Slightly warm orange rays streaked along her pale skin as she woke up between the sheets of the king size bed. She jumped up and protected her face from the sun when she remembered; they put an UV-ray filter over all the glass in the palace. Dammit, after months and months she still wasn't used to it. Meanwhile Bubba snorted really loud as he woke up groaning.
"crap crap crap he woke up…" Marceline whispered "no no go back to sleep baby… it's nothing" she whispered him.
He just giggled and wrapped his arm around Marcy and pulled her back into the bed.
"Did the light scare you again?" he whispered gently in her ear,
She calmed her body down again and shuffled her butt into his groin as he wrapped a warm leg around her leg, softly brushing her arm as she fell asleep again in his arms. Gentle puffs of air flooding along her neck, giving her goose bumps as neck hairs rose up like an army marching from out the trenches. Warm air colliding with the cold green tinted skin… it was the best feeling to fall asleep to…
Birds whistled and branches brushed when a few hours later Marceline woke up again. For some reason she managed to fiddle almost out her sleeping shirt as it was hanging from her neck. Quickly she shot back into the shirt and looked around to see where her lover might hang out; normally he would be laying on his side with his back turned towards the wall. Holding his pillow in a tight clench which seemed to be a battle on life and death. But now he was laying on his belly, sweat running past his cheeks.
When Marceline felt his face, she was shocked to find out he was burning up on his cheeks and forehead. His shirt was absolutely drenched in sweat, a thick liquid as his candy skin started to soften and stick to the bed. From his mouth he was panting and moaning in discomfort as he turned around to wake up.
Marceline looked at him opening his eyes, the white being blood red. Crusts along his eyelids and his face seemed rather pale, almost like the skin and white of the eyes swapped colours.
"Bubba? Baby... are you okay?..."
His lips moved, mouth opened yet tiny strings of sticky candy fibres stretched between his lips. His face was sticking to each other.
"b-babe… I think I'm ill… My joints hurt, headaches as the room spins around me… I'm burning up…" that's all he could say before he coughed so hard, he had to gag.
When he was done coughing, he tried again.
"okay… yeah I seem to be ill.. that's, not really nice I suppose…" he coughed a few more times "hmmm… this is not really how I projected my Sunday to be." He managed to giggle out before he blew out a stream of air from his nose in a massive sneeze.
"is this… bad? Like what should I do?" Marceline asked him
"uuh… get peppermint maid to bring some talcum powder, and tell her to wear a mask, I don't want her getting ill… if she becomes sick the whole kingdom will crumble like a dry biscuit."
"Why the talcum powder? Are you planning on getting a baby?" Marceline said in a cheeky voice.
"well its more to make me non stick… so I don't merge with the bed" He answered while he lifted his arm. "just look at that, I'm one sticky goopy sugar mess"
Thick pink threads already soaked in with the mattress, which right now looked like a soggy towel after drying off when you showered.
Marceline got out of the bed and treaded down the hallway outside their bedroom, the carpet still felt a bit weird so instead she just floated down the corridor, pink wallpaper and crème coloured wooden beams made up endless walls with a random door now and then. And then she didn't really feel like walking stairs so she just jumped over the edge and slowly floated down to ground level.
When she reached ground level she looked around, the staff of the palace were all running around like busy little bees. Yet peppermint maid was nowhere to be seen. And instead of looking for her, she just shouted through the busy hallway.
"PEPPERMINT MAID!? WHERE ARE YOU?!"
All the members of staff present in the hallway turned their head towards Marceline for about 2 seconds before running around like an angry energized murder of crows.
She sighed and floated down the hallway slowly getting immersed by staff running around cleaning whatever the hell they were cleaning. `
"please… peppermint maid? Are you there?" she asked but now in a more calmer voice.
"yes yes yes! Alright I'm coming I'm coming!" peppermint maid cried out from one of the rooms.
A hasty pace sounded from her left side and quickly after the small white and red lady came running through the door about 10 metres down the hall.
"Marceline… what can I get you?" she sorta angrily asked.
