*Finn's Age: 19*

Marceline's P.O.V

"Bye, Finn!" I call to the hero as he walks out my door.

He had come around for a sleepover, but sadly our time was up and Finn had to go help Bonnibel. I sigh and close my door, missing the courageous young boy already. It's strange cause I've never missed someone so quickly after they leave, but this time it's different. Finn is a very special person, though, so perhaps that's why. Floating to my fridge and getting out some strawberries, I suck the red right out and savor the taste. Mmm, nothing's better than this. I then wonder what Finn's doing right about now. Saving a village? An experiment with Bubblegum? Fighting a monster? Who knows when it comes to Finn. I place the strawberries in a container and put the container back in the fridge. Finn can have them when he comes back sometime.

I leave the kitchen and float to the ladder that leads to my bedroom. Going up and coming out the trapdoor, I look for my axe bass. I find it lying up against my end table near my bed. Picking it, I float over my bed and strum the cords randomly. Usually, a new beat comes to me, but at the moment, I'm kind of stuck. I wonder why. I feel this strange, empty feeling in my stomach. What is it? Loneliness? Yep, that's what it is. I sigh. Finn being gone is having more of an impact on me than I thought. Why is that? Do I love having him around? Absolutely. Do I love having him so close to me? For sure. But, that leaves only one question left. Do I love Finn?

I surely must.

I smile. I can't believe it. I admitted that I love him. Now all these weird feelings make sense! Plucking at the strings, more happy now than lonely, I chuckle a little bit and that chuckling soon turns into coughing. I cough and cough, a heavy weight pressing down on my chest. I eventually stop coughing and try to take slow and deep breaths to calm myself. What in the name of Glob is happening to me? I'm a bit scared cause I haven't ever felt this way before. I begin to panic and then pull out my phone. I dial Dr. Princess and wait.

"Hello?" She answers.

"Hi, Dr. Princess, Marceline here. I just wanted to ask you about something that's currently happening to me" I tell her, holding back another cough.

"Sure thing, Marceline. Just tell me what you're experiencing" The doctor says.

"Well, I started coughing about a minute ago. It was much more profuse and heavy than other times and I also have this heavy feeling in my chest" I explain to the best of my ability.

"Oh, dear. I'm sorry to say this, Marceline, but you appear to have contracted the flu" Doctor Princess diagnoses.

"Really?" I remark in surprise, "Oh, glob. What do you think I should do?"

"Well, for starters, I'd recommend getting plenty of fluids and more than enough rest" She advises, "And, if you'd like, I can send someone over to help take care of you."

"Sure, that sounds great. Thanks for your help, Dr. Princess" I say appreciatively.

"Anytime. Now, you hold tight and someone will be over soon" The doctor promises.

"Ok, bye" I finish.

"Goodbye, Marceline" She concludes.

The line goes dead. I sigh, feeling that heaviness still on my chest. I've had the flu before, but it's been hundreds of years and I had all but forgotten what it was like. I yawn, getting tired all of a sudden. Well, I suppose I could get a few winks in before the help comes. Dr. Princess did say that sleep was important. I set my bass down, leaning it up against the wall before I hover back over my bed and try to relax. Closing my eyes, I breathe in and out, trying to slow my heart rate. The tickling feeling of a cough returns and I release it from my throat. When I'm finished coughing, my chest hurts even more. A few tears slip out of my eyes. I silently pray that Dr. Princess's help gets here soon. This pain is the most I've felt in a long time.

Finn's P.O.V

I close the castle doors and look them up. Feeling satisfied with the day's effort, I head to the Princess' lab. Walking through the Candy Castle at night when it's all quiet really feels peaceful. Especially now that the candy citizens are all in bed. I then walk to PB's lab, seeing the princess herself sitting at one of her many lab tables upon entry. By her posture, she looks tired.

"PB? The castle's all locked up and everything is in order. Is it alright if I go home now?" I ask her.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, Finn. You can go home. I don't mean to keep you here any longer than you have to" The tired princess replies.

I nod and leave the room. Heading down the stairs, I enter the main gathering area. I exit the castle out of a side door. The night air is cool and refreshing. Now, onto my next task: heading back to Marceline's to help take care of her. Dr. Princess called me while I was helping PB and asked if I could help Marceline heal from the flu. I said absolutely. Marcy means quite a lot to me and it hurts to hear that she's in pain. After Dr. Princess hung up, I went and asked Princess Bubblegum if she had any spare Mucinex and Ibuprofen, which is what DP recommended that I give to Marceline. Luckily, she did.

