So, I just wanted to say thanks for all the kind reviews. This is the longest chapter so far, so please enjoy!
*The term butler is not genderspecific.
Fionna slowly inched her way out of the vivacity-filled crowd and toward the marble staircase, managing to not trip on her gown in the stilts she called shoes. (Not really, they really were only an inch or so.) She could sense the anticipation swelling inside her; this person whom had been watching her in the Fire Kingdom had been on her mind lately.
She trudged up the pink, carpeted stairs and into the banquet hall that was elegantly adorned with balloons of the entire color spectrum, multi-faceted gem statues (that Fionna believed to be Rock Candy!) and long tables with punches, quiches of all kinds, and those mini hot dogs everyone seemed to drool over. And of course, there was a special little section of desserts, courtesy of Prince Gumball, who made them with love.
The dining hall was rather packed, with clusters of guests munching or hovering over tables like watchdogs. Fionna scanned the room, unsure of the path the hooded boy had taken. She cautiously observed every corner of the room for any signs of black…she looked… and looked… and… there! A black hood was near a table toward the back of the room.
Fionna wiggled her way around people of all sorts, careful not to trip up and let someone's salsa be her new evening gown. However, all of the assorted snacks were causing Fionna to become rather peckish...
"No!" Fionna said out loud, causing a few people to turn their heads in curiosity. "You're on a mission. No snacking!" She peered at the black cloaked figure, who, as though they had seen Fionna, was beginning to exit the room hastily. "Not on my watch!"
The adventurer was as quick as a snowflake dissipating in the ocean when she maneuvered through the guests. In the hallway that neighbored the banquet hall, the black hood was briskly walking away toward the side near the windows, clearly attempting to be inconspicuous. Fionna entered the hallway, keeping one eye on the moving figure, and sprinted full speed ahead.
"Hey!" She shouted with a furrowed brow and a livid facial expression. "Hey! Come back here!" The hood continued forward, to no avail. Fionna knew that it would soon be a wild goose chase through the palace and demised a spur-of-the-moment plan.
Fionna, still advancing forward, managed to pluck off both of her heels, and chuck one of them at the hooded figure with precise aim. The hooded figure mumbled and stopped in it's tracks, rubbing it's head in response to the pain. Gotcha, Fiona thought to herself.
Fionna ran forward with her bare feet on the soft carpet and stood over the hooded figure. This was it, the moment of truth. With her heels in the grasp of her one hand, Fionna pulled back the black hood with her other hand… only to see…
"Lemongrab?!" Fionna jumped back in surprise with her feet grasping the floor in response. Lemongrab was infamous for being unstable mentally and psychically. There was absolutely no way she could've been invited.
"You! You, you you!" She literally spat into Fionna's face, who wiped away the sour spit away from her cheek. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" Her face became red and her breathing became sharp. "Unaccept-"
The banana guards dragged Lemongrab down the corridor, away from Fionna and Peppermint Butler* who both sighed in immense relief. Lemongrab had previously heard of the ball when news spread into the Lemon Kingdom, and was immediately irate when she discovered that she was not invited.
"Thank you, Fionna, for letting us know immediately of Lemongrab's presence here in the castle. The prince would have nearly blown a fuse if he had to deal with that extra stress!"
"Hey, no problem, Peppermint Butler. A knight's work is never over, I guess!" Fionna laughed at this whole predicament, but mainly at herself for believing that the hooded figure had actually been someone from the Fire Kingdom.
"Go enjoy the ball, Fionna!" Peppermint Butler advised, turning back around to resume positions in the castle. Fionna gave a sideways grin and breathed out deeply. The ball, right. It had seemed more like an adventure than an actual party.
Fionna's ears perked up as the dance-club music immediately shut off and a trumpet fan-fair sounded from the ballroom. There was a bout of microphone static and Prince Gumball's voice echoed throughout the vicinity.
"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming out tonight and joining us in my Biennial Gumball Ball! I now proudly pronounce the initiation of the couples dance!" The crowd cheered following his brief intro and Fionna knew Gumball would probably kill her if she missed the important event.
