High-Grade Red

Chapter 2: What Was Missing?

Relaxing in her living room, calmly drifting on the air with her bass in her hands, Marceline was preparing to play a song that she'd learned from a very old friend, a very long time ago. She busily tuned her strings, tightening them beyond the point she normally plays at, as a metronome steadily ticked beside her, its steady, hollow click the only sound in the otherwise empty room.

Making sure the strings were properly tuned, Marceline cleared her throat before she began to sing, a slightly melancholy tone in her voice. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise."

She strung a few more notes, before starting the next verse. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free."

Suddenly, she was taken out of the music by the sound of a door opening in her kitchen, accompanied by a voice she'd thought that she'd never need to hear again: the squeaking, nasally laughter of a Door Lord. She immediately stops her song and gets a tight grip on her bass as it leaps through its door, its eyes set on her axe.

In an instant, it dashed through the doorway and across the room to her, then grabbed her bass around the neck with one hand while blasting her in the jaw with the other. She almost lost her grip, but the Vampire Queen managed to keep her grip on the instrument. Crying out in pain and anger, she wrenched her bass from the would-be thief's hands and brought it around, before bringing violently bringing its blade down in a fury-fueled attempt to cleave it in two. However, the Door Lord dodged the attack, causing Marceline to imbed the blade in the ground.

Behind her, Finn, Jake, BMO, and Bonnibel had entered through the free-floating, magical door and were watching the fight unfold.

As she struggled to pull her axe from the ground, the Door Lord had reached onto its belt and thrown another key, which burst and formed another door. Finally freeing her weapon, Marceline brought it over her head and attempted to attack the yellow-skinned intruder again, only for it to open the door and blast her directly in the face with sunlight.

The Vampire Queen fell to her hands and knees, hissing in pain, although the damage quickly healed. "Marceline!" Finn shouted as he Jake, and BMO rushed to her side as the Door Lord leaped through its newly-made door. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she answered with one hand on her head. She looked up, and was surprised to see Bonnibel looking at her with clearly visible concern. Marceline rolled onto her back, only to be immediately blinded by the bright sunlight coming from the door.

As she threw up her arms to protect her face, Finn rose to his feet and determinedly stated, "Don't worry; we'll get him!" He climbed through the door, with the others right behind him, although Bonnibel lingered for a moment and watched as Marceline crawled away from the harsh sunlight, hissing with every burn.

Once she was far enough away, she flew up the ladder and into her bedroom, then pulled out a pair of long, cream-colored gloves and a large sunhat, then followed the rest.

On the other side of the door, she found herself in a red-rock canyon, much like the one where she and her dad had fought little more than a year prior, and Finn had tried to crush him with a boulder. In front of her, a short way down the canyon, everyone was gathered in front of a large bronze door, bordered by crumbling stone brickwork, and ancient runes along its curved frame.

At the top, words began appearing, which Finn was reading. "This door shall yield to no command, save for a song from a... genuine band?" he questioningly read aloud, before throwing his arms up and shouting, "What is this gripagrap?!"