So this was originally going to be a bonus chapter, called chapter 5A. I was going to release after the FF was done, but I then decided against that and ended up making it it's own chapter. As a result it is quite short and doesn't drive the story forward all that much since it's taking place four hours earlier after chapter 5 ended; it's more of an insightful chapter showing more of Finns side of the story.

(R/R. Hope you enjoy as always.)

Chapter Six: My own worst enemy.

Four Hours Earlier

Somewhere in the Badlands

The shattered hero emerged, stumbling over a sand dune, in his ragged hood and plain, ripped up, brown poncho. Unable to compensate for his speed as he walked over and on down the steeper side of the dune, he fell face first, sliding down. He slowly skid to a stop at the bottom with his head buried up to his mouth with a pile of sand growing on top of him from were it was unsettled by his fall.

"Sigh, Get up..." A familiar foe grunted at him in vain expectation.

He didn't feel like a hero, not any more, he didn't know what he felt or what he was now. Even the Lich was growing tired of his new 'puppet', watching him make void struggles to traverse the desert; at first it was amusing, soon though it came to be repetitive. The Lich was impatient, he wanted to control Finn right now and push past his nuisance needs; alas this was better time used to recuperate his power. If he constantly controlled the boy, he would sooner loose his grasp over him.

Finn felt sick, just the thought of the Lich festering somewhere inside, he couldn't fathom the image of the monster reigning inside his thoughts, dreams and memories. He didn't want to continue through the desolate desert any further, only to carry Ooo's potential doom closer to its goal; whatever it may be. If he could do one last act of heroism, it was to lay down a die, right there and let the Lich perish with him.

"I said Get Up, boy!" Finn was snapped out of his thoughts, felt his mind being prodded from the inside. He couldn't control his muscles for a moment, almost like they were being manipulated with knotted string, and he found himself returning to his feet. "Now walk." The Lich demanded. The teenager wiped off the thin layer of sand glittering the lower half of his face and dusted the rest of himself off; he took a deep breath and complied with the Lichs orders. Staggering about like a drunk, he found it impossible to walk or see straight, his eyes were fatigued and dry, they were bloodshot and looked as if he had been awake for days. He headed in the direction of the sun, it was retreating behind a range of enormous, red sandstone rocks and cliffs on the horizon, the time had to have been around seven pm.

"I... I'm not gonna... make... need.. water..." Finn gasped out of his chapped lips, exhausting himself to pronounce every word. Everything came blurred on the edges of his vision, he felt the next step would b his last, he felt himself blacking-out, stalling in his steps, he dropped to his knees. Reopening his eyes a brief soothing vigour washed over him from head to toe. He still felt weak and desperate for nourishment, but his feet didn't feel though they were going to break in the next step. Things were weird though, something didn't feel quite right, the air, it just felt so floaty, he assumed it was another of the Lich's numerous powers. Then something called out from nowhere.

"Oh you need water?" He heard a sweet, melodic voice ask him, he didn't know where it came from, it seemed like it called from everywhere, it wasn't the same old voice he accustomed to hearing. He knew the voice, just couldn't remember who it belonged to. He couldn't hardly remember anything any more, culprits being the heat and the other that inhabited his thinking space. Their faces were all so vivid in his head. Finn kept staggering forward, looking around to find the source of the voice, it felt like he hadn't heard from someone other than the Lich in forever, anyone but him would do, in his thoughts, not paying attention, he hit something solid. Falling on back, feeling like he fell from two stories.

The shadow of what appeared to be a woman cloaked over him. He couldn't see her face, the sun behind her shone in his eyes, making it difficult to adjust and see the details in the shade. He begun noticing the figure, and small details became more aware to him as his eyes slowly tuned themselves to see in the less intense light. The large sun hat should have gave it away to by now.

"M-Marce..." Stopping halfway through the name, to inhale another breath in shear disbelief.

"Hey hero? Not doing so well, huh." She wasn't sounding very sympathetic, or even too excited to see him again, more sounded like she was mocking his current state; although at this point Finn would accept any other voice talking to him, as long as it wasn't the Lich pecking around in his brain, Marcelines unexpected presence was way more than welcome.

To exhausted to think of anything to say and in awe of her random appearance out here, he was left speechless. Finn reached an arm up to her for aid, too weak to get back on his feet.

