Gunter walks down the hall leaving Finn and Jake with only his name.
"What's his problem?" Jake asks the Guard.
"I'm not really sure" He answers, "He just showed up one day and asked the princess for help."
"He wanted her help to steal crowns?" Finn questions, "Why would he go to her for that?"
"Not stealing crowns," the Guard explains, "For help studying the crowns. Weren't you listening while he was explaining?"
"I just don't trust him," Finn responds, "that's all."
"Well you should, he's one dependable guy," Says the guard turning slightly to face Finn and Jake.
"How can someone who steals dependable?" Finn asks.
"I think you're focusing on the wrong thing," the Guard responds, "It won't take him to long before he's finished then the crowns will be returned. The Fire King and the Ice King can go a few days without their crowns."
"It still doesn't seem right," Jake adds.
"You'll see," The Guard assures them, "Now it's time for lights out."
Finn and Jake look at each other and decide to hit the sack. They remain in Jail for the next two days, and they frequently strike up conversations with the guards, trying to get more information regarding the project or trying to con their way out of Jail. On the third day he rose again… wait sorry wrong story… On the third day they're greeted by Princess Bubblegum.
"I'm sorry I had to put you guy's in jail," She says opening the cell door, "you're free to go."
"It's fine," Finn says stretching, "So is the cataloging thingy over?"
"Yes, we just finished." She answers, "The Flame King got his crown back and is heading off to his kingdom as we speak."
"What about the Ice King's crown?" Jake responds.
"We'll be delivering his latter this afternoon." She answers.
"Good," Finn says.
They excite the Jail and head toward the laboratory.
"Hey Princess," Finn asks, "why didn't you tell us you were stealing the crowns?"
"I wasn't stealing them," She explains, "More like borrowing them."
"So," Jake says, "The Ice King may be crazy, but you should still ask him before taking his crown..."
"You know how weird he is with the mail," The princess explains, "It's easier this way."
"Fine princess, whatever you say!" Finn says sarcastically.
"Glad I caught up to you," a familiar voice calls from behind them.
Gunter is wearing his cowl again ready to head out somewhere.
"So are you returning the Ice King's crown?" PB asks.
"Yeah," Gunter answers.
"Finn, why don't you join him?" Princess Bubblegum asks.
"Why do I have to go with him?" Finn questions, "I still don't trust him."
"I really don't care…" Gunter states plainly, "You're the one who wanted to return the crown Sooo badly, you can come or you can stay; your choice. It doesn't matter to me either way."
"Also you can make sure that he returns the crown," The princess adds.
"Fine, I'll go." Finn says reluctantly.
"Then hurry up," Gunter says leaving.
Finn drags his feet but follows his former enemy. They make their way awkwardly through the woods and into the grass lands, but rest when the sun retreats behind the horizon.
"So Gunter?" Finn says breaking the silence, "What's with the crowns? Why are you studying them?"
"Well, it's they're an interesting subject," He answers, "I just want to understand them."
"Yeah, but why?" Finn continues, "There must be a reason why you're so interested."
"These crowns tore my family apart…" Gunter answers, "My father was an antiquarian who studied ancient artifact. He eventually acquired one of the crowns, and he became obsessed with it. So much so that my mother was forced to leave."
"Oh… I'm sorry" Finn says feeling sorry after hearing the story, "I didn't…"
"Oh, no I don't really care, I've gotten over it." Gunter assures him, "I use to be really upset over it, but being angry at someone who isn't there is useless."
"So what was the point of cataloging them?" Finn asks.
"Well this way we now all of the powers and side effects of the crowns," Gunter explains.
"Well that's cool," Finn responds, "why do you need to know that?"
"Just in case some one wants to do an experiment on the crowns," Gunter continues, "I don't really plan on experimenting on them myself, but someone else might."
He trails off into thought and begins to stare forward. Not able to stand the awkwardness Finn tries another go at conversing with Gunter.
"So if you don't plan on any more experiments, what are you gonna do now?" Finn asks.
