Author's Note: Wow. I actually intended to update over last Christmas, but an unplanned trip to go to a funeral halfway across the world sidelined me the entire time. Getting seriously sick did not help. By the time we came back home, school sucked up a lot of my time. In fact, I should be finishing up this big paper for Calculus, but...

In terms of the coming chapters of this piece, recent episodes like Red Throne and Betty will force me to deviate from my original plan. For instance, I've added some cosmetic changes to Chapter 2 in order to account for the attempted coup d'état to mostly follow canon, but I won't have things going exactly as you remembered. Remember, time can be rewritten.

The Doctor struggled to try and find meaning in Ice King's words as he was carried off towards wherever they were going. It didn't help with over half his body encased in some of the strangest ice he had every encountered. It certainly wasn't normal ice. It didn't feel right, and he knew what real ice felt like. His biology also wasn't really helpful right now. Time Lords were built to withstand hot conditions with a naturally lower body temperature. As a matter of fact, he knew he could tolerate cold temperatures well too. Theoretically, he should have already completely thawed out, but, again, this ice was far from normal. His mind wandered a bit, wondering just how this ice was different. Maybe it was simply because this was another universe with different rules of physics. That possibility had to be taken into account before he made any conclusions. He made a mental note to find some ice later to compare what he felt now to see if the ice was indeed normal for this dimension.

"Hey, man," the voice of his captor came, breaking his train of thought. "You've been very quiet all this time. I thought you were supposed to help me win my Bubblegum's hand in marriage."

"I didn't exactly come with you on my own accord," the Doctor spat back. "Is this how you 'invite' her to wherever the hell we're going?"

Clearly, he was oblivious to the Doctor's tone. "Oh, yeah. Isn't it romantic?"

The Doctor scowled. "Is that really your idea of romantic? Blimey! And people say I'm bad with women. And that might be true compared to my last self, but at least I'm married now…" He then composed himself and put on the fakest of smiles, knowing that he would have to put on a good show to learn what was really going on around here. "Sorry, rambling's a bad habit of mine. I try not to do it much, but I really don't try. Anyways, we've definitely got a lot of work cut out for us if we want you to get a nice girlfriend. I'll need to get full diagnostics to get the right picture though. I'll need lots of information."

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Ice King proclaimed with a cackle the Doctor tried his best to ignore. "Let me tell you all about myself!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," the Doctor swiftly interrupted. "I need to get an unbiased look into you. You wouldn't happen to have any tapes or anything, would you?"

"Actually, I do have some tapes. I don't remember where they came from, but I think those will probably do us both good. Anyways, we're here." The Doctor looked up as they approached what seemed to be a mountain made of ice with a face carved into it. "I'll set you down here while I go look for them. Gunter, sweetie, you take care of our guest."

With that, he was off, giving the Doctor a chance to examine his surroundings. The entire cavern seemed to be made of the same ice, albeit a different grade, the Doctor was currently encased in. The formations carried the strange abnormality he had detected earlier, so his current hypothesis on the abnormalities of the ice was weakening. The room seemed very Spartan, almost as barren as his old TARDIS control room.

As he looked around, he quickly noticed another living thing in the room. "Hello, you little beauty," he coaxed. "Come here." It approached, and the Doctor could tell that it appeared to be a penguin. It seemed to emit a mysterious, somewhat ominous aura. Oh, how he wished he could properly analyze it with his screwdriver, but the ice prevented him from doing so. "What's your name?"

"Wenk."

"Sam? What a nice name! Lovely to meet you, Sam."

The penguin looked confused. "Wenk wenk?"

"Of course I speak Penguin. I'm the Doctor. I speak everything, though I suppose my captor doesn't. How does he address you, by the way?"

"Wenk. Wenk."

"Eh? The old blue guy calls you Gunter instead? Well, I guess I should also call you that when there's company, but that choice of name is strange. Of all the names he could possibly give you, why an archaic German one? How does he even know old German names if this place is so not Germany."

"Wenk. Wenk."

"Yes, I know he's weird, but so am I. They never stop calling me strange. Then again, I probably seem strange because I'm an alien. The thing is, I have absolutely no idea why he's like this. He doesn't seem like an alien to me, but I could be wrong with the whole different universe thing. Point is, do you know why he acts strangely?"

"Wenk."

"Eh? The crown? You fibber. There's no reason a crown would cause someone to go loony… unless it's some sort of artifact that makes people crazy. Is it?"

"Wenk. Wenk."

"And gives them ice powers….guess that's how he was able to freeze me. I assume those powers also helped form these surroundings. But how do you know all these things?"

