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

(A Note from the Author: Enter the Lich and the meeting of Ooo and Aaa!)

After seemingly realizing the Lich Queen's plan to destroy the Moon, resulting in the end of life on Earth, Fionna and her friends hurry to seek the council of Helen Abadeer, and are ultimately directed to Fionna's most beloved hero and role model. It seems time has not only aged Bella, but also made the Lich Queen far more clever.

"Mrs. Abadeer?" Helen Abadeer heard from behind as she absently tended to a vase of blood-red flowers before her on her dining room table. Almost no one outside the Abadeer family knew where their family home was, so Helen was shocked when she turned to see her son's blonde friend and several others standing before her.

"How did you find this place?" Helen's eyes narrowed. "Where is Marshall Lee?"

"He's coming right behind us," Fionna explained. Marshall had asked them to go ahead so he had a moment to prepare to meet his mother for the first time since she'd heard his song recorded on Fionna's Walkman. "He led us here. We need your help."

"And what makes you think I'd help you?" Helen asked more out of curiosity than anything else.

"… We'll explain once you talk to Marshall." Fionna made quick introductions between Helen and the others in attendance, Flint and Cake.

"Alright, then." Helen made her way past the group, giving Flint an odd look of interest as she went. A fire-being. Interesting. "Marshall?" She called gently as she stepped out onto the red rock that made up most of the Nightosphere. She saw her son there with his guitar on his back, hands shoved in his pockets, silently preparing to see her. When he finally looked up, Helen smiled. "Hello, sweetheart," she stepped up to kiss his forehead, making him blush slightly in embarrassment as his friends looked on. "What do you need, honey?"

"Mom… it's the Lich Queen."

Helen felt her entire body tighten up at that name. She knew who the Lich was- the horrid creature had been a thorn in her side for some time after the War, but Helen had never considered her much more than an annoyance, certainly no threat. "What about her?"

"She's gonna destroy the Moon and the Earth with it."

"… She is, is she? Do you have proof?" Helen growled. She didn't need to be reminded that Earth was her source of souls, but more importantly, Aaa was her son's favorite place across any realm. Little as he thought she paid attention, she did know that he loved Aaa and his dearest friends lived there.

"Cake?" Marshall looked to the cat who had brought a box with the Lich's horn and the moonstone inside. She opened it up to show Helen, and the Empress quickly looked away from it at one glance.

"I see…"

"Yeah. So… we need help. Like, now."

"I don't think I can reach her if she's already on the Moon, honey," Helen sighed.

"But…?"

"But I do know that someone your friends know has the Enchiridion."

"… What's that old book going to do for us?" Fionna asked with a raised eyebrow. "I get that it's the manual of heroes, but… it was kinda useless after a while."

"The Enchiridion shelters a secret portal that leads outside the universe to a convergence of the multiverse. That is, if you know how to get there.

"Where is the book, Fionna?" Flint asked the heroine beside him.

"I… Cake and I gave it to Bella."

"Perfect! It's safe and in the right hands. We can go back and ask her for it!" Flint smiled. "We'll beat the Lich yet!"

"Hold on," Helen raised a hand. "I warn you all, only because you're Marshall's friends, the Lich is the greatest master of tricks that has ever existed. She will do anything to thwart you. She has no empathy, and no known weakness. It's been a long time since Bella vanquished her the first time, and though I'm sure Bella could do it again, it will be much harder now that the Lich has had so long to plan and learn from the shadows… Be very careful."

"Thanks, Mrs. A," Fionna nodded and Helen opened up a new portal for them Marshall Lee let the others go first, making sure they weren't looking when he embraced his mother tightly, but Fionna glanced back and smiled secretly at the sight. They were headed back for the candy palace when suddenly the very heroine they were off to meet blocked their path.

Bella had once been a powerful young warrior, the finest in Aaa, known for her flowing red hair and her cosmic gauntlet. Her fame had truly been solidified when she'd vanquished the Lich Queen, but she'd disappeared for a long time to escape her fame. Fionna had met her before, but the bunny-eared blonde was practically vibrating with excitement to see her. "Bella!" Fionna cried happily, bouncing up and down with Cake. "We were on our way to see you!"

"Hello, Fionna, Cake," the tall woman spoke calmly, then she nodded to Flint and Marshall Lee. "Prince Gumball called for me, he said the Lich Queen has come back."

