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Introduction: A Manifesto
"It was us once upon a time."
The prince and his people, his fragile innocence of an extremely small world.
The king of the vampires, the cynical, the undead and ever so human-never learning from the cruel lesson of mortality.
Then at some point, paths cross—few, far apart but there is something in the sideway glace at the annual meeting of royalty, the t-shirt treasured and not thrown away, a song that made a truth door sing and a door lord taking is most important.
The climax of any courtship, of any relationship is the first kiss—the confirmation of acceptance or rejection and everything is a downward slope from there.
100+ years ago: An odd conversation
-How long have you been watching me?
-Is it really a question of how long?
-Alright, what is the first thing you remember about me?
-The little boy and the train.
-(his heart almost stopped, he was deftly afraid of trains, of travel far away without the need to, -railroads were enough to freeze him in unexplainable fear)
-What about the train?
-The crash the lack of tracks at the end of a cliff—you unharmed.
-Because of you.
-Because of me?
-Safe. Because of you. (his parents died on that journey)
-Think what you must. (That tone, that bored tone used to speak in royal meetings, impersonal, distant, disdain)
-There are ghosts. Ghosts at night sometimes looking in from the dark places Marshall Lee. Ghosts of dead things.
-Would you like me to send them away?
-Are you in any place to do so?
-I can if I must. (This is not the Marshall Lee I know or is it the real man? The true vampire king?)
-You're not yourself Marshall Lee.
-And you're not like yourself for being so friendly with me (it feels like going back in time, before the war)
-Well, I've never known you more that your antics in the… kingdom (the last word sounded hollow, like a ghost. The ghost of dead things that watch him, no longer MY but THE)
-But that is me, the trickster, the scorned the feare—
-(skips the subject) What else do you remember about me?
-A not so little boy crying in the woods, the last of you I care to remember from days back then/
-(eyes slit and studies your face carefully for any sign of humor)
-They broke you! Broke your spirit till all you ever thought about was your little kingdom. They made you into a person who when given the choice to choose a path for themselves you will always choose the path they set for you.
-That's… not true.
-Prove it.
-How?
-Choose me.
-When you were a little boy, never, never once did you hesitate to take my hand even if it lead to the darkest places of Aaa. Now during the day, in public, at your parties—as long as it's among witness you drive me away yet welcome me with an open window every night. Even if it's only to read quietly beside you or play my bass on the window sill. You wear my shirt to bed when no one can see you and now you speak to me here in the darkness of these woods like a secret… even though you know no one can find you (the truth burned, the loss, the unmistakable emptiness)
-(the prince stares at the remains of what was once his kingdom)
-You can rebuild everything you know, like you've done with Goliad. You can bring them back from the dead so to speak, new candy people—not really the same but they will serve your purpose. But now the moment you confront reality at least now you know what immortality is, as you've asked me to describe it to you once upon a time, immortality is this unmistakable feeling of loss, persistent and as hollow as hunger. You will be happy, I guarantee it if you choose your kingdom. The little boy I know is dead and I will mourn him but if… IF you choose me there is no guarantee and more likely you'll regret instead that path not chosen, PRINCE Gumball.
(Marshall Lee hovers in the air, hand held out)
-No, not Prince Gumball. My name is Bubba (the offered hand is taken)
Chapter 1: Sometimes it gets harder
-Marshall Lee, sometimes you look so tired and so lost I'm scared you wont come back.
-Come here. (Bubba is pulled close, resting on the older's chest) Immortality is hard, it never gets easier.
-(Bubba silences him with a kiss, gently. He feels the age in his bone weighing him down and making it hard to breathe)
*here's a funny thing about age and candy—water and powdered sugar make it look new. Though for bubblegum elasticity may be lost thus making the gum tougher than usual.
And they travelled Aaa together, for years and decades with each count making Marshall inwardly writhe—time passes ever so slowly (well time wont exist to one who is immortal, it only becomes the passage of seasons, the rise and fall of the moon) to strip away Bubba's youth.
-Shall I bring you back to that place Bubba?
-I feel I have to Marshall Lee, my last debt to the Candy Kingdom. (he is old Marshall Lee forgets sometimes but loves just as deeply)
-Should I send the shadows away Bubba?
-Only if you stay (Bubba smiles)
-(And Marshall Lee cries for the first time in a long time)
*A flashback of a younger Marshall Lee with Hambo, staring out at the ending world from the safety of a cave telling himself and his bear they wont be alone forever.
-None of my blood Bubba (after much questioning the tone is final)
-Then come to love this one, maybe, let him remind you of me.
(Though there is pain in remembering there is a sanctity to it, a very frail preciousness memory is)
-Come back for me in four years Marshall Lee.
-(The vampire king does not question and looks into his lover's eyes one more time before leaving. He will sleep. Sleep the four years away.)
Bubba creates a Bubblegum child from the sugar remains of the candy kingdom of long ago. The gumdrop forest has grown large like a protective wall, isolating the place that feels frozen in tme. He teaches the Bubblegum child to create houses and candy people and finally hands him the plans of a Candy Kingdom.
-Remember my dear, love your people and yourself.
After four years of slowly retreating to the sidelines, he now just watches the Bubblegum child direct the candy people with a smile, he turns to leave. Already old, his steps are measured but sure leading him to the quiet cave where a small house touched by the light of a setting sun waited.
-Hey.
-Hey.
-(a kiss) You couldn't wait a few more minutes for me to come get you?
-I met you half way. (a smile)
Bubba lives to be 105. Marshall Lee cries.
Sometimes at nights the Bubblegum child visits the sugar bats of gumdrop forest and listens. Sometimes in the light of the full moon, there's the sound of a guitar being played.
The Bubblegum child becomes the Prince that meets the one called Fiona.
