Bubblegum tossed and turned in her all-too empty bed again, it often felt too big for her now- as though half the space was there to be occupied by someone else (preferably someone with long, silky black hair and blue-grey skin). Tonight her thoughts had been drifting back to that concert Marceline had taken her to, which was-what, two years ago now? She curled up tighter, hugging her knees and clutching at the rock shirt she wore. She'd tried not to wear it at the start, it only reminded her of Marcy, of good memories now lost…but she soon found she just couldn't face the night without it. It was hard to believe- only a few months after that wonderful night they'd just fallen apart. Bubblegum's gut twisted with guilt, at first she'd been angry, hurt and ignorant. But the more time she spent without Marceline in her life the more her heart longed for that happiness again, the more she dwelled and analysed- eventually coming to a reasoned conclusion that the entire mess was completely her fault. It was times like this, when she would lie awake in bed, that she wished- she wished so desperatelythat she could change things, go back and make it better, go back and stop herself.

"Idiot…" she mumbled angrily to herself, how she ever claimed herself a scientist when she'd clearly been such a fool, she didn't know. She'd been spending more time than ever down in her lab actually; it was a helpful distraction sometimes. But she knew that her candy people had noticed how distant she'd become over the past year and a half, she knew and that's why she'd resolved to be strong for them, for the sake of her kingdom. She would throw herself into her work, no more distractions. She would endeavour to be a good princess to her people, that was the best she could give them.
In the past she used to give in to the tears that now threatened to overwhelm her, the lump in her throat felt so uncomfortably present- but she refused to concede to it. She would be strong. She would not cry. No more tears, there'd been too many of them already.
"Oh Marcy..." she whispered. Her chest felt tight, she hugged her knees tighter still, feeling that maybe she could disappear altogether, escape from the anguish perhaps…
But no, she would be strong.

Marceline was bored. She was bored and she was frustrated. She'd woken up in the evening wanting to go out and play her bass under the stars and the moon, but typically it was a cloudy and mundane night. Usually what Marceline loved about the night time was the mysteriousness, the way the glow of the moon would accent and highlight things so differently, sometimes strangely, transforming the landscape. But the cloudy canopy only served to put a boring grey tint on the already dark world. Not being one to accept limitations, Marceline decided she would fly above them and she would play her bass under the stars if she wanted to, perks of being a vampire, right? She was floating on her back amongst cloudy towers in her usual ripped jeans and striped jumper (regretting her choice of sandals slightly, if one fell off she'd never find it from this height) and plucking idly at her bass. But her gloomy disposition didn't disappear, she was trying to find a melody, a tune- anything that she could run with, but somehow even though she wanted to…she just wasn't in the mood to make music. Usually this would be incredibly odd for Marceline, but she'd been suffering from this, ah…creative block for quite a while now. The longer she persisted at it the more frustrated she got, she angrily swung her axe at the pillars of cloud surrounding her, only succeeding in rearranging the silver fluff into a thin fog. Her angry frown deepened. Normally if she didn't have anything to do she'd just go hang out with friends, but Finn and Jake were asleep, and she'd already woken them up last night, she figured she couldn't really do it again.
"Ugh…what happened to all my friends" she thought to herself, drifting aimlessly. "Oh…right." Outliving everyone- just another perk of being a vampire.

Realising she wasn't sure where she'd actually floated to, as her view of Ooo had been blocked by the clouds below, she lowered herself through the fog to find that she was floating right above the candy kingdom. She was immediately angry. How was it that fate always ended up making her think of Bonnibel practically every damn night? No matter how hard she pushed the pink Princess out of her mind- over and over she had tried- nothing worked. She'd lived for over a thousand years, she'd met all kinds of people- dated a heck of a lot of them and she had never had this problem. She'd been sad before, she'd had breakups, she'd had to deal with death…but somehow she always willed herself to keep going, it was often her music that could console her and support her. It seemed that ever since the breakup the music was just…gone. She couldn't even write a simple melody anymore, her heart wasn't in it.
"ARGH, why'd I have to go and ruin everything?" she yelled, and swung her axe at the air, finding it incredibly unsatisfying in venting her emotions. The only way she'd dealt with junk like this before was through playing her bass, what was she supposed to do now? But she wasn't angry for long; it fizzled out again into the familiar melancholy she'd dealt with for so long now. She looked back down at the candy castle, she thought about Bonnie. Maybe she could go and knock on her window, like she used to…No. That was a stupid idea. She was probably asleep. Besides, she'd hurt Bubblegum enough, she should learn to leave well enough alone by now.
"Oh…Bonnie…" she sighed, looked back once more with dull eyes and drifted back to her cave.

