The Dream
In the dream, as it was every night, the candy people had been screaming and running as bullets tore through them like paper while planes screamed overhead. The roar of tanks rolling unopposed through the streets, crushing the living and the dead under their treads.
"Burn! All of you will burn!" Flame King laughed, he was walking among the dead and the dying, burning everything in his path. The smell of charred meat mixed with the sweet smell of candy made her almost feint. Then, SHE had been down there with them. Her throat was raw from screaming for everyone to stop.
The worst had been when the candy people began to cry out for her, for their mother to save them. She screamed as the blackened skeletons and the crushed remains from the tanks treads began to drag themselves towards her.
"Save us princess!" they wailed, their voices blending together to create a torment of high screaming and crying that seemed to roar all around her like a tempest. "Mother, please make it stop!"
She had tried to flee, to run and get away, but; something stopped her. Finn was standing there, blocking her path. The youthful, smiling face she cherished was a horror. The skin of his face was a sickly greenish yellow and it seemed to wriggle and writhe. To her shock it began to split in places and fat, white maggots were revealed to be crawling around.
"I'll save you, princess!" he said. When he opened his mouth a torrent of black blood flowed thickly from between his teeth and ran down his chin and stained his shirt. Before she could react, several arrows sprouted through his chest, their heads were wicked looking hooks of black metal.
Blood began to trickle from Finn's eyes and nose as he fell forward. Behind him, mounted on a horse as black as the night was The King of Ooo.
"I killed him for you Princess Bubblegum!" he called, smiling cruelly. "The traitor is dead!"
"No!" she tried to scream but; found that she had no voice. It was then that she felt the hands clutching and clawing at her dress. She looked down to see that the corpses of her subjects were pulling her down, sinking her down into the blood soaked soil. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"Mother! Make the pain stop!" they shrieked together. She began to scratch and claw at her face. "We'll be loyal! don't hurt us anymore Princess!"
Overhead a large black shape was circling, before she was violently pulled down into the darkness she saw it swooping down.
It looked like a monstrous bat.
She awoke screaming. The lamp on her night stand beside her pillow turning on made her recoil away from it, expecting to see some gore soaked monstrosity from her dream standing there.
"Are you okay, princess?" at the sight of a very concerned Peppermint Butler, Bubblegum inched her way back over to the middle of the bed. "Shall I fetch you some tea?"
She doubted that she would be able to hold the cup. Her hands were still shaking like made.
"No thank you Peps," she replied, ashamed of how she was acting. "Just a bad dream is all, you can go back to bed."
the little peppermint looked at her, a worried expression that told her he wouldn't. She sighed in defeat and looked down at her hands.
"Okay, the dream went like this," she began.
The telling took longer than she expected, PB found her voice breaking up when she got to the candy people crying for help. She began to sob just mentioning Finn's name. To his credit, Peppermint Butler didn't interrupt, or ask any questions. He knew that if he spoke at all the princess would try to keep him talking to weasel out of telling him her dream.
After what seemed like hours, she was finished.
"It was only a dream, princess," he said, softly patting her shaking hand. "Dreams aren't real, they can't hurt you."
Bubblegum nodded, and laid back against her pillow.
"How about that tea now?" he prodded gently. "Think you can have a cup?"
"Maybe," she said, looking over at him and he could see the fear in her eyes. He remembered the little girl she used to be, and knew that the dream had affected her deeply. "Will you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone."
"Of course, princess," hopping down to the floor. "I'll be right back with that tea."
When she was alone, Bubblegum stared up at the ceiling and thought about who she had seen, obviously they were the enemy. That was plain to see. One was the former leader of the Fire Kingdom, and the other was a liar and a cheat. Both were scum, that was a fact.
But; even scum could prove useful if put to the right purpose.
Phoebe hated meetings. The endless tide of people requesting this or that, bills that needed approving, making sure the food supply was correctly rationed and accounted for, it was all so boring.
'If I knew this was ruling i'd have let dad keep the throne,' she thought, knowing that that was wrong, her dad was horrible, and he made the Fire Kingdom suffer. 'I have to fix that,'
At the back of the hall she spied Flambo trying to slip in undetected. While the latest noble was droning on about zoning lines for his volcano palace, Phoebe watched as Flambo crept around the outer perimeter until he was up front.
She watched sideways as he slipped up next to Cinnamon Bun and began to whisper to him hurriedly. A confused look crossed Cinnamon Bun's face.
"Really?" she heard him whisper. Her knight looked up at her, before whispering back to Flambo. "That's where they are."
Flambo winked at him before scurrying off.
'Wonder what that was about?' she thought. Phoebe looked back to see the noble was waiting for her judgment. "Denied."
Her mind kept racing back to what had just transpired between her faithful knight and that little pest, so caught up in the what and why, that she ignored the angry fire noble storming out of the hall.
That was the tipping point.
PB looked a little worse for wear. Dark circles under her eyes and a tired expression told the hero that his princess hadn't slept much last night. He had wondered on the walk over what princess Bubblegum could want from them so early in the morning, the sun had barely risen above the mountains when he and Jake set out from the Tree Fort.
"Mornin' Princess!" Finn said, behind him he heard Jake stuff the rest of a tart into his mouth.
"Mmekfjg pribdbn!" Jake gargled, his mouth full.
She smiled tiredly at them, and sat up straighter.
"Finn, Jake, I need both of you to perform a very special mission for me," she said, snapping her fingers, and almost immediately Peppermint Butler appeared holding out a rolled up piece of parchment. "Deliver this message to the Flame King as fast as you can. Its very very very important!"
Finn took the message and carefully placed it in his backpack.
"Sure thing PB, come on Jake we're off to the Fire Kingdom!" Finn said.
The two stopped when Bubblegum called them.
"No, Finn! The message isn't for Phoebe," Bubblegum said. "It's for her dad."
"Really? What do you need to talk to him for?" Finn asked.
The princess shook her head.
"Secret business," she said. "Now scoot! Flambo will lead you to him."
"Okay, see ya later princess," Finn replied.
Peppermint Butler looked up at her. She could tell he wanted to ask her about the message, but; didn't want to intrude on it.
"Yes Peps?" she asked, looking down at him.
The tiny peppermint could see that the princess was exhausted, she had only tossed and turned last night after he said he would stay the night. Eventually, he had held her as she cried into his chest.
"Princess," he began, trying to find the right words to use in this delicate situation. "Are you completely sure that THIS is the solution?"
She yawned tiredly and frowned.
"No, but; compromise is the backbone of success," she said, she yawn again. "Tea please, brown sugar instead of white."
"At once," he said, as he jogged off to fetch PB her drink a knot began to grow in his belly. 'I hope you're right about this, my sweet little girl.'
"So its right over here," Flambo said. At the bottom of the hill, they could made out the opening of a cave almost completely hidden by rocks and weeds. "Yeah, he took to hidin' his'self if Flame Princess sent her guys after 'im."
"How did you know where this was, anyway?" Jake asked, looking down at the flambit.
"Had to go ask ol' CB where it is since he's the only one that knew," Flambo replied. "Well, sees ya later fellas!"
"Come on, Jake," Finn said, as he headed down the hill. "Sooner we get this over with the sooner we can hit the Breakfast Kingdom!"
"Oh boy I can't wait!" Jake exclaimed.
The entrance to the cave had been blocked off almost completely, forcing Finn to crawl on his hands and knees. Jake shrank down and followed. Eventually they came out into a wide chamber filled with darkness, and immediately were greeted by a happy little voice.
"Hi Finn!" across the chamber Finn smiled as he saw a tiny cinnamon bun come running towards him.
"Hey Bun Bun," he said, hugging the pastry. "Is Flame King here? We have a message for him."
a deep voice answered.
"I am here," the darkness of the cavern was chased away by the former Fire Kingdom leader as he illuminated the cave. All around them were chipmunks holding toothpicks like spears. "Give me this message and begone, the very sight of you sickens me!"
Finn passed Bun Bun to Jake, who immediately found his ears being pulled. Digging in his backpack, Finn fished out PB's letter and held it out.. The Flame King growled in his throat as he came closer, his flame getting bigger and bigger, though, Finn didn't know if it was because of anger or just his actual size close up.
The message was snatched out of his hand.
"Fireproof paper, clever," he mumbled, opening the letter, he scanned it quickly before folding it back up. "You may leave."
"But what about your answer-"
"I SAID SCRAM!" he roared, causing the two heroes to quickly retreat into the tunnel, lest they be cooked alive by the heat. The Flame King reopened the letter and read it carefully.
Dear Flame King,
I wish to offer you a place at court in the Candy Kingdom as my Master of War. I am afraid that a vast and terrible evil is coming to Ooo and am in need of allies who I know will be able to turn the tide in our favor.
You will not be forced to take the position, and I will not expect you to answer this letter, but; you should be aware that, if you do choose to side with me you will be amply rewarded. I do not trust your daughter, I fear that she is unstable and too hotheaded to safely rule the Fire Kingdom.
It would be in our best interest if you were to once again rule as king. The Fire Kingdom in my opinion has grown soft and weak under Phoebe's rule, it is not the juggernaut of old such as when you were ruler.
Help me save Ooo, and I will see that you regain your throne, and together the Fire and Candy Kingdoms will be a shining bastion of strength and peace.
Please, join me at my palace if you desire such a future.
Yours truly,
Princess Bubblegum
"What's it say?" Bun Bun asked.
The Flame King looked down at the tiny pastry and smiled.
"It says we're moving to the Candy Kingdom," he said, smiling evilly. Firing a massive ball of flame the Flame King effortlessly cleared the cave opening. Picking up Bun Bun, he looked down at the chipmunks. "I'll be back in a few days, I want to find the badgers and skunks conquered when I return!"
the chipmunks began to cheer as the Flame King flew off in a streak of flame.
Princess Bubblegum took a sip of her tea and leaned back in her chair. Peppermint Butler had told her of the Flame King's arrival.
"Please, join us," she said, as he entered, and took a seat on her council. All along the council table the princess looked into the faces of her enemies. But; that was the past and now they would have to be friends. "I'd like to thank you all for coming here to meet with me today. I would like to lead off with that I know all of us have been…. At odds in the past. But; I'm afraid that now fate is pushing us towards something much more dangerous and we few are all that stands in the way of total destruction."
The assembled began talking among themselves. She could see that her words had touched them, that they understood. That was good, at least she didn't need to spell it out.
"Now, if no one objects, lets introduce ourselves," she said.
Starting from her left they went around the table.
"Ricardio,"
"Sir Slicer,"
"The King of Ooo, of course!"
"Hey, I'm Toronto,"
"Flame King, Master of War!"
"Maja the Sky Witch,"
"Tiffany,"
"Stevie!"
the assorted villains looked at the tiny red squirrel in confusion.
"Why is a squirrel here?" Maja asked.
The squirrel began to foam at the mouth and shake violently.
"Stevie is the most hate filled creature in the land of Ooo," Bubblegum said. "I offered him a spot because his ferocity is unmatched."
"I get to kill Jake!" he screamed shrilly.
"No, I said Jake will print all your letters," she replied. "Anyway, moving on, nothing we say or do leaves this room. i'm afraid what the other princesses will think if they found out about this."
"Princess, if I may," Ricardio said. "What exactly is this great darkness you fear is coming?"
She took a deep breath.
"The Lich,"
END CHAPTER 1