Lucky Chapter 13!

THANK YOU to all you readers, especially to those few who have gifted me with such lovely reviews. You, real people, took time out of your lives and gave a stranger some kind words or expressed interest into their work. I have no beta so any word back, negative or positive, is absolutely welcome. Hell, just seeing the amount of views, favs, and follows my work has gotten tells me that my words were good enough to get the interest of at least a handful of people, if even for just a second. And that is fucking awesome.

So please, everyone ENJOY this next installment and may your lives be filled with adventure and friends to share them with.

Thirteen- Lost

Doctor Princess leaned forward a bit as the nurse wiped sweat from her brow, she was forearms deep in the guts of her human patient and she could feel the pressure building. The injuries sustained by one Bethilda Mertens had been beyond the level of expertise of Princess Bubblegum to handle on her own.

The human had apparently not only been crushed, shredded and slightly charred in places but had been dead for quite a while when she was brought in, it was a miracle Bubblegum had managed to get a pulse out of the body at all. The monarch had had no choice and the doctor had been personally requested to come and aid her.

Dr. Princess spared a moment to look at Bubblegum, she was currently occupied with putting the woman's ribs back together. Piece by piece.

They had been working for several hours now, and they would be working for several more. She hoped she would be able to save this life.

8888

Finn paced; he as well as the whole troupe-save Bubblegum of course- were gathered up in the sugary monarch's lab. Among them was King Cedric, who had been brought in by Peppermint Butler a while after his sister had been taken into intensive care for the second time.

He griped her still stained pendant tightly in one hand.

It would take him a while to completely get the image of her mangled body in to his mind vault. He doubted he would ever completely accomplish it.

The group had originally been waiting outside the operating room-save Ice King, who was being held captive in said lab and Marceline, who had decided to stay so as to keep an eye on the poor, crazed man, -until King Cedric had made his entrance. A migration had been decided since the troll king was on the hunt for answers and, despite their concerns for Beth, everyone pacing and clogging up the hallway was not helping matters. Even Huntress had agreed to move along with them, but not before being assured that they all would be informed the moment the human was out from under the knife.

The human who had once called himself Simon Petrikov was now strapped to a table, strongly sedated, with his crown set into a containment unit. Mostly everyone sat in chairs near him, in a mixture of exhaustion and hyper awareness. They had all taken turns filling the monarch of the trolls in on the current situation, the male had been silent through the whole affair and had yet to say a word. Obviously deep in thought, hand on his beard.

The room was rather quiet now, the only sounds-aside from the usual background noise one would hear in an active laboratory- were the light snores from an exhausted Lady Rainicorn and Jake and whispered conversation between Elinore and Flambo. The two were speaking the flame language so Finn had no idea what they were saying. He assumed it was Fire Kingdom business, Furnius had stayed behind to handle things in the kingdom with Torcho and he guessed the siblings were somehow communicating through the little flambit.

Huntress sat slumped in her chair, hood off and just staring endlessly, her face pointed toward Ice King but it was obvious her green eyes saw nothing. Marceline had a similar look as she actually sat on the chair next to Huntress. Head in her hands.

Peppermint Butler paced just as Finn did, the little candy man had been muttering to himself for a while but had stopped just a few moments before, his expression dark and troubled.

Finn was losing his mind in worry over both his sister and Ice King. Despite everything he knew Ice King was a good guy deep down, it was just that crown. That crown that had prolonged his life and driven poor Simon insane due to influence from a malevolent God. That crown that…

…was starting to glow.

All turned to look at the cursed coronet, the jewels upon its surface were flashing and the entire thing was giving off a blue aura. Icicles were beginning to form on the outside of the containment unit. Ice King started to move for the first time since Marceline had tackled him to the earth, his brows furrowing and mumbled words crawling past his lips.

"What's going on?" Asked Finn with some alarm. To his-and everyone's- surprise it was King Cedric who answered.

"It is Ullr. He is trying to raise his vessel from its slumber. Those words he is uttering are his. That sedative won't keep him down for much longer."

"How do you know? It's about time you told us what you know, since we've answered your questions!" Said Marceline.

She respected King Cedric but enough was enough. She needed answers and she needed to save her Simon. She wondered if the monarch's blood was green like his skin or if it was some type of red.

All of the commotion roused Jake and Lady from their slumber, though they didn't do much besides look groggily about from their place upon the floor. Sedately watching everything unfold.

