AN: IMPORTANT QUESTION! So I don't know if I've told you guys (or how many of you have read my other stories and therefore already know) but I am trying to get my original work published. After this last round of rejections it's got me questioning whether my original work is even worth the read. Would you guys be opposed to me posting, say, the first three chapters as a "special chapter" here so I could get your opinions? Let me know in your reviews and thank you all for your kind reviews and alerts and favorites. You guys seriously make my day :)
Also, I've had a few of you lovely people ask when something more will happen between Marshall Lee and Fionna. I promise it's coming, but at this point they've only known each other for a few days by this point. Plus they've both got some emotional scars that make them a little hesitant about relationships. It's coming though, I promise :)
Disclaimer: Does it count if I wish I did?
It turned out that getting to the Edge wasn't nearly as hard as the quartet had thought; getting into it proved to be another matter entirely. Because the trees grew so tall and so thick there was only one, narrow, barely there game trail into the dark forest and it happened to be situated just outside the only town crazy enough to live anywhere close to the tangled mess. Perhaps calling it a town was being a bit generous; it was really nothing more than a few small log cabins, an even smaller general store, and perhaps the tiniest crystal recharging station in the whole land of Ooo. The only people living up here were a few certifiably insane hunters that decided to make the creatures haunting the Edge their prey. The little place was peaceful enough though and the trade for the furs and pelts they brought back was always enough for them to make a living. They never really saw travelers all that often and that suited them just fine. Understandably, it was a bit of a shock for them when the airship docked, four kids walked out and then asked the fastest way into the Edge.
Marshall Lee frowned at what was probably the fourth or fifth person to tell them to get back in their ship and leave the Edge to the experienced hunters. "It's no place for little kids" seemed to be the theme of the day and the vampire boy was about one more word away from decking somebody and showing these beefed up idiots how much of a helpless little kid he really wasn't. "Look," he hissed through clenched teeth. "What we do and where we go is none of your business. Just point us to that trail and we'll be out of your way."
"I can't do that," an exceptionally burly man with blond-yellow hair and a rather long mustache of the same color, told them with a shake of his head. "You're just kids, you'll get yourselves hurt. The Edge is no place to play around in."
"I'm over a thousand years old," Marshall Lee growled, his face shifting slightly as his fangs elongated and his eyes turned black with only pinpricks of red. "I've been dealing with dangerous things longer than you've been alive. I'll only ask once more, where is the entrance to the Edge?"
Though the hunter took a surprised step back when the vampire's face shifted, the frown on his lips held firm and he shook his head once more. "Be that as it may vampire, your companions are too young."
Fionna scowled and stepped up next to the undead boy. She thought she heard her brother mumble "here we go" and Marceline snicker a little, but she dismissed it. "Listen buddy," she seethed. "I'm not some weak kneed little princess. I can take care of myself and I can make my own choices. I don't care who you think you are, you don't dictate what I do with my life. Now, you can either put us on the relatively safe path you use to get through the Edge or we can cut our way through somewhere else. Either way, we're getting in, understand?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared the older man down, not flinching once when he glared at her in return.
Eventually the older hunter sighed and the four of them watched as his shoulders slumped. "All right little missy, you make a fair point. Can I at least ask that you wait until morning to set out? At least then I'll have some sense of peace."
"Fair enough," Fionna nodded in return, an easy smile replacing her scowl. "Thank you."
"Geez Kitten, I may have to upgrade you to lion cub," Marshall Lee chuckled as the group made their way back to their ship.
Fionna glanced over at the boy, one eyebrow raised and her head tilted slightly to the side.
"Lion cause of your hair color," the vampire explained, knowing what she was asking without words and giving the blonde locks a slight tug. "Though I suppose a cheetah could work as well but they just don't seem as fierce. You're still just a cub though cause you're too cute to be otherwise."
"Whatever man," Fionna replied with a roll of her eyes. "At least I got us in and I didn't have to go all 'monster-face' to do it," she added with a smirk in his direction. "By the way, what does that say about you if a little shrimp of a girl can do what you can't?"
"She's got you there," Finn laughed, walking backwards to join the conversation. "And personally, I'd rather deal with you in a bad mood than her when she's pissed," he added, grinning unrepentantly at Marshall Lee's answering glare.
"Face it Marshy, you're about as scary as a fluffy little bunny on a sugar high," Marceline chimed in, causing the other set of siblings to laugh loudly.
"I'm surrounded by comedians," Marshall Lee grumbled, floating past the trio and into the ship. "If I've got to go walking around in the daylight tomorrow then I'm going to turn in now. Later."
