Reflecting More Than Light

by ForgetMeNaught

Here, the dead do not devour what you love. What would you do to protect it? What would you do to own it? A mirror permits a twisted Finn to travel to the Ooo he loved so dearly, but misery loves company. From the moment the artifact is discovered, dark events cause a necrosis unlike Finn and Jake have ever seen.

1. Even Looking Once Changes It

Reflecting More Than Light

Even Looking Once Changes It

Princess Bubblegum's Log, Entry #473, Day 19

We've been digging in the recently discovered ruins of the Desert of Doom region. A number of unique artifacts have been brought into circulation in the civilized lands from this area, some of them very dangerous. I've started an archaeological dig to find these artifacts, maybe secretly with the hopes of finding some hidden cache of ancient technology and keeping it out of the wrong hands. The ruins are of a variety I'm not entirely familiar with, but the architecture and materials predate the Mushroom War, thus making them at least a thousand years old.

My dig team has thus far not unearthed anything of particular interest, though some of the items would make excellent additions to the Museum of Ancient Ooo. Among the items unearthed are our earliest known example of a fork, a petrified book, a sheet of metal with faint remnants of red paint and the word STOP silhouetted upon it, as well as what appears to be a piece of rusted steel headgear.

I'm afraid that's as much as I have to update my log at this time.

And with a sigh, Princess Bubblegum closed her hologram logbook, happy and solemn at once. Happy that she was pursuing ancient, long-buried things, and solemn because maybe pride had convinced her they would find something more than the items she had before her in the glass case that dominated the center of the main tent in the dig camp. She was almost three weeks in and already she'd found many interesting things, uncovered a number of fascinating structures; but she'd had such energy when the endeavor began, and now she feared momentum was being lost. As Bubblegum moved to the tent's exit, she returned her visor to her head, honestly just in time to shield her eyes from the harsh sun. The Desert of Doom… nothing but sand and death for miles upon miles. She surveyed this patch of unlivable land with a quiet seriousness before Peppermint Butler intruded on her thoughts.

"Ma'am, a report from sector 4 is in."

"Yes?"

"Well," he began, "the building from that area has proven to be another dead end. More baby booties, all of them right feet."

"That's strange," she said quietly, almost so quiet that it seemed to be to herself. "But oh well. Please have them taken to containment. We'll send a shipment back to the Candy Kingdom once the lift is full."

"Yes ma'am."

And so he sauntered off, hard-hat clashing drastically against his servile garb. Bubblegum always found the juxtapositions to which Peppermint Butler put himself to be adorable. She sighed a little more happily now, and took to surveying the other sectors with her hands clasped gently behind her back. Her boots kicked up loose soil as she walked, and the dust clung eagerly to her pink shorts and work shirt, giving her just a touch of brown. The sun in turn baked her long, full pony tail, giving her whole body a sense of desert workmanship. She neither liked nor disliked it.

"Everything proceeding here?"

She called down to a candy corn wearing a work belt decorated with hammers, picks, and brushes, an uncanny and likely ineffective cone-shaped hard hat dotting his head. Peering up through the sun, he smiled and waved.

"Yes princess! The jawbreakers have been working that boulder over there," he said with a gesture, pointing toward a number of of the extremely hard candies as they smashed against a huge stone, "they say that there's a hollow space behind it."

"Really? Fantastic!"

Bubblegum slid down the dirt wall that separated her from the pit, excited that there was a find of any kind. She wasn't sure that the jawbreakers' resonance detection would work, but it seemed that finally they were playing their part. By picking up on the lack of reverberation on the other side of the boulder they bashed their ball-shaped bodies against, they'd inadvertently found a tunnel. In short, a planned accident. And as she approached the great stone that had gained so much attention, she saw that it was in fact becoming riddled with fissures. It wouldn't be long now.

"Peppermint Butler!"

She waited, and moments later he appeared, a look of 'yes ma'am?' on his face. Seeing her excitement and knowing what that could mean, he rushed back to another tent to get the necessary equipment. Minutes passed, punctuated by the solid thuds of jawbreaker cracking stone. The seams widened with each moment, the boulder inching ever towards coming undone. Peppermint Butler appeared at his lady's side with a hard hat adorned with a lamp, as well as a batch of torches. Bubblegum placed the hat gently on her head only moments before the air was filled with a great noise; the boulder shattered, and its many parts crashed to the ground.

"Alright everyone! Let's get a good look around!"

The space behind the boulder was a long tunnel of sorts, dark and dusty and far removed from the world. And as Princess Bubblegum stepped into this place, she planted a torch in the loose dirt and lit it up, letting the soft glow of fire fill the room. Looking deeper, she found to her excitement that this was not yet another dead end; the tunnel ran deep. She lit up the lamp on her hard hat and giggled delightedly, walking ahead with the torches in hand, planting one after another and lighting them for the workers who followed. This proceeded until she came upon a great, rusted out door. It was an intimidating spectacle, covered in interlocking parts and controlled by some sort of master wheel holding three metal rods set symmetrically in the wheel. What an exciting looking door!

"My goodness… this isn't anything like the other ruins. Peppermint Butler!"

"Yes ma'am!"

He and the work crew then began their work; approaching the door, they set about gripping the great metal rods that jutted from the master wheel.

"Remember everyone, ancient gears are all designed the same way. Lefty loosey righty tighty. And go!"

Peppermint Butler then took to making a circular motion with his arm, counterclockwise, and the candy workmen followed suit. Or rather, they tried. So rusted and worn was the door that the master wheel refused to turn, holding fast in its tomb of seized gears. The pressure the workmen put on the rods caused an audible strain, a groan which echoed into the ancient tunnel. This noise filled Bubblegum with dread, made her bite her lips and sweat drip down the side of her face. She feared the rods would give, that the vault might remain sealed forever, and knowledge be lost to the desert once and for all.

"Easy now. Easy."

And then it happened; the tunnel filled up with the terrible loudness of gears breaking out of rusty cocoons and metal grinding on metal. The wheel turned then with ease, and Bubblegum's knotted up anxiety was undone. She smiled when the master wheel ceased its movements, signaling the door was unlocked. Peppermint Butler too was happy at this turn of events, and he backed up slowly, gesturing toward himself to signal the crew to pull the door open. The tall candy workmen tugged eagerly in unison, and the rusted gate was itself slowly yanked loose from its frame. The smell of old air flooded the tunnel.

"It's open… Alright, let's see what's in there."

The princess moved to enter, only to be blocked by Peppermint Butler with outstretched arms.

"No my lady. If it's dangerous, you could get hurt. Let me go in."

"Peppermint Butler, I really think I-"

"No my lady."

And with a smile and a torch, Peppermint Butler entered the exposed chamber, the faint orange light of the torch giving him away on the other side. A moment passed before he returned with a strange look on his face.

"My lady, I think there's something you'd like to see."

