Although she could see them clear as day, a barrier separated Princess Bubblegum from her subjects.

Maybe that's for the best, thought the angsty, eighteen-year-old part of her brain. Its partner, ruled especially these recent years by logic and reason, was especially adept at silencing her hormonal half whenever it would get too loud.

Please Bonnibel, it would say (with her own voice, naturally), take a deep breath and think for a minute. Here's why this happened, and why it's okay... and then proceed to mentally walk the princess through a carefully bulleted list.

Now, however, it was silent.

But Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum didn't even notice. Whenever such a thought would manifest, the pained moans of her subjects echoed like a broken record player. When the most base of instincts urged the princess to leave, to return to her smelly lab and throw herself into her work, she locked eyes with another and froze on the spot.

Bonnie offered a smile, ignorant to the weariness of its exertion, and waved at her creation. Although several yards away, and soundless within the confines of the castle's medical ward, Bubblegum still heard his frightened yelp as though she were right there. The lance already embedded in her bosom deepened further when the cake-shaped candy wrenched his gaze away, trembling like a leaf.

The princess winced, ceasing her motions as her fingers curled slightly.

The other twenty or so operating tables offered a similar display, not a single one different from the other. And strangely, somehow, the hurt intensified rather than lessened.

Like any other day, the logical part of her brain talked some sense into Bubblegum. You should really get over it, it said to her. The impact of repeated stimuli should, logically, be lessened over time.

Bubblegum loathed to even think such a thing. Bum-slops to logic, I'm the reason why they're in there. I'm the reason why my citizens were hurt in the first place...

Bonnie's eyes had been shut tight as these thoughts ran their course, and when she opened them again they were downcast, seemingly trained on the floor but instead on her own tools of destruction.

She squeezed them so tight they trembled. 'Everything was fine until jelly beans were farting out of my palms,' she recalled a very arrogant, stupid princess saying not too long ago.

No, everything was fine, even then. Now, though...

Bonnie pressed her knuckles to the cool glass, then her forehead. She ignored the dull ache that followed its might thump. "Glob it..."

There's no reason why you should even be here, said her brain.

Standing there like a statue certainly wasn't helping anyone, Bonnie had understood that before she reached the two hour mark. Poor Dr. Ice Cream, Nurse Poundcake, and Doctor Princess could definitely use more help, as they were running from table to table attending to each patient, unprepared for twenty-plus ER patients at once.

All she really could do was create more doctors. And Bubblegum believed she could, once upon a time, before jelly beans were farting out her palms. Now, though, the idea of bringing more life into this world made Bonnie's insides grow agonizingly cold.

She still had not moved away from the glass. Bonnibel clenched her jaw, yet even still some unknown force made it tremble.

"P-Princess?"

Bonnie's head jerked upright, voicing a little gasp as her gaze snapped to the utterance of her title. "Nurse Poundcake, I..." whatever pleasant mask she wore deteriorated as did the words in her throat, and Bubblegum asked the little nurse in a damnably uncertain voice, "Are... Are they alright?"

"Everyone will make a full recovery," Poundcake replied, her brows furrowed with concern. This much was obvious to the princess, but their physical health was not her concern.

Before she could correct herself, the nurse demonstrated what must have been mind-reading powers.

"Um, Pri-Princess Bu-Bu-Bubblegum?" She was shaking so bad Bonnie thought she'd explode, although of all her subjects, the princess knew Poundcake to be one of the most level-headed.

A genuine smile easing onto her face, Bonnie dropped to her knees so she was at eye-level with Nurse Poundcake. "What is it, Nurse?" she softly cooed.

Despite her efforts, Poundcake still looked ready to run back into the ward. "Um, well..." she hesitated, "your presence is making several of the patients a little... uneasy. With all due respect, their recovery will be much smoother if you vacated the premises."

"Oh." Bonnie tried her damndest not to let her true feelings show. "I see."

