"Next!"
The voice echoed clearly though the Grand Hall, followed by the sound of the steps of both the Candy Person that was on its way out of the palace, and those of the next one in the great line that filled most of the large space the hall had to offer, swirling like a great, colorful snake.
The line started a few steps away from the throne, upon which sat the princess. Graceful and poised, as was taught to her all her life, she patiently listened to the complaints of every citizen that approached her after waiting long hours, and, in many cases, traveling great distances to see her.
As a shy, light blue cupcake came up to bow before the monarch, her head pounded. It was her fourth day listening to the Candy People, and still their numbers barely seemed to dwindle. She controlled her urge to massage her temples as the candy person bowed respectfully, saying:
"It is an honor to stand before you, dear Princess Bubblegum"
"It is my honor to serve the people"
All of the people she had listened to so far had said either that exact sentence or a slight variation after approaching the throne, and she was forced by royal etiquette to give the same response to each and every one. After that whole ordeal ended, the first thing on her list of priorities was to banish the traditional royal greeting. Oh how she wished it would be over already.
She carefully positioned her gaze to appear as if she was paying full attention to what was being said to her, while she checked the line's extension. She almost let out a sigh after seeing it, but she held it. Etiquette.
She really wanted to hear what the people had to say about the kingdom's condition, but most of them so far only rained praise over her lineage, gave their condolences to her, or placed their trust on the princess' just and benevolent rule, even before she had had time to do anything.
Her father, King Gumball, had died a month before, of the same illness that had taken the queen's life several years before him, leaving their daughter, of seventeen at the time, to inherit the throne.
All the formalities had taken up a good part of the month, and only a week before had the new monarch been able to announce her first act as ruler: a kingdom-wide hearing, giving any of the Candy People the opportunity to tell the princess directly what troubled them, helping her take measures to improve the general welfare. So far, not even a dozen of the citizens had real complaints to give, and those that did complained of such small or absurd things, that she had no choice but to give a purposely vague and polite answer and send them off.
The cupcake was finishing speaking, and so far not a single complaint was made. When she was through, they exchanged the expected pleasantries, and the citizen excitedly walked away. As the next in line was clumsily making its way to the throne, the princess raised her hand.
"I shall take my leave for lunch, and we will resume the hearings in the afternoon. The castle staff have prepared a snack if you'd like to stay through lunch. Excuse me."
The princess got up, made the royal farewell, and exited through the back door as the Candy People applauded. Peppermint Butler was soon by her side, in his usual peppy self, offering her a glass of water and saying:
"Princess, the castle's food reserves are starting to run short, having to cater for all these people on the past days."
The princess took a moment, enjoying the cool water down her throat, before answering:
"I'll handle it after lunch, Peppermint Butler."
"As you wish, princess. Will you have it in your room, as usual?", he said, taking the empty glass.
"I will. Thank you."
She continued alone on her way to her bedroom, as Peppermint Butler scuttled away to the kitchen.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, she locked it and let out a long sigh. She leaned her back on the door, as if behind it was all the problems she was already facing as new ruler, and rubbed her hurting temples, alleviating the throbbing headache. She closed her eyes and slid to the ground, where she sat only long enough to remember that if she wrinkled her dress, she'd have to pick a new one for the afternoon hearing.
She got up, headed for her closet, and picked out a simple gown. She removed her crown and spent a few seconds staring at it, slowly rubbing the polished metal. She sighed again, and placed it on the closet, changing clothes and carefully hanging the dress for later. The soft fabric had just settled on her body and she was reaching for the crown, when she heard:
"Woah there, am I interrupting the royal nap, your highness?"
The princess turned swiftly, ready to call out for the guards, when she saw her floating near the window. The long, black hair flowed gently with the breeze, wild and free like the girl herself. Her mouth was a devilish smile, her fangs pointing out. She held a purple umbrella in an apparent carefree way, as if it wasn't vital to her protection from the sunlight that would burn her skin. She was poised as if she was leaning on the windowsill, but she was actually levitating just above it.
"Are you gonna just stare, or invite me in?"
The princess rushed to the window and pulled the visitor in, hugging her tightly, tears running down her face. The umbrella rolled away on the floor as they floated, embraced, for a few seconds, before the vampire put her down and pulled away gently, holding the other's face with her hands, clearing her tears with her thumbs as she said, with her smooth voice:
"Hey, what's up with the tears? I know my visits rock, but there's no need to get all emotional"
The princess smiled sadly, and reached for the visitor's cold hands, pulling them from her face and holding them both on her own.
"Oh Marceline, how I've missed you. Things have been so crazy these past few weeks."
"Yeah, I heard about a fuss here, so I came to check it out. Heard you're queen now, how did that happen?"
The princess squeezed Marceline's hands, the painful memory holding her heart in a cold grasp, the tears starting to roll again. She started shaking, and Marceline quickly picked her up and lead her to the bed, sitting her down and holding her shoulders, realization dawning on her as the princess sobbed.
"I'm so sorry Bonnie, I just thought the old man had given you the throne, I didn't think— Urgh, I'm so terrible at this! If I had known I'd have come sooner, I'd—"
Bubblegum let out a little laugh, and dried her tears on her sleeve, turning to face Marceline's worried gaze.
"It's alright, you're here now, and that makes me feel better already."
Marceline smiled, but she remained quiet. The princess knew her well enough to know what was on her mind.
"It was the disease. The same as my mother's."
Surprised by Bubblegum's correct guess of her thoughts, she said:
"I'm sorry. I know how worse that makes it." There was a pause. "Have you—"
"No", she interrupted, pulling away, "I haven't found out a thing. I have no idea how they contracted it, how it affected them, and how it kill—"
She turned away, trying not to break into tears again, her hands rushing to her temples as they were already starting to hurt again.
Marceline raised a hand to touch her, but backed away. She opened her mouth to say something, when there was a knock on the door.
"Your lunch, princess!" said a squeaky voice.
"You have to go", said Bubblegum, with her face still turned away from Marceline, "you know you make the Candy People nervous".
Marceline was ready to lash out on her, but she controlled herself, keeping Bubblegum's situation in mind. She gently floated off the bed, picked up her umbrella, and headed for the window, turning to say before she left:
"I'll drop by later".
The princess waited until she was sure she had left, and whispered to herself "please do", before wiping her tears one last time and answering the door.
Author's Note:
This a little something that came to my mind as I was thoroughly discussing the nature of PB's rule and the Candy Kingdom with a friend over dinner, like grown-ups do. Her relationship was brought up as well, so I decided to mix them up and see what happens. This is going to be a series of short stories, some directly connected, some not, about what's in the description. If you enjoyed it, give me feedback, any, please, even if it's bad. I need it to keep motivated to write. Thank you for reading.
(Oh, and I know the title is not a direct quote from "What Was Missing", but it just fit better that way)