Sorry for the wait, a bunch of personal stuff got in the way, like my file getting destroyed and stuff. I'm sure this extra long chapter will make up for that. I set a deadline for this one to motivate myself. I chose my birthday which is the 7th. I even finished early... neat.
Enjoy.
Battle of Kings
It's like a snow globe of tragedies.
Ice, screaming and a chilling light fill the cave. Frost covers the intricately placed, but now unstable, stone walls and ceiling, snuffing out the vile green flames that illuminate the tragedies. The temperature in the room drops dangerously fast. Finn and, to a lesser extent, Jake start to shiver in the Lich's grip who has turned his attention to the spectacle in the cave. Marceline remains stuck under a pile of rubble, her head to the floor, too physically and emotionally weak to even try to move.
Her tears freeze to her face.
The ice, screaming and light are all emanating from the now vanishing Simon Petrikov. The Crown's gems burn red as three pale blue piercings of light shoot out of his stomach, as that is how many fingers the Lich could stab into him, as well as his eyes. The ones in his stomach though become narrower and narrower as they close. They are not healing though. They are reversing.
The instant Simon put on the Crown it was as if time was catching up to him. But this time all the pain and lunacy he went through in a thousand years of his transformation is being condensed into mere moments.
The Lich drops the human boy and dog, who can't even stand because of his influence, and starts to walk towards the screaming man. He knows that the ice wizard could never be a threat to his plan or himself. But he can still be an annoyance.
Marceline looks at the approaching Lich and sees that he is heading straight for Simon. She also realizes that Simon, who should be able to notice the walking death, isn't reacting at all. He just stays in the same spot on his knees, howling. But of course, to him he isn't even in the cave. Right now he's in his apartment looking at his fiance running away in horror.
Betty?! Betty, where are you?! What did I do?! What did I say for you to hate me?! Where are you my Princess?! Why did you leave me?
Seeing that Simon isn't going to make a move to defend himself, Marceline pulls herself out of her powerless misery "Simon! SIMON! You gotta move! Now!" He doesn't react whatsoever.
They won't leave me alone. They are always with me. Or maybe they were already there to begin with. Those monsters that I can't touch! The Crown. It won't stop speaking to me. It keeps promising power. Power to survive the end. It's so cold. It's too cold.
The Lich King passes by Marceline, completely ignoring her until she desperately grasps onto the cloths covering his decayed body. He immediately stops and slowly looks down to his left behind him to see the feeble Vampire Queen.
I can hear them! I can hear and feel the bombs dropping! The high pitched whistle growing in intensity and the impacts that grow stronger with every drop. They're getting closer! I can see—and feel—the snow and frost in my home jump from the explosive impact. If I put the crown on I should survive. But not live. I hear the whistling right above me! I reach for the crown. I survived.
"SIMON! RUN! DO SOMETHING!" Marceline screams but Simon stays on his knees.
The Lich King has seen that the ice wizard is not going to make any move and has decided that it would be better to finish the vampire first. After all, it would be much crueler to kill the one he sacrificed himself to save.
I'm alone. Truly alone. They're all gone. Everybody. I was alone before but at least there was the music of civilization. Now it's just silence. No music. No people. No life. Just the Crown at my hip. My best friend and my worst enemy all in one.
As the Lich reaches for a struggling Marceline Finn manages to get on his feet, being able to ignore the cold after many battles in the Ice Kingdom, and walk to where the Vampire Queen needs his help. Just as he is about to break into a run, the Lich speaks, "fall," Finn's body immediately collides with the thickening snow.
I hear something. It's just the Crown. It's always the crown. But it sounds different this time. I could swear that it sounds like a sobbing child.
The Lich reaches out his slender fingers, still some what red, and grazes Marceline's face and speaks, "You are the first of countless."
Marceline tries to keep a defiant look on her face, even with the ice streaking down it, but can't hold a twinge of surprise after seeing Simon's pendent on the Lich right before his hand grasps her head.
I hurry towards the sound. I have to make sure. Even if it is another lie, I have to make sure. When I get past a turned over vehicle I see the crying child.
The Lich holds onto Marceline's head as if trying to figure out if he should crush, burn or tear it off. All of these might not kill her but would be painful.
