Chapter 13 Cupid's Arrow

The time was five thirty in the evening. Finn was wearing the same clothes that he almost always wore. He had just finished setting a table with a romantic spaghetti dinner for two, when he heard a knock at the front door.

'Soturi, I don't want to hear you in my head for the entire night. This is our second date, and when I say our, I mean me and Anna. So disconnect yourself from me or something please.' Finn thought as he walked toward the door. Soturi replied almost instantly.

'I understand Finn. You won't hear a mental peep out of me for twelve hours.' Finn took a deep breath as he reached for the knob and turned it. On the other side of the door were Jake and Anna, waiting patiently. When the door was open Jake wasted no time being himself.

"Now presenting, the Duchess of San Francisco to the Hero of Ooo, Miss Anna Bates." Jake said in a fancy accent. Finn smiled at his brother's antics and decided to play along.

"Much thanks for courting her, my friend. But if I'm not mistaken, you should have been at Lady's home in about…" Finn paused so that he could look at the imaginary watch on his wrist. "…Now." The pair exchanged smiles before Jake turned and grew his legs extremely long so he could make his way to Lady's house quicker. The two humans watched the dog walk off and out of sight. Finn quickly thought of something smart he could use in his favor. It might have sounded stupid in his head, but he went for it anyway. Finn turned to Anna while she was still watching Jake and bowed like a gentlemen to her before speaking. She was in her regular clothes, nothing special, but to Finn she still looked beautiful.

"My Duchess, our dinner awaits." Anna giggled as Finn stepped aside to let her in. Finn closed the door, and guided her to where he had set up their dinner.

"This looks tasty, Finn." Anna said as she sat in the chair that Finn had pulled out. He pushed in her chair as he told Anna the rest of what he had planned for tonight.

"After dinner, we're going to watch your favorite movie upstairs." Finn said as he sat down in his own chair.

"How did you find a working copy of 'Soul Surfer'?" Anna asked. Finn only gave a small smile and a simple answer. He knew Eli had found him the movie, but that's not what Finn wanted her to think.

"I know how to find quite a few certain things, Anna."

The two began to eat their dinner and as they ate, eventually the conversation shifted from jokes and stories, to what had happened to Marceline on their previous date. "I'm not really that good in the department of magic, but apparently that crystal somehow removed the demon part of Marceline's soul and left the human part behind."

"So she's actually happy that she's human now. If I was a vampire and somehow got turned back into a human, I'd be begging to get back all of vampire powers." Anna said before she placed a fork full of spaghetti in her mouth.

"Well I guess it's just a matter of opinion. 'Cause when I talked to Marce', she told me why she was happy. She had watched almost everyone she's ever cared about grow old and die. And the few friends that she had made that were immortal or ghosts were complete jerks. Marceline gave me an entire lecture on the subject, but the major point that I got was that, and I quote, 'immortality is a fate worse than death'." The couple continued to eat their dinner and chat for about thirty more minutes. When they had finished, Finn took the plates and carried them to the kitchen sink.

Finn came back to the table to find Anna waiting patiently for him to guide her to wherever they were going. She took Finn's hand and he walked her up the set of stairs that led to a room with a circular couch. The two made themselves comfortable on the couch and Finn looked at Beemo on the other side of the room, who was hooked up to a projector.

"Okay Beemo, play the movie."

"What movie?" Beemo asked.

"The movie I gave you about an hour ago." Finn said, sounding a little annoyed.

"I'm sorry Finn, but I have no memory of you giving me any kind of movie." After a few seconds of thought it dawned on Finn that he had…

"Left it downstairs." He said. "I'll be right back." Finn said as he stood up to walk back down the stairs to look for the movie. But with every step he took, came an insult he gave himself. Finn tried to recall where he had placed it. After frantically turning his head in every which way, Finn remembered that he put the film in his pack that was resting next to the door. He rummaged through the contents of his pack, hoping to find it. "Knife, flute, rope, diamond, movie." Finn smiled as he lifted the movie up, then he realized that something was stuck to the back of the case. He turned it around and saw that the object was the lock of Princess Bubblegum's hair. He peeled the gooey object off of the case, wondering how it hadn't turned grey and hard for all the months it had been in there.

