2 Days Later…
Fionna PoV.
After a while, Lord Monochromicorn and Cake became quite friendly towards each other; smiling and flirting with one another; if you call that friendly. Gumball and Marceline seemed to be well acquainted as well, having conversations about music and the stars, but Gumball seemed to be quite interested in science, and Marceline would giggle whenever he went on his little philosophical rants, saying it was cute, causing him to blush...As for Marshall and Fionna…
"Guys, we're here!" Marceline called, Fionna looked up to see the greatest sight she had ever seen; a large bridge ran across the large ocean up to the town of the kingdom, with buildings covering the island-like area, with the large castle looming over them in a majestic way. Fionna gapped and her face lit up with excitement, her blue eyes sparkling with wonder, she ran off onto the bridge, Marshall was right behind her, trying to keep up with the small girl with her 70 feet of hair dragging behind her. Marceline laughed, "She seems pretty excited." Gumball nodded with a smile, he had changed his outfit with one of Marceline's pink hoodies and a pair of Marshall's old jeans, Marceline put on a red tank top, blue jeans and knee high boots. Fionna was wearing a pleated royal blue skirt with white leggings, white t-shirt with a light blue sweater and she was still wearing her Mary-Jane shoes. As for Marshall; he wore a plain white flannel shirt that was rolled up to his elbows, a black leather vest that was unbuttoned, his same brown boots, and black skinny jeans.
As they entered the town market place, the whole town was covered in sun shaped flags and streamers, but she couldn't walk two feet without having her hair get stepped on. Marshall caught up with her, with him and Marceline gathering her ridiculously long hair in their arms, "What are we going to do about her hair?" Gumball asked hopelessly, the group exchanged unsure glances, Marshall shrugged, and then Marceline got an idea, "Let's braid it!" she said, the boys looked at her apologetically, "we don't know how…" they said with embarrassed looks on their faces, that's when Cake stepped in, "I'll help you out Marcie." She smiled, "We need some more help…" she looked around the celebrating towns people and saw three triplets braiding each other's hair, she whistled loudly at them to get their attention, they looked up and saw Marceline holding up Fionna's hair and gesturing them to come over, they gasped with excitement. Fionna sat and watched as the five girls braid her hair from fish-tail, to basic, to a bunch of other foreign braids she didn't know.
After thirty minutes of braiding, they had taken Fionna's thick, wild, silk mane and tamed into a work of art. There were two thin braids that held back her bangs and pulled them into the thick body of the main braid. It then varied from French, fishbone and some other foreign braid that Fionna had never seen, and it ended in a delicate curl, just above her knees. The little girls wove in small flowers in the spur of the moment. Fionna twirled around looking back at her long braid happily, "Oh, thank you!" she said gratefully, Marceline walked over to her brother how had taken one of his wanted posters and crumpled it up, she elbowed his arm getting his attention, "Hey Marsh, what do you think?" she motioned towards Fionna who was still twirling and looking at her long braid, he looked up and his eyes widened with surprise and a faint blush dusted across his face, Gumball leaned in and raised his eyebrows amused, Marshall pushed him away playfully and walked towards Fionna with his dazzling smile that always made Fionna blush, "You ready?" "For what?" she asked, "it won't get dark for a while so we have some time to kill, so we could go look around for a while." He said, she nodded enthusiastically, "Okay!" she said with a large grin, "Let's go!" she said taking his hand and dragging him around, "Whoa!" he said as he ran to once again catch up to her. Cake watched them run off, "Be careful you two!" she called as they ran out of sight; she crossed her arms and chuckled, "Kids these days…" Lord M. stomped a message, "You could say that again." Cake giggled, "Oh you…"
Normal PoV.
Marceline smiled at Gumball as he offered his hand, "Shall we go, my lady?" she giggled and took his hand, "Yes, my lord." And they all walked, hand in hand, into the large town.
Marshall PoV.
Fionna tugged him along, booth to booth, stand to stand and left as quickly as they came, she was so excited and happy, that it made him laugh every time she reacted to small things, asking the names of things, pointing at objects she had never seen before, Marshall purchased some apples for them to eat and her reaction after taking one bite made him double over with laughter, her eyes almost looked like they were about to pop out of her head, and she smiled happily, and laughed with him. He loved the way she laughed and how happy she looked when she discovered something new. She would be even happier once she saw the lanterns. He loved watching her being happy. But then it occurred to him… he would never be able to see that happiness again once he took her back home. Back to that isolated tower where she would stay for the rest of her life. It made him angry when he thought about it, apparently it showed on his face, "Marshall? Are you alright? You look like you swallowed a bug or something." She said with a mouth full of apple, looking at his face with a concerned expression, Marshall was snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the small blonde girl with concern in her big blue eyes, he smiled and put his hand on her head, "I'm fine Fi, don't worry about it. I was just thinking." She smiled at him, but still wasn't quite convinced.
