Undead warriors flooded what was remaining of the fields surrounding the Candy Castle. They moved forward at an agonisingly slow pace, much like this battle had been.

"How long has it been?"
"When was the last time I saw colour?"

These were the thoughts that crossed the minds of each army leader on a daily basis. How long had it been? Too long. As for colour, that was but a distant memory. Every drop of pink, gold, green, you name it, was long gone. The only shades that remained were black, grey, and the occasional hint of red. Whether the land had been burned, walked over, destroyed or poisoned by the feet of the undead, there was barely even a suggestion of life anywhere. Even the live soldiers of Gumball's 'army' had become slaves to their own minds, slaves to the slaughter, slaves to the war. There was nothing left to fight for, so why did it continue? Because of pride, and a once loved friendship gone stale.

***

"This is it! We can finally win!" A shaky voice screamed into the air. He laughed uncontrollably and floated over his soldiers advancing towards the castle.

"For the Vampire King. True Ruler. For the Vampire King. True Ruler."

The eerie chant was repeated over and over again monotonously, ringing through the air to anyone who dared come near. Not that anyone did; every one of the residents of the kingdom, and those surrounding it, had evacuated years ago, or died.

"MARSHALL!" Another screaming voice entered the atmosphere, causing the Vampire King to look in the direction of the tallest tower of the Castle. There, was Prince Gumball, the enemy.

Marshall wore an annoyed frown, and his eyes darkened as he flew closer. "What?! Have you had enough? Now of all times? Are you ready to surrender?!" His voice was hoarse from constantly having to shout and scream, and his mind had been touched with insanity. He laughed in Gumball's face with a twitching eye and turned to fly back to his soldiers, the only ones he could believe in now. However, a surprising tug back snapped him out of his maddened mind-set for just a moment. Gumball had grabbed the back of his shirt before he could fly off.

"Gummy. Get. Off." For a split second, his eyes turned sad, but quickly darkened as he turned to face the prince once again. "What do you want?" His voice was harsh and straight. "Just get off, go away".

"No. This needs to stop" Gumball's voice was also serious.

Marshall scoffed and his eyes turned red. "Of course it does! But what can we do?! We're so far in, we have to keep going! It's… It's all your fault this started in the first place!" His eyes reddened with each word until the vampire was ready to burst.

"I KNOW!" Gumball's voice turned angry and desperate. "I know it's not that easy! But every single day we go through this same damn conversation. Every single day I try to get through to you Marshall! I won't give up until I snap you out of this unnecessary rage!"

Marshall's face was as unforgiving as it always was as he retorted. "Well, if you just called off your troops, this would all be over wouldn't it?" His voice mocked the Prince.
"Marshall. LOOK AROUND YOU!" Gumball was absolutely desperate, looking straight into the eyes of the vampire, unbothered by his possible threat. He wasn't sure how many more days he could handle this endless, pointless cycle. How he'd lasted this long was a mystery on its own.

"You don't think I look around every god damned day Gumball?! I've seen the death and blood caused by this more than you! Sitting up here in your high castle safe and sound, whilst me and my soldiers battle for our lives every day-"

Slap.

He was cut short by a surprising tinge of pain across his cheek. It stopped him in his thoughts; the prince had never laid a finger on him directly before, he was stunned.

Gumball took the opportunity to quickly finish what he had started to say, more calmly this time. He took a big breath and began. "Marshall. Look around you. My 'troops' lost a long time ago. I've lost track of the days, months, years, but my battle changed an age ago, whilst you still continue on the same one every day, pointlessly."

Marshall looked hopeless and confused. Irritated, he asked "What the heck are you on about Gumball?!" His voice shook a little.

Gumball was getting through; he continued. "Look. I haven't had an army in years. My battle changed when you won the war. My battle became one to look out for you and to snap you out of your insanity, and out of the fictional world you'd created around you. Your soldiers haven't moved since you won. Everything stopped when you won. You snapped, and you created this world in your head, as if the war was still continuing. You need to see, that we're just fighting with words in an empty, broken field. Marshall, please. I can't do this much longer. You need to save yourself, and you need to save me." He tried to fight back tears, he was sick of this. He had decided it would be his final attempt to save the man that was once his friend. The man he once loved.