"I've done everything I can think of to search for Finn and Huntress Wizard, but I've got nothing." Bubblegum informs with a voice void of any happiness to all the royals of OOO, who were currently gathered in the Candy Kingdom. The room is usually meant to host them when it's Bubblegum's turn to hold Princess day, what allows it easy to fit them all. But the room was suffocating tight in this situation.
None of the royals reply to the news, many simply unable to believe the fact that Finn, OOO's beloved hero, who has fought every manner of man and beast, was gone. "The... presumed explosion destroyed the landscape... and I'm presuming Finn as well." Everyone in the room flinches, Bubblegum herself grabs her left arm with her right, looking down at the ground as she was unable to look anyone in the eyes. Breakfast Princess grumbles, what causes Bubblegum to speak up to her, "What did you say Breakfast Princess?"
"I said why did you send FINN!?" She repeats her voice rising at the end.
"I... I..." Bubblegum stutters, "If I knew this was going to happen then I... wouldn't... of... sent... him..." Her voice becoming quiet as she fills with guilt at the possible responsibility that she sent her best friend to die.
"Doesn't matter if you knew what was going to happen! You shouldn't have sent Finn period! Just send some Banana guards with a camera strap to them, should have plenty around from when you were spying on all of us! Or... are they still in use? Did you send Finn to die believing a lie-" Marceline suddenly jumps in front of BP, transforming into a twisted, horrific monster and demonically roars as fear envelopes the princess, freezing her solid,
"DON'T YOU DARE-"
"MARCELINE!" Bubblegum shouts, causing her turn around and stare at her with pain filled eyes, then slowly return back to her normal self. Bubblegum sighs, then looks her girlfriend in the eyes, "Thank you for standing up for me... but she is right. I shouldn't have sent Finn. If I hadn't then maybe he would still be here... but I can't change the past. I know his death has us all scared and jumpy, making us snap at each other, but we need to stay calm." The room falls in silence as their heads cool. Flame Princess, with Cinnamon Bun by her side, stands up and turns to face all of the other princesses,
"Please don't stop searching. This is Finn we're talking about, not only does he not deserve to be just given up on after all he has done for everyone, but he will find a way of surviving this... he always has. This might just be another one of his adventures that he is on, though that might just be me naively hoping for a fairy tale end..." She pleads, only to be met with silence, and after a few seconds of silence Bubblegum sighs,
"Let's take a fifteen minute break, just to clear our heads." Everyone stands and shuffles out of the room, leaving Bubblegum and Marceline alone in the massive room.
Bubblegum groans and puts both hands on her face. Marceline quickly puts a hand on her shoulder, but before she could comfort Bubblegum in any way, the pink woman barely croaks, "What have I done Marcy? What if I sent Finn to die?"
"Bonnie, Flame Princess is right, there's no way that squirt is dead... he's been through too much to flop over now."
"But what if-" She get cuts of by Marceline grabbing and pulling her into a hug that lifts her into the air. They stay like that in the silent room, seeking comfort in each other.
Jake sighs in his room within lady's house, looking over the picture in his hand that was of him, PB, and Marceline… and Finn. He was at the front bottom in arms with Jake while PB and Marceline were above them, all making silly faces to make one goofy set of friends for one goofy photo. He stretches his chest to have a pocket that he places the image inside. Getting up he walks to his box of belongings that he brought with him when he had moved in, and begins sifting through it to find a certain pickle jar. Lady was off with the pups, a few were shaken by their uncles death and Jake couldn't follow encase evil appears with Finn gone. Marceline and PB were busy talking to the others about Finn demise- disappearance! What was he thinking, he can't be dead! He can't give up on his bro!... He needs to talk to someone. Anyone.
A moment later he appears in a bright yellow room, its only occupants were a glittering golden owl, and a pink shadow man with blue eyes. Two supremely powerful cosmic beings, with one able to predict the future, and the other to create anything, including new timelines and dimensions. And they were playing cards.
"Jake! What are you doing here? ... Do you need another sandwich?" Prismo asks seeing the depressed Jake before him.
"I would like one please, but that's not all..." Jake squeaks out. He holds his arm out, and a second later a sandwich appears, that seems to glow majestically with how perfect it is. He takes a bite of the end and tears come out of his eyes, but his frown did not leave him, what alerts Prismo that something major was wrong right now.
"Alright man, what's wrong? The perfect sandwich usually makes you cry with joy, not with depression." Jake just sniffs, and a second later he replies,
"My emotions are seriously donked up right now man! A-a an explosion happened! And Finn man! He's-he's disappeared- Ah Glob if I don't confront and accept it, it will only be worse! Finn is dead!" Jake just screams before collapsing onto the floor, becoming a wailing, sobbing mess.
Cosmic Owl quickly stands and opens a portal before he whispers to Prismo, "Yeesh, alright I'm going to bail, this is like super out of my area."
"C'mon! Jake needs our help right now, I mean just look at him:" They focus back on Jake's curled rocking form,
"Mum! Dad! I'm sorry I failed my promise! Finn! I'm sorry bro!" Then continues wailing, muttering apologizes. They look back at each other,
"Fine. How do we even help?"
"No clue." He then summons a book with the title: "Emotions for dummies" He reads the first page. Then flips over to the next page. Then closes the book, "That'll take too long to read. Jake!" He shouts, succeeding in getting the dog to stop talking, but his tear ducts were still in overdrive. "Alright, let it out and tell me, what happened?"
"Bubblegum, the princess Finn served, detected strange energy readings a few days ago back at the GOLB spot, so she sent Finn to go investigate, and Huntress Wizard followed him. When they arrived, PB science detected a sudden surge of energy before it all just disappeared! She went to investigate and just found a massive scorched crater where the explosion happened! They couldn't even find his body man!" He starts wailing some more. Yet Cosmic Owl mumbles, lost in thought and confusion, but before he can say anything Prismo had a question,
"GOLB spot?" Causing Jake to stop his crying and answer,
"Yeah where GOLB left OOO through a magic portal." Before expressing his sadness via tears and noise once more. Cosmic Owl mumbles some more, before rising and leaving through a portal back into his home. He pulls open his dream web that shows him everyone who were currently dreaming, and searches for Finn. He could not find the hero. But he could feel him. This revelation sends him flying back into the yellow room, his re-arrival causing Prismo to whisper yell at him,
"Why did you leave?! He needs help and I need help to help him!"
