Hot Dog princess liked it when things were peaceful, she was no stranger to tragedies despite the size of her kingdom. Her loyal citizens which eventually became part of her royal guard were not the smartest or strongest and thanks to that the dozens of guards were slowly lost to accidents or monsters that wandered in the forest.
Only six remained and she tried her best to keep them safe after she almost lost them when they wandered to far inside the maze, despite their close brush with danger the royal guards still wished to explore and adventure in her name. She was okay with their explorations as long as they didnt go to far deep into the forest or in otherwise dangerous areas.
Today she regretted that decision, after the candy messenger had come to inform her about the situation she had been waiting for her guards to come back for hours now, being alone with the threat of the Lich roaming around Ooo was starting to make her paranoid.
She tried to go out looking for them in the surrounding forest but her fears overwhelmed her the moment she left the safety of her Kingdom, the rational part of her brain knew that if the Lich came for her the wooden walls and her guards would do little to stop the Lich, if anything at all. All of this led to the current situation, where she huddled in the corner of her dog house and stared at the crown left outside.
The wait was turning out to be the worse part of it, waiting for the royal guards to come back, waiting for the Lich to arrive, waiting for something to happen. She flinched and closed her eyes at every noise that resembled footsteps, until a familiar voice broke the silence.
"Oh my glob, Hot Dog princess!" The fear and dread disappeared the moment she heard the voice of the human hero.
Finn jumped over the walls and quickly picked up the abandoned crown, before he could start to panic he saw the timid princess walk out of her home with small shaky steps "F-finn? oh thank glob you are here!" With her previous worries gone Hot Dog princess quickly walked up to the hero and attempted to climb up to his chest.
Finn picked her up and held her against his chest, giving the princess some time to recover. Looking over the crown with his free hand he let out a relieved sigh once he saw the gem still in place and flashed a thumbs up to Phoebe and Jake who nodded in return before moving around the small Kingdom, making sure there were no threats around.
Once the princess looked more relaxed Finn started questioning her "What happened Hot Dog princess? were you attacked?" Hot Dog princess shaked her head before replying "N-no, thankfully... I was just so afraid that the Lich would get me too" Finn rubbed her back in a comforting manner "Don't worry princess, we are here to make sure you are safe".
Hot Dog princess snuggled against the chest of the hero once more, enjoying the feeling of safety that seemed to follow Finn anywhere he went. Phoebe looked at them from the corner of her eye and ignored the feeling of jealousy that burned in her chest, she moved closer to the forest and looked around for anything suspicious.
Jake did the same from the oposite side and once he was sure there were no monsters waiting in the shadows he stretched back towards the small Kingdom and motioned for Phoebe to do the same.
Now that they were sure the princess would be safe for the time being Finn placed her back on the floor before asking "Where are your guards princess? I haven't seen them since we got here" Worry once more took over HDP at the mention of her guards "They went out exploring all day, I tried to go to the forest and look for them but... I was really scared".
Finn smiled at her before replying "If that's the case then we'll go find them, that will make you feel safer right?" HDP looked unsure for a moment "Well... yes, but-" Before she could finish Finn continued "Just wait right here princess, we'll be back right away!".
The trio of adventurers walked towards the nearby forest but before they could leave Hot Dog princess wrapped her arms around Finn's leg "No! please don't leave me alone again!" The desperation in her voice made the fear HDP had perfectly clear to them, Jake simply shrugged at the apologetic look in the human's face "Well, me and Phoebe are the fastest so I guess its fine if you stay here, right?" Phoebe nodded at the idea "Jake and I can take care of the missing guards but if anything happens call us right away".
Finn smiled at his friends before replying "Don't worry guys, we'll be fine" Phoebe looked worried for a second before placing a kiss on the boy's lips "You better be, don't go taking risks just because we have magic tears now".
Finn rubbed the back of his head a little embarrassed at his girlfriend's actions "I-i promise" Satisfied with the answer Phoebe flew just above the ground and set out to find the guards deep into the forest, followed by jake who simply ran behind the elemental.
Once they were out of sight Finn picked up the scared princess and walked back to the small Kingdom, after placing her crown back on her head Finn sat down on the small yard and keep his eyes peeled for anything suspicious.
...
...
...
From the other side of the forest, the figure of one of the missing guards walking back towards the Kingdom slowly came closer.
BREAK
After a while of searching Jake and Phoebe stopped to take a small rest, Jake let out a tired sigh as he sat on the floor "Man, im starting to feel my age" Phoebe simply shaked her head at the magic dog "You're just lazy Jake, im more bothered by the fact that we haven't found any trace of the missing guards".
Jake simply shrugged in return "Its fine, they have to go back sooner or later" Phoebe couldn't deny the logic in her friend's statement, but she couldn't shake off the pit of uneasiness in her stomach. Get back up to her feet she closed her eyes and cleared her mind while Jake stared at her in confusion until the familiar wave of orange energy appeared.
A minute passed and before Jake could get comfortable once more Phoebe let out a gasp once she opened her eyes "They are... underground?" She looked down to the floor around them as if searching for something. Jake though for a moment before replying "Like... a cave or something? but we haven't seen once of those either".
