Quest for Life Chapter 3

“Hey look, there’s the Cube Village,” said Finn, pointing to the cube shaped buildings in the distance, “Maybe they’ll know something about the butterflies.”

“I hope so,” replied Jake, looking pensive.

“Something the matter, dude?” asked Finn. Jake shook his head.

“Nah, just thinking,” he replied.

“Oh, what about?” asked Finn.

“I just...I don’t know,” replied Jake, “No, forget about it. It’s nothing.”

“Ok, man,” said Finn. He made a mental note to broach the subject later.

“Ok, I’ve got a bad feeling about all this,” Jake burst out suddenly. Finn scrapped the mental note.

“About the butterflies?” replied Finn. Jake nodded, “How come? There was probably just a cold winter or something.” Jake hesitated for a moment.

“Yeah, maybe your right,” he conceded, “I’m probably over thinking it.”

They walked into the village. Everything within the village from the clouds above to the ground below was formed into cubes. Even the inhabitants looked like blocks of various shapes and sizes. It put them in mind of a mining game they sometimes played on BMO.

“Hey,” said Finn, walking over to one of the cube people, “Do you think you can help us?”

“If I can,” replied the cube person.

“Have you heard anything about the butterflies from the Fields of Petalouda?” asked Finn.

“You mean how they disappeared?” replied the cube person. Finn nodded. “It happened a few weeks ago,” continued the cube person, looking nervous, “All of a sudden. This huge shadow descended on the fields and, I don’t really know how else to describe it but the butterflies, they just withered. Just withered away to nothing.”

“A cold winter?” Jake said to Finn, raising his eyebrow.

“Excuse me?” questioned the cube person in confusion.

“No, no, my bro here thought maybe a cold winter made the butterflies vanish,” explained Jake, “This sounds bad. Maybe we should talk to PB and Marcy.”

“No, man,” replied Finn, “We can totally handle this.”

“But we don’t even know what we’re up against or whether it will happen again,” protested Jake, “Or where it will happen.”

“Okay, if we don’t find anything in a week we’ll go ask them,” replied Finn, “How does that sound?”

“Hmm...alright,” conceded Jake, “Let’s go ask around more villages then.”

“Right,” replied Finn.

                                                                *             *             *

“Babe, you’ve been working way too hard,” said Marceline matter-of-factly as she hovered behind Princess Bubblegum in the laboratory, “Why don’t we go out tonight?”

“But I’ve got so much work to do,” protested Princess Bubblegum, gesturing to several beakers standing on the desk alongside a stack of papers covered in the Princess’ untidy scrawl, “These papers have to be in by the end of the week and I’ve got two experiments to write up notes for; observations, method, evaluation, not to mention variables and statistics.”

“Yeah, yeah, real important stuff,” replied Marceline, rolling her eyes at the pink monarch, “One night’s break is not going to hurt. Besides, it’ll do you good, you’ll feel a lot better for it.” Princess Bubblegum looked at the papers. The sheer number seemed to knock the stuffing right out of her. She sighed.

“Maybe you’re right,” she conceded, taking off her glasses, “Where do you want to go?” Marceline smiled. Mission accomplished.

“What about up to our special tree?” she asked. Princess Bubblegum smiled, a warm fuzzy feeling stirring within her at these words. She nodded. Marceline took that as her signal to lift the Princess up bridal style and fly out the window with her.

“How come you never use doors?” asked Princess Bubblegum.

“Correction, Bonnie, I use doors, but only when there are no windows available,” corrected Marceline, “I prefer the direct route.”

“You can say that again,” teased Bonnibel, poking Marceline’s chin playfully.

“I’ve definitely got a bad influence on you, my princess,” chuckled Marceline.

“But it’s an influence I willingly follow, my queen,” grinned Bonnibel, putting her arms around Marceline’s neck.

“That’s something I’ve been wondering about, Bonnie,” mused Marceline.

“Oh, what?” asked Bonnibel.

