Chapter 1
Prologue
The cold howls of winter's breath whistled through his ears, seeing nothing but the eerie, jagged figures of what seemed to be silhouettes of the far mountain ranges enveloping the vast land. He felt nothing but pure numbness on the tips of his fingers, accompanied by wisps of his breathing. The exact events of that moment never left his mind.
Marceline
It had been a while since she had last gone out of her rusty old shack.
Twisting and turning while helplessly laying down face flat on her worn out couch towered with boxes of stale pizzas, board games, and an unplugged amplifier with its chord still attached to her axe bass. Mountains of unfinished songs written on paper scattered across the room beyond compare. From the looks of it, she was indeed living the life of a reckless, albeit immortal, teenager.
The smell of burnt toast alarmed her senses, causing her to moan and groan whilst forcing herself to sit upright despite her position, with cracker bits and whatnots studded across her pasty face. What would you expect her to do right after sleeping face flat against mountains of who knows what?
"Oh, crud." She muttered, coughing as the smoke quickly invaded her nostrils.
With the situation finally sinking in, she jumped, carelessly grabbing a handful of some of the couch's frilly hems only to rip it all off like a roll of used tape and forcefully stuff it against the shaft which contained the flaming turd-like remains of what's supposed to be her breakfast. Miraculously, it worked. Somehow.
"Marceline, you really need to get yourself a life." She could find her eyes exploring through the ceiling as she exhaled a sigh of relief.
As if she had nothing better to do, the Vampire Queen sat back at what seemed to be her only makeshift throne, if that made any sense; the coach. Stretching like she had never stretched before, she couldn't stop herself from fixing her gaze at the frame sitting next to the jamming toaster, which housed the only surviving picture she had with Simon. And just like that, a warm smile involuntarily formed.
The fridge was empty. The closets were empty. Nothing edible was even present at the table, just the unfinished slices of stale pizzas and a dormant glass of lukewarm water. Sighing out of the realization that she had unknowingly become unproductive and has imprisoned herself within the confines of her own home for more than a week.
Burying her face with the dusty pillows on her right, sleeping on the day, pleasuring herself with strawberry pizzas while watching her favorite late night shows, writing songs with lyrics that did not make any sense for her, increasing the amplifier volume just for the heck of it; that, ladies and gentlemen, summarizes the whole week of a Vampire Queen. Well, the only Vampire Queen. Not to mention the excessive growling of her famished stomach.
She has officially lost it.
Yet again, she couldn't help but get herself lost in the framed scenery containing the 7-year-old her and Simon. That's when the memories that were so dear to her heart flooded her thoughts, with a mix of the bitterness of what became of Simon Petrikov… oh, wait, excuse me, the "Ice King".
Despite the mountain of bittersweet memories, and the fact that he left her for reasons unknown, Simon is… was always like a father to her than her actual dad will ever be. She tends to describe how she truly feels about him like the unwritten songs stuck in the back of her thoughts, the ones that she couldn't even find the right words to write it down on paper, like every failed attempt on her getting something to work.
A smile trailed on her face.
Guess he's busy napping random princesses all over Ooo. It's like that crown of his is some rich girl perv. Wait, was it because their crowns are girls too? No way. No freaking way.
Not long after, the bursts of her laughter echoed throughout the cave. Contenting herself with her own crazy thoughts was already comforting enough to be compared to the likes of Jake's stretched out belly fat whenever she gets to have one of those heart-to-heart talks with the big guy.
The whole place was unbearably isolating. Out of sheer impulse, Marceline decided to pay the old man a visit, one that doesn't involve seeing him face to face. Even if she wanted to, their relationship will never be like what it used to 996 years ago, ever since the crown completely took over his unstable psyche.
She grabbed her winter coat and hat hanging by the door, heading towards what seemed to be an ice pickled Ooo. The unforgiving land was covered with mountains and mountains of snow, unbearably cold for anyone to run outside naked. If they do, they'd be a bunch of tasteless popsicles by now.
