I'm sure there are people who've been waiting for this. Sorry it took so long, I've been going through some stuff. I hope this will be a satisfying epilogue to my story.

…The End

The Storm dissipates; the clouds still covering the sun. In the distance, a crooked tower of ice snaps and falls; a large plume of snow shoots around where it lands. The Ice King drifts to the snow covered ground.

"Simon!? Simon!?" Marceline yells as she catches the frozen body of the ice wizard. "Come on! Say something, Simon!"

He doesn't respond to her. Instead the Ice King looks at her as if he is about to go into a very deep sleep. She keeps trying despite that. Behind her, Finn and Jake stand in the waste high snow and watch the tragic scene. That's all they can do now.

After a moment, the Ice King speaks. "… Mar… cy," his voice comes out weak and tired. Not in a lunatic way but in a much more human way. It still gives Marceline a sense of hope. "Hambo… is th… the cat…"

"Simon, it's okay."

"… He is the catalyst!" the fleeting Simon Petrikov yells pathetically.

"I don't know what you're…"

"I must t- tell Betty…"

"…Simon…?" Says Marcy; feeling something gripping the back of her eyes and throat. "Simon, come on. Say something." He doesn't answer. His eyes are shut. She stares at his sleeping face as tears start to form at the corner of her eyes. She gently pulls him into a hug and whispers promises into his hear. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be alright, Simon," her tears really start to well up now. "I'm going to bring you back no matter what. Even if it takes me forever," Marceline sobs while hugging the Ice King.

The vampire continues to cry into the shoulder of the wizard for a few moments before someone speaks up.

"What did I miss, exactly?"

Marceline lifts her head and looks into the face of the Ice King. She sees no resemblance. She considers just leaving. Leaving and trying to find somewhere he would never find her.

But, before she can decide to do this, she remembers the last thing she said to the Ice King.

"I hate you."

She remembers what it was like when Simon almost said that to her. How horrible it was.

"I don't hate you." she finally says and lets herself cry into his shoulder more. "I don't hate you."

Eventually the Ice Kingdom's citizens surround them, weapons and bones sticking out of the. Gunther sees his master being embraced by the one who terrifies him. But he can't see her as a threat right now and decides to embrace the Ice King too. She accepts that.

. . .

Princess Bubblegum and a patched up Finn walk down a candy hallway and discuss what has transpired.

"… The damage to the kingdom was minimal, but the cleanup has been an annoyance," Says the princess. "All those bones and weapons stuck to the ground and buried under ice and snow, and all." She has already informed Finn about how the battle between the ice and dead armies went. How it looked almost like an even match between the two before the Lich's army suddenly collapsed. A moment after that, the citizens of the Ice Kingdom started to make their way to the center of the storm. But this time they looked like they weren't heading to fight again.

"But PB, I still don't understand something. How could the Lich have even gotten here?! I thought… I thought with Billy…"

"I don't think that was the real Lich, Finn."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is… Well…" Bubblegum had to think for a moment before explaining her theory, "…Okay, You remember when you first fought the Lich, he possessed me after you beat him?" Finn nods his head. "And after that he somehow escaped again?" Again he nods. "Well, if he can so easily control his essence that he can invade someone's body, then maybe it wouldn't be impossible for him to split that essence!"

"I still don't really get what you mean."

"Well, you and I both know that the Lich's sole mission is to exterminate all life, and that he's very arrogant. But not enough that he thinks he can't fail. So what if, as a precaution, he left another part of himself in some creature just in case his first attempt failed."

"You mean… that's how he got to Billy!" Finn exclaims as he remembers a snail in a dream he had.

"Exactly, and what I think happened here was that the Lich was split again."

"He thought that far ahead?!"

"I'm not sure. I don't think so." Finn had a questing look on his face so she continued. "I don't think the Lich intended to leave an inkling of himself a third time. I think he left it by accident when he invaded Billy. And it remained dormant for a short time before waking up, but this fragment was too weak and couldn't maintain any of it's old power. But it could still influence us slightly. I think that's why he got you to go to that dungeon to get that amulet," she says, already being informed about how the Lich was wearing Simon's amulet.

Finn was able to put the rest together in his head. "He got us to get the amulet so that he could pause himself in time with it?"

"Pretty much."

Finn speaks up when he puts more of it together. "So that's why he was stealing all the royal jewels! He didn't realize that the other Lich had already done that and had the Enchiridion destroyed!"

There was a tense silence before Princess Bubblegum decided to break it. "… How… how has Marceline been doing?"

"I don't know. She hasn't left her house and she won't come out."

"I think… I think she just needs some time alone," Princess Bubblegum says, unaware that the Ice King is flying right towards Marceline's cave.

. . .

The cool air feels warm on the Ice King's face as he flies to the Vampire Queen's house. He looks down at the usually green grass lands but sees mostly melting ice and snow.

He has no idea why the land is like this, or why his penguins seem to be annoyingly clingy, but he doesn't really care all that much about that. Right now he just wants to give Marceline something she might think is cool. Maybe that'll cheer her up, after that scene she made an' all.

For some reason, Gunther didn't want to go with him.

The ice wizard lands at the vampire's front door and immediately starts knocking on her door with his cold bony knuckles.

No answer.

He continues to click and clack on the door and yell the vampire's name. "Marceline! It's me! Ice King!" There is still no answer. Ice King figures she must be upstairs listening to music. "MARCELINE! IT'S ME! ICE KING!"

After a length of time of him banging on her door he finally stops and decides to leave. He turns to fly off when he remembers something. Oh, Right. Can't forget this.

"Hey! Marceline! I'm just gonna leave this here for you!" The Ice King says while setting down the large case.

