AN 1: Wow, I wasn't expecting people to like this as much as you guys have! It was a pleasant surprise :) Thank you all for the kind reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy this story. I apologize for the wait on this one, I got working on Who We Are, on top of trying to get my graduate school applications in and then I signed up for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest with my original work (wish me luck! :D) so I've been a bit busy. Thank you for your patience and without further ado, but one last word of thanks to all reviewers, alerters and favoriters, please enjoy chapter two of Into the Blue.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot for this. Everything else belongs to Pendleton Ward and the very smart people at Cartoon Network that picked up the show.


Fionna didn't come to with a jolt, a jump or even a twitch; she had learned far too much self-control for silly things like that. When she woke up there was a moment of groggy, sleep-hazed confusion, but soon enough that sixth sense she had kicked in and she felt more than heard someone come into the room. It was that same, innate sixth sense that she relied on it to tell her where someone was, if someone was with her even, and perhaps especially, if she couldn't see them and where to move when in battle. It didn't always work, but she trusted it completely and now it was tingling with a warning of someone else coming quietly closer. Faking sleep, she took a deep breath and felt the other person still for a moment even as she slid into a more comfortable position. She almost smiled when she sensed the other person relax and keep coming towards her but managed to keep her satisfaction in. It wasn't until she actually heard the other person step up to her bedside that she made her move. Lashing out faster than the eye could move, she latched onto someone's wrist and yanked even as she threw herself over to get out of the way. Once the other person had hit the bed face down with a particularly loud thump and a startled yelp, Fionna got the her knees, pressing one into the small of the stranger's back while she used the other to pin the arm she hadn't grabbed to the bed. Only after she had the other person completely pinned did she take a minute to actually see who it was. She frowned when she saw the white beanie and tufts of golden yellow hair peeking out, briefly considered moving and then promptly decided against it. Not even Cake got away with sneaking up on her and she wasn't going to let this kid off just because he claimed to be her brother.

"You've got some fast reflexes, sis," Finn chuckled, completely unconcerned with his somewhat painful position. "Who taught you this lockdown?"

"I did," Fionna answered after a brief pause. "Most effective way I've found to pin someone."

"Not bad," Finn laughed again. "But you can let me up now you know; I promise I'm not a threat."

"I don't know that," Fionna replied, surprised to feel a grin stretching across her lips. "You did come sneaking in here after all."

"That's cause he's masochistic," a female voice replied.

Fionna turned her head in time to see the female vampire come floating into her room, a smirk on her face as she eyed the blond haired boy currently pinned to the bed. "I warned you, you know."

"I know Marcy," Finn answered, a large smile on his face. "And as always, I probably should have listened."

"There's no probably about it," the vampire snorted. "So, Fionna, we didn't get a chance to be introduced last night. I'm Marceline, the Vampire Queen, and sister to the idiot you had the pleasure of verbally sparing with last night. Between you and me," she added as she floated just a little bit closer to Fionna, "I wouldn't mind seeing you take him down in a real fight either. If you can pin Finn that quickly, I don't think you'll have much of a problem with Marshall Lee."

"Hey!" Finn protested good naturedly. "I let Fi pin me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night hun," Marceline chuckled back.

"So why are you here?" Fionna asked as she finally let her brother up. "And why are you calling me Fi?" she added with a look at Finn.

"Cause when you were born I couldn't say your name so I called you Fi instead," Finn answered with an easy shrug. "Well, technically I called you Fi Fi, but I didn't think you'd appreciate that as much," he grinned.

"Not really," Fionna answered as she wrinkled her nose before narrowing her eyes at the other boy. "So you're older than me then?"

"Yep, by two and a half years," Finn returned, grinning wide as he popped the "p" at the end of the first word. "I'm your big brother; which means I'm stuck looking after you."

"I see," Fionna responded. "So what happened that I ended up getting raised by a completely different family?"

"Um," Finn paused, the grin faltering and slipping from his face. He looked down at his hands as they clenched tightly into fists and had to force them back open after a moment. "That might be a story for another time sis. Right now, I think we have a lot of catching up to do."

Fionna raised an eyebrow and looked him in the eyes for a moment before shrugging it off. She was used to playing her hand close to the chest by this point and besides, she could always force it out of him later. "So, back to my other question, what possessed the two of you to come wake me up?"

"Actually, I decided to come wake you up," Marceline replied, a large smirk on her face. "But I know what Finn is like when he's startled awake so I thought I'd feed him to your wrath instead," she added with a conspiratorial wink.

"Gee, thanks Marcy," Finn grumbled good naturedly. "I'm really feeling the love there."

"What can I say," the female vampire responded with a shrug and a grin. "I'm twisted and show affection in weird ways, but you love me for it."

"At the moment I'm having trouble remembering why," Finn teased back.

