Chapter 1 The Bat

Cake and I were hanging around the Candy Kingdom, hanging around with Gumball. He was having some kind of winter ball, like he always did. A lot of Aaa's royalty was there, even Ice Queen came, she was the one who provided the snow. If she stepped out of line she had to leave, though, and she never dreamed of wanting to leave. This was her paradise, princes around her, even if she was ignored all night, they were all in one place. The only thing that could have made that night better for her was if her fictional characters from the land of Ooo were there. It was kind of sweet how much she admired her characters, but kind of creepy.

Cake had fixed the gown I had gone to one of Gumball's previous balls in, it was ripped by ice, but Cake was able to mend it. It was back to its' former glory. She was amazing at sewing, like Gumball was. He always makes new and improved tuxes for himself every year. They were pretty cool, and always pink. Always. Not that there was anything wrong with pink, it suited him. The only thing was I really wasn't one for formal occasions, I'd rather be off fighting monsters than having tea with a whole bunch of princes while in a ball gown, but it was what it was.

However, it turned out to be a nice night, I even go to dance with Gumball a few times, not that I could dance very well, I could science dance, but all he wanted to do is slow dance, given that's what most of the songs were for. I rarely saw Cake, she was somewhere with Lord Monochromicorn. I didn't want to bother her, it was one of those few nights she could be with him and not worry about the fate of princes or something. I felt the same way about being able to spend some time with Gumball. Usually I'm forced to see him because I'm always saving him, not that I minded, it was my job as a hero to save the inhabitants of Aaa, royalty especially.

When everyone had to leave Cake and I stayed a little while longer to help Gumball clean up, there wasn't much of a mess, royalty was fairly clean, with the exception of Lumpy Space Prince. It didn't take long to pick up garbage on the floor thanks to Cake's stretching abilities.

"Thanks for inviting us, Gumball, it was pretty fun," I said, sitting on one of the chairs. Gumball smiles, bringing a chair to sit next to me.

"Any time, Fionna, your Aaa's hero," he said smiling. "Glad I could let you have a night off from adventuring and constantly saving people, to have a little fun." I blush, I could tell my face was bright red, I had no idea why. I was always blushing and giggling when I was around Gumball, I was always acting like such a girl. Techinally I was a girl, but I mean giggling and fan-girling. I can't even have him smile at me without laughing nervously. I start rambling on about stupid things, once I was even talking about butts. Butts! I was so terrible at talking to guys, but Cake said I would get the hang of it. I seriously doubted it.

"Well, adventuring is my fun," I said laughing. "Just going around Aaa doing hero work, you know? Just making people happy. Beating up villains and junk! It's math!" Gumball laughs, and Cake joins us.

"It's getting pretty late, Fi. Real dark," she said. I knew she didn't want to mention her fear of vampires in front of Gumball, he'd call it irrational, like I think it is, but I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay and hang out with Gumball some more, alone. Although, it was too dark out, and Cake's irrational fear of vampires made it so we had to go back home. It made it so I had to walk her home. I never got why she was so afraid of vampires, we could fight them off easily. However, she never liked to stay out at night for too long without the proper equipment to fight of a vampire with. She almost always carried things like garlic and wooden steaks. The sun wasn't exactly something we could carry with us, so I had to work with Cake's fear.

"Don't forget your purse," said Gumball handing the small bag to me. I hated this thing, it was so girly, but Cake said it wasn't proper to take my hero pack to a ball, and I guess she was right. I take it, and he kisses my cheek goodbye, wishing us a goodnight. I blush even more, I bet my face was redder than strawberries. Cake says goodbye waving, as we leave the quiet Candy Kingdom. The Kingdom never had any activity at night, the Candy people were quiet people. They usually liked to stay out of drama and mind their own business, it even got the Banana guards in some trouble a few times, but there are a few criminals among the Candy folk. The Pup Gang was just one of the crime groups in the Candy Kingdom. They were only teenagers now, but they got into some serious trouble sometimes, they've been put in jail once, but they couldn't stay since they weren't old enough. It was a shame. Those punks deserved it.

Cake and I walk out the pretzel gates, to the grass lands, it was cold. Cake had to wrap around me like a sweater, I loved it when she did that. Her fur was so soft and warm against the cold mid-winter air. Especially at the tree house, it was right near the Ice Kingdom, so that didn't help us any. It was pretty nice in the other seasons, though. It almost never got unbearably hot, but it did get really cold sometimes. Although, Cake had made me enough sweaters to have me last the next hundred years. It was just heading to the ball we didn't think to wear sweaters; we didn't think we'd be out that late.

When we get home Cake stretches off me, and goes to fetch us some hot chocolate from a mix Gumball had given us. The small purse of mine is thrown on the floor and I sit on the couch, waiting for her to come back. It didn't take long for her to get the hot chocolate ready, and she came and sat on the couch with me.

"Thank glob we got home when we did," sighed Cake. "It was getting pretty late."

"Why the sudden fear of vampires anyways?" I asked.

"A reliable source told me that their friend's cousin was killed lately, man, that's scary!" said Cake worriedly. "What if it comes after me next? Or even you? Baby, vampires are dangerous!" I laugh, vampires are not dangerous if you got a wooden sword at hand, which we do. Either way, she seemed pretty spooked about the whole vampire thing.

"Well, I'm going to bed, okay?" I asked. I wasn't sure if she wanted me to stay up alone with her sudden fear of vampires over the past few days, she's been falling asleep first lately, so I didn't know how she'd react to being up alone at night.

