Chapter XXVIII, Different Worlds

The swamps dragged for quite some time now. The endless rivers of green mud that sprouted in each and every direction looked like sick veins on a diseased corpse. Quite grim sight one could say. The girls hardly enjoyed that notion as they jumped in between those gaping holes, avoiding any contact with the murky fluid. Still, their journey continued. Even after all the pleasantries, even after all the nice words, soothing words, calming words, charming words, the threat still remained. That monster inside of her still lingered, with his claws running deep around her mind. Only with his destruction should they finally know rest. Only with his destruction should they finally be together. Eventually, after what seemed to be an eternity, the two reached their destination. Was it a lucky guess, or did the princess actually knew where they were heading? Hard to tell, yet the ruins in the middle of this Glob forsaken pond looked like the right spot. This place was old and there was no need for a science degree to figure that out. Deep within the crumbled stones, right in their center, lied a machine covered in dust.

"So..." Marceline tapped on it's surface. "That's your specialty I guess?"

"Would be normally, yes, still, this thing is old and I bet it's barely working."

"You have the smarts in that bubble head of yours. Figure it out?"

"I will..." She sighted. "Eventually. Help would be nice though, you know?"

The vampire nodded slightly and chuckled. Bonnibel obviously wanted to study all the possibilities, all the leads, devices, cogs and contraptions. How they move, how they tick, how they slide, how they do their things. All of that sounded a bit too boring for the girl. She was a fan of action, regardless of it's form. As her pink lover began to do her research, the pale one simply started to inspect all the metal pipes that came from the side. They were quite acoustic, and as she began to poke them with her fingernails, the sounds they made were quite pleasing to her ears. Bubblegum just looked at her and sighted, seeing as yet again the thinking part would be on her side in full. The half demon hardly took a hint as she began to hit on the other parts of the machine. And just as she did just that, she found a small pedestal, with hole right in the middle. She knew that she hardly had the brain of her lover, still, she could put two and two together. Death gave her something after all. And as she placed the small crystal right in the middle of the device, it began to work, as it spew out steam from within it's pipes with all the cogs running at full speed.

"What did you do?" The princess looked at the working device with much surprise. "How?"

"Vampire magic, ooo!"

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes. "Right, but seriously?"

"What?" The girl smiled flirtatiously as she flicked her fingers around. "You don't believe in my magical hands?"

"Oh, I have no doubt in their... power."

As the final wheel reached it's destination, right in the middle of the huge arch in between the mechanisms, a gate appeared. What was on the other side, it was hard to tell as the blurry visions behind constantly shifted, constantly changed as they ran it's course. The world beyond worlds. Finn and Jake were there once and they came back without a harm. If they did that, the princess figured that the two of them will do just fine. Perhaps better? She snatched the crystal from the pedestal and tangled her fingers around Marceline's hand.

"So, together?" The vampire smirked a little bit as her grasp tightened as well. "Hm?"

"Was it ever the other way around?"

"A couple of times, yes, and..."

"Hush."

And as they stepped forward, they disappeared in this weird doorway. They drifted for a while in endless and vast spaces, as the colors shifted and flourished around them, only to fade after each span and swirl. And just before they could get sick of this motion, in all ended as the two landed on a rock that just floated around in this weird place. Far over the horizon, there was nothing but chunks of stone, drifting aimlessly back and forth. It was quite fascinating, at least for the pink one.

"This is amazing!" She stated as she looked at the endless void before her. "The way those things defy the laws of physics and logic is just astonishing!" She clapped her hands. "Look Marceline! Those two rocks almost collided and shattered, yet the field surrounding them somehow affected their notion! Based on percents and their measurement, they should..."

"Uhum..."

"And the way that the air works in this place... we're able to breathe, yet it's clearly different than the one in Ooo. Is that the case? I need to investigate that immediately! Now if we just fix an element from this adhered mass we should..."

"Uhum..."

"And just about everything happens to be that way here!" She shuffled around her backpack only to find yet another handy measuring tool. "Look at the scale! It goes crazy, almost as if there was no actual end should we started to fall. But there has to be, science does not accept things that never end, they always end in some way, you know that, surely!"

"Uhum..."

"Such vast, amazing and enormous space to examine, to conquer!"

"Hm..." Marceline chuckled a little and muttered quietly. "That last part sounded almost exactly like the description of your butt."

