The Human and the Shadow Part 3

In the land of Ooo in the kingdom of the Shade people a year has passed since their new ruler awoke from his long slumber. In that year the ruler has won the hearts of his people, learnt to control his powers and now his kingdom is blossoming into a richer and much more advanced one. In this time of growth the Prince's right hand has suggested he pays a visit to a neighbouring kingdom to improve his reputation and build bridges of good faith in these times of peace.

Lumen stood staring into the mirror in his room; He often liked looking into this mirror as it was a gift from Leaden after his awakening. In his first year he often found himself looking into it and looking into his eyes. They were the last part of his former life and he felt that they would bear some significance to the life he would lead. His appearance had changed drastically in his time being the Prince of Shades. His long black hair was shorter now and cleaner too; it only reached just below he's ears and no longer touched his shoulders. He wore an 'altered' royal overcoat to suit more his style. It was ebony in colour apart from the spikes of white that shot up the back. To make it feel better for him he had taken off the sleeves much too Leaden's protests; the action itself inspired a fashion trend which greatly amused the Prince.
He wore a necklace with a single white gem as a pendant; it was shaped like the sun. He wasn't too fond of his crown so when he didn't have to he didn't wear it settling for his royal pendant. He also wore a sleeveless white shirt and black jeans and shoes. The style was simple but he liked it. The biggest change to his appearance however was not his clothes or accessories it was his skin. While learning to control his powers in the year just gone by Lumen discovered that he could change the colour of his skin from the light grey hue back to a pinkish colour of his human flesh. This excited him a lot and he decided to keep it like that. Leaden thought this was a great idea as it made him stand out even more as a ruler and someone of pure blood.

After taking in his appearance and reminiscing on the last year Lumen decided he had lingered enough and grabbed his bag (It resembles a gym bag) swung it onto his back and headed out of the castle. He walked past many of his citizens and stopped to greet them and inform them of his absence; they were sad to hear this but happy that their Prince was growing up a bit more. When Lumen reached the borders of the Shade Kingdom and saw the bright green of the Grasslands he smiled. This would make an interesting adventure.

Finn the Human woke up with a smile he could hear the snores of his brother as he lay on his bed of furs and could hear the faint sounds of BMO pretending to ninja downstairs with NEPTR. He climbed out of his sleeping bag and stood up. He hadn't actually got undressed as he arrived home late after completing a mission for the Slime Kingdom; what had originally sounded like an emergency on the phone turned out to be another crude invite from Slime Princess to get Finn to one of her VIP parties held in her kingdom If he said he didn't have fun he'd be lying but he just wished that people were more honest with him. Honest… the word had seemed so small in the past but after that incident it became a big and hard concept for Finn to grasp. Feeling his thoughts drifting to a certain elemental Finn decided to do an inventory of his daily equipment and then wake Jake. After being the Hero of Ooo for almost 6 years now Finn was 18 his clothing had changed slightly. He wore a long sleeve blue top with his bear hat sewn into it acting as a hoodie. He wore ¾ length black trousers and his usual black boots and white socks. His green backpack had long been knackered and rendered useless so he chose to use the red one that he got as a gift from Marceline the Vampire Queen on his 17th birthday. He had missed his green bag but this one was a bit sturdier and matched his new physique more. Years of adventuring and training to protect Ooo had left the hero toned physically and muscular his arms and body showed this well. Finn's hair was tied into a pony tail as it was quite long and he also wore two wristbands on his arm that he got given by Jake and a stud in his ear. He was told when he first got it that it had some importance to it which Finn doubted but chose to wear it anyway. Finn made sure that he's bag was packed with all the necessary equipment: Cyclops tears, bandages, food packs, extra food packs for Jake, some potions and maps of Ooo and finally his phone. He threw the bag down the ladder knowing it would land safely then picked up his sword. The Demon Blood Sword left to Finn by his father was now hanging on the wall. It had broken and after fixing it he decided it would serve well as a memento rather than a weapon. Finn replaced it with Angel Wing Sword. What at first seemed like a joke being played by Marceline's father Hunson Abadeer turned out to be a pleasant surprise. HA wanted to try to look good for his daughter and he did also like Finn so decided to give him a priced weapon he had collected many centuries ago. It was a sword that was said to be crafted by the gods using the wing and essence of a fallen angel. The swords guard resembled a set of wings that wrapped around the humans hands and then when he wished would turn into a set of wings on his back giving him the ability to fly for a short while. The blade itself was white and seemed to resonate with a holy light. Everyone was shocked by HA gift and it would have been a great day if he hadn't then tried to once again trick Marcy into taking over the Nightosphere.

Once Finn had gotten his bag, clothes and weapon ready he walked over to Jake who was tucked up nicely in his 'nest' he called a bed a started trying to wake him.

"Jake… come on buddy time to get going PB expects us at the Candy Kingdom" he stated.