He led her back through the chamber, a dark, stale space that seemed to be empty at first glance. But close to the end of the space, Bubblegum caught a glimpse of what her servant and confidant had found. A huge object lay here, a great, ornamented rectangle of gold. It looked like a great door frame, ten feet tall and perhaps six feet wide. The gold frame was decorated in a way she'd never seen before. Images of people and animals, and people mixed with animals, all drawn in exaggerated, angular style. Each glyph that depicted a creature was in profile, revealing only one side of the square face and body. Heads and hands were all strangely proportioned, larger than they should be. Princess Bubblegum then turned her attention to the space within the frame. It seemed infinitely dark inside; where the gold reflected the dancing flame's light, the space within looked to be smoky and shaded with ever complicated hues of grey and black.

"What is this? A door? What's on the other side?"

"Nothing, my lady," Peppermint Butler replied quietly, "It's not a door. It's a mirror."

"A mirror? But…"

Same day, but at the Tree House

"Happy Birthday Finn!"

The shouts of many happy voices and the shower of confetti all served the same purpose: celebration. Celebration of fifteen years of life. A happy life, no less. And Finn's mirth betrayed nothing less than that happiness.

"Thanks Jake. Thanks everybody."

Attendance was high, and included many of Finn's favorite people. Jake, Flame Princess, Lady Ranicorn, Lumpy Space Princess, an entourage of candy citizenry, half a dozen living balloons, and then some all came to wish Finn the best, and most of them to thank him for saving their lives at one point or another.

"It's cool to see y'all. Jake kept pretending that he forgot my birthday."

"Heh heh, yeah. You deserve it."

Mirth and laughter flowed through the evening, and indeed everyone at one point or another approached Finn to engage in conversation, some mundane yet charming, others riddled with strangeness. LSP, naturally, attempted more than once to take the lime light. What other way could it be? The hours passed, though, and one by one the guests bid their farewells until perhaps a third remained. At this stage, Finn felt a gentle touch on his hand, a touch like the heat of the sun wrapped in fireproof wool. A touch like.

"Flame Princess."

"Heh, yeah. Happy Birthday Finn," she whispered with a wide smile. She leaned in close and gave the shortest, sweetest, hottest kiss on his cheek. "When you have a moment, would you come outside and sit with me?"

"Uhm, uhh, yeah…"

Finn's smile and gentle laugh were all she needed to giggle and smile ever wider, and Flame Princess thereafter excused herself to the fields. Finn waited for a time, looking back at the party as it did slowly wind down. Slow dancing had become the preferred entertainment, at least for everyone except LSP. She moved and spun to a song only she could hear, and though this made Finn laugh heartily, he moved on.

"Jake. Hey Jake. I'm gonna go chill with Flame Princess for a while."

"Alright man. Stay outta' trouble, here me? No ti-"

"No tier 15, I got it."

And so he departed the tree house, greeting the warm summer night air as it met his skin. His shoes whispered softly with each step across the grass until he heard a crunch. Looking to the ground, he spied burnt grass shaped like tiny foot prints, and he followed those feet to the top of a hill lit by a great orange flame. Flame Princess sat there waiting, staring at the moon. He sat next to her and joined in the observation.

"Hey FP."

"Hi Finn. No tier 15?"

"Hah hah, no tier 15."

It was a sense of light comedy for them both that Jake would ever tell them 'no tier 15,' even though neither of them knew entirely what that entailed. Or rather, it seemed they didn't. Flame Princess took her eyes from the moon and stared at Finn instead. She reached up slowly and cautiously tugged at the ear of Finn's bear hat until it fell to the ground. Shoulder length blonde hair flowed forth. Finn turned his head to see her staring at him with a face touched with moonlight and bewitchment.

"Something on your mind, FP?"

"Finn… do you ever think about it?"

"Think about what?"

"Tier 15, Finn," she said excitedly, though she remained hushed. Her cheeks flared up with a blush, on top of that. "Do you ever think about what that means?"

"Uhhh," was all he could manage as his own cheeks filled with heat. "I know that we already did tiers one through seven…"

"Right. And what's tier 8 again?"

"I think that's the tier that…"

His chain of thought was broken when she parted her knee long skirt, made of fire as it was, exposing her glowing thighs all the way to her hips. She still hid certain regions from him, perhaps fearing his head might explode.

"Jake says tier 8 is where you 'touch her horn' for the first time, right Finn? Well, I don't have a horn, but you can touch me here if you want," she said as stroked her thigh. Her voice revealed her excited shaking, and she herself was burning hotter and hotter as she thought about it. Finn's whole face, at this point, burned red, and his hand extended slowly toward her leg. It felt somehow right to him to do this; he stopped just short of her skin and pulled away, and this displeased his lady.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You're, umm… you're too hot."

"… Oh. Oh! I see."

She smiled then and lifted a hand up to shoulder height. Swirling a finger gently in the air, a small flame issued forth, sending groups of embers from it. And in her native tongue, Flame Princess uttered a quiet little spell. Ignan runes floated peacefully in the air as the spell was formed, and the runes faded as Flame Princess leaned in and kissed Finn passionately on the lips. His red face was washed out by a spread of blue, and the heat faded from burning to tolerable. At least, her heat did. Finn's blood seemed itself to be made of lava. And when she leaned away, Flame Princess's breathing had picked up, and her fiery hair flickered violently in a breeze that didn't exist. She giggled and smiled.

"Hm hm, flame shield. Better?"

"Yeah… yeah."

Finn then reached gently toward his prize, the blazing hot thigh that physics had denied him just moments before. His touch caused Flame Princess, already breathing hard, to take in a sharp, excited breath, and the air around her shimmered with the heat of passion and elemental fire.

"Oh Glob Finn. You feel so cool to the touch..."

Awkwardness made him shudder. Through the flame shield he could feel the heat of her body, and through the throbbing in his head he could feel the conflict that raged in his mind. Was this against the rules? Was this wrong? It didn't feel wrong. He felt he was doing this right. And he felt that to move his hand up and down that stretch of leg was very right. Her breathing picked up, and it was clear to his biology that she was pleased. More than that, she was burning. He kept his hand relaxed as it slid up to the top of her leg, stopping a few inches short of her hip, but his thumb and fingers would squeeze gently as he pulled back.

"F-finn, that's…"

"Oh no, is that bad?"

"No. No, faster."

She gripped his hand and forced it to move as she requested, up and down her leg faster. She stared down so intently as he did so that it almost seemed an impossible level of focus. Flame Princess stopped breathing as it proceeded and instead began to pant. Why was she feeling this way? She didn't fully understand herself, actually; maybe some part of her nature was denied up to this point. This was clearly past tier 8, a stage involving only touching. And as she looked at last into FInn's eyes, seeing that same desire to see this innocent yet exploratory string of actions to its end that she felt in her. She knew that she was aroused. And she knew he was too. And as that thought flooded her mind, she took Finn's hand and pulled him into her embrace. Their lips met, then parted. Her tongue danced in his mouth, her sizzling muscle wrapping around his as a deep moan escaped her throat and echoed into his. Finn's eyes shot open in shock, partly from what she was doing, and partly because she burst into flames and scorched the earth and air around him. The explosive pleasure in her body caused a heat that strained even the flame shield, though it did not overcome it nor scorch his flesh. As the groan passed and the flames crackled into submission, Flame Princess pressed her forehead to Finn's and panted happily, eyes closed and open mouth pulled into a smile.

