Chapter 13


The moon shown high in the night sky, blessing the world with its pale light. Countless stars twinkled in the sky, unshrouded by artificial lights. The air was calm and cool. Everything was still as the creatures of the land slumbered. Everything was as it should have been.

A sudden stray spark of orange lightning snapped through the air before quickly fading. Another spark flashed and spiraled up towards the sky. More and more sparks began to flash through the air, each one growing more powerful than the last. The sparks of energy had grown into bolts of orange and red lightning that danced and snaked angrily from a growing epicenter in the air. Thunder rolled as the lightning strikes grew in intensity.

Suddenly, a flash of light illuminated the night sky as a wall of massive screaming saw blades erupted out of the thin air. Black smog spilled out of the growing tear like blood from a wound. The ground shook and quaked as an ancient machine forced itself into the unsuspecting world. Storm clouds began to spiral high in the sky as lightning flashed wildly. The moon that once shown brightly in the night sky was shrouded in the black smog cloud that spilled out from the machine.

The deafening rumble of gears and pistons echoed across the land and the machine forced itself out of the tear. Once free from the tear, the machine slowed before finally crawling to a halt. With a roar of thunder, the tear snapped shut behind the machine. The sound of grinding metal filled the air as the machine stiffened. It would rest where it stood, hidden within the cloud of smog. Once it was done resting, it would continue on its mission. But for now, the machine would remain still.


Princess Bubblegum groaned as the feeling in her body gradually returned. The princess was sitting in a dimly lit room. In front of her was a large wooden table. She blinked the haze out of her eyes and flexed her fingers to work the stiffness out of them.

Still not fully awake, Princess Bubblegum ran her hands over her shoulders and held them up to her face. Her body was glistening with a strange fluid. Her eyes lazily fell back down to the wooden table before her. Sitting on the table was a serrated knife and a large meat cleaver. Both tools were chained to the table. Sitting just below the knife and cleaver was a coil of surgical tubing.

I must still be dreaming. Princess Bubblegum told herself. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep next to Marceline. Surely, Marcy or Finn wouldn't let their captors take her again without a fight. Marcy and Finn wouldn't let this happen to me.

Her hands wandered up to her neck. Her heart jumped as her hands met the cold metal of a collar locked firmly around her neck. Panic quickly jarred the princess out of her haze. She was not dreaming. She was no longer in the holding room. She was no longer with her friends. Somehow, this 'Jigsaw' had managed to separate her from them as they slept.

"Where am I?" she asked as she pushed herself out of the chair.

As she stood, a cable attached to her collar was released with a loud ping.

"Fudge."


Several harsh lights snapped to life, illuminating the room further. The room that Bonnie found herself trapped in was much larger than she had initially thought. The room was easily thirty feet long and ten feet wide. The walls and floors were made of hard concrete with several metal pipes running through them. The center of the room was separated by a large rusty metal grate.

While most of the room was illuminated, the half of the room on the opposite side of the metal grate remained shrouded in darkness. Through the darkness, Princess Bubblegum could hear the sound of someone groaning.

"Hello, can you hear me?!" Bonnie shouted as she rushed over to the grate.

"What...Princess Bubblegum. Is that you?" the unexpected voice of Princess Cookie muttered weakly.

Baby Snaps? Bonnie asked herself in disbelief. What are they-

Terror ripped through Bonnie's mind. Princess Cookie had not yet fully awakened. They had not yet triggered the device on their end of the room. There was still time to stop him!

"Princess Cookie! Whatever you do, do not stand up!" Bonnie shouted as loud as she could. "You'll set off-"

"What's this I'm stuck on? Where am I?! What's going on?! Where are my chocolate chips?!" the confused and frightened cookie shouted before lurching forward in a panic.

"NO!" Bonnie screamed.

With a loud ping, the cable attached to Princess Cookie's collar was released. Several more industrial lights snapped to life, fully illuminating the room. The lights unveiled even more horrors for the captive princesses. Sitting ominously between the grates that separated the room was a large scale. Each side of the scale had a plastic tube that led to a metal framed slot in the grate.

"What is all of this?" Princess Cookie stammered as they frantically looked around the room.

