As the celebrations came to an end, everyone departed to their own kingdoms, choosing to either celebrate amongst their own people there, or to call it a night and try to reestablish normalcy.

Gumball, in his grandiose love for festivities, continued the party in the Candy Kingdom. There was a ball one night, a carnival the next day, a kingdom-wide feast after that, concerts everywhere, and finally, it ended with a day-long festival.

Bubblegum and I were sitting on a bench that evening, sipping on the famous Wildberry Wine in our glasses, catching up on everything I didn't get to see with my children. Finn said that Ember and Lilly were quite the team, and when they worked together, they could take down any opponent. Bubblegum talked about the mischief all four of the twins would cause throughout the kingdom, switching clothes, tricking candy citizens into doing silly things… that sort of thing. She praised Felix for all his hard work, and told me all about how he and Koda had a special, secret challenge between them to find out who the better prince was. If he wasn't challenging Koda, he was baking with Sofia.

Her and I laughed and chatted well into the night, the warmth of the fires in the torches keeping us warm in the fall breeze, the laughter and music aiding our conversation as the minutes passed.

"You know, I haven't seen my twin troublemakers lately. Have you?" I asked Bubblegum curiously. I was used to the girls wandering off and getting easily distracted, but it'd been hours since I'd seen them.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't. Let's see," she said, sitting up straight and looking around her. "Felix and Sofia are at the cotton candy stand… and my three youngest are over there, probably arguing over who gets to ride in the Cake Cabin next… but no, I can't see Ember or Lilly anywhere," she concluded, concern riddling her face.

For whatever reason, I could feel a pressure rising rapidly in my heart. Something felt wrong, and suddenly it became more than important to find my girls. "I'm going to go look for them, PB. Keep a look out for me, okay?" I said, pushing off the bench and wandering into the joyous festival.

She gave me some sort of acknowledgement as I walked away, but I couldn't hear her clearly. My senses went sharp and my mind focused to a pin-point accuracy. I looked for any sign at all that would indicate my girls had been anywhere near the festival lately.

"Fi! I can't find Ember or Lilly. Have you seen them?" Marshall asked, swooping down next to me from the air.

"No, I haven't, and it worries me. I've been looking for them, but I haven't found them yet," I answered, my attention never-wavering.

He landed next to me and fluently went from flying to walking, keeping his eyes and ears open. "Wait," he said, putting his hand out to stop me. "I hear them… they're giggling… out by the edge of the festival. Come on, this way!" Marshall grabbed my hand, and before I knew it, we were zipping past candy citizens and food stands and other kinds of amusement.

We were rapidly approaching the end of the light from the festival; the area just outside of the city that had no torches or lights lit. It was eerily dark, and colder than I was comfortable with. In no time at all, I heard what he was hearing. I heard their laughter.

As my eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the autumn night, I was beginning to make out Ember and Lilly, the light from the festival casting a very dull and far-off glow on their faces. They were sitting on their knees, facing each other… and someone else…

"How nice of you to finally come and introduce me to my grandchildren, Marshall Lee," a cold, calculated, familiar voice rang out from the shadows.

As the darkness wisped its way around her, her stone, business-like face appearing in the same dull glow that gently lit Ember and Lilly's faces. My heart felt like it squeezed itself into a pressured stone, then dropped to the pit of my stomach. I had never been so scared in my life.

"What are you doing here?" Marshall hissed, his fists clenched into tight boulders at his sides.

"Daddy! Why didn't you tell us about Granma? She's so cool!" Ember exclaimed, turning to us and showing us the amulet her and Lilly had been giggling over.

"Look at the cool necklace she wants to give us, Mom! She said we could have it, but we wanted to ask you first," Lilly finished for Ember, poking at the red ruby that sat in the center of it.

I knew what that was. It was the necklace that the ruler of the Nightosphere had to wear.

"Girls, you need to put that down. Now." My voice shook hard, but I tried to sound confident and commanding.

Hannah wrapped her arms around the girls shoulders, holding them to her, a crooked, forced smile crawling across her lips. "Why won't you let them have a gift from their grandmother, dear Fionna? It's only natural," she cooed, holding them tighter.

"It's okay, Mommy, we like Granma! She's really nice," Lilly soothed, smiling gently at me.

"Ssshhhh now, girls. It's time to sleep," Hannah whispered. With a few waves of her fingers, both Ember and Lilly fell to the ground beside her, knocked out completely. I cried out, reaching for them, terrified that she'd done something terrible, when my movement was stopped by a cold hand around my throat. Hannah's face was glaring right into mine, her chilled, unwavering red eyes piercing into my soul. "You will not interfere any longer, human. You've thwarted me twice now, and I will not tolerate your involvement any longer," she spat, throwing me against Marshall.

