Chapter 6: Bright Lights in the Jungle

Something is terribly wrong.

She felt it right away—a prick in the Multiverse. Only it wasn't just a prick to her; more like a slash, really. The glass vial she was holding slipped from her grasp, shattering into tiny pieces as she doubled up in pain. Clutching and gasping at the sudden rip made in the Multiverse—an impossible feat, yes, but it happened anyways. She struggled to heal that offending wound in the Multiverse (and herself), but to no avail.

Something or someone is maiming the Multiverse, and it sucking the energy out of her. And it is a very bad thing.

For she and the Multiverse are one.

If she dies, the whole of realities will collapse and every one will be in danger.

Then Prismo will fall.

Then everything will cease to exist.

Usually when people crosses from one dimension to another, it won't bother her. She'll feel a prick—like an itch to her skin. (Not unless you count her early days in obtaining this huge responsibility. That was horrible thing to experience.)

She breathed out a frustrated sigh, suddenly feeling the weight of responsibility in her shoulders heavy. Her form flickers in exertion to heal the tear in the Multiverse, but all in vain. She felt her image change like a television channel being switched every now and then. Within every blink, her form changes to a three-eyed green glob to the form she truly loved; a humanoid.

All she can manage to do is to temporarily seal that rip and hoped for the best that it will stay for a little while. If there were any object or anything to symbolize her repair, it would be a broken vase being patched up by an ordinary tape.

She did not like it at all.

Now she wished she did not ignored those tiny abrasions she obtained a few weeks ago. It should have been a warning to her that something or someone is toying around the Multiverse. But no, she was stubborn enough to ignore the signs and brush it off as dimension hopping beings.

She should have known that those abrasions are definitely not dimension hoppers because dimension hopping does not inflict that kind of injury.

Then, as if her problems for the greater good isn't enough, another one toppled over the huge pile. She just found out one of the main reasons why that annoying tear won't close.

There are lifeforms trapped inside a universe they don't belong in. They are those pieces in a jigsaw puzzle that seemed to don't belong in a set. They, those lifeforms she found, travelled across universes—not dimensions, no.

Impossible.

Once her energy from that flipping gash were once regained, she swiped one slender hand through the air to slice a portal to the Time Room.

But a silent inquiry hangs into the air: Prismo or those lifeforms?

She knows she only have a limited time for solving this puzzle—which is slightly odd for her since she is acquainted to the person who take control of Time itself. This is a new sensation to her.

Prismo or those lifeforms?

Shutting her eyes close, she pushed herself into the portal bearing those inquisitive voices that haunts her up to this point.

Prismo or those lifeforms?

Then, a decision was formed.

If Fionna have a word to describe this strange place they were in, it was simple: jungle.

Well, a concrete jungle, that is.

This is all too confusing for her. Even her internal GPS (she have this knack in navigating) felt like it have gone haywire. None of this twist and turns made any sense to her. It feels like a labyrinth to the adventuress—only this one is actually above the ground.

Well, you know what they always say about firsts.

And the people, this place is full of them. It like it's very normal to them to experience all these hustle and bustle every day. Never have she witnessed such a huge crowd inhabiting one place—Aaa has not been this populated for ages. Trust her, Fionna has been around Aaa that long to know that every kingdom (unofficial ones counted) is only populated with only a handful people enough to carry Prince Gumball's palace (alright, she's gonna admit that she was slightly exaggerating this one).

Then a tiny, scared voice whispered at the back of her mind: What if she's not in Aaa anymore?

Internally she shook her head, that's impossible. This is probably an unexplored area that they have never encountered before since she was twelve and only shows up during that science-y thing event that Gumball mentioned a few hours ago. Yep. That must be it. Glob, she's been hanging out way too much with the Candy Prince that his logic is rubbing off her. Which is good, because her logical reasoning seems to fit their unusual situation right now.

But somehow, it sounds like she was convincing herself.