Phoebe tried once more but this time she keep her eyes open, she could see a very small tunnel going underground with a few figures moving back and forth around a slightly bigger figure. Her eyes followed the small hole all the way to the top and she moved closer to the entrance, between a few rocks and patches of overgrown grass she found what she was looking for.
"Jake! I need your help with something" Phoebe called out to Jake and waited until he came closer "Is that a rabbit hole?" She nodded "Yep and that's were they are, maybe they got trapped down there?" Jake shrugged in return and shrinked enough to fit in the hole.
Phoebe watched as two walkie-talkies and the gem Bubblegum gave him fell to the ground "Dang it, can you watch over them until i come back?" Phoebe nodded and picked up the items before Jake walked inside the hole.
She waited for a moment before taking a seat on one of the big rocks nearby, she pushed the button on the side of the walkie-talkie like Jake teached her before speaking "Finn, are you there?" The response came immediately "Phoebe! I was starting to get worried, did you guys found the rest of them?" Her face twisted in confusion before replying "Uh yea but what do you mean by the rest of them?".
"Oh, one of the guards came back early or something. So now we are just waiting for the rest" Phoebe nodded in understanding "Oh okay, we'll be back soon then" The walkie-talkie when silent once more and she placed them on the ground next to the rock.
"I really need to get myself a backpack or something... not much use in having a sword if Finn has to carry it all the time" Phoebe said to no one in particular as she got comfortable, looking over to the rabbit hole nearby she wondered how Jake was doing.
BREAK
Jake had to admit that rabbits were pretty good diggers, the hole while small in size was surprisingly deep. His surprise was slowly replaced by annoyance as the light slowly disappeared leaving him in complete darkness, despite his situation he keep walking figuring the hole could only go in one direction.
His silent walk was interrupted by a few unintelligible mumbles, crying and sobbing after a few minutes. The poor illumination only made matters worse now that he could barely see his hand own in front of him, the noises only got louder the more he walked and fear slowly took over him. His steps slowed down to a crawl once the crying and sobbing sounded like they were right in front of him "G-guys? are you here?".
Suddenly everything went quiet, the only noise now coming from his shaky breaths "I-im here to help you guys... s-so come out now" Steps that moved closer to him were his response, his mind played tricks on him as he now remembered all the monsters from horror movies he saw with Finn and Marceline. Shaking his head side to side Jake started walking again towards the steps that moved towards him.
He moved his arms to the front hoping to not crash face first with one of the missing guards and almost screamed when he touched the armored shoulder of one "H-ha ha, you scared me man. Are you okay? the princess was..." His voice died the moment the smell of blood reached his nose, his hand fell back to his sides once the guard turned around.
Even in the darkness Jake could feel the eyes of the guard on him and chills ran down his spine once he heard another set of steps behind him.
It took every last bit of willpower he had to not sprint out of the rabbit hole "U-um... I-is thi-" Before he could finish a hand grabbed him by the head and pushed him to the ground, the hit disoriented him for a moment and whoever did it then grabbed both of his arms and held them in place.
Someone else then jumped on top of him and covered his mouth with both of his hands with the smell of blood and dirt all over them "You have to be quiet, we are safe here, safe" The twitchy voice did nothing to calm his fears "He is still out there, this place is safe, stay here with us" Having said his piece the stranger removed his hands from his mouth.
Despite this, his arms were still pinned to the ground by the other guy "Safe from who? who are you? what's going on?" His questions only seemed to anger whoever was trying to keep him here "No, no no no! you are going to bring him back here!" The voice sounded desperate and the sobbing from earlier slowly appeared once more.
Jake opened his mouth to speak but the stranger continued "Oh glob, we are all going to die... No, no, we don't have to die. All he needs is the gem from the princess, if we let him have them he will spare us!" Jake's eyes widened in realisation "Y-you... are you the guards of the Hot Dog princess? what happened to you?" This time a punch to the face was his response "Shut up! or we will throw you out!".
The punch had been way stronger that Jake expected, he could almost taste the blood in his mouth "That's good punishment for now, but you still have to share it with us" Jake had never been more grateful for his powers until he felt the sword of the guard trying to cut one of his arms off, the blade buried itself on the ground along with his arm but thankfully did no damage.
Not wanting to see what would the crazed guards would try next he lifted his foot and extended it until the guard in front of him crashed against the tunnel wall, growing an extra arm on his head he punched the guard that keep his arms in place. Quickly getting back up to his feet Jake mumbled a curse once he realized he didn't know which way he came from.
Not wasting anymore time he picked a side and ran as fast as he could in the darkness, he could hear the sounds off footsteps behind him and that only made him run faster.
The smell of blood got worse the more he ran until he crashed against what felt like a wall of flesh that stopped him in his tracks, the footsteps stopped too once they cached up to him. To his surprise the hole suddenly lit up as one of the crazed guards lit up a torch, this time he didn't bother to stop the scream that came from his mouth.
