Rebirth
"Flame King! Hey! Hey, Flame King! Look at me! Flame King! Flame King!" shouted the fire elemental ceaselessly.
The teenaged king sighed. She had been dealing with stuff like this all day. "What is it, Kelvin?" she asked, trying to be genuinely polite and helpful to one of her more annoying subjects.
"Well, I've got this jar, and it's full of mayonnaise that I wanted to put on a super-awesome sandwich, but I…I…" the nonroyal elemental was tearing up at this point, "I can't open it!"
Flame Princess sighed once again, reached forward, and opened the jar. "Thanks, new Flame King!" Kelvin shouted as he ran away, holding the now-open jar of mayonnaise over his head triumphantly. He was the last Fire Kingdom citizen to visit her today, and, honestly, she was glad. She loved the Fire Kingdom and its people, but being king was stressful. Every day, hundreds would line up at her throne with their requests, problems, and complaints. It was exhausting.
"I used to be like that, you know…" The words caught Flame Princess by surprise. She had been so focused on helping her citizens that she had almost forgotten about her trusted knight and best friend, Cinnamon Bun, standing right beside her.
"What do you mean, CB?" she asked. "You know…stupid." The pastry replied. "When I used to live in the Candy Kingdom, I was like a big kid more than anything. I couldn't do anything on my own. I used to drive Princess Bubblegum crazy. She may be devious, but she loves her kingdom and her people just as much as you do yours, so she was always there to help me. But it wasn't until I came here, with you, that I found true purpose in my life." "What are you saying, CB?" "I'm saying that everyone grows up and finds purpose eventually, even if they may not know when or where that might be. Sometimes, it's through finding new friends…" He looked over at his king, and then at his fire wolf, Jake 2, who was panting happily beside him, "or even through great suffering and harsh lessons. There is no uniform moment for it, but it will happen, and I'm thankful every day that it happened to me."
"So…I guess this is my purpose then, ruling over the fire folk. Because I do feel like this is where I need to be, and I actually have you to thank for that." "Well, I'm your friend. Friends help each other find purpose."
Just then, Flame Princess noticed a figure on the horizon. It was hard to make out at first, although she recognized the blue hue of a Flame Shield spell. As it got closer, she recognized the silhouette. It was her ex-boyfriend, Finn the Human, although something seemed different about him, something she couldn't tell from where she was sitting. She wasn't exactly sure how to feel about him coming to visit anyway. They weren't dating anymore, but she had forgiven Finn for his mistakes. They were friends now, but the last time she had seen him, he still couldn't let go. He kept trying to flirt and get back together, much to her annoyance. Now, the king wasn't sure what to expect. And by now, Finn had reached the throne.
"Hey, FP!" "Hello, Finn, I…" She saw at once what was different. "Oh my Glob! Finn!" "What? Is there food on my face or something?" He looked down at his arm, or, rather, his lack of one. "Oh, yeah. That."
Cinnamon Bun was just as shocked as his king. "Finn, are you insane?! How can you be so casual about this?! You need medical attention immediately!" The human was still unfazed. "No, it's cool guys, really. It's a long story, but I'm fine." "You mean that flower isn't some kind of limb-eating parasite or something?" "What? Nah, that kinda has to do with that long story."
The fire elemental spoke again. "Well then, uh, not to be blunt, but why did you come here, Finn?" "Well, I just wanted to talk, I guess. Just the two of us." His ex and her knight gave him a suspicious look. "Oh, wait, no! I don't mean any romantic biz or getting back together, I just wanna talk."
Flame Princess thought about it, dwelling on it for a few seconds before making her decision, like she did for most who came to her throne with requests. "Alright, Finn. You're my friend, so I'm here if you need to talk." Her eyes began to flare up. "But if you're lying, you spend the night in the dungeon, same as everyone else, ya got that?"
