The Tunnel of Fate
Hello people of the internet, and welcome to the second installment of my first fan fiction ever. I realized that some of my paragraphs may have been a little long so I tried to work for a clearer and less cluttered format. Important Note: Italicized means the words are spoken in the past. Before I begin I'd like to give my thanks and responses to those who took the time to review my work.
Ooobserver: That means a lot to me especially considering how experienced of a writer you yourself are, thank you so much
Gold Testament: I've got a list of ideas that I have started making on my phone. I do plan to create my own OCs. However, the story will pretty much always cover Finn and his adventures and roles and not the OCs
kojh0124: I was hoping to draw out some deep emotions from these events. Glad to see it worked. Thank you so much for your support.
Author's note: I do not, nor have I ever owned, Adventure Time. If I did, Flinn would still be an item.
Chapter 2: A Candle in the Dark
The darkness was starting to become a little too much for the young man to bear. Reaching around to his backpack, he retrieved a skinny red cylinder. Trying to ignore the fact that he only had two others left, he found the top of the stick and removed the cap. These things were always a pain to ignite in the absolute darkness. Occasionally, the sparks would fly off during ignition and singe his hands and clothes. However, if it were not for the multitude of flares that he had purchased before his trip, he may have gone completely insane wandering around in the dark.
The cap struck down upon the stick… nothing
The two meet again… nothing
A third strike met the tip of the stick… still nothing
Getting fed up, the man felt the tip of the stick. Upon feeling it however he realized that he had been striking the incorrect side. "I guess that what I get for wandering around in the dark" he thought.
The cap struck, this time on the correct tip… the flare exploded in light.
The young man dropped it in fear of being caught on fire. "Perhaps it was defective?" he thought. However, allowing his eyes to adjust to the new light source, he saw that the flare looked just fine. It lay on the ground spewing red and pink sparks out of one side.
Sitting down at the tip that wasn't spitting molten material, he reached into his bag and produced an aged canister. Unscrewing the lid, he began to swallow its contents. The young man began to reminisce about how he had found such an amazing adventure's tool. Following a quest once by the wish of their best friend, Princess Bubblegum, the young man and his faithful companion had traveled to the mysterious Lunar Cave deep within the forbidden forest. Their mission… didn't it have something to do with radioactive mushrooms? The details escaped his memory. Anyways, the young man saw himself and his companion walking deep into the dark cave…
"Jake!"
Jake…
"How much deeper do we have to go?!"
"I dunno man, the princess said that we'd know it when we see it"
"But that might take forever and there's nothing down here but moldy rocks." At that point the young man found himself kicking one of the small rocks. A deep rumbling ensued…
"Dude! It's a trap!" yelled Jake. Just as he did, a large stone wall with plated spikes crushed the location of the golden dog's companion. Luckily enough for said companion, the dog's movements were faster, launching one hand into the back of his best friend and flinging him clear to the other side of the wall.
Looking up in horror, the young man expected to see his buddy's arm crushed into the ground by one (or multiple) spikes. He glanced at the dog whose only reaction at the time was his ragged breathing.
"Jake! Are you alright?" the young man asked, seriously worried about the condition of his friend.
"I don't know man. I don't feel anything, but that might just be the adrenaline."
"Try to retract your arm"
Slowly, the bulldog did just that revealing a slightly cut hand covered in dust.
"Thank Glob!" they both said together
"Jinx!" They both yelled again in unison
"No, you owe me a pasta meal!"
"Nuh-uh! I said it first so you're cooking dinner tonight!" said the bulldog bounding off deeper into the cave.
"Jake!" yelled the young man running after his brother. It was like it never even happened.
The young man signed, "Jake, you were the best brother a guy could ask for. You always stuck your neck out for me even when you knew the dangers. I love you man. Where ever you are… whatever happens to me… I need you to know that I have appreciated everything you've done for me. Your amazing cooking, your terrible advice, your brotherly protection that kept me alive all these years… If I don't make it out of here, I will wait for you in Glob World, brother." The young man was leaking a heavy amount of tears by this point.
Again he began to remember…
"Jake! come look at this!"
"Whoa man, that's a huge emerald!"
A large gemstone lay in the hands of the old remains of a once-adventurer. Next to the skeleton lay a rusted sword with an equally rusted canister.
"Right… it's an emerald, not a ruby" the young man thought to himself
"No I meant the canister, it is covered in these old golden runes and symbols. We have plenty of gems back at the house."
"Pssh, there's no such thing as too much loot brother. Just when you think you've got too much loot… Bam! You form another pocket and fill that one to!" The dog exclaimed happily, creating another pocket in its fur and dropped in the large gemstone.
"I think I am going to keep this" The man said, attaching the canister to a key loop on his backpack.
"Dude it's just junk" the dog claimed, "Just get rid of it"
"No man! It's probably an ancient key to some long forgotten underwater fortress!" The young man happily exclaimed.
The man's brother just laughed at his antics.
