Chapter Text
Marceline was gone, and Betty and Simon had no clue when she was coming back. The two of them had known that this was going to happen, they’d sent her off and packed her up, given her a speech about how much they loved her and watched her fly away lit by the moon. And yet, when they woke up that next morning after seeing Marceline off, Simon had almost knocked on her door, and Betty had almost set down a plate in front of the chair she always sat in. Both herself and Simon had stared at it awkwardly for the entire meal, until the silence was finally broken.
“It feels strange to not have Marcy around,” Simon commented, and the truth was the word strange felt like an understatement. She was their daughter, and while all kids grow up and leave the nest sometime, that was usually for something like college, or a new apartment, a place their parents could vet and visit. They had no address for Marceline, and they didn’t want to risk smothering her after how difficult it’d been for her to tell them that she was leaving. She trusted them with her announcement, and they wanted to earn that trust.
“I’m sure she’s doing fine,” Betty said, even though she wasn’t at all sure that Marceline was doing fine. Every time Marceline’s name was mentioned, Betty felt her chest get tight as she wondered who she was supposed to be now. She’d been so happy to have found identity in the people around her, and now a huge piece of that identity was missing. Betty felt like part of her soul was missing, and she had to try and carry on without it. “I’m sure she blew them away with her performance,” she added, hopefully.
“Exactly, like when she performed that adorable little show for our old neighbors with that first guitar, don’t you remember how cute that was?” Simon said with a sigh, thinking about when Marcy had first been starting out, and first had been trying to figure out music and her style. She was so wonderful, and now she’d figured it out, figured herself out. And yet Simon felt more aimless and lost than ever without her around. She was a cornerstone of their family dynamic, and he didn’t know how to operate as an empty nester.
“Wait,” Betty said as she picked up their plates from the table and went to put them in the sink to wash. “This is exactly what Marceline was warning us about. She specifically told us not to sit around missing her,” Betty insisted, and that was true. Marceline had explicitly not wanted this for them, and here they were disrespecting her wishes by ignoring them. “We can’t spend the rest of our lives waiting around for Marceline to come back,” Betty said with more conviction than she’d known that she had inside of her.
“You’re completely right, Princess. We should be exploring or researching, finding something academic and important to occupy our time. Or at least taking up a hobby.” Simon said, lowering the stakes a little bit. Both himself and Betty tried not to think too much about age considering they could track their progress via Marceline, and feeling as old as that made them out to be was something they didn’t like. But the truth was they weren’t as young and nimble as they’d been when they met, and both were concerned they couldn’t do what they used to.
“Come on, there’s a million cool and interesting things in this book for us to study,” Betty said as she placed the Enchiridion down on the table. “At least one of these has to be achievable,” Betty offered and her and Simon flipped through the book. This part was actually quite nostalgic, reminding both of them of their month deciding on what they’d search for before settling on the Demonic Wishing Eye. Their hands brushed as they flipped a page, and Simon went in for a kiss, which Betty eagerly accepted.
“What about this?” Simon asked, pointing to a page in the book. “The crystal apple,” Simon read aloud, and the truth was he’d chosen it because it seemed at least somewhat easy. A simple apple sitting in the center of a forest, clearly identifiable and interesting to the eye. If the two of them were going to go on some sort of adventure, then Simon wanted their first success to be some sort of slam dunk, so they wouldn’t go home empty-handed and wallow about Marceline.
“What does it do?” Betty asked as she scanned the page and read over the history of the apple, how it came to be and sit undisturbed, and strange and near indecipherable tales about some sort of crystal dimension and the men who inhabited it. To be honest, Betty didn’t really care about what the apple actually did, all that she wanted was to get out of the house and feel alive again, like she had when herself and Simon first met and went on their adventures. It seemed like a good choice, so she wouldn’t object either way.