"Jake, I think Finn is still alive." Jake immediately shuts up, snapping his head at the golden owl and stops his crying,
"What?"
"You said Finn died a few days ago, but I remember peeking on his dream last night. So I just left to do a quick check. I didn't see Finn dream, but I felt his presence, likely he isn't asleep, but he is alive." Jake sat silently on the floor, processing the information. Before jumping up and screaming in celebration.
"Thanks CO! Glob I need to tell everyone!... Where even is he?" Jake inquires, but Cosmic Owl is too busy questioning his new nickname that came out of nowhere. "Dude! Where is he?!" Jake shouts grabbing CO to snap him to attention.
"I don't know! It's like a phone number, it doesn't tell you where someone is, just a way to contact their dreams."
"Oh... Hey Prismo, can you locate Finn?" Jake asks, his hope leaving before returning only seconds later.
"Normally I would be able to… however, it seems I can't right now."
"What! Why not?" Jake asks dropping Cosmic Owl, finding it annoying that he can't rescue his bro right this instant.
"I don't know, if I had to make some guesses, then my first one would be I can't find him due to GOLB's magic, just like how I can't recover something he has eaten, I can't find him because his chaotic magic is obscuring Finn. My second guess is about his location. It is possible that due to the magic, what was the energy reading, was from a portal spell, when it overloaded and broke out its restraints, it expanded. So, it has likely-"
"Sent Finn and Huntress to another dimension! Thanks guys, you were a big help! I'M GOING TO TELL EVERYONE!" Jake says cutting the cosmic being of infinite power off, before phasing out off the room in neon rainbow rectangles, leaving Prismo and Cosmic Owl alone.
"Huh... maybe I should be one of those therapy dudes..."
Jake appears back in Lady's house before jumping out the window and instantly stretching in size to remove any fall, then continues to grow as he strides towards the castle made of candy, and the royals inside. As he rapidly approaches, he jumps, shrinks and shape shift, turning himself into a propelled wrecking ball and smashing into the wall. Dust and rubble flies up as he lands, before turning back to normal, the royals suffering a coughing fit before Bubblegum speaks up,
"Jake! What the donk!" All the royals look to him for an explanation for the sudden intrusion,
"Finn is alive."
"Finn, we need to talk." Huntress states emotionlessly, a campfire in front of her with meat cooking for dinner.
"Oh boy, what have I done?" Finn says with a chuckle, but nevertheless sits in front of Huntress,
"Win my heart." She says with a straight, un-joking face, no grin to signify it as her messing with him. 'Alright,' Huntress admits to herself, 'That was super cheesy' but it did get the point across and got Finn's undivided attention, that this was a serious conversation. And she was also semi-proud of how fast that came to her.
"... Wait, what?" Finn asks, surprise and confusion on his face, evidence of it being genuine was his delayed reply. To be fair, she was trying to avoid him only this morning, and didn't hint to him for a while about any possible feelings. 'Where did this come from?' Finn thinks as he searches the day for hints of her feelings for him.
"Sorry couldn't resist saying that, but I am serious Finn, I do want to talk about a relationship. Our relationship."
"Er, right... when did this happen? You use to be 'hard meat don't get eat', what changed? Not that I mind!" Huntress sighs, 'Not that I mind.' That brought her some courage, 'He still has feelings for me!' with fear of rejection gone she smiles, 'I got this!'
"Where did this come from? I guess it started when Cake asked for the future and who Fionna will date, and asked if it was me."
"That you denied. I remember." What causes Huntress to nod, glad to know that Finn did indeed remember.
"At the time, I meant it. But it also made me wonder why? And I then had a realisation: why did I fear looking soft if no-one knows if I'm 'hard meat'? I realised that this was an opportunity, that I could choose how I want people to see me with no prior knowledge of who I was to compare me to, I could choose how I wanted my future to be." Finn eyebrows rise in shock understanding. She was afraid of being judged as weak for seeking love by anyone who knows her, and that is why she rejected back in the forest. However, here? No one knows her, no one to judge her. Her lonely tough girl act was up to her to continue, as was her fate.
"I see, so you started questioning if you wanted to be with me despite your previous beliefs."
"Nah, that questioning started back when we hunted Grumbo." Finn nods, remembering the kiss they had afterwards. Heck even she, who was all about survival first, feelings later, put herself in life threatening danger to help him get over his mental block. "But this was the first time I had a serious opportunity to give up the hard girl act and seek a relationship with you without feeling like I failed any ones perspective of me."
"... If you want Huntress, you don't have to change yourself, we can keep our relationship a secret, to be done in private." Huntress freezes up at the obvious suggestion. She had previously thought it was all or nothing, pick one and lose the other, that it wasn't an option to pick both. She laughs for a second, what worries Finn she is laughing at him, but in reality it was at her own stupidity. She had over thought it and added boundaries that didn't exist.
"... Yes Finn, we could. But I actually decided to remain as a lone wolf then." Watching Finn flinch and frown at the possibility of rejection made her heart sink, so she quickly raises a hand to silence him before a reply could come to let her finish. "That's why I ignored you this morning, and quickly took off when I realised we were holding hands when you helped me up. But every time I did ignore you and push you away, it always hurt me. After that I went to my old mentor who has taught nearly everything I know: The hunt." She stops to poke the fire that was in front of her and to prepare herself to start spilling her true emotions to her crush. With a deep breath she starts, "It taught me that if I were to stand alone, I will die, and none will mourn me-"
"I would." The interruption made her smile, she was correct in her assumptions during the hunt. She was correct in her assumption of Finn.
