Season One: The Danger, the Duo, and the Dance in the Dark
Chapter Recap & Extra Nerdy Tidbits from the Author
Okay, so I'm a nerd for a few things. Lord of the Rings, Kung Fu Panda, and Adventure Time are my top nerd-doms. And, as a proud fangirl of these things, I love to know the behind-the-scenes. So for anyone who, like myself, likes to know how things came to be and the way they changed from the original 'storyboarded' idea, this bit is for you.
Chapter One & Two: The Bat, the Bunny, and the Treehouse P1 & P2
(Alternate Titles: 'Evicted!' and 'Un-Evicted!')
Plotline P1: Fionna and Cake find a bat locked in a magic chest in the cave of a troll that they defeated after it kicked Fionna's buns a while before. Fionna brings the bat home and names her 'Blackie'. But when she wakes up in the morning, she finds a pale, fanged boy asleep on her where Blackie had been. Like any young woman who wakes up with a strange young man laying on her, she freaks. Cake and Fi find out that his name is Marshall Lee and he was locked away to be eaten by the troll after being taken off-guard. They also find out he is the rightful owner of the treehouse and he subsequently kicks them out.
Plotline P2: Fionna and Cake have been struggling to survive for some time, so when they find some wild red berries, they try to savor the food. But when one berry loses its color (and thus, tastes rotten) Fionna explodes. Only when she's calm do they hear a guitar nearby and they go to investigate, hoping it's picnickers. They're right, but it turns out to be Marshall Lee playing his guitar in the forest with a basket loaded with red foods. A fight ensues over Fionna's honor and indignation at Marshall's haughty 'I'm the Vampire King and whatever I say, goes' attitude. Even though Fionna technically loses, Marshall Lee finds her entertaining and interesting and thus, gives the pair back their treehouse. Fionna thinks he's a total jerk but realizes she's super interested to learn about him too. Hence, the beginning of a very weird friendship.
Here comes the nerdy part. The first chapter was originally meant to be the pair when they first arrived at the treehouse very young, but I realized I wanted to start with Fionna about seventeen or eighteen, so I decided she'd already be living there for a long time. I always wanted to introduce Marshall in a really cute bat form rather than Marceline's way, but it was a challenge coming up with a reason for him to meet them in tiny bat form. So, I decided, why not have a troll lock him away? The crystal chest actually comes, in a very weird way, from the title. "The Chronicles of Aaa: The Bat, the Bunny, and the Treehouse" came originally to me when I was half-dead at work and humming Tumnus' lullaby to myself, so I modeled it after The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. At first, the whole series was going to be named this full title, but then I took a hint again from Narnia and decided to make the second part of the title not the grand title, but the introduction of a chapter in the Chronicles of Aaa. Thus, the title was born.
Now, the way I got the 'crystal chest' idea was vaguely related to an episode of Adventure Time and the White Witch. Remember how she freezes people in stone with her wand-spear-thing? And remember 'Escape from the Citadel' in Adventure Time? I somehow came up with a crystal prison in the form of a chest. Don't ask me how, my brain is just weird that way after playing years of Dark Cloud, whose most annoying monsters are chest-mimics.
Lastly, the alternate titles are quite obviously based on the Adventure Time title of the episode introducing Marceline the Vampire Queen, 'Evicted!'.
Chapter Three: Goodie Two-Shoes
Plotline: Marshall Lee goes to Fionna for entertainment, resulting in their first jam together since their meeting, and Cake's lasting sureness that Marshall Lee is trying to steal Fionna away with his bad-boy ways.
This chapter was sort of a cooldown from the first two, but also the vital introduction of Marshall Lee and Fionna's relationship both socially and musically. Also, it gave me an excuse to write a cheesy song and make Marshall start up his teasing. There wasn't really much behind this one, I sort of wrote it on the spot after finishing the second chapter, and I didn't structure it in any particular way for a future plot point. It wasn't fluff, and though it did serve the purpose of beginning their real friendship, it gives no subplots.
Chapter Four: Through the Fire and the Flames
Plotline: After a long search and a disappointing outcome, Fionna gets a rusty sword said to have magical water powers and goes home a bit depressed. When she receives word that the Candy Kingdom is ablaze, she hurries out with only the broken sword in her backpack, and comes to find everything but the palace is burning as Prince Gumball tries to save it and keep his people from getting burned alive. When he realizes she found the Sword of the Well, he directs her to put it back together and it forms its original, shining form that can spout almost endless water. She and Cake douse the flames around the city until a young man stumbles out of a building and passes out. Gumball recognizes him as a fire-being and asks the two heroines to chain him in a safe place for questioning. When he awakes later in Marshall's cave behind the Vampire King's house, they learn that his name is Ignatius Flint Morkai and he is the lost Flame Prince, on the run to evade his mother's soldiers who are trying to imprison him. Fionna sets him free and pledges to help him, and Marshall, listening from his bedroom window, is left wondering why he cares that Fionna seems to like the prince.
