"MARCELINEEE YOU'RE FINALLY HOME!"
As soon as Marceline walked through that door the Lord of Evil, Hunson Abadeer, threw himself at his daughter. Marceline felt incredibly uncomfortable because this smelly old demon wearing a worn out muscle shirt just decided to pull her in a "warm and loving" embrace. Somehow she managed to detect exactly what he was eating last: tacos. And by the looks of it, they were extra greasy. It was when Marceline heard Keila giggling from behind her that she turned red and decided to push her old man off of her.
"Dad, could you really be any more embarrassing? I mean look! You even have the guards laughing over there!"
Immediately after they were pointed out, the guards straightened out.
"Oh Marcy relax! They're just as happy to see you as I am. The entire kingdom misses you! You've been gone for, um, what? 150 years give or take?"
Marceline mumbled to herself, "shoulda stayed away longer…"
"Come on now, let's get your things to your room. SERVAANTS!"
Two distorted demons came and lifted up Marceline's luggage on their backs and headed to her quarters, she would be getting the same room that she had as a child. On the way there Hunson gave his mouth no rest and practically talked his daughter's ear off, sometimes Marceline would think to herself about how much easier this situation would be if she was deaf or at least could tune him out. By the time they reached her room Marceline insisted that everyone should leave so she could get settled in. When she opened the door it looked as if nothing changed, there were posters of all the old bands she listened to, her pink bean bag chair (it was the only thing bright in her room), and plenty of other possessions that gave her a wonderful sense of nostalgia.
For the first five minutes in her old room she spent her time looking around at everything and commenting to herself about what she thought of them.
Wow,really, there's waaay too many dark colors in here, talk about goth.
Oh my glob! There's my old gaming system!
I really need to burn these blankets before Keila comes in here, I'll never hear the end of it. She tossed out the Pokemon comforter which landed on a guard unexpectedly and he spewed out profanities, Marceline found herself grinning in amusement.
Once she finished walking around her old room that was littered with toys and game, she started to hang up her clothes in her closet. In an attempt to throw her luggage bag on her closet shelf, she found that she knocked something over. It was a small box.
Even though she tried her best to recall where this box was from, she just could not pin point it. It was brown and looked to be made out of wood. Although it was falling apart, and would be considered junk by most people, something told Marceline that this box would be very special to her. There was a rusted latch on the front, and it made a creaking noise when she lifted it up.
"Let's find out what's in here…"
On the inner top of the box was an old picture, it was her and her mother, it must have easily been over 900 years, somehow it lasted this long, probably due to magic. Marceline began tearing up at the sight of it. Another much smaller photo was of her and Simon, Simon was a bit blurry and you could tell that he was rushing to get from the camera to being next to young Marceline. The contents of the box consisted of dead flowers, old pictures, and some shiny and smaller object at the bottom. After she dug a bit more, she found that it was a little locket. That's when she realized that it was a gift from her mother. The scene played out in her head.
I wish I could remember her face better.
Young Marceline, perhaps barely 5 years old, brand new to the world, was in a ruined park. The sky was clouded, and the entire mood was eerie. The only noise that wasn't coming from her was that of the rusted swings that made a creak every time the wind blew hard enough. For normal children, they'd most likely run away in fear because of how unsettling the setting was. Marceline, however, found more enjoyment in this, and loved to play in ruined areas.
"Marceline! Where did you go!"
That was Marceline's cue to hide in the slide, to her this was all a part of a game. She couldn't remember her face just right. The picture she found didn't help too much either, it was very faded. So when she tried to remember, everything about her face was a blur. But what she did remember was that her mother had black hair like Marceline, and her skin wasn't the same color as hers, it was the color of a humans.
"Marrrceeelineee whereee areee youuu! Come out come out wherever you are!" She let out a smile and a laugh, a laugh she would never forget. When her mom laughed, everyone smiled, nothing in the world would ever make Marceline that happy again.
That's when the little girl let out a giggle.
"Oh! I heard something!"
Marceline couldn't hold it in any longer, she started to burst like a balloon with laughter.
