Part Six, being the last chapter, of the Season Title: "The Danger, the Duo, and the Dance in the Dark"

(A note from the Author: Last chapter, guys! Hold onto your pants! And your hankies!)

Perhaps a life in the Nightosphere wouldn't be so bad, when its ruler is your best friend and he loves you too much to keep you prisoner. But perhaps when trouble strikes, it hurts more to love.

Fionna had been held captive in the Nightosphere for nearly two years, but as time went on, it felt more and more like a home. Marshall Lee treated her like an honored guest at first, but then they slowly relaxed into a- dare she admit it- fun and easygoing friendship. He'd given her freedom after a year to go home, telling her that as long as she was happy, he didn't mind if the war started up again. She did go home, visiting all her dearest friends and her sister, but she returned to Marshall Lee through the portal he'd left open for her in secret, in case she ever needed him. He was surprised to say the least, but all too glad to welcome her back.

Almost every night, the two played a few hours on flute and guitar together. They wrote many songs, most of them about their adventures. Fionna was finally able to send letters back through to her friends, and the war ended in peace at her insistence that Marshall Lee was really a good guy, and how he didn't want to fight but did so out of stubborn pride. Prince Gumball created a peace treaty and it was signed by all parties involved. Marshall Lee and Fionna spent almost all of their time together, but the real step forward for their friendship was the night they shared their memories and past with one another. Each felt deep empathy for the other, finding they'd both been separated from their parents so young. Fionna was horrified when Marshall told her he'd actually killed his own mother later, but not because of the fact, but at the realization of how all the pain and anger had built up to cause him to do so.

"So… she could've come back to you anytime in all those years and she didn't?" Fionna asked softly.

"No. So when we finally saw each other again, I was so mad that I just attacked her. Neither one of us really won that fight, so we backed off for a while… I got the upper hand and…" He sighed, hanging his head. He'd never felt anything but shattering guilt since. Even if she had never been there for him, she hadn't deserved to die. "Sometimes… I wish I could just bring her back and… try to tell her how sorry I am… I only ever wanted to spend time with her, and the moment I had a chance to try, I killed her…"

"The way I see it, Marsh… you guys didn't really understand each other. I think she knew that, and I think she still knows, wherever she is."

"How can you be so cool about this?" Marshall Lee looked down at her as tears threatened to brim in his eyes.

"'Cause I know you're a good guy, and even good guys make mistakes," Fionna explained and lifted a hand to brush his bangs from his face. "You're a total sweetheart, once I got to know you."

Fionna wasn't at all expecting Marshall to reach out to cup her cheek, drawing her in until their lips touched. She felt a tingling start in her fingertips and toes, and though she was shocked and turned beet-red, she didn't pull away. Instead, she closed her eyes and leaned in a little more. Her hands found his own cheek and his shoulder, and she squeaked quietly when he moved closer and wrapped an arm about her waist. When their lips finally parted, ocean-blue eyes met deep blood-red. Fionna stared into their depths in silent awe for a moment before she let out a small giggle and a fanged grin appeared on Marshall Lee's face. Both fell back laughing onto Marshall Lee's bed, and they spent the rest of the night talking about this and that with the occasional awkward kiss and, ultimately, Fionna fell asleep in his arms.

Within another week, the two began to make forays into Aaa on adventures, and it felt so natural and familiar to Marshall Lee and Fionna that they just never wanted to stop. Marshall Lee appointed a second-in-command in the Nightosphere to give himself this time with his new girlfriend, and their relationship blossomed beautifully. Marshall Lee finally became friends with Prince Gumball, their relationship consisting of a lot of pranks and teasing. For the first time since he was a little boy at Symone Petrikov's side, Marshall Lee felt like he belonged in Aaa.

It was on a dungeon run that Fionna and Marshall had their first real fight as a couple when Marshall chose the wrong door and flung them into a pit with a cage ceiling that even his power of flight couldn't get them out of.

"Nice going, Marsh," Fionna huffed, beginning to examine the walls and floors for a way out.

"Hey, you said to pick the red door, I opened the red door," Marshall shot back as he searched the barred ceiling for a lock he could break.

