Getting To Know You. Getting To Like You.

Realizations

"So we're right. It was you!" Gumball accused pointing with his finger.

Marshall frowned taking his accusing finger away. "What you gonna do, Bubba?"

Fionna's eyes widened. He wasn't denying it.

"For starters, you'll-"

"Why?" Fionna interrupted him with her own question.

The vampire softened and looked at her, but as he opened his mouth to speak, Gumball stopped him.

"That's who he is, Fionna. This man here never caused but trouble ever since I first met him."

He sneered sarcastically. "So, what are you gonna do? Send me to the Nighosphere?"

"Nightos…what?" Fionna asked listening the term for the first time.

"The Nightosphere is a place of torment down in the underworld. No good news at all! And as far as I know, the Vampire King is kinda the Prince down there." Cake explained to her sister.

'I guess there's just too much I didn't know about him.' By this point Fionna was mad at herself, and most of all, she was confused. 'How could I be so naïve?'

Gumball kept arguing but Fionna wasn't really interested on what they were talking about. She just started walking unnoticed. No direction, just far from the cave. 'Gumball was always right. Marshall means trouble. But why? I thought…' Her thoughts trailed off as she saddened. She was still intrigued on why he had caused those fires. Something was wrong, she just knew that!

She walked into the forest with her head down in thought so she wasn't exactly seeing where she was heading to, not before she bumped into something.

"Aaaaggh!" She backed away closing her eyes and almost falling. However, falling wouldn't have been a problem, because at the time she was more worried about a burn on her arm. She took her arm and finally looked ahead.

Instantly, her eyes widened in surprise to see a boy who had just fallen into a sitting position rubbing his… fired shoulder?

"You- you're on fire!" She screamed.

"Well, you're not very smart, huh? I'm Flame Prince, so… yeah." He said in a mocking manner.

"Oh, sorry then." She said stretching a hand to help him up.

"Do you have a death wish? Normal people don't go around touching a fire elemental."

"Oh, right." She said retracting her arm ashamed. That's when she remembered. She was now burnt and it actually hurt. She took her arm tighter and flinched at the pain.

The so called Flame Prince, sighed and apologized somewhat ashamed. "Sorry. It wasn't my intention. Just give it some hours and the pain will be gone. Oh, and be careful next time, you reckless girl." He turned around and started to run away.

"Wait!" She started but the boy was too far. She would have followed if Cake hadn't found her first.

"Fionna. Just where were you going without me?" The cat then gasped as she realized her wound and without any more questions took care of it.

"Here! That's better." Then she narrowed her eyes. "Now, would you mind telling me what happened?" Cake finished covering her sister's wound.

"Oh nothing. Just bumped into the Flame Prince." Fionna answered simply and continued on a wondering mode.

"Really? We'll I guess we shouldn't worry. But still, what was the Prince of the Fire Kingdom doing so far from home?"

Fionna wasn't really listening to her sister. She kept thinking about earlier.

"Fionna?"

Without even thinking she said out loud. "Why!?"

"Mmm, hun?" Cake asked in surprise.

Fionna shook her head. "Something's not right, Cake. Why would Marshall go on and simply set fire to the Candy and Wildberry Kingdoms. It doesn't make sense!"

"Fi, why are you on his side?" She eyed her suspiciously. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

The adventuress gave a heavy sigh and turned her head down. "All right! Yesterday… when I took that long walk… I found him." Cake narrowed her eyes clearly disgusted. "But Cake, believe me, he's a good guy. Annoying, yes, but still he has a sensitive side. Did you know he writes songs? He's a pretty good musician, you should have listened! Oh and he's traveled all around Aaa adventuring and doing stuff I had barely dreamed of." She continued, excitement written all over her face. "He's not the kind of vampire you always talked to me about. He's not a blood sucker, he simply tastes the color red so he never had to kill a thing!"

"Did it occur to you that he lied to you?"

