4 – Party Time!

Hunson Abadeer had been taken with their daughter from the start. It was a source of both great happiness and great annoyance for Marceline. Bonnibel, for the most part, was just wary. He had appeared a few days after her birth, declared she was a perfect demon and that he was going to give to her the gift of deathlessness.

"Whoa, Dad. No way," Marceline had moved between Hunson and chair where Bonnibel sat holding the baby. "You can't just give people's babies deathlessness!"

"But I can! I never have because I didn't want to. But now I do! And don't you see Marceline – now you don't have to rule the Nightosphere – she can! I know she's part gum or whatever, but she's a real Abadeer. I can tell." He attempted to side-step Marceline. Bonnie stood up and took a few steps backwards, clutching the baby to her. Marceline continued to block him, his efforts to get to the baby becoming more aggressive.

"Dad. Dad. No, listen. It..has…to be…her…choice!" Marceline gave a final shove and he stilled.

"Fine. Maybe next year then." And so, every birthday since, despite Marcy's exasperated insistence that she is still not old enough to make such a decision, he asks Essie if she wants to be deathless – or at least tries.

When Hunson Abadeer enters the castle on the day of the birthday party, Bonnie and Marceline instinctively move to run interference. But Essie's already spotted him.

"Poppa!" She squeals as she pelts toward him. Her Poppa stoops to receive her, scooping her up and tossing her in the air. Essie shrieks with delight as she flies through the air. Marceline shoots Bonnibel a told-ya-so look. Bonnibel merely rolls her eyes.

"Come on, let's go keep an eye on him." This turns out to be unnecessary. Any attempt Hunson may have been making to give their daughter deathlessness is thwarted by another arrival.

"Uncle Finn!" Essie shrieks as she pulls herself away from her Poppa and hurdles toward the man in the doorway.

"Mini Princess!" Finn yells back, just as enthusiastically. After getting a big hug and whispering something into his ear – making him laugh – Essie and Finn join the other three, hand in hand.

"Mr. Abadeer," he nodded a greeting at each of them, "Hey, Marcy. Hey, Princess."

"Hello, Finn the Human."

"Hey, Finn."

"Oh, Finn! I'm glad you could make it."

"Are you kidding? And miss Mini's beeday? No way. That'd be bonk."

"Bonk!" Shouted Essie, giggling. Finn grinned guiltily. Before she could open her mouth to say something about language, Bonnie felt Marceline give her shoulder a squeeze. She allowed the foul word to go un-scolded. Better than getting another lecture – from Marceline of all people – about "Birthday Privileges".

Finn was bouncing tentatively from one foot to the other. "Uh, Marcy? Can I talk to you a sec?" Finn asked, then added, "Gotta question about Min-Prin's pres." He winked at the girl.

"Sure, man."

Finn walked away, Marceline floated behind. Bonnibel frowned slightly watching them retreat. Things had never been quite the same between them after she and Marceline had got together, or at least things between Bonnie and Finn. He and Marceline never seemed to miss a beat.

She knew, that he knew, they would never be together, but people like Finn can never banish all hope – even a hope he didn't know he was still harboring. Faced with the reality of Bonnie and Marcy and the
"rightness" (Finn's words) of it probably snuffed that last little flame of hope. He needed some distance from her. At first she understood but now it'd been 12 years and the distance remained. And now it was her that held on to a small hope that the strangeness goes away. Maybe it'd been so long he didn't even realize he was doing it. Or maybe she'd internalized it so much that she wasn't letting him get close. Or maybe they just never saw each other for long enough these days for things to really repair. She sighed and stroked Essie's hair.

"Let's join the party. Want a drink, Hunson?" She led her daughter and demon-in-law toward the drink table.

Marcy and Finn were finishing up their conversation as they moved to join them. "…and we can put our present at the end of it? This is going to be so rad."

Finn nodded but looked worried, "Is PB going to totally flip?"

