Chapter Twenty: The Heist, Part I
The door opened into a small room, empty, save for a shadowed silhouette in the corner. Finn readied his sword, Marceline stood at the ready beside him.
"It's been a long time, my boy," said a high pitched voice in an English accent. "It's fortunate you opened this door first. Most of the others aren't so polite, you know. Though now that I think of it, neither were you at our last meeting." The voice was only distantly familiar.
"Who are you?" Finn asked, strength and authority in his voice.
"I'd offer you another crochet doily were it not for the fact it seems we've outgrown many of those conceptions of civilization. But then, that's why you're down here in the first place, isn't it, old chap?" The voice was calm and polite, but Finn felt a slightly dark weight behind its words.
"Answer my question," Finn commanded.
"Hmm… Perhaps the fact that I was banished to this dark place indicates that you do not remember me as well as I had hoped," the voice said, sounding disappointed. "My name is Bellamy Bug. I am a recent addition to this dreadful collection."
Finn could hardly believe it. He was a mere child when he had imagined Bellamy Bug all those years ago. What was the likes of him doing in the Vault? The silhouette took a few steps forward, emerging into the torchlight. Finn saw now what it had meant about them having grown. It was much larger than its old self, around Jake's normal size. It was also no longer squishy and stubby, now more closely resembling a giant mantis. Its apparel remained somewhat ridiculous, but more serious and refined than its previous incarnation. Its monocle remained much the same, though the eyes behind it had grown less friendly. It appeared to be sporting a black waistcoat and top hat, a gold pocket watch and chain, and carrying a dress cane.
"Finn, what is that?" Marceline asked, guarded.
"Oh! Dear me, how rude of me!" Bellamy Bug exclaimed. "I am a figment of Finn's imagination. I represent his secret desire to be civilized," he explained with a small bow. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, madam."
"What are you doing in the Vault? I only put dangerous or traumatic stuff in here," Finn asked suspiciously.
"Not precisely," Bellamy Bug countered with a tip of his cane. "An idea is composed of several smaller ideas, memories, and supporting logic and emotions. Think of it like this. If I took the different parts of a sandwich apart, I no longer have a sandwich, yes? But as long as I kept the ingredients, I could put them back together and make the same sandwich again. You recently made a terrible discovery, my boy, one you could not have made without me. To ensure it was not made again, I was banished to this unsavory place." He paused for a moment to produce a handkerchief and wipe some grime off his monocle. "There are others that were brought here with me as well," he continued before lowering the tone of his voice somewhat. "I am a part of you; I know what you seek in this place. But beware, my good fellow, finding the answers you seek here may unleash some rather unpleasant issues and representations such as myself that you may not wish to deal with."
"But if I turn back now, this is just going to keep eating at me, isn't it?" Finn asked. Bellamy Bug nodded. "I knew this wasn't gonna be easy," he sighed, "But that's why I brought you, Marceline. Do you still want to do this?"
"I'm ready." Marceline affirmed with determination.
"Alright, BB. How do we get started?"
Marceline held her axe bass at the ready as Bellamy Bug pointed Finn through the next door they needed to access. Apparently the spinning room was merely the first of several levels of the labyrinthine Vault. Finn's subconscious mind would be putting up heavier resistance the further they penetrated inward, with more traps, puzzles, and security measures in place through each subsequent level. In some ways, this place was reminiscent of many of the dungeons found around Ooo, in others almost like a video game. She supposed that made sense, considering whose mind this was, after all.
She wasn't entirely sure if she had a place like this in her own mind, but she was content enough with life not to go looking for it if there were. Still, she couldn't help but feel slightly curious about the possible contents and structure of her mind. Finn had visited once, so perhaps she should ask him when this was all over.
"I got them," Finn said, carrying a bag full of small orbs, black and white scenes playing inside them on repeat. Memories…
"Jolly good!" BB, as he was now nicknamed, exclaimed. "Be careful now, we're heading for the next level down."
Marceline wasn't entirely sure what to make of this creature of Finn's imagination. Sure, it was nice that he was helping them, but could he be trusted? This was the deepest, darkest corner of Finn's mind. Anything down here would certainly be capable of lying. It was partly for that reason that Marceline stayed so close to her human friend as they headed through one of the nondescript doors down a stairwell. Partly.
It was strange. Marceline felt two sources of warmth as she floated alongside her trusted friend. By all objective measure the heat emanating from the torch was far more powerful than that being let off from the human, but his felt stronger by far. It seemed to envelop her completely, just like it had on the trip down to the Vault in the first place. These feelings puzzled the Vampire Queen. In a dream world like this, much may be random, but nothing was insignificant. Before she could contemplate further, however, the stairwell came to an end. A doorway was clearly visible ahead of them, but it seemed shrouded by some kind of misty barrier. The human adventurer approached it, then tapped it with his sword. The explosive recoil sent the adventurer staggering backwards, barely able to keep hold of his weapon.
"Yes, let me see…" BB muttered, rummaging through the sack of memories. "Ah! I believe these are the ones we need," he said, setting a handful of the orbs before Finn. Reaching down, the human picked one up and looked into it. He dropped it as though it had scorched his hands.
