Hello, this is a remake of an old story I posted here a long time ago. I remember that I had to stop working on it because I was overwhelmed by university, and everything that goes along with trying to be successful at academia. Watching Obsidian rekindled my love for Adventure Time, and my desire to give this story a proper end. This isn't a full rewrite of everything I had done before, as I think I would get burned out if I did something like that again. This is an attempt to update it to my current style, and give me a little space to keep writing new chapters while I update old ones. It wont be the most accurate to current Adventure Time lore, a lot has happened in the series since 2016, but I've tried to include new characters and story should definitely be considered an AU with elements of gothic fantasy. I hope some of you who read the original are still around and that you can read this again. I hope you like it.
Lots of Love,
SoundlessS
"Grod Dammit!" Finn's foot slipped, sending him tumbling down the side of the fallen tree trunk and into the thorny embrace of a bramble bush. The prickly leaves stuck to his clothes and the bare skin of his arms and legs stinging his flesh as he struggled to get away from them. "Ah, it's a bad one."
Marceline floated over the bush lazily, her axe guitar slung over her shoulders. "Make more noise Finn. Some of the vampires might not have heard you."
Bronwyn, stifled a laugh, hiding her smile behind her hand before offering it to Finn. He grinned and took her hand. Her grip was strong, the grip of a dedicated swordswoman, and with a pull she helped him from the vicious embrace of the bush, leaving his arms and legs scratched and his muscles aching. There was a time when he would have barely noticed the pain, but that was a long time ago. Now everything seemed to ache more, and last longer.
"Aren't you supposed to be their Queen or some junk?" Finn glared at the crisscrossing cuts on his forearms."Just tell them to go away."
"Wish it was that easy," Marceline landed gently before them, she was scanning the woods "These vamps are feral. We gotta stake 'em"
There was something eerie about seeing her before the forest. This place had been one of the most desolate, the effects of the Great Mushroom War leaving it largely uninhabited by anything other than mutants. They were both relics of the past, and both seemingly untouched by time. He had watched Bronwyn be born, and grow into a fine young hero who hid her ability for violence beneath the charm of her father, and the grace of her mother. She had developed from a rebellious teenager into a kind albeit goofy young woman. Now she was catching up to Marceline in physical age. The Vampire queen was the same tall, lean immortal she had been since he met her twenty something years ago. Only her taste for ancient style of the goth-punk revealed her as something far older at a glance. Maybe that's the purpose of all those studs and pins, I look twenty-something but I am actually a thousand of years old.
"There's something wrong here." Marceline put her hands on her hips, her eyes scanning the length of the forest. "They should have come sprinting out of the forest eager to reach a couple of nice meals. They aren't budging."
"I take it we're going in?" Finn sighed, pulling the sword off his back.
"Yeah, they're here, they're active. If we don't get rid of 'em they'll go back to raiding" Marceline's nose transformed into a wolf's snout to take in more of the air around them.
"How do vampires become feral?" Bronwyn unslung her backpack, placing it gently at her feet. She removed two pairs of light-amplifying lenses and handed a pair to Finn. "I know all vampires feed, but how did these ones get so donked up?"
"All vampires have bloodlust, it eats away at you, but you can learn to control it. When the vampires returned I set out a list of do's and don'ts for them. It was supposed to guide them into controlling their impulses, but there's always a few who resist and push at the boundaries. I can't allow that." A hint of defeat had slipped into the Vampire queens voice when she spoke. Finn knew Marceline had been spending more time with Bubblegum, and the it was showing. She could be ironfisted in her approach to enforcing the limits she had placed on them. I suppose she has to be ruthless, when the price of disobedience is people's lives. Finn thought to himself.
"No point in waiting then." Finn pulled his sword from his back. He glanced at Bronwyn. "Do you remember the rule?"
"If things get bad, I teleport away." She folded her arms over her chest and frowned.
"Go to Bubblegum, her patrol should be sweeping the ferals up on the other side of the forest." Finn reminded her. He put his lenses on, and the world came into clearer view albeit with a yellowish hue.
"You look like a dork with those things on." Bronwyn said, her own lenses against her round face. He ignored her, as long as she listened to him he was happy to let her slip in a barb.
Together, they entered the forest through a small dirt path. As they walked, they saw remnants of the humans that had destroyed this world so long ago. Shell casings, and scrapped metal everywhere. Inside the forest, the trees were bare, there was almost no vegetation.
"What's going on Marcy?" Finn glanced at all the nothing around him. If there were ferals in here they were behaving unusually.
