Chapter 20: Screening
"Are you sure this is going to work Bubblegum"? Finn asked as the group made their way to the castle door.
"Ow! Finn stop stepping on me"! Bubblegum called out.
"Actually that was me, sorry dude". Fionna said apologetically.
"Too bad yall can't fly like me". Marceline mocked.
"Shut up"! Everyone called out.
"Geez take some chill pills just don't overdose on them".
"Alright we are here, now everyone remain quiet". Bubblegum said as her hand curled into a fist.
Three knocks sounded at the door. Everyone held their breath as the entrance began to open. Gunter quaked opening the door wide and looking out. As he looked up and down and side to side, the group filed in safely. The Penguin let out another quack and then waddled away
"Oh no guys I gotta",
"Finn don't"! Marceline whispered.
"Ah, ah AHHHHCHOOOOOOOOOOO"! Finn screamed
"Gunter! What did daddy tell you about covering your mouth"! Ice King yelled as he ascended down the stairs. Gunter turned to him and quaked waving his arms a bit.
"Oh yea sure It wasn't you just like It wasn't you ripping wind last taco Tuesday. Now stop being rude and come listen to my new Fionna and Cake fanfiction".
"Wait what now"?! Cake called out.
"Huh who said that"? Ice King said looking around nervously.
"Oh Gob please don't be the spirit of my mother or my fish that I forgot to feed for only three weeks"! Ice King pleaded praying with fear.
"Alright this is getting silly guys, I give". Fionna said laughing.
"Who are you? And what is Silly. Please don't hurt me spirit I'll give you a signed copy of my newest version of fionna and cake"! Ice King tried to compromise, holding out the book which poorly drawn illustrations.
"Whoa, let me see that"! Fionna called out as she and cake took off their bracelets and became known.
Ice King let out a fangirl scream staring at the two of them.
"Oh no guys you do NOT want to read that crud". Finn said as he and the rest of the crew became visible.
"Finn the human"! Ice King called out, dropping to his stomach infront of the boy.
"Oh thank you thank you thank you for bringing them to me. Oh Gosh I need to make you guys milkshakes or something". Ice King said wrapping himself around the human's ankles.
"Hey man get off the sneaks". Finn said trying to shake the mad king off him.
Once Finn shook himself free, Ice King face planted on the floor. Everyone in a circle crowded around him and looked at him face first in the ice.
"This is Ice King"? Fionna said a bit unamused.
"I'm pretty hott huh"? Ice King replied as he flipped himself over with his arms behind his head, winking at Fionna.
Fionna look away for a moment.
"Um". She said grabbing the back of her head.
"So! It's really you. You're really real. I can't believe this! I worship you". Ice King said taking Fionna's hand and shaking it violently
"Eh that's nice". Fionna said with an awkward chuckle as she released herself and rolled her arm back to crack it.
"Ohh are you hear to complete my latest fanfiction where we get married and eat muffins until we get fat and die"?! Ice King asked excitedly with sparkles in his eyes.
"Yo, Ice King, honey. You killed off half of us in the second chapter"! Cake said raising an eyebrow.
Ice King rolled.
"Haters got so many opinions on my work..I mean come ON people…I mean seriously half the fan base was shipping gumball and fionna the other half was shipping marshall and fionna…WHERE'S MY SHIP"! Ice king called out.
Fionna blushed brilliantly, noticing Marceline raising an eye brow to her with a smirk.
"Look…Ice….KING…I'm you're a rad guy in all but we're kind of on a mission to save prince gumball and we really need the enchiridion". Fionna said. Ice King's expression changed.
"Oh, well why didn't you just ask"? Ice King said.
"I uh",
"But you know of course if I were to let you let's say steal my enchiridion it would come with a price". Ice King said walking away smirking, playing with his beard.
"Ughh of course it would, and what would that be"? Fionna asked, folding her arms.
Ice King shrugged
"Oh nothing binding, just marriage".
"No way". Fionna said with a roll of her eyes
"Did I hear a…yes way"! Ice King said excitedly with hearts in his eyes.
"No thanks"
"You know you want to". Ice King said moving his eyebrows up and down
"Forget it"! Fionna called out.
"Aw but why"?! Ice King whined.
