Review Responses:

He23t: Thank you!

thisisagoodname: If Marceline had been trying to get away from Finn, she could have. But she figured he wouldn't be able to locate her in short notice, and also assumed that after the knife-storm incident he wouldn't come chasing after. She thought she had made enough distance, and is also at this point not at her best mentally. And I'm glad you got a chuckle out of the FP moment!

LittleRedRiddingWolf: Thank you! Sorry for the delay, though.

mukyuuuuu: I mean, since it's an AT fic, the humor is kind of mandatory for me, even in really emotional situations. And when things get more dark, I like to use the jokes to balance out the emotions, if that makes sense. It's a weird balance.

The Nephilim King Michael: Thank you!

Chapter 7: Rendezvous

"…Humana? Did I fall asleep while looking through the ice-box again?" Finn muttered as he lifted himself off the ground, shaking at the cold digging into his entire body. "And… why am I almost naked?" The dark of the forest gave him no answer, so the confused boy propped his chin on his head and thought for a good minute before his noggin pieced things together.

"Oh, right," He whispered as everything came back to him. His calm disappeared when he realized he had unintentionally flashed Marceline, but that thought was over-ridden with the urgent need to make sure she hadn't left in the night. He squinted through the night's veil, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

Eventually, he caught a glimpse of a pale arm, and sighed in relief. He waited until his vision grew even more accustomed so he could confirm she was asleep, andwhen he realized she was (she was actually snoring worse than Jake did, which made him giggle), he quietly removed his towel and made his way to his stash, dressing as quickly as he could.

Finn let out a sigh as he finished, glad he was no longer nude around one of his closest female friends. He distantly wondered what time it was, but had no real way to tell, so after some silent calisthenics, he decided to forage for eats.

"Gotta make sure I get back quick, don't want her to wake up while I'm gone," He whispered, finally finding a moment to smile brightly. He had done it! Somehow! He had caught up with Marceline! He had no idea what came next, but after the despair of thinking the Marcy-Polo was lost, he certainly felt rejuvenated.

And so, with a little skip to his step despite a growing sense of numbness from the cold and some exhaustion, he started to look around the forest. Finn had always been good at scouring the wild for food (and good climbing tress), and as such within five minutes, he had acquired a plethora of berries and some rather ridonkulous items for Marceline to munch on. The red items being a hammer (…well, he thought the handle was red, though it was pretty orange), a rubber ball, and a slightly rusty bike, which had happened to have a basket he used to carry everything else.

Sadly, the bike was well beyond even being pushed on its wheels, and as such he had to lift it. By the time he had gotten it back to the little encampment of his ditch, he was still pretty much just as cold as he had been, more tired, and now laced with stank-o-rific sweat. Like, even the Marauders would have been hesitant to take a whiff.

And sadly, the sun was coming up, so he wasn't really going to get much sleep. Oh well. His youthful endurance would get him through the day. He parked the bike, yawning, and checked to make sure that Marceline was still there; indeed she was, though she seemed to have rolled over, and somehow had disheveled her hair despite the only thing touching it being her hands.

He immediately smiled at her presence before his eyes widened; a little bit of sunlight was already peaking through some random hole in the trees, and was very close to touching Marceline. Knowing what that would entail, Finn immediately weighed his options.

Waking Marceline up could work, but she looked quite content sleeping, so he decided he would just… drag her down.

Cue ten minutes of Finn leaping off the ground and attempting to grab some part of Marceline's body, at one point propping up the bike and trying to leap off it to gain more air (which had only resulted in some glorious crashes).

By the time he had actually managed to grab a hold of her, pulling her downward by his weight and letting go once she was well away from the hole's beams, he had caused more than enough racket to wake virtually anyone he knew. Thankfully, Marceline was apparently a champion of sleep, as she barely stirred the entire time, even when he had grabbed onto her foot.

How could he know she was knee deep in some of the weirdest dreams one could have without sipping on the juices of the Elder Toad?

Content and tired, he collapsed to the ground, using the towel as the smallest blanket of all time, and quickly drifted to sleep.

