"Where the hell am I?" Lydia screamed, an twinge of hysteria on the edge of her voice. "Who are you people?"

"Lydia, we're friends of Marceline, your daughter-" Finn began.

"Oh God, Marceline…She's all alone out there!"

"No she's not," Simon interrupted. "Right about now, I'm finding her in front of an old toy store. She's wearing blue overalls, and her hair is cut short."

"What…How'd you know?" Lydia asked, starting open-mouthed at Simon.

"Because I found her in the past, after those men attacked you…in a different timeline, they killed you and I raised Marceline."

"So this is, like, the future?" Lydia crossed her arms and looked around the cozy library.

"About 1000 years into the future to be exact. Marceline is here…She, well it's difficult to explain, but the magic you had in your time, it's magnified all around you in this time. The animals in this world talk, a sentient bubblegum woman runs a kingdom made up of candy people, and vampires exist. Well, one does, anyway: Marceline."

Lydia stared at Simon for a long while before sinking into a plus armchair.

"So what you're telling me is…My daughter is alive and it's been a thousand years since I left her alone?"

"Yes, and she needs your help. Marceline is…well, come with us. We'll let Marceline tell you."

Lydia nodded and stood up weakly.

"Marcy is a thousand years old…" She whispered, trying to make herself understand the words she was saying.

Finn nodded.

"She's amazing, Ms. Marcy's Mom. She plays a sick bass and she has a beautiful girlfriend, well finance, and-"

"Girlfriend?" Lydia asked, smiling. "And they're getting married? That's legal here?"

"Well, her girlfriend is a princess, so she kinda can do what she wants," Finn replied. "Wait, you mean that wasn't legal? Ladies marrying ladies?"

Simon laughed.

"They're a lot more progressive here, Lydia. I think you'll fit in just fine." Simon smiled and touched the older woman's hand comfortingly. "But we really should get going. Marceline is waiting for you."

Finn, Simon, and Lydia left the cottage and walked out to where Bonnibel Morrow stood, waiting for them to return. When Lydia saw that Finn and Simon were approaching the bird, she stopped in her tracks, her mouth hanging open.

"The fuck is that?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"That's called a Morrow," Simon explained. "The bird will fly us to the castle Marceline is at."

Lydia cautiously approached the bird. She raised her hand to pet it, and the Morrow squawked in protest. Lydia cried out, and took a few steps back. Simon smiled and climbed on the bird's back. He held out his hand, and Lydia took it with some reluctance before climbing on behind him. Finn sat behind her, and wrapped his arms around her tightly so that she would feel safe.

"Don't let me fall of this damn thing," Lydia whispered.

"You're safe," Finn replied. "I promise."

When the tri landed outside the Candy Castle, Peppermint Butler was waiting outside, wringing his hands. Lydia stared at the peppermint man, turning her head from side to side, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

"Is he like…made of peppermint?" Lydia whispered to Finn.

"Yup. He's Bonnibel's, Marceline's fiancé, butler."

"Oh," Lydia nodded, as if what the blond boy had said made perfect sense.

"She's getting sicker," Peppermint Butler warned as they approached him.

"She's sick?" Lydia asked, her face turning pale. "Is he talking about my Marceline?"

Simon sighed.

"Yes, unfortunately. Lydia, please, just come with us and we'll let Marceline explain everything."

Lydia followed Simon and Finn to the infirmary. When they opened the door to Marceline's room, she ran inside. For a long moment, she could do nothing but stare at the woman lying in the hospital bed. Marceline was an adult now. Her hair was long, and she'd grown so much taller. Lydia caught Marceline's eye, and the two women broke into wide grins. Like a child, Marceline put her arms out, and Lydia ran forward.

"My baby," Lydia wept, wiping at her eyes furiously just as Marceline did every time she cried.

For a while, Marceline and her mother just held each other. Both women were sobbing, and clinging to one another as if they were afraid the world would rip them apart again. Eventually, it was Lydia who broke the hug.

"Marceline," she whispered. "I never, I never thought I'd see you again, much less grown up. And that blond kid tells me you have a beautiful fiancé around here?"

"That'd be Bonnie," Marceline said, weakly pointing to the pink haired woman who was quietly crying in an armchair next to the window.