"But if I had someone I trust by my side, someone who wouldn't hold me back, then I- no, WE could go further than we ever have before. But the biggest kick was with Ice Queen." Finn remains silent, listening intently to her words. "When she flirted or did lewd hints to you, I got angry, yet I didn't know why. It was only when I thought back on it did I realise that the anger was actually jealousy." She stops to let of a laugh that Finn had never heard. And he found it incredibly cute.
Recovering, she continues with a blush just barely poking out from underneath her mask, "It was then that I realised that I did still have feelings for you. It's why I went home ahead of you, so I could sort out my emotions. Attracting forces may come and go, but some Finn, stay." Finn smiles at the reference of when he revealed his feelings to the protector of the forest. "So Finn... here's the big question... do you still have feelings for me?" Finn sat silently.
"...Yes. But I've got a question of my own: are you sure you want to date me? I mean my last relationship, pardon the pun, literally went up in flames." He pokes the fire, causing it to rise in height with more oxygen to emphasise his point, "... and melted ice. I'm not sure I'm good at the whole relationship biz."
"Finn, to be fair, I've never dated before. Too afraid to. I don't think I'll be good at this either." Finn just grins at her scared words however,
"Agree that we will both fumble through this together?" Huntress joins Finn in smiling
"Agreed."
"What about our responsibilities?" He inquires,
"In OOO, we will figure something out when the time comes, but here? Fionna and male me will handle them here, and we can't intervene or we 'might break the universe' excuse, remember?" Finn just chuckles and shakes his head, making Huntress grin, "This is our chance Finn. We are free from our responsibilities, at least as of right now. We can take our lives where we want to, and no royal or forest spirit to order us somewhere else, somewhere away from each other."
"I know." He sighs, and looks Huntress straight in the eyes, "I was scared of getting into another relationship out of fear of being hurt again, and you were afraid of appearing soft. Huntress... I'm willing to date if you want to."
"I do want to try Finn." They sat there with massive grins, looking each other in the eyes with slight blushes. And then their gaze drifts around the room awkwardly, with Finn clicking his tongue as he looks around some more as he struggles to think of a topic.
"So... now what?"
"We fumble through this, I guess... Err, let's do a first date, I guess?" She suggests with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Right. But tomorrow, I'm worn out." He flops onto his back, then a second later lifts his head back up to grin at her, "So... do you want to do a normal date, or do you want to make it interesting? Like showing off what we do best?"
"Definitely interesting, good way to 'tell us about ourselves' without sounding boring." Huntress says, preferring to do something she was actually good at. Being social and talking to people about herself was something she was lacking in the skills department. 'And it gives me a chance to show off to Finn!' The duo turned new couple ate their dinner that had been roasting above the fire as they shared their mutual feelings of affection. Once finished they turn to clean up just as the sun starts to set, plans for the next day going through their heads in preparation for the date. Once the room was cleaned Finn goes to his bed made of dirt on his side of the room and starts lying down, 'We still need to spend that gold I got to buy some stuff.'
"Right... I'm gonna get resting, wasn't lying when I said today was hectic. Night Huntress."
"Night Finn." Huntress Wizard mirrors as she falls onto the floor to sleep as well.
Well, they both tried to sleep at least, the conversation they had was on repeat in their heads, and was keeping them both awake, both in disbelief that it actually happened. But eventually, sleep envelopes them as darkness covers the sky with flicks of white stars mixed in, their brightness like fireworks in celebration for the couple to finally admitting their feelings
Morning arrives and sunlight filters in from the fire's smoke hole, dimly lighting the room in a yellow hue. The silence of the morning is interrupted by a groan as Finn stirs and stretches his muscles, ridding himself of sleep, a pop alerts him of his girlfriend's awakening, her habit of sleeping as a log not gone. She stands and flicks of a single mushroom that's grown on her leg before they prepare for the day, cooking breakfast and cleaning themselves, their date dominating their minds of how they can show off their best skills to each other. Once he is back in the house from his river bath, Finn grabs his phone from his bag and places it on a rock that they found, using it as a crude table/stool.
"I'll give Gumball a call, see if we can book for another appointment tomorrow." Huntress Wizard just nods, looking over some berries she found, secretly using magic to turn them into perfume instantly to surprise Finn, then using more magic to cover herself with its sweet scent. "Gumball, it's me Finn, I was just wondering how you're doing after Ice Queen... Good to hear. Hey just wondering since our appointment got 'cancelled' yesterday, I was wondering if we could have another one, preferably tomorrow... Got it, tomorrow morning, thanks man."
He drops the call and stores the phone back into his backpack, and turns to Huntress Wizard who just places her arrow filled quiver onto her back, "Appointment tomorrow morning with Gumball. Now for that date." He walks to the door and pulls the vines open with a bow, "Ladies first." causing Huntress to just smile and walks out the door, giving Finn a small slap around the back of his head for his cheekiness.
"Thanks Finn, now follow me!" She breaks out into a sprint, and after a startled second of processing, Finn follows with a grin. That slight delay was all it took for Huntress to be way ahead of them, bobbing and weaving around every thing in the forest with ease, as branches slap Finn and roots trip him, or try to at least. A few succeed but his reaction speed from years of combat and his general physical strength causes most to be dodged last second or hit him but were not noticed by the running boy. He loses sight of Huntress and after a few seconds of running he slows down to a halt, trying to listen out for her footsteps, but if she was moving, she wasn't making a sound, as expected of a master huntress.
"Finn." He screams in surprise, as the bush to his left suddenly gained eyes. 'Glob! she was right next to me and I didn't even notice!' She moves her face out of the bush to reveal her small grin, "Finn keep quiet. You don't want to alert your prey." She turns away and moves through the branches of the bush without making a noise, making the sneaking Finn sound like the Gumball Guardians compared to her. 'Good,' Huntress thinks, 'Show off your amazing stealth skills, wow him...' she turns to see Finn's eyes filled with bewilderment 'Got him.' She thinks as her smile grows even more.
