Song: Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift
Suggested by
A/N: This is the last chapter for the story Be My Escape.
I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go
It had been five days. Five days. Five sun rises, six sun sets, five evenings spent perfectly alone in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar place, unmoving and unspeaking. Five torturous twilights in the only place in Ooo where he and Marceline could not be together- The Candy Kingdom.
The Candy Kingdom was a place of trepidation, a fortress of misery, a cesspool for violations and criminality. Each wall of every building had been vandalized to the nastiest of pictures and words. Murders occurred every other week; robberies were more common than the City of Thieves. Without a leader, anything can happen to the abandoned, especially when they were jostled to begin with.
The Candy Kingdom was also the only place in Ooo with an actual hospital, willing to take in anyone for anything.
Extraordinary. That was the first word to come out of her mouth, assuming she was female; another name to add to the ever growing list of what he was. She said that it was a miracle he was even alive, that he was still alive. Infection had set into the wounds on his hand, wrists, and back. The spines of the aged rope had dug into his skin so deep doctors and nurses had to hold him down as they removed them. More restraints were added when they needed to disinfect the wounds on his back; he can honestly say he'd rather go through another beating than endure that kind of pain. After he bit off a licorice man's finger, someone simply cracked him over the head and they were able to stitch the engravements in his flesh together.
Who were those people who held him down? Who shoved a stick of wood into his mouth when they snapped the bones in his arms into the right positions? Who was the woman who called him extraordinary- the one with the lab coat, glasses, green skin and charm around her head?
Where was Marceline?
He was fed a diet of four large meals per day, every day. One of meat, one of grains, another of greens, and another he could care less about. He feared usually that he'd blow up from all the food he'd eaten; he's never had that much food in his entire life. They try to say it's good for him, but he constantly second guesses the insects they serve him- they're supposedly high in protein, whatever that was.
They were alone together in the vacant wing, colored tiles beneath them and sky lights shining down sun.
He couldn't move- literally. The vicious doctors tied down his ankles to the bed post so he wouldn't be able to go on a rampage and slice open their children like he threatened to. Well, it's not like he wanted to stand, he knew he'd only open his slashes and have to go through that whole terrifying process again. On the other hand, he did miss crying his eyes out in private.
"And, and then he called me a loser," Jake moaned, wiping his nose on the back of his paw, "W-why is Jermaine so mean to me?" Jake had been confiding in Finn for five days with all his deep secrets and sad stories from when he was a pup to his adult years. Who else was he to talk to, who else was to listen? Finn there had no choice.
His jaw rested on the badly stained flat pillow protruding out to form some kind of pout. His forehead was wrinkled from the position and the never ending tales that were woven around and strangling him until he fell into an artificial slumber. Five eternal days of this.
Doctors told him his own sure strength is what broke his bones. When he yanked back on the leather ropes, when he beat his arms on the walls at home- he slowly was hurting himself and he hadn't even known it. No one had.
They also said he was too far gone to ever be normal- they predicted he'd have nightmares for the rest of his life, no one would ever take him in, and would probably commit suicide within the year.
Liars.
THEY WERE LYING TO HIM!
Whenever Marceline was there nightmares were a thing of the past, Marceline would take him in without skipping a beat, Marceline was the reason he hadn't killed himself.
Marceline, Marceline, Marceline.
She
Was
Everything.
But why wouldn't she come? WHY wasn't she there with him? Why didn't she care?
Jermaine.
He's his new abuser.
Jermaine is the one who told the doctors to punish him along with false promises that they "were trying to help him." Jermaine watched… He watched him thrash around for his life trying to get away, he saw the utterly terrified eyes, he heard the wails, and he was responsible. Jermaine made sure that Finn felt everything they did, he made sure he felt the fire in the lashes on his back, the re-breaking of his bones, everything. He refused to let the nurses give him pain medication; he didn't want them to "sedate" him, either. Jermaine is a sin.
Right before the torture, he asked the only word he could.
"M-Marceline?"
Jermaine's sentence was carefully chosen, painstakingly thought through; his words were meant to destroy him. They broke him down to rubble like a bomb, they burned him like an inferno, and they slaughtered him like cattle.
"She doesn't want to be with you."
When all those shadows almost killed your light
She's seen so many things she's had to write them down in a list just to remember.
She's been to so many places that she's back-tracked without knowing it.
