Burst

Chapter 21: The Freedom Fliers

Ember yawned. The team had been up all night, switching from tree to tree, fleeing from the Fire Kingdom army. She had taken the first shift after they had stopped for a break, and was exhausted. Technically, she hadn't slept in almost a week, or perhaps she was exaggerating. Despite that, she was determined to protect the people important to her. It had been difficult being away from Finn for so long, and truthfully, the way she had responded to his arrival wasn't the best way. She wanted to make it up to him.

Ember carefully slipped hand into Finn's pack and slid out his dagger. She sat on the tree branch and fiddled around with the dagger, slicing marks against the tree. She sighed, aware of her eyelids growing heavy. To avoid falling asleep, she gently scraped her finger against the knife to force pain to keep her awake.
It was going to be a long night.

~Burst~

When the dawn arose over Ooo, Jake seemed to react quickly. He rose and stretched, disturbing the peace of PB, who had used him as a pillow.
"Ugh! Jake!" She scolded as her eyes parted slightly, trying to go back to sleep.

"C'mon Peebles, we gotta move fast." Jake urged her.
"Its fine, I warded them off." Ember said, smiling widely. There were bags under her already puffy and red eyes. "I threw branches across the forest to mislead them." She stated proudly. "Where's Finn?"

The blonde, as if on cue, tumbled off his tree branch, screaming. Jake stretched his arm to catch him. Finn brightened as he saw Ember's gentle smile.
"Hey!" He cheered as he leaped across Jake's arms to go over to her.

She blushed lightly as he squeezed her and flooded her with kisses. Jake coughed. They two parted, faces red as Ember's hair.

"My, My, My! Have you ever heard of PDA?"
Finn turned at the sound of the Boston accent.

"Up here, boy." It called again. The hat-wearing teen looked up.

A bright yellow bird wearing a brown bowler hat and tie looked down at them.
Ember's mouth gaped and she climbed up the tree, curious.

"Who are you?" She asked, glaring up. The bird smiled, if that is possible.
"I'm Buddy, and…" He landed on the tree and lifted his hat. "This is pipsqueak." A tiny she-cat poked her head out and snorted.
"Don't call me that." The feminine voice hissed. "I'm Pippy."

Ember cocked her head to the side and put her hands on her hips. "Why are you guys here, anyway?" She questioned, her short hair flaring up. "Have you been following us?" She asked.

Buddy shook his head. "I spotted ya snoozin' here earlier this mornin', but I decided to give ya a rest and wait 'till ya woke up." He said tipping his hat.

Pippy grinned. "We're gonna take you guys with us." She said. "Hop on."

PB cut in, having Jake stretch her up. "Why should we trust you exactly?"
Buddy rolled his eyes. "You don't know who we are?"

Ember snorted. "I think we've established that already."
Finn huffed, and joined his girlfriend on the branch.

The yellow bird chuckled. 'Right, right. Sorry."
He straightened up, and Pippy jumped off his head sat proudly.

"We're the Freedom Fliers." They bragged in unison.

Finn smiled. "So you guys are gonna take us out of here?"
The duo nodded.

"Well, what are we waiting for? C'mon you guys hop on!" Finn cheered, leaping onto the back of Buddy.
Buddy spread his wings and grinned enthusiastically.

Ember stayed put, but after being nudged by PB, she climbed on hesitantly.

"Off we go!" Pippy meowed. She turned to look at Ember, who sat on the rear. "You seem hesitant, what's wrong?" She purred.

Ember looked at her, disgusted. "We're going the wrong way." She muttered, crossing her arms.
"No, we're not." The cat slid past the fiery girl.

"Yes we are." The redhead stated, a bit more firm. "We're heading towards the Fire Kingdom."
Pippy was quiet for a moment before purring again.

"Smart little fire girl." She hissed, unsheathing her claws.

Ember bit her lip. Why was everyone not hearing this?
She reached for the cat. The cat growled and raked her claws Ember's arm.

Ember cursed loudly, causing Finn, who was on Buddy's head, to turn around.

"What's going on?"
He asked.

"Finn! Stop him! He's taking us to the Fire Kingdom!" Ember cried as she clutched her scarred arm.

Finn frantically turned to around again and tugged on Jake's tail, who had been sleeping next to Bubblegum. "Get him to stop!"
"No dude, he's saving us." Jake muttered sleepily.

Finn slapped his adoptive brother. "Oh yeah? Then why are we headed towards the Fire Kingdom?" The blonde challenged.

Jake sat up. "What?"

"Hurry!" Ember called as Pippy sent scratch marks all down her back. The fiery girl grunted in pain and reached at her back for the small animal.
"You're too late, you fools!" Buddy cackled.

"That's right!" Pippy meowed coolly, digging her claws into Ember's shoulders.
"There's no way to stop us."

Ember reached onto her shoulders to grab the cat and, at last, succeeded. She pinned the cat down.

"Stop this now." She growled.

Pippy's whiskers twitched, shocked, but she smiled.
"No."

The cat swiped up at the flame's eyes.

A blood-chilling scream filled the forest.

Author's Note: 11/25/14
I've returned! As promised, here is the update on a Wednesday! I'm on holiday, of course. I feel like this was rushed, and I didn't know how to fit in all the ideas I had for this chapter, so to me it feels a tad awkward. It was very easy to describe Pippy's actions though, I used to LOVE Erin Hunter's warrior books, so I thought it'd be ok to throw in a cat. I'm an amateur, though, so I don't know. Let me know, maybe? Thanks for sticking around this long!

-Yanna

Response:

Broken In7:
It's fine it's kinda my fault for being so late, so thanks!

Selene:
Nyanna was taken, so I put an honorific at the end. ;)

Ooobserver:
I'm so sure that he's gone through so much with FK that Marcy doesn't even make him budge. Yeah, Marcy has a big role in this story, even if she's dead.

SuicidalCupcake:
asdfghjkl Thank youuu! I wouldn't say I write that well, but I began to appreciate writing in 3rd grade when I wrote this long story about a cat. Thanks! I really like Nyanna too!