What happened last:

Jake and Marceline recently decided to go on an adventure together to get Finn a suitable birthday gift. After Marcy and Bonnibel had an odd moment together, the vampire queen was beginning to realize just how prominent her feelings were for Finn.

Marceline woke the next day sometime in the late morning. She would usually want to leave around night, but the Forest of Trees is much more dangerous at night and it was Finn's birthday today so an exception had to be made. The first thing she wanted to do when she woke up was to see Finn, but it being his birthday today, she decided to talk to Jake about their adventure to get healing tears for Finn. She wants the first thing that she says to Finn when she sees him to be "happy birthday".

Marceline was about to take off for the tree house to see Jake until she ran into him in the hallway that led to the exit of the castle.

M: "Oh, uh… Hey Jake, did you just get here?"

J: "What? No. My bro's all beat up so I stayed here for the night."

M: "Oh." Marcy almost felt dumb for asking but quickly got over it. She always knew that Jake loved his brother more than anything, but it's always really moving to actually see the proof firsthand.

J: "So, are you ready to leave yet? I figured that the earlier we leave, the earlier we can be done with it."

M: "Yeah, sure. I just gotta go get my hat and gloves." Marcy left to go get her daytime clothes.

J: "Ok. Just meet me in the kitchen when you're done. I gotta let PB know we're leaving now."

Jake then went to kitchen and saw PB sitting at a table drinking a cup of coffee. He was wearing a backpack for the journey later on that day.

PB: "Morning Jake!" Bubblegum said in a cheery voice.

J: "Morning! How's it going P-bubs?"

PB: "Pretty good. I take it you and Marcy are about to head over to the Forest of Trees?"

J: "Yeah. It should be an interesting day. I've never actually been there. Finn went once and it seemed to work out pretty well; although he was kinda crazy that day." Jake said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

PB: "What do you mean?"

J: "Eh, I dunno. It was something about clowns or smooches or something? I don't really know." He said as he took a sip of coffee.

PB: "Ok... weird." She said, giggling.

M: "Sup guys?" Marcy said as she floated into the room, sounding happy.

PB: "Hey." Bubblegum said quietly as if she was embarrassed about something.

The princess was feeling contrite for her late-night invasion of Marceline's privacy. She ended up losing some sleep last night because of it. She told herself that she would resist her "urges" next time she had those thoughts when Marcy was around... but the princess might as well have been 100% human because she had her flaws and problems just like anyone else. She wanted to pledge to her beloved friend that she would never conduct herself again as she did last night but even she couldn't make that promise.

J: "Marcy, catch!" Jake said as he picked up a few apples from the center of the table that Bubblegum was sitting at.

Jake threw the apples at Marcy and she effortlessly caught them.

J: "Here are the keys Marcy, you're driving." Jake said jokingly as he motioned to throw imaginary keys at her.

M: "Uhhh… Ok." Marcy said with a smile and quickly sucked the red out of the apples.

PB: "Well, you guys better get going. I'll probably be done with setting up the party by the time you get back. It should only take a few hours."

Jake and Marcy then left the castle and set off on their journey. They estimated that it should only take a couple hours. It was a simple task, go to the forest, find the Cyclops and make him cry. Marcy flew Jake all the way until they came up on a stump in the middle of a fork in the road. There were two paths, "Hair-Fall-Out Path" and "Smelly Path". They conversed with the stump to attempt to find an alternate way, but there apparently wasn't one.

J: "Oh man… I can't live with either of those things… I can't do this Marcy, we're gonna have to tell Finn that he's just gonna have to lay in that hospital bed for his birthday." Jake sounded defeated and hysterical.

Marceline just gave Jake a dumb look, picked him up and flew him over the thorn bushes that were located behind the stump. They then came up on a river. They saw a very rude bush sitting there. It immediately began to explain the hazards of the river, and how impossible it was to cross it.

J: "Oh grod! I don't wanna die in this river Marcy. I think we should just go back now…" Jake was, once again, sounding defeated and hysterical.