"I don't know," He answers, "Nothing I guess."
"Cool…" Finn responds.
"Finn have you ever had one mission?" Gunter begins, "One mission that meant everything to you, one that defined your entire existence?"
"What?" Finn says confused.
"A mission that governed every decision you make," He continues, "Then have that one mission end quickly and as anti-climactic as possible?"
"Dude…" Finn says trying to stop the conversation he started.
"What would you do then?" He asks.
"Umm…" Finn thinks, "I don't know, look for a new mission…"
"Good idea," Gunter laughs, "At least for now, I'm completely worry free."
"Well that's good… I guess…" Finn says
Once again the silence takes over. Gunter continues to stare at the moon, and seems to be at peace. The silence is broken by a rustling bush on the edge of camp. Finn jumps up and checks it out Gunter continues relaxing and staring at the moon.
"Who's there?" Finn asks.
"Yo!" Marceline says coming out from behind the bush, "I've been looking for ya man!"
"Oh hi what do you need?" Finn asks.
"I just came out with a new single, wanna listen?" She responds now noticing Gunter still staring out into space. She hovers closer to Finn and wispers, "Who's that dude?"
"Oh…" Finn says with distaste, "That's Gunter…"
She giggles a bit but catches herself, she floats over behind him. She flips upside down and then taps his shoulder saying, "Sup, I'm Marceline, the vampire Queen, scared?"
Despite her best intentions to scare him, Gunter just turns around and responds, "Why would I be?"
"Because I'm a vicious vampire," She explains kinda disappointed.
"Meh..." I've seen worse.
"Oh really?" She says intrigued, "like what?"
"Humans," He responds, "After looking at the worlds current state it looks like they've done quite a number on it during their last war."
"Are you talking about the mushroom war?" She asks.
"Yeah, I didn't go through the war myself, but it couldn't have been fun," He answers, "That new bomb they were advertising looked really messed up."
"It was..." She says trailing off.
"So I take it you've lived through the war?" Gunter asks.
"Yeah... I have," She answers.
"Funny you don't look any older than I do." He responds with a laugh, "were you a vampire back then?"
"No, I was only half demon." She says.
"So you're half demon half vampire, that's sick man!" He says, "What was the war like?"
"It wasn't fun..." She responds, "I wouldn't have made it with out help?"
"Who helped you?" Gunter asked.
"A man named Simon Petrikov," She said, "But that was a long time ago."
"Did you say Simon…? Petrikov…?" He says shocked.
"Yes, why?" She answers frankly.
Gunter collapse to the ground, "He's… He's my father…" He says. "Did he make it?"
"Well he did," She says but then averts her gaze, "but he's gone now…"
"Oh…" Gunter says with a defeated face, "I kinda guessed he wouldn't be alive… I mean it' been a thousand years right? Oh well…"
Gunter takes a deep breath and stands up saying, "Finn I'm gonna go deliver the crown on my own, thanks."
He puts his bag together and walks down the road to the Ice Kingdom. Marceline watches as Gunter leaves and then looks to Finn.
"I had no idea Simon even had a son…" She said, "Did you?"
"I hardly know how Simon is," Finn states, "He's the Ice King right?"
"Yeah…" She says looking toward the Ice Kingdom.
"So Gunter's going to go see his father…" Finn says, "And he doesn't even know it?"
"I guess so…" Marceline responds.
"I have to go," Finn informs leaving. He walks back along the road, heading the opposite direction as Gunter, leaving Marceline alone still angry that she couldn't scare Gunter.
Gunter walks down the road silently, but his mind is anything but silent. He's happy that he met someone who knew his father, but… She didn't look any older than he did, but she says she survived the Mushroom war. what does that mean? When did she meet his father, how long did they know each other? Did he ever think about the family that he left behind? Did he remember that he left a pregnant fiancee alone to raise their son?
He arrives at the Ice King's palace, and enters nonchalantly. He searches around the entrance hall, but there's no one there.
