Again, apologies for the skipping of time and the short chapter...and also for my skipping out on y'all. I've been writing a lot of other stuff, like tons of original material, some Homestuck fanfics, and a few Teen Titans fanfics for the ORIGINAL animated series, NOT this new shit. Plus I have a huge bunch of AP summer assignments and I just got my permit, meaning I can drive now, which just adds MORE stress! Also my new car (red convertible!) has ton of problems T.T which gives me even more shit to whine about. But anyhow, I'll skip to the story. Thanks for all the beautiful support! I really don't deserve you guys. Thanks for sticking this out with me. (PS to the people who want Finn to have a son: I have not forgotten you! I have a short story planned.)

ALSO! If I get a book published, would anyone buy it? Heh, I have a publisher who wants to, well, publish it, but I want to make sure people will actually read it!

Disclaimer: Dude. I haven't even WATCHED AT all summer. You think I own it? Go get a sanity check.

By the time Azrial and Leah were a year old, they were both walking in spurts, babbling out baby talk, and occasionally saying an actual word. Finn and Marceline were so proud.

Then disaster struck.

The first hint of danger came in the form of boiling red storm clouds, racing in from the east. Skeletal crows cawed as they flew over the land, circling, landing. Oily black rain fell from the sky.

"What do you think it means?" Marceline asked quietly.

"It means, we need to get the children away from here. It's coming. Is the shelter ready?" Finn replied darkly.

"Almost."

"Close enough. I'll take Leah, you take Azrial," Finn growled.

"No, I'll take both and you cover us from behind, remember?" Marceline chided. "You're not thinking straight."

"I...sorry," he sighed.

"Psychological warfare."

"What?"

"It's psychological warfare, this ominous weather," she clarified.

"Oh. Yeah."

"We don't have time to sit around and talk," Marceline said as red lightning streaked the sky. "We have to go, now!" Marceline picked up the children and they sped out of the treehouse, Finn with his sword drawn and looking all around.

"It's too quiet," he said. "I don't like this..."

"Neither do I," Marceline agreed, but they continued through the downpour of slimy blackness until they reached a fairly large boulder. Finn leaned his shoulder against it and it rolled aside, just far enough to reveal the edge of a tunnel. Marceline floated in and Finn followed, using the convenient handles on the inside of the stone to pull it back into place. Marceline lit a torch, which Finn took to lead the way through a maze until they reached a door, beyond which lay a room with a bed and two cribs. The entire labyrinth had been constructed in preparation for an attack such as that day's.

Finn opened the door and froze in shock and horror at the sight within.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Finn?"

"Not nearly long enough," he growled.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong. You see, dear boy, the quicker we are reunited, the quicker out issues can be...resolved."

"Then let's do some resolving," Finn snarled. "One on one. You and me. Right here, right now."

"But I'm not here for you," behind Finn, Marceline was gone. She had been, he realized, since he had opened the door.

"What are you here for if not your own son?" he was stalling now, buying his wife time.

"Simple," the Prince vanished, then reappeared as soon as Finn heard Marceline scream. "I'm here for her," at first, he didn't know what his father was talking about.

Then he realized...

The Prince of Games was cradling Leah.

Snarling. Finn drew back his arm to throw the torch.

"Ah ah ah! Wouldn't want her to...drop, would you? Oops!" the Prince tossed Leah up into the air and caught her by the ankle. She began to cry. In a moment, Marceline was there, but in that same moment, none of them were. They were in the Candy Kingdom, and the Prince of Games had risen to its demonic form. Candy people were exploding all over the place. Finn and Marceline were suddenly lashed to the ground with shadow chains.

"BEHOLD!" the Prince boomed, holding up Leah in one hand. "The salvation of the humans!" it laughed cruelly. "Humanity shall not be saved."

"No!" Marceline screamed, lunging forward, only to be recaptured by the dark tendrils.

"Farewell, hope," the Prince of Games said coldly as it clenched its fist around Leah, obliterating her in falling specks of shadow and darkness. Marceline became hysterical, screaming, crying, fighting, changing in and out of monstrous forms. Finn couldn't move or scream for the unadulterated agony, but tears slid down his cheeks as he sobbed. The Prince of Games vanished in a swirl of flames, which began to engulf the Candy Kingdom, but Finn didn't want to flee. He just wanted to die...

