With their newfound friendship, or more precisely their newly rekindled friendship, Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda began spending more time together in the weeks that followed their dungeon raid, going on many more adventures together as well as inviting each other to respective homes to hang out on a regular basis. The two-story home of Susan and Frieda that they had built for themselves next to a lake in the Forest of Trees had a certain charm to it that greatly reminded Finn and Jake of their own home, it being haphazardly constructed from various pieces of mismatched building materials much like theirs had been. On this particular night, Finn and Jake had come over to their house for a sleepover, having brought several movies with them to watch on BMO.
"That was the best movie trilogy ever!" said Susan, having just finished the movie. "Pre-Mushroom War movies were really something else."
"I know!" said Frieda. "I didn't expect that twist in the third one. To think that they were actually long-lost siblings whole time. It's a good thing they found out sooner rather than later, because it would have been really awkward if they ended up falling in love."
"Jake and I used to watch those movies all the time when we were kids." said Finn. "We would always try to reenact the battle scenes and pretend we were fighting each other with laser swords."
"I liked being the princess." said BMO, ejecting the video tape from his body. "Together we would save the galaxy."
"Let's bring over a scary movie next time." said Jake. "How about the one with the killer clown?"
"Does it have to be that one?" asked Finn. "I hate clowns."
"You hate clowns?" asked Jake. "Since when?"
"Since you brought all those clown nurses over to the tree house that one time." said Finn. "I'm still traumatized from that."
"What, you're scared of clowns now?" asked Jake. "How can anyone be afraid of clowns? That's so dumb."
"Not as dumb as Susan being afraid of shadow people." said Frieda. "You should have seen the prank I pulled on her the other day when I dressed up as one and woke her up in the middle of the night. She was so scared she started throwing stuff at me from across the room."
"Sounds like something Jake would do." said Finn, laughing. "He pulls mean pranks like that on me all the time."
"That wasn't funny Frieda!" said Susan, turning red with embarrassment as she remembered the incident. "Shadow people are scary!"
"Shadow people aren't real Susan." said Frieda, sighing. "They're just an urban legend."
"They are real!" said Susan. "They'll grab when you least expect it and drag you away into the darkness. I still have nightmares about them from when I was living in the underground."
"Anyways, it's getting kind of late." said Frieda. "I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight Frieda." said Susan. "We'll try to keep the noise down."
After Frieda went upstairs to her bedroom, Finn, Jake, Susan, and BMO continued goofing off in the living room below. One by one however they all grew tired as well, BMO shutting down for the night to recharge and Jake falling asleep on the couch in the living room, leaving Finn and Susan as the only ones still awake. As Finn tried to fall asleep in his sleeping bag, Susan sat down on the floor beside the pillow fort they made in the living room and began staring off into space.
"Can't fall asleep?" asked Finn, going over to Susan and sitting down next to her. "Is it because you're thinking about shadow people now?"
"No, it just takes me a while to fall asleep sometimes, especially on nights like these when I'm so full of energy." said Susan "I'm a bit of a night owl."
"Same here." said Finn. "Whenever I have trouble sleeping, I usually play some BMO until I feel tired. It seems we both have similar sleeping habits. Who knows, maybe we're actually long lost siblings, just like in that movie."
"That's probably not too far from the truth." said Susan, laughing at Finn's joke. "Being that we're kind of from the same family."
"Same family?" asked Finn, surprised to hear this. "Are you saying we're related?"
"You could say that." said Susan. "The humans on Founders Island originally started out as small group of settlers, so it's not surprising that a lot of their descendants would end up sharing the same blood. In fact, you're mom and I are actually distant cousins; first cousins once removed to be exact."
"That explains a lot." said Finn. "When I first met you, I felt an odd connection between us, like there was something vaguely familiar about you."
"That's probably because I used to come visit your mom all the time when you were a baby." said Susan. "You were all she would talk about. She even showed me that weird birthmark on your butt. You were a really chubby baby, you know that? Since I never had any siblings, I liked pretending I was your big sister. That's why I was the one Dr. Gross sent after you when you went missing."
