My Dearest Cousin,
Since your most recent letter regarding your frightening experience with the local villainess, as well as matters of your heart being broken, I humbly request you return to Ooo for a short holiday. Just a few days to get away and recollect your thoughts. Besides, it's about time you visited your favorite relative. I'm sending Peppermint Butler to retrieve you, as you should very well know this means we won't be taking no for an answer. See you soon.
Love,
Bonnibel
He let out another small chuckle, re reading the letter for the hundredth time for the sake of passing the time.
There was a specific reason as to why he never visited his cousin as often as he would've liked. It took two hours on Lord Monochromicorn to fly over Aaa to the dock, four hours on the ferry across the ocean, then three hours via chariot from the Ooo dock to the CandyKingdom.
He groaned and stretched as he lied on the plush cushions of the chariot in a very unprincely state, his leg propped up while the other dangled off the seat with his arm over his eyes. It was a long trip; royal mannerisms were well out the window at this point.
"Are you holding up my Prince?" a small voice from above asked innocently.
Gumball laughed, at least he had good ol Peppermint Butler his entire journey," I'll survive, dare I ask how much longer?"
"About 10 minutes now"
Gumball lifted his arm from his eyes and sat up slightly.
Sure enough, right outside the window of the chariot was the beginning of the CandyKingdom, the color of the trees and pavement became brighter, happy and peaceful. Sitting up completely and peaked outside. Small houses passed by, with citizens of the kingdom going about their business and the sound of candy horses clopping on butterscotch streets.
Finally, after an entire day of traveling he made it to his birth place.
Sitting up properly and he smoothed out his pants and sleeves that became wrinkled during several naps, he sighed and picked up his small crown that sat on the cushions across from him; time to be a prince again.
Soon the chariot was pulled to a stop in front of the castle steps, moments later the tiny butler opened the door, "We have arrived"
Stepping out, the pink prince cracked his neck and sighed in relief, "…I won't be looking forward to the trip back home…" he mumbled, but regardless he placed the crown his head and straightened his tunic.
"Three weeks is a long time, but you should go on now. The Princess has been eagerly awaiting your return" he smiled, pointing upwards.
Funny how a few days away turned in a few weeks of vacation, but he wasn't going to argue.
"So have I, thank you Peppermint. It's good to be back"
With that he took in a deep breath and began the very long and steep trek up the castle steps. He was in no hurry, considering his legs still sore from sitting for hours made it impossible to go any faster than what he was currently going but in a way he was thankful.
The point of this visit was to take a break from his own kingdom, to slow down from his constant busy schedule and royal duties. What better place to do just that than the very place he grew up?
"Things sure haven't changed" he laughed as he reached the final step and paused a moment to look up at the grand castle in all its glory and amazing resemblance to his own.
Speaking of things not changing, upon the doors opening before him, Gumball looked up and laughed, "Hello Manfred!"
The piñata smiled and cleared his throat," Announcing the arrival from the land of Aaa, Prince-"
"Gumball!" Another voice called out excitedly.
The Prince of Aaa turned around just in time to see the Princess of Ooo running to him and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Hello Bubblegum" he laughed, returning the hug," Let me see you"
She loosened her grip to look up at her older cousin, his eyes widened in surprise, cupping her face in his hands, "My look at you! The last time I saw you this crown barely fit your head" he teased, gently poking at the tiara earning a small giggle from the princess.
"It's good to see you; I've missed you so much" she smiled, hugging him close.
He chuckled, placing a small kiss on her brow, he didn't want to think on how long it had been since he had seen her; the girl who might as well had been his sister. Instead he held her close, "I've missed you too"
As per how things normally go in the land of Ooo, their sentimental reunion was cut short as the wall suddenly exploded as Finn the human was sent flying straight through and slid to a halt in the middle of the grand hall face first.
"Ow…"
Immediately, the two ran over to the pile of wall chunks and a rather frazzled looking human.
"Finn! Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling beside him and gently poking his head.
Gumball blinked in surprised as the young boy just rolled over and brushed the debris off his shoulder," I'm fine! Your castle walls are made of candy and all" he laughed and smiled up at his princess, but quickly fell as he finally noticed another pink person standing behind her.
"…hey Pb, did you get your clone machine to work? I think it went wrong"
Gumball and Bubblegum took a moment to look at each other," Hm, I never noticed any extreme resemblances…"
The princess just shook her head and laughed, "No silly, this is my cousin Prince Gumball, he's visiting"
On cue, Gumball knelt beside the human and held out his hand, "I've heard many things about you Finn"
The boy smiled big and shook the newcomer's hand with much vigor, "I hope they were awesome things!"
"OH GLOB"
Suddenly Finn was whisked away from Gumball's grasp as a yellow blur was also sent flying out of the very hole Finn burst through and collided with the boy.
"Owwww….."
The yellow blur was in fact the magical dog also described in his cousin's letters, who was now in a long tangled mess of his long limbs with his best friend.
"…and this must be Jake" Gumball chuckled lightly.
"Don't mind me I'm just going to lie here a moment…" Jake groaned in pain, doing just that and remained unmoving.
Bubblegum however was less than amused and let out an annoyed sigh.
"What's this about?"
"Well…I took your advice…training my soldiers so I wouldn't get kidnapped all the time"
Granted Gumball should take own advice but he felt the need to tell his little cousin this regardless.
"But…I thought Finn would be doing the training"
Finn responded with a grunt as he pushed the limp dog off of him, who just plopped over like a blob of spaghetti.
"He was"
"…so who is now?"
Bubblegum paused a moment, "Well…."
A clash of steel, the cry of frightened guards and a frustrated growl, though it sounded more like a snarl, captured the attention of the Candy royals.
