Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bonnibel Bubblegum walked carefully through the rubble lining the street in front of the ruined public library. Bonnie cursed her short stature as she struggled to climb what had once been a wide staircase, but was now a maze of shattered concrete. Once she reached the top of the smashed staircase, she could see that the main doors were ajar. Excellent, she thought. I won't even need to pick any locks. Inside was a vast marble lobby, and rows of dusty shelves which disappeared into the dark recesses of the building. Two spiral staircases flanked the lobby, leading up to a second floor lined with more bookcases.

Bonnie went immediately to the front desk, and looked around for an index that would tell her where different subjects were housed inside the library. There were two sections that caught her eye: 500 - Pure Science, and 900 - History and Geography. She had come for the science books, but it wouldn't hurt to get a better idea of the region's geography while she was here. She had gotten lost a few times on her way to the city, despite the tattered map she had picked up at an abandoned gas station.

A crash of objects falling to the floor in a distant part of the library made her freeze. By now she has realized that mutants and bandits were most common in areas with densely packed buildings. Former settlements where people had lived in the before times. It didn't seem fair that the most interesting parts of the world were so dangerous, and the safe places were so lonely. She knew from her collection of old world items that things had been different once, but why? What happened to what seemed like paradise into a place of peril? A moment passed as she waited and listened for further sounds. Nothing. Must be rats, she thought.

Ever cautious, she moved a little more quietly as she passed through the rows of books, looking for the section on local geography. Her footsteps echoed through the room and once or twice she imagined that there was a second pair of footsteps, just out of sync with her own. She found a yellowing atlas of the city and its environs next to rows of topographic maps and other miscellaneous texts. This would help her get her bearings, and maybe even find somewhere safe to settle down. Things had been difficult since she separated from the Mother Gum. She remembered it being especially hard on Neddy when they first started living on their own. At one point she went back to look for the Mother Gum, only to find that it had left. Had something scared it? Driven it into hiding? Bonnie could only guess.

The idea of finding the Mother Gum again crossed her mind occasionally, but she wasn't sure where to look. It could have gone anywhere, it might not even still exist. In any case, if she was to survive she'd need to become even more innovative. She put the atlas in her backpack and headed upstairs to find some books on science and weather. The first volume she grabbed was a wide flat book with a picture of a smiling lightning bolt and the words "Baby's Introduction to Static Electricity" on the cover. She opened the book and a prerecorded jingle started playing. "Natural, man-made, small or large, let's learn about this static charge!"

"No, no, no!" exclaimed Bonnie. "I don't need baby books, I need some real mega-mama-math."

In her anger, she forgot her desire to be stealthy, and threw the book at the shelf. It bounced off and fell onto the floor with a thud. A giggle from behind the next bookshelf made her jump.

"Who's there?" said Bonnie, looking around the shelves for the source of the laughter. "I come in…peace?"

A little girl, about Bonnie's height, stepped out from behind a bookshelf. If she were human, Bonnie would have guessed the girl was about 10 or 12, but she was clearly not human. She was skinny and grey with thick, dark hair and wide eyes. The girl was smiling at her with a faint air of mockery, but Bonnie was too surprised to feel angry.

"Who are you?" said Bonnie. The girl giggled again, a faintly musical laugh, and Bonnie saw that she had extremely sharp teeth. She noticed that the girl was wearing a ruffled white dress with dark blue ribbons. It looked like something out of an old photo or illustration, fresh and clean.

"Nice dress," she said, offering her hand. "My name is Bonnibel."

The girl's ears twitched a little. She hesitated a moment, and then took Bonnie's hand.

"I'm Marceline," she said and offered Bonnie a much more earnest smile. Then she looked down at Bonnie's dirty rawhide clothing. Suddenly Bonnie felt slightly self conscious. She stood up a little straighter and tugged at the straps of her backpack.

"Are you all by yourself?" Marceline asked.

Bonnie nodded. She figured it wasn't technically a lie. She'd left Neddy safely back in the mobile home they were temporarily living in, so right now she was alone.

"You must be strong to be surviving all by yourself," said Marceline thoughtfully.

"Heck yeah, I am!" said Bonnie. "Not to brag but, I've lived through some gnarly stuff dude."

"You should come back to the hive with me," said Marceline.

"The hive?" asked Bonnie.

Marceline nodded, "Dad will want to meet you."

She didn't elaborate on what the hive meant, but Bonnie figured that more information would come in time. For now, she still had a mission to focus on.

"Alright," said Bonnie. "But first I need to get something."

Marceline followed Bonnie into the stacks of books to a section on weather and climate. Bonnie pulled out several thick textbooks and started reading them with her flashlight. It was all pretty simple stuff to her, but there were a few chapters on environmental change and cloud formation that she wanted to focus on. Marceline picked up one of the books and started leafing through it aimlessly.

"Can you even understand these boring old things?" asked Marceline.

"Yes," said Bonnie, a little defensively. "I taught myself how to read."

"And I guess you want to teach yourself about the weather."

"Not exactly," said Bonnie. "I already know about this stuff. I came here to figure out what's happening to the sky."

Marceline tilted her head sideways and looked at her strangely. Bonnie had noticed the sky start to change a few years ago. At first it was just thick red clouds on the horizon and clustered around the cities, far from the countryside where Bonnie lived. But then the clouds started to spread outwards, like pillowy tentacles that blocked out the sun. Now the sky was almost completely covered. Even the plants had started to die, at least the ones that needed direct sunlight. Only the ones that thrived in partial shade were hanging on, and mushrooms had started to pop up all over the place.

Bonnie had come to the city in search of answers, hoping that one of its libraries might be able to shed light on what was going on. If it were the result of some type of eruption, maybe it would clear eventually. Otherwise, she might have to find somewhere else to move.