I gripped my throat and coughed as the air rushed back into my lungs. Marshall pushed me behind him, ready to protect me. "What do you mean, twice? We've done nothing but live our lives and raise our children since she destroyed your contracts that one time," Marshall questioned, his stance tense and ready to pounce.

"Yes, the children I never met, until now. Tell me, Marshall, what kind of son doesn't introduce his own mother to his children?" she taunted, standing straight up and looking like a stern lawyer in her pinstripe pantsuit and tight bun.

"The kind who has a mother with other intentions. What do you want, Mother? Why are you here?" Marshall demanded. I tried to come out from behind him, to prepare for a fight, but he pushed me back, keeping me from getting involved.

"Your human harlot has been getting on my nerves for far too long, Marshall. She keeps me from my ultimate goals. First, the contract. Now, the army I spent years preparing." Her stone cold eyes shifted, only slightly, to blare themselves into mine. I could see her anger, feel her rage, and I met all of her wrath with a wrath of my own.

"You? You sent the shadow army? But why? Why would you do that to us?" I demanded, forcing my way out from behind Marshall so I could face her on my own.

She smirked a little, as if my disbelief was amusing to her. "Why do you think, mortal? My time as the ruler of the Nightosphere is up. I sent the army to turn the upper world into a wasteland. With nothing left to care for here, Marshall would have no choice but to come back to me, to be the king he was meant to be."

"The shadows dawn from here upon to take him back where he belongs. Two children instead will be lured and led to the place of darkness where evil is bred," I recited, my eyes dropping to the ground as I once again remembered the prophecy.

"Ah, yes, that reminds me. Your little child witch is more bothersome than I anticipated. She will be eliminated in due time. As for the prophecy, well, I assume you know what that means," Hannah said, pacing in front of me like a war commander in front of her troops.

"You want our children? What's wrong with you?!" Marshall exclaimed, his eyes frantically searching her cold, careless face.

"I do not care who it is that takes over my position. I simply need someone of my line. Either of your girls will do, if you will not take the throne yourself, Marshall." Her voice was cold, uncaring. It was like a business proposal. Or blackmail.

"You're insane if you think anyone is going back with you!" I spat, ready to lunge at her.

"Ah ah ah! Before you make such promises, consider what I've just done to your children. As of now, they're in a deep sleep, a coma, if you will. If I do not give the command to wake them, they'll stay like that. Forever. For an immortal like ourselves, that is a fate far worse than death." Her crooked, unnatural smile appeared again as she watched us writhe beneath her trickery. "So now, you're left with a decision. As the parents of these little demons, you may choose whether it is Marshall who comes with me to the Nightosphere, or you may choose one of your daughters."

"You're sick," I whispered, the words forcing themselves out of my quivering body.

"Despite what you may think, I do have a heart. If you decide to part with one of your daughters, I will ensure that neither you nor anyone else remembers her. She will simply be cut from your hearts and memories from this point out. To you, she will no longer exist." For a moment, just a moment, I thought I saw a spark of compassion cross her face.

"How dare you. How DARE you! They are my daughters! They're my world! I will NOT let you have them!" Marshall screamed. In a flash he sprinted at her, claws out and teeth barred, ready to tear her throat out like a wild beast.

Hannah side-stepped him with ease, letting him crash into the ground behind her. She glanced at him, observing his defeated position, and sighed. "I never should have let your father bite you so early. You're incapable of developing past the age of 19. How pathetic."

Marshall slowly raised himself from the ground, his eyes glowing with hatred as clumps of grass and dirt fell from his face.

I jumped in between them, holding my arms out in a cease-fire motion. "Wait! Wait… what if… what if I go? What if I take over the Nightosphere? I'll do it if you leave my family alone," I said, trying to sound firm in my decision. To be honest, I didn't really know what was coming out of my mouth as I talked. Instinct led me to get between them and offer myself as the sacrifice.

"Nice try, human, but you overstep your limits. Only one of my blood can take the throne of the Nightosphere. It will either be Marshall, or one of the twins." Hannah looked me up and down, assessing me, thinking me over, before sneering and turning her gaze to Marshall.

"I'll go," Marshall said, standing up from the dirt and grass. "I'll go with you. I won't fight. Just… let my girls go. Let my family go." His head dropped, his black, shaggy hair hiding his face.

I stood there in utter awe, not knowing what to think of this. "Very well. If that is your decision, prove it. Take this amulet of your own free will. Wear it as you would as the King of the Nightosphere. When that is done, I will let your daughters go."

I watched as Marshall slowly walked over to her, reaching for the amulet that she held in her hands.

