The disclaimer telling you that I don't own any Adventure Time characters is frozen in ice. Just another fun fic inspired by the cartoon series.

Simon And Marcy At The Store

It all started when Marceline, Finn, Jake and the Ice King were having a jam session. Marceline was on bass guitar, the Ice King was on the drums, Jake was on his guitar and Finn was using the tambourine. "Why do I always get the tambourine?" Finn asked as the song ended.

"Because flutes don't really go well with hard rockin' tunes and let's face it buddy, you stink at all the other instruments," Jake quipped.

"Flutes could go well if you write them in right," Jake frowned.

"No, they don't," Jake shook his head.

"Besides you were pretty okay during the singing portion," Marceline put down her guitar. "Thanks guys for helping me work on some new music for my band."

"No prob Marceline," Finn nodded. He frowned when he realized the Ice King was still playing drums. "Ice King! Chill out! We're done!"

"Can't stop!" Ice King kept on playing. "I got rock and roll in my soul! Whoo hoo!"

"Ice King I admit you play some decent beats but seriously man, give it a rest," Jake groaned.

"I can't rest! I can't stop! I gotta go where the groove takes me! WHOO HOO!" Ice King kept playing on.

"I got this one guys," Marceline said. "Hey Ice King. There's a princess outside the window."

"Princess! WHERE? WHERE?" Ice King dropped his drumsticks and ran to the window. "Did she see me play? Did she see how awesome I am? Where is she?"

He stopped when he heard the others giggling. "Hey!" He turned around and saw Marceline take his drumsticks. "There's no princess out there is there?"

"Nope," Marceline grinned.

"You know one of these days that little trick isn't going to work on me anymore," Ice King folded his arms.

"Give me a call when it does," Marceline floated off with the drumsticks.

"She really got you man," Jake laughed.

"Oh go bark at something…" Ice King grumbled. "I'm never gonna get any groupies."

"You know it's not that late," Marceline said. "You guys wanna hang out a little bit more?"

"Sure," Finn said. "Sounds cool. So what do you wanna do?"

"Hey Marceline," Ice King spoke up. "How about another Simon and Marcy story?"

"What?" Marceline was startled.

"I liked that last story you made up a while ago! It was so good," Ice King plopped on the floor by her feet. "Tell another one!"

"Yeah I want to hear another Simon and Marcy story," Finn said. "A happy one. There are happy stories right?"

"Yeah, there are," Marceline made a small smile. "Hmmm…Okay I have a good one. One day Simon and Marcy were camping in some spooky woods. Of course Marcy wasn't scared because she had Simon with her. However she noticed something was wrong. Her friend Simon was very sad…"

About 996 years ago…Give or take a few days.

"Morning Hambo," Little seven year old Marcy yawned, her pointed teeth clearly showing. She sat up from her sleeping bag and rubbed her eyes.

She held the stuffed doll in her arms as she sat up. "Another day of adventure!" She grinned happily.

That happiness was short lived when she heard the sounds of muffled sobs nearby. She got out of her sleeping bag and saw her friend Simon curled up in his sleeping bag. Tears were running down his face. He looked like he was in some kind of agony.

"Oh no Hambo…" Marcy bit her lip absently. "He's having another bad dream again."

The sobs were starting to get louder. "Simon! Simon wake up!" Marcy shook her friend awake.

"NO!" Simon shot up in terror. For a moment he seemed lost.

"Simon! Please be okay!" Marcy gave Simon a big hug. Then Simon realized where he was.

"Oh I'm sorry Marcy," Simon said in a soft gentle tone. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I was already awake," Marcy hugged her friend. "Was it a really bad dream?"

"The worst," His voice was full of sorrow. He looked down at Marcy. "But I'm okay now." He hugged her tightly.

"I don't like it when you have bad dreams," Marcy sniffed.

"Me neither," Simon closed his eyes. He seemed to shake a little.

"I guess grownups get bad dreams like little kids huh?" Marcy looked at Simon.

"Yeah they do," Simon opened his eyes and smiled. "But it's important to remember that the bad dreams won't hurt you if you don't let them." He tenderly kissed Marcy on the forehead. "Now how about some breakfast?"