Poundcake winced. "Ooh, that came out wrong, really wrong. A-Apologies, Princess, I-"

"No." Bubblegum held up a hand. She sighed. "It's cool, I understand." She wore a smile to demonstrate this. Nurse Poundcake mirrored her expression before scurrying back into the medical ward a little too eagerly.

Only when the door swung closed, did Bonnibel permit herself to groan, and groan, and groan until she was slumped up against the wall, hugging her knees, and groaning into them. She was unsure how long she stayed like this, for time always seemed to melt away for Princess Bubblegum, but she was snapped out of her stupor upon hearing the utterance of her name.

"Princess."

Before her was a sight that quelled the storm raging within, that brought a little smile to her face, despite whatever her body was previously urging. "F-Finn?"

The sixteen-year-old had matured so much since they'd first met, all those years ago. When she wasn't consumed in work, Finn was one of the rare few Bonnie felt truly comfortable letting loose with.

As evidenced when Bonnie made her ungraceful rise from the floor, wherein she stumbled a bit amidst her rush. Finn didn't seem to notice, or, more plausibly, had known Bonnie for so long he was used to her goofier quirks when the "Princess Bubblegum" mask was off. Especially now, as her only symbol of royalty was her tiara; a blue-white striped baggy tee and grey basketball shorts didn't make for very princess-y attire.

She turned to him fully, hands clasped before her. "Hey, what brings you here?" She subconsciously shot several glances to the window beside her. Did Finn hear about yesterday's incident? Was he going to ask why she chose to be an emotional idiot yesterday, and use her inexperienced powers to fight the invader instead of calling him and Jake like always?

Princess Bubblegum pulled back slightly when he simply answered, "Just came to give this back." She wracked her brain trying to remember what Finn had borrowed from her, until she actually saw what he drew from his pocket.

It was a piece of copper, the size of her fist. When he handed it to her, closer inspection revealed a side-view of her profile, hair styled in its prim, gooey locks and her face set in gentle, calm countenance. The face was faded and scratchy, evidence to the years its been lovingly carried.

Bonnie struggled to recall what this was, as it looked no different from the twenty-five medals she had given James and his clones. Her confusion must have been obvious, for Finn explained with a distressingly un-Finn-like calm, "It's just an old penny, but you called this 'the Champion's Badge.'" He shrugged a shoulder. "I get that you don't remember - you gave one to Jake and I after we first saved you from the Ice King."

Nostalgia hit Bonnibel like a punch to the face. Glob, he could barely hold a sword back then. I remember Jake did most of the fighting while he let his brother get in a few easy swings on the Ice King. She remembered the ten-year-old turn as pink as herself when handed this very medal, and proclaimed a champion of the Candy Kingdom.

This only served to make Bonnibel even more confused. "Finn, what is this for?"

"My resignation."

His answer was so unexpected, so calmly delivered, so prompt, that Bonnie had to blink and hear those words again in her head.

"Do you even know what that means?"

She regretted those words the instant they left her mouth, and Bubblegum so very wished she could do "real" time travel and take them back; she didn't mean for it to sound like that. But the shock of what Finn was saying, on top of past proclamations of stupidity (although he was wise in his own way, just not in the science-y sense) was so great the words came out of her stupid mouth without any consideration put into them.

And it showed. For the first time since arriving, Finn's eyes flared with emotion: anger.

"It means I quit," he said forcefully. And just like that, his eerie calm was back. Without any expression he clapped his hands together, then pointed two fingers at the stun-locked princess as he backed away down the hall. "This is me, Finn the Human, signing off. Goodbye, Preebos."

And he vanished around the corner, between Bonnie's fingers, and from her life.

The princess was still standing there, staring unblinkingly at the spot where her ex-champion just stood.

And only then did she find the voice to utter, "...Wait..."

Part 1 of 3, hoping this gets some kind of notice despite it not being shipping.

This is a short little fanfic that's going to focus on the relationship between Finn and Bubblegum, from both perspectives. It's going to basically be a big analysis of their relationship, and what they mean to each other.

This takes place before Islands but after Jelly Beans Have Power.