"Isn't this great?" Cake grumbled, as Fionna brought her another stinky gumdrop child. She grabbed the baby powder to change yet another poopy diaper.
"Oh, come on, I like it here!" Fionna said, as she coddled a little lollipop girl. The toddler giggled and squealed as Fionna tickled her.
"Oh please! That's only because they all adore you! I'm just the one that changes the stinky diapers!"
"True," Fionna admitted. She laughed as a group of baby cookies sang a song, dancing in a circle around her. "But I'm sure they'd like you too if you took a break from cleaning all the poo-poo."
"Alright, alright! It's not my fault I don't want it to stink like warm cheese up in here," Cake muttered as she washed her hands in the sink.
Just then, the sky outside turned dark as the clouds moved in. There was a rumbling outside and it began to rain. Some of the little ones started to worry, and a few looked close to tears. The rain was loud; it pattered against the roof and the windows.
"Don't worry!" Fionna said. "It's just a little rain! It'll be gone soon."
But the kids didn't exactly believe her. A teeny strawberry that was sitting by the window began to cry. Fionna ran over to her. "Oh no! Don't cry!"
"Time to panic!" Cake said as some of the other kids began to whimper. She rushed to the counter and grabbed the plate of raspberry cupcakes she made last night. She had told Fionna she was saving them for an emergency... or possibly if she got hungry on the job.
She began to walk around and pass them to the fussy children. They gratefully took them and started to smear their faces with the sugary pink frosting. "We're going to need a lot of wipes," Cake said as she handed one to a shortcake baby who smashed it on his nose.
Fionna tried to seem positive. "Yeah, but we'll be fine, with our cupcakes and our amazing childcare skills. Soon the rain will pass and—"
Rumble…kshhh…
Lightning flashed and the lights flickered out. Thunder suddenly boomed in the distance and the rain started to pour harder. The children began to wail. Cake yelped as her tail started to bristle, as it does when there's danger.
"What—What does that mean?!" Fionna exclaimed over the din, pointing at Cake's tail in the low light. Her and Cake both knew they were in a daycare, and if there was danger, they were going to have a serious problem.
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Cake said, running around, hushing the children. "I don't know, but I can sure feel it!"
"Well we can't worry about it now! We have to help these kids!" Fionna said as she brainstormed. "We need something to calm them down; distract them! Like a story, or a song, or—"
"—Did someone say a song?" said a sly voice.
Fionna and Cake whirled around, just as a thin, lean figure floated calmly out of the shadows, and into the light of a window. The vampire boy seemed unbothered by the thunder and the crying children.
"You again?!" Fionna glowered at him, incredulous.
Marshall grinned. "Don't say it like a bad thing, girl!"
He pointed to Cake and her tail which was settling a bit, now that she knew it was only Marshall. "Cake, right?"
Cake nodded. "That's me, honey. Nice to meet you, mister Marshall," She said absently, going off to attend to a group of gumdrop kids who were balling hysterically.
The floating boy nodded, laughing slightly as he spoke. "Mister Marshall... I like that."
He smiled at Fionna. "I don't think I properly introduced myself," He said, sticking a hand out to her. "My name is Marshall Lee, musician extraordinaire."
She turned her nose up, unwilling to shake it. Marshall brushed the hand over his hair awkwardly. "Okay, no handshake…"
"What do you want?!"
"Well, I think I could be of some help." He winked at her, bringing his guitar out from behind his back. He looked down at his ax-shaped instrument and began strumming the strings until he picked up a cheerful melody. And to Fionna's surprise, he began to sing.
Don't cry little babies,
Everything is gonna be oka-ay.
Don't cry little babies,
Soon the rain will go awa-ay.
Don't worry little children,
Eat what the kitty ba-aked.
Don't worry little children,
You're safe with Fionna and Ca-ake.
His rich, round tone resonated through the room. The children were so silent; you could hear a pin drop. They all looked to Marshall in bewilderment, not sure what to think of this frightening, yet lulling creature.
Fionna obviously didn't know what to think of him either. She stared in shock at the mysterious vampire, after listening to his surprisingly sweet and pleasant-sounding voice. He finally raised his head up from his guitar and smirked at Fionna, revealing his long shiny canines. She looked back at him with her mouth hung agape, unspeaking and frozen.
Marshall looked around at the children, clearly satisfied. "So, I suppose I deserve an apology." He looked at Fionna pointedly. She was still a bit shocked. She shook her head, trying to clear it.
"Fine, fine. Whatever."
"Say it."
"I'm sorry. Now don't bother me."
"Anything else you want to say?"
