What happened?

What had occurred so long ago that led up to this moment? This moment of pain, yet at the same time, relief. This time of darkness, mysterious blackness, with eyes wide open. What had led to this strange moment?

Could it have possibly all been a dream, an illusion? Was it all fabricated by a higher power to give a person a glimpse at what his life would be like, were he to choose it?

No, it's not that complicated.

There was a fight, a contest, formed by a greedy, somewhat sadistic old man. But something went wrong.

The memories slowly returned to Finn while he lied on the ground. His thoughts slowly returning, as slowly as the sunrise.

He hadn't wanted to fight, but someone tricked him into it. Marceline. Was he still angry at her? No, she did something else, she saved him.

A flash of pain attacked his brain and he winced, light coming in more quickly now, as were his memories.

Jake found him, running from something. A deal was made, and broken. Fights were won and lost. Things were as they were.

Where did it all go wrong? Wasn't there something else?

There was a man, a blue-skinned man that towered over the human boy. The fight could not be won because of the strange weapons, but somehow, Finn lost.

Another wave of searing pain. He remembered falling, being thrown. No, dropped. The blue man, Cain, had merely dropped him from the high roof. He remembered a flash of ethereal blue light, then Marceline again. She…

His eyes opened, fully adjusted to the light of morning. How long had he been out?

Jake ran through the mansion in disbelief. Finn had fallen from that five-story high roof-top, but Marceline was there. Didn't she catch him?

He could barely see through the storm last night, but he did his best to hold Fenris back while Marceline saved Finn. Had the plan worked? Fenris had dealt a crippling blow with his heavy staff, knocking Jake half-unconscious. Only awake enough to see Marceline make it too Finn, but she didn't catch him.

He ran, and sometimes stretched, through hallways, trying to get to Finn while his sense recovered. The last to recover was common, why didn't he simply stretch from the roof to where Finn was?

Silently chastising himself, he soared out the nearest window and out into the glorious courtyard. He saw Finn instantly, lying in the dirt on his back. His eyes were wide open, but Jake knew that didn't mean a thing, he could have died with his eyes open.

As he started making his way toward his human friend, he saw an image from one of the windows above. A scrawny, pale figure, leather-clad, wielding a massive staff. Fenris.

Jake growled and charged at the werewolf, but what the old man did next astonished the dog. Fenris, after stepping out through the window, discarded the weapon and crouched down next to Finn. He said something, removed the hero's white hat and moved in closer, inspecting something. What happened to Finn?

Jake made it over in a single step. Fenris was still talking, but whispering, directly into Finn's ear. Jake was relieved to see that Finn responded, though his words didn't make much sense.

"I died… No it wasn't her fault, the guy… Ice…? Was that…? Where is she?"

He paused often as Fenris whispered harshly some more. Perhaps if Jake could hear what Fenris was saying, the conversation would make sense.

Then, just as Finn finished his last statement, Marceline appeared in the window to answer him. "I'm here."

Finn didn't look up, only spoke louder. "Why'd you do it?"

"I had no choice," she offered.

"No choice? Why not catch me?" Finn's voice was terrifyingly calm.

"You were falling, and Fenris was coming right behind me." Was she crying? Jake shook off the idea, Marceline didn't cry. "I had to make a choice, even though I didn't like it."

"She's right," Fenris included, "I was coming in too quickly. If she caught you, you would have been included in my unstoppable, barreling tackle. It's an ancient technique. A young mortal body like your's would not have survived."

Jake was tired of this game of not knowing, and intruded. "Wait, what happened to Finn?"

Fenris and Marceline turned to him, sad-looking and speechless.

Fenris broke the awkward silence while he stroked Finn's blond hair. "Marceline had no choice. The only thing she could to save him… was bite him."

Jake's mouth fell open in an almost comedic display of consternation. Marceline turned away, definitely crying.

"Why are you crying, Marceline?" Finn encouraged. "I believe you, there was no other way."

She turned away and floated deeper into the building. Fenris patted the boy's shoulder. "Well, your transformation is coming along, best to get you out of the sun."

Finn stood impossibly quickly, levitating off the ground. How had he mastered it already? Was it something you simply had to accept in order to gain control of? This wouldn't be the first time that's happened to him.

Finn climbed in the window after Marceline. He found her wiping her eyes, sobbing in the corner of the storage-looking room. He rested a hand on her shoulder, and she turned. Her skin was pitch black to match her mournful state, a pool of crystal tears gathering below her.

All he did was hug her. That simple display of kindness reminded her that they were still friends no matter what.

