The following takes place a few minutes after "Son of Rap Bear," and several weeks after "Come Along With Me."

Phoebe, the Flame Princess, could not have said exactly what was going on for the first few minutes after she saved her kingdom at RapFestAid. She was shouting, Finn was shouting, Toronto was blathering about something. Jake and Cinnamon Bun hoisted her up above the crowd and surfed her to safety just outside the arena, where a party was already starting, seemingly of its own accord. An admiring mob of her flame people surrounded her, and some of the bears even joined in.

Phoebe started a bonfire with wood Finn gathered, which made everyone cheer even more. For a bit she indulged the people asking her to freestyle on whatever topic just came to their head - sandwiches, mortality, scooters - but ended up waving people off.

"Is Son of Rap Bear gonna be ok?" she asked Finn in a quiet moment, while Cinnamon Bun told a pack of rowdy flamelings that she was exhausted. "I feel kinda bad about blowing his legs off."

"Don't worry about it," Finn said. "Their species actually grows their legs back after a few days. They just like to be dramatic."

The party was in full swing now between the arena and the woods, with people who hadn't even been at RapFestAid showing up - FP was pretty sure nobody had invited Lumpy Space Princess. She glanced at Finn, caught his eyes…

…and was struck by the fact that something she was used to seeing in there was gone. He was happy, sure. Definitely proud. And enjoying her company.

And nothing else.

Phoebe made an excuse and dashed off, but collided with Cinnamon Bun. "Princess, Flambo was looking for you," said her loyal knight. "Something about how the money from this was supposed to go to charity?"

"Give half to Green Wood Syndrome research and use the other half for the new Fire Kingdom At-Risk Youth Center," she said quickly. "Randy has the blueprints."

She needed air. A fire starved of oxygen was not going to be comfortable. But someone was everywhere she turned - Slime Princess wanting rapping tips, Jake asking if she was OK, her father existing - until finally Phoebe saw an opening in the crowd and bolted into the forest.

She sat down on the wettest log she could find. Smoke from her rear mingled with the smoke pouring from her eyes. What the donk was wrong with her? This should have been the best night of her life. Why couldn't she be happy for once?

She had to get her emotions under control. Her dad in the crowd, nearly losing her kingdom, hanging out with Finn for the first time since hearing about his new girlfriend…it had just overwhelmed her. Now it burned away all at once, leaving nothing but a smoky emptiness.

"Hey," someone said. "Is this log taken?"

"Huh?" Phoebe rubbed her eyes. She knew that voice. It wasn't exactly who she would have picked to come find her, but she wouldn't have picked anyone if she'd been consulted.

"I'm gonna sit, look out," said Lumpy Space Princess, and settled down just a couple inches above the log. "Heard you had some pretty fresh flows back there. Why you skipping out on the afterparty?"

"It's cool, LSP, I'll be back in a minute," Phoebe said. "I'm just taking a breather. It's kind of a lot over there right now."

"Girl, you keep a bunch of crazy fire guys in line every day. What's so tough about a-"

LSP broke off. She followed Phoebe's gaze to where Finn was roasting marshmallows using his metal arm. "Ohhhhh," she said.

Phoebe's head flared. "If you tell anyone-"

LSP covered her face. "Even-"

"Turtle Princess counts!"

"OK, OK! Glob, Phoebe! I don't just barf out all the gossip the second I hear it!" LSP folded her arms and glared as Phoebe took a few breaths to return to normal. "I'm a curator of sweet choice information. You still liking Finn is more sad than juicy right now."

"I don't still like him." Phoebe went back to propping herself on her knees, wondering why she was telling Lumpy Space Princess any of this. "It's more like he's my dictionary definition of a boyfriend. I've never had feelings for anyone else. So when I want somebody, it turns into wanting Finn."

LSP settled lower. "What about Cinnamon Bun?"

"That's what I keep thinking. It would be so easy. But…" Phoebe shook her head. "You can't make yourself feel something you don't feel. He's so nice, and loyal, and dependable. If I said I wanted to be with him, it would just be rewarding him for that. Which is gross. Not to mention insulting."

"Whatever." LSP shrugged.

Phoebe smirked up at the floating princess. "You're welcome to make a move if you want."

"Uh-uh, girl. I'm working on a man-project of my own. A sour jigsaw puzzle I'm puttin' together one piece at a time."

"Is it the Earl of Lemongrab?"

"What? No."

"You just said sour-"

"We're talking about you!" LSP huffed. She put an arm around Phoebe that felt like a half-stuffed pillow. "I know how it feels to catch it bad for Finn the Human. Believe me, I've taken my ride on those heroic lumps too."

"I always wondered," Phoebe shifted a little away from LSP, "did you guys…?"

"Ugh, no. We made out for like two seconds and then he dumped me for a bee. Worst night of my life."

Something haunted, and entirely unexpected, came over LSP's face then. "Maybe second-worst."

"Huh?"

"I dunno." LSP shook her whole body. "Not sure why I said that. The point is, A, I heard you guys broke up for a super good reason, and B, there is another tranch pleasing those man-lumps now."

"Bleh, I know, I've met her." Phoebe stuck her tongue out. "And she's soooo cool. I was like, I need you to be balls so I can feel better!"

