The Fire Kingdom wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It wasn't fun being a royal, or even half as glorious as others believed it to be. Especially when stuck in a glass lantern for one's entire life because the evil mother and some gum wad of a man decided that he was dangerous and evil. The young prince knew he was not dangerous and didn't think he was evil. It was so hard to be want to be alive when he couldn't go anywhere or do anything. Occasionally he felt like he wanted to be doused, put out with some kind of water or chemical. Not only was it boring in the lantern, it was lonely. The young Prince of Flames experienced the cruel imprisonment that was supposed to keep him and others out of harm's way. He never understood why, as he felt that he provided no danger to anyone but those that could be burned.
The young prince broke out of his prison, and escaped out the palace walls. His mother could have cared less, because if he perished, then she would continue to remain the most powerful. He wouldn't perish and refused to fall though, facing many hardships as he wandered. Everything he touched with his hand set ablaze, and the more he did, the better he felt. It was soothing, like a drug that could become addicting. He much preferred heat and warmth and dry climates over cold and wet ones. The world was quiet and loud, boring and exciting, fascinating and uninteresting all at once. Living alone for some time allowed the young man to think about the world outside the palace in a different way, and allowed him to access and contemplate some personal thoughts and feelings deep inside him.
He grew a few years, still solitary in a world that was so foreign to him. He was too afraid to go into the neighboring city, fearing he'd accidentally burn it to the ground and hurt all of the people inside. He was even more fearful of the people in the city, not wanting to be hurt or do something wrong to them. He didn't want to make a mistake and be seen as evil or treacherous. So he curiously kept on the outskirts, watching, longing for the chance to mingle among the others. At a fine age of nineteen, the Flame Prince practiced to himself what he would do when he entered the city on his twentieth birthday.
Time and time again he rehearsed what he would do. He would walk down the path to the city, enter, and simply talk to the other people that were there. "Alright Blayze, you can do it..." He said to himself quietly, practicing on his only friend Flamba, a small creature of fire, who helped to keep him sane.
"Yeah, you's got this Flamie." She encouraged. He looked at her and ran his hand over the magnificent mohawk of fire on his head.
"Hush! You have to pretend you don't know who I am and I mean it! People aren't your friend if they don't have a clue who you are...!"
"Right... right. I'm ready now." She looked up to him as he approached, and he bowed low. She smiled a bit, noticing how genuinely bad he wanted this.
"Hello, miss. I am the Flame Prince, and my name is Blayze. Be careful not to touch me, as my skin is of a high temperature, not one that you are used to. I was wondering if you could so kindly inform me as to where we are. I do fear that I am lost." He smiled, showing off perfect, straight white teeth. Flamba smiled and clapped, feeling that he had nailed it.
"That was perfect! You's got it boy, I don't get why you're so worried." She hopped into his cupped hands, and he brought her up to eye level.
"Do you really mean it? Do you really think I'll do well?" He smiled part way, a glimmer of worry still in his expression. He was simply unsure, having never had the opportunity to learn how to behave in public naturally.
"Of course I mean that. I wouldn't ever lie to you." She wrapped her small front legs around a few of his molten fingers, grinning. "I'm proud of you Flame boy, for choosing your own path."
"Th-thanks, Flamba..." He blushed ever so slightly, eyebrows furrowing slightly, a truly appreciative gleam in his eye. "For the compliment, and for being my only friend. It- It means everything to me."
"Good. Now go! Just remember to smile and be polite! And don't you touch nobody!" She hopped down and he began to walk towards the path, determination and uncertainty in his eyes. The young prince, clad in a bright orange pants and an orange and red coat, red boots to match, strolled down the path. He passed a few people who observed him curiously, and some fearfully. Once inside the city, he came across a young girl with blonde hair and big blue eyes. He took a deep deep breath and approached her, a sheepish smile on his face.
Prince Blayze Flame of the Fire Kingdom was an attractive young adult. Right in the years between adolescent and adult, he was very handsome. He was old enough to appear mature, and young enough to be obviously youthful. He had skin of a pastel orange color that was softly illuminated at all times, and bright fire as hair, mostly red and orange. His eyes were a surprising amber color, and his lips a pale reddish orange tint. Two red rubies were attached to his body, one on his forehead and one in the center of his chest. He was a very handsome young prince, with a personality just as attractive as he.
"Hello, Miss..." He bowed deeply as rehearsed, and she turned around, blushing. She felt her cheeks suddenly drain and her stomach flip flop with anger. She pulled out her sword and pressed the tip to his shoulder, startled.
"Who the heck are you and what are you doing here!? Evil doers are definitely not welcome here, and-!" She gasped when she noticed he had melted her sword. He stood up and backed away, having not planned on this.
"I'm not evil, miss... I'm sorry about your sword, my body is very hot! I am a fire person..." He sheepishly held up his hands, clearly not meaning any trouble. The young blonde sighed and crossed her arms in a huff.
