Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.

Chapter 5: To Love Someone

The trio had easily been able to find the Star Stag's tracks after they got to the other side of the moat. Marceline insisted they take a few minutes to rest though because Bonnie still seemed to be a little out of sorts after spontaneously transmuting a moot filled with garlic-heavy soup into a moat filled with hot chocolate. In truth, Marceline felt like she needed a rest as well. She was feeling much better now that the garlic was gone, but the vampire queen still wasn't at a hundred percent. H.W. grudgingly agreed to taking a break because she too was feeling fatigued; she had been up for an entire night chasing the Star Stag after all.

Once they had gotten deeper into the woods and found a small clearing, H.W. quickly set up a campfire. At the moment, Marceline was sucking the red from an old clown nose she had brought in her pack as previsions, while Bonnie slept on her lap. H.W. meanwhile was gazing into the flames of the campfire as she sat across from the couple.

"Gotta say, your girlfriend really saved out butts back there," H.W. remarked.

Marceline sighed. "Yeah. I just wish I knew how she did it. For all I know, this could mean there's something really wrong with Bonnie."

H.W. shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, worrying won't solve anything, right? In the end all it does is make you weaker."

"Are you saying I'm weak because I care about my girlfriend?"

"Your words dude, not mine. All I'm saying is I became the exceptional beast I am today because I don't have to deal with that kind of stuff. Or at least…I didn't used to. Anyway, I'm gonna take a little nap before we head out again."

As H.W. curled up on the ground like a wolf to sleep, Marceline had to resist the the impulse to storm over and slap her silly. She knew it wouldn't accomplish anything, plus she didn't want to wake up Bonnie. Instead, Marceline closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as well.

Marceline slowly awoke to the sound of someone softly calling her name. She opened her eyes to find Bonnie's face only inches from her own.

"About time you woke up," Bonnie remarked.

Marceline rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes. "How long was I out?"

"According to my watch, it's been about four hours since we set up camp, so you've been asleep for less than that time. More importantly though, Huntress Wizard's gone! She must've decided to go off on her own while we were asleep."

"That little…" Marceline grumbled as she got to her feet. "We better go after her. Old Tom said there were other barriers in this forest besides the moat. Chances are H.W. won't be able to get past them on her own."

Bonnie nodded in agreement and the two of them immediately set out. Fortunately all they had to do to find H.W. was follow the tracks left by the Star Stag.

"Hey, you doing okay?" Marceline asked as they followed the tracks.

"If you're asking because of what happened on the moat, I'm feeling perfectly normal," Bonnie answered. "Though I am still a little concerned about the whole thing. I mean I still don't remember what happened after I sort of blacked out."

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

Bonnie put a hand to her chin in thought. "The last thing I remember is desperately wanting to protect you."

"So maybe what happened was kinda like those old stories about parents lifting cars off their kids to save them. Simon told me about those once."

"You mean this might have been like an adrenaline-induced burst of superhuman strength?" Bonnie became thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, that does seem like a logical explanation. Still, it's troubling to not know the exact cause of the event. If only we were back at my lab. There I could run some proper tests on myself."

Marceline sighed. "H.W. was right about one thing. Worrying about what happened on the moat isn't going to do us any good."

"Did the two of you get into another fight while I was asleep?"

"We didn't fight, but she more or less said I was weak because I care about what happens to you. She said the reason she's so tough is because she didn't used to have to worry about this sort of thing."

Now it was Bonnie's turn to sigh. "I'm starting to question why we're going to so much trouble for this girl. I mean honestly! Finn could do so much better."

"I'm with ya Peebs, but at this point we've gone through way to much through to just abandon her now."

Marceline and Bonnie continued to follow the tracks for almost half an hour until the ground suddenly shook momentarily with a heavy pounding noise. All was silent for almost a minute and then another tremor came. Thinking that the tremors were an indication H.W. might be in trouble, Marceline and Bonnie quickened their pace. The pounding sounds and accompanying tremors only got worse as the couple closed in on the source. A few times a tremor would cause one of them to stumble.

Bonnie and Marceline finally found H.W. facing off against a massive golem made of square and rectangular grey bricks. The golem stood at a height of about seventeen feet and had a chipped cubical head with a frowny face on the front. In its right hand the golem carried a massive club made of black stone. Behind the giant was a huge wall of stone with a gate that appeared to have been broken open by some unknown force at least as large as the golem. At the moment H.W. was firing arrows at the golem, only for them to harmlessly bounce off its stone body.

"Looks like she needs help," Marceline observed. "You stay back. I'll take care of this."

As Marceline charged in, she morphed into a giant creature similar to the boar man that had destroyed the boat they had borrowed from Old Tom. The transformed vampire queen slammed into the golem with the full weight of her now gigantic furry body, causing the stone giant to hit the ground and fall completely to pieces like a dropped Lego sculpture. With the golem seemingly destroyed, Marceline morphed back to her normal form.

"Thanks for the help," H.W. spoke. "I could've taken down that thing on my own though."

"Yeah, because you were doing such a super job already when we got here," Marceline sarcastically remarked as she crossed her arms.

Bonnie stepped out from behind the tree she had been using for cover. "Guess this means we can advance."

