Before the kingdom (Bubbline)

Just give it a second

The only reason the gum girl knew where to go was because there was a trail of a strange atmosphere, almost like a path. It felt colder than the "spring weather norm", but it was only in certain spots. Spots where Ice King left scraps of his personality here and there. Although the gum soon realized how much she despised cold weather, she followed it in hopes to find Marceline. She never really knew why she was trying to find the girl. However, she only had a brain -and a life- for a week. She hasn't spent much time wondering why and where and when. She did wonder 'who', though.

Who am I?
Well I know that, but really...what about a name?
I've still not decided after so much time!
Who are they? Who let them be here all alone?

***

The Ice King blasted the zombies away and the door open. He went outside and blew shards of ice into the air, causing a small ice cloud to form. Marcy grabbed the book before following him . She would normally break down in times like this, but she started to care less after this point. She still was deeply disappointed though. He spewed ice all over the street and across. Ice started to form on his feet, as he thought of the safety that came with freezing the world. He was going to try and freeze his body. The street was freezing beneath him, along with a trail of ice going up his legs.

Marcy watched in fear as she dropped Hambo and the book.

The Ice King was in his zone when something shut him off. He was going to hit the ground when he suddenly saw black nothingness.

***

The gum was halfway to the library. She had been jogging for almost an hour.

***

Simon woke ten minutes later in a pile of snow muttering questions to Betty. Sadly, she wasn't there to even attempt an answer this time. Once he remembered where he was he asked Marceline what happened. She explained to him everything about the library and the zombies. He wasn't sure why he was dumb enough to put on the crown as it is. He asked why he snapped back to himself, and Marcy explained that she threw a rock at his crown, and he collapsed soon after it fell off.

She handed him the book a minute or so after Simon cooled down. Well, more like heated up. If anything right now, the cold was his enemy. It shouldn't be snowing in February. He pulled away the gum after putting on gloves and realized it was most likely not going to work well.

"Oh, ideeeaaa!" he rang. "I'll let the gum freeze in this ice, then I could just scrape it all of."

"Oh."

"Yeah..." his voice was the perfect mix between 'Simon' and 'Ice king'. "See, Marceline. The crown did something good for once." His smile was menacing, and his voice gave Marcy the creeps. Simon was yelling 'No no no! why am I saying this!' in his head. But he couldn't say that aloud. It was as if he was being possessed, because he had no control over what he was saying even though all his senses were fine. Actually, they'd heightened.

"Uggh, Simon! You...you idiot! How could you dare keep that thing! Why didn't you leave it in the street when you found me!" She snapped.

She was referring to the day they met, Simon had picked it up again after throwing it down. Marcy thought nothing of it to begin with. Silly her.

"Oh Ma-Gunther." He was looking more like Ice King. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left temple, held the sides of his head in pain and got on his knees in a feeble position. "Oh...", his vision was blurry, "M-Marceline?" He winced as another pain shocked him.

***

Later that evening

The gum girl could see the library door had been busted through, even from the distance. After a quick break, she ran to the front doors and took a closer look at the broken hinges. She slowly walked in, not paying attention to a little snow behind the place visible from the front outside. She walked in and saw remnants of chaos. She walked further to the back and saw snow and gum everywhere. Walking Dow the first aisle, she saw where the book had been pulled from a wad of gum. Out of curiousity, the gum touched the wad, almost immediately retrieving its memories. She used it to regain energy she lost and it darkened her gummy completion. She heard someone outside yelling.

***

"And-and you keep putting on the crown after I tell you now to! Its a piece of shit, Simon!"

"Look,"

"No, you look. You know it's making you grow more booboo-naners every day and night! Why are you hurting me?!?"

He froze. It was hard at first to take anyone yelling 'booboo-naners' seriously. After hearing the words 'why are you hurting me', he immediately felt the inner laugh tipped from his chest.

***

She went to the back door and saw them arguing. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she was glad to have finally found them. They were finally a short walking distance away. She thought it would be best to wait until the calmed down before going to them. So, she tried her hardest to listen from the doorway.

"Huh?! why ya keep doin' it?!"

He couldn't speak.

"Ohhhhh look at you now, too shocked by my trueness to speak!"

She was right.

***

That night

She had listened to them argue about the crown for hours until they finally decided to call it a day and sleep. They ended up in the one tent by a fire they made. She wondered why they didn't just sleep in the library.

She walked up to them and sat next to Marceline. She watched them sleep until Marcy awoke, finally giving the gum the chance to speak to them.