Marceline's mother grabbed her, picked her out of the ruined slide, then she placed her on her hip.
"I gotcha! Mommy has a gift for my sweet little Marcy."
"Oooo I wanna see I wanna see!"
Then her mother reached into her overall pocket and pulled out a sparkling locket.
"Mommy looked very hard for just the right gift for you, so I want you to take care of it, promise?"
"I promise."
"It's special because you can put pictures in it, see, I added one of mommy and daddy."
"I love it! I love you!"
The memory faded away. Soon she began to remember how her mother died, and she forced herself to stop before it got worse. Then she decided to put all of the things back in the box. For a moment she just sat there on her bed, reflecting on all of this, on her long life, and how short her mother was a part of it. There was nothing anyone could do about it, she was human, and humans have short lives.
There was a knock on the door, it was Keila.
"Yo! You need any help unpacking? I was just about to head out for some food and I figured I'd come here to help out."
"Nah Keila I'm all good for now."
After Keila left, Marceline found herself left alone to her own devices. She didn't want to think about her mom, so the only other option was Bubblegum.
Why didn't she come back? She had plenty of time, and I wouldn't just, at least tried to fix everything. I know what I did wasn't completely right but, I just had to try, I had to. Maybe I should write to her? Nah, she wouldn't even read it. You know what! If she really wanted to fix all of this, if she really cared, she would have come over before I left. It's too late. The next time I go to Ooo she's going to regret never talking to me.
Just like that, the vampire was settled in her decision, and since they were spending sometime in the Nightosphere she could build up her band again and become so popular that her fame would obscure any of her feelings that she had suppressed.
Back at the Candy Kingdom Bubblegum had been working on her personal relationships with her friends. Many of the princesses that Marceline and her were friends with often asked where she went. For months now they had been trying to get a hold of her, yet to no avail they had failed. Whenever the subject of Marceline was brought up Bubblegum had two options. On one hand she could completely stay quiet and potentially be questioned on the subject. However on the other hand she could talk badly of the vampire, which of course she did not like, and it gave her friends the impression that they had gotten into a fight. Neither of the choices was ideal for her, and often she tried to change the subject as soon as possible. Some of the princesses would not have it, for example; LSP would have a habit of asking until the pretty pink princess would turn a bright red and storm out of the room. In the end LSP apologized, but Bubblegum also became more cautious on the subject of her vampire.
There were some good things that happened after Marceline had left. Bubblegum became more efficient in her experiments, and her relationship with Finn and Jake improved. There had been a couple of times that they took her on their adventures also.
Once it was late in the evening and PB and Finn were working on an experiment to heal the Candy Kingdom citizens. But then everything went wrong! It turned out that Bubblegum's ratios were incorrect and when tested, it brought the dead back to life. Having returned to the kingdom Finn had to keep a royal promise to not tell anyone about these zombie candy citizens. In the end, the citizens had been healed and a piñata was broken. This was just one of their many adventures.
Another relationship that was sprouting was Jake's and Lady's. Over the course of their time at the castle Jake and Lady were almost always together when they had the chance. There had also been a few times that Jake and Lady would leave Finn and Bubblegum alone. The first time this happened Finn got so nervous he could hardly speak. Later on he began to shake so much that even PB thought he was sick.
The entire time Bubblegum had thought Finn as a little brother or even close friend. Not a single romantic thought came to his mind. Yet, seeing this young boy get so worked up over her was adorable to her, so she didn't have it in her heart to break it to him. At the same time she also didn't encourage his behavior either, all of her actions had been entirely platonic. Her assumption would be that eventually Finn would catch the hint, right?
There was one day though, one day that potentially changed everything. Princess Bubblegum was having a lunch date with her friends, and LSP happened to bring up the subject of music. Raggedy Princess got excited and mentioned a few of her favorite indie bands. PB mostly rolled her eyes at them; their music tastes were almost complete opposites. LSP shifted the conversation back to her as usual, no one seemed to mind, but then LSP told them about this up and coming band. They were called the Scream Queens, and apparently they had just started a tour. They wouldn't be coming to the Candy Kingdom, however they would be at the Fire Kingdom. Bubblegum asked if they all really wanted to risk going there, because it became quite dangerous, although most of the group was already too excited seeing that LSP had already reserved tickets for the front of the show.