She's done things she wished she hadn't, please don't remind her.
She can honestly tell you she hasn't ever thought specific thoughts until the moment Jermaine told her she couldn't go into the Candy Kingdom. She envisioned burning the mutt on a cross, gorging his eyes out with a fork, even turning him over to her people to watch him be ripped apart. She was a vicious creature capable of anything.
It was incredible for Jermaine to tell her that, especially because his arm was still in a sling at that time.
"Keep your filthy demon hands to yourself or I'll have you decapitated! Stay out of my kingdom or you'll be sorry!" Were his exact words.
Asshole.
She was sat on the thick of a branch in the Cotton Candy Forest, staring down at the greenish-yellow grasses. Her covered legs dangled below, swinging as if she were the child from so long ago. Her hair waved around her with no wind, it was often as if she were under water as some kind of mermaid. She looked down at her bare scarred feet thinking of all the thinks she stepped on with them.
Countless ant colonies, fingers, rocks, dead children's toys, dead children. She's stepped on a lot of things, mostly by accident.
She's been alone in the place for five days and six nights. There was no one to talk to or to be with, just herself in an unfamiliar place with the very familiar isolation. She's spent decades at a time without company, flying alone, sleeping alone, and talking to only her reflection. She didn't even notice that she was losing herself by the day by counting them.
It was very common for Vampires to go insane from isolation, she stopped keeping track of how many she put down to rest after two hundred.
How many insane people has the Candy Kingdom put to rest? Will they do the same to Finn? That's what she's feared. She'd been taking out her feelings by beating the trunks of trees, which is not the most efficient way to release anxiety.
Finn, what if he was gone before she had her chance? What if she never got to show him how to be brave, how to walk among others, how to live? There was still so much she had to tell him, to show him!
And she absolutely, positively, unquestionably knew that the chance of losing him was at its highest.
I remember you said "Don't leave me here alone,"
She never thought she'd leave him.
She never thought he'd follow her like a lost puppy.
She never knew he loved her.
She assumed he was with her because she was some sort of Mother-Figure to him.
She never thought she'd love him.
She always thought she'd be alone forever.
How many forevers has she lived through?
She's never made so many promises in a month.
She made a promise not to promise anything because she can't ever keep them.
She promised she'd never leave him.
But all that's dead and gone and past tonight
He's been through too much. He's seen too much.
And he's done nothing to deserve it.
So why does Glob hate him?
Was he there just to be pushed down? Was he given nothing, then everything, just to have it taken away? When was he going to finally fall? Or should he save you the trouble and do it himself?
He has been broken.
He has been destroyed.
He has been betrayed
Abused
Murdered
Tortured
Damaged
So how could you just
LOOK AWAY WHEN HE CALLED FOR YOU?
Isn't there a heart ticking away your time inside you? Isn't there a heart thumping away as you read his story? Isn't there a soul somewhere locked away in you that you refuse to show?
You
Tell
Him.
Tick tock, tick tock goes the clock.
Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
You'll be alright; no one can hurt you now
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound
Don't you dare look out your window darling everything's on fire
There was still so much to do,
To say
To see
To hear.
The possibilities were trampled over, burnt to the ground, slayed and torn apart by the content of a final decision. Her possible futures were completely destroyed by the one who created them.
He watched his loved one wither and disintegrate over time and fall into his enemy's carful grasp- does he still feel envy when he thinks of what he might be doing with his rightfullover?
And beautiful, courageous, powerful Marceline; is he still strong on his final decision? Is he still proud that he was as destructive as a bomb to her possible future? The future that never came to be?
It wasn't that he didn't care about his daughter's future, it was exactly the opposite.
After She decided to just float up and away into the wine colored clouds and through the golden gates of Heaven, he then realized that it was such a horrible reality to love a mortal. He came to the crossroads and went left- he would not lose Marceline as well. He could not lose her because Marceline was all he had after She left them behind. But why would Marceline abandon him just like her Mother if he only loved her? Can anybody really love Satan?
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold on to this lullaby
Only once had he heard her sing and when she did he was frightened into whimpers and shivers. The specific words she spoke sparked a lone memory, one that he actually managed to forget.
The icy, all-consuming terror traveled with him because of the memory. Fear's unfriendly hands latched onto his abdomen where it nested until he was wrapped in the warmth of Marceline. It kept him weighed down from his full potential like a newly hatched bird whose wing was caught under a stone.
