Nothing really to answer. Not that much reviews to the last chapter :(
Disclaimer: I hope you like this chapter.
Even within Billy's unconscious mind, he could feel himself beginning to turn. He dreamt of himself, as a damaged human being. His guts churned as he remembered his surroundings. It was the house of their happy family, before the events of the Mushroom War. He began in his room, observing the pictures on the wall; pictures of his friends and family. His eyes followed the walls of his bedroom until it looped behind him, where the door to the bedroom stood. Underneath the door was a trail of blood, leading to the outside. He gasped as he held his shoulder, clutching it intensely. The blood on the floor was still wet and warm. Whoever was killed here was killed recently, just seconds before. With nowhere else to go, Billy took a deep breath and opened the door.
The door lead into their living room. The entire room was destroyed, like a tornado ran rampant through it. Pictures and paper littered the floor and the television set had fallen over. The coffee table in the center of the room was no longer there, but in its place a massive wooden crucifix planted on the ground. Crucified on the cross, to Billy's horror, was none other than his daughter, Lilly. He approached the cross, slow and weak as tears rushed down his face. He remembered his failure as a father, for all fathers took an oath when their child is born: to swear to protect them at all costs.
When he finally was inches away, he reached upward to touch her face. Suddenly, Lilly's eyes opened to reveal not her usual beautiful blue eyes, but rather demonic black eyes. "Hello Billy…" The voice was a deep, dark and terrible.
Billy nearly fell backward. "You… you aren't Lilly. Who are you?"
"My name is Nothung." It replied. "I am a part of you. I am everything you hate and everything you fear. I am the manifestations of your deepest regrets and sorrows. I am what ails your subconscious. But I am also your greatest power…"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think that you would have ever made it this far if it weren't for your deepest regrets?" Billy stood there silent, pretending to be completely ignorant of Nothung's inference. "Let's start with your driving force: your greatest failure. I know you wouldn't have even raised a finger to save that girl if it weren't for the death of your daughter."
Billy knew he was right. It wasn't out of the kindness of his heart that he saved Marceline, but because she reminded him so much of Lilly. He initially performed some mental gymnastics to make himself think that he was doing it for Simon, but deep down in his heart, he knew the simple reason why he really wanted to rescue Marceline.
"The thought that you were atoning for your sins is what drove you to who you are today. It forced you to build this camp; save all these lives." Billy pointed his face down in shame as the demonic voice continued. "I am your inner selfishness, your inner demon, your inner you. And now, I am finally free."
"No! I won't allow it…" Billy screamed as he covered his ears in an attempt to block everything out.
"It doesn't matter. I am a part of you. You will awaken soon enough, but when you do, I will be there with you, no matter how you try to hide it. I will even be visible on your skin. It's what we both want."
"No!"
Marceline sat down in a field full of dandelions, surrounded by trees. The leaves began to turn yellow, and the breeze began to turn cold. She felt her ghostly friend step up to her from behind. "Marceline…"
Marceline didn't answer her friends call. She was still quite angry from before; how she left her alone in the woods with no direction on where to go. She abandoned her at the worst moment. "Marceline please…"
"What do you want?" asked Marceline.
"I want you to understand why I left you like that." Marceline forcefully uprooted a dandelion as Lilly spoke, crumbling it in her pale gray hands. "I can only appear when I am needed. When I am necessary. It's a part of my test…"
Marceline stood up in a fury and turned to Lilly. "Test? You mean the tests to get to the 50th dead world? Is that what I am to you? Just a task that you can complete and just disappear?"
"Marceline…"
"… I thought I could trust you Lilly? Out of everyone that I have known, I thought you would be the one who wouldn't let me down." Lilly could do nothing more than stand there in utter silence. "And for the record, if you only appear when you need to then why are you here?"
"Because I needed to tell you why…" Lilly replied.
Tears slowly welled up underneath Marceline's eyelids. "Just go away Lilly…" She spoke softly as she turned around. After a few seconds, she looked back to find that her ghostly friend had vanished.
Marceline awoke in the infirmary to a loud ringing sound. Everything seemed brighter to her and staring into the sunlight was now unbearable. She couldn't understand why. Beside her was Hambo, her plush toy, and on the opposite side, sat Simon who was currently asleep. Without hesitation, all of the memories from that fateful night began to rush back into her head. The murders, the firefight, the evil green demon, and the intense pain that should have ended her life. She quickly began to sob as she held her Hambo close, waking Simon up. "Marceline? What's wrong sweetheart?" He rushed to her side, gently caressing her hand and wiping her tears.
"Wh-w…." she was sobbing so incredibly hard that she couldn't speak properly.
"Speak slowly honey…"
"Wh-What happened? I was supposed to die…" She finally calmed down.
Simon paused, not wanting to tell Marceline the truth. "You were shot… Marceline… I didn't know what else to do…"
Marceline suddenly stopped crying and abruptly turned to Simon. "What did you do, Simon?"
Simon didn't want to answer that question, for he feared the consequence. But he didn't want to lie to her. "I… I got your dad… to save your life…" Marceline quickly flung Simon's hand away from hers in anger and disappointment. "I couldn't let you die, Marcy."
"Well you should have!" she retorted. "Simon, I thought that I could trust you? I could understand the promises with the crown, but this was too far. You promised that you would never get in contact with my dad under any circumstances." Simon stood there in complete shock as he observed a face that Marceline never showed before. "You knew I would rather die than see that jerk again. Why didn't you respect that?"
"Because I couldn't let you die!" shouted Simon.
Marceline returned Simon's gaze. This was the first time that they were actually arguing intensely. They never once shouted at each other. Moments passed before Marceline decided to speak again. "What did he do to me?"
"He turned you into a vampire…"
She began to cry again. "I would at least thought that you would let me keep my mortality…" she whispered.
"Marcy…"
"Don't Marcy me, Simon. Just go… leave me alone." Simon respected her decision to despise him. Even Simon despised himself for breaking his promise, but he had to do it. But as Simon walked out the door, there was a huge explosion outside, startling everyone. The outer perimeter of the camp had fallen. The war between good and evil has begun.
I will now be posting every week. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. The next chapter will be exciting.
