Marco fills Jake and Star in on what they've missed in the few hours they were separated.

Chapter Text

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Marco's Point of View

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In hindsight, it was actually pretty smart; Lich was waiting right outside the portal, but to Finn's credit, he had been anticipating Star. As soon as Finn landed, Lich took a split second to be surprised, and then blasted at Finn. Finn was able to use his sword to absorb the magic, and by then Huntress Wizard was already flinging arrows at the Lich. The Lich vanished and teleported ten feet to the left. Lich blasted at me, but I was able to leap to my right to dodge.

I ran towards the Lich and chopped for her neck, but Lich vanished again, appearing right behind me and blasting me point blank in the back. It burned through my hoodie, sending me ten feet forward and skidding across the grass. Lich closed in towards me, but Finn jumped in her path, slashing at her with his sword. She teleported away, but as she reappeared, I saw her dress was ripped and her stomach had been nicked; she hadn't been fast enough to complete dodge Finn.

"You're slippin', Lich!" Finn growled. Huntress Wizard slung more arrows at the Lich but she just raised her wand, seized control of them, and sent them at the three of us. We all rolled out of the way.

Huntress Wizard took off running at high speeds towards the Lich, flinging arrows one at at time so they'd be harder to seize, but Lich just swatted them all out of the way magically. As she got close, she went for a leaping kick, that, I must say, was actually really impressive. But the Lich just got HER in mid air, and magically flung her high into the air and into the forest several hundred feet away.

"ARTEMIS!" Finn yelled in horror.

Oh, that must be her name. Maybe it's supposed to be secret? I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

The split second distraction was all Lich needed to warp behind Finn and blast him in the back of the head. Finn was thrown across the ground, his bear hat exploding off of his head, causing his long, blonde hair to cover him as he collapsed. No clue how he fit it all in there.

Lich moved right past me to finish Finn off, and I realized it was up to me. I leapt forward to deliver a side kick into the Lich's temple, spinning it into a neck chop and moving forward with a palm strike. The Lich reeled backwards, but her hand shot forward and grabbed my throat, lifting me off the ground.

Without moving Eclipsa's mouth, Lich spoke to me, and said, in a low voice. "You will be the first to be able to land such blows on me, child. You should feel proud in this death."

I flinched, but a volley of lasers came from the sky, blowing the Lich off of me. I looked up and had to blink a few times; Princess Bubblegum was flying over to us on a giant swan, using a lever on the swan's head to shoot lasers out of its eyes. I guess if I have laser puppies, a remote controlled laser swan isn't the weirdest thing, but it was still a weird sight.

The Lich turned on her heel and in one shot, blasted the swan from the sky. Bubblegum crashed into the ground.

On instinct, I ran to Princess Bubblegum, but I was frozen in mid air by the Lich's magic.

"You will not escape, child." Came the dreaded voice from behind me.

I was spun around in the air as Lich approached me, slowly, savoring having me in her grasp. But as she drew her wand up to my chest, Finn's grappling hook shot from the ground, clutching her foot, and forcefully pulling her back to where Finn was waiting to punch her across the back of her head with the hilt of his sword, following up with a brutal haymaker with his robot hand. The Lich was knocked to the ground, and Finn readied his sword to plunge into her chest,

But for a split second, Eclipsa's eyes returned to normal, and she pleaded, "Don't!"

The split second hesitation of Finn remembering that we were trying to spare Eclipsa was all the Lich needed to take control and blast Finn. He laid back on the ground and I realized the look on his face - his soul had been damaged. He had the those blank, lifeless eyes.

Before the Lich could advance further, a barrage of arrows came flying from the woods, piercing the side of the Lich, making her double over in pain. I looked over to see Huntress Wizard barrelling towards us, faster than I had ever seen her move before, closing in on us fast, slinging arrow after arrow as she approached. The Lich took off to the sky, retreating back towards the forest as Huntress Wizard skid to a halt, kneeling by Finn.

"Finn..." She whispered, in a voice very unlike her usual cool, cocky tone. It was almost a whimper. I remember what she told me, about Finn being her pack.

