"This is fucked up, even for you." Marceline was transfixed by sight of Finn's body on the gurney. He was dead; his soul finally able to rest after a lifetime of service to Ooo. There was nothing of Finn in the husk splayed on the gurney. There was no soul to animate the body that had once been her friend, yet his body was reanimated by dozens of humming, blinking machines and the ropy networks of cables linking them to the corpse.

"If this makes you uncomfortable, you're welcome to leave." Princess Bubblegum finished stitching the mortal wound on Finn's chest. One of her machines pumped a hydraulic arm to offer her a hypodermic needle filled with glowing pink liquid. She took it up in gloved hand, staring into the light through the cylinder. Carefully, she injected the needle on the skin near the wound, slowly depressing the plunger. "You don't have to be part of anything if you don't want to be."

"We were too late to save him, Bon." Marceline floated up over the body, watching as the stitched wound regenerating. She could still see how they'd found him, pinned to ground by metallic talon as thick as her fist. "He's in the underworld now. It's better to leave the dead where they are."

"I have a responsibility to my kingdom, Marceline. Finn was a champion, and I don't how long it will be until we get another. When Billy retired it took years before Finn was ready to take his place. Bronwyn isn't ready yet, and that's if she's even willing to take up the sword again after what happened to her." Finn's corpse convulsed as the full effects of the serum spread through his limbs. "I can't risk my kingdom. I have to do this."

"You really don't. Clone yourself a new hero if you have to, but let him go." The Vampire Queen stared at the princess' face searching for any hint of regret, but she only found icy determination. Marceline's hands curled into fists. Her fingernails dug into the palm of her hands. Pain gave her clarity. "He earned rest, Bonnie."

"I understand why you're worried, but Finn is a hero. He has a duty to everyone in Ooo. I would clone him if I could, but the amount of information I have on human bodies is limited, there would be no consciousness transfer." Princess Bubblegum tightened the restraints on corpse to keep it from bucking wildly on the operating table.

"Finn was a hero." Marceline corrected angrily.

The vampire hugged herself. It was difficult to reconcile the hideous scene in front of her with the partner she'd loved and respected. They had both known him since he was a boy. They had seen him grow into his own. The awkward teenager had given space to a confident, capable champion who had sacrificed hundreds of times for all of Ooo.

Here's your reward, Marceline thought as she watched the corpse's lifeless mouth open in a silent scream.

"This is mad scientist shit… this is wrong." The Vampire Queen stared down at the thing that had once been Finn as the machines pumped more serum throughout its venous networks. Finn's cold grey hue that had matched Marceline's own flesh began to disappear, replace by a soft pinkness that almost resembled living skin. "Mortals go through cycles, Bonnie. You should understand that better than anyone else."

"Think of this body as a machine, Marcy. All the synapses, instincts, and fibers could be there, but without the proper CPU it has none of the intuitions that make Finn a champion. Would you rather we lose it all?" a hint of tenderness slipped into the princesses' voice. It was her monarch's voice; the same patronizing tone she used on her subjects. For those who worshiped her as a goddess it might have seemed like empathy, but Marceline could almost taste the condescension in her voice.

"Yes!" Marceline snapped, her voice sharper than she had expected.

"Well it isn't up to you." Bubblegum caught and held Marceline's gaze. The vampire looked away first. One finger at a time, Bubblegum removed the latex gloves from her hands and began to wash off the blood and viscera clinging to her arms on a sink just outside the operating room. Marceline kept her gaze on the swirling, crimson-stained water as it disappeared down the drain. It still stirred that ancient hunger buried deep within her. The vampire shrugged off the nagging darkness begging her to indulge.

"Now what? Does he shoot up from the slab like one of those old movie monsters? Maybe go destroy a couple of peasant villages?" Marceline voice dripped with contempt. Bop her one good one on the chin. She'll be out for a little while then I'll bury Finn, and this can all be over, the Vampire Queen thought. Her palms ached as her fingernails dug deeper into flesh.

"It's a process. It'll take days for his body to be able to keep itself alive without assistance, and maybe another six months before he's fully functional."

"Will he be the same?"

"I hope so." Bubblegum unrolled her sleeves and straightened her shirt. "Consciousness is a mystery even to me. I've rebuilt his brain, but I don't know what it'll do to his mind." The princess pinched the bridge of her nose. "He's likely to have some of the same impulses and intuitions, but it's just as likely he'll be a whole new person."

"He could be a monster, or a psycho. It's unlike you to take such a big risk."

"Marcy, by many accounts you're dead and that seems to have had little impact on your personality."

"And it's been horrible, Bonnie." Marceline got close to her. She wanted her to understand what it meant to bring back a revenant, if he would even be a revenant. "Being undead is a curse."

Bubblegum's eyes softened for a moment. There was a twinge of pain beneath her stoic mask. Marceline unclenched her fists. She fought back the instinct to reach out and comfort her. A part of her screamed for her to embrace the exhausted princess, but no matter how much she longed to rekindle what they had she couldn't forgive Bonnie's endless crimes. How many times have I made excuses for you?

"I'm sorry this is upsetting for you, I really am." She stared back unblinking. "The need is too great, we have to try, I'm sure it'll work."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then you'll get what you want and we'll bury him. We mourn for him as we have for countless others until the disappears into the hazy maze of our memories"

"None of this is what I want, Bonnibel."

"I-I know, and I'm sorry," Bonnie's voice wavered, "but this is out of my hands. I have a duty to the kingdom. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of one, no matter how important that person might have been to me."

Marceline could hear the pleading note at the end of her sentence, as those few words explained their millennia of history. A silence hung between the two immortals. This time, Marceline waited for Bonnie to break eye contact.

"It's wrong. Glob, I know it's wrong, but Ooo is held together by sacrifice, and I could end this cycle it if I can just keep our champion just a little longer. I can gamble on an untested girl" Princess Bubblegum pressed her forehead into her hands.

"How long did you say it would take for us to find out if your process will work?" Marceline looked back towards where Finn's body laid on the gurney.

"About two weeks, maybe less."

"I guess I'm staying here until then." Marceline shook the tension out of her shoulders. Gob damn it, what was she doing? "Got a place for me to stay?"

"You'll stay?" Bonnibel blinked in surprise. "I mean, if you want to you can stay I'll have Peppermint ready a room for you."

"Hey, someone's got to keep track of the shit you do. Karma's a bitch, and I want to be around if it bites you on the ass." Marceline said, giving Bubblegum a mocking half smile.

"Great, so you're here to taunt me, and you're hoping that this whole thing will blow up in my face."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Marceline walked away. She needed to get away from Bubblegum, and whatever it was she was making out of Finn's body.