Marceline gave Jake another dumb look. This time, she seemed slightly annoyed with Jake. She then picked him up, and flew him across.

J: "Man… How did Finn do all of this without you Marcy? I mean… this stuff seems really dangerous."

M: "I don't know. Finn's just good like that." Marceline said as she began to blush. She adored the fact that Finn was such a capable and resourceful adventurer.

After crossing the river, Jake and Marcy started walking instead of flying to get to their destination. They've only been gone for about 45 minutes at this point.

J: "So Marcy, I've been meaning to ask you something."

M: "What's up Jake?"

J: "Remember when you slapped me for no reason and said, "You don't need to know what me and Finn do when we're alone!", what was that all about?" Jake quoted Marcy by using his best impression of her voice, which wasn't very good.

M: "Oh... I guess you didn't have any way of knowing…" Marceline started to feel embarrassed and her cheeks flared up bright red.

J: Oh, don't tell me that you and Finn…?" Jake said, starting to smile and raising an eyebrow.

J: "I knew it! You got the hots for my bro!"

M: "C'mon man! It's not like that. Finn's been helping me out through a rough time. That's it…" Marcy was soo flustered that she tried defending herself with something that wasn't true.

J: "So… you don't like Finn?" Jake said, prying at Marceline.

M: "*sigh* Yes. Yes I do, Jake. I don't know why I said what I just did. I mean, he did help me out through some tough stuff and all but… I don't know. He seems different to me now. Like something drastically changed…" Marcy's voice began to trail off as she began to daydream of Finn.

J: "It's all good, sister. I personally find it awesome that you two are "getting along soo well". Jake emphasized the last four words by making his voice sound smooth and deeper than normal.

M: "Yeah… we've been getting along pretty well…" Marcy said playfully.

J: "Wait! STOP!" Jake suddenly stopped walking.

M: "What?"

J: "What tier did you two get to!?" Jake said as if he was interrogating Marceline.

M: "I don't know what that means…" Marceline usually talked about this stuff using the "old-fashioned" terms involving bases. But she knew what Jake was talking about. She was just playing dumb.

J: "Marceline Abadeer… I know you know what I'm talking about…" Jake talked as if he was scolding a child.

M: "Nothing too crazy, don't worry. Just tier 13…"

J: "WHAT?!" Jake was overreacting at this point.

M: Calm down, Jake! I'm just kidding!" Marceline was beginning to laugh at how Jake was reacting. She was trying to change the subject by not answering his question honestly.

J: "..." Jake gave Marcy a deranged look…

M: "I don't know why you would even need or want to know. Why don't you just have Finn tell you?"

J: "Ehhh…. Let's just find this Cyclops, ok?" Jake sounded upset still. Marceline didn't really care much though. It was her and Finn's business and they'll do whatever they want.

They kept walking through the forest until they came up on an oddly formed hill.

M: "Here he is."

J: "Where? I don't see anything." Jake said, as he began looking in all directions to find the beast.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and the beast rose from the earth and stood at least 100 feet tall. Tons of dirt and gravel fell from it as it stood up. It was evident that the beast had not moved for a long time.

M: "See?"

Cyclops: "Who dares disturb me? I know you're here for my tears but you can't have any-"

M: "I don't have time for this…"

Marceline picked up a handful of dirt, flew up to the Cyclops and threw it in his massive eye. The monster immediately began crying profusely.

Jake was quick to react and pulled a few empty jars out of the backpack that he was wearing. The the tears were easy enough to catch because they were pretty big.

Cyclops: "I'll kill you!" The Cyclops roared as it held its hand over its eye because of the pain.

J: "Marcy, I got the tears. Let's get out of here!"

Marceline picked Jake up and they fled back to the castle. There weren't any problems on the way back for the most part. Then, just as they were about to exit the forest, they saw a cloaked figure lying on the ground. Whoever it was looked like they needed help. Marceline began slowly flying towards the cloaked person to help. The reason behind why Marceline felt obligated to help is probably due to being around the hero Finn soo much recently.

