Sup everybody! Now I know I said It was going to be a while before the next chapter, but corona won't let me do anything, and I'm getting seriously into fanfic writing. I've gotten 240 views, and 18 followers and favorites, sweet. After this chapter though, it'll be awhile before the next one I promise. Finals are coming up and I gotta focus on those. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter! This one ended up even longer than the last one, personally, I really like this one, but send me your reviews all the same.
And of course, I do not own 'Adventure Time'.
Chapter 4
Ooo, what's that?
Finn laid in the sand for about a half an hour before he finally got up, once he was on his feet he shook the sand off his jacket and looked out across the sea.
"Okay Finn, don't worry." he told himself. "Mom probably already sent a Seeker out to find you, most likely Kara. All you gotta do is wait on this beach for her to come get you." Finn found a large rock to sit down on and waited for a ship to come.
After three minutes of waiting, a crab scuttled out of the ocean and right up to Finn. "Awww, hey there little guy. You here to keep me company?" Finn asked.
The crab gave Finn's leg a pinch.
"OW! Screw you ya dang crab!" shouted Finn.
"Ey mon, Imma crab. It's just what we do, no reason to get all crabby over it brudda." replied the crab before he scuttled back into the ocean.
Finn just stared at the spot where the crab had scuttled into. "Did that crab just talk?, and did it seriously just say 'crabby'? Okay I may have suffered some serious head trauma." Finn heard a noise behind him and turned around, he saw a red fox walking down the beach, on two legs.
"Ah! A walking fox!" Finn exclaimed.
"Ah! A sitting whatever-you-are! How do you like huh?, yeah doesn't feel so good does it? Jerk." said the fox before getting down on all fours and scampering into the woods.
Finn blinked, "What the he-where in the name of the Founder's am I!" Finn took a few deep breaths. "Calm down Finn, the fox didn't talk and neither did the crab. You're just hallucinating, you'll feel better once you find something to eat."
Finn got up and looked around, the coastline stretched out pretty far on both sides, his attention turned to the old wrecked ship. "Maybe I'll find something in there." Finn headed off towards the ship, once he got there he took a look through the large hole in the hull. Various barrels could be seen inside the hull, as well as a few old rusted cannons. It was hard to really see anything else in the dark interior of the ship, the hole in the side of the hull being the only source of light.
The inside of the ship gave Finn a chill down his spine, so he turned around and walked away. Finn had taken about five steps when he heard a soft woosh of air behind him, Finn quickly spun around.
And saw a bright red apple, sitting there on the bottom of the hole. It sat right in the center, a large cloud had just blocked the sun so it was even harder to see the inside of the ship's hull then before.
Finn gulped and backed away slowly, "Uhhh, I'm good… thanks." he said before sprinting away.
As Finn ran off, a slender pale hand reached out from the dark and grabbed the apple before retreating back into the shadows.
The sun had reached the middle of the sky, noon, Finn assumed. His phone no longer worked so time was a bit hard to tell. Finn's stomach growled, he was getting pretty hungry. Finn patted his pants and jacket pockets to see if he had any morsels to help ease his hunger.
Finn patted the pocket on the inside of his jacket and felt something, he reached in and pulled out the gold coin Sarah had given him. It was the only thing in Finn's current inventory, the only reminder of home he had aside from his dead phone. 'Sarah.' Finn wondered if he would ever see the bookish girl again.
Finn's stomach growled again, he put the coin back in his pocket and thought on how to get something to eat. He was considering going back to the ship for that apple when the crab scuttled back onto the beach and up to Finn. "Ey mon, I'm here to apologize for earlia'. Crab or no crab, ain't no sense in pinchin' a man just for kicks. No hard feelin's, ey brudda?"
Finn just stared at the crab.
"Whatcha lookin' at me like that for mon?"
Finn sat on his rock, staring into the campfire he had started. He made a silent vow to never eat crab again for as long as he lived.
The sun was almost about to set below the forest canopy, so Finn decided to get his campsite ready for nightfall. Finn walked up to the wrecked half-a-boat and gathered a bunch of wood for his fire, then he laid out some longer pieces of wood on the sandy ground next to the fire, grabbed some low hanging palm leaves, and made a makeshift bed. It wouldn't be all that comfy and he wouldn't have a pillow, but it would do.
Finn laid on his makeshift bed and watched the fire burn, the nighttime air was a bit chilly but Finn's jacket and the fire helped him keep warm. Finn raised his head and looked out across the now ink black sea, hoping to see some sign of a ship coming to save him. He didn't see anything of the sort.
Finn sighed and laid his head back down. 'Will I ever get back home?' Finn pushed away his worries and closed his eyes to try to get some sleep.
Finn's fire suddenly went out.
Finn opened his eyes and stared at his fire, wondering what happened. When Finn sat up from his bed he felt a gust of wind behind him and quickly turned around. There was nothing to be seen in the moonlight, so he turned back towards his now put out fire.
And his heart nearly stopped.
Right in front him, on the other side of the unlit fire, sat a girl holding a large red axe. Well she wasn't really sitting, she was levitating comfortably in the air as if she were reclining in an invisible easy chair. Levitation aside, there was clearly something unnatural about the girl; her skin was as pale as bone, as if she had never stepped foot into the sun her entire life. Her pointed ears could be seen beneath her long, jet-black hair. Despite the chilly night, she only wore a grey tank top and blue jeans, with a pair of bright red, knee-length, high heeled boots. Her two-bladed axe seemed to double as a bass guitar, she strummed a melancholy tune with a content look on her face. She looked to be around Finn's age but Finn wasn't entirely sure what she even was. The pale girl played her red axe-bass with her eyes closed, she didn't even seem to notice Finn.
Finn gulped down his fear and slowly got to his feet, "Ummmm… hi?"
The girls' eyes shot open, they were blood red and seemed to glow in the dark. The girl opened her mouth and let out a terrifying hiss, revealing two gleaming fangs.
Finn took a few terrified steps back, "HOLY CRAP!, VAMPIRE!" he shouted.
Said vampire slung her axe-bass onto her back and rose into the air, when she reached about thirty feet, the vampire dove right towards Finn.
Finn felt a familiar click deep within himself, and he met the vampire with a spinning kick to the face that sent her flying head-first into the sandy beach. The vampire got back up, spit the sand out of her mouth and looked at Finn with surprise in her glowing red eyes.
The vampire then smiled wickedly, and her body began to shift and morph. Finn watched in horror as the vampire girl became a twenty-foot tall bat monster, black fur covered her body and head, her fangs had grown to the size of a person, her arms and legs were a gross green color and were outfitted with sharp looking claws. Two large bat wings on her back completed the look, the monster looked at Finn with blazing red eyes, with a smile on its face.
Finn took a moment to work off the shock, then ran like hell away from the creature. The vampire monster laughed before going airborne and chasing after him. As Finn ran down the beach, he could hear the flying monster closing in on him. Instinct made Finn do a roll in the sand, and he felt a whoosh of air as the monster's hand missed him by an inch. The creature circled back around. The smile on its face gave the impression that the vampire was enjoying herself, seeing this made Finn angry. He scooped up a handful of sand.
The vampire landed in front of Finn and grabbed him with her large clawed hand, the monster then held Finn up to her face and let out a victorious laugh. But when Finn threw his fistful of sand into her eyes, the creature let out a cry of pain before dropping Finn onto the ground.
The monster rubbed it's eyes fiercely. "AHHHH!, SAND IN THE EYES! MAN THAT STINGS!" The vampire shrunk back down to her former more human appearance. Finn looked at the vampire, now on her knees and still rubbing her eyes, and wondered if he had won. No such luck apparently, the vampire raised her head and glared at Finn, her red eyes seemed to glow even brighter. She let out another hiss before she rushed Finn, before he could even blink the vampire tackled him to the ground and pinned him in the sand. Finn struggled to break free from her hold, but the vampire was incredibly strong, her iron grip was inescapable.
Victory returning to her face, the vampire girl pulled Finn's hat off, revealing his features and exposing his neck. The vampire grinned, then opened her mouth and extended her fangs, she moved them towards Finn's neck. 'This is it.' he thought. 'Goodbye mom, I'm sorry I never made it back home.' He shut his eyes tight and braced himself for the vampire's bite.
The vampire gave Finn a kiss on the cheek, then released her hold on him.
Finn opened his eyes in shock and confusion, but the vampire had already disappeared. From somewhere in the dark, Finn could hear her mischievous laughter. He got up, put his hat back on and looked around, the vampire girl was nowhere to be seen. Finn walked back to his campsite, relit the fire, and laid back down on his makeshift bed. He tried to wrap his head around what just went down, Finn ended up filing that whole ordeal away as 'messed up junk to try to forget about', and had a feeling there was far more where that came from. 'What is this crazy place?' Finn had trouble falling to sleep, but eventually, sleep took him.
When Finn woke up the next morning, he was buried in a mound of sand with only his head sticking out. When Finn realized the mound of sand was sculpted into the body of a naked lady, his face turned red and he burst out of the sand pile. While he was shaking all the sand off of him, Finn noticed a message written in the sand beside him. When he read it, his face turned even redder.
Thanks for the good time last night handsome. You got a little rough near the end but fortunately for you, that's exactly how I like it. I'll see ya around.
XOXO
M
Finn kicked away the message in frustration.
For breakfast, Finn ate a couple palm fruits from one of the nearby trees (and also realized he could've just eaten those for lunch yesterday). After he threw away the pits, Finn headed into the forest. He knew he should probably stay on the beach and wait for a Seeker to come get him, but whatever this 'M's deal was, Finn had no interest in being her beach play-thing. And besides, if the crabs and foxes talked, Finn figured he could find someone else who could tell him where he was exactly.
The vampire girl watched from the ship's inside as Finn walked into the forest, a smile on her face. "Heh, never thought I'd see one of you guys again. At least you're fun to mess with."
