Disclaimer: Adventure Time is owned my Pendleton Ward. I make no profit from this story.
Don't Forget Me
Bubblegum pushed the paddle through the water one last time as the bow of the boat struck the rocky edge of the island, letting her know she could finally climb out onto dry land. Taking a deep breath to settle her queasy stomach, she grabbed her picnic basket and the rope attached to the front boat, pulling it along with her as she climbed out. She paused once she was on shore, setting her basket down as she swayed a little, struggling to steady herself again as she tethered her boat to a rather tall, skinny rock so that the waves didn't carry her only way home off into the ocean. Picking up her basket again, she approached the mouth of the dark cave, cool, moist air clinging to her skin as she peered inside.
Seeing no sign of her friend hanging around outside, she pulled her thick gummy hair back into a loose pony tail, tying it back with a hair band she had been wearing around her wrist. With that out of the way, she ventured in, producing a flashlight from her pocket so she could see the way to the vampire's house more clearly, so as not to trip and scrape her knee on a rock like last time. Also, she hoped to avoid stepping on any of the more complex rock formations like the stalagmites protruding up from the ground. She picked her way along through the craggy darkness very carefully, until she was finally standing in front of the vampire's picketed fence, able to see her friend through the window, hovering over the couch.
She lifted her foot, climbing up the white painted steps, realizing that the door had been left slightly ajar. She knocked anyways, wrapping her knuckles lightly against the wood to hopefully attract the vampire's attention, but there was no response from inside the house. Leaning to the side slightly, she glanced back in through the window, the vampire hovering motionlessly over her rock hard sofa, not even turning her head to acknowledge she had company. Pushing the door open, the princess walked inside, bringing her free hand up to her chest out of habit.
"Marce, are you alright?" She asked quietly, taking a few more steps forward when an awful smell assaulted her nose.
"Blegh, Marceline, you smell terrible!" The princess yelped, pinching her nose shut against the stench as her eyes watered from the offensive odor emanating from the vampire. Marceline blinked her eyes slowly, turning her head to look up at her as if she had just then became alerted to her presence, the expression on her pale face so defeated and distraught that Bubblegum could hardly hold her gaze. Forcing her hand down to her side, she took a deep breath and held it in.
"Come on, let's get you in the bathtub." She said, taking the vampire's cold, slightly sticky hand in her own, tugging her off through her own house and toward the bathroom with the vampire floating along behind her, her expression mimicking that of a lost child. When it came time to undress, Bubblegum was about to leave her alone in the bathroom, water running into the tub while the vampire stared at it, as if she didn't know what to do. Sighing deeply, the princess came to stand beside her, lifting the vampire's arms up over her head and peeling the gray cigarette shirt off of her. The smell that wafted up to her face made her nauseas all over again, her stomach churning as she tossed it across the room.
The vampire remained unresponsive throughout the process, stretching out her limbs with instructed to so as to remove her pants, underwear and bra until the gray-skinned girl was left hovering in the air, butt-naked. Bubblegum walked over to the bath then, swishing her finger around in the water to check the temperature. Warm, but not too hot, just the way the vampire liked it.
"The bath is ready." She said, but the vampire didn't respond, hovering lifelessly a few feet from the tub. Another heavy sigh was heaved as a small pink hand took hold her friend's bonier one, dark eyes averted and careful not to look at her nakedness as she guided her over the warm water. Not that Marceline would have noticed if the princess saw her naked, much less cared. Setting her hands atop the vampire's bony shoulders, she pushed her down gently, until the undead Queen's bottom touched the water with a soft, wet slap. She continued pushing, until finally the vampire's butt was seated on the bottom of the ivory tub, water reaching up to her collarbones as she sagged forward a bit. Retrieving a stool from a corner in the bathroom, she scooted it up to the edge of the tub behind her friend and took a seat.
"When was the last time you bathed, Marce?" Bubblegum asked, picking up a cup from the floor and dipping it into the tub, filling it with water.