"I'm engaged to Prince Gumball"! Fionna yelled.
Ice King's face grew expressionless for a moment as he started to rub his temples and close his eyes to process everything.
"Waittttt wait….hold your monochromicorns . Did you just say Prince Gumball? As in my imaginary fanfiction doppelganger of princess bubblegum? He's alive"?! Ice King questioned as he flipped through the pages of his first fanfiction and revealed a poorly drawn pic of Fionna and Gumball on Monochromicorn.
"Oh my, crease"! Bubblegum muttered feeling a migraine come on.
"Ice King, Fionna isn't a fanfiction of Finn she's a real person"! Bubblegum explained.
"Soooo, that means the double of me is real, and Marshall Lee and Flame Prince and Lumpy Space Prince are all real".
"YES"! The group yelled.
"Alright alright, take a trip in my freezer and chill out. If all of you is real than does that mean all the stuff I wrote actually happened"? Ice King asked.
"No, ice king your stories are totally made up, right Fionna"? Bubblegum asked.
The princess turned to the human girl who noticed the attention on her as she and cake looked through a few of the fanfictions.
"Um….I mean…this one…is pretty real". Fionna admitted, revealing the picture of herself and Gumball on Monochromicorn.
"UGH this whole thing is giving me the confusals". Ice King said massaging his temples.
" So wait if that story was true is the one about Ice Queen impersonating Prince Gumball tree and singing that sweet song to Fionna true"? Ice King asked.
"Yes, that happened"! Fionna said rolling her eyes.
"If we show you the scene from a memory of either Cake or Fionna would you give us the book"? Bubblegum said shaking her head annoyed.
"Well sure but how are you going to do that? OHHH OHHHH IF WE ARE ACTING IT OUT I CALL BEING FIONNA"! Ice king called out flaring his hands around.
Everyone just looked at him bizzarly. Bubblegum murmured something under her breath and pulled out her memory device.
"Fionna could we use your memories"? Bubblegum asked.
"UHHHHHHHHH". Fionna said recounting some of her previous inappropriate memories. Cake saw the blush on her cheeks and decided to save her sister.
"Oh let me do it honey I saw the whole thing"! Cake said taking the chip in her hand before Bubblegum could interject. The chip formed into a half circle ring that Cake gently put on herself closing her eyes.
"Now what"?
"Recall that memory of Fionna and Gumball together".
"Ok Ok I gotchu". Cake said closing her eyes.
Suddenly the transparent Icey walls began to fog in front of the crowd. A spiral of smoke appeared, and the walls of ice went from blue to pink. Silhouettes of figures appeared to be riding a black horse-like figure with a very long body. Ice King fangirl screamed again as he watched the figures become clear and started to munch away on popcorn. Fionna folded her arms and watched the memory that she hated to revisit.
Fionna there's something I want to tell you
"Oh my glob it's him"! Ice King called out before the prince could start singing.
The group watched the scene like it was a tv show, cross legged or belly flat on the floor. Fionna shook her head and laughed at the site.
I feel like nothing was real until I met
I feel like we connect and I really get you
If I said you're a beautiful girl would it upset you
Because the way you look tonight Silhouetted I'll never forget it
Oh ohhh Fionna Your fists have touched my heart
Fionna mouth twitched into a half smile as he blushed, thinking about the true artist who wrote this song.
Ohh oh Fionna, I won't let anything in this world keep us apart
She sighed listening to the last part of the song with her and Gumball singing. She found herself lip singing it
"I won't let anything in this world keep us apart". She whispered blushing and smiling.
She turned her head and saw everyone in the group looking at her with sparkling eyes like they had just seen the cutest thing ever—everyone except Finn, who seemed to look a bit distressed from the scene given his own relationship with princess bubblegum.
"Ok, can we get the enchiridion and peace out now before Gumball starts getting molested by Ice Queen somewhere"! Fionna called out impatiently.
Bubblegum darted her eyes to Ice King and rolled her eyes as the imbecilic wizard continued to day dream at the image of Fionna and Gumball together on the screen.
Marceline looked to Bubblegum, noting her suspicion.
"What up, peebles"? The vampire asked.
"Fionna, here's the catch….we'll only help you if you can prove to us that Gumball really proposed to you". Bubblegum announced.
