Hey guys! Sorry this one came out a bit late and seems small than the others. I would have uploaded this yesterday but had to work on a project for school (that I sincerely hated doing). Anyway, in this chapter you will meet an important OC Fionna encounters. Promise me, he will be very important later on in the chapters, and story line, to come!
What are you doing listening to me blabber on? Read the chapter :)
"Fionna, please concentrate on your actions. It will be less painful if you do, dear," Peppermint Maid snapped politely, voice rough but gentle as Fionna wobbled in the seemingly tall high heels. The heels of her feet shook with pain while she tried horribly at keeping her mind on walking calmly like she would in her Mary Jane's. It wasn't working out so well.
For the past 4 hours, Fionna has been brutally, yet sweetly, lectured and trained by Peppermint Maid for having more grace and etiquette at the decade annual ball Gumball was holding this time. And of course he had chosen Fionna to be the representative for the Candy Kingdom. But by now, she was starting to have second thoughts on her agreement with it.
"Peppermint Maid, my feet are killing me," Fionna complained, having said the same thing a hundred times in the past hour. "Can't we take a break or something?"
The tiny maid sighed and crossed her tiny arms, fixing her tiny maid apron. "Alright, but I expect no complaints tomorrow. And we may be done with the walking in high heels for now. Please come tomorrow with a much more pleasant behavior."
"Thank you Peppermint Maid!" Fionna cried in relief, ripping the heels off her feet, nearly breaking the leather straps secured around her ankles. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Five o' clock sharp!" her tiny voice shouted as she slipped through the door and shut it loudly behind her, the sound echoing down the empty hallway.
Using her memory, she made her way to the main entrance/ball room of the Candy Castle and found Gumball talking to a young man whose pallor was a light blue. From the small waterfall looking hair he had, she classified him as Prince Caspian, prince of the Water Kingdom.
Gumball's eyes looked up in midsentence of what he was saying and he noticed her approaching them. "Ah! Fionna, I didn't know Peppermint Maid was going to let you end early today." Prince Caspian's eyes turned Fionna's way while she walked up to them.
"Yeah, I kind of made her," Fionna laughed slightly, rubbing the bottoms of her feet under her Mary Jane shoes. Her eyes turned to the prince.
Gumball smiled. "Prince Caspian is my friend. He is the ruler of the Water Kingdom. Caspian, this is Fionna, the Greatest Heroine in Aaa." Fionna blushed at Gumball using her title while the prince smiled brightly.
"I'm glad we can finally meet," Caspian replied, voice rippling like water. Fionna nodded in agreement and turned back to Gumball.
"Anything else you need me to do, Gumball? I'm pretty much free the rest of the afternoon," she told him, shifting uncomfortably under her feet from Caspian's eyes still staring at the side of her face. Her stomach twisted unusually.
"Nothing I can think of at the moment…oh! That's right, I made some cream puffs early this morning and wanted to give them to you. They're in the kitchen. I'll go fetch a basket for you!" Gumball rushed off down the carpeted aisle of the ballroom, heading in the direction of his kitchen.
Caspian's head tilted to the side when Fionna turned her attention to him. "You know, I think you once asked me to help you with a kraken a couple years back. Sorry I had to decline; I kind of have a fear of the ocean."
He shook his head politely, small droplets of water flying off. "No need to apologize. I understand your honesty. We took care of it so no harm is done!"
Fionna smiled. "That's good. So how long have you and Gumball been buds?"
"Fionna…" Caspian said softly, head tilting again. A shiver of unease rained down her spine at his voice while Fionna turned slowly, gulping loudly.
"Yes, Caspian?"
He shook his head, seeming to return from a trance. "Oh, I am sorry; I must have gone off again. Sorry if I have disrespected you, Lady Fionna."
"Just call me Fionna," she told him, cringing a bit at the word "lady" in front of her name. "We are friends after all, so don't go off spouting that formal junk. That's really not my kind of thing."
"Friends, yes," Caspian said, smiling widely. He glanced down at a seashell watch attached to his blue wrist. "It seems I must be leaving. Tell Gumball of my agreement with his plan, please, and for my early departure."
"Uh, sure thing," Fionna said. She frowned at the mention of Gumball's "plan". "I'll pass on the message."
"Splendid, I'll see you at the decade annual ball then!" He flowed like water to the double doors of the castle and waved over his shoulder before disappearing behind the doors.
"That was weird…" Fionna murmured just as Gumball appeared once again.
"Where did Caspian go?" he asked, looking around.
"He, uh, had to leave early. He also said for me to tell you that he agrees with your plan, or something."
Gumball's face lit up. "That's wonderful!" He shoved the basket full of cream puffs into her arms without further explanation. "I'm glad that you two talked at least, before the ball and everything. Come by at the same time tomorrow, all right?"
Fionna was just about to turn away when she finally remembered something. "Oh yeah, I nearly forgot." She dug a hand into her back pocket before taking out the cursive written envelope she had found only 2 days earlier. "I was wondering if you could read this. According to Cake it's in cursive or something like that."
Gumball took the envelope from her hands carefully as his eyes shifted slowly at reading what the front said. A conflicted emotion crossed his eyes as he flipped the envelope back over to the blank side.
"Where did you find this, Fionna?" he asked softly, head tilting when he looked up at her.
"Uh, just lying around somewhere, it seemed pretty interesting so I—"
"I am sorry but I cannot read it, Fionna."
She looked up at him questioningly. It had looked like he was reading the front of the envelope according to the strange show of emotion on his face. That confused her more.
