"I'm PB. I spy on everybody; no big d," you say. That's right. It's just the usual with you. You offer a simple one sided smile and a shrug. Flame Princess stands, facing you as she does so.
"You're cold, PB," Flame Princess replies.
"Eh." You shrug again. It's nothing you haven't been told before. Nothing new. However, you didn't expect her to go on.
"And it's not because you're a scientist or a leader. It's because you are a bad person. Something inside you is messed up, girl. And whatever it is– ugh, whatever. Whatever, PB," she says. A frown manages to make it to your face – hey, no, bad; Bonnibel Bubblegum, you keep those emotions in check and you do it this instant. That phrase – the utterance – you're a bad person – reminds you so much of that day. The day when she left your side.
It was morning in the candy kingdom – early enough in the winter's day that it was still dark.
"Marceline," you managed to chuckle out, despite the grogginess in your tone. She was kissing you everywhere she could get her lips from her position behind you on her side; simple, chaste pecks from cool lips on a brisk morning in your freezing room.
"Mornin', Bonnie," the Vampire Queen whispered lovingly; it was in that throaty voice she always had when she first woke up. She plops her chin in the juncture between your neck and shoulder.
"Marcy, your chin is so pointed; that hurts." There's some merit to the complaint; you truly didn't care, though, especially when she clumsily placed her arm around your bare midriff. She brought you closer to her body, ghosts of warmth and definite jolts of energy waking you a bit. She maneuvered to kiss your cheek.
"I can always move my chin lower. And my mouth." Marceline snickered to herself then, as if it was an innuendo only she understood. Her long eyelashes fluttered against your neck as she went to land another kiss on the back of it.
"Marceline, that's too distasteful for the time of day," you said, despite relaxing into her touch.
She laughed at that – almost like a cackle – but in the end she nuzzled back into you with a muttered "maybe" and fell back to sleep. As did you. It wasn't until later, at a reasonable hour, that you woke up to dress for the day. Marceline lazed around for a while longer in the bed before picking her clothes off the floor to dress herself in. You're used to her forgetting to bring an extra outfit though, at this point. No matter; it's time for reading documents and treaties with the other kingdoms, per the morning routine, so you head over to your desk and prepare a quill.
Marceline knew how it went already, so she floated around you, "bothering" you with this or that thing. Some days it was more about grabbing your attention; other days she would treat you with a rare glimpse into the world she came from. Marceline claimed to barely remember anything, but sometimes things would slip out – you enjoyed listening to her talk, despite the sad parts of it occasionally. She was always so afraid to be alone because of what happened. You didn't want to leave her alone. At least, not often. You needed your time to take care of the kingdom, and thus alone time is something you had to take. You wished your people weren't scared of her, though. It would have made life so much easier. You knew she was going to catch on soon; that you were making her do things while you do your routine so that she was out of the kingdom. But what else could you have done?
"Marcy, could you do an errand for me while I go out?"
"...Sure? But I haven't been in the candy kingdom without sneaking in since we started, well, y'know –"
You sighed. Maybe you should have told her sooner. She was going to find out eventually if she hadn't known already that the candy people didn't like her. However, it was best to assume she did know, as she never has liked to be treated like she doesn't know something in the first place. Marceline has always been rather stubborn on that point.
"Marceline, my people are scared of you. You know this. I can't let them see –" you begin to say before she interrupted.
"Wait, so you're not gonna tell them? Like you're ashamed of me or something?" Her eyes grew wide at first, her eyebrows raising, but then narrowing into a semi-glare; yet her dark eyes betrayed the hurt in them. She was always easy to read, even when she tried to show a different emotion.
"That's not it. You know my people scare easily and what happens when they're scared. They're fragile and you are the Vampire Que –"
"Oh, so I'm not sweet enough for them? Is that it?" she replied bitterly.
"Marceline, don't be so dramatic."
"'Dramatic?' That's what you're gonna call it? Don't you like me enough to not care about them for one moment?"
There's silence then. Your people need you, yet so did Marceline. It was as much a fact as you are pink. You tried to think logically about it, like usual, but you figured out your emotions were running rampage for once. Logic always wins with you, though. A kingdom demands responsibility; responsibility demands sacrifice. You have to figure a way to make her leave. What can you say, though? What will make her storm – ah, yes. Those words will do nicely.
"Maybe I just don't like you the way you think I do."
Marceline's face, if it wasn't flushed enough before, colored itself completely to her ears, defiance clear in her eyes, along with tears as she tightly balled her fists.
"You know what I think, Bonnibel? You're using me; you're using me for whatever you want and leaving me alone like everyone else. You made me think you – you – you're a bad person, only thinking about yourself and junk!" she yelled, her teeth clenched so hard that you can tell she was grinding them behind her lips. "Ugh, I'm so not down for this – I'm leaving – later, Princess." She spat out that last word with so much venom that even you felt the sting within seconds of the exchange. But you refused to call out to her before she flew out the open window. Some things weren't meant to be.
No matter how much you want them to.
You're pretty sure that's when you started spying on everyone obsessively rather than once in a while – she vanished and you couldn't find her, which of course made you try harder to do so. Yet, for a while, no matter where you placed a camera you could never find Marceline; it was years, actually, before you found her again. Then one day, she just appeared – it was like she knew you were trying to follow her that whole time. You don't know how she managed to evade you, but you figured it was best to keep a distance. Then, she started hanging out with Finn and soon the Door Lord came and you had every single clue of what she was singing about and all you want is to fix what happened, fix the two of you, but in the end it can't work, it can't work no matter what and –
You try to snap your head out of the past after that.
"Okay, keep one last fire giant. I'm not a bad person; I want you to see that," you say, keeping your tone of voice in check as much as possible; you hope it sounds sincere enough to Flame Princess. The churning feeling in your gut is gross and you might actually puke. Your mind is screaming "don't do this; you need to dismantle these fire giants – for the good of your kingdom!" For once though, you can't bring yourself to do the logical thing. You don't want to spy anymore. Besides, maybe gaining Flame Princess's trust is a better route. Maybe. But mainly?
You really don't want to be a bad person anymore.
And that's enough for you to at least give this a shot.