Chapter 4: The Seize of Lemon

Marceline slowed as she approached Castle Lemongrab. She had never actually been there before, but she remembered hearing Jake and Finn telling her about their adventure to the castle with the princess. The only reason she paid attention was because it was a story about Bonni, and she couldn't resist listening. From what she remembered, there were only two occupants: the Earl of Lemongrab and his twin (of sorts), Lemongrab 2. The castle was oddly geometric in shape. With its right angles and sharp edges, it was a stark contrast against the cotton candy forest below the mountain the fort stood upon. The entire castle was made of stone. She stopped and risked a glance at the sun. She had fully healed of course, but the trauma of the recent sun burning made her flinch as she lifted her hat. It wasn't quite sundown, but it would come soon. Princess Bubblegum shouldn't be far behind now.

Marceline turned back towards the castle and decided to fly up from the west, close to the denser part of the forest in case she was detected. Peaking her head up against the wall, she saw an empty courtyard. She saw and heard nothing. She flew carefully flew up to the tower. She flew against the side of the largest window and listened hard. Again, there was nothing.

Marceline entered the room. It was a simple bedroom. There was a large four-poster bed with white curtains and a soft yellow comforter. It was haphazardly made, and looked like two people slept in the bed. Next to the window from where she entered was a large wardrobe, which was very rectangular in design like the rest of the room. On the wall opposite the window was a desk that was surprisingly clean, as if it were never used. Marceline took off her bass, sun hat and gloves hiding them in a nearby trunk at the end of the bed, in case Lemongrab came back. She wasn't surprised it was unlocked, the trunk was empty. Directly in front of the bed was a great wooden door. She pressed her ear against it to listen and heard nothing.

Where could the Lemongrabs be? She couldn't risk them hanging around. They might ruin Marceline's only chance to explain herself to the princess. She was tired of the fighting and the bitterness between them. They'd both gone through too much to throw away their newly reformed friendship.

Marceline heard loud, insane laughing coming from the courtyard. She looked out the window to see the two Lemongrabs riding upon their respective steeds and entering the castle. Since the sun was still up, she opened the bedroom door and flew down the hallway, which strangely sloped downwards in a large spiral until it gradually reached ground level. There seemed to be only the one long hallway and she soon reached the opening to the throne room. She transformed into a bat and flew up to a corner to spy on the two people entering the castle.

"Ahahahahahaha! Lemongrab, you're the funniest person I know!" the Lemongrab dressed in black said.

The Lemongrab in white shook his head happily. "Why, thank you, Lemongrab! But I think you're the funniest person I know!" They closed their eyes and rubbed their foreheads together tenderly. Marceline cringed in , an idea came to Marceline. She was going to prank these losers – HARD – and make sure they didn't get in the way when she talked to Bubblegum. She remembered passing what seemed like countless doors in the hallway. She was sure there was something she could use in one of them. Marceline flew back down into the hallway, and reverted back to her vampire form to start throwing doors open. To her dismay, many of them were empty. There were a few rooms with nothing but a catcher's mitt, another with a three-legged stool right in the middle, another room had two lemon trees growing, and other such rooms with random objects in them.

Marceline was about ready to give up when she opened a door, and her mouth formed into a huge grin. Along the right side of the wall of this room were multiple lockers, all with padlocks attached to them. There was a smaller glass room on the left with a door sealing that small room, and an electric panel placed before the glass. "Perfect," she snorted to herself. She flew through the hall and made sure all of the other doors were closed except for the most recent one she found. She then went back up towards the entrance of the throne room and spied through the slightly ajar doors. There was the black-dressed Lemongrab sitting in one of the chairs, waiting expectantly.

Marceline softly cleared her throat. She hadn't done this in a while, and she had never actually met the Lemongrabs, but it was worth a shot. "Oh, Lemongrab!" she called, perfectly mimicking the sound of their voices which she had just heard. "Could you please meet me in one of the rooms?"

The Lemongrab sitting in the throne looked around confusedly. "Where are you?"

"The glass room down the hall needs… fixing!" Fixing?! She slapped her forehead with her palm. One thousand years old and an expert liar, yet the only thing she could think of was "the room needs fixing"?! She was going to have to have a talk with herself about that one later.

Lemongrab shrugged. "The Reconditioning Chamber? Um, okay!" He replied. Marceline flew just above the door frame out of the way and watched as he walked towards the room.

Marceline flew through the throne room to look out of the main doors where she saw the white-dressed Lemongrab taking the steeds to a small stable next to the drawbridge. She cleared her throat again and called out, "Lemongrab! Can you please meet me in the Reconditioning Chamber? I have a surprise for you!"

The other Lemongrab smiled. "Oh! A surprise! I love surprises!" He ran up to the castle and burst through the doors. Marceline followed swiftly. When they reached the dungeon, the black-dressed Lemongrab was inside of the mysterious glassed-room bent over with his head in the corner.

The Lemongrab in white entered the room and asked, "Where's my surprise?"

The first Lemongrab stood up, and removed his glasses. "Surprise? What surprise?" He bent down to pick up a glass bottle that was standing in the corner where he was gazing. "Is this the surprise?" he asked, holding it up to his counterpart?

Marceline slammed the door, spun the wheel lock shut and laughed. She stood in front of the glass as the two Lemongrabs realized they had been tricked. "You two are way too easy to prank!" she cackled in her normal voice.

The Lemongrab in white stared blankly for a few moments and started laughing. "Ah ha! Ah ha! Good prank! You got us! Ha ha ha! Yeah!"

The other Lemongrab looked from him to Marceline a few times, his eyes growing wider with fear and incomprehension. "Praaaank? What is this prank?" he screamed maniacally. He took the bottle by the longneck then tried pounding it against the wall, trying to break off the end. Lemongrab hammered several times but the bottle refused to shatter. Opening his large jaw which revealed a frightening array of sharp, pointy teeth, he began to gnaw at the end of the bottle, again without success. He threw his arms up in the air and shrieked, "UNACCEPTABLE!" He rushed himself towards the window, attempting in vein to crawl through the glass.

The white-dressed Lemongrab, seeing his friend lose his temper, walked over and started rubbing the top of the crazed Lemongrab's head with both hands. Closing his eyes and humming something, the black dressed Lemongrab started to calm beneath his companion's touch.

Then he too started laughing. "A prank?! Oh! Yeah, that's a good one! ACCEPTABLE!" The two grabbed hands and started dancing in a circle, laughing insanely and hysterically.

Marceline shook her head and slowly flew away. Ugh… Yeah, they weren't fun to prank at all. That was lame. Disappointed, she flew back up to the bedroom to fiddle with her guitar, and thought about what she was going to say when Bubblegum finally got to the castle.