The First Hero Returns

I do not own Adventure Time or its characters. The only thing that is mine is the idea for this story.

Adventure Time Crownless AU: In the Land of Ooo, where evil seems to have disappeared from the land many shadows lurk in the hearts of man. Our story begins long before the end of the world. It is a tale of sorrow, it is a tale of madness, it is a tale like no other. A man mutated by the bomb, a lonely child lost in the wreckage, and a great evil rises from the ashes of humanity. One misunderstood soul still has a story to tell, you may have heard this story before but as you hear the events unfold you will start to realize the truth behind the man.

Chapter 1: Marceline's Protector

A young 13 year old boy dressed in blue with a white bear hat and a green backpack raced towards a dark cave in the distance with a yellow dog, laughing as they ran. Finn the Human looked over at Jake the Dog and asked, "So Jake what do you think Marceline wants with us at her place? Do you think that it could be another jam session? I brought my beat boxing stuff just incase." "I don't know, man, but you know it has got to be fun either way. The Vampire Queen really knows how to make life a party. She is also the best musician in all of Ooo." replied Jake. They notice someone as they approached the dark and creepy cave that Marceline the Vampire Queen called home. She stood taller than Finn and wore a dark pink over shirt over her white blouse, with pink rose colored pants. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail underneath her golden crown with a single gem at the top. She waved the two adventurers towards her with a smile. Finn and Jake ran towards her.

"Hey, guys, what are you up to today? Did Marceline invited you over too?" questioned the princess as they approached close enough to hear. Both Finn and Jake smiled as they nodded at her question. "Yep, PB, Marcy invites us over for lots of things. Sometimes to even help her with her music." Finn announces. "Great! Then that means that we can all head inside together. I honestly don't know why she wanted me to come over today. However, she doesn't just call me to come over often. So it must be something important." Bubblegum says as she seems to ponder the reason behind them all being there. The three begin to make their way into to the cave and towards the small house within.

Once the group of three reached the house, Finn went to knock on the door only to hear a loud yell of pain. Jake busted down the door and they rushed inside the house. Finn drew out his sword, Jake morphed his fist into maces, and Princess Bubblegum pulled out a crossbow. When they saw what greeted them their jaws dropped for inside was the Ice King. His blue 3 piece suit was torn, and he was covered in blood and bruises. His typical glasses were held gently broken in his hand. Marceline was trying to stop the bleeding that was gushing from the wound in his left shoulder. The Vampire Queen herself was dressed in a long sleeve shirt with red and black stripes that had the right sleeve ripped from the shirt and hung from her wrist, tight blue jeans that had blood on the knees, and her signature bright red boots that looked from the scuff mark like they had seen better days. Her long black hair was a mess and matted after the fight that had clearly taken place. Leaned up against the wall was a dead witch and a beaten young wizard, who was wearing all black with a pouch tied to his belt and a greasy white mo-hawk for hair. Finn and Jake knew who this wizard was, his name was Ash, and he was Marceline's ex-boyfriend. The jerk turned out to only be dating the Vampire Queen so that he could use her. Now what Finn wanted to know was why the Ice King, who preferred to be left alone in his Ice Kingdom with his penguins would be here beaten badly and being cared for by Marceline of all people. The cry of pain from before turned out to be coming from the Ice King as Marceline cleaned his wounds.

The Ice King let out a whimper of discomfort as she tended to his wounded shoulder. As she was tending to the Ice King, Marceline asked, "Finn and Jake, would you be willing to tie up Ash? I don't want that loser trying to kill me again. I also don't think that Simon can't protect me anymore with how badly hurt he is now." Finn pulled out some of the rope that he kept in his back pack and began tying up the unconscious wizard. *Finn looked closer at the dead witch that was laying on the floor near Ash. She wore a green tunic dress and a brown cape with her hair in a large bun on the back of her head. Her once lively green skin looked pale with death, and her eyes sightless. The more that he looked the more he realized that he knew who this witch was. It was the Sky Witch, but why would she be here? Curiosity got the better of Finn as he asked. "Marceline, who killed Maja?" "Oh, Simon did, he was protecting me from them. He came over to visit, but couldn't remember why he did. Then they barged in and tried to kill me. Maja managed to use a light spell to over power me while Simon fought with Ash. Once Simon saw how hurt I was he dropped his guard to kill Maja and Ash took the opportunity to over power Simon. Only Simon didn't stay down long, he threw Ash against the wall and lugged a huge chunk of ice at Ash's head. I then started taking care of Simon and then you guys came in. By the way, I am glad that you all were free enough to come to the meeting that I called today." Marceline explained and then finished with a smile.

The Ice King seemed to be nodding off, so Marceline moved him towards the couch so he could lay down while she finished caring for him. This was when the Princess saw an opportunity to have some questions answered after learning of the events that had unfolding in the Vampire Queen's home. "Marceline, why are you calling the Ice King, Simon? Is he a friend of yours? I know that you are older than Ooo. However, I don't think that anyone knows your true age? Then there is again the fact that nobody even knows where the Ice King came from either. Could it be possible that he is older than Ooo too? I think that it could-" "ENOUGH! Right now, I don't have anymore time for questions. You will just have to wait until Simon is taken care of first. If you don't mind, you could even help me by calling the Wizard Police to come pick up Ash and remove Maja's body from my home. I will speak with you later. You know what happened so tell them when they come. I don't have the time for it. Once I am done, then and only then will I answer any more questions." and with that Marceline picked up the Ice King and flew into her bedroom.

Princess Bubblegum sighed as she walked off to make the phone call to Wizard City to summon the Wizard Police. Finn and Jake remained in the living room to make sure that Ash didn't get away before the authorities arrived. This was beginning to look like another strange day in the land of Ooo. Finn was growing more curious as to why the Vampire Queen was showing so much care to the biggest hermit of the lands. Most people stayed far away from the Ice King. He never bothered you unless you bothered him first. The old man much more preferred the company of his many penguins to that of people. However, Finn and Jake knew that the Ice Wizard once a month always tried to visit Marceline. No-one knew why it was just something that always seemed to happen with out any explanation.

It was about an hour later that the Wizard Police arrived to remove the two wizards from Marceline's house. It was 2 hours after that, that Marceline finally came down, having finished taking care of the Ice King. She claimed that he was now sound asleep in her bed. She was now ready to tell them the reason for her calling them here in the first place. However, due to the events of the day, she allowed them to ask their questions first.

By the time all of their questions had been answered they knew that the Ice King was actually Marceline's adoptive father and that he had raised her during and after the Great Mushroom War. Then one day when she was 19 years old after she had become a Vampire, he had faced a great enemy, know only to her as the Lich. It was the day after his battle with the Lich that Simon started to behave strangely, and then 2 days later he told her he was leaving and just flew away. A hundred years later he came back, however, he had no memory of who she was. All Simon seemed capable of remembering was that Marceline was important and needed to be protected. Now, he visits once a month and she seems to be the only one in Ooo who can go into the Ice Kingdom anytime she wants without a problem. Apparently, Simon was 1,046 years old and Marceline was 1,006 years old, this meant that the Ice King was technically not only the oldest person in Ooo, but also the first King in Ooo. Finn decided that he wanted to know more about the Ice King and see if they could be friends. After all the more he heard the more Simon sounded like a radical hero. At this point, Finn no longer cared why Marceline had called them over, now all he could think about was the ancient being in the upstairs bedroom.