The sound of glass against metal filled the air, as the scientist, who was also the princess, prepared another try at the experiment that was necessary to advance her research on the disease that had taken both her parents' life.

Lunch had gone by in a blur of polite nods and absent mindedness as her thoughts kept drifting away to the letter that she had received earlier. Not only the letter itself, but the person who had sent it, and, most importantly, how she felt about it all. Had Marceline written an apology, would she take it? Had she written to tell she was going to be away for even longer, would that make her feel worse? Had she written to tell that she would be "dropping by" that night, what would she do?

As the people at the table finished eating, she hadn't yet come to an answer. So, she decided that, if thinking about it didn't do any good, she would occupy herself with something else. And so she came back to her lab after lunch, set the letter in a corner, and dove into the experiments again.

At first it was hard ignoring the letter, as her curious nature was provoked by the sealed envelope, but as she started the routine of setting up the beakers and test tubes, and mixing the solutions, it became easier.

She made notes on the properties of her failed experiment, and tried again with some alterations. Although she obtained similar results, she continued the cycle, and after several tries, it happened.

As she added the transparent liquid to the solution, she braced herself for another failure, already listing in her mind what she'd need for the next try and the alterations she'd make. But as the last drop hit the red liquid, something different happened: nothing.

As opposed to the usual reaction of darkening the liquid until it was beyond the desire hue that characterized a success, it just remained as it was.

The scientist's mind started rushing as she carefully wrote down the specifics of the experiment. Even though it wasn't the perfect result, it was a sign that she was on the right track, and gave her enough information to start secondary testing on the components used.

She spent the afternoon experimenting upon what she had discovered, making more advances than she could hope to make so soon. She was far from finding a cure for the disease, but she was on her way.

The hours passed by as she tried new experiments and discovered more and more. Her work was only briefly interrupted by a knock on the door. Since she was in the middle of one of the new experiments, she just shouted a permission to come in over her shoulder and continued working. Peppermint Butler's voice came from behind her, after a little hesitation:

"Princess, dinner is going to be served soon. Are you going to join us again? Or should I send something special to your room?"

A wrinkle appeared on the princess' forehead, as she said, continuing the experiment:

"Something special? Is there an occasion?"

There was a moment of silence, than Peppermint Butler's voice came from behind her, unsure:

"Um, I guess not, princess, I'm sorry. You will be joining us then?"

Bubblegum continued working, too invested to give much thought to what Peppermint had said. After finishing a crucial part, she let it rest, giving the solution time to react, and turned to face Peppermint. She was smiling without realizing it, as she said:

"I don't know how long I'll be here, I made some breakthroughs and I would hate to halt my progress. You can eat without me; I don't want to hold you."

Peppermint's expression shifted from apprehensive to curious, as he said:

"Breakthroughs, princess?"

Bubblegum's smile widened, as she said:

"I think I can do it, Peppermint. I think I can find a cure."

The servant smiled, and his eyes started tearing up.

"I know how much this means to you, princess. I'm sure they would be very proud of you."

She started tearing up herself, but held the tears, remembering the amount of work it'd take to clean them off, given the safety measures of the lab.

The servant took out a small handkerchief and dried his eyes, saying afterwards:

"I'll make sure there is a snack waiting for you when you go to your room, princess."

"Thank you, Peppermint. For everything."

He smiled, did a little bow and left.

The princess turned back to her experiment, with renewed resolve, and continued her work.

It wasn't until hours later that the strain of the continuous standing and the moving of equipment started hindering her performance. Deciding not to risk making any mistakes by working herself too hard, she quickly finished the last experiment, wrote down the conclusions, and did the laborious process of cleaning up after the experiments and tidying up the lab.

After a few minutes, it was done, and she stretched, letting out a tired, but pleased, sigh. She made her way to her room, reviewing her notes on the way. It was amazing how much she had been able to discover on such a short time. Even though her rational side warned her of her eagerness, she couldn't lie to herself: she was sure she was going to find a cure. Nobody else would ever die from that horrible disease, no loved one would have to watch them perish, becoming tainted versions of themselves in the process, as the disease destroyed their body and mind. Nobody would have to go through what her parents did.

Those were Bubblegum's thoughts when she opened the door to her room, looked up from her research log, and saw Marceline floating in the air.

Author's Note

Whew, I almost didn't get this up in time! I got scared me for a while, not being able to get on the site and all.

Well, there you have it, chapter 3.2. Don't hate me. I already had about two more pages planned out, but figured a little cliffhanger couldn't hurt (who am I kidding, I totally did this to hurt you guys). But don't panic, I should have chapter 4 up earlier than next friday (NO PROMISES). I'm up to 21 followers, and I just wanna take a moment to thank all of you for your attention. We don't write fanfiction for profit, we do it for ourselves and our fellow fans, to give each other feels and such, and I'm glad I can provide you guys with that. Thank you for reading and bearing with me. You rock!