She rushed back into the dining hall which was now empty. Fionna glanced at the mini hotdogs lying on the table and snatched one up and popped it into her mouth, while keeping a constant speed. Mmmm. They truly were irresistible. She decreased speed as she entered the top of the grand staircase.
The mass of guests was spread out evenly on the dance floor in two long rows. Each couple was parallel to each other and proceeding to bow simultaneously. Formal-sounding violin music began to play sweetly throughout the ballroom like butterflies smoothly flying through the air. Fionna promptly scaled down the stairs and desperately looked around for someone to dance with.
Most of the people here were taken and had their hands pressed together, dancing like two spinning dolls atop a music box. Prince Gumball, with a rather disappointed look, was dancing with Cinnamon Bun, whose sticky body appeared to be pressed tightly against the prince's body.
Fionna jumped in surprise as a cold finger tapped her on her bare skin, where the dress dipped down her back and was laced up with cloth material like an elegant shoe lace. She turned her head and there was Marshall Lee, this time standing on the ground like a normal person, with his arms crossed.
"Marshall!" She blurted out, blinking her eyes. "Why aren't you dancing?"
"Uh… the real question is…" Marshall went up closer to the girl and lowered his voice as if someone else was listening. "Why aren't you out there dancing with your man?" Marshall said into her ear as he positioned his head as if going to bite her neck and drink her red. Fionna shoved him back and sighed deeply.
"I was stalled. Found Lemongrab snooping around like a bonking creep. Besides, Gumball wouldn't want to dance with me anyway…" Fionna trailed off in a melancholic manner, looking down at her white heels. "He doesn't like me. He's made that clear many times."
Marshall Lee tilted his head looking at Fionna and demising a plan. He grabbed Fionna's wrist tightly with his cold grasp and pulled her over to the now scattered clusters of couples twirling around the dance floor.
"Marshall…what?" Fionna inquired with her eyes widening. What was Marshall doing? Was he planning on biting her in the middle of these people to make a scene? Was he going to transform into his giant-bat demon form? Take over the palace? Summon Hunson Abadeer?
Marshall simply took one of her hands in his own hand and put his other hand on her waist.
"Follow my lead." Marshall whispered as he raised his eyebrows and began to improvise a spinning, waltz-like dance that mimicked the other couples' movements. Fionna went around in circles with Marshall Lee, as he navigated through the crowd.
Fionna's eyes were spinning but she could make out the direction Marshall was headed in; it was toward Prince Gumball. How could she go to him? She couldn't, it would make her look so desperate.
"No-" She began to mutter, but the constant centrifugal turns was beginning making her really dizzy and she feared it may result in the mini hotdog coming up. Fionna could barely move her feet and she thought she may have stabbed Marshall's foot with her heel at one point, but he didn't respond to any pain.
Fionna couldn't concentrate on any thoughts. The whole moment was just a twirling vortex of ball gowns. Her life was riding on Marshall's shoulders, who was still guiding her on the extensive journey. The violin music became sharp notes piercing her mind.
Just make it stop, make it stop. She repeated these thoughts in her head. Fionna couldn't handle the pressure building up inside her stomach, making her want to become unconscious to terminate the whole thing.
The next turn of events appeared to be, as cliché as it may sound, in slow motion.
As Marshall Lee, who seemed to be impervious to the dizziness, which was inflicted upon Fionna at the moment, approached Prince Gumball, who had had just enough dancing and was beginning to grow exhausted. The prince bowed to Cinnamon Bun and made his departure out of the dance floor. Marshall had not noticed this and continued to head in the prince's general direction.
"Ya, ready Fionna?" Marshall kept his voice low but just loud enough to hear over the music. Fionna mentally shook her head in disapproval but braced herself to what could possibly occur next.
Marshall took Fionna by the shoulders of her laced sleeved dress and shoved her in the general direction of a pink mass, whom he believed to be the prince. Fionna stumbled across the floor as several guests went moved to the side to protect themselves from the incoming adventurer about to fall on the ground. Even the pink-popsicle candy person, whom Marshall thought was Gumball, stepped out of the way.
