A/N: Sorry I skipped a week. I was working on these big ass chapters. These are very critical chapters so I didn't want to rush them! I'll probably need another break, because the climax begins soon and I want to plan it out well. But enjoy the new content for now and leave some feedback!
"Ignisem, what is the damned delay?" A voice like tumbling boulders said.
"The land is not so sleepy anymore." Ignisem muttered, head deep in his hood. "Our way to glory has been filled with masses of fools by that meddling princess of the old Kingsdom."
The grand ink monster, Atrocitas, scoffed with a rumbling rage in his throat; he sat beyond a flaming portal, in a hell world. His grotesque tentacles flicked about, drifting in subconscious impulse as he worked the brain in his black globule of a head.
"You say she is of the Kingsdom? The empire that defeated the Ghost Eater?"
"She is the royalty of the Candy Kingdom, a consequence of the Kingsdom split, but a female ancestor of hers must certainly have been involved. I watched that war myself through spy fires." Ignisem stalled a second, recalling the battle scenes from latter years.
Presently, he turned to the monstrosity, looking it full in the eyes.
"With her heritage, she is much too qualified to fight us, we must kill her."
The monster nodded in return. "Certainly." He replied, flicking a tentacle irritably.
The wizard drew up maps of the land of Ooo, marking the advance of resistance to his terror: the Warrior Kingdom, the Mountain Kingdom, the human tribe, all rallying against him. Even the Fire Kingdom in whose corner he held his base was sending armies to the Princess Bubblegum.
"I didn't think I would've made a martyr of that stupid boy prince!" He cursed.
"Forget these piteous squabbles. Do your job and summon my army, Ignisem. With our full power it won't matter the spirits they are in. We will grind them into the ground." Atrocitas said from his portal.
"Not as easily done. The Underground seems to have leadership. An equally stubborn vampire girl who thinks she is of good blood." Ignisem said, angrily whipping off the hood of his fiery robes from his head.
"Though you may be a most powerful entity, that body you command was not given much of a brain, was it?" Atrocitas said, smirking.
"How dare you!" Ignisem raged into a pillar of fountaining lava, spitting insults at the monster, who kept a placid expression.
Atrocitas resumed his calm musing after the wizard cooled down into regular form.
"Ignisem, do you ever wonder why for all your divine power you were still overcome by a torrent of pathetic little souls? Because you encourage them to band together, you show all your cards and then let them besiege you at full strength. The dagger of sabotage is always more effective than the battle ax."
Ignisem flashed a look over to the portal, a rare look of humble contemplation on his face.
"You have gone and made a formidable opponent yet again, but there is still damage to be done to their unity. That vampire girl, Marceline, is connected to the Princess in more ways than one. Surely you know what I mean." Atrocitas shuffled his mass around, his midnight flesh rippling grotesquely.
"Uh… They are also friends?" Ignisem said, clearly lost.
"Oh, vacuous death light, you really are quite dim. Do you really think they are staying up late gossiping as they braid each other's hair?! She is the Princess' lover, you dolt!"
The wizard took a step back, squinting in concentration. He had seen them together quite often through his spy fires, but he had not considered this. Love and other sentimental emotions of that sort were lost fully on a thing like him.
"I see. And what do you suggest? To break them apart?" He said, craning his neck up to Atrocitas.
"Bah! To do so would only evoke further retaliation. We will have them break themselves apart. Not by attack, but by meddling. Love will destroy the Princess and the Vampire, and all of their hopes will fall with them." Atrocitas smirked, flicking his tendrils in quiet joy.
"You were right," he continued, "we do need to destroy the princess. But not by force. Summon me to Ooo and we shall make a trip to the Underground. Now will their defeat began."
. . .
A hot gasp burst out in the night and the vapor struck white against the blackness of the Underground. The next gasp was muffled by a tight hand, slid over squirming pink lips like a crypt's marble slab. Marceline pushed down firmly, pressing her body in to still her lover. The Princess, pinned down and stifled, huffed loudly under the powerful vampire grip, her eyes flickering under slatted lids as Marceline poured her passion down onto her. From below came the pale hand, strong but gentle, the fingers plunging up and in, then sliding out, then surging back in again. Bubblegum arched her back against the thrusting and her stomach became softly crested by the pooling light of a solitary candle, the only one they could risk to have on the roof of her makeshift mansion. Bubblegum reveled in her shock as silvery fingers left streaks of ice down her back and the odd sensation of her crotch's heat was cut through again and again by Marceline's defiantly cold hand. Pulsing, in and out, the vampire never seemed to lighten her pace working over the princess. Fearing she'd lose the moment, Bubblegum bit down on Marceline's stony grip, anchoring herself as her entire body shook in ecstasy. Her mind melted under that gaze, the lustful blacks of eyes hovering above the blood red tongue that slicked back and forth over ashen lips. A swirling of the thumb sent another sweep of pleasure through her body and she desperately threw her arms over the vampire to hold on. Her soft hands dug into Marceline's broad back, running over the thick muscle, her fingers flittering every time the vampire shoved her weight back down on her. She hit her peak with a buckle and muffled cry, and slipped down onto the roof, reeling in between awareness and dream. Marceline gently slid down onto the princess, taking her in her arms again and giving her an affectionate peck on the forehead. They smiled together, limbs entwined, lying under the blackness of the Underground's anti-sky.
