Blood Ties: Chapter 8

After Finn confessing he's in love with Marceline to Jake, the two adventurers pack up and head off toward their next destination: The Creepy Cavern. As they head for the Creepy Cavern, Finn begins wondering if he should confess to Marceline that he loves her, or if he should keep it a secret. He remembers when he tried to get her to go to the movies with him, and she thought that he wanted to date her. They both made it clear that they didn't wanna get into a relationship. However, the more time they spent together, the more Finn started realizing that he might have feelings for her. And seeing her in her current condition back at the Candy Kingdom proved to Finn that he as feelings for her.

What if Marceline didn't love him back? What if she thinks of him as a silly boy, like Bubblegum did after she turned eighteen again? No, that's impossible. Finn remembers Marceline telling him that she thought he was pretty great. Does she have feelings for Finn? Maybe she developed feelings for him over time. With all the jam sessions and adventuring they do together, it is quite a possibility.

As the two adventurers continue toward the cavern, Jake turns to Finn. "Yo Finn."

Finn comes back to reality and turns to Jake. "What's up, buddy?"

Jake looks in all directions, taking note that the trees around them are becoming less green and lively, and more brown and lifeless. "You ever hear anything about the Creepy Cavern?" Jake asks.

Finn thinks for a moment, trying to remember if he's heard anything. "Nope, can't say I have," he replies. "Why, have you?"

"No, wish I did though."

Finn looks at the ground, wondering if there is any way to get some info on the Creepy Cavern. "Oh!" he cries, an idea popping into his head. He pulls out the hollow pendant from under his shirt. "We can just ask Princess Bubblegum."

"Good idea, let's see what she knows."

"Yeah… now how does this thing work?" he asks, tapping the center of the pendant. It then gives off a pink glow.

"Who do you wish to contact?" asks a computerized like voice coming from the pendant.

"Uh… Princess Bubblegum."

"Now contacting Princess Bubblegum," the voice says, giving off a beep every seconds to let Finn and Jake know it's contacting her. After the fourth beep, the voice speaks. "Unable to contact Princess Bubblegum, please try again later," it says before the pink glow dies down.

"Crap-shack, she's not answering," says Finn.

"Well, so much for that," Jake says. He then looks ahead and sees a large opening in a wall. "Dude… I think we're here."

Finn looks and he too spots the large opening. "The Creepy Cavern… the last obstacle in our path and beyond the cavern is the Medic Kingdom. Let's conquer the heck out of this cavern!"

Jake approaches the entrance and looks inside, only seeing darkness. "It's pretty dark in there, how the gloop are we gonna get through if we can't see?"

Finn brings his pack into view and reaches inside. He pulls out a lantern with an already lit flame. "With this," says Finn, holding it by the handle.

"Dude, what is that? Where'd you get it?" asks Jake.

"This, my chubby buddy, is a magic lantern that Marceline gave me from her trip around Ooo. She told me she didn't have any use for it, so she gave it to me during our last jam session. Never thought I'd use it anytime soon, but guess I was wrong," explains Finn.

"But what makes it magic?"

"Well, the flame inside never goes out, and if the glass has a spell on it that prevents it from ever breaking, watch," he says, punching the glass surrounding the flame as hard as he can. It doesn't break, not even a crack forms.

Jake's eyes widen in amazement. "Whoa, awesome!" he cries. "Now getting through this cavern will be a lot easier!"

"You know it will, dog! Now, let's get moving," says Finn, heading into the cavern, Jake following close behind. As they head inside, they can see stalactites dripping droplets of water from the tips of them onto the cave floor. The noise of the droplets hitting the floor echoes throughout the cavern. Finn looks around the cavern as they progress through it. "You know, this place doesn't seem so bad."

"Yeah, I'm starting to wonder why it's called the Creepy-" Jake stops mid-sentence when both his and Finn's feet hear a splash noise. Finn angles the lantern toward the ground and they both realize they're stepping in water. Finn holds the lantern up high and sees that the cavern ceiling is lowering the further they go. He looks back down at the water, realizing how they'll have to progress through the cavern.