Bonnibel swiped at her eyes, and walked over to Marceline's bed. She and Lydia regarded one another for a moment, before smiling at one another and hugging.

"It's so nice to meet you Lydia. I'm Marcy's fiancé." Bonnibel watched at the human gently took a piece of her pink, gummy hair between her fingers.

"Well I'll be damned. You're made of gum," Lydia said, wonder clear in her voice.

The room broke out in laughter. No one had considered just how odd their world was from the perspective of someone new.

"The Mushroom War had some unforeseen side effects," Simon said. "Things in this time can be a bit…odd."

"I think I like it here," Lydia said. "Now, Marceline, what's this about you being sick?"

Marceline sighed, and Bonnibel took her hand hopefully.

"Mama, I'm- I'm pregnant." Marceline blurted out. "It's Bonnibel's baby…she did some sciency stuff that I don't understand but my immune cells are attacking it and Daddy said it's killing me."

Lydia froze.

"Your father is here?" She asked sharply, looking around.

"Not now, he went to the bar down the street," Marceline replied. "But he said you may have a spell…the spell that you used to keep your body strong enough to have me. You have it right?"

"I know it by heart, love," Lydia replied. "I just need some things. Some plants, and herbs, the blood of a male virgin…just general witch stuff."

Marceline giggled and pointed at Finn.

"There's your male virgin, as long as you're not going to drain him too much."

Finn's face turned bright red.

"I'll do anything to help you, Marcy," he squeaked.

"Oh, I don't need much, just a drop from a cut on his palm," Lydia replied.

"Thank Glob," Finn sighed, sitting down heavily in a plush chair next to Marceline's bed. "I like keeping most of my blood in my bod."

Lydia quickly wrote out a list of supplies she needed, and gave them to Peppermint Butler to find. He quickly scurried off into the night, prepared to go to the ends of the earth to save Marceline's life.

Meanwhile, in the cozy infirmary, Marceline was surrounded by the people she loved the most. Simon and Betty were there, along with Finn, Jake, and BMO. Bonnibel was holding one hand, and Lydia the other. Marceline had never felt more safe or loved than in this moment. There were so many things she wanted to ask her mother, so many things she never got time to ask, that Marceline didn't know where to start. So, in her typical fashion, she blurted out the first thought that came to her mind.

"How do you like Ooo so far, Mama?" Marceline asked, squeezing her mother's hand.

"It's freaking weird," Lydia replied. "I love it. I mean, there are literal people made of candy, what's not to love?"

Bonnibel blushed.

"I made each and every one of them myself," she said proudly.

"You did an excellent job, my dear," Lydia replied. "And my daughter is marrying a princess. I never though I'd see the day..." Tears leaked from Lydia's eyes. "I never even thought I'd see your tenth birthday, Marcy."

Marceline hugged her mother close to her, and the two women cried for a long while. Finally, Lydia sat up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and gently placed her hand on Marceline's barely-there baby bump.

"So, I don't mean to be rude," Lydia began, "but how did this happen? Do you have some kind of futuristic IVF?"

"Pretty much," Marceline replied. "Bonnie took some sperm cells from a friend, erased his DNA, put hers in, and fertilized one of my eggs."

"That's amazing," Lydia whispered, in awe as she felt a subtle kick. "You felt just like that before you were born. How's the nausea been?"

"Near permanent. I'm…Well, I'm a vampire and-"

Lydia looked at Marceline, wonder in her eyes.

"I don't eat blood, if that's what your thinking. I just drink the color red from food or objects."

"Oh," Lydia said, clearly still trying to wrap her head around all the new changes.

"Anyway," Marceline continued, "It feels like I drink some red, and it comes straight back up. It's making me miss real food, although I doubt that'd be any better."

"Probably not," Lydia said. "I was sick the entire time I was pregnant with you. Most of it was from the blood antibody thing, but…Marceline, I'm so sorry that its happening to you too. I….I planned on telling you, but you were so young, and then I never got the chance."

"S'ok," Marceline said, forcing a weak smile. "It brought you back. I never thought I'd see you again, Mama."

"I know, baby, I know."

Marceline relaxed into her mother's arms, and sobbed for what seemed like hours. Every bit of pain she had felt from the time she was separated from her mother seemed to pour out at once. Lydia rubbed her back gently, while Finn and Jake went to the royal kitchen to make some of Marceline's favorite red tea.

