Of Good and Evil (Fiolee) - Ch.7

Marshall was so happy; he was playing again. Somehow, his guitar muse had returned to him, and he played like a madman. His fingers flew across the strings. Incredible chords rang smoothly through the cave as they flowed from his mind and into the instrument. He was working so intently, all he cared about was the sound his guitar made and the roar of the crowd. Man, that crowd. Nothing made his heart race more than hearing them call his name. He felt so wanted, so loved…

Speaking of loved; he wondered how his little bunny, who was no doubt becoming one of his many fans at the moment, was taking in this amazing performance.

He made sure he knew what chords he was playing next, and then he glanced up for a split second.

Gone!?

She was gone!

Where did she go?

Marshall panicked. His fingers froze as he looked on and saw the tops of her bunny ears exiting the cave.

Some of the audience members protested. They called his name and asked what was up.

But he didn’t hear them. As if by an unseen force he dropped his guitar with a CLANG! It fell onto the stage and he sped out the door. Luckily the rest of the band continued to play behind him. Although a few boos rose up from the crowd, he didn’t cause too much of an uproar in the club.

He bolted as fast as he could, and right up through the cavern into the chilly night air. As he went he didn’t know if he should be worried or angry, but as soon as he saw Fionna stomping away, he settled on angry. His eyebrows furrowed and his happy smile turned into an angry frown.

“What the heck are you doing?!”

She continued to stomp.

“I’m leaving.”

“Wha—We were having a great time!”

“That wasn’t a great time!” She whirled on him. “That was you showing off! Showing off how popular and talented and good-looking you are!” She huffed, “Just whatever! It isn’t the Marshall Lee show!”

“Well someone got up on the wrong side of the tree house today! I did all those things for you! I was trying to be nice. I was showing you how to have a good time!”

“That’s what you call a good time? Wow, you are so childish!”

“I’m childish? Well maybe if you weren’t so freaking boring, you would have a good time! But you got your grammy panties wound so tight, all you can be is a cranky old hag!” He spat.

“Oh yeah?” Tears tried to jerk at her eyes, but there were no tears left. “Well at least I don’t have the intelligence of a ten-year-old boy! I have more important things to do than go clubbing!”

“Yeah?! Like going around and serving other people, and doing whatever they need like a flipping servant!?” He fumed, throwing his hands in the air. “You know, I don’t know why I thought this would even work out!”

“Thank you!” Fionna said in relief. “Neither did I! Can I go home now!?”

“Sure, do whatever the heck you want!” He waved her away.

“Whoop de do!” Fionna turned, and began to walk to the sidewalk. “See ya, sucker!”

Marshall turned away. “And good riddance…”

-

Fionna was only relieved to leave that forsaken cave for a split second.

For a heartbeat after she had dismissed Marshall Lee on the sidewalk she could finally breathe easy. But guess who was walking along the walls of the Candy Castle?

Prince Gumball.

Her heart pounded painfully in her chest, and blood pumped in her ears just at the sight of him. The banter with Marshall had already made her angry, although she had to take into account that he hadn’t known what happened to her earlier in the day.

But, either way, the sight of PG filled her with hard, pure rage.

From that point on her vision turned red and she had no control over what she was doing.

“Marshall!” She yelled. “Marshall, come back here!”

He turned around with an angry look still firm on his features. “What!?”


“Get your butt over here!” Fionna hissed. She took a few steps and grabbed onto his shirt, then pulled him back toward the sidewalk that Gumball was fast approaching.

“I need you to kiss me!”

“What?! Why?!” His face contorted in disgust.

“Please! Just kiss me!” She glanced back towards Gumball, who luckily hadn’t seen her yet. Thanks to the candy guards beside him, he was engrossed in a conversation.

“No. No way! I’m not kissing you! Just go back to the old folk’s home, you temperamental freak!” He tried to get away, pushing her away and floating further towards the club.

“Come here! Please! Right now! Kiss me!” She floundered, grabbing his tie and pulling him closer.

His eyes widened at Fionna, beginning to think that she was serious. “No! Stop! I’m not kissing you! You were just mad— you’re messed up— you’re bipolar!—”

She tilted her head up and smothered his cries with her lips, tugging him to her solely by his ruby-red tie.

He almost gasped at the urgency in her lips, instantly moving against his in worried speed. For a heartbeat he wondered what was making her panic; he could feel her heartbeat against him and she breathed in small, hurried breaths. But her lips were so warm and wonderful; he melted, coming to land on the ground. He landed softly, tilting his head down towards Fionna, not caring an iota about whatever force caused her to do this, or the fact that he was actually on the ground for once.

Both of their eyes were shut, and Marshall forgot about the rest of the world. He moaned outwardly, getting lost in the kiss in a way that he was sure he told himself not to. But he forgot about that, and about everything. He heard, smelled, and saw nothing. He only felt Fionna’s sweet-tasting lips on his. They tasted something like ice cream… Maybe strawberry ice cream? Strawberry was his favorite.

