-Day 8-

Flame Princess hummed a soft tune as she got dressed. Exactly five days ago, Finn had taken her on quite truely the most romantic dates she'd ever been on. Ever since then, he'd been hanging out with her a lot more often. He'd taken her to see so many sights in the land and she cherished every minute of it.

"Hmm.. This dress or this dress?" She wondered, looking back and forth at the two.

Standing in front of the mirror, she held one dress in front of her body; she then took that one away and held the other one up.

"Hmpf.. They both look pretty good.." She groaned.

She didn't want to be one of those girls who took hours to get dressed, but she still wanted to look good. She casually looked back at the mirror and noticed something about her hair. It didn't seem as bright as it was a couple days ago. She frowned and ran her hand through it.

"Why can't this hair ever do what I want it to?" She mumbled.

She probably hadn't gotten enough sleep last night. Her flames tended to be a bit less bright when she was tired. She didn't dwell on it to long, as she had to get ready to go. Finn was coming by this afternoon and she wanted to be ready to leave when he arrived.


Marceline plucked an apple from the tree whose limb she was sitting on. Her eyes scanned slowly across the cloudy landscape. It had been some days ago since she had seen Finn and in all honesty that pleased her. Seeing him that night had brought back memories from her own life that were better off forgotten by her. She was confident that he was concerned greatly about something, but hiding this emotion with a thinly veiled smile. This concerned her for a number of reasons, as Finn was usually a really happy-go-lucky kind of person. His sudden dispositon signaled something terrible was about to happen. Of course, she could have just been over-analyzing the situation. She had a tendancy to do that sometimes. She bit into the apple, sucking the color until it was just a grey sphere. After tossing it off the tree, it made a loud thunk directly underneath her.

"Ow."

Looking down, she saw Finn rubbing the top of his head gingerly.

"Hey, Finn. Long time no see."

He didn't respond. Instead, he jumped up onto the branch she was sitting on and took a seat himself. He looked nervous.

"Something eating you?" Marceline asked.

"I have to ask you something.." He replied softly.

"Go ahead."

"I know that you've lived a long time..."

"Yup. One-Thousand, Five Hundred and Eleven years, actually."

"How did you.."

He hesitated and rubbed his arm. Marceline's eyebrow raised slightly.

"How did I what?"

"How did you say goodbye to the people you cared about? The ones you outlived?"

Marceline's eyes widened. She certainly hadn't expected this, not from Finn. She didn't want to pry, but at the same time she wanted to know where this had come from.

"What's going on, Finn?"

She saw his eyes start to tear up. He was staring directly into her eyes.

"Flame Princess is dying and I don't think I can let her go."


Bubblegum worked feverishly in her lab. There had to be something, anything, that could stop , or at least slow, her condition. She had to stop this somehow. It would destroy him. But, juggling a kingdom and the seemingly impossible task of saving Flame Princess had left her with no sleep at all. She was certain it had been a week since she had even a minute of sleep. There must have been something she had overlooked!

"There has to be! I can't let this happen!" She shouted.

"Bonnie?"

Bubblegum looked back and saw Marceline flying in through the doorway. After landing on the floor, she looked around with a shocked expression. Bubblegum didn't blame her. Her lab was a wreck from all she had been doing lately. Bubblegum herself wasn't looking so good either. Her normally well-kept hair was a mess, with strands of hair falling over her face and deep bags under her eyes. Marceline looked back at Bubblegum and sighed.

"I think you know you can't save her."

"Finn told you?"

"Yes, he talked to me about it."

"How's he holding up?"

"He's sad, but he knows what he has to do."

Bubblegum slumped in her chair and sighed sadly. Marceline walked over next to her and sat down on the table. Both girls sat in silence.

"What am I doing, Marcie? I've tried everything. But, some naive part of me is still hoping to come across an answer. Something I overlooked when I started." Bubblegum spoke painfully.

"It's the motive of all living things to cheat death. But in the end, it doesn't matter. Death comes to everything; Nothing can escape it. Living for so long has showed me this. Even me, a supposed "Immortal Vampire" will eventually meet my end. Whether it's the sun or by the edge of a stake, death will come. No one lives forever." Marceline said with a serious tone.

Tears rolled down Bubblegum's face and she suddenly embraced Marceline. A little surprised, she hugged her back. They stayed that way for a long time. Bubblegum finally broke the embrace and looked back to the ground.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it."

"He's so young, Marceline.. How is he going to get over this?"

"I think he's stronger than you give him credit for, Bonnie."

"I know. But, I can't help but worry about them. He finally has a loving relationship.. and Flame Princess has only just started to live a happy life. They were so happy. To have something that wonderful suddenly ripped away from you like this.."

"All we can do now is have his back in his darkest hour. It's all we can do for him."

"You're right."

Marceline frowned and looked down at the ground.

"How long does she have left?"

"Seven days, not counting this one."

Marceline sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well, we have another issue.."

Bubblegum looked back at her. "What is that?"

"Flame King doesn't know that his daughter is dying. Someone has to tell him what's going on."

"I know this. I was hoping that I could find a solution. I didn't want to cause him stress if I could find a way to stop it. But, there is no way to stop it." Bubblegum stated sadly.

"I'll head out to the Flame Kingdom tomorrow."


Finn walked through the forest and thought about his earlier conversation with Marceline. She hadn't said much on the subject, as it was still a touchy subject to her. But, she did give him good advice about what he needed to do.

"She's dying?" Marceline asked softly.

"Yeah, Bubblegum said that she's tried everything. Nothing will work. I hope she doesn't feel like this is her fault. If it's anybody's fault, it's mine. I kissed her that day. I caused all this."

"Finn!" Marceline said with a sudden anger that surprised him.

"You didn't cause this. If you keep thinking like this, you're not going to enjoy the last days you spend with her!"

"How exactly am I supposed to do that!?" Finn shouted angrily.

"Finn.." Marceline said, returning her voice back to a softer tone.

"How can I say goodbye to her when she doesn't even know she's dying?!"

"You can't. You can only enjoy any time you have left. I'm not going to lie and say it'll be easy. It won't be. Letting go is probably the hardest thing to do in life."

"What can I do?"

"You show her how much you love her. You show her exactly what she means to you. What you should be asking yourself is what you want to do with her last days. Say goodbye in your own way. Nothing I can say will help you with that. You have to do it."

"You're right." Finn said with a sad smile.

"Good Luck, Finn."

Finn smiled as he approached her house. She was sitting on the steps and waved to him as he came into view.

"Hey, Finn!" She yelled from her steps.

He quickly ran up to her house.

"Hey, FP."

She punched him playfully in the arm. "Where have you been, you butt? I've been waiting forever!"

"Sorry, I got a little sidetracked along the way.."

"It's alright. Let's get going!"