"I'm just saying, what if we WERE dragons?" Bubblegum asked with a mouthful of spaghetti, a stray meatball falling from her mouth. Marceline, her head lying snuggly in the candy girl's lap as they reclined on the Vampire's couch, caught it with her ever-dexterous tongue, saving her nose from an impromptu meeting with the meaty ball.

She quickly swallowed, rubbing her belly in satisfaction, and the Princess blanched. "Ugh… Marceline, that is so distasteful," She muttered through a badly concealed smile, the Vampire simply laughing in return, having hoped that Bonnibel would reply as such.

"Actually, it's pretty good! Who would think meatballs and bubblegum would be a winning combo?" Marceline asked with a giggle, her tongue slowly creeping upwards towards Bubblegum's mouth with the intent to snag some more.

Before her ingenious plot could be completed, Marceline's door flew open. She quickly turned her gaze to find her father dressed in… a hot-dog suit? The Vampire immediately blushed at his presence, especially amidst her and Bonnibel seated so… intimately.

"Just got back from the dentist," Hunson replied while stretching, his limps twisting this way and that as he did, and then beginning to walk over to the two girls. "I have no idea how this hot dog suit is supposed to stop X-rays. I tried to tell him radiation ain't a damn thang to us demon gang, but you know. Dentists. Only thing more evil than me, amirite?" He winked gaudily, which was somehow what set his daughter off the edge.

"DAD, PUT SOME CLOTHES ON YOU DORK!" Marceline screamed, leaping off Bubblegum's lap and mortified at what the Princess must be thinking. "I'm so sorry… Lady Rainicorn?"

The Lady stared back at her blankly, the Princess and her delicious… uh, spaghetti nowhere in sight. The Rainicorn then pointed her horn outward, and began to turn the entire house red, completing this task before Marceline could even begin to protest. With a smile, the flying-color-creature said something in Korean, and though Marceline only spoke English, German, Swahili, Jive, Ancient-Vampiric, Modern-Vampiric, 80's Funk-Vampiric, and Giggle-Ocity-Quatro, she somehow understood the sentence as, "Now you can eat your house, you dingus!"

"…Wha?" Marceline asked, confused beyond belief, though incredibly tempted to follow through on that offer. Her house looked mad tasty.

"Hey, yo momma should be here soon…" Hunson muttered, his arm snapping at 90 degree angles until his wrist and therefore watch was in front of his face.

"…Mom is… Dad, what on Ooo…" Marceline muttered, her fingers pressing into her sprawling hair as she often did when confused. "And why are you speaking… well, it's not Jive, but it sure isn't how you usually talk!"

"Eh, changing it up a little," He said with a shrug before both were immediately drawn to a polite knock on the door. There stood a thin, petite and pale woman donning a worn but warm smile. Her raven hair, identical to Marceline's besides it near-floor-length, swayed as she entered the house.

"Hello Marcy, hello dear," Ella said softly, placing a delicate peck on Hunson's face, the monstrous near-deity blushing in pleasure, and then placing a hand on Marceline's shoulder. The Vampire's jaw was firmly unhinged, but Ella didn't seem to notice. "Are you excited for our family play date?"

"…Yeah, Mom," Marceline whispered, swallowing in disbelief, her willingness to go on with the bizarre proceedings increasing. "What are we doing?"

"Jump ROPE!" Hunson screeched demonically, his face ripping apart as he did s and taking both ends of Lady Rainicorn in his hands before rushing outside.

"Mind shape shifting Marceline? I promise I'll keep you off the ground," Ella said calmly, obviously amused by her husband's antics.

"…Sure, Mom," Marceline whispered in reply, much to in shock to argue with the logical gaps surrounding her. The Vampire shifted into a thin, noodly shape, and her mother carried her out and starting spinning her in circles while skipping. It was an odd sensation, to say the least. Kind of like an amusement park ride, but with the added danger of getting your face smacked into a dock.

"How have you been, Marcy?" Ella asked as she kept a steady jump.