This chapter's function is pretty obvious: intro Flame Prince and Gumball, and the fact that Marshall isn't completely a careless bad boy. He cares not only that Fionna seems to want to make friends with such a dangerous person, but also that she seems to be interested in said person. Jealousy doesn't quite set in til later, though.
Flame Prince got a nifty name based on three sources: Twintaileddragon's Fiolee fanfiction also on this website (they sorta inspired the whole series) where his name is Flint Ignatius, the popular nickname between my friends for FP which is 'Flint', and then my own personal religion. I'm not gonna preach, I'm just gonna say that "Mori'ikai" in the language of my holy book is a conjunction of the words "moriai" and "ikai'i", which mean "molten" and "volcano" and is the ancient name of Mount Kilimanjaro in our legends in our own language. I figured it suited him well.
Lastly, the Sword of the Well is also based on an ancient story in our holy texts, where a hero named Caspo forged a sword in an underwater volcano, thus giving it the powers of the God of the sea and the strength of the God of fire, who in our religion, are brothers. The sword could stand up to any temperature high and spout the endless water of the sea. Yay for cultural influences! If anyone's curious, this religion is called 'Lunasia' and I am what's called a 'Chela', which is of equal stature to a bishop if you want to compare.
And yes, I named this chapter after a Dragonforce song. *sign of the horns*
Chapter Five & Six: The Dungeon of Doors P1 & P2
Plotline P1: Marshall wakes up late for a meeting with Cake and Fionna to go to the Dungeon of Doors to retrieve an ancient musical instrument. Meanwhile, Fionna and Cake get stuck in said dungeon because they didn't listen to Marshall Lee when he said he needed them because the dungeon required three people. So, the girls are left waiting for him until he comes flying in (literally) and they begin to open the final nine doors. For the first six, they switch up to match Fionna with tests of strength, Cake with mental challenges, and Marshall with stamina and willpower. But the last three doors will not allow them to change. Thus, Marshall must face himself, or rather, what his mother wants him to be.
Plotline P2: Fionna faces a Flame Prince come to life from a statue and must admit her true feelings, as undeveloped as they are as of yet, in order to pass the test of 'courage of the heart'. Meanwhile, Cake faces fear in a not-so-serious way, but Marshall Lee is the last to emerge after being forced to kill the phantoms of his future self and his mother. The room he entered, in no uncertain terms, showed him that if he turned out the way his mother wished, he would undoubtedly kill Fionna and his best friends. When he leaves the room, he's left in silent shock until he can get his head back in the game, passing off his unresponsiveness with "Do I ever listen?" and his usual careless attitude. With three key-swords gathered from the dungeon rooms, they unlock the treasure at the end. This turns out to be a magical wind flute and a book of sheet music spells, leaving Marshall Lee exasperated, but Fionna intrigued, so she takes it in the memory of Cake's mother, who once taught her to play.
Okay, so anyone who follows the storyline of Adventure Time should remember 'The Lich' and 'Finn the Human' where the Farmworld timeline comes up. In the beginning, Finn's mom interrupts Finn playing his flute outside. That's where the flute came from. As for the Dungeon, I remember watching 'Mystery Dungeon' and 'Gotcha!', both episodes that featured some interesting places. The Mystery Dungeon showcased the strengths of the characters that Ice King kidnapped to complete it (thus the challenges of strength, mind, and willpower), whereas 'Gotcha!' featured a sort of strange mirror room with Finn saves LSP from. I took the mirror idea and applied it to the characters, but rather than reflecting themselves, it reflected their deepest fears. Fionna's is not actually the ocean, it's the fear of how her feelings will affect her life. She has great courage, but not when it comes to her heart. For Cake, she has a very understandable fear of physical danger. I didn't have to go into hers to show that, but I did love the idea that one of her deepest fears is Fionna after she loses at BMO. As for Marshall, his deepest fear is becoming what people expect of him: a monster with no heart. With that comes the fear, not of his mother, but of what she wants him to be. He wants to make her proud, much like Marceline with Hunson, but neither wants to compromise their identity or friends to do it. Deep, right? Hah I just ruined it.
Chapter Seven: The Cupcake Caper (Minisode)
Plotline: When Prince Gumball finally discovers the perfect red velvet recipe for his cupcakes, they begin to go missing. He plans to catch the thief with a new batch of (pumpkin) muffins, but to no avail until he bakes more red velvet. When the thief burns himself a second time on the hot pan, Gumball catches him to find that it's Marshall Lee. Despite all this, Gumball can forgive him, especially when Marshall helps him remember the recipe for the cupcakes when he suddenly forgets.
