"Man, what a bust."
Finn and Simon exited the medical center. Finn slumped onto the curb outside, rested his head on an arm, and let out a half-defeated sigh. Simon put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but it didn't lighten the mood much.
When the Minerva bot had suggested to go check on the patients, Finn was eager to see if Elder Marc, or any of the others, had woken up. Instead, each remained comatose. It felt odd though. Shouldn't the Minerva bot have known that there wasn't a change in their status? In fact, other there weren't any Minerva bots in the room at all. Why would she suggest it if there wasn't a change? Why weren't there any helper bots monitoring the situation? Finn racked his brain for an answer, but couldn't produce anything satisfactory. He turned to the man behind him.
"Simon, why do you think there wasn't a change in any of their conditions?"
"Well, some of their injuries look pretty bad. I would have been surprised if any of them had woken up."
"Yeah, but my mom told us to go see them. She should have known that they didn't wake up or anything. So why would she have us go see them?"
"Perhaps it was to get us out of the lab? Or for us to be seen trying to do something about the situation?"
"No. She would have told us if that were the case… Hey, did you notice that there weren't any copies of my mom in the room with us?
Simon scratched his head.
"You know, now that you mention it yeah. Actually, I didn't notice any Minerva bots, or people for that matter, in the lobby either. Last time we were here, there was that big wall of them."
"You're right… do you think something is going on? Something that has all the attention of the Minerva bots?"
"It's possible. If so, she may have even sent us to check on the patients as a distraction." But if something like that was happening, we should have noticed by now. Especially if it was about the isolationists or an outside threat to the settlement. People would be running up and down freaking out about it." Simon sighed.
"Simon, call me crazy but I think we should go check up on the princesses and diplomats. If something is happening, we'll need to make sure they're all safe."
"No, I think you're right. Better safe than sorry as I always say. Besides, we might run into a Minerva bot on the way and clear up this confusion. We'll just need to find all of them first. I doubt they're all still in the cultural building."
"Don't worry, I got this."
Finn twisted and reached into his bag. He shoved his arm in and grappled around. As he searched, he felt the touch of papers, a cold sensation brought by loose coins, the rough edge of a container of his emergency Finn cake. Eventually, his hand brushed onto what he hoped to find. He wrapped his fingers around it and withdrew from the bag. Finn brought the phone to eye level and selected an emergency contact. The phone produced an unforgiving short-lived static before humming to life.
"Hey Phoebe. Are you with the other guests? If so, can you tell us where you are?"
"Finn, its bad. You need to get to the town square asap. Breakfast Princess worked almost everyone into a frenzy. Something about having proof that the humans are getting ready to commit unspeakable crimes against everyone!"
"What?! We'll be right there."
"Another thing, Finn. A lot of the princesses and diplomats who signed PBs treaty earlier. They want out of it because of this. Some of them are even calling for war! If she's with you, maybe don't bring PB or Elder Marc to this. They'll get hammered."
Finn hung up the phone and turned back to Simon. Simon, for the moment, was wonderfully ignorant of the exact situation at hand- but quickly gathered something had happened from Finn's panicked voice and expression.
"What happened? Who did you call?"
"I called the Phoebe, the current Flame Princess—Flame King? I don't know, people call her both. Anyway, she said that Breakfast Princess is causing a riot because she says she has proof of the human's plans. A lot of the guests are really ticked off and want out of that defense treaty."
"Goodness. Well, that certainly would be a situation that would require all the Minerva bots— and one your mother might have wanted to distract you from."
"Let's go. I'll call PB and let her know what's going on. But I'm going to tell her to stay away for now. Phoebe seemed worried she would get attacked."
"Good thinking. But do you think they would listen to us, or maybe even attack us? They already think we're colluding with the humans and Bonnibel to an extent."
"I don't know." Finn sighed. "But we need to do everything we can to get this situation under control. Besides, if there is proof of anything, we should learn about it." Finn added.
Bubblegum had been meticulously going over the remainder of the security footage while Marceline snored away. A lot of it was still irrelevant, but ever since that initial sighting of Marlo she didn't want to miss anything. Since then, she had seen him three more times on the camera. Twice talking to the same woman from before, and once by himself. She was still a couple of weeks ahead of the attack, so there was still a lot of surveillance to be done. Thankfully, she had gotten good at staring at security footage- although she was more familiar with real-time observations than recordings. Still, it had been a long day and she was tired. She felt herself beginning to doze off. Marceline had the right idea- maybe a little break couldn't hurt.
A sudden burst of music jolted her awake. She shot up and knocked her chair over in a short-lived panic. She scooped up the chair and brandished it while scanning the room for the threat. About thirty seconds later, she realized it was just her phone. She looked around and was thankful no one had seen that performance.
"Yo, what's up Finn? Something happen?"
"Peebs, don't panic. But there's a situation here with Breakfast Princess and an anti-human riot. Simon and I will handle it, but we wanted to let you know. FP also told us that you should probably stay away for a bit."
"What?!"
"PB please let us handle this. We need to figure out what's going on. And you still need to perform those tests and stuff."
"I've finished the tests. The DNA belonged to someone named Sarah Tollins. But get this. I have Marlo on camera in the settlement six months before it opened to outsiders! And he was speaking to one of the people seated with the councilmembers at the celebration!"
"Woah. Okay so you get to the bottom of that. Simon and I will handle this riot. Oh, actually he wants to speak with you. One sec."
"Bonnibel? Its Simon. Finn mentioned you knew who the DNA belonged to?"
"Yeah, someone named Sarah Tollins. You know her?"
"No. But I know a councilmember with the same last name. A Lana Tollins. Actually, she was the reason for your embarrassment earlier today. She insisted on you sitting up with us in front of everyone. You might have seen her. She was sitting next to Elder Marc."
Bubblegum lunged at the security camera and frantically reversed the footage.
"Simon, can you describe what Lana looks like?"
"Um, sure. She has dark, long hair. Pale, white skin. A bit shorter than you are."
"Okay, that confirms it. I have Lana talking with Marlo six months before this whole thing started."
"Wait, what?"
"I have a woman with that description on the security footage walking and talking with Marlo- three times- in front of the cultural center with the first instance being six months ago."
"So, they may have been planning something… but Marlo seems to dislike the humans. At the very least, their technology… We need to see what's going on here. Finn and I will try to take care of the current situation and we'll let you know of any developments."
"Sounds good. I'll let you know of anything else I find on the camera."
"One more thing Bubblegum."
"Yeah?"
"Is Marceline sleeping?"
Bubblegum smiled and forgot the stress of the situation for a second. Of course, he would ask that. Even with everything else going on.
"Yeah, she's fast asleep. I won't wake her up, don't worry. But don't get yourselves hurt at this riot. She'll be angry at us for weeks for letting her sleep during it if you did."
"Will do."
Bubblegum heard shuffling and an exchanging of hands before Finn's voice returned.
"Hey PB. So, we'll go see what's up with Breakfast Princess. And please stay away for now. Simon and I haven't reached them yet, but I can already hear them. And they sound really angry."
"I'll stay away for now. But like I told Simon, you two need to make sure to not get hurt."
"Got it. I'll talk to you later princess."
The phone went silent and Bubblegum sighed. She fast-forwarded the security footage to where she had initially left off, and then continued to observe. At least now she wasn't at risk of falling asleep.
Bliss and unusual sensation- was this what it was like to be warm? It had been so long since she felt warmth.
Marceline found herself under the shade of an apple tree. She looked to her left- and got a face full of gum hair. Bonnie was resting on her shoulder sleeping away. Craning her neck, she made out the small figure of baby Peppermint Butler fast asleep in Bonnie's lap. Marceline smiled and was careful to not disturb them. She carefully turned to her right. Simon was mesmerized by a thick magenta book. He was humming a cheerful tune while reading. She matched the tune. He turned to her and smiled.
Laughter. She looked ahead. Finn and Jake were playing some sort of game with BMO. Finn and the tiny robot were running through an obstacle course Jake made from his limbs. BMO was stuck trying to get across a make-shift balance beam, while Finn was climbing up a flesh-made rock wall.
She looked down. A bird-shaped camera was in her hands. Instead of documenting an attack, it contained picture after picture of her happy memories. The camera itself seemed to be giving off the warmth. In the distance, she could hear everything around her. Birds happily chirping, a young couple's awkward small talk on their first date, an owl making a deep hooting sound. She had her family and friends. And everyone had their happiness. Life was nice. It should always be like this.
Her hands were shocked by a sudden chill. A coldness she hadn't felt since she was a little girl. She recoiled and dropped the camera. Even though it only fell a couple of inches, it smashed against the grass and broke into millions of pieces. She stared straight ahead. A dark cloud inched towards her. Rain, lightning, hail, and a constant wail of pain came from the cloud all at once. Everyone seemed oblivious. She tried screaming, but found that her voice had bidden her an Irish goodbye. The surrounding sounds- Simon's humming, the chirping, the laughter, the small talk all vanished in the cacophony of the storm. She watched helplessly as Finn, Jake, and BMO were caught in the storm. The intense hail pelted them, knocking them to the ground. The rain got heavier. BMO short-circuited and lay still. Jake's stretched out body seemed to dissolve in the liquid escaping from the sky. Soon there was nothing left. Finn didn't give up, but seemed to be stuck. She tried moving to help, but found she had been frozen stiff.
Darkness spread from around. Finn became enveloped and was no longer in her line of sight. She frantically looked to her sides. Trying to shake Bonnie awake was no good. She turned to Simon to do the same, but he remained lost in the book. She slapped it out of his hands hoping for some kind of reaction. He simply looked up and smiled at her- and began humming again. Winds picked up. Apples, branches, leaves all dragged into the cloud. Pep Butt and Bonnie started slipping. Marceline was helpless to stop them. She turned to Simon. He was on his feet now. He walked towards the storm still smiling. Marceline turned again to Bubblegum. She was on the edge of the darkness, about to be pulled in. Simon walked next to her and turned around. He flashed another smile to Marceline- one he used to always give to signify it was safe- before walking into the darkness. After he was gone, everything stopped. Bubblegum and Pep Butt continued sleeping unperturbed. Finn, Jake, and BMO continued playing. The surrounding sounds quietly returned around her.
Marceline stirred in her bed, but did not wake.