Come Along with Me (AT fic)

Come along with me
And the butterflies and bees
We can wander through the forest
And do so as we please
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Early morning sunlight streamed through the clouds in thin rays of prismatic brilliance, all the more radiant for their prominence among the sea of grey looming far overhead. Most would look up at this sky and think to themselves that a storm was coming. They would be wrong, the storm had already passed, what came after was anybody’s guess.

Far below the stormy skies the grasslands of Ooo stretched out, its boarders hugging the horizon and fringing the realms of all the major kingdoms, from Candy to Fire to the imposing mountains of Ice. The great forests of Ooo hugged its boundaries, to the south the plains gave way to desert and jungle, and even further the great ocean loomed.

Within this realm unto its own were many minor tribes, townships, kingdoms even; all manner of peoples from talking animal to sentient nut, ogres and trolls and giants and even little house people, all made their homes in the great plains of Ooo so that the realm was known to all as the Principalities of the Grasslands for though the lands had their own rulers they were a coalition of mere city states at their best and minor villages at their least.

Those, of course, that were still left.

How many minor villages, too poor or few in number to count as kingdoms or to even be noticed, had disappeared in the wake of the Gum War (as the survivors had taken to calling it), how many towns and cities simply wiped off the face of Ooo by the weapons and machinations of a Machiavellian madman, how many peoples extinguished by the marauding monsters spawned by a beast so far beyond the scope of anything the peoples of this land were equipped to deal with that to even think of it, to even think its name-

GOLB

-who could say? All that was left were those that survived. Ooo wouldn’t be the same after this, but then Ooo was nothing if not weird, its peoples resourceful and tough, ready to revel in strangeness of their home and accepting of its myriad of dangers.

The time for mourning had passed. It would linger, a shadow hiding in the corners of the mind ready to descend like a shroud in the quieter moments of introspection, but this wasn’t one of those times. This was a time for action, a time for energy. Now was the time for rebuilding, restructuring, reconstitution, and reclaiming.

Now was the time for healing.

And in the Grasslands of Ooo, far to the North and just below the Ice Kingdom, there once stood a great tree. And it was a great tree, not only in accounting for its enormous stature, strong foundation, and the fact that it being the only tree of its type in a hundred square mile radius made it a focal point for those traveling through the region, but also because this tree was a home. And not just a home, the home.

The home of the two greatest heroes in Ooo’s modern age.

Beneath the overcast heavens, in the early morning coolness of the tapering summer months, Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, heroes extraordinaire, sifted through the wreckage of their tree fort with as much an air of reverence of despondency the two could manage.

Which, admittedly, wasn’t exactly a lot.

With a grunt Jake threw the load in his arms to the ground with a heavy crash. Wheezing and panting the yellow dog wiped the pouring sweat from off his brow and leaned against the pile of broken furniture and other amenities that decorated the front lawn.

As he rested Jake looked out over the prairie, the bright green grass stained grey by the overcast and overall adding to the dour mood he was currently in. The grasslands sure had seen better days. Great swaths of turf torn up, boulders and pieces of architecture strewn about, deep gouges stamped into the earth by the footsteps of unnatural monsters that followed in the wake of their master; all in all, the place looked in desperate need of a professional landscaper.

Jake groaned and stretched himself over the pile of broken trash and tree limbs, his malleable body draping over the debris as his groan grew into a full-on whine.

“Finn,” Jake mewled piteously, turning and throwing his arm over his head in distress. “Fiiiiiiiii-

“No,” a voice called back. It was a young voice, but strong, strong in tone and strong in a way that wasn’t entirely physical; strong in spirit and in mind and in character.

From out of the wreckage of the tree fort Finn the Human came striding. In his arms he carried yet more broken appliances and ruined knick-knacks, and, on his shoulder, he carried BMO the tiny robot the two brothers loved and called their family.

The last living human on the continent of Ooo marched dup to his older brother and unceremoniously dropped the junk in his arms to the ground. Human gave dog a bemused glare, lip corner tilted upwards in a light smile as he shook his head.

“No,” Finn said again, holding up his metallic arm and wagging a metal digit in mock derision. “Uh-uh, we’re not doing this, get up.”

“But Fiiiiiiinn,” Jake whined, oozing off the pile and onto the grass in a yellow puddle, “housework blows! Let’s take a sandwich break.”

“Jake you’ve only been working for 10 minutes now,” Finn snapped, exasperation at his brother’s laziness slipping into his tone as he crossed his arms.

“What does that have to do with sandwich breaks?” Jake replied, honestly confused.

Finn tried to keep up the glare, he really did, but in the face of such pure and unadulterated brotherly good-naturedness how can a man possibly hope to persevere?

With a sigh of his own Finn lowered his arms and gave his bro a tired smile. “Alright Jake,” Finn said, his voice reflecting the exhaustion clear on his face, “let’s take a break.” And with that said Finn grabbed BMO from off his shoulders, put the tiny robot onto the ground, and turned right back around to the remains of their home.

Jake watched his brother walk away, a frown on his face and a light glaze in his eyes. His body slowly pooled into itself, his mass reforming into his basic doggy shape. Jake sat in the grass, gave a pout, and with a small grin of his own got to his feet and meandered over to the treehouse.

In the ruins of all they once possessed sat Finn, his face a tight mask of fatigue and melancholy, golden hair spilling out from under his bear hat like rays of pure sunlight, a halo to oppose his grim countenance.

Jake’s frown deepened as he stared at his little buddy, his bro. Jake… Jake didn’t take things seriously. Not as seriously as he probably should. He didn’t mean to, and he didn’t notice when he did, but it was something about himself that he recognized; and when Finn of all people, the one dude who probably let him get away with more than any other person ever, was starting to get aggravated with him it was like a kick in the seat.

Jake’s arms stretched out and wrapped around the teen, drawing Finn in for a hug as the old dog leaned over him and grinned.

“Aww, c’mon Finn,” Jake cajoled, stretching his head over so he could look him in the face. Finn turned slightly with a small pout, his eyes said annoyance but his puffed cheeks and crooked frown he was trying desperately to hold down told a very different story.

“I’m sorry dude, I didn’t mean to act like a lazy old fart,” Jake said, and with more than a little honesty too. Hard work was most certainly not something he appreciated but it wasn’t like this was strenuous or anything… at least, not in the physical sense. “C’mon,” Jake wheedled, his jowls reaching over and lightly slapping Finn’s cheeks, “it’s just… hard is all. Y’know?”

The question hung in the air, disguising itself as a mere inquiry, informal but just so much as to not appear invasive. Finn sighed and looked over at his brother, he got the message just fine, and enough time had passed that he could acknowledge it. For his part Jake could only stare at the heavy bags darkening the skin under his bro’s eyes.

“Yeah,” Finn responded, his voice somewhat quiet. He nodded his head and tried to give Jake a genuine smile. “I get it.”

Jake smiled for Finn’s sake, but his heart wasn’t in it. A tiny pair of cold, metal arms wrapped around his leg and Jake looked down to see his little buddy BMO looking up at him, its smile wide and shining and the innocence it practically radiated only accentuated by the crack running down its screen.

Jake grinned down at the little robot and held him aloft, rubbing him against Finn’s face until the young man scoffed and scooped the giggling automaton into his own arms and held it out like a child.

“BMO is ready to get to work,” the robot cried, wiggling their arms and legs. “I’ll make you all look like little babies with these muscles,” they said, and held out an arm to show off the gun show.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake said, his arms splitting into thirds, so he could grab twice as much junk this go-around. “Is it just me,” he said more to himself than anything, “or do we have way more junk than we ought to?” He held out a floral flower vase and squinted at it. “I don’t even remember getting this? And what the heck man looters took all our gold!”

“I’m more upset that they took the painting,” Finn replied good-naturedly, shaking BMO around and laughing at the wavy metallic cheers they made.

“Yeah,” Jake said with a cheeky grin as he remembered the torn portrait the boys had over their sofa. “I bet you are.”

“Man don’t be like that; fine art is fine art.” Finn put BMO on the ground and watched with a soft smile as the robot immediately ran over to the other side of the room and attempted to pick up one half of the sofa that still remained. Finn turned over to his older bro and raised an eyebrow. “Besides, it’s not like we ever use that gold anyway, we just collect it.”

Jake sighed in a brotherly way, the kind of sigh an older brother makes before he’s about to lay down some fundamental truths.

“Finn,” Jake said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, “adventurers don’t collect gold because they want to spend it, they collect gold because it’s there. I mean, if we didn’t grab up all that treasure in those dungeons, somebody else would, then they’d have all the gold! Of course, you always leave just a little bit behind for the next guy, that’s just common courtesy.”

Finn stuck out a tongue and creased in brow in mock thought, letting out a light hum for a second or two before raising his shoulders and giving a noncommittal grunt.

“Dude I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Jake snorted and shook his head. “You’ll understand when you’re older,” the dog off-handedly replied and went back to sifting through the remains of their home. Various doo-dads, knick-knacks, and other trifles were inspected, and ultimately either placed in a little pile or simply discarded with a mighty toss into the air.

“Junk, junk, junk, seriously I don’t even remember owning half of this crud,” Jake muttered as he worked, his face scrunched up and tongue sticking out.

“So many objects,” BMO cried, running over to Jake with a tiny piece of sofa clutched in their hands, “but how do we know which ones are important?”

From his spot on the floor Finn grunted and hauled himself to his feet. “I mean,” he started, “all of them are. Or… at least what they represent. The stuff isn’t what’s important, it’s the memories. There’s stuff attached to this junk, feelings and all that biz. That’s what makes it treasure!”

Jake and BMO turned back to look at Finn, the robot’s face alit more than usual with reverence for Finn’s words. Jake just snorted and said, “you read that on a postcard or something bro?”

Finn’s robot arm lashed out and grabbed the old hound ‘round the neck and brought him in for a noogie. As Jack cried out and struggled BMO laughed and clapped their hands at all the excitement.

“Okay,” the robot chirped, “BMO understand, BMO go look for the super-duper-extra important stuff!” And with that said BMO sprinted off into the wreckage, laughing and whooping to their little metaphorical heart’s content as they clambered over broken tree limbs and ruined furniture.

“Don’t go too far,” Finn called out, letting his gasping brother go. Jake grumbled a bit and gave his bro a sour look, but it quickly dissipated when his gaze traveled back to those bags under Finn’s eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping well, and though Finn would never say anything Jake knew enough about his bro to know when he’d been having nightmares.

Like when we lost mom and dad, Jake thought to himself, and he remembered all those late nights reading bedtime stories and calming down a crying boy who didn’t know why he’d been abandoned for the second time in his life; too young to truly realize the significance of death but too old to entertain the delusion that they’d be coming back.

It didn’t take a genius to know why the nightmares would be coming back now, heck Jake had been having a rough couple of nights himself. But not as rough as Finn, like always that boy seemed to bear the brunt of the punishment. He wouldn’t have it any other way really.

Jake forced a chuckle out and rubbed the back of his head, averting his eyes before Finn could see the look in them.

“Heh, nice speech back there,” Jake said, and he meant it too. He wasn’t good with words and Finn had a real knack himself for putting his foot in his mouth, but the kid had a heart equal parts warrior and bard and when he could say some real inspirational junk when he needed to.

Finn smiled back but it was strained, and Jake could already tell the dam was about to burst.

“This was our home,” Finn said, his voice low and cracked and Jake was already by his side before the sentence was even finished. “We… we lived here Jake. When mom and dad passed away and it was just us and Jermaine said we should go out on our own and we made a promise to be adventurers and… and…”

“It’s all busted up,” Jake said lamely, stretching a hand over to the half-a-sofa. His arm wrapped around it and he lifted the furniture from its spot and placed out on the pile outside. The junk pile. The biggest pile.

Finn took in a deep shuddering breath. He wouldn’t cry, and not out of any misplaced sense of machismo either. Finn had no trouble expressing who he was whenever he felt like it. If he wasn’t going to cry, then it was because he didn’t want to or because he wanted to say something important.

“This was our place man,” Finn suddenly insisted, more than a little sour with a hint of genuine frustration creeping in. “We’d go out, we’d get busted up a little, no biggie, but we’d come right back here because this was our place, this was our home.”

“Hey, hey,” Jake started, stretching himself up until he was the same height as his bro, so he could pull him in for a side hug. “What was that I told you, way back when Marceline first kicked us out?”

