I hadn't intended to continue this story, but I started thinking about where Peppermint Butler scurried off to after hissing at the Lich-possessed Bubblegum in "Mortal Recoil" and this is what resulted.

There were times Marceline was glad she didn't have to breathe. It made sneaking up on things that much easier. Her invisibility and ability to float certainly helped too. Vampires had all the makings of being the ultimate predator, and today she was putting all those inherent talents to use for one goal.

On the cliffside ahead, a large, leathery-winged creature groomed quietly. It had taken almost a week of listening in on local legends and scouring the rocky outcroppings at the edges of the jungle mile by painstaking mile, but she had finally found the aerie of a Ropen. And by Glob, she was going to ride it.

She made sure the cloak and hat of her travel outfit were pulled tight against the day's sun and her axe-bass securely tied against her back, then slunk closer to the beast in absolute silence, even her hair drifting a few inches above the jagged ledge. The Ropen stopped in its preening for a moment, crocodilian head swinging up abruptly to scan the area. Marceline froze. It couldn't see her, but she had no idea how good its sense of smell was.

Apparently, luck or the wind was on her side, because the Ropen turned its attention back to its wings without concern. Her grin widened and she floated a few more feet, almost in touching distance. If she could just get onto its shoulders and grab on tight before it took off…

"Lady Marceline!"

The Ropen's head shot up at the sudden voice. Its wings flared out and beat the air, flinging Marceline backward against the cliff. As the creature took off, shrieking, into the sky, Marceline growled and let herself fade back into visibility.

"Lady Marceline! Can you hear me?"

Searching for the source of the voice, she looked over and saw a smoky image of Peppermint Butler hovering in the air beside her. The Ropen was immediately forgotten in a wave of fear. If he felt the need to contact her, something really bad was going on.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Oh, my lady, thank goodness! The Lich has returned and it's possessing the princess!"

Marceline instantly leapt off the cliff face into the air, Peppermint Butler's image keeping pace with her. "Where is she?"

"At the castle in her room. Finn and Jake are here, but I do not think they can defeat the Lich alone."

"I'm coming."

She waved the magical communication away and powered across the sky as fast as she could fly. Of course Bonnie would need her when she was halfway around the world. Marceline cursed herself for venturing so far in her travels rather than sticking close to Ooo. But Finn had been handling most problems in the kingdom lately, so Marceline had figured she could afford to wander again without worry. Who could have foreseen the Lich, of all things, returning?

If only she'd thought to bring bug milk she could just open a portal to the Nightosphere and re-open another into Ooo, but she couldn't open portals to travel within a world. She debated shifting into her bat form, but then her sun-gear would no longer cover her, and there were no guarantees she could fly any faster that way. All she could do was focus every bit of her energy into covering the space between her and the Candy Kingdom as quickly as possible.

The wind blasted across her face, cold and sharp. The ground blurred beneath her, jungle giving way to desert, then to ocean. The sky turned to stars over her head, though whether that was from mere time passing or if she had actually flown to the half of the world that was in night, she wasn't sure. How far had she gone the last few months? The landscape beneath her seemed endless, giving her far too much time to picture what the Lich was doing in Bonnie's body. And wonder if she'd be able to stop it before it was too late.

At last she reached the coast and the familiar landscape of Ooo stretched before her. She streaked to the Candy Kingdom, swooping down to the castle with her axe already drawn, not caring if the Gumball Guardians targeted her. But the city was completely empty, the buildings dark, not a soul on the streets. Some wreckage around the castle hinted that a tremendous battle had occurred. A shiver went through her. Had the Lich been able to wipe everyone out already? Was another Mushroom War already beginning?

Her terror receded a bit when she noticed lights still on in the castle. Someone was likely still alive. She floated up to where most of them were concentrated and peered in a window. To her relief, the hall was filled with Candy People, putzing about or clustered in groups talking. Beyond them, pacing a rut in the carpet, was Finn with Jake likely trying to calm him down. And next to them…

"Simon?!" she exclaimed. What was he doing here?

Her eyes searched the room over and over, but there was no sign of Bubblegum. Just worried Candy People and Finn nearly beside himself. Belatedly, she remembered that this part of the castle housed the infirmary. Her gut twisted anew.

Inside, Peppermint Butler's eyes lit up a bit as he spotted her. He gestured to her left and slipped through the crowd in that direction. She tore her attention away from the waiting room and followed his signal to the balcony a few windows down.

He crept out, closing the door silently behind him. "Lady Mar—"

"What happened?" she cut off his obsequious greeting.

"The Lich fully took over the princess and turned her into a monster. But Finn and Jake teamed up with the Ice King, if you can believe it, and they were able to stop it from destroying the kingdom."

"The Ice King helped save her?" she demanded. Simon had been there for Bonnie while Marceline was still trying to get back to Ooo? She shook off her guilt. "Where's Bonnie now?"

