Chapter 6

The rest of Finn's memories became progressively random and disconnected. Each was just a vivid scene followed by a flash and then another scene days or weeks later. As I watched, I tried to figure out scientifically why the quality of his memories had deteriorated, and I figured that ability accounted for Finn's resilience; he was able to let go of a lot of the bad memories.

Cake had her memory erased and was banished from The Beyond, because the lizard-humans thought magical creatures were "abominations." Fionna collapsed weeping and screaming for Cake. Finn ran over to hold her, and was swiftly knocked out by the butt of one of the metal sticks. *Flash*

Finn and Fionna are stripped and hosed down with scalding water. They are changed into rough, oversized, gray prisoner tunics. They are told they are to be trained as soldiers to repay their debt for having their life spared and being fed and clothed. *Flash*

Finn is tied to a chair and branded with a scalding hot iron "P" for prisoner on his right shoulder blade. He arches back and thrashes, but keeps his lips pursed closed, refusing to allow them to hear him scream. He flashes looks towards the next room where he knows Fionna is being kept. *Flash*

Fionna and Finn are tied together and figure out a way to untie each other's knots without the guards noticing. They both turn to smirk at each other, sneak up to the sleeping guards, and take their metal sticks and keys. They are now running out of the facility and smile and spin in the sunshine for the first time in weeks. They are running. They almost make it out of the village. They feel the ground vanish from under them and land in a deep hole that was concealed by leaves on the path. Fionna screams as she tried to get up and cradles her arm awkwardly; it is broken. Finn hugs her to him and takes off his tunic to make a sling for her. Just then the guards run up to the hole. Finn breathes rapidly in rage and imagines shooting every single one of them in the head, watching their blood pour from their brain guts to pay for what they did to Susan. Instead, when they threaten to shoot Fionna, he sets down the metal stick and puts his arms up in the air. *Flash*

A wave of pain shatters Finn's back as he is flogged. Then it happens again and again and again. He has permanently been separated from Fionna, which has broken him. He allows himself to scream, to ask them to stop, to plead over and over again for some hint to know she is still alive. He never gets any response but another blow for anything but robotic compliance. He is made to sleep in the cold in his underwear as punishment for tearing his tunic in attempt to make the sling; the lizard humans called it "vandalism of government property." He lies in his cell, shivering and trying to sleep. His hands are tied behind his back. The moonlight casts dramatic shadows on his ribs with every shallow breath. They are feeding him barely enough to keep him alive and he is so hungry that he even misses Jake's everything burritos. *Flash*

Eat gruel. Train. Lay naked while being experimented on. Do assigned chores for the day. Eat roll. Try to sleep on the ground. Try not to think about anything; just survive. Repeat. *Flash*

Finn plays with a black beetle lying on his cell floor. It is the first animal life he has ever seen there and it is utterly beautiful. He clasps it in his hand and tries to snuggle with it, pretending it is Jake. The beetle morphs into a glowing red demon the size of a cat and bites his chest. Hot pain clutches his heart and he convulses. The guards give him an antidote for the lethal bite within minutes and then make him scrub all the bathrooms in the facility during the hours he is usually allowed to sleep. It is punishment for making them use such a costly medicine on someone as "worthless" as him. *Flash*

Finn gets a new cell mate, a wizard they captured wandering the boundaries of the village. Desperate for any interaction that wasn't violent, Finn befriends the kind old man. He has a scraggly gray beard, smiling gray eyes, blue skin, and a surprisingly large, strong body. Finn asks him every day if he's seen his sister. The man listens to him talk about his adventures, Jake, Susan, and the girl he is in "like like" with, who he's going to give a big smooch if he ever sees her again (I assumed that was me). He tells him a lot about me- how he hopes she's not too worried since they don't let him write to her, how beautiful my hair is when I wear it up, how I'm so good at science, and how hard I'm working to find a cure for my mother's curse. *Flash*

I feel my heart speed up hearing this emaciated, scarred, broken Finn still be able to light up while talking about me like this. Through all this, he's still not evil yet. He's still good, and sweet, and kind. I felt a physical pain in my chest seeing him suffer so much, but I also felt a gripping elation when I thought 'Glob, I think I'm falling in love with Finn the Human.'

The old wizard leans in and whispers to Finn one night "I have something to cheer you up."

Finn stares at him blankly. "You're going to tell me this whole place is a sucky dream?"

The man chuckled, "No, I'm giving you this."Finn felt a small weight drop into his tunic pocket and peeked inside to see the vial of purple liquid. "If you ever get out of here, you'll have a way to be that pretty pink girl's knight in shining armor. Just be sure to follow the instructions exactly."

