Warnings: Gay relationships, slightly dark situations.

-Chapter 2 and junk-

Five years ago, around the time that Ice Queen had disappeared, one of Fionna's good friends had gone missing. After a bad fight with Prince Gumball over glob only knows what, Marshall Lee had all but disappeared into the night without a word.

It had taken Fionna almost a year to get over his absence but eventually she came to terms with it, deciding that he had left because of something very important and if he ever came back, she would welcome him again with open arms.

This wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

He barely looked like himself, so very thin that his face was hallowed out and paler than normal. He had dark circles under his cyan eyes and his hair looked like it hadn't been washed in months, if not longer. But what frightened Fionna the most was the look of fear on his face as he stared up at her.

"Fifi, please," The boy begged, still sounding nothing like himself. "Leave, before she gets back!"

"M-Marshall…" The girl whispered, still unable to come to terms with what she was looking at. "What… what are you doing here…?"

"Cake, just take her and go!" He yelled at the cat as his voice cracked. His fangs grew longer in a possible attempt to transform in order to scare the usually terrified cat, but he only managed to look more pathetic. "If Ice Queen comes back-"

"Sweetheart~! I'm home~!"

"Math!" Fionna cried as Cake grabbed her and pulled her into the large closet, pulling the shutter doors closed behind them. Momentarily the girl was reminded of when they'd once hidden in Marshall's closet, but now was not the time to be thinking about such things.

Ice Queen came dancing through with a big smile on her face, before she paused and looked at him. "Oh, Mar-Mar! You've gone and taken your crown off! How can you be my wittle Ice-King if you don't wear your wittle crown!"

Marshall let out a small sound that might have been of annoyance or pain, Fionna really couldn't tell. He didn't move as Ice Queen replaced the crown, only to let his head hang once more once it was on there.

"Anyways, I've got loads to tell you!" She declared, spinning around once more before falling onto the bed like a giddy teenage girl. "I went to the Candy Kingdom and paid a visit to my dear Prince Gumba-"

"WHAT!?" Marshall shrieked, surprising not only Ice Queen but Fionna and Cake as well. He threw himself out of the chair, the crown on his head flying off to the side as he flew forward. The white-haired woman stared, stunned, as he grabbed the front of her dress and gripped it, his feet leaving the floor and he levitated high enough that she was hanging off the ground as well. "I told you to stay AWAY from him!"

It took the woman a moment to regain her composure, but once she had she let out a loud growl and lifted a hand. Fionna and Cake watched in horror as the ring on her left ring finger began to glow and Marshall let out a pained cry, letting go of her instantly. He hovered in the air for a few moments, clutching his chest, before he finally dropped to the ground.

"I don't know what has gotten into you, Mar-Mar!" Ice Queen cried, standing over his crumped, wheezing form with her arms crossed. "Really! Maybe it was a bad idea to come back to Ooo!" She hummed for a moment, stroking her chin, before shrugging. "Oh well!" The adventuresses watched as she reached down and grabbed hold of the back of Marshall's shirt, picking him up as if he was weightless. "Either way, you need to learn a lesson!"

As the white-haired woman dragged Marshall from the room by the collar of his shirt, Fionna slipped out of the closet while Cake reached for her with a horrified expression. The cat followed after her human companion in alarm as the blonde-haired girl approached the mirror-door and peered out it.

Seeing Fionna's face twist into horror once more, Cake glanced through the crack and suddenly felt very sick.

Ice Queen was dragging a now struggling Marshall toward the doorway and glaring down at him with a harsh expression. "This is going to keep happening if you don't start-" With one quick heave, she threw him into the bright sunlight. "-Behaving!"

Marshall gave a terrifying hiss of pain and tried to crawl his way inside with weak arms. Ice Queen, however, placed a boot on his back and kept him in the sunlight, smiling cruelly down at him for a few moments.

It happened too fast for Cake to stop, after that. Fionna burst from the door with a strangled cry and blue eyes full of tears. As the young woman grabbed hold of a startled Ice Queen's hair, Cake zipped out and scooped up Marshall, dragging him back into the ice palace to protect him from the harsh sunlight.

"How dare you hurt my friend!" Fionna shrieked, bringing back a fist and throwing it right into the woman's face. Ice Queen's tiara went flying, but the blonde-haired girl didn't stop there. She kept pulling her fists back and then thrusting them forward, punching the ice witch over and over again.

Eventually, after the cruel woman lost consciousness, Cake reached out and pulled Fionna back. The girl fought for a few moments before she seemed to regain composure, struggling to her feet so that she could rush over to Marshall.

After realizing that the weakened vampire was completely unconscious, Fionna motioned her feline friend over. "We have to get him back to the Candy Kingdom!"

