You could start with reading the chapter now and skip this because the note will truly be long although please read the the fifth paragraph and so on but if you want to read all what I'm saying about then thank you, I'll be glad.

And yes, what you're seeing now is an update! I am very very sorry for not updating for almost a month. It's just that reality has been taking so much of my time. And also I had been sick for days. I don't know how I got the flu but yeah, that was that. I also cut my fingers not intentionally of course and writing at school and typing on my laptop had been so hard. And then just this Saturday (the date I should have posted this) I threw up every second and stayed in my bed the whole weekend. Yeah I know how exaggerated throwing up every second was but really my health condition is not that best. I always got sick. So if I die and the fic is still not complete, I want to say sorry about that. But probably I won't die. I'm still young just frail.

Oh! About the reviews! I want to say I am very very happy about that. I mean it just tripled. Wow! So for the people who reviewed, followed, and favorite. Thank you.

Anyway, if you keep up all the reviews then I'm definitely going to be inspired to write the next chapter (the reviews are actually the reason why I wrote this very very long chapter) The chapter is 10K+ words. It actually got a bit overhanded, but I suppose this chap is just fine. I just felt really bad for not updating thus the reason for the long chap. Anyway please read my proposal.

Would you like to have a weekly update but shorter (2K-3K words) or a monthly update but longer (5K+)? If you pick the former then the next chapter will be posted two weeks after this (if I don't have problems) while if you pick the latter I will update on the last day of the month or the first of the next.

Thank you again. So for the fic here goes Chapter number 5!

Chapter 5

Marceline was stupefied the moment she laid her eyes on the pink girl. The moment their eyes met - the red drowning in the blue - her mind started not processing everything around. Well except for what she was thinking for the girl right now.

Earlier, Marceline was really having a hard time facing her troubles on her way to Ooo. With all the troubles she faced on her way, she came to the conclusion that fate was disrupting all her travel and that bad luck was really on her side. But that was before meeting the girl. This girl.Now, she considered their first encounter as a good luck. For now

Thinking back through Marceline's bad afternoon, it started when she was stuck in traffic. And it was not because of other unruly passengers or because of bumper-to-bumper cars...

7 Hours Ago

The vampire queen scratched the back of her head for the umpteenth time. She was staring straight at a peculiar livestock she couldn't quite recognize.

But I think it's a duck... If ducks have two faces and not just one, then definitely that's a duck.

The vampire queen was certain that she could travel to Ooo for only one and a half hour. And that was the reason why she was driving above the speed limit that would make any of Marceline's passenger had a sudden heart attack just so if she had one.

However Marceline was just shrugging this thought. After all, she was used to driving her motorcycle like the speed of an airplane and what was the point of all the gold trophies and medals she received during the occasional drag racings she used to participate if she didn't show her skills on the road. Right?

Now, the drive from the Nightosphere was peaceful as if Nightos was eager to make her leave. Unfortunately, the moment she left Nightos she was stuck with a problem she couldn't solve. The duck.

From afar, she thought she was seeing two ducks crossing the road. She slowly decelerated since she was running at a fast pace.

I wouldn't want to kill those two ducks after all. And then Marceline noticed the single body the two heads were connected. She was confused at first but her mind accepted what her eyes were seeing. When you are living in the Nightosphere, you shouldn't question all the peculiar creatures living there. That was what Marceline was doing now; just accepting the truth, like always.

Before the staring contest had ensued between both of them, Marceline tried different ways to make the two-faced duck go away. She beeped her car many times - long and loud. Unluckily, the duck wasn't bothered by this and comfortably sat there.

Marceline couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. It's obviously mocking me. She thought as she looked at the comfortable position that only showed how the duck would never leave for any time now.

And Marceline tried using the other lane. But no, the duck just moved to its right, certainly blocking the path Marceline's car was supposed to drive through. For minutes they played this game until Marceline was tired enough to steer her car backward and forward and left and right.

"Quack! Quack!," said the duck.

"Please!" Marceline resorted into shouting, "Could you get out of my way?!" she exclaimed while gripping the steering of wheel of her car so firmly. She was only left with the idea of talking with the peculiar animal as her last moral resort.

Seeing the duck not leaving its post, Marceline slumped on her seat. So, making a request is not good. She checked her watch, 5:57PM. She was quite bothered why the sun was still there. She then remembered that this was the time where daylight was more present that night-time. Having none to do, she looked at her surroundings. She noticed that both right and left side were a field of planted vegetation while some parts were barren.

Now looking at the setting sun on the west side, she tested if she could endure the light outside.