There's no freaking way, I've been wasting away in this shack for almost two-weeks straight and now the whole place coated in white flakes. She then flew off.
Fortunately for her, the cold was bearable.
On her way to the Ice Kingdom, Marceline amused herself with the sight of house people stuck head first on the deep foam of snow, while other heroic house people failed in their pointless attempt of saving each other. There's like over ten of them buried head first. Heck, how would you react when there's no amount of heroism coursing through your veins?
"Look at them wiggle their lil' feet…" she chuckled at the rather clumsy sight. "Those baby boots won't do you any good!" She jokingly advised while heading away.
Meet Marceline Abadeer: a human-demon hybrid, one who had gained her title by mercilessly slaying the Vampire King. She wasn't a good Queen though. She's anything but good, nor all that bad. Let's just say, she's just lukewarm.
Her hair followed the wind like a whirlpool of whispers. Surprisingly, she was enjoying it; how its whistles tickled her ears and made the very tip of her dull grey nose pinkish red. She always loved the winter, it felt like the snowflakes were wrapping her around in a motherly embrace and it somewhat felt like how Simon's adventures were, how the outcomes are uncertain yet safe.
Without much of a second thought, Marceline played along with the frosty winds, doing a series of barrel rolls and turns until her hat blew off. From afar, she looks like a crazy lost vampire witch, but on the inside, she was just a girl.
"Wildberry Princess, my sweet. Look what I go-." He choked as he tried to finish his sentence midway.
"Ice King, not to be rude and all, but if you got me another keyboard and force me to play it…" The tied and fed up princess exhaled to express her utter annoyance. "I swear, I am going to detach my berries!" she continued as she forcefully wiggled the chair until it creaked.
"Woah, princess, slow down! Of course, it isn't going to be like that." The Ice King replied whilst carefully handling a tray of what seemed to be roasted Thanksgiving turkey towards the prepared candle lit dinner. "We don't want things to escalate quickly."
What the fu- Marceline scoffed, only to cover it off with her freezing palms in case he hears her. After all, she was peering through the icy windows like a hardcore stalker.
Apparently, these one-sided visits became a compulsion whenever she starts missing him like crazy. And spending half of her idle days staring at what used to be Simon and his crazy antics amuses her. But it was incredibly hard to watch, much like the fact that it was hard to put the pieces together when the pieces aren't thepieces they used to be; they just couldn't fit.
Marceline was accustomed to the sight of angry tied-up princesses, but little miss Wildberry is practically an involuntary regular. I pity her redness, I'm sure she broke some strings in that head of hers.
"Guess what's hiding beneath this white cloth?" The king giggled, beaming his crooked smile. "It's something quite…special." He whispered to the princess' ear with that rusty voice of his as he quickly untied her knots like a tangled shoelace, causing her to shiver with disgust.
The poor princess slowly walked towards the suspicious looking gift as she felt his rough hands gently pushing her forward, which only made her even more hesitant to even take another step. It's like she's treading on a one-way road to oblivion. You know I love messing with baby heads.
"What's up Ice King?" Marceline greeted out of the blue, sitting on the ice coated balcony with her legs crossed. The abrupt interference of the Vampire Queen startled the pickled princess to the point that one of her berries detached with a single pop.
"Why, I never- "The princess cried out as she sheepishly chased it around the room.
"Woah, didn't see that coming." The vampire gave out a grin as she floated towards the tableful of roasted turkey covered with decadent juice. Wine perhaps? Something red, that's what. And it made her stomach grumble once more. Well, that made my fangs expand.
"Marcy, what a surprise! Just in time for the special dinner I prepared. It's extra special, you know when you upgrade your RPG character and he gets extra stats? Just like that with a floating plus sign baby!" He giggled while placing some of his special chinaware on the table.
With that out of the way, Marceline promptly took a piece of that smoking hot turkey meat with her fingers, wherein its juice slowly flowed through its gaps like honey. "Wildberry Princess over here's got a gift from moi, aye Berry?" He winked, failing to look charming.
"Don't call me Berry!" The Princess screamed as she anxiously cradled the detached berry like a newborn.
