Departing the Flame Kingdom with scroll in hand, Finn and Jake began the arduous trek to the Ice Kingdom. Simon Petrikov, known following his submission to the cursed crown as The Ice King, was the foremost authority on ice and water magic in all of Ooo. Although he had initially been a bane to Finn and Jake's existence, the secrets revealed to them by Petrikov's video diaries had instilled a sort of sad empathy; The Ice King, despite his maligned attempts to woo princesses through abduction and magic, was nothing more than a sad man whose mind had been twisted by powers beyond his ken, trapped forever in the attempt to reunite himself with his own lost princess, Bettie.
Love made Finn desperate enough to ask his frenemy (not that he considered them competing for anything) for aid; hopefully love would be sufficient enough cause to reach Simon, deep within the king's twisted psyche, and inspire him to help Finn's noble quest.
Lit by the sun above, the vast expanse of the Ice Kingdom spread before them like a sheet of silver and diamonds, the gleaming radiance strangely beautiful in such a bleak setting; scattered across the backdrop of the snowy plains were a set of spire-like mountains, thorns on a wintery crown, upon the highest of which sat the castle of the infamous Ice King.
"Do you think he'll help us, Jake?" Finn asked his brother, quickly donning his yellow sweater. Being knitted for him a few years earlier, the faded garment was a little tighter in places than he was comfortable, but it would have to do. There had been another sweater in his bag, a pink one with a white stitch mark heart on its chest, but he would not wear it.
"Don't see why not." Jake made steady progress through the snow, his booties noisily compressing the white powder under his and his brother's combined weight. "Considering he thinks you're his bosom, I imagine you have a pretty fair shot at getting it."
"I am no man's bosom," Finn grumbled irritatedly.
Jake ignored him, "Besides, if he says no, then what? We pound him into working with us, or we comb his lair for spell books and various items, win-win. Buck up man, there's always a way." As they drew nearer to the keep, the lilting strains of synth pop music could be heard drifting out the windows. "Sounds like he's in, man, get ready."
Jake made to shift his mass and height, extending himself through the balcony archway, but Finn was already in motion; family sword in hand, the boy sprang from Jake's back and sailed through the window, curling himself into a ball to make his passage through the small triangular portal easy. His boots hit the icy floor lightly, drawing him into a combat stance as he slid across the frigid tiles, sword drawn back to strike. "Ice King," Finn shouted as he drew upon the frozen throne, "Come and face me!"
The entry was dramatic and flawless, and the look of fiery defiance in Finn's eyes was enough to make anyone second guess their ability to face him in combat. The five foot long, blood red sword clutched in his capable hand didn't hurt either. Of course, deeply embroiled in pounding away at the keys of his Casio keyboard, Gunther didn't even bother looking up. The small penguin was lost in whatever dream world belonged to the virtuoso water fowls, flippers carving out his masterpiece sonata in the cold stillness of the empty castle. Jake's eyes became impossibly large as he settled his gaze on the flippered musician. " Oh… my… GLOB THAT'S THE CUTEST THING EVAR!"
Finn sheathed his sword, "Come on Jake, let's look around. Maybe we can find a Water Shield scroll and be gone before he gets back." Jake was slam dancing, enraptured by Gunther's concerto, so Finn took it upon himself to scour the frozen lair. He sifted through the assortment of spell books; all offensive in nature, no support magic. He went through his desk, finding pictures of the princesses, but no scrolls. He even went through the Ice King's computer, finding nothing but more princess pictures and some Fiona & Cake fan fiction that Ice King had yet to publish. After skimming his third Ice King & Fiona lemon fic, he gave up, turning off the computer with a disgusted sound.
Stuffing a sandwich in his mouth, Jake wandered over to where Finn sat, looking dejected. "What's the good word, buddy? Any scrolls?"
"No," Finn said a little too harshly, "I can't find anything to get us any closer to our goal, and all you're doing is…" he blinked, "Where did you get that sandwich?"
"Gunther made it," Jake nodded towards the penguin and the plate of sandwiches sitting beside him. "They're sardine and peanut butter, you want one?"
Finn turned a little green, "No, no I'm good."
"Anyway, man, looks like Ice King ain't here." Jake stuffed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and returned to his seat next to Gunther. "I say we camp out and wait for him to come back. Then we got the drop on him."