Fionna had no clue as to what was happening. She was losing her balance and tripping up over her stupid heels and felt as though she was plummeting to the ground any second and-
Someone caught Fionna from her vortex of spinning doom and Fionna held on for dear life. She closed her eyes and held onto the gloved hands that were clasped so tightly onto her own. Fionna was bent over and she told herself to breathe.
Fionna took in a few steady breaths… was that wood burning? She opened her eyes carefully and saw her dress in front of her with her heels in some sort of diagonal fashion on the floor. Still holding onto the unknown hands, she straightened her feet out and took notice of two black shoes poking out of a black cloak in front of her.
With another breath, Fionna tilted her head upward and her eyes widened. It was a sun. A glowing, brilliant, warm sun that burned beneath the dark void of his midnight cloak. The boy from the Fire Kingdom. Thousands of thoughts were trying to compute in Fionna's brain at once.
"Are-are you...okay?" The flame boy spoke in a scared voice. Based on his slightly deep voice, he sounded around the same age as her, but she couldn't quite tell. Out of the thousand thoughts going through her mind, only one managed to blurt out on its own.
"Hi." Fionna managed to squeak out of her while staring somewhat creepily at him. She tried to collect herself and figure out just what was happening.
This was the guy who was watching her at the Fire Kingdom, she was sure of it. He was… really cute. Wow. She must have had near-sightedness because up close he definitely was quite the looker. So there were two people in black cloaks at the ball… she really wished she had come across this guy first.
The fire boy blinked a few times, trying to grasp what was going on and why Fionna was staring at him. It was beginning to make him feel very uncomfortable. Fionna could only see a bright, burning guy who was irresistibly handsome. The thought was so overpowering it made Fionna neglect the fact that he probably snuck into the ball just like Lemongrab had; Prince Gumball had only invited the king and no one else from the Fire Kingdom.
"You are okay, right?" The fire boy iterated with a concerned expression. Fionna snapped out of her daze.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Fit as a fiddle!" Fionna awkwardly replied with a high pitched chuckle. The fire boy slightly smiled. Wow, you're really adorable when you smile. Fionna sighed internally. Who are you?
The fire boy held out a gloved hand as his eyes whispered, "Do you want to dance?" Fionna gratefully took his hand as the fire boy began to make slow steps in a box-shape, which she followed. It didn't make her dizzy, just appreciative of that fact that he could dance, very well for that matter.
The boy placed his other gloved hand on the small of her back, feeling the peach cloth that lay over her skin. Fionna didn't realize that the gloves must've been fireproof. She could only focus on one thing, this guy. Fionna had only seen him from a distance, but being up close to him… it overwhelmed her.
The warmth radiating off of him, the bright light emitted from him, the smoky smell of burning embers… it was intoxicating. Fionna couldn't get enough of it. They spoke no words, but their body movements and blushing glances at each other said everything.
The crowd loosened up a bit and Fionna could tell that people were beginning to leave the dance floor. She felt more exposed to everything around her when she didn't have masses of people surrounding her like a private barrier. Fionna wanted to know everything about the fire boy and try to drum up a conversation…. but that wasn't going to happen with everyone else staring at them like they were the elephants in the room.
Fionna dropped one of her hands from his side and pulled slightly with the other.
"Hey, come with me." She insisted jubilantly, guiding him over to the glass doors that led out into the castle gardens. Fionna began to slightly push the door ajar, but the flame boy beat her to it and held the door chivalrously. As she stepped out the door and into the chill air, Fionna grinned from ear to ear. Wow, he's really great.
Fionna's heels clacked along the stone walkway that led into a moonlight garden where flowers of all sorts where planted alongside lovely oriental trees and shrubbery. The path waltzed through all the plants as Fionna led the way, with the fire boy trailing behind her. The crisp, night air whistled softly past Fionna's dress and gave her a chill.
She turned her head slightly and her eyes darted over to the fire boy behind her, who had pulled down his hood even more to block the winds. Fionna realized that he was literally made of fire, so wind was naturally a slight extinguisher. Damn it. She really hadn't thought this through.