Finn held both the movie and the lock in both of his hands, almost balancing them. Finn unknowingly started to walk back towards the staircase. When he realized it, he quickly made his way to the nearest trash can and tossed the lock into it. Finn smiled to himself as he ran back upstairs to put the disk in Beemo and made himself comfortable again on the couch next to Anna.

As the movie played, Anna snuggled her way closer to Finn. But as she remembered that she had seen the motion picture about a hundred times, her mind began to question the events of their previous date several nights ago.

"Hey Finn." She said abruptly. Finn looked down at her with raised eyebrows. "When we were attacked by Marceline's ex-boyfriend, how exactly did you shoot a laser at him?" Finn was surprised at her question. It took him a while to think of response.

"Uh, that's kind of a secret."

"Then why can't you tell me? I am your girlfriend."

"I know that, but this secret is like a fate of the world kind of secret, maybe two."

"Oh that just makes it juicier, now you have to tell me."

"The answer is still no, Anna."

"Please." She said in a pitiable tone, and turning her face to bear a resemblance to a sad puppy.

"Anna, I was raised by talking dogs. That's not going to work on me. But when I have to tell everyone about this secret, I promise that I'll tell you first."

"That's nice, but can you at least tell me how you can shoot lasers, I want to know if I'm dating Iron Man or something." Finn guessed that Soturi wouldn't mind if he told Anna this, it wasn't like he was giving away anything. He shrugged, removed his right arm from her shoulder and brought it to where she could easily see it. The lines on his arms began to glow and spread to the rest of his fore-arm. The glow quickly faded away and revealed Finn's valta.

"It's called a valta. It allows me to use my life energy to do lots of stuff like lift objects and yes, shoot lasers. It can also allow me to speak with someone psychically. That's pretty much all I can do for now, but eventually I'll learn how to do cooler stuff like heal wounds, teleport, generate force fields, talk to people with my mind, and make my own really awesome armor." Anna was busy inspecting the valta, but held on to every word.

"That is so cool! Can you show me the psychic thing?" 'How do you want me to do that?' Anna reacted excitedly to Finn thoughts when they passed through her head.

Anna's excitement died down after a few minutes and they continued to watch the movie. Eventually, the film came to an end. Finn looked down at Anna, whose head was resting on his chest. He then realized that she was asleep. Finn didn't want to wake her, but with a simple nudge her eyes opened. "I fell asleep, didn't I?" She asked, not lifting her head.

"Yeah, you did. But I thought this was your favorite movie?" Anna began to stretch as she explained herself.

"It is, but I've seen it so many times that I could tell you every single line from every single character, forwards and ba…" As Anna talked, she lifted herself up on Finn's shoulder, but slipped. And acting on impulse, Finn caught her immediately.

Anna looked up at Finn, only to find that both of their faces were almost three inches apart. The red quickly covered the two teen's cheeks. Finn and Anna held their positions for several seconds, not sure what to do. Finn made the first move by moving his head forward very slowly, as if waiting for permission. Anna granted permission by moving just as slowly. They closed their eyes and sloped their heads ever so slightly. Just before their lips met for a definition heat of the moment kiss, an extremely loud crash came from downstairs. Causing the two to jump back in surprise.

Finn and Anna remained silent as the heard two heavy footsteps, the sound of something being dragged across the floor, and the occasional hiss. Anna whispered so only Finn could hear her.

"What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea, but I'm about to find out." Finn said just as quietly as he stood up, and walked into the next room to find his sword that was resting against a wall. Finn came back into the room with Anna, and gave her a reassuring smile before walking slowly downstairs. And as he did so, Finn wondered what would be waiting for as him. Finn reached the last step. He peered around the corner and saw two things. One was a gaping hole in the wall that the intruder had made; ironically it was placed right next to the door. But when Finn turned his head to the second thing, his face turned white and his heart skipped two beats. He couldn't believe what he saw rummaging through his fridge. There were some minor changes, but Finn would never forget the image that had been burned into his subconscious. There stood the same beast that Soturi had created to test Finn for his training, with several minor differences. The beast still had its basic body shape, with its T-Rex legs, the nine foot long tail with spikes on the end, the long thick arms with pointed elbows, and coated in the same shade of black scales. The only real changes were the head and hands. The hands had gone from five fingered claws to three thick fingers that looked more like talons. The head went from a human skull with a wide jaw and gazelle like horns, to a full canine-like head that sported a cobra hood which was about a foot and a half in width. The beast grabbed several of the fish Jake had been saving for his lunch tomorrow with its two mandible jaw. It lifted its head to let gravity force the fish down its throat.