A few hours later they both stirred from sleep to see a pristine moon edge into the frame of the great hole that led to Ooo. They took in its beauty together, regaining their focus on the world. This was their favorite place to be in the Underground, hiding away from the cynical ghosts, the frantic assistants and the war obsessed commanders. Marceline nibbled at the princess' hair idly as she ran her fingers over her lush pink skin. The thrill of her touch caused Bubblegum to turn a blushing face over to the vampire and they locked eyes. For a few minutes they talked without words, leaving the conversation to their wandering fingers. Abruptly, the princess tore her eyes away and smothered her head into Marceline's chest. She grabbed at the vampire's shower of midnight hair that flowed all about them and tugged lightly in a silent plea. Marceline drew her head back to look down at the shaking princess, gently guiding Bubblegum's head up with a pale hand on her chin.
"Bonnie, what's the matter?" She said, frowning at her.
Bubblegum flashed her eyes to the side, then looked down as she began to speak.
"I'm so scared, about everything. Running this kingdom and being with you in secret… How would my subjects feel if they knew?" She whimpered. Her misty eyes turned back to the view of the moon.
"Well, for one- who gives a damn? It's your kingdom. You're the one sacrificing everything. Why does it have to be secret? Just let them deal with it."
"It's not that simple, Mar… They want me to wed with the goblin Singly Eota. If they knew I was sneaking around with the daughter of the Lord of Evil… well I don't know. I don't think they would ever trust me again. They are so parochial..." Her tone grew increasingly harsh at the end, and she quietly muttered incoherent frustrations afterwards.
"Stuff that! You are the only thing standing in the way of their utter destruction and they want to control your love life?! You're not their puppet! Fuck them!" Marceline cursed to the air.
"I told you it's not that simple. It's never that simple for me, Marceline. You always think we can just bash through any problem that gets in our way, it's stupid and immature!" Bubblegum was angry, breathing heavy.
She felt a strange air come between them in the long pause that followed. Suddenly the vampire's embrace felt cold in an unusual way, her body was rigid and tense against the princess' gummy pink skin. Bubblegum brought her head up to look at Marceline's face: it was a mixed expression of anger, sadness and, above all, blankness. There was something bad burning in the vampire's mind but she was forcing down a heavy blanket of calm in hopes to smother it.
"Mar… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you that. I'm just frustrated…" Bubblegum said, gently tugging on the vampire's shoulders.
Marceline turned her face away,
"Bee…" She began.
A loud clattering at the edge of the roof tore them from their drama and Marceline violently pulled away from her embrace with Bubblegum to hover in an upright position as a royal guard swung over onto the roof from a ladder.
"Good, we found you both. There is quite an emergency." He gasped.
. . .
The carriage strained as it drove near vertical up the mountain that held the Spark Alternator at its leveled precipice. The ride was jolting, jerking and intensely uncomfortable. Marceline hadn't spoken the entire time, she stuck her head out the window instead. Bubblegum frequently glanced over to the lady in black leather, frowning and attempting to gather the courage to bridge the weird divide that had fallen between them. It was no use, the vampire was stubborn and would stick in this bad mood regardless of how much it hurt her lover. Marceline silently cursed at herself for this habit, but knew she couldn't get around her pride when it was this battered and swollen.
Who is right here? Isn't it right for me to be offended by the things she said? She was heartless, she knows those are two things I am afraid of being. It's not like she's just chiding me for fun anymore either, she meant it this time… Marceline huffed, flashing angry eyes over to the princess, who luckily had been staring down at her hands.
Stop, you idiot! By acting like this you are only proving that you are immature… Who is right? What does it matter… The vampire held an uneasy face, putting a hand in front to disguise any emotion that was leaking through.
The carriage broke out onto even ground and quickly scooted across towards the crowd of ghosts that had gathered about the hulking factory mass of the Spark Alternator. Nirbai ran through the huddled mass and swung open the cabin door as soon as it had come to rest, bowing deeply as the ladies made their way out of the exit, then he escorted the two towards the crowd of ghosts.
"Hello, Princess." He said as he handed her a neat pin of papers, "the situation here is rather grim. It would seem the Fire Lord has broken in once again and stole energy from the Soul Source, and this time he wasn't challenged."
Bubblegum stopped in her tracks, Marceline bumped into her confusedly from behind.
