It's starting to diverge from the original, people.

ONTO THE STORY.

Disclaimer: Potato wedges are mashed potatoes in disguise.

FLASHBACK TO THE LAST CHAPTER

Those familiar blue eyes widened, but he didn't stop staring. In fact, he continued to make eye contact as he nodded. His Adam's apple bobbed distractingly as he swallowed. I blinked slowly once more, my mind gradually stuttering to a stop. My sight became blurred before greying out and eventually turning black. Only one thing lingered in my conscious before I finally slipped away.

There was another human.

Chapter 3: Bubblegum

My body ached. From the very tips of my toes to the crown of my head, it ached. Like my whole being had become a big bruise.

The skin around my eyes felt tight, stiff. Like someone had sewn them shut to keep me from opening them. And my mouth felt like I had only been eating sand for days on end. I groaned at the thought, my breath catching when my throat protested. It felt like it was on fire. What had happened to me?

My eyebrows pinched together and I forced myself to calm down. It would be smarter to concentrate on opening my eyes rather than the many other troubles my body currently faced. I pictured stitches stretching and snapping apart as my eyes inched open a crack.

The area above me was bright, too bright. Way too bright. I squeezed my eyes closed again, willing the searing pain away. My arms attempted to raise to shield my face from the light, but they wouldn't budge. Panic started settling in as I soon realized that they were being held down tightly at my sides. Turning my wrist resulted in the cool metal biting into it. I'd need a torch if I wanted to get free. Couple that with the fact I was still frustratingly handicapped, and I wasn't able to escape.

I'm trapped.

My breathing hitched and I tried to kick my legs, my heartbeat quickening when they wouldn't move either. Growing desperate, I arched my back, tugging hard on my arms and legs in a fruitless attempt to get out. My eyes flew open on their own accord and that damned bright light was still there, ready to burn my retinas off. I yelped in shock and fell back against the table, squinting to let my eyes adjust to the harsh lighting.

The sound of people coming closer echoed around the room I was in, at least three if not more. One set was louder that the others, clicking sharply every time their foot touched the ground. My body tensed, knowing how vulnerable I was being strapped down to the cold table. I was completely at the mercy of whoever the footsteps belonged to.

I started struggling against my bindings with renewed vigor.

Flashes of blue, yellow, and pink appeared, looking stark against the blinding white of everything else around me. Not that I could really care to focus on it. The only thing my frenzied mind could understand was that the footsteps were getting closer before suddenly stopping. Right next to me. I continued to fight against the restraints, hearing a slight creak from the one holding my right wrist.

A warm, rough hand brushed against my cheek. Its fingers danced across the skin there, brushing a few strands of hair out of my face. I shied away from the touch, giving up on struggling. There was no point. I wasn't strong enough. Not that I would admit it out loud.

I cracked my eyes open a little further, intent on seeing my captors at least once before they actually sewed away my vision. Blue was closest to the table, bits of green and white coming out the more the blurriness faded. Yellow and Pink were a few steps back, Pink much taller than Yellow.

I blinked hard as a memory wiggled in the back of my mind. The dog. Yellow was that dog I'd seen in the forest. The one with the boy with the bear hat.

The boy.

My eyes opened completely, and I ignored the sting of the light. I had to see him. I needed to. I had to prove to myself that he was real, and that he wasn't just a hallucination created from my barely-conscious mind. So that I could know I wasn't alone.

I turned my head towards them, watching the three creatures that stood beside the table. My gaze locked onto the pink thing- girl?- and I scrutinized it, my nose crinkling up as its overly-sweet scent invaded my nostrils, smelling nothing like the forest. Bubblegum. It smiled stiffly at me, somehow managing to have perfectly straight white teeth even though it looked to be made out of the chewy glob. It cleared its throat when I didn't react.

"So. Now that you are awake you must have a great many questions to ask. I'm here to assure you that this is a safe environment and that you will not be harmed as long as you are here," it stated.

Its words sounded hollow and reluctant. False. Instinct told me not to trust the bubblegum thing, another memory struggling to push to the forefront of my mind. But it never came.