Finn wasn't entirely sure how far he had walked, he guessed he had made significant ground. He wasn't lost, he knew by the position of the sun which way was east and west and knew which way to go if he wanted to get back to the beach. Finn was actually starting to enjoy himself, the forest he walked through was rather pleasant and serene. Birds chirped and squirrels chittered in the tree tops, butterflies fluttered through the air seemingly without a care in the world. The butterflies seemed to like Finn, they followed him through the forest as he walked, virtually unafraid of him. A couple of the insects even landed on the ears of his hat for a free ride.
Finn eventually came across a campsite, though it seemed whoever was camping here had been out here for a while. A sink and mirror were nailed to a nearby tree, and even a toilet sat next to it. One of the tree's long branches acted as a shelf and a few bottles of something were placed on it. Around the fireplace various empty cans, brushes and other trinkets laid on the ground. The campfire was still smoldering so it must have recently burned, and a wood axe was stuck in a nearing stump, with several split logs laying beside it. A shopping cart sat next to the fireplace, currently empty. The whole place looked like a hobo's paradise, but whoever lived here apparently had at least some etiquette, the place wasn't exactly tidy but looked like someone put a bit of care and pride into the place.
Finn was about to call out to see if anyone was around when he heard a voice coming towards him, and the most bizarre looking creature he had yet to see came floating out from the bushes. The thing's whole lumpy, rounded body was a rich, lavender purple. It had a pair of skinny arms but no legs, it floated leisurely in the air the same as the vampire did. It was about the size of a large mini-fridge, and it had a strange shining yellow star on its forehead above it's face. It was apparently talking on a phone and didn't even notice Finn at first.
"Yeah Melissa, things between me and Brad are like, totally over." it had a really annoying voice. "Good riddens is what I have to say… totally girl, that relationship was going nowhere… well my girl Turtle Princess might be able to hook me up with another date, but honestly- and don't tell her I said this- but her taste in men is lumpin' awful. I mean I love that girl, but I think she's starting to enjoy having the Ice King kidnap her… I don't know girl I'll just keep looking, men can't resist these lumps you know that… not sure, but I think you could-." when the purple thing finally noticed Finn, it let out a shriek. "Melissa I have to call you back!, An albino goblin or something just snuck into my home!" it cried before hanging up.
Finn gave the weird thing a confused look. "Huh?" his eyes immediately widened when the purple blob picked up a frying pan.
"Get out of my home you dirty goblin!" it shouted before rushing at Finn. Finn in return let out a yelp and ran around the campsite, the angry purple thing chased after Finn swinging the frying pan, trying to land a hit.
"Take it easy!, I just wanted directions!" he shouted.
"You can go straight to the Nightosphere!, how's that for directions?!" was the purple things reply.
Finn was getting sick of running, so he grabbed a rolling pin up off the ground, spun around and knocked the frying pan out of the thing's hand. The purple thing checked to see if it's hand was still there with a look of shock. Then it let out a roar and jumped on Finn's head. Finn struggled under the weight of the purple lunatic, for something that floated it was surprisingly heavy.
"Stupid goblin!, my lumps are off limits for you!" the creature twisted Finn's hat around, blinding him. Finn managed to wrench the purple thing off his head and throw it away from him. With the thing now off of him, Finn pulled his hat off his head to restore his sight. His golden hair flowed down his head and rested on his shoulders.
The purple thing now had a bent golf club in its hand. "I'M GONNA CRACK OPEN YOUR-well hello there." the purple thing said with a smile upon seeing Finn without his hat. It dropped the golf club and floated up closer to Finn. "Didn't know that's what you looked like under the hood, ha, ha, ha." It had a look on it's face that reminded him of the waitress girls from the Guardian's Gauntlet, but instead of blushing Finn took a few nervous steps back.
"Uhhhhh… thanks?" Finn replied awkwardly, he was about to put his hat back on but the purple thing stopped him.
"No no, keep the hat off for me, and take your shirt off too maybe?" Finn just stared at the floating purple thing before he put the hat back on, much to it's disappointment. "Oh your mean, but I can work with that." the purple thing crossed it's arms and raised an eyebrow at Finn. "So, haven't seen you around here before. What's your name hot stuff?"
Finn cleared his throat before answering. "Name's Finn, Finn Campbell. Nice to meet your acquaintance, and you are?"
The purple thing did a pose before answering. "The name's Lumpy Space Princess. Yeah that's right, the one and only, breathe it in boy."
"You're a girl-I mean uhhh-a princess?"
"You bet your lumpin' rear end I am, no autographs thank you. I would however be like, totally down for a selfie with you."
Finn raised a hand, "I'm good, thanks." he then decided to change the subject. "So, uh, your highness-"
"Pshh, don't give me any of that 'your highness' honky. Just call me LSP, everyone does."
Finn blinked. "Umm, okay, LSP. Could you please tell me, where exactly am I?"
"Sure I could, but how about we dine at my place first, get to know each other a little better?" replied LSP with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
Finn was seriously considering going back to the beach and taking his chances with the vampire. It had gotten late surprisingly quick and he knew the vampire would be out and about when night came, but he didn't care. Finn realized though, that LSP was his only friend in this foreign place, so he put on as convincing of a smile as he could and replied "That sounds delightful."
