Chapter Three: Intensive Care

Finn the Human waited anxiously for Princess Bubblegum's arrival. Doctor Ice Cream, Doctor Princess, and Nurse Pound Cake were busily seeing to their patient, setting up scanning equipment and examining what they could as the strange field surrounding him seemed to repel touch like trying to touch the wrong ends of magnets. Jake had stretched into a sphere around the figure and carried it inside all the way to the Candy Kingdom. The additional effort clearly took its toll on Jake, who was passed out sleeping on his back in one of the beds on the opposite aisle, his limbs hanging off the edges and a small droplet of drool accumulating at the corner of his mouth as he snored loudly.

"Hmm. Looks like he's in something science-y. I'll be honest, I don't really know exactly what I'm looking at here." Doctor Princess cocked her head to the side as she said this.

"I've never seen anything like this!" Doctor Ice Cream exclaimed, trying to poke through the field with her medical equipment, to no avail. Nurse Pound Cake hovered behind Dr Ice Cream, anxiously awaiting orders.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Finn jumped and turned, mouth open ready to speak, expecting Princess Bubblegum and Peppermint Butler. What he saw instead made his stomach involuntarily turn. Three clown nurses were approaching fast. In a matter of seconds they had traversed the space down the ward and immediately surrounded the unconscious man, much to Doctors Ice Cream and Princess' chagrin.

"OOOH! POOR BABY!" The first clown nurse shrieked in an unnervingly cutesy voice. The clown nurses attempted to position the poor man for some "love therapy" but found themselves repulsed by the energy field. "Oh, NOOOO! This is serious, girls! He needs more intensive care!" The two nurses rounded the table to flank their leader, giggling shrilly.

Finn, meanwhile, stood silently sweating and shaking at a far distance. These nurses had "treated" him on Jake's request several times before, and were the primary reason for Finn's coulrophobia. It's quite a good thing Jake was not awake, as he had a tendency to encourage some of their more creepy behaviors.

"He needs a happy show!" One of the supporting nurses called. Despite his natural desire to be involved in the treatment of one of the last surviving members of his species, Finn strongly considered silently slipping out of the room in fear.

"Thank you, nurses, but that won't be necessary. I'll take it from here." Princess Bubblegum had arrived at last. Finn had a ton of questions he wanted to ask the Princess, but the look she had on her face Finn recognized from many years of service. Her mind was clearly at work, and no questions would be entertained nor interruptions tolerated until she had completed her thought process.

"But Princess, this pa-"

"I need everyone with the exceptions of Doctor Princess, Doctor Ice Cream, and Nurse Pound Cake to leave the room immediately." The weight behind the final word was enough to defeat the clown nurse. Looking quite put out, she gestured to her companions and they slowly began to exit the room. "Finn, take Jake with you and guard the exits. No one gets in, understood?"

"But PB-"

"Don't argue with me, Finn!" Bubblegum rarely raised her voice at Finn, and when she did, it was usually for a very good reason. Resigned to the fact that he would not get his answers now, Finn woke Jake and informed him of their instructions before leaving the room dejectedly to carry them out.

"Peppermint Butler, inform the guests that I have an emergency situation and cannot attend the closing ceremonies. Do NOT tell them what's going on, and get them out of here as soon as possible."

"Right away, your highness."

Princess Bubblegum turned to face the remaining science and medical professionals. "Alright, ladies, what do we have so far?" The three proceeded to inform her in detail of their attempts to breach the field. Doctor Princess offered that the field looked scientific and not magical in origin, to which Bubblegum assented, despite her opinion that what was commonly regarded as magic in Ooo was just science nobody completely understood just yet. Visually, at least, there was little doubt that this specimen was a pre-war human, and the context of his discovery lent even more weight to the evidence pile that this was the case. Multiple cuts and scrapes covered the human's visible skin, while large wounds surrounded by fresh blood soaking into the surrounding uniform suggested much more serious trauma, but it was impossible as of yet to determine how bad. As for the uniform itself, the various decorations marking it suggested that its wearer was a member of the United States Air Force.

Based on this evidence, Bubblegum theorized that the soldier was trapped in a temporal stasis field. This was problematic, as while she had the capability to eliminate the field and restore him to normal space/time, doing so was likely to kill him unless they had a quick treatment plan available. And with the field intact, there was too much interference for her equipment to get accurate readings on his condition. Her two best options were to either gather all available medical resources then work quickly upon release, or to attempt to upgrade her equipment to get accurate readings.