"Okay," Marcy untangled from her friend. Simon got up and rummaged through his bag. "Simon, do we have to leave again?"

"No, we found a lot of good stuff around here. That apple tree we found actually had some fruit on it. And the water by the stream is clear and uncontaminated. We can stay a few days," Simon gave her an apple. "There's enough food here to get by before we move on. Now go on. Eat your breakfast."

Marcy was about to bite in when she realized something. "Where's your breakfast Simon?"

"Oh, I'm not that hungry," Simon waved as he sat next to her. "I'll eat later. You go right ahead."

"Uh uh," Marcy shook her head. "If you're not hungry. I'm not hungry."

"Marcy you have to eat," Simon pleaded. "Just one little bite please?"

"You first."

"Marcy…" Simon groaned.

"I'm not dumb Simon," Marcy said. "You didn't eat anything yesterday. You must be really hungry too."

"Well…A little," Simon admitted. Suddenly his stomach growled. "Okay a lot."

He took out an apple from the bag. "There. Now we can both eat," He smiled.

Marcy smiled and bit into her apple with delight. Simon ate too. "These apples are soooo good!" Marcy giggled.

"They're good for you too," Simon said between bites. "Remember Marcy, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Good thing too because I have a lousy health service provider."

Marcy giggled as she finished her apple. "Still hungry?" Simon asked. He rummaged in his backpack. "How about some crackers? I found them yesterday."

"Kay…" Marcy agreed and ate the crackers Simon gave her.

Reluctantly Simon ate one of the crackers for himself. Marcy gave him a look and put another cracker to his mouth. Simon smiled and ate it too.

"These are good crackers," Simon grinned.

"Simon you got crumbs in your beard," Marcy giggled.

"Oh yeah," Simon brushed them away. "Better?"

"Much better," Marcy nodded. "How do you eat with a beard anyway?"

"It's a bit tricky sometimes," Simon smiled. "I think I'm getting used to it though."

"Ever try to shave it off?" Marcy looked at him as if she was trying to figure something out.

"Too many times to count," Simon groaned. "But my beard just keeps growing back. You wouldn't believe how many razors I went through before I gave up."

"I like your beard," Marcy said. "I think your face would look weird without it."

"It's kind of grown on me," Simon made the bad pun.

Marcy half laughed and half groaned at the bad joke. "You think Betty would like the beard?"

"Who's Betty?" Simon blinked.

"Your princess, don't you remember Simon?" Marcy told him. "She had pretty red hair, a green dress and glasses! You showed me a picture of her once, remember?"

"Oh, right yes…" Simon shook his head. "Betty right. What was the question again?"

"Uh never mind," Marcy stood up. "Can Hambo and I go play now?"

"Sure," Simon nodded. "But don't go too far. I'll clean up the camp…and maybe have a nice quiet nervous breakdown." He muttered the last part when Marcy went off to play.

"He's getting worse Hambo," Marcy sighed to her doll. "We gotta do something. Maybe if he had some way to help jog his memory?"

Marcy thought hard. "We need to look for something that would help Simon. But where can we go?"

She wandered through some bushes when she found herself in front of a parking lot. And a huge store with a broken door stood in front of her. "That could work," Marcy said. Then she went into the building.

Meanwhile back at the campsite…

"What is wrong with you, Simon?" Simon hissed to himself as he finished cleaning the camp. "You can't have these breakdowns in front of Marcy! You have to keep it together! She needs you so suck it up and…and stop being a wimp!"

He took a deep breath. "Hey Marcy," Simon called out in a cheerful voice. "How about we play a game? Marcy? Marcy?" He walked around the area but Marcy wasn't there.

"Marcy? Marcy where are you?" Simon looked around in a panic. "No, no, no, no!"

He hit his head. "Stupid, stupid Simon! You should know better than not to take your eyes off Marcy! Can't you do anything right? Stupid! Stupid!"

He looked around. "She couldn't have gotten far. Marcy? MARCY?"

He burst through the bushes. That's when he noticed the store. "She couldn't have gone in there could she?" He gulped. "Marcy knows better than to go into buildings alone right? Right?"

He then realized that the seven year old would have probably considered being with her stuffed doll Hambo would be an effective loophole to that rule. "Oh bread balls!" He grumbled as he ran into the building.

