"I feel like a hundred prancey stallions!" Fionna said exuberantly, pumping her fists. "That heal spell was like liquid crystal dynamite for my soul! I'm like a punchy piston now! HYAAH!"
Ice Queen smiled, pulling her bountiful hair back into a neat ponytail, which, Fionna noticed, was no small feat. "Such enthusiasm, Fionna! I never get to see this side of you."
"Huh? What are you talkin' about, Icicle Nose?" she asked, dropping into a set of leg stretches. "I'm always full of pepper and cinnamon when I fight ya. This is like...the ONLY side of me you ever see!"
"Yes," the queen said patiently, "But this is you excited to go out, not you excited to beat my brains in. It's different."
"Your point?"
"...I didn't really have one."
"Then shut up," Fionna said, tugging her clothes back into place before walking over to Cake. Her stomach was still full and bulgy, and now it felt like her shirt didn't fit right anymore. "We got ourselves a Prince to track, not a romance novel to write."
Ice Queen shrugged in response and followed her.
"Good luck, ladies!" Gumball called from behind the haven of the Candy Palace gates. "I'll remain here, in my kingdom, in case he returns to the scene of battle."
"Yes, I'm absolutely certain THAT is the reason you're staying behind," said Ice Queen with a laugh.
"You comin' or what?"
She turned in time to see Fionna hop onto Cake's back as she upscaled herself to traveling size, nearly half the height of the ice cream cone spires of the palace. The queen whisked herself up on a cold breeze and came to rest straddled across Cake's back. She shimmied forward just behind Fionna, body radiating just enough chill to set her tiny arm hairs on end.
"Nuh-uh," Cake said sternly, her back morphing into a slide. "Off ya go!"
"What the-?!" the queen said as she slipped off Cake's back and caught herself in the fluff of a snow cloud before hitting the ground.
"You ain't snugglin' up all cozy to my sister, ya hag," Cake informed her. "You know good and well how to fly, so that's what you're gonna do. You just keep your grabby little hands away from her!"
Ice Queen snorted and put her hands on her hips. "Oh sure, use up all my magic energy flying to the scene before the big confrontation, that's some very tactically-sound advice. Nice thinking there, Cupcake."
Cake hissed and thrust her face down to the queen's level. "You are NOT allowed to call me that! ...not anymore!"
She responded with a careless shrug, turned and charged up an ice beam, launching herself into the air. "Fine, if all you're going to do is hate at me, then we may as well just do things our own way and meet up back at the Ice Kingdom."
Cake grabbed her ankle as she flew off. "So you can go on ahead and set a trap for us? I don't think so! You'll fly right beside us where we can keep an eye on you! And no hijinx either, or so help me I will smush your tush SO HARD-"
"FINE," Ice Queen grumbled. "This is utterly terrible judgment on your part though, Cake. We have a mission to adhere to, and the more magic I waste unnecessarily, the greater the risk of catastrophe. Surely even you can understand that."
"Shut up and fly," Cake instructed, backing up, then springing forward toward the distant, glimmering mountains of the Ice Kingdom. Ice Queen followed suit, flying slower than usual to keep in line with the other two girls.
The afternoon sun was glaring down through scattered clouds, but accentuated by a pleasant breeze. This particular blend of summer heat was a welcome change from the burning, searing kind of heat Fionna had been accustomed to over the past few days. She closed her eyes and reclined back on Cake, soaking it all in while she had the chance.
It's been way too long since I relaxed like this, she thought. Too much fiery pain and psycho headaches and artificial hospital air, nowhere near enough unfiltered sunshine wind.
This was the peace she'd been longing for over the past few weeks...a chance to clear her clouded head. Not having to think about Ice Queen was what she really wanted, but that still wasn't possible at the moment. This serenity wouldn't last...
She turned her head and opened an eye to see Ice Queen, flying close beside, watching her recline with a hinted smile on her face.
Fionna stuck her tongue out at her. The queen winked. Fionna made a rude finger gesture. The queen mockingly blew a kiss. Fionna mimed plunging a dagger into her heart. The queen made fish lips. Cake cleared her throat loudly. "We're here."
Turning her attention to their destination, Fionna's eyes went wide, then squinted from the gleam of the ice mountains. "Whoa, what in the name of Gob happened here?"