A third solution crept into Bubblegum's mind; eliminate the human. Bubblegum's inner consciousness seemed to split in two at the thought. A calm but cold voice spoke of the potential benefits. This human would undoubtedly eventually notice that she had been hoarding his people's knowledge. She had no idea what this man's values or agenda was. Why risk a potentially dangerous situation by bringing him back? Because not doing so would be wrong, input a soft yet indignant voice. It was entirely possible for one doing the right thing to undo the greater good and vise versa, the other voice retorted. Was she willing to endanger nearly a thousand years of building civilization for the sake of one person the world thought to be dead already? Besides, this guy probably couldn't handle waking up a thousand years later, everything he knew and loved long dead. That's impossible to determine for certain and not her right to decide, the soft voice countered. Imagine the knowledge this man could have, perhaps he could be an ally, or at least a unique resource to answer history's questions. Think of the good that could be done with such knowledge, not just for the candy people, but eventually all of Ooo. The two voices merged in Bubblegum's mind once more and in her own voice she considered Finn. Finn was the last known human left on the planet since his father had gone missing into space. If this man was as callous and selfish as Finn's father had been, the young human could have a difficult time coping. If he was a positive role model, however, could Bubblegum ever forgive herself for denying her champion his birthright? Finn had obviously brought him here because he trusted Bubblegum both in capability and willingness to help him. No, the human would not be eliminated.

But how to go about helping him? This question was not hers to answer, she decided. Bubblegum would be honest and straightforward about his options, and Finn the Human would decide the rest. She ordered the doctors and nurse to perform a test to confirm her theory. In the meantime, she would speak with poor Finn.

Finn stood guard vigilantly, showing little outward sign of the turmoil raging inside him. Was this really another human? Where did he come from? If he got better, would he be a disappointment like his father had been? Finn felt conflicted and emotionally exposed. He needed answers to some of these questions, but right now he had to wait. He hated waiting. It had been over an hour since Bubblegum had thrown him out, but it felt like four.

Finn heard a creak and turned sharply to its source. Princess Bubblegum had emerged from the hospital room. Finn hadn't noticed before, but Bubblegum looked different; like she was dressed up for something special. "Hey, Princess. We… didn't mean to interrupt something important," he said sheepishly.

"I was supposed to be closing the economic summit," Finn's heart sank. "But this was more important." Finn felt relieved. "Listen, Finn, we should sit down somewhere and talk about this. I'm sure you have a lot of questions and there's something important I need to know."

The two silently walked to a bench down the hall and sat. Finn tried to sort through his questions in his mind, but he wasn't having an easy time of it.

"So, is he really human?"

"Yes, so far as we can tell. I think he's trapped in a temporal stasis field."

"Uhh…,"

"It means he's frozen in time. I think he's from before the Mushroom War."

"Whoa." Finn looked to be lost in thought.

Princess Bubblegum took a deep breath before continuing "Finn, he's hurt. We can't tell for sure how badly because of the stasis field. There are two things I can do, but I need you to make an important decision."

Finn looked deathly serious and didn't speak for a long moment. "I'm listening."

"I can break the stasis field, but without knowing the extent of his injuries, there's a possibility that he won't survive long enough for us to help him. We won't be able to restore the stasis field once its broken, so there'd be no going back."

Finn did not like the sound of that.

"The other thing we can do is leave him in stasis until I can figure out a way to get past the interference. There's a catch, though. With our current understanding, it could take months, probably even years."

Finn felt caught between a rock and a hard place. The first decision sounded dangerous, but the second decision had its risks, too. If the human was hurt beyond help and they left him in stasis, they could wait until better technology was developed to treat his injuries, too. But there was no certainty that Finn would even be alive by that point. Finn hadn't encountered any human females in his lifetime, and from what Finn knew from Bubblegum's biology lessons, that meant that humanity would die with him when he did. At least if the human could be revived now, Finn had a chance to gain some closure before the end. A large part of Finn didn't want to take the risk, but he felt an instinct pulling him towards deciding to chance an attempted revival. What had Jake called it years ago? His melon-heart.

It was two weeks later; Finn had made his decision and Bubblegum had made all the preparations. Jake stood by Finn's side looking down on the time-locked figure. The best medical professionals in Ooo were present for what was to come. This meant the clown nurses were not invited, much to Jake's disappointment. Finn insisted on being responsible for breaking the stasis field, just in case anything went wrong, his conscience would take the full burden, though he didn't tell Bubblegum that was the reason why.

Diagnostic equipment stood ready to detect any complications. Everyone was in position. A countdown clock began to tick down from ten. The excitement and nervousness Finn felt at this moment matched any life-threatening situation he'd ever encountered. At the moment the countdown clock hit zero, Finn pressed the activation button.

"Here goes nothing."

A/N: Sorry everyone, but I got a little lazy on this chapter. With the exposition and character setup out of the way, it's time to get this train rollin'!