Okay yes I am an awful person for not updating on schedule like I said I would. In my defense i've been extremely busy with stuff. I'm in the middle of moving and i've hardly had any time to sit down and get this stuff done.
This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I cut it short because I just really wanted to get it out there for you guys. Don't worry the end of this chapter will be part of the next. And no, I probably wont upload it on schedule. Not until I am moved in and settled into my new house.
I am really sorry, honestly. I want to release these chapters as soon as I can but like i've said, i'm just so busy. Everything will be on track soon I promise!
Anyways enough of that, you've waited long enough.
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Chapter Four: I remember You
"I said no Braco!" Bonnibel came storming down the hallway with a very persistent Braco trailing behind her. To Marceline's dismay, the yelling had woken her up from her peaceful sleep.
"But, Princess! You almost died! If I come I could protect you!" Marceline overheard a man speaking, no, more like sobbing.
"Stop calling me Princess. Back off Braco!" Marceline removed herself from the desks and she left the classroom. She saw a very angry Bonnibel and a short man following behind her mumbling about something she couldn't quite make out. She probably shouldn't have gotten involved, but she figured someone would eventually. When the two passed by her, she quickly reached out for the boy's upper arm and slammed him up against the concrete wall.
"And where the fuck do you think you're going, pal? The lady said back off, so back off." Marceline had now been holding Braco up by his shirt, pressing him into the concrete wall. She saw nothing but fear and regret in his eyes. I bead of sweat formed on his forehead and ran down his temple. Braco struggled to break free of Marceline's grip but she had been much stronger than him. She eventually loosened her grab on Braco and let him run off. She watched as Braco about tripped over his own feet has he ran down the hall in the opposite direction.
"Wow, I don't think I have seen him run away like that since the last time he almost got torn to pieces by an infected. Thank you." Marceline turned to face Bonnibel, who had been watching the whole thing. Marceline took a bow as if mocking the fact Braco was calling her princess.
"Anything for royalty." Marceline straightened out her back and winked at her new friend. Bonnibel just rolled her eyes and started back down the hall, Marceline soon joining her side.
"Finn and I were just about to leave. I supposed you're going to take your horse and head out?"
"Yeah, might as well. Sooner I get out of here the better, I'd rather not cross paths with your friend Phoebe again." The two left the school in silence and headed for the parking lot. Bonnibel thanked Marceline one last time before sliding into the passenger side of the truck.
Marceline looked at Baxter and back at the truck, silently cursing herself for even thinking about staying. She knew nothing good could come out of it. No, it was best for her to just get on her horse and leave. But yet…
Bonnibel and Finn quickly turned their heads around when they heard a thump in the back of the truck. They both were quite confused when they saw Marceline knocking on the window and smiling at them. Bonnibel opened up the back window and stuck her head out.
"What are you doing?" Bonnibel questioned, cocking an eyebrow at the woman.
"I changed my mind. I think it'd be funny to stick around and bug that friend of yours." Bonnibel looked at Bonnibel is disbelief. "I just hope she doesn't slap me again." Marceline laughed.
"Oh she might try something worse." Finn joked. Marceline's eyes shot open as she started to worry if she'd made the right decision. "Kidding, kidding. However I would keep an eye out." Finn laughed.
"Don't mind him, Marceline. He's just pulling your leg. She may be… short tempered, but I don't think she would be capable of seriously injuring anyone who didn't deserve it. I'm sure she was just worked up over Fionna." Bonnibel sighed. Flash backs from the other day swept over her mind for a moment before she shook it off. "We should get going, I want to get this over with." Finn nodded as he stuck the key in the ignition.
The entire drive there was silent. Marceline sat in the truck bed with her head leaning over the side as she looked up to the sky. Bonnibel stared out the window, day dreaming about the 'What Ifs' of her life. What if this infection never spread, what if she had never met Fionna, what if she had never brought Fionna to her house… Finn attempted every now and then to start a conversation with Bonnibel but she only gave short responses. She wasn't paying much attention to anything he was saying, she was off in her own world, drowned with her thoughts. When the three reached Bonnibels old neighborhood, she motioned for Finn to stop the car.
"It's locked, we are going to have to climb over."
"No it's not." Marceline chimed in, sticking her head through the back window. "Well it was. I rigged it open when I came through here." Marceline hopped out of the truck bed and pushed in the gate with ease. She turned around to the two still in the truck and bowed in their direction. She climbed back into the truck and allowed Finn to drive further down the street to Bonnibels house.
Bonnibel soon signaled Finn to pull into the driveway of her old home. The trio exited the truck and entered the giant house. Finn Hesitated as he looked around inside. He had been just as astonished as Fionna was when he stood in awe at his surroundings. Marceline nudged him forward gently to catch his attention and he soon followed behind the two up the marble stairs. Once they neared the end of the hallway, Bonnibel had stopped in her tracks to point at her parent's door.
"It's that one. I'm going to stay out here if you don't mind." Bonnibel almost choked on her words. She crossed her arms, almost hugging herself.
"Of course. Marceline, will you stay out here with her? I can do this myself." Finn asked.
"Yeah dude, no problem." Marceline nodded. She watched as Finn disappeared into the room before turning around to look at Bonnibel. She noticed her staring at the family portraits hung up in picture frames on the wall. Marceline joined her, looking over the photographs herself. She focused on a picture with a little boy and girl, no older than 7. She squinted at the photograph before pointing to the little girl. "I used to know her."
"Yeah, right." Bonnibel scoffed as Marceline pointed to the picture of her and her brother. There was no way she knew that girl, it was Bonnibel of course.
