Finn woke up to the feeling of something hard landing next to him, and upon opening his eyes found that it was BMO jumping up and down on his bed.

"BMO, what are you doing?" asked Finn, annoyed at being woken up like this.

"Rise and shine sleepy head." said BMO. "Today is your special day."

"Special day?" asked Finn. "What's special about it?

"You'll see." said BMO, smiling. "Get dressed and follow me."

Humoring BMO, Finn got out of bed and washed up, after which he put on a new set of clothes.

"Okay, I'm ready." said Finn.

"Now close your eyes." said BMO. "No peeking."

"I'm closing them." said Finn, closing his eyes.

BMO took Finn by the hand and led him downstairs, going out the front door and into the yard.

"You can open them now." said BMO.

Opening his eyes, Finn found himself in front of the tree that had once been Fern, around which several of his friends and loved ones from across Ooo had gathered, such as Jake, Marceline, Baby Gumdrop, Lumpy Space Princess, Lady Rainicorn, Huntress Wizard, Flame Princess, Neptr, and Shelby. A large table with food had been set up underneath the tree, complete with a birthday cake and two candles that spelled out the number eighteen.

"Happy Birthday Finn!" said the group, showering him with confetti.

"Sang-il chook-ha-hae." said Lady Rainicorn, wishing him the same.

"Guys, what is this?" asked Finn, confused.

"It's your birthday dude." said Jake.

"No it's not." said Finn. "Unless I somehow time traveled in my sleep, it hasn't even been a full year since my last birthday."

"What we've been celebrating as your birthday up until now was just the day mom and dad found you as a baby." said Jake. "This one is the real deal."

"Real deal?" asked Finn, still not following. "Were all my other birthdays just fake then?"

"We'll let the mama bear that told us explain it to you." said Jake. "Show him BMO."

BMO's screen then lit up and began to play a video recording of Finn's biological mother Minerva Campbell.

"Hi Finn, it's your mom." said the recording of Minerva. "I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! There's so much I didn't get to tell you before you left Founders Island, so at the very least I wanted to let you know when your birthday is. I left this prerecorded message inside your little gadget and set it to activate on the big day. If you're seeing this message at its proper time, then that means today is the day you were born. It isn't just any birthday either. You're eighteen years old now! Having lived in that crazy world you call Ooo, it might seem like just another number to you, but in our human culture on Founder's Island that's the age where someone is finally considered an adult. You're my little man now. Bye, I love you."

"I'm an adult now..." said Finn, not sure how to feel about this revelation.

"BMO was digging through his data banks the other day and stumbled across that message from your mom." said Jake. "She must have put it in there before we left the island. Lucky we found it when we did, because knowing in advance gave us to time to gather everyone we could on such short notice and plan this surprise party for our two birthday boys."

"Birthday boys?" asked Finn, looking around. "Is it also someone else's birthday today?"

"It's Fern's birthday too." said Huntress Wizard, gesturing to the tree. "He is you after all, so it makes sense that the two of you would share the same birthday."

"Oh yeah, how could I forget." said Finn. "Even though he's a tree now, he's still like my twin brother."

"Fern told me some stories about your previous birthdays." said Huntress Wizard. "Even about the really embarrassing thing that happened at your tenth birthday. You know, the one where you..."

"Dang it Fern, why did you tell her that!" said Finn, turning red with embarrassment as he cut her off to prevent her from saying it out loud. "For a tree you sure like to talk a lot..."

"You'd be surprised by how much trees actually have to say." said Huntress Wizard. "If you heard even half the things I've heard them say, you wouldn't be able to sleep at night. A lot of them love to talk smack about people, especially those birch trees..."

"I really wanted to do a prank this time, but Huntress Wizard wouldn't let me." said Jake. "She followed me around the whole time just to make sure I wouldn't."

"This birthday is supposed to be Finn's rite of passage into adulthood." said Huntress Wizard. "I couldn't let you disgrace such a scared event with your childish tricks."