“That was different,” Finn grumbled. “She kicked us out, but the place was still there, it wasn’t just gone.”

“What did I say Finn?” Jake insisted, his grin blossoming into a genuine smile and his eyebrows wiggling.
Finn snorted and looked off to the side, but Jake could still see the smile. Jake huffed and lightly jabbed Finn in the side with a paw.

“Home is home so long as we’re together dude!” Jake all but cheered, shaking his bro around. Jake laughed and laughed and laughed some more but slowly he became aware that he was the only one laughing and the sound died down, tapering off into an awkward chuckle before, finally, nothing.

“…Finn?” Jake asked, turning his head to look at his bro. Finn held his position, staring off into the open grasslands, and even further beyond that where the grasses met trees and the forests dominated the landscape.

“Finn?” Jake pressed, a hint of worry creeping into his tone. Finn turned to look at him and Jake could see something there, something part guilty and part anxious and all together not pleasant in those eyes.

“Finn what’s–

“Jake look!”

BMO’s voice simultaneously cut through the air like a foghorn and through the tension in the room like a hot knife through butter. Jake turned to look and saw the little fella holding up a bright yellow mug with a blue flower printed onto the side.

“Look what I’ve got,” BMO chirped in their 8-bit tune, holding the mug aloft.

“Muggy, my old pal!” Jake cried out in genuine joy, the earlier altercation already forgotten in the wake of this new, wonderful discovery. Jake reached out and grabbed up BMO and brought them in for a quick smooch as he took the mug from the tiny, sentient console. “Aww, thanks little buddy, I thought my favorite mug was a goner for sure. Good job BMO.”

BMO’s giggle was one of static and chiptunes as they clapped their hands and wiggled in Jake’s grasp. “Yay, BMO, yay!” they cried, and at once began dancing as soon as Jake put them back on the ground. With a laugh of his own Jake joined in on the fun and soon the ruins of the tree fort were filled with the noise and energy of song and dance once again.

Finn smiled, it wasn’t a full one, and there was still that something in his eyes, and he wouldn’t dance, but when he snorted and shook his head with a roll of his eyes it was with an air of brevity regarding the antics of his siblings.

Walking over to the wreckage Finn continued sifting through his belongings. Or, rather, what might’ve been or used to be his belongings. He could find a few clothes more or less intact, he might have to make some new ones, he knew how to cure hides and the like and it wasn’t like they had any money (maybe Jake was right, that gold really would’ve been useful right about now) to buy more.

Of course, the more pressing matter was where they were going to sleep tonight. They’d been bumming around the Candy Kingdom’s palace for a over a week now, and though Princess Bubblegum insisted her home was theirs and they could stay as long as they wanted Finn didn’t want to linger. It wasn’t that he was afraid of being a burden, PB wouldn’t stand talk like that for one and he made himself useful around the Kingdom when it came to rebuilding, but Finn liked having his own space. The palace was nice, but it was too big, too open. Nothing at all like the tree fort, comfortable and earthy with a rustic charm. The palace was just a building, the fort was a home. His home.

And now it was gone.

Finn sighed and reached underneath his bear-skin hat to rub the side of his head. From the corner of his vision he watched Jake and BMO dance and laugh, oblivious to the damage around them. Or at least BMO was, Jake was just trying to put it out of his mind. Jake was pretty good about not thinking about things when he didn’t want to.

Finn knew he’d have to tell him sooner or later.

From underneath the rubble came a small noise. Finn stopped his excavating for a moment, lips pursed, and brow furrowed as he tried to focus on the tiny, muffled screams. Scooping up a broken branch Finn hefted the limb and tossed it aside, and when he looked down at the source of the miniature jubilant cheers he could only grin in absolute delight.

With a hearty chuckle Finn knelt to the ground and when he stood back up his hands were cupped and held protectively to his chest. “Dude check it out,” he called out, walking over to his bro who stopped dancing long enough to look at Finn’s hands with obvious interest.

“What,” Jake asked, excitement in his voice as he curiously sniffed at Finn’s hands. “You find something good.”

“Remember these li’l guys,” Finn asked, opening his hands to show Jake what he was hiding. They were odd little things: a yellow star, a green octopus, an orange whatchamacallit, a blue thingamajig, and a purple whatever, all dancing and trilling in Finn’s palms. “It’s the gribblies Marceline showed us when we first met her!”

“Aww, dude!” Jake said, holding his hands out and laughing as two of the little things danced across Finn’s palms to his own. The little things weren’t an unusual sight in the treehouse, neither Finn nor Jake considered them pets or pests and so felt neither the desire to really keep them around or get rid of them before. But seeing them now the boys couldn’t help but feel relieved to know they’d survived the destruction of their home, and an odd sort of protectiveness overcame Jake as the dog stretched out an arm from his back and picked up a jar from the corner of the room whereupon he upended the tiny things into it and sealed the lid.

“Gonna take these guys with us,” Jake said, and put the jar squarely in the not-junk pile. He looked back up at Finn and the young man grinned back and nodded his head in agreement.

And so, suddenly invigorated by their discoveries, Finn and Jake went back to work with a ferventness the two boys generally only employed when adventuring, saving the helpless masses, or engaging in various food-eating contests.

It was hard goings, and they weren’t finished until the afternoon sun had begun to shine through the grey skies overhead, but when they were done, and the wreckage had been cleared, Finn and Jake stood at the edge of their lawn with wide grins and hands on their hips, surveying their hard work with an air of accomplishment.

“Finally,” Jake said, looking up at his bro with a smile. “Lunch time!” And with that said Jake immediately turned tail and made for the picnic basket and all the delicious goodies held inside. Finn watched him go with a chuckle before turning back to their old home.

What remained of their tree fort was nothing, naught but torn limbs and broken bough, piled up in a wide circle around their old home with an air of reverence. And, somewhere in the center of the ruined tree, there was a freshly tilled mound of dirt, and under that mound a seed. A seed of old promises but much more importantly of new beginnings. What happened afterwards was anybody’s guess, and if you asked Finn? Well, he’d say that he had a good feeling about it.

Finn stood there for a moment, drinking in the sight of all they had lost while also remembering all that remained. Belongings were one thing, easy to come by and easy to lose, and even if it hurt they could always be replaced. Finn looked over his shoulder at Jake and BMO, laughing and telling jokes as they (or rather just Jake, who graciously ate BMO’s portions for him) dined on a hearty meal of roast-beast sandwiches, jellied doughnuts, and strawberry smoothies.

Jake caught Finn’s eye and with a beckoning wave of the paw and a sandwich held aloft the dog called his brother over to join the meal and get something in his stomach for fun’s sake. The boy obliged, and out in the open grasslands the three partook in a lovely afternoon luncheon, telling jokes and laughing and regaling one another with tales and stories of adventures past and future glories to be had. And when they’d had their fill of fun and feast the three laid out on the grass, feeling the cool wind caress their tired bodies and soothe their sore muscles, letting their minds wander unbidden and free as they relished the silence.

And as they rested Jake the Dog kept an eye cracked, and he watched his brother, and he knew that Finn was hiding something from him.

When they’d rested Finn and Jake helped each other to their feet and turned to survey once again all the work they’d done.

Two piles, one as tall as a hill and the other as short as Jake, dominated the lawn.

In the large pile went the junk, the trash, the broken pieces of what were once rare treasures and common knick-knacks alike. Ruined furniture, half a sofa, pieces of clothing, broken weapons, smashed chests and dressers, all of these and more made up the bulk of the pile, with such subtle furnishings as all the bellowed curiosities and vagaries Finn had taken to collecting over his years of adventuring. And who knows how much had been stolen by vandals and looters and other unhappy peoples just trying to survive.

The other pile, the much, much smaller one, wasn’t much to look at either. Jake’s mug, the gribblies in their jar, a movie or two, some clothes of Finn’s that hadn’t been entirely ruined, the cooler, a few curios that had survived the wreckage, and not much else. The crown jewel had to be Finn’s heavy animal pelts that he used for blankets, how they had survived the destruction of his house when the bed didn’t he hadn’t the foggiest notion but as Jake always said, “never look a horse’s gift in the mouth dude!”

The two boys glanced at the pile. All in all, it was a sorry load, the two didn’t exactly have much in the way of appliances or furniture but what they did have could be safely described as thrashed and it wasn’t exactly a pleasant scenario to see all the fun stuff they did own wrecked and what little they could save so… boring.

Boring, Finn thought, but practical.

Boring, Jake thought. And that was about it really.

As BMO cavorted amongst the remains of their furnishings Jake glanced up at Finn and sighed.

“I think I know what’s been eating ya,” he finally said, his gruff voice echoing across the silent plains. Finn started a bit, his eyes wide and smile strained as he looked down at his older brother.

“O-oh,” he asked, voice cracking as he wrung his hands, his eyes never quite settling in one direction least of all on Jake.

The dog nodded his head sagely and regarded his little bro with a keen eye. “Yep, can’t keep anything from me.”

Finn sighed at this, deflating under the pressure he’d been subjecting himself.

“Aw dude, I’ve been meaning to say something, but I just couldn’t find the words, y’know? I’m sorry man-

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jake whispered, pulling his buddy in and stretching his legs up. “I got it bro, no need to spill your guts. Like, PB’s great and all, but a man needs his own space, ya dig?”

Finn smiled. “Yeah, I think I… wait, what?”

Jake absently nodded his head, unaware of the confusion now evident on Finn’s face. “Oh yeah, I get it man. It’s pretty awkward staying at a palace, rough and tumble dudes like us need our own digs. I know you’re bummed about losing the treefort, I am too, lots of memories in that place. But, let’s face the facts bro, we’re going to need a new place to live. Luckily, I’ve already sorted everything out!”

“I mean,” Finn replied, “that’s not exactly… what do you mean, ‘sorted it out?’”

“I mean I’ve got all our housing needs on the lock-down bro,” Jake said with a grin and a finger wag. When he turned to Finn it was with shining eyes and the widest, most genuine smile he could muster. “Lady Rainicorn said we could bunk with her at the barn dude!”
Finn’s mouth opened, hung there for a second, then snapped shut. His face scrunched up and his eyes lowered to the ground.

“…Look, Jake, there’s something I need to-

“I mean,” Jake continued, oblivious to his brother’s reaction, “it’s a little small, but it’s out of the way and there’s no butlers of princesses, just a couple of dudes hanging out.

“That sounds great Jake but I really-

“I mean, Lady will be there, and the pups will probably drop by every now and then, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“Jake you’re not listening to me-

“And it’s a little cramped compared to the tree fort, but just trust me on this dude. Lady was super chill about you staying with us. Real nice of her. And once we get settled in we can-

“Huntress Wizard invited me to stay with her!”

The Grasslands were silent. Granted, they were already, but this time the silence seemed just hint more obtrusive, ominous even.

Jake stared up at his bro with a look of surprise. “Oh,” he finally said, breaking the silence, “well… well that’s nice of her.” And here Jake paused to give Finn his best trademarked big bro smile.

Finn stared down at him, eyes wide and mouth set in a thin line, like he was waiting for Jake to yell or flip out or do something really, anything. It was a little confusing for the dog, who liked to think of himself as levelheaded and calm, and moreover didn’t see any reason to treat this as something all that big.

So why was Finn looking at him like that?

Slowly, the polite smile subsided, and Jake looked up at his bro with an awkward half-grin, one hand scratching the back of his head while the other tapped its fingers to a rhythm against a broken piece of dresser.

“Uh, look dude, I really appreciate the offer, and don’t get me wrong I think HW is great, really. It’s just… her house is little barebones man, and while I think that whole minimalistic lifestyle really suits her, it just ain’t my cup of tea brother. Plus, Lady’s house has internet so… Finn?”

Finn wasn’t saying anything. Finn wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t doing anything, and he just kept staring at Jake with those same wide eyes. And suddenly Jake was feeling very self-conscious and nervous and altogether put-out like he’d just ignored some big and important thing and now he was the center of attention.

“Hey man,” he said quickly, rubbing his arm and trying his best to diffuse whatever this was, “I didn’t mean any offense or anything it’s just…”

Finn was shaking his head now, his mouth set in a thin, tight frown and his eyes greyer than Jake had ever seen and he wasn’t saying anything or making a sound but when those grey, watery eyes of his looked at Jake all pleading and begging with him to understand to just please understand-

Jake understood.

