Author's Note: Guys, at the risk of embarrassing myself or sounding cringey, I really want to thank everyone who's followed and supported this story. :)
I'm getting fantastic feedback both on here AND on Tumblr so thank you all so globbin' much!
You all have such nice things to say and there's nothing that makes me happier than knowing that people legitimately enjoy my work!
So thank you all SO much, I appreciate each and every one of you. :)
OK, enough with the mushy crap, onwards with the story!
It was about three years after Marceline's return that a great alarm spread across the newly established Candy Kingdom.
The banana guards were in a frenzy, the candy senators were deeply in dread, and every last citizen in the ever-growing settlement were shocked and alarmed beyond description.
Their princess had been kidnapped.
Stolen from her bedchamber in the dead of night, the gumball guardians powerless to help, the princess had been taken away to the strange new empire that had recently appeared in the north of Ooo.
Of course there was one inhabitant in the land who reacted with more despair, stress and upset to the situation than anyone else. But she hid it carefully, under layers upon layers of anger, vigour and a forceful determination to find the princess and bring her back.
With the full support of the Candy Kingdom behind her, Marceline set off to explore the mysterious new Ice Kingdom and rescue Bubblegum.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Bubblegum rolled her eyes. "You're plan was to steal me away in the dead of night, bring me back to your home against my will and then think I'd date you?"
"Pretty romantic, huh?" Ice King waggled his eyebrows.
"No!"
It was then, with a mighty crash, that the roof of the ice dungeon caved in and Marceline was standing amongst the wreckage.
"Wow, you guys have like zero defences," Marceline said casually, glancing backwards.
Bubblegum smiled, both moved and delighted that the vampire had come to help her, and totally appreciative of how flat and straightforward the tall girl's remarks could be.
The vampire spotted the candy princess in one of the dungeon's many cells and felt relief blossom in her chest.
She was OK.
Ice King frowned up at the intruder.
"What? Party pooper! Who the crud are you?"
Marceline frowned down at her best friend's kidnapper, in battle position and ready to fight.
But then she realized...
"Wait, Simon?"
"What are you talking about? Get outta here, you're ruining me and Bubblegum's big date!"
"It's not a date!" Bubblegum shouted over the sound of the Ice King sending a jet of frost at the vampire.
She dodged by pulling off a flawless mid-air barrel roll and then quickly floated closer to the new kingdom's ruler.
"Simon, it's me!" she cried, desperation tingeing her voice. "Marceline! You know me!"
"Sure I do," Ice King replied. "You're Marceline the burglar of my date!"
Another spurt of ice, blasted in Marceline's direction.
She dodged again, swooped around the room and flew down behind the Ice King.
"Simon!" she pulled at his head, making him turn around to face her. "Look. At. Me."
This time, the Ice King did as he was instructed, and stared up at the tall girl, squinting his eyes at her.
"Hey!" he suddenly cried in realization.
Marceline smiled, her expression softening. He remembered! He knew her! He -
"You're actually pretty cute!" the Ice King said sleazily. "Forget Bubblegum, huh? Maybe you and I should hang out sometime!"
He laughed a sordid laugh that made Marceline feel as if her heart had been violated.
Out of sheer rage, she shoved him forcefully away, forgetting her own strength and sending him smashing through the thick icicle bars of Bubblegum's cell.
"Nice work Marceline!" Bubblegum said, quickly climbing over the Ice King to get out. "Now let's punch out of this party!"
"Sure," Marceline said, making sure that Ice King was still moving. "Let's go."
She didn't say another word until they got back to the Candy Kingdom.
"Glob, thank you so much," Bonni told her, clambering off her back and down onto the floor of her bedroom. "That guy is seriously nuts! Although I think he's pretty much harmless. Just kind of a dope, don't you think?"
She turned around and her eyes went wide when she saw Marceline doing something she had never seen her friend do before.
"Marceline, are you-?"
"No," the vampire sniffed hard, shoving her tears away with her arm. "I just – urgh. I...that's him Bonni!"
"Whuh?"
Bubblegum had never felt so confused in her life.
Who was who? And why on earth was it making Marceline cry?
"Simon, the guy who looked after me after the Mushroom War," Marceline said, more coherently this time. "That was him."
A pause. Bubblegum still looked perplexed.
"The Ice King!"
Bubblegum gasped, suddenly understanding.
"Oh mein glob!" she cried. "Die magische krone – that's what the magic crown did to him?"
Marceline could only nod, using her long mane of black hair to hide her eyes from view.
"He's totally gone," she mumbled. "Worse than the last time I saw him. Bonni -"
Marceline looked up at her most trusted friend, fresh tears filling her eyes.
"He has no idea who I am!"
That was when Bubblegum ran to the vampire, throwing her arms around Marceline and embracing her in a tight hug.
Her friend hugged her back, grateful for the warmth and closeness.
"I'm so sorry Marcy," Bubblegum was saying. "That's just awful. I can't imagine what you're going through. I'm so, so sorry."
After a short while, Bubblegum felt Marceline pull away from her.
"I have to go," she said impassively.
"Wait, what? Marceline, you can stay here, you can-"
"No, it's alright, I really need to go."
And with that, she floated emotionlessly out the window.
"Marceline, wait! Marceline!"
Bubblegum ran after her but it was too late. She was just in time to see Marceline float away through the early evening darkness.