She stood up though, and something seemed...off. She looked over at me and I noticed her eyes were now just glowing a powerful, forest green. I stepped back, in shock, and I could feel Princess Bubblegum grab my shoulder.

"Fix him," Huntress Wizard hissed, before charging back off towards the forest in pursuit of the Lich.

"Oh no..." Princess Bubblegum moaned, running over to Finn once the coast was clear.

"She's sucked his soul, I've seen it before." I added, not sure what other help I could be. "Was that...the wizard madness and sadness Huntress Wizard told me about."

"Yes," sighed the princess, "from what I've observed, Huntress Wizard has been able to use nature and the ways of forest living to keep it under control, at the expense of living with repressed emotions. But seeing Finn like this..."

I stared off after where Huntress Wizard had sped off at. I don't blame her. I punched a hole in Toffee when I thought he killed Star.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Huntress Wizard will have to keep Lich busy. We need to fix Finn. Help me get him to my swan." She commanded.

The two of us hoisted Finn on to her giant laser-swan (I will never tire of saying that), and she flew back to the Candy Kingdom, landing at the gates. There was a massive barrier, not unlike the one that surrounded Mewni. However, this one must have been made scientifically, as the princess opened a small door with a remote control after landing, and closed it behind us as the swan flew us towards the castle.

"So how do we fix Finn losing his soul?" I asked. "The only way I've ever seen one recovered is if the person who stole it is destroyed, or the person is taken to the Realm of Magic."

"All that's just magic mumbo jumbo for things wizards can't explain, Marco," replied Bubblegum as if she was teaching a class, "you can't steal someone's soul, just sap its energy and leave them deactivated. We just got to juice Finn's soul energy back up and he'll be his usual heroic self."

"Oh," I said, relieved, "that doesn't sound too bad."

She shook her head as the swan flew up to her tower of the castle. "It's easier said than done. Soul Energy is crazy hard to come by."

Apparently the Lich wasted no time before Bubblegum put up her barrier; two giant gumball machines were strewn across the ground, smashed apart.

"Yeah, it's never easy, is it?" I mumbled. "So what do we got to do?"

The swan flew us into the lab that we had used to test Star. We carried Finn onto a hospital bed, and the princess looked rather grim. "There's something I wasn't planning on telling Finn about the war, but it looks like this may be the only way to save him. Come with me."

"Um...okay?" I replied. I didn't really follow what she was talking about, but she lead me down a hallway of the castle, and we got onto an elevator. The ride was uncomfortably silent, and the princess was fidgeting an awful lot.

We jerked to a halt, and the princess lead me down to a dungeon. She stopped outside of a cell being held with a green, magical barrier. Inside of it was a...bucket of grass?

"Lawn clippings?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Did Finn...tell you about Fern?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Who is that?"

She pat a chair next to the door, and we sat down as she explained, "Last year, Finn helped Jake revive a friend using time travel. Except part of the plan was that he had to encounter a time duplicate clone of himself. The contact turned his clone into a sword that encased his own heroic spirit."

"So the sword has another Finn soul!" I exclaimed.

"It did." She frowned. "However, Finn, back before this happened, had a grass curse placed upon him, and it was always kept on his right arm. One day, the sword was broken, and the grass curse took Finn's entire right arm to fully possess the Finn Sword. The two were able to combine into a green copy of Finn, made of plant material, with nature powers. I'm paraphrasing a whole bunch of in between stuff, but that's the short version of it."

"You know, I was wondering how he lost the arm, but I figured it was rude to ask." I said, shrugging. "Is that bucket the copy?"

She nodded. "The grass copy took the name Fern, and Finn loved him like a brother, and tried to teach him to be a hero. But Fern's curse overtook him, and he grew jealous that even with all his powers, he could never be the hero Finn was. He didn't learn from his mistakes like Finn does. Fern turned to evil, and Finn was forced to kill him during the war."

I tilted my head. "Then the grass clippings...?"