"I don't know what else to do." Finn sighed and flopped down against the wall, pulling the Enchiridion out of his bag. The ancient tome felt heavy in his hands, but warm and comforting, filled with the secrets of generations worth of heroes. Within the pages of this book, Finn hoped to someday pen his own adventures; but for now, he was content to learn the ways of his Chaotic Good alignment from the stories recorded within. Not knowing how long it might be until the wizard returned, Finn felt the best way to prevent himself from sliding deeper into depression was to read about the greatest hero of all time, Billy.
His body burned and aching, Billy dragged himself as far as he could, until his arms finally gave out on him. The Fire Count had surprised him with the vast torrent of his unholy flame magicks, overwhelming Billy's armor and wounding him badly. Now, he could only wait and see if the dog had made it back to the candy kingdom for aid, or Billy feared he would pass away where he lay.
"Worry not hero," a strange voice spoke to him in a sing-song tone, "Your death is not nigh, you still have many more foes to defy." The speaker's words devolved into warbled giggling.
"Who goes there?" Billy squinted, unable to make out the face of the speaker, "If you are a feind looking for easy sport, you will regret your decision. I promise you that."
"Your threat of bloodshed I do not fear, for as you are I doubt you could shed a tear."
Billy found himself quickly growing irritated with the rambling pander of the speaker's dialogue. He struggled to raise his mighty gauntlet, "One final warning, speak your name!"
"Keep your warnings to yourself, they're bad for your health." The speaker drew forward, lifting something above Billy's head, "Noble Billy, before those bolts you loose, I suggest you partake of my juice."
The speaker sloshed a cold fluid over Billy's burned form, and almost instantly, the burns began to heal. Billy was dumbstruck as renewed strength and vigor flooded his body, allowing him to spring nimbly to his feet. "My wounds…"
"Have been healed, my purpose… revealed." The speaker, a foppishly dressed bird man, bowed deeply. "I am Choose Goose, a friend, to all virtuous men."
"Shmowzow!" Finn jumped, "Jake, look at this!" He called to his brother, "Choose Goose is in a story about Billy!"
"WHAT? No way," Jake ambled over, somewhat rotund after his eighth sandwich. "I know every story about Billy that was ever written. If Choose Goose was in any of them, I'da heard about it."
"Dude, seriously, check this out!"
"Then I am in your debt, Choose Goose." Billy shook the strange fowl's outstretched wing, "You have saved my life this night."
"And I would not see you stayed," Choose Goose said, reaching into his pouch, "For Cotton Candy Princess needs your fist and blade." His long neck wiggling from side to side as if it had a mind of its own, the goose man withdrew a fist-sized red stone from his bag. "The stone, Infinisignis, has domain over flame. With it, I think the count shall quickly be tamed." He winked at Billy.
Taking the stone, a pale blue aura enveloped Billy's skin, enshrouding him in a powerful Flame Shield spell, "Thank you, Choose Goose, I shall return this when I have completed my task." Turning, Billy broke into a run, retracing his steps toward the Flame Kingdom.
Finn and Jake broke off from the story when the sound of great flapping wings filled the room. The Ice King emerged from the balcony, his beard cleft down the center, beating the air like massive wings. He did not notice his intruders immediately, as his eyes were fixed on his passenger; held within the crook of his arm, her hands and feet suspended in stockade blocks of ice, was Princess Bubblegum, still clad in her night shirt. "You see, Princess, this is the room for where you and I can spend the many, many years of marital bliss we will share together."
"Ice King!" Finn drew the family sword and assumed combat stance. Next to him, Jake lowered his body and tensed, ready to evade incoming spells.
"Finn!" Bubblegum cried out in delightful surprise, "You've come to save me!"
"What? Finn and Jake?" Ice King was flabbergasted, "How is it that I can bust into the Candy Castle and steal the princess and it takes you hours to hear about it and come after me, but when I ninja in under the cover of nightfall and steal her away, you two jerks beat me home!"
"Let the princess go, Ice King," Finn stepped forward, "We need to talk."
"Like glob we do!" Ice King's hand began to glow, "I'll teach you the errors of standing between true love!" The Ice King released Bubblegum, who dropped to the floor as Finn closed the distance between himself and the wizard.
As Ice King let fly a shower of ice bolts, Finn howled in fury, his sword wreathed in flame as he slashed the projectiles apart in midair. He leapt, planting one foot squarely in Ice King's face, knocking his crown off and sending him crashing through the wall of the keep. The wizard howled as he plummeted, landing in a deep bank of snow with a muffled 'thwump'. After cleaving the princess' restraints open, Finn picked up the fallen crown and turned away from Jake and the Princess, "Take Bonnibel home, Jake, I'll handle the Ice King."