"Look, I'm sorry I pointed my sword at you. My name is Fionna. What is yours?" She shifted her weight from one leg to another, taller and stronger at eighteen.
"My name is Blayze, Prince of the Fire Kingdom. Pleased to meet you." He bowed again, and she smiled a bit, finding his demeanor funny.
"Why are you so hot? In the temperature way?" She asked, keeping her distance. It was like standing next to a heater turned to its highest setting.
"Well... I am a little nervous. Nerves make me hotter than usual, as does the feeling of excitement and fear. Sadness and shame cools me." He said honestly, and she chuckled.
"Relax then. Hey- follow me. I'll get you something to snack on after I get my sword welded and sharpened, again." She said as she turned and walked off, expecting him to follow like a puppy, and he did. Fionna gave her sword to the welder, and he took it back for a few more coins. She then turned to face him. "So what brings you here exactly?" She asked, curious. The young woman was very curious, and very small, yet overpowering. Her eyes were so blue they matched the sky, and her hair was as bright as the sun's rays. It was incredibly long, down to her bum, falling carelessly yet perfectly out of her white hat with bunny ears. Her nose was slightly upturned, and she had a few freckles on her cheeks and small scars on her face that gave her character. She had long black thick eyelashes and eyebrows that were very light blonde. She had two diamond earrings in each ear and pink lips, along with nice teeth, aside from the fact that one of them was slightly chipped. She was an adventurer through and through.
"Well, it's finally my twentieth birthday and I decided that I wanted to meet new people and do new things. It's my first time here." He grinned brightly, the red ruby on his forehead glistening in the sunlight. She smirked and sat on the counter, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Happy birthday... and wow. You must not get out much... A non-evil fire person also boggles my mind. It's actually cute you don't practice the ways of your people." She mentioned and he looked slightly confused. He was about to speak, but the smart and sassy blonde leaned back and continued. "So, redhead... Got a lover back at your kingdom?"
"A... lover? No, absolutely not. Fire people are not my type. They're so... similar. All of them. There has to be more to life than gossip and wanting to be royal. All they cared about was which one was prettier, and which one could make me fall in love, and I disliked all of them." Fionna listened, then full out laughed at his dilemma.
"That would be women for you." She chuckled, putting her hair up in a ponytail after taking off her special white bunny hat. He just chuckled sheepishly, then looked up, way confused.
"You're a woman and you're not like that." He stated the obvious, and she shrugged, legs swinging.
"Well, yeah. Not all women are like that. But most are. Hey- your voice is kinda high. Why is that?" She asked curiously, and he blushed deeply and frowned.
"Hey! My voice is tenor! There is nothing wrong with that!"
"Still sounds like you're trying to hit puberty." Fionna shrugged and giggled, and Blayze crossed his arms. "I'm kidding, geez. Don't take everything so seriously! Then you're boring. You have to learn to chill and take a joke."
"Chilling hurts Miss Fionna." He stated in a very serious tone as she had her sword handed back to her. She giggled in the slightest. "See! Very good!" She stood and carefully slid her weapon into her scabbard attached to her waist, then bought him something to eat. She ordered a fireproof piece of cake for her newly found friend from a wizard chef, and a normal piece of apple pie for herself, then paid. As they ate, he looked around at all of the other people.
"What about you? Do you have a... um, lover?" He asked curiously as she drank some water. She about choked, then rolled her eyes.
"Hell no! I'm done playing games with men. Gumball, the prince of the Candy Kingdom whom I swore I loved, had continual affairs and fell deeply into love with one of my best friends, and now I would prefer not to involve myself with such stupid activities. Waste of time, emotions, and energy. I'd prefer to battle evil and save those in need." She stuffed the pie into her face and Blayze chuckled.
"Oh, alright. Who was the girl your Prince ran off with?"
"His name is Marshall Lee. He's a vampire and king."
"A- a he?" The Flame Prince's cheeks heated up and he looked at another man in the crowds of people. "Affairs with a he?"
"Sure." Fionna shrugged. "Stuff happens. You can love anyone you want, and if they love you back, then you're sure lucky. I for one am not interested though, so don't get any ideas." She threatened him and he nodded quickly, getting the gist.
"Of course. I won't try to court you." He swore, but looked around. Anyone could be his lover, his spouse. That shocked and delighted him to no end. He crossed his legs as he looked around, trying to find someone he found attractive. Fionna observed him while he scanned the crowd, then called.
"Hey Blayze, why don't you come back to my place tonight? We can play some video games and you can crash there. Maybe watch a movie on B-Mo. I'll just put some foil down, and some oven gloves on your hands."
"Oh... Um, yes! Okay! I would very much like to be your friend and do those things with you." He smiled and nodded, genuinely happy and quite frankly surprised by the invitation. The blonde smiled and laughed.