This specific memory had nothing to do With the Silver Lining Circus.
He held onto it as long as he could, though that torturous, deafening, murdering place wiped everything horrible from his previous life by over powering his memories with new cruelty.
When she sang to him that night, all that he thought was "Or I'll shoot!"' and he had no idea what the words meant or why he thought them up.
Bad-luck seemed to have walked by his side throughout his entire life, yet he hadn't done anything to deserve it. He was destined to fail, and fail from the start. There was nothing anyone could do to reverse it, not even his creator.
It was too late to go back, so he might as well have just ended it while he still could.
He needed something worse than that Hell Hole to make him forget it just like the first time around. It was almost impossible.
Well, he'd never forget it completely, he was raised there, beaten there, nearly killed there. It would just fade like a regular day into his mind as if it were nothing.
What could possibly be worse than the Silver Lining Circus?
Even when the music's gone
It had been seven years since The Candy Kingdom has had a leader though that was half-way solved with appointed Peace-Keepers scattered around the fortress. It had been seven years since hope was the heart and soul of Ooo. Though through all, most important was that the majestic and beautiful Princess Bubblegum had been missing for nearly seven years as well.
It was seven deadly years of forlorn citizens who could not leave the place they were brought into- seven disastrous years full of lies and annihilation.
In the beginning, right after word spread that their Mother and her Right Hand Man were nowhere to be found, desperate citizens trekked away from the safe walls of home in search of them.
None who left had returned.
Next came the Peace-Keepers who were brought together by the rulers of the Cloud Kingdom. The Peace-Keepers were meant to control the frantic crowds and bring security upon the lost Candy People- which ended horribly. Laws were put in place that restricted them to such measures that no one could leave the Kingdom itself without a mound of Paper-Work filled out. You needed identification to enter the Palace, you couldn't be out after eight o'clock- the Candy Kingdom was a Pre-School with the kind of security where you'd need an adult with you in the bathroom stall.
Then at last, the once weak Candy People became the vicious monsters they were never meant to be. All at once, every one of them strong enough decided that that way of life would be no more. On the hour, every single Peace-Keeper was murdered in cold-blood… all except their commander.
Jermaine made a promise to himself he'd never step foot in that place where the blood on his hands oozed until it was dripping. Jermaine has seen more death than anyone ever should, he's been responsible for much more than he ever thought a pup. The only reason he was there in his old apartment in the palace was because of the pleading look in his brother's newly weighed down eyes.
A fresh promise was made that day- He would never hurt Jake again.
"I don't CARE what you have to say! He's not worth it! We should just dump him in the woods for the wolves!"
He couldn't ever hurt Jake, never again.
It hurt him even more.
Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
It was the Annual Day of Colors. It was a special event thrown every January 30th from Sunrise to Sunset. The Day of Colors was the one day of the year when it was required to feel hope. January 30th was the day Princess Bubblegum had left them; why else would they highlight the date on their calendars?
On January 30th, all the Rainicorns in Ooo are sent out on a search that always ended in failure. The Kingdom transformed into its old self, such as hanging banners and lighting candles for the lost. Every January 30th they pray to Abraham Lincoln that she will someday return to them and they will no longer have to be the beasts they became.
Marceline thought the Day of Colors was a waste of precious time and effort. But this specific January, she was going to use it to its full potential.
She had forced herself to stay awake through the night and the early hours of morning successfully ignoring the way her eyes dropped and head lolled whenever she sat. She needed to see Finn; she needed to make sure he was safe and sound in the worst place to be in the world.
Cheering crowds echoed from behind the walls of solidified sugar like the spectators in a coliseum loud enough to deafen a new born. Festivities had already eagerly begun, she couldn't ask for more.
She pulled the hood and sleeves of her cloak far enough to completely consume all showing skin- just moving in sunlight was dangerous enough, yet she couldn't help but add on and on to her situation.
Hundreds of sugar filled Candy People poured in and out of the main gate unaware of the possible danger among them. A hooded figure wasn't strange at all, even on January 30th no matter how secretive their body language seemed or abnormal they were against the bright colors the rest wore proudly. At one time or another each one of them was a Hooded Figure.
It was almost too easy to get into the Candy Kingdom, she was sure the Mutt would have put some kind of obstacle in her way- per se a Why Wolf?