The vampire queen slightly lowered her tinted window screen and took out her hand. The moment the light directly hit her fingertips, the smell of burnt flesh reeked. She immediately took away her hand from the sunlight. She looked at it and watched as the blisters on it were slowly - but surely - healing. Despite her healing abilities that she took away from a fellow vampire, she couldn't help but winced at the painful experience she had felt.

Because of the presence of light, she couldn't get out of her car to drive away the two-faced duck. She almost wanted to hit the duck with her car but the idea of leaving a dead and rare duck in the middle of the road out of nowhere and making a bloody mess was making her uncomfortable. She was not that bad after all.

Although just by seeing the two-faced duck made Marceline angry. She didn't know why. All she knew was the duck was creepy and weird.

Why is it blocking my way?

Marceline only sighed. She rummaged around her bag, checking if there were things that could help shooing the duck away.

Ugh, my cap! Marceline groaned when she saw one of her sun protection equipment. Let's see if there are other things. She was disappointed when a cap and her leather jacket were the only things she could wear to protect her from the sunlight. The cap was not enough since it was brimless - only the front has a brim - and would only protect her face; her neck would still be uncovered while the jacket would cover her arms leaving her hands unprotected.

Well, I could just put it in my pockets. Or wait 'til the sun completely sets. Marceline stick with the latter. The idea of rushing outside and endure the intensity of light coming from the sun was not appealing to her sensitive and vampiric skin. It would really form painful wounds and blisters that Marceline would rather not have.

It took another couple of minutes when the sun sets leaving only streak and rays of light that Marceline could bear. It doesn't hurt anymore and instead of blisters, itchiness and blotch of redness took place.

She opened her car door just as the duck rose from its sitting spot, stood upright and looked at its right side - at the west - where the sun had already gone. It was already dark at the other end of the horizon. Traces of darkness emerged along the atmosphere save for the streaks of orange that were still visible from the other end of the sphere.

Huh? Marceline wondered, looking at the duck walking away from her. At least it's off to somewhere now. Marceline couldn't care less. She was supposed to go back, riding her car when she noticed the action the duck was doing.

The duck, now standing, stopped gazing at the sunset and looked directly at the vampire queen. Marceline blinked; she just noticed that the duck has a pair of black and red eyes on every head attached on its single body.

"Quack! Quack!" the duck uttered before walking away from Marceline. It was going down at the fields of vegetations but before the duck could walk off; it took a last glance on the vampire queen. And if ducks could smile then that duck is really smiling at me.

That was so weird. She concluded.

It was not long before Marceline Abadeer was on the road again. With only the headlights of her car as her only source of light in the darkness, she accelerated - almost going over 200 kph.

She slowed down when she saw the borderline from the distance. When she was there, an Enforcer asked for her passport and so she gave her documents to the officiating enforcer. The officer looked up to Marceline's ID picture and then he began to sift through the papers, writing something on his own sheet of paper before looking at the papers again. When everything was set, he gave Marceline a thumbs-up; meaning go and there was no problem. The Enforcer then gave back Marceline's passport and documents. "Welcome to-"

Marceline didn't even let him finish. She sped off the lane, not hearing what the Enforcer was saying about. It was now 6:30 and it was already an hour after she left Nightos. Still wanted to prove her point of being a race champion, she stepped on her car thus speeding up, not caring if her view outside was becoming blurry because of her fast driving. According to her calculations, she would have been on the farmlands of the Ooo City if it wasn't for the duck incident.

She suddenly remembered the weird duck. Its actions; its eyes; and the way it looked at the setting sun at that time. It was as if it just blocked my way so I'd be getting in Ooo City at night time. She frowned. She doesn't like that idea. She shook her head, completely dismissing the thoughts out of her head.

Suddenly, she heard sirens. What the glob? A criminal at this city? I thought this was the tightest city in the Land of Ooo? Marceline asked herself.

Dunamis City, that was the city she was in right now. It was the tightest city in the Land of Ooo because this was the city where the South borderline was located in which Nightosphere and other evil lands will have to cross before going to the middle cities of the country in which the Ooo City belongs. And so, the city needs to live up with that name. This was also the city where its people trained at a very young age to be a member of the Enforcers where most of its citizens came from.

Now, she became confused when she saw an Enforcement Car at her side mirror just behind her. Marceline groaned. Now, what did I do?!

She looked up again at the car chasing her from behind. She saw an arm outside the car waving at her. Pull up.

Marceline, having no choice, pulled up her car on the sidewalk. It didn't take long when a heavily built, muscular man knocked on her window screen. Marceline rolled her windows down.

"What?!" she hissed.

