Candied Apples

☆ Chapter 9: Jealousy ☆

     "Oh, hey Fionna!" One of the Banana Guards waved at the girl as she struggled towards the entrance of the kingdom.

     "What are you up to?"

Fionna, now feeling beyond tired and on the verge of passing out, shook her head slowly and continued to drag her feet. 

     "Now really isn't the greatest of times... Marshall is hurt and I need to get to PG so maybe he can turn him back into a vampire." 

     "How did he turn into a human?"

     "It's a long story..."

     "I love long stories!"

     "GAAHH! Now is not the time! Go get Prince Gumball!" Fionna cried out in exasperation. 

     "What in the bloobalooby is going on?" The Prince himself appeared at the gates of the kingdom.

     "Gumball!" Fionna yelled out his name and felt hot tears begin to stream down her face. 

     "Fionna? What's wrong!?" Gumball looked shocked at the girl's sudden cries and quickly approached her.

     "It's... It's Marshall. Please, can you help him?"

Gumball helped Fionna take Marshall off her arms and together, with Marshall's arms slung around each of their shoulders, they hobbled into the Candy Castle.

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     "So what you're saying is that he's human now?" Gumball asked again with a tone of disbelief laced in his voice. 

Fionna nodded and winced a bit when the Prince applied a cotton ball covered in medication on the bite on her arm. 

     "Since he's not a vampire anymore, he doesn't have his weird, regeneration healing ability anymore and I'm so worried... I shouldn't have brought him to that cave... I shouldn't have even gone out with him to the Forest of Trees or else he wouldn't have been turned into a human and..." Her voice began to tremble as she continued to talk. Tears threatened to spill onto her face again, but she was quickly snapped out of it when Gumball brought the girl into a gentle embrace.

The Prince continued to hug the human until she stopped trembling before he moved back and cupped her face. 

     "It's not your fault, okay? None of this was your fault. It's just in your nature to go adventuring, and no one could've guessed that the Magic Woman would turn Marshall into a human." He offered a soothing smile and pressed his forehead against Fionna's.

     "None of this is your fault." He repeated again softly.

Fionna could feel her cheeks start to flush at the closeness of his face.

     "Now, I'm going to have to wrap your wound and you can't take it off until five hours or so. Afterwards you need to take the bandage off, gently wash the wound, and apply this medicine every two hours. Got it? And no picking at the scabs when it starts to form." Gumball finally let go of the girl and turned around to give her the ointment she needed to put on. 

He set it on the table next to her cot and flashed her another one of his charming smiles.

     "Everything is going to be okay, I promise." 

Nodding slowly, Fionna quickly looked to the cot next to her to see how Marshall was doing. 

     "Oh, he'll be fine too. During the fight you two exerted a lot of energy, and I suppose Marshall didn't know his limits as a human so he fought too hard." Gumball spoke swiftly after he noticed Fionna's quick glance, trying his best to offer the girl the reassurance she needed. 

     "Do you know... how he can turn back into a vampire?" Fionna pursed her lips together and looked at Gumball with a curious expression. 

The Prince fidgeted in his spot for a moment before bringing up a hand to rub the side of his face. 

     "Fionna... he's a dangerous individual. You know I always mean well and I... I don't particularly enjoy it when you hang around him. I mean, look. You're all cut and injured because..." His voice trailed off as he looked away from the girl and directed his attention at the other sleeping male. 

     "Fionna, we have to kill him." 

     "What??"

     "Wait a second... are you just pulling my leg? You've got a pretty... weird sense of humor." She narrowed her eyes a bit and looked at Gumball with a suspicious look. 

     "I'm not joking." The Prince replied monotonously and left the room momentarily, only to come back with a knife in his hand.

     "Woah! GUMBALL! Seriously?! Kill???" She started to get up from the bed she was laying on.

     "I don't care if you hate him, but you can't just say that we have to kill him!" Her face began to turn even more red, though this time out of frustration. 

      "What are you? Jealous or something? Glob, PG! This is Marshall we're talking about! I don't know what kind of grudge you hold against him, but he's a friend!" She cried out and jumped out of her bed.

     "W-Wait, Fionna! I didn't mean it in that way."

     "Whatever, dude! I'm not going to stick around if you want to kill my friends just because you're jealous! You've gone totally ban-nae-nae!" Fionna pushed Gumball aside and hauled Marshall onto her back as quickly as possible before running out of the room and out of the Candy Kingdom entirely. 

     "OW! My hams!" Gumball cried out when the girl suddenly pushed him onto the ground and absconded out of the room. 

     "Fionna!" He yelled out, picking himself up from the ground.

     "FIONNA! WAIT!" 

✿✿✿ Author's Note ✿✿✿

Art by memmemn.tumblr.com