Song- Iridescent by Linkin Park
Suggested by Spottedfang
THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH
(You may also read on, revisions are done)
You were standing in the wake of devastation
He had given up hope long before Marceline showed up. He had been positive that the bars would always be what he'd see first and last each day. As time went on, he began to respect the strength they had to keep him confined.
He knew for a fact that the cage he sat in day after day was home, it was what kept him safe from the horrors of the reality he never knew. The world outside those bars wouldn't be so dangerous, if it only had a hero.
He had grown accustomed to the eternal silence that was himself. He didn't see a real need in speaking anymore if it only caused him pain.
But those blood-red eyes glowing from the dark shadows of her cloak woke his voice back to his mouth, wishing to be sung aloud. He knew at that time that he had to speak, no matter how many lashes were taken across his flesh.
Marceline had only stood there for a moment with her hood down for screams to be exchanged; she only needed to be there for him to escape his confinement.
He no longer needed the bars to make him feel safe; all he required was her to be around him to ward evil from his fragile state.
All he needed was her, but she was bound to leave him behind some day. She was what he needed most of all- more than food, water, or warmth. She would keep him safe longer than anyone or anything, ever before.
You were waiting on the edge of the unknown
Finn had kept his mind and patience for only the year he had been captured. He faintly remembered the peace he sat in for hours at a time, quietly chatting with the Cyclops and on-lookers, accepting anything given to him.
To simply put it, he wasn't aware of what it meant to be held in a cage. He was like, nine. He liked to talk- a lot.
That tie was severed quickly.
He didn't know. Nobody warned him. So how was he supposed to know not to snap at Ring Master?
He could recall very clearly the faceless men that tore him from his bars, and tied the fiber ropes around his wrists. He could still remember them ripping the shirt down his back to show his flawless skin.
He could still see the glint of light from the valuable gemstones in the handle of the whip when it was raised above his head.
That's as far as he could remember. He knew what they did, but he didn't remember when,the length of time, or how.
No matter the downs, no further the ups, he was glad he didn't reminisce.
He was there, he was hurt, he was fed, he was cared for… if he sat still, didn't speak unless spoken to, maybe he wouldn't have had a problem.
But he was finally away from there. Everything was going to be better.
But even there, he couldn't help but deny his choice- He should have stayed in the cage.
He would be good if he stayed, he would be quiet, he would stay still, he wouldn't shout back. He would take what was given to him and enjoy it- that would happen because he finally learned that was what they wanted from him.
He would be the docile animal they expected of him.
With the cataclysm raining down
She was Queen of the Vampires.
She ruled over thousands of an all-powerful race. With the single flick of her eyes towards you, you could be killed or turned into one of hers.
After about 200 years of a good rule in her kingdom, she started to see what a dreadful place it was. With all the pale people in their black clothes, fighting each other out of boredom, sucking something dry, or just moping around, she saw what a tragic place it was.
So to solve that problem, she left. She was gone one evening, her kingdom left in the Vamp-Council's hands for the next century. She no longer had to look upon the bland kingdom that would belong to her until the day she died.
Insides crying "Save Me Now"
Please understand.
He doesn't want your help.
He doesn't want your empathy.
He does NOT want you to "feel bad" or "sorry".
He just wants you to LEAVE HIM ALONE.
So why don't you understand that? Why don't they?
Can't they all just… pretend he's not there? Other people have done that for an amount of time, before he was shut away.
Leave him alone.
What did the dogs want form him? He wasn't going to speak to them, he wasn't going to thank them, and he's not going to laugh along with them when a joke was told. He liked them, but he didn't want to be harassed to comply in their rituals of existence.
Jake only fed him.
Beemo liked to talk to him (even though he didn't talk back).
Marceline held him, cared for him, and told him interesting things all the time.
Jermaine was scary, he didn't like Jermaine. He never did.
You were there impossibly alone.
As much as he wanted it, he was never alone.
He found himself on the outer edge of Jermaine's field with Marceline. He sat in the high grass with his legs outstretched leaning back, held up by her leaning on him.
His Body-Clock had permanently changed from wakening him in the mornings, to now waking up with Marceline in the evening.
He felt more open, and free outside of the home, but still felt safe with the vampire with him. A gentle breeze rolled by, rippling the waves of grain beyond the two. It was a chilly wind, winter was coming.
The sun had set behind the mountains that were raised around them, the dark sky lit with an endless amount of stars in every direction. The "Milky Way Galaxy" she told him, had more stars than they could ever imagine, and they were only looking at a handful of them.
"The humans called the shapes the stars are aligned in, constellations." She continued, gazing up at the twinkling luminaries.
"Constellations," He repeats, leaning his head back on her shoulder, "for?"