"No!" he exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, old chap. We need what's in there," BB said with what sounded like sincerity.
"I can't! I didn't…" the human stammered.
"Oh, but you did. You may not remember, but you built this place."
As the human and the imaginary bug continued back and forth, Marceline picked up the memory he dropped.
"This is… my house," she whispered to herself. "That's the inside of my closet." She took the other memories and examined them. There was the Candy Kingdom, a bee, a forest. None of this made sense without context. She wasn't exactly sure why she did what she did next. Perhaps it was her desire to help her friend, or perhaps it was her own curiosity, but she pressed the orb into the barrier. The whole barrier glowed as the memory folded into it, before dissipating in a majestic light.
Finn suddenly ceased his protests and gasped sharply as this occurred.
"NOOOO!" he shrieked, even his matured voice cracking with the strain. "You can't see it! I can't lose you!" he began to sob hysterically.
"It is too late. She comes," BB said softly.
Marceline looked back to the door. A figure was emerging from the mist. Its presence terrified the young hero, who fell to his knees in terror before it. What had Marceline unleashed to terrify him so? The answer began to approach with greater and greater clarity. It couldn't be…
Finn felt small and weak. As much as he wanted to run, he could not muster the energy. He knew what had emerged from the mist. It was clear why that memory had been put in the Vault. Its consequences hurt Finn worse than any broken bone or lava burn he'd felt in his life. He couldn't bear to look at it. She would hate him forever now. One of his closest friendships was about to be ruined by feelings and chance.
"Finn…" Marceline's voice was much softer than he was expecting. The shock would wear off soon enough, though. Then there would be the moment he was dreading. "Finn, it's okay." A cool hand rested gently on his shoulder. Nervously, and careful to avoid setting eyes on the figure, Finn looked into the real Marceline's eyes. They contained none of the fury he had expected to see. They seemed gentle, understanding even. He couldn't believe it. She couldn't be seeing the same thing he was expecting. He had to check to be sure. He wished he hadn't.
Before them floated another Marceline, bathed in light, and completely devoid of clothing. Her raven black hair flowed as though suspended. Every curve on her body was soft and smooth, granting her figure a sort of unmatched elegance. There was not a single blemish on her smooth gray skin. She was otherworldly. Finn couldn't help but notice, with a pang of guilt and shame, some of her less poetic features that drew him in. Her breasts were full, but perky, their dark gray nipples erect and oddly alluring compared to his own. Likewise, the smooth slit between her legs seemed to draw so much more attention than Finn thought it should have.
It had been an accident, seeing her like this. Though the encounter was brief, every detail was seared into his mind. Though he knew he was clearly not supposed to have seen what he had, as a boy he had not fully comprehended what his eyes had shown him. The chaos and shame it had brought to the hero's mind in the few minutes following was all it took for that sight to find its way into the vault. Now he was an adult, and he understood perfectly. But that had brought a new shame in and of itself. Even now, he cursed his body for the sensation he was feeling from the unleashed memory. He wished there were some way he could find the words to explain all this to the real Marceline beside him, until he noticed that she had been speaking this entire time. From what he could gather, she was saying as much already.
As silence broke over the trio, Bellamy Bug spoke.
"Not the order I'd have gone with for this, but the hardest part's out of the way now, eh, my good man?" he asked with a reassuring pat on Finn's shoulder.
"What do you mean?" Marceline asked.
"When you gave the door the memory, it was returned to Finn's memory core. Now he is being forced to process it, hence the figure before us. If all goes well, Finn will be able to move this issue to his conscious thoughts, releasing it from the Vault and negating the need for security on this door. This will allow us further passage, and for Finn to fully process the distress in time," BB explained with a smile.
"What happens if all doesn't go well?" Marceline asked more urgently, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know."
That was reassuring, Finn thought to himself sarcastically. He had ceased crying, but he was still as nervous as he'd ever felt in his life.
"So… you don't hate me?" he asked shakily.
"No, Finn. How could I ever hate you? I'm sorry you saw that before you were ready, but it was an accident, and I understand," she said with sincerity.
"But, the other stuff…" he continued.
Marceline blushed a little.
"Let's talk about that later. Don't worry, it's okay. Really," she said with calm sincerity. She turned to the apparition of her naked self. "Is that good enough for you?" The naked Marceline smiled and faded into nothingness.
"Bravo!" Bellamy Bug cheered. "We're making such excellent progress!"
"So I have to face the rest of these, too?" Finn asked, noticing that the barrier was still there.
"Yes. If you want my opinion, you should insert the memory from the woods next," he advised.
Finn knew what was in it, and didn't look forward to the experience, but nevertheless emboldened by his first success, managed to insert the sphere. The mist began to shift and form that familiar spot in the forest. The spot he'd made the worst mistake of his life.
Please Read: I've decided to split this chapter into two updates so I can get some feedback and not leave you all hanging too much. I just figured something's better than nothing at this point.
Like I said earlier, I've never written lemon before so unless I get a strong demand for it this story will contain nothing more explicit than what happened here.
Next update will finish up in the Vault and get back to the goings-on in the waking world.