"Rings in a dream mean that one keeps a promise. Snow in them means to unfreeze. And although we all wish to keep those things we struggle with the ones we dont"

-Unknown

🥀. 

        'Iron.' I mouth.

        The large spot light falls on us. The wind howls laughing. It cackles picking up its speed. Mud grey with light misty clouds, as if a candle burned, dominate the sky. The once peaceful fight turned to a new setting fit for a war battle. Am I in a show? Am I suppose to bow congratulating him, Iron, for finding me?

         Or should I jump off the boat, and leave? Swimming away. Can Pinetree swim? I prefer to think he can I mean come on he can't be that useless! Right?

         Shooting Star though, now she was a gullable thing to show off for a run. So much came out of PineTree for her, but when she wanted PineTree to stay and he said no. That there was a show to see. Shooting star you pitiful creature. Now PineTree oh PineTree, where are you? Come get your body back.

        'Iron buddy!' I open my arms as wide as I can, and can't help but smile. 'You really realed it in, brought home the entire show! You're mad!'

        The scarecrow freak giggles its voice mimicking a laugh little girl. Finn shutters, and grabs hold of my dirty white shirt's sleeve. I flash a quick frown at him before letting him hold on like a small child to my arm. Wirt points his long machete at the giant creature and scolds it, 'Quiet.'

        Suddenly, something collapses at a fast pace to the earth from the muddy sky. A large anchor like the one previously shown the first time Iron came back, strikes the edge of the ferry. Another one follows, and stabs the dark water of the bayou. Water rains from the sky and spills over the deck. The ferry rocks side to side.

        'We-We have t-t-th-to get out o-oh-of here!' Finn yells tugging my shirt.

        I turn from Finn to Branches who simply stares at the sky with a deep frown,'Change of plans Finny, we are ending this right here right now~.'

        'Don't you s-s-see what we-we are up against!' Finn argues.

        'You imbacile think about it you mutant human thing! Branches doesn't look like he wants to leave, and if we go without him we eventually will get lost, and maybe wasted to death because of me. So go on jump! I'm not leaving Branches' side.' I cross my arms stating the fact clear to him.

        Finn's jaw tightens, and his ocean eyes twinkle at the realization. Besides knowing the way around this depressing forest, Branches also knows how to fight certain things. He has alot of energy and can waste it then quickly recover. He could be a great asset to my plan for multi-verse domination. I'm not saying I should use him. I'm saying we should help each other. Maybe I'll even consider an alliance, who knows--.

        'Come o-on!' Finn yanks my sleeve making me almost trip over my feet. Wirt stares at us, and slowly walks to us his head still suspiciously glaring at the sky.

        'Watch it fishy!' I yell at the stupid blonde next to me. Glaring at him I happen to notice something dark behind him.

        'MUTALATE!' The colossal scarecrow raises its sharp claws, and swipes them. Aiming for Finn's back. I quickly with a jolt of fear and surprise snatch Finn by his torn blue collar to me. Shit! I wrap my arms around him trying to sheild him. Wirt swiftly fills in the empty space for Finn, and swipes his machete in the air. The scarecrow's bony fingers fly in the air while the monster raises its arm. It howls its crow-liked cry.

        I squeeze my eyes shut trying to block my ears from the shrieking sound while still holding Finn to my chest. Once the creature stops letting its howl it stares at its handless arm with its hollow mouth hanging a foot open from its face. Its mouth dangles as it inspects its arm. It starts to shake and let out heavy sighs. Wirt holds his ground, his machete in his hands dipped in black liquid. The scarecrow's limb bleeds pitch black liquid. The liquid moves circling around the scarecrow.

        Wirt takes a step, and leaps in the air. He harshly kicks the large animal in the face. The scarecrow madly yells out a cry as it jolts back to avoid Wirt's barefoot.

        I let go of Finn for a second. His soft hair falls on his shocked face. I ignore his quivering lips, and charge in to help Wirt leaving Finn frozen, alone. (Get it;))

        I snatch the drum stick from the floor, and chunk the marshmallow on a stick at the scarecrow's head. Wirt swings his machete at the creature's feet. The scarecrow dodges by taking a step back. My stick then comes by and bonks him  in the eye. I sprint to Branches and slide gracefully next to him.