I will admit a tiny crush on most of the big Adventure Time pairings, straight and gay/lesbian, and one that I think is so cute is Marshall and Gumball. I'll always be a Fiolee fan first and foremost, but I can also accept the other pairings. This mini-sode was meant to be one of three different miniature episodes in Season One, but both of the other two turned into full episodes instead (those being 'Asha' and 'When the World Died'). Overall, the idea of the 'mini-sode' serves one of three purposes: exploring a relationship, a flashback, or to introduce a subplot. This particular episode followed the first purpose; exploring Gumball and Marshall Lee's friendship. It wanted them to be more at ease than depicted in 'Bad Little Boy', but not quite as easy as the graphic novels. A good middle ground with a lot of pranks, if you will.
Chapter Eight: Asha
Plotline: Ignatius Flint Morkai, or just Flint as Fionna calls him, finds himself lonely after dreaming of his fire lion pride that he was raised by. He goes to seek the company of his dearest friends, only to come in contact with Marshall Lee. He is told that he's too dangerous to hang around Fionna, even though Marshall admits that he himself is equally dangerous. Both retreat back to their homes. Flint dreams once more of his fire lion mother, Asha, and how he was taken from her by his real mother after a hunt. He wakes to Fionna's voice, in tears. He insists that she should stay away, but she tells him that he's too interesting to stay away.
A lot of people are actually a little bit cross with me about putting Flint and Fionna together rather than Marshall right off the bat (hah, pun), but Fionna, like Finn, must be changed a bit, made more mature, by their relationship with Flame Prin(cess). Anyhow, his episode came of the knowledge that Flint was raised as a feral child by fire lions, so I figured, he had to have a mother amongst his pride, he had to be able to speak to them, and he had to be the oddball. So, I created Asha, quite possibly my most favorite mother thus far, as well as my most favorite minor character to this point. I mean, don't you just love her? Even for what little she speaks and does in the text, she influences Flint endlessly to control his anger, to think carefully, and to love endlessly. This is what allows him to become so close with Fionna, because his mother taught him to never be afraid to love and work hard for those he loves.
But, because I am a sadistic writer who loves heartbreak and blood (seriously, if you ever saw the story "The Mulan of Balhai Temple" that I wrote in a roleplay…), I had to kill her. YES, I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON. For the same reason, I also wrote the last six chapters… I still haven't recovered from 'The Duo' Part Four and 'The Dance in the Dark' Part Six.
Anyhow, this chapter was chiefly to explore who Flint is, and the fact that he's as curious about the world as Flame Princess, but an actual scholar, which comes in handy in 'The Danger' Part One. It also will aid his friendship with Gumball, built of science and knowledge! And probably baking!
Chapter Nine: Just Like Me
Plotline: After a sudden downpour which they thankfully found shelter from, Flint and Fionna are making their way back to the grasslands from the Candy Kingdom on a day of exploration when the two try to cross the bridge over the river and Fionna is flung into the flooded flow after Flint makes it safely across. Flint runs to get help from the only person fast enough: Marshall Lee. When they find Fionna, Marshall Lee rescues her from being crushed or drowned and Flint helps her fight off hypothermia. Once Fionna turns out to be okay, the two boys go back to Marshall's house where Flint broke a window trying to get his attention. As Flint repairs the glass by melting it back into place, Marshall finds out that Flint actually thinks he's not so bad, and learns that Flint was the maker of an incredibly useful gift that Marshall Lee received on his birthday weeks before; a magical recording stone. After Flint leaves, Marshall Lee decides to use said gift to record a short song.
I felt like 'Asha' didn't touch enough on how the boys feel about each other. Marshall knows that Flint is dangerous and doesn't want him near Fionna, but he also knows that he, being the Vampire King and a trickster, is equally as dangerous. So, he has to fight with that fact whenever he asks Flint to stay away, until he realizes it'd be better for Fionna if they both stayed away. But she loves them both too much as her best friends to let them stay away. The song at the end is the truest admission of Marshall's feelings about the matter, and I felt it fit really well. If you take away the titles and all the meaningless stuff on the outside, Marshall Lee and Flint are really similar. I know if Flint had become a bad boy, he'd be almost the same, and vice versa if Marshall was a scholar. Have you ever noticed a similar thing about Marceline and Flame Princess?
And I gotta say, 'Just Like Me' is one of my favorite songs I've written for this story. When I have a recording of it, I'll let you guys know.