Marceline! Her name is Marceline! For the first time in years I have a friend! Someone to talk to! Someone to laugh with! Someone who needs me! And someone I need.
While Simon has gone silent with a grin on his blue hairying face the Lich King has gripped onto Marceline's head and quickly pulled her out of the rubble, causing her to release a small scream.
Simon's head turns slowly as if he actually heard the scream, his smile faded. He still can't see what's happening around him. He can't see the Lich King holding the Vampire Queen. He doesn't see his bony finger about to impale Marceline, who is so weak that all she can do is grip a skeletal wrist and kick with bloody legs.
Simon can't see any of this.
The returning Ice King however sees a large Goo monster holding a very small terrified Marcy.
Just before the Lich can thrust a digit through the Vampire's heart with a bullet's speed and precision, a large piece of ice shaped like a fist collides with him and sends him into the cave wall, Marceline slips from his grip from his surprise.
"YOU WILL NOT HURT MARCELINE!" The Ice King roars, his hair and nose continuing to grow.
The still ice fist becomes covered with green cracks and then explodes with vile flames to unveil an irate king. In an instant the Lich appears right in front of the Ice King, bringing down a fiery claw.
The claw breaks the shield quickly made by the Ice King who is blown away by the impact, sending him on his back. Before he even rights himself he sends out a wave of ice sickles at the Lich King who blocks only his center with his right arm. The rest of his body is damaged and quickly reverses.
The Lich lowers his arm to see the Ice King already on his feet and thrusting a very large ice sword his way. The blade pierces through the his abdomen and imbeds itself into the shaking wall. The Lich doesn't allow a moments feeling of victory by shattering the blade with his right and grabbing the base, which is stuck to the wielder's arm, and smashing him to the wall repeatedly, much like he did to Marceline. The Crown frozen to his scalp and refusing to fall off.
The Ice King collides to the wall three times before the broken sword liquifies and is sent across the cave. He gets back onto his feet and rushes back at the Lich like a mad rabid dog. That thing! That monster is in my way. Chicken soup! I need chicken soup! Marcy needs it!
In the Ice King's rapidly shifting perspective he can see little Marcy holding Hambo while taking cover by a dog shaped rock to his left. In front of him the large Goo Monster throws a wave of acidic slime their way. "YOU WON'T TOUCH HER!" he bellows as he creates a somewhat smaller wave of snow that collides with the slime wave.
The ice bursts into steam but manages to nullify most of the acidic goo heading for him and Marcy; their sides streaked with the goo a few feet away from their bodies that the ice couldn't get. The Ice King smirks to his triumph not realizing that he actually saved a grown Marceline along with a waking Finn and Jake from a wave of toxic fire.
The boy and dog are slipping out of the Lich's mental commands due to his distraction. Marceline is trying to get them out of the way but even though the most serious of the damage is healed she is still weak and sore from the Lich's attempt on her life and can barely even stand. The ice and snow on the ground is also impeding their escape.
Ice king launches himself at the Lich, almost flying, his arm growing a large spiked fist. "I WON'T LET YOU HURT GU-" he's interrupted when the Lich raises his right palm, melts his attack before it could connect and grabs his arm and swings him upward, scraping him on the ceiling and throwing him to the wall on the opposite side of the cave.
"Watch..." the Lich speaks right before heading straight for the others.
Marceline, now able to move more freely, is quickly dragging a more alert Finn wrapped with a comforter like Jake through the knee high snow. They are almost ten feet away from the entrance before the Lich whispers "Sleep," and they fall into the cold cushion.
The Lich moves in for the kill as the Ice King screams "GUNTHER! RUN!" when Gunther doesn't react he musters what power he currently has to create a long ice arm that grasps the Lich's upper body and arms and covers his head. Before his mother is covered though, he vomits a black mist that circles his chest.
Already The Lich is melting through the casing. The Ice King places his free left hand through the snow on the ground and has a stream of ice travel and encase the Lich's lower half.
The Lich is unable to make a move. The ice is freezing as fast as it's melting. His hands are trapped and can't send out any attacks. The only part of him that isn't encased is his chest where the pendent lies.
