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It was the middle of the night. Jake was snoring deeply in his bed like always, albeit his change in size made him not quite fit. BMO recharged in the living room, and had surprisingly let Neptr sleep close to him as well. Despite just coming back from being made of candy, the treehouse and its residents were at rest.
All except for Finn.
He couldn't rest, despite really wanting to. After just saving Ooo with the help of LSP, all he wanted to do was sleep for two days straight.
'Guess the adrenaline rush hasn't passed yet." He figured.
Welp. Lying in bed wasn't really making him any sleepier. He stood up and left the bedroom. Maybe a middle of the night snack would help.
As he went into the kitchen, he heard a rustling noise. It was coming from above him. He climbed up to the attic but found nothing. Then he heard the rustling again. Finn realized it was definitely coming from the top of the tree itself. He went up and lo and behold, saw the culprit making the noise.
It was Fern. He kept writhing around every few seconds, and groaned a lot. His hands twitched violently as he gnashed his (grass) teeth. He looked like he was having a nightmare.
Face filled with concern, Finn gently touched the plant boy's arm. "Fern?" He whispered. "Ya' doing alright, man?"
Fern responded by screaming in his face, as he jerked up suddenly. Finn flinched as he dodged a slash from Fern's sword, who had summoned it instinctively.
"W-WOAH, HEY! FERN, BUDDY, IT'S JUST ME!" Finn explained as Fern stopped screaming.
"...Ah. Uh, sorry for screaming and almost slicing your face." Fern said, embarrassed. He moved a bit away from Finn, and crossed his legs.
Finn sat down and moved closer. "Sooo, were you having a nightmare? You looked mad skronked up before I woke you."
Fern sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Dreamt I was a small sapling but someone kept pouring root beer on me. Then I was me and I was drowning in the root beer, but it wasn't root beer anymore it was grass which I don't really know how that works and I just started getting suffocated by all the grass AND-" Fern stopped talking as he saw Finn hold his arm, which he just realized was shaking. He took a deep breath.
"And uh, then you woke me up. Which was pretty good for you to do, I guess."
"Anytime" Finn said as he smiled. But Fern didn't look comforted at all. The plant boy stood up and walked to another part of the tree. "Fern?" Finn said.
"Why are you still being so nice to me? I failed you." Fern balled his hands into fists. "I failed to protect Ooo when you asked me to. When the candy infected the treehouse, I didn't even try to resist."
"Hey, don't blame yourself for that! The whole elements bizz infected everyone, it's not like you on your own could've helped stop it." Finn said, hoping it would make him feel better.
It didn't. "But I could have. I could have noticed the candy all around the grasslands and dodged it before it could get me. I could have found other people and saved them before they got infected. I could have tried being a hero, like you! But while you were off on a boat, going on an adventure and probably doing heroic deeds, I was just acting like a complete DILLWEED the entire time!" Fern yelled with extreme frustration. He noticed the shock on Finn's face and regretted saying anything. He went quiet as he lay down on the tree, staring at the moon. Finn joined him, laying down as well, saying nothing.
The two stayed like that for a while, until Fern decided to ask a question. "Hey. So what did happen while you were away at sea?"
Finn sat up. "Oh man, a lot of stuff happened. First we met this sea dragon. He was really annoying, but he did end up helping us sail to the right direction. Then me, Jake, BMO and Susan all got separated. Me and Jake washed up on this one island that had weird animal hybrids and crazy weather where I met this tiny old lady named Alva, who was also a human. Then we found BMO playing this weird virtual reality game with a bunch of other humans but that was kinda depressing cause the humans there looked really thin and sad in reality. Jake gave birth to a parrot. We found out that Susan used to live on one of the islands and that her old name was Kara. Then I found-oh Glob! Mom! Probably should've started with that."
Fern perked up at that last part. "Wait, you found M-your mom? Like, your human mom?"
"Yeah!" Finn replied. "Her name is Minerva, Minerva Campbell. She was a doctor, which probably explains why I always have this need to help other people. When a huge virus spread around the island, she decided to upload her consciousness into a load of robots to protect the remaining humans."
"Woah" was all Fern said.
Finn started to remember the first time he met her. "Haha, she's…a really good person. Was really not what I expected."
"Not what you expected?"
"Well…sort of. Before going out and finding out she's still alive, I kind of thought she might have been like Martin and was a total ding wad. But also, she was very controlling. The other humans all depended on her and her robots whenever something went wrong. And then when I tried convincing them to leave the island, Mom threatened everyone that she was going to upload their brains into that virtual reality I talked about earlier." Finn's expression turned somber as he explained more. "She looked very tired, too. Even if she was just her own consciousness, she must have been so stressed at the idea of letting the humans get hurt."