The normally snow-laden peaks were only sparse and spotted now. Enormous chunks of solid ice had been torn and gouged from the sides of the mountains, cast aside and standing on their ends like ancient temple ruins. Small lakes of melted ice had formed between snowbanks. And dotting the kingdom from end to end could be seen very frantic and very confused penguins, polar bears and snow foxes, skittering around and - in the case of the smaller animals - trying not to get eaten in the chaos.
"Believe me now?" Ice Queen asked, touching down on a bank beside a particularly large melt-lake.
Cake's back transformed into a flight of stairs and Fionna slid down the banister, landing next to the queen. "Flame Prince did ALL of this?"
"Well, I certainly didn't do it myself," Ice Queen said dryly. "Though if I wanted to, I could."
Returning to normal size, Cake added, "So this COULD still be a trap?"
The queen sighed heavily. "Kittycat, please. Traps are hardly worth my time, I don't even need to use them. Now come on, let's see if our little firebug is still hanging around...".
She closed her eyes and slowly stretched out a hand, breathing out slowly. She appeared to be listening to something, but with her fingers instead of her ears.
"...so...what are you doing?" Fionna asked after a moment, breath fogging up in the chill air.
"Divining," the queen responded faintly. "Testing for heat."
"Oh...so we just kinda wait here while you do that?"
"Pretty much." She turned a few degrees, fingers twitching.
Fionna smacked her lips and looked around, crossing her arms for warmth. "Ya know...this whole place looks kinda cool right now. I mean, cool like as in awesome."
"Not cool like me?" Ice Queen responded sarcastically, outstretched hand turning a few more degrees. It reminded Fionna of the minute hand on a clock.
"No, ya butt, cool like...this place looks like some kinda ancient mystic temple place. Made of ice. And like, maybe there were druids or ice golems or hecks, even other ice kings and ice queens for you to play with or give orders to or flirt with or whatevs it is you do in your spare time. Like...this would just make a cool place for you to live, the way it is right now...is all I'm sayin'."
Ice Queen remained silent for a moment as her minute hand ticked forward a bit further. She finally added, "...you know, I can reshape these mountains any way I want to. I used to create giant sculptures and palaces all around here years ago. You should have seen some of the ones I came up with back then, THOSE were cool."
Fionna kept turning around, taking in the view from all sides. "So how come I've never seen anything like that? All I ever see is boring snow fields and sometimes some boring ice fields."
The queen exhaled deeply as she turned, leaning this time. "I don't have a reason to anymore. Who's going to see them? Who's going to tell me they're cool? Who would even care to come out of their way to see these masterpieces when they're all the way out in the treacherous chill of the ice mountains?"
"Well, maybe if you lived somewhere that didn't freeze my knobs off, I'd come and check 'em out sometime," Fionna said, hopping in place to stay warm.
Cake looked over at her disapprovingly, then stretched her tail around Fionna's neck like a scarf.
The queen blinked and stopped moving her hand. "...you would?"
"Huh? Yeah, why not. If you weren't an ice witch, maybe if you were like a grass witch, or a lemonade witch or something...oh but wait, then it wouldn't be ice sculptures anymore. It'd be like...lemonade fountains and-".
"Oh well, never mind then," the queen interrupted, frowning. "I've found him anyway."
"About frumpin' time," Cake grumbled.
Ice Queen scowled at her and pointed off toward a thick patch of forest that ran flat from the base of the ice mountains, then scaled the side of a lone, stone mountain in the distance. The nearest treetops could be seen blanketed in soot. "There's a distinct trail of evaporation which leads away from here in that direction. It's maybe two hours old. We should get moving."
"You sure?" Fionna asked, squinting back.
"I'm always sure."
"But how do you KNOW?"
The queen groaned and stretched out her hand again, putting one hand to her ear. "Let's run a simple robotics analysis and verify the Ice Queen's statement. Boop boop beep boop, yep, evaporation trail detected, recommended action is to follow. Beep boop."
Fionna turned her head and snorted, muffling a giggle. No, wait, what? Don't giggle! She's the freakin' Ice Queen, you can't be seriously giggling at her like that! Yeah, but admit it, that was kinda funny. No, not really! She's probably plotting something, remember! No laughing!
"Yo Ice Kweem, weren't you sayin' we ain't got all day to mess around?" Cake snapped impatiently. "Let's go!"
"Yes, fine, come along now," Ice Queen beckoned, taking the lead. "I'll take the lead, Fionna can back me up, and Cake can cover the rear."
