Chapter #9: The Aftermath

As soon as Rue was a safe distance away from Marshall, she flew up above the scattered clouds. Her silhouette blocked the moonlight from a certain area, and the stars shone to her, for once, as more than just flecks of white in the sky. She fell back, giggling madly. She had completely forgotten what Marshall was even going through, blindly focusing on how wonderful he was. His messy hair, his snarky grin, the way he held her… It sent shivers down her spine just thinking about it. Rue loved it, she loved him… But she was blinded by it.

As her laughter subsided, she spread her wings and swooped back up. She wasn't sure where Fionna was. She really needed to tell her everything that had just happened to her. The Candy Kingdom had come into view, and Gumball had apparently closed off all the windows to the castle. She dove and skidded to a stop at the gates, then rapped her knuckles against them. "Fionna? Cake? Anyone here?"

The sun was beginning to give the horizon a pinkish tinge. If they didn't come soon, Rue figured she'd just have to fall asleep right there… Then again, Gumball might find her and imprison her for the whole guards thing… Rue yawned, her eyelids extremely heavy, as if someone had crafted them from iron.

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Inside the castle, Fionna and Cake had finished their discussion. As Cake stood up to go find Rue, the cell phone she carried rang. The cat stared down at it in confusion. She carried it around with her by habit, and nothing more. The last time that she had actually been called was a number of years prior. "Excuse me," Cake said with a bewildered smile, "I'll be back in a minute." Then she slipped around the corner.

"FIONNA!" Root Beer Girl called, pounding on the other side of the door. "Rue has returned without Marshall." Instantly, Fionna stood to her feet and rushed down the stairs to where Rue was waiting.

As Fionna looked at Rue, she suddenly found herself completely at a loss as to what to say. Her mind instantly replayed the moment when Rue was kissing Marshall repeatedly. And now she'd been out for a number of hours alone with the guy, so Fionna could only imagine what they might have been doing. If she found out they were kissing or something… She clenched her fists irritatingly.

The look on Rue's face pissed her off even more than before. This was not cool in any way, shape, or form! Then she forced herself to relax as she thought about the events that had happened that morning. If Rue was looking for hope, then she seemed to have found something with Marshall. Plus, she had no reason to believe Marshall had anything for Rue. Above all, she was a hero and couldn't allow herself to be filled with hatred. "Hello, Rue," she said cordially. "Had a good time?"

"It was wonderful!" Rue kept herself from screaming and waking up the entire kingdom, "We couldn't really decide on where to go. Like; first we were going to go to this party, but then we were going to some cemetery, but then he said he'd take me back to his place… Oh, and the Ice Queen stopped us. That was pretty weird…" Rue rambled, tapping a finger to her chin, "But then he-…" Her words quieted, realizing maybe Fionna shouldn't hear that part due to her reaction earlier… Rue cupped her mouth with one hand and whispered, "…I am so sorry…"

It was a little more than obvious that Rue cared a lot about the events that took place in the past few hours… Marshall made her feel like no one else could… She couldn't exactly trust him that much, but he was a lot like her… Rue pressed her chin into her collarbone, mumbling a few more apologies.

His house. Those were the first words that truly registered in Fionna's head. She and Cake were the only people who had ever been to Marshall's house since his arrival in Ooh. That fact alone caused Fionna's blood to boil, though she kept a smile plastered onto her face. Then the girl stopped abruptly, which almost caused Fionna to lose her composure entirely. What exactly had Marshall done? The next words Rue spoke forced Fionna to use all her willpower to not pick up a chair and throw it in the girl's face. WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU AND MARSHALL DOING! She screamed inside of her head, though keeping a smile on the outside.

"Hey, relax." Fionna said, her calmness surprising even her. "Look. Whatever happened, it has been a long day… For all of us. I suggest we head back to my house and get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and I am already going to be sleeping through most of it."

"Yeah…" Rue yawned with both hands over her mouth, "…We should probably… Get some sleep…" Fionna looked a little suspicious… She was smiling too much, and there were slight hints in her tone that made Rue tip her head questioningly. It was hard trying not to smile, and make Fionna even more suspicious of her by her constant grin, so Rue pulled the jacket off her waist and put it on. She zipped it up as high as it could go, flipped up her hood, and buried her face in the collar.

Thoughts of Marshall were buzzing through her head. Rue truly didn't know if she would ever be able to get him out of her mind now… All she knew was she was going to plan to see him later. There was an awkward silence after Rue finished speaking and pulled the jacket's hood over her head. The awkwardness was so thick that one could have cut it with a knife. It was into this atmosphere that Cake strolled distractedly, obviously lost in thought.

Fionna's mood instantly changed as she approached her friend cautiously. "Did… Something happen?" Fionna asked quietly, but Cake just shook her head.

Cake glanced over at Rue and sighed. "It's nothing," she replied quietly. "Just tired from a long day…. and seriously regretting how treated you this morning." She directed the comment at Rue. Then she stretched her legs out the window and grew large enough for the two of them to fit on her back. "Come on, you two. It's going to be morning before we even get home if we don't leave now."

Rue's face lit up when she saw Cake approach them. The whispers between her and Fionna sounded like gibberish to her. It must've been that her tiredness had been affecting her comprehension… Rue hauled herself onto Cake and flopped down, planting her face into Cake's fur. Her body fell limp, and she began sliding off of the colossal cat. Blindly, she patted Cake's back to try to find something to hold onto without hurting her.

