SHICK

"Hey Finn, I-"

SHICK

"It been a while since we-"

SHICK

"I promise, I'll always be-"

SHIIICK

Finn set the razor down staring at the blood running out of his arms at an alarming rater. He didn't feel any fear, or pain, in fact, he rarely felt anything these days. He hadn't felt any happiness, or joy, excitement, or even amusement in months. He didn't even really feel sadness, loss, or despair since she left him alone.

How had he gotten this way? Most people would just say he was depressed and couldn't let go. That may be true to some extent but in all honesty, he, and he alone, knew the truth. He knew it almost as well as he knew her smell, or her voice, the feeling of her hand in his, or what she would say at any given moment, or the way she could make him smile with a single sentence no matter what. Most of all, what he knew best about her, what he could never forget even if he wanted to, was the way her eyes would always light up around him in a way no one else had ever been able to make them, in a way that always kept his brain from functioning and turned his brain to mush. If he had been asked to describe Heaven on Earth, he would have said one word, and one word only. Marceline.

5 months ago

Marceline sat below the tree calmly and smiled as Finn glanced at her again. She knew that it wasn't so much that he was looking at her body as it was that he was making sure she was still there. She had been doing the same thing because both felt the day had been too perfect to be real. The day had started with a jam session like always and then they had gone to Finn's house for their bathing suits. Marceline had hidden hers under Finn's mattress. He knew it was her that did it but that didn't stop him from turning crimson when she teased him for stealing her bathing suit.

After she had stopped teasing him long enough for them to change, Marceline flew them to the beach which they found empty. Marceline had had the sense to go to a lake rather than the ocean and they spent most of the day entertaining themselves with volleyball, a brawl, tanning, and swimming. Then a pack of Why-wolves and two dragons had attacked and they spent a half hour fighting them before Marceline flew them to a large field where a single tree stood in the center. Its branches were just thick enough to keep rain off them if it began to but were thin enough to be able to see the stars at night on a clear day. The day had been absolutely perfect for them and both were slightly afraid that it was a dream. The reason they had spent the day together was that Marceline had missed his birthday by a day and wanted to make it up to him.

"Happy birthday Finn," Marceline said after a while. "Sorry I missed it."

"It's alright," Finn said. "You made up for it."

Marceline smiled and leaned on his shoulder. He rested his chin on the top of her head and stared out at the sun that was beginning it set. He was now eighteen, physically as old as Marceline. They had stayed best friends since their first meeting while Finn had grown further away from Princess Bubblegum, only going to see her when the candy kingdom was in danger, had all but abandoned Flame Princess, and Jake had moved in with Lady Rainicorn.

"So how come you and me are best friends if you hate everyone else?" Marceline asked.

"Guess you're just my type," Finn said then blushed and hastily added, "not the way it sounded."

"I don't know," Marceline grinned. "I think you just liked what you saw that day you hid in my closet."

Finn again turned crimson but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Relax, I'm just kidding," Marceline laughed. "I don't think you liked it, I know you did."

Finn's blush darkened and Marceline laughed again, sitting up to look at him.

"Busted," Marceline grinned.

Finn rolled his eyes, forcing the blush to go away and looked past Marceline at the sunset. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't be able to watch it but Marceline had set up a thick plastic wall that allowed just enough shade for the light to not hurt Marceline. It was a neat trick since it allowed them to watch the sunset but the sunset now appeared blurry and distorted. It was still better than nothing, though.

"The sunset's beautiful," Marceline stated looking at the sunset. "Shame I can't watch it without that pathetic piece of plastic, though."

"Without it you'd be charcoal," Finn stated. "And what a shame that would be."

"Yeah," Marceline grinned. "Then you'd have to have someone else beat the crap out of you in a bikini."

"But you do it so well," Finn pointed out. "And you look stylish doing it."

"Somebody has to be totally awesome," Marceline grinned.

"And nobody does it better than you," Finn smirked. "That's why I hang around you. Maybe you'll rub off on me someday."

"Maybe someday," Marceline grinned, Finn instantly catching her double meaning. "But today, it's your birthday. And you have to choose a birthday present."

Finn blinked in surprise but after a moment, he closed his eyes and began to think. Then, he smiled, the only thing he really wanted clear in his mind and his eyes opening to see Marceline watching him carefully.

"If I could have anything I wanted for my birthday," Finn said thinking carefully about how o word it. "It would be...a kiss."

"Really," Marceline grinned then leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "That what you meant?"