Both of them laughed. Phoebe said, "I did dump Finn, and I would do it again. He blew his chance and it would be a bad idea. This is only…"

"Only what?" LSP hugged her tighter, reminding Phoebe she was immune to all her fire powers. "Let it all out, Flame Princess. You'll feel better."

Phoebe doubted she would, but she was past the point of caring where LSP was going to spread this gossip. She wiped smoke from her eyes again and tried a smile that turned into a gasp.

"You always gotta want what you can't have," she said. "My life is great right now. My people adore me. My dad's finally settled down. Relations with Candy and Slime have never been closer. I have great friends and I feel like I'm finally making up for all that time I lost in the lantern. And yet…I keep looking around and thinking everyone's got someone but me. Finn has Huntress Wizard. Jake has Lady. You have Lemongrab-"

"Oh my Glob, I do not-"

"-PB has Marceline, Slime Princess has Slime Hunk…I guess my dating options are CB and Ice King."

"OK, we can all agree that Slime Hunk is an absolute snack of water," LSP said, "and I think I know what you need. The best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Is that from J.T. Doggzone?"

"Maybe! Why are you always accusing me of stuff?" LSP glowered, but helped Phoebe to her feet. "You just go party for now. Look hot and make Finn jealous. Let LSP be your love doctor."

There is absolutely no way this won't turn out horribly, Phoebe thought as she headed back to the party, to a fresh round of cheers. But the advice to have fun wasn't bad, at least. With a deep breath, she accepted a marshmallow from Finn, reflecting that, all told, it was a good idea not to judge your life by a relationship you had when you were fifteen. Much better to live in the now. It's what he would do.

So Flame Princess continued ruling her kingdom. She presided over that year's Princess Day, finished the At-Risk Youth Center, and sent forces to support the Candy Kingdom in their battle against the upstart Gumbald. And when Finn and Jake crashed on her couch for a week after that battle destroyed their house, it wasn't even weird.

It came to pass that one day, strolling through the Candy Kingdom after leaving PB's place, Phoebe found herself without anything in particular to do. She could get a slice at Sassy's, or go see if anyone was singing down at the Candy Tavern, but she was in much more of a mood to just walk.

The night air was cool, and nice against her embers. She admired the murals of Banana Guard 16, paused to pay her respects at the statue of Billy, and waved to Jake Jr., who hastily shoved something in her pocket and waved back.

Phoebe felt totally at peace. What could go wrong on a night like tonight?

Right then she bumped into a figure stealing out of an alleyway. Phoebe leapt back, shifting into a fighting stance, and flared all her flames at once. "Watch where you're going!"

"Hey!" shouted a barely-familiar voice. "Don't burn me, I'm a friend!"

Phoebe turned her flames down-then, when she saw who it was, turned them right back up. A lanky, pink-skinned figure in a neckerchief stood before her, hands defensively raised: Princess Bubblegum's cousin, Chicle.

"What are you doing sneaking around my allied kingdom?" Phoebe shouted.

"I'm not sneaking, I'm sightseeing!"

"Tell me why I shouldn't call the Princess and have you thrown in the dungeon."

"I'm going to, if you listen for a second!" Chicle stared hard at her and waited for her to turn her flames back to normal. She did, cautiously, but didn't get off the balls of her feet. "Gumbald tricked me into helping him. When we first healed, he told Lolly and me that Bonnibel had poisoned us, but it was him all along."

That gave Phoebe pause. Bonnie and Lolly worked together now, after all. But one thing didn't make sense. "I thought you were…"

"…still an inbred little snack?" Chicle's face fell. "I liked what I did to help Gumbald. I deserved another couple centuries as Crunchy for that. But I got a stay of execution. The Lumpy elemental decided to set me free once more."

"Why?"

"She said I'd know my mission when I saw it."

A horrible realization stole over Phoebe. LSP cannot possibly be serious.

Then she took the time to look at Chicle - really, for the first time. He wasn't bad-looking, in a cocky sort of way, and he seemed genuinely sincere.

"You know," Chicle was suddenly blushing furiously, "I've actually never been here on my own before. Would you maybe be willing to…"

"…show you around?" Phoebe said a bit quickly. "If you want."

"Thanks," Chicle said. "It's way better visiting as an ally. The Banana Guards still look at me suspiciously, though."

"Don't worry about them, they're just eager." The two set off walking, settling into an easy gait. "Although there is one who paints these awesome murals…"

Neither of them noticed the other figure hiding in the alleyway, floating three feet off the ground and snickering. "LSP," she said in her inside voice. "Love doctor."

Author's note: I really like Flame Princess, even though I don't ship her with Finn. From her very first appearance, she brings an awesome energy and shift in tone to every episode she's in. So, while keeping canon totally intact as I've sworn to do, I thought it might be cool to explore how Finn's new love with Huntress Wizard affected his, ahem, old flame. After all, what's Adventure Time without deep dives into the psyches of secondary and tertiary characters?

This led me to propose what is, to my knowledge, a totally original ship for this fandom (though please LMK if I'm wrong). If I have more ideas, I might very well write a Phoecle spinoff to this whole thing. For the next one, though, it's time to get back to H-dubs and Finn, with one of the scenes fans have been talking a lot about since the end of the show. Thank you so much for reading this far!