Chapter 14: Hearsay

Bubblegum stared at the apple. The very grey, not red apple that sat on her pillow. She stared at it as if it weren't real at all. Because it couldn't be, not to her. If this apple…this not red apple is real…I called her…I said she was…I called her a bloodsucker. A monster. Her tentative hand reached out, almost willing it in itself for the fruit not to be real. I called her that…but Marceline…Marceline doesn't…she doesn't suck blood. Her hand hovered still, just around the shape of the apple. Still she could only stare at it. She had been so sure…so sure. She let out a shaky, haggard breath, fighting off tears.

She didn't know why, but she couldn't pick the fruit up. She pulled her hand back and sat down on the bed, placing her hands in her lap. A thought washed over her, and she looked at her balcony doors. "Marci I was wrong." She spoke, so, so sure that the vampire was outside invisible, just waiting for her to realize her mistake. There was no movement from her balcony. "Marceline, please. I made a mistake and it was wrong of me to call you those things. I got caught up in the book." Still, there was nothing.

Bubblegum began to panic. "M-Marci?" She choked out. Fear washed over her. She has to be there. She's just waiting. She's just playing a mean trick. She'll be back in here in just a second. She will. She always comes back. Her breathing heavy, Bubblegum just sat on her bed, staring at the entrance her vampire would use when she was done being broody and sad. It is in her nature to brood. She'll be back. She'll be back! She tried so hard to convince herself.

She sat on her bed all night. Not changing. Not moving. She sat and stared at the balcony doors until the first rays of the sunrise threw themselves across the horizon. Then she stared some more, as the slow realization that no, Marceline hadn't come back that night, weighted her royal shoulders down like no responsibility ever had. She just needs some more time. It wasn't proper, what I said to her. She'll come back tonight. Bubblegum slowly got up and went about her duties for the day, mind elsewhere and both book and apple sitting where they had been left.

Again she sat on her bed, just staring at the doors to her balcony which she had never locked since she met the vampire. The grey apple sat in her peripheries, taunting her, the only remnant of Marceline in the room. As midnight came and went, soon, the time of Marceline's usual appearances passed as well. It was then that Bubblegum truly began to panic. She grabbed the book of the floor and flipped through it wildly, trying to find something, anything that she had missed. Hoping, praying that she had been right, that she had cast Marceline out for a reason. Vampires. Where's the part on vampires?

Flipping to the right page, she found it.

"Vampires have been around since the beginning of the beginning…" she turned frantically to the next page. "…Demi-Demons created by a master they revere as a parent figure…" She read it again. Demi-demons? What? She flipped back to a section that had particularly disgusted her. Skimming over the gross parts she read, "…worst of all creatures. Demons have the inclination to…and often use their 'children' as vents for anger and boredom resulting in…" Bubblegum tried so hard to connect the dots. Children and parents…Demi-Demons… She pressed a hard palm to her forehead. She had been so consumed with her new-found knowledge of the Night-O-Sphere; she hadn't even registered the difference.

Still she read on, flipping quickly back to the vampire section. "…considered mindless killing machines that cannot control their bloodlust. Vampires are the beasts, the animals of the Night-O-Sphere, and only think of sating their hunger for blood." The princess paused and furrowed a brow. Marceline is definitely not that. She's very intelligent. She's their queen! Evidently, she had only recollected the disgusting elements of the book, and not some of the important facts. No. No there has to be some kind of exception. She has to be-be bad or…or I kicked her out for nothing.

She turned to the pages on becoming the ruler. Yes. It will be here. She had to do this to become ruler. She had to. "…must fight to the death in a brutal show of force. After, they must hold onto their throne by fighting off and destroying every opposition to their rule." Bubblegum glowed, slightly triumphant, though it still irked her that her Marceline had done such a thing. As she flipped the book closed, sliding all the pages over one another, a small series of pages fell from in between the binding. She looked at them curiously. Where did these come from? She looked at the pages and noticed that they were handwritten. The first page was marked, 'Demons' And had a select few bullet points.

