Love and Madness

Chapter 19 Mind of Madness

By: Major144

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.

At Marceline's house, Marceline, Betty, Jake, Peppermint Butler, and Ice King were gathered in the living room. Marceline held the bag of sleep powder and faced Ice King.

"Do you trust me Simon?" Asked Marceline.

"Yeah, we're pals after all." Said Ice King.

"We're going to put you to sleep for a little bit, but I promise you, when you wake up, your going to feel better and then you and me will go on a date." Said Betty.

"Alright. It's a promise. Hit me with the sleep stuff." Said Ice King.

Both Marceline and Betty took some of the sleep powder and threw it in the Ice King's face. The frosty monarch let out a yawn as he lowered himself onto the couch and went to sleep. Marceline turned to Jake.

"I need you to go to the Ice Kingdom and get Simon's clothes."

Jake did a little salute, before he left the house. Marceline and Betty both leaned their backs against the couch and then they tossed some sleep powder into their faces and fell asleep. The women then found themselves standing on some icy grounds in the middle of a blizzard. Off in the distance they saw a huge tower made of ice the size of a mountain. Marceline and Betty made their way to the base of the tower, but they couldn't find anything that looked like an entrance. Betty then noticed a snowman with a frown on it's face sitting a few feet from the tower. The magic women walked up to the snowman and placed, her hat on it's head. The snowman's frown turned into a smile and a part of the tower wall opened up to reveal a door.

"How did you know to do that?" Asked Marceline.

"I...just thought...that snowman needed a hat. I...wasn't really thinking about finding a secret entrance." Admitted Betty.

"Ok...so there's a method in your madness that will lead us to Simon and Gunther, just like that Prismo guy said. Lead the way Betty." Said Marceline.

Betty nodded and the two of them made their way into the tower. The two travelers walked down a hall and came across a gigantic room filled with staircases. There were staircases on the left, staircases on the right, stairs going down, stairs going up, and even stairs on the rooms celling. To make matters worse, some of the stairs seemed to be moving and pointed in a different direction every few minutes. It was a puzzling maze. Betty studied the stairs and a slightly silly look appeared on, her face as she took some stairs that lead down. Marceline followed her and the two of them ended up on some stairs on the celling. Betty then took some stairs on the right that lead up and then some stairs that on the left that lead down. After a few more twist and curves, Betty and Marceline entered a new room with a large black tree in the center. The tree had some strange orbs hanging on it, which were covered in frost. Marceline and Betty walked up to the tree and began to examine the orbs. Betty wiped the frost off of one orb and inside the orb, she saw a image of a younger version of herself hanging with a younger version of Simon looking up at the night sky. Marceline wiped the frost off of one orb and saw an image of her as a kid meeting Simon for the first time.

"Just...what is this?" Asked Betty.

"These are Simon's memories, but...there frozen." Said Marceline with a slight shudder.

The two of them noticed a door behind the tree and they went through it. A large staircase was before them now and on the walls was the word princess carved in repeatedly. The end was near. As the women headed up the stairs they heard someone talking.

"I need a princess Gunther. I'm the great ruler of ice and every ruler needs a princess to love."

There was some silence and the voice spoke agin.

"I will find a princess no matter what!"

Marceline and Betty reached the top of the stairs and came to the top of the tower. At the top there was a large chunk of ice and a icy throne with a strange figure sitting in it. The figure was short with blue skin, a pointy nose, a white beard, and he was wearing a crown like Ice King. The creature was Gunther.

"Who are you two intruders?" Demanded Gunther.

"You know who we are. I'm Marceline and that's Betty and were here to make you leave Simon alone, Gunther." Said Marceline.

"Fools you dare talk to the great ruler of ice like that and you dare call me Gunther! I'm not Gunther that's Gunther over there." Said Gunther as he pointed at the mound of ice nearby.

Marceline and Betty looked at the ice mound and notice that Simon in his full human form was frozen inside of it.

"Simon!" They both screamed in shock.

Betty and Marceline ran towards the mound, but a wall of ice popped up and stopped them.

"You two stay away from my apprentice!" Shouted Gunther.

"Let him go you jerk! This is Simon mind and body and your the uninvited guest here, so get lost Gunther!" Snarled Marceline.

"I'm not Gunther!" Shouted Gunther.

"Alright then who are you then? What's your name?" Asked Betty.

"My...name...is Evergreen? Wintergreen? Um...Frosty? Ug! I can't remember! I haven't spoken to anyone, besides Gunther in so long that...I've forgotten my name. Oh well doesn't matter, because I'm the lord of ice and I am awesome!" Said Gunther.

