The hero. Always a figure worth of respect and admiration. The hero is in contact with the divine will, the hero acts in accordance with the ethic. The hero doesn't question, the hero acts based on the rules that protect the well being of the society, and the society pays. The hero is put almost at the level of the gods, the hero receives reconnaissance, the hero receives any kind of prizes from the grateful society.

That's why the hero is corruptible. What happens when the hero, with an inflated ego, acts without receiving reward? The hero could become the villain in a sudden strike of rage. The legend ends, the infamy is born. That's why the hero can't do every task that demands sacrifice and strength. Another kind of warrior is needed for those tasks that demand something else than just the pleasure of defeating evil, watch for the ethics and the desire of rewards after every mission.

What is needed when the hero is not needed?

M.R.M

For Sunchi

The Fire Kingdom.

The formerly reign of evil, pride, lies and Shakespeare had turned into a land of light, smiles, future and honesty. Everything, thanks to the New Flame King, whose policy had made the kingdom bright with a new righteous light.

Even after her bad experiences, even when the only person she could trust betrayed her, she found the force to canalize her anger and her strength in something useful and more powerful than just a blind revenge (she wouldn't lie to herself: in the middle of her confusion, that idea crossed by her mind; it lived a couple of seconds nevertheless and she didn't bring it back). She wouldn't let anyone else suffer in the way she did; she wouldn't let anyone else's life to be consumed by lies.

As she talked to the children in the kinder garden about the advantages of honesty over lies, good over evil, love over pride… she couldn't avoid thinking about the source of her knowledge about that. She couldn't avoid the memories about the lessons of righteousness she received and, along with those memories, the ones about dates and plays and hugs and…

She zoned out for just a second. Then, shrugged it off. There was no time for that. Responsibilities were first. Besides, as far as she knew, past wasn't an option. Everything she had was the present and the future she was building.

Even when six years were behind her power, she needed to reassure it every year. And teaching by herself her policy to the children was the best way to do it. In their young and fertile minds she was planting the seeds for a better future, the seeds for a better life; better than hers.

"Princess, are you okay?"

"Er… wha…? Yeah. I'm okay" responded the ruler of the fiery domains, "Why do you ask that, Cinnamon Bun?"

The King and her closest assistant were heading back to the castle, walking in the streets between the citizens. The King didn't like the idea of being hid from her servants. She wanted to be as close as it was possible to her people. That would mark a difference with her father's physical and non-physical distance.

"You seemed a little down back there with the children. Does something hurt to you? It's your tummy, maybe?" said the pastry knight, playfully

The king giggled. "No, CB" replied the girl with a smile, "I'm just… tired. I need to take a little rest"

"Very well, your highness. I'll tell the castle crew to prepare your room" said Cinnamon Bun before leaving her side to get rapidly to the castle.

"If something hurts me, I don't think it would be my tummy" she thought, putting her right hand in the lower part of her chest, remembering, but also deciding to ignore, the needling pain she felt three days ago in the same area, "Some rest should do".

Cinnamon Bun entered in the ruler's chambers without hesitation. No matter they were a forbidden area even for him, the groans of pain and the sonorous struggle in which the young king was shouldn't be ignored.

She was writhing in her bead and occasionally, when she wasn't clenching her teeth like wanting to break them, her mouth let escape screams of pain; but still, they weren't long. Even in that condition, she didn't want to look weak.

"Princess! Princess! What is it? What do you feel?"

"My... my chest... it hurts" she moaned between heavy breathings.

"Hurry! We need a doctor in the royal chambers! Now!" yelled CB on the phone to the castle crew.

Within seconds, a group of three fire elementals attended to the room. Everyone of them carried a black small bag. One of them checked with her hand the ruler's temperature, who was calmer than before.

"She's too much over the normal" said the nurse.

Other one of them checked her heart beats.

"Erratic beats. I can't catch a balance in the rhythm" said the young boy with the stethoscope.

"Her skin is getting redder" said who seemed to be the head of the group, "We need to take her to the hospital right now!" commanded her.

In the most deep of the secrets, they and Cinnamon Bun took the king to a secret room in the subterranean levels of the castle; a special room made exclusively for emergencies like those.