Princess Bubblegum was silent as she studied everything that she could about the room. She knew better than to try to predict what was about to be done to them. Whatever cruelty this room had in store for them, they would have no choice but to stand and face it.

"It's a game…"


A loud crackle of static and flash of light startled the two princesses as an old television flickered on. The static on the screen quickly cut to the ominous ghost-white dummy. Slowly, its head turned and faced the screen. Its red eyes turned towards Princess Bubblegum.

"Hello, Bonnibel." The dummy spoke.

The dummy's eyes then turned towards Princess Cookie.

"Hello, Baby Snaps." The dummy greeted.

A loud thud echoed across the room followed by the sound of grinding stone as two sections of the ceiling opened on both sides of the room above the two princesses. From out of the opening in the ceiling, two large tesla coils lowered. With the low rumble of an unseen power transformer, the two tesla coils hummed with life.

"I want to play a game." The dummy stated coldly.

The dummy's eyes snapped towards Princess Bubblegum and flickered red.

"In times now past, candy held little value. It was given as a reward to children for good behavior. It was sold for pocket change. It was used to simply cleanse the palate of a bad taste. But you, Bonnibel, gave candy a value that is immeasurable. You gave candy life, and free will. Yet despite this, you toil endlessly in your labs trying to create and prefect more candy lifeforms, unappreciative of the ones that you have already created. You claim to value your people, yet you create and replace them with such little effort. What is their candy worth to you, Bonnibel?"

Princess Bubblegum scowled and curled her hands into fists. She loved all of her creations equally. She loved them enough to rebuild and prefect them. Her people loved her for what she did for them. Her people's lives could not be measured by value for she valued all of them.

A sudden, dark thought wormed its way into Bonnibel's mind. Out of every batch of candy people that were successfully made, there was always one that never fully congealed. Most of the time, the uncongealed would be tended to by the doctors and nurses of the candy kingdom. For the most part they were harmless and lacked the intelligence to be any danger to those around them. She made sure they were taken care of and out of sight. It was for their own safety. Doubt slithered in the princess's mind like a parasite. When was the last time she checked on her uncongealed creations? She had been so busy in her labs recently that she had lost track of time. Had she forgotten about them?

The dummy's eyes snapped over towards Princess Cookie.

"I ask you the same question, Baby Snaps."The dummy spoke. "What is candy worth to you? You have always wanted to be a princess, just like Bonniebel. You were unhappy with the life you were given. When you were denied what you wanted, you chose to break the law, endangering not just yourself, but those that trusted you. Only after surviving your attempt at suicide, were you given your title as Princess Cookie. Now you have used your limited power to gain favors from those beneath you. You too have become unappreciative of the life that you have been given."

The tesla coils above the two princesses began to hum loudly as lights on their collars began to flash red in color.

"The devices that you both are wearing are made of a highly conductive metal. The generator that is powering the tesla coils above you is powerful enough to keep this facility running on its own for centuries."

The dummy's eyes darted back towards Bonniebel.

"You, Princess have been smeared with a conductive gel to compensate for your rubber construction."

A buzzer blared loudly as a red light flashed above the scale in the center of the room, showing a timer attached to the scale.

"The scale before the two of you is your only path to freedom. However, only one of you may pass. And the toll is the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice of candy. Before you are the instruments to exact this candy. Move with haste though, for when the sixty second timer hits zero the one who has given the most candy will release their bindings while the tesla coil above the opponent's head will activate and electrocute them to oblivion."

Princess Bubblegum and Princess Cookie looked at each other with the purest form of terror on their faces. This was nothing like the test that Bonnie had been through before. This time there was another victim, another player who had their own life to fight for. The terror on Princess Cookie's eyes was slowly replaced with a grim resolution. Princess Bubblegum shook with fear but knew that there was no other way out of this game. They both would have to play, but only one would survive.

"Who will offer the most candy in order to save their life?"

The sixty second timer suddenly began ticking. The game had started.

"The choice is yours."

With the message sent, the television flickered off.


Princess Cookie rushed over towards the table and tore off their dress.

"I'm not gonna die for you, Bonnie!" he shouted angrily as he picked up the serrated knife.

