Jake and BMO climbed the ladder furiously. Strange noises seemed to be emanating from the house below them. Some of them were chilling, like the amplified sound of grinding teeth or a sudden high-pitched scream. The noises echoed throughout the whole house, and no matter where they went Jake and BMO couldn't seem to escape them.

They couldn't seem to escape the house either. Together they had tried all of the doors and windows on the first and second stories and found them blocked. Along the way they'd also tried to gain entrance to the kitchen in hopes of rescuing Finn, but those hopes had been in vain. The doors were still sealed over with that unearthly ooze, and any attempt at making a new entrance had been useless. The only hole they'd bothered smashing through the wall had been met with an impenetrable force.

This had been different from the ooze. Instead of a teal color, this had been dull black. It swirled gently, like trapped smoke. However, when Jake had tried to push then batter his way through, it had been as strong and solid as steel or more so.

So, with great regret, they had left Finn behind in hopes of finding escape then help. That plan hadn't fared much better, though. Each exit they found was blocked. What was worse was the puzzling new additions to the house. Some halls seemed longer than before, and a few times they found themselves running down passages that just plain hadn't existed before that day.

Also, Jake was pretty sure the tree house hadn't always had five stories. It didn't end there, either. Jake had gazed up a ladder and found himself staring on for what could've miles. Jake had shuddered after seeing that. Whatever this thing was, it was more powerful than either Finn or himself. The only hope they had was to get outside help.

But each passing minute served only to drive into his head the futility of this plan. Every possible exit was blocked. They were trapped inside the house just as surely as Finn was trapped inside the kitchen. At one point during the frantic searching, Jake began to despair. They had been traveling through a twisting hallway that corkscrewed in a gravity defying manner. However, Jake suddenly felt overcome by the hopelessness of their situation.

"We're never gonna find a way out!" he moaned, dropping to his knees in a defeated manner.

Jake didn't see the slap coming until a second after it hit. BMO grasped him by the shoulders and shook him, hard.

"Pull youself together!" he shouted, "We have to save Finn!"

Jake sat there, breathing heavily. "Sorry, I… I'm good now. Let's keep looking."

Jake stood and began to continue along the hallway, but it seemed that BMO was frozen in place. His hands shuddered slightly and his eyes stared straight ahead.

"Hey man," Jake said, worriedly, "You alright?"

"*yourself" BMO said, and with that correction, his trance was broken.


Flame Princess ran as fast as she could, trying to outrun the crazed laughter that seemed to follow her through the hall. The hall itself seemed to go one forever, all of it made from seamless stone.

She could hear the footsteps approaching from behind her, moving closer and closer until the sound was right on top of her. Any second now the thing would be upon her.

What thing?

The ground beneath Flame Princess's feet turned into open air and she fell. The air whipped past her like a storm and in the maelstrom she had to focus her energy in order to avoid being extinguished. She fell for a long time, struggling to burn hotter and defy the wind.

Finally the falling ended.

The truth of the matter was far less graceful than that phrase hints. Ended could mean she began flying, which would technically end the falling.

That wasn't what happened.

With the force of a thousand years spent falling, Flame Princess smacked into the ground. She could feel the impact in every corner of herself. A sharp moment of pain that spread throughout everything that existed. Just a moment of total, absolute agony.

Then she was back on her feet, looking around with the beginnings of anger in her heart. Who was doing this to her? What was that stuff that had been seeping through the kitchen ceiling? Where was Finn?

And what had that voice meant by calling her a thief?

The anger burned hotter and stronger with every moment of thought. Soon enough she had a glare carved into her face and fireballs clenched in either hand.

Whatever was happening, whatever this was, she would be ready. Whenever that thing came for her, regardless of what it was, Flame Princess would be ready for it.


Finn gazed into the magic mirror, watching Flame Princess run for her life. It seemed that there were deadly dangers all around her waiting, but she could see any of them. Just Finn, but he had no way of communicating with her.

The kitchen was distorted, the walls having disappeared and replaced with an endless sea of that teal ooze. Every so often, a face floated across the ooze, a face that Finn almost recognized. It was a girl's face, or at least a feminine face, he knew that much. He felt as if he remembered the face for some reason, but he had forgotten it long ago.

He agonized over watching Flame Princess and being unable to help her, but whenever he looked away something bad happened. He had to watch her be tortured so he could protect her from more torture that might come her way.

Have you remembered me yet?

A silky voice floated through the air. Something about the tone of the words made them reverberate in the air like echoes in a cave. They almost buzzed by the time they were soaked into Finn's ears.

"No," Finn said, already cringing.

Something happened to Flame Princess in the mirror. The roof of the tunnel suddenly changed into individual boulders and it collapsed onto her. Luckily she managed to cut her way through the falling stones and escape unscathed.

Finn would have sighed in relief, but that might make the voice angry. Almost anything he did regarding Flame Princess made the voice angry, and when the voice got angry it would take that anger out on Flame Princess and force Finn to watch through the magic mirror.

"Please…" Finn pleaded, "Let her go, let them all go. Please…"

As he watched, the floor of the tunnel suddenly changed into quicksand and Flame Princess was nearly swallowed. Luckily she used her fire to fly above the quicksand and escape its grasp.

"What do you want?" Finn asked, dejectedly. There was nothing he could do. Any attempt to help Flame Princess would only serve to put her in more danger, and any attempt at escape would probably do just the same. He was trapped here.

The flesh of the room shifted so that a face protruded from the place that had been a mirror. The eyes stared into his, and Finn still felt a faint semblance of recognition.

I want you…