Finn was ever so slowly starting to influence the vampire queen. She often felt like helping others wasn't such an inconvenient thing. She usually expected people that she helped to turn on her eventually, and Finn has been the only person to not do that. Her emotions were still complex and confusing. She didn't even understand herself at times, but she is convinced that she'll figure herself out and she knows that Finn the Human will be the best person to help her do that.

Marceline also had her fair share of influence on the hero boy. Finn was slowly beginning to realize that it's ok to express his feeling. And it's ok to let his mind free and not to keep his emotions and thoughts bottled up inside. Finn's mind has always been a dark place. He's kept thoughts and memories locked away in his "vault" and they were always there, in the back of his mind; slowly chewing away at his bearing and mental stability. He is also growing more confident with himself and his beliefs. He's becoming more and more able to express his thoughts and opinions with others.

Once they were close to the cloaked figure it quickly got up. It looked as if its bones broke and dislocated to come to the standing position. The thing was wearing an old brown and tattered cloak. There was something seriously wrong here...

The figure slowly turned in the direction of Marceline and Jake and spoke with a decrepit and raspy voice. It sounded like a zombie. It raised its arm to point at the two and it spoke.

?: "The stars shall align, their cold and ancient light touching upon the ashes of His portrait and awakening the maddening horror…"

J: "What the? What are you talking about?" Jake was starting to feel a bit freaked out.

The creature did not answer. It just lowered its arm and remained silent. They weren't able to see its face because the hood on the cloak covered it entirely.

M: "Jake, let's just get out of here. Something doesn't seem right."

J: "No, really?" Jake said sarcastically. He was being rude because he was a bit scared.

Marceline gave him a mean look and picked him up. In mid-flight, Marceline remembered something she wanted to do to for PB to show her gratitude for fixing Hambo. She flew her and Jake to go see Raggedy Princess. It was convenient to see her because her home was on the way back from the Forest of trees.

RP: "Hey Jake!" Raggedy Princess said, walking out of her house as if she was expecting the two.

J: "Waddup, Raggedy Princess!"

RP: "Is that Marceline the Vampire Queen? I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?"

M: "I've been good. But hey girl, I got a favor to ask you."

Marceline told Raggedy Princess what recently happened and that she would like for her to make the same t-shirt as she did a while back. The Princess quickly agreed and went inside her small house to get to work.

J: "What's this about Marcy?"

M: "I asked Raggedy Princess to make something."

J: "What? Is she starting from scratch? This is going to take forever!" Jake said as he threw his hands in the air in frustration.

M: "Calm down, Jake. She's good at this sort of stuff."

J: "Yeah, but we're still gonna be waiting all day! Do you know how long it takes to-"

RP: "Done! Here you go Marceline." The princess handed Marcy something wrapped in a brown package.

J: "Wha…"

M: "Told you." Marcy said contently.

M: "Now let's get out of here. Thanks RP!" Marcy put the package in Jake's backpack, picked him up and they continued on their trip back to the Candy Kingdom.

They left and were finally able to get back to the castle. They met Princess bubblegum in the ballroom where the party was getting set up.

PB: "Whoa! How did you guys… That was impossibly fast…" Bubblegum was confused with how they completed their task soo quickly.

J: "We're just good like that, PB." Jake said smugly.

PB: "Well, the party is just about ready. I'm just waiting for the candy people to get here."

J: "Hey Marcy, I guess you should go give Finn his birthday present now. I'm sure you'd like to be… alone when you do that." Jake said as he gave Marceline a bottle of the healing Cyclops tears. He winked at the same time, making a joke about the misunderstanding they had earlier.

M: "Yeah yeah…" Marcy said playfully as she walked away.

Marceline went into Finn's room. He was asleep and looked even better than he did before Marcy and Jake left earlier that morning.

Maybe the doctors are just that good? Maybe she her mind is telling her that?