"No Cake. Something's telling me he wasn't- Wait!" She stopped in realization. "What did you just say about Flame Prince?"

"Huh… what was he doing so far from home?"

"Cake, it's clear. It must have been him!"

Against Cake's advice, the adventuress headed to the Candy Kingdom where Gumball had taken Marshall Lee. The Candy Prince wasn't there so she made her way past the guards and headed directly to the inferior cells. There she found him floating lazily on the cell playing with a small ball, throwing and catching it.

He saw her getting closer and stood on his two feet.

"Hey Fi." He smirked. "Already miss me?"

"How can you be so relaxed? Why didn't you deny it!?"

His smirk turned from cool into a smug one. "Where's the fun on that?"

"Fun?! Is this about fun? Well, it's not funny! You have… like the worst reputation around Aaa.

He chuckled. "It is fun! And I couldn't care less what people think about me."

"Just because of that you're locked in here. And everyone thinks you're scum!"

"But you don't." He said seriously but his expression full of gratefulness. She couldn't help but blush and he gave her an honest smile, not a smirk, a real smile.

"Still, you'll have to stay here."

He scoffed "You know I could get out of here if I wanted."

"S- so… It wasn't you… right?" Marshall shook his head.

"Then why, why make them believe it was you?!"

Again that smug smirk appeared on his face. "First, I never said it was me, they just assumed it. Second, don't you hate how Gumball always has to be right? For once I want him to get high and fall in front of everyone. Eventually they'll know it wasn't me, and the 'oh so great Candy Prince' will look like a fool."

She knew that wasn't polite, but she couldn't help but chuckle. "You just don't like each other, right?"

He chuckled back "Weeeell…" then he felt a punch on his arm.

"Aww"

"That's for putting me through so much drama. Glob you're worse than LSP." Saying that, both started to laugh. Suddenly Marshall's smile turned into a frown.

"Who did this to you?" He said taking her wounded arm.

"I-" She started. "I could ask you the same question." She smirked and crossed her arms.

"It was that stupid Prince, right?" His eyes kept narrowed and she could tell he was actually mad. Her arms fell to her sides and she nodded.

"I guess he burned you too?" She asked ashamed.

Marshall scoffed and floated coolly. "Please, no one can get a scratch on me."

"So how…"

He looked down. "I… kinda… I got this… you know, from a fired branch on my way back to my cave."

She felt his shyness and smiled inwardly. "You were trying to stop it, right?" His eyes widened slightly but said nothing. "Oooh, good boy Marshy was helping the Wildberry peeeeople!" She sang teasingly.

He hissed. "Of course not. I was just trying to get away from there!"

She shook her head. "Na-ah!"

"Shut up!"

Fionna giggled closing her eyes. This caused Marshall to blush slightly so he hid in the shadow of his cell looking at the girl in front of him. 'This girl…' She really was one of a kind. He couldn't help but smile absentmindedly.

xxxxx

For the next week, Marshall remained as a prisoner and the rumors about the incident spread all around Aaa. Fionna promised 'not to ruin his plan' so she kept what she knew to herself. He explained how he was just fooling around with his ghost friends and how he ended up there. Though he knew it had been the Flame Prince, he couldn't reach him that night, but he would, soon.

It had been a busy week for Gumball. Deciding it was of great importance to go on with the parade, he and Wildberry Prince made a deal to work harder both kingdoms so they could make it on time. On the other hand, he kept the investigations as he feared Marshall wasn't the only responsible for the damages.

Today, he sat in front of his desk reading some stuff, but somehow, any of that made sense. He gave a sigh and put the papers down. He looked to the computers and rewatched the video from that night. He played it over and over again when something caught his eyes.

At the corner of one of the screen there was seen a slightly larger flame, but as he looked closer, he knew…

"Flame Prince!"

xxxxx

This was a boring afternoon and Fionna was practicing with her sword outside her tree fort. After half an hour Cake approached her and told her she was going with L.M.

