"The Lich isn't a person, or a monster… as much as it's an idea, the idea that all life in Ooo should be eradicated. When the bomb that ended the great Mushroom War was created, it was that idea that was poured into its design by the scientists who constructed it. They knew the war was lost… so they sought to end it… for everyone. The Lich's birth was a horrific side effect of the bomb's detonation, and to this day, it is driven by their legacy. The liquid in the well of power is the chemical formula from that bomb. Although it isn't volatile anymore, it still has the power to spawn the Lich if the old one is destroyed. I didn't think sealing it in another dimension would be enough to warrant its resurrection… but I was wrong…"

Finn had seen Princess Bubblegum unwittingly feed her citizens to a horde of Candy zombies, but he had never seen her look more remorseful than at that moment. Almost as soon as Finn, Jake and Marceline had returned to the Candy Kingdom, Bubblegum had ambushed them with three Artificial Power Gauntlets she had made, based on Billy's one, which had been destroyed by the Lich when Finn and Jake had first encountered it.

Bubblegum's fear of the Lich had been so great, it even overpowered her concern for Finn. She didn't so much as suggest he stay behind and let her look at his scorched and mangled arm, even though it prevented him from wearing any of the gauntlets she had made, as they were all right-handed. This was the first in a long line of difficult decisions that would haunt the Candy Princess in the years to come, even though, if anything, Finn seemed relieved that Bubblegum didn't nag him to stay behind.

When Finn, Jake and Marceline returned to the Lich's island, they were met by an army of rotten, clammy undead. The zombies were climbing from the ancient ruins like ants, swarming around their demonic master. The Lich floated in the air above them, its arms raised and glowing like terrible stars as the resurrection spell pulsed across the island, probably across all of Ooo.

Oblivious to the army beneath them, the three of them valiantly fought the Lich from the air, but were ultimately defeated. Bubblegum's Power Gauntlets appeared to do little more than stun the Lich, and they were lucky to escape with their lives…

That day saw the single highest casualty rate Ooo had seen since the Great Mushroom War. After Marceline carried a badly wounded Finn and Jake back to the Candy Kingdom, the Lich's army began to march. Although they were mostly utterly unremarkable zombies, their sheer numbers saw to it that naught but the most secure, fortified, or out of the way Kingdoms so much as stood a chance. The Candy Kingdom, Flame Kingdom, Ice Kingdom, Castle Lemongrab, Wizard City and Lumpy Space withstood the first wave with minimal casualties, but all across Ooo, the outcasts and the smaller settlements were beginning to die. The citizens of the Slime Kingdom were torn apart by undead claws as the zombies sank through the pillars of goo like some terrifying rain. The City of Thieves was torn down relentlessly and without mercy. The Marauders put up a good fight, but ultimately, it was their lack of coordination and resources that was their undoing. Not even the Box Kingdom was spared…

As Princess Bubblegum tested the reflexes of a bionic arm she had made for Finn, while simultaneously studying the energy beams being fired from her Power Gauntlets, through various filters, she listened with a heavy heart to the commotion outside. The laser blasts from the Gumball Guardians. The steady moan of the undead. The clang of Banana Guard weapons against those of the undead. What stung her the most, though, was the infrequent pop of the occasional Candy Person who, despite the lack of immediate danger, had exploded out of fear.

Trying her best to close her heart and mind to what was happening outside of her lab, Bubblegum tapped some buttons on a computer and the robotic arm writhed around like an attentive snake, exercising all of its joints. The circular pincer on the end spun around freely.

Frowning grimly, Bubblegum picked up the arm and as many of the gauntlets as she could carry. They weren't ready yet, but they would have to do for now. It was time to get to work.

