Chapter Eleven: Dinner Fit for A Queen
They both sit down next to the dying fire. Marceline rummages through the saddlebags to find one of her three knives.
With the knife in hand Marceline turns and sits next to Bonnie. She twirls the dagger in hand.
"You ready to eat?" Marceline asks.
Bonnie nods enthusiastically.
Marceline carves through the boar and hands Bonnie a piece of meat. She bites into it, ravages it. In a few seconds, the piece Marceline gave Bonnie is gone. Her eyes twinkle with hunger.
"Jeez, Bonnie" Marceline mutters as she carves two more pieces, one for Bonnie and one for herself.
Marceline tears into the meat with her fangs and swallows. They continue to scarf down the boar until all that's left is its organs and bones. They consume it in silence. Marceline is terrified to break the silence.
Bonnie groans and sits back. She places her hands on her belly and sighs contentedly.
"That was the most delicious meal I have ever eaten" Bonnie says.
"Heh. No need for flattery" Marceline chuckles.
"No, seriously. It was...glob! It was bloopa-luby!" Bonnie exclaims.
Marceline tilts her head and makes a questioning face. "Huh?"
"It was amazing. Thank you, Marcy" Bonnie says quietly.
Marceline half smiles, exposing only one of her fangs. "No problem, Princess"
Silence ensues. Curiosity is starting to consume Marceline, just like how she had consumed the pig.
"Bonnie…" She murmurs.
"Hm?" Bonnibel hums in response.
"I...I need to know" Marceline says.
"Know...what?" Bonnie asks.
"What happened in those ten years" Marceline responds.
Bonnie's sharp intake of breath makes Marceline very nervous.
"Don't bother lying. I can see how skinny you are. The scars on your back...the claw marks on your eye...I need to know what happened...Please" Marceline says gently.
"Well…" Bonnie says slowly.
Marceline scoots next to Bonnie so they are sitting side by side.
Bonnie offers a weak smile. "Okay. Let's start with the first night"
Marceline's jaw clenches. The memory floods through Marceline as Bonnie tells her point of view.
"I know you weren't in the bathroom long, but that's how fast it happened. One second I'm sitting on my bed, thinking about you, and the next, I was catapulting out of my room, an arm around my mouth and a body enfolding me. I saw you jump out the window after me. You were running so fast, faster than I had ever seen you run. When we reached the junkyard and we held hands, I had a glimmer of hope that you would save me. But then it threw you off...and I couldn't hear what you said"
Marceline nods.
"Then I saw you fall. And your legs...they looked so messed up. But I saw you stand up and shout. Then you collapsed and she told me you let me go on purpose. She revealed herself as Maja, the Sky Witch. She flew for a while but we were moving so fast, time seemed to speed up. We somehow made it through the Red Desert in less than a few hours and we were in a dead forest. I was thrown into the tower. I was beaten and starved in the first week. They still never told me why...why they hurt me so bad. They would leave months in between the beatings... I would only get a meal once a week. They gave me water all the time but it would be murky and filthy. For a while I resisted drinking it until...Until I simply couldn't resist"
"Oh my glob" Marceline mutters.
"It continued like this, for years. Until the beatings stopped after...a while...Six years I think. I don't remember. The water started to become less murky, and the meals more frequent. The Sky Witch would tell me that you wanted me dead. That you weren't looking for me…"
"That's a lie" Marceline hisses.
"I know" Bonnie says. "I couldn't help but believe it. The only person I had to talk to was the Sky Witch...that was until...her master...b-began making appearances. All that had happened before, those six years of torture was absolutely nothing compared to what the Lich King did to me. Poison is a fickle thing. He used my blood to conjure beasts like the ones from the nuclear fallout, and make me fight them only with a dagger. It was excruciating pain. It...it…" Bonnie's voice cracked.
Marceline's heart and stomach shuddered.
"I was dead...I was dead. I was dead. He killed me. It's so black and dark and…" Bonnie closes her eyes and swallows. "But then he brought me back, to demonstrate his power. He told me that the pathetic attempts to unite the human race would end with me. That he would kill me permanently and send the human race into turmoil. Marcy...he is the master of death. He is capable of….horrible things" Bonnie's voice shakes.
"We'll stop him. I'll stop him. I'll end him" Marceline says.
Bonnie turns to face Marceline. "Marceline. I have faith in your abilities but this...he...he is different"
Marceline blushes at the close proximity of Bonnie. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out"
The sun painted the sky red and orange. Schwabl sits behind Marceline and Bonnie, neighing as if he is agreeing with Marceline.
"Marceline?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. So. So much. For everything. I don't know how much more I could have taken" Bonnie's voice cracks.
"Not a problem, Princess"
Bonnie clears her throat, Marceline jumps in response.
"So what happened with you, in all this time?" Bonnie asks.
"It took a while for my legs to heal, but as soon as they did I began training for hours on end"
Bonnie giggles "Finally you actually got to work"
Marceline silences Bonnie with a look and keeps going. "Billy the Hero determined that I was ready for knighthood. I went through a series of tests that wer really trivial and kind of boring but I succeeded. And I was knighted"
"I always knew you would" Bonnie smiles.
