𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐃. How was she supposed to find her? Sure, she had a general idea, but she could not be certain.
She edged to her phone, bass guitar in hand, and dialled her best friend’s number.
“Yo, Finn?” She called. “Or reincarnation of Finn? I dunno.”
“Marceline!” The other end of the line screamed, causing the floating girl to giggle softly. Honestly, she did miss him and Jake.
“Jake there with you?” She asked, playing with the phone cord.
“Hell yeah, Jake come say hi!” The line crackled as Finn passed the phone to Jake.
“Hey, Marcy.” Came Jake’s voice, and she grinned before hissing loudly into the receiver, causing him to scream, and the other line went dead for a moment.
Marceline could see him crying behind a pile of blankets.
It’s been too long. She thought fondly, and Finn came back to the phone.
“Sorry, Jake’s peeing his pants–wait he doesn’t have any but you get it–and he dropped the phone.” Finn laughed. “So, what’s up?”
“Oh,” Marceline rubbed her nape out of self-consciousness. “Just wanted to know...have you guys been talking to Bubblegum?”
“Bubblegum?” Finn asked. “Yeah, why?”
She felt secretly relieved, and she replied, “Thought that I’d drop by, you know, and see you guys again.”
“Awwww, hear that Jake?”
“Nooooooo–”
“You old dog.” Finn chuckled. “Yeah, sure, Marcy, come find us.”
“Where are you guys in the first place?” She asked.
“New York City, North America.”
“Er,” she thought, sad that she could not follow the swallows as planned. They were the most easy-going out of all the birds she had ever journeyed with. “Okay, I’ll come with the waterfowl instead then.”
“What?” Finn screamed from the other line. “Why don’t you take the planes?”
“What the glob?” Marceline asked, confused. “I’ve always travelled with the migratory birds for company. Generations of them know me, geez. I won’t spend money on planes.”
“Argh,” groaned Finn. “Fine, but you’d take way longer.”
“That’s part of the fun, dude.” She laughed. “Bye, Finn.”
“See ya.”
And with that, she ended the call. After putting the phone down, she floated to where her battle-axe bass was waiting. It’d be all she needed in New York.
Grabbing it, she slung it over her shoulder and headed to Simon’s, where the old man was waiting with Gunther.
She passed her house keys to him and smiled, “Thanks for offering to look after my house, Simon. I’ll come back soon.”
He returned her smile, and Gunther purred softly for attention. “Goodbye, and I hope that she will be as beautiful as you remembered.”
Marceline blinked. “How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That–” her cheeks grew darker. “–I fell in love with a girl?”
He chuckled softly. “Pretty pink face, goddess, to name a few.” And to top it off, he winked knowingly at her.
Marceline laughed. “See you, Simon, and thanks again.”
“See you, dearie.”
She left his porch, her bass guitar slung over her slender frame. Once she was a safe distance from the two lone houses over the horizon, she looked around for the nearest river.
There was one near Simon’s place. She recalled, as he had redirected a little of its water source to water his crops, even showing her how it was done.
Finally, she spotted its blue waters, and she looked around for the waterfowl that usually roamed its beds.
Luckily, she found the exact type she was looking for: the Canadian Goose. It eyed her warily with a black eye, but chose to ignore her for the most part, before joining its gaggle*.
She followed it obediently, observing its every move, before morphing into one similar to it, her guitar dissolving into a pattern of red feathers on her chest.
Heading for New York? She asked the gaggle, and its leader cackled unceremoniously upon her arrival.
After quarrelling with him for a little while, it finally let her fly with them just until New York.
Ugh, this is why I prefer the swallows. She groaned, spreading her black wings and following the group of birds as they took to the sky, allowing the hot spiral of air to carry them up.
+
“I can’t believe that Marceline is coming back to visit!” Finn repeated for the umpteenth time, and Jake rolled his eyes while playing another game that Beemo had made. “How long has it been?”