"You're not from around here, are you?" asked Marceline.

"No," said Bonnie. "I'm just passing through."

There was another crash of falling objects. Marceline and Bonnie both ran to the source of the sound to find a raccoon sitting on a shelf, having knocked down a pile of books. It sat up on its hindlegs as they approached, sniffing the air with a quivering nose.

Bonnie relaxed when she realized it wasn't a threat, only to find herself horrified once again. Marceline walked up to it and opened her mouth. Bonnie watched as she inhaled and some kind of spirit was pulled out of the raccoon. The color was beginning to drain from the poor creature as Marceline sucked out its soul.

"Stop it!" Bonnie shouted.

She shoved Marceline as hard as she could, breaking off her concentration. The raccoon shook itself and ran away, leaving them alone in the library. Marceline turned on her suddenly.

"What's your problem?!" Marceline said indignantly.

"What's my problem?" Bonnie asked. "Look what you were doing tothat raccoon!"

"Oh please," said Marceline. "It's just an animal. You're telling me you've never eaten meat before?"

Marceline looked smugly at her. Bonnie wasn't quite comfortable with that comparison. She couldn't deny the logic of Marceline's argument, but watching her suck the life out of an animal had felt wrong. She just shrugged, which didn't seem to satisfy Marceline but she also dropped the argument. Bonnie started scooping up the textbooks and dropping them in her backpack.

They didn't say anything else as they walked to the front desk together. Bonnie was beginning to regret her outburst. She wondered if she should have been more diplomatic in stopping Marceline back there. Be rational, she thought. You're going to scare off your first new friend in, well. Ever.

"I'm sorry about the raccoon," said Marceline, unprompted, as they approached the front entrance of the library. "That was kinda jerk-y."

"Yeah, it was," said Bonnie. "It just seemed so vulnerable, y'know. I feel like if you can make a creature's life easier, even a little bit, you have a responsibility to do that."

"I don't think my Dad will like you," said Marceline. Bonnie thought she sounded slightly sad about it.

"Oh," Bonnie said, unsure of how to take that information. "And do you…like me?"

"...yeah," said Marceline. "But I think it's best if we both go home now."

"Of course," said Bonnie. "I have to get back to my family too."

"Do you want to hang out again sometime?" Marceline asked. "I know all the cool places to go."

Bonnie felt her spirits lift a little. "I'd like that a lot," she said.

Chapter Text

Bonnie finished hanging up a fresh set of curtains in the window of the double-wide mobile home that had been her and Neddy's home for the past two years. Neddy was sitting on the newly carpeted floor, sucking his thumb and watching her work. She looked around and admired the space. The mobile home was still old and rickety, but it was starting to look nicer every day. There was a fresh coat of paint on the walls, and the siding had been replaced with candy cane paneling that she had designed. It was sweet and stylish, but most importantly it was tough.

Marceline had come by earlier that week with bags of sugar and another box of microscope slides. It wasn't exactly what Bonnie had asked for but she could make do with it. She suspected that Marceline didn't actually go out and find the items herself anyway, so something was bound to get lost in translation. She needed to build a proper lab anyway, the trailer wasn't going to be sufficient forever.

"Mein liebling," said Bonnie. "How are you feeling?"

Neddy smiled softly and reached out to her. She sat on the floor and hugged him, enjoying a rare moment of peace. They held it each other for a while, and Bonnie wondered how long she could keep him in the trailer. His long body already took up much of the floor, and he was still growing at an exponential rate. There were just so few safe places for them in the world. Even here, there were monsters and some real scrim-scram people out there. The vampires mostly kept to the city, but all it would take was one stray vamp to turn Neddy into a juice box.

"I'm gonna find someplace better for us," she said. "We'll have a home soon, even if I have to make one."

A tapping sound on the window made Neddy flinch and shake. The trailer rocked with his quivering, until Bonnie started soothing him and humming to him. He hid his face in her wool sweater, still afraid. She hummed to him until he calmed down and curled up like a cat. His powerful tail coiled around him, nearly knocking over a lamp.

"Shhh, Neddy, it's ok."

Bonnie patted Neddy on the back, then went to the window. She opened the curtains just in time to see a tiny rock bounce off of the window. Outside, Marceline was throwing rocks at the side of the trailer. Drat, thought Bonnie. Neddy's not up to meeting people right now. Before leaving, Bonnie threw a blanket over Neddy to help him stay calm.

Marceline was waiting outside the trailer, wearing dark purple overalls and a knit sweater. Her short hair was pulled into a tiny ponytail. She stopped throwing rocks when Bonnie stepped out.

"Hey Bon-Bon!" Marceline waved at her.

"Shh!" said Bonnie. "I need you to stay quiet."

"What, why?" asked Marceline, dropping her rocks to the ground.

"My brother is trying to sleep," said Bonnie apologetically. "He gets excited easily."

Marceline paused and looked up at the trailer, then back at Bonnie.

"Oh dang, I didn't know you had a brother," said Marceline.

Bonnie laughed nervously, and gave a little shrug. She should have mentioned it earlier, but she wasn't 100% sure of Marceline yet and experience had taught her it was better to keep some cards close to the chest.

"Heheh, y'know me," said Bonnie. "I'm always full of surprises."

"That's cool, I guess," said Marceline. "Do you wanna go hang out?"

"No, I'm busy," said Bonnie. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Aw, but you always say that!" said Marceline. "What do you even do all day? Except play with your stupid science."

"Don't you have any other friends?" asked Bonnie. "There's beaucoup vampires in the city."

