Bones Exposed - Thirteen
There are not very many things Marshall Lee gets nervous about. Similarly, not much scares him, if anything at all. Only a few things make him sad. Lots of things make him angry, though.
Combining each of these feelings results in.. well, whatever the heck it is he's experiencing right now. His hands are clammy; sweat gathers in his clenched fists. His jaw is squared, but he feels like it also might be shaking a little. Tears threaten to obscure the scenery he's glaring at.
It's frustrating. Why must his usual calm confidence disappear the time he needs it most?
He has to keep reminding himself why he's doing this. Not only does he need to, but Bubba wants him to. He's not sure which of those reasons is more important to him. Right now, Marshall Lee isn't really sure of anything.
The portal to the Nightosphere seems like it's taunting him. It probably is; he doesn't even know if his mother's returned there yet or not.
Maybe he shouldn't do this.
No, no, he has to. Glob, he really doesn't want to, but it's the only way to make things right. Doing this will help him fix all of his problems. The ones with himself, with her, with Bubba, with his friends.. His entire future depends on the outcome. Everything could change for the better as a result of this very moment.
Or it could change for the worse.
It's a gamble, a very dangerous gamble, and he has no choice but to take the risk.
Marshall Lee heaves a sigh and floats through. The Nightosphere is just as hot as he remembers. Streams of fire and pits of bubbling molten lava decorate the red rock. He probably should have dressed lighter.
But there's no turning back now.
Several heads turn to stare at him with widened eyes. Murmurs surround him. A few demons even try to get his attention, but he ignores them. If he feels like it, he can interact with everyone later. For now, he needs to keep moving on until he meets his goal.
It takes no longer than a half hour to finally come across her.
She looks surprised to see him. "Marshall Lee? What are you doing here?"
Marshall Lee isn't sure how to answer her.
Really, it's more like he doesn't have the courage to. Directly approaching Bubba was easy, but this? This is way different. Bubba holds the same air of superiority as she does, but on an entirely different scale; Bubba's power is great, but he is not very intimidating. Marshall Lee feels grossly small underneath his mother's gaze.
It's annoying.
"Just dropped in to say hi," Marshall Lee responds, doing his best to keep his voice steady.
One of her brows arches curiously. "That's unlike you. It's especially strange given how unhappy you were to see me last time we met. You still are unhappy to see me."
Ugh, crap. He totally forgot. He can try to hide his emotions from his voice and expression all he wants, but she'll still be able to sense his true feelings from his soul. Damn it.
Before he can think of a retort, she's right in front of him. Her eyes are full of concern, and she rests a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What's the matter, Marshall Lee? Is there something wrong?"
All of these things increase his anger levels and diminish the other emotions that were swirling around inside him. His eyes start to burn as his vision grows red.
"'What's the matter? Is there something wrong?' You're joking, right?"
"Marshall Lee..?"
"You're the worst, you know that? I can't believe you're acting like you don't know what the problem is! Newsflash, Mommy Dearest, it's you," Marshall Lee hates the bitterness in his voice, but he has no control over his mouth, "You completely ruined my life!"
"I... What?"
Her hurt confusion only frustrates him further. Now she suddenly starts to show emotion? After all this time?
He doesn't mean for it to happen, but his transformation begins anyway. Black fur starts to cover him as he grows. This doesn't stop him from continuing his rant, "Quit pretending! There's no way you didn't realize what you did to me! It's so obvious you never cared about me!"
"What the hell are you talking about, Marshall Lee?" His mother is starting to get angry now, too.
Good.
She begins her own transformation. Her head begins to split and tentacles, septic eyeballs, and her monster head glare at him, "What's gotten into you? How dare you speak like this to your own mother?"
"I came here to settle our score. I didn't mean for it to get like this, but I'm not mad that it did. This is way more fun than talking, and I bet it'll be way more effective, too," Marshall Lee grins widely as his wings expand, "HyeSung Abadeer. Let's fight."
Bubba is having tea with Fionna and Cake when Butterscotch Butler bursts into the room.
"Your Highness," her Scottish accent is even harder to understand when she's out of breath like this, "Your Highness! Something terrible is going on!"
"What's the matter?" he asks as he and the girls rise to stand.
"Well.. You see, it's..."
Cake groans impatiently. "If it's terrible you need to hurry and explain before it gets worse, girl! We don't got all day."
Butterscotch Butler winces. "Right. Sorry," she takes a deep breath before speaking, "I summoned the strongest demon from the Nightosphere a while back and the portal somehow reopened and now she and another demon are fighting in this world nearby."
"What?" Fionna and Cake yell.
Two demons fighting? Here?
The timing of this... isn't a coincidence, is it?
Pain quickly fills his heart. "Marshall Lee..."
Fionna's head snaps to look at Bubba. "Marshall Lee? You think that's Marshall Lee out there?"
"I know it is. There's no one else it could be."
"We need to stop them before something even more horrible happens," Cake says resolutely.
She and Fionna start to head out, but Bubba stops them.
"Wait. I know you two love helping people, but this is something Marshall Lee needs to resolve on his own. It's not your place to get involved."
Fionna glares at him, much to his surprise. "Don't say things you don't mean, Prince Gumball. We're going. See you later."
The girls leave, and Bubba stares at the doorway in bewilderment.
He's pretty sure this is the first time they've disobeyed him.
There are no words to describe how glad that makes him. Other than himself, they're the only ones that can effectively get through to Marshall Lee and help him patch things up with his mother.
Bubba will have to thank them later. For now, he turns his attention back to his butler.
"As for you, you have some major explaining to do."
She lowers her eyes. "Aye. I suppose I do."
Author's Note: Alright! This is the last chapter I was able to get done during Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm very surprised I was able to make this much progress, haha. Since there's not much left, I'm planning on going ahead and trying to get this fic finished up this month. Considering this baby is almost 6 years old, I think it's about time I finally wrap it up, don't you?
On another note, I chose "HyeSung" as Marshall Lee's mother's name because it was the closest to "Hunson" that I could think of. So Marshall Lee is part Korean now, I guess.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