“I don’t think it’s that important, it's not like we’re going to eat it,” Simon said and Betty nodded as the two of them had a very strict no eating or wearing policy when it came to the artifacts they worked with, due to the possible presence of very powerful magic, and that rule had probably saved their lives more times than they’d ever know. “We could display it, build a special shelf for all of our discoveries,” Simon said and suddenly this all felt like it was coming together, he was seeing a vision of the life they could build without Marceline.
“Well, let’s go exploring,” Betty offered and Simon agreed, the two of them heading out of their cabin and towards the forest where the apple was said to lie in wait. Maybe if the two of them hadn’t been so focused on escaping their feelings of missing Marceline, they would have remembered they needed to pack and prepare, but it slipped their minds. After all, they’d spent so long trying to make the world safe for Marceline, they forgot it was dangerous to begin with. The two stood at the mouth of the forest, and entered, hands intertwined.
Their first obstacle was also the only one not listed in the Enchiridion, and possibly the most disturbing thing Betty and Simon had ever seen in their lives. It rose from the earth, like some sort of motion activated wall. It had only a single eye, and veins covering the stretched, taut skin which made up the bulk of it. It had a mouth, with small, child-like teeth, and its tiny misshapen arms reached for the both of them. It’d been so long since the two of them had seen something which so clearly used to be human, but wasn’t anymore.
“I think going to be sick,” Simon said as he did his best to figure out a way around the wall. Every time the two of them moved to pass it, it would move and shift in that direction, not letting them past. “You know, if Marcy was here she could probably just turn invisible and sneak past,” Simon said wistfully, even though he knew he was slipping into the trap of missing Marceline instead of living his life in the now. Luckily, Betty had already figured out a solution to their problem, and was happy to keep them from getting bogged down in nostalgia and sadness.
“Simon,” she whispered, unsure if the wall of human remains could understand them but not wanting to take the chance. “There’s two of us, right? What if I go one direction, and you go in the other. Maybe it’ll get stuck,” she offered and Simon nodded, the two walking up to the wall together once again, before booking it in opposite directions. Just as Betty had hoped, the wall had no clue which way to go and had stayed frozen, paralyzed in choice, until the two had made it to the other side.
“You are such a genius, my princess.” Simon said with a kiss, and Betty blushed, turning away embarrassed. “Let’s keep going!” Simon added, suddenly invigorated by Betty’s success, and the two walked deeper into the forest, hand in hand. That was at least until they came across their next body-horror Eldridge monster, something like the remains of a human brain which had grown long pink tendrils it used like legs and arms. It seemed to catch sight of them and immediately lunged at Betty, grabbing her in its tendrils.
“Oh God, Simon, these things are really slimy and gross,” Betty assessed as the snake-like brain tubes held her hostage. “I wish Marcy were here, she’d just transform into something and smash this guy to bits,” Betty assessed, falling into the same trap as Simon had. To his credit, Simon was panicking, but he did his best to surmise what the best way to free her was. The beast began running, turning its back to Simon and taking his wife with it. However, upon noticing the shiny gem on its back, Simon grabbed the nearest large stick and threw it at the gem, hard. It shattered like glass and the creature dissolved into air, dropping Betty on top of him.
“In my head, that was a lot smoother,” Simon admitted, having imagined he’d catch her in his arms rather than having her collapse on top of him. Still, he looked up and saw his beautiful wife above him and couldn’t help making a comment. “I don’t actually mind. This is quite the view,” he added, reaching up to stroke Betty’s face, something she blushed at before climbing off of him. The two rejoined hands and began talking as they walked deeper in the forest, still on the quest for the apple. “What horrifying monstrosity do you think we’ll find next?” Simon asked.
“Hmm… how about tiny human skeleton butterflies,” Betty asked and one landed on her shoulder and she shuddered. Upon looking closer, she noticed something interesting. “Wait, do these things have tiny instruments?” she asked and when Simon looked closer, they did have what looked like crudely carved versions of drums guitars, and other instruments. “Okay, weird,” Betty noted as the butterflies flew past them. “But Marcy would have probably loved them,” she added and herself and Simon stared at them, flying away just like Marceline had before continuing forward.