With all the haste and subtlety of a lightning bolt it suddenly struck him then and there that Finn hadn’t said us.

He’d said me.
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Come along with me
To a cliff under a tree
Where we'll gaze upon the water
As an everlasting dream

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Who am I?

Simon Petrikov was a scientist by merit and an antiquarian by trade. A learned man celebrated in his time for his wonderful brain, his magnificent inventions, and for his unwavering dedication to the preservation of ancient artifacts. There were, no doubt, those in the scientific community that looked down on his hobby, wondering why he would waste his considerable talents on the past when he should be looking to the future. Simon paid them no mind, the past engrossed him, its myriad of mysteries that had eluded men for untold generations just waiting for someone clever and patient enough to uncover them. Comparatively the future held no surprises for him, Simon could read the writing on the wall and if the future was heading where he thought it was he wanted no part in it.

How ironic it all seemed now, given where he was.

With a heavy groan Simon Petrikov brought his hands up to his face and slowly dragged his palms down over his eyes and cheeks, pulling his flesh taut for a moment before letting it go to snap back into place.

He was in the future…

He was in the future!

How could something so mind-boggling happen? How could something so completely, so utterly, so wonderfully fantastical be the reality?

Well, how could a crown bestow the powers of frost upon a man at the cost of his sanity? How could a child be half-demon? How could bubblegum become sapient?

Simon Petrikov had learned long ago that the past was much stranger than people gave it credit for; either the strangeness had gone away, people forgot about it, or they actively ignored it. Whereas the future, he very quickly discovered, had embraced the weirdness with open arms and forthcoming eagerness.

Why am I here?

Slowly, grunting in discomfort with the sound of static ever-present in his head, Simon pushed himself into a sitting position. He rubbed the small of his back, wincing in pain and muttering to himself as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and scratched the side of his head.

Marceline really needs to get a new bed, Simon thought to himself, straightening his back and screwing his eyes shut as each vertebra popped into place. Seriously, this thing had to be from before the Mushroom War it was so stiff.

With a grunt Simon scratched the back of his head and ruefully gazed around the dark room he found himself in. Bed aside, it really was nice of Marceline to loan him her room for the night, but sleep was the last thing on the scientist’s mind.

Sleep? Now!?

He’d just spent the last thousand years in a fever dream possessed by a malevolent piece of headgear from the dinosaur age! His adopted daughter was the queen of vampires! His fiancé stole the powers of a Martian trickster god and merged with the literal incarnation of chaos to save his sorry butt!

Simon brought his hands up to his temples, massaged them a bit, then threw his arms out, stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry, and fell back onto the bed.

How’s a man supposed to deal with that?

What am I doing?

Simon Petrikov sat in the dark and thought. He thought of his life, of all the events that had led to this point, he thought of the crown and how that one single event had changed the course of his entire destiny. He thought of the little grey child he took care of, the one he once might’ve called daughter in another life, and he thought of how much she had changed (and yet also stayed the same) over the centuries until she had become the young lady he had been finally reunited with.

But most of all he thought of Betty. His love, his life. He’d lost her, long ago. He’d been reunited with her, for one brief glorious instant he held her in his arms again and was whole, but it wasn’t to last and the moment was over before he had even begun.

And now she was gone.

Again…

She’d sacrificed so much for him. Her career, her sanity, her very life, all for him. Who was he to deserve such devotion, such pure unfettered love? He was undeserving of her affections, always had been, and now she was paying the price.

Simon curled up and pressed his hands against his face, desperately trying to dispel the image of that horrible red thing from his mind. The monster, the demon, the god, whatever you called it.

GOLB

It tormented him, sitting and staring at him from the corners of his vision, haunting his dreams, always unfocused but ever-present, looming at the fringes of fragile, shattered psyche.

Where am I going?

With a strangled gasp Simon shot off the bed and landed on his feet, breathing hard and eyes darting around the room. He could still remember them, vague shapes, whispering voices, a multitude of twisting bodies and garish, muted colors. Delusions and hallucinations from his addled state, entrenched in the mystic arts he could see them always but nestled in the frigid cocoon of insanity they hardly bothered him unless he deigned to notice but now that he was free the memories of their ruined forms, their inscrutable wills, their ubiquitous lingering haunted him though he could no longer truly see.

The chains had been broken yes, but the shackles remained. Whether or not they could ever come off would be for other days, days long into the future, when he had settled in as Marceline had so eagerly said.

Marceline, so happy to have him back, so eager to talk and play and be near him and yet also wanting to be respectful of his loss and of his sudden fragility that seemed but a distant suggestion to her as a child, carefully hidden under the façade of strength he had been forced to maintain for her own sake, for her safety and happiness but mostly because when she smiled at him like that Simon could almost believe he was still human…

Simon Petrikov pressed his palms to the sides of his head and pressed down hard, he squeezed until the static in his head died down, until the lingering shapes dissipated, until the aching bitter cold in his joints evaporated and he felt like Simon once more.

Who is Simon Petrikov

Simon breathed deep and slow, the questions in his mind no longer quite so vociferous but still insistent, still impertinent as they unceasingly demanded his attention.

He was afraid, of course. He didn’t like to admit it, but he was afraid of facing them all the same.

Simon Petrikov stood on the edge of a precipice. Behind him loomed the past; unfathomable, merciless, it threatened to swallow him up and Simon knew it would be the end of him and he wasn’t sure what terrified him more, that it could claim him so easily again or that there was some small, hidden part of him that almost yearned for the sweet bliss of madness, to just give up.

Before him though lay the future, a deep pit which he could not see the end of, stretching far across the horizon and covered by a sea of fog. It was unknowable, unfamiliar, dangerous even.

But then it was also exciting, and Simon Petrikov had never fancied himself a coward.

Oh, it would be hard, no mistake. He done so many things over the centuries. So many terrible things. That the Princesses had forgiven him at all had been more than he’d deserved (their assurances that he was more a nuisance than a threat did little to dispel his queasiness at the whole debacle) but there were other things, things that he’d done long, long ago when the madness and sorrow and the anger were still fresh and yet untampered by the millennium under the crown’s influence, before he’d been reduced to a hollow shell.

Oh, those were wild days then, when the Old World was still reeling in its death throes and the magic was seeping from the wounds as thick and intoxicating as blood and there he was in the center of it, drunk on the power of it all and too numb to notice the screaming.

Oh yes, those were wild days. Wild, hard, cold days.

Simon knew he could never be rid of them. He could be forgiven every day for the next thousand years and he would still never be free, these were shackles he’d forged for himself and wore them with a stoic reverence. He never wanted to forget because he never wanted it to happen again.

But that didn’t mean he had to dwell on it. That didn’t mean he had to let his sadness, his madness, the weight of his past actions define him. The Ice King was him yes, but Simon Petrikov was also so much more.

Perhaps, Simon thought as he stood alone in the dark, perhaps the past should stay in the past?

He gave a wry smile at that. Imagine that, an antiquarian not wanting to go rooting around and sticking his nose where it probably doesn’t belong.

He’d learned his lesson alright.

. . . .

Well… that is to say…

Maybe, just, one more ancient crypt.

After all, it wasn’t really the past if it was his past, right? That is, his present! Er… was his present… no, waitaminute-

Simon chuckled. And then he laughed. And then before he even knew what was happening his face was red and his eyes were teary, and he was doubling over practically wheezing he was laughing so hard and it felt good! It felt so good to laugh again and have it be in his own voice, his own body, not some faint echo only dimly audible in the Ice King’s harsh cackles.

For the first time since he’d returned Simon felt like himself again. Not fully, oh no, not yet. And not for a long time he suspected. But still, this was good, this was a beginning. After all, he’d already hit rock bottom, so unless somebody tossed him a shovel he could only go up from here, right?

He thought of this strange new future he’d found himself in. It was new, it was unfamiliar, it was even frightening. But it was also exciting and strange and wonderful. His world was gone, and it was sad to think that it had ended the way it had, in violence and war and nuclear fire that had burned his people away.

But not everything was gone. Some things still lingered. If not the people then their descendants, and in them the beliefs, the ideals of that old world. Hope still lived. Life continued.

And maybe that was enough.

Simon smiled to himself and closed his eye as he thought of his… friends? Yes, friends. He had friends, he had a family, even after everything he’d done, after what he’d become, he’d still had people out there willing to see past the Ice King and find the man inside.

Finn and Jake, once enemies now friends. True, genuine friends, the animosity of youthful vigor gave way to the wisdom of maturity, distaste melted into pity then transformed into amusement before finally blossoming into an odd sort of comradery. Finn had been so excited that first night Simon had been back, almost as much as Marceline, and it suddenly occurred to Simon that this young man on the cusp of adulthood was one of his people, his species, and he wondered how many were left, if the boy had ever even seen another human, and he at once made a mental note to entertain the lad’s questions of the old world, of his humanity. It was the least Simon could do for the boy that had kept him in line and tempered his aggression and madness with one hand closed-fisted and the other open in kindness.

Then there was the Princess Bubblegum, sovereign of the Candy Kingdom… oh, good lord that was a lot of baggage right there.

Let’s see: several decades worth of various kidnappings, a myriad of marriage proposals, failed marriage attempts, stalking, public displays of indecency, disturbing the peace, assault, rummaging through her garbage, theft of personal items, theft of half her globbin’ face!

She’d forgiven him officially. The Ice King and Simon were technically different people she’d insisted, so therefore it would be silly to punish Simon for those actions when he wasn’t in control of himself. He’d been so embarrassed of course, and he could tell she’d been too, and that she’d been willing to put it all aside and start fresh with the man anyway had meant more to him than she probably would ever know.

They’d have to work on it, but he wanted to believe he could make it up to her someday. She was a brilliant woman, and he would very much enjoy a chance to conversate again in scientific matters. He could only hope he wouldn’t bore her honestly!

Simon chuckled a bit and gingerly took his glasses off his face, wiping the lenses on his shirt as he shook his head back and forth.

He had a lot to make up for, but perhaps to no one as much as Marceline. The sweet little girl he’d found, who he’d taken care of, who he’d loved and raised as dearly as if she were his own – and she is he suddenly thinks, heart swelling with pride as he thinks of the strong, capable woman she’s blossomed into – the one who never stopped trying to help him even at her own personal cost, her happiness.

He stopped and frowned.

The girl he’d abandoned. The child he’d turned aside in some misguided, dementia-addled belief that he was saving her.

His lip began to quiver, and he brought a hand up to his face.

The girl who’d sacrificed so much of her time, her happiness, to save him. To save his sorry butt. As if he deserved that, as if he could ever hope to be worthy of that love, of such a person in his life. Oh, he had a lot to answer for, too many years of isolation, decades of loneliness, centuries of righteous anger and undeserved angst he was directly responsible for…

Simon let out a wavering breath and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, flicking his wrist and sending sparkling drops onto the floor before finally placing the glasses back on his face, their thick opaque lenses shielding his eyes and masking whatever expression he was making in the dark.

He wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t going to leave her again. This time was going to be different, he was going to be there for her from now on. Heck, she’d probably be sick of him before the week was done.

He cracked a smile at the thought. Now that was unlikely, she had hardly wanted to leave him alone at all before Bubblegum pulled her away and insisted that the poor man be given a decent night’s rest. It’s a lucky fellow that has a friend… a family willing to stick with him through thick and thin, through the good times and bad, that would brave vampires, evil crowns, wizards, extradimensional horrors, and help tear open a rift in time just to let him say goodbye to his… to his…

Betty…

Simon’s hands clenched at his sides so tight the knuckles glowed white, but after a minute the grip loosened, and the arms hung limp at his sides.

She was gone. Gone again. She’d been close he’d touched her again, he’d kissed her, he’d held her…

Simon took in a deep breath, held it, and let out. It was shaky, but then he was trembling like a leaf anyway.

She was gone…

...

...

No.

It came suddenly, loud as a canon shot at a funeral and just as unwarranted. Simon blinked in confusion at the obtrusive thought and brusquely brushed it aside.

Yes, she was, he thought, he’d seen it. Seen her merge with that monster.

So, his mind immediately snapped back, that doesn’t mean nothing!

Well for one it means-

No, nuh-uh, none of that science mumbo-jumbo!