An understanding look crossed its face, and suddenly it leaned in close, invading my personal space.

"How…did…you…sleep?" It asked slowly, searching for cognition. The urge to spit at it was strong, but I scooted as far back as I could instead.

"I'm not an idiot," I growled. My eyes started watering and I coughed, my throat burning from lack of use. Its unnatural scent wasn't helping much either.

"Where am I?" I asked in between coughs. The bubblegum blob frowned, disgust crossing its features as a fleck of something or other landed on its cheek. It took a few steps back.

"This is the Candy Kingdom's Research Lab. Let's get the formalities out of the way, shall we? I am Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, but you may address me as Princess Bubblegum," she said, her tone clipped. An air of superiority surrounded her, and it seemed as though the crown on her head glinted a little brighter at the mention of her title.

A tensioned-filled moment of silence occurred, and then she spoke again.

"This is the part where you introduce yourself," she prompted.

"If I said I didn't want to, how offended would you be?" I deadpanned, subtly testing the bands on my wrists. Her gaze flickered to my arms, the tiniest, almost relishing smile tugging at her lips. I cocked my head to the side.

"You enjoying this?"

The smile vanished. She looked at me coldly.

"Why am I banded down anyway?" I wondered out loud, sitting up as much as I could to get a better look at them. There weren't any cracks or lines to suggest an opening of any sort. Unease crept into my gut.

"To make sure you weren't rabid. You never know these days when some blood-covered girl is brought in from the forest," she tutted, bringing back the superiority. Her face twitched, and my eyes narrowed. Liar.

"That's enough, PB," a deep voice admonished. My brow furrowed. Who was that?

The yellow dog plodded closer, turning its head up to look at Bubbleblob. I raised an eyebrow, a sneaking suspicion creeping up within me.

"She's been through a lot lately," it said, jowls quivering. "Can't you cut her some slack?"

Talking dog. Okay. Should I have seen that coming? Probably. More impossible things have happened.

"Jake, you don't get to make those judgments," she replied with a strained smile.

"No need to be rude, P-bubs," Jake huffed.

"May I ask if you would release me, your Majesty?" I jumped in before she could say anything else. She jerked her gaze back to me, her eyes darkening. I licked my lips and willed myself to hold my shoulders back despite being in an awkward half-sitting, half-laying down position.

"I can assure you I'm not rabid or anything of the sort. If I were, I would be much less cooperative," I said, mimicking her speech patterns. Maybe she only listened to herself.

She pursed her lips, lapsing into thought. Judging by the way the corners of her mouth twitched and her brows turned down, I was certain she was going to say no. What was her problem? Wasn't I brought here to be fixed? That giant thing had messed me up pretty badly after all. There was practically no reason to keep me prisoner. Bubbleblob opened her mouth to say something spiteful when the boy from the woods spoke up for the first time.

"We should let her go, Princess," he agreed, crossing his arms.

"What? But, Finn-"

"It's not like she'll attack us or anything. Besides, even if she did, I could take her." His eyes glinted and a cocky smirk settled itself on his face.

"You wanna bet?" I scoffed, regretting the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. He didn't miss a beat.

"Yeah, I do," he shot back, amusement turning his smirk into a grin.

The princess scowled. It was an ugly look that didn't suit the rest of her getup very well. Swallowing back her pride, she crossed over to the wall by the door, pressing in a slight indentation. A panel of buttons slid out covered in unfamiliar symbols. She cracked her knuckles, paused, and then let her fingers fly, pressing so many of the buttons that I had no hope in figuring out the order. At least from this angle. With a flourish, she tapped one more thing and closed it all up.

Almost immediately the bands snapped, letting out a small hiss of air as they slid into the table. I sat up completely, rubbing my sore midsection. I must have moved too quickly, because the boy grasped the hilt of his sword warily and Jake took a protective step closer to him. They didn't matter once I fully realized I didn't have any of my things. In fact, I wasn't even wearing my own clothing. My skin crawled.

"Where is my backpack?" I growled, willing myself not to wince at the burn it caused. "Where is my sword?"

