Chapter 3: Thawing Think Ice
Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. I have small time to put into this lately or even my other story, but I can say I will get to them when I can. Hope you enjoy and let's get to it. Also, i kind of rushed some ideas i wrote down throughout the week. Sorry if some parts are a bit hard to read due to spelling or like grammar in general.
Waking up in a daze, Marceline is seen laying on a couch with a piece of head gear on her. "Ugh, Bonnie?" She asked out as she floated off the couch and hovered in midair, pulling the device off her head.
"I'm here Marcy, it seems that your episodes are becoming a little more aggressive than usual. I'm concerned on whether to send you on this mission. I can't have you experiencing one of your episodes out there with little chance to recover you." Princess Bubblegum said with worry filling her mind as she peered over some results on her screen. "You're going to be traveling pretty far to find usable soil. Which is why I'm concerned about your mental state."
"Bonnie, I'll be fine I promise. I will be invisible the whole time heading there and heading back. This is going to be a piece of cake, trust me. Plus, I'll just take that medicine you gave me, it hurts like heck, but no biggie." Marceline said as to try and reassure Princess Bubblegum. Marceline then floated behind the Princess giving her a big hug and kiss which gained a small chuckle from the princess.
Marceline noticed how worried she was because her eyes had deep dark bags and could almost be compared to a black eye. She didn't want the princess to worry so much about her, so she would reassure her by complementing her science and act tough for her. Princess Bubblegum did make a serum for her episodes that originated sometime back, but their potency was wearing off quickly due to the medicine being counteracted with Marceline's Vampire Healing. Marceline would have to do with injections instead of pills to insure effectiveness of the serum.
[Around 2 Years Ago]
"So, we agree, if these tunnels are being formed through all the major kingdoms, we will come to anyone's aid when one of us are being attacked. We also must discuss about making laws that span all the bunkers and tunnels to make sure nothing goes chaotic with our absence. Peace amongst us, and our people is extremely vital for us to continue living for survival." Flame Princess announced to the other leaders attending the meeting.
"I agree with Flame Princess that we must discuss the matter of making rules for everyone to follow. If one of our people step out of line, we all must punish them for there behavior against others." Princess Bubblegum said as she wanted what was best for the newly appointed Kingdom named. 'The United Kingdom of Ooo.'
The Princesses discussed all matters that needed to be acknowledged for a peaceful kingdom. After the meeting was finished the Princesses left in an orderly fashion to their designated positions and continued placing the rules while putting them into effect immediately. Princess Bubblegum left the room when it was empty, and she was exhausted. She couldn't wait to see Marceline's smile at the end of a rough day.
When entered her room she could hear Marceline talking to someone. The Princess walked over to her room door and noticed that Marceline was talking to no one. This worried Bubblegum a bit, thinking that it was her just speaking to herself to try and figure out a new song, but she heard her say the name 'Simon'. Marceline then finally noticed her peeking in and opened the door revealing Bubblegum staring right at her.
"Bonnie, if you were here, why didn't you say anything?" The princess just stayed silent and looked at her trying to wonder if she was just messing with her by pulling a prank. "Um Bonnie, Yoo-hoo, is anyone there? It's rude not to answer someone when they're speaking to you. Oh, hold on Simon I'll grab you something to drink right now." Marceline then quickly flew off to the door. "BRB, Bonny."
Princess Bubblegum was astonished and frightened at the same time. She quickly dropped her things on the small couch and walked over to her bed that had things sprawled out on it. She noticed they were pictures of Marceline, Ice King, Finn, Jake, BMO, and of herself. She could only guess that looking at these somehow made her like this.
The Princess then remembered an old book she found about diseases and disorders. The medical book was filled with much information, but one thing was being pulled from her memories at this moment. It was how she read a page in it about a disorder called Schizophrenia. Different types of Schizophrenia can happen, but it was most likely this disorder that is making her physically see and hear a hallucination of Simon. This could have been triggered by the amount of grief and stress of reliving the memory of losing him.
'I have to find a way to help her. I need to find the book about treatments, it should be in the lab. I must have left it on my bookshelf from the last time when I tried to look for something to help Lemongrab.' The Princess then while leaving her room looked back to her bed and locked onto a photo she saw of Finn, Marceline, Jake, BMO and Her. It was a picture of the day they had to play a song to get their things back from the Door Lord. She walked back and grabbed the picture along with her things and left to the lab.