The three gathered in the main foyer, where they had first arrived and met Fenris, waiting for the old wolf-man to send off the last of the contestants. It didn't take too long, they were pretty good sports. But that was already obvious, since they had stuck to the rules even after Jake left his job of removing defeated players. That was the only reason Cain continued coming after Finn.

They waited in silence for mere minutes, but the hanging discomfort made it feel like hours for Jake. How had they let it go so easily?

Fenris finally arrived, once again fully cloaked, and began conversing.

"I… apologize for my selfish behavior. I should never have forced you into competing."

"No, it's fine," Finn assured, "we've been through it, it won't happen again."

Jake was still astonished at how calm his bro was acting about this enormous situation. He decided, finally, that if they were going to ignore it, then he might as well, too. "So, who won?"

Fenris removed his hood and grinned, only now the grin was more kind than menacing. "A marvelous young woman, an archer. She somehow controlled a type of ice magic that was not contained by the wards of the house. She managed to enchant an arrow that encased Mister Cain in a block of ice right after he dropped Finn from the roof."

That got Finn to thinking: had she tried to save him, but was a split second too late? Or perhaps she was only waiting for Finn to fall so she could have a clear shot at Cain. It didn't matter now, she owned the mansion, and he'd likely never meet her.

"It's funny, though," Fenris continued, "I had not given much thought to her as victorious while I was choosing heroes. At the time, I was only trying to fill empty spaces."

"That is evil," Jake announced, which he was sure everyone was thinking.

"I know that, now. My mind was clouded, my intentions poisoned. I only hope you'll soon forgive me." He reached out a hand, wishing for Jake to take it and spark an alliance.

"Sure we forgive you," Finn answered. "You thought your intentions were right while you made the decisions. It's all in the past now, and we can only learn from the past."

Jeez, this stuff sounded corny coming from Finn, but Jake knew he was right. Begrudgingly, he stretched out his paw and shook the wrinkly hand.

"Wonderful," Fenris beamed.

"But wait!" Jake interrupted the moment of celebration. "Finn's a vampire now, how is that okay?"

"Calm down, Jake," Marceline allowed, "we're getting to that."

"Yes, quite," Fenris cleared his throat. "As you may remember, Marceline and I had struck a deal in order to convince our dear Finn to compete whole-heartedly in the competition. The arrangement was for something we both wanted dearly. Of course my end of the bargain was for Finn's complete, willing participation –"

"Even though it wasn't entirely 'willing,'" Finn added.

"Yes, well, Marceline obviously wanted something of equal value, but of course her definition of value differs strongly with mine, as it would with everyone."
"What does that mean?" Jake questioned.

"Hmm, basically, if I offered you a new pair of shoes for ten rubies, you might not take them. The shoes might only be worth about five rubies, meaning the rubies are more valuable than the shoes. Does that make sense?"

Jake nodded, though only half-understanding.

"Anywho, I knew that, in order to ante up to her definition of value, I would have to offer something more personal than her friendship with a human."

"Which," Marceline included, "now means nothing, since I learned that my friends are more valuable than anything."

"That was pretty corny," Finn smirked. Marceline just rolled her eyes.

"And what about family?" Jake insisted.

"Have you met my dad?" Marceline joked, inspiring a choir of laughter throughout the group.

"Anyways, after deep contemplation I came up with something that an immortal like her could have been endlessly seeking, and that could now possibly help our troubled little transformer here."

"Not that you actually knew you'd need it for Finn right now," Marceline said.

"Yeah," Jake laughed, "'cause how could you have known Marceline was gonna bite him?" The lot laughed some more as Fenris admitted that he could not see the future.

"As I was saying, I had no idea this chain of events would play out like it did, but now that I have had a change in heart I find that this item, which was meant for a previous transaction, will be rather helpful in the very circumstance."

Everyone leaned in. Finn seemed calm on the outside, as though accepting of his new self, but on the inside could not wait to hear Fenris' plan.

Marceline was eager to learn of a way, in hopes she could possibly redeem herself for the act, and possibly get in on the spoil, too.

Jake was just ready to be out of that place. He mentally knew that this offer would mean another crazy adventure, but at least he could be with Finn throughout the whole thing instead of separated through rooms and halls. No more walls, no more mansion, no more games. Finally, there would be no more confusion, no more questions. The two, or four, could go on the quest and everything would be back to normal.

They were all close together. Fenris took a deep breath through his nose and looked at each of them individually in turn. Then he smiled, satisfied at having kept them in dreadful suspense for those meaningless seconds. Finally he answered.

"The thing we must now search for is known as the Ancient Cure."