When no one answered me, I swung my legs off the table and scooted off, determined to find them myself. They were all I had left of her. I wobbled uncertainly for a few seconds, not used to having to walk. I scanned the room and clutched the table for support.

"We couldn't just let you have a weapon when we weren't sure if you were dangerous or not," Bubbleblob stated, standing up straighter.

"Great, nice, good for you. Now that that's out of the way, where did you put them?" I pressed, anger beginning to boil.

Never trust royals, Desdemona. Nothing good ever comes from 'em. They're only interested in their throne, not their people.

I let go of the table, moving towards her. I wasn't quite sure what I would do when I reached her, but thankfully I didn't have to worry about that thanks to my legs giving out on me. I fell to the floor and let out a very unladylike grunt. Jake padded over to me, chuckling lightly under his breath. He dug his head in between my arm and my side like a crutch, and the next thing I knew, I was rising up. Without using my legs.

Bewildered, I glanced down at the yellow dog, watching as his legs stretched at an unimaginable rate.

"You've never seen a magical dog before, have ya?" He grinned at me, his large eyes twinkling. I frowned, looking away. Was it that obvious?

I tried unlatching myself from him, mostly due to pride and the way I was raised to not need anyone's help. He wouldn't have it.

"You're not strong enough yet. Can't have you falling all over the place now."

"Fine. But really, where are my things?" I asked again, addressing the boy instead of the pink glob. I had a funny feeling she didn't want to help me any more than she had to.

"They're upstairs. I put them somewhere safe, don't worry," he said, flashing me a smile. The princess scowled again.

"You know next to nothing about her," she scolded. "Don't get all cozy just yet."

I shrugged, deciding that getting my things was more important than listening to the lecture Bubbleblob was about to give.

"Can you help me up the stairs?" I whispered to Jake, eyes on the princess and Finn as she laid into him, rambling off a bunch of "logical" reasons as to why I wasn't trustworthy.

"No prob. No matter what PB says, I don't think you're that bad," he said with a wink.

Slowly, as to not let Bubbleblob see what we were doing, we edged around the two of them, taking the smallest baby-steps possible. She turned away from all of us to grab something or other from a nearby counter to possibly help with her argument, and Jake and I took it as our chance to exit.

We rushed up the stairs, or, at least Jake did, since my legs weren't cooperating that well. Jake helped me to a small room that was hidden behind a self-portrait of the pink girl. I thought the artist gave her curves a little too much pronunciation, but it could have been just me. Maybe she had wanted it that way.

Quietly, he closed the secret door behind us. As I turned to look at the room, my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Gold. Jewels. Candy. They were in piles as tall as me, and scattered all around the room. The brilliance of their shine was overwhelming. I had never seen so much money before.

Jake helped to lean me against a wall as he trotted off to search for my things. I didn't mind. This was probably going to be the only time I would ever see this much money again, so I wanted to savor it while I could. Strangely enough, I didn't feel the slightest urge to take any of the gold, or the jewels. Normally, I would have no hesitations, but right now, I did. In fact, I felt like if I even tried to take anything, something bad would happen. Like it was a booby-trap.

"Jake, did you find it yet?" I called, glancing at the door warily.

"I found your backpack, but not the sword. Sorry," he said, bringing me the item in question. I clutched it to my chest, relief flooding my system.

"Thanks," I said quickly before opening it. I made sure all my things were still inside before slinging it over my shoulder. One could never be too sure, after all.

A large crash jarred the walls and then the door slammed open. Standing just outside the doorframe was a non-too-happy pink princess that looked like she had murder on the mind. My hands curled into fists on their own accord as I took in her bright red, blotchy face. This wasn't going to be good.

A/N: Yup. Here is where the river of time splits in a slightly new direction. Oh boy.

Here's to figuring things out all over again. To newer, better interactions. To better relationships.

Oh, boys.

Thank you to the Vocalists and Silent Watchers as always! If you have any suggestions as to where this path should diverge to, let me know in a review.

Okay, that about sums it all up for now.

Bye~