The End Chapter 4 Rough Draft

Day's Remaining Until Genocide: 354

The inside of the council building as large to Finn as the tree house was to BMO. For place that was designed for serious meetings between nations, the architects made that place more lavish than it needed to be. To prevent alienation for other kingdoms the council building was created with finest materials in Ooo. The floor and columns were made of some type of non-edible marble. The intention of that was for it to feel as generic for royalty as possible, which was a departure from the Candy Kingdom's norm. Finn questioned this designed decision, because he felt that such structure décor was utterly unnatural for the kingdom he devoted his life to. He couldn't help but feel as though some sort of national pride was being squandered.

As he strolled with Jake and Bubblegum, his mind wandered to a memory. Finn went back to when he was thirteen and him, Jake, and Bubblegum had to deal with the Lich. Honestly, he didn't understand why the princess had to summon the rulers from other kingdoms to deal with the recent problem. Per memory, the Lich was a bigger threat than the pyromaniac that was crawling around. That dark wizard had the ability to kill everything on the planet only to meet his end by Finn and Jake. One thing prevalent in his mind was that it was mostly him and his brother. Sure, they needed the Ice King's help, but it was only during their first encounter. Finn relished in the fact that defeating the Lich twice only showed how heroic they were. He hasn't heard such praise in ages.

Being the only one who's lost in their memories, he was deprived his surroundings of attention that they so desperately needed. As other nobles walked by, they seemed to looked at the nostalgic human with disgust. Little did he know, his obliviousness made him track bump into an unfamiliar princess. Since his obliviousness also made him track mud as he walked through, her dress was bound to be soiled. This disrespect earned Finn a slap to the face.

"Hey! Watch it!" He said. A red handprint was embedded in his cheek.

His organic eyes then met the onyx eyes the princess. Her skin was made of various precious metals; gold was the most prominent. Not only that, but she was adorned jewelry. Finn didn't understand how one could ever be comfortable while wearing loads of emeralds, topazes, and diamonds. However, the icing on the cake was her dress with platinum threads. Finn didn't know much about metal, but he was sure that her dress defied the laws of nature. One of her body guards came up. While humanoid, he was at least twice Finn's height and could lift the human with ease. Finn was jealous from both the guard's strength and titanium armor. Punching the guy would only give the human more damage. His helmet covered most of his face, so Finn could only see the guard's ruby eyes.

"Weakling, no one shall lay a finger on our princess!" He said. Gripping Finn with his left hand, he slowly started to choke him with his right. The metal giant only stopped only when he heard the soft but stern voice of Princess Bubblegum. "Let him down," she said. "He's an important ally of the Candy Kingdom. I'll pay for whatever damage was done." He loosened his grip but didn't let go.

"Very well," he said. He looked at Finn. "Keep yourself in line, squirm!" He tossed Finn across the room. Upon landing, Finn yelped.

"Are you okay, Finn?" asked Bubblegum. She held her hand out to Finn. Such a gesture instantly improved his mood.

He laughed of his bruises and asked who the unfamiliar royal was. Apparently, the metal people were from a kingdom on the opposite end of the continent. No wonder why they didn't show respect for Finn. Distance prevented them from knowing of the human hero. With his senses regained, Finn joined the three as they entered the conference room.

As Finn entered, he realized that it was more of an auditorium than a normal room. Five rows of court-likes desks circled three-fourths of the area, and the remaining space was occupied by a standard stage with a podium in the center. Each one had a microphone suitable for the upcoming discussion. Within twenty minutes, every seat was filled to the brim with at least one ruler and their respective body guard. Finn could relate to the servants of the lords. Looking around, anyone could see that most of them didn't want to be there, including Finn. As the discussion started, he could already feel the boredom kick in. An itch was starting to creep upon much of the seasoned fighters. Finn wanted to get out there and start punching the threat in the face. About fifty seats away from him, he could see the warriors he knew from the mountain. Naturally, since might makes right in their kingdom, they obviously shared a similar lack of interest. Besides the warrior king, the other rulers Finn could see looked disappointingly dainty. Of course, this was to be expected, because the other nations were only kingdoms in name only. Rather, the many kingdoms in Ooo were mostly run by city states governed by principalities. On the opposite side of the room, Finn could see the Ice King, who was merely an old fool, despite his title implying higher power. The monarch wasting his powers trying to impress the princess's around him, which would've worked if it weren't for his ancient age. Since seventy percent of the rulers were princesses, any young male royals would have an easy time get power through the creation of heirs. While Finn was trying to escape back to his land of nostalgia, he noticed a pattern with all the princesses he met: Most of them have nobody to take their place after death.

