THE ICE THAT BURNED THE INNOCENT HAND

CHAPTER 1

Breathe in…breathe out. Breathe in…breathe out. Repeat the cycle until your mind is a blank slate. Breathe in…breathe out. Yeah, seems simple when you write it down on paper. Certainly the royal psychiatrist made it seem easy. But then again, for someone who has found elemental peace, everything seems easy. Controlling anger – easy. Walking gracefully – easy. Ensuring that the last remaining king doesn't go insane – well, he seems to be a good job so far. I mean, I haven't burned up the throne room with passionate anger. Yet. I think I'm doing a good job as royalty, all things considered. There have been no riots, the citizens seem happy and for the first time ever, the castle assassin SMILED. And I thought he couldn't smile underneath all that bandaging on his face. I'm so happy I managed to get him to smile. Maybe later I could even try to befriend him. That really would be awesome. Imagine – The Flame King and the assassin are friends. Take that, Dad! But for now, I need to stay calm. Meditate.

Breathe in…breathe out.

Breathe in…

An image of a dungeon pops up. The dim candle swaying in response to the wind, created by movement of people. Pebbles on the floor lighting up as I walk over them, sparks catching on greyish coloured ones. Skulls lining the walls, empty eye sockets staring out unblinkingly at me as I walk past. I light a torch, the movement reflexive and useless. Because, you know, I'm sorta made of fire. A pile of golden coins from a dead era in the corner. I trip over them and they scatter on the ground. I bend to pick one up, and hold it in my hand for a few seconds, before blinking hard and placing it in my dress pocket. A pond at the centre of the corridor. I step around it. A large room with a hologram at the centre. My thoughts change. Something is missing here. I walked through the dungeon before this, and I wasn't the one picking up gold pieces and lighting torches for no reason. The movement of another body, torches flicker more, and a noise like metal on rock as someone slams through the projection and onto a wall behind it. Time passes. I meditate some more.

"GAH!"

I open my eyes suddenly. The well-lit room around me illuminates the many red gems I have decorated my room with, and in the largest ones I can see my face. I look shocked, I look tired, but what surprises me the most is that I look young. Well, younger. While my citizens tell me I look older on the throne, a confident woman who is wiser than my 16 years, they cannot see me when I am alone. That's when my memories come back. Memories that I find too painful to think of. And when I asked for my memories to be removed, I was told that it was impossible, and that meditation helps with time.

Guess what. It doesn't. It makes it worse.

It enhances the memories and sucks me back to last year, the year before. It makes me mad. Some king I am. If I can't control my own memories, how am I meant to control my people? At least I have people who try to help me. Overlay these memories with others, memories just as sweet as the ones I try to forget, but without the tinge of sadness and anger that goes with them. People like CB. He's nice. I think he has some kind of crush on me, which I don't know whether to find strange or not. I mean, he's a candy creature! If I try to advance any make-believe relationship with him, he'll be injured, or…or worse!

Just like…

No. I can't keep dwelling on the past. Those memories are gone. I should try to meditate some more. It could help. Maybe.

Breathe in…breathe out.

Breathe in…breathe out.

Breathe in…brea…

I'm in a dungeon. No, no I'm not. I'm in a prison. The bars show me an image of myself. I do look older. But at the same time…not. My dress doesn't help matters. It's pale, shapeless, the kind young flames wear to bed at night. But my face looks old. Tired. I have folds of fire underneath my eyelids, bringing focus to my orange eyes. My mouth is turned downwards in exhaustion. I cling to the bars. For some reason, my brain won't let me remember why I'm in the prison, but I know something bad has happened. CB isn't with me. He should be. He's my knight…no, wait…no he's not…or, at least, not yet…

I stare out at the room in front of me. There are shouts coming from my right, and a rumbling sound from in front of me. Two figures enter the room. My father and the other one. There is a crash as the wolf breaks through the wall ahead of me. CB runs over, and my brain becomes fuzzy in clarity. The bars vanish, and I run out, with someone next to me. They sit behind me on the wolf. I cling to the fur around me. The memory fades.

"DAMN IIIIIIIIIT!"