You did this for a reason, right Bubba? (the vampire kings asks no one in particular)
Marshall Lee kisses his neck and licks the sweetness that is the man beneath him. Both their hands lost over each other's bodies—there is much haste to touch, to taste. Marshall Lee tries to be gentle but Bubba only grinds against his finger and later into his crotch "You wont break me" the hissed words are obeyed and he pushes himself fully into his lover's waiting entrance.
They are spooned side by side, awkwardly Marshall's hand pushes the back of Bubba's head forward as if pushing him away but their lower halves are stiff and pressed into each other meeting his thrusts.
He writhes, he moans and he scratches to the frenzied rhythm of their bodies slapping against each other. One hand traces Bubba's figure, headed south. The pale grey hand wraps around his member and pushes him the last few paces to climax as hot cum goes up into his core. They pant, slump and curl against each other. They are too tired to speak, all possible words exhausted earlie at the foot of the Candy Kingdom's grave. They breathe and they sleep.
Chapter 2: A Fine Line
Present day Candy Kingdom
Marshall lee sits on the window sill, slightly floating over the surface of the rail. Everything is fairly new, the fondant and rock candy castle and all the frosted house but if feels more like walking through the memory of more than a hundred years ago.
After Bubba's death he drifted around Aaa with no place in mind—to the farthest places, then the darkest places until finally he felt like returning to some old homes and maybe sleep another year away.
There was a… noise in the tree house, one of his first homes since he left the nightosphere. A cat and a human..? he grinned for the first time in years and decided to play a joke. But push led to shove and he found himself actually enjoying himself again. It's been decades since he met a human and he had forgotten how interesting they tended to be.
But one day, the Adventuress (young) brought him back to the place that made his undead heart squirm with an almost hopeful plea. It was the Candy Kingdom and that same day he met their prince. Shy of sixteen years ago did he first glimpse at Bubba's prodigy and just as quickly he forgot, time became short in those days where he never knew which day his lover would leave him for the plane that he could never follow to.
Now he sits on the windowsill, staring at the moon but then he looks into the window, the prince is asleep. They had known each other (at least as more than acquaintances) thanks to Fionna's invitations to play over the course of what would be more than a year now. Marshall Lee wonders if this Bubba may be like his Bubba. The thought that his love made this one with his own hands, with his own gum, made his undead heart move and move as if to remind him, the Vampire King, once you too loved and lost.
Is it right for him to feel like Bubba reincarnated, if such a thing was possible? He felt the need to return something important to Bubba back then a black rock shirt which was originally his but it was what his pink lover wanted, albeit insisted that he wear at least something to bed (though he conceded to no underwear). The shirt to hide his lover's modesty became his security blanket, occasionally wearing it or burying his face into it, searching searching for what was once there.
Half a year ago, some occasion that Fionna and friends invented, he used the excuse to return the t-shirt, it was a silent plea "please, please, if it is you please remember me."
Now it's his insides that burn with an impatience he never felt before, he was waiting—waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the prince to fall back into his arms, waiting to be called Lee or Marshy or any other random name the pink boy could come up with. But the prince never wore the t-shirt, never addressed him in less than a formal matter (being royalty, outranked him) and most of all, the prince was borderline paranoid about personal space.
Marshall Lee breaks out of his thought to fly off the balcony and head for home, dawn was about to begin.
The next day brings the door lord, the adventuress and the prince running through his home—oddly enough his bass wasn't taken, don't door lords take a person's most prized possession? But as Fionna and the others call him out about "you don't have a thing!" he realizes Bubba is here and he's what the door lord took from him.
"You kept the shirt I gave you?"
"Of course… I wear it all the time as pajamas."
Marshall Lee blushes and swallows, his Bubba use that shirt for that same purpose. Marshall Lee consciously breathed—try. He was going to try to win Bubba's heart all over again.
("I was meant for you once in another life.")
But in all the ways this Bubba was like his Bubba, in all the ways he was different. He was conscious of touch that was unnecessary, paranoid and always looking over his shoulder and finally, he had this odd way of putting himself in danger and barely attempting to escape. But most of all this Bubba didn't show any friendly interest in Marshall Lee, well, at least before the door lord that he knew of. Bubba, his Bubba in his own way was like that too, secretive and extremely protective of his heart.
("I'll worm my way into your heart before you know it Bubba, just you wait.")
The Vampire King's confidence waned when he saw the potential relationship the prince and his heroine had. Could he blame him though? Fionna's charm was undeniable, her strength of character—after all it was she that managed to convince him to visit the Candy Kingdom (he would have been depressed for at least another hundred years if not for her).
("Why do I want to… why do I want too—" a close to confession moment that wasn't meant to happen).
Marshall Lee lets Fionna find Gumball after their dance, lazily leaning back in the air and trying to keep his head in the party. She was his friend, it's only fair he gave her a chance (or at least show she didn't have a chance with Bubba).
However, he heard the commotion and Fionna running off in torn clothes and Cake he could only expect the worst. The Vampire King made his way upstairs and instantly felt the chill in the room, the Ice Queen's doing most likely.
"I'm not in the mood for company now Marshall Lee."
But the Vampire King does not leave, instead sits down next to prince and waits.
After a few minutes the prince asks "Is there something wrong with me Marshall Lee?"
He considers the question, tongue thoughtfully licking his lip and the tip of a fang. "Is this about Fionna busting you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Doesn't take a genius to figure it out" Marshall dares to wiggle a little closer. His pale hand almost touching the prince's. He expects Bubba to cry but the other doesn't and seems sad but surprisingly well adjusted.
"It's for the best then I guess." Gumball shrugs but visibly begins to shake. It's a silent break down, all the sexual/romantic tension now gone from the prince and his heroine.
Marshall ever so slowly moves to hold him. "It's alright Bubba."
The prince pauses, looking up at him. "What did you call me?"
"Your name. Your name is Bubba Gumball right?"