"Look, if you two want 'alone couple time', go for it, but I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to watch," Fionna interrupted quickly.

"Sorry sis," Finn grinned sheepishly. "So, what are you up for today? We'll be landing in the City of Thieves in about two hours so we can always go wondering around there, do some catching up, that sort of thing."

Fionna took a minute to look down at the shredded remains of her uniform before glancing back up at her brother. "I don't think I should really go out in public like this, even if it is into the City of Thieves."

"And that's why I'm here," Marceline replied, floating over to Fionna with a grin on her face. "I've got some spare clothes that might fit you, come on." Without waiting for a reply, the vampire girl touched down to the ground, hooked her arm through Fionna's and practically dragged the girl out of the little room. She led her down a short hallway with closed doors on either side to the last one on the left. Pushing the heavy metal door open, she all but yanked the blonde in before letting the door bang shut behind them. She snapped her fingers twice and light crystals hanging from the ceiling burst into a soft, yellow-white light.

"Closet's over there," the vampire pointed as she went back to floating lazily in the air. "Take your pick."

Fionna hesitated for a minute and Marceline laughed. "I'm not going to eat you. My brother and I don't drink blood, we eat shades of red. Unless you don't like being on a pirate ship," she added with a sly grin. "You did seem rather pissed with Marshall Lee last night."

"Doesn't bother me really," Fionna answered with a shrug. "I don't really care for people that exploit others, but I suppose being kidnapped by pirates is just another type of adventure."

"You sound a lot like your brother," Marceline smiled softly for a moment. "But then I have to ask, why put up the fight?"

"Cause up until I got kidnapped I was an employee of that ship. I may have really, really hated that job, but I still had an obligation to do what I could." She paused for a moment, her head tilted to the side. "Your brother's kind of an ass though, no offence."

Marceline burst out laughing. "None taken," she managed to reply between laughing fits. "That pretty much sums him up right there." She flashed the blonde girl a quick, secretive smirk. "Though we may not be as bad as you think you know. Now, seriously, get your butt over to that closet and pick something out; those clothes sucked before you ripped them up."

Fionna only smiled slightly and moved over to the slated wooden doors and pushed them open. She dug through a pile of clothes in assorted grays, reds and blacks and frowned slightly to herself. It's not that she had anything against the darker colors, but they weren't exactly her. She was about to just give in and snag a pair of jeans and a dark grey t-shirt when she felt something soft and light thump against her back.

"Just remembered I had those," Marceline commented as Fionna turned around to see a blue tank top and a hoodie on the floor just behind her. "They're not really my style, and they're kinda small anyway. They'll probably fit you just fine though. Try them on while I try to find you some pants or something."

Fionna stepped back out of the way and pulled her ruined uniform over her head. The tank fit snuggly, not restricting her movement in anyway and the hoodie slipped on easily right over it. The hoodie itself was a slightly darker shade of blue, except for the sleeves and the hood which were a soft white color. She had just finished zipping up the hoodie when a shorter blue skirt and a pair of black leggings flew towards her. She snatched them out of the air and shimmied into the quickly. The skirt stopped just about mid-thigh on her legs and she walked around for a minute, making sure she still had full mobility.

"Not bad, not bad," Marceline commented. "Not what I usually wear myself, but you pull it off rather well. Shoes!" she added with a snap of her fingers. The dark haired vampire turned back around, digging deeper into her closet before she finally emerged with a pair of black combat boots. "There! Those are an old pair of mine, but they're still in good shape and they hold up really well to just about everything you can think to put them through."

"Thanks," Fionna replied as she slipped the boots on and smiled at the good fit. "These will definitely help."

"So, what do you want done with those?" Marceline asked, pointing to the shredded lumps of cloth sitting by the closet.

"Burn 'em if you want," Fionna answered with a shrug. "I don't care to ever see that uniform ever again."

"Consider it done," Marceline smirked with a vicious gleam in her eyes.

A sudden banging on the metal door had both girls turning towards the sound. Fionna tensed, ready to spring, while Marceline simply rolled her eyes and floated over to yank the barrier open. Finn stood on the other side, a small pout on his face (though he would whole-heartedly deny that he was pouting if you brought it up; weapons of the sharp and pointy variety may or may not have gotten involved if you pushed it and insisted he was).

"You girls coming or not?" he demanded. "I can only hold off eating breakfast for so long you know."

"I'm surprised you even bothered," Marceline teased. "Generally you just walk right into the kitchen and inhale whatever you can get your hands on."

"Today's different," Finn insisted even as a smile replaced his frown. "But that doesn't mean I'll be able to wait too much longer before I do just that."

"Well come on then Fionna," Marceline said with a mock sigh. "If you want to get fed around here you're going to have to beat Finn to the kitchen. Or knock him out along the way," she added mischievously.

"You'd have to catch me first," Finn taunted as he took off down the hallway.