I did it again. Great. Why can't I concentrate on anything? I meditated fine until…

That's it. All my memories have been building to this. The final one. That incident with my father, and Don John, and CB, and him. Always him. Blocking my thoughts until all I can think about is him. Incidents with him, adventures with him, fights with him. Him, him, him. He was gone from my thoughts, and then he came back. No, I wanted him back. To help me. And he messed up all my thoughts.

So if introducing him back to my life messed up my thoughts…

Then the only logical thing to do would be to remove him from my life. Total split.

I sighed. I didn't want to do this. Not one bit. I like him, but after what he did to me…I can't be with him. And this obsessive memory recall about him has to end.

I heard footsteps behind me. Someone's coming to my room. I look down at what I am wearing – an outfit of a pale red dress with red belt at my waist, with a white petticoat underneath. My hair is tied up in two messy buns, random pieces of hair falling over my shoulders. I stand up and smooth down my dress, before turning to face the door. It suddenly swings open, and a figure who seems in a state of panic stands there. Cinnamon Bun. His hand frozen on the door, he scans the room with wild eyes. He appears to be shaking, and from the expression on his face it looks as though he was expecting the worst.

"Flame Princess?" he asks nervously, his voice wavering on the first word. No matter how much he has changed since he got hit with fire, I can never seem to get over how he went from yelling everything to softly whispering with care, like each word needed to be crafted in his throat before it is delivered to the air wrapped in paper. His eyes finally fall upon me, and I give him a small smile. His face instantly relaxes. His eyes dilate and he breathes a loud sigh of relief. Taking his hand off of the door, he stands upright and places each hand back to his side. He returned my smile with one of his own. That's another major change about him. Gone is the goofy grin that seemed permanently plastered to his face, and in its place is a much smaller smile, one rarely seen but rewarding when it is.

"Oh thank goodness. Princess, I heard you scream, and thought you might be in danger. I'm sorry."

I maintained my smile, but even I could feel that is wasn't completely genuine.

"Thank you, CB. I'm fine. I was simply…meditating."

The half-lie hung in the air like lead, falling through CB's feather soft words. His smile vanished from his face, and his expression changed into one of concern. He opened his mouth to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him. I looked to the floor, and sighed, letting my hand fall back to my side, only for my palm to grip the dress with an iron hold. Looking back up, I saw that CB has moved forward a step, his arms raised for any comfort I might need. But it wasn't comfort I needed right then. I needed understanding, and I wasn't sure he would ever understand how I felt right then.

"Come on, Princess, what's the matter?"

The soothing words wrapped around me like a gentle caress. A tear formed in my eye, but I blinked it away with force and steeled my voice for the next words.

"I need to forget about Finn."

Each word was like a dagger pinning my heart down in my chest. I didn't want to forget about Finn. But needed to. For my people. And that hurt me. A lot. I searched CB's face for some sort of reaction, or at least anything that would make me feel better. But he just stood there, frozen in the same position he was a minute ago – arms open, worry on his face. Seconds passed, and I grew more and more uncomfortable. This wasn't like CB at all. I wished I could see what he was thinking. Finally, he dropped his arms, and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Princess. If that is your will, then I will support you in any way I can."

I shook my head. This wasn't right. I needed his opinions, not some royal pledge.

"No. CB, please, tell me what you think. Am I right in doing this?"

"Yes."

The reply was instantaneous. No hesitation. I thought it weird for a second until he continued.

"You have been thinking a lot lately. When I met you, you were happier than you are now, and seeing as you had just broken up with him and been under testing by Princess Bubblegum, that really is saying something. Princess, if letting go of Finn will really make you happier, then your will is mine."

I sighed, and smiled. Really smiled.

"Thank you CB. That means a lot."

CB smiled back, one of his rare smiles, and said "So, how will you do it?"

I looked to my desk, with the boxed paper I had. It was a gift from someone (I forget who) and I used it for important documents. This is what I pointed to now.

"CB," I said. "I'm going to need you to write a letter…"

"Yo Jake! Wait for me, you idiot!"

"He he-he he-he he-he he!"

"JAAAAAAKE!"

