The Human and the Shadow Part 21
"Where is BMO*" He said grabbing his angel wing sword and started to walk to where he could hear fighting.
"She… She…"
"She what BMO?"
"SHE KILLED HIM!" Finn froze and looked at his feet. There was the outer shell of BMO*, his parts were scattered along the ground… his golden heart… was hanging from the belt of the enemy. Finn looked up and stared her in the eye. His blue eyes met with hers.
Finn stood frozen looking at the girl. He was stunned by her resemblance to Lumen and didn't know what to say or do. She looked at the hero and laughed. She began to walk towards the stunned Finn but found herself being held back. At her feet James had regained consciousness and was holding her down.
"BMO… BMO run… run…" he managed to get out before Dawn began to kick his face. He didn't let go and she brought her foot down and down. She grew tired of it and materialised a sword. She brought it down on his head but it stopped just before it struck him. She looked and saw that someone had grabbed the blade of the sword tightly, his hand bled as he refused to let go. Her eyes met with his, she could see the fury and strength within them. He skilfully swung a blade with his other hand forcing her to jump back and get away from James. BMO ran over and started to see if he was alright but he had already lost consciousness. Jay and Bonnie rushed to their fathers side beginning to fight the woman with hand on hand combat. The pair skilfully dodged her blade and managed to get in a good few hits. The problem was that since they were half pillow their punches didn't carry much weight or deal much damage.
Luminescence grew tired of the interference and decided to take care of them. Jay swung at her with his left arm which she grabbed and broke, she forced him down to his knees and then kicked him in the chest breaking a number of ribs and then using his already broken arm to swing him at Bonnie. She caught her brother and was about to run over to the woman to avenge her brother when her mother grabbed her hand and pulled the pair away. Roselinen knew the two could not handle this and left the woman to Finn and Phoebe.
Phoebe looked at Finn's face… she had never seen a look like he wore right now… pure rage. He had just watched this woman beat up someone who couldn't fight; she hurt his son and killed one of his friends. She watched as he ran up and swung at the woman. She laughed and danced out of the way of his blade before materialising two of her own. She swung at him back but he blocked with his Angel Wing Sword.
"Nice sword maybe I'll keep it" She chuckled.
"Over my dead body" he spat back, he broke the locking of their blades and began to swing at her. She blocked a few then dodged a few more before jumping back a distance and laughing aloud.
"That's the plan kiddo". She ran at Finn with her blades by her side just as she got close to him and he swung his sword she shadow morphed directly behind him and went to stab him in the back when a mixture of different coloured flames shot at her. She was beyond tired of the interference so light morphed behind Phoebe and cracked the butt of her blade against the back of Phoebe's skull. The flame elementals brown eyes suddenly seemed distant as she fell to the ground immediately unconscious. Finn ran at the woman and tried to fight but with the ground littered with the bodies of his friends he couldn't concentrate and began to slash sloppily at the woman. Dawn loved to fight and hated to feel that the boy was holding back. She shadow morphed a few feet away from him.
"Move your fallen kiddo and clear your mind"
"Why would you want that?"
"There is no joy killing you when you fight with a weighed blade. Move you're fallen before I find a way to permanently remove them from your mind" with that threat in mind Finn picked up James and moved him into the tree house, Roselinen and Bonnie had taken Jay inside and came back and got Phoebe too. The two girls then took the rest of Team B.E.E.M.O inside followed by a distraught BMO carrying what parts of BMO* that she had managed to gather up leaving just Finn and Dawn standing outside illuminated by the moon light.
"You ready hero?"
"Always"
The two ran at each other clashing blades again, they blocked and dodged each other's weapons. Dawn dematerialised her swords and clapped her hands together unleashing a bright light that blinded Finn. He felt her fists collide with him stomach and cheek bone forcing him to take a step back. He took a quick sharp breath and then closed off his mind. He remembered his times with Rattleballs and began to listen out for flying fists. He dodged one, then another and then allowed the third one to connect with his palm before kicking back. His foot collided hard with the side of her body shattering a rib. He heard her swear and moan at the pain and his vision began to return.