Seven Years Later

Dark storm clouds loomed over what was left of the Candy Kingdom. Flickering bolts of lightning illuminated the metallic plates that covered almost all of the castle, and the miniature glacier that had formed halfway up the side. The surrounding village was all but gone. Decomposing chunks of sponge cake that had been the walls of houses littered the ground, mashed into the dirt by the stomping feet of Banana Soldiers and Gumball Guardians. Once upon a time, there had only been two of the colossal, protective automations, but over the past seven years, whenever she could spare the time and resources, Bubblegum had created another. The Gumball Guardians now lined the area of Ooo that was controlled by Ooo's Royal Court, defending the border from the occupants of the Lich's territory. Dozens of them, stood at regular intervals, with lasers primed to keep the savage undead at bay.

The previous seven years had been a stalemate. There was no middle ground between the kingdoms that had been destroyed in an instant, and the kingdoms that simply refused to be beaten. Every Kingdom that had survived the first wave had lived on to this day, beaten and scarred, but still fighting. Skirmishes against undead platoons were a daily occurrence, at least, but no one had seen the Lich since the day it crawled out of its well. Undead workers had laboured for days to construct a mighty, black citadel on the Lich's Island, but not even the Gumball Guardians were able to get close to it without being destroyed by the Lich's army.

High in the sky above the Candy Kingdom, what appeared to be an angelic figure swept gracefully through the sky. From a distance it appeared to be a man, with an enormous pair of feathery wings, while in fact, the wings were something else entirely. The man was twenty-four years old. He wore a blue shirt and jeans and a white, bear-shaped hat, from under which, a single wisp of blonde hair emerged and hung halfway down the human's face. It flapped like a miniature flag in the strong wind. His right arm was made entirely of metallic cybernetics with large, circular hinges. On his back, he wore a green backpack, and it was from underneath the backpack, that an enormous pair of fleshy, orange wings sprouted. Although they weren't feathered, their texture was such, that they forced the air beneath them with far more efficiency than the wings of any real bird. At the end of each wing, was a large, black eye.

"Hey bro, you see anything?" Came Jake's muffled voice from underneath Finn's backpack.

"Nah man… Seems pretty quiet." Finn solemnly replied.

The quiet times were always the worst. When in the thick of battle, Finn and Jake always knew what to do, and usually, what was about to happen. Silence could mean anything was about to happen, and it was horribly unsettling.

"There!" Jake suddenly exclaimed.

An orange arm extended from the right wing and pointed at the ground. Barely visible amongst the dark gloom, was a dull, green glow. As Finn and Jake focused, they realised it was an enormous creature, the size of a small mountain, made entirely of dirt. It was shaped roughly like a squat bear and had a huge, glowing emerald set into its forehead.

"Golem!" Finn and Jake angrily realised, at the same time.

The Lich's golems were its response to the Gumball Guardians. They were for muscle, defence and, very rarely, for invasions. As it stomped on all fours, towards the Candy Kingdom, three Gumball Guardians clung to it, desperately trying to slow it down, although each one was barely the size of one of the monster's mighty limbs. The Guardians fired their lasers into its dense flesh, but they knew all too well that the only way to fully destroy a golem was to smash its crystal. Every time one of the monstrous robots tried to run around to the golem's head, it lazily swatted them away, and when they tried to climb over its back, it would roll over, threatening to shatter their glassen heads.

"JAKE!" Finn cried authoritatively.

"LET'S DO IT!" Jake shouted back, needing no further instruction.

Jake flapped his wings like a mighty falcon, shooting through the air. They approached the golem from the sky, while maintaining their altitude. When they were almost directly overhead, Jake shouted,

"Ready bro?"

"Ready!"

Jake dropped his aerial form, slithered over Finn like a second skin, and became a sword the size of a surfboard in his hands. Over the past years, Jake had practiced transforming into bladed or pointed objects so much, he was at a point where he could drill through diamonds. As his wings disappeared, Finn clenched his stomach as gravity claimed the two of them. The first few times he and Jake had attempted such an aerial attack, Finn had thrown up as the change in gravitational force shifted his lunch, but now it was as natural as walking down a flight of stairs. As they plummeted, a whistle on a string around Finn's neck writhed around behind him. As the air raged through it, it emitted a noise that was inaudible to both Finn and Jake. Instinctively, the Gumball Guardians looked upwards, in response to the sound.