"Wenk wenk wenk."

"You're a being of pure evil who knows many things? You seem very amiable for a being of pure evil. If you don't mind me asking one more question, I need to know whatever you can tell me about this place. Would you mind sharing me some of that knowledge?"

"Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk. Wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk wenk…"

"Gunter, I'm back!" Ice King flew up, interrupting the penguin's account. "Sweetheart, have you been nice to our guest?"

"Oh, of course," the Doctor answered quickly. "He's been keeping me good company." He then looked towards the small bird. "Not a word of anything you just said to me," he added silently so only the little fellow could hear him. He smiled as the penguin nodded and quickly waddled away. "So, tapes?" he asked, turning back towards Ice King.

The frostbitten man cackled for a moment before proudly showing a box full of tapes to the alien. The Doctor only got a quick glance, but he could tell that there were at least fifteen videos. "Here they are, my good man. Prepare to be amazed!" Somehow, he felt like being amazed would be the least likely thing to happen, but he was trying to bide his time to melt just enough to escape. After all, how bad could a few tapes be?

"Come on, Jake! We're nearly there!"

"I still don't get why we had to drop everything just to go get someone from Ice King."

Finn sighed at the expected complaint. "Come on, Jake. If it weren't important, Princess Bubblegum wouldn't have told us to drop everything and come right away. Besides, we can't just sit around all day when the Lich might show up at any moment!"

"Dude, I think you're taking your dream a little bit too seriously. Remember the last time you did that?"

Again he sighed at the predictable response. "We still have to trust these signs when we have them, especially when the dream involves the Lich. For all we know, something may have already happened!"

"Dude, you're totally paranoid. Let's just bust in, get out, and get you back to your party so you can relax."

Relaxation was the last thing on Finn's mind at that point, but he gave an indication of agreement to satisfy the dog. He knew that Jake was probably right to be concerned for his well-being and resolved to get this done as quickly as possible. Ice King's home, almost perfectly rebuilt after it had been melted down, was within sight. Finn had never particularly liked coming to this place, save that one time when Ice King was the only person in Ooo who could see him. Otherwise, the place connoted battles with a madman who kept on kidnapping princesses in the deluded hope that one of them would fall in love with him. What was it called again? Stockholm syndrome, according to what Princess Bubblegum had told him. Most of the time, he felt like his tolerance for the man's actions wore thinner and thinner with every time he had to go rescue someone from his clutches. At others, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the underlying reason behind his insanity, the crown that had taken away the one woman who had been the most important thing in his life. It was a strange feeling, being unsympathetic to his actions while being sorry for the man.

"Bro, you hear something?"

Finn broke himself from his musings and listened closely. He could hear a man's voice coming from the mountain ahead. He frowned, wondering why Ice King had kidnapped some guy. This was not one of Ice King's predictable steal a princess and try to woo her schemes. What could he possibly be doing?

As they got closer, the voice became clearer. "Make it stop!" it came. "Make it stop! Please make it stop!"

"Hey, you were the one who said that you needed to see ALL the tapes," the familiar voice of Ice King echoed. "You said that they'd help you help me get my sweet, sweet Bubblegum…"

Tapes? Could they be the same ones from…?

Finn didn't get a chance to finish his thought as the unfamiliar voice confirmed his thoughts. "And I said that I would do that by figuring out any good parts of your personality to accentuate. I don't know how wearing a wig and singing awfully could possibly attract anyone. The fact of the matter is that all I can tell from these tapes is your utter insanity!"

"Jake, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Finn whispered quickly.

"Um, if it's not about ice cream or Lady Ranicorn, then no."

Although that really should have caused him to sigh at his brother's misplaced priorities, Finn couldn't help but chuckle. After everything that they've went through, Jake was still the same laid-back dog who could make light of any situation. "That's okay. It looks like Ice King has changed things up his strategy a little bit. It won't matter. Let's go in there and do what we do best."

All joking immediately cleared from Jake's face. "Okay, dude. Let's get him."

Finn nodded, the band on his right wrist swiftly forming into a blade of pure grass. Even after a year of the so-called curse on him, he felt more prepared for a fight than ever before with the sword virtually a part of his body. He had found his weapon by its very nature to be a highly versatile tool that had the potential to do so much more than any of his previous swords could have done. While nothing could truly replace the sentimental value of his adoptive father's demon blood sword, his current sword still felt novel after a year. He held up three fingers, slowly bringing them down one by one until he and Jake stormed in.

