"I'm here to stop you, villain." The Shieldmaiden announced. 

The mugger stopped what he was doing, and turned to her. 

His victim looked like she was on the verge of tears. 

"What's to stop me from shooting her?" The robber asked, pulling the woman closer and holding his gun to her head. 

"Me." The Shieldmaiden snapped. "Now let her go."

Amusement flitted through the robber's pale eyes. "You and what army?" 

The Shieldmaiden growled, before drawing her sword and using it to knock the gun out of the robber's hand. With a snarl, he shoved the woman away, and she dived for her purse before moving out of the way and calling the police. 

The robber was trying to wrestle Fionna's sword away from her, and she sliced his palm open in the process. He gritted his teeth and pulled it away, aiming for her neck. He cut the air as she charged him, hitting him in the head and knocking him out cold. She felt her neck gingerly, then sighed in relief as her glove came away clean, then collected her sword and sheathed it. 

The victim screamed as she saw the Shieldmaiden. 

"It's okay, he's unconscious." Soothed the Shieldmaiden, before a sticky liquid began to drip down her face. She felt near her hairline, then stiffened as she saw the blood. 

It was right about then that The Demon showed up. 

"I don't really have time for you right now." The Shieldmaiden sighed. 

The Demon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. But you can't clean yourself up with blood in your eyes, and that's gonna get infected." 

"I'll— hey!" 

The Demon scooped the Shieldmaiden up bridal style. "The police can handle it for the rest of the night." 

She struggled. "You always say that, but people still end up hurt!" 

"You're hurt." He pointed out, walking off with her in his arms. 

She huffed angrily, and he smirked. He kicked open the door to his apartment, setting her down lightly on his couch while he got a first aid kit. 

"Can you move your hair please, sweetheart?" He asked. 

"Thank you for helping me." She said, flinching as the antiseptic touched her skin. 

"Stay still. And it's not a problem. We have to have you in top shape, don't we?" 

"But... we're supposed to be enemies. Is this all a trick?" 

He rolled his eyes again. "Yes, I planned this whole thing just so I could get you vulnerable and injured on my couch." 

"That's not what I meant." 

"I know what you meant. And if I was going to hurt you, why would I go to the trouble of trying to be near you so much? Why would I fix you up?" 

"I don't know, I just... you're supposed to be the bad guy." 

"Yeah, and it's no fun if you're not there to oppose me." 

"I don't... I don't think that's really the case. If this was just a case of opposition, you would be a lot rougher with me. You'd take advantage of my injury. And you're not, you're taking care of me. That's really sweet of you." 

"I am not sweet." The Demon frowned, wrapping a bandage around her head. "I simply don't want to lose something interesting." 

"Right, right. But you know I actually care about you, right?" 

His eyes snapped to hers. "You shouldn't." 

She smiled softly, then kissed him gently. "I do, though. You're sweet, and passionate, and smart, and daring, and—" 

"Stop. You... you said it yourself. We can't be together." 

"I know. But then... you did something like this, and I just... you're right. We probably can't be together. But that doesn't mean I don't like you." 

"If you keep messing with my head like this, I'll kick you out." 

"I'm not. I'm just voicing my feelings."

"That's not going to help anything. And just because I'm nice to you one time doesn't change what you think of me."

"No... I think it does. Or at least it helps me get a clearer picture of you." The Shieldmaiden pointed out.

"You hate me."  

"I don't... I never did. I was angry with you, when I thought you were this bad guy." 

"You thought I was the villain a few minutes ago!" 

"That doesn't mean you're a bad guy. For one thing, you are honest, and even if you weren't, you're kind of a bad liar." 

He shot her a look. "I am not." 

"Yeah, you are. That's okay though, I like it better when you're honest anyway." 

"I'm going to assume that you have some sort of head trauma, and that's why you're speaking all of this nonsense." He snapped. 

The Shieldmaiden sighed, and took off her mask. "The thing is, you're a good guy when we hang out together as just people. Your actions as The Demon are kind of bad, but it's all just a big game to you, isn't it?" 

He was quiet for a minute, then he took off his mask as well. "I know you have some kind of head trauma. You wouldn't have revealed yourself otherwise." 

"No, I don't. I'm just... I'm tired, Marshall." 

"You can crash here tonight. Do you want the couch or the bed?" 

"The couch, obviously. I can't take your bed." 

"...suit yourself." 

"But see? You offered me a place to stay without hesitation." 

"Yeah. Because some jerkwad seeing an injured Shieldmaiden wandering the streets isn't going to do something stupid." Marshall snorted. "And you're taking all of this well." 

"I already knew about all this. I thought you would have freaked out?" 

"Not many people call attention to the fact that I am an attention seeker." 

Fionna smiled softly, then Marshall narrowed his eyes. "Wait a second. Is this just a ploy for you to take advantage of me?" 

"What? Of course not! You're the one who carried me back here, remember?" 

"And that all could have been staged so you could attempt to dissuade me from my plan!" 

"You're being paranoid, it's not like that at all! Just trust me, please." 

He shook his head. "I can't trust you. I can't trust anyone. It is only going to lead to enormous amounts of pain." 

"You can trust me." 

"...can I? Can I really?" 

She took his hand. "Let's put away the Shieldmaiden and The Demon for now. Let's just spend the night as Fionna and Marshall, okay?" 

He was silent for a minute, before he nodded. "Okay. We'll try it for now. But uh... you do realize that me being a nice guy isn't what people will think of first when they hear that you stayed over right?" 

Fionna rolled her eyes. "That doesn't matter." 

"I guess. Do you want a change of clothes?" 

"No, it's okay. I don't think you have clothes my size, anyway. But may I please borrow a phone?" 

"...it's late. You can borrow it tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded once. "Good night, Marshall." 

He kissed her gently. "Good night, Fionna. Yell for me if you need anything, okay?" 

"Okay. Thanks for being so kind, Marshall." 

"I'm not... fine. I accept your obviously untrue compliment. Get some sleep." 

Fionna laughed softly. "Good night, Marshall." 

"Good night, Fionna."