It was a joke. That was all it could have been. But she was already deeply pulled in that it was impossible to escape.
Just thinking about it quenched her heart. She was beginning to become scared. Why? Why did he not have very long to live? Was it because he had no heart? That had to be it. No one could live without a heart, even the Ice Prince.
He has only been in this world for three months, at the least, and now he would be taken from the land of Ooo into…where? Where would he go?! More importantly, why would he have to leave in the first place?
He gently pulled away, taking in her expression. Her eyes were glazed over, tears threatening to spill but never taking their leave. They sat in a moment of achingly long silence, staring into each other's eyes…
And then his face began to change. It at first morphed into a grin, then a full smile, and then he began to laugh. Softly at first, but then he couldn't contain himself. He burst into full on laughter. "Man, I sure got you, didn't I?"
No. The tears were really going to spill. How could he do that…?
"Sure makes for a great pick-up line, though, doesn't it?"
She closed her eyes, trying not to let him see her cry. The sadness she had felt when he said it didn't mix well with the anger boiling inside of her.
She struck him.
Princess Bubblegum had never struck anyone before. Not once in her life had she ever purposely hit someone. But with the flat of her hand, she slapped him right across the cheek. It felt good to relieve her anger this way, but she knew it wasn't right.
Her tears fell on her cheeks. She held the hand she had just used as if to savor the feel of her hand on his face.
"You jerk!" she screamed. "And I tried to help you. I wanted to help you… But I shouldn't have even bothered." Her voice cracked. "You have no heart! You never will, either!"
The Ice Prince held his wounded cheek, though she could see the pinkness of it through his fingers. He looked shocked. No other expression besides it.
Tears blurred her vision as she fled the room.
Days began to pass, and they were all achingly quiet. Dinner was silent and awkward, though the Ice King did try to liven it up by making the penguins perform silly plays, which they would all sit and watch, the penguins squawking their lines, with the Ice King being the only one who understood any of it.
Princess Bubblegum really did try to pay attention to the penguins, who had been begging for attention ever since she had gone nearly mute. Though when they did confront her, she would merely smile, pat their furry heads, and walk away.
She felt like she should apologize, but why? She had hit him, but he deserved it, pulling a trick like that. She would apologize as soon as he did. After all, she knew he hated her, but to tell her that he would die? Despicable.
After a couple of days, Princess Bubblegum finally got up the strength to ask the Ice King for a laboratory. It would help with an experiment she had been aching to try out, so that she wouldn't catch another cold while she was staying here in the Ice Castle.
"I don't see why not. Hey! You could use my secret sanctum, just remove all the ninja stuff and whatnot," the Ice King had replied. She had simply nodded, a smile grazing her lips. Even the fact that she'd be in a lab again didn't lift her spirits. A laboratory was one of her most familiar settings.
So the Ice King had Gunter, Gilda, Genevieve, and Garret help remove all the ninja things and place them (and by place, she means stuff) into the closet. The Ice King so generously made her some scientific instruments, crafted solely from his ice. She set to work immediately.
They didn't see the princess very often after that. She spent most of her time in the lab, absorbed in her work, whatever that may have been. Gunter would bring her meals, but when he returned about forty-five minutes later to retrieve the dish, he would see the food had hardly been picked at. Still, everyday, at the times 9:30 a.m., 1:00, and 8:00, he would bring her meals filled to the brim with fine delicacies. And every time he returned, they'd only have a few things picked at.
The Ice King was sitting down at the dining table, the Ice Prince right across from him. The both watched Gunter fill a plate with a load of food, and then leave. They both knew the plate would return, hardly eaten.
"I'm getting worried about our princess," the Ice King murmured, picking at his half eaten plate of spaghetti.
"She's not our princess," the Ice Prince corrected harshly, giving him a hard stare over his book, Legend of the Enchiridion.
The Ice King sighed, placing his fork in his bowl and looking downward. Then, with a glint of hope in his dark eyes, he glanced upward toward his heir. "Maybe you should go check on her. See that she's well."
"She's fine," the Ice Prince shot back quickly, clinging desperately to the excuse as to not see her.
"Awe, come on, son. Go check on her."
The Ice Prince stood abruptly. He left, letting Gunter pass through the door with a plate a food, hardly touched. He sighed as he saw it, then left the room.
The Ice Prince walked slowly to the secret sanctum, in no rush to get there. There had been no point in arguing with his father, unless he wanted him to throw an icy tantrum.
He hesitated as he approached the doorway, but walked in, knocking on the doorway a couple of times.
"I'm busy," she replied, not even glancing at him.
"I can see that," the Ice Prince replied, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway.