"If you won't open it up, I'll open it up for you!" Ice King could not contain his excitement and majestically revealed what was hidden. He got her Piano.
With a scream that could break glass, Wildberry Princess detached all her berries like a nail bomb, tainting the walls as she cried and shivered in fear while rolling on her own juice…blood, in a sense.
"She loves me." He stated, staring at the miserable scene with a dull look on his face before floating towards his unexpected guest. "Well anyways, why won't you join us and the penguins for the wedding, Marcy Parcy?" Marceline hissed as she cringed. Why wouldn't she? Lame nicknames aside, she could practically feel his abnormally long nose touching hers.
"No thanks old timer, I'm going to hit the hay." She slowly rushed to the ice coated balcony. "Besides, I might mess up some of the brownie points you've got going on."
Leaving with nothing but a wink and a wave, she disappeared into the ranging tundra.
Phew, that was messed-up. I can't seem to take that scene off my head. The vampire could clearly hear the shell-shocked princess' wails and what sounded like doors being breached with sheer force. Looks like Finn and Jake are at it with their usual shenanigans.
Marceline decided to take a little stroll down the road, one that's completely covered in ice to add to the edge of adventure. Good thing it wasn't heavily coated with snow or her legs would freeze and break in the process.
Somehow, her face was now painted with a smile, one of contentment perhaps. Of how Simon turned out to be nothing more than a brainless villain and how the cycle of all things is stagnant and somewhat scripted. Like how a damsel in distress such as Wildberry Princess would be obviously saved by the renowned heroes of Ooo, and it seems by now Finn and Jake already saved those snow-buried house men that contributed to the amusement of a villain such as herself.
Marceline believed she was a villain, all her life, in both blood and nature. Heir to the Nightosphere? Queen of the bloodsucking pests which plagued humanity since time immemorial? Dark clothes and a collection of songs with depressing lyrics? The more she thinks about such things strangely depresses her.
So much for being "lukewarm".
In her aimless excursion, without keeping track of the time whilst telling herself that its way past the sunset, an ambiguous silhouette of a man struggling in the snow storm caught her attention.
Who in their right minds would be pouncing about in a place like this? When you're a vampire who delights with watching any form of oddity in sight, you wouldn't just approach it head on and ruin the show, wouldn't you?
But being the vampire and being Marceline are two different things.
"Hey, you're obviously dying out there!" She shouted as hard as she can so he could hear her, but the snow storm has taken its toll on her ears, and now everything sounds like the inside of a rave with the bass boosted to a million, so she wasn't certain if she's loud enough. There was no reply.
With the storm slightly going down, Marceline could finally see him. A youthful young man who looks like he's about her size, topped with short hazelnut hair and coated with tainted rusty armor. Overall condition, not good at all.
"Hey, you deaf!?" She shouted yet again. "Hey!"
"Aegis?" she could've sworn his head tilted as she heard him say it.
Letting out a soft groan with frozen tears cracking in his cheeks, the mysterious man fell flat on the snow-covered ground with the storm quickly burying him like the bottom half of an hourglass.
Is he a Knight?
Listening to her conscience may be not her thing, but leaving a body to die at the worst possible place isn't her thing either, though she was initially conflicted as to whether she would just leave him there to rot and freeze or to carry his armored ass back to her place for nursing. Thinking about what Princess Bubblegum would do made her gag. She was just lukewarm, nothing noble; that's her, and she thought she already established that.
Heavily exhaling and clenching her fists, she decided to take him home.
Author's Note
There you have it, the first Chapter of Chrysalis. Please take not this is my take on the Adventure Time universe and I myself is not updated with the latest episodes, but I do read the wiki from time to time. So, please bear with me. I would like to thank SamuShark for the semi-collaboration we shared for the fulfillment of the story. From time to time I might mention his name for recognition! Read his works, they are great. Enjoy!
If you guys enjoyed or have any thoughts, please leave a review! That will be much appreciated!
Chapter 2 is in the process of completion. Stay tuned!