I feel the pills jingle around in my pack as I approach Marcy's cave. Seeing her small house appear, I wonder if she's alright. I'd hate to have her in pain. I walk up to her front door and knock. It takes a few minutes, but Marcy opens the door.

"Finn? What are you doing here?" The attractive vampire asks, sounding confused.

"Dr. Princess asked me to look after you and I, of course, said yes" I respond, smiling. Marcy looks relieved, but still a little bit confused.

"Come inside then, Hero" She says, making room for me to enter.

I thank her and come into her living room. After shutting the door, Marceline turns back to me.

"It's not that I don't appreciate your help, but why did you volunteer? You do realize that I could get you sick too" The vampire says, sounding concerned.

"Oh, yes, I'm well aware of the risks, Marcy. But, if I can help you and spend more time with you, it's totally worth it" I tell her, smiling at her caring attitude.

Marceline blushes and even though she tries to hide it, I notice.

"Thanks, Finn" She replies.

"No problem" I nod, "Now, we should probably get you resting."

"Sure, it'll be a lot better though now that you're here" Marcy admits.

"I can definitely say the same about you too, Vampire Queen" I tease her.

Marceline giggles and floats over to the trapdoor ladder, quickly going up. I climb up after her and set foot in her bedroom. Marcy sits on the edge of her bed. I find that strange since she usually hovers over her bed when she sleeps. Must be changing it up I guess.

"Stay here and I'll go get you some water to take these pills" I say, pulling them out of my pack.

"Ok, but what are they for?" Marcy asks, narrowing her eyes a little at the foreign objects.

"Well, this Mucinex stuff will get rid of that feeling in your chest and this Ibuprofen stuff will prevent you from catching a fever and any potential headaches" I explain, recalling what Doctor Princess told me.

Marcy nods and I go into her bathroom to fill up a goblet that I keep in my pack. Returning to Marceline's bedroom, I find her waiting in the same position before I left. I sit down next to her and hand her the goblet and the pill bottles. She takes them, one at a time, and then gulps down the water to wash them down. Marcy blinks a few times then yawns.

"Well, I should probably get to bed, Finn" She says.

"Yeah, I totally agree" I reply, rolling over so that I'm now sitting on the other side of the bed.

"Finn, what are you doing?" Marcy asks in slight shock.

"Keeping you company. I hear it's the best way to get over the flu" I answer.

She doesn't lie down right away, though. In fact, she seems nervous about something. I'm no expert when it comes to reading people or understanding girls at all, so what it could be is anyone's guess.

"Finn, do you mind if we...you know..." Marcy says hesitantly, her eyes flitting between me, her, and the bed.

"Sure, I don't mind at all" I say, smiling at how cute she's being while opening my arms for a hug.

Marcy holds me tightly, resting her head against my shirt as we both lie down on her bed. I see her eyes close and feel a very gentle kiss get pressed on my cheek.

"Goodnight, Marceline" I whisper, closing my eyes while hiding a smile.

"Goodnight, Finn" Marceline whispers back.

The Following Day...

When I wake up, Marceline is snuggling my arm in her sleep, clinging to it like it's Hambo. I smile again, feeling like I've been doing that a lot more lately, and pat her head gently. Marcy smiles in her sleep, murmuring something that I can't quite make out. I press my hand against her forehead to check her temperature and it's not gone down any. A feeling of dread implants itself in my stomach, since not only is she not getting any better, she's actually getting worse. Calmly removing myself from her grasp, I go to get off her bed. But when I go to stand, a sense of fatigue and dizziness washes over me, causing me to fall on the floor. That gets Marceline awake pretty quickly, the vampire sitting up and looking over with widened eyes.

"Finn! Are you ok?" She asks in a worried tone, then letting out a cough.

"Yes and no" I grunt, getting to my feet before stumbling and grabbing the side of her bed to steady myself.

Marceline then coughs again, but can't stop herself, it sounding much more deep this time. Then, out of nowhere, she hacks up some black liquid onto her palm. My hands now feel like they're freezing and all I can currently think about is that whatever Marceline had yesterday probably isn't what Dr. Princess thought it was and that now it's affecting me as well. I had expected it, Marceline said as much too, but now it's not so good since it's not just this flu thing.