"well yeah… I don't need anything, but Bubba… eerhh… Prince Bubblegum, sorry, is sick and well… he is kinda melting into the mattress. I needed to get him talcum powder? And yeah no staff should enter the room cause boooo he doesn't want anyone else to be infected."
Peppermint maid squinted with her eyes and looked Marceline into her eyes.
"why are you here then… aren't you infected?" she added to her piercing gaze
"eeh nah… I'm hunky dory thanks for asking, I never get ill yknow, fast healing system of a vampire…"
"hmmmm okay very well then… follow me I'll get you some powder"
Marceline followed the small lade as she strided across the carpet. She said nothing, just walking through endless hallways. After maybe 2 minutes of walking she came to a medical room and unlocked a medicine cabinet with her keys. She ruffled in the small cupboard while making sure Marceline stayed outside. After some searching she gave Marceline a white bag with dry off white powder.
"anything else?"
"uuuuh… no I think this is it… I'll just get on my way back then."
"yeah same… breakfast isn't made on its own. I will also send up some tea, 3 knocks on the door and there is tea ready. You can then tell me if he needs anything else…"
"yeah ok-
Peppermint maid already turned around and walked sternly through the hallway away from Marceline.
Marcy then turned around and walked back to Bubba and her room. quite the walk, well quite the flight for her. Long empty corridors and up the spiral staircase and hearing BMO and Nept-R play games in the newly constructed portal room.
Bubba already was asleep again. His eyes closed and softly breathing through a stuffy nose and sore throat.
Gently Marceline walked closer to her boyfriend. She reached out with her left hand, trying to brush his hair. Just before she touched him, he woke up…
"don't… don't touch me…"
Marceline was visibly scared… she stepped back and sighed out.
"oh… sorry… I didn't mean to… I don't want to wake you up…"
"no.. it's okay. I just don't want your hands to get stuck in the goopy mess of my hair.. can you just give me the powder so I can coat myself in a nice non stick coating?"
"yeah sure, here you go" Marceline smiled as she gave him the paper bag.
With great effort to break free from the grip the mattress had on his syrupy skin the pink prince got up. He ripped his shirt from his body, not physically ripping apart the shirt, yet the sound of the thousands of little candy threads sticking to his shirt sounded like ripping apart the shirt.
His belly was shiny, shiny and liquid. Like molten candle wax. When its solid its rough, not so shiny as molten wax, but now since the prince was still in a liquid-ish state he was shiny like molten soldering tin.
He took the paper bag from Marceline and put some dust on his hands… he patted all across his face, his belly and arms before poofing Marceline some talcum powder in her face. She just looked at him, with a serious and slightly disappointed look on her face.
"seriously… did you seriously do that… if you weren't ill I would whoop your ass…"
But before bubba could even laugh she ripped off his underpants and slapped his butt…
"c'mon now… baby bubba needs his bottom cleaned and powdered!" she giggled while throwing talcum powder all over him. "let's get you all powdered up now, then we can go back to bed again."
After a few minutes of furious powdering, necessary cocaine jokes and talcum sneezing later Bubba was all powdered up. He grabbed a new non candy infused underpants and shirt from the clothing cupboard and dressed himself up. Now he was standing up for a while the sickness really started to get the better of him. He could barely lay down on the bed or he was already asleep again.
Marceline brushed his forehead, he felt like he was singed by the flames of FP. The snoring started again… difficult breathing was overpowered by snot blubbering back and forth in his nose as his nose tried to unclog everything. She kissed him on his forehead and watched his mouth curl into a smile when he moaned gently while drifting into sleep.
Three knocks sounded on the door, and Marceline could hear peppermint maid walk away again. That must be the tea then, Marceline told herself in her head. She opened the door and yes… there was a small mug with some boiling hot tea waiting for him… yet yeah… he was asleep. So instead of giving him any tea she just placed the mug on his nightstand. With a soft voice she whispered bubba there was some tea. As an only answer she got a faint moan from him to acknowledge her he knew about the mug and its contents.
With bubba fast asleep Marceline walked out the door, she didn't really wanna stay here. She first of all didn't like it when someone so close to her heart was sick, so staying there would make her only drown in depression. And then secondly staying there would only give her more opportunity of waking him up. She definitely did not wanted to do that.