"Looks like you're more than just a sword wielding doofus"
"My name is Finn Mertens the Human, I am the Hero and Champion of Ooo and I shall not be defeated by such cheap tricks!" He spat back. He was fed up of this woman belittling him and he despised cheap fighting. Years of training and hard work had taught Finn to hold a sense of honour towards duels and battle that his younger self neglected.
"Adorable but you have proved your worth Finn. The name I shall give you for now is Luminescence Dawn"
"What is your connection with Lumen?"
"Beat me and I'll tell you Human boy". Finn ran at her but she began to float into the sky watching him. He turned his sword into wings and flew at the woman. She went to strike him but he used his wings to shield him. He would turn his wings back into a sword, clash blades with her and then switch back to wings. The two fought in the sky some more but it was clear that Dawn had the upper hand, she kicked Finn down to the ground landed with her foot down on top of him. She kicked his body away and it rolled to the feet of Marshall and Marceline.
"Finn! What the junk!" yelled Marceline bending down to see if he was okay. Marshall gave Fionna who was still unconscious to Betty and the Ice Queen who took her in doors. Marcy threw her Axe Bass to Marshall who then ran at the stranger ready to kill.
"You look a bit more fun to play with than the human brat over there" she chuckled again as she said it. Marshall and Dawn began to fight, with for once someone other than Dawn taking the advantage. He used his strength as an advantage and tried to use his ability to float as another advantage before finding out she could too. One good look at her in the moon light convinced him that she had all of Lumen's powers, Marshall began to worry… Lumen had already displayed that he was very powerful.
"Finn… Finn are you okay" Marcy laid Lumen down beside them.
"Yeah don't worry about me Marceline I can take it. Each bruise is a hickey from the universe"
"Stop being such a big man Finn it doesn't work with me, I'm a radical dame remember"
"Aha I guess you're right. But you have to listen. The woman has Lumen's powers, she looks like him and she can fight. You have to warn Marshall" Marceline looked up and saw that warning Marshall would do no good. Dawn stood over the Vampire King with a blade in each of his palms pinning him to the ground. She flew over to help her counterpart but was met with a punch to the face. Marceline decided to hold nothing back and went full giant bat mode. She swung down at the ground only to see Dawn appear not too far from it shaking her finger and tutting. Marceline kept bringing down her fist but she could never hit the woman.
Dawn grew bored of this game "Enough is enough, I'm done playing with these children" She raised her palm and a net of pure white grew out of it and covered Marceline. She was forced to shrink back down to her normal size being pinned under the seemingly heavy net. Dawn walked towards where Lumen lay. Finn stood the fight her but a black net shot out pinning him down a few feet away. No one was left to stop her walking up to Lumen.
"Dear oh dear… whatever have you done to yourself Lumen? Is that anyway to greet me? Unconscious and weak… after all this time I would have thought you'd make more of an effort" She kicked him in the gut repeatedly to vent her frustration before walking over to Marshall. She pulled out her swords and then pinned him back down with another white net. She began to skip around the defeated group and began to sing.
(Youtube: watch?v=MKlsUrfbiE0 Children of the Night)
~Come Little Children, I'll Take Thee Away
Into a Land of Enchantment
Come Little Children
the Time's Come to Play
Here in My Garden of Shadows
Follow Sweet Children, I'll Show Thee the Way
Through All the Pain and the Sorrows
Weep Not Poor Children
For Life Is This Way
Murdering Beauty and Passions
Hush Now Dear Children, It Must Be This Way
To Weary of Life and Deceptions
Rest Now My Children
for Soon We'll Away
into The Calm and the Quiet
Come Little Children I'll Take Thee Away
Into a Land of Enchantment
Come Little Children
The Time's come To Play
Here in My Garden of Shadows~
Luminescence Dawn began to walk to Lumen Dusk, She looked at the blood reflecting in the moon light, a few bolts from the broken MO, the pinned hero's and finally at the Shade Prince. He rested unknowingly to all of the fighting that had happened beside him. She positioned her sword just above his throat. Brought it back up and then lowered it as hard as she could. "Sleep my sweet Lumen, Sleep forever".
Dawn looked at the ground and frowned. She turned to see Lumen standing a little bit behind her, he was using his black sword to stand and had it pushed in the ground. His eyes were bloodshot and he glared at the woman who looked like him.