Crud, she thought to herself. I really need to get better at stopping her from taking off!
Needless to say, the whole kingdom was delighted upon their monarch's safe return.
Peppermint Butler was beside himself with relief and that made Bubblegum feel deeply moved – the little guy had really grown to care for her!
She waited up for most of the night, desperately hoping that Marceline would come back, and tried calling her four times the next day.
But it was only late the next night when Bubblegum was getting ready for bed that she heard a gentle tapping on the balcony door.
"Bonni? Can I come in?"
Bubblegum walked over to the door and threw it open.
"You know," she said to Marceline. "One of these days, you're going to have to stop running away and ignoring me when you get upset."
Marceline let out a small chuckle but Bubblegum felt like it sounded like it was forced.
"Are you alright?" she asked the vampire, more gently this time.
"Getting there," Marceline sighed. "Sorry for running off, uh, again. I just needed some time alone to reflect on junk. Think about Simon and me. Think about what Simon is now. It was a lot to process."
"Of course," Bubblegum said, hardly able to register it herself.
A father figure who loved and cared for you turning into that embarrassing creature? Dear Glob.
"I'm sorry Marceline," Bubblegum said. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Well, don't forget me for starters," Marceline laughed, but Bubblegum looked up at her seriously, knowing it wasn't such a joke to the vampire.
"Never," she promised. "I'll always remember you Marceline."
The vampire smiled gratefully.
"Thanks Bonni," she said. "I appreciate that. I appreciate our entire friendship actually."
Marceline looked down at the princess' nightdress, then glanced around the room.
"But you look like you're getting ready to sleep. So I guess I'll see you in the forest tomorrow? It's Sunday evening yo!"
Bubblegum gave her friend a compassionate look.
"Wouldn't miss it for all of Ooo."
Marceline just smiled.
The very next evening, the two girls wandered down forest paths and winding woodland trails together. They talked and laughed, joked and chatted, all the while enjoying each other's company and relishing in the warm late August air.
"Seasons are changing again," Bubblegum sighed, looking at some of the leaves around them, already beginning to turn brown. "Is it just me or does immortality make the four seasons seem really, really quick?"
"Super quick," Marceline agreed. "One minute it's summer, the next it's winter. One minute he's your dad, the next he's a screwball kidnapping your best bud."
The vampire sighed, shook her head.
"Sorry, I don't mean to be bitter, it's just-"
"Marcy, if you need to talk about it, we can," Bubblegum pointed out. "You know I'm always here if you want to discuss anything."
"I know. And I for you," Marceline reminded her friend. "But I don't know. Lately I've just been thinking a lot about change. About how something is here one minute and gone the next. And, well, I just don't ever want that to happen to you and me."
Bubblegum looked up at the vampire, visibly touched.
"That's really sweet Marceline."
"Well, there's no real reason for us to drift apart," the princess' friend went on. "I mean, think about it dude. We're both immortal, we're both planning on sticking around Ooo. I think we should try to make it a priority that we never lose each other."
Bubblegum's heart jumped in her chest, and not for the first time around Marceline either.
"I think that should be first priority too," she concurred. "I mean, what me and Creampuff had is nothing compared to-"
She stopped, eyes wide, hardly believing she'd been so stupid as to let herself think aloud like that.
Was haben sie getan? What have you done Bonnibel?
She didn't dare let herself look at that vampire. She just felt her face go red and a light sweat break out as she tried desperately to think of a good explanation to excuse herself from saying something like that and-
"Hey, Bonni?"
Bubblegum didn't look around at her, and tried desperately to keep her voice casual.
"Yeah?"
"Look at me for a second."
Feeling more and more humiliated by the second, Bubblegum turned around and...
She felt Marceline's lips crash into hers, softly but with vigour.
She felt arms take her gently (but strongly) by the waist and she felt her entire mind and heart quake in the reality of what was happening.
I can't believe I'm doing this, Marceline thought anxiously to herself. Why am I doing this?
Had she ruined it all now? In one split second, had she taken a leap that turned out to be a mistake? Had she wrecked every sacred bond of friendship between her and this girl whose companionship she valued so much?
But in the midst of her panic, she felt arms wrap around her neck and the candy princess' body push closer to hers.
She felt their lips move together more cohesively as Bubblegum began to kiss her back.
She felt a million things at once and they were all spectacular.
Bubblegum nearly yelped out loud when she felt a forked tongue lap at her mouth, as if asking permission.
She opened her own lips slightly and let her own tongue come to meet Marceline's, making their kiss deeper and more intimate and sweeter. Much sweeter.
They stayed like that for a long while, neither of them daring to move and break the embrace.
But eventually, they broke apart, Bubblegum looking up at Marceline as she did so. Seeing the uncertain look on the vampire's face, she smiled at her.
And Marceline smiled back.
Still wanting to be close to her, Bubblegum tilted her head forwards and gently leaned their foreheads together.
Marceline just closed her eyes and savoured every last second.
"Marceline?" Bubblegum's whisper was the first word to be spoken after the kiss.
"Yeah?" the vampire whispered back.
"What now?"
Her words were ominous but her tone was happy, hopeful even, and Marceline kissed her forehead before grinning at her.
"We'll find the answer somewhere between dreams and plans Bonni," she told her.
The princess grinned back at her.
"Sounds good to me. Now give me another kiss."