All around the demolished courtyard were stands giving away holiday related items- sparklers, masks, sugary foods, and even black wigs.
She shook her head in disgrace, people were foolish.
She remembered Princess Bubblegum from the royalty meetings from so long ago; ten, twenty years? Somewhere around there… maybe. She stopped showing up even before she went missing; it was something she never bothered to search out an answer for. The Princess was a hideous creature that should've been sent to the Night-O-Sphere as soon as she came out of her test tube. She was a scientific failure; it was written all over her face. Just by a glance of her dead black locks you'd attempt to hide a face of disgust, just by a second of eye contact you'd see hers were never meant to be total shadows. All the black bounded back from the bright pink candy skin, it was unnatural and horrifying to be in her presence- but she always seemed to have a gorgeous personality. Marceline had no idea why people would want to buy repulsive black wigs.
She danced around through gaps in between people, hopped over fallen object, and did her best not to burn herself with sunlight.
Questions were swirling in her mind, but most were over powered with smacks of noises in her ear drums from everything around her. She hated loud crowds; you'd be surprised how alarmed she could get when she was lost in one.
Where is Finn? Where is the Hospital? Where am I? Were the main things she was trying to figure out.
The others around her knocked shoulders and elbows into her sides, shoving her back the way she came. Some stepped on her bare feet, others nearly causing her hood to fall back. Wouldn't that be a nightmare? The sounds were hammering in her ear canals distorting her face into some kind of wince. Curse her heightened hearing. Her instincts were whispering for her to fly away into the sky and sleep in the nearest cave she could find, but her better side forced her to push the offenders off to the edges with her last bit of strength she still retained from a night full of worry, and then race into an empty alley way where she could at last think in peace.
Where is Finn? Finn would be in the Hospital, that's the main reason they came there. Finn was probably in some sort of room where they could watch him at all times- damn. Where is the Hospital? She skipped that one. Where am I? Somewhere very close to Hell.
You'll be alright no one can hurt you now
He was woken mercilessly by someone roughly rocking his shoulders, totally unaware of the pain they were causing him by pulling in and out on his skin. "Dude! C'mon, get up! Get up, get up, get up!" It was Jake, why was it always Jake?
He did his best, but couldn't help the GAH that escaped his lips. His good hand clenched around the edge of the bed, chin digging into the mattress. He tried not to take in too deep a breath through his newly clenched teeth as he felt the healing wounds on the verge of splitting open again.
Jake gaps, "Oh! Sorry, sorry, I'm so so sorry bro! Sorry!" He lifts his paws up in surrender, and took a single step back, "Sorry!" His eyes were squeezed shut, shoulders hunched. "Really, I'm sorry…"
Finn forced release on his body, and responded the dog with a humph while grinding his jaws together as he felt the same old pain he abandoned the day before. Why was it always Jake?
Jake took his usual seat next to him in the breaking wooden chair, paws together, slightly leaning forward. "Guess what?" He asked impatiently, feet vibrating where they rested.
Finn didn't even raise an eyebrow.
A huge smirk breaks across Jake's doggy face, "Jermaine told me 'Yes'!" He leapt up off his chair for a knuckle-touch, but was met in the end with nothing. "Oh, sorry…."
Finn's expression was as blank as a sheet of paper.
Jake's mood hardly flattered, "He said the hot nurses could give you a pain killer, and cut your shackles loose!"
With hearing that, Finn nodded his head, and that was all.
"Heck yeah, man!" Jake stretches his fist over to Finn's other side, and touches his good hand, "Plus, it's the Day of Colors, so if ya wanna we can go-a outside 'n stuff!" Jake is about ready to pounce on the kid.
Finn turns his troubled gaze up to the others. "Ad-
"Addiction?"
Jake stopped short, smile fading like a dull dream, "Addiction. Whadda ya mean addiction? You don't think you're gonna get addicted to Butorphanol, do you?" Jake questioned, face contorting in pure confusion, "You're nutty, you nut! No way's Jermaine gonna say yes if that would happen!" Jake shook his head, "You're a butt to think of Jermaine like that."