Chapter Ten: When the World Died
(Alternate Title: I Still Remember You)
Plotline: Marshall Lee's memories of his childhood in the Great Mushroom War always haunt him, especially how he lost his best friend, Symone Petrikov, to the madness of the ice crown. He thinks of how horrible it is to hear children sing the 'Cloud Hunt' rhyme while playing hide-and-seek, remembering how the rhyme came of the darkness of the mushroom clouds of the war. He goes back to a precious memory in which he wakes from a nightmare alone while Symone is out foraging. He gets lost when he tries to find her, and when she finally comes across the lost little boy, she comforts him with a new friend; a pink teddy he names Hambo. Symone tells him that Hambo will keep him company while she's away. The two talk about who Symone was before the crown took over, and it almost seems as if everything's okay for a moment as they sit together amongst the wreckage of the world. Back in the present, Marshall Lee recalls the letter Symone wrote to him, that he and her mad self the Ice Queen turned into a song. All he wants is one last moment with the Symone he knew.
This chapter, like the episode 'I Remember You' broke my heart. No, shattered it. I cried when I wrote out the song lyrics and it kinda hurt to have to change them for the sake of the gender swap, but then I decided it was okay because it still worked and it was still words from Symone's heart to Marshall Lee. I seriously can't even look at Ice Queen or Ice King without seeing Symone and Simon, then subsequently sobbing my heart out.
As for the Cloud Hunt rhyme, I remember it from 'Marceline's Closet', and I was as disturbed by it as I always am by 'Ring Around the Rosie'. Even though it's not really confirmed if 'Ring Around the Rosie' is really about a World War, it certainly draws a lot of parallels and, even if it wasn't made because of the war, it's so easy to relate to it that you can't help but connect the two. 'Cloud Hunt' is much more ominous as there's nothing to do with flowers in your pockets and falling down with all your friends in a ring. It's literally telling you that the cloud is coming to get you, and even underground, you are going to be found (and killed). Scary, right? And out of a kids' show! But because kids don't get that stuff til they're older, the dire fine print and the darker side is left to the older viewers and for the kids, when they're grown, to say "Holy crap that's dark, I never noticed that!" This is one of the reasons why Adventure Time means so much to me; history and implied darkness.
Ever noticed how truly frightening the Lich was? Especially when he took Billy's skin, killed Prismo, and even trapped in crystal, managed to cause a cosmic catastrophe and kill timeless crystal guardians never before challenged, much less hurt and destroyed. There's some heavy stuff in Adventure Time, you just have to be able to catch it, which usually means you need to be a little older and more attuned to much heavier subject matter such as war, death, and real evil. As a kid, things are much simpler (hence why Finn doesn't see these things at first, but as he ages, he starts to deal with them). Adventure Time could be equally an adult and kids' show if only adults didn't pass it by for it being a cartoon and all the comedy it keeps outside the more story-heavy episodes. I try to keep to the Adventure Time darkness with my own writing, but I ultimately delve a little further into the really dark stuff. Thus the last six chapters which, as I've said, I still haven't recovered from.
Also, it should be obvious why I named this chapter 'When the World Died', and why its alternate title is 'I Still Remember You'. To a little boy, the Great Mushroom War probably did seem like the death of the world, and the alternate title has 'still' added into it because this is after 'I Remember You' actually happened. The song was already made, but Marshall is looking back again and thus expanding on the scene of Simon and Marcy in the episode, but instead with himself and Symone.
Chapter Eleven & Twelve: Night of Noise P1 & P2
(Alternate Title: Night of Silence)
Plotline P1: Marshall Lee is the MC this year of the annual 'Night of Noise' that has been going on for nearly a thousand years, since the re-emergence of civilization after the Great Mushroom War. With a heavy-rock rendition of the night's age-old madrigal introduction, the celebration begins and the music goes on without stop til midnight, when Fionna takes the stage and the crowd's cheers die down. She uses her wind flute to summon a show of mist creatures lit by Gumball's colored spotlights, followed by a mist dragon which flies for the rest of the night. Afterward, Fionna and Marshall sit down to eat while the music continues, and they end up talking about how Cake would kill them if she saw them on a 'date'. Eventually they turn to talk of Flint (or, really just Marshall Lee teasing Fionna about her obvious like for him). When Fionna asks Marshall's opinion on whether or not she and Flint could work as a couple, Marshall of course insists that Flint is dangerous, but Fionna reminds him that he is too. Marshall Lee finally tells her that it could work as she almost seems to be asking his permission, and Fionna hurries off to talk to Flint up on the walls. Marshall isn't sure how he feels about the whole thing, and about Fionna, and he wonders why he didn't just tell her that.