Something or someone beside them cleared their throat, coughing to try and get the attention of Marshall and the insane girl below him. But, since Fionna didn’t seem to care, neither did he.

Marshall let out another groan of desire when Fionna did the same in her girly octave, and kissed his lips harder. Then, as if like opposite magnets repelling each other, she parted her lips, taking a deep breath, and turned away from Marshall. She left him frozen, staring at her with a face so lacking in emotion that didn’t seem fitting on his face. He just seemed stopped in time, like someone had hit the pause button and he couldn’t move.

Fionna, on the other hand, didn’t skip a beat. She panted, flipped her hair in audacity and nonchalance, and then turned to something that was located at the right of Marshall. But he couldn’t see what it was, for his eyes were still locked on Fionna’s flush face.

She began to talk, but he didn’t really comprehend. Nothing that he heard in his ears made any sense. All he could see was this impossibly confusing girl beside him, and all he could hear was white noise. That is, until he heard a particular name.

“So, Gumball! How are you?!”

-

Fionna seemed to forget the goal of her actions. Her train of thought went something like this:

You know, this kiss isn’t half bad… Definitely not as bad as I figured.

Then: Wow, why did I not do this earlier?

Finally, when the vampire opposite her let out an involuntary groan, everything snapped back into place: Holy Fudge! Fionna panicked. I was only supposed to do this for stupid Gumball! Oh glob! Where is he?

She opened her eye a crack and saw a big mess of black hair above her, and out of her peripheral vision, she saw none other than Mister Heartbreak himself.

Seeing him again filled her with more angry fervor. Better lay it on thick while I have him here…

She shut her eyes tight again and leaned up into Marshall’s lips, becoming even more mockingly enthusiastic about the kiss. She moaned and heard him do the same. Good, Fionna thought deviously, he’s catching on to the plan too.

But as much as it was against her better judgment, it was time to face her fears like an adventuress. She hoped Marshall was ready for some more acting.

She all but had to shove Marshall away from her, separating their lips like attracting magnets. She turned abruptly, flipping her hair in an effort to be impressive. She just hoped it hadn’t hit Marshall in the face.

She panted for a moment, regaining her breath before speaking.

“Whew! Sorry about that!” She gasped, hoping to the god above that Gumball was buying into her act.

“Um.” Gumball stammered. His face was bright red.

Fionna just went on as if nothing unusual had happened. She put on an incredibly fake smile and said “So, Gumball! How are you?!”

“Oh… w-well…. I was walking with the guards,” He gestured to the two tall candy guards next to him, “d-d-doing the nightly rounds. You know, ch-checking the perimit-t-ter…”

“Yeah, that’s nice,” Fionna sneered at him as sarcastically as she could. “By the way, I should introduce my new boyfriend! This is Marshall!” Fionna beamed.

But nothing happened.

She glanced at the Vampire next to her just to see that he was frozen in his spot, his eyes locked onto her. His unwavering gaze was concerning. She nudged him, clearing her throat loudly “My new boyfriend!”

Then Boom! He came back to life! Snapping out of his immobile state, he moved to shake Gumball’s hand. “Marshall Lee, musician extraordinaire! Pleased to meet you!”

Gumball’s face was one of much strain. “And it’s also nice to meet you.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?”

“Oh, why no!” Marshall said, as innocently as he could. “I’m sure I would remember someone with such a girly complexion!”

Gumball’s face contorted even more at the insult of his pink skin. “Well, I’m glad to see that Fionna is very happy.”

“Oh yes, we are very happy!” Marshall grabbed Fionna and smashed her close to him. “The happiest!”

They both grinned the fakest grins, just hoping that Gumball was stupid enough to get it. But with a person like Gumball, Fionna had no way of being sure.

“Well, as much as I enjoyed this meeting, the Candy Kingdom isn’t going to defend itself!” Gumball said trying to look cheery, but instead he looked like he wanted throw up. “I’ll best be off!”

He turned awkwardly and went past them, continuing his nightly rounds. “Goodbye Gumball!” Fionna waved with the same smile plastered across her face.

Marshall called to him as he walked away, “Yep! That was a great chat, Gummy Buns!”

To Fionna’s surprise, Gumball just continued to walk away stiffly. They stood in silence for a few moments while they watched Prince Gumball stride farther into the night. Eventually they were snapped out of their own thoughts and Fionna turned to Marshall.

“Do you give everyone you meet really annoying nicknames?”

Marshall just stared at her.

“What?”

“After all that just happened, you’re asking me about nicknames?!”

Fionna looked away. “Sorry.”

Marshall’s expression turned to one of kindness.

“Come on, I know a quieter place we can go to. You have a lot of explaining to do.” Marshall gestured.

He held his hand out tentatively.

Fionna looked at it.

Marshall nodded to her encouragingly.

An involuntary grin spread on Fionna’s face. She took his hand and they walked off down the path. The moon above them shone brighter than ever.