***ABOUT THE FIRST PART, THE OTHER OPTION: The admins have removed the first part of this series from the site, which is why you can only find 5 out of 6 stories. I'm really sorry about that, guys. But I found a site to put it on (finally, I know, sorry D:) Here's the link, just remove the spaces between the characters: intensityintended .wo rdpress Thanks again for putting up with me and reading my stuff!***

Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks sooo much for sticking with me this far! This is part 3/6.

If you haven't read The Other Option or What Was Hidden, you may not understand what's going on here. But, you're free to read what you want, so go for it!

I just want to warn everyone that this is a **LEMON** and is only for mature audiences. Its got some smut in it, so if you're not into smut, this probably isn't the story for you. There's also some yaoi, and threesome action.

I do not own any part of Adventure Time, its story or its characters.

If you're interested in reading other things I've written (not fanfiction related), check out the new story I'm working on at FictionPress! Same username and everything :D

Alright, have at it! I write for you guys, so I hope you enjoy it. And, as always, positive feedback and constructive criticism are certainly welcome and enjoyed. Thanks everyone!

It's been a week since I was rescued by Marshall Lee and Prince Gumball from my glass cage and my captors, Ice Queen and Hannah Abadeer. Just a week. At any other time, in any other situation, such a small space of time wouldn't be so detrimental, but for me, in this time and in this place, I counted each second with calculated precision.

We had 53 days left before we would be separated for eternity.

Whenever I wasn't distracted, my brain would think over the events that led to this catastrophe. I fell in love with two men, one being the Vampire King, the other being the prince of the Candy Kingdom. Out of weakness, I recklessly followed a lead to what I thought was my parents. I fell into a trap created to not only torture me and Cake, but to lure Marshall and Gumball to us. On their way to me, they managed to find a connection they had lost a long time ago. And then, despite my begging and pleading, they signed away their futures to save me.

Gumball signed a contract, forcing him into a marriage with the Ice Queen and making her ruler of the Candy Kingdom.

Marshall signed a contract as well, trapping him into taking over the Nightosphere for Hannah. But, in an effort to gain just a little bit of time, he created another contract, totally giving up all of his freedom so that the three of us could stay together for 2 months before the contracts went into effect. And, so I could have the protection of Hannah Abadeer.

Every way I think of it, no matter how I mold or manipulate it in my mind, all of this was my fault. I wasn't being careful, I wasn't looking where I stepped, and because of me, because I tripped into the hole, they all fell down with me.

I tried my best to keep my dark thoughts from them. Without a word we all sort of agreed that we would enjoy our time together, not thinking about what was to come.

Every day we all three spent our time at each other's houses, pretending that everything was great. I suppose that, if things had turned out better, this would be what our lives would be like forever.

I asked Marshall about the contracts and their solidity a few days ago, wondering if there were any loopholes at all that we could get through.

"The only way to break the contract is if either the contract holder or Hannah requests the breakage. If the holder breaks it, there are consequences. If Hannah breaks it, well, she's the queen of the Nightosphere. Nothing really goes against her." He tried hard to keep his face calm while he played his bass guitar in the air, as if this was just another subject we talked about when we weren't flirting or play-fighting.

"What kind of consequences?" I asked, carefully poking around the subject. Things seemed to be especially hard for Marshall. Hannah was his mother, a woman he's always struggled to have a familial connection with.

He sighed and set his bass down on its stand, then flipped over in the air and let his head hang upside down as he talked to me. "For example, my contract with her over the Ice Queen. If I had broken that contract without coming to my terms, she would have killed the Ice Queen right then and there. If you don't fulfill your part of the bargain, you lose what you bargained for."

Despite everything the Ice Queen had done to me, I still felt horrified at the thought of Hannah obliterating her just because Marshall broke a contract. "That's… that's horrible!"

"I know. But she's evil, and that's just how things are with her. So when my new… contract… starts, well…" He flipped himself up and kept his back to me, not wanting me to see his face.

"I see… if you broke your contract…" I let my thoughts go. To be honest, I would let her obliterate me if it meant Marshall's freedom, but I knew that he would never, ever do that. "And Gumball's contract? What about that?"

"Since the Ice Queen made it with her, it would be up to her to break the contract. But, if she did, PG would be the one to—"

"Oh." I cut him off. I didn't want to think about that. We all knew that no matter what we did, Hannah would always be strong enough to kill us in an instant. She had the shadows on her side, and we had, well, nothing nearly as cool as the shadows. "Hey Marshall…"

"Yeah Fi?" He turned to me, hopeful of changing the subject.

"What happens… exactly… when you take over? Do her contracts come from her? Or the Nightosphere? Do you inherit the contracts? And the shadows?"

He looked down, then slid his fingers through his hair before he looked at me again. "As far as I know, the shadows and the contracts are all her own. But I do know that when I become the ruler of the Nightosphere, I can create my own contracts. I just don't think I want to do that anymore…"

Was that… regret? Something felt wrong. "'Any more'? You mean you wanted to trap people into contracts?"

