Here we are at chapter two, and I'd like to address a couple of points raised by an anon. Normally I'd do this via PM but since, anon, I can't. So y'all get the benefit of reading it too. Firstly, if you don't read the author notes, you're gonna be a little lost. I don't like to waste too much time dumping a whole pile of info about the when and where into the first couple of paragraphs as a general rule. I'm also very aware that the Fire Kingdom War scenario is overplayed, which is 100% of the reason why I chose it. I like to explore different tropes, see if I can find a new spin on an old concept. As to what did or didn't happen between Finn and Phoebe, that was left deliberately ambiguous. It's one of those things I try to do where I don't reveal everything all in one go. Jake is dead because plot, I did mention it was the darkest timeline? (That was a Community reference btw if you didn't catch it). The whole point of having Hotdog Princess barbecued alive is because she's a hotdog, I was trying to introduce a little dark humour. Plus it's an indication of how far the Fire Kingdom are willing to go to get to their targets. Obviously there's no reason that Finn would know about Marcy and Simon's previous acquaintance but I'm fairly certain Bonnie already knew, from way back. As ever, I really appreciate you taking the time to review and I hope that cleared up some things for you.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, right? Brace yourself for chapter two.

Content Warning: off screen character death, tension, implied sexytimes.

It seemed like she'd only just slid into sleep when rough hands shook her awake and Marceline was snarling furiously before she'd even opened her eyes.

"Don't make me stake you, Marceline. Behave yourself." a very unwelcome voice admonished her.

"Pep Butt. Who the hell let you stay alive?" she replied snarkily, too tired to pretend to like the annoying little butler.

"The same person who apparently just couldn't see a way through this without contacting you, the last person in existence I want near her." he replied with a scowl.

"Peps, come on. We don't have time for you two bickering." Bonnie sighed. She'd slept in her clothes and was sitting up in bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "There's a messenger outside from the Flame Queen. I'm not going alone."

"I'll need something to keep the light off me." Marcy reminded the princess. Peppermint Butler sighed and reached around her into the back of the closet.

"I already thought of that. Here."

He handed her an umbrella. A frilly, pink umbrella decorated with dancing cupcakes. Any other time Marceline would have rather been staked with a blunt piece of wood than be seen with something that aggressively feminine. But she just sighed and opened it, shrinking down a little to hide more of herself under its shade.

Half of the windows in the throne room were boarded up anyway so it was an easy enough thing to avoid floating through the patches of sunlight that still streamed in at odd intervals along the floor. Bonnie took her throne looking just as worn and tired as she had when they'd finally retired to bed. Marceline floated awkwardly to her right hand side, avoiding the patch of weak sun that lit the left of the throne. Her axe was strapped across her back, still strung as a bass guitar but more than sharp enough to defend the princess with if she needed it; Marcy hadn't even considered walking away now that she knew more about the situation. The doors opened and Peppermint Butler waddled into view, trailed by what the vampire assumed were the Flame Kingdom messengers. She'd been expecting them to be flamefolk, but it appeared instead to be the familiar rotund outline of Cinnamon Bun and a floating purple clump with a sarcastic sneer plastered across her face. She was from Lumpy Space, there was no doubt about it. What she and Cinnamon Bun who had once been one of Bonnie's closest allies were doing as messengers for the Flame Queen was a mystery to Marceline.

"You traitor, CB. How dare you show you face here." Bonnie growled to the newcomers.

"By all means, Princess. You should lecture me about morality, about loyalty and doing the right thing. After all, you're the expert aren't you? Imprisoning babies because they're inconvenient, experimenting on your subjects without their knowledge or consent; you're a real shining star of goodness." Cinnamon Bun replied in a surprisingly smooth, polished voice. He didn't seem at all flustered or confused. Marcy stared harder and he caught her gaze on his face. "Oh and you've brought your favourite plaything back as well, did you magically find time for her now that half of your kingdom is dead?"