Rue's body fell onto the ground and she curled up into her normal fetal position, already asleep. That was a pathetic attempt… Her eyes were already glued shut, and all her limbs felt like lead. So, there was no use in trying that again… Besides, the cold, hard pavement was welcoming for once.

Cake looked down at the young girl sleeping on the ground before transforming her tail into a small bed and scooping her up off the ground. She smiled gently, though she said nothing, proceeding to carry the girl back towards the house. "Peaceful night," she said to Fionna, before realizing that she too had curled up and was falling asleep. "Children will be children," she said quietly to herself.

Then she looked down at Fionna. "Sleep quietly, my love. I swear that I will never let anything hurt you." Then she walked without another word, countless thoughts running through her head. In one night, her life had turned itself upside down. "Everything will be better in the morning," she thought to herself quietly, though she was filled with doubt. "You'll see."

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The next several days rolled by in rapid succession. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary happened, besides Cake's constant stewing and Marshall not showing himself. Rue and Fionna spent it watching cartoons, playing video games, and basically relaxing as children do. Then, at the end of the seventh day… things began to change. At the time, Fionna had just finished kicking Rue's butt in a fighting video game.

"Aww c'mon!" Rue whined, chucking the controller at the floor, "You totally cheated on that one! You have to admit it! I'm the ultimate champion of video games! How could this happen?!" She threw her arms around her knees and rolled onto her back, then rolled so she was sitting upright again.

"Caaaaaaaaaaaakkkeeee?!" She called out childishly, "Fionna's cheating at video games, and she won't admit it to meeeeeee!" The base of her palm hit Fionna's shoulder playfully, knocking her over. It had been a while since Rue had seen Marshall, and she was already extremely worried. It didn't show at the moment, but inside she was shattered. If he liked her back… He would've shown up by now…

Fionna, on the other hand, had pushed pretty much every thought of Marshall out of her head for the time being. She never knew when he would show up anyways. Sometimes, he would appear every day during a week, and others she wouldn't see him for a couple weeks. Once, he'd even been incognito for a month. She leaned back with a smile as Rue taunted her.

Cake didn't come out of the kitchen where she was making breakfast. She'd said little over the last week, and hadn't played video games with anybody. However, she could currently be heard whistling a tune as if she hadn't a care in the world. She called out, "Well, Rue the Champion, you think you could head out to the flower field i showed you yesterday and pick up some of those Driophoniculumpis plants for seasoning? I just used up the last of it. Thanks."

"Whaaaaaat?" Rue yelled back at Cake, "What the heck even is that Dry-phony-cucumber-umpis stuff?! Can't Fionna do it?" The demoness crossed her arms and rolled onto her back again. Groaning, Rue hit the back of her head on the floor and swatted at Fionna. "What's she talking about? What are these flowers? Why do you eat them? Hmm? And what do they look like? Do they taste any good?"

Rue kept throwing, stupid pointless questions at Fionna just to bug her. Apparently, it didn't seem to be working… Rolling onto her side, she propped herself up on one elbow and began jabbing Fionna's thigh with her index finger, her questions getting weirder and more random.

Fionna rolled her eyes and smiled despite herself. However, she did stand up so that Rue would no longer be able to poke her without moving. "Very funny," she said with a sly smile, "but you already know the answer to all of that stuff. Look, if you want, I'll give you a rematch and show you some of my secrets as soon as you return with the Driophoniculumpis plants."

"Yeah," Cake called out in response. "I'd get them myself, but frankly you can move so much faster than me that you'd probably have gotten there, found them, and gotten back before I even reached the clearing. We can eat that supper you have been whining about for hours as soon as you get back."

"Uuuuggghhhh…" Rue groaned, pulling herself to her feet, "Fiiiiine…" She lazily slipped off her jacket and tossed it on the floor, then jumped out the open window with a loud, exaggerated "Wah!" followed by giggling. Rue flipped herself over and planted her feet on the ground before she could be smacked onto it, then jumped and propelled herself upwards into the sky. Once she got high enough to spot the clearing in the forest, she spiraled down towards it.

Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to stop herself before she fell into a tree, snagging the back of her shirt onto the end of a large branch. Her neck felt like it was going to snap any moment and her limbs flailed helplessly. Struggling to free herself, Rue screamed out for help, startling quite a lot of the forest creatures.

"How totally convenient." A dark, cruel, haunting voice said from below her in the clearing. "I expected to have to fight you while discussing things with you, but as long as you are busy hanging yourself… All you can do is listen." There was the sound of air whizzing by, as a being from below bounded his way effortlessly up the tree from branch to branch to branch. He stopped directly in front of Rue, and looked a lot like some kind of creature directly out of a horror book.

The man was clearly human, albeit a seriously distorted one. His eyes were cold, like a fish, while at the same time wild, like a predator about to feed. His fingers were abnormally long, and the fingernails at the end had turned into claws. His teeth are sharp, like a lion. His hair was wild, tangled, like a rampant bush of briars. His legs were abnormally muscular with added bones that allowed for greater jump ability. Above all, his reflexes were quick as a mouse.

"Rue, daughter of Lirifon, you should have stayed out of Ooh." He said coldly.