The expected difficulty of speaking while being used as a jump rope somehow non-existent, Marceline replied, "Um… good." It was a red-hot lie and she knew it, but Mom always got so concerned when she lied, and she made this depressed face…

Marceline couldn't see Ella's face for obvious reasons, but still had the sinking feeling her mother didn't believe her. "I wish I could be around more, Marcy. You know how much I love you. You know I don't think you're a monster, right?"

Marceline would have stiffened if doing so was physically possible; this wasn't right.

"It's just…" Her mother continued before the Vampire could come up with a logical retort. "I'm dead."

Those words were most definitely true, and Marceline blushed furiously at their pain and at her forgetting reality. Perhaps her Dad had brought Mom back… but no, that didn't make any sense, and—

"Oh sweet Abraham Lincoln, these hot dogs are going everywhere!" Hunson shouted in glee, as sure enough a hot-dog pelted Marceline in the face, causing her to fly out of her mother's grasp and onto a cold surface.

"…Uh? Mom?" She muttered as she lifted herself up… in some kind of… icy cavern? Marceline became aware of where she was, and started looking for an exit, her brain's floppy gray matter way to smacked around to deal with—

"Marceline, what do you think the better name for our band would be: My Undead Icebox, or Cold Dead Love," The Ice King asked, wearing enormous, shiny red sunglasses and a red leather jacket. He slowly began to dance and shout the words "Thriller! Chiller, yeah!", pushing the Vampire queen way past her limits of watching the Ice King mocking his former-self.

Fighting back the urge to hurl, the Vampire Queen went to fly out the mountain's window… except rather than fly after leaping, she just fell. Marceline let out a blood curling scream, but strangely felt no impact; when she opened her eyes, there was only gray.

"Marceline!" Came a cry from behind her, and she turned to see none other than Finn the Human running toward her, concern filling his boyish face. "I heard you screaming, are you alright?" He asked, pulling her into an unexpected embrace that she took without thinking.

Marceline sobbed into him for a moment before she could speak, feeling very shaken."…I don't know, Finn, I'm just kind of—"

"Finn? Silly Marceline. The name's MALUS, don't you remember?" A thick voice she knew all too well speaking, rather than Finn's fluffy, light tone. Rage pouring through her, she pushed away from him, barring her teeth and throwing out her claws, only to blink in surprise.

There, laughing his lumpin' butt off, was Ash. "Whoooa! Mar Mar! Can't believe you fell for that impersonation. This is why you needed me… so easily set off!" He teased, sticking out his tongue at her violently.

Marceline took the same course she had the last time Ash had reared his ugly mug into her life. She pummeled his balls.

With a firm kick to his nether regions, the wizard gasped in pain and flew high into the air, Marceline whistling as she admired her work. "Pheewwwww!" She whistled, picking her nose. "I don't think that wiz is coming back down."

"Toying with elementary mages? My, how far you've fallen, Marceline," The thick voice came again, the Vampire turning all too quickly to silence Ash, only to come face to face with the voice's true owner.

There, in all his horror, in all his evil, stood Malus, his twisted grin and blinding red eyes digging into her. His gray cloak held most of his lithe, nearly scythe-like form, but his gaunt, silver complexion and ruby hair remained outside its grasp.

"…You're not real," She immediately murmured, grasping her side and avoiding his glance. "I just need to…"

"Pathetic," He whispered, slowly moving toward her. "You defeated me, and yet still can't face me? Do I terrify you so much? Or do you regret your choices…"

Marceline sent a blast of fire his way, which the Vampire King deflected easily with a wave of his hand. "…Not at all. Killing you was the best decision I've ever made, you monster," Marceline spat with confidence her heart didn't quite agree with, her eyes scouring the emptiness surrounding her. With a sinking feeling, she realized she had no elements to use in her favor. It was just her, and Malus. Nothing about the statement bode well.

"…Oh, Marceline. So ahead of yourself. The 'Vampire Queen'… what a joke," He whispered, his voice a menacing whisper akin to the creaking of shutters in an abandoned house. He continued to walk in her direction. "Do you remember what we used to call you? Stormchild, Marceline. Because you had no home, no hope. And when I gave you one, by my side, how did you repay me?"

