Hey guys, sorry for the delay. New chapter! Whoo! Also just some warning, there will be light cursing in this chapter and this story. Have a great rest of your day people! :D
The group continued their pace after Marceline's somber tale. Though they were silent, the night air was still warm, their silence being of friends who still want the best for each other and not one of discomfort.
Even so eventually more than a dozen minutes had gone by and silence was beginning to become unbearable; thus Finn decided to slash right through it.
"So Marcie" He began as the group walked along side a creek. Is this what it was like in the past? Hunting vamps and stakin' em?" He asked.
"Heh, not exactly." Marceline replied. The group had then begun to get immersed in a swarm of fireflies. Their backsides having a hot, warm, glow as they circled around the heads of the heroes.
"When I used to hunt vamps it was usually with different groups of people. We were sweatier and WHOLE lot meaner... I can't say I miss it though." Marceline finished.
"Really? But weren't you hunting with friends? Sounds like it was an a crazy adventure?" Finn asked.
"Heh yeah, that is until the adventure gets one of your 'friends' killed. That's when it stops being fun. Then it's about life or death." Marceline said.
"Ouch. I'm sorry about that." Finn said.
"Don't worry about it, it was a looooong time ago. Besides, I've got new friends." She said, facing the group and smiling. Everyone else warmly smiled back as they continued pace.
"That's kinda nuts to think about though, you're freakin old as dirt!" Finn exclaimed.
Marceline chuckled, "Not as old as Princess Bubblegum." She added.
Princess Bubblegum widened her mouth, "I am not that old!" She shouted.
Marceline chuckled "Dude, you're super old" Marceline said.
"I'm not that much older than you!" Princess Bubblegum said.
"That still makes you the oldest one here dude." Marceline said.
"Of course it does" Princess Bubblegum said with sarcasm.
"Anyway, being old just feels weird. I dunno, I feel like I've been around long enough to see people make the same mistakes over and over and over. Nobody learns, but no one's ever around long enough to see the similarities I guess." Marceline said.
"Does that mean you've had a lot of boyfriends?" Jake asked.
"DUDE!" Finn shouted.
"What? Time is the pressure that can break love apart. If the love is strong enough the love will last, but sometimes that doesn't always happen." Jake said.
"Yeah dude, you're not wrong. To answer you're question, yup I've had a ton of ex's in the past." Marceline said "Haven't you Jake? You're pretty old too." She said.
"Woah woah woah. I'm not that old, I still got baby fat!" Jake said.
"I think that's just you gettin tubby, chubby." Finn replied.
"Heh, maybe a little" Jake said, stretching out his stomach a bit.
"Dude! Answer the question!" Marceline interrupted.
"Ok fineeee. Maybe I had a few exes! But it was entirely mutual on both sides!" Jake said.
"Sureeeee. After all who could ever dare to break up with the great and mighty Jake." Marceline said in a rather dramatic tone.
"Hey! You should've seen me in my golden years! I used to set the ladies up and knock em dead." Jake said.
"Heh, sure thing tubby." Marceline said.
"It's baby fat!" Jake shouted back.
The group collectively chuckled a bit at Jake's reaction.
"What about Finn! He's dated like a bigillion people!" Jake said.
"What! No! I dated like..." Finn took a rather long pause.
"Like..?" Princess Bubblegum asked.
"Hold on I'm counting... Wait it doesn't count if you kiss them right?" Finn asked.
"Hol' up what? Kissing? Who?" Marceline asked with sudden curiosity.
"I kissed a few princesses... In the past." Finn said, his face becoming red as the words flowed from his mouth.
"Wait-WHAT!? A few princesses!?" Marceline asked.
"Well yeah... Remember?" Finn asked.
"Remember what?! I wasn't told any of this?! Which Princesses did you kiss? Did you kiss all of 'em?" Marceline asked as she pointed at Princess Bubblegum.
"NO!" Finn and Princess Bubblegum said in unison.
"I mean..." Finn looked down, seeming as though he lost his trail of thought. "Look I was in a different place back then alright? Flame princess had left me... I had lost my dad... I-I didn't know what to do.. And I made some bad decisions." He finished.
There was a brief moment of silence. It was immediately interrupted by Marceline laughing.
"Jeez. You had one heck of a break-up then." She said.
"Marceline. I'm serious, it was a dark time." Finn said.
"Yeah yeah. I get it. Regardless, why did you end up kissin every princess anyway?" She asked.
"I dunno. I thought it'd make me feel better-Look, can't we not talk about my weird love life?" Finn asked.
"You're call boss man." Marceline said, immersing the group back into silence.
A few more minutes then passed.
"Hey Marcie, do you believe in magic?" Jake asked.
"Oh no, not this again." Princess Bubblegum groaned.
"Hm?" Marceline murmured. Raising a brow at the three of them.
"Look, Finn and Jake think that magic is real. It's not real! It's just science!" Princess Bubblegum shouted to a laughing Finn and Jake.
"Dude. Magic is real." Marceline said blankly.
"No it's not! It's just chemical reactions and physics!" Princess Bubblegum shouted once more.
"No it's not! It's just magic! What, you think everything comes from science?" Marceline asked.
"I'M A SCIENTIST! OF COURSE I DO!" Princess Bubble gum shouted.
"Well, I don't know what to tell ya. Magic's totally real." Marceline said.
"What makes you so sure?" Princess Bubblegum asked.
"The Nightosphere." Marceline replied.
"That could be a ton of things, it just would need to be researched." Princess Bubblegum said.
"Nah dude. There's no way the Nightosphere could exist without magic, same with demons and summoning spells." Marceline said.
