Several knocks came from the door, it was about lunch time and Finn had just set about making said lunch. Rose sat across from him in the kitchen, lazing about most of the day was kind of the only thing she could do, especially since Finn was keeping an eye on everything she does.
"watch the food" Finn walked from the kitchen to the front door, he knew rose was sticking her tongue out at his back, if she wanted to act like a kid Finn was all for it, it is better than her being demonic. Reaching the door, he peeked outside, sure enough the yellow figure of his brother was standing there, Lady was floating nearby as well.
"welcome home!" He opened the door and Jake waddled in with lady.
"hey bro, how was the house everything okay?" Jake nudged his brother in the chest a slight smile on his face.
"yeah everything was fine, hey lady" Lady responded in Korean and floated towards the lounge room.
"seriously nothing happened?" Jake was surprised usually an adventure comes out of nowhere for Finn, add to the fact he asks Marceline to stay behind something should have happened.
"I wouldn't say nothing happened" Finn rubbed the back of his head, when a sudden yelp came from the kitchen.
"lady you okay?" Jake made his way past Finn.
"oh, crap I forgot about Rose!" Finn mentally slapped himself, another short yelp came from their direction, they both rushed to the kitchen and what awaited them was short of chaotic.
"what is going on here!?" Finn looked his head almost doing a one-eighty. The cooked meat was on the ceiling and oil was splattered about the floor, Lady was curled up around the roof with a fry pan in hand, Rose was on the floor rubbing her head.
"nothing I scared her accidentally." Rose went to stand when lady flinched and readied the frying pan again.
"woah, woah calm down baby. It is all right. What happened?" Jake had stretched up to the roof and began talking to lady, Finn looked down at Rose, she had a sheepish look on her face.
"she said your head snapped in her direction and hissed?" Rose let out a small laugh.
"im sorry I thought it was Finn" she stood off the ground and dusted herself off, all the while Finn was watching her, her oil soaked shirt was kind of showing a bit too much.
'pervert' whispered in the back of his mind, snapping back to Rose's face she had her tongue sticking out again.
"So, who are you?" Jake had his attention on her now.
"my name is rose, I am currently under Finn's protection." She gave a wide smile and flashed her green eyes at lady.
"protection from what?" Jake began to clean the kitchen, it was lady who 'had' made the mess.
"some bad guys have moved into her neighbourhood, so I'm going to be sleeping on the couch for a bit longer" rubbing the back of his head Finn headed to the lounge room.
"oh, okay that's fine, welcome to the treehouse Rose." Jake held out his hand and Rose shook it.
"thanks Jake" a grin spread across her face.
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"I am going upstairs to clean up" stepping upstairs Rose removed her shirt and stepped into the bathroom, she was not expecting his brother to be a talking dog, let alone a magical talking dog.
"full of surprises Finn, this is going to be more interesting than I thought" she turned her head to the side to look outside, the clouds floated past but other than that it was a good-looking day.
"I wish I was under the shade of my forest" her eyes flashed red and she gripped the basin, she couldn't go back, her only haven and she couldn't return.
"god dammit!" a crack began to form in the basin her reflection growing darker as her protrusions began to extend, a knock came at the door snapping Rose from her anger, her reflection was back to normal.
"who is it?" calming herself down she opened the door fully forgetting her chest was exposed.
"I'm sorry I hit you with a pa-"Lady was floating in front of her with a collar on. Looking down at her nudeness she completely forgot to speak.
"hellloo?" Rose waved a hand in front of the floating unicorn.
"uh yes, sorry. Was that your only shirt?" Nodding Rose grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around her chest.
"most of my clothes were destroyed" a nod of understanding came from Lady.
"well the timing is just right then, today me and Jake are going to the market kingdom. We asked Finn to invite you but he seemed to have a problem with it." Lady was unsure to the reason why Finn was so stubborn on the matter, he was muttering something about being too dangerous for large crowds.
"is he? now that is unfortunate." Rose put on a fake frown and acted like she was hurt, lady seeing her pain floated over and placed her hooves around her shoulders.
"I think he is just worried about your protection" Rose laughed internally, too easy.
After fishing out a shirt from Finns closet Rose placed it over her head, it was a bit big covering all the way down to her shorts, so she tied it back and found her socks on the line. They were mismatched but for the time being they were fine, she started with the red and white and then the blue and purple. After checking herself out in the mirror she placed her hair back into a short ponytail.