"At least nobody disappeared on me this time, well... except for one person." said Finn, watching as Gumdrop sat in her high-chair blowing pink spit bubbles from her mouth. "I wish Bonnie could be here to see this, but at least I have the next best thing."

"Go ahead and open your presents Finn." said Jake. "We all got you something."

One by one Finn unwrapped his gifts, eventually reaching the one from Huntress Wizard and finding a bow and quiver of arrows inside.

"A bow and arrow!" said Finn, excited by the gift. "I've always wanted to try archery."

"I figured this time I'd get you something more practical." said Huntress Wizard. "I could teach you sometime if you'd like."

"Open my gift now." said Marceline. "I got you something useful too."

Finn proceeded to open the gift from Marceline, finding a pack of socks inside.

"Yes, socks!" said Finn, seemingly overjoyed by the simple gift. "They're just what I needed."

"I didn't think you'd be that into it." said Marceline, surprised by his reaction. "All your socks seemed to be falling apart, so I thought I'd get you some new ones."

"Thanks for gifts everyone." said Finn, having opened the last of them. "It means a lot to me."

"You're always putting your butt on the line for all of us, so we wanted to do something special for you." said Marceline. "It's our way of cheering you up after all the junk you've been through lately. Compared to yours, my eighteenth birthday sucked. It was literally the day after I got turned into a vampire, so that put a damper on things."

"You're finally an adult buddy." said Jake, patting Finn on the back. "Now you can do all things we were never allowed to do as kids, like going to see R-rated movies!"

"Welcome to the club Finn." said Marceline. "You're one of us now."

"I might as well enjoy my teen years while they last." said Flame Princess, sighing. "It won't be long before I turn eighteen too."

"Hey BMO, bring up that message from my mom." said Finn. "I want to show Fern."

Finn sat down next to the tree with BMO and replayed the message, watching it over and over again, until he had seen it nearly ten times.

"So that's your mom huh?" asked Marceline, sitting down next to Finn. "Want to see mine? BMO, show him the picture we found."

BMO searched through his files and brought up the image of Marceline's mother they had found on her old USB drive, and as he did Jake, Flame Princess, and Huntress Wizard gathered to see it as well.

"Oh wow." said Finn, looking at the picture. "She's really pretty."

"Is that you as a kid Marceline?" asked Flame Princess, pointing to the little girl in the picture.

"It was." said Marceline. "It's from when we went to the beach."

"What's your mom like Phoebe?" asked Finn. "I don't think I've ever heard you mention her before."

"Oh, I don't have a mom." said Flame Princess, saying it bluntly. "It was always just my dad."

"Sorry to hear that..." said Finn, feeling bad now. "How did she die?"

"Wait no, it's not like that Finn." said Flame Princess, seeing that Finn had misunderstood. "It's not that my mom died. I literally don't have a mom, like at all. I came from my dad's flames, just like all my other siblings did. A flame person only has one parent, either a mom or a dad depending on whose flames they come from."

"Doesn't that kind of suck though?" asked Finn. "Not knowing what it's like to have a mom?"

"I don't have a mom either." said Huntress Wizard, chiming in. "My dad says I sprouted from a seed he planted in his garden."

"Are you sure you didn't come from a seed of a different kind?" asked Jake. "Your dad was probably just being coy. When Finn was little, our mom and dad used to tell him he came out of a cabbage."

"Is your dad cool?" asked Finn, curious to know more. "This is the first time you've said anything about him."

"He's a wizard, like me." said Huntress Wizard. "You'd never guess we're related though, because we look nothing alike."

"He might even be someone I've met before." Finn, trying to imagine what Huntress Wizard's father could possibly look like. "Is he a good dad?"

"I wouldn't call him perfect, but he's not a terrible father either." said Huntress Wizard, trying to find the best way to describe him. "He may act foolish sometimes, but I still love him. He's the only family I've ever known."

"Oh, that must be nice..." said Finn, feeling a bit jealous.

Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Flame Princess all quietly stared at Huntress Wizard, as though she were the odd one out in the group.

