Of Good and Evil (Fiolee) - Ch.6

Fionna grumbled to herself as she walked along the dark streets of the Candy Kingdom.

“Can’t believe Cake made me wear this stupid dress… I hate dresses… Stupid Cake… Why does she have to dress me like this for a stupid party? ...I don’t even want to go to some dumb party… Stupid Gumball, breaking my stupid heart. Why does he have to be so stupid? Now he put me in a stupid mood, and everything is stupid… Why am I even going to a dumb night club? What kind of adventuress goes to a night club?”

She hadn’t realized she’d been clenching her fists until she muted her babble. She tried to relax, and let out a long sigh. It’s just a dress, Fionna, she thought. Just a dress.

Fionna had enough crying and despairing earlier. She’d lain in the tree house for hours, clutching random pillows, Beemo, Cake, and anything else that was remotely squishy and huggable. She’d cried her eyes out, wailing until her throat hurt. She’d scream about how she would never love again, she would never eat again, go outside, or fight another monster. She screamed into the ceiling, “The man I love rejected me! My life is over!”

Cake, who was feeling very kind and motherly at the time, fought back the urge to roll her eyes at Fionna’s teenage reaction. She was a wise enough cat to know that life was not going to be over, and she was indeed going to live. But she didn’t say that. She just cuddled with her blonde haired mess of tears, wrapping her in the soft fluffy blanket that was her outstretched tail.

Eventually, after much crying and consoling, Cake left the sniveling Fionna with Beemo, and slipped into the kitchen. She returned moments later holding a big salad bowl filled with ice cream, and three spoons. She smiled widely, sitting by Fionna, handing them each a spoon.

So for the rest of the day, the three shoveled ice cream into their mouths, causing Fionna to forget what tears tasted like. Although she did continue to sniff and whimper, she got better slowly.

The sun began to set and they were all sitting cozy together by the fireplace, warm and content, with their discarded bowl and spoons next to them. When Cake looked out the window and saw the darkening sky, her eyes about popped out of her head.

“Sweet babies!” she cried, jumping up. “You have a date, sister!”

And then that was when all this happened, Fionna thought, looking down at her outfit with remorse. She walked through the dark streets, feeling very exposed without her usual backpack and sword.

I’m sure Cake and Beemo had a fabulous time ‘beautifying’ me, Fionna thought unhappily. The pair had tried their best to cover up Fionna’s puffy eyes, and the dark circles that surrounded, but Fionna wasn’t sure if it was possible to escape the effects of all that pathetic crying.

Her dress was black this time; opposite the last time she wore a dress, where it was white. It still had the same ‘Cake Flair’ with the gold ribbons, but it was shorter and less formal.

Fionna fumed. If Cake made this dress black because I’m going to meet a vampire she is so going to get it.

She finally reached the spot where Marshall had said to meet at. Just outside the wall of the Candy Castle, all the way to the back end of the building. She looked around, but didn’t see anything. No vampire, no door, no undead partying creatures. Nothing.

She waited, the chilly night wind causing her to shiver. She was one heartbeat away from leaving when out of nowhere came a “Boo.”

Fionna screeched, almost leaping out of her dress. Which, while on the subject, was too itchy for her liking.

“Jeez! Hello to you too!” She thought of how good it would feel to punch him in the face.

“Hahaha!” He clutched the side of his face, almost crying tears of laughter. He was dressed differently from his normal attire, this time with a black causal button-up shirt instead of plaid, with a red tie, and he completed the look with his ax guitar. That’s probably black tie formal for this moron, Fionna thought.

His smiling laugh revealed his large canines, sparkling in the moonlight from above. “Man, that never gets old.”

Fionna stood defiantly, staring at him while he snickered.

“Sorry, I just—”

He stopped just when he had focused on her long enough to actually look at her. His face turned genuine and all joking was paused.

“What happened?”

“What do you mean, what happened?” She demanded.

He spoke slowly, “Your face,” his hand stretched out to touch the worn and inflamed skin under her bloodshot eyes. She smacked his hand away before it was even close.

“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t come here for your pity. I came to pay off a deal I made. Now hop to it.”

Marshall looked at her for a moment, seeming to want to press the subject. Then he shrugged, respecting her privacy in a way that made Fionna very surprised.

“Well then let’s go, my little Adventuress!” He smirked, making Fionna blush in rage.

He guided her around the wall of the Candy Castle until they came to a stop only a few feet from where Fionna had started.

“What the nuts are we doing here?!” Fionna protested. “It’s just blank wa—”

“Ohoho!” Marshall wagged his finger at her, never failing to infuriate Fionna. “Don’t be so sure, my naïve bunny rabbit.”

“Enough with the nicknames, oka—”

“Sh.”

Marshall Lee had put his ear up to the wall and held a finger to his mouth in silence. Fionna was about to speak, but the concentrated look on his face made her pause.

He listened for a few more heartbeats, before he pulled back again. Then he tapped his knuckles on the wall softly, making very little sound in the quiet night.

Suddenly, the same brick his ear had been on was pulled out from behind, revealing a pair of beady eyes. A rusty voice came out of the teeny hole.

“Password.”