It was a few weeks later, and Finn the human was darting around the living room of his and Jake's giant tree fort, rearranging the chairs and sofas into position for movie night.
"Bro! LSP says she's not coming, somethin' about a 'lumping hot date with Brad'" Jack chuckled as he stretched over to put the phone back down.
"Aw maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan" Finn's face fell for a second, but it lit up again almost immediately. "Well this movie night's still gonna be awesome dude, me and Beemo were digging around earlier, and we've found like, a super wicked cool action film- it's gonna be sweeeeeeeeeeet!"
"Awesome bro" The two had a brief pause to break down dancing before collapsing on the sofa together. "Dude I just hope PB and Marceline don't get all argue-ey like last time…"
"Yeah that was kinda weak- man it'll be fine. No one's gon' be arguing once we get this totally rockin' movie on!"
"Hehe, yeah!" They then proceeded to have a tough guy contest, and rolled around the fort laughing and fighting.

Meanwhile, Marceline was just flying out of her cave, clad in some dark jeans, an old t shirt, and a blue flannel shirt and on her way to the tree fort for movie night. She couldn't keep making excuses to miss the get togethers Finn always held, but it's not like she would be having a good time while Bonnie was there…not because Bonnie did anything wrong but the pure awkwardness and the guilty feeling in her stomach just made Marceline want to leave. And if it wasn't that, she'd get caught up in another pointless argument. She sighed, it was in her nature to tease and be talkative and loud, she wanted to have fun…she clenched her jaw slightly, deciding that she would make an effort to enjoy the evening this time, heck she knew (hoped) they had it in them to get along.

Bubblegum was already knocking on the door of the tree fort, prompt as always. She wondered if Marceline would come this time, and if she did would they spend another awkward evening ignoring each other, and if not that- arguing again? Since she'd met Finn about a year ago, she'd also ended up hanging out with Marceline again, as part of a group. The first time they'd seen each other since the breakup they'd just sort of…quietly stood there, and talked to everyone but each other. Bubblegum cringed at the memory. As they saw each other more frequently they'd developed this strange relationship where they never talked about their past, they just bickered aimlessly. Bubblegum was fairly certain Finn thought they hadn't known each other before being introduced through him- well until the door lord incident last week, which had gotten a little….heated. Bubblegum was still trying to puzzle out what had happened there.

She was still waiting for Finn to come to the door when she felt a cold pair of hands jog her shoulders from behind, she squeaked in surprise and turned to see Marceline, floating behind her with a smirk on her face. She felt a pang at her chest but she found it easy to keep the stern expression on her face- she'd had a lot of practise. She crossed her arms and exhaled.
"Hey, Marceline." She wasn't sure where the disdain in her voice came from, she realised how it sounded but it was practically automatic.
"And it's wonderful to see you too, Princess!" replied Marceline sarcastically. She smiled to herself ironically at how much the tone of their banter had changed.
The door swung open suddenly and Finn's beaming (although seemingly a little battered, for some reason?) face was there to greet them.
"Hey guys! Come in, Beemo's like, all set up for the movie, we're just waiting on Lady and then- oh hey there she is, awesome!" Lady flew into view and greeted them all with something in Korean.
"Come on dudes, let's get the movie started!" Finn waved them in as he bounced back to the living room, Bubblegum smiled at his energy, without thinking she glanced at Marceline who was also grinning and returned the look, Bubblegum felt her smile widen, just a little bit.

