Heeeeeeeeey guuuuuuuuuyyysss. Been a while I know, but heres a chapter for y'all! Getting sick of this college thing, seriously thinking about stopping after my associates. Its just reaching a point where its stupid. No time, tons of work that is ultimately pointless to my major, you know, broken system. Bah, whatevs though. About this chapter, it was wrote over a long period of time, so if it seems out of place thats why. Normally I write for 5 hrs at a time and bam, chapter, but with this I just havent had much time. Its funny, back when I just read stories I always wondered how my favorite authors could just leave their audience hanging, now I know its not laziness, its just losing time to do anything. Pretty incredible really. So enjoy the writing, as always please review for me. I like knowing if I did something wrong and what I could do to fix it. Oh, and I should mention that Finn is 16 going on 17 in this universe. I dont like the idea of playing with a child's love life so Ima make him older. Same goes to Flame princess whenever she shows up. Now, in the words of my grandfather, ALA CUISINE!
Disclaimer: Yeah, dont own it, but man I wish I had a piece of cake right now.
Finn waited for his death, eyes closed, kneeling on the ground. He waited for the moment of pure agony he knew was coming. His skin would blister and peel away, his hair would catch flame and disintegrate, and in moments he'd be nothing but dust in the wind. He thought of Flame Princess and all the things he'd never get to do with her. Walking through the forest, slaying monsters... maybe even kissing... all of that didn't matter now though, it was too late for him...
It was odd, Finn didn't think he'd have enough time to ponder all these details. That fireball was moving pretty fast actually, and he wasn't the quickest thinker in the world. Maybe it's just one of those life flashing before your eyes moments that he heard about. Wouldn't that bring up his past though? Maybe he...
"You going to sit there all day boy?" A gruff voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" Finn slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. No longer was he in the crowded alley of the wizard festival, but on top of the small hill that overlooked it. A plume of smoke could be seen coming from the dark section, swirling up into the night air.
"Wuh? How did we get back here?" he asked aloud.
"Teleporting spell." replied the gruff voice. Finn turned to see a familiar merchant's face behind him.
"Giacamo! What happened?" The old wizard pulled out his pipe and lit up with a conjured flame.
"Well, you two didn't get out of there near fast enough." He took a couple puffs from his pipe. "I heard some wrackit and came out to find you two chest deep in trouble. After Jake went down I decided to step in. You're lucky ya know, that hothead almost destroyed you, heck he took out about five others to get to ya. You two got a history?" Finn fell back against the grass letting out a long, shaky breath.
"Yeah, that was Scorcher. He's a pro hitman the Ice King accidentally sent after us. He's ridiculously strong and he almost got me and Jake but... OH GLOB JAKE!" He bolted upright looking around for his brother.
"Easy lad, he's alright. I put him over there under that tree, he took a good beating but it's nothing serious." Finn crawled over to his adopted brother and tried shaking him awake. "Jake, bro, wake up. We're ok man! We're ok!" Jake groaned and fluttered his eyes. "Finn? Is that you?"
"Yeah bro, its me. You all good?"
"Yeah, but those guys really messed up my bread and butter, it feels like I fell out of a tree and used my face to cushion the fall. Ow! I think one of them kicked me in the Jake Department.." He tried to move his legs but immediately froze up and fell on his side. His voice came out high pitched. "Yup, delayed reaction..Oooooooooowwwww." Finn chuckled and leaned back against the tree next to his brother. "Im just glad we made it out, thanks Giacamo." The old wizard nodded as he emptied out his ashes."Sure, just return the favor by not mentioning me to Marceline okay? Even if she's your friend I don't need her popping up anytime soon." With a pop, Giacamo was gone, leaving the two heroes to recover from their near death experience.
Jake's pain had finally subsided and he sat up with his back against the tree. "Scorcher knows we're alive now."
"Yeah."
"You know he's going to come after us right?"
"Yup."
"Think we can take him?" Finn looked over and smiled at the dog.
"Totally, we're way better than we were last time." Jake smiled back and held out a fist.
