Chapter 16- Hell on Earth

"Marshall, do you know any history of the Nightosphere?" Alina asked.

The former Vampire King raised his eyebrow. "Obviously. My mom grilled me with that shit since when I was a kid."

"Then you know about the previous rulers then."

"What do dead demons have anything to do with what you're doing? And with Fionna?"

Alina smiled. "I'll show you."

Julius shoved Marshall further into the room. Marshall walked past Fionna. She looked at him, not with fear in her eyes, but with courage and hope that the both of them would get out the situation alive. If Marshall's heart would still be beating, they would have been aching at the sight of the human girl, who at the end, chose not to show any fear in front of her enemies.

And that's what one of the reasons I love about you.

Marshall nearly stopped in his tracks. The absentminded thought caught him off guard. What am I thinking? The former Vampire King never gave love a thought in over a millennia. He certainly liked Fionna, but as a friend. But more than that? It never really crossed his mind.

Ugh. Marshall mentally scolded himself. Now was not the time to think about it. Or ever. This situation is leaving me emotionally unstable.

Marshall followed Alina into the front of the room, the same place when he had announced that he was going to marry her. It seemed so long ago. He wished he could turn back time and forced himself to say no. Besides Liana, who stayed near Fionna, the rest of the demon clans stood next to Alina and Marshall.

"Now, let it begin," Alina said, a hideous grin on her face.

Alina started to chant. Marshall recognized the language. It was an ancient demon language that was dead for more than millennia. No one really knew it too well. Marshall and his mother knew a little bit. But definitely not to the extent that Liana was chanting. Marshall heard words like "life" and "release." Sweat began to pour down Marshall's temple. What were they planning?

"Marshall, do you know the legend that surrounds the grave of the five former rulers of the Nightosphere?" Alina suddenly asked.

"Legend?" Marshall didn't know of any legend. He wasn't interested in the place too much to even ask.

"During the reign of your mother, she did something that would forever change the lives for us." Although no windows were open, a wind was starting to pick up. "She locked us away."

Marshall's hair was started to whip around his face, but he barely noticed it as he stared at Alina with confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean my mother locked you away?"

Before Alina could respond, Marshall heard a blood curdling scream. It came from Fionna.

White, transparent chains wrapped around both of her wrists. Liana must have broken her spell because Fionna was writhing and struggling to break free of the chains.

"Fionna!" Marshall tried to run to her but Julius shoved him to the floor. His chin scraped the tiled floor as he fell face-first.

"Uh-uh," Julius said, sitting on top of him, his weight pressing onto Marshall's back. "Sorry, your highness, but I can't let you."

Marshall's blood boiled and he was beginning to see red. It only happened when he was completely pissed off and when he was about to transform. Marshall willed himself to transform and the sensation of his limbs about to elongate was tingling underneath his skin.

But it suddenly stopped.

Marshall tried again, but the result was the same. He could feel his transformation about to start but it stopped midway, as if…something was blocking it. Dark shoes appear in front of Marshall's face. He looked up and saw Blaine staring down at him, a smile on his face.

"What's wrong, my king?" Blaine asked. "Can't transform? Don't worry it's only temporary. But its effects are long enough to keep you from interfering."

Marshall growled and tried to get Julius off of him, but the demon boy maneuvered himself so Julius was able to pin down both of his arms and legs.

"Get the fuck off me!" Marshall demanded.

"And where would the fun be in that?" Julius crooned. "Why don't you sit tight and watch your girlfriend be the key to our salvation?"

Fionna felt like a thousand needles were being inserted into her body, drilling deep into her until there was nothing left. When the chains had appeared, they suddenly sent an explosion of pain all around her body. Even when Fionna was in so much pain, she still tried to break herself free. Through her screaming, she barely heard Marshall shouting out her name and the strange chanting that Liana was saying. As Liana's chanting went on, Fionna felt like her body was being ripped apart. She stopped struggling and fell to her knees.

"What are you doing to her?" Marshall demanded. He glared at Alina, who didn't say a word as she was watching Liana chanting. A strange gleam seemed to be in her eyes.

