Fionna and Cake busied themselves for the rest of the day, and then the rest of the week, but Fionna's 'symptoms' only grew worse. Cake watched as the girl picked flowers and sighed longingly. Most of the time, Fionna's eyes were half glazed in daydream.
Marshall, on the other hand, wandered about in pensive sadness. To appease his buddy Gumball, Marshall showed up to the Immortals Support Group for the first time in a few months. The Ice Queen had switched from slam poetry to reading her collection of fanfictions featuring Finn the Human in the Land of Ooo. After a two-hour brain scrambling read, Gumball and Marshall clapped quietly as she got off of the makeshift stage.
"Thank you, Ice Queen. What a creative imagination you have, and what a great way to spend your eternity." PG said (almost) sincerely. "Marshall, do you have anything to share today?" Marshall fished out a crumbled paper from his jeans pocket.
"Actually, yes. I do." He said, floating up to the stage. Ice Queen whistled at him as he ascended. Gumball smiled sympathetically.
"Ha, thanks, Simone." Marshall said, uncrinkling the paper. "I wrote this poem about how I feel lately. I call it 'My Life is Like a Fart'."
Gumball groaned. "Awww geez…"
"Fionna, we've got company!" Cake called from downstairs. Fionna's first thought was Marshall, and she leapt from her bed to see who it was. Her shoulders slumped when she came down to find PG eating cookies at the table. He offered her a small wave, and a crumby smile.
"Oh, hey PG." Fionna said, sliding onto the bench to partake in the cookies.
"How are you feeling?" He said gesturing to her head. She shrugged.
"I'm fine. It was a bit tough to sleep the first night but…" Fionna stopped herself. "Yeah the hallucinations are gone." She said.
"Whoa, whoa whoa…" Cake said squeezing between the two of them. "What hallucinations?"
"Fionna ingested viscous darkness in a whacked dungeon. When Marshall brought her to me, she was heavily under the influence." Gumball said, dipping his cookies in milk. Cake glared at Fionna.
"This is the first I've heard of it." She said. Fionna shrank. Now it was sure that Cake would never let her see Marshall again.
"I'm fine, now, Cake." Fionna said, taking some cookies and retreating back to her room to ruminate more.
"Hey! Aren't you even going to stay to say hello to Gumball?" Cake called up. Fionna didn't answer, she had no patience to be lectured by Cake again. Lately her sister had been acting way more like a mom than a pal, and Fionna didn't like that at all. Gumball waved her off.
"Don't worry about it, Cake." He said. "I appreciate the invitation to cookies and milk regardless. Now, did you want to talk about something in particular?"
"You can start by explaining what Marshall's done to Fionna." She said accusingly. "Ever since he turned your castle grey, Fionna's been acting weird about him." Gumball drank his milk and nodded, wiping off a milk mustache.
"Sounds like she likes him."
"She doesn't! He cursed her with that smooch!" Cake said defensively. Gumball laughed mid milk sip and some came out of his nose.
"I'm sorry, what?" He asked, still giggling.
"Marshall cursed her with that kiss. He's seducing her with his vampire charms!"
Gumball was completely lost in laughter. "Vamp-vampire charms?!" He repeated, wiping a tear from his eye. "Cake he is the least charming person I know. He's as charming as cactus! Trust me, if he's put Fionna under a curse, he's just as afflicted by it."
Cake's interest grew and she leaned forward. "Oh?"
"Yes, I don't mean to gossip, but I know Marshall very well. He is fangs over heels for her." Gumball said, lavishing in the dramatic conversation.
"No!" Cake said, feeling her appetite increasing, and stuffing cookies in her mouth. "But he's always so weird around her."
"Charming as a cactus." Marshall repeated. "You should have heard the poem he read the group this week. Yeesh."
"Oh my Glob!" Cake said excited. "I can't believe this is happening! What should we do?"
"Are you ready for this? Nothing. Just let them figure it out. Meanwhile collect more juicy gossip, and invite me to more milk and cookies. I've thoroughly enjoyed our conversation." Gumball said, getting out of his chair.
Cake crossed her arms.
"Are you sure that Marshall's not after her soul or something?" She said skeptically.
"Nah, the dude's harmless. All fang, no bite." Gumball stuffed one more cookie in his mouth, then upended his milk. "Anyways, thanks for asking me over. It was nice to check up on Fionna." He mumbled through chews.
"Anytime, anytime! But PG, if this deal with Marshall goes South, you will be the first one I blame." She said pointing a sharp finger at him.
"Peeshaw!" PG said, walking towards the door, but there was a note of nervousness in his tone, as if he wasn't altogether sure. Cake watched him go with her arms crossed.
Flying back on his bird friend, Gumball felt that gut feeling he had when he had made a crucial miscalculation, but proceeded to pour the catalyst anyway for want of experimentation. A vision of Marshall blowing up in temper flashed before him, and he wondered if perhaps Fionna was in danger of it.
In the bedroom, Fionna ate her cookies and fumed. Between chews she thought of how easy she had felt the night Marshall came to play video games with her, and a hole opened up in her chest. She had had her crushes in the past, but something felt altogether different with Marshall Lee. She wasn't so head over heels to do anything for him, not in the way she bent over backwards to please Gumball, or go way out of her comfort zone to make it work with Flame Prince. No, no matter how much she pushed Marshall Lee away, or got into arguments with him, he was always there for her. Friend or otherwise. But on the other hand, she could not deny that there were some small times when he had made her feel uncomfortable. Particularly that time in this very room so long ago, when he had pushed his face between her shoulder and neck seeking she didn't know what. What would he have done if she hadn't pushed him away? The thought of it made her heart race.
Fionna looked out of the window and watched the afternoon sun tucking itself in between the mountains. She noticed something small and beautiful on the windowsill and moved to pick it was a small purple flower.