She read them over. "Cannot actually be killed. Heinous creatures. No remorse. Enjoy wrongdoing." It confused her. Not a moment ago she had read that in order to become ruler, an opponent had to fight to the death. She tossed the contradictory page aside and looked at the next one, labeled 'The Demon King'

"Cruel and disgusting. Wreaked havoc on Earth. Overthrown by unknown opposition." Bubblegum's breath hiccupped in her throat. Wreaked havoc on earth. Isn't that what…what Marceline said? She said they ran rampant…but…that doesn't make sense, they have always been in the Night-O-Sphere. Unknown opposition must be Marci but… She shook her head. All too confused. Now these pages were telling her of things not in any history book in Ooo. Though nothing here has said Ooo. It's said Earth.

There was just one page left. She froze as she read the heading, 'Humans'. No. No, no, no. No because humans haven't been around since the Mushroom War and every book I've read on that said they died from the war. Just the war. There's no mention of Demons or anything anywhere. She gulped, her eyes prying themselves to the single bullet against her will. "Demons- Probable cause of total extinction."

She clutched angrily at the page, crinkling the old paper under her firm grasp. This is lying. This is lying! I've read every history book I could get my hands on and Humans killed themselves! She wished the pages were heavier, that way she could simply throw them without them floating unsatisfactorily. She said…she said she'd read it. That three-quarters weren't true. That she had turned them all back to their own realm. These…these lumping, stupid, ridiculous pages written by some unknown person… Bubblegum couldn't admit the vampire had been telling the truth. That made her a hero. A hero who doesn't drink blood and thinks for herself and isn't a monster and doesn't wreak havoc and keeps hordes of demons at bay in their own realm for the sake of the rest of Ooo. She picked up the big book and threw it across the room, slamming it harshly into the wall with a yell.

The sun rose, and Peppermint Butler came running into her room. She fumed at the thing that lay next to the door. "Princess?" The man asked cautiously.

"This book! Who wrote it! Where does the information come from! Tell me right now, Peppermint!" She yelled at the little man.

He shied back slightly, having never seen the princess angry at anything before like she was now. "It-it-it's widely regarded as the truth by Ooo."

She jumped on his words. "Regarded as the truth? Regarded as the truth? What the lump does that mean!"

He backed further away from the girl, who had taken a few menacing steps towards him. "W-Well I believe m-most of it to be h-he-hear-hearsay, Princess." He stammered out the word, fearing the wrath of his master.

As he should have. Bubblegum exploded. "Hearsay? Hearsay? You're telling me that all the information we have on this is hearsay and regarded as the truth? It's a lumping gossip rag! Why was this sinister thing sitting in the non-fiction history section, Peppermint! Who in the name of Ooo put it there! Tell me right now so I can have them banished or strung up or something! Tell me!" She grabbed at the small man's collar and raised him high of the floor to face-level.

"I-I-I don't kn-know, Princess! Honestly! I-It's a-a-always been there!" He managed. She dropped him to the floor and threw the book at him.

"Take this filth and get out of my chambers!" she yelled at him. He scampered away with the book and she slammed the door, slowly venting out her anger through her breath. Marceline…you were alive then. You had to be. I should have believed you. I should have. She sat on the bed as her anger ebbed away to sadness. She glanced over at the apple and picked it up gingerly, rubbing it lightly with her thumb. Marceline…

Bubblegum had stayed up every night for the past two weeks until she had passed out from exhaustion. She was getting sick from lack of sleep. Still, no Marceline. She isn't coming back… Her heart felt heavy, knowing it was her fault Marceline hadn't returned. Tears stained her dress.

Bubblegum had thrown herself wildly into ruling her kingdom and making it the best it could be. If Marceline ensured this place existed, I'll ensure its wonderfulness. A year passed. She thought of her vampire. Is she still mine? She was still hoping that one day she would just show up, with a soft apology for being gone so long.