"Answer me damn it!"

It took a while but Alina finally looked at Marshall. "During what was called 'The Mushroom War', while the Earth was still reeling from the effects of what the humans had done, our ancestors took the opportunity to open a large portal that could bring the entire Nightosphere into the Earth plane. But your mother stopped them before they could do it. Since she didn't want this to happen again, she decided to seal this whole dimensional plane for anyone wanting escape or vice versa.

"She tried to permanently destroy the seal that our ancestors created, but it was too strong, even for Hannah Abadeer, so she broke the seals into five pieces," Alina continued. "She used the bodies of the former rulers to plant the broken parts of the seal inside their burial grounds. She also set a certain condition. After the war, humans were practically non-existent, so Hannah used this fact to set the condition that only the life energy of a human could open up the portal after the broken pieces of the seal were released."

"When I learned about this from the secret archives that my foolish father had hidden from me, I didn't think that it was possible. I didn't think humans even existed anymore…" Alina smiled at Marshall. "…until the heir to the throne brought the human girl inside the Nightosphere for the first time. You see, over time, no matter how powerful a seal is, it weakens, so lesser demons could make a portal and enter into the Earth plane or in your case, the demon son of the bitch queen that locked us here. "

Marshall's memories suddenly swamped him. He had invited Fionna and Cake to come party with him at the Nightosphere because he was getting bored by just hanging out with his mom. And then all that shit happened with his mom and that stupid necklace that his mom tricked him into wearing.

"When I heard about the human girl and her cat that had been prisoners of the Nightosphere, I decided then and there that I would continue the plans that my ancestors had started. Because of the stupid seal that your mother created, the demon clans' powers had sapped we had to wait till her seal was starting to weaken and then that's when we would strike."

"The first part of the plan was to make sure that your mother didn't get in the way of my way. Killing her was going to be difficult and I knew I didn't have the strength to even fight her, so, she was slowly poisoned instead."

"That's impossible!" Marshall yelled. "How could you have poisoned her when you were never near her?"

Alina smiled, just as the mysterious wind blew harder, whipping her hair around her. "Let's just say that it was an inside job. You see, I needed your mother to think that she was going to die sooner in order for her to hurry and let you become the king. I let purposely let your mother into thinking that the clans had changed and that we wanted a truce. So I proposed the arranged marriage. With that bait in mind, your mother would think that the alliance would keep a close eye on us, but it was merely a ruse to get us into the castle so we could fulfill our plans."

Suddenly, red shined in Marshall's peripheral vision. It was then that he also noticed that Fionna's screams had stopped and Liana's chanting had gotten louder. Marshall looked over and saw that the whole floor was glowing. Red lines covered the floor; others crisscrossing over each other while the rest created a circle just outside the overlapping lines. With horror, Marshall realized that the lines created the shape of a pentagram.

Outside the star, unfamiliar symbols were swirling, the signs spinning faster and faster as Liana chanted. The wind blew harder and harder until the sheer force of them rattled the window panes.

(A couple of hours earlier).

Hannah Abadeer, former Queen of the Nightosphere, could feel it. Even if she had been confined to her bed, the sheer energy of what was currently happening inside the castle was hard to miss. Even one who didn't possess a sixth sense could tell that something was wrong. And something was horribly wrong.

She had woken up to intense, rising energies in the middle of the night. Hannah didn't even need to look outside her bedroom windows to know that the pieces of the seal were broken.

When the former queen saw the lights, for the first time in a long time, Hannah felt the unfamiliar sensation of dread flooding her guts. She threw the covers from the bed but she didn't get very far when she was suddenly thrown back. Hannah slammed onto the wall next to her bed. A gasp escaped her lips as an intense pain exploded along her back and the back of her head.

"My apologies, you're Highness, but I can't let you leave."

Hannah scanned the room and demanded, "Who are you? Show yourself!"

Hannah's assistant, Tabitha, came into view. Her dark hair gleamed from the lights outside. One of her hands was outstretched, the very same hands that knocked the former queen onto the wall and was keeping her there.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hannah ordered.

"I don't think I need to answer that," she said. "I believe those rising energies outside will give you the answer that you seek."

Suddenly, the air around Tabitha shimmered. Her dark hair changed to the color of snow and brown eyes were replaced with dark orbs. Moira stood stepped closer to the queen. "If you were at your full power, I would never be able to hold you down. It was a slow process, but the results were worth it."

Sweat poured down Hannah's face. "What are you talking about, you wench? And what have you done with my assistant?"

Moira smiled. "Nothing. Tabitha never existed in the first place. She was me the whole time. You see, you may have been the former queen of this place, but you neglect the fact that without the seals blocking our full powers, the demon clans are stronger. My family's specialty is to fool the minds of our enemies. We have honed and crafted our abilities since before your time, so I easily fooled you into thinking that I was nothing but a lower class demon looking for work. And since I was right beside you, it was easy to slip in bits of poison into our foods and drinks."

"Poison?" Hannah said. "What kind?"

Moira smiles. "Nothing your familiar with. It's something of my own making."

Just then the door opened and Julius comes in with thick chains. "Moira, is it time to tie up that bitch now?"

"Perfect timing, Jules."

Outside of the castle, strong winds were blowing. The dead trees surrounding the castle were being blown away from the sheer force of the storm. Small animals such as lizards and squirrels were flying through the air. Meanwhile, in the cities, the lesser class demons were running and scrambling to find something sturdy to hold on to as the strong winds were tossing the demons into the air.

Suddenly, five pillars of light appeared. The lights were coming from the direction of where the demon boys had found the seals. The same red lines started forming and elongating and curving until the lines connected to become a circle. From the circle more lines appeared, each of them connecting, and crisscrossing each other until it became a shape. And in the middle of it all stood the castle.

Inside the castle, Marshall continued to watch helplessly as Fionna's life energy was slowly consumed by the spell. He could already see her blonde hair turning white. Outside, the same red light was blazing and Marshall could just make it that the lines were forming a familiar shape. A pentagram.

As Liana continued her chanting, thunderous booms were raging outside. Marshall could see that clouds were forming and swirling and he knew they weren't for rain because the Nightosphere had no weather.

"You won't get away with this, Alina!" Marshall shouted.

Alina's grin was vicious. "Oh, but I already have."

Marshall suddenly felt tremors. The whole castle was shaking. An earthquake? He thought. He looked outside and saw buildings flying and falling apart by the winds and tremors.

Alina laughed manically. "We're almost there! In just a few moments a portal will open up and the Nightosphere and the Land of Aaa will be ours!"

Prince Gumball watched outside his bedroom windows as large, dark clouds were forming. Thunder began to rumble and he could already see lighting streaking across the sky. It seemed so normal, but for some reason, Gumball was anxious. Something bad was going to happen. It had been over a week since Fionna had gone missing. When he and Cake couldn't open the portal to the Nightosphere, Cake had gone ballistic. She had nearly scratched Gumball's eye out when he tried to calm her down.

Cake was currently at the tree house, with her boyfriend Lord Monochromicorn to keep her company. After the failed attempt of opening the portal to the Nightosphere, he searched through his library to see if there was perhaps a chance that there are places that could lead to the Nightosphere, but there wasn't. Logically, he knew that. The Nightosphere was in another dimension. There were likely no portals that could lead to the place where demons dwelled.

All of a sudden, a large tremor began to shake the castle. Paintings hanging on his wall clattered onto the ground. His other window shattered and Gumball quickly got away from the window he was looking at before it too, shattered. Gumball grabbed onto his bed post and held on as his bookshelves tumbled to the floor, spilling the contents within.

A portrait of both Fionna and Marshall Lee on his nightstand shattered onto the floor. It was a picture he had taken from Fionna's sixteenth birthday. Outside, he could hear his people screaming. Thunder continued to roar outside. Gumball looked to his bedroom door, which had flown open due to the tremors. Small pieces of debris were falling from the ceiling, but so far nothing was large enough to knock him unconscious.

Steeling his nerve, Gumball released his hold onto the bed post and ran towards the door. He covered the top of his head with his hands as he ran and safely made it out the door. Gumball crossed the landing and tried to carefully go down the stairs, which was difficult considering the fact that the whole castle seemed to be shaking. Gumball jumped down the last steps as he made it down. The door that led to the stairs of his room was also wide open.

Quickly, he ran down the hallway, not covering his head this time, through the ballroom and onto the courtyard. Strong winds greeted him as Gumball stepped outside. He braced himself against the pressure of the gales as he descended down the steps.

His banana guards were scrambling across the courtyard trying to catch the unfortunate candy citizens who were being blown away due to the winds. Some of them even got stuck inside a crack on the earth, most likely due to the tremors. Some of the buildings were already beginning to crumble.

What is going on? An earthquake? Tornado?

It couldn't have been possible for both to happen.

"Watch out, Your Highness!"

A cotton candy citizen was flying towards him. Gumball caught the girl. "Oh thank you!" the little cotton candy girl said.

"It's no problem," Gumball replied.

A banana guard ran up to him and saluted the prince. Gumball handed the girl to the guard. He could already tell that the longer she was outside with the winds blowing, her fragile body could tear. "Send her to my lab quickly and have half of the banana guards look for any citizens that are more vulnerable to the winds while the rest look for the ones that are trapped from the tremors."

"Yes sir."

The banana guard ran to the castle. The citizens would be safe in his lab because Gumball had installed steel walls and doors in case a natural disaster like this was going to happen. Or in this case, not so natural. There was definitely something wrong here.

Gumball continued to run but nearly fell when the tremors suddenly got worse. Something fell beside him and gathered up dust, which cause the prince to cough. When the dust cleared, a chunk of the castle gates had fallen. If I had been any closer… he certainly would have been crushed.

"Gumball!"

The Prince of Candy looked up to see his loyal companion, Lord Monochromicorn flying down towards him with his girlfriend Cake on his back. Lord Monochromicorn landed beside him and began pounding his off on the dirt. He tapped out, Are you alright? to Gumball.

"I'm fine," Gumball replied. He brushed dust from his clothes. "In any case, we need to check out what's causing these winds."

"We saw it on the way here PG!" Cake said. "There's somethin' happening just mile from where we are! We'll show you!"

Gumball nodded and hopped onto Monochromicorn's back behind Cake. They flew out of the city, Lord Monochromicorn dodging branches flying in the wind. Gumball could tell that his best friend was struggling to fly through the strong winds, but Monochromicorn pushed on.

Soon they came to a large field. A giant hole was opening up and was slowly consuming the ground and trees with it.

"Try not to get too close," Gumball ordered Monochromicorn. "We might get pulled in." His friend whinnied in response.

Gumball studied the large hole. He couldn't see anything through it, but he could tell that the whole was slowly changing its shape. It was going to grow bigger and bigger. How big, Gumball didn't know. But it was going to endanger the lives of everyone.

"Did you see that?" Cake asked.

"See what?"

"Something came out of that thing."

Gumball searched the area around the hole, looking for whatever Cake saw. He saw it within a few yards of the hole. It was writhing mass of black goo and it was moving. It looked up and Gumball could see that it had red eyes, as if sensing them. It had eyes the color of blood. The thing turned away and continued onto wherever it was going.

Gumball's heart started to pound. Something was telling him that this was no ordinary hole, but he didn't want to admit it.

"PG, what's wrong?" Cake asked.

Gumball swallowed and looked at Cake grimly. "We have a situation. We need to evacuate everyone within the vicinity." He didn't think the steel walls from his lab could protect his citizens.

"What? Why?"

Gumball looked away and stared at the portal. Through it, images were already starting to take shape. He could see a large castle, and buildings in the distance. Those blood red eyes popped into his mind.

"Because Hell is coming."

A/N: This chapter I think is by far the longest chapter I've done. But it's long cause I really wanted to reveal what Alina and her cronies were planning. It was really hard, because I didn't want to miss any details. Plus I lost my notes to this so I'm trying my best to remember what was important. We're almost to the ending. And yes I know Fionna/Finn technically isn't the last human on Earth. Just gonna have to go with the story line that she is. Until next chapter. :)