What happened last:

After finding out that Peppermint Butler's attempt at helping caused more problems than he ever could have imagined, him and Hunson Abadeer are now trying to find an alternative method to save Finn. Because immortal beings are few and far between. Also, Bubblegum began the lengthy process of figuring out exactly what's wrong with Marceline with no progress thus far. Now someone snuck their way into the Princess's room…

?: "It's not as scientific as you think it is."

PB: "What?" She said as she turned to see who said that. It sounded like a familiar voice but it sounded odd.

The princess was feeling paranoid and she knew she was being watched… but for how long?"

PB: "Who's there? Show yourself!" She said commandingly.

?: "How does it feel to be the one who's being watched?" The voice sounded obviously female but very distorted.

PB: "What? I haven't… Wait, Flame Princess?" She guessed.

The fiery princess quickly appeared out of nowhere as particles of flame seemed to have come out of nowhere to form her.

FP: "Aww c'mon! How did you know it was me?!" She sounded upset that her attempts to act sneaky and mysterious failed.

PB: "Eh… it wasn't hard to figure out." She said as she shrugged her shoulders apathetically.

Flame Princess just crossed her arms and pouted like a child.

PB: "So… you were saying something about it not being entirely about science?" She said as she got the conversation back on track.

FP: "Well yeah. Not everything is about science. Not everything can be explained with technology and gadgets. Marceline's obviously is some sort of unconscious state but she occasionally moves as if she was having some sort of terrible nightmare. Knowing that-"

PB: "-I don't see where you're going with this…" She crossed her arms. She was feeling irritated because Flame Princess, of all of the princesses, was telling her something that she doesn't know. It was quite irritating for the highly educated candy princess.

FP: "Well, if you'd let me finish… I know that you don't really like me or even respect me for that matter because I'm "unstable", but I'm pretty sure I know what the real problem is here. And I-"

PB: "-If you're soo sure then show me some scientific evidence that explains-"

FP: "How about you show me some scientific evidence how Magic exists?" Flame Princess was getting irritated by Bubblegum's disbelief so she decided to give her some examples of thing's that can't be explained by science.

PB: "It's all just illusions, mutations, alteration with entanglement principles, and other ridiculous stuff." She was going back to her magic denying roots because she didn't like to be wrong; especially not when Flame Princess was the one questioning her knowledge.

FP: "*sigh* you're just being close minded... You're close minded with magic just like with love."

PB: "W-what are you talking about?" She was caught off guard by how direct Flame Princess was being.

FP: "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I might not know everything about love, but I do know that it's more powerful than you think."

PB: "It's just a chemical reaction in the brain, that's all there is to it." Her voice was losing its vigor as if she was realizing that maybe the fiery princess knew what she was talking about.

FP: "No. That's where you're wrong. Look at Marceline. Why is she unconscious right now?" She walked closer to the bed.

PB: "I… it's cause of her transformation…" She was almost speechless. She was realizing that all of the questions that she had in her head that she couldn't answer for herself could be explained by Flame Princess.

FP: "That's not the only reason. Do you know the real reason why?"

PB: "…I guess not."

FP: "You know, it's funny. When I heard about her transformation I thought the reason she was unconscious was because… being filled with that much hate-filled evil when you're not used to it can be overwhelming. But that wasn't it. The word that Marceline turned into some massive monster was the first thing to create a buzz in the Candy Kingdom. Then when everyone heard about Finn's death… that's when I knew what the real problem was."

PB: "You can't be implying that her heart is the problem…"

FP: "But it's true. Contrary to your beliefs, someone can love another soo much that it hurts. In this case it's a bit more than just pain." She was almost poking fun at PB's scientific conclusions that were wrong but it didn't matter. She had Bubblegum's full and undivided attention.

Bubblegum couldn't help but think about Braco, one of her suitors that left the kingdom, and how he told her about the pain he felt because he said that he loved her. She believed all this time that it was just a product of him overvaluing a projected and imaginary relationship with her. She never would have thought that it could actually be possible. When someone lives their entire life with one goal, and that goal is not met… it makes sense how it could cause them great and terrible pain both physically and emotionally.

PB: "I… this goes against all of my research… I don't really know what to say about this..." She no longer felt irritated by Flame Princess telling her about this because she realized that this is a true learning experience that even science couldn't accurately explain.

FP: "To be honest… there isn't really anything to say. And like I said… it's not as scientific as you think." Flame princess began to slowly disappear starting with the flames at her feet.

Bubblegum noticed that she was beginning to leave so she frantically began asking questions.

PB: "Wait! How do I help Marceline? How do I wake her up? What am I supposed to do?!" She began yelling as Flame Princess began to disintegrate faster and faster.

