Sweet Death: Between Us P1

- The Following Night -

Bubblegum collapsed on her bed and weakly rolled into the sheets, thoroughly exhausted. She had just spent the past four hours attempting to negotiate an alliance between the Candy Kingdom and Beautopia's Hyoomen residents, and though some slight semblance of progress had been made, the Hyoomens' innate paranoia had ultimately rendered the meeting both frustrating and entirely pointless.

At least she had the thoughts of tomorrow to relax her.

Could Marceline have planned anything? She had informed the vampire of their special day together on a rather short notice, but one day could have given her time to get something set up.

The princess closed her eyes, imagining the two of them in a high-class restaurant somewhere. She could almost hear the pre-Mushroom War orchestral music playing in the background. She could practically taste the fine dishes gathered from various kingdoms across Ooo. She could convincingly picture the feel of Marcy's lips on hers as they leaned across the table to kiss...

It took her a few wonderful seconds to realize that she wasn't imagining the contact, and that Marceline was actually hovering over her, pressing their faces together. A couple more seconds of this ecstasy, and the beautiful vampire broke away, settling down in the blankets next to her.

"When did you come in? I didn't hear the window open..."

Marcy grinned mischievously. "You weren't here when I arrived, so I hid under your bed. Did you like the surprise?"

"Loved it, Marcy." PB went in for another kiss, this one even deeper and longer than the last.

As they continued their passionate exchange, they were blissfully unaware of something placed on the nightstand, just inside where PB's crown rested. It was a very small half-orb, shaded and varnished the exact color of the wood so that it would appear as just a bubble in the paint. 

It was far more.

***

Somewhere nearby, startlingly close to the castle, there was a small chamber. It was constructed of brick and wood, much like the majority of the castle itself, but it had been thoroughly painted a slick, silvery black color. Also differentiating it from the rest of the Candy Kingdom, it was filled to the brim with monitors and speakers.

A short, hooded figure sat between them all, taking in the sights and sounds of various important figures around Ooo. On one screen, the Ice King sobbed pathetically at another failed princess-napping attempt. On another, the Earl of Lemongrab and his clone sat on their thrones, screeching non-sequiturial threats across their virtually empty castle. On yet another, Hunson Abadeer bathed in the raging inferno of the Nightosphere, sucking the souls from passing demons and whistling a once-beloved show tune. There was, surprisingly, even a view of Death's castle, though the legendary ruler of the many Dead Worlds was not within frame.

The one that captured most of the entity's attention, though, was the monitor showing Princess Bubblegum's bedchamber. She had, of course, obscured the visual footage with her crown, but the planted bug still recorded audio, and it was upon this that he, she, or it focused on.

The esteemed princess was having a flirtatious, steamy conversation with someone who sounded very much like a certain vampire. The entity had known of this beforehand, and it was getting somewhat frustrating to sit through minute after minute of infuriating sounds and unnervingly direct compliments. The desired information would be somewhere here, if the entity was patient.

And suddenly, there it was. Marceline was just beginning to share her plans for the next day. Grinning beneath the elaborate hood, the entity sat back and began to listen.