Gallucci was hoisted high into the air by Frasier's plant tentacles. They seemed to sprout from his back and the plants around him. Gallucci was moaning and trying to cry for help. Most of his limbs were long gone and he was looking pale with how little blood he had left. Lemonhope tried screaming out again for Frasier to stop, but it came out as nothing but a mere whisper. Gallucci looked into Lemonhope's eyes, begging for Lemonhope to somehow help him. His mouth opened to say something, but nothing except blood came out as a tentacle as sharp as a blade pierced his skull. Gallucci's brain matter spilled out as the tentacle withdrew and his entire body seemed to go completely limp.

Frasier dropped the corpse onto the bench, the corpse's back landing across the back rest of the bench causing a sickening crack to be emitted throughout the room. It was only then that Lemonhope could speak. "Frasier," he called out in a hoarse voice. "Why?"
But Frasier did not answer him. Instead he snarled and turned to face Lemonhope. His eyes were mere slits emitting a fiery glow, his mouth an abyss of infinite razor-sharp teeth, and his head was splitting open to reveal some dark red orb emanating a blood red light. It seemed to Lemonhope that he was tiny compared to the beast which now towered above him. Its limbs stretched across the room and a mixture of bony appendages and tentacles came out of its back. More light came out of the beast as it seemed to unravel itself and approached Lemonhope. The closer it got, the stronger the smell of burning flesh became to Lemonhope.

He tried to call out for help now, for someone to save him from this creature that he once trusted. But now nothing could be heard except the beast's snarling. It stabbed Lemonhope in the arms and used that to hoist him up high. He could now see the horror in its entirety. He only saw it for a moment however before a sharp tentacle hovered before his eyes. It reared back and-

Lemonhope awoke gasping for breath as if he were submerged under water for a long time. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and casted long shadows. Lemonhope looked around. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he did remember Frasier carrying him out of Obed's hut. He then noticed Frasier sitting across him, past the still warm remains of the last night's campfire. Frasier's head was bowed over, and his chest moved steadily up and down. A stick with a burnt end laid next to his open palm. There were dark rings underneath his eyes.

Lemonhope turned around to get an idea of where they were and saw that they were only a small distance away from the hut. He was in the middle of a yawn when it was interrupted by his growling stomach. He picked up the half-burnt stick and poked Frasier with it, dropping the stick immediately as he realised that he grabbed the hot end of it. "Wake up, sleepyhead," said Lemonhope.
Frasier only stirred a little at this and mumbled something about giving him more time. Lemonhope decided to use, what he thought was, his friend's advice and left Frasier to snooze a little further.

Lemonhope was glad that Frasier was so considerate and would sacrifice his own sleep for his friend's comfort, but the dream still lingered in the back of his mind. They say dreams speak of hidden truths, but then Lemonhope would have been flying with pigs now. He has always struggled with bad dreams about the world around him. When he fled from the care of Princess Bubblegum to avoid going back to Castle Lemongrab, he was plagued with nightmares of the suffering people he abandoned. He only managed to get rid of the dreams when he went back and defeated the large tyrant. But how would he get rid of his bad dreams about Frasier?

He couldn't just leave Frasier behind; what if Frasier hunted him when he did? And then again, Frasier hasn't shown his monstrous side for some time, so it might have been a once off thing. Lemonhope bounced between thinking that Frasier was a monster and that he was just his innocent friend. Lemonhope's train of thought was broken when he saw Frasier waking up. He considered asking him about his monstrous form, but decided that such a question was not a good thing to wake up to.

"I see you woke up early," said Frasier groggily.
His eyes kept fluttering closed as a sweet slumber called to him. He slowly stood up and stretched, yawning as he did so. "I don't think I've ever seen you being this low on energy," remarked Lemonhope. He was somewhat thankful that for once he was a little faster than Frasier. Frasier turned a full 360 degrees looking out at the hills. He almost fell over after doing this but managed to catch himself. "I just need some dew and then I'll be as ripe as rain," said Frasier, attempting to be perky.
"Speaking of which, do we have something to eat?" asked Lemonhope.
"Check your pocket," replied Fraiser.
Lemonhope reached into his jacket and found a dark and dry piece of meat tucked away in the depths of an inner pocket.
"I found that lying around while I was looking through Obed's house," said Frasier. "Not sure what kind of meat it is, but it looked tasty, so I grabbed it."

