Oh Marceline! Why'd You Have To Turn Thirteen?

By Luna Mrow

—7—


Marceline's Memory; Hour Two

He wanted to reach out and touch her. He couldn't stand the look of pure misery and heartbreak on her face, and especially couldn't stand the lifeless and cold expression of her dead mother. "Marceline," Finn murmured. He knelt down next to her on the grass. The adventurer then noticed that her two fang marks on her neck looked fresh crimson blood was dripping down the side of them. He knew this wasn't real, he knew that he shouldn't be here next to her, he should be trying find the younger her. This Marceline wasn't real, she was just a memory.

But she looked so real. And she was crying, salty ice-cold tears dripped down her pale cheeks. "Mom, mom, I didn't know," she choked. "Mom, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Finn asked her. He knew she couldn't hear him but at that moment he didn't care. Finn reached out to touch her, but remembered his hand would just go through her like he was intangible. "Marceline what did you do? You couldn't have done this... you... couldn't have..." Finn muttered.

Could she?

Did she?

The adventurer stared at Marceline's mother. He felt a sickness come to his stomach and realized that this was too much for him, he had to get into another memory and he had to do it now. Finn stood to his feet and started walking along the forest path, in a few short minutes finding himself in another place and another time.

Luckily, Finn didn't find himself in as quite as a gruesome setting. But, he did find himself in a memory he didn't want to be in. "Oh Ash, you don't really want to go out and attack the Fire Kingdom," Marceline laughed. The Vampire Queen was her teenager self, her hair in a pony tail, and she had a hand around his waist. Ash. It was all his fault they were in this mess. Finn recognized this place to be his tree house, obviously after Marceline moved in but before she broke up with Ash.

"Come on babes, it'll be fun. We'll mess around, find ourselves a few jewels or awesome stuff to snag, maybe fight a couple guards and leave. It'll be a slam-dunk-sammich," Ash said.

Finn scoffed. "Slam-dunk-sammich? That's so lame. Don't listen to him Marcie, the dude is obviously a loser."

"Hmm," the vampire hummed. "Mess around you say?"

"Yeah," Ash grinned.

"Steal some awesome stuff, you say?"

"Definitely baby."

Finn gasped. "Marceline, don't you dare! Stealing is not cool! I know you're a thousand years old, and you might've lost track of your moral code, but you CANNOT steal! That's what baddies do!"

Although Memory Marceline could not hear the thirteen year old adventurer's protests and words of wisdom, it seemed like she could. At least, it seemed like she knew Finn was in the room and was purposely teasing him, even though that was not the case. "I do love to steal," she purred, "almost as much as I love being bad." Finn groaned in frustration. "You also said fight a few guards?" she then asked.

Ash nodded. "Yeah babes. You know the Fire Kingdom guards are pretty good fighters."

"They are," she agreed. "And I need some battle practice with my axe bass. I wonder if it could cut someone in half," Memory Marceline mused.

"This would be a good way to find out."

"It would be a good way to find out."

Finn was flabbergasted. "Marceline! You're not SERIOUSLY going to cut someone in half, are you? Come on! You're better than this! You don't want to do this!" he cried.

Memory Marceline nodded. "You know what, I totally want to do it. Let's go."

Ash grinned and gave her a kiss on her cheek, both of the vampires flying out of the tree house. Finn sighed in defeat. "Oh Marceline, why you gotta be so mean?"


Marceline's Memory; Hour Three

No. No. No. NO. This was NOT apart of the plan! The real Marceline slammed her fist angrily against the wall, huffing and puffing angrily like she had just ran a mile. She didn't care if her body was in a fragile state and going nuts was a bad idea. She had every right to go nuts. She had every right to go bananas! Bonkers! Off her rocker! RAWR! The one thing the Vampire Queen did not want was for that adventuring moral-coded thirteen year old boy to get lost in her memory. There were a lot of things he didn't need to see, let alone know about. "Ugh! What if he finds out what I did in the Fire Kingdom?" Marceline asked herself. "So I cut the guard in half with my axe bass... but I felt bad about it for like, what, fifteen years? That was punishment enough!"