"GUNTHER! GET TO SAFETY!" the Ice King's call land on deaf ears. The Ice King and Lich King seem to be at a stalemate as the others remain unconscious. All the ice wizard can do now is roar the wrong name. "GUNTHER! YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE! NOW! GUN-"
Surprisingly, Marceline starts to rise, a thin layer of snow falling off her.
… No... no. that's not right. Gunther is... somebody else. She's... Her name... her name is... is...!
The Ice King can hear the correct name in the back of his head. But there's something blocking it.
Marceline...
Is... is that it? Is that her-?
Marceline... kill them...
The Ice King sees a young dark eyed Marcy, looking very dazed, dangle Hambo by his arm. In reality, Marceline is holding an unconscious Finn and is about ready to cut open his jugular with her index finger.
He hasn't been hearing her name that's been stuck in his rushed memories, he's been hearing the peripheral commands of the Lich King seeping through the Crowns protection.
Bleed them, Marceline...
The ice wizard sees Marcy stab Hambo with her nail, causing a small amount of stuffing to plume out. "Gun... M-marcy, stop!" he yells out.
They tried to hurt him... they tried to hurt you...
A small red spot appears on Finn's hat where Marceline is stabbing him. This much won't kill him, but all it would take is a flick of the wrist and his life will pour out of him within moments.
Do it... now...
All Marceline can see besides Finn and Jake is darkness. All she feels is hatred for them. Hatred for betraying her and trying to hurt someone she can't remember. All she can hear...
"MARCELINE! PLEASE DON'T HURT HAMBO! YOU LOVE HIM!" a very Simon like voice breaks the Lich's grasp of Marceline's will.
A gasp bursts out of Marceline when she returns to reality. She looks down to see Finn still asleep and unaware of how close to death he was. And then up to see the Lich breaking through the prison of ice he's in.
Marceline, now with a good portion of her original strength, grabs the boy and dog and moves through the thinnest of the snow.
"Enough!" the Lich roars as he shatters the ice that was containing him. He turns to face the Ice wizard, his left hand seeming to whirl and charge a ball of toxic fire.
A chilling static erupts from the Ice King's hands in response. Just as Marceline and the others are almost at the cave entrance the two kings let loose their attacks.
The Lich's vile blast and the Ice King's ice lightning connect and create a deafening blast powerful enough to send the Ice King to the wall and the Lich back a few inches and sends a large shot of snow and heat through the cave exit. It also blasts the stone roof loose. But the stones don't fall and attempt to crush anyone in the cave. Instead they are carried away by the tremendous storm that's been growing outside.
The king of the dead and the king of ice both fly into the frozen inferno to continue their battle.
. . .
Princess Bubblegum has just gotten back to her room, her royal princess business ended earlier than expected and she figured that she would swing by the picnic to visit with Marceline and Simon.
Now that Marceline told the truth she should be okay with her having an intellectual conversation with Simon. She also wants to help him integrate into his new life and even help him find a place to live.
She has a feeling though that he might ask her to build a time machine so that he could go back and try to fix things. But she hopes that he realizes the consequences of time travel. She could easily not go and say that her business was even longer than she thought, in fear of that horrible moment of telling him "no" but lying to him and evading the truth is what got Marceline in such trouble and she just got lucky this time.
So she has decided to risk that and try to enjoy the beautiful day they are having.
Just as she was wondering if she should take a book with her or not she feels a cold breeze go though her balcony doors and hears thunder.
She moves to close the doors, "Man! This is sudden. I hope they got out of th-"
She's interrupted by one of the Gumball guardians, "EVIL PRESENCE DETECTED!" it boomed.
Princess Bubblegum hurries to the balcony and is stricken speechless when she sees the massive and still growing snow storm. The dark clouds are firing lightning bolts that become thin wicked towers of ice.
In the center of the storm is a large cyclone made of ice and snow, rising at it's base are green flames. Bubblegum can see bursts in it, those are the explosions created by the Lich's vile flames and the Ice King's ice lightning colliding with each other and exploding.
But that isn't all that shocks and scares her to the core. The thing far more horrifying is the virtually unending mass of undead soldiers already surrounding the Candy Kingdom. Behind them is a trail of destroyed trees and dead earth.
Within moments Princess Bubblegum calculates that even with the Gumball Guardians, the Banana Guard and all the other defenses the kingdom will still be overwhelmed within an hour. At most.