FP: "Return a fragment of the sentiment that she lost when her loved one died." She said almost in a whisper as she completely dissipated and was no longer present in the room.

PB: "What?! Return a fragment…" She mumbled what she just heard then stopped and thought about what FP just said, trying to figure out what she meant. The most confusing part about the whole situation was why she felt the need to act mysteriously and leave soo suddenly.

Bubblegum didn't notice but Flame Princess rematerialized right outside the door to her room.

FP: "I'm pretty sure that was mysterious. Good job FP." She said to herself and giggled. She obviously didn't entirely understand the concept of acting mysterious. She believed that it was useful to get people to like you not just to get them to "like" you. When in all actuality, it's just to get people to "like" you. Or at least, that's the desired end result.

The fiery princess then walked away from Bubblegum's door and left.

While Flame Princess was amusing herself with Bubblegum's confusion, Bonnibel was trying to figure out what she needed to do to help the unconscious vampire queen. Her brain quickly calculated any and all possibilities like a supercomputer. She felt mostly stumped but she had just one real idea. She didn't think that it would work but she had to try.

She looked at the heart monitor that was pulsing and beeping with every beat of Marceline's weak heartbeat. She observed that it was going at a very steady and slow pace; it had been doing this for almost three days straight. It was almost as if her heart was trying to give up but her body wasn't letting it.

The candy princess placed her hand on Marceline's arm and noticed a slight spike in her heartbeat strength.

PB: "What the…?" She squinted her eyes as she looked at the numbers on the heart monitor, almost not believing what she was seeing.

She lightly brushed her hand down Marcy's arm towards her hand and interlaced her fingers with Marceline's. Once again, the strength of Marceline's heart increased and it was beating much harder than it had before.

Her jaw dropped as she witnessed the inconclusive evidence that Marceline's millennium old heart possessed the ability to control her body like this. It had been broken more times that anyone could count and it's been lonelier than anyone could ever imagine.

The candy princess was stumped. Somehow some odd force of nature unbeknownst to science could possess such great power over someone. Regardless of how flabbergasted she was, she accepted it and went along with it as if it was something she discovered herself.

Who could have ever guessed that Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum would believe that love was a tangible thing?

PB: "Marcy!" She said as she practically lunged towards Marceline and hugged her tightly. She buried her face in her long beloved friend's shoulder and embraced her with true emotion.

PB: "Marceline, please wake up!" She said to her friend as her voice began to crack. The tears soon followed. The candy princess began to cry into her friend's shoulder, broken by the thought that she might lose Marceline to this bizarre coma just like she lost Finn to Death's unmercifully cold grasp.

PB: "Marcy, please wake up! I love you!" She begged. The heart monitor was sounding like a regularly beating heart at this point.

Bubblegum's hopes began to climb and she thought that she finally saved her friend. But no…

She didn't wake up.

She didn't respond.

She didn't even move.

Marceline just remained there, almost lifeless. The heart monitor was the only thing that changed but the vampire queen was still unconscious.

Bubblegum didn't know what else to say, she just laid down and curled up next to her friend on her rosy pink bed sheets as she kept her face buried in her shoulder. She smelled sweet like the princess's candy scented shampoo and that's the last thing Bubblegum remembered before falling asleep. She had been up for almost 60 straight hours with the exception of a small nap so she was exhausted.

She might have been suffering emotionally from everything falling apart but Bubblegum was comfortable like this. And for once, it wasn't just because she was asleep with Marceline present; it was simply because someone was there. She didn't feel as lonely as she normally did when she slept. She really liked her friends staying in her castle as much as they had been recently and wouldn't actually mind if they just lived there. But that conversation was for another time. For now… Bonnie was enjoying here and now; sleeping more comfortably than she normal does.

A few hours later…

A sudden burst of light was all that was seen as it almost burned her corneas. Marceline was awake and her eyes weren't even close to being adjusted. They shot open and she quickly scanned the room to see where she was. She noticed the sweet smell of bubblegum as one of the first sensations to hit her senses when she awoke. Bonnibel's head was snuggled tightly under Marceline's chin because she fell asleep next to her a few hours prior.

Bubblegum's arms were wrapped tightly around Marceline's body because she naturally moves around a lot while sleeping and her arms found themselves embracing the vampire queen in her sleep.

Marceline quietly looked around and tried to remember what happened recently. She remembered Finn getting hit by something and she ran over to help him… then everything went red. She doesn't exactly remember him getting killed but she wouldn't know any other reason why she would feel as enraged as she did.

M: "He can't be dead… he just can't…" She was in denial.

Marcy wanted to find him so she decided to leave the room. She began to slowly float away from Bonnie's arms so she could begin her search for Finn. She was able to easily slip away from her grasp without her waking up. She didn't have any reason to not wake the princess except to just let her sleep. Because whenever the princess slept then it was when there wasn't really anything going on.