Bonnie would know, she had to avoid the city most days in case a vampire decided to make a snack out of her. She didn't have blood but vampire minions weren't very smart and by the time they realized that she might be in trouble. If she wasn't around, there would be no one to take care of Neddy. She often thought about creating family to help take care of them, but there was never enough time. Most of her energy and intellect was spent on survival.

"Don't talk to me about those dorks," said Marceline bitterly. "I don't know who's more annoying, the stuffy old court, or the minions. The Fool can be kinda funny I guess."

"Hm," Bonnie frowned. "I guess you can hang out here if you want. I was actually just about to plant some redvines¹ here if you want to help."

“Can they even grow under all this?” Marceline gestured to the cloudy blanket overhead that was, as always, letting only a faint red light filter through. The trees were long dead and the only remaining grasses were short and dry.

Bonnie took Marceline by the hand and led her to a greenhouse around the back of the trailer. It was little more than a glass dome with a salvaged door and rows of dirt for planting. Solar lamps buzzed inside, allowing various candy plants to bask in their warmth. Bonnie was planning to engineer some varieties that didn't require the full spectrum of light, thus eliminating the need for the lamps. Unfortunately, that trick was beyond her capabilities at the moment, so she pushed it off for later.

“So,” said Bonnie, handing Marceline a gardening trowel, “Do you feel like pitching in?”

Marceline took the trowel from her, and they got to work planting. It was hard work and by the end of it Bonnie wondered whether she shouldn't have chosen something else to use for rope making. They talked as they worked, and Marceline mentioned that more humans were beginning to leave the cities. Bonnie didn't say anything but she was glad to hear that they were leaving. It wasn't Marceline's fault that the Vampire King was her father, but the vampires' cruelty towards the humans made Bonnie feel sick. The world wasn't made for innocent people to get gobbled up by other sentient creatures. If Bonnie were in charge, she'd set things right.

"Marcy," said Bonnie. "Does it ever bother you? The way the vampires hunt humans, I mean?"

"Hm, not really," Marceline answered simply, but she turned away so that Bonnie couldn't see her face.

"But, you said you're half demon," pressed Bonnie. "So your mom must have been human. Isn't that hard for you?"

"After my mom left, I was alone for a long time," said Marceline. "The Vampire King found me, he became my dad. None of the humans I encountered ever welcomed me, they got scared when they saw me."

"I see," said Bonnie. They worked in silence for a minute.

"I ran away once y'know," said Marceline, after a pause.

"Whoa, whaaat?" asked Bonnie. "But you're like, a total daddy's girl."

"It was a while ago, I was really little and I didn't know him that well yet," Marceline set down her trowel and leaned on one elbow. "I ran into a couple humans and they got so scared they tried to stake me. They probably would have, except dad found me first."

"Geez," said Bonnie. "That's majorly donked up. My point about humans still stands though. You didn't deserve to go through what you did, and neither do all the people being terrorized by vamps."

Marceline looked conflicted for a minute. She picked up a ladybug that had been climbing down a stalk of candycorn. It crawled across her hand, its shiny red shell reflecting the yellow lamplight. Bonnie watched her gently set the ladybug down on the moist, dark ground.

“See that's what I mean,” said Bonnie. “You could have smushed that ladybug pancake-style but you didn't, you helped it get to where it needed to go.”

“I only let it live because ladybugs are good for plants,” retorted Marceline.

“That’s okay too. Peeps are a lot like that,” said Bonnie. “Sometimes we're the gardener and sometimes we're the ladybug. Your motives don't matter as long as you do everything you can not to harm others.”

"This is making my noodle-brain hurt, I think I’m gonna throw in the towel for today," said Marceline.

"Fair enough. Let's go inside," said Bonnie. "We can have lemonade. And…you can meet my brother."

Marceline's eyes widened when she saw Neddy. Bonnie put a hand on his back a little protectively, she didn't want him to feel scared. He quaked a little but didn't flinch when Marceline sat down on the floor next to him.

"Yo, you didn't mention that your brother was a donking dragon, Peebs,” Marceline said.

“Yeah…he's different,” said Bonnie. “But he's not dangerous, are ya you sweet little chicken?”

Neddy smiled a little and laid back down, his head resting on his forelimbs like a lion. Marceline put her hand on his head and stroked it thoughtfully.

“Bonnie?” said Marceline. “Thanks for letting me meet your family.”

“It's no biggie,” said Bonnie. “I'm sure I'd have met your family already if they weren't…”

“If they weren't massive dinguses most of the time,” Marceline said. “I'm trying not to be a dingus y'know? It's just hard. It doesn't come easy to me, I’m not nice like you.”

“It's not easy for me either,” said Bonnie. “I try each day to leave the world a little better than I found it, and I still make mistakes.”

Bonnie stayed up for a long time after Marceline left, trying to work on her De-Oozinator but unable to make much progress. Her mind kept going back to the conversation with Marceline. She didn’t really know what went through Marceline’s head sometimes. The girl wasn’t a monster, but sometimes she really did sound like she wanted to be one. Bonnie wondered how much of that was Marceline’s adoptive father, the infamous Vampire King. She had never met him but his influence over this world was inescapable. Like he was a vast tree and everyone else were just bugs skittering around in his shadow.

¹ For any readers unfamiliar with them, redvines are a brand of candy. They're strawberry-flavoured licorice ropes. Another popular brand of these are Twizzlers.

Chapter Text

Bonnie took a licorice rope and tossed it over one of the spiked protrusions on the outside of The Hive. It served as the Vampire King’s palace and was where Bonnie knew Marceline lived, but she had never dared to approach it. The entire structure resembled a massive, jagged anthill that had grown around an old skyscraper. She wasn’t sure what it was made of, but it seemed to still be under construction. With each passing month it rose ever higher into the eternal dusk. The top of it resembled the bottom half of an orb. Bonnie scaled its walls, looking like a mosquito on the side of a sandcastle.

