All This and Heaven Too

The years have been kind to her. All of them. There was not a moment she had felt as though time had harmed her, and she was quite right. Being a vampire has its perks, after all.

Marceline floated in the living room of her small house, just above the couch in her favorite spot. She held her favorite bass, her father's ax she had torn from his hands all those years ago and turned to an instrument. Hammering out a sick bass line, the queen felt the emotions in her heart fly wild and free down her fingertips to the strings.

Words came next, flowing like a river out of her mouth. She knew not what she said, but Marceline was not going to question the hallowed jam session. Brainstorming and letting ideas out was the basis for her music, the words and feelings finding themselves. She couldn't interfere with them. But others always seemed to influence them, no matter what she would admit.

And another was coming up the steps, as her ears could tell her. Marceline sighed, and waited for a knock that never came. Instead, the door just opened, and in walked an old friend. Or at least, an older friend. He seemed to only have changed physically over the years, the indefatigable spirit never resting. With not a single word, the hero walked to the refrigerator and grabbed himself a glass of bug juice.

"Of course Finn, take whatever you want! I appreciate you asking before stealing all my food." Marceline was feeling sarcastic today, and she flaunted it. Finn popped his head into the cupboards and started searching for some snacks. He still wasn't giving her a response, so she sighed and gave up.

"Those crackers you like are on the left shelf. Right where you left them." After Finn had found her tastes a bit…red…he had made a habit of leaving food that may or may not spoil. It was almost cute, as he never would ask her to stock up on his account, but still didn't think it was weird to leave food in her kitchen.

After grabbing the aforementioned crackers and juice, he made his way to the couch and plopped himself down. Only then did the hero acknowledge the floating being next to him.

"Hey Marcie. What's shakin?" He had matured, but only slightly. Finally mastering the art of pushing someone else's buttons, Finn had found Marceline the Vampire Queen got quite annoyed with cutesy little nicknames. Marcie wasn't the worst, but it was close. The boy smirked up at his friend, munching on his surely stale crackers. Choosing to ignore the little jab, Marceline answered the question.

"I'm writing some stuff, you know. Just letting it all come to me as I play it." As she spoke, she recognized something on his face. He wasn't listening. Almost enraged, the vampire queen was about to vent about why someone would ask a question and then not listen. But her keen intuition led her to another solution. It wasn't her. It was something else…something elusive.

Marceline only has a strong sense of intuition due to having lived a thousand years. And even then, her sense couldn't penetrate all veils. Something bothered the young man, and now it was the woman's goal to crack him open and see how he ticks.

"Hey Finn? Something on your mind?" The boy didn't look at her for a long time. He just seemed to stare into nothingness, his face empty. Then, he angled his head up to look at her with sad eyes. At that moment, Marceline didn't want to know. He had been hurt, and she was barging in on that pain. And yet, in a moment of clarity she realized he must have come here to talk. Why else would he come over with his mind so occupied?

"She shot me down." The words hung like a fog in the air. Turning away from her, regardless the vampire had seen her friend's eyes had been full of pain and a loss for words. It was worse than Marceline had imagined. She could only mean one girl. The one that Finn had chased after for so long yet had never plucked up the courage to confront.

Marceline floated downwards, finally sitting next to Finn. He had grown up, so there was less room for her nowadays, but she made due flinging her legs over his lap. Not knowing what to do, the dark lady put her hand on his shoulder, and he looked again at her with sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. How can I help?" Marceline was a complicated person in the best of times. But now, in this moment, she knew what she had to do. She was Finn's friend, and even if she played pranks and generally joked around about everything, this wasn't a joke. He was hurt, worse than any beast could ever accomplish.

Their eyes were locked for a long time. Neither said a word, but there was an understanding there. When Finn was ready, he spoke again.

"Could you play me a song? Anything. I just need to lose myself for a little while." She could relate. Marceline had drowned her sorrows and regrets in songs for ten lifetimes, and heartbreak was nothing new to the woman.

She began to strum, the beat quick and deep. Not knowing the words, she began to sing to him. It wasn't around him; it was to him for once. She felt feelings come up from deep down in her chest, and they spilled out into the song. Marceline sang.

And the heart is hard to translate,
It has a language of its own,
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs and prayers and proclamations,
In the grand days of great men and the smallest of gestures,
In short shallow gasps.

For once, Marceline couldn't trace the feelings. She didn't know this feeling, it had been so long. The song was for him, but it also reflected herself. She kept singing.

But with all my education,
I can't seem to commend it,
And the words are all escaping me,
And coming back all damaged,
And I would put them back in poetry,
If I only knew how,
I can't seem to understand it,

The words bubbled up from her heart, long stilled. Finn looked at her in wonder as the song spilled forth from this mysterious woman. He didn't make a sound, or move, or even seem to breathe. The boy was so close, and only now did Marceline even notice how comfortable they were together. Something stirred in her mind, a feeling not felt since…

And I would give all this and heaven too,
I would give it all if only for a moment,
That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see,
'Cause I've been scrawling it forever,
But it never makes sense to me at all.

For a moment, she paused. Finn smiled. Pain showed through in his eyes, but the pain was dulled. Something else was there too. Marceline could feel his eyes boring into her. A feeling too familiar rose in her, and she knew it was wrong immediately.

Finn was her friend. He had been for years. It was wrong to think of him any other way. She wanted to shove the feelings down, to let herself believe she only felt them because he was reaching for help in his pain. But how can one separate truth from fiction? Was this real? Would she just be a rebound for him? Would he be her plaything for a short lifetime before moving on?

All these thoughts fought for attention in the vampire's mind. Marceline paid the thoughts no heed. A creature of chaos, she knew there was only the here and now. One can't always look to the future, or be held back by the past. Instantly she made a decision.

Adjusting her seating, Marceline pulled her legs off of him and then crawled into his lap. He looked at her in surprise, and perhaps a little excitement. In a moment the woman realized even if he had aged, he hadn't…experienced much more than kiss on the cheek. Finn had never really kissed or held a woman, always chasing a sad dream. A flash of guilt touched her mind before excitement gripped her. She was going to ruin other women for him, she realized.

Marceline leaned into the boy—no, the man—before her. She kissed him slowly, making sure not to take things too quickly. This was his first foray into the wonderful world of courtship. It didn't take the boy long to learn how to kiss, and the girl decided to introduce him to an entirely different world.

With a flourish she pulled away from Finn, and he looked at her with a look of exasperation. He wanted more, the first taste too little. Smirking at him, she dropped her mouth down to his neck. Pulling his hat aside, she quickly planted a passionate kiss along one of his veins. Hearing a gasp of equal parts surprise and lust, Marceline continued.

After a minute of this, Finn made his first official move. He moved his lips to her neck, dancing across her scars. Marceline arched her back in surprise, a breathe escaping her. His hands were at her back by now, and he pulled her back in to continue.

But it was not to last forever. Eventually, after much saliva was shared, Marceline pealed herself off of Finn and sat herself down next to him again. He looked pleadingly at her, but the pale woman gave him a wry smile and shook her head.

"Boy, give it some time. You don't want to waste all the fun in one go." A laugh played across her lips, and she looked at him with new eyes. He wasn't a cute little boy anymore. He was more. Finn was…something. A man, to be sure. A man who enjoyed pleasures more than his pure soul would willingly admit.

But where could such a relationship go? Where was this going?

Marceline wasn't about to challenge the first real love she had felt in so long. She didn't care what happened next. So long as it happened with him.