Opening OST: see chapter title
Pain, loss, betrayal. These were the main feelings that ran through Phoebe's mind as the next fight started. Fists were thrown, kicks were given, but none of them were her own. The whole time she used her powers and reflexes to defend herself rather than to go on the offensive. Her arms became numb as she blocked each of Finn's strikes, but she disregarded the physical feeling. Had it been someone else in Finn's position, the elemental would have had no problem fighting back.
Her heart and mind couldn't bear the stress and anguish that flowed through her. The elemental was resilient when it came to enduring pain on a physical level, but to bear it psychologically was entirely different. The revelation upon Finn's discovery had reopened old wounds deep within Phoebe's heart. She thought she had overcome her past inner struggles when it came to him, only to be struck down mercilessly in every sense of the word.
His attacks were quick, brutal, and unrelenting. Every strike and every blow came at full force without remorse. His expression remained uncompromising with his teeth barred and his eyes narrowed, intent with ultimate goal of eliminating his target. That's all she was to him now as she struggled to survive, and Marceline was no exception.
The vampire who fought beside her on the other hand, had resolved to herself that she would fight back to disable Finn at the most. Even with that reasoning however, she still hesitated to utilize her full strength and found herself being beaten from the strikes she left undefended. She knew she could tolerate the pain felt through her body thanks to her ability to regenerate, but she feared her adversary may not exhibit the same trait. Then again, perhaps he might since he developed abilities that exceed those of a normal human being, courtesy of Princess Bubblegum.
"Finn, snap out of this!" Phoebe cried out during the fight as she was blocking and backpedalling from Finn's advance.
"Cut it out, dude! We're not your enemies!" Marcy reasoned beside her with a desperate expression as she used her speed to block some of Finn's punches that caused all three of them to stay in place momentarily. Just then, Finn countered Marcy's right hook by quickly pivoting in a low stance and delivered a left palm strike onto her stomach. The result of the impact caused the vampire to fly several feet backwards until she landed with her body rolling onto the open ground.
Phoebe intensified her flames out of fear and desperation at that moment and proceeded to absorb Finn's attacks with her biceps and forearms. "Finn!" She begged him with an upset voice. "Please, we're your friends!"
"You two were my friends," he retorted with a snarling expression. Right after he said that, the human spun with a right round-house kick and dropped his heel casting an arc wind-like projectile as a result. The miniature tornado spiraled forward diagonally at a distance of three feet which then sent Phoebe twirling backwards in midair helplessly. After she landed, the elemental struggled to get up from her back as she sported several minor cuts across her body along with a splitting headache. Before she was able to stand back on her feet however, the elemental felt her body being yanked forward from a telekinetic hold until she hovered helplessly close to Finn within striking distance, his left hand extending forward.
"You're my mission," the human spat venomously as he powered his right fist from the side with purple flames. He then coiled the following arm for delivering the final shot and the elemental couldn't help but feel devastated at his words. Her eyes were watery throughout the first few moments of the second fight, but now they bursted with magma tears. She expected to find herself obliterated from the strong plasma blast that built up, but it never came. Instead, the vampire tackled him from the blindside with a determined yell. Phoebe was dropped back onto her feet, while Marcy tumbled on the ground with the human grunting in pain. A few seconds later, Finn recovered his momentum and stopped at an arching stance. Marcy recovered in a similar fashion except that she rolled forward first, launched herself up high from a handstand, and tucked and twisted in midair until finally landing on the ground facing Finn.
"I don't believe for one second you're doing this on your own, Finn!" Marcy called out pointing at him accusingly.
The human defiantly threw his right arm to the side arguing, "I swore my life and duty to destroy the forces of evil and to protect the innocent!" He glanced at both of them menacingly and said lowly, "Even if it means opposing those who I've had emotional attachments."
Phoebe stared at him in shock and disbelief, while Marcy remained undeterred saying, "No, I refuse to believe that! You yourself learned in time that there is no real line between good or evil." She placed one palm on her chest before ushering to Phoebe, "The fact that you became friends with me and her, despite our back stories is proof in itself!"
Finn hardened his features. "It doesn't matter," he said as he balled his fists. "None of it matters anymore." He lifted his right arm and pointed at them saying, "By the order of Princess Bubblegum, you two are deemed hazardous and must be eliminated with extreme force!"
Marcy and Phoebe blocked with their arms and forearms again as Finn suddenly charged forward with a series of kicks and punches.
