Chapter XIV, One Last Dance

As the princess came back to the main hall, she just now noticed how much time has actually passed. And speaking of things that passed, most of the guests lied somewhere above or under the tables. Few of them still had their share of fun on the floor however, as they wobbled back and forth, chatting vigorously while at it. Their efforts were admirable yet their abilities - quite lacking.

"Care to dance?"

A deep, calm voice spoke right into her ear. She hardly cared about anyone in this room aside from Marceline, so she quickly ditched his efforts.

"Not really into you, no offense."

"Non taken." He clicked his teeth. "Still, I insist, sugar babe."

He swirled Bubblegum around, as his bone hand tickled her by the chin. It was Death, this time dressed a bit more suitable. Almost instantly, he caught her tight by the waist and moved right into the remaining crowd. No one seemed to care about him being here. No one even noticed his presence. The skeleton moved swiftly, step by step, leading her around the others as their feet tapped on the floor.

"And one, two, three..." He spoke to himself and chuckled a bit. "Would you believe sugar sweet, that I needed to take lessons for that?"

"What that has to..."

"You know..." He pressed her a bit harder towards himself. "All because of that saying, 'to dance with the death' and such. It would be such a shame, if Death himself couldn't dance, huh?"

She nodded and decided to simply roll with it. And they swiveled around all the drunk attendants that just passed by, sometimes jumping right above them if they happened to crawl because of all the drinks they had. During one of their playful rolls, she finally gave him the gross handkerchief. It disappeared almost instantly within his hand.

"You got what I needed sweetness." He nodded as he spun around with her. "Or rather, what you needed."

"Yep."

"That's great sweet cheeks." Death tickled her a little on the back. "Step by step, and you'll get there. And one, two, three..."

He lead them all across the hall. His moves, and his grip were quite firm. Despite what he said, he was quite sure of his motion, almost as if he did this for eons. From time to time he even blinked towards her, but she only responded with a chuckle. If his efforts were to make her feel a bit better, he was doing nicely.

"It's a nice place. For what it is. But, my, my, you obtained something more than just the item I needed, correct?" He grinned, as he bent her body in yet another graceful move. "Are you more... hm... calm now, honeydew?"

"The way you just spy on others... On things that don't concern you..." Bubblegum laughed, as she placed her hand on his cheek, only to playfully tap on it. "Incredible. But yes, yes I am."

"I just like to hear good news, sugar sweet." The skeleton leaned a bit closer and whispered. "At peace with the lemon dude?"

"With Earl? Hah, I'll never know that for sure." He swirled her body around as they passed by some other dancing couples. "He is a... questionable being."

"That I'm sure! Fantastic either way. It's nice to hear when things go well despite the odds." His grip once again tightened a bit. "Hopefully the rest will go just as nicely. It won't be as easy though."

"I'll menage. No, we'll menage. Remember mister Death, I'm not alone on this one." She smiled, as they circled around the drunk Duke. "She's with me and that's all I need."

"Speaking of her, your friend made quite the spectacle, you know that?" The dead one chuckled and whispered into her ear. "You do match one another sugar babe."

"You suddenly began to care..." The princess said, as someone almost bumped into them. Luckily Death was agile enough to maneuver around. "Why?"

"No particular reason. What could that be, huh? But hey. I deal with dying as my job." He pulled her closer to him, as his maw almost reached her lips. "Doesn't mean that I cannot be charming when I have some time off, huh?"

"Well, it's sometimes hard to imagine you that way..." She giggled and scratched his chin. "...mister Death."

"Then may I just say, pretty cheeks, that you look astonishing today, blooming like a flower, sweeter than the finest liquor." He clicked with his teeth, as the embers in his eyes lightened up. "And if the circumstances were different, I would show you what it means that Death is deaf, and knows no denial."

"Oh." She blushed. "What could you possibly imply, mister Death?"

"Nothing. Nothing important." He chuckled once again as he placed his finger over his lips. "But speaking of feelings my dear sweet serenade, someone would like to see you, I'm sure."

Dead one swirled around gracefully and smiled towards her one last time. The fire in his eye sockets got smaller and smaller, as the sparks began to slowly burn out. And after the last spin, he disappeared once again in a puff of smoke. Her body was still in motion and she eventually bumped into someone. Out of all people, it was her precious little vampire, blinking at her curiously.