The next morning the group was up bright and early, stuffing their packs full of supplies and other necessities for a long trip. Spread out between the four of them no one had to carry too much, but their packs still resembled bulging, overstuffed sausages.
"You're a walking arsenal, you know that?" Marshall Lee asked the small blonde girl as she strapped her crystal to her leg and hid the various knives around her body. He wasn't sure whether to grin or roll his eyes when she checked that her short blade was secure horizontally at the base of her back; she'd already tested the thing at least five times.
"Never hurts to be prepared," Fionna answered with a shrug.
"I'm not sure if it's scary or really hot that you actually know how to use all of that," the vampire added after a moment, gesturing vaguely about her person.
"All kittens have teeth and claws you know, especially lion cubs," the blonde replied, a smirk firmly settled on her lips.
"Too true," Marshall Lee laughed as he floated over and ruffled Fionna's hair. "I'd say consider me warned, but you're too fun to tease to stop."
"I have to hand it to you Fi," Marceline said from the doorway. "You actually managed to make him somewhat sociable. Usually he's this grumpy, mopey loner."
"Like I'm going to want to be anywhere near you two when you decide to hole up in your room," Marshall Lee replied, wrinkling his nose slightly. "And I'm not mopey," he added belligerently, arms crossed over his chest.
The light hearted, joking mood that had filled the air in the ship immediately disappeared when the four of them made their way into the town. It looked like almost every hunter had turned out to see the group off; all of their faces solemn and no one saying a word.
"Follow me," the hunter from the previous day said when they were close enough. He led them on a short jog out of town to the looming, dark shapes of tall trees. They came to an abrupt stop and he pointed towards the seemingly dense, impenetrable wall. "There's the trail in," he told the group with a jerk of his head. "I'd tell you to stick to it, but I doubt you'd listen to me."
"We're looking for something actually," Finn replied. "Have any of you ever come across any really old buildings while you've been in there?"
"Can't say we have," the hunter answered with a shake of his head. "We generally don't wander that far back. But a couple of people have mentioned seeing what may be the remains of an old road. Don't know if it goes anywhere, but it may help you."
"How far in is it?" Finn pressed. "And what direction do we need to go?"
"Not sure about how far, but get in and head east," the hunter answered. "Keep an eye out for it and you should see patches of old concrete that kind of look like they might have been a road once."
"Thanks," Marshall Lee said as he floated past and into the darkened forest. "Coulda saved you a bunch of trouble if you'd have just told us that in the first place."
"Don't mind him," Marceline told the hunter as she rolled her eyes. "It's way past his bedtime and he's just cranky."
The hunter just watched, shaking his head, as the other three followed the vampire boy into the darkness. They were laughing again and he saw the pale boy flip them all off before joining in. "They're crazy, those kids," he mumbled to himself before turning away and getting to work.
The interior of the Edge turned out to be a lot darker than any of them had anticipated; before long Finn and Fionna were practically relying on Marshall Lee and Marceline to guide them through even as the blond siblings tried to squint into the darkness.
"It's almost like the middle of the night in here," Fionna grumbled as she tripped over yet another reaching root. She shot a nasty glare at a vaguely darker smudge that she hoped was the offending limb. "I can't see anything."
"That's what we're here for Kitten," Marshall Lee chuckled in her ear as he gently took her arms and steered her away from another spill. "Marce and I can see just fine."
"Yeah, yeah," the smaller blonde grumbled as she gave up and let the vampire boy lead her around the forest. "I just don't like not being able to see."
"Well, I could always bite you then," Marshall Lee whispered against her neck, smirking when he noticed the shiver running down her spine. "I've always wondered what a vampire kitten would be like."
"Not funny man," Fionna huffed as she pulled herself free from his grip. She stepped forward a few paces and stumbled once more. "Seriously, this place sucks!"
"No, that's my job," Marshall Lee laughed as he scooped Fionna up into his arms. He grinned wide, flashing his fangs at the young blonde girl. "Here, why don't I carry you Kitten, since you don't want to join my legion of the undead."
"And be your slave for all eternity?" Fionna scoffed as she struggled around in Marshall Lee's arms. "Yeah, no thanks."
"Not my slave, silly Kitten, you'd be my minion," Marshall Lee chuckled, tightening his grip slightly on the wiggling girl. "And you might as well stop squirming; I'm not putting you down."
"Same difference," the youngest member of the group huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and staring resolutely away from the vampire carrying her, though she stopped moving.