The girls proceeded into the living room, Bubblegum sat down on the sofa and Marceline was about to go to the seat furthest from her…simply out of habit but she reminded herself she wasn't going to let this evening go like the others. So instead, much to Bubblegum's surprise she sat herself down on the sofa next to her, neither girl mentioned the change.
"Okay guys…prepare…to be…AMAZED…" Finn leapt away from Beemo where he'd set up the movie and into one of the empty chairs, his eyes were fixed to the holographic screen; Jake and Lady were snuggled up together on the other sofa.
The gang talked through the movie, Finn yelling and punching the air at the fight scenes, Jake sometimes bringing up debates on certain aspects of the film
"There's no way a guy could seriously knock out those five dudes in a single punch, right?"
Bubblegum would offer her scientific opinions on the matter, and Marceline usually making some kind of wise crack about it. Surprisingly enough for both girls, the evening went smoothly, for once they were both joining in conversation, laughing together and having a good time- it felt kind of like how it had been before.

"No, no look! Beemo, could you rewind it once more please?" Bubblegum insisted, "You see the speed the car is going at on the speedometer here, and then…fast-forward…stop! See, by the time it goes up the ramp, taking into account it's acceleration and the angle it entered the air at, there's no way it could have made the jump!"
"Woah, Peebles gots SMARTS man" said Finn, slightly awed.
"I dunno PB…" said Jake rubbing his chin, "it looks like it's goin' pretty fast to me. I think it woulda made it…"
"This from the guy who couldn't jump across a 3 meter gap in the bridge on my way to my house, when he has magical stretching abilities?" piped in Marceline, Bubblegum giggled and the girls shared a discrete bro-fist.
Jake grunted "yeah yeah, let's just watch the movie!" Lady said something in a consoling tone to him and his smile returned. She said something else quietly, again in Korean and he blushed a little- Marceline and Bubblegum shared a look at this and laughed together, they knew each other well enough that their thoughts didn't need voicing.

After the movie finished Jake and Lady decided to go for a walk outside together, Marceline made a not-incredibly-appropriate comment about them wanting some private time alone, which made Bubblegum and Finn laugh (although Marceline wasn't entirely convinced Finn had really understood the joke). Unfortunately, the human boy's seemingly boundless energy had failed him,
"Hey do you guys wanna-"he yawned "-stay for a sleepover or somethin', we could do an all-nighter…. because I'm totally" he interrupted himself again with another wide mouthed yawn "not even sleepy…". The girls decided to save him from forcing himself to stay up,
"No Finn don't worry about it, I'm actually very tired, I think it best I get back to the Castle about now" Actually Bubblegum felt wide awake, her sleeping patterns were still being interrupted often by nights where her troubled thoughts kept her from sleeping, she figured she could always go home and do some late night lab work.
"Aw okay Peebles…what- uh, what about you Marcy?" he said sleepily.
"Yeah Finn I got, uhh, Vampire biz I gotta get done, we'll hang tomorrow night, strangle some pixies or somethin', cools?" she said with a fanged grin.
"Okay, rad" he smiled at his two best pals "night then guys"
"Goodnight Finn, and thanks for a wonderful movie night" replied Bubblegum politely.
"Yeah thanks dude" added Marceline. Finn waved them off and shut the door before slowly climbing the many levels of the tree fort to his bedroom.
"We need to get like a- lift or somethin' for this place" he mumbled tiredly, as he pulled himself up each rung of the ladder.