        'Cut.' He says pointing quickly at the monster's leg.

        Wirt charges, and swings his sword in the air. The monster counters by clawing at the steel weapon. Wirt is blown away by the fierce swipe, and steps back. The monster stares at its arm. Black goo on the floor travels up the thing's body, and collects itself at the wrist. It starts to form itself a new hand.

        'Are you kidding me?' I snatch the machete from Wirt's hand. His grip was light on it making it easy to take it. He wanted me to.

        I swipe at the monster's legs. It takes a step back, and let's out a cry. It swipes at the weapon. Wirt slides down dodging the swipe, and leaps up. He turns his body upside down into a flip, and kicks the scarecrow in the jaw. Backflipping back behind me, I take this chance and swipe the machete at its left leg. The animal howls. Black liquid spills on my face. Wirt tugs me back by my collar before the monster claws at my chest. The only thing it's nails claw is my white shirt. Two buttons fall on the floor along with fabric.

         'You did one thing right.' Wirt sighs. He let's go of me. 'Cut.' He orders pointing at its neck.

         'With pleasure~!' I raise the machete up and swing.

         'BILL!' A screech follows.

        Tender, the smell of fresh wood stings my nostrils. I let them. My vision is blocked by fuzzy hazy cloulds. Sparks of fire crackle in front of me in little patches. The green flames fly down along with bits of grey ash. I slowly blink to see two large pairs of black boots amble to a pair of white pale feet. Immediately I recognize those boots. The same boots that once scratched my face, and stomped on me. Iron.

        The pale feet, I predict, are Finn's white toes. I watch as the boots stomp to the pale feet that quiver frozen just feet away. They stop in front of the pale feet. Something starts to lift up the white feet. The feet struggle and start to kick the boots. Next thing I  hear is a loud crack!

        'Your majesty.' Something whispers behind me. The voice is low and its croaking. It exposes weakness. Wirt.

        'What....did you say B-Branches?' My eyes start to water. A large bulge is stuck in my neck. It doesn't go away. It doesn't want to. It wants to stay despite my protest. I let it.

        I watch as the heavy boots turn to us. Drool exits my mouth as I lay frozen on the cold wooden floor. Snow all around us starts to fall. The pale feet that were once up in the air collapse exposing Finn's weak body. He doesn't move.

        Then it hits me. The cracking noise.

        Water collects. My vision starts to shake a bit. Leaving some pieces still visible to see the boots stomping in front of me. They halt, blocking the sight of Finn's body.

         What's wrong with this body? Move! I SAY! MOVE! I SAID! MOVE!

          One of the boots run into my stomach with full force. My body scoots back with a jolt, and fully turns to see the mad titain smiling above. His dark violet eyes sparkle. They glow crimson. and leave a trail of light wherever he looks. The jolly general glances with a mischievous gaze at something next to me. Wirt?

           Wait.

           No.

           'Come on.' Wirt says.

           My body starts to shake. My chest puffs in air and out fast. You can hear it, it's loud. I bite my tongue, and hold a clenched jaw. It's like as if I was going through what humans call, a 'seizure'...or maybe perhaps something worse, like a 'panic attack'. But I am no human. I'm not even a comparison to them. To those worthless things. Right?

           Please tell me I'm right.

           --Stupid Pine Tree snap out of it! Stop making me feel stupid you angst pre-pubescent troll. Come take your body back, stop stalling you coward!

          'You might want to look.' Iron ticks his head to the side with a wobbly smirk.

          Iron steps on my head gently and turns it to see Wirt who lays on the floor next to me upside down. His head shaking head slowly raises. Iron grabs a handful of his hair and picks him up. I wait. Through this useless body for the unexpected sound. But then I hear nothing.

          The tension kills me. What is Iron doing? What is he waiting for?

          CLINK! A small silver ring drops to the floor dipped in black ink.

         What? What's that doing here?