As soon as Marceline was in an upright position and floating, she noticed a painful stinging feeling in her head. Her feet touched the ground soon after because of the painful sensation and she placed a hand on her head to help ease the pain. She quietly whimpered because it hurt soo badly.

Once she noticed that the princess was still asleep, she left the room to look for Finn. She searched all around the castle. She looked in every room, every closet and every place that Finn could possibly fit in. She was beginning to feel very frustrated because she looked everywhere and there was no trace of Finn, just candy people. Marceline didn't bother to ask anyone where the human boy was because if he truly was dead, she wanted to see it with her own eyes instead of just hearing it.

Eventually after checking almost everywhere for what seemed like the hundredth time, Marceline ran into her father and Peppermint Butler in the kitchen looking very tired. They were just taking a snack break.

M: "Hey, where have you two been?"

HA: "Marceline! You're awake!" He said excitedly as he walked over and hugged his daughter.

HA: "Oh Marcy, I was soo worried about you."

M: "Yeah… that's touching, dad. But that doesn't really answer the question…" She was being very distant with her father because she was obviously very upset.

HA: "We were uh… working on some magic." It definitely sounded like him and Peppermint Butler were up to something.

Peppermint Butler was being quiet the whole time because he was busy getting stuff to make sandwiches and stuffing his face with food in the process. He was acting very "un-butlery" but that was only due to the fact that he was playing around with dark magic.

M: "Ok…?" She noticed that Hunson was acting weird but she just accepted it because her dad was already weird.

HA: "Yeah… magic. So um… we're just gonna go now." He said as he began back stepping towards the door. Peppermint butler followed and they both left to return to where they were keeping Finn.

After they left the room in haste Marceline waited a second before following. She went invisible and quietly watched where her father and the candy butler were going, making sure to keep her distance. After a few moments of following, she was able to find out where they've been.

After they entered Peppermint Butler's hideout in the tower Marceline floated just outside the door to see if they would say anything.

P. Butler: "Hey man, why didn't we tell Marceline about this? I'm sure she would wanna know." He said as he was instinctually making sandwiches.

HA: "Because… if she knew about this then I'm afraid that she would take it too far."

P. Butler: "What do you mean?"

HA: "As in, if she knew that sacrificing immortality was the only way to break that curse around Finn then…" He stopped talking for a moment.

P. Butler: "Then you think she would try to break the curse herself." He finished Hunson's sentence.

HA: "Yeah. But anyway… let's get back to-"

M: "So he really is dead…" She said as she saw Finn's lifeless body floating in the orb of darkness.

HA: "Marcy I-"

M: "Don't worry dad… I'm a thousand years old; I don't really plan on sacrificing myself. I mean… I've only known Finn for a few years and compared to a thousand … that's nothing." She sounded very apathetic.

HA: "I'm sorry Marceline. We've been trying everything we can to find a loophole to break the curse but it's very difficult."

M: "I know dad. And thank you guys for trying. But if you don't mind, I'd like a few moments alone to at least say goodbye to Finn…"

HA: "Oh of course, darling." He said as he practically shooed peppermint butler out of the room and they both left.

Peppermint Butler was a bit annoyed with having to leave his own lair but he just accepted it and left anyway.

Once they were gone, Marceline walked up to the orb containing Finn and just stared at it. He was floating ever so slowly in the dark sphere of black magic. It was even more depressing knowing that he wasn't even alive in there.

She felt defeated as she watched him floating there, lifeless. She couldn't protect the one person that she tried her hardest to protect. It was almost as if Glob wanted her to fail. All of the sorrow and defeat invaded her heart and she began to cry.

It would seem as though she was crying more than she normally does but in reality, she cries all the time. She just doesn't let anyone see it. She's afraid of showing her emotions and she's embarrassed when other people notice them.

The broken vampire queen just sat there on her knees; crying her eyes out. She didn't know what else to do. She didn't cry for hours like she often did. After just a few minutes she wiped her tears away and stood back up. She was trying to be strong but it was hard. Everything always seems to fall apart in her life and it never seems to change.

Marceline told her father that her time with Finn was insignificant compared to how long she's been alive but she knew that it was just a lie to get him to leave the room. She knows that Finn understood her better than anyone else and that's something that she doubts that she'd ever find again.

Marceline was filled with so much sadness that she didn't know what to do nor did she even want to do anything. Her life was crashing down like it had many other times before. She sat down with her back propped against a wall. She just stared at Finn's lifeless body. Her mouth felt dry and her body felt weak.

She knew that she could save him but she didn't know if it would be the best idea.

She just doesn't know…

Dang, it's already chapter 60? This story is getting awesomely long. How'd you guys like this chapter?