Before he could sit on this thought for long, Finn's mind wandered to something that he deemed more important. Bubblegum was speaking about her stance on the issue, but it didn't distract Finn's current daydream. He was remembering the time when he had to get some princess hair to save Jake. Looking back at the whole ordeal, Finn found it rather funny. One of his many attempts involved digging up the grave of a dead princess. The words on the gravestone said, "Here lies Princess Beautiful. She was so beautiful." He was ecstatic upon reading it, only to find out that she died of baldness. To this day, Finn still couldn't understand how that was possible.

He stopped daydreaming as it was the Goblin King's turn to speak. This sudden burst of attention wasn't due to the importance of the topic at hand. Instead, he focused more on what he was made of. He was the only royal in the room who was replaced with an inanimate stand in. The king was known to Finn and Jake as Whisper Dan, but the goblins were under the ruse that he was Finn. All the other royals viewed Gummy as the true leader and representative of the goblins. Finn could understand this; he remembered temporarily ruling the kingdom only to find that his servants forced him into inactivity. Still though, Finn was appalled when he realized the goblins still couldn't figure out the identity of his chosen scapegoat. Many of the other leaders soon shooed the delusional servant and his false king away from the podium.

As soon as a royal with proper etiquette took the stage, any attention Finn gave was ready to be lost. Although it didn't seem to help the situation, the sight of the metal bodyguard pound and rise from his table was a sight to behold.

"Why can't we just kill the guy!" After he said that, his table collapsed to the ground.

"Because," said a princess decorated in a breakfast themed outfit, "we can't prove that he's even just one person in these attacks. For all we know, he could be one of many."

The metal knight's voice became louder. "This person has already decimated most of the villages on the Candy Kingdom's eastern border. We already have the manpower to capture him. If we strike now, it should be easy."

"Not everyone has as many soldiers to spare; I'm not ready to leave my palace unprotected." She started to gain a similar aggressive stance.

"But wait," said Gummy, who was scrambling to get attention. "Why can't we just make peace with whomever we're dealing with? Surely, if comply with his wishes- "

"Silence!" The warrior king rose from his seat. "It's clear that the orchestrater of these crimes is the Flame Queen herself! Who else could set the towns on fire in a short amount of time?" Her majesty then responded by flinging a ball of fire at the him.

He ran down to the queen with the intent of recuperating the attack. But before he could do so, they were interrupted by the soft but stern voice of a young woman in her prime. Finn wasn't surprised about who it was, because he could recognize that voice in an instant. He smiled as she broke up the fight and drew the crowd's attention to herself. The silence from the crowd allowed Bubblegum's footsteps echo through the room. She was unfazed by the thousands of eyes staring at her. Wanting to make sure that what she said was perfectly clear, she pretended to clear her throat to test the state of the mic. Her tone of voice was that of a serious one. Thankfully, it wasn't to the point where the people weren't fazed by it, considering that her voice was that of a young adult continuously defying age. Finn compared her voice old enough to babysit, but not someone who would be ready for full-fledged motherhood.

"Enough of this petty disagreement," she said. "The brute king does have a point of the attacker being a fire elemental, but we have no evidence for that fact at this point." She gave a motherly smile. "Besides, I'm sure that it won't be long until we capture him."

"Can you please send troops to our kingdom then?" said Gummy as he was quivering.

"I'm sorry, but your kingdom is too far away from the recently attacked towns." Bubblegum pointed at the large map behind her. "Judging by the attacker's pattern, they seem to hit their next target within a four-mile radius."

The warrior king went back to his seat and sighed. He could see the disappointment in the goblin's eyes. "Weakling, I'm afraid that she's correct. As incompetent as your troops are, we'll need them sent to her desired location."

Gummy nearly fell over. "The king doesn't wish to give troops." He tried to hide himself behind his supposed ruler.