"Yeah but…" The prince's eyes widen. "Only my dad and peppermint maid know my full name."
Marshall Lee quickly catches the little slip up "I've been around more than a thousand years prince." He stated a fact, hoping Gumball would make some kind of sensible explanation for himself.
"How did you know? Did you know my dad?"
Marshall immediately frowned, there was an unspoken rule for the immortal, the distant past and present should never meet unnaturally, especially because of him. "Once. When you were born." He wanted to leave that conversation there, true he had been demanding himself in the chase for this Bubba but in truth the pain of loss still burned even after sixteen years (an immortal can never truly feel time, time is only characterized by the incidents of the mortal beings who are bound to life and death)—this is coming from the man who never truly got over his mother eating his fries.
Grief, for all he didn't know, could be the equivalent of forever to normal creatures.
Gumball sensed the bitterness of the topic and decided to drop the subject but the questions still burned. The only thing he remembered about he man was the man's age and the man's kindness—entrusting him with the dream of the small world of the Candy Kingdom. Then one day he was gone as if he was swallowed by the wind.
"Goodnight Bubba."
"Goodnight Marshall Lee."
Marshall Lee looked up in the air looked down at the kingdom in its totality made of Candy and grit his teeth. In the end it was always this kingdom that chained the Prince to his place—on the most basic level this place was a prison. A prison made of ignorance in need of a scapegoat to defend their fragile little world.
"Why did you pass it to him Bubba?" Marshall muttered looking up to the moon high in the sky. His Bubba was smart, strong and above all else loved Marshall Lee, there would always be some kind of reason to what he left behind—and some things were left for Marshall Lee to find.
Marshall Lee wakes up in the middle of the night from a dream, a longing dream where he and Bubba visited the Haunted Mansion by the coast to visit the ghost that lived there. She was the history ghost, the secret ghost that collected stories and truth and old, old books.
He thought about Gumball yesterday, curious about his father. He remember what Bubba—no what Prince Gumball muttered at his leaving "I don't want to be alone." He weighed the consequences. "Do I owe him the truth?" idly he wondered as he began sucking the red out of some strawberries he found in the fridge.
It's love. A painful love that weighs heavily on his heart when he decides to wake the Prince that night. The truth may as well mean losing any chance at courting the pink prince—because that would be weird wouldn't it? Dating the man your late father married. It just didn't feel normal/sane/natural.
"I shouldn't have left him alone to begin with." He considers, remembering Bubba's last days and the ones that followed after was only a blur of depression and running when he should have stayed and watch over Bubba's bubblegum child.
"Bub—Gumball." He called softly from the open window. The boy was dreaming and turning in his bed. "Wake up." He was a bat crawling in the sheets from the boy's abdomen to his face.
"What the?" the prince jolted awake. "Marshall Lee?"
"I was thinking." He cleared his throat. "I owe you the truth, about the past and about you dad/ but you'll have to trust me and go somewhere with me."
The prince didn't need to be persuaded for long and he got dressed. "Come on." He nudged the prince. "If you don't want me to carry you in my arms hold on." The prince decided on the first rather than the latter and climbed on this back. "It's not far from here."
Chapter 3: Double Vision
AN: this chapter is for Stelera for the awesome review. Someone actually gets it!
Present Day
He puts Bubba down when they get to the old mansion observatory on the cliff. "If you're scared you can hold my hand." Marshall Lee says with all seriousness that he lowers his feet to the ground to wall the rest of the way. Gumball huffed "I'm not scared." But stayed close anyway.
Marshall Lee opened the front door and turned on the light. It was an old house from an older era and the Vampire King made his way upstairs and turned right. He opened the door to a library sitting room. "Stay close. Whatever you see or hear don't scream. Just hold my hand."
The lights began to flicker, the whole house groaning and expanding. Gumball squeaked, the walls begin to ooze green glowing slime and Marshall Lee stood in the middle of the room, waiting. Bubba forgot his pride and held Marshall's hand for dear life as a figure began to appear on a large couch near the fire place. The lights and the house began to settle down again and Marshall gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before he let go.
The Vampire King got on one knee and took the green figure's semi transparent hand and kissed it in greeting. "My lady."
"Marshall Lee the Vampire King."
"We've come far for history, my lady." He said grimly.
"I know dear one, sit the both of you."
Gumball was still a little shaken but he sat on the couch next to Marshall Lee and waited.
"There is much you want to know child," the specter directed the statement at the prince, her red eyes regarding him critically. "Bubba Gumball was the name of your father, the prince of the first candy kingdom that was destroyed by a combination of war and disease. He was the sole survivor, that was over a hundred years ago." She glances at Marshall Lee.
"Yes, you are more than his son, he made you in his own image with his own gum before his death and entrusted you with the task of reviving the Candy Kingdom to its exact state before it's destruction." She began talking more of history when the undead monarch's thoughts began to wander, wondering how he would tell his part of the story.
After hours of questions and explanations, Gumball was satisfied, all fear forgotten he thanked the ghost lady and Marshall bid his own goodbye, she looked at him knowingly. He was lucky he had a still a few hours to make the trip back before dawn.
"Marshall how did you know my dad?"
He was silent for a while. "He was my lover, the whole death do us part deal and… it was."
"Oh," Gumball was quiet and warm against his back. They arrived at the prince's balcony.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you Gummy." Yes that name sounded more fitting, not quite Bubba—the strong quiet lover he had that faced war but the more childish Gumball, the prince happily ruling his kingdom. "I should have stayed to watch over you when Bubba passed." He placed a cold hand on the boy's cheek as he floated out of reach.
"Thank you for telling me the truth Marshall." Gumball called before he turned to go back to his room.
It's been weeks since he last saw anything of the Candy Kingdom or it's prince. That was the end of the matter really, Marshall Lee felt it in his gut, Bubba was truly gone, replaced by another who looked just like him.
