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"I'm not a brave knight" Simon heard Fionna tell Bonnie solemnly.
He watched as Fionna slinked over towards the steps on the giant mixer to mull over things with Cake trailing behind her. It left him and Bonnie all alone at the top of the mixer, sort of awkward, sort of alone.
After a bit, his brain finally caught up and digested all of the information he's been subjected to for the past hours. It made him wonder what exactly happened here. What was the catalyst to make this all happen? How did this world's Ice King become lucid enough to even cast such a spell?
He mulled over a bunch of things. About the state of the people here, about how it all came to be.
He couldn't help but be sorry for the state of Bonnie's mind. How she was subjected to the madness of the crown. He knows how much it could torment the user, and being such a fellow brilliant mind, he couldn't help but worry over her. And, well, she was basically his daughter in law at this point, so there's that.
Speaking of daughter, he just realized something.
Ok so it's not like he expected to see everyone he knew in this universe, however with this world's Simon being even more nuts and this world's Bonnie being cuckoo bananas, he wonders if…
Would it be presumptuous to ask? He didn't see them in the last universe, but then again, that might be because that world wasn't magic.
There has to be something constant in most universes, right? Something that's the same until one specific event?
The Winter King said he'd been sane for about a hundred years by now. They've known each other for more than hundreds…
Well, it can't hurt to try, right?
Simon walked up to Bonnie, who was tending to the damage she'd made to her own kingdom. She was muttering to herself and not taking him any mind. So, Simon decided to just approach her and speak up.
"Hey, uh, Bonnie," Simon started, trying to get the woman's attention.
Bonnie suddenly stiffened.
She stopped her muttering and her shoulders went tense. Simon thought he must've surprised her, but then she whipped around and told him,
"Don't call me that." The princess said quickly, almost in a snap.
Simon was stunned for a moment but quickly recovered. "Uh, sorry Princess, I just wanted to ask you something."
Princess Bubblegum just crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
Simon gulped as the princess turned weirdly intimidating. He guessed that it sorta made sense that PB was guarded towards him. His alternate self did curse her with madness. There's no telling if he was just as bad as the other Simon.
He swallowed a lump in his throat but quickly started speaking.
"I'm sorry to bother you princess but uh," He didn't know how to phrase it right. How would one even ask such a question? "Well you see, I was sort of wondering…"
The words couldn't form in his tired state of mind. He got filled with worry when the thought passed him and frankly, he didn't know how well his brain was processing everything at the moment. Oh well, there's no point in stalling. He just has to lay it all out.
"Look, I don't know how different this world is from my own. I know that this world's Simon was a big butt and had tormented you for years. It's just. I couldn't help but wonder how my little Marcy is doing here, you know? I can't imagine what she must've felt with this world's Simon being the way he is. And yeah, I know Marcy tends to go all over the place. But uh,"
Simon steeled himself. "You don't happen to know how or where she is, do you? I'm just worried about her. This place is so… messed up compared to my world. I've been mad before and I know that after you get released from the madness, you retain some of the memories you made, though however vague…"
He trailed off but shook his head. "Do you know where she is? Or at least, the last time you saw her? I just want to know if she's safe. That's all I ask. This may not be my universe but she's still my Marcy."
Simon ended his speech with sureness. It might not be his world but damn it he needed to know.
For a moment, there was only silence. Princess Bubblegum only stared at him, an unreadable expression plastered on her face. Simon thought that maybe she didn't know what he was talking about, or maybe she didn't listen to him and stared off to space.
He quickly realized that that was ridiculous since Bubblegum was always attentive and wouldn't stare into space like that, and that the timeline, for whatever different now, probably didn't change their past together.
Simon was, however, about to apologize for his long winded speech until he heard the princess speak.
"She always told me you were kind and selfless." Princess Bubblegum said softly, but it felt detached from emotion. "She said you were loving, smart and caring."
PB then turned away from Simon.
"Of course, I took her word for it, but I never really believed it to be true..."
She pursed her lips, seemingly thinking her words over. Simon only waited for her to continue.
"I… She isn't here, Simon. I haven't seen Marceline for a long while now." PB confessed slowly.
Well, that was disappointing. But it did make sense. Simon couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it would feel like to have two of the most important people in your life go crazy.
Simon sighed and turned to leave. "Oh, ok. At least I asked so it wouldn't brew in my mind long." He chuckled. "Thank you, Princess."
But then, two pink arms landed on his shoulders and held him in place.
"No, no. Simon. You don't understand." The princess gripped his shoulders tightly. "I haven't seen Marcy for a long time now. No one has. The last time I saw her, she…"
The princess squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced darkly. "She found out about your plan." She tried to look away.
"She found out about The Winter King's plan to transfer his madness onto me. So, she fought you. The other you, I mean. She fought hard. She tried to defend me despite-"
PB's grip on Simon's shoulder tightened even more, making it almost unbearable for the old man.
"The last thing she said to me was even though she was far away and that we weren't talking, I never left her mind. She told me that she was always worried something bad would happen to me and I-" PB hiccuped a sob.
"I was too prideful." PB spat out with venom. "I never thought he was ever a threat. He was so tame. A nuisance at best. And now," The princess looked up to the sky and tried to blink the tears away.
She then gave out a dim watery chuckle. "Wanna know the exact last thing she said to me?" Her voice wavered with every word.
Simon could only nod slightly, feeling the tears stuck in his throat, already having an idea of what happened.
"She told me not to forget her." PB whimpered as tears started rolling down her cheek. Simon immediately pulled the princess for a hug, and the princess embraced back, falling onto Simon and squeezing his body tightly.
"She told me not to forget her but I did . I forgot all about her. I didn't even have a single memory or anything and just-" The princess sobbed into Simon's shoulder.
Simon joined too, but he let his tears go down quietly. He rubbed circles onto PB's back and tried to soothe her pain.
"Shh, shh, shh. I'm sorry Peebs, I am so sorry." His eyes hurt from the salt of his tears. His breath was ragged over thinking how he could've done such a thing. How he could live with himself knowing he was the one to take his little girl's life-
PB suddenly pulled away from Simon and looked into his eyes. "Don't apologize, please. It wasn't you. It wasn't your fault."
Simon couldn't accept that. He just couldn't. "Yes but still. It was an alternative me. Who knows, maybe I would've if-"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence before he heard screams coming from Fionna and Cake.
The red guy who'd been chasing them defrosted and was now going after two. Simon scrambled with the remote as Fionna and Cake got closer to him.
He fumbled with the remote and almost dropped it in his haste as the human and cat leapt towards him. He finally flipped the remote upright and was about to press the button,
But not before taking a look at Princess Bubblegum.
They locked eyes for a second, it was almost a fraction of it. But despite the haste, they both understood what the other had to say.
Princess Bubblegum nodded at him, and then Simon quickly pressed the button on the interdimensional remote.
They zapped out of existence, the Scarab unable to join them,
And silence finally settled upon the Candy Kingdom after more than a century.