The Reaction

Summary: They were in a chemistry lab late at night, working on an experiment, when a chemical reaction goes wrong. Bonnibel appeared to be just fine, while her partner on the other handing wasn't quite so lucky.

Marceline was disgruntled, to say the least. Here she was working overtime at a job she really didn't care for, with a woman who was obsessed with what they were doing. All the raven haired girl wanted to do was go home. Was that so much to ask for? A good meal, a warm shower, and a comfortable bed was already starting to call her name.

Her frustration could very well be the reason that they were in this mess now. Bonnibel is covered in liquids laying a few feet away from her. She wasn't looking too banged up, but Marceline had shielded her from the blast. Stupid reflexes, she thought while attempting to haul herself up, if they had been fast enough to begin with, I would have caught that flask before it shattered and the chemicals mixed. At least Bonnibel seems to be ok though.

What happened was that in her haste to finish up so that they could go home, Marceline's elbow nicked a nearby flask, sending it to the floor. Unfortunately for the two, they had already spilled another chemical earlier and when the two substances combined, well you know….things blew up. That's how Marceline would describe this situation.

"Marceline, are you ok?" Bonnibel asks as she slowly makes her way over to her partner. She regrets not cleaning up that chemical from earlier, but it's too late to think about it now. She had to know if Marceline was ok. "You took most of the blast for me."

"Well, I've seen better days," she barely manages to mumble out.

"Come on, we need to get this stuff off of us. Do you think you can stand?"

"Not on my own. I've tried but my body doesn't seem to what to do what I say right now."

Bonnibel helps Marceline to her feet and nearly drags the girl over to the chemical shower in the corner of the room. She turns on the faucet and helps her friend inside. They scrub as much of the chemicals off as they can before stepping out.

"Marceline, don't freak out ok."

"Why would I freak out?"

"Well there are a few reasons that would make you. Do you want me to start with the least concerning and work my way up?"

"What?" Marceline questioned. What was wrong? Why was Bonnibel stalling? How bad can she be? If she wasn't careful, she was going to panic before she even knew what the problem was.

"Just spit it out. I don't care what you start with."

"You're skin is pale."

"It's always pale, Bonnibel. Plus, we almost just died so I figure I would look really pale at this point."

"No. It's like super pale. Almost like you just died, and I noticed this when I helped you into the shower, but you're extremely cold as well."

"Well, that's one thing. What's next?"

"Your eyes are red."

"As in bloodshot?"

"No, as in where they would normally be green, they're red," she starts, "your irises have turned completely red."

"That's impossible."

"Well, it can't be impossible since I'm looking at them. Do you feel any different?"

"Is it weird that my heart isn't beating at a rate of a mile per minute? I mean, you just told me some pretty shocking things, but I'm not feeling it pound or anything."

"I'm not sure. Let me see your wrist so I can check your pulse."

Marceline stretches her arm out in front of her so the other girl could check. She waited patiently for Bonnibel to tell her what she learned. While she waited, she was able to see Bonnibel's face pale considerably as a minute went by. "Marceline, are you absolutely sure that you're ok? You don't feel any different than you normally do?"

"I feel fine. Sure, I'm a little worse for wear at the moment, but other than that, I'm good."

"This doesn't make any sense. In one minute, your heart beat once every fifteen seconds. That means that you only had four heartbeats."

"Oh," the raven haired girl says. What else could she say? She was just told that she was doing something that shouldn't be possible for a human to do. By all means, she should be passed out on the floor and nearing death. Instead, she felt perfectly fine. When she closed her mouth, she felt a small pain in her bottom lip. That wasn't normal.

"Bonnibel, could you check my lip. I think I bit it."

"You didn't bite it."

"Oh my gosh, now what is it?"

"That was your canine teeth. For some reason, they're longer than average now," she looks away as she says the next part, "Marceline, I think the chemicals changed your DNA makeup."

"Is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but when I look at you, it makes it hard to say that it isn't. I'm so sorry."

"No, this isn't even you're fault. I don't need you to apologize. I need you to help me figure out everything that's wrong with me, and then help me fix this."

"I don't think there is a way to fix this. Human DNA is too dangerous to toy around with. What if we tested an antidote on you and it killed you?"

"At this rate, you might as well say that I'm dead."

"You're not dead yet! I don't want to be the one who kills you either. The only major thing that has changed is your blood pressure and appearance. Your personality wasn't affect so that's good. Just bear with me while I figure this out. It's probably going to be a slow process though."

"I don't care how slow the process is. I'll do whatever it takes to get back to normal."

But will I, Bonnibel thinks to herself as she glances at Marceline once more. If the price of normal is death, can she bring herself to do it? Can she end someone else's life with an experiment? Even if it was an experiment that created this problem, what are the chances that another one will correct it? They would find that out in due time.