A Boy and His Father
Thank you for the reviews from the last chapter :) They really made me smile. From now on the plots going to take off and its going to be very quick paced and interesting. There is both love and loss in this chapter as well as secrets being shed.
"What's wrong Marcy?" Lumen asked worried. "Nothing… Nothing is wrong for the first time in a long time… I'm happy… and it's all thanks to you… Thank you Lumen" She pulled him in for another kiss which he happily returned…
Not long after that moment Marceline fell asleep in Lumen's arms, He envied her for it as although he could sleep he could not sleep like she was. He watched as her eye lids flickered showing she was dreaming. She had carried on sobbing in his arms for some time till she had dozed off. Lumen was grateful when she had as he didn't really know what to do it's not often someone cries in your arms out of happiness. She went to sleep with a smile on her face and Lumen couldn't help but think you looked amazing in the sunlight. He leant over and stroked away her white and raven coloured hair in order to see her face better and just smiled.
Lumen picked her up gently and began to float back to the cave; BMO who had been playing with a dancing beetle joined them. He flew them back and then shadow morphed straight into her room. He laid her on the bed and tucked her in before morphing BMO and himself back out the front.
"Dusky can do that with people too?" BMO asked when she was sure that she was out of ear shot of waking the vampire.
"Yes BMO I can do it with anyone or anything I'm touching, I'm not sure of the range though as I only really did it before in the Shadow Kingdom. I think she was quite tired" Lumen sighed; worried about the girl he had just tucked in bed.
"Marceline will be, She usually slept during the day so this is actually her bed time and according to my sensors she has been through a lot of emotional and physical stress today" the MO cheerfully replied to her human companion.
"You have sensors that can tell that?" Lumen asked impressed.
"Yes BMO does, BMO asked Moe to put them in as Finn use to lie about how he was feeling to protect BMO and stop BMO worrying." The MO explained.
"I see so you got them put in so you could look after Finn better?"
"Yes and it also enhances my ninja capabilities as it allows me to know where someone is and how they are feeling" BMO stated pulling a serious face.
"I'll remember that BMO and hope you carry on sparing my life" chuckled the prince.
Suddenly the little MO froze in her spot; her face went into an x_x face and a different voice came from her body "LICH ALERT LICH ALERT LICH ALERT" is all it said.
The MO then returned to normal with a look of fear over her face. Lumen picked her up and put her in her bag pouch. He materialized he's swords and hovered to the cave entrance. Lumen had only ever heard of that name once, he had come across it in a book scribbled on a page "BEWARE THE LICH, THE KING OF EVIL AND THE DEATH OF HUMANITY" when Lumen had asked Leaden about it Leaden had got angry with him and told him never to ask again. Lumen thought that Leaden sounded both scared and angry when he had said the Lich's name so he didn't ask again.
Lumen heard running footsteps getting closer and was not about to let something that inspired that fear into his surrogate father anywhere near his friend or his girl. He immediately swung at the being that entered the cave without hesitation. If this was anyone else the person would now either be dead or seriously injured. However this was someone who knew the prince, knew when he was close and personally helped raise him. He grabbed the prince by the wrist stopping his blades before kicking back against his chest sending the human flying into the roof of the cave. Lumen knew of only one person who could best him that easily.
"Leaden?"
The gang rushed as fast as they could to reach Marcy's home, they were seriously worried as neither Lumen or Marceline had fought the Lich before. Bonnie was especially worried. "Marcy if you die… and if I could never make things right between us… I will never forgive myself… I haven't just gained immortality to be left alone".
Finn was deeply worried about Marcy too but he's thoughts rested with Lumen, "I don't want to be left alone again dude, don't make me be the only one left again"
The other two, Jake and Phoebe, were worried about their friends too but were also concerned with what the loss would do to Finn and Bonnie.
Simon and Betty ran through the grasslands heading for Marceline's cave. They conjured up an icy wind to send them flying through the air. Since losing his beard and Ice King Title Simon had struggled to regain his ability to fly however if there was any time to do so it was when something evil was threatening he's little Marceline. Betty also wanted to try to learn to fly she had the advantage of having long hair so when the Icy wind hit them her long white hair split down the back forming what looked like wings spanning her back she grabbed Simon and they flew faster. All of this panic had started after Betty had got back to the Ice Castle, she told him about the Ice Humanoids she had let into the kingdom getting a massive kiss from her grateful fiancé, and he had then showed her his invention. It was Ice cream that was created with magic and memory. If you ate it you could literally remember anything and also see each-others memories. The two started to tuck in when they both recalled some very important details… the curse crown, the uncontrollable fire, the evil Lich and the holy light all of these things were older than all of them yet they seemed to have a connection. Around that time the crown itself gave them a memory of its own. It showed the birth of the Lich into their world long before the mushroom war, it showed a dark being enter a flame that then burst into a forest and burnt it down, it showed a light shoot into the sky and fly away and finally it showed a laughing dark shadow coming closer and then surrounding the crown of magic. The two came out of the memory and stared at each other now under the realisation that all of their lives had been missing this crucial secret. Suddenly Simon started to feel lightheaded.
