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Five-Meetings
Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum sighed, today was one of those days. Ice King was causing a ruckus in her city once again, currently he held her in his arms, her body rendered inert by being encased in ice.
Honestly she was going to get freezer burn one of these days.
She grumbled again as the old man struggled with her banana guards, she had enjoyed the last couple weeks because it seemed Ice King had turned his crazed mind to other things. But for whatever reason he had decided today was a good day to bother Bubblegum mid experiment-said experiment quickly exploded when not being tended to by the genius ruler- and try to marry her again. Honestly sometimes it was extremely hard for the Princess to connect this bothersome lunatic to the gentile archeologist unfortunately trapped within his head.
The only upside was that Finn and Jake were already on their way with "some extra help" and only a little of her city had been damaged so far. If her heroes came soon enough she would be able to fix her city without needing to raise any taxes. As Ice King gave another maniacal laugh he blasted some more of Bubblegum's poor banana guards, seeing a break in the lines he quickly flew through and out into the open main square of the city. He looked around excitedly and was about to fly off when he was suddenly kicked in the face by a very familiar black shoe.
His princess was taken from his arms as he crashed to the ground. He looked over and saw Finn set Princess Bubblegum on the ground and -with a few swift kicks -set her free. Still dazed he saw Jake and this chick with crazy blue hair and a broad sword run up to the young hero.
'Oh boy another hero-friend for those two.' He though sarcastically.
Getting up-with many creaks and pops from bones- the ruler of the ice and snow glared at the foursome. "Aw, why did you break her out? I had to sneak up on her oh so carefully so she couldn't hit me before I did it."
All four of them glare at him and Finn gives a groan, "Ice King! What the flop man? Why can't you just leave PB alone? Just get out of here! Go!"
The bearded man frowned, his "nemesis/ sometimes-friend" sounded more disappointed and annoyed rather than angry or thrilled to see him. He didn't like it.
"Ahhh, what? But you're the ones who interrupted me!"
"He said leave old man!" And suddenly there was a sword in his face; it was that chick with the blue hair.
He blinked.
"Hey aren't you the chick who's been hanging out with Huntress Wizard?" That's right, she was a normie. Huh, now that he looked at her she kind of looked like Finn.
'Weird…'
"Yes, and you're the annoying old guy who kept bothering us and blew our cover in that Wizard City market place!"
Ugh, that was a disastrous night. Huntress Wizard had dressed her up to like a water sorceress-to work with the blue hair-and they had gone to meet someone she knew who might've been able to help her locate not only her brother but her father as well, or at least determine if either of them was alive.
But nooooo, this guy had to keep bothering first Huntress then her which drew attention to them. Seeing this-Huntress had explained this informant not would come forward if they didn't blend in- Beth had pushed the guy away and started to try making her way through the crowd, Huntress right behind her. But the push had caused some sort of reflex to happen and the guy sent a zap of ice magic at them, Huntress tried to get both of them out of the way but they pivoted and Beth managed to get blasted in the side. When they hit the floor the frozen part of her costume broke off-revealing her very normal body shape underneath.
Needless to say they barely made it out alive when everyone realized their ruse. And now it looked like her friend might not be completely welcome in her home turf anymore.
Beth growled. "Now my brother may have sympathy for you- "
"Brother?!" Ice King stared.
Said sibling had yelled at the woman to stand down and was making his way over while Jake and the princess of the candy kingdom stayed back.
"But I have none, now get out of here or I'll make good on Huntress' old promise to give you quite the shave."
To emphasize her point the woman flicked her sword and a small tuft of white hair from Ice King's beard flew up and then to the ground.
This made him take a step back, "Okay! Okay, I'm out of here. See you later Finn."
At this point said hero and caught up to the two and gave a small awkward wave, "Uh, bye."
With that the poor, crazed man flew off. Beth turned to her brother.
"Beth! I thought I said use non-sharp force on him. He's just a crazy, annoying guy."
The woman scoffed, "Whatever, I got him to leave. Plus even though he's a pain in the ass I really wouldn't have used the sword like that. I don't believe in mistreating the elderly, even evil or annoying elderly."
She frowned, and her look became distant for a moment before snapping back to her brother who was giving her a peculiar look.
"Any way let's go meet this princess friend of yours."