          I'm then turned to see Iron. But I don't see Iron. Instead I see the same blonde haired boy from my long ago dreams smiling at me while he sits next to me as well. He waves, and holds a beautiful hourglass in his hand. The sand on both ends is unbalanced. The top is halfway empty, and the other end appears half full. The top, in a matter of seconds quickly drains to the bottom in less than a few seconds. The boy turns around the hourglass, resetting it to it's original state.

          'You're feeling urgent aren't you Bill? You're feeling time is running out, no?' The boy charmly smiles.

          My body doesn't move.

          'I fixed two thirds of the problem now all I have to do is fix the messy, unwanted, and selfish other half.' He chuckles.

          He spins the hourglass around swiftly, it slowly fades away and shapeshifts into a blade. Just a normal blade. A piece of glass from an unknown source.

          'Its hard I know. To keep avoiding me. We were so close Bill. And then...you wanted to be the 'white hat'. The precious, merciless, golden, pure 'lion heart'. The winner. The he-.....'

          My eyes widen. He stops abruptly in surprise as he sees me struck with bewilderment. The boy chuckles nervously before being conquered by over confidence once again.

           'Well let's not go to far, aye? After all we want this little game of ours to keep going a little while long, am I right, not?'

           I silently wait for him to get the memo. I can't move!

           'You want to switch roles so badly don't 'cha? I'm sorry Billy its just that you always get to play king. And for once I wanted us to play both of us as brothers. You lied to me Billy. You lied to me Bill. Decipher what you did wrong have you not?' His voice turns harsh with every word.

           'Ha ha ha~ BILL!' He laughs craning his head back.

           'Best to go ahead and fix yourself. Your turn will come. Eventually. Whether it be by choking on your own guilt of the past or the fallen promises to get your loved ones home, I will let you fall. On your own terms though.'

           The boy slowly grabs my wrist and opens my hand calmly. He gently places the shard of glass in my palm, and closes it. His hand remains on top. I don't feel it though. I feel his presence, but not physically his hand. I feel..... something else.

           Oh boy do I wish I could talk---.

           'I will wait. Just a bit longer. Just a...bit~. I love you brother!' He waves as he gets up. Abruptly making my muscles collapse. My hand falls on the ground. I close my eyes shut at the sharp pain. My bone cracks.

            ---And stuff my fist into his perfectly placed jaw.

           'The door will be open.' He shrugs and looks back at me as he walks away.

            Good.

            I can't hear his footsteps....

           'I'll keep an eye out open for you.' I mumble with a frown. My body still frozen quivers.

            Everything goes black.

Until a familiar blade pierces my wrist....

            'Can-Can you snap out of it p-please B-Bill?'

            My eyes almost jump out of my sockets as I open my eyes to see Finn holding my weak hand in his precious pure white ones. Red drips down the side of my wrist and slips through the holes between his fingers. Finn gaze travels up from the freshly sliced wound to my sweat dripping neck, and from there to my eyes. I must've looked so sick because then he drops the machete on the floor clink! and briefly looks away with a petrified look. The chilly wind soothes my steaming neck with a fresh blow.

             'Apology not accepted. When we get out of this boat I'm going to kick your ass.' I playfully tell.

             'For once you make yourself useful Finn.' I emphasize the blond kid's name as he barries his hard gaze deeply into the ground. His tender head lifts up and his eyes sparkle as he notices the soft approach a gave at his name.

              I give him a warm smile,'Where's Branches?' I try to stand.

              'H-He's right behind you.' Finn answers.

              Just then Wirt yanks me up harshly by the arm, and inspects the wound. He sighs as he let's go of my weak limb. I stare at him as he pulls Finn by his shirt closer. Unexpectedly, he tears two inches of the bottom of Finn's bright blue shirt. Finn yelps in surprise a bit of pink flourishes on his delicate pearl nose. Some of it leaks into his cheeks. Wirt then grabs my arm, not being rash this time, he wraps the fabric around my leaking wrist. He ties it it firm, and finishes off with a pretty bow.

              'We'll fix it later.' He says.

               I glance at Finn who nervously inspects his shirt. It's just centimeters from showing his flat belly. 'I f-feel like a peasant.'