"Never challenge a vampire," Marceline shot back before zooming off after him.

Fionna stood quietly for a moment, blinking after the pair. She allowed herself a small smile and a brief shake of her head as she started off after them at a significantly slower pace. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad; you know, despite the whole pirate thing, but even that didn't seem too terrible.

Breakfast turned out to be a highly informal affair; which is exactly how Fionna preferred it. She was shown were to find what and basically left to grab whatever she wanted for breakfast. She and Finn quickly discovered they shared a love of pancakes and whipped up a batch in no time flat. Fionna had just sat down at the small table, a sizable stack of pancakes topped with some strawberries she'd managed to dig out of the fridge, when Finn and Marceline started snickering to themselves. Fionna rolled her eyes and wrote it off as some sort of couple thing and raised a bite of pancakes and strawberries to her mouth when suddenly another face was floating upside-down right in front of hers. Her blue eyes flew wide and, though she was ashamed to admit it, she jumped back a pace. She scowled and snarled slightly when she realized who it was.

"What the hell?" she demanded while Marshall Lee chuckled.

The vampire boy simply smiled wider, snagged the fork and her hand and brought the strawberry up to one of his fangs. Fionna watched as the color drained rapidly from the fruit, the glare on her face only getting more intense.

"Strawberries, good stuff," Marshall Lee grinned. "Thanks for feeding me."

Fionna snarled wordlessly as she picked the gray husk off her fork. "I wasn't," she hissed. "You hijacked my fork!"

"Meh, same thing," Marshall Lee shrugged in return.

"What are you doing up so late?" Marceline asked before Fionna could throw back an angry retort.

"Kinda hard to sleep with the three of you banging around in here sis," Marshall Lee replied as he floated over to the fridge and pulled out the entire bowl of strawberries.

"You want to come with us into the city then?" Finn asked around a mouthful of pancake. "We usually get the best prices from Grendall if you're there to bargain with her."

Marshall Lee snorted around the strawberry he was currently draining of color before sparing a dry glance the blond haired boy's way. "You're kidding, right? I'm going back to sleep like any sane vampire would," he added with a smirk sent Marceline's way.

"It has nothing to do with being sane," Marceline tossed right back. "You're just lazy."

"Hey, not all of us are hooked up to a living battery to get us through the day," Marshall Lee grinned, looking briefly over to Finn and back. "Some of us poor vamps have to muddle along still afraid of the sun."

"Yeah, yeah," Marceline dismissed with a wave of her hand. "You want us to bring anything back for you?"

"Nah," Marshall Lee replied with a shrug before he yawned loudly. "I'm headed back to bed. Keep it down out here." Without another word the vampire boy simply floated away, back down the hallway.

Fionna glared after him for a moment before shoving a bite of pancake into her mouth.

"He's pretty much always like that," Marceline told her, smiling slightly. "See why I would love to see you take him down in a fight?"

"Speaking of," Finn interrupted. "How did you know I was in your room earlier? I was being pretty quiet about it."

"I just...heard you I guess," Fionna answered after a slight pause, not sure how to explain her sixth sense, or even if she wanted to. Where she came from girls weren't fighters, weren't adventurers and most definitely didn't have any powers like that.

Finn nodded as though it made sense. "That must be your thing then," he said. "Not sure how it'd help in the heat of battle, but maybe you're more suited to stealth. It's not common in our family, but it's not completely unheard of either."

"Huh?" Fionna asked after a confused pause. "What are you talking about?"

"Our family," Finn replied as if it were obvious.

"I was abandoned as a baby," Fionna retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I grew up with a family of cat shifters."

"Really? I grew up with dog shifters!" Finn exclaimed, letting himself get completely sidetracked. "Kinda funny how we'd end up with opposites," he added with a laugh. "But anyway, I meant our human family. Have you ever noticed that almost everyone else in this world has some sort of power? We've got shifters, mages, wizards, vampires," he added with a quick smile at Marceline. "And that's just to name a few. You and me though? We've got no magic, nothing."

"I guess," Fionna answered with a shrug. "Though there was this one time, with this weird wizard that looked like a frog."

"He gave you stars, right? Yeah, I ran into him once too," Finn said. "But the fact still remains, he gave us the power; it wasn't anything we already had or were born with."

"Okay, I get it, but what does that have to do with our family?" Fionna pressed.

"We're not as vanilla as the rest of the world thinks," Finn answered with a secretive smile. "Our family comes from a long, long line of warriors and we're each born with one gift, one thing that's supposed to help us in battle. For example, I remember everything. That's how I learn new forms and new fighting styles so quickly. It's also how I remember what happened when we were little. Generally it's something that gives you an edge when you're fighting, but every once in a while someone will pop up like you that's more suited to stealth."

"Okay," Fionna replied slowly after a moment. "How does that actually work?"

