Chapter 10
Finn's eyes shot open in a panic, his heart pounding wildly. It wasn't until he felt cool breath on his neck that he noticed the girl with hair as black as a raven's feathers sleeping on him. He released a sigh of relief and lifted his head a bit to allow himself to see her better. It wasn't a dream. Oh my Glob, it was all real.
He threw his head back onto the pillow and began to brush his fingers serenely through her hair. She suddenly jostled in her sleep and muttered something unintelligible, her breathing heavy and her expression showing pain and anguish.
"It's okay, Marcy, it's okay," he said quietly as he tried to calm her. "It's just a dream. You're safe. I won't let anything hurt you."
At the sound of his voice she settled down and snuggled into his body, clutching his arm. He continued to stroke her hair, and once in a while he would kiss the top of her head or rub her back. He did this for a few hours until she awoke.
"Good morning," he said as soon as she opened her eyes.
Marceline yawned, outstretched her arms, and gave him a smile. "Good morning, love."
Finn's face filled with color at the sound of that sweet word. He brushed her cheek with the side of his forefinger and leaned in to press his lips hard against hers.
"Don't you think it'll a little early for that?" she whispered into his ear after the kiss ended, and then nibbled the lobe of it playfully.
"No," Finn said defensively. "I can kiss you any time of the day I want." To prove his point, he laid the vampire onto her back and straddled her, then kissed her mouth hard again. He pulled her bottom lip very gently with his teeth before he pulled away. "See?"
Marceline giggled and tore the hat off his head. She tilted her head to the side to run her lips across his neck, and when Finn let out a sigh she laughed harder. "I have found your weakness, hero," she joked. She slid herself out from under the boy's body and bounced the hat tauntingly in front of his face. "And now I have your most prized possession."
"Snap!" Finn played along. "You'd better give that back, or so help me…"
"Well," she whispered, bringing her face only an inch from his. "You're going to have to fight me for it."
Finn raised an eyebrow. He grabbed for the hat, but she moved it out of his reach just before his fingertips could brush the white fabric. He gave her a wicked grin and reached for it again, but her hand dodged his grasp. Even though he missed, the smile still tugged at his lips.
"What?" Marceline asked.
Before she could utter another word, Finn reached his hands to her sides and began to violently tickle her ribs.
"F-Finn!" She screeched with earsplitting laughter. "Stop! Finn! Right…right now!"
Finn didn't let up. He threw the girl onto the bed and leaned over her, his fingers moving rapidly up and down her sides.
"Finn! Knock it off!" Marceline screamed as she laughed uncontrollably.
"Do you surrender?"
"Okay! Okay! Yes, I…I surrender!"
Finn chuckled. "I win. And I have found your weakness as well, Vampire Queen."
"Ha! In your dreams, human. I have no weaknesses." Then she turned the hat around and pulled it over his head backwards.
Finn adjusted it and glared at her. A loud gurgle vibrated through his stomach.
"Breakfast time?" Marceline asked as she poked his belly.
"Defs."
They went down to the kitchen where Marceline began to fumble through her cupboards. A couple of noisy bams and clanks later, she stood up holding a large black frying pan by its handle. It was placed on top of the stove, and with the turn of a button a small orange and blue flame rose under it. The vampire grabbed a package out of her fridge, ripped it open, and laid ten strips of bacon into the pan. It came to life as it danced and crackled, the heat controlling it as though it was its puppet master.
When the bacon became crisp Marceline fished it out of the pan with a spatula and set all of the strips neatly on a thin stack of paper towels. "Come and get it," she told Finn who was already seated at the table.
"Serve yourself first," he said politely. I'll eat what you don't want."
She shrugged and took five pieces for herself. The ends of the strips went into her mouth one at a time. She bit down on each one and sucked the red into her mouth, then displayed them for the human to see.
"Woah, white bacon." Finn was in awe as he stared at the drained meat.
"Yeah, it's something you don't see every day."
He stood up and helped himself to the rest of the food that remained, finishing all of it off quickly. "That was great. Thanks, Marcy."
"Don't mention it."
Finn sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and eyed the top of the table, his fingers hurriedly rapping its surface.
"What's up?" Marceline asked as she noticed his usual nervous actions.
"Well, it's morning," he pointed out, his voice faltering. "You told me that you would tell me that secret."