My phone then starts ringing and I look around for my pack, holding onto Marceline's bed frame as I trace the sound over to the floor beside her end. Collapsing/sitting down, I rummage through my bag, pull my phone out, and answer it, not even bothering to see who it's from.

"Finn? Finn, are you there?" The voice of Princess Bubblegum asks anxiously.

"Yeah, I'm here" I groan, Marceline hacking up something again behind me.

"Oh, dear, it's spread to you two as well" Dr. Princess's voice says from the other end, proving that her and Bubblegum are together at the moment, "Just hold on and whatever you do, don't let Marceline leave that cave. We're sending someone to come get you both."

"This isn't just the flu, is it, DP?" I remark, already knowing what she'll say.

"I wish it was just that, Finn" She responds gravely, "Stay put and we'll explain once you get here."

The line goes dead and I drop my phone back in my backpack, letting out a dreadful sigh. A loud thump then sounds behind me and I look over the side of the bed to see that Marceline isn't there anymore. She must've fallen off. Gritting my teeth, I do my best to stand, but fall onto the bed and on my stomach. I do my best to crawl towards the other end, gripping and pulling at the sheets to get me there. When I get to the edge, I look over and see Marceline with her eyes closed in pain and breathing painfully. I fall onto the floor beside her, tenderly touch her shoulder, and whisper to her that everything's going to be fine. She doesn't answer, only increasing my level of worry.

I fight to stay awake, to not give in to sleep and to be alert in case I need to help Marceline. I pull her head onto my lap and calmly stroke her hair to try and give her some tiny measure of peace. Eventually, I hear echoing from outside in the cave and hear the door downstairs open. Not long after, a few of Dr. Princess's associates from the Medical Kingdom come up with plastic suits that cover their entire bodies. I'm about to ask what's going to happen, but one goes and lifts up Marceline while the other hauls me to my feet. They take us downstairs, lead us out the open front door, and take us to the waiting vehicle just outside the cave. They load us in the back, more Medical Kingdom staff inside, and lay Marceline down on a stretcher. But as they're putting me on one too, I feel sleep overpower me and cause me to blackout.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake to the sound of muffled conversation, my eyes having trouble opening at first. But when they do, I see that I'm a room of pure white, a bed and a sink being the only bits of furniture inside. On the wall opposite me is a glass window and on the other side is Dr. Princess and Princess Bubblegum, both in the same kinds of suits as the people who brought Marceline and I here. Marceline! Where is she? I quickly look around but don't find her on the bed with me or anywhere else in the room. I then get myself to stand, finding myself feeling not as bad as before, but not better either.

"Finn, you're awake again" Dr. Princess says, her voice coming through some kind of speaker in the wall.

I turn and see that her and Peebles are both looking at me, though I can't shake the feeling that it's the look one has when watching someone who's going to die soon.

"Finn, I'm very, very, sorry. This is all my fault" Bubblegum sighs, sounding pretty sympathetic, "Do you remember yesterday when you helped me with that virus strain that I was going to use to eradicate those rabid bunnies?"

"Yeah. You mean-" I begin to say before she cuts me off.

"Yes, it's that. It mutated beyond my expectations and judging from the scans we took of you while you were asleep, you were the first one affected" Bubblegum explains, ashamed of herself, "It had mutated into an airborne virus and spread from you to many in the Candy Kingdom. Even to Marceline."

"Where is she?" I ask, finding my voice.

"She's here, just in a separate room" Dr. Princess answers, "Her vampyric healing abilities are keeping the virus at bay, but even with the pain medicine we've administered, she's not in any position to function normally. We gave you some too, but you're more worse for ware than her since you don't have her healing abilities."

"Once I realized what had happened, I placed the Candy Kingdom on lockdown and issued the quarantine dome to be activated. That means nobody gets in or out of the kingdom unless they're confirmed to not be affected and are wearing these things" Peebs continues, gesturing to what she has on, "However, we are close to developing something to counteract the virus. I've been working hard at studying it and have everything we need except for eucalyptus leaves. And we don't have enough staff to send out search parties to find it."

"Send me then. I'll find it" I insist.

"No way, Finn. As your princess, I forbid you" She shakes her head, "I need you to rest. We'll figure this out, I know we will."

Her and Dr. Princess then walk away, leaving me alone with an empty for company. I feel angry that I'm stuck here, hitting the glass with my fists before letting them linger there. Eucalyptus leaves. Last I remembered, those wood nymphs in the Dark Forest had some. But, of course, Bubblegum and DP wouldn't know since they weren't ever pulled in there by the nymph's evil and seductive magic. I know where they are, though, so if there's any chance that that cure can be successful, I need to go there and do what needs to be done to get those leaves. That way Marcy and everyone else inflicted by this can be alright again.