"What, did I say something weird?" asked Huntress Wizard, not sure why they looking at her like this. "No daddy issues here."

The remark caused everyone to burst out laughing, finding the irony of the situation hilarious. As noon approached the party began to wrap up, and one by one Finn's friends said their goodbyes and left.

"I'm going to head home and rest." said Flame Princess, touching the red gem on her forehead. "I have this splitting headache right now. I've been getting them ever since that battle with Golb. They happen at the most random times too."

"Bye Phoebe." said Finn, waving goodbye to her as she left. "I hope you feel better."

"I'll be taking my leave as well." said Huntress Wizard. "I made plans with my father to help him restore the parts of the forest that were destroyed in Crimson King's battle with Ice King."

"Can't you stay a little longer?" asked Finn, sad to see her go too. "You're hardly ever around. It feels like we only get to hang out like this once in a blue moon."

"I can't afford to stay idle for too long." said Huntress Wizard. "I'm the protector of the forest, and right now the forest needs me."

"See you next time then." said Finn, sighing. "Whenever that is..."

"Bye Finn." said Huntress Wizard. "And you too Fern."

"This was fun, but I should probably get going too." said Marceline. "The clouds are about to clear up, so I can't stay out in the open like this."

"Oh yeah, whatever happened with that trail you followed to the Ice Kingdom the other day?" asked Finn, remembering the event. "Did you ever find out what made it?"

"Yeah, I did." said Marceline. "Just be careful next time you go to the Ice Kingdom."

"I'll keep that in mind." said Finn. "Bye Marcy."

"See you around birthday boy." said Marceline, leaning over to give Finn a kiss on the cheek. "I should probably go see how Simon is doing with his new setup."

"An-nyeong." said Lady Rainicorn, hugging Jake. "Nae-il boa-yo."

"Bye Lady." said Jake, hugging her back. "I'll see you too."

After Marceline and Lady Rainicorn had left, the only people remaining there were Finn, Jake, BMO, Neptr, Shelby, and Lumpy Space Princess, who began to clean up.

"So how does it feel being an adult?" asked Jake. "You're officially a man now."

"I don't feel any different." said Finn. "When I was a kid, I used to think that some kind of magical transformation would happen, but I still feel like the same person as before."

"Yeah, that sounds about right for early adulthood." said Jake. "When you get to late adulthood though, that's when you start to feel a little dead inside."

"Wait, what?" asked Finn, Jake's words causing him to pause for a moment.

"Oh nothing." said Jake, causally sweeping the comment aside. "So what else do you want to do today birthday boy?"

"How about an adventure?" said Finn. "This birthday wouldn't be complete without one."

"Neptr just used up the last of our flour to make your birthday cake, so we'll need to go buy more." said Jake. "How does an adventure to the grocery store sound?"

"Sounds good to me." said Finn. "We'll head to the Breakfast Kingdom. They always have the best ingredients."

"Want to bring Fern along?" asked Jake, gesturing to the Finn Sword impaled in the tree. "Take the Finn Sword. It'll be like he's right there with us."

"I don't know if that's a good idea Jake." said Finn. "There's a reason I haven't tried it yet. I'm scared of what might happen. What if I pull it out and Fern dies because he can't stay separated from the tree? I don't want to risk it."

"That's a good point actually." said Jake, not having thought of that. "How about someone else then?"

"Hey LSP, want to come shopping with us?" asked Finn, seeing that Lumpy Space Princess had just finished cleaning up. "It'll be fun."

"Sure, why not." said Lumpy Space Princess, floating over to them with Gumdrop in her arms. "Here, I don't know where this goes."

"Hey Gumdrop." said Finn, taking Gumdrop from Lumpy Space Princess. "You want to come too? It'll be your first adventure."

Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess set off with Gumdrop to the Breakfast Kingdom, leaving BMO, Neptr and Shelby to watch over the house while they were gone.

