After gaining a companion when Marshall Lee catches up to the trapped duo, the adventurers find themselves facing the last set of three doors in the dungeon. Fionna is faced with something that makes even her courage wane, and Marshall Lee faces his future at the hands of his mother. Both are forced to do and say things they'd never thought they could ever do.

CLANG! SHWIIIIIING!

Fionna did everything she could to destroy the form in front of her, knowing it was just another fake doppelganger. It was Flame Prince and though he looked real and normal, her sword clashed off of him like he was made of stone. He watched her as if curious. "What are you doing, Miss Fionna?"

At first she'd seen a line of statues when she'd walked in, and groaned because she knew it was a puzzle. Before her had stood stone figures of Prince Gumball, Lumpy Space Prince, Flame Prince, Cake, some boy that looked oddly similar to her and a dog that reminded her of Cake, Marshall Lee, and a girl who sort of looked like him but with really long black hair. She ignored the three she didn't know and found nothing odd about Cake's statue. She found herself drawn to the statue of Flame Prince since he was still the biggest enigma of the three young men left. She walked up and touched his arm, and the other statues had crumbled while he gained his color. After a long time circling him and trying to figure out what to do, she'd resorted to what she was doing now.

Clang! Clang! Clangclangclangclangclang! She literally beat on the fake Flame Prince until her arms hurt from the shock. Her new sword was still completely unharmed, and so was the doppelganger.

"Are you… trying to kill me, Miss Fionna?" He asked as if saddened.

"No! I'm just… you're not real! And I gotta solve this puzzle! Cake and Marshall are probably laughing at me in the next room!"

"I'm quite real. But what I really want to know is why you chose me."

"Chose you?" Fionna paused to look at him.

"Yes. Your best friends, strangers, and even your sister were in this line, yet you chose me and you've only met me once."

"I didn't choose you, I was just really curious, okay!" Fionna blushed. "I've only seen you once and I wanted a better look!"

"I see."

"So… what do I do, dude?"

"Your challenge is one of bravery-"

"Alright! I'm kick-butt brave!"

"Bravery of the heart."

"Like… facing impossible odds brave? 'Cause I do that all the time!"

"No. You need no blade. What you must do is summon your courage and speak what your heart tells you about the person you chose. So, what does your heart say about me?"

Fionna froze then. She couldn't say what she felt! Like how she thought he was downright hot (no pun intended) and how she wanted to go and kick Flame Queen's butt so he could go home to his Fire Lion Pride and his Lion-Mom if she was still alive. She didn't know why she felt so strongly, maybe because they shared technically-orphan status, or maybe because he seemed to be so good while everyone called him evil just because he was made of fire. Even Gumball refused to see the good in him. If there was one thing Fionna always wanted to do, it was to see the good in the people around her. It was why she was friends with Marshall Lee who still insisted he was evil, and why she supported Flame Prince because he wanted to be left alone while the world insisted he was evil.

"Miss Fionna?" He asked softly, shaking her from her thoughts. She looked up at him and her face grew even redder.

"I… I can't."

"You must, or you can't leave."

"But we just met! What can I possibly say?"

"Whatever you feel. First impressions are lasting, after all."

"Well…" Fionna stared down at her shoes. "I… I thought you were kinda cute…"

This had the doppelganger blushing, as if he were the real Flame Prince. "… Really?"

"Yeah… And… I really wanted to help you because I felt so bad for you… I know what it's like, not to have real parents and to lose the people you call your parents. When you said you were sure your mom killed that Fire Lioness you loved so much, I… I got really sad. My mom's gone too, and my dad. Well… Cake's mom and dad."

"Why don't you tell these things to the real me…? I'm sure I'd appreciate it," the doppelganger suggested.

"I can't actually tell you! I already look like a total wad!"

"No. You look lovely, and you have a pure heart. I'm sure the real Flame Prince could use a real friend right now. You may pass, dear Miss Fionna." He stepped aside then, and behind him opened up a large archway. Fionna made her way past, but then paused to look back at him. He gave her a smile, and strode forward to place a gentle kiss on her cheek that had her blush growing even more pronounced. "Well done." He then disappeared, and she made her way out to see a very frazzled, panting Cake laying on the floor, waiting for her. If she weren't so lost in her own thoughts, Fionna would've remembered to be worried.