"Dunno," Finn shrugged. "Family legend says that the very first warrior in our family made a deal with some old wizard. He and everyone in his family to come after him would be unmatched warriors but none of us would ever be able to wield magic. The tradeoff was each of us would be gifted with a single ability to help us in battle."

"All right, I'll buy it," Fionna said after a moment, shaking her head. "It makes as much sense as anything else I suppose." She looked away then, wondering how to explain she hadn't heard Finn, but had felt his presence. After a moment she decided no one needed to know and shrugged it off.

Suddenly, three ascending beeping noises interrupted her musings and Fionna looked around, fists clenched slightly, trying to identify the source.

"Relax," Marceline laughed. "That's just the alarm to let us know we're almost to the City."

"I'll go get this thing ready for landing and pull it into port," Finn said as he stood from the table. "Wanna take Fionna with you to get everything we're bringing to Grendall."

"Just try not to crash this time," Marceline teased. "It took forever to repaint that strip you managed to scratch up last time."

"Funny Marcy, funny," Finn shot back, mock pouting at the vampire girl for a minute before a blinding smile stole across his face. "Just brace for impact and you should be fine."

Marceline just rolled her eyes at Finn's retreating form before looping her arm with Fionna's and smiling at her. "Well, wanna help me sort through the loot? It makes you feel rich and I'll even let you slip something you like, I do it all the time," she added with a conspiratorial wink. Without waiting for a response, the vampire girl began to drag the blonde back into the hall, down a short flight of stairs and into the hold. She stopped outside a plain looking door and pressed her palm against a deep red crystal set into the wall. The crystal flashed green twice and the door swung open to reveal a small room packed with a couple of large, wooden chests.

"All right," Marceline began, dropping Fionna's arm. "So you'll take the chests in the back. Leave the coin in there, but any odds and ends you think can be fenced, pull them out and stick them in this bag," she added, pulling a satchel off the wall and handing it to the other girl. "Almost anything can be fenced, but generally gems, jewelry, anything shiny really, will sell better."

Fionna only nodded and pushed open the first lid to rummage through its contents. She grabbed a couple pieces of large, flashy rings, her nose scrunching up as her lips formed a sneer. "These aren't even practical," she grumbled to herself.

"They sell really well though," Marceline laughed back. "You can always count on the people we rob to be vain and have the most expensive things money can buy."

"Most of this is coin," Fionna returned, running her fingers through the glittering bits of gold to see if anything else would shake loose.

"Yeah, we'd already fenced a lot a few weeks ago and this last haul wasn't as big as we were expecting," Marceline shrugged. "No biggie though, we've got what we need."

Both girls suddenly scrambled on their feet, trying desperately to stay right side up, when the ship gave a hard lurch to the left.

"Finn!" Marceline hissed. "I really shouldn't have let him pilot the landing!" The vampire took off running towards the bridge, grumbling under her breath the entire way.

Fionna followed after her, albeit at a slower pace, trying to keep her balance as the ship lurched a few more times. Too busy paying attention to her feet, she didn't notice the door swinging open in front of her and just barely managed to avoid walking right into the heavy metal. As it was, she still let out a shout of surprise as she took a hasty step back.

"Blondie!" Marshall Lee exclaimed, his head popping up around the other side of the door. His hair was tousled and more disorganized than before and he blinked continuously as though trying to keep focused. "The hell is going on?"

"Finn," Fionna answered shortly, trying to navigate around the door in the narrow hallway.

"Marce let him pilot the landing?" Marshall Lee groaned. "We've got to stop letting him do that." The vampire boy yawned widely, his fangs glinting in the light. "Where's my sister anyway?"

"On the way to the bridge," Fionna replied shortly. "And I'm trying to get there myself so either get out here or go back to bed!" she snapped.

Marshall Lee fell silent for a moment, just looking at the small girl in front of him, one eyebrow raised. "Either you have no sense of self-preservation or you're just that daring," he said before a wicked smirk slipped across his lips. "Either way, I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun."

"I wouldn't count on it," Fionna shot back as she finally managed to shove the vampire boy out of the way. "You'd actually have to put up some sort of a challenge for anything to be 'fun' with you."

Without warning, Fionna felt a vice-like grip close around her wrist and found herself being slammed back first against the metal walls of the ship. "Oh, I promise it would be the biggest challenge of your life," Marshall whispered into her ear, his hand keeping her wrist pinned to the wall and the rest of his body crowding hers, leaving her little room to move. She felt his smirk grow wider against her cheek. "One that would leave you breathless and screaming."

Just as suddenly as he'd pinned her, he stepped back, the smirk growing even more pronounced. "Just remember that, Blondie," he added with a wink before he disappeared back into the darkness of his room.