Bubblegum was immediately chilled by the gleam of rage that swam in his eyes as he glanced her way. "But Finn, aren't you coming?" He ignored her, leaping out the hole in the wall.
Jake loaded Bubblegum onto his back and left out the balcony archway. "Hey, don't take it personally, Princess, Finn's just really wrapped up in this Flame Princess thing."
Bubblegum's interest was perked, "Princess who?"
"Princess Vermilion of the Flame Kingdom." Jake said as they made quick tracks across the snowy plains, "Ever since she came out about liking him but not being able to be with him, he's been obsessed with finding a way."
"She's a fire elemental, isn't she?" Bubblegum's voice was a little tense, "Not a lot he can do about that, right?"
"Naw, Finn's already working on the plan." Jake said with a chuckle as they crossed into the Candy Kingdom, leaving the snowy tundra behind them, "He's got this scroll that will allow him to not be burned by fire, and with some other stuff he's gathering, it shouldn't be a problem much longer." Having reached her castle, he lifted her up onto the balcony outside her room, "You know how Finn is; once he decides he wants something, nothing stops him. Anyway, see ya later Princess."
Jake was already gone, quickly returning to the icy lands where his brother waited. Bubblegum didn't even hear the last of what he'd said. Finn was changing directions, moving on. For two years, Finn had been all that stood between Ooo and the various evils that plagued it, saving her, the other princesses, even the entire land without want of any reward. He'd even ended up developing a crush on the princess, a silly little child's notion of love. She'd smiled and bore it, treated him as a ruler is supposed to treat the hero of the land, but he never got anywhere with her. She was five years his senior for Glob's sake, anything otherwise would have been ridiculous. Scandalous, even.
Sure, she'd been concerned at one time or another. Marceline seemed quite taken with him, always leading him astray of his heroic duties in the pursuit of ridiculous, sometimes even dangerous, flights of fancy. But in the end, the knight had always returned to his princess' side; Glob knows that every princess from Bee to Wildberry thought that they were 'The One' for him, but he always came back to the Candy Kingdom. When she'd spent some time as a child again, she'd even allowed herself to indulge his fancy with her, cementing their relationship; princess and knight. The boy and his dog had always come back to her.
But that was over. If Finn decided that he liked someone who was emotionally available to him, where would that leave her? Would he still come to the rescue of the Candy Kingdom when danger came? Would he still answer the call?
Would he still answer my call? For the first time in years, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum had to stop and wonder, what would life be like if Finn wasn't always there? Without the silly boy who always smiled at her, who always saved her, who looked up to her with mindless adoration not because she was princess, but because he liked her that much. And what would it be like to see him, looking that way at someone else?
Princess Bubblegum frowned, her face darkening. "Unacceptable."
Author's Notes: And so we begin our first two-part episode. I hadn't intended for it to come in multiple parts initially, but as the interactions kept forming in my head, I felt like forcing it to be one chapter would have made things seem more rushed. So yeah, stay tuned for our next installment.
IceEagle9- Glad you're enjoying the story still. I always wanted to see there be some connection between current and old episodes in the series.
Lord Xantos A. Fowl- I guess it's been a long day, as I am staring confusedly at your review, so I wish I knew better how to respond. Thanks for reading, I hope it continues to please. ^_^;
chabitso.0- I'm really enjoying this story and the amount of feedback it's getting from readers. The more energy I get from readers & reviewers, the easier it is for me to write.
bigredfox10- I'm glad you're enjoying it. And trust me, there's much more to come.
Making Some Toast- Thanks for reading, I hope this keeps you engrossed.
aquayzar777- Ooh! I like that thousand degree tears line!
beast keeper 9- I want to finish this story in a good way, so I plan on sticking to it.
Bigslayerguyman- Thanks, I agonize over my character exchanges, it really matters to be to be as realistic as possible. Please don't cancel your story because of mine!
wolfprincess16- Thanks for reading, I hope to hear from you next chapter as well. ^_^
The Awesome One- Why thank you, I don't think I've ever been praised for my characterization and my crap in the same sentence. ^_^
sunshine loving devil- Thanks, the hardest part was the song. I try not to rhyme very often, which made this chapter and the proceeding ones a challenge. Choose Goose will be the death of me.