4

Author's Note: Here is a list of the music I listened to during the composition of this story. A few songs here and there were influential in places, but not in any significant way, just a line or two. I highly recommend all of these albums, though.

Animals as Leaders: Animals as Leaders

Avenged Sevenfold: Waking the Fallen; Avenged Sevenfold

Buckethead: Colma; Enter the Chicken

Coheed and Cambria: The Afterman: Ascension; the Afterman: Descension*

Death Cab for Cutie: Plans

Disturbed: Believe

Flyleaf: New Horizons

Mastodon: Remission

*All of Coheed's stuff is fantastic. Easily top 5 favorite bands ever. Definitely check them out.

Also, I'm sorry if my chronology's a bit screwy. It's as accurate as I can make it without doing detailed research that I don't feel like doing. Ha ha. Anyway, on with the story…

Marceline the Vampire Queen hid in the shadows of the Candy Castle's walls, invisible. She watched as Lady Rainicorn approached, with Bonnibel and Finn in tow, and flew through one of the windows. She saw how dazed Finn looked and felt the alien twinge of genuine concern again. She sighed and flew in through the main gate, sweeping her sunhat off as she entered the castle…

Finn vaguely registered the sensation of being dropped onto something soft and warm. Through the fog of misery, he saw a pink haired beauty he halfway recognized and felt her remove his hat, pack, and sword and smooth his hair. He heard her speak as if from far away, her words indistinct. He gave up and let himself fall back into the void.

A thousand images flashed past. A yellow pup and a small human boy, cuddling with their mother or walking in the woods with their father. Memories… Haunting him, making him ache… Epic battles, time spent with his brother just doing nothing, all jumbled together. It was hard to tell where one ended and the next began. Each one like a physical blow… He saw monsters and demons and mutants- evil of all kinds. He saw princesses and an ice blue king. He saw a raven-haired vampire lady, and something resembling a strange purple cloud, but nothing registered except his best and at times only friend. Now he was gone and it was driving Finn insane… He could feel his mind slipping…

Princess Bubblegum sat in the dim light of her bedroom, watching her grieving hero toss and turn in her bed. She saw the pain written clearly across his face and wanted nothing more than to relieve it. Her scientific mind whirred with possibility. She needed something to break him out of his hopeless state and see that all was not lost. Something that would make him eagerly rejoin the search for Jake. It was time to go to work. She brushed Finn's hair out of his face again. "Sleep, hero. Everything will be alright."

She left the room and made her way along the corridor, exchanging brief pleasantries and waving at her citizens. Automatic behavior, ingrained by her years of ruling the kingdom. She walked until she reached the medical wing and entered. The pristine white walls gleamed in the light, the beds were all made, the sheets crisp and unused. This was exactly what she wanted to see. No patients meant the doctors weren't busy.

"Doctor Ice-cream?" called Bubblegum. She heard a rustling and the doctor emerged from behind a curtain.

"Oh, hello princess. What brings you here?" asked Dr. Ice-cream.

"I need to know if we have an rejuvenation serum left. It's very important.," said PB.

"Oh dear, let me look," said the doctor. She disappeared into a closet. Princess Bubblegum heard the clinking of bottles as Dr. Ice-cream rummaged around. After a few moments, she emerged. "I'm afraid we used the last of it on the pumpkin victims. There's simply none left. I'm very sorry princess."

"Hmmm… I'll have to brew some more I suppose. Can you spare anyone?"

"I believe Dr. Princess is available. We aren't very busy."

"Good. Send her to my bedroom. Finn the human is asleep in there. He's quite distressed and I don't want him to be alone if he wakes. Thank you doctor," said the princess.

As she made her way to her laboratory, here mind was abuzz. She recalled formulas and ingredients, thought of Finn, of where next to search for Jake. She was so distracted that she walked straight into a figure in her path.

"Jeez, Bonnie, don't you look where you're going?" said a voice that brought an instant frown to Bubblegum's face.

"What are you doing here Marceline?" she asked, her tone darkening.

"I'm here to see Finn. He's my friend too, you know."

"He's sleeping. He's safe and I already have Dr. Princess looking after him. You may go now," said PB firmly.

