Burning Bright and a Frozen Heart
Here is the next chapter of The Human and The Shadow :) I would like to thank Fiery Crusader and foxxyJ999 for reading and reviewing :) It means a lot. If you hadn't notice by now the trials are slowly coming to an end but does every trial end happily? and While everyone is off on these trials i wonder what is happening in Ooo?
The Trial of Bonnie and Phoenix – Anger and Denial
"If you are hearing this then Phoenix you needed your powers to be full sooner than I was able to cure you, there is a danger present nearby that will require your power so with this charm you can be temporary free of your curse." Lumen's voice came from the little fire emblem necklace that Phoenix had been given; he heard the voice within start to scream 'stop' but he put the necklace on and woke up.
Phoenix rose up from ground and looked at his palms; he could feel his power flowing with complete control. He started to laugh and cry lava tears as for the first time in his life… he was complete. He saw on his palm an insignia appear as he let go of all of his anger and all of his hate and for once burned with nothing but joy and calm. He rubbed it and heard a voice loudly state.
"Phoenix Flame of the Fire Kingdom, Trial Complete"
He smiled and was about to cheer when he heard a massive thud and a screamed filled the air. Phoenix turned to see the rest of the area he was in. Before it had housed just the fake lantern that had led to his unconsciousness but now, now it was covered with blood, guts, burns and corpses of what could only be described as monsters. His mouth fell over wide as he saw Bonnie standing in front of him with her back to him wielding two pink energy blades. She held them with the bladed end pointing outwards away from her with her fist tightened to it looked like she was in a boxing match but was expecting to go skiing sometime soon. She was covered in cuts, bruises, dirt and blood. Her usual appearance had changed too. Phoenix noticed the burnt remains of her usual ball gown tossed to the side. She was wearing black combat boots with pink camouflage trousers and a white vest top which showed off her slender figure and highlighted her curves. It looked more like the get up of a feminine soldier she stood facing off against a beast. She had a fresh wound on her right forearm which explained why she screamed. The monster lunged for Bonnie with its hands outstretched. She jumped up onto its arms and ran up. It tried to grab her but she quickly jumped stabbing it in the head with her blades and then sliding down its back effectively chopping the beast in two. She flicked her blades to clean off the blood and then limped over to Phoenix. He sat there with his mouth still open, he had never seen this side of Bonnie or Bubba before.
"What… what the lump? You can fight?" He managed to get out. Bonnie smiled when she noticed that he had regained consciousness and decided to pull up a seat next to him. The seat was in fact the head of a tree-golem at had attacked her as well as a fire golem. She had chopped the head of the tree golem and then pushed it into the fire one causing the fire one to burn so hot he exploded sending fire over the whole area. That was when she had sacrificed her ball gown.
"Of course, I can how can I protect a kingdom if I can't protect myself" She said in her usual matter of fact tone.
"If you can fight why do you send Finn on all of these errands?"
"Because I'm a Princess, my job is to lead my subjects and make decisions no one wants to make to protect them. Finn is a Hero and I rely on him as he is the best person for the job, I can fight yeah but Finn can find strength that no one else can, he can fight things that I couldn't even dream of and he will always win because that is who he is. He is a Hero with a heart of gold and a pure soul, I send him because it means I know without a doubt my kingdom is in safe hands." Bonnie finished oddly staring into the distance. This was the most emotion Phoenix had ever really seen her express, in her voice he heard pride, admiration… and love towards Finn. Phoenix tried to stand up but began to fall, he found himself being held up by Bonnie. He looked down at his hand and noticed that he wasn't melting her anymore and then felt warmth from his necklace. Warmth… it was an odd feeling he had to say to feel something warmer than you if you were literally made of fire.
"You're not melting me?" Bonnie asked shocked.
"A gift from Lumen I guess" he said pointing to his necklace. Bonnie was about to get a closer look when the pair heard a chilling roar from behind. They turned and saw there was now 3 more of the beast Bonnie had just slayed. The two got into defensive positions but Phoenix just fell to the ground still exhausted.
"Just stay there I'll protect us" Bonnie said standing in front of the Flame Prince.