"Is that how you ended up in Ooo?" asked Finn, curious to know more. "I'm guessing something must have gone wrong, because when Jake and I found you, you were living with all those fish people in the underground and didn't remember anything."
"It took me a while, but I finally remember what happened back then." said Susan. "Wanna know? You were there too."
"A baby story about me?" asked Finn, sounding excited. "Do tell."
Finn huddled closer to Susan, eager to learn more about his origins and find out what had caused the loss of her memories after being sent to rescue him as a baby.
When Dr. Gross had sent out Kara to retrieve the infant Finn and his father Martin Mertens, she immediately boarded one of the advanced flying craft stationed on Founders Island and took off to sea, searching for any signs of the raft that they had been spotted leaving on. In order to locate them, Kara would have to travel past the Guardian and out into the open ocean, and as her ship approached the Guardian her implant began transmitting a special pass code, one that all the Seekers had inside their implants that could be used in cases of emergencies such as these to notify the Guardian not to attack them. After receiving her pass code, a text message appeared on the computer screen inside her ship telling her that the Guardian had acknowledged her request.
PASS CODE RECEIVED. TALOS UNIT ZERO STANDING DOWN.
After granting her permission to pass, Kara continued on with her search for Finn and Martin, but after finding no trace of them around the other islands she then tried using the navigation computer on her ship to calculate the most likely direction their raft could gone in based on ocean currents and wind direction. After the computer plotted out the most likely trajectory, Kara followed it for some time until it eventually took her to the edge of a large landmass, which the map labeled as the Mainland. Flying in for a closer look, Kara did her best to avoid the numerous rocky cliffs surrounding the shore, which was no simple task due to the low nighttime visibility. As she snaked her way around two narrow rocky pillars, a large green serpent-like creature suddenly emerged from the dark waters below and stopped right in front of her ship.
"Hi there!" said the green sea creature, enthusiastically. "I've never seen you around here before. My name's Whipple. Who are you?"
The sudden appearance of this strange creature caught Kara by surprise, forcing her swerve away at the last second to avoid hitting it. As a result of this, she ended up flying into the gap between the two narrow rocky pillars she had tried to avoid earlier, clipping off both wings of the ship.
"That didn't sound good." said Kara, hearing a metallic scraping sound as the craft began spiraling out of control and plummeting towards the beach. "What on Earth was that thing?"
Pulling up on the controls to straighten out her descent, Kara braced for a crash landing as the ship scraped up against the ground and was shredded to pieces. When it finally came to a stop, Kara emerged from the smoking cockpit onto the sandy beach to assess the damage.
"So much for this thing." said Kara, sighing. "Frieda was always the better pilot. Wait a minute... who's Frieda?"
Kara stopped for a moment and realized that there seemed to be a sizable gap missing from her memories which she could not recall. Brushing the feeling aside, she decided to make camp for the night in the wreckage of her ship, it being too dark for her to continue the search.
When morning finally arrived, Kara continued her search for Finn and Martin on foot, starting at the mouth of a nearby river that emptied out into the ocean and following it inland. This eventually took her deep into a forest, where she found the broken remains of a raft on the river banks, and a baby laying there along with a teddy bear and bread stick wand.
"There you are!" said Kara, happily running towards the baby. "Finn!"
As Kara approached the baby, a hungry bear emerged from the forest and growled at her, having set its sights on Finn as its next meal.
"I don't think so!" said Kara, undeterred. "I didn't come all this way just for Finn to be turned into bear poop."
Kara ran straight at the bear and punched it in the face, causing it to back away somewhat, but seeing that it still refused to leave Kara then began throwing pieces of debris and logs at it, her unnatural strength finally scaring it off. As the bear fled, one of the logs that Kara had thrown hit a nearby tree and broke it, the fearsome display of strength being witnessed by two people who happened to be passing by at the time, Forest Wizard and a small green plant-like girl.
"Daddy, what is that thing?" asked the girl, holding onto Forest Wizard's robe and pointing towards Kara. "I've never seen a beast like that before."
"I don't know Diana." said Forest Wizard, taking the girl by the hand and leading her away. "It looks like some kind of angry gorilla. We'd best get out of here."