Plotline P2: Fionna comes to talk to Flint up on the walls, and when she mentions the idea of seeing someone, Flint is sure she means Prince Gumball. When she outright asks him to have dinner as a date, he is absolutely honored to accept. Meanwhile, Marshall Lee leaves his MC position to Gumball to be alone, retreating to the candy tree above Gumball's palace. He sings to himself what's really on his mind and in his heart, only to feel worse than ever, and he goes home to be alone with his thoughts. The Night of Noise ends at sunrise with the traditional song, 'The New Land of Aaa'.
I'll outright tell you that, with 'Just Like Me' in third place and 'Night of Noise' in second, 'The New Land of Aaa' is my favorite original song of this season and second overall to 'I Remember You'. I have it recorded really cheaply so I can refine it later on my mandolin and bass guitar. 'Night of Noise', being the intro song in part one of these two, was inspired by Marilyn Manson singing 'This is Halloween' from The Nightmare Before Christmas and sounds slightly similar now that I think about it. The original madrigal version was inspired by, and this is stupid, 'Brave Sir Robin' from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the actual tune is still from 'This is Halloween'.
Now, as for the wind flute, I introduced it specifically for its use here and for musical bonding between Marshall and Fionna. I might break it later for fun, but I do know that, and this is foreshadowing, the mist dragon did not evaporate at sunrise. It's still out there… teehee. For a special reason… oooh, mysterious! The feels in this chapter are all for setting up Fionna and Flint's relationship, which didn't really get too serious this season but probably will in the next, and to set up Marshall's feelings and jealousy and even a little bit of envy of the two having a good relationship when he never had one. Poor Marshall, Fionna didn't even notice, she was too wrapped up in thoughts of Flint.
Chapter Thirteen: Mommy
Plotline: After exploring his memories, Marshall readies his newly-strung guitar for Fionna to come over for their first jam session since the Night of Noise, to which she brings her flute. Without the usual teasing, Marshall asks Fionna to help him play something more personal. Fionna gives him a beat while recording on her Walkman, and Marshall sings, despite pain, of his real thoughts about his mother. Afterward, Fionna insists that Marshall should talk to his mother, but he absolutely refuses until Helen Abadeer herself shows up. After a short fight brought on by Marshall's anger at her constant absence and lack of attention, Helen leaves to attend to her 'work'. After Fionna leaves later on, he only feels worse. When his thoughts are disturbed by an awful tremor he goes out to investigate, and finds his mother stealing souls from across Aaa. When Fionna and Cake come to stop her, Marshall Lee has to save them, only to be captured himself. Helen demands to know why he treats her so terribly, until they are interrupted by Marshall's song, playing from the recording on Fionna's Walkman. When Helen sets Marshall back down, she assures him that she loves him and cares deeply, that she knows that his song is about so much more than his fries that she'd eaten at an old diner hundreds of years before.
I firmly believe that you cannot properly write a series with Marshall as a main character without the addition of the songs made so popular by Olivia Olson as Marceline, and one of the most popular is the Fry Song. I spent hours listening to Rebecca Sugar's full version with a ukulele, and then the clip from the episode, and decided that I needed the full version for Marshall Lee, but still with beatboxing. What I really want is bass and beatbox from the episode, then the full version and Marshall's voice. I really wish Marsh played a bass, but hey, I can just love him and Marcy and have it all. By the way, fun fact: Did you know that Hunson Abadeer is voiced by Martin Olson, who is Olivia Olson's real father? Father and daughter voice father and daughter, and I love Pen Ward for it. Martin Olson also happens to be the writer of the Adventure Time Encyclopedia, which is written from Hunson Abadeer's point of view. Isn't that awesome? This guy sticks to character not only as Dad, but as Hunson in multiple mediums and I LOVE it.
But on to the chapter. Helen was the first name that popped into my head to be opposite of Hunson (which is a name I love), and I figured it fit because it's generally viewed as a strong female name not really used for dainty ladies anymore (like Olga and Brunhilde and Helga). Helen also (ironically) happens to be the name of the dainty lady at the center of one of my favorite stories out of Greece, the Iliad. As for Marshall and Helen's relationship, I wanted it to be a little closer and a tad less embarrassing than Hunson and Marceline because, honestly, even though Moms embarrass their kids more, I felt like Hunson was a softie kind of dad and Helen needed to be a little more solid in the face of Marshall's anger. That's why she puts on that mask when he yells at her and pretends it doesn't hurt, when really she's crying on the inside. However, she's just as loving and endearing as Hunson, and she's the kind of mom who constantly asks 'where's my grandkids?' based on a lot of really funny Tumblr art. Wow, that got unsophisticated really fast.