"Yeah, leave it to the stretchy one to cover a rear that size," said Cake, begrudgingly taking up her position behind Fionna in the single file march. "Who died and made you our leader anyway?"
The queen, one arm outstretched in divination, the other magicking a pathway through the overflowing slush lake before them, snickered and replied with, "Would you rather I WASN'T the first in a procession heading straight into danger's expectant arms?"
A wicked smile came to Cake's face. "...okay, so I DO like the idea of you bein' first to get smacked if we meet trouble...". The smile became a frown. "Then again, I DON'T like Fionna walkin' so close to you. She might catch your crazy."
"Would you rather she was on the other end, where potential sneak attackers might snitch up behind and jump our unawares?"
"...frankly I'm not sure which one's worse!"
"Oh please!" The queen huffed.
Both parties fell silent as Fionna spoke up. "If you guys are gonna talk about me, at least don't act like I'm not even here. I'm a big girl, I can make my own decisions! This setup is whatever, I have no issue with it. You just gotta deal with it, mo-I mean sister."
Cake nodded, half-approving.
"Now let's all shush down and get on with our little mission thingy, awright?"
The trio marched on in silence, passing through the Ice Kingdom and down a grassy footpath right into the split-cedar air of the forest. The aroma came with a faint hint of barbecue, like some kind of deep-woods bonfire party that had just died down. Buzzing bees and timid rodents brought about a certain scuffling liveliness to the place.
They were a trio with a mission that carried them directly into the heart of the bonfire itself.
Fionna marched on, matching the queen's pace and keeping her eyes open. The snow-white ponytail in front of her was very distracting though, cheerfully bobbing up and down with each step. She wouldn't admit to it out loud, but she certainly felt a little jealous of such fine hair. It flowed from her head like a pure sundae swirl of ice cream yet untouched by grubby fingers.
In fact, now she couldn't help but look the queen over from head to toe. This was the first time she'd really gotten a chance to see her outside of her usual, abundantly-oversized bustle dress. There was an actual, normal-sized person under all that fluff and pomp, and now that Fionna had a chance to see that, she decided the queen was actually very pretty.
Her blue skin was not at all wrinkly like she'd imagined, for one thing. Her bare arms were smooth and soft-looking, and in the afternoon sun they glistened, almost glowed, like a freshly frozen river. Her body was lean, but far from bony. Fionna was surpised to see faintly-sculpted muscles along her forearms and back, and made mental note that the queen might be stronger than she looked. Her figured very slightly narrowed at the waist, then bubbled outward over her bottom and down a pair of thick thighs that slowly tapered off into a pair of oversized hiking boots.
Well...she certainly has got looks, I'll give her that, Fionna said to herself, trying unsuccessfully to take her eyes off the queen's tight shorts. I wonder how come none of the princes seem to like her...I mean, duh, obviously she kidnaps them and junk, but shouldn't some of them like, be okay with getting kidnapped by such a beauty? I bet Marshall would be into her if she hadn't gone and pulled that stupid 'masquerade-as-Gumball' scrap with him.
And y'know, if she wasn't avalanche-level crazy and all that cram.
They passed under a tangle of scorched branches, pressing deeper. "Hey, I know where we are now," Fionna said, breaking the silence. "I thought there used to be a bog here, though."
"There was," Ice Queen responded, hand still outstretched. "But it's been partly evaporated. See, look, it's much drier now. The prince must have stopped here for a while. We're getting much closer."
She led on, concentrating less than before. "So Fionna, why don't you tell me a little about the Flame Prince? I'm curious as to how your little love affair played out."
"Affair...wha...NO! That's not what it was at all!" Fionna sputtered, cheeks turning pinker.
"That's right, it was a...wait, what exactly was it anyway, Fi?" Cake asked.
"It was nothing! It was a normal adventure! It was a thing that doesn't need to be talked about like that!"
The queen shrugged. "Just making casual conversation to pass the time here. Just tell me a little about him or something."
Fionna took a breath. "Okay, then...he's kinda hard to describe, though. Like, he's a complicated person and stuff."
"Just try your best."
"Yeah..." Fionna said as she tried to conjure up the right words. "So, he's like...he's different. Innocent. Like he doesn't know what the world is and how it works. He's really curious but kinda stupid. I think his brain was wired to work one way but his body kinda wants him to work another way. He's really complicated, but in such a simple way...I don't...does that even make sense?"