Somewhere in the upper levels was Marceline’s room. She didn’t know where, but she knew that it would be somewhere near the top. She peeked into the window of one room, and found it empty except for piles of old clothing and bones. That’s definitely not what I’m looking for,” Bonnie thought. The idea of coming to The Hive was beginning to seem worse and worse to her, but it was too late to turn back. She had thrown an earth-colored cloak on to camouflage her neon pink outfit as she climbed, but it wouldn’t do much if a vampire looked out the window and spotted her. Just as Bonnie was beginning to consider climbing back down and going home, a voice cut across her thoughts.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” said a vampire from the window next to her. Her voice was haughty and imperious.

Bonnie froze in place, unsure of whether to make a break for it. She couldn’t possibly climb down faster than a vampire, and she wasn’t strong enough to take one hand to hand. Bonnie was only about 15, and while years of hard work and walking had made her grow strong, she was still fairly small. All she had for protection was her small UV raygun and a garlic necklace, but the garlic wouldn’t hold a vamp off for long and the raygun still had a janky battery.

“Really, fool? You thought you could sneak past me?” the vampire said.

I’m done for, thought Bonnie. She expected the vampire to pop out of the window any minute and grab her, but nothing happened. Instead, the woman walked further into the room, and a high-pitched man squealed.

“I’m sorry, Empress,” said the Fool. “Hierophant sent me, he thinks we should talk.”

His last words were choked off, like he had something in his throat. Bonnie gathered up her courage and peeked over the windowsill. A tall vampire with her hair drawn into a dark bun was standing in the middle of the room, holding a gnomish looking vampire by the throat. He grinned at the other vampire impishly while she throttled him.

“What makes the Hierophant think I have anything to say to him?” said the Empress.

“It’s about VK and the Star,” wheezed the Fool. “Oof, I’m running out of air. You’re gonna have to give me mouth-to-mouth.”

The Empress let go of the Fool and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Ouch! That left a mark, hee hee,” said the Fool.

“The Vampire King’s pet isn’t a concern for me,” said the Empress. “She’s just a child.”

They were talking about Marceline, Bonnie realized. Bonnie knew she shouldn’t stay long, but she felt like this was important. They were afraid of Marceline, they obviously didn't quite trust her. She remembered all the times Marceline spoke contemptuously about them. Bonnie could easily imagine Marceline turning against them eventually, she wasn't like them.

“You sure about that Empy? She seems to be getting stronger by the day and she hasn't even been turned yet,” said the Fool. “I’m gonna float outta here, but if you want to talk, well, you know.”

“Maybe I’ll head up to the inner vestibule instead,” said the Empress. “And kill the Star myself.”

The Fool just giggled as he floated out of the room, with his arms behind his head as if he were laying down. So Marceline is in the inner chamber, thought Bonnie. Now she had better directions, and she knew a little more about the makeup of the Vampire King’s court. She’d seen the Fool and the Empress, and now knew the Hierophant by reputation. She climbed up another story and then climbed through a window into an empty room. She wasn’t sure where the inner vestibule was, but The Hive’s structure appeared to be made up of asymmetric rings of tunnels and rooms. If her estimations were correct, then one of the tunnels connecting to these outer chambers should lead to the inner vestibule.

She looked at each of the four tunnel entrances leading out of the room. Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. She took the tunnel furthest to the left, which led in a clockwise spiral deeper into The Hive. Eventually, she reached a small round opening in one of the walls, through which she could hear Marceline speaking.

“I’m not impressed by any of these if I’m being honest,” said Marceline. “Is this the best you could do minions?”

“You’re so right, highness,” said another vampire, who Bonnie assumed was a minion. “Let me find something more suitable.”

“Ugh, if you knew this wasn't suitable, then why waste my time with it?” said Marceline.

Geez, she's kind of a brat, realized Bonnie. I guess I'm learning something new about her. Vampiric minions were mindless killers, but Bonnie still felt oddly bad about the way Marceline was talking to him. No need to be so rude about it. Although, she did need to get Marceline’s attention somehow, or get the minion out of the room. She thought for a moment then pulled a bit of candy twine from her pocket and rolled it into a ball. She threw it into the room where it bounced and knocked something over.

“What was that?” said Marceline.

“I'll get it highness,” said the minion. “Don't worry.”

Bonnie waited for an unbearably long minute listening to scraping sounds as the minion cleaned up the mess. The only way this would work is if one of them noticed the rope-ball and got curious about it. She'd need to come up with something else if the minion just swept everything up.

“What's that in your hands?” demanded Marceline.

“It's nothing, just a bit of rope,” said the minion. “Red rope, see?”

“Get out,” said Marceline. “Don't come back until asked.”

“Yes, highness,” said the minion. “Thank you, highness.”

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the minion's footsteps retreating. She peeked over the round opening to make sure it was safe and then climbed through. Bonnie noticed a pile of porcelain fragments in the corner, it looked like a shattered vase. Oops. Marceline’s eyes widened when she saw Bonnie.

“What are you doing here Bonnie?” Marceline whispered. “My dad will kill you if he sees you, I mean literally kill you.”

“I had to find you,” said Bonnie. “I need help, it’s about Neddy.”

“What about Neddy? Wait-do you hear that?” Without explaining, Marceline grabbed Bonnie and shoved her into a hidden alcove. It was surprisingly deep and clothes were stacked up on little shelves carved into the wall. There was nothing else except a cardboard box inside, which Bonnie could have sworn she saw move. From within the shadows, Bonnie could see just a sliver of the room but not the entrance. Just then, footsteps entered the room.

