Chapter XXXI, Morose Goodbyes

So the plan was somewhat simple. Get inside, as far as they could, then the little Lime will distract the guards as much as possible for them to get away from this world. The princess couldn't argue with it's simplicity, still, it was too straightforward for her liking. The Lime assured her that everything will work just fine, and that the other lemons are hardly smart enough to figure out the difference if they'll only stick to their disguises. That seemed to be the most vital part of it all. Said guises weren't much more complicated than before as the sings were present yet again with the addition of ribbons here and then for a good measure. That and the two obscure, yellow masks. It was just too silly to work, Bubblegum thought to herself. Than again, when she recalled Earl and his kingdom, was that really all that implausible? At least the people on the streets were somewhat fooled by their presence, as they hardly saw the difference. Not that anyone payed too much attention. It was a lemon land after all – care about yourself not others. That, and it at least gave Marceline much to laugh about.

"We're almost there you two. Hopefully... hopefully you don't mind walking, right?" She blinked about that a couple of time. "I never asked you about..."

"We're fine." The vampire chuckled a little. For her, every lemon being, in this world or her own, was just too silly to comprehend. "Better tell us what we can expect inside."

"Inside. Oh. Oh!" She shook her head, almost as if she forgot where were they heading too. "Many things really. The palace is, as they say, the greatest thing in this kingdom. Our kingdom? Many artists. Many thinkers. They come there. They do their things..." She scratched her head. "Smart things? Maybe. Yes. Yes."

And they moved onwards, the great palace shimmered in the distance, being closer and closer. A majestic sight one could say. Others would probably say it's pretty sour. Still, the girls were more occupied looking at their little guide more than anything. Like before, she acted rather weird.

"She is a bit..."

"Bonked in the head?"

"Yep."

"Aren't we all?"

"Point taken, still, she is, well... just look."

When they gazed at her, she just swirled around on the pavement, as everyone around looked at her with contempt. She hardly cared about it, as she hummed some kind of childish rhyme, obviously about lemons. Lime hardly ever cared what others spoke about her, thought about her, felt about her. Well, maybe at times. Maybe during some lone evenings. But during the day? When the sunlight poured on her yellow skin? No, during those times, the world was her oyster.

"Yeah. Still, she's our best way out of here Bub-bubs."

"Sadly." Bubblegum sighted as the yellow girl just tried to bash one of the lemon pigeons with her little umbrella. "Glob help us..."

Finally, after many tormented animals along their way, they found themselves right before the gates leading towards the great Lemon Palace. The two, huge lemon guards guarded the entrance, crossing their halberds as soon as the girls came closer. The Lime flicked her hand and stepped forward, smiling playfully.

"Nhhh. Passports?" The guard looked both at the vampire and the princess suspiciously. "Especially theirs."

"Tell me mister lemon..." She came closer and looked in his round eyes. "Does a lemon needs a lemon passport to get into a lemon place to fulfill her lemon dreams, which is to talk about lemons?"

"Nhhh... I don't..."

"Therefore, could asking a lemon if he is a lemon, shouldn't be considered as treason, since the lemon before you is just a lemon that wants to follow his lemon ways?" She talked fast. The other guard quickly flee from the scene, as he preferred to avoid too much thinking. The one she spoke to was trapped in her clutches however. All for the better, since while he was looking at her face, her agile hands snatched his sachet. "So, what's your statement on those lemon ways, of lemon people, in the country and land of lemons, mister lemon?"

"Nh... Well..."

"And just look with you lemon eyes at those two lemon beauties, so eager to dive right into the lemon ways." She nodded her head quickly, as she began to circle around him, only to snatch some other things from his yellow pockets. "Lemon is lemon, no? Yes?"

"But pass..."

"Oh, the sore fact that we're lemons, should be enough." She winked at him a couple of times. His head was about to explode from the overflow of information. "Or should I say, sour fact, huh? Yes? Yes? Oh, oh, you shouldn't just ask people around if they're lemons, they're lemons, yes." The Lime smiled, grinning with her pointy teeth. "So we can go in, yes?"

"Nhh... hnnn... yes."

He agreed. It was obvious that he will. Too many questions, too many phrases that he needed to think about. Lemons tried to avoid complicated thoughts, and she just bombarded him with so much nonsense, that it will take a while before he'll grasp the full meaning of it. Maybe he'll even realize that he was deceived. Doubtful, but there's always a possibility. Either way, as they went inside, they saw numerous lemons scattered around the great hall. Each and single one of them was disputing about something with another. Something important at times perhaps but mostly about the things that hardly mattered to anyone. The Lime disappeared somewhere in the crowd, leaving the two on their own. She had her little plan after all, they just needed her signal to go further into the throne room.