"Oh, can I go. It's deathly boring here, and maybe I could pay a visit to-"

Cake wiggled her eyebrows and smirk mischievously. "Looking for some alone time with your Prince."

Fionna blushed, not because of her teasing, but realizing that she actually wanted to go see Marshall, but it had nothing to do with that, right? Deciding it was better to make her believe she was right she laughed nervously and nodded. "Well… it's been a while."

Cake smiled and carried her on her back. "Let's go, sis."

On a few minutes they were there. She jumped down from Cake and waved a hand as she continued her way to the castle.

"Hello? PG?" Fionna asked through the door. A while later, Peppermint maid approached her and let her in.

"Hello, Fionna. The Prince must be very busy, but I'll tell him you had come to visit him." The little candy offered a smile at Fionna who shook her head.

"Oh no, don't bother him if he's that busy. Umm.. I'll just check upon Marshall, ok?"

Peppermint maid nodded hesitantly but let her anyway.

When she reached his cell he was asleep a few feet above the floor. She had to sigh. 'Oh right, it's too early for him.' It was 6 pm, so she guessed she wouldn't have to wait much longer and decided to sit there and wait. With nothing else to do, she observed his features for a moment. Unbelievably he's a thousand years old, not because of his apparently young body, but his face was that of a child. Her gaze went straight to fangs that seemed to playfully sneak out of his pale lips. Her eyes moved to his closed ones, then his hair and finally landed on the scar marked on his neck.

'Who are you Marshall Lee?' She giggled silently but apparently not silently enough. The vampire groaned as he opened his eyes. He let himself land on the cold floor and the sat up yawning. Fionna felt embarrassed the moment he started to wake up. He turned to her and cocked his face. "Fi?"

"To what do I owe this honor?" He asked with a lazy chuckle.

"Well I..I came to see Gumball but… apparently he's too busy so, here I am." She lied but flashed him a huge smile. Before he could see through her lie, she offered a red apple she had on her back. "Here, I brought you this." She smiled and he took it.

He took it and smiled mischievously at her. "If you came to see him, how is that you got this apple just for me?" He teased resting his head on one hand.

"Who said it was especially for you!?"

"Hahaha" The vampire laughed at her childish attitude and petted the top of her head. She stuck her tongue out at him and fixed her bunny hat.

"I brought him a few apples, but I guess you could have them." She said giving him the rest of the apples. He took them but suddenly turned quiet. Fionna eyed him suspiciously and felt the weight of the awkward silence.

"Marshall?"

"Do you still like him?" He abruptly asked.

His questioning took her by surprise but then her sight fall to her hands and played with them not wanting to look at him. She remained quiet. She had the answer, No. She no longer liked Gumball. But by admitting this to herself, she realized the real reason to be there and it was sitting right in front of her. She blushed and kept twiddling her fingers.

"I knew it." He sucked the red from on the apples with his gaze stuck on the now gray apple. Fionna raised her sight in wonder. For a moment he sounded.. No. It couldn't be jealousy. He just didn't like the guy.

"Mar-"

"Fionna!" The heroine turned around to see Gumball walking straight at her. "H- hi Gumball."

Marshall chuckled ironically and rolled his eyes at the girl's attitude. She narrowed her eyes at him and he turned away from both.

For a second Gumball observed their behavior but shook his head. 'Straight to business.' He reminded himself.

"Fionna, Peppermint maid told me you were looking for me. And you couldn't get on better timing. Come with me, I need you to see something."

He seemed serious. She nodded and turned once again to the cell. "Bye Marshall." But he just nodded as he sucked the red from another apple not bothering to look back at her.

I don't own Adventure Time or any of the characters.

Wooow, I reaaally enjoyed writing this one chapter. Oh well, hope you had enjoyed reading as well :3

Well, I'm always open to read about your opinion, but I'm enjoying this story so far that I would keep writing no matter what x3

Thanks and keep reading!