What happened last:

After sustaining an almost fatal injury by an assassin, Finn was cared for by Jake and then taken to the Candy Kingdom for a blood transfusion. The two brothers decided to remain at the kingdom until the princess and Marcy returned from the Ice King's lair. Now the two girls are in the destroyed home of the Ice King. What happened?

The vampire queen didn't need to say much nor did she want to. She knew that the Ice King was in his "The Past Room" reminiscing about things that he didn't remember. The candy princess just quietly followed Marceline to the lowest depths of the Ice King's castle. They walked and walked and walked until they finally came up to the room.

The Ice King was sitting and the desk in his most sacred room. He was babbling to himself, sounding insane in the process. He must have been trying to remember something but couldn't.

IK: "Think, think, think… Why can't I remember? I know what I want to remember I just can't remember it."

M: "S-Simon?" Marceline said as she stepped into the doorway. She was remaining on her guard because the Ice King could easily overreact.

IK: "Marceline... why is it that… I can remember your name but I don't know who you are?" He said, not sounding surprised that the vampire queen randomly showed up without warning.

M: "I… I don't know. But me and PB came to help-"

IK: "The princess? You see… that's another think that I can't remember. I try soo hard… all the time to capture these various princesses. I do it to fill some sort of… hole in my heart and to keep the crushing loneliness at bay but I don't really KNOW why I do it. These princesses seem to be missing something, as if one factor is missing in the puzzle that is my life."

M: "I understand Simon, but me and PB wanted to-"

IK: "Simon is it? Simon Petrikov, a 47 year old antiquarian who was also a professor of archaeology. I have all of these news articles and journals from that guy and I feel like I should know him… but I just don't. Why Marceline"?

M: "I don't know… look, YOU are Simon. That's why I'm here. I've been trying to say that Princess Bubblegum might have found a way to fix your memory."

IK: "Is that so? I assure you, I've tried it all but nothing seems to stop the voices of the crown. It speaks of the ice and snow, and that I shall be protected in a veil of frost if I followed its wishes. The voices never stop… buy my glob I wish they would."

Princess Bubblegum was standing behind Marceline the whole time; she didn't want to interject into this uncertain situation. From what she was hearing is that the Ice King was cognizant that he didn't really remember much of anything. Which was bizarre.

PB: "How could someone remember that they don't remember something?" She pondered on the paradox and couldn't come up with a solution in her mind.

M: "Simon, I-"

IK: "Just leave me be! I understand that you mean well but nothing can fix this. I told you that I've tried everything! I'm just going to be a shell of the man I used to be. Whoever that may be..." The Ice King said, sounding tired and defeated as he lowered his head to look at a drawing on his desk.

Marceline carefully got closer to her old friend, trying to comfort him so that he may become more cooperative. She noticed the drawings on his desk, there were also some pictures of Betty. Marceline wasn't sure if the Ice King remembered who she was so she didn't mention her name... yet.

From up close, the Ice King looked as if he had been up for days without sleep, or even moving from the seat that he was in. He reeked of self-pity and manic depression. Princess Bubblegum almost broke down into tears seeing the Ice King like this. Even though she could care less for him, it was a painful sight to see the real side of this very broken man. He's this dispirited and doesn't even remember why.

Marceline was within arm's reach when she could clearly see what the drawings were. She could see a poorly drawn green blob on the picture that slightly looked like a monster. She could also see two human-like figures on the drawing. One of a man and the other of a little girl…

M: "S-Simon… what's this a drawing of?" She said wide-eyed and distraught.

IK: "This? This is the last thing that I remember… before I forgot pretty much everything." He said as he lifted the drawing up to look at it more intently.

IK: "I have the same dream all the time and it's always the same one. I'm there with a little girl… or maybe it was a boy… or it was just a rock? I don't remember… but there was also a large sludge beast there… "

M: "Go on… what happened?" She said, trying to get Simon to remember every single detail, no matter how painful of a memory it was for him.

IK: "The giant sludge beast spoke to me… I think about it all the time and maybe… just maybe it was someone I knew. Its voice sounded soo familiar to me. There's always a word or... or a name on the tip of my tongue when I think of that beast's voice but I just can't say it."

M: "Ummm… what else do you remember?" She was beginning to sound very upset and worried.

IK: "The beast was trying to tell me something; to get me to stop… as if it knew me. If… she knew me…"

M: "Who is she, Simon?"

IK: "The princess. No… my princess… Betty." The Ice King got quiet as soon as he said her name.

M: "Simon, the sludge beast didn't-"

IK: "Oh my grod… I need to go find that sludge beast! Hurry Marcy, grab your things, I have to go find my princess!" The Ice King was beginning to sound excited and that his spirits were lifted higher than they had ever been. He was getting ready to leave to find "Betty".

M: "Simon, wait!" She said as she tried to grab his arm to stop him.

IK: "No! I have to find her Marcy! I know she's out there! I remember her finally!" He was feeling ecstatic.

M: "SIMON!"

The Ice King stopped for a second to finally let Marceline speak. She had his full, undivided attention.

M: "That sludge beast… never said anything, Simon…"

IK: "What?! Yes she did! I remember her talking to me. And how do you know? You weren't there…" His positive mood was shutting down and being replaced by crushing loneliness and disappointment.

He was scrambling to gather paperwork together, thinking that it would help things make sense.

Just like old times.

It was unclear how the Ice King was able to recall who "Betty" was by name, but it was something that happened without any science or technology or magic. It was a miracle that couldn't be explained. It's possible that Betty, being something he cared for soo dearly, was something that he was able to remember because she was a big part of him before he went insane. Maybe he just needed somebody to talk to?

M: "No, Simon. It was just another monster like any other. You thought the same thing about other monsters in the past… but you forgot about them. And…"

Simon may have been crushed by the reality that he just became aware of but he was still actively engaged in the conversation.

IK: "And WHAT, Marceline?" He was almost sounding angry at this point.

M: "You forgot about me too, Simon."

IK: "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't remember ever meeting you before a few years ago…"

M: "That's exactly the point, Simon. You have all these memories, documentations and pictures scattered all throughout this room but you don't know what any of it means or where it came from…"

IK: "I was a collector before I forgot everything…" He was becoming more and more confused with every question and statement made by the vampire queen.

M: "No… You we're Simon Petrikov, you were a-"

IK: "Stop this, Marceline! I'm sick of you lying to me! Do you take me for a fool or something? I just want to be left alone so I can drown in my sorrows by myself. I don't even know you!" He was quickly becoming angry.

M: "No Simon, I'm-"

The Ice King interrupted her by storming out of the room. She didn't know where he was going but she didn't think that he would leave his home.

M: "Well Bonnie, I guess we can-" Marceline turned to see the princess in tears.

M: "Bonnie? What's wrong?"

PB: "I… don't know. Just seeing someone like this really bothers me…" She was feeling defeated by Simon's amnesia induced depression.

M: "Well… we need to go help him to remember why he's like this. You know that right PB?"

PB: "Yeah… Let's go." She said while trying to regain her composure.

The two girls went upstairs to find the Ice King. He was standing and looking out a window, not doing anything of great importance.

IK:" You know, Marceline… I've been lost in my emptiness for such a long time. I doubt your abilities to fix this. And I'm sorry for my lack in faith."

M:" I know. I wouldn't expect it." She said in a stern voice.

M: "Do It PB!"

Princess Bubblegum suddenly tossed a grenade-like device at the Ice King and his mind flashed and he was thrown into a vortex of confusing memories. He was forced to remember some things that have been lost for hundreds of years…

..

..

S: "Hunson!"

So that was Chapter 23. How do you guys like the story so far?