[Present Day]
That was the first occurrence of Marceline's Schizophrenic Episodes. Princess Bubblegum has made multiple medicines for her to try and keep her from getting them, but it takes more and stronger dosages every time. The princess is worried about her having an episode while she is out in the field, but also she understands that Marceline has gotten a handle on it due to her training herself, and even from the Princess helping her by diving into her mind with her Virtual Reality Equipment.
This resulted in a mass of hard to understand dreams that Marceline was having. Hunson Abadeer's voice could be heard from time to time. Which was odd since around the time Golb showed himself and even after the blast of corruption took place. Marceline and a couple of others tried to get into the Nightosphere so they could try and contact him, but it was wasted effort because the portal wasn't opening. At the time of this discovery, Jake had tried to get to Prismo but calling him the usual way never helped. With previous knowledge when he and Finn helped out Prismo, he thought that maybe it was due to Golb being in Ooo.
Golb is a chaotic being that sends everything into chaos. So, from this Golb could be responsible for any of the portals not being opened or other higher beings like Prismo to interfere. When all of this was known and theorized by the Princess and even the Wizard King had no choice but to forget about trying any further. Peppermint Butler even tried once with death, but he concluded that due to Golb's chaotic energy, their Dimension was cut off from the others. Which means no one can leave Ooo.
All of this made it harder to understand Marceline's dreams. The princess would sometimes just record what she can to see if she found a pattern, but no real luck came of it. Her analysis just made it clearer to designate it as a Schizophrenic Disorder caused from loss and a kind of PTSD. She would dream and hallucinate about Simon and Finn sometimes. Only them and never any others that have died in this long war.
Princess Bubblegum was running out of options and started to have trouble making stronger and more potent meds for Marceline's Schizophrenia. The healing process would take out any foreign object or material from Marceline's body that didn't belong, such as Stakes, knives, and things that weren't meant to be within her. Because of this her healing was so extraordinary even drugs would lose their potency, so this was the main problem.
Marceline picked up the princess that was still in her hands and carried her like a princess should be over to her bed. "Come on Bonnie, enough worrying. I got to go in a few hours, but you got to have faith in me, okay. I'll be fine and I will come back like I always do. Plus, I want everyone else to see how amazing your plants will be. All the people need this." Marceline laid her on her bed as she lied next to her staring into her eyes. This put the Princess at ease every time she would do this.
Princess Bubblegum couldn't help but lay her head on Marceline's chest and feel of the never ending in cold softness. It was like Marceline had been born to be the world's greatest pillow. It would annoy her when Bubblegum would bring it up, but she couldn't help but love when the princess would drift away in bliss. Marceline looked over to the table that Bonnie was using and noticed she had made more medicine for her. She smiled at how hard she worked for her but inside hated how she made her worry so much over her. 'I should get some rest for the mission later. Goodnight Bonnibel.' Marceline then kissed the princess's forehead and fell asleep holding Princess Bubblegum close.
[A Cave Below Ice Kingdom]
"So, you desire that I unfreeze these two here." Patience looked at the bolder of ice and noticed it looked very similar to the ice she was able to make. "Where did you find this, and do you know who made this ice?" Patience peered very closely seeing a familiar face which was Finn, but the other made her feel nostalgic. His eyes were filled with a saddened but surprised look the was almost nostalgic to her.
Huntress wizard stood next to the ice boulder that she had to push down here. "I don't know who made this but maybe it was Ice King." She answered the best she could.
"No, an oaf like him couldn't make hardened ice like this. Only thing that has this kind of power is an elemental, but since I still live, there should be no other ice elemental. Plus, that fool was barely able to hold a candle to me, of course it went out many times, but he did relight it every time." Patience said as she eyes the boulder of ice. 'Ice King, I've waited a while to see you again. I thought you had died.'
"I can only assume that Betty was the one who did this. Finn was last seen entering Golb's mouth, following Betty and Ice King inside. After that, well I'm sure you can guess since even you were affected by it." Huntress pointed out as she stared at Patience. Her body was affected by the blast of corruption. Being an elemental outside of Princess Bubblegum's field and lead base bunker, Patience took a full on hit wherever she was hiding. This was why she was unfrozen and looked a bit wrinkled and aged. Her body unlike others who live in this time was not equipped to deal with mutation and radiation.
