In this version, everybody is brothers and sisters; Marshall is Marcy's older brother, Gumball is Bubblegum's younger brother, and Finn and Fionna are twins.

Marceline floated around her living room, anxious for Gumball to arrive. She was wearing her typical grey tank top, jeans and her boots, with her axe strung over her shoulder. She peered out of her window, seeing if he was anywhere in sight. No sign of him.

She pulled out her phone and dialled his number, hoping he'd pick up.

'Ring, ring… ring, ring… (Click) Hello, you've called Prince Gumball. I can't answer the phone right now, probably because of Ice Queen or Marshall Lee. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you when I can! (Beeep!)'

"Uh, hey. It's Marcy… where are you? You're not usually late… but it's more than an hour after 6.00, and I really need to talk to you. Call me when you get a chance… if you don't get this before I see you." She said hesitantly.

She plucked a few strings on her guitar, thinking about her day…

~Flashback~

Her dad was doing it again. "You need to stand up to your responsibilities as the Vampire Queen, Marceline. I'm not taking no for an answer this time." He said sternly. "I'll give you 24 hours to say goodbye to your friends, and then I'll expect to see you in the Nightosphere."

She bit her lip. "Fine. If you really don't care, if I get no say in this whatsoever, fine. Get out, I got stuff to do." She shoved her dad through the portal back to the fiery hell which would soon be her domain. Despite the heat radiating from the portal, Marceline shivered.

~End Flashback~

Marceline blinked and scrubbed a hand across her face, realising that she was crying. She floated over to the window again. No sign of Gumball, not yet.

She chewed her lip. What if Ice Queen had grabbed him or something? What if he was busy helping Bonnibell with some mad experiment? What if he just wasn't coming to meet her?

She mentally beat her thoughts back with a big stick. He'd only not showed up once to meet her, and that was during all of the Candy Zombie stuff, so that was both understandable and excusable.

She smiled, thinking back to the first time she'd met him, only about a year ago…

~Flashback~

It'd been a typical spring day in the Candy Kingdom. Finn and Bonnibell were fiddling with her latest experiment in the laboratory; Cake, Jake, Monochromicorn and Rainicorn were hanging out in the Marshmallowy Mweadows, Marshall Lee and Fionna were dungeoning, and Marceline had been chilling out underneath her umbrella on top of a hill in the Grasslands.

She'd been reading a book she filched from Bonnie's library, and had just gotten up to the climax of the story when someone tripped over her umbrella.

She'd grabbed it, holding it in place so she didn't get fried. She'd peered out to see a dude in very pink clothing sprawled on the ground. She recognised him as Prince Gumball, her older brother's best friend and Bonnie's pain in the neck.

"You okay?" She asked cheekily.

"Yes…" He said tensely. "And who are you?" He looked incredibly unimpressed.

"Marceline Abadeer. Marshall's younger sister." She studied him for a second. "What's got your goat?"

"I'm just kind of crabby because of… you know, being a ruler and stuff. It really gets to you after a while." He shrugged, a smile tugging the corner of his mouth.

She dragged her finger down her cheek. "Aw, poor bubs."

He laughed. "Gee, thanks!"

End Flashback~

There had to be a way out of it. Marceline floated listlessly back and forth, strumming her bass and staring absently at the ceiling, her mind whirling in tortured circles, trying to figure out what to say to Gumball, how to say it, and if they could plan a way around her father.

Finally, there was a knock at the door. "It's open." She called, her voice surprisingly calm.

She hovered in the middle of the room, tears streaming silently down her cheeks as Gumball stepped into her house, closing the door softly behind him.

"Marcy?" He took a step forward, raising a hand to touch her elbow, a worried look on his face. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She sniffled, wiping at her face. "Gumball… I love you heaps, you know that, right?" Her voice broke slightly.

If Gumball had looked worried before, he looked silently panicked now. "Yeah, and I love you, too Marceline."

She swallowed, looking at him, a pained expression on her face. "It's just… it's… it's my dad, he…" She said miserably. "The… the Nightosphere…"

Gumball held out his arms to her, looking very serious. "Marceline…" He choked. "It's okay… you… I mean, I can come visit you, can't I?"

"Not if my dad has any say in it…"

He swallowed. "Well… well… what can we do" He asked numbly as she tucked her head into his shoulder.

"Nothing." She breathed. "We can't do anything to stop it. I'm sorry, Gumball."
They stood there for a few minutes, eyes closed. "I'm sorry, too, Marceline." He said quietly. "I should've thought of this, of your dad, earlier, and talked to Marshall, or P.B., or… or… I don't know. But there just has to be something I can do!"

She was silent until her watch made a tinkling noise. She glanced at it sadly, more tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks. "I… I gotta go, Gumball." She whispered. "Or my dad's gonna come looking for me…" She stepped away from him, gently tugging her hands from his grip. She drew a smiley face on the wall, threw a carton of bug juice at it, and muttered the spell under her breath as the portal opened.

"Do… do you really have to go?" Gumball asked quietly.

"Yeah…" She replied thickly, trying not to cry again.

"Will you come back?"

She looked at him, at his worried face, those pinky-purple eyes twinkling with unshed tears. "Yes." She choked.

"When?" His lips barely moved.

"I… I don't know. But I won't be gone forever." She vowed, turning to the portal, where she could see demons cloistering, trying to see whom would be entering their nightmarish realm. "Bye, Gumball. My sweet little prince. I love you."

"I love you, too, my queen."
With that, Marceline disappeared through the portal. It closed behind her, making a final barrier between the Vampire Queen of the Nightosphere, and the Prince of the Candy Kingdom.