By the way, I'm still thrilled that Chapter Thirteen ended up being the one about the Mistress of Hell. Love it.
Chapter Fourteen: The Danger (P1)
Plotline: Fionna is called in an emergency to the Candy Palace and discovers the sudden appearance of the Lich Queen's horn in a moon rock. After a bout with a magic-induced blackout, Fionna comes together with Flint, Marshall Lee, Cake, and Prince Gumball to figure out what the Lich is doing. They realize that she's planning to blow up the moon and thus throw the earth out of its life-supporting zone of orbit, and thus hurry to seek the advice of Helen Abadeer.
This was more of a lead-up chapter that introduced the basis of the six-chapter-long 'Season Title' series. I don't think anyone actually realized this season was called 'The Danger, the Duo, and the Dance in the Dark' until these chapters. This one brought in the Lich's plans, but brought the characters to think they needed to get to the Moon, and the only way of doing that in their time without the invention of space rockets is to wish for safe passage to the Moon, which Helen directs them to do in the next chapter by seeking out Bella. Bella, by the way, is a popular name among the genderbent AT fans for Billy's female self, and I've read plenty of stories using it so I just kept on with the tradition.
I also decided to showcase the common scholar between Flint and Gumball, so I did a lot of research into the theory of what would happen if the Moon basically shattered, and what the Moon's effects on the Earth amount to. I think I did pretty alright, seeing as Earth's natural disasters are my favorite kind of science.
There's also a reason for the title and the full season title. Each name applies to two parts, and is a hint at something in the chapters. In part one, the 'danger' is the destruction of the Moon by the Lich.
Chapter Fifteen: The Danger (P2)
Plotline: Seeking the advice of Helen Abadeer, the group is pointed to Bella while Gumball gathers help. Bella directs Flint, Cake, Fionna, and Marshall Lee to gather the jewels of the Princes' crowns, and the last is Gumball's. Fionna goes to retrieve it, only for Gumball to refuse. At the last moment, she steals it before Gumball can tell her why it's a mistake. The nine crown jewels are inserted into the opened front of the Enchiridion kept by Bella, sealing into a stone. Bella is revealed to be the Lich Queen wearing Bella's skin, and when Fionna breaks the Enchiridion turned to stone, thinking it'll ruin the Lich's plans, she instead ends up opening a portal to the Time Room of Prismo the Wish-Master. Therein, the Lich wishes for the extinction of all life everywhere, leaving the group horrified until Fionna makes a counter-wish that the Lich had never existed.
It was really tough for me to set up a believable way for Bella to get the group to gather the jewels and for Gumball to resist despite knowing what that Fionna wanted his jewel to fight the Lich. I figured that the royals entrusted with the jewels probably all knew that they could be used to open the portal made by the Enchiridion (Bubblegum clearly knew), so it gave me grounds for Gumball to realize that Fionna was being tricked and to resist. But I didn't quite have him slice her face open like Bubblegum did to Finn in 'The Lich'.
Anyhow, I always really like the idea of the Lich wearing Billy/Bella's skin. It was probably one of the most macabre and terrifying things that the AT crew have ever done (next to Marshall Lee's fake near-death in 'Bad Little Boy' because I'm a fangirling NERD). The reason I took so many people to the Time Room wasn't just to create more content, it was to explore what each one would do faced with the fate of all life, and each of the following chapters show their reactions. Fionna tries to cut off the evil at the source and ends up giving up her own life and sanity, Flint tries to save Fionna from herself but his hasty temper causes him to choose unwisely and everyone suffers, and Marshall Lee decides that it's his responsibility now that others have failed and he sacrifices himself for the greater good.
Now, there's a reason that I specifically stated that Cake faced mental challenges in 'Dungeon of Doors' P2, and her decision in Prismo's Time Room is exactly why. Gumball wants to make the right wish to defeat the Lich without sacrificing anyone but doesn't know how to go about it. So, Cake deduces that she can wish to know what will do this, and therefore Prismo tells them exactly how in Part Six after Marshall Lee's failure. I've always seen that Cake is very different from Jake, far more protective and more attentive to what others need. Not to diss Jake (he comes through when it's important), but he gets distracted too easily by everything. And sandwiches.
Chapter Sixteen: The Duo (P3)
Plotline: Fionna Mertens is an average tomboy and a farmer's daughter in the countryside beyond Junktown. When faced with the hard decision to sell her favorite mule, she ends up falling into a cavern on the journey and finds a golden crown. Thinking all her problems are solved, she tries to take it but is confronted by a thousand-year old half-demon named Marshall Lee who tells her that the crown is evil and cannot move from the skeleton of its previous owner, Symone Petrikov. Fionna manages to steal the crown and hurries to the market. The Destiny Gang who terrorize the area steal the crown and her mule, but when Fionna goes to get them back, the Gang razes the town and surrounding area. Fionna hurries home to find her house in flames and, trusting the words of Marshall Lee that the stolen artifact has ice magic, she finally dons the crown.