Finn drew his eyebrows together, and squeezed his lids shut. Why was he the only one who saw the evil in Jermaine? Why was he the only one Jermaine wanted to torture- for anyone apparently to torment? Maybe it was because he was handsome, or weak, perhaps people just liked the way he squirmed under hard gazes? Why did Jermaine hate him? Did he do something? He's sorry if he did. Did Jermaine want him too? Did Jermaine want Finn wrapped around his finger, bent over backwards for him? What was wrong with him?
Jake sat back down in his chair, "The smokin' babes said they were coming for you right now, by the way; they wanted to give you the stuff earlier, but weren't 'authorized' or whatever," He kicked his legs out crossed at the heels, "If they ask, I'm single and saved a baby."
Finn was very lost.
He might've fallen back to sleep after that, because he was again woken-only more gently- by Jake. "Hot babes in the house," He hissed into his ear before backing away to hit on the girl with long blue hair and white skin. If anything, she looked more cold than hot.
The other woman brushed past the two with a plastic tray in her hands which she rested on the end table beside him. "Wow, they weren't kidding…" She murmured, her drown eyes traveling up and down his back, "No wonder," She glanced down at his face, and smiled lightly, "Hey kiddo, how's it goin'?" She seemed to be some kind of walking, talking cupcake. Why was a piece of food speaking to him?
"Oh, he doesn't really talk, don't take it personally," Jake said to her, ushering the other nurse towards him, "This is Finn the Human, he can be a jerk, he likes Apple Pie, and would love it if you beautiful ladies shot him up so we can go party outside with everybody else!" Jake literally picked up the syringe, shoved it into the cupcake's hand, and then gestured to Finn's arm, "Please?"
Finn all the while was staring fearfully at the long, long needle- it must've been at least four inches!
He was awfully aware of the fact that his restraints would be unlocked after that thing went into his flesh.
When would Jermaine just stop?
"No," He whispered, swaying his head side to side, "No!"
Jake rolled his eyes, "Kids these day, right? Tryin' to be men by not wanting pain relief," He tossed a warning right at him with his abnormal eyes.
Finn kept his mouth shut no matter the fear digging nails into his chest or worry that the pain from the shot itself may not be worth everything in total. He bites his tongue- he's afraid of Jake now, too.
When wa all was over, he refused to go outside with Jake- he might leave him behind for some woman- he would stay in the hospital until he could hold his own.
He could trust no one but Marceline.
Come morning light
The crowds so near her where shouting, chanting, screaming as loud as they could; it was almost like they were trying to hurt her.
They might as well have been setting off rockets! She could practically feel her ears splitting open! She was sure she would be deaf or dead by the end of the day.
You can bet all your pretzels she was freaking out when the crowds started to fall silent as they separated. It was like some kind of plague that washed through all the voices sealing their mouths shut with invisible stitches.
She heard it before she saw it from her place in the alley- wooden wheels rolling along the jagged, broken bricks of the courtyard. Almost like-
A carriage drove right by her, pulled by nothing but air. Her mind immediately told her a simple spell or magic was driving the buggie, but she couldn't ever be sure until she saw what was inside.
She learned never to trust her eyes.
It was made of all sorts of candies- peppermints as wheels, candy canes for rails, peanut brittle for walls- it was a personal kind of transportation, she remembered the signature pink gumdrop on the roof just to signify it was theirs. But the name of whom it belonged to was drawing a blank in her mind.
It was on the tip of her tongue…
The wagon pulled up in front of the crowd with the elegance of royalty, with the power of an emperor. It wasn't until the door opened did screams start to be exchanged.
Lengthy, glossy pitch black hair blew out the door first with the gust of wind, next came a bright pink hand pulling the rest of the person out of the vehicle. The darker pink gown billowed around their hidden legs, hair almost hiding their face- it was impossible to hide no matter how hard they tried.
Hope gets people a lot of places.
In the courtyard, out of nowhere on no notice, Princess Bubblegum practically fell from the sky.
And then, just like a bomb, the crowds cheered, shouted, and cried like the world was ending. She may be older, but there was mistaking her for what she was.
There was no mistaking her for what she was.
In an alley way, someone is frozen in place and shocked beyond belief.
You had to be kidding.
What gave her away was the hair- the same length, same shade, same style. Her hair was exactly the same as Ring Master's. What was more, was the little peppermint man the crawled out of the cart after her- half a distorted face as if the red had been sucked out of him. She remembered that one if anything, because he almost killed her.
Her hands curled into fists inside her sleeves, her head kneeling down, sanguine eyes burning into Bubblegum's.
