The Tunnel of Fate

Hello and welcome to my first fan fiction. Due to this, be aware of miss-placements of commas and other things that may not be quite right. You have been warned. Anyways, after a few years of reading works from other authors on this website, I felt inspired to create my own work and share it with the community that has so graciously provided me with so much procrastination material. This is my fan fiction and I named it, The Tunnel of Fate. So please, find a can of mountain dew, recline into a sitting position, and prepare yourself for an adventure through the mind of a suffering individual on his mighty quest for redemption, happiness, and companionship.

Author's note: I do not, nor have I ever owned, Adventure Time. If I did, I would probably buy a golden replica of Finn's original sword, Scarlet.

Chapter 1: Awaken

How many days had it been? While it felt as though years had passed, perhaps it was not nearly as long. Maybe two months? Three? Or, perhaps, it really was much, much longer. The darkness of the tunnel, the soul-shattering emptiness… Why was he even here? He was warned of the dangers, yet he still trekked on. What was he hoping to find?

A key to solve all his problems? A dangerous new land in which to make new discoveries and adventures? Maybe walking became his new outlet?

Perhaps he would be better off heading back right? Maybe he still had enough oxygen to reach the land he called home. That was stupid… the opportunity, dead and gone. That point, that essential decision, was gone and he had decided to continue his journey. The tunnel, it stretched on for an eternity and turning around would be a fruitless endeavor. He would never make it back with the oxygen left in his magical air bubble. He was certain that death would come eventually.

His thoughts were so muddled with memories, faces of friends, loved ones, and adventures. The memories began happy and peaceful but were slowly getting darker and more discouraging. One depicted a silhouette of a father teaching his child the basics of swordplay. Another one, showed a massive tree house overlooking miles of rolling green grass. The images in his head did little to comfort him in the subterranean environment around him.

"This world needs heroes. I need you to be one now my son. The long road ahead will be painful …but letting evil be victorious, will be more disastrous than any moral or emotional wound. You must grow to understand the true meaning of sacrifice. You need to be there for the people, the innocent; everyone deserves happiness once in a while. I don't have long my son, but know that I love you and your brother dearly. You'll make a hell of a man one day." The man becomes pale; the boy's cry goes unheard.

A young man leans upon the outer doors to an absolutely massive castle. With intents to finally open the door and confront the ruling person with his true thoughts and feeling, he sticks one foot through the door only for his ears to catch onto the beginning of a conversation. "Your majesty, one of the lookouts has spotted what they believed to be a man in a fireproof suit trekking across the border with a bundle of flame-shielded presents. I think we both know who this is, not many people have regular access to revitalized technology of the Old World." said the knight to his ruling queen. A long, burdened sigh was released. "Can he not see that I do not have time for these games? I've got too many things going on to deal with another of his heartfelt pleas." The words seemed stressed and forced out. The foot quickly ducked back out of the palace. However, the ruler's amber eyes caught sight of the foot in its retreat …That unmistakable black sneaker. No one in the kingdom wore shoes like that because they would never last the heat of the kingdom. Only one person would have the need for shoes that were so durable as to withstand damage so completely. Her heart dropped in regret and her face became a visage of immense sadness. The young man walking away was not in any better condition.

The sunset showed brilliantly onto the multicolored city. The sun's rays bathed everything in deep reds and oranges; except for one thing. A figure dressed in a full body black coat was perched on one of the tallest buildings in the sugary kingdom. This building was one of the few that could glimpse the land outside of the walls surrounding the city. It used to be a multistory market, the most grand to be built in the past several hundred years at least. The building was currently damaged beyond repair, though. A massive missing chunk in the side had rendered it unsafe to be within several hundred feet of its base. However, danger could not have deterred the figure in the slightest. He was born to the wilderness and grew strong fighting foes at least three times his size. He is the hero of the land and the protector of the innocent. So why is it that he failed? The figure fixed his blue eyes onto the trail of destruction below. A long trail of wrecked homes and businesses led to a large hole in the wall whose purpose was to protect the city. The hero found himself comparing his life to the wall; how they were both born to protect and shield the innocent, and yet on this day, both failed to do so. It ran further throughout the developments surrounding the outside of the walls and into the pink-colored forest.

Due to the recent peace of the lands, population in the kingdom has spiked to a new high. The need for homes no longer could seek refuge inside of the walls. The forest was beginning to shrink and new candy homes, industries, and farms became a common sight. "How much has changed in the past three years" thought the hero to himself.

The figure reached up to his head and pulled off an all too familiar hat. This day, would be the last that he would wear such a thing for a long time. The hat was coated in gray dust and small stains of blood from the conflict earlier. The pain in his heart was unmistakable as he had felt it many times before: failure.