After that, she flew into desperation for six months or so. What if something happened to her? What if she's laying dead somewhere and no one cares because she's a demon spawn? What if she's been burnt in the sun by some angry villagers? What if she has been overthrown and killed in the Night-O-Sphere? She decided to go look for her. She was a princess, but Ooo be cursed if she didn't look at least once. She snuck out one day to Marceline's house. She hadn't been there in so long, but a place like that was hard to forget.

As she approached, she saw clear signs of someone living there, and for a moment, her hopes flew. She prepared a whole chastising speech for letting her worry so, and she knocked. Her heart fell heavily and hard when a boy in a bear cap opened the door.

"Oh. Hello." He said, blushing slightly as though something were embarrassing. "I-I'm Finn." He stammered.

"Hello, Finn." She said politely, as was her royal obligation. The boy was residing on her land after all, and that made him her subject. "I'm Princess Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom. Tell me, how long have you lived here? How did you come to possess this house?"

"Finn, who is it?" A yell came from inside, and soon after that, a dog appeared at the door.

"Jake, this is Princess Bubblegum. Princess, this is my brother, Jake." She looked at him, utterly confused. Surely a dog and a…a whatever-he-is cannot be related. Sensing her confusion, he explained. "I was found in the woods and adopted. I'm not a dog, I'm a human."

She blanched. Humans should have been extinct for a thousand years, and here one was before her. She chose not to question it. He doesn't look like anything else, that's for sure. Perhaps he will be interesting to have around. She nodded at him.

"As for the house, we found it abandoned around a year ago. But like, it didn't look like it'd been lived in for a while, y'know? So we moved in, man. It's right in the middle of Ooo, and we're total adventurers so it's like, super perfect! Right bro?" He asked Jake the Dog.

"Yeah, Man!" was the reply, and she looked on as they pounded fists. More than a year. She's just vanished.

"Why do you wanna know, Princess?" The boy asked. She shook her head of thoughts of Marceline.

"Just looking for the previous tenant. Thank you for your time." she turned to walk away. "I'm sure I'll see you again, Finn the Human!" She yelled as she walked back home.

"Y-y-yeah!" Was the stammered reply

The next six months were spent hating Marceline. She wants to disappear from the face of the planet, fine! Wants me to worry about her, fine! Doesn't tell me if she's alive or dead, fine! She's the heartless one! She's the one who left! She's the one who didn't fight to explain! All blame was cast on the Vampire by the candy girl, though the fault truly fell entirely to Bubblegum.

She was practicing for her Whistling Death Match when she heard it. A laugh so familiar, yet so foreign, she couldn't believe it was real. It couldn't be… She walked slowly over to her window and looked out and there she was. After two years, she was just there, laughing with Finn. Bubblegum had never been more furious. She thinks she can just waltz back here! She thinks she can just be friends with Finn and be all cheery and whatever as if nothing happened! That…Ass! She thought scandalously, loving but hating the fact that the vampire herself had taught her that word.

"Greetings Finn!" she said brightly. "Hey, Marceline…" She acknowledged with clear disdain.

Marceline wiggled her fingers in a teasing wave at her. "Hello, Bonnibel."

A/N

Well I actually liked it. Kinda just tumbled out. Had a vision of PB with the apple, and this followed. A request from Silenthill on "How they deal with the break-up." (Don't worry, Marci's chapter will be later, and I think it'll be a little less of a downer.)

***SUGGEST please SUGGEST please SUGGEST please SUGGEST***

I mean it! Compliments are lovely! Just lovely! But I implore you, request scenes! I know you want scenes from them! I know you're out there thinking, "Man, I wish that were in a Bubbline fic!" AND I DO TOO! So please, request. For those of you reviewing, thank you oh so much. For those of you just reading...I know you secretly want to ask me for scenes. I know you do. I see you. Yes you. Just sitting there, thinking 'oh man, she's talking about me' and I am. I am talking about you. Yes you. Sitting at your laptop. You have scenes you want. Ask. It'll be awesome, I swear.

-JD