"Oh Grod, did I break the rule? Was that tier 15?"

"No Finn… but I think that might be what tier 15 feels like…"

"So," he said timidly, shaking from fear and his own deep arousal, "I did good."

Her response was not of words, but another deep open-mouth kiss. In this way did Finn open up a new door in Flame Princess's passionate heart, a pleasurable climax arrived at through curious physical contact.

Daylight crept into the treehouse windows, striking Finn's tired face and warming his strained muscles. He slept very little if at all last night; though Flame Princess bid him ado shortly after she had what seemed to be her first orgasm. He wasn't sure whether to let her go or beg her stay, so he decided to let the lady have her way. His body resented him for that. The arousal she made him feel was painful, but the passion soothed and warmed him. In truth, he smiled all night. The sun alerted him that the night was passed, and though he was tired, he felt within him a zeal that couldn't be quenched so easily. He pulled his hat back on and walked peacefully to the ladder that led to the kitchen. No one here now. He guessed that it made sense, except for the fact that breakfast was cooking, albeit left unattended. He heard Jake then.

"Aight sweetie. I'll catch up with you later."

The sound of a door closing signaled the end of exchanged words, and Finn walked to a window in time to see Lady Rainicorn weaving her way across the sunny morning sky. How did she put it? She danced upon on beams of light. Yeah, he loved how poetic that sounded. Attention was drawn then to Jake as he returned to the kitchen, one leg stretching up in advance of his puggish body.

"Mornin' Finn. … Whoa, did you sleep?"

"A little I think… what's for breakfast?"

"Hm? Nothin' special. Have a seat, s'almost ready."

"Cool man."

Finn sat somberly and heavily, causing the chair and floor boards to squeak in rebellion. But Finn had a rather interesting fondness for such sounds; he rocked back and forth in his chair, forcing the wood to issue tiny gasps and high-pitched squeals.

"Alright, that's enough of that!"

Jake's sensitive ears. Finn often forgot that detail. Every little squeak caused Jake's ears to perk, and this was frustrating for the dog, who knew full well that Finn was wanting nothing more than meager entertainment. He stood by with several pans and plates balanced in half a dozen hands, and as each dish was put to the table, a hand receded into Jake's body.

"Sorry man."

"It's cool. But seriously, did you sleep at all?"

"I said a little."

"Well, it looks like not at all. Like you were up all night thinking about something. Thinking about something that might have burned a crater into that hill over yonder. Know anything about that?"

And thus did Finn's face burst into red. He half turned from Jake and swallowed anxiety as heavy and hard as iron before bothering to think of a response. In the split second of panic that he felt, he recalled last night's little tryst. Flame Princess invited him out there innocently enough, he thought. She and he sat staring at the moon, and he remembered thinking how beautiful the night was when there was something to light it up. Flame Princess made the night especially beautiful. As beautiful as her face as he gazed at it, and knew that he loved her. As beautiful as her long legs, stretching from her toes all the way up to her hips. As beautiful as the strange feeling of her fiery skin under his magically protected finger tips. Oh Grod… the thought of that only made the pulse in his brain worse. Blood rushed to other reaches as well…

"Dude? You alive in there?"

Finn was brought back to Ooo in a moment's time, his breath slightly more labored than before.

"W-what? Yeah man. I don't know anything about no crater, okay?"

"… Oh man. You didn't do tier 15 did you?!"

"No man!"

Jake stretched aggressively forward, pushing the boy back against the chair in which he sat, a poking finger pushing into his ribs.

"Good, because you're too young for tier 15 man!"

"Yeah, about that," Finn retorted, blood burning in his cheeks, "when will I be old enough for that?"

"What? No, you can't ask me that," Jake retorted and recoiled at once. "You'll know when is when."

"Oh? You know that doesn't make sense, right?"

"Not if you're too young!"

Silence broke out. But it was short-lived, because natural laughter followed.

"I didn't do tier 15 man."

"Good boy."

"But I did tier 8, and probably tier 9."

Jake's eyes went wide and his mouth fluttered open to reveal his rounded teeth. But Finn simply ate his breakfast, a happy conglomerate of bacon, eggs, and browns. Jake took to pacing with his mouth agape, uttering silent words of displeasure as Finn carried on. After clearing his plate in short order, Finn wiped stray bits of food from his face and sighed.

"So, PB wasn't here last night. Guess that arky-whatsit thing is still going, huh?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Her archaeology team is coming home today. Lady said she called her last night on her prism and that they found something cool in the desert."

"Oh. Neat."

"Yeah. We're supposed to go there today to check it out after breakfast. You done?"

"Yeah man. Let's go."

Out into the sun went the brothers, walking calmly at first as they took in the summer day. Birds and bugs populated the air around the tree house, a pleasantry that Finn had taken to heart more and more over the past couple of years.

"Hey Finn. How's it feel to be fifteen?"

"Same but different."

"Heh, I hear that. Ready to go?"

"Yeah man."

Candy Kingdom, castle foyer

Finn loved his visits to the Candy Kingdom, and the Candy Kingdom loved his visits as well. Anyone would be hard pressed to find a place where people could be happier, live lives more satisfied and fulfilled than the candy people. It was that infectious joy that kept Finn and Jake coming back, that warmth and happiness that impressed the adventurous sons of Joshua to defend these people no matter what. The castle stood as it always did, parked perfectly at the center of the city, the boughs of the curious and massive tree towering above it all. And yet never casting even the slightest bit of shade. Weird. The boys were ushered into the foyer by Peppermint Butler, who'd been waiting silently at the front door for the esteemed heroes of Ooo. He wordlessly left them there, and though Finn and Jake wanted to follow, they somehow knew they should wait.

"Yo, Jake."

"Yeah?"

"… P. Butler acting funny?"

"He's always acting funny, man."

"I guess so," Finn answered as he peered about the foyer. Maybe it was his imagination, but the castle seemed off slightly. SIx inches to the left and not quite center. "Castle acting funny?"

"Huh… a little, I guess."

"Weird. What do you thi-?"

"Hey boys."

Attention was then paid to Bubblegum as she graced the room. She had redressed herself in her favorite dresses, visor replaced once more with her crown. She had a quality of tiredness about her as well as one of regency. The last few steps of the stairway she descended seemed particularly exhausting for her, and she stumbled a bit. Finn ran to her side to help if needed, but she happily waved him away.

"I'm fine Finn. I couldn't sleep at all on the trip back from the Desert of Doom. My mind is abuzz with the millions of possibilities of my discovery!"

"Wow, you're pretty psyched, PB."

"Yeah," Jake interjected as he approached, "What did you find? Rainicorn didn't tell me."

"I didn't tell her what I found, Jake. Because honestly, I don't know what it is yet. Come with me."