"Who are you?"
"Who am I? Are you sure Lumen Dusk that you are asking the right question? Maybe you should question who you are… Ivel Mertens". This was the second time Lumen had heard this name spoken and it struck at his heart. The woman herself made Lumen uncomfortable… he knew her… not because she looked like him but because he really knew her.
"I will repeat. Who are you?"
"Aha aren't we a straightforward one. My name is Luminescence Dawn, which means nothing to you now but when you learn my real name you will understand. You see Lumen, You are destined to kill me or I am destined to kill you, our fate has been sealed… our fight to the death is meant to occur 1 year from this night but I thought to myself… why wait?" She laughed out loud which unnerved Lumen. Lumen could see Finn, Marshall and Marceline all pinned under nets; he knew if they had all lost to this woman he did not have a single chance but he had to try.
"Then why waste time fighting my friends if you wanted to kill me?"
"Oh Lumen dear, it was never that easy… and I thought I'd enjoy myself while waiting for you. I was very entertained by your human friend over there but disappointed with your lady friend. I expected more"
"Shut up"
"Oh now don't get snappy with me Dusk, I am talking and you shall listen. I have waited years to meet you and have this talk so do not make me regret playing with your friends and not just killing you."
"You're insane"
"I'm glad you noticed"
"I will stop you Dawn"
"I would expect nothing more, Dusk shall fall before Dawn will rise dear Lumen… prepare for your end"
Lumen had no strength to move let alone fight he couldn't do anything to stop her but the two never got time to fight as a yellow light fell from the sky. The light contained 6 people.
Jake the Dog stepped out of the light first; he saw Finn lying down on the ground and ran over to help him. Light and Lily rushed over behind him to help cut their father free. Cloud ran over to Marshall to free him from his bonds and Belle ran over to Marceline. Someone quickly flew into the gap between Lumen and Luminescence.
She stared down Dawn with no compassion with her red and blue eyes filled with a silent rage. She materialised a white scythe with a black tipped blade. The blade of the scythe itself was glowing red. Hope's body began to change quickly till she stood double her normal size (1 + ½ of Marshall's normal height) out of her raven hair grew two large horns, a pair of black spiked wings grew out of her back and a tail with a mace like tip grew out of her. She flew at Dawn grabbing her by the neck and throwing her in the air. She flew after her catching her before she had a chance to stop then threw her back to the ground. Dawn managed to slow herself down but still felt a lot of the hit. She materialised both her swords just in time to stop Hope's scythe slicing her in two but the tip still dug deep into Dawn's shoulder causing her to cry out in agony.
"Who are you brat!" Dawn screamed at the girl, her calm and confident manner had vanished completely as she yelled at the devil-like girl.
"At the moment? I'm you're worst nightmare. But now…" Hope's horns retracted and her wings began to glow white. Her tail disappeared and she shrunk down to her normal height. Her black wings were now white and made up of beautiful feathers, on top of her head a white halo appeared. Her black dress changed white with a gold bow around the waist. Her scythe began to glow again and now changed to a white two sided axe.
"Now I'm their salvation" Hope was quicker now, not as strong but twice as swift. She was behind Dawn before she could even reply. She kicked Dawn to the ground and swung the axe down on the Shade woman. The woman shadow morphed a few feet away from Hope.
"You're not the only one with tricks brat" said Dawn smirking still holding onto her bleeding shoulder.
"Problem is lady… I can do that too" Hope replied instantly shadow morphing right in front of Dawn. The woman panicked and tried to punch Hope in the face but Hope easily ducked and dodged. Hope dematerialised her axe and the two began to fight hand on hand. With Dawn bleeding out Hope had the advantage but Dawn managed to grab one of Hope's wings and threw her back to where the others were. She materialised a sword and threw it as hard she still could. It flew towards where Hope was shaking off the throw. She turned just in time to see the blade heading towards her head. It stopped just before however… the sword had gone all the way through Lumen's hand stopping at the hilt. He clamped his hand down and forced it to dematerialise.
"Leave this place Dawn I shall see you in 1 years' time"
"As you wish Ivel, but I shall be back and next time I shall kill your little army of friends making you watch and then you too" She raised both her hands and produced a bright light that would blind most and disappeared. Hope and Lumen were unaffected due to their powers but Lumen sat down.