"Watch it, Blondie!" Came in Marshall's muffled yell, followed by a series of groans as her pace stuttered into a stop. "You have the Vampire King in your backpack. You should be treating me royally! Not like a blasted object you just shove it in here! Seriously? Haven't you heard of the word 'organized'?"

"Oi! I happened to stay inside her backpack every now and then for the longest time!" Cake hissed towards the direction of his voice. The girl can't blame her sister for being peeved; the sassy feline learned the hard way that cats like her aren't allowed and/or supposed to be talking around this place. They have three people already ran off because they're scared of an actual talking cat and one chasing them off with some spray made of pepper that really hurts the adventuress' eyes. She still needs to blink every now and then as the aftereffects of that awful spray (yet she swore to obtain one, when given the opportunity) that still lingers in her azure eyes. "But did ya hear me complainin'? Nuh-uh! Not even a little bit!"

"'Sides, Marshall, you're the one to talk. Have you seen your bedroom?" The blonde chimed in, mirth colouring her words. His room was one heck of a mess; unruly sheets of his bed, cluttered records, tossed shirts and pants—name it. "Do you even heard the word 'organized'?"

"Not trying to be sexist, babe, but I am a man—"

"A very old man." Her sister muttered, earning a stifled giggle from Fionna.

"—and being a man have his privilege to have a messy room. And if you think I haven't heard that, kitty cat, I did." He grumbled, with the image forming in the girl's head of him narrowing his eyes right now. "And I took offense in that one. Wait 'til I get out of this blasted bag—I'll have my revenge for sure."

Cake grinned a taunting grin, as if accepting the challenge of beating him around this time now she has been forewarned by the vampire. "Oh, I'd love to see what you're gonna do this time, sugarcakes."

"And how exactly belonging in the male species—" Grod, she sure sounds like Gumball now. "—makes a difference when it comes to being neat?" She have asked a little too loudly in indignation, earning a few perplexed and annoyed looks from those people who passed by them.

"It's simple. You girls are expected to be more organized that us." She heard him speak in a drawling, I-am-right-so-shut-up manner. "So, in a way, you are more pressured to be all spic and span with your things and—and—" Marshall stuttered into a stop as something just sunk in.

"And what, Stutter King?" Fionna felt herself arching one golden brow even though the man in question was not in front of her.

"You've seen my room." He seemed to be struggling to decide whether this statement will be a declarative or a question and ending up sounding like both.

Puzzled with his sudden reaction to a petty thing, she replied with a nonchalant: "Yeah, so?"

"You've been inside my room?"

Oh, shit. It was one of those rare moments where her goody-two-shoes-ness will slip away and basically just swear her life away. It's not like she do not like swearing (well, maybe sort of), it's just her parents have taught her enough values to tell her swearing is bad and unladylike (hah, like her activities are ladylike) and all that jazz. And as she grew up into this fine young lady, she kept this instilled values most of the time.

And this is not one of those times.

Blood crept up her cheeks as she realized that one shitty slip-up that might lead up to him accusing her of a Peeping Tom or something similar to that. Fionna is actually glad that he's staying inside of her bag so that he cannot see her tomato red face. It was one of those misadventures where they—she and Cake—happened to stumble inside his house while waiting for him to show up. Whatever happened to them (or to her, more specifically) inside that room stays in that room only.

Now that just sounded wrong.

Now her scumbag brain is starting to conjure mental images that she have seen in that very room that is not supposed to be seen by anyone. Not now, not ever.

Don'tthinkofMarshallLeebeing—

She pushed that thought at the back of her mind with extreme effort.

"And babe? Since when do you call me babe?" She tried to make a disgusted sound, only it came out as a squeak. Yet she doubted herself directing her disgusted tone to herself rather than to the offending male. "That's the most 'ew' thing you have called me. I'd rather have Cake to call me 'baby' all day long even though I am not a baby anymore."

"OI!"

"That, and Cake is always an exception to every rule that I have in life." The adventuress stroked her sister's head affectionately as if to ease her annoyance towards her earlier statement.

"Well, well, well. Changing the subject now, are we?" Somehow, Fionna heard Marshall smirking as he spoke it.

"Am not!"

"Riiiight." The Vampire King spoke, unconvinced. "So, back to the main topic." The human female swallowed, dreading his question. "You've been into my room."

There was no way of avoiding this. Cheeks burning, she sighed, sounding defeated. "Yes."

Don'tthinkofMarshallLeebeing—

"I think I would have remembered bringing someone as beautiful as you into my room, you know." He replied, obviously beaming in all of his triumphant glory against Fionna the Human.

"Ew, Marshall. We do not need to know that bit." The blonde shuddered at the thought. At the corner of her eye, she saw her sister shudder too.

Wait—did he just called her beautiful?

If anything, that made her blush more. Also, it did not help her mantra that she was chanting inside of her head. Oh, honestly, she have faced greater demons than this. How this annoying, teen-looking vampire made her skin craw can will utter awkwardness?

Don'tthinkofMarshallLeebeing— "So," He stated casually, too casual in her opinion. "Seen anything you like?"

—naked.

How can, much to her confusion, a simple question like that broke her concentration of her mantra?

Memories came rushing in of that uneventful night at Marshall's. All because of that silly hide-and-seek Cake offered to play while they're at it in waiting for him to come home. And when he does come home, they ended up being stuck in his closet—afraid of his wrath if he ever found them hiding inside his room without permission. Only to find out that he does not mind at all.

Looking back, it seems kinda silly to her now.

It was then the nocturnal boy decided to leave the room and Cake pushed her out of the closet to see if the coast is clear for a quick, and not-so-embarrassing escape.

It was her mistake to check the noise coming from his freaking bathroom. Basked in her innocent glory, Fionna decided to take a peek inside the room and check out if Marshall Lee was busy and noisy enough for him not to notice them sneaking out quietly out of the room—and the house, respectively.

It was never her intention to stare at the Vampire King undressing himself.

Biggest. Mistake. Of. Her. Life. Ever.

Back then, when she was still young, the image of her guy friend's butt burned her mind so badly that she would do anything to bleach the image out of her mind. It freaked her out, honestly. And with her young innocent mind, she classified it as "disgusting".

Then she underwent puberty and her views changed all of a sudden.

Gumball and Cake explained to her the basics of puberty back then, saying that the hormones in her body will release certain fluids that she can even pronounce correctly that will change her in a physical way.

But they never mentioned will change her certain views in life.

Whenever she remembers that certain image in her mind, she learns to appreciate it even more—much to her horror.

But it was a nice butt.

So to answer his question mentally…yes, she saw something that she like in that very room.

Not that she's going to mention it to anyone…ever.

"No." Her voice sounded weak, so she cleared her throat. "No, I did not see anything that I like."

"You hesitated." Chided Cake, looking smug.

If she can get any redder, she'd be red as a dynamite now. "I did not!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Did not!"

"Do you know that I know you're blushing?" Inserted Marshall, obviously trying not to laugh from his amusement.

"Shut up, Marshie."

But the nickname does not affect him at all this time, as far as he was concerned, he was too amused to care. "And your heart is fluttering like a hummingbird right now. Y'know, my vampire senses and all."

"Like I said, shut it."

"Like seriously Fionna what's there to be—"

"Shut it. Or I swear to Glob I will shake my backpack first before I open it and let you burn under the sunlight.

Completely unintimidated by the human's threats, Marshall Lee let out a loud guffaw that probably can be heard three blocks away from them. Much to Fionna's embarrassment and annoyance.

Hello! Airam here! First and foremost I am most definitely not going to abandon this story, nope! I am truly sorry for the lateness of the update due to the following problems 1.) My desktop went poof on me. 2.) So does the Internet. 3.) I got caught up in watching new TV series.

So, again I apologize. This is supposed to be a filler chapter only but I suppose you deserve better than a filler chapter. So, yeah, here you go guys! Your reviews are very much lovely! Thank you! :3

Speaking of reviews, can we pleaaaaase get the review count to twenty? That'll be awesome and I'd love you guys forever if you do that c:

Then again, until next time!

—A