mouth the word "please"
Finn wracks his brain for what to say next but can't seem to make his mind make sense of it all. The silence in the room is tense. It's Jake who breaks it.
"Ya better leave Marceline before I bonk ya"
She shrugs, turns on her heel and walks towards the door.
"Don't say I didn't warn you" she mutters, closing the door behind her.
"Jake, what-" Finn's voice cracks as he asks his brother, only to be interrupted.
"It's nothing that concerns us, brother. Least we know who's on our side now"
He walks towards Finn, laying a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"I know things are tough right now, Finn, but it's gonna work out. Get some sleep, we'll have a shot at all this again tomorrow"
Finn nods before pulling his brother into an embrace.
"At least we got each other" he murmurs.
"Homies help homies, always. And if them girls ain't gonna stand with us then they aren't really our homies"