Evan! Don't leave me!

S-sorry, kid... but it'd be hard to just walk this off, heh... I'll come b-back though, I promise

No...*sniff* You can't, it's not fair!

Please don't cry, I'm telling y-you that I'll come ba-back... *cough, hack*

Evan? *sniff* Evan?! Evaaan!

Ekko POV

I woke up in the middle of the night, or not, it's hard to tell, with a weird feeling in my side. I got up and put my coat on, only to finally figure out that the feeling was in one of my pockets, I dug into my left pouch and pulled out a pink pendant. It glowed in sync with the vibrations, and I had the sudden urge to touch it, when I did, a hologram of Bubblegum appeared. I dropped the pendant from getting startled so hard.

"Ah, Ekko, I'm so glad you found this." She said with a smile.

"Seriously? I thought you would want me dead." I replied.

The princess clicked her tongue, "No, I was expecting you to escape at some point. But I do need to ask a favor of you."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm done with you."

The broad nodded her head before letting me go back to sleep on this uncomfortable couch.

"Hey, you gonna get up?"

"Five more hours..." I grumbled.

"Then could you move? I wanna watch this show..."

I opened my eyes, Marceline must be an early riser. I stood up and quickly put my coat back on before propping myself on the couch, Marceline smiled and sat next to me. I took one glance at her before looking away in embarrassment, she wore black sweatpants and a white tank top. The problem? The shirt was a few sizes too big, so the neck hole was gateway enough for me to see her chest. Like two white grapefruits.

"So, who were you talking to this morning?" She asked.

I completely ignored her as I got up and looked for a coffee pot.

"Hey, I asked you a question!"

Found one, and something called 'Jamaican Blue Mountain'. I put the grounds in a paper cup and grabbed mug.

Marceline POV

I waited until he turned to me, but before I could say anything, he held is finger up and chugged the coffee down.

"You done?" I asked, angry.

"Absolutely flippin' peachy. I got called by Bubblegum, via one of these." He pulled a pink pendat from his coat pocket.

I held my hand out and he gave me the pendant, giving Ekko a smirk, I crushed it in my hand. Ekko kept his cold expression, and I threw the crushed bits in the corner.

"You wanna do something?" I asked, floating over to my axe-bass guitar and plucking at the strings.

Ekko's face brightened up, so I decided to tell him my plan.

"There's this dungeon nearby that I wanted to check out. If you're up for it, that is." I said, raising a eyebrow.

"I'm ready, willing, and able!" He said.

"I'll be back in a few, don't go anywhere." I said after patting his head and floating back upstairs.

I quickly undressed down to my underwear and glanced over to the closet, pulling everything out from the drawers that looked appealing. Picking the clothes wasn't a problem, finding the easiest to wash was the real challenge, so I pulled a white button down shirt, ripped jeans, a long sleeved red and black striped shirt, and purple/yellow sneakers. I noticed the shirt on the floor, it wasn't that old, got it as a present from one of my ghost friends when I turned nine-hundred thirty-seven, a short sleeved black tee with a red anarchy 'A' printed on it. I probably wore it once or twice, but it was too big for me, it's made for guys. I tossed it downstairs and heard Ekko immediately dive after it, hitting his head against the wall. I giggled and went over to the bathroom, after giving my hair a nice combing and ponytail, I put on a sun hat and gloves before floating back downstairs, Ekko was partway through putting the shirt on, for a moment, I could see scars on his back going in snakelike patterns.

"Are you just going to stare at me?" Ekko asked, breaking me from my trance.

"What's with the scars? Aren't you 'quipped with some crazy healing factor?" I replied.

"Yeah, remember that I'm an experiment. I got tested on and the princess put a lot of things in me, magic spells and the like to make me one of the strongest fighters in OoO." He grabbed his swords from under the couch and continued, "She had to open me up so often that the scarring just... happened."

"I see..." I toned, "and that mark on your neck?"

Ekko chuckled and went over to the kitchen, "That's a story for another time."

He grabbed two apples and threw one to me, I caught it and drained the red from its skin. Tossing it back to Ekko, he caught it and tucked it in his pocket.

"You ready to go?" I asked, slipping my bass on my shoulder.

He nodded and followed me outside, I lifted him up and we flew over to the grass lands and into a forested section.

"Releasing the peppermint bomb!" I shouted.

I dropped Ekko while he whistles, and when I caught him seconds before he hit the ground, he made a explosion noise.

Ekko POV

I looked up and saw a small house surrounded by apple trees.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"I just wanted to say hi to a friend of mine, the dungeon isn't far from here." Marceline replied.

She dropped me on my back before floating to the house's front door. She knocked and it was opened by a small green elephant, who started a conversation.

"Marceline! It's so nice to see you." It said, old woman.

"Tree trunks, who's your pie business coming along?" Marceline replied while raising the elephant to eye level.

"Great! Everyone loves my pies, you know that~. Who's your friend?" Tree trunks asked.

I got up, brushed myself off, and bowed like a stage performer.

"Thy name is Ekko of the candy kingdom. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." I said.

The elephant walked up to me and did a little bow of her own.

"Nice to meet you, Ekko of the candy kingdom." She said.