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Sweet Death: Into The Black P10

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Epilogue: Unity

At the dawn of next morning, the populace of the Candy Kingdom was shocked by the emergence of several figures from the dungeons under the castle. The individuals were withered, bloodied, and severely burnt, but for the most part in lucid enough states to tell their stories. They were, according to the testimonies, the only surviving individuals ever to set foot in Blackbox's compound other than the man in the hood himself.
When Blackbox's powder bombs had gone off, several of the cell doors meant to be fixed open had been slammed tightly shut by the force, trapping the survivors -- two tortured prisoners and one shellshocked member of the task force sent to raid the compound -- within the almost airtight confines. Streams of scorching powder still found their ways in through air filtration systems and seams in the containment structures, but not in large enough quantities to be immediately fatal. When the literal and metaphorical dust had settled, the trio were able to stumble out through halls of incinerated remains and make into open daylight.
Together, the testimonies stacked up enough circumstantial evidence to possibly implicate Peppermint Butler for Blackbox's crimes. When the news came to light, closet loyalists to Princess Bubblegum's unchallenged dynasty engaged in violent brawling with those who had openly supported Blackbox's plans, resulting in mass bloodshed. During the chaos, the Captain Banana Guard, who had been identified unanimously as Blackbox's most ardent supporter, was found severely battered and bloodied in an alley where he had dragged Finn's stiffening corpse and was still tearfully attempting to revive him, whispering about it being "too much" and "all his fault". Just before he was to be taken to trial as a suspect in the murder of a renowned hero, an enraged Banana Guard ambushed him and speared him through the eye, killing him instantly. The murderer fled the kingdom shortly after and was never caught.
It took slightly longer to find Peppermint Butler, but he was in no more of a state to resist than his helper. The disheveled butler had taken refuge in the basement of an abandoned house, where it was believed that the doomed rebellion against Blackbox had formed and held its meetings. When discovered, he was cradling a vicious stab wound to the lower torso, muttering in an almost catatonic state about something awful happening to the princess that could have been avoided had she listened. When asked where the princess was, Peppermint Butler could only burst into sobs that wracked his frail body to the core, and he had to be transported to the hospital for an emergency examination and psychological evaluation.
At the same time, by what had to be perfect coincidence, Princess Bubblegum's body was anonymously placed in the town square, dressed in mysteriously hand-stitched burial garb and remarkably well preserved. As mourning residents respectfully carried her to a more proper temporary resting place with the intent of working out her burial plans, a folder was discovered tied to her underside with a length of thick string. The file contained a full, detailed manifesto on the "Black Box Project", the motivations behind it, and much more, all pointing the finger of blame squarely at Peppermint Butler with orders of magnitude more than enough evidence to fully convict or even execute him.
The effect on the kingdom was immediate. Riots began to break out, first isolated incidents of looting, then full-scale mass assaults and arsons. Coupled with already boiling hostilities from the previous clashes between loyalists and "Blacklights", as supporters of Peppermint Butler's ideals sporadically took to calling themselves, the riots sent the kingdom's economic and living conditions plummeting. Outside minds postulated that total collapse would come within ten more weeks of violence. Ultimately, they were two weeks short; mass exoduses drained the population into nothingness after twelve weeks.
During the seventh week of the twelve, the final organized party in the kingdom stood out in front of the hospital and simply stared at the windows, needing to say nothing to get across their intent. They were nearly fifty strong, comprised mostly of former royal staff and deserted Banana Guards, and armed as well as Peppermint Butler had armed the mob sent out to retrieve Bubblegum on that fateful day. One by one, the doctors, one of the last intellectual groups to remain within the crumbling kingdom, marched out of the building and were escorted peacefully to the entrance gates, where they separated after some tearful farewells.
The group then calmly entered the hospital and easily zeroed in on the single remaining patient. Peppermint Butler had easily recovered from his wound and by all accounts could have escaped before the situation spiraled out of control, but the group discovered him sitting defenselessly on his bed, gazing at them with a serene, hauntingly sad smile.
When he offered up no final words or wishes, the group dragged him outside by the lapels of his tattered suit and beat him to death with pipes, blunted spears, and empty firearms. Exactly how long it took him to expire after the first blow was dealt became something of an urban legend among refugees -- some sources claimed that he was killed on impact, while others exclaimed any time periods ranging up to six sustained hours. Whether or not he cried or screamed in pain, and exactly what was said during the ordeal, would also be hotly debated for years to come.