"Who was supposed to be protecting the Alternator tonight?" She addressed it to both Nirbai and Marceline, rage brimming in her.
The two looked at each other. Nirbai simply raised his eyebrows and turned his attention to his papers, sifting through them. A dread dawned on Marceline, her mouth turned down.
"Well?" Bubblegum demanded angrily.
Those stupid fucking vamps. Marceline cursed in her mind. She remembered then that she had volunteered a few vampires for the task of defending the Spark Alternator this night. It was originally going to be her duty, but in a rush she had thrown the chore on a group of friends she usually haunted the Velvet House with. They neither said yes or no to the demand, throwing 'vampire queen' chides at her, but she was too distracted with her passionate urge to see the princess to deal with their attitude. She had assumed they would give up their night out of respect for her. She had assumed wrong, apparently.
"I'm sorry... I was assigned here tonight, but I gave the task to some of my vampire friends. They aren't very reliable, I guess." Marceline groveled, refusing to make eye contact with the princess.
"How much did he steal?" Bubblegum said, turning her attention to Nirbai.
"Ah…" Nirbai glanced down at his papers, squinting at a particular line. "The mechanics are saying he was able to take almost everything in the well, which they estimate was about the equivalent of 1800 average souls."
Bubblegum turned inward to a calculation she had been constructing for this purpose. She was attempting to estimate the Fire Lord's current state of power, based on the reported amounts of his previous siphons and historical accounts of his original source. In any other situation she would've disregarded such a hypothesis as dangerously flimsy, but she had no other means of predicting his threat. It had been estimated by scholars of the Kingsdom that his well of power held the magnitude of around 18,000 souls in the old days. Luckily, back then, the Wizard's College was able to stretch a large net of ward spells across the entire land of Ooo and narrow his command of power down to around 7000 souls. Even with his power choked, the Fire Lord put up quite a fight against the force sent to defeat him. That army, made up of master wizards, behemoth creatures, and fleets of ironclad armies, was leagues ahead of the force Bubblegum was scraping together from the already war torn land of Ooo…
A click in her mind, that familiar hum of results. The computations had been completed, though no joy could be taken from the success. The resultant burned in her mind, dread dripping from the digits, pooling heavily in her stomach.
8100.
Enough buffer on either side for the real number to still be equally terrifying.
She closed her eyes and squeezed the lids together, trying her best to forget it all.
"Bonnie?" Marceline said from behind her.
Bubblegum turned a face of rage to her, lips trembling. Marceline fell back, her face flushing in shame. She began to stammer out an apology, anything to make it better…
"Marceline, please stay here and consult your royal staff for war preparation. We will convene tomorrow night at the Council Hall to discuss mobilization. I don't want to see you until then. Goodbye." The Princess soberly made her way back to the carriage, trailed by Nirbai who gave a quiet glance back to the slouching vampire.
Bubblegum's procession faded away into the haze of the Underground, leaving Marceline behind. The vampire looked to the ground, shrouding her face beneath a canopy of hair. Tears dripped from her eyes, curses from her mouth. A great darkness fell around her.
In her carriage Bubblegum made quaint small talk with the goblin assistant. He gave her a few ounces of hope upon informing her that many of the wandering mage tribes, who had spawned from the Wizard College's destruction, were eager in announcing their allegiance to the princess' army, determined to reclaim the glory of their ancestors.
Maybe it will all be okay… If I can just focus on the war, maybe we can pull through this. Either way, I need to forget about her for now… Bubblegum thought grimly, looking out a window out into the Strip, watching the drunkards clash together aimlessly.
. . .
Great souls aren't given breaks. Like tempered steel they must be thrown in the fire again and again, every inch of their being tested in the hell of the forge so that one day they may emerge a treasure to the world. This was the way of the princess' life, ever a test of her potential.
And right now that test manifested itself in literal fire.
From above the carriage a great column of flames streamed down, being pushed through the air by the Fire Lord himself. The carriage driver shouted loudly as the fire fell at him, though he was swept away to his death by something else- a shadowy glob of monster.
Total noise filled the cabin; the princess barely had time to widen her eyes before the carriage was ripped in two by a pillar of fire. Nirbai and Bubblegum spilled out on opposite sides of the flames, landing hard between tufts of fire and scraps of the broken carriage. The Fire Lord slowly descended towards the princess, grinning devilishly. Everything was a blur to the her; she was half conscious, hit hard by the sudden trauma of the fall. She felt Ignisem approach from his intense heat and began to cry in desperation, knowing death approached with him.
"Now, now, don't fret. You will not die this day. I have a plan, you see…" He said.
Through her tears she saw his grin, blazing with evil.
A pain slowly slid into her, like a needle. Then, as if the needle of pain had emptied its contents into her, a fire flooded throughout her body. She gasped and seized, unable to make a noise. The pain hit all corners of her mind and in a snap she lost consciousness, collapsing back into the remnants of the carriage.