Chapter 2

"You did what?!"

Gumball stood fast in the face of Fionna's outburst. Stone-faced and stoic as his facade would allow, he said, "I don't have to justify my actions to you."

Fionna's face only got redder and more twisted up, "You had. No right!"

"I have every right I need to protect my people, Fionna!" he shot back, "This boy is the key to a safe future!"

The boy in question couldn't find his own voice in the chaos of his mind. Decker's entire being was consumed by a deep, sinking pit in his stomach. The voices around him muffled. It was like a ringing in his ears. Maybe he was going mad.

"He's a human being! Like me," Fionna ground out the words like a mill, "Would you have eventually done this to me?"

"No!" Gumball threw his hands up over his face and into his hair, then gestured wildly, "You're too valuable to-"

"To experiment on? To be a guinea pig?"

"To lose!" he shouted.

Fionna swung her finger out at Decker, "But he isn't?!"

There wasn't any time to think. No time to breathe. Decker needed out. He wanted to cry. He wanted to run away from everything.

"Shut up."

Gumball, Fionna, and Cake all turned to Decker. His fists were clenched, his jaw set with his gnashing teeth, and he shook. Decker shook and the red glow coming from him only intensified. No one, not even Decker himself, could tell if he was shaking in fear or hatred. The ragged, shallow breaths sped from Decker's lips, and when he looked up at the candy monarch, gold and crimson light bled from his eyes.

Even the cold lights of the lab couldn't freeze out the glaring, hot anger pouring from Decker's very veins. "I trusted you," he spat.

"You must understand, son-"

"Don't call me son."

"It is- You are the only living thing that could possibly ever bring forward a cure for this virus. And-"

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Decker's voice rose, as did his emotions, "You made me a freak!"

"I made you the hope of all life in Aaa," Gumball said, "You're a hero."

Decker couldn't find the words to come back with. His teeth just continued to gnash. It felt like they could shatter if he ground them together any more. How could this have happened? Turned into an amnesiac and a freak in less than a day.

His anger ebbed away into sadness and cold. The fists at his sides relented. Decker's vision blurred more and more until...

Drip.

Drip.

Small sobs crept up the young boy's throat. He eked out the words, "I trusted you."

The space of the lab, the first place he could remember, danced around in the distortion of his tears. Fionna felt a lump form in her throat, but swallowed it down. She moved to him. As gently as possible, her hand went to his chin and cradled his cheek, "Hey. Hey. Stay with me, it's okay."

"How is this okay?" a sob wracked through him, "How can I still be human if I'm... this?"

"Decker," Fionna's hold on him firmed, "You're still human to me."

The girl shot the Prince a glare, but he didn't falter. Gumball always did find a way to make things more difficult. Fionna continued, "We'll find a way to make the best of this. I mean, heck, most of the humans I've met are a lot more robot. Who knows, maybe we're the normalest humans out there."

Fionna drew Decker into a hug. His arms merely hung at his sides. "I think you need some sleep," she murmured into his shoulder.

She slowly drew away from him. A barely registered nod from him. He stared into the ground. Anything to get out of Candy Hell. As they made for the door, Gumball interjected, "Fionna, please, just let me run a few tests and-"

"I'm not the person you need to be asking permission from," her eyes narrowed at him.

With an exasperated sigh, Gumball could barely begin to repeat himself when Decker cut him off, "No."

"Son-"

"I said don't call me son."

"There is so much potential for good in you," he pleaded, "I know that if we just run a few-"

"Seriously?" Decker's blank stare shifted to meet Gumball's gaze, "Are you sick in the head?"

Fionna tried laying a hand on his shoulder again, speaking soothingly, "Hey-"

But that trick wasn't working this time. "No," he brushed her hand from him, "You're sick. Stay away from me."

Knuckles crackled under his grip. The angry tears that ran down his expressionless face unsettled all in the room, "You ruined my life, you ruined my humanity, and-"

"Decker, you need to calm down," Fionna said, her arms in front of her in a typical "calm down" motion.