"Yo bubblegum? Peebles? You there?" Marceline screamed when she walked from the portal in the original land of Ooo where she came from.
From far inside the castle she could hear Peppermint butler scream that bubblegum was listening to music in her acoustics research lab. Dammit… where was it again?
Marceline stumbled around in the newly constructed portal room before she realised even more how long she wasn't here and well, she really didn't know where PB constructed the acoustics research lab?
"oh well…" she smiled "it was something with music. And let's just follow the faint bubblegum smell I'm smelling"
She sniffed loudly with her bat nose and located roughly in what direction bubblegum's smell came from. Of course quickly she found out… it was the air conditioning venting hole right next to the window in the portal room. well that was solved easily.
Back to screaming to peppermint butler again. She cleared her throat and proceeded to yell once again to the small minty servant.
"YO pep but! Where is the acoustics research lab?"
'"Its right here Marcy…" PB said to Marcy from around the corner
"oh… hi, I guess?"
"Heyo Marcelbeeps! What brings you here today?"
"well… it seems that Bubba is a bit ill, and yeah I kinda need some distraction, so I wondered if you're up for some sweet jammin'?"
"yeah sure I got the time… what kinda jamming are you up to?"
"oh wow… uuuh I dunno, should we just do some sweet jazz music? Get the emo juices flowin'"
"well okay, if it makes you happy, lets head to my acoustics research lab I guess…"
Bubblegum walked towards Marcy and ran her hands through her hair
"I love the look you gave your hair… I heard talcum powder is in today…."
Marceline stared into PB's eyes and laughed "Let's just get to music okay?"
About 4 hours later of music, gossiping and Marceline gasping at the sound of Bubblegum telling her that she was dating Marshall Lee, the vampire retreated to Gumballs castle. In her wake she took Princess Bubblegum cause she wanted to meet up with Bubba. It took her some convincing, that she was vaccinated to basically everything and that she also carried nano killer robots in her bloodstream that would kill everything that wasn't indigenous to her body. Marceline eventually allowed her friend to come through the portal.
The two gals walked through the long hallway leading up to the master bedroom. Chattering loudly like birds trying to find a new mate… yet these two birds already found their partners.
"okay sssh now… I don't really want to wake him up, if he's still asleep." Marceline whispered
She gently opened the door. Gentle yet difficult breathing were the only thing to be heard. A mug of cold tea was still on the little cupboard, untouched by the sleeping ill prince. The whole mood and air in the room was like the tea… cold, dead and untouched by anything lively. Dead air lingering in the dark room.
"I think he's asleep… I can hear him snore a bit through the gentle gasps of breath he takes" Marceline said about her boyfriend.
"is it okay I check on him?"
"can I just see for myself if he is asleep? I just want to knew he is ok for myself…"
"that's okay… he is your partner so you have all the right to check on him"
Marceline sighed and forced a small smile on her face. With small steps she walked to Bubba's side of the bed. Her boots softly clonking on the wood floor beneath the thick carpet. He looked even worse than before. His normally light pink skin was pale, almost grey with a hint of pink. Sweat was tracing down his head leaving trails in faint off white layer of talcum powder. Little droplets of some sort of mud, as the sweat picked up some of the talcum powder.
She felt across his cheeks… he was boiling hot, burning up from the inside… she bowed down and kissed his chapped lips gently, then whispering in his ear
"I'm back baby…"
A faint hum came from his mouth. A small shiver visibly shot down his spine and he stopped breathing for a second before he said a few words in a rasping voice.
"I… I… didn't eat the bread…"
Marceline stared at him not really sure what to say. His eyes were still closed so she couldn't really know for sure he was awake or not.
"what do you mean baby… Did peppermint maid make you bread? "
Bubba gasped for air and rattled his lungs
"There is no… bread…" Bubba exhaled and in the flow of air he whispered "… for the winter…"
"hey… what's wrong now… what's with the bread?" Marceline asked in a slightly more worried tone
"There is no bread left he…" he stopped and exhaled again" –re… we need bread…"
Marceline stepped back and looked at Bonnibel.
