"Simon?" She whispered, her small hands clenched into fists at her side. She glanced up at the old man at her side as she stepped over the rubble of the town they were currently in. She almost tripped over something, and at closer inspection she found it to be a shattered portrait of a family.
"Yes Marcy?" He breathed. He was trying to stay as quiet as he could for they did not know what awaits them. Something or someone could hear them and easily find them. That could end in either good or bad results. He paused his walking and looked down at the young girl. He nodded slightly in her direction, motioning for her to continue speaking.
"What.." she sighed, looking down at the worn down shoes that were trapping her small feet. "what caused, ya know, all this?" Marceline said while twiddling her raven black hair around her short fingers. By, 'all this' she meant the war. The chemical waste that polluted the earth. The explosions, the maimed people. Are they even considered people anymore? They more resemble zombies. Marceline and Simon haven't witnessed another human in weeks. It's been about a month now and things haven't gotten any better. The few humans they do encounter are usually bandits. The war had started so quickly that no one was quite sure who started it or why it started. Simon was sure he knew why though. He thinks it's his fault. See, Simon had made the biggest scientific discovery in the history of the world. It changed him. Quite literally.
"Well, Marceline, It's quite a long story." Simon said, kneeling down to the little girl's level. She looked up at him with big eyes, eager to know what caused the destruction of earth itself. Simon gave a weak smile. I guess she's old enough now to know what caused the death of her mother. "I'll have to tell you later." Simon decided it was best not to tell her now.
"But Simo-" She whined, her sentence cut off by Simon's hand covering her mouth. He removed his hand from her mouth and slowly put a finger over his pale lips.
"Shh, Marcy, We don't know if those...'things' are still around." He alerted the small girl. She nodded and smiled. "Are you good Marcy? Do you need a break?" He said with concern. He felt responsible. This was all his fault anyways, he at least had to take care of her. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if anything happened to her.
"I think i'm go-" She said, getting cut off again. This time by her stomach rumbling. She put a hand over her stomach. "Okay, Maybe i'm a little hungry. But that's not important! We can keep going!" She said. She knew how Simon wanted to move on, she also knew how he would stop at nothing to make sure she was okay. Even if that meant using the crown. Simon used to look like any normal man in his late 40's. Now he more resembled and older man. A white scraggly beard and hair started to grow. His skin developed into a palish blue color. But his nose, Marcy thought his nose was about the worst. It grew long and pokey and nasty looking. It reminded her of those witches you would see on Halloween. The ones with the nasty warts and green oily skin. Not to mention the snow. The more he put on the crown, the more he became 'Not simon' He just wasn't himself when he put it on. He even started calling the young girl "Gunter" by accident. Who was Gunter? The little girl always though it was a weird and completely random name. But what if it was his son he lost in the mushroom war? That was the most logical reason Marcy could think of.
"No, No Mar!" He said, picking her up and setting her on his shoulder. "We've gotta get you some food in that stomach!" He laughed, softly jabbing a finger into Marceline's tiny stomach. She couldn't help but giggle. He loved to hear her giggle, it meant he hadn't turned into a complete monster. There was still some sort of humanity left in him. He had caught her crying a couple days before. He didn't know exactly why she was crying, but he knew it was because of him. He felt so terrible, he had to make it up to her. He couldn't get worse, he wouldn't be able to protect her anymore. He had to keep his promise to not wear the crown. But on the other hand, he needed the crown to protect them! Emergencies. Emergencies only, He decided. He set the girl down on a rock and shuffled through his few belongings. He momentarily gazed at the little girl before him. Had she grown paler? Was she sick? Is she starving? Or, has that always been her skin tone? Her skin had been pale grey since they had met, but now he wasn't sure if she was even paler than that. It was hard to tell, with his memory going out and all. All he could do was worry. "Chicken Noodle, Mar?" The old man said while pulling out a can.
"You know it Simon!" She smiled. Least she could do was act happy for him. She watched him set the can down and then scratch his beard. She noticed in the distance a new pillar of smoke rising up to the heavens. What was burning now? What city, what town? What store, what house? So many questions that won't be answered for a very long time.
"That's it!" Simon practically screamed. Marcy jumped back a little on her rock platform. The man reached into the bag once more and fished around. He finally found what he was reaching for and pulled it out. "Can opener!" He said, with a toss of the item in the air. It flipped on complete turn before he swiped it out of the air. Marceline giggled yet again. He wrenched at the can with the opening device and unleashed the noodles. "There Marcy, eat up." He insisted, nudging the open can towards her. She reached forward and grabbed the can and took a slow long sip. Marceline stared into the can and sighed. Simon's attention was drawn to her. "Marcy..?" He said with worry.
