"You did WHAT?!" Sounded the shout from the other end of the phone line.
Finn swallowed. "Well I erh…. I kind of punched him." he admitted. "And then Jake took a strangle hold of him, an then while he was immobilized I punched him again…. and I kicked him… And then Jake threw him down on the ground. And then."
"Stop I get it!" Marceline responded in a annoyed tone. "I'm going to assume you have a good reason for this?" she asked then she silenced and Marceline's voice became a lot more quiet. "Finn… What did he do? Please just tell me."
Finn sighed deeply. "He kidnapped half of all the princess's." he admitted. "I was surprised to, I thought we were over this for sure."
"That's not enough to warrant such a beatdown though, what else?" Marceline asked.
"It's, kind of weird. He's acting really strange… Stranger than usual I mean." Finn admitted. "When I tried to make him calm down, I invited him over for a game of ball and so forth, he turned me down and attacked instead. It actually… Kind of seem like he didn't recognize me. Or Jake, or anyone else for that matter. He kept yelling about wanting his princess, so well I can only assume."
"Betty." Marceline concluded. "You have any idea where she is?"
"Not a clue, but even if I did I don't know what I feel about the idea of bringing those two together again." Finn admitted. "Last time… It didn't turn out so well is all."
"Oh, I see." Marcelin replied then sighed deeply. "How is he now?"
"Still out cold. PB is examining his crown." Finn informed. "Dang is Ice King out cold."
"You don't have to rub it in." Marceline muttered annoyed.
"No you don't understand. When we placed him on a hospital bed the bed froze to ice in minutes!" Finn informed. "Then other patients started to freeze so we had to move Ice King to another room away from the hospital. Now he's in a room in the Candy castle and the entire room has frozen solid."
"Didn't you say PB had the crown?" Marcelin asked confused.
"She does." Finn replied. "Ice King…. made Ice magic without wearing the crown. And he still is, even though he's unconscious. It's like it has gone completely out of control, like when…" he silenced.
Marceline didn't respond and Finn exhaled deeply.
"Marceline." Finn hesitated. "Last he was awake, he didn't know who I was, he didn't know who Jake was, who anyone was. If you come over it'll be unlikely he knows who you are either, I know that'll be really hard for you. Still, I just have to ask."
"It's okay Finn, it's not the first time he's forgotten all about me. I know how to handle it." Marceline assured though Finn was ready to swear her voice sounded uncharacteristically emotional. "I'll be over in a sec, PB's place you say?"
"Yup." Finn replied. "See you then I guess." he said and finally put down the phone and sighed.
"Seems like she took it well." Jake commented
"I'm worried." Finn admitted. "Whenever that crown gets involved it always becomes so complicated, and it just never ends well does it?"
"I suppose that depends on how you look at it." Jake commented. "I mean, we are still alive. Ice King is still alive, the world still exists. I'm going to say that's pretty good!"
Finn smiled amused. "You always have such an optimistic view of things. Thanks Jake."
"Hehe, no problemo." Jake smiled.
It was with a heavy heart that Marceline flew across the land of Ooo, it was still semi light as the sun had only just gone down and she easily found her way to the candy kingdom and the candy castle.
It was way to easy to figure what room the Ice king was at, because only one of the windows of the castle was covered in ice with snow falling out the window and down towards the street, though it melted before it hit the ground.
Marceline glided to the window and then looked inside… Everything inside of the room was frozen over.
The floor, the walls, the ceiling. Also any furniture, the table, the chairs, the desks… Everything. And right in the center of the room was a figure laying on a madras which had also frozen solid.
Marcelin floated inside and then for a moment levitated over the figure, he had his back to her, his snow white hair was fanned across the frozen madras.
His wizards robe laid across his body and just outlining his real body, proving itself to be skinny and almost skeleton.
Marceline sighed deeply. "Simon, what have you gotten yourself into now?" she asked.
At that the figure curled together and wrapped his arms around himself as he shivered, his teethes clappered and he shook.
"Simon?" Marceline asked.
"Cold… So cold." The Ice King clappered as he laid there.
