What happened last:

Someone had to go see what Maja was up to. Finn didn't want to do it but he volunteered anyway. Because of his selfless actions, Marceline and Jake decided to join him. They would have joined him regardless but they knew that they needed to help him because Finn would protect the good people of Ooo until his last dying breath and they didn't want that to actually happen. Now Finn, Marceline and Jake must team up to find out what Maja is up to. But the question still lies… what is Bubblegum up to?

Marceline and Finn were taking their time with making sure that they were ready for their mission. The actual events that were going on in their room were going to remain a secret but it didn't take a genius to figure it out.

After a bit of much needed time had passed, they were much closer to actually being ready to leave; at least Finn was. He was much better at getting prepared so he was ready to leave on their mission for a while before everyone else. After they got their essential things packed, they decided to lie down and cuddle together. They knew that the coming hours or even days were going to be uncomfortable and difficult so they took advantage of this moment.

After taking a relatively short nap, Jake came by to wake the human boy and Marcy up.

J: "Hey, homies! It's time to roll out!" He said excitedly. He knew that they were about to carry out a very dangerous mission but he was good at staying motivated and positive.

Finn quickly hopped out of bed; prepared to take on the challenge ahead of him while Marcy was slow to get up.

M: "Aww… c'mon… five more minutes…" she said as she rolled over and slapped her hand on a nearby nightstand in attempt to turn off an alarm clock that wasn't there.

F: "Marcy, it's time." That's all Finn had to say.

Marceline's eyes shot open as if she had a sudden jolt of caffeine shoot through her body to wake her up. She left her welcoming and comforting dreams to the real world where she knew that her actions would have a substantial effect on her reality and the lives of others. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and brushed her hands against her cheeks to help wake herself up.

M: "Yeah, yeah… when are we leaving?" She said in a very tired tone as she sat up while continuing to rub her face.

F: "Uh… now."

M: "Oh… ok then." She stood up and walked over to the corner of her room to grab her backpack.

F: "Marceline..."

The vampire queen quickly turned to Finn, thinking that something was wrong because he doesn't usually refer to her by her full first name. As soon as she turned and before she could even realize it, Finn was pressing his lips against hers. The quick shock set in and she closed her eyes to fully enjoy the moment. She thought that she would get used to Finn and his… actions by now, but she was wrong… she was very wrong.

There was something about Finn that always kept Marceline on her toes. Something always kept her excited and surprised. She couldn't really lay a finger on what it was but it would make a lot of sense to her to think that it was because of her past. She's been used to anything and everything worse than Finn. This human boy was seemingly perfect so what could possibly be better?

Once her eyes closed and her lips were firmly against his, she wrapped her arms around his head, almost aggressively, and pulled his head in tightly.

J: "Oh uh… *cough*I got to go do that thing… I'll be back." He said as he left in order to give the loving couple some time alone; regardless of having plenty of time together already. There's a strong possibility that the accumulation of time that they've been together wouldn't be enough. An entire lifetime may not even be enough. Marceline has lived many generations' worth of lifetimes already and each was lonelier than the last.

They didn't even plan on doing anything. It just felt right and it felt like it had to be done; they needed to feel each other's embrace before they left. They were simply exchanging their true affection before their mission. Finn placed his arms around Marceline soon after she began hugging him to show his affection.

M: "Whatever happens to us, Finn… y- *sigh* you'll always have a place in my heart. Regardless of how broken it's been in the past. You'll always have a big piece of it. Nobody's ever been as true to me this long as you… dang… nobody's even been nice to me this long. There was always something that would either get in the way or ruin everything. And I don't think that-"

F: "Marcy, stop right there. You don't need to thank me for this. I'm not doing because I have to or because I should. Even though I would, I'm doing this because I want to and more importantly… because I love you."

Marceline quickly blushed. She still wasn't used to a guy being this nice to her. The most depressing part is the fact that Finn wasn't even trying to be nice. He was just being himself. It's just because all of her ex's were terrible to her.

M: "I love you too." She said with a big smile. Those words seemed to resonate throughout her mind so well whenever she was around Finn.

He then leaned in to kiss the vampire queen on the forehead and then they both walked out of the room, carrying all of their supplies and equipment, to go find Jake so that they could begin their journey. They were dressed in clothing that was designed to protect them against cold weather. Marceline originally wanted to wear a black coat because it looked cool but Finn quickly convinced her to wear one in white because it's much better to blend in when dealing with situations like this. Marceline wasn't ignorant by any means; she was just a bit complacent sometimes because she's almost never met someone who can equal her power or abilities during her time as a vampire apart from the people that she already knows about.

What Finn didn't notice is that she didn't bring the right coat. The one she brought was very thin and wouldn't really offer her any protection from the cold. She was a vampire and therefore always cold so why does she need to bring a coat anyway?