"Ma'am, don't you know that we are very strict on maintaining the speed limit when driving here in the city?" The said man asked the vampire. He was wearing the city uniform of the enforcers of Dunamis City; a black uniform with patches on the right arm indicating the city its serving and of course the badge every Enforcer had in the Land of Ooo. He was also wearing a cap that has an emblem of the city just like what Marceline saw on the borderline on her way.

Marceline shrugged her shoulders, seeming not to care if she was violating the law in the city.

"Well, you are driving above the speed limit and almost going over 200, Ma'am" The enforcer took a pad of paper and said, "Can I have your driver's license? You also need to pay the ticket if you don't want to spend the rest of the night in jail."

And now she groaned. She doesn't like the idea of spending her night in the city and caught up in the sun for the next morning. So she just nodded her head, gave him her license and dealt with all the transactions the Enforcer was giving off.

When she gave him her license, the Enforcer was confused and then he realized something, "Oh! You're a foreigner that's why you have Nigthosphere license and not the Ooo's." He bopped his own head as if that answered all his questions on his mind.

Mareline didn't give a care. She just wanted to go to Ooo City but with all the bad luck she was facing, the capital of Ooo was still a long way to go. She immediately signed her name on the ticket he gave to her and paid. She gave him her Nigthosphere bills and when it was clear to the Enforcer that she doesn't have the country's currency in her wallet, the only thing the officer could do was accept it and just go to money changer to convert her bills. Now, after finishing all of the deals, Marceline readied for her journey again.

"Well, thank you Ma'am. Hope you have a good time in the Land of Ooo wherever you go."

"Yeah. Hey muscle man!" The enforcer was going back to his own car when Marceline called to him. He frowned because of what Marceline nicknamed him. "Do you know anything about ...uh... a two-face duck?" Marceline asked. She wanted to know more about the duck but was too embarrassed to say about it. But now, she swallowed her pride and without thinking blurted the question to the burly man.

"Two faced duck?"

Marceline nodded her head.

"Uhm," the man scrunched up his face trying to remember something about the animal. "Well, rumors say that when you saw one something will happen to you."

"... What will happen?"

The enforcer shrugged his shoulder. "I'm not sure about ducks but what I know is when a creature has, you know," his hand moved to his face "-two faces, it usually means its warning the person who saw it that at some point in his own life, he will be at a crossroad where he will pick one choice over the other. That's one rumor I know."

"So, there are other sayings?"

"Yep, another says that you will face a terrible luck for over a year when you saw one. You know, bad luck. Hahaha"

Yikes, don't want that to happen.

Well, Marceline it is already happening. Weren't the duck and speed limit ticket incidents were enough proof that bad luck will really be on your side? Marceline frowned at what her mind was thinking about. "So, other rumors?"

The man placed his hand under his chin, thinking. Suddenly, he remembered another. "Oh! Two-facedness means that a person or a thing is pretending. "

"How come it's 'pretending'?"

"Well, it was marked by intentional falseness or deceptiveness. His fake face will pretend a set of feelings while his true face will, of course, depict his true intentions. The one who pretends usually will act under an influence of another set of feelings or actions." He stopped, thinking deeply what he would say, "So, when you saw a creature with two-faces, its advising you to be ready because there will come a time where you will face a person... or a creature that has a motive with you, thus the meaning behind all of the pretendings."

Marceline nodded her own head, understanding what the man said. "So, the duck is warning me?"

"Yep." He pronounced the -p with a pop before continuing what he will say, "Basically, they served as warnings and messages when you see them." He then realized what Marceline was asking him "Wait, wait! You saw one?! That's the reason for all the questions?"

Marceline almost wanted to lie. I mean, he is just a stranger. He doesn't know a thing about me.

That's the point, Marce. He is a stranger who doesn't know a thing about you.

"Well," Marceline started "I kind of saw one today..."

The man was staring at her with wide eyes, mouth agape.

"What?!"

"You know that that's a really really bad luck right?"

"I know right! I got stuck in the middle of the road because of a stupid duck and then I got a ticket because of overspeeding-"

"That was your fault." He blurted out, cutting what Marceline was saying.

Marceline glared at the man before continuing, "- and now it's minutes before 7 o'clock and I'm still halfway through my travel."

Having nothing to say, he bopped his head and then got curious in where Marceline's destination would be. "So, where are you headed for?"

Marceline hesitated whether she would tell her destination but shrugged the thought because the enforcer gave her information - or rather rumors - about the two-faced duck. "Ooo City," she answered back.

"Oh you mean the Central?"

"The central?"

"Yes, Ooo City, former Candy City, was always being confused with the Land of Ooo, the country, that's why Ooo City is called Central. You should probably say that since most citizens became confused when saying the Central's true name."