The three travelled through the castle then, up the stairs and through hall after hall, a seemingly relentless maze concealed by the gentleness and gentility of Candy Castle. Peebles herself seemed so lost in thought that Finn was unnerved by her; it reminded him of the Goliad incident. Glob, Goliad… he used to look up at her and Stormo every time they visited the castle, perhaps to make sure the pair remained locked in their psychic showdown. These days, they just seemed another piece of architecture. His mental wanderings were routed by the princess.

"There was a vault out in the desert. A tunnel ended with a dark chamber guarded by a huge, rusted out door. And on the other side of the door was a mysterious artifact left over from before the Mushroom War. Honestly, though, I've been thinking about all the carvings on it. They don't match anything I've ever seen yet. If I had to guess, I'd say that this artifact is much, much older than the ruins in the ocean, or the under city that your friend Susan lives in. I've only just had it moved to the room across from my observatory, so I haven't had much time to analyze it."

This gave Jake pause; despite his rambunctiousness he was always quite logical. Practical, even. He therefore had random, though insightful moments of wisdom.

"So, if you wanna analyze it, why not have it in your lab?"

"It was too big to put it anywhere but upstairs. The tunnels under the lab are too narrow to move the object around. I haven't used that room for anything but storage for a while now, which seemed like a waste of space."

"Hey PB," Finn broke in, "What is it?"

"Check this out."

Bubblegum pushed open a large door, behind which stood the great mirror she'd excavated in the Desert of Doom. Ten feet tall and six feet wide, the huge golden frame was indeed decorated in unfamiliar ways. Neither Finn nor Jake, in all their romps across the Land of Ooo, had seen glyphs like those upon the mirror. As they approached though, the three peered into its reflecting silver surface. There was only smoke and darkness there, a bleak, yet inviting infinity. And as they stood three feet from it, Finn stared at the black mass that seemed his reflection. It was indistinct, though he could somehow tell it was him. Finn crouched, and stood, and waved his hands about, and the dark mass in the mirror did the same in perfect time. It was impossible to see features or anything of the sort, but Finn knew it was his reflection.

"How come I can't see myself, princess? Does the mirror need to be cleaned?"

"No Finn, it's spotless. What you're seeing isn't dirt, but smoke. After doing a little research and talking to some spirits of the dead by way of seance last night, I found out this is an artifact called the Smoking Mirror. It's supposed to show the patterns of fate."

"That's weird," Finn whispered, looking at his black image. He leaned in closer as though trying to observe something, but it was Jake who gasped in discovery.

"Princess Bubblegum? Why is Finn the only one with a reflection right now?"

And that was the truth. Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum stood side by side in front of that mirror, but only Finn's image, however unidentifiable it was, was the only one looking back at them. And spooky as that was, Bubblegum only smiled.

"That's not entirely clear yet, Jake. But that's what was the case when Peppermint Butler and I found this thing in the vault. Neither of us cast a reflection in the Smoking Mirror, nor did any of the candy workmen who helped move it. So far, no one who's looked into it has seen their reflection. Well, no one except you Finn. I was hoping that would be the case."

She approached the mirror and touched it gently; it was cold to the touch, but it didn't unsettle her. When Finn's reflection looked like it shifted defensively, though, Bubblegum turned back to look at Finn, expecting him to be similarly on guard. He was not. That did unsettle her. Not enough to make her shy away from observation, of course. She was a scientist, and science couldn't be afraid of the dark, even when it looked like it was staring her down. She decided though that that was enough.

"So that's what we found in the vault. Shall I show you some of the other things we uncovered at the dig?"

"Yes please!"

They answered in unison, eager to depart this room and its bizarre inhabitant. The boys followed Bubblegum from the room and out the door. The reflection, however, did not depart. The black mass, rather than copy Finn's withdrawal, stepped toward the mirror, extending a hand to the very spot where Bubblegum had placed her warm hand. Digits stretched from what must have been a hand and delicately traced the warm spot. And from that strange reflection's place in the perpetual midnight of the mirror we shall now observe the last few moments:

The conversation was muffled, inaudible. But he knew that whoever was the man in the mirror, moving his hands about, was him. He knew it the second he noticed that there were three reflections, but he stood alone. That, and the middle man was matching this dark stranger's movements perfectly. He was afraid of what he was seeing, and of what they could be saying. The stranger learned to be afraid of everything in the last couple of years, after it all came undone. But seeing the shadowy silhouette of whoever that tallest person was somehow filled the stranger with comfort. Almost with hope. When it approached and touched the mirror, he shied away, reaching for the great sword strapped on his back. He feared that the shadow might emerge from this pane of smoke filled glass and attempt to kill him. Of what our stranger has seen of the dreadful undead, they might succeed. The shadow, though, touched the glass and stopped there, and the stranger somehow saw that whoever was touching the glass was filling it with warmth. Warmth… he missed that so much. So damn much… Glob in heaven, he wanted more than anything for gentle warmth to exist again. So as the three shades departed the Smoking Mirror, the stranger timidly approached the spot where the tallest of the three stood and touched the surface. A hand was raised and put to the glass, and the stranger smiled, and sighed in delight, and laughed so slightly it seemed like the squeak of a mouse. And when he brought his palm to his cheek to feel the warmth, the stranger's eyes shot open. He approached the glass again, pressing hand and forehead to its surface as if trying to force a clear view. In a cold, wispy, but young voice, he whispered.

"Princess… Bubblegum?"

Close to midnight, two days later

Princess Bubblegum had been studying the mirror for two and a half days now, but she'd taken time to get plenty of sleep, though her sleep schedule was staggered somewhat, leaving her to work through the wee hours of the morning. And truth be told, the study was going poorly; the ancient artifact confounded her to no end, as did the fact that since Finn left, there was never a sign of anything in the mirror's smoke. The glyphs defied analysis, being too old for any text to be of reference, and seances were a risky way to find answers to questions too old for mortal memory to answer. What if the beings answering her call wanted more than to talk? Too risky a business for science. In her frustration, Bubblegum decided to take the simple pleasure of time to herself in the observatory. She stared into the heavens and monitored the movements of the celestial bodies that dotted the sea of outer space. Mars always fascinated her, because through her telescope she could observe the advanced life forms that wandered its surface. And it was made all the more interesting that the Martians could see her too, under the right conditions; once, she happened to spy a Martian observing her through a telescope just as she observed him. She knew this because he waved at her, and she waved back. But in a mere minute's time, it seemed, the moment was gone, neither astronomer able to get the proper angle with their telescope to see the other. That, though, is what amazed Princess Bubblegum about Mars. Something as extraordinary as that could simply happen. She hoped it would happen again soon.

Across the hall, though, something strange was occurring; the black mass, the stranger within the mirror, had returned after two days of being elsewhere. From the perspective of an observer, one might think he was shaking his fists idly in the darkness. From the perspective of the stranger, though, he was crashing his fists against the glass again and again, seeking to break his way through this fickle magical window.