She
was
going
to
die,
for what she'd done.
She
will
burn.
Through the happiness, one animal's cry was heard specifically.
So suddenly, a path was formed through pain as a hundred people were forced aside by an indistinguishable being. The only one who stood was some figure in an ancient and tattered cloak, lone and motionless.
Princess Bubblegum knew exactly who she was.
"YOU!" They both shout out in unison.
Hatred goes a long way.
The Faceless Man did his best to use his one eye to see what Bubblegum was.
"HOW DID YOU EVEN SURVIVE?"
"What the cabbage?"
Peppermint Butler blank to clear the blurry image, and as soon as he had it his hand jumped to the pocket in his jacket.
The Princess felt her throat start to clench up, and her eyes sting, "What more do you WANT?" She screamed aloud, her arms thrown up into the air. "What MORE can you TAKE?"
She hardly knew Ring Master, but she knew Bubblegum well enough to see her hysterics taking place, soon enough she'd be on her knees crying her black eyes out.
Finn. Everything such a nice person could do? Bonnibel was always so motherly, how could she kill him like that? How could she slash him 'till he wept for forgiveness? How could she abandon her people just for him? Wasn't Bubblegum supposed to be smart? What happened to her, to make her like this?
She was seething, "HOW COULD YOU?" She remembered how carless and simple she used to be as a kid, she watched her grow up into a woman ready to take own a Kingdom, she even helped her once with Ice King when he was still kidnapping!
How could she become this?
"I HATE YOU!" She cried as few locks of black hair drifting to the ground where they stayed, "HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE FOREVER!"
She couldn't live with Death after she heard that, it only proved that she was cracked, if she had any sort of power over her she would have put her down on a moment's notice. Princess bubblegum was in no position to rule over that kingdom, those people. Marceline owed it to her sane side not to let her insanity take over everything before things got out of hand, just like Finn.
"BONNIE! SHUT IT!"
It was more anger than responsibility that drove her to do it- Anger over what she did to Finn. There were so many possibilities she trampled over, just like what her father did to her. She couldn't let that happen to all the innocence of the Candy People.
"NO!" She wiped tears from her cheeks, drying her hands on her skirts, "I CAN'T LET YOU!"
Marceline in one swift movement, rose from her place on the ground, and hurtled herself towards the other.
The only thought going through her mind was- I wonder what pink tastes like. She had every intention to murder her like she murdered him.
But… something stopped her. Something blocked her from moving any further. Something forced her to touch ground so far she ended up lying on her back. Something was choking her, something was hurting her, something was killing her.
Someone was killing her.
Fingers were shoving themselves into her mouth and down her throat, closing off her nostrils, suffocating her.
She needed to get away but had no energy from the night she spent awake. She was starving for a breath, only someone was keeping it from her. Someone was willingly killing her.
"What are you doing?" Bubblegum gasped when she saw her only friend inching closer and closer to the dying girl on the ground with the clove in his hands, "Are you hurting her?" He doesn't notice her hidden pleas. He was to kill off every single one of those creatures just like one tried to kill of him.
When he was close enough, he stuffed the garlic into her open mouth where it hissed as it dissolved her flesh. He stripped her hood from her face, and immediately she burned. Only strangled, deathly noises escaped her mouth, she never thought she loved oxygen so much.
"Peppermint Butler? What's happening to her?" She was getting frantic; she was watching an old friend die right at her feet.
The only words he said to her were, "Do you know why I hardly have any red left on me?" and she understood. She asked no more, stepped away from the girl on the ground, and turned her back. She understood.
The loss was almost as unbearable as the pain of sunlight. All the loss she's masked was crashing right in on her. The loss she never let herself feel over her Mother's death, the loss of Hambo, the loss of her home to the bombers. She lost her Life to Death, she lost her sanity, and she lost everything she guarded to misfortune. And now, she was losing Finn. She was losing one thousand plus years dedicated to solitude. She was losing all the beautiful memories of her and Finn together, everything that could've been. She was losing everything after she had nothing. She never thought she could lose so much…
And finally, she lost herself.