With a heavy nod, Cake eyed Ice Queen nervously before she scooped up both the woman and the knocked out Marshall, covering them both with rubbery parts of her body (in separate areas, of course) before extending her legs and letting Fionna climb on board. With her heart in her throat, the cat began the far too long trek back to Candy Kingdom's hospital.

Today just wasn't Bubba Gumball's day.

After one of his guards had spotted Ice Queen around the kingdom the entire castle had been put on lock down. Thankfully, the woman hadn't approached, instead waving from afar with a bright smile. Gumball wasn't entirely sure that he was surprised, considering Fionna had claimed that she had found a husband… however his staff was still extremely concerned and they remained in lock down until the sudden appearance of Cake in the middle of the square.

He bolted quickly out the door to meet her as she approached the hospital, fearing the worst for Fionna. He'd never seen the adventuress get horribly hurt, but there was a first time for everything and he felt a sickness in the pit of his stomach as he ran full-speed.

However as Gumball ran in behind Cake as she slipped through the doors while shrinking down, he realized that something much, much worse had happened.

The feline had carelessly dumped a knocked out Ice Queen onto the ground and she was quickly apprehended by guards. However most eyes were focused on the other form that Cake had carefully laid down as Fionna rushed to the person's side.

Whoever they were, they were incredibly thin. No doubt Ice Queen wasn't feeding the poor kid too well, considering most of her diet consisted of ice… but still, he was obviously starving and the idea of it made the Prince sick. On top of that, the kid had a messy mop of dark hair that fell in tangles around his head and in his face, blocking his appearance from view. He was dressed in some royal garb that was blue and silky, nearly see-through, revealing his thin form beneath it.

The worst part, at least in Gumball's opinion, was that Fionna was grasping the boy's hand with tears in her eyes. She then let out a breath and the Prince thought he heard in it a name that he'd never wanted to hear again.

"Marshall…"

It was then that Doctor Prince came rushing in, dropping to his knees beside Fionna and the blue-skinned person (he refused to say who it was until he had some solid evidence). He took in the scene for a moment before motioning for a few attendants to come over. As they scooped up the kid to drag him off, the M. D. lifted his eyes to Fionna. "What happened?"

"Ice-Queen used that Royal Vow or whatever ring on him," Fionna explained, quickly wiping at her eyes as the boy was carried away as if he weighed nothing. "Then she threw him into the sunlight! The globbing sunlight! She just, like… tossed him in! Then kicked him and junk when he tried to run!"

"It's alright, Fi," Cake tried to assure the girl as Doctor Prince disappeared after his charge. "They'll take care of him."

Numbly, Gumball watched as the feline tried to console her sad best friend. His mind, however, was elsewhere…

Was that really Marshall Lee? Fionna seemed convinced it was, but he just… didn't want to believe it. Just because Marshall had disappeared five years ago and this kid was apparently allergic to sunlight, didn't mean that it was the absent Vampire King…

Besides, he had every idea where Marshall was. The blue-skinned young man had disappeared into whatever shadows five years ago, after Gumball had politely asked him to leave.

…Well, okay, more like thrown him out.

Over the past five years the Prince had thought a lot about their fight and had come to find that he was entirely out of line. However by the time he'd figured that out, the older boy was long gone and Gumball wasn't able to admit that to him.

Marshall hadn't done anything to deserve the fight and in all actuality, he had handled the entire thing rather well. The Prince had let his frustration about running a kingdom and Ice Queen's constant advances build up and he'd taken them out on the black-haired boy. And yet, after being thrown out of the palace, Marshall had just shrugged it off.

Or so Gumball had thought.

When the Vampire King disappeared he was angry, at first. He cursed the older boy for running away, but eventually came to realize that he was the one who told him to go.

So Marshall had.

He'd thought that Ice Queen's disappearance had just been a coincidence, but now the pieces were slowly starting to fit together. The dark haired boy had taken the queen and left the land of Ooo, though where they'd run off to was a mystery to the Prince.

But… why?

Trying desperately to ignore the guilt he felt at the fact that this entire thing was most likely his fault, Gumball wiped any sign from his face and helped Cake get Fionna to a chair, where the blonde-haired girl tried her best not to break down and cry once more.

"What do we do with Ice Queen?" The girl asked him, her eyes pleading for some sort of answer. "When she wakes up she's just going to torture him again… we need to figure out a way to get that ring off of him!"

"Sweetheart, I hate to say this right now, but I don't think there is a way," Cake whispered, wrapping her arms around Fionna gently.

"No way!" The blonde cried in alarm, her eyes horrified. "His mom loves him, right!? And I love him- I mean, like a friend! He's one of my best friends-!"

"Fionna," Gumball whispered, his heart heavy as he shook his head. "When I said love, I meant love."

Blue eyes widened and immediately filled with tears again. She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed openly once more. The Prince's heart felt heavy, especially as Cake gave him a look that brought that nauseous feeling back to his stomach.