Making their way over to the Breakfast Kingdom, Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess entered one of many grocery stores there and began shopping for what they would need, pushing Gumdrop along in their cart as they did, but after leaving the store they quickly became lost.

"Man, that stupid roundabout thing sent us in the wrong direction." said Finn, clueless on where to go. "I can't find the exit."

"I swear, it's like this place changes every time we come here." said Jake. "I remember when it used to be just a hole in the ground. For one of the newer kingdoms, the Breakfast Kingdom sure grows pretty fast."

"It's because Breakfast Princess keeps adding new stuff." said Lumpy Space Princess. "Let's just ask someone for directions already."

"How about that guy over there?" said Jake, pointing to a man tending to a nearby orange tree.

"Hey mister, do you know the way out from here?" asked Finn, approaching the man. "We're a little lost."

"Just follow that path over there." said the man, pointing them towards the direction of the exit. "It'll take you right to the city gates."

Getting a good look at the man now, Finn and Jake could not help but feel that they recognized him from somewhere, his most notable feature being his short brown hair and the three pieces of what appeared to be rock candy sticking out from the top of his head.

"Hey, you look familiar." said Finn. "Have we met before?"

"Don't you remember me Finn?" asked the man. "It's me, Braco."

"Braco?" said Finn, surprised see the former suitor of Princess Bubblegum. "Last time we saw you, you got crazy messed up by some demonic magic. How are you back to normal?"

"I don't really know myself." said Braco. "Some weird purple stuff just came out of the sky one day and turned me back to normal."

"That must have been LSP's anti-elemental magic." said Finn, remembering how Lumpy Space Princess had solved the elemental crisis. "Everything her lumps touched got reverted back to its original state. In some cases it worked a little too well."

"Oh, so that was you?" said Braco. "I didn't know you could do that LSP."

"You're welcome." said Lumpy Space Princess, glancing up at him from her phone.

"That wasn't the only thing that got reverted." said Braco, pulling out a green orb from his pocket. "Whatever she did, it must have messed with the magic inside the soul stone Princess Bubblegum used to make the P-Bot. As soon as those lumps touched her, she came apart at the seams. This is all that's left of her now..."

"Look on the bright side, at least you're free from that demonic curse." said Finn. "Trust me, those aren't easy to get rid of."

"Yeah, you've got a fresh start now." said Jake. "So how did you end up working here?"

"Moving on after losing her was tough." said Braco. "I wandered aimlessly, looking for a new purpose in life. Eventually I ended up here in the Breakfast Kingdom. One thing led to another, and before I knew it I'm living here with Dorothy."

"Who's Dorothy?" asked Finn, not recognizing the name. "Is she your boss?"

"You probably know her as Breakfast Princess." said Braco. "Dorothy is her real name. She gave me a place to stay, and in return I started working for her. It's sort of like what you used to do for Princess Bubblegum."

"Oh, so you're her champion now." said Finn, understanding.

"You could say that..." said Braco.

"Man, how can you stand being around her all day?" asked Jake. "Breakfast Princess is okay in small doses, but that uptight personality of hers must get really annoying after a while."

"I don't mind really." said Braco. "She's not that bad once you get to know her. You just have to break through her shell first."

"Oh I see what's going on here..." said Jake, a smile coming to his face. "You've fallen for her, haven't you? How else can you put up with that?"

"No I haven't." said Braco, beginning to blush. "We're just friends. Well, maybe a little more than that..."

"I can see it all over you Braco." said Finn. "You like her. I've been there too with Princess Bubblegum."

"So what if I do?" asked Braco, finally admitting it. "How could I not? She's done so much for me. She took me in when I had nowhere else to go. She gave me a new purpose in life. Before now, I had spent my entire life blindly following the path my father and grandfather had set out for me, but she finally set me free from it."

"Well I think this place suits you nicely." said Finn, recalling how his own life had been given purpose by Bubblegum. "You're better off here than you were in the Candy Kingdom."

"By the way, did you know that today is Finn's birthday?" said Jake, changing the subject. "He turned eighteen, which means he's officially an adult now."

