Ice King reached the bottom of the ladder and was still contemplating.
His daydreaming was soon broken by Marceline's voice. "Heads up!" Marceline alarmed, Ice King looked at the incoming object and instinctively grabbed it. It was a white apple, Marceline drained its color.
"Breakfast is served" She said sarcastically, Ice King smiled and took a bite. The apple tasted the same but the skin felt thinner than usual. He sat down on the couch and continued to eat the apple, he felt his hunger being slightly filled by the apple.
Marceline floated towards her door and took a step outside, Ice King followed, eating the last bits of the apple and throwing them into the cave.
Marceline grabbed Ice King's collar and started to float higher. "Ready?" She asked as she floated higher even higher, Ice King nodded to her. Marceline then flew out of her cave, carrying Ice King with her.
"Just like in the old days!" Ice King screamed in joy, Marceline's flight was faster than how Ice King flies with his beard. Candy Kingdom was in sight and a long line of creatures and people from across Ooo were lined up.
"Woooo, that's a big party" Marceline commented as they slowly landed to the start of the line. Marceline let go of Ice King's collar and went on foot.
The admittance was handled by Finn, assisted by Jake who was right beside him. They were presented invitations as each person pass and they would inspect them on a list.
Ice King noticed them, he started to feel uncertainty. "Marceline, you do have my invitation, right?" He asked sounding worried. Marceline faced Ice King and took two invitations from his pocket "Surprise" she said discreetly. Ice King was astonished, he didn't notice Marceline placing the invitations in his pocket awhile ago. He was about to ask how she placed the invitations inside but was soon cut off by Finn speaking.
"Hey... This guy looks familiar, is he a friend of yours, Marceline?" Finn asked with suspicion, Jake checked him for any weapons.
"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you guys, this is Simon. He's my boyfriend" Marceline answered, she handed the invitations to Finn.
"Really? Sorry for being suspicious and all," Finn said as he gave the invitations to Jake, he then walked up to Simon and shook his hand, "I'm Finn, The Human Boy" He introduced, he then pointed his finger to Jake "And that's Jake The Dog, he's my bro and best-bud, you can call us Finn and Jake" FInn said happily.
Ice King felt nervous, "Oh hello... I'm Simon Petrikov, you can call me Simon anyways, the last name sounds weird" He introduce himself. Finn and Marceline laughed. Jake then checked their names on the list.
"Okay, you're good to go, have fun" Jake said, Marceline and Ice King nodded and headed in.
"Phew... Should everyone know how I am?" Ice King asked quietly, Marceline faced him with a small worried expression on her face.
"Best not do it, Princess Bubblegum is the only one who knows you by now" She said, Ice King felt slightly relieved. He thought Princess Bubblegum will surely not do a move on Ice King.
The couple soon found themselves entering a decorated door and being inside a lavishly designed room, chandeliers lit the room and windows would allow extra light to enter.
There were banquet tables filled with food on each side of the room, a stage with a candy design rested on the very back of the room, it had a Goblin Kingdom band play casual music as the ball went. A huge open-space was at the center, where the dancing would take place.
There were also tables with chairs covered in cloth on each side of the room which allowed people to rest, talk and eat for awhile.
Different kinds of inhabitants of Ooo were there, not just the candy people, the room was designed to accommodate them all. "Wow" Ice King remarked as they walked through the huge room. Marceline held his hand and moved towards a table to sit.
"Well, you hungry? Go get some food, I'll wait here" Marceline suggested as she sat on the chair and rested her hands on the table.
Ice King nodded and made his way to the banquet tables. He had some trouble getting through the crowd, some would stare at him because he looked so humanly normal and others would just glance, simply because they didn't care.
Ice King finally made his way to the banquet tables, he took a plate and got in line. He had his eyes set on the food, there was different kinds of pasta, roasted chicken, fried fish, garlic bread, some desserts and different assorted candies.
He took almost one of each as he passed the line, taking what seemed satisfying for him.
"Hey mister, can you help me get some fried fish? I forgot to notice them" A slightly deep voice asked, Ice King looked to see a blue-skinned man with pointed ears, sharp teeth and eyes that had red slit pupils that was like of a snake, he wore a dark-brown suit and black shoes that were all neatly polished.
