Yay! Update!

As usual the Author Notes are at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I don't own Adventure Time, and I make no profit from this.

Arc 4: When the Wedding Bells Thaw

Chapter 14- Countdown for the Wedding!

Wedding Day: -6 HOURS REMAIN-

After arriving at the club, the search team looked everywhere for the missing jewelry that will help them find their missing friends.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked an annoyed Marshall. They were outside the back entrance of the club in an alley. Pen and Marshall had to look inside the trash bins and containers but found nothing. While Pen tried to keep a positive attitude, Marshall for the moment, settled for annoyance instead of constant worry; it was better than being worried all the time.

"Yes, this is the place where that Jerk dragged me. I remember clearly, it happened last night, you know!" said their only female member Soleanna (Anny for Pen).

"Ok, at first it was tolerable but now that verbal tick is annoying me, YOU KNOW!" – complained Marshall to their female companion. Normally, we wouldn't care or say anything, but after half an hour of fruitless search irritated Marshall who was projecting that irritation to the others.

"Marshall! Not cool man!" Pen defended Anny. It wasn't like she did it on purpose. That was the way she talked. "I know you're worried about that mark but you can't just lash out in anger at us. We're a team and we must work together!"

Marshall sighed in defeat. Pen was right. His bad attitude would only bring more problems than solve them. He turned and looked at Soleanna who gave him a hurtful look. "I'm sorry" he apologized in a low voice; he wasn't accustomed to doing that. "It's just…that I'm scared of what might happen. I heard some punishments are even worse than death"

Soleanna just looked at him in the eyes, during his apology. After seeing that he really mean it she forgave him. "It's fine. I may not know what the whole situation is. But if it makes you feel like that, it must be some tough. I may actually act the same as you, You kn…." She brought her hand to her lips, a little embarrassed that she almost made Marshall mad again.

"Sorry!"

"No, it's Ok! I overacted!"

It took a full minute after the whole incident ended before the mood stopped being awkward. Thankfully someone entered the scene and dissipated the atmosphere.

"Hey! What you guys doing here?" a guy opened and came from the back door of the club, taking out the trash. It was an Orc with a hunchback and grey short hair. Marshall instantly recognized him. It was the bartender from last night. The guy who served him the Mississippi Queen.

"Oh! It's you! The guy who drank the MQ." The Orc guy recognized Marshall too. "I thought you would've been still passed out after that drink!" He was kind of impressed. He had seen guys that passed out for days. "And the Drunk kid is here too!" he said while looking at Pen.

At the mention of "Drunk" Marshall turned his head to look at Pen so fast you could hear it snap. "Drunk?! Dude, what did you drink last night?" Pen didn't know how to respond. He didn't remember been drunk. But before Pen could answer, the Orc guy explained for him "Yes that kid kept drinking and drinking the Berry Juice. It doesn't have much alcohol, Heck you can't even notice at first! But with all the drinks he had I'm surprised he isn't squirming in pain for the hangover"

"Umm.. Maybe I can explain that!" said Soleanna and every head turned to her waiting to hear the explanation. "After Penny-Poo saved me from that guy, he was a little out of himself, you know! So I used a little bit of my magic to make him feel better. It was the least I could do for my hero, you know!" The Orc nodded in understanding, so that's the reason the kid didn't suffered from a Hangover. Darn! If he could do that he could gain a lot of money. Marshall just looked relieved that he dodged such bullet. He didn't want to deal with an angry Mrs. M that would kill him if she saw that he let her 13 year-old son drink himself silly.

"Um.. Mister, if you don't mind asking. Have you seen a necklace around here? Anny lost it last night around here and we need it to help up find some missing friends" Pen was hopeful the Orc could help them. They were running out of options and places to search. "It is a blue sapphire with a golden chain" described Anny.

"I think I remember something like that" answered the bartender while scratching his chin. "After some ruckus outside I came here to investigate and saw a guy walking away with that necklace you just described" Everyone widen their eyes at the information, the necklace wasn't there, but they could still find the person who had it.

"How did he look like?" asked Marshall a little to forward but the Bartender didn't paid any mind. "He was a guy as tall as you" He pointed at Marshall "He had white hair and grey skin and was wearing black shirt and pants. I remember well because earlier I served him a drink and he didn't left a tip! That guy was a punk!"