I splutter out the last line, before collapsing in a heap on the floor. Jake skips back to me, dancing around my fallen body. He shrinks back to normal size and sits on my stomach. My face pulls itself into a frown, and I bring up my left arm to punch him in the head, but he grows larger and squashes my arm before it could move much.

"Wow. Thanks, Jake." I wheeze, attempting to move away from his ever growing buttocks. "You

want me to lose my left arm just as I regain the right one?"

Jake simply laughs. "Dude, you are SO not playing the 'Ooo, poor me and my arms' card again." he said, mocking me and raising his voice as he imitated me. I wriggle some more.

"Come on, bro. My voice ain't that high anymore."

Jake giggles again, before covering my mouth with his butt. Not for the first time, may I add. And, also not for the first time, I open my mouth and chomp down on the flesh. He yelps and springs off of me, enabling me to move and flop quickly onto him. He growls.

"Dude. Not. Cool. No biteys."

It's my turn to laugh as he worms around attempting escape. But my humour is short lived as he shrinks down impossibly tiny and proceeds to run all over my body. I convulse on the floor, rendered helpless as he tickles me everywhere.

"Duude. No-ha ha ha ha – cool –ha ha ha ha!"

Jake pops out from under my T-shirt, directly at the base of my neck. I look down, puzzled, and my eyes widen as I realise what he is about to do.

"No Jake. No. Not that. No."

He does it. He tickles my neck. Boom. I'm on the floor, unable to move. Jake regrows to normal size (completely ripping my shirt, may I add) and lays there.

"I think I win there, bro." he says triumphantly. I gasp and regain my breath.

"I guess you did. I lose. You win."

Jake looks down at me and grins wider, before rolling off onto the grass next to me. We lay there, side by side, facing the sky. It's a sunny day – one that may be common in Ooo, but each one is different. I can hear bees in the distance, and I'm reminded of Breezy. I wonder how she's doing. I haven't seen her since she helped me with my arm, and I need to thank her. I hear a gentle snore from Jake, signifying sleep, and a giggle escapes me. Time for some payback.

I get up quietly, and pad over to the treehouse. Upon opening the door, I find that, since the room is empty now, I can find stuff a lot easier. For instance, our mail. Usually it falls in amongst the treasure, but now it piles up at the door. But I'm not looking for mail. I'm looking for ice cream. I walk over to the kitchen, and look in the freezer. There it is – a large tub of ice cream. I lift it out and tuck it under my arm. On leaving the room, I look out the window. There's Jake, still lying on the ground, still sleeping. And there's the ice kingdom, still…frosty. I shake my head and leave the room. It takes mere seconds to get back to Jake, and open the tub. I use my hands to scoop the ice cream out of the tub, and begin to spread it in a ring around Jake. I am halfway through this when Jake says something in his sleep, "No, no, I'm the lord of pizza…". I stifle a laugh and resume spreading the cream around. My job done, I stand up and poke Jake in the belly with a toe. He groans, and rolled over. Onto the ice cream. I poke him again, this time on the other side. He mumbles something unintelligible, before rolling over onto the other ice cream. I can't help it – I let out a loud laugh. Jake moans again, before opening an eye and wiping his face.

"What the…" he mumbles, before opening both eyes fully and rubbing his body.

"OH GLOB! I'M MELTING! I'M MELTING!"

I can't help it. I laugh out loud. This seems to wake Jake up completely, and he looks down at his body. He is shocked for a second, before turning to face me. He looks so comical that I can't breathe for laughing for a second. He opens his mouth to say something, then stops. There is a rumbling sound in the distance. Coming from the Ice Kingdom. I stop laughing, and look towards the kingdom, Jake doing the same. The ice looks slightly hazy, then blue sparks begin to snake upwards towards the sky, like reverse lightening. I would have said it was cool if we weren't sitting mere metres away from the spectacle. Suddenly the ground begins wobbling. I find myself unable to move, and I look to Jake in horror. He is saying something I cannot hear, then launches himself at me, covering my body with his in protection. The shaking lasts for an eternity, stopping just as suddenly as it started. Jake slowly untangles himself from me, and we both stare at the ice kingdom.