Fionna glared at the plain, dull grey metal of the door, pressing a hand to her chest and willing her heartbeat to slow down. "You wish," she managed to hiss quietly after a few moments. With a final huff, she turned on her heel and stomped off to the bridge. If her face was maybe, kinda, sorta, only slightly red when she got there, at least neither Finn or Marceline felt it necessary to comment on it.

Once Marceline took over, the landing evened out and by the time they docked you wouldn't have been able to tell except the sky had stopped flying by. The three of them grabbed the satchels and disembarked as quietly as possible, though it wouldn't have mattered to Fionna if they'd kept Marshall Lee up while they left.

The City of Thieves was not what Fionna was expecting. Like everyone else, she'd grown up with stories of this place. Only the most foolish, or most desperate, ever went to that dark city. It was a den of thieves and murderers and the second you stepped through the gates into this dark, gloomy city, you shouldn't be surprised to be robbed blind. It was a dark place, where the self-serving scum of society found themselves drawn to and, if you were smart, you would never even set eyes on its city walls. At least, that's what Fionna had always heard. She was not expecting to see clean streets and sidewalks, some lined with small trees and shrubs, all growing cheery and healthy outside of respectable shops like a bakery or a healer's. Of course, she still saw many signs that proclaimed places to be shops for fencing your stolen goods ("Best prices here!"; "Special deals, just for today!") and storefronts claiming to be brokers ("Need information? Need to find a specific item? Inquire within! We'll find it in under twenty minutes or your search is free!"). Many of the people were dressed in stereotypical "thief" fashion, and Fionna saw more than one person with the silver fox tattoo on their shoulder, the mark of being a member of the only real Thieves' Guild run by the self-proclaimed King of Thieves, but she was surprised to see just as many people dressed in plain, day-to-day clothes going about their business as though they were in any other, normal city.

"Not what you were expecting, right?" Finn asked with a grin. "I thought the same thing when I first came here, but I learned the truth quick enough."

"Which is?" Fionna asked, still gawking slightly at how...normal everything looked.

"Everything you've ever heard about this place is a lie," Marceline answered. "Well, almost everything. This is the City of Thieves and the Thieves' Guild is based here, since the King of Thieves rules here," she added, gesturing to a tower in the distance, towards the city's center. "But other than that, all the bad things you've heard are just to keep people away. This is where people come when they have nowhere else to go; people that have been run from their homes for being different or for not having enough money to satisfy the lords that un their villages. These are the people that got saddled with taxes so high that they eventually couldn't pay and it was either run here or be thrown in prison to die."

"But, everyone seems fine," Fionna replied, her head tilted to the side and her eyebrows scrunched together over her nose.

"Because that's the deal," Finn answered with a nod. "The people that come here have two choices. They can join the Thieves' Guild and steal their way through life, or they can run the shops and business and everything else that needs to be taken care of day-to-day the guild members are too busy to actually do themselves. If they're willing to do that, they get to stay here for free and the King will pay out a stipend each month to cover any expenses the people need to cover. That stipend comes from the money the guild members put into the community treasury so it's all very symbiotic. The guild relies on the people to keep them fed, keep the city clean, etc. and the people rely on the guild to take care of them. It might seem odd, but it works. Of course, the tradeoff for them is that if the members are putting money into the treasury they don't have to pay for anything from the shops or healers; the exceptions to that are the fences and the brokers; everyone needs to pay them for their services."

"So you're members of the Thieves' Guild then?" Fionna asked.

"Not quite," Marceline grinned. "You could say we have an...understanding with them though."

Fionna only nodded, looking around with renewed interest. "Why doesn't everyone have a set up like this?"

"Cause people are greedy," Finn shrugged. "Very few of society's elite really care about the people that have to scrimp and save every day just to make it through to one more sunrise."

Flashes of memories from her time on the cruise ship sped before her eyes and Fionna found herself agreeing almost instantly. Had it really only been yesterday that she got kidnapped? It felt like so much longer. She was jolted out of her musings when Finn tapped her shoulder and pointed to a small shop situated between two tall buildings. The storefront was dark and wholly unremarkable; the only decoration was a large gold "G" nailed to the dark oak door.

"This is Grendall's place," Finn announced. "She usually pays us pretty well for what we bring to her."

Fionna followed the pair into a small, dark entryway with a claustrophobic hall leading further back. Marceline and Finn immediately walked off down the hallway, stopping at the door at the very end. Marceline knocked once and stepped back, waiting with a tapping foot until the dark wooden barrier swung open. She quickly swept through, Finn and Fionna right on her heels.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite band of misfits," a raspy voice chuckled out. "I see Marshall Lee isn't with you today, but you have seemed to pick up a new member."

Fionna spun around when the door slammed shut behind her and found herself face to face with a large woman. Her nose was long and sharp, her eyes too big for her face and a few wispy hairs clung to her mostly bald head. A large grin stretched across her thin lips to show off chipped and yellowed teeth.