"Um…" Gunter says, "Ice King?" He begins searching the castle for the old wizard, but has a hard time moving around due to the piles of clothes and assorted material. He finds an open door way leading to a flight of stairs down to a lower area. He walks down the dark hallway trying not to slip on the Ice. At the bottom of the stair well there is a bright light, Gunter walks into it. He finds himself in the Ice Kings "the past" room. The Ice King is rummaging through one of the pills looking for something.
"Ice King?" Gunter asks, "um… I'm here to return your crown, sorry for taking it."
"What? Who's there?" the Ice King asks looking up, "You have my crown?"
"Yeah, here," He responds tossing the crown.
The Ice King catches the crown looks at it for a second, and then puts it on. "Thanks…" he says returning to the pile.
"What are you looking for?" Gunter asks.
"A picture of my princess…." He says from the pile, "I lost it, I think…"
"oh…" He says looking around the room, "I'll help I guess…"
The two search for a while until Gunter spot's the Ice King's surf board.
"Dude this thing is sick!" he says amazed.
"Huh it doesn't look that bad…" The Ice King says offended.
"Nah man, it's a complement, I haven't surfed in a while," Gunter explains, "Can I have it?"
"Yeah sure…" The Ice King says not paying any attention to either Gunter or the surf board.
"Sweet thanks!" He says walking back up the stairs, "good luck finding your photo."
"I must find it, I must find Betty's picture…" the Ice King whispers to himself.
Gunter hears the old man's ranting and is shocked by the mention of his mother's name. "Who?" Gunter asks, "Who's picture?"
The Ice King ignores him and continues searching. Gunter shakes it off and leaves the old man to his work, playing it off as "just hearing things." He leaves the Ice Kingdom and finds the nearest beach, and after walking down the beach for a while he finds a nice spot to unpack. Gunter has always loved surfing; it was the only thing that reminded him of his life before the war. That is reminding him without making him break down. Because of this he's always kept a few packs of surfing wax in his bag.
Finn who has been looking for Gunter manages to find him right around the time he is applying the base coat.
"What are you doing?" Finn asks
"I'm sexen the board up," Gunter responds.
"What?" Finn asks even more confused.
"I'm just applying wax to the surf board," Gunter explains, "Do you surf?"
"Um no… No, I don't even swim…" Finn answers looking at the ocean that scares him so much.
"Oh…" Gunter says a bit disappointed, "Well you're missing out man."
He picks up the surf board and heads into the water. While he swims out Finn feels kind of embarrassed because he's afraid of the ocean and Gunter easily swims out to sea. After a minute or two Gunter spies a good wave he starts riding. He does a few tricks, and is an average surfer based on the surfers from long ago before the war. But to Finn who's never seen surfing before Gunter is amazing, seemingly able to control the thing he fears with ease and ride the waves effortlessly. After riding a few more waves Gunter wipes out and swims to shore.
"So what'd ya think?" Gunter asks exhausted.
"That was AWESOME!" Finn exclaims, "I've never even seen surfing before, you'll have to teach me some day."
"Yeah sure no problem," Gunter agrees, "So what are you doing out here anyway?"
"Oh yeah…" Finn's expression changes drastically, causing Gunter to act concerned, "I need to show you something."
"Okay," Gunter says.
He heads over to his gear and packs everything up. He puts his suit back on, and then he follow's Finn back to the Tree fort. When they get there Jake is waiting for them with an old suitcase full of VHS tapes.
"So are we gonna have a movie night or something?" Gunter asks.
Neither Finn nor Jake responds as he sits down in front of BMO.
"What are we watching?" Gunter asks trying to understand what's going on.
"You'll see," Jake says as he puts the video tape inside BMO
"Hello my name is Simon Petrikov," Says a young man on the screen, "I am recording this tape so that people will know my story."
Gunter just stairs at the screen amazed at the sight of his father "No," He comments, "Just…. No…."
