A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first fanfiction on this site! -woot woot!- Anyway, I'm all up for reviews and critiques! Enjoy the first chapter! :3

Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time nor its characters (I sure wish I did though!)

A small whimper, barely a whisper in the wind, echoed off the black walls that built up the stone dome. A window, set in the middle where the lines met above, was carved in the shape of a sun yet moonlight reflected against the flying dust that never seemed to settle. There weren't any stars that night, there never were it seemed, but a black back dropped sky.

Black strands of sweat drenched hair clung to his forehead, already matted against his clammy and damp skin. His breathing was labored and worn, a whistle in each breath from his futile ability to speak. A forked tongue flickered out of his mouth and wet his cracked lips. Speaking or yelling out was useless; no one could hear his helpless yells for salvation.

The isolation was something of a punishment it seemed, the unresolved silence that flowed around him. A punishment I might deserve, he thought faintly.

His wrists lifted up but it was no use, his arms, hands, legs, and ankles were restrained down against a cold metal chair. He was deflated, leaning forward, having no energy to move back and sit upright in the chair anymore.

He was parched. No food for Glob knows how long, no red…nothing but silence and his own ragged breathing. The toll of no red for so long gave him a withered, falling to pieces look, and the fire in the back of his neck did no help for it either.

His head lifted up, a great effort since his head felt so heavy, so heavy that his neck might not even be able to support it.

He glanced around lazily for the hundredth time, night vision faint but working as he took in each detail of the prison he sat in. A pool of moonlight spotlighted a small light of the sun on the black marble flooring underneath his black boots.

The chair, and him seated in it, were the only solid objects. The dust accompanied him but the thought of small, lifeless dust particles helping him was a foolish and absurd thought.

The silent click clack of shoes on the floor made his head loll to the side, heavy eyes focusing on the blurred form of a figure approaching him. The swish of their cape was loud and annoying to his sensitive bat ears, especially accompanied with the lack of sound for so long.

The figure stopped in front of him, yet he kept his head down, only the restraints keeping him from collapsing to the ground below him. He tried not to focus on his reflection against the tile, cursing at his vulnerable state.

"A pitiful sight to see, I must say, very pitiful. A low life like you seems not as tough as you let people on." The voice was emotionless and genderless, either feminine or masculine, he couldn't tell. But one thing that came across was a disappointed and teasing tone. "A Vampire King." The figure smiled wickedly. "Pathetic."

The Vampire King found his voice. "If it wasn't for all of this, you'd be dead in a split second. Don't think you've got the upper hand in this little game." His voice was hoarse and barely a whisper, but threatening by all means. "Things might turn ugly before you can blink."

A hand came down and the boy flinched, believing it was a move to hit him, but the hand landed on his shoulder in a comforting manner. The Vampire King's eyes widened with shock as the hand gently patted is weary shoulder. No form of comfort had ever been directed to him, not in his thousand years, but somehow this stranger has dared to defile all means of his restraint from any form of soothing or comforting touches, gestures, or words.

The hand thrust his body forward and the boy's teeth ground together. The leather restraints dug deep into the flesh of his wrists where marks of failed attempts remained. The figure cleared their throat while another hand reached forward and gripped the Vampire King's chin between their thumb and pointer finger, tilting the King's face upwards to face them.

The touch was no longer gentle.

The figure was still unidentifiable, even with his night vision. A white-toothed smile sat at the middle of the face, just below where he believed was the mysterious figure's nose and cold dark eyes. The touch was now no longer comforting but hard and cruel. Should have known better, he joked to himself. Too good to be true of course.

Head tilting this way and that, the figure spoke again. "Nearly dead, boy, it seems things aren't bright for you." The person smiled. "I never was good at keeping pets, they always died malnourished or sick in the end. But since you're different than any of my other pets…" A shiver raced through his body, "I have a small task for you."

"What kind of task?"

A sly grin crossed the figure's face at the simple question. "Now I've caught your attention. A very important one, boy. You see, there is a beloved girl who lives in the Grasslands in that big tree house. You know where that is, don't you?" The King flinched. "Anyways, back to this special girl, I hear from others that she is a greatly loved heroine to the people of Aaa. Her fighting technique and achievements have been happily rumored for years.

"Now, here is where you come into the equation, young King. There is one thing we both have in common, can you believe it? Well, we both collect rare and unique artifacts and objects, a strange yet rather appealing hobby. The girl is the last of a supposedly extinct species and I'd like you to, how should I put this…collect her for my collection."

The king stared in disgust. No way in Aaa could he have anything in common with this evil entity.

"No deal."

"I'm sure you've heard the many tales of this heroine. Goodness, I believe everyone has. Very different I must say, from the many other creatures, and from the humans who used to live long ago. Remember them?"