"Nah, minion sounds a lot cooler than slave," Marshall Lee smirked at the girl.
"You okay Fi?" Finn asked as he and Marceline finally caught up.
"She's good," Marshall Lee replied for her. "She's just really clumsy and kept tripping over roots so I'm carrying her instead of waiting for her to twist her ankle."
"First he wanted to turn me into a vampire," the blonde grumbled.
"Hey, fangs to yourself man," Finn warned, pointing a finger at Marshall Lee, his eyebrows drawn down over his nose. "I don't want to see any bite marks on her anywhere, we clear?"
"What if you don't see them?" Marshall Lee asked with a wide grin. "There are other places I can bite besides her neck or her wrist you know."
"Marshall Lee," Finn growled lowly.
"Relax, relax," the vampire laughed again. "I'm just teasing. I'm on a strict color red only diet, remember?"
Finn glared at the other boy, staring hard as though just looking would get the question burning behind his eyes answered, before he let out a sigh. "You're really not making this easy for me, are you?"
"Dude, you're with my sister," Marshall Lee answered. "And while I'm behind it 100 percent, I still have the right to make your life just a little bit more difficult if and when I choose."
"Hey!" Fionna protested, struggling in Marshall's arms with renewed vigor. "I'm not some object to be used!"
Marshall Lee just sighed and readjusted his hold on the squirming blonde so she was slung over his shoulder. "I thought I told you struggling was useless Kitten. Besides, I wasn't using you so much as taking advantage of your presence to totally mess with your brother."
"Whatever, you can put me down now," Fionna retorted, her legs kicking a bit as she struggled to get a grip on Marshall Lee's shoulder to try and push herself out of his hold.
"We can't have you tripping and getting yourself hurt Kitten," Marshall Lee chuckled in reply.
"I'm not some weak little princess," the young blonde protested. "I'm not going to break just because of a tree root!"
"She's got a point Marsh," Marceline said. "Fionna's made with the tough stuff. Remember, she was getting tossed around by that thing on the cruise airship and didn't even bat an eye."
"Oh all right. We're at that path the hunter was talking about anyway," the vampire boy sighed as he loosened his grip and let the struggling blonde push herself away from him. He had expected her to stumble at least a little bit, but instead she landed lightly on her feet, her hands fisted at her hips as she glared at him. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't the tiniest bit impressed with the grace and poise she always seemed to have.
"Finally," she said exasperatedly. "Thanks," she added to Marceline.
"Hey, us girls have got to stick together," the vampire girl grinned as she slung an arm across the blonde's shoulder and started to lead her along the path again. "It's the best defense against the collected stupid coming off of those two." Both girls only laughed at the protesting "Hey!" that came from the boys.
"So?" Finn questioned once the girls were out of hearing range.
"So what?" Marshall Lee replied, floating lazily along, arms crossed behind his head.
"Any particular reason you've taken special interest in my sister?" the blond boy pressed, hands stuffed in his pockets and his head tilted slightly to the side, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, you two are definitely related," Marshall Lee said after watching the other boy for a moment. "She gives me almost the exact same look when she's confused or trying to press me for more information. And anyway, I'm not taking any special interest in her."
"Dude, you talk to her more often than you've ever talked to Marce and me, you've given her a pet name, you have no problem carrying her around, you tease her almost mercilessly," Finn listed off, counting on his fingers as though to keep track of a long running list he had in his head. "You gave her one of your favorite hoodies."
"The girl had too much blue!" Marshall Lee protested the last point. "It was to add a splash of something different to her wardrobe!"
"It was still one of your favorites and I'm not even halfway done you know," Finn said, spearing the other boy with another look. "I could keep going for a while. Instead, I'll ask again, why the special interest?"
"She's easy to talk to," Marshall Lee finally answered, shrugging his shoulders and jamming his hands into his pockets as he shifted to float upright.
"I just don't want either of you to get hurt," Finn replied quietly. "After that whole thing with Ashley," he paused when the other boy hissed angrily and glared at him for a moment, eyes glowing an eerie red. "Well, Marce and I have been worried about you; you haven't opened up to people as easily as you used to," he finished, holding his hands up, palms facing the vampire.
"Are you saying you're little sister is capable of hurting someone on that level?" Marshall Lee asked, all traces of joking ease gone as a simmering, old anger bubbled beneath the surface.
