MMH: edited 10/14/14. Don't forget to favorite and review!

The Ice Queen's Castle was exactly as you'd imagine it would be. There was about six inches of snow on the ground and hundreds of penguins strewn about. Since the Ice Queen wasn't the most creative person in the world she had named them all Gunter.

None of the Gunters seemed to mind that Cake and I were intruding in their home since we did it on a regular basis. Some of them even waddled up to us for a pat on the head, though there was one that glared at us from a safe distance. We walked up to the icicle-covered castle and kicked the door down.

The snow on the ground was replaced by ice as we entered. Icicles jutted out in every direction threatening to stab us. While the air outside was cold, the air inside the castle was absolutely bitter. Our breath froze into tiny crystals and dropped onto the floor.

"Ice Queen! Gives us back the scroll!" I yelled and my voice echoed in the empty room.

I heard her extremely annoying cackle before she came out behind an icicle pillar. Trying to make a big reveal? How cliché. She had always been that way; she was quite theatrical.

"Never! With this I can catch all the princes and get to choose who to marry!" She held the scroll in her hand with a grasp that could probably kill someone.

"What are you going to do with the ones you don't marry?" Once I said that I felt a knot in my stomach. Whatever she was going to do, it wasn't going to be good. I always had a bad habit of opening my mouth before I could think.

"Kill them! That way, I get power over Ooo and a dude!"

"WHAT?!"

The Ice Queen had always been a hazard, but she had never once talking about killing people. Not even me. I leaped at her and tried to grab the scroll from her, but she shoved me away.

"Keep away from me, you bratty tomboy!" she screeched. I needed to shut her up. I reached my hand into my backpack to grab my sword, but it wasn't there.

"Oh crap. My sword! I totally forgot to go get it when I threw it at Marshall." Having a temper always caused me some sort of trouble and now I was left without a weapon.

"Don't worry about it, baby! I've got her!" Cake pounced on the Ice Queen. I heard the tearing of skin as well as the Ice Queen's screams. I winced at the sound; I had often been at the receiving end of Cake's claws when we wrestled so I knew how much it hurt.

"Ouch! You stupid cat!" The Ice Queen threw Cake off of her through an ice wall.

"Cake!" I tried to tackle the Ice Queen, but she was already flying away out the window with the scroll. "DAMN IT!" I ran over to Cake to check on her. "You okay?"

"Ugh, yeah. Mean ol' witch knows how to pack a wallop, though."

I raced over to the window where the Ice Queen had left and the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back. Cake raced over to me as I stared up at the ceiling completely confused.

"You okay, hunny?" she asked.

"Yeah. What'd I slip on?"

"The Ice Queen's blood."

"Ewwwwww." I got up and noticed that there was quite a lot of it. The back of my legs and my arms were covered in her blue, chilly blood.

"I managed to scratch her arm up pretty good before she threw me."

"Gross."

I wasn't squeamish or anything, it's just that usually the things I battle don't bleed. I didn't really know why. For the longest time when I was little I thought I was the only thing in Ooo aside from my family with blood.

"Where do you think she's goin'?"

"I don't know, but she probably isn't going to come back here for a while. Gob, I can't believe how stupid I am! How could I have forgotten to get my sword back?" I grumbled. That was my favorite sword. My dad had given it to me for my tenth birthday.

"Well let's go look for it now."

Cake and I raced past the annoyed Gunters and arrived at the Evil Forest. We looked for hours, but we couldn't find my sword. I looked where I had thrown it at Marshall under all the trees and bushes, but it just wasn't there.

"Man, this bites." I mumbled. Cake finally managed to convince me to get home before it would get dark and we got home just as the sun was setting. To my surprise, my sword was lying on the doorstep in perfect condition with a note attached to it.

I found this when I was flying over the forest. You left it when you threw it at me? Silly, forgetful human. Don't lose it again.

Marshall Lee

I smiled and picked up my sword. Marshall had a knack for coming into my life when I needed him. It felt kind of nice. Usually Cake and I had to take care of ourselves.

While Cake went to the kitchen to make herself supper, I went upstairs and took a shower to clean off the dried blood from my body. As I washed my hair with strawberry shampoo, I looked down and watched the water turn blue from the Ice Queen's blood. I began to think about what was going to happen. How could I stop the Ice Queen if I didn't know where she was? She could kidnap all the princes she wanted and I couldn't stop her unless I could get to her. Who would she choose to marry, anyways?