"Marshall sends his regards of course," Marceline smiled. "But as the sun is up, he regrets he cannot come in person."

"In his own words, he says he is not 'hooked up to a living battery'," Finn added with a grin.

"Well, tell him that can be remedied any time he likes," Grendall replied with a laugh. "He only needs to ask."

"We'll be sure to pass along the message," Marceline answered. "In the meantime, we have need of your services, if that's all right of course."

"Yes, yes, always for you three my dear," Grendall waved dismissively. "Let's see what you've got, shall we?" she added, motioning to the desk in the back corner of the room. The trio quickly placed their bags on the desk and stepped away to give the old fencer room to look. Grendall made a few hums here and there as she dumped out the contents of the bags and sifted through the pieces. "Not a bad haul," she commented, looking intently at a large ruby hanging from a heavy gold chain. "Ah! And what have we here!" she cried, her fingers latching onto a large, milky pink crystal.

Fionna felt her stomach lurch at the sight of the crystal, her fingers twitching with the need to hold it once again. "It's getting a little stuffy in here for me," she mumbled instead to Finn. "I'll meet you guys outside." Without waiting for a reply she quickly darted out the door and out of the shop. Once she felt the sunshine on her face she took a deep breath and tilted her closed eyes toward the sun. She took a minute to breathe before disappearing down the alley to her right.

It was bad luck that she took the time to try and calm her racing thoughts just then. Really, she should have remembered to pay attention to her surroundings anyway. Just because the place looked nice didn't mean it was any less dangerous for her; it was still the City of Thieves and she wasn't really affiliated with the Thieves' Guild or Finn's band yet either. But as it was, she was too caught up in her own thoughts to pay attention to the noises around her or the warning her sixth sense started screaming.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a husky male voice right near her ear said, sending Fionna jumping away from the wall.

Fionna turned to see Marshall Lee standing behind her, umbrella open to block out the sun and the hood of his dark grey hoodie pulled up. His hand was locked around the wrist of another person, the sitting silver fox tattooed to his shoulder marking him as Thieves' Guild.

"Marshall Lee," the thief said as he inclined his head respectfully once the vampire boy had dropped his wrist. "She hasn't been marked; I didn't know she was one of yours."

"She's really new," Marshall replied, a smirk on his face. "We haven't had the time to get her branded yet."

"I wouldn't let her wander too far then," the thief warned as he turned to leave. "Or keep her well within sight if you do."

"Well, that was completely uneventful," Marshall sighed, turning to Fionna with a large smirk. "I would have thought you would have been able to hear him though; I heard what Finn told you this morning. If you can't hear a common pick pocket then I might need to be worried about your ability to keep up."

"I'll be fine," Fionna growled. "I was just lost in thought for a minute. What did you mean about getting me branded?"

"You need a tattoo in the City of Thieves, something that lets them know you're off limits for pick pocketing," Marshall answered. "That's why everyone in the Guild has that fox tattoo. It brands them as members of the Guild."

"I know," Fionna answered. "Marceline and Finn mentioned something similar, but that didn't answer my question of why I needed to be branded. What brand?"

"Our version of the tattoo," Marshall Lee grinned as he rolled the sleeve up on his left arm to expose his shoulder. A standing, grinning fox was inked on his skin. A blade was clenched between its teeth, the hilt wrapped in its tail. "We're not members of the Guild, but we are friends of sorts so we improvised with our tattoo. Plus it just looks cooler."

"But it's covered," Fionna protested. "How would anyone here know?"

"Cause it's not a normal tattoo. We get a witch to put them on and they leave some sort of magical brand that all members of the Guild can see. Apparently it's something they're trained for," Marshall shrugged. "It's not really something we ever bothered with, but it keeps us from being harassed when we're here."

Fionna only nodded once. "If I get this, that marks me as one of you, doesn't it?"

"What, you don't want to be a pirate?" Marshall smirked. "If you leave that will only make it that much more difficult for me to win our little challenge."

"I never said that," Fionna huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to come up with a better retort when she saw the smirk get even wider.

"There you are!" Finn suddenly exclaimed, coming around the corner and saving Fionna from having to appear tongue tied. "Marshall? What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to sleep."

"I did, but you people made too much noise when you left that I couldn't get back to sleep," the vampire boy shrugged. "Besides, it's a good thing I did come wandering out here; your poor little sister almost got pick pocketed."

"It's not that big a deal," Fionna hissed. "It's not like I have anything valuable on me anyway so there's no need to make me seem helpless."

"What else am I supposed to think when I find you staring off into space, leaving yourself wide open?" Marshall taunted, smirking wider at the angry blush that bloomed across the girl's face.

"We'll take her out to get her tattoo today," Marceline interrupted. "We've got it from here Marsh, if you want to head back. Oh, before I forget, Grendall said to tell you all you need to do is ask and you can get yourself a living battery as well," she added with a teasing smile. "She was pretty disappointed you didn't come with us."

