Chapter 12: Witch of Tears

Shadowed One…

With no other sounds present, the words repeated themselves over and over inside Finn's head like a whisper. He tried as much as he could to keep the echoing voice out, but it was there to stay no matter how much he tried to ignore the voice coming from within. All he could do was stand in the endless void of darkness that surrounded him, shivering with the freezing feeling that ran through his entire body, slowly draining him of any sort of strength.

Try as he might, there was no fighting the cold. The air he blew out of his mouth to try and heat his hands was cold as well, his limbs began to numb as they slowly began to freeze, and he could barely even open his eyes as they nearly became frozen shut for good. Not even on the coldest days of traveling the Ice Kingdom did he feel such a freezing sensation.

'Am I dead?' was the first thing that came to his mind. 'Or…am I still in the process of dying? I didn't think the afterlife would be this freezing. Is this what people mean when they say that they feel cold in their last moments?'

It honestly would not surprise him if this was the case. The last thing he remembered was him, Jake, Ice King, and Huntress being surrounded by an enormous horde of monsters. Everything after that was nothing but a blur. Maybe one of them cut right through his neck, giving him a quick death, and that is why he could recall almost nothing of the event. All he could do was hope that if the others were killed as well, they would have met an equally quick fate. Just the thought of them being teared apart piece by piece and ending up as food…it made him feel colder than he already was.

But the feeling of frost enveloping him was not to last. Just when the human thought he was reaching the very end, the cold began to subside, replace by a soothing warmth that began to envelope his body. Without being able to open his eyes just yet, it was hard to tell what it was, but he felt like someone or something was wrapping their arms around him, pulling him into a comforting embrace.

And then there was singing. Whoever was holding him-a woman by the sound of it-was humming a gentle lullaby; like a mother does to comfort her child. Finn decided there was no point in fighting it. He was already so confused about everything happening around him, he may as well enjoy this brief moment of peace and tranquility.

During this moment, he remembered everyone that he had ever shared a happy moment with throughout his life. His brother Jake; his dearest friends, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline; Beemo and Neptr, the two robots that always kept him and Jake company; and so many more: Susan Strong, Ice King, Huntress, Betty, even his scumbag father, Martin. He also remembered the one woman he had ever truly loved: Flame Princess.

For some reason, he remembered her most of all. Her flowing orange hair, her bright yellow skin, and her mesmerizing red eyes. He could see her with such clear detail he could have sworn she was standing right in front of him. But at the same time, she felt so far away.

"Are you afraid?" asked the woman embracing him, stopping her lullaby to do so.

Finn moved his head from side to side. "No. I can't be afraid."

"And why not?"

"Being afraid will only make things worse."

There was silence for a few seconds. At least Finn thought they were seconds. He was starting to lose sense of time. He was starting to lose sense of everything.

"But being afraid is a good thing," the woman continued. "It reminds you of who you are in your darkest moments. It's what makes you…human. If you're brave all of the time, then you start to lose sense of yourself."

"I've been preparing myself for this day ever since I was just a kid. The day that I would meet my end while out adventuring. I accepted it, knowing it was the most likely way I would die."

"And what of those around you? Do you think they would accept death without fear?"

Finn pondered the question for a moment. "No. I never planned to drag anyone else down with me. But I did. And all I can remember them by is the fear in their eyes as I failed to protect them. As I failed to be a hero to them as I've been to so many more in the past." Tears began to slide down his cheeks. "You ask if I'm afraid. Well, I am. I admit it. But I'm not afraid for myself. I'm afraid for all of those around me. That no matter how hard I try, I'll only end up losing them. And now my fears have come true…"

Finn wrapped his own arms around the woman, burying his face into her shoulder as he began to cry. She only accepted his embrace and tightened her own grip around his back.

"Oh you poor soul," she whispered. "If it's the fear of failing the ones you love that drives you forward, then use that fear. Embrace it and accept it into your very being. Because there is more to your destiny than just lying dead on the ground at the hands of a mindless beast or greedy bandit. And the day will come when you may bend the earth to your will, calm a roaring ocean, and tame a thundering sky. For it is you, Shadowed One, who will master a power far greater than any being has mastered for centuries. A power that can bring paradise to those who inhabit this realm and so many others. When you wield this great gift, everyone will learn to love and respect you. And when that day comes, I will stand at your side. But only if you find me…"

As she finished, Finn could finally feel his eyes begin to open. He felt her hand let go of his back and made its way to his cheek, caressing it gently. When she moved his head so that he could see her face, he found that there was none. Nothing but the blank face of the very phantom of Flame Princess that had been haunting him in his slumber.

But at that moment, for the first time in his life, Finn felt no fear whatsoever, and allowed himself to be comforted in the Phantom's embrace.

Finn…

"Finn…FINN!"

