That night, Bubblegum's chambers were empty. She'd never noticed how large her room was, how, despite the amount of brightly decorated materials lining the walls, colourless it was. A coldness, unlike that of Marceline's refreshing skin, clung to the corners and the princess prepared herself for bed. Her eyes were trained on her window, wondering, waiting, hoping. Would Marceline come back to finish what she started?
Bubblegum, now accustomed to getting little sleep at night, finally grasped just how exhausted she was. Readying the ball and sending out the invitations, while entertaining Marceline, had turned out to be more strenuous than she originally anticipated. So, with a heavy heart, Bubblegum slept. She slept and she dreamt.
In her dream, Marceline was lounging on a cloud. Actually, they both were. They were stretched out in a meadow of fluffy white and they were smiling at each other. Marceline's cloud was drifting closer to Bubblegum's and they eventually bumped together.
"Hey," Marceline greeted with a casual grin.
"Hello," Bubblegum returned. Her stomach felt as light as the cloud she was on.
"I have some pretty bad news." Marceline continued to smile.
"Oh? What might that be?"
"I'm leaving."
Why did she still look so calm, so collected, as she said this? It was unnerving.
Bubblegum frowned and asked, "Where are you going?"
Only now did the princess notice that Marceline's cloud was moving away from hers. The fields of white were disappearing. There were gaps now, gaps revealing what was beneath the clouds. Blackness. Writhing, angry shadows.
"Somewhere far, far away. I'll probably never come back."
Bubblegum slapped the air, attempting to propel her cloud towards Marceline's, but they simply kept going in opposite directions. The vampire was sitting cross-legged, her handmade beanie clenched in her fists. The smile didn't leave her face.
"But… I need you," Bubblegum protested weakly.
"No, you don't, Bonni. I'm the one who needs you."
Marceline stood up, placed her beanie on the cloud and then moved to the edge. She peered down at the pit of black beneath her and then looked over her shoulder at the princess.
"Bye," she whispered.
And then she jumped.
"No!" Bubblegum screamed as she shot up, finding that she was in her room again. Her blood was pumping with such ferocity in her ears that it was deafening. That dream was one of the worst she'd had in a long time. She was panting and sweating, as if she'd been holding her breath during the entire ordeal. She placed a clammy hand on the bunched up blanket she'd kicked off at some point, a habit she'd developed when Marceline took to hiding somewhere in her room.
She was alone.
Cracks of dawn light peeked through the slightly parted curtains and the princess got out of bed.
There would be no sleeping after a nightmare like that.
There was a point in time when Princess Bubblegum enjoyed nothing more than sticking to her routine. She loved to have everything in order, to know the outcome of any situation. She was, after all, a scientist, a woman of facts. Discovering new things was a treasured component of her hobby, but in some cases, that new something could be scary and painful.
What Bubblegum felt was a crippling misery. It worsened each day and she refused to believe the diagnosis that her research came to. It simply couldn't be. The melancholy in Marceline's absence, the glee in her presence, the aching need for… well, the princess wasn't sure what she ached for, but it wasn't at all decent. It felt a tad animalistic. It had to be something else, anything but that.
She distracted herself with her work for a while, even opting to go to the store, against her subjects' will, for small groceries or ingredients for her concoctions so that she could escape the castle and possibly her thoughts. It was to no avail. That cursed vampire followed her. Those burning red eyes seared in her mind, her heart. Hot rubies that made her body overheat. With such an overpowering longing for Marceline's return mingling with the fear of her never coming back, Bubblegum was, to put it lightly, extremely anxious. She hated not knowing what would happen.
So, Bubblegum did what she'd been doing since the ball: she waited. For days, she waited. She stayed up at night with her blanket down a little too low, fondly recalling how Marceline liked to tuck her in when she thought the princess was asleep. Sure, it made nights colder, but even if she was wrapped fully in the warmth of her bedcover, Bubblegum found that the chill ran deeper than her skin.
On the fifth night without a peep from the vampire, Bubblegum was beginning to think it would be best to assume that Marceline decided to go back to her life as a murderer. She had once told the princess that she never murdered anyone who didn't deserve it, but Bubblegum believed it was wrong no matter who the victim was. Yet, regardless of how many times she reminded herself that Marceline was an assassin, her feelings didn't change. They remained as potent as a hammer, or an axe, to the chest.
With such a busy mind, the shift of Bubblegum's blanket nearly went unnoticed. The cover trailed up her stomach, up and up, until it fell under her chin. Something wet (and slimy?), touched her cheek.
Bubblegum opened her eyes and there, above her face, was a black tentacle. She was about to scream, but the squishy appendage slapped over her mouth with an ugly wet smack. More and more tentacles started to creep out from under her bed and they encircled her body. They wrapped tightly around her, squeezing, prodding, and poking. It seemed as though infiltrating the castle to harass the princess was all too easy. First the Ice King, then, again, the Ice King, then a pack of wolves, then a bat that turned out to be an assassin, and now this creature.