“Seven-hundred and thirty years,” Jake sighed, making sure that his character would not be trapped by the purple antagonist in the game. “Or something like that. I’ve not exactly been counting, dude. I’m glad we didn’t change our phone number.”
“I’ve not been counting either.” Finn shrugged, taking a breadknife and opening the jar of Nutella on the kitchen counter. “Not since Ooo got destroyed by my kind.”
“Yeah, man,” came Jake’s reply. Beemo giggled and started emitting sparks, causing the yellow dog to get up and quench the fire that had erupted all over the robot’s face. “Ah, cheese doodles, Beemo Vertwo isn’t gonna last long.”
“Just let it rest dude,” Finn said, taking a bite out of his Nutella sandwich. “You’ve been trying to rebuild Beemo all this while. I think it’s time we move on.”
He sighed dramatically. “Let his spirit rest with the dead of Ooo.”
“You’re right,” Jake relented, letting the burnt robot fall to the floor. “It’s just...nothing has been the same since we decided to live with the humans.”
“I am human, buddy.” Finn said.
“But I have to fake being an actual dog every time the neighbours come by.” Jake narrowed his eyes at his best friend. “I’m tired of fake barking and sticking my tongue out.”
“Sorry, man.” Finn frowned, finishing the last of his sandwich. “Forgot to save some for you.”
“It’s okay,” Jake snorted. “Chocolate is poisonous to dogs anyway.”
“Man, come on,” Finn tried to reason, but Jake walked out of the living room and into the room he shared with Finn, not willing to listen to whatever his pal had to say.
Locking the door behind him, he pulled out a small brown case that he kept under his bed. He yanked it open and pulled out some pictures, his eyes tearing over as he ran his thumb delicately over its surface.
“I miss you, Lady.” He told his beloved, who had died with the collapse of Ooo, having sacrificed her life to rescue Bubblegum.
He kissed the photograph gently and placed it back inside the box, before being interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Go away, Finn.” He groaned, rubbing his tears away.
“Jake?” A feminine voice called. “Are you okay?”
“Bubblegum!” His ears perked up immediately and he stretched an arm out to open the door.
A tall, slender woman walked into the room, her eyes a gentle blue, long pink hair up in a graceful ponytail that ended at her shoulders. When she spoke, she did so with a regal air.
“I could hear you crying from behind the door.” She said, her blue eyes softening. “Are you alright?”
Jake nodded. “I’m fine, girl. Thanks for checking though.”
“That’s good to hear,” Bubblegum said, though she was almost certain that Jake was lying. “Dinner is almost ready. I’ll call you when it is.”
“Thanks, PB.” He smiled sadly, and Bubblegum knew to leave right there and then to let her friend have some alone time.
Outside in the kitchen, Finn gave Bubblegum a frown as he passed her some burnt spaghetti.
“I knew it,” she sighed, dumping the spaghetti in the bin. “I shouldn’t have put you in charge of dinner. I’ll go buy some food.”
“Sorry,” Finn frowned, grabbing a cloth to clean the sauce stains on the stove.
“It’s alright,” Bubblegum smiled, unhooking the car keys from their place on the wall.
She did not wait for Finn to reply and instead, opened the door, closed it, and trudged down the stairs of the red apartment building.
Her car, a pink Volkswagen, was parked in the building’s parking lot, and she made her way towards it, tidying her hair as she did so.
+
The air was chilly, crisp, and cooled the anxiety building up in the depths of her gut as she beat her wings in rhythm with the gaggle. Sure, it was not as bad as she thought it would be, but she was more anxious about what loomed ahead: Bonnibel Bubblegum.
Would the princess be the same? Would she be any different? Those questions spun around in her head ever since she had left the Nightosphere, having been its ruler for quite some time.
Wait for me. She willed, more as a comforting resonance for herself than anything else.
+
gaggle* — a group of geese.
thanks for reading! man, i really miss adventure time :(
joyfulweirdo.
3.1.2019.