Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.

AN: I'm trying to get back into writing fanfics. I really, really am. So, I'm going back through and working on some fics I have done/almost done so I can get them posted. Sorry if they're blurg; I'm coming out of a bad patch of writer's block. Hopefully my new attempt to try and get a fic posted every three days or so will help break me out of that! And, in case any of you are wondering, the song's from the Shrek Musical.

"If you couldn't be you, who would you be?"

For a long few moments, Marceline let her fingers continue their journey on her bass, the unplanned, disjointed cords winding together to create something like a song. Eventually, though, feeling the gaze of her human friend upon her, she had to let the instrument fall, her confusion evident on her face as she turned to fully look at the kid.

"What do you mean, Finn?"

"Well…" The boy drew out, trying to figure out how to explain what was on his mind, "if you couldn't be Marceline the Vampire Queen, but you were still you in personality and memories and junk, who would you be?"

"I'd be a waffle maker," Jake chimed in, his head and hands popping through the door that led to the kitchen, a giant plate of waffles held high before him. His body followed a few moments later, the stretched skin and tendons settling back together to form the dog they all knew and loved. "I'm great at making waffles," the canine continued, "so if I couldn't be an explorer, I would totally do this."

"And I would be a storyteller," Finn said excitedly, pulling the handful of red colored waffles from the pile and handing them to her. "I can come up with a rad story when I wanna, and spending the whole day telling stories to kids and little old grannies seems like fun, so why not?"

"Why not indeed?" Jake agreed happily before stuffing his face, cheeks bulging with the number of waffles he had managed to fit in. Turning his head toward the floating vampire, he mumbled something around the half chewed mass of bread and syrup, something so unintelligible she just knew he was asking about her.

Who she would be if she wasn't her?

She'd never thought of it, if she was honest. Grabbing a waffle to gain some time, Marceline sank her tooth into the spongey breakfast food and slowly began draining it of its color, leaving a white husk behind. She half smirked as the boys to look away, shuddering at the remains of her food; their reaction, though, only made her thoughts that much more jumbled. She had long since accepted her lot in life; Vampire Queen and Heir to the Nightosphere were pretty cool titles, even with the responsibilities and horrors they brought with them. Sure: having to kill off some of her subjects when they tried to disobey her command to drink red, learning the insides (the real insides) and outer stuff of the Nightosphere, and the occasional piece of paperwork were a drag, but the perks were great. Immortality, constant fear from the general populace, and more than enough time to work on her sick beats made up for it.

Especially since she'd started making friends again.

So, if she had to be someone other than she, who oh who oh who would she be?

"Does rock-and-roll Queen count," she asked, throwing the well dried waffle over her shoulder and grabbing another.

"Nope," Jake replied, forcing the giant mass in his mouth down his expanding gullet. "You're already that in all but title, and what's a title to the music? Nothing, baby; so you gotta think of something else!"

"Hmmm…"

Nibbling the food, Marceline watched her friends as they left her to her thinking, joking around as they stuffed food into their mouths. She had learned so long ago that wishing for things to be different did no good. It did no good wishing there was more food to scavenge, or wishing for him to come back, or for the sun when her maker turned her.

So taking this seriously, even if just to play with her friends, was impossible.

"I don't know," Marceline finally shrugged, throwing the remains of her second waffle so it bounced off of Jake's face. Sticking her tongue out, all it took was a quick eye glow before the dog's snarl turned into a whine and he shrunk back down, slightly smaller than he had been before. "If, in an alternate universe where I wasn't me," Marceline added quickly, searching for something random to get rid of their disappointed faces, "I guess I'd be…"

Her eyes landing upon Finn's sword, the words came without her permission, leaving the boys even more confused than they normally were on a daily basis.

"A hero."

"But Marceline," Finn protested, waving his fork at her, "you're already a hero!"

"Yeah," Jake agreed, nodding quickly. "You've helped us not die so many times I can't even keep the count straight on my fingers anymore! You're totally hero material."

"The material, maybe," Marceline allowed, picking her bass back up and leaning back so she was lying in midair, slowly strumming away as she spoke, "but I am still the villain. Most people are scared of me; they only see the Vampire Queen, or, back home, the next ruler of the Nightosphere. It's cool and all," Marcy said with a smile, disarming the worried looks the two of them were giving her, "but I get tired of it after a while. If I was a hero, on the other hand…"

She didn't need to say anything; Finn and Jake had encountered more than their fair share of hero worship over the years, everyone's love for them written on more than one banner and sign. Her, on the other hand…well, although things had gotten better over the past few years, people were still more likely than not to run away screaming when she showed up.

"Give it another two, maybe three thousand years with my status," Marceline continued, her fingers picking up the pace and volume of the cords as she spoke, "and some upstart who wants my crown, or some kid who fancies himself a hero will show up to try and put a stake through my heart. Because I'm a villain."

Her words left no room for discussion; there was only fact, nothing else.

"But if I was a hero," Marceline said, filling in the silence her proclamation had left behind with quiet words and cords, "then things would be different. I would have a rad sword and shield to fight with, and I'd slay-or make friends with-the local monsters. I'd be able to walk into the town without people getting freaked out, and I'd make friends who weren't creatures, and the princess will kis-"

"What was that, Marceline," Jake asked quickly, a sly look in his eyes as the Vampire Queen grabbed her last waffle, draining it of the similar shade of pink that stained her own cheeks.

"Nothing," she was quick to mutter, forcing the color to fade from her face. "I was just saying how Bonnie-if she's the princess in the world where I'm a hero-and I could be friends without all the fuss and mess we have to deal with now."

She didn't mention anything else on her mind, instead pushed them to the side for later contemplation.

"But who cares about any of that stuff," Marceline quickly said, cutting off whatever remark Jake had on the tip of his tongue. "I'm happy who I am, guys; I don't need to think about who I could be. Now, come one, finish your waffles. The wolf run isn't going to wait for us forever!"

Smiling slightly as the guys began to cheer and shovel food faster into their mouths, Marceline made a note to herself to think more about Finn's question later. She was happy, for now, but even if it did no good, where was the harm in dreaming?