"Don't worry Simon, I'm fine. It's delicious, Really. Thank you." She smiled. She didn't want him to worry any more than he already was. She had to keep him calm. He had done so much for her, she had to repay him. "Tell me?" She pleaded. "Please Simon?" She looked up to the man with a small smile. Her childlike mind got distracted and she peered off into the distance. Was it just him and her in the wreckage of this world? It was just so hard for a little girl. She had forgotten where they were exactly, but she thinks somewhere near Russia. He eyes wondered around the abandoned land and she thought she saw something bright pink move through the bushes.
"Alright Marceline. I owe you enough to tell you." He said with a wink. She giggled and settled herself into a criss-cross-applesauce position. "Well, It all started when I made the biggest discovery! I found the crown." Marceline's eyes dulled when he mentioned this. He managed a weak smile. "I found it and of course I tried it on, and that's when things began to...change." He looked down as he spoke. He couldn't look her in the eye, he just couldn't. "Things got colder, it started to snow at random times, my house was filled with Icicles. My wife left me, thinking things couldn't get any worse. Then things did." A single tear escaped his eye. It rolled down his ice-blue face onto his shirt. She put a cold hand on his shoulder. "People started to figure out the crown's powers. Everyone wanted it, I tried to warn them that it was a bad thing. They never listened... Different countries began to start wars trying to get the crown. No one was safe. Chemical warfare started, Bombs were dropped. The whole world turned against itself. Then the atomic bomb was dropped. It killed almost everyone and destroyed almost everything, Marcy. I'm not sure how I even survived, I think it was because the crown's powers, I'm not sure. We're just lucky to be alive." He finished.
"Simon, I'm.." She hiccuped. "I'm so sorry." She said sadly. She wasn't exactly sure how she had managed to survive either. She had woken up one morning and the world around her was in ruins. She remembered walking through the town she lived in and finding the few remains of her house smoking. Her dress was burnt at the edges and torn at places. She couldn't find her mom anywhere. She had assumed the worst had happened and her mother was gone forever.
"It's alright Marceline." He said trying to soothe her. "It'll be okay, It'll all be over soon. I swears to ya." He said with a nudge. He hated lying to her. "Come on Marcy! Let's get goi-" He spoke, being cut off bye a rustling in near bye bushes.
"Simon?!" She squealed. She instinctively moved behind Simon and grabbing the end of his shirt. His hand instinctively moved to the crown attached to his belt loop. Marcy noticed him doing so."You promised Simon!" She cried. "You swore you'd never wear it again!" She spoke while her hand tightened into his shirt.
"I must protect you Marcy! I have too, and I'm sorry!" He said, taking a step forward. The thing they had heard earlier stumbled out of the bushes. It seemed to be a zombie like creature, Pinkish in color and it look sticky. Rotten even. It's flesh oozed and melted off parts of the creature's body. It reminded young Marceline of candy. Simon unhooked the crown. Marceline tugged on his shirt to get his attention. Her eyes were pleading with him, but he HAD to protect her and himself. Slowly, he placed the cold crown upon his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tear run down the young girl's face. Then, He lost control.
"NO! SIMON! SIMON, YOU PROMISED ME!" Marceline screamed at the older man.
She saw his features start to change, His hair grew longer and whiter in color, his skin turned even bluer and his nose, his disgusting nose grew longer and pointier. She saw the weather above start to change and ice flurries flew by her. Snow started to fall lightly at first, then picked up quickly. "You promised Simon.." she whispered. Simon flew up into a snow cloud as blue lightning sparked from his fingertips.
"OH GLOB CAKES! THE POWER! THE POWER OF ICE!" Simon screamed like a maniac. "HAHEHAHEHUAUHAHAHUEHEHAH!" He twirled in the air. He shot sheets of ice and snow from his hands at the candy-zombie until it was buried ten feet deep. Then he finally noticed the little raven-haired girl standing behind the wreckage of a car. She had tears running down her face and her overalls-dress was ripped on one shoulder. She watched as the crazed ice-man studied her. She fell silent with large eyes trained on the man who used to be Simon. "M-Ma...M-mar..." He stuttered, looking as if he had something on his mind that he could barely grasp. As if he were trying to remember something from very long ago. It was like he recognized her but forgotten her name.
His eyes brightened suddenly. It looked like he remembered. Marceline looks at him eagerly. The ice-man smiled wickedly. Then finally, he spoke.
"Gunter?"