Finn and Marceline burst out into uncontrollable laughter when Marshall Lee tugged the hood of his hoodie further down to hide more of his face and began grumbling under his breath. "You three never saw me here, clear?" he demanded.

"I dunno," Finn laughed. "I wouldn't want to disappoint her."

"Whatever," Marshall grumbled before taking off. "I'll be back on the ship sleeping if you need me."

"Hiding is more like it," Marceline snorted, only to grin innocently when Marshall leveled her with an unamused glare. "So, you ready to go get branded a pirate?" she added, turning to Fionna with a large smile.

"Yeah, sure," Fionna answered after a beat, a smile growing across her own face as Finn and Marceline each latched onto her arms and pulled her along.

Later that night Fionna lay awake staring intently at the ceiling, long after everyone else had gone to bed. After a rather long day of being dragged around the city, she found out that the trio owned a small home on the outskirts of the city, close to the airship docks. It was apparently more of a formality since they were friends of the Guild, though they were hardly ever here long enough for the place to be lived in. Finn and Marceline all but dragged her inside the building, shoved her towards a room and disappeared behind yet another door themselves; Finn practically dragging himself across the threshold and Marceline too tired to even float followed right behind him. Fionna felt a grin on her lips when she heard a particularly loud sigh come from Finn as he presumably collapsed on the bed. The need to rest was well earned, as the pair had seemed determined to show her every last bit of the city that very day. She had been surprised, though perhaps not as much as she thought she would have been, when they had made a pit stop halfway through the day at the treasury office and handed over everything they had made from fencing the items.

"We always hand over everything we get from our pirate adventures," Finn had told her with an easy shrug when Fionna had shot him a confused look. "We've got other ways of making money and besides, these people need it more than we do."

Fionna sighed and rolled over on to her side. Despite her exhaustion, sleep seemed to getting pleasure from avoiding her many attempts to catch it. She winced once when her right arm twinged slightly from the magic that had branded the tattoo into her skin, permanently marking her as a member of whatever this was. She reached over and placed her palm gently against the slightly warm to the touch mark.

"Could be worse," she mumbled to herself. "At least people seem to want me here." She sighed once more and finally gave up on trying to sleep as memories and errant thoughts bounced around, begging for attention. She pushed herself out of bed and made her way towards the small living room, leaving her hoodie behind and walking out in a tank top and a pair of sweats Marceline had tossed at her door before disappearing back into the dark depths of her own room. She sat herself in front of the large bay windows and stared out at the night sky, watching the clouds lazily float by the ever blinking stars.

"So, do you make it a habit of not paying attention to your surroundings?" Marshall Lee's amused voice broke through the silence.

Fionna jumped and spun around to toss an angry glare at the grinning undead boy. "Do you make it a habit to sneak up on me?" she shot right back.

"I've been here from the beginning," Marshall Lee returned, his grin spreading. "It's not my fault that you weren't paying attention."

"Whatever," Fionna sighed as she turned back towards the window.

"So Blondie, what's gotten you out of bed this late?" Marshall Lee asked, coming over and dropping himself to the floor right next to the blonde girl.

"Couldn't sleep," Fionna answered, shrugging her shoulder and wincing a bit as it tugged on the tattoo.

"Give it a day or two," Marshall Lee said, gently poking at her exposed tattoo. "It'll stop stinging by then."

Fionna nodded absently and ran her hand across the mark. "It only really hurts if I move my arm too much."

"That tends to be the case," Marshall Lee nodded in return. "So why couldn't you sleep?"

"Thinking," Fionna monotoned back.

"About?" Marshall Lee pressed.

"Things," Fionna said.

"You're not very talkative, are you?" Marshall Lee sighed and shook his head when Fionna only shrugged in response. "I'm not such a bad listener you know."

"I'm harboring suspicions that you're bi-polar," Fionna answered suddenly.

"And where the hell did that come from?" Marshall Lee chuckled.

"Cause you were teasing me and all that junk this morning," Fionna shrugged. "And now you're being, I don't know, nice?"

"I'll have you know I'm a very nice person," Marshall Lee returned with mock severity. "Well, when I want to be anyway, I am still a vampire and we are, by nature, quite evil," he added, flashing her a fangy grin.

"Sure you are," Fionna snorted, finding herself grinning back in return. "And that's why you ran away with your tail between your legs when Finn and Marceline mentioned Grendall was looking for you."

"Hey, that's completely justified!" Marshall Lee protested as he shuddered slightly. "And I wasn't running away. Besides, we were talking about you, not me. You're very good at deflecting."

"And you're not so bad at keeping track I suppose," Fionna replied. "Though I still say you were running away."

