Chapter Eleven: Just the Beginning

Marshall opened the door for Fionna to step inside. She glided through and sat on the couch – she really was exhausted. She had been having way too many late nights and early mornings. Marshall shut the door and followed her to the couch, sitting beside her. "You look really tired."

"Gee, thanks, what a compliment." Fionna pushed at Marshall kiddingly. "Why don't you get me a pillow so I can get some sleep?"

He laughed, "I didn't mean to insult you. And, you know it's really early, right? It's only seven or something."

Fionna had relaxed some since before, but she was still on edge about what happened, "Well, tomorrow is going to be an early morning, so we need to get some sleep."

Marshall asked, "How early?"

"Early."

Groaning, Marshall stood up and said, "Fine, if it will make you feel better. But, before we go to bed, aren't you hungry?"

Fionna realized she hadn't eaten since that morning, "Oh, yeah, I guess I am." She stood from the couch and wandered to the kitchen.

"Just help yourself to whatevs. I'm going to get some stuff." He flew upstairs, out of sight.

Fionna turned to the fridge. Inside, she found an assortment of red colored foods. She dug around a bit and couldn't find anything she wanted, so she sifted through the stuff in the cabinets. In one of them, she found a bag of chips, but it was too high to reach. She climbed up on the counter and grabbed the bag, which she promptly jumped from the counter with in hand. Marshall reappeared in the kitchen, wearing sweats. "Were you just on my counter?"

"Problem solving." Fionna walked past Marshall and repositioned herself on his couch.

Marshall pulled out some strawberries from the fridge and ate the red from them, "You don't have to sleep on the couch. Probably wouldn't be comfortable."

Fionna wasn't going to argue with that; the couch was awful. "Nah, I'm cool."

He tossed the colorless berries aside and headed toward the stairs. "No, come on."

She sighed, not wanting to move, but happy to have another option beside the couch, "Okay."

They entered Marshall's bedroom, which looked like it had been hastily cleaned. "You can take my bed for the night."

Fionna blushed a little, "Um, no it's okay. It's your bed; I'll be fine with the couch."

"Fionna, just take it. I float anyway, it doesn't matter to me. Plus, you'll get better sleep on that, and you will need it for tomorrow."

"Okay, okay. Thanks, Marshall." She smiled at him.

He realized that she didn't have a change of clothes, "Oh, do you want to borrow something to sleep in? Or..."

Fionna laughed, "No, I'm fine. You're being really nice, have you gone soft, Marshall Lee?"

Smirking, Marshall eyed Fionna. He was at her side in a flash, pushing her down on the bed, her chips falling to the floor. He stared down at Fionna, who was pinned to the bed below him, and his smirk faded, "Only for you." Oh grob, that sounded so lame.

Fionna was still smiling, "Aw, that's sweet, but you just knocked my chips from my hand! I was still eating those!"

Marshall laughed at the exasperation in her voice as Fionna pushed at him. His grip on her arms tightened, he had predicted that she would attempt a move like that. Fionna grinned at him, formulating a plan. She reached her head up and kissed Marshall, shocking him just enough for her to get in one good push. After a short struggle, Marshall was pinned to the bed under Fionna. "How do you like it?"

He looked up at Fionna, beaming, "Fionna, maybe you are a monster."

Her stress returned to her; she felt her exhaustion hitting her all over again. She let Marshall go and stood up, "Okay, I'm really tired. We should go to bed."

Marshall sat up, "Oh, alright." I thought we were having fun? He walked to the door, "Good night."

Fionna snuggled herself up under the covers, "Good night."

Marshall left the room and Fionna was left to her thoughts. I am a monster. What kind of hero am I? I need to redeem myself. Tomorrow I will find Gunther, and everything will be back to normal.


BANG BANG BANG!

Marshall fell from his hovering sleep. What was that banging? "Hello?"

"You better open up this door right now, before I crash it in!"

Aw man. "Coming!"

He opened up the door to find Cake standing in front of him. "Hi, Cake."

The fuming feline grew so she was looking down on Marshall Lee, "Where is Fionna."

"She's sleeping, Cake. Chill out, she's fine."

Cake looked Marshall Lee over; he was in his pajamas, which was expected at two in the morning. Cake had been waiting at the tree house for Fionna's return, but fell asleep. When she woke up and saw it was the middle of the night, and Fionna still wasn't there, she knew where to look.

"Where is she?"

"My bed."

"What?" Cake looked about ready to explode.

Realizing what Cake was thinking, Marshall explained, "No, no, no, nothing happened. She took my bed, and I slept on the couch. We weren't even on the same floors!"

Cake shook her head. Maybe I do jump to conclusions with this guy. "Okay, well, she needs to come home."

"Why can't she stay here? She's sleeping. She's fine. She just turned eighteen; you don't think she's mature enough to leave the house, yet? You aren't her mother."

This only made Cake mad again. "No, I'm not. But I am her best friend, and I look after her."

"Well, maybe it's time someone else is allowed to look after her!"

"Boy, you better watch yourself. I will let her be, but you better not do anything foolish." Cake turned toward the door when she saw Fionna walking down the stairs.

"What's going on down here? Cake?" She looked at Marshall, who seemed rather aggravated, "What are you doing here?"

Cake was a little offended, "I'm making sure you aren't vampire food. You decided to stay the night at his house and didn't even tell me! You could've called or something!"

Fionna sighed, "I'm sorry, Cake. Something came up, and it just ended up this way." She remembered that Cake didn't know what happened. When she was about to explain, another figured appeared in the dimly lit living room.

Marshall groaned, "Oh, great! Let's just invite everyone over! Have a party at two A.M.!" He had never had this many people in his house at one time; he was feeling a little claustrophobic.

"Now, Marshy, is that any way to address your mother?"

"What are you doing here? How did you even get here? You can't leave the Nightosphere without being summoned."

The Lady of Evils' eyes wandered over to Fionna; she sighed. "I'm just checking in. I have been told about your little friend here." She walked over to the confused human standing next to Cake. "So this is your new friend, huh?"

Marshall and Cake were both tensing up at the closeness of the demon and Fionna. Examining Fionna's face, she reached out and picked up a chunk of Fionna's hair, letting it fall from her hand. "Yes, she is."

"She's human."

"Very observant, aren't you?"

His moms' eyes snapped to him. "Watch your tone."

Cake butted in, "Hey, lady, you watch yourself." She knew this woman was evil, and she was still really close to Fionna.

"Oh? Am I doing something wrong? No. I'm not. Your friends here are, however. Marshall Lee, I do not approve of this relationship."

This time, Fionna butted in, "Well, that's too bad. Your son doesn't need your approval on anything." Marshall was astounded at Fionna's guts. He hadn't seen anyone talk to his mother like that except him. But he knew there was going to be fallout now.

His mom glared at Fionna and said, "You, missy, would look great on my wall in the Nightosphere. Let's go." She reached around and grabbed Fionna by her arms.

Cake yelled, "Hey! Leave my girl alone!" She stretched out her arms, trying to get the demon off her friend.

Marshall flew to their aid and tried to pull his mom away. She grabbed Cakes' arms and, in a struggle, grabbed Cake, immobilizing her. "On second thought, maybe I'll take you instead." She ripped Cake from the squabble and flew out the door.

Fionna and Marshall fell to the ground, but quickly scrambled to their feet. They ran to the door, "Cake!" Fionna yelled. The pair scanned the surrounding area but came up short. "I can't find them anywhere!"

Marshall turned to Fionna, who was frantically searching everywhere a second time, "Fionna, their gone. She took her to the Nightosphere."