"The Lich my princess, the Lich is heading towards Marceline's home" he spat out trying to regain his balance.
"What? How do you know that Si?"
"The crown, the crown remembers the Lich and it told me that he's going after them"
"Them?" Betty asked confused… but it then it hit her… "He's going after Lumen and Marceline… We have to get to the children before he does!" and with that the Prince and Princess of the Ice Kingdom ran from their castle and started to make way to Marceline's cave. "Please let them be alright" was all Simon could think of as he finally picked up on his new version of flying. They had to hurry if they were to stop the Lich.
"Leaden…" The Prince rushed forward and hugged the elderly shade and was relieved when Leaden returned his hug. Lumen stopped hugging his friend and began to speak.
"Leaden I have so much to tell you and so much has happened you will neve…"
"Lumen you have no Idea how happy I am to see you but sadly I'm not here just to visit. I have some things to tell you too and they are things that will seem unbelievable at first but I assure you they are true. I don't have much time so you have to believe me okay?" Lumen just stared back and then nodding. Leaden was never this serious even when Lumen got into trouble so Lumen knew how serious the situation was.
"Well I guess it begins when the Shade Kingdom was attacked by the Li-"
"THE SHADE KINGDOM'S BEEN ATTACKED!" Lumen cried out suddenly furious, here he was happily chilling out when he's lands has been attacked.
"Lumen be quiet and listen to me please!" The Prince fell silent. He listened to Leaden's take of how he was captured by the Lich and how the Lich foretold of the end of this world like many other. He explained everything he could as fast as he could.
"So how did you escape?" Lumen asked proud that his father figure could escape a deadly evil.
"That's the thing Lumen… I didn't… I let the Lich possess me and he is now inside me. He needs to die for you to get the powers I spoke about and you need to kill him. He didn't have enough strength to make it here alone so I told him to possess me." Leaden explained to the silent prince.
"But… if I have to kill him… and he's in you… then how do I kill him" he asked fearing the answer.
"You have to kill me…"
"WHAT! NO! I would never kill you Leaden, there has to be another way!"
"Lumen I'm sorry, there is no other way the moment the Lich entered my body it was a one way trip, I'm going to die soon anyway I'm old but I was willing to make this sacrifice to ensure you have a future… and to make up for ruining your life." The old man said with pain etched over his face.
Lumen dropped to his knees and began to cry… how things could have come to this.
"Lumen I know it's hard but this is something you need to do… I've always told you that you were special and destined for great things and now I know you are." Leaden pulled Lumen into a hug as the Prince carried on crying holding tightly to the elder. "Vermin you need to hurry this up. If you take too long others may intervene" came the Lich's voice from deep within Leaden. After a few moments of the embrace Lumen stood up, wiped away he's tears and smiled at the possessed man.
"Leaden Dusk of the Shade Kingdom, I wish to personally pass your life onto the next, it shall be quick and painless. I want to thank you for all you have done for me and our kingdom and I want you to know that I will build you an awesome statue that will go in the Garden of Light." The Prince said trying to keep himself together enough to be strong for his surrogate father.
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew Leaden… why do you think I picked Dusk as my surname in the first place. And the Garden of Light… I noticed how you went there often and I eventually went and found out why you always went."
"Do you hate me fo…"
"Why would I hate you for that Leaden?"
"It's my fault their dead"
"No Leaden it's not; you were doing your duty as a soldier and protecting your kingdom. How could you have known that the rebels had already snuck into the kingdom?"
"I should have been there. If I had my wife and son would still be alive"
"Or you would be dead with them… and where would our kingdom be now Leaden? Tell me that. I know from experience you would have made an amazing dad and I feel privileged to see you as my own dad."
"You don't… how could you? I ruined your life?"
"NO LEADEN you did not! You may have brought me to this world but you gave me a life, you gave me hope and happiness so stop it. I cannot explain how grateful I am to you for everything. Now… I think it's time you saw your wife and son again and showed them how amazing you are…" Lumen choked on the last few words still trying to be strong for the man.
"I'm ready when you are…"
The prince raised his sword ready to swing and end it.