"Bonnie you can't fight 3 of them at once you'll die"
"If I don't we'll both die and I've hurt you enough… maybe I don't deserve to live after what I've done" Phoenix noticed a tear drop at her feet and was riddled with guilt. The whole time he'd been unconscious finding out the truth of what happened she had been risking her life to save his. She blamed herself for what his mother did even though it wasn't really her fault.
"Bonnie I for-" Phoenix was cut off as one of the beasts charged at Bonnie with a hand outstretched. She tried to repeat how she had killed the last one but once on its arms she was smacked off by the other arm being sent flying into one of the maze walls. The beast started to stretch out to grab at Phoenix as he backed away. Suddenly the beasts hand fell to the ground as Bonnie began her frenzy attack of slicing off its main limbs. When she had finished there was now a large pile of beast chunks at her feet. She ran at the other two hoping to gain the upper ground.
Phoenix watched as the pink princess began to fight the beasts, she was holding up her own quite well and managed to floor and wound one so was facing off against the other one. He watched as she managed to cut one of its eyes and one of its arms off. Bonnie was turning out to be a formidable foe for the pair. She may have succeeded if not for the fact she had forgotten to kill the one she had floored. It had risen up behind her and grabbed her by her feet; she had smacked her head hard against the ground as it slammed her down then lifted her now unconscious body. The other began to beat her repeatedly taking out its revenge for the loss of its comrade, eye and arm. Phoenix watched in horror as the beast then threw her to the ground and put its foot on her head. It planned on ending her life by crushing her skull with its foot. Phoenix knew he had to act.
He forced his power through all of his body pushing its already fragile limits. It forced him up and he quickly concentrated his power in his feet before releasing and flying towards the beast at an alarming speed. He had materialised a sword and looked as if he flew through it. The beast's body spilt in two vertically simultaneously bursting into flames as its body crashed to the ground. Phoenix just turned towards the other, pointed his palm at it and unleashed a powerful blaze of purple flame which danced around the beast before coating it's body and rending it to nothing but ash. He grabbed Bonnie and flew up into the air, he's body ached all over but he know this was the best way to find the way out. He saw a glittering tower of gold in the centre of the maze and decided to head towards it. When he landed atop of it he set Bonnie down and then looked out. The maze seemed to be moving and then disappeared altogether. Phoenix watched in horror at the hundreds of monsters and horrifying creatures that now looked towards the golden tower. They were heading there; he looked back at Bonnie and knew they may not make this.
"I hope you hold out" He said looking at the pendant Lumen had given him. He floated above the top of the tower and watched as beasts began to climb it, some of them flew so were closing in on him too. He charged up his power as much as he could then began to punch in the air towards the beasts. Every time he thrust his fist a powerful fire projectile set out towards a monster burning it… 10s then 20s then 30s… soon he lost count of how many creatures burst into flames due to his power. He knew this was just draining his energy and he would soon tire out too much. He looked at the pendant again and saw that it started to crack "It really was just a temporary fix" He cleared the killed the monsters closest to the tower and caught his breath quickly. He looked at Bonnie as she was still unconscious; he instantly knew what he had to do… whether or not he liked it only one of them was making it out of the trial alive.
Phoenix Flame of the Fire Kingdom hovered above the tower once more, he pointed out both of his hands around the tower and began to spin and shoot out powerful multi-coloured flamethrowers. His power not just ran down the sides of the tower but began to burn all the land around. He kept going eventually creating a fire vortex which began to wipe down the enemy forces.
Bonnie's head ached and she was sweating loads… it was so hot. She opened her eyes and had to shelter them as the light was too bright. She stood up and saw that all around the little platform that she stood fire rained down from the sky. She looked up to see Phoenix spinning fast creating a fire vortex. She looked over the edge to see a massive burned land that the Prince had created.
"PHOENIX YOU HAVE TO STOP" She screamed at him hoping he could still hear her. Phoenix looked down at her and stopped spinning cutting out his flames. Just then two more beasts flew towards the tower he went to fire at them but felt his arms lock up. He flew at them knocking them down to the charred ground. While they regained their bearings he looked around it was just them two left.
"RUN PHOENIX! FLY AWAY!" Bonnie continued to scream at the Prince.