"Yeah, we're home now," said Cake smiling. "We'll be fine, here." I laugh, taking my stupid little purse upstairs with me. I set it down on my bed, before taking the dress off and going into some red footie pajamas, it was too cold for anything else. They were soft, too, but not as close as Cake's fur, that's what the furs on my bed were for.

I heard some squealing from my bed, and spin around, trying to button the pajamas correctly. Had a rat gotten in the house? It sounded like something smaller, but I couldn't lay my finger on it. When I had finished buttoning my footie pajamas I carefully look around my bed, but I couldn't find anything. Everything seemed to be clear of life, the squeaking had almost gone away, but it came back once I thought I was done looking. Sadly, it took me a while to realize the squeaking was coming from my purse. Had Science the rat gotten in my purse? Oh glob, I rat-napped Science! Maybe, I don't know what it was.

Slowly, I open the purse, and a small bat head comes out. How did a bat get in my purse? One thing was for sure, he or she was there, and it was pretty cute. He's just staring at me, what was I going to do? With Cake's sudden fear of vampires she'll flip if she realizes there's a bat in the house! I pick it up, and try to get it to fly away, but it looked injured, and it would leave my hand, the thing clung to it as if its life depended on it. This bat was actually starting to grow on me. I smile, and pet its' head softly, and if I wasn't mistaken I saw a small smile form on its' face. He squeals, what I think was happily, hugging my hand tighter.

"Shh, you need to be quiet," I whispered, putting a finger to my mouth. The bat seemed to understand, and didn't make a sound. I was tired, but I didn't know what to do with this little guy. Cake would come up soon no doubt, and if she saw me with this bat she'd kill it, the poor thing was hurt enough. I was pretty sure it had something to do with its' right wing, the bat wouldn't move it at all. I go into our bathroom, grabbing some medical wrap. Oddly, the bat doesn't object when I wrap the wing up, and seemed to understand the wrap's use. I was going crazy now, it was a bat, it couldn't have understood.

I go back into the bedroom, where was I going to hide this thing? I couldn't just open a window and have him fly out, he couldn't fly, or he probably would have flown out of my purse as soon as I opened it. With no other option I bring the bat into bed with me, keeping it close and hidden under my covers so Cake didn't see him when she came back.

The small animal nuzzled in the blankets nicely, closing its eyes. He was so cute, maybe Cake would let me keep him. We kept a lot of stray animals in the tree house, mostly because of Beemo wanting some friends while Cake and I were away on adventures, but she wouldn't mind a bat, right? This thing seemed to be well behaved. He hadn't seemed to want to bite me once, he looked well groomed, too. Maybe he was someone's pet, but the only person I could think of who would have a pet bat was Lumpy Space Prince, and the thing wandered into my purse. So, animal abuse I think. Either way, this thing was adorable in every way.

Good thing I hid the bat, because Cake came up soon, saying she was tired as well. She made sure there was a candle lit by her bed, probably the vampire thing. What if the bat woke up while I was sleeping and got to Cake? No, I wasn't going to let that happen! Besides, he was hurt, so there wasn't like there was any way he could fly over to Cake anyways. Good thinking, Fionna.

"So, Fi, Gumball kissed you huh?" asked Cake excitedly. She was getting gossipy again, she always got gossipy when it got to Aaa's relationships, me especially. Everyone was. "What was it like? Did you like it? Do you think he likes you? Like likes you?"

"What? I don't know, I don't know any of the answers to those questions," I said nervously. "Sure, he kissed me, but he does that a lot, he's always kissing me on the cheek goodbye, Cake. You know this. It's nothing new."

"Baby, he likes you! Open those eyes of yours!" laughed Cake. It had always been Cake who tried to pair me up with Gumball. She's always been dropping hints to Gumball about how he should ask me out. It's been the same way since I was thirteen. It was sweet at first, her trying to help me have a relationship with Gumball, but now it was just annoying. It seemed every time Cake was around Gumball she was trying to set me up with him, in her own twisted way that is. Not that I didn't appreciate it, she was trying for me.

"I don't know Cake, but he sees me as his guy friend," I laughed. "He's turned me down so many times in the past. So why would he have a sudden change in interest? I don't know anything about these things, Cake! You know I'm not good with boys! I've never been good with boys unless they're monsters looking for a good fight." This makes Cake laugh, she knows it's true, sadly. She knew it better than I did, actually. Either way, I was terrible at talking to guys.

"Baby, he doesn't see you as his guy friend," laughed Cake. "We'll talk about this in the morning." She spins over, giving me the sign to shut up so she could sleep. When it came down to it Cake was very serious about her sleep. Sometimes I think she slept a little too much, but she was a cat and I was a human, so our needs for sleep were supposed to be different, according to Gumball that is.

Tiredly and carefully, I look to the small bat that had nuzzled itself on top of me and in my arms, sleeping peacefully. I couldn't hide this bat forever, I knew that. She was going to find out eventually. I have never been able to hide anything from Cake for long. She could read me like a book, an open book. But, so could a lot of people, so it wouldn't a very hard thing to do with me. So what was I going to do with the bat when I, or it, woke up? I have gotten pretty far in life by winging it, but was that such a good idea to do with something as fragile as this little guy's life on the line? My tired body said yes, I'd think of something in the morning.

Although, when I woke up, strangest thing, there wasn't a small bat on me anymore, there was a living, breathing person laying across me. Shit, I had let a vampire into the house.

X-X-X

Author's note

I know I am in the middle of 'Color Blind' but I came up with this and just… I am so much better at FIolee in my own mind, but besides that, I am planning on continuing color blind, I just wanted to test this out. I want to know if people will be interested in this. So… review, favorite, follow, you guys know the drill ;)