"Looks like we'll have to be swimming for a while," says Finn, getting ready to jump into the water. But Jake quickly grabs him and pulls him back.

"Whoa, hold on dude. We don't know how long we'll have to swim for; what if you run out of air?" asks Jake, the sound of his concerned voice echoing off the cavern walls.

"Oh yeah…" Finn mutters.

Jake thinks for a moment and looks around the cavern. He then spots a stalagmite and snaps his fingers. "All right dude, since I know I can hold my breath longer than you, I'll wrap my legs around this stalagmite and stretch to the other side of this body of water and see how far we'll have to swim, and then we'll make a plan of action from there, sound good?"

Finn nods at Jake. "Yeah, sounds like a plan, bro-ham," he replies. Jake gives him a thumbs up as Finn hands him the lantern. Jake gets on all fours and wraps his hind legs around the stalagmite. He then stretches his way into the water, going deeper as the cavern ceiling lowers. As the magical dog goes deeper, he finds the water seem pretty clear, as well marine life in the cave. Colorful fish swim past him; he spots an octopus resting in the crevice of a cavern wall. It notices him and waves at him. Jake waves back in response. He sees some dancing fish practicing on a rock he passes by, a cat fish up against the wall; he sees many marine life creatures.

'Man, this place sure seems peaceful, why is this place called Creepy Cavern?' he thinks to himself. As he continues on, Jake finds himself at peace. The creatures in the water seem nice, and it's just peaceful to him. If he were a fish person, this is where he would live. Jake then spots a light just above him. He looks up and sees the surface. He stretches up, reaching the surface. He takes deep breaths as he looks around the area of the cavern he just appeared in.

"Nope, there's nothing out of the ordinary here. Finn can totes hold his breath more than enough to make it here," he says to himself. Jake then begins making his way back toward Finn's position. But as he does, he notices that the marine life in the water seems to have disappeared. He looks around, hoping to find something. 'That's weird; this place was swarming with marine life earlier, where'd they all go?' Jake thinks to himself. As he stretches back to Finn, Jake finds himself face to face with a bright light. The magical dog raises a brow in confusion. Using his free hand, he pokes the light, causing it to react and slowly move up. Jake watches as the light slowly moves upward, revealing that it's attached to something. Jake's jaw drops in shock as the light reveals what it's attached to.

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Finn sighs with boredom as he sits down on a rock not too far from the stalagmite Jake wrapped his legs around. He's hoping Jake will hurry back soon so they can continue on their quest to save Marceline. Finn began thinking of what it would be like if he and Marceline started dating. Would everything be the same? Hecks to the no. They'd be spending a lot more time with each other, they'd learn a lot more about each other if they'd date, and Finn would have to take her to fancy restaurants for their dates. But Marceline isn't the kind of girl that would want to dine at a fancy restaurant. No, Marceline is the kind of girl that would settle for anything as a date. A picnic, a pizzeria, a movie, anything would do, unless the movie was a romantic drama, that is out of the question, for both her and Finn.

Then there was her father, Hunson Abadeer, also known as the Lord of Evil and ruler of the Night o'sphere. How would he react to Finn, the super good hero who sliced open his soul sack, releasing all the souls he devoured, AND sent him back to the Night o'sphere? He does remember the demon lord telling Marceline that he and Jake were alright. So maybe he'd be cool with Finn dating his daughter.

As Finn continues thinking about what dating Marceline would be like, something begins creeping up on him. The silhouette of a human looking body with something protruding from its forehead is seen crawling along the cavern ceiling. It also has glowing yellow eyes. It looks down at Finn, a big, toothy grin on its face. It drops down from the ceiling and lands on its feet, causing some water to splash.

Finn shoots up from the rock he was sitting on and pulls out his demon sword. "Who's there?" he asks as he looks around the dark room.

"…you're worst nightmare," says a raspy voice. A light then shines where the figure is standing, causing Finn to nearly drop his demon sword in shock.