"he's delirious Marceline… that's normal with a high fever, and he seems to be beaten up pretty badly here by whatever pathogen he has." Bonnibel answered Marceline's questioning face
"I-Is this bad?..."
"well to be fair… I don't know yet… I can take some blood off of him and run it through an RNA polymerase chain reaction if you want… or maybe it's something else… I'm sure I can find that out."
Marceline stared at PB and you could see her mind rattling trying to find out an answer.
"well… will that help him?"
"not necessarily… but it will help us see if we can help him or if he even needs help… because right now I'm blind… it may very well be a flu, or something entirely else."
"So in a way it will help us? So we can help him?"
"exactly… so what do you say? I have got all time tonight and the following 2 days to run tests… I'll be of utmost care of course, and I will find an answer…"
Marceline sighed…
"yeah… okay then I guess… perhaps it's all for the better."
"okay… let me just get back to my lab and grab a sampling kit…"
Princess Bubblegum walked out the door, leaving Marceline behind to look after Bubba.
Seconds ticked by, minutes ticked by, they all seemed to last an entire life time, followed by the beat of her vampiric heart forcing blood through her ears. A gentle swoosh swoosh swoosh… her mind floated away, taken away by rhythmic swaying of her eyes. Abruptly Marceline was awoken by Bonnibel walking into the room.
"I'm back" she whispered
Marceline didn't say anything because her mind was still struggling to get back from the mental void she was in.
"Can you help me turn him on his back?" PB asked "it'll be easier to take his blood…"
Without thinking Marcy stood up and mindlessly helped her friend turn Gumball on his back.
Faint whispers about bread sounded from his mouth again. A hard cough and he sighed back into sleep again. He looked peacefully right now, but all the sweat and painful look around his mouth indicated a sense of aggressiveness , like he was fighting… perhaps he was fighting, but it was his body fighting against the unknown.
Princess bubblegum pricked him in his armpit after searching a good vein in his slightly chubby arms. She drained 4 vials of blood and packed it all in a small bag. With a faint smile she looked at Marceline.
"alright now… it will be alright okay? I will run all tests I need till I have found out what it is, okay?"
As an answer she faintly nodded and she kept staring at Bonnie…
"I can see you are worried… its gonna be okay, I give you my promise."
Because she didn't really know how to deal with this, PB walked out the door and she went back to her lab to test Prince Gumballs blood. Marceline closed her eyes for a moment listening to bubbas rhythmic breathing.
Days shot by, slipping unnoticeably past the sealed window blinds. Every few hours Bubba would wake up, panting and bathing in sweat. A bewildered look in his eyes and his eyes bloodshot. He flailed his arms like a heroin addict way down the path craving for its latest fix… water… water… quiet yet aggressive whispers cried for water. So Marceline got a bottle of water from PB, it had some minerals in it, some glucose, citric acid and all… it was meant for his body to take up the water better, so that he wouldn't dry out. But after a day it also didn't work, so the palace's medical staff applied an IV-drip to his arm, so he didn't need to drink. They all came in wearing masks, to not catch whatever he was having, because it grew so serious and out of control
His skin grew paler, and dark blue splodges formed under his eyes, like he has been beaten up badly. Battered in bed, that was all you could see from the outside. No matter how much paracetamol they gave him, the fever wouldn't die down. It flared up over the days, raising about 1,5 degrees Celsius every day, until gradually he came close to 40 degrees Celsius.
Rain splodged against the sealed window blinds and Princess bubblegum walked into the bedroom. Bubba was silently breathing from the bathroom… his face swollen, throat thick and basically everywhere where the lymph nodes were, he was swollen and hot. When they measured his armpit it was past 41 degrees, in a hurry they put him in the bathtub and ran ice cold water past him, an aggressive way to stop the fever from destroying every part of his body.
"Marceline… I have some news…" Bonnibel told the vampire laying down on the bed
But she did not answer. All that she did was pull up her shoulders and sighing.