The King closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to remember that time during the Great Mushroom War. Usually, he dug it deep down into the back of his mind like an old sock in a sock drawer he either couldn't find or didn't want to.

He opened his eyes and eyed the unidentifiable creature. "Who and what exactly are you?"

The creature didn't answer his question but continued rambling on. "A fragile race they were, no wonder they died out. Of course, the girl must have a hard heart if she has survived for so long."

The Vampire King relaxed a bit when the fingers holding his head up released and his head fell forward, pointed chin slamming against the middle of his chest. The hand on his shoulder shoved him against the back of the chair.

"What's in it for me?" he asked.

"Freedom, my boy, you're still trapped in that shell of a person you once were. But if you kindly help me, I'll offer you freedom from yourself, your hard exoskeleton." The King didn't quite follow as the creature continued, "Or, you can stay here and rot until the skin peels from your bones and that will be the end of your immortal life, sadly, spent rotting inside yourself over the millennia.

"Not to mention, with your dominance over lower life forms, the rumors that you had captured the dearest girl of Aaa will give you quite a reputation. Boy, you will be the greater man in this vulnerable land." The figure chuckled. "Isn't that what you've wanted?"

The voice was hypnotic and appealing and the King found the agreement to the creature's contract forming on his tongue. He shook his head and bit the end of his tongue, swallowing the words away. He was smarter than to take the offer off the bat. If there's one thing he's learned, he can make a bargain with anyone.

"I don't make deals with someone I personally can't see," he stated. His voice was more pronounced. It was finally coming back after not speaking for a while. He even managed a sarcastic smirk. "Just who, pray tell, are you?"

"Clever, aren't you?" A ghostly pale hand reached over and with a flick of the wrist, pulled the loop of the leather restraint on the Vampire King's left wrist, and the strip fell to the ground. The king lifted his hand. It shook slightly, and the skin was raw where the restraint was, but he lifted his hand to his face and inspected it.

The long slender fingers were bony from starvation but alive and in motion. It felt like an achievement since he hadn't seen his hand for so long. He flexed the fingers and fisted them while the restraint on his right fell away.

"I believe we've made a contract," the figure chuckled. He looked up, frowning, but gladly didn't say anything. The figure stood, waiting, ghostly. The hands that had freed him had been bony, white, and gnarled from the years.

"And I believe I haven't said I agreed," he sneered. Suddenly, his hands, feeling as if gravity had gotten the upper hand, brought his wrists back down onto the arms of the chair and the leather straps wrapped around them and locked. He stared, speechless.

"You're right," the figure appeared to shrug, "if you haven't agreed, then I can't exactly do my end of the bargain. But just so you know, that was a little preview of what I can do, even though it was basic, simple magic."

The King cocked an eyebrow. "So you're a Sorcerer now?" The entity laughed. He gritted his teeth as each throaty sound bounced off the walls and right back at him, doubled in volume. "I don't think that was meant as a joke."

"Do we have a deal?"

A hand appeared, the same as before, extended in greeting. The vampire pulled on his wrist and the leather gave, having been magically loosened. He bit back a need to spit at the extended figure's hand and instead, warily, extended his own and shook the hand.

The restraints all fell away, and he nearly fell forward and face first onto the floor if not having gripped the ends of the armrests. He breathed deeply, hair falling into his eyes.

An apple rolled towards him from the shadows. It stopped right in front of him, shining like a red pearl. The vampire then noticed the creature had disappeared.

"Eat before you die, boy, can't have you dying on the job. You have a task to complete." The voice sounded close but far away.

"Where do I find her?" he asked into the darkness.

"Oh, I think you know where…"

She swung the sword, feeling it slip out of her sweaty hands, and spin in the air. It flew for no more than three seconds, spinning around and around, before lodging into the straw dummy a few yards away.

She stepped back, breathing labored, and wiped her hands on her blue shorts. Her sword had cut straight through the dummy, piercing the body like a shish kebab.

Applause erupted from beside her. "Good job, girl, right on the bull's eye!" The girl turned and acknowledged her feline companion. The cat clapped excitedly and the girl laughed.

"Stop encouraging my failures, Cake, or I won't get better. It missed its mark," the girl exclaimed, walking towards the dummy. "See?" The sword, now lodged into the chest of the dummy, slipped out easily when she pulled it out. "I missed the heart by a long shot."

Cake rolled her green eyes and looked down to her musical instrument, a dulcimer; she had been playing seconds before. She looked back up at her sister and eyed the girl. "So what? You missed the heart. Come on, Fionna, you can't get it every time."

Fionna would have protested, she almost did, but bit back her words and nodded. "I guess." She looked back at the dummy, a rip where she'd sadly missed its heart by 3 centimeters by the least.