“Babygirl, I thought you’d be ready by now,” said a deep voice.

“It’s not my fault dad,” said Marceline. “My stupid minions couldn’t find me anything good to wear.”

The Vampire King himself was standing in the room. Bonnie had never seen him, but she knew him by reputation. The oldest vampire, a being of nearly incomprehensible power. He somehow had the ability to blot out the sun itself, which would be an awe-inspiring ability if it wasn't used by someone so awful. From where she was hiding, Bonnie could only see a pair of chicken-like feet attached to sturdy legs. Was he some kind of mutant?

“I’ll have them put together a brand new wardrobe for you,” said the Vampire King. “For now, make do with what you have. Hm, why is there so much porcelain on the floor?”

“What’s the point of me going to these boring court gatherings anyway,” said Marceline, changing the subject. “I’m not even a vampire.”

“You’re my daughter,” said VK. “And in time…who knows what you might grow to become? It’s important that you learn now how things are done before you're turned into a vampire.”

An audible gasp escaped Bonnie's mouth. Oh my glob, thought Bonnie. He's gonna make her one of them. She couldn't imagine her friend–her annoying, inscrutable, and occasionally bratty friend as a vampire. Sucking the souls out of creatures occasionally as a joke was one thing. Bonnie thought it was a sick joke but it wasn't anything like murdering people for sustenance.

“Is that an intruder, I hear?” said the Vampire King. “Show yourself, face annihilation head on.”

Bonnie felt sweat bead on her forehead. She clenched her slippery palms and tried to slow her heartbeat, convinced that the Vampire King would hear it. There was nothing that she or Marceline could do if he decided to kill her. His heavy footsteps moved in her direction and she felt herself pressing her body flat against the wall, trying to disappear into the shadows. From in the back, she could no longer see any of the room, which didn't bother her at this point. She'd seen more than her fill.

“It's nothing dad,” said Marceline. “I found a cat and brought it back here to play with for awhile.”

Marceline went to the alcove and grabbed the box by Bonnie's feet, reaching right by her without making eye contact.

“See?” said Marceline. A tiny meow responded, as if backing up her story.

The Vampire King growled softly but he backed away from the alcove.

“I want to see you at court, young lady,” he said. “And get rid of that thing once you're done with it. Suck its soul out or do something entertaining.”

Bonnie allowed herself a sigh of relief as he left the room. Marceline came by seconds later and let her know it was safe to come out. The cardboard box was sitting on the floor, open, and Bonnie could see that there was a little pink calico kitten inside. It meowed at her she saw it and put its paws on the edges of its box.

“Aw dang it, your surprise is ruined,” said Marceline. She looked genuinely disappointed.

“Surprise?” said Bonnie.

“Duh, the kitty?” said Marceline. “Look at him, he's all soft and pink. He looks just like you.”

Bonnie stared at the box in shock for a moment. She bartered with people and Marceline had helped her find supplies before, but she couldn't remember the last time anyone had given her a gift. Slowly, she picked up the kitten from the box. It was warm and soft like Marceline said.

She felt her eyes start to water a little and went to wipe them with one hand while she held the kitten against her with another. Marceline's face dropped when she saw Bonnie's expression.

“Do you not like it?” said Marceline. “It's fine if you don't, it's a dumb gift anyway.”

“He’s perfect,” said Bonnie, her voice trembling a little. “I’m gonna call him Timmy. Thank you, Marceline.”

A relieved smile spread across Marceline’s face.

“Don't mention it,” said Marceline. “Just get out of here before my dad finds you.”

“Wait,” said Bonnie. “I need your help, that's why I came. It's Neddy, he had another growth spurt last night and he's just too big. I have to move us somewhere safe, but I can't do it alone.”

“Okay, I'll help,” said Marceline. “But I have to do this thing for my dad first. Then I'll come straight there.”

“Promise?” said Bonnie.

“Promise,” answered Marceline. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Chapter Text

Neddy's footsteps thudded through the earthen tunnel, causing tiny sprinkles of dirt to fall on the three of them. Bonnie and Marceline walked on either side of him, each holding a little flashlight. At one point, Timmy poked his head out of Bonnie's backpack and meowed, but he'd fallen asleep some time ago. It was surprisingly warm down there in the tunnels and the rocking motion of the backpack must have put him to sleep.

Marceline and Bonnie didn't speak much, leaving only Neddy's occasional whimpers to break the close subterranean silence. Every now and then, Bonnie put a hand out to soothe him if a shifting rock or odd shadow surprised him. He was big enough now that if he panicked he could bring the whole thing down on him. Earlier, Bonnie had needed Marceline’s help getting Neddy out of the trailer with a cutting torch. Still, she felt proud to see him grow. He was healthy, and in his own way he was strong. He just needed to be somewhere safe.

“Whoa,” said Marceline, her mouth dropping open as they entered a wider chamber.

“Here we are,” said Bonnie. “Casa Bubblegum, I guess.”

Marceline illuminated the chamber as they entered. The walls of the chamber were held in place by the roots of a massive candy tree, which created a dirt cavern beneath it. The red roots wound their way through the soil or hung down from the ceiling like tendrils. Bonnie wasn't sure how long it had been growing like this, from the surface it looked like an ordinary tree. It was only when she was trying to put an irrigation system for her garden that she hit these roots and realized what was underground. Could it be an adaptation to the lack of sunlight, forcing it to rely solely on the fertility of the candy-enriched soil? She would have to take more samples to be sure. What she did know was that its sap was nourishing.