"Yessss." LSP said with an fist pump.
'Her place' turned out to be the campsite. They sat, or Finn sat at least, on a log and ate campfire cooked, canned meat right out of the can with a fork as the sun set. Finn would have expected a princess to dine a lot fancier than this, but he was still grateful for the food. Finn watched as the Lumpy Space Princess, as she called herself, devoured her can of meat, doing his best to keep his canned meat from going back up his throat.
Finn gave his can a few nervous taps with his fork. "So… LSP… could you please tell me where I am now?"
LSP had her tongue in her can of meat and was finishing off anything she might have missed. "Oh yeah that's the good stuff. Finn was it? Yeah well, your like, in the southern woods, the Candy Kingdom is like, straight north from here like, that way." she pointed with her fork. "You can probably get directions to whatever kingdom you're from there."
Finn had no idea how to even respond to that. 'Candy Kingdom?' he gave it a shot anyway. "I… uhhhh… I'm not really from any of the, uh, kingdoms."
LSP threw her can off to the side and picked her teeth clean with her fork. "Yeah like, what even are you anyway? Some pale Goblin or small Marauder? Don't get me wrong I think you're smokin', it's just hard to like, pinpoint what you are."
"He's a Human." said a voice from above, Finn and LSP looked up.
It was the vampire girl from before, floating in the treetops. She looked like she was laying on a see-through bed peeking down on Finn and LSP. She had her legs swinging in the air like a schoolgirl on her phone and her chin rested on her hands. Her red axe lay strapped on her back.
Finn jumped to his feet and took a few steps back. LSP though didn't look at all fazed. "Geez calm down Finn, it's just Marceline." she said.
The name gave Finn pause. "Marceline?"
The vampire floated down next to LSP, sitting on her own invisible chair. Her eyes were normal now, no longer blood red and glowing like before. "Yup, that's what the 'M' stood for dummy. I'm Marceline, the Vampire Queen." She had a chill and carefree voice, as if the only thing that really mattered to her in life was the bass on her back.
Finn stared at Marceline. 'I wonder…' but he pushed the thought aside and gave the vampire a glare. "You attacked me on the beach!" he exclaimed angrily.
Marceline let out a laugh. "Oh come dude, if I actually wanted to kill you," she blinked her eyes and they returned to their blood red state. "I would've done it by now."
Finn gulped, and Marceline blinked her eyes back to normal. "Nah, you seem cool though. Plus, LSP seems to like you."
"Yeah Finn chill out, Marceline is like, super cool. You shouldn't be afraid of her, unless you manage to like, really piss her off." said LSP.
"Yeah, throwing sand in my eyes is a pretty good start to that." Marceline said with a frown. Finn gulped again and Marceline chuckled. "I'm just messing with you man, I'm all for playing dirty." She gave him a wink.
Finn sat back down and cleared his throat. "So… you two know each other?" he asked. "Is it a levitating thing or…?"
"No but that's actually pretty good, we should totally use that." replied Marceline.
"Oh yeah, totally girl!" said LSP. "We could be 'The Floating… uh, 'The Flying… uh, 'The Levi-tat-ing…"
'We'll think of something."
"Sure, whatever."
LSP looked at Finn. "So you're a Human huh? I thought humans were like, extinct or whatever."
Finn gave LSP a curious look. "Extinct?"
"Yeah like, you all died during the Mushroom War or something."
This only confused Finn even more. "Mushroom War?"
Marceline pulled out her bass-axe and strummed a few cords. "The whole massacre with the big-ass explosion and genocide and junk, humans got way in over their heads and killed themselves. It happened nearly a thousand year ago, so no one really knows exactly what happened. The human race was nearly wiped out, all that's left of them here in Ooo is a few remnants, broken down buildings and whatnot. The Rag-and-Bone Kingdom is full of old pre-Mushroom War stuff. I actually scored a bunch of old movies from that place, some CD's and a few shirts too, man I love going to that place. Raggedy Princess is way too generous with all her junk though, I actually felt bad about taking all of that stuff."
Finn didn't really register any of what the vampire had said after the 'human race was nearly wiped out' part, it had hit him point black on the nail. The Mushroom War, that's what these people called the Apocalypse, and that could only mean one thing.
"This place… this 'Ooo'… the humans used to live here. I'm in our old homeland."
Marceline smiled. "Now you're getting it."
LSP looked confused though. "Hold on hold on hold on, if you're not from Ooo, then like, where are you from?" Marceline leaned forward a bit, it seemed she was curious as well.
"I'm from Founder's Island," Finn began. "After the Apocalypse- the Mushroom War- we set down roots on four islands out across the ocean, now we only live on the one."
"Well how did you end up here?" Marceline asked.
Finn looked down at his feet, he didn't want to get into too much detail on that. "There was… an accident, I ended up unconscious on a wrecked boat. I must have floated to Ooo's shores while I was out, that's where you found me Marceline."