For about a year and a half, in between the times she was having fun with Finn or pulling pranks, Marceline had felt permanently in a pretty bad mood, brooding over her latest arguments with Bonnie (or how lonely she felt, though she'd never admit it). But getting along with her again, she felt elated. She'd forgotten how good a pair they made, when they weren't bickering that was. Her happy thoughts slowed, however, when she realised that this was the first time she'd been alone with Bonnie since they'd broken up…aw jeez. Were they meant to have like, a heart to heart? Oh glob what if they don't say anything at all and it goes back to being really awkward…but what if she wants to talk about feelings and junk, Marceline wasn't good at that! Shit…shit…

Bubblegum had come to the same realisation, but just thankful that Marceline was being amicable she wasn't having quite the same panic attack.
"So I guess I'm heading back to the candy kingdom, um…what about you?"
"Oh, I uhhh, I don't really know. There's still like, a lot of hours left in the night you know and I don't sleep till morning so-"
"You're welcome to join me on my way back?" Bubblegum had said it instinctively, maybe that was a silly thing to ask...
"Oh yeah, sure Bonnie" Marceline was pleasantly surprised, the two girls started heading in the direction of the kingdom, Bubblegum walking and Marceline floating beside her. Bubblegum chuckled.
"What?" Marceline enquired.
"No it's just, no one's called me Bonnie in a long time." She smiled up at her, thinking of fond memories.
"Oh, right" Marceline scratched the back of her head absently. "Yeah, I haven't said that in a long time either, it sounds weird now..."
"Does anyone still call you Mar-Mar?" asked Bubblegum, a smile forming on her lips.
"What- no, I-"
"What about Marmalade?"
"Hey, you-"
"Marshmallow?"
"Bonnie!"
Bubblegum was openly laughing now at the expression on the vampire's face after she'd reeled off her old nicknames for her. Marceline folded her arms.
"Hmph, I'm the one that's meant to do the teasing around here, ya know" she shoved Bubblegum lightly, but they both knew she wasn't really angry. Bubblegum playfully knocked her in return and the girls laughed.

They talked and laughed their way across the fields between the kingdom and the tree house, they didn't notice the time flying by whilst they were catching up- they hadn't realised they'd actually been walking in circles for about 3 hours since they'd left Finn and Jake's until Bubblegum let out a tired yawn. Laughing about it rather than being frustrated (because they were in such good spirits when they talked like this), they quickly got back on track and The Candy Kingdom soon came into view. Marceline was relaxed, she didn't know why she'd been so worried, the conversation flowed between them easily, naturally, as it always had. That is, until she accidentally made a big error,
"Heh, this is nice, it feels like how it was before we.." she realised what she was saying a little too late and floundered slightly "before we, um…you know. I just mean- it was good back when, before I…y'know?" smooth.
Bubblegum's smile dropped a little,
"Marcy, I'm…I'm sorry for-"
"No dude you don't have to," interrupted Marceline, she really hadn't expected it to be herself that would initiate this conversation. And she definitely didn't want Bubblegum apologising to her, what was that about anyway? She would just find a way to nip this talk in the bud… "I know I like, messed up everything but, and tonight was really cool, I just…I dunno I thought" she gulped, meeting Bubblegum's wide eyed gaze uncomfortably and unsure how to finish her sentence. "Maybe we could go back to being…not…broken up…maybe, possibly…"
… Marceline had not been planning on saying that. What the hell did she just say? Why. Why. Why. WHY DID SHE JUST SAY THAT? She knew Bonnie didn't like her like that anymore! She couldn't, not after what she'd done to her! Oh crap, crap Bonnie was staring at her really weirdly.