Phoenix just looked at her and frowned, for all her calculating she couldn't see that there was only one way left. Lumen's necklace began to glow and Phoenix held it, it turned into a large metal sword and Phoenix just smiled. The shade prince had gone far enough to arm him and Phoebe with a sword in case their flame powers proved ineffective. He ran at the two beasts and began to slash at them; they fended off his attacks before making their own. The time Phoenix had spent with Fionna had helped him understand swordsmanship, he easily dodged their attacks. Phoenix was one of the best fighters with a sword in Aaa, not comparable with Fionna but still good. He had trained for years just to be able to impress her but never got round to showing her, she had fallen in love with another so the skills he had gained were useless… until now. Phoenix span and dodged the two opponents furious swings, he actually let out a laugh as to how someone like him, who everyone considered a massive burning threat was now fighting with a sword and not with a flame. He rolled out the way of another beasts attack and then decided to use Bonnie's own tactic. He jumped up on its arm running up and then stabbing it in the head before sliding down slicing it in two.
He smiled as he heard Bonnie start cheering him on, he knew she was just impressed he could use her technique. He ran at the other beast and was overjoyed to watch it fall to its knees he raised his blade and then swung it as hard as he could onto the beast's armoured skull. To his horror the cracked pendant necklace shattered into loads of pieces before his eyes not even harming his foe. The beast let out a chuckle before piercing its sharp claws straight into the prince's chest. He held it there so it couldn't escape what was about it happen. With the necklace gone the prince couldn't hold back the evil destruction within him… he was about to blow.
"PHOENIX! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Bonnie screamed from the tower. She had started to try and climb down and on seeing this had lost her footing falling quite bit from the ground. She landed with a thud and knew she was going to lose consciousness soon.
"Phoenix no… don't do it… I know what you're thinking"
"Bonnie there's no [he coughed up a lot of blood] there's no other way. This way at least you get to live"
"Why… I'm not worth living I'm nothing but a monster who-"
"Bonnie stop! It was not your fault I know the truth, it was my mother and Phoebe's father's fault and I will make sure that she knows the truth one day and forgives you. But for now please accept this, Bonnibel Bubblegum I, Phoenix Flame, Forgive you for everything and would like to die with you knowing you are one of the kindest, bravest and best people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing" He struggled to get this out, he had come to terms with what had to happen but it didn't make it easier.
"Phoenix… there has to be another way…"
"Bonnie, you know better than me that there isn't, just do me a favour… tell Fionna I have always known about her and Marshall and I don't harbour any hate towards her for it okay?" Bonnie began to cry as she took in the final request of the dying prince.
"Thanks Bee, I'm gonna go now… goodbye" The beast let out a little roar and tried to rip its arm out of the princes chest but he wouldn't let it go, he began to burn hotter making it scream in pain. Finally the prince's body exploded, his last efforts went into making sure Bonnie didn't get hurt in the towering blaze and concentrated all of the flames upwards.
Bonnie watched the fire consume her friend and her would be assailant. She let out a tear as she knew that the Prince of Flames was no more. She finally succumbed to the pain that filled her whole body and lost consciousness.
"Phoenix Flame of the Fire Kingdom, Trial Failed"
"Bonnibel Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom, Trial Complete"
A pink light surrounded the pink princess as she disappeared from the maze world.
The maze world was once known as 'The world of Arbres cachés' it is a whole world who worshipped the golden tower of knowledge and this tower in its prime helped the maze grow fruit and the people of the Ccc world used to live in the clearings then move throughout the maze to find new grazing spots.
When the darkness came it killed the towers powers forcing the people to experience famine. It then grew poisoned fruit in its now dark maze which the hungry people ate up gratefully not knowing that it would turn them into horrifying beasts and monsters.
The people of the world of Arbres cachés were happy when the Prince of Flames freed them from their curse and burnt the evil maze the darkness had left behind. All that was left in the burnt wilderness was a few shards of a once beautiful sword and a drop of lava that had fallen from the broken prince as he embraced his death.
The Trial of Cake and Benny – Testing and Reconstruction
Cake the Cake led Benny Grof and Prince Rose Ivy to a part near the shrine where the bridge to it had been built she happily showed them the gap expecting them to understand.
"Erm Cake I am unsure whether you understand, there was a bridge there but it vanished after we completed the temple" The green prince was confused by the cat's suggestion and was beginning to question their sanity.
"Cake I have to agree with Ivy I don't see how this helps us" agreed Benny. Cake looked both offended and annoyed that neither of them had understood her plan.