"Yeah, I'm okay with that. I'm done lying anyway. I'm done with a lot of stuff." His somber tone of voice shocked the fire girl. At the same moment, she realized that Finn had not smiled once the entire time he had been there. Something was very wrong. Cinnamon Bun picked up on this, and he trusted his king's judgment. "It's getting late. I've got to put Jake 2 to bed. He gets real tired by this time of night. Remember, you two. You're both good friends, and you're both in a kingdom of truth. That's two good reasons to be honest with each other." Leaving with that, he departed on his trusted pet and loyal steed.
"Finn, whatever you wanted to say, first I want you to tell me how…THAT happened." "Actually, that's kinda what I wanted to talk about." He looked up at Flame Princess with a smile. Not the kind of smile she expected from Finn. His lips played the part, but his eyes didn't. They looked dull and lifeless, with bags under them. Finn looked sad. Broken, really.
"Finn, are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm…well, no, not really." The human boy sighed. "Well, it all started a couple of days ago. It was my birthday, so…" "Your birthday? I'm sorry, dude. I would have sent you a gift or something at least…" Finn looked surprised, "Really? I just thought that after…you know, that you wouldn't want to see me."
"Finn, that's ridiculous. Of course I want to see you on your birthday. You're what, sixteen now, right?" "Yeah, and we had this big party in the Candy Kingdom. After that was over, these party-lovin' bears that live inside a giant monster's guts showed up for this big rap battle we had planned." "That makes sense," the fire elemental added, "What happened next?"
Over the next forty-five minutes, Finn told Flame Princess everything: Canyon, Billy's list, the ocean, Prismo, the Lich, the Citadel, and his human dad. "So, when Starchy brought us back to the Candy Kingdom, we went to see Peebs. She kinda freaked out when she saw my stub."
"Uh, hey, P-Bubs, are you in here?" Jake called out into the darkened laboratory. He led his human brother through the dark room by his remaining hand. He was having trouble adjusting his eyes to the darkness, but found his way when he saw and heard the electrical sparks of scientific progress in the corner of the room. Finn and Jake walked up to PB's worktable, which was dimly lit by a very old light bulb hanging from the ceiling, so dim that Jake didn't notice it at first glance. Lit only by said light bulb and the sparks from the handheld electric welding torch held by Princess Bubblegum, the heroes could see she was operating on a tiny robot about the size of an action figure. When she finished, she closed the chest compartment of the robot, which stood up, grabbed what looked like a small stick, and used said stick to hit a proportionally sized gong sitting on the desk. Hearing her cue, Science the candy corn rat jumped into her little hamster wheel and began running as fast as she could. The wheel had wires connecting to a box-shaped machine on the other side of the desk, which had several tubes full of chemicals and flashing lights on top, and a conveyer belt door on the side. Science running on her wheel brought power to the device, which Finn and Jake could tell based on the chemicals draining into the machine and the multicolored lights on top of the device flashing like crazy. Within a few seconds, something emerged from the conveyer belt door in a thick cloud of steam. Princess Bubblegum held the object over her head triumphantly. It was a single donut, covered with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. "Success!" Soon, she realized she was not alone in the room. Turning on the overhead lights and removing her goggles and earplugs, she smiled when she saw that two of her best friends had come to visit. "Oh, hey Finn and Jake! I just…" There was a stunned silence for a few seconds as she saw that Finn was minus one arm. "Ohmein verdammterGlob! Was zum Teufelist mit deinemArm?!"
"Uh, I'm not sure what you just said, Prubs, but I heard 'arm', so here's what happened." And so, Finn told PB the story, too.
"So PB made me stay at the Candy Hospital for a couple days so she could keep an eye on my flower. But while I was there, she told me some super-important stuff." "Like what, Finn?" "Well, I know it's something you wouldn't like her talking about, but I think she only did because I was so upset about my dad, and, well, she told me about yours, and what he did. It just made me realize that, before, I never really appreciated you like I should've. I mean, we've been through a lot of the same stuff. We both got abandoned in the woods by our stupid buttwad dads." The imprisoned former monarch in the lantern above the throne scowled silently at Finn. "But at least I got found by Jake's parents, and they became my mom and dad. But you, you didn't have anyone, but you still turned out awesome, and you turned a really sucky kingdom into this amazing place. Really, FP, you're like the bravest person I know."
