Part One of the Season Title: "The Danger, the Duo, and the Dance in the Dark"

(A Note from the Author: So it begins!)

With the appearance of an unknown figure and a mysterious spiral horn protruding from a Moon stone, a terrible veil of impending death settles over the land of Aaa, even if the only people who know it are its heroes and their friends. Has the wish of the nuclear bombs from the war a thousand years past finally returned to haunt the world they were made to destroy?

Before the Great Mushroom War, mankind had made it to the Moon thanks to the invention of powerful rockets that reached such high speeds that they could break out of the Earth's gravitational pull and land on the Moon, then come back again. After humanity destroyed itself in the War, the land of Aaa was built up from its remains and no one since had been able to make it to space. Certainly, there were a few attempts (including one foiled by Cake and her strange Cosmic Owl dream) but the furthest anyone got was high into the atmosphere for skydiving.

However, a startling piece of information had come to the Candy Kingdom by way of a very shady figure that had suddenly appeared in the palace. He hadn't said a word when he attacked, but the item he left in Prince Gumball's hands after striking him was enough to make the candy royal panic when he awoke from a mysterious blackout and send a midnight messenger to the treehouse in the grasslands. Fionna and Cake were woken from a dead sleep by a frantic knocking at the door. With groans of annoyance and sluggish trudging, the two made their way down and opened up the door to see Peppermint Maid.

Fionna yawned hugely, "What's up, Pep Maid?"

"The Prince requires your presence at the palace!" She announced.

"It's like… midnight."

"Come quickly!" She insisted, hurrying back to Lord Monochromicorn who awaited them, having been sent to pick them up.

Fionna sighed and she dressed as quickly as her tired body would let her. Both she and Cake ended up falling asleep on Lord Monochromicorn's back on their way. When they arrived and awoke, they were surprised to see Marshall Lee, Flint, Dr. Prince, and a few other Princes there, all surrounding Prince Gumball. Dr. Prince was seeing to what seemed to be a blackened wound on Prince Gumball's arm. Fionna bolted toward the candy royal, pushing past Turtle Prince to kneel by Gumball.

"What happened?" She asked quickly.

"A cloaked figure came… he attacked me, and left that behind." He motioned with his unhurt hand to a grey stone laying on the ground that no one would go anywhere near. The stone seemed almost to glow, reflecting the moonlight in a similar color to the Moon itself. From it protruded a spiraled and ridged object that looked like some kind of horn.

"… What is it?" Fionna stepped over to it

"Fionna, don't-!" Gumball lunged at her in panic, but he was too slow.

She touched the horn and suddenly, Fionna found herself in a black world, her breath ghosting in front of her. She was freezing, and her eyes grew wide and fearful as she saw a figure in the distance. It was wrapped in a ragged robe and as it turned to face her, she was met with a skull face and pale shredded skin with empty eye sockets, but in those black sockets were glowing green eyes. It had one spiraled horn, the other seemed broken, and on the top of its head lay a rusty crown. It exhaled in a growl and Fionna suddenly awoke in a soft bed with morning light filtering in through a window. Marshall Lee was asleep near her, hovering above a chair in an unlit corner. Flint was fast asleep on a fireproof blanket on the floor, and Gumball was pacing at the foot of her bed. Cake was curled into her side about the size of a normal housecat.

Fionna sat up slowly, feeling the immense chill still flowing through her body. "Gumball?" She asked softly as the candy prince's eyes turned to her. He sat down at her side, and she could see his wounded arm was wrapped up. "What happened…? How long was I out?"

"You touched the horn in the stone the night before last. We've all been watching over you in turns for more than twenty-four hours. Flint and Marshall Lee only just finally fell asleep for the first time as the sun rose." He laid a hand on her forehead, and though usually Fionna had found Gumball was much cooler than she, his skin felt pleasantly warm against hers. "You're still freezing… you collapsed and started convulsing. Dr. Prince thinks it was a seizure brought on by magic… the same thing happened to one of my guards when he touched it. You recovered much faster, though. He's still out."