Soleanna immediately gasped in surprised "What? What's wrong?" asked Pen concerned for their friend. "He was the guy who tried to attack me! The guy you beat, you know!" It made sense now. When he dragged her away he tore away her necklace without her noticing. She was too scared to notice.

"Hey wait a second, you said you were attacked last night, correct?" asked Marshall while Soleanna just nodded. "And you just said earlier that you healed Pen with Magic, not to mention when you attacked me with a magic blast earlier today. So why didn't you beat that guy yourself?" It had been nagging him for a while now. She was attacked by surprise, sure. But she wasn't a defenseless girl. She packed quite the punch if the beam attack from earlier was an example to go by.

"Well, I tried but the guy was a wizard, you know!"

"Wait a second! A wizard?" Repeated Marshall surprised "You mean the guy who attacked you was a grey skinned, white haired wizard that dresses in black?" Everything in that description sounded very familiar, like he had met a guy like that before. "What was his name?" Marshall had a hunch but he didn't want to jump into conclusions.

"I think he said his name was Ash, you know!" responded Soleanna who unknowingly confirmed Marshall's suspicion. "No, not that guy!" the grey teen groaned, making everyone look at him. "Dude, do you know him?" questioned Pen.

"Unfortunately" Marshall didn't want to tell them how he knew Ash but with the way everybody was giving him, he didn't have other choice. "I met Ash some time before meeting Pen. I was roaming the land when I met him and he tag along for a while. But later I noticed he was a scumbag and a thief. He tried to steal something really important from me when I was sleeping. But I kicked his butt before he could. After that I thought I'll never see him again." It was the condensed version of the events but really there wasn't that much to it.

"What was he trying to steal" asked a very curious Soleanna. Marshall just turned his head to the side avoiding her gaze, his posture showing he didn't feel comfortable revealing that information. Pen noticed the familiar signs. It meant that whatever object Ash tried to steal, it was connected to Marshall's past and/or family. He always reacts like that whenever the topic came up.

"It doesn't matters. What matters is finding that jerk Ash and kick his butt until he give us back the necklace" proclaimed Marshall with a little more vigor than before. Maybe it was because he could release some steam by punching somebody.

"Yes, but how are we going to find that guy? He could be anywhere in Ooo by now, you know!" It seemed that Soleanna became the pessimistic one of the group, now that Marshall was concentrated in the mission. She didn't want to be negative but they had to be realistic.

In that moment the Orcish bartender decided to chip in "Hey, isn't the guy that one over there?" he pointed outside the alley they were in. Everyone's eyes widen when they saw Ash standing on the street trying to sell the necklace to a random passerby.

"It's him! It's really him you know!"

"Let's get him!" yelled Pen. Marshall was the first to react and ran at Ash with the intention of knocking him on the ground. Pen was second to run away from the alley. Soleanna was left standing there shocked at the speed of both boys. Before she too went after Ash, she turned her head to the bartender. "Thank you very much for your help, you know!" she said before leaving the alley in a slower pace (She was in a dress that wasn't designed for running, you know).

The Bartender just stood there and watched everyone go. "Kids, this days, seriously!" Then a voice came from the Bar "Hey, Moe! Did you take out the trash yet? It's been 15 minutes! Already!". The Orc Bartender Moe just groaned at that.

/

After been beaten around last night by some meddlesome brat, Ash found comfort on the fact that he could get a profit with the necklace he got last night. He could get himself some new wand! Suddenly he felt a primal instinct take hold of his body. It told him to run as quick and far away as possible. And when you've been in the biz like he had you tended to follow your instincts. So he ran. He didn't know from what, but he wasn't staying to find out.

While running, Ash looked behind him trying to see if there was someone following him. It turned out to be the same kid from last night! As he was about to prepare a magic attack to throw at the kid, Ash crashed into somebody and ended up falling on his butt.

"Hey! Watch it, man!" he yelled at the idiot who didn't move from his way, but when he noticed who he was, color drained from his face. "M..M…Marshall! W..w..what are you doing here?" Ash was scared, the last time they saw each other was when Marshall caught him red handed stealing one of his personal things to sell to a witch. The whole situation ended with him not being able to move for weeks in a hospital.