Patience was frozen solid since she froze herself the day Finn and Jake took Betty back from the Ice Kingdom when it was affected by the Elementals being manipulated by her. They had gained their true Elemental forms and lost themselves within that power, as did Patience. She regretted her decision the moment they split into their own territories.
All Patience wanted was to a powerful Elemental. She was always an outcast when she was at a young age. Children would think she was too weird to talk to. Some would bully her making her feel like she was meant to be a lesser to them. When she grew older her feelings stayed the same until one day, she became the new Ice Elemental.
When this occurred everything changed for her, but nothing really did. At the time her power was limited due to the world's span of magical power. She began looking for information on Elementals and found out the laws of this world must always have 4 Elementals. When one dies another shall take its place. Learning this she searched for the others without hesitation.
After finding her new friends, she still felt out of place. She still felt like and outsider to even those who were most like her. She was the only girl in the group and felt like she was the only one in it who wanted to be more then just normal.
The Elementals were stronger when together, so this meant that when they would meet their power was able to be used. One meeting they used their collective power to predict the future, and they found their future was short. The others chose to accept their fate and die knowing their power will live on for someone else, but Patience couldn't accept this. She had finally found a way to transcend her old self.
So, in response to their agreement she chose her own path. To freeze herself and wait for a new era and a new set of Elementals she can relate to, but she didn't get exactly what she wished for. This new era in time only proved she couldn't fit in even more. The world had changed so much and now her power was greater than it ever was. If the world still couldn't handle her, then she would change it to a world that could.
Ever since she froze herself again awaiting yet another era to pass. She didn't foresee what came during that time. Frozen underneath Ice Kingdom still wasn't safe from the blast of corruption that bathed Ooo. It sunk down into the snow and ground to reach her. Melting her ice with pure radiation and seeping into her thawed out skin. She was in agony as she was showered with it.
It not only corrupted her body but her aura of power itself. Patience before her body withered away, was able to stop it by freezing her skin cells that killed the corrupted cells. She saved herself but was still affected in another way she had yet to understand. After some time, she couldn't completely freeze herself for cryogenic sleep. Patience had to send up small ice sparrows with notes attached to them so that maybe someone could help her.
This is when she was discovered by Gunter a few months after the initial blast. It seemed that Gumbald had created a safe house in case he had to use a scavenged mushroom war warhead. He created lead-based bunkers that could only hold a small amount of people. Gumbald made this to keep the one's who helped him in the war safe. He wanted as many followers to think he was in the right, so he made the bunkers more as a show of good faith to his men.
Gunter around the time the corruption spores died out and only certain area's of Ooo were able to mutate a person, such as the area closest to Golb. He left the bunker and returned to Ice Kingdom to see if Ice King made it somehow but instead found a small iced sparrow flying in his face until he noticed the note. From then on Gunter feed and appointed some of the penguins to attend to her desires.
Patience then learned something about herself one day. She learned that if she so wished, she could transfer her power over to someone. The first time she noticed this was when she did it with the penguin attending her. As he was pouring her tea for her, her mind drifted into thinking whether she can keep going or just unfreeze her skin cells to let the corruption take over. Thinking more on this she decided that she should find a way to tune her gifting power and bestow it onto someone who can handle it.
She continued an experiment to give her power to the penguin again. Passing on more over time showed results but at a certain output the penguin started showing signs of rejection. The power of an elemental was just too great for it to handle. Plus, not only did she find out that she can gift them a limited capacity, she also learned she wasn't just giving them power that mimicked hers. Patience was becoming weaker when she gifted it, which indicated her power when fully gifted would be giving her life away. Her life was everything to her, but not being able to live without her power she chose to gift it to someone who would best be suited for it. She wanted to die with purpose, to leave knowing the ones who drilled into her head that she would always be worthless, that they were wrong.
"Well then shall we figure out who made this, I want to know who to thank?" Patience said which gained a confused look from both Huntress Wizard and Gunter. Patience raised her hand and zapped her power at the ice.
'Who to thank' Is that what she said. Huntress quickly shrugged it off when she saw the Ice began to quickly melt away, leaving the contents laid out on the floor. They didn't move an inch, which worried Huntress who was about to hold up her hand but pulled away when Finn began to cough.
