Then the reporter showed up. 

The Shieldmaiden was pulled a few feet away from The Demon by the army, who were leaving him alone for the moment, preferring to take back the town, and then suddenly Marianne was there, shoving a microphone in the Shieldmaiden's face. "Is it true that you took down The Demon?" 

"I... yeah. It's true. I don't want to talk about it. Why are you..." 

"I'm with the Shylock Port Post. But enough about me, can you please explain your motivation in doing this?" 

"I just... I needed to stop him, and now he's... can I please stop talking about it?" 

"The entire town is going to want to know about this." 

"Good for them. Ask the army here, they saw what happened." 

"Can you explain the decomposing cadavers in the street?" 

"The Demon was a necromancer. He just never used it, because he thought he didn't need to, and then I told him that he wasn't a real threat, and now he's dead, and I just..." Tears began flowing from the Shieldmaiden again. "Please stop asking me about this." 

"So you feel remorse for his death?" Marianne pressed. 

The Shieldmaiden nodded. "He was never supposed to... and the worst part is, I did it. I killed him. And now he's dead, and I'm never going to get to talk to him again, or..." 

Marianne suddenly screamed, and the Shieldmaiden whipped around, as The Demon suddenly shakily rose to his feet, nearly falling back again. 

The Shieldmaiden rushed over, putting his arm around her neck to help support him. 

"You're alive." She said in awe. "How are you alive?" 

"What, you thought a little fall like that would kill me?" The Demon smirked, before coughing wetly. 

The Shieldmaiden could see that his dark hair was quickly becoming slick with blood. "We have to get you to a hospital." 

He snorted. "Not like this." 

"It doesn't matter!" 

"Sweetheart, do you really think a doctor is going to treat The Demon?" He coughed again, and leaned into her. 

"Don't talk. Talking makes it worse. Just stay with me, okay? Keep your eyes on me." 

He slumped for a few seconds, before regaining consciousness. "Did I win, anyway?" He asked weakly when he woke up. 

"Depends on the prize." She said softly, trying to drag him into the closest tunnel so she could get a change of clothes for them both and enlist Gumball's help in getting him to the doctor. 

Marianne straightened herself, and followed. "You two seem close." 

"Are you still recording?" The Shieldmaiden asked in surprise. 

"Are we close?" The Demon asked gently.

"Yes, now shush. Don't talk." 

"I wanna talk. Have I ever told you that you mean everything to..." He slumped again, and the Shieldmaiden dragged him into the tunnel before closing it. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the emergency room at the nearest hospital. 

"Please don't let us be too late." Fionna begged no one in particular. 

"Marshall was the one who said that he couldn't go in as The Demon, and that applied to you as well." Gumball said as they started carrying him in.

"What are we going to tell people?" Fionna asked. 

"That he got into a construction accident. And while we're here, we're going to hospitalize you too." 

"What, no, I need to—" 

"Shush. You didn't go to the doctor a while back when you were wearing that bandage, and you just got out of a huge fight. Real superheroes don't just brush off the damage. How did you get that bandage any—" 

"Excuse me, my friend really needs help!" Fionna interrupted. 

"And she probably does as well." Gumball commented as a team of nurses loaded Marshall onto a crash cart. 

"Right this way." A nurse told Fionna, eyeing her arm which was lying at an odd angle. 

"No, I—" 

"This. Way." 

"What are the names of the people you're admitting?" The receptionist asked Gumball. 

"The man is Marshall Lee Abadeer... no, Abadeer... and the girl is Fionna Mertons. No, no. With two 'n's." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Marshall woke up, Gumball was reading a magazine next to him. 

"How long was I out?" Marshall asked. 

"A day." Gumball responded without looking up from his magazine. "Fionna really did a number on you." 

"Is she okay?" 

"Mmm... can you believe she didn't want to be admitted when she has a broken arm?" 

"I broke her arm?" 

"It's her left arm." Gumball pointed out. "She's right-handed."

"I broke her arm." 

"To be fair, she fractured your skull and cracked your ribs. As well as her own ribs. I assume that's why she is stuck in her own little area now. She keeps asking about you." 

"She does?" 

"Yeah. She was really worried about you. My advice for the future is, don't get in huge fights that hospitalize each other. That is dating rule number one." He finally looked up from his magazine to shoot Marshall a pointed look.

"Supervillains and their heroes are supposed to fight." 

"Well, boyfriends and girlfriends are supposed to fight too, but no one is ever supposed to be injured." 

"We're not dating." 

"That's no excuse." 

"I meant... look, normally, Marshall and Fionna would never hurt each other. But The Demon and the Shieldmaiden would." 

"...fine, I suppose, given the context, it was okay. But if I ever hear word of this again, I'm  reporting you both to the police." 

"Alright. Now, back to Fionna being worried about me? You mean... she doesn't hate me? At all?" 

Gumball looked at his friend, with a look on his face that clearly said, how are you so stupid? "No. She doesn't hate you. I don't know why, since you tried to take over the town with a bunch of zombies for what was likely a nefarious reason, and her sister clearly hates you, but she doesn't." 

"...the sister hates me?" 

"Mm-hmm. Blames you for all of the injuries that Fionna received. Which I think is hardly fair— you're only responsible for about half of them." 

"You blame me too, don't you?" 

"Slightly more than I blame Fionna, yes." 

"Right. So, how do I make the sister like me?" 

"That's not going to happen, so don't try." 

"Isn't the sister an obstacle?" 

"Not really. Cake just doesn't want to see Fionna hurt." Gumball responded, before looking at his watch. "And I have to go now." 

"Well, goodbye to you too." 

"Yeah, yeah. And in five, four, three, two..." 

Fionna opened the door. "Oh, you're up." 

"And I was just leaving." Gumball said smoothly, standing up.