Marshall coughed, shooting Fionna a mockingly embarrassed glance. “Ahem!” He peered into the hole, eyebrows raised expectantly.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! Didn’t see you there! Come on in!” The brick promptly slid back in and rumbling came from inside.

“Sorry about that,” The vampire gave Fionna an apologetic grin, bearing his fangs.

“Oh, what? Are you like, special or something? Do you get some sort of special treatment?” Fionna snapped, trying to sound insulting. It didn’t work so well on account of her voice, which was still scratchy from all the sobbing.

“You could put it that way,” He replied smugly.

As if by magic, the ground beneath Marshall’s floating feet fell away. Fionna looked over, seeing it was a trap-door-style entrance that was disguised as grass. Fionna grinned, always cheered up by the sight of a dark descending cave full of stairs that she hadn’t explored.

“So the night club for all the undead creatures of the Candy Kingdom is underneath the Candy Castle?!”

Marshall could see her eyes twinkle as she peered in. “Yep. Secret entrance, you like?”

“It’s none of your business what I like,” She said, wiping the smile off her face as best she could. But Marshall was smart, and he knew better. And he knew he could get her to crack.

“Well,” He smiled, not at all deterred by her insults. “After you.”

She stepped onto the first stair cautiously. She examined the inside as her eyes adjusted. The cave itself wasn’t that big, but the stairs stretched long into an unseen darkness below. She continued, step after step, and suddenly the doors behind her slammed shut.

Her head whipped around, seeing only darkness in front of and behind her. She felt a cool hand at her back, guiding her down the stairs.

“It’s fine, just a little dark.”

“I’m not scared. And get your hand off me!”

“Are you sure? Blonde girls with bunny hats have a tendency to be pretty reckless. I wouldn’t want you falling and making a scene.”

“Shut up,” She grumbled, letting him guide her further into the cave as a reply. Just as it seemed like there was only darkness, she saw a dim light seeping onto the floor ahead.

“You ready?” Marshall said in the darkness.

“What do you mean, am I ready?” She snapped.

“Well,” Marshall opened the iron door slowly.

As it opened bright colorful lights poured out, flashing and blinking, along with the ear-shattering sounds of heavy bass music and people having a great time. Being underground, the music from the band that was located at the front of the cave traveled far and loud. Every corner of the cave was illuminated by psychedelic lights, enhancing the silhouettes of the numerous party-goers.

Seconds after Marshall pushed open the heavy door, all eyes turned to him.

“Marshall, you made it!” Ghost Prince pushed through the crowd, his odd voice ringing out as the music stopped and the partiers silenced.

“Yep,” Marshall gave a little wave.

“Hey everyone!” Another ghost called out, “Marshall Lee is here!”

The partiers all cheered, causing the music to ramp back up and Marshall to grin crazily.

He nudged Fionna and they began to walk again, the crowd parting and then closing again in their wake. Fionna padded along beside her floating vampire date as everyone whooped and hollered. As they cruised through the club, Marshall was bombarded with everyone from ghosts to candy people to skeletons to goblins to Lumpy Space Prince. They all said things like “Nice to see you Marshall!” “Are you gonna lay down some sick jams?” “What’s up, Vamp King?”  “Look who it is!” “Can’t believe you’re here, dude!”

Fionna even caught one young ghost girl shouting “OH MY GLOB! Marshall! I love you!”

After a few moments of this, Marshall glanced down at his companion and smiled wickedly.

“Is this what you expected?!”

The adventuress refused to be impressed. She just scowled in reply to his smugness.

The vampire still didn’t let her unresponsive behavior slow him. He pressed on, waving and winking at individuals in the crowd. Fionna wasn’t stupid, she could see his gigantic ego, and the arrogant way that he was going about this party made her temper rise.

They finally reached the stage. The crowd cleared out leaving a circular clearing in the floor.

Marshall looked up. He dropped his hand away from Fionna and clapped three times.

In moments, four skeletons came marching out with furniture in their hands. Seconds later they left without a word, leaving a small round table, two ornate chairs, and a formally laid out table setting, complete with placemats.

Marshall smiled from ear to ear, inviting Fionna to sit. Fionna rolled her eyes and took a seat, unhappy with his over-the-top display.

“Aren’t you going to si—”

“Just a sec, I gotta take care of something first.” He patted her on the shoulder then disappeared into the crowd. She sat awkwardly in the only space of the club that wasn’t swarming with people. They all partied around her, while she sat, unbothered by anyone.

A minute or two after Marshall left, a huge wave of cheers nearly blew Fionna’s ears off.

She looked behind her and saw none other than the Vampire King himself standing atop the stage, looking even more pretentious than before.

He swung his guitar around and messed his hair a bit before taking a hold of the microphone.

“Hello, creatures of the night! Who’s ready to get this party pumpin’?”

The crowd roared in response. Marshall let the mike go, and played a note on his guitar. Then two. Then three. His picked the notes carefully, meticulously, and the crowd watched in engaged silence. Marshall smiled, overconfident, as he finally gave in to the crowd’s wishes. He began to play a whole song, instead of tempting them with single notes.

He turned his full focus on his guitar. He was so absorbed he didn’t even notice that the only person he was really playing for was on her way out the door.