Finn and Marceline approached Jake, who was in the kitchen packing things to make sandwiches, in their completely white winter clothing. Jake was dressed in completely white clothing as well. He knew just as well as Finn that camouflage can make and mission easier without much effort.

J: "Well… you guys look ready. Let me just… put this stuff away and we can leave." He said as he stuffed various meats, bread and condiments into his backpack. It appeared to be full of just food items.

M: "Ok. Hmmm… I'm surprised PB isn't here to see us off."

F: "Well, she said that she had stuff to do so she's probably dealing with all that biz. It's probably super-secret princess stuff."

M: "Yeah… sure. Oh well, let's get this over with."

J: "Let's do it homies!" Jake yelled and he stretched his body to pick up Marceline and Finn and carried them out of a window into the night.

Only a few moments passed as Jake carried Marceline and Finn to the edge of the Ice Kingdom. Once they got to where the snow started, Jake put them on the ground. It was always bizarre how the temperature changes by nearly 30 degrees within such a short distance.

M: "So remind me again why we don't just have Jake stretch us across the Ice Kingdom?"

F: "Well… first off, we tried like a million times to do that in the past and the Ice King was always able to detect us or whoever we were looking for that was here. So I'm pretty sure that Maja will have some way to do that too. And after getting snuck up on and getting' beat up a few times, we learned that it's not so easy to cross the Ice Kingdom. And there's snow golems too. Not all of them are nice and gentle. Some get pretty angry when you wake 'em up in the middle of the night. And-"

J: "-Hey… just know that we've tried a lot of stuff and we know that doing it this way works. It sucks, but it works." He almost sounded embarrassed.

M: "Ok man. It's no big deal. I was just curious. It sounds kinda fun actually." She cutely shrugged her shoulders in agreement.

F: "Now that we're all on the same page, let's go. We're burning daylight er… moonlight." He paused for a spit second then turned and began walking.

They didn't honestly think that they would come in contact with anyone dangerous for a while so Finn went over his ideas on how everyone should act and respond to things that might happen in the near future.

He began to explain that not being seen by absolutely anything was the most important thing. Animals could be working for Maja or something. Literally anything could happen so they all had to stay on their toes. It's very much known that Maja could take control of any of the living things nearby to use as her spies. He also went over how they'll be sleeping if they're out there long enough and the importance of not leaving any traces of being anywhere. Just like ice ninjas.

Finn tried not to drown everyone in information so he only told them the essential details.

With that, they set off on their long trek across the vast expanse of the Ice Kingdom. They all remained mostly silent except for the occasional whisper. They were all smart enough to not speak in even a regular tone. This operation was entirely covert in nature and they couldn't make themselves known. The group only walked during the night as they had originally planned.

Nature was very cruel to them. It continued to snow for the first 5 hours of walking in the snow and there was a stingingly cold breeze constantly blowing. This was the kind of cold that chilled them right down to their bones. Shivering wasn't enough to keep their body heat at a good temperature to remain functional. They did their best to eat some of the food that they brought as they traveled without stopping to keep as warm as possible. Finn knew that everyone would be burning twice as many calories in the cold than then would normally so he made sure to make everyone eat something every few hours; regardless of being hungry or not.

After a few hours, Finn eventually decided that it was relatively close to the time that the sun would rise so he knew that it was time to hide and sleep.

F: "It's time to find shelter. It'll be daylight soon so we'll need to make ourselves scarce." He almost sounded like a different person when he was in his "survival" mode. Almost like a grizzled old war veteran.

J: "Yeah… I figured that out a while ago but… where are we gonna go? There's nowhere to go!" He said in an almost too loud and annoyed voice. He noticed how there wasn't anything around them except for snow a few mountains here and there and more snow.

M: "Yeah, Finn… I don't really see anywhere to go either…" She sounded a bit confused and felt as if Finn didn't know that he messed up or not.

F: "Oh. Sorry 'bout that. We're just gonna just dig a hole in the ground. Once we get to the permafrost we…" He stopped and turned to Jake who was already drilling a hole in the ground and creating a large area for everyone to be. Being a dog, digging holes was one of Jake's specialties and he took much pride in it.

Only a few mere seconds passed by until Jake popped back up and smiled.

J: "Is this what you were talking about?" He said and waited until everyone started to move towards the opening he made in the ground and he descended back in the hole.

When Finn jumped in, he was immediately amazed with the interior. Jake was made of magic and Finn knew that of course, but it seemed as if he created the interior of a house in an incredibly short amount of time. Everything was, of course, all white and made of snow but he was able to shape a lot of things to mimic actual furniture and other objects

F: "Whoa man… awesome." He said as he held out his hand and fist bumped Jake.

M: "Wow. Nice digs man." She said as she flew in to check everything out.

F: "Well… this is definitely a bit better than I was expecting… Anyway, we're just going to sleep here tonig- this morning and we'll leave when the sun is completely down. So get comfortable. Oh and… thanks, Jake."

J: "No probs, Bro."