"Yeah, look! We have proof!" Fionna took the box from Cake and opened it up to show Bella. She squeaked in surprise when Bella suddenly took the horn from the box. "No, don't!"

But Bella examined it easily, looking entirely unaffected. Fionna stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. Bella glanced back down at her and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Are you… okay?"

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Last time when I touched it, I passed out for a whole day…"

"She's not strong enough to do that to me. Plus I have my gauntlet," Bella tapped the metal glove and Fionna's smile grew huge with absolute wonder and admiration.

"Well… we need the Enchiridion," Marshall Lee spoke up. "Apparently it can open some kind of portal."

"It can. I have a plan. We're going to open the portal and I'm going to push the Lich in so she gets lost between universes." The entire group looked between one another, all smiling at the idea. All they had to do was push the Lich in, right?

"What do we have to do?" Fionna spoke up boldly.

"We need the crystals of power from the crowns of the rulers of Aaa."

"Alright," Flint nodded. "Marshall Lee and Cake, you take the west half of Aaa. Fionna and I will take the east."

"And why the heck do you think I'm goin' with Mr. Bloodsucker?" Cake demanded.

"You can shelter him from the sun better than either of us can," Flint reasoned. Cake had to admit that was sound logic and though Marshall Lee wanted to argue that he only needed an umbrella, he remained silent. Bella remained in wait for the two groups as they split up, and though it took them a full three days to gather eight gems, they returned to find Bella right where they'd left her. Both groups were exhausted, having slept and ate little. They stopped to take a break as the sun set on the third day as they examined the crystals they'd collected. Eight in total, Fionna figured Prince Gumball would be more than willing to give the ninth.

"So, Bella, how's this whole portal thing gonna work?" Cake asked out of the blue.

"We'll put the last gem in and use the portal to get to the Moon, then once we're there, we'll push the Lich in and along the portal highway, we'll push her off the track and she'll be lost outside of the multiverse," Bella explained as if it were so easily. Fionna believed it would be, but Marshall Lee silently harbored a few doubts. Sure Bella was strong, but if just the Lich's horn could affect people, he wondered how badly the Lich in person could affect them.

After they finished eating, Flint and Marshall Lee waited outside while Fionna and Cake went inside to Prince Gumball's room. Fionna knocked on the ajar door, finding Gumball poring over a book. "PG?" She asked. "We gotta plan with Bella, come on out!"

Gumball rose with a relieved smile. "Thank goodness." He followed her out, but just as they neared the group, Fionna began to explain what Bella had said.

"We're gonna put all the Princes' crown gems into the Enchiridion an-"

"Wait, what?" Gumball suddenly stopped short.

"It's gonna open up a portal…" Fionna said quietly. "We'll go to the Moon and we'll push the Lich in so we can kick her out of the multiverse."

"Fionna… no, no, that'll let her into-"

"Quickly, Fionna!" Bella called. "The Lich Queen is controlling his mind!"

"But-"

"Fionna, no!" Gumball tried to pull away as the confused heroine lunged for his crown. When she got hold of it, he shoved her away and she took it with her. She fell to the ground and stared up at Gumball with an absolutely shocked and hurt expression. "Th-… that was an accident…" Gumball told her softly. When she bolted to her feet and took off running toward Bella, he lunged after her. "NO!" He caught Fionna's sleeve, but she had already thrown the crown to Bella. Bella ripped the gem from the golden circlet and opened up the front of the Enchiridion by turning the little sword. The eight gems levitated from their place in front of Flint and flew into their respective places in the face of the compartment in the book, and Gumball's gem joined them last.

Bella threw Marshall Lee and Flint aside despite the burn left on her arm, and that was when Fionna finally realized something was terribly wrong. "She's the Lich!" Gumball cried, letting Fionna go. The little doors on the front of the book slammed shut just as Marshall Lee regained his composure from the dizzying blow, and barreled into Bella. Flint, from where he'd sat up on his knees in the grass, shot a fireball at Bella after she'd fallen, and she screamed in pain as it tore into her face, lifting her hands to cover it. The Enchiridion fell at Fionna's feet, but she looked on as Bella's body relaxed and she lowered her hands to reveal half of her face burnt off. Rather than blood and blackened muscle, there was only white skull beneath with a spiraled horn protruding from the side, and a green pupil. The world grew suddenly black for everyone in the group.