It's a wall. That's putting it quite simply. It's a wall. Of ice. We can see through it, but the image is hazy. There really is nothing more to say about it. I can hear Jake repeating "Oh my glob" over and over, but I just sit in silence. My mind catches up, and I stand.

"We need to see Princess Bubblegum."

Jake gets up next to me. He looks frazzled, and more than a little confused.

"Can't we just…you know…go up to it and see what it is first? I might be able to go over it, you know. It could be all over before Peebles even realises."

I give Jake a withering look. "Really, Jake? The science princess who wants to know everything WON'T be interested in a giant wall of Ice outside the Ice Kingdom? Come on, dude. She'll probs be here in a minute to check it out anyway."

Jake smiles at me, and rolls his eyes. "All right. We'll go to the Candy Kingdom first." After, he whispers loudly "So you can see Bubblegum again."

I hit him on the shoulder, and grin back. "I heard that."

Jake laughs, and began walking towards the candy kingdom, me following close behind.

I hate mornings.

I swear I didn't hate them when I was a little girl. I loved mornings. The way the sun splashed through the window; a million opportunities for discovery and adventure awaiting you. The birds would sing at my open window, and I remember just sitting there, listening for what seemed like hours.

And then I turned 18, and the kidnappings began. At first, it was just once, and may I say it caused chaos amongst the guards at the palace. I think I should be impressed. Months went by, then it occurred again. More panic, then doubled guards at my call 24 hours a day. Then again. More panic. And again. Panic. Kidnapping, panic, kidnapping, panic. And all in the morning. Pretty soon, my day was almost predictable – Wake up, get kidnapped, wait in jail for an hour or two being bored, get rescued by a hero or something (it used to be one of the elite gumball guards, then Billy, then there was a stage where I managed to escape alone, then other princesses would help, then it was Finn), calm the panicked citizens and guards, remain watched in my lab for the rest of the day, go to sleep.

No wonder I hated mornings after a couple of years of this.

So when the kidnappings stopped, hundreds of years later…I felt lost. A few months ago, I awoke not at dawn to an aged ice wizard grabbing me, but to the chime of a clock. It chimed 10 times. 10. I slept until ten o'clock. At first, I couldn't believe it, expected Ice King to burst out of a closet and whisk me away (he's done it before). But after a thorough search with my banana guards, I let myself believe it. I was free.

I should have been happy. My mornings were safe, and I could once again enjoy the innocence of a joyful start to the day. But instead, my mind was accustomed to bad mornings, and couldn't cope. I began to wake up breathless in the mornings, fearful of what might happen. Once, I awoke in a half-crazed state of mind, expecting attacks from foreign kingdoms, and ordered my elite group of warriors to withstand sleep gas (with their minds alone, may I add) in case of a large scale attack.

Thank goodness Marcie was there to rescue me from that frenzy.

Just last week, however, things began to look up. For the first time in centuries, I woke up to the bird song at my window, and listened in sweet serenity. I was at peace. Finally, I could look forward to the morning, and not lie awake at night dreading the frosty glow from the sun.

I should have guessed it wouldn't last long.

This morning, I awoke to a knocking at my door. I rubbed my eyes, and called the person in. It was Peppermint Butler. Honestly, I was expecting another lecture on how I was nearly 1000 years old now, and that I couldn't exploit the teenager stereotype of 'sleeping until midday' anymore. In my sleep-induced state, I rolled my eyes and yawned at the window. Usually at this point, he would have told me not to do that (very un-princess like of me to yawn without covering my mouth), but not today. He gravely approached the bed, and stopped by my side. His face was a blank, but his eyes were unusually grief-stricken. I started to panic.

"Peppermint Butler, what's wrong? What happened? Has there been an accident? Did…did someone die?" I whispered the last bit, and Peppermint Butler – truly against his nature – did nothing to console me. He locked his eyes with mine, and placed an envelope on my lap, his gaze never wavering. His lips parted, and he stated something I would never have guessed.

"It's from the Fire Kingdom."

