The sun had finally set over The Land of Ooo, and in its place glowed the moon, casting down its glorious and gentle reflections of light. The atmosphere had cooled down, the winds dancing and caressing any exposed skin of Ooo's residents. Perhaps as a sign, a sign that no matter what could ever happen under the night's cold watch, everything stays. Everything changes, yet everything stays.
Marceline the Vampire Queen, on the other hand, cared not for interpreting the signs of nature. She was too upset to pay attention to the cool zephyr flowing around her heated body. She kept her demeanor calm, but as she flew through the dusk sky, the tides of hurt and anger were threatening to overflow the brinks within her mind, and possibly drown her. Not just her, but anyone who was unlucky enough to cross her path.
She neared the Candy Kingdom, the residence of none other than Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. Though Marceline had a slight dislike for excessive sugar and too many overpowering and headache-triggering shades of pink, the Candy Kingdom had become like her second home. That was only due to the fact that she shared such an intimate relationship with its ruler. But at the moment, she was not in the mood for feeling grateful for who and what was housed in the most beloved place within her heart.
Finally, she reached the castle, and at that point, her nonliving blood was so boiled that she forgot that the calming wind even existed anymore. Forget maintaining a cool demeanor. She was indignant, and in her justification, she had the right to be. She floated down angrily inside the castle gate, passing the gumball guardians easily, as they knew she wasn't a threat. She thought to fly up to the princess's window, but she found her in the castle garden underneath a lamppost, reading a book on a perfectly pink bench. She made her way over to the princess.
Marceline's sudden presence startled the princess, whom in comparison to her resting spot, was also perfectly pink. Adorning her was a pretty pink complexion that matched with her pretty pink princess dress.
"Marceline!" she squeaked.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to read books when it's dark?" the vampire asked with a slight hint of emotion.
"What?" asked the princess, taken aback by the sorry excuse for a greeting.
"Never mind, that's not what I'm here for," said the girl with charcoal-black hair that superbly complimented her blood-red boots, dark jeans, and skin-tight tank top.
"Marceline, is something wrong? You seem-" She was cut off by the dark-haired girl.
"Can you just listen? For once stop trying to analyze every problem you see! Not everything was made to be solved!" Marceline burst.
"I-I don't understand," Princess Bubblegum spoke quietly, calmly, but with concern.
"Then let me tell you, princess." She held out the word princess longer than necessary, slithering her forked tongue out and sounding like a snake. "From the moment we became official, all you've done is hide me. Ignore me, like I was never even there." Like she was a simple breeze that once knew the princess's skin, but was cast away into disregard. "I haven't seen you in months! Have you even once been to my house in the past years? Do I have to keep sneaking into your bedroom at night, only to be sent away because you're so damn focused on your work that you can't keep your eyes open for me for even a second!?"
"Marcy-" The princess was so startled by this confrontation that her eyes began to well with tears. She fought to keep them back.
"I could just bury you in the ground!" the vampire shouted.
Suddenly, the lighter-haired girl began to grow angry as well. Her body shook lightly with growing rage as she stood.
"Are you done yet?" She managed to growl. Her voice was cold and nearly as lifeless as her partner's.
"Yeah, Bonnibel, I'm done. I'm done." The pink girl froze. She hadn't heard Marceline say her full name in hundreds of years. Something inside her cracked. Now there was no going back.
"I'm tired of feeling guilty for this!" Bubblegum shouted. "You go around, breezing through life recklessly. You're still as immature as you were hundreds of years ago! You're upset at me for not spending time with you? Have you ever thought that I have a kingdom to run? Has it ever crossed your mind that whenever I need a break, when I'm craving the flavor of your lips, the feel of your skin against mine, you were never around? You think I've neglected you, Marceline. Well look around! Where were you when I needed you? Moping because you weren't receiving enough attention? I can't sympathize with you. I know that it hurts when you're lonely, I know the feeling all too well."
Marceline stood with shock for a few silent moments, the only thing noticeable being the slight movement of the air around them as their ragged breaths created nearly unrecognizable aerial motion.
"Really? After everything we've been through together? You're still going to find justification in the fact that you have a kingdom to rule? I know you're not perfect like all your little loyal subjects worship you as if you are. Don't expect me to treat you the same."
Marceline felt defeated that they were still fighting over the same thing they had been for so many years at this point. Silence once again enveloped the two as they stared at each other. Bubblegum's heartbroken orbs produced more tears like dark clouds continuously did rain. Marceline refused to bow down this time, even if it ended in the both of them breaking. Princess Bubblegum cut into the quiet like a knife slicing open a strawberry pie.
"Is that what people really think about me?" she whispered.
"What?" Marceline's voice lowered and cracked in frustration and despair.
"That I'm a God above all of you?"
"Are you seriously asking that? Everyone worships you! Everyone! Even… even me."
"Marceline-"
"No!" she shouted. "It's like I'm not even a person, am I?!"
"Oh, now you want to wear this defensive attitude?"
"What do you expect Bonnie? Glob, I shouldn't have to justify what I do. I shouldn't have to prove anything to you! I'm sorry that I even exist."
"How can you even say that, Marceline? I never said you had to be perfect!" At this point the two girls were practically screaming their lungs out at each other.
"Well, then I forget what landed me on your blacklist. I shouldn't have to be the one that makes up with you!" She then lowered her voice, which made it uncertain that the candy girl would even hear the last part. "So why do I want to?"
"Then don't bother!" Bubblegum roared. The half-demon blinked at her in surprise. She stood with her mouth agape, exposing her two canines that were sharper than needles, elongated due to her vampirism. Had her love, her home, her safe place, really said that? Had she really told her to stop trying to mend their relationship? Did she no longer want to be fixed? "Marceline, I didn't mean-"
"Don't try it, Princess. I think I've heard enough. I'm just your problem."