As the father and daughter fled, Kara made her way back to Finn, who was now crying because of the terrifying experience.
"Shh, don't cry Finn." said Kara, picking up the baby Finn. "You're big sister Kara is here to protect you now."
Recognizing the familiar face of Kara, Finn calmed down and stopped his crying, her presence reassuring him.
"You've gotten a lot heavier since the last time I saw you." said Kara, lifting Finn up into the air. "What has Dr. Minerva been feeding you? I'll have to ask her when we get back. Since my ship is all busted up, all we can do is just sit here and wait for rescue. I'm sure they'll send someone to come get us, eventually..."
Little did Kara know, nobody would be coming to rescue them, as this was around the same time that Dr. Gross would accidentally release a deadly virus which would decimate a majority of the humans on Founders Island, a disaster which they would remain blissfully unaware of.
As the days went by, Kara and the infant Finn would grow very attached to each other, doing their best to survive in the wilderness of Ooo while they waited for rescue. Not only did Finn have Kara to keep him company, but he also had his favorite teddy bear, but unfortunately for him it was now beginning to deteriorate due to all the damage it had sustained during its rough voyage.
"Oh no, it looks like Mr. Bear is falling apart." said Kara, picking up the worn and tattered teddy bear. "Maybe your mom can fix him when we get home."
As Kara tried to push the stuffing back into its body, the head fell off, causing Finn to start crying again.
"Or not..." said Kara, now trying to stick its head back on. "No, don't cry Finn. Here, I've got an idea..."
Kara removed the stuffing from inside the head and made a hole in its face, after which she put the remaining piece onto Finn's head.
"There, now it's a hat." said Kara. "Mr. Bear may be gone, but at least this way the two of you will always be together. It even has your name on it."
Feeling how warm and snug the hat was, Finn ceased his crying, the hat giving him a sense of comfort and safety knowing that his stuffed animal companion would continue to be with him in spirit.
"I'm feeling extra creative today." said Kara, seeing inspiration in the forest around her. "Let's see what else I can make around here."
Spotting a nearby tree, Kara broke off a dead branch from it began carving it with a sharp piece of metal she had salvaged from the wreckage of her ship, and as she did she began to sing.
Here you are baby Finn, cast away from your home
Past mighty Talos did you drift, far out into the deep blue sea.
From the islands we both came, and now here we both still roam
Where is your daddy, and why did he flee?
Once Kara was done carving the branch, the result was a crudely-made wooden flute, which she then used to play a soothing melody for Finn that put him to sleep on the bed of leaves she had made for him.
"It's not a masterpiece, but it's something." said Kara, appreciating her shoddy craftsmanship. "Frieda taught me how to make these, though hers always turned out way better. She learned how to do it from one of her shop classes."
Upon saying Frieda's name again, Kara was overcome by a sense of sadness and regret that she could not explain. That night as Kara slept curled up beside the infant Finn to keep him warm, she wondered why the name Frieda kept popping up in her memories and what its significance could be.
Several weeks had now gone by for Kara and the infant Finn, yet nobody had come to rescue them. The two now lived in a makeshift camp in the woods that Kara had created from salvaged pieces of her ship, and the reality was slowly starting to sink in for her that this would likely be their home for the foreseeable future. Even so, Kara had grown quite accustomed to their new lifestyle, finding the experience of living in the wilderness to be somewhat liberating. Although their living conditions were not what she was used to on Founders Island, Kara had managed to adapt and make due, now using leaves as diapers for Finn after they had run out. Food on the other hand would soon become an issue, as the battery for bread stick wand she had found with Finn had finally run out.
"Eat up Finn." said Kara, splitting the final bread stick in half and sharing it with Finn. "This is our last one."
With the loss of the bread stick wand that had been their main source of food, it would now become a necessity for Kara to start foraging for more, which could prove difficult while also having to care for Finn. First and foremost though she would need to replenish their supply of drinking water, which was a relatively simple task to accomplish due to the presence of the nearby river.
