Chapter XXXVI, Assassin

Flames within his mind. Flames within his thoughts. He looked at them. Two small frames. Weak. Fragile. Unimportant. One to kill. Other to save. Other is needed, or so the taskmaster said. Very well, never kill what must not be killed. To strike. He appeared before them, just like that, like a shadow from within fiery mists. Was that fear in their eyes? Perhaps. Fear was the sweetest notion for him. Like a nectar sweeping across his body. Screams like melody. Blood like juice. To strike fear, that was a small victory already. The pink one muffled something towards the black one. Unimportant. Pink one was unimportant. But the other one was the one he should focus upon. Each word read upon like a book. Words contained means. And often those words contained means how to deal with said individual. And he knew nothing about his prey. Other that he needs to kill.

"I'll deal with him."

She shouted. The pale one looked quite confident at that. She wanted to deal with him? That little thin brat wanted to extinguish his everlasting flame of hate? Now that notion almost made him chuckle, should he still was able to laugh. His fingers twitched, and he let out a spark, that changed quickly into a blazing fireball. The one before him dodged it however with ease, as she shifted into something he could not quite comprehend. It was like a demon of sort. Wings, horns, all of that. Bit theatrical. Perhaps a little bit obscure. Pretty big. He slew bigger when times of need were at hand. And he charged at her once again, blazing with fire. She tried to parry his attack, yet the heat over her exposed body must have been quite the nuisance. So she switched back, into a more agile form. A wolf of sorts, that leaped across the shadows, trying to bite him, trying to maul him, to devour him perhaps. Scorcher however fought with beasts before. And this beast that was jumping and rolling before him was no different than others. In the end, fire consumes all which lives. And even things that don't. He surrounded himself within the shield made out of fire and tried to come as close to her as possible. Only a spark. Only a single blast of fire over her newly founded fur, and she ignites into a flaming ball of fire. And as he almost grabbed her by the tail, almost ended her pitiful little life, the pink one rose before him out of nowhere. And he quickly put out his fire. Don't hurt her, the voice within his head told him. Avoid her. Putrid task, as he swirled around and disappeared within the clutches of his mist. Not wasting any time, he charged at the vampire once again. She wasn't expecting that, as he caught her off guard within his slick, slim hands. Hes, hand to hand. How romantic. Romantic like flames within his head, romantic like the purification she'll be part off. And just as he meant to ignite her in full, she bit his hand. How uncivilized! Bite him just like that. Apparently she tried to suck the blood out of him while at it. Shame, for inside Scorcher, there was no blood. There was only hate. And she quickly learned that, as he smudged her cheek with yet another flame. The one that the feline being called Marceline swirled around, as she attempted to swoop him off his feet. Shame that his feet were bit too agile, and bit too nimble to do just that. Like an eel he dodged out of the way, and disappeared once again in a puff of smoke. They talked, he seen them talk. About what, he pondered. No matter. He will kill.

"Hate."

He though to himself, as he saw the two slim frames. Why he hated them, he hardly knew. The hate always flew within him. That's why killing never bothered him. No real remorse. Like a job he always wanted. Like a job he could fulfill himself. No matter whom was his target. Someone he saw for the first time in his life. Someone whom he saw numerous times but didn't cared about. Someone he cared about. Someone close to him. Unimportant. Pain and desire to deal pain was what mattered. A bounty hunter. That's what he was called. A nice cover up title for a murdered. He enjoyed that actually. In fact, he enjoyed it even more so, when he could simply explain it to himself during one of many lonely nights. I'm not evil. It's just my job.

"Hate."

Those words echoed through ought his slim head. The pink one passed the one he meant to kill something. Was it important? Not really. Nothing really was important. At this point, the visions of flames clouded his thoughts, as the vision of smoldering corpses covered his heart in full. Baptized in fire, for he knew nothing more than fire.

"Hate."

He finally felt it's time to strike, as his fast, slim body presented itself in full, striking from within the mists like a snake. His movements were perfect, his steps, divine. His hands worked wonders, spewing fire everywhere he pointed. And yet, those two were beyond his reach. Someone who trained them was good, he thought to himself. Still, no one trained Scorcher to be what Scorcher was, for Scorcher was only one of a kind. His movement patterns got bit more hectic, bit more unpredictable. But now, that the pink one was involved as well, he had to be more careful. More decisive in his strikes. And yet more delicate when it needed to be.

"Hate."

