Marceline shot down the darkened hallway, relying on her super-demon sight and smell to prevent her from crashing the two of them straight into a wall.

Princess Bubblegum clung to her so tight she worried she might be causing Marceline pain, nails digging into her neck and shoulder, but the vampire didn't seem to mind. Not that Bubblegum could see much of anything anyway. There were no windows in the hall, and the lights had burned out ages ago.

Bubblegum frowned, tightening her grip as Marceline turned a corner. She had no doubt that she would be able to fix the machine, but the only tools she had were those she had stashed in her pack. On top of that, the technology was over a thousand years old, and Glob only knew how she would power it.

"You okay back there?" Marceline asked, interrupting Bubblegum's thoughts.

"I think so."

Marcy nodded, slowing. "There's a set of double doors at the end of the hall," she said.

"Sounds like a fine place to start."

Marceline dropped to the ground gently and Bubblegum stepped down, grabbing onto the vampire's shoulders when she couldn't quite get her bearings.

It turned out the set of double doors wasn't the lab, but some sort of cafeteria. Curious, the two women checked for any sort of edible food, but the entire place was cleaned out. There wasn't even a bit of mold or a single crumb. As Marcy scooped her back up into her arms, Bubblegum wondered if there were any mice or bugs here in the Abyss, or if they were all dead, too.

It took another ten minutes or so of searching, during which they found a community bathroom and passed many, many old hospital rooms. But eventually Marceline spotted a door in the wall that was smaller than the others, and made of solid metal. She turned the knob, but it was locked, so she grew her arm into a giant, taloned thing and smashed her way through. A set of stairs led down into a darkness that seemed thicker, somehow, than that of the hallway.

"It looks like a basement." Marceline said, setting Bubblegum back down onto the floor and grabbing her hand. "But the door was hecka thick, so it could be something important."

"Let's hope this is the lab," Bubblegum said, squeezing Marceline's hand. "The sooner we find it the sooner we can get out of this place."

Together they made their way down the stairs, Marceline relying on her super eyesight and Bubblegum relying heavily on Marcy to guide her.

"I can't believe there's not a flashlight in your pack," Marceline remarked, voice loud in the small space. "I mean you had three laser guns, a video projector, and not one, but seven cans of tomato soup."

"To be fair," Bubblegum said, "there was a flashlight in there. I just forgot the extra batteries—oof!" she ran straight into Marcy, who had stopped suddenly in front of her. "What's wrong?" she said. "Is it the lab?"

"It's the lab alright," Marcy answered. "Hold on, I'll be right back."

Bubblegum had a moment of blind panic as Marceline released her hand, unable to see in the pitch darkness. But then a set of emergency lights flickered on above, illuminating the lab in red-tinted light.

Marceline flew back toward Bubblegum, grinning. "Can you believe the backup generator still works?"

"Not at all," Bubblegum said, looking around the lab. It was huge—bigger than hers by quite a bit. The ground and the walls were both concrete. Maybe this was a basement, once, before those scientists turned it into the headquarters for their machine.

"I just realized something," Marcy said, floating next to Bubblegum as she followed her walk about the room. "If destroying the machine caused the gas to be released, wouldn't that mean that the machine isn't down here? Wouldn't it be somewhere closer to outside?"

Bubblegum stopped walking. That thought hadn't even occurred to her. This entire facility was free of the gas, so that meant…

She swore, turning to face Marcy. "The hole in the wall," she said. "The one in that community room. She must have moved the machine there to destroy it."

"But the machine wasn't there," Marceline said, biting her lip. "It must have been totally destroyed, or else it was moved again, somehow."

"It doesn't matter," Princess Bubblegum said, quickening her pace as much as she could handle. "There has to be a set of blueprints or a diagram or something."

"What if there isn't?"

Bubblegum stopped walking and began sorting through a pile of seemingly random tools. She pulled out a screwdriver and turned to grin at Marcy. "I'll wing it," she said.


For the next hour Marceline helped Bonnie turn all three of the guns in her pack into approximate replicas of the machine. She moved in and out of the lab, grabbing various items from the community room and the room of the original scientist as Bonnie requested them.

They hadn't been able to find the blueprints, but Bonnie didn't seem too bothered. In fact, she almost seemed excited about it. Marceline supposed that this was the kind of thrill the princess liked: the thrill of solving something, of figuring things out.