The human startled awake as Jake shouted his name. He was out of breath and had to take in a large gust of air before he could get a good view of his surroundings. Everyone was still there; Finn himself, Jake, Huntress, and Ice King, still breathing even after the horrific fate that awaited them before everything went black. And Finn now understood why.

They were, all of them, prisoners of the monsters that were once thought to want them dead.

Cages made of rusting metal incarcerated the group; Finn and Jake in one cage, and Huntress and Ice King in the others, and both being carried by at least two of the horrifying beings that inhabit Oldtown. However, try as he might, Finn could not find any trace of Oldtown through the bars.

It was hard to make out too much, but he knew they were being carried through a tunnel. One that, judging by the looks of the walls and overall structure, was dug without using any equipment. No doubt it must have been made using the claws of the creatures. The path was narrow, which meant each cage had to be carried one behind the other, with Finn's and Jake's being the one in front. And leading the way, being carried by one of the creatures, was the strange eyeless girl they had encountered before.

"Are you okay, man?" Jake asked, interrupting Finn's assessment of the situation.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm…I'm fine," the human replied. "What happened?"

"One of those things got you pretty good when they started attacking. Huntress, Ice King, and I tried fighting them off but they overwhelmed us. Now we're their prisoners, with no idea of where we're going."

Finn turned his attention to the cage holding Ice King and Huntress. Both appeared to still be unconscious.

"Hey, are they okay?" Finn asked.

"I think so," Jake replied. "They're still unconscious. We've been traveling in these cages for a few hours now. You really had me worried. After we were knocked out, I was the first one to wake up, but it was only me for most of the time. I was afraid you had received permanent brain damage or something."

Hours. Finn felt like he was in his dream for only a few minutes. But now here he was, back in reality and on his way to meet a surely gruesome end when they reached their destination.

"Can you not stretch yourself and break the cage of something?" the human asked Jake.

The canine shook his head. "Try to fit your hand through the bars."

He was confused at first, but Finn did as Jake said and tried extending his arm in between the cage's bars. But it was stopped when it touched a glass-like surface. Now Finn understood. The cages had some sort of ward around them.

'What kind of magic do these things possess?' he wondered as he turned his gaze back to the strange girl.

Finn was still unsure, but he wanted to make the assumption that she was somehow in charge of these creatures. The way she was different from all of them, and how she was practically sleeping on top of the one carrying her without any sort of fear was proof enough, but the mark on Finn's hand still glowed with its ominous purple light whenever he extended his arm in her direction.

When he looked to one of the creatures carrying his and Jake's cage, he immediately saw the face of whatever person they were before. The face that made chills run down his spine as he remembered them all pleading for their suffering to end.

"Hey," Finn whispered as he got as close as the bars would let him. "Can you hear me?"

"Finn, what are you doing?" Jake wondered.

The human ignored the dog and kept his gaze on the creature's face. "What's going on? Where are you taking us?"

"Mustn't speak," the face replied in a raspy voice. The voice of a kid. "The lady will get mad at us if we do."

"Why?" Finn looked in her direction. "Who is she?"

The kid looked from side to side nervously, but never responded.

"Come on, you gotta give me something," Finn urged. "You're still sane in some way, right kid? Can you tell me anything? Like…let's start with your name."

Again the man shifted uneasily. "I…can't remember my name. None of us can. We are known only by what the lady calls us. Mongos."

"Mongos?"

"That is the name she has given us, so we accept it. We have no choice but to."

"But who is she? Why is she not like the rest of you?"

"Because she made us this way," the creature responded in a pained tone. "We are her family, and she is ours. We serve our sweet mother. That's all we know now. Nothing more."

"Why serve her, though?"

The Mongo silently chuckled. "As if we have a choice. These bodies are not our own. The Witch of Tears looks after us now."

"Witch of Tears?"

"It's what she has deemed herself. It's who she is. We serve the great Witch of Tears, and she loves us in return. The only one…who still loves us for what we are. For what we have become. Nothing but monsters roaming beneath the surface, forced to never see the sun. She is the sunshine we all long for. All the pain we feel, she shares it with us. She suffers a great deal for it. And thus she's always crying. Do not take her locking you up in a bad way. She only worries for us. Her cursed children."

Finn turned his gaze back to her. 'But she's only a kid herself. How is she powerful enough to control them? And why did she decide to leave us alive?'

"Finn, I don't think you should keep talking to these things," Jake said, interrupting the human's thoughts. "I don't think they have much processing power left in their brains."

"I have to try and help them, Jake. Look at them. Deep down, they're still the same people they were before. And they're all hurting. I can't just ignore all this. You know I can't."

"This is an exception!" Jake responded in a hushed yell as to not wake the Witch. "For all we know they could be taking us back to their nest so they can cook us and EAT US! I don't wanna be eaten, bro! I wouldn't even taste that good!"

