((Ask and you receive - Chapter 7. Hold on to the feels, they are running around all wild. Still not an owner.))
Chapter 7 - Questions with No Answers
"Flame Princess."
"Excuse me, Princess." Everyone starts, turning to face the newcomer who has silently entered the room. Doctor Ice Cream was standing there, waiting to address Bubblegum. PB steps forward, secretly glad for the interruption.
"Doctor, how is Finn?" The Doctor walks further into the room as they gather toward the Ice Cream cone in the lab coat. He pulls out a clipboard from under his arm and offers it to Bubblegum.
"As you can see your Highness, he is stable now. Thankfully, his dehydration helped as much as it hurt him. Without it, he may not have survived." PB flips through the reports, reading the findings and records of what has been done. She notices that they used 3 pints of her synthetic blood substitute that she recently invented. Finn, being human and not candy based, needed a different format of blood substitute than her normal subjects. They tried others before and it made him sicker, but it looks like this batch was perfect. But 3 pints, by Grod, that's allot of fluid loss.
"He's not showing any signs of rejection?" She asks, still scanning the reports, noting that the doctor took her suggestions to heart. The others stand silent, many questions wait to be answered, but all of them know that this was PB's world. She was the one who understood the medical jargon and scientific documentation. If she was satisfied with the answers, they would trust her.
"None. Your suggestion to use saline instead of sugar syrup was key. His injuries weren't overly severe, but it was the sheer amount of them that caused the most problems, complicated by the dehydration and…" Jake tunes out, he had enough. They were discussing Finn as if he was some candy corn lab rat, not his brother. All this science talk wasn't telling him how his bro was doing.
"Enough! Finn's alive, yes?" He asks, pushing forward. Doctor Ice Cream nods, "Good, then I can see him."
"Well, he's unconscious, but yes, Jake you may..." That was all he needed to hear, Jake doesn't care about anything else. Without another word, Jake runs from the room, pushing between PB and Doctor Ice Cream. Lady looks to PB then to the open door. Should she go with Jake or not? She was torn, still feeling guilty over taking up so much of Jake's time. PB walks over to the Rainicorn, pulling her head down and placing her forehead again hers. She nuzzles the Rainicorn, giving her a comforting hug then steps back to address her.
"Go with him Lady, remember, it's not your fault anymore than its Jakes." Lady looks at her friend with sad eyes, her heart happy that the candy monarch does understand the silent war she was having within herself. Even with her deep sense of guilt, she wants to support Jake as much as she can, to help make things right. She knows he'll need it in the long run. Her mind made up, she flies off after Jake.
Jake opens the familiar door of the hospital ward with a sense of dread. He's been here many times over the years, for various issues, but this time was completely different. Steadying himself, he enters the darkened room.
The standard double rows of beds greet him, all but one, empty. Slowly he makes his way to the resting form of his brother. He's not used to dealing with emotions, especially heavy ones like this, but forces himself to hold strong as he comes to stand beside the bed containing his brother.
Finn looks horrible. He frowns down at the sleeping human. Finn was covered in bandages up both arms and chest, two IV's are hooked up to him as well as other various medical devices. The machine on his left beeps softly with his slow steady heartbeat. His blonde hair was dirty and tangled, his skin sickly pale with dark circles around his eyes. Jake has seen Finn pretty bad off before, but this was the worst. He almost looks dea…. He refuses to let himself finish that thought. It just hurt looking at him, knowing that his brother did these things to himself.
He feels tears trying to form, overwhelming sadness building and tries to fight the desire to simply break down. PB was right, he thinks, wiping a stray tear from his eye, I need to stay strong for Finn. Then he notices the thick leather strap around Finn's wrist. Looking across the bed, he sees a matching one. They had him restrained, like some wild animal. He reaches out and grasps his brother's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Finn shows no response, continuing to lie there.
Even if she's right and someone pushed him to this, a soft whimper escapes him, he's gonna need me more than ever when he wakes up. He looks around and spies a chair by another bed, stretching his other arm out to snag it. Bringing it to Finn's bedside, he carefully seats himself as close as he can get to Finn without crawling on the bed with him.
"Hey, bro, " He pats the hand he's holding, "I know you can't hear me, but that's ok. I just want you to know that I'm here, that I'm truly sorry things got like this, that you felt..." Words escape Jake, he doesn't really know how his brother felt, what thoughts ran through his mind that convinced him that hurting himself was the best option.
Damn it to Grob, I know Mom and Dad are looking down at me in shame. I promised I would take of Finn. I mean, heck, I'm the only family he has left. I'm supposed to be there for him. More tears threaten, but he holds fast to Finn's hand, stroking it gently.
I mean how does one even think causing pain to their self will help them feel better? Another tear forms and this time he lets it take its course down his face. How much of this was his fault, even if PB is right. He didn't think that Finn's breakup with Flame Princes was that bad, I'm mean he finally started acting like his normal self for awhile there. He told me that he was over her. It never occurred to Jake that his brother was lying. He sat there some time, mulling his thoughts over.
Could PB be right? Could Flame Princess really have done this to Finn? Make him pay the ultimate price for hurting her?
"Buddy, I hope for your sake and hers, that she is not responsible." Although he holds anger at the thought that she might be capable of wanting to hurt Finn like this, he also knows that if it holds any amount of truth, it will hurt Finn even more. It's almost too much to think about, he can't be sure how Finn would react, not considering his recent actions.
"Oh Finn, I wish you would have talked to me. Anything, but this." He finally gives in to the sorrow and lets the tears come as they may.
Outside the door to the ward, Lady Rainicorn watches her beloved sit by his brother's side. She can't quite hear what Jake was saying to the still form of Finn, but she can see the tears streaming down his face. She's torn, stay here and let Jake have his time with Finn or go to him and comfort him. She shakes her mane, trying to drive away her own tears, but finally her heart forces her to move.
She pushes the door open and flies silently over to Jake, landing at the foot the bed.
**Jake?** He turns toward Lady, tears and snot staining his sad doggy face. Her heart melts, she rushes over to him, nuzzling him. He returns the gesture, regaining some of his composure. She carefully loops herself around the chair, taking care to not disturb the bed.
**I'm sorry Jake, I feel that this is my fault too.** She closes her eyes, sighing. She feels a dull ache inside her heart.
"What, no Lady. It's not, I mean..." Jake understands why she would feel this way, but he can't let her try to shoulder this burden. Her reaches up and pulls her muzzle to face him, planting a quick kiss.
"I understand honey, but I won't let you take the blame. If it's anyone's fault, it's...," She cuts him off, returning his kiss, silencing him.
**We can share it, but only if we both work on repairing it. Fair?" Jake smiles up Lady.
"And this is why I love you so much Lady, you always know the right thing to say."
So I had an epiphany today, a strange addition and way to possibly link the two stories I have in my head. The "light-bulb" moment involves a song I was walking around in the heat with, jamming out in my own little world (damn weasel). After singing the first line, the story popped up in my head to match the song (well, some words have to be altered to fit the land of Ooo better). Yes, full-on epic movie with color, sound and so forth. Grob it, my imagination can run wild (weasel).
So yes, there will a songfic thrown in to the mix, BUT... (wait for it) it's MUCH later, epically later :P
But I shall torment you with the name of said song: Avenged Sevenfold - Danger Line