He shifted. Everything cracked. His face contorted in rage and despair. His arms swung up. "I don't want to calm down!" he stomped his foot, and it sunk into the candy stone with a resounding crack!

Splintering cracks spidered out from where his foot was firmly planted. Gumball's eyes widened, as did Fionna's. Cake was inching closer to the human girl. Fionna spoke once more, attempting reason, "Decker, please. It's okay to be upset, but you can't lash out like this. It's unhealthy!"

Hateful tears made a mess of his face. He was nearly sobbing with every breath and they were becoming more and more uneven. Decker stomped to the door, wiping his face and nose as best he could. He had his hand on the handle when Gumball called out, "Fionna's right, but son-"

The door came off its hinges and shattered against the adjacent wall. "Call me son one more time!" Decker roared.

He quivered, right down to his bones. His teeth were bared as if he were an animal backed into a tight corner, tense and ready to snap. How could any of them tell him to calm down now? This anger had come over him so suddenly and yet it felt right. It felt good.

Yet, he relented.

The look on Fionna's face stabbed at his heart. Guilt washed over him. Decker swallowed the anger like horse pill. By way of some intangible weight, Decker's shoulders slumped once more, defeated. "Can," he stammered, his voice momentarily hoarse, "Can we just go? I'm..."

And he just left. Cake followed closely after giving her sister a nod. Fionna followed the boy with her eyes, pouring as much sympathy into her look as possible. With a sigh, her hands rested on her hips. "Fionna," Gumball said, "That boy is dangerous."

"Half of all Aaa is dangerous."

"You know what I mean."

"I do. And I agree," she said, "He's strong and he's definitely dangerous."

"Leave him with me, then," Gumball pleaded.

"No."

"Why?"

"If he really is this strong, then shouldn't we focus on making him an ally and building up friendships? Get him on our side?"

An exasperated sigh left his lips, "Don't be naïve, Fionna. It's far better to know his cards than to gamble, hoping he likes us."

Fionna pinched the bridge of her nose. "There's no sense arguing with you," she said, "He's coming with me. I will look after him and hopefully he'll start to remember who he is."

A heavy silence. That was the final word, he realized.

"I trust you, Fionna," Gumball said.

"I hope so," she replied and left, leaving the prince alone in the damaged lab.

Among the cracks in the floor and the shards of door, Gumball was unsurprised. Fionna was stubborn, and he hadn't expected the boy to just roll over for more tests. And there was no sense in drawing out some long-winded lie that Fionna would've found out sooner or later. He was sure that he'd get more samples of Decker, somehow.

The night air, even moving against his face on Cake's back, felt stale. Everything was numb now. Decker curled in on himself further. Cake's fur was so soft. It was his sole comfort.

"Are you okay, baby?" Cake cooed.

"No," a lump formed in his throat, "Why'd he do it?"

"Because that's how Gumball is," she said, "If you're not a citizen of the Candy Kingdom, you don't matter to him."

"Stop it, Cake," Fionna piped up, "He cares. It's just in a different way."

"Babygirl, you're not wise to the ways of the world like me. You've seen how Gumball is. Remember everything leading up to your first kiss with FP?"

Fionna blushed and shut up. "Who's FP?" Decker asked quietly.

She nervously stroked the hair poking out of her hat, "My boyfriend."

"That's nice," he said, "Is he good to you?"

"Y-Yeah," Fionna's blush deepened.

Decker smiled, if only slightly. It was wonderful to hear something good.

Later that night, he lay in bed, unable to sleep. There was no moon, leaving everything drenched in darkness. Every part of him yearned for sleep, but he simply couldn't. The whole day played in his head. Over and over, everything overlapped, transforming his thoughts into frothy rapids.