She froze for a moment, her mind occupied in deep thought. "I did, didn't I?"
Finn nodded.
Marceline sucked in a breath and went to join him at the table. She placed both of her hands on top of his and firmly held his gaze. The room was drowned in a deafening silence that made Finn's ears ring. His breathing quickened with anticipation.
"Well, Finn…in order for me to tell you and for you to better understand…you're going to have to wake up."
The boy's heart halted for a split second. "W-wake up?"
Marceline nodded, her eyes soft. "You're dreaming. You have been this entire time."
He became dizzy and nauseated; the room was suddenly spinning in circles around him. "Wh-what? No, I'm not...I'm awake. I'm not dreaming. I'm…"
"You're asleep on my couch right now, Finn. You fell asleep when you came over two nights ago, and you haven't woken up yet. Remember when you said that you had to go home because Jake would flip and I told you to stay for another hour? You fell asleep when we were watching TV, right after I told you about 'how we can lose control someday, but not yet.' You kind of just drifted off to sleep."
Finn was in a daze. "I…I'm asleep right now? Every single thing that's happened has been a dream? Like…everything?"
"Almost. I'm going to wake you up now. You've been asleep for almost two days, so I would assume you're pretty well rested. I'll explain this more to you when you awaken." With that, she snapped her fingers twice and everything went dark.
Finn opened his eyes and looked frantically around the room. The light pink walls gave away the fact that he was in Marceline's living room. He stood up, rubbed his eyes, and moaned when he felt a sharp pain in his back.
"Yeah, two days of sleeping on that couch will do that to ya." Marceline was seated on the arm of the red furniture.
The human examined himself only to realize that we was no longer wearing his red pajamas, but was dressed in his usual outfit consisting of blue jean shorts and a light blue shirt. "You'd better start explaining some things," he said angrily.
"I kind of cast a tiny dream spell on you," she began calmly. "When you fell asleep, it seemed like the perfect opportunity."
"Dream spell?"
"Yeah. It allows me to control your dreams."
Finn raised an eyebrow. "So everything that I just dreamt about was your doing? You controlled everything that happened in it?"
"Not everything. You controlled your own actions. But anyway, I thought it was pretty clever myself."
"You…wha…This doesn't make any sense. I'm still really confused," Finn admit.
Marceline rolled her eyes. "I'll sum it up, brainiac. You came over two days ago to hang out with me. I pulled a prank on you and told you that I needed a king. We started making out and junk, both admitting to one another that we liked each other. You said you had to go home and I told you to stay for another hour, we watched TV, and you passed out on my couch. All of that actually happened. It wasn't a dream like you thought it was. Are you following me so far?"
"I think so." Finn rested his chin on his knee.
"Okay. When you fell asleep, I cast a dream spell on you. I made you have a dream about Jake and me not remembering anything about you ever coming over. That way you would think that it never happened. You leaving my house and going back to the tree fort to sleep, Jake telling you that you were asleep all night and never came to my house, you coming and talking to me, me telling you that you never came over, you being all depressed, you coming over and spending the night, and even us waking up and having breakfast…that was all a dream. None of it ever really happened." The vampire spoke slowly and carefully as though she was trying to explain something simple to a small child.
"So everything that I thought was a dream was actually reality, and everything that I thought was reality was actually a dream…"
"Bingo! I knew you'd get it. Pretty cool, huh?"
Finn's face altered from pale white to dark red in a matter of seconds. "Why the hell would you do that to me, Marceline? Do you know how much pain and sadness I went through because of it?"
Her devilish grin faded into a sincere frown. "I-I wanted to see if you really liked me. It was kind of like a test to see if you wanted me badly enough to fight for me, even after you thought that I was never really yours… And then you told me that you would never leave me no matter what and…and I knew that you truly liked me."
Finn's breathing became heavy enough to flare his nostrils every time he released a breath of air. "Now that's just insulting! You don't trust me, so you had to test me to see if I was telling the truth about liking you! Really?"
"I know…I know. I'm so sorry, Finn. I know that it was a mistake and that I never should have done that to you." Her eyes welled with tears. "I can't even tell you how sorry I am. Gah, I'm so stupid!"
"I can usually handle your jokes and your pranks, but you've really crossed the line on this one. I honestly can't believe you, Marcy. How am I ever going to trust you, huh? I can't even be around you without wondering if I'm actually awake or not." Finn glared at her and made his way to the door in a rage.