Hope ran over and he looked up to her.
"Thanks I can't thank you enough… without you and your friends we'd be dead… who are you?"
Hope giggled a little before answering.
"My name is Hope Leaden Dusk, I come from roughly 15 to 16 years in the future and you and Marceline Abadeer or Marceline Dusk… are my Mum and Dad."
Lumen looked her in both her eyes seeing one of his in her and one of Marceline's. She looked like a combination of the two and Lumen managed to say one word before falling back into unconsciousness.
"Mathematical".
5 days passed since that night. Team B.E.E.M.O were treated for their wounds using Cyclops tears and then were sent on a mission to gather more given the amount that had been used up lately. BMO had taken all of the parts of BMO* with NEPTR to go see Moe, they had hoped that he could be saved but with his body broken inside out and his heart missing there just wasn't any chance of saving him. BMO was meant to be one of a kind, BMO* existing was a miracle of the multi-verse. BMO* remains were buried at the heart of the MO factory and the entirety of the MO's mourned his passing. BMO hadn't been seen since, NEPTR had returned alone stating that the MO had wanted time alone with his family to grieve and she would come back in her own time.
Jay's wounds had been healed quite quickly and he, Bonnie and Roselinen were introduced to Jake and the others to their surprise. Jake had raced around hugging them all laughing at how Finn's children just seemed to be popping out of thin air. Finn had met Light and Lily and while blushing a lot of the thought of him and Phoebe being married with kids enjoyed the fact they had a future together a lot. The trio from the Pillow World headed to the Shade Kingdom, Finn decided that they could do with a ruler for the time being and since they were Finn's children they would be accepted as royalty. Everyone but Lumen and Bonnie had recovered from the night Dawn attacked. He was physically healed but stuck in a coma. Marshall and Marceline had explained to everyone, particularly Fionna that he had technically died while reviving her and somehow came back. Fionna was particularly shocked to find out she had died. She had woken up in the tree house with her last memory being telling Marshall to help Lumen.
Ice Prince (Ice Finn) was particularly amused by the situation; he had turned up the first morning after with Rose to see if they could help. He had raced up and hugged Jake and thanks to his time in the future Jake knew who he was which made Ice Finn extremely happy. Everyone apart from the future children, Cake and Benny was shocked to see another Finn. Cloud had explained to everyone Ice Prince's origins, he knew him best out of the future children and knew his sane self. Betty had loved meeting Cloud. Not just was it that she got to meet her son. She knew that Simon was still alive as he existed in the future. It was going very well until Rose had pointed out that if the future that they had come from was just under 16 years and Cloud was already 15 that meant that Betty was already pregnant. Everyone stared at her and Hope wandered over, held her hand on Betty's stomach and confirmed that Betty was indeed carrying a child. Everyone cheered for her but she was sad that she had to go through it without Simon.
Marceline had tried to get Hope to cure the rest of those afflicted with evil but she admitted that sadly her Dad had never taught her how since he had already gotten rid of all of the evil and saw no need to teach it. Since Lumen was still out Ice Queen had to stay as she was, however due to her time with Betty she had grown fond of her and now didn't want to be anywhere Betty wasn't. Hope explained that it would be another year before the greater evil struck again so Ice Queen, Betty, Benny, Ice Finn and Cloud had left for the Ice Kingdom. Cloud was going to teach them all how to control their powers since he had the best control and next to Ice Finn was the most powerful.
Ivy had returned to his kingdom departing with the others. Cake then made a shock decision. She was going to quit adventuring. The group had desperately tried to make her reconsider but her time in the other world had convinced her she needed to be around for her family. It made the decision easier when Belle pointed out that their Cake had also retired from adventuring and now lived quite happily as Lady Cake after taking Lord M up on his offer to lead alongside him. Fionna and Marshall had headed back to Marceline's, they would be crashing there for the time being and Marshall had convinced Marcy to let him do the same renovations to her house as he had done for his installing an underground room which is where the two would be staying.
Left at the tree house was Lumen, Marceline, Finn, Jake, Phoebe, Hope, Light, Lily and Belle.
"Finn?"