"Not now Lady… I'm just gonna have 5 more minutes then I'll take Jake Jr to town" He slurred in his tiredness. This made Finn chuckle a little, Jake had been living at Lady Rainicorn's most nights and spending a lot of time with the kids. Finn gave him a little shake and when he still didn't stir he decided to use the only fool proof method he knew.
"Jake Jake! Magic Man's back and stealing your emergency sandwich from the fridge" he screamed at Jake.
Jake shot up and darted downstairs screaming "You stay away from my sandwich you JERK!"

Finn caught up to Jake in no time to find the dog checking his sandwich was still in one place in the place he had left it. Finn, BMO and NEPTR began to laugh at the dog's obvious love for his food and the lengths he would go to protect it. Jake merely mumbled something then began to cook breakfast for himself and his human brother. Jake sung his usual Bacon pancake song and whipped up a quick tasty breakfast which he and Finn promptly dug into.

After they had finished their breakfast and double checked that Finn had packed all the food they would need for the day they got ready to set out. Finn deciding that they should try to get to PB as fast as they could challenged Jake to a race before grabbing his Angel sword letting it become wings for him and soaring out of the window. Jake mumbled to himself before stepping out the window enlarging himself so much that each step covered great distances as he tried to keep up with the over energetic human.

(Back to Lumen)

Lumen the Shade Prince looked down at the map he had been given and realised it would do him no good at all as the Shade Kingdom didn't even appear on the map. It was quite a small Kingdom compared to many of the others he had heard of. It still bothered him though so he put it on a mental list of things he needed to get done before he got back. He decided to pick a direction and hope for the best; while it may have seemed like a care free attitude he decided that it wouldn't do him any good to stress over the small stuff and he began on his journey in high spirits.

…

…

…

… much later the same day Lumen laid down on the grass and began staring up at the sky, how long had he been wandering for? He didn't even know the answer himself but he felt no closer to where he needed to go. He couldn't just turn back around and go home and ask for directions he would look like a weak ruler for that and wouldn't humiliate himself in that way.
"I'm in the middle of nowhere and I don't know what to do next… what to do?" he thought to himself. The solution he came up with was to have a nap and hope he thought of a solution when he woke up.

Lumen stood in a street, one that seemed more familiar than the first time he was here. He didn't hesitate to walk through the gate nearest to him and enter the house clearly meant to home a family. Over the last year he had been to this house many times in his dreams it seemed to be the only memory he had and enjoyed being inside it. His vision had gotten better every time he was here but still couldn't make out the people's faces. He could however hear what they were saying and he went and sat down next to one off them.

"Welcome home Ivel" said one of the faceless individuals.

"We've missed you" said another.

He still didn't know who these people were but judging from his enjoyment of their company, the fact they knew his real name and missed him he guessed they must have been his family. His time with them was always short but he enjoyed it. If he could, he would stay for days. Suddenly something new happened... a dark shadow covered the whole of the room and he woke up.

"You alright down there?" asked a voice.

Lumen's eyes took a little while to adjust to the face looking down at him from above. The face he saw surprised him. Looking down at him was a beautiful girl who must have been around his age. She had a grey hue to her skin, long black and somewhat purple hair; she wore a red vest top, blue jeans, and brown boots. She also wore white gloves that ran all the way to her upper arm. Strangely what had been blocking out the light was actually her hat. It seemed like an oversized straw sun hat with a bright blue ribbon that was out of place with the rest of her outfit. Looking closely at her face now he noticed two weird marks on her neck he also noticed two fangs joint in her smile as she saw him giving her the once over.

"Yeah… sorry I got lost and decided to have a nap" Lumen tried to think of something better to say but he had a feeling nothing but the truth would be good enough for this girl.

She simply laughed at him "Nice one weenie maybe I could help you I was just on my way home when I saw someone about to be eaten by a pack of wolves on a hill"

"Wait… wolves what do you…"

"Yeah as I was saying I'll help ya you seem cute enough" she winked at him causing him to lose place of the question he had been planning on asking her.

"So wolf bait where you headed before you decided to take a nap".

"I'm heading to the Candy Kingdom but my map doesn't have the place I came from on it so I have no idea where to head from now on" Lumen decided to keep the fact he was a Prince hidden from this girl. Although she was beautiful and was helping him he couldn't shake the feeling that she had a lot more to her than the cute exterior he saw.

"Aww you're heading to Bonnie's domain? Well why didn't you say so?" The girl took his map and marked the location on it using the pen he had given her. She gave him directions and wished him all the best. He assumed this 'Bonnie' must be a friend of the girls and paid no heed to the name. He looked forward full of new life and turned back to thank the girl who had helped him out of his dilemma only to see she was no longer there. He picked up his map and pen and found himself wishing he had asked for her name or… her number or something. Lumen didn't get out much so he wasn't very good when it came to talking to girls especially ones as straight forward as he's helpful stranger. Even with his mind clouded with thoughts of this mystery girl he grabbed his bag and started walking towards the candy kingdom. A thought ran through his mind.