She peeks out from the bush to spot two birds, one on the ground scavenging for food, and one on a branch, singing for a mate. Finn pulls up beside her, and nods when she lifts her finger to point at them. Then arrows were in their bodies. In shock Finn looks at Huntress Wizard to see a smug grin. Glob! He didn't hear the arrows, he didn't see them as they flew, it was just a blur of death! They rise and go to the corpses, but as Finn lowers to grab the one looking for food a growl, no, several growls fill the air.
Snapping to attention he spots several grey wolves with white foam at their mouths, growling at the couple. A single question enters Finn mind: 'Aren't those the wolves me and Marceline put in PB's room?' Then a growl catches all their attention, coming from Huntress as she drops the bird that she was holding. The wolves all flinch, lowering their heads and ears in fear, backing away with their tail between their legs, whimpering in fear. Except one.
It prowls forward, a scar covering its left eye with a shuddering jaw as it growls. Huntress just stands there, emotionless as it approaches, even when it starts circling her she doesn't move, but never taking her eyes off it. Suddenly it lunges, jaws spread wide as it aims for her jugular. With a blur of movement three arrows shoot from Huntress's quiver, swooping under and up into the airborne wolf, piercing its head, throat and heart. The arrows carried enough momentum and force to not only stop the wolf, but to send it flying sky-high as three dribbles of blood hit the floor. The other wolves whimper at the death of their alpha, then run back into the forest with their tails between their legs.
"Holy cow Huntress! That was awesome!" Finn yells in awe. How many people can intimidate not just one rabid wolf, but a whole pack!? Without even moving! And that alpha wolf didn't even stand a chance. Huntress just blushes from the compliment, before moving to grab the bird once more, but suddenly halts and pulls back, looking at where the wolves had run to.
"... I should actually hunt them down, being rabid and what not, don't want it to spread." A splat sound distracts them, in front of them the wolf's body punctured with arrows finally hits the floor. 'How dangerous are those arrows?' Finn wonders, before focusing back on topic.
"Shall we?" Finn asks pulling his sword out.
"Sure, though don't get bitten or scratched, or you'll die." And with that cheerful note they sprint after the canines, before Finn makes a point,
"Y'know, I don't think they are rabid." Huntress looks at him with confusion, "Definitely didn't act like it, and I remember riding them with Marceline back when I had a crush on PB, I think its just something in the water nearby."
"Oh... You want to leave them be?"
"They were about to attack us, who says we will be the only ones? And the next person might not be able to defend themselves. Let's take them down!"
"Right." They charge forward, Finn trusting Huntress to track the footprints at the fast pace they were running. She didn't even struggle, and their prey quickly came into view. The apex predators take one look back at them, then look straight ahead as they push their bodies to the limit to escape their pursuers. Huntress shoots out two arrows, nailing two leading wolves, their bodies acting as a blockade with the left one only catching and tripping one, while the other dominoes three.
Huntress just launches an arrow at the single wolf as she ran by, never looking back to see if her arrow hit for she knows she doesn't miss. Finn handles the three others as they start to stand, and with one swoop of his sword he cleanly bisects them all in two. His might from having to cut way bigger things allow him to do so without even slowing down and continues the hunt alongside Huntress. She does a quick count of the remaining wolves and comes to a total of seven.
"Hey Huntress! Those arrows of yours have a lot of power behind them... enough to carry me?" She looks over to see him pointing at some loose rocks ahead that sit above a canyon, directly in front of the wolves current path. The wolves escape route. She smiles and makes an arrow hover over his head that he quickly grabs, before suddenly being flung forward. The arrow shooting across the sky and ahead of the wolves, with a Finn struggling to hang on behind it, but Huntress was also struggling, a few drops of sweat running down her forehead.
For some strange reason, she is not used to her arrows carrying such weight, while also caring about direction post hit, while also running as fast as a wolf.
But she does it, her arrow impaling the ground next to the boulders with Finn slapping into the ground with it, however he just shakes it off and runs to the boulders, and starts to push. Despite their size and weight, they shift under Finn's effort, and the rolling rocks very quickly tumbles over the canyon edge, smashing into the ground so hard that a mini earthquake shakes the land as dust flicks up. The wolves freeze at the shaking, going close to the ground as to not fall over, and when the dust started to dissipate, they realise their escape has been blocked off by rubble.
Before they can think of another escape route, Huntress kills three more. The death of their brethren and the lack of escape plan makes their fight or flight go aggressive, growling at Huntress Wizard. Finn starts using parkour on the rocky environment to get lower down to help, and by the time he is near the bottom, Huntress had already killed two more who went to pounce on her, their bodies having arrows in the top of their heads.
With a running start, he jumps before tucking his legs in, with his sword aiming downward ready to stab, and it does as he lands, impaling a wolf that was moving towards Huntress while also softening his fall. The remaining lone wolf gets distracted by Finn, and Huntress just launches an arrow at it, killing it. The hero stands up, scanning around before looking back at his girlfriend, "Nice work Huntress." Finn congratulates, wiping some sweat of his brow, coming to the realisation that today was going to be a hot day.
"You handled yourself pretty well. That's actually kind of what my life was like, hunting food, taking down the dangerous and out of control, and serving the forest spirit using magic." She shrugs at being unsure what else to add to her daily life. Despite the simplicity she uses to describe hunting savage, rampaging beasts, Finn smiles,
"Sounds like a free life." What actually causes Huntress to frown,
"Actually the madness that accompanies magic is actually rather constricting. It can take over my free will at times, forcing me to lose myself in it. Let alone the loneliness. And at times the spirit of the forest can be quite demanding as well."
"I actually somewhat understand. The Princess's do things that I warn them not to do and come crying when it goes bad, ordering me to do things I don't want to do for personal or political gain." Finn suffers a flashback to when Slime Princess used him as a boyfriend to keep her sister from ruling the slime kingdom, despite him turning it down originally due to the break up with FP until he gave into her persistent bothering. "Sure it helps people, but sometimes I don't want to get involved, but I have to in the end." Huntress is silent for a second before responding.