The dead carcass of a butchered rabbit blocked the path, its rib cage opened from side to side with most of its organs missing or half eaten. Jake turned around not wanting to look at the animal any longer but found himself face to face with another abomination, the royal guards eyes were pitch black, as if his eyes had been removed from their sockets.
The skin peeled off their bodies, making them look like zombies from a horror movie "He he he, wrong way... now you have to join them" The crazed dog pointed with his bloodied sword in direction of one of the walls, Jake's eyes slowly followed, not entirely sure he wanted to know what he meant.
The bodies of the three other missing guards leaned against the wall, with both legs and arms missing. Surprisingly they looked normal or as normal as Jake remembered them "They were going to kill us all, getting in the way of the gems master needs. But its fine now see? they are safe now and everything is fine" Jake covered his mouth trying to stop himself from puking.
The two remaining guards walked over to him with their swords ready "Don't worry, master said we could kill you quickly... but the human, he has to suffer" Jake's eyes widened at the mention of Finn, images of his brother losing to the Lich flashed in his mind and he let out a feral grow that slowly grew in intensity.
"I won't let you put a hand on him!" Jake grabbed both dogs with his enlarged hands and crushed them with all of his strength, the crazed guards tried to free themselves only for a moment before their sounds of struggle stopped and the crunching of bones resounded in the hole.
Jake opened his hands and let the corpses of the guards fall to the ground, making sickening noises with every moment.
Taking a moment to calm himself Jake started runing in the oposite direction, not looking back even once.
BREAK
Phoebe watched the clouds in the sky, looking for different forms and shapes. She had been waiting for minutes now and Jake showed no signs of coming back, part of her was worried something might had happened but even then she was forced to wait thanks to the reduced size of the hole.
She turned to look at the entrance of the rabbit hole once she heard labored breathing coming from the inside but her smile disappeared the moment Jake finally came out of the hole.
His yellow fur was covered in blood and his hands were completely soaked as if he had beaten someone to death. She got back up to her feet in a second and quickly walked over to the magic dog "Oh my glob, Jake are you hurt? what happened in there?" Jake didn't seem to hear her as he walked away from the hole and towards the Hot Dog princess Kingdom.
Phoebe tried to stop him by grabbing him by the arm "Jake, are you listening? what happened there?" Stopping on his tracks Jake turned around to look at Phoebe "They are all dead, the Lich got to them..." Phoebe covered her mouth at the sudden revelation "D-dead? b-but how?" Jake took a seat on the floor, suddenly looking very tired "The Lich came here before us, he wanted to get rid of the guards of the Hot Dog princess to make sure they wouldn't get in the way".
Phoebe pondered the matter for a moment before replying "But how would killing those guards make any difference? you said they were harmless" Jake shook his head "I... its not about the guards, its about Finn, the Lich is trying to hunt him down. I guess he planned to lure him out here on his own by... killing the guards..." Jake suddenly stopped talking as the gears started to turn in his head.
He turned to look at Phoebe and was surprised to a terrified expression on her face "How many... how many guards were in there Jake?" Jake thought to the corpses he saw and slowly replied "F-five, there were five of them in there... why?" Phoebe covered her mouth with her hand before runing back to the area near the hole and picking up the walkie-talkies and the protection gem.
"Phoebe? why is the number important?" Jake was ignored as Phoebe tried using the walkie-talkie "Finn?! Finn are you there?!" Phoebe waited anxiously for a reply from the other side only to feel as if a hole had appeared on her chest once there was none.
Jake grabbed her face and forced her to look at him "What's going on Phoebe? tell me!" Phoebe slowly looked directly at the magic dog "Because... there is one guard back at the Kingdom right now, why would the Lich kill everyone else and let one live...?" The realisation hit Jake like a bucket of cold water, not wasting any more time he grabbed his protection gem, the walkie-talkies and started runing as fast as he could back towards the Hot Dog princess Kingdom.
Phoebe shaked the fear and worry out of her mind before taking off high into the sky and flying back as fast as she could.
A FEW MINUTES EARLIER...
"-back soon then" Finn placed the walkie-talkie back into his backpack once he was done talking with Phoebe "Oh, im so glad they found them" HDP commented as she got back up to her feet "I hope they didn't got hurt during their exploration..." Finn patted the princess on the head to try and ease her worries "I'm sure they are fine princess, they probably just got lost".
The princess curled up in his lap once more and relaxed under his touch, despite the fact that everything was going well Finn couldn't help but to feel uneasy. While he didnt say anything about it he was pretty sure it had something to do with the small guard dog that arrived on his own.
He hasn't said a single word since he arrived, not even to his own princess but the real problem was the fact that ever since Phoebe said they found the guards he had this creepy smile on his face that looked like it would split his head in half. Finn tried hard to not look at the dog while he kept petting the princess in his lap and waited until his friends came back from their search.
"So they found them" Finn turned his head to look at the dog when he finally spoke, it walked slowly up to him and placed his little hands on his leg "Say... what is that thing on your head Finn?" Finn touched the protection gem that poked from under his hat and gave a nervous smile to the odd dog "Oh, this? its a special gem to make sure the Lich doesn't mess with my head".