His fists only stopped for brief moments, and in their resting place against the plane his fingers twitched and a streak of breath would run over the shadowed face like a wicked slice. The stranger had a hope within his battered and worn out heart. The shoulders of this figure seemed to carry everything, sometimes shifting as he pounded, as if there was such an emptiness to him that the want was the only fuel to his fire. Perhaps, if he could be dissected, taken away, there would be nothing left but a swirl of energies that pushed past the lack of bone and skin and biology. Why would the other side of the mirror be a bleak eternity when warmth passed between the glass from another person? And he knew who it was out there. He knew it like he knew that he had to escape this hell in which he lived. And as he slammed his tired and aching hands in a mad drive forward, he believed he could finally get a sliver of personal truth. He hoped, with every pound of his fist, to find. With gritted teeth, each desperate plea made by his fists produced a new image of her. One, with her hair over her shoulder armed with an awed smile. Another, with her profile set against the pink of her castle, set apart from it all by a celestial light in his mind. He wanted, there was nothing else to it. He wanted. To finally hear and see her again. Finally touch her again… finally smell and maybe even taste her. The figure only paused for a moment, just to catch a breath. He knew that this mirror would break, he knew it just as he knew that he would find the never forgotten images of perfection that graced him at the darkest hours. He licked his lips, it could not be helped, the thoughts of her drove him, inspired him, and empowered him.

He at last caused the glass to falter, sending cracks along its surface. The fissures magically faded when he paused to look at them, sealed up by the mirror's enchantment. This was frustrating; how long had he punched this damned thing, only to see his work disappear? He slammed his fists again, causing the veins of weakness to reappear, and he did this repeatedly until the cracks widened; from the cracks issued a yellow-green light. The faint light filled the stranger's space, a space filled with rubble and broken bones and bare skulls, a dead place. And moments later, on the other side, where Candy Castle held the mirror, the cracks widened and issued light once more, creaking across the surface of the mirror with each loud thud that issued from the dark side of the looking glass. There was the sound of shattering glass, the breaking of the Smoking Mirror, letting through the stranger into the Land of Ooo. He was slow to do so, afraid still of the other side. But the light of the holding chamber seemed too welcoming, and so the stranger pushed himself through. His footsteps filled the chamber, and the portal through which he stepped hissed shut behind him as the mirror reconstituted itself. Broken glass littered the floor for not even a moment before it melted into water and evaporated.

The stranger stood pensively in the holding chamber for a time; he was armed with a a great sword on his back, wrapped in dusty bandages and stained black with use, and tucked into his boot was the hilt of a brass dagger similarly blemished. The stranger wore a breast plate charred black and tarnished irreversibly, an item forged of steel once, but now far from recognizable as far as metal goes. He possessed matching gloves of black hide and boots, and his shins were guarded with greaves of the same ruined metal as the breast plate. A tattered gray cloak hung around his shoulders. But more startling than anything was the helmet he wore; gazing into it, one could tell after a moment's time that this helmet was made from a bear's bleached skull.

The blackguard, as he appeared to be, peered from one side of the room to the other through the holes in the helmet's face, and in seeing that the only things in here were himself and the mysterious mirror, concluded that through the door was the way the to go. He pressed his hands against it and forced its opening, and what was yielded was the vision of the hallway. He closed the door quietly, looking up and down the hall. His breathing, though silent, was labored and fast. He knew now where he was.

"Candy… Kingdom…?"

The stranger fell to his knees, staring at the floor of this place he never dreamt he'd see again. His gloved fist struck the floor, causing it to crack, and from this cracked floor tile he took a shard of hard candy. He lifted his helmet with one hand and popped the sweet treat into his mouth with the other. The sensation of that candy flooded the blackguard's senses, blinding him with white light and dazzling flavor. He smiled behind his bear skull helm, and laughed silently once more. He swallowed that shard of candy and ate a second one, reveling in the delight he'd been denied for years. He planned to have a third, perhaps to continue to eat until the broken tile was gone, but for the sound of footsteps down the hall. The stranger stood swiftly and glanced about. Two doors were present: the door through which he came, and another through which he could escape. He knew one thing: there was no way out through the mirror room. So instead he eased open the second door and slipped inside. Meanwhile, Peppermint Butler made his way up through the hall quietly, face mired in deep thought. He stopped just short of tripping on the broken tile, thinking it rather strange. He looked about, wondering what could have done this. The conclusion was that maybe this tile was broken when the heavy mirror was brought in; he made a note to have it fixed tomorrow.

The stranger paused and listened through the door, hearing the quiet footsteps of the Peppermint Butler as he left. Satisfied that he was safe, he turned around and looked at the room into which darted: a dark lit room known as the observatory. He pondered a moment and looked around, walking silently and scanning each and every bit of geography. Books and papers abound, and in the far end stood the lower portion of a great machine that he didn't recognize as a telescope. What caught his attention was the pink haired woman at its bottom. He knew her. He remembered her from before, the time before the dead world. He watched silently as she worked, her long hair jostling about as she tilted to and fro, leaning in close to the telescope and leaning back to write of her thoughts and make real her logic. Each minor movement, each intrinsic detail about her, he would commit to memory; he had to, in case this was just another dream. Another nightmare taunting him from the black void. His heart skipped a beat when she dropped her pencil, for in a second's time she leaned to her right to pick it up, brushing back her hair as it drifted in front of her face. Her face… it was the warmest thing he'd seen in his whole life. More beautiful than life, he thought. The sight of her stirred the most astounding cascade of emotion the man had ever felt. So strong, it made this silent, somber, frightening individual audibly gasp. The gasp caused Bubblegum to turn from her telescope and look back, expecting anyone other than who she saw. She froze a moment, not sure of what to do until she found her voice again.

"Who are you? Tell me before I have to call the Banana Guards!"

The stranger stood silent, unafraid, or perhaps frozen head to toe from shock. After a few seconds passed, and it seemed Princess Bubblegum wouldn't answer, the blackguard took it upon himself to answer, albeit in his own way. He drew from his back the great sword that he carried, which frightened the princess quite visibly. She feared he was sent for some dark purpose, such as assassination. When he set the sword against the wall, just below a softly glowing candle, she breathed a short sigh of relief. She looked at him still, fixated on that bleached skull atop the black form. And when he reached up and pulled the helmet from his head, dropping it to the floor with a quiet thud, Bubblegum halted a scream in her throat.

"What in…? Finn?!"

Yes. Yes it was. Finn the Human stood before her now, but at the same time it was so obviously not Finn the Human that it might make a lesser man insane. She crossed the distance to him in seconds, a cry still caught in her lungs. He didn't move an inch, fixated on her image as she approached. Such images flashed through his mind as Finn recalled the very last day he saw her. The day it all came undone, the world he loved and lived in died. She was so alive now. He wanted more than anything to have her…

"Finn! Finn, what happened to you?!" She touched his face gently, feeling the scars that existed there now that had not been two days ago. In her mind, she was trying to make sense of that. She ran fingers over cuts long healed and burns that turned his skin a shade whiter than the rest of his face. She cried quietly, no logic heeding her call. "Finn… what's wrong?"

He stood so quiet, so swallowed up in his feelings and thoughts that Bubblegum thought he must be injured. But he wasn't injured, and was in fact feeling better than he had in two long years. Feeling better not only because she was here, but because she was crying for him, and touching him so gently. Finn's skin eagerly drank up the warmth of Bubblegum's fingers; it made him shed a pair of tears.

