Blood Ties: Chapter 2

Everyone stares at the mysterious figure standing in the doorway in silence. The figure is very tall and is dressed as a plague doctor. In his right hand is a cane, in his left hand is a black suitcase, and on his left shoulder is a raven. Everyone continues to stare at him in silence for what seems like hours. Finally, Bubblegum is the first to speak.

"Who… who are you?" she asks.

"Oh, of course," the figure says, walking into the room, his feet making a "click" sound with every step he takes. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Ravenwood, and I am very well known for my cures for the freezer burn flu, the lumps, and much more; it is a pleasure to meet you princess," he says, bowing down and taking his hat off.

Princess Bubblegum looks at him, a shaky smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you to, doctor. But why exactly are you here?"

"Well," he starts as he stands up straight and puts his hat back on, "I was making my way to the Rock Kingdom's hospital to meet with Dr. Princess to discuss about the new types of medicine. Then, I say you three making your way to the Candy Kingdom with your sick friend here," he explains, pointing at Marceline. "As I made it inside, I overheard the nurse mumbling something about vampire flu. I have been studying the vampire flu for quite some time now."

"Are you saying you know how to cure Marceline?" Finn asks, his hopes rising.

Ravenwood looks at the boy and sighs. "Sadly, no. But, I feel if I study a vampire with this very rare disease, I might be able to cure it."

Everyone looks at each other; a little unsure of what this guy was saying is true.

"Will you excuse us for a moment," says Bubblegum, pushing Finn, Jake, and Dr. Ice Cream out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Guys, I'm not so sure about this guy," Bubblegum says the minute she shuts the door.

"What? But he can cure Marceline!" Finn cries.

"Yeah, why don't you believe him?" asks Jake.

"Think of it this way: some random guy we've never seen before in our lives comes to us out of the blue saying he might be able to cure the vampire flu. Doesn't that seem a little farfetched?" asks Bubblegum.

"Well… hmm, maybe you're right," says Jake, pondering Bubblegum's words.

"But what other choice do we have?" asks Finn. "Does anyone here even know anything about this vampire flu?"

Bubblegum looks at him, shocked. "Well… Dr. Ice Cream?"

"I sadly know nothing, princess. This is the first I've heard of it," she says.

The candy princess looks back at Finn, who has a look of triumph on his face. Bubblegum sighs, realizing she's been beat. "All right, I guess we don't have any other choice." The four of them walk back inside and see Ravenwood examining Marceline. He looks up and sees them.

"Ah, good, you're back. I've examined the vampire and she has a very high fever. We need ice packs to take it down," he says, telling them something they already know. On cue, Nurse Pound Cake comes back with a large cooler. "Excellent timing nurse!" Ravenwood exclaims as he walks over to her and takes the cooler from her. He sets it down and pulls an ice pack out, putting it on Marceline's forehead. He turns back to the group. "I shall be making this my office. I won't be leaving until I cure this disease. Now, off with you all," he says, getting up and pushing everyone out of the room.

Outside in the hall, Bubblegum crosses her arms. "I'm still not so sure about that guy," she says, walking off.

Nurse Pound Cake looks up at Dr. Ice Cream, a confused look on her face. "Who was that guy, doctor?"

"I'll explain everything," Dr. Ice Cream says as they both walk off, leaving Finn and Jake.

"What do we do now?" asks Jake.

"I guess we just go home and hope this guy can cure Marceline," says Finn. Jake nods and they walk off. Finn looks back at the room Marceline is held in one last time before turning a corner.

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Three days have passed since the night Ravenwood said he would try to cure Marceline. Finn and Jake have been doing their usual adventuring since then, hoping Marceline can be cured. Jake was acting like his normal, lazy, adventurous self. It seemed like he wasn't worried about Marceline, but deep down, he was really concerned about the vampire queen.

Finn, on the other hand, showed his concern. Every day, he'd wake up with a sad look on his face and stay like that for practically the whole day. Sometimes Jake would be able to get a smile on his face by taking him on a bombastic adventure. But usually, he'd see a frown on his bro's face. Jake would always assure Finn that Marceline was gonna make it out of this okay, which helped Finn a little, but not too much.

