Chapter 34: Your Favorite Waterfall (1)
Finn's eyes fluttered open, his mind hazy from the way he had collapsed into sleep the night before. No dreams, no clarity—just darkness. He blinked slowly, adjusting to the morning light streaming in through the cracks in the wooden walls. His arm stretched out on instinct, reaching for the familiar warmth that should've been beside him… but Jake wasn't there.
The space next to him was empty. Cold.
With a sigh and a long, heavy yawn, Finn sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He tossed off the covers and moved quietly through the treehouse, his bare feet pressing softly against the wooden floor. As he reached the stairs, a wave of warm, savory aroma hit his nose.
Down in the kitchen, the table was a paradise of food—steaming plates stacked high with eggs, toast, roasted vegetables, stacks of pancakes, bowls of fruit, and more. Every color imaginable danced across the spread, every scent tempting enough to pull the hunger out of anyone's soul.
"Happiness must've scrambled your brain, Lady. Everything's totally fine," Jake said with a grin as he stirred the final pot, apron tied around his middle. He was still cooking—one last dish for the morning feast. Lady Rainicorn stood off to the side, her rainbow mane glowing faintly. She was about to say something—her lips parted, horn tilting slightly—but the moment she saw Finn, her mouth snapped shut.
"Finn!" Jake's voice lit up as he turned toward his brother. With an elastic stretch of his arm, he pulled Finn closer and gently seated him at the table.
"Brotherly breakfast," Jake said, his voice warm with nostalgia. "Just like the old days, bro." He dropped beside him and hugged him tight with one arm before turning back to the food.
Finn gave a faint, tired smile. "Breakfast? Dude, this could feed the entire Land of Ooo."
"Don't ruin the moment, little man," Jake chuckled, though his tone carried a flicker of disappointment.
Lady joined them, settling in beside the boys. But as they ate, she didn't touch her food much. Her eyes were locked on Finn, watching him with the sharp focus of someone looking for something—something that wasn't right.
Because something wasn't.
Jake chatted, told stories, cracked jokes, tried to reignite the spark between them—but Finn barely responded. A nod here, a murmur there. His mouth was more invested in the food than the conversation. If this was really the reunion Jake had longed for, where was the joy? The energy? The love?
Lady narrowed her eyes. Something about the blond boy across from her twisted in her gut. She didn't trust it.
"Oh! Yeah, almost forgot," Jake suddenly said between bites. "Lady told me you can understand her now. Did you run into, like, a Rainicorn herd or something on the way here?"
"No. I'm pretty sure I don't," Finn said flatly. The words hit like a hammer. Cold. Distant. Absolute.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Jake slowly turned his head toward his wife. His eyes—usually playful and kind—were filled with something neither of them were used to: disgust. Suspicion. Anger. It made Lady flinch. He had never looked at her like that before.
She'd told him something felt wrong about Finn. She couldn't explain how—just that she knew. She said Finn somehow understood her language now. But with a single sentence, Finn made her look like a liar. Like she was trying to turn them against each other.
Lady's chest tightened. Her appetite vanished completely. She clenched her teeth and forced herself to chew the food, even as her gaze darkened with fury. The Finn she saw now… he wasn't just unfamiliar. He was something else. Something that made her blood boil.
Finn didn't care. He noticed her eyes on him, sure—but he didn't flinch. His focus stayed on the feast before him, shoveling food into his mouth with the hunger of someone who had been living off scraps. Because he had. After months of bland, meat-only meals, each bite of this flavor-rich food felt like paradise.
When breakfast finally ended, Jake could barely contain himself. He had so many plans—so many things he had missed doing with his brother. And now, with Finn back, he was determined to relive all those memories.
Without warning, Jake shifted into his larger form, plucked Finn off the ground, and threw him over his head like a sack of potatoes. "Come on! No time to waste!" he shouted as he raced toward the forest, laughter echoing in the air.
The thick trees swallowed them whole. Somewhere deep in the lush greenery, Jake shrank back to his normal self and crouched behind a wall of tall, leafy bushes.
"Ready, Finn?" he asked, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Ready for what exactly?" Finn replied, skeptical.
Jake didn't answer. Instead, he yanked the bushes aside, revealing a view that made Finn's breath catch in his throat.
A waterfall.
Not just any waterfall—the waterfall. Crystal-clear water streamed down from a distant hill, crashing into a bright, sunlit pool below. The grass around it was vivid, untouched, glowing like something out of a dream. Unlike the rest of the forest, this place felt warm. Pure. Sacred.
"This…" Finn started to say.
But Jake didn't let him finish. He grabbed his wrist and pulled. Finn resisted at the last second, slipping free before Jake could toss him into the water.
"What's wrong, man?" Jake asked, surfacing from the pool and wiping water from his eyes.
"N-no, it's nothing," Finn stammered, stepping back. "I'll just stay here."
Jake blinked. "What? Finn, this is the biggest waterfall in the whole forest. You've loved this place since you were a baby!"
"Wait… what?"
"Yeah! This was the one exception to your fear of swimming," Jake said, hands on hips, puzzled.
That didn't make sense. Finn's fear of water had always been strong. Irrational. It was the kind of fear that made him freeze in place—even monsters didn't scare him like deep water did.
And yet…
He dipped his toe into the pool.
A wave of memory hit him like a tsunami—visions of younger versions of himself, splashing, laughing, diving into these waters again and again. This place had once been his home. His joy. His safe haven.