"Ah okay. Well, thank you for everything." Marceline was really grateful for his information and reminders but it was turning late now and she needed to leave now if she doesn't want to be delayed anymore in her travels. So, she let the facts sink in her mind before telling him to continue her journey. "Well, I really should go now. It's still a long way to go." Marceline told him, rolling up her windows.

"Hmm. Take care. Oh wait!" he said, stopping Marceline from completely shutting her windows. He crouched down so he and Marceline were on the same eye level. "Be careful. It's all over the news that Magic Man was there and that the Door Lord is making a ruckus again. Though, let me remind you that meeting the Door Lord is much much better than meeting the Magic Man. The Magic Man zaps things without consent and he's really bad not like the Door Lord which acts very childish." He stood up straight and then tapped the hood of the car. "Well, that's all. Farewell," he said, before walking toward his own patrol car.

Marceline let her mind process all the information. When she knew that she would remember all of it, she revved up her engine and sped down the lane. She made sure that this time she was not above the speed limit.

Wouldn't want to get caught again.

It was only a minute ago when Marceline was out of the Dunamis' vicinity area and now she was speeding down the lane again. Now that the next city she would be passing through was blither for the laws, she, yet again, increased the speed of her car.

Marceline Abadeer knew the city well. She was friends with the mayor and he liked her concerts very much that there was a time when he hired the Scream Queens for his son's birthday party so they could play. Because of playing here with the band from time-to-time, she memorized the ways and roads of the city.

Much like Marceline, the mayor and his family were immortal. Immortal but still vulnerable to death, in other words they had have a longer life than normal people. Of course, they were royalties when the Monarchial period was still upheld and now the former King was a mayor.

Marceline was remembering something when she felt a throbbing ache on the side of her head. It was not very painful but it served the right to distract Marceline from remembering something more. She just couldn't quite grasp the memory. It felt like she knew what she was remembering but it got stuck on the edge of her brain. Shrugging the thoughts out of her head, she entirely focused herself on driving and paid attention to the road in front of her.

She was listening to the music coming from her CD player when she saw the 'Welcome to Arachis City!' She scoffed at the sign, entertained by the idea that she was already in the city a little while ago yet the welcome sign was just showing up now.

When she was out of Dunamis City, she was already at Arachis City. Well, the sign only means that she was nearing the city's busiest part, the city proper where buildings and the richest houses and mansions stood tall. This was also where the town hall resides.

Yeah, Marceline really knew her way. She turned right at the street and left and then took another left. She never followed the main road as that would make her stuck in a traffic jam. She just took shortcuts of shortcuts so she could easily paved her way out of trouble.

You could say that Marceline was satisfied when she was almost at the other end of the city and never did she encounter a problem when she was driving out of the city proper. It was just a quarter past 7 o'clock when she was out of the city boundaries and officially inside the Central's environment. Marceline tried to remember what she will be passing by so she won't get lost.

So I have to take the road with farmlands beside it and then after that, the surrounding areas will slowly change, turning into a vast of plain fields. In the far distance, when the Lake Butterscotch will be in my field of vision that means that I will be minutes from the community. And then I will turn left to reach the outskirts of the city and find my house.

Marceline was picturing her way to the outskirts of the city to find her house there. Currently, she was driving fast, too fast for a normal person to bear, when suddenly the engine started sputtering around and then entirely stopped running. She was driving too fast earlier, so when it abruptly stopped, Marceline almost slammed her body on the windshield. Almost. She was thankful that whenever she travelled a great distance, she always fastens her seatbelt.

Now, back to the car, it was still running and moving through the road even if its engine was cut off. Unfortunately it was running very slowly and Marceline knew that in any minute now it would completely stop. And so, Marceline just let the car do its tiny work of moving.

She slowly slumped her head on the back of the car seat as her hands keep on gripping and maneuvering the steering wheel for fear that the car would be out on the road. But as the car slowed down, she realized that she would be stuck in the middle of the rural part of the city if this kept on happening. It was not a second later when the car suddenly stopped, damning Marceline with fresh thoughts of her misfortunes.

No way am I stuck in this rural part of the city. No way.

Marceline quickly unfastened her seatbelt, almost tearing its attachment from the car. She opened the door and closed it forcefully. She circled around her car until she was in front and saw that a small amount of smoke was coming out of the lid. She opened it and coughed out loud when she inhaled the not-so-small-amount-anymore smoke that came out from the engine.

Waving her hand to clear off the smoke, she saw that her engine was not capable of running anymore and became aware of the hope she felt not long ago to leave her all hollowed up. The vampire queen was not a mechanic but she was sure one would say so if they saw the current condition of her engine. It just looked so beaten up. And Marceline didn't know why or how that even happened.