The queen looked back over her shoulder and nodded. "Can you put that into a picture from your mind, though?"
Fionna frowned and stared at the ground as she picked her way past broken tree limbs and piles of pungent pellets. She opened her mouth once or twice before settling on:
"He's like a kid on a beach, looking at the ocean with sparkle eyes and building a castle from the sand before he knows what waves are."
Ice Queen stopped, hand slowly falling to her side. "...that was...that was beautiful, Fionna. I need to write that down or something, I'm thoroughly impressed!"
Fionna shrugged modestly. "That was pretty much the only onion in my noodles. I mean, it wasn't hard to think of, but it sounds right, I think."
"Well believe me, tomboy, I think your noodles are beautiful."
"Watch it Ice Queen," Cake warned. "I told you no funny business."
"Relax," she replied, drawing out the word. "Her metaphor was sound and very inspiring. I want to use it in my poetry."
"Oh yeah, you do write poetry, don'tcha?" Fionna asked, recalling the tomes on the queen's bookshelf. "Not that I read any of it, or would even know if it's like, quality stuff or anything. I don't do fancy words real good...".
"Or so you say, I thought it was fantastic."
"Nah, you're just saying that cause you wanna show me you care so you can flatter-flirt at me and then I'll somehow like you back and whatever. I'm on to your games, you little snow cougar."
Ice Queen huffed and put a hand to her hip. "Oh sure, Fionna, the only thing I'm ever thinking about is you and how to get you in my arms. I have no others thoughts aside from you, none at all. I don't even care about poetry. I don't care about the prick of icy pen against the crystallized fossil sheets of parchment within my sacred drawer. All of my poetry was naught but a precursor to hitting on you. You are the absolute crux of my life, the apex, the zenith. Nothing else will ever compare or matter in my life beyond you. You're the-".
"OKAY, STOP!"
Cake shoved her way in between the two of them, pushing them apart at the foreheads. She turned to Fionna. "Fionna, you don't need to be engagin' the queen like this. She's just gonna mess with your head 'til ya crack, then she'll wear ya down 'til you're not payin' attention and then STRIKE, and she'll have ya all to herself! Just ignore her!"
She turned to Ice Queen. "And YOU need to shut your yammerjam! We're workin' with you on somethin' important, and on a temp basis only! You said we had a mission to stick to, and that you weren't even after Fionna's heart. So you either just straighten the stick up or ship your drips right on back home!"
Silence hovered between all three parties for a moment, frowns adorning each face. Ice Queen broke first with a deep breath. "You're right, Cupcake, we ARE on a mission here. It also seems to me we are having quite some difficulty working together...".
"That's all your fault," Fionna interjected. "I'd be more than happy to just get on with things and capture Flame Prince, but YOU'D clearly rather just flirt like a weirdo."
"Fionna, you are giving yourself ENTIRELY too much credit," Ice Queen growled. "I may have said in no uncertain terms that I am attracted to you, but if we can't set that aside to work together for just one mission-".
"Then set it aside!" Fionna shouted, stomping her foot and centering a finger pointed directly at the queen's nose. "Put your heart away for a second and stop trying to butter up my buns!"
"Listen to yourself, you're completely deluded! You may have nice buns, Fionna, but they're not so nice when you can't pull your own face from between them! I asked you here to help me on the most platonic of terms, yet you STILL insist I'm trying to get in your skirt! Open your crusted eyes already!"
"Look," Fionna said through gritted teeth, "We're obviously not getting anywhere with this. Our ropes don't make a good knot."
"Yes, I agree," Ice Queen said patiently, "The unresolved tension between us makes it really hard to function as a single unit. But the fact remains-".
"Yeah, unresolved tension that you keep trying to convince me is my fault for not smoochin' you back!"
"FIONNA!" Ice Queen snarled, throwing her hands up angrily. "Quit attacking for a moment! Listen to yourself! I've asked you for nothing but your assistance! I don't need your kisses, nor your body, nor even your acceptance right now! All I want from you is a little cooperation! We have a common enemy, and I can't take him down without you!"
"Yeah," Fionna returned, "You need me. But I don't need you. You said we're close to him. I can find him from here, I bet. We can't work together, so we're better off splitting off."
Ice Queen hung limp, expression appalled and berating. She sputtered as she tried to gather her thoughts into a coherent argument. Cake stepped in for a word.