Something had to give. Decker sighed and got up. He went out into the hall. His hand raised to knock on Fionna and Cake's door, but he hesitated. They had both been so nice to him so far, but being this much of a burden might make them doubt their hospitality.

Lowering his hand, Decker made his way down and out of the Treefort. Somewhere deep inside made him think a jog might help. And that's what he did. It started out as a quick jog, but when he didn't get winded in the slightest after a while, it made him wonder. What was he, and just what could he do now?

Decker sped up a bit. He went further for a while and still wasn't even panting. That's when he decided to break out in a sprint. He sped up and sped up until he felt the wind in his face stronger than when he was on Cake's back. And then it was stronger still.

He looked behind him. The Treefort was nowhere in sight. The only thing he saw in the night was the kicked up dust trailing behind him. Just from me running? he wondered. He wondered more.

What was his limit? How fast, how long, and where could he go using this? This was exciting. Some small part of him craved more. An idea struck him.

If his legs were so strong, then how high could he jump?

With all his might, he leapt into the air. The ground cracked beneath him and he was soaring. He had jumped nearly thirty feet in the air! Even when he came back down, there was no pain in impacting the ground. In fact, he hit the ground running once more.

Decker kept running. Running and running, far longer than he intended, until the grass thinned. Mountains came into view, as did the snow. It was then he realized that it was freezing out! He finally slowed to a stop. The snow had just started to accumulate and he could only see it thickening in the distance.

Where did this lead? Decker wanted something else now. His curiosity peaked and his sleepiness long faded. But something new bothered him now. The boy shivered.

Decker didn't know how cold it was, he only knew it was enough to snow. Nevertheless, it felt like needles all over, hot needles. However cold it was, it wasn't enough to dissuade him from his quest for the unknown. He pressed forward. Forward he trudged until the snow was knee high.

With a huff, he propelled himself forward with a jump, and air-suspended snow sparkled in the starlight. From there, he began jumping forward to gain distance faster than walking or running. It was chilling how still the air was, though. The pun made him chuckle a bit. There was no blizzard for how much snow was on the ground, and the mountains, too, were covered in snow.

Was this a mere dip in the weather? Maybe there was a giant magic penguin with the power of ice and snow, and it was, perhaps, asleep for the night. Another chuckle against the dead air. Even though the needles prickled more intensely now, Decker continued to press himself, wishing only for a thick coat. Something came up, in the center of all the mountains.

The tallest one of the bunch had a face on it. There was light coming from inside it, too. What was inside? I'm gonna find out! Decker grinned lopsidedly. For a moment, he felt like this might not be so bad after all.

That is, until he actually got to the gaping maw of the mountain and saw a woman. This normally wouldn't be a problem because the woman, despite her baby blue complexion, was good looking by Decker's standards. It was the pissed off purple cloud with a terrible pornstache in a cage that threw him for a loop. No, cloud wasn't the right word. It was solid, but... lumpy, in a way.

To top it all off, instead of using his legs and hightailing it out of there, he stood there. Decker was just like a deer in the headlights, even when the woman turned to glare at him. She stared into his soul, and boy was that awkward. She had eyes like a stormy day. He could see where the iris was supposed to be, but it was fogged over in a white-grey haze. "I thought I sensed a disturbance in my snow," she spoke, "Who dares to intrude upon my steamy date!"

"Lumpin' help me!"

"Silence, my prince!"

"H-Huh...?" Decker was beyond confused, "I'm sorry, I got lost, and I don't think this is any of my business. I'm just gonna-"

The lump creature called out, "Aw, heck naw, you're not gonna lumpin' leave me here, you wad! Help me!"

"I said silence!" the woman screeched, and shot a blue bolt of energy from her hand.

The prince had been frozen solid, a terrified look on his face. Decker's eyes widened, "What the hell are you?"

What the hell was any of this? This world was bizarre in every sense, from its color scheme to its denizens. The pins and needles were intensifying as well. It was beginning to worry him. "I'm queen of the ice and snow, thank you very much. You were interrupting an important date," she placed a hand on her jutted-out hip, "What do you want?"