He started moving, first pushing himself off the ice-cold ground and to his knee. Simon coughed and followed him in place. They both looked at one another and noticed they weren't inside a Red walled room of guts anymore. Finn looked up to a decked-out Gunter standing above him. Gunter held out his small flipper and a small bit of fire from it.
Finn saw Gunter make flame and instinctively jumped back. "Woah hold on boy. You have been frozen for quiet some time now. You need to get your bodies warm." Gunter said to calm him down as the flame got larger and he hovered it over to the middle of Finn and Simon.
"What the heck is going…" Finn quieted down when he looked up to see Patience St. Pim sitting atop a large chair, with her eyes not on him but locked on Simon. Finn looked over to Simon still kneeling. He didn't want to ask because moments ago Betty sacrificed herself to save them both. Finn walked over and laid his hand on Simon shoulder comforting him. "I'm sorry Simon, it was my fault for not saving the both of you."
"No Finn, there was no other way out of Golb. He was to powerful and Betty gave us the chance to stop him." Simon stood up with tears still on his face trying to stifle the rest as placed a hand on Finn's shoulder. "Let's not waste anymore time." Simon looked around locking onto one person. "Patience, I would have thought you were still frozen."
"Well it seemed you were the ones to be frozen through everything. Let me ask, what is the last thing you remember?" Patience asked.
"We remember…" Simon didn't want to explain since the gruesome sight would only hurt him to describe.
"We were inside of Golb, unable to escape Betty took it upon herself to freeze us using the Ice King's crown and she did something that blasted us out of his guts." Finn took over for Simon but couldn't give a detailed explanation. Simon then took over for him and explained how the crown would have reverted to it's original wishing form, just as him and Betty reverted. Betty wished for something that hardened the ice and took in power made from the crown and Golb's essence. Patience and Gunter deduced that this was the reason why there was a blast of corruption.
Patience and Gunter both thought about this. Wondering if they should say something but saying it was their fault was harsh. Also because of that wound Golb hasn't been active. Them and even the other factions such as the United Kingdoms of Ooo wouldn't have had time to prepare a good living situation.
The blast that almost killed Patience and did kill and corrupt many was also a step that couldn't be seen at that time. But Gunter and Patience knew that it was the best outcome, if Golb was never wounded then it could have been drastic for all life on Ooo. Plus, Patience wouldn't have gained her best possibility for a purpose right now.
"Do you know how long you were frozen for Simon?" Gunter asked.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask you. You do know this is like the most fearsome dude in the universe, right?" Finn asked as he looked at Patience.
She nodded as Gunter spoke up. "Even if I was back to my former glory, which by the way is impossible for me now because I am not the most dangerous, he is" Gunter said as he implied Golb. "Golb, is like an alpha to us. When he is present, we become beta's, not by choice but because he is powerful enough to drain those most powerful in the universe. So, now I am nothing more but a mercenary."
Finn was always able to look at people differently quickly, but he kept his guard up around him. He felt like just in case. Finn looked around to check his surroundings and finally locked onto Huntress. "HW? I noticed you earlier but didn't believe it." Finn said.
"She's the one that brought you here." Gunter said.
"How about I propose al of you go and catch up with one another." Patience said as Finn was on the fence whether to accept it or not. Gunter began showing them upstairs, Finn took this time to talk to Huntress Wizard. Patience stopped them and requested to speak to Simon, he agreed as Finn was even more suspicious now, but was reassured when Simon waved him off.
"Simon, I have something to ask you." Patience said as she got a nod from Simon. "How did Betty create such a strong boulder of Ice? Only the elementals should be able to manipulate an element to such an extent." She asked as Simon thought on it. "I also thought it was weird seeing you having the power to create ice. At first I suspected it was plain magic you learned but now I'm finding out that Ice King and you are the same person."
"The power of ice came from the crown I wore. The crown was made long ago by the original Ice Elemental. The only thing is it was made to make a single wish. An accident happened and its purpose was misused by someone else who wished to be like the Ice Elemental. This made anyone who wore the crown mimic that one person. The catch was it couldn't mimic the full power of an Ice Elemental, and not only that it mimicked the person by the view of the wearer. Which turned out to be an egotistical, control freak." Simon explained which gained all of Patience's attention.