She shrugs, "From older times of Humans, they were searching for answers Science couldn't give them. So, they made up stories by finding shapes in the sky. Like Orion," She points to a cluster of three stars as his belt. "His girlfriend killed him by accident I think."
He laughed quietly, "Whoops,"
"Yeah," She grinned, searching for another to tell him. "Oh, there's Aquarius. But I don't know what he does, I think he just hangs around."
"Mm," He folds his hands on his lap staring at the belt of Orion. "Why would she kill?"
"Her brother dared her to shoot this thingy a while's away, and it turned out it was her boyfriend… the end."
He turned his head a special way to look at her. "What?"
"Oh don't worry about it," She laughed, ruffing his blonde locks. She didn't usually bother around with the history of constellations.
He grumbled without saying anything, going back to where he left off in the skies.
"Seas?" He asked, running his hands lightly over the tips of the grass.
"They're these huge lakes that go on forever," She told him, gesturing to the open space.
"Where is it?"
She paused for a moment, "All around. Ooo's an island, so whichever way you go, just walk on until you get to water.
He thought about clear water like what he drank form a cup at the edge of ta green prairie, just the clear white from then on. He's never even seen a lake, so what would an ocean be like?
"I wanna see one," He stated, rising from the ground.
She yelped, falling back in his absence.
She floated from the terrain, coming to eye level with him. "It's a good walk away, the ocean,"
"Jakey comes!"
Her face scrunches up in thought for minutes at a time; but he was patient, he could wait.
She sighed, "Fine, but you might not like it!"
He smiled wider than his face could handle. How could he not like something he's never seen before?
He wasn't afraid to jump a hug at her, for that moment, even if it was only for a split second.
Even if it was only a flash of touch, his arms willingly wrapped around her. He actually smiled… she made him feel happy.
(Score!)
Then he was running off to wake and tell Jake that they needed a ride. She picked up her cloak that was shed from the ground, and quickly flew towards the house to make sure Finn didn't wake Jake again by shaking him, because the last time it didn't end well.
Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
Not even she was sure why she was still hanging around. Maybe it was because of the Human. He always, always was near her and he didn't even realize it, clinging to her side, looking back on their walks at night to see if she was still behind him. She didn't want to just ditch him there and make it seem like she didn't care.
She just wanted to make sure he had a productive life after liberation. She only wanted him to be happy, and if taking him to see the ocean would do that- get your bathing-suit.
That was all she wanted.
You build up hope but failures all you've known
He didn't care that his life had been a black hole that sucked all the happiness and light out of everything. He was in a better place, and that was all that had to matter.
He spent six years stacking up his hope for a rescue only for it to be knocked down on his seventh year- that year. He gave up his hope mere months too early.
Remember all the sadness and frustration
"Pst! Cyclops guy!" he whispered, crawling as far as he could to the edge of the enclosure.
It sat facing the wall, turned away from the human. Its head was bowed under its shoulders in defeat, its legs pulled it its chest. It was huddled in the corner of its cage, shaking with near silent sobs.
"Cyclops Man! Over here!" He says again, wishing for a rock to throw and get his attention.
Only a shattered whimper escapes from its figure. It pulls in on itself tighter; holding itself from what wasn't visible.
It had been like this all night now, and he needed some sleep. But how could anyone sleep with those sobs plaguing their dreams to nightmares?
"I'm tired!" The human groaned, leaning his head out through the bars.
He waited patiently only out of fatigue, his eyes half lidded.
The moon glowed brightly through the clouds like the bony hands of a spirit, reaching out to the both of them. Only one hoped that they were the stairs to a better place.
"Don't forget," It cried loudly after a while, slowly turning to face him, "If you forget, they'll take you apart,"
He backs away into the shadows of his enclosure, unable to rip his gaze from the Cyclops's face.
It wasn't often that the Cyclops was kept in the same section of the tent as he was. At night he sometimes heard cries, screams, and laughter coming from the Cyclops's part. Looking at its face, he began to wonder what went on during those noisy evenings.
He felt the stinging of tears well up, and spill over from his eyes.
It was something terrifying.
It was something you cower from.
His own weeps of fear come harmoniously with the Cyclops', like the howls of Wolves in the night.
"Don't you dare forget, boy. You have to remember, or else your world will become a darker than ever," It begs, rubbing its hands over the deep wounds and scars that covered its body and face
He knew he couldn't forget, but he wished he couldn't remember.
And let it go.
He stood with his arms crossed, only inches away from her. His new, navy blue sweat shirt was zipped down with his hood up.
On the horizon, the sun had started to rise with fiery colors ranging from a simple bonfire, to an inferno. As soon as the deep purple of the sky had erupted to flames, the strange birds erupted into a melody as if on cue.
