Chapter one! Please review.

Disclaimer: Adventure Time and its characters belong to Pendleton Ward

Peppermint Butler stood, waiting at the entrance of Bubblegum's lab. Finn and Jake approached, and Finn pointed a finger at the door of the lab, raising an eyebrow. Peppermint Butler gave a silent nod, which in return earned a confused look from Finn and a worried glance from Jake. Peppermint Butler was a friendly fellow, and was usually very interested in how Finn or Jake had been lately. Always asking polite old-mannish questions like "So how are you? How's that brother of yours?" or "I heard you've made a new friend." And, well, Finn wasn't really sure if old men had specific topics because they were usually grumpy and weird.

Finn gently pushed on the door to the lab and it slowly creaked open, Jake following close behind. Neither of the boys knew why they had been called to the Candy Kingdom, but both had pretty good ideas. Ever since Finn met Flame Princess, Bubblegum and Finn hadn't been seeing eye to eye. Arguing, awkward silences, and Bubblegum accidentally slicing open his cheek with a pair of scissors. This would most likely not be of something good, especially since everybody Finn and Jake came across in the Candy Kingdom had silently watched them passed by, giving a sad nod as almost if to say "I feel sorry for you, bud." or "Hey Finn, hope you come out alive." Finn had fought many evil monsters including a giant demon vampire dad, the Ice King (countless times) and the Lich more than once. He'd also gotten into a couple of fights with people like Jake and Marceline and Flame Princess - people he felt safe around. Never more had he been more scared while walking into the science lab of his dorkiest, frilliest and most non-violent (other than Tree Trunks) of friends. Okay, well maybe he was more terrified of the Lich, but Bubblegum followed at least as a close second or third.

The pale pink princess was leaning over a counter at the other side of the room, delicate hands tightly squeezing the countertop. Her hair was tied up, and looked messy. Of course, she'd probably been in this lab for more than one sleepless night of the week. When Finn didn't speak, Jake cleared his throat. "Princess?" He said, his voice echoing through the room and off of the bleach white walls.

Immediately and unexpectedly the Princess's shoulders tensed and stiffened, and went then went loose. She turned at a quick pace, removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes. She looked very tired. "Sorry, boys," Her voice croaked, not having been used for a while. "I was kind of dozing off. Please, sit."

Finn and Jake both pulled a chair out from a table positioned in the middle of the room and sat. The Princess yawned, fixed a side of her lab coat, grabbed a paper off of the counter and sat down in a chair that had already been pulled out. After she was situated, it was Finn's turn to speak. "So, uh, what's up Princess?" Finn asked, attempting to sound confident.

"Finn, you remember when the Lich killed Billy and tricked you to open that portal for him with the Enchiridion?" Bubblegum asked. Finn thought for a moment. "Yeah. That was, like, a month ago or something."

"Finn, do you remember what happened to the book?" She asked. Finn narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"The Enchiridion, Finn."

"Oh, yeah. The crystal gem things went into it and then it started acting all whack, and it turned into stone and I think there was an explosion or something and I broke it and then the portal opened. Or something." Finn said. "Why?"

"Globbit," The Princess said under her breath. "Do you know if any part of the book survived the explosion?" She asked. Finn thought for a moment. He knew this must have something to do with the Lich. He closed his eyes and covered his ears; what he did when he was deep in thought. Jake looked to be thinking hard as well. Finn tried to remember if he had seen any pieces of the book or rolled over any when Jake had tackled him. "No, I don't think so Princess. Why? What's going on?"

Bubblegum opened her mouth to speak, but Jake beat her to it. "Except the crystals and stuff," He said. Bubblegum stared at Jake for a second, and Finn thought she might randomly explode for no reason (one of the thoughts of a young boy) but after a moment of what kind of seemed like sleeping with her eyes open, she looked down at her paper and wrote something down. Jake gave Finn a confused look and Finn shrugged in return.

"Right." said the Princess. "So nothing survived." She said, and paused. "Except the crystals."

Finn suddenly felt bad for the Princess. She'd been in here for days. Lost all of her emotion. Probably researched many countless things and questioned many parts of her life. She was so tied up in work and making sure her pupils were happy. This girl needed a break, or at least to finish her work and have some victory.

"Well, I mean, there could be a page or something that nobody saw. It's not like we looked all over the place. Jake and I could walk around and look." Finn said, glancing over at Jake. Jake nodded.

When Jake looked back up at the Princess she was smiling. "Thanks Finn," She said. "I can help-"

"No Princess," Finn said, standing. "You should sleep. Me and Jake can handle it."

Bubblegum looked up at the boy, giving him that "Stop acting so heroic, Finn." look. "I mean, it's just one page. It can't be far." Finn added. Bubblegum stood. "Thanks Finn and Jake. I really appreciate it." She said. "No problem, Princess!" Finn said. "Yeah, no problem!" Jake added, and the two headed for the door.

"Tell me if you find anything!" Bubblegum said as they were leaving.

Once Finn and Jake were gone, and their footsteps had trailed off the silence in the room returned. Bubblegum collapsed back into her chair. Her head rested on her hand and she felt how cold her hands were and how hot her face was. She sighed, and the sigh came out sounding more like a sickened groan.

"Oh my Glob," She said to herself, glancing over at the hospital-like curtain that had been hiding what was behind it. The curtain that - thank Glob - Finn and Jake hadn't noticed. A sickly inhuman moan came from behind it. "What am I going to do?"

Hope you liked it! ~ Sluv 3