"Stop with the chit-chat, just give me the necklace and I promise I'll let you go in one piece" Marshall wasn't fooling around with his guy, he needed that necklace now and he was willing to compromise. Of course Ash didn't believe a word Marshall said. You can never trust the word of a demon after all.

"Yes! Here it is!" Ash only had one chance at this. The wizard pulled a hand inside his shirt but when he pulled it out he blew Magic dust on the demon's face making him blind for a few moments. "Arrrrhhgg!" cried out Marshall. He was rubbing and whipping his eyes to try and clear his vision but it was in vain.

"So long, stupid!" taunted the wizard before running the heck out of there. A few seconds later Pen arrived and looked at Marshall with concern. "Marshall! Are you ok?" Marshall kept rubbing his eyes but his vision wasn't clearing at all, his vision was blurred. "Keep chasing after him! Don't worry about me, I'll catch up later! Just catch him and get the necklace back!" Pen nodded at Marshall. There wasn't anything to worry about, Marshall would be fine. So he resumed chasing after Ash.

Wedding Day: -5 ½ HOURS REMAIN-

"So tired" – thought a female figure while tossing around the bed sheets. She didn't want to get up just yet but her body was getting restless of just laying unmoving. Still she still refused to get up.

"What happened last night?" Her body was also a little sore. Nothing bad, she was accustomed to the feeling. "I remember…a party…a club!" A dance club in fact. Why she had gone there? It wasn't her at all.

"To show them" Yes, to show to the other female wizards that she knew how to have fun. Every time she goes to the hidden wizard city she always hears them. Always talking behind her back, judging her, calling her names.

Uptight, Stick in the mud, asocial freak.

Just because she spend most of her time "working" or refining her skills, didn't mean she didn't know how to have fun. Heck, some of them even questioned her "preferences".

"I told them off" Yes, she did. But then they dared her, saying she was so inept she could never spend a night at a club or get a date.

"But I did" Yes, she went and stayed. It was boring and worst full of the kind of people she disliked, airhead party girls, bimbos with no self respect and jerks who were chasing tails picking up girls just to score and feel like they accomplish something.

"Bunch of idiots" Well, not everyone was an idiot. There was that guy. Yes, the guy with the long white hair. The one who sang really well while she was at the bar drinking. What was his name?

"Something with D" he was alright, the only decent guy in the whole place. They danced for a while and chatted over some drinks. He was there for his bachelor party since he was getting married the next day. Figures, all the decent ones are already taken. They stayed for a while and then leaved for a place less crowded.

"Then we walked up to the motel…" They…spend the night together. That was an unexpected turn of events. She only went to that place just to prove a point, that she could have "fun" and get a date. Not that! Not that she regret it.

"Don't feel bad about it" She was having a good time and she used him to release some stress. And the guy was probably looking for a last escape before getting shacked.

"It's better that way" She wasn't looking for a relationship, she didn't stand the idea. She was a busy person and having relationships of any kind just gets in the way. They complicate things.

"I better get up soon; there are places to go, things to do"

She began stretching, before sitting up the bed. "What time is it?" she asked herself out loud. Something she tended to do from time to time, just to fill up the silence around her, since she wasn't a very social person.

"Around 1:30 in the afternoon!"

The girl widen her eyes in surprise, she didn't expected anyone to answer her question. She turned to where she heard the voice come from and saw a blue skinned man with a long white ponytail. It was the guy. The guy from last night sitting near a very small table filled bags

"Did you sleep well?"

She didn't answer; she just kept staring at him in disbelief. "Wh..what are you doing here?" she asked after a minute of silence. Why hasn't he left yet? Didn't he suppose to be on his way for his wedding or something?

"I was waiting for you to wake up, of course! I figured you might be hungry after last night so a brought us some breakfast, but looking at the hour, I think breakfast became brunch!" He answered in an almost too nice manner.

She was speechless. What kind of answer was: I waited for you to have breakfast. Didn't he know he had to leave in the morning after a one night stand?

"Are you okay?" he asked after like two minutes of silence.