"Don't know." She muttered quietly.
"Mm. Tilt your head back, I'm going to wet your hair." Bubblegum's hand pressed tenderly against the vampire's forehead, guiding her head back, red eyes staring up at her bleakly. "Now close your eyes, or you'll get water in them." She said, and the vampire obeyed, exhaling softly as her friend poured the warm water over her head, feeling it soak through the top layer of her thick mane as it washed over her hairline. It was going to take a lot of cups full of water to wet her down completely, but she didn't care, and the princess didn't bother asking her to dunk her head to make the bath go any quicker.
Although she had been trying to avoid looking, Bubblegum happened to glance down at one point, catching a glimpse of her friend's unclothed body. She might've been more embarrassed had she not noticed how skinny the vampire really looked, even more so than usual. Ribs poked out from under her skin, hips jutting out even more sharply than before, her collarbones sticking out a little further. Upon closer inspection, she could even see it in Marceline's face, her cheeks and eyes a little bit sunken. Meanwhile, the vampire remained quite still, trusting her friend completely as her eyes remained shut, another cup full of water washing over her head after a few moments, a bit of it trickling over her eyelids and catching on her thick lashes. Bonnie was the only person in Ooo, in existence even, that she trusted enough to close her eyes in the presence of for any amount of time for any reason.
"How long has it been since you've fed?" The princess asked softly, combing her fingers through the vampire's wet, inky mess of hair, feeling for dry spots.
"Days?" She said, although she didn't sound very sure.
"Marceline, you know better than to neglect yourself like this." Bubblegum chided her, not bothering to mask her blatant disapproval or worry. Her friend remained silent. Picking up the bottle of shampoo sitting on the floor near one leg of the tub, the princess squeezed a rather large amount of it into her palm, reaching out to carefully lather it into Marceline's hair. She was gentle as she worked the suds around the crown of her head, using her fingertips to massage the soap in, nails scraping lightly over her scalp as she worked her way down from there. She went on washing for several minutes, scooping piles of wet hair from the bathtub as she neared the ends, pausing to get more soap in order to lather the remaining bits up
Bit by bit, the vampire relaxed, letting her legs stretch out in front of her, leaning her head into the candy princess's soothing touch. The rinsing process then took place, followed by conditioner then rinsed again. After a while, Marceline had her head pushed out of the tub, resting her damn brow against Bubblegum's left knee as the princess went about lathering soap over a washcloth she had found dangling from the edge of the tub.
"Don't open your eyes, I'm going to wash your face. I apologize if it's a little cold." Bubblegum warned as she took the soapy rag and rubbed it along the flesh covering a high, rather sharp cheekbone.
"I don't get cold, remember?" Marceline asked suddenly, cracking one eye open against her friend's advice. Luckily, there wasn't enough soap around the area to sting her eye.
"Right." Bubblegum blinked, recalling that the vampire wasn't as sensitive to temperature changes as a living person would be. The single red eye slid closed again, allowing her to continue washing her face until her pallid skin was covering it white suds.
"I'm going to poor the water over your face now, to get the soap off." Bubblegum informed her, about to dump the cup over her face when the vampire piped up again.
"You don't need to tell me, it's not like I need to breathe." She informed her quietly, and Bubblegum laughed a bit.
"Although that is true, I've seen you choke on water at the beach before, when you happened to be taking a breath and that wave hit you." She replied, smiling. A faintest hint of a smile made the vampire's own lip twitch, but just slightly. With that said, she finally poured the water over her face, revealing a slightly less dingy looking vampire.
She went about washing the rest of Marceline then, working her way down from her neck with the cloth in her left hand and using her other bare, soapy palm to wash the right side, down to her shoulders, followed by her arm pits (which she scrubbed rather vigorously), and finally her chest (skirting widely around her breasts). Lastly, she scooted down to the other end of the tub, plucking the vampire's pruned gray feet from the water and washing them thoroughly. The vampire had a rather off-putting habit of not washing them well enough at times, and if she'd bathed the rest of her (mostly), she would make sure that task was not neglected either. Marceline even seemed to enjoy that part a little, although the muscles in her legs twitched once or twice out of ticklishness when it came time to wash between her toes.
