Ghosts of the Past
“So let me get this straight, you desecrated the tomb of the most powerful ghost in the entire Nightosphere and now you need a place to hide out?” Bonnibel said without looking up from her blueprints for her new city.
“Oh, come on when you phrase it like that it sounds bad,” Marceline floated next to Bonnibel’s head, “besides I know you’re going to help because you can’t resist my raw charm and animal magnetism.”
Bonnibel rolled her eyes and brushed away a clump of Marceline’s hair that was covering the western ramparts. She was in the process of designing embrasures so that her banana guards could deploy cannon fire against threats to her new kingdom while still being protected at the same time. She had an old beaten textbook on pre-Mushroom War Medieval architecture at her side that MARCELINE WAS CURRENTLY FLIPPING THROUGH!
“Hey, stop doing that, you’ll lose my place. I'm doing important work right now. Unlike you, I have real citizens to take care of, Vampire Queen.”
“Hey, chill out princess. I’m just trying to help,” Marceline tossed the book down with a thump that made Bubblegum wince at the thought of precious knowledge disintegrating with the fragile pages, “Look, you should use inverted keyhole embrasures. That way you can use them for both arrows and whatever crazy cannon weapons you’ve cooked up.”
Princess Bubblegum studied the textbook for a few seconds and looked at her schematics. She grumbled to herself before getting out a new sheaf of paper to redraw her designs.
“So anyways, do you have a cot or something I could sleep in while I’m laying low here?” Marceline said while letting the tip of her hair trickle in front of Bubblegum’s face.
Bubblegum sighed and rang a small tin bell. A rectangular lavender candy person with long lanky limbs entered the room.
“My leader, do you need something?”
“Yes, Grape Taffy, I need to you to go find some extra blankets and bring them here.”
“Yes, my leader,” it bowed before walking out of the room.
“What no cot? Not even a crate for your old pal Marceline to rest her tired head?” Marceline vaulted away from Bonnibel and wiped away an imaginary tear, “Also, have you even heard of the concept of creativity. What kind of name is Grape Taffy?”
“I’ll have you know he picked it himself. I’ve been letting my people name themselves but most of them decided they wanted names that were easy to remember. It’s all Candy Corn guy’s fault; he started it.”
Bonnibel turned around to face Marceline, “And I don’t want to make him carry a bed for you all the way up here. My peeps have been hard at work all day building their new home. Grape Taffy volunteered to help me with errands but I know he must be as tired as the rest of them.”
“Why don’t you just make servants for yourself, princess?” Marceline floated over to look at an unfinished wall, “You could just whip up an army of spearmint maids or something that lab of yours.
“Because I don’t have the resources to waste on such frivolous things. If you haven’t noticed, I’m building an entire civilization from scratch. And stop calling me ‘princess’, you sound ridiculous.”
“Of course, your wish is my command prin-,” Marceline was cut off by a bright light that suddenly coalesced between the two of them. Bonnibel shaded her eyes as two large ghosts stepped out of the portal that had appeared in her bedroom.
“Marceline, Ghost King wants his amulet back. Give it to us now and we’ll go easy on you,” the taller of the two hulking ghosts said. “Just surrender now, vampire. You know you can’t win this fight.”
Before Marceline could respond, Bonnibel moved to stand in front of her. She had a gold and blue gun in front of her pointed at the ghost who had just spoken. “You tell your boss that if he or any of his goons ever come near Marceline, they’ll have to go through me.”
The two ghosts looked at each other before bursting out in harsh, cruel laughter. The other burly ghost who hadn’t spoken yet said, “What are you going to do about it candy gir-”
Bonnibel pulled the trigger before he could finish speaking and bright ray of light shot out of the muzzle. The ghost’s face contorted into a silent scream as he evaporated into thin air and disappeared. The other ghost turned to Bonnibel and yelled, “What did you do to Carl?”
“Why don’t you stick around and find out,” Bonnibel smirked and pointed the gun him. The ghost yelled and jumped back into the portal it came from. The swirling otherworldly lights disappeared and Bonnibel and Marceline were alone once more. Both of them were breathing heavily when Grape Taffy opened the door and walked in with a large bundle of blankets and sheets.
“I have the blankets you requested. Is there anything else you need?”
Bonnibel smoothed down her hair and took the blankets, “No that’s it, thank you. Go get some sleep, G Taff.”
“Goodnight, my leader,” Grape Taffey said. He bowed his head slightly before leaving.
“I can’t believe you’re complaining about me calling you princess when all your little subjects are calling you ‘my leader.’ Bonnibel threw the pile of blankets into Marceline’s chest. Marceline easily caught them and begins preparing a nest next to Bonnibel’s bed.
“What on earth was that thing you used against that ghost goon?” Marceline said as she took off her tunic and wadded it up into a makeshift pillow.
“Well, after you told me a couple years ago that vampires are particularly vulnerable to ghosts, I figured that someday I’d probably have to save your sorry butt from at least one of them so I made this,” Bonnibel held out her weapon to Marceline so she could look at it closer. “It disrupts the bonds that keep ghosts tethered to this plane of existence.”
“Woah, so then what happens to them?” Marceline said as she inspected Bonnibel’s invention.
“I’m not quite sure, but I know that once I zap them with this baby, they don’t come back,” Bonnibel put the gun back into its hiding spot in her weapons safe underneath her bed. “You probably shouldn’t hide here anymore since the Ghost King obviously knows you’re here. Why don’t you go to your dad’s castle?”
Marceline yawned and laid down in her makeshift bed. “Nah, I doubt that the Ghost King or his goons are going to come after me any time soon after that ghost goes back and tells everyone what happened. Besides, I just got comfortable. I’ll deal with it in the morning.”
“You’re lucky I had this temporary roof put in place here so you won’t have to worry about the sun,” Princess Bubblegum said as she changed into her pajamas. “Anyways, what was that ghost talking about when he mentioned that amulet? Don’t tell me you stole something from the Ghost King in addition to wrecking up his mausoleum.”
“Yeah, I wanted it to be a surprise but I guess that tranch ruined it,” Marceline reached into her pants pocket and drew out an amulet with a gold chain and a smooth blue gemstone. It was as flat as a pancake and about the size of Bonnibel’s palm. “I know you’ve been trying to figure out a way to power those freaky gumball guardians of yours and so I snagged this for you.”
Marceline handed it to Bonnibel. It was cold against her skin and smelled like old iron. Bonnibel put it on over her night shirt and inspected the large blue gem that matched the one on her crown.
“Wow, thank you Marceline. This means a lot.”
Bonnibel was met only with gentle snores. She sighed and went back to organizing her new utopia.