Finn could have sworn that the grin in the dog's face got wider "That so? can I see it?" The little dog lifted one of its hands as if trying to reach up to the gem.
Finn reached up to his head to take off the gem if only to keep the dog off him but something stopped him, a primal sense deep down in his mind forced his hand to stop. He looked at the dog once more, this time he looked at him straight in the eyes.
There was nothing there, only an empty stare that seemed to hide the biggest malice he had ever felt in his life. One that he had felt once before, one that could only belong to someone he knew too well.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Finn realized what was going on, this time it was not just his imagination, the smile grew even more and this time it ripped the skin of the face of the small body that contained it. Grabbing the Hot Dog princess in his arms Finn jumped back as far away as posible from the Lich, HDP screamed as she saw her loyal guard get ripped open from the inside as the monster she feared so much crawled out.
Finn pulled out his sword and moved HDP onto his back "Hold on princess, i'll take care of this" Wordlessly the princess moved inside his backpack and tried to calm her sobbing.
The Lich stood tall in the middle of the yard as he watched the human's every movement, while Finn would have normally charged up to him ready for a fight he had to be careful to not get in a situation where the Hot Dog princess could get hurt. Realising the advantage he had the Lich wasted no time and dashed towards the human hero.
Finn dodged to the side as the claw like hand of the Lich buried itself on the floor where he had been a moment ago, before he could counter attack green fire suddenly covered the ground and burned anything in its path. Finn grinned back at the Lich as the ice gem around his neck negated any damage the fire could have done to him.
Aiming his sword at the arm stuck to the ground Finn attacked with all of his strength and in one swift movement the arm was severed from the rest of the Lich's body.
Letting out a displeased grunt the Lich slapped the hero away with his other hand, Finn blocked as best he could but the sheer strength managed to send him flying. Twisting around in the air he made sure to not land on his back so that the princess would not be harmed.
The Lich picked up his severed arm and moved it back in place, Finn watched unsure of what was going on until he saw the arm stick back in place as if nothing had happened. Slowly getting back up to his feet Finn tried to think of a way to stop the Lich, with Billy's gauntlet gone there was no weapon capable of hurting him but maybe if he waited until Jake and Phoebe came back then-
His line of thought was interrupted once the Lich charged at him once more and launched fireballs as he came closer, Finn moved away from the monster blocking as many fireballs as he could despite the fact they would not harm him. Or so he thought until he missed one that hit him in the shoulder, pain shot through his body as if he had been hit with a sharp rock.
The surprisingly heave force the small ball carried stopped him in his tracks as he almost lost balance, giving enough time for the Lich to get closer as he moved his razor sharp fingertips towards the human's chest.
Stabbing the sword in the ground Finn used it as a support and then jumped on top of the Lich as his hand barely missed him, aiming his sword at one of the empty eye sockets Finn pushed the tip of his sword forward. The sword went through with ease as it came out from the back of the Lich's skull, Finn tried to use the now stuck sword as a lever to take the Lich's head off just like that time in the old ruins of the city.
His efforts seemed futile as the Lich trashed around wildly trying to shake the human off himself, Finn jumped from shoulder to shoulder avoiding the hands of the Lich while he tried to remove his head, sweat ran down his forehead as the effort took a toll on his energy.
The bizarre fight lasted a few moments before Finn was a little too slow in one of his jumps and the Lich managed to grab one of his legs, Finn could only watch as the Lich lifted him up in the air before bringing him down to the ground with all his might.
Seeing as he could not change how he fell Finn slipped his backpack off and hugged it to his chest, the ground cracked and a bunch on dust covered the area for a moment as the Lich slammed down the hero into the ground.
Despite the crippling pain that shot all over his back Finn still clutched the backpack to his chest with all his strength, slowly lifting him up once more the Lich brought the battered hero closer to him as he savored his victory. Thanks to the hit and the fact he was being held upside down Finn's head pounded and he started to taste bile and blood in his mouth.
The Lich removed the demon blood sword from his skull and brought it close to the human, a small part of the determined look in Finn's face turned to fear as he realized what was happening, the bright red color of the sword slowly faded away as it turned gray and cracks started appearing all over it.
"You failed once more, child" It was not clear if Finn heard him as his eyes never left the crumbling sword in his hand "Failed to live up to your father's expectations" The last remnants of the sword fell to the ground and turned to dust the moment they touched the floor, the Lich's hand now moved towards the backpack "And failed to keep your loved ones safe".
Despite his efforts the Lich managed to take the backpack from his hands with little trouble, having now what he came here to get the Lich threw the human away. Finn groaned in pain as the fall only made the pain in his back worse, he watched as the Lich opened up his backpack and the terrified screams of the Hot Dog Princess rang out through the forest.
The pain slowly got worse as adrenaline left the the hero's body, still refusing to give up he slowly got back up to his feet and despite the fact that he was still trying to fight, the Lich didn't seem to care about him and instead focused his attention on the princess inside the backpack.