A few hours leading up to the conflict, the young man walked across the lush grasslands in a fiery rage to his place of residence. Cries of anger with an occasional swear would escape from his mouth. His spiteful words were directed at one sole object, a long grassy sword wrapped around his arm. The sword, being made of grass, once again failed in battle to hold up against the steel edge of a broad sword. Due to this, the young man received a heavy blow to his chest, where he was then robbed of his gold and possessions by local thieves and left injured on the ground. "Too bad they didn't take the sword" he said angrily.

Upon reaching his house, a deafening roar shortly followed by a distant crunching sound broke his tirade. It was only now that he noticed the phone in his house had been ringing hysterically. Anxiety began to seep into his already clouded emotions as he finally understood that his services were once again required. Sprinting at his full speed he rushed to the location of the roar. To his horror, he noticed the Candy Kingdom coming into sight. Even worse however, there was a massive hole blown through the wall. Smoke billowed into the thick dark clouds above, only adding to the ominous feeling growing in the young man's stomach.

When the monstrosity came into view, the young man took notice to a large yellow dog-like figure engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the assailant. The young man's feet were not fast enough to carry him to assist his companion, because it was at that moment that a mighty left hook connected with the dog's jaw. A resounding crack was heard and the dog fell backward, shrinking in size as he did so. The young man could have yelled in horror watching his companion going down, but luckily, a streak of rainbow shot through the sky and swept up the dog before any more damage could be dealt. The young man felt an immense relief from this. Reaching the breached wall of the kingdom, the young man flicked his hand and commanded his sword to extend and prepare for battle.

Something was wrong, the sword refused to work. The young man tried repeated times yet the sword only wrapped tighter onto his arm. In a mix of dread and fury, he grabbed a nearby piece of re-bar with an uneven candy concrete ball at the end. He thought to himself, "Why do I even carry a weapon when I will just end up having to improvise a weapon every battle?"

It began to lightly drizzle… The shrouded man atop the building had little recollection of the events following. What some people had told him, while trying to get a decent hit on the beast, he was struck by thrown candy rubble. His previous injuries had decreased his evasiveness significantly.

The rain picked up with intensity… The gumball guardians and Sir Rattleballs were the true heroes this day. Using the brute strength of the guardians, in combination with the quick and agile swipes of Sir Rattleballs, the monstrosity had no chance. The young man finally came to consciousness and crawled from the rubble. Seeing no immediate danger, he checked his appendages. Luckily, he detected no broken bones. However, he was bruised badly from head to toe. Standing up in pain, he hobbled to the palace to assess the damages and see his best friend. The entire trip there, he berated himself for his inability in stopping the monster in its path of destruction.

It started to downpour… The princess had profusely apologized for leaving her injured friend for death. It had only been his second time that day. She gathered all of her fighters and sat them on a pedestal for all of the inhabitants of the kingdom to see and give praise. The young man, despite his ability to walk, was forced into a wheelchair on the stage next to his dog companion whose entire jaw was bandaged up. From the look of it, his jaw was broken in the fight. The dog carelessly rejoiced and bragged about his injury, although his words were a bit hard to understand. He was now able to eat a diet of nothing but ice cream without being reprimanded by his girlfriend. The kingdom rejoiced. The dog and the princess rejoiced. Even the mysterious fighter Rattleballs had a hint of a smile underneath his hood. But the young man… he was full of nothing but guilt and regret.

The memories skipped forward again to see the young man standing with the golden bulldog in the streets of an uninjured part of the city. When he was allowed again by the princess to walk, he borrowed some of the bulldog's gold as stashed it safely into his pocket. He told his companion to head back to his girlfriend's house in order to rest up after such a long day. While the bulldog furrowed his brow in concern for the young man, he nodded out of exhaustion and was promptly escorted home by his beloved. The young man resolved to leave at that point.

Stopping by a local store, he entered and asked to be fitted for something new. Never had he felt the need more to hide his face then that day. He decided on a midnight black, full body coat. It was durable, almost weightless, and he could conceal his identity along with items and weapons with ease. Paying the tailor for his merchandise, the young man dawned the new outfit and climbed the remains of the broken market building. Here, he would stay the night and hide away from the citizens of the city. The normally energetic and youthful man just needed one night to be left alone to his own thoughts. It was here, in the most daunting of locations, that the young hero slipped away into the depths of his mind and lost himself to a long slumber.

The befuddled young man opens his eyes again, however, he is no longer lying in the skyline of the Candy Kingdom. He is deep underground on what may be his last adventure ever. The memories finally bring a clearer sense of thinking to the hero. He sees his shortcomings, he witnesses his failures. This time however, instead of a sense of giving up, failure, and self-loathing that had consumed his thoughts for so long before, a seed of new found determination was born. It only took him driving himself to the brink of madness to change but he felt it in his heart. He didn't exactly know what had changed, but this new feeling was unmistakable. He had to live, he had to redeem himself. He had to find the end of this tunnel.

Please, any feedback its greatly appreciated. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like or anything that may not have been very clear. Anything will help me become a better writer. Thank You