Disclaimer: Adventure Time is owned my Pendleton Ward. I make no profit from this story.
An Apple A Day
Marceline was used to change. All her life everything was always shifting and transforming, nothing ever remaining the same for very long, moving at an accelerated rate in comparison to her. The blood of both a demon and a vampire lay dormant within her cold body, allowing her to stay young and sharp, unlike her mortal friends. In the beginning she had seen this as an advantage, able to outlast even the fiercest creatures in Ooo, but the longer she lived and the stronger the relationships with her mortal friends became, it broke her cold old heart to see them waste away. You could only stay a ruthless creature of the night for so many hundreds of years before you started to crave something more in your prolonged life.
She wandered on in through Bonnie's bedroom window, pushing the panes open as a cold wintry wind ruffled her long black hair. Once inside, she turned around to push it closed, her worn red boots clicking on the stone floor. Bubblegum was sitting at her desk, back facing the vampire, not bothering to look up from her notes or even acknowledge her arrival. She could hear the scratching noises of a pencil moving furiously over paper, growing faster and louder as it pressed harder and harder, until the tip broke with an audible snap. She strode over to the pink woman then, carrying a basket looped over her left forearm, peering down at the old queen's notes from over her shoulder.
Pulling out another pencil from a drawer in her desk, she began writing again, furious scritch scritches filling the room once more. A series of complicated looking formulas were written all over the page, a series of numbers, letters and symbols scattered all over the place in a seemingly nonsensical pattern when suddenly she paused, staring down at her work, eyes roving over it critically. A slow, frustrated growl started up in her throat then, a wrinkled pink hand tightening on the pencil when cold ones pulled back her gummy hair. Two fingers pressed against each temple and began rubbing gently, massaging in a circular motion so as to calm her queen's frazzled nerves.
"Although I appreciate your effort, Marceline, that isn't going to help solve this." Bonnibel said, her voice exasperated as she scowled down at the papers scattered across her desk.
"Neither is growling at it." The vampire noted, continuing to rub gently and feeling the tension in the queen's jaw lesson.
"Yes, well… Mm, that feels nice." She murmured, her eyelids sliding shut as she leaned ever so slightly into the undead queen's touch.
"Good." Was her answer, a small, gentle smile tugging at the corners of gray lips. "I brought you an apple. You should eat it."
"Marceline, you know that silly saying isn't true, don't you?" Bubblegum asked, opening her eyes and pulling away to shoot her a reproving look.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Marceline lied, taking a vibrant red apple out of her basket and setting it on the queen's desk, who frowned down at it.
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away? No matter what you say, I'm quite sure that's why you've been feeding me an apple every day for the last year, Marce. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I really am getting quite sick of them." The queen muttered as she pushed it away with one finger, acting as if it were infested with maggots. The vampire frowned openly at that, taking another apple out for herself so that she could drink the red from its peel.
"Fine. So what if I do believe it's true? Can't you at least humor me? I'm trying to keep you around for as long as I can, and if you eat an apple once a day… well it can't be hurting you at any rate." The vampire said, sinking her fangs into her fruit and sucking the color from it in a rather huffy manner. After a moment of deliberation the old queen just sighed, picking up the apple and forcing herself to take a bite.
"Where do you even get so many apples? The frost has touched just about every orchard that I know of." She remarked, chewing slowly. The vampire tossed the now shriveled gray fruit into the waste bin across the room, smirking when it hit the bottom with a satisfying thunk.
"That's a secret." She said, floating over and kissing the end of the woman's nose sweetly. The queen took another bite of the apple, rolling her eyes but unable to keep from smiling as well.
"How can you even kiss me? I'm so old and wrinkled, like a pink raisin." She said, half joking and half serious. Marceline snorted, tracing one skinny finger along the queen's cheek bone.
"You act like I've never seen a wrinkle before, but I'm one thousand two hundred and sixty two years old, Bonnie. It's nothing new. In fact, I find them cute." She said as she nuzzled her face into the old woman's thick hair.
"You've gone soft, my vampire queen." Bonnie murmured quietly, feeling a slight blush rise to her cheeks.