"LUMEN WAIT!" cried out a voice from the cave entrance. Lumen looked up to see Finn, Bonnibel, Jake, Phoebe, Betty and Simon all running towards them.
"Guys what are you doing here?" the depressed prince asked his friends.
"YOU NEED TO GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Finn yelled running to the pair. He drew his Angel Sword and swung at Leaden/Lich as the old man shielded himself waiting for death. A clash of metal rang out in the cave as Lumen used his own blade to counter the humans.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING FINN" Lumen screamed at him knocking the human back. Finn landed at the feet of the others.
"Lumen you don't understand! That's the Lich, I don't know who that person is to you but he's no longer the person you thought he was" Bonnibel tried to explain to the distraught shade prince.
"NO you lot don't understand, that man is as good as my father and this Lich that dwells within him… I already know that" He snapped back at Bonnie.
"Wait you knew the Lich was in him? How?" Phoebe asked
"He told me now if you will excuse us I have something I need to do" The group stared at Lumen as he walked over to Leaden and picked him up. By this time having the Lich inside him had sucked most of Leaden's life away making him quite fragile. Lumen helped him to one of the benches by the stage and sat down next to him.
"I know times running out and I know what I have to do. Lich King, I will honour your request for death and I hope I will be enough to stop the evil you spoke about" Lumen hugged his elder and took a step back. He quickly, however, morphed into a shadow and reappeared a few feet away. Finn had tried to knock him unconscious while his back was turned.
"WHAT THE JUNK FINN!?"
"Lumen I'm sorry but I have to do this, The Lich cannot be allowed to live…" said the human prince with guilt across his face.
Finn raised his sword once again to attack Leaden/Lich and was once again stopped by Lumen, this time the two princes carried on their sword fight. Lumen managed to knock Finn back and began to take the upper ground but Finn used his superior experience and battle knowledge to roll out of the way of Lumen's Shadow blade. Finn then countered by flipping over the Prince and then trying to strike him. Lumen ducked and dodged this and then reappeared in a light above the human. Lumen used the element of surprise and dropped down on Finn knocking his sword from his hand. Finn stood up and stood in Lumen's way.
"Finn MOVE! I don't want to hurt you but you're messing with something you don't understand"
"I'm sorry Lumen, you're going to have to strike me down if you want me to move" Finn said back standing his ground.
Lumen raised his blade and sighed, he had to do this, he brought the blade down fast it sliced through the air and hit a target however the target wasn't Finn.
"Human Hybrid, You have succeeded in… ending my life, your father…, Leaden passed away a few moments ago. If… it helps he was the only person in the last… few centuries… that deserved something more than… death" the Lich's voice came from Leaden's lips as he fell to the floor with large amounts of blood pouring from his body. "Now human it is the time to end this, free your father's soul and take my power. I hope you will be able to do what I could not". Lumen brought he's blade down roughly into the neck of his former father. It took only seconds for Lich's life force to fade from the body; a green aura flew up Lumen's Light blade and into his body. Lumen's swords began to glow with black and white flames as the Lich's magic became Lumen's.
Lumen fell to the ground crying as Finn pulled himself up. The rest of the group, BMO and Marceline (she had been woken up by Finn and Lumen's argument) joined him. The group stood around the Shade prince not knowing what to say or do, Marceline pulled him in for a hug and the Human sobbed uncontrollably.
Over the next few hours Lumen passed out from exhaustion after not being able to stop crying. BMO had recorded the conversation between Lumen and Leaden. She showed the group so that they understood why Lumen had stopped Finn and why he had to kill Leaden. Finn and Jake were playing basketball in silence. Simon and Betty were comforting Marceline. Phoebe was watching over the sleeping Prince and Bonnie was re-watching the video on BMO of the conversation. When Lumen woke up they all wanted to say something but none of them knew what to say.
"Finn I'm sorry" was the first thing the Prince said when he had woke up. Finn went over to him hugged him and told him he had nothing to be sorry for.
Marceline floated over to the prince kissed him on the forehead and then hugged him tightly. The group smiled at the pair's relationship but nothing could out way the fear they felt. The Lich had tried to eradicate life on Ooo in order to keep the universe alive. He had possessed Leaden by the shade person's choice to get Lumen to kill him. Lumen had to kill the only man he remembered as a father in order to be ready to try to stop the end of everything. The group just hung around the cave for the rest of the day not knowing what to do. Leaden had been taken inside and had a cover placed over his body.
Hunson Abadeer had always been a cautious man, he had ruled over the Nightosphere with force when he needed it and good leadership when it called for it. It was not normal for the King of Evil to be out of the land of chaos however he had a meeting with someone important. He walked across the frozen land till he reached the grasslands.