"I think I should let out a small amount, I might look more attractive" she mentally hit the brakes, why was she trying to look attractive!
"agh!" she threw her hair tie to the side, and gave herself a cold stare in the mirror.
"nowhere is truly safe, there is no happiness for you in this world, it hates you." Stomping downstairs she made sure to put on a fake smile before joining the others.
Rose came downstairs, first thing Finn noticed was her socks, they were the mismatched ones she wore the day she flew to his house. She hit the bottom floor a smile on her face, well half of it, the other half was covered by her black fringe. Finn's heart skipped a beat.
"she doesn't look half bad." Jake nudged Finn in the side, only getting a sigh out of Finn.
'too bad she tried killing me. Would have been nice to have met her another way' Finn got a sudden headache. Rubbing his temples, he walked to the door.
"come on let's go" they filed out into the sunlight, once the door closed Jake extended into his giant form, he picked up Finn and Rose and place them both on his back. Finn moved to the back while Rose stayed where she was.
"Market kingdom here we come" Jake whistled a tune as he began to walk, Lady was floating close by to her husband.
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They were about halfway there when Rose peeked back to see Finn, his eyes were closed and he had a troubled look on his face. She was about to peek into his thoughts when Lady struck up a conversation.
"so, Rose where do you live exactly?" Her voice echoed through the device on her neck.
"I don't exactly want to say where I live, but I do live in a forest." Rose didn't want anyone else finding out she lived in the forest near where she attacked Finn, it would cause 'bloody' complications and she needed the hero's protection for the time being.
"that's okay, besides there are a lot of forests around these parts, is that how Finn found you?" Jake tuned into the conversation. His mouth had formed in the back of his head, it was kind of a disturbing site to Rose.
"ahh, no. It would be safe to say I found him." Jake's mouth formed into something of a question mark before reforming on his face.
"oh it must be fate then Rose, you found him right when you were in trouble, that is amazing." Lady seemed happy about the ordeal, Rose just wanted to roll her eyes.
"well Fate and all that mumbo jumbo aside, I'm just grateful for the protection. He could have said no… especially to someone like me." She whispered the last part as she remembered the tortures she placed upon the young man's mind. To most, they would have gone insane, but Finn, he just endured.
"well Finn always thinks in a pure way, it's part of his heroism." Lady talked the young hero up, Rose just snickered to herself.
'if only she could see the thoughts of Finn when he is around women.' She peeked back again as the conversation between Jake and Lady picked up, his golden hair poked out from under his hat, it shined in the rays of light that peeked through the clouds. His face no longer looked troubled, just peaceful, he has quite the handsome face for someone his age.
'he would grow into quite a playboy at this rate' she had a flush across her cheeks as she imagined his face close to hers. Suddenly one of his eyes opened and he caught sight of her looking.
"is there something on my face?" he sat up and stretched. Rose turned her back to him and mentally slapped herself.
"no, I just feel bad that no spell in the world could fix your ugly mug" she laughed to herself.
"right anyway how much farther Jake?" Jake made a trumpet noise and announced that they were only 5 mins away. Rose cheered to herself.
'good any longer and I might have done something insane.'
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The markets were bustling with people, they were bargaining and shouting out deals, stall upon tall lined the streets.
"this place is massive!" Rose was ducking in and out of the crowd, checking stalls and shouting back at people who shouted at her.
"Rose!" Finn shouted into the crowd and Rose reappeared instantly from within.
"what!" She had a scowl across her face.
"look for now we stick as a group, anyway Lady has an idea on what to get first." Enthusiasm was well and good, but letting a demon lose would be crazy. Finn had to watch her always, she might go on a murder spree if anyone set her off.
'I don't want innocent blood on my hands' he turned towards Lady and Jake as they were looking at a nearby stall, apparently, they were looking for directions. It's understandable the market kingdom is massive, thousands of stalls and stores all selling unique, crazy and outright dangerous items.
"okay so we take a left here and a right here and voila" they made their way to a small store close to the outskirts of town, it was a clothing store.
"oh yeah all you had that day was a cloak and some torn clothes" they entered the store and spread out, no longer than five minutes and Rose snuck up on Finn with a clothes item.
