Adventure Time: Transcendence

Chapter 3

            Bubblegum was taking a break from experimenting with small candy specimen when she decided to step outside. She felt the ground beneath her shake with only a slight rumble, and before she could examine what was going on, she looked at the hospital, with one room in particular glowing brighter than the brightest star in the sky that night. She abandons her experiments and rushes towards the hospital. When she finally arrives, she opens the door to see that Marceline was in the corner, cupping both of her eyes as hard as she can. "Marceline!" Bubblegum ran to her aid. "Marceline! What happened?"

            "I don’t know," she responded. "I just touched the scar on his chest and everything went all white."

            "Are you ok?"

            Marceline lifted her hands from her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just blinded for a short moment."

            They hear a rustling on the bed. Finn had awoken again and just as Bubblegum and Marceline was about to restrain him, he called for them. "Marcy? PB?" A look of pure joy overcame both of the girls as they hugged him in unison. Finn had finally calmed down and everyone was glad to see him acting normal again after ten years.

            "Oh glob Finn!" yelled the ecstatic Marceline. "I am so happy you're back. I missed you so much!" She began to tear up and Finn wiped the tears from her face.

            "I'm happy to be back," he responded.

            "I… I am speechless," Bubblegum was curious. "How in Ooo did you get back?"

            "It doesn’t matter, Bonnie," Marceline looked at her in slight anger. "All that matters is that he is back."

            "No… no… I'll tell you…"

            "But Finn…" Marceline opposed.

            "It's okay Marcy," he put his hand on hers as a gesture of reassurance. "I'm going to be honest, PB. I don’t even know why I'm here."

            Marceline noticed Finn's eyes when he looked at her. There was something different about them. She was sure it was Finn, though. The gleam behind his eyes were no longer visible to her, almost as if he had lost the innocence behind them, or showing that they have seen something they would never forget.

            "Do you remember being trapped with the Lich?" asked Bubblegum.

            "Every moment of it…" Finn hesitated. He was reluctant to speak the memories, not because he didn’t want his friends to know, but because he didn’t want to relive them. He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but nothing came out but air. He was having a really difficult time conveying what he had endured, so Marceline gently rubbed his hand.

            "You don’t have to tell us, Finn…" Marceline said quietly

            "No.. no I have to." Finn took a deep breath. "How long was I gone?"

            "Ten years."

            "Huh… you see, the laws of time differ from universe to universe, as well as dimensions. It may have been ten years for you, but it was 100 years for me…" Marceline looked at Bubblegum, confirming her theory on Finn's PTSD. He continued, "Everyday, I had to fight. There was no dying in there. But that didn’t mean that we didn’t feel pain. I fought the Lich everyday for 100 years. I never won. And when I lose, I get punished. Sometimes he does it quick. Others he likes to take his time."

            "Is that where your scars are from?" asked Bubblegum.

            "Yeah," he replied. He proceeded to reveal his neck, arm and body scars, with the neck being the biggest. "These are from my battles." He pointed to the giant scar around his neck. "Most of the times I lost, he felt like being slow. I was dismembered, skinned, burned even. Other days, he just felt like killing me over and over. He usually beheaded me. And if he was feeling really sinister, he would make me have visions. Visions of being back on Ooo. He would twist my reality. That is why I resisted at first."

            The girls covered their mouths in horror. "Oh my glob," said Marceline.

            Finn had his head down, looking at his balled fists. "Every day, every minute for 100 years, I was tormented." He looked up at the girls. "And after what I swear was the ten thousandth time I was beheaded, I had a dream. I saw FP, Jake, Mom and Dad. They all told me how proud they were. Then I heard another voice. An unfamiliar female voice."

            "What did she look like?" Bubblegum asked.

            "I don’t know. I couldn’t really see her. She was shining so bright. The only thing I could see was her wings. The only thing that comes close to a description of her is an angel."

            The girls shot a look towards each other. "Like an angel!?" they asked.

            "Maybe, I don’t know. But she told me something…"

            "What did she say?"

            Finn looked at the girls seriously. "We need your help."