Ice King was slightly terrified but decided to just help him out, he took the tongs and got him one fried fish. "Thanks mister. Hey... you don't seem like you're from around here" The man said, judging from Ice King's completely normal looks. Ice King wanted to think of something to say but he was nervous, he wasn't a good conversationalist. "Maybe we could go get to know each other together and talk?" The man then suggested, Ice King looked at him and had a nervous grin.
"Yeah sure! We could go meet each other" Ice King answered nervously, the man smiled.
"You go ahead, I'll follow you to your seat" The man said politely, Ice King found him very nice even with his terrifying face. Ice King quickly looked for his seat and spotted it, he saw Marceline was examining her gloves as she waited. He carefully ran to it and took a seat.
He arrived soon after and Marceline noticed that he seemed to be in such a hurry. "What's with the hurry?" Marceline asked curiously, Ice King placed his plate on the table and looked at Marceline.
"Nothing, I just wanted to be in a hurry" Ice King answered, he wanted to make sure that the man didn't spot him.
"Oh, Oka-" Marceline was cut off by a voice that surprised her.
"Marceline?" The man said curiously, it was her father. Marceline quickly floated away from her seat and saw her father standing behind her chair.
"Oh, hi dad, you kinda scared me there" Marceline greeted nervously, it was some time since she last saw her father. "By the way, this is my Dad" She introduced her father to Ice King. He took a seat and placed his plate on the table.
"I'm Hunson Abadeer, Ruler of the Nightosphere and the Lord of Evil, nice to meet you, mister..." He paused.
"Simon Petrikov" Ice King continued.
"Yes, Simon Petrikov. It's all strange that my little Marcy is sitting with you, is there anything special going on?" Hunson asked curiously while raising an eyebrow. Both Ice King and Marceline started to feel nervous.
Hunson then looked at Marceline with a face of curiosity. Marceline then sighed, she wouldn't want to keep this a secret anymore to her father, she wanted to know his approval. "Dad, he's my boyfriend" Marceline answered.
Hunson was near speechless, he didn't know what to say, he was also half-ashamed that his daughter would take into liking a powerless man.
He placed his plate down on the table and looked at Simon, "Mister Simon, would you excuse me for a moment, I need to talk with my daughter" He asked still having the smile on his face. Ice King nodded nervously and Marceline had this feeling of anxiety.
Hunson gestured Marceline to come with him, she soon followed and they stopped at the very corner of the room. There was a huge candy column shadowing them from the rest of the crowd.
Hunson rested his back on the column and crossed his arms. "Marcy, what's gotten into you?" Hunson said discreetly but he didn't sound mad, he just sounded disappointed. "He doesn't look like the evil type, I was more impressed with your last boyfriend" He continued.
"Dad, he's a nice guy, a guy that I wanted for such a long time: tolerant, loving, passionate, caring and handsome. Unlike the last guy, who was a total dick" Marceline answered back. Hunson sighed.
"How did you meet him? I want to know" Hunson asked. Marceline got ready for this question.
"He was so alone, dad, and I felt the same too. Our relationship started when I asked him to hang out in my house, so we don't feel too lonely at least. Then I had this strange thing in my mind, like I wanted to kiss him, so I did..." Marceline answered with the sound of embarrassment, Hunson's eyes widened.
"Well... I wanted to know if he felt the same, so I invited him to sleep at my place and we did... what a man and a woman do" Marceline continued embarrassingly, Hunson was dumbfounded.
He took a deep sigh, Marceline felt humiliated. "You allowed him... You weren't drunk or anything?: Hunson asked, Marceline blushed.
"No, I actually was the one who wanted it to happen" Marceline answered, she thought into that answer and realized that she sounded inappropriate.
"Look, sweetie... You met him from day one and you already did things like that?" Hunson remarked.
"Yes, dad, I really love him and he loves me, is there a problem with that?" Marceline asked, Hunson shook his head slightly, this made Marceline smile.
"Of course not, Marcy. I just can't get over him taking your... never mind" Hunson answered near embarrassed. Marceline blushed.