"…"
Silence…
But then Marceline swiftly broke the silence
"do I even wanna know…"
The beep of the heart monitor sounded from the bathroom. Bubblegum looked at Marceline questionably what the beep was doing there.
"his bloodpressure dropped dramatically, and the staff had to put him on a monitor to see if he is safe" Marceline added
"oh… I'm sorry… I didn't know…"
"C'mon Bonnibel, screw all clichés and get to the point, what's wrong with him…"
"well…" PB sighed "I don't really know what he has yet… all scans have come up with nothing. All I can do now is take him to our world, keep him in quarantine and care over there… I have a whole staff there for him, and I can look over him myself if needed. He can't get any better care."
"yes… yes that would be good, just- Marceline started crying. "just care for him okay?"
She sat down on the bed and cupped her face in her hands.
"I don't want to lose someone else, not again… please Bonnie… take care of him"
"I'll make all arrangements…" Bubblegum responded
Marceline stood up and grabbed PB's shoulders. "please don't let him die okay? Please promise me"
"I'm gonna do everything I can do Marceline… with me you two have the best chance to be together forever."
She nodded at Marceline who in response forced a small smile through her tears. It was then that she was left alone for one more time as PB walked out the door to make arrangements with her medical staff.
About 20 minutes later she arrived with a hospital bed and 3 members of staff, Peppermint butler, Nurse Poundcake and dr. Ice Cream. PB and dr. Ice Cream pushed the bed into their bedroom and walked to the bath in the bathroom. They lifted the sick Prince into the bed and attached the IV-drip and heart monitor to the bed. Quickly they wheeled him out of the bedroom and back to the portal room.
When they ran through the hallway Nurse Poundcake took some personal belongings and other medical equipment left in the room. Peppermint butler told Marceline to follow the nurse while he blasted the room full of formaldehyde to fumigate any of the remaining pathogens that were still in there.
Bubba in his bed were rolled into a brightly lit white room. medical equipment stacked to the ceiling. He was moaning again, it seemed like he was in great pain, his face was stuck in a mangled state, eyes looking out if he indeed had a lot of pain. Since he also wasn't in the bath anymore his fever started to rise again. Because of the cold water it was stuck between 39 and 40 degrees, but now it flared up amazingly quick again.
Without wasting time PB injected Bubba with a high dose of Metimazole, an antipyretic to quench the fever, while also having pain killer activities.
"now okay Marceline… this isn't the most healthiest medicine, but it may very well give us more time. Its strong stuff, so we are not gonna use it a lot."
Marcy just nodded while Princess Bubblegum winked at Peppermint butler.
"he is just gonna take you out of the room now okay? We are gonna work on getting him out of this state and we will notify you when something changes okay?"
The small butler took Marceline by her hand and walked her out of the room.
Time ticked by, minutes became hours and hours became a little over half a day when she was called in the room by PB. She expected the worst, in what state could he be in… although this whole situation didn't really work for her to think too much. All she heard was static, static and memories of the past 9 months with Bubba.
But before she walked in the room Bonnibel greeted her…
"maybe I should tell you this first…"
"what? What's wrong?" Marceline said in a worrying tone…
Bubblegum's face did not look happy, which caused Marceline even more horror to flow into her brains.
"I don't think this is good… right?"
"No Marceline… it's not good… you're right…" she told in a calm yet sad tone… "we now know what is wrong… remember when we first opened the portal looking for ourselves… well we had to invert our DNA. That's why what he has cannot be found with our technology. But I took the RNA of the virus particles I found and I inverted the codes... well I found it."
"wh… what is it?" Marceline started to sob
"Bonnibealia sucrosae… A deadly virus which caused havoc in my kingdom hundreds of years ago… I have discovered it and developed a vaccine so my candy people are safe… only there is no vaccine for the other Ooo since I never knew there was another Ooo"
"That's good right… you developed a vaccine, you can help him right?" Marceline smiled hopefully
"no… I can't I'm sorry… a vaccine is for precaution… in the stage he is now, we cannot do anything."
"I don't believe you… this is not true! You can save him!"