"I could have sworn that this was a red pen and not a white one?"

Finn loved soaring through the clouds and the sky. He loved watching the land just whizz past and in his words it was 'mathematical'. He knew he still wouldn't beat Jake who could overtake him at any second but he enjoyed the race with his brother none the less. He could see the Candy Kingdom in the distance but then was distracted by an odd sight. It was a pack of wolves running as fast as they could. It didn't seem like they were running after something more like they were running from something. If Finn had more time the human knew he'd have gone and investigated what was causing this but he was in a rush so simply stuck the thought in the vault so it wouldn't bother him.

Jake decided to wait until the last minute to overtake his younger brother. He wanted to rob him of the victory to get back at him for his rude wakeup call and reminding Jake of the time that Magic Man had stolen and almost eaten his ultimate sandwich before Jake had rescued it from a magic time bubble by being completely depressed. Just as Finn was about to begin he's landing in front of the Gumball Guardians and the gates to the Candy Kingdom Jake overtook him without him noticing and shifted his body to make it appear that he was sitting down on a chair and that he was reading a paper seemingly bored of wait.

"Jake I know you only just got here" the human laughed as he landed and his wings shifted back to the Angel Sword which he tucked onto his back. "I know you were right behind me the whole time waiting for the right time" The human laughed again.

Jake was a bit disappointed that his triumphant win had been predicated by Finn and was about to pretend that it didn't bother him when a Gumball Guardian noticed the pair and spoke up.

"Finn the Human Hero of Ooo you are granted passage into the Candy Kingdom by order of Princess Bubblegum. She has been expecting you". He paused briefly then continued.

"Jake the Dog, Son of Joshua the Dog, you are also granted passage into the Candy Kingdom however the Princess wishes to remind you that you still owe her back for the Baker's Shard that your daughter stole"

Jake mumbled that he understood before entering the kingdom "Jeez when will PB ever let that go it's not like I ever really planned on stealing it and Jake Jr said she was sorry" he mumbled to himself all the way to the palace.

Finn, on the other hand, was in great spirits PB had something she needed to tell him and for once Jake was with him again. Since Jake spent more time with Lady Rainicorn he didn't go on many adventures anymore. Finn did understand he had grown up and learnt the hard way that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder his mind wandered to that of the elemental again before straightening his train of thought. "I wonder what it is PB wants to tell me… Maybe she found a new dungeon… ooo maybe she found a new awesome sword I could have… that would be algebraic… or maybe she finally found a way for me to be with…." Finn let his thoughts wander as he and Jake walked into the room PB was waiting for them and ran over to give her a hug.

PB smiled as Finn pulled her in for a hug, since he had grown up over the last few years his inappropriate declarations of love had seriously gone down. She wanted to pin it down to maturity and the science of puberty but she knew that it wasn't due to that. Regardless she was happy to have him as a friend she could turn to in her time of need and found solace in his embraces. When they finally pulled apart they said hello properly and she turned and greeted Jake too. Finally she got them to take a seat and then began to think of how to say it. How to tell Finn the secret she had kept for a year.

"Finn… you know you are here because I have a secret to tell you that was too important to tell you over the phone. It's been a year since I discovered this secret and I kept it secret to protect you and allow you to finish growing into the hero I know you are… I know this may be hard but…"

"PB…" Finn interrupted her and held her hand as if encouraging her to continue.

"Yes… the secret is that… You are not the only human in Ooo there is another."

Finn froze; this isn't what he'd been expecting. He wasn't alone there was another of his kind in Ooo. He had to find him or her. He had to meet them what would they be like. Would they like him, maybe they would know what happened to his biological family. Finn's thoughts drown out PB's tale of how she found out this information but Jake listen attentively enough to know that this wasn't a lie. Finn was about to ask PB where he could find this human.
Suddenly the door of the room flew open and Peppermint Butler entered and ran over to the Princess. She wasn't impressed with the interruption and wasn't about to tolerate him disobeying her orders of giving them privacy for her to talk to Finn and Jake.

"Peppermint Butler what is the meaning of this? I give you freedom to practice your dark 'magic' and in return I would have thought you could have followed a simple order to give us peace and quiet" she yelled at her shocked butler.

"Yes mi' lady I'm sorry for the interruption but there is someone here to see you and he has ventured far from his Kingdom just to make your acquaintance" he said in defence.

"Another suitor? That's what so important? I thought after the whole Braco incident you were gonna lay off this stupid custo-"

"Princess you must listen, this is not just another suitor it is him, the other human"

Finn had been trying not to listen in on Bonnie's royal business but he could not help but hear the last 3 words Peppermint Butler said "the other human". PB turned to him speechless but he just ran from the room. The other survivor… the other human… his family was somewhere in this palace and he was going to find him.