Finn smiled seeing his sister snap back to herself, seeing her threaten Ice King was a little….unsettling since he was not used to that side of her. Seeing the look on Jake's face confirmed his feelings.
"Sure, come on." Finn then lead Beth back toward Jake and the pink hued woman that ruled this land.
Her hair was done up in a pink messy bun, she wore goggles on her face and a lab coat that covered a magenta colored dress, her skin was a light rose color. She looked pretty slim but that didn't really say anything about her strength level, Beth had seen skinner people take down crazy foes both in Ooo and at home. She had a nice enough face and looked like the decent sort. She smelled like the gum her grandpa would buy her on a good market day when she was a child.
She smiled, "Hello, I'm Bethilda Mertens but you can just call me Beth."
"Greetings, I am Princess Bubblegum. Welcome to my kingdom."
PB took a moment to look at the woman, her black and dark green clothes looked worn yet clean and the white and red shirt she spied in the opening of the jacket spoke of some color palette. The gauntlets she wore seemed to be made of an interesting alloy and were intricately engraved; on her shoulders was strung a small gray messenger bag. She had a decent build-athletic and thinner than Finn who was still working off baby fat- and while her facial bone structure held its own pattern she could see it had a few similarities to Finn's. The muscle fibers of her iris were colored the same shade of blue as her brother's; her stance was firm.
She smiled, "Thank you for getting rid of Ice King, I think you might have managed to scare him off for at least a little while. Anyway I hear that you are a human like Finn, there has been rumor spreading about another human in Ooo but I thought it was baseless."
"Nope, it's the real deal." Interjected Jake helpfully.
Bubblegum nodded her head, "Come let us go inside to sit and chat, I am most curious to hear how you came to be here Beth the human."
As the group made its way through the slight amount of ruble and staring sentient candy Beth raised a brow at her surroundings; so Candy Kingdom was not just a title. It was a descriptor as well! Seriously, everyone and everything was candy, it freaked her out a bit. She turned when she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, it was Finn.
"You okay?" She smiled weakly, "Just trying to take everything in, this place just gets weirder and weirder."
Finn and Jake- who had been listening- chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it can feel that way if you aren't used to it."
Beth smiled at them and continued looking about; her eyes caught a dark face looking at her through one of the many windows of the palace. She narrowed her eyes to get a better look but it quickly disappeared. Feeling a chill go down her spine she went back to looking at the candy people.
She would never get used to this place.
8888
Jarlath chuckled to himself as he worked in his lab. Surrounded by a maze of tables with a plethora tubes, beakers, bottles, various apparatus filled with bubbling chemicals in a rainbow of colors, various rocks and minerals, books and notes he was truly in his element. His cloak hung on a peg in the corner, exposing the long braid of black hair he had. His smile was slightly manic.
He had inspected his little firebird's old holding lamp and after analyzing a few samples he had taken he found he could recreate its base material. Of course he would not just make another lamp; his love deserved something befitting her station.
He looked over at the oil painting he had made of her from memory, her brows and mouth pinched in such an adorable way. She always wore that expression when she saw him and he understood; she had to keep indifference up so as not to appear weak; the Fire Kingdom was a dangerous place. But he had seen it, the first time they had seen each other, it was love.
He had heard of her power and had ventured to the Flame Kingdom to negotiate with her father, when he had seen her all alone in her lamp he knew he was a goner. Her luscious orange hair crackled when she spotted him, her perfect sun yellow face stretched in an expression of amazement when she noticed him staring. A light blush flitted on her face and then it was gone, that pinched expression making itself at home. So he knew the feelings were mutual, that's why he had been so confused when she had started dating that damn hero boy.
But then it hit him, she was just pretending. By hiding behind that damn patsy she could be free of her father and gain her strength.
Well he would wait and play the part of partner to her father, but when the right time came he would reveal himself to her, take her back to his domain and they would reunite in glorious passion. Together they would conquer the Fire Kingdom and then Ooo. She would be his Phoenix Queen and he her lowly King Consort, to hell with those conservative who thought eighteen was the only legally right age to consummate!
When it comes to true love no mortal laws mattered.
But for any of this to work he had to make this capture of his princess convincing, he had to truly overpower her, he saw that when his rock golems tried to take her last time. She had fought with all the semblance of realism before and after those heroes showed up. Who knew his little darling was such an actress?! So he had to make this perfect. He looked at his workstation.