"No, of course not," Finn quickly defended himself. "I don't think my sister is consciously capable of hurting anyone, especially not like that. But that doesn't mean she can't do it subconsciously." A sad smile pulled at the blond boy's face when his friend jerked his head towards him. "She's carrying a lot of pain inside. I don't know what happened, she hasn't told me and I'm not going to press, but whatever it was it's made her less likely to reach out to people. She goes through the motions, but even with us she still keeps a lot locked away. She could hurt someone without meaning to just by pulling away or flat out running to keep from letting people too far in." A dark look stole over Finn's face for a moment and even Marshall Lee floated away from him for a moment. "If I ever find who did that to her though, they're going to wish they'd never been born," he snarled.
"How do you know anyone did anything to her?" Marshall Lee asked when he thought the other boy had calmed down enough to talk to again.
"She's broken Marsh," Finn sighed. "And maybe it's my fault for not finding her sooner, but people don't get that broken all on their own."
You have no idea, Marshall Lee thought to himself, remembering the face of a scared little girl, tears painted silver on her cheeks in the moonlight, a pain of loss so deep in her eyes that it went further than worrying over a brother in the hospital. He remembered the broken, haunted look that had taken over her eyes for a moment and the dark anger that had swept through him at the people that had left her alone to suffer for so long. Okay, he admitted to himself with a soft sigh. Maybe she is different, but that doesn't mean she's special.
The group spent a good chunk of the rest of the day following broken slabs of concrete that cut a narrow path through the densely packed trees. At what they guessed was about midday they stopped briefly to rest and eat a quick meal before pushing on until the pervasive gloom of the Edge turned an almost inky black.
"All right, we should probably stop for the night," Marceline said after a while. "It's dark enough that I can barely see anything anymore."
"Should we light a fire?" Finn asked as he dropped to the ground with a relieved sigh.
"I haven't seen or heard anything that would suggest we shouldn't," Fionna replied as she sunk down beside her brother. "Not even any of the animals the hunters come in here for," she added with a frown, looking around for a moment as if one of the elusive creatures would suddenly appear.
"I vote yes to the fire then," the blond boy said as he forced himself to his feet and grabbed a bunch of branches and kindling from around the area. "I'd rather not eat cold rations if I don't have to."
The four of them quickly set up camp; which really consisted of picking out spots to spread out their sleeping bags and then putting together a fire pit. Dinner was a quick affair that consisted of a hodge-podge stew and some bread Finn had dug out of his rations pack. No one said much, all of their eyelids drooping from the long march of the day. It wasn't long after they finished eating that all four of them dropped off into dreamland, too tired and unconcerned with setting a watch.
Fionna came to with a groggy start, unsure what had woken her in the first place. She tried to reach up and rub the sleep induced fuzziness from her eyes but found her arms wouldn't move. Panic shot through her and her heart rate spiked, throbbing almost painfully in her chest. She tried to move an arm, a leg, hell even just a toe, but her body wouldn't obey and the young blonde was left straining against the prison her flesh had become for her mind. Only after she had forced her breathing to slow and her heart to stop its mad racing did she feel the slight prick of pain in her neck. She didn't have long to wonder what it was when hazy images floated in at the edges of her rapidly blurring vision.
"This one's awake," a voice said. "Odd too, she ain't one of the blood suckers."
"Who cares?" another voice answered testily. "Just stick another one in her and the toxin will knock her right out. Hey! What did I say about those two!" the voice called, turned away to yell at someone further away. "You've got to load them up with the toxin and we'll probably have to stick them a few more times before we get back to lock them up. Damn vampires," the second voice added as he turned back to face the first voice. "More trouble than they're worth. Why are her eyes still open? Stick her again and let's get going!"
Fionna felt a sharp jab pierce her neck and she had a brief moment of panic flare before her vision went completely black and her mind faded into nothingness.
Finn was the first one to wake up, followed quickly by Marceline. The vampire girl regained full use of her limbs quickly while the blond boy had to fight and struggle a bit before he was finally able to stumble to his feet. Marshall Lee woke up soon after, hissing and snarling insults at whoever had nabbed them, eyes glowing red as he looked around the dark pit the four of them had been thrown into.
"Where the hell are we?" the vampire boy demanded, eyes tracking up to pool of faint light at least fifty feet overhead.
"No idea, we've only been up and around for maybe five minutes," Finn answered, still bracing himself with one hand against the rough stone walls. "I'm thinking it might be a dry well though. It's kinda shaped like one."
"Hey guys, where's Fionna?" Marceline asked. "Fionna?"
A faint murmur had all three snapping their heads to a dark lump lying against the far wall. Marshall Lee was the first one to the blonde girl's side, carefully cradling her head as he checked her over.