Farmworld interested me at first because it was an alternate timeline, but then again because it resulted in Finn basically becoming the beginnings of the Ice Prince. Which, I noticed, somehow became a popular character… not the crazy weird one in 'Finn the Human' and 'Jake the Dog', though.
Honestly, I think I wrote this chapter more in a tip of the hat to the actual show than anything, and I don't have much to say about it because I was forced to stick to the script pretty closely in order to avoid going off on tangents. Probably the least fun chapter I've written thus far, but a vital one that I'm glad I finished.
The single 'duo' here was Symone and Marshall Lee because, literally, they are the center of all that happens via the crown, even if they aren't present for most of it.
Chapter Seventeen: The Duo (P4)
Plotline: After Flint's wish that Fionna's wish had never come true, this in turn causes the Lich Queen's wish to come true, thus destroying the moon and throwing the Earth out of orbit. The group splits off their own ways after their last goodbyes, thus leaving Marshall Lee with Symone, Fionna with Flint, Cake with Lord Monochromicorn, and Prince Gumball alone. Marshall Lee struggles to help Ice Queen become the Symone he misses, just for a moment so that he can see her one last time, but it is only after he finally passes that she comes back. Flint and Fionna take shelter in the treehouse, and even though Flint is the one more harshly affected by the growing cold, they both pass nearly at the same time in one another's arms. Cake and Monochromicorn do all they can to help their children survive, but to no avail. In the end, the very last person left alive in Aaa is Prince Gumball, who struggled to write down every memory of all his friends that he could on the off chance that one day, life would return to the planet and find the stories.
It's no secret that this, tied for first with Part Six, is probably the saddest chapter in the whole season. I got a few reviews about some sadness, but the biggest feedback I got was a friend of mine who read this, called me at midnight, and proceeded to sob on the phone because she's as much of a nerd as I am. I killed everyone, but I liked it because I'm sadistic, and I hated it because I love the characters. I quite likely love the genderbent characters more than the originals, because, yet again, NERD.
The idea for the destruction of the moon actually came of a question raised to me by the same friend who called me in tears. We were talking about how her father used to work on a carrier ship in the Navy and how he continued sailing his own small boat after he was done with the Navy. She talked about how his boat got stranded on a shoreline because the tide fell, and she asked why that happened. I explained the whole magnetic pull of the sun and moon thing, then she asked what would happen if there was no moon. I looked that up, and ding! Story idea. And she blames me for this chapter.
As for the way they all died, I didn't go into detail about Cake and Monochromicorn because I couldn't bring myself to detail the deaths of the kittens. Let's just assume they all froze and leave it at that. As for Marshall Lee, even the Vampire King can't withstand cold like that. His organs and brain would eventually freeze and he'd be done for. Fionna and Flint, pretty much the same, though I think Flint held on longer for Fionna's sake. The Ice Queen's death was a little harder for me because, not only do I love Symone, I also had to capture the fact that Ice Queen wasn't just dying of cold too extreme even for the crown, she was dying of heartbreak once her memories truly returned.
Lastly, Gumball… his death, even if he's not as high on my favorite characters list as Marsh and Fi, was probably the most painful. He held out hope to his last moment that, even if they were all gone, some life, even coming from another planet, would be able to find his memories and know that there once existed a group of dear friends who did amazing things together, a story that he hoped would be kept and retold by the future people. If anyone believed in the phrase 'life finds a way', it was Prince Gumball. Even if the Lich did destroy all life in the multiverse, there's no saying that it couldn't sprout from somewhere else again on another Earth-like planet, or on the Earth itself if it ever got a moon back again. Hope was all he had, and he never lost it even when he was the last one left and slowly fading.
Ugh, my heart… By the way, the 'duo' here was not just one pair, it was every single pair that split off, and, here comes the cheesy part, the star duo was not any actual pair of people. It was Gumball and his memories that he recorded in hopes of being found one day. Excuse me while I go sob before I continue this.
