Nightmares (FioLee)

Chapter Fifteen

"Okay, so where do we start from?" Marshall asked.
Fionna shrugged, squinting at the map. "It's super old... I think we have to start back at the dungeon..."
"Hey, it's fine with me. At least we're not listening to Timothy and Gumball yell at each other about us getting married."

"Yeah... hey, what happens if we can't find the sword? Do you want your title back?"
Marshall shrugged. "I mean, it's better than just being that demon guy who hangs out in a cave. And I think I've said it before, I don't think you should have to carry the kingdom on your back. It kind of sucks, and I think it would get you personally down 'cause you'd always have to stay inside and go to meetings and other boring stuff, and you wouldn't be out and about helping everybody."

Fionna grimaced. "Yeah, that sounds familiar. But you carry all the work on your own shoulders?"
Marshall scoffed. "No way. My assistant handles all the administrative stuff when I'm not there, and there's a bunch of ministers I set up before I left the first time. I mean, it's kind of a bad system I've got currently, since they steal stuff without anyone calling them out for it and they don't care about the people, but I couldn't handle all that stuff alone. I'd need another person alongside my assistant at the very least."

"Like Timothy?" Fionna asked.
Marshall shook his head. "He's got his own job."
Fionna frowned in concentration as they made their way to the 'treasure' the map pointed out. "Then who? What would they need to do?"
Marshall shrugged. "Well, they'd need... hey. You're not trying to take over my job, are you?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I've already got your job." Fionna laughed.

"Yeah, but you don't want it, do you?" Marshall grinned. "Anyway, are you sure this map works? It looks ancient. Like, even before the Mushroom War ancient."
Fionna shrugged. "It's still around, and it's been working so far. We should be able to find it by nightfall."

"Hmm. You're sure your babysitter won't be worried?" Marshall teased.
"What about yours?" Fionna laughed. "Timothy seems kind of uptight, especially compared to Cake."
"Oh? Timothy doesn't have a problem with you."
"Well, yeah. I'm his new boss."

"Then they're all your babysitters." Marshall snickered.
Fionna rolled her eyes. "Your insults kind of suck, Marshall."
Marshall pouted. "As I recall, I'm not the one who does the sucking anymore."
Fionna shot him a look. "Anymore."
"In my defense, you tasted really good." Marshall replied.

Fionna stuck her tongue out at him, and he leaned in and kissed her. "Still do."
She laughed. "Again, you're so corny."
He winked at her. "Yeah, but?"

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"What do you mean? This is--this is insanity. We can't date anymore." Marshall told her, as they reached a dusty, barren wasteland as the sun set.
Fionna landed, the dust settling around her. "I just think that the romantic subplot in Heat Signature 3 was a little forced. They should have focused more on the horror."

"But-but... the Captain sacrificed himself for Private Skipper! It was the entire climax of the movie!" Marshall argued.
Fionna shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed a little fast for me. They just met the day before, and the Captain fell in love with him? And besides, the Captain sacrificed himself for everyone, not just Private Skipper."
"But they clearly belong together!" Marshall huffed.

Fionna shook her head. "I never really liked Private Skipper. He had all those letters in his bunk, remember? He was just stringing the Captain along."
"Those were from-from..."
"Personally, I think that there doesn't need to be a romantic subplot for everything. Especially since in the new movie, Private Skipper was revealed to be--"

"La la la, I can't hear your spoilers." Marshall sang, sticking his fingers in his ears. "La la la."
Fionna laughed, then took off her hat, watching the sun sink into the west.
Marshall soon joined her. "Hey, don't lose that. I need it."
"I won't. I need it too."
They sat in silence on a nearby rock outcropping, until the sun had disappeared behind the dust.

"You know... this is the first time I've seen it in a long while that I've really been able to see the sunset." Marshall noted. "It's kind of nice..."

Fionna nodded. "It really is. We should see it more often. But we should keep moving. We're almost there."
Marshall gave a bark of laughter. "Almost where? There's nothing out here, Fionna. There's just dust and rocks and nothing. We're not going to find anything here. The map's a bust."

"...alright then. If you want to turn back, I'll keep going." Fionna decided, getting up.
"Alone?"
"If you're right, there's nothing out here, so I'll be fine. If you're wrong, I'll be fine on my own." She shot him a grim smile. "I'm the vampire queen, after all."

"...I feel like you haven't really forgiven me for that yet, but anyway, what the hell do you think is going to happen when you run out of food?" Marshall demanded.
"What would happen if you were around when that happened?" Fionna shot back. "As far as we can tell, you're the only other being around for miles. And you're not a vampire anymore."

Marshall stared at her for a minute, before sighing. "Fine, I'm not leaving you out here alone."
"Again, I don't need help." Fionna pointed out. "I could handle myself before, and I can definitely handle myself now."
"This isn't about... look, even if we don't find anything, we'll still have spent time together, right? And I don't want to walk back all alone. That's depressing. And I also don't want to walk back shirtless." Marshall gestured at his red flannel. "So, ...I'm sorry I nearly abandoned you out here."

Fionna watched him warily, before nodding. "Alright. Thanks for that, Marshall."
"Hey, no problem. That was half of an argument, at best." He replied.
Fionna smiled. "I guess so. Anyway, we should be nearly on top of it."
"Alright."

They moved on a little, until they came to a large mound of rocks. Fionna floated up to the top, frowning at the map. "It should be here..."
Marshall climbed up after her, but as his foot stepped into the sandy ground in between the rocks, it gave way, and he fell into the blackness.
"Marshall!" Fionna screamed.

His last thought was, dammit, she was right.