Death the first time was painful- she was thrown into a pit of fire, but was rewarded with a few short hours in a place with anything she asked for. She doesn't remember it well, but she did know it was great. Then her life after death turned for the worst. But now that she was experiencing Death for the second time, she could see it wasn't as bad as she thought. It didn't really hurt; the pain was fading out like a low note on her bass. If anything, she was happy that she could finally go back to her mother, she had a lot to talk about. Maybe Hambo was there waiting for her, she missed Hambo. But Finn, she didn't get to say good-bye to Finn.
But he knew she loved him.
Like a failing light bulb, her second life was gone as the sand in the wind being blown from a hand.
And then it was done. She was lost in another world where she would be waiting for Finn to join her.
In the building overlooking the courtyard, a scream echoes from the seventh floor.
Marceline, Marceline, Marceline, she was everything to him.
He knew it was only a matter of time before he lost it all again.
And you and I'll be safe, and sound
Oooh
Oooh
Lala
Lala
"Finn? What are you doing?" She laughed, smiling warmly across to him from the couch.
He only shrugged, refusing to look away from the beetle crawling along the floor. Its armored body was as brown as the bark of a tree, its eyes as large as the tip of his thumb, and a single wing sticking out and broken.
She floated down next to him on the floor, "Somebody probably stepped on it," She said quietly, careful not to scare him, "Maybe Beemo, he's terrified of bugs," She made sure she wasn't touching any part of him, she knew how he'd get if she did.
His eyebrows arched, "Why?" He asked helplessly. Why would someone hurt something that hadn't done anything?
She stared quizzically on the beetle, "Sometimes, people just can't control themselves around certain things, and in the end someone gets hurt without meaning to," She tried to explain, but had no real answer. He asked to strangest of questions that caught her off guard.
He was becoming very aware of how close she was to him, so he scooted away slowly, trying not to catch her eye. She might hurt him if he gave her the chance.
"How are your arms?" She inquired, her gaze slowly following him.
He doesn't answer; he hardly ever spoke to her. He hardly spoke to anyone besides Jake.
"Good, I guess." She turned her head away from him, thoughts traveling to unrelated topics. "How did you even… get in there?" She instantly wanted to cover her mouth after; she didn't mean to say it.
His eyes locked right on hers in a second, gaze as cold as stone and strong as pride. He said nothing; he didn't need to speak to make her understand.
"Sorry," She whispered, lowering her head to the ground.
He gently took the beetle in his hand, stood from the floor, and left her alone in the room. He didn't trust her with the insect, either.
Just close your eyes
You'll be alright
He knew he saw correctly. He knew he saw what just happened.
Jake took his shoulders from behind where he stood, and yanked him back away from the window and plopped him right down on the bed.
"Don't scream that loud!" Jake hissed, looking over at the other patients who were now stirring from their places.
He screamed, when did he scream?
"Jake," He said, begging for him to tell him what he just saw. "Jake."
He bowed his head, "What, Finn? What?" What did he want?
He looked at the window briefly, the questions bubbling up in his head.
Jake sighed in a I-Knew-This-Was-Going-To-Happen tone, "Finn, stuff like that happens a lot here, trust me, I know," He sat down next to him on the mattress, folding his hands on his lap, "And sometimes, the people it happens to deserve it, and sometimes they don't."
Finn chokes, "Deserve?" Hadn't he seen who was just-
"Don't yell!" He drapes the white bed sheet around his shoulders so the others wouldn't see the bloody massacre he was living with. "It happens, just deal with it."
Finn shook his head viciously, "M-Marceline!" He pointed dramatically to the glass.
Jake only smiled, "Whadda ya mean Marceline? She's back at home, like Jermaine told me!"
Finn doesn't lower his hand, eyes burning in Jake's, "Marceline,"
He stood, walking over to the window, "Fine, I'll look," He pressed his face to the glass, focusing on all the little people below in the courtyard. Everything seemed to be back to normal besides the circle forming around the deceased. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the image. "Who is..." A pang rocked him back from the glass, "Oh," He said, looking back to Finn who was clutching his knees with his nails, "Marceline."
Finn squeezed his eyes shut, though no tears spelt out.
"I'm... going to find Jermaine," Jake ran out the room too quick to say good-bye, leaving Finn alone in a crowded room.
Finn knew it was going to happen; sooner or later he was going to lose everything again.
Within minutes he became confused- he felt no pain.
Come morning light
"JERMAINE!" Jake slammed his front door against the wall, knocking the picture of his parents down to the floor where it shattered. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
His shout echoed throughout the front room, met with no answer, "Jermaine!"