Chapter Eighteen: The Dance in the Dark (P5)
Plotline: In the timeline of Marshall Lee's wish for the power to destroy the Lich, Marshall Lee Abadeer was lost in the mortal world and didn't see his mother again for centuries. When he finally did, he took her power from her, and killed her. He waged war on the land of Aaa for fun, until Prince Gumball launched an allied offensive against him and called out his finest heroine, Fionna the Human. Marshall Lee is very intrigued by this girl and captures her with the intent to make her his own champion warrior. When he realizes that it's impossible to sway her with torture, he instead treats her like a guest. This ultimately leads not to a relationship of champion and master, but to a friendship Marshall hasn't ever experienced. When Fionna is captured by an enemy demon, Marshall comes to save her only to be shocked by an electrified cage and thus, taken home by Fionna. Fionna leaves him to sleep while she wonders why he cares so much. Imagining what her sister's answer would be, she immediately turns red and hides with her pillow.
This chapter is as much of a story set-up chapter as Part One of the Season Title series. It was hard to write because I had to consider that Marshall is a much darker guy without Fionna around, and if he became Lord of the Nightosphere, he probably also became a little more like Hunson Abadeer, being an eloquent and sharp businessman in a demonic sort of way. I still wanted to keep him Marshall, so it was hard to find a good balance. As for the 'Beauty and the Beast' theme, yes, I totally meant to do that on purpose because it fits them so well.
The title 'The Dance in the Dark' is a sort of foreshadowing of the next chapter, but it isn't a dance at all, it's the battle with the Lich Queen which ends in her demise but also Marshall's.
Chapter Nineteen: The Dance in the Dark (P6 Finale)
Plotline: Marshall Lee opens up to Fionna and vice versa as their friendship grows and they begin to adventure together amid their music sessions. He tells her about his relationship with his mother and how she died, and he is stunned when she doesn't recoil and call him a monster. He knows then and there that she's what he wants. Later as a proper couple, they experience their first real fight that boils down to Marshall's 'perfectionism' and Fionna's 'undiscerning' ways. Things go a little too far and each hurts the other, but all is repaired when Fionna returns to Marshall Lee later on. Years down the road, they marry without fanfare and have a daughter named Jessie, and when Jessie is ten years old and the family lives in the treehouse again whilst Marshall's second-in-command tends the Nightosphere, Fionna and Marshall are called to help King Gumball to fend off the newly-risen Lich Queen. Marshall races to the fight and pulls Gumball and his family to safety while Fionna secures Jessie and her cousins. Before Fionna can even arrive, Marshall locks in combat with the Lich. When the Lich Queen finally sees Fionna and throws her in a bone-breaking strike against the wall, Marshall loses his control and destroys the Lich's skull, but ends up run through by a powerful magical blade. Fionna hurries to his side and manages to speak with her beloved husband one last time before the magic takes him away. In Prismo's time room, Gumball and Cake are the last two left and don't know what to do, so Cake wishes to know what to wish for, thus Gumball can use that knowledge to sort things out. He wishes that the Lich wished for them all to be safely in the Candy Kingdom, and once Prismo grants that request and they find themselves back home, the group destroys the Lich for what seems like once and for all. It would have been, if not for a little snail.
Not only was this chapter heartbreaking, it was also fun because I got to bring in Jessie and kick the Lich's butt twice. Also, I wanted to detail the fact that Fionna and Marshall aren't much for pomp and circumstance, hence why they never had a real wedding, they just made it official by legal means. They probably threw a party, but no wedding. I wanted to go into Marshall's fatherhood a little more, but I decided to leave that alone for now. I may write a separate fanfiction of it, or it may end up much later in the series if people want it.
I got a question from several people: why isn't Prismo genderbent? Well, it's because Aaa is in a universe and Ooo is in a universe, which are connected by the multiverse. They're parallels of one another, but not exact. Fionna got a flash of Finn and Jake in part two, and, unmentioned, again in part six. It's also why, back in 'Dungeon of Doors P2', Fionna was faced with a line of statues that included 'strangers' who looked familiar, but she didn't know them. Those strangers were Finn, Jake, and Marceline among others. She even notices how similar Marceline looks to Marshall.
Overall, part six essentially cancels out all the previous parts because of Gumball's wish, which even though it's nice to know the characters won't freeze to death, go insane, or grieve forever over Marsh, doesn't take away all the sting for me personally. I'm still sad as hell.
Oh, and fun fact: 'The Dance in the Dark' was originally supposed to pertain to a literal dance in the dark at the castle in the Nightosphere, but I thought if I did that, I'd be playing too heavily on the 'Beauty and the Beast' idea.
The End of Season One
The Chronicles of Aaa: The Danger, the Duo, and the Dance in the Dark
I've enjoyed this season immensely and I'm already super pumped to be working on Season Two for your guys. I've loved the feedback and all the love and support you guys have offered, and I hope to see all of your reviews again in Season Two, which I will link to on the next chapter page when its first chapter is ready. Thanks so much guys! On to the fandom!
Coming Soon: Season Two
Title TBA
-Taiylor Wallace