"hey Finn what do you think of these?" She held a pair of panties in Finn's face sending his cheeks red. They were black and lacy and had a lot of emphasis on the frontal area.
"w-what are you doing" he covered his eyes as she laughed.
"you know Finn I haven't been wearing anything under your clothes for a day and night. Besides what is the problem you have already seen my tits" her breath was against his ear, as she leaned away he peeked through his hands, she was biting her lip and pulling on the collar of the shirt she was wearing.
'GLOB DAMN!' his face flushed even more and he had to turn away for his own good, any longer and there would be a pretty big problem.
"hey rose what about this?" Lady called out from the other side of the shop.
"aww just when I was having fun" she moved away with a grin on her face, seemingly happy for her small win.
"what is this? some new kind of torture?" A brief flash of her in said underwear flickered in his thoughts. Finn moaned to himself and went back to looking at clothes, blue shirts and shorts were nice, but maybe it was time for a new style?
"oh sweet!" flicking through the clothes he found a hoodie, it was leather and had two little protrusions in the top.
"I think I might get this" trying it on it was a perfect fit, it was cool but it needed something else, luckily, he found that something else in the next isle over.
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After an hour in store the group left, each carrying bags with a few items of their choosing, Lady had helped though most of the time picking and changing clothes for Rose.
"that was nice, well anyway me and lady will be heading to some other stores so we can meet up later at the fountain." Finn wanted to stick together, it was safer, but before he could refuse Lady turned around and spoke to Finn.
"don't get too tough on the protection Finn, have some fun and treat her nicely" with that Jake and lady left the two behind. A moment passed before Finn finally spoke up.
"okay where do you want to go?" Rose shrugged, she was looking over the contents of her bags, her feet were still bare, except for a pair of new socks, black and purple one's going all the way up her thighs. She had new shoes, she just refused to wear them unless for traveling.
"hey Finn?" after walking about five steps Finn felt a tug on his shirt.
"yeah what's up?" he noticed straight away that her eyes were wide open and her ears were twitching.
"do you hear that ringing?" she was looking straight past him, something must have her on edge.
"no. I don't hear anything, are you sure not just hearing things?" he smirked.
"yeah, yeah just turn around" trying his best not to protest Finn turned around, maybe she was trying to show him.
"perfect!" a weight landed on Finn's back, he struggled to keep balance as a pair of arms wrapped around his neck.
"what are you doing?" Rose had jumped on his back and was now comfortably being held there by Finn.
"I want a piggy back, anyway don't complain a lot of guys would kill to have a girl like me hanging off them, look there are some even glaring at you right now hahaha" she was right several of the larger members of the market were looking his way all their eyes filled with a type of envy.
"get off me Rose….. please?" it was embarrassing, sure to other people she was a normal chick hanging around the hero, but to him she was a woman pressing her whole body against him. His mind was going crazy, several times today he had to keep reminding himself that she was a killer, a monster. But each time all she would do was tease him, was he being too hard on her? Why wasn't she being threatening? All these things swirled in his mind until the wait on his back was released, Rose had jumped off.
"just because you said please. But Finny boy you should let women be selfish sometimes otherwise, you're never going to get laid." She smiled and for once it didn't feel fake to him.
"anyway, let's get moving. which way is that ringing coming from?" trying his best to not let her teasing get the better of him he followed on behind her, he couldn't help but notice that she was smaller than she was in the dreams. Probably a question for another time.
"it's close." Finn almost bumped into her as she stopped. Her ears began to twitch in different directions, people passed by as she focused the crowd was making it difficult.
"lift me up Finn" She turned around with a serious expression on her face.
"um, okay sure?" he placed his hands on her hips only to get a flick to the forehead.
"not there scope me up from underneath" for a moment his head was at her chest as he reached behind her legs and lifted, he raised her above the crowd, sure he got a few looks from passer-by's but hey he didn't mind he was helping.
"that way" she rubbed his hat making him move out of the crowd to an opening to an alley. Placing her down they began to move further within.
"this place looks like it can hide some shady people" Finn had his fists tense, someone could jump out at any moment, he hasn't had a problem with his leg today, but that doesn't mean it could hold out in a fight.