"I stayed on the island for a while, after convincing her not to do the whole 'putting people's consciousness into a computer by force' thing. At one point, I asked her how I left. She said that one day, dad took me and left the island. He even got past the Guardian, which was this big robot that kept everyone on the island. She said that she never got to know why. I thought about telling her what happened to Martin, but she said she already knew, when I showed her all my memories. We stopped talking about him and moved on to another thing."
It was at this point Finn realized that his hat was off, and that his hair was being braided by Fern. "Um, hang on. Whatcha' doin', Fern?"
Fern flushed as Finn finally noticed his work, sprouting a small mushroom on his head. He brushed it off as he explained. "Oh, sorry. You were going really deep talking about what happened, and it just sort of reminded me of a memory-which technically is your memory-of when you and Jake would play barber and talk about stuff that bothered you two. But instead of fake cutting your hair, I kind of just played with it? Whatever, it looks kinda bad, sorry."
Finn felt his hair. The braided part was very loose, and tiny flowers (probably from Fern) adorned it." Nah, dude. It's pretty neat."
"Oh, okay. Are you going to continue talking about your mom?" Fern asked.
"Well…I've been thinking. About going by Finn Campbell now, instead of Finn Mertens, as a way to be more connected with my mom, now that I know what she's like. But I don't know…since Martin left with the comet, his name is all I have left of him. It feels weird, to cling to this one last bit of him when he was a big old jerk. But…I think a part of me wants to keep being Finn Mertens to show him-wherever he is now-how even if he was a terrible guy, his kid's not. I want to be a good person no matter what and if I donk up something real bad, I won't just run away like he does. I'll be better than him." Finn blinked. "Woah, totally just came up with that last part on the spot."
Fern looked at him in awe. "That's really admirable, Finn." It made him think about his own name. 'Wait. Should I change my name? I really only go by Fern. Not Fern Mertens or Fern Campbell, or even Fern the Grass Boy. Just…Fern. Maybe I should just embrace that. I could be some weird guy that hangs with the actual Finn instead. But…can I really do that?'
These thoughts haunted Fern. It seemed reasonable to just let go and be someone different, someone not like Finn. But it felt wrong, like it betrayed his own 'roots' so to speak. How could he just change and be 'Fern', when there's still remnants of 'Finn' inside him?
'Even though I used to be this guy, I could never be at peace with these sorts of problems he has. What's up with that?' His mind sprouted such thoughts, like weeds.
"Why aren't I like you, anymore?" Fern said softly. He didn't mean to say it out loud but Finn heard and tilted his head. "Huh? Whaddya mean?"
"We were the same person, until I became this…grass creature. I remember being you and building that tower to steal d-not-dad's arm, only to not in the end. I felt fine with knowing he sucked, but I didn't. Then I met that grass wizard who created me and all I could think to do was beating the dirt out of him."
Finn frowned. "Dude. Those are only slightly similar situations."
"B-but still! I shouldn't be this way! I should just be like you, but grass now! But now I'm more jerkish, and dumb, and, and..." Fern covered his face with his hands. "Anddd now I'm doing the same 'losing it for no good reason' bit I did earlier. You should probably leave now. I'll be fine here, even if I get another weird dream again."
Things went quiet with the two again. But of course, Finn spoke up.
"You know, I really wish you met Mom. She deserved to know about her other son, and I wish I didn't prevent that from happening."
Fern was confused. "What 'other son?' I'm basically just some dinger who only slightly resembles her actual son."
"Dude. Like you said, we were basically the same person. Even if you aren't me anymore, you're practically my twin bro. Besides, you and Mom are weirdly similar."
"...wait, really?"
"Yeah. I mentioned how she was technically her consciousness uploaded into a computer, right? Before we left the island completely, I asked if she was really her, like, the real Minerva. She said she didn't fully know, but that it felt like she was her. That's sorta like with you, y'know? Only difference is that you chose to be a different person. That's a pretty interesting thing between you two that you could've bonded about."
Fern was taken aback. He widened his eyes at the other's words. 'She was…like me? She became someone else? If we met, would she really see me as her own son? '
"...Huh. Your m-mom, she…" Fern said. Tears trickled down from his eyes, like dew from a blade of grass. He wiped one tear away. "I don't-I don't know why I'm crying right now."
Finn hugged him. His eyes looked watery too. "It's cool, man. Dang, we've been talking for a while now. Mostly just me, though. Sorry for not letting you talk that much."
Fern just shrugged. "It's chill, I actually liked listening to you instead of talking more. Did anything else happen after leaving Mom?"
"Well, after eating a boat load-pff, boat load-of bananas, me, Jake and BMO had this crazy dream…"
Then Finn explained what happened to Fern. After that the two talked about other random stuff. They talked until they both were finally tired enough to sleep on the roof of the treehouse together. For a short moment of his life, Fern felt at peace with himself.