"How are you feeling Marcy? Do you want a glass of water? Some juice?"
"No thanks, pink lady."
The two of them were seated on the bed in one of the palace's ridiculous amount of guest rooms. The window was shuttered shut. Although it was still nighttime, it would be daylight in just a few hours, and Bubblegum figured out that Marceline hadn't slept at all since losing herself. Sleep deprivation wasn't something to take lightly, as Bubblegum knew all too well from all those times she had locked herself in her lab for days on end, never sleeping, seldom eating. Marcy deserved better.
Bubblegum sighed. "You can call me Princess Bubblegum."
Marceline beamed. "Okay. Thanks for the pajamas, Princess." She picked at the lacy pink nightgown Bubblegum had found in the back of her closet. "I'm sorry I spilled tea all over your dress."
Bubblegum laughed. "It's no problem. It wasn't one of my favorites anyway," she said fiercely, thinking about Peppermint Butler's words from earlier.
Bubblegum's smile faded as she watched Marceline play with the fabric of her nightgown. "Do you remember anything?" she asked softly. "Do you have any idea how any of this happened, how you lost your memories?"
Marceline wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees. "Not really. I remember feeling… lonely. And just wishing I wasn't lonely anymore." She smiled up at Princess Bubblegum. "I can't imagine why, though. Apparently I have all kinds of friends."
Bubblegum winced. "Right…"
Marceline's smile dimmed. "We were friends, weren't we Princess?"
"Ah… of course we were!" Bubblegum scratched the back of her head nervously. "Really good friends."
Marceline's smile was back in full force, and Bubblegum almost toppled over backwards. Marceline hadn't smiled at her like that since… since—"I can tell." Marceline continued, completely oblivious to Bubblegum's flustered thoughts. "You've been so nice to me."
Bubblegum looked down at her hands, shame coloring her cheeks. Some friend she was. She had neglected to tell Marceline that they had fought mere hours before her mind was wiped, that Bubblegum hadn't been a good friend for a very, very long time. The princess squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. She could fix this. She would fix this. She would get Marceline's memories back and then she could deal with her feelings later.
"Hey Marcy? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, but I don't know how much I can answer. My head still feels like goop."
"I was just wondering… why the pink dress? That isn't the type of thing that you normally wear." Not that this version of Marceline would know that.
"Oh, yeah, well when I came to I was wearing different clothes, black ones, but they were full of holes. I figured I must have fallen into some bushes or something, so I asked the bear kid and the stretchy dog to find me something else to wear."
Bubblegum burst out in giggles. "That's just how you wear your clothes, Marceline."
"Oh!" Marceline looked genuinely surprised, but then she looked down at the pink nightgown and shook her head. "That wasn't all, though." She smoothed down the fabric over her knees. "I did remember one thing when I came to. Just one."
"Oh?" Bubblegum sat up straighter. Maybe she could use this to begin to figure things out. Perhaps this memory would be the key to getting all of Marcy's memories back. "What was it?"
Marceline shrugged, then looked up at Bubblegum. "It was just the one thing. The color pink."
Bubblegum froze. A fierce blush began to make its way up her neck. "Pink."
Marceline nodded. "Yeah. I just remembered that I really, really like pink." She shrugged again. "I assumed it was my favorite color because it stood out so much." She grinned up at Bubblegum. "I must have just been thinking about you."
"M-me!" Bubblegum's voice rose to a squeak. She cleared her throat, tried again managed a much more normal voice. "Me?"
"Yeah, you. All of you. You, this building, even those little sticky people outside." Marceline threw up her hands in joy. "Everything here is pink!"
"R-right, the Candy Kingdom! Of course!" Bubblegum swallowed her surprised disappointment. Dear Glob, she was so stupid.
"I must live here, right?"
"Actually, no." Bubblegum smoothed down her shirt, regained her composure. This was not like her. She was not one to get flustered and flushed so easily like this. She decided to attribute it to stress. She would have to ask Peppermint Butler to make her some chamomile tea after this. "But I can show you your house tomorrow, after the sun goes down. I have some stuff to take care of first."
"Because the sun hurts." Marceline rubbed at her arm, nursing a small burn that Bubblegum had not noticed before. "I learned that the hard way." She shuddered. "Your bedroom window is much too big, Princess."
Bubblegum blinked. Marcy was in her bedroom? It made sense, as that was the only place with the necessary tools to get her hair to curl like that. Although, Bubblegum thought, it was honestly almost impressive that Marceline even knew how to curl her hair. Bubblegum never would have guessed it was a talent that she possessed.
On another note, it was just like Marceline, to go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted without thinking about consequences.
"You seem like yourself," Bubblegum finally said. "Mostly."
Marceline yawned, stretching out her arms. She laid her head down on the pillow but held Bubblegum's stare. "Is that good?"
"Very good."
Marceline smiled as she closed her eyes, and Bubblegum pushed herself up off the bed, making her way to the door.
"Goodnight Princess."
"Goodnight Marceline." Bubblegum paused with one hand on the door, gripped the frame. "And you can call me Bonnie."