"Well, let's get back now, your boyfriend's waiting for his woman" Hunson said, standing back up. Marceline was over-joyed, her father accepted him.
They walked back to the table, making their way through the crowd.
Marceline took her seat and Hunson sat by the extra chair. Ice King looked nervous, he wasn't sure of the outcome. "Simon, let's have a talk" Hunson said, "Marcy, leave us for awhile", Marceline nodded and she stood up and waited by another table. She wasn't sure if it was over.
Hunson faced back at Ice King and had this smile on his face. "Don't worry boy, she told me everything" Hunson reassured, Ice King was still unsure.
"Look, it's okay and all, Marcy loves you. Just make her happy, alright?" Hunson continued, Ice King did a sigh of relief.
"Just make sure it lasts long enough for her to cherish, she's just so depressed and all" Hunson said, " I nearly made her hate me and if I stop her now, I would be hated and possibly forgotten by own daughter, so please, take care of her" Hunson continued.
Ice King smiled and nodded, he was glad that he wasn't mad, "I will" he answered. Hunson smiled and slightly nodded. He then gestured his hand to Marceline. She stood up from her seat and returned to her table.
"Just had a little chat with him, nothing to worry about" Hunson assured, Marceline sat down on her table. Ice King then had this feeling of freedom again, Marceline also felt the same.
Hunson and Simon started to eat their meals which started to get cold. "So... tell me about yourself" Hunson asked as he took a bite from garlic bread, Marceline slightly leaned out of the sight of garlic.
"Well... I was born in..." Ice King paused, he couldn't remember and it would take some time for him to make a location up. A sudden memory then hit him, like something out of the blue, a name of a place. He couldn't remember if it was a lie or it was a true memory. "New Veinland, it was a town far from Ooo" Ice King answered, Hunson raised an eyebrow, he couldn't remember hearing a town like that.
"Where is this... New Veinland?" Hunson asked curiously as he finished his garlic bread.
"It's somewhere up north, I ended up here and I... couldn't remember how" He answered again, Hunson slowly nodded his head. "I was born in the 20th of August , 1963 and I grew up in a place called Hampenshire to study, I learned how to collect things and find distant treasures, it was a hobby that I would do when I was a kid and it would follow me when I grew up. So I became an archeologist, looking for ancient treasures and studying them or collecting them" Ice King continued, Marceline was inclined to listen as well, she thought that he made a very fascinating made-up history.
"Survived the war?" Hunson asked curiously. Ice King was hit by a flood of memories that usually just hung behind his head.
"Yes, I wore something that protected me from the explosion. I can recall that it was a crown, that promised me power and protection, it was a relic from the old Norse mythology. I remember wearing it to save myself from the hazards of the apocalypse and... I remember protecting someone else" Ice King stopped, Marceline's eyes peeled to his story, he started to remember. "I remember that it was just a little girl, she was alone and she cried in the middle of nowhere, I...I gave her something, a teddy bear, was it? I can't seem to-" He was cut off.
"It was a teddy bear" Marceline continued, staring at the center of the table. Ice King looked at her and had no idea that the story had effect on Marceline.
"Marceline, who'd you know?" Hunson asked, jumping into the conversation.
"I just know" Marceline answered back, Hunson shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, she carried the teddy bear everywhere she went, she would only take it away to hide it in my bag. I could remember her crying whenever I had to put on the crown, I remember that I tried as hard as I could not to put it on but I would fail" Ice King continued, disregarding Marceline.
She started to feel tears welling up on her eyes, she could remember them as well.
"As far as I know, that's all that my history is, I remember putting on the crown one last time, seeing the face of the girl before I finally put it on..." Ice King finalized his history, Hunson was intrigued by his story. Marceline nearly cried but it she fought it back. "I wonder what happened to the girl, I still wonder if she ever lived" Ice King remarked, Hunson took a drumstick of chicken and ate it whole.
Ice King started to eat his meal and finished it up in a 5 minutes.
"Well, you got one case of amnesia, boy!" Hunson laughed, Marceline simply made a small smile.
"Yeah... a case of amnesia..." Marceline commented faintly, she took a look at Ice King and smiled. " I miss you too" Marceline thought.
AN: Thanks for reading