Finn looked up, LSP and even Marceline were giving him sympathetic looks. "Oh my glob Finn, that's like, so sad!" LSP's eyes started to water. "You were separated from your home and family, and now you might never see them again!"
Finn wasn't really expecting any sentiment from someone he barely knew, he tried to ease the tension. "Take it easy LSP. My mom is the leader of the island, she probably already sent someone to get me."
Marceline looked at Finn worriedly, "Finn, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I don't think your island is even on Ooo's map. If it were, someone would have found it by now. Your island must be seriously far away, not even the Ocean Kingdom ventures that far out. Even if your mom does know where you are, which isn't very likely, it may take her awhile to even find you."
Finn took the vampire's words into consideration, and realized that she might be right. His phone was out of juice, so there was no guarantee the tracker even worked. And after the Guardian smashed the boat, it would be nearly impossible to determine where Finn had ended up. As far as Finn could tell, Minerva's best bet would be to send a Seeker out on a ship and hope for the best.
Marceline saw the distress on Finn's face, she let out a sigh before speaking again. "Look dude, I'm not trying to tell you it's hopeless. I'm just saying you might be in deeper dung than you realize."
Finn took a breath. "Okay, worst case scenario; My mom ends up with absolutely no idea on where I am and the Seeker, if she sent one, can't find me. Is there anyone here in Ooo who might be able to help me out?"
Marceline strummed a few more chords. "Well, Crab Princess might be able to help you out. Or maybe President Porpoise, I heard he's pretty helpful."
Finn had no idea what a 'President Porpoise' was supposed to be and one of the last things Finn wanted to think about were crabs.
"Anybody else you can think of?"
LSP piped up, "Well I mean, Princess Bubblegum might be able to help."
Finn looked at the floating purple princess curiously, "Princess Bubblegum?"
Marceline rolled her eyes and played a soft melody on her bass. "Please, that uptight, pink know-it-all would probably try to experiment on you or something, she may seem sweet and kind, but once she no longer needs your help, you basically don't exist anymore." She hid it well, but Finn could swear he could hear some bitterness in the vampire's voice.
"Look girl, I know PB's like, a total hater, but she still has like, science and junk. If anyone can help Finn, she can." replied LSP.
"Pssh, whatever, I still think you should go ask Crab Princess for help. As long as you don't mention what you ate for lunch yesterday, she would be more than happy to help you."
'Oh crap, she saw that?' Finn pushed the thought away and instead considered the 'Princess Bubblegum' person LSP had mentioned. 'Seek out the Candy Elemental,' the pink shadow in his dream had said. Finn had no idea what a 'Candy Elemental' was supposed to be, but a princess whose name was Bubblegum seemed like as good as any place to start. Although he was hesitant to follow any more of the pink shadows instructions after he ended up stranded the last time he did, Finn decided this 'Princess Bubblegum' was his best course of action.
Finn looked to LSP. "Where can I find Princess Bubblegum?"
LSP turned and pointed. "Like I said before, a few miles north that way, you'll find the Candy Kingdom. Believe me, you'll know it when you see it, it's kinda hard to miss."
Marceline still didn't seem on board with the idea. "Still though, even if you do manage to get her to hear you out, Princess Pinkie-Pie already has her hands pretty full. She's got the Fire Kingdom to deal with and she's still cleaning up after the whole 'Lich' mess."
Finn stared at the vampire girl. "Lich mess?"
"Oh yeah that's right, you've only been here for like two days. Well Finn, it's kind of a long and crazy story."
"You pointed out quite clearly that I'm not going anywhere. And after the day I've had, go ahead and hit me with your craziest story."
Marceline shrugged. "Fair enough. Okay listen up, it all started about five years ago. See, the Lich is an ancient and evil being of death and destruction. Not sure if anyone knows where he really came from, but in the old days, he was getting into some serious genocidal biz. But before he could do anything too severe, the legendary hero Billy, with his magic gauntlet and blade, took the Lich down and imprisoned him in a cage of amber, within the very tree that sits in the heart of the Candy Kingdom. But the Lich broke out, and wreaked havoc throughout Ooo. Man it was a total massacre, the other Kingdoms were getting fed up with the rising death-toll, and started to point fingers at Princess Bubblegum. She didn't even tell anyone else that there was ancient evil imprisoned in her own kingdom. Desperate to stop the Lich, the princess put together a rag-tag team of some of the most powerful people in Ooo. She dragged old Billy out of retirement, the only guy to face down the Lich and live to tell the tale, and returned his gauntlet. She enlisted Si- I mean, the Ice King, an old and crazy, but extremely powerful ice wizard and promised him a date. I don't think the princess ever actually went on that date, she probably just sent a robot duplicate or something in her place. She set the princess of the Fire Kingdom free from her cage, even though PB was the one who put her in there in the first place. She was only thirteen, but packed a lot of firepower. She even came to me for help, I agreed, but only for… old times sake. Together, the four of us went after the Lich."
Finn was on the edge of his seat. "Yeah, then what happened? Did you guys take him down?"