"C'mon, let's get off this topic, how about we take those birds home?"
"I'll cook them. It's only fair, you were the one hunted them." They track back to where they left the birds, enjoying silence with each other. Then a weird sound goes through the air, similar to a deer call. Huntress stops, remembering the sound from when she was taught the ways of the forest and all its inhabitants. If her memory serves correctly then the sound she just heard was a fire deer. She quickly signals Finn to follow her, what he does, birds forgotten as they climb up a tree. Up in the tree's arms, they quickly start darting across branches.
Soon she stops and parts the tree leaves to see her target, the fire deer. It wasn't actually on fire, but earned its name through its naturally spicy meat that will surely knock Finn's socks off. It was very, very rare and those who hunted them usually turned their red skulls into trophies to show off and display in their homes. It was currently eating some berries from a bush, occasionally looking around for threats, but it never looks up despite the noise of Finn, mistaking it for wind moving the branches above it.
She signals Finn to halt what he quickly does behind her and watches as she summons a magic arrow from nowhere, her actions completely silent, not even her breath shows signs of existing. Then she struck. The arrow lodges itself in its head as it rears up in delayed response to the attack, before collapsing on the forest floor. She smiles and lands on the floor silently, then Finn lands with a heavy thump on his feet, lacking grace but it definitely does work. "That was some skill Huntress, what is it?"
"This is a fire deer, very rare… and I think you'll enjoy it, so get ready Finn, we're having venison tonight." She says with a smile, making way for Finn to grab its heavy body before they march home.
"... This was nice, I would like to learn more about your world at some point Huntress." She gains a small blush that was luckily hidden by her mask before she responds,
"That was what my forest life was like Finn, it's one of the reasons why I went into wizard city. I wanted to find something actually challenging for my skills, as big beasts are rare to come by, usually because you've already dealt with them. And I'm expecting any big threat to the forest is getting handled by male me. The only other thing I could show is potion making. Or magic. But I will definitely not be bringing you into that."
"Sure thing Huntress. I guess I can't show me killing any great threats as Fionna will have to deal with it. Still though thanks for showing me this Huntress Wizard" Huntress however remains silent for a few seconds.
"Diana."
"What?" Finn asks, confusion on his face.
"Huntress Wizard is just a title, like how hero of OOO is. We can both be called by them, but I want you to call me by my name: Diana" Finn chuckles, earning a glare from the wizard, before responding
"Diana... I like it."
"... Thank you."
The couple soon make it home around midday and Finn cooks the venison with some guidance and support from Huntress. And she was right. Its flavour did knock Finn's socks off, proven by him going back for seconds, the red deer's skull now resting against the wall, with dreams of being mounted on it one day.
"I got a question Huntress."
"That is?"
"How strong are your arrows? Where do they come from?"
"... They're powerful due to the speed in which I launch them, and my dead-eye precision. Where they come from and durability share the same answer: my magic. My magic makes them light and strong, several times more than most high quality arrows. And I can summon more if need be." Huntress replies with pride in her voice.
"Sounds handy."
"Yeah but creating arrows of these quality drains a lot from me, it's why I carry them in a quiver, as creating arrows in a fight will take me out of action pretty fast. It's also why I collect them back afterwards, less energy to repair them than to make brand new ones." She explains. Her morning of showing off her life and skills done.
But now. It was Finn's turn.
He collects his sword, clean of any wolf blood, and plots out a path south, plans and memory working in sync, before once more Finn and Huntress Wizard set off into the world,
"So Finn, where we going?"
"A path that I made up. As Fionna said the royals ask me and her to clear out monsters, especially rampaging ones, or if they are a danger to their people."
"So you know a popular spot?"
"Kinda?... In the south east near the Badlands is monster hotspot, it still hasn't fully recovered from the effects of the mushroom war, so mutants and monsters need constant squishing."
"Finn, it will take us a while to get there, and running in a dessert will just make us too exhausted to fight. I've got an idea." Suddenly she whistles, and a few seconds later, two deer come out of the forest.
"Whoa what the!?" Finn exclaims in confusion,
"I'm still part of the natural world Finn, I can communicate with animals for help. Just like how you get job perks working with the Princesses, I get job perks as the watcher of the forest." She climbs onto one of the deer, and after a second Finn climbs on the other.
"Right, so uh... how do I control the deer?" Finn questions, the deer standing completely still at the lack of orders.
"Just tell it where to go."
"Oh right, deer that way!" Finn shouts while pointing towards the Badlands, and sure enough the deer leaps into action, bounding across the land. With their new mode of transportation, it doesn't take long until they spot a plume of smoke in the distance, bellowing up from the ground as thumps and roars echoed across the land.
"A village is under attack!" He shouts as they both order their deers to push themselves to their limit. They enter on the scene to see a huge beast on four legs and humongous antlers smashing buildings and knocking sand people away, the sight causing the deer to flee the moment the duo got off.
"A fiend!" Huntress shouts, answering the question of what it was. It corners a man, growling before charging at him as he cries for help, and salvation arrives in the form of Finn. He stabs the leg at its joint, the night sword being more than durable to withstand the bones crushing sandwich on it. The beast yells in pain and with the leg gone so suddenly it trips, smashing into the ground but still carries momentum, sliding closer to the man until vines wrap around its horns. Courtesy of Huntress she grunts as she tries to slow it down, feet digging and dragging in effort. Finn jumps in to join her, also grabbing the vines. With their effort it halts a meter away from the man, but slowly gets up, it turns to roar at the new threat, but as it does so Huntress launches an arrow straight into its eye before popping out the other, having gone cleanly through its skull. Finn stares, then turns to her,
"Nice shot." And suddenly people came running out in celebration, causing Huntress to blush at their praise and thanks. Finn simply smiles and lets her freeze u at all the attention, yanking his sword free of the fiend's leg. The cornered man runs away from the body and into the arms of a wife and daughter, making the hero smile at a job well done. He turns around and joins Huntress with a smile. "Alright everyone, you're safe now." A sandman walks up in front of him,
"Who are you?"