"Princess Bubblegum…"

"Finn… are you alright?"

"This is… this isn't real, is it? This just another nightmare. I've had so many before, why should this be anything else? Why shouldn't this be a bad dream?"

"What? Finn, this isn't a bad dream," she said with the greatest of empathy, "I don't know what's going on, but I know this isn't a nightmare."

"Are you sure?" he asked as he glanced to floor, "Are you sure I'm not dreaming? Or insane?"

Bubblegum tried to take her hand from his face, but his own gloved hand held it in place, continuing the warm embrace he craved so dearly. His breathing was quiet, but quick, and it almost frightened her. He continued to shed tears, and the cold beads of water touched her skin. He pulled one glove off, and put his now naked hand over her own. It was rough to the touch, the hand of a warrior. But her skin… it was warm, and soft. It was alive. Compared to her he felt dead to the touch, a chilled corpse of a young man. She felt this chill, and it stirred her to compassion.

"Finn… it's okay," she said, pulling him into her arms. "It's okay. Whatever happened, you're safe now."

She held him close, and the gentle heat of her whole body covered his, feeding through the blackened breastplate into his torso. So warm… he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. This made him feel more than alive, and he spared a few extra tears as life filled his heart again.

"Princess Bubblegum… did I actually find you? I never thought I'd see you again. But I never forgot you," he whispered as he looked up at her. He saw her eyes, swollen with tears and open with surprise, since he had moved his bare hand from her fingers to her cheek. Her face was even warmer than her hand, and he craved it now. "I never stopped loving you."

"Wha-?"

Her shock escalated exponentially when his gloved hand left her back and reached up to the back of her head, pulling her down the six inches of height that separated Finn and Princess Bubblegum's lips. She cried short gasps against his mouth, muffled as he held her in place against his face and tried to force his body away from her, but Finn seemed so strong. Never had he been like this… if the darkness of the mirror unsettled her, then this outright scared her. Finally she broke free enough to step back five feet.

"What is this?! Finn!"

His face was strange, so very strange. It was cold, contorted by sufferings too numerous to count, and twisted into mad hope now that he was here with his princess. He stepped forward, she stepped back, and they repeated this a few times before Finn grew frustrated.

"I… I just wanted to feel it. You're so warm, PB… and… I love you."

Images danced in his head, visions of idealization and passion that were never allowed to flourish or die, desires long since warped into obsessions and impossibilities. He harbored such things for Bubblegum, never imagining he'd ever see her again. And never imagining that she wouldn't love him back. To him, that seemed the impossibility.

"I…"

"Finn, we talked about this. I just don't-."

"Don't what…?"

"Don't…" she stopped herself; wrongness was all about him. "Finn, you need to go home. We'll forget all about this…"

She moved slowly towards the balcony door, which adjoined with another room outside. If she could keep him calm, there might be no incident. She could lock herself in and summon the Banana Guards if she had to. At first, he let her gain distance, let the gap widen. But this wasn't because of anything other than quiet shock, a deep, processing dread in him. Images flowed through again, violent memories wherein he lost her again and again, visions of the nightmares that cracked his mind every night. The sight of her falling into shadow, disappearing into the void of night. Seeing her move slowly towards the balcony door, which led out into the dark night sky, triggered the response he wish he'd made when she fell into the pit.

"No!"

He charged. She hadn't time to react, his speed and physical strength great enough to stun her mind and knock her to the floor. She landed flat on her back, a faint scream escaping her as the wind was forced out. As Bubblegum's senses returned, she found herself in his arms, held above the floor like a damsel in distress. He looked as though he'd just seen a ghost, save for the smile on his face. That smile communicated triumph, the snagging of a narrow victory from the edge of total defeat.

"I won't let it happen again. I love you. I love you."

He leaned in close and kissed her again, and her eyes fluttered open as his lips met hers again. This was insane. This whole thing was insane! Finn lifted away from her and rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed and mouth curled into a smile. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"I've missed you, PB. Everyday I wished things could've been different. That I could see you again, and tell you how much I loved you. Everyday…"

"Finn. You need to leave," she gasped out through the noise of her mind, "I'll call the guards. You'll be thrown in prison."

He didn't seem to listen. His thoughts were elsewhere, in a place that Bubblegum dreaded she would see. Finn kissed her again, and she gasped loudly this time when she felt his tongue infiltrate her mouth. It was a rough, aggressive kiss, and she writhed under Finn's body as he worked his tongue about. It was too strong, too intrusive, and its movements made her start and twist about and shed tears. When he lifted his face from hers at last he looked at her eyes and seemed to become sad. She stopped her quiet crying when she felt his hands loosen. Was this right? She looked so scared, and maybe a little sick. He wondered if he did something wrong, remembering what it felt like when the same was done to him. This was the moment she was hoping for; pulling one hand free, she struck Finn across the cheek, stunning him. While he was dazed, she pulled her leg up and strained to kick her attacker off of her. He staggered back as she rose to her feet, heart hurt far more than anything else. She feared his wrath, but looking into his eyes all she saw was sorrow. But his face seemed to regain that freezing cold that scared her, and in a moment's time he was upon her again. It was a fast, blinding moment, and now she felt she was pinned against a wall. Finn this time had his knees on either side of her legs, pinning her thighs. One hand held her arms fast by her delicate wrists while the other seemed to be plucking her hair. It was so strange, what was happening… what was he doing pulling her hair away? She saw he'd gathered a glob of gum from her maybe 8 inches long, and felt him pull her wrists towards this mass. He wrapped the gum around her wrists and stuck them fast to the wall. But…

"Finn, stop this now! That's just bubblegum, it won't hold me! Now you need to sto-."

He was whispering something dark and arcane, and she knew it was magic. She tilted her back to see him pressing a thumb against the blob of gum, and before her very eyes the gum was turned to stone, still held fast to the wall. He gently released her arms smirking when he saw she would no longer strike him with her hands. What made Finn feel comforted made Bubblegum feel afraid. He sighed and chuckled, looking down at his captive princess. She breathed in a panic, her chest rising and falling dramatically. Finn observed the stretch of skin that went from her neck to her dress collar, desiring to feel it with his fingertips. He pulled the glove from his other hand and gently pressed it to her collarbone. So warm… so soft… he closed his eyes to the feeling of it, biting his lip with each breath she took. He then glanced at her breasts, noting how strained the fabric looked over them. What did… what did those feel like? The thought filled his mind, burning through it like a fever dream. The digits of both hands traced their way down Bubblegum's neck and paused at the collar, pulling gently at the dress but finding it won't yield.

"Oh Grod, please… Finn, please stop. Please don't do this."