"No we had our butts handed to us on a platter, Billy ended up biting it."
"Oh… well then how did you guys win?"
"Actually, to the absolute shock of just about everybody in Ooo, Ice King ended up being the hero of that battle. Although the rest of us were down, Ice King was still giving the Lich his all. When IK realized he couldn't beat him, he ran back towards his tower and the Lich chased after him. Maybe the old weirdo was trying to run away, maybe it was his backup plan all along, I honestly don't know, but Ice King lured the Lich down to the depths of his tower dungeon. Once he got the Lich right where he wanted him, IK summoned every ounce of power he had, and froze the Lich in an icy prison. He stayed down there for three days, pouring his power into the Lich's new prison, until I went to Wizard City and told the Grand Master Wizard what happened. He and a few top-class ice mages went to Ice King's tower and set the Lich up with a pretty wicked ice cell. Once the prison was set up, Ice King fell to the ground and was out like a light, he slept for a whole three weeks. The Lich remains trapped to this day, frozen in the Ice King's dungeon."
Finn stared at Marceline with wide eyes. "Woah, that sounds incredible."
"Yeah it was a day to remember, Ice King finally got some respect from the other wizards. The Kingdoms of Ooo are still kinda antsy about a crazy, old weirdo being the Lich's warden though, Princess Bubblegum especially. She never trusted magic, but truth be told that's just because she's too smart for her own good. As smart as she is, I can tell you straight up what an idiot she can be sometimes."
Finn was starting to get the notion that Marceline's disliking of Princess Bubblegum was more personal than she was letting on, but Finn had no desire to push any of the vampire's buttons so he let it go.
"Okay then, the Lich was defeated and imprisoned and Ooo was saved. What's the problem?"
"The Flame Princess is the problem. Well personally, I think she's the victim, and unfortunately for Bubblegum so does she."
Finn tilted his head. "The princess that helped take down the Lich?"
Marceline nodded. "Yeah well, After she recovered from the fight, Flame Princess had no interest in going back to her kingdom and cage. She had been locked up since she was a baby, and she's no fool, Flame Princess figured out it was Bubblegum that had her locked away. Flame Princess took out her frustration and anger on the Goblin Kingdom, but after she burnt King Zergioc to a crisp, and honestly he deserved it, she realized she was taking it out on the wrong person. So Flame Princess went straight for the Candy Kingdom, arms blazing. Bubblegum saw her coming and in a panic, called over the Ice King, who had just recovered, and promised him another date, which she probably never went on. Ice King and Flame Princess went head to head and let me tell ya, it was the most beautiful, poetic fight I have ever seen. I even wrote a song about it, wanna hear it?"
"No not really."
"You suck. Anyway, Flame Princess ended up winning that fight, she would have ended the Ice King, but I managed to talk her out of it."
LSP spoke up. "Seriously girl?, that guy like, used to kidnap princesses, and still lumpin' does. Why not just let the Flame Princess roast the old guy?"
Marceline tuned her bass. "Well, as Bubblegum may have failed to realize, if Ice King were to die, then the Lich would lose his jailer. Plus… never mind."
Again, Finn got the notion that Marceline was hiding something. But again, he chose not to push it.
"Anyway, she looked at me for a long time, then FP looked back towards the Candy Kingdom. I for sure thought she was going to go back and torch the place, but instead she just left. Firebolted straight to glob knows where. A year later, word got around that Flame Princess had overthrown her dad and took the throne for herself. She even took one of Bubblegum's subjects and made him a knight, respect yo."
Finn was starting to see where this was going. "Let me guess, Flame Princess turned her hatred towards Princess Bubblegum into a political dispute and got the rest of the kingdom on board."
"Eh you're almost there, it's actually kinda sad to say that Bon-that Bubblegum, managed to dig herself a deeper hole. See the Fire Kingdom used to have this squadron of super bad-ass fire giant sentinels that have been around since the beginning of the Fire Kingdom's existence. And Bubblegum didn't trust Flame Princess with that kind of power, so about two years ago she tricked FP into letting her take a look at them and yadda yadda yadda, there's only one left."
Finn blinked. "Damn."
"Uh-huh, I don't know how Bubblegum got out of there alive but she did, and left a highly pissed off fire babe behind her. Flame Princess was actually willing to let by-gones be by-gones and forget about Bubblegum, but after that stunt, she decided to retaliate. So she summoned a few top-notch pyromancers and jacked up her last fire giant with a bunch of runes and spells and junk. Flame Princess took her new and improved Fire Giant and went straight to the Candy Kingdom. Ice King was too scared of FP to help out this time, so Bubblegum sent out her two gigantic Gumball Guardians, which was exactly what Flame Princess wanted. FP and the FG absolutely annihilated the Gumball Guardians. Feeling that they were even, Flame Princess took her giant and went home. Bubblegum is still trying to get her Guardians back up and running, they've been at each other's throats ever since."
'Holy crap.' thought Finn. "So the two kingdoms are about to go to war then?"
