//------------------------------// // The Fall // Story: A Lost Hero // by Happy2343 //------------------------------// “Are you ready?” “Not really.” Sigh, “C’mon, this is our only chance to save Jake.” “Don’t you mean the Candy Kingdom?” A pause, “Finn?” “...” “Finn, you have to really consider this, if you abandon your mission Bonnie gave you… well, it might be bad. Not just for you and Jake, but everyone ” The vampire queen put her hand on Finn, he involuntary flinched at the pain. “Look, Marceline, I need to save Jake,” Finn pulled away and began walking into the dungeon, “He’s in pain, I need to help him…” “Finn…” Marceline said as she began to follow him, “ understand that, but this is more than just Jake, the whole land of Ooo is in danger.” The vampire got in front of the human and stopped. Finn soon stopped as well, he was being colder than usual. Finn looked into her eyes, “Are you going to help me or not?” He asked, “If you’re not, get out of my way.” He shoves Marceline aside and continued walking. “Finn! You’re being completely unreasonable!” She yelled, “The Lich and his army are more important than Jake!” Finn stopped. Marceline realized what she said, “Look… Finn, I-I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have-“ She then was on the receiving end of a punch to the face. She stumbled backward and fell on the ground. She looked up and saw the unemotional face of her friend. “If you’re going to antagonize me for trying to save Jake, go help Bubblegum, I don’t care.” She looked and for the first time realized, Finn scared her. He turned around and left. ‘What is wrong with you Finn?’ The vampire queen then turned in the direction of the Candy Kingdom and took off flying. The air was noticeably crisper than usual. The air seemed to be somewhere in the 30s (Fahrenheit). Marceline, possibly one of the most menacing creatures in Ooo, shivered. ‘What is with the air?’ She thought, ‘It’s gotten so cold over the past few weeks.’ Her mind trailed off, ‘Just like Finn…’ She sighed. Marceline looked up to the Candy Kingdom. The giant bulbs of the Gumball Guardians were now in sight. ‘Can we win?’ She thought, her face dropped, ‘At this point… I don’t know anymore…’ Marceline idly recalled memories of the good times. ‘Finn, what will we do with you?’ She thought. The Candy Kingdom came into view in the distance, she could see the individual guards now. All of its defenses have been prepared to the max. ‘Well at least someone is trying.’ She thought. Marceline looked off and found herself staring at black clouds and smoke. She landed in the middle of the square. The banana guards all there in rows doing drills and training. “Intruder! Alert! Alert!” Marceline turned around and saw even more guards, this time, with Spears pointing at her. “Guards!” A voice yelled from the tower. “Please, this is not the time for false alarms.” She trailed off. The guards stopped pointing spears at her. Marceline turned and saw her friend. Bubblegum’s face was droopy and visibly tired. ‘Geez, how long has she been up?’ She flew up to her. Bubblegum beckoned her inside. “Hey… Bonnie, we need to talk.” Marceline began, “It’s about-” “Finn.” Her friend finished, she sat down at her desk while Marceline leaned up against a nearby wall, “I know, his condition isn’t… great, but I think he’s still in the right place.” She said that much trepidation and anxiety in her voice. “You know all he wants to do is help Jake right now; everything else is not his concern.” Marceline replied, “He needs a therapist or something like that, he’s only sixteen, he doesn’t really cope with things that well.” Bubblegum sighed, she put her hands to her face, she spoke through her hands, muffling her voice, “I agree, but…” Marceline could tell something was bothering her friend. ‘What is wrong with her?’ She thought, ‘What’s wrong with everybody?’ A few seconds after she stopped talking, Marceline pointed out, “I didn’t catch that last part.” She paused, “Can you say it again?” She tried to ask in her nicest tone possible as to not get reprimanded or chastised for not listening. “Arghhhhh!” Bubblegum groaned, “I said, how do you expect to get him back here?” Marceline began pacing around the room and took a moment to contemplate the question. She snapped her fingers together, “I got it!” “Won’t work,” Bubblegum said flatly. Marceline turned to face her, completely flabbergasted, “But I haven’t even said anything.” Bubblegum cocked her head back on her chair so she was looking at the ceiling. She sighed again. It was a pained and frustrating expression. “It doesn’t matter.” Replied the pink princess, she smiled idly at the vampire queen, “I’ve thought through every possibility, every decision, every scenario; they all end with him leaving.” Marceline sighed, followed by the princess; she turned away. Bubblegum brought her head up, “We should’ve run when we had the chance.” Her voice was easily full of distraught and pain, ‘Something Bubblegum rarely has in her voice.’ She turned out the window. “Now it’s too late…” Bubblegum continued, She looked back to her friend. “Marceline…” Her voice was shaky, she shook her head, “We’re not going to win.” She said, there were tears growing in her eyes. “We’re out of time…” She turned back to the window She saw the black clouds approaching in the distance. She turned back around, “Marcy… If you don’t want to be here, I won’t blame you.” Bubblegum began walking to her desk, she sat down and opened a book. Marceline was flabbergasted, “No way Bonnie, I’d never, NEVER, leave you to do something like this,” She gestured with her hand, pointing to the black clouds, “alone.” She finished. Bubblegum turned around and smiled, it was a sad one, but one nonetheless. “Thanks… that… really means a lot to me…” After breathing heavily for a few minutes, Marceline had finally calmed down her friend more. The two entered an embrace. They said nothing as they held each other tightly. Eventually, Bubblegum broke it off, stood up and held her arms, one of which went up to hold her eyes. “I need to check on Finn.” She said. Marceline nodded. She took out a pink dot and tapped it a couple of times. After some time, an image popped up in the air above the dot. “Finn,” Bubblegum started, the image, one of Finn’s face, was obviously annoyed, “I know you don’t like being interrupted, but this is important.” Finn grunted in acknowledgment, Bubblegum continued, “There should be a temple of sorts near your position, a tower if the legends are to be true. It’s where these Elements are.” “I understand.” Finn replied, “I’ll call you when I find them.” Bubblegum nodded. Finn had become short and to the point, rather than his usual fun personality. The image of Finn then disappeared, going into the pink dot. Bubblegum sighed and put the dot around her neck, “What lead is Finn on now, the fourth?” Bubblegum asked. “Fifth,” Marceline replied, she brought out her base, which had been on her back till now, and strummed it a few times. “I don’t even know what he’s looking for.” She giggled out. “Elements or Elementals or something like that.” Replied the Princess. “I don’t know what they are, but it said something about pure magic.” She turned and looked at the vampire. “That might count for something.” “Do you know anything about them?” Marceline asked, “Cause I could go and find them myself if need be.” Bubblegum sighed, she put her hands to her face, “There are four of them,” she replied, “And… that’s about it.” “That’s not a whole lot of information…” Marceline said. “No, it’s not…” Bubblegum trailed off. “Sooo…” Marceline and Bubblegum stared at each other awkwardly. “H-how’s Jake? He’s in the infirmary right?” Bubblegum perked up at the change of questioning. “He’s… *Sigh* Not good. He probably doesn’t have long now.” She paused, “It’s covered his whole body. “Sorry to sort of ask you to leave, but…” Bubblegum stumbled out, “But…” Marceline preempted, “Yeah, no problem, just promise me that you’ll help me with Finn when this is all over.” Bubblegum nodded. She turned back around and looked into her book, “... if you want, you could go help the guards get prepared or you could go check on Jake. I’m sure both will need it.” “I’m sure they will princess.” A deep and distorted voice said. The vampire turned into her demon form instinctively and moved to protect her friend, “Fall.” The voice said again. Marceline immediately fell to the ground, she felt tired, more tired than she had ever felt in her life. She had barely enough energy to continue looking onward. A large skeletal figure walked out of the shadows. Its eyes were black as night, Marceline began breathing heavily. “Noooo…” she wheezed out. ‘Need… to… leave…’ She thought. Her eyes followed the Lich. The Lich walked over to Bubblegum, who, instead of being on the ground, was standing up, completely petrified. The Lich was slowly making its way over to her. Bubblegum, coming to her senses somewhat, began moving backward toward the window. “H-how?” She was barely able to stutter out. The sound of screaming behind her. Bubblegum turned around. Her city was burning with black fire, the guards were fighting ancients, but being slaughtered. The guardians were on the ground, their heads cracked. “NO!” Bubblegum finally broke free and began to turn to rally her forces. However, Marceline could only look on as the Lich grabbed Bubblegum by the neck with its skeletal hands. Black ooze began to cover her neck and lower face. She brought her hands to her neck as the Lich began strangling her. The vampire queen now seemed to break free. She ran to Bubblegum, her friend; the Lich turned and faced her. He dropped the princess, her crown rolled off her head. Bubblegum by now was a husk of her former self. Her neck and much of her face were black, showing very few spots of her former bright pink. Marceline did nothing as she watched her friend die. Marceline did nothing as a being of pure evil walked up to her. And she did nothing as it grabbed her. The last thing she heard was Finn’s voice, “Princess Bubblegum! YOU NEED TO… PB?” Then her world went dark. The image displayed of Princess Bubblegum was wrong, distorted, broken. Despite it being her face, being her, it was wrong. ‘That doesn’t matter right now.’ He quickly thought. ‘I need to warn her.’ “Princess Bubblegum!” he shouted, “YOU NEED TO…” Something was even more wrong, there were black spots all over her neck, her eyes were looking, but they weren’t seeing. “P.B.?” The communicator got picked up from behind so Finn couldn’t see who it was. The communicator turned around, revealing the sight of the Lich King. “You!” Finn gasped, his mouth agape. Finn could begin to hear the slight murmur of the Lich’s spells. Finn immediately turned off the communicator in fear of having his mind taken over. His mind twitched, “THE KINGDOM!” He yelled. Finn ran down the tower as fast as he could. “Oh, Glob. Oh, Glob.” He reached the bottom out of breath. He practically ran out of the ruined tower, tripping over several rocks along the way. “No, no, no,” Finn took out his binoculars. He wrapped the string around his neck tightly. “C’mon, C'mon…” Finn looked around and spotted a high tree. He quickly ran over to the tree and began climbing. Due to his hastiness and speed, he slid down a few feet several times during his climb, catching several splinters and rashes from his efforts. Out of breath and tears brimming in his eyes, he shakily raised the binoculars to his eyes. In the distance, he saw smoke coming from the Candy Kingdom. ‘I…’ his mind, despite thinking a thousand thoughts a minute, refused to think even one coherent thought. The tears that were brimming in his eyes, we're now going in full. He sat there silently crying into his hands. ‘I failed them… I failed my friends, I failed Jake…’ His mind finally thought as it slowed. He sat with his back to the trunk, laying on one of the trees’ branches. Finn looked to the now gray sky; it was always gray now. Gone were the days of VIbrantly colored sunsets and the days of serene moonlight, now there was only gray. “Finn put his hands back to his head. Trying to forget. He wanted to forget all he lost. His companions, his friends, and now his brother. Finn looked down, he was at least 20 feet above the ground. Finn stood up on the branch, and he began walking out to the edge of the branch. It got slimmer and slimmer. He looked down again. ‘I wonder…’ He put his arms out and took a step into the air, and fell. Finn rubbed the white liquid-like substance on Rainbow’s now, stump leg. The wound began to immediately fix itself. After a few seconds, the stump had a mass of skin over it with a little bit of blue fuzz. ‘Well, glad that’s over.’ He thought. He turned away, wiping the sweat off of his head with his arm. He turned to face the cyan pegasus. Her eyes were closed in what looked like deep-thought or out of pain. He could tell she was awake through the ordeal, which had been at most ten minutes. Her fur was all “Hm,” He acknowledged, “Rainbow,” She slowly opened her eyes, the piece of wood fell out of her mouth, her teeth marks were very visible on it. “It’s over,” Finn said. Rainbow looked at her stump foreleg. “No,” She replied. Rainbow shifted her eyes to the human, “It’s not over.” She said. Her eyes began to brim with tears. Finn looked away, ‘She’s right’ He thought, ‘She’ll never have a normal life now…’ He turned back to Rainbow Dash, ‘Damn the Lich…’ Finn looked at the now, amputated, foreleg. There was still a piece of rope attached to it. ‘Safe to grab.’ He seized it and threw into the fire without a second thought. After a few minutes, only the non-infected parts were burning. The rest was still black, but not on fire, “What the?” Finn began, the sound of rushing armor clambering, however, brought that line of thought to an end. ‘Time to go.’ Finn turned around, away from the door and to the window. ‘Hello there.’ He thought. He grabbed his bag, the jar of white substance and his Finn sword. “Hey- WHat the-” The Finn inside yelled. “No time,” Finn said in response, “Gotta go.” He took his sword’s pommel and butted it against the window. *Thunk* He could hear the pon guards talking outside, “...in there…” He hit the window again, *Thunk* “Three..” *Thunk* “Two…” *Thunk* “One!” *SMASH* Finn immediately grabbed the now broken window sill and jumped out. He could hear the sound of clambering guards rushing in behind him. Finn briefly turned around to revel in his victory, but quickly turned towards the forest. He bolted. Despite a few onlookers and confused guards patrolling, there was nothing stopping him from entering the forest. He was able to easily shove one of them aside and continued, he was at most fifteen feet from the edge of the forest. “STOP RIGHT THERE!” He could immediately tell who said that. “FINN THE HUMAN, YOU WILL STOP OR I WILL MAKE YOU STOP!” He didn’t give into the Night-Princess’s demands and kept running. ‘Five feet, just keep running.’ With about one foot to spare till he got into the forest a blue barrier erected around him. Finn turned around, he looked up and saw Princess Luna high in the air, Finn folded his arms. “Really, that’s the best you got?” Luna flew down to his level. “No, Finn,” An uncountable number of guards, both in gold armor and blue armor rushed around him. Finn idly looked on, he shrugged, “I don’ know, maybe twenty?” He said. “What?” Luna asked puzzled, “What do you mean?” She cocked her head slightly to the left. “No, definitely twenty-five.” He replied smirking, he unconsciously called his grass sword into his left hand, it began slowly sliding down the backside of his arm. His right hand went for his Finn sword. “What do you mean by that?” She asked again. “Why… that’s how many I can kill before being taken down.” He replied, “So you let me go… right now.” For the first time in her life, Luna was truly scared.