"It's all science! I could teach you it if it makes you feel better." Princess Bubblegum said.
"Nah, I'll stick to killin vamps for now." Marceline said. Princess Bubblegum sighed.
"I'm sorry Princess but I have to agree. How else could I have my grass arm?" Finn asked.
"Perhaps a rare type of chemical bond mixed with a few other things." Princess Bubblegum pointed out.
"I don't even know what a chemical bond is." Finn asked.
"It's what happens when chemicals spend a lot of time with each other, eventually they get over their differences and bond together." Jake said, giving himself a hug.
"All I remember is how people used to use those to make bombs." Marceline said.
"Bombs?" Finn asked.
"Yeah, bombs. Big ones. Ones that could blow up an entire house, easy." Marceline said.
"Woah, that's pretty nuts." Finn said in awe.
"Ugh, that's not all they can be used for. You can make loads of things, like the candy people!" Princess Bubblegum excitedly said.
"Didn't they give you the boot?" Marceline said.
"We don't talk about that!" Princess Bubblegum retorted.
"They're pretty stupid then." Marceline said.
"Yeah no kiddin' the banana guards are not the brightest." Finn said.
"Hey! They are bright! Just in their own special way." Princess Bubblegum said lovingly.
"PB they literally arrest themselves on the weekly basis. They're pretty dumb." Jake said.
"Why do you even have those guys still? They suck at being guards." Marceline said.
"They may not be the best but I dunno... They're kind of like family at this point." Princess Bubblegum said.
"I could chop those guys down in two seconds flat." Marceline said.
"Hey! Don't talk about chopping down my banana guards." Princess Bubblegum said.
"What? It'd be fun! I could chop down five with one swing!" Marceline said, chuckling in a villainous fashion.
"How did you get so good at fighting anyway?" Finn asked.
"Training. I was a human fighting vampires so I trained, hard. I literally learned so many different styles of fighting from books and some masters. I exercised as hard as I could and stole a ton of vampire souls which helps a little too. Eventually I was good enough that I could just chop through vamps no problem. That was fun." Marceline said.
"You still that strong?" Finn asked.
"Heh. I hope so. It's been a while if I'm being honest." Marceline replied.
"Well at least you have us." Princess Bubblegum said proudly.
"Yea. So anyhow, when we get there I want you guys to know that we're gonna have to fight a heck of a lot of people. I mean chances are, at this rate, the Empress has probably taken over the city so, I'm just letting you guys know that. Also I won't be holding back on them." Marceline said.
"Wait-What?" Finn asked.
"I'm saying that I'm probably gonna have to cut down a few of the mind controlled people." Marceline said.
"But why?!" Finn asked.
"Because once The Empress has you it's hard to break free. That's kinda the point." Marceline said.
"But they're innocents!" Finn said.
"Innocents who will try to kill us and are probably mutated. Trust me, I've done this before." Marceline said.
"Maybe we can do things differently though." Finn said.
Marceline then abruptly turned back to face him. Her eyes were icy and yet ripe with irritation and dismay.
"Finn there is no other way. There is no "saving" these guys, there is no "well maybe we can-" No. That's not how any of this is going to work." She said.
"Why can't it?! Why does it have to go this way. Your way." Finn asked.
"Because they're vampires!" Marceline shouted, getting close enough to him that their noses are nearly touching. Veins were popping out of both of their arms; The tension between them becoming stronger by the second. Marceline then smirked.
"I never figured that someone like you would have such trouble killing monsters." Marceline jabbed as she cocked her head lightly to the side.
"They're not just monsters, they're innocents!" Finn said.
"Innocents from the 'City of Thieves'! Besides, if you don't believe me then I'll prove it to you." Marceline said as she turned her back towards him. "If you see a single person in this city that even looks remotely like a living human being. Then we'll spare em'. The rest though, they're dying." Marceline said. She then continued walking.
The rest of the group looked at Finn before, one by one, they slowly joined her. Jack however continued standing still alongside Finn. Finn then looked at Jake, nodding his head and sighing before walking alongside the rest of the group, following Marceline on a quest to slay The Empress.
A few dozen minutes later they found themselves within seeing distance City of Thieves however the city itself looked different. Large walls stood where they hadn't before, surrounding the city entirely with a few tall medieval/gothic buildings sticking out where they hadn't before.
From the groups perspective those walls were so large that they place looked less like a city and more like a fortress.
Princess Bubblegum handed Marceline some binoculars and she took a look at the Entrance. It'd been a enormous gate that had four guards around it.
"Damn." Marceline said.
"What is it?" Princess Bubblegum asked.
"The gate most likely has a draw bridge behind it. It did the last time I took down a vampire fortress. That plus the guards means we're gonna have trouble getting through." Marceline said.
"Well what do you wanna do then?" Finn asked.
Marceline sat there for a moment, pondering about the situation. The uncomfortable silence lasted minutes before she finally came to a conclusion.
"We should fall back." She said.
"What?!" Finn asked.
"Look, chances are that even if we get past those four guys, blast through the gate, and go past what I'm 90% sure will be a drawbridge. We still have to take out the people inside. I hate to say this but I don't think that we're equipped to handle that. I'm rusty and I know that you guys didn't bring all the tools that you could've brought. I say we fall back get 100% ready and then come back. I also have some people that I think would be able to help with this." Marceline said.
"Are you sure? Every moment that we spend doing that is another moment that the vampires will be getting stronger!" Finn said with urgency.
"Trust me. If we can get 100% ready, combined with the help of these guys, we'll make light work of the vamps." Marceline said.