"You haven't listened to me at all today, I didn't think you were suddenly gonna start!" She growled up at him, and Marshall came to hover a few feet above her.

"I listen to you whenever you say anything! Just 'cause I don't have a comment to make about it doesn't mean I didn't hear you!"

"Don't yell at me! It's your fault we're stuck here, you just had to come to the Direwatch Stronghold because you needed what was at the end."

"I do need what's at the end," Marshall finally landed before her. "You know my guitar needs new strings, and the only kind that'll work right come from the special kind of star-metal that's at the end of this place."

"Why not just get regular strings?" Fionna crossed her arms over her chest.

"Because regular strings break in less than a month with me and they sound awful, that's why. So I gotta get this stuff to the guy who makes my strings in the Nightosphere."

"Yeah, right. I think you're just picky and vain. Mr. 'Great-ruler-of-the-Nightosphere' can only use one kind of guitar string or else everything's ruined."

"As opposed to how completely undiscerning you are."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You literally don't think at all about quality. As long as it fits whatever you need it for, you'll take it."

"I don't need anything to be perfect! Why the heck do you think I'm dating you?!" But then, Fionna realized what she'd said and gasped, lifting her hands to cover her mouth.

Marshall Lee looked at her as his shoulders slumped. "Maybe I am a perfectionist… That's why I want you… and I know I'm not perfect myself, but I try to be because you deserve it."

"Marshall…" Fionna reached out, but he flew back up to the ceiling, and with a snarl of effort, he shattered the bars with his axe. When he returned, Fionna quietly wrapped her arms around his waist and he flew them out, abandoning the quest for the star-steel he'd wanted. He returned them to the Nightosphere and set her down in the main hall before retreating to his room. Fionna watched him go with a breaking heart, wondering why she never thought before she spoke… She made up her mind then and there to show Marshall Lee that she loved his perfectionism… that she loved him. So, with the help of Marshall Lee's second-in-command, she made it back to the land of Aaa, and she took on the dungeon alone.

Fionna disappeared for three whole days and Marshall Lee searched everywhere he could think of for her, until she reappeared in the main hall late one night looking like she'd gone through a shredder, carrying a small bag in hand.

"Fi!" Marshall leapt from the upper floor loft that looked down on the hall, coming to hover inches above the ground before her. "Where were you?!" He wrapped her in a tight embrace and closed his eyes as he let his head rest against hers.

"Adventuring, mostly," Fionna smiled as she wrapped her arms about his waist. "I got your strings…" She stepped back to hold up the bag from his favorite music shop. Marshall Lee took it slowly and met her eyes.

"Fionna… you didn't have to do that… you could've gotten yourself killed in the dungeon…"

"Nah, just banged up a little is all," Fionna leaned in to kiss his cheek before she made her way toward her room. Marshall Lee abandoned the bag on the table and came to scoop her up, carrying her up the flight of stairs to her bedroom. He helped her tend to all her cuts and scrapes before he left her in privacy to take a bath and change. While she rested, he restrung his guitar, and found that it made the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. Maybe it sounded a little sweeter because of her.

The two never married in any kind of ceremony, they simply made it official in a spur-of-the-moment decision. They spent their days and nights with all the music and adventure they could've ever hoped for. When their first child, a little girl named Jessie, arrived, both grew up a little more and, even though they still spent plenty of time doing what they'd always done, their lives began to revolve around the lovely little girl with the ebony hair and blue eyes. Prince Gumball, now married to a lovely girl from the candy kingdom, became little Jessie's godfather, and Fionna and Marshall moved to Aaa, back into the treehouse. It had laid vacant for some time after Cake had gone to live with Lord Monochromicorn to raise their children.

By the time she was eight years old, Jessie was entirely like her mother, but was definitely Daddy's little girl, and she was constantly getting into adventure and trouble with her cousins. It was one night while Jessie was out playing in the grasslands with her cousins and Fionna and Marshall were perched on the top of the treehouse having a quiet little date that, below, Fionna spotted Peppermint Maid racing toward the treehouse screaming for Fionna's help.