###

Death sat on the hill made of sand, swirling an old gun in his bone hands. Relict of the past where things were far more simple. When people lived far shorted. When you hardly ever attached to someone, since, snap, and he was dead. Bang, and he ended with a hole in his head. Now those were the days. Simple days. Stupid at times, as the conflicts waged over things as meaningless as flagpoles. Almost refreshing. Almost nostalgic one could say. And as he made the last span of his crude little weapon, he put it straight into his mouth and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened which made him chuckle. He moved the barrel one more time and just as he tried to attempt this amusing activity once again, someone approached him. As his dark shadow lingered above his bone figurine, the one above him stated calmly.

"You shouldn't play with guns like that. They tend to mess with your head." The person laughed. "I know that for a fact."

The skeleton looked up. He know both the voice and the one standing before him. Tall man in a dark coat with a ruffled, mattered beard. There was something noble in his posture. Something grand in his tone.

"Ah. King of Mars." Death nodded slightly. "What brings you here?"

"I'm dead." The man shrugged. "Thought I can walk whenever I want in the lands of the... passing. Why not here."

"Well, your majesty. If you say so."

He raised his hand and from within the dunes, a throne emerged. The man almost instantly fixated himself upon it, as he apparently found it fitting for the one of his posture and state. Death liked him for some reason. He was different than others. He had honor. He had his priorities. He had his ambitions. And even despite the fact that the man before him sacrificed his immortality for a dog, he still was one of the finest. A company to crave for. The skeleton missed those kind of people. Proud. Untainted.

"There surely must be a reason for you to visit." The dead one finally said as he looked into his eyes. "No offense, but the likes of you don't just tag along around."

"You seem to know people well." The man flickered his hand. "But lately you seem to be kind off out of place. And that's quite the sight for someone on your position..."

"You know..." He swirled the gun around once more. "I don't like empty words, if nothing else is involved. Care for a little bit of fun? Ya know the rules of the grim roulette, eh, your majesty?"

He tossed the weapon towards the man. He looked at it as if it was some kind of jest. He hardly enjoyed the notion of having the thing that eventually brought his end. Still, he knew that Death had a twisted sense of humor. At times that was hardly a feat he appreciated.

"So, you're just looking for an excuse for me to blow a hole in my head again don't you?"

"Ah, why would I do such a thing."

"Indeed. Why would you."

The man obviously knew the rules, just as anyone in the lands of dead. It was a simple game. Since no one could die in here, as all of the inhabitants were long gone, there was nothing to loose. Nothing, aside from knowledge that the one that lost needed to pass over to the one that proved to be lucky enough. And as the king spanned the barrel and pointed right at his forehead, the trigger went off and nothing happened. Death chuckled.

"Your turn."

The gun landed in his slim hands almost instantly. He always used this little game of his when he wanted to speak to someone about something. There was nothing better than a bullet through the head to make people talk. Funny how that works. As he put it right in his mouth, the shoot passed straight through his thick skull, piercing it inside out. As the undead began his laughter, the wound almost instantly mended.

"Well, I'm a fair host... So are the games of mine. Ask away."

"Ne-he-he. Don't mind if I'll do." The man grinned. "I'll pull out the heavy guns, get it, since I have the opportunity. Why so caring about the two all of a sudden?"

"A friend asked me for that." He shrugged. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Only that?"

"Obviously."

"I think there's something more." The man fixed his bow tie. "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. "

The dunes began to move once again, almost as if something crawled underneath their surface just after those words. Almost as if something was alive there, something that desperately wanted to get out, that ached to emerge. Perhaps that was the case. Death stood up as the man looked closely on his slim silhouette. The skeleton almost danced around the emerging pillars of sand, swirling around in a dream-like state. Finally he turned around and as he gazed at the king and stated calmly. There was something bitter behind his words however, as always in those weird times.

"You realize what you're sitting on, yes?"

"Of course." He shrugged. "I'm not stupid."

"So let's say that one of the grains went missing." He took some sand in the palm of his hand as he began to carefully shuffle it around. "Let's say that it was special for me in some way, and the one that meant to guard it failed. And now it's lost. You know how hard finding one single grain is?"

"I can't imagine it's that hard for you."

"But it is." He tossed away all the grains. "Even for me. Perhaps I'm doing this to feel better about myself? About this single spot of sand I lost? That could be the case. That could easily be the case..."

"Or maybe you count on the pink one help deep inside? You may know it all. She is smart however. Smarter than anyone you met." The man smiled yet again. "Ne-heh-heh. You'd like that, don't you? To find your missing..."