"Marcy! MARCY!" Simon yelled out. He didn't want to attract any attention to whatever was living inside the decrepit department store but finding Marcy was more important. "MARCY!"

"Up here Simon!"

Simon looked and saw Marcy waving through the barley lit lights of the department store. "Marcy! Stay right there!" Simon shouted. In a panic he ran up a flight of stairs.

Unfortunately for Simon they weren't just stairs. They were an escalator. An escalator going down. And at that moment for some reason they chose to click into motion.

"Marcy! Marcy! Marcy! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Simon tried to run up the stairs but found after a few minutes he was getting nowhere. "Huh?"

"Simon you're going the wrong way," Marcy said as she went down a solid set of stairs that was between the two escalators.

"Wait there are actual…AAAAAAAH!" Simon slipped and fell backwards on the stairs. "OW! OW! OW!"

"Simon!" Marcy ran to her friend.

"Oohhhh," Simon lay at the bottom of the stairs. "It's okay…I landed on my head. Lucky me…That was already broken."

"Careful Simon," Marcy warned. "You could have been hurt!"

"Could have been hurt?" Simon groaned in pain. He sat up. "Marcy what are you doing in here? You know better than to go off into buildings alone! It's not safe!"

"I wasn't alone! I was with Hambo," Marcy pointed out. "And I needed to get you something."

"Well you and Hambo should not have come in here," Simon said gently but sternly. "Especially without telling me. I was scared."

"I'm sorry, but I found something for you," Marcy showed him a small rag doll.

"For me?" Simon blinked.

"Look! I got you a princess to remind you of your friend," Marcy held up the doll. "See, she has pretty red hair like your friend. I couldn't find a green dress but she looks good in pink."

Simon took the doll in wonder. "I even drew glasses on her face just like her," Marcy smiled.

"Oh Marcy…" Simon smiled and hugged her. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

"She's your princess Simon," Marcy hugged back.

"You're my princess now, Marcy," Simon smiled.

"Yeah but not for real," Marcy pulled away and smiled. "Just until you find your real princess."

"I don't know if I'll ever find her," Simon sighed as he looked at the doll. "It's been so long and the war…" He trailed off.

"But you and I survived," Marcy said. "So that means there's hope right? You just gotta keep looking until you find your princess, Simon! Never give up!"

"Never give up," Simon smiled back. Then he heard a noise. "What's that?"

Something small and glowing bright yellow skittered up to them. It stopped a few feet away. "It's a hamster," Marcy realized. "A glowing yellow hamster."

"Oh dear. That can't be good," Simon blinked as he put the doll into one of his coat pockets.

"Hamsters don't glow right?" Marcy asked as the creature looked at them.

"Not usually no," Simon had a bad feeling about this.

"CHEEEEEE!" The glowing hamster's fur on its back began to rise. It seemed to spark with electricity. It opened its mouth and it had huge fangs inside of it.

"Definitely not good," Simon gulped as he stood up.

"CHEEEEEE!" Several more glowing hamsters with large fangs and sparking fur arrived. They did not look friendly.

"We should really run now," Simon told Marcy.

"Uh huh," Marcy gulped.

Simon grabbed her in his arms and he ran quickly away from the horde of hamsters. "Get outside, get outside, get outside…" He said quickly. "Run for the door, run for the door, run for the door…"

This plan was immediately thwarted by another group of mutant hamsters cutting them off from the exit. "Run away from the door!" Simon made a wild turn. "Run away from the door!"

"Simon! They're gaining on us!" Marcy yelled.

"I know! I know! I know!" Simon gasped as he ran. "This way!" He ran into another department. His eyes widened at the sight. There were several aisles of fireworks in the room.

"FIREWORKS?" Simon yelled. "What kind of crazy department store sells fireworks?"

He did a double take. He saw a window nearby. "Wait a minute. That might work…"

"You're not gonna use the…" Marcy bit her lip.

"NO! Not this time!" Simon told her, even though every instinct inside him was screaming to use the crown attached to his belt. "Where's that lighter?" He searched his pockets.

"Simon! Right here!" Marcy pointed to a set of lighters in packaging on a shelf.

"That's very convenient," Simon grabbed a package. "I guess this place is a convenience store!"