Marceline's eyes caught fire- literally. "Listen to me, Bubblegum," she snapped, "Finn is my friend, and trust me, being a thousand years old has taught me a few things about loss. I know how he feels and understand it a lot better than you do and he needs someone who can help him through it. So here I am. I am capable of caring, whether you believe it or not!"

Princess Bubblegum was stunned. She'd experienced plenty of Marceline's angry outbursts, but never one like this. "Okay, Marcy… I'm sure Dr. Princess can find something else to do. I apologize, I just didn't know…"

Marceline's eyes extinguished and she softened. Bonnibel hadn't called her Marcy in quite some time. "I'm sorry too. You didn't deserve that. I know you're just trying to look out for Finn, and I don't exactly have the best history.

Bubblegum stepped forward and pulled the vampire into a hug before hse could protest. "It's fine. Go see him. Send Dr. Princess back to the infirmary. I'm going to go make something to help Finn feel better so we can go find Jake." She released Marceline and turned to go.

Marceline was blushing furiously. She hadn't shared a decent relationship with Bonnie in years, had been a total jerk at times now that she thought about it, but Bonnie was the one who had apologized to her. Marceline was beginning to question herself. She had been ever since her last encounter with Ice King (though she still thought of him as Simon). He had been her only friend until she'd met Bonnibel Bubblegum almost 600 years later. And she'd ruined their friendship because she'd been too afraid to care, or at least to show it. The pain she'd suffered had made her afraid of loss. More afraid than anything, and she'd learned to cope by putting up thick walls. She knew the pain of loss well. She'd experienced it when her own parents had abandoned her and when Simon had gone mad with power. The feeling of emptiness and being completely alone…

It had started to change when she'd met Finn. True, she'd been rather cruel to him too, but she never meant to permanently hurt him. But she'd found herself lowering her guard more and more around him, telling him things that she'd not even told Bonnie. He'd heard her sing about her dad, a very personal subject, and she had trusted him enough to let him listen. She decided it was time to change. To not be afraid to care anymore. She would help Finn through this to the end. She would be there if he needed her, like no one had been for her in so long. She would do it for him, and for herself too.

She turned and floated down the corridor and followed the once familiar path to Bonnibel's room. When she reached the door, she knocked until she heard a voice call, "Who is it?" from within.

"Uh, Marceline here to see Finn. Bonn- er, Princess Bubblegum sent me"

The door opened onto a dark room. Dr. Princess peered at Marceline suspiciously. She was unaccustomed to having strange vampires show up unannounced at the princess's bedroom door. "Here to see Finn, right?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," said Marceline. "The princess told me to come stay with him and send you back to the infirmary."

"We'll see about that," said Dr. Princess, pulling a communicator out of her pocket. She tapped it, it beeped for a moment, and Princess Bubblegum's holographic head rose from the device.

"Yes doctor? Make it quick, please. I'm very busy," said PB's head.

"Sorry, princess. There's someone out here calling herself Marceline who says you sent her to see Finn. Is that true?"

"Oh, yes," said the princess. "I should have called you in advance. Yes, let her stay and you get back to the infirmary."

"Right away. Thanks princess," said the doctor, and deactivated the communicator. "OK, in you go," she said to Marceline, smiling somewhat sarcastically.

Marceline rolled her eyes and floated in past the doctor without a word. She heard the door shut behind her and looked around. The room looked almost the same as she remembered. A few new pictures here and there, as well as some she remembered. She felt a pang as her eyes found a picture of herself with Bonnibel, taken years ago. It hadn't moved since she'd last been here. She kept it… Marceline shook the thought- now wasn't the time to deal with that. There was a more pressing matter at hand. Her gaze soon fell upon Finn, lying completely still, his face screwed up and wet with- she sniffed at the air- sweat. His hat and other belongings lay on a nearby table.

She floated over to him. "Finn," she said softly, "can you hear me?" A drop of water fell from above onto Finn's face. She was perplexed for a moment until she realized it had fallen from her own eye. "Oh…" was all she could say. She lowered herself next to Finn and put a hand on his forehead. His skin felt hot, almost feverish. She draped her arm over him protectively. He took no notice. Marceline was unsure of what to do so she stayed there and let centuries of torment fall from her eyes…

Author's Note: Not a very uplifting story, is it? But I like that kind of thing, and as I wrote the it, I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense.