A/N
So I started writing this in a boot shop in Nashville, it's longer than I thought it would be, and probably going to stay a oneshot. I might not post anything for a while. What with school starting and some unfortunate personal things happening. I apologize if this is not my best.
Also part of this was very very hard for me to write because I had gone through the same thing.
And as I find disclaimers pointless for fanfiction I'm just gonna say that the only song I own is the crappy lullaby. I'm a wordsmith not a tunesmith.
Also this song started out based off a song called The Lonely by Christina Perri
On with the main event
Marshall Lee the Vampire King was in mourning, tears silently streaming down his face as he wept for lost love. She has been dead for a few centuries now. And everyone she knew was gone. Except for a select few.
His hands are pulling and tearing at the roots of his raven black hair, not even bothering to wipe away the tears away.
As another sob tore through his chest Marshall Lee moved his hands from their place in his hair to cover his face, if anyone were to approach him at the moment no doubt that they would soon find themselves in a tight fix, what with the King of vampires with his fangs at their throat and a clawed hand ready to disembowel them. But at the moment he was a train wreck.
Marshall Lee the Vampire King ever-living in his power, had fallen in love with the last human. (It was most definitely a better love story than Twilight )
And when she died at age 83, she had forgotten about Marshall, and the love that they had shared. She grew forgetful in her old age, but the Vampire King never wavered in the love he felt for his bunny. He would still smile at her with tears in his crimson eyes as he reminded her who he was again.
And now even after centuries he couldn't let her go. Now matter how many years passed Marshall could remember every detail of her face, he remembered the day she died, the first time she said she loved him, the scent that clung to her of white roses and moonlight, he loved every flaw and imperfection she had.
Fionna had been buried in the best cemetery in all of Aaa, when it was new that's what it was at least. But over the centuries graves had been looted, vandalized, destroyed. All except for one.
Because if you dared go near it you were sure to be attacked by the King of Vampires. Children sometimes dare one another to try and touch the headstone, most of them run away before they even come close for fear of being bled dry by an ancient creature. Of course most think that the vampire is only some punk kid who hangs around the old cemetery at night, the one who lives in that creepy old mansion on West Street.
Ah yes you're probably wondering what happened to the land of Aaa over the centuries.
Well Prince Gumball eventually became a King, he fell in love with the princess of the Cloud Kingdom. They married on a midsummer night, the sky was clear as the sea. Of course that was only a decade after Fionna died, but even then Gumball still only looked about 20. Marshall of course only looked 18, and though his feelings about Prince Gumball weren't always nice, Marshall went to his wedding because he knew that Fi would want him to. Marshall hardly enjoyed himself, too deeply was he buried in his grief. There was some fear at the appearance of the Vampire King, but as the other guests saw just how deeply depressed he was they only felt pity for the Vampire. He sat through the wedding as the happy couple said their 'I do's and soon after that he left. And in leaving the wedding he went for the small cemetery that had become his most popular haunt. He quickly floated to the spot that had become his. The spot where his love lay in the ground six feet under the earth.
"Fionna?" Marshall asked the cold night air around him. "Fi, Gumbutt finally got hitched." His voice was quiet, he hadn't used it much lately. He twisted in the air above Fionna's grave, now he was lounging in the air above the plot of earth where Fionna lay in eternal sleep. "I only went 'cause I knew you'd wanna go. It was pretty lame to be honest Fi. The colors were pink and white. And Gummy had a fluorescent pink tux on." He gave a hollow chuckle at that, he loosened the tie around his neck so that it simply hung over his shoulders. "Fi it's pretty lonely without you. I know you'd want me to be happy, that you'd hate to see me like this but by glob Fionna how can I be happy without you?" He asked the cool night air of the cemetery. Only silence answered him.
"When you died you took me too Fi, but the thing is I'm still here. Even though I'm still here, my heart is with you. And it's hard Fi. I miss you, thinking of you hurts, but pretending you never existed hurts even more. I miss my Bunny. " the lone vampire sighed and then suddenly a harsh bark of laughter escaped him. "Ya know what Fi? You were kinda like a bunny, see for the average rabbit their lives are what 5 years? And for a human that's hardly anything. And 83 years is nothing for me. It's the blink of an eye for an immortal." Tears began to stream down his cheeks as humorless and slightly maniacal laughter is forced from his throat. As the relatively creepy laughing dies down the night's stillness and peace settles on the cemetery.
Now you're probably wondering what else has happened. Now that Gumball is out of the way, and even after the centuries he is still very much alive, of course he is about 1,127 years of age.
Well the Hyooman tribe and Samson Strong went above their underground home around the time Fionna was 67 ,and just beginning to forget little things like what she was doing just now or where she put things.
They had learned and created and, well evolved technically. I mean they became a right proper civilization with government and jobs and businesses. They moved into the Grasslands and built themselves a kingdom. It's quite prosperous. The tradition of wearing hats over ones fins and gills is normally followed by the elder and younger members of this society. Samson became their first King and it appears that the Hyoomans have similar life spans to humans, Samson's descendants still hold the throne.
And that is what happened, to the Hyoomans.
It was decided that rather than be buried in the Hyooman kingdom. Because they were the most like her, because they were the closest to true humans that were left. In truth it was Marshall Lee's idea. Prince Gumball had agreed, not for his sake but for Marshall's. For you see the Hyooman Kingdom was much closer to Marshall Lee's cave than the Candy Kingdom. It would be easier for the poor vampire to travel to and from his love's resting place.
Now with the explanation over, let's get on with it shall we?
The night was warm as Marshall Lee walked back to his mansion on West Street.
He moved there about two centuries after Fionna died, it was three stories with high gabled spires and roofs, the architecture resembled old gothic architecture from before the War. It was more like a castle than a house, he kept it mostly in good shape. Occasionally he let it fall into slight disrepair, but he kept it in decent shape and never let it get too bad.
He did occasionally miss his house in the cave, but it held too many memories of Fionna.
The Vampire King unlocked the door and walked into the large, mostly empty house. Marshall walked through the rooms until he reached the room where he spent a good chunk of time.
In this room there was a large glass display case that held his most prized possession, Fionna's hat. It rested in the tall case on a stand above a sword that he had forged for her for her 25th birthday.
The hat had been taken very good care of over the centuries. It was still as white as fresh snow, and surprisingly enough it still smelled like the blonde adventurer who once wore it. To Marshall Lee with his heightened senses it smelt of moonlight and white roses and summer nights when everything is cool and peaceful and it seems like nothing could ever go wrong.
Gazing forlornly at the hat in it's glass case Marshall sighed and began humming a song he had written for Fionna a very very long time ago, on a night where she couldn't sleep at all and when she did nightmares came to her in droves.
Slowly he began to get louder until he was actually singing the quiet lullaby.
"Hush now, my good little girl
Don't cry my dear
Because I'm here, I'm your bad little boy
And I'll chase all your fears away
I know the world is dark and scary
I know the gloom will make it cold
But my love I'm darker than dark
Babe you know I'm
Worse than all your fears my dear
And know my dear that you will be
Forever in my cold dead heart
Oh Fionna dear don't cry dear you see
Oh oh oh I can still remember that I loved you from the start"
And he swore as he began dancing in the empty room he could feel the warmth of his love's form press against him as though she was dancing with him from beyond the grave. He began to hum the lullaby again as phantom arms snaked around his waist as though to pull him closer. He and the phantom Fionna began waltzing in the air around the room.
Thoughts unbidden flew to his mind, what if Fionna had become a ghost? Or what if he had had the balls to turn her into a vampire? What if she was still here?
As dozens of thoughts like those entered his head he danced across the room sorrow filling his breast once more. Loneliness engulfed him again as slowly the hummed lullaby ended and the warmth that held him faded. He abruptly fell to the wooden floor, staggering as his feet hit the wooden boards.
"Fi, I guess I'm all alone now. I mean you're gone, Cake is too, Ice Queen is still around but Simone left a long time ago, and not even Gumball can last forever he said it himself. Fi I don't want to be alone, it's hard and cold, it sucks every happy thought and feeling away and makes you feel worthless and insignificant. I was alone before I met you, I had turned cruel and I killed for fun and just because I could. Fi being alone does horrible things to people. I was alone when the bomb fell and the world shattered. I was alone when Simone lost herself to that damned tiara. I was alone when my dad died. And when you died I was all alone. Maybe not in the physical sense. Because there were people there. Gumball was there when you died. But my sunshine had left me and my skies had clouded over, the light was gone from my life and it wasn't coming back Fi." Tears began to form in the Vampire King's eyes as dark memories came unbidden. Memories he never wished to see again. Memories of lives he ended without mercy or a second thought. Of silent solitude that never seemed as though it would end. And those emotions that ended when a certain blonde entered his life. When Fionna entered his life he turned from cold and cruel, purely evil to be honest, he became softer. Instead of killing mercilessly only mostly harmless pranks. He smiled more and sneered less. Instead of being malicious and evil he was only mischievous.
In truth Fionna changed him utterly for the better. And it was good she did. Because soon before he met her he had been contemplating taking up the mantle of Ruler of the Nighto'sphere and Master of All Evil. Had he done this I'm sure we can agree that life in Aaa would have changed for the worse.
"Hey Fifi," the vampire said quietly "I remember when you left this world. It was a really sunny day, even though that was one of the darkest days in my very long life. And I know that if you were still younger, and could still walk, you would totally have hauled my lazy buns off on some adventure. But you couldn't Fi, cause you could hardly even move let alone pick up a sword and fight some dragon or tree ogre or whatever. You were still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. You were 83 years old, and you forgot so much. One time when you were around 78 you forgot Cake had died a few years before, you could still hobble around with a walker then, so you were shambling around the treehouse shouting for Cake. I had to remind you that your cat-sister had died, that wasn't a good night. But on the day you died Fi you had forgotten me again, but that's ok. I always forgave you for forgetting me. It was never your fault Fi. And that day when I came up to your bedroom so I could feed you, you just wouldn't eat. I tried everything Fi, and then over the course of the day you just started getting weaker and weaker, until you fell asleep and I heard your heartbeat just started beating slower and irregularly, and then you stopped just breathing Fi. I freaked out, it scared me. To see you so still, to feel the warmth fade from you. It was terrifying. I called Gumball and I was in hysterics I guess. And Gumball rushed over on the Morrow by then I guess Rigor Mortis kicked in and you were all stiff and so cold. So so cold. I was holding on to you and I didn't want to let you go. Gumball came into the treehouse to find me kneeling on your bed with your withered body being clutched to my chest. My world fell to pieces when you left it Fi. And I still haven't been able to pick them up, even after all these centuries that have gone by. I love you, bunny blue I love you more than the sun and all the stars. " and with that he rose into the air and hovered above the floor and moved within the maze of rooms to the center, where his bedroom was. He sighed as he opened his bedroom door and gazed upon his 'lair'. There was his axe bass that has long gone unplayed, though it's always perfectly tuned. There was a mountain of clothes that probably needed to be washed. There's that pile of grey fruit that's starting to smell. It wasn't clean at all was it.
With another sigh he floated to his bed and lay down to attempt sleep. Sleep found him quickly as the sun rose above the Hyooman kingdom and the day's loud bustling leaving the night's peace behind.
In his dreams he found her there, waiting for him every day. Sometimes she was waiting in the treehouse for him, laughing as he floated in with his ridiculously large hat and gloves. Sometimes she's in the strawberry patch and he sneaks up behind her like he used to. Sometimes she's on his lap as he strums his bass serenading her quietly. Sometimes he floats lazily above her as she laughs about something he'd said. But that's only in his dreams. In the waking world she's been gone for a very very long time.
But today there was no sweetness or feeling of good memories. Today in his nightmare the night sky was a dark roof as she lay broken at the foot of a cliff, a spike of stone impaling her through the midsection. At the top of the cliff he floated above her, plummeting from the sky he flew at the broken body of his love. Stopping abruptly a near foot from the rocky ground his eyes widened as he saw just how broken the fall had made her. Her legs bent at an unnatural angle that broke his cold, unbeating heart. The left leg was broken at the femur and he could bone stabbing through her thigh, blood oozing from the torn flesh. Her left arm was twisted oddly behind her back while her right arm weakly scrabbled for her sword that had fallen just beyond her reach. The thing that hurt him to see the most, was the large spear of rock jutting out of her gut, blood welled slightly around the edges of the wound it had created. Her blood smeared down the length of the stone and bits of flesh had clung to the jagged rock. He dropped the 12 inch distance to the rocky ground and fell to his knees before his girlfriend.
He tried to clear his throat but failed, "Fi?" His voice cracked and her eyelids fluttered till they opened to reveal her baby blue irises. Fionna's eyes were unfocused and slightly dull, as though the fire that normally dwelt there had been extinguished.
"Marsh?" Fionna asked quietly, her voice weak and rasping. "Marshy 'm tired."
Holding back tears Marshall Lee said quietly, "I betcha are Fi but ya can't got to sleep ok. Don't go to sleep on me ok. "
Her brow furrowed and a dazed look came across her features. "But it hurts 'nd 'm tired Marsh"
The Vampire King choked on a sob and reached down to brush away the golden hair that had fallen in her face. "I know Fifi I bet it does, d'you want me to sing to you?"
The blonde adventurer nodded weakly and Marshall Lee cleared his suddenly dry throat.