The teenaged fire royal was almost speechless. "Wow, Finn, that means a lot, actually. But you're wrong about me not having anyone." She began to smile. "You're the one who was there when I needed someone. You were the one who taught me that I didn't have to be evil. You even saved my life that one time. And even though a lot has happened since then, I'll always be thankful for that. Plus, Cinnamon Bun was my friend when I needed one more than ever, and he's been here to help me turn the Fire Kingdom around. So, actually, I've always had people around to help me, at least these past few years." "Huh…so, I guess we both had people to help us." Finn dug through his backpack with his remaining arm and pulled out a framed photo, handing it to FP. "I had these guys." In the photo were four dogs. One wore a gray fedora, and another wore earrings and a fancy hat covered with flowers. In front of them were two puppies, one of whom was clearly a baby Jake, and the other looked the same, save for his larger eyebrows. Standing in between the two puppies was a smiling human toddler, wearing a tiny bear hat and overalls and holding a little wooden sword.
"That's my mom and dad, and there's Jake and our brother, Jermaine, and that's me when I was two. Mom and Dad are gone now, but they taught me a lot. They loved me, and they'll always be my real parents to me."
"Finn, I never knew a lot of this stuff about you, like that Jake was your brother. I always thought he was just your friend. Well, when I first met him, I thought he was your servant." She chuckled. "But speaking of friends, I'd actually really like it if you came to visit every once in a while." When Finn heard this, Flame Princess saw him smile. Not the dull, sad smile he wore when he first arrived, but a real smile. A Finn smile.
"Well, how about now?" the human boy asked as he dug through his backpack, "I've got tons of games and snacks and junk." He pulled out a pack of playing cards, a couple of board games, a paddleball, some juiceboxes, a bag of potato chips, and a plastic container full of Finncakes. "I'm not sure if I've got time, Finn. I've got to get to bed soon, and get up super early to do king stuff. What time is it? And if you say 'Adventure Time!' I swear…" She found herself laughing once again. Finn reached into his back pack once more and pulled out a wristwatch, still wrapped around the wrist of the severed arm of some slain monster. "It's…three in the morning. Oh, sorry, FP. I didn't mean to keep you up so late."
"It's okay, dude. The way I see it, it's too late to go to bed, and I've got three hours to kill until I've got to start working, so let's have some fun!" Finn's response was another genuine smile. "Ugh, why does that smile make me feel so weird? And not bad weird either…" Flame Princess thought to herself. She and Finn spent the next three hours playing games and eating snacks. It was nice to finally do something like that again.
"Well, Finn, I've beaten you at checkers eight times in the past half hour. Ya ready to admit I'm the King of Checkers and the Fire Kingdom?" "Neveeeeeeeeeeer! Uh, to the first one, I mean…" At this, they both collapsed on the floor in laughter. Neither one saw Cinnamon Bun walk up to them.
"Hey guys. Sorry to interrupt, but it's six o'clock. Time to do king stuff. It looks like things went well with you two. I take it you guys had fun?" "Yeah, CB," the fire royal replied, "we actually had a pretty good time. It was nice hanging out with you, Finn." "You too, FP. I've gotta get going anyway. Princess Bubblegum wants me and Jake to help on a mission. Something about finding a special flower or something. Sounds pretty cool. See ya later, FP!"
Finn was surprised when Flame Princess pulled him into a hug, which he returned the best he could with only one arm. "Bye, Finn! Let's hang out like this more often." Both teens were trying to hide the fact that they were blushing, while Cinnamon Bun looked on smiling. "Sure, FP. Sounds awesome. Laters!" Finn waved goodbye to FP and smiled all the way to the Candy Kingdom.
"So, did you learn anything from talking to Finn?" the knight asked his king. "Actually, yeah. I learned we're a lot alike. We talked a lot about family and trust, and then we played games and stuff. It was sorta like…old times, except Finn seemed kinda different. Like he was wiser than before, and maybe so am I. We really connected, I guess. It was really special. Aw, man…" Flame Princess looked uncomfortable. "What's wrong?" "I think I have a crush…"