"It's a... nice place."

"Marceline..."

"No, really, nice." She yawned. "But I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"Before we met up with the original lemons..." She looked at her playfully from underneath her yellow mask and grabbed her hand. "You spoke about Earl... Once you told me he was meant to be your... successor, right?"

"Yeah... so?"

The lemon people began to take interests in those weird beings. Were they even lemons? They were labeled like that, surely they were. For them, the two, expressing their feelings like that, talking to each other with much care, now, that was something different. Unexpected. It was almost like a spectacle of sorts. And each and every spectacle should be observed and judged, such was the law of this sour city. So they did just that, circling around the couple. The two hardly took notice. Or, more to the point, they hardly cared about what the yellow beings thought about them.

"So you thought about it all the time?"

"About... it?"

"Running away."

"I did..." She nodded her pink head. "...of course I did."

"And I never believed you..."

"I wouldn't believe myself as well, you know."

"Still..." The vampire sighted. "...why you never told me so? Never before that is."

"You think..." The princess grimaced. "...that another promise back then would make a difference?"

"No..." She shrugged. "I guess not."

"Well, you have you answer."

"That I do..." The girl smirked. "That I do. Still, you have to admit, Lemongrab, not your brightest idea."

"Well, if I'd only add a seventy five percent more sugar and a little less juice, perhaps it would end in a more..."

"...knowing you, it'd be a seventy five percent disaster."

Bubblegum looked at her angrily at first, still, it was hard to be mad at her for long, as they both eventually just chuckled around. The ones that surrounded them looked puzzled at each other. They all agreed that it was a part of some kind of spectacle performed by the two. Some of them were quite amused, others, hardly entertained. That seemed to be the theme of this place – hardly entertaining.

"Quite the show. Nhhh." The first lemon swirled his mustache. "Quite eccentric, speaking about the lemon ways almost as if someone created lemons, yes? Brave! Preposterous! Nhhh. Postmodernist?"

"Lacked some emotions that we do need however... hnnnnnnn." The other one fixed his monocle. "Quite."

"You'd do it better?"

"Certainly. Nhhh. Lemon always succeeds another lemon." He grinned. "It's a lemon lingo."

And they just ventured onwards to seek more enlightenment in the works of others. The girls hardly knew what was going on, still, a lemon is a lemon, nothing to be freaked out about since they're always the same – bitter and a bit weird. And as they strolled around the place some more, eventually one of the tall figurines pointed at them and shouted heavily, apparently seeing their performance before.

"YOU!"

"Me?"

"YES, YOU, COME HERE!"

He clapped his hands angrily. He had quite the beard that looked almost as if it was glued to his face, as it swirled in various different ways and places. He as well reminded them of Earl, and that only made them smirk.

"Smiling? Nhhh funny. Yes. But. Now when you're here, I know you... nhhhh, like art. So. Listen to this."

He rose his hand up in the air, in a dire attempt to look a bit more dramatic. A lemon, being dramatic? Now that was something easily overlooked, as every lemon strove to be that way. Still, he hardly had the appearance to pull it off.

"Lemon, sourest of them all, lemon, grandest shall not fall, lemon, being made divine, lemon, thing to look and shine, lemon, wonder of this world, lemon, sourness sharp as sword, lemon, yellow bright like sun, lemon, never forced to run."

He looked at them with some hope, as apparently his poem, to him, was the greatest thing that ever existed. The lemons were quite narcissistic in their beings, that's for sure, and they quite enjoyed the notion that other lemons would appreciate their doings. It was almost like submission in their eyes. Almost.

"Um..."
"Nhhh... so tell me, what do you think?" He pointed his finger at Marceline. "You, strangely pale lemon!"

"It was..."

"Yes?..."

"Rather bitter and... sour?"

"Excellent!" He clapped excitedly. "Hah-hah! Excellent. You may go now lemon. You may go. Off you go."

Almost instantly when he wobbled off, half of the room on their left was shattered by a huge explosion, as bits and pieces of walls flew everywhere around. So that was her plan. It did caught everyone's attention, that's for sure. The princess could admire her style, still, she would've done it a bit more... subtle.

"Well. That sure is something." Marceline laughed. "Quite the show."

"Yeah... Let's boil!"

And they just ran. No one payed attention to them, looking at all the mess, as every single lemon began to scream abruptly at the top of it's lungs, creating a true cacophony of sounds. A perfect opportunity. As they ventured onwards as fast as they could, the girls eventually found themselves in the main chambers, where the rulers of this world resided. The Lemongrabs sat on their thrones, looking blankly at the space before them. As soon as the two entered, they swiftly gazed at their little frames, as they eyes swirled them inside out. Quite the déjà vu. The black one stood up and the white one quickly followed.