Bubblegum frowned. "Because plant matter is resilient, I can still detect both the duplicate Finn soul...as well as the grass curse, being alive and sentient in that pile of clippings. I collected it for research, but...I think we can use it to revive our Finn. But there's a catch."

"There's always a catch," I snarked.

"I would need to zap you into the mindscape of Fern and beat the crud out of the curse. It looks like a little squid-spider thing. If you can seperate the two of them long enough, I can pull you and the soul out. But I can't guaranty what you'll see in there," Bubblegum warned, "so I know I can't make you do this. But it might be the only way we can save Finn."

I swallowed and sighed. I looked down at my fists. I've fought monsters of all kind, stared death in the face, had my own soul stolen...a grass curse? I can handle it.

"Finn dropped everything to help me, so I owe him just as much. Hook me up, I'll do it," I told her.

She nodded and slid open a hidden wall panel next to the door.

I stepped back in shock, "You already have everything ready for this?"

She shrugged, "not all of my science is on the up and up, Marco," explained Bubblegum, "but it's all done for the benefit of my people."

As she hit a few buttons, a helmet was lowered in the cell, and placed itself onto the bucket, still connected to the ceiling via a telescopic pillar and wire. Princess Bubblegum took a helmet out of the panel, also with wires attached, and handed it to me.

"Whenever you're ready, Marco," she said, with a small smile.

I took a deep breath and plopped the metal helmet onto my head. "No time like the present."

I blinked, and was already in an empty, black void. I could hear Princess Bubblegum's voice all around me, saying, "Good luck, Marco Diaz."

Off in the distance, I could see a green glow, not unlike the one of the Lich. But if I had to associate a color with a grass curse - whatever that was - I figure it'd probably be green. I charged towards it, heart pounding, ready to strike.

And I skidded to a halt as I came upon what must be Fern - a green version of Finn, made of grass, laying on the ground, weeping. He stopped when he realized I was there, and sat up. He took off the green bear hat, revealing long green weeds with flowers and mushrooms growing out of them.

"She's not very subtle, you know." Fern said to me, sounding more depressed than evil.

"Uh...?" I began, not sure where to even go with this conversation.

"I heard everything." Fern explained, "Finn - the other me. The real me. He's in trouble."

I nodded. "We need your help."

He shook his head. "You don't need my help. I'm not even really real, Marco. I'm just two things, mish-mashed together. You need to beat the grass curse off of me. I won't stop you, but he's not going to make it easy."

I clenched my fists. "I'll do whatever I have to do. The Finn I know is my friend. I need to help him."

Fern tilted his head and gave me a sad smile. "You know, that's kind of why I wanted to kill and replace Finn. I thought he was so perfect, and I was such a screw up. But you know what?"

"What?" I asked.

Fern looked up into the void. I looked up to, to see this mindscape had turned into a beautiful sky. "Finn's a screw up too." Fern laughed. "We've messed up so much. But we always did our best for our friends, and in turn they never let us down. I guess I felt like I never had those friends. Except Finn. He always tried. Even when I turned out to be rotten."

I frowned and sat down next to Fern. "From what the Princess told me, I think Finn just wishes he could have heard you say that."

Fern nodded. "I'm going to give up this form, Marco. Then you will see the grass curse for what it is, leeching onto Finn's - onto my soul. Get ready."

I stood up again, bowed to Fern out of respect, and took a defensive stance. "I'm ready."

Fern frowned and shed a tear. "Good luck."

The grass fell off of Fern, revealing a drooling, blank-eyed Finn, with a green squid-spider thing sucking on his chest. I screamed and roundhouse kicked what I could only assume was the grass curse.

The squid spider, landed on all eight of its feet and lunged at me through the air, as Finn's body laid in a heap. I chopped down onto it, but it ducked under me and scuttled across my feet, weaving some sort of gooey thread across them, sticking me in place. In a panic I fell back and he began to weave a cocoon over the top of my legs.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed.

The grass curse, calmly speaking in Fern's voice, replied, "you messed with the wrong grass demon, buddy. You're my puppet now," as he continued to weave up my legs.