"Simon, I don't understand. You can't even feel the cold, you were never able to feel cold. At least not while I have known you." Marceline pointed out then she reached out to touch him, though the moment her finger touched the ice king, ice crawled up her hand and encased her hand in a block of ice.
Wide-eyed did Marceline remove her hand looking at the block of ice incasing it, easily she broke it by just tightening her hand into a fist, yet still. Wide-eyed Marceline looked at the crown less ice king in front of her, whom was still shivering from the cold.
"MARCELINE!"
Marcelin looked up and saw Finn at the door, Finn was wearing a giant pink winter coat, looked like he had borrowed Bubblegum's, as well as purple ear muff's "Hey Finn." Marceline greeted him then looked down at the ice king in front of her. "Man, he isn't even awake and I can tell he's all kinds of messed up."
"Yeah… I'm sorry." Finn exhaled deeply.
"It's okay, not like it's your fault." Marceline exhaled deeply. "So, have you figured anything out yet?" she asked.
"Not really." Finn admitted. "PB has pretty much locked herself up in her lab with the crown, the Ice king hasn't woken up yet. Seems like he freezes things involuntarily, sometimes he talks about his princess in his sleep. And sometimes he says he's cold, I tried to put a blanket over him but it froze solid in a minute, and when I put a heater in here it broke in less than ten seconds."
"You did what you could Finn, thanks man." Marceline smiled lightly then looked down at the poor frame of the ice king. She crouched down, then she went to the other side so she could see his face. It was odd, it seemed like he had changed even more, that his nose had become longer, his eyes seemed to have nearly sunken into his skull, he looked incredible gaunt. Sadly Marceline noted he looked even less like the kind man he had been after the mushroom war than usual.
Sighing Marceline stood up then turned to Finn. "Let's go talk to Peeps." she then said and headed for the door only to be interrupted as the Ice King murmured again.
"No… I have to… I have to protect her. I must." He groaned as his face hissed.
Wide-eyed Marcelin turned around and looked at him, so did Finn.
"I have to do this, I have to protect you. I'm sorry." The Ice king grunted.
"Who is he talking about?" Finn asked confused. "Betty?"
Marcelin however swallowed, she had heard these sentences so many times, but it had been such a long time ago.
"I have to protect you Gunter." The Ice king hissed and Marceline looked down closing her eyes, right… Gunter.
Marcelin sighed deeply as she turned towards the door, for a moment leaning on the doorframe then walked out together with Finn whom put a supporting hand on her shoulder.
As predicted Princess Bubblegum was all cooked up in her lab, wearing her white lab coat and a pair of protective goggles as she read the scanning results from the crown, Jake was just laying in the corner eating snakes, by the sight of Finn and Marcelin did he raise a hand. "Yo!"
"Hey Jake." Marcelin waved back. "Any news Peeps?" she asked Bubblegum.
Bubblegum sighed deeply as she removed her goggles. "This isn't so easy any longer now I am unable to access the crowns programming." she admitted. "Even if I knew what was wrong, I don't even know if I could fix it."
Finn glanced at the crown on the table with a crack in it. "What about…" Finn hesitated then walked to the crown and put a little piece of tape over the crack. "There all better!" he grinned only for the crack to suddenly grow even bigger and Finn screamed. "ARGHH!"
"FINN! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Marcelin shouted. "That crown is Simons only life support!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Finn exclaimed.
"You didn't do anything Finn, the crown is in a steady decline. At least I could read that much from these readings, it's programming is breaking down." Bubblegum informed.
Marcelin swallowed. "Is it because of what Betty did to the crown back in time? Has that come back?"
"Partially, though from what I can see the crown has in fact been broken for a very long time. It's just first now it became to much for it." Bubblegum frowned.
"What do you mean it has been broken for a very long time?" Marcelin asked. "How long?"
"A thousand years." Bubblegum replied and they all looked up at her.