Probably Gumball. She captures him at least twice a week…

I shook that thought out of my head. There was no way I'd let the Ice Queen marry Gumball, or any prince for that matter. Filled with newfound determination, I quickly finished my shower. I wrapped a towel around myself before going into my bedroom and stopped dead in my tracks. I did not expect Marshall Lee to be lying on my bed waiting for me. He was too busy playing his bass to notice I was there… in a towel.

"Marshall!" I squealed in embarrassment. He looked up and smirked.

"Sup?"

"Get out! I have to change!"

He rolled his eyes before floating out my window to give me some privacy. I shut the curtains and quickly changed. After I made sure I looked decent, I re-opened them.

"I thought vampires had to be invited into a house."

"It's a myth. Besides it was once my house, remember? I have rights." He smirked. I rolled my eyes before moving out of the way to let Marshall in.

"Thanks for finding my sword."

He put his bass in a corner and plopped on my bed again.

"I just caught a glimpse of it as I was flying over the forest," he said, brushing it off as if it were nothing.

"Oh really? You just so happened to see it through all the dense trees?"

"Yup." Marshall cleared his throat. "So, I hear you have an Ice Queen problem." I knew he was trying to distract me from the conversation, so I decided to let it go. Besides, we both knew he went to go look for it.

"Maybe."

"I can help you if you'd like."

"Aren't you on her abductee list?" I asked. Marshall technically was royalty wasn't he?

"No way. She's way too scared of me. The bitch is crazy, but not suicidal." The Ice Queen is afraid of Marshall Lee? Why?

"A'ight. What were you thinking?"

"I could fly over Ooo and look to see where the Ice Queen is hiding."

"How did you know she was hiding?" I asked suspiciously. He sure did know a whole lot about what was going on.

"Because I'm Marshall Lee the Vampire King."

"That's hardly a good answer."

"It doesn't have to be." He shrugged. I smiled at his confidence. It was quite refreshing to hang out with a guy who was witty and charming. Not that Gumball wasn't, it's just that he wasn't the way the Marshall Lee was.

"Sweetie, who are you talkin' to? I have some leftovers from my—" I turned to the door just to see Cake's face contort into utter horror. Marshall noticed Cake's fear and smirked. He glided over to her and loomed over her shaking frame.

He leaned over to her ear. "Boo."

In seconds, Cake was running out the front door screaming.

"What is wrong with you?" I would have been angrier if he had actually meant any harm.

"Sorry it was just too easy. I'll go get her." He floated out the window and reappeared with Cake trying to wriggle out of his arms.

"Get away from me, you monster!"

"Cake, be nice. He's going to help us stop the Ice Queen."

"What? Why?" Cake had escaped from Marshall Lee's arms and was now hiding behind me.

"The Ice Queen is scared of him. I figure we could use that to our advantage."

"Everyone is afraid of him."

"Not me."

"Well, you're weird." Cake left quickly without saying another word, never turning her back on Marshall for a second.

"You're not afraid of me?" Marshall leaned against the wall watching my every move. I knew he was trying to intimidate me so I crossed my arms and smiled trying to be as confident as possible.

"Nope."

"Are you sure?" He pushed himself off the wall and stalked towards me. I gulped and started to cautiously creep backwards. I felt my back press up against the wall and Marshall Lee had a hand on the wall on either side of me.

"Y-yeah."

"I'm a cold-blooded killer, you know. I could snap your neck in an instant and suck all the red out of you until you're a shriveled little husk."

"Why are you being so nice to me, then?"

He paused for a minute and looked into my eyes. My heartbeat was going crazy and my breathing had stopped.

"Because you're cute and I like you." Marshall Lee grinned and I felt my face burn in embarrassment. The next thing I knew I was all alone and the window was left open.

Marshall Lee thinks I'm cute?

The next day Cake and I raced to Gumball to tell him the news. I really should have told him the day before, but I knew the Ice Queen wouldn't have had time to find a new secret lair and kidnap any princes.

Plus she likes to have her "beauty sleep".