"I'm Finn, and she's Huntress Wizard."
"Thank you for saving us! But we're not safe yet." He informs the duo, Finn becoming worried.
"What else have you got for us to deal with?"
"Bandits. They're the ones who set that beast on us." Finn frowns, 'Why would they do that? Everything would be destroyed, they would gain nothing.'
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it was a ransom you see. They told us that if we pay them in money and jewels while also giving them food and water, then they wouldn't set the beast on us. We tried to get a messenger out to Fionna for help but he was killed. They had us surrounded. We choose to fight encase help came, or at least die with dignity. we had tried to set up defences but it just barged through like it was nothing." He says pointing at an obliterated wooden barricade that was on fire, probably from a guards torch, and was the cause of massive dark smoke cloud.
"They were down the road as a meeting point encase we gave in, if you hurry you might still find them." The couple nod, and hurriedly spun to run in the direction that the man was pointing. They sprint down the worn down road of dirt and sand.
They eventually come across a large amount of footprints that Huntress crouches to investigate, "Multiple people, deep prints from wearing armour," She then looks up and points further down the road, "That way." Finn moves beside her and stretches an arm out to help her up, what she accepts.
"Lead the way." She nods and starts to run, following the tracks to the bandits. Sure enough, a few minutes later they hear laughter and shouting over a sandy dune. Peeking over they spot them lighting a campfire with a pig roasting on top, and drinking alcohol surrounding it. And several men as well. A quick count reveals ten men in armour.
"Ha haa! Those idiots didn't stand a chance! It just ploughed right on through!" A bandit laughs, taking a swig of his drink.
"Bloody idiots should of just gave in!"
"Remember lads, once that creature is done killing them all, raid what ya can." A man in massive armour says with his arms crossed.
"I hope the creature doesn't kill them!"
"Why not? Feelings getting to ya?"
"No! Would love to find a lady or two if you know what I mean!" What causes the whole group to laugh.
"Ha, that'll teach them to be stupid." As he drunkenly slurs that out, his drink he was about to gulp shatters, and all eyes turn to it, then the one who did it. An angry Huntress and Finn stood atop the dune, sword and floating arrows at the ready.
"Who da fuck are you?" Finn stares, 'Due to what Huntress just did, a fight is inevitable, so there is probably no point in trying to talk it out…'
"Karma." Finn responds, while Huntress's eyes narrow.
"Kill 'em!" The drunken bandits run at them weapons drawn. The deadly duo run down with Finn leading the charge, a bandit run further ahead of the others yelling a battle cry to be cut short as Finn slices his neck, not even stopping or slowing down as he does so and clashes blades with another. Two bandits coming to flank him get arrows to the face courtesy of Huntress, ending their plan short. She then jumps backward to dodge a massive two handed war hammer that slams at where she just was, the bandit in the thick armour grinning at her.
"Compensating for something?" His grin was gone.
Finn meanwhile was cutting down two more bandits, then kicks a third one in the chest to make him fall on his allies into a pile, and with a single swing, all three lose their heads. Huntress Wizard meanwhile was nailing arrow after arrow into the large bandit, his heavy armour doing nothing to stop Huntress's deadly arrows, yet he still refused to fall but it was getting to him. His attacks were slow and heavy as dark blood drools out his armour, and none of it from his foe. He stumbles, then collapses to his knees, and looks up to get an arrow to the face, marking the final piece for the bandit pin-cushion, making him collapses to the floor dead.
"Nice work Huntress. Wait, that's nine... where's the last one?" Finn questions as he spins around, only counting nine bodies,
"There." Huntress points, the bandit cowardly running away. Bravery was not common with them, so she wasn't that surprised. Huntress simply shoots an arrow, watching as after a few seconds the arrow strikes its target, the force of it making the body ragdoll forward. "Could you go and collect that arrow? I'll grab the ones here." He nods, and sets off at a walking pace, leaving Huntress to rip her other arrows free from the large bandit. Arriving at the body a minute later, Finn finds the arrow dead centre in his head, much to his impressment. After a gruesome yank, it comes free, then he simply gets up and walks back to the bandit camp, leaving the body there to rot for its actions.
He arrives back to see Huntress cleaning and repairing her arrows, what he adds to the pile with the one he collected, but she then nods at a piece of paper on the table. "Found it on the big guy." She says, not looking away from her work. "I think it's their base." Surprised, he looks, and sure enough it has two markings, a circle and a square, the circle on the village, and the square in the middle of nowhere.
"Even if it isn't, we should still check if it got the bandits attention." Finn says, quickly checking he has his sword. Nodding she rises and magically quivers her arrows, as Finn tries figures out the direction to go, "It is... That way!" He points north and the couple set of in earnest, sprinting through the sandy wasteland.
Nearly an hour later they enter a forest made of cotton candy that surrounds the candy kingdom. "Pretty clever to hide here. Wouldn't expect this place to be their hideout. But saying that I don't see anything yet."
"That's actually a good point to bring up. I doubt Gumball would allow bandits to be close to the Candy Kingdom, and he has cameras everywhere." It took Finn a moment to put the dots together,
"So the bandit's camp must be hidden!" He figures out, causing Huntress Wizard to nod.
"I'll use my Huntress vision to search for anything out of place or abnormal." Her eyes glow faintly green as she starts walking around, looking over anything and everything that could lead to the bandit's camp. Until suddenly she points, "There, that branch has abnormal colours and has seems." They approach a low hanging branch, with a look at the base Finn realises it is a lever, with the mechanism hidden within the tree. He pushes the branch up, what causes trap door to open by the tree's base.
"Come on Diana, lets put these guys out of business." She freezes up at hearing her name, before snapping out of it upon realising Finn has entered the secret entrance, and follows him down. Finn was analysing a wall that has moss growing on it and was crumbling apart, "Yeah, these bandits definitely didn't build this place, it's probably a dungeon that they've taken over." He stands and looks down the old hall that was lined with torches for the bandits use to see the way, silence reigning supreme. They walk down, silent to listen for incoming danger, Huntress wizard using her vision to spot traps of the physical or magical kind.