"Excuse me? Sugar I think you have forgotten whom you're talking to" Cake then to back up her statement stretched over the gap grabbing onto the two posts that used to support the bridge. She had essentially become a bridge. The two men smiled then both looked embarrassed. They walked over the gorge and then with Cake the trio descended into the depths of the temple.
Meanwhile at the camp of the survivors sat a boy, he had been driven insane by the overwhelming power of the magical crown he wore. Unlike Simon and Simone's crown this one didn't have an evil entity inside it so Finn Mertens was still himself, he had just adopted the name Ice Prince after being alone for so long. A prince would always find his princess and so Finn hoped that one day he would be loved again. He had lost his best friend Jake and sent his family away. Jake had been turned evil when a massive bomb detonated. Finn had frozen his former friend and then ran away. He had found a few icy mountains to call his home and had lived quite happily there with his snow dogs. They were all called Jake but one in particular was special. It looked just like Jake and unlike his other ones that would animate then turn back to snow this Jake never left his side. This Finn was wearing a royal blue tunic and trousers; covering this was a light blue cloak. His beautiful long blonde hair was now as white as snow and on top was a golden crown decorated with 3 ruby red jewels.
The voices in the crown had stopped a few decades ago allowing Finn to somewhat gain back his sanity. It was around this time that the darkness came to the land. It had laughed at the destroyed world and then had spoken to the Ice Prince.
"Pathetic human… bow to me and I shall spare your life" its voice had echoed in Finn's brain. Finn remembered the day he had lost everyone he had cared about and was annoyed with this voice.
"Stay back, come near and you shall feel the power of Ice and Snow." Was all he said to the darkness before waking up on this world; it had surprised both the Ice Prince and Prince Rose Ivy, usually when the darkness came it would immediately send the champions of good of that world on a trial but the darkness had spoken him. When Finn the Ice Prince had denied the darkness he became the light and hope of his world and was forced on this trial. He never found closure here however but decided to stay, that way he wouldn't be alone and the people of this world appreciated his powers to make ice and snow appear as it allowed them to have a readily available source of water.
"Jake come here quickly" said the Prince all of a sudden, he had felt something. He had known that the green Prince had gone to see the new champions of good but Finn felt something, something unique. It was a power similar to his, much weaker… so much weaker, but the power signature was very similar. There may be someone like him. He added snow to one of the animated Jake's turning him into a very large snow dog before grabbing Jake and hopping on the large snow dog. The dog ran across the wastelands following the Prince's subconscious will. He would find the other person and maybe… maybe he wouldn't be alone anymore.
The Ice Prince hopped off of the large snow dog and then commanded it to head back to the camp without him. He stared at the temple where he had learnt the secrets of the trials and the evil. He picked up SJ (Snow Jake) and froze the water walking across it and descending into the temple.
Prince Rose Ivy led the two Aaavians down the corridors of the temple and into the prophecy room. Here inscribed on the wall was a prophecy set by someone of the first world to fall Zzz.
"The first to fall was the last to live; the last to fall will be the first to live. The beginning is the end. When the 25th world is embraced by evil the final trails shall occur.
First they shall face grief
Then they shall face loss
And finally the light shall appear.
The light made up of the sword, the shield and the heart. It once fought the darkness and in their battle our worlds were born. When the light shall rise it shall either erase the darkness or mark the darkness's victory. The end will be either the beginning of eternal darkness or the beginning of new light. Fate rests in those that wield the light."
Benny ran his hands across the inscription reading it over and over again till he memorised it.
"Who carved this into the temple wall?" He asked the Prince.
"A woman named Faith, she came originally from the 25th world Ooo but on her travels across the worlds she met the last survivor of the first world. He told her the prophecy and told her to carve it in every world she went to after. It was a beacon of hope for our people at first. We'd come to this temple and instead of worshipping the darkness we'd pray to the belief that the darkness would fall. Eventually though the darkness returned chasing after the woman and found out, he destroyed the bridge to here and destroyed all of our home, life stock and food supplies we had found. He didn't kill us as he wanted us to suffer. It would have killed us but then the Ice Prince came and he gave us water and more."
"Wait honey what do you mean Ice Prince? Benny is Simon here?" Cake asked confused.