Unable to move, Bubblegum parted her lips and managed to cease some flesh in her mouth. She bit it as hard as she could and found that her attack was successful, as the tentacles vanished with a pained cry from the creature they belonged to.
Sitting up, the princess spotted a bump at the end of her bed and it shuffled closer to her. She was afraid to discover what lurked underneath, but she had to find out who or what it was before the stun of her bite wore off.
Tentatively, the princess gripped the edge of her blanket and lifted it.
"Hello, Bonnibel," Marceline said cheerily as she smoothly emerged from the blanket cave on her stomach, slivering up so that she could sink into one of Bubblegum's pillows.
"Marceline, you scared me half to death!" Bubblegum whisper-yelled.
"And you took a nice bite out of me; thanks for that." Marceline indicated to the small crescents on her forearm that had already begun to fade with amusement.
"I'm sorry, but I thought you were some kind of monster that planned to make me a meal!"
In one swift motion, Bubblegum was flat on her back, the vampire atop her with a fiendish smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Oh, but I am," she purred.
Marceline dove for Bubblegum's neck, and her fangs pressed sharply against the flesh, as did her lips. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and then she exhaled through her mouth, blowing against Bubblegum's skin.
Bubblegum laughed and struggled, because it made her skin buzz and tickle and boy, did this feel silly. It was so absurd. A princess in bed with an infamous killer, who was making farting noises against her neck like the biggest kid ever. How could someone so childish be capable of such horrid crimes?
They wrestled under the blanket, Bubblegum obviously being no match for Marceline, giggling. The infrequent scares were fun, once the spine-chilling fear wore off. Bubblegum would be frightened, then be straddled and playfully assaulted until Marceline grew tired of making the princess suffocate with laughter. The roaming castle staff probably thought Bubblegum was insane at this stage, but they never interfered unless Marceline took it too far and didn't manage to silence one of Bubblegum's cries. Subjects, usually Peppermint Butler, would come to her aid, only to find the door was locked. With terror and adrenaline pumping through her veins, Bubblegum would offer a muffled reassurance through the door. Once the interruption was dealt with, the princess would bound back to bed with the woman who'd just scared her out of her skin. It was an unusual thing to enjoy, but it was different and invigorating. Just like Marceline.
The vampire stopped what she was doing and propped herself up on one elbow, leaning over Bubblegum with a soft smile. She raised her hand and touched the princess' cheek affectionately. Her gloves were gone.
"I missed you," she admitted.
"I missed you, too."
The playful atmosphere was being eaten by something a lot more intimate and Marceline grew uncomfortable as memories of her almost-kiss with the princess flashed through her mind, so she rolled off the monarch and sprawled out next to her.
Bubblegum studied her bunkmate and caught sight of a splotch of blood on the vampire's jacket. She poked it.
"What's this from?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing!"
"If you don't spit it out, you'll have to leave."
"Seriously?"
"No, but I would really like it if you could be honest with me."
Marceline considered what might happen if she fessed up. The princess could go into hysterics, become overly paranoid until the matters were settled, and send the vampire packing for not telling her sooner. Or everything would be fine and breezy, without more than a regular amount of panic. Marceline sighed.
"Bonni, I didn't want to alarm you, so I never said anything, but I sensed someone sneaking around the kingdom and when I checked it out, I found a sketchy dude fitted with a lot of weapons. I scared him off, but I think my boss is sending more assassins after you. Now that he believes I'm dead, I don't see why he wouldn't," she reasoned, but then her frown deepened and she was overcome by a very troubled look, as if what she was thinking frustrated her. She proceeded, "I can't… I can't keep protecting you. I have to stop him. Permanently."
"No, you don't. We can lock him up, Marcy. Very securely," Bubblegum assured, always one to take the nonviolent approach when it came to punishment.
"You're wrong. He's got the money to keep some very powerful friends, friends that I might not always be able to beat. Once he's gone, along with his money, those friends will disappear, too. You'll be safe."
"Just tell me who it is." Bubblegum impatiently sat up, gazing down at the vampire peevishly.
"I don't think you'll take it well. That's why I haven't told you," Marceline said, planning to dance around the subject for as long as she could. She didn't want to face the oncoming storm yet. She simply wanted to have one more night of peace in what could almost be called home. She'd never had one after her father died.
"Please tell me," Bubblegum urged, slender fingers gripping those of the vampire's desperately. She was expecting it to be someone she knew, someone she wouldn't have suspected. Why else would Marceline tread so lightly around her when it came to her employer?
Mustering up the courage and preparing for the worst possible reaction, Marceline cupped Bubblegum's hand between both of hers. She gazed at their joined hands and the mere fact that the princess didn't shy away from her touch was enough to sooth her, enough to make her believe telling Bubblegum who it was would be for the best. She wanted the princess to trust her.
She sat upright as well, keeping a firm grip on Bubblegum. Their eyes didn't lose contact.