But nothing happens in the corridor, and upon reaching the end they hear faint voices echoing. They hug the wall as they crawl along, and spying around the corner, they see a massive room, six men in the middle talking, and two 'L' shaped stairs that led to a cat walk and deeper into the dungeon. A man was unconsciously looking at the entrance, meaning making a move will equal instant spotting. They had to be taken down and fast before they could call for help,
"I got left, you got right?"
"Sure." Finn replies before charging forward, the bandit watching the door starts makes a startled scream when an arrow shuts him up, two more meet the same fate,
"What the-?!" The remaining shocked bandits utter in surprise turning to face the intruders for Finn to simply cut them down in less than a second. They stand silently, listening for any incoming help, but none came. They turn to the stairs, the stone surfaces suffering dips from being worn down by heavy use. Climbing them, they peak down the catwalk what reveals another doorway, only this time the door is closed. Silently, they walk to the door and rest their ears against it, hearing nothing. Except snoring.
Finn pushes the door open by a small amount, and a peak inside reveals that the remaining bandits were asleep with empty bottles of alcohol resting by their feet. The room was a semicircle, with the door being in the middle of the circle part, and against the wall stood a stone statue of a human woman in hunting gear, with dogs at her side sniffing the air and a bow in her hand. Next to that lays piles of gold and food, stolen from the poor and weak to fill their lazy greed.
"Finn they are asleep, lets kill them before they wake up, no need to make this more difficult." Huntress says, grabbing a blade that sat on her leg that although was designed and used to skin creatures, it will suit the job of assassin work.
"... Right." Finn replies, looking at the bandits, twelve more remain with a rock elemental in heavy armour near the statue. Gulping, he cautiously walks over to the nearest bandit and holds his blade against his throat, but does not cut.
"What's wrong Finn?" Huntress asks, noticing him freeze up.
"Sorry Diana, I can't kill them while they are sleeping, that's donked up. I think it's my warrior's pride, it won't let me do something dishonourable." He explains, trying his best to keep his voice as quiet as possible. Huntress just stares at him. "... I'll just take their stuff." He says rising as Huntress shrugs and goes back to slitting their throats. Finn ignores the gold for now, knowing that it will make too much noise grabbing it. Instead he looks over the paper strewn around. It only takes a quick glance over to realise that the papers were plans to invade the Candy Kingdom, hence the close base of operations, and kill Fionna to prevent her from stopping them. With a frown he gathers them all, folds and then place in a special pocket in his bag.
He looks at Huntress to see her half way done in her bloody business. So he then investigates the statue, doing his best to not wake the sleeping elemental resting on it. Crouching low, he notices an inscription, 'Sarah, the first watcher of the forest.' What causes him to stop and look up at the tall statue. Crumbling rock behind him alerts him, he turns to see Huntress picking an arrow from the elemental's head, and putting a very bloody blade away.
"Done now, anything of note?"
"Yeah a few things: first they had plans to take over the Candy Kingdom and kill Fionna. Two, the statue here is the first forest watcher, I think." Huntress Wizard's eyes widen at the news, scanning the statue with her eyes, before doing the same with the room.
"This rooms layout... It was a place of worship to her, probably for blessings." Finn nods, seeing it now that it was pointed out. "C'mon let's start looting." Opening his bag they start shovelling gold and rarities inside, before Finn finds a ring with words scribbled on,
"Hey Diana, is this ring enchanted?" He asks curiously, causing Huntress to stop and squint at it.
"Hmm, no its not-" Huntress using her Huntress vision analysis the ring but freezes when she notices a magical anomaly behind him.
"Err Diana, what's wro-"
"The watchers bow string, it's a magical trigger." Finn blinks, then turns around to look at the statue, before getting up and approaching it.
"Seriously?" She nods as Finn stands before it the stone art piece, then with a grunt of effort he starts climbing it, quickly reaching the bow. With an experimental poke, he realises that the string is actually acts elastically despite being made of rock. He wraps his fingers around it and pulls it back until a click happens, and a secret passageway opens in front of the statue. Jumping off he lands next to Huntress, then joins her in looking down a stairway into a pitch black room. Huntress turns and levitates a torch of a wall and hands it to Finn, then they both enter the darkness.
At the end of the stairs seems to be a room, not large or small. "Hold on Finn, I sense a magic switch, let me flip it." Sure enough, like turning on a light, torches suddenly lit up, lighting up the room and its belongings. Like the coffin.
"Whoa! Ok!" Finn says in surprise, before looking at the coffin top to see a 'Sarah' inscribed. "This is the tomb of the first watcher." Looking around it becomes more obvious, skulls from great beast lay around, nature's award for a successful hunt, and the small amount of gold laying around, but not much. And at the end of the room stood a pedestal with a wooden bow, covered in decorative furs and inscriptions.
Approaching it Finn finds a large stone tablet with more inscription at its base and crouches to read it, "What's with these people and inscriptions? Ok: First watcher, may we never forget you arrows as they pierced the most deranged beast and end their rampages. May we never forget keeping the forest alive and protecting it from all who wished it harm. May this bow be useful to those who are worthy to wield it- Wait, did it just say this bow is up for grabs?" He says rising and pointing at it.
"Yeah, I think so." She says walking up to the altar as Finn picks it up, "Let me have a look at it." He it hand over to her. She hums in thought, recognising the inscriptions as runes, and the bow was physical structure was pretty good as well... "Finn, this bow is actually pretty high quality." She informs him, still looking the bow over.
"Really?"
"It seems to have been made with high quality wood, then crafted by a skilled blacksmith and carpenter. It's also got a few enchantments: reinforced durability, elemental resistance and magically enhanced string. This will survive use for a long time, wear and tear won't be a problem, and that string enchantment will make it hit harder. Not as hard as me with my magic, but still harder than other bows."
"Looks like you got a new bow for your collection if you want to use one like you had in the gum war."
"I want you to have it."