Bubblegum sighed as she gently picked up the crown. "This crown, was never intended to turn people into ice kings or madmen or anything like that. It's purpose is to grant wishes, the hearts desire of who-ever wears it. Thing just is, when a person wear the crown just ones the desire the person had will be stored in the crowns data base and will also be granted to the next person whom wears it, as well as his own desire." she said. "The original bearer of the grown was Gunter, he desired to become like his mentor the ice wizard Evergreen. So the crown turned him into Evergreen, both in looks and in powers, as well as his cruel personality." she said. "The man who calls himself santa desired immortality so he could keep delivering presents to children, the crown made it so as long as he wore it he could not die. A woman called Marta desired to talk to her deceased husband one more time, so the crown made it so she could see alternative dimensions ordinary humans can't, even the dimension where ghosts are, and the man called Harald desired to be king, so the crown killed his older brother and made him king. They all had their heart desires fulfilled." Bubblegum informed. "All except one."
"Simon… He wanted to be with Betty, but the crown did the opposite of that." Marcelin realized.
"Exactly. When Simon put on the crown, all he really wanted was to be with Betty, but then Betty disappeared, she travelled through time. The crown couldn't even find her, but it had to fulfill its own function, to grant hearts desires, yet this one time it couldn't. It was a problem without a solution."
"And you say it broke because of that?" Marcelin asked.
"Yes, the crown gave Simon the hearts desire of everyone else that had worn the crown except himself. So it acted out, it became unpredictable. you've seen the results for yourself. It has been unstable for a really long time. Way before Betty even got her hands on it."
"Wow that is all kinds of messed up." Finn blinked. "Kind of ironic the crown could easily grand all those big wishes, then it's when Simon just wanted to be together with his own girlfriend it docks out."
"Heh sometimes the most simple wishes are the most powerful ones." Jake grinned then he frowned. "Hardly seems fair though. Doesn't sound like Simon ever desired to become an ice wizard, or king or even immortal. That was all those other guys not him, the crown just forced him into it anyhow."
"That's messed up." Finn frowned.
Bubblegum sighed deeply. "I don't think that crown is even able to grant any hearts desires anymore, it's just to broke. And it has yet to even fulfill Simons desire, that's why it keeps on looking for that princess he wants. To fulfill its own purpose."
"What would happen if it did fullfill its purpose?" Finn asked. "You know, if it actually managed to give Simon his hearts desire."
"I don't know Finn, it has just been to long and the crown is so broke. It's impossible to tell." Bubblegum admitted.
Marcelin swallowed then looked at the cracked crown. "Simon and the crown are connected now, they are basically two sides of the same person. If the crown breaks then Simon…" she squinted her eyes. "Did one of the crowns bearers wish to forget everything? Is that why he is always forgetting?"
"No." Bubblegum shook her head. "The Ice King forgetting is because all the other personalities stored in the crown kept budging into his brain, not enough room in there." she said then glanced at the crown. "With the crown this broke though, the personalities stored in the crown… They might."
"Might? Might what?" Marcelin asked. "PEEPS! Tell me!" she demanded.
"Shut down." Bubblegum informed. "They may shut down."
"Then what does that mean for Simon?" Marcelin asked.
Just as a shout sounded through the hallways. "MARCYYYY!"
Wide-eyed they all stood up, then they looked at each other, and then they ran as fast as they could down the hallways and into the room where the ice king had been left alone, except now he was thrusting and turning, shooting ice everywhere. "GET AWAY! GET AWAY MUTANTS!"
"SIMON!" Marceline shouted only she had to duck to avoid an ice-beam. "GLOB!"
"Betty?! BETTY!" The Ice king then shouted running to the window only to stop as he fell to the floor. "URGH!"
Marcelin gasped. "He… He is remembering!" she realized. "How?"
"The other personalities in the crown has gone into a rest mode allowing Simon some space." Bubblegum explained.
"Well that's good…. Isn't it?" Finn asked.
"I don't think so, he doesn't even seem to know where he is." Jake replied.
And the Ice King screamed holding his head with his long pointy fingers. "KEEP QUIET! STOP YELLING!" he said and then banged his head into the wall. Then he fell down on his back on the floor and rolled around. "ARGH!"
"PRINCESS!" Finn shouted. "What's happening to Ice King?!"
"Sensory overload! It's to much!" Bubblegum exclaimed.
"What the heck do you mean by that?!" Marceline asked.