"Did you need something?" He stared at the back of her head. Her bubblegum stands were a bit misshaped, you could say. A few strands sticking out of the top. He sighed, finding himself wanting to stroke it down with his hands. What? Why would he want to do that…?
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did."
She turned to face him, two vials of chemicals in her hands, one a dusty brown color, the other looked like liquid gold. "What is it, then?"
He gazed at her a moment before answering. "The Ice King's concerned that you're not eating."
"I am."
"Hardly."
"'Hardly' is still something."
Princess Bubblegum returned to her work, placing the chemicals on the table and turned to another table. The Ice Prince noticed a strange looking bracelet on the table, wires sticking out of it. She began to work on connecting different wires before her angle turned slightly, obscuring his view.
His curiosity got the better of him. "What're you doing?" He strode to the table, examining the strange accessory.
Princess Bubblegum sighed. "It's going to help me be able to be here without freezing."
"Really? And how will you manage to do that?"
"Science."
"Figured."
He watched her work. She grabbed a vial nearly two-thirds the size of her pinky. There was a thick red liquid in it. She went back to the bracelet. He noticed the bracelet looked dissected, as if she'd done the design first, and then broke it apart to put all the mechanics in it that would…he wasn't sure what they would do, yet. Deep in the bracelets mechanics, he noticed two metal compartments, one rimmed with red paint, one with green. He arched his eyebrows, beginning to wonder if he would ever become as intelligent as her.
"What's that?" he asked her.
She looked at the vial in her hands. "DNA sample."
"Who's?"
"Mine."
"Why?"
She sighed. "The machine needs to know what it's protecting, or what temperature it would be regulating—in this case, it would be mine." She screwed off the lid, held it over the machine, and carefully let a drop fall into the metal compartment with the red rim.
He nodded, partly understanding it.
Next, she grabbed a piece of ice, mashed it with a mallet, and placed a small piece in the metal slot with the green rim. She growled as the ice quickly melted. "Darn it!"
She dropped the mallet and stared at the little metal compartment, trying to figure it out.
"What's the problem?"
She had no problem explaining. "I need an example of something as cold as ice to tell the machine what it's protecting me from. But I can't do that when the ice keeps melting. I need something that won't melt or dissolve, and still remain it's constant temperature, and be as cold as ice…"
The scientific princess began to pace, a pink finger on her chin.
"I think I have an idea."
"Really?" She stopped pacing, looking at him hopefully.
"Why not my blood?"
"Your blood?"
"Yeah. I'm an ice prince. Why wouldn't my blood be ice-cold?"
"I guess…we could try…" She sounded doubtful.
He came closer to her as she grabbed a small needle. He held out his finger. She looked uneasy, but jabbed the needle as gently as she could. When at first it didn't work, she tried again, and this time, a little puncture wound was made. She winced. "Did I do it too deep?"
He chuckled. "No, your fine." He walked over to the bracelet, and carefully let a drop fall into the compartment with the green rim.
"There."
She gasped. "The light's blinking!" She hurriedly began to put it together, connecting wires and putting in screws. It took her a good while before she got it all together.
She carefully latched the bracelet together and snapped it on her wrist. It looked heavy, but hopefully, it would work.
Princess Bubblegum hesitantly pressed a button and from either side came two needle looking hooks. They stabbed into her skin, and she cried out, gripping her arm right above the bracelet.
The Ice Prince sprinted the few feet toward her, grabbing her arm, ready to rip off the experiment gone wrong, when Princess Bubblegum placed a hand on his arm. "No," she said, wincing at the needles in her skin, "It's…okay. It's supposed to do that."
"You made a machine that would hurt you?" The Ice Prince looked at her with a hard stare—no, an angry one. She was surprised at the amount of emotion in his eyes, due to hurting herself.
"No," she managed to give him a victorious smile. "I made a machine that would help me." She held out her arm. "See the latches?" She gestured to the hooks now imbedded in her skin the color of cherry blossoms. "They did that so that that they could perform their job. It regulates my body temperature to whatever temperature I choose. See?" She turned her wrist to reveal another side of the bracelet. On this side was a knob, which she began turning. She shivered as a wave of warmth overtook her. "It works!"
He sighed, relieved. He couldn't help but stare at her mesmerized face. She looked…happy. Happier than she looked in a while…
Princess Bubblegum looked up, feeling his eyes on her. "Don't think because you helped me means I forgive you. I'm still mad that you would pull something like that."
The Ice Prince frowned. Disappointment flashed in his eyes. He sighed as she turned away.
But then he grabbed her shoulder, turning her back around.
"Come with me."