Dark night and a long walk home. I had spent too long with Flame Princess tonight… I should have asked for a candle or a light to help me see the path. The trees were on all sides of me as I walked through the dark forest on my way back to the tree house. Jake didn't pick up the phone when I called so I was stuck like this…

It was almost as if the moon wasn't out, its eerie white light shone through the thick blanket of leaves the trees made, only enough to grant me slight visual help with seeing the path. I trudged on though, unsure of what I was truly stepping onto. I heard the pebbles of the dirt path kick as I slid my feet along the ground, they… eased me into a feeling of comfort.

Hair stuck to my forehead as it popped out of my cap brushing it aside was no help, I just had to keep moving. The treehouse couldn't be much further…

Rustling came from next to me, leaves moved and feet scampered. Animals, I was sure of it.

The droning sound of midnight animals stung my ears, I tried not to let my heart race. Need to get back to the treehouse.

Flame Princess hadn't been happy. She was… annoyed with me. I had only come over to crash with her, do radical things. I thought we could shadink the night away and I'd stay until sunrise. This wasn't the case though… obviously.

More noise from my left, this time I stopped. My breath caught in the air before me.

Just animals.

Again I began walking. The dirt was hard and firm under my feet, my arms wrapped around my body to keep myself warm. The night was chill.

Leaves had begun to fall just a few weeks ago, their crisp smell filled the air, made it hard for me to focus on my surroundings. They crunched as I stepped on them, let me know if I was straying too far from the dirt path.

The treehouse must only be a little further.

"Finn?"

"Hey"

"It's late?"

"Oh"

"Wh-what do you want Finn?"

"Can I crash?"

Rustling again. More from the left. Again I paused and caught my breath. I focused his eyes to try and see better, but after waving my hand in front of his face and seeing hardly anything, I realised I'd just have to keep moving.

I looked back behind me. A black wall of the night lay at my back, the glow of her house was long gone.

I felt grass, maybe I should move over and back onto the path.

The treehouse never seemed so far away in the day time.

She was upset with him. She always was it felt like. He would call her and she'd never pick up. He just wanted to crash, spend the night and get things back to the way they were. She was unreasonable though.

I couldn't see my hands, but they were wet. Maybe it was the wet grass, I think I remember falling earlier but… it feels like I can't actually remember myself walking.

Where was the treehouse… he'd taken this path a hundred times yet it had never taken this long…

"Yeah… Come in"

"thanks"

a pause

"So what is this about Finn…"

"I just wanna hang, you know, like old times"

"That was a long time ago Finn…"

"I know"

another pause

"Are you lonely FP?"

"Wuh?"

"Don't you get… lonely? Out here… alone"

"No… not really…"

"Oh"

This time the rustling was closer. It sounded like footsteps.

I picked up my pace and moved further, I'd given up the search for the path and felt only the soft touch of wet grass.

Twigs broke behind me and this time I went to draw my dagger… but it wasn't in the sheath.

I backed away from the noise and stood defiant to fear.

Nothing.

Again I turned around and walked along my new path.

Her house was hot, always burning with bright red flames. It licked the night sky and gave him memories of building it. He remembered her watching him, feeling his cheeks flush as they caught glances. His stomach felt knotted, he hated remembering what they used to be.

He walked into the house, covered in a heat resistance spell he'd found in one of Jake's books. His skin was a pale blue, his face felt sunken, eyes deep in his head from lack of sleep.

The memory burned my head. I felt sick and knelt low to the ground. The footsteps were clearly not from animals. Leaves crunched in the distance.

"Finn, can you leave?"

"Wha?"

"Please leave… now"

"I just wanted to crash"

"I don't really want to…"

"You don't wanna crash?!"

"No…"

"FP… this is a mistake" he stood up from the burning couch

"Please go" she turned away

"Listen to me!" He grabbed her arm

"Stop Finn! You're hurting me!"

"Can't we just be radical? Can't we just skadink like old times FP? I want you again" He placed his lips to hers

I picked my head up. A light flashed ahead of me.

It wasn't too far off in the distance. I stood up and sprinted forward, forgetting about the ever droning noises of the forest around me and the crunching leaves.

The footsteps were gone, just the light sat before me.

She was so angry at him. But he had told himself he was over it, locked himself up in the treehouse for a couple of days and even threw away all the pictures of her he had. All but one at least.

That picture was in his pocket now.

He wouldn't look at a flame, wouldn't go near the stove. He turned the lights off in the treehouse and walked in darkness at night. Jake knocked a couple of times but would leave after a few attempts of contact. Finn knew where he stayed for those couple of days.

"Finn stop!"

"This is so radical! Just like old times!"

"Please Finn" She broke from his grasp and began to whimper, taking long breaths between words. Finn savored her tears and sighs. "Please… leave…"

"That's a nice bracelet" His eyes fixed on her wrist "Where did you get it" His tone was flat

As I came upon the low flame I saw the pieces of wood under it, burnt and void of life. The flame was nearly dead but was just holding on to the last bit of wood it could burn.

Her house was always so nice. He'd done a good job. It was always burning due to a spell he'd helped put on it but all spells could be taken away somehow.

"what?"

"The bracelet"

"You… You know who gave it to me... don't you? It couldn't be a secret forever Finn, live with it!"

"It's fine, it's a really radical bracelet. Silver too, must have been tough to get."

She looked at him through tear filled eyes.

"My dagger…" He drew his blade "Is also silver, well silver lined"

"Please Finn…" She backed away from him

"Let's skadink FP, let's go back to the old days"

She was in her home still, and I was here too. Somewhere in there, she was skadinking... like old times. He'd always wanted to go back to the old times.

I pulled the picture from my pocket. It was of Flame Princess. I'd taken it on our first date when she wasn't looking. She looked so beautiful.

"That's a pretty radical picture" A voice spoke from behind him.

I looked deeply at the photo.

"Yeah, she was pretty radical, one helluva gal."

I felt my mouth drool

"You know I saw you do it Finn"

I put the picture down. "Yeah, I saw you in the closet, you weren't hiding too well."

"You shouldn't have done it."

"No, I feel good about what happened. She would have wanted it if she was still right in the donker. But she was bonkers so it had to happen."

"No Finn."

Again I looked at the picture, her hair was so beautiful I could look at it all day.

"So why did you come back"

I looked up, remembering I must have walked in one big circle.

"I guess my subconscious did it."

He looked at the rubble, I could feel his eyes on it.

"I followed you"

I chuckled a hardy chuckle, my noggin was right all along...

"I had a feeling it was you"

I laughed a bit. It was weird, almost like old times.

"Why'd you steal her from me?"

He was caught off guard

"She didn't love you anymore Finn. I could give her the best loving she ever had, you had nothing she wanted"

I paused and let my mouth hang

"But… you stole her from me"

A pause.

"How long did you know it was me you son-of-a-gun..."

I thought back to the first time I had found out about them

"A while now. I had B-Mo follow you one night. I always thought it was suspicious that you went down the path at the back of the treehouse. Rainicorn isn't down that path."

"You're disgusting Finn… Like day old Jake juice left in the dresser… I couldn't help but cheer you on though as you confronted her"

We shared a chuckle this time. We sure were good friends.

"I just wanted to shadink a little, you know… like old times?"

"You're a goofball Finn, a grade A goofball with no limits. I don't feel safe around you…"

I laughed a little more. We could never tell anyone what happened… Jake's entire life, his family, and his friends would never be the same if they knew about his affair.

"Can you help me get home Jake?"

He paused to take a breath.

"Let's go Finn."

As he began to sing his famous "Bacon Pancakes" song and lift me onto his back I couldn't help but look at the flame one more time.

"Hold on pal"

Jake lowered me to the ground "Hurry up ya dingus!"

I took a step towards the rubble and crouched down next to the dying flame.

"Hey FP" I smiled "I had fun chilling. You're pretty radical still I guess…" I laughed again, this time I coughed and spit up so mucus. "I could shadink with you for the rest of my life"

As I bent down and laid my chapped and flaking lips upon the dying flame I felt a sensation, almost as if I she was kissing me back. The flame died right there in front of me, my saliva covering it and extinguishing it for a final time.

I stood up. "Yo Jake!"

He turned a cracking bony neck to me. "How's it hangin' little man?"

A sly grin painted my face. "Nothing big guy, let's head on home.

Then, just as we were beginning to make our departure to the tree, I spotted something shining in the corner of my eye. Something peeking out under the rubble of FP's house.

"Wow Jake, come check this out!"

"What is it Finn, I want B-Mo to give me a rub down before I hit the hay."

"It'll be quick, I see something left under the wreckage, looks shiny."

Jake was excited by this notion that something of value may have survived, and let out a re-energized bark.

I stepped over to the pile and pulled hard on the board covering up the source of light. Hiding under the wood was something I wouldn't dream to have existed.

"WOW, Jake come quick, look at this freaky duder!"

Jake let out a equally surprised whoop as soon as he set eyes upon it

"What in the heck is that? It's on fire so it must be some surviving part of the flame princess… you don't think she…?"

I knew exactly what Jake was implying and felt a tinge of fear, my actions may have more repercussions than I originally intended.

"This can't be her child, it can't be" I kept repeating out loud, my speech was turning hysterical.

"Yeah, this is pretty odd," Jake agreed "There's something oddly familiar about it too, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

I stopped myself from going mad by inspecting the small flame in more detail, to see what Jake was going on about. When I did though, my original emotion returned and I began to freak out even more than prior to the inspection. While the child's body was completely engulfed in flame, and had the underlying features of its mother from the neck down, the face was what really caught me off guard.

The face of the flame had features that were hauntingly similar to mine, and looking at the ears of it, I also noticed that it had the ears of a dog, the same ears that Jake had. Upon looking at the rear of the flame I also noticed a tail wagging to and fro, almost knocking it off balance as it hit the flame's legs.

Jake's face was dumbfounded, he came and crouched down near the flame and did something I will never forget.

Jake took the child and sat him in his lap, cradling it and gently kissing its forehead.

"Jake, I think we sho-"

"shush shush, Finn, you need patience with these things."

Jake then proceeded to take out a bottle of water and a packet of hot cocoa mix.

"It sure is cold here, isn't Finn, what say we warm ourselves and little flame here up a bit?"

"How so? We have no fire."

"Nonsense!" Jake exclaimed as he poured the cocoa mixture into the bottle and stirred. Then Jake did something that makes me fear for my life every time I'm near him to this day. Jake grabbed the small flame by the neck and dropped it carelessly into the bottle, instantly causing a cloud of smoke to rise from the top of the bottle.

"WHEW, HOT, HOT!" Jake exclaimed, dropping the bottle on the floor, the face of the flame was gone now, and the bottle's contents were spilled over the forest floor, undrinken.

"Aw, nuts!" stammered Jake, "Now we have to go all the way back to the tree to get some more!" A frown found its way on Jake's face and he got up and brushed off his legs. "I'll race you there!" Jake yelled in a playful voice. I was speechless, was Jake not aware of what he had just done? Then Jake announced a chilling response to my unspoken question. "Hey where'd that flamer dude go?" Showing Jake's mental state to be more unknown than ever before.