"Uh? Oh! I'm fine, don't worry..ummh?"

"Davey"

"Yes, Davey, I'm fine." So that's his name. She was right about the first latter of his name.

"You had me worried for a second there, Artemis!" The moment that name left his mouth, she react in an instant. "What did you just call me!" she yelled at him. She never reveals her true name to anyone, so how in the heck does this guy know it.

Davey, ignoring her outburst, answered in a curiously confused manner. "Isn't that your name? That's what you made me yell last night!"

"Don't say stuff like that, idiot" Artemis, turned her head to the side trying to hide her blushing, she couldn't believe she did that last night. "Yes, that's my name" She didn't like others knowing her true name but then again he probably didn't know her "other name" the one she uses all the time, so it's ok as long as he never finds out who she really was and what her "job" was.

"So… do you want brunch or would you like to take a bath before?" At the mention of a bath she noticed something about her current state. She wasn't wearing anything. The only thing covering her was the bed sheets.

"Don't worry about your clothes, I just went and wash them for you, there are right here!" He said while showing her clothes from yesterday inside a small bag. As he said that, the bag on his hand disappeared and the bathroom door closed beside him.

"Wow, fast"

Then Davey heard the sound of the shower and the watter going down the drain. "So…I'll wait for you then!" The only answer he got was a 'Shut up' from inside the bathroom.

"I'll take that as a confirmation for brunch!" He said cheerily. She really is an interesting girl.

Wedding Day: -5 HOURS REMAIN-

Chasing after Ash had been harder than expected. The guy had experience and stamina for running away, but so do Pen who follow him without catching a break. He had evaded obstacles, and other people. He turned sharp corners and dodge whatever thing Ash threw his way. Right now they were hopping from one roof to another. If Pen hadn't been so concentrated in chasing after Ash, he would've compared this situation with the movies he had seen with Bartram and BEMO.

After jumping to a rooftop once more, Ash noticed he wasn't another roof to jump on. He was at a dead end. That's until he saw a door. It was the stairs that connected the rooftop with the building. Ash ran as fast as he could and locked the door once he was inside. That would stop the kid for a moment, but he had to keep running if he wanted to escape.

When he saw the door close, Pen didn't bother to try to open it the "normal" way; he just kicked the door open. The lock didn't stand a chance against his strength.

"Darn it!" The locked door didn't stop the kid! Ash kept his buns moving running down the stairs. Then a familiar voice called from the very bottom of the stairs. "AAAAAASH! I'm coming for you, dumbhole!" It was Marshall and he was angry. With no other options left he entered a door on the side.

It was a long hallway with very few doors on the sides. He didn't know what kind of building they were and frankly he didn't care! All he cared for was a window at the end of the hallway; it was his only option for an exit right now! He bolted as fast as his now aching legs could. He could feel his pursuers were hot on his tail.

"This is gonna hurt!" was his last thought before jumping through the closed window and glass was sent flying everywhere. Lucky for him the fall wasn't that high. He fell and rolled on the ground using the momentum to stand up and keep running. He glanced behind him and to his horror both the kid and the demon followed his example from earlier and jumped through the broken window.

"Give me a break!" screamed in frustration. Didn't these guys ever give up? It was ridiculous. He was getting tired and his body aches after jumping through a 3rd floor window down the street. Couldn't they just quit and leave him alone?!

Ash was so lost in his frustrated and tired of been chased that he decided to use drastic measures. It seemed that the kid with the yellow hat and the demon were working together, and the kid had some kind of hero complex or something. All he needed was a huge distraction that would keep them busy enough for him to escape, and he had the perfect one.

Still running, Ash closed his eyes and concentrated. He was preparing a fire spell and a big one. He will launch the spell towards a nearby building to start a big fire. That should be enough to catch their attention, and when they're busy putting the fire out, he will escape. It was the perfect plan.

Unfortunately for the wizard Ash, luck wasn't on his side.

/

A blue skinned girl with redish brown hair was walking frustrated with no direction. (1)

"What's up with my luck today!?" Usually her luck would balance between good-bad-good-bad-good-bad. That was the ordinary cycle but today it seemed that it will be daylong of bad luck.