"What's Bonnibel got on you, huh?" Marcy asked furrowing her brows. "Wealth? Power?... Love?!" She guessed angrily in between strikes.
The candy warrior ignored her as he continued his assault.
"She's just using you!" Marcy shouted furiously as she now attempted to fight back. "You think for one second she'll stick by you the moment you donk up?!"
"Shut up," he retorted as he intensified his punches.
"You will have nothing, Finn!" She said as she matched her strength with his. "She'll just abandon you like the rest of her failed experiments and move on!" She landed a left underhand punch on his stomach before following up on the chin for the uppercut which sent him staggering backwards a little. "Your real friends would always be there for you, no matter what. We would stick by you.. I would stick by you."
"Shut. Up," he said in a more aggravated tone.
"You're just going to ignore all the times we've shared together?" Marcy asked referring to both herself and Phoebe. "You would throw it all away without so much as a second thought?! We're not the bad guys, Finn!"
"My allegiance to the Candy Kingdom goes beyond friendship," he answered with narrowed eyes. "And I have my orders..."
"Well I have a promise to keep!" She retorted as she swiftly leaped forward with a right fist extended. The blow managed to connect with Finn being struck on the chest center that sent him on the ground skidding backwards. "I told Lady Rainicorn I would bring their uncle back after all this and I WILL!"
Although Finn was briefly pushed back on the defensive, he suddenly recovered during the fight and countered one of the vampire's blows. The girl found herself widening her eyes in shock right before her face was struck down to the side from Finn's backhand. As for Phoebe, she continued to block for a few moments until she was pushed backwards from a telekinetic blast.
"I can't do this," Phoebe said with hurt in her voice as she staggered back to her feet.
Marcy grimaced as she rubbed her own chin with a closed fist. "We just need to stop him," her voice yelled across the room. "A few hits to the head should knock some sense into him!"
The elemental placed a hand to the side of her head and looked away in resignation, "No.. I just can't... Not anymore." Her flames dimmed for emphasis.
Marcy scowled at her shouting, "Open your eyes, Phoebe! This isn't the kind of person Finn would be on his own and you know it!"
"He.. killed my people," Phoebe said in a broken voice as she recalled the past battles regarding Finn.
Marcy sighed irritably, "Look, if you're going to flake out on me right now, then you really don't know Finn at all as much as I thought! You know what, fine! I'll take him myself again if I have to!" She hovered off the ground and charged towards Finn at breakneck speed.
"Listen, Finn," Marcy began as she traded blows evenly with the human. "I know we haven't seen each other in a long while, but I want you to know that I'm not giving up on you! You're one of the very few people who have made such a difference in my life that I was able to look past my faults and struggles."
The candy warrior bared his teeth to increase his overall speed.
Marcy reacted accordingly and continued, "You helped me work things out between my dad after so many years." A left punch was struck on her cheek. "You helped me bring Betty back over to Simon." A right knee was struck on Finn's stomach. "And you helped me experience joy again after being around for centuries!" She looked at him with narrowed eyes, "I know Bonnibel has a hand in all this somehow. And I'll prove it by defeating you!"
Finn suddenly adapted to Marcy's attack pattern and effortlessly blocked all her strikes. After a few seconds, he caught one of her fists and yanked her forward until she stumbled a few steps past Finn. The human then unleashed another tornado kick as he dropped his heel, sending the vampire twirling helplessly before landing onto the ground. The arc wind projectile was so intense that it left several cuts across the vampire's body.
Marcy groaned irritably as she got up and thought, "I'm starting to get annoyed with that move already, and I've only been through it once!" She was about to charge at Finn again when she realized at the last second he performed the same attack. Quickly, she entered a side-step stance as she raised her forearms to block, but grimaced when she felt the small high speed winds slightly cutting her body overall. "Ugh," she thought. "That's just great! I can't even get close to him without having that attack spammed!"
The human threw a few more tornado kicks at the vampire in an effort to tire her out, but quickly became irritated as each one was blocked. Once his frustration reached to a certain limit, he immediately stopped and charged at her again in hand-to-hand combat. The vampire was nearly caught off guard as she tried to regenerate from the sharp cutting winds, and winced when she discovered she would have no break to properly heal in between. She could still recover during combat, but the overall rate would be agonizingly slow. Her only option was at the moment was to fight through the pain.