"I can recognize you now that all that muck is washed off." Bubblegum said, trying to coax another smile from her friend. The remark earned her another twitch of the lips, a little more noticeable than the first as her red eyes opened a hair, looking up at her. The princess met her stare easier this time, reaching down and stroking her cheek tenderly with the smooth pad of her thumb, the vampire pushing her face against her palm in response. "Who would've thought such a pretty girl could've been hidden under all that grime?"
"Schmuck." Marceline said, but couldn't stop the corner of her mouth from turning upward. The vampire had a weak spot for compliments.
"I'll leave it to you to finish cleaning yourself up. I'll be waiting for you in your room when you get out." She said, standing up and making to leave, when she paused in the doorway. "And don't just sit there doing nothing after I walk away, actually wash yourself."
"You sound like my mother, Bonnie." The princess chose to ignore the comment, disappearing and closing the door behind her with a soft click, standing there for a moment and listening when she heard the sound of water stirring and the cap of a bottle popping open. "Bonnie, I know you're still standing there." The vampire said after a minute, and the princess had to stifle a giggle, walking off to the kitchen. She retrieved the basket she had brought along with her, taking out the most vibrant of the few strawberries she had and setting them down carefully in a bowl that she had taken out from the cupboard. Opening the refrigerator door, she found herself faced with quite a bit of rotting red meat, vegetables and fruits. Having expected this, she held her breathe, getting the garbage can and shoveling all the rotten food items into the bin. The only thing that wasn't either outdated or spoiled was a few red cans, one filled with tomatoes and the other containing cranberry sauce.
After taking the garbage outside and setting it down on the front steps, she went back inside and retrieved the two cans along with the strawberries, taking them back to Marceline's room. She sat down on the edge of the bed, her back to the bathroom door when she heard it squeak on its hinges. Turning her head slightly, she saw Marceline float out into the room with one towel wrapped around her head and an second around her midsection, droplets of water dripping from her toes and onto the floor.
"Come here, you need to eat. Your body requires nourishment of some sort, and I brought you your favorite." Bubblegum said.
"Strawberries? But they're out of season." The vampire said quietly.
"I know." Bubblegum took one from the bowl, holding it up for her friend to see. Marceline opened her mouth to say something when her stomach growled rather loudly. Floating over to the bed, she watched as her friend situated herself more comfortably on the mattress, her lap presenting itself as a rather tempting pillow. The princess was a little surprised when she felt the weight of the vampire settling down against her, her back curving along her left leg and her head resting on top of her firm upper thighs. Picking out a berry from the bowl, the vampire brought it to her mouth, sinking one fang into it and draining the red from it, flicking the mushy red remnants aside carelessly.
"Marceline!" Bubblegum reprimanded. "No wonder you house always stinks like rotting fruit! That is so unsanitary, I'm surprised you don't have a swarm of fruit flies hanging around this place." She made to stand and pick up the messy gray splat, but Marceline caught her around the waist, arms locking fast. The princess stopped, blinking as the vampire buried her gray face in her warm belly, holding on tight.
"Don't get up." She mumbled, her voice muffled by Bubblegum's shirt and the skin beneath. "Please don't leave me here alone. I don't want to be alone anymore." The princess felt her heart break a little right then, looking down at her friend.
"I wasn't going to leave, Marce, I was just going to throw away the fruit." The vampire still didn't let go. "Here, have another strawberry. Come on." She said, sucking in her tummy and poking the vampire's cheek with the tip of the fruit until Marceline turned her face upward to look at her, but averting her glistening eyes. Forcing herself to smile and dampen the sadness threatening to show in her eyes, she playfully poked the vampire's lips with the berry, a ghost of a laugh issuing from her throat as she wiggled it between her friend's lips, rubbing it along her razor sharp teeth and bumping her nose with it on accident. Even as a little tear slid from the corner of her eye, the vampire laughed, opening her mouth and chomping down on the berry like a shark.