With their hands shaking terribly, Princess Cookie brought the knife up towards their side. A pain filled cry filled the room as Princess Cookie began to carve a sizable chunk out of their body. With the chunk cut clean from their body, Princess Cookie limped towards the grate and shoved the chunk of cookie through the slot. The scales clicked as they tipped in Princess Cookie's favor.

Princess Bubblegum rushed behind her table and picked up the serrated knife. Thinking quickly, Bonniebel took the knife and cut off her bubblegum hair. She rushed to the slot and pushed the mass of bubblegum through. With a click, the scale tipped slightly in her favor. But it wasn't nearly enough to outweigh the chunk that Cookie had given. Bonniebel couldn't afford to lose. She had a kingdom to govern and people who cared for her. She looked down at her left arm and swallowed the lump in her throat. She needed to offer more of her candy.

For the Candy Kingdom. Princess Bubblegum told herself as she grabbed the surgical tubing.

She quickly took the tubing and tide it tightly below her shoulder. With her improvised tourniquet in place, Bonnie picked the serrated knife back up and quickly began to cut into her forearm. A hiss of pain quickly turned into an agonized scream as Bonnie began to cut deeper into her arm. Sugary syrup spilled out of her arm as the knife carved into her candy flesh with ease.

"For the Candy Kingdom!" Bonnie screamed as she continued to cut into her arm.

The room was filled with the overlapping screams of the two princesses as the timer continued to count down. Neither one could afford to lose to the other.

Princess Cookie sobbed as they pulled off another sizable chunk off of their body. Again, they limped of towards the grate and slid their offering into the slot. The scales tipped further in the Cookie's favor.

"No, no, no…" Bonnie muttered in panic as she continued to cut into her arm.

She wasn't making any further progress. The knife was sharp, but not sharp enough. Her eyes darted towards the cleaver that had remained untouched. Unlike the knife, there was nothing surgical about the cleaver. It was large and heavy, but it shimmered in the light. It had clearly been sharpened before.

Any hesitation the princess had was quickly banished as her eyes darted back to the timer. She only had twenty seconds left. The tesla coils that loomed ominously overhead began to hum louder as they prepared to pass their judgment on the two princesses.

"NO!" Bonnie screamed in terror.

Without hesitation, she picked up the cleaver and held it in the air. With a powerful swing, she brought the cleaver down onto her arm. With a sickening crack and gush of syrup, the cleaver hacked deep into the princess's forearm. Fluids ran down Bonnie's leg as she emptied her bladder from the shock and pain. Again, she raised the cleaver and brought it back down onto her arm. Syrup gushed out and stained the wooden table as she pulled the cleaver out of her arm. Bonnie rose the cleaver again and began to hack madly at her arm. The table shook with each successful chop. Bonnie wasn't thinking about the pain any longer. She wasn't even thinking about her kingdom any more. Her mind was solely focused on surviving. With one final swing of the cleaver, Bonnie's left arm was hacked off.

Bonnie picked up her severed arm and uneasily limped towards the grate. With a sob of pain and sorrow, Bonnie shoved her severed arm into the slot. With a loud clang, the scales tipped completely in Bonnie's favor. A loud buzzer blared throughout the room as the timer reached zero. Bonnie's collar clicked and fell off of her neck.

Bonnie looked with tear-filled eyes through the grate at Princess Cookie. Cookie's eyes were wide with fear and disbelief.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." Bonnie sobbed as she slid to her knees, clutching the bleeding stump where her arm once was.

The tesla coil above Princess Cookie began to roar as electricity flowed into it from the unseen generator.

"I just wanted to be a princess like you." Princess Cookie rasped as fear gripped their throat. "Just like you Bonnie."

The room was flooded with a blinding white light as the tesla coil above Princess Cookie activated. An arc of electricity tore through the Princess's body with little resistance. Bonnie shut her eyes and cowered as the electricity danced and snapped angrily. She could feel the heat through the grate. The angry roar of electricity suddenly began to fade into a hum before finally going silent. Bonnie opened her eyes and looked through the grate towards the opposite side of the room. Where Princess Cookie once stood was nothing more than a pile of ashes.


