Chapter XIV - Another Day

( This is the last chapter in the story. )

The next morning, Finn tossed and turned on the couch downstairs. He moaned before rolling over one last time to face the ceiling and opens his eyes. He licked his lips and tried getting up with back power, but he flopped back down onto the couch. He tried getting up again, only for him to succeed. He rises up slowly with his hand on his head. His hair covered his face as he took a deep breath. He looked around and saw that the sun glared through the kitchen window. He swings his legs to the floor and sat back on the couch, placing both hands on his head. It felt as if Finn had just overcame a hangover, but it was more than that, little to his knowledge. He slowly took up and looked down on himself. He was dirty, injured, and covered in soot from the previous night and day. he rubbed the bruises on his body and felt bits of pain from it. "What a day.." He said to himself.

The first thing he did was head upstairs, quietly. Once reaching the top of the steps, he slowly opened the door to see Marceline and Jake both asleep. He closed his eyes and walked in, finding his clothes and walking out. He closes the door behind him. Walking back down the stairs, he almost loses his balance and clutches the side of the wall, dropping his boxers and it falling to the base of the steps. He simply picks them up and walks to the bathroom downstairs. Placing is clothes in a rack, Finn turns the water on, steps in, and lets the steaming hot water ease the bruises he sustained. In a way, it felt good to him. He just stood there for a few minutes before he realized that he wasn't a steaming waterfall. He turned around, grabbed some soap, and cleans himself off. Some daylight shoots under the doorway. It takes about 20-25 minutes as Finn didn't wanna risk hurting himself any more than what he has already sustained.

Grabbing his towel, he dries himself off and wraps it around himself. Looking into the mirror, Finn sees his injuries to his face, including his facial injury from Marceline's some time ago. He touched it, and he felt no pain. But then it dawned on him. "PB tried to sedate me.." He said to himself, now recalling what had happened yesterday. He shook his head and closed his eyes. "I'm lucky." He said to himself again. The more be pondered, the more he would question himself about it, and that was not gonna be good for his mental health. He takes his clothes and he dresses himself up. He leaves the bathroom door open to have it air out from the steam. He didn't think to get food as he wasn't so hungry. The place was very quiet after that. His thoughts began to pour out, as if ghosts were communicating with each other in the room. He shook his head and grabbed his jacket. Finn puts his jacket on and heads out the door, closing it quietly. Looking around him, the sky was oink and orange, not so common on mornings like this due to the skies always being blue and white. He took in the air and thought about going on top of the Treehouse to get a better view. Going around the back of the Treehouse, he found ladders that him and Jake constructed just to get up to the top of the Treehouse. It was a bit chilly back there because it is not much in use, in fact its used on extremely rare occasions since Jake usually stretches himself up there whilst carrying Finn. or going through different parts of the house to get to the top of the Treehouse that way. He begins to scale the ladder, feeling the cold metal that covered the ladder, reaching into the pores of his hands and making his hands cold, this makes him start to blow his hands every 5 bars he scales.

Eventually after 5 minutes, he reaches the top of the Treehouse, where there was a small bush like cushion, he looked at it for a little bit but turned his attention to the rising sun that was just over the Dark Forest and far beyond that, the horizon. He takes a seat, and gets himself comfortable. The temperature gets slightly warmer as the sun rises slowly every second. Finn smiled to himself, remembering the last time he was on top of the Treehouse. Finn slowly gets deep into his mind as the rays cast over his face, as if it was a furry coat being worn in a heavy blizzard. He soaks it up as he sinks into the bush cushion, feeling serenity and comfort. Through his eyelids, the sunlight slowly gets brighter, not moving a single muscle. It gets dark, all of a sudden. Not bothering him, he slowly opens his eyes and sees a figure that's blocking the sun's path. Frizzy hair that reaches it's feet. He sits up at bit more to see that it was Marceline.

"Good morning, Marceline." Finn said with a smile. Marceline looked down at him a little, with a smile as well, She had her large sun hat on, a black and red sweater and some jeans on, she wore some socks as well. "How you doing champ?" She asked him. Finn sat back a bit further. "Never better." Finn responded. He closed his eyes. "Yourself?" He returned the question. "A bit sore, but I've been through worse. You know this." Marceline responded. "How long have you been up for?" Finn asked her, opening his eyes again. Marceline fixed her sun hat and floated next to Finn, then sitting down next to him. "10 minutes maybe?" Marceline responded. She looked at the sun along with him. "While you were asleep, I talked to Jake about the whole Bonnibel situation, where she ... went apeshit and did what she did to you. I showered afterwards, and checked up on you from time to time, Jake told me you barely moved and you were out like a lightbulb." Marceline looked at him as she said this. Finn looked over to her. "How long was I out for?" Finn asked. "A good 16 hours." Marceline said. "Finn raised up a little bit, hurting his chest a bit, making him slouch again. "Chill out, champ." Marceline said. "16 hours?" Finn questioned her once more. "That's ... something." Finn said to himself. "Those darts she shot at you were very strong it seems. Enough to take down a rhino." Marceline gave some insight on the darts. "I guess she saw me as one then." Finn said rubbing his head. "You turned out fine." Marceline said. Finn chuckled. The pair looked at the sunrise, birds started to chirp into the soft atmosphere. Finn looked at Marceline who was staring at the sunrise. Marceline rested her head onto the bush cushion. She sighed. "Hey Marceline?" Finn said, looking at the sunrise again. Gaining her attention, she rolled her eyes at him, the sun brought out the color in her eyes a lot more, even though her pupils were black, it shined in a metallic dark grey. "Thank you.. for getting me out of that situation. To be honest, I would've went through worse like, being tied up or else." Finn chuckled. "I appreciate it." Finn closed his eyes again. Marceline, smiling, raised her head up, and grasped Finn's hair and and brought him towards her face, where she shares a passionate kiss for a few seconds. "No need to thank you. You helping me with Ash was just enough for me."

