Chapter Text
Marceline was only young when the world ended. To the untrained eye, Marceline was still young over six hundred years later. She found it funny, really, because she couldn't remember what young felt like. Simmering between her bones lay the familiar ache of age, hidden underneath a well crafted facade that never once cracked. Not until Marceline slammed the door of her treehouse to crawl under the covers of her warm bed for a year or two - to recharge her sense of self she had to keep remembering.
Marceline couldn't remember youth, but she could remember the end of the world. If by some cruel twist of fate the clocks could be turned back, if time could be reversed and the earth's undoing could be seen by fresh, innocent eyes; there would only be horror. Marceline longed for youth, she did not long for destruction. At the end of the world, there was no space for romanticism, or hope - definitely not scientific discovery.
She knew this more than anyone in the land of Ooo. In fact, she was probably the only one sane enough to know it at all.
It shouldn't have therefore struck Marceline as odd that on one cool evening in her 600th year, a representative from the Candy Kingdom arrived on the door step of her treasured tree-house to relay a message from the new monarch, requesting her presence to aid in the scientific advancement of the Candy Kingdom.
"Excuse me, your majesty, would it please you to hear a message from Princess Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom?"
It would not please her, but she wasn't about to tell this brainless peardrop that. That wasn't to say she did not want to give him the fright of his life, only her interest had been piqued by the name Princess Bubblegum, who, as far as Marceline could recall, was not the ruler of the Candy Kingdom.
"Who's Princess Gubblebum?"
It thrilled Marceline to know that this particular pear-drop had enough brain cells to rub together to become annoyed at her antics.
"It's Princess Bubblegum, your highness," the words strained through clenched teeth.
"Oh sure, whatever, who is she though? I just got back from a weeks vacation in the Nightosphere, and before I left, this Princess Mubblelum wasn't in charge."
"I don't mean to question you, your magnificence, only Princess Bubblegum has been ruler of the Candy Kingdom for eleven years. Six of those she has spent patiently waiting for your return in order to sate her scientific curiosity, your regalness," He sounded smug, like someone who had just won a game of darts, not like someone who had delivered some horribly bad news to Marceline the Vampire Queen. She had the urge to suck whatever diluted essence of red that swam in his green complexion right out of his smug smile.
"Tell Princess Lubblemum to expect me whenever I feel the need to bore myself to death. Now beat it before you become my lunch, I have some things to process."
It should have made Marceline more happy to see the pathetic looking pear-drop scramble back to where he came from, but her mood had been notably dampened by the unnerving news that her week vacation had somehow turned into 11 years. Time had been slipping away from her for a while now, hours stretching into days stretching into weeks now apparently stretching into years. It made sense. The world constantly changed whilst Marceline stayed the same, like stagnant water. Maybe she had been hiding up in the Nightosphere all this time, too afraid to come back to the reality of her isolation. How sad it was that her only constant was a dimension full of demons.
Maybe she 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 pay a visit to the Candy Kingdom, shake things up a little bit - perhaps even start a revolution against this Princess Frugglelump. If she'd truly been gone 11 years, she'd have to do a lot of terrorising to make up for lost time.
There was a part of her - the very small, annoying, diplomatic side - that wanted to go to cultivate some sort of working relationship. Granted, it made Marceline feel ill to bow to any authority, but she had fought every impulse in her blood in order to strike up a little deal with the last monarch.
Every few years she was afforded the opportunity to feast on the strawberries surrounding the Candy Kingdoms borders and, in return, Marceline would try her very best not to suck dry any of the Candy People. It worked out for the most part, and when it didn't, well nobody had to know about the candy disposal deal she had with the Flame Kingdom.
But Princess Luggleflum was new. There was a chance she wouldn't tolerate Marceline. There was some years when Marceline couldn't even tolerate herself. Perhaps this one was capable of critical thinking, given that she had requested her presence for 'scientific advancement' - whatever that meant. If she had enough brain cells to rub together to connect Marceline and science, there was no way she would be liable to fall for Marceline's manipulation. But it would sure would be fun to try.
But there was a darker thought threatening to surface. Science had caused the end of the world. Science was responsible for the lives of billions. Science took away Marceline's home - her true self. Princess Wubbledum could be stark, raving mad. She could be cooking up a creation to ensure Candy Kingdom supremacy for the next thousand years, and there was no way in hell Marceline was living through that. This new princess could be on track to destroy the world as they knew it, tainted by power and madness, just like before. Maybe the clocks didn't have to go back, maybe history just had to repeat itself for the end of the world to be seen by fresh, innocent eyes. Marceline was not going to let that happen. She'd built her life in the ashes of the old world, forged a new identity, lived through centuries - for what, for the end of the world to taunt her like a childish bully? No. Marceline wouldn't wait for a rainy day to visit the Candy Kingdom, she'd show that brat Princess Jubbleslum what happened when a mad scientist threatened her existence.