One night there was a knock on the door, Schwabl's tail wagged wildly and he wondered who his visitor could be. He opened the door and Lord Monochromicorn shook his mane, tapping out a greeting and the reason for his visit.
Marshall Lee flew off with the stallion, the horse was born in the very night itself when Bubba found him years and years ago on their travels but the hose was taken to his pink lover more than himself. Guilt touched the Vampire King, he had left but the horse had stayed. \
They flew side by side in night until they landed in the royal courtyard, the prince dressed casually, looking tired and sweaty.
"Marshall Lee," he panted. "Will you teach me how to fight?"
The Vampire King blinked, this moment the same as a lifetime ago, at the beginning of the war, the plea of a boy who had to grow up too soon. Marshall Lee looked the desperation on the boy's face, something had changed since he last saw him.
"I… don't want to be just rescued anymore. Monchro showed me all the old books, before the Mushroom War and the War that destroyed the Candy Kingdom and… my father notes on the war… I want to protect my people this time or at least be prepared to." He clutched his sword, Marshall Lee's expression softened, Gummy was still very much a child.
(Bubba's hand was shaking when he first raised a sword, unsure of the weight and what he would need to do with it)
"I'm telling you now prince, there's no honor or glory in war—I'll teach you how to fight then how to survive. How you use it becomes your call."
"Thank you Marshall Lee."
"Don't thank me yet." With a small flick of the wrist he instantly had a flame sword and lunged at the prince who thankfully defended at the last moment. "Thank me when you survive." He smirked and the prince visibly gulped. "Lesson one: take every opportunity to kill you can."
The Vampire King stepped back and disappeared into the shadows before lashing out at the prince again and if he defended he would disappear again.
Bubba was more seasoned for combat (Marshall couldn't hold back if didn't want to get seriously injured, he trained Bubba to aim for all the weak points and it was not beyond his lover to aim for his heart. A deadly dance of trusting the other to parry) but Gummy at least had some reflexes and survival instinct. He only stopped when the young prince was near collapsing.
"You did good." He commented, offering a hand to help the prince up and he accepted. (A small surprise, Bubba always insisted he could do it himself.)
(Marshall Lee held out a hand, he banished the sword that pierced the ground a mere inch from the prince's face. There was a small moment of fear the other showed before it became a quiet acceptance of death. They were both like this, the luxury of sparing wasn't spared in favor of direct conditioning—honing killing intent. They almost succeed at killing the other one time or another, now it was Bubba's turn to lose.
The prince sat up, a look of extreme fatigue crossed his features for a few moments before he smiled at Marshall Lee. "Thank you." The Vampire King was unsure if it that meant for sparing him or exposing the other constantly to the threat of death lessened his fear of it.
The prince pushed the hand away and stood up using his own strength and Marshall Lee ignored the other's shaking knees.)
"I'll come back the night after tomorrow." With that he was gone before the boy could even catch his breath.
Chapter 4: Is There Such a Thing
It's been a month and the prince was proving to be a quick learner even in hand to hand combat. After getting into a tumblr Marshall Lee found himself a breath away from Gumball's face, panting. He pulled away "That's enough for tonight." Unceremoniously he turned to leave.
"Marshall," the prince dared to get so close uncomfortably close for personal space, standing right below him as he was in midflight.
(Bubba is so ecstatic to find an old library that he ignores the fact they're in a catacomb. The stench of damp and mold easily forgotten by the former prince thumbing through faded titles tll he settles on a thin maroon book. Marshall Lee, though he can see in the dark is considerate enough to light a flame to guide his lover through the passage. It was raining outside.
-I would like for you to be still…
- …
-Don't you like poetry at least Marshy? You know the beauty of words?
He shrugs as a reply.
- I'll keep reading then, every day when you sleep and one day it'll be so far stuck in your head—
He is silenced with a kiss.
-as long as it's your voice Bubba I could be hearing white noise for all I care.)
"Could you… tell me some stories about my dad?" the boy looked hopeful.
"He was… strong in his own right." Marshall began quietly, taking the prince by the hand to give him a lift to the balcony of his room. "He would have given his life even if it meant just a chance of saving his kingdom. He cared for his people and never really stopped mourning them until he himself passed." (There were many nights of screaming and for all the Vampire King was worth he could send the shadows away but not if they resided in the former prince's own mind) His chest tightened as he moved to sit on the balcony railing.
"He lost a major battle in the war to save a marshmallow child once." He was trying to change the tone of their conversation. "He fainted when he first met the history keeper lady." He smiled. "And when he found Monochromicorn he became an instant mother hen, insisting we find the foal's parents and we spent a year running around Aaa until we accidentally stumbled into the crystal dimension. Oh, and once we were chased by a heard of penguins…" he stopped when he realized he began rambling.
"You really… loved my dad huh?" the prince was sitting next to him, happy to hear the rambling and in a few minutes he knew more about his dad than he ever did.
"I did." He blinked, realizing he used the past tense. His heart started to pound.
"Marshall...?"
"I'll see you tomorrow." He muttered, floating off as a bat before Gumball could stop him.
Schwabl greeted him at the door by jumping into his arms. He held her for a minute for the comfort of her presence. The house groaned heavily with the past holding almost everything from Bubba's last days… or were they years?
Now was the first time he used love in the past tense and it felt true but for it to mean that he was moving on and Bubba would slowly become just a ghost in his vague comprehension of time—would he be ready for that? In all the lands and all the corners of Aaa, even the nightosphere were his lover's ghost calling to him "wont you hold my hand Lee?" On the walls he sees the impression of a younger Bubba (it was Bubba wasn't it?) fiddling with his bass or it was the figure arms wide and inviting him to the couch.
(Bubba is on the couch, interest exhausted from inspecting the red bass. His lover fidgeted, hands felt the need to do something. It was only yesterday that the other had bid Monchro goodbye in the crystal dimension and after a year of acting as the foal's mother, he felt orphaned.