Of course it was. Marcy liked not having to try to convince herself to not like Finn. She found it much easier than it had been with anyone else. Everything just seemed natural, as if the puzzle pieces in her life actually fit now.

Marceline just looked at the injured human boy. The sight of him made her heart sink. The thought of the pain of which was the result of that single devastating blow made her cringe. Although he was badly wounded, he looked peaceful in his sleep. He looked as if all the stresses of life and his most recent battles didn't exist. She watched as he slowly and peacefully respired. The room was mostly silent with the exception of the sound of the heart monitor steadily beeping. Marceline gently nudged Finn to see if she could wake him.

M: "Finn?"

After a few tries to wake Finn up he finally woke. He seemed to be mostly ok and didn't sound as if he was in a great deal of pain.

F: "Hey Marcy, what's up?"

Marceline just smiled and looked the human boy straight in the eyes and kissed him on the forehead.

M: "Happy birthday, hero."

F: "Wait… it's my birthday? I totally forgot." Finn said as he started to chuckle.

M: "Yeah, silly. I have a present for you." Marceline said in a sly voice.

F: "Rhombus! What is it Mar Mar?"

M: "Oh, and I got you this too."

She showed Finn one of the bottles that contained Cyclops tears.

F: "Are those Cyclops tears? I almost forgot that those existed after me and Jake ran out." Finn said, sounding extremely excited.

M: "Yeah, me and Jake went and got some earlier today." She said with a smile.

F: "Well, thanks Marcy. So, what's the other thing that you said you brought for me?"

M: "It's not something that I can technically BRING and you have to wait till later to get it…" Marceline said in a sexy voice, hinting at something.

F: "Ok, Sounds cool." Finn seemed to be oblivious to what she was implying once again.

M: "Anyway, let's fix you up then."

Marceline then started to help Finn pull off all of the cords and wires that were used to monitor Finn's vitals. She was about to pull off the blanket covering Finn until he grabbed it and stopped her.

M: "What's wrong?" She sounded generally concerned.

F: "N-nothing. This hospital gown is just kinda… it doesn't really cover much up when I'm laying down. He he…" Finn said nervously.

M: "*sigh* Like it even matters at this point, Finn." Marceline said playfully as she poured the contents of the bottle all over Finn.

The Cyclops tears instantaneously healed all of Finn's injuries. His broken bones were immediately reset and healed the proper way. All of his cuts and scrapes were healed, and his concussion was no more. He was perfectly healthy once again.

Finn sprung up and stood on top of the bed.

F: "I. Feel. AWESOME!" Finn said as he flexed his arms.

M: "That's awesome Finn; now get your clothes on. PB wants to talk to you."

F: "Ok." Finn said as he got dressed.

As soon as Finn was completely dressed Marceline grabbed him and hugged him.

M: "I'm glad you're all better Finn. I was really worried."

F: "I'm glad you're here Marcy. I'd probably still be all messed up without you."

They both stayed there, embracing one another, feeling the warmth of their emotions and blood coursing in their veins. They did not feel the same adrenaline as they normally did, nor did they feel their minds racing excessively fast.

This feeling was different. At this point they already experienced infatuation and a mix of lust and generally liking each other. But this feeling was much more intense; it was a warmer feeling than they had ever experienced. Neither of them could accurately explain it, nor did they even know how to put it into words and attempt to explain it. The only way they could describe it is that it was similar to the feeling of being loved and cared for by a family member, or a best friend in a time of need. Their feelings for each other were growing in complexity and intensity, and they couldn't get enough.

When their embrace ended Marceline got back to the task at hand, Finn's surprise birthday party.

M: "Well, I think it's time to go see PB."

F: "Let's do it Marcy!"

M: "Hopefully she doesn't keep you long… I still have that present for you…" Marcy said in a sexy voice as she tugged on Finn's hand and led him to the party room.

At the end of this very long Chapter, I just want to say thanks to all of the people who review and comment on the chapters. It really helps.