Alex watched the hyperactive kid and his shapeshifting bulldog approach the house. If it weren't for the long nights spent reading SCP Foundation, he would have freaked out by then. Marceline floated over and waved hello to her friends.

"Finn, Jake. I'd like you all to meet Alex." She said.

Alex waved sheepishly at them.

"I think he's Human."

Alex didn't expect what happened next. The kid burst with joy, then bombarded the both of them with so many questions that they couldn't keep up.

"Alright, alright! Slow down buddy!" Alex said, placing a hand on the kid's shoulder, "Now repeat that last question."

"Howdiyougethere—I mean—how did you get here?"

"Well," Marceline was the first to speak so Alex didn't interrupt her, "I was hangin' in my kitchen when I saw this flash of light in the living room. I went there to check and there he was, all passed out on my floor."

"I don't know how I got here either. Me and the band were just cooling off after our lead guitar left in a hissy fit and then I was in her living room. That's pretty much it."

The dog reached inside the boy's backpack and pulled out a jury-rigged cellphone by the looks of it. The dog answered a call.

"Hey PB." The dog said, "What's up?"

"What's she say?" The boy asked.

"She says she found another human."

"Oh boy." Alex said dryly.

"We've got another human here as well." Jake told this 'PB'.

Alex sat on top of the dog named Jake, who had grown until he was larger than a house just a few minutes ago. Marceline was floating along beside them, wearing a large hat and long gloves. Finn was still asking questions, but at a slower pace. He was really interested in what life before the 'Great Mushroom War' was like. Finn was positively excited when Alex showed him his iPod. The kid had a great voice, actually.

Marceline had told him a few bits about the War but didn't really elaborate on things. It all seemed to be a far cry from the clean air and bright sunshine of the now. They were approaching some sort of castle, which was flanked by massive gumball machines. They were blowing bubbles. The faint stirrings of a headache wormed its way into Alex's head.

"Xenu. What is up with this place?"

"Don't you have Candy People in your time?" Finn asked.

"We had just candy. No candy people."

"Aww. That sucks."

"I bet you didn't have cities several dozen miles wide." Alex said, showing Finn a picture of the Manila skyline, "This is he best part of it."

"Yeah, that's true. But there's no Candy People, no Princesses. I mean, everything's great but I kinda like it here."

"Hey. The air's good here."

"What? It's always been the same!"

"In my time, there was so much smoke in the air that we could barely breathe. We were the worst sort of people. We were destroying our only home, others for this junk." Alex pointed at his iPod, "Yeah. I'm a hypocrite."

"That's kinda...sad." Marceline remarked.

"How did you guys ever manage to live there?" Finn asked.

"We didn't really live. We ate, breathed, drank, but we never lived. We just spent our lives waiting to live."

"Yo man! You better stop talking about this! It's really bumming me out!"

"Sorry, Jake. So Finn, tell me about this Candy Kingdom."

"Oh... alright!"

They spent a few more minutes killing the time while Jake walked towards the Candy Kingdom. When Finn said that everything in the Candy Kingdom was made of candy, he wasn't kidding. Alex watched the contents of a candy store mill around like humans as the giant dog approached a tower of sorts.

On the balcony was a lady dressed in pink and a familiar redhead. Jake allowed them to disembark.

"Alex!" The redhead yelled, rushing towards him, "I thought I was the only one here!"

"I bet this is the first time you're happy to be wrong, Sarah."

"Like heck yeah!" She threw herself on Alex, wrapping her arms around him in a big bear hug.

"So this is the other human." The lady with the tiara said, "Interesting... Ah, I seem to be getting ahead of myself. Greetings! Welcome to the Candy Kingdom! I am Princess Bubblegum, the ruler of this place."

Alex bowed. He had gone to England several times with his mother on business trips, and had learned how to address royalty, of the British sort at least.

"My Lady." He said, "I am honored to meet you, Your Royal Highness."

Finn and the Princess were caught off guard by this. The Princess' look of surprise faded quickly, and she replied with a small curtsy.

"I must say, the past seems to be quite unpredictable."

"That would only be half of it, Ma'am."

Alex briefly looked around for Marceline, but he could see no sign of her. He assumed that she had left already.

"Oh, come in! Come in!" The Princess motioned them inside, "Let us have snacks while I explain your situation."

"So you brought us here to learn what life was like before the War?"Alex raised an eyebrow, "Why not open a few books?"

"Sadly, all of the Pre-War records I have come across are badly damaged and woefully incomplete."

"I see." Alex sighed, "I apologize if you think us ungrateful, but how long would it take to rebuild your device?"

"The current device took a week to build. Unfortunately, I have used up all my available materials. Mining and refining the prerequisite elements would take several weeks, and the fabrication of the component parts would take a month at best. I have also lost most of my lab notes on the subject in the fire that came after the original explosion. I am sorry, Alex. Doing all that would take at least a year."

"Very well. It looks like we'll have to wait it out. Thank you, Princess Bubblegum. We would like to help in any way we can."

Sarah reached for a muffin, a hungry glint in her eyes.

Alex put Marceline's amp on the floor and fiddled with a few knobs.

"You know, 'Cess. I wonder why we haven't freaked out yet."

"Freaked out?"

"Majorly, I mean."

"Huh... true." Sarah looked at Alex's guitar, "Hey! How come you've got your guitar!"

"I know someone who's got a bass you can borrow."

"You called?" Marceline suddenly appeared in the room.

Sarah jumped.

"What the? How'd you get here? Why are you floating?"

Alex put his face in his palm and sighed.

"Sarah, meet Marceline. Marceline, meet Sarah. She's my bandmate."

"Oh?" Marceline quirked an eyebrow, "What do you play?"

"Uh, the bass?"

"Cool!"