In a split second, hundreds of images flashed through my brain. Fire Kingdom. The evil dictator. The young heiress. My role in trapping her behind a glass wall. Allowing evil to rule unchecked. The freedom the heiress gained. The tentative relationship between her and Finn. Their friendship growing into something more. That kiss. The fiery matrix breaking down and almost destroying the Earth. My thoughts of…killing the girl…to save Ooo. The break-up. Cinnamon Bun leaving. The Heiress ruling, and almost dying, at the hands of her subjects.

I flopped back against the pillows, suddenly drained. Questions buzzed through my head. Why contact me? Of all people, me? Was it something to do with the unsteady relationship between their two kingdoms? Or something more personal? Why contact me NOW? Why ignore me when her life was at stake, but contact me in a time of relative peace? Why would she write it down? Why not send a message via a messenger? Why not visit me herself? Why? Why? Why?

I looked at Peppermint Butler. His face was still blank. Did he…know something? His expression had become unreadable.

The envelope was still in my lap, the blue tinge of a fire protection spell still lingering on the white paper. It had landed face down, and the seal of the flap had been stuck down with a sticky form of lava rather than spit. I briefly wondered whether it was safe to touch, but even whilst I was pondering it my hand had picked it up and had turned it over.

There was no address. It had been delivered by hand. The scorch marks from a flaming handprint still lingered on the top side. The only writing on the front was my name, followed by a sentence of a few words.

"I'm sorry, PB."

My breath caught in my throat. 'I'm sorry'? Where had THAT come from? Was it a sorry for previous events, or for what I was about to read? SO many questions. Also, PB? She probably heard that from Finn. He almost never calls me Princess Bubblegum. It's always 'PB' or 'P-Bubs' or something new. Somehow, I found myself smiling as I opened the envelope. A jet of steam rose from the inside, and there is was. A folded piece of paper, slightly curled at the sides from intense heat exposure. I swallowed, and pulled it out.

This is what I read.

"Dear Princess Bubblegum.

This is the Flame King, or as you may know me, Flame Princess. Well, I am no longer a Princess, and I have ascended to my full title. You will already know this, of course. I just felt I needed to make sure we're all on the same page first.

What I have to say is of no consequence to your kingdom, or to you, or to your citizens. So, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Do not tell your subjects the contents of this letter – as it may spark a rage inside of them. And yes, I know they explode. It will almost certainly spark a rage inside you too. Please, I ask you, from one ruler to another, to never reveal this letter to anyone. I would also appreciate it if you read this alone."

At this point, although I did breathe that sigh of relief, a sick feeling had begun to accumulate in my stomach. I asked Peppermint Butler to leave the room, and after some persuading, he did. I checked to see if the windows were closed, before shutting the curtains and lighting a candle. I gulped down some air, and continued reading.

"This is hard to write, so I am sure you can understand why I didn't visit in person. This letter concerns your hero, Finn the Human. I wrote to you because you are the only one who is close to Finn, but not too close as to refuse what I ask of you, and also because you have tracked our relationship. I did know you set up a camera at my new house in the woods. Therefore you know why I want you, and no other, to follow my wishes. In a way, no-one knows me like you do.

The thing is, recently my kingdom was under attack from a rebellion led by my father and my uncle. I turned to Finn to aid me, since he has the relevant fighting knowledge for a situation like this. I wished for his presence to be platonic – as in, he would help me, then go home. He didn't. Throughout the mission, he flirted with me, attempted to get closer to me, and even hindered the progress of the mission by doing so. I should be angry, but I am really not. It flatters me to have someone who would do such things for me and me alone. But when he went home, he left something behind. Memories. Painful ones, at that. He brought back all the moments where I felt loved by him during our relationship. And these moments…will not go away.

So what I ask of you is this. I want you to keep Finn away from me. And I want you to be explicit. Tell him I said to stay away. Tell him that I am too busy ruling to have any close friendships – or any friendship - outside the kingdom. He will take this hard, but I know it's for the best. If I completely break it off, then he can move on, and I can rule in peace once more.