              'We'll fix it later.' Wirt repeats.

              'What did I miss?' I tap the center of the bow strapped on my wrist.

              'Y-You passed out. We d-don't know w-w-why. A-Are you--wait a second why did you p-ph-pass out?' Finn stares at me in disgust.

              'Ey make some other face you're pushing me off. I don't know. Maybe this thing that can "play" with our minds did the same thing he did to Branches to me.' I shrug before slapping Finn's back like the good pals we are.

             'Then the theory is correct. It can' Wirt answers.

             We all stare down at the monster's corpse. It's head is cut wide open with bubbling oil liquid swishing side to side inside. The thing's limbs lay spread out on the floor. It's dead. I predict maybe Wirt finished the job. Something deep inside tells me that the fake vision I had wasn't fake at all. I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like the vision was more of a dream. Like I was supposed to see it....maybe it's just me--.

              'You really are bad, and you're friends of course, in the end you always influence each other, so what can you expect?' I shoot my eyes up. Not literally, that would be dangerous.

              Iron rains from the sky with millions of other soldiers by his side like an colong infestation of ants. They all slide down one after the other down the large chains of the anchors that rest at both sides of the ferry. Iron swiftly leaps off, and gracefully without a sound he lands on the wooden floor. The large party boat trembles a bit. Cocky he looks up from the ground, his only eye radiates a purple gleam. He smiles kindly, and gets up dusting himself.

              'Ya know old man I think you over did it a lil bit there, did that hurt? It that hurt your knees? I mean you jumped way before these other guys meters high from the ground. You okay?' I snort crossing my arms.

              The rest of the soldiers wait to jump off when they're just feet from the ground. They all line up around us in a circle, and one after the other they carry fully loaded glowing guns, pointing them at us as if we were the savages. Says the couple of pirates that arrived in an alien ship, and started blasting poor Branches' garden~!

              'Bill Cipher--' Iron nods to me. I give him one in return as a complement.

              '--Beast Wirt--' Iron continues giving Branches a sympathetic look followed by a mocking wink. Wirt glares back in disgust with a bit of green glowing in his eyes.

              '--Ice Finn--' Iron turns to Finn, and bows keeping his smirk. Finn shyly covers his nose. He quickly holds his head high with his arms by his side to not show weakness. His nose shines cheery red.

              '--I've said it once now I'll say it twice; You are all arrested for numerous escalating upmost time endangering crimes againts the multiverse such as conspiring against Time Baby, causing a Black Out, and destroying millions of realms with your darkness.' Iron shrugs, and reads the whole list almost as if it's a game.

            'Escalating?' I raise an eyebrow, 'Black Out?'

            'Crimes againts the multiverse?' Finn asks in denial.

            'You're all mad! I didn't do such atrocities, maybe me and my magnificent pals here might have helped, but you must admit oh dearest Iron you all did this to yourself. Corruption in the Time Steam ya know, that going forward or backwards in time with those tape thingies, you all have meddled in where you shouldn't be just so you can keep your precious toddler of a ruler in his flimsy chair.' I expose.

            'Are you sure about that Cipher?' Iron boredly stares at me then looking around at the group of soldiers surrounding us.
            'I mean wouldn't you love to get your hands on this and undo any past times, and make everyone your slaves? Wouldn't you want to be king of the Multiverse? Use these to go back as far as the big bang itself and become the ruler of the Multiverse besides our precious Time Baby?'

           'That's a good question. I could just get me one of those things and rule the universe actually it doesn't sound like a bad idea! But here's the catch, I'm forbidden~!' I give him a sly shrug and a mischievous smirk.

          'F-Forbidden?' Finn repeats.

          'So those things can be used to go back in time? Any time anywhere?' Wirt asks.

          'Yeah.' I answer.

          'Even to prevent the past and this entire thing from happening?'

          'Well yeah--BUT when I killed your 'lord' on the wonderful joyous planet earth I did a little thing~ I f***ed up the Time Stream!' I proudly exclaim.
          'For myself of course, demons can't use those tape measures, and I didn't really