Sitting there alone Finn was just staring off into space. Surely his gaze was directed at something but whatever it was, it was too far away for the boy to see. His eyes were clouded with faint images of her. A flicker of a memory. A fragment of a moment where they had been together. Ultimately it would all go away and pass out of his mind, but until then he would hold onto it for dear life, because those splintered bits of her memory were all that kept him afloat. Because that was what he was. Floating across an endless sea, headed for an imaginary shore. And he was all alone in that boat because he was all alone in real life. Because she was gone, somewhere else where they could never be together. Why did it have to be like this? Why did all of this terrible weight have to rest on his shoulders. He was just a kid, barely more than fourteen and it seemed as if his whole word had fallen apart around him. How could she do that to him? How was she able to just tear him apart and bring him back to life, only to shatter his heart again the next moment? Was this what he had done to her? She had mentioned something that must have been similar. This was horrible. Finn couldn't stand the thought of causing this type of pain. Why had he pursued her? If he had just forgotten about it and moved on then none of this would have happened. She would have hated him but what did it matter? He wouldn't have hurt her and he wouldn't be hurt either. It was all because of him that they had both suffered. Stupid Finn.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Why did he have to be so stupid? All the time every day and it never stopped. He could never do anything right and at this rate he never would. He would probably ruin everything and die alone. Because every time he tried to love someone, he just ruined it. Everything was his fault. Why couldn't he just stop ruining everything? Before it had been different. Princess Bubblegum didn't like him, but that had only hurt one of them. It had hurt him. But this was worse. Both of them had gotten hurt and it was all his fault.

In a flat, dry voice, Finn whispered, "What's wrong with me?"

"I don't know what you're whispering to yourself about but you'd better stop it cuz we've got company."

Finn jerked back to the place where he physically was and stared at the golden colored dog that was standing before him.

He spoke slowly, almost as if he was unaccustomed to talking. "I don't want to see anyone right now."

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Jake break into a wide toothy grin.

"Are you sure? What if it's someone you do want to see?"

Finn jumped up from his seat, suddenly infuriated and full of energy. 'I told you already I don't want to see anyone! I just want to be alone right now until I can, while I try to forget about yesterday."

Jake's knowing smile only grew larger as he gestured toward a cracked window set in one of the treehouse's walls. "Look" was all he said.

Irritated, Finn complied and moodily walked over to the window with his back exaggeratedly hunched and his arms hanging down limply. "What? What is it? What did you want me to see?" He asked.

Suddenly standing at his side, Jake said, "Hey what's that over there?"

"Over where?" Finn said in an annoyed growl.

"Umm, I don't know. Try looking at that rock over there."

Finn sighed, Jake was probably just trying to mess with him. Playing along, Finn shifted his gaze toward a nearby rock. It was more of a boulder deeply embedded in the ground. The surface was bleached white and worn smooth. Except the white surface was now marred by a pitch black scorch mark.

The rock was on fire.

Suddenly enthusiastic and startled, Finn said," Dude Jake the rocks on fire! How could that even happen? We need to go put it out though before the grass catches cuz it could spread to the treehouse or maybe the forest and then lots of people might get hurt." His heroic instincts were kicking in and after speaking at lightning speed, Finn started to run over to where his sword was.

Midway through the journey, though, Finn felt one of Jake's arms wrap around him like a lasso and drag him back to the windowsill.

Chuckling for some reason, Jake said, "Hehe, check again."

Finn apprehensively returned to the window and looked out at the flaming rock. "What's up man I just see that fire and…"

Finn stopped suddenly, midsentence, when the fire formed a hand and waved at him. Then he realized that the fire had a face, and hair, and a dress, and a name.

It was flame princess.

Feeling numb, Finn waved back slowly, before doing a backflip away from the window and into an area where she couldn't see him. Angrily Finn started to snarl at his canine brother, "What the heck man! Are you trying to mess me up? "

"No man! I found her in the woods and she wanted to see you again. So I brought her here."

Finn pressed his palms over his eyes and moaned, "This isn't good dude!"

"I thought you wanted to see her, that's why you were acting all sad and junk."

"Yeah I did want to see her!" Finn said, "But I couldn't! That's why I stopped looking for her."

"What do you mean you couldn't?

"All I did while I was trying to catch up to her was hurt her, over and over again. And I don't want to do that anymore."

"Dude…"

"What!?" Finn shrieked.

"She said the same thing when I talked to her in the woods."

"So?"

"I mean she was upset that she kept hurting you."

"Well I don't even care about that, it's just, it's just her than I'm worried about." Finn said, starting to slip into a sullen mood.

"And I think she said something like that too. Dude she just wants to be with you. She doesn't care about all that stuff you did."

"Well, what should I do?" Finn asked.

"Go talk to her."

"Okay."

Finn started to walk to the door, but Jake stopped him before he opened it. "But maybe you should put on some clothes before you go." The dog said with a snicker.

Finn looked down at himself and saw that he was dressed in his crimson pajamas. "Alright thanks bro!" He said before doing a flying leap for the ladder. After less than fifteen seconds had passed, he had reappeared and was hurdling toward the door. Jake quickly pulled it open and let his brother fly unhampered out of the treehouse.

Jake saw Finn walk up to the flaming girl and nervously start to talk.

"Umm, hi."

Then she talked.

"Hi Finn."

And then Finn said, wait, it wasn't fair to spy on his brother while he was on his first date with this girl. Jake stretched over to the couch and sprawled over the cushions.

Before more than a few moments had passed, Jake had passed into a deep restful sleep.


Jake looked around the dreamscape.

He was standing in a green field that seemed to stretch on forever.

In the far off distance he could see a small gathering of large creatures. Or maybe it was a large gathering of small creatures.

Yeah, it was the second one.

As Jake neared the gathering, he what appeared to be an entire village populated by living hamburgers.

Living hamburgers that would learn to fear Jake the devourer.

Licking his chops, the golden dog advanced on the helpless foodstuffs.

There would be no survivors…


Not sure why I put that last part about Jake's dream but I think it's kinda funny. It reminds me of one of my favorite scenes of the entire series. When Finn and Jake first find the Hyoomans. Jake was like, "They're scared of everything. We could rule them like gods. (nightmare face) Angry gods..."

I love that line so much that I watch it over and over again whenever that episode comes on. Well anyway, how was the chapter? I want to send a big internet thankyou hug (here you go) to allen5. I didn't use your exact idea but it was definitely my inspiration.

Well thankyou to everyone for reading this and making my day by reviewing. I love you all (or if that creeps you out, I appreciate you greatly)