"What was that thing?" Fionna murmured as Gumball stood to get her the glass of water from a table just out of her reach.

"It's the broken horn of the Lich Queen, a powerful, malevolent entity that came into existence when the last great bomb was dropped in the War a thousand years ago. She was born of the bomb's purpose: to destroy life. She's been dormant for some time now, after being laid low by Bella."

"Bella? You mean, THE Bella? The greatest hero in Aaa?!" Fionna was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Yes. She broke one of the Lich's horns in their last encounter many years ago, but the Lich kept said horn even as she was imprisoned…"

"So… let's just get rid of the horn."

"Fionna, you don't understand," Gumball turned to her with the most grave and pained expression she'd ever seen from him. "Her horn fell to the earth from the sky. The stone around it is Moon rock. She escaped and got to the Moon. We never even knew she was gone, but this is a sign, most definitely sent on purpose. She's planning something, and the Moon is at the center of her scheme."

"What can she possibly do with the Moon?" Flint's voice came from where he lay. He'd been listening the whole time. "From what I understand about space, the Moon orbits the Earth, and even if it's smaller, it's still so huge that even an immortal sorcerer can't remove it from orbit. Nothing can."

"But what if that's not what she's trying to do?" Gumball faced the Flame Prince.

"What could she possibly do with a lifeless Moon?"

"I don't know…" Gumball sighed. "I must research the Moon's effects on the Earth. Until then, we need to remain vigilant for any signs of the Lich Queen."

"Will you guys shut up?" Marshall Lee grumbled, causing them all to turn to look at him. "I know this is a whole 'the fate of all life on earth' deal, but I need some sleep."

"We'll just leave you then," Gumball growled, clearly not appreciating Marshall Lee's sarcasm and laid-back attitude at the moment. Normally he could take a joke with a huff of indignation, but he was too strung-out to think it was any kind of funny. As Fionna and Flint rose, Cake in Fionna's arms, Marshall Lee opened an eye to look at the Prince with some level of concern.

"You know I'm just kidding around, right, PG?"

Gumball sighed and rubbed his brow. "I know…" Marshall watched him go, and Fionna caught a split second of worry on the Vampire King's face.

Gumball spent all that day, until nightfall, studying the Moon and its connection with the Earth. In the end, all he could really come up with were ancient reports of humans making it to the Moon via rocket, and the fact that the world's tides were directly influenced by the Sun and Moon. Gumball dismissed this information quickly during his research, simply setting the notes aside. By the time Marshall Lee joined them, Gumball was lost and no closer to an answer. If anything, he was further away.

"So what'd you find out?" Marshall Lee asked him as he, Flint, Gumball, Fionna, and Cake settled on the path in the palace garden, each with some manner of drink except for Flint, who had settled for a snack of coal.

"Nothing… nothing at all…" Gumball sighed. "The Moon is simply a reflective celestial body that orbits the Earth and balances the tides between itself and the sun. I know the Moon is an important entity in magic, but really the only power from it is the moonlight, and the Lich Queen is certainly much more powerful than what moonlight can ever supply."

"What about werewolves and stuff?" Fionna offered.

"No, if anything, creatures of the night are Marshall Lee's territory and the Lich wouldn't want an army of living things, no matter how deadly."

"Zombies? Like my cat?" Marshall offered.

"Possibly, but they have no connection to the Moon except that they can only rise when the sun goes down."

"True…" Marshall Lee sighed.

"Prince Gumball?" Flint asked, and when the candy prince met his eyes, he inquired: "How do the sun and Moon affect the tides?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity."

"Well, apparently the tides rise and fall based on the magnetic pull of the sun and Moon. High tide occurs roughly right below the moon and on the opposite side of the world from it, and low tide occurs at the midpoint in between those two places. That is, very roughly speaking."

"So if the moon is directly overhead, it's causing the water to rise?"

"Yes."

"… What happens if the moon gets too close? Surely the pull is stronger if it's closer."