"The Lich! The Lich!" She cried. "Save the King!"

Fionna leapt from the top of the tree, knowing Marshall would catch her, and the two landed before Peppermint Maid with sword and axe drawn. "What's happening?" Fionna asked quickly.

"The Lich Queen! She's risen from beneath the palace! She's trying to kill the King!" Peppermint Maid grabbed Fionna's hand. "Hurry! Hurry!"

"Marshall, get Jessie and her cousins inside, then catch up to me," Fionna told her husband quickly.

"Other way around. I can get there faster," Marshall grabbed Peppermint Maid and took off into the night sky. When he arrived, he found the entire Candy Kingdom ablaze, the people fleeing for their lives out of the gates. He set Peppermint Maid down and headed for the Palace. Inside amongst the fire, he found a horrible sight. King Gumball lay defeated and barely alive in the great hall with his wife crying over him and their two small children huddling to her side. Beyond them and approaching at a leisurely walk was an undead creature that Marshall Lee only remembered a flash of when she'd appeared from the nuclear fallout of the Great Mushroom War. He landed between the little royal family and the Lich Queen and struck out at her, only to have his axe stopped right on the spot by the Lich's hand. He felt his axe turn cold in his hands and he let go immediately.

"Run!" He called to the royal family. They wouldn't budge without the King, so Marshall scooped him up and led the family out quickly, beyond the walls. The Lich followed in no hurry, and Marshall came to face her just outside the burning kingdom. He pulled the amulet of the Nightosphere from his shirt and focused his energy into it for all he was worth, until the Lich Queen was faced with a giant demonic bat, far greater than what Marshall Lee had been before he'd taken the amulet from his mother. The Lich focused her own power and grew to match his size. The two locked in a fight to the death as the candy people fled and Fionna arrived. She tried to help, only to be captured in the Lich's hands and thrown against the huge wall. Fionna fell to the grass with a whimper and didn't get up, launching Marshall Lee into a frenzy.

"FIONNA!" He roared with all his might, and slammed the Lich into the ground. She formed a blade of shadow and ice as she fell, and Marshall hissed with pain as it ran him through the chest, but he still managed to summon enough strength to finally, with a roar of pain and triumph, crush the Lich's skull and suck her energies and soul into his pendant. The pendant shattered and faded away, the evil soul taken with it. The Lich Queen was no more, but she wasn't going alone.

Marshall's demonic form shrunk back down to his original size and vampiric half-demon body, and he lay gasping for breath as the shadowy blade faded and his blood ran free. He dragged himself slowly toward Fionna as she sat up trying to see straight. When she saw her fallen husband, she immediately crawled to his side and brought his head to rest in her lap. "Marsh…" she whispered, smoothing his ebony hair back.

"… Some fight… huh?" He asked with a weak grin.

"Yeah… but you kicked her butt. We're gonna throw a huge party once everyone's healed. You have to be there since you beat her."

"Sure… Might have to… go back… get my… suit…" Marshall's eyes began to close and Fionna hugged him tightly to her chest.

"Don't go… you don't need a suit," she whispered as her eyes filled with tears.

"I know… you never liked me in a suit anyway…" He draped an arm around her and she pressed a kiss to his forehead. "And I love you for letting me be myself… among other things."

"I love you too, Marsh…"

"Tell Jess too… for me…"

Fionna had never felt so empty, nor so bursting with pain as she felt when Marshall Lee's cold form slowly went limp in her arms, and never had she been so silent about her pain as the week in between his death and his funeral. Many people just couldn't believe it. How could he die? He was already dead… wasn't he? But when they learned that it was magic that had laid him low, they said no more. King Gumball recovered enough to attend the funeral, as did everyone else who survived the Lich's attack on the Candy Kingdom. That day, all of Aaa and all of the Nightosphere attended peacefully.