"She's not hurt," he said at last. "At least not that I can see. Looks like whatever they knocked us out with they gave her a double dose of," he added, fingers brushing against two small puncture wounds; one at the juncture between her neck and shoulder and the other closer to her chin.
"M'ead 'urts," the blonde slurred, groaning slightly as her eyelids fluttered in a weak attempt to open. "Feel sick," she added softly.
"It's okay Fi," Finn tried to soothe his little sister. "We're here and you'll be fine."
"What happened?" Fionna asked, finally managing to open her eyes and lift her head up slightly to look around before letting it fall back into Marshall Lee's cradling arms.
"We're trying to figure that out ourselves," Marceline sighed. "We woke up here, figured out we'd been drugged cause Finn was stumbling around like a newborn, and that's about as far as we got before we tried looking for you."
"Looks like they got you twice," Marshall Lee added, his fingers ghosting over the wounds one more time, his anger growing black inside of him. "You'll probably be out of it for a little while."
"Voices," Fionna said softly.
"What?" Finn pressed as he leaned closer.
"I heard voices," Fionna replied and then frowned. "No, I woke up and then heard voices. I couldn't see, my vision was fuzzy, but they talked about keeping us all out and then stuck me with something and I was out again." She struggled to sit up again and barely managed to get to her elbows when she heard Marshall Lee sigh behind her and drag her upright, her back resting against his chest. "Thanks," she mumbled.
"No problem Kitten," Marshall Lee's voice resonated against Fionna's back. "I couldn't let my favorite little blonde flop around like a fish on dry land like that."
"I wasn't flopping around," Fionna huffed.
"All right children," Marceline interrupted, a smirk on her lips as she shot her brother a look. "Let's put the infighting aside and see if we can figure out where we are, shall we?"
"They had to have been watching us," Finn grumbled, glaring up at the faint circle of light overhead. "Whoever they are. How else would they have known we were all asleep?"
"They might have just stumbled on us," Marshall Lee pointed out. "The Edge is a big place and apparently there are more than just wild animals here."
"They knew you were vampires," Fionna replied thoughtfully as she tilted her head back to look up at Marshall Lee. "I heard them say they had to keep dosing you two in order to keep you out before they jabbed me again."
"Ogres?" Marceline asked, sticking her nose into the air and sniffing loudly. "Nah, smells too clean to be ogres."
"And it's still too close to the forest line for ogres," Finn pointed out. "They prefer being in the hearts of forests and swamps and stuff."
"Well, one way to find out," Marceline said as she started floating up towards the light. She reached the bars blocking her from freedom and carefully wrapped one hand around the cool metal. Her head had just barely pressed her face to the bars when she jerked back with a scream, pressing her hands to her face even as she plummeted back towards the ground. The sound of falling water had all three looking up to see clear drops of liquid chasing the vampire girl down.
Finn leapt to his feet almost immediately and braced himself to catch the falling girl, immediately gathering her close and leaping back from the water. "What the hell?" he barked, glaring up at the shadowy figure outlined in the light above. Every muscle was rigid and his jaw was locked tight as barely restrained fury burned in his eyes
"Stay down there," a voice answered harshly. "Come up here again and it'll be worse."
"You'll pay for this asshole," the blond boy snarled. "When I get out of here, you'll be the first one I come after."
"You're not going anywhere," the voice answered before the figure turned away and disappeared.
Finn let loose with a string of curses and promises of pain, each more creative than the last, until the rage melted from his face and he glanced down at the vampire girl in his arms. Her screaming had stopped, but muffled sobs laced with pained groans sounded from against his chest where she had pressed her face. "Marce?" he asked softly, shifting her gently in his arms as he settled back on the floor against the wall. "Marcy, what happened?"
"Blessed water," the vampire gasped, a shudder running through her system. "It hurts," she moaned.
"Let me see," Finn replied as he gently moved her hands from her face and tilted her head slightly into the light. "It's already healing," he told her, fingers tracing softly over the red marks that streaked down her face and hands.
"Still hurts," Marceline complained.
"I know," the blond answered. "Let's see if we can speed the healing up a bit, shall we?" Without another word, Finn let his eyes fall closed and tipped his head until his forehead rested on top of Marceline's. A soft glow began to build around the pair and as Fionna and Marshall Lee watched the angry red marks faded into a softer pink until they were practically gone.
"I have to admit, being soul bound has its nifty tricks," Marshall Lee commented lightly to the girl resting against him.
"It doesn't really seem like there's a downside," Fionna agreed.