"Oh yeah, Flame Princess is about to cave in and go to war like her family keeps telling her to do. Bubblegum is trying to prepare for the worst, but her Gumball Guardians are still down and the other kingdoms are staying out of it. So… place your bets."
"How do you know all of this?" asked Finn. The Lich stuff made sense since she was recruited to fight him, but the rest of it though.
Marceline smirked, then just like that turned invisible, surprising Finn to a decent degree.
"Ha ha ha, yeah I get around a lot, people hardly ever seem to notice me though." The vampire materialized back into visibility. "Seriously though, if you want Bubblegum's help, you would have to win a war for her. Otherwise, you're out of luck dude."
Finn looked into the fire, deep in thought. If he was going to get Princess Bubblegum to help him, he would have to play his cards and choose his words carefully. But if there was a war on the horizon, then there was no way the princess would go out of her way to help some stranger. Still though, if Finn wanted to get home, then he had to give it a try.
Finn looked back up at Marceline and LSP. "Tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Candy Kingdom and see Princess Bubblegum. Is it cool if I crash here for the night?"
"Ah heck ya it is!" LSP shouted, she looked pretty stoked. "You can stay here forever if you want!"
Before Finn could respond LSP's phone rang. "Hello? Melissa, not now girl!, I have a guy over! Oh yeah girl he is a total ten." LSP floated off into the bushes. "Hold on girl, let me move to a better reception area. Anyway yeah he is like, totally hot. I thought he was like, a goblin at first but then…"
LSP left, leaving Marceline and Finn by the fire. The vampire queen smirked at Finn. "Seems like LSP has really taken a liking to you." she said.
Finn blushed and looked away. "Uhhh yeah, she seems nice but uhhh, well…"
"She's a bit much, don't worry dude I know. As long as you let her down easy, I won't have to kill you."
Finn had a feeling Marceline wasn't joking. Noticing the bite mark on her neck, he tried to change the subject. "So, you're a vampire."
"Yeah, I think we might've already established that. If the fangs, floating and pale skin wasn't enough proof." Marceline replied sarcastically.
"Th-that's not what I meant." Finn said with an embarrassed stutter. "If you're a vampire, then does that mean you used to be a human?"
Marceline looked off to the distance, in the light of the fire, her eyes seemed to shine with age, the same way Helper Grover's eyes did. "I used to be… not a vampire, yeah. But I was never fully human."
Finn looked at Marceline curiously. "What do you mean?"
Marceline turned her head back towards Finn, she looked like she was about to say 'none of your damn business', but instead she just took a breath and closed her eyes. Her fingers played a soft, soothing melody on her bass as if they had a mind of their own. "My mom was human but my dad… well… he's a demon, ruler of the Nightosphere actually. Think of it as a lunatic asylum that literally went to hell."
Finn drummed his fingers against his leg anxiously. "My dad is a convict, he's the reason I got separated from my island. He almost got me killed the exact same way he almost got me killed when I was a baby."
Marceline snorted. "Okay that's bad but, your dad isn't an immortal being of evil and chaos who drives you insane whenever he decides to visit."
Finn rubbed his arm. "Well, my mom is an AI. She governs the island with a bunch of android look-alikes, she keeps trying to hook me up with a date but when you see your mom on every other block your confidence tends to falter."
This time Marceline let out a laugh. "Oh my glob, that is terrible. Okay you still don't win, but it's a solid second place."
Finn smiled. He had to agree with LSP, the vampire girl was pretty cool. Finn also couldn't help but admire her calm and carefree demeanor, the way her whole slender pale body was reclined comfortably in the air, not a worry in the world. Her smooth charcoal hair, moved gently in the wind, like a shade dancing to the music of-
'Take it down a notch Finn.' he thought to himself. 'She's a vampire, you just met her, you need to focus on getting home not getting a girl.'
Finn decided to keep the conversation going. "So, do you actually drink blood?"
Marceline shrugged. "Sometimes. Vampires have a craving for the stuff, especially human blood. Gotta say, when I had you pinned down it was super tempting to drain you dry, but most of the time I just eat the color red."
This confused Finn. "Huh?"
Marceline pulled some red lipstick out of her pocket and extended it, but instead of applying it, she brought it up the tip of her right fang. Finn watched as the coloring was sucked out of the lipstick, leaving it a foggy white.
Marceline smiled, "'Ahhh', that's the stuff."
Finn looked amazed. "Woah. Okay so, does garlic hurt you?"
"It's like a serious allergic reaction, stings on contact."
"Can you see your reflection?"
"Nah, but I don't need a mirror to know I look good."
"Do you need an invitation to enter someone's house?"
"That's an old-school vampire rule, one I don't follow. I sneak into people's houses all the time."
"Stake through the heart?"
"That would kill just about anyone."
"Sunlight?"
"It's the most painful way a vampire can die, you might have noticed I didn't mess with you on the beach until night." Marceline smiled at Finn. "You seem pretty interested in vampires. It's nice to know I have a fan, but I'm curious about what brought it on."