"Whatever you want bro" the dog said
On their way out, the two stopped by a fresh-water lake to refresh their thirsty gullets. The young man unscrewed the lid of the canister and ducked it under the water. Massive air bubbles began rising out of the canister, indicting that it was filling with water. To the young man's amusement, the air bubbles did not cease, nor did they even slow down while he held the canister underwater. He looked to his brother lazily floating on his back in the lake.
"Hey Jake, guess who just found a new magic water bottle" the young man casually said while he pulled canister out of the water upside down and let its contents run back out into the lake.
To the young man's satisfaction, his brother just stared at the stream of water as it constantly poured out of the canister and back into the lake with no stop in sight. The bulldog could have sworn he had seen the lake rise a few inches.
The young man stopped drinking from his canister and laid it next to the burning flare. He then reached into his bag a second time and produced a small white rectangle made of fabric. Upon unfold the rectangle, it revealed to be his old and iconic bear hat. The man had not worn it since the fateful day he failed the Candy Kingdom. Reaching into the hole where his face would go, the young man pulled out a small pile of pictures of his friends back home.
The first picture showed all of his closest friends at movie night at his and Jake's old treehouse. He saw Jake's smiling face as the bulldog carried a platter of cookies over for the group to enjoy. He wore his favorite apron that read, "Caution: Creative genius at work". BMO, Simon, LSP, PB, Marceline… They were all there.
"I wonder if they miss me as much as I miss them" they young man signed sadly. But I can't go back, not yet. Not only would I need another magic air bubble, but it would take weeks to walk all the way back. Not to mention it would be a complete waste if I don't accomplish my goal that I made upon setting out on this trip. I need to learn to control my emotions. I always make the most brash and stupid decisions when I feel these strong emotion. It's like I become a whole different person sometimes and worst of all… I end up hurting everyone close to me. My emotions make every situation worse. I need to learn self-control." the young man wasn't entirely sure who exactly he was talking to; whether himself or to his picture of his friends, but he was starting to feel better.
He thought about the first time that his out of control emotions caused such devastation to one of his closest friends...
The young man ruffled quickly through the photos but stopped immediately when he saw her face. Moving the photo closer to the light of the torch, he began to closely examine the photo. The photo was taken by his brother Jake almost a week before he performed an act which should have been unthinkable to a hero. He could read everything about her personality through her face in the photo.
Her brilliant amber eyes… Her mischievous nature and her ability to make even the saddest man smile.
The gentle curves in her face… Her glowing beauty and her age dawning a new light of maturity and wisdom to her features.
Her radiant smile… Her massive capacity for compassion and her quest for all things righteous and honest.
The young man wished nothing more than to see her face again, but not just through a picture. He wanted to hold her face and tell her that he would give his life for her happiness, but he just couldn't.
"Why not?" he mentally asked himself
"She would not have it, she has a kingdom now, she does not need me" the young man reasoned with himself
"You have seen her face; you have seen the workload that she endures every day. It was never in her nature to become so bound to one place. She is a free spirit and you know it. She learned true sacrifice of herself to her people, she is a true hero. Don't you think she would want someone to help her out with the massive workload? Some hero's need help sometimes."
The young man sat dumbfounded at his thoughts. Were these really his own thoughts? He could not counter the logic; he had seen first-hand the strain of the constant stress on the young queen. Her eyes were dimmer, her posture took on an unnatural straightness, and her voice grew more monotone. Yet thorough it all, he always made it his business to make her laugh at least once when he visited. Sometimes it was easier than others. All he would have to do is trip into Cinnamon Bunn and she would burst out into laughter. He would watch as the stress fell off of her shoulders if only for a minute. To him, it was like admiring the final results of polishing an old and most trusted sword.
The young man noticed the sparks of the flare beginning to grow dimmer.
With haste, he folded up is memories and stuffed them into a safe place in his backpack. Grabbing his canister he took one last moment to gulp down as much of the contents as he could before he would store it away. Before he could finish his drink however, the unthinkable occurred…
The canister stopped pouring water
At first the young man shook it, maybe the water was just stuck, it's not like he really understood anything about magic. However, he slowly grew more and more nervous. His nervousness turned to anxiety, anxiety into fear, and finally, fear into horror…
The young man started hyperventilating, "I'm going to die, I'm seriously going to die here." he repeated over and over in his head.
But just when he thought that he would lose it, he heard a faint crying sound. It almost sounded fairly similar to a young girl weeping. Standing up, he walked back over to where the dying flare and his backpack were located. Bending down, he snatched up the flare. For a minute he almost saw a weeping princess in the sparks. Her hair hung down on her face and tears of magma flowed freely down from her eyes. He felt nothing but shame as he watched it slowly burn out, leaving him in the pitch black once again.
"No" he firmly stated. "I can't die here. She needs me, and I need her. I don't care if fate seals our hearts away from each other. I must be there for her and her kingdom. I must be her candle in the dark." the young man stated in absolute finality.
"For FP…" he whispered as he picked up his backpack once again. Attaching his empty water canister again, he took off down the tunnel once more, but now, he was running out of time.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please, any feedback is greatly appreciated. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like or anything that may not have been very clear. Anything will help me to become a better writer.