"No, really. A long time ago, she was my friend." Marceline paused. She thought back to the girl in the photograph, thinking of those peaceful times on the playground with her old friend. "I'd always see her on the playground. I used to chase her with bugs." Bonnibel quickly became alerted. She turned her body and took a step back as she played her hand on her gun out of habit. "Whoa, what's wrong?"
"How do you know that girl?" Bonnibel ask firmly. She didn't remember Marceline, and she was sure she never met her before in her life.
"I just told you I- wait." Marceline focused on another picture of the girl, this time she was older. She would've assumed about fifteen or sixteen. She lifted the frame off of its hook and held it up to Bonnibel's head as she squinted and looked closely to every detail. "No fucking way. Bonnie? Oh I'm so stupid!" Marceline smacked her forehead. "How did I not put this together sooner? You're Bonnie, from the playground! You don't remember me?"
"Who are you?" Bonnibel wouldn't admit it, but she was honestly frightened how Marceline knew her.
Marceline only had the chance to open her mouth before Finn came stumbling out of the bedroom holding a body wrapped in a bloody bedsheet. Bonnibel frowned at Marceline before walking passed her. She motioned for the two to follow her down the stairs and back outside. Finn laid the limp body in the truck of the bed before straightening his back out and cracking it.
"Bonnibel, why don't you drive back? Marceline can have shotgun, I'll stay in the back with…" Finn gestured towards Fionna's corpse. Bonnibel shot Marceline a look before protesting, but Finn kept insisting. She soon gave in and climbed into the front with Marceline next to her.
The drive back was long and silent, say for a little small talk from Marceline. Bonnibel ignored her the entire way, only answering back in short mumbles. It gave her time to think back to when she was a kid, back when her parents would take her and her brother to the playground in the park to play on the weekends. At first she could only remember Neddy and her playing tag, but soon flash backs of Marcy came along and it all hit her at once. Marcy, her long lost friend. Marcy, the black haired girl who teased and tormented her with bugs and frogs. Marcy, her childhood best friend she only knew for a short time. Marcy, the girl who disappeared on her without even a goodbye. She never knew what happened to her, she spent every weekend waiting for her to return but she never did. As she got older, she assumed something bad had happened and she was just gone. And soon after that she was forgotten. Just a distant memory.
Bonnibel parked the truck in its usual spot. She told Finn to take Fionna inside and that she needed a minute alone with Marceline. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She dropped her head, hitting her forehead on the top of the wheel.
"I'm an idiot." Bonnibel closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. The air fell silent for a few minutes. Marceline awkwardly shifting in her seat.
"So you do remember?" Marceline broke the silence.
"No, I mean yes. I mean." Bonnibel groaned. "I didn't, of course I didn't. You'd expect me to remember some girl I knew when I was five?" She faced the dark haired woman, her face turning red from slight frustration.
"Well I mean, obviously you have." Marceline smirked at her old friend.
"You- I- shut up." Bonnibel removed herself from the truck and made her way inside. Marceline about jumped out of the truck to follow her, grabbing onto her arm to stop her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Marceline looked down at Bonnibel, looking straight into those sad blue eyes.
"You is what's wrong!" Bonnibel stopped to find her words. "We were friends 20 years ago, how do I still even remember that? How do I remember those stupid bugs, how do I remember you just disappearing? It just doesn't make any sense!"
"Whoa, calm down there Bonnie." Marceline placed her hands on her shoulders. "Me leaving was not my fault, I was six. What was I supposed to do, text you?" Marceline laughed. She tucked a strand of hair behind Bonnibel's ear, then settling it on her cheek. "It's good to see you again, really. Even if it's been twenty years." Bonnibel began to blush at the sudden contact. Without thinking, she hugged Marceline so tight she about cracked her spine.
"Yeah, you too." Bonnibel sighed into her shoulder. Marceline smelled oddly familiar to Bonnibel, a bit too familiar. She couldn't make out what she knew that smell from, she just knows it was fairly recent.
As the two embraced each other in a rather long hug, a thought popped into Bonnibel head. She quickly pulled away from the hug before holding her head in her hands. She looked at Marceline with rather frightened eyes.
"Whoa, what's that look for Princess?" Marceline shifted her weight onto one foot, crossing her arms as she looked at Bonnibel in confusion.
"My parents, they were infected." Bonnibel began to pace, running her fingers through her hair and pulling at it just slightly.
"Yeah, I kind of got that. That's nothing new, why are you so freaked out?" Marceline cocked an eyebrow at Bonnibel as she stopped pacing and faced Marceline. She looked her dead in the eye with so much fear it sent shivers down Marceline's spine.
"My parents killed themselves. My mother said so in this note she wrote me. Marcy, they weren't bitten, how were they infected?"
"Oh." Marceline lowered her arms. "..Oh no. You don't think…"
"The virus, it must have mutated. We could be breathing it this very second!" Bonnibel lifted up her shirt collar to cover her mouth. Marceline hesitated, not knowing if she should follow Bonnibels actions or not. She soon covered her own mouth with her shirt.
"Wait, if we are breathing it how are we not infected?" Bonnibel stood frozen, thinking about all the possibilities before lowering her collar from her mouth.
"Of course!" Bonnibel smacked her forehead as she came to a realization. "The virus, it can infiltrate a human body at any time. When someone is bitten they get a fever, bleed out and soon die, right? That's when it is able to take control of the brain. It spreads through open wounds, when the body is weakened. When you breathe it the body is still strong and it can't take control. No, when you breathe it you have to physically be dead for it to take control! Marceline, we are all already infected."
"But that's impossible right? You as so much be in the same room as someone with the cold and boom, a few days later you have a cold. How does it not work for this virus?" Marceline questioned.
"I honestly have no idea, but it has to be the case, right?" Bonnibel scratched her head.
"I guess we will just have to find out."