"There's always a downside in everything," the vampire boy returned. "They're tied so closely that if one of them is threatened or hurt the other gets real pissed real fast."
"Is that a bad thing?" Fionna asked. "To care about another person so much that you don't want to see them hurt?"
"I suppose not," Marshall Lee shrugged, adjusting his hold on Fionna for a moment so he could lean more comfortably against the wall. "But it goes beyond that with them. Reasoning, strategy, nothing enters into their minds when the other one's down. All they care about is getting to each other and taking out any unlucky bastards that happen to be in their way. It's like their flight or fight responses kick in the second one of them gets hurt and it's always locked in fight mode."
Fionna just hummed in acknowledgement as she watched her brother and his bonded. The glow was fading now and with it all the marks on Marceline were disappearing. After a moment she shifted a bit on her own and found strength finally returning to her limbs. "Thanks," she told Marshall Lee as she pushed herself away to sit against the wall on her own. "I can keep myself up now."
Marshall Lee just let her go, unwrapping the arm that had somehow found its way to her waist, and tried to tell himself he did not miss the warmth the smaller blonde took with her when she moved away. He waited until both Finn and Marceline had their eyes open and looked alert before asking his questions.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"Exactly what it looked like," Marceline answered with a scowl on her lips. She sat up quickly and fit herself snuggly into Finn's arms, her back propped against his chest and his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. "I got up there, barely got a look, and some bastard dumped blessed water on me!"
"Why would blessed water do anything?" Fionna questioned, her head tilted to the side. "I thought that only worked on demons."
"We're technically half demon," Marshall Lee answered. "Our dad's the Demon Lord of the Night O'Sphere."
"Wait, then how are you vampires?" the blonde girl pressed. "I didn't think demons and vampires could mix."
"They can't, at least not usually," Marceline replied. "Our mother was human, but she died when we were still young. We were half human, half demon and no one wanted us because we were a mixed breed. We got fed up with it after a while, but we were pissed with our dad so we didn't want to go full demon. We found some vampires, got ourselves turned, then took control of the vampire court. After that got old we started wandering around the world."
"So how are we getting out of here?" Marshall Lee asked, staring at the puddle that had formed in the middle of the floor. "Marce and I can't get anywhere near that junk and the two of you can't get up there," he said, motioning between the two blond siblings.
"What if we could?" Fionna questioned softly, her eyes on the light and interlocked metal bars overhead.
"No offense Kitten, but I don't think you or Finn could get up there," Marshall Lee replied with a shake of his head. "In fact, unless you've been keeping something from us, I know for sure Finn can't get up there."
"Hey!" the blond boy protested. "I'm a great climber!"
"Being able to climb has nothing to do with it," Marshall Lee returned. "The walls have been worn almost smooth, which means no hand-holds or foot-holds for you. So unless you can float, you're not getting up there."
"We don't have to," Fionna interrupted. "You can float up there," she added, turning to Marshall Lee.
"Except I'll end up like Marce," he replied with a gesture towards his sister. "Except worse probably cause the first time was a warning shot, so to speak, and I don't have anyone to help patch me up when I get splashed."
"Not necessarily," Fionna shook her head. "You can't touch the bars or get any of the water on your skin, right? So what if you floated me up there? It won't matter if I get some blessed water thrown on me so I can see about getting that gate open and then we can get out of here."
"And if they see you and throw some water in?" Marshall Lee pressed. "It won't matter if I'm not touching the bars, I'll still get splashed."
"Then we wait until dark and they're asleep," Fionna shrugged.
"Good as plan as any I suppose," Marshall Lee agreed. "I can't think of any other options anyway."
"So now that we've figured that out, anyone else wondering how they knew blessed water would work?" Finn questioned with a motion between Marshall Lee and Marceline. "Neither of you look like demons and everyone knows that blessed water doesn't work on vampires."
"More and more questions and less and less answers," Marceline replied. "I think we're just going to have to wait and see."
It seemed that it took an eternity for the light to fade away and darkness take its place. Throughout the day water was continually dumped over the bars which kept the two demi-demon vampires practically against the walls. "Just in case you get ideas," a voice had growled down at them at one point, though no one had said anything to them since. When night finally fell they waited for hours longer before Marshall Lee quietly scooped Fionna up into his arms and floated them towards the bars overhead.
He eyed a drop of water distrustfully, glaring at the moisture clinging to the metal, and backed away.
"I can't do anything if I'm not close enough to the bars to find the lock," Fionna whispered to him.
