AN: Wow, that was a long hiatus! Well, let's get started again!


Warmth.

Comfort.

Security.

A gentle voice assuring him that all would be okay.

A rumbling.

Screams.

Shaking.

Falling.

A high-pitched keening sound that hurt his small ears.

A familiar voice, screaming.

Red.

Something that reminded him of knives.

Red.

The water, rising.

A desperate cry, falling away into the roaring background noise of screams and things tearing, falling, falling on him, and suddenly he screamed!

Finn sat bolt upright in his bed, gasping for breath as the nightmare faded into nothing but a dim recollection of warmth and security being stolen away. The boy laid in his new sleeping bag, panting a little as he stared at the comforting familiar sight of Jake's bunk above him. He wished Jake was up there. If he was, he'd be poking his head over the edge of the bunk, asking what was wrong. Jake always knew exactly the right thing to say to scare the last cobwebs of the nightmare away.

He'd had plenty of practice with it, after all.

"Finn? Are you going to get up? We have company!" Margaret's voice called from the front of the house. Finn reached up to touch his hat. He sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes and willing the last shadowy remnants of the nightmare to be gone. When he opened them, he smiled confidently, leaping out of bed and diving for his clothing bin. The smell wafting through the house told him plainly who the mystery guest was.


"Well just look at you! You're so grown up!" Tree Trunks enthused, straining to reach up and pat the top of Finn's head with her trunk. "Pretty soon I won't be able to do this anymore!"

Finn nodded, solumnly informing her that he'd had a birthday the previous week, and that he was now a very grown up, official five years old. That was the official estimate, spoken by the masters of the household, and so it absolutely must be true. So saying, he made himself walk a very dignified, grown-up walk back to his room, returning with a small white item clutched in his hands.

Finn reverently removed his old, battered, lopsided hat before laying it in the box of scrap fabrics that Margaret was still patiently holding open for him. Back rigid with ceremonial import, he turned and unfolded the item that had been hidden in the plain brown paper bag that Jake had left for him. The new hat, he noted with awe, was perfect.

Margaret stifled a giggle as all traces of formality were erased from the small human boy's features. Finn was rapidly running back and forth between the three adults, pointing out every feature of his new headwear.

She had to admit, Jake had done an amazing job. Other than the size difference, it was impossible to tell the difference between this new hat and the one she and Joshua had found the boy in. She waved fondly as the child darted for the door.

"Land sakes, Margie, what was all that about?"

Margaret laughed, closing up the scrap fabric box and returning it to its' spot in the closet. "Finn takes his headwear very seriously," she explained. "Jake left the latest hat as a birthday present before he left. He's been waiting for a special occasion to make the switch over to the new one, so I guess today was the day!"

Tree Trunks chuckled in response. "I'm honored! He's finally started to perk up a bit, hasn't he? I know that the last time I was here, he was just layin' around like a big ol' tree slug. I thought he was sick!"

Joshua, mindful of the gush of "wimmin-talk" that he sensed coming on the horizon, took up his plate of dessert and excused himself to the living room. Perhaps today would be the day that he finally got around to organizing his study, just as soon as the distraction of apple pie was gone. Yeah, right...

The little green elephant cut another piece of pie as Margaret returned to the table and pulled out one of the mis-matched chairs. "The poor dear, I'm afraid we've been suffocating him a bit with over-protectiveness ever since the incident in the gulley. I hoped that we'd be able to cheer him up a bit, since Jake's gone, but well.."

"Backfired a bit?"

"Like Joshua's father on chili night," Margaret sighed. The little elephant choked a bit at the comment.

"Oh MY, Margie!"

Margaret giggled self-consciously. "I'm sorry, all this time around the boys is getting to me a little!"

The lady sobered a little as she looked towards the screen door that Finn had practically blown off its' hinges in his haste to get outside. "The poor boy, he really needs to roam a bit. I just wish there was a way that he could have a little adventure without the risk of danger."

Tree Trunks smiled suddenly. "I have an idea. And I must say that I'm surprised that you didn't think of it yourself."


Finn rode along in the little red wagon as he was towed behind Joshua and Margaret. He wasn't familiar with this stretch of road, which wound away past the familiar landmarks like the Store and out into an expanse of the forest that is utterly alien. The two adults were fussing over whether they were going the right way or not, and Finn tuned them out with a child's expertise.