Finn looked up from his Angel Wing Sword which he had been polishing to see Phoebe standing near him.
"Hey Phoebe… is something wrong?"
"Have you heard from Bubba yet? Has Bubblegum woken up?"
[Finn frowned] "Phoebe I'm sorry but I called him this morning and she's like Lumen… they're both physically better but won't wake up. We tried the sleep powder that Marcy kept from when Ash tricked us but we couldn't enter their minds. You're worried about Phoenix aren't you?" Nobody had seen Phoenix and since Bonnie was unconscious no one had known what fate had befallen him. Bubba had tried waking her but she was still unconscious, he had concluded that Phoenix must have been in the trial with Bonnie but didn't know where he had gone or what had happened to him. Bubba was meant to be coming over the day after to talk to the group about what he had learnt and why Simon hadn't returned with him.
"Yes… I just have this bad feeling that he's not okay Finn…" Finn stood up and hugged Phoebe tightly, she returned his embrace.
"Finn?"
"Yes Phoebes"
"I'm going to head back to the Fire Kingdom, It's been a week since I was there last and I'm worried with both me and Lolly missing they will be struggling."
"Do you want me-?"
"No Finn you stay here… you're needed here I'll go alone"
"No Mum… I'll come with you" The two turned to see Light standing in the door way. Lily had called Finn and Phoebe younger Mummy and Daddy as it confused her a little with the different timed parents but Light had insisted on treating them as his parents even though he was only a few years younger.
"You sure Light…"
"Mum I helped run the kingdom for years while Dad was still the Hero of Ooo and I am the Flame Human Prince after all".
(A/N Light is a flame human, a human with flame powers. Lily is a human flame; she is a fire elemental with human blood and physical body. Lily is more flame than human whereas Light is more human than flame)
"Then I'd love for you to come with me" Phoebe smiled. Light and Phoebe left after saying their goodbyes to the group and headed off to the fire kingdom. Jake left a little while after headed to see Lady and the pups. Finn carried on cleaning his sword when Lily came into the room and sat next to him.
"Younger Daddy?"
"Yes Lily"
"How did you and Mummy meet?"
"You don't know?"
"No… Mummy always told us off for asking and when I asked my Daddy he would just laugh and tell me I could know when I was older" Finn chuckled at this knowing it was something they would do.
"Well you know Aunty Bonnie?"
"Yes?"
"Well Daddy use to love Aunty Bonnie the way he loves Mummy but she did not love Daddy back. This made Daddy very sad, so Uncle Jake had gone looking for someone to make Daddy happy again. He met up with a little flambit named Flambo… do you know him?"
"Yeah [Lily beamed at the mention of Flambo's name] Mr. Flambo helped teach me how to shoot fireballs really well and taught me the flame shield spell but Mummy doesn't like that he tells me bad jokes" Finn laughed again, he never honestly thought he'd be telling his children this story one day, it was one thing that he had gotten back Jay and Bonnie but to also get Light and Lily too. It had blown his mind and he took a few days to adjust to it.
"Well Mr. Flambo had told your Uncle about this beautiful girl who was Daddy's age and so the two had gone to see your Grandpa Flame King-"
"Oh you mean Grandpa Keith?"
"Flame Kings real name is Keith?" Finn held back the urge to laugh and began to cough. Lily looked at him weirdly so he picked her up, put her on his lap and began to brush her fiery hair.
"Yep Grandpa Keith, Uncle Jake and Mr. Flambo went to see him and ask for his daughter to date your Daddy. At that time your Grandpa thought every fire elemental was evil and kept Mummy in a lantern to keep her safe"
"Grandpa kept Mummy in a lantern?"
"Yep… I know… totes messed up junk" Lily chuckled, Future Finn was a lot more formal and never said stuff like that so Lily thought it was hilarious that present Finn did.
"Anyway after Jake had sung a song and tried to impress your grandpa but failed; so as a last attempt he made a version of me out of his stretchy gut and pretended that I strangled him. It, for some reason, impressed the Flame King and he let your Mummy out of the Lantern."
"Did you and Mummy meet then?"