"They're backing away." Her voice was bestial growl, a predator barely in control of herself. "But they're also moving in behin-"
There was noise beep, and the world fell to darkness. Finn looked around, pressing the buttons on the side of his goggles to restart them, but the things were dead. He pulled them from his face.
"They're charging!" Marceline said from somewhere in the darkness. He could hear the hissing of vampires now. They were nearby.
"Bronwyn, get out of here!"
"No, I am not leaving you!" There was a crash of something smashing through the trees. Finn was thrown to the ground, just barely managing to hold on to his sword. He glanced around, wondering if he had lost consciousness for a moment. Above him, he could see Marceline was airborne, and swarmed by a murder of vampires. She was locked in a scything melee of talons and fangs far above the forest canopy. Silhouetted in the moonlight, Marceline's shifting shape casting warping shadows on the world below. She was far above any help he could offer, and he had to find Bronwyn.
"Bronwyn?" His voice felt small and weak when the words passed his lips. It was too dark. "Are you there?"
There was no answer. He got to his feet, knowing he would have to trust that Marceline would be ok. There was fresh pain in his knee as one of his old injuries flared. He couldn't help but think of Jake. Things had always been so much better when it had been the two of them. Now's not the time for melancholy, he told himself. Bronwyn was out there somewhere, he had to find her.
Gripping the hilt of his sword and forcing his aching muscles forward, Finn plunged deeper into the wilds, feeling the cold night air sting his lungs, and guided only by rays of moonlight filtering through tree branches bared by autumn. There was a clearing just ahead, he could see the resplendent full moon above a hill. He stopped himself. A clear open path out, it would be stupid to think they wouldn't be waiting for him. Finn took a deep breath, allowing his heartrate to slow enough that the sound of pumping blood allowed him to listen. He could hear fighting behind him, he ignored the sound and searched until he heard nearby footfalls catching on branches and leaves on the ground. They hadn't rushed him, they had taken their time to surround him, to close the distance before they went in for the kill. There was a heartbeat of silence, they were waiting to see if he would be foolish enough to sprint right into the trap. Make them wait, let them come to you.
The first of the vampire thralls, mad with bloodlust, charged at him hissing as it came. Finn swung his sword wildly, feeling the blade bite into flesh and seeing a limb spinning in the air bloodlessly. The rest fell upon him. Finn hacked blindly around him, trying to force them back. He saw claws slashing out from the darkness towards his neck. He tucked his chin to his chest, keeping the talons of the vampire from tearing out his throat. The attack cut through flesh and muscle, he could feel the claws scraping his teeth as they cut the entire right side of his face to ribbons, but he didn't feel anything break.
Thank Glob, just a glancing blow.
Now fully aware where the vampire was, he stepped back dodging the blow before cutting the creature down with a looping strike. None of his hits would be killing blows, but it would force the creatures to regenerate, giving him enough time to go into the open and find Bronwyn. Whatever was around him stopped moving. He could only hear his lungs struggling to keep up, and the blood pumping in his ears. Finn couldn't help but smile, he still had it. Sure, he wasn't as energetic as he had once been, but there was still fire in him no matter how scarred his flesh was or how many nagging injuries he had collected in thirty-five years of hard living, he still had it. If only Jake was here too.
The sound of thunder and a flash of light dispelled the melancholia that kept hounding him. He heard Bronwyn scream.
"You're so close." A voice came from the darkness, deep and mocking. "Just a little further Finn."
He followed it towards a clearing, holding his sword in a white-knuckle grip.
Boss fight incoming, Finn felt a surge of adrenaline at the prospect. Boss fights are one f my last joys.
A tall, powerfully built man stood on a hill. Moonlight reflected off his pale, shaved head. He was wearing combat boots and suspenders. He seemed human except for the clawed hand buried in Bronwyn's shoulder. The young woman sat paralyzed in a trance like state staring forward, her mouth trying to form words.
"Let her go ya tranch!" Finn took his sword up, dropping into a fighting crouch.
"Last of the humans. It's not often I get to drink blood from the top of the shelf." The Vampire's thin lips parted into a smile. His teeth sharp as daggers. The Vampire threw Bronwyn aside, walking calmly towards Finn. "I've been looking forward to this."
When he came into range, Finn lunged bringing his sword down in an arc onto the vampire's head. There was a sound like metal striking metal. His sword flew out of his hands at the sudden jarring impact. There was a sound like compressed air and a stinging in his chest. Finn looked down to see the vampire's arm buried elbow deep in his chest.
"This world goes in cycles, Finn the Human. Our time has come once again." The vampire's voice dripped with contempt as he twisted his arm, pulling Finn into an embrace.
The last thing Finn could think of as the darkness took him was how much like glass the vampire's eyes looked like.