“Hm, I’m going to be honest, I think the brain monster was scarier,” Simon noted as they saw a crystallized looking man guarding the apple. The crystal man caught sight of them, and quickly shifted into Simon, repeating what he’d said. “Interesting,” he said, and the creature repeated what he said again. It was obvious that physical force would be utterly useless against the creature, and so that meant it was up to them to solve the problem using some other method. It was Betty who came up with the answer.
“Hello,” she said to the guard, and it quickly shifted into her, repeating what she said. “You two can go on through,” she said and the guard, still in her form, repeated it back to her. This seemed to work, as the creature reverted to its normal form and moved out of their way, allowing them access to the tree where the crystal apple grew. “Sometimes the simplest option is the correct one,” Betty noted, before seeing how high up the apple was. “How are we going to get up there without Marceline’s flight?” Betty questioned and Simon snapped his fingers.
“Want to climb on my shoulders?” he asked, and Betty blushed, but accepted. With the added height, Betty was easily able to pluck the apple from the tree, and carefully got down from Simon’s shoulders holding their new prize. “Wow, it does look quite stunning,” Simon said as the light hit the apple and refracted the same way it would with any other crystal. “Let’s get this baby home and start building a shelf,” Simon noted and Betty agreed, the two being able to leave the area much easier than entering it.
“Simon,” Betty spoke when they returned home, and Simon and Betty found themselves collecting scattered wood to build themselves a display case. “Do you think we were bad parents?” Betty asked and Simon looked at her surprised when she elaborated. “I mean, every time we came across an obstacle in that forest, all we thought about was how Marceline could solve it for us. Have we been using our daughter to fix our problems?” Betty asked nervously, and Simon thought for a moment before responding.
“Nah,” he said, and when Betty looked at him shocked, he explained his reasoning. “Remember when we came across those butterflies? They weren’t dangerous at all, and yet we still brought up Marcy. I think we just miss her, and were trying to come up with any reason to bring her up.” Simon admitted as he hammered the final nail into their shelf. “I mean, I don’t want to brag, but Marceline is awesome, so we must have done something right,” Simon said and Betty had to wholeheartedly agree as they put up the case and placed the apple on it.
“Hey, Simon,” Betty said as she turned from looking at the apple on the shelf to him. Her husband, the love of her life, the man who she felt lucky to get to spend a day with, let alone the rest of her life. Suddenly, Betty was overcome with an emotion that was almost fulfillment, but not quite. Betty felt, prepared, like she was finally ready to do something she’d been waiting for and whatever she was going to say before completely slipped away. Simon just stared at her, slightly confused, though still with a smile on his face.
“Yes?” he questioned because he wasn’t sure what Betty was about to say to him, and honestly he didn’t really mind if she didn’t have much to say at all. He just wanted to hear her voice, to see her face, and Simon felt so lucky that this was the woman he’d married, that she’d accepted him at all, considering she was very out of his league. Betty gave his hand a squeeze, and then leaned in to whisper something to him. Simon moved in close so she could do it easier, and so he could hear whatever she wanted to tell him.
“I’m ready,” she said, and it took a moment for Simon to process what she was saying to him, but when he did, he very quickly turned beet red. “I mean, I don’t know how successful we’ll be, considering I’m getting up there in years but,” and Simon cut her off with a kiss because he couldn’t stand to hear the most perfect woman in the world deprecate herself, even if she was just trying to temper expectations. Betty looked at him, utterly in love, once the kiss was broken and Simon said something to her.
“Oh, Princess, I don’t care how it ends up.” Simon said, before adding something slightly more playfully. “After all, the trying is the fun part, isn’t it?” he asked and Betty nodded, utterly embarrassed but completely excited. “May I?” Simon asked and Betty allowed him to scoop her up bridal style,
and though she wanted to tell him to be careful of his back, she didn’t want to ruin the mood. Truthfully, neither was sure anything would come from this attempt, considering they weren’t tracking cycles or doing anything to increase their chances of conception. No, this time was just for fun.