She was moaning, fighting for breath. The pain in her chest was now just a numb sensation; it felt like her heart wasn't beating at all. She took CB hands and the knight could see the terror in her eyes. She felt like taking a seat in the Death Bus and she didn't want to. There was still lot of things she needed to do. A thing she wanted to do.

In the medical room, FP's skin began to change it's colors. From a grayish orange to a very lit up red. After that, her breath got it's normality and her heart was beating as usual, as everyone in the room could see in the cardiac monitor. Flame Princess fell in unconsciousness, but she was stable again.

"What happened?" asked the nurse.

"I... couldn't say" responded the leader doctor, "I had never seen a fire elemental being that sick"

"Could you find out what it was? It certainly will be a second seizure" said Cinnamon Bun.

"I'm afraid... we can't. We had not seen anything like this before. I'm sure there's nothing in medical books about it; and I have read them all. Besides, we don't have the technology to investigate"

"I know who has it" said Cinnamon Bun.

"Finn, you shouldn't come with me to this"

"Why not? Is my duty as champion of the Candy Kingdom"

Both Princess Bubblegum and Finn were walking towards the Fire Kingdom, near the border between this and the Grasslands.

Early in the morning, Bonnibel received a phone call from her former citizen Cinnamon Bun informing her about the health problems of the Flame King. She couldn't deny the excitement that filled her scientific curiosity. She would be allowed to analyze a fire elemental! Due to the pride of that people, she would be the first no-fire-person to do it. In the other hand, Finn had no idea of why they were going to the fiery domains. He just assumed it was a diplomatic issue.

"Are you sure you come for that and only for that?"

"Yes. Why would I come if it's not for that?" asked Finn with a grin.

"Well, I dunno. Maybe to try a move on FP?" asked PB, sarcastically.

"Oh, boy! Can you, please, not say things like that?" he complained.

"Sure! If you don't do things like that"

"I'm maturer. I'm over her, I swear"

"Let's see it, then. Here we are"

Just in that moment, the young hero realized they were just in front of the entrance to the castle of the Fire Kingdom. He felt the air in his lungs escaping and he tried to get it back with deep breaths from his mouth. His heart was beating like it used to do in bittersweet memories from six years ago. His poker face fell just in an instant and his eyes were lost into infinity.

Bonnibel had seen that gaze in him many times before. She knew that was the look he had when he gazed at the sunset, with obvious thoughts about certain girl. She felt some pity for him, but she also felt the necessity to help Finn to control his emotions or her golden opportunity could fly away like a butterfly scared of a predator.

"Finn, snap it out!" she said, snapping her fingers in front of Finn's face.

"Wha... what? What happened?"

"Stay behind me and don't tell a word at least Flame Princess or I tell you to do so. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do" he said, still overwhelmed.

Princess and hero entered in the big castle made out of volcanic rock; even when they were wearing their especial outfits, they could still feel some of the heat coming from the ground caused by the lava rivers running under the castle and practically the whole kingdom. No one was there to receive them, the place was empty. They both began to think they arrived early or late; or that it was a joke all along. After some uncomfortable seconds of silence and insecurity, Cinnamon Bun appeared from the left wing of the hall.

"Welcome, Princess Bubblegum... and Finn", he said, confused by the presence of the human. "Come with me, please".

Finn and Bubblegum followed Cinnamon Bun into the left wing of the castle, from where he had came. They walked by a corridor with walls filled of portraits of old and important fire people, all of them with rough and angry faces although some of them had smiles... creepy smiles. The walk was silent and Finn always kept himself behind Bubblegum, as she commanded before. But, at some point, he saw something.

Feet ahead, there was Flame Princess. She was being transported in a wheel chair by a fire nurse to another room in the same corridor; she was wearing the dress she used under her armor. The human left his emotions take over him and he ran towards the young king even when Princess Bubblegum yelled at him.

"Flame Princess!" he yelled, just at some inches from her. And then he stopped.

He saw her. He saw her expression. She was confused, surprised. Finn felt how those amber eyes lay on him with a big weight. He saw something more in her eyes. ¿Anger? ¿Sadness? It was almost a heartbroken expression.

"Finn?" she whispered and left the wheel chair, putting her feet in the ground. She approached to him. "Why? Why after so many years? You just came to tell me about your arm and then... nothing...". She looked at what was left of his right arm, the stump covered in green grass (*)

"I- I thought..." the words were in his brain, but they got stuck in his throat; he stopped feeling his heart, he stopped feeling everything. Any corporal sensation was gone. "I thought you hated me" he finally said.