"You made me that way." Marceline snorted in response, pulling her face away.
"I love you." Queen Bubblegum said, pressing a kiss to the vampire's smooth lips.
"I love you more." She retorted when her queen pulled back. "You've been turning me into a big mush pile ever since I met you. Sometimes I don't know why I even proposed to you when I knew you'd make me as sweet as your silly little candy people." She teased, dodging a dainty pink hand as it shot out to smack her.
"And yet you still have such an ornery streak." She griped good-naturedly, reaching out and trying to tickle the vampire's ribs before she flew up over her head and out of touching range. As her arms were stretched out, a golden glint on her left hand caught her eye, a fond look coming across her aged face as she pulled her arm back to her chest so as to study her wedding band. The vampire grinned, holding her own hand out to present her matching ring. "I'll never forget that night as long as I live."
"Oh yeah?" Marceline asked, taking her wife's hand in her own colder one.
"Most definitely." She smiled, leaning in for another kiss when there was a knock on the other side of her bedroom door. Marceline groaned at that, floating backwards with a pout on her face, arms crossed over her chest as the queen turned around in her chair.
"Come in." She called, and the door was pushed open, revealing a shriveled Cinnamon Bun standing outside.
"Uh, Princess, I mean Queen, the Marquis of Nuts is here and uh…"
"I'll see to it, thank you." She said, and he scampered off. Even after fifty years of being married to the vampire, the pastry was still deathly afraid of her undead wife. However, Marceline only seemed to stoke that fear whenever possible, as Bubblegum noticed when she turned to see her wife baring her fangs with her tongue lashing about. Shaking her pink head, she stood up and made to head down to the throne room, pausing to see if Marceline wished to accompany her.
"I still need to go and check on Simon, and I was hoping to see Finn, too. But I'll be back before you fall asleep, I promise." She said, wiggling her fingers in a parting wave as she floated off in the direction of the window again.
"I'm not the one who gets upset over it." The queen chuckled as Marceline stuck her tongue out, disappearing through the window as her queen shut the door behind herself. Luckily, there was a thick bunch of clouds blocking out the worst of the sun, little snow flurries dropping down from the sky and sticking in her hair as well as to her clothes as she flew in the direction of the Ice Kingdom.
The snow got thicker the further she went, until she was forced to fly lower to the ground so as not to be blinded. When she arrived at the icy fortress, floating a foot or so over the ice ledge before the opening, one of the younger penguins popped its head out to look at her with large, glistening eyes. She floated past it, poking her head in and looking around for her old friend, but he was nowhere to be seen. Moving on past the entryway, she shook her hair and dusted off her clothes while a couple of the other penguins waddling up to inspect her. One pecked at her shoes while another picked at her pants leg with its pointy little beak.
"Hey, where's your daddy?" Marceline asked, glancing down and patting one of the many birds on the head.
"Wenk." It stared at her for a minute, then waddled off. She was about to follow it when Simon appeared on the opposite side of the room, emerging from the top of a stair case, looking around. He seemed excited at first, letting her believe for a moment that he was actually happy to see her, but much to her disappointment his expression fell flat when he realized who she was.
"Oh, darn it, Marceline! I thought you were a beautiful princess come to accept one my marriage proposals… I was really hoping you were Wild Berry Princess's daughter. She's so much prettier than her mother." He grumbled, and she frowned at him, sighing deeply as she tried not to let his thoughtless words hurt her feelings like they usually did. His blue face, for the most part, was unchanged by the last couple of decades, aside from a few more wrinkles and a couple more inches added to his long white beard. Honestly, you wouldn't think time had changed him at all, until you talked to him. It was then that you would realize his mind had digressed even more over the years, his little remaining sanity worn thinner than ever. He often forgot to eat, which was why she checked up on him at least twice a week.
"Have you ate anything today?" Marceline asked, trying to keep her voice level.
"Yes. Er, wait, no. Maybe? Oh, I dunno. I'm not hungry anyways, so who cares?" He said, shuffling off before pausing, turning in a circle, and then looking around as he wrapped his arms around himself, shivering. "Ugh, I'm so cold. Always so cold."