"Dude...your messed up man. You don't remember your name, you don't remember your past, and you have no idea where you are." Pointed out Marceline.

"I'm the lord of ice and I am here! Stop trying to confuse me strange girl!" Shouted Gunther as he stood up and fired an ice blast and froze Marceline's arms in ice.

Marceline dropped to the ground with a shout and Gunther let out a laugh. Betty teleported over to Gunther, grabbed him, and slammed him against the throne. Gunther let out a yelp and starred at Betty's anger filled eyes in horror.

"It's because of you that I lost the man I loved twice! It's because of you that girl had to go through the trauma of seeing a person she cared about fall into madness and forget about her! You robbed the man I loved of his life and hurt everyone here!" Screamed Betty as she began to punch Gunther over and over again knocking the crown from, his head.

Marceline slammed her frozen arms into the ground and broke them free, before she flew over to Betty and pulled the angry women away from Gunther.

"That's enough Betty! You beat him! It's over!" Said Marceline as she tried to calm the women down.

Betty struggled for a few more seconds, before she stopped. Marceline released her and the two of them looked over at the beaten form of Gunther, who laid on the ground. Marceline saw the crown laying on the ground and picked it up. The vampire raised the crown over her head, before she slammed it into the ground shattering it to bits. Gunther looked up at Marceline in shock and then his body began to spasm. Marceline and Betty watched in awe as Gunther began to change. His beard fell off, his skin turn green, a tail popped out of his rear end, and his face became more reptilian like. Gunther stood up on shaky legs and looked around in confusion.

"Um...where am I? What happened...to Master Evergreen...and the comet? All I remember was putting on the special wish crown and I made a wish..." Gunther then blinked his eyes and he began to remember what happened and his eyes went wide. "Oh...no I really messed up...big time and got myself and Master Evergreen killed! The crown survived...and I was a part...of it...and then another guy put it on...and started...to act the way...I did...when I made my wish. He...started to become me!"

Marceline and Betty watched Gunther, not sure what to say. The blizzard around the tower stopped and the ice that held Simon, began to melt. Gunther began to cry a little.

"I ruined...another guy's life and I hurt his loved ones! I'm garbage!" Sobbed Gunther.

Marceline floated over to Gunther and put a hand on his shoulder. Gunther looked up at Marceline.

"Don't beat yourself...over this man. That crown was bad news and it messed you up just like Simon. You may have driven Simon nuts, but you gave him powers to help protect him and me from some really big trouble. So...I'm not mad at you." Said Marceline.

Gunther looked at Marceline not sure what to say. There was a cracking sound and the ice mound cracked open causing Simon to fall out. Betty managed to catch him and gently lowered him to the floor. Simon's eyes opened up slowly and he looked up at Betty.

"Betty...is that you?"

"It's me Simon. Marceline and I are here to save you." Said Betty as a few tears fell from her eyes.

Simon pushed himself up off the ground and looked at Marceline and Gunther. Marceline went over and hugged Simon as a few tears fell from her eyes. Simon returned the hug and then they stopped. Gunther then walked up to Simon looking nervous.

"Um...Simon...I just want to say I'm sorry...for everything." Said Gunther.

"Gunther, your just as much a victim of the crown as me. I sensed no ill will from you since I first met you and I can tell your sorry for what happened. I forgive you." Said Simon with a tiny smile.

"And...I forgive you to. I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier Gunther." Said Betty.

"It's ok...your were just mad and I was being mean." Said Gunther.

"So what happens now?" Asked Marceline.

"Well I guess I'll pass on and the three of you will wake up. Also, the crown will still have its ice powers, but nothing else. Hope that helps you out in the future." Said Gunther as he began to slowly fade away.

Soon Simon, Betty, and Marceline began to wake up.

In the real world, Jake had just arrived with Simon's clothes as Betty and Marceline woke up. Everybody looked at Ice King as he began to change into Simon. The human woke up and Marceline handed him, his glasses. Betty smiled at Simon and kissed him on the lips. Simon then went into the bathroom to change clothes and the group quickly filled him in on what was going on.

"It appears we need to rescue Finn and Bubblegum and stop Ricardio. I need Ricardio back in my chest in order to be fully restored. I brought Ricardio into this world and now I'm going to take him out of it." Said Simon.

The group left the house, with Jake using his nose to lead the way. The race was on.

To be continued.