"This is ridiculous."
And it really was. Princess Bubblegum sighed for what must have been the hundredth time that night. Wanting to become even more familiar with her kingdom, the princess had decided earlier that day to walk the outskirts. It had been going well, she was familiarizing herself with the surrounding forests and brooks until she realized she was wandering into a steep mountain base. With no reason to venture around it, Bonnibel had intended to turn back and head towards the landing point where the Morrow was patiently waiting for her, but if Bonnie had learnt one thing for her years of lab experiments, it was that not all things went to plan.
Every tree looked the same, the grass gave no sign as to which way she had come from and she had ventured too far to simply call for her giant bird. From that point onwards, the princess had aimlessly wandered through dense trees and foliage, hoping this was indeed the right way to walk.
It wasn't.
In front of her the trees had formed closer together, effectively sealing any path she was hoping to take. Climbing over above-ground roots and ducking protruding branches was an unnecessary challenge, and frankly, not Bonnie's style.
She would have been annoyed. Annoyed at herself for getting lost in her own kingdom. Annoyed at these darn trees for looked like twisted copies of one another. Annoyed at the thick canopy overhead obscuring what little moonlight there was. Or even annoyed at the very wind biting against the exposed flesh of her upper arms. Yet she couldn't find it in herself to be annoyed, not when a very slight panic was starting to settle in her gut.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Bonnie turned away from the dead-end and chose a new direction to explore, in hopes that it would bring her more luck than the last. Ten minutes into her new trek she was feeling a little more hopeful. The trees and shrubs had started to thin out, she may not have recognized anything, but at least she could properly see where she was going now. Stopping in her tracks, the princess tried to find something she recognized, maybe a strangely shaped rock or the sounds of the Morrow pecking at the ground. No such luck. What she did see was a flash of black in her peripheral vision.
Spinning on her heel she turned to where the shape was a second ago.
"Hello?" Nothing. Nothing but the whistling of leaves and the pounding of her own heart in her ears. She called out again, louder this time, giving off what she hoped was a tone that said authority. "If someone is here, show yourself."
A low of rumble laughter sounded right against her ear and as Bonnie spun around, tripping over her own feet in the process, she saw a flash of fangs and claws. White hot panic shot through her in that second. What had she stumbled across in that forest, too far away from home, too far away from help, too far away from anyone to bother screaming? She clenched her eyes shut tight, from fear yes, but also from the impact of her backside hitting the hard ground below. She opened her mouth to scream. If this really was how she was going to go, she was at least going to go down fighting and very, very loudly.
But just as her lungs were fit to burst with a yell, a cold hand clamped over her mouth.
"Whoa, Bonnie, chill out there."
What?
The princess's eyes snapped open at the sound of her name. The first thing she saw was a pair of deep red eyes staring down at her. The second thing she saw was a slim figure crouched down, nearly on top of her, their hand still pressed tight again her mouth.
The third thing she saw was red.
"Marceline, what the flip do you think you're doing!" Bubblegum tried to shout, but it came out muffled. She glared down at said womans hand, and taking the hint, Marceline released her and floated up and backwards, giving Bubblegum enough room to sit up.
"Hey, I didn't make you crash on the floor, you did that all by yourself." The queen shrugged, humor alight in her eyes. Still, she held a cold hand towards the princess, offering to help her to her feet. Bubblegum didn't even glance her way and she stood on her own, brushing dirt and stray twigs from her royal gown. Her frown deepened when her brushing only cause the mud to spread wider along her dress.
"What in Ooo was that for?" Anger laced the pink girls voice as she tore her eyes away from her now ruined clothes.
"Glob, I was just messing, Bonnie."
Bonnie. Again with that name. She hated it, she really hated it. Not the name of course, names are just a string of letters, she hated the fact Marceline felt she could use it so freely. Shortening her first name like that to tease her, pretending that she never once used it out of affection. Pretending it wasn't whispered in the dead of night, or gasped into ears, or giggled under bed sheets, or cried out against pink skin long ago.
"Hey," Marceline's voice brought her back from the dangerous void of her thoughts. "You alright?" She wasn't hovering anymore, her feet placed firmly upon the ground. At which point, Bubblegum didn't know, vaguely she wondered how long the queen had been watching her.
"Of course." She muttered. Not willing to stay in current company any longer, the princess picked up the front of what was left of her royal gown and walked straight past the vampire, feeling red eyes watching her as she went.
Marceline caught up with Bubblegum silently, abandoning the ground for floating once more. The pink girl wondered idly what one should really call it; floating, hovering, flying? Nothing about the vampire made any real sense, it never had. How could anyone posses the ability to deny gravity itself? Maybe that wasn't the most important question, seeing as the subject of her thoughts is dead. And has been for... Well, the exact amount of years Bonnibel never learnt. Instead she learnt not to ask about the past when it came to Marceline. It always intrigued her how exactly Marceline lives, for want of a better word. The vampire queen was like a book, a book filled with answers and with those answers, more questions, more infinities. But she would never share them. Maybe that was for the best, Bonnibel would never truly know.