She was so nice however. So... pink. And thus, made out of the sweetest of things. And the sweetest of things would burn nicely. And while they would burn, the stench of her flaming frame would venture to the world. Whatever was inside of her, that the cat wanted to get out, would probably burn as well. But that, that wasn't a wrong notion. There was something soothing about it. Almost as if he would do the right thing this time. To erase her from the very existence. And to erase the thing within her. It felt somewhat good.

"Hate."

Payment, whatever it would be, was unimportant. In the end, the most important thing for Scorcher, was Scorcher himself. In a swift attack, he changed his target withing the blink of an eye. He reached out for Bubblegum's pink neck. Marceline however, had other plans for him, and despite the embers covering his limbs, he grabbed him tight and via the device from her beloved, she took him someplace else. To protect. To kill. Both worked fine at this point.

###

What a strange world it was. Nothing but darkness covered their frames. Darkness in each and every single part. Darkness above them, in between them, underneath them. The hunter quickly lightened up his hands to see where they are. That gave

"Hate."

He thought to himself, as he looked at her. There was something within her small little frame, that exposed those feelings. Something about her very existence, about her very design. Dead yet so alive. Broken yet so very much perfect. The vampire on the other hand for some reason despised everything he stood for. Every part of his being, every part of his existence. He clearly had no clue why that was, but that thing was after her. And the one with her. And that would be enough to truly hate the being before her.

"What do you want?"

She exclaimed calmly, both to buy herself some time, and partially due to the fact that she was still unsure why. At least most of things that wanted their death were somewhat reasonable in what they strove to achieve. He just stood there, without saying a word. He never thought about it, whenever he was unable to speak, or that he simply did not want to. That puzzled him at times, still, it was non important. Even if he had the opportunity to share his thoughts with another being, the one before him was not the one he would like to speak to.

"What are you, deaf? I asked you a question."

This time around, her voice made some kind of movement, but not from the being before her. Something moved within the shadows. No, not something. Numerous things. Judging by the footsteps, numerous beings of various shapes and sizes. The hunter looked at her and tried to light the surrounding around them. He was unable to for some reason, as the darkness was thick.

"Red!"

A voice shouted somewhere from above, and upon his wish, numerous red colored lights sprouted from the ground up into the sky, revealing numerous and various people made out of sweets alongside with small mammal-like beings. Bears of sort.

"Green!"

The same voice shouted once more, and much like before, lights sprouted up in the sky from numerous floor tiles. They began to mix up in the air, creating an amazing, yet a bit too colorful. sight.

"Yellow!"

The vampire looked at her adversary. He seemed to be quite mesmerized by the happenings that surrounded them. Should she move however, he will probably go on yet another rampage. She needed to think, to consider, to plan ahead. One of few things she learned from the princess.

"Blue!"

Again, yet another beam sprouted from the floor, mixing with the others. Both Marceline and the Scorcher could feel the anticipation of those standing within the lights. It would seem that this color was the last one until...

"White!"

The last beam appeared, this time focusing on a different part. This one in fact came somewhere from above, lightening the upper part where one peculiar figure stood. It was a bear of sorts, slim, tall, in a hat and wore out sweater. As soon as he appeared, the crowd began to cheer loudly and passionately. And he simply put his hand up in the sky.

"Are we here to party or what?" He swirled around and leaned towards the machinery before him. "Let's start by making ourselves pure!" He took a deep breath. "Since you know how the lack of purity ended up for the candy regime. They were no fun. No parties! And candy people too, need to lay off steam!"

As he said, he finally laid hands on the contraption before him. With just one press of a button, music began to fill the ears of those surrounding his stand in the lower parts. It was so loud that they could barely hear their thoughts, and perhaps that was the sore purpose of it. They began to dance, dance like things that hardly had anything to loose at this point. Like beings that were comfortable in where they are and with what was happening. The one above them seemed to be quite happy about that. With a pull of yet another switch, water began to pour from the sky. To soak up the ones below no doubt. To give them energy, to give them fuel. But the noises and the environment woke up the hit-man once more, who amongst the numerous silhouettes saw only his target. And the chase went on once again, as he tried to grab her small frame. Failing to do so, she disappeared somewhere within the crowd. And that wasn't a good sign. He began to ignite his hands once again only to dash fireballs in each and every single direction. They weren't really all that powerful, but just enough, to set some of the participants on fire. And as they ran around, trying to extinguish themselves in the water, they were like fireflies amongst the lights. Hardly noticeable, but the host spotted them almost immediately. Not that he minded some causalities during his party. Still, this could easily break the whole event. And that would not be allowed.

"You two there!" His eyes followed them closely, each and every single move, each and every single punch. What nice moves they were. But then again, moves that weren't allowed by him. "You don't play nice."