"Don't do…? But I love you. Don't you… you don't love me…"

"Finn, I don't…"

He pulled the knife from his boot, placing it gently at the collar of her dress. Bubblegum screamed for but a second before his hand covered her mouth. His face communicated a look of icy aggression and caution, saying that she wouldn't be hurt, but she had better not scream. So strong was the frightful stare that Bubblegum didn't dare make a sound when he removed his hand. Nor when he pulled knife against the fabric of her dress, splitting it down the middle from collar to mid drift. This exposed what he sought. They looked so… strange, just laying bare before him. And they weren't moving like they were before, Bubblegum's breathing having frozen in fear. Slowly, timidly, he put a finger to the globe of candy flesh, running it from top to bottom with a patient gentleness. She gasped when he struck her nipple, that most sensitive spot, but he did not abandon his stroke. Her teeth chattered when she looked into his eyes, seeing the low light of lustful thought in those bleak pupils. A moment later, he put two fingers to the top of the other breast, and repeated his motion, spending a little more time at her more tender flesh than before. She muffled her voice this time, refusing to let her biology rule her. This was no time for the confusion of the body against the mind.

"Finn…"

"I think you'll love me…"

"No, I don't think I will. You can't do this."

Finn took the knife back to her dress, tearing it slowly with the blade from her mid drift to her waist, exposing her stomach and the very edge of her panties. His breathing increased at this sight, seeing her stomach; the knife was dropped to the ground, and he huddled in close to her, so close she could feel his breath. But this was far from satisfying for him, and he pressed his cheek against her tender skin, delighting in it. She uttered a near scream when the icy cold armor touched her, jabbing her meanly but not injuring her. The sound shocked Finn, making him back off her. It occurred he might be over dressed now. So he stood back from her and reached around his sides to tug loose the bands holding his breastplate in place, pulling it from his torso and lowering it to the floor with a cool, metallic tap. His boots followed suit, as did his undershirt. She struggled to escape, pushing her feet about her and pulling at the restraint, but her feet gathered no traction and arms no freedom as Finn stood shirtless. She paused then, eyes agape, seeing the assortment of scars he hid beneath the armor: slashes from claws and blades, one or two painful looking bite marks, and multiple hand prints burned into place forever. This Finn… this one suffered horribly. And then it occurred to her. This was Finn, yes, but this was a Finn that had not seen good days. And Princess Bubblegum knew for a fact that the Finn she knew hadn't suffered these injuries.

"… Finn… you were the shadow. The man in the mirror!"

He leaned in over her once more, rubbing his face against her stomach, the scars making it only slightly more uncomfortable than the bondage or the dire straits in which she found herself. But Finn was uncomfortable too, and the remedy seemed simple enough. He crawled up over her body, pressing his chest to her stomach, and his face to her breasts. He knew they were soft to the touch, but they felt much more delightful to the skin between his scars. He rubbed against her, and took in deep breaths full of the scent of her. The scent of bubblegum… so sweet and innocent. So infinitely removed from the stink of ghouls and fiery ruin, so much greater than the stagnant air of tombs and caverns. Bubblegum shuddered under the weight of his movements, quieting her whimpers when he took to rest. With an ear pressed to her chest, he could hear her frightened heart, madly beating in her rib cage. She had her eyes screwed shut, and she attempted to put herself somewhere else, at least in her mind. She thought back to some of her favorite mathematical formulas, how they interacted with each variable, how perfect yet imperfect they always appeared. Her chain of thought would break with an internal shriek each time he moved. Each mental scream of fear in turn caused her chest to quake and her heart to skip a beat. These stumbles in rhythm made Finn curious, and he opened his eyes and stared. What he saw was her right breast, and be became utterly enamored with it. The way it shifted with her breathing, the subtle movements in time with her heart beat. And the sweet smell of it all… it was soft, and warm, and it smelt the way he always hoped it would. Wonder took root in that fractured mind… his mouth opened, and he leaned in closer to that globe of pink flesh. She jumped with a start that one might think was brought on by a terrible nightmare abruptly ended. Perhaps that feeling isn't so far removed.

"Ahhh! No no, no… no. Oh no. Oh. Okay. It's okay, it's okay…"

He kissed and licked at first, tasting the side of her breast with a tentative sense of exploration. The flavor… she tasted just like she smelled. Delicious. Greed drove him to start suckling, and that unwelcome feeling plunged Bubblegum into renewed panic. Her heart ran amok, and she pitched her hips from side to side in a bid to shake him loose. But, as he wouldn't give way, she worked again to separate her mind from her body. Simple thought alone wouldn't aid her, though, his mouth breaking right through that immaterial barrier.

"Ah! Mmm… uhm… H-hydrogen… Helium. Lithium, B-beryl-," she shuddered and clenched her teeth and eyes as Finn's mouth took to enjoying her nipple. A growl escaped her lips as she willed her body not to react. Resist, she demanded of herself. He stopped sucking for a moment to resume rubbing his face in her chest, taking in the scent again. Bubblegum resumed her listing. "Ahh… Beryllium. Boron, Carbon, Nitrog-gyaah!"

This listing of the elements, a mundane mental stretching for Bubblegum's mind, broke apart when Finn's mouth found her breast again, but this time a dreadful surprise followed. Nothing he did was particularly different, the lip and tongue play nearly identical to previous treatments. What was different lay within Bubblegum, the shocking pleasure of her body being stimulated against her will by a curious little madman. She felt a flare through her torso, and it subsided in her gut with a gentle burn, a tingling that sank into unease and malaise.

"N… N… Nitrogen…"

Finn was intrigued now. He stared at Bubblegum's face wide-eyed, not taking a single breath until he climbed up to meet her eyes. He kissed her again, tongue and all, pressing her lips firmly as a gasp eased its way out. This time, though, his hands roamed her body, running up the length of her stomach until his rough, calloused fingers gripped her breasts. This made her squeal into his mouth. His hands were so rough, worn and scarred from wielding that great sword, his grip strong and sure from countless battles. And worse than those things, it was not pain nor shock that caused that squeal. To her chagrin, Bubblegum found the attention pleasurable. His tongue left her mouth, tracing its way over her lips and down to her jaw, leaving behind a faint trail of saliva behind. And as his tongue ran down her neck to her collarbone, Bubblegum opened her mouth and moaned gently, face bursting with blush as he suckled on her sweet skin. She was losing her mind now, that's all it could be. There's no other reason why she should be okay with this stone cold doppelgänger's abuse. No reason why she should be moaning louder as he licked and groaned quietly. Her cries faded slightly as Finn kissed lower and lower, until his mouth was at the hem of her boy cuts, hidden by the remainder of her skirt. He smelled something else now… it was sweet, but sour too. Taking in deep breaths through his nose didn't soothe him, but in fact flared his body, bringing blood into regions high and low. His knife was back at her dress, tearing down again until the the blade was freed into empty air. He cast aside the parted cloth and stared down at Bubblegum's underwear. She recoiled in shame, pulling her knees to her stomach to hide herself, but he could clearly see the pattern that adorned the adorable boy cuts.

