Welcome to the second chapter of my first fanfic.
I do not own Adventure Time or any of its characters. I do not own any riddles from The Hobbit either.
"So you just flew up there and started playing and singing in front of the everybody?" Marceline laughed. She and Marshall had been walking down the pathway for about five minutes.
"Well, I was feeling kinda crazy that night. But I think I played pretty good," Marshall retorted, a smile playing upon his lips.
"Pretty well," Marceline corrected.
"Whatever!"
Marceline chuckled as they came upon an archway leading to a room. An old knight was guarding a door on the other side of the room. There were torches leading from the archway to the knight, but the sides of the room were plunged in darkness. "Wait a sec," she said.
"What?" Marshall asked. "What is it?"
"It could be a trap."
"What? No way," Marshall laughed. "Even if it is a trap, we could easily overpower that old dude."
Marceline crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. He just smirked, drew his axe-guitar, and said, "Just stay behind me, sweet cheeks."
"I can take care of myself, you know," Marceline retorted. She readied herself as they walked towards the knight.
Suddenly, a weird creature sprang out of the darkness and tackled Marshall before he could react. "Argh! Get it off me!" he yelled. He desperately tried to keep it away as it tried to bite his face.
Marceline ran forward and kicked the thing off of Marshall, then stomped on its face. Glowing green goo splashed out of the holes that looked like where its mouth and eyes would have been. "Ugh, gross!" she exclaimed.
Marshall got up quickly and said, "Look out!"
Marceline ducked just in time as another one of the creatures sprang out of the darkness towards her. "Vampire kick!" she yelled as she brought her foot down own to the creature, which had landed on all fours.
Marshall sliced his guitar through the abdomen of one of them, effectively separating its upper body from its lower body, then turned around and swung the axe over himself and straight through the top of another one's head. Green goo gushed out of the the two sides of its torn head. "Take that!" he crowed. Then, he felt another one grab his leg. he quickly shook it off and saw that it was the one he had sliced in half. "Marceline!" he shouted as he brought the guitar down onto the creature's head. "You have to destroy the brain!" He caught a glimpse of her grabbing a creature and throwing it against the wall.
"Alright!" she replied. She dodged one that tried to tackle her, and then jumped on it and pummeled its face until it stopped moving. "Disgusting," she said to herself as she felt the sticky substance on her hands.
Suddenly, Marceline was thrown to the ground as the one she threw came back from behind and tackled her. She struggled as hard as she could, but she couldn't throw off the creature that was assailing her. Just as she thought the thing would get her, she felt the weight disappear. She flipped on her back to see Marshall twirl his axe and extend his hand to her, a grim smirk on his face.
Marshall pulled her up onto her feet and they stood there panting. Marceline leaned on him and he wrapped his arm around her. The whole time, the knight presided over them, his face a smug mask.
They held that position for a while, then Marshall said, "What the garlic balls man!? We were there fighting those things and you just stood there!"
The knight look to the distance, his eyes empty.
"Yeah dude, what's your cheese? You even have a big sword! You could have helped us, or at least give it to me!"
Still, the knight looked beyond them silently.
Marshall let go of Marceline and strode up to the knight. He put his guitar on his back and pulled back his arm. He grabbed the knight on the shoulder and punched him in the face.
But before the fist could reach the man's face, there was a loud noise and a blue light, and Marshall was sent flying backwards, skidding across the ground until he reached Marceline's feet.
The man just smiled and said,
"Before you pass, I must give thee a rhyme.
You may very well need some time,
To figure it out what it may mean,
But time grows short if you want your King and Queen."
"You better start talking sense," Marceline said, her eyebrows coming together. Marshall stood up from her feet and took a position next to her.
"Before I give you this test,
Your mind must be at its very best.
You may find it hard, easy, or in the middle,
But I must know: Are you ready for the riddle?"
"Yes," Marshall answered impatiently. The knight smiled. "Yes, we're ready for the riddle!" Marshall yelled.
"Then no more of this useless banter.
Let us see if you can find the answer:
'It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.' "
"Well that's kind of... depressing," Marceline muttered.
"True that, true that..." Marshall said. He scratched his head, deep in thought.
"Well, I'm going to go wash off this slime from my mitts," Marceline said as she walked to the previous chamber and towards the water within it.
Thanks for reading the fourth chapter! It was great, right? Yes? No? Maybe?
Did you at least think it was okay? Or should I just stop now and give up writing forever? Tell me what you think!
P.S. If you read The Hobbit then you probably know the answer to this riddle, but I can't come up with a riddle for crap.