"I'm going to run down to the river real quick and refill these." said Kara, picking up two large plastic jugs. "I can't carry you and these at the same time, so you'll have to stay here. Don't worry though, I'll be back before you know it. I promise."
Kara leaned over to give Finn a kiss on the forehead and left, climbing over a nearby hill to reach the banks of the river that were located on the other side. After filling the jugs with water from the river, Kara set them down and took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding landscape, it being unlike anything she had ever seen on Founders Island. It was then that she noticed an old drain pipe sticking out from one of the hills on the opposite bank which the waters of the river flowed into and disappeared. For a brief second, Kara thought she could see the figure of a woman with long black hair wearing a white dress and a blindfold over her eyes standing within the drain pipe, beckoning to Kara from the darkness to come closer before disappearing. Puzzled by this, Kara begun to wonder if perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her after being stuck in the wilderness for so long, so she dunked her head into the river to wash her face and take a quick drink. Feelingly refreshed, Kara examined her reflection in the water, which suddenly began to change and take on the appearance of a young girl wearing a dog-shaped hat.
"You betrayed me Kara!" said the girl in the reflection. "How could you! I thought we were friends!"
As the hallucination spoke to Kara a flood of memories came rushing back to her, causing her to remember everything that happened when she last saw her best friend Frieda. Dr. Gross had used the implant on her head to control her actions and force her to stop Frieda from escaping, and after that had altered her memories to make her forget about her friendship with Frieda, deeming it a distraction from her duties as a Seeker. Now that Kara had been away from Dr. Gross and the islands for so long, the brainwashing had finally begun to wear off.
"No, I didn't mean to!" said Kara, speaking to the image of Frieda. "Dr. Gross made me do it! She was controlling me!"
"I trusted you Kara, and you ratted me out!" said Frieda, crying. "Not only that, you got to leave the island and see the outside world like I always wanted to, while I'm still stuck here! Way to throw salt in the wound!"
As Kara grappled with the guilt over what she had done to her friend, she looked up and saw the same woman from before standing inside the drain pipe, once again beckoning for her to come closer before disappearing. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Kara swam over to the drain pipe for a closer look, but after taking a peek inside she saw no trace of the strange woman, instead finding what appeared to be several pool floaties clustered together in a group within the drain pipe.
"Hello?" said Kara, climbing out of the water and into the drain pipe. "Is someone here?"
Inside the drain pipe Kara could see that there was a point beyond the pool floaties where the waters of the river flowing into it seemed to drop off into a deep dark chasm. As she turned around to leave the woman appeared once again, and the shock of seeing her seemingly materialize right beside her without making a single sound nearly gave Kara a heart attack, but even more so when she finally got a closer at her. Aside from the white dress and blindfold that she wore, her entire body was pitch-black, appearing as though it were composed of an amorphous shadow-like substance that seemed to blend in with the surrounding darkness.
"What the..." said Kara, feeling her blood go cold with fear. "That's it, I'm out of here!"
No longer wanting to stick around, Kara made her way back towards the entrance of drain pipe as fast as she could, but in the process she bumped into the cluster of pool floaties she had seen earlier. Feeling them brush up against their leg, Kara looked down and noticed that the same amorphous black substance which the shadow woman was composed of seemed to be coming out from those same pool floaties and forming her body, which then liquefied and retreated back into them, leaving only her the white dress and blindfold behind. For a moment everything was silent, until the pool floaties suddenly burst open to reveal several shadowy-black masses with teeth. Now utterly terrified, Kara made a break for it, but before she reach the sunlight the shadowy creatures all swarmed her.
"Let me go!" said Kara, panicking as the creatures began dragging her back into the dark with their long spindly arms. "What are you creatures!"
Unfortunately for Kara, she had just stumbled upon the creatures known as the Lub Glubs, and this particular group had a nasty habit of luring prey into their lair by using their shadowy bodies to mimic the form of a woman. Once their prey entered their dark domain, they would then spring their trap and drag them away into the darkness to devour them, Kara having just become their latest victim. As Kara struggled to escape their grasp, she noticed that they were being pulled closer and closer to the drop-off point at the back of the drain pipe.