Who puts their date in a cage? Is she for real? Decker put his hands up in mock surrender, "I really am lost, I swear. I went for a jog and ended up here."

She raised a long, delicate eyebrow, "You were jogging? And you just so happened to wander into the top of a mountain?"

"I'm... really fast?" he smiled nervously.

"Mm-hmm," she paused, "Zap."

With that, Decker was now frozen from his neck to his feet-

P A I N!

It exploded. It came from everywhere. It permeated everything, every part of him. He could feel it like fire and brimstone, down to his nails! Decker let out a screech of pain.

The blue lady was confused. Her ice wasn't that cold, she made sure it was the perfect temperature to keep people alive and healthy, but trapped. Something deep inside whispered in her ear how wrong this was, how unusual the whole thing felt. The tiara's whispers. Yet, another part of her was morbidly curious.

Another zap and Decker flopped to the ground, panting. Slowly, he began to get to his hands and knees. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Lady," he huffed, "If you could not do that again-"

Alas and alack, she zapped him right back.

Decker's strangled screeches and whimpers were met with the stroking of the madwoman's blue chin. "Now, why were you up here, again?" she asked, smugness oozing from her shiny smirk.

No answer. She hadn't noticed the noises had stopped. Huh. He passed out, she mused. This was a pickle, indeed. She needed answers, but that required the boy to be restrained.

If he passed out every time she froze him for more than a minute or two, it'd take forever for this particular tea to spill. On the other hand, she had no idea what he was capable of, but he climbed an entire mountain without breaking a sweat. He either had supernatural prowess or a magical stretching cat on his side, and she was willing to bet there was only one of Cake. There was one option. The woman un-zapped Decker.

She'll need to wait until he wakes up.

Fionna awoke suddenly. She checked her clock. It read 5:50 am. She groaned because she was wide awake. A glance spared in the direction of Cake's drawer found her still out like a light.

The human got out of bed and stepped out into the hall. All the way down to narrow way, down the ladder, and into the kitchen. Fionna grabbed some kind of prepackaged toaster pastry from the pantry and dug in as she looked about. It was still dark out, but the sky was beginning to lighten up. Her thoughts turned to Decker.

Yesterday's events still weighed heavy on her heart. Maybe it was her hero instincts, but she felt partially responsible for his current state. It was times like this that Fionna wished she had Cake's uncanny ability to detach from stuff. Speaking of Decker, she wanted to check on him. Perhaps he couldn't sleep either.

Fionna approached the door, steeled herself, and opened the door as meticulously and as quietly as she could. But when she peeked in, he was gone. In moments, she was waking her sister. "Cake, get up!" she hissed, "Decker's gone."

After a few minutes of Cake being ornery, Fionna took the entire drawer from the dresser and dumped both it and Cake on the floor. The cat yowled and grew to her normal size, "Okay, okay. Decker missing. What're we gonna do about it?"

"Stretch around. Look for tracks," Fionna put her hands on her hips, "He couldn't have gotten far."

Fionna grabbed her backpack, hat, and followed Cake out the door. She hopped on the cat's back. Cake rounded the parameter of the Treefort. Nothing. She stretched out further and circled again.

"I'm not seein' anything, sweetie."

"Keep looking. Please."

"Maybe he just wants to be alone."

"I feel responsible for him. If something happened to him, I'd never forgive myself."

So Cake stretched herself even further out, circling once more. Finally, something. "Look, there," Cake said, "Craters. Think that stuff Gumball gave him made him do that?"

"Maybe," Fionna murmured, "But those lead to... Cake, we gotta follow them. Decker or not, look. They lead in the direction of the Ice Kingdom. Whoever they are, we should probably steer them clear of Ice Queen."

