Before the kingdom (Bubbline)

Oh?

Good news: they made it to Popeyes safely.
Bad news: the doors were made mostly of glass, only with a five-inch glass holder, with handles. Point of the matter is that the glass was broken. If they wanted to stay here, they'd have to put something by the doors to stop creatures from getting in.

They were in front of the doors, and Marcy almost stepped on broken glass.

"Watch your step, Marceline," Simon asked as he guided her through the doors. They wouldn't open, so they went through the center of a door, avoiding the glass still stuck in the holders.

There were tables against the right wall with benches to go with them. The left side had an area for a line, with the counter of registers, and a visible kitchen further back. Round tables were scattered about, some had fallen over. There were bits of food on the floor. A few fries here and there, along with a biscuit, already bitten out of. Simon figured everyone who was leaving was really in a hurry. And why wouldn't they be? The war had started just as suddenly as The Bomb went off. The only reason Simon hasn't left is because of that darn crown. It made him stay, the voices said the ice could help, that it could save them. It could save him. He wanted to tune them out, but those voices of ice and snow didn't just ask him to stay. They made him. And because of that, he was stuck here, in the edges of the world. He looked down at Marceline. How confusing this must be for a little girl...

Speaking of, he wondered where on Earth her parents were. He tried to ask her before, but she wouldn't talk about it. He wondered how they could leave her behind in such a drastic situation. He prayed to glob that they were looking for her, wherever they were.

"Wow..." Marcy set down her toy and bunny on a table. "Welp, what are we gonna do first?" She turned to look at Simon expectantly.

"We could start fixing that little bunny of ours. "

"Okay," she walked towards the door, "I'll get some wood and y-"

Simon put a hand on her shoulder. "Hold on, we don't need to fix a fire."

"You don't wanna cook the bunny over a fire?"

"Well darlin', I've got an idea that might be quicker. You're old man's getting hungry, so lets try this out." He guided her behind the counter.

They stood in front of the big oven used to heat large amounts of food.

"We could heat up our bunny in here. It'll be a lot quicker than a fire."

"Okay."

"Now, where's the little guy?"

" I left him on a table, hold on." She went to the table and brought it back to Simon, who was trying to turn on the oven. She got behind him with the bunny as he banged the side of the machine.

"Work, dang it, work!"

Marcy just watched.

"Oh!" he spotted an outlet behind the oven. "Here we go, just gotta," he plugged in the oven, "gotta do that. There. It should work"

Nothing changed.

"Oh come on!" he banged on it again. "Work you crazy thing! work!"

It made a sound, like a low 'whoosh'.Then a time appeared at the top center.

4:43P.M.

He gasped. "Yay!! look Marcy, it works!" He lifted her up by the underarms. "It works, it works!"

She giggled and smiled at him. He put her down. "Now, lets put this baby in."

"How do you know it's a baby?"

"It probably was."

***

Three Weeks Ago

He was all alone. He had just awoken from a black out, caused by none other than the crown. He had walked out, and, seeing no one else, had a fit of rage.

"Grrrrraaaaaa!! how could it do this?! now look at me!". He took the crown off his belt loop and looked at his reflection in the center gem. He noticed his beard and hair had grown, and his skin was a non-humanly pale. "Agh, you damn crown! why did you do this to me! Because of you I lost everyone, I could die out here all alone!" He threw down the crown angrily and screamed. "Why?? why why whyy?!"

Simon took deep breathes. After calming down, he could have sworn he heard someone. Could it be? Is he not alone? Betty?

He walked in the direction of the sound, only to see a little girl crying on the side of the road. She couldn't have even been ten. He walked up to her.

"Hey? Little girl? You okay?"

He leaned down in front of her.

"I...I..." she sobbed and gave up on making words.

"Hmmm..." he saw a toy store nearby, with broken glass and a few toys in the display area. He walked over, avoiding the glass under him, and just grabbed a random toy. It looked like a bear with thin, long arms and legs, and buttons for eyes. Simon handed the little girl the toy, lighting her up a bit.

He wiped the tears off of her face. "You okay?"

"I...guess...now that I have him," she spoke shyly, hugging her stuffed bear.

"That's good to hear. I'm Simon by the way. What's your name?"

She sniffed. "Marceline."

Simon asked where Marceline's parents were, which dampered her mood. She said they left her, and that she had been lost for a while. He asked what their names were, and where they might have headed. She said she couldn't talk about them, for it made her too sad. He told her to talk when she felt okay with it, and not to rush.

They soon decided to stick together until he found her parents, or at least got out of the zombie-infested town before the crown took over. He needed to save her, but who would save him? He didn't know what the crown made him say, but he hoped the little girl could forgive him.

Another objective of his was to experiment on the zombies to see what the green ooze was contained of. Simon Petrikov was a scientist, after all.

***

Now

They ate about half the bun, and Simon wrapped the rest in some tinfoil he had to reuse.

"What ya wanna make for later?" Simon asked Marcy.

They ended up deciding on fries and biscuits. Simon found some paper with recipes for everything.

They started with the biscuits first. They got flour for them, and accidentally spilled some. Everywhere. They laughed to their hearts' contents, playing with the flour while making the biscuits.

Marcy spoke in her laughter, "Oh dad, this is so fun!" She realized her mistake. "Oh no no no, Simon. I meant Simon. "

"It's okay Marcy, " his tone changed.

She looked down.

"Are you okay?"

"I think I'm ready to tell you about my parents..."

***

Back in the alleyway, the pink gummy stuff from before started dripping to the ground, as the ice started melting. A zombie began to free itself.