"Finn get back here! These stupid bananas still don't get it, we need to do it over!" the voice of an angry young woman called out from the other side of the hole in the wall.
Finn whimpered lightly and stood up, he had no serious injuries and there no excuses. He just not so excited to be the example again, "Coming…"
With less than enthusiastic speed, and two pink persons behind him, Finn wobbled back to the hole and hopped into the room.
Within was the entire Banana army, loyal soldiers and servants to the CandyKingdom, armed to the teeth and shaking in fear.
Every single one, pressed against the wall, attempting to be as far as possible from the middle where one lone figure stood with a blood red axe in her grasp.
As the boy stepped forward, the woman turned around and smiled, exposing pearly white fangs with evil intent," Alright, take two. Attack me head on and try to dodge this time yeah?"
Finn grumbled and hesitantly walked towards the other side of the training room, giving himself a head start to his own demise.
There were other words, complaints and snarky replies exchanged but Gumball couldn't hear them. The two stood outside the hole to watch from a distance, but the moment he caught sight of the huge weapon, beautiful raven hair and piercing immortal eyes, he couldn't find the ability to look away.
"…Bonnibel" he started calmly.
"Yes?"
Finn let out a prepubescent battle cry as he charged full speed at the vampire with his short blade.
"Is that the Vampire Queen you spoke about in your letters?"
She remained as she was, standing casually but her axe at the ready.
"Yep, I originally had Finn do the training but she kind of…invited herself. As per usual" the princess rolled her eyes.
Just as the human got close enough, she lifted her weapon and swiped at him, aiming for his throat, luckily this time he did in fact dodge by sliding on his knees, slipping under the blade just in time. With her back to him, he lunged at her but she was too fast, and whirled around, bringing her axe down on his sword, lodging the blade into the ground.
Gumball mumbled, "…you never mentioned…" he trailed off, feeling his face grow warm all of a sudden.
She laughed and placed her red boot on the boy's face as he struggled to pull his sword free.
"Marceline you're freaking out my soldiers" Bubblegum finally spoke up, stepping over the debris of the wall to enter.
The Banana guards quickly straightened up and snapped at attention at the presence of their princess, Marceline however just shrugged.
"Hey if they can take me out then you have nothing to worry about for the rest of your gummy little…"
She blinked and did a double take as another pink person in equally fancy clothes followed after the princess.
"Dude, stop it with the cloning. One day you're going to get it right and we're all doomed" with a little shove, Finn was sent a few feet across the floor landing flat on his back with a boot print on his face.
"Ha ha hey I said that too!" he laughed, pointing up at Gumball, who was still not convinced.
"I still don't see it…"
"Don't be stupid, this is my cousin" Bubblegum stepped to the side, and addressed her servants," and he's going to be staying with us for a while, you will all treat him no differently than me"
Every single Banana responded as one, "Yes Princess"
As any good Prince would and should do, it was only proper to introduce himself to new people especially to those of royal status, regardless of how serious they took it. He cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"You must be the Vampire Queen" he started.
Marceline couldn't have look any less interested, she casually glanced at him, making his insides turn. He could feel her scanning him from head to toe, already making judgments, "Sup pinkie" she grinned slightly.
Refusing to let his polite gentlemen like posture fall, he tried again, offering his hand out in a friendly hand shake,"I am Prince Gumball from-"
"Aaa" she finished for him as her face fell. There was something in her eyes that changed, a silent fury he couldn't explain but made his heart sink.
" Well then, nice meeting you" and with that she turned around and walked off, completely ignoring his very existence.
Gumball blinked in surprise, his hand left hanging in the wind; just like that she gave him the cold shoulder.
There was only one solid reason for this behavior, the one minor detail he had completely forgotten.
"…you really are his sister…" he muttered under his breath.
Unfortunately another minor detail he had also forgotten was a vampire's very impressive hearing.
Within seconds, she whipped around with her axe in a tight grasp and it's blade under his chin and inches from his throat.
"Don't you fucking dare say his name in front of me" she growled, her face pulled into a deep scowl with her razor shark fangs at the ready if for whatever reason the axe didn't do the trick.
The room gasped, once again the guards were back against the wall in fear despite a royal member's life being threatened no one dared to interfere with the Vampire Queen and her wrath.
Even Bubblegum and Finn stepped back, her closest friends afraid of this brand new trigger word that brought out the true monster.
Gumball remained absolutely and utterly still, sweating bullets as her eyes bore into his very soul, he could've sworn they were red for a moment, "A-ah, right. I-I forgot, sensitive topic. M-my apologies" he stammered horribly, praying to the Cosmic Owl that his life would be sparred.
"Hmph, that's what I thought" within a blink of an eye, her fierce glare disappeared and the axe was removed from his neck. She calmly floated back to her spot where Finn's sword was still embedded in the floor while the room slowly registered exactly what had just taken place.
"Alright you marshmallows, we're gonna keep doing this til you get it right. Get up Finn" she ordered, casually ripping the blade out from the floor for him.
Finn looked up at Bubblegum, who looked just as confused as he did, "Uh…o…k…" he started, standing up and returning the vampire's side to retrieve his weapon.
"Right then…good luck boys" Bubblegum coughed, beginning her own prayers that her soldier's lives would be sparred. She looped an arm around Gumball's, gently pulled him aside.
"What ever you just did, don't ever do it again" she whispered harshly as she dragged the still very shocked prince away.
He shook his head, finally regaining his composure, "I uh…right sorry…but…I just…" even as he was being dragged away, he found himself looking back at the woman that nearly killed him, his heart still thumping wildly in his ears and a faint blush returned to his cheeks.
"…wow"
I will go down with this ship.
~SWD