Fionna figured that a place to escape would be inside the large green hedges which surrounded a large marble fountain, somewhere to sit and protect the flame boy from the winds. She made a sharp turn into the entrance to the fountain and spun around to see the fire boy standing beside her, glancing at her with a slight smile painted on his lips.
"Well, here we are! Thought this could be a nice place to sit and block out that cold wind…!" She chuckled nervously, waiting for some sort of reaction from the elemental. He scanned the little fountain area, then after a few moments, drew back his hood revealing his hair.
Fionna watched in awe as flames licked the top of his head. He had a glowing, firey Mohawk-type hairstyle that spiked up without having to use any gel. There was also a red gem placed at the top of his forehead; Fionna disregarded it and thought of it as some sort of fashion accessory.
"Whoa, your hair it's so… fiery." Fionna said walking around the boy who was being oddly silent. He watched her as if observing her, taking in her every movement, like a newborn seeing the world for the first time. The sway of her dress, the click of her heels…
Fionna realized that it was imperative to try really hard to make the boy talk now. She longed to get to know him, so she figured she'd better start with her name.
"So, uh, my name's Fionna." She chirped while pointing to herself.
"I know." The boy replied looking to the side awkwardly. Fionna figured he already knew, he was the one watching her when Gumball introduced her to the king. But why had he been watching her?
"How did you know?" Fionna inquired persistently, taking a step forward. The boy made of fire stepped backward toward the fountain.
"I-I-heard someone. At the ball." The boy managed to blurt out. She knew he was lying, he had definitely heard her name when she was at the Fire Kingdom. Ah, so that's how he found out about the Biennial Ball then, when Gumball invited the king. Fionna was glad that the boy did, she really felt like she was getting somewhere.
"Hmm, I don't know. I'm pretty sure I saw you watching me in the Fire Kingdom." Fionna took a step forward as the fire boy took another large step backward. What Fionna called "progress" was actually, unbeknownst to her, just being very pushy and uncomfortable.
"What? How did you- I don't know what you're talking about." The fire boy began to grow irritated and was starting to grow redder as he was pressed up against the edge of the fountain.
"Admit it; it was you, spying on me! Why would you do that?" Fionna questioned, adding a bit of hurt in her words in attempt to make the boy fess up. The first step to getting to know someone was to make them feel pressured so they will reveal their true emotions… well, at least that's what it said in Jess T. Cattzone's novel, Mindgames, that Fionna had read one time late at night.
The boy's flames atop his head grew larger and his eyes grew red. Fionna could feel a warmer heat radiating off of him and became slightly frightened.
"Just stop! I didn't spy on you!" His voice became a dire cry and Fionna could sense the emotion in his words. She was almost there.
"I saw you though! You were wearing that black cape!" The boy's head, neck and arms turned into violent fire as Fionna stated her claims. "Why were you snooping around? Who are you?"
Fionna looked at him with wide eyes that shone with the light from the fiery creature in front of her. Wait, what? She blinked out of her daze and realized what he had become.
The fireproof gloves on his hands burned to a crisp as the boy's temperature grew to extreme temperatures. Fionna was heating up fast and she felt several droplets of sweat on her forehead and chest. Fire poured from the boy and he purposefully lit the bushes on fire around the fountain. She couldn't believe that she had angered him so much that… this happened.
The fire boy, now in a violent fire monster-mode, growled in rage and looked Fionna in the eye. With one of his hands ablaze, he grabbed onto Fionna's arm and pulled her forward.
Fionna screamed in pain as the fire burned through her lace sleeves and seared onto her skin. Tears poured from her eyes and she felt as though her arm would fall off.
"Fine! It was me. But I was just interested in you!" He screamed as Fionna shot her leg up and kicked him with such a strong force that he fell into the fountain behind him, immediately extinguishing him and creating a boiling pool of water.