"Sometimes it can cause a massive destructive wave called a tsunami. The Moon does get closer and further away as the earth tilts on its axis while it orbits the sun during the course of a year, and also because the moon's orbit isn't perfectly circular-"

"Gumball…" Marshall Lee murmured but the prince didn't hear him. Gumball continued on about the variance of the distance between Moon, sun, and earth, while Marshall Lee met Flint's terrified gaze and Fionna's outright shocked and horrified look of realization.

"- and sometimes it's not possible to tell how far away it is because of the new moon, caused by the dark side being-"

"Gumball!" Marshall growled, making the prince pause.

"What? I'm explaining-"

"Tides, dude!" Fionna cried.

"The Lich is going to drown the planet!" Flint explained quickly, and Gumball's pupils shrunk to dots.

"Oh… my goodness…"

"But that wouldn't get rid of all life… what about people living on boats and all the fish and stuff? I mean, I've seen water villages and underwater cities," Marshall Lee offered, knowing they could survive such an apocalypse.

"But it's the Lich. Surely she knows that," Gumball insisted.

"What would happen if there was no moon?" Fionna asked quietly.

"… The ocean would calm. Currents would practically cease, and the sea would become… stagnant, for the most part. Creatures known and unknown would die… but… that's not even the worst of it. You see, while I was reading, the books mentioned that the moon is responsible for the Earth's perfect placement from the sun. With it, we orbit the sun in a particular belt-"

"The circumstellar habitable zone," Flint nodded, surprising all of his friends. "Scientists used to call it the 'Goldilocks Zone'. It's the perfect distance from the sun to support life without being too cold like Mars and beyond, or too hot like Venus and a planet that once existed called Mercury before the sun expanded and destroyed it. It's also what makes it possible for the planet to have gaseous, liquid, or solid water rather than only gases or ice, thus allowing it to support life."

"How do you know all this?" Gumball questioned.

"You have a lot of time to learn in three years of captivity, and it's handy that the Fire Kingdom has fire-proof books."

"Indeed. So, you must know what happens without the Moon."

"I do. The orbit of the planet would be thrown off without the counterweight, and the orbit would expand unevenly. Seasons would be completely unpredictable, the seas would freeze over being too far from the sun's heat. So many asteroids that we normally wouldn't come into contact with would hit and destroy the surface, and eventually, everything would simply be destroyed and frozen. Even the most powerful of magical beings would be killed if they didn't flee to other worlds, and it's quite possible that, with the destruction of the world, connected realms could be badly damaged as well, like the Nightosphere, Lumpy Space, and so on. All of the kingdoms in Aaa would cease to exist, and even the Ice Queen wouldn't be able to survive."

"Holy Glob…" Fionna whispered. The whole group was silent for several minutes, considering all they'd learned. Fionna looked between them all and bolted to her feet. "The Lich is gonna go mad-bonkers on the Moon and we're just sitting here! Let's go kick some bony butt!"

"How?" Gumball asked simply, and Fionna fell silent. How could they ever reach the Moon? The only beings powerful enough to send them there with proper protection were evil or downright insane.

"Mom," Marshall Lee suddenly spoke, and they all stared at him as if he were insane. "Mom can get us there. She might not be powerful enough herself, but she's got friends and a lot of powerful people who owe her favors. We can ask her, I know she's gotta say yes if we tell her that the Nightosphere is threatened too and that the Lich is gonna kill everything. She might be evil, but she knows that without souls from Aaa, she's good as powerless."

"I'll leave that to you all," Gumball rose to his feet, and held up a hand before Marshall Lee could say anything. "Yes, I'm scared of her. But that's not why I'm staying. I have to warn the people and the other kingdoms. I hope perhaps our plight will call forth allies who can fight the Lich with us… And I will try to contact Bella. She still carries weapons that can affect the Lich Queen, and we will need her guidance as she has triumphed before."

Even though Fionna was just about vibrating with excitement to meet Bella, she forced herself to calm down and focus. They had to go to the Empress of the Nightosphere. But she secretly worried for Marshall Lee, who was facing the woman he loved and hated yet again, but this time he needed her help. Fionna could only wonder what Helen Abadeer would think of that, and whether or not Marshall Lee would be able to even swallow his pride and ask.