"Oh, hey..." She hugged her lover hard. "Missed you, yep." Her eyes were quite hazy. "Where have you been?"

"Marceline?"

"Bonnie?" She blinked a couple of times. "That's our new game? To say each others n... names? Alright, I do remember yours – Bonnie! See? See? Are you profound to me... no, wait... proud of me?"

"Eh." The princess sighted. "How much you had?"

"Nothing... N... Nothing!" She paused. "Lemon put out that stick off his butt and gave us all some drinks! I just had some of it." Marceline shrugged. "Maybe a cup. Or a bottle. Two of them! Alright, four. Yes I'm drunk. Let's dance."

And they began doing just that. The vampire was hardly in a state to lead, so it was up to the princess to support her pale body and to wheel around the rest of the guests. She tried her best not to shake her partner too hard, as it could bring some rather nasty results.

"W... where have you been either way? This was so... so dull wif... without you."

"Had some things to do." She flicked her on the nose. "And got what we were after."
"You did? That's... good, right? I think so..." Once again, she blinked. "My, you're b... blurry today."

"I am?" Bubblegum shook her head. "You're unbearable at times, you know that?"

"Yep... I knu... know!"

The music slowed down a bit and so did their motion. As they gently moved around, Bubblegum felt that her companion floats a little bit from time to time, only to swiftly descend back onto the floor. She didn't knew why, but that notion made her smirk.

"So Bonnie. Shall we move the party s... someplace elis... else?" She finally said and yawned. "It's quite boring here."

"We can..." She pondered for a second. "But tell me first... Where's the host?" She looked around. "He is still alive I hope?"

"He's s... somewhere." She gazed into the crowd, yet her eyes barely could spot anything that caught her attention. "Having fun-fun, I think. Once in a lai... life time he can, right? Right?" Thoughts were spinning in her head and it was quite hard to focus. "Beats me and me. He was funny for a while. But now, I want some quality enter... entra... errara... quality time!"

"You can barely stand on your own. That's just distasteful, you know?" The princess chuckled a little. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Minor defi... details, hardly important." She pointed towards the brick wall. "We shall go into our rum... room now, as your kin... knight I declare it! We have pink tracts of land to conquer and we're running out of test... time!"

"Marceline, hush now, you're making a show."

"Nah. But t... there will come a time for sno... shows alright!"

Bubblegum blushed a bit and quickly began to stout towards their room. At first, the little vampire kept up with her nicely, but with each step they took, she was less and less capable of walking. When she tried to float, she began to bump into walls - and that was even worse. Eventually, the princess had to carry her for the rest of this path, as the pale girl sang her songs which made her companion's face turn red once more. Finally, they reached their goal and much like previously, the princess threw her lover right onto the bed only to quickly lay right next to her.

"I could get used to, well... well... t... that." The vampire said eventually, poking the princess in her pink head. "All of that." She began to massage her neck. "And that, and that too... too..." She started to poke her all around her body. "Mmm... all of those!"

"Used to what?" Bonnibel giggled. "Being smashed?"

"Na, of course not that, bah!" She made a sulkily face. "B... being always around you." The vampire rolled her eyes. "Why you has... have to spill the mood like that, and all, and... Stuff..."

"You must wait, just a little longer." She grabbed her hand. "Soon, alright?"

"I lack the paf... patience you know. Besides, you said that so many times, that even my eleven... eighty fingers won't be enough to count that." She began doing just that to prove her point either way. "But let's try."

"Marceline, you don't have eighty fingers." The princess quickly replied, as the girl began to count Bubblegum's fingers as well. "So you can stop that."

"I don't?" She looked disappointed. "Oh..."

"I still love you though."

"Aw. I love you too Bonnie. Bonnie. Such a nice name..." The vampire giggled, as she slowly began to climb on top of her pink lover. She did it rather clumsily this time around however. "Such a wonder you... are, you k... know? Nev... never before I saw someone li... like you. And you fno... know. Such a nice..." All of a sudden, her eyes began to close rapidly. "Such a nice..."

Her face landed right in Bubblegum's chest. And as she cuddled a bit and murmured something to herself, she finally felt asleep. The princess on the other hand was hardly feeling the need to do that, as she stared into the ceiling, at times gazing at her lover. Death said it will only gets worse from now on. It was a stout so far, wasn't it? Are they ready? She sure hoped that they are.