"Well, you know Bonnibel," Marceline answered, which did not putting Finn at ease at all. She paused, watching a tense Bonnibel watching her Father carry their daughter on his shoulders, then added, "Nah, she'll be fine. She'll be too wrapped up in stopping Dad trying to make Es deathless again." Finn still looked a little apprehensive, but he pulled two presents out of his backpack – one oblong, one miniscule – and placed them on the gift table. He then joined the group, greeting his old friends.

All the guests had arrived. Adults were eating and chatting, the kids were occupied playing beast slayer – featuring Finn as the beast, and T.V. hovered on the perimeter taping furiously on his phone. The present table was sagging under the weight of presents. There were presents from the guests as well as from neighboring kingdoms. Bonnibel saw amongst them the glossy red package Cinnamon Bun had brought on behalf of the royal Flame Family. The year of Essie's 4th birthday, Phoebe had come with the new Flame Prince in tow. The baby had had a spectacular case of the hiccups and had burnt down the majority of the great hall. After that, even thought they continued to invite them, they received only regrets from the Fire Kingdom. She also spied a bright, lemon shaped package that, Bonnie knew, contained nine lemon candies. The Earl had never been invited. Bonnie didn't see their present, it could have been buried but she suspected Marceline was still guarding it somewhere. She looked curiously at Finn's presents. She had seen him and Marceline chatting about them when he set them down. They seemed to be planning something. That worried her a little, but not as much as Hunson. He had never been this long in Essie's presence without mentioning deathlessness, making her heir to the Nightosphere, or even what a lovely little demon she was becoming. Hunson, like his daughter, only seemed to be able to resist his impulses when he really wanted something. And yet, here on the table was a present from him. It wasn't hard to guess which one was his – it was wrapped in what looked like live snakes, though Bonnie had difficulty deciphering a head amongst the bundle. She hoped the snakes themselves weren't the present. She sighed and resigned herself to whatever chaos was going to come out of these packages and decided to just enjoy herself at the party.

She looked around for Marcy. It took a moment to find her. She was hovering between the two groups, kids and adults, of mingling guests. She wasn't facing Bonnibel but she could tell by her posture she was sad. Something about joyous occasions seemed to stir sadness in Marceline. Bonnie walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Resting her head on her shoulder she whispered softly in her ear, "I love you." She could see Marceline's eyes close at the sentiment and she turned and embraced Bonnie back. "I love you too, B Bel." Marceline continued to hold her, eyes closed like she was trying to ground herself.

"Are you thinking about Simon?" Marceline nodded.

"And my mom and all the others…" Her eyes screwed up.

"And do you feel sad or guilty?"

"What difference does it make? It's all awful." Marceline tried to pull away but Bonnie held her fast.

"You know there is a difference. It's ok to feel sadness for people you've lost. But you shouldn't feel guilty because you couldn't save them. You've saved so many people. Just about everyone here. Me. Me especially." Marceline was no longer trying to pull away. She was looking at Bonnie hard and Bonnie knew she wanted to believe her. The best she could do was keep trying and maybe one day she would.

"Let's go check in on my Dad."

"Probably a good idea."

Nearly all the presents had been opened. Only Finn's present remained on the table. Then theirs, Bonnie reminded herself. Among the pile of already open presents Bonnie estimated she'd have to confiscate about half. Surprisingly, Hunson's present was not among them.

And while Bonnie thought it common courtesy to ask a child's parents before giving them a pet, she could hardly expect this of Hunson. "Don't worry!" He'd exclaimed over Essie's joyous squeals, "It can practically take care of itself!" Bonnie was almost certain he was telling the truth this time as the creature had clearly come from the Nightosphere. It mostly resembled a kitten – except for the horns, the fine scales that cover it's body, and the fact that it kept changing colors. If Bonnie was being honest, the thing was dang cute. And it had clearly taken to Essie. After the initial excitement of its arrival, it had curled up in her lap and fell asleep for the remainder of the present opening.

