Several days passed after the journey into the blazing Fire Kingdom and Fionna the Human had continued her part time job at the Coffee of Aaa. It wasn't a difficult job, but it was busy enough to keep her running around like a rampant chicken for a few 6 hours a day.
News had somehow spread that Fionna was one of the best coffee-blenders in all of Aaa. Business began to boom in the small shop, so much that extra hands had to be hired. There really was never a dull moment for Fionna.
Every day like clockwork, Flamba would traverse through the front door around seven PM to obtain the same order, claiming it was for some character named "Ignitus." Clearly, Ignitus, along with everyone in the two mile radius, seemed to relish in Fionna's coffee-making skills.
It was ten to eight on Friday evening at the quaint shop. The coffee joint was practically desolate with the exception of one elderly cookie man seated in a plush booth in the back, completing the daily Candy Kingdom crossword puzzle that was supplied by Turtle Prince.
Fionna usually had another Candy person to cover the shift after her, but everyone would be attending the Biennial Gumball Ball. Thus, tonight she would close the shop early at eight PM, when her shift ended, instead of its usual midnight closing time.
Fionna was expected to arrive at Gumball's castle around 8:30, so she knew she would really have to hightail it out of the shop to allow enough time for Cake to doll Fionna up and make it on time to the ball.
At five minutes to eight, Fionna glanced discreetly at the Candy citizen and attempted to send him a "please, leave now" mental message using her brain…. It didn't work.
"Uh, excuse me, sir?" Fionna's sweet voice was a violent shout in the silent room. The cookie man looked up curiously, awaiting her response. "We're closing soon, so now would be the time to make any final purchases before I close up shop."
The senile Candy person, who understood her underlying meaning, nodded silently and deftly folded up his small crossword before heading out of the coffee shop doors. Fionna's eyes followed the man as he strode down the lamppost-lit cobblestone street. She sauntered over to the front door and flipped over the "open" sign to the "closed" side.
Fionna scurried over to the counter and flung off her white apron onto the floor. She snatched the mop and bucket and began to furiously mop around the customer tables and chairs.
"Squish, squish, swish, swish!" Fionna sung while parading around in circles. "Mopping the floors, yeah, we're mopping the floors. Mopping the floor to get out of the door!" Fionna brought the bucket back under the main counter and promptly began to wipe off the counters with a wet rag.
She then proceeded to go into the small, employee room (that was more like a storage room) where she hung up her previously flung apron. Fionna grabbed her employee card and put it in the machine on the wall, clocking out for the day.
"Ow, ow, ow, OWWW-OWWW-OWWWWWW." Fionna droned on as Cake tugged her flowing locks with a wide toothed comb, trying to tame the wild beast that Fionna called her hair.
The two girls were sitting on the couch in their tree-house in front of a tall mirror with a bunch of beauty supplies spread out on the coffee table in front of them.
"It's not my fault! If you threw a brush through your hair every once in a while we wouldn't have this problem!" Cake replied while untangling all the knots as Fionna held back tears of pain.
Cake set down the comb and shrunk down to mouse size and dove into Fionna's hair. Cake morphed into a dolphin shape and "swam" through the golden layers. She stopped as she reached the ends of Fionna's hair and lifted them up with her pearl-colored flippers and examined the tips.
"You got some nasty split ends down here, honey!" Cake pointed out. Fionna cried out in exasperation and stood up, sending Cake flying to the floor as she returned to normal proportions.
"It's okay, Cake. I'll just wear my hat, I guess." Fionna surrendered, going to snatch up her white bunny ears hat. Cake grabbed the hat and stopped her.
"I. Spent. All. That. Time. Brushing." Cake enunciated. "What if you meet some new handsome prince?" Cake's body contorted into a lovely curved lady figure. "You'll want to flaunt a new hair-do for the new "love-me-do"…"Cake trailed off all giddy. Fionna rolled her eyes. She always wore her hat, no-matter-what. There was no time and place she wouldn't. Case closed.
"Fine, I won't wear it, then." Fionna gave in, defeated against Cake's wishes. Albeit her opposing feelings told her to wear the hat, it was a special occasion after all. Besides, she hadn't attended the Biennial Ball since she was only thirteen years old.
"Ye-es!" Cake cheered as she grew a few more flimsy arms from her body to weave Fionna's hair into a long French braid with a large white bow at the bottom. Cake had learned this from a Pre-Mushroom War book on ancient beauty tips she had found while on an adventure with Fionna.
Fionna gazed into the tall mirror in front of her and sifted through her side bangs around to lie perfectly across her forehead. Cake smiled at her sister as she applied a bit of mascara through Fionna's eyelashes and Cake then brushed some through her own eyelashes, batting them in a flirt-like manner.
"Wait, Cake, aren't you coming to the ball, too? You were invited by Gumball!"
"Yeah, I was. But it's your night, sweetie! And you're seventeen now... I don't want to be in your way." Fionna could feel her eyes beginning to well up a bit.
"Aw, Cake! That's so glopping sweet!" Fionna smiled as a tear ran down her cheek, almost managing to smear her eye makeup.
"Not the mascara! Aw, Fi, it's no problem, really. Besides, Lordy's gonna come over later to keep me company!" Cake admitted while fixing up some of Fionna's mascara. Lord Monochromicorn was Cake's boyfriend, and was, actually, the father of her kittens.
Cake then continued to paint a bit of pink lipstick onto the adventurer's plush lips. The cat stepped back to take a look at Fionna the Human and was astounded as she said,
"Fionna, you look gorgeous!" Cake marveled with her eyes growing larger in delight. "Why don't we doll you up more often?"