She was sure that she used up all her remaining luck when she didn't faced a problem in the last city she travelled to. And now it's all coming back to me.

Having nothing to do, she kicked the wheel of her car, making her swear out of her lungs when she felt the painful jolt from doing it.

Danglobbit! Danglobbit!

Suddenly, a musical tone resonated in the air, cutting off the silence surrounding the vampire queen. At first, she didn't realized it as her phone but when she felt the soft vibrations coming from her pocket she decided it was just her phone and not a scene from what she watched from a certain horror TV show when she was still a child.

Taking out the phone from the pocket of her leather jacket, it wrapped itself around her wrist and without thinking answered the phone without looking who was calling her.

"What?!" Marceline snapped. She was already in the bad mood and taking calls from her phone was not actually relieving her from the situation she just put herself into.

"Woah, woah. Keep your cool down, vampire queen. Let me guess, something bad happened there at your house?"

"Keila?"

"Of course, I am. Hahaha." Keila laughed out loud, thinking what was happening at the other line on Marceline's "So, what happened? It sounds like your having a bad time there."

Marceline checked the caller ID and yes, it really was Keila. Marceline took a deep breath before answering the vampire at the other end, "Well, worse happened. I'm still not at my house. And no questions ask but it's a really really long story Kei and it's full of bad lucks and ducks."

"Oh come on, lay it on me. I like long stories especially coming from you." Keila was not sure if she correctly heard Marceline saying 'ducks' but she didn't questioned it anymore, wanting that Marceline would willingly tell her the whole story.

Not wanting to have an argument with Keila forcing her to tell what happened, Marceline sighed again telling and recalling to her friend the whole events that she experienced. "Well, would you believe if I tell you that I just saw a two-faced duck...?" She started with a question.

It took another couple of minutes to finish the whole sequence of events Marceline experienced. It, of course, ended with her being stuck in the middle of the rural area of the Central.

"Aww. I offer my condolences to you my dear friend" Keila said, laced with a bit of teasing when Marceline ended her story.

"I don't need your pity." Already, Keila was lifting Marceline's spirit.

"You need that, Marce! I'm telling you. After all the unfortunate misfortunes you've been facing, a little bit of compassion is just what you need. Also I'm sending you my virtual hugs and kisses"

Marceline smiled knowing that Keila couldn't see her face. "Thanks Kei, I've been feeling down lately-"

"I know right!," cutting Marceline "That's the sole reason of the change of address, no?"

"Mmm, yeah kind of."

Marceline then heard laughter at the other end of the line and then followed by a 'Hey Keila, Come on'

"Kei, you still there?"

A shuffle and then "Yep, my cousins' just calling. We're having a sleepover at the family house and they're just being, you know, idiots."

"Ah. Okay. Well, I better start walking now eh. Don't want the morning catching me up"

"Yeah, you better start that now." Keila laughed again. "We all know the vampires' hatred about sunlight, although the night will still be long for you, girl. We still haven't had dinner and that means that the time's still not eight o'clock"

Marceline looked at her wristwatch and pushed the button at right side of it and saw Keila was right about the time. Her digital watch was blinking a sickly green 7:29PM when it turned just in time into 7:30PM. Marceline frowned because of this and agreeing to what Keila just said, "Yeah, the time is 7:30"

"Hahaha. See, I told. You've got a long night ahead of you. Well, you better stretch your limbs to prepare for your night walk or, you know, your wings - if you want to fly or float."

"Nah. Walking's just fine. Don't want the stupid citizens of the central seeing me in my bat form and started throwing me pitchforks." The moon was glowing brightly in the night sky and Marceline wouldn't want to risk herself scaring the people of Ooo.

Keila didn't answer for a moment bet she was busy with her family. "Sorry about that. How about you text me when you're already at the Ooo city, hmm? or when your comfortably sitting and resting at your couch inside your house?"

"That's fine to me."

"Perfect! I really have to go now or else my little cousins will - Oh no! Not that guitar - Bye Marce! - Fred stop..." Beep. Beep. Beep.

Marceline chuckled. She was picturing Keila's cousins toying with the girl's prized guitar collections. That would be a scene I want to see.Marceline thought.

Marceline shook her head. She needed to be serious now. Looking at the car, it would take forever if she brought it with her.

Better leave the dang car here and just call a tow truck to hoist this up tomorrow. She got inside her car and took her things. The backpack at the passenger seat and her axe bass guitar at the back seat, before closing and locking the door to start walking the long way home.

03/01/2016