"Finn…"
The boy shook his head. A single drop of saltwater slid down his cheek, leaving a silvery trail behind it. "I'm going home. Please just…don't talk to me for a while."
Finn paused for a moment expecting a response, but when he heard only silence he began to slowly close the door. Marceline hovered to the corner of the room to grab her bass guitar and began to play it, tears streaming down her cheeks. For some reason unknown to the human, the music drew him back into the house. The fact that he had absolutely no desire to be there vanished as she played those incredible notes. It was the same song that she had played several times in his dream.
The vampire expanded her lungs as she tried to calm herself, then opened her mouth to sing.
Another thousand years I'd wait for you.
I only hope someday you'll love me, too.
I know I can be angry,
I know I can be cruel.
I just wish you'd realize
the only change I need is you.
I have to live for all eternity,
but I don't really care.
Understand that I'll be happy
so long as you are there.
I don't know why I feel this way.
It's something I can't explain.
You're the only one I know
who can banish all the pain.
I know I can be hurtful
but there are very few
who even start to realize
the only change I need…is you.
Finn stood there, awestruck, his entire body trembling. He had never heard anything more beautiful or perfect in his entire life.
"I kind of lied in your dream. I know that you're getting pretty sick of my lies and all…but when I told you that I had just started writing that song a day ago…that wasn't true. I've actually been working on it for months." She tilted her mouth into a half-smile. "I didn't want to sing it for you when you asked me to because I was too embarrassed. I figured that you'd just laugh at it and tell me about how mushy it was." Marceline set her bass back down in its designated area and went to take a seat on the couch.
Finn offered no reply except to stare at her wide-eyed. If he was competing in a statue impersonation contest, the blue ribbon would have easily been awarded to him.
"I know you hate me and that song probably didn't change that, but I figured that since you didn't want me to talk to you for a while then I had might as well play it for you." She pursed her lips and flew over to where he was standing, then waved a hand a few inches in front of his face. "Finn?"
The boy shook his head and glanced up at her. "I…I mean…it's…was that song written about me?"
The vampire gently punched his shoulder. "Duh."
Finn pondered for a moment as a war between two emotions raged inside him. He felt an even mixture of anger and happiness, blanketing his mind with confusion.
"I really am so sorry about what I did, Finn. Just know that I regret it like, a ton. I don't expect you to forgive me any time soon, but please just keep that in the back of your head."
Gah! I don't know if I should walk away and slam the door behind me, or wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her for hours. Walk away…kiss her…walk away…kiss her. Hmm…I have no clue. No matter what she does or how ticked off she makes me, I can't stop being in love with her. Emotions suck.
"You can leave if you want. You don't have to stay," she said sadly.
Think, man. What are you going to do?
"I mean, I would understand if you never wanted to see me again."
Finn tapped his foot in rhythm with his breathing. Why do I have to love her so much?
Marceline sighed. "I told you that all I'm going to do is hurt you."
It's not like she meant to hurt me. She just has some wack trust issues.
"I really love you, Finn. I mean, I love you a lot. I don't want to lose you because I did something really stupid."
Without thinking, Finn put his forefinger to Marceline's lips. "I've told you already that you won't ever lose me. You might hurt my feelings sometimes, but everyone hurts each other once in a while. It happens, but there's no way that that's gonna change my feelings toward you. You're a radical dame…and I love you, too."
Finn wrapped her in his arms and pressed his lips to her cheek, then gently kissed her mouth.
Marceline smiled and placed her arms about his neck. Her heart felt incredibly light. "So, would you still like to do the honors of being my boyfriend?"
"Of course, m'lady, as long as you'll do the honors of being my girlfriend."
"Why of course." Then she leaned in to put her lips to his ear. "But being in a relationship with me does mean that the tricks and pranks will continue, you know. I just can't help myself."
Finn let out a long breath and gazed into her eyes. "Yeah, I figured you were going to say that. It's worth it, I think."
"I'm glad you think so," she said wickedly. "Now I just have to plan the next perfect surprise."
"Honestly, Marcy, after all that just happened, you're already thinking of how to make my life miserable again?"
The vampire intertwined her fingers with his. "I'm sorry, Finn," she chuckled. "It's kind of inevitable."