The ocean wasn't what he thought it would be. It wasn't clear like the water he drank- it was the purest of indigo he could think of, combined with the beauty of Marceline and the peaceful sound of waves slowly crashing in front of them- this was where he wished to be forever.
Then there was the ultimate force of fear that almost obscured his outlook on the place to a horror land of pure evil, than one of magnificence.
"What're you standing over here for?" She asks, nudging his shoulder. "Go splash around in the shallows, or look for fish. Or why don't you make use of yourself and go find something red for me? I'm starving."
He shivers with the next snake of wind, balling his hands to fists under his arms, "Cold,"
She just shrugs, "It's got to be only forty degrees out here, how could you be cold?" She flips her hair from her eyes staring aimlessly over the sea.
"You?"
"I'm always cold."
He zippered up his jacket, trying to clench his teeth to hide their chattering. He was still cold.
No, it was nothing compared to the icy nights he's been through- he was wearing nothing but pants and his old hat that he ripped apart to use as gloves. But at least now he had a jacket, no matter how thin it was, and shoes, and a shirt.
What he wanted was a hat, a hat that would cover his golden locks and neck, so no one would stare at him. He wanted a hat that would shield others from his identity as a human- he doesn't want another seven years of frozen fingers and toes.
He squinted his eyes with the light of the shining sun, then standing alone on the sand of the beach without a sleeping Marceline to be listening to, he has just the continuous rolling in and out of the Ocean.
He yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes as he finally walks over to her under the shade of a tree just beyond the sand.
He reasoned with himself only a moment before he gave in, and crawled up next to her, and into her cloak. Why was he the only one this cold?
Let it go
He gripped his hands tightly trying to bring feeling back into them, his body tremored with the weather, forcing him to hunch with each howl of the wind, and gasp when one runs its ghostly finger along his cheek bone. He breathed in and out, trying to think warm thoughts like he did in his cell.
It won't work with a cloak around him like a blanket shared between the two.
He didn't have the heart to wake up Jake, who was hogging every blanket they brought with them.
And in the burst of light that blinded every angel
As if the sky had blown the heavens into stars
One more hit.
His cry was un-yielded when it burst from his lips.
The unspeakable, all-consuming agony tore his mind and body to pieces. No one his age was supposed to feel that kind of pain, he should be dead.
"That should teach you not to talk back to me."
He tried not to cry at first, he wanted to be strong. But after the first swipe, the first break through his young skin, his screams of pure suffering were heard by all (but no one was around to save him).
He was left to kneel there, drowning in his own tears, his back burning, wet, and bloody.
"You should be thankful that it was me, this time." She said, obvious cruelty behind it.
He didn't reply, he was too afraid. What if she gave him another couple gashes to go along with the ones he'd already gotten, only on his handsome face?
He would be like the Cyclops, perhaps- they hurt him only to make him more "interesting" to look at.
Colors were detonating in the dark behind his eyelids, like stars in the night.
All he said when she leaned next to him in her tight red dress was-
"S-sorry."
Her coal black eyes were unfazed at his word, only a snap of her fingers showed she heard him.
The last hit, a last tortured shriek.
Her cold eyes were what he remembered. Not like the Cyclops's broken one, or Marceline's dangerous, or Jake's caring. Just hers.
Only hers.
He feared them more than anything.
You felt the gravity of temper grace
Falling into empty space
No there to catch you in their arms
Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
You build up hope but failures all you've known
"Finn," Jake whispered, shaking him awake in the last hours of day.
"Mm?" Is all he said
"Dude, you're sleeping in the same piece of clothing as a female vampire. Are you cracked?"
He said nothing to that.
Jake is silent for a second, "Yeah I thought so too but I was afraid to say it,"
Jake didn't want to come here, it was FREEZING! Well, he wasn't a cat, but still… Finn might as well have been by the way he was shivering.
Remember all the sadness and frustration
Jermaine was the kind of guy who remembers everything. He can recall all the things his brother Jake had, and not him.
But he also memorized all the things he had, not Jake. Like he had a house. He had a valley. And without those things you're done for. Jake had been on his own for eight years until they ran into each other at Chickenblood Cove for the Chicken Parade, where they hand out free eggs.
Which was why Jake was there. He had been living on nothing.
Blood-Tied, he had to take him in; no matter how much he despised him at times. Still, he loved Jake, and would hate for him to leave.
But he'd finally have a place to put the rest of his books if Jake left…
It was frustrating at times, but Jake was all the family he had now with their mom and dad gone.
He was willing to pay the prices to have his brother with him like they used to be; even if it meant taking in an insane human, and an extremely adorable Beemo.
He was willing to let go of his brother, just not yet.
And let it go
Let it go