"Well happy birthday Finn." said Braco. "We should hang out sometime."

"Sure." said Finn. "We can do it next time we come here."

"Not to be rude or anything Braco, but you could really use a breath mint." said Jake, taking a few steps back. "You've got some serious egg breath."

"Oh, that must be from this morning." said Braco. "I got really hungry and ate part of Dorothy's dress. It tasted really good, but she scolded me for it afterwards."

"Is that the only part of her you've been eating..." asked Jake, giggling like an immature school boy with his mind in the gutter.

"Come on Jake, be polite." said Finn, elbowing Jake in the ribs. "Anyway, see you Braco. It was nice meeting you again."

After Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess had left, Braco continued his task of tending to the orange trees. As he did, Breakfast Princess silently approached him from behind, her dress still missing a large chunk from it.

"Hey there banana pop." said Breakfast Princess, hugging him from behind. "I need your help with something. My little sisters spilled a bunch of fruit juice in the reception hall. We have to clean it up before those diplomats from the Wildberry Kingdom arrive. We don't want them to see it and get the wrong impression..."

"I'll be right there Dorothy." said Braco, smiling and leaving with her.

As Finn rode back home on Jake's back, he took a moment to look through their groceries and make sure they had not missed anything.

"Looks like that's everything." said Finn, checking off the last item from their list. "Man, who would have thought Braco and Breakfast Princess would ever be a thing. It's such an odd pairing, but something about it just meshes so well. Is it because bananas are a breakfast food too?"

"Did you seriously not know?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "They've been dating for like a year now."

"I didn't." said Finn. "What else have I missed?"

"That's what happens when you stay inside moping all day." said Jake. "The world keeps on spinning without you."

"Going to the grocery store was kind of a lame adventure." said Finn, still craving more. "Where else can we go today?"

"How about the Ice Kingdom?" said Jake. "We haven't been there in a while. Let's go see what Simon is up to."

"Oh yeah, Simon's a human too." said Finn. "If anyone can appreciate the significance of an eighteenth birthday, it's him."

Finn and Jake hurried back home with Lumpy Space Princess and Gumdrop, eager to drop off their groceries so they could go on a new adventure to the Ice Kingdom.

Finn and Jake now found themselves trekking through the snowy landscape of the Ice Kingdom, on their way to visit their friend Simon.

"Woah, what happened here?" asked Finn, coming to the remains of Simon's destroyed cabin. "Hey Simon, are you in there?"

"Doesn't look like it." said Jake, taking a quick look inside. "All his stuff is gone too. Did he move?"

Continuing their search for Simon, they ventured deeper into the Ice Kingdom, eventually arriving at the mountain where Ice King had once lived. As they drew closer, a large bird-like creature then emerged from behind it and swooped down that them.

"That's new!" said Finn, dodging the creature's talons. "What is that thing Jake?"

"I don't know, but it sure isn't friendly." said Jake. "Run for it!"

Being knee-deep in snow slowed down their escape, allowing the creature to catch up and grab hold of them with its talons. Flying back to the top of the mountain, it then dropped them down a chute which delivered them into to an icy prison cell, the same one that Ice King had used to imprison his captured princesses.

"Well this sucks." said Finn. "Getting kidnapped by a giant bird monster is not how I wanted to spend my birthday."

Finn and Jake immediately began looking for a means of escape, but before long two people entered the room, Simon and Marceline.

"Sounds like he caught someone." said Simon. "Burglars maybe?"

"Never mind, it's just Finn and Jake." said Marceline, seeing them in the cell. "What are you two ding-dongs doing here?"

"We wanted to come see Simon." said Finn "Since Gumdrop was taking her nap, it seemed like a good time, but that thing outside snatched us up."

"That "thing" is actually Gunter, or more specifically what's left of him." said Simon, unlocking the cell door and letting them out. "He's a bit rowdy, but he seems to listen to Patience."

"I'm guessing that other trail must have been from Gunter." said Finn, putting the pieces together. "Wait, did you say Patience? As in the ice lady?"

"The one and only." said Marceline, sighing. "And Simon's new roommate..."

Entered the living room of Ice King's castle, Finn was met with the site of Patience St. Pim sitting on his chair reading a newspaper,.

"Oh great, it's you..." said Finn, not sounding happy to see her.

"Good to see you too." said Patience, sarcastically greeting him back.

"Didn't you freeze yourself again after your whole elemental plan backfired?" asked Finn. "What are you doing back here?"

"I did, but your bird friend Gunter dropped me off a cliff." said Patience. "I came crashing through the Professor's cabin."

"It's a good thing she showed up when she did." said Simon. "She was able to use her powers to stop Gunter's rampage, and actually managed to tame him. With my cabin destroyed though, I'm back to living in this old place again. Seems you can take the ice out of the king, but you can't take the king out of the ice."

"So what are you up to now Patience?" asked Finn, remaining suspicious of her. "You better not try any crazy elemental stuff again."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to." said Patience. "Two of the elementals are dead now, so whatever plans I might have had for them are no longer possible, at least not in this era. When an elemental dies, it can take a while before they're reborn into their next incarnation. Anywhere from a few decades to a few centuries. All I can really do now is wait."

"Then do us all a favor and refreeze yourself." said Finn. "It'll make things easier for both of us."

"I thought about doing that, but this era is just so fascinating I decided to stick around for a bit and study it some more." said Patience. "I've got all the time in the world, so why rush? It's not every day you get to see history in the making, especially with that Crimson King fellow and what he's been up to. As an archaeologist and historian, having a front row seat to the rise and fall of a mighty empire is like a dream come true."

"Archae-what?" asked Jake, having never heard the term before.

"Archaeologist." said Patience. "It's someone who studies ancient history and civilizations. Professor Petrikov here is an expert in the field. He's the one who taught me."

"Taught you?" asked Finn, turning to Simon. "Do you two know each other?"

"We do in fact." said Simon. "Before the Great Mushroom War, I was a professor of history and archaeology at a university, and Patience was one of my top students. I'd often bring her and the other students with me on digs across the world. She was there helping me in Scandinavia when I found the Ice Crown. We were trying to uncover the secrets behind its magical properties, and during one of our experiments she put it on. The crown didn't seem to affect her, so I thought it was safe and took it home to show my fiance Betty."

"And we all know what happened after that." said Marceline. "You put on the crown and began your slow decent into madness."

"That was the biggest mistake of my life." said Simon. "We should have just tossed that thing back into the ocean where that dock worker found it. Looking back on it now, I can only assume that the reason Patience was immune to the crown's effects was due to her being the reincarnation of its creator Urgence Evergreen, the object of the original wish made on the crown, thus making its wish magic redundant and useless on her. To think it would take Betty summoning Golb to finally set me free from it..."

"It's a shame what happened to her." said Patience, showing a hint of sorrow for Betty. "Fate sure drew us all a raw hand. You losing your mind and turning into Ice King, Betty fusing with Golb, me having to freeze myself to survive the war, and... whatever happened to Ivan I wonder? He probably died when the Mushroom Bomb went off."

"We lost so many friends." said Simon, remembering all his colleges from before the Mushroom War. "No amount of tears or wish magic can ever bring them back."

"What matters most is that you're here now." said Marceline. "Be happy that you survived, because now you have a chance at rebuilding your life and meeting new people."

"By the way Finn, Marcy told me that today is your eighteenth birthday." said Simon, shifting the topic over to something less depressing. "If I wasn't so busy moving all my stuff here, I would have come to your party. Congratulations on becoming a man. It only gets harder from here. If you ever need any advice, you can always ask me."

"Thanks Simon." said Finn. "Us fellow humans gotta stick together, right?"

"Hey, I'm human too." said Patience, reminding them of the fact. "I'm just a little blue in the face is all."

Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Simon found themselves unexpectedly laughing at Patience's joke, entering the lobby of Ice King's castle where the monstrous Gunter was now resting on the floor with Turtle Princess.

"Did you really tame Gunter with your ice powers?" asked Finn, impressed. "You've basically got a giant bird monster at your beck and call now."

"I wouldn't say he's completely tame." said Patience. "He's still got a bit of a wild side to him. As you saw earlier, I've been training him to act as our security system."

"Oh my sweet prince." said Turtle Princess, tearfully petting Gunter's head. "What has Crimson King done to you?"

"That's what I'd like to know too." said Patience, going over to examine Gunter. "For an artifact as powerful as the Ice Crown to have been damaged like this, it would have taken something equally powerful, if not more."

"It must have been that new sword Crimson King has." said Finn. "He called it the Wind Sword. Apparently, when he cut Gunter with it during their battle, it literally split him into two separate beings, Orgalorg and this "ice thing"."

"Hold on, did you say Wind Sword?" asked Patience. "As in THE Wind Sword?"

"You've heard of it before?" asked Finn.

"Of course!" said Simon. "Much like the Ice Crown, the Wind Sword is another ancient artifact with immense magic power. It was one of many we were searching for before the Mushroom War broke out, though we never found it."

"Well Crimson King did, and I don't think he'll be giving it up anytime soon." said Finn.

"I wouldn't expect him to either." said Patience. "They say the Wind Sword is very picky about its wielders. For Crimson King to be able to wield it to such a degree, he must be its type."

"What sort of powers does it have?" asked Finn, finding the topic interesting. "Swords are kind of my thing."

"As you can guess by the name, the Wind Sword's main ability is to control wind, similar to how the Ice Crown can control ice." said Simon. "Like other magical artifacts of the same ilk, the Wind Sword also possesses another ability. For the Ice Crown it was the ability to grant wishes, and for the Wind Sword, it's the ability to sever magical bonds."

"Sever magical bonds?" asked Finn. "How does it do that?"

"Its power is said to be capable of dividing the physical forms of magical beings into those of multiple lesser beings." said Simon. "According to one ancient legend, Glob himself actually used to be single entity, but one day he was cut with the Wind Sword and split into the four separate entities that he is today. I don't know much of that is true, but it matches up with what happened to Gunter. The Wind Sword severed the magical bond between Orgalorg and his penguin self, splitting them into two separate beings and downgrading Orgalorg into a lesser mortal being that could then be killed."

"You two really seem to know your stuff." said Finn. "Being an archaeologist sounds like fun."

"Ancient history has always fascinated me." said Patience. "That's why I became one."

As the conversation went on, Patience and Simon went off on a tangent where they discussed the various nuanced aspects of their field, causing Finn, Jake, and Marceline to zone out.

"Are you okay with this Marceline?" asked Finn, whispering to her. "It's because of Patience that Bonnie lost control of her powers and turned everything into candy, and now she's just chilling here with Simon like they're best buds."

"I'm not gonna lie, I didn't like it at first either." said Marceline. "But it wasn't like Patience purposely tried to kill Bonnie, so I think I'll just bury the hatchet. At least Simon has someone to keep him company now instead of him being all alone out here with nothing but Betty on mind. Even better, it's someone he already knows. Just look how happy he is. I don't think I've seen him laugh and smile like this since I was a kid. If Simon's happy, then I'm happy too."

Finn gave some thought to what Marceline had said about Patience, finally deciding to let his guard down around her.

"Maybe I was a little quick to judge you Patience." said Finn, apologizing for his earlier rude remarks. "You don't really seem like you're evil, so what were you really trying to accomplish with that whole elemental spell?"

"I guess you can say it's because I was lonely." said Patience. "I used to be friends with the previous incarnations of the elementals before they died in the Mushroom War. The thought of having them around again excited me, but their current selves didn't want anything to do with me, so I got a little desperate."

"Loneliness can make someone do crazy things." said Finn, recalling some of Ice King's previous actions. "It's not the first time I've seen it happen. You should have seen what Ice King used to do back in the day."