"Lemongrab. He's the one who hired me."
Bubblegum's hand became a fist and her entire body tensed. She appeared to be paralysed, her expression locked in surprise, mouth agape, lungs still. She didn't even blink. She stared at Marceline, through her, even. Lemongrab. Of all the people in Ooo, it was Lemongrab who wanted her dead.
It took a while for her face and body to unfreeze, but the transition was painstakingly slow. Her mouth closed, her eyes moistened and she began to tremble.
"That can't be… My own creation…No," she murmured, unaware that she was now in Marceline's arms, against her chest, her silent heart.
"I'm sorry, but it's true. He cares more about usurping the throne than anything else. I wish I could say otherwise."
"I really can't believe this."
"I have to stop him, Bonni. Even if you hate me afterwards, I'm going to take him down."
"Marceline, killing him won't stop people from sending assassins after me. If I expose him, he will no longer be heir. He'll be imprisoned and lose his motives for killing me."
"You're wrong. He'll just be even more set on killing you. He'll want revenge, and, if not him, who else is suitable to rule the kingdom? Do you have a backup heir? How do you know he won't find a way to the throne? Do you really want to risk that, Bonni? You and your people are in danger as long as he's alive," Marceline maintained.
"I need time to think about this."
"There isn't time! Do you know why some nights I don't show up? It's because there were occasions like tonight that I chose not to mention. I would scope out the Candy Kingdom from top to bottom to make sure there wasn't something I missed, but there's someone out there and so far I haven't caught them. They run off and all I find are underdog assassins. Lemongrab wouldn't go smaller after me. No way in hell. He's got something planned, Bonni. Something big."
Still pacifistic, Bubblegum proposed, "Okay, what if, instead of killing him, he's brought back here so that I can try to recreate him? I can erase his memories and attempt to reconstruct his way of thinking, his way of being."
"How can you be sure he won't just end up the same?" Marceline snapped.
"I can't be sure."
"Is it really worth trying?"
"Yes. I don't want him to die."
Marceline scrutinised Bubblegum, very reluctant to accept such terms. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her. She dreaded the frenzy she would go into if the princess ever died. She didn't ask for this connection to the foolishly naïve woman, but it was there and it sucked, and Marceline had to do what she could to keep Bubblegum free from harm.
But she also wanted the princess to be happy, and she relented. "I can't promise that I won't want to chop off his head the moment I see him, but I can promise that I'll try keep him alive for you. Just… please, please keep your guard up while I'm gone."
"Why do you have to go? I can send someone else."
"No. I have to do it. He won't expect me and he definitely won't escape from me," the vampire said with conviction, but her sense of duty dulled as she saw the discontent expression her princess wore. In an effort to put her at ease, Marceline continued, "It'll only take a day or two."
"You're not going. My reasons can't be disclosed at the moment, but please trust me on this. I will have Finn and Jake retrieve him," Bubblegum said.
"Come on, what if he has henchmen? You can't expect some kids to be able to take down a professionally trained killer. These aren't just bad guys that the hero can put in jail; these are cold-blooded murderers," she stressed. "I'd feel a lot better if I took care of this, while you bunker down somewhere no one can find you."
"I stand by what I said before. You're not going. I will call a meeting of Ooo's royalty and then announce his misdoings in front of everyone. Finn and Jake will act as if they're his escorts, which will make him feel obligated to attend. You must remain here."
The vampire was starting to see that she couldn't argue with a woman who rivalled even her own stubbornness. She knew Bubblegum was worried, so she stopped putting up a fight for the time being.
"Alright, alright. If it's that important to you, I'll stay."
Marceline snaked an arm around the princess and brought her close, relishing in the warmth radiating from Bubblegum's body. She was very tired from her recent fight and the stress of this whole situation didn't help much at all. For now, she would allow Bubblegum to have her way and she'd appreciate the monarch's company while she still had the chance. Things were about to become chaotic; there was an omen in the air, a foreboding stir in the winds. Something huge, something awful, was coming.
"Marcy?"
Shaking off the disgruntlement, Marceline hummed, "Hmm?"
"Is there something you've always wanted?"
Not anticipating the question, Marceline pondered for a moment. She'd wanted many things in her existence, gained most, but Bubblegum probably wasn't referring to materials. All the possessions in the world could be hers if she pleased, but the vampire was no fool. Happiness couldn't be bought or stolen; it was ignited by every smile the princess offered her, every hug, every kind word. Bubblegum held the key to her happiness.
"Life, I guess. I want to be able to age, to eat, to walk under the sun with someone I love. Kinda lame, huh?"
"No, no, it's wonderful." Bubblegum's words were nothing more than a mumble, her fatigue getting the better of her. With Marceline's chest rising and falling under her cheek, the princess was lulled to sleep. A sleep free of nightmares and haunting images of Marceline plummeting into darkness. No, she was secure, because the vampire wouldn't leave. She wouldn't.