So so so sorry it's super late guys. I was in the middle of studying, and then exams, and then I had no internet. But hopefully I should be back on track now! Thanks for your patience. And don't forget to review when you finish!

Chapter 15

"Let me outta here, guy!" Fiona shouted, her legs and hands immobile.

The Ice King had freed her just enough so he could put her in a fluffy white wedding dress. But he kept her hands and feet frozen in huge blocks of ice. When he melted her earlier, she had tried to attack him. But he froze her solid before she could get close enough. She frowned as she watched him pace back and forth amongst his penguins.

"Oh, come now, Fiona," he said. "Now that we're together, everything will be perfect! You and me were meant to be!"

"Not in this universe, buddy!"

"So if it was in yours, it would be okay?" He eyes gleamed with excitement.

"No! That's not what I meant!"

"Did you hear that, Gunther?" He leaned down, grinning at one of his hundreds of identical penguins.

"Wank!"

"That's right! She did agree!" He straightened up, scratching his beard thoughtfully. "Now I just have to figure out how to get back to that other world. What was it called? 'Aa'?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. It's called Oo, duh!"

Ice King laughed. "Don't be ridiculous! This is Oo. There can't be two Oo's."

"Uhg! Will you just listen to me?!" She ground her teeth in frustration. "I don't know who you are, I don't want to marry you, and I won't change my mind! Now let me outta here!"

"No!" He whirled around, frowning at her. "I won't let you go until you agree to become my bride!"

"Glob, where are you, Cake?!" She struggled in her icy restraints. "Hurry up before this old guy actually makes me marry him!"

"Your precious Cake isn't coming," the Ice King said matter-of-factly. "Only a wizard can make a portal like that one. And I doubt that Queen back in your world would do that willingly. She didn't seem to like you girls for some reason."

"Yeah," she said sarcastically. "That's because she snatches princes and tries to make them marry her against their will! And we always stop her!"

"Hmm." He scratched his beard. "Why does that sound so familiar? It's like you remind me of someone…." He shrugged. "No matter. The preparations are almost complete and then you'll become my beautiful, hero bride. Oh, Fiona! I'm so happy!" He laughed with giddiness. "Nothing could ever ruin this day!"

A loud crash echoed in the icy lair. Shards of ice littered the floor beneath a large broken window. A blur of red, black, and blue swooped into the room and rammed into the Ice King at full force. The old man slid across the floor, crashing into the wall and knocking over a few penguins. A familiar vampire in his usual plaid shirt floated not far from where the king had stood.

"Wanna bet?" Marshall grumbled.

"Marshall Lee!" Fiona cried, relief washing over her.

He cast her a mischievous grin. "Hey, kitten. Looks like you got yourself in stuck. What happened to your heroics? Cold feet?"

She frowned at him. "Cut it out, Marshall! I'm kind frozen at the moment." She gestured to her feet and hands that were still frozen in ice.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Wha? Is that you, Marceline?" Ice King sat up a little, rubbing his sore head. "What are you doing?"

He glared at the old man. Swooping down in front of him, he snatched the Ice King by his blue robe. "Why the heck does everyone keep calling me Marceline?! I'm Marshall Lee, the Vampire King!" He yanked him closer. "And who the glob are you, huh?"

"How dare you! Trying to steal my bride are you?!" His hands glowed blue with magic. "I'll teach you to come between me and my Fiona!"

Marshall smacked the golden crown off his head. Ice King gasped as his powers fizzled out and disappeared completely.

"My magic crown! My powers!"

The furious vampire hoisted Ice King off the floor, his grip tightening on his blue robe. His eyes glowed red as he glared at the old man. "Your Fiona? Your Fiona?!" he shouted. His body started to morph, stretching and expanding in size. His clothes melted away, replaced with thick black and blue fur. Wide pointed ears replaced his normal ones and his eyes grew as big as the Ice King's head, glowing red with rage. Two leathery black wings sprouted from his back as his enormous bat form took shape. He loomed over the old man, glowering at his defenseless form as he held him in his strong grip.

"And just who made her your Fiona, you sick old man?!" he roared.

Fiona's eyes widened.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down there, guy! Let's talk this over!" Ice King said frantically.

"Ice King!" Finn shouted, leaping through the open window. He skidded to a halt, Jake and Cake filing in beside him. He gasped, shocked to see Ice King so defenseless at the hands of the giant bat-Marshall.

Cake gasped "Marshall! What are you doing?!"

"Dude, stop!" Jake shouted.

"Taking care of the creep who snatched Fiona!" he growled. "Permanently!"

"Now just wait a second!" Cake cried.

Marshall wrapped his hands around the Ice King's body and started to squeeze. He laughed evilly as he felt small pops between his fingers.

"Marshall, stop!" Fiona shouted.

"Why should I?!" He glowered down at her. "He's the one who kidnapped you and tried to force you to marry him, for glob's sake!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to kill the old dude!"

Jake elbowed Finn in the ribs. "Dude, go help Fiona out."

"Oh. Right."

Finn hurried over to Fiona and started hacking away at her ice restraints with his sword. Once he freed one of her hands, Fiona smashed the other with her fist. Finn released a low whistle. The only other person he knew who had righteous strength like that was, well, himself. Fiona rushed over to the enormous bat-version Marshall.

"Put him down, Marshall!" she demanded.