"No, I can't die here!" said Kara, desperately trying to reach out towards the rays of light still shining in from the outside. "I have to go back! Finn..."
Bracing herself for the fall, Kara and the Lub Glubs went over drop-off point and were sent tumbling down a large waterfall. On the way down Kara collided with some metal pipes, one of them hitting her on the head and damaging her implant, causing it to malfunction. Lucky for Kara, the violent fall had resulted in the Lub Glubs releasing their grip on her, but she was now lost and alone underground. Before passing out from the injury to her head and losing her memories, the last thing Kara saw was a group of fish-like humanoids wearing animal hats cautiously approaching her. Due to her own animal hat, these creatures known as the Hyooman Tribe would mistake her for one of their own, and so bring her unconscious body back to their village to nurse her back to health, where she would then live among them.
Back at their makeshift camp, the infant Finn eagerly awaited the arrival of his big sister Kara, but sadly for him he was waiting for someone who would never return. As the minutes slowly turned into hours, Finn quickly grew bored and restless, now wanting to go explore the surrounding area on his own. As Finn crawled away from the camp, the leaf diaper he was wearing got caught on a branch and came undone. Feeling the sudden urge to go to the bathroom, Finn squatted over the leaf diaper on the ground and made boom-boom on it. When he had finished doing his business Finn tried to stand back up, only to then fall backwards and land right in his own boom-boom, causing him to become stuck to the leaf. Frustrated by his predicament, Finn started crying, wishing that his big sister would show up already to change his diaper. Finn's cries eventually managed to attract the attention of two talking yellow dogs who happened to be passing through the area.
"Joshua, is that a baby?" asked one of the dogs, pointing towards Finn. "What's a baby doing all the way out here?"
"I don't know Margaret." said the other dog. "They say there's an angry gorilla on the loose somewhere in these woods. What if this is its baby?"
"That's no gorilla baby." said Margaret. "It doesn't have any hair on its body. Maybe something is wrong with it?"
"What do you want baby?" asked Joshua, walking over to Finn and picking him up. "Why are you crying? Margaret, this baby won't tell me what's wrong with it, and it's stuck to a leaf, and it stinks."
"Give it here Joshua." said Margaret, taking Finn from Joshua and kissing him on the forehead, which seemed to calm him down. "This baby needs love and kisses to be happy. There, see? Now it's happy."
"You just kissed a boom-boom baby, so don't expect any more sugar from me sweetheart, until we wash your dirty, dirty face." said Joshua. "So what kind of creature is this baby?"
"I don't know, but there's a tag on its hat." said Margaret, examining the name tag attached to the outside of Finn's bear hat. "It says his name is Finn."
"So it's a Finn, eh?" said Joshua, taking a closer look Finn. "Was he abandoned, or did the gorilla eat his parents?"
"What should we do with him Joshua?" asked Margaret. "The poor thing probably won't survive out here all on his own. He can't be much older than our Jake and Jermaine."
"I know, why don't we adopt him!" said Joshua, deciding this on the spur of the moment. "Look, he even comes with accessories."
Joshua picked up Finn's wooden flute and bread stick wand that were on the ground nearby, showing them to Margaret.
"I guess we have room for a third child." said Margaret. "Either way, we can't just leave him out here to die."
"Hello baby Finn." said Joshua, holding Finn up to his face. "We'll be taking you home with us. Starting today, we're your new family now."
With their minds now set on adopting Finn, Joshua and Margaret took him back to their home, and so ended the tale of how Finn and Susan came to be in Ooo.
As Susan finished telling Finn the story of how she had come to Ooo and lost her memories, he could not help but feel overjoyed, now knowing the final piece to his origins that had been missing.
"So it was you Susan..." said Finn, his eyes filled with tears. "You're the one who left me on the boom-boom leaf."
"I meant to come back for you, but then life threw me a curve ball." said Susan. "If only I hadn't lost my memories, just think of all the time we could have spent together."
"Well now we have all the time in the world." said Finn. "To think this whole time you and I were actually family."