Simon felt quite taken aback. Simon was seen by most to be a meek, good-natured fellow but those that knew him personally in life could attest to his occasional bouts of sheer pig-headedness and now that he’d found himself on the receiving end of it… well he was frankly abashed.

We’re in Ooo now, his brain continued, Ooo! Anything can happen here! Magic dogs, vampires, living candy, ice wizards, chaos gods, anything!

Simon opened his mouth…

…and then he closed it.

Pursing his lip, he thought about what his brain had just said, which by all accounts was probably not a very healthy thing to do but you just try and tell that to a man who’d been held prisoner in his own mind for over a thousand years, eh?

To his immense displeasure Simon found his brain was quite right. He was in Ooo, and while maybe not everything was possible certainly there seemed a high threshold for these sorts of things. Simon distinctly remembered Finn mentioning he’d fought demons, cosmic horrors, and even flippin’ Death… so could it be possible? Could he… could he save her!?

Simon wracked his brain, face scrunched up in thought and fingers massaging his temples as he tried to remember. It had been a rough first few days, so much to take in, so much to experience after an eternity frozen in his own mind, but hadn’t the dog said something. Yes, the talking yellow dog, Jake! A most amicable chap you’d be hard pressed to find and a true friend indeed but hadn’t he chimed in during one of Finn’s stories, something about fighting a necromancer and going to… another dimension? Yes, that was it! And meeting a… meeting a… OH GLOBBITT WHAT DID HE-

Simon’s eyes shot open and his arms fell to his sides.

A Wish Master.

Yes, that was it. A Wish Master, a granter of wishes, in a box outside time and space.

Prismo.

A literal genie, and one who just so happened to be best buds with a certain talking dog.

Something began to happen to Simon then. It started out small, a ghost of a crease in the lines of his cheek. And it grew, slowly, centimeter by centimeter, until it wasn’t so small anymore, until finally it was a smile. A true, genuine, gorgeous, absolute, happy-go-lucky, I-just-won-the-friggin’-jackpot smile! The kind of smile that needed every muscle, the kind of smile that practically (and, if you’d brushed like your momma told you, literally) glowed, the kind of smile that just lights up a room and anyone who sees can’t help but smile too, the kind of smile that brings a tear to the eye of a person who knows what it’s like to be hopeless and has fought tooth and nail to bring themselves back from the brink.

Simon Petrikov felt light, light as a feather, light as a cloud, lighter than air he was almost afraid he’d float away but he just couldn’t help himself, he had to… he just had to…

Simon hunched in on himself, tucked his legs in, and with a great spring suddenly leapt up as high as he could stuck his arms straight out and – “YAAHOOOO!” – CHEERED!

When he finally fell back to Ooo it was with a great thud and he immediately pressed his hands against his mouth, face flushed red and a little embarrassed at the outburst and desperately hoping he didn’t wake anybody but also, in some strange way, not in the least bit sorry and actually quite anxious to have somebody barge in so he could grab them up in a hug and just laugh.

Nobody came up, nor could he make out any voices, so it seemed he was in the clear and he let out a quick breath of relief.

Simon suddenly felt quite giddy, even allowing himself one quick giggle to commemorate the occasion. He knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he couldn’t help it. Swept up in a sudden tide of hope and mirth he found the change in attitude to be a welcome departure from the quagmire of self-pity he’d been wallowing in of late.

Why, there was so much to do! People to meet, plans to be made, time to be spent. Yes, time; so little precious valuable time…

What in the world was he doing wasting it here!?

Simon at once raced for the door, whereupon he quickly remembered he wasn’t wearing much in the way of actual clothes and scrambled in the dark to find his usual attire. The suit was a bit stiff, and honestly could go for a wash, but it was also the only set of actual clothes he owned – then again Marceline probably wouldn’t be asking for these pajamas back – so, ‘When in Ooo!’ he supposed.

Buttoning his last button and trying his best to make his hair presentable Simon fussed and huffed until he supposed he was about as good as he was going to be getting in his current state and once again made for the door-

-and stopped just short of it, a quick flash off to the left catching his eye.

Simon turned and found himself face to face with an ornate mirror, the kind as tall as a man and prone to revealing perhaps a bit more about oneself than just outward appearances. He stared at it for a moment, alone in the dark of the room there was no sound, save for his shallow breaths.

Simon approached the mirror slowly, cautiously, until he stood before it.

There was no blue skin. There was no long white beard. No dirty, tattered robed soiled by food stains and penguin grime. No pale white eyes, no gleaming shark’s teeth, no goblin’s nose…

No crown.

Simon Petrikov stared at himself in the mirror, marveling at his olive skin, his brown hair, his beetle eyes behind purple glasses.

He said nothing as he spruced his hair up, as he straightened his bowtie and smoothed the creases from his suit. Leaning forward Simon opened his mouth to inspect his teeth, humming appreciatively to himself after finding them to his liking, appropriately and respectfully round and dull.

Leaning back Simon gave his reflection a tired smile.

Despite everything, it’s still me.

He turned on his heels, grabbed the doorknob, and left the darkness of the room.

The door was shut behind him with a gentle click.
------------------------------

All of my affections
I'll give them all to you
Maybe by next summer
We won't have changed our tune

------------------------------
The Land of Ooo had been changed.

Were one to look down on Ooo from space they’d see a respectfully sized landmass, much larger than an Island but perhaps a wee bit smaller than the typical continent, like it had once been a part of something much bigger but was shorn off by… something.

At the northmost edge of Ooo, jutting out from the rest of the landmass, lay the Ice Kingdom, surrounded by its iceberg infested sea and easily distinguishable by its enormous frost-capped peaks and the pervading cold that surrounded the land, just looking at it made one want for a warm blanket and a mug of hot cocoa even in the heat of summer.

Just below the Ice kingdom were the Grasslands of Ooo. There were no official kingdoms to be found here, merely simple homesteads and farms for those who yearned for the simple comforts of solitude, and one or two rather sizable towns. The great plains of Ooo took up the center of this world, and a sizeable chunk of it at that, and were home to a great many interesting phenomena and locale, making it the perfect home for adventurers of all shapes and sizes to test their mettle throughout the years, as the most current residents there can attest to.

To the right lay the great forests of Ooo, all of them different and all of them connected. The Forest of Trees, the Spooky Woods, the Haunted Swamp, Moose Bone Clearing, and many other interesting colloquialisms. These were wild woods, their secrets hidden deep in leafy boughs along with many dangers. Though, it was also against their borders that the many Humanoids (those far-flung multicolored descendants of the once powerful human race) made their homes, along with the talking beasts and occasional nature spirit, druid, and, in one special case, a certain powerful Wizard with a love for the hunt.

To the south of the Grasslands the great desert spread out across the horizon, and even further below the badlands where many peoples of unsavory disposition dwelled (also the Breakfast Kingdom but that more or less fits under the umbrella). The Dead City was also to be found there, tucked out of sight, a decrepit and somber monument to a race that no longer existed in their world but whose presence could still be felt in these far-flung isolated places. There were other places as well, the Spiky Village, the City of Thieves, and even further south, below the forests and plains and separated by the desert by a small inlet, a tiny rainforest known as the Jungle Kingdom. The Badlands were also home to M.O. Co, the pre-war factory founded by Moe and the source of all MO’s in the Land of Ooo, those adorable little robot helpers that were rare to find outside but always treasured.

To the west of the Badlands, located entirely on a sizeable peninsula that jutted out from the rest of Ooo and into a boiling sea of steam, was the enigmatic and often frightening Fire Kingdom, who had little to do with the goings on of the rest of the land and were more than content to focus on their own matters. The feeling was mutual, though sentiments had changed with the installment of the Flame Princess as the new Flame King who endeavored to set up a more respectable reputation for her people.

To the left, perpendicular to the Ice Kingdom, was the other half of the continent, and this is where things began to get very interesting for it was here that the primary seats of power in Ooo’s government could be found. This was known among many peoples as the land of Princesses, for it was here that many of Ooo’s city-state Kingdoms (from Muscle to Hotdog to Lemon to Goblin and everything in between) set up shop, and it was also were many of the more powerful villages settled as well. The Marauders below their mountains, the fuzzy people behind their walls, the Cuboids in their cubicles, and the Wizards in their super-duper-top-secret lair hidden behind the mountains, Wizard City!

It was also home to the Candy Kingdom, the most powerful nation in all of Ooo, with its myriad of resources, network of trade routes and supply lines, and of course, it’s seemingly all-knowing and long-lived monarch the Princess Bubblegum.

Said Princess Bubblegum was currently walking amidst the ruins of her once prosperous nation, surveying the damage that had been dealt to it in the aftermath of the Gum War.

The Land of Ooo had been changed.

The Tree Fort of the Grasslands had been felled. So many of the villages and towns throughout the Grasslands wiped out in one horrible night. What remained of the Forests still smoldered, the smoke rising high into the evening sky. Many of the minor kingdoms had been destroyed by the rampaging beasts summoned by the Chaos God, the ones without standing armies or venerable heroes to safeguard them, the ones that hadn’t even had a stake in her own petty, childish, stupid war-

Princess Bubblegum stopped for a moment and rested her face in her open palms. Leaning against what used to be a candy cane light post she rested, shoulders trembling and normally fresh, pink bubblegum flesh pale and pasty. She didn’t cry, and not for lack of trying either. She just had nothing left to offer. They’d taken everything, everything, and now she hadn’t even tears.

With a deep shuddering breath, The Princess of the Candy Kingdom gave the wilted candy post a good couple of pats for shouldering her. Two beady eyes opened on the post’s side and a mouth followed suit, offering its beleaguered sovereign a tiny smile. Bubblegum’s heart ached at the glazed, haunted look in its eyes and she leaned over to give it a quick kiss on its peppermint shell before, with a husky sigh, she began to once again make her way down the street.

The past few days had been a blur, a haze of movement and orders and tears and screaming and forced smiles far too painful to be ever mistaken for genuine but nobody wanted to say anything. Why would they? It would only hurt her and besides that they needed her to be strong for them, always and forever. Their friend, their princess, their creator and protector and mother and a thousand other things that were all of them true and yet also not even close to what she meant to them.

And them to her. Her people, her creations, her precious little gumdrop babies and how many of them were missing or–

A pale pink hand shot out and caught the princess in the cheek and she relished the pain in both her face and palm for it grounded her and kept those kinds of thoughts out of her head.

She couldn’t entertain such notions, not yet. Soon, yes, one day, maybe in a month, maybe in a week, maybe even tomorrow.

But not today. Not right now.

She needed to be strong. For them. For her.

She needed to focus on other things right now.

Princess Bubblegum bent down and picked up a slab of toffee sidewalk, turning it over in her hands as she inspected it with the critical eye as both a mason and a scientist before tossing it aside with a groan. Turning her eyes to the horizon she scanned the wide world of Ooo, taking in the sights of its mountains and plains and forests, taking note of the chipped peaks, the great swaths of turf carved out of the Earth, the great columns of smoke on the horizons.

She turned back to her Kingdom and observed the ruins. Buildings knocked over, restaurants and shops crushed to rubble, the remains of schools and businesses left in craters. Above the cranage her castle still stood, sections of it torn off to be thrown into the surrounding countryside, its towers pulled down and strewn about the city, its gates kicked in and all that was left were its barest foundations.

And, below them, her baby brother, still suckling on the roots of the Candy Tree.

Safe.

She was thankful. Her brother was safe, he was still alive. He’d been so scared he hadn’t even left the safety of his den, the only place he felt truly comfortable. She had spent a whole night down there with him before he’d finally calmed down enough to start suckling again, refueling the candy stream that was the life-blood of her Kingdom with his dutiful ministrations. He woke up the next night screaming, and the next night, and the night after that, and last night…

She’d been there for him, way back when, and she’d been there for him last night, and she’d be there for him tonight too. She’d be there for as long as it took. For her Kingdom, for her brother, for her children. It didn’t matter.

So long as they’re safe.

So much to rebuild, the Candy Princess noted. So little time to do it too. Or, rather, was it too much time. Yes, that was it, wasn’t it? She had all the time in the world and it was killing her. She needed a kingdom, her people needed homes. It could take weeks, months, years even before it was all back to normal and even then, it would never be normal again, not really. But it’d be something, anything other than this, this horrible feeling of impending… something or other!