"Hang on, wait. If we're both trackin' down the same person, Ice Queen's gonna be on the same trail no matter what. So even if we try to split, we won't REALLY be splittin' for long, if ya think about it."
"Exactly!" The queen agreed, straightening up. "Whether or not we want to, we've been fated to work together! I need you to put your ego away and deal with me long enough so that we can snuff the Flame Prince, okay?"
Fionna scowled and crossed her arms, remaining silent on the matter.
The queen let out an aggravated sigh. "Would it make you happy if I prove you right? Want me to try and give you a big old victory smooch the moment we subdue the prince?"
"That's the reason I can't work with you, queenie! You and your redonk mind games! How am I supposed to trust you? You're obviously just gonna double-cross or humiliate me, I know it!"
"Fionna, this is ludicrous! If you hope at all to defeat Flame Prince, you're going to have to work with me. And if you can't work with me, then we need to psych out this distrust with some good and proper mental medicine."
"What are you even trying to say now?"
"Psy-cho-lo-gy," the queen enunciated. "We need to sort this out right now. Let's resolve the unresolved here."
"Oh, so your some kinda psycho doctor now, too?"
She stood in front of Fionna and took a deep breath, chest puffed out. "Now tell me, Fionna. Why can't you trust me?"
Fionna remained silent for a moment, staring blankly.
"Go on, tell me what's wrong with me, so we can resolve this. The sooner you let your repressed feelings out, the sooner we won't be having this flippant awkward conversation. Go on!"
Another brief moment passed before Fionna looked up into the queen's face. Her cold-burning, white eyes glared back, glowering beneath her long, wispy eyebrows. Fionna exhaled slowly.
"Ice Queen...I hate you. I'm talking honest, legit hate here."
A moment. Two moments. "Go on," the queen prompted.
"I really hate being around you. You give me this really weird feeling in my gut. Just thinking about what you said to me makes me screaming red. You're weird. You're a stalker. You're a kidnapper and a manipulator. You swing ice swords at my head, even though you say you love me. You say you're obsessed with me. Knowing that just makes me even redder. You get inside my head and skittle around like a rattlesnake tail. You jank my brain, haunt my dreams and make them nightmares. Sometimes I just wanna take my sword, ram it through your crystal-clear heart, slice your head off and throw it in the ocean, punch your body into the ground, bury it, and pee on your grave."
She paused to take a breath, noting that the queen hadn't budged, but the glow in her eyes had subsided.
"But you know why I don't do all that? Because it wouldn't make me happy. I could beat the teeth out of your skull and flush your bones down a toilet, but it wouldn't fix the damage. I'm always gonna have this scar from you. You're a scar on my life, Ice Queen, and I really hate you."
Time froze. Ice Queen cast her glance to the ground, closed her eyes, took a few breaths. Cake put a hand on Fionna's shoulder, only to have it shrugged off. The silence was louder than anything in that moment. The animals, the breeze, the occasional snap of a twig, none of it registered. The only sound any of them could hear was the thick anticipation hovering between them.
Finally, Ice Queen breathed. She looked up at Fionna, then cracked her knuckles and stretched her arms high above her head, arching her back. Her tank top inched upward, belly button glimpsing out from beneath the hem. Fionna's eyes followed it for a second, then quickly darted back up to the queen's face, which now bore the faintest hint of a gin.
"So basically, Fionna," she said, finally breaking the silence, "You're upset and bothered about the things I've done and said to you, but you can't find it in your heart to get rid of me for it. You still want to be the hero. You're playing the part of the martyr, the victim. I'm the bad guy, you're the good guy. Right?"
"What are you psychoblabbing about?"
"Fionna, this is a classic case of misplaced aggression with a strong hint of kismessitude."
"...wha? Stop using all those made-up words!" Fionna drew her sword. "My point still stands, I hate your guts!"
"Put the sword away," Ice Queen warned, taking a defensive stance.
"SHUT UP!" Fionna commanded. "I knew this wouldn't work. Enemies can never work together. They just can't! Maybe it work in movies and stories, but it doesn't work in regular life! There's just too much hate!"
"Fionna! Look, if you hate me so much, why can't you stop thinking about me? If you REALLY hate me so much, what's stopping you from killing me right here?" Her hand lit up in a blaze of ice magic.
"BECAUSE I'M BETTER THAN THAT!" Fionna shouted, taking a step closer. "I'm better than you! I don't just kill people when I get mad at em like you do! I can find a better way to prove my hate!"