She stomped through her memories like they were runways. Well... you know... runways for angry models. Okay, she stomped through her memories like they were battlegrounds. So many memories passed by her, but she refused to stop and get lost in them all. She couldn't. So many images passed her by; images of her when she spent time with Princess Bubblegum, the tragedy during the Great Mushroom War, the concerts she used to rock out to, the somewhat-pleasant moments she'd spend with Ash. The Vampire Queen passed them all by without so much as a stop or a look.

Until, she came across a certain memory she didn't remember.

She saw herself asleep, which was odd, because do you really remember things when you're asleep? Apparently so. Marceline saw herself sacked out on her couch, a bottle of blood on the floor, the light from her TV on, and soft snores escaping her. "So I guess I do snore," Marceline muttered. "You know I look pretty cute when I'm asleep." The vampire was about to move on into another memory when she heard someone at her front door. A voice called out her name. "Finn?" she asked.

Her front door opened and Finn stepped inside. He was twelve, she could tell because his blue shirt had a pocket sewn in, and he only wore a pocket sewn shirt when he was twelve. "Hey Marcie, I'm back from" Finn stopped talking when he noticed Memory Marceline was asleep. "Cool, I didn't know vampires slept," he awed.

Marceline rolled her eyes. "Of course we sleep, you weenie. What, you think we're awake all the time forever?" Of course, she received no reply, as Finn could not hear her. The adventurer stepped through her living room and into her hallway leading to her upstairs bedroom. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Marceline questioned suspiciously. Who does he think he is? Does he really think he can walk through her house all wild and free? Apparently so.

Finn came back and had her black throw blanket from her bed. The Vampire Queen watched in surprise as the adventurer walked towards her memory self. Finn carefully placed a pillow under Memory Marceline's head, placed the blanket on her, turned off her TV, and set her remote on her coffee table. "There you go," he smiled.

"I had no idea you did that for me, Finn," Marceline mumbled. "That's so... that's so... sweet."

"Goodnight Marceline," Finn then said as he stared at the memory of her on the couch. "Sweet dreams."

"You know, if I could, I think I might just kiss you," Marceline murmured softly, as she stared at the memory of her best friend. "But, then I remembered you have Jake shrunk up and inside your shirt-pocket, so I change my mind."


Outside in the real world, July 13th, 12:02 P.M.

"I don't like this, Jake. They've been gone all morning and we've been stuck here. I want to go outside, I want to explore this town, I want to party with some pretty babes and let them feel my beard!"

The magical dog sighed. "No, Ice King. You're staying right where you are."

Ice King pouted and crossed his arms. "You always listen to Finn. Why won't you listen to me?"

"Because Finn isn't a big nerd, old and bonkers," Jake answered.

"Hey! Now I don't mind being called bonkers, and I don't mind being called a nerd. But don't you dare call me old. I am not old."

"You're totally old," Jake objected.

Ice King threw his somewhat-flabby arms in the air. "This is all your fault!" he accused.

"What?"

"It's your fault we're in the mess we're in!"

"What? How?"

"Because you and Finn always call me old. And you've severely damaged my self esteem. Now I have low self esteem, which has pushed me into the making the decisions I've made. You think I wanted to live this way? I wanted to find myself a pretty lady princess cough or two cough and make her my bride! All I've wanted out of this cruel world was a pretty lady princess bride!"

Jake wasn't following. "Wait... what?"

"You and Finn call me old every chance you get. Which is why I looked for a way to make myself younger. Which is why I found the age-shifting potion. Which is why we're in this mess. It's all because you and Finn called me an old fart!"

"YOU ARE OLD!" Jake yelled. Ice King then jumped to his feet, lifting his dress/long-sleeved-shirt-that-came-down-to-his-ankles over his head. "Whoa man, what are you doing?" Jake demanded.

"Look at my gut!" Ice King ordered. "It is the gut of an old Ice King. It is the gut of a lonely old fart who has no pretty lady princess bride. This gut... is a void. Do you know what I fill this void with, Jake? Raspberry fat cakes! Raspberry fat cakes fill the void in my lonely soul! But now... now... now you have filled the void the raspberry fat cakes once filled. Thank you Jake, thank you for standing beside me, the old fart." Ice King then proceeded to sob and cry, occasionally blowing his nose into his scraggly beard.

