*NOTE* Thanks for all of the views and reviews! Hoping Chapter 5 will be a BIG one, so please be gentle and wait for me! School, work, and Zelda take up so much time I barely even sleep! (:

I stopped and laughed. As I heard my voice booming through the hall, I laughed harder. I laughed until my lungs protested and my abdomen burned. I saw Gumball eyeing me oddly from the floor, and I laughed again. Why had I worked myself up like an idiot? It felt as if a veil had lifted over my eyes, revealing something I had thought to be precious, but merely a satisfactory image I was fond of. I drifted down to the floor, ignoring the shocked and slightly appalled candy people, and locked eyes with Gumball. He looked like he was looking at a terminally ill child who might survive, although through heavy cost. I laughed at his expression, and he snapped his hands up to his hips, which made me giggle between my lips.

"Marshall Lee, would you kindly tell me what is so god damn funny?!" he said in a hushed whisper. I smirked, reclining back up above his head.

"I think I just had a revelation," I said jubilantly. He eyed me hard, and looked around at the people staring at the both of us. I could almost see his nervousness in the air, as he tugged my shirt and pulled me towards the stairs to his room, alleviating any questions his citizens threw at him. As he tugged me up the steps, my chest still desperately pumping air, and threw me into his too-bright bedroom, shutting curtains as we entered. He made sure the door clicked, then turned, his face twisted in a mixture of anger and curiosity; he looked so stupid.

"You look constipated," I cackled. He rolled his eyes, and leaned his weight evenly on his feet, waiting for me to explain. "Okay, okay, sorry, I just realized something!"

"I'm going to assume it has something to do with that guest list?" he groaned as he sat down on his lush pink bed.

"Sort of."

I sat on the roof of the Candy Kingdom's headquarters, the light breeze playing itself playfully upon my face, arms and hair. The sun, having just sunk below the horizon, still colored the sky in a pretty color that looked both bronze and pink; perfect for the Candy Kingdom. Have you ever felt so irreconcilably stupid, and then realize your faults, and be relieved of said stupidity? The resulting feeling freedom is amazing; that was exactly how I felt that evening.

Gumball had made it seem so simple to me; I loved Fionna as a friend, the same as he and nearly everyone else did. Everyone who crosses her path—not her sword, mind you—eventually feels the same way for the girl. It had happened too quick for me to realize it, which had resulted in my rash treatment of the Flame Prince. Therefore, Gumball suggested, to my chagrin, that I should go and "escort" him to the party, which would go one without a hitch of jealousy or angst by any soul. I declined at first, though; my revelation did not make me like the Fire people any more than before. However, Gumball, with his dumb "cute eyes" look, persuaded me otherwise.

Thus, I begrudgingly made my way across Aaa. It was quite pretty in the late dusk; the Cloud Kingdom was perpetually partying, so there was no point in inviting any of them. I saw a few people from the Grasslands passing far below, most notably Tree Trunks and Mrs. Pig. Further and further I travelled, passing the Ice Kingdom's frigidity, and rounding upon the molten world of the Fire Kingdom. I disliked that place; it was too hot, even though I was not bothered by the burning air.

The Fire Palace, located smack-dead in the center of the city, rose up like a volcano in an ocean of magma. I sauntered through, receiving a few dastardly grins and nods of approval, to which I ignored. Their ruler, Flame Queen, was evil, and therefore had befriended my own mother. This made me a sort of icon in the Fire Kingdom, which I detested deeply. The guards admitted me easily enough, and as I appeared in the foyer, I spotted Flame Prince high up in his glass lamp, his back turned, obviously not in the mood for guests. His mother, however, accepted me swiftly.

"Oh, Marshall Lee, why I haven't seen you in ages!" she cooed as she stood up and galloped over, pulling me tightly into a hug. While I do know the names of Aaa Royalty, I elected against using the Flame Queen's name against her. The certain individuals that call themselves by such are determined to remain royal status, and by doing away with their own names, rid their citizens of anything to call them should they ever loose power. Thus, the Flame Queen had been thus since birth, although once a princess, and her son was no different.

She was a large woman, reminiscent of a meteor, but kind deeper within. That is, however, if she had a liking for you. For people of any other ethnicity, and even most of her own citizens, she was a cold old woman with wild, fiery hair and wicked red eyes. She was the epitome of the perfect Fire elemental. Her court was surrounded by other Fire citizens, all clad in the oddly traditional dress that was still only in play in the highly aristocratic Fire Kingdom.

"Hello, dear Flame Queen!" I said, trying my hardest not to laugh. I smoothed out my face, glad that a thousand years had given me control over my features, and smiled pleasantly. She seated her large self on her stone throne and ginned. She eyes her son for a moment, but after I nodded my head, she mouthed the word "oh", and looked at her poofy red dress made out of some type of rock.

"Ah," I stammered. How to ask this? From what Flame Prince had said, his mother had not been too pleased with Fionna… Aha! "Flame Queen, I am having a bit of a gathering of Aaa royalty tonight—don't worry, the good kind—" I added with a wink, much to her pleasure, "and I was hoping your son would attend."

"That sounds wonderful," she said, trying to hold in her excitement. "My little Candlekins would love to go! Oh, Marshall, I am so happy to know he has friends like you—"

"I'm not going." The voice came out of the lamp. Everyone's heads shot upwards as the Flame Prince stood, his fists clenched at his sides, his face twisted in anger. "I want nothing to do with him."