"While we were inside Golb's guts, we learned that his power broke us down into our old selves. Which is why I'm back to this. Also due to that the crown reset to it's original wishing form. Which is how I believe she got the power to make it stronger and get us out of his guts." Simon said. "Why did you want to know."
"I wanted to know whether you can be a good fit?" Simon was confused by what she meant when he noticed her gesturing him to come closer. "There was a young girl who would visit from time to time talking to someone. She was speaking to you even though you were never here. She was the first person I heard say the name Simon besides that weird chick. I just wanted you to know that before I gave you something." Patience extended her hand out and wanted Simon to take it.
Simon couldn't believe that Marceline still came back here. 'Also, what did she mean by 'talk to me' and 'time to time'. How long were we frozen?' Simon thought as he gave Patience his hand. Suddenly a cold and icy feeling coursed through his body. His body felt as though it was being touched by dry ice, burning every skin cell until it was frozen. Simon fell to his knee has his hand was still being held by Patience.
"I have thought about giving my power to someone, but I have only just now found that it was you I was always waiting for. Simon you were molded by the crown and even though you have reverted I'm sure your body with be able to handle to true force of the Ice Elemental since you handled the crown for so long. Just now there is no catch. You will be a full-fledged Ice Elemental now, so do me the favor and show that my purpose all along was meant for this day. It was meant to give you power." Simon could barely see but he looked up into her eyes noticing they looked as though a person has finally found a reason to pass on peacefully.
As Simon continued to change and look at Patience. He saw her body begin to wither away into dust before his very eyes. He couldn't muster any strength to say anything, all he could do was watch her and listen. "I want to leave my power to you. I screwed thing up before but the least I can do is give power to a person who deserves to help. Simon find that girl and show her that you can be there for her now." Patience said as a last request. She had never felt as though she had someone to rely on before, so in a way she didn't want someone to suffer as she did.
When Patience finally withered away, Simon was left within the cave alone writhing in agony. As time passed, he could feel the pain subside, around him the ice shaving on the ground began to crystalize and rise off the ground. His breath was fogged, and eyes had a white light blue iris, and pure white pupils. He was now the Ice Elemental.
Back upstairs Finn and Huntress were talking to one another. Gunter was drinking in his own chair across the room from them. Finn was listening to Huntresses stories that occurred while they were gone. He stayed quiet but something was in his head now. 'She has done a lot over this time, and the Kingdoms have come together underground creating The United Kingdom of Ooo. How long were we frozen for?'
Huntress started to notice Finn thinking about something. So, she asked what was bothering him. He tried to play it off but gave into his worry. "Huntress, how long was Simon and I frozen for?" She looked away and noticed Gunter looking their way. She didn't know how he would react if she told him the truth. Right before she was able to answer a chill filled the room.
Gunter stood up as Finn and Huntress followed. They look over to the stairs that led down to Patience's chambers. Simon walked into the room as everyone's breath fogged. "Simon?" Gunter called out.
"Yes." He answered. Gunter knew right away that Patience gave him power. He just didn't know how much. Gunter found out she could pass on her power to someone if she so wished since the time, she did it to one of her assistants that he appointed to her. Gunter would have never thought she would give someone all her power, but to him it made sense if it was Simon.
"Patience?" Gunter asked which gained a saddened look from Simon. Gunter couldn't believe she gave him everything. Simon wasn't back to having the Ice King's power, he was now a genuine Ice Elemental.
"Finn, we need to get to Marceline." Simon said as Finn nodded and looked over to Huntress. She took this as the time to wait a while before telling him how long he's been frozen.
"She should be back at Candy Castle Base. I was meant to report back to Princess Bubblegum when I ran into you guys instead. We should head there." Huntress said as they all got ready to move. Gunter on the hand wanted to stay so her can pay his respects to Patience. Huntress made a flower bouquet out of her leaves and gave them to Gunter.
They were ready to travel yet Finn had no sword. Simon made a quick ice blade that Huntress wrapped some of her leaves around the hilt to act like a grip. Huntress led the way to Candy Kingdom to report back that she had found what they needed. Simon followed and only wanted to see Marceline again, but little did they know she and the others set out on their missions just hours before. How long until they are all united once again?