***

Two-and-a-half years after the dust had settled, two monuments stood over the area where there once stood a mighty kingdom.
The smaller one was a simple statue, albeit still an enormous one, towering over the site wherein the hero it was dedicated to was currently housed. The statue was composed of rare metals and ores imported from across the land; anyone and everyone who had been touched by Finn's life was willing to donate to the construction, and many had even joined in the manual labor. Now finished, the gleaming statue showed Finn in a classically heroic stance clashing blades with a highly dramatized interpretation of Blackbox atop the Candy Castle tower. Historians argued that there was no evidence for such a battle ever having taken place, as well as there being incontrovertible evidence against the disguise Peppermint Butler wore containing devilish horns, all manner of threatening metal spikes, or a swirling black cape that melded into pure incorporeal shadow at its hem.
Visitors often reported spotting a scarred, crippled, almost suicidally depressed Jake limping to the foot of the statue and sitting there, speaking to nothingness. The dog became something of a legend for his increasingly rare sightings even as tourism to the statue increased, but the furor surrounding him died down after his wife Lady Rainicorn, whom had believed herself a widow, made an impassioned (and heavily translated) speech proclaiming that Jake was just fruitlessly waiting for his brother to come back, and that nobody -- not even her -- should interfere with his healing process. Shortly after the speech was made, sightings died down to nearly nothing, and ambiguous sightings from as far as the Fire Kingdom led to the common consensus that he had started aimlessly wandering Ooo alone in search of odd problems to fix.
While Finn's memorial was a spectacle that never failed to bring in attention and payments of respect, it paled in comparison to what had been arranged for Princess Bubblegum.
Every single remaining scrap of material remaining in the Candy Kingdom, including the mostly intact Candy Castle and the foundation of the compound beneath it, had been brought together in the center of the former civilization and formed into a gigantic museum chronicling every one of Bubblegum's noble feats, scientific advances, and moral virtues. Atop the museum was a glimmering statue that could be seen for miles around: Princess Bubblegum in a simple candid, polite pose, wearing her crown and her most iconic royal dress. Notable exhibits in the museum included the walled garden, where a small field of pink trees fertilized with Peppermint Butler's remains stood, automatically kept healthy and rich thanks to a reproduction of one of Bubblegum's advanced sprinkler prototypes; the technological laboratory, wherein scientists from across the planet gathered to discuss the princess's advancements and improve on her prototyped technologies in front of a student audience; and the "romance room", where heavily censored and cropped images of Bubblegum with her vampire lover were displayed to tell a more personal story about the beloved ruler, and which still provoked some controversy over whether Marceline had played any role in Peppermint Butler's descent into madness.
Most visited of all, needless to say, was the ornate chamber where Bubblegum had been laid to rest. The sealed, free-standing marble coffin was decorated modestly, contrasting with the luxury and pomp of its surroundings, as it was believed that that was what a loving ruler like her would most want. Almost every day since the chamber became open to the public, without fail, droves of refugee Candy People and allies to the kingdom would turn up and place all manner of flowers, jewels, small trinkets, and other offerings around the coffin. Speeches and sermons were held there frequently, and any former refugees who had perished in the time since were presented in burial shrouds before the coffin prior to being taken to their graves, all mostly for symbolic purposes.
It was, after all, a simple fact that the Candy Kingdom had died along with the beloved princess.

***

Thirty years after the fall of the Candy Kingdom, frequent visits to the monuments dried up. They became simply two more remnants of Ooo's long and troubled history, no more special in the hearts of the current generation than a memorial to a fallen goblin soldier or the ash pits where Fire Kingdom royalty were preserved upon expiration.

***

Fifty years passed.

***

Then, almost in the blink of an eye, it was a century.

***

This needed to be a private affair.
Marceline swept the halls of the museum up and down, ensuring that nobody was still residing within. The scant few visitors today had long vanished, but by this point in her endless life, she was cautious enough to check the shadows for any unseen prowlers. When she was finally satisfied that the building was empty and locked up tight, she quickly moved to her destination.
The coffin chamber, with its unmaintained cobwebs and numerous cracked paintings of the princess, would be incredibly eerie to anyone without a natural affinity for darkness. Luckily for her, Marceline had such an affinity.
The lid of the coffin was designed so that it could never be opened, thus permanently respecting Bubblegum's resting place in lieu of an underground burial. Marceline lifted it with ease for just as long as was necessary, then gently set it back down before she turned away. If anyone came in here now, they would see no change with the coffin.
Marceline, however, saw a brilliant change.
"You're a better actress than I think you know. I almost believed you were furious back in the dungeons."
"Heh. The girl who's been playing dead for the past hundred years calls me a good actress?"
"It got easy after the first few days. You had to fake your emotions every time you met someone."
"You underestimate my ability to become a recluse."
"Glob, I missed you."
The two of them met with a kiss, and their fangs scraped together with a gentle creaking sound.

***

Somehow, the plan Marceline had come up with in seconds had gone off much more successfully than the long-forgotten Black Box Project. Sure, there had been a few snags, and the situation hadn't played out exactly as they'd expected, but in the end... what did it matter?
Bubblegum cared about only one thing, and that one thing was flitting through the night alongside her, her familiar pale skin faintly reflecting the moonlight. Smiling, Bubblegum looked at herself and saw the same effect. This was perfect.
"Hey, Bonnibel..."
They were the first words spoken since the monuments had been abandoned; they were both saving their years of more romantic pleasantries for their arrival at home, where they could be safely realized and acted upon.
"Yeah, Marcy?"
"You know what happened to the kingdom...?"
"I don't, and I don't need to know." With speed untraceable to the mortal eye, Bubblegum placed a finger over Marceline's lips, causing her to blush and Bubblegum to smile.
"I stopped caring a long time ago."
The two of them were silent for the rest of the journey home, at which point they became decidedly less so.

T H E    E N D
Sweet Death is over.

It's up to you to decide how you feel, but I hope you're unhappy for the intended reasons, and not because this ending sucks.
© 2015 - 2024 KleinerKiller
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TigerClaw12303's avatar
They could of went to the land of the dead to revive all the victims who suffered during protect Blackbox.