"Daddy, why did you eat my fries? I bought them, and they were mine. But you ate them, yeah, you ate my fries... And I cried, but you didn't see me cry…" Marceline continuously recited the song again and again, but it did no good. She didn't feel as if she had conquered her emotions. She still felt some pent-up aggression towards her father for what he did to her. Her friend Keila had recommended she 'Tell him your feelings and stuff, just not up front'. She wasn't sure what she had meant by this until now.
Marceline grabbed her journal from the table and flipped open to the page titled 'Fry Song', which had all the lyrics. She tore out the page, and got out the necessary required items. With a sharpie, she drew a happy face onto the wall, and then splashed Bug Milk onto it.
""Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum!" She chanted, completing the ritual. A portal opened, she was about to throw the note in until she saw…. Him.
"Hey, Marceline, how's my little monster?" He asked on the other side of the portal, in a dorky manner. It was her father, the Lord of Evil, who wore a business suit, like always, those his job was anything but dignified. The way he was cheerfully oblivious to the pain he had caused her.
"Dad! I'm not a little girl anymore! Why are you even here?" She scowled, her anger rising.
"That's a good question, Marcy. Didn't you summon me here in the first place?" He countered. Marceline grit her teeth and opened her mouth, but she couldn't find the words to argue back with.
"Oh, I get it now. You wanted to treat your old man to a feast of souls, but you couldn't find the courage to ask me yourself. It's okay Marceline, I can do it myself." With that, the Lord of Evil stepped onto the other side of the portal and into Marceline's house.
"Dad! That's not what I meant at all, I just wanted to talk!" Marceline yelled, frustrated.
"We can talk later sweetie, once I'm done sucking out all these souls." Once again, her father had ignored her feelings and did as he pleased.
"Marceline, is this the family Ax? What have you done to it? Is this a guitar? I don't think you're fit to own it if you treat it like this." He snatched the Ax-Bass from the couch and left out the front door.
"Dad!" Crona shot awake as he heard as he heard a furious cry. Within an instant, a demonic figure was standing in front of him, opening his jaws wide, and his whole body went numb as his soul, as well as Ragnarok's was being sucked out of him forcefully.
"Stop!" In a flash, his attempted soul absorption was interrupted with a kick to the jaw from Marceline. The Demon stumbled backwards, and the thing Crona immediately noticed was Marceline's Ax-Bass with the Demon, it fled the caves and Marceline looked as if she was steaming with anger. Crona ran to catch up with her.
"Was that your…" Crona couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He hadn't exactly had the greatest childhood with his 'parent'.
"Yeah. That's my dad. He's kind of a huge jerk." Marceline said, who had calmed down a bit. "He's got my Ax-Bass, so I'm gonna settle things with him. You can wait here until I get back." She said, for once she was being serious and showed no signs of joking whatsoever. Marceline spun around and soared out of the cave without another word. As she left, a paper flew out of her pocket and into Crona's direction, he grabbed it immediately.
"W-wait! You forgot thi-" It was too late. She was already far gone from the depths of the cave.
"Aaaaaah! Lord of Evil, sir! Don't suck out my soooooouuul-" Cried a Cloud Person as his very spirit was being devoured. There he lie, another empty husk, a shell of what once was a person.
"Suckin' out souls, suckin' out souls, huntin' for souls…" Whistled Marceline's father cheerfully. He took joy in seeing the petrified faces on his victims as they pitifully begged for mercy.
"Hiyaaaa!" Just as he was about to venture to another kingdom, he heard a battle cry coming from above. The last thing he saw before being forcefully kicked downwards to the ground below was a pair of red boots. His impact after crash landing into the plains created a crater at least the size of a car. He dusted himself off and saw his daughter standing at the edge of the crater.
"Give. Me. My. Bass." Marceline demanded. Her father smirked and just shook his head.
"Sorry Marcy, not gonna happen. Unless you wanna try and take it from me." He said, taking out the Ax and slamming the sharp edge into the ground.
"You're on, Lord of Evil." Marceline said, putting her fists up. She bared her fangs, pulling out all the stops to look intimidating. Although, she desired her Bass greatly, she wasn't sure if she could beat her father in a one-on-one duel, especially considering she had a disadvantage. "Yep… I'm screwed." Marceline thought. Perhaps she should've chosen her battles wisely.
Marceline took the initiative and rushed her father, getting up close and faking him out with a punch, and attempting to kick him in the head, which he dodged with ease. She floated up a few feet, and threw a multitude of punches aimed at his head. After dodging seven swift punches with quick tilts of the head, the Lord of Evil caught her fist and slammed it into the ground, with such sheer force that her body created a hole even deeper than the one her father made when he crash landed.