Marcy ultilized more of her demon-vampiric strength when she realized her previous attacks fared average against the human. Normally in most instances as she recalled, Finn would have been stunned already smiling with a set of broken teeth along with having a couple bones broken if they were rough-housing. In this case however, each blow she landed only resulted in bruises with sweat flying off his forehead. He was remarkably tougher than Marcy recalled and it was starting to unnerve her about how she would have to lose more of her self-restraint in order to win. She wanted to disable him at the very least, but it seemed that outcome was becoming very unlikely by the second.
"Finn," Marcy began as they exchanged blows. "I just want you know that no matter the pain you've been forced to cause today, I forgive you."
"There is nothing to forgive," he argued slowly in absolute.
She stared at him pensively before shaking her head to herself, "You wouldn't be doing this at all in a million years, Finn. You're too much of a nice guy to go against your friends by your own choice."
"You chose to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, Marceline," the human said gravely. "And for that, you must be destroyed," he finalized as he landed a right uppercut on Marcy's chin. As she stumbled backwards a little, Finn moved forward and delivered a right drop kick with his heel striking directly on the vampire's forehead. When she collapsed facedown, Finn extended his right hand and ruthlessly shoved Marcy backwards on the ground using his telekinesis.
The vampire groaned as she was now covered with more cuts and bruises across her face and body. Her grey plaid long-sleeve was torn at the sleeves, exposing her biceps, her dark blue pants were torn at the knees followed by a few smaller cuts on her thighs, her grey hat was knocked over in the process, and her ponytail was disheveled. A small stream of black blood trickled from her mouth as she struggled to lift herself on all fours with her teeth clenching from the overall pain. It was shocking, fighting nearly at full strength didn't make so much of a difference to Finn as he was able to somehow quickly adapt. She glanced over at Jake to see if he could join the fight, only to discover he was still unconscious. She also casted a quick glare at the nearby elemental as a last effort to join back in the battle, but the latter remained frozen in the same withdrawn posture. There was apparently nothing else she could do to help Phoebe that the vampire had no choice but to sigh in defeat and resignation.
After a few moments, Marcy panted and heaved as she stood back on two feet. Her strength was worn out and her arms dangled at the sides, no longer able to lift for attacking or defending. Her reluctance to utilize her full strength against a close friend had costed her the battle which may also result in losing her life. Marcy imagined Betty would eventually succeed in curing Simon from the ice crown but at the same time sad that the former may not be around to see it. Her mood only worsened at the fact she was failing to keep her promise with Lady Rainicorn. However, the vampire recalled all the recent highlights in her life and the connections she made despite the situation, that she gradually faced her impending fate with newfound courage. "For what it's worth," she said to herself considerably in thought. "At least I found out what it means to be happy again. Thank you, Finn..."
The next thing she knew, Finn arched himself forward and bolted towards her faster than ever. As he ran, he reached his right arm backwards with his fingers curling for the grab. By the time Finn's face bypassed hers from the side, his curled hand dug deep into her stomach until she found herself being yanked off the ground at high speeds. The wind rushed past her hair as she traveled backwards a long distance. Her breath was steady despite the unbearable pain and it hitched when she felt Finn tense his grappling arm for the ultimate blow. Just as she anticipated, her back slammed into the wall with incredible force. The vampire drew in a sharp breath as she was stunned from the impact, but the worst was far from over. Within the next few seconds that followed, Finn hopped backwards a little to give himself some space and then elongated his arms to deliver a rapid flurry of twenty punches across Marcy's face, chest, and stomach. Her body jerked and flinched accordingly as though she was riddled with bullets. As soon as Finn was finished on the last hit, he reverted his arms back to normal, crouched, and coiled his body with his right arm bent. A split second later, he twisted forward with his clenched fist extending and delivered a devastating blow on Marcy's chest line. The vampire smashed into the wall again forming a crater that outlined her overall figure. Her eyes were then squeezed shut from the intense pain that followed and her body became limp as she collapsed facedown with her hands reaching forward. Remarkably, she still lived after the fact, but her breathing was dangerously shallow as she was now rendered unconscious.
Phoebe remained frozen with shock as Finn stared at Marcy's body with disdain. She had no words to comprehend the current situation and her flames dimmed even further as she met her gaze with his. His eyes were cold, uncaring, and callous. There wasn't a trace of hesitation shown beneath them and the elemental became resigned to fight back. Her internal conflicts resurfaced, overwhelming her mind and body that she left herself defenseless, ready to be struck down completely in one single strike. The human narrowed his gaze at her distraught expression and slowly made his approach intending to end the elemental's life.