Finn shook Jake by his shoulders. "Keep it together, man. We're not getting eaten. We just need to find a way to make our escape as soon as possible."

"But how are we gonna do that when we're locked in cages covered with unbreakable wards?"

The human thought about the situation for a moment. "All we can do right now is wait. If they haven't killed us, then they must need us alive for something. When the earliest opportunity to fight back comes, we take it. Bam! We're out of these tunnels and back on our original trail."

Jake shoved off Finn's hands. "That's what worries me. The fact that you still want to keep going on this pointless crusade despite our problems."

"You saw the map inside the room with the Order of the Crow's dead members. Why would they have that if not for something really important? Don't you wanna find out what's at the end of this path?" Finn stared at the marking on his hand. "I know I do. I can't explain it, but…I just have to find out why I have this mark in the first place."

"BECAUSE A CRAZY WIZARD BURNED IT INTO YOUR SKIN!"

Finn covered Jake's mouth. Luckily, the Witch only stirred in her sleep for a brief moment. Sighing in relief, he removed his hand so Jake could continue.

"All of this that's happening, your dream, that mark, it's all just a madman messing with your mind. And all of us are gonna get killed sooner or later if we continue searching for something that doesn't exist."

"Then why would the Order have a map, Jake?"

"Honestly, I don't even care, dude. Treasure? Power? Anything that they were looking for can't be good. And I'm starting to think we should've just listened to Grand Master Wizard when we had the chance. Maybe we wouldn't even be in this mess."

Finn did not want to admit he was wrong, but maybe Jake had a point. Was it really necessary to go on? The journey had barely begun and now he and his friends were all prisoners to underground monstrosities. Who was to say it only got better? Maybe it only got worse. And if it did, what would everyone think of him if he led all of his friends to their graves along with him? How would he cop with any of it?

"If it's the fear of failing the ones you love that drives you forward, then use that fear."

The Phantom's words bounced around in his head endlessly. He was willing to accept them at first, but he knew it would be utterly selfish of him to put his friends at risk for his own needs. What about their fear? He never thought about it. Jake was his brother, so Finn knew he would never abandon him no matter the situation. Ice King was just looking for any excuse to hang out with them. And Huntress…Finn was still confused about her motives of being here, yet here she was. All of them here because of a stupid dream.

Dream. That was the keyword. For all Finn knew, there was no Phantom; there was no trapped soul in need of rescue. It was all just in his head. And the fact that the Phantom was just an apparition of Flame Princess proved this. Maybe…he just really missed her, and his brain would come up with any excuse to see her, no matter how messed up. And it only got worse with her now being in a relationship with someone else.

'Maybe I really am just jealous,' he thought. 'Maybe I'm just dragging everyone else into my own problems. Maybe…I really am ignorant.'

…No. Finn knew deep down within himself there was more to this than what he was currently seeing. There was no denying there was something off about Weimar, but something about him told Finn that he was not crazy. Everything he said was not mindless babbling, it all connected to what the human was going through. He would continue to see this through to the very end, even if it meant going forward on his own. If they somehow managed to escape the grasp of the Witch of Tears and the Mongos, he would go on, but he would not continue to drag everyone else along with him. Despite the Phantom's words, there was no need for fear. Just determination.

'Something is telling me to keep going. I don't know exactly what, but I somehow know for sure that this is the right thing to do. But…would I be risking the lives of my friends if I bring them with me? So much has already happened in such a short span of time, I don't think it would be worth putting them through all this trouble just for my own needs.'

Finn's train of thought was interrupted when a groan reached his ears. He turned to see Huntress regaining consciousness inside the other cage. Ice King woke up as well, straightening his crown as he sat up.

"Ugh, where are we?" the ice wizard wondered. "And what's that horrible smell?"

Huntress' eyes lit up when she saw Finn. "Finn? Huh, good to see we didn't come all this way just for all of us to die saving you."

"Good to see you too, Huntress," Finn replied.

She got up to a kneeling position and took a minute to analyze the environment. "How did we get inside this tunnel? Where are they even taking us?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Finn responded.

"We are almost there," said the Mongo that had spoken to Finn before. "Less than an hour."

"Less than an hour to where?!" Jake exclaimed, getting impatient.

"Mustn't speak anymore," replied the Mongo. "The Witch will punish us."

Jake sighed in defeat, realizing he would not be getting any answers while stuck in a cage. Finn sat next to him with his back in Ice King's and Huntress' direction.

"I'm sorry I dragged you all into this," Finn said. "I should be the only one locked in a cage right now, not you guys. Maybe I should've gone alone and just spend the rest of my days in a Wizard City jail cell."

There was silence for a while, with nothing but the sound of the Mongos' footsteps echoing in the tunnel.