"O-o-o-oh no, not today!" I yelled, sitting bolt upright, grabbing the demon off of me with all my strength, headbutting him, and then punching him across the void. Adrenaline pumping through me, I kicked free of the cocoon to see the grass curse still charging towards me. He lunged for me, but I was able to squat down and leap over him, rolling forward and turning to see he was coming back again. I ducked to the right as the squid lunged, snatching him from the air, tossing him up, and utilized a spinning backhand to send it skidding across the void.

"Just a bit longer!" I heard Princess Bubblegum say in my head.

However, the grass curse must have heard it too, as it turned on a tentacle and began scuttling back to Finn. "Oh no you don't!" I shouted, charging and diving as I tackled the curse across the ground. It splurted cocoon out of its rear, but I rolled us away from Finn and kept moving so it couldn't use it to pin me down. I turned myself on top of the curse and chopped down onto it as hard as I could. It howled in pain, but it's back turned in to a sat of jaws and chomped down onto my hand. I shook it as hard as I could, throwing it across the void...

And then I was done. I blinked as I realized I was back in the candy dungeon, and Princess Bubblegum was hugging me tightly, holding a jar of a vibrant, blue ball of light.

"You did it, Marco!" She cried, excitedly, showing me the jar. "I harnessed Finn's soul energy so we can revive him! Quickly, follow me."

She handed me the jar, and began to pull me back to the elevator.

I looked at the jar of soul energy in my hands. I could hardly believe I pulled that off. But something about this jar felt like it was calling me. Once, on the elevator, I squeezed my eyes shut to center myself.

"Hey...Marco, right?"

My eyes shot open. I heard Finn's voice, in my own head. But...how? I looked down to the jar, seeing the blue orb dart excitedly about the glass container, as if trying to get my attention.

"You can hear me, I hope."

I nodded to the orb, feeling a bit silly, but the voice answered me, saying, "Oh, good. Look, I know...I know as Fern I made some pretty math decisions. And...I can't blame it all on the grass curse. But please...please tell Finn...your Finn, that I'm sorry. And to keep living. For me, and for Fern."

"I will," I whispered to the jar.

"You'll what?' Princess Bubblegum asked me, causing me to jump slightly.

"Oh...nothing," I replied. I smiled to her. "Let's go fix Finn."

She nodded, and as we stopped at the top floor, we rushed back to the lab. From the window, I could see the same blackened skies and green lightning spreading across the land. As we burst into the lab, Bubblegum tore the jar from my hands, ripped it open, grabbed the orb, and unceremoniously shoved it into Finn's mouth.

I blinked and scratched the back of my head. I thought this would be more...scientific.

Still, Finn swallowed the orb, and his body began to glow, but otherwise, he didn't move. I looked at the princess, the confusion evident on my face.

She sighed, and answered, "The soul takes time to recharge. Time we may not have, unless Huntress Wizard is okay."

I bit my lip. "I hope so. Sounds like you guys have lost enough people."

A device beeped on the Princess' person, and she pulled out a small rader; I recognized it as the same one she had given Finn, and it showed Star's magical signature. "That should be your friend. Please, go greet them. I will monitor Finn so he can get back in the fight."

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And as I finished telling all of this to Star and Jake, Jake's face fell, if only for a moment.

"I need to be with Finn." He said, trying his best to keep his normal voice.

"Go." Star told him, grabbing his hand, and using two more arms to grab mine as she was still in butterfly mode. "We'll go find Huntress Wizard and the Lich. Right, Marco?"

I nodded and smiled to her, before turning my attention to Jake. "Bring him to us as soon as you can, Jake. We're counting on you."

Jake saluted. "You got it. One order of butt kicking bros, coming up"

He stretched off to the castle, and Star portaled us past the Candy Kingdom barrier. Once in the Grasslands, I pointed Star towards the forest where Huntress Wizard had chased the Lich.

"Let's get weird, Marco!" Star yelled, determined as I've ever heard her.

"Let's get wild!" I yelled back.