"It isn't like that!"
"Then what is it like?! Enlighten me!"
"You know what?" she suddenly shouted. "You're your OWN problem!"
Marceline recoiled in shock. Without another word, she turned on her heels and stormed away, allowing herself to feel the vibrations of her fury travel from her battered heart, then down to her toes. She paid attention to the way it coursed through her veins and made contact with the earth through the ground. She noted how the light breeze licked away at her bare skin, making her feel lonely and vulnerable.
After about a minute, she began to hear shouts. Shouts of a familiar voice, a voice that was once known as "home", but now? She wasn't so sure. Her and the princess always got into arguments, given they were polar opposites. But they loved each other. They had to eventually gravitate back toward each other, right? They had to. Marceline ignored the broken voice shouting her name and finally disregarded the nature, telling herself that she'd gone soft by ever paying any attention at all. She lifted off into the air, first only levitating to say one last silent goodbye to the moments of the past, before flying slowly away into the night.
Princess Bubblegum was making no progress in calling after her love. After defeat had crashed into her like beach waves over a perfectly sculpted sandcastle, she decided the battle was not yet over. The pink girl broke into a sprint, and kept running for what felt like eons, until she lacked the energy she required to progress at full speed. She jogged for a while before halting with exhaustion. Around her were tall bubblegum trees, in fact, a forest of them. How had she blindly gone through her kingdom's own streets and out into the wilderness?
Had she truly been defeated this time?
"I won't lose you!" Bubblegum shouted into the nothingness surrounding her. "Not again, Marcy, not again." Becoming choked up again, she rested her backside against a tree and wept, the tears stinging her like alcohol in a bullet wound to the chest. She slid down dreadfully slowly against the trunk of the ginormous pink-leaved plant. Finally, she fell into a heap on the ground.
Lost in her pessimistic thoughts, she paid no mind to the rustling of the leaves not but a yard behind her. Without another warning, a burly and mutated animal jumped out at her, startling her so that a high-pitched shriek escaped from her trembling lips.
Marceline was still flying as far away from the overwhelming sight of pink as she could when a spine-tingling scream shook her from afar. She knew the sound of that voice all too well. Her dead heart, which only ever began beating for her one beloved, skipped a beat before quickening its pace as fear created goosebumps along her gray skin.
All at once she turned and made a beeline toward the location of where the sound had erupted. Thanks to her quick flight, she made it in seconds. She was now among the trees, but could not seem to pinpoint her exact destination. She stopped, absolutely still. Her ears twitched.
There. A whimper. She legged it full pelt, due to the density of the trees, until the familiar sight of pink filled her vision. This time the sight was not overwhelming, in fact, it brought relief. But the gum princess was not quite out of the woods yet. Before her hovered a massive creature, unidentifiable, and looking for a meal.
"Bonnie!" Marceline shouted.
What was that? A wolf of some sort? It didn't matter, if the only girl she ever loved was about to die.
Without wasting any more time with thoughts, she let her instincts take over. Her skin thickened, tightened, then stretched until her size increased tenfold. Her form was now that of a hideous bat-demon sort of creature, the ability to be so given from being half-vampire and half-demon. Trees crashed down around her as the enemy shrunk down in its place before fleeing like a coward.
Satisfied, she converted back to her human-like form and collapsed at her love's side on the ground, taking Bubblegum in her arms. The girl whimpered in her embrace.
Normally the princess would have thought of some genius scientific solution to combat the attack, but her emotional instability had caused her to experience quite the state of shock.
"Hey, hey, I've got you, you're okay," Marceline cooed to her calmly.
"I'm sorry Marceline, for everything," the princess dared to whisper after she had stopped shaking.
"Never mind, Princess. It's not your battle to save you from you." She kissed the top of Bubblegum's head and held on a little tighter. "That'll be my job from now on."
"Marcy?"
"Yeah?" she hummed while stroking Bubblegum's soft, pink hair.
"Why?"
Marceline wasn't quite sure what the girl had meant by that, but she was confident that whatever the princess meant, the answer would be the same anyway. "Because I care." For a moment, the princess didn't respond, and all was at peace. But the peace was soon broken.
"Is- is that why you want to bury me in the ground?" Princess Bubblegum furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Oh, Bonnie, of course not. I didn't mean that earlier. I love you. It's just that... sometimes I don't know if you love me back."
"Marceline," the princess sucked in a breath and turned in the embrace to look Marceline in the eyes. She finally raised her voice just above the whisper that she seemed to have previously committed herself to. "Of course I do. Of course I do. Never doubt that."
"Okay," Marceline said. And she actually believed it this time. In that moment, she committed herself for the rest of eternity. "Then I will always be here. I promise you, you could never push me away."
The pink-haired girl smiled gently and let her eyelids flutter closed for a few seconds of solace. "Can I come to your house?" she suddenly inquired. Marceline laughed lightly.
"Absolutely. C'mon." Marceline scooped her up into her arms, earning a yelp of surprise.
"You don't have to carry me!" Bubblegum protested as her cheeks turned a light shade of crimson.
"Careful there, Princess. I just might have to drink the red from your pretty pink face." Bubblegum's blush intensified, and Marceline only laughed in response, flying out above the treetops and toward her house.
The wind nipped at their exposed skin as they breezed through the night sky, but this time, it didn't make either of them feel vulnerable. Nor did it bring the ache that they might be lonely. This time, it seemed to remind them that everything changes, yet everything stays.