Finn's darkly hollowed eyes brimmed with happiness, "Dude, this is way math. They're going to kill you if they ever find out you gave this to me."

The man grinned, "I'm old. I'm probably going to die in here, and I'd rather it be sooner than later. Also, I wouldn't mind if it was for a noble cause to help a young hero like you."

Finn hides the vial carefully in between two stones in the wall and hugs the old, tired man. "Thanks, dude. I thought I lost my soul juices in this place until you came here…even though I wish you weren't here."

"I wish the same thing for you, young Finn." *Flash*

Finn completes his training and as reward is presented with a dark brown, flowing, linen cloak. He is wary to trust them giving him something so nice, but he can't resist trying it when his lead trainer says it will give him the power to fly. He shrugs it on and grins broadly at how good it feels. He immediately stands straighter and looks stronger. He takes off into the sky with such ease and is able to twist any direction he wants in the blink of an eye. For the first time since before Susan died, he laughs. *Flash*

Finn is getting better food and accommodations. He walks erect and has the same demeanor as the lizard-humans. He is never seen not wearing his hooded cloak. His expression is hard and distant when he sees the old wizard in passing one day. Even when he learns the wizard has died, all Finn does is look angry for a few minutes and then go about his day as usual. *Flash*

Finn is in such a trusted position that he is allowed to see Fionna. He simply nods at her and says "I'm glad to see you're doing well." He flinches back when she hugs him and then voluntarily excuses himself to "train more." She screeches for him to stay and he never turns back. He requests that the guards not punish her for her insolence. *Flash*

Finn is given a letter with loopy ice handwriting- that jank wedding invitation the Ice king was giving to everyone! At first Finn is convinced it was a ruse from the other lizard humans trying to toy with his emotions to manipulate him somehow. Then, as he unfolds the invite completely, a small piece of paper flutters to the ground. He picks it up and sees my handwriting from the last letter I've ever written to him, but it has been tampered with. The bottom part of the letter is ripped off, so all it says is

"Dearest Finn,

I am engaged to the Ice King. Please come…"

Finn's chest rises and falls with anger and he rips the paper to pieces. He thinks I have betrayed him. In fact, the cloak has bound itself to his heart in a way so strong that he thinks all the people he loves the most have betrayed him. In that moment he makes a decision. Now that he is trusted and given more freedom, he will devise a plan to free himself and Fionna, killing anyone he has to in the process. Then he would go back to Ooo, give me the cure for my mother so that he no longer had any ties to me, and kill the Ice King before he had the chance to consummate the marriage.

He thought of the Ice King picking me up and lying me on his stanky penguin bed, and slowly lifting my dress up. He swiftly punched a hole in the wall with an angry shout before he could finish the thought. *Flash*

Finn walks outside trying to conceive a plan to escape. He is grinning pleasantly because he has been given access to all of his old clothes, including his much missed bear hat and the blue cloth from me that he reluctantly tied to his ankle (he simply wears them under the cloak). He stops suddenly as he sees Fionna being dragged, kicking and screaming, to an experimentation facility. Even though four guards are restraining her, she manages to bite one of their hands so hard that his blood drips on the ground. He slaps her audibly across the face with the back of his scaly hand, leaving a rapidly swelling bruise and streaks of blood from his bite. Fionna only thrashes more, screaming like a feral animal.

A guard comes up behind her with a sterile, sleek, shiny metal stick. Finn feels his heart stop as he watches. He has the sudden urge to take the cloak off and run to her, but the control it has over him has left him paralyzed. His eyes are wide with horror.

The metal stick is not loud like the others. It is pressed directly to her neck and makes a small hissing sound. Finn is confused. There is no bang or outpouring blood. Fionna looks up at him with tears, hurt, loneliness, and pleading in her green eyes- the eyes that look just like Susan's. Then she goes limp.

Finn does not know if Fionna is alive or dead. All he knows is that he was going to use every ounce of will power to resist the willpower of the cloak. If this escape attempt fails and they both die, then fine. Anything was better than serving these monsters for the rest of their lives.

Finn charges bellowing a deep war cry. He knocks down a guard with what was called a "machine-gun" before any of them have time to react. The guard he has knocked over tries to convince him that machine gun is very unsafe to use since they have never let him even shoot a "pistol" before (whatever the junk that is). Finn lowers the gun like he's going to hand it over and the guard carefully edges over to take it back. Everyone is stark still watching, except for poor Fionna, who is slumped in her dirty, gray tunic in the soil.