"Awesome." She seemed more like one of the boys, not quite so interested in hanging out with gal pals. He understood. Girls were annoying and catty.
Once back to the large and magnificent tree house, Blayze sat with Fionna and learned how to play video games, play cards, and do basically every mundane task in oven mitts, as not to burn the house down. The pair enjoyed themselves, entertained by another. His boots and clothing were fireproof, and prevented him from catching anything of importance on fire. He wore a tin foil hat Fionna crafted to make sure the flames from his hair didn't lick the ceiling and start a fire, as he was a tall being of six feet and two inches. Fionna was only five foot five, a short, feisty young girl. Over the course of two hours, she had beaten Flame Prince at least one hundred times at the game, and he had only won when he cheated. While she took a bathroom break, he quickly beat up her character. Feeling victorious, he stood and began to look around.
Cake returned at about this moment, and her jaw dropped when she laid eyes on the tall, hot prince sitting on the tin foil covered couch. She screamed, causing the prince to jump, startled beyond belief. "FIONNA! Why is there a boy in this house!?"
"Chill Cake, this is Blayze, the Flame Prince. I met him today, he's a pretty cool guy. I can hang out with him while Gumball and Marshall are having 'alone time.' I don't know why they call it that. I'm not four. I know what sex is." She sat beside the prince, putting her legs across his lap. He blushed and Cake growled.
"You shouldn't have a clue what tier fifteen is. And you had better NOT be planning ANYTHING with this guy!" She hissed, and Fionna groaned, slouching.
"Ew, no! We are friends! Not interested!" He looked up at the wall, slightly offended, and Cake rolled her eyes.
"Just get to bed in ten minutes! Or I'm kicking him out! You in your own bed and he on the couch! I mean it!"
"Fiiiiiiiiine! Gosh, you're acting like mom!"
"I am your older sister child, NOT your mother!" She trudged upstairs, and Fionna sighed and leaned over the arm of the couch backwards.
"Looks like its bed time according to mommy Cake." Her long hair collected on the floor, and Flame Prince chuckled until Cake yelled again.
"I'm not deaf child!"
"UGH!" Fionna groaned, rolled off, then fist bumped Blayze. "That was awesome. I'll see ya in the morning. Good night." She patted his back briefly then climbed upstairs. He made himself comfortable on the couch and closed his eyes, eventually falling asleep, the flame not as bright when he slept.
Sometime during the night Flame woke up, having a bad dream. He sat up and sat crisscross, hands in his lap. The dream had been about Fionna, telling him that any hope at finding love was flat out nonexistent. Just because she did not want a lover certainly didn't mean he felt the same, and it upset him. He rubbed his arms, eyes focused on the floor as he sat in thought. Eventually he stood and walked up to a big round mirror, light following him wherever he was. He observed his illuminated self in the mirror and smiled halfheartedly, reminding himself that anything could happen, if he tried. The young prince of twenty years old admired himself, dramatic shadows cast on his neck. He rubbed it, trying not to lose confidence or doubt the good.
The next time he looked back, he saw a completely different face in the mirror. He gasped and almost screamed, startled majorly. On first thought, he assumed Fionna was beside him. But as he looked around, she was no where to be found. As he stared, he saw a young man roughly his age staring back at him. The man could have been her twin brother, and it confused the prince. He was obviously taller and stronger looking than her, but was just as blonde with shorter hair. He wasn't wearing his hat, and his eyes were a darker blue in color than Fionna's. He had a chipped tooth as well, but the scars on his face were bigger and more prominent. From what Blayze could see, he had powerful muscles on his body, and was about his height. Flame blushed deeply and ignored the swimming thoughts of attraction and even embarrassment in his mind. The boy seemed just as intrigued by the Flame Prince as the Flame Prince was of him. Quietly, he stepped closer.
"Who... are you?" He asked boldly. The boy on the other side frowned, unable to hear his words. "Who are you?" The prince asked again, but it was no use. The blond boy shrugged and put his hand by his ear, symbolizing that nothing could be heard. He rushed off and appeared again, grabbing a notepad. He wrote quickly.
'What is your name? Are you trapped?' His words were quickly scribbled down, but Blayze figured it out. He grabbed his own paper with his oven mitts and used a pen to scribble.
'No, I'm okay. I am Flame Prince... Are you trapped?'
'No, I am fine too. There must be magic going on.'
'I'd assume so.' The prince nodded and watched as the boy wrote, intrigued by him.
'My name is Finn...' He blushed and Blayze giggled softly, quiet as to not wake the girls. The mirror must have been enchanted, showing him a boy from another place who likely owned the duplicate mirror.
'Everyone calls me Blayze. Nice to meet you, Finn.' He held up his paper with a hopeful smile, and the boy named Finn blushed deeper.
'Nice to meet you too, Blayze.'