I hummed out as my foot bounced on the candy floor. The finger twirling in my hair completed the full set of my nervous ticks as I waited for Peppermint Butler to return for me. Jake and Finn had gone in ahead of me, I assume to warn Princess Bubblegum about my knowledge, and I was told to wait there until collected. Princess Bubblegum had always seemed to be the "head honcho" as it were. I figured if could find a way for her to like me, at least then I'd have a good chance of surviving in this weird world. Hell, she'd probably know a place where I could stay and work or something. I mean, I was going to need to get clothes and a house and probably a sword to protect myself and things as well. And now I had to do all of this on my own, and without my parents' knowledge and inheritance. How was I going to afford any of it?

"Uhm, Miss Alli, the Princess will see you now." The butler led me through a maze of brightly coloured sugary corridors, and past innumerable doors of increasing gaudiness. The palace really was the pride and joy of the candy people, and equally I remembered their Princess was their happiness embodied. It reiterated in my mind just how important this meeting really was. The short round sweet leading me stopped abruptly, and I spotted Finn and Jake leaning against the wall in front of a door a little further in front of us. However, the butler opened one to our immediate right and announced "Miss Alli to see you Princess."

As I stepped forward onto a cotton candy carpet, I spotted the Princess standing in front of an ornate desk in the centre of the room. I decided in that moment that too much was less likely to offend her than too little, and dropped in a low bow to one knee. I focused my eyes on my scuffed brown boot toe, and waited just in case.

"Oh, please do arise. We rarely stand on formality here." Despite her softly spoken protests, her eyes shone with happiness and I mentally gave myself a pat on the back. "I'm Princess Bubblegum" The smile in her eyes bled through to her lips and I could see why Finn had been so attracted to her for so long. Her innate softness and kind nature just added to her beauty, and made me want to just wrap her in a sticky hug. Her pink hand was extended towards me, and as my mind registered that I realised I was still on my knee. Smirking slightly, I took the hand she offered intended to help me back to my feet. I turned it over slightly and pressed my lips to her warm skin before standing back up.

"My name is Allie, Allie Whitfield." I smirked noting the soft dark pink staining her cheeks. That lead me to an interesting query. Did candy people have blood? I didn't think so, I mean you never see any in the cartoons but if Princess Bubblegum could blush?

"Well, Allie, Finn informed me that the portal you fell out of was black and white" I nodded along silently, "but what he didn't know, is that the colour of a portal is an indicator of where it connects to. Although in this case, it is more of a 'when' it connects to. The portal you came out of shows that your world and ours are really the same, but you existed in a much earlier time than our world does. We can tell this because you fell from the sky, showing that your land was much higher than ours is due to erosion. Finn also mentioned that you said you ought to be dead"

I gave a weak smile. "Yes Ma'am, I was run over by a car on the way back from the library." I watched her eyes light up, at my not-so-subtle literary reference.

"You had cars? Then you must've been from before the apocalypse. Wow. That was so long ago, it will be really interesting to learn about from a living survivor." The Princesses face turned pensive and I could almost see the spun-sugar cogs whirring in her head. "Oh my, please, let's sit down!" She motioned to the chairs I had noticed as I came in, and took her own behind the desk. I looked at the two remaining and chose the one that seemed the sturdiest. How embarrassing would it be if their confection creations couldn't hold my weight? "May I ask you a personal question?" The Princess continued as I nodded my assent "What race are you?"

"Oh, I'm human." I nearly laughed aloud at her question. It seemed so obvious, and would take me a while to wrap my head around other conversational sentient beings that were not human. Her elated expression gave me pause; why would that be so exciting?

"We always thought... It might be a little presumptuous of me to suggest... But really, this is such an opportunity..." The words just kept tumbling out of her mouth in her obvious pleasure, and it made me mildly apprehensive.

I decided it would simply be best to ask; "What do you mean, Ma'am?"

"Well, Finn and you... You can rebuild your race!"

This is soooo not the direction this is going in! It just seemed a good place to stop for now! :)