"Fi?" She heard after a long silence. She looked up to see that Cake had recovered and was standing before her with a worried expression.

"What?" Fionna asked softly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just… that challenge kinda messed with my head. Where's Marshall Lee?"

"He's still in there."

"Weird… well, what was your challenge?"

"Fear. A whole lotta fear. Marshall Lee chasin' me, a troll tryin' to chop off my tail, you after you lose a video game… I finally got out after I faced them."

"I wonder what Marshall's is..."

Tears coursed down his pale face as he stared at the blood on his hands and the body of not only his future self in a pool of black blood, but also his mother- his hated, beloved mother- laying before him. That was the solution… to kill the woman that would make him the uncaring, completely evil, heartless beast that would rule the Nightosphere. The door opened up before him as the blood and bodies faded away, but the last to fade was that of Fionna, making him wonder if he would really kill his mother to save his friends…

"Marshall Lee?" Fionna's voice called from the doorway. He quickly rose and wiped away his tears before she could see, and he came out quietly. "Marshall? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine, why?" He put on his usual casual mask of indifference.

"What was your challenge?"

"Oh, just my mom being a total jerk, nothing new." But it hurt to remember the things she'd said in that chamber. You're an Abadeer and the Vampire King. You were born to kill everyone and be the most evil creature that ever existed. Now just give in, and be Mommy's little monster.

Never, he growled mentally. He might've been bad, but never that bad.

"Marshall?" Fionna's voice came again and he realized she'd been talking for several minutes. "Hey, are you listening?"

"Do I ever?" He still put up his front of carelessness.

Fionna huffed angrily and handed him a sword he hadn't even noticed, made with a bronze blade and a green jeweled pommel. "You left this in your challenge room. Now come on."

"Whatever," he took the blade and they all pushed their way through a final door. They came to a domed room not unlike the room with nine doors, but this only had the one door they'd come from. In the center was a circular plinth with three slits. Marshall Lee led the way, thrusting his blade into one of the three openings, and Cake and Fionna followed. The three swords began to glow and their pommels shot out beams of red, blue, and green light up to the ceiling where a clear crystal chandelier hung. The light was refracted through the crystals, throwing rainbows all across the room until, from the center, fell a book which landed with the title face-up.

"The Flute of the Wind… a flute?" Fionna looked up just in time to see a long wooden flute fall from the chandelier, and she reached out to catch it. It felt smooth and cool, and just right in her hands.

"Aw come on!" Marshall Lee threw his hands up in the air. "A flute? Man, I can't play a globbin' flute!"

"Why not?"

"It's for geeks, that's why!"

"Hey, boy, my Mama played a flute, so you better not be dissin' her!" Cake snarled, and Fionna was on her side.

"She taught me when I was little! Does that make me a geek?!" Fionna growled and Marshall Lee quickly put his hands up defensively.

"Hey, I didn't say your mom was a geek, I just-"

"Yeah you did! And me too!" Fionna turned away with a pronounced "Hmph!" and headed for the new door that had appeared, leading to a stairway. Cake took the book with her with a similar huff and followed. Marshall Lee just sighed, following after a moment. What a waste of time… and emotional energy.

When they arrived back at the treehouse after Marshall Lee had sufficiently apologized, Fionna began studying the book, finding it was actually full of sheet music for wind spells. She summoned a breeze that blew through the living room without the windows being open, before she simply started playing tunes she remembered from her childhood. Marshall Lee looked on, slowly finding that he was actually quite impressed. She was good for not having played in years.

"Hey," Marshall spoke up when she finished a song.

"Hey what?" Fionna looked up at him as he lounged across from her.

"When're we gonna jam? Since you've got an instrument and all."

"I thought you said flutes were for geeks," she returned teasingly.

"They are," he smirked, "but since you can't get away from your geekery, you might as well embrace it."

"How about tomorrow night?"

"It's a date."

Fionna blushed, and Cake immediately kicked the vampire out, berating him until he disappeared from sight. Marshall Lee just chuckled to himself. Maybe this day wasn't such a waste of time after all.

I had always noticed that Farmworld Finn played a flute, so I figured, what better instrument for Fionna? And, what better challenges to kick off a little bit of Fionna/Flame Prince romance and explore Marshall Lee's relationship with not only what his mother wants him to be, but what he'll do in order to avoid that fate. Haha! Let me know what you guys think!

-Taiylor Wallace