Part 1 of 2
Yet another dull, business-filled day as ruler of the Fire Kingdom. Farmers complaining that it's too cold, generals telling her that they should declare war with the Water Kingdom, and the endless paperwork that needs doing to enact new laws. And she always had to wear this stuffy armor. She knew it was her duty as the new ruler, but she's also just a teenager. All this responsibility was starting to wear her out. No fun, all business. Most days, she'd spend many boring hours sitting on her throne, just waiting to hear—
"Hey, FP!"
Glowing blue from a flame shield, Finn walked into the throne room as he called her name. She immediately perked up when she heard his voice.
"Hey!" she exclaimed. The Flame Guards in the room looked at her strangely. "Ahem, I mean…" She quickly went back to a more regal posture and tone. "Hello, Finn. I'm glad you could make it."
She had to keep up appearances for her subjects, but she really looked forward to Finn's visits. They may not be dating anymore, but now that they were friends again Finn had started visiting the Fire Kingdom quite often to hang out with her. He'd been doing this for quite a while now, and it was always a welcome reprieve from all the work.
Flame Princess got up from her throne and went to greet him.
"Thanks for coming. I've got something cool I want to show you that I think you'll like!"
"Really? Awesome!" Finn replied with excitement.
FP turned around and looked towards Cinnamon Bun, who was next to her throne playing with his Fire Wolf. "Cinnamon Bun!" she called out to him.
"Wha, huh?" Cinnamon Bun turned his attention away from his pet. "Yeah?"
"Can you look after the throne room while I'm gone? Just make sure nothing breaks?"
"Uh-huh. Sure." He said, quickly going back to playing with his pet.
"Uh, you sure that's a good idea?" Finn whispered to FP. "No offense, but CB's kinda… half-baked."
"Oh, I know." FP replied as they walked towards the exit. "Don't worry about it, it's a slow day today. Plus my Flame Guards will look after him. Right guys?" she directed towards the two guards posted at the door.
"Yes, Flame King!" they responded in unison, stiffening their posture.
"Huh. 'Flame King'…" Finn muttered to himself as he followed her out of the castle. "Y'know, I've still been calling you Flame Princess this whole time. Should I call you Flame King like them? Or Flame Queen?"
"Mmmm, I think 'Your Lord and Master' will do just fine." She said, her eyes becoming large and slanted.
"Uh… what?" Finn asked apprehensively.
FP chuckled as her eyes went back to normal. "Relax, I'm just messing with you! Flame Princess is fine. My subjects seemed more comfortable calling me King, so I just sorta rolled with it."
Finn let out a sigh of relief. "Heh, you, uh, really had me going there…"
Walking through the fields of lava geysers and craters, they arrived at their destination: the foot of a somewhat small, unassuming volcano. It was about the size of Finn and Jake's tree house and looked pretty much like every other volcano in the Fire Kingdom, black from charred rocks and obsidian.
"Well, here we are!" Flame Princess declared, pointing at the volcano.
Finn tilted his head. "A… volcano? I mean, it's cool an' all, but aren't there tons of them around?"
"This one's pretty special. Watch."
As if on cue, the volcano began rumbling. It erupted, but rather than violently spew lava, it began spitting out black, round chunks of rock.
"Check this out." FP said as she pointed her fingers like a gun at the flying chunks. She took aim and fired a flaming bolt. It struck one of the rocks dead-on, and when it did, the rock exploded into a vibrant cascade of colorful sparks.
Finn watched with excitement. "Holy wow! That's radical! They're like fireworks!"
"You give it a try!"
"Me? But uh…" He looked at his hands. "I… can't shoot fire out of my hands. Believe me, I would if I could." He held his hands up, as if to show her.
"No, Finn, with your sword! Slash them as they fall down. The friction should do the same thing."
"Oh! Alright then." Finn drew his demon blood sword and walked closer to the volcano, where the chunks were falling.
As one fell straight towards him, he raised his sword and cleaved the rock in two. More vibrant sparks flew out as the sword cut through it.
"Woah, this is awesome! It's like slaying a bunch of sparkly monsters or something!" He exclaimed as he continued slashing the falling chunks.
"I had a feeling you'd like it." Flame Princess giggled. "I only found it recently. I come here to unwind sometimes. It's pretty satisfying."
She joined him in the fun, shooting the rocks in the air while he slashed the ones that fell. It made for quite a colorful display. They continued this activity together, bonding over their mutual affinity for combat, until they finally wore themselves out.
"Whew." Finn panted, leaning on his sword. "That was totes fun! You wanna head back to the castle?" he asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Alright. Let's-" Flame Princess was suddenly interrupted as the ground began to shake violently.
Finn looked around worriedly. "Uh… is this supposed to happen?"
"I don't think so." She looked around with concern as well. "I don't know what's happening, but we'd better get out of here before-"
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet crumbled away, revealing nothing but darkness beneath. Before they could react, they were both falling down the newly-exposed cavern. They screamed as they plunged into the blackness, but they didn't fall for long. They hit the bottom of the cavern hard. As they lay down there, the quake continued and caused enormous rubble to cover the hole they fell through. The rumbling finally stopped and all went quiet, but now they were trapped.