"You're being ridiculous, Fionna!" Ice Queen screamed back, ice claws subconsciously forming on her fingertips as she spoke. She also moved forward, face inches from Fionna's. "There's another reason for all this hate! You're just too blind with self-righteous justice to see it!"
"Will you please start making some sense?! What are you talking about?!"
"THIS!"
Fionna froze in place as the queen lunged forward. Lips met lips. Ice-cold claws cradled her back and her head. She shivered as the chill of the queen's body pressed up against hers; her spine went rigid when she felt the queen's rigid nipple rub against her own.
And for a single moment, it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered. She was still angry, her heart was still pounding, her fingers were still wrapped tightly around the hilt of sword, but none of that seemed wrong about the situation. The entire moment just felt complete.
...until Cake kicked the queen hard across the jaw, sending her to the ground.
Fionna stood stunned for several seconds, her lips tingling with the sensation of tiny freezing needles again. She turned to see Cake staring at her expectantly. Oh, right.
She shook herself free and stood over the queen, sword pointed at her face. Her own face was burning red, even though she was actively trying to hide that fact. Ice Queen smiled beneath the skin at the satisfaction of a seed well planted.
"Ice Queen, what kinda bonehead move was that?" Cake demanded. "You told us no creepy lovegames, and then you go and smuck it up, and right in front of my face too! What's the matter with you, you sicko?!"
She replied with an ice bolt that whizzed just beside Cake's ear. Without thinking, Fionna deftly swung the sword in an upward loop, swiping the tiara from the queen's head and twirling it on the end of the blade.
"Hey! Give it back!" Ice Queen screamed, scrambling to her hands and knees. "I NEED that!"
"No," Fionna replied curtly, still trying to decide on an actual plan of action.
"Fionna, PLEASE!" the queen begged, grabbing Fionna's ankle. "You don't understand, I NEED it!"
"No," she repeated, snatching the tiara and holding it high overhead. What am I even doing with this? she asked herself.
"I...I'll die without it...you don't understand...I...NEED...THAT...TIARA!"
Fionna turned her attention to the headpiece in hand. It didn't seem particularly special. It wasn't even particularly ornate or stunning. Just a simple gold pointed headband with a couple of low-glowing rubies inlaid along the center. Yet the longer Fionna looked at it, the more she could swear that just below its surface, she could feel a ghost of a heartbeat.
"Listen to me, Fionna..." the queen again begged, chest heaving. "Why do think I've lived...for so long? Inside that tiara...is my lifeforce...if I'm separated from that...for too long...I WILL DIE...".
Fionna slowly turned her gaze from the tiara down to the queen. Her eyes were pleading, crying, her fingers reaching up and grabbing at her skirt. Frozen tears began welling up in her eyes. "Please..." she whispered.
"So I hold your life in my hands, Ice Queen," she replied coldly. "Is this how you feel all the time? Like you've got all the power in your fingertips? Like you have total control over your what's left of your enemies' own lives? To think, I could actually kill you right now...".
"...you...you wouldn't though...would you?" The queen's voice was cracked and weak, tears crystallized in a stream down her cheeks.
Cake stepped up and put a hand on Fionna's arm, looking down uncertainly at the queen. "...you gonna do it, Fi? You gonna kill her?"
Fionna took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, her own breath fogging the air. Whether because the tiara had briefly filled her with ice powers or because of the cold from the kiss, she wasn't sure. She held out her hands and unceremoniously dropped the tiara to the ground, then turned on her heel and silently walked away from the path into the thicker part of the forest.
Ice Queen snatched up the crown and held it closely to her breast, whispering to herself as she slowly regain her breath and stopped sobbing.
Cake looked down on her. "...you're as pathetic as ever, Ice Queen. We don't need you, anyway. This is our breakin' point. We're done here. Hope you're happy with the way things turned out."
She waited a moment, then scampered off on all fours after Fionna, leaving the queen to recover on her own.
Moments later, the queen drew a slow, steady breath and returned the tiara to her head, standing up and brushing herself off. She arched her back, stretching until it cricked, then slouched forward with a sigh.
"Have you forgotten so quickly that I'm going to catch up with you again anyway?" she said aloud. "I still want to see Flame Prince completely subdued, you know...".
There are a lot of things I want, actually, she thought. I want my home back. I want some company. I want to be loved.
But she decided that right now, more than anything