Suddenly the pieces of the golem reassembled and loomed over the trio. The golem threw its club at Bonnie, forcing her to jump for cover. The impact from the club raised a massive cloud of dust, making it impossible to see if Bonnie had survived. Marceline assumed the worst. Soon after, the ground began to tremble and two more golems emerged from the surrounding trees from the left and right.

Marceline barely registered the appearance of the two golems though. The only thing on her mind was the thought Bonnie might now be a pink smear on the dirt. Marceline's horror boiled over into rage, and she floated high into the air as her body began to glow blue. In a matter of seconds Marceline became totally enshrouded in a thick black cloud that rapidly took the shape of a four-legged beast with horns. The creature bore a grey face resembling Marceline's own.

H.W. backed away as the cloud creature rammed into the original golem she had broken into pieces before. Marceline not only knocked the golem to pieces again, she trampled the pieces into the ground, smashing them completely to dust to they could never reassemble again. The second golem charged in and attempted to slam his club into Marceline's back, but its club only got sucked into the vampire queen's cloudy body. In a matter of seconds the entire golem was sucked into the cloud and crushed to bits. The vampire queen roared and the dust that had been the golem was expelled from her body.

The third golem attacked Marceline from behind, but once again the cloud beast sucked the golem in by its arm and crushed it. Marceline let out another roar and expelled the dust. She began to try trampling the dust into the ground when she heard someone calling her name. The cloud beast looked down at the ground and saw Bonnie standing next to H.W. The cloud retreated back into Marceline and her body stopped glowing. Immediately Marceline flew down and hugged Bonnie.

"Don't scare me like that again," Marceline told Bonnie as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Bonnie smiled and hugged Marceline back. "Sorry. I'll be more careful from now on."

"That was pretty intense," H.W. remarked. "You're pretty hardcore, both of you. First there was what happened on the moat, then this thing with the golems just now. For a lovey-dovey couple, you two are pretty fierce."

Bonnie looked H.W. in the eye. "Huntress Wizard, do you know where all of that strength came from? It came from caring for someone more than you care about yourself. I don't know exactly what triggered the full force of my candy elemental powers out on the moat, but I'm reasonably certain it happened because of my strong desire to protect Marceline. And the reason Marceline went berserk on those golems is because she thought I was dead. You seem to think being with the person you love makes you weak, but I can assure you it's quite the opposite."

H.W. was silent for a moment and turned away. "Whatever dudes. I'm still gonna kill the Star Stag so I don't have to deal with this kind of stuff."

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Well, it looks like we know where to go. The gate those blockheads were guarding was busted wide open. Man, you'd think it'd also have a giant door you'd have to unlock too."

"Looks like there was one," Bonnie observed. "If you look, you can see the edges of a wooden door in the frame, burned to a crisp."

"The Star Stag must've busted through it," H.W. deduced. "And that's not all. Looks like he took out another golem while he was at it. You can see its remains on the ground."

Bonnie and Marceline looked closely at the ground and spotted little pieces of charred black stone scattered everywhere.

Marceline whistled. "This sure is one powerful deer."

Bonnie nodded. "I'm starting to wonder if there's even any weapon here on Earth capable of even wounding the Star Stag."

"I'll find a way," H.W. declared as she walked through the busted gate. "You can still tag along if you want."

Marceline and Bonnie looked at one another for a moment before following H.W. through the gate, hand-in-hand.

Gwyneth walked down the white halls of the forest elf palace and entered the throne room of Rowan Goldleaf, King of the Forest Elves. At the moment Rowan was sitting atop his throne being attended to by a harem of handmaidens. This was not an unusual sight of course. Of all the forest elf men, Rowan was considered to be the handsomest and most sexy in the kingdom. Women would throw themselves at Rowan whenever they got the chance, and Gwyneth had been no exception. Of course unlike all of Rowan's other conquests, Gwyneth had enough brains to realize the elf king was nothing more than an egotistical jerk who often put his own pleasures above the good of the kingdom. Of course that didn't stop Gwyneth from occasionally slipping into bed with Rowan whenever he got close enough and used his charms on her, which always led to a morning of regret the next day.

Rowan rose from his throne the moment Gwyneth entered the room. "High Priestess. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this fine day?"

"I have grave news, Your Majesty," Gwyneth informed him. "Four of the golems protecting the third barricade have been destroyed. There is a great power approaching the kingdom, one which may bring ruin upon us all."

Rowan put a hand to his chin. "Four golems, eh? Yes, that is indeed troubling. Still, I think you're overreacting, High Priestess. The third barricade being penetrated is unheard of, but nothing can penetrate the fourth."

"Sire, I wish you would take this more seriously."

"Gwyneth, babe. You're worrying way too much."

"Perhaps you don't realize the seriousness of this situation, Sire!" Gwyneth snapped as she stormed forward. "First there was the Star Heart's mysterious radiance from this morning, now this! A grave threat is approaching us!"

"Well if it does show up, take care of it," Rowan responded as he sat back down on his throne. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in the middle of an important conference right now."

Infuriated, Gwyneth turned on her heel and headed for the doorway. As she stormed out, Gwyneth could hear Rowan's air-headed handmaidens laugh as he went back to flirting with them. The high priestess now felt certain their kingdom might be doomed.

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