Yes the material was just beginning to boil.
This would be perfect.
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Princess Bubblegum gave a final wave to Finn, Jake and Beth as they made their way out of the city and toward home. It was quite late but she wasn't even a little tired. Talking to Beth had so excited her; she was actually rather smart in rudimentary science and had a decent vocabulary. Not to mention her information on humans was quite interesting- I mean the nation she came from was united under a single republic and flag, how fascinating! She was happy for Finn in that he was not the last human and his sister had been so accommodating in letting her examine her and take some samples as she had done to Finn on more than one occasion.
Her story of her journey here and how Finn came to this land greatly intrigued her. Being as ageless as she was she could clearly remember when she had first heard tales of a brunette, heroic man running around Ooo. But those tales hadn't lasted for very long and were soon forgotten. The bit of gossip that no one would get over was the news that the illustrious Joshua Dog and his Lovely wife Margaret Dog had adopted what could be the last human boy and were raising him to be a hero. The princess had taken special interest in this; heroes were always welcome in the land of Ooo. She would be forever thankful that she had managed to make this one not only her good friend and but also a reliable, personal emergency call.
Whoo boy.
The sugary monarch was brought out of her musing by a gray face suddenly popping out of nowhere from above and hissing.
Deadpan, she said, "Hello Marceline."
The Vampire Queen scoffed, "Look at little Miss Fearless over here."
Bubblegum rolled her eyes as her lips quirked up into a grin. Seeing as Marceline was still floating upside down in front of her she gave another eye roll. With a quick lean in she laid a soft, sweet peck on the other woman's cheek and started moving forward when Marceline got out of the way.
"You know you could have come down and said hi, Beth is actually rather nice and I know Finn would have been happy to see you."
Marceline floated behind Bubblegum as she made her way back to her lab, didn't this woman ever sleep? Not that the half demonic vampire really minded; these all-nighters gave Marceline a chance to have PB all to herself.
Neither woman was really sure where or what they were at the moment but….after that incident with the music band and that door…they had started talking and things had progressed to now. Neither of them knew if it would work out or if it should so they kept the deeper nature of their friendship their own business for now. But it was nice, the way things were getting, so both of them just let things happen as they happened.
"Yeah, but I just wanted to check things out. You know, see if she was cool without Finn or anyone watching me do it."
Marceline had been in a rather nasty fight with this random demon guy who thought he could take her on; she had eventually won and returned him to the night-o sphere but at a rather big price toward her health. Thankfully she had been near the Candy Kingdom so she had gone there to rest and both metaphorically and literally lick her wounds. She had hidden in the deeper parts of the castle today and hadn't known what to do when Ice King had shown up, thankfully Finn and his little crew came by before she decided to face the bright sunlight in her weakened state.
So she had simply continued to regroup in the castle-she had been impressed when the human woman had managed to see her in that upper window- and had used her powers to observe the company in ways that only PB could see or notice her.
As if sensing her thoughts PB stopped mid-step and turned around, "I don't blame you for not helping with Ice King, you were too weak and even if he had seen you he would not had listened. The guy was in one of his more manic moods."
It was true, he had looked a bit more crazed than usual today, thankfully it seemed that knock to the head from Finn had snapped him out of it-if his sudden timid and only slightly off behavior was anything to go by.
"Still doesn't mean it was alright that I couldn't do anything."
Protested a put out Marceline, she had gotten a bit overprotective in the last few weeks. PB didn't really mind it.
"Better that you did nothing, the sun exposure you would have received would have severely damaged your tissues, now enough of this, let's go to the lab." With that Bubblegum took the other woman's hand-pulling her to be beside her instead of behind and continued on.
Marceline couldn't seem to continue to fret over the day's events with their hands linked so simply let it go with a vow to take action the next time Ice King decided to come around. Their dual steps echoed on the stairs.
"So..?"
Bubblegum was now sitting on her stool in her lab, Marceline now floated in the air with her legs crossed over one another. She was dressed casually in boots, blue jeans and an old blue tank; she had gone back to that half-shaved long hair look. PB still didn't know if she liked it or not.
Marceline shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah she seemed cool, wonder if she knows how to jam. I'll ask Finn next time I see him."
