Tonight was different to the last few. It seemed shorter, their distance less. They disappeared into a forest this time, trees pressing close and dark around them. Bubblegum tightened her hold on her friend and received an encouraging squeeze in return. There was always a weightless feeling when they flew, as if all her troubles were being left behind in their wake. Eddies of anxiety spiralling away, washed clear by the fresh air. She'd never say it, but she was eternally grateful to Marceline for these trips. They did make her feel better. Weightless.

Her scientific brain knew that was silly. Everything had mass, regardless of what their altitude was. It was just a feeling, a lurching in her stomach, not entirely unpleasant, but different. A feeling she associated with flying. With Marceline.

The vampire slowed almost imperceptibly then stopped altogether. She swung Bonnie down and checked her footing to make sure she wouldn't fall. So careful all the time. Her mental note from the previous evening popped up and she reinforced her resolve to ask about it.

"In here," said Marceline softly. She was holding back a tangle of vines and Bonnie peered inside, worried suddenly by the absolute darkness beyond. "Don't worry, Bon," her friend reassured her. "It's perfectly safe. I'm not about to take you somewhere dangerous."

Bonnie stepped inside cautiously and hastily took a side step so Marceline could file in beside her. She couldn't see anything and reached out to grab Marceline's sleeve. She missed. Marceline chuckled softly and Bonnie felt her cool fingers slide between her own. Her heart thudded.

"I promise it's safe," she whispered again. "And it's not this dark everywhere. Trust me."

And she did.

Bonnie paused to analyse that momentarily. She didn't normally trust so unconditionally… Hmm… What was it? Which variable made it so easy? Marceline tugged on her hand and she set that line of thought aside for later. Instead, she simply allowed the vampire's night vision to lead her to… wherever they were going.

It didn't take long for her to realise that what Marceline had said about it not staying this dark was unequivocally true. Little pin points of light glittered all around them, but the air still felt compressed and smelt of loam and grass. She squinted at them, trying to work out if it was moonlight filtering through the snarl of vines around them.

"It's not stars and it's not the moon," Marceline told her softly. The whole place had an air of sacredness about it, as if talking to loud would shatter its peace. Bubblegum mused silently on what her friend had said. If not moonlight then what? "You'll just have to wait and see."

She shot a surprised glance in Marceline's general direction and would have sworn she could see a glint of teeth in the almost pitch black. "When did you become a mind reader?" she asked in the quietest indignant tone she could manage.

"I'm not," Marceline laughed, a tinkling sound that seemed inappropriate coming from a vampire. "I just know you very well, Bonnibel."

A ribbon of soft light shimmered somewhere in front of them. Bonnie once again strained her eyes, trying to make it out, her grip on Marceline's hand contracting. She wished she'd brought her glasses.

It was an abrupt transition; one Bonnie was not prepared for. One minute they were walking through a tunnel of vines and the next they'd walked into a grand open space. It was a cave, but made of vines. The air smelled less cramped and musky, but still not quite fresh. That wasn't what made her gasp however.

The room was full of light. Little clumps of glowing orange and yellow. A stream ran straight through the middle of the room and that was what had made the slight band of light she'd seen before as it reflected the illumination.

"What…?" Bonnie asked, trying to formulate the question in the way she wanted. "How…?" Not a question Marceline would likely answer. "What is that? Making the light."

"Firebugs," Marceline replied simply.

Bonnie frowned. "Why… did you bring me here?"

Marceline let her hand go and something flickered in Bubblegum's chest… regret? Her friend floated around in front of her. "Can't you just once look at something pretty and see it for what it is? Not what it could be?" Her crimson eyes spoke volumes, but whatever was written in them was in a language Bonnie didn't know. "It's glowing bugs, Bonnie," she said, softer this time, less harsh. "And they're awesome. Accept that and pretend nothing else is relevant."

Guilt slugged her in the stomach. Surely it wasn't so hard to do what Marceline asked. She tried. For her friend.

Bubblegum sucked in a deep breath and looked at the room like she might have when she were younger. The little sparkling lights clustered all over the vines glittered gold and silver. Dust motes and flecks of light in every hue imaginable spun around the bugs and danced through the air. The floor was dusted with green moss, soft and cushiony beneath her feet, little round leaves sprouted from the vines, which weren't so tightly woven here. Wan moonlight flickered through in places from above, but wasn't strong enough to outshine the insects.