Not really doom, that’s already passed. But not safety either, that was yet to come. No, this was that awkward in-between place. You’re not in immediate danger but the threat is still there, in your mind. The wound has healed but the scar is still fresh. The house had been broken into and no matter how many days had passed, no matter how many alarms you put in, you can’t shake that lingering sense of wrongness.

Bubblegum grunted and shook her head, the weight of her 800 or so years resting heavily in her gummy joints as her mind began to wander. Wander back to the beginning, to her first attempts at creating a family, to her Uncle-

Her eyes snapped shut and she shook the thought from her mind. Not now, not today, she didn’t care when just not now…

Train of thought thoroughly derailed she fast-forwarded a few decades until she was older, wiser, aware of the dangers of this new budding world and determined to become a central player in it. But to do that you needed a base of operations, land to call your own, a people to cultivate it, a seat of power to instill yourself in the world’s affairs.

So, she built a Kingdom.

It’d been hard, it’d been so hard to build this place, and the princess flinched as the vivid image of a green hand reaching out of a poisonous river flashed in her mind. Oh yes, it’d been hard, but this was worse. It shouldn’t be, all things considered. Back then she’d had nothing, she’d started from nothing, she’d built this place from the ground-up all on her own. But now she still had the foundations, she had a general guideline for where to start, how to proceed, and what she can do better this time around-

A candy person came scuttling out of one of the least ruined houses, eyes full of tears and arms full of broken belongings as it ran by her without even stopping to say hi. Bubblegum watched them leave and she sighed.

None of that mattered, none of it. The exasperation of building the first time, the fear of having no home and being so out in the open, exposed in the dangerous world, had been tempered by zeal and passion and the sheer excitement of what she was doing. But this? This had been something, she’d spent her life on this, this was her home, her kingdom, her people had lived here their whole lives, for generations even!

And now they had nothing, nothing but ruined homes and lives haunted by the memories of happier days. She’d fix it though, she’d work until her hands bled partially hydrogenated vaguely fruit-flavored corn syrup. But it wouldn’t be like when she’d built it the first time, and though it didn’t really matter in the end she felt it was something that had to be mentioned, if only for her sake.

Tired of the thoughts running through her mind the princess of candy continued her way down the broken street, stepping gingerly over cracks and upturned masonry and all the while trying her best not to look at the buildings that not but a month ago looked so bright and hummed with the activity of inhabitants.

It can be rebuilt, she thought to herself. It won’t be the same, but that doesn’t mean it has to end.

Princess Bubblegum walked until she reached the very gates of her kingdom, and once there she could only stop and stare out across a world no longer familiar to her. The Grasslands were ruined, the other kingdoms smoldered in the distance, the mountains had been cracked, villages scoured, lives ruined…

…and yet…

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, sovereign of the Candy Kingdom, looked out across the land she knew as her home, and in the distant horizon the sun slowly sunk below the skyline, casting this ruined, broken, but still living world in a warm, glowing, prismatic brilliance.

Everything has changed.

Nothing has changed.

Life continues. The land may be changed but the places can be rebuilt. The world keeps on spinning and nothing is as it was but it’s still the same.

Everything stays, but it still changes.

Something cold but not uncomfortably so nestled its way into her hands and Bubblegum glanced from the corner of her vision into a sea of black cascading down and over a grey face with sharp teeth and black eyes.

Princess Bubblegum and Marceline Abadeer nestled under a red umbrella and stood amidst the ruins of something old and wonderful and looked out into a world new and foreboding and just as wonderful as what came before and they both wondered what it held in store for them.

Little did they know that someone far away was staring into that same sunset and wondering the same thing.

Far across the sea a ship, massive in scale but more so in its significance, trawled through the waves, churning the sea in its wake, its myriad of parts and complicated internal mechanisms screaming high into the air in a song of glory to metal and fire and the Humans who alone can master it.

And on the bow of this old thing of lost tech from an ancient world gone by stood an odd-looking contraption, a long metal stem on wheels with a screen for a head and the face of a woman with blonde hair peeking out from under a white hat.

Minerva Campbell stared out across the ocean with a look of deep contemplation. It was the kind of look that bespoke of great internal discourse, of questions without answers and the ever-present query, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’

The holographic image of Minerva flickered slightly, indecision wracking her features for a moment before being forced down. It was far too late for such thoughts, she’d made her decision and so had the rest of the crew. They all knew the risks of leaving the Island, but the indomitable wills of her people had been raised since the coming of her son and now a period of unrest she’d only read about in old history books had befallen them.

Manifest Destiny the ancients had called it. The desire, the intrinsic need to spread and go forth and explore and discover and make something of themselves and the world as a whole, the stuff the first humans were made of and now that the itch had begun it couldn’t be stopped. The other islands were quick to be discovered, and in short order colonized. A rude awakening for those who chose life in those pods but Minerva, who had made the decision to forsake her human body out of the desire to save her species and not because it was easier than facing life, wasn’t exactly in the mood to sympathize.

And now that a true homeland had been established the human race sought to expand even further, to reconnect with the world it had once been a part of, to seek out their roots and the new peoples that also called their shared world home.

For Minerva it was a bit more personal, and the face on the screen closed her eyes as images from her memory banks, images of a young man with blonde hair and bright eyes and the most precious smile she’d ever seen, filled that strange spot in her that was part mind and part circuitry and all her.

All around her humans scuttled about, performing their various tasks with great efficiency that could only be fueled by their mounting excitement. Oh yes, it was excitement to be sure, what else could it be? There was fear of course but that was to be expected, but that fear was nothing compared to the burning in their hearts, the yearning of their spirits, this effervescence that filled their cores and bubbled over as they muttered and mumbled to themselves in wonderment or whispered in hushed tones with eyes glued to the horizons.

What’s out there, they whispered, what comes next?

And for the first time their beloved Helper couldn’t tell them. And maybe Minerva was just imagining it, but for some reason she felt the distinct certainty that this did nothing to assuage their feverishness. Indeed, it only enticed them further for this was uncharted territory, the stuff the old legends, the old humans were made of, and each and every one of the strong men and women on board this vessel yearned for it.

Minerva Campbell opened her eyes, no longer questioning if this was right or not for such things no longer mattered. Humanity had spoken, and it was no longer content to remain on that island, no longer content to linger until one day there would be nothing of them left. They would set sail into this strange, new world of theirs, to either make their own place in it or die trying.

Come hell or high water the humans were coming, and whatever happened next would shape the course of ages yet to come.

The humans were coming to Ooo.
------------------------------

We'll still want to be
With the butterflies and bees
Making up new numbers
And living so merrily

------------------------------
For a good long while Jake the Dog said nothing. Could say nothing. He had nothing to say simply because he had everything to say and he was afraid that if he opened his mouth it would all just spill out.

Finn was leaving him.

That was the short and sweet of it. Finn was leaving. It wasn’t enough that he had lost his mom and pops, it wasn’t enough that he had lost his home, but now he was going to lose his bro, his best friend, the only guy in the whole blippin’ world that… that…

Jake could feel his paws tighten up, he could feel his teeth grind under his jowels.

Just take it all why don’t you, he thought unsure who or what he was directing it to; the world, the universe? Didn’t matter, it was all skronked up as far as he was concerned.

Just what the flip was this!? Where did all this come from, just a few months ago everything was fine and hunky-dory! Sure, the adventures were getting a bit too real, sure things weren’t always ending the way they wanted them too, but it was still them, they were still doing there thing, they were still Finn and Jake.

Finn wants to leave…

Why!? What was wrong!? Did he do something, did he say something? Was it Lady Rainicorn’s place? They didn’t have to go there, they could go somewhere else, plenty of prime real estate out there for two bros, plenty!

And who did this Huntress Wizard think she was anyway! Getting in the way like that, luring his little bro off into the woods for weeks on end, serenading him with her rad flute playing skills and mysterious outlook on things and down-to-earth sensibilities only to pull that not-ready-for-a-relationship card after she got what she wanted out of him. Oh, but now she wanted Finn around, now she was going all, ‘Hey there you sexy hunk-a’-human, how’s about you swing by my tree fort for a change~’ Highly suspicious if you asked him! Wizards, you can’t trust ‘em he always said.

Jake felt the beginning of a growl work its way up his throat, but he bit it down at the last second and let it out in a great huff. Working himself into a tiff Jake had begun to pace back and forth, rubbing his temples as he thought this whole scenario over.

For Glorp’s sake they were Finn and Jake! Finn and Jake! Not Finn and sometimes Jake, or Finn but mostly Jake because Finn’s too busy this weekend, and definitely not Finn and Jake but only on alternating weekdays and every other weekend! That’d just be weird! Why, the way Finn was carrying on here it was almost like… well it was almost like… like…

Like he didn’t want to be a hero with him anymore…

Jake’s eyes snapped open and his hair stood on end and his ears shot up and a very clear, very uncharacteristic scowl scrawled its way across his face.

Not on his watch!

Jake spun on his heels, raised a pointed finger to the sky, puffed his chest out as far as he could-

-and promptly deflated like a balloon when he saw just how miserable his brother looked.

Finn’s eyes were screwed shut good and tight, sparkling trails of tears staining his cheeks, his teeth clenching onto his bottom lip as he shook his head side to side with his hands curled into fists that hung limply by his side and he looked awful, but he didn’t nearly as awful as Jake was feeling.

Jake was by his side in an instant. Just like that everything had washed away, the fears, the frustrations, the mounting indignation at it all, nothing could stand in the face of seeing his brother like this. Nothing.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jack gently cajoled, reaching up to wipe his bro’s cheeks clean while Finn silently sobbed. Finn didn’t make noise when he cried, when he was fighting or roughhousing or just living life to the fullest, he did so loudly and with a smile but when Finn cried it was an ugly, quiet affair and Jake hated seeing it.

“What’s the matter,” Jake continued, wiping Finn’s cheeks and poking him in the ribs and ruffling his hair and just trying every trick in the book to make him stop and just put on a smile for fun’s sakes. “C’mon, you can tell me, what’s up bro? What’s with the tears Mr. Sad-Face?”

“I’m sorry,” Finn muttered, and Jake’s heart sank a little at that.

“Sorry?” the dog asked, “What for dude, nothing to be sorry about. C’mon don’t say that. I’m sorry! There, see, I’m the sorry one!”
Finn just kept shaking his head and chewing on his bottom lip but at least he had opened his eyes now and was looking at him.

“I… I just–

“Shhh,” Jake insisted, patting his bro on the chest as he ruffled his hair. “I’m serious, I’m sorry. You ain’t done nothin’ wrong man, and Momma always said don’t apologize if you didn’t do nothin’.” And Jake slowly began to shrink on himself, scuffing the dirt with a paw. “I’m the one freaking out for no reason, actin’ like a big ‘ol fart. That’s me alright, a big fart!”

“N-nah man, you’re no fart,” Finn said, wiping his eyes and reaching down to scratch Jake behind the ears. “I’m the one springing this on you. I tried to find the right time, believe me! I just… couldn’t. I was scared.”

Jake looked up, abashed and more than a little ashamed of himself. Imagine, Finn the Human, the coolest, raddest, most awesomest bro that ever lived, afraid to tell his own brother that he’d went and found himself a cool and radical dame of his own. If Jake didn’t already feel like a low-down, no-good, sorry excuse for a brother then he sure did now.

“Aww man,” Jake muttered, wiping his brow back and stretching himself taut till he pulled back with a snap. “You’re all donked up and it’s all my fault.”

“What!? No wait-

“No, don’t say it! It is man,” Jake said, holding up a giant hand as he cut Finn off and when he put the hand away and looked up it was with wide eyes and a small, tight frown. “I shouldn’t have acted like that, freaking you out like that, making you think I wasn’t so happy for you. Because I am Finn, I really am.”

Finn choked a bit at that and the frown turned up into a tiny smile. “R-really man?”

“Heck yeah Finn!” Jake shouted with shining eyes and the biggest smile he could muster. “You’re out there wooing wizards and fighting Chaos Gods and putting down evil and don’t let nobody say you aren’t the most mathematical teen in all of Ooo because I’m going to tell you right now Finn Human that if anyone does they’re liars and I’m gonna knock their blocks off. With Hammer Hand!” he shouted morphing his hand into a giant hammer and holding it aloft and beaming at the way Finn was smiling and laughing. “Finn you are so cool you don’t even know the half of it. Now here’s my little bro… all grown up.”