"What are you..." He sniffed in the air. There was no lemon scent present on the girls. He narrowed his eyebrows. "You two. You are not lemons."
"Aren't they brother?"

"No. We made people from candy, remember? This one here smells of sugar. Not lemon."

"I see." He nodded his head. "They're not.

The brothers looked at one another. They were like Earl copies, that's for sure, still, their facial features were somewhat more narrow, perhaps even more vicious. Overall, they seemed to be far more dangerous than their normal counterparts.

"Punishment for entering the divine chambers of Lemongrabs...

"...would be dungeon. But you're not lemons therefore..."

"...death. Don't take it personally."

One of them used some kind of lever, fixated right between their thrones. It was meant to do something, that's for sure, still, the surprised look on both of the lemon faces indicated that it hardly worked. They obviously couldn't show the fact that they were nervous, therefore both of them pulled out their swords. That's when the Lime came from behind one of the pillars.

"Tried to electrocute the floor, yes? Well. I think someone broke the cables, yes? Yes. Who would that be?" She swirled around, turning towards the girls. "Happy to met you, this is where you leave, right? Right. Ta-ta."

They both charged at her with their swords as they began to slice the air back and forth. The girl simply swirled around in her beautiful yet sour ballet, giving the girls once again a distraction much needed for their escape. When the two Earls tried to punish the little traitor, both Marceline and Bublegum came on the very top of their thrones, as the pink one clearly remembered that the entrance to another world should be somewhere around. And just now, she realized that the very crystal is missing from her pocket. As the Lime danced around on the floor, she just recalled that very fact.

"Oh. Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

She swirled once again and tossed the little pink prism towards the princess. She almost instantly used it to open the gateway, the one of many on their path onwards. The girls just looked at the little lemon frame patiently avoiding each and every attack. She just smirked towards them and bowed before them, as she dodged yet another slash. The girls took it as a sign to leave, even if they really wanted to help her little being. When they disappeared in the portal, the two Earls finally managed to corner the little nuisance.

"For your act of treason..."

"...you won't be sentenced to rot in dungeon..."

"Sentence is death!"

"Instant death!"

"Oh, oh, I'm afraid that won't be doable."

She smirked a little as she picked up something from her pocket and tossed it into the ground. As it exploded, flour began to pour in each and every direction, covering everything in it's whiteness. Still, that hardly did the job, as it couldn't covered her way of escape. Still, the smile remained on her face.

"Oh. Who would have thought. It didn't worked." She tossed her hands on the side. "Well. Never died before. Think that it'll be something interesting, yes, yes?"

###

Death stood in the middle of his sand fields, gazing at all the drifting grains. It was the thing he was usually occupied with, as at times, amongst the little pieces that fallen down, there was something that caught his attention. Amongst all the boring and dull pieces of sand, there was this rare occasion that a gem will fall from the sky. It happened once. That, and he also knew that there was a certain kind of void inside of his old corpse. The one that even the longest stares won't fill. The one that cannot be buried away. So he gazed and finally saw something mildly interesting. He knew that the girls proven to be capable of many things, traveling in different places, in different times. Brought death into many places as well it would seem. For him? For him it hardly bare any difference. Death is death, in every possible world. Everything ends up here. Everything aside from one. Some things never shall be brought back. Pity. At least he could use some kind of entertainment. As he caught and crushed the tiny grain in the tips of his fingers, a frail smoke swirled around his hand, eventually coming down on the very ground, forming itself into a yellow being. She winked a couple of times, looking directly at his horse skull.

"Oh." She widened her eyes. "Am I... dead?"

"Dead as you can be babe."

"And this is..."

"Land of the dead."

"So you must be..."

"Death."

She stood up and looked around. There was nothing but sand surrounding her. That very notion was quite sad, since there weren't any objects she could snatch from here. Nothing to claim for her own. No lamps to keep her occupied.

"Oh. I thought it'll be more... refine? Divine? I think someone chopped off my head you see. I thought the payment would be somewhat... different." She blinked a couple of times once again. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I offended you right, don't mind me, don't mind, I just like to talk, and when I talk I..."

"You bore me."

"Beg you pardon?"

"Thought you'd be interesting." He shrugged. "But you bore me."

"Oh, oh but why is tha..."

He ignored her completely, as he once again began to rake the sand in the way he knew the best. She obviously hardly wanted to be ignored, therefore she just came closer, and as she picked up her umbrella, she began to do the same as he did, constantly copying at his movements. Obviously her tool was hardly made for shuffling through the sand, still, Death seemed to admire her efforts, as he grinned back at her. She felt somewhat happy. At least someone enjoyed the effort she put into something, just this once.