"What should I do?" She asked herself out loud – "There must be something I can do!" – She kept walking directionless for a few minutes until she sighed defeated. "Knowing my luck, if I try to fight it, it will only become worse". Her only hope was that sooner or later her luck would be back to normal, or at least her ´normal´, but how can she make sure everything went back to normal.

"I know!" She remembered an old fortune telling trick, she loosed her right shoe a little. -"All I have to do is kick my shoe over!" And depending on which side the shoe lands, it will determine her fortune. It is kind of silly but it is better than flipping a coin (which never works for her).

"Ok, here goes nothing!" As she kicked her shoe flew high up into the air. She really put her whole strength into the kick. She looked intently as her shoe came down; she was nervous, what luck will she get?

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending in which way you see it) her falling shoe struck a running guy in the head with enough force to knock him down the floor.

"Whaa..?" Oh no, her luck had reap another innocent bystander! As she was about to go and help the poor guy, two other figures arrived and picked the fallen guy up. –"We finally caught you. You idiot!"- yelled the tallest of the two arrivals.

The unlucky girl just stared at the scene for a few seconds - "I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna get involved in that mess"- she turned to the opposite direction, not bothering to get back her shoe.

/

"Please, dude! Don't hurt me!" Pleaded Ash who was held by the neck of his black shirt by an angry looking Marshall.

"Marshall, just calm down." Pen told to his friend "Don't do anything you'll regret!" Ash may be a scumbag and a thief and he kind of deserved a beating but not a very gruesome one.

It took Marshall a whole minute of deep breath to calm himself enough to at least ask for the necklace before beating the stuff out of ash. -"I told you, that if you gave me the necklace, I would've let you go in one piece, but since you're an idiot and ran away you chose the painful way!" Ash just close his eyes in fear, expecting to be punched in the face any second now, but no punch came.

"But, out of respect of my friend over there, I'll give you another chance." Marshall directed his eyes at Pen who gave him a look of appreciation. "You better not waste it! Now, give us the necklace now! And that's an order!" Marshall's eyes didn't betray him. He really was going to inflict a world of pain if ash refused.

"Ok! Ok! Here it is!" Ash took the necklace out of his pocket and showed it for everyone to see. "Just please let me go!" It was after Pen retrieved the stolen jewely and stored it in his pocket that Marshall finally released Ash. He just hoped to never see his ugly mug again.

"What is your problem, dude?" But it seemed that Ash didn't get the message. "Why the heck you want that stupid thing for? It's not like it's yours like that stupid old photo!"

That was the worst thing he could say because a second later he was embedded upside down to a wall across the street. And the second after that the wall gave up, burring Ash in a small mountain of rubble.

Marshall was still with his extended arm and hand clenched into a fist, his breath was heavy and his eyes turned red in fury.

"M…Marshall…." Pen was shocked. He had seen his pal angry before but never like this. The 500 year old teen was expelling a very dark and ominous aura, and his red blood eyes made him look like the demon he really was.

Pen refrained himself from asking question like: What's wrong? Or Are you ok? Because they were dumb questions to ask. Marshall wasn't ok, he was angry beyond belief. And what was wrong? Pen couldn't tell but it must have something to do with what Ash said before, something about a photo. Pen wasn't about to ask him about that either. If mentioning the photo got Marshall this riled up, he didn't want to imagine his reaction if he asked about it.

Both stood silent for a couple of minutes, until Marshall calmed himself once more. "Sorry Pen. I didn't mean to lose my head like that."

"No problem, man!" Pen also relaxed a little, Marshall didn't looked like he was going to attack him for talking to loud or something.

Marshall noticed how tense Pen looked and with good reason, he almost went full demon against Ash. He saw that Pen was also curious about what set him off but he wasn't going to ask soon.

"Don't worry; I'm not going evil or anything! It's just something personal and I can't tell you right now, maybe someday, but not now"

"Don't fret over it, I understand"

Marshall gave a small smile after that. Even after just two months of knowing the lithe guy, Pen became his best friend. He had acquaintances and people he hung around with sometimes during most of his life in the nightosphere, but he never had a close friend like Pen before. It was a new and strange experience but a fun one. He even grew to like the farm like a home, and the Mertens like family.

"Hey!... you forgot…about me… you know"

Marshall shook his head, right now it wasn't the time for reminiscing. They still needed to fin everyone else. He turned and looked at the tired Soleanna who was gasping for air. It looked like she needed more physical conditioning.

"I…been…chasing…after you… and this… dress isn't… designed for running…you know!" She wasn't angry; she was just annoyed that they left her so far behind.

"Sorry, Anny!" Pen apologized "But that guy Ash was faster than he looked. Buy hey, Look!" Pen took out the necklace from his pocket and showed it to its rightful owner. "We got it back!"

Anny gave Pen a starry eyed look before glomping him "Kyaah! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Penny-poo you're the best!" started crushing him in a monster of a hug. "Don't mention it and please stop calling me that"

Any other day and Marshall would've enjoyed watching Pen trying to get off of the current situation but there were pressing manner at hand. So he cleared his throat loud enough to get their attention. "Sorry to interrupt, but we have some friends to find. Not to mention figure out how far are we from the motel or the bar." They chased after Ash for nearly an hour. They had a lot to trek back.

"Uhm! Marshall… Isn't that our Motel? Asked the surprised Pen.

"What!?"

It was no joke; there it was the motel they stayed in, just a block away. They've been running in circles while chasing Ash!

"Why don't we go to our room and Anny could try contacting her friends while we rest!" Offered Pen. Marshall was about to protest but he noticed how tired Pen really was. Running for almost an hour non-stop was taking its toll on the little guy. Having Pen dead tired would delay them more later on than taking a short rest now.

"Ok, let's go!"

As they were arriving at their room, the group heard a feminine voice yell, from the door next to them. "WHAT!" followed by the sound of breaking glass.

"Do you think someone is in trouble in there? Asked Pen to the other two. "It sounded like it, you know!" Marshall just sighed. He knew they wouldn't continue until Pen was sure nobody was in trouble or in danger. Sometimes it really sucked being a hero or at least being the friend of one.

"Ok, we'll just knock on the door, and if no one is in mortal danger, we will continue where we left of got it!" Marshall's tone gave no room for debate. They were on a hurry and if lives weren't at stake, they would just continue.

"Hey are you ok in there?" yelled Pen as he loudly knocked on the door. There was no replied but they could hear voices on the other side of the door. A few more seconds passed and Pen looked at Anny and Marshall in the eyes. The blond elf girl gave him a nod of understanding what he was about to do while Marshall just groaned in annoyance. "Just get this over with"

When Pen was about to kick the door open, the they hear the door's lock followed by a male voice who answered while opening the door. "Don't worry, don't worry, everything is fine!"

"D..DAVEY!"

Author Notes:

(1) The girl is an OC of the winner of my little game/contest who chose an OC cameo as prize. Hope you like it, Keruchian.

First of all I want to apologize to everyone who patiently waited for the update. I'm really sorry for making you wait. I feel like an A$$. (Can I say that word in a T rated fic?)

College is really demanding this semester, specially the social service I have to serve. But don't worry I'm always thinking about you.

So forget about me and my troubles, Let's talk about interesting things that happened during updates.

So rumay-chian updated her comic "Ice Prince" which, remember, was what inspired this fic, so if you haven't check it out, please do.

There were 4 new episodes of Adventure time.

Bad little boy- I liked it but, somehow I liked Ice king version better. Why was Doctor Prince the villain? I want to know! Also finally, Marshall Lee has an personality instead of the fanon one everyone keeps using, but don't worry I'll keep writing Marshall like I've always done.

Vault of Bones – It showed more of Fire princess personality, I personally I don't know how to feel about it. Not sure if I'll use this for FP personality when she shows up….eventually.

The Great Bird Man – Man that was bizarre. But I always enjoyed the weird and nonsensical episodes of Adventure time.

Simon and Marcy – I love it. I'm not going to say anything else about the episode. Only that some elements of it will appear in this story.

So there you have it. I just hope next chapter doesn't take me as long to write an upload. So if you have questions or doubts, leave a review or send a PM and I'll gladly answer with the best of my abilities.

So until Next Time.

MorenoX25 Out!