No, this was definitely not his day.

Flame Prince had stopped by briefly in an attempt to console her, but Cake had asked him to leave after his appearance made Fionna more upset. He seemed a bit reluctant at first, but eventually bid them farewell with a sad look on his face. Gumball was secretly happy to see him go… as much as his best friend liked the boy, Flame Prince was extremely unstable and he honestly wasn't in the mood to get his hospital burned down.

Eventually he and a few of his guards had come to an agreement about Ice Queen. For the time being they'd use sleeping potions to keep her knocked out, at least while Marshall could heal. After that, they weren't allowed to interfere with a Royal Vow, so it was out of his hands.

(He really didn't want to let it go, but he didn't really have a choice.)

Doctor Prince had informed them that since Marshall had powers of ultra-speedy healing, the sun damage had done little more then made his skin hot. (To which Fionna argued that it had hurt him and that needed to be taken into consideration.) The Vow's magic wasn't anything that medical science could heal, so the only real thing that needed to be addressed was how thin he was.

It was Gumball who had declared that since the Ice Queen didn't eat much more then ice, that the Vampire had begun to starve due to a lack of red. He had to carefully explain to the members of staff that didn't understand that although Marshall was a vampire, he usually didn't suck blood, but rather shades of the scarlet pigmant. He seriously doubted that Ice Queen knew that and in the back of his mind he wondered if Marshall failed to tell her on purpose.

Eventually they were allowed into his room and Cake somehow convinced Fionna to curl up in an extra bed to rest. The poor girl had cried herself out and had fallen asleep with very little coaxing from her feline best friend.

With Cake curled up at the adventuress' feet, Gumball put his walls down, taking a seat at Marshall's bed side.

The boy's hair was still a ratted mess and the Prince wondered how long it would be now if it were clean. It looked as if he hadn't cut it in five years. His skin was so pale it was nearly white with just the tiniest hint of its normal blue, while his face was so hallow that he almost looked like a skeleton. His clothes had been removed and Gumball could clearly see each of his ribs, which brought a sick feeling to his stomach.

"I did this to you, didn't I?" The prince asked, reaching out toward the other's face but not daring to touch. He had no right to. "You left because I told you to. But why the Ice Queen, Marshall…?"

He wasn't expecting a response, but the silence that followed his words made his heart fill his throat. The now twenty-two-year-old man sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, dropping his face into his hands second slater.

"Why did I do this to you?" He asked ominously, wishing he could just break down and cry right there. But no… if he started to sob then Fionna would wake and she would ask questions.

Questions… he'd always been afraid of those. Ever since he and Marshall had started dating all those years ago, he'd avoided them. He'd refused to let anyone know about it and Marshall had just kept saying, 'Okay, man.' He'd always been alright with everything, no matter what Gumball put him through. Pretty much the perfect boyfriend, aside from the occasional prank and constant teasing, though all in good fun.

It was the rest of the world that was imperfect, back then. There were problems in the kingdom that caused the Prince to become flustered and overwhelmed. On top of that, Ice Queen had begun to show her face nearly every day, interrupting his already hectic schedule.

Marshall had come around after a while with a grin on his face and a bouquet of liquorish ropes – one of their favorite past time treats, since both of them enjoyed the red-colored candy - and Gumball, extremely irritated from his last encounter with Ice Queen, had responded by snapping at him angrily.

"I don't have time for you, Marshall!"

"Okay, man. Chill," Marshall had laughed easily, lowering the bouquet with a grin. "I'll just come by later."

"No!" The Prince had cried, grabbing fistfuls of his bubblegum hair and letting out a frustrated groan. "I don't want you to come back! I just want some time to myself! Between my kingdom and that globbing Ice Queen, I don't have time for you anymore!"

Marshall's smile had wavered, before turning into a look of confusion. "Gob, dude… you need to relax."

"I can't relax!" Gumball had shrieked, lowering his arms and stepping forward to literally yell in the Vampire King's face. "I don't have time to and I don't have time for you! Just leave, Marshall! Don't come back!"

He could do nothing but regret those words now as he watched Marshall lay in bed, his breathing shallow. There wasn't anything more he could do.

-I'm so sorry if I made Marshall seem extremely pathetic in this chapter! It wasn't my intention, but hopefully it's understandable when you look at the circumstances surrounding his situation.

-I made Marshall's eyes cyan because, after watching a bunch of episodes in one night, I noticed that in a lot of Marceline's transformations her eyes turn cyan. I thought it would be a nice touch.

-I know that Ice Queen seems very cruel in this story. She's quite a bit crueler then Ice King and I wanted to dabble deeper into a dark state of mind, so things in this chapter are quite a bit darker. I apologize if you dislike this.

-I'm sorry if the flash back made Gumball seem like kind of an ass. I'd imagine running a kingdom can be very stressful.