Marshall showed Fionna books in the library, from atlases, to poetry, to science books, teaching her about the world outside her tower, and what she is missing, some of these thing surprised Fionna, "Mother told me that the world was a terrible place to be in…but what you're telling me is completely different, he smirked, "Do you doubt me?" he said, she shook her head and smiled, "Not one bit!" she beamed, he laughed and continued to read.
Fionna immediately got engaged into the sidewalk chalk area where she drew the most beautiful drawing Marshall had ever seen, she colored it with blues and golds, forming into the kingdom's sun insignia, which he honestly would have mistaken it for the real thing, the colors were so vivid and bright, his eyes widened, Fionna stood up when she was done, wiping her forehead with her blue chalk covered hands, "There we go." She sighed, "Where'd you learn to draw like that?" Marshall said smiling at her, she blushed a little and smiled, "15 years of being in a tower with a box full of paints." She laughed, a flash of sadness came across his eyes briefly until he smiled again, "Let's go look over here." He ushered her forward to another stand.
Fionna PoV.
After having to hide from the guards a couple of times, sometimes in confined spaces, they were able to move around freely. Fionna stood in line in front of a booth with Marshall when she saw a tiled portrait of the king and queen of the Aaa, she stepped out of line and walked up to the large image to look at it closely; the queen looked a lot like her, but with short blonde hair and a slim figure wearing a blue silk dress, next to her was her husband who also had blonde hair, but was tall and muscular frame, also wearing a blue outfit, and next to them was a little boy who looked to be out two years old with a white bear hat with tufts of blonde hair poking out of it, and blue eyes, and in the arms of the queen was a baby girl with long golden hair and big blue eyes that seemed to stare back at her, she seemed very familiar… but before Fionna could think about it, she heard fast playing music, she looked over into the middle of the square and saw a band of musicians playing music that she could dance to. She turned around and ran to the square.
Marshall PoV.
Marshall turned around and saw Fionna dancing gracefully in the center of the square by herself; he looked at her surprised for a moment and smiled as she grabbed a few other people to join her;
She took a little boy's hands and dragged him into the center, she grabbed a man's arm and dragged him into the circle in which he grabbed a few other people to come in with him, and she linked arms with another girl her age, and the next thing he knew he saw people dancing and clapping in a traditional group dance. Fionna danced past him and urged him to come dance with her, "C'mon Marsh!" she said, he waved his had dismissively turning down her offer, but then he felt someone push him in to the dancing circle, he looked over his shoulder to see Marceline smirking, he scowled at her as someone took his hand to dance as they switched partners.
There was clapping and many steps to the dances they did, Marshall saw Fionna across from him when they were switching partners, he offered his arm towards her, but they were pulled away from each other as they were taken by other people. Fionna shrugged as they continued to dance.
Marshall watched Fionna dance; jumping, skipping, twirling, spinning, all landing with grace. After many, turns and rotations, and twirling; Marshall watched out for Fionna. Fionna danced having the music take her as she danced, until finally, she ran into Marshall's arms in dancing position, they looked each other in the eye for a brief moment, but it felt like an eternity for Marshall Lee, just drowning in her blue eyes, "To the boats!" a man yelled, the moment was broken and they pulled away from each other, blushing slightly by the slightly awkward moment.
"Well, that was something. Where did you learn to dance like that?" Marceline asked amazed, Fionna shrugged, "Well when you're by yourself for long periods of time, you always have spare time!" she said, "Yes, you were really good, as were you Marshall, I didn't know you were able to dance!" Gumball laughed, Marshall rolled his eyes, it was strange how familiar he has gotten with everyone, especially him, then he looked down and his eyes widened; Gumball and Marceline were holding hands, the pair looked at where he was looking and let go blushing, Fionna laughed, Marshall turned to her direction and took her hand, "C'mon, it's getting dark, and the lanterns are going to be launched soon." He led her to the docks where the boats were to get her a front row seat.