"The RNA of the virus encodes a highly active form of invertase… invertase is an enzyme which breaks the bond in sucrose, what most of our candy bodies are made off. It makes a mix of glucose and fructose. Instead of a sturdy body it will degrade in a mush. It is already spreading through his blood vessels, which causes them to rupture and leak and yeah… that's not good. The white blood cells are trying to fight this, but it's impossible… there is no medication for this. As soon as the virus settles in the heart or brains, it will be broken down, if he doesn't die from internal haemorrhage before that happens. We cannot help him… I'm sorry"
Marceline didn't really know what to say to that… the one person that seemed to care for her dying.
"I-I-is he in pain?" was the only thing she managed to say.
"no… we gave him enough medication to make the pain bearable if not gone, but also to keep him reasonably awake, we thought you might want to talk to him before… well before he dies"
"how long does he have left? What should I do…"
"be there for him in his last minutes…"
"oh no… last MINUTES!? Oh my glob… why so fast"
"I-… I don't know Marceline… it's a miracle we have him awake… I will spare you anymore details…"
"please tell me… tell me everything!"
"no I won't… we aren't gonna waste any time talking. Go inside and be there for your man! You are all he has now!"
"but…"
"please… he keeps asking for you… go in there and show him you do and always have cared for him."
"I… I can't"
"MARCELINE ABBADEER… your man is about to die… he is slowly bleeding to death, he barely has life left since we hooked him up on the last donor blood. Please… he really hasn't got long, he might be dead right now and you will regret it you weren't there for him. He is scared and alone… just please guide him to the light… hold him and don't let go please…"
"okay… okay I will…"
Marceline closed her eyes… heart pounding off the inside of her skull as she stepped towards the threshold of the doorway… gently she opened the crisp white door and stepped into the room. The scent of detergent pierced her nostrils and forced the first tears from her eyes. She heard PB sigh behind her back, but it was quickly replaced by the sound of a heart monitor beeping slowly.
A pale wreck of a man was draped across the mattress… his skin was grey pink, and the iris of his eye thin, greyed out purple and well… the pupils were wide as pennies. Blue splodges, like bruises under his skin where the blood vessels ruptured and massive bags under his dilated pupils in his eyes… the white was bloodshot with popped veins.
A small smile on his face, yet anxiety poured out of his eyes like a waterfall… it could be read from every part of his face, yet still the small cheeky twinkle in his eyes when he saw his loved one.
"hi…" he managed to say in a raspy whisper
Marceline raised her arm and tried to say something but she could only produce a squeaky exhale. A burning sensation where her heart is, she struggled breathing when a lump blocked off her throat and her eyes stung with tears.
She walked closer to the bed… grabbed his hand and brushed it…
"how are you…" was the only thing she thought of saying… it came out like a small screech, air forcing its way out alongside her vocal cords.
"I'm okay…" bubba lied. In reality you could read of his face he was scared, so scared…
It only took a few seconds before he started crying. A slim and skinny hand moved up to his face while his face pulled together in agony. His skin wrapped around bones, his normally chubby arms were thin, and barely able to move.
"I just wished we had more time together…"
Marceline didn't know what to answer other than to bow down and kiss him on the forehead. His breathing stopped and he blew out a gust of air when he tried to counteract the sobbing.
The lump in her throat grew bigger till it was so big she could barely breath, but it was okay, she was here with him now.
"it's okay…" was what she managed to force past the lump.
But in reality she just wanted to die right now… that just plop… her heart is gone and she died painless right now. The thought of him dying could be enough to push her over the edge. But no… her boyfriend was alone in that bed, close to dying. He was softly sobbing with whatever tears managed to come out of his eyes. She cannot be so selfish and die now, she had to be there.
Gently she floated up into the sky and laid on an invisible bed next to bubba… she wrapped an arm around him and kissed his chapped and dried out cold lips. Gently his face moved towards her shoulders and he started to sob softly on her collar bone.
Underneath his crying he was whispering to her
"please Marceline… don't leave me alone… please don't leave me alone..
Marceline stroked his hair and kissed his forehead again. Gently she whispered to him while she dried his tears
"shhhhhh… it's okay… I'm here now, I'll be here forever babe…" is what she managed to say in between little sobs.