"Finn and Jake approach!" One bellowed in its monotone voice.

"Prepare for backup!"

With an effort that sent steam erupting from their joints, two of the Gumball Guardians pinned the golem's hands to the ground, while the third jumped on its back and pulled its head back, pointing its emerald skywards. They groaned and shook, rattling gumballs against their faces, as they struggled to keep the beast still.

Finn and Jake shot towards it like a bolt of lightning. As they approached, Finn spun Jake above his head and struck the green gem, fighting the air resistance as would be impossible for someone with two regular arms. Although it hadn't been it hadn't been a part of Finn's arm that had been burnt by the Lich, Bubblegum had also replaced most of Finn's right shoulder with robotic upgrades, to make such attacks possible.

The gem shattered and an explosion of green illuminated the entire area. As soon as the emerald broke, Jake exploded, engulfing Finn in his polymorphic flesh and shielding him from the collision with the ground. After they landed, Jake let go of Finn and reverted to his normal form, just in time to see the Gumball Guardians emerging from under the mound of soil the golem had become.

"Thank you Finn and Jake!" One of them bellowed. "Excuse us. We must return to the border."

"Yeah, we'd better scram too bro." Jake said, as the Gumball Guardians stomped off into the distance. "EB's gonna wanna know about this golem. Besides, our shift is pretty much over. Marceline's got the next one, right?"

"No dude, she's got that super-important mission, remember?" Finn reminded his brother. "I think Ice King's picking up her slack."

Finn, Jake, Ice King and Marceline were the only people in Ooo who had survived the Lich's first wave without the help of a fortress or army. After a few weeks, Marceline had briefly moved in with Finn and Jake for the sake of strength in numbers, and the Ice King had followed suit, although it was likely he had an alterior motive in wanting to hang out. But eventually, it became clear that that wasn't enough. The tree fort was destroyed after a fierce battle with one of the Lich's fearsome generals, a towering skeletal terror, much like the Lich except its horns didn't spiral, it wore armour instead of a cloak and it relied more on brutality than magic. After they had defeated it, the four of them, along with BMO, had reluctantly moved into the Candy Kingdom.

Finn and Jake approached the Candy Kingdom and stopped at an archway with a crackling, blue wall of light inside. The barrier covered the entire kingdom, but it was made visible in the entrance gateway because contact with it was potentially fatal.

"Halt!" A Banana Soldier pointed his spear at them from the other side of the energy field. "Finn and Jake's patrol does not end for 32 seconds! You will wait!"

Finn and Jake sighed, but didn't complain. The guard was acting under strict orders from Bubblegum. The Lich's spies could take many shapes and she had every reason to keep security tight, which meant scheduling all trips in and out of the kingdom to the millisecond and scanning everyone thoroughly. Since her security scans mostly tested for signs of life, it was a huge pain for Marceline to get past the security, as she was their only undead ally.

Eventually, the barrier flickered and turned orange, a sign that Finn and Jake may pass through. Their stomachs tingled as the scans verified their heartbeats and other vital signs.

"Thanks man." Finn said to the guard as he and Jake passed him.

The two of them continued towards the castle in silence, they never liked to talk in the ruins of the Candy Village, it gave them bitter memories of the Lich's siege in the early days of the war.

The Lich's magic had shrouded its army until it was right on top of them. Princess Bubblegum didn't know a thing until she heard the screams. The Banana Guards were doing their best to protect the citizens, but it was a rapidly loosing battle. PB sprinted to the training room, where her first platoon of Banana Soldiers were running through some drills, and snapped them into action. However, moments before they marched through the palaces huge front doors, a siren had wailed, and a mighty sheet of steel descended over the doorway, and every other possible entry or exit to the castle, including the windows and secret tunnels.