"Ice King has been alive for over a thousand years! That's a thousand years worth of memories, impressions, smells, sights, words and sheer information. Imagine if it was a computer, and you just fed it ten gigaton information in one go. It can't process it!" Bubblegum stated. "What do you think happens to a computer then?"
"I don't know, what?" Finn asked.
"It breaks down Finn!" Bubblegum exclaimed.
"OH MY GLOB WHAT DO WE DO?!" Finn asked.
"I don't know, if it was a computer I would unplug it immediately but I don't see how in this case!" Bubblegum exclaimed.
Just then a massive WHACK sounded and then a thud, Marceline had picked up an huge icicle and knocked the ice king over the head effectively knocking him out cold.
"ARGGHH!" Finn screamed. "What did you do?!"
"I don't know!" Marceline exclaimed. "Peeps said to unplug him what else was I supposed to do?!"
"Actually this was probably the best solution." Bubblegum admitted thoughtfully.
Marcelin rolled her eyes, then crawled over to the Ice king and turned him around allowing him to rest on her knees then as she did, suddenly his beard and hair became shorter, the bald spot covered up, even his nose became slightly shorter as his skin became a little bit more purpleish. "What now?" Marcelin asked.
"I've seen this before." Finn admitted. "When he was away from the crown, his appearance changed but not his personality."
"The crown is now very unstable." Bubblegum informed. "So the Ice king will be as well. Both his powers, his appearance, his personality and…"
"His memories." Marcelin ended the sentence. "We have to fix that crown, somehow. This is way out of control. Simon being the true ice elemental? The other personalities of the crown? Hearts desires. So much at one time!"
"Sensory overload so the crown over heated, makes sense." Bubblegum concluded.
Just then the ice king groaned and Marcelin looked down. "Simon!" she gasped.
The blue skinned man opened his eyes and groggily looked up at Marcelin. "Oh, hallo. I'm sorry." he said. "Gross old men like me should definitely not be napping on the laps of pretty young women like you." he commented in a kind smile.
Marcelin swallowed. "Simon." she breathed.
The man blinked. "How do you know my name?" he asked confused. "Have we met ms?"
Marcelin squinted her eyes. "I'm Marcelin, or Marcy."
"That's a nice name. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance Marcelin." Simon smiled only for Marcelin to sniff and Simon looked utterly confused. "I'm… I'm really sorry about laying here, it seems like I am unable to move." And Marcelin sniffed even harder. "Ms? Ms Marcelin?" Simon asked confused. Then he glanced at Princess Bubblegum, Finn and Jake who looked at them. "Oh Hallo. I'm sorry do you know this lady? She seems rather upset, could you please help her?" he asked.
This situation was extremely awkward, no one seemed to know what to say.
"Reboot." Bubblegum commented. "The program shut down and rebooted. The file accessing was to heavy, so it shut down and rebooted instead."
"Urh PB… Maybe you shouldn't talk about Ice King… I mean Simon like he's a computer." Finn pointed out.
"Oh… Sorry." Bubblegum blinked.
Confused Simon looked at them. "Do I know you?" he asked.
Marcelin closed her eyes. "No, this. This is good." she said. "Simon is not a danger to himself, at least not right now. It'll be easier to make him cooperate now."
"I'm sorry what?" Simon asked. "Cooperate with what? Who are you? Where am I?" he asked looking around now clearly becoming scared.
"It's okay Simon, we are your friends. We just want to help you." Marcelin assured.
"Please pardon me ms, that I can't just believe you outright when I don't even know who you are." Simon replied. "Urgh." he then hissed reaching up holding his head.
"Are you okay man?" Finn asked.
"My head, it feels like it's exploding." Simon hissed holding his forehead.
"Sensory overload." Bubblegum pointed out.
"Peeps! Seriously?" Marcelin asked.
"It sure feels that way though." Simon groaned.
Bubblegum exhaled deeply. "Guys, we have to find Betty. She's the one whom managed to re-programme the crown in the first place, maybe she has some information on how to stabilize it again."
"Who's Betty?" Simon groaned and everyone halted as they silenced.
"Oh… Glob." Finn swallowed.