SEVERAL MONTHS LATER

Finn was whistling tunelessly and strolling through the woods near the tree house. Jake and Lady Rainicorn were living together to take care of the puppies, so Finn was doing some solo-adventuring and having Finn-time. So far he had helped an antlion dig a better pit to trap his food, slayed a tiny beast that was attacking Tiny Kingdom, and explored a one-room dungeon under the Tree of Mystery. Being a hero was a lot of fun.

Finn passed a shape on the ground that he just thought was a pile of dirt until then it began to twitch and writhe oddly. "Food for a beggar?" it asked in a weak, husky voice. "Food for a poor old man?"

His heart always good, no matter what his actions brought him in the past, Finn took off his pack and started pawing through it without a second thought. "I know I have some trail mix in here..." he said. The beggar peered out from under his blanket and watched as Finn produced the snack. He snatched it from Finn before Finn could even hold it out and pulled it under his blanket. The beggar chomped it up noisily. Finn watched, surprised at how moist eating something so dry could sound.

When he was done, the baggie popped out from a hole in the blanket. With trail mix crumbs still sticking to his gums and making his voice sound sticky, the beggar said, "You know... believe it or not, I'm not really a beggar. I'm actually a..."

Finn's eyes widened as the beggar threw aside his blanket to reveal the familiar form of "Magic Maaaan~!"

"Magic Man!" Fin cried. "Wh- how did you get here? You're supposed to be dead!"

Magic Man whistled and held out his hand. A small blue bird fluttered down and perched alight on his finger. "Magic..." Magic Man waved his hand and the bird transformed. It's feathers and skin peeled away to reveal underneath not bones and organs, but a beautiful bird of paradise. "Away!" Magic Man gave the signal and the bird flew off into the sun.

"How did you escape the fairies? They said you were executed for sure!"

"Oh, that wasn't me," said Magic Man. "That's why I've been lying low." He sat down on the ground, propped against one arm, the other arm resting on a bent knee. "They left me in a cell for a few minutes. There was enough dirt on the ground for a to make a copy of myself, then I turned myself into a guard. Ephermelda stuck around behind to use her magic to move it around like a puppet. They bought it! They totally thought it was me!" He snickered at the thought of it.

"Wait- a guard? … You were that fairy that came with me!"

"Cyril," said Magic Man. "That was me."

Finn was almost dizzy with relief at hearing this. His smile was just getting bigger. "Oh, man, you should have told me you could do that. I was all spazzed out over nothing!"

"Well, I didn't know I could. Actually, I didn't have any idea what I was going to do until I was already doing it. I had to improvise, you know. I never made a copy of me out of nothing and I didn't think they'd buy it. Eph's a puppetering wizard, though. I had no idea. On the other side, it was pretty easy to disappear myself once he was- cough cough- executed. Now nobody's after me and I can live my life the way I want it."

"Oh." Finn sat down next to him. "So... when you took the fall instead of me, you weren't sure you could get out?"

"Guess not," said Magic Man.

"Huh." Fin looked at him curiously. "That kind of makes you a hero, dude."

"No, it doesn't," Magic Man said quickly.

Finn gave him a friendly punch in the arm. "No, dude. Taking someone else's place for execution is totally hard-core heroing."

"Nah, I can explain to you how that means I'm still a jerk. I mean, if you have the time. Which you don't."

"Sure dude." Finn crossed his legs and leaned back. He and Magic Man both looked up at the sky, a clear blue dotted with only a few small clouds. Apart from the wind and the distant birdsong, it was quiet.

"So," Finn said after a time, "did you go tell your brothers you're not dead?"

"No. Why would I?"

"Dude, 'cuz they miss you."

Magic Man looked at Finn like he had crazy on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"They were here looking for you, man."

"Yeah, I know- to send my scatterbits on a cosmic journey."

"Not if you turned out to be a good guy. They're totes on your side on this one."

"I'm so sure."

"No, really," Finn urged. "Your bros miss you. One of them actually cried."

"... Really?"

"Yeah."

Magic Man's face was pretty much unreadable, but Finn thought he might be getting through to him. He continued: "They said that since you cared enough about me to help me out, that their greatest wish had come true."

Magic Man hugged his knees to his chest. "After you turn enough people into body parts and sic enough shadows on people, you kind of lose your right to ever be referred to as a hero."

"Nah, man. All you need to be a hero is to have a righteous heart. And you got one now. It wasn't always righteous, but now? It's pumping righteous blood all throughout your bod."

Magic Man looked sidelong at Finn. "You really think my heart is righteous?"

"Totally. Dude, I was not on your side when we tossed you in the candy dungeon. But you wanna know something? Even after everything I saw then, and in the temple, if I still wasn't on your side, I can't have any more doubt. You wanna know why that is?"

"Why that is?"