"I was really sad. All the time. I never was happy. I missed you, so so much. It was agony 24/7"
"I missed you too" Bonnie murmured.
"Continuing" Marceline says. "Five years ago, your parents passed away. Since you were their only heir, they appointed Finn as the heir. He's gotten almost all of the fallout and trash out of the kingdom. It was also when...well. I dated Ash, the mage"
"Dated? As in...past tense?" Bonnibel interrupts.
Marceline's mouth tugs into a half smile. "Hah. Yeah. Jealous much, princess?"
"Don't be distasteful" Bonnie says and crosses her arms while breaking eye contact with Marceline.
"I wasn't happy with him. I later broke up with him after a year or so. It just couldn't…It just wasn't the right thing for me...I still don't think it is…I was promoted to Finn's personal body guard. I am the best in the whole kingdom. I was also enlisted in the army, although there hasn't been anybody to fight against. Prosperity and peace resonated throughout the kingdom, and its realms. The Northern Tundra has prospered like never before. I would travel all over and ask anyone if they had any information about you. Nobody knew where you went, and I was beginning to lose hope"
"It was just a month ago or so that I learned that you could still be alive...It was at Finn and Flame Princess's wedding. Simon, or who I thought was Simon, told me that he had located you with magic. I was pretty drunk…So I don't remember much. Two days later I set off after you. I traveled across the plains and the forest and the desert. I had to drink blood to stay alive because this thing broke my canteen. It spoke of the Sky Witch and her master. I later came upon an oasis where I met a man named Daniel. He said that Simon was really okay...and it was the Lich King that had conjured an image of Simon...Then...I found you...And rescued you. And, here we are now, I guess"
"Wow" Bonnie breathes.
"Yeah. It's been a long ten years without you" Marceline says.
Bonnie smiles and lays her head on Marceline's shoulder. Marceline's breath catches in her lungs.
"I saw that you kept the helmet I gave you" Bonnie says.
"Duh! It's awesome. It's saved my life more than once"
"When'd you cut your hair?" Bonnie asks.
"Eh, about a month ago. Right before the wedding, actually"
Bonnie sits up and begins to weave her fingers through Marceline's hair.
"Do you have a brush?"
"Uh, yeah. You can take the saddle bags off of Schwabl. He's probably irritated with them anyways"
Bonnie turns to where Schwabl is laying down. She studies the hooks and clips of the saddle bags and begins to take them off. She struggles to lift them and Marceline rushes over to help her.
"Yo, I got it" She lifted both of the saddle bags and set them down a little ways from the fire. Marceline sits down next to the bags.
Bonnie rummages through the bags and lifts the brush up with victory.
"Found it!" Bonnie says.
Bonnie sits down behind Marceline and brushes through her hair. Marceline leans her head back onto Bonnie. She sighs contentedly. Bonnie makes a small braid to frame the side of Marceline's face.
"It's a shame we don't have any binders" Marceline chuckles.
"You're so sarcastic Marceline. You haven't changed a bit" Bonnie rolls her eyes.
"Heh"
"Do you ever take that armor off?" Bonnie asks.
"This? Nah. I'm used to it. It's not even that uncomfortable"
"Take it off, please?"
"Uh, alright. I mean. Okay" Marceline says as she begins to unbuckle the armor protecting her.
"You're so tall…"
"Yeah, and you're so short" Marceline snickers.
Bonnie rolls her eyes again. After a few moments of struggling to take of the armor, Marceline places it in the bags This leaves Marceline in only her boots, trousers and her v-neck tunic.
"There" Marceline says.
"I expected you to be skinnier" Bonnie says.
"You calling me fat?"
"No! Of course not! It's just that...well you used to be so lankey...you've filled in"
Marceline smirks "Working out does that to you. I'm like...all muscle now"
"Now I can actually come close to you without getting spiked" Bonnie says.
Marceline blushes furiously. Bonnie scoots closer to Marceline and climbs into her lap.
Marceline is unsure what to do next. Cautiously, she wraps her arms around Bonnie and pulls her closer. Bonnie burrows her face into Marceline's collar bone, her breath hot on her skin.
"Marceline?"
"Yeah?"
"What did you say to me that night...when we were flying through the air"
Marceline pauses, not knowing if she should tell the truth.
"Well…"
"Come on Marceline, it's been bothering me for ages! I didn't even have any evidence or anything of what you said and you should know how much that bothers me"
"I said I loved you"
Bonnie's breath stops.
"Loved?"
"Yeah. I said I loved you"
"That's not what I meant…" Bonnie mutters.
"Then what do you mean?" Marceline asks, her voice squeaking.
"I'm asking you if you still love me"
Marceline pauses and weaves her hands through Bonnies hair. After she's done with that brief motion she slides her hand into Bonnie's.
"Of course. I never stopped. I never will"
Bonnie resumes breathing normally, it slows and Bonnibel collapses on Marceline. A small snore escapes Bonnie's mouth.
"I love you, Bonnie" Marceline murmurs. "Goodnight"