"Well, yeah… sort of. It's not what you think, Fi. It's just… a long time ago, back when I was only 200 years old, I really, really wanted to take over the Nightosphere. It was such a weird time for me. I was 19 when I was bitten, and after living for so long, things started to change." He blushed a little, waiting for my confused anger to subside.

It didn't. "Go on."

He sighed heavily and dropped his head, floating over to the couch and sitting down. I stood there for a few moments, watching him, but decided I best sit down, too. "Sam had been totally lost by that point, despite how much I pretended she wasn't. She meant everything to me, even though I had found my mom again in the Nightosphere. I was just a confused kid. Being a vampire was so new, and then everything with the Mushroom wars… I hated Sam for succumbing to the tiara, and because of that I clung to my mother. I wanted to rule the Nightosphere, like she did. I felt like there, I could take out all my pain and hatred, and it would just be another day at work. At the time, it sounded like the greatest job around."

He leaned his head on his hand, his arm propped up on his knee, as he took a moment to gather his thoughts. "After a while, the Nightosphere was all I could focus on. I worked hard to prove to my mother that I was as evil and manipulative as she was, and that I could handle the job. I wanted it so bad, and I spent a hundred years doing the most evil things I could think of. Mom always looked down on me, and she was never impressed with what I could do, but still, she found something in me worth giving the Nightosphere to. I don't think she ever really liked ruling it, and because I wanted it so bad, she just sort of settled with me taking it. I remember the day she told me she was going to give it to me. It was the closest thing to happiness I had felt in years. I wanted it so bad."

Marshall chuckled and sat up again, his memories putting a sarcastic smile on his face. "I was stupid then. I pretended that I didn't care about anything but the Nightosphere, that not even Sam mattered to me. But then that day I found her half-frozen in her own ice, and she was crying for help, and for a split second I thought she was Sam… that changed me. I broke her free, and in a fit of hurt and loneliness I rushed to Hannah and demanded she make me a contract. She protects the Ice Queen until the day I take the Nightosphere for her."

He just stared at the wall, his story filling the room with regret and misfortune. "I would have given up anything to keep Sam safe. I just think it's funny that now, after everything that's happened, I'm taking the Nightosphere to protect you, and by doing so I leave her vulnerable."

A sad chuckle escaped his lips, and he leaned down and laid his head in my lap. I moved the shaggy black hair from his face bit by bit, stroking the crown of his head with my other hand. Things really were much worse for him. He had so much more invested in this than the rest of us, and it was all caving in. I tried to comfort him with my hands, holding him with one arm around his chest and the other hand playing with his hair. It didn't matter much, though. He was already falling.

I thought back on that day, on everything he said. I knew there had to be a way around all of this. There just had to. I could trick Hannah into breaking their contracts… somehow. Or maybe I could find that creature in the maze again and wish for their contracts to disappear! That's it!

But wait… we were only allowed one wish.

Alright, well, there was another way. I knew there was. I just had to find it. And today was the perfect day to do it.

We were all meeting at the palace today to spend time together, which gave me the perfect reason to go and snoop through Gumball's library. Reading was never my strong suit, but if I could fight my way past this stupid conundrum, I would have beat the living crap out of it before it even started.

"Cake! I'm off to Gumball's!" I called out to her. She was in the kitchen making her famous bacon pancakes. Since we returned, she's been spending as much time with her already-grown children and with Lord M as she could. I didn't blame her. After what just happened, it felt like life was way shorter than we thought when we were kids.

"But what about the bacon pancakes, sugar? They're almost done!" She stretched her neck and poked her head out from the kitchen, eyeing me questioningly.

"I can't right now, Cake. I have an idea!" I was throwing my backpack on, getting ready to hop down the ladder and out the front door.

"Wait, what idea is this?" Her question stopped me. She sounded suspicious.

"It's just… an idea. I'm going to pilfer through PG's books and see if I can find anything that could get rid of those contracts. Maybe I could even go to the Wizards Council and get a reverse-time spell or something." My words sort of flowed out from my lips without me giving them the permission. I couldn't help it! This was the first productive idea I've had in days.

"Fionna, honey, this sounds like a bad idea waiting to happen. Are you sure you want to go on explorin' for something you don't even know would work? You only got a few—"

"I'm going to find a way, Cake. There's no stopping me in this. I'm not going to let it happen." I stood firm, my sword in one hand and a fist at my side.

She sighed heavily, her body walking up to where her head had stretched to. "Alright, baby, I won't stop you. But you need to tell me the moment you come up with a plan, 'cause I sure as hell ain't lettin' you do this alone." She smiled at me, all motherly and tender. That was just who she was; protective, sometimes overbearing, but always doing what was right for me.

"Thanks, Cake. I'll let you know as soon as I find something." I shot a smile back at her and bounced down the ladder, past all our treasure, and out the front door. Ever since the box, I took any opportunity I could to run, to move, to use my body. It made me feel free, like if I kept running, no one could catch me.

So I ran. I ran all the way to PG's palace.