The show would be in about three days, this bothered Bubblegum because that means she would have to cancel a few of her appointments. In the end though, she was glad that they were going to have a girls day, this hadn't happen for quite a while for the group.
The subject of going to a concert together also brought up another idea. Most of the princesses thought it would be a good idea to go "guy hunting", PB didn't like that term, it felt like boys were just objects to be taken, and the girls had gotten all riled up. Raspberry Princess in particular was very excited, especially since this trip would be a day before her birthday, it would also be a good thing if she caught the eye of someone.
This prompted to another subject of getting boyfriends, internally Bubblegum saw this as an opportunity to move on from her past breakup, and maybe, just maybe she would find someone who would make her happier than Marceline. She found herself smiling like a little girl at the thought of it.
The plans were cemented, and the group wouldn't meet till the day of the concert, Bubblegum was given the responsibility of holding their tickets, she was considered the most reliable of the royal group. Everyone was happy of the outcome, and even Bubblegum became excited for it, she had gone to pick out clothes in advanced for the occasion, which would be a day to remember.
As for Marceline she was just excited to get out of the house and start another tour again. Bongo and Guy has supplied the ride and most of the equipment, Marceline and Keila chipped in with the finances, all the work was divided equally and the band was very easy going. Along the way everyone was writing lyrics or making music, in this time they had all grown a special bond, sure there were literal speed bumps in the way, but for the most part this tour had been enjoyable. They next show would be a long ways from the Nightosphere, it would be in the Fire Kingdom. That would take about three days travel, longer than any other drive; everyone would have to take shifts in order to get there on time. Although being in a van with a bunch of bandmates wasn't horrible, and at least no one argued on what music to put on, they all had similar tastes.
One night Marceline had been waiting for her driving shift and she had been playing on her bass fueled by magic. She had been working on a really great song that she had been working on for a while.
"Hey Bongo what do you think about this Jam?"
"I'm listening yo."
"La da da da da, I wanna bury you with my sound
La da da da da, I wanna bury you in the ground
I wanna, drink the pink from your pretty sweet face—"
"Hmm, let it flow more Marcy, let it rhyme."
"Yea I think you're right lemme try again." She started at the beginning of the Bass rift again.
"La da da da da, I wanna bury you in the ground
La da da da da I wanna bury you with my sound
I gonna drink the—", She paused. "From you pretty pink face"
Then Marceline's mood changed, and along with that, the song's tone.
"Sorry I don't treat you like a goddess is that what you want me to do?
Sorry I don't treat you like you're perfect, like all your little loyal subjects do!
Sorry I'm not made of sugar, am I not sweet enough for you?
Is… that… why you always avoid me?
I must… be such an inconvenience to you…"
Then she stopped playing.
Immediately Bongo noticed that Marceline was upset, and yet before she had shown no sign that she was troubled. Keila didn't say anything about it either, so Guy and Bongo were in the dark about everything, although it wouldn't really bother them, they were simple guys.
"Marcy? Look it's a great song, and I'm sure it'll be a hit, but if you're not comfortable preforming it, then just let us know okay? No one will ever judge you."
"Thanks Bongo I needed that… I don't know I've just been a bit out of it. You know what? I'm going to get this song done, so when Friday's show comes, we'll preform it."
"That's rad Marcy! Can't wait, it's going to be a hit!"
Everyone was moving on, and everyone seemed quite happy with everything in their lives.
Sometimes, even the strongest things need a nudge in the right direction.
HELLO AGAIN! In celebration of completing another of my AP exams I decided to publish another chapter! Right now I'm faced with an important decision, how on earth should I end this story? Well, one way you can help is by going to my polls and answering my question. I would really appreciate it and it would also make the ending much more pleasing to everyone who reads my Fanfiction. I really do appreciate the support I've been receiving 3
Also, If there are any issues with the poll please message me so that I may fix it.