"Oh Marce, please don't cry." Bubblegum said, reaching out and wiping the drop away. "I know it hurts right now, but-"
"How did you know he came over here?" Marceline asked abruptly, cutting her off midsentence. She blinked, caught a little off guard, before reaching out to stroke her friend's hair tenderly as the towel slipped off bit by bit.
"Finn and Jake told me. They came by my castle yesterday and told me the Ice King, er, Simon, had been over here causing some sort of trouble and making you cry over a song you wrote together. They were worried because you seemed so upset, and you weren't returning their calls, or mine for that matter. It wasn't hard to put it together from there." Bubblegum said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her friend's pointed gray ear. Marceline groaned softly, turning her face away as a wave of fresh new tears threatened to spill down her cheeks all over again, remembering the photo and the song.
"I know you didn't know him back then, that all you can see now is a crazy old man but… He was more of a dad to me back then than my own flesh and blood back during the Mushroom War. He loved and took care of me, and remembering that makes me miss him so much, Bonnie. It hurts to see him like this, so confused and desperate it's pitiful. I'm surprised he even remembers my name anymore, the crown's withered his mind so much now." By the time she was finished talking, the vampire's throat was too tight to speak anymore, tears running down her cheeks. "H-he means so much to me, and he can barely even remember my name."
Unable to bring herself to speak, Bubblegum pulled her friend up into a sitting position, taking her in her arms and holding her tight, stroking her hair and the bare skin of her bony upper back. The vampire's arms and legs wrapped around her then, the towel in her hair falling away and letting wet stands of black hair shroud them as the vampire sobbed freely into the crook of her neck. Unable to quell the urge burning in her gut, Bubblegum pressed her lips softly against the vampire's naked right shoulder, the hardness of bone pressing right back. She repeated this gesture several times, peppering little kisses all over her shoulder, just holding her friend tight, offering a sense of security that the vampire so desperately craved.
Sometimes it was hard to believe she was over a thousand years old when such raw emotion poured from her, because you wouldn't think such an ancient being could muster that much feeling after so long. But then again, time was supposed to heal all wounds, whereas it seemed to tear open fresh ones where the vampire was concerned. Hundreds and hundreds of years' worth of friends all gone, lost to the sands of time, having died or gone mad long ago, leaving the vampire alone in the world once again, just like always. Since befriending Marceline, immortality had taken on a new meaning in her life, letting her realize just how imperfect, even painful, an unending existence could be when you had to watch all the people you love die before your eyes while you remained, unchanged and well.
"Don't ever forget me, Bonnie. Not even when you're old and full of wrinkles, don't you dare forget who I am." The vampire whispered, her breath tickling the princess's skin.
"I won't." The princess reassured her.
"Promise?"
"I already did, quite some time ago if you remember."
"Of course I do." The vampire whispered a little indignantly, tightening her hold around the princess, sniffling a bit.
"If I recall correctly, you threatened to fly over to my castle and punch me in the face if I ever did, even if I'm a decrepit little old lady."
"I will if you forget me." The vampire said, fighting off a smile despite her puffy eyes.
"Oh I don't doubt it." The princess said, chuckling softly at the thought.
"I don't make it a habit of befriending mortals, kid."
"Would you consider making an exception for me?"
"…Perhaps. But you gotta promise me one thing."
"Well, I can certainly try, if it is within my reach of course."
"You can't forget me. Ever."
"Of course I won't forget you!"
"But do you promise?"
"I promise."
"Cross your heart and hope to die?"
"I swear it on my honor as a princess."
"Good, cuz I like you, kid."
"Please, my name is Bonnibel."
A/N: Hey , I actually depicted Peebles as a good guy for once!