"No Cake this Ice Prince is actually a different version of Finn from another world that has a Crown of Ice and Snow" Benny answered back.
"So… this dude's like another counterpart for our Fionna?"
"Essentially yes his name is Finn Mertens too" Benny explained to the feline.
The pair discussed the possibility of another Finn and what it could mean for them, unbeknownst to them the Ice Prince had been listening in on their conversation. "These people know of my name, they seem to suggest there is another me and… Fionna? A female me perhaps and they seem to know of my power interesting"
Ice Prince thought about how to best make his entrance, one of the two people in the room with Prince Ivy carried an item that possessed the same ice magic as he had. If he found it he may be able to control his power more or he could use these people to find these other versions of himself so he wasn't alone.
"Ice Prince you know it's rude to eavesdrop on others conversations" Ivy said out loud all of a sudden, the two Aaavians turned to the door way to see Ice Finn looking back at them.
"How did you know Prince Rose?" Ice Finn asked
"You should know my powers by now Prince Finn"
"Oh yes I remember now, my apologises for eavesdropping strangers [he bowed to them] I was just unsure on whether I was going to rob off you or use you for my needs" Cake and Benny stared at this version of Finn taking in his appearance. Benny shuddered at the thought of Finn's strength and agility combined with an unstable Ice crown.
"Whoa sugar take some catnip and talk sense, you're gonna rob us? Over my bushy tail" Cake took out her claws and grew larger. Ice Finn looked at her in awe; he loved magic of any kind.
"My apologises feline I did not realise you were as beautifully gifted as you are, to rob from someone who possess such an amazing gift would be a crime. [Cake blushed at his compliments] However I can rob from you" the Ice Prince finished turning to Benny. He instantly shot a bolt of ice lightning at him in hopes of freezing him. It was too fast for Cake or Prince Ivy to stop him. However the bolt never hit Benny as in front of him appeared a shield made of Ice. Everyone stopped moving and no one said nothing a familiar voice filled the air as Benny's snowflake pendant began to glow.
"Benny this is Lumen, if you're hearing this it meant that you needed the power to defend yourself. This pendant will temporarily give you the same power of Simone's Ice Tiara. It is not as strong however it will help you in whatever you need and bend to you will. Use it well"
"How?" Finn Mertens the Ice Prince demanded.
"How what?" Benny replied
"How is it possible for someone to give you my powers and who is this Simone that has a tiara of Ice?" Ice Prince was shaking; he had expected something of similar power to his but to be able to block his lightning… it was powerful.
"Lumen Dusk, Prince of the Shade Kingdom… he is a gifted young man and he created this necklace to help protect me on the trials we are on. It was based on an Ice tiara belonging to my fiancé Simone Petrikov… she is also cursed under the powers of Ice and Snow. However the boy Lumen has the power to remove the evil or insanity in the crowns giving the wearers unlimited power and their minds back" Benny hoped his explanation would be enough to interest the Prince so that he would feel he needed the pair and wouldn't try to freeze them.
"…I can be free of the insanity…" Finn more asked this to himself than the Aaavians. As he was lapsed in the prospect Snow Jake came running into the room with his tail wagging. He ran up to Benny and Benny stroked him. He ran and licked Ivy's hand before running over to Cake. He sat next to her and looked at her. Cake normally did not like dogs; Jake himself was an exception she had made for the groups sake but found herself competing with him over everything. However, she found the Snow Jake cute and began to pet him and he licked her paw back to show he liked it. He then ran up and jumped into Finn's arms.
"Is that… Jake" Cake asked the Ice Prince.
"Yes how did you know?"
"Well we have a friend… he's also called Finn and his brother and best friend is a yellow dog named Jake"
"Wait… he's alive… Jakes alive" Ice Prince was shocked to know that there was another Jake.
"Yes he's my counterpart, he has the same powers I do and can talk too"
"He can talk too? And has amazing powers… wow… Can I meet him?" Ice Prince was generally more interested in the prospect of meeting another Jake than gaining back his insanity. He had a reason to leave this world and somewhere to go now. Suddenly a black snowflake appeared on his hand. He rubbed at it hoping it would come off.
"Finn Mertens the Ice Prince, Trial Complete" a voice rang out. Prince Ivy was waiting for the light to consume him but nothing happened.