She looked over to Cake and watched as she picked up her dulcimer and strapped it onto her back like a backpack. Fionna did the same as she picked up her weathered old green backpack and the sword she'd left down on the grass.

"You better clean that sword," Cake pointed out. Fionna inspected the blood red sword. Strands of straw still clung to the dried blood that had rusted on it since it hadn't been scratched or cleaned off in so long. It was chipping in a few places also, which wasn't good.

"Man, when was the last time I cleaned this thing?" Fionna thought out loud. She looked to Cake for help but the cat only shrugged. She turned back to the sword and strapped it onto her backpack anyway. When was the last time she'd cleaned her swords? It's been a while if she didn't remember…

Fionna, deep in thought of trying to remember, almost jumped when Cake touched her hand. She looked down at the cat and saw the cat eyeing her weirdly, with a strange expression.

She stared back, raising her eyebrows. The cat wiggled an eyebrow and Fionna blushed crimson. She turned her attention up to the blue crystal sky and saw a dark shape weaving in the sky, coming towards them. Of course the shape belonged to none other than Lord Monochromicorn, which meant Prince Gumball was with him, making Fionna feel a bit embarrassed.

Had he seen her failure at throwing her sword? Glob, if he had, would he see her as an untalented, childish little girl? She worried harder, biting her bottom lip as the dark shape came closer.

Please, please don't have him have seen my failure earlier…

"Fionna, hello!" Prince Gumball called out as Lord Monochromicorn landed in front of them. He slid off of his back and walked towards them, a smile on his face.

"Uh, hey PG," she managed out after swallowing loudly a number of times. She felt sheepish standing there like that.

He raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior but seemed to brush it off. "Am I imposing or interrupting something? Mo-Chro and I were riding by on our morning fly and saw you two and decided to drop by and say hi."

Fionna sighed. He hadn't seen her failure. She relaxed a bit and looked down at Cake and back at him. "No, you're not imposing. I was just practicing this morning like I usually do."

"Splendid!" Gumball paused, seeming to think before he continued. "That's right, you haven't been to the Candy Kingdom in a while, and I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

She looked down nervously and saw Cake wink. Fionna tried to keep her cool and looked back up at Gumball.

She'd had a crush on him for over three years now, but still hasn't gotten up the nerve to even tell him or ask him out. To think, Fionna, Aaa's greatest heroine, was nervous and too scared to ask someone out. Doesn't sound right, does it?

"Sure," she answered nonchalantly, shrugging.

Prince Gumball smiled brightly and she looked down at her shoes. Glosh, if only he knew…

"Cake?" Prince Gumball asked, "Would you like to come along?"

"Oh, I've got to clean some things up a bit around the tree house, so I have to pass." Fionna frowned at her. From what she remembered, Cake had nothing to do today, at least, that's what she'd told her this morning.

Fionna still stared at Cake when Gumball exclaimed, "Shall we leave now?"

She jumped, startled. "What? Oh, I, uh, have to get something." She turned around on the heels of her flats and darted off towards the tree house behind her. Coming up to the wooden front door, she flung it open, and slammed it shut behind her.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! She climbed the ladder leading up to the second level of the tree house. He probably thinks I'm a moron, she thought, angry at herself.

Coming up out of the opening of the trunk that climbed up the middle of the whole house, she darted to the one mirror that leaned against one side of the big, circular room.

A smear of mud ran across one cheek and her hair was slightly snarled from its hold in a high ponytail with a tattered old blue ribbon. Her face was shiny with sweat and her blue tank top and blue shorts were disheveled. She looked like a wreck.

Reaching over, she picked up a handkerchief and wiped off the mud on her face, rubbing the spot till the skin was raw. Wiping her whole face to clean off the sweat and any other smears of mud she didn't see, she heard a small sound, something that sounded like a small laugh.

Fionna paused. She looked in the mirror and turned slowly, looking over her shoulder. No one was there.

"Hello?" Silence. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms and rubbed them. Had it been her imagination? Fionna nodded. Yeah, that's all it was…

She put the handkerchief back on a table and straightened her clothes, eyes not leaving the room. She searched it, looking to see if anyone was hiding somewhere where she couldn't see them but came up empty. She frowned at her paranoia.

"Fi?" Fionna jumped when Cake appeared from atop the ladder, popping up from nowhere. Fionna yelped out in surprise but calmed herself down.

"You scared me!"

"Sorry," Cake exclaimed. "What are you doing up here for so long? Gumball's worried." Fionna softened. He was worrying about her? She quickly looked out the window and saw Gumball standing just outside the front door, eyes frowning as he stared up in concern.

"I was just…" Fionna thought over her words. "Forget about that. Hey, did you hear something before?"