"Oh, now, now, didn't we discuss your little situation earlier? You are to be damned happy he brought you back here; he could have left you there in the Grasslands with that… human… and then, just imagine if—"

"You know what, I'll go just so I don't have to hear your crazyass talk all night!" he spat, pounding the lamp with his fist. The glass container fell to the ground, he stepped out, seemingly unaware of the immense noise he had just made. He motioned for me to grab his arm, to which I smirked and took hold of his collar, and tugged him up with me.

"I'll have him nice and late, don't you worry!" I winked. She giggled and waved, turning into a fierce monster as a little man tried to ask her for something. I chuckled as I tugged the searing prince higher above his kingdom, eventually coming over the Grasslands. I dropped him.

He screamed for a while, until, upon noticing that he was steadily falling to the ground, recovered and knelt to his knee as he landed, sending a large circle around him ablaze. He glared at me and spat a fiery curse at me; I hopped back, not wanting my purposefully informal clothes to be taken by the flames.

"Where are we going?" he demanded. I pointed to the Candy Kingdom, and he laughed aloud. "Ha! I know you're not even that evil!"

"I am here on business for the gum-wad Prince and a certain friend of us all." I said vaguely, biting my tongue. This would stand as a test of my sanity, to see if I had really fallen so low as to love a fragile, young human girl. He seemed to notice my discomfort, and for some reason, stopped talking. The trip to the Candy Kingdom was not nearly fast enough; the silence dragged on as I led the boy towards the heat-sensitive country, his boots burning his footsteps into the grass.

At last, we arrived. Not a soul was in a home or shop; every one was crowded into the Grand Hall. The sky was thoroughly dark now, which made the castle glow in a way that even I can't say wasn't beautiful. AS we approached, Gumball came rushing down in his usual attire—which was formal enough to pass for a party—and smirked half-heartedly.

"Okay, keep your temper down," he said coldly to the other Prince, who grimaced at the way Gumball didn't get too close to him. "She's in there,"

"Huh," he shrugged. "Pretty keen to have me here, is she then? After she insulted me, too." He spat as he headed for the doors. I almost stopped him, but saw Gumball beat me to it.

"Marshall and I have agreed that while you are a severe danger to my people, Fionna finds you charitable, and therefore would like to have you attend such an occasion. However—"

"If you screw this up," I interjected, forcing my cold hand onto Flame Prince's hat shoulder, much to his chagrin, "I will personally drop you into the ocean so far out you'll drown before you burn out; do you understand me?"

The moment seemed to stop as I stared into Flame Prince's brown eyes. He was such a child compared to me, and even to Gumball; with large eyes, childish Mohawk, and baby fat in his cheeks. However, he towered over us both, and was rather built; for a mortal, he seemed pretty strong. However, I had never seen him use this strength, even as I had hauled him through the air. Nevertheless, he agreed to behave, and started for the door. As it creaked open and bathed us in artificial light, we all stood in awe of the Guest of Honor, who stood in a stunning blue bustle-back dress, her long golden hair set free and elaborately piled on her head in a single odango. She turned to us, her eyes moving across our own faces; kind with Gumball's, excited for mine, but upon seeing Flame Prince beside us, she seemed both shocked, surprised, and anxious as she stepped forward, appearing ever so small against our large frames, bright blue eyes shining. The music picked up as if Gumball had anticipated such a dramatic entrance, an I immediately hovered towards the snack table, not wanting to dance with anyone, even Fionna. Gumball set off to speak to other nobility—he would surely ask me to do the same by the end of the night—and thus disappeared as well to the back of the hall.

This left Flame Prince and Fionna. It was the latter who seemed to speak first, undoubtedly asking him to dance, as he carefully took her hand. She had prepared for this, no doubt under Gumball's vague warning. She wore thin white gloves that sparkled with the distinct look of a jewel, and I snickered to myself as I held a strawberry up to my mouth: Gumball had invented some sort of diamond-imbued gloves that would protect her skin.

It was a scene out of a fairytale; a prince with a pauper, it was all accurate. They staggered awkwardly, neither having proper dance education, or so I thought, until Flame Prince took a proper lead, and the two regained a bit of dignity. The other couples dancing seemed to try their hardest to keep their eyes down; even I found it hard not to watch. The two were polar opposites—Fionna in deep blue and the other in striking reds and oranges—and made a particularly strong fashion statement as they waltzed. The appeared to be having a very interesting conversation… I shook my head as I had instinctively tried to listen in from afar. I bit my tongue, enjoying the taste of my blood as I turned away; even if I couldn't have the real thing, at least the similar taste would calm me.

When I turned again, Fionna had just tripped—damned Cake had most likely made her wear heels, the heroine's true nemesis—and was caught by her partner at the small of the back. The low cut dress revealed her skin, to which she yelped softly in pain, and he quickly yanked at her hands, pulling her up, and apologizing avidly. This had gone nearly unnoticed by the quests, but I had seen. I turned on my heel and stormed out through the back door, hoping no one would see me.

I sat on the railing of a balcony and sighed.

She's a friend. That's why you got angry; you don't want your friends to be hurt. I though desperately. I groaned and clawed at my arms, hoping extracting more pain would calm. It worked, but I was immediately pulled out of my forced-lulled state by a gasp and a series of halted footsteps that clacked gently on the stone floor. I turned, to my dismay, and saw Fionna standing there, her head cocked and her entirety beautiful in the moonlight.

God damn it.