"Heck yeah playah! We'll turn him into our own personal oven." The two bro fisted and leaned back against the trunk, taking a well deserved rest after their hectic day.
Scorcher walked across the blast zone of his attack, searching for the verification he needed to continue. Piles of ash littered the ground, some with chunks of gold melted to the bones from the intense heat, others still smoldering, and giving off an slight glow. He finally reached where his prey had knelt only moments ago. There was nothing. Not bone, nor ash, trinket or weapon. Not even a charred shadow of where the body should have been.
He looked around, searching for his canine companion. Surely some pieces of his body still existed, he wasnt even near the blast radius. The piles of cloaked figures stirred and groaned, each of them getting up and checking to see if they had been robbed after their knockout. Scorcher looked at the ground, but once again there was no trace of the creature he wanted. His eyes burned furiously, not once but twice now they had escaped him! A blight on his record. With a growl he reached down and pried one of the molten pieces of gold from the ground and shoved it in his bag. As he turned to leave a hand grabbed a hold of his shoulder and spun him around.
"You killed my brother you psycho! What the glob is wrong with you?! I'm not letting you get away wit..." The scarred elf was cut off as Scorcher palmed his face and lifted him off the ground. His large hand began squeezing his head. "They got away..." he rasped as he looked at the now terrified elf. With a mere thought, Scorcher covered his arm in flames that reached blast furnace temperatures. The stream of fire became a solid column the enveloped the poor victim's head, incinerating everything from the shoulders up. There was a scream, but only for a moment.
He dropped the now headless corpse and walked on, heading deeper into the dark magic section. The crowd parted around him as he made his way into the dark. Unknown to Scorcher a pair of ghostly, green eyes watched him, reviewing everything they had just seen...
Finn was the first to wake from his nap. He stretched his arms and gave a small wince from the sharp pain jolting through his shoulder. In all the relief he had forgotten about his injury. The shirt had soaked up most of his blood and had caked onto the wound like an oversized scab. He tried to peel it away but yelped from the sting. It'll be alright until I get to Marcy's place. He thought to himself. Looking around he noticed that it was still night time, probably two or three in the morning.
Finn gave Jake a quick nudge. "Jake, time to go man."
"No Lady, we already did it in the kitchen, I wanna try the stairs..."
"Wha? Jake it's Finn! Wake. UP!" Finn grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and delivered a brutal, wake up backhand.
'WHAAA! I'm up, I'm up!" He rubbed his face and stared at the human boy accusingly. "You didn't have to hit me so hard man, could have just shook me." Finn shrugged.
"I did, but you just started talking about Lady. What did you guys do in the kitchen?" Jake's face blanked. "Uhh, played my viola, yeah, I played for her in the kitchen. She likes to uh, hear music when she cooks."
"Oh... neat." Jake let out a sigh of relief. He looked over and noticed the large, red splotch on Finn's shoulder. "Dude! What happened to your shoulder?!" Finn looked down at it casually. "That creepy mask guy cut me when he grabbed my shoulder. It's all good now, the bleeding stopped and my shirts like a big bandage. I'll clean it up once we get to Marceline's." He hauled himself to his feet, and started stretching out his legs for the trip ahead, he wobbled a little bit but didn't think anything of it. Jake did a hand stand and shifted his arms and legs positions so that he was standing straight again. With a quick body rotation his butt and face traded places. "Alright man, let's go get that orb!" And with that the two adventurers began walking towards Marceline's cave, oblivious to the yellow eyed shadow that watched them from the trees.
A raven haired teen floated around her living room, plucking the strings on a massive axe turned bass. She played the crimson instrument with a precision that came from years of practice. It returned her affection by letting out a relaxed rhythm that shook the air in her chest. She took a deep breath after playing a few notes and began to sing.
"With skin as white as moonlight and shadow for a soul
Some say I was a monster from the deepest, darkest hole
Though my daddy says he loves me it's not the same as you
You see the light within me and make it shine anew
Soooo tell me why I cant stop this feeling
It's all locked inside and I really feel like screaming
Wont you stay by my side through the days and through the nights?
