Martin dropped into the cold, unforgiving sea. Baby Finn was safe but far gone by now, already on his way to Ooo. From here, Martin would eventually be found by some pirates (led by an elephant from the Tiny Mammal Kingdom.) Martin would never see his wife again, and his son would come to dislike him thanks to Martin's head trauma and emotional regression.
This would be known as a tragedy among cosmic beings. A forgotten hero who would be remembered with nothing but contempt or apathy. But perhaps it didn't have to end that way...
As the inexperienced father sunk beneath the waves, he felt himself torn away from the reality he knew, and was encased in a crystal prison.
Prismo didn't normally mess with the past, it was dangerous, and every change, no matter how small, had a drastic effect on the world. Despite this, he liked Finn and Jake, and besides, what's the fun of having mortal friends if he couldn't help them out once in a while.
It wasn't that hard to get Martin into the Citadel early. He took the place of a galactic criminal called Killswitch. The real Killswitch 'coincidentally' overdosed only hours ago on some forgotten desert planet. This 'mistake' wouldn't be noticed until the Citadel was reconstructed after the Lich's breakout. Giving Martin time to recover in the Crystal.
Now all that's left was to ask the Cosmic Owl to give a premonition dream to the famous hero, Billy.
Martin was awake.
He was also trapped in some weird pink crystal. The crystal was also melting. He wasn't alone either.
"Hey kid!" He shouted. "Can you help me out? This weird black fire seems kind of dangerous."
"Oh, yeah. Sure!" The teenager said, using a strange yellow wrecking ball to shatter the crystal. Martin fell to the ground, but quickly pulled himself back up.
"So uh, where am I?" Martin asked, looking around.
"Prismo said this place was called 'The Citadel'." His new friend replied. "And well… I…" He failed to find his words.
"We should get out of here". Martin said. "This place is coming down quick! Does that yellow gadget of yours turn into a way to escape or something?"
The yellow 'gadget' in question transformed into a dog, speaking on its own. "I'm not a gadget. I'm a dog. And this kids your son." He said, pushing the boy closer.
"I- Wait, what?"
"I said Finn's your son, and he came a long way to meet you."
"I…" Martin was speechless. "The last time I saw my son, he was just about a year old… How can you be him?"
"It's true." Finn said. "My name is Finn. And I was told to come find my dad here, and I'm sure it's you. You seem like my dad."
"No, no, I believe you, it's just… crazy. I blink and you've already grown up without me…" Martin looked at his son for a moment before smiling. "I see you turned old Mr. Polar Bear into a hat."
Finn grabbed his hat, pulling it off and revealing his golden blonde hair. He looked at the old hat. "Yeah… that was the only thing I had before Jake's parents found me. It had my name on it." Since then I've just kept the polar bear hat as part of my style."
Martin smiled. "You look like you've turned out well, Finn. Now let's look for a way back home"
The Lich looked like something straight out of a Seeker propaganda film. Nothing but a freaky skeleton, glowing green eyes, and a sinister voice that could drop them to the ground with a single word. Fall.
"You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength." The Lich said, reaching for his son.
"Stay away from him!!" Martin said, running straight at the skeletal horror. Martin punched at him. Not expecting to win, just to give his son time to escape. Surprisingly, however, The Lich seemed to be even more freaked out than he was. The demon screamed in horror as it's body regenerated.
Before Martin could question if he had some sort of superpower, Finn made a realization. "Dad! It's the guardian blood! All that white junk that splashed all over you! He doesn't like it!" Finn said, grabbing a large glob of it.
The teenager and his father teamed up splashing the creature with everything they had until its body was completely covered in flesh.
Finn ran over, hugging his dad. "Ha! We did it dad! We beat The Lich! He's gone!"
Martin was relieved that The Lich was gone, but he needed to get his boy home.
"Dad I won't lose you again!" Finn shouted, holding tight. The older human had attempted to convince the other inmates to help them escape. And while his charm may work for everyone else, it only angered the various creatures there.
Now the prisoners were escaping through a portal with Martin held captive.
Finn was strong, but was he strong enough to stop a voidcaster? Jake held Finn tight, refusing to lose both humans.
The horrible mutation of his son's right arm and the sickening snap that came after gave Martin the rush he needed to slip free. If only to pull his son out of the waters below.
Once again he was in the freezing depths while trying to save his son, but this time he had the help of his son's mutant-dog brother.
"Uh. Princess…?" Jake said as the two (and Shelby) carried Finn into the Candy Kingdom castle. All the citizens around them went silent at the sight of their crippled hero. All except for the princess, who was looking down at her stack of papers.
"Can it wait, Jake? I'm trying to study the results of my recent-" The princess went silent as she saw Finn's arm stub. A flower growing where his favorite arm once was. "Oh my glob, what happened?!" She asked,
"Finn was trying to save me." Martin said. "Things went wrong…"
"I… Who ARE you? I've never see you around Ooo, and Finn and Jake never mentioned you either…" the princess asked. She liked to have a degree of control over everything, and that meant knowing who was getting involved in her kingdom's business.
"My name is Martin Mertins… And I'm Finn's father."
There was a collective gasp as everyone
Finn recovered, and it was a struggle to adapt to life without an arm. Luckily for him, he had not only his brother, but his father there to help him. Martin was still getting used to having a teenage son after months of taking care of baby Finn, but he did his best.
Martin climbed up to the treehouse's bedroom, where his son sat with the little computer kid they lived with. "Hey Finn. You alright?" Finn turned to him, his long blonde hair reminding Martin of his son's mother. Glob, he was going to have a lot to explain to her when he got back to the island. That is, assuming the seekers wouldn't just lock him up immediately.
"I'm alright dad, I guess." Finn looked tired. "I was just playing BMO but, y'know, its kinda hard with only one arm…"
"Hey, Why don't you introduce me to some of your friends. It'd be good to get some sunlight. Besides, some of these mutants are cooler than the gadgets I was obsessed with when I was younger!"
Finn smiled weakly. Yeah dad. That sounds good."
As the father and son duo walked across the grassy plains, Finn started thinking.
"Hey dad?"
"Hmm?" Martin responded, turning to his son. Had he not been frozen he likely would've been so much older. He looked more like an older brother than some balding old father. He couldn't be much more that a decade older than his son.
"I was just wondering… where did I come from? Are you the only other human left? And why was I abandoned in Ooo?"
"Abandoned? I didn't abandon you Finn. Well, at least, I wasn't trying to…"
"Then what happened?"
Martin sighed. "It's not something I want to think about… But you should know. You were born on… an island. You were maybe a year old when we were attacked. Some other humans, they hated me for some drama that went down in the past. I did my best to protect you, escaping from them on a raft. I was planning to circle around the island and call the cops, but we ended up going too far away from the island. We were caught by the island's guardian, this giant robot-thing that protects us. I guess it thought I was a threat and tried to smash our raft with us still on it. I tried to stop it, even managed to punch out an eye before the explosion knocked me into the sea. I promised to come back for you… I guess I lied…"
"That's…That's some heavy info. So we aren't alone? There's a whole island of humans out there?"
"Oh not just one. There are several islands, all filled with people and cultures that still thrive. I've been trying to figure out where it is, but I'm not exactly a geography expert. Besides, I wanted to let you heal before I dropped this info on you.
"You know, I guess I'm not 'Finn The Human' anymore, but I think being 'Finn Mertins' might be better."
Martin laughed. "Glad to hear that…"