"And I'm not going to be able to do anything if any of that gets on me," Marshall Lee retorted. "I don't think you'd like a fifty foot fall Kitten."
"Cats always land on their feet," the blonde replied dismissively. "Now seriously, get me in closer."
Marshall Lee only sighed in response but obediently floated closer to the bars. They were quiet for a long heartbeat, listening to the sounds around them, before Fionna quietly slipped her hands through the gaps in the bars and tried to find the lock. When she finally located the device she pulled her hands back in and felt along the seam of her hoodie.
"Gotcha," she whispered softly as she pulled two, thin metal needles from inside the hem.
"You've just got fun stuff hidden all over, don't you?" Marshall Lee chuckled softly. "And where, may I ask, did you learn to pick locks?"
"I broke my leg once when I was younger," Fionna answered absently, her attention focused on manipulating her lock picks. "I was stuck in bed for weeks with nothing better to do so I taught myself to pick locks. It's harder when I can't see what I'm doing," she added with a slight pout. She grumbled a few more words under her breath until, finally, there was a soft click and a large grin replaced her frown. "And we're out," she said, turning to smile at Marshall Lee.
"Almost," the vampire nodded. "Hold onto the bars, tight. Whatever you do, don't let go."
Curious, but figuring it wasn't worth arguing over, Fionna grabbed the bars with both hands and had to suppress a yelp when Marshall Lee started floating upwards. Figuring out what he was doing, she kept her arms straight and her elbows locked while the vampire moved them up and over until she could gently lay the grate open on the grass. A quick look told them there were on a grassy hill, trees surrounding them on all side but one. Once they were clear, Marceline and Finn came out right behind them.
"Hang on," Finn called quietly before the other three could take off. Silently, he moved the grate back in place until the lock clicked. "Hopefully that'll buy us some time."
"I'm hoping to be long gone before anyone even knows we've left," Marshall Lee replied.
"We've got to find our stuff first," Marceline pointed out.
"Uh, guys?" Fionna said, pointing down the only open side of the small hill. "That might be a bit of a problem." She felt the others cluster around her but didn't say another word.
"Well damn," Marshall Lee sighed.
"On the bright side, we may have found where the Hidden Library is," Finn replied looking out at the town below them. It was old, most of the buildings crumbling away, and the look of the architecture placed it from before the Mushroom War. It seemed to wrap around that whole side of the hill and extend another six miles deeper into the Edge at least.
"Yeah, but now we'll need to find a library in there," Marceline said, gesturing to the spread of buildings. "All right, teams of two?"
"Probably the only thing we can do," Marshall Lee agreed. "Come on then Kitten; let's see if we can find our stuff."
The two groups made their way down the hill and split, stalking silently through the quiet town streets. Finn and Marceline took off to the right, keeping to the shadows and moving quickly.
"I don't hear anything," Marceline whispered as she and Finn stood outside yet another storehouse door, her ear pressed to the wooden surface.
"All right then," Finn whispered back, pulling his leg back to kick the door down.
"Wait," Marceline hissed. "We don't want to make any noise. Hang on a second," she added as she glanced up to a row of broken windows up above. She took one last look around and floated up, quickly disappearing into the building. A few seconds later the door creaked open and Finn squeezed inside.
"I didn't see anything," the vampire girl informed him. "But I didn't really look that hard either."
After ten minutes of combing through yet another stack of canned food supplies, Finn groaned and kicked at the nearest crate, sending it skidding across the floor and into the opposite wall. "This is the fourth building we've checked and our stuff isn't here. I really hope Marshall Lee and Fionna are having better luck than we are."
"Nothing to do but move on to the next building," Marceline replied as she floated over and grabbed both of Finn's hands, hauling him to his feet. "Come on then hero boy, no point in getting discouraged yet," she added, leaning in to press a quick peck to his lips. "Now let's get back to searching. Can you imagine how smug Marshall Lee will be if he finds our stuff first?"
"True," Finn grinned in response. "All right, next building it is!"
Almost across town, Fionna and Marshall Lee weren't faring any better. In fact, it could be argued that their luck was much, much worse. Currently the pair had all but stuffed themselves into the darkest corner of a back alley, waiting for the sound of footsteps to fade.
"Of course we'd choose the side of town with guards patrolling," Marshall Lee grumbled.
"Shh!" Fionna reprimanded sharply. "I'm trying to listen."
"He's about two feet to the left of the alley entrance," the pale boy whispered back. "Oh come on, really? The asshat just stopped for some reason!"
"Maybe it's cause you keep talking!" Fionna grumbled. "So shut it!"