Finn had quickly turned his head back, not sure if what he saw was right. But if it was, Finn knew that there was only one explanation. The Lich had finally made his move. Finn could tell that the beast in his house wasn't the actual Lich, but he could feel his energy radiating off of it. 'Soturi. Soturi, come on answer me.' Finn stood in silence for several seconds, waiting for some king of reply but received nothing. 'Damnit, why does he have to be a man of his word?' Finn thought as he walked back up the stairs just as quietly as he went down them. But as he stepped back on to the second floor, he looked at the girl sitting on the couch with his face still white.

"So, who's downsta…?" Anna was cut off when Finn rushed over to her and clamped his hand over her mouth. Anna saw the fear in his eyes, as she reached for Finn's hand and slowly lowered it. "Finn, what's downstairs?" She whispered in a commanding yet slightly scared tone.

"That's another part of my secret. But I promise that I'll tell you every last bit of my secret when I'm done downstairs, as long as you promise me that you'll stay up here, stay quiet, and stay safe, no matter what you hear."

"Why aren't you answering me?"

"Anna…" Finn cupped the side of her face and forced her eyes to look into his. "…Please." The expression on Finn's face told Anna how serious he was being.

"Okay, I promise."

Finn smiled at Anna again, he pondered the idea of kissing her right then and there, but the moment didn't feel right. He stepped away from her and made his way back down the stairs again. Finn had his sword in his left hand and his valta primed and ready on the other. He took a deep breath before he walked out into the open and said. "I'll say this once, get the hell out of my house." The beast turned around to face its target, its glowing reptile eyes burning a hole through Finn's forehead.

"Do you know why I'm here, boy?" The beast said in its deep gravely voice, slowly walking forward.

"I can take a guess." "My master has sent me to rid himself of you, so that his plans may be carried out. Are you prepared to die?"

"Yeah, yeah I've heard it all before." Finn said as he took the first strike, he leapt forward and swung the demon blood sword at the beast's head. It hadn't expected Finn to take the first swing, but it pulled its head back just in time for the sword to chip a few of the black scales. Finn used the fluid motion of the sword in his left hand, to bring his valta down on the side of its head. The beast hissed as it stumbled back.

As Finn continued to fight the beast downstairs; Anna was upstairs curled up into tight little ball, flinching every time she heard any kind noise that included thuds, hisses, and grunts. She felt completely useless, just sitting while Finn was as far as she knew, risking his life to save hers. To her it felt wrong. Beemo had unplugged himself from the projector and made its way to her side.

"You are worried for Finn, aren't you?" She turned to the small console with her gloomy face.

"Is it that…" She paused due to the loud scream made by Finn. "…obvious?"

"Yes it is, but don't worry. Things like this happen more often then you'd think."

"Really, strange creatures jump through Finn and Jake's walls and…" She paused again to the dull thud that made the floor shake. "…and just attack."

"Sort of, how else do…" Beemo's voice began to fade out, it was almost as if Anna's mind was making her focus on the fight downstairs. She placed both of her hands over her ears to try and block out the sound, but it only muffled the noises. After several seconds passed, Anna realized that her hands were actually working. A curious look came to her face as she slowly removed her hands from her ears. The sound of three extremely loud thuds instantly made Anna regret her decision.

Anna couldn't take the stress anymore. She immediately stood up and carefully made her way down the staircase. Anna stopped dead in her tracks about half-way down when she heard a hissing come up the stair well. She put a hand over her mouth as she continued at a slower speed. As she got closer to the bottom step, she could see the beast creeping along the floor, focused on the opposite side of the room. Anna turned her head to see what it was looking so hard at, and saw Finn's semi-conscious body lying face down, with three big bloody scratches on his back. The beast would have been alerted by Anna's gasp if it hadn't been hissing so loudly.