"Bubba." The Vampire King, inwardly rejoicing at the fact that they were alone and free to screw on every possible surface again, nuzzled the other's neck. "We'll visit him soon if you'd like."
He perked a little at the idea but not enough to Marshall's liking. "If you really wanted kid-"
"Marshall."
"Ow. I thought I was the vampire in this relationship Bubba."
"Serves you right."
That's the smile he was looking for)
Gummy and Bubba smile the same, sharing the same brand of sadness but they hid it with different degrees of mastery. Gummy's was an honest kind of loneliness.
There was only one place in this whole world where he was forbidden to enter. To become the Vampire King was to take a very precarious pledge with Death herself—to be forbidden from her kingdom, him and his kin. But in all the places in all the worlds, that was where he wanted to be right now. When, if a vampire dies, they'll be reduced to an earthbound haunt forever wandering or they may choose to go to the Nightosphere. He hovered over his bed deep in thought, Schwabl cuddled up at the foot of his bed, he would sleep on his decision.
Marshall Lee woke up in a few house and began to pack some things, changing his dirty shirt for a shower and a red button down polo and torn jeans. In the box was a few things he wanted to give away, some ancient books and maps of places—he drew and charted some himself and some were made by Bubba. He checked the contents before taping it up and writing FIONA –M on the box. A few other mementoes went into his pocket before he slung on his bass and combed back his hair with his hand. He may as well look his best, he had a date with an old enemy.
By the time he finished his errands it was sunset. The last item on his list waiting. He knocked on the prince's window.
"Marshall?"
"Hey, come out for a sec."
The Vampire King lowered the prince down to the royal courtyard where they spent most of their nights.
"First, here." He handed the prince a cold white crystal.
Gumball stared at him bewildered, he clutched the crystal in his hand, wondering why it felt so familiar. His fingers made a small motion and immediately it became a sword, catching moonlight and glowing different colors.
"Last lesson," Marshall Lee smiled. "Catch me if you can."
The Vampire King had taught the prince well, even showing him to a degree the necessity of killing (the boy almost fainted when the dimple plant turned into a monster)—after a few hours exhausted but smart on his feet, he had the Vampire King pinned against a tree, pulling back for the final blow. Marshall Lee watched him, seeing the killing intent in the boy's eyes—he closed his own and waited "good boy."
("Do you ever think of dying Marshall Lee?" Bubba asks but does not look at him, the Bubba who is still a prince that overlooks the kingdom that would eventually turn into ashes.
"If I were mortal it would be peaceful I think but I would like the violent death, a stark red splatter against the white canvass that has been my life so far. But as a vampire, it's too troublesome you know to entertain the near impossible."The monarch answered, looking intently at the pink skin of his companion sporting a new burn from a skirmish. It was a marshmallow child he saved this time. He floats closer, just a few inches from the other's ear "But I wouldn't mind the trouble, if it was by your hand." )
But the sword missed it's mark, landing deep into the wood an inch from his face.
"One more thing Gummy." He took Gumball's hand and bared his fangs, cutting lightly across the palm then doing the same with his own. He pressed their bloody hands together on the hilt of the sword. "This is enough now, I have nothing more to teach you." At that moment Marshall Lee disappeared into the night, a battered leather notebook at the foot of the tree to mark where he once was.
Chapter 5: The Choices in our Hands
AN: Back by popular demand I breezed through all three chapters till the end (though I might do a little oneshot on the Flame Prince incident)
("Lee, what's the worst thing you've ever done?" Bubba asks in the middle of the night as he lay in bed awake, staring at the ceiling. The war had been three years ago. His lover is floating, tinkering with his bass.
"I killed the Vampire Queen." Marshall replies simply and the look of surprise prompts him for an explanation. "Mother should have saw it coming though the moment she forced me to marry her. The spitting image of her too—evil incarnated. Don't get me wrong though, I may be a vampire but I get my demon blood from her." He mentions to his pointed ears "We fight kin for power, sometimes their blood and that's what she wanted from me… so I ripped her heart out."
Gumball sat up in bed to study the other more closely- the faint scars of almost a thousand years of existence while he sported his own spoils of war across his bare chest. "That's sad Marshall Lee." And he's not sure if the prince is sad for him or sad for the fact that he doesn't feel grief.) ("It's not sad Bubba, it's just another scar.)
Marshall Lee snuck past the first sentry, his existence of being alive and dead confusing the simple creature. He floated undisturbed through the valley of Skeletons and collected some water in a vial from the river of forgetting (if all else fails how potent is this water on someone who has lived forever?). Soon he was at Death's Zen Garden, Death herself calmly raking intricate patterns into the sand. (when your blood is cursed she's all you ever see in your world and she's avoiding you like the plague but all you do is gravitate towards her the first few years because the emptiness is too much and the hollowed hunger grows with each year).
"You know you're forbidden here, Marshall Lee the Vampire King."
"Well what can I say? Eternity is a long time you know, you get pretty bored." He forced a chuckle, leaning back in the air casually but his body tensed. If he pissed off death there were far worst things than dying and becoming a haunt.
"I know what you're here for and you know my rules." She eyed him suspiciously as far as he could tell as the eyeless skulls stared at him with such intensity, looking and judging his soul or what was left of it. He was lucky she was merciful today. "Five minutes that's all I'll give you if you win."
"That's enough"
"Not curious about the consequences?"
"What would be the fun in that?"
(He dreams drinking the water would be simpler, when Death comes and life flashes before your eyes it plays back from the most recent memory. Perhaps he has enough memory that the water wont be enough for it to bleed back to the beginning and all he would remember would be looking for ways to forget he was alone or if he was lucky he would forget he was a vampire and be able to watch the sunset from the roof of his father's home.)