Cake tilted her head. "Um, what do you mean?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Never mind, forget I said anything. I better go down there so he knows I'm alive." She walked past Cake and climbed down the ladder.

While climbing down, her mind returned to the laugh. Had it been mocking her? Was someone spying on her? She hoped not. Anyway, if someone was or had been, she'd knock them out cold.

Jumping down the last few bars, she raced over to the front door, and making sure her clothes weren't wrinkled, pulled it open, and walked back outside. Gumball jumped when he saw her.

"Everything okay? I was worried why you were taking so long."

"Sorry I worried you; I couldn't find what I was looking for. Let's go." Gumball nodded and she followed him back to where Mo-Chro stood, looking around and stomping his hooves.

She climbed onto Lord Monochromicorn's back after shaking her head no at Gumball's offered hand to help her on. She shifted uncomfortably but didn't protest. Gumball climbed on a little more than five feet ahead of her, closer to Mono's head.

As they lifted up, Fionna yelled to Gumball, "So, what do you need help with?"

Gumball looked over his shoulder and smiled, "It's very special and important. I'd rather have you see it yourself. The candy people are very proud of it."

She didn't ask anything more as he turned his attention back forward. She looked down, staring down but regretted it a bit at seeing how high up they were.

Chancing a glance downwards again, she saw the rolling landscapes they passed and gasped a bit. She identified each kingdom from its region, the Fire Kingdom, Wildberry Kingdom, and many others, some she could identify and some she couldn't.

Far off in the distance, she could see the Candy Kingdom, pink clouds swirling around it while it gave off a sense of merriment and fun with its candy name and citizens. She tried to see if anything was wrong, but everything seemed the same except the busy and excited looking candy people below.

Lord Monochromicorn landed sleekly in the middle of the candy garden. Fionna jumped off first, landing in the grass as Gumball seemed to slightly struggle climbing off of Mo-Chro's back. She moved over to help him but he waved her away, telling her he was fine. She waited patiently until he slipped off clumsily and walked over to stand beside her, fixing his now crooked crown.

"Come," he instructed and she followed as he led her inside of the candy castle.

Maids and servants bustled about inside. Some held large boxes that looked very old and were strapped shut with a weird looking piece of adhesive. Fionna stared in shock at the pandemonium around her and stared at the many strange objects the candy people carried around.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking to Gumball. She saw that he was smiling with a look of excitement that she could only describe of the look he had when his experiments turned out in success.

"I am having a very important party in little more than three days," he began. "I'm inviting all royalty to attend. Every decade, all of the kingdoms come together, friend or foe, and get together. This time, it will be held in the Candy Kingdom."

Fionna only stared, puzzled. She could see where he was going, but what did all of this have to do with her? Maybe he wanted her to help the decorations maybe? No, he would have requested Cake since she can get big or small and reach unreachable places.

"Sorry to sound rude, but what does this all have to do with me being here?"

Gumball didn't look surprised by her question. His smile only got a bit bigger.

"I thought you would ask. Well, each ruler is allowed to bring a representative along with them. It's a pretty big deal since the party is for royalty only. And Fionna, I'd like you to be my representative for the Candy Kingdom."

Fionna couldn't help it, her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened. She categorized what he'd said. He'd just asked her to a party that happens every ten years, to be one of the non-royal people to be there as his representative.

She managed to get out a few words. "B-but I'm not a candy person, let alone someone important to go as your representative…"

"You're more important to this kingdom than anyone else. You're more important to me…" She looked away and tried to hide her blush and bafflement. Was he saying he really, truly, cared about her? She felt her heart drum hard and loud in her ears.

"Of course, I would understand if you wouldn't want to. I can always take Peppermint Maid…"

She shook her head wildly. "No! I mean, I'll do it, I'll be your" –she gulped— "representative."

A sort of tension seemed to lift off of his shoulders. "Splendid! Don't worry; you won't have to do anything extreme." He must have seen her worried face. "Really, it's just a normal party. It's mostly boring for me so you'll be having most of the fun."

She frowned. "What do you mean, Gumball?"

"Just some royal business, you don't need to worry about it." She felt a bit disappointed he wouldn't tell her. Usually their friendship was lie and secret free. Well, only if you didn't count her crush as a secret...

"Oh, all right." She tried to hide her disappointment and seemed to have succeeded when Gumball turned to Peppermint Maid who appeared beside him. He leaned down and listened to her, nodding once or twice, before straightening up and turned to Fionna.

"I have some things to attend to, will you wait here? It won't take long."

Fionna shook her head. "No, I don't mind. Go do what you have to." He nodded in apology before scurrying off past her and away before she got the last word out.

-What did you think? Please leave a review of your thoughts and I'll kindly take them into consideration!-