Marceline did not quite understand that feeling. If she were being honest with herself, she would take the easy way out every time, if she could.

"Hand me that wrench, will you?" Bonnie asked, pointing.

Marceline did as she was asked, but there was something weighing on her mind. "Bons, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you think she was right?" Marceline said, twisting her hands together as she watched Bonnie work. "The woman from the videos?"

Bonnie's hands didn't stop moving over the weapon she was constructing, but she glanced at Marceline. "What do you mean?"

"You know, the way she said—that it's important to remember stuff. Do you think she was right?"

Bonnie looked down at her weapon, picking it up to get a closer look and frowning. "I'm honestly not sure, Marcy. I think the answer is probably different for everyone."

Marceline sighed. That was more or less what she had expected Bonnie to say, and yet…

"What would you do?" Marceline asked. "If you had to choose between forgetting, and letting your memories drive you completely bonkers?"

Bonnie put the weapon down and tilted her head up to meet Marceline's eyes full on. "I would never choose to forget," she said. "But my circumstances are different from hers. And they're different from yours, too, Marcy. I can't make this decision for you."

Marceline cast her eyes to the ceiling, avoiding the princess's gaze. "I've already made my decision, Bonnie. That isn't what this is about."

From the way the princess's brow rose and the skeptical look on her pink face, Marceline knew Bonnie wasn't buying it. But she just shrugged and picked up her creation from the bench in front of her. "What do you think?" she asked, handing one of the weapons to Marceline. "I only had enough materials to make three. One for you, one for me, and one for Finn, probably."

It was heavy, made of whatever weapons had been in Bonnie's pack as well as whatever materials the princess was able to salvage around the lab. Marceline held it at arms length, feeling a heaviness settle over her chest. This was it. Once they found a way back to the creature their plan would either work or it wouldn't, but either way it would be over. "How does it work?"

Bonnie reached up to flip a switch—causing a small hose to suck up air like a vacuum—and then flip the switch off again. "It sucks the toxic gas in and shoots the modified gas out." She went on to explain what that meant in detail, but Marceline held up a hand. They were already running out of time, and there was a very slim chance she could even understand the inner mechanisms of the weapon.

"It's fine," she said. "We should get ahold of Finn and Jake and figure out a way to get you back to the surface."

"I've thought of that," Bonnie replied. "I'll wear my oxygen mask and you transform into something that can protect me from the fumes, and then you'll just fly us out."

Marceline snorted. "What, like a giant kangaroo?"

Bonnie grinned, grabbing her walkie talkie from her pack. "Whatever works, Marcy."

In the end, the trip back to the battle site was quicker than either of them had anticipated. The two of them filled the guns with fumes and called Finn and Jake to explain the plan before Marceline flew them both back to the top of the cliff. She landed safely, letting Bonnie step down onto the ground as carefully as she could. The candy people were all gone—all of them rescued in some way or another by Finn and Jake, or else retreated back to the entrance of the Abyss—and there was no trace of any part of the monster.

Bonnie raised the walkie. "Finn, Jake, we're here. What's your status?"

Jake's voice scrambled out of the speaker. "Heading your way, princess. Rounding up these turds. Should be there soon."

"Is this really going to work?" Marceline said, weighing the gun in her hand. "I mean, three guns for hundreds of monsters? Your whole army couldn't even hold them off."

Bonnie pursed her lips. "I've been thinking about that, actually. Remember when you told me that the monster spit you back out? Because you had too many memories for it to consume all at once?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, if I've been alive almost as long as you have, that means I have just as many memories."

Marceline's eyes widened. "You want to use yourself as bait."

Bonnie nodded. "I think it might be the only way."

Marceline thought back to when the creatures were fighting Bonnie, how they seemed to plunge toward her in groups, almost as if— "You think they'll come back together if they're overwhelmed!" Marceline shot up into the air. "There's no way they can get your memories individually, so they'll need to come back together to do it. That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

Bonnie nodded again. "If they're all together, we could get them in one hit. No huge battle this time. Just one perfectly timed shot."

Two figures melted out of the shadows, and Bonnie and Marceline both raised their guns. But it was only Finn and Jake, running towards them. "They're coming!" Finn screeched. Bonnie threw him the third gun and looked at Jake.