"Because the first time I ever saw you, you turned a bird inside out. Jake still has nightmares about that. This time, you showed off by turning a bird into an even more awesome bird."

Magic Man stopped and thought, for the first time, that however much he had been missing his brothers lately, they might just have been missing him the same way for centuries.

"Bros should always be there for bros," Finn continued. "Even if one of them messed up, that doesn't mean he still doesn't love his brother."

I'm the one who messed up, thought Magic Man. But maybe... they feel that they messed up, too.

Magic Man stood up. "You're right," he said as he brushed the dirt off the seat of his pants. "You're a smart kid, Finn the Human."

"Where are you going?"

"Mars."

"Oh. Good luck," said Finn.

"Wazoo!" Magic Man rocketed off into the air and disappeared in a burst of confetti. Finn laughed out loud when he saw Magic Man's message was still the same: EAT IT!

Magic Man had been home several times since he came home from Mars, and it was just as run-down and dilapidated as ever. He hadn't gone back in the basement, though. The wall was closed again so he wouldn't have to look at it. He would just sit in the upper room, making dirt angels or shaping magic clay into tiny people or whatever. Like before, he preferred to spend his time out in the world instead of shut up inside.

Since he had his magic working fully, he could open his secret door without breaking all his fingers. He did that, and the wall opened up to reveal his dirt basement. "Cannonball!" He jumped, holding his knees to his chest, and landed in the soft dirt below.

There it was: his special thing. The Martian transporter he now knew was in perfect working order, and had always been.

When Finn saw the Martian transporter for the first time, he was impressed. His eyes were wide as he said with awe, "This can take me to Mars?"

"Yeah." Magic Man, in Jake's body, was just sitting half in the dirt, watching Finn. He squirmed himself out as he continued."My brothers gave it to me when they banished me to Earth. They thought I would learn love and use it to go back home."

Finn climbed onto the transporter. "How do I do it?"

Magic Man was more interested in performing a headstand in the dirt than listening to Finn try and work out the transporter. He didn't even really mind when he sank headfirst into the dirt because of the way his weight was distributed. He just popped right back out and said, "You just put your hands on those thingies and think stuff about people." Magic Man shrugged. "But it's broken," he said a bit wistfully. "Hasn't worked in two hundred years."

Finn sounded absolutely crushed upon hearing this. "But it has to work! It has to..." Finn closed his eyes. "For Jake."

The transporter lit up beneath him and started to glow. All at once Finn was surrounded by a brilliant energy as the Martian transporter slowly lifted itself out of the dirt. Magic Man's eyes widened. "Huh-duh?!" The energy beam from the transporter shot straight up through the ceiling, bringing Finn along with it to Mars.

Magic Man was alone in his house for quite a while after that, feeling a bit resentful he hadn't realized that, after all this time, it wasn't the machine that was broken; it was him.

Magic Man put his hands on the handles of the transporter and began to think stuff about people.

Ephermelda, and how much fun to be around she had always been.
Margles, and how very much with him she was even now.
Grob Gob Glob Grod, who had put up with a lot from Magic Man over the years and deserved a brother who would be better.
Finn, who was a hero worth saving.
Jake, who really was a good sport about the wrongful arrest Magic Man had put on him.
Tiny Manticore, who had every right to hate Magic Man and yet didn't let that resentment cloud him up inside.
Louragan, who was an emotionless force of nature and yet when it came right down to it, wasn't a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.
Gwydion, the snail wizard, who introduced Magic Man to Ephermelda as a form of revenge and who was probably dead right now.
People like Ice King, the Witch, and the Earl of Lemongrab, who were frustrated and lashed out because they were lonely.
The Duke of Nuts, who never had a contrary thought towards anyone in his entire life.
Marceline and her cynical yet playful attitude towards life in spite of everything.

The transporter began to glow around him.

There it was. The home that Magic Man's brothers lived in, with the basement they'd allowed him to crash in. It hadn't changed at all in two hundred years. He knew, even without opening the doors or looking in a window, that Grob Gob Glob Grod still lived there. There was a presence, an essence all around it he could sense in his very soul.

Magic Man stood in front of it, the length of the dusty red clay yard between them. He wished Ephermeld were here, or someone to fall back on. Someone to encourage him forward, or else he might just turn around and go back to Earth.

No. Don't think. Just do.

His legs started carrying him forward, without permission from his panicking consciousness. But there was the door. And now it was opening. Wait, is that my hand on the knob?

There was Grob Gob Glob Grod, sitting in the front room and meditating. All four sets of eyes were closed, but when the door opened, the two faces that could see the door each opened one eye. As soon as they saw Magic Man, the other eyes opened. Their head rotated around as all four brothers got a look at a sight they never thought they'd see again: Their brother, standing in the doorway to their shared home, and smiling.

"I'm home," he said.

Grob Gob Glob Grod stood up and opened their arms. "Welcome back, Magic Man."