"I… I never got the chance to marrying you either… there is so much I wanted to do…"
Well, she didn't know what to say to that. In the spur of the moment she pulled out on of her hair pins and bent it around to form a circle. Then she let herself fall to the floor on one knee and looked him deep in the eyes.
"my dearest prince… can I be your princess?" she forced the question on him.
This made him cry even more, but in between the heavy sobbing he cried yes… yes yes I want you to be my princess!
With care she slided the makeshift ring around his pale, bony fingers, as one of the last acts of love they could practice… but when she grabbed bubba in a hug, their two cold bodies touching… she could feel he was at the end.
And so did he…
His breathing slowed and the whimpers became more silent, longer and sounding like a deathly gasp…
His grip on Marceline actually became stronger, he wanted to tell her so much, but he couldn't. the only thing he wanted was to sleep. Just get some rest and wake up, but he knew he wasn't gonna wake up again. That frightened him so much, that even saying this is an understatement.
"Ma… M… Marceline… please d… don't leave me… help… me… please hold me I… I'm so scared… please…" he blew out a deep and rattling breath. He clenched her tight, and whispered the final air out of his lungs. "I… love you… I wi…"
his grip softened and the beeping of the heart monitor turned into a monotone beep.
His arms fell down on the bed… a dark feeling enclosed Marceline. The feeling of death, how cliché, bowed down over her, looking at her to make her suffer. Ripping out her heart and leaving her to dissolve into the ground. Her world became blissfully black, and colder than she ever was.
That screeching beep echoed Marceline away from any sleep or quiet thoughts. Every second of every day she was floored by the thoughts of her lover dying and she couldn't do anything about it.
She did not dress herself, as in she didn't change her clothes… she didn't shower and she did not got out of the bedroom of her and Bubba… every once in a while she would turn over and press her face into his pillow. The sweat of his fever was still in the pillow, and mattress. It wasn't a sour smell, but a sweet smell. You could say it almost was like a fresh cologne, a scent that was typical to him and him alone.
She would smell, then cry again and turn over to lay on her back… she did not want to spoil the sweet smelling pillow with her tears. And when she started crying it meant she had relived enough memories… she needed to stop, because she thought if she would keep smelling she will become drugged by his former appearance and the feeling of missing him… the feeling would etch so deep into her heart she wasn't sure if she would keep living. The thought of just ending her own life crept up on her whenever she would relive memories too much.
A black robe stood lonely in front of a crowd of the most loyal servants of prince Gumball, Friends from his side and friends from Marceline's side. Finn wanted to give the hooded figure a mighty big hug… but PB held him back.
"I think Marceline wants to be alone now…"
There they all stood in the twilight. It was actually a bright day, it should be about 20 degrees Celsius with a few clouds dotted around… yet an eerie wind blew through the crowd. This made sure the graveyard feeling was expressed even more, adding to the overall dark mood. It was supposed to be warm, yet it was icy cold… not a cloud in the sky, pale blue with on the horizon some slithers of orange to notify everyone the sun was on its descent.
The black robe danced… it swayed gently and calmly in the wind… it was dancing at the funeral part when she looked at Bubba's coffin in the quiet ground.
Marceline in her black hood with long black lace veil stood there almost strongly, but madness surrounded her. Total mania eating on her frontal lobe… She kept on trying to hold her demons back, but they were biting hard and sharp. They had to come out one time… and that time was right now.
One loud and high pitched scream and she fell down weeping… her world shattered to fragments which sliced her open. Pain like glass cuts and shards embedded in her brain, like her hair was being pulled out all at once. Then silence… dark, pure black and cold silence in the gloomy nebulous void…
for one last time she heard his voice from beyond wherever she was…
"Marceline?... Marceline?... Are you there?"
White light, sunshine… She woke up again, with Bubba by her side… he still looked a bit droopy but… he was, alive?
"Bubblegum gave me a medicine for the flu, I had a couple of hours ago… I feel better already. I can remember you took blood off of me, and it wasn't long before she came back with medication for me. Did you have a bad dream? You were moaning and twitching so much, but you also looked really tired…"