Telling me it's alright because your here and in my sight
It hurts me to see you go, to always wonder and never know
But I remember who you are, a hero of the close and of the far
Maybe someday I'll be able to ask you
Would you take me with you?
Soooo tell me why I cant stop this feeling
It's all locked inside and I really feel like screaming
Wont you stay by my side through the days and through the nights?
Telling me it's alright because your here and in my sight
And now the song has to end, as for me I'll be just a friend
Maybe I'll be forgiven for my sin
If only Id have you for myself, my..."
The final line hung in the air, missing the final word she longed to say. Marceline let out a long sigh as she finished her song. Floating over to the recording box, she quickly hit the stop button and popped out the tape. "Man. I gotta quit singing about this junk, its putting me down." She threw the tape in the corner with a few others, all marked "Feels" and made her way to the kitchen. She reached the fridge as a familiar smell wafted around her. She wondered what it was, but couldn't put her finger on it. It was sweet, but not overly so with just the barest hint metal. She wiped her arm on her sleeve finally noticing the drool dripping from her mouth. "Ewww, what the nuts?" Marceline quickly searched through the fridge but couldn't find anything with that savory smell. Then it hit her like a blast from the past, that was the smell of blood, human blood.
She flew to the front window in time to see Jake and Finn walking through the entrance to her cave. What alarmed her was the massive amount of red on Finn's body, it covered him from shoulder to hip but his walking had gotten unbalanced, but he still wore the same dopey grin. She had seen enough anemia to know the symptoms. Concern washed over her, pushing away the hunger. Marceline floated over to the door and threw herself outside towards the misfit brothers.
"Finn! What the stuff man?! What happened to you?
Finn just stared at her for a minute before remembering his wound. "Oh! This? Its nothing, just a scratch. Um.. Can we come in? I really need to talk to you." Having a blood soaked human in her house was NOT a good idea, she could already taste the tang of it in the air, but she couldnt just turn him away, he needed medical attention. He was already a few shades paler.
"Fine, but we need to fix you up first, then we"ll talk." She stared at his wound as she talked, barely restraining herself from licking her lips. Finn tried to brush it off, oblivious to Marceline's inner fight.
"This? Nah, its just a scratch." he wobbled a bit on his feet. Jake crossed his arms.
"I dont know dude, I think she's right. Your looking a little pale for some reason... "
"Its anemia you weenie, you've lost to much blood. Look your already starting to shake." Finn held up his hand and watched it for a moment, sure enough there was a constant trembling running through it. "Wow, that's not good." he said as he watched his own hand with fascination. Marceline had stuffed both of her hands deep into her hoodie to hide her own wringing hand movements. "Alright adventure boy, get inside. I've got a med kit in the kitchen and we're gonna need to stitch that up." Finn wobbled on his feet a bit more before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds good." Finn and Jake made their way inside the little pink house while Marceline lingered behind. She was taking deep breaths of air and trying to calm herself. Get it together Marceline, he's your friend, not food... "Hey Marcy where's the kit at?" came Jake's muffled voice. She quickly shook her head. "It's in the kitchen!" she yelled back.
She floated into the living room and passed Finn who was sitting on the couch staring at the ceiling. "Finn?" she asked. "You feelin okay?" Finn looked over at her and gave her a smile. "Yeah, just a little tired is all. Hey, do you have a small glass bottle I can use?"
The request caught her off guard. "Wha? What do you need a bottle for?"
"It's a...(Yawn) surprise..."
"Uh, okay, yeah I got one." Marceline floated into the kitchen to find Jake searching through the cabinets. "Oh good, where did you say the box was?" She shook her head and pulled a white box off the wall next to the fridge. "Right here, the one that says emergency on it! Yeesh, cmon Jake." The canine rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Yeah I was gonna check there next..."
"Sure you were."
