Consquences
“Mother,” whispered a voice like cold mountain streams and ancient pine forests.
Princess Bubblegum looked up from her papers strewn across her bed. A letter from the Duke of Nuts fell off the foot of her bed and ghosted to the ground like a feather, making a soft ruffling noise as it hit the floor. The curtains across her windows fluttered in the night breeze, occasionally allowing moonlight shine onto her floor. Science was snuggled next to her on a pillow, but other than her rat she was alone.
“Princess,” commanded an unyielding voice with the gleam of metal and the scent of millenia.
“Who’s there?” Princess Bubblegum whipped out her pillow gun. The smooth steel was cool against her fingers. “Show yourselves.”
“Princess, have you forgotten us already? We’re always with you,” the silky voice spilled into her head like deep red wine.
“BANANA GUA-,” Princess Bubblegum suddenly found herself unable to speak. She willed herself to call for her guards, but there was some sort of barrier preventing her from moving her mouth no matter how much pressure she pushed against it. An infinite wall of pink iron stretched before her. She touched it with her hand and realized it wasn’t metal, it was bubbleg-.
“Sister, I thought we agreed to not use our powers against Mother,” the first voice said with the howl of wolves and sharpness of a blizzard.
“But she won’t listen to us unless we MAKE her,” the second voice was like raining crystals striking sharply against glass.
“Sister, remember the Agreement.”
“Fine.”
Princess Bubblegum gasped and touched her face once she regained control of her body. For a moment, her heavy breaths were the only sounds in her bedroom. She recognized at least one of those voices.
“Hello, Goliad,” Princess Bubblegum said calmly.
“Well, it seems like her highness hasn’t forgotten us, yet.”
Princess Bubblegum found herself in a black void. There was no light, there not even darkness. There was nothing. Then Goliad and Stormo walked towards her out of the nothing.
“It’s nice to see you, Mother.” said Stormo without opening his sharp beak.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t you two still locked in your psychic duel?”
“Ha, see how ignorant she is, Brother? Why do we continue to let her rule. It would be so much more efficient if we just took over.”
“Mother, we have an important message.” Goliad ignored his sibling’s comment. Goliad’s face contorted briefly with frustration, before she schooled it into a calm lake and looked away into the nothingness. “Goliad and I have seen beyond the veil. If you continue to pursue your relationship with the Queen of Vampires there will be consequences even we cannot foresee.”
“What are you talking about? What veil?”
“When we first learned of your relationship with the Last of the Vampires, Stormo and I were bored so we made a little wager on how long it would last.” Princess Bubblegum narrowed her eyes into knives. “We ventured to the Spindle of Fate. We both stood on the Eternal Wheel as it spun and looked into the starry Pool of Destiny.”
“Mother, it seems you and Marceline stand on the precipice of kismet. What you two do next will have a profound impact on the forking paths of an infinite number of universes.”
“Why are you telling me this? What else do you know?” Princess looked at her towering creations before her and took a small step backwards, dragging her foot against an unseen floor.
“Princess, we aren’t here to tell you whether or not you should continue associating with the Vampire. We are merely here to inform you that your actions have consequences.”
Stormo appeared as if he was about to speak again, but before he could say anything, Princess Bubblegum was torn away from that lonely plane. When she opened her eyes, she was back in her bedroom. The flame of the lantern next to her twitched.
“Stormo? Goliad?” the Princess of Candy asked her empty room. Her curtains murmured in the wind and Science shifted in her sleep.
Princess Bubblegum walked over to her window and opened the curtains. From her tower, she could see the stark silhouettes of two candy sphinxes and the glow of their unbroken conflict.