Cake groaned, but continued onward regardless. In her heart, Fionna hoped that these tracks were Decker's, but she relinquished herself to her heroic instinct. They were on an adventure at far-too-early in the morning.

"Wake up," a voice coaxed, "Wake up, you little shit."

"Wake up!" a stinging slapped bit Decker's face.

Stars decorated his field of vision. The neon blobs slowly took shape. The blue woman stood in front of him, arms crossed. The pain from before had faded significantly, but it was concentrated now. It was at his wrists and ankles.

Must be shackles now, he thought. A glance down at his feet confirmed his fears. Decker had been chained to the wall. The room he was in was an absolute mess as well. Clothes were strewn about the floor, thrown anywhere but the hamper in the corner near a doorway.

A bathroom, if the mirror he could see through the sliver of an opening was to be believed. There was a bed as well, also a mess. The fact that this woman took him to her room made him warier. She had this intense look on her face. Like she was thinking hard, yet not entirely present in the moment.

Decker locked eyes with her. Her milky eyes glared at him. They flickered to the wall next to him, but only for a moment. "What?" he asked.

"You're interesting," she said, "And you're making my witch eyes go haywire. I'm practically seeing double when I look at you."

"Witch eyes? What the hell? Who are you?"

"I'm the Queen of the Ice Kingdom," she proclaimed, "I rule over all things ice and snow!"

Decker reeled back in confusion. She just said that earlier. Did that mean she didn't have a name? "But," she continued, giving him a heavy-lidded once-over, "All of my friends call me Ice Queen."

Discomfort shivered down his spine. The way she eyed him was unnerving, and being chained up didn't ease him at all. "Okay," he gulped, "So, why'd you have to chain me up... Ice Queen?"

A predatory grin parted her azure lips, revealing her pearly whites. Ice Queen sauntered closer, "That depends. What's your name?"

"I'm," he paused, hesitantly, "I'm Decker."

"Decker," she toyed with the name on her lips, "Tell me, Decker, are you a prince of any land?"

What? "What?" he squeaked, "I-I don't know. No?"

Ice Queen's smile faltered, "How can you not know? It isn't a vague question. Are you a prince or aren't you?"

Decker's heart was in his ears. Ice Queen could kill him if she wanted and he wasn't in a position to fight. He wasn't even sure if he knew how to fight. The truth was probably best here. "I have amnesia," he blurted, "I don't know because I lost all my memories. The only thing I know is my name."

"So you're not a prince," she drawled.

This was going from bad to worse. Ice Queen sounded very unhappy. This chick was real hung up on the whole prince thing. By the sounds of it, she would be far happier if he were a prince. If I wanna make it outa this, maybe I need to play that to my advantage.

Decker went for it, "I could be one though. I don't have any memories, but that just means that I could be a... prince in need of assistance...?"

Despite the shaky performance, the blue woman ate it all up. Her expression lit up in carnivorous delight. "Well, well, well," a finger made its way to Decker's chest, "Perhaps I can help you remember a few things, my prince."

Shit, he didn't like the sound of that. "Maybe I'd like that," Decker said, "If you unchain me."

Ice Queen let out a quick cackle, "You know I can't do that. I can't have you running away, Decker."

"Please? These things really hurt," Decker put on his most innocent face, "And we both know I can't outrun your incredible ice powers."

He was laying it on thick, yeah, but if it got him out of these shackles made of pain, it'd be worth it. Ice Queen dragged her finger down his chest and moved closer, "Do you really think my powers are incredible?"

The tone was different now. More genuine. Even her predatory look was gone, replaced a more prodding look of cautious curiosity. "Uh, well, yeah?" a nervous chuckle, "I've never really seen anything like that before."

Ice Queens face darkened into a pale indigo. She turned away quickly. Decker dropped to his feet as the shackles turned to snow.

But, then the door to the hall disappeared.

I'm so sorry for the wait, but here we are at the end of Chapter 2. I'll start on 3 soon. Geez, writer's block is a bitch.