"Not even close," Finn grinned.

Then, he gently pulled her lips to his. Marceline smirked into the kiss, returning it almost instantly. Finn smiled as well and they stayed like that for a long while. Finally Marceline pulled away and lay against his chest again smiling and keeping her eyes closed. Finn rested his chin on her head again smiling as well.

"I love you Marcy," Finn muttered, not entirely on purpose but truthfully none the less.

At first Marceline said nothing then began to shake slightly as she sobbed, "I love you too Finn."

Then, she was sprinting away on her feet rather than flying. Finn blinked in surprise before chasing her. After a few minutes of trying to catch her, shouting for her to stop and apologizing for whatever he did wrong, he skidded to a halt as she flew away, leaving him standing on the edge of a cliff. Finn watched her fly away in the direction of her house before disappearing into the distance. Then, he turned and walked back through the woods that he was now thoroughly lost in, hoping to find his way back to the beach. Finally he found his way to the tree and from there back-tracked their path to the beach then home.

Over the next few days, he called her probably a hundred times before going over to her house to see if she would talk to him face to face but the house was empty. Her stuff was gone, everything was obsessively clean and there was a note on the table in the dining room. He picked it up and sat down hard.

"Dear Finn, I'm sorry about what happened. I know I hurt you and I apologize. I've gone to the Nightosphere. I won't be back. The house and the cave are both yours. I won't need them anymore. I'm going to be helping Dad rule the Nightosphere, without the necklace this time, I promise, and will continue to do so for at least another thousand years. So this is goodbye. I will never see you again. I'm very sorry that I have to leave. But it's time for me to stop pretending I'm not my father's daughter. I'm sorry. I'll miss you. All my love, Marceline the Nightosphere's Queen."

Finn reread the note a hundred more times until he could recite it before letting it fall to the ground. Marceline couldn't be gone. She had always been there, at least since she arrived. So how was it fair that just when Finn finally fell in love with her, she just packed up and left? Finn wasn't sure how long he stayed there but when he finally left he cave the stars were out when it had been morning when he got there.

He went to his tree-house and retrieved the crystal Jake had left so that they could communicate, Jake being sure to have Lady make it translate all messages to and from English so Finn could read it. Finn wrote down a brief explanation of what happened and then transferred it to the crystal before sending it. After well over three hours of waiting and no message coming back, he tried again with the same result but waiting only a few minutes. He got his brother's language translation dictionary out and worked for an hour, translating his message before sending the translation. This time a short message returned, in English. It was short, simple, and anything but sweet.

"Fuck off Finn. I'm too busy to deal with your shit."

Finn stared at the message for a long time before hurling the crystal at the wall, the crystal shattering into a dozen pieces. No one was left to talk to except PB. She was his last hope. Hopefully, she had some idea what had happened. When he arrived at Princess Bubblegum's castle, he was allowed in by the banana guards that Finn still met once in a while. Princess Bubblegum was sitting in her throne and didn't looked happy or angry at Finn's presence, seeming more or less neutral.

"I need your help, for once," Finn stated.

"With what?" Princess Bubblegum stated.

Finn gave her the short version of what had happened and Princess Bubblegum stared at him for a moment before lowering her head to the floor.

"Finn," Princess Bubblegum sighed. "You're a fool. Marceline is an immortal vampire. You really believe that she would possibly stay with you until you died? You really don't understand anything do you? You really thought that you could be with an immortal? That an immortal, to whom your short little life is just a brief flash, could possibly love you back? You should have known it would end poorly. Go home and get over it. You'll meet someone else soon enough. You've certainly blown through enough of them already."

"But-"

"I'm sorry Finn but your own foolishness brought this on so you have to deal with it," Princess Bubblegum stated. "Now please leave. I have other things to do."

Finn sighed and turned to leave. By the time he had reached his house, his depression was at an all time high. Then, he saw the gift that Marceline had left him and broke. It was the same necklace that he had given her on her birthday that featured an axe-base and a bat's wing crossed and Finn had spent a small fortune to have it enchanted to keep her from craving blood while wearing it. She had left it on the table along with another note saying that he should keep it since it meant more to him than her. The moment Finn's eyes left the note, they spotted a razor a distance away that he usually used to open packages. He grabbed it and walked to his bedroom before doing what he thought he never would have. And the moment he did, he felt great. He knew it was horrible to do but also knew, he couldn't get enough. Just like he knew it would only spiral from there. But he didn't care. What else did he have to make him happy?

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