“How come you’re still a Princess? I mean, you, we, rule over two kingdoms now,” replied Marceline.

“Well, if I was Queen Bubblegum Finn and Jake would have to start calling me QB. That would make me sound very square, wouldn’t it?” chuckled Bonnibel. Marceline laughed.

“That’s true,” she smiled, “I never thought of it that way. And Queebles. Sounds like a little fuzzy creature to me.” They continued laughing and joking as they came in to land next to the tree. Princess Bubblegum could just make out their initials carved into the trunk. She smiled, memories of that wonderful night coming back to her once more.

She wound her arms around Marceline’s neck, drawing the vampire closer as she planted a kiss on pale lips. Marceline grinned into the kiss. She was impatient as always as Princess Bubblegum felt her slithery serpentine tongue graze her bottom lip. She ignored it, her eyes smiling at the vampire. They sank down into the grass, their kisses growing steadily more passionate until Marceline’s tongue asked Bonnie’s lips for entrance once more. The princess gave in, parting her lips and letting Marceline’s tongue battle with her own. Marceline moaned softly, her hand sliding down Bonnie’s side. The princess gasped, pulling the vampire closer.

Marceline gave a startled outcry as she was pushed onto her back. “Why don’t you let me lead for a change?” grinned Bonnibel, kneeling over the vampire. She hesitated.

“Marceline, are you hungry or something?” she asked. Marceline looked up at the Princess who had her pinned, a puzzled look on her face.

“Huh?” she said. Princess Bubblegum moved her hand to the side of Marceline’s head, to stroke her hair or so Marceline thought. She picked one of the flowers and showed it to Marceline.

“I didn’t do that,” replied Marceline, looking at the flower. It had turned grey and the petals were wilting. One of the petals drifted down onto her face. It felt like paper, dry and rustling and when she made to lift it off it crumbled to dust in her hand.

They got up and looked around. How had they failed to notice it before? Most of the other flowers were in the same condition. “There’s no scent,” murmured Marceline.

“What?” asked Princess Bubblegum.

“There’s no scent,” Marceline repeated, “None at all.” Princess Bubblegum sniffed at one of the flowers and saw that Marceline was right. The once heady aroma was no longer present. She looked up.

“Marceline!” she cried, grabbing Marceline’s shirt, “The tree. It’s dying too.” She was right. The bark looked like it was crumbling in places and the leaves were all a dull grey.

“What could it mean?” asked Marceline.

“Perhaps a disease of some sort,” replied Princess Bubblegum thoughtfully. Marceline noticed the tears in her eyes.

"What's the matter, Bon?" asked Marceline.

"Why did it have to be our tree," sobbed the Princess, resting her head against Marceline's chest. Marceline put her arms around the smaller monarch, resting her chin on her hair.

"I know," she soothed, "It's terrible. I'm afraid these things just happen sometimes, Bon." Princess Bubblegum nodded tearfully as she stepped back.

“I’ll take back a sample to the lab for testing.” She picked several of the withered flowers and a few grey leaves from the trees boughs. They broke off easily in her fingers. Worry twisted in her gut as they flew back to the palace.

“Find anything?” asked Marceline as the Princess stood, peering into a microscope. Princess Bubblegum stepped back and regarded the vampire.

“If it is a disease, it isn’t one I’ve ever seen before,” she replied, “We can rule out blotching and callousleaf disease right away. The markings aren’t there. As for the more subtle diseases, I’ll need to run some more tests first.”

“How long will that take?” asked Marceline.

“As long as it takes really,” replied Princess Bubblegum, “There’s quite a bit to test for. And I don’t have all the testing solutions at the ready. I might have to ask you to go out and gather some ingredients.”

“I’ll help in any way I can, Bon,” said Marceline.

“We’ll have to ask around the neighbouring kingdoms to see if they’ve had any recent occurrences,” continued Princess Bubblegum.

“We’ll set out tomorrow then?” replied Marceline.

“Agreed,” replied Princess Bubblegum.