Willing to risk her chances the princess jumped out of the backpack before the Lich could grab her and ran as fast as she could in the direction Jake and Phoebe had left. The Lich was about to chase the princess until he saw the crown that had been left behind, picking up the golden crown the smile on his face suddenly disappeared.
The place where the gem was supposed to be was empty, the hollow eye sockets looked directly at the hero who looked just as confused as to why did he let the princess get away. Crushing the crown in his hand and throwing it away the Lich slowly walked towards the human "Not so smart now uh?" Finn taunted between labored breaths and pained gasps.
"Finn?! Finn are you there?!" The sudden interruption stopped the Lich on his tracks, looking at the backpack still in his hands he saw a small pink walkie-talkie inside. Finn almost fainted in relief at the sound of Phoebe's voice, maybe they had heard the fighting or HDP ran into them and once they arrived they could help him take the Lich down!
His hopes were crushed once he heard the crazed laugh of the Lich, after crushing the little pink radio in his hand he dropped the backpack on the floor and dashed towards the human. In no shape to move out of the way or fight back Finn simply closed his eyes and hoped for a painless death before a crushing grip lifted him off the ground, the Lich smiled at him before turning around and holding him high as if to show he had bested him.
Finn expected to be slammed down into the ground once more but the Lich did no other movements and simply waited in that position, Finn tried to escape to no avail and relaxed in his grip hoping his friends would get there soon.
BREAK
Jake ran in direction of the Kingdom as fast as he could, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of dried blood in his fur. He had been trying get a response from Finn using the walkie-talkies to no result and the words from the corrupted guards only made things worse.
He could see Phoebe speeding up in the air leaving a bright orange trail behind her that grew in intensity with each passing second, his run was interrupted once a familiar voice came from somewhere ahead of him "Jake! Phoebe! help!" Jake's eyes widened at the sound of the HDP voice, Extending a part of his body he moved it closer to Phoebe to make her stop.
Phoebe could see the yellow hand waving her back and despite her urgency she stopped and flew back in direction of the magic dog, her eyes widened in surprise once she saw the terrified princess in his arms "Hot Dog princess? what happened? where is Finn"? The princess simply shook her head as tears ran down her cheeks "The Lich did something to one of my guards... a-and he and Finn fought but... Finn lost".
The eyes of the adventurers widened in shock at the revelation "L-lost? b-but..." Phoebe's words died in her throat as images of a dead human flashed in her mind, Jake seemed to be keeping his mind together as he continued "His he... dead?" Thankfully for them the princess shook her head once more.
"No, I-i don't think so. I ran the moment i had the chance and Finn stayed behind" Phoebe grasped the small hope of Finn being okay and prepared to take off once more "Come on then, we don't have time to waste!" Before she could go back to the air the desperate voice of the princess stopped her.
"Wait! I have something for you!" Both adventurers looked at the princess who looked a little disgusted "I'm sorry about this but... I couldn't think of anything else" Before anyone could ask what she meant she suddenly regurgitated a small red gem that was covered in saliva.
Jake and Phoebe looked in shock at the scene before Jake reluctantly picked up the gem "Is this... the gem of your crown?" HDP nodded in return "Y-yes... the Lich is after them right? so I couldn't let him have it" Despite the situation Jake smiled at the princess "Well done princess, you did great" The princess smiled back at the magic dog as she slowly calmed down.
Phoebe watched the two with a slightly annoyed expression on her face, she moved closer to the pair and patted the princess on the head "You... did good princess but we cant stop now, Finn needs us" HDP nodded in understanding "I know but... what do I do now?" Jake and Phoebe looked at each other waiting for an answer.
After a moment of thinking Phoebe sighed and shook her head "Just... go to the Candy Kingdom, can you do that princess?" HDP nodded confidently "Don't worry about me, I know these forests from top to bottom!" Phoebe smiled at the princess as she slowly flew back up "Hurry up then, we will go back once we take care of this" Before she could go any further a yellow hand wrapped itself around her waist.
Phoebe and the princess looked with confusion at the magic dog for a moment before he spoke "We cant just rush in like that Phoebe, the Lich is probably waiting for us and we are going to need a plan for that. Good thing is, I think I have just the thing we need... but im going to need your help once more princess".
BREAK
The previous fear had all but vanished after spending so much time in the same position, Finn tried to look down but stopped once the grip the Lich had on him tightened. He could tell that even the Lich was getting impatient as the sunset started to appear over the horizon, the warm bright orange sun rays reminded him of the way Phoebe looked when she was happy.
Some of the rays even moved around high up in the sky, he tried to focus more on the little ball of fire until the rustling of leaves caught his attention.
Finn felt a pit forming in his stomach as a bloodied Jake came out from the forest but before he could speak the Lich moved him to the front as if to use him as a shield "The gem" Jake seemed nervous as he came closer and opened his hand just enough for the red gem to be seen in his palm "Finn" Jake replied in the same way.
Finn struggled once more at the sight of his brother and screamed "Jake, don't give it to him! dont-" His pleading was interrupted when the Lich squeezed harder and pushed the air out of his lungs "The gem!" Green fire slowly moved through its arm and towards the hand that held the human hero, Jake didn't want to risk further injury to his brother and quickly spoke "Okay! okay! i'll give you the gem... catch!" The magic dog threw the gem as hard as he could over the Lich.
Not wasting a second the Lich quickly flew over to the gem before it landed and launched a big fireball behind him, giving Jake just enough time to move out of the way. The Lich easily caught the gem in the air, Finn look in shock at his brother and his eyes widened once Jake gave him a thumbs up at the same time once of his hands grew and extended in their direction.
The Lich brought the gem closer to his face and his grin slowly disappeared, in his skeletal palm a small red berry slowly leaked juice from being treated so roughly. As he turned around to look at the yellow dog another hand took hold of the human and before he could retaliate a giant fist punched him so hard a few of his ribs cracked under the pressure.
As the fist showed no signs of stopping Finn struggled to free himself and with the help of Jake's hand forcing the fingers open he managed to escape and fall into another yellow hand that quickly moved him away from the Lich, Jake hugged his brother once he was close enough but keep his eyes in the fight in front of him.
The fist that pushed the Lich away suddenly morphed into a lot of smaller hands that wormed their way into the Lich's body, once they had a good grip on it they lifted the monster high up in the air. Jake ignored the feeling of the fire burning him as the Lich tried to escape before moving his many arms back down as hard as he could.
Finn watched in slight amusement as the same movement the Lich used on him was returned in full, the ground cracked and a cloud of dust covered the entire place as Jake buried the Lich deep down into the ground. Quickly moving his arms back to his body Jake checked Finn over for wounds "You okay man? im sorry we took so long" Finn simply nodded in return as he looked around "Im fine Jake, more importantly... where is Phoebe?" Finn's worry disappeared the moment Jake grinned at him as he looked up at the sky "You'll see".
The Lich took a moment to let his body repair itself once more until a sudden bright light caught his attention, a giant ball of fire moved quickly towards him, as if the sun itself was about to fall down to the earth and in the middle of it all he could see a girl ready to crush him. An uncharacteristically fearful gasp escaped from his mouth "The embodiment of fire..." The Lich briefly wondered how had the human managed to get such a powerful ally to obey his commands before deciding it would be best to escape for the time being.
As Phoebe came closer and closer to her target she allowed her rage to fuel her fires once more, once she was close enough her face twisted in disgust at the sight of the Lich and she barely managed to catch his last words "Acwincan" Just before her fiery fist could hit him she watched as he turned to smoke and banished in a second.
The force of her landing cleared all the dust form the area and she could only stare in confusion at the place where the Lich had been just a moment ago. Yelling brought her back from her thoughts as Finn and Jake cheered at her from a safe distance "Woo! get him Phoebe!" Finn cheered at she let out a sigh of relief once she realized he was not badly hurt.
Flying out of the hole that once was a Kingdom Phoebe walked over to the pair "Good one Phoebe! did you get him in the face?" Jake questioned excitedly but she shook her head sadly "No Jake... he disappeared before I could hit him" Despite the outcome neither of the brothers seemed to bothered by it "Ha! that coward probably realized who he was up against, no wonder he ran away" The magic dog proudly boasted and Finn nodded in agreement.
Phoebe looked at Finn and smiled "I'm so glad you are okay Finn" The human boy slowly got back up to his feet and moved in for a hug but Phoebe quickly stopped him "Wait, not yet" Finn's face twisted in confusion until Jake took out a small gem from somewhere inside of his body that he recognized to well "The ice gem?".
Phoebe nodded as she placed the gem around her neck once more "Yea, I had to take it off for a moment. I cant use my powers in full while wearing it" Finn nodded in understanding "Ah... I see" The human boy stood around awkwardly as the gem worked its magic.
Once the red faded from Phoebe's body she walked over and hugged the human hero "I'm sorry, if i had been here the Lich wouldn't have sneaked up on you" Finn hugged her back as hard as he could "Its fine, all that it matters is that we managed to stop him" Phoebe humed in agreement and enjoyed the presence of his loved one.
Jake picked up the abandoned backpack in the floor and placed it inside himself before looking up at the orange sky and speaking "We should get going back to the Candy Kingdom guys, Bubblegum's gonna want to hear about this" The lovers reluctantly let go of eachother and turned to look at the magic dog "Yea, we better let her know as soon as we can" Finn agreed and walked on top of Jake before he started growing in size.
Phoebe flew along the pair making sure to keep her eyes open in case the Lich decided to come back for more, Now having a moment to talk Finn called out to his brother "Jake? I have something to tell you..." Shame could be heard in the voice of the hero and Jake moved his face onto his back to look at his brother "You okay?" Finn nodded but keep his eyes downcast "I... I lost dad's sword, the Lich destroyed it... im sorry".
Tears threatened to fall until a pair of red stained furry arms hugged him tight "That doesn't matter Finn, it was just a sword. Dad would be proud that you lost it while protecting others" Finn hugger his brother tightly and sobbed silently hoping Phoebe wouldn't notice.
Phoebe watched at the pair form the corner of her eyes but keep her back turned, trying to give them some space.
...
...
...
The Lich watched from deep within the forest at the massive form of the magic dog and their protective elemental flying around them moving in direction of the Candy Kingdom, once he was certain that the heroes were far away he allowed his body to become corporeal again.
Grunting at the state of his wounds he started making his way back to his base once more, it looked like he needed more time for his power well to affect his body in greater effect but the results of the day had not been entirely fruitless.
Despite the outcome, the unexpected appearance of the embodiment of the fire element would require some adjustment in the way he would acquire the remaining gems, it would be no more that a small inconvenience to get rid of her if he adjusted the power well with the leftover ice gems from the king's crown.
With plans already forming in his head, the Lich moved back to his base making sure he was not seen from deep within the forest.
BREAK
Bubblegum worked in her newest prototype following the descriptions written in the enchiridion, she had been working uninterrupted since Finn and Jake left but her progress had been painfully slow. Letting out a frustrated sigh she walked away from the prototipe gauntlet in the workbench of her laboratory.
She took a seat next to a clean table that had a few cups of tea and treats that her butler had bringed in earlier, taking a sip of tea she relaxed for a moment before she went back to work. Suddenly her lab door slammed open and one of her guards came charging in "Princess! you have an urgent visitor!" Bubblegum placed a hand in her chest to calm down her beating heart before replying.
"Who is it?!" Before her guard could answer a tired Hot Dog princess came in "Princess Bubblegum..." HDP fell on her side the moment she made it into the laboratory, Bubblegum immediately jumped out of her seat and walked over to the princess "Hot Dog princess, are you hurt? what happened?" HDP took a few deep breaths and coughed up a small red gem before replying "The Lich attacked my Kingdom... Finn, Jake and Phoebe stayed behind to stop him".
Bubblegum nodded as she picked up the familiar gem in her hand "Should I send some guards? do they need help?" HDP closed her eyes and shook her head "I-i don't know, Finn was hurt and Jake had blood on him... I really don't know" Bubblegum rubbed the sides of her head before replying "We will wait then, if they don't come back soon I will send the banana guards to look for them" HDP nodded in agreement but made no move to get back up.
Looking over at the guard still in her lab Bubblegum gave her new orders "The patrols are to be doubled, nothing gets close to the Kingdom without my permission" The banana guard saluted and ran out of the lab to give the orders to the rest.
Picking up the HDP in her arms Bubblegum carried her and placed her in the table with the threats and tea "You must be tired, would you like some tea?" HDP nodded and picked up a small sweet treat in her hand "My Kingdom is gone Bubblegum..." Bubblegum stared in surprise at the princess "Just because you crown is gone doesn't mean tha-" HDP interrupted her before she could finish "My Kingdom is destroyed and my people are dead, I don't rule over anything anymore and to be honest? im tired of this".
Bubblegum's mouth snapped shut after hearing the words of the princess in front of her, silence took over the room for a moment before she replied "What are you going to do now then?" HDP closer her eyes and sighed "I was hoping... you would allow me to become a citizen in you Kingdom princess Bubblegum" Bubblegum nodded in response "Of course you can, if there is anything else I can do just let me know" Satisfied with the outcome HDP got comfortable once more and ate as many treats as she could.
Bubblegum silently watched as she thought about what would happen now that another princess resigned her place, in normal circumstances a meeting with all of the princesses in Ooo would happen in the breakfast Kingdom to discuss matters like these, but given the current threat of the Lich that option went out the window. A meeting that size would only make the job of the Lich easier and the last thing Bubblegum needed to do was give more bad news to the others.
Especially after she was informed about the demise of the Embryo princess by her scouts... Pushing the emotions at the back of her mind she got out of her seat and walked in direction of the door "I will be back pri- um, I don't think I know you name..." HDP jumped off the table and walked over to Bubblegum "My name is Alie, your majesty" Bubblegum rolled her eyes at the technicalities and smiled at the dog.
"You don't have to be all fancy with me just because im tecnicaly your princess now Alie" The ex princess nodded in return "If that's okay with you then i agree to you terms" Alie smiled back at Bubblegum and just as they were about to leave the room another guard ran through the hallways and towards them "Princess! Finn and Jake are at the gates and they are accompanied by a fire elemental!".
Both girls let out a relieved sigh now that the heroes arrived back at the Kingdom "Thank you for informing me, you can go back to your post" The guard saluted and made his way back to his station. As the guard walked away Bubblegum walked into her lab once more and walked out with a bottle in her hands, Alie watched curiously a the item in the princess hands before asking "What's the water for?" Bubblegum shrugged and walked along the hallway.
"Oh nothing, i just have a feeling we might need it"
BREAK
Now inside the castle Phoebe walked next to Jake and the human he carried on his back "Thanks for the ride Jake" The magic dog waved his thanks away as he kept walking "Its fine, just hold on until we get you some of those tears" Finn mumbled something in agreement and closed his eyes.
The trio walked in direction of Bubblegum's lab and were surprised when they meet up with her in the middle of the hallway "Oh glob, guys are you okay?" Bubblegum immediately looked over the two brothers for wounds but Jake shook his head "Its... not my blood princess, Finn could use some help though" Bubblegum turned her attention to the human laying down in the back of the dog.
"Finn?" The human in question opened his eyes and smiled at the princess "Hey PB, you still have those cyclops heads right?" Bubblegum rolled her eyes and opened the bottle in her arms "I got something better" She poured the contents of the bottle all over the brothers and smiled as they regained their energy.
Finn jumped off Jake's back and cheered "Alright! thats a lot better" Bubbleggum smile faltered a bit once she looked in Phoebe's direction "Are you okay princess?" Phoebe looked back at the now recovered human before going back to the princess "I'm fine... t-thank you for helping him" Bubblegum had to make a double take to make sure she had heard the elemental girl correctly but didn't dare to ask for confirmation.
"I'm glad to see you again guys" Alie said once she finally caught up to the group, Finn and Jake seemed to share her feelings as they replied "I was worried you wouldn't make it all the way princess" "Yea, its good to see you" Alie smiled at the duo as she walked closer "Just Alie is fine, im not a princess anymore".
The trio of adventurers looked in disbelief at the dog until Bubblegum spoke "She's right, please welcome the newest citizen in the Candy Kingdom" Finn still looked a shocked at the revelation but nodded in agreement "I guess that after what happened... this is for the best" The hallway went silent for a moment as the bigger part of the group remembered what happened.
Bubblegum cleared her throat to get their attention after a while "Alie please go find peppermint butler he will help you get settled, you guys come with me" Alie nodded and waved goodbye to the heroes before walking down the hallway. The trio of adventurers followed Bubblegum to her lab once more and settled down at a table with a few treats and tea "You guys know how it goes, now, please start from the beginning".
BREAK
"...there was not trace of the Lich after that, so we just left and made sure he wasn't following us" The group finished telling the events that happened and Bubblegum pondered the information for a moment "I see... well, this certainly could have gone better but this outcome is acceptable" Finn rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment "I'm sorry i lost your walkie-talkie princess" Bubblegum rolled her eyes at the worries of the hero "Its fine Finn, i can just make you another one".
Suddenly the good mood disappeared from the princess face "With that out of the way... there is something else i should tell you" The trio looked almost nervous at her tone of voice, Bubblegum let out tired sigh and decided it would be best to be direct "We lost the Embryo princess and her Kingdom too".
Silence took over the room and Bubblegum tried to not look at the heroes expressions, Finn looked as if he had just been slapped in the face, Jake closed his eyes and seemed to be trying to calm himself down no doubt thanks to the things he saw back at the rabbit hole and Phoebe closed here eyes and clenched her teeth in anger.
"Glob damm it..." Phoebe muttered under her breath, Finn looked at Bubblegum with tearful eyes "When... when did it happen?" Bubblegum sighed and leaned back in her seat "Early in the morning from the look of things, there was nothing we could do Finn..." Finn didn't seem to hear her words as the image of the Lich appeared on his mind.
You failed once more, child.
A warm hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality and the human lifted his head to look at the worried elemental in front of him, neither of them said anything for a moment before hugging once more. The couple took a moment to comfort themselves and calm down, Bubblegum watched at the couple for a moment, a part of her surprised at how close they seemed to be despite the relatively short time they had been together.
Seeing how the sunlight slowly disappeared over the horizon Bubblegum decided it was enough for the day "Go home guys, we can talk again tomorrow" The trio wordlessly left the room and Bubblegum hoped they would be okay by tomorrow morning.
Now alone she left the laboratory and made sure to lock the door before retiring to her bedroom for the day, hoping that the Lich would be stopped soon.
BREAK
The travel back home was unusually silent, Phoebe stayed close to Finn while Jake focused in the path ahead. Things didn't change once they reached the tree house, as they all went to their bedrooms once they were inside "Im sorry Phoebe, but i need some time to get my head right" Phoebe simply nodded and sighed as the human went back up to his own room.
Even BMO and Neptr seemed to feel the tense atmosphere and made sure to keep quiet and away from the adventurers path, Phoebe entered her room and dropped face down into her bed. This day had been hard for her friends, but she would be lying if she said that it didn't affect her either, she wasn't sure if she looked forward to killing or watching someone die in front of her.
Sure she had fought plenty of monsters but doing the same against a living, breathing person was a completely different matter and on top of that she had never seen Finn or Jake so down since she arrived here, part of her felt bad for not caring as much for the princess demise as much that it angered her that the Lich managed to get another gem from under their noses.
Letting out a tired sigh she closed her eyes she got comfortable, something told her that the next day would not be anymore easy than this one.
AN:Feels good to be back, chapter 10 is longer than usual but i like how this one turned out.
Fixes are done now, changed a few things here and there but the story remains the same. Feel free to let me know if you see something i might have missed and with that out of the way, please enjoy!