"I guess this is it," Phoebe thought solemnly. "I have failed my friends, my family, my kingdom and now Finn." She closed her eyes as tears ran down her face, "I deserve this..." Her mind spiraled with guilt, "This is all my fault." She bowed her head waiting for it all to end.
Finn conjured a purple flame sword on his right hand as he closed the distance. Each step he took became more resolute to the elemental's ears that she mentally braced herself for the killing blow.
It never came.
Instead, Finn uttered a loud grunt as a massive yellow fist blindsided him from his left side. The human was dazed as he flew helplessly in midair, but recovered rapidly again as he landed back into a crouching stance. As he skidded the ground with his feet, Finn bore his gaze towards the magical canine who dared to intervene.
"That's no way to treat the ladies, Finn," Jake called out. "Especially not her or Marcy!"
"Jake," Finn simply said. "I'm surprised you recovered so quickly."
Jake shrugged indifferently, "Yeah, well I'm full of surprises!"
"You should have stayed on the ground while you had the chance," Finn said with a harrowing gaze. "My mission parameters are to keep you alive, but I WILL strike you down if I have to."
Jake was perplexed as he squinted his eyes at Finn and said, "No brother of mine would ever make such a threat." He morphed into a six-foot tall muscular humanoid shortly after and said, "I will do what I must."
Finn sneered, "You will try.. my old friend!"
The magical canine yelled as he charged forward with a left fist curled, his footsteps rumbling the ground as he got closer. Within seconds the two combatants were at close proximity with each other and the human used Jake's weight against him as he effortlessly caught the punch and performed a shoulder back toss in one fluid motion. Jake tumbled into the ground with a grunt but recovered shortly after. Once Finn was back in his sights, the canine threw his fists tirelessly with heavy swings, all of them being dodged easily from his opponent. Finn sidestepped and ducked periodically as he practically kept his own hands down at his sides and smirked at his brother's frustration.
Annoyed by hitting nothing but air, Jake changed his tactics and began using more of his stretching powers. He started off by morphing one fist into a mallet and the other into a mace. Finn widened his eyes momentarily whenever the blunt instruments would miss him by mere inches, but remained focused as he began to distance himself. As the two were far apart facing each other, Jake reverted his hands back to normal and lifted one of the supercomputers nearby to throw it at the candy warrior. In response, Finn reached out with his right hand to fire a plasma blast from the side and obliterated the projectile long before it could reach him. What he didn't realize however was that Jake was already diving towards him with his arms reaching forward. The human braced himself as he knew he had little time to dodge and grunted loudly as he was caught into a rolling tackle. As he was stunned, Jake took the advantage and grabbed one of Finn's ankles with one hand and proceeded to slam him repeatedly on the ground left and right. After being flailed for about four times, Finn was then tossed several feet across the room until he landed on the opposite wall.
"I didn't stick my neck through the Nightosphere just so I could fight you!" Jake shouted indignantly. "Like it or not, you're coming with me!"
Finn groaned as he was covered with blood and scratch marks across his body. Despite sustaining a great deal of raw strength from his canine brother, the human growled with fury as he threw his fists to the sides.
"Great," Jake thought. "I should have kept going just to make sure." He crouched and widened his stance as Finn began to dive towards him both hands extended. Before he knew it, Jake grunted as he skidded backwards with his paws holding the human's hands in a power struggle. Finn's arms shook as he tried gaining the upper hand, but only made little progress in the next few moments. The magical canine was sweating tremendously as he exerted himself and it wasn't long until his own energy would give out. Suddenly, an idea surfaced in his head and Jake smiled internally. In one fluid motion, the canine purposely gave up the power struggle causing Finn to grit his teeth together in a crazed smile. As the human pushed himself forward to shove Jake back several feet, the canine used his powers and morphed his own body to make it seem like he was the one throwing Finn instead of the other way around. As a result, Finn's smile disappeared as he found himself being sling-shotted across the now lit room at high speeds. His face was struck first into the unforgiving wall and he fell backwards on the ground leaving an outline of his body in a spread eagle position.
Although Jake enjoyed the respite, he proceed to look over in Phoebe's direction. "Princess," he said heaving. "I know this is all hard for us to handle, but you need to figure out how you can help."