"I feel…very feminine." Fionna turned her head side to side, looking at her new hairstyle. It was no hat, but it did pull her hair back well enough to be able to fight if she needed to.
"That's the point!" Cake replied with a smile, before looking at the clock on the kitchen-wall clock.
"Oh, Glob. We have five minutes, go get dressed! And be careful with those heels!" Cake warned as Fionna climbed up the wooden ladder up the tree trunk and into the bedroom to change. Fionna had not seen the dress Cake had gotten her, and when she spotted it laid out on her bed, Fionna's eyes widened.
"Oh-"
"-MY GLOB, FIONNA. YOU LOOK REALLY HOT." Lumpy Space Prince yelled at Fionna over the pulsing bass of the dance music playing in the background.
Fionna had only arrived in the Candy Kingdom a mere 10 minutes late, but it was still enough to be fashionably late. Holding onto her dress and balancing on her fairly short heels, she strode through the palace doors, through a large dining hall full of socializing people and assorted appetizers, and then she stopped when she reached the grand doors of the newly innovated ballroom inside Prince Gumball's castle.
She stood at the top of the grand staircase staring, simply spellbound by the interior architecture of the new addition to the castle. It hadn't been there the last time she had attended Gumball's Biennial Ball when she was thirteen. (The party had been cancelled when she was fifteen due to an unexpected invasion of a group of anarchic Lemon people from Lemongrab's kingdom.)
Fionna was positioned at the top of the staircase that led down onto the dance floor when she had been confronted by LSP. She glanced down at her elegant peach layered gown that had long lace sleeves.
"Thanks, LSP!" Fionna laughed while adjusting her small white purse on her shoulder and glancing at his black bowtie and odd "hair"style the prince of Lump Space had attempted at. "Nice… comb over?" She hoped that's what it was called.
LSP looked at Fionna with large eyes and his lip quivered. He cried out with a fake sob. "…Thank you, Fionna." He whispered as he began to float away back down to the dance floor with his arms spread out and eyes closed shut. Fionna blinked in shock. She knew LSP could be weird, but that was just… strange.
Fionna looked from the top of the staircase out into the crowd of assorted Candy people and other miscellaneous guests Gumball had invited from other kingdoms, such as LSP, other Princes, Tree Trunks….
And then there was Marshall Lee.
"MARSHAAAAAL!" Prince Gumball bellowed as he stormed into the ballroom from the garden doors outside. Gumball hadn't noticed until now that the formal, violinist music had been replaced by a heavy dance mix blasting through the speakers that were hung in the corners of the ceiling.
The half-demon/half-vampire with his black locks floated on top of the heads of the guests, pretending to body-surf. Gumball stared at him furiously while Fionna chuckled at Marshall's nonchalant facial expression.
Marshall Lee was one of Fionna's best friends whom she had the utmost trust in. Occasionally, Cake and she would listen to Marshall jam out on his guitar, or he would accompany them on adventures. They never had a dull moment when they hung out together. The vampire especially loved to pull cruel pranks on the adventurer and her cat sister.
Fionna raced down the long, carpeted, marble staircase and onto the dance floor, where Marshall spotted her out of the corner of his eye immediately.
"Fionna!" He said, sliding over her head with a seemingly all-knowing smirk. He was wearing one of his semi-formal outfits (that differed from his usual plaid button-down) that consisted of a white button down shirt, grey vest and black dress pants. "Look at you! You look so-"
"Stupid? Yeah, I know. Cake made me wear it." She admitted, glancing down once again. Fionna looked up at Marshall Lee, who looked extremely handsome in the attire that he seldom wore.
"Well, I was gonna say "pretty," but, yeah, I guess that works, too." Marshall raised his eyebrows and floated away saluting her with a wave of his hand. Fionna rolled her eyes. Same old Marshall.
She proceeded toward the center of the dance floor, amidst the crowd of grooving guests of all colors and shapes. Colored lights danced atop the heads of the moving bodies like twirling fairies. Different arrays of perfumes tickled Fionna's nose as she passed the formally dressed beings, in search of what, she didn't know.
Fionna began to individually look at the guests on the dance floor. She saw people of the likes of the Candy Kingdom, such as Starcha, Cinnamon Bun, Lollipop Boy, and others. Fionna noticed some people from other miscellaneous kingdoms, such as the Wildberry kingdom, the Breakfast kingdom, and people that appeared to be from small farming villages near the forest regions of Aaa. It seemed as though almost every kingdom had been somehow represented.
Except... For the Fire Kingdom?
Fionna scanned the crowd for any bright, flaming beings, but to no avail, she could not spot any. The very classy prince of the Candy Kingdom scrambled around desperately attempting to force Marshall to turn off the "infernal music."
Fionna had to disagree with the prince this time; she actually was enjoying the alternative style of music. The music consisted of BMO-esque electronic choruses, a bass line that coursed through your body, and a beat that was simply mesmerizing. She could feel herself move to the music, become one with the song. Fionna closed her eyes and spun around, oblivious to the guests surrounding her beginning to recognize who she was.
"Fionna!"
"Fionna the Human!"
"Hi, oh my Gob, it's actually you!"
When Fionna finally opened her eyes, she found herself staring straight at a black-cloaked figure ascending the staircase carefully. Was that the… Fionna's thoughts drifted off as she observed a glowing light emitting from the figure. ...the guy from the Fire Kingdom! What was he doing at the Biennial Ball? It seemed as though Fionna would have to go out of her way to find out and unmask the mysterious figure.