"YAHHH!" he yelled as he crashed through a solid wall of ice. He could now see Ice King along with a figure encased in ice, both with their backs turned to him. "Ice King! Stand down and release whoever it is you captured.

Ice King immediately turned around to the two sometimes friends sometimes enemies. "Wha…Finn and Jake? Hey, what are you guys doing here? Isn't it your birthday or something, Finn?" He figured that, if he at least tried to be cordial, they just might leave peacefully for once.

"Well, yeah…"

"Well, Happy Birthday, Finn. Sorry I didn't get you anything. I meant to do it a bit ago, but I just kept putting it off."

Finn shook his head before continuing. "Look, Ice King. I can clearly see you have someone trapped in a huge block of ice. I'd rather not fight you, but I will. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Ice King sighed as he gave his response. "I too would rather not fight you. But this guy might give me the edge with the ladies, and I can't let that go without a fight." His hands flashed with ice magic granted to him by the crown on his head. "Bring it on!" he daringly challenged.

Exactly ten seconds later, Ice King found himself trapped on the floor underneath Finn's whole weight and completely powerless with his crown knocked off. "Alright, Ice King. Do you give up now?"

"Yes! Yes! I give! I give!"

Jake sighed as he knocked Ice King out. "I remember when you were actually tough to fight. What happened, man?"

Finn got up and readied the Grass Sword. "HAH!" He quickly sliced the figure free from the block of ice. "There you go."

"Oh, thank goodness," the man said. "That block of ice was so unnaturally cold. I've really got to find a regular block of ice to compare it to." He turned around to face Finn. "Thanks for your help, and Happy Birthday, Finn…you are Finn, right?"

Finn's eyes widened as he took in the man's appearance. His attire was definitely unusual: some sort of strange jacket, weird straps on his shirt, and an archaic item around his neck. In fact, it seemed to remind him of the way Simon Petrikov had dressed before his transformation into the biggest weirdo in all of Ooo. He did not resemble any of the races seen on the surface of Ooo, but his shape greatly resembled the old pictures of humans.

"Are you…" Finn slowly began.

"Oh…sorry to get your hopes up," the man interrupted," but no. I'm not human. But let me formally introduce myself. Hello, I'm the Doctor."

The Doctor had been expecting the question he always got. He wasn't prepared for a horrified recognition that passed not only the boy's face, but also on his canine companion's face. "You're the Doctor?" Finn choked out.

"Yeah. Do you know someone else called the Doctor?" This was certainly curious. Since he had never been here before, he would think that no one would be able to recognize that name. True, there could be some other being known by that name or that some account may have been passed on as the darkness surrounding the Reality Bomb had threatened to destroy all of creation.

Finn was at a loss for words as he perceived a prophetic dream slowly starting to come into fruition. Jake, however, quickly spoke up in lieu of Finn's silence. "Sorry, you just reminded him that he needs to see his doctor…"

Jake would have said more to buy more time for Finn, but he evidently didn't need to since the Doctor quickly turned his attention to him. "Oh! A talking dog! That's something I haven't seen before. Talking cats: yes, talking dogs: no." He saw the Doctor take out some strange device and seemed to scan him. "Ooh! Some sort of accelerated evolution that can cause great changes in mass and volume, allowing for amazing flexibility!"

The Doctor had blathered on for so long that Finn was able to completely regain his composure, knowing that it was probably best not to mention how he had heard of the stranger. He glanced at Jake to make sure he was still hanging in there, and Jake gave an infinitesimal nod to indicate he was fine. Finn allowed himself to get a better look at the stranger. Based on the few photographs he had been able to find from before the Great Mushroom War, the Doctor most certainly looked human, even though he denied being one. What could possibly be different about this guy?

"Well, two hearts for a start," the Doctor answered the unspoken question as he immediately turned around. "And a brain with remarkable processing speed and an especially high capacity for all sorts of knowledge. I noticed you're all right now given that nod of confidence your friend here gave. Don't think I didn't notice that or how he lied about why you gave the reaction you did when I told you who I am." He took a step forward and plastered on a friendly grin. "But never mind that. I'll make you a deal: an answer for an answer. Tell me, how do you know me? Because I've never been anywhere near here."

Finn put aside his doubts about the stranger. Although he was wary about the progression of fate, he knew that he was honor bound to help anyone who needed help in any way he could. If that meant divulging strange and potentially dangerous information, so be it. "This is going to sound a bit strange…"

"Anything strange, weird, or out of the ordinary is fine with me. All that stuff is pretty much my normal life."