Someone was pulling him away. He looked up to see Bubblegum, dragging him to safety.

"Peppermint Butler has Marceline."

"But who has Leah?" he choked out. Bubblegum sighed and hugged him tightly.

"Finn...I know it's hard to lose a child, even though Twilight's twin was dead a few days after she was born. I can only imagine what you must be going through, but you have to get through it. Marceline needs you. Azrial—"

"Azrial...? Oh my glob, Azrial!" Finn half-shouted and half-sobbed. "Princess, I have to get to the shelter, right now!"

"What?"

"It didn't know about her! Marceline hid her and was about to hide Leah when it took us here! Oh glob, I have to get her before something bad happens!" he couldn't stop the horror, the rush of unbelievable guilt. How could he have forgotten about Azrial?

"I'll find Marceline," Bubblegum hurried away. Finn tried to force the tears away, but they kept coming. He couldn't stop them, and he didn't truly want to. He just wanted his daughter back.

"Finn..." it was Marceline's hoarse voice. She wasn't crying, and he knew why. Simple tears could not express a mother's grief forever.

"Azrial," he said simply. Her eyes widened and she grabbed his hands, flying into the air and toward the shelter. Panic had them in its grip. They didn't have time to grieve...they had to save their daughter.

When they arrived, they hurried through the labyrinth to where Azrial was rocking back and forth, rambling out baby talk. They both sighed with relief.

"We can't forget that we still have one daughter we have to protect," Marceline said softly. "We can't ever forget that."

"Let's take her home."

So they did, and they put her to bed, then dressed in their nicest mourning clothes and went outside. Jake Rainicorn, BMO, Bubblegum, Night, Flame Princess, and even Me-Mow were there.

"The Assassin's Guild sent me with condolences. After winning the pool, we decided it was our duty to watch out for your twins. We were only held at bay when our base of operations was attacked by ghost skeletons. Many lives were lost. We were too late to save Leah, but I was dispatched to watch over Azrial."

"You knew about the shelter?" Finn asked in shock.

"We're assassins, Finn. It's our job to know," Me-Mow replied darkly. "But no matter what, we could no know what would happen today," Finn and Marceline knelt to gently shake her tiny paws.

"Send our thanks to the Guild," Marceline said quietly, and Finn nodded.

After that, no words were said. There was no need for them between such a small and intimate group. Finn, Marceline, and their friends gathered rocks together into a tombstone shape and Flame Princess melted them together. They engraved the stone and pressed it into the ground, then cried, laughed mournfully at unspoken memories held deep within secret hearts, and held each other close in a circle, even with Flame Princess burning at her coldest possible temperature.

"We have food," Marceline finally said. "Come on in," so they did, and they all stayed wide awake until the next day, when Azrial began to cry.

"Excuse me, Bonnibel. They...she just finished her 'wake up the whole house at all hours' phase but she still gets up early!" Marceline hurried out, Finn heard faintly as his conversation with Jake and Flame Princess hit a lull.

"So Flame Princess," Jake said, "you looking into marriage? Seems like everyone else is."

"Nah. No one really wants an unstable princess who's supposed to be evil," she replied flippantly. "Plus, it's kind of nice to be single. I don't have any dates to remember or obligations to fill. On the other hand..."

"You don't have anyone to fill that void," Jake said. She nodded.

"Yeah."

"Excuse me, could I borrow Finn for a moment?" Night asked smoothly. Finn followed him away from the others.

"Yeah man. What's up?"

"I would simply like to offer my deepest condolences. The assets of my home kingdom are at your command when the time comes to face the Prince of Games."

"Um, wow. Thanks."

"And I would also be more than happy to watch your child should you and Marceline be going somewhere," it was still painful, to hear "child" instead of "children" to Finn. He didn't know how everyone was adjusting so quickly.

"Nah, it's cool. I've already got a whole list of babysitters lined up. Thanks for the offer, though," Finn patted his shoulder.

"Anything for a friend," Night replied with a smile.

When everyone finally departed for their respective homes, Finn turned to his wife.

"We have to keep Azrial safe," he said firmly. "There's no way I'd ever be able to live with myself if..."

"I know," she said softly, holding him close. "I know."