"You're king is just a heap of metal with cardboard box for a head!" The warrior king's words overcrowded any other noise in the room.

Gummy took those words more as a personal offence toward his king rather than a call from reality. Finn laughed at Gummy's useless behavior. He continued to listen to what they had to say. However, he only did so because he was waiting for himself to be mentioned. The only reason why he came here in the first place was to get orders on who to strike; everything else was considered meaningless chatter. In fact, Finn did believe that the only reason he paid attention was because he knew Gummy and how he wasn't more competent than he was years earlier.

Finn sat through the council, much to his boredom. Jake had to nudge him a few times to prevent him from dosing off. If there was one thing he learned throughout his life as an adventurer, he learned anyone trying to destroy the world won't amount to anything. It was weird, but it seemed like nothing could remained changed. Good guys win by default. Luckily for Finn, he always considered himself the good guy. Even if it wasn't his alignment, the annihilation and quick restoration of the Ice Kingdom cemented the idea of the threat doing any permanent damage. Unless whomever was behind this could create a scar throughout this land, Finn wasn't interested.

Finn then tried to sleep with his eyes open. However, such vulnerability didn't shield him from camera flashes everyone knows and hates. A twisted around in his seat from the unexpected sensory attack. His initial startle then faded away when he remembered the natural presence of journalists at political events. But when Finn he saw the photographer's face, his memory of seeing that same journalist a few days beforehand recreated his fearful reaction. Once again, he had to look upon a childish looking skull mask. The wearer of the mask seemed slightly confused. He looked at the seat near Finn and Jake. Confused, he decided to ask them after introducing himself as Skully. Finn grew suspicious of the little guy, but they shook hands and greeted each other regardless. He asked about where their princess was. Finn was reluctant to answer, but Jake politely pointed it out to him.

Skully looked at Princess Bubblegum. He was, in a way impressed by the fact that Finn and Jake served under her. His camera flashed one last time capture her youthful image. With photos of Finn, Jake, and the princess, he bid farewell to the two and walked away. Everyone else could take their eyes off the masked person, but Finn proved to be an exception. Only Finn noticed Skully drop one of his photos. Following his instinct, the human went to return Skully's possession.

Finn caught a few eyes as he followed the peculiar journalist, including those of the princess he served. For such a short person, Skully was walking fast enough to be out of Finn's reach. He followed him to the point where it was made clear that Skully was deliberately avoiding contact with the human. Their walking almost met the qualifications for running, and it turned into a brief cat and mouse game that ended with Skully making a break for the main entrance. He couldn't avoid him for much longer, because they were alone when they reached the hallway. The elegancy of the area was unmatched by any other assembly building in Ooo. The width of the area was large enough to fit in crowds of lords. Many decorations, little and large, gave the area its soul. Four foot windows lined one wall, while marble pillars lined both. In the middle was long, red carpet that appeared to stretch out for miles. The storm had finally passed, allowing the morning sunlight to shine in the area and give the room a faint morning glow. Finn was no longer restricted by the rules that accompanied royal presence, so he shouted to get Skully's attention. Pretending to ignore the human would seem like a foolish option. Isolated, Skully couldn't give the illusion of looking busy anymore. He turned around, looked the human in eye, and gave a sincere sounding greeting to mask his intentions. Despite how it sounded convincing, Finn could easily see through the façade.

Finn handed over the photo. Skully took it and thanked the young man. With that, Finn watched as the masked fellow headed for the exit. But Finn was still suspicious of him; he looked around, trying to find a way to continue talking with him. The first thing that came to Finn's mind was the recent paper. Surely, he would be obligated to answer questions about it.

"I've looked over the recent stories, but I can tell that there's only one you'd be interested in," said Skully. "There was something about the world's best warriors holding a tournament."

He refrained to mention any other news headline. The idea of a tournament did peek Finn's interest. After taking a beating like that from a random soldier, Finn wanted to prove his strength on a larger scale. He deemed his humiliation as a mere fluke. A lack of focus would leave anyone vulnerable to attack. But right now, Finn couldn't help but notice something off about Skully's eyes. While glowing and vibrant, they looked as though they were suspended in a void that existed beyond the mask. Finn stared into them, and the room began to darken.