"Right, well…" Finn proceeded to describe what he could from his dream. With nothing set in stone, it was still possible that absolutely nothing was going to come out of it. But as he described the appearance of the blue box and the man inside, the Doctor did not look pleased.

"Never ignore a coincidence. Unless you're busy. Then, always ignore a coincidence. Seeing as we're not busy right now, I don't think this is something I can possibly ignore."

"My turn. Doctor…"

"Who?" he finished. "It's a fairly common question, and I usually don't answer that because they'll never stop asking. But I will tell you a bit more than I normally do. I'm the Doctor. I'm an alien from the planet Gallifrey, a planet from a parallel universe. I travel around in that blue box you saw, the TARDIS. She takes me anywhere I need to be all throughout the universe where I try not to interfere but almost inevitably end up confronting challenges to the local population and any problems in the space-time continuum. The thing is, travel between parallel universes isn't possible with my people, the Time Lords, all dead and buried. I'm wondering what sort of power could possibly bring her and me here."

"Um, I think I can answer that one," Jake said. "I got concerned when Finn told me about his dream, so I had to go visit Prismo…"

"Wait, what?" Finn interjected. "When did that happen?"

"Right after I got you out of the house. Now, Prismo resides in a place called the Time Room, located at…"

"The center of the multiverse, which is really a lie because the Time Room is its own pocket dimension," the Doctor supplied. "I've heard legends of it at the Academy but had brushed it off as utter rubbish. Continue."

"Right, so I learned from Prismo that the Lich has been getting a lot stronger since we last saw him, enough to prevent Prismo from affecting him even with the power of a wish. So, I wished that someone would be able to come help against the Lich before it was too late."

"Yup, that's definitely up my alley. Great big menacing things that threaten the universe, definitely something I probably should get on immediately. Except, that's not how I work: rushing straight into things. Well, that's not entirely true, but, more to the point, I'd rather confront this being on my own terms. So, I'll need some maps, Intel, explanations, birthday cake, twelve jammie dodgers, and a fez."

Finn and Jake just stared at the Doctor, unable to comprehend half of what he had wanted. "What's a jammie dodger?" Finn asked.

"And what's a fez?" Jake followed.

It was the Doctor's turn to stare dumbfounded at the two. "Are you kidding? How is it possible that you two know neither the sweet flavor of a jammie dodger nor the coolest of cool hats that is a fez? I get the whole parallel universe thing but come on! I'll have to go back to the TARDIS to show them to you. Either of you know a quick way to the Candy Kingdom?"

"I can take all of us there no problem," Jake boasted. "Let me just get Ice King off the ground." He proceeded to grab the unconscious wizard and drag him off.

"I'll just tell PB that we've got you and we're coming back soon. Let me just find some good reception." Finn too wandered off, trying to get a signal on a jewel he had taken out of his backpack.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" the Doctor complained. He felt a tug on his jacket and noticed that Ice King's loyal penguin had returned. "Oh, hello Sam. What is it?"

The penguin pointed towards the television. "Wenk."

The Doctor was about to groan at the idea of wasting one more second on the seemingly useless tapes. He stopped himself when he realized that the picture on the screen was not the wizard but the same human figure he had seen in that picture in Princess Bubblegum's lab. Not ignoring this coincidence as he had nothing to do, the Doctor listened to the tale of Simon Petrikov's descent into madness. He never could help but want to help out in a tale of lost love, and he added this one to his to-do list for this universe.

"Well, Ice King's taken care of," Jake announced. "I cut him some slack and just put him on the bed this time. Ready to go yet?"

The Doctor quickly glanced around, not seeing Finn anywhere nearby. "It seems Finn's going to take a little more time. While we're waiting around, I want to know something. I saw the tapes, and I want to know more about Simon Petrikov."

Instantly, a serious look crossed Jake's face. "We can't talk about that here. Later in somewhere safer but not over here."

Before the Doctor could question why, Finn had returned. "All right, Jake. Ready to go to the Candy Kingdom?"

For once, Jake was able to make a quick decision. If the Doctor was the answer to his wish, he would be doing the impossible already, so he just might be able to help with this completely impossible task. "Change of plans, bro. This guy wants to know more about Ice King's past. I bet he wants to help…"

Finn's demeanor also became more serious. "Oh. Of course. I guess we'll have to make a little detour then."

"Why?" the Doctor asked. "Can't we just discuss it here or on the way back to the Candy Kingdom?"

"No," Finn replied. "It's a long story, and we don't know most of it. There are only two people in all of Ooo who know about the full story of Simon. We have no idea where one of them is, but we do know the other." He paused for a moment. "We're going to see Marceline, the Vampire Queen."