"You seem like a pretty chill person, no pun intended." said Jake. "If you're feeling lonely, you can hang with us. We get into all sorts of crazy shenanigans, so you'll never be bored with us around."

"You know what they say, variety is the spice of life." said Patience, accepting their offer of friendship. "It beats being stuck in a ball of ice."

"Hey Patience, you and Simon were both alive a thousand years ago, right?" asked Finn, a question popping into his mind. "You must know all about what the world was like back then, so I've been wondering, what's this Mushroom War you two keep mentioning?"

"Yeah, what was that stupid war about anyway?" asked Marceline. "I was only a kid when it happened, so I was too young to really understand what was going on."

"You want us to tell you about that?" asked Simon. "The details would probably bore you."

"I was part of that world too Simon, just like you." said Marceline. "I want to know why it was destroyed, and why my mom had to die..."

"As a fellow human, I feel like I should know my people's history." said Finn. "Who better the question of where we went wrong than two human historians?"

"Make yourselves comfortable." said Patience, sitting down on the couch with Simon. "We're going to be here for a while."

"Where to begin..." said Simon, thinking of how best to start the tale. "It all started when..."

Finn, Jake, and Marceline gathered around Simon and Patience to hear the answers to their burning questions, something which would take them the entire night.

With this chapter we finally get to see an important milestone take place in Finn's life, his eighteenth birthday. I was very surprised they never had Finn turn eighteen in the actual show. You would think that after spending so much time focused on Finn growing up that the show would end with him officially becoming an adult, but the closest we ever got to that was his seventeenth birthday in the episode Seventeen. Most people probably have their own versions of what Finn's eighteenth birthday would be like, so here is mine. The tone of this chapter was a little more light-hearted and slice of life than some of the previous ones, mostly because I wanted Finn's birthday to be a happy time for him, and what better way for him to spend it than doing something he loves, adventuring. In this chapter he went on two different adventures, one to the Breakfast Kingdom and one to the Ice Kingdom, and in the process made two new friends, Braco and Patience.

Starting with Patience, I thought it would be a cool revelation if she and Simon had known each other the past, and originally I was thinking of having them be childhood friends, but I decided to go with a student and teacher relationship instead when I realized the age difference between them. The fact that Patience is one of the few survivors from the time of the Mushroom War, like Simon, Betty, and Marceline, yet barely got to do anything in the show was a huge let down to me. We could have learned so much lore about the pre-Mushroom War world from her, but instead of letting her stick around the writers just tossed her aside once they were done with her. Personally, I never really saw Patience as a villain character, but rather someone with misguided intentions. All she really wanted was to help the elementals live up to their full potential, but she completely went about it in the wrong way.

As for Braco, yes that was indeed the same Braco from the season five episode The Suitor. I really wanted to bring him back somehow because the way that episode ended off with Braco being hideously deformed just felt so mean-spirited. They even went out of their way to give that episode its own special ending song about Braco. After what Lumpy Space Princess did in the final episode of Elements where she reverted everyone back to their original states, it got me thinking about how it might have affected other characters off-screen. Surely there must have been some people in Ooo who were just minding their own business when one day they suddenly get reverted back to an earlier state with no explanation. Just imagine the chaos and confusion it must have caused. Since Braco is technically a candy person, and thus falls under one of the four elements, Lumpy Space Princess' anti-elemental magic theoretically should have reverted him back to the state he was in before being cursed by the demon Ogdoad.

I have not seen many stories that include Braco as a character, or even mention him at all, so I decided to put him in this story and even ship him with someone new. I went with Breakfast Princess as his new love interest, mostly because her design was always my favorite of the minor princesses, and because I thought they would make a really cute couple. On the surface, having Braco show up in this chapter may seem like nothing but fanservice, but there is actually another reason for it that will tie into something relating to the origins of the Banana Guards later on. Without giving away too much, something you should keep in mind is that every little detail I put into this story serves a purpose, no matter how small, whether it be to expand the lore of Adventure Time, or foreshadow future plot points.