Grumbling, Marshall tossed the old man aside. His bat form shrank and melted away to his normal vampire form. The Ice King sat up slowly, rubbing his sore head.

"Of all the rude…" Ice King mumbled. "trying to take away my—"

Marshall rounded on him and hissed. Ice King jumped, screaming in fright. Cake rushed to Fiona's side.

"Oh, Fiona! Are you okay, baby?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How'd you get here so fast? And who the heck are these guys?" Fiona pointed to the boys.

"I'm Finn and this is Jake." Finn gestured to the yellow dog. "They showed up in our house and asked us to help them save you."

Jake nodded. "Totally. Weird though, Ice King only kidnaps princesses." He arched an eyebrow. "You sure you're not a princess?"

Fiona laughed. "No way! But thanks, guys."

Marshall folded his arms and turned away in a huff. Fiona walked up to him tentatively. "And thanks Marshall. I didn't think Cake would ask you to come help."

"Hmph! Well you sure didn't seem to want my help." He cast a glare at the Ice King.

"Oh come on." She rolled her eyes. "You know that's not true. You're not so bad, you know. So stop trying to act cool. After all, you came to save me, so that must mean you care."

He chuckled darkly. "Not so bad? You don't get it do you? Why the heck do you think I'd come save you anyway?"

"Uh, duh! Because we're friends."

"Oh no-o-o-o-o," he said sarcastically. "Not friends! You think something as petty as being friends would make me come save you?"

Cake tugged on Fiona's sleeve. "Come on, girl. Let's just get outta here and go home."

Fiona tugged her arm from the cat's grasp. "Well, yeah! Why else would you come all the way here with Cake? It's not like you did it because you were bored!"

"Yeah? Is that what you think?!" He leaned closer, voice rising in anger. "Glob! You are seriously one of the densest girls I have every met! You're worse than Ashley!"

"What the hey?!" Fiona took a step back. "Ashley? Who's Ashley? And why am I dense?!"

Jake leaned over to Finn. "Whoa, dude! This is getting intense," he whispered.

"Ashley was my girlfriend." He shook his head. "No, that's not the point! I mean—ugh! Why can't you get it through your thick skull, Fiona?!"

"Because you're not making sense!" she protested.

"I LIKE YOU!"

Fiona blinked, surprised. Cake gasped.

"O-o-o-oh," Jake muttered mockingly.

"Oh, holy cow!" Finn said.

Marshall groaned. "Geez, girl! How dense can you be?!"

"Wait…you," she hesitated. "You like me?"

Cake looked nervously from Fiona to Marshall and back again.

He shook his head. "Whatever. Just forget it! Let's just get home. The sun's coming up and I don't really feel like getting burned to death." Marshall snatched Ice King by his blue robe and hoisted him up. "So hurry up and send us back, you freaky old man!"

"Okay okay!" Ice King held up his hands to show he wouldn't do anything. "But I need my crown first. I can't use magic without it."

Cake handed him the magic golden crown. The Ice King put it on and cracked his knuckles.

"Now let's see, what was that spell again?" he muttered. "Oh right!" His hands glowed as a shroud of blue magic engulfed them. "World alike in sun and snow, show me what I want to know!"

He zapped the mirror in the corner with his magic. The surface of the icy mirror rippled like water. The images reflected on it were hazy but slowly they melted into a familiar backdrop. It was the tree house. Fiona and Cake walked up to it tentatively. Jake cocked his head, unconvinced.

"You sure that spell wasn't whacked? That looks like our tree house," Jake said.

"Yeah, man. That looks like our house," Finn agreed.

"No, no! That's Fiona and Cake's tree house!" Ice King insisted.

Fiona squinted. A familiar pink and purple figure paced back and forth in the room beyond the mirror's surface. She grinned. "Yeah, that's Prince Gumball! That's definitely our house!"

"Thank goodness," Cake sighed.

"Thanks again for your help, guys," Fiona said, grinning back at them.

"If you're every in our neck of the woods, drop by and see us. Okay, baby?"

Finn gave them a thumbs up. "You bet!"

Fiona and Cake pulled themselves through the icy mirror's surface. They passed right through as if they had climbed in a pool of water. It felt unbearably cold, but it wasn't wet. The two tumbled onto the floor on the other side. Marshall floated in behind them. Prince Gumball gasped, jumping at the sudden thud behind him. He sighed, relief washing over his face when he saw them.

"Oh thank heavens! You're back!" he said, smiling down at them.

"Glad to see you're okay too." Fiona dusted off his skirt.

"Yeah, well now that everyone's getting cozy," Marshall grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I'm outta here." He floated toward the door. There was still an hour before the sun came up and he really needed to make it back to his house before then.

"Marshall, wait!" Fiona hurried after them.

"Forget about it, okay!" He shouted, rounding on her. "Just forget it. I'm going home. I'll see you later, Fiona."

He took off into the night without another word.

Gumball arched an eyebrow. "What's his problem?"

"Oh," Cake said with a sigh. "He's just upset because he blurted out that he likes Fiona."

"He what?!"

"Cake," Fiona moaned. "What do I do? What should I say to him?"

Cake shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? You're the only one that knows that."

"But—"

"You need to respond to his confession, Fiona. If you like him back—as more than a friend—tell him. If you don't, then tell him you want to stay friends." She sighed. "I can't help you with this one, girl."

She groaned. "Great…just what I needed…."

Chapter 16 will be up next week!