And here Jake had to pause, and for perhaps the first time in a long time Jake looked at his bro. He really looked at him.

Finn was tall now. He’d always been a bit on the scrawny side but either he was a really late bloomer or Jake was blinder than a Cave Lard because where Finn had once been dwarfed by the incredible ladies he’d met in his life he was now easily Princess Bubblegum’s height, maybe even a bit taller! His chubby little boy bod had filled out, now he was leaned and toned and muscled and his round face was a little less round and his shoulders broad and was that facial hair on his chin there!?

Finn was grown up. Finn the Human Boy was Finn the Human Man now.

And he was proud. Oh, Globbit all Jake was so proud of his bro.

“J-Jake,” Finn stammered, alarmed by the tears in his bro’s eyes but before he could even move Jake had swept him up in a big hug and was chuckling and Finn realized that those tears were a bit of sad and happy.

“I’m proud of you man,” Jake said, no ifs, ands, or butts about it and Finn was struck dumb by the simple yet powerful declaration. “Like, you don’t even know how proud I am of you bro. Fighting Liches, stickin’ it to evil jerkwads, learning about life and all that jazz, the only reason I’m even freaking out like I am is ‘cause you went and did it so fast, it’s like I blinked and you went from twelve to seventeen and I hardly even noticed.

“…Jake, I… I’m really scared man…”

“Scared? Now what on Ooo are you scared of man?”

Finn took a deep shaky breath and coughed a bit and shook his head. “You’re gonna think it’s stupid man but I’m scared I’m gonna mess it all up again like I did with Bubblegum and Flame Princess and everything else and I don’t want to Jake! I really, really like Huntress and I think I’ve learned better but what if I haven’t? What if I still do something stupid-

“You probably will,” Jake said quite unabashedly, grinning cheekily at Finn’s blatant mortification. “But that don’t mean nothin’. I do stupid things all the time and Lady forgives me, so long as you don’t intentionally do it to hurt anybody, or you apologize and try to learn from it, that’s what matters. You’re still young, you’ll make mistakes, and so will she probably, it’s a big step what you’re both doing, and you’ll have to get used to each other and you’ll make a mistake or two along the way but that’s just part of living brother, can’t be afraid to live.”

Finn took in everything Jake said, a soft smile on his face and a look of awed reverence in his eyes. “As usual Jake you are a wellspring of life knowledge.”

“It’s a gift,” Jake said, rubbing a knuckle on his chest with a smirk, before suddenly frowning and holding a clenched fist up to the sky. “And… my curse!”

The two brothers were silent for a few second before they both burst out into sudden peals of wild laughter, doubling over until their faces were red and their sides clenched and all the tension that had been eating them up this whole time just evaporated, just poof and it was gone and all that was left were these two crazy brothers.

And when the laughter had died down and Finn wasn’t crying anymore, and Jake was grinning his fool head off they both knew ‘The Talk’ wasn’t over with but they also knew it would be okay, they didn’t have to hold anything back now.

“I still want to go on adventures with you Jake,” Finn said, staring off into the slowly setting sun and wondering just how long they’d been out here.

“Well no duh,” Jake snorted, wrapping an arm around his bro and stretching up to head height so he could poke him in the chest. “It’s Adventure Time with Finn and Jake man, ain’t no way we’re gonna stop. This ain’t the end, not by a long shot, this is just… another chapter in the books of our lives.”

Finn thought about that, his face scrunching up in worry. “I don’t know man, I can’t read too good.”

“Oh, hush, you read fine. But what I mean is you’re growing up, entering that next stage, you’re just a little cocoon right now ready to burst into a butterfly. With chainsaws for wings and lasers for antennae. Rad. But yeah, for this to happen you need to do you bro, go out there, spend some time with your lady, experience the world and all that jazz. That’s what I did before… well, y’know.”

“Yeah,” came Finn’s sullen reply as he thought of his late parents, “I know…”

“Point is,” Jake continued, eager to move on, “that you need to go out there on your own for a bit. I mean not all by yourself obviously. Huntress will be there too, you sly dog~”

“Jake!”

“And I’ll drop by whenever I feels like, we’ll still hang, go out on adventures and all that skronk, what I’m trying to get at here is that you’re ready for this, I know you are Finn. It’s okay to be nervous, but you’ve got this man, and if you need advice you’ll know where to find me. At Lady’s. Because that’s where I’ll be. Where we have internet and working toilets.”

“Jake!”

“I’m just messin’ dude! Seriously, Huntress is rad, you two are like perfect for each other. Everybody knows Wizards and Heroes make awesome teams, and you’re a Warrior and she’s a Ranger so that’s like two OTP’s for the price of one right there man!”

“Shut up man,” Finn snorted and elbowed his bro in the ribs, not even trying to hide the blush on his face.

“No, no, don’t give me that,” Jake wheedled, growing in size and hoisting Finn off his feet much to the young man’s alarm.

“Whoa Jake, what’re you-

“YOU HEAR THAT WORLD!” Jake shouted into his megaphone hand, his voice carrying across the Grasslands with a distorted echo. “I’M PROUD OF MY AWESOME BRO GROWING UP AND GETTING A TOTALLY RADICAL AND WILD GF THAT HE’S GONNA’ MOVE IN WITH SO THAT WAY HE’LL STOP EATING ALL MY FOOD LIKE DANG THIS BOY’S GOT AN APPETITE! AND WE’RE STILL GONNA GO ON ADVENTURES AND STUFF BECAUSE WE’RE BROTHERS AND THAT’S NEVER GONNA CHANGE SO I JUST WANT TO HEAR SOMEBODY SAY OTHERWISE!”

“I will!”

“THAT’S A TIMEOUT FOR YOU BMO!”

“Aww, Bizkit!”

As the tiny robot scuffed the earth with their foot Finn could only laugh at the sheer silliness he was being born witness to, and naturally Jake was right there with him, chortling his best as he hefted his brother up and over his shoulder where the young man pulled a few sick summersaults before landing on his feet.

“A perfect 10!” BMO shouted, cupping their hands around their screen.

“Naturally,” Finn responded hands on his hips and a look of smug satisfaction on his face.

“Don’t get a fat head about it,” Jake snorted, reaching over to flick his bro’s hat off. Finn shrieked and leapt for the bearskin chullo but was blinded by his golden hair spilling out over his face and came up short, dragging his face on the ground. As the lad scrambled for his hat both dog and tiny videogame console giggled at his plight and by the time he’d managed to grab the thing and shove it back on the two were having themselves a right ruckus with all their laughter.

“Alright, alright,” the red-faced boy grumbled, “you got me Jake, harr harr.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome,” Jake replied, unashamed of his antics, “my nieces and nephews are gonna love me.”

“Nieces and…? Jake!” Finn squealed, his face practically glowing now.

“Haha!”

“Man, you better not say that stuff around Huntress Wizard dude!”

“It’s the truth man, you’re gonna have like eight kids. Trust me, I’m a dog, we can sense these things.”

“My sensors indicate an 85% chance that is a lie!” BMO shouted, pointing at the dog.

“Yeah, probably,” Jake admitted scratching his chest and looking up at the orange sun slowly making its way towards the horizon.

For a good while nobody said much of anything, the three of them content to stare off into the distant sky, eyes trailing the blazing orb as it slowly made its way down, cooling as it went and casting the land in a warm orange glow.

“Getting late,” Finn finally said, an observation and yet also so much more.

“…Yeah,” Jake replied after a brief pause.

BMO glanced between the two of them, unsure of what to say or if they should say anything at all and only in a retroactive sort of way understanding that something big was happening here.

Slowly though, Jake turned, and he looked up at his brother. There was a little pain there, no sense in hiding it, but it was overshadowed by the pride, by the love. And the same could be seen in Finn’s eyes as the two brothers walked forward and wrapped each other up in a hug.

They stayed there for a while. It lasted a minute. It lasted for hours. It lasted a lifetime. It was over too soon.

“I gotta go,” Finn said, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly as he tightened his grip and clenched his brother’s fur until his fingers grew white.

“I know,” Jake said, his voice low and warbly as the realization of what he’d have to do hit him, and his arms stretched around his bro’s body several times over and squeezed. “It’s alright man, I get it.”

And then Jake let go.

And Finn held on for a moment longer before he, too, let go.

And the two brothers stood apart, and though there was much arm rubbing and wistful glances with small, strained smiles it wasn’t an awkward silence. There wasn’t any room for awkwardness between them, never would be.

Jake elongated an arm and held out a fist, giving his grinning bro a cheeky smile complete with comically raised eyebrow.

“What time is it?”

Finn snorted and ran a hand up into his hand and through his hair, spilling a few golden locks out and over his shoulders before reaching out himself and bumping Jake’s fist with his own.

“Adventure Time!”

The two bros threw their hands up into the air with exaggerated explosion noises and chuckled a bit. And as they stood there Jake took in the sight of his brother, now suddenly so much taller and broad-shouldered than he remembered, suddenly so much older, so much wiser, so much more and still somehow the same in so many ways.

Just like him really…

Jake hiked up his invisible pixie-spun spiderweb pants with a grunt, jerked his thumb over to the pile of junk and said he’d deal with that tomorrow, reminded Finn to grab those animal pelt covers, and with one giant hand scooped up the Good Stuff pile. He looked his bro in the eye, gave him a grin, and then a nod, and then he turned around.

And he started walking away.

Behind him BMO stared, the face on their tiny screen flickering between confusion and alarm as they swiveled between Finn and Jake. Finn noticed, and was quick to walk up to the tiny robot to bestow a quick kiss on their chassis and a hug that BMO was eager to reciprocate.

Eventually though, Finn let go, and when he gave his little buddy another smooch the robot knew from the look in his eyes that BMO was supposed to go with Jake. Wherever Finn was going they couldn’t follow. They were sad, but in an odd way not as sad as they expected, and perhaps it was the way Finn said he loved them and he’d see them real soon, or maybe it was the way the young man stood up, straight and tall and not at all like the child he’d been none too long ago, but somehow BMO knew it was going to be alright, and that this wasn’t a good bye but a see ya’ later.

So, the robot gave him a salute, told the boy that he’d be keeping an eye out on Jake for him, and toddled after the yellow dog as fast as their little legs could follow.

And Finn followed them as the two made their way across the grasslands, up until Jake’s little yellow body melded with the light of the setting sun and vanished over the horizon. He didn’t turn around, and Finn was grateful for that.

Not a goodbye, he thought, wiping his eyes with the back of his wrist before stopping over to haul the furs and pelts over his shoulder.

Finn cast one last glance over to the tree fort, his home, the place he’d grown up in, had never imagined he’d be leaving. He studied its broken boughs, its torn turf, the piles of splintered wood and shorn roots, and he realized that though he loved the tree, and always would, it was merely a transitory thing. Him and Jake needed it after mom and pops passed, and now that they’d healed it had served its purpose and now it was time to move on. The memories they’d made there they’d keep in their hearts forever, but the time had come to save sayonara and move on with his life.

And so, Finn gave one last nod to the empty place. He said goodbye to Fern’s seed. He cast a sweeping glance all around the vast plains that surrounded him on all sides.

He looked off into the distant horizon, where far off the Candy Kingdom resided. Where Jake and BMO were heading. Where everything old and familiar beckoned to him.

And he turned around and walked the other way.
------------------------------

All of my affections
I give them all to you
I'll be here for you always
And always be for you

------------------------------
BMO didn’t say anything as they walked, and Jake was a little grateful for that. It wasn’t that he disliked it when his little buddy talked, it was just he wasn’t sure he could handle any questions right now, too much had happened too soon for that. He’d need a little time to spackle these cracks before he could get into any serious biz, give him a day or two and he’d be back to same ol’ Jake.

Yeah, a day or two… how long should he wait before showing up at Finn and HW’s place? Probably not tomorrow, that’d be weird. Need to give them a little time to themselves after all, but he didn’t want Finn to think he didn’t want to visit – Oh what the heck was he talking about Finn wouldn’t think that – but what if he did – but he wouldn’t – but maybe they could use his help to, I’dunno, fix the place up?? Get sum plummin’ up in this mother glubber!

Jake rubbed his paws against the side of his head and groaned, letting all the mounting frustration out of his system.