His pupils went crazy, as his eyes widened. He began to press even more buttons and switches on his device. Something clanged inside. Something switched inside. Something even broke, one could think. The music got even louder, but the different tunes, made the people on the floor run into the corners, leaving the fiend and the vampire alone.

"Kaboom, hah-ah!"

The bear shouted, as each leaver was in it's place. Each button was pressed. Each wheel turned. And the tiles began to explode, one color after another, sprouting fires. The pattern was clear, as they always went off in the same order. Like a wicked game of Simon say's. Much to the host approval and at the same time disapproval, his guests could 'dance' well enough to avoid most what came.

"Do I really need to get down there?" No one responded, probably because the music was too loud to hear anything beyond it and his voice enhanced by the microphone. "Fine. You'll get a smack from the champ!"

He swirled, he danced, he jumped down, right between the two, with his cane in hand, and a good mood within his head. He enjoyed the very thrilling notion that nothing in this event was scripted. Even if scripts are fun at times, you need the thrills, the thrills to make him run and feel alive.

"Welcome! Greetings! And such and so on and so forth and so on!"

The slim assassin looked at the clown before him. He saw numerous ones like him in his life. Killed numerous ones as well. They always were confident in their skills, since no one beaten them before. But then he showed up, and everything changed. And they weren't unbeatable again. They weren't even alive. Shameful. So another fool to deal with. Will he ever kill the girl, he pondered. No matter. First the clown, he thought to himself as he tried to smack him right in his fluffy nose. The bear however was agile. Quick. And was constantly dancing. His pirouette was magnificent. His blows designed to look. Not necessary to hurt, but to look. The little vampire decided it was a decent moment to get out of the picture.

"Ah, ah, ah, sweetie!"

The madman quickly noticed that however, as his cane hit her leg. And the dance floor was quite heavy and hard. And the dancer was just above her, as he looked and smiled. But rescue came from hardly suspected source, as one of the weak flames hit the bear in the back of his head. Much to Marceline's surprise however, that made him only chuckle more.

"Oh, you're just BURNING to dance with me!" He topped off his burning hat. "Pardon for a moment lady. I never were picky about my genders. Party Pete is never picky!"

And he swirled back towards the assassin, to give him his full attention. The fires flew right at him, he treated them however like a joke. Above, under, limbo and conga. He did that mostly to show off, obviously, and even if some of them almost hit him, it was a much needed thrill. He even tried to hit one of them with his cane. Needless to say, that hardly worked.

"Ah-hah, you're GOOD!"

While Pete was occupied dealing with the Scorcher, Marceline quickly faded out. Not her battle, not her cause. And he wished only one thing. Escape from this being. She saw a way through. And as with every exit, she already wanted to be on the other side. If she'll make it, the burning man will stay in this weird place. Another variant of Ooo no doubt. So she ran. Ran amongst numerous silhouettes, pushing each and every single one of them aside. No time for politeness. But than again, she never was polite. And finally, the gate was opened. And she was ready to get through. And as her one foot was on the other side, the burning man caught the other one. It would seem that Pete wore him off somewhat. Did the burning man defeated him? Or did the lunatic went back to his twitchy moves? No matter. He still had the strength to hold her tight. And as usual in those situations, there was no time to shake him off.

###

They reappeared once again, still clutched within their struggle. Despite the hatred of one of them, and despite the efforts of another, they could not made the decisive strike. In this place however, there was no rain. And no army to stand in his way. In this place, his soaked bandages could be heated up once again. Again to kill, again to burn. He embraced the heat once more, becoming the one with the fire. And therefore, he charged again. His sharp claws were brutal, so were his kicks and swings. It's hard to parry fire, even for a vampire. Despite all the abilities, despite all the possessed knowledge, this time he was simply too vicious. And even if it is hard to wore out a vampire in battle, everyone has it's limits. No objects to throw at him, no undead to raise. Just him and her. But everyone has it's limits. And even if Scorcher does not know that, he does have them as well. She finally succumbed before him, as she felt onto the ground. But all in all, he could not count each factor into play. And one of those factors just hit him on the head.

"Get your hands off of her."

The pink one replied. From this angle, she somewhat resembled him someone. Someone from his past perhaps. Or someone he met. Or he will met? He hardly had the idea about that, nor that he ever thought about those things. Either way, he stopped. Part of him wanted to kill her, just like before. And part of him, wanted to simply examine her. To know more about her. A curious being. With death in her eyes.

"What's the matter?"

"Hate."