Finn stared at the vampire girl. "Back on the island, there's this old bedtime story about how while the Founder's were escaping the desolation, an angel protected them from a swarm of vampires."
Marceline laughed, "An angel? Seriously?"
"Some stories say that it was a demon the Founders summoned, other's say it was just some lady who played the vampires a lullaby and put them to sleep." Finn leaned forward. "But you know exactly what I'm talking about though, don't you?"
Marceline grinned. "I was wondering if you guys still remembered me."
'By the Founders, it's true.' "So you're really her?, you're Marceline the Vampire Slayer?"
Marceline chuckled. "Slayer?, gotta admit that sounds way more bad-ass than 'queen', but yeah that was me. About a thousand years ago, I killed all the vampires as the survivors made their escape, including their king." she then pointed to the bite mark on her neck, her voice lost all of it's carefree and calm quality. "But I ended up paying a serious price for it."
Finn was taken back by how serious her tone had gotten, he gulped and tried to think of a way to ease the tension. "I… I'm sorry." was all he could think of.
It seemed to work though, Marceline shrugged and continued playing her bass. "Don't worry about it." her carefree voice had returned. "I don't regret what I did, I just… know what?, forget it."
Finn was about to say something else but he heard LSP coming back, still talking on her phone. "-so I'm all like, 'I already ate a bunch of your continental breakfast, what are you gonna do about it?!" The greasy bitch totally humiliated me in front of everybody, so I went up to her room and totally ate all her clothes. They didn't even taste that good… Hello? Melissa?" LSP looked at her phone. "Glob dammit my phone is dead!" LSP floated up next to Marceline. "I'm back, what did I miss?"
"Oh nothing much." replied Marceline. "Right Finn?"
"Uhh yeah, yeah totally."
"Well whatever." LSP let out a loud yawn. "Glob I'm tired, sorry guys but I'm gonna turn it for the night." Without waiting for a response, LSP floated over to the tree and grabbed a sleeping bag. "Care to join me Finn?, it's the only sleeping I've got. My lumps will keep you nice and warm." LSP offered with a not-all-that-enticing-but-she-probably-thought-it-sounded-enticing tone.
Marceline covered her hand and snickered, Finn blushed and raised his hand up. "N-no thanks LSP, the sleeping bag's all yours."
LSP crossed her arms. "Hmph, playing hard to get are you?, don't you worry though. I'll getcha, you such wait. And. See." and with that, the Lumpy Space Princess rolled her sleeping bag on the ground, crawled inside, and began snoring almost immediately.
Finn let out a yawn of his own. "Geez LSP has the right idea, I think I'll get some sleep too."
Marceline slung her bass on her back. "Well if you guys are going to crash then I'll just be on my way. Later Finn, best of luck to ya." she began to float away.
"Hey Marceline?"
Marceline stopped and looked at Finn, who rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. "Listen, beach brawl aside, thanks for being so cool to me. I'm gonna be honest, I'm like, super scared I'll never get home. But you and LSP, you've been really nice to me." Finn gave her a kind, genuine smile. "Thank you."
It was hard to tell in the dark, but Finn thought he might have seen the vampire blush a bit. "It… It's fine dude, don't sweat it." Marceline turned around and floated off a bit, but stopped a bit short of the treetops. "It's Marcy by the way."
Finn blinked. "Marcy?"
"Yeah, Marcy." the vampire didn't turn back around, she kept her back towards Finn. "It's what my friends call me." She then flew through the forest canopy and into the night.
Finn looked at the spot where Marcy had flown off from, then smiled and got ready for bed. Finn grabbed a blanket laying nearby and laid it down near the fire. Finn wished he could have brushed his teeth or at least taken a shower, but Finn decided it would be best to wait until he got to the Candy Kingdom and hope they would let him use their shower. He had no interest in trying to take a bath anywhere near LSP.
The thought of the Candy Kingdom made Finn feel even more tired, he laid down on his blanket and stared into the night sky. Princesses, vampires, wizards, ancient evils, talking animals, whatever LSP was; this world just kept getting weirder and weirder, and Finn had a feeling he was about to dive headfirst into that weirdness. If Finn wanted to get home then he didn't really have any other option. 'Make your choice.' the scary voice in his dream had said, but in truth it seemed the voice was right. The universe didn't seem to be giving him any choices, it just kept steering him in the worst possible directions.
Finn let out a tired sigh. "Alright Ooo, let's see whatcha got for me."
Booya! I bet you guys were thinking Jake would be the first person Finn meets in Ooo or even the Ice King maybe. Nope, round of applause for Marcy and LSP everybody! If you're wondering who I'm gonna end up shipping Finn with, well I'm not gonna spoil anything, he is gonna wind up with somebody though don't you worry. I hope you liked my Lich story, If you didn't, well screw you I thought it was good. It's going to be a few weeks before the next chapter though, Finals and crap you know. Please leave me your reviews and thanks for following my story.
Also please leave in your reviews whether or not you initially guessed it was Marceline when I wrote the whole 'creature of shadow' bit at the end of last chapter. And be honest I really wanna know.
See ya! ;)