A few careful moments after he flies away, the door creaks open slightly. A pale thin arm reaches out and grabs the case's handle and pulls it in.

The door then closes.

. . .

"… Please… please forgive me…!" says the cold man on the screen before he vanishes into static.

"… Just watch over me until I can find a way out of this labyrinth in my brain and regain my sanity! And then maybe, Betty, my princess… maybe you will love me again. PLEASE LOVE ME AGAIN, BETTY!" sobs the colder man.

Pause.

Rewind.

Pause.

Play.

"… Please forgive me…!"

Pause…

Play.

"… Just watch over me un-"

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

"-till I can find a way out of this labyrinth in my brain and regain my sanity! And then maybe-"

Pause…

The vampire, in a cocoon of blankets on her couch, stares at the cold man on the screen—her once best friend—and just stares at him for what could be an eternity or just seconds.

Marceline takes herself out of the safety of her blankets and finds her phone. She dials a number and listens to the humming until its cut off by a clack. "Hello?" says the voice on the other line.

"Hey Bonnie, it's me… Marceline," before Princess Bubblegum can ask her about her emotional status she cuts in. "Would you like to have a movie night here?"

"Umm… yeah, sure I would."

"Good. I'll invite the guys over too. Bye," Marceline is about to end the call before PB stops her.

"Hey, wait!"

The vampire reluctantly lifts the phone to her ear again. "… Yes?"

"How are you doing, Marcy?"

"Fine. I'm doing just fine."

"Marceline."

"... I'm doing better. Well, not really. I still feel horrible but that's not going to get fixed from me moping around."

"That is good to here, Marcy."

"Yeah, it's just..." the vampire looks towards the tapes and the man on pause. "It's just that... I don't think I did it right. I think he can do it himself. He just needs help."

I'll bring drinks to your party."

"None of that junk you make though; no one wants their juice blinking at them."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Marceline," the princess laughs sarcastically. "Fine I'll bring some juice that everyone likes, I guess."

. . .

Again, the Ice King is heading to Marceline's house; this time he's invited and holding three bags of various flavored chips; Marceline had been adamant about him not trying to make his own.

Ice King was a bit confused that Marceline would invite him to her place so soon after she had gotten angry with him. But he just chalked it up with her "passionate rock-star mood swings."

He landed and was about to enter the cave when someone spoke to him. "Hey ugly, just who are you s'pose to be!?" the Ice King looks to his caller, then around himself and back to him. "Yeah you, ugly! There aren't any other decrepit losers around here!" Says Ash.

"Well, you must be looking at a mirror, because I'm no loser!" The Ice King says, for once sounding clever and cool. "I am the king of all that is cool!" he shouts, firing off sparks of magic and dropping the chips..

Ash seemed unfazed. "Pfft. Whatever. Just get lost, old man. I got business here," Ice King doesn't remember Marceline saying that anyone like this guy was going to be at her get together. But he could have easily forgotten; so he figures if he shows up with this guy than maybe he can score some brownie points with the Vampire Queen. "Hey! Move it already!"

"Whoa, whoa, d-dude. We're both invited to this shindig, lets get along. So, like what's your baggage?" the young looking wizard seems confused, "Ya know, I brought the chips, FTH and JTD brought the quac and my main squeeze got the juice."

Ash responds with a sense of self centered pride, "I brought the sleep powder."

"The wha...?"

"What? Hard of hearing? I'm saying that I'm gonna go in there and put my girlfriend;s friends into a coma and make her take me back."

"Well, that doesn't sound..." the Ice King stopped when he remembered that most of the things he's done have be viewed as "horrible" and "a crime against humanity."

"Only question is, what's a loser like you doing here? There's no way Marceline would invite a creep like you to hang with her. Oh, wait... You're her sugar daddy, aren't you? Figures. Marceline has so many issues that it's no wonder she has to hang around an old man like you to make her sad life seem better by comparison. Wow, that vampire is one classy bi-"

Ash can't continue since his entire upper half was encased in ice. The young looking wizard, hands in front and face frozen in surprise, realizes that his chances o fighting back and winning are low and decides to stumble away in defeat.

The Ice King waits until he's a good distance away before picking up the chips and walking into the cave. "What an ice-hole," he mumbles.

Marceline answers the rat-tat-tatting on her door to see a smiling Ice King. "Hey, I brought the chips."

"Oh, good. And these aren't even the cheap kind."

"Spared no expense!" the wizard yelled. He entered the house to see Finn, Jake and Princess Bubblegum already there. She was sitting on the couch, which had a thick comforter on it, while wearing a casual hoodie. Finn and Jake were on the floor.

"Oh good, now we can start the show," said the young hero.

Everybody got moving, pouring drinks and getting snacks until finding a spot again. Finn, Jake, and Bubblegum sat on some pillows on the floor while Ice King sat on a comforter covering a part of the couch. Marceline showed them the movie they'd be watching, Everybody was excited when they saw the case for "Heat Signature II."

The vampire popped in the tape, turned off the lights, took her place next to the ice wizard and watches the movie with everybody else.

"General, Something doesn't make sense."

"What would that be, Private?"

"That abandoned ship has been down in these arctic waters for decades. But..."

"But what!?"

"But it still has a heat signature!"

"Ooooh," exclaims everyone in the dark room.

Marcelin is about to take a drink but stops when she thinks that her cherry soda is too warm. "Hey Ice King," she whispers. "Can you chill this for me?"

"Yeah, sure," the Ice King doesn't look away from the captivating movie but still reaches over and chills Marceline's drink too a perfect degree.

"Thank man."

"No problem... Marcy."

I would like to thank everyone who has, and will, review my story. I hope it was worth the time.

I hope to wright for you all again.