He was standing in front of his window, staring down on the crowded streets with an empty expression.
"Jermaine," Once Jake found him, he fell silent, watching his brother from the doorway.
"I saw," He said calmly, sliding down into the arm chair next to the bookcase, "You don't need to tell me." He held his head in his paw, eyes folding closed.
"Well, I came here to tell you, So I'm gonna!" He threw the nearest book he could find right at his brother's head, "You said she was at the house! But really she was here, and now she's dead?" He shouted, hurling another hardcover onto him, "Guess what? Finn SAW her die! Don't you think he's been through ENOUGH?" He tossed two at the same time, one falling on the floor, "Now WHAT, Jermaine? He's gonna kill himself is what! This is YOUR fault, y'know that? She was EVERYTHING to him, but you just TOOK! THAT! AWAY!" Jermaine found himself covered in his novels.
"I know," He said, opening The Journey to the Center of The Earth, "I didn't mean to."
"Oh, you didn't MEAN TO? Well tough luck buddy! She ain't comin' back and you KNOW IT!"
Jermaine sighed, "He was dead from the start, and nothing's changed," He leaned back in his seat, "We should've just left him where we found him, none of this would've happened."
Jake stomped on the hardwood floors, "NO, Jermaine! This would've happened no matter what!"
Jermaine growled loudly, "Then what do you think I should DO?" He shouted, slapping the book shut again, "Should I ignore him, should I be nice to him? Should I keep him on Butorphanol, or let him suffer after it's out of his system? Maybe I should just kill him myself to save Glob the trouble!"
"I don't KNOW, okay? Do whatever, just fix it for him!" Jake trudged out of Jermaine's second home, he couldn't look the guy in the eye anymore.
You and I'll be safe
The wounds on his back seemed to heal nicely into thick, rippled white scars along with the scratches and bite marks on his forearms. His hand didn't have the same movement as it used to, but what would he need his hands for nowadays? The bones had bound into their correct places, everything was restored on his body, but he was more injured than ever.
There's always a bandage wrapped around his elbow where they stuck him with needles two times a day, every day for the past three years- he' always wondering when they'd stop.
He has real clothes, no paper dress, they treat him nice there.
His murky thoughts were always filled with false happiness that left him from another time. He's never happy now- they try to make him, but he just doesn't seem to be.
He likes to be alone outside in the summer where he just stands and watches the sun rise and set. No one knows why he does because he never answers them.
Finn does not speak, he refuses to say anything to anyone and no one can understand why.
There's always the blank expression on his face, kind of like he just woke from a slumber and is trying to put together where he was.
He has nightmares every night of the same things-
This Circus
This girl with red eyes
This woman with black hair
And a man with a gun saying "Or I'll shoot!" pointed right at him.
The same things woke him every night. He screamed into his pillow and weeps but no one knows why, he won't tell anyone. He wants to be nocturnal.
But once the nurse gives him a simple shot, he's fine, the same bored expression hidden behind tuffs of golden hair.
Everyday a woman comes to visit him at noon. She just comes to talk is what it looks like, just comes to give him company.
Finn gets jittery around her, almost like he's afraid. He doesn't stop staring into her eyes.
Those eyes, those eyes, those eyes. Those eyes were everything.
He knew who she was, but he wouldn't say it aloud, she wouldn't let him.
No one knows what his voice sounds like; he just might be too terrified to speak.
But that's not the reason, it's far from that.
He had nothing, nothing. Then, he had everything, he had it all! And lastly, everything was taken away. These things happened to him for one reason- he spoke to the girl with red eyes, to the dog with scars under his fur.
This, is what he gets for speaking.
The woman of pink skin touches him even though he pulls away; she talks to him even though he doesn't talk back. She loves him even though he hates her.
She killed Marceline, She killed him, She was the monster.
She will never, ever leave him behind, even when he thought she was gone she came bounding back.
He didn't ever honestly escape.
And sound.
Tada!
Last chapter done!
I am SO sorry you guys for killing off Marcie! But honestly I was planning her death since chapter 4, so it was coming eventually.
But anyway, this is by far the longest thing I've written, took me forever!
Thanks to EVERYBODY who sent in a song suggestion even if I didn't use it. You've been a lot of help all around!
Thanks everyone for reading, I had a great time writing the story even though it was depressing.
-The MasterHama