Gumball sat in the courtyard with MonChro curled around him, his wounded hand bandaged in the way Marshall had taught him ("Give me that." Marshall takes the Prince's chin to hold him still as he inspects the damage done. There is blood, the Candy prince bleeds such a deep red blood. The cut on his chin will probably scar.
He saved a child today. The greatest difference in this war was only made to him, proof he could at least save someone with his own power.
He was clumsy in dressing wounds, choosing to hide injury to keep the others from worrying that it subconsciously conditioned the candy nurses to over look him often. The Vampire King does it with the patience of a mother, slowly in order to teach but efficient at the same time.
Then the Prince insists to do the next one, still a little loose compared to the other's work but he'll get more practice than Marshall ever had in his few centuries of life.)
The crystal sword was no longer cold as it had been when he first received it but it had a pleasant warmth to the touch. (Marshall Lee has been alive so long that he was a hoarder of trinkets, houses and pretty things. He would keep most of the things he finds where he found them, especially the homes, he makes them his with little scratches of M to mark his ownership. Sometimes the packrat in him believes he owns the world because when something crumbles to dust over time he imagines the particles mingling in the air, touching everything and entering every living thing and in turn that would make them his property as well. To take something from its finding place to take elsewhere was done with more reverence then could ever be imagined.
He picks up a crystal sword, forged from a demon and angel's blood that came together when the earth was born. One of the rarest things in all the dimensions, a channel made for the deepest of vows.)
He began flipping through the journal, hand stitched and the pages hand been painstakingly sewn and some pages he suspected were handmade. It was his father's journal. An account of his life. It was on the last pages which was written in a different hand that caught his attention as well as being the last entry.
Marshall, my Love, my Night. I'll be dying soon as what is natural to my people and I thank you for respecting my wish to remain mortal, to remain on this plane as myself. Can you promise me as you go through my things, don't come searching for me in the valley of the dead—let go Marshall, there's a whole world waiting for you.
These one hundred years, ninety two days, six hours and forty minutes ( I calculated, oh if only I could capture the essence of the untouchable soul that does not require physical containers we could both wither to dust and mingle together for longer than even your immortality can imagine) have been nothing but wonderful, despite the war, despite the pain I wouldn't have given up any of it.
My last wish Love, as I have seen the beginnings of the Candy Kingdom again, that you not confuse my child with me (remember that night you told me you don't want any piece of you in the child? That your cursed blood might curse him as well? So I gave my love of you to him instead that he may have a piece of you too).
I don't expect you to stay with him, or raise him, my only wish is that you give him strength if he asks for it—enough so you know he'll take care of himself, that he wont fall into ruin—that he wont suffer much because of this stubborn pride I have.
I love you both, much more than you can ever imagine Marshall,
Bubba
It's been I don't know Bubba since you passed. I've been around Aaa again, just drifting. I didn't see your journal till the tornado came and turned over the house. Thank Glob the cave kept everything here. I miss you terribly, even more than Hambo if such a thing is possible. (In the pages unwritten there's a memory of waking and dreaming. "Just a nightmare, just a dream just a dream." A shaky laugh. "Bubba." "Bubba." "Shouldn't I be waking up now?" "Just a dream just a dream" Lets sleep and fall into another dream)
Gumball skipped ahead when he noticed a slip of paper sticking out of the book's binding.
Gummy,
I leave this journal in your care as well as Schewaddle and my blood's protection. Use Bubba's sword well alright? Though I hope you never come in need of it. Tonight may be the last night I see you, I'm off to break a promise. I don't know if I can ever express this in words you understand but you've become so easy to love that I might be confusing the past with the now and that's not fair to anyone. Not Bubba, not me and especially not to you.
In any case I wish you happiness, go to your Heroine and try to think of me fondly at least if ever you do.
-M
Gumball pales and calls his steed in a frantic tone. Marshall Lee was going after dad.
The Past:
(And almost like magic it was yesterday again)
Marshall Lee looks at the man in front of him, more of a boy really and maybe not so different from the boy he saw crying in the woods. And this boy in front of him was so full of pride and with so much to lose—there was this unexplainable love he had for him.
The Vampire King could walk away from this, this war with the Fire Kingdom set in motion by the Ice Kingdom—the Candy Kingdom becoming a sorry scape goat to the blunt anger of the Fire King so much like all the wars he's seen before that they all bleed the same only differentiated with what others choose to call the wars. There was no diplomacy possible.
The two monarchs were on the rooftop of the royal tower, Bubba's eyes lined with deep dark circles as he surveyed his kingdom which was barely holding its walls. One month of being holed up here was driving him insane, he mobilized only the barest amount of troops in the beginning to protect the border but eventually the civilians were forced to participate.
Marshall Lee stands alongside the Prince, his old friend (the closest thing he could call a friend) and tries to in find his gaze.
"What will you do Bubba?"
"Just two months into this foolish war the morale is next to zero." He sighed, he tried to breathe deep. Surrender wasn't an option especially with the Fire Lord's reputation –the Candy Kingdom was becoming the middle ground for the snow golems and the fire wolves while his candy people were just so painfully frail.
"Will you accept my help then?" He brought up the offer again as he had from when the war began.
"We cant involve you Marshall, what will your mother say?"
The Vampire King grimaced, his mother had met the Prince once and it didn't go well, such is the way of overprotective mother. ("You bring me the heir of the Candy Kingdom? Nothing like his father this one. Destined to fail.")
Diplomatic relations were shaky now in the Land of Aaa, especially with the Fire Lord's volatile naure and the Ice Queen's habit of pissing him off. The Candy Kingdom, especially without a king didn't have much power in the hierarchy of things. The Vampire King, with the undead and the nightosphere as his birthright, was tokenly respected for his age and brute power but was unspokenly warned to not interfere in the affairs of mortals ("Now my son is a worthy heir and deserves his Kingship. Claiming his father's kingdom of mortals with his own power and now the strongest of all in the Nightosphere." A mother's pride.) That system of his indifference worked well to allow the natural balancing of power but now, he did give a damn about what could potentially happen. However he was not allowed to play favorites.
