AN: So that was a much better response than I expected for my first foray! Neverthrive and Rubysword both read and reviewed, and they were the ones who first inspired me to start writing. So here's the new chapter. If you couldn't tell, this story has a main story arc but I've realized taht there's a lot going on in Finn's life beyond the whole FinnxMarcie schtick. So yeah, this and parts of the next chapter are going to involve the rest of Finn's life. Hope you like, please review!
Finn sat on the couch, idly strumming his guitar as he watched the two rainicorn-dog hybrids play together on the floor. Finn wasn't sure what the species was called, so personally, he just called them kids. It seemed to work. He had tired them out with tag and hide-and-seek, and now the twins laid on the floor playing various games on BMO. He smiled at the two of them on the rug. He sat the guitar aside and sat down beside them.
"How you guys doing?" He asked patting Jamie on he head and ruffling his technicolor fur.
"Good, Uncle Finn." the pup smiled. He took after his father most, even down to inheriting his magical powers, though Jamie lacked his Jake's finesse. "Heeryeong is hungry, though." His little stomach rumbled and he scrunched up his face. "I might be too." He confessed. Finn laughed and swept them up into his arms.
Alright then, let's chow down!" He crowed, tumbling into the kitchen. The kids whooped with joy as he performed complex acrobatics with them in his arms until he landed in a heap at the kitchen table. He set the kids down and clapped his hands.
"Okay, what do you guys want to eat?"
"Everything burrito!" They chorused. Finn chuckled slightly, remembering the first time Jake made n everything burrito.
"Sorry guys, that's your dad's dish, not mine. How about pizza?"
"Yay!" The kids cried, their enthusiasm wholly undampened. Finn smiled in relief; pizza was one of the few things he knew how to cook, and the only thing he had left in the house. He grabbed a frozen pie from the icebox and stuck it in the macrowave. The pizza was fully cooked in seconds, the smell of pepperoni, cheese, and fresh-baked dough permeating the air with it's salivatory aroma. A few swift slices of the cutter later and the kids were chewing away. Finn sat between them and munched absently as he considered his niece and nephew. It staggered him how seemingly simultaneously the children embodied their parents and at the same time were emphatically their own persons. Jamie had his father's nose and the husky baritone long associated with dogs, but had his mother's coloration and long body. Heeryeong was budding an iconic Rainicorn horn and had her mother's lilting voice, but was the same shape as her father and retained Jake's yellowish hide. Admittedly, the family photos were a little strange, but undeniably the household was a happy one. Finn grinned, scratching the ruff of fur on fur on Heeryeong's head. He hoped he might have such a legacy someday. Then, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, an image of Marceline leapt unbidden into his mind. The connection perplexed him; yet, at the same time, it was strangely alluring. After a few moments of happy fantasizing about having a happy family of his own someday, Finn decided to file the thought into his subconscious before he got all soul search-y and weeeeiird. Looking back to the kids, he noticed their food was finished and they were yawning sleepily at their empty plates. He glanced at the clock and noticed it was an hour past their bedtime. Yipe, no wonder they were so tired. He gathered them into his arms, carried them into the bedroom, and deposited them into the ancient chest of drawers that Jake had used as a bed for so many years. Just as he started tucking them in, Jamie turned to him and implored, blinking owlishly,
"Can we have a lullaby, Uncle Finn?" Finn smiled.
"Of course." He whispered softly, reaching into his ever-present pack and withdrawing his adoptive mother's music box. The Dog family didn't have much, and the music box was all that his mother had left him after the sickness took her. Slowly turning the cranks, Finn began to sing as melodic chiming filled the air,"
"Don't be weepy, sleepy puppies
Put your booties on your footies
In the morning you'll get goodies
Puppy hats and puppy hoodies
No stripes or polka dots
Feather light and feather soft
Maybe pink or baby blue
All the drawstrings you can chew…"
The lullaby was a guaranteed knockout, and the pups were fast asleep by the second or third line. After he finished, he had tears of nostalgia in his eyes from memories of when he and Jake had been like this, and of longing to see his late mother again. Wiping his eyes and scoffing at himself for being so weak he straightened and went back downstairs to maybe play some videogames when his guitar seemed to flash in the lagging light. Feeling compelled, he sat on the couch and began to strum gently, while unbeknownst to him BMO began to silently watch and record. In the feeling of the moment, and gripped by muse, he began singing softly,
"Mom…can you hear me…?
Way up there, past time and space?
And Mom…did you know I miss you…
More, and more… each passing day?
I wish I could tell you things
Like about the girl I like, or
Make you laugh with funny things I say
And Mom you know I miss you
So very bad since when you went away…"
As the last chord hung heavy in the still air, Finn became aware of silent tears pouring in tacit rivulets down his cheeks. Setting his guitar aside, he buried his face in his hands and began to cry softly, more than he had let himself cry in all the years since his mother's death, more than he had let himself when faced with all the horrors he had ultimately triumphed over throughout his short life in Ooo. In the dark of night, with moonlight filtered through the windows, sleeping rain pups in the room above and a guitar by his side, Finn the Human, greatest hero of Ooo, last member of a dying race, who always thought of others well before he thought of himself, finally broke down. He wept, and as he wept he slowly felt all the heartache and pain he had long kept locked inside drain from his soul like water bailed from a boat, leaving it much lighter than it had been in quite a while. As he sniffle and wiped his eyes, he noticed BMO watching from the corner. As the little computer tried to fell, Finn called,
"Wait." BMO froze, and hesitantly made her way over to Finn. Finn placed his hands on the sides of BMO's blocky body. "I haven't been paying you much attention lately, have I?" BMO nodded.
"By my records, it has been two months, three weeks, and five days since you last had a conversation with me that didn't involve videogames…"she said in her tinny voice, her sadness evident. Finn's heart broke a little before he pulled her in for a quick hug.
"I'm sorry, BMO. I promise I'll try harder to make you feel more welcome. You've been with me forever and you deserve that." BMO smiled, and together the two talked until the wee hours of morn, when Finn finally fell asleep with a faint smile on his face.