"Simon! They're getting closer!" Marcy yelled.

"RRARRG!" Simon used his sharp pointed teeth to tear open the packaging. He yanked out the lighters and spit out the package parts from his mouth. He grabbed what looked like a small rocket and lit it using one of the lighters.

He pointed the rocket at the window. "MARCY! DUCK!"

Marcy did so just before the rocket whizzed over her, shattering the glass. "Go! Go! Go!" Simon waved as he grabbed more fireworks and prepared to light them. The hamsters were already advancing on them.

"Simon!" Marcy yelled.

"DO AS I SAY! NOW!" Simon yelled as he lit another rocket. This time he pointed it at the hamsters. "Yippe Ki Yai Yay furballs!"

Unfortunately this rocket missed the hamsters completely. "Oops," Simon gulped as it landed right among another pile of fireworks. "RUN!"

With speed he never knew he possessed Simon jumped out the window grabbing Marcy. They barely escaped the building before a loud blast was heard from inside. Simon shielded Marcy with his body as some fiery debris exploded. He hissed in pain as some sparks landed on his back but the coldness of his body was more than enough to put out the sparks.

"Are you okay?" Simon asked as he set Marcy down a safe distance away from the building.

"I'm okay," Marcy nodded as she clutched Hambo. "Simon! Your back! It's smoking!"

"Terrible habit," Simon threw off his jacket which was still smoldering. "Well I needed a new jacket anyway." He stepped on it then picked it up when the sparks went out.

The two stood there holding hands as the flames devoured not only the building but the monsters inside. "Remember Marcy, only burn down buildings if they are housing an evil horde of mutant radioactive hamsters," Simon told him.

"Okay," Marcy said.

Present day…

"And so Simon and Marcy left the area before the flames spread and burned everything to the ground," Marceline finished. "And they were very happy. The end."

"Great story!" The Ice King whooped.

"Yeah I like stories with evil hamsters on fire," Jake admitted. Finn and Marceline looked at him. "I said evil hamsters. Not good ones."

"I like those kinds of stories too. Even if I'm not a big fan of fire," The Ice King stood up and stretched. "Well I'd better get back to the castle. If I stay away too long Gunter goes crazy!"

"We remember," Jake groaned as the Ice King picked up his instruments.

"Great jam session guys! See you around Marceline! You know you inspired me to think up my own song," The Ice King grabbed his stuff and hovered in the air using his beard for flight. "Now I'm sure to get some princess groupies! See ya!"

He flew out the door singing. "Burning evil hamsters, fire so bright! Burning evil hamsters, dangers of the night! Burning evil hamsters better run away…Burning evil hamsters…Ice King saves the day!"

"Oh boy…" Jake shook his head. "Not some of his best work. Guy should stick to drums."

"Wow," Finn realized. "You and Simon really went through a lot back then huh?"

"Yeah," Marceline said wistfully as she looked at the Ice King flying out of her cave. "We did. I mean looking back on it all I know every day we had to struggle to survive but growing up with Simon it didn't seem that way. He was so selfless back then, always trying to make me laugh and make sure I ate enough."

"Well he was just being a good dad," Jake said. "Putting you ahead of himself."

"I think we both needed each other to survive," Marceline sighed. "Sometimes I think I might have accelerated the crown's control over him and other times I wonder if maybe I slowed it down. I just don't know anymore. I don't know if anything I did made an impact on him."

Meanwhile the Ice King had flown into his icy castle. "I'm home!" He called out unceremoniously dumping his instrument on the floor. "Gunter? Gunter? You're not using my demonic wishing eye to invade the Candy Kingdom again are you?"

"Wak…" Gunter waddled up to him.

"Good girl," He patted her head. "So is everything the way I left it?"

He looked around. "Let's see…socks on the floor. Broken stuff everywhere. Penguins jumping up and down on my bed…Yup. Everything is exactly how I left it all right!"

The Ice King went to his dresser drawer and opened it. He rummaged around his things throwing the occasional sock on the floor until he found something. He took it out.

It was an old battered rag doll with faded red hair that was now pink, drawn on glasses and a pink dress. Impulsively the Ice King hugged it. "I guess everybody needs a princess sometimes…" He whispered to himself, a smile spreading across his withered face.