"We only have the three guns. Finn, hop on Jake's back. You guys can stretch over the clouds and tell us when they're close." She looked back to Marceline. "If they attack Marcy and I, shoot from above."

"This seems like a bad idea," Jake mumbled, but he did as he was told. "They're coming up fast!" he said from above.

Without thinking, Marceline grabbed Bonnie's hand, pushed their shoulders together. "It's better if we both do this," she said. "Double the amount of memories, right?"

Bonnie smiled, turning to press her forehead to Marcy's. "Good idea."

A horrific cacophony of shrieks and screams filled the air as the monsters converged toward them, but the two women didn't break eye contact with each other. This was it—this was the end.

Marceline took a deep breath, placing her free hand on Bonnie's cheek. The princess smiled even despite the horde of creatures ambling toward them, and pressed a hand to the vampires's cheek as well. "Thanks, Bon Bons," Marceline said, closing her eyes. "It's been real."

The noise around them lessened—though it didn't die out completely, and Bonnie moved her head to take a look, swearing in relief. "Marcy, look."

Marceline opened her eyes just as the noise started up again, the creatures rushing toward each other faster than she would have thought possible. They piled on top of each other until they were once again one great disgusting blob, and the two women pointed their weapons. "Don't fire until it's close enough!" Bonnie yelled. "This isn't a long range weapon!"

Marceline's heart beat rapidly and she itched to jump into the sky where she would be safe, but she remained still, held her ground as the thing came at them, shuddering across the ground in great lurches.

"Now!" Bonnie screamed. Marceline pulled the trigger, but a black arm shot out of the side of the creature's body, knocking both women down onto the ground and dodging the fumes at the same time. Bonnie slid across the rocky terrain, holding her hands over her head in protection, and Marceline launched herself into the sky, searching for her gun. There, she spotted it several yards away and flew toward it as quickly as she could.

Bonnie screamed as the creature slunk toward her. Marceline raised her weapon and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Empty. She threw the thing on the ground and darted in Bonnie's direction, scooping her up seconds before the creature reached her.

"My gun was empty," Marceline said, voice strained with panic.

"Yeaargh!"

Both women looked up to find Finn falling like a stone from the sky. He pointed his own gun at the monster and let out one last cry of triumph as he fired. The creature disappeared behind a thick cloud of gas, screeching and flailing and howling.

But Finn was still falling. The princess screamed and Marceline let out a string of curse words as the vampire shot down after him, unsure what she would even do once she got there.

Several yards from hitting the ground, a parachute made entirely of Jake popped out of Finn's backpack, and after that he floated gently down.

Marceline landed next to him with a thud, letting Bonnie go. "You saved us," she cried, rushing up to squeeze Finn into a desperate hug. "Thank Glob you were here."

The clouds cleared from around the monster, revealing it's blobulous body resting on the ground, completely still.

"Is it dead?" Jake asked, snapping back into his original form.

"No," Bonnie huffed. "It's probably just confused. Let's get this thing back to my lab. We'll figure everything out there." She turned to Marceline, fishing something out of her pocket and placing it into the vampire's hand. "Here," she said. "As promised."

Marceline opened her hand to find a tiny glass bottle filled with blue liquid. In all the confusion, she had almost forgotten about it. She had almost forgotten what she had asked for.

"Thank you for being my friend," Bonnie said, closing Marceline's hand over the bottle. "Whatever you choose, I honestly wish you the best."

Marceline looked up. Bonnie's gaze was soft and her eyes were wet, but she was smiling without reserve, smiling in a way that made Marceline wonder for the thousandth time if she was making the right decision.

Marceline looked back down at her hand, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "Thanks, Bons," she said. "Good luck to you, too."

.

.

.

.

.

.

I CAN'T BELIEVE ADVENTURE TIME IS OVER BUT THAT FINALE THO ASDFASDALZXCJL

Honestly thanks to everyone who stuck with me through this whole crazy story, your comments and support meant so much to me, especially since this was my first fic ever. And thanks to all the readers I picked up along the way, I hope you've enjoyed this thing. I truly can't believe it's almost over. I'M HAVING SO MANY EMOTIONS AAAAAAHH

All that's left is the last chapter, so please stick around for the end. Thanks for reading!