"Hate you?" she asked, almost offended, "How could you think I would hate you?" she asked with a frown.

"Because I was really really dumb back then, ok?" he said, "I acted like a clown. You needed me when your father tried to take over you and the only thing I did was to fool around and trying moves on you. And that's why I didn't come to be with you in these six years. I didn't want to force you too look my stupid face again", his words came out as he was looking away, to the walls, caressing his right arm with his left hand, ashamed.

Flame King's features softened. She remembered that day and, of course, she remembered what Finn was talking about. The memories weren't pleasant, but the fact that he was apologizing for those actions made her appreciate the human boy a little bit more.

She put her hands in Finn's shoulders, prompting him to look directly at her eyes. Now her face had a smile and her eyes brighted differently.

"I missed you, fool", she said in a friendly way.

"I thought... you didn't want to see me ever again"

"My Glob! What did yo do to the Finn I knew? He'd know I would never keep such feelings towards him"

Finn giggled. "Yeah... I've been missing you too" he responded with a smile.

The Flame King took his left hand between hers. "I want to see you more often here in the future. I really need a friend to hangout and take a break from all this royal stuff"

In the back of the that scene, Cinnamon Bun's features cringed in worry. After so many years at her side, she recognized every single tone in her voice, every single non-spoken feeling reflected in her face. He could see her hope speaking. The hope of recovering a life for her and only for her, without chains. But, would she make it? Would she overcome her current state? That was what made Cinnamon Bun feel a black hole in his chest.

"Okay, it's time to check on you, Flame Princess" said Bubblegum, approaching to the youth. Her voice was enough to annoy and make the King uncomfortable. She didn't want or ask for help from the sugary princess; but Cinnamon insisted that she was her only chance to know what was happening with her.

"Ugh... Fine" she muttered, giving up her pride.

Both the princess and the king entered in a room where other fire doctors were awaiting for them.

"Wait, what? What's happening? FP? Are you okay?". Finn tried to enter with them but was stopped by Bubblegum.

"You must wait out here, okay? Don't fool around or make a mess or..."

"I'm not a child anymore, Peebles" he complained.

"Then I don't need to repeat it to you. I can't believe I'm doing this but... Cinnamon Bun, keep an eye on him, would you?"

"Sure. But I think that won't be necessary. Will it, Finn?"

"No" he said.

"Good. See you... maybe in a few hours" she said before closing the door just in front of Finn.

The human sighed and walked towards Cinnamon Bun.

"What is this all about, CB?"

"You shouldn't be here" the knight responded.

"Wha...? What are you talking about?"

"I only called the princess. You weren't called and I honestly don't know why are you here" said Cinnamon Bun, prompting a hatred feeling from the human towards him, "But if you wanna know... I... I couldn't respond to that. That's why I called her. Only she has the intelligence and the material to find out what's wrong within her. Sorry Finn, I don't know what is happening with her"

Finn's face softened it features. Worry took over him and he glanced at the door of the room, where the future of the princess was uncertain.

"Does she talks about me?" Finn asked, but several seconds passed and he didn't receive any response, "Cinnamon Bun?". When the human turned around, he just saw the King's knight making his way away from him.

The princess carried with her a small bag which contained several metallic capsules. When a button in one of their extremes was touched, the princess threw the capsule at some place of the room and then, after a sudden non-harmful explosion, appeared different components of her laboratory. Bubblegum, with her fireproof suit, proceeded with the examination.

The princess was excited like she never was before. Taking blood samples from her, checking her heartbeats in a machine, even checking her temperature was something new for her and for everyone foreign to the Fire Kingdom. However, she was still a scientist and she was working trying to find the illness of the fiery ruler; so, she was working as best as she could, writing any useful fact in her notebook and making a connection out of all.

Around forty minutes passed.

"Are we done yet?" asked Flame Princess, annoyed.

"The first part is done. There's only one more thing I need to check on you. I thought it wasn't going to be necessary but..."

"What is it?"

"Your power"

Princess Bubblegum put several fire proof sensors in every crucial part of the king's body (at least that was what she said) and made her enter in a small room adjacent to the nursery.