"Ok Min Prin! My turn!" It was Finn. He was handing over the oblong package. In a blink Essie had ripped off the paper and unsheathed a beautiful miniature, but definitely real, sword. She jumped up and down – sword in hand – shrieking. The demon kitten slid to the floor with a hiss.

"Uncle Finn! This is the greatest, greatest! Thank you! Thank you!" Bonnie was speechless. She saw Finn give her the slightest of guilty glances. She felt a squeeze around her waist. Marceline.

"Essie, maybe put that sword in its sheath until Uncle Finn can teach you some safety?" Essie grinned at her Moms and put the sword back in the sheath. "Ok, Finn," Marceline continues, "Go ahead." Finn cleared his throat and produced the tiny cube from behind his back with a flourish.

"Ahem," he kneeled and offered the cube to the girl, "My Mini Princess, may I present to you your very first… dungeon quest." Essie stopped bouncing and looked skeptically at Finn and then the cube in his hand. He continued.

"It's a portable dungeon! You just push that button," he pointed to a recessed button on the side of the cube, "and BOOM! DUNGEON QUEST!" Essie took the cube; her finger strayed toward the button. "Wait! Wait! You need a little more space, Princess. And whoever is near you will go into the dungeon too!" Essie's eyes were wide as she turned to her Moms.

"Can I do it now? Please, please, please?" Marceline answered before Bonnie.

"Of course! In fact you have to. Because our present is at the end of the dungeon!" Marceline beamed at Bonnie and leaned in close to whisper, "Best Moms ever." Bonnibel shook her head. Now she knew what she and Finn had been discussing before the party.

"Well I can't say 'no' now, can I?" Finn and Essie exchanged glances, waiting. "Ok. But we are coming with you – Mommy, me, AND Uncle Finn. I'll get my pack-pack." Bonnie turned and walked out of the hall. Whoops and shouts followed her.

Finn had deemed the courtyard a large enough space to deploy the dungeon. "It's actually a lot bigger than this but it's got some time/space warp biz. You just need the space for the antechamber." This intrigued Bonnibel.

"Where did you even get this Finn?"

"Mars. Don't worry, Princess. I checked the whole thing out. It's perfect for Mini."

"And the sword?" Bonnibel raised her eyebrows. She wasn't letting that one go. Not yet.

"Well that I had made." Bonnibel's eyebrows went higher. "I got my first real sword when I was nine. And look! Still whole!" Both his and Bonnie's eyes found his metal arm, Finn blushed, "Well mostly whole. And – Oh I forgot! – It has a safety blade. It will never cut its owner." He smiled at Bonnie. She gave a non-committal grunt and walked past him toward Marcy and their daughter, both of who were chanting "dungeon" over and over. The demon kitten, now a dark purple streaked with undulating silver, wound its way through Essie's legs chirping excitedly. It was clearly coming too.

"Ok Mini, you ready?" Essie stepped into the middle of the three adults. She was still in her birthday clothes, a red romper; her new sword was belted around her waist; her demon kitty perched on her shoulder. She held the cube on her palm the way Finn had showed her and pushed the button. A noise like a balloon popping went off and they were engulfed in darkness.

Finn had decorated the antechamber with balloons and a sign reading "Happy Nine, Mini!" He and Marceline were near the wall fiddling with some controls. For a space of a second Bonnie saw the little bottle with flying essence, a bow tied around the neck, before Marceline stuck it into the wall and pushed a button.

"There are a couple different settings," Finn explained, while he coded something into the key pad, "We'll start on the default." He pushed yet another button and the antechamber vibrated with a large thrum. A door appeared.

"Ok Mini. After you." Bonnibel looked down. Essie looked slightly apprehensive for a moment then her expression hardened and she marched forward into the dark corridor, demon kitty swaying on her shoulder. Finn followed behind, Bonnibel and Marceline brought up the rear. Marceline slipped her hand into Bonnie's and squeeze. She was grinning with excitement. And Bonnie, in spite of herself, grinned back.