From the castle's security room, Peppermint Butler had seen the attack on the village. When he realised what Bubblegum was doing, he knew he had to stop her. There was no doubt that a battle in the middle of town would, quite literally, scare the Candy People to death. As sad as it was, the Candy People were doomed from the moment the Lich's forces set foot in the Candy Kingdom. In a desperate bid to protect the Princess and the soldiers, he had put the entire castle on lockdown for a fixed period of twelve hours.

Peppermint Butler was charged with treason for what he did, even though it was only because of him that the Kingdom wasn't eradicated altogether. Bubblegum secretly realised that, and because of that, Peppbut only faced a month in the palace dungeons. As she mourned her people, Bonnibel Bubblegum renounced her position as a princess, in spite of the protests from her friends and remaining subjects. She gave her crown to Marceline, favouring the simple gems on strings that Finn, Jake and the soldiers wore. The destruction of the Candy Kingdom had struck fear into the hearts of the other remaining royalty and leaders of Ooo, and that fear had inspired the need to band together and form the first United Ooian Empire. Despite her losses, the former Royal Court's respect for Bubblegum's leadership was unshaken, and it was with a heavy heart, that she accepted the title of Emperor Bubblegum.

"S'up IK." Finn said, as he and Jake approached the ancient, blue wizard in the Candy Castle's corridor, heading in the opposite direction.

"Hey guys, you wanna tag me in for patrol?" He held up his hand.

"Tag." Finn gently high-fived him as they passed.

"Alright, awesome. See you guys later."

The psychological effects of the war were even scratching the Ice King's tough shell. He made far fewer presumptions about his, Finn and Jake's relationship as best friends these days. He had even cut back his attempts to kidnap the former Candy Princess to once a week at most.

Finn and Jake descended a set of stairs to the War Room, at the heart of the castle. The War Room was cavernous and circular. The walls were lined with enormous monitors, on which one could see almost anything, anywhere in Ooo, except in the Lich's Castle. The centre of the room housed a giant, black table, which showed a holographic image of all of Ooo, with various lines and symbols, which narrated the progression of the war.

Standing at one end of the table, was Emperor Bubblegum. Her diamond rested on her forehead, the string tangled in an unkept mane of bubblegum hair. She wore a sensible pair of pink trousers and a matching blazer, she very rarely wore dresses anymore. Her undead life partner floated next to her. As one would expect of an immortal, Marceline hadn't changed much in the past seven years, physically, but her expression was a lot more sombre. Over her millennium of unlife, Marceline had matured the most in the last decade. Her axe rested on the table, distorting several holographic gumball guardians, and Bubblegum's crown rested in her tangled, black hair. Opposite them, was a live, holographic image of the Flame King and the younger Earl of Lemongrab. The citrus monarch had floated on a disk-shaped hover device ever since his brother had eaten his legs, the encounter had also left him without a sizable chunk of his head, but the Emperor had given him a cybernetic implant that used the same technology as Finn's arm, and included a bionic eye. After the older Lemongrab's second attempt to consume his brother, the Earl had learnt a lot about loyalty and friendship, so had quickly tightened the bond between his kingdom and Bubblegum's when the war had broken out. The feminine Flame King was also a trusted ally of the Candy Kingdom and had, in fact, been the first to propose the formation of the Ooian Empire. She still wore the rocky armour that symbolised her successful overthrowing of her father, who still remained trapped in the lamp that had held her for the better half of her life.

On the table between them all, BMO stomped on the holograms of the Lich's soldiers, waving his arms dramatically, imitating the gigantic reptiles in the monster movies he used to play for Finn and Jake. BMO was not only recognisable from his pre-war self, but he was exactly the same as he had always been. Out of peer pressure, he had once tried to install what he called "A Grumpiness Patch" but, unsurprisingly, it had turned out to be incompatible with his model.