"You are my sunshine
My only sunshine," his voice cracked loudly and he cleared his throat again.
"You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know dear,
How much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away. " once more the vampire cleared his throat, he would finish this song if it was the last thing he did.
"The other night dear as I lay sleeping,
I dreamt I held you in my arms,
When I awoke dear I was mistaken,
So I hung my head and I cried,
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know dear,
How much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away,
I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same,
But if you leave me to love another,
You'll regret it all one day,
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know dear,
How much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away,
Please don't take my sunshine away. " his voice cracked again as he sang the last line, tears spilling from his eyes Marshall Lee looked at Fionna's face.
Her eyes were half lidded and fluttered slowly, a small contented smile was on her lips. "G'night Marshy" she said softly as her eyes closed and the breath left her lungs in a quiet whoosh. Marshall's undead heart broke again as he heard her heart which had been beating far too fast slowly stopped beating.
With that he broke down sobbing, "Fi? Fi come on stop joking. Fionna you aren't dead. You can't be dead. Fionna come back, please come back. I love you, you silly rabbit, I love you too much for you to leave. Please come back." He cradled her head in his lap as the scent that normally danced around her changed into the scent of death and decay. Tears streamed down his cheeks to drop onto her face.
Marshall woke with a strangled cry with tears tracked down his face, his pillow was damp with tears. The emotions from the nightmare still flooded him and he broke down crying pulling his legs to his chest. Heavy hiccuping sobs tore through his chest as the after effects from the nightmare begin to fade.
Marshall Lee lay there in the dark of his bedroom as he recovers from the remaining emotions. With a heavy sigh he floated above his bed and rolled over in the air. He pulled his hands down his face and sighed again.
"Fi?" He asked the dark room, "Fi I don't know what to do, I miss you so much. And I feel empty, and lonely, and lost and Fi I just feel dead. I mean I am dead but I'm numb and all the painful emotions hurt more and the good ones hurt too. When I actually feel happy I get guilty cuz you're not here to be happy with me. I miss you bunny. You've been gone for all these centuries but it hurts just as much as it did if not more. You're gone and it's my fault. I could have kept you here. But that would have been selfish of me. And what if you didn't want immortality. But Fi when I think of all of the things I could have done so you would stay, and I never did any of them because I was a coward. I know it would be selfish, but Fi I love you. I love you that it hurts that you're gone. And I feel like I'm lost,alone in the dark. Fi I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." He closed his eyes trying to force away the tears forming in his eyes.
He lay on his side in the air for a while until he slowly fall asleep.
This time the dream was more benevolent. Fionna was whole and uninjured, she was laying next to Marshall with her eyes closed and a contented smile on her face, her arms were wrapped around his waist as she snuggled herself into his chest.
Marshall Lee grinned at her as the woman he loves lay beside him. Suddenly she began to wiggle, it started with her nose which began to move back and forth like a rabbit's, and then her toes, and her fingers that rested on his hips, and finally her whole body as she opened her eyes and grinned broadly as she woke up to her boyfriends pasty face.
"Hey" she said shyly as a light blush dusted her cheeks.
"Mornin' Fifi" Marshall replied as he kissed the tip of her nose, this made her blush darken which had been the plan all along.
"Hey Marshy?" Fionna asked before yawning widely.
"Yeah bun?" Marshall answered chuckling at the blush that still reddened her face.
"What kind of music was there, ya know before the war?" She asked before looking away, slightly embarrassed.
"Hmmm well there was all sorts, there's country, which I've never been a fan of, and rap, uhh classical, which is like a bunch of different instruments playing together and normally they were songs made by old dead guys. Uh there was also rock and roll, which is the best, and there were all kinds of genres that stemmed off from rock like metal, and power metal and death metal. There was dubstep which was ok, and a whole lot of others. Why'd ya ask Fifi?"
"Well I was wondering about things before the war, and then I thought that you'd know the most about music." Her blush returned with a vengeance as she suddenly found the wall incredibly fascinating.
The Vampire King chuckled and kissed the top of her head "I love you Fi" Then with his forked tongue he licked a long stripe up her cheek.
Her blushed darkened visibly as she wiped her face on his shirt in revenge, then into his chest she replied. "Love you too Mar Mar"
As he woke up Marshall Lee the Vampire King sighed and smiled, he might miss his bunny. But she's still here.
And with that he picked up his bass and started picking through a song he came up with centuries ago, at a party in the woods.
"Good little girl,
Always picking a fight with me
You know that I'm bad
But you're the night with me
What do you want from my world?
You're a good little girl."