PB shook her head fondly at the gray skinned woman, Marceline was always just so blasé. It was a nice refresher from all of her overly excitable candy citizens.
"So what are you going to research tonight?"
Marceline had moved to floating above her now and was lying on her back. Appreciating the view Bubblegum smiled and said "Actually I was going to go over the data I got from Beth today and see if I can't help in the search for Finn and Beth's father."
Marceline turned over at that and looked down at her fellow monarch, she was silent for a moment and then said "I might know a guy, so just do your research and when you're done we can take a trip down to go see him, he only ever shows up really late at night to early morning."
The smile she got from PB made something warm in her chest, "Really?!"
This was progressing faster than she thought. "Okay then I shall start right away!"
And with that the sometimes mad scientist set to work scrunching data while her companion looked on, smiling fondly.
8888
Finn gave a small yawn as his little family made it back to the tree house, as he slid of off Jake's back he looked over at his sister; she was still stuck in deep whispered conversation with her wizard friend via this weird magic mirror thing. About a quarter of the way home they all had heard a sort of jingle coming from her bag, Beth had quickly reached inside and pulled out the little compact. Immediately the sounds of a peeved sorceress sounded out of the glass, she demanded to know where she was and why she hadn't called her in a number of days. It still threw Finn that his sister was friends with a wizard let alone Huntress Wizard of all people; they had even went out on their own adventures once before while Finn had gone to see FP and Jake had left to see Lady Rainicorn.
She had come back with a number of burns but some decent treasure.
Both Finn and Jake had begun to chuckle as Beth guiltily apologized for not contacting her but then turned right around and asserted that it had only been a day and a half- not a "couple of days" as Huntress had said and claimed it was Huntress' own fault because she was too hung up on her "lone wolf image" to just come by and visit. The two continued to go back and forth like an old married couple before they realized the boys were laughing and went to whispering to each other. Beth hadn't even turned from the conversation as she slid off Jakes back, she just deftly got off.
"Ugh, okay. Okay, I'll see you in like ten minutes."
"Tch, don't take that tone with me, it's for you that I'm doing this! Just hurry up… and be careful you donk."
Beth gave a small sigh as the glow from her mirror went off and didn't hear the snickering until she had turned around and put away her mirror. She shook her head at how much her brothers found this amusing,
"Okay guys I'm going out, I'll be back later."
The two males looked at one another for a moment and then smiled; Finn reached into his pocket and then threw something at the human woman. After catching it in her hand she looked at it and saw that it was a heavy metal key. She blinked.
"What's this?"
Jake was the one who answered, "Your key-Ta da! (Chuckle) But seriously be careful, Ooo's a crazy place at night."
Finn nodded his agreement as he opened the front door to the tree house. She smiled, a little speechless and nodded her head. Still speechless she gave a small wave and left, putting her new key into her pocket.
Feeling proud of themselves Finn and Jake made their way in the house, greeting BMO and NEPTR respectively before separating. Jake went to take a shower and Finn gave a call to Flame Princess.
"Hello?" Good, she hadn't fallen asleep yet.
"Hey it's Finn, how was your day?"
At her home FP gave a smile, Finn was stupid sometimes but always considerate.
"It was good but boring….hey why don't you come over?"
Finn blinked, "Um, isn't it a little late?"
Jake said going to a lady friend's house late at night was strictly tier eight and beyond material, he and FP were still barely tier two.
"No, not really. Please? I haven't seen you in a while."
It was true; and today really had been a boring day, but not too long ago Flame King had materialized to whisper evil in his daughter's ear again. She had banished him as easily as she had last time but she kind of didn't want to be alone right now. Finn could always brighten up her day.
Said hero could sense something in her voice and quickly made up his mind. "Okay, I'll go over, but only for a little while okay?" He didn't want to mess up their process too much.
"Great! See you in a few." Flame Princess felt a slight weight lift from her shoulders.
After saying their goodbyes Finn made his way toward the bathroom where Jake was still showering, "Jake I'm going out for a bit to see FP! She sounds spooked about something; I'm going to check it out and be back in a little while!"
Jake turned toward the door as he scrubbed his back he yelled back, "Okay! But don't be doing anything beyond your tier okay Romeo?" He chuckled at hearing Finn's embarrassed, stammered denial and farewell. He knew his brother wouldn't do anything; he was too much of a gentleman for that.