"The walls should resist the heat I need you to liberate" said Princess Bubblegum trough a glass, "When I tell you, expel as much power as you can. My computer will record its level and, luckily, will help us to find out what is happening with you. Ok?". Flame Princess just nodded. "Now!".

Almost immediately, Bubblegum's lectures went crazy. Flame Princess's power seemed to be liberated with all its might at the beginning; it settled down latter and began to rise again after a few seconds. But the ruler didn't last much. Her power decreased after fifteen seconds and it didn't rise again. Much worse, it was decreasing even more; a little, but still decreasing.

"It's enough. Come back here" said the candy ruler.

Flame Princess settled down her flames and went back to the nursery. She knew something went wrong in the middle of the test. She felt how her power decreased and even when she tried to expel more, it didn't respond. Her power abandoned her.

"What did you find? Something useful?" asked the Flame King.

"I think I did. But first I need to compare it with previous records"

"Previous?"

"Do you remember the time you and Finn kissed and almost destroyed the world?"

"Did you...? How?" asked Flame Princess with anger, but embarrassed by the violation to her privacy.

"I have any kind of sensors all over Ooo that record any useful information for the well being of the land. After that incident I checked the records and saved them for future applications... like this one" said Bubblegum proudly. "Ok, I have it. Whoa..."

"What does that 'whoa' means? Is something bad or something good?"

"I thought about this... but I didn't thought it would in fact happen"

"What? All I see in your screen are numbers and letters and strange shapes!" replied Flame Princess, not understanding the equations in the screen.

"Flame Princess... I think your heart is dying"

The sentence was like a rock tied up to her neck that dragged her down. The ground under her feet suddenly disappeared and her head spun around, making her lose the sense of equilibrium. Her dry throat requested hydration that came from the saliva in her dry mouth.

"Well... everybody's heart dies a little everyday..."

"Yes. But yours is dying faster than it should" Bubblegum said. "It's almost like the second law..." she mumbled to herself. "The state of equilibrium in which your heart was when Finn liberated you had a low level of entropy, mostly because your emotions were more open and you tended to expel them easily. But then, you passed to this state of equilibrium B and in every change of state the entropy of the system tends to increase. Besides, since your emotions aren't as expelled as before, that makes your heart some kind of isolated system, which only increases the entropy"

"What?" asked Flame Princess, confused.

"Entropy is the level of degradation of a system. In this case, your heart. When you passed from happy, passionate, carefree and in-love yourself to the serious, responsible and emotionally distant yourself..."

"I'm not emotionally distant!"

"...the degradation of your heart increased. Your emotions are not as expelled as before, which concentrates all the energy inside you, degrading it faster"

Flame Princess was speechless after that. She couldn't believe it. She was expecting some kind of weird disease that, although painful and dangerous, could be cured with medicine or some strange potion hid in a dungeon, protected by an evil master of dungeons. But reality was different and fear began to spread to her whole body. Her legs felt numb and cold while some heat concentrated in her head, shoulders and chest. She took sit in one of the chairs of the nursery and put her head between her hands.

"Is... Is there a way to stop this?" she asked.

"Maybe. If we could put you back in your previous state or something close... it could work. I don't really know, to be honest"

"And what you want me to do? Date Finn again?"

"Well, he's outside..."

Flame Princess got up from her chair, walked towards Bubblegum and looked right at her face.

"What the bjork? Are you kidding me?" hissed the king.

"Look, I'm not telling you to date-date him again. But obviously he can trigger your emotions easily. In fact, he can do that with everyone..." said Bubblegum, smiling. "And you can trigger his emotions easily too. Just a simple play date to test my theory, just today"

Flame Princess sighed while she returned to her chair. She rested her chin in her hands and sighed again. She wasn't sure of doing what Bubblegum thought necessary. She was confused and overwhelmed for all the things that have happened in just a few minutes. Even a simple play date could be dangerous for certain reasons: she didn't want to give Finn false hopes. But it was the only way.

"Ok. But just a play date!" said Flame Princess.

"Didn't you want exactly that a few hours ago?"

"I did! But you made it weird! Geez..."

"Ow! This is tight!" complained Flame Princess

"This bracelet is going to send information about your vital signs to my computer while you are spending time with Finn. It will help to gather more information about your condition"

"I thought spending time with me will cure her" said Finn.

"Finn, can I talk to you for a moment?" she said, making a gesture with her hand, inviting the human to a distance in which the fiery ruler couldn't hear them.