Neddy grasped the hanging roots and began to suckle on them, like a baby from a bottle. He relaxed immediately, and clung to the red growth. Bonnie allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. There was a heavy scrape as he shifted his weight to sit on his hind legs and coil his tail around himself. As he drank, a sticky juice began to ooze from him in tiny droplets.

“Is that supposed to happen?” asked Marceline. “Not judging, I just don't know that much about candy, or dragon, anatomy.”

“Me neither,” said Bonnie. “But he seems happy, so that's gotta be a good start.”

Marceline kept looking around the chamber and the tunnel entrance they'd just come from. She looked vaguely uncomfortable, which Bonnie assumed must be because she was tired. She had come here as soon as her dad let her go, and the two of them worked together all night to get Neddy out of the trailer and coax him down here. Bonnie was starting to feel a bit tired herself. She hadn't slept in probably 30 hours, which wasn't a great habit to be in.

“Has all this just been under our feet the whole time?” said Marceline.

“I guess so,” said Bonnie. “The tree roots opened some tunnels but the impact of bombing followed by post-war seismic activity might have opened up new ones.”

That was true, but it wasn't the whole truth. Bonnie suspected that something, or someone, had created some of the tunnels by hand. She just didn't know when. It could have been 2 months or 200 years ago. Marceline raised an eyebrow at her.

“What-mick activity?” she asked.

“Small earthquakes, shockwaves,” explained Bonnie. “It's not common around here, but there's evidence that this city has experienced events like those in the past.”

“Hmm, good to know,” said Marceline. After a pause, “You don't think there's anything else down here so you?”

Marceline shined her flashlight directly in Bonnie's face. She squinted and put a hand up to block the light.

“It seems perfectly safe,” said Bonnie. “I wouldn't bring Neddy here if I wasn't sure.”

Marceline nodded and lowered the flashlight. Bonnie's eyes struggled to readjust to the darkness but she thought she saw a bit of skepticism on Marceline’s face, or maybe it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.

“So I guess you're gonna want me to help you bring your stuff down here huh?” said Marceline.

“I can do it myself,” said Bonnie. “I'd hate to be a bother.”

“Nah,” said Marceline. “It'll take you too long on your own.”

“Okay,” said Bonnie. “Thanks.”

“It’s cool,” said Marceline. ”I can be pretty helpful if I want to, I guess. I'm just kind of too complicated to be a goody-two-shoes like you.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, which Marceline unfortunately probably didn't see in the dimness.

“I really don't know what you'd do without me,” said Marceline.

“O-ookay, come on,” said Bonnie. “We both know the real reason you come along is to hang out with me.”

“What? No, I don't,” said Marceline.

“You do too,” said Bonnie. “I'm like your only friend.”

“That's not true, I have tons of friends,” said Marceline. “You just don't know them because they're undead and I can't introduce them to someone alive like you.”

Now it was Bonnie's turn to be skeptical. She wasn't going to push Marceline, but she knew what was up. And she didn't mind. It's not like hanging out with Marceline wasn't the best part of her day either. Bonnie didn't think she could like anyone more than Marceline, not even if she knew a dozen more people her age. Not even if she knew a thousand.

“You should make your undead friends listen to your music then,” said Bonnie.

“Aw, I thought you liked it,” said Marceline.

“I do!” said Bonnie honestly. “I think it's cool that you've got a hobby.”

Bonnie sat on a knotted root that protruded from a sidewall and kicked her feet. It was comfortable down there, and there'd be room for Neddy to grow for the next few centuries. Just as long as they stayed hidden.

“Hey Marcy?” said Bonnie.

“Yeah?” said Marceline.

“Don't tell your dad about this okay?”

“Dude. Of course not.”

Chapter Text

Bonnie pulled the circuit breaker, powering up the system of cables and cameras that wired the tunnel. She pressed a few keys on her laptop and watched the screen flash to life. She now had a split screen display of various camera angles throughout the tunnels. It wasn't practical to have her eyes on Neddy at all times, so she made artificial ones. If any unusual movements were detected down there, an alert would go straight to her smartwatch.

It wasn't likely that much could harm him at his size, even if they could him in the labyrinthine hollows down there. Neddy had expanded the tunnels quite a bit in the intervening years. He cleared out tidy chambers and piled stone in columns against the tunnel walls. Bonnie hadn't even realized he was a builder until they moved down there. But then, he was her brother after all. Still, no matter how big and capable he got, he would always need help. The surveillance system was a start, until she could start putting together better security measures.

She stashed her laptop and started the climb out of the tunnels. The cold wind ruffled her hair as she reached the surface. She'd trimmed it into an undercut a few weeks before, leaving just enough to put in a ponytail. It was easier to take care of and Marcy had said it looked good on her, which was…something. The thought of Marcy gave her a jolt, and she glanced at her watch. Oh glob, thought Bonnie. I was supposed to meet her at the library.

Bonnie sprinted the rest of the way to the library, huffing and puffing by the time she reached the broad street in front of it. She hopped the stairs two at a time, and flung open the rotting wooden doors. One door creaked off its rusted hinges and fell to the ground with a feeble thud. She saw Marcy on the second floor landing, sitting on the railing.

“Hey Bon!” said Marceline. “Check this out,”

Bonnie’s heart lurched as Marcy leaned backwards off the railing and let herself careen towards the dust covered floor. She stepped forward, far too slow to reach the other side of the room. At the last moment, Marcy’s body slowed to a halt, leaving her floating casually two feet above the ground. She leaned back in the air, like a swimmer lying on their back in smooth waters. Bonnie let out a puff of breath.

“Cool, huh?” Marcy said. “I just had to poof that old Fool and steal his sick vampire powers.”

“You poofed him?” said Bonnie.