"Why you…!" Marceline burst out of the hole, seething with rage. She turned into a demonic, muscled monster and let loose a gargantuan punch, which her father only managed to block with the Ax, even then, it still made him skid back quite a distance.
"That actually could've hurt, but hey you tried." He said, in a rather mocking tone of voice, which only enraged his daughter even more. The Lord of Evil took the offensive as he jumped into the air and landed behind her, chopping the back of her neck and forcing her back into her normal form.
"Slow down a bit, you might hurt yourself, Marcy." Marceline helplessly struggled as the Lord of Evil seized her in a shoulder-hold and delivered a destructive piledriver to his daughter into the hard ground, leaving her completely paralyzed with pain.
"Can't… Move!" Marceline thought, gritting her teeth. The feeling of complete helplessness only angered her more.
"Shoulda just stayed in your place, Marceline. Looks like your old man just might have to teach you a lesson!" The Lord of Evil raised his Ax over his head and prepared to deal the finishing blow to Marceline. She shut her eyes tight and prepared for a grim, bloody end.
CLANG! Marceline opened her eyes. The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the air. Someone stood before her, but she couldn't make out exactly who it was.
"Screech Beta!" A purple aura burst from the blade and pushed Marceline's father back a considerable distance. The person before her swung his sword towards the Lord of Evil as if to signify 'Leave her be'.
"It's okay, Lady Marceline, I'll defend you." It was then that Marceline instantly recognized the voice. It was her Henchman, who had come all this way for her.
"But why…" Marceline asked, as she lay on the ground, her voice full of confusion.
Crona simply turned back and responded, "Because you were nice to me." with a smile. Then, he turned his attention to the Lord of Evil, let Ragnarok return to his bloodstream, and got in a proper defensive stance.
"You've got quite a dark soul… Perhaps offer it to me?" The Lord of Evil clenched the Ax and sprinted towards Crona at supernatural speeds. As he swung the Ax, Ragnarok hardened the Black Blood as Crona blocked the blade with both hands. Traces of blood spilled from his hands, which he used to his advantage.
"Bloody Needle!" Two solid spikes of Black Blood shot from Crona's palms, piercing Marceline's father through his chest. Crona quickly summoned Ragnarok's sword form and lunged for the Lord of Evil. He narrowly avoided the attempted stab and punched him across the face, which knocked him down to the ground.
Marceline could now manage to move from her paralyzed state, but it still pained her quite a bit. "This is really weird… When I fought him a couple days ago, he could barely keep up with me, but now he's going head-to-head with my dad, and he's doing pretty good!" Marceline questioned how bizarre the increase in power was, but she was too caught up in the action.
"Bloody Slicer!" Crona slit his wrist and a speedy Black Blood projectile was fired at Marceline's father, who narrowly avoided it with a well-timed duck. He countered by getting up close and throwing a heavy punch, Crona blocked it with Ragnarok before it made impact.
"Pi-Yaaaaaaaaaagh!" Ragnarok vibrated wildly as he screamed, causing the Lord of Evil's knuckles to bleed. He yanked it back, writhing as he sucked out his own bleeding red blood.
"You insolent little…" Marceline's father growled, his eyes bloodshot with anger. "Whoops, sorry, lost my temper a bit there, anyways, I'm going to go finish my evening meal. See you two kids later!" He flew upwards towards Lumpy Space, leaving the two on their own.
"Hey, Henchman… What was that?" She staggered back up, mostly recovered from her wounds, and looked Crona in the eye. He seemed to have returned to has passive demeanor.
"Oh, um…" Crona's eyes shifted left and right, not meeting her eyes. "I-it was nothing…" He said, quietly.
"Y'know what, never mind. I'm going alone, I didn't need your help anyways." Marceline, despite her injured condition, flew upwards towards a pointless struggle.
"H-hold on!" He said, still holding onto the paper with the lyrics. He stuffed it back into his robe.
"Quit standing around! I was totally ready to take that guy's soul!" Ragnarok complained, he morphed into his Black Dragon form and started flying towards Lumpy Space at breakneck speeds. Crona felt wind flying into his face, to the point where he had to squint just to see clearly.
As soon as Crona reached Lumpy Space, he nearly had a heart attack. Marceline's father had become absolutely gigantic, at least ten times the size he previously was. Marceline stood on a purple cloud, staring in awe.
"Marceline, I told you, I'm not giving your Bass back, it's mine now, understand?" He said, his echoing voice boomed throughout Lumpy Space. Marceline grit her teeth and put her fists up once more. The Lord of Evil pulled his fist back, preparing to deliver a monstrous punch to the weakened Marceline.