Fionna saw her breath ghost before her as a familiar chill settled over her. The Lich Queen looked on with her dark gaze through one green pupil and one lifeless eye that had once belonged to Bella. "Well done, child…" she spoke in a deep, purposeful tone while Fionna's knees gave out and she fell to the ground on all fours. "You've given me the key to not only the extinction of life in your own realm… but across the multiverse. Very well done, child."

Fionna let out a pained exhale, looking down as the Enchiridion's tiny sword sliced a line all around the entire book, and it turned to brown stone. She found the strength to reach out and grab it, slamming it down against the ground.

"No!" The Lich shrieked, bolting forward, but Fionna kept smashing away with the book-turned-to-stone, and just before the Lich touched her, the stone tablet shattered. The blackness around Fionna cleared and she saw her friends curled into balls, laying silently on the ground. Flint had turned completely blue, and Marshall Lee had tears coursing down his face from pain. The Lich began to chuckle, and Fionna looked up to see that a starry, black portal had formed.

"Oh, Glob…" she whispered, realizing that this too had been a part of the Lich's plan.

"You have my sincerest gratitude, Fionna the Human…" the Lich Queen said as she stepped toward the portal. Fionna bolted forward to catch her leg, but the Lich didn't seem to care. As she was dragged along, Fionna sought any handhold possible.

"Cake!" She called out to her sister who was slowly coming to. Gumball grabbed onto Fionna's waist as he managed to get ahold of his own mind, and a weak Cake was next to grab on. Marshall Lee managed to reach out to catch Flint's arm with one hand, and Cake's foot with the other. The entire group was dragged through the portal, and Fionna passed out when the Lich glanced back at her once more, sending a chill over her body once more.

In her dreams, she saw a pink shadow-person asking the Lich Queen what her wish was, and the Lich smirked with half of Bella's face and spoke clearly and evenly; "I wish for the extinction of all life across every dimension and realm." Then beside the Queen appeared what seemed to be almost her… twin. But this one was dressed in the skin of an old man who looked very similar to Bella. The two looked each other up and down, smirked, and entered a portal made by the shadow-person together. And vaguely, as she began to come to, Fionna remembered seeing a familiar boy, several years younger than herself with a white bear-hat and a yellow dog beside him, speaking to the shadow-person with their own wishes before disappearing into their own portals. She saw no more until she woke to see that shadow-person with the big blue eye looking down at her from the wall he was cast upon. He wasn't really a shadow, rather a two-dimensional figure molded to the walls and floor. Fionna lifted her head slowly to see the mysterious figure smile, and she saw Flint had fallen beside her. Thankfully he was regaining his flame quickly.

"Who… who are you…?" Fionna asked in a raspy voice, looking up at the figure again.

"I am Prismo, Wish-Master and keeper of the center of the multiverse," he announced as the others began to come to.

"The Lich… where did she go? Who were those people?" Marshall murmured.

"The Lich Queen and the Lich King wished for the extinction of all life everywhere, so they entered into the reality made by their wish," Prismo explained.

"No…" Fionna stood with her sister and Gumball's help. "We have to stop her…"

"As for the other two, they are a boy and his dog from a parallel universe to your own fighting the Lich King. As for the Liches' wish… You can always make a wish that cancels hers out. You earned one and only one wish by coming to seek me."

"Fionna… think hard about this," Gumball warned her softly. Fionna looked to Flint, and at his nod, she looked up to the Wish-Master.

"I wish… the Lich had never existed."

Do I even need to say anything? Being that Fionna's life is different from Finn's, her encounters with the Lich Queen are gonna be a little different from Finn's with the Lich King, so I decided that her first meeting with the Lich shouldn't be like those in 'Mortal Folly' and 'Mortal Recoil', but rather, the second big altercation with the introduction of Prismo. And no, Prismo is not gender-bent, because Aaa is the parallel to Ooo, and therefore part of the same multiverse. Finn and Jake were too focused on their task to see the others appearing in Prismo's room, and didn't see the Lich Queen enter just before the King.

And there may end up being a reason why I have both Liches, but I'm not sure yet. Let me know what you guys think! Leave me a review!

P.S. Sorry this one took so long to get out, I had to work out the plot correctly to include Helen- there's a reason for it.

-Taiylor Wallace