"C'mon, Fi," Marshall Lee shook her from her thoughts. She took up her place at Flint's side and they hurried toward the treehouse where they'd create and enter a portal to the Nightosphere. Flint and Fionna were a bit behind Marshall when Flint looked down at the girl who'd captured his heart.

"Fionna… whatever happens from here… I swear I'll protect you from the Lich Queen."

"Flint…" Fionna looked up at him worriedly. "Just… don't try to be a hero for me, okay? Don't do anything stupid."

"You're everyone's hero," Flint smiled softly. "It's time someone was a hero for you."

You KNOW I wasn't gonna forget the Lich, and I bet you figured out by now that this series isn't gonna be all cuddles and snuggles with some swords thrown in here and there. I'm starting to really develop the characters as I want them to be. Gumball, the mild-mannered, intelligent, and very responsible prince. Flint, the scholarly, nature-loving braveheart with a complex about his destructive powers. Marshall Lee, the emotion-bottling, golden-hearted, and very conflicted Vampire King. Fionna the (obviously) adventurous and freely-loving human. Cake, I'm not so concerned about fleshing out because we all know she's just a sassy kitty who loves everyone but is WAY overprotective when it comes to Fionna's life outside of battle and adventure.

The Lich Queen is going to be fun for me, because I gotta say, even though the Lich King terrifies the hell out of me and I hate everything he stands for (because literally, he came from the wish of death on all living things), he's probably one of the best super-villains ever created. He's disturbing and unreconcilably (I'm making that a word) evil unlike any other villain in Adventure Time, who all seem to have some redeeming qualities or just plain laughable stupidity. The Lich King, as pitched originally by the AT crew, is NOT funny, and that makes him all the more terrifying, because he's never stupid or goofy. He's always serious, and he has genuine explosions of anger when his plans are thwarted rather than the funny 'run-around-into-walls-screaming-and-crying' way that other villains deal with defeat. And the fact that the Lich speaks in short sentences and uses such simple but terrifying phrases ('Are you... cold, Finn...?') makes him even more mysterious and dark. But above all, it's the fact that the Lich King doesn't pay any attention to anything but his goal to kill everything (even Hunson Abadeer and Flame King do things other than steal souls and make war).

The Lich Queen will be little different, but I think I'll throw a little bit of feminine charm with her. We all know that female villains have the added bonus of being able to charm men and perhaps motherly-sweet talk younger characters into submission. That, and I love the style of a lot of female villains who simply act like they're fully in control and know exactly what they want, which tends to make other characters submit out of sheer intimidation. Nothing's more intimidating than a really driven and focused woman when it comes to work or battle.

P.S. Note that this season is actually titled 'The Danger, the Duo, and the Dance in the Dark'. Those three titles will appear as chapters for the main storyline, and 'The Dance in the Dark' will either be the last or nearly-last chapter of this season. Pay attention to these titles, because I think you'll be surprised as to what 'The Duo' and 'The Dance in the Dark' are actually alluding to. (Hint: It's not Fionna and Cake, and it sure as hell ain't a ballroom dance).

P.S.S. I did a lot of research to make this chapter as scientifically accurate to the actual effects of the Moon on the Earth (seriously, if the Moon was obliterated into tiny pieces, the stuff I wrote could actually happen, plus Earth would have a ring like Saturn and rocks would rain inward from it constantly). However, I also did my best to make it equally accurate to the Adventure Time Earth, which is a thousand-ish years in the future from our own world and has seen the expansion of the Sun which destroyed Mercury, making the Earth the second planet from the Sun. This chapter was originally going to be named 'Mission to the Moon', but I realized if I was introducing the Lich and the first of her schemes to destroy all life on Earth, it fell into the Season Title and thus became 'The Danger'. Sexy, right?

See you guys soon with the next chapter! I'm feelin' inspired by my new bass guitar and Marshall Lee plushie. Let me know what you think in the reviews, I LOVE hearing from you guys!

-Taiylor Wallace