"Here, let me go get you a blanket." The vampire said, flying off into his bedroom and gathering his leopard print blanket into her arms. She carried them back into the main room, finding him picking at his toe nails as he sat on the floor.
"Come here, you old fart." She said, to which he jerked his head up, white eyes going wild for a second.
"Who are you?" He snarled, hands raised and flashing as ice collected around his fingers. She sighed, having grown used to his random lapses in memory.
"I'm your friend… With a blanket. Aren't you cold?" She reminded him, making him pause and blink for a second.
"I'm always cold." He snapped, shuffling toward her and grabbing the sheets from her hands. He wrapped himself up tight, watching her as she retrieved her basket and produced an apple.
"Here, eat this." She said, handing it to him. He took it with a funny look on his face, turning it around in his hands and studying it carefully, as if it might be poisoned.
"C'mon, just eat it, it's good for you." She said with mild annoyance. Pausing to sniff at it once, he lifted it to his mouth and sank his sharp teeth into it. Satisfied, he began munching steadily, the juice making the hair around his mouth wet and sticky, a bit of it coating his fingers. He gave a satisfied hum as he ate, until there was nothing left but a core, which he tossed aside before licking his fingers.
"Mmm, hey, that was good, got anymore?" He asked, shuffling over and grabbing at her basket, trying to stick his hand inside.
"Hey!" She snapped, yanking it back and out of his reach. "I gotta save the last one for Finn, just hold on. I'll find you something else to eat, sheesh."
Flying off, she took the basket with her so as to keep the Ice King out of it, and began rummaging through his cupboards and the fridge to find something for him to eat. Unfortunately, all he had was a bit of moldy cheese and some pickles. So she took out the cheese, cutting around the blue and green bits with a knife before taking the pickle jar and offering them to him. He snatched the food from her hands as soon as he saw it, his appetite stirred from the apple, and began munching hungrily, smacking his lips once or twice, getting food bits in his beard as he chewed with his mouth open. She crinkled her nose at him, a little grossed out, but didn't say anything. Instead, she noticed he was still shivering.
"I know I'm not some hot little princess, but I like… love you, Simon. Like a father. Come here, let me warm you up." She said opening her arms to him and making a come hither motion with her long, skinny fingers. He looked at her funny, pausing his gorge fest for a couple seconds before awkwardly shuffling over to her. She reached out and closed the distance between them, rubbing his knobby arms and trying to create some friction with her cold hands to warm up his constantly freezing body. She could feel each notch and curve of his bones perfectly through his blue robes and skin.
He allowed her to do this for a while, the tiniest amount of warmth created from her efforts, just enough for him to feel and appreciate. His white eyes softened a little as he cut a glance at her, digging around in the pickle jar with spindly blue fingers, pulling out the last one and munching it noisily. Satisfied with his slightly improved state of being, she let her hands drop and smoothed her hair back.
"I gotta go. Take care of yourself until I see you next time, alright?" She said, floating toward the doorway where snow was blowing in from outside.
"Hnn." Was her answer as he watched her go, eating the last of his cheese. She was going to need to bring more food with her the next time she came to visit. With that, she left him, flying through the snow once again, squinting her eyes as she tried to see through the white flurries threatening to block out her vision entirely. Night was falling around her, giving her a bit of an edge and helping her too see better, but nonetheless it took her quite a while to reach the outskirts of the Fire Kingdom. The closer she got, the snow stopped falling, melting off of her completely in the last twenty minutes before she arrived. She ignored the hotheaded guards stationed at the gates and flew on past with her last apple, knowing exactly where to find her friend.
As predicted, she found a blue Finn sparring with his youngest son, Jake watching them lazily from where he sat on the sidelines. Even in his old age, the human was rather spry, executing complex combat maneuvers as his son did everything in his power to hack at his father's legs with his wooden sword. Marceline couldn't help but smile as she touched her feet down on the ground next to the old dog, patting his head and mussing his short yellow fur.
"Hm? Oh, hey Marceline. Long time no see, scary vampire lady." He said, chuckling.