Today, the two adventurers were relaxing. Jake was sitting on the couch playing Beemo, while Finn was lying on the floor, sighing. Jake looks over at him with a concerned look.

"Come on dude, you've been sulking over the Marceline being sick thing for the past three days. When are you gonna get over it?" Jake asks.

"When she's her regular, radical dame self again," he sighs.

"But you're acting like she's gonna die, which she isn't!" Finn just ignores him, causing Jake to sigh with frustration. "All right, how about this? We go over to the Candy Kingdom and see how Marceline is doing. How's that sound?"

Finn looks up at him, a small smile on his face. "I guess we could go see how she's doing."

Jake jumps off the couch and walks over to his brother. "Great! Let's get going!" he exclaims. Jake jumps out the window. Finn jumps out the window after him, landing on a now large Jake. They head toward the Candy Kingdom in hopes to see a somewhat better vampire queen.

When they arrive at the infirmary, they quickly head up to Marceline's room. They knock on the door only to have it slowly open by itself. Finn and Jake look at each other with confusion. They look into the room and notice that all the lights are out and the curtains are shut. They make their way into the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Marceline? Ravenwood?" Finn whisper yells? "Anyone here?" He then trips over something. "Ow! What the heck?"

"Hang on dude, let me find the light switch," says Jake, feeling the wall for the switch. "Oh, here we go," he says, finding and flipping the switch. Lights fill the room, causing Finn and Jake to gasp at the condition of the room. All over the floor are papers and beakers and spilled chemicals. Near the other side of the room is a desk up against the wall filled with papers and open books. Next to the desk is a perch for Ravenwood's raven, which is seen sleeping on it.

"This guy is a real slob, isn't he Finn?" asks Jake. He receives no answer. "Finn?" Jake asks again. He then looks over at Finn, who is seen by Marceline's bedside. It looks like she hasn't even been touched since they last saw her. An ice pack is on her forehead and her cheeks are redder than last time they saw her.

"Dude," says Jake, "it doesn't even look like that Ravenwood guy has touched her."

Finn stares down at her, putting his right hand on her left cheek. He feels something that he doesn't feel on Marceline too often: warmth, and not the good kind. Her breathing is very soft and normal, which lets Finn know the vampire flu hasn't affected her breathing.

Footsteps can be heard coming from outside the room. Finn and Jake gasp, thinking it's Ravenwood. Jake stretches his arm over to the light switch and turns it off. Finn and Jake then dive under the bed Marceline is on. The door opens and the lights turn back on. The door is then shut and the one who entered the room makes their way over to Marceline and stops where Finn and Jake are hiding. Finn notices that the intruder is wearing a pink dress, and he only knows one person who wears pink.

Finn pokes his head out from under the bed. "Princess Bubblegum?"

The princess lets out a small shriek. She looks down and gives a sigh of relief. "Oh, Finn, it's just you," she says, extending a hand to help him up.

"What are you doing here?" Finn asks.

"I'm here to check on Marceline. I heard Ravenwood went to get some supplies so I thought I'd check to see if this fraud has made any progress."

"Fraud?" asks Jake as he comes out from under the bed.

"Yes, this guy is a fraud! For the past three days, I've been in the library trying to find facts about this guy. I've been through practically every book that talks about doctors and their discoveries and cures and found nothing about him. He's nothing but a fraud!" Bubblegum exclaims.

"If he's a fraud, then what's he doing here?" Finn asks.

"That I don't know. But I knew we shouldn't have trusted him the moment he said he could cure the vampire flu, which I've been studying upon while looking for some information of Ravenwood."

"Really?" asks Jake. "Did you find the cure?"

"Not yet, but I did find the… symptoms," she says sadly, confusing Finn and Jake. She continues on. "I found out that the symptoms for the vampire flu are a high fever, incredibly weak, hot flashes-" on cue, Marceline begins sweating and her ice pack instantly melts. "-like that," says Bubblegum, pulling another ice pack from the cooler and putting it on her. "Anyway, hot flashes, visions that can tell the future, and…"

"And what?" asks Finn.

"…death."