"Oh, okay then." She slipped the envelope back into her back pocket. Her mind raced about why he would lie to her. It's not normal for Gumball to lie about something to her, especially since it seems to have something to do with the ball. She felt her trust for him begin to slip underwater. "I better be going then. I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Goodbye, Fionna!" he called out after her while she opened and closed the front doors behind her.
Heart hammering with intensity, she took a step forward but not until she was interrupted by an icy hand touching her shoulder. She spun around and landed a punch into the man's jaw, fist connecting with bone.
"Ah! What in the Aaa?" Fist back at her side, Fionna realized who she had just hit in the jaw.
Her eyes narrowed at Marshall. "What are you doing here? And sneaking up on me too?"
He continued to clutch the side of his jaw, a red mark seen from between his fingers that appeared on his skin. "I wasn't sneaking up on you. You just weren't paying attention. But seriously, do you do this to everyone or something?"
"No. Only when someone startles me like that, not cool dude!" Fionna replied, crossing her arms. "What do you want? Do you know Gumball?"
He smirked, removing his hand from his jaw. "Yeah, I know that sissy wad of gum. We go way back."
"He's not a sissy," Fionna exclaimed. "Look, I'm going to go head home now if you don't mind. Unless you want another beating, that is…"
Marshall shook his head. "Nah, I'm not really in the mood. Everything about visiting this place brings my mood to complete boredom the moment I set foot in this place." He leaned close to her. "But if you wouldn't mind, I think I have an idea to make this place a lot more exciting…"
Fionna pushed him away. There he goes again! Teasing her like she didn't even have a say in it. She wouldn't let him live it down though. "Stop it or I'll hit you again."
"You really think you, a girl, could hurt me?"
Fionna didn't give him much time to process before she kicked him in the groin. Marshall yelped out and dropped down to his knees, doubled over in pain.
"Who are you calling a girl?" she asked threateningly, hands on her hips. He chuckled under his breath, shaking his head, black hair shifting from the movement.
"You're a feisty one, I can give you that," he said, looking up. "Look, I mean no harm, okay?" He stood up slowly, wincing a bit before he looked down at her, his towering height intimidating.
"Then what do you want?" Fionna demanded, jutting her chin out to match his intimidating height. Sadly, that didn't do much to her shortness and pudginess.
"To tell you the truth, Gummy called me over here to discuss some royalty stuff," he explained, voice bemused. He added in a cocky tone, "Obviously nothing interesting."
Fionna frowned. "You're royalty?" It hadn't been until two days ago that she had even met Marshall. How can it be he's royalty and she hasn't heard of him?
He nodded, an incredulous look on his face. "Isn't it obvious?"
"I don't know, all the princes I've met have been way more polite than you are," she retaliated, arching an eyebrow. This guy can't be serious. She would know if he's a prince. What is he the prince of anyway?
"Good, 'cause I'm not a prince," he said, digging his hands into his jean pockets, leaning to the side a bit as if defying gravity.
"Then wha—" Fionna didn't have much time to finish when the front doors of the castle opened and Peppermint Maid popped her head out.
"Fionna, still here?" the tiny maid asked, raising her eyebrows. "If I knew you would be sticking around longer I would have asked you to continue practicing."
Marshall's eyebrow went up as he looked between Fionna and Peppermint Maid. Fionna rubbed her forehead nervously while trying to peek around the small maid to see if Gumball was standing there. It was hard to though since the maid kept the door at only a sliver of a crack open.
"Ah, Marshall Lee, Gumball was wondering when you would finally get here. You're five hours late," Peppermint Maid exclaimed, tone displeased, drawing her attention to Marshall beside Fionna. Her tone turned sour and unpleasant.
"I always like making an unexpected entrance, I would think Gumball would know by now," he replied, smirking.
"Enough sarcasm, boy, or I will throw you in the sun such as, with no second thought."
Marshall straightened but kept his trademark smirk. "You don't have to be so rude, Pepper. I don't mean any harm to your candy leader. I was invited by your sweet little prince, wasn't I?"
The maid scowled at his use of a nickname. "If you won't mind wasting more of my time, Gumball is waiting for you and won't wait any longer." She turned to Fionna. "You can carry on your…conversation, later, Miss Fionna."
"Um, yeah," Fionna replied, blushing a bit before frowning over at Marshall. "This conversation is definitely not over."
He only smiled and crossed his arms. "I'll see you later, Fionna. If I live through this, that is." He followed Peppermint Maid inside but she stayed at the door, staring back at Fionna.
"Oh, and Fionna," she turned back, looking at the small maid, "I advise that you stay away from that boy. He's nothing but trouble if you ask me."
"I'll keep that in mind," Fionna replied and the maid nodded while closing the door behind her. Fionna stood there for a few minutes, contemplating what the maid and Marshall had just said. She realized quickly that the small timid maid had threatened to put him in the sunlight, which seemed like a punishment the way she said it.
Fionna turned around fully and started on her path back to the tree house, trying to shake off the pain from the blisters on her feet that the high heels had caused.
BTW I will be uploading chapters either the next day or the day after the next day (if that makes any sense o.0 lol) If I haven't uploaded by then I'll be sure to soon enough, I'm not going to just ditch out on the story like some other people do! I really want to finish this story, and at my estimate, I think it will be around 15-20 chapters long. Pretty long if you take in how much I write!
(I appreciate the reviews so far also! It's great to hear how you guys like the story so far! I read all of your reviews so don't think I take into consideration what you review about my story.)
~Peace out!