One question that she deemed more important was much more of a touchy subject. Much more raw than any scientific question that came to mind when around Marceline.
Why did she leave? Why did she stay away for long? Why didn't she tell anyone when she came back?
Maybe that was more than one question.
Bonnie cast her eyes to her left. She could have sworn Marceline was frowning at her. If she was, how dare she? She had to right to be angry at her. Bubblegum wasn't the one who scared the goop out of someone so badly they fell to the floor in a panic. Repressing the urge to rub her sore back, she took in the sight that was the vampire.
Her hair was unruly, as usual. Black tendrils of sleek oil swirling around her, apparently not bending to will of gravity along with her body. Her back didn't look quite right without her axebass strapped to it. Her hands were shoved into the pockets of her grey jeans, the tightness of said jeans she didn't want to spend too much time thinking about. The leather jacket was a new addition to what Bubblegum had seen of Marceline's recent wardrobe. Or maybe it was old. What did it matter, the subject of her observation was untouched by time anyway.
That brought a slight twang of pain and sympathy to the young girls heart. For eventually, Marceline's friends would all die, and Marceline herself would not. At least not naturally. And maybe not by her own will. The princess herself would live a long life, provided she had a constant supply of candy biomass, she could live as long as she chose. But never forever. Bubblegum took her own lip between her teeth and began chewing, wondering if vampirism was Marceline's choice, if she plans on living forever, if she'll move on to somewhere new when everyone she has known here is gone, if she'll -
"Stop it."
"What?" She stopped walking, but Marceline kept moving forward not looking back, forcing the princess to catch up. "What?" She repeated, then immediately scolded herself. Of course Marceline had heard her the first time. Vampire senses, duh.
"Thinking so hard. You're always thinking, why can't you just let loose every now and then?" The queen looked over her shoulder slightly, locking her eyes on Bubblegum, who was about to snap but decided against it. There was no malice on the vampire's face, no taunting looks, just curiosity and something else so fleeting she didn't get a chance to name it before it was gone and Marceline had turned her face away again.
"I..." She wanted to ask why she cared, why what went on in Bubblegum's head is anything to do with Marceline anymore. But she was cold, and she was tired, and she was very, very lost. And the worst of all: She was comforted by the vampire presence. She wasn't alone in a dark forest in the middle of the night anymore. What could possibly happen when you're walking at the side of a vampire? She cursed herself for feeling so safe. Marceline did not deserve that from her. She left. She left her alone for a long time, only deciding to come back simply because she felt like it one day. "I don't know, It's my job to think about things."
Marceline turned her head slightly to look at the princess. It looked like she wasn't expecting an answer. "Well, whatever." She shrugged, and Bubblegum heard the leather of the black jacket pull a little with the movement. "Just stop thinking so hard, I can hear the gears grinding from here." What does that mean? The pink girl was going to ask but a violent shiver racked through her body instead.
"You're cold?" Marceline said, not peeling her eyes away from the path in front of her. It wasn't exactly a question, at least it didn't sound like one to Bubblegum's ears.
"...Yeah."
There was nothing for a while. Only the sounds of Bubblegum's feet upon hard dirt and dry grass. And then there was rustling, along with a light weight on Bubblegum's previously bare shoulders. Looking down she saw a leather jacket draped around her. It was strange. It wasn't freezing like she expected it to be. Yet it wasn't quite lukewarm either, maybe a cold room temperature, showing that somehow there is still some degree of life within the vampire. In a way.
"Sorry it isn't warm." The vampire mumbled, returning her hands to her jeans in an apologetic shrug, a tension easing its way along her jaw. Maybe she missed being warm, or had forgotten what it felt like. How long had it been since she had her own body heat? It must be awful, Bubblegum pondered, to be frozen in time when everything around you is living and changing. To only be able to watch as things break and bend to eventually be fixed or forgotten.
What could she say in reply to that? She didn't know, so instead she took the queens cold hand in her warm one. She never knew until that moment how much she had missed those hands, the calloused fingertips from years of passionate bass playing, the silver scars from years of defending yer crown, only noticeable when you really look for them, the feeling of tension leaving as she threads cool fingers through warm ones. Marceline descends slowly, boots only an inch off the ground now.
The silence was okay. A calmness washing over the pair of them. It was okay, being in the eye of the storm that was their arguments. Bonnibel was considering getting lost in the woods more often when a clearing opened up before them, her Morrow flapping towards her, honking it's approval of having her return safe. Only when she went to wrap her arms around the birds neck did she realize her hand was now Marceline free.
"Later, princess." Was all she heard before she felt a cold gush of wind, and it was just her and the Morrow again.
"Wait!" She shouted, taken aback by the abruptness of Marceline's departure. "You forgot your..." She sighed, a tiny smile gracing her features.
Looking down at herself, Bonnibel pulled the jacket tighter around her upper body.
"Well, I guess it does go with with the shirt."
Reviews would be awesome? Or any other bubbline fic ideas? Thanks for reading.