Only one word came to mind when she stopped to just stare. "Magical…"

Marceline grinned. "Now you're thinking." She slipped closer and slid the straps of Bubblegum's bag over her shoulder. "Not so hard is it?" Marceline's whispered voice was so close. Her stomach lurched again. It wasn't a disagreeable feeling, but she still wished it would go away. Her heart made a lump in her throat that she couldn't speak around and her head felt… empty. Like a blank slate. It was… dizzying. That intense ruby gaze was all she could see, all she could feel. Heat turned her face a darker pink.

Then Marceline leaned back and the spell was broken. Bubblegum shook herself, taking the food she was offered in hands that shook only a little. Marceline took her coat off and spread it on a rock so Bonnie wouldn't have to sit on the cold damp rock then drifted lazily over the stream, staring up at the bugs.

"Although," the vampire mused. "I might've had another reason for bringing you here. Besides teaching you not to be so clinical all the time." Something flared in Bonnie's chest and was quickly extinguished, dropping like lead to her toes. Marceline pulled a small glass vial from her back pocket and brandished it like… a sword, perhaps.

"What kind of reason?" Bubblegum asked faintly, still having trouble getting rid of that cursed lump.

Her friend's smile grew slightly. "Well, I was thinking about you trying to use lightning as a light… torch… whatever. But that's just impractical. So… firebugs. Alternative."

"I don't like the idea of imprisoning living creatures, Marceline," Bonnie said flatly, eating her food slowly. It truly was marvellous.

"I didn't mean for you to just stuff them in jars and stuff," Marceline told her like she was talking to an idiot. "But their… glowing has to be… I dunno, scientific right? I bet you could work out how they do it."

Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "You're condoning an experiment?" she all but screeched. "But… what happened to science being stupid?"

The vampire shrugged. "I'm sure it has its uses. Lighting your palace without fire could be one." She waved the vial again. "Samples?"

If Marceline hadn't been so far away, Bonnie could have hugged her. "Oh yes," she nodded excitedly. "That's an excellent idea. I'll start working on it as soon as we get back."

Her friend grinned. It was almost childish, pure and happy. Bubblegum smiled back.

While Bonnie finished her meal, still smiling, Marceline scraped several little clumps of the bugs into her bottle and stoppered it. Bubblegum yawned, feeling inexplicably tired.

"Come on then, Bonnibel," Marceline chuckled. "Looks like it's time to get you some sleep."

"You can't get me sleep, Marcy," she argued half-heartedly. "But bed does sound appealing."

Marceline slipped the bottle back into her pant pocket and scooped Bubblegum up, slinging the bag over her shoulder in the same movement. She could be quite skilled at times and utterly moronic at others. But so long as she was happy… Bubblegum yawned again.

Bonnie didn't even notice the trip home, didn't notice when Marceline slipped silently into her room and placed her almost tenderly in her bed. She didn't notice having her boots removed, didn't notice the sheets being tucked beneath her chin. She didn't hear the words Marceline said before she left, but she did feel the cool lines the vampire's fingers traced across the back of her hand. It sent a shiver down her spine.

Marceline wasn't there when she woke. Her bass was in the corner where it had been the last few days, but her day clothes were gone from her drawer. A plate of food sat on her desk, not a single bit of colour to be seen. Folded in half next to it was a note.

Bonnie, it read. Had to go out today, I'll be back this evening. Don't worry about your precious experiment, I drained the colour of half your orchard… or maybe it just felt like that. Anyway, there's plenty of food for you to make it through the day. Just… exercise some restraint would you?

It wasn't signed, but the handwriting was definitely Marceline's. She smiled. Sometimes her friend could be really thoughtful. Then she'd do something stupid and it was easy to forget the other.

Once she'd dressed and eaten, her day progressed much as it usually did. Peppermint Butler followed her everywhere and spent half the morning trying to get her away from her stack of papers. She had far too many things to sign; requisitions, treaties, letters, complaints, any number of things. It was quite perplexing really how so many of her citizens and aristocracy could need so much of her attention.

The clock on the wall meowed the time at noon and she yawned, rubbing eyes gritty from staring at the parchments for so long. A little candy girl with a gold edged blue wrapper knocked timidly on her door, peeking in cautiously.

"I have your lunch for you, Princess," she said shyly. "The vampire lady made sure we had enough."

"Thank you," Bubblegum replied as gently as she could. Her people were quite special, a soft touch was needed. "Just place it here."

The girl slid the tray onto her desk, curtsied a little awkwardly and backed out. After eating the grey foods she stood, stretching. There were still so many papers to sign, but Peppermint Butler was adamant that she spend some time outside each day. If he knew what she did in the evenings he might change his tune. Then again, he might completely lose it too. She wouldn't risk it.

Shuffling some of her papers together, she put her glasses back on and grabbed a pen. Spend some time in the gardens, yes. Neglect her duties, no. The gardens were nice in the afternoons, the multi-coloured candy trees gave lovely shade and a cool breeze made it comfortable even in the heat of summer.

She stopped by the kitchens to get a drink before folding her legs beneath one large tree. Her staff seemed scandalised that she wouldn't use a chair, but it was nice to feel the grass sometimes. Peppermint Butler came out to check on her numerous times, but left, satisfied when he saw her chewing the end of her pencil, lost in thought. It was a nice day, and if she didn't have so much work to do, it might have been easy to enjoy it.

But, a few hours later, she had to lever herself to her feet and walked dejectedly back inside. Afternoon was meeting time and she found it the most detestable, boring part of her day. Listening to people whine was awful. At least she didn't have to entertain that day. Trying to act like she was interested in petty squabbles was draining.

By some miracle, she made it through the afternoon with only minimal ennui. Still, she was rubbing her hands over her eyes all evening. Dinner was sparse, the kitchen was running out of grey food and Marceline still wasn't back. She set about organising notations on her experiment and her work for tomorrow. After a while though she found herself just pushing paper around aimlessly. A bad sign.

Bubblegum shook her head, trying to focus but couldn't quite manage it. Forcing herself to work wasn't generally a good idea, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. Consequently she fell asleep at her desk.

*...|...*

Parchment crinkled as she lifted her head. Sun slanted in past the blinds, paper stuck to her face, her fingers stained from the ink well that tipped over in the night. She'd slept on her work. Groaning, she peeled the paper from her cheek and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm, careful not to get ink in them. Her hair was a mess and she drew a hand through it before remembering the ink.

"Butternuts," she swore, pulling her hair around to look at it. Yes, as expected, long black streaks ran everywhere. "Cobblepie." It was going to be one of those days it seemed.

She looked around but her eyes didn't find what they were looking for. Marceline wasn't back. Then, everything seemed to happen all at once; she was left no time to so much as get changed.

The door slammed open spewing Finn, Jake and Peppermint Butler into her rooms. "I tried to stop them, Princess," her butler exclaimed, pressing a hand to Finn's chest. He reached to restrain Jake too, but the dog slipped past him.

"P-Bubs!" Finn cried, exuberantly. "We're going on a holiday!" He pushed at Peppermint but the little candy was resolute in keeping Finn back. "For a week. How awesome is that?"

"How exciting, Finn," she said, trying to sound enthused. She didn't think she succeeded, she was still tired. "Where are you going?"

"To visit with Flame Princess," he said, blushing. "She's going to show us around the Flame Kingdom."

"Apparently it's not safe for us to explore on our own," Jake expanded. "Her dad can be a bit… crazy when people visit she reckons."

Bubblegum nodded. That was surely true. "Have fun," she said, stifling a yawn.

"Peebs, did you sleep last night?" Finn asked, frowning.

She bobbed her head in a vague semblance of a nod. "At my desk."

Jake and Finn exchanged glances, but then they were both smiling again. "Alright then," Finn said, dismissing the quality of sleeping at ones desk. "We'll be back before you know it. Don't miss us too much!" He grabbed Jake's ears and the dog propelled them out the balcony doors.

Bonnie watched them race through the city, over the walls and across the plains. In mere moments they were nothing more than a speck on the southern horizon. Bubblegum stood at the balcony rail for a moment, watching them disappear. Peppermint's eyes bored into her back, then with a soft click he left.

She was unaccountably tired. Sleeping at her desk, while not the best way to becoming rested, was still sleep. So why did she feel so drained? Irrational.

So completely exhausted she felt, that she didn't hear the gentle whoosh that wasn't quite the sound of the wind; and was taken completely by surprise as a net dropped around her.