When the beast reached Finn, it turned him over with its clawed hand and gave a victoriously, high pitched roar right in Finn's face. The only thing that the roar did to Finn was make him gag. "Oh man, I can smell the fish." The beast grabbed both of Finn's hands and lifted him up. As it was doing so, Finn caught a glimpse of Anna. He couldn't believe that she had come down here, she'd promised.

'Anna' Finn's voice rang through the girl's head and she wasn't very surprised at this. 'While this thing is distracted, I want you to get out of here. Get as far away from here as possible.'

'But Finn…'

'Don't question it, just do it!' Finn's thoughts had sounded as serious as anyone could get. Anna was scared, confused, and a little angry, but she was used to this. Not the monster thing, but to taking orders when given in a tone like that. She began to tip toe her way from the bottom step and out the gaping hole in the wall. As she paced along she heard the beast talk to Finn.

"My master told me, that if I was victorious in battle, that I may feast upon your flesh." The beast's words gave Finn the extra bit of strength he needed to struggle, but it only forced the beast to wrap its tail around his legs and gripped his hands tighter. The words also made Anna think of the second day when her family came to Ooo. Mainly what her father had said to her when she had that nervous breakdown. 'And the blood of a marine runs through your veins, says that you're strong, you're willing, you're stubborn, and that you're ready for almost anything that life has to throw at you.' She was overwhelmed with all of the questions that bounced around in her head. Yet all of those questions seemed to answer themselves as Anna glanced down and saw Finn's sword at her feet.

The beast had craned its head over Finn's as it detached its two mandibles from its jawline and slowly lowered its head. Finn continued to struggle as he closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen, and something did. Anna had picked up Finn's sword and plunged it into the beast's back, right between its shoulder blades. The sword didn't go deep enough to kill the beast, but it did get its attention. The beast arched its head back and roared in pain, it had also released Finn's right hand so that it could pierce Anna with its spiked elbow. Unknowingly, the beast had released Finn's valta as well. Finn took the opening and quickly placed his palm over the beast's forehead, Finn shot a beam of energy that carved through the beast's head and as well as the wall on the other side of the room. Finn was freed from the beast's grip as it fell onto the ground, dead.

Finn ignored the pain that shot though his body as he stood up to celebrate his victory, but when he did he saw something worse than the thing that had just tried to kill him. He saw Anna lying on the floor, bleeding out of the stab wound just below her ribs.

Finn ignored the pain that shoot through his back and immediately rushed to her side. He yanked off his hat and forced it over the wound.

"Anna, I told you to run." Finn said, agony clear in his voice.

"I know, but then you'd be dead." Anna said slowly as her eyelids began to droop.

"NO, no don't close your eyes!" Finn knew exactly what he had to do but he didn't want to leave her like this, but then again he had no real choice. Finn took Anna's hand and placed them over the wound. "Apply pressure, keep calm, and I'll be back before you can say come back." Anna did as told and Finn ran as fast as he ever had to the bathroom upstairs. He nearly crashed into the sink as skidded to a halt. Finn wrenched open the medicine cabinet and searched frantically, tossing what he wasn't looking for to the floor. "Come on, where are those Cyclops's tears!" Finn then remembered that Jake had taken the vile of magic fluid to Lady's house just in case something happened to her or their pups. Finn was filled with rage as he slammed the medicine cabinet with such a force that it shattered the mirror into hundreds of tiny pieces. But before a single glass shard could touch Finn, he was already out the door and back to Anna's side.

During the short time Finn had been gone, Anna's skin had turned to an unhealthy pale. The floor around her was covered in blood and Finn's hat had gone from the snow white to a reddish-black, even though Anna had stopped applying pressure several seconds after Finn left. Finn forced his right hand on the hat with his valta glowing. Finn was trying to heal the wound, something that he didn't know how to do. He was focusing, almost forcing his energy into his palm. Finn began to repeat a single word in his head, 'Heal'. But as the energy built up, Finn realized that the only thing that would emerge from his valta was the same thing that pierced through the beast's head not moments ago. He quickly removed his valta from Anna just so he could release all of the built up energy as a beam that cut through the floor and deep in to the ground. With that option out the window, Finn only had two decisions left. One was aiming to transport him and Anna to Lady's house for the Cyclops's tears, and the second was to just let the girl of his dreams bleed out and die the same way her mother did.