"What!?" He questions in shock, but gets a smiling Huntress as an answer as she pushes it into his arms.
"You said you wanted to join my life. This is your chance to join me in the world of hunting, I could show you how to use it, and then we can hunt together." He looks down at the bow squashed between them, then looks Huntress in the eyes,
"Thanks Diana." Then he kisses her. It startles her at first, but then she leans into it, lips hiding pent up passion as their tongues tease each others mouths. Then they pull away. With a sigh Finn struggles to put the bow on his back, where Huntress does a cute smile and assists him with putting the bow on his back. "Well, I guess we better go take the plans to Gumball and let him know a threat is gone." They walk back up the stairs and Finn blows the torch out before putting it on the floor, then slinging his bag, careful of the bow. With a bit of magic Huntress seals the room back up, leaving the first watchers body to rest in peace, free of any grave robbers. Exiting the dungeon/temple all together, they pull the branch back down, sealing it up until someone else discovers it, not that they will find anything pleasant.
"I'm worn out Finn." Before he could respond, and poof sound emitted from behind him and he felt something on top of his head. Confused he looks up to see a green bird on his head, it was wearing a dark blue mask around it's head.
"...Diana?" He gets a happy sounding chirp in reply, "How'd you do that?" Another poof and she was standing on his head using her extreme balance, making him crumble a bit under her weight.
"Therianthropy, it allows me to shapeshift into animals."
"Is there anything you can't do?" He says smirking at her, not that she can see it standing atop him.
"Can't make portals. Or fire spells, I've never liked doing those, never needed to do them. Now back to it, your hat is surprisingly comfy." She shape shifts back into a bird, much to the relief to Finn's body. Smiling, he walks towards the candy castle, what only takes a minute due to the closeness of the cotton candy forest. As he approaches, Huntress flaps of his head backwards before shifting back to her normal self, then walking beside him as they enter the candy walls. Soon they arrive at the Prince's gate, and once more Butterscotch greets them.
"Welcome back Finn, though if I remember correctly your appointment is tomorrow..." She looks down through her notes to check, but Finn stops her to prevent her from wasting her time.
"It is tomorrow, but we want to see him for a different reason." She nods then stands aside, pointing at the stairs.
"He is down stairs, in his lab. As usual." Nodding, the duo head down the stairs to Gumball's private lab. Entering, they spot him mixing two potions, putting them in a rack he watches for a reaction. Sighing he mutters,
"Another failure..."
"Prince Gumball." He jumps a little but keeps his composure.
"Finn, what is it you need?"
"Nothing, just some news." He pulls the plans from his bag and hands it to the Prince.
"Found them on some bandits attacking a village using a monster in the south-east. Once they got enough money they were going to attack the kingdom and kill Fionna. They shouldn't bother you anymore, but I have no idea if they have friends or not, though I doubt it." He sighs and places the paper down.
"Thank you Finn, I'll send some banana guards to the villages to help them in the future. Now, if that is all, then please leave, I would like to get on with my experiment, I'm close to a breakthrough and if you're like Fionna then trouble always finds you." Finn nods, bit annoyed at the assumption that his presence would cause destruction, but to be fair it is true. They rise up from the stairs and exit the castle together.
"I wonder what's put him in a bad mood?"
"Who knows, maybe it was his experiment failing, maybe because we told him of something already dealt with and was wasting his time." Huntress shrugs, unsure what put the Prince in that mood.
"And that Huntress is kind of what my life was like, hunting criminals, taking down the dangerous and out of control, and serving everyone in OOO despite their attitudes or what they've done to me." Huntress smile at him quoting her while adding a little Finn touch.
"Definitely seems more interesting and rewarding than my hunts, but I'm not sure on politics or having to socialise with lots of people."
"Yeah, tell me about it, can be pretty tiring... Hey, I just had a thought!" Huntress looks at him inquisitively, "It's getting late, and I'm too worn out to cook. How about we try one of those normal dates, if anyone asks we can claim we are eating due to the time as friends and not as dates."
"... Sure, we'll give a shot." She says after her stomach growls unhappily, as she follows Finn who knows the streets and their buildings better.
They sat in a red restaurant with candles and other romantic things surrounding them, eating a chop and chips all paid for by the bandit's stolen goods, couples laughing around them and enjoying their evening with their loved ones as the day comes to an end. "This is boring." Finn says putting food in his mouth.
"Agreed, especially after today."
"Won't do this again?"
"Not again." Huntress finishes. After that boring end to their day, they walk home, trees calmly waving as they walk the forest path, a beautiful sunset in front of them, the stars starting to reveal themselves. "One sec." Huntress quickly scans the area and concludes it is empty, so she walks beside Finn and grabs his hand which he squeezes in return, Huntress being more comfortable in her relationship than she has ever been as they walk home hand-in-hand to rest.
Thanks to everyone who is following my story!
TheHeadDoctor your review was a guest account so I couldn't PM a response, so here it is (I'm also using this to explain some choices):
Thanks and I hope I got the moment you were 'all been waiting for' to your expectations, while remaining realistic. While it is a shame that Fionna was not seen again at the end, it makes sense to not add a filler episode near the end of your show. It's also why I choose this to be set in season 2 to show how much Finn has grown, and add the variable of what he will do with hindsight. Abuse it? Miss out on the opportunity? What would he change? What wouldn't he?
IMPORTANT!
Another guest has also come up with a good point: When (or if) lemons appear, do you want them:
A. Want in chapters with a warning
B. Separate chapters that will still be same length but separate (1 chapter split into two/three)
C. Separate fanfic with a chapter reference to got to
Please respond with what you all want in the reviews or PM, I'll announce what will happen two chapters later. Though lemon chapters will be a while as I set up a gradual lead up to them, I mean just starting to date to then sex is pretty fast change, especially since one was a loner with poor social skills, and the other is innocent to it (Not including whatever LSP did during 'breezy'. Pretty sure it was sex, so I might add a 'Oh that's what that was' moment later on, to a explaining Huntress relief.)