A loud buzzer blared as a door slid open. Bonnie whimpered and forced herself off the floor. She looked through the metal grate and stared at her severed arm.

"C-can I have m-my arm back?" she asked pleadingly, her voice shaking from the shock. "P-please…?"

Her pleas were met with silence. Princess Bubblegum whimpered and slowly limped out of the room. She felt something squish beneath her feet. Bonnie looked down and saw that she had stepped on a rather large maggot. There were several maggots squirming on the floor leading out of the room. She didn't even care, she was too numb to notice. Bonnie walked through the door and felt nothing but guilt. Yes, she had won. But at what cost?


The sound of a door hissing open jolted Finn from his thoughts. Bonnie limped into the room and slid to her knees. Finn's blood ran cold as his eyes fell upon the princess clutching the bleeding stump where her left arm once was.

"Princess!" Finn shouted as he rushed to her aid.

Marceline who had been asleep was awoken by the sound of Bonnie's crying. Her stomach lurched and her blood boiled as she saw what had been done to the once proud Princess Bubblegum.

"What did they do to you?!" Marceline asked in a panic.

Bonnie grit her teeth and showed the vampire the stump where her arm once was. Marceline fell silent as her eyes lingered on the still bleeding stump. Marceline snarled and dug her fingers beneath her collar. She thrashed angrily as she tried to pry the cursed collar off of her neck.

"They're gonna pay!" she hissed fiercely as she fell on her back trying to tear off the collar. "I'll make them all pay!"

"Just stop it, Marcy!" Bonnie cried loudly. "Just, please…stop it."

Marceline looked at Bonnie with disbelief, but ceased her futile struggling. Finn gave the princess her space, sensing that no amount of physical comfort would be of any help.

Bonnie let out a loud sob as the shock and dread of what she had been forced to do weighed down on her like an avalanche.

"It was me and Princess Cookie," she whimpered. "Jigsaw made us offer our candy. Whoever offered the most was the winner."

Bonnie sobbed as she clung to her stump.

"I won…but, Baby Snaps…" she trailed off, too tired to speak.

Princess Bubblegum's eyes suddenly rolled back into her head as she passed out. Finn and Marceline both rushed to her aid.

"Is she still breathing?" Finn asked as he checked for a pulse.

"Just barely, this is bad." Marceline stated as panic slowly seeped into her heart.

The princess had lost too much of her sugary ichor. The shock of the losing her arm and the emotional trauma had overwhelmed the princess. She was barely holding on.

"Come on, Bonnie. You have to pull through." Marceline pleaded as she held Bonnie's head off the floor. "Ooo needs you, your kingdom needs you, I need you!"


The sound of a door hissing open alerted the two as two masked figures entered the room. The first figure wore a white robe and a tusked pig mask. They were also armed with a crossbow. The second figure was the giant with the rotting pig mask. Hanging loosely around its neck was Princess Bubblegum's severed arm tied with twine. Marceline felt her blood boil at the sight of Bonnie's arm being worn like a trophy.

"I wouldn't try anything, sweetie." The tusked figure said in a calm velvety voice.

"You think that crossbow can stop me?" Marceline growled threateningly.

The tusked figure let out a cold chuckle.

"It's not meant for you, sweetheart." They said with an amused tone. The figure leveled the crossbow and aimed it at Finn. "It's meant for him."

Marceline froze as the figure crept closer. Finn put himself between Bonnie and the two figures in attempt to shield her.

"What do you want?" Marceline asked coldly.

"Why, to play a game, of course." The tusked figure answered venomously.

The tusked figure withdrew a small black key from within their robe and held it out for all to see. The giant figure snorted and pulled Bonnie's severed arm from around their neck and held it out in front of them.

"This key is the key to your collar, Marcy." The tusked figure stated calmly. "This is the key to your freedom."

Marceline's eyes widened at the prospect, but she knew their had to be a catch.

"As you can see, my friend here has your princess's arm. Still fresh, still warm, still sweet." The figure spoke. "It can still be reattached."

"What's the catch?" Marceline asked anxiously.

"The catch?" the figure repeated with a playful tone. "You can only choose one."