Peppermint Butler hesitated and Marceline felt her features stretching into something monstrous. "Where is she?" she growled.

"I'm afraid," he quivered, "in defeating the Lich, the princess was frozen and then accidentally fell over and shattered."

"WHAT?" Marceline snarled, feeling like if she'd had breath, it had just been knocked out of her.

"The doctors are working to reassemble her now. Much of her candy flesh was corrupted by the Lich, but they believe they can restore her to her true self. We're all just waiting for word now."

The combination of shock and the exhausting flight seemed to sink in all at once. Marceline sank out of the air, letting her axe-bass drop onto the balcony and catching herself on the railing as every muscle in her body trembled.

Peppermint Butler looked at her, concerned. "Please, come inside. I'll get you something to drink while you wait with us."

"No." Even her voice was weak now. "There's nothing I could do but freak the Candy People out more. I'll watch from out here."

He looked her over sadly. "Are you sure? I believe Finn would be glad to see you."

"I'm sure," she said, more firmly. "Go. You can fill me in later."

"Very well, milady. But please…" He reached under his jacket, grimaced slightly, then extended his hands with a fragment of one of his red stripes in them. "Have something to eat. I know you flew a long way."

She didn't have the energy, or the heart really, to resist. "Thanks," she said simply, taking the offering.

"At your service." He gave her a slight smile and a sincere bow before heading back inside to the light and activity.

Marceline stayed leaning against the railing with the peppermint in her hand, squeezing her eyes shut. She had failed. After their breakup, Marceline had stationed Peppermint Butler here specifically to summon her when Bonnie needed her most, and she had let her down. And now Bonnie might be dead because Marceline had been away playing. Yes, in the last year or so she had decided Finn had things pretty well under control protecting the Candy Kingdom, but the Lich was something no one in Ooo was equipped to handle alone. She should have been there. Freaking Simon had done more to protect Bonnie than she had.

Enough. Beating herself up wasn't going to help either, no matter how satisfying it felt. If she hadn't been there to save Bonnie, the least she could do was be there to help her recover. She wasn't sure exactly what being broken and put back together did to a Candy Person, but she figured she had enough of her own experience to offer something.

Feeling a renewed energy, she drained the red from the peppermint, trying not to remember the last time she'd tasted something that sweet, then picked up her bass and flew back to the window. Come on, Bonnie. All that science you're so obsessed with better start paying you back now.

Inside, a stir occurred as the doors to the infirmary opened. A nurse made of some kind of baked good came out and addressed the crowd. Marceline shifted her ears into a bat's to hear what was being said.

"Is PB okay?" Finn yelled.

"Yes," the nurse assured them all hesitantly. "But there were some…complications."

Finn's anguished yell made Marceline flinch back, then press herself closer to the candyglass as her own fear rose.

"Yes," the nurse continued. "I'm afraid there wasn't enough gum to work with, so it appears Princess Bubblegum is now…younger."

Younger? Marceline frowned through the window. How the plum did that work? Age wasn't based on how big you were, stupid quack.

But the pink figure that walked out of the infirmary past the nurse was definitely not the same Bonnie she knew. The girl was shorter now than most of her people and looked at them with a child's face, although an eerily familiar one. Marceline tried to see the girl's eyes, looking for some sign that the adult Bonnibel was still in there.

"She's thirteen years old now," the nurse announced.

"Aw, dang it!" Simon growled. "Well, I'm outta here. Goodbye, everyone." He took off, floating away down the hall. Beneath her shock, Marceline was a bit relieved to find he still had some moral boundaries.

"Thirteen years old?" She turned her attention back to Finn, who was staring at Bonnie with that same puppy dog look he usually had in her presence, but with a new spark of revelation in his eye. "That's how old I am."

Bonnie smiled at him and he blushed deeply. Jake got a knowing grin as he looked back and forth between the two.

The girl walked over and wrapped him in a warm hug without any of the regal restraint she usually retained. And in a voice almost unrecognizable to Marceline, she said, "Give me a hug, hero."

The room erupted in cheers and overall celebration as the two embraced, their long night's fear at last ended.

Outside, Marceline pulled back from the glass and returned her ears to normal so that the sounds of jubilation faded out, leaving her in silence. That was it then. She'd had her chance to be there for Bonnie and she'd blown it. She had left Finn to do the job, and now he had reaped the benefit and won everything he'd dreamed of. The universe had even gotten rid of that age gap. Glob might as well have sent them his congrats on their engagement.

She had been right not to go in, she thought moving away from the window. There was no place for her in the joyful celebration of life happening inside. It was time to stop holding on to what used to be and leave Bonnie and the rest of the living to their happiness. And time for her to return to the quiet and solitude of the night, where she belonged.

When he could get away from the room without attracting attention, Peppermint Butler went back to the balcony to pass on the good news to Marceline, but all he found was a piece of gray peppermint sitting on the railing.