I try hitting the glass again, but I don't have nearly enough strength to make a difference. Looking around for something else to help me break it, I come up with nothing. It's already starting to feel hopeless, but then someone else passes by the window and I bang on it to get their attention. It's Dr. Ice Cream. She pauses and comes to the glass.

"I know where the eucalyptus leaves can be found" I tell her, "If you'd please let me out, I can go get them."

"...Finn, I can't just let you out in your condition. The pain medicine Dr. Princess gave you isn't a permanent fix and your body is still getting destroyed on the inside. You're also still contagious and could very well infect more people that aren't safely covered. I'm sorry, but I can't let you out. If you could tell me where the leaves are, though, I'll happily pass the information along to Princess Bubblegum" Dr. Ice Cream explains.

"Not to make this hard, but I have the best chance of getting them because I'm pretty much the only person that has been to this section in the Dark Forest and made it back. The nymph's magic is too alluring for those that haven't been exposed to it before and since I have, I know I can resist it" I explain back, Dr. Ice Cream listening quietly, "Please, IC, let me out so I can help."

".....................Well, since you did save me that one time, I suppose I owe you this" The ice cream cone sighs, opening my room door from a button outside, "But go and hurry back. And don't let anyone see you, because they'll just put you right back in here and won't be as forgiving as I am to let you out again."

"Thank you" I nod in appreciation.

Dr. Ice Cream then walks away, letting me walk to the door and peek out. I look both directions and nobody's currently coming, so I take this moment to begin heading down the hallway to the right, knowing that it'll take me closer to the front entrance of the castle. I duck around corners and hide from incoming medical staff as I near it and once I'm out of the castle, I look ahead to see that a checkpoint of sorts has been set up at the Candy Kingdom's main gate. I also see the quarantine dome that Bubblegum mentioned, it covering the entire Candy Kingdom in a glass semi sphere.

I feel my chest tighten, making it a bit harder to breathe, and notice this blackish red blemish appearing on my hand, which reminds me that I need to hurry. I cross the distance from the castle to the main gate via the rooftops, jumping and grabbing onto each due to my dwindling strength. And once I get close to the gate, I climb down with a ladder on the side of the building I'm on and sneak my way past the nearby banana guards to the checkpoint station control booth. There's a banana guard inside, but I decide to try something risky. I stand up and reveal myself to him and ask him to let me through. And, as I figured, he isn't that smart, nodding and pressing a button that opens a section of the dome where the gate is. I thank him and rush out, pushing open the gates and racing out onto the plains beyond the kingdom.

The Dark Forest isn't a hard place to find even if you haven't been there before. It's the domain of the nymphs within the forest that can't be found as easily. But, as far the forest itself goes, it's about a 10 minute walk to the southwest of the Candy Kingdom, but since I'm not in the mood for walking, I run my way there and cut the total time in half. When I reach the outer treeline, my heart skips a beat, making me stumble and almost fall. I lean on one of the trunks to steady myself, but my optimism is definitely running low. New problems are popping up left and right and it seems that not taking it easy makes the virus attack faster. But I can't stop now, so I soldier forward and head inside the forest.

It's a very condensed area with lots of roots sticking up from the ground to trip on if you're not careful. It also looks the same in every direction, so one could easily get lost inside here. But, as simple and silly as it sounds, I just head straight and keep going, a headache starting to form in my brain. The further in I go, the more I start to hear the nymph's singing, which tells me that I'm heading the right direction. I let it guide me, but not consume me and after I continue on forward for a little bit longer, I finally reach it.

I'm brought to a tiny clearing where a long wooden table sits with six chairs around its perimeter and three nymphs wandering about while the other three sit with their feet up. They all have long, flowing hair that moves with the breeze, differing shades of green skin, beautiful faces, and clothes made of leaves that show off quite a bit of their skin in multiple places. They walk barefoot and hum melodically, the breeze mimicking their soft, sweet voices. And somehow, without even taking another step forward, the breeze wisps past me, washes over their skin, and makes them all turn and look at me. The few that had their feet up put them down and smile at me while licking their lips. I shudder at what they might be thinking.