"Hey! You are in my domains. No secrets"

"We are not hiding nothing from you, Flame King. It's just something between friends" said Bubblegum nonchalantly.

"What is it, P-bubs?"

"Finn, I already explained you. This is not a game! Stop being a child" she whispered.

"What? I'm not a child!"

"Then don't act like one! Being with you is not going to magically cure her. This is just a test. And we will see later if her time with you helped"

"I'm waiting" said Flame Princess.

"Ok. Go!"

"Go where?" asked Finn.

"Go frolic or something. Have fun and give me a lot of information to analyze, please" said Princess Bubblegum while she returned to the castle.

"Now what?" asked Flame Princess to Finn.

"Um... would you like to... go to a... dungeon?"

"Finn, this thing is supposed to make my emotions go like crazy. And you ask me if I want to go to a dungeon? The borest thing for me in the universe?" she said with her flames rising a little, showing her annoyance.

"Well... I was thinking I could let you be the leader and doing everything in the way you wanted"

Flame Princess's flames dance calmed and her features softened. She was surprised by Finn's proposition.

"Would... would you allow me? From the beginning?", a glimmer in her eyes.

"I can't lie in this kingdom, much less in front of its king" said Finn with a smile and offering his hand to the ruler, who took it, touched deeply by the human's allowance. Her flames grew just a little.

Somewhere in the Grasslands, the ground started getting hotter and hotter. The grass became black little by little and started bending. After a few seconds, a portion of the ground was sent into the skies along with the body of a blue ogre, engulfed in flames. From the hole made by the fire, came Flame Princess, floating; and Finn the Human followed her, crawling in the dirt.

"That will teach you to not call me little princess in a disrespectful way! I could be a princess but I'm not your princess!" shouted Flame Princess at the still flying ogre.

"FP, that was sick! That was awesome! That was sickawesome!" exclaimed Finn.

"You could have seen more of that if you had let me be the leader more often" said Flame Princess with a smile, putting her feet on the ground. "Oh boy! Dusk is falling, it's getting late. We should return to..."

"Finn, Flame Princess" said Bubblegum's voice from the FP's bracelet, "I've gathered enough information. You can return to the Fire Kingdom"

"Well, I said it first" said Flame Princess, deciding not to reply.

While the human and the fiery ruler were returning to the Fire Kingdom, the princess couldn't hide her excitement and the whole walk back became a remembrance of what was made some hours before.

"Did you see how I sent that ogre flying?"

"Yes, it was just some minutes before"

"And how I resolved that puzzle that opened that door?"

"We couldn't go forward without that"

"And the room full sword fighters?"

"I helped a lot there"

"I didn't know you could cast a telekinetic arm! Oh! And remember when I saved you from that floor that went down?"

"Um... I... yes..."

Soon, even before the night came completely, the two young adults reached the gates of the Fire Kingdom castle, where Princess Bubblegum and Cinnamon Bun were waiting for them.

"I'm going to study the results of all the tests, Flame Princess. I hope I can come with a preliminary solution in a week"

"Thank you, Princess Bubblegum" she said with nothing but a royal courtesy. "Come to visit me more often, would you?" asked to Finn.

"Defs! I'll call you to see if you have time"

"Well, see you soon then" she said with a smile and then waved a goodbye when Finn retired at Bubblegum's side.

"CB, can you make changes in my schedule to see Finn once a week?" requested Flame Princess once inside the castle.

"I think I can" responded him but, deeply within him, he felt guilty of not communicate his worry and, maybe, of giving her false hopes.

That night, Flame Princess went to to the bed with happiness filling her soul and a big grin in her face. However, the happiness didn't last much, for the next morning she had another seizure.

(*): Reference to my other story "Hopes". Go check it!

If you read so far to this, thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed and if you decide to follow this story, I will be even more thankful. If you decide to leave a review, there are no words to describe how much I appreciate it.

Some notes: That was my poor try in putting the 2nd law of termodynamics into the game; I'm not a physician but I tried to learn as much as I could before writing that part. Now, about the plot: This story and this episode were planned way before Breezy happened, so this is like an AU in which the "last" canon" episode would be Sad Face.

Again, thank you for reading, tell me what you think of the story so far. Take care of your siblings. See you soon!

Grammar correction: April 2nd, 2015