Fionna looked at her arm that was held by the fire for at least 10 seconds or so; it was enough to leave a huge red and black mark with bits of her skin looking like something out of a horror movie. She had never felt any sort of pain like it but she took a deep breath and shot her eyes over to the fire boy underwater in the fountain.
The boy was entirely grey and lifeless, floating in the water. Fionna's heart raced and her eyes widened as she knelt down and tugged him out of the water with both arms, one in immense pain. She pulled him onto her lap, making her whole body soaking wet and held him in her arms.
His emotionless expression made him appear to be dead and Fionna felt as though she was about to faint. This boy was still handsome and was so sweet to her in the ballroom and… He said he was interested in me? That's what the fire boy had confessed when he was in his super-angry-fire-monster-mode. Fionna smiled at him and her tears poured out of her eyes as her lip trembled.
But she had done this to him. She had been so insistent on finding out the truth she had pushed him too far. It was all her fault. She had been so rude and she had been making him extremely anxious and tense. Why had she done that?
"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." She spoke depressingly to the unconscious fire boy. "I did this and…I don't even know who you are." Her head hung low over the boy that was lying on top of her legs.
As Fionna's eyes were closed, she felt heat coming from her lap again. The fire boy was becoming alive again like a dying ember being thrown into a blazing hearth. His temperature raised rapidly as his hair lit up again and Fionna promptly pushed him off of her to avoid being burned again.
The boy made of fire pulled himself to his feet carefully, stood facing away from Fionna, who was still sitting on the ground in her dress, and threw off his soaking black cloak to the ground. He looked over his shoulder and then fully turned around, towering over Fionna.
He was now wearing what appeared to be an orange sleeveless one piece jumper that stopped at his knees. It had two perpendicular red stripes going one horizontally and one vertically. There was another red gem at the neck and he was wearing tall black boots that matched the cape.
But he looked absolutely radiant beneath the dark sky. Fionna couldn't see a monster… just a boy. A boy who didn't know how to control his rage. He was passionate and… literally hot.
The fire boy pointed at her with a furrowed brow and a face of vexation. If he wanted to kill her… it probably would be an appropriate punishment for the anguish she had put him through.
"You!" He bellowed staring at her on the ground. Fionna felt majorly intimidated but not scared. "What's wrong with me, huh?! You don't like me!?"
"I like you!" Fionna yelled back in a contradictory tone. I like him, she repeated in her head. After this whole catastrophe, no one would think that Fionna liked him… but she did.
The fire boy blinked back at her in surprise, his face dropping from its original tensed expression. He face became a pinkish shade… not red. Not long after however, he shook his head, ignoring the bubbly sensation he had began to feel and proceeded to think spiteful thoughts once again.
"What's wrong with you?" He shouted. The boy stepped over to Fionna and raised his hand to slap her. Fionna braced herself… but then… he… didn't? The fire boy sighed and put his hand down, stepping away from Fionna.
"Don't ever mess with me again." The boy made of flames pronounced assertively while staring at Fionna who could only innocently stare at him back. He turned into pure flames and instantly traveled away along the ground, out of sight.
Within minutes, a team of Candy Kingdom firefighters had come to the scene of the fire and had put it out. Fionna, now with a Candy nurse attending her wounds, watched and wondered if extinguishing the flames he manifested would hurt the fire boy. Prince Gumball came up to Fionna after discussing matters with Peppermint Butler and knelt down beside her.
"Fionna, how are you doing?" The prince glanced at her now dressed wounds. Fionna sighed.
"Alright, I guess. But, mainly confused. Who was that?" Fionna questioned the prince desperately. He knew that she had interacted with the flame boy in the garden, which ultimately led to the fire; he was surprised that she hadn't guessed who he had been.
"That was actually the uh, Prince of the Fire Kingdom." Gumball stated while awaiting her response.
Fionna blinked. The guy who had watched her from afar in the Fire Kingdom, caught her from falling, danced with her in the ballroom, courteously walked with her in the garden, only to turn into a fire monster and burn her along with the bushes and then almost slap her but didn't, only to vanish into the night…
It looked like Fionna had a crush on the Prince of the Fire Kingdom.