I met Gumball in his garden as he was planning his battle strategy with his guards.

"I tried to get the scroll from her, but she escaped," I said.

"Where is she?" PG asked.

"We don't know. All we know is that she's planning on capturing all the royal dudes in Ooo and killing the ones she isn't going to marry."

PG's eyes widened and he nodded. "I have to call a Grand Meeting of Ooo Royalty immediately! All of the princes must be protected at all costs."

Within a little less than an hour, hundreds of royals were filing in through the Candy Kingdom door.

Wow, he sure knows how to organize. It's rather impressive.

As everyone settled down, I was looking over the Grand Meeting of Ooo Royalty. Hundreds of guards and all of Ooo royalty were there. Well almost.

"Hey Gumball? Why is there an empty spot over there?"

"Oh. That's Marshall Lee's seat."

"Why isn't he here?"

Gumball tensed and hesitated before responding. "It's because he's banned from the Candy Kingdom."

My mouth dropped. I knew that he wasn't liked, but I hadn't known that he was hated that much.

"What? Why?!"

"It's… It's not my place to say." Gumball cleared his throat. The Lumpy Space King and Queen stood up to start the meeting before I could pester him any further.

"As all of you should already know, we are here to talk about the growing threat of the Ice Queen. It seems that she has the power to kidnap all the royal sons in a matter of minutes. I have heard from Fionna the Human that she plans to… well, kill all the princes she doesn't marry."

Once that was said, everyone erupted into chaos.

"All but one of our sons will die?"

"Being married to the Ice Queen is worse than death."

"Fionna could help."

"She's just one girl."

"Plus she's just a human."

Ouch. I had never thought of my species as a bad thing before.

"We're all doomed! There's no way we can stop the Ice Queen!"

"The Ice Queen has won! We might as well hand over Ooo right now."

"STOP!" I shouted. The whole crowd went silent and looked towards me. Mass hysteria always seemed to be a first resort for most royals. "I have everything under control."

"But how? You're just one person!" Everyone started shouting again and things were getting nowhere fast. Not to mention all the noise was starting to give me a killer migraine.

"Shut up!" I yelled and the silence resumed again. "I'm not alone. Cake, Marshall Lee, and I will stop the Ice Queen. There is absolute+ly nothing to worry about."

"Marshall Lee?" Gumball whispered. I ignored it since no one had heard him but me.

"Now, I want everyone to go home and use all their guards to protect their princes' rooms. If any prince is kidnapped I want to be notified immediately. Am I clear?"

Everyone softly agreed before dispersing to go home. I could tell that they were hesitant to trust me and honestly they had every right to be. I was only one person. True I had people to help me, but the Ice Queen was much stronger than the three of us. Once everyone left Gumball and I were left filling an agonizing silence.

"You're friends with Marshall Lee?" he said. Out of all that's happened today, that's the first question he asks?

"Yeah."

"Fionna, that's a bad idea. He is a bad guy and you have no idea what he's capable of."

"He's a good person. If only you'd take a minute to stop being so scared of him, you'd realize that too."

"You don't know what I know about him."

"So? I know that he's nice, thoughtful, brave, and he's a way we can stop the Ice Queen. That's all I need to know."

"You don't… like him, do you?" he asked and I stiffened.

"I don't really think that is any of your business." I don't know if I did or didn't have feelings for Marshall Lee, but my main focus at that moment was to make PG jealous. "Besides, he's going to help me save your ass so you should be grateful."

"Well if he wants to help so much, why doesn't he just suck her dry like the monster he is?"

I couldn't take his judgment anymore. I slapped Gumball. My hand stung as it collided with his face and he fell backwards onto the floor.

"First of all, he can't suck her dry because he drinks red, not blood, and her blood is blue. Second of all, he is not a monster. Why is everyone calling Marshall a monster?!" I struggled to control my breathing and my eyes widened when I realized what I had done to my best friend.

"PG, I'm so…"

"It's fine. I get it. Just go home for tonight. I'll get all my guards to protect my room until we can come up with an official game plan tomorrow." He rubbed his cheek, which was beginning to swell.

I nodded my head and left before I could do anymore damage. Why on Earth was I being so protective of Marshall?

It's because you connect with him. You're the only human, he's the only nice vampire. Plus, he called you cute…