Finn pushed his hand under her back, gently lifted her up and adjusted his hat back over Anna's wound. He continued to apply pressure as he embraced her. Finn once again forced the energy that flowed through his body, but instead of forcing it into his valta. He made the energy spiral around the two teens. The two words that Finn now focused on in his mind were 'teleport' and 'Lady's'. Finn could tell that this was working only because he could feel the energy gaining momentum. All of the pressure was causing Finn's heart to accelerating as well, which pumped the blood even faster out of his own wounds. He knew that if he failed at this, it meant death for Anna and possibly him as well.

So Finn clamped his eyes shut so that he could concentrate harder, as the energy moved faster and faster. Finn felt a sudden jolt as all of the swirling energy slowed to its regular speed. Finn opened his eyes and found that he had missed his original destination by a long shot and had landed the two in the Candy Kingdom. To be more precise, they were in the exact same room where Finn had first met Anna. Everything was basically in the same place with the four empty beds, dressed with hospital corners. There were still cracks on the wall from where Michal had slammed him against it, no one had really bothered to fix them.

Finn screamed for help as loud as humanly possible, he screamed so loud that he actually lost his voice as one of the candy doctors rushed into the room. He stood paralyzed by shock when he saw the two humans, who were coated in their own blood. The doctor came back down to Earth when Finn gave his commands in his now frail voice. "Take her, help her!" More candy people appeared in the door as the first doctor carried Anna's pale body with great haste. The few other candy people that had medical training immediately recognized what was in the doctors arms and ran after him to help. The candy people that stayed at the door just stood there, their curious voices filling the room. Finn ignored the eyes as he picked himself out of the shallow crater that Finn's transportation had created.

Princess Bubblegum hurried through the halls of her castle. It was her responsibility to care for each and every one of her citizens, especially when one of them screams like that. It's a relief that she's really good at her job. The Princess slowed down as she saw the small group of candy people.

"Alright guys, what's going o…" She cut herself short when the small group parted to let Finn step out into the hallway. "Oh dear." The Princess almost didn't want to look at her friend. He looked as if he had been tied to the end of a horse and dragged through hell. The Princess broke up the group as she stepped closer to the boy and whispered to him. "Finn, what happened to you?" Finn gave no response, he only hunched his head that bared no expression. The Princess placed a hand over her mouth as anxiety flashed in her eyes. She turned her to the right so she didn't have to look at the blood and caught a quick glimpse of the three thick scratches on Finn's back. She positioned her hand on his back, careful not to touch the crimson liquid.

"Come on Finn, lets get you all fixed up." She said as she guided him down the hall and to the medical ward, oblivious to the small trail of blood that went in the same direction.

Princess Bubblegum had left Finn with a doctor who wasn't busy with the human that had come before them and had also called upon Peppermint Butler. "Would you please call Jake? He needs to know what happened to Finn, even if we don't know."

"And I suppose you would also wish me to call upon Anna's father as well?" Peppermint Butler's voice remained as calm as ever, while the Princess' voice was very full of emotion.

"Wait, Anna is here too?"

"Yes, I saw some of the doctors take her in for surgery."

"Surgery! How did...! No, no Michal has to be the last to know. He'll kill Finn for sure."

"So Eli, then."

"Yes, when you call Jake, tell him to find Eli."

Eli held onto the hand of a blindfolded Marceline as he led her up a hill, both of them with smiling faces.

"Just tell me where you're taking me, Eli."

"No trust me, its better if I just show you." Eli led his girlfriend to the very top of the hill and removed the blindfold. Marceline stared in awe at the view of the sun that was slowly setting over the rolling hills. The sun was casting an array of reds, oranges, pinks, and purples.

"It's beautiful and all, but why did you bring me out here?"

"So you could look down." Marceline raised an eyebrow as she looked downward and saw a neatly wrapped box. She bent down to pick up the box and tilted her head to the side.

"What's this about?"

"Just that something's been telling me that I should give you this before some other crazy thing happens, now open it." Marceline shrugged as she tore off the paper on the box and opened it. When she saw the object inside, she was speechless. Marceline hadn't seen it in almost two hundred years.

