Princess Bubblegum stood, arms crossed, and watched the subject was dragged in. She was subject 302, vampire queen. The subject smiled, showing her fangs. She leaned forward.
"Hey, baby doll," the vampire whispered. Bubblegum flushed with irritation.
"Please don't act so vulgar, subject 302," she ordered. 302 hissed.
"My name's Marceline, baby," she growled. "I ain't no number."
Bubblegum pursed her lips.
"You may go," she said, waving the guards away. Marceline looked surprised.
"Why'd they leave?" She said, looking around the lab. Bubblegum smiled politely.
"Because I am more than capable of taking care of myself," she said, tapping the sword at her belt with her pink painted nails.
Marceline bared her teeth, and then sunk down onto the ground, her back to Bubblegum.
When Princess Bubblegum stepped up to her, Marceline glared.
"Leave me alone," she hissed. Bubblegum ignored her.
"How did you get those scars?" She asked. Marceline hunched over.
"If you don't behave, you get whipped," she said dully, like she had been told this a thousand times before. "Whips leave scars."
Bubblegum swallowed any pity she might have felt, and turned back to her work.
This was a rare opportunity, to study a vampire queen. Princess Bubblegum poked and prodded, made her drink things and then spit it up, and poked her fangs.
But Marceline was hungry, and her skin was getting even paler. Finally, Bubblegum asked what she ate.
"Red," Marceline said. "Anything red, I'll suck the color out of it." Bubblegum looked around. There was a disturbing lack of red in her lab. Her eyes finally landed on herself.
She grabbed the end of her hair, and yanked a gob of it off. She handed it to the vampire, and then watched as Marceline sucked the color from it.
"Thanks."
"...you're welcome"
Bubblegum prided herself on keeping her emotions bottled up where no one could see them. But Marceline seemed to draw her feelings out.
Bubblegum giggled when the vampire did something funny, blushed when Mareline flirted, and winced when she showed the princess her scars.
She asked Finn, a very wise warrior, what these feelings could mean.
"Well," he said. "Sounds like love, PB."
Love? No, scientists were not supposed to fall in love with their test subjects. It just didn't happen.
Princess Bubblegum paced her lab. Marceline was floating in the air, watching the princess with slitted eyes.
Bubblegum stopped mid pace when Marceline floated down to eyes level.
"You're cute," the vampire said with a grin, then kissed her pink face.
Princess bubblegum had always assumed she would have a king, not a queen. But here they were, pajamas on, lying in bed and talking about a wedding.
"I want my dress to be pure black," Marceline said, black eyes sparkling. "Ooh, with drops of fake blood..." Bubblegum nodded.
"I want a big white dress," she said dreamily. "With glass slippers."
Marceline put her arm around the princess.
"This going to be one weird wedding."
Bubblegum smiled.
"Yep."