"We may not technically be siblings, but we might as well be." said Susan. "Aside from your mom and dad, I'm probably the last living relative you have. Everyone else in our family got wiped out by the virus that hit Founders Island. The two of us being stuck on Ooo when we were actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because if we had gone back to Founders Island like we were supposed to, we probably would have died along with the rest of our family."
"Glad to have you back, big sister." said Finn, smiling. "I can still call you that, right?"
"If it makes you happy, then sure." said Susan, smiling. "I'll be your big sister for as long as you want."
"Then how does forever sound?" asked Finn, hugging Susan. "From now on, I'll always think of you as my big sister."
With both of them now fully aware of their past history together, the bond between Finn and Susan would only grow stronger. It did not take long for them to fall asleep after this, the two sleeping curled up next to each other on the floor of the living room, mirroring how they had slept in the wilderness of Ooo many years ago.
This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write, mostly because of how heartwarming it was, and because it finally reveals the last piece to Finn's origins that we were still left wondering about, which was how he ended up on the boom-boom leaf in the woods where Joshua and Margaret found him. The name of this chapter being Big Sister is sort meant to be a callback to the season six episode Little Brother, the title of this chapter being a like a reverse version of that one. This chapter also solved a small plot hole in the show, which was how Joshua and Margaret somehow knew that Finn's real name was actually Finn, because of the name tag his teddy bear which Susan turned into his signature bear hat.
Speaking of Finn's hat, Pendleton Ward once said that Finn got his hat after skinning an evil bear as a baby, though this was likely meant as a joke or hyperbole. The events of this chapter where Susan fights off that bear to save Finn and later makes his hat out of the teddy bear make this statement still ring somewhat true. As for the flute Susan made, which Joshua and Margaret found along with Finn and the bread stick wand, it is meant to be the same flute that Finn is seen using throughout the show. On the topic of music, I had envisioned that short little song that Susan sang to baby Finn while making the flute as having a similar tune to the Song of Storms from the Legend of Zelda video game series, which I felt was fitting because of all the references to the Legend of Zelda that Adventure Time has in it.
Before the Islands miniseries came out, there were all sorts of theories going around about Susan possibly being Finn's mother or maybe even his sister, but in a way Susan was kind of like both in the flashback from this chapter. Going back to the season two episode Blood Under the Skin, it had a moment that could be seen as retroactive foreshadowing to the events of this chapter, which was the scene where that large white ape-like creature mistakes Finn for its baby, referencing how Susan was mistaken for a gorilla while she was living in the woods with Finn. The season six episode Dark Purple could also be seen as foreshadowing to this portion of Finn's past, because it involves Susan going on a mission to rescue a baby, likely because it subconsciously reminded her of her original mission to save Finn and bring him back to Founders Island.
The whole backstory and relationship between Finn and Susan is actually kind of similar to the one between Superman and Supergirl from the DC comics. Much like how Susan is a distant cousin of Finn, Supergirl is the cousin of Superman, and like Supergirl she was sent out to go find her cousin when he was a baby, and as he grows up they form a sibling bond with each other. Not only that, but Susan and Supergirl also share the same first name, Kara. I doubt this was a coincidence, but rather a subtle nod by the writers of Adventure Time hinting that Finn and Susan might actually be cousins. Finn and Susan may not be actual siblings in this story, but they are still related by blood. The thing that Susan mentions in this chapter about how a lot of the humans on Founders Island are related by blood due to being descended from a small group of settlers is similar to a real-life example in the country of Iceland. In Iceland, most of the population there is actually descended from a small group of settlers that came to the island several centuries ago, and as a result a large portion of the present day population now shares some small genetic relation to each other.
On a final note, this chapter also reveals that the name of the Guardian that protects Founders Island is actually Talos, which is a reference to a figure from Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant bronze automaton, basically a robot, which circled the seas surrounding the island of Crete three times a time, his job being to guard it from pirates and raiders, as well as to protect the maiden Europa who lived there. In other versions of his story, Talos was also the last member of an ancient race of metallic beings known as the bronze race. The Guardian in Adventure Time seems like it could be a reference to Talos, so I thought it would be fitting to make that his actual name.