As if on queue the kingdom's guardians get swarmed with skeletal soldiers and are brought down one by one. The few undead soldiers that were taken down by the guardians quickly fix themselves and advance towards the kingdom's walls.
Just as the first of the Lich's soldiers makes it on top of the candy wall a snowball knocks it back over.
Princess Bubblegum looks to her left, the terrible grip of dread releasing her, and sees what appears to be an avalanche.
Only it isn't one in the traditional sense, but it's actually every single inhabitant of the Ice Kingdom heading straight for the mass of evil dead.
The two armies collide. The snow based creatures crush, stomp, shatter, break and bury the dead army while they are also being cut, stabbed, overwhelmed, broken and torn apart.
The Lich's army throw their full force into their new enemy, the fallen already back up and fighting again. The same can be said for the ice army, their limbs already reattached and charging into battle.
The two armies are somewhat evenly matched. They both fall and rise back up, but the Lich's army isn't wavering while the Ice King's army are keeping from melting from their collective cold and the sudden drop of temperature from the storm. And another factor working against them; the non-magic animals can't get back up after being badly hurt or...
Green flightless birds appear through out the armies, mimicking the weapons of the opposing army. A small pink kitten floats above the undead mass and continuously bombards them with lasers. Any arrows or other weapons thrown at it are shot down immediately.
The army of the Lich King is endless. The cold citizens do not have the ideal power to take them down permanently. But they are saving the Candy Kingdom from their assault. Not intentionally though. They can feel their king battling another wicked power and they feel that same power influencing these corpses. They just happened to be closer to them.
The two armies will continue to fight each other relentlessly until one of their kings falls.
And from the looks of it, the cold creatures my not last much longer.
In the distance the storm continues on.
. . .
"STOP MEDELING, BOY!" the Ice King screams before he releases more chilling lightning.
Although it appears from far away to be completely made up of snow, the cyclone is actually filled with razor sharp ice shards. All of which are passing harmlessly around the Ice King. But have been ripping through the Lich. All damage is reversed immediately. The strong winds and onslaught of ice is coming from his left but he still wavers in the same spot.
Thickening into ice, the frost covers his decayed body. He tries to melt it away but still has a layer covering him. The Lich makes sure to keep his chest completely protected out of the rest of his body.
The Lich seems not to pay any attention to this. The two abysses that are his eyes are aimed straight at the raving Ice King.
"I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU TAKE MY PRINCESS AWAY FROM ME!" The Ice King continues to scream. Past and present are getting closer and closer and are starting to become mixed. Right now the ice wizard sees a very Lich like Finn and Jake trying to take away Princess Bubblegum. The Ice King unleashes frozen lightning bolts at the deformed boy and dog which "they" block.
Below them, in what's left of the cave, the actual Jake uses his growing body to break through the ice covered snow and drags out the real Finn and Marceline before he passes out in a flat form. Just before the explosion, Jake came to and shielded the others. Finn wakes up now that the Lich's attention is directed at the Ice King.
"J... Jake!" Finn groggily yells out but Jake doesn't respond. Not only that but Finn is really starting to feel the cold. His skin is becoming very pale but red in some parts. And he's shivering violently, "J-j-j-Jake! W-wake up!"
Marceline however can withstand the cold with a corpses tolerance, "Finn, we need to get out of here," she says, but after hearing more deafening thunder boom above them makes her think that the eye of the storm may be the safest place. But it's still dangerously cold and she knows that she can't keep him warm. She can't even change form because of the Lich's will burning flames are still affecting her. She can barely even feel her fingers.
Just then, Jake slowly opens his eyes, relieving Finn somewhat, and blankets himself around Finn to try and protect him from the cold. He knots his front paws together and makes himself into something similar to a cloak before passing out again.
Instead of worrying about this, Finn Pulls Jake's body around himself some more and feels His flattened heart beat, and puts his mind on the matter at hand. He looks around himself and sees a snow and ice covered stick in the wall near them.
Above them, the Ice King blocks a fire ball with a shield of his making. A subtle, painful, glow has been emitting from his chest for sometime now. Although this pain is nothing compared to the feeling earlier of his organs becoming freezer-burned, his face being stretched out and his teeth becoming gnarled and jagged.