Instead of listening to the ongoing debate about asking for directions, he scanned the trees around them. They were taller here than back home, he decided, and there were more of the pale-barked ones with their huge, broad leaves that made the best fall leaf piles. With little other recourse, he watched the sunlight filtering through the leaves. The glowing green sheen of the forest canopy was interrupted less and less frequently by the bright, stinging bursts of pure sunshine as the party progressed, and Finn fancied that it wasn't the sun providing the illumination but brilliantly glowing leaves that lit their way as the road became narrower and less travelled. A thin fuzz of grass and clover had inched into the way, turning their route into a gentle path.

Birds sang in the trees, and a few dragonflies hissed and growled quietly at each other in the lush grasses by the side of the road. The gentle rocking clatter of the wagon and the idyllic view were such that before he knew it, Finn had fallen into a light doze.

"We're here!" Margaret's cheerful voice cried, startling the boy into opening his eyes and discovering half the day was gone. Finn sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his face with the back of his hand. "Whoa..." he breathed as he caught sight of their destination. It was the biggest building he had ever seen. It seemed to go on forever, stretching into the the sky and across the ground like a massive, almost featureless box.

The ground was strange under their feet, he noticed as he stepped out of the wagon. It was dark, and smooth. There were holes punched into it here and there, but they were clearly signs of damage. The area appeared to be a graveyard for some sort of great metallic insects whose innards had long since dried up and blown away. The boy pushed himself upright, bounding out of the wagon and running to investigate one of the ancient corpses.

"Where are we?" Finn asked in a hushed whisper.

Margaret smiled broadly. "The mall!" she replied, embuing the name with wonder and enchantment with her mysterious tone. Finn gasped, not quite daring to ask what that was.

Joshua yawned, climbing into the wagon Finn had just vacated and pulling his hat over his eyes. "Welp, I'll be here if you need me," he grunted as he tried to get comfortable.

"You're not staying here, are you?" Margaret sighed, shaking her head at her husband.

"Yep, gonna soak up some rays and get some rest," Joshua confirmed.

"Never mind him, Finn," the lady grumbled. "We'll just go on without him. He's half lizard if he wants to stay out in this heat. Half lizard on his mother's side, if memory serves."

Joshua raised a fist in their direction without moving anything else. "My mother was a saint!" he grumbled loudly from under his fedora.

"No, she was a god," Margaret retorted crisply. "Godzilla, matter of fact. Come now Finn, there's lots to see!"

Behind them, Joshua made a rude noise but made no move to get up.

Finn raced after the lady, darting here and there as they made their way across the expansive, dark land that surrounded the strange building. "What's a mall? Do bears live there? Are any of these big bugs still around? Can I ride one? Huh? Can I?

Margaret slowed her pace a little, and caught the youngster by the hand as he charged up to her. "The mall is a mysterious place, Little Bit. It's a holdover from a time before our recorded history. Ancient creatures make their home here, such as the Little People."

The human boy's eyes widened. "What are the Little People? Why do they live here?"

The lady smiled, happy to indulge the little one in his game of questions. "The Little People are an ancient race. They value knowledge above all other things, and they are well-versed in magic. They have strongholds all over Ooo, such as this place. Bands of their number travel the very world, collecting knowledge and bringing it to their brethren. But, they are very shy, and very secretive. If someone who doesn't know the secret for contacting them comes near, they will find only ruins and danger in a place like this."

Margeret paused, taking both of the child's hands and looking him directly in the eyes. "That being said, I want you to promise me that you'll never play in a place like this. You feel it, don't you? That feeling of slight foreboding? Of being watched from all directions, even from the sky and underground?" When the boy nodded hesitantly she continued. "That's the effect of their magic, warning you to stay away. If you find yourself in a place that feels like this, you need to leave. Even if, for some reason, you want to try and contact them, you must not proceed unless that feeling goes away completely."

Finn gazed up at his foster mother curiously. "Then, how come you're going in?"

Margaret smiled once more, releasing his hands and approaching the daunting edifice. "Because I don't have that feeling. I've been visiting the Little People since I was just a pup, and they've always welcomed me. Joshua's never bothered to try and progress past the sidewalk, so I don't know what they think of him. You're with me, so you are here as my guest. Be on your best behavior, and maybe you'll be allowed to meet them." she speculated as she pushed open a ventilation grille for him to enter.

Finn looked from the ominous opening to the lady's smiling face, and took a deep breath. With a soft whisper of "Adventure time!" he forged ahead into the dark, musty unknown.