The Crossing of Blades (FIOLEE)

Chapter Seven

"No." Marshall told her coolly.

"No, what?" Fionna asked.

"No, you can't go back to them." He elaborated.

Fionna's expression of confusion changed to one of anger. "You can't do this! You agreed to let me go!"

"First of all, I'm giving you an excuse to stay. You said yourself that you don't want to leave. Second, you can leave at any time when there is a better reason than you trying to fix everything by marrying Gumwad. It won't fix anything. If you're so worried about a war between our countries, marry me."

She stared at him for a minute, before shaking her head and growling, "I'd never be able to marry a man who didn't keep his word and tried to keep me here as his prisoner!"

"In case you didn't notice, that's what you were all along. Or did it just suddenly become an issue?" He snapped.

"You never acted like my jailor before, so yes, it is now suddenly an issue." Fionna growled back.

"Well perhaps you shouldn't have fallen in love with a man that you just met, and a pirate no less." He hissed.

"Maybe I shouldn't have." Fionna snarled. "And if you think I'll share your bed after this, you're wrong!"

Marshall considered this, then replied, "Fine, then. I hope that you enjoy the brig."

"It would be better than another night of lying next to you!" Fionna responded.

Marshall narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching beside him. "Fine then. Men, take her to the brig. We'll see if a short stay there will improve her attitude."

"You might as well keep me there forever for all the good it will do you." Fionna spat, before tearing her arms away from the crew members. "I can walk by myself."

Marshall watched as she was escorted below deck, then turned around and punched the mast.

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A few hours later, Marshall dragged a chair down to the brig and sat backwards on it, watching Fionna and eating an apple.

Fionna was sitting on a slimy bench, small bones scattered around her tiny cell, a dim lantern hanging from the ceiling.

"I honestly didn't know that we still had a working cell." Marshall told her in a conversational tone.

She turned her head away. "Why are you here?"

"I told you before, I'm not going to send any of my crew members down here to watch you."

"Where would I go?" She responded. "Clearly, the great Captain Abadeer has forbidden me to leave, so I must answer to his every beck and call."

Marshall looked down. "Yeah, I... that was out of line. I shouldn't have done that." He looked back up at her. "I really am sorry."

She sighed. "I'm not coming back up there."

"Why?"

"First of all, because I don't forgive you."

"Fair enough." He agreed, looking around her cell.

"Second, if I go back up there, I'm going to eventually convince myself that you should be forgiven, and everything should go back to the way it was. And I don't want that. If I feel that way, I'm never going to get back to Duine, and they need me."

"I need you." He repeated.

She smiled bitterly. "I need you too. But my whole life, I've been raised to always put the kingdom before myself. To die for it if need be. To give any sacrifice for my people. So as much as I want you, as much as I need you, I have to give everything to my kingdom."

"That's bull, and you know it." He said, rising from his seat. "You don't have to give them anything. You've done enough. They shouldn't get to decide how you live your life."

"They aren't. I am." She said, standing up as well and walking to the bars.

He suddenly pulled her into his arms, as close to him as he could get her with the bars in the way. "That stupid sense of nobility is part of why I love you so much. But if you hate these bars so much, do you think the ones in Dulce will be any better? Dulce is just a gilded cage— that's why I ran from it. We both need to be free, Fionna. Cages of gold and silk aren't meant for us, for you."

"But cages of iron and steel...?" She asked, leaning her head against the bars.

"Are still cages." He sighed. "I... I don't know what to do. If I open the door to this cage of yours, you'll escape, and I'll never get to have you again. You'll go from one cage to another. But if I keep you here... you were never meant for a cage, Fionna."

"So you'll let me go?" She asked anxiously.

He nodded softly. "If only so that I don't have to witness your deterioration and be the cause of it myself. If only to release myself of the burden of being your jailor."

He reached for a ring of keys on his belt, and she stopped him. "Wait. I might never see you again. I at least want to know your story."

He shot her a look. "My story?"

"Why you're here and not ruling your kingdom. Why you're not married to Gumball."

Marshall considered it, but then sighed. "Fine. If I can hear yours."

"There's not much to tell."

"Tell me what there is, then."

"My mother left when I was young, when the Duine Navy was still small. As soon as I could, I got myself a rank and worked my way up, before finally getting the Silver Sword. Though it's technically a warship, I tended to use it for exploration. That's how Duine reached the Flaming Lands."

Marshall watched her intently. "The Flaming Lands? You've been there?"

She nodded. "I fell in love there. His name was Phoebus. He was the prince of the Flaming Lands..."

"What happened to him?"

"I did. It just... I pushed him too far. And in the end, I returned to the sea, where he couldn't go. It's better this way, for everyone."

"Do you miss him?"

"A little. We ended as friends before I left last time. There's really nothing else to say."

Marshall nodded. "Guess it's my turn then."

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*Author's Note*

For those of you who don't know, 'Phoebus' means 'bright, radiant', and was part of the sun god's name in Greek mythology. But this name wasn't really chosen by me— the Flame Princess' canon name is Phoebe, the feminine version, so that's why I 'picked' that name for Flame Prince.