Before the kingdom (Bubbline)

Time Sure Flies When Having Fun

Once the girls stopped trying to rush, they had much more fun. They played many games:

• hide and seek (of course)
• house (Acting as either sisters, one being the mother and the other as the daughter, sometimes pretending to be parents. They felt awkward at the idea of kissing each other's lips, so the most they did was kiss cheeks. )
• pretending to be famous ( one would act all high maintenance while the other would ask for autographs, pics, etc.)
• superheroes (one would pretend to have superpowers and the other would act like they were in danger until the other came to the rescue)
• leap frog

These games, along with others they'd come up with later, created slow process with reaching the library uptown. They quickly checked the phone each morning to see the date and just as quickly flipped it back closed. Yes, it's a flip phone.

Time went by too fast for the girls. As May and June approached, they took more breaks and played less due to the heat. Electricity was scarce; the found a Japanese fan to bring with them to fan themselves with, and luckily found a few fans to plug in occasionally. The girls basically had an endless supply of nutrients considering how many snacks and drinks were left behind. Besides that, they sort of just dealt with the heat. Their games and walking reduced altogether, and they ended up just talking more. Marceline talked about her parents, mostly her mother.

Although she was slowly forgetting her mom, she still spoke of how nice and pretty she was. She almost couldn't stand talking about her father, even though they shared a handful of fun memories. Marcy just could not get the thought out of her head that her dad would have, and should have come by now. It had been over two months, for glob's sake. She always wondered what was taking him so long.

By the end of July, the girls had not gone far. The climax of summer was the hardest, they always tried to find a house that was cooler on the inside. Bonnie, as much as she wanted to cool down, also watched out for the cold. Simon told her he would go in the opposite direction of the library. It soon became difficult to avoid the cold once winter swung around the corner.

The got lost many times, but mainly searched for warm clothes. They found many jackets, scarves, and some gloves. Marcy kept pointing out that they needn't rush to the Internet source. Bonnie thought maybe someone had a computer still functioning, but she never passed that idea to Marcy, as they never searched.

The winter made snow fall, and this contrast in weather was also hard to deal with. However, this did not damper their mood. As a matter of fact, they had frequent snow fights, whether they planned to or simply surprised each other.

They still kept track of the date with the phone, but also ended up finding a handheld calendar. The girls decided to scratch out the days with a pencil on that calendar in case they didn't find another phone to keep track of the days with.

They made the best of each season. They simply spoke in the hot summer sun, played in the cold wintery snow, and frolicked in the autumn leaves. Spring quickly was upon them again.

***

11 months after slowing down the rush

It was February twenty-eighth, and Bonnie suddenly remembered Marcy said her birthday was in March. Which started tomorrow.

They were walking ( well Marcy was skipping )in a considerably less amount of leaves. "Oh glob, Marceline, when did you say your birthday was again? In March, right?"

"Yeah," she had her hands in her pockets and stopped skipping.

"You sure you don't remember the date?"

"Ya, y'know I was thinking 'bout that lately. I think it was either the thirteenth or the fifteenth."

"Oh? That's the closest days you got?"

"Yeah, I know it's close to March now. Actually, I was gonna ask you which day we should say it's on. "

"Ohhhhh ok. I think we should celebrate it on the thirteenth because its closer."

"Yeea-!"

"Or maybe the fourteenth because it's in between."

Marcy was quiet.

"Or no, how about I let you decide since it's gonna be your special day. "

"Hmm... thirteenth sounds good. "

"Cool. Thirteen. "

"What about yours?"

"What about my what?"

Marcy giggled, "your birthday, silly."

Bonnie never really thought of it. "Oh... uhh... same as yours?"

Marcy laughed again," no, we can't have the same birthday! It's mine, I claim it."

"Alright greedy pants, lemme think."

Bonnie remembered coming to life about a week before finding Marcy and Simon. "Bonnie, what's eleven minus seven."

She had to think for a second. "Four."

Bonnie gasped, "my birthday is in like four days, can you believe it! I'll be one!"

"Yeaahh!" She thought about how weird that was, "yeah? Wow, for a one-year-old, you really seem like my age."

"Do ya wanna say I'm your age so it doesn't seem crazy?"

"Nahh... wait actually that sounds better. I feel funny having my bestie be so young..."

"Okay then... So I'm eight?"

"About to be nine, Bon-Bon."

Bonnie smiled. "About to be nine..."

***

March third

Bonnie found a sewing kit yesterday. Good thing she did, they ended up needing it today. The girls were running around with Hambo in Marcy's hand. A low branch ended up tearing Hambo's stomach, and Bonnie didn't want to see Marcy sad so they carefully stitched him back together.

***

March fourth

It was Bonnie's official birthday now, and Marcy asked if she wanted anything, and she said all she wanted was to see Marcy happy.

Later that evening, the girls were pretending to be airplanes, going "shwooon," and holding their arms out and running around. Suddenly, Marcy could swore she saw it. She froze, stopped and stared.

"Whoa... "

Bonnie stopped when she saw it too. "What? Oh... "

It was there, her ticket home. They were standing in view of the uptown library. No, Bonnie didn't want this. She had a best friend, she couldn't stand thinking of the idea that Marcy would leave. Especially on her birthday.

"There it is, Marceline."

"The library... " She took a step forward. As quickly as her anxiety to get home came, it left. She stopped walking and smiled at Bonnie. "Ya know what, my daddy doesn't love me. There's no point going back."

"W-What are you saying?"

"I wanna stay here, with you, Bonnibel."

The girls smiled and hugged each other.