This… was going to be hard. Like really hard. Like, super, duper, ultra, mongo hard. But he’d get over it. For his bro and his, like, health and stuff. And, sure, his love-life too or whatever.

Hey, yeah this would be good for him too! Without a totally radical awesome little brother to keep him distracted with his life-changing magnificent adventures he could get back to all that… neat adult stuff! Like… taxes! And down payments on property, or something. Or, uh… let’s see there’s… er…

. . .

Jake stopped dead in his tracks, held his arms up to the sky in supplication, and begged the Party God to send a bolt of lightning down to smite him.

A tree off to his right exploded into smoking fragments of timber and Jake near leapt out of skin with a high-pitched shriek. He stared at the smoldering remains for a second before looking back up, his arms now held out in a ‘What the Heck Dude!’ position.

“What the stuff man I was joking!” Jake screamed, waving a fist.

“Oh… sorry man!” came the booming voice from on high.

“Stinkin’ razza-frazzin’” the dog muttered, holding his arms stiff to his sides as he promptly sauntered off down the trail, BMO hot on his trails and a lit stick in their hands which they endeavored to wave around at every opportunity; at least until Jake tossed it into a lake after one too many singed tail tips.

Jake continued in silence after that, still a little irritated but less so at the circumstances that had led to this little excursion to begin with now that’d he’d been given sufficient time (not to mention distraction) to linger on his thoughts on the matter.

This was good for Finn, he’d decided. He’d said that before, but he really meant it this time. Little kid was a little man now and he needed his space to start making his own way. Didn’t mean he stopped caring about adventures or his bros or anything like that, just that he was growing up and part of growing up is finding out where you stand in this crazy plane of existence we call life. Nothing wrong with that, not being selfish or anything, just the facts of lie right there plain and simple.

Yep, he’d come a long way that Finn of his. Why, Jake could still remember the days when his bro was just a little ragamuffin kid, getting into trouble, driving mom crazy, sneakin’ out at night to go punching wolves and evil bears in his PJ’s. Crazy kid.

Jake chuckled at the memories. Of course, he’d be right there beside him, just a pup and his bro going out and takin’ on the whole world by the jowls and showing ‘em who’s boss!

…And then the pup starts getting a bit older. And the kid doesn’t, ‘cause he’s a human and the pups a near grown dog now and he’s getting into arguments with mom and pops and he… well he says some things he doesn’t really mean one night, and they some things they don’t really mean, and he takes some time to go cool off so he says see ya’ later and he’s on his own now and it feels good, it feels so good to be out there and doing his own thing.

And then the weeks turn into months, and months into years, and the pup is rolling with a bad crowd now, he’s pullin’ some real bad maneuvers and he’s running with some real nasty folks and he’s doing stuff that he knows is wrong but now he’s in too deep and now he’s an old dog and he’s just so tired of it all and he wishes he could just go back and say he’s sorry.

And then he gets the phone call.

And suddenly he can’t say he’s sorry anymore.

And he leaves it all behind just like that, and he’s suddenly back home again. Only now he’s got two brothers, one who’s just a scared kid who’s all tears and doesn’t know any better and the other’s older than he really is and he’s tellin’ the both of them to leave and next thing he knows he’s back on his own again.

Only this time he’s not alone, he’s got a little brother to take care of.

So, the old dog makes a change. He leaves the broken, old life he made out there behind and he reinvents himself into somebody his brother can look up too, can hang out with, can go out on adventures with like they’d both promised they would way back when they were both just pups.

And the old dog sits back, and he watches over his little bro, and he’s there again, and he’s reconnecting what he’d almost lost, what he’d almost thrown away, and he promises himself that he’d never do it again, that he’d be there for his homie, that he’d never leave him again.

And now the little brother’s not so little anymore. Now he’s grown up.

Now it’s his turn to go out into the world.

Now it’s his turn to… to… leave…

Jake stopped walking and held a paw up to his face, covering his eyes as his jowls began to quiver and his face settled into a morose grimace. He had himself a cry then and there, and it was a good, honest cry. No theatrics, no wailing, no sound at all aside from the occasional intake of breath, a brief shudder here and there; this was too important, too earnest, to make a spectacle of.

BMO’s tiny metal hand entwined with Jake’s and they held it until the dog had finished and was wiping away the strands of mucus and tears from his fur.

“T-thanks man,” Jake mumbled, squeezing the robot’s little hand just a smidge tighter and wiping his eyes with his wrist. “Just had to let it out, y’know.”

“You aren’t breaking your promise,” BMO simply said, and Jake froze, standing in place and only able to meet BMO’s gaze from the corner of his eyes.

“By letting him go,” BMO continued, their metallic voice monotone and yet somehow filled with conviction and understanding, “you’re keeping your promise to be there for him. Finn is a big boy now, super tall and super strong, because his big brother Jake was there to let him grow up. Now that he’s all grown up the best thing you can do is let him go do his grown-up stuff.”

BMO stopped for a bit, perhaps to collect their thoughts or perhaps to reflect on their words, either way after a second of deliberation they smiled and nodded their tiny body in apparent agreement.

“Jake is a good big brother because he knows when to let Finn do what he needs to do, like right now. Is a sad thing, yes, but also a beautiful thing, because our boy is growing up and he is so super happy to be doing this with his lady friend and it is good that Finn is happy, because he makes us happy to see him happy.”

BMO looked up at Jake, their tiny static face shining bright behind their cracked screen, and he smiled.

“BMO is happy for Finn, because Finn deserves to be happy to too. And BMO knows that Finn isn’t gone, we’ll still see him. And BMO knows that Jake is happy for Finn too, even if he’s sad. Is okay to be sad, but is also okay to be happy, and is also okay to be both.”

Jake stood there, mouth open and eyes wide, taking in everything BMO had just said, a swirling maelstrom of raw emotion curdling in his stomach rising up, rushing out, searching for an escape, threatening to explode outwards-

Jake let out a truly impressive belch, smacked his lips, then looked down into BMO’s thoroughly nonplussed face and grinned.

“You’re right BMO!” Jake said, hoisting the tiny console up to his shoulder and grabbing up the junk pile he’d been hauling around with his free hand. “I am sad that Finn’s moved out, and that’s okay because I’m also really happy my awesome bro found a radical dame to be with. I’m proud of him, and yeah, there’ll be days I get really bummed out he’s not around as much as he used to be, but it’ll be alright in the end. I mean, it’s not the end of the world, I can go see him whenever I want!”

“Yeah,” BMO cried, throwing their arms up into the air in jubilation.

“Well, no, maybe not on weekends. In fact, I should probably call first before I go barging in actually.”

“Huh?” BMO questioned, lowering their arms, “why?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Jake replied, relying on the age-old adage of older siblings and parents alike and smirking at the way the robot whined at the news.

“But BMO doesn’t age!” BMO huffed, crossing their arms and pouting.

Jake merely shrugged. “Hey man, I don’t make the rules,” he said, trying his best to hide his smile as he picked up the pace. Their little detour had cost the group precious sunlight and now the last rays of the sun were beginning to fade as the horizon claimed another day.

They passed the rest of the trip in silence, not the smothering, oppressive kind of silence that comes along with hidden feelings and things not yet said that must be, but the carefree light kind of silence enjoyed by close friends who had already said their peace and could now enjoy the quiet together.

Lady’s barn was like a beacon in the early night hours, the warmth of the light shining through the windows beckoned to Jake and with a grunt he dumped the junk pile next to the house -- telling himself he’d deal with it tomorrow – and made his way towards the door with a sigh.

Man, he was tired. The second he said hey to Lady and let her know the scoop this old dog was heading straight to bed-

“SURPRISE!”

A sudden explosion of noise and light and raw energy struck Jake the very second, he opened the door, leaving him deaf and dumb as the old hound could only gape in surprise at the unexpected assault on his senses.

Inside the house the entirety of Jake’s family stood, laughing to themselves at the effectiveness of their little prank (with the exception of Kim who was now growing a little more worried by the second that they’d given their old man a heart attack) and filling the small abode they’d once called their home with all the usual energy only a family can truly bestow.

“Haha, yeah, we got ya’ good Dad,” Jake Jr. casually chortled, making her way over to her stunned pops and throwing an arm around his shoulder. “We all heard about what happened to your tree fort, so we figured we’d get the whole family together, throw you a little surprise.”

Jack shook his head to-and-fro and when he came to his sense he glanced over to his daughter and gave her a big ol’ grin.

“Aw, kids!” he cried, reaching out quickly wrapped up his daughter in a hug. She groaned at the affection and struggled a bit, but there was hardly any fight in it, and one-by-one the rest of Jake’s kids walked up for theirs as well.

“Awww, you guys, this was great! You rascals got me real good,” the dog laughed, reaching up to his head and grabbing up BMO (who by now was feeling a bit grumpy being so high up and getting jostled about) and setting them on the ground where they quickly ran about hither-tither eager to properly greet everyone in their usual way.

Jake chuckled at the sight of his little buddy running around, eyes shining and tail wagging as he found himself caught up in the excitement. He’d been genuinely surprised by this little shindig, oh sure he expected his kids to visit once in a while but for them all to make the effort and come down to see him made him feel all giddy inside.

“So, pops,” T.V. chimed in, gently elbowing his old man in the arm, “where’s Finn at?”

This question provoked a chorus of like-minded questions from the rest of the pups, each of them wondering where their favorite uncle was, each of them expecting him to be right there with Jake and BMO when the door opened. Jake started a bit at the questions, his face quickly running through the gamut of expressions until finally deciding on an easy-going, if subtly strained, smile.

“Oh, Finn? Pfft,” he said, blowing a raspberry and waving a hand. “He’s off doing his own thing. No worries, he’s alright.”

“…Huh?” Viola said, cocking her head and voicing the confusion everyone in the room was feeling.

“Yeah, he’s off in the Forest Lands… with his lady friend~” Jake replied, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.

T.V. snorted a bit, raising an eyebrow. “What, Finn’s got a girlfriend? Does that mean we have an aunt now?” In short order Viola reached over and gave him a cuff upside his head. “Ow! What’d I do!?”

“Eh, who knows,” Jake cheekily replied to his son’s questions, shrugging his shoulders and giving Lady a knowing wink. “Maybe, just maybe.”

“So, he’s okay then,” Charlie asked, but without much concern, as though she already knew the answer.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, Finn’s fine. I’m proud of him, y’know. Going off and living his life, setting up shop with his own sweetheart. Yep, Finn’s doing good for himself,” Jake said, conviction in his voice but also that usual carefree brusqueness he was known for. The Pups shared a glance among them, relieved but still not entirely convinced.

“…And, you’re okay, Father?” Kim Kil Whan said, slowly and carefully and with a rare note of care in his voice as he gently probed, his siblings likewise drawing in as they waited with bated breath.

Jake huffed a bit and crossed his arms in a huff. “Why does everyone keep asking me that! Of course I’m fine. What, you guys think I’m overprotective or something? Finn’s fine, I trust him.”

As Jake simmered his pups drew back and let out a collective sigh, content that their dad really did seem alright and moreover pretty happy with the news themselves.

“It’s about time he looked to settling down if you ask me,” Kim said, ever the pragmatist.

“I’m happy for him,” Viola agreed, “he’s such a sweetheart, I’m glad he’s found somebody.

“Yeah, I’ve met HW once or twice, she’s on the same wavelength as him,” Charlie chipped in with a shrug.

“Uncle Finn, lady-killer extraordinaire,” Jake Jr. cried, throwing her arms up with a woohoo.

“My heart goes out to him,” T.V. said, clenching a paw as a single teardrop rolled down his fur, “another strong, independent bachelor caught in a woman’s snares.” Viola reached over and gave him another smack for his troubles.

As the pup’s conversed Jake chuckled, leaning back as a familiar weight and warmth raped herself across his shoulder and around his lower back.

“당신은 확실히 당신이 좋?” Lady Rainicorn asked, her voice low and caring as she whispered into his ears, the concern apparent but not as overbearing as his pups had been.

Jake smiled at his love’s tender ministrations and gave her a peck on the snout.

“…I’ll be okay,” he said after a brief pause, and she smiled at his honesty but moreover at how he was handling it. She told him she was proud, and he blushed at the attention.