"it's coming from in there" Rose had moved up to a wall, she had her right-hand nails extended ready for a fight. At the end of the of the alley was a door lit by torches. Finn stepped pass Rose and gripped the handle on the door pushing open slowly he heard the dingle of a bell.
"it's just a shop" relaxing he pushed the door open the rest of the way sending the bell off. Stepping inside he waited for Rose to close her nails and follow suite. The shop was full of smoke and incense, the walls had items of unknown origin hanging from them, masks, statues, knives and shields.
"it's like this store can't decide on what it wants to sell." Finn had a small chuckle to himself, realising that Rose was being a bit too quiet. Looking towards the front of the store he noticed her pressed against the counter her eyes focused on a little glass box. He moved closer to look over her shoulder.
"this is the source of the ringing." Rose tapped the glass. Inside was a necklace of two demonic hands with their fingers entwined. They shine a brilliant silver it seems to have two chains as well.
"it's actually quite pretty" Finn couldn't help but like the design, but why on earth would they be ringing? A door opened behind the counter, put them on alert.
"it is quite affordable as well." A goblin walked through the door, her face was full of piercings and her lip hung half open. All in all she looked like a distorted gypsy.
"ooh how much?" Rose didn't care she was worrying about the necklace. The goblin smiled and lifted the case.
"it is fifty gold, of course that's is because a piece is missing" She lifted the necklace and split it in two, after showing the that she put it back together.
"it stopped ringing" Rose held the necklace in her hand.
"so, you could hear its call?" The goblin smiled now fully let go of the necklace. Rose could nod a reply.
"Finn by this for me" Finn's jaw dropped.
"why should I buy it. I mean sure it's nice but come on do you think you deserve something like this?" He was a bit angry, she had his protection, but buying something is what you do for friends or lovers.
"oh yeah, your right" hearing her agreement kind of shocked him.
'glob dammit!' her shoulders were slumped and she was leaning forward to give the necklace back.
'am I the bad guy here?' she moved forward away from the counter and out to the door, she kept her face hidden away from him as she left the store.
"she must have hurt you badly, for you to be so angry" The goblin held the necklace in front of Finn's face.
"yeah she did and for some reason I just can't get over the fact I am protecting her, I mean she is a dem-"the goblin shushed him with a finger to the lips.
"her soul is full of darkness, you are right. But that light, that small speck of what she used to be is still there." Finn was left beside himself. Was this goblin implying that he should forgive her.
"take this It will be needed for the future" she placed the item in his hand closing it. She held the other out for payment.
"I don't understand, I don't understand at all you're just giving me more questions." He reached for his coin bag on his hip and retrieved the fifty gold, placing it in the goblins hand. He stepped away from the counter as if being pulled by some force.
"save those in the darkness Finn the human, not just the ones you can see in the light" the goblin waved her hand and the door closed in Finn's face, he turned away.
"save those in the dark- wait what do you mean?" he turned to enter the store again, only to be face with a wall.
'glob damn goblins and all their mysticism shit' Finn did feel bad about what he said, it was harsh and certainly not something he would usually say. Holding the necklace in his hand and turned down the alley again. Rose stood leaning against the wall her back was too him as she faced the people passing by.
"Rose I'm so-"He couldn't finish, she cut him off.
"your right you know, I don't deserve anything. I'm just a monster" that stung him, he should of definitely not have said that.
"you know I regret those words already, I mean I just bought it and the doors gone and-"She whirled around her eyes wide, they focus instantly on the necklace.
"you bought it?" She was confused. He wasn't going to offer and explanation, he was still confused himself after all.
"I'm sorry" he moved closer to her.
"hold back your hair" She nodded and moved her hair back, for some reason though the she couldn't look at him. Placing the necklace around her neck, he tied it.
"thank you, Finn" she turned away again. No words were said as she stepped into the crowd. Finn just followed behind.
The day moved on, Finn and Rose were the first to reach the fountain the sun was low but the crowds were still thick with people browsing the wares of stores. Both sat with a snack in their hands, a bag of chocolate chip cookies.
"these are freaking good!" Rose chomped down on her third cookie, humming some tune in-between each bite.
"you seem to be happy, what's up?" Roe glanced at the necklace around her neck, picking it up she looked back at Finn her green eye's shining.
"aw not much, just didn't guess our date would go this well" She laughed as Finn choked on a cookie, she patted hard on his back all the while trying not to fall into the fountain.
"it was not a date, totally not a date. "he couldn't help but blush and smile, even laughing a little.
"I know there is someone you like, I could smell her in your home" She stuck her tongue out again before stuffing another cookie in her mouth.
"I have no clue what you're talking about" Finn denied it, he wasn't sure about Marceline, there was some definite attraction there, her body was amazing every time he got a look and what happened on the couch the other night kind of got him hopeful. But he was still unsure about how she felt towards him.
"ah!" Finn was lost in thought letting his guard, Rose stumbled against him from the blow.
"my necklace!" Rose was going to lose it. A thief had run passed and taken the necklace straight off her neck. Finn reacting as quick as he began to chase after them.
"stay there I will get it back!" He shouted behind him, he ran into the crowd after the thief, leaving one very angry Rose behind.
"fuck this shit!" she took off after them as well.
"get back here thief!" The perpetrator was face, but not as fast as Finn, the only thing keep him from them was the crowd. The thief would duck between people and stalls every time he was close, they would take a sharp turn.
"Damn I'm not supposed to be running!" he shouted into the air, a crate clouded his view, he barely had enough time to slide under with his good leg, Nurse Princess was going kill him after she sees the state of his stitches. Pushing himself faster he slid between to rock people just before they could collide, he just missed the corner of the thief's cloak.
"come on?" the thief ducked into an alley, seconds after a shadow flew in as well.
"shit!" Finn jumped from the crowd and rolled in after them, he made it just in time as Rose had pinned the thief against the wall, her nails at the thief's throat
"Rose stop!" Finn grabbed her should, Rose's eyes flashed at him.
"why not she stole from me" She reeled her head back to the thief who was cowering.
"p-please don't hurt me" Finn pulled back the hood to reveal a blue woman, her hair was shaved on both sides only leaving a spikey bit down the middle, tears streaked her face, she was frightened.
"hand over what you stole" Finn held out his hand and she placed the necklace into it, she then huddled against the wall again. Finn gave the necklace to Rose.
"go wait outside." He gave Rose a stern look, she huffed at him and walked past. Just as she was about to return into the crowd she spoke back to him.
"I hope you hurt her good" she disappeared around the corner. Finn picked the thief up by the armpits and placed her against the wall.
"why are you stealing, are you after profit or are you just doing it for fun?" his voice was harsh, and the girl shrunk away again.
"n-no it's for my little sister, she is sick!" she started crying again, she thought this was it, she was going to go to jail.
"how long has she been sick?" the girl gasped, he wasn't going to call out to the guards?
"thr-three months, I barely get enough from stealing to give her food. Medicine... medicine is just too expensive. Finn could see the fear in her eyes, but she wasn't lying he reached by the back and grabbed a hold of her hand. She flinched and closed her eyes.
"please don't hurt me If I die she will be lonely!" she tried to pull away from him, tears still streaming down her face, Finn brought his hand back and placed the bag in her hand.
"wh-what is it?" she opened the medium size bag, it was quite big for her hand, inside was gold coins, she couldn't count them all.
"there is enough in there for food and medicine, probably about four months' worth, take it and go. When your sister gets better leave town I don't know how friendly my friend out there will be once she finds out what I did." The girl launched into his arms, she felt quite frail for someone running that fast. She pulled away and disappeared back out into the crowd.
"help those in the darkness as well huh?" he didn't know if he was doing the right thing by giving her that money. He didn't care he felt good, which was weird his leg should still be hurting.
"i should probably stop by the hospital on the way home" stepping into the light, he found Rose.
"you let her go?" she must of notice the thief walk away without a scratch.
"yeah, I did, not everyone should be hated" He looked at Rose and smiled.
"what's that for?" she didn't mind, it was just sudden.
"need help putting that back on?" She nodded and held her hair back again. Finn made sure to tie it a bit tighter this time.
"well we better go and meet up with Jake" He flowed into the crowd with Rose following, they both didn't speak a word until the fountain.
"today was fun, thanks Finn" Finn sat down on the fountain, Rose chose to stand.
"yeah it was action packed huh." Finn spotted a hand in the crowd.
"hey guys, how did you two go?" Jake and lady appeared and joined the two. Finn and Rose just looked at each and smiled.
"yeah it was fun."
"no trouble?"
"no trouble…."