They both locked eyes once more before they pulled away from each other. The sky was a bright oink and orange, like if something they had imagined in their dreams. "You think PB would ever-" "Nope, it will be worse for her if she approaches you or I again." Marceline said, cutting Finn's question off. Finn laughed a little. "The Wardens were active when we escaped the Kingdom. They roamed the perimeter and only then, they calmed down when nightfall hit. I told Jake that it isn't safe to return back there, at least for a good while, in case Bonnie goes nuts again." Marceline added, with Finn making an expressionless face upon hearing that. "I'm perfectly okay with that, I've stopped having a sweet tooth long ago." Finn said, shaking his head. Some birds flew through the air, the temperature rises slowly as the sun continues to rise past the horizon. "You ever consider having your house rebuilt?" Finn asked. "No, it would remind me of Ash once more and I seriously can not have that right now. It would be better if that pile of rubble stays a pile of rubble. It would remind me of how he treated me, and what I went through." Marceline said as she crossed her arms. "Seems reasonable, a very good reason actually." Finn agreed. He crossed his arms as he sat back still. "Well, like we established, you can live here at the Treehouse, as long as you don't take it from us again." Marceline tipped her sun hat down and changed her face to have spider eyes and large fangs. She faced him and showed him, causing him to open his eyes in shock. "I can take what I please!" She said in a grim but playful voice, she reverts back to her normal face and giggled, kissing him on the cheek. She besides him again. Finn cleared his voice and sat up a little. "You proved your point." Finn said quickly. Marceline laughed. In Finn's mind, he loves when he sees Marceline happy, given what she had told him a while ago, she hasn't experienced such happiness when she was with Ash. This question pops up in his head, but he doesn't know how to ask it, causing his face to turn pink. The rays from the sun didn't make his case any better. Marceline notices this.

"Are you hot? Your face is pink." Marceline asked. Finn downplays this with a lie and a truth at the same time. "Maybe just a little bit." Marceline cocked an eyebrow and a smile. "Alright. Well, I was thinking about that song we sang at the forest." She added. Finn rested back onto the cushion a bit. "That song had a nice tune." Finn thinks about it, and figures that now might be the time to ask. "About that song.." He said, making Marceline look at him. "You said something about us being together by the end of this, right?" Finn turns his head slightly, Marceline tries to keep a straight face, hearing him out, somehow knowing what his question was going to be. "Yes, I said that. I think about a few times? I'm not sure." She said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Well.. I thought, that maybe we should consider it. You know? Give it a try?" Marceline moved her head a tiny bit, forming a small grin. "You're asking for us to be together Finn?" To Finn, it seems like he got stabbed in the face a little bit, never would he thought that he would be so anxious for her to simplify his question in a manner like that. But since the question was out, he went with it. "Yes. That's what I'm saying Marceline." Marceline simply stared at him, forming a bigger smile. Finn kept his current expression in tact, but in his head, he had many others. He couldn't tell decipher what she was really thinking. Marceline blinked one time.

"Yes, I will." Finn's pink face faded away to his natural skin complexion. He smiled halfway, not knowing what to think, but happiness filled his heart. All he could see is her, he disregarded his surroundings. It's like he was in space. Marceline jumps on him and she embraced him tightly. It was like a vice type grim, even though her muscles weren't bulging, it must've been her strength alone. "Yes!" She said once more. She faces him and grabs his face, and takes his lips into hers, her vice grip was enough to make him give up and give in to her lip, he shares his kiss with her. Her face covered his face and the bush cushion, after a few kisses, she shared some tongue with him, to which he did as well. The both of them felt themselves getting warmer and it wasn't the sun this time. Marceline pulled back and moved the hair out of her and Finn's eyes. They locked eyes. "Marceline. I love you." Finn said softly with low eyes. "Marceline closed her eyes in bliss. She returned the favor. "I love you too, Finn." In his head, he plans to be better than Ash. He also thought that Jake was going to flip his shit once he found out and truly, he didn't mind it. She pulls Finn up and continues to embrace him more. She rests her head into him, and Finn leaned his head into hers. They slowly swayed side to side, feeling and enjoying each other's presence. The sun just finished coming over the edge of the horizon. For the time being, they sat next to each other, heartbeats being transferred from one soul to another. For as long as they got each other, protection of one another.

- The End -

( Author's Notes )

If you have read this far into the story "Changes" then I would personally like to thank each and every one of you who chose to continue reading the story despite having breaks in between. I do appreciate the time you took to read a combination of short and long chapters. Thank you all! Soon, I will work on a one chapter story involving Yujiro Hanma from the Baki Series, a short story if you will. Thank you all again. :)