"Not exactly Lily… The Flame King then told Jake that your Mummy was pure evil so Jake made the gut-me say I didn't like her anymore and ran away. Mummy was mad and chased Uncle Jake all the way back here. She began to burn the tree house and would have succeeded but her flames set off Aunty Bonnie's liquid fireworks. Mummy was feeling weak and fell of the roof but I managed to catch her and pull her into the tree house."
"So… Mummy loved you because you saved her?"
"Once again… not exactly… When Mummy got back to her senses she asked what was wrong with me… I didn't know what to say but I told her I liked her. She blushed and then screamed her question again before slapping me and telling me to never to mess with her. She then shot out of the window leaving me speechless. I turned to Uncle Jake and he told me that she was the flame princess and I told him 'Dude, I think I have a crush'… and that's it really… I chased after Mummy and tried to impress her and over time and through a lot of burning skin and one burnt village your Mummy decided I could be her boyfriend"
"Whoa… so Mummy slapped you?" Lily burst into a laughing fit which made Finn smile too. It had gotten pretty late in the day now and Finn noticed Lily begin to rub her eyes and yawn.
"Is someone tired?" he asked picking Lily up into his arms.
"No Daddy I'm just… [She yawned again]… maybe I am a little tired" She chuckled again. Finn carried her to one of the spare rooms he and Jake had installed. He laid Lily down on the bed and tucked her in.
"Young Daddy Finn?"
"Yes Lily"
"Can you sing me your Lullaby please…? My Daddy always did" Finn smiled, he knew exactly the one she was talking about.
~"Hush my little Princess don't you cry,
Daddy's gonna sing you a lul-la-by,
If you are sad or afraid of thee night,
I'll stay beside you till the mor-ning light,
There's no need to shed a single tear,
Nothing's gonna hurt you while I am here,
You are my angel you are my dear,
Let me protect you from all that you fear,
For you my baby I would always fight,
I'll be your Hero, your shining Light,
I'll fight all the darkness and the monsters too,
Making sure that nobody can ever hurt you,
Sleep now my baby let your dreams fly,
Sleep now my baby under the star lit sky,
Rest now my child look forward to tomorrow,
Rest now my sweet, rid yourself of all sorrow,
I'll never leave you… never leave your side,
If you are troubled… in me you can confide,
So hush my little princess don't you cry,
Remember the worlds of my lu-lu-lullaby."~
Finn could hear the soft breathing Lily gave out and knew she had drifted off to sleep. He tucked the blanket around her and quietly left the room. He looked into Lumen's room to see him still unconscious and Marceline asleep with Hope on her lap. He turned the light off in the room and closed the door. Finn walked downstairs and found Belle still awake sitting with some odd machine parts in her hands.
"Belle shouldn't you be asleep?" The young girl jumped after hearing Finn's voice, she had been concentrating hard on trying to put together the machine parts.
"Not yet Uncle Finny, I'm trying to finish this… I'm not even that [Belle let out a big yawn] tired"
"You're as bad as your mother [Finn chuckled] now come on Belle; you can finish that in the morning it's time for you to get some sleep." Finn held out his arms and Belle put down the parts and let Finn pick her up and tuck her into bed. She drifted off faster than Finn could imagine possible. He turned off her bedroom light and closed the door. Finn climbed upstairs to his room and changed into his pyjamas. "I wonder what tomorrow will bring".
Still no clues to who Dawn is ;) If you want a hint there is a clue in Chapter 14~
Character Locations
~Benny, Betty, Ice Finn, Ice Queen and Cloud - The Ice Kingdom
~Cake and Jake - Staying at Lady's since Lord M is in Aaa
~Fionna and Marshall - Marceline's Cave (Renovating)
~Phoebe and Light - Fire Kingdom
~Bubba and Bonnie(Unconscious) - Candy Kingdom
~Prince Ivy - Rose Kingdom
~Simon - Trial of Depression - World Lll
~Belle, Lily, Hope, Marceline, Finn and Lumen (Unconscious) - The Tree House
~BMO - MO Factory - BMO2
Please leave a review to what you thought and PM if you have any questions, There will be mini-stories and Character development for a while. After losing so badly to Dawn and just surviving their trials the group have realised that they need to train and become stronger.
What does Bubba know about Dawn?
Why did Simon stay behind?
Why aren't Lumen or Bonnie waking up? All asked next time :)