Marshall Lee shot her a caustic glare but promptly stopped talking anyway. For a tense few moments neither of them could hear anything and then finally the guard started walking off once more. Motioning for her to wait where she was, Marshall Lee floated up a little higher and carefully made his way to the end of the alley. Fionna watched him closely and silently slipped through the shadows to his side when he beckoned her closer.
"All right, we're good for now, I don't see or hear anyone else," the vampire told her.
"Not that it really matters," Fionna told him. "So far all we've seen have been houses."
"We'll find something soon Kitten, relax," Marshall Lee told the girl, smirking over his shoulder at her before reaching back and ruffling her hair a bit, only laughing when she scowled up at him.
Suddenly Fionna stiffened, glancing around, and a second later the sound of rushed footsteps reached Marshall Lee's pointed ears. He didn't have time to question that she knew a split second before he did as he scooped the younger blonde up into his arms and flew as fast as he could away from the sound.
"Let's hope Finn and Marce are doing better, huh?" he asked as he flew away. "Cause I think we're going to be on the run."
"You there! Halt!" a voice rang out behind them.
"Ooops, guess we weren't quiet enough," Marshall Lee chuckled. "Hold on tight Kitten!"
The vampire didn't even bother to look back as he sped away, only watching where he was going as he wove in and out of alleys and streets. "Well shit," he suddenly growled as he came to an abrupt stop. He hissed slightly as more soldiers came pouring out through a side street. "Damn buggers."
Marshall Lee quickly spun around and sped off towards the city center, the only path open to him at this point.
"We're probably being herded into a trap, you know that right?" Fionna asked as she instinctively reached for the crystal on her leg, only to growl lowly when she met with air.
"Most likely," Marshall Lee agreed. "But there's not much else we can do. I mean sure, I could take on these guys, but you're kind of weaponless at the moment Kitten. I know, I know," he added quickly. "You can take care of yourself. But it might be a lot easier on you if you had a weapon"
"Looks like you've been having fun too," Finn suddenly called as he and Marceline came running up on their right.
"And it looks like you've got your own fan club following you," Marshall Lee observed.
"Yeah, wouldn't you know it?" Marceline laughed. "They found us when we were ransacking a storage house. Apparently that's not something these people tolerate here."
"Anyone know who or what these guys even are?" Fionna demanded.
"Not a clue; their stupid helmets keep their faces hidden," Finn answered promptly.
Sure enough, when Fionna glanced over Marshall Lee's shoulder, she saw scores of people, all humanoid in shape, chasing after them and all of their faces hidden behind dark green, visored helmets. Their armor looked vaguely like leaves and all of them carried light spears with shining silver tips. A couple carried quivers full of white fletched arrows and as she watched a few archers dropped back, unslinging their bows and taking aim.
"Uh, guys?" she said, keeping her eyes on the archers. "You might want to pick it up a bit. They've got archers and they're lining up their shots."
"Damnit!" Marshall Lee cursed when a shaft narrowly missed his right shoulder.
"In there!" Finn yelled, pointing to a large building looming in front of them.
"Not exactly a defendable position," Marceline replied skeptically.
"Better than staying out here and getting turned into pincushions though," Fionna replied as she practically launched herself from Marshall Lee's arms and through heavy, solid wood doors. The other three crammed in right behind her and immediately went to work grabbing everything in sight to barricade the entrance.
"You wanna help us out Fi?" Finn asked as he dragged a heavy metal bench in front of the doors. He turned back to look for his sister and saw her standing at the top of a set of stairs right behind them.
"You might want to come look at this," the blonde girl answered instead as she pointed down the stairs, looking back over her shoulder at her three companions.
"Please tell me we didn't stumble onto more fans," Marceline groaned as she floated over, only to stop dead and stare as well.
"Well, what do you know," Marshall Lee said as he came up beside the girls. "They chased us right to it."
"Yeah," Finn agreed, looking out at the rows and rows of books spread out on shelves below them. "Now we just need to find one book in all of this."
"One book that we don't know the title of, or what it even looks like, while an army of angry whatevers are gathering outside," Fionna sighed.
"Well, when you put it that way, it should be a piece of cake," Marshall Lee grinned sardonically.
A loud thump on the door behind them had all four turning to eye the doors warily for a moment.
"Well, better get started then," Finn said. "The sooner we find what we came for the sooner we can get out of here. Okay, maybe get out of here," he added when another loud bang had him glancing at the doors once more.
AN2: Well, there you go! I hope you all enjoyed chapter six and don't forget to leave me a review!