"No." She tried turning away from him, but he followed, floating in front of her.
"You sure?"
"THANK YOU! Now leave us alone!"
Marshall contemplated this. "Well… Now that you mention it… I think I want to stay a while."
He floated off. Fionna watched him cautiously; unsure of what sort of unpredictable mayhem he would cause next.
He went up to a cotton candy girl, who was playing with a doll house. He got right up in her face, and suddenly his eyes turned black and shadowy, with red pupils at the center. Fionna almost screamed herself. The sight itself was simply horrifying. "RAWWWR!" He roared. The girl ran away, screaming and crying as Marshall continued around the daycare.
Fionna dashed after him and grabbed his arm. "What are you DOING?!"
"I'm playin' with the kids!" He said innocently.
She looked up at him incredulously. "Leave! Now!"
"Hm… Let me think about that…" He put a finger to his chin. "NO!"
He morphed into a bat before Fionna's eyes, and began creeping around the daycare, scaring child after child. He landed right on a little kid's cupcake and plucked the cherry right off, causing the kid to wail. He jumped off the defiled dessert and morphed back into his original form. He floated around to Fionna, and dangled the cherry above her head. "How do you like it when I do that to your little kiddos?"
He bit into the cherry and all the red seeped out of it, turning it grey and dull. Fionna's eyes just about popped out of her head. "What the heck are you doing now!?"
"I eat shades of red, little Fionna." He laughed. He threw the gross, discolored cherry at a nearby little girl who squealed and screamed, smacking the cherry away. He laughed, swirling around the daycare like a tornado of wickedness and fluffy hair.
"Stop it!" Fionna said. Marshall was shocking her in a different way every second. This was the worst time she had ever had at any one of Gumball's jobs. She was so frustrated her throat tightened and she wanted to start crying herself. She looked to Cake for help, but she was busy calming the children.
"Um… No. Don't think I will." He morphed back into a bat again and tried to fly away. But Fionna was quicker than him. Her aggravation and anger had pumped her full of adrenaline. People can mess with her, but they can't mess with little kids on her watch. She grabbed the little bat in her fist and threw him against the wall. BAM! The force caused him to instantly morph back to regular form, and he sank down the wall like a sack of potatoes.
"Ugh…" He rubbed his head.
"That's enough! This job was hard enough without you here! Now get OUT!" Fionna screamed.
He looked down in shame. "Fine, I'll leave… But on one condition."
Fionna crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Go with me tomorrow to the night club."
Fionna gawked. "What?!" Marshall could tell she wasn't expecting that bomb. It made him grin triumphantly.
"You know," Marshall got up, and resumed floating around Fionna's head, "Ghost Prince is having a party. There's a night club that just opened underground. They're calling it 'The Cave.' It's incredible," Marshall continued. "Ghost Prince rounded up a bunch of Night creatures, Ghosts, Zombies, and like, any other peeps that want to come. It'll be crazy awesome."
Her voice had risen to an annoyed, slightly shocked pitch. "No! I'm not going to a party with you! You just turned the daycare into a disaster! You think you can come in here and be a butt head and then ask me out?! Not a chance! Now leave! I'm trying to work!" She turned away from him, and started to clean some cupcake off the floor.
Marshall didn't leave. After Fionna had turned her back, he turned invisible. He knew he had to do something crazy, because she didn't know he had the ability to become invisible yet. The thought almost made him cackle with glee. He was so excited; he grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be a sugary, frosted cupcake, just sitting on the daycare's counter.
He picked it up slowly, and floated towards Fionna. He put his face right behind her bunny-eared head and whispered "Boo."
Fionna whipped around, screaming. As soon as she did, he smashed the cupcake right in her face, smearing the pink frosting all over her.
"Wah!" She screamed.
"Haha!" Marshall busted up laughing, turning visible again. "You should have seen your face!" He clutched his stomach hysterically, unable to contain his laughter.
"Argh!" Fionna stood up and snatched a rag from the counter. She wiped the frosting off her face, flustered and weary. "Fine! Just fine! If I say yes to your party will you leave?" She huffed. She put a hand on her hip, furrowing her eyebrows angrily.
Marshall nodded.
"Fine, I'll go."
"See you at 8:30. Meet me outside the castle." Marshall winked. In a flash, he was out the window and vanished into the dark night, finally leaving Fionna and Cake in peace.
Fionna looked to Cake to see what she was going to say. Cake just wiggled her eyebrows at her in an encouraging manner.
Fionna put her hands to her face before Cake could see her blush. "Ugh!"
That boy was much more troublesome than Cake made him seem.