"You leave her out of this! How can you come back here, when I expressly banished you? I should have you put in the dungeon-"

"And risk even more all-out war for imprisoning The Empress' personal messenger? Sure. Why stop there, why not march me out to the courtyard and execute me in front of the crowd for high treason? After all, I used my brain and made my own choices and that goes against the law of this kingdom, doesn't it? We were nothing more than pets, to crawl at your feet in thoughtless worship-"

"Can it, CB. We've gotta deliver this message or whatever. As if I'd even be seen dead hanging around here." the lumpy girl interrupted with an eye roll. "Yo Peebles, listen up. We've got an official message and like, I'm not reading it out twice. Ahem. Right, uh, by order of her Imperial Majesty Empress Phoebe of New Ooo, the Candy Kingdom and all its citizens have a twenty four hour notice period of annexation to the Empire. You, Princess Bubblegum, will abdicate your crown, sign over all official power and state secrets to The Empress and leave for exile or face execution. You will also hand over the war criminal Finn The Human to answer his crimes and face his execution with the dignity that should be afforded the extinction of the last of his species, rather than hiding like a rat in a hole. Any Candy Kingdom citizens or refugees currently residing within the palace are offered this twenty four hour period as amnesty to renounce their citizenship and resettle in the imperial territory of New Ooo. This does not extend to any member of Candy royalty, any humans or named war criminals. See appendix one for a full list of exemptions. That means you, Peps." she added to the indignant little butler.

"You better turn around and get out of here right now, LSP!" he replied, squeaky with rage. She shrugged and tossed the official declaration at him before turning and dragging Cinnamon Bun by the shoulder.

"Whatever. You harbour criminal scum, see what happens to your precious kingdom. Finn's a dirtbag and you all know it. For Grod's sake, he blinded her. He deserves everything he gets."

They swept out of the throne room to a shocked silence that very soon gave way to hurried whispering. Bonnie stood, took a breath and nodded to the declaration on the floor.

"You all heard them. You have twenty four hours. If you want to get out then go, I won't judge you for it. But anyone who does stay will be expected to help man the defences and you know that if we fail you'll all face death along with me. Because as long as there is blood in my veins I will fight for you, for our kingdom. So there's a decision you need to make, safety or loyalty. I won't judge you for whatever you choose." she announced in a voice loud enough that the whisperers around the doors at the far end of the room could hear her.

There was a quiet scurrying like a number of people trying to hurry away to their families and friends as quickly as possible. Bonnie nodded to herself sadly, she wasn't under any illusions about how many would stay to fight. She turned to Marceline, who'd stayed silent so far, and motioned for the other woman to follow.

"Come on, there's something you need to see. It's time you met my brother."

...

"Neddy. You named that thing... Neddy."

"Shh, not too loud. I don't want him any more upset than he already is."

Once upon a time a giant candy dragon hidden in the palace's attic might have surprised Marceline. That was before she returned to discover that the whole of Ooo was now under control of the Fire Kingdom, that Bonnie was in more danger than she'd ever been and that apparently her chosen hero had somehow blinded a young princess who was now taking it out on the whole world. Compared to all that shit Neddy really wasn't too shocking.

"He's my brother. We both fell from the Mother Gum at the same time, I suppose you could say he's my twin. He's just... different." Bonnie sighed.

"Yeah. Different in a 'pissing the entire kingdom's water supply' way. Remind me never to shower here ever again." Marceline replied with a shudder.

"As if I'd pipe it into my bathroom if it wasn't sterile." Bonnie retorted with an eye roll. "Look, the thing is that Neddy's getting too exhausted. He's supplying the water cannons, he's been producing secretion fluid constantly for weeks and he's just not keeping up with the pace to demand. Pretty soon he's going to give up and when he does-"

"We're all going up in smoke. Yeah. Any idea how long he's gonna hold on?"

"None at all. Probably not much longer before he enters hibernation mode, I think. But it won't matter anyway in another twenty four hours. We have until noon tomorrow and then either way, we'll all pay for Finn's crimes."

"Listen, Bon, what did that Lumpy girl mean about Finn blinding the Flame Queen? What did he doto her?" Marceline asked quietly.

It was the same detail she'd been coming back to time and time again. How could a human boy have blinded a creature of fire? He'd said that she was his girlfriend, so they must have been close until their argument. She must have had some attractive qualities once upon a time. And Marceline wanted to know more about the last human, what he was like as a person that so many people would have been on his side, at least at first. But from what she could gather the kingdoms had fallen one by one, or else openly allied with the Fire Kingdom once it was obvious which way the tide was turning. Why? What had made them abandon this boy who so many had called their hero? It seemed like he'd been famous for years, there hadn't been a corner of the known world where his name wasn't said in awed respect. So what had changed?

"I was wondering about that myself. Finn never said that Flame Queen had been hurt, just that they'd argued and she attacked him, then all of this happened. We should go find him, ask him more about it. I get the feeling like there's a lot Finn hasn't told me and I don't like it." Bonnie sighed.

She cast a reluctant glance at her brother, a huge pale lump of flesh sucking a tree root and labouring to breathe as more and more fluid seeped away from him in a long trickle. Neddy was exhausted, it was plain to see. But from what she gathered he understood the danger the kingdom was in and he wanted to help. She pressed her hand briefly against the flickering glow in her chest, the mental connection she always carried with her brother that nobody else knew about, and felt how heavy and strained his heartbeat was these days. Neddy would be with her to the end, she knew. Perhaps he'd be the only one. And it felt like more and more it would be her end, his too. Maybe a small part of her even welcomed it, maybe after everything that had happened Bonnie didn't want to keep going. Whatever her personal feelings she had to put her kingdom first, she always had. So for the sake of her subjects, the ones still alive, she kept going. And now for Marceline too. It hadn't been an easy decision to reach out to her ex-lover but Bonnie was glad she'd swallowed her pride and done it. At least if this was going to be her end she could tie up as many loose ends as possible first. Bonnie turned back to the stairs leading down into the palace and motioned the other woman to follow. They had a human to question.

It was a strange feeling of déjà vu to walk through the palace with a vampire bobbing along silently at her side. If Marceline had reached out and taken Bonnie's hand then she would have held tight, just like old times. It probably would have taken her a moment to work out why it felt strange now, after all those years spent apart. But the grey skinned woman's hands were firmly in her pockets and she was avoiding the princess' gaze. Instead she seemed lost in her own thoughts, like she was turning something over and over in her head, trying to figure out what angle to approach it from. Bonnie didn't have long to wonder about it though, soon enough they had reached the room Finn had been using. She knocked on the door and after a moment a low voice gruffly asked them to enter.

The room was disgusting. It smelled like the unmistakable funk of boy sweat and misery. The curtains were drawn which was as much a relief to Marceline as it was a worry and there were bits of smashed up furniture and wrecked objects on the floor like Finn had had more than one temper tantrum in the months he'd lived there. He was lying on his side on the bed, holding a photo of himself with his arm slung around the shoulder of a grinning yellow dog with 'Best Buds!' scrawled in uneven handwriting across the top. There were fresh tear tracks on the boy's cheeks that he hurriedly brushed away as they entered.

"Hullo, Prubs. Vamp chick." he mumbled, avoiding their eyes.

"Do you feel up to answering some questions?" Bonnie asked gently sitting next to him and taking his hand. He pulled it back again and turned his head away.

"No. I don't wanna do anything or talk to anyone. My best buddy is dead because of that crazy chick and nobody's doing anything about it. Tons of people have died because Phoebe's gone mental. Do you know what she did to Tree Trunks? Do you want to know? No, you don't, because you don't need those nightmares or that blood on your hands. I saw it, Princess. I tried to stop it and I couldn't. And you know the worst thing? I still love her. I'd still forgive her, if she came and apologised. She killed Jake and I'd take her back. What's wrong with me, why am I so messed up?"

"Love fucks you up, kid." Marcy replied before she'd even really thought about it. "When you love someone you'd do some crazy shit for them even though you know they're kinda a selfish butt sometimes. And you're here now and not out there begging her to forgive whatever you did, so you're trying to act sensibly around your love crazies, yeah? Sometimes the hardest thing is the best thing and walking away from someone you're so crazy about for your own sake is the only thing you can do to save yourself. So yeah, I feel you on this. What happened? Sounds like you had a pretty huge bust up."

"I- she said she'd do it, she said she didn't mind. And then- when I... No, she just went crazy, ok? She's crazy, women are crazy. She was always evil and I just didn't see it." Finn muttered, avoiding their eyes.

Marceline lost the small amount of patience she'd ever had; he'd been so close to letting the truth slip and she could smell his bullshit from a mile away. He might be able to fool Bonnie but she wasn't going to chalk up the Flame Queen's behaviour to simply being 'evil', there was too obviously something else that she wasn't being told. And the whole of Ooo was at war because of it, half the Candy Kingdom had gone to their graves. They didn't have time to indulge a sulking boy's temper and pride.

"Listen here you little shit, people are dead because of whatever you did. And that 'crazy chick'? Her messengers said you blinded her. I want to know what the fuck you did, why half the population of Ooo got burned to ash and I'm not in the mood to fucking wait. I want some answers, now!"

"MARCY, NO! LET HIM GO!"

Beyond her haze of flaring rage Marceline registered that Bonnie was screaming at her and desperately trying to uncurl her fingers from where she'd wrapped them around Finn's throat and lifted him off the ground. She dropped him, horrified, and he collapsed in a gasping heap with his face returning to a normal colour.

"You better come up with some answers, boy. Before I really lose it." she snarled, whirling away from him. She was almost out of the door when Finn found his voice again.

"You bitches are all crazy, what the fuck is wrong with your gender?" he rasped. Only Bonnie's hand on her shoulder propelling her out of the door stopped Marceline from turning and snapping his weak, mortal neck like a straw. She couldn't remember the last time she'd lost herself to rage so completely.

"Go. Calm down, cool off, do whatever it is you do to get your balance back. I'll talk to him. But I don't want to see your face again until you're ready to stop choking people, you understand? I can't afford for you to lose it again." Bonnie told her with a harsh shove along the corridor. Marcy floated away, fists clenched and hot fury still coursing through her. It would take hours before she was calm enough to be around anyone else, she knew.

…

Hours came and went and the sun set. Marceline left her closet for the silence of the roof and strummed out as many rhythms as she knew on her bass until her fingers ached and her mind finally felt calm again. She was still angrier with Finn than she knew how to express but since he was under Bonnie's protection and she was a guest in the palace there wasn't a lot she could do about it. Besides by her reckoning they had about eighteen hours until the Flame Queen herself would be leading the charge to end the seige. Marceline had a plan.

She was strapping her bass back across her back and thinking of heading back inside when a movement in the corner of her eye had her whipping around. It was Simon, dressed all in black and flying carefully out of the trapdoor behind her.

"Sneaking out?" she asked in what she hoped was a casual tone. He jumped in midair and came in to land with a furtive glance around.

"Didn't see anyone out here, you're the princess' new body guard, right?" he asked awkwardly. It was all kinds of heartbreaking to hear the man she'd regarded as more of a parent than her own father sound unsure about who she was or why she was there. Marceline sighed.

"I'm not stupid, Simon. I know why you're out here. You're leaving us before the fight, yeah?"

"I... uhh... Look, nobody's done a damn thing to find my Gunther. And if I stay by this time tomorrow we might all be dead. I might be dead. I've got to find him, I've got to go. You understand that right, vampire lady? Wasn't there ever anyone you owed it to to come back alive?"

She swallowed down the lump that wanted to rise in her throat; there just wasn't time to explain. Once it was all over she'd go find him, go explain for the thousandth time who she was and why he still meant the world to her even if he wouldn't ever remember her. Instead she nodded.

"Yeah, there was. Someone who raised me, someone who kept me safe when I was just a kid. And more than anything I just want him to be safe. I want everyone I care about to be safe and away from this awful war. So, if you've gotta go for Gunther then go, and I hope you find him. Get away from here, Simon. Get as far away as you can. And when it's all done I'll come find you. I promise."

"I know an island, she'll put us up for a while. Me and Gunts will be just fine, don't worry. I'd like to know how it all turns out though, don't forget me." he replied with a small smile twitching his beard.

She hugged him tight, closing her eyes and letting all of the words she couldn't say wrap around her like a mental cloak. Simon would be safe no matter what, she hoped. He'd get away. Hadn't Simon always survived? At least she could be sure he'd get away, he always did.