"If I cant raise armies for you, I'll help where I can."
"I thank you Marshall Lee." The Prince's face softened slightly. "Just don't get into trouble because of me."
"Heh, Bubba, I AM the definition of trouble." The man smirks, turning into a bat and flying off.
When meeting with his generals, Prince Gumball is amazed they were doing as well as they did without much casualties of Candy People thanks to Marshall's ability to gather information and sabotage in the form of delaying supply chains or plaguing enemy troops with fleas or any other conceivable coincidental misfortune. They were still alive and strong six months into the war.
A year and a half passed (of nervous breathes, close calls and tragedy. Marshall would hold him the worse nights or give him a different sort of painful pleasure to forget the events of the day that left him smelling of burnt sugar or sucrose blood that never truly went away) which slowly progressed into a second year—the candy people either adapted or ignored the outside world in favor of distractions and mindless entertainment.
At the general's table Gumball sat and looked over the plans of a major Skirmish with Goliad—word had come that the warring Kingdoms were amassing their trouble to what would hopefully be the final battle.
Marshall was in the room invisible, floating around the Prince like an aura. He trained the Prince himself for battle and helped set his mind for warfare ("Its you or them Bubba and I'd rather for once you choose yourself.")—the younger was already intelligent to begin with and just needed a push in the right direction.
"Happy birthday Bubba." Marshall whispered right into the other's ear causing a shiver to run through the Prince. He was still slim but toned nicely over the months of warfare, his features gaining a more defined look and the only thing that could remind you of any effimate traits was his color. He was sporting scars now beneath the simple white shirt and camo jeans and a small scar was visible on his chin. (Marshall would kiss that often behind closed door, it was a reminder of a life saved once upon a time.)
"Thanks Lee." He sounded tired, the days of carefree problems such as planning the bi-annual ball or making the candy people happy was long gone. War wasn't exactly gentle on him and each death weighed down his soul, the façade of the strong ruler looked flattering on him but there were breakdowns so jarring Marshall would be forced to give the Prince the small mercy of unconsciousness if physical distraction was not enough. (There was no name for it between them but it was defined as asphyxiation in some circles. "Lee." That name said in that tone would bring the Vampire King's hand to the Prince's neck as they moved against each other. Kissing and caressing with the gentlest of touches, two thumbs in the hollow of collarbones. The denial of breath would sharpen everything the Prince would feel in his body, his limbs would tingle, feel an invisible weight bearing on them. It was like hiding inside himself, hearing echo of his heart now that the sound of breathing was out of the way and the thrusts of the other touching at his core. When the peak was reached, a combination of the lack of air and the sharpened pleasure would send the Prince into a dreamless sleep and that was all he wanted.) (A time would come when the Prince would not need that to find peace in sleep).
"Here. My present." He placed a white crystal shard on the table.
Bubba curiously picked it up and almost immediately it became a sword. Marshall made a small cut in both their palms and pressed them against the hilt of the sword.
"With this sword you have the protection of the Vampire King and the heir of the nightosphere—safe passage in the darkest night and to the land of internal night itself. I will come to your aid, I will do all in my power to protect you. I swear on this cursed blood that now knows your blood as kin for as long as we both shall live and beyond." Marshall Lee finished his pledge and Prince Gumball was on the verge of crying, not in sorrow but an immense overflowing feeling he could not describe. Tomorrow he would be in the front lines, fighting for his people and fighting for his life.
"Tomorrow, no matter what happens Lee, I'll meet you in the forest overlooking the candy kingdom."
"I'll be counting on that." Marshall Lee smiles. They had a curious relationship of one could call it that, romance was an expensive luxury and Bubba was already stretched thin—the Vampire King is happy to provide for his needs, a hand or a mouth, just anything to keep the other sane.
(Fire fire fire, nightmares of things to come)
No one expected that outcome. Explosions of flame bits as tall as the sky, the Candy Kingdom devoured by fire and ice—melting and becoming steam simultaneously the burning sugar smell would haunt these lands for decades to come. (No no no it wasn't supposed to be this way, he screams and screams against Marshall's chest and the smell of burning flesh and cloth joins the burnt sweetness)
Baptized in fire and burned in water, the Candy Kingdom was in ruin, a dark crater of bits and pieces the only proof of its existence.
True to his pledge, Bubba Gumball became the sole survivor of the Candy Kingdom, Marshall Lee had appeared in the last sequence to shield him with his own body, using some of the prince's blood to speed up his already rapid healing process.
In a day everything Bubba knew was gone. (In a day he lived the nightmares of a thousand life times, catatonic for days staring at the ruin with the shadow of the Vampire King the only thing watching over him.)
Marshall took the man to beautiful places, places the other had never been as a sacrifice to duty—the undead monarch slowly began to show him what life was like. (They stood at the highest point of Aaa, just shy of the clouds and without warning he lost his footing. He was too shocked to give out a proper scream but in those few seconds of freefalling to what would be his death, he imagined his death time and again, telling himself he was ready whenever it came but all he could think of in this moment was "I don't want to die." He shut his eyes and braced himself for impact, to be just a splatter on the vast continent of his home, but it never came. Instead he was caught by strong arms and braced firmly against the clothed chest of his best friend.
"Remember that feeling Bubba. Life is very different and the undead such as myself will never feel that again. Mourn if you must but don't mourn your life away." One of the few moments that Marshall age truly showed, in a voice that echoed and ancient wisdom etched in a pained existence.)