Fionna's jaw dropped, narrowing her eyes to the princess.
"Are you serious"? She muttered.
"Sorry, Fi but Bubblegum's right…we are a squad with mad trust issues with all we've been through". Finn added.
"Am I part of this squad! Do we get matching jackets"!
"NO"! The squad from Ooo announced in unison, much to Ice King's disappointment.
Cake removed the memory device from her head, handing it to her sister.
"Just go'n do it baby". She said as Fionna gripped it in her hands and looked from the device to the group looking at her.
After a groan of disapproval she shut her eyes and tried to block out everything marshall related, fearing that if bubblegum saw, she'd have no reason to trust fionna, but marceline knew better.
"Show me Gumball's proposal". Fionna said as she closed her eyes.
The swirling of fog appeared again as the group turned to watch another scene. Scene depicted Fionna's point of view.
"Oh come on this is no fun just seeing it through her eyes"! Ice King complained.
"Yea that's true". PB pulled out a remote and hit a few buttons. Fionna felt the device put pressure on her head.
She shut her eyes tighter and then opened her eyes in surprise to see the scene from a different angle. She saw herself running into the garden to meet Gumball in his casual attire. She blushed watching the scene and seeing Gumball greet her with a warm smile.
"Ah there you are". He said sweetly as he turned around completely to face her.
"Whats up man? Do you want me to coach you today or something"?
"No, not today Fionna. I have to reveal to you something extremely important and you must listen carefully".
Fionna folded her arms and watched the scene. While the group watched the memory, Fionna noticed Finn who watched the scene with his chin resting in his palm. Without him knowing she watches as he stole a glance at Bubblegum. Fionna recognized the look he gave her…it was the same look she used to give PG shortly after their breakup.
"There's a lot of acts that I have done that I wish I could take back…..but the one event that makes me lose sleep at night now a days is…when we broke up".
Finn huffed a sigh and rolled his eyes. He was clearly irritated with Bubblegum about something…despite Fionna not knowing for sure…she could tell he was heartbroken.
"Sometimes it takes losing something or someone to know..how much they mean to you…and how much you love them". Gumball said, bringing her hand to chest.
Bubblegum folded her own arms and stole a glance at finn. In her mind she cursed herself for their relationship recently falling apart. Marceline reached for Bubblegums hand. The princess exchanged a glance to the vampire girl with uncertainty.
Fionna watched Gumball gently peck Fionna's lips softly before jumping on the back of LM. Just from watched the scene should come feel herself blush again.
"Oh my glob I ship it sooooo hard"! Ice King said practically crying and fanning his face.
"There are you people happy. Now can we please get the enchiridion and save Gumball"? Fionna asked a little flustered.
"Now waaaait one more second, if all this crud really happened then how come I knew about it before I knew it was real". Ice King asked referring to the majority of the Fionna and Cake fanfiction.
Bubblegum looked at ice King suspiciously.
"How did you first come up with this whole idea of Fionna and Cake"?
"I saw it in a dream". Ice King said confidently.
Bubblegum looked at him angrily, tapping her fingers against her crossed arms.
"Oh really"? Bubblegum said as she took the memory device off Fionna. Carefully she put the ring on Ice King.
"Show us when Ice King first imagined Fionna and Cake". Bubblegum said.
The fog swirled around once again and showed a scene of Ice King climbing to the top of Bubblegum's tower, out of breath.
"Yea and then what happened is that Gumball got her in the room and then she found out it was Ice Queen all along"!
"Wow that's crazy, I should go with you to their dimension next time. Then what happened"?
"Wha oh". Ice King said hearing a break in his climbing rope.
His scream filled the sky as he fell back and hit his head against the ground six feet below.
"What was that"?
"Oh probably just Ice King again. So then what happened was",
Ice King moaned in pain but as he laid there he saw visions of the story being told above him
"Fi, Fionna and Cake, Fionna, Gumball, singing, Ice Queen". Ice King murmured hazily from his fall.
Bubblegum stopped the clip and her and Marceline just glared at him.
Ice King twiddled his thumbs and looked around at the group eyeing him.
"Well it's a good thing I didn't copyright it LOLZ". He stated nervously.