"Be safe." Marcy whispered as she let him go and he rose back into the air, clearly confused but not unhappy at the hug. Simon obviously had plenty of experience getting past the fireballs around the outer walls; he shot upwards until he was cloaked in the clouds and flew off into the night air higher than anyone could hope to see him. And then he was gone, swallowed up in the darkness. Marcy had a feeling deep in her bones like that was the last time she would ever see the man who raised her. And she made a decision, maybe the most important decision of her life and maybe completely irrelevant to whether they lived or died. She headed back inside and straight to the princess' bedroom. A swift knock on the door and a muffled order to enter later and she was face to face with her ex, the woman she'd fled from eighteen years earlier. Time to make some things right.

"Hey, I wondered how long you'd need to get over your tantrum earlier. You'll be thrilled to hear Finn won't say another word to anyone, you really scared him. Marcy, you can't just go around choking people who-"

"Bon, shut up. Ok? Just, shut up. I've got something to say. I have loved you for almost my entire life. I've loved you since before I knew you existed. I ran away because we broke up, because I couldn't deal with being in this perfect world you built for yourself and not be a part of your life. And I came back because your perfect world is in danger. Because you are the only thing that made this whole place stable and civilised after the mushroom war, because I believe in you and because dammit, Bonnie, I still love you even after all these years. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ran away, I'm sorry I wasn't here to stop this war happening. I'm sorry I didn't give you the time you needed to be who you are, sorry I demanded more from you than you could give and forced you to break up with me. Sorry that-"

"Stop talking now." Bonnie commanded, and Marcy stopped talking. She was nothing if not obedient.

The princess was gazing steadily at her with the same expression on her perfect face that she had when she was confronted by a new and interesting problem. Marceline had always hated when Bonnie tried to figure her out, she didn't want to just be another puzzle to find a solution to. She waited and tried not to fidget under the too direct gaze.

"This is because we might be dead tomorrow, isn't it?" Bonnie finally asked.

"Yes but-"

"Just a 'yes' was all I was looking for. But you mean it? You're sorry you left for eighteen years?"

"Yes. And-"

"And you still have feelings for me?"

"Forever."

The princess nodded like that was all she'd needed to know.

"We might be dead tomorrow. Come here and kiss me."

"Anything my lady commands."

The night was silent outside the window, the moon slid through the sky and within the safe walls of their palace two women desperately made the most of what they both knew deep down could be their last chance to find a little happiness together. Neither wanted to let go, give up that skin to skin connection or the closeness they'd both missed. Long after midnight had come and gone, long after their frantic movements had stilled to sated stroking and murmured nothings Marcy let out a sigh and rested her head back onto the pillow next to her lover. She pulled Bonnie close and took a moment to simply allow herself to enjoy the feeling of a warm, real woman lying trustingly and breathtakingly naked in her arms.

"You think once this is all done you and me could try the whole girlfriends thing again?" she mumbled.

"I think I'd like that a lot. And I promise to make more time for you, I promise I won't forget about you." the princess sighed. She slid as close as physically possible and placed a soft, lingering kiss onto cool ashen lips. "I just want all of this to be over, so we can rebuild. Together."

"I had a plan about that, actually. If you'll let me, I want to talk to the Flame Queen. I think I might have some idea about what she went through, why she's acting like this. Everyone expects her to be evil, right? And it sounds like Finn did something to her. I think she's given up trying to prove that she's not what everyone expects her to. And I get that, I get how a stupid boy could fuck her up. Remember Ash?"

"Of course. I thought perhaps you were just doing that to make me jealous."

"I don't even know. I liked him? But I was never in love with him. I've never been in love with anyone who wasn't you."

"When all this is finished we're gonna have a really long conversation about us and where we're going. And I'm looking forward to that, I want this to work. We should sleep though, get some rest before you face down the Flame Queen tomorrow. I love you, Marcy."

"I love you too."

The vampire spent a long time just watching Bonnie sleep, watching her eyes flutter as she dreamed and the curve of her lips with each breath. It was unthinkable that in just a few hours those eyes could be staring into nothingness and those lips stilled forever. She would do everything she could to stop that from happening, and in the event that she couldn't reach out to an injured teenage monarch she would have her axe; she was ready to give her life in defence of her lover if that was what it came down to. It was about so much more than Finn and whatever he'd done now.