He chuckled quietly as he looked at these unders, cut from black silk and decorated with tiny beakers and test tubes; her science panties, lucky in her mind. Science… he remembered how much she loved science. How little it meant to him until she was gone. He was known to occasionally collect instruments of chemistry that were left in abandoned laboratories, keeping them as memoirs, keeping them to keep her. She looked down at Finn as he smiled. She shuddered as he tugged at the material, and breathed loudly, tears in her eyes when cold air struck her exposed areas. Escape again, she thought to herself. Find another escape. Block it out!

"Ah! M-math… math! Do math! Uhh… Mars. A-about fifteen minutes difference by light… light moving at 186k miles per second… Mars is thus about one hundred six- gahh!"

His finger stroked at her, pulled across the source of the alluring aroma. If Finn thought Bubblegum's skin was warm, this was irresistibly hot. Hotter than the blood boiling in his ears. The probing digit was causing such a reaction in her, such sounds and movements. Her mind convulsed, a maddening situation for her. She tried desperately to push it all away, tear down the world around her, and if nothing else just picture the glittering stars in her mind. When he stopped, Bubblegum tilted her head back and sobbed tiredly. Her eyes opened to the sight of the sky through the gap in the ceiling where the telescope was free to move. The glittering stars… her chest jumped with her sobs, but the stars above calmed her down. Finn, though, was far from calm. He pulled her legs apart, eager to further explore. He leaned in close and breathed deep. He loved the smell. And like before, he wondered over flavor. Bubblegum saw what was happening, felt his hands tense on her thighs, felt him tug himself forward.

"F-f-f-finn! Stop this!"

She pushed her head and shoulders forward as far as she could with her eyes and mouth open in a silent scream. It was all that would happen as his tongue hit its mark, and when his explorations moved up and down, she bucked about to get Finn's face away from her. Or maybe it was something else that motivated her hips. When his tongue moved up, she clenched every muscle in her body. When his tongue moved down again, she released her tension and let out sobs doused in deep-rooted moans.

"Stop! Stop stop stop stop sto-hop, Finn!"

Minutes passed in this way, and those were the only words she uttered in that time; all the rest of her sounds were a little more animalistic. Time and again her body spilled over with heat as Finn hungrily devoured her, and her eyes rolled back into her head whenever this happened. When it stopped, Bubblegum's breasts heaved with heavy breathing. The blinding light faded as she saw Finn standing over her again, thumbs pulling at the edges of his pants. His face was some dire mix of passion and doubt, curiosity and need. The strain of his pants was impossible to ignore, and it seemed now an inevitability what would happen next. His pants fell to floor around his ankles, and he kicked them away. The sight of him there, nude, fully aroused… it made her quite mad with anguish. She writhed about again, feet dragging at the stone. She tried to beg him, tried to reason, tried to stop him. But all that issued from her tired and strained voice box was a wispy whimper. His eyes were lost in that twisted love he felt for her. And when he knelt in close, hot breath on her skin, Bubblegum could do nothing but moan when their sexes met. There was only blinding ecstasy after that, and the sickening feelings of wrongness associated with rape. He ground into her again and again, and too many times the princess could do nothing but let her body react to the pleasurable mechanics. It seemed hours slipped by in this way, time having been twisted to fit the madness of the world now. She felt him change inside her, a menacing heat and sudden pressure within. And he growled as this pressure turned into liquid fire in her womanhood, a fire that made Bubblegum cry out in pleasure, and heartbreak, and dismay. He leaned in against her and kissed her neck, and the throbbing of his manhood matched the beating of his heart. She shook in his naked embrace, eyes streaming tears across her face, heart quaking in her chest. When he pulled free of her and stood neck crooked, face pointed to the floor, Princess Bubblegum let her head fall against her arm.

She felt so nauseous… even as Finn walked away, silent as a shadow, she felt sick. Sick that this happened. Sick that she couldn't stop it. Sick that she physically enjoyed his hands and tongue and the feeling of him inside. Very, very sick that she felt his seed inside her womb.

Finn, meanwhile, contemplated this world he now found himself in. He walked nude out onto the balcony, leaning against the candy stone that separated him from a steep fall. The Land of Ooo lay out before him. The sight of it… green, verdant, alive, full, beautiful! Finn of the mirror… he hadn't seen Ooo like this in two years. It made him angry. Very angry. What happened differently here? Why did this world deserve to have Princess Bubblegum, and a living land? What did he do wrong to deserve otherwise? He decided then, staring out at this world, this land that had otherwise forsaken him, that drastic measures were in order.

"I'm going to have her. And I'm going to have this. I've worked so hard… I won't give it back!"

He crushed his fist against a stone in the railing, breaking it to pieces with the blow. He thought nothing of it as he turned and went back inside. He found Bubblegum with her eyes closed, still crying but slower and with more sob-like hiccups. Finn crawled in next to her, which stirred her from her sorrow. But when all he did was cuddle in close with her, Bubblegum stifled her cries. But why? Why would she be quiet? Surely she had to escape this… but she committed no effort to the matter. He whispered to her.

"Bubblegum… I love you. Never leave me again. I love you."

She sobbed quietly and shifted slightly. She was afraid to say anything else…

The world seemed to hold its breath. There is something to be said, when time is disrupted, when two beings who should exist universes apart from each other meet. There were flowers that stopped swaying in the midnight breeze, a fox in the forest perked its ears to a cry that was only in its mind. Some of the candy people awoke from their peaceful slumbers with eyes open and hearts pounding. The stars dimmed, in a line, one by one, caught in a moment of universal grief for the massacre of its natural laws.

Finn, or rather, this Finn that was not quite Finn, shifted. His arms widened, as if the feelings that were in between the fractured pieces of his mind could not be contained, not even by her. Though the words had faded into the quiet, she knew he was not asleep. He seemed to be waiting, and in a show of what she could only call possessiveness his fingers rested on the landscape of her shoulder, and without any words his fingertips tightened on her skin. It hurt, but not in the way that she knew was physical. She also knew, at least, that whatever had happened would never be forgotten. Memories had that kind of power, to scar a soul, to steal something forever and hide it away. No matter, she thought, what the intention.

Still, she did not scream. She did not plan, or attempt, any sort of violent revenge. The stone that held her hands dissolved, until the only thing holding her to the ground was the paralyzing fear and the need to analyze until she could not ever miss a prediction or outcome. The tears fell, and more than once she thought of what she would do next. Still, through the night, she stayed still, not willing to fight.

And when the wee hours came she knew why. When she had seen his eyes, the twisted crinkle of his smile, the jagged corrupted illusions of his words, she knew that what kept her here was not just fear. Princess Bubblegum cried, never looking at this Finn who was not quite Finn.

Of course, she knew what it was like to live artificially. To know that skin can be manufactured, that bone can be built. She knew, perhaps more than the monster ever could, what it was like to walk around, having to feel when the whole world around you meant that you were only a great tragedy. They were not quite so different, really. What had made this Finn was nothing short of horrific. The person she knew was altered into insanity. Bubblegum understood, that artificial people often tragically never know what they do, they never know that they are deformed forever. They only wish for something they aren't capable of having or doing.

However, Princess Bubblegum was also a scientist. She spent her time calculating.

She also surmised that running and fighting would be pointless. After all, where do you run when the whole world has changed?