It started when two extremely different worlds came together, unified by the most basic and understandable of all human weaknesses.
Loss. Fear. Anger. Obstinacy. Loneliness.
Because, even though it is between a candy person and a vampire, this story is one of the most human of all.
Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum was the very first candy person to come into existence through natural means, born to King Cotton Bubblegum and his wife, Queen Praline.
Cotton's version of the "Candy Kingdom" was simply a small gathering of those who had been forged into being by the radioactive aftermath of the Mushroom War. Shunned by other apocalypse survivors as "going against nature," "twisted" and "freaks," Cotton congregated his fellow candy people together in a small group of abandoned apartments outside one of the larger cities.
As more and more candy people came to seek refuge in his small sovereignty, Cotton vowed to create a territory of sanctuary, fair rule and freedom for all his people that would last throughout time.
However, this mission was not carried out in his lifetime. Instead, it was fulfilled by his daughter Bonni in the form of her "eternal empire."
Cotton established the first ever Candy Kingdom near the Lost Cliffs and it would remain there until Bubblegum herself relocated it to where it stands today.
Determined that his daughter would be a fair and caring ruler, Cotton raised her with the ideals of integrity, willpower, impartiality, sacrifice and tolerance.
Most importantly, he told her to hold her own intelligence and strength of mind in higher regard than anything else.
He taught her to be self-reliant, inquisitive, patient and just and he did it all with a loving, patient fortitude.
Bubblegum's father had a greater impact on her character than anyone else, even in ways he himself didn't realize. For example, his far-reaching thirst for knowledge would rub off on his offspring, who would later seek out all the most informed and erudite tutors in all of Ooo in order to earn her degree in glycomics.
The roots of the other person involved in the relationship were not as cheerful or as loving.
Born four years before the Mushroom War to a human mother, Marceline's birth was the product of Hunson Abadeer seducing a mortal woman. Although he helped to raise his child during her early infancy, the Mushroom War's impact on the Nightosphere distracted Hunson and, thinking she was safe with her mother, he left. Upon the death of her mother due to a wayward bullet, Marceline found solace in the nurturing care of her foster father Simon Petrikov.
However, Simon's morose descent into madness would leave Marceline on her own again during adolescence, let down time and time again whenever she tried to depend on her birth father.
From the age of eighteen onwards, Marceline learned to be almost entirely reliant on herself.
As a half-demon, her travels led her to the Underworld where she was brought under the kindly wing of a 2,000-year-old vampire named Gabriel. Gabriel would become her moral compass, teaching her lessons on honour and integrity, and to always protect those weaker than her.
Their relationship eventually turned romantic and Gabriel would be the one responsible for Marceline's transformation into a vampire. They stayed together for about fifty years until they ended their relationship amicably, deciding to go their separate ways.
They remained friends for the next ninety-six years until Gabriel's death at the hands of Byron Medrano, the long-reigning Vampire King. It was through her vengeful defeat of Byron that Marceline would later find herself with the title of Vampire Queen.
The two young women first met at the ages of twenty-seven and one hundred and fifty-four respectively.
At the time, Bubblegum's mother had just passed away. "Organic candy people" had been discovered to be immortal if they looked after themselves properly, however "altered candy people" had life spans of about eighty to ninety years.
Whilst in mourning, Bubblegum met Marceline (a vampire but not yet their queen) in a small forest by the Lost Cliffs one crucial winter's evening.