"What… why are you still here you completed your trial?" He asked.
"I don't know"
Benny suddenly thought of something. "Maybe he can't leave because he now intends to go back with us and that means his trial is linked to ours. What if he can't leave till we complete our trial?"
"That would make sense"
"Wait boys… you mean if we have a weird pattern on our hand and then we rub it we complete our trial?" Cake asked confused.
"Yes it seems you have to acknowledge your success to fully complete the trial"
"Then does this mean when I rub my paw I will complete my trial" Cake held out her paw to show that there was an insignia of a bow on her hand.
"Cake how long has that been there?"
"Since I helped us get to this temple…"
"You must have the trial of Testing and Reconstruction then" Finn explained to the group. He was met with a bunch of confused glances.
"The trial is based on grief. The trial of Testing and Reconstruction is the 6th stage of the grief trials. Cake rebuilt a bridge using her body to get here which counts as Reconstruction allowing you two to build on your knowledge and feel more comfortable with your current situation. So that would mean the trial of testing would fall down to the guy with the Ice powers. He has to test his character and show he has gained from this trial" While the group pondered the words the prince had said Cake rubbed her paw and the voice returned.
"Cake the Cat, Resident of Aaa, Trial Complete"
Benny thought hard about everything that had happened here, his first thought had been to hurry and complete it to hurry back to Simone and get Lumen to cure her. Then he wanted to meet the Ice Prince and find a way to save him too. And now… He wanted to find a way to save everyone on this fallen world. They would take everyone on this world with them back to Ooo and help them rebuild their lives. Almost as soon as he had thought it a white snowflake appeared on his hand. The group stared at him and he was met with glances asking for an explanation.
"I know how to save everyone" was all Benny said. He reached down and rubbed the insignia.
"Benny Grof, Resident of Aaa, Trial Complete"
Before anyone could even question what Benny meant a mix of different lights consumed the group. Prince Ivy looked at his hand and saw there was a glowing leaf insignia and rubbed it.
"Prince Rose Ivy, Prince of the Untamed Forest, Trial Complete"
All four, as well as Snow J, disappeared in the light. Unbeknownst to them every resident of that world also disappeared in that light. The world was left empty free of life and totally abandoned. The other snow Jakes sat down and began yelp for their master. Slowly they melted away the water that made them up sunk deep into the soil and then from the ground by a grave marked Fiolee Mertadeer rose out a blue and red rose. The Heroine was left being the last symbol of beauty on her dead world.
And there we have it :) the end of two more trials one with a death and one with more allies being gained. What does the land trial hold for Jake and what will Phoenix's death bring to tale.
Sacrifice and Shock
Finn - Trial Complete
Phoebe - Trial Complete
Roselinen, Bonnie and Jay Mertens - Trial Complete
Pain, Regret & Guilt
Lumen - Trial Complete
Marshall - Trial Complete
Marceline - Trial Complete
Fionna - Trial Complete (Unconscious)
Anger and Denial
Bonnie - Trial Complete (Unconscious/Wounded)
Phoenix - Trial Failed (Dead)
Loss & Bargaining
Ice Queen - Trial Complete (Emotionally Distraught)
Betty - Trial Complete
Depression and Sorrow (?)
Simon - Trial Incomplete (Remains on the World Lll)
Bubba - Trial Complete
Testing and Reconstruction
Cake - Trial Complete
Benny - Trial Complete
Finn (+ SnowJ) Trial Complete
Ivy - Trial Complete (tagging along are the residents of the world)
Acceptance
Jake - ?
? - ?
? - ?
The story of what happened in the Trial of Depression and Sorrow will remain a mystery for now, How will Lumen's Human past affect the group? and just a spoiler ;) Jake will not return from the Trial alone, he will be bringing with him 4 OC's Hope you enjoyed the Chapter please leave a review and let me know what you thought.
Additional Note - I'd just like to say a few special thanks
James - Thanks for proof reading and supporting this AND watching the whole of Adventure time from the Pilot to season 6 just to give me a better critical view
Evangeline - Thanks for giving yourself to the story and :) enjoying the story
Louly - Hi Louly if you ever get this far let me know :)
Finally if anyone reading has written a fanfic or know of a good one just let me know i love to read and review :)