That pain has passed since his physical transformation was completed. The current pain has just followed. Right now though, the Ice King can see the Lich King as he really is, now that he passed the time he escaped from his amber prison.
The Ice King notices the Lich vanish in a shadow form and appear behind him with a fiery claw raised. He just barely dodges the attack. His already tattered, and now ill fitting, suit has a claw mark and covered with toxic fire on the back.
The Ice King sends out a wave of snow as he faces his enemy. The snow almost completely nullifies an incoming attack.
The flames are rising up the storm and the heat is affecting the Ice King's powers.
The Ice King just barely manages to shoot down an onslaught of unholy energy blasts; some of which grazing his sides. He flies up to the clouds to escape, a flurry of flames and the Lich following. He blindly sends down some ice boulders which stop most of the attacks.
Just as he makes it into the twisting clouds one of the Lich's blasts hits him in the center of his back, causing a loud shriek of pain. He's in the safety of the clouds for a moment before a cold body falls back down.
The Lich throws his arm up and impales the same spot where the last attack got the ice wizard. The cold form snaps in half.
Just when the Lich notices that he just broke apart an ice statue, a lightning bolt hits his extended arm, encasing it completely. Before he can even start to get out of it another hits his other arm. And another encases his back and legs.
The real Ice King lands on his front, his left claw grasping onto the rotting fabric and ribcage, and his right, with a large mass of frozen blades, flung out; aiming for the amulet that the Lich has been protecting so much.
"No...!" The Lich spews out more of his black breath, but it won't make it in time.
The Ice King's attack is interrupted by the sensation of most of his bones and muscles being broken and torn apart. He lets out a blood chilling scream of agony.
The Lich takes this chance and breaks through the ice and grasps on to the wizard's sides, trapping his weaponized arm, his digits digging into his back.
Ice King almost manages to break out of this grip when a light bursts out of his chest and the pain doubles. Another scream escapes him but quickly dies out as he is on the verge of passing out. For his his body to go through the time Recardio took him apart couldn't come at a worse time.
The storm dies out rabidly as the Lich's breath slithers towards the ice wizard's mouth. All the Ice King can do now is weakly reach out his chilled arm, but he can't summon any power to attack.
The breath reaches past his lips as the dead king speaks, "even with all the power you have shown, you are still a weak fool; for I am beyond-"
The tip of a frosted blade shoots out of his chest before he can finish. He turns his head to see a boy wrapped with a dog being held around the waist by a vampire.
Just as he is about to command them to kill each other, the amulet, that was propelled by the long sword's edge, is grabbed by the Ice King, frozen and shattered. The Lich looks back at what just happened and can only say, "... no."
The Ice King falls out of the Lich's grasp, and listlessly drifts away in the winds, while the others jump away as the Lich's body starts to pulsate with evil power.
"No! No! No! No! No...!" the Lich roars as he explodes into a devastating cloud of agonizing death, blowing away the rest of the lingering storm and all who are unfortunate enough to be in it.
Finn, Jake and Marceline are launched back and hit the ground, hard. Luckily there was thigh high blankets of snow to break their fall. The vampire looks up at the dispersing clouds, snow still softly falling, and bolts upright when she remembers Simon, The boy and flat dog knocked over.
She scans the sky and ground but everything seems to be just shades of white. She remembers that Simon was right by the Lich, and seemed very lethargic, when he exploded and was getting scared. Just when she was about to attempt to fly up, she sees a form falling as if it was a leaf.
"SIMON!" Marceline yells at the one who used to be Simon. But he can't hear her. He's trapped in his most recent memories, which are jumbled and repetitive like a dream.
All he can hear right now is his last talk with the Vampire Queen.
"... I hate you... I hate you... I hate you... I hate you..."
I'll tell you now so you're not disappointed later, Simon is not going to magically come back in the final chapter.
Besides that, how was it? This was my first real fight scene so I'm not sure if I made it thrilling enough. And I have a few ideas of what I might have done wrong in this chapter, but I'm not going to say them because I want you're opinions.
And sorry if mentioning my upcoming birthday seems needy, at least that's what it seems to be for me. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about anything. I'll try to get the finale up as soon as possible.