For a while, Marshall Lee had been worried about Prince Gumball, or Gumwad, as Marshall had so kindly nicknamed him. Marshall had hung out with Fiona, joined her on her childish adventures and had even formed a somewhat pleasant relationship with the demon spawn (wait, that was Marshall) Cake-but in the back of his mind, there was a constant nagging to go check out Gumwad.

So, one gloomy afternoon, Marshall swiped his umbrella from the wall, loaded his pockets full of fresh strawberries and floated over to the Candy Kingdom. There was the usual palaver of worming his way around the Bubblegum Guardians-what did they mean, evil presence? At most, Marshal was chaotic neutral!

Then, there was the problem with the candy citizens. Each one shuddered or flinched as soon as Marshall came near them. He shook his head simply in response to each reaction, used to that sort of emotion by now. He'd learnt that fooling around and hissing maliciously at the sweet people didn't help Marshall's reputation at all. And besides, he'd developed a thick skin to this sort of thing over time. If he hadn't Marshall would've been dead long ago.

One of the most difficult parts of getting to see Gumwad, especially unaided by Fiona, was the fact that Peppermint Maid was always scurrying around the castle chambers like a mouse. The maid would never fail to throw the nearest object in sight at Marshall (sometimes, it was a table) and screech at him to leave Gumball alone and to stop plaguing Fiona with his "mind games." Yeah right! Inside, Marshall laughed. Outside, he legged it, as far away as possible.

Luckily, today, the little minx seemed to be busy with other things, because she hadn't noticed his aura when he turned invisible, (for some reason, she could detect him) and Gumwad's door was shockingly unprotected and vulnerable to urchins like Marshall Lee. Taking a deep breath for confidence, Marshall rapped on the door, awaiting a reply.

To tell the truth, there was a sickening feeling swimming around in the pit of his stomach. Why had Gumball been holed up in his room for so long? The gossip of the prince's disappearance or, to put it nicely, "vacation" from the kingdom had spread around Aaa quickly. What if…what if Gumwad was dead? That almost made Marshall begin to quake in his boots.

No. The prince would have been found by now. Definitely. And, with Marshall's super-hearing, he was sure he could make out the faint tapping of a keyboard. Yeah! Gumwad was alive and, hopefully, well.

There was no reply, to which Marshall put his mouth to the door. "Hey, Gum…ball! Are y-you still alive in there?!" Damn it, Marshall thought angrily. I choked on my words.

The door suddenly swung open, making him stumble backwards in surprise. What surprised him even more was the empty, broken husk of a leader that faced him when Marshall took a look at the prince.

Gumball's usually immaculate hair was tousled and sticky from sleepless nights of anxiety, and dark rings rimmed his eyes. Replacing the usually pleasant and welcoming smile that the prince possessed was a tight line of unspilled troubles and turmoil. Gumball slumped, and Glob forbid he ever did THAT; his back was always straight and rigid, keeping his posture firm and resolute. Now, he looked like he'd given up on everything. The pink of his skin had drained away to a disgusting grey complexion. That wasn't Gumball. It couldn't be. No way!

"He-hello…M-Ma...rsha…" The prince collapsed into Marshall's arms, sobbing quietly, clutching at the vampire's arms. "Oh Glob, Marshall," Gumball gasped, burying his face into Marshall's shirt.

"Gumball!" Marshall cried. "What's wrong with you?!"

Gumball feebly attempted to compose himself, wiping tears from his eyes with the back of his hand and blushing lightly as he backed away from Marshall. "I've been working for hours," he stuttered hoarsely. "I try so, so damn hard for these people." Gumball gestured towards the window, appearing a little agitated now.

"There're all these problems with taxes. With money. With all of them, always begging for my attention. And…" The prince knuckled his eyes furiously, his shoulders tremoring. Marshall was at loss with what to do. "Peppermint Maid quit her job, the selfish little…Now I'm all alone in this castle…I'm losing myself, Marshall Lee…I'm scared…and I'm so, so lonely…" These last words came out as a hissed whisper through clenched teeth-and Marshall could take it no more.

"Shut up, you idiot, and get yourself together." Gumball looked up in shock, his cheeks slick with tears. "I'm no king to aspire to-I know that, for deffs. But you?" Marshall prodded the prince in his chest. "You ARE. Or at least you used to be. You think you're alone? You're not. You have Fiona. You have Cake. And most of all…" Marshall took a step forward and took Gumball's hands in his own. "You have me, ok?" Marshall pulled him into a hug. "You'll always have me. Because, you know what they say. Vampires live forever. And I intend to, as long as you're still here."

Gumball sniffed hard, stepped away and smiled wanly. Cautiously-scared to touch an old flame and burn himself-the prince reached up and planted a gentle, nervous kiss on Marshall's cheek. Marshall's skin flared and darkened into a deep blue-ish grey.

"And you'll always have me," the prince whispered.