A soft hand gripped Finn's arm. At first, he thought it was some sort of illusion and punched the hand's owner in the face. The room brightened up again, and Finn realized he had hit not a ghost, but Bubblegum. Using that as a distraction, Skully left the area. Finn immediately showed regret for his ironic mistake. Impatient with the boy, she dragged him back to the conference room, whilst he tried to explain his reason for fright.

Know, Finn was the center of attention in the room. Many eyes were fixated upon him. The way she forced Finn across the room would be comparable to how one would do so to a child. Some of the other guardians laughed at the weakness Finn had shown. The human almost wished he was thirteen, then he'd have more of an excuse to act that way. But alas, he was seventeen, an age where he was blooming into adulthood. He swore that lately he felt too dependent on her. Seeing that the only one sympathizing with Finn's show of weakness was Gummy (That would put his intelligence and sanity into question), Finn felt that it would be in everyone's best interest to change his new year's resolution to distance himself from the status as underling. The worst offender from this onslaught of ridicule was from the warrior king. The king laughed at the seemingly large gap of strength between them. He was strong enough to come to the conference without the need of a body guard. He originally thought that he was the outlier, being the only royal who didn't bring a retainer.

There was a thirty-minute intermission for the meeting. Many of the other used the time to refill their stomach. If it weren't for Jake, Finn would've gone the rest of the day hungry. He half-heartedly ate the peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. Finn tried to show appreciation, but the meat products the others owned distracted him. A few groups of knights and princesses even had a giant looking turkey. The more he looked at the roasted thing, he couldn't help but think of the impracticalities of its situation. With the smell of exotic spices and visible juiciness coming from the turkey, Finn could tell that it was freshly cooked. He looked around the mess hall, spotting the kitchen. If having a turkey cooked in advance for an important government meeting wasn't a sign of how spoiled royalty were, he didn't know what was. At first, he thought he was feeling a mutual sense of unfairness with his equals, but Finn's sandwich was really the only poor man's lunch there. He quickly scarfed it down, not wanting to face another bit of embarrassment. He went to patch things up with the metal based guard. If there was just the chance of getting on his good side, he wanted to take it.

He walked over to the guy. The immediate rise of suspicion that built inside the metal man was enough to make him put down his iron mutton. The tournament was the first thing Finn mentioned after proper introduction and apology. He wanted another source to see if the information Skully gave was true. Surely enough, the guy barely knew what Finn was talking about. There was something strange about Skully's special mentioning of the tournament. Finn, despite willfully bringing ignorance upon himself, he wasn't a fool enough to believe that Skully didn't mention the event without purpose. The events on both encounters just point to it being a trap. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in his mind.

When the conversation didn't seem carry any more substance, Finn was ready to leave. If only if he wasn't interrupted by mouth of a certain warrior king. He had heard about the tournament in passing, but the information that was presented to him made it out like it wasn't anything major. The idea of having the world's strongest compete sounded like nothing more than a marketing ploy. While most of the table agreed with the suggestion, their still existed a keen interest amongst the fighters. Some decided to look into it when they returned home, while others were ready to brag of their strength. With some of the surrounding spirits rallied, a few other fighters, including Jake joined in the conversation. The presence of fellow warriors made Finn feel more welcome than he did earlier. Regardless of kingdom or powers, a warrior is still a warrior. They live for the thrill of battle and the pursuit of strength. In their wake lies great danger to them and their fellow man. This created a rift between those who were once on the brink of death and those who's worries were fixed on civil problems.

Those of non-violent royalty were uninterested in the matter, except for Bubblegum. If what they were talking about was anything more than just a passing idea, she wanted to know about it. Although she knew such a thing was benign, she feared that the others could get too unfocused from what was important.

There was an increase in competition amongst those at the table. So much so, Finn also got caught into the braggart mentality. Finn challenged the metal behemoth again, hoping to show that he wasn't a mere wimp as his previous lose implied. However, their rematch only lasted one millisecond longer than what preceded it. Finn accepted defeat this time. Despite being stuck in a wall now, he was still in rather high spirits. Bubblegum shook her head when she realized that Finn thought he could eventually surpass the other warriors.