"Well, look who returned to us, girls~" A nymph with the lightest skin purrs softly, stepping forward while eyeing me up and down, "Finn the Human~. And looking simply scrumptious as well."

Glancing down at myself, I see that I'm wearing a loose fitting hospital sheet and don't have any shoes on either. Feeling my head, I notice that my hat isn't there either. The nymph smiles and gets right up in front of me, standing on her tiptoes as she runs a hand through my hair.

"We didn't even have to work our magic too hard for you to come" One of the nymphs sitting at the table muses, "And you have no idea how much we've desired you. How much we craved you. We've been waiting for you to come back, so that we can devour you and your courage. And now that we have you, we're not letting you go again."

The nymph in front of me looks over my face with her eyes and then licks my cheek with the tip of her tongue. It's part of their seduction magic, something to dull the mind. But mine is in plenty of pain right now from the virus, so it doesn't work. Firmly grabbing the nymph by her wrist, I throw her to the ground and trudge up to the table, slamming my fist into it. The other nymphs jump in shock and a few look ready to use more magic while the remainder await for what I do next.

"I'm only going to say this once" I tell them threateningly, "Unless you want a mutated virus to infect you and this forest for a really long time, you'll let me have your eucalyptus leaves and allow me safe passage out of the Forest."

"And you think we'll merely take your word for it?" Another nymph frowns, leaning forward on the table, "You don't have the means to make demands of us. You have no weapon."

"Are you sure about that?" I question, narrowing my eyes while I briefly recall that fire spell I learned in wizard school and light my hand on fire.

That scares the nymphs, because when it comes to trees, fire is the one thing that never mixes well with them. Leaving it ignited, I see a basket with the leaves I'm looking for in the middle of the table. I reach over and grab the handle, then step back while keeping the nymphs in sight before I turn and run away as fast as I can. Clutching the basket to my chest, I hightail it out of there, ignoring the sweet calls of the nymphs telling me to come back. I run and run and run, not stopping until I'm out of the Dark Forest. Once I'm clear, I deactivate the fire spell and set my sights on the Candy Kingdom in the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was incredibly reckless and stupid, Finn!" Bubblegum scolds me, her and Dr. Princess standing nearby as I get the first of the cure shots injected into me by one of the Medical Kingdom's subjects, "You could've spread this entire virus to an epidemic level. Thank Glob you didn't, but think before you act next time for me, please? This was quite serious."

"I knew what I was doing, Peebs" I insist, standing up and brushing myself off.

Bubblegum shakes her head while Dr. Princess just smiles and approaches me with a syringe.

"The cure isn't effectively immediately, but since you're the first to receive it, you should be good to go. How about you give the next to your vampire friend?" The medical woman suggests.

I nod in agreement and take the syringe from her hands, Dr. Princess then leading the way out of the examination room they had me in. As she leads the way down the hall, I see that the blemish on my hand isn't quite gone yet, but that my heart isn't skipping beats anymore, which is definitely a good sign. We take a few turns here and there before she stops outside a room that was just like the one they kept me in with a window looking in and everything. I see Marceline through the glass, lying passed out on the bed and dressed in a similar outfit to my own. Dr. Princess then opens the door and I quietly thank her before going inside.

The room is dead silent inside except for the pained sounds of Marcy's breathing. I gently approach her, not wanting to spook her if she wakes up all of a sudden. I also notice that she has an icebag on her forehead, something I hadn't seen when I looked at her the first time. Kneeling down beside her, I tenderly hold her wrist and ever so carefully stick the syringe in. I had watched how they did mine, so that's how I know what to do for her. And when I retract the needle, Marceline wakes up, opening her eyes and blinking a bit before seeing me there beside her.

"Finn. I'm so glad you're here" She smiles a bit weakly, turning on her side so that she can face me, "I woke up a couple times already in this empty room and you being here makes it a lot less lonely."

"Thanks, Marcy" I smile.

"So, what happened?" The vampire asks, brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"Short version is that it was an accident that Bubblegum took the blame for and I snuck out of the castle and went into the Dark Forest to get the final bit of the cure. I've received it already and now you have too" I retell, holding up the empty syringe in my hand.

"I guess you really are my hero" Marceline smiles, holding my hand, "And it's exactly why I love you."

My heart skips a beat and this time it isn't the virus. But I calm myself when I think back and come to the conclusion that since I worked so hard to help her and worried so much for her that I must love her too.

"Hehe, I love you too, Marceline" I smile, sitting there and holding her hand as she smiles back at me.