The elemental winced as she tried to think but shook her head in refusal, "I can't do it Jake... I've tried everything already."
The canine sighed in aggravation as he was about to retort but diverted his attention back to Finn. The human staggered slowly back onto his feet feeling dizzy, but his healing factor activated once more to recover quickly like the cyclop's tears.
"You need to figure out something!" Jake yelled as he traded blows with the human, neither of them blocking. "Talk some sense into him, I dunno!" After he said that, he began feeling light-headed which caused him to sustain a roundhouse kick to the head. The canine stumbled in a circle trying to regain his bearings and then braced himself as Finn charged for the offensive. Jake stretched himself to dodge the initial punch and then followed up by wrapping himself around Finn's body from the neck down. Although Finn was immobile, he continued to push himself to overpower the canine's strength. Princess Bubblegum frowned in anxiety as she watched the human's struggle, but soon shifted into a smug grin when the next moment happened.
Jake thought he had won as he felt Finn gradually slip into a state of unconsciousness. Each second that passed seemed to have given the hope that he would succeed at defeating his crazed brother. Perhaps there was no need for Phoebe to intervene after all and that the pups could be reunited with their lost uncle. It would take some time to overcome the obvious complications regarding Finn's "deeds", but Jake remained optimistic that all those problems will sort themselves out in due time. However, he never did think beyond that as he suddenly felt himself sweating from the intense heat Finn emitted. He tried to break free as Finn started to ignite himself in a pillar of flame, but the human clutched tightly rendering it impossible. The next thing Jake could do was scream loudly in agony and squeeze his eyes shut as his whole body was lit on fire. His fur was seared within seconds and he fell on his back writhing in insufferable pain. He was no longer fit in any shape or form to fight for himself and Phoebe was the last opposition left.
The elemental had been awestruck with grief as her friends were rendered out of commission. Both of them were important figures in Finn's life, and yet they were discarded from the latter as though they were absolute strangers. Phoebe wondered to herself how on Ooo would her efforts fare against the human. She tried to reason with the candy warrior from earlier, but Jake insisted that she should try harder. After everything the elemental fought for to get to this moment, the answer became clear. She needed to express her feelings toward the human and she also needed to save her people. Only then would the elemental know at the very least that she had exhausted all options before reaching to any conclusions. It became challenging to overcome her personal struggles once more, but she knew she had no other choice.
She slowly recomposed herself as Finn watched her stand back on her feet. Her mind ran wildly with hundreds of thoughts despite her vulnerable state, but she was able to maintain a controlled demeanor.
"I'm sorry, Finn," Phoebe began as the candy warrior stood idly from Bubblegum's command. "For whatever wrong I've caused you that lead you to this.. I know things never got better between us when we separated, and I'm sorry that I never sought time to even speak with you. I know I've been very busy with my line of work, but I also know I could have at least scheduled an opening during my spare time." She placed a hand on her heart with a desperate expression, "Grod knows I have my faults too that have kept us apart, and it was cruel of me to neglect them. Whatever the case, I want you to know that I will accept full responsibility with my actions." She clapsed her hands together and pleaded, "But please leave my people and your friends out of this. They shouldn't suffer anymore for the things between us." She paused momentarily as she inhaled, "And I know this isn't exactly the best time for me to say something like this, but-"
Finn who was listening intently with a bored expression asked Bubblegum internally, "Permission to execute?"
"Not yet," PB replied through his internal HUD. "I want to hear what else she has to say."
"...I love you," Phoebe finally admitted as she let out a breath. "Even now. Even after.. after.. after all that you have done. I love you like I have never loved anyone or anything since we were last together, and I didn't think that was possible. You may not love me, you may not love anything now that you've gone over to Bonnibel, but I believe there is still some part of you I can reach. There is a part of you that believes in hope.. in mercy.. and love. And that part knows that it will soon be gone forever."
"You're words are meaningless," PB interrupted with disgust. "You have no idea of the power we now wield!" She said with a triumphant expression. "Finn will destroy the Fire Army!"
"And I'll start with you," the human added with a daunting gaze towards Phoebe.
"Finn," the elemental pleaded. "I know we didn't exactly get off on the right foot, but I have a responsibility to uphold." She took a step forward while staring at him imploringly, "...People will die, Finn. We're talking about an entire race being lost on the account of genocide." She shook her head slowly, "Please don't make me do this."
"I've made my decision," he stated with conviction. "Fight or die, it doesn't make a difference to me."