"You felt it too Hunson" came a voice from the shadows.
"Yes as did you I assume otherwise I wouldn't expect to see Death walking in the land of the living"
"The death of the Lich is an event I can't miss" said Death walking out into the light.
"It was more than that and you know it" Hunson said with a bit of bitterness in his tone.
"Oh yes, Leaden Dusk and the beginning of the end… how could I forgot?" Death replied his voice.
"You know it was going to happen eventually Death, we ourselves tried everything we could to stop it. I left Marceline alone for years trying to find a way to stop it. If even the Lich failed we are really near the end." Hunson replied with a voice full of grief.
"The old fool put a bet on the human brat"
"Lumen? I wonder how he's taking Leaden's passing…"
"He's got friends around him and your daughter seems to have taken an interest in him as the boy cured Simon back and got rid of the cursed flame" Death explained.
"He's done all of that" The two began to walk to their final destination.
"Yes he's achieved as much as we all expected him to let's just hope we weren't wrong to put all our faith in him" Death sighed
"I was still shocked when you told me about the boy from the other world"
"I think we all were, we have watched the last few worlds die in vain, with all worlds connecting to the land of the dead and you modelling your Nightosphere after the land of the demons we are all reminded of our efforts in vain"
"How many horsemen and horsewomen of death are there left?" Hunson asked the skeleton.
"Me and Lady Death of Aaa, the rest either went down with their worlds or gave up their immortality once the end fell on them" Death once again sighed. "Did you ever tell Marceline what happened to her mother?"
"No… I think the time is coming though, now all of the greater evil stuff is out in the open I can't really hide it from her"
"I understand". The two walked in silence from then on to their destination, Marceline's Cave.
Finn, Phoebe, Jake, Bonnie, Simon, Betty, BMO, Marceline and Lumen were all sitting on the stage staring at the lake that spanned at the back of Marcy's house. Life had changed a lot of for them some found parent figures, others lost them. Some now had someone special while others still didn't. Marceline felt guilty for being glad that Bonnie had come running when she thought that the vampire was in danger. The 9 Oooians sat in silence listening to the drip of water as it fell from the top of the cave to the floor beneath. That silence was soon broken by the sound of two people talking and walking. The group turned to see Death and Hunson Abadeer entering Marcy's cave and the two deathless beings walked up to them. Marceline went and greeted her dad. She was surprised when her dad pulled her in for a hug and held her tight. He then went and stood back with Death.
Death was the first to speak as the group stood waiting for a reason for this odd encounter. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I would come to this… humble abode and why I would be accompanying Hunson. I think it's best if we're both completely honest with you all."
"Death are you sure complete honesty is the best option" Hunson asked looking from Death to Marceline.
"Hunson you were always going to have to tell her what happened and if we lie now we may doom us all." Death told the deathless lord of evil.
"Can you just tell us what you're doing here?" Finn asked the pair, he was worried they may make it worse for Lumen.
"We're here to collect Leaden's body" was all Hunson managed to say before the group all stood up to confront the pair.
"Guys wait…" Lumen said from behind them. "Let them talk, this is Death and the Lord of Evil we're talking to they have to have a reason for their request". He had run out of tears a few hours before and voice now was flat and almost lifeless.
"Lumen… I'm sorry for what happened…" Hunson said hugging the prince. Everyone but Marceline was shocked to know that Lumen and H. Abadeer were on friendly terms.
"As the Lich would have told you; himself, the other entities of evil in Ooo, the light within Lumen and Lumen himself are all entities from other worlds. Lumen came from the last to be destroyed while the Lich came from the first. This story is as true as the Lich stated." Death explained to the group.
"How do you know all of this Death? And if you knew it was coming why didn't you tell us?" Princess Bubblegum quizzed the horseman.
"Let me answer" Hunson interjected "They are not the only relics from the other worlds. Death is actually not the only ruler of the Land of the Dead. They exist as a collection of all the dead worlds, hence the saying 'be damned to the 37th dead world' as it is one that exists as a duplicate of each dead world. Death and Lady Death are the only two horseman/woman of the lands of the dead." Death gave him a dirty look for mentioning this. "You said complete honesty Death; anyway another relic is the Nightosphere itself."
"The Nightosphere?" Marceline asked. "But dad you made the Nightosphere". Marceline was struggling to keep up with all this information.