"How did you find this?" Marceline asked softly as she pulled out of the box, her long lost friend Hambo. She dropped the box and hugged the raggedy doll. "How did you even find him?"

"You'd be surprised what a witch will trade for an iPod. I just wish she hadn't put that little zippered pocket on him." Eli said as he slowly stepped behind Marceline. She gave a Hambo a quick inspection and sure enough, there was a zipper on the same place it would be on a marsupial. Marceline unzipped it and found a single item inside the pouch, a diamond ring. Marceline's mouth dropped and her eyes grew, she had a small idea of what was going on but wasn't sure. But as she heard Eli call her full name, Marceline was now one hundred percent sure when she turned around and saw Eli on one knee and asked.

"Will you marry me?" The Queen was now completely dumbfounded, it took her several seconds to take it all in.

"Y-yes, yes I'll marry you." Eli grabbed the ring from Marceline so he could place it on her ring finger, and as Eli stood up, he gathered her in for a very passionate kiss.

"ELI!" Jake's voice roared over the hills, as his overly stretched body came closer to the two, causing them to break away from each other with looks of irritation.

"You have really bad timing, Jake." Eli said.

"I don't care. Finn and Anna are in the hospital."

"What!" Eli and Marceline shouted in unison. "What happened?"

"I don't know, but Pepper Butler said that there's a lot of blood." Jake said as he picked up the two humans and started a mad dash to the Candy Kingdom.

By the time the three had made it to the waiting room of the hospital, Finn's wounds had already been cleaned and bandaged and Princess Bubblegum sat next to him on the couch trying to comfort the boy. Jake ran in screaming with the bottle of Cyclops' tears held tightly in his hands.

"I got the tears, I got the tears!" Jake hurried to his brother's side. "Finn, buddy. Are you okay?" Finn still gave no response, he just sat there in his shoes, shorts and nothing else, head hunched down and looking only at arms which were resting on his legs. Eli and Marceline came up to the Princess while Jake was trying to get any kind of response out of Finn.

"Please tell me you know something about this."

"My guess is as good as yours, Eli. They just appeared out of nowhere." Princess Bubblegum stood up so she could whisper into Eli's ear. "And I don't know if you want to hear this, but when nurse Pound-cake ran out of the surgery room for supplies, she told me Anna's condition." Eli face had turned into one of misery. He took a deep breath before saying. "Go on." "She said that Anna has a slim chance of surviving the surgery, she lost a lot of blood." Eli cursed under his breath as he stepped away from the small group of his friends, his hands folded over his mouth.

Jake had removed the cork from the bottle and lifted it above Finn's head. Finn's hand immediately shoot up and tilted the bottle back up so none of the magic liquid would drip on him.

"No." He said in a frail voice. However it was loud enough to make everyone stare at him. "I want to keep these scars."

"What does he mean no, what the hell is in that bottle?" Eli asked in a jumbled fashion.

"Cyclops' tears, the magically heal any wound."

"Then give them to me, I'll use it on Anna."

"Eli, you can't get in there." Marceline said. "The doors are magnetically sealed, even I know that." The waiting room fell completely silent. No one really had anything to say after that point, and it stayed like that for several minutes, even when everyone found a seat. Finn called for his brother, who had been glaring at the gauze on Finn's back that had three blurred lines of red. Jake quickly came to face him.

"Would you go back to the tree fort and get my pack?" Jake nodded at Finn's request.

"Of course dude, I'll be back before you know it." Jake gave his best smile to at Finn, but it was of no use because Finn didn't bother to look up. Jake walked quickly out of the waiting room and everything returned to the uncomfortable stillness.

Bubblegum sat next to Finn like any princess would, straight posture with her hand held together over her crossed legs. However her face was filled with tension. Eli and Marceline sat on a separate couch on the opposite side of the room. Eli had his arm tightly wrapped around his fiancé, on the verge of tears. Marceline let her head rest on Eli's chest as she curled up into a ball, more worried for her friend than she's ever been. At the moment, all three of them could do nothing, nothing but wait and hope for the best. Finn had entirely zoned everyone and everything out. He was still staring at his hands, horrified at what they had touched. Even if the water had washed it away, Finn could still feel the warmth of the blood, her blood.