Reckless Dreams, Gum War Part 2

by jomo2014

Finn has decisively defeated Tatsuo Nagumo, Warlord of the East, in pitched battle, but there's no time to rest yet. As the deadly currents of intrigue and rebellion continue to swirl around his family, his closest family risks being swept away. Can the King of Ooo defeat the deadly plots of his implacable adversaries and win the Gum War once and for all?

33. Chapter 33

Epilogue:

The cold felt like being burned. In its way, the cold was like Olesia's fire–unending and undying, cutting to his core. He could feel it in his bones. The cold had sunk straight through to his marrow, such that his blood was like liquid ice, flowing through him. He was in tremendous, terrible pain–the sort of pain that clouded his thoughts. Still, like a litany, one thought ran through his mind over and over. He needed to get home. He needed to see his kids. His poor babies needed him.

"There's no hope, Bill," a familiar voice announced. Billy Mertens turned towards the source of that voice and found his mother standing there. "There was never a hope," his mother's ghost declared. "Your father tried so hard, but there was never a hope for either of us." "Mom," Billy rumbled, as the biting wind tried to steal his voice, "w-what're you saying?! Dad saved you! I know he saved you!" "For a time," Simone allowed, "yes. The Crown always wins in the end, Bill."

Figures appeared on either side of her–entities who were clearly long dead, judging by the way they dressed. All were bleached out, looking like pale versions of humanity. "This was always our fate, my poor baby," Simone murmured. "I wouldn't have given birth to you if I'd known... I couldn't protect you. I couldn't even save myself..." "Surrender," one of the entities insisted. He was echoed by another, and then the cry was taken up by another. "You can't fight this fate," the voices told him, as those figures crowded in around him. "The Crown is all-powerful. The Crown is all-seeing. You are merely a vessel. Surrender. Let the world die."

Another voice opined, "he was right. This existence you lead is merely a sham. This quest you chose is a farce! There is only death... the endlessness of non-existence. Surrender, and I promise we shall make the deaths of those poor children swift and merciful instead of the long, ugly fate they're destined for now..." "No," Billy howled! "Please, glob, noooo!"

Soooo... Did he, or didn't he? Find out in Sins of Fathers, Gumwar Part 3, coming soon.