AN: Pretty please RR I'm feeling a bit self conscious :(. also... *pointing at simon* that's a dad if i ever saw one.

warning: death implied

It was months since the search for Finn had begun, dead end clues leading nowhere as Fern and the Gumbaldian's feigned helpfulness. But danger was ever present in Ooo and when King Man appeared warning of the arrival of Golb, the kingdom's scrambled to amass the forces needed to hold him back... but it backfired catastrophically.

Fern watched the people descend into chaos as the being descended from the heavens, Banana Guards and Cake Soldiers were absorbed into the mass of a horrifying pulsating creature. It was nightmarish and all a manner of creatures fled in panic as it began to rampage and absorb more creatures into itself. His body and mind thrummed with excitement. A challenge. He conjured his weapons in anticipation. Kill the evil.

"Wait." Gumbald held up a fist to halt Fern. "This could work in our favor. Bring me Ice King."

No. KillKillKillKILLKILLKILL! "I can take this thing." Fern hissed. Do you doubt me? foolish. I've killed things far more powerful than you. Eliminate him-.

"I'm sure you can, but we could use this creature."

He swallowed his frustration. Fine" Racing off to find the wizard, he tried to quell the desire to simply ignore Gumbald's instructions. The creature swiped at him and lost its arm in the process. As it recoiled in pain he raced to retrieve cursed scientist.

"Fern! Look out!" Jake stretched out like a tarp to block a swarm of demonic birds from pecking him to bits. His brother shrieked in pain. "War is hell, man!"

"Jake!"

In the distance he noticed Ice King flying up towards the creature. He decided to help his brother rather than continue to comply with Gumbald's commands. He won't know. If he puts up a fuss we could kill him.

His vines shredded the creatures attacking Jake to bits, while the creature corrupted one of PB's gumball guardians. "Oh, Thanks Fer- Uhh, Green Knight."

"Keep up." He raced towards the Corrupted Guardian, weapons at the ready.

Fern reveled in destroying the creature, even as it respawned over and over from it's own remains. eventually it managed to land a good hit, knocking him away like an ant. He could only watch as it continued to rampage, eventually destroying the Treehouse in its senseless destruction. "No!" He attempted to race after them, rage boiling over. It was personal now. Is BMO Ok? Where's Neptr? If they hurt them I won't leave anything for them to come back in.

"Everyone!" Fern froze at the sound of PB's voice echoing over the battlefield. "I need you all to Harmonize with BMO!"

Relief washed over him as the tiny robot began to sing, the survivors chiming in with their own voices. Fern joined in as loudly as he could.

If there was some amazing force outside of time,

To take us back to where we were.

And hang each moment up like pictures on the wall

Inside a billion tiny frames so we can see it all, all, all

It will look like, will happen, happening happen.

Will Happen, happening, happened.

And there we are, again and again

Cause you and I will always be back then.

And then the world went white.

"Betty look! We can escape this way."

"I'm sorry, Simon. I need to do this."

"Betty!" Simon lunged forward to try to stop the love of his life. But it was in vain.

He collapsed back on the bed that Marcy had set up for him. How long ha he spent wallowing in his adopted daughters home, not making a single move to further his new life in this world. Maybe he could return to his research?

No... it wasn't the same without her. What was the point?

"Simon?" Marcy floated into the room, concern etched into her features. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Marcy. Don't worry about me." He suddenly recalled a memory from his time as Ice King. "Are you okay? Your... friend is missing right? Uh, Phil right?"

Marcy sighed and sat down next to him. Instinctively, Simon pulled her close and shielded her body with his. She hugged him back. "I wasn't ready for it to happen. I thought we'd have more time with him... he was still so young." She squeezed him. "I'm tired of loosing people, Simon. Bonnie... I could lose her at any moment and I'm just... I'm not ready."

"Hey hey," He stroked her hair, partly glad that he could distract himself by focusing on someone else and partially angry that his little girl was so distraught. Really it leaned more towards the later. "You can't spend all your time worrying about the future. How will you enjoy the time you have with them already? Besides, your friend could still be out there."

"It's not that simple... Finn should have busted himself out by now. Something's wrong but we can't do anything about it or else it'll start a war worse than the Mushroom War."

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose, politics were never his forte. "Ok... walk me through this."

The pair stayed up for hours as Marceline explained the history of the Bubblegum family and the events leading up to their return. She explained the existence of Fern the Human(not to be confused with Finn the Human, they stopped being the same a long time ago.) and how he allied with them to get revenge on Finn.

"So you think that Fern killed Finn, and the Gumbaldians are covering it up. But since you can't defend Ooo in Finn's place, due to your vampiric nature you're all playing along to use the Green Knight as a stand in until you can find proof and justify killing the Bubblegum family once and for all."

"When you put it like that..." Marceline looked ashamed.

"How can I help?"