“Yeah,” Marcy said, before adding hastily, “In self defense.”

That sounds like a bunch of biscuit, thought Bubblegum.

Marcy caught the look on Bonnie's face and crossed her arms indignantly, as if she could hear the accusation.

“Don't get all judgmental on me,” said Marcy. “The Fool might have been silly but he wasn't a good guy.”

“I didn't say anything,” Bonnie grumbled. But she continued to think loudly.

“Come on let me pick you up,” said Marcy, reaching towards Bonnie with noodly grey arms.

Bonnie pushed Marcy’s hands away and shook her head. She may be stuck on the ground but she had too much dignity to allow herself to be carried. Marceline shrugged and put her hands on her pockets. They went back up the landing, Bonnie walking while Marcy floated alongside her, whistling absentmindedly.

As usual, they loafed between rows of rotted books and pretended to browse. Bonnie had read almost everything in the library from front to back, but she still loved coming here. The old space had a certain ambience. When the red sunlight crept through the holes in the roof to illuminate the carpet of multicolored fungi, she could almost picture how it must have looked pre-Mushroom War. Her reverie was broken by a sudden hacking cough. Marceline had pried open the fused pages of a particularly grody book and been rewarded by a faceful of moldy dust.

“Blech!” said Marceline. “This place is the grinks. Bonnie, why do we come here anyway?”

“Dude, at least it's not full of nesting vampires,” said Bonnie. “It wouldn't kill you to read.”

“It might,” said Marcy, waggling her moldy book at Bonnie.

Bonnie rolled her eyes as Marcy casually tossed the book aside and floated up to the higher shelves, pulling out random books and letting them fall. Thud. A book hit the floor, sending up a cloud of dust. Thud. Thud. One book landed right next to Bonnie. Another bounced off the edge of a lower shelf.

“Can you knock it off?” Bonnie said with annoyance.

“What? I'm borrrrred,” drawled Marceline. “Let's go skip stones on that chemical spill uptown.”

Before Bonnie could open her mouth in response, her watch beeped. Her sensors had picked up something non-Neddy in the tunnels. She frowned down at the backlit screen of her watch, trying to make out the blurry details of the camera footage, but it all looked like dark grey blobs. Dagnabbit, Bonnie thought. I should have put lights down there.

“Hell-o?” said Marcy. “Earth to Bonnibel?”

Bonnie blinked back to awareness of her surroundings and turned off her watch screen. It was probably nothing, but she should go back and check on Neddy anyway. Better safe than sorry.

“Sorry Marcy,” said Bonnie. “I'm gonna have to take a raincheck on that,”

Marcy shrugged and went back to yanking out books as Bonnie turned to leave. It wasn't a very fun visit, she realized. She'd have more time to relax just as soon she was done setting up a home for Neddy. There was also something new that had to be done, like putting in those lights. The logistics of lighting the tunnels was on her mind the entire walk back, and by the time she stepped down into darkness she had decided that genetically engineering bioluminescent mushrooms might be the most efficient option.

“Neddy?” called Bonnie as she stepped through the dirt walled passages. “It's just me, it's Bonnibel.”

Just in case something had spooked Neddy, she didn't want to make things worse by accidentally jumpscaring him. Her small flashlight cast a thin beam of light ahead. The tunnels seemed empty and quiet as she came to the central chamber, where Neddy was peacefully suckling on the dry roots. All good here. I guess I should check that the sensors aren't malfunctioning, thought Bonnie. There's also a few bugs to work out whenever you get a new system running.

Bonnie had just turned to leave through a different tunnel when she noticed something on the ground. The beam of her flashlight brought it into sharp focus as she crouched down, its shape unmistakeable. Someone humanoid had left a fresh footprint in the earth.

Chapter Text

Bonnie traced the footprint's outline with one finger, mentally estimating the owner's size based on the footprint's width and depth. It was maybe 6 feet tall and 275 pounds. By far the most disturbing thing was that it was here at all, but the second most disturbing thing was that she didn't know what could have left it. It was clearly humanoid, but a vamp would have scared Neddy. That clearly wasn't the case, so what left the print?

Bonnie went back to the surveillance console - which is what she'd decided to name her laptop - and flipped through the camera feeds until she found the one with the anomaly. She paused and brightened the image until she could make out a cloaked figure in the corner of the screen. Her candy heart stopped. Someone really had been down there. She let the video play again until she got a frontal view of the figure. Even in the poor quality video it was clear to see that wasn't a vampire. A bushy brown beard peaked from under his hood, and his hands had a ruddy pink color. She had seen pictures and videos of these creatures in the libraries and rubbish of the old world. It was a human being.

She paused and let that frame sit on the screen for a long while. Humans in the tunnels. In hindsight, it shouldn't have come as a surprise. The vamps had pushed humans out of just about every corner of the city. Hidden places like this were probably their last refuges. Each year more of them died, and fewer were born. She wouldn't be surprised if the last human kicked the bucket in her lifetime. As far as she knew the vampires didn't know about the tunnels yet, they must seem like a perfect hiding spot.

But wherever humans went, vampires followed soon after. This was one of the laws of the universe as she knew it, and that meant that humans could only bring trouble. She'd have to find them and boot them out of the tunnels before they brought a swarm of vampires down on her and Neddy. A sweep of the tunnels turned up nothing, but she guessed that they would be back eventually.

A few weeks later, Bonnie had nearly put the whole thing out of her mind. She had been hard at work on her pet project, a program called Peppermint, and even found time to go tooling around what used to be the suburbs with Marceline. About 45 minutes walk outside of the city was what used to be a university, a giant geometric puzzle of glass and bricks. The dim red light reflected off the roof of the building like a warning light. Fungi and creeping moss covered its walls. Bonnie loved it on sight.