Just as the guard places his hand on the gun, Finn shoves it into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. Within seconds, Finn grabs the man's head as he is about to retaliate and a small *crack!* is heard as Finn breaks his neck. There is silence and then a thud when Finn lets him drop to the ground. That sound was the cue for all cabbage to break loose. Deafening barrages of bullets hurl Finn's way, but he has flown up into the air, his aviation so graceful that he easily dodges the shots. He pulls the machine gun up, quickly observing it and trying to remember everything he's seen about how the guards use the evil things. After a series of clicks, while still dodging shots, Finn activates the heavy, cold device. The kick from the shots spins bullets madly through the sky before he finally gains control of the thing and aims it towards the ground. All he can smell is the burning powder. He kills any and everyone not anywhere near where Fionna is and loses tracks of how many people he sees fall.

He shoots the box that powers the left side of the electric dome fence over the complex, swoops down to grab Fionna while people still run for cover, and flies away. He drops the gun with its dying people. He never wanted to use one of those again. *Flash*

Finn is so happy to see Fionna stir from the tranquilizer shot as he sets up their campfire. He even allows her to hug him. His happiness quickly dissipates, however, when she acts so disgusted at his zeal to kill the Ice King. She even edges away a little, like she is actually frightened of him. The nerve of her ungratefulness- not even being willing to help her own brother in a quest when he just saved her life! Without another word, he gives her the game he has killed and a vat of water, and flies away, leaving her in the middle of the wilderness of Aaa. *Flash*

"Enough!" came the very pained shout of present day Finn, who had not said or done anything for quite a while, "I can't flippin' take this anymore! You already know the rest of the story, ok! You know what a crud-dud person I am now!" He clutched his sides and was bent over in shame.

"Whoa, man, that wasn't you!" said Jake going over to him.

"Well then who the flip was it, Jake?" he bellowed. "Who was it that left my sister in the middle of the wilderness all malnourished and weak? Who was it that almost killed you just to get revenge on the Ice King? Who was it that didn't even care when that nice old wizard man I made friends with died? Can you tell me who that was, Jake? CAN YOU? BECAUSE I WANT TO KILL HIM!"

"Finn, it was the cl-"

He bolted upright and pointed at him threateningly, "Don't you dare say it was my cloak! If I'm such a hero, then why couldn't I resist with my mind some crappy piece of clothing?"

I tried to approach Finn, too, but he put up his hands to stop me. Tears poured down his face and he wouldn't look me in the eyes, "No, princess, I don't deserve you."

I pushed his hands down and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling it inches from my face. "Excuse me, but I think I deserve to decide what I want! And I want you! You can't blame yourself for what you did while your mind was taken over in that horrible place."

"Princess, I-"

"Let's wake up, Finn." I said gently.

I was stiff as I sat up from the blankets we'd been set on while we were out. I blinked my eyes open and saw Fionna and Marceline jamming around a campfire while Cake napped. I wondered how Fionna found Cake and restored her memory.

A few seconds later Jake sat up and then Finn bolted up, gasping for air. He let out a tortured scream and Fionna and Marcie ran over.

"Finn?" said Fionna as she took his hand, "Yo, bro, what's-"

"I'M SO SORRY FIONNA!" he collapsed into her arms sobbing.

She squeezed him, "I know, dude, I know."

Finn hiccupped and burrowed his face deep into her shoulder as he moaned. Her face stretched into a frown and tears silently flowed down her rosy cheeks she stroked his head. Finn was now muttering "Susan, Susan, I'm sorry Aunt Susan. I killed you, Aunt Susan."

"Finn, don't say that junk." choked Fionna. She hung her head and her thick golden hair fell into his face, strands sticking to it from the streaks of moisture on it.

"She'd be better off if I never found her. I thought I was helping her- showing her life up here. She should have stayed down with those fish people."

Fionna said nothing. Softly and weakly, with his voice breaking, Finn sang "How long have you lived in the darkness? I just want to show you the light. Because you're a human just like me Susan and I want you in my life…"

I was watching the last 2 known pure bred humans on the planet in a very private, vulnerable moment of pain. I felt like an outsider, and I think everyone did. Finn and Fionna were amazing fighters, but it was easy to forget that watching them crumpled there. They were just masses of soft, pale flesh, and soft, wispy hair. No claws. No sharp teeth. Just pure scrappiness and will power kept them alive and slaying evil.

Finn and Fionna fell asleep collapsed on each other like that. Cake and Jake curled up on top of them to help comfort them and keep them warm, just like the piles both of the humans slept in as children with their animal siblings.

Marceline and I looked at each other awkwardly. There was not much to say after what had just happened. Finally she muttered, "Well, we 'rescued' Finn. What do we do now?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him like that."

Without another word, I scrounged up a few blankets and curled myself up behind Finn under Jake's warm gut.