"We don't blame you," Jake said, breaking the silence. "I said I would accompany you no matter what, and I still will. And it think I speak for both Huntress and Ice King when I say that we're here out of our own choices, not at your request."

Finn turned his head to the other cage, seeing Huntress and Ice King nodding. He would have smiled at them, but their current situation was no cause for happiness. All they could do for the remainder of the trip, while heading towards their possible demise, was wait.

Wait and and hope that what awaited was not death.

The Mongo remained true to his word. They reached their destination within the hour, wherever that destination actually was.

When the tunnel came to an end, the group found themselves inside a hallway lined with rows of jail cells. The walls were made of stone, ancient by the look of them; crumbling and covered with moss. Each metal bar of the cells was rusty to the point where even the slightest forced applied to them would probably cause them to break. The only way in and out was though the tunnel they came from or a wooden door at the opposite end of the hall, and the only source of light was rusty lamp hanging from the ceiling. As unstable as it all seemed, however, this was where the Mongos stopped completely.

Gently, the Mongo carrying the Witch on its back nudged her awake. And just like any normal child would, she yawned and rubbed her eyes. At least what was left of them.

Everyone watched her movements carefully from their cages as she hopped down from the Mongo's back and onto the stone floor. Even with her dress dirty beyond proper cleaning, she began to wipe the skirt with her hands as if she was wiping away unwanted dust. Then she turned her gaze to the caged group, piercing at them with her soulless voids, still spilling black tears down her deathly pale skin.

"Sweet mother," said the Mongo that was carrying her. Finn found it hard to tell whether its voice was male of female. "What shall we do with these prisoners?"

She only continued to stare, and she responded without taking her gaze off of them. "Let…them…rest."

At her command, the Mongos carried the cages inside the bigger jails cells. Ice King and Huntress were placed in the cell opposite from Finn's and Jake's. But rather than take them out of the small cages first, the Mongos simply placed them on the floor and then joined the Witch at her side once more.

With a swift motion of the hand, the cages that held the group suddenly burst open, sending the bars flying against the walls of the cells. While almost everyone remained surprised, Huntress was the first one to react, immediately summoning an arrow and throwing it in the witch's direction. Unfortunately, it did not even make past the bars before ricocheting back and impaling itself on the floor near Ice King, causing the Ice Wizard to shriek from nearly getting hit.

Jake also tried to use his powers to either break the bars or stretch through them, but it was no use. The same wards used on the cages that carried them in here were present on the cells as well, keeping them from breaking out no matter what they tried.

"Let us outta here, you little brat!" shouted Jake.

The Witch paid no mind to him. Instead, she and the Mongos following her all turned to leave. A Mongo opened the wooden door at the end of the hall for her, and all others followed behind. As the echo of the door closing filled the room, so did the purple glow of the marking on Finn's hand began to dissipate until it was once again its original black color.

"Great," Jake said. "Now what?"

"Now nothing," Huntress replied. "With these wards around the cells, we can't do anything. And before you ask, no, I can't break them. Trust me, tired multiple times while on our way over here. I have no idea who that little girl is, but…her power is unlike anything I've seen in a long time."

Jake groaned. "Great. So we're stuck here?"

"Basically."

The yellow canine sat in the corner of his cell. "We get out of one prison just to end up in another. When will the cycle end?!"

"Calm down, dude," Finn urged his angry brother. "Getting angry isn't gonna fix things. We keep our cool and we can figure something out."

Jake inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "You're right. But I don't see how we're getting past magical wards."

"Simon, anything you can do?" Finn asked.

"I only got ice powers, bro," replied the ice wizard. "Wards aren't exactly my specialty."

Another wave of silence crept over the room as everyone tried their hardest to come up with a solution.

"Well, we do have some hope on our side," Huntress said.

"What?" Jake wondered, standing up and pressing his face against the cell's bars.

"These wards seem to block all kinds of physical objects and magic, but not everything. While we were being carried here, I managed to send out a message to someone. With any luck, they might just be our only salvation."

"Really?" Finn beamed with wide eyes. "You could do that?"

"Only another wizard would be able to pick up the message. There's only one wizard I really trust though. My grandfather."

"Great! Who's your grandfather?"

Huntress rubbed the back of her head. "He's the one who taught me how to use magic in the first place. I haven't seen him in a while. For all I know, he might be dead. But if memory serves, if he really is still alive, the message should've reached him accordingly. I just hope he can make it in time."

"What's his name?" Jake asked.

Before responding, Huntress stood from her spot on the floor.

"His name is Weimar."

Note: Mongos-What I used to call the Regenerators in Resident Evil 4 because I couldn't properly pronounce their name. It's…stupid, I know. It still didn't make them any less terrifying though.

-JustET: Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

Next Chapter: Paragham