Every department was stacked to the rafters with old libraries and computers. The first few times they visited, Bonnie was preoccupied with collecting resources for her work. It took a wheelbarrow and multiple trips to get everything useful from the computer science department. Most of the lab equipment in the chemistry and biology departments was rusted out, but she took it anyway in case it could be salvaged. After a while, there was nothing left worth salvaging, but she and Marcy kept going.

Their footsteps echoed through the high-ceilinged gymnasium as they paced the length of its floor. It looked like a theatre, and they took to putting on mock performances for each other. Sometimes they’d read lines from old plays left behind in the drama department. They were full of old words and theatre terms that neither of them recognized, but the stories were usually interesting. Marcy’s favorites were the Shakespeare plays, full of ghosts and violence, but Bonnie liked Goethe. Something about it resonated with her, and she often read it on her own late at night.

Reading Goethe was also when Bonnie realized that Marcy couldn’t speak German. Bonnie had assumed that Marcy would just know all the languages that she did, and was a little disappointed to find that Marcy only knew one. The bright side was that she could keep all of the non-English books to herself, since there was no one else around who could understand them. She stacked them neatly in the bookcases that encircled her reading room in the tunnels. Sometimes she read to Neddy, although she wasn’t always sure how much he was paying attention. She knew he understood though, and that was what mattered.

By that winter, Bonnie had all but forgotten about the trespassers in the tunnels. Every now and then she found stale footprints, but clearly the humans didn’t stay in one place for too long. Smart, she thought. She wasn’t entirely sure what she would do if she ran into them. Obviously they couldn’t stay and endanger Neddy, but she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that she felt sorry for them.

Not even a generation ago, they had been the dominant species on the planet. But then the mushroom bombs dropped–and Bonnie had already discovered that it was humans who dropped the bombs–and the world was destroyed. A new world crawled out of the ashes, full of vampires and mutants, with no more room for humans. She and Neddy were the only ones of their kind, and it was strange to think that those humans might understand a little of how they felt.

One day, she brought it up to Marcy while they sat and ate sandwiches in the university dining hall. Dust rained down through the shattered skylights, and they hunched over their sandwiches to protect them from the downpour. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they didn’t sit at the dining tables, but they didn’t care. Marcy stopped to think about it in between bites of potato bread and grilled mushroom.

“You, like…feel bad for them?” said Marcy quizzically.

“Don’t you?” said Bonnie. “You’re half-human. They’re like your family.”

“Some family,” said Marcy. “I haven’t lived around humans since my mom.”

Bonnie put the rest of her sandwich down. The spongy bread and rubbery mushroom no longer appealed to her. She couldn’t tell whether Marcy really wasn’t curious about the humans or whether she was holding something back. Sometimes Bonnie wondered what happened to Marcy’s mom. The way Marcy talked about her made it seem like she hadn’t died. Did they get separated or was Marcy abandoned? It was hard to imagine Marcy as a little child trying to survive on her own, but Bonnie had been in the same boat.

“Are you gonna eat that?” said Marcy.

Bonnie shook her head, and Marcy reached across to take the remains of her sandwich.

“It seems cruel for so many humans to die just so the vampires can feast,” said Bonnie. “It seems like with their metabolism, there should be other food sources that can sustain them. Less intelligent food sources.”

“Whoa…” said Marcy, a look of realization spreading across her face. “You’ve met intelligent humans?”

“Ha ha,” said Bonnie. “But really, these people have hopes and dreams. They built this.”

She gestured widely around the dining hall. It was vast and silent. A monument to a bygone era. Outside of the Hive, that thorny mass that dominated the skyline a little more each year, the vampires had built nothing. Bonnie could imagine a world of schools and monuments. Houses, parks, new libraries with new books. A world alive, like it had been before. Since coming to the city all she had seen was death and decay, consumption for consumption’s sake.

Marcy raised an unimpressed eyebrow and snorted. Bonnie was a little annoyed with her. She never took anything seriously, never thought about the future. It was like she looked no further than her next meal or her next distraction. Bonnie thought back to when they first met, and Marcy wanted to suck out that poor raccoon’s soul. She was a lot like a vampire, even if she could walk in sunlight. It was a mistake to even bring this up, knowing that Marcy wouldn’t care. Not for the first time, Bonnie wished that she had someone else to talk to besides Marcy.

“It’s getting late,” said Bonnie. “I should head back and check on Neddy.”

“Ugh, Neddy, Neddy, Neddy,” said Marcy. “He can handle himself for one afternoon, stay a little longer. Unless you’re mad at me, then you can go.”

“I’m not mad,” said Bonnie. “I just have responsibilities. I’ll see you tomorrow, same time as usual.”

Marcy nodded sullenly and continued eating her sandwich. Bonnie walked out of the dining hall and back home. She wondered if the humans still crossed through her tunnels. By now they must know that she was aware of them and that she didn’t want to hurt them. Maybe she could leave a signpost telling them which tunnels were open to them and which were off limits. Maybe she could go further than that, maybe she could help them. Crazy thoughts were beginning to circulate in her mind, still half-formed but getting bigger by the minute.

She looked up at the dark sky and felt a surge of yearning for sunlight. Real yellow sunlight that warmed the skin and made green plants spring up from the ground. Marcy didn’t understand that either, but she knew the humans must. She had accumulated so much knowledge about agriculture and animal husbandry, and it was all useless as long as the sun was gone. She knew that the Vampire King had something to do with it, and that Marcy knew how he did it. It bothered her that Marcy wouldn’t tell her. They were supposed to be best friends, so why did they still keep secrets from each other?