Jake to the box back to the living room and helped Finn to his feet. "Cmon buddy, we're gonna do this in the bathroom. Keep it clean ya know? You coming Marcy?" The vampire shook her head. "May not be the best idea to have a vampire around a bleeding human, I think I'll chill out here. Oh, and here's your bottle Finn." "Jake went wide eyed for a moment. "Yeah, you got a point.." The two headed into the bathroom and closed the door. Marceline went back to the kitchen and tried to keep her mind of the bloody aroma wafting through her home. She heard Jake talking loud enough to be heard through the door. "Alright bro, first thing I gotta do is rip the shirt off. This is gonna hurt, you ready? I'll do it on three... THREE!" Finn's yell bounced off the walls of Marceline's home and made its way out into the cavern, sending a young man's scream echoing into the abyss. The pale teen grimaced as she heard the yell of pain, happy that such things don't hurt her anymore. It was quiet for a while, with only minor "Ows" piercing the silence, no doubt Jake had started sewing him up. Finally, after a good 30 minutes the two walked out of the bathroom. Finn was now much paler than he had been previously and Jake acted as a crutch to help his brother to the couch. His shirt lay abandoned in the bathroom, leaving his bare chest open to the air. A line of clean, black stitching ran from the base to the back of his shoulder.
Marceline brought over a bowel of strawberries and a glass of water and set it on the table before him. "Here, you need to eat and drink something to refill. You lost allot of blood there weenie." Finn chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not feeling so hot. Here Marcy, I got this for you though..." He lifted a shaking arm to Marceline. In his hand was the bottle she gave him, filled nearly three quarters full of red liquid. Speechless, Marceline took the bottle from him. "I figured it'd be better than making a big mess and wasting it all..." His words began to slur a little. "And you being a vampire and all, I thought you'd like it.."
"Finn..." was all Marceline could say. She turned to Jake who had watched the whole thing. "You shouldn't have let him do this!" Jake raised his hands defensively. 'Whoa, whoa, I told him not to but he said you deserved something special, and he was gonna lose it anyway! So after I ripped the shirt off he started bleeding bad again and I stitched him up as fast as I could. That's what he caught while I was fixin him!" Marceline's face blanked. She deserved something special? Why? What had she done? She looked at the young man smiling at her from the couch. "Why Finn?" She asked him, still awestruck. Finn gave a dopey shrug. "Because you mean allot to me Marcy, and I figured you'd like it."She smiled at him and floated into the kitchen. Quickly, she found a cap for the bottle and put it in the fridge. All her hunger was forgotten, pushed away by the notion of someone caring for her so deeply. She came back in time to see Finn shakily reach for a strawberry, only to drop it before it got to his mouth. Jake had fallen asleep against the side of the couch, kicking at something in a dream.
"Finn..." she said softly. "You're such a weenie." She floated over and sat on the couch beside him, with a calming hand she pulled him down so his head rested in her lap. A faint blush ran across Finn's features. "Marceline... What are you-" She put a finger to his lips and gave him a small "Shhh." She then picked up the bowel of strawberries and plucked one from its center. Bringing it to her pearly fangs she quickly sucked the color from it before bringing down to Finn's mouth. He opened up and bit into it, savoring the sweet taste of the now grey fruit. This continued until the bowel had emptied. Now that he had food in his stomach, his eyes grew heavy as his body tried to shut down for repairs.
With a fluid movement, Marceline pulled off the white hat that Finn was so fond of. His untamed hair fell around her lap, surrounding his face in a golden halo. She stroked his hair fondly, humming a melody as she did. It quickly turned into a lullaby, pushing Finn to the brink of slumber.
"La daaaa diya da da
Sleep now my friend
Leave your wounds to mend
And joooourney off, to dreeeeaaaaamlaand
La daaa diya da da
Forget all your fears
Your pain and your tears
And joooourney off, to dreeeeaaaaamlaand"
Marceline began to hum, the vibrations from her body flowing into Finn. He had never felt so... content, so safe... He looked up at her once more, taking in her features. Her flawless skin, pale and untouched by the sun, he sparkling eyes, shining with moisture, and her lips, beautiful and full. Then his eyes closed, no longer able to fight his body's will. Marceline stopped her song shortly after, and looked down at the hero in her lap. Her hero, her dream. Without a second though she bent down and brushed his lips with her own, taking only the smallest kiss from her crush. "Good night Finn... I love you..."