Marceline halted her attempts at finding a route of escape or an edge in combat, her shoulder's slumping as the memories filled her head. Being so, so alone… and then being with someone who she thought had cared. Being with Malus. And then, having to end him…

"…I hated what I had to do to you, Malus…" She whispered, her front falling and her eyes growing moist. "I thought… I thought you actually gave a damn…"

"Oh, I DID!" He shrieked, his fist suddenly flying forward and sending her into the air. She landed with a thud, clutching her stomach with a grimace. No wound lingered quite as heavily as one inflicted by Malus. She had scars to prove that.

"I gave you everything, and how did you repay me…" He whispered in a harsh growl, his eyes conveying every bit of his hatred. "You chose that buffoon over myself. Tell me, was it worth it?"

"…More that worth it," She replied in defiance, smirking as she wiped the blood from her face. "Finn is… you don't even know, how vindicated I've felt, Malus. I know I made the right decision. Killing you was the best choice I've ever made, as much as it hurt."

The thin slits the Vampire King called eyes narrowed to the point of close as he scowled, raising his hand out in front of him. "Pity, Stormchild, that you do not remember your place. As I promised… I will take what you hold dear…"

Marceline waited for the blow, but when none came, she peaked open her eyes. The sight made her heart sink; Finn, already bloodied and bruised, clutched in Malus's powerful hands. The cracking of bone already was greeting her ears, as the Vampire King lowered his mouth.

"I'm sure he will taste delicious…" He whispered, his teeth suddenly rearing outward, Marceline throwing her hand forward.

"MALUS, NO!" She shrieked, immediately sitting up as she awoke, breathing heavily. "…Oh, Glob, oh Glob, just a dream… just a dream…" Marceline whispered to herself over and over again, holding her body tightly. Her mother and Malus in the same dream? What a bloody nightmare…

"Huh? Marcy?" Finn murmured from below her, sprawled out like an octopus doing yoga and still half asleep, but slowly gaining consciousness.

As foolish as it was, nearly as foolish as the time she had bet half of her hair in a poker duel, Marceline immediately swooped down to him, checking for injury. Though he certainly hadn't been unfortunate enough to have a run in with a Vampire King (or a torrent of knives) and was free of scars or wounds, he was shaking heavily in what she realized was cold.

"…At least he's wearing clothes," Marceline muttered, sticking her finger out and shooting a bolt of fire into the ground, lazily moving stones to contain the small flame and then leaves to sustain it with telekinesis afterwards.

"Morning, Marcy," Finn said, flailing his noodly arm in a wave, his eyes blinking open as he yawned lightly. For a moment he appeared just as chilled, but gradually realized the source of heat beside him. "Ooh, a fire!"

"Yeah, your buns were quaking in chilliness, so…" Marceline shrugged, tinges of happiness ringing at how appreciate he was. "I lit a little one. Sorry, should have thought about it last night."

"No probz!" He replied, beaming brightly, Marceline returning the smile, but just barely. "Um, I got you some red stuff, if you're hungry." He pointed to the bike, and though Marceline had plenty of reds back in her grotto, she figured obliging the shaking teen would be harmless.

The Vampire floated over, downing the hammer with a hum of satisfaction, and then tossing the ball over near Finn; that would be dessert. With a lick of her lips, she sank her teeth into the bike. Before she got too far, though, she noticed a few berries Finn had no doubt picked for himself, and ripped off the basket from the bike, floating over to him and dropping it in his lap.

Taking the hint, Finn began to eat as she resumed her meal, both sitting in silence as they filled their empty and rumbling bellies.

"Not bad picks," Marceline muttered as she finished the ball, licking her lips in satisfaction.

"I tried," Finn responded, wiping his face which was covered in red berry juice, like he had head-butted through a jello-monster. He fell awkwardly silent, swallowing and looking away from her before saying with concern, "You look tired."

Marceline immediately tightened up; it was an unspoken rule of their friendship that Finn refrained from commenting on her p-biz. He had gotten the message that doing so was messy after he had released her father from the Nightosphere, and it had held true through a number of circumstances, and considering she was already on edge about the fact he was even in her presence, she felt more than a little annoyed at his statement.