It would be the first time that the two realms collided without war, as the Lord of the Nightosphere was laid to rest at the foot of the treehouse, in the shade, and his little daughter laid a red rose on his grave after his dearest friends filled it in. As the attendees dispersed, the last left were Gumball, Fionna, Flint, Cake, and Jessie. The little girl was huddled into her aunt's arms as her mother came to sit on her knees beside the headstone, saying her last, silent goodbye. Fionna had hardly spoken all that week, and no one had seen her cry, though it was obvious she did when no one was looking by how perpetually red her eyes were. Finally, in only the company of her closest companions and daughter, she broke down sobbing. Gumball came to kneel beside her, wrapping her in his arms.

She lifted her head, tears rushing down her cheeks, to look at her dear old friend and ask, "What'll we do without him…?"

"I can't take any more of this…" Gumball whispered. "Please, Prismo… no more… can't it just all be the way it was before the Lich…?"

"You're going to have to be more specific than that if you want to fix all of this," Prismo told him with a deep sigh.

"I think I know what to do," Cake spoke up, taking Gumball's hand. "I wish I knew how to fix this!" Gumball gasped and looked down at her.

"Cake, no! Don't waste your wish!"

"She's not wasting it. Wish granted: what you have to do is wish that the Lich wished for something else, but be really specific, okay?"

"Now you use your wish to do that!" Cake smiled up at Gumball, who nodded slowly in realization.

"I wish… that the Lich had wished for Cake, Marshall Lee, Fionna, Flint, and I to all be back safely in the Candy Kingdom."

"That's perfect!" Prismo grinned as he opened a new portal. "Go ahead!"

The pair hurried through and found themselves once again, pulled through the portal made by the Enchiridion to Prismo's time room, and there, they watched the Lich Queen approach Prismo, feeling sure that she was finally about to win.

"I wish that Cake, Marshall Lee, Fionna, Flint, and Prince Gumball were all safely back at the Candy Kingdom," the Lich spoke triumphantly, until she realized what she'd said.

"Wish granted!" Prismo grinned, opening up a new portal.

"No, no, I wanted-!"

"Ah-ah-ah, one wish per person, those are the rules." With that, Prismo flung the Lich through the portal and the rest of the group was sucked in before they knew what was happening. They all found themselves in the Candy Palace's main hall, and Fionna and Cake were immediately jumping on the Lich. Marshall Lee and Flint joined in, and they literally ripped her apart amid her roars of rage. As Marshall Lee crushed her skull, the entire skeleton went limp and turned to dust.

"Alright!" Fionna leapt up. "Woo! Aaa, one. Lich, NOTHING!"

"So wait, what the glob just happened?" Marshall asked as he shouldered his axe. "She wished for us to come back here. Why?"

"That was Gumball's wish," Cake spoke up.

"… What?" Fionna turned to them. "But he didn't make a wish."

"Yeah, you made yours first and that turned out with you goin' Ice Queen-crazy, then Flint ended up actually makin' the Lich's wish come true to save you, and we all died. Marshall Lee wished for the power to defeat the Lich and you two got married and had a kid and he died, then I wished to know what to wish for and Gumball wished for the Lich to wish for this, so here we are."

Flint, Marshall, and Fionna stared at her, all blushing for a different reason, and all completely stupefied by the fast explanation.

"I MARRIED MARSHALL?!"

"I DIED? AFTER I MARRIED HER?!"

"THOSE TWO MARRIED?!"

Between the sudden battle of Flint and Marshall Lee, jealousy versus complete embarrassment, Fionna curling into a ball to hide, and Cake trying to break up the fight, Gumball simply chuckled to himself. Everything was back to normal. But if he would've seen the little snail in the corner, he would've known that things were going to get much worse than ever before.

Heartbreak followed by comic relief, then villainous foreshadowing! Thank Glob for the relief, though. What do you guys think of the last chapter?! Season Two will be coming soon. A link will be posted on the next chapter page before I mark this one as 'complete'. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you for the next round! I have twenty minutes to get ready for work, so bye!

P.S. To those whose hearts are broken... just remember, those wishes were all undone by Gumball's, so they didn't happen! I hope that makes you feel better, but I know it doesn't help me... *sob*

P.P.S. Three chapters in less that twenty-four hours! I'm on FI-YAH!

-Taiylor Wallace