"Mama," Marceline asked, "would you like to send someone to the bar to get Daddy?"

Lydia froze in her place.

"No, no, honey that's fine."

Marceline nodded, and was silent, thinking deeply, for a moment.

"Mama, please tell me how you and Dad met," Marceline requested. "You always said you'd tell me when I was older, and now I'm technically older than you."

Lydia sighed deeply, and patted Marceline's hand.

"I guess you're old enough now," the woman said, sitting back on Marceline's bed and making herself comfortable. Sit down, you two," she said, gesturing to Finn and Jake, who had just came back with Marceline's tea. "I guess it's story time."

Finn, Jake, Bonnibel, Simon, and Betty pulled up chairs or sat on Marceline's bed to listen to her mother's story.

"I was a stupid teenage girl…" Lydia began. "I'd just turned nineteen, and the world around me was ending. The war was coming, the big one. Everyone was scared, especially my generation. We were just supposed to go to college and pretend like we had a future, but we knew how bad it was. I think, in a way, most of us knew that the mushroom bombs were coming.

"I joined a group on campus, a group of like-minded men and women who protested the war, and nuclear weapons, and for a long time, we were just a stereotypical bunch of hippies. But then, everything sort of changed. America started preparing a bigger nuclear stockpile…All the politics are all jumbled up in my head.

"Anyway, there was a schism in the group I was in. One half wanted to keep protesting and all that, and the other wanted to fight back with magic. At that time, no one really believed in magic. We we're pretty much just making shit up as we went along, but for some reason….For some reason, it all worked. Our spells, our incantations, most of them actually did what they were supposed to do. We kept it as quiet as we could, and worked and worked towards making the world peaceful. That was one bit of magic that never worked out for us.

So, some of the girls, we decided to go a different route. There were old texts that said that if a woman summoned a demon that impregnated her, the child would be of great power. We started to think, to desperately hope, that these children would be able to rise up one day and save us from ourselves. So, we did our summoning rituals. There were thirteen of us. Beth, Alice, Kelly, their demons ripped them to shreds before they got a word out. Sarah, Micah, and Ruth were taken back to whatever world their demon ruled over. The rest of us…we got what we wanted. We were all pregnant at the same time, and, God…There was so much hope that what we were doing was going to save the world. That lasted until Tanya died…Then the rest of the girls started going within days. I was feeling sick too, and we were all looking for a magical cure, but I found it too late. I found it…

Lydia began crying, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Marceline put her hand over her mother's and squeezed it comfortingly. Finn slipped a mug of hot tea in her other hand, and she drank gratefully.

"I'm sorry," Lydia apologized. "It's hard to talk about sometimes. Anyway, there was a woman with me, my best friend, and her name was Marceline. She was the last one to die. I found the cure an hour after she was gone. I named you after her, Marceline."

Marceline was silent in thought for a moment.

"Wait, so Dad never had anything to do with me while you were pregnant, or when I was a baby?"

Lydia shook her head.

"I summoned him, after I was all alone, and begged him to let me come to the Nightosphere. He said that you and I would have died there, but I suspect he just didn't want us. I'm so sorry, Marceline, I hate to tell you all this."

"No, Mama, I'm glad you. I want to know."

"There's one more thing you need to know, love," Lydia whispered, stroking Marceline's hair. "You are going to have to drink a potion that, along with an incantation, will change the makeup of your body to allow your baby to finish growing. However, this potion has side effects. First, you will suffer intense pain over the next week. The pain comes from the second side effect: your baby will begin to grow much faster than is normal. Something in the magic speeds up gestation…You'll have a healthy baby in just two months."

"Shit," Marceline whispered under her breath.

Bonnibel couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh. She took Marceline's hand, and kissed it gently before bending down and kissing the slight bump on Marceline's stomach as well.

"We can get through this, my sweetest love," Bonnibel whispered.

Suddenly, the door to the lab crashed open, and an out of breath Peppermint Butler held out a heavy bag to Lydia.

"Everything you requested, m'lady."

Lydia squeezed Marceline's hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Let's get started."


As always, thank you so very much to all those who have read and reviewed my story. Please, let me know what you think about the story!