She looked at him for a second, questioning his motion. "Oh right! water, here you go hero." She handed him a brown opaque, plastic bottle. It wasn't what Finn was gesturing for, but this seemed a thousand times better; he shakily untwisted the cap, pressed the bottle against his lips emptied the contents of the bottle down his mouth. Seconds later after taking a few hefty swigs, his taste-buds came to life and brought a tangy taste to his senses, the liquid was warm and thick and coated the gums of his mouth and throat with a metallic taste. This wasn't water. He brought himself to stop drinking even though he wished to continue to rehydrate himself. He inspected the bottle, looking inside, it was blood; lifeless expired blood. He spat and spluttered out what was left hanging inside his mouth.

"See, this is your problem Finny-boy-" Marceline said sternly, climbing on top of his fragile body as he coughed and spluttered, lightly slapping his feeble hand down to the sand, causing him to drop the bottle. Sitting on his stomach, she was light, but any weight applied to his structure and he thought he was going to cave in and snap. She knew it was hurting him, but it didn't stop her. "-you never listen." She talked down to him in a belittling way, gently stroking his cheek, swiping off the trail of blood that escaped the corner of his mouth with her finger.

She grabbed his cheeks, squeezing on them, though his arms were free, he was too weak, and rendered helpless to do anything about it.

His inner joy to finally see someone, especially a close friend, turned to distress, and he muffled a plea for her to stop under his scrunched up lips, "Marceline... pl-please..."

"Haha!" She laughed over-emotively, "We've already started to beg like a thrall have we? Seriously I didn't expect you to crack that quick. Gob its almost embarrassing to watch. Hehehmm." She let another short giggle go before continuing. "But back to my point, hmm what was it... Ah!" She let go of his cheek, cutting in with her nails as she retracted her hand to snap her fingers in succession. "Not paying attention. You see..." She shuffled about on top of him, making herself more comfortable, it felt like she was squishing his liver. "I took you into my hospitality, made you a walker of the night and schooled you on how to survive, and.. well, I don't like repeating myself. And I have to repeat myself, when certain thick-skulled cretins like you don't listen!" She was starting to raise her crazed voice it echoed slightly through the desert.

Finn was worried and confused, he didn't have a clue where this was going, or what he did so wrong; she didn't sound happy and was getting rough, "Bu-but, I listened... to everything... I-I don't understand?" His voice still deteriorated from the lack of water to lubricate his throat. The blood too only started to dry up in there with nothing to wash it away, it also started to twist and curdle fowl in his guts.

"So you don't listen and now you're acting an idiot," She pinched her eyebrows together, "You're testing me Finn. Sigh, Fine let me remind you." She lifted herself of him giving Finn few seconds of relief before grabbing his skull, sitting him up and tearing the rags around his face slightly, exposing him to the sunlight. Finn squinted his eyes and squealed, trying to cover up his face with his hands, as his skin boiled.

"That's right doofus, sun equals bad; so why in Ooo are you in a desert?" She circled around him like a vulture, "It's like you're mocking my teachings. I don't like to try and help people, only to be laughed at behind my back!"

"Marcie-ie.. I wasn't t-trying to upset you. I d-didn't even want to come here.. please just..." He crawled sluggishly to her feet, reaching his arm up once more in hope of mercy.

A guilty smile raised on her face, she lifted him off the ground. "I digress, I didn't teach you everything, maybe your not fully to blame lacking some knowledge here and there. Say, I recall postponing levitation, so how bout we teach you it now." She said excitingly, with a slight menace looming in her tone, and brought him in for a hug.

"Uh-ah, n-now?" He sounded nervous and very unsure about this.

"Are you questioning me? Of course now! What better time? You moronically got yourself stuck in a desert, wouldn't it be useful if you could just fly out? Don't you trust me?" She hissed into his ear.

"Uh-y-yeah, I guess, I'm sorry." He submissively apologised, not looking to anger her any further, resting his head on her shoulder.

Another one of those questionable cornered grins displayed on her face before she all of a sudden launched them both into the air; Finn held on tighter and tighter the higher they got, then Marceline brought them to a stop, mid-air. "..There, there. It's okay Finn." She whispered gently into his ear, swaying them both side to side. "I accept your apology. I.. just can't have mistakes like you running around though, so I'm sorry too for what I'm about to do..."