"What the junk is going on here?" I heard Gumball exclaim from behind me. With tears in my eyes I turned to him, letting my face tell him everything that was happening. "Oh no… Marshall? Marshall! Don't do this!"

"Don't stop me, Bubba. I have to. It's the only way," Marshall said, his tone sharp and unwavering.

He picked up the amulet and slipped it over his head. There was a red and white beam of light that shot through it, lighting up the entire area in a brilliant show of power. Then, as the light sank back to the amulet, Marshall recited, "I, Marshall Lee, the Vampire King, hereby take command of the throne of the Nightosphere. From this moment forth, I shall be known as The King of the Nightosphere."

Hannah walked up to him, stroking his face with her cold, blue hand. "Very good, my boy. Very good. I think you'll be of much more use in the underworld. Now, shall I erase their minds of you?" she asked, as if it was just another magic trick that she would perform for her beloved son.

"No!" I screamed, sobbing and falling to my knees. "No, don't. Don't do it. I want… I want to remember you. I want to remember everything about you. Please… please don't take yourself away from us," I begged, gripping the grass in my hands, my tears flooding to the ground in an uncontrollable rush.

Hannah glared down at me in disgust, sneering at my show of weakness. I saw Marshall's limbs tremble as he stood in front of me. I felt the heaving of Gumball's chest as he cried above me.

It finally happened. We had finally been broken.

Marshall appeared in front of me, falling to his knees and holding my tear-stained face in his hands. He kissed me hard, rough, passionately, with need and hunger and sadness and anger and joy and everything in between. I kissed him back with the same intensity, the same need, the same overwhelming emotion that flooded my body. He pulled away and gave Gumball the same kiss, wiping away his tears and smiling sadly at us.

"I love you. I love you so much. Please, tell the kids how much I love them," he said, standing up and taking a step away from us.

"No, please… please don't go, Marshy! Please! You can't leave us!" Gumball begged beside me, getting to his feet and reaching for Marshall.

The tears streamed down Marshalls face as he stepped back, avoiding Gumball's grasp. "I'm sorry, Bubba… I had no choice… I'm so sorry… "

Gumball and I stared after him as he turned his back to us. Hannah snickered and hooked her arm in his, waving her free arm and revealing the portal that led to the Nightosphere. "If you're ready, Marshall, we can leave now."

Marshall took a big breath and began to turn his head to us, then stopped, and dropped his gaze to the ground. "Fionna, Gumball… please… don't come after me."

And with that, he stepped right into the portal, disappearing before our eyes.

Hannah snapped her fingers, the sound seeming to echo through us, allowing the girls to slowly wake up. "I do not envy you, Fionna the Human. But do as he says, and your heart will heal in time."

Just as Marshall had done, she stepped into the portal. It closed like a hungry mouth around her, not leaving a single trace of either of them behind.

"M—mommy? What's wrong?" Ember asked, a little scared and more than a little confused.

"Come with me back to the palace, girls," Gumball demanded when he saw I wasn't going to move.

I sat there, on my knees in the cold grass, my eyes glued to the area where Marshall once was.

"But what about—" Lilly started.

"Now!" Gumball interrupted, sounding angry, and mean, and terrified.

From the side of my vision I could see them float up and head towards the palace. Gumball turned to follow them, but stopped and wiped his tears away. "Marshall…" he whimpered, before letting out a great sob, and walking towards the palace again.

I sat in heart break and disbelief as the cold autumn wind lashed at the tears on my face. So often, I was the sacrifice. I was the one willing to give it all to save the ones I loved. But this… this was so much harder to bear.

My body was numb. My mind was empty. My mouth was dry and my muscles were stiff. The only thing that worked was my tears and my lungs.

He was gone. My Marshall… was gone.

And I couldn't save him. Not this time. Not with that amulet around his neck of his own free will. Not with his proclamation that he was the new King of the Nightosphere.

He was lost to us. Our Marshall… was gone.

Our new beginning was crushed, and I felt empty.

Author's Note: Sooo... I'd like to start off by saying I'm sorry I left you guys hanging like this. What a terrible way to end a series, right? Sometimes I think I'm a terrible, terrible person.

But then I remember that I'm not a bad person, really. I just really, really love writing this series.

Yes, I have an addiction to writing my own stories. Therefore, I hereby declare that I will write another piece to this epic story!

For those of you who are excited to read it: you guys are just flipping amazing, and I love you to death. Thank you all soooo so much for reading and supporting my writing. Seriously, your words of encouragement in reviews are just overwhelmingly helpful.

I hope I don't disappoint any of you guys, but hey, if I do, let me know. Feedback is always helpful :)

So, that's it for part 5! Part 6 coming soon!