"You're doing it again," Marshall Lee smiled, surprising the blonde. "And I won't be deterred. Why can't you sleep?"

"Why do you care?" Fionna asked instead.

"Cause we're stuck in this thing together, we might as well at least pretend to get along," Marshall Lee grinned. "Especially since your brother and my sister generally seem to be attached at the hip most days."

"I was just thinking," Fionna answered after a few beats of silence. "I didn't really expect this when I left. Of course, I didn't expect to end up on a cruise ship as a maid either."

"Left where?" Marshall Lee asked.

"Where I was before," Fionna said.

"Not going to tell me?" Marshall Lee pressed, pouting at the blonde.

"No offense, but I don't know you that well yet, no matter easy you are to talk to," Fionna turned and offered a smile towards the vampire beside her.

"Easy to talk to? You've barely told me anything," Marshall Lee teased.

"Still more than I would have told anyone else," Fionna replied with a shrug. "So, does this mean we're friends now or something and you'll stop picking on me?"

"Of course we're friends," Marshall Lee answered. "You seem like a cool enough chick. But you're delusional if you think that means I won't keep teasing you. I've still got that challenge to win," he added with a wink.

A soft beeping noise had both of them looking up and over to a pale green light blinking in time with the noise on a machine situated on the kitchen counter. "Who would be calling at this time of night?" Marshall Lee grumbled as he floated over to the light and pressing a button situated right below it. The light grew brighter and expanded a bit to form a screen and a girl with long hair and a crown of some sort.

"Bonnibelle, you do know what time it is, right?" Marshall Lee asked before the girl could speak. "Most of you normal people are well on their way to dreamland by now."

"Marshall Lee," Bonnibelle answered curtly. "Are Finn or Marceline available to speak to?"

"Well that hurts, you don't want to speak to me?" Marshall Lee smirked.

"Only in small doses and not when I can help it," Bonnibelle shot back immediately.

"Fine, fine," Marshall Lee sighed. "I'll go wake them up then; let you deal with their charming personalities when they're denied sleep."

"I am sure they can be reasonable people," Bonnibelle informed the vampire boy.

Marshall Lee only snorted derisively as he turned away and floated down the hallway. "Finn! Marceline! Get your sorry butts out of bed! You've got a vid call!" he yelled through the first door on the left, banging the wood loudly with his fist.

The door flew open a second later, Marceline floating in the doorway with glowing red eyes, fangs barred and a snarl on her lips. "Who?" she demanded in a hiss.

"Who else would dare to wake you up this late at night?" Marshall Lee smirked.

Marceline hissed again and shoved her way past her brother towards the living room. "I'm going to rip out her throat the next time she does this," she grumbled.

"Dude, you know I'm easy going most days," Finn said sleepily as he followed his girlfriend out of the room. "But it's still a dick move to wake a guy up with a heart attack and I will not be held responsible for what happens if you do it again."

"No promises," Marshall Lee grinned in return, completely unrepentant as he drifted back into the living room and floated lazily near Fionna.

"Hey PB, what's up?" the blond haired boy asked as he stepped up to be seen in the screen.

"You do know I'm not nocturnal anymore, right?" Marceline demanded sullenly. "I haven't been for a couple years now."

"I am aware and I apologize for the lateness of the hour," Bonnibelle replied solemnly. "I would not be contacting you at all if it had not become a serious problem."

"What's a problem?" Finn pressed, standing straighter. "What's going on PB?"

"Well, we've had some raids from the Goblins up north lately," Bonnibelle began hesitantly.

"That's nothing new," Marceline dismissed. "Goblins raid all the time; it's what they do."

"Well, yes," Bonnibelle agreed. "But only in small groups or as single clans, and never with Orcs backing them up."

"What?" Finn asked. "But Orcs and goblins don't get along; they hate each other."

"Exactly," Bonnibelle nodded. "But the fact remains that these raids are with two or more tribes and there are always Orcs with them."

Marceline and Finn exchanged a quick look, mirroring frowns tugging at their lips, before looking back at Marshall Lee. The vampire boy nodded in their direction before they turned back to the screen.

"We'll be there by morning," Finn told the girl on the screen.

"Make sure you have the necessary people we need to talk to," Marceline added. "We're not walking into this blind."

"Of course," Bonnibelle nodded. "Everything will be ready for when you get here."

The screen disappeared and everyone was silent for a moment. "Well kiddos," Marshall Lee finally said, a wicked grin crossing his face. "Get packed to go; it looks like we're going goblin hunting."


AN 2: So there you have it, chapter two. I realize I threw quite a lot of information at you guys…and this chapter ended up being much longer than I originally planned…but you don't mind, right? I had to lay down a fair bit of groundwork in this chapter to get to the plot, hence the information overload. I tried to balance it out though, so you didn't get stuck reading solid blocks of text, lol. Anyways, leave a review and let me know what you think!