Lemonhope thought about throwing it away but his stomach protested by growling loudly. Lemonhope reluctantly brought the meat closer to his mouth and took a small bite out of it. To his surprise, it was pretty good. It was a salty, chewy piece of meat and had a tasty spice sprinkled all over it. Despite wanting to eat it all now, Lemonhope realised that it would take a while due to how long it took to chew at least one bite. He took another bite and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"So how long until we reach the Ice Kingdom?" asked Lemonhope with his mouth full.
"We should reach it by the end of today," replied Frasier. "And you should swallow before you talk, it's disgusting."
"Sorry," mumbled Lemonhope, his mouth still full.
With that said, the two made sure that the fire was dead and continued on their way to the Ice Kingdom.

The walk was fairly silent with Lemonhope chewing the meat and Frasier occasionally darting off the road to drink some dew. It was as Frasier ran to get some more dew when Lemonhope began thinking again. Frasier seemed nice enough and kept doing nice things for him, but Lemonhope still struggled to forget that day. Could Frasier just be putting up an act in order to make Lemonhope let his guard down? With such power Frasier could easily overwhelm him, even if he did have his guard up. Besides, he had slept next to Frasier every night since they met. So, maybe Frasier didn't want to murder him, but what else could he want from Lemonhope? Frasier had been calling all the shots, deciding where they would go next and what they would do, but Lemonhope had been allowing it to happen. He asked Frasier where they should go. He made that choice in the first place as he was free to do so. Did he make the wrong choice?

Lemonhope couldn't say for sure since he was still alive after all. But then again, the whole reason he and Frasier were captured by Gallucci was because Frasier led them there and cheated the games. Frasier should have known that it would go so wrong. But something nagged at Lemonhope with that assumption. Frasier could just be naïve and not have known that his actions were bad or could have possibly led to such consequences. Lemonhope looked over at Frasier who was enjoying another morning dew. He looked innocent enough. For now.

"Frasier?" asked Lemonhope.
"Yea?" replied the little green man
"Are we friends?"
"Of course we are!" replied Frasier with mock shock. "How could you even think of such a thing?"
Lemonhope paused for a second. "Ever since we escaped Casino City, I've been wondering about when you attacked Gallucci," said Lemonhope.
Frasier seemed to lose his brightness when Lemonhope mentioned that. He stopped where he was walking and looked towards Lemonhope. "I suppose you want to know why I turned into a monster?" said Frasier solemnly.
"What else could there possibly be?" replied Lemonhope.
They both stood there looking at each other for a moment before Frasier continued. "When I attacked Gallucci, I was taken by a rage. It's a rage that I have been struggling with my whole life to contain, but when I was freed by your music, I felt something snap inside of me. It felt like I knew what had been causing all the misery in my life, and it was sitting right in front of me. I knew it was wrong to act on it, but my rage drove me on. Feeling like your whole world is collapsing and the only way you can prevent it is by lashing out feels terrible. Gallucci might have taken away who I was, but it was I who truly lost myself."
"Even if I have this pointless rage inside of me, clawing to wreak havoc, it's still a part of what I am. Everybody has their flaws, and only a few have learned to accept them"

Lemonhope was shocked by Frasier's honest answer, but he still wasn't satisfied. "Would you ever turn that rage against me?" he asked.
"I would never enact upon my rage if it would hurt you, Lemonhope. You forget that the only reason Gallucci is alive is because you stopped me. My friends and the way that I act are some the only few ways that I can cure myself of the rage. Every happy moment and every cheerful smile are nothing but something I use to hide what I fear. I understand that you fear it as well, but please find it in your heart to accept this part of me. Look into yourself and you will see that you are just as flawed as me, and that we are merely influenced by our flaws, not made by them."

Lemonhope tried to look into himself and struggled to find what made him flawed. He overcame his fears and conquered his demons. Isn't that what he did when he defeated Lemongrab? Lemonhope shook that train of thought away and considered Frasier in front of him. Frasier opened his heart and Lemonhope could either accept it or break it where he stood. "I understand," said Lemonhope. Even if that were a lie, he knew it would be cruel to say otherwise. "After all, you are my friend."