As he heard those final words, Finn tried to pull away, but she already anticipated it and held him tighter, bringing out a stiletto holstered on her belt, driving it into his gut. Finn juddered from the contact of the pointed, cold blade ripping inside of him. His body fell weakly onto her, stuttering gasps and grunts, he tried holding himself up using her shoulders, but she slowly grabbed his hands and loosened their trembling grip. "Shh-shh it's okay, just let it happen Finn, the more you fight it, the more it'll hurt, just let go." She whispered last, before letting him drop all the way to the surface.

After the loud thud and kick up of sand she made her way down to the barely alive boy.

She laid him out on the floor delicately, crossing his arms over his chest, straightening up his head and legs. "If you don't mind, I'll be taking my property back. This may be a bit uncomfortable..." Marceline retracted the stiletto patiently out of the wound, Finn lifted his hand shakily to stop her, she pinned it back onto his chest to avoid the interruption. After it was out she got up wiping the blade clean before holstering it. Finn was still weak and body rippled with multiple aches, but he used all the strength he could to drag himself away while she was busy cleaning her blade.

"Sigh, I told you not to fight it Finn, to just let it happen. Are you trying to defy me again!?" He pushed himself through the sand, putting as much distance between them as he could.

"You know what you're looking a little pale, maybe a more sun will do you good?..." With that she let him retreat a little more, she liked to chase her prey, Finn tried to back away faster, he could tell by the tone in her voice and the look on her face she was about to do something bad. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to catch up with him. She stomped down on his ankle, stopping him from going any further; with one clean swipe she tore off his hood, followed by a flurry, tearing into his poncho and the clothes underneath.

Finn was being scorched by the sun. It crackled his already dry skin and begun melting the exposed exposed areas, Marceline started to walk away as he screamed, destroying his voice box, trying to cover himself desperately. Leaving him to be cooked alive, she added insult to injury, scoffing over his screams, "See you around lover-boy."

Finn could feel his body slipping beyond repair, and then it just stopped...

His skin begun to cool again, he opened his eyes in question. "Ahrrgh, ah, whah?" The dagger wound disappeared, the sun was blotted out by a thick sheet of grey clouds; Marceline was nowhere to be seen. He was confused, but didn't bother questioning it after what just happened, he was thankful the pain was over. The clouds cast a small drizzle of rain over him, he flinched from the contact of the liquid clashing and sizzling against his still hot, sensitive skin, it was almost like a miracle.

Finn open his mouth to hopefully catch some rain water to drink. For a while his guard was down, letting something sneak up on him. He turned when the sound of its approach became more audible in the distance, and what he saw he almost couldn't comprehend. The colossal waves from a roaring tsunami conquered over the clouds, barraging through them towards Finn. Fear overcame the young man, being afraid of the ocean, as he froze in place, shaking on the spot, unable to move even if he tried; not that running would have made any difference. Squeezing his eyes shut as it got closer, he didn't want to, distinctively not like this, but had no choice other than to accepted his fate. Screaming to the top of his lungs in preparation and utter terror, he was quickly and suddenly muted by the mammoth tides engulfing him...


"Gahh-oc-oc-oc!"Choking on his own spit from the sudden fear he was being washed away in the heart of the ocean, Finn jolted forward off the floor, awaking from his nightmare-state, sitting up to allow the oxygen smother flow down his airway. His choking soon became the least of his concern when the air brushed along his back, exposing a cool, moist feeling along his entire backside. Very recently being victim to drowning in a giant dream ocean, Finn was still jumpy to the thought of any liquid at the current time.

He let out a defenceless yelp before scurrying forward, turning back to notice he was laying in what appeared to be a small oasis surrounded by clusters of tall standing sandstone. His shriveled body was still on the verge of dehydration, he submissively whimpered back to possible the only source of water in the desert for miles. Kneeling down at the shallow end, with his face barely touching the wet sand, he drank at least a litre in a matter of seconds, scooping the small ripples he made into his gullet; he soon submersed his chin (resting it upon mashed together concoction of sand, sort brown dust and an organism of algae) and mouth up to his top lip, sucking in all he could uncaring if the water was clean or dirty, he just needed his fix now, what was to come later was not a concern that came to mind.

Once he was satisfied, he pulled away and fell flat beside the pool. The feeling was spoiled by the voice he forgot he stowed, sneaked up on him, leaving him with only an empty, hopelessness. "Ah, back I see. You blacked-out boy, fell into a trance. I had to carry your carcass to this place. Now that you've indulged with your petty needs, I hope I don't need to remind you there's work to be done..."

Not the jolliest of times for Finn...