"Yes my little monster I did, I made it to save it from the collapse of the Demon world that existed, so if this is Ooo the demon world would be Ddd. I was a survivor of that world as I tore the Nightosphere away from the world and connected it to Ooo. The effort almost killed me and I fell into Ooo 1000 somewhat years ago. I was weak and injured and then I met the most beautiful woman in the whole world… Your mother Marceline… Faith… She saved me and helped me get better it was then that we fell in love and you were conceived. I was intent on staying there and looking after you but the greater evil was still coming and I creating the Nightosphere was drawing to us. I was trying desperately to find a solution to kill it and while I was away neglecting your mother the mushroom war started giving the Lich his physical form and creating Ooo. I rushed back to her and you but she had already gone. You told me that she had died in the war so I looked into it but I found out that was not the truth."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? HOW WASN'T IT THE TRUTH?" Marceline screamed at her father with tears flowing from her eyes.
"She survived the war… and she found a way to slow down the greater evil… she used some method of portal opening and led the greater evil to the other worlds and away from Ooo. I don't even know if she survived the first portal jump but if she did and she has been running from the greater evil ever since."
"Dad why are you telling me this… Mum would be dead by now anyway?" She sobbed.
"Marceline when the Vampire King took you and made you a Vampire what did he say to you?"
"What… He said I reminded him of someone he had first chosen to be his Queen before she had escaped his grasp"…
"Your mother used the Vampire King to gain Immortality and jumped through the portal… she never wanted to leave you without a mother so found a way to live forever and if I'm right… she hasn't yet turned up in the dead world."
"Wait… is my mum alive?"
Death decided to take it from her as Hunson seemed to be struggling. "Yes she's alive, the last few horsemen I spoke to remember her being in their worlds. The last world to fall was Lumen's and the portal that brought him here is the same portal that she travelled through. It's possible she's already been here for over a year."
"Wait what do you mean the same portal?" Lumen asked Death.
"Well sort of the same, the spell that was cast to summon you was never meant to work it was just at that time someone had weakened the borders between the two worlds as it fell into ruin. I later found out that the horseman of that world had left his mark on you meaning you had already died in your world and he had used the chance made by the weakened barrier to throw you threw as a hope for the next world."
"Wait so I was already dead?" Lumen quizzed the deathless being.
"Yes you were that's why you don't remember anything as you lose your memory at Death in the world you were in. It was a way of that horseman controlling the many dead that flowed into his dimension before the greater evil consumed that too… as to your question Princess Bubblegum, if we had thought you could do anything we would have told you but what do you think you can achieve that I, the lord of death, Hunson, the lord of evil and the Lich, the death of humanity could not achieve in 1000 years."
Bonnie didn't know what to say so just stood quietly waiting for someone to speak.
"What does this have to do with Leaden's body?" Lumen then asked.
"The Lich died within him, he contained the last fragment of Evil within our world that the greater evil seeks… We need to take Leaden's body and bury it in a place where the being can never get to." Death replied.
Everyone in the group went to speak again but Lumen stopped them again.
"You may take him… He would shun me now if I refused to help you but I want to know something, where is Marceline's mother."
A wind crept into the room and a portal ripped open on the wall next to them. Stepping out from the portal were 9 people.
First to step out was a girl in a tight light blue top with a bunny eared hoodie, she wore a knee length black skirt. She also wore white tights that went up to her knees and black shoes. She had bright blonde hair that was hanging freely from her head and also had stud in her ear, two bracelets and a red backpack. She was shortly followed by a light cream and white cat.
The rest were a crazy queen with long white hair and a dark blue dress, an attractive looking guy with auburn hair and stylish glasses. A prince with pink hair and smelled of gumballs. A floating guy with a check shirt and a half axe bass. The last two was a fiery guy with a red Mohawk and someone that looked oddly enough like BMO.
Finally as if walking separately from the group a woman stepped out of the portal letting it close behind her. She was the tallest of the group and was very beautiful; she had a red tint to her eyes and long raven coloured hair that reached her back. She wore a red dress that went down to her knees with a black collar necklace. She had black stockings and her skin was that of a grey hue. The moment she stepped out two pairs of eyes were set firmly on her.
"Mum…"
"Faith?..."
If you haven't guessed who our 9 people are I'm going to have to burst your bubble. It's (In order) Fionna, Cake, Ice Queen, Benny (Betty Genderbend), Prince Bubblegum, Marshal Lee, Flame Prince and BMO (Male Edition - will be covered). The final appearance was from Faith Abadeer... Marceline's long lost mother who has outrun pure evil and destruction for 1000 years in order to protect her family. How will Marceline react? How will Hunson? What will the difference be from the world of Aaa that never knew Lumen (or Lumenesence - Genderbender name) as Lumen only exists in Ooo and so we still have a crazy Simone, a distraught Benny and a Nuclear Flame Prince... What else will be different... Hmm ;)