Marceline's P.O.V.

I tugged Bubba through the gates of the Candy Kingdom, making a beeline for the castle courtyard. "Marshall?" I called. "You around?"

I heard a muffled groan and let go of Gumball's hand, walking around a bush to see him face-down in a patch of tall sugar-coated grass.

"Marshy!" I dived across the lawn to crouch by his side. "Marshall, are you alright?!"

"No." Came the muffled reply.

"What happened?" I asked, reaching out to gently rub his back.

"I made a little bit of an itty-bitty, teensy-weensy, tiny confession of love to Fionna, and I got stomped."

I winced. "C'mon, it can't be that bad... can it?"

XXX

Gumball's P.O.V.

When Marcy shot off Marshall, I figured she'd find some way to help him. Thus so, I set off to find Fionna.

I wandered through the castle gates, nodding to banana guards as I went past, walking through several doorways in search for the bunny-eared adventuress. I ended up going through doorway into the same sitting room where Marcy and I had watched Heat Signature earlier, where, unfortunately for me, my mother sat.

"Jerricho!" She squealed. "Where have you been? The kingdom isn't going to rule itself, you know!"

"Um, hi, Mom." I said uncomfortably.

"Come over here, sit!" She ordered. I complied, and she started ranting at me. "So, what's this I hear about you running wild all over Ooo and Aaa? With that pair of Nightospherian throwbacks, nonetheless!"

"They're not throwbacks, Mom, they're my friends!" I said angrily.

"Well, that's something no respectable person should adhere to!" She snapped. "I forbid you from going anywhere near either of them ever again!"

"Mom! They're my friends! You've said yourself, a prince needs to keep companions, as not to create the image that he is antisocial!"

"Associating yourself with them is worse than appearing antisocial!" She roared.

I swallowed. If Mom really meant it, so much for Marshall, see ya, Marcy...

"Alright, stop right there!" An all-too-familiar voice cried from the doorway.

I didn't dare look. 'Please don't be who I think it is, don't be who I'm sure it is...'

I cautiously peered up as Fionna strode forward. "Who the heck do you think you are, lady? He's his own person!"

"Lady Elizabeth Gumball, his mother. And who are you, you brat?!" My mother growled.

Fionna blinked, then glared at her. "The all-around heroine of Aaa. Bad guys who know me fear me, and bad guys who don't, should. Name's Fionna, and I'm no brat."

"You!" My mother's eyes flashed. "You, who constantly hangs around Jerricho, who constantly draws him away from far more important matters! Begone with you!" She yelled, pointing at the door.

"Make me." Fionna narrowed her eyes. "You have no right to be ordering him around like that, even if you are his mom!"

My mother strode towards her, cheeks glowing with anger. "Listen, you little-"

Fi ignored her and walked around her to me. "You okay, P.G.?"

I nodded, and was about to speak, but my mother spun on her heel and screamed at Fionna.

"You rude little violent, unrespectful, bratty, insolent little girl! Didn't your parents teach you any manners?!"

Fionna twitched, eyes suddenly brimming with tears. It was a well-known fact across both Ooo and Aaa that she and her twin had been abandoned by their parents at a young age.

My mother, meanwhile, charged across the room and slapped Fionna across the face, knocking her to the ground as she shrieked at her.

You know, there's an old saying about Sucrose Sapiens that Bonnie and I both respect. 'There is only so far you can stretch a Candy Person before they snap.'

'Well, Mom', I thought furiously, standing up, 'In the immortal words of Popeye, I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more!'