"Thanks for coming, you guys." EB said, as Finn and Jake entered the War Room. "How was patrol?"

"Pretty rad." Finn said. "We saw this wicked golem that was trying to bust his way through the Gumball Guardians barrier. We nailed him though."

"Good job guys. Ok, now that we're all here, BMO? Do you have a report on your mission?" Bubblegum asked.

"Yes Princess!" The Emperor had long since given up on correcting the tiny robot. "Grand-poopy says that the new WMOs will be ready for deployment in one week!"

"That's great BMO! And how was your evaluation?"

BMO ran over to the side of the table, pulled a small plug on a cord out of it and plugged it into himself. The image of Ooo was instantly replaced with a large, rotating image of a tank-like machine. It had caterpillar tracks on the sides of huge, cube-shaped body and a rectangular, pixelated face, identical to BMO's. Also, every possible space available on it was occupied by every weapon under the sky, from lasers and rocket launchers, to slingshots and peashooters.

"Grand-poopy has included all of your suggested modifications, Princess! And he sends his compliments on your War Time, Battle Simulation AI Software! He says it will be very useful for his next videogame!"

BMO's creator had lived on in the bowels of his labyrinthine factory, blissfully unaware of the seriousness of what was happening on the surface. Protected by the impossible maze of the factory and the SMO security, Moe had never even heard the moan of a bloodthirsty zombie. Sadly, since Moe's body ran mainly on electricity, he was the only person who could survive in such a deep, sunless place.

"Thanks BMO. Keep in touch with Moe and make sure the production isn't delayed. Flame King, how are things in the Fire Kingdom?"

The Flame King shrugged. "Real quiet. I don't think we're super high on the Lich's priority list. I guess fire and death kinda go hand in hand. It'll probably turn on us when it's done with the rest of you. Fire elementals and zombies can't really hurt each other that easily."

Bubblegum frowned. The Lich's indifference with the Fire Kingdom had bothered her since the beginning of the war, but she wasn't sure what to make of it or how to use it to her advantage. Then again, FK was probably right, they just weren't worth the Lich's troubles right now, that or he saw them as more of an ally when it came to destruction.

"Well, that just leaves you, Marceline." Emperor Bubblegum said, turning to the Vampire Queen. "I've scheduled a portal to the Nightosphere to open in our bedroom in half an hour."

"Why not now?"

"Because you have a far more important job to do first." Bubblegum smiled at her suggestively. "Go on, I told her she could see you before she goes to bed."

Grinning, Marceline floated over and kissed Bubblegum on the cheek. "Thanks Bonnie."

Marceline picked up her axe and flew from the War Room with enthusiasm. She swept around corners and up stairs, causing some of the more skittish guards to jump as she passed. She paused briefly at hers and Bonnibel's bedroom to kick the door open and throw her axe inside, carelessly. Then she floated over to the adjacent room, and eased the door open, knocking gently as she did.

The room next to Marceline's was spacious, and had sky blue walls, complete with clouds and rainbows, which the former Princess had painted herself. A small, wooden desk, a cupboard and a single bed were spaced around the outside of the room. And sitting in the middle of the floor, on the other side of a tower of building blocks to Peppermint Butler, was an eight-year-old girl.

Her hair, which ran down her back, was a deep magenta, which faded to black at the tips, and seemed to float behind her, as if she was under water, and a crown, very similar to the one Marceline was wearing, sat on top. Her skin was a faint pink, slightly paler than that of the Candy Emperor, and she wore a pair of fluffy, black pyjamas.

As Marceline floated in, the girl turned around and beamed. She stood up, knocking the blocks all over Peppbut as she did, ran towards Marceline and jumped into the air for her to catch her.

"Mommy!" The girl cried happily.

With her free hand, Marceline ruffled her hair lovingly. "Heya squirt!"

The Box Kingdom is gone! Remember all those adorable kitties? Yeah... That's what kind of story this is...