"Now I never believed in the supernatural stuff myself," The recording continues, "Just had a fascination with superstitions… But everything changed when I came into contact with this item…"
He pulls out the crown from the safe and Gunter recognizes it instantly.
"Wait that's the crown from before…" He says astonished, "My father's… The Ice King?!"
"I quickly took it off… and saw my fiancee in front of me," The recording plays, "What had I said? What had I done when I wore this crown? All I know is I never saw Betty again…"
He falls back leaning on one arm and scratches his head.
"It can't be this simple…" Gunter claims, "It can't just be the crown's fault, I can't just blame an inanimate object."
Gunter then sits up right and pulls his legs in.
"It can't be nothing more than a misunderstanding," He continues.
"Dude are you okay?" Finn says trying to help.
"DON'T…" Gunter responds, "ju… just… don't"
"Dude it's okay," Jake reassures him.
"What exactly is "okay"?" He asks, "The fact that my father is alive, but CRAZY! Or maybe it's that he isn't actually the reason that my family was ripped apart, it was a BLOODY CROWN! I've spent these last fourteen years thinking that the whole reason my mother and I were alone was because Simon forced us out!"
"Gunter clam down!" Finn and Jake say putting their arms in the air.
"I will NOT CALM DOWN!" Gunter says standing up, "Turn the video off…"
"Where are you going?" Finn asks.
"I'm gonna go have little "Father son" conversation," He says walking to the ladder.
Marceline floats up the hollow tree blocking Gunter's path.
"Out of my way," Gunter demands.
"It won't work." She informs him with a depressed voice.
"How do you know?!" He asks.
"I just know." She responds.
"Well maybe you just haven't tried hard enough." He tells her.
That was what it took to snap Marceline out of her funk, she just explodes!
"I HAVEN'T TIRED ENOUGH!?" she screams, "How dare you!"
She pushes him back and continues her rant.
"I've been with Simon my whole life, and ever since I've known him I've tried to save him!" She says, "Where have you been!?"
Gunter doesn't say anything he just meets Marceline's glare. The air is suffocating and tense, Gunter and Marceline are in the center of the room glaring at each other.
"I am over a thousand years old, and I've seen more horrific things than you could in your entire life!" She tells him, "And you think you can tell me whether or not I've tried hard enough?"
"You just realized who Simon is, and you think you can save him from something that has beaten him a long, long time ago?" She continues, "He's gone! Now deal with that!"
"And what? Forgive him for leaving my mother and myself? You're right you had the miss fortune of living though whatever kind of Hell that the Mushroom war caused and you've seen way more than I have," Gunter responds, "but maybe you've had too much time with him?"
"What?!" Marceline asks.
"You were trying to save him ever since you realized he need saving right?!" Gunter asks, "Well guess what I'm NOT trying to save him!"
"How could you say that about your own father!?" Finn asks.
"I never had a father," Gunter answers plainly, "He's lived through this millennium with the excuse of insanity! I think it's time for him to realize exactly what he's done."
"IT WONT WORK!" Marceline screams as she transforms into her bat form.
"Impressive," Gunter says sarcastically walking under her legs and down the ladder.
She busts out of the window just in time to stop him at the front door.
"So what have you actually tried?" Gunter asks politely, "Asking if he remembers you, showing him old pictures?"
"What?" She says in her monster voice.
"Tell me," Gunter asks, "Tell me all of the different ways you've tried to get Simon back."
She clams down and reverts to her normal form.
"What exactly are you asking of me?" She questions.
"I want your help," Gunter explains, "You're right you've been with my father more than I have, so you know more about him than I do. If we… If we work together than maybe it'll work."
"You don't seriously think this will work do you?" She asks.
"Well what's it gonna be?" Gunter demands.
"I don't know…" Marceline hesitates.
"Yes or no… I don't have time to doddle around," he rushes.
"FINE you stupid arrogant human fine I'll help you!" She yells, clenching her fists. After that she begins to cry, "I just… I just want to see Simon again."
She cries into her hands and Gunter gives her a hug.
"I know," he reassures her.