Marceline was a bit jealous of how well Finn and Jake worked together as a team. Even if the other didn't know what the plans for an adventure were, they would both have the perfect skillset available to help out in whatever way that the other needed. Fate truly took part in Finn and Jake meeting. The number of terrible and abhorrent things that would happen throughout the land of Ooo without them would be impossible to account for. Everyone in Ooo needed them and they needed everyone else as well. Finn never felt as though he was dependent on anyone throughout the entire duration of his life until he met Flame Princess. He was thinking about how she helped him mature and how their relationship ended on such an odd note but he blocked out those thoughts. He had something to do and people to save. Oh… and he's with someone that loves him in a way that truly feels like it's deserved. Marceline was perfect for Finn and he was perfect for her. With that, there's nothing much else to say.

F: "So yeah… let's try and get some sleep then."

J:" Don't worry bro, I got you covered." He said almost out of nowhere.

F: "What are you talking abou-"

Jake then stretched his arm out and broke some of the snow support beams that were between him and Finn and the cavern caved in and divided their space. Finn didn't originally know that this was intentional so he freaked out a bit.

F: "Jake? Jake?! JAKE?!" He darted towards the collapsed snow and plunged his fists into it, attempting to dig to the other side.

A few seconds later, used his arms to drill a hole through the snow to show Finn that he was just fine.

J: "You called?"

Finn was mostly speechless because he was legitimately scared while Marceline was sitting back, knowing that nothing was wrong. Finn felt a bit dumb.

F: "N-nothing man. Just uh… wanted to make sure that you were ok."

J: "Suuuuure… I'll just be over here. Let me know if you guys need me. I'll be asleep right over here." Jake said as he laid down and immediately fell asleep. Jake was really good at that. He made the wall dividing up the space so that Finn and Marceline could have a bit of privacy.

M: "So… I guess we're gonna sleep on that bed over there?" She pointed to a relatively large looking bed made out of snow.

F: "Yep."

The kind of snow that everyone was using as their "furniture" wasn't just the normal light snow. It was hard and packed in very heavily, making it possible to be used as furniture.

The human boy put his backpack down and grabbed a few blankets out as well as a pillow. He laid those items on the "bed" to make it a bit more comfortable and the couple laid down together. Finn was wearing a very thick jacket to keep him warm so he didn't have any trouble keeping his body heat in. But that wasn't the case for Marceline…

Three hours later…

Finn woke up to Marceline shivering. He could hear her breath almost vibrate from how hard her body was shaking in attempt to maintain a safe body temperature. Being a vampire, Marceline naturally had a pretty low body temperature. But it's different now. The temperature is well below freezing and that's dangerous for anyone.

F: "Marcy?!" Finn whispered loudly as he shook the vampire queen.

M: "I'm so… cold… Finn…" She had a hard time speaking. She was shivering so hard that her teeth were chattering. Her grip around Finn's body was losing its strength and she was feeling very tired. It this case… feeling tired was a very very bad sign.

The human boy didn't waste any time, he took his jacket off quickly and put it on Marceline. All he was left with was his normal clothes.

Marceline was in too bad of a condition to notice, but she made a very big mistake. She thought that she would be almost completely resistant to the cold temperature seeing as that she's normally cold. But she was wrong.

F: "Don't talk." Finn didn't zip up the jacket; he got in close to Marceline and pulled the jacket closed as much as he could with him inside of it so that he could transfer his body heat to Marcy.

Within about ten minutes, the vampire queen was much warmer than before and she wasn't shivering anymore. Finn didn't want to heat her up too much so when he finally decided that she wasn't freezing to death, he moved away from her and zipped up the jacket.

This has been the second time in a few days that Finn had saved Marceline from almost certain death but he didn't really even notice. Finn could save his beloved friend a million times but he wouldn't ever notice it. Every day seems to be another day that Marceline saves Finn from being lonely so he feels like that makes up for anything that he could ever do.

The vampire queen soon dozed off and had a slight smile on her face as she fell deeper into sleep. Finn went over to his stuff on the ground and reached to the bottom of his backpack. He pulled out the pink sweater that Bubblegum gave to him when he was tasked with taking out the Lich after he escaped from the Candy Kingdom.

As he pulled it over his head, he could smell the strong scent of bubblegum. The warmth that the sweater gave him almost seemed to radiate from the mere clothing. It brought him such comforting warmth and he laid down next to Marceline and went to sleep. For their first night out in the Ice Kingdom, they were all able to sleep safely and without any more interruptions.

At the Candy Kingdom a few hours prior…

Bubblegum was just finishing up with her chalk drawing. She was hoping that trying to be either very diplomatic or just pleading would get her what she needs. She stood up and mentally prepared herself to do what she believed would be the last resort.

The candy princess threw a carton of bug milk on the face drawing and chanted the incantation.

PB: "Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum!"

Well, that was chapter 65. How'd you guys like that one? :p