She took a step closer. He hardly knew why he would allow her to do just that. But he did, and that made her even more bold.

"You wanted me, now you don't want to hurt me?"

"Hate."

He regained his senses, as he began his attack. Once again, the target hardly mattered. And mattered at the same time. Something was not right. His attack were too sloppy. Was he tired? No, he never was. But, at the same time, he realized that he never was so far. He felt hopeless. Was that the feeling the others felt? It was somewhat terrible.

"Shame." She punched him across the face. "For I will hurt you."

"Hate."

Having no time to answer, and no real purpose to do so, he caught her dress, as he began to slowly burn it up. Bit problematic. Not for the princess however, whom swiftly rolled just to get rid of the fire and quickly found herself near him once again.

"Begone." She quickly disarmed him, putting his hand on his back. "Begone." She said once more, pressing even harder. "Begone!"

She shouted, as she pierced his chest with the very device that let them travel through this place. The crystal shattered, and as the shards came flying by in each and every direction, Scorcher was nowhere to be seen. Marceline got up and pondered. For some reason, she knew that whatever he received and wherever he is right now, he still got more than what he deserved.

###

The hunter rose his head and looked around, as chills passed through his slim, thick body. He quickly realized that he cannot move his hands and feet, as they were locked up tight within the ice cubes. He tried to melt it down, yet whenever he tried to lighten up his fingers, the ice proven to be far too strong to do just that. Changing into a mist was out of the picture as well, since whenever he tried that, he started to froze rapidly. For some reason he knew this place. He was here before. Once. Or at least in the place similar to this. The host wasn't the most dangerous sort, from what he remembered at least. So he waited, with occasional spasms of anger during which he shook inside, trying to break the glass like shell. Eventually he heard footsteps in the distance.

"Thin, little darling woke up, splendid!"

The one in the blue dress rushed by and looked at him, smiling as she pinched his bandaged cheek. As usual, he didn't say a word and just tried to move his head away from her hand as far as he could, which was rather difficult given his current situation.

"You are so skinny, mommy didn't fed you up enough? Don't worry! I will!" She clapped her hands with much joy and excitement. "You... have a mouth under all of that, yes? Hopefully so!" The Queen circled around him. "Because if you don't, how I'm going to feed you darling? Oh, oh, maybe you're like a plant and you feed on sun? No? Doubtful, yes. But there's always a possibility..." She scratched her head. "You don't look like posies at all. Oh, I know, I know, I'll bring you things, and you will shout what you'll like, alright?" She looked at him once more. "Or at least vigorously blink, huh, huh?"

She started to shuffle around her desks, throwing out objects of various deals and purposes. He just looked at her in confusion. He did had similar interactions with someone like that once. Ice King however seemed to be far more stable compared to her for some reason.

"You want some tea? Ice-tea? Ahahahahahah!"

She said, as she threw few ice cubes straight into his face while laughing maniacally. When the Queen eventually got bored by her pointless search, she once again came before his presence. She looked rather happy.

"So, tell me your name." She poked him fast on his head, annoying him even further, if that was even possible. "You have one, don't you?" She waved rapidly before his face. "Hello?" She bumped him in the head once again. "Anybody in there?"

Scorcher rolled with his eyes and with a puff of smoke, a small piece of paper flew around, quickly snatched by the Queen. It said 'Due to your hardly festive inquiries, I shall reward your efforts with giving you my designation. Scorcher. Reflect on it and earn me rest.' She blinked rapidly, as big smile appeared once again on her face.

"Oh, oh, you are a writer, a writer! I wrote something too, want to hear it? Review it maybe?"

She giggled and ran off for some time, giving him at least a moment of silence. He fought many battles, but each and every single one of them seemed to be more... civil than her presence. Sadly, she quickly returned with a huge book that seemed to have crayon marks all over it.

"It's called, 'The Magnificent and Greatest Ice Queen and her beloved Gumball on a Steaming Date'. Catchy, yes?" She blinked a couple of times. "And later on, 'll have another one for you, this time, less of a historical lecturing, and more fiction.. about the adventurous boy, Finn! But, later, later." She blinked some more. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?"

The Scorcher gave up, and simply nodded with his slim head, which only encouraged the Queen to start reading. At least while she'll read, she'll be occupied in something other than him, he thought to himself.

"Chapter one. How I, Ice Queen, and my beloved, that would be Gumball, spent a day on spicy things. You know... Like chasing each other around and being totally awesome, hahaha!" She leaned to him slightly. "Tell you what, he even proposes at the very end. So, wanna hear it? Huh? Huh? Interested in the plot already?"