(I wish I wish it could be yesterday again)
Marshall finishes the last rift of complex chords on his bass( Don't give me that/I want your heart I want your love/ but mostly I just want your blood / Said a girl with a pretty face (pretty two faced)/. Said the girl in last place/ I wasn't; saving myself for you / not a monster like you) (Marshall fiddled with his bass, making it up as he went but quickly got tired of the angry music and he slowed down.)(Sleepy time, sleepy time for my Bubba/ dreams to have, a bed to share/ hush now sleep my dear)(the song changes again: bed bugs go all topsy turvey/shadows dance in shapes of bunnies/no ghosts tonight/ just dreams sleep tight)(He paused. "It's not sad Bubba, it's just another scar.), the melody singing in the air a sad song that Death herself almost paused in the middle of their contest.
"Alright Vampire you earned your five minutes."
The Bubba he knew materialized in front of him (and almost like magic its yesterday again)("I woke up! I woke up! I woke up from the dream and found you again!") a little more transparent but it was him all the same. Despite being a ghost Marshall wrapped his arms around the specter, holding him perfectly against him even though there was nothing material to hold.
"Bubba…" was the only thing he could say as he tried to contain his catharsis, his mind muddled with memories of what happened and what could have happed (He's here. He's here. All is well he's here.) (It's not fair. It's not fair. No one remembers the war anymore and no one remembers you but me and I can shout your name but someone else that looks like you answers. No one remember the marshmallow child that almost died (he's a live and well) No one remembers Goliad's death at the hands of a fire wisp (why is he alive? Goliad wont move wont move from his perch on the candy tower). No one remembers the sins of the Ice Queen that caused the war and how dare she say she loves Candy Kingdom's Prince!)
"I know Lee I missed you terribly." Bubba made the motions of trying to hold the other tightly (Many nights spent like this. One night spent in a broken tower, a hole in the ceiling welcoming moonlight on their makeshift nest of blankets and soft moss overlooking the sparkling waters of the entrance of the stardust fish kingdom. Hold tight hold tight even as the winds howl through the woods.) (Bubba rolled onto his belly, bubblegum hair a mess. They were cuddled in a nest of blankets and moss. They ran with the wolves that night and now he felt like a little bird curled up in the safety of home. The full moon was high over the lake and he looked at the landscape of varying colors, the border of a kingdom he's never been to.)(He remembers his promise on the grave of the Candy Kingdom—one day I'll come back and make everything alright.)
"Why." He groaned. "Everything up there, it's not fair (not fair not fair that no one else remembers you). Why torment me with a spitting image of you—"
"You love Gumball Marshall Lee." There was a smile in Bubba's voice. It was a statement not a question. (For all he was worth he couldn't bear the thought of Bubba planning this all along, of knowing his mortality but making it so that with Marshall's poor chronologic memory would confuse him with his prodigy and in the end this farce can play on forever. If it was true for all Marshall was worth he didn't know if he wanted this or if could bring himself to stop it. In fact he might be willingly dancing into it.)
"He may look like me but are we really that similar? Or are you projecting the memory of me onto him?" Bubba searched his eyes, where only around him, wide eyed and fearful was Marshall Lee truly honest, baring his soul. "To some degree I know you know we're two different people and I say go be happy with him, Fionna, Flame Prince…" Bubba chuckled at Marshall's shocked face. "Yes I know and yes never, not one moment have I left you—your pledge to me was till death yes? Move on Lee, my dearest—move on and be happy. Though I am no longer able to touch you or feel you… I'm here." Bubba's lips ghost over his own, a phantom feeling of a kiss. (He feels his hand slip into his pocket and grips the small vial of water from the river forgetting. Bubba knows this and gives the smallest of nods "If you need to but remember even if you don't I will remember you.") "Mourn if you need to but don't mourn your life away—that's what you told me remember?"
The ghost of a prince put a hand over the man's chest where his undead heart was. "You're the only one that I have honestly truly loved. But don't come back. If you love me don't come back." Bubba's eyes teared. "Death wont be so kind next time."
Bubba kissed him again and as he faded Marshall Lee closed his eyes. "Goodbye Bubba. For good this time. I'll love you till my last day." (his hand clutches the vial like a lifeline)
"Goodbye Marshall Lee…" Bubba smiles. "Oh, hello son." (Surreal to see two memories next to each other, like two possibilities simultaneously happened where one has suffered war but have lived life just as fiercely and one who has never known hardship but has never known was living life truly meant.)
"Marshall!" Gummy rushing in, crystal sword clutched in his hands and he turns wide-eyed to look at the apparition. "Da…Dad?" the figure smiled and waved at him before finally fading to nothing.
The prince had barged in hoping to save Marshall from Death or any other extravagant scenario he could imagine. "You're okay Marshall Lee?" he almost sounded surprised.
The Vampire King's face was wet but he felt amazingly light, a burden had been lifted. "Just lucky death was feeling generous. Let's go home." He took the boy's hand and floated upward back to their plane.
("You could be white noise for all I care as long as it's your voice."
And Marshall is lulled to sleep but this one he remembers because he find it slipped between the sleeves of a book and decides to read it to Bubba (or was it Gumball?)
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
Soul and body have no bounds:
To lovers as they lie upon
Her tolerant enchanted slope
In their ordinary swoon,
Grave the vision Venus sends
Of supernatural sympathy,
Universal love and hope;
While an abstract insight wakes
Among the glaciers and the rocks
The hermit's carnal ecstasy.
Certainty, fidelity
On the stroke of midnight pass
Like vibrations of a bell,
And fashionable madmen raise
Their pedantic boring cry:
Every farthing of the cost,
All the dreadful cards foretell,
Shall be paid, but from this night
Not a whisper, not a thought,
Not a kiss nor look be lost.
Beauty, midnight, vision dies:
Let the winds of dawn that blow
Softly round your dreaming head
Such a day of welcome show
Eye and knocking heart may bless.
Find the mortal world enough;
Noons of dryness see you fed
By the involuntary powers,
Nights of insult let you pass
Watched by every human love.
)