Jake awkwardly stood there, considering jumping out the window. "So, let me get this straight, first you accuse me of being old, then you make me look at your gut, then you thank me for supporting you?"

Ice King cried harder. "Life is so cruel!"

The dog sighed. "Finn, brother, please... for the love of glob, hurry up!"


Marceline's Memory; Hour Four

Finn felt like he had been wandering for days rather than hours. He wished he had Jake with him. The thirteen year old boy had been through Marceline's more light-hearted memories. However, most of her past was with her and Ash. Finn had to unfortunately witness those two cause chaos and destruction, including giving poor Peppermint Butler a wedgie. Who gives Peppermint Butler a wedgie? And WHY? He was so nice and sweet and minty. Why would you wedgie him?

"Huh, that's weird, this memory has two Marceline's," Finn muttered to himself. "Wait... there can't be two... Marceline? Marceline! Is that you?"

The vampire turned. "Finn! It's you! I found you!" she exclaimed. Finn ran straight to the vampire. She looked tired, bags were forming under her eyes. "I can't believe it! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded. "What about you?"

"I'm just glad we're not separated and we can get a move on." She was unconsciously leaning forward and because of how tired she was she lost her balance and fell forward. Finn caught her and stood her back up straight. "Okay, maybe I need a few minutes. I hate being so weak."

Finn laughed. "It's alright. I could use a five minute break, too. It'll be a slam-dunk-sammich."

She literally froze when he said that. A few minutes of dead silence passed. "Where did you hear that?" Marceline then asked.

"Ash."

"Ash only said that once, when he and I were"

"going to cause chaos at the Fire Kingdom? Steal things, start fights, and mess around?"

"Finn, you've got to understand, back two-hundred or three-hundred years ago I was"

Once again he interrupted. "I just don't get it," he said. "Why did you have to do those things? Did you feel cool? Did you feel strong? Was making everyone else's life hard a rush for you?"

She held her head low, her long bangs covering her eyes. This was why Finn couldn't get lost in her past. "Ash brought out the worst in me," she mumbled. "I... I loved being bad... for him. But then I realized how much of a jerk he was. But there was a time... there was a time I was a really bad vampire, Finn. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, a lot of mistakes I've made, and I live with them every day. And being in here... it's like I have to confront them all over again. I finally came to the realization that although Ash pressured me, he didn't force me to do bad things. I did that all on my own. And II take responsibility for it."

A few silent minutes passed. Marceline didn't dare look up at Finn. She knew he'd be mad at her why wouldn't he be?

Suddenly, his warm arms went around her small frame. Marceline was abruptly hugged by Finn, and the adventurer didn't let go or let up on his hold. "I'm not mad," Finn said softly. "I'm trying to understand the best I can, and maybe I won't understand. But I can't hold something you did a long time ago against you now. Grudges won't help you, and they won't save you. It's okay."

That feeling came back. That feeling of... that... touched feeling. Finn's heart was so pure. He was so kind. He was so...

"Finn?" Marceline whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Can you stay still for a moment and close your eyes?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Please just do it."

Finn nodded. "Okay." He let go of her and closed his eyes.

Marceline took a deep breath. Her small hands went on his shirt and she curled his soft shirt material into a fist. The Vampire Queen, who was now thirteen, then stood on her toes. She hesitated for a moment, but then closed her eyes, softly planting her soft lips on Finn's. He didn't flinch at her sudden kiss, and she softly kissed him, bringing her mouth off of his. "That's a thank you," she whispered. "Just in case I don't make it."

Whoo. Glad to have this chapter finished =D

I just want to say I'm sorry for the long wait for the update. My computer crashed. Yes. It's very sad for me I spent three days online for tech support and then I had to ship my beloved laptop to Texas to get it fixed :'( So that's why updating has been hard, I have to write at the library. I'm sorry. But thank you for being patient and thank you so much for reading. Please review :)

You're all mathematical!

~Luna