"I had a rough night," She replied honestly nevertheless, her voice flat. "Bad dreams." She couldn't bring herself to say how vividly they had involved him.

"Sucks fireballs. I'm sorry," Finn replied, his head peaking back toward her. "I had a dream I started a business where I taught pigs how to fly. Until Princess Bubblegum stopped me, because apparently doing so was causing it to rain cats and dogs. I was a little confused."

"Pfff, Finn, you're bonkers," Marceline giggled, shaking her head in disbelief and feeling her hesitation melt away. "I mean, I'm no scientist, but jeez. How did you get them to fly?"

"Umm… I think it was like, magical slinkies or some wiz," Finn replied with a smile, shrugging. "Jake wanted to turn them into helicopters."

"Of course he did," Marceline laughed, turning to face the boy, noticing he was shaking less. "You warmer yet?"

"Gettin' there, thanks again for the fire," He replied, scooting closer to it (and just slightly closer to her) and sticking his hands out, giggling as he stuck them through the flames just quick enough to escape burns. He loved doing that with FP's hair.

Marceline watched him with amusement, his light-hearted joviality already rubbing off on her. However, soon enough the matter at hand came back to her, and she found herself grimacing, the images from her dream returning, as did Jake's words. How long before she led him to pain that wasn't reversible?

"…Finn, what did I say about following me?" She asked despondently, rising higher above him, aware she could make an escape right now. Part of her wondered whether or not he would try to snag the Marcy Polo before she could take it herself, but either the thought didn't strike him, or he rejected it.

Instead, he sighed at her words, his face scrunching up as it did when he tried to talk about important stuff, life emotions, taxes and dragon-slaying. Well, mostly emotions.

"I know, Marcy, and I'm really sorry I didn't listen to you…" He replied slowly, not moving and staring into the fire. "But I only did because… you're just driving me crazy!" He leapt up from his criss-cross-apple sauce seated position, moving away from her as he tugged on his hat's juts in frustration.

Marceline froze, having only seen Finn act this enflamed when experiencing romantic troubles. Still, she remained unspeaking, wanting to give the boy his say after refusing to the last time he had tried, albeit only doing so because she didn't want him to get caught in another knife-storm and wanted her own justification for pushing him away. At least more than a dream's worth where he got eaten by her ex-husband.

"You act like you running away is going to help me somehow or something, but look at me!" He shouted, turning around and pointing to his face, torn apart from emotion. Marceline regarded him blankly, allowing him to continue, though on the inside she was slowly crumbling. "And even if it does save me from getting hurt, I don't care! I can take it! Obviously you're hurting, I can see it on your face, and your pain matters just as much as mine does!"

"I know about the knife-storm, Finn," Marceline whispered quietly, her expression unchanging as the hero winced and his argument's traction collasped. "You nearly killed yourself chasing after me. It's not like this is my first rodeo, holmes. I've been through this so many times…"

"…Like with the Princess?" Finn replied, Marceline nearly falling out of the air in shock.

"…Um, yeah, I guess, kinda. You mean Bubblegum…?" She murmured, trying to play off her bad reaction, but Finn shook his head.

"I know about you two." Marceline's eyes snapped open at that, scouring his face for his feelings about her feelings for the pink girl. Finn smiled and waved his hand in dismissal of her fears. "Don't worry about it, it's cool. I knew after the Door Lord but only talked to Peebles about it recently. She's worried about you too," Finn said softly, extending his hand out.

Marceline regarded it with a soft stare, her fingers twitching in want. "She's an example," Marceline eventually replied, locking her hand into a fist. Glob, why was he making this so difficult? "I'm tired of hurting people, Finn." She growled, her words failing her.

"Then let me help! The knife-storm happened BECAUSE you ran way, floob it!" The poor boy fell down to the ground in exhaustion, over-exerting himself after little sleep and bad sleep at that. "What do I need to say?"