Marceline fell silent as she thought to herself. If she chose the key, then she could escape, but there was no guarantee that she would be able to save her friends. However, Bonnie needed her arm. If she was going to survive the games, she would need both arms. Even with candy medicine, Bonnie would never be able to regrow a perfect arm to replace the one she had sacrificed. Marceline couldn't do that to Bonnie. If giving up her freedom meant that her friend would be spared permanent disfiguration, then Marcy would gladly give it away.

"The arm, or the key?" the tusked figure asked playfully. "Make your choice."

"The arm!" Marceline shouted angrily. "Now fix my princess!"

The tusked figure let out a laugh as they threw the key to the floor and crushed it beneath their boot. A tiny puff of black smoke escaped the cursed metal of the key in the form of a screaming face.

"Go on, big guy." The tusked figure stated as they patted the giant figure on the shoulder. "Work your magic."

The sound of turning gears and pistons suddenly flooded the room as the giant lurched towards the unconscious princess. Its body seemed to elongate forward like a snake as three spindly metallic arms sprang out from beneath its black robes. Marceline and Finn both backed away as the giant gently lifted Bonnie off of the floor.

"Easy you two." The tusked figure warned leveling their crossbow. "Don't do anything stupid."

The giant snorted as they placed Bonnie's severed arm up towards the stump.

Bonnie's eyes flickered open and was greeted by the terrifying visage of a rotting, maggot filled pig head. She screamed in terror and thrashed against the giant's grip.

"Marcy, Finn, please help me!" she screamed.

Her pleas for help quickly evolved into a blood curdling scream as the giant smashed her severed arm into her stump. One of the spider-like arms began to inject a green fluid into the stump and the arm. The other arms began to tug and pull the rubbery flesh between the limb and the stump together. Princess Bubblegum was breathing so fast that a fine foam spilled out from the sides of her mouth.

The giant reached into the maw of their mask and removed a wad of chewed gum. Much to Bonnie's shock and disgust, the giant stretched the gum over the gap where her arm and stump met. Bonnie's mind was racing as a tingling ran through her once severed arm. Whatever this creature was doing, it was working. She was so shocked that she didn't even flinch as several massive staples were driven into her arm. In the end, Bonnie could feel her fingers, but just barely.

With its work done, the giant leaned in close towards the princess. She gagged at the smell of its putrid breath. A long, slimy tongue snaked out of the maw of the mask and ran across the princess's face. Several maggots fell out of the mask and landed on Bonnie's face. Her mind raced back to the game room she had been in. There were maggots on the floor. Her brain quickly put two and two together.

"You…you built that room." She stated weakly. "You put me in there. You put Princess Cookie in there. You…did this to me."

The giant tilted its head to the side as if puzzled.

"Who are you?" Bonnie asked, desperate for and answer.

A terrible, sickening thought suddenly shot through her mind like lightning.

"Did I make you?"

"Come on, big guy." The tusked figure ordered. "We got work to do. Let the princess go."

The giant snorted and dropped Bonnie. Her arm spasmed as the nerve endings fired randomly as she struck the ground. The two figures walked towards and opening door, leaving the three in shocked silence.

"I knew you would make the right choice, Marcy!" the tusked figure shouted happily as he waved farewell. With a loud thud, the door slid shut.


Marceline rushed over to Bonnie and gently put her arms around her. Finn was quick to join in on the group hug.

"It's okay, Bonnie." Marceline assured as she gently kissed her cheek. "This isn't your fault."

"Yeah, PB, don't blame yourself." Finn stated calmly as he held her hand. "This isn't on you. It's on Jigsaw."

Bonnie shivered and leaned against Marceline.

"Maybe it's not all on Jigsaw, Finn." Bonnie stated grimly. "Perhaps I've been weighing in on the wrong side of the scale, and this is what I deserve."

"Don't say that." Finn ordered firmly. "No one deserves to be here. No matter what they have done."

Bonnie smiled and held onto his hand as tightly as her reattached arm would allow without pain. Even in this dire situation, Finn still believed that the proud and the just were still the image of good and morality.

He still didn't understand, even after all these years.

The good do not know how close to evil they truly are.