"How're the rainicorn pups?" She asked casually, studying his saggy jowls and large, tired eyes. He had aged quite a bit despite his magic, the fur on his face having grayed long ago. He twitched one ear as she spoke, then let out a snort.
"They aren't pups anymore." He muttered, about to say something else when the Flame King was alerted to her presence.
"Hold up!" Finn called, holding up a hand to stop his panting son from making a hack at his midsection. He jogged over to them, a wide smile breaking across his wrinkled face. "Marce!"
"Hey, Fi—oof!" He grabbed her floating form up in his strong arms, plucking her out of the air and squishing her against his chest. Even though he was damp with sweat, and smelled like intense body odor, she couldn't bring herself to push him away.
"I haven't seen you in forevs, girl!" He called boisterously, finally pulling away and holding her by her upper arms. Gleaming blue eyes studied her young gray face and vivid crimson irises, which were completely unchanged from the very first time he'd met her all those years ago.
"Yeah, I know man, it's been too long. You know the brainlord, she keeps me busy all the time." She joked, her fangy grin stretching all the way across her face. "How've you been?"
"Oh, good, good. All that kingly junk I do, bit of adventuring here and there. Did Jake tell you about the last time we went to Lumpy Space? Oh man, Jake, we gotta tell her!" He laughed excitedly as the old dog scratched his fuzzy chin.
"Hey, Archie, get your firey buns over here and come talk to your aunt Marce!" Finn yelled over his shoulder, beckoning the young prince to his side. Marceline offered him a smile and a wink, bumping knuckles with the orange boy before he ran off to do something else, leaving the three of them to converse about things that didn't interest him. The three stood around, shooting the breeze until the Flame Queen appeared to invite her king to dinner, sharing a brief kiss with him before leaving again.
"Hey, why don't you two stay and eat with us?" Finn suggested. "I'm sure we've got something red around here for you, Marceline."
"Nah man, I gotta get back to Lady." Jake yawned, rubbing one large eye with the back of his hand. The king then looked to the vampire, who also shook her head, smiling apologetically.
"I've gotta get back to Bonnie before it gets too late." She said, shrugging.
"Psht. You two are so whipped." He snorted jokingly.
"Hey, hold up, this is for you." The vampire said as he turned to escort them out of the castle. She took the last apple out of her basket, holding it out in the flat of her palm. The flame lit lamps around them illuminated its vibrant red peel, making it glisten and shine. He reached out and took it from her, inspecting it before rubbing it over his shirt, shining it, then taking a large bite.
"Hm. Thanks." He said around a mouthful of fruit. With that he showed the two out, the dog and the vampire parting ways with a brief wave. It felt like the endless white stretched on forever once she cleared the barren, scorched land of her friend's kingdom, swallowing up everything in Ooo beyond that point. She took a detour past her old cave, and the tree house that had been hers and then Finn's, both empty now that they had moved on with their lives. In a way it made her sad, because she really didn't like change sometimes. But as she arrived at the Candy Kingdom, that sadness lifted, because that silly pink castle had become her home the moment she slipped the ring onto Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum's finger all that time ago.
Sliding in through the window, Marceline found the queen lying in bed, the blankets on the vampire's side of the bed flipped back invitingly. Taking off her sweater and pants, she lithe girl climbed in, rubbing her arms and trying to get her body a little bit warmer when the queen rolled over, dark eyes looking right up at her. She froze in place, wincing a bit.
"Did I wake you?" Marceline asked, her voice barely above a whisper. The queen smiled, a small laugh escaping her chest.
"No, silly. I was waiting for you. I couldn't sleep without you next to me." She answered, holding her arms open for the gray girl to climb into. The vampire smiled back and climbed forward, nestling against Bonnibel's chest and pushing her face against that soft neck and sighing.
"Did they enjoy their apples?" The queen asked softly, eyes sliding shut.
"Mmhmm." Marceline murmured, pressing a little kiss to Bubblegum's throat, wiggling closer. She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around her wife's waist and drifting off to sleep as a hand stroked her hair tenderly, coaxing her into dropping off until the next day.
A/N: Have some fluff-barf.