"He is correct. I can feel the same dark aura that was around Ice King emanating from the crown-and from his body. It was very low before, but it is now steadily rising." Everyone turned to Flame Queen as she spoke. Her words calm, but troubled.

"What do we do?" Finn hated that he could think of nothing to do except ask questions. But what else is one to do when they do not have the answers?

"Do I tell them? Or do you want to?" Huntress sat up in her chair as she spoke to King Cedric, her voice monotone and sounding surprisingly aged.

"I think it best if I speak for myself." The King of the trolls stood up and walked over to where Ice King lay as he spoke. He paused a moment to look at them all before continuing.

"To address what the Queen of the Vampires had asked me, I know because like many inhabitants of Ooo I am knowledgeable in both magical and spiritual matters. Trolls are an ancient and well rooted race, we have been here since the dawn of time and we will remain until its dusk. Ullr was not just any old God, if there is such a thing, but he was a dark God. A deity of the hardest ice and deepest snow who wished for nothing more than to rule and to claim. He had long ago been banished from this plane…or at least that was the goal."

"How do you know this?" Asked Peppermint Butler, the candy man stared hard at him.

"Trolls are good record keepers Mr. Butler, I am surprised you do not know. And unlike those haughty elves and insular dwarfs we do not embellish or omit the histories we have come to witness.

Despite many of these testimonies being lost over the millennia some of the more ancient knowledge has remained. One particular fragment speaks of an effort to eliminate Ullr, but he proved too powerful and cunning. Though his mortal form was slain, and his spirit pushed to the next realms, he endured.

He had made a crown. A crown imbued with his madness, his preference for the frost, and his prejudice against mortals, especially heroes. His soul clung to the crown, granting who ever possessed it unimaginable power over ice and snow…but at a terrible cost.

Efforts were made to recover the artifact and destroy it but all failed, and the crown eventually fell from all knowledge. Until the poor soul who has become known as the Ice King came across it."

"His name is Simon." Interjected Marceline, who now stood and looked over Ice King's struggling form as she listened to Cedric's words.

"Yes, Simon. I must give him his due, to withstand as he has all this time he must have a very strong will and spirit. But as you can see, he has finally been overcome and Ullr is free once more. And as the descendant of one of those who originally banished Ullr it is my duty to see to it he is bound once more.

The original spell to banish a God is now lost, but I know of another way to retrieve Simon. One I know the Sorceress of the Leaves is familiar with."

Nobody could help but blink at his last statement. Huntress only sighed.

"He means me… I used to call myself that when I first started out. Anyway, what he's finally getting at is that there is a way to get Ice King's original soul back and to push this guy's out. It's not a permanent solution but since we can't destroy the crown it's the best we can do. For now.

We need to get someone to the realm of near death so they can find Ice King's soul and bring it back the hard way."

Marceline's eye practically bugged out of her skull in her surprise. "Are you crazy?! That-that spell is notoriously hard to accomplish. Not only does the soul your trying to get have to be strong, but the one of the person who's going in! If you do anything wrong both will be plunged straight into the hands of Death!"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had seen others try the spell, and every time it had led to utter failure.

'But Simon's strong…and so am I. If I were to go…'

"Then, we will just have one has a strong soul do the deed." Said King Cedric. Unknowingly interrupting Marceline's thoughts.

"That has already been arranged, actually."

All turned in surprise to Peppermint Butler, who looked an odd mixture of determined and apologetic.

88888

Cold. It was so cold. She opened her eyes and saw that she was practically hip deep in snow, wind blew all around her. She was surrounded by bleak, blue and white landscape; any and all details were obscured by the frost bitten winds and snow. She saw that there was a long trail of her movements behind her, reaching far out past the field of her vision.

She had been here before.

Beth trudged along, her form shivering from cold that was more than just temperature. The land she had been taken to was an endless and diverse place, and she had to go to the deepest and most treacherous part.

The rope that Kalfu had tied around her waist, with a seemingly endless amount of slack and length behind it, acted both as her only physical reminder of warmer, happier places and a promise of her reward should she succeed.

Once more, she was on a journey. If only she had been told more than to just go forward.

Leagues away a man struggled, despite everything telling him it was in vain he continued on. He would not end, not like this.

"Hold on Betty. Hold on…Marceline." Uttered Simon through frozen lips.