Marceline's teeth pressed into each other in frustration as the boy pounded the dirt in anger. Whenever she thought about the conflict, two separate images symbolizing it flew into her mind: the first being Finn's face awash with tears at her absence and failure to help her, the second being that same face a bloody pulp on cracked pavement.

They both SUCKED BUNS, and she couldn't come up with an answer than made sense. So, she chose what was the more convenient of the two at the moment. And the one she wanted the most, though she feared it. But like hell she was going to show that kind of emotion, even if she was saying yes.

"I can't get you to leave, can I? You'll just keep chasing me," She barked blatantly. It wasn't really a question, more of a statement. Finn nodded slowly, standing up shakily. "…Then you can come with me on three conditions," She whispered after a long minute of consideration, turning away from him.

"What are they?" Finn asked; he was going to agree to them regardless, but wanted to hear them.

"The first is that if you get seriously injured, you will listen to me, let me take you home, and then leave me alone," Marceline hissed, suddenly swooping down and leaving only a foot of space between them, her eyes glowing red with demonic power. He was slightly afraid she was going to beat the tar out of him that very instant and use it as an excuse to take him back, but thankfully she continued.

"The second is that I decide where we're going, how we're getting there, and what we're doing once we get there. And the third is that you leave my p-biz alone… if I want to talk to you about that junk, I'll let you know." She ended with her eyes narrowed, blinding red light burning within them. The intimidation tactic did not work.

"Sounds great!" Finn said with a worn smile and overly-optimistic thumbs-up, Marceline glaring daggers at him for a few more moments before turning with a sigh. "Where are we going anyway, Marcy?" He asked, the Vampire's spine tensing at his words.

"North," Was all the reply he got before she was out of his sight; soaring away at high speeds or invisible, he knew not.

"…Man, I better not blop this up like with Goliad," He muttered, lying down for another nap, feeling shaky but relieved. He was more than content with sleeping for as long as he could.

It had waited three days to recover from the journey; moving such distances was a bane to dwindling energy reserves. Thankfully, as it lurked under a rock within the basement of the Tree-Fort, its patience appeared to be near a payoff.

"Okay, I'm going to go cook for Lady! Or maybe get take out, I don't know," Jake's voice sounded from above. "I knew chicks got weird eats when they were preggers, but where am I supposed to get a set of Komodo Dragon tonsils this late at night? I'll probably just scoop up some Candy Kingdom chocolate dirt. Be back soon BMO!"

"Sayonara Jakey-boiii!" BMO replied, and the evil lurking beneath the rock chuckled at its prey's ignorance.

It waited for a few more minutes before acting, and when the time was right began to float toward the ceiling, slipping through a crack in the floor with ease. And there in that very room sat its target, the little robot looking into the window and chattering on with itself.

The cloud of black, unholy smoke floated closer and closer until BMO finally broke from his fantasy with Football (they had been discussing whether to work on paper mache or fencing), just catching the menacing image in the window's reflection.

"Stop! Who goes there!? I know karateee!" The console shouted, its angry expression quickly shifting to one of terror as an otherworldly cold descended upon the room.

"I am going to consume you now," The Lich whispered hungrily into BMO's mind, the twisted shadows of its essence already pressing into the robot's limbs.

Many beings simply broke at the sight of the Lich, unable to speak a single word, let alone a common phrase. But BMO was a champ, and left with a zinger.

"…Ice… Ice cold like TV dinner," Was all BMO could get out before collapsing face first into the wooden floor. An hour later, after much sparking and pain, the robot's body would rise, exit the Tree-Fort, and begin marching its now cursed metal feet north.

However, the Lich was wholly unaware a disgruntled and angst-ridden Vampire (who was currently flying through the night while kicking herself for not being assertive) was aiming to travel exactly where it was.

This was pretty much chapter 4 on repeat in the sense that it did not want to get written. Thankfully, despite being back at college I was a bit more persistent this time and the delay wasn't too long. Still.

A lot more foreshadowing, and a tripped out dream sequence! I tried to put a decent amount of the dream into the rest of the chapter, but subtly. Other than that my big concern was nailing the dialogue between Finn and Marceline.

Next one should be out sooner. Thanks for reading!