“Yo, Gramps, you done being all lovey-dovey or whatever,” a very familiar voice called out and Jake immediately turned around to see none other than his granddaughter Bronwyn grinning down at him. She didn’t seem any older than when he’d last seen her, at least not unnaturally so, and he was a little thankful for that. The sting of his own children’s nonexistent youths still got to him sometimes, so he was thankful he could at least hang with his teenage granddaughter a little longer before she grew up.

“Nope,” he said quite matter-of-factly, and wrapped up the rebellious youth in a stretchy arm and gave her a big, wet kiss on her cheek.

“UGH!” the girl cried, desperately trying to push away as she protested mightily. “You’re so WEIRD!” she snarled, but the words lacked bite and try as she might she couldn’t that grin on her face.

Jake just laughed, not at all fooled by Bronwyn’s words. “I’m not weird,” he insisted, hoisting his squealing granddaughter in the air as he puffed his chest out and formed a pair of sunglasses from his jowls. “I’m Cool Dog Mc.Awesome Gramps!”

“Okay, okay,” Bronwyn laughed, kicking out and waving her arms around. “You’re cool, you’re cool! Don’t drop me!”

Lady Rainicorn watched the whole spectacle with a bemused grin, satisfied that she’d gotten a real answer from Jake and happy to see he wasn’t letting something like affect him to the point he couldn’t goof off with the family.

And as Jake and Bronwyn horsed off the rest of the little family joined them, and there was the sound of laughing and talking and all the little noises of life and family. Jake felt pairs of warm arms all around him as his pups came in for hugs and head pats, he heard the laughter of his granddaughter, her voice loud and clear as she regaled him with tales of teenage exploits and her own lighthearted adventures and Jake made a mental note to talk to Finn about maybe taking her out with them maybe once or twice; a small adventure of course, the last thing he needed was Kim Kil Whan giving him grief.

It felt so good to be with them, to be with his pups, with this growing family. His brother’s absence still worried at his heart, but the sting was already gone, and, in a few months, it will have dulled over completely. But Jake wasn’t alone, he still had Finn, he still had BMO, and he still had his Pups. And now that he was going to be staying here the old dog figured if he couldn’t bother his bro he might as well make himself a nuisance for his kids, that’ll teach ‘em for growing up so quick!

And in that one moment Jake the Dog realized something. He’d already acquiesced that Finn going off on his own was going to be good for him, but this whole time he’d just accepted it with a sort of quiet resignation, like he was making some kind of sacrifice for his bro.

But it didn’t have to be like that at all…

Jake looked all around him and saw his family on all sides, laughing and fretting and horsing off and all the energy in the room coupled with the sheer exhilaration of his coming epiphany and it set his tail a’ wagging.

And later that night, when the party had winded down and the pups had left with goodbyes and promises to visit next week, Lady Rainicorn wrapped around him and once again asked if he was alright.

And Jake just looked up at her with shining eyes and tail still wagging and told her, quite plainly and without any reservations, that yes, he was.

He was going to be just fine.
------------------------------

Come along with me
And the butterflies and bees
We can wander through the forest
And do so as we please

------------------------------
Finn could feel the forest calling out to him.

It wasn’t a conscious thought, more intuitive than that. There was a certain energy in the air and Finn wondered if something had changed or if it’d always been there and he was only just now noticing it.

He could say that about a lot of things honestly.

But, he supposed, that’s just a part of growing up, seeing the stuff you missed and piecing together what was always lurking in the background.

Stuff like that used to scare him honestly, make him feel stupid and all queasy inside. Not anymore, now he just thought of it as another adventure, and Finn liked adventures.

So, Finn continued walking, and as he did so he thought, and he wondered, and he remembered.

He thought of many things, of how he had changed, how his life had changed, and how it had also stayed the same. He thought of people, of all those he’d met in the course of his life. He thought of his family, he thought of his friends, he thought of enemies that had become friends, and friends that had become enemies. He thought of people that had hurt him, and those he had hurt, he thought of lessons learned, whether too late or not, and what was left to still figure out.

And he remembered this place, this forest. Finn had led a charmed life, and in his youth had already traipsed and tramped through most of Ooo, leaving no stone unturned in his quest for adventures to be had, dungeons to explore, and monster to beat up. And yet, even with all his exploring, this magical world of his still had so much to offer. How many times had he wandered through these forests, fought monster and beasts in its leafy boughs, and yet how little did he know of it all? It was like an old friend to him, always there like an ever-present fixture, and yet it still held so many secrets.

Likely because Finn wasn’t the best at noticing things when they didn’t serve an immediate purpose, he was a little single-minded when it came to stuff like that. Except puzzles, he was good at those. Can’t go dungeon crawling if you’re not good at solving puzzles.

Finn held up his right hand and stared hard at the metal and he thought of adventures and wars, of everything that had happened in the last few months and what had come of it.

And then he thought of what had transpired just a few hours ago. He thought of his brother and his best friend. He thought of goodbyes and see-ya-laters and how different the two really were and he smiled even as his lips wavered.

Finn thought of family and friends and love and how it was all connected.

And when Finn had nothing left to think about, he stopped thinking and just listened.

Finn could feel the forest calling out to him.

Far behind him loomed the great grasslands of Ooo, where he’d been raised, where he’d lived and grown and fought and ran wild and free. He had called it home, but now that home was gone, broken to pieces and though he’d accepted that what he’d loved about it would always remain the pain of it was still a little fresh in his mind.

Far behind him his brother, his best friend in the whole wide world, was walking the other direction. It wasn’t a goodbye, Finn knew he would see him again, knew they’d always be bros to the end, but he still couldn’t help but feel the absence of Jake’s familiarity. It was uncomfortable and foreign, and Finn didn’t truly realize just how much he’d miss his bro’s incessant talking, singing, complaining, joking, or eating until it was gone.

Far behind him were his friends, just as much his family as his brother. The Princess, Marceline, Ice Ki- Simon, all the people he’d come to know and love over the years. Were they waiting for him? Would they understand, would they be upset? He couldn’t imagine they would be, but, then again, it was sudden, wasn’t it? He was still available should they need him, for hero biz or just to hang out regardless, but he was… less so, if that makes any sense.

Far behind him Finn was leaving all that was familiar and old and comfortable. Ahead of him lay the unknown, the unfamiliar, the uncomfortable and strange and even just a bit scary.

Ahead of him lay something new.

And he hadn’t felt so excited in years!

He was anxious, yes. More than a fair share of trepidation weighed heavily in his core, bogging down somewhere in his lower stomach and making him feel a bit queasy to be honest. But that anxiety was counterbalanced by an effervescent eagerness, an impatient longing that had been tugging at his heartstrings for the past who knows how long and now that he was actually going out there and acting on it he felt light and carefree and happy!

Finn could feel the forest calling out to him.

It was all around him now. In the way the grass reached up to tickle his ankles as he walked. It was in the way the trees bent at his passing, as if in greeting. It was in the way the wind whispered his name as it lazily swirled around and under his cap to caress his ears. It was in the way the animals would peer at him from tree and bush, hesitant as always and yet also at ease, as if expectant.

The Forest recognized him, and in turn he acknowledged it to the best of his abilities; abilities which, he was sure, would only grow in time.

It was different from the wide-open Grasslands, compared to the endless skies and seas of green it was confined, close, almost smothering even. But it wasn’t bad. It was… nice. Comforting, even. Like a bunch of old friends he hadn’t seen in a long time decided to drop in for a visit, and he wondered if maybe the forest felt the same way about him.

It wasn’t home yet, but he had a feeling it could be, in time.

Finn looked up to the sky, saw the quickly dimming orange light stream through the canopy up above, and gave a noncommittal grunt before picking up the pace. Finn didn’t fancy a stroll through the forest at night, not because he was afraid of the dark or monsters or any of that mind you, he just didn’t trust his sense of direction at night. That and… well… he didn’t think it’d make a good impression is all. That is, getting lost in the woods his first night out here. Finn didn’t usually let himself get embarrassed over honest mistakes as much these days but even he’d have to admit that’d be a little silly, even for him.

She’d probably enjoy the chance to track him down though, she was awesome like that.

Finn stopped and frowned, scrunching his face as he pricked his ears and held a hand up to the side of his head. He could’ve sworn he heard… was that…

Music?

It was in the wind that rustled through the leaves. It was in the calls of the animals all around him. It was in the setting sun and dying light as darkness settled in and draped over the land like a heavy blanket. It was the song of nature in all its glory, soothing but also powerful with a tempo that to match his beating heart and make his bones vibrate with its hum as the song reached its crescendo.

Finn swallowed his rising emotions with an audible gulp and pushed on, redoubling his pace through the unbeaten path as he pushed aside underbrush and ducked under branches in a sudden dash to get to the music.

With one final push Finn pulled himself out of the tree line and stumbled into an open clearing. Blinking wildly Finn looked around and found that he recognized this place.

Finn walked forward and looked out over the edge of a cliff as the fading light died away and night began to claim the land once again. Finn turned his head and affixed the old, massive tree that straddled the cliff’s edge with an affectionate smile.

From high on its branches the song had reached its coda and as Finn peered into the tree’s canopy, he spied a glint of dark green flash in the last single ray of the sun just as it dipped below the horizon.

In the darkness Finn could hear the creaking of wood and the rustling of leaves as a vague outline leapt from the bough of the tree and landed in front of him. With the last notes of her song still gently resonating in his ears Finn stared with a soft but genuine smile and a red tint to his cheeks.

Huntress Wizard stared back, her mouth pressed in thin line that ever so slightly tilted up at the corners. Her bright green eyes shone bright even in the dark, illuminating her pale green flesh that was, perhaps, tinted just a bit greener at the cheeks than usual.

The two stood there in silence for a moment or two, stealing glances and otherwise reveling in the familiar awkwardness of two dorks that love each other but aren’t quite sure how to say it yet.

A moment or two passed like this before Huntress Wizard finally decided to take action, spinning on her heels and very pointedly walking towards her home. Upon reaching the threshold she stopped and looked over her shoulder at Finn. The two stared at one another for a moment before Huntress’ eyes flickered between him and the tree and she tilted her head towards the door.

Finn gave a toothy smile and she returned it, though just a bit more measured on her part, as he walked towards her. As he approached, she held out her hand and he in turn reached out his-

Finn stopped short and stared hard at the hand he’d held out. His right hand. His metal hand.

Finn clenched and unclenched the metal digits one by one and bit his bottom lip. He looked over to his left hand, his flesh and blood one, the one that was supporting the pile of animal pelts he’d been carrying from the tree house. Suddenly feeling insecure Finn stepped in place, awkwardly trying to shuffle the load on his shoulder to free his other hand…

…and then he stopped.

A hand had wrapped around his metal one, strong calloused fingers intertwining with his steel like creeper vines around a chain link fence, and Finn looked up into shining emerald eyes and a soft, warm smile.

Her skin had always amazed him, Finn mused, gently squeezing his fingers as he held her hand. It was warm, but not at all like flesh. It felt almost… waxy. But in a good way! Like the skin of a leaf, it felt right on her.

The sensors in the metal hand told him when he was holding something, touching something. But Finn allowed himself the luxury of pretending he could still genuinely feel her through the steel.

Huntress Wizard pulled him closer, and with a tilt of her head gestured towards her home. Their home.

Finn stared at the tree for a moment. It wasn’t his tree, but it was familiar, comforting even. And even if it wasn’t his tree it was hers, and so, just maybe, it could be, in time.

Finn looked into her green eyes, wide and shining with warmth and longing and perhaps even just a hint of anxiety, and he smiled.

And then he leaned forward and quick as a flash gave her a kiss.

Finn stepped back with a giggle in his throat as HW shuffled in place, confused and more than a little surprised at what just happened. At the sound of his laughter she blinked, and her cat eyes narrowed onto him. For a second, she tried her best to look fierce, but in the end, she couldn’t help but give a little smirk at his boldness.

With a scoff and quick shake of her head she turned and brusquely began to tug on Finn’s arm, pulling him into the confines of her abode.

And as Finn was pulled over the threshold, he smiled his biggest smile in what felt like forever and let out a blissful sigh, content in the knowledge that while some things might’ve changed, and some things might’ve stayed the same, everything was still more or less good, that it was alright in the end.

That he was alright.

And as Finn disappeared into the tree the moon rose high above the land of Ooo, a beacon of light amidst a sea of stars, like some beneficent guardian to watch over those making their way home at night.

One chapter ends, another begins.
------------------------------

Living so merrily~