"N-no!" Crona flew in, wielding Ragnarok, making a desperate attempt to interrupt his attack. He closed his eyes and hoped for the best while he took a blind shot.
"G-gaaaaah!" Crona turned around, and saw he had at least done some damage. He saw Marceline's father clenching his bloody arm, which lacked a hand on it. Crona took a breath, he had at least prevented harm from coming to Lady Marceline. The Lord of Evil coughed out blood, as well as some souls. Crona felt his blood turn to ice as Marceline's father slowly turned his head to him. Crona felt frozen as the Lord of Evil reached for him with a giant hand. He grabbed Crona with his one remaining hand, and brought him up to his gigantic head.
"You don't need to worry about my hand, really, it's okay. I'll return the favor, from me to you." Marceline's father squeezed Crona as tight as he could, Crona screamed as his very insides were being crushed by the soul-sucking tyrant. The Lord of Evil cackled at his agony. To finish the job, he threw Crona onto the same cloud as Marceline, cracking the Black Blood.
"Look at you two, it's kind of sad. You just picked a fight with the wrong demon, that's it. You two might just be having a permanent stay at the Nightosphere." Marceline stumbled back up once again, but her injuries caught up to her at the worst possible time, she silently fell to the ground next to Crona.
"Think Crona, think….!" Crona desperately searched his mind for a solution as the Lord of Evil opened his large, disgusting mouth and prepared to drain their bodies of their souls. Crona's eyes widened as an idea finally came to him.
Crona reached into his robe, and took out the piece of paper. He crumpled it up and threw it with all his strength towards Marceline's father. It bounced off his forehead and he grabbed it. He unfolded it and mumbled it to himself.
"Marceline…. Do you really feel this way?" He said, in a concerned tone.
"No, I mean, yes but…" Marceline's cheeks turned bright red and her voice became soft.
"Marceline, I'm sorry about the fries, they tasted undercooked, but I ate them anyways…" Marceline's father said, sounding rather ashamed of himself. Crona had no clue that Marceline's father was so… Fatherly.
"Don't worry about the fries, Dad… It's really okay." Marceline said calmly. Crona could hear her voice cracking a bit as she spoke.
"I'm sorry Marceline… I-I love you." He said, a single tear falling from his face. He plucked the Ax and set it at Marceline's side.
"I love you too, Dad." She said, getting a little misty-eyed. There was an embarrassed smile on her face.
"Marceline, it really means so much to hear you say that… We should just spend-"
"Screech Alpha!" In the blink of an eye, a thin purple beam pierced through Marceline's father's chest, and a sonic explosion quickly followed, momentarily injuring him, as well as releasing a large bundle of souls. Quickly, Crona hopped under one of the purple clouds beneath Marceline's father, and drew a happy face. He pulled out a carton of bug milk from his robe, and emptied it out upon the face.
"Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum!" He yelled. Within seconds, a blue portal violently dragged Marceline's father back into the hellish Nightosphere. Marceline quickly flew over to Crona's location and grabbed him by the collar.
"Hey! Do you realize how embarrassing that was?" Marceline's grip loosened as she remembered his actions earlier. She sighed, and let her body collapse onto the soft, lumpy cloud. Crona, also exhausted, followed suit, his body making a soft 'thump'.
"Sorry… I um… panicked."
Marceline sluggishly walked over to the door to her house, her strength drained from combat. Before she walked in, however, she turned back. Her henchman lay on the cave floor, looking in far worse condition than she was. Marceline couldn't ignore it, not after what he did for her.
"H-hey, henchman!" He stood up, looking rather tired. Marceline felt her confidence sink to a new low. "You can sleep on the couch… I mean, if you want. Not that I care." She said, hoping she didn't sound vulnerable. He seemed honestly shocked that she would suggest something like that. He stood paralyzed with surprise for a few seconds as Marceline turned around and floated towards her bed, not looking back. She heard footsteps coming up to the house. "Of course." She thought.
Her Henchman was silent upon entering the house, Marceline didn't dare to look back, too embarrassed to admit she was grateful.
"T-thank you!" Marceline stopped dead in her tracks. Her feelings were conflicting with each other. On one hand, she wanted to just be cool about it and say 'Yeah, no problem.', but on the another hand, she wanted to prove that she hadn't gone soft.
"Bleh!" Marceline turned into a horrifying demonic form and let out a terrifying cry. Marceline heard the oh-so satisfying gasp of a petrified victim. She turned around, returned to her room, and shut the door.
"That's never gonna get old." She said to herself.
AN: Another chapter allllllll done. Thanks for reading guys! Just a quick note, Crona knew the ritual for opening up the portal by doing some investigating within the house. Constructive Criticism and suggestions are welcome!