Death hardly listened to his words. The winds blew from each and every possible direction, once again shifting the sands beyond anyone's will. Beyond anyone's but the host himself. They flew around his skeletal body. He knew their exact amount. He knew each and every single grain. Each and every single little treasure. He knew very well that only one was missing. The most precious one. The one that he always held somewhere underneath his ragged clothes. Somewhere deep inside his ribcage. The closest thing there could possibly be for him. He reached his skeletal hands towards the pillar emerging from down below. Time was always meaningless to him, for he was eternal. It wasn't that way for others however. The more he looked into the constantly moving surface, the more he could swore he saw a face amongst the grains. Face that he remembered from somewhere. A face that he probably would like to forget. When you're eternal however, when you're timeless, when you're Death, you're bound to remember. Remember it all. All the details. Mistakes. Attachments. There should be non. Not in this line of work. Not in this kind of job. His fingers almost reached his goal. Almost touched it. Almost caressed it. Smudged it. Felt something about it? But as the very tip of his bone reached towards it, it shattered, just like that. Death shook his head and swirled the barrel in the gun, tossing it back to the man. Still smiling, he pulled the trigger, and much to the skeleton joy, he blew his brains out. It quickly mended obviously, as you cannot die twice.

"King of Mars, a question for thy, what's your greatest regret?"

"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." He sighted loudly. "But sacrificing myself to a dog... that's still something that, let's just say, boggles my mind..."

###

The cat hardly wanted to encounter both of them. That was a task he couldn't fulfill, both because they would simply tore them to pieces, and because he grew somewhat attached to them. Still, in his moral code, there was always a way to find a detour. He was a clever being after all, clever enough to know how to avoid making his paws dirty. However since they escaped out from this world now, catching up to them would require some kind of effort. Some kind of skill. He obviously had the latter, still, he hardly strove for the encounter in the fields beyond this world. Beyond this world, that phrase sounded somewhat familiar however. And then, a thought appeared in his head about how to get rid of them. Or rather, how to kill the vampire without the blood on his claws. As he found himself a small field with dirt that was dry enough, he began to scribe. There are invocations which are never forgotten. Invocations used in those dire needs. And they were just what he needed. As the last mark in his crudely drawn circle was completed, as each and every rune was in it's place, he simply tapped right in the center, as his tail began to swirl around. The ground surrounding the circle trembled, yet, nothing happened at first. Then, from within the cracks made by the trembling, black smoke poured in. From within it's thick depths, a figure emerged. A slick and vile looking being, covered in bandages. His skin looked almost as if it was burned a couple of times. Perhaps way too many times. His red eyes were fixated right at the fiend before him, looking with some dose of curiosity and hatred. The cat knew however that the one before him felt that towards everyone, more or less.

"Long time no see." The feline playfully began to circle around him. Yes, this assassin should do the trick. Perfect for the job. Skilled enough. Never asking questions. Always finishing his part of the deal. "In what hole you hid all this time?" The demon chuckled a little. "Abandoned by everyone, called by imbeciles, searching for ways to earn something for your little existence..." The feline grinned with his pointy teeth. "Grand life, grand..."

The slim being was one of those that hardly took the insults like that. Before the fiend could even take a notice, he scorched the ground surrounding him and lifted him up by the mane, leaning much closer and looking straight in his eyes.

"No need for that. I'm hardly a goal you aspire." The cat said, as the embers slowly began to scorch his fur. "I have a job for you however, should you be willing to do it..." He smiled again despite the pain. "The one that ends with killing."

The hitman finally let him go. If anything, this evil being loved his job, perhaps a little bit too much. He could never resist yet another thrill. Yet another hunt. Yet another target, begging for life right at his knees. If there was anything he enjoyed in his twisted life, that would be it. A twisted yet simple pleasure.

"Find the girl. Kill the pale one. Leave the pink one alive. Simple?"

This vile being looked at him closely and narrowed his burnt eyebrows. Yes, the deal was simple. Yes, killing was what he excelled at. Obviously, it was just another target for him. Just another escape from his flaming thoughts. Just another excuse to feel the blood at his hands. And with a single blink, a piece of paper appeared near him, with a dark feather floating around it. The assassin encouraged the fiend to write something apparently. The feline knew the rules all too well.

"I cannot write." The cat chuckled ironically. "I can just tell you the name?" Scorcher simply nodded to him. "Alright... was it... Marcel? Marcelo? Marcella?... Ah. Marceline."

The name almost instantly appeared on the sheet of paper. The assassin looked closely at it, almost as if he tried to memorize it, almost as if the very essence of it's nature gave him the knowledge about his prey. Perhaps that was the case? He was one of those that could make it happen, as his power was fueled by emotions beyond this world. He quickly faded within the black smoke that flew off into the dimensional gate.