You are probably angry. I understand that. And you can understand why I could not go to anyone but you for this. Anyone else would either not bother to tell him, or be so angry that they wouldn't tell him. But please, don't let this personal favour destroy the bond between our kingdoms. Because our kingdoms are growing closer. Don't let a petty squabble get in the way of that.

In deepest sorrow and guilt,

Flame King."

I sat there for a while. I read the letter again. A numb feeling began to spread from my centre to my toes. I re-read the letter twice, thrice, four times over. Feelings washed over me in waves – relief at the lack of threat to my kingdom's safety, anger at her selfishness for her own kingdom, sadness for Finn, fear that I would be the one to tell him what she wrote.

But what frightened me most was the understanding. The understanding that all relationships would need to be killed off in order to successfully rule a kingdom. The understanding that this involved breaking hearts along the way.

I placed the letter on the bed with shaking hands. It should be me to tell him. She was right. I had to.

I pulled back the sheets. Yes, there was no other choice. I had got too close to their relationship, and now I was paying the price.

I stepped on the ground, and the earth shook beneath my feet.

…no really, the room was shaking.

Things began falling from shelves around the room. I shrieked, and grabbed the bedpost as it slid around the room. As it passed a window, I gripped the ledge with an iron clench, and struggled to remain upright. My head drew level with a pane of glass, and I looked out onto the grasslands and onto the Ice Kingdom. At the border, I could see a yellow ball clinging to the grass. Jake, for sure. And within the border of the kingdom, sheets of ice began to climb. Up and up into the clouds they flew, and at the centre of the kingdom was a storm of blue lightning bolts, stretching from the ground up towards a point in the sky that was too high to be visable. My mouth dangled open, and just as the ice entered the white cloud layer miles above my head, the ground stopped shaking. The yellow ball unrolled itself, revealing a smaller blue shape. Finn. My feet skated on the floor, and I wound up staring at my ceiling. Getting to my feet again, I saw that the two shapes were approaching the palace. I turned from my window, suddenly sick. Between me and the door, the letter lay face down, its envelope next to it.

"I'm sorry, PB."

I'm sorry too, FP. I never thought that breaking a person once would lead to such attachments. And I never thought that I would have to break a person twice.

AN: Ok, so, I probably should have also mentioned that I'm doing something different to normal here – first person POV's. I won't keep putting who's it is (it should be obvious) but I will put a page break whenever the POV changes. Sorry if this caused any confusion, but I feel I can put more character development and emotions in with first person perspectives. I dunno whether I will put in 3rd person narrative as well later on, but it's certainly possible. Hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway Oh yeah, and FP's outfit? Think the one she wore in 'Earth and Water', then add the hair she had in 'Ignition Point'.

Also apologies for leaving so long between the prologue and the first chapter! I was on holiday for two weeks, and then had work experience for a week. (So that's two, plus three, plus a week…sorry. I had to quote it.) I know that's no real excuse. So, sorry. I think the next chapter should be soon (Maybe?). For those awaiting a rewrite/update on Rising Bubbles, you will have to wait a little longer. I have no plans to start anything for that until this fic is underway properly, so maybe around chapter 7?

Thank you to Purple Ice Queen for reviewing (and I'm sorry about our collab that never made it properly. Really, I am. )

Thank you also to X-Death-x for favoriting the story! Much appreciated

Answer to BONUS from the Prologue: 'Squish' was the Royal Tart Toter. Yep, in this universe, the brave and noble Tart Toter was captured by the resident megalomaniac and as a result went crazy. I thought I should provide some explanation as to why the ex-hero is crazy in the canon storyline. And that was it. Dark, but there you have it – my brain.

WINNERS FROM PROLOGUE: There were some good guesses, but no-one guessed correctly. Admittedly, it was difficult, and I probs wouldn't have guessed it either.

BONUS QUESTION: WHO IS THE ASSASSIN MENTIONED BY FP AT THE START? Like, in the first couple of paragraphs.

(Hint: He has starred in a single Adventure Time episode – at least, he hasn't been in more than one episode to date. He may be in future ones, but at this point, he's only been in one. Also, he doesn't speak.

Well, that's more than enough hints, especially with the visual description you have at the top of the page.)