Bubblegum didn't know what to say, her thoughts were confused. Why was Marceline saying she'd messed up when Bubblegum was convinced entirely that she'd been the one to ruin everything, she'd been wondering (dwelling would be the more appropriate word) about this moment for months, what she should say and how it would play out and yet instead of having a prepared plan, too many scenarios and answers were drifting around her head for her to choose from. Marceline was still floating there awkwardly, waiting for an answer. Bubblegum knew her well enough to see she was panicking internally.
"Marceline…I-" assuming what would be coming next from her tone, Marceline cut Bubblegum short
"No you're right, that was stupid…sorry, I'll just go…"
"No- Marceline!" There was genuine panic in Bubblegum's voice when she grabbed Marceline's arm to stop her from floating away. "You're not stupid- no I just….I'm not sure it's the best idea. It's not that I don't want to but-"
"Really, you want to?" Marceline's undead heart felt like it was beating again for a moment. She really, really hadn't been expecting that, but she was confused, "so why- why not?" Bubblegum didn't want to admit it but…
"I'm…" she exhaled "I'm scared, Marceline. And…the past year and a half I've been, so…so upset,I practically haven't functioned, and I know that's all my own doing but…I promised I would throw myself into ruling my kingdom and being strong and I'm scared, if it happened like it did last time and I go and mess this up then it'll be even worse and-" she was saying everything too quickly and tears were running down her face, Marceline was shocked- she hadn't wanted this reaction at all, poor Bonnie… she didn't realise how upset she was by all this, she'd probably been stressing over it for months, just like Marceline herself had been. She'd believed the Princess didn't really care for her anymore…it was a lot to take in, but she was primarily feeling awful- Bonnie was crying and it was her fault oh glob what had she done?

She was suddenly in action, her arms wrapped around Bubblegum like they'd done so many times in the past,
"Hold on tight" Bubblegum just had enough time to throw her arms around Marceline before they were in the air and she was hanging on for dear life, she yelped and closed her eyes as they flew higher and higher. But it ended quickly, Marceline touched gently down on Bubblegum's balcony. She brought her hands up and wiped away the tears on Bonnie's face carefully, thankfully she'd stopped crying, she guessed she'd been too surprised by their sudden take off. Bonnie was lost for words, but Marceline seemed to have a new kind of confidence and determination in her voice.
"I have been moping around these stinking kingdoms since the day we broke up, Bonnie. It took me till now to remember how freaking important you are to me, and I… I've lived for so long. And Bonnibel I am telling you now, this" she pointed to Bubblegum and then to herself "this, doesn't happen a lot. I just- I'm not good at saying this junk but, I know you're scared and I'm so, so sorry for what I did and I just, I refuse to lose this again, man this last year and a half seriously sucked with you." Bubblegum was taken aback; she was touched by what Marceline was saying- and amazed by how serious she was. That wasn't to say Marceline's usual self wasn't still present though," Jeez we only talked for the first time in however long today… like, I wasn't planning on this I swear, I'm sorry I don't know what's up with me …" she said, when she realised how dramatic she sounded to herself.
Bubblegum didn't find it hard to remember how she'd fallen in love with the vampire girl.
"Marceline, you're amazing, you know that?" Bubblegum's words echoed a distant memory
"So I've been told" Marceline shrugged, and grinned.
Bubblegum laughed, hiccupping a little from crying earlier.
"I understand what you mean Marcy, I'm just…I'm still not sure…"
"Look don't worry about it, I'm gonna convince you. I promise, you'll realise soon enough you can't say no to this" she winked and floated back off the balcony. Bubblegum giggled,
"If you say so…goodnight Marceline." Marceline started floating further away,
"Goodnight Bonnibel, sweet dreams." Bubblegum turned and opened her balcony door, she went into her room and sighed, she couldn't be bothered to change out of the jeans she was wearing so she just changed her top to her usual rock shirt.
"So you do still wear it…" a familiar voice spoke in the darkness of her room. Bubblegum jumped and nearly screamed in fright before she stopped herself.
"MARCELINE I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE BUT STOP BEING INVISIBLE AND GET OUT OF MY ROOM IMMEDIATELY." She heard a light chuckle before her curtains fluttered as an invisible Marceline flew past them; she only became visible again in the distance (too far away for Bonnie to glare/ yell at her…). Bubblegum watched and couldn't resist smiling.

A/N: Yep, so I think I have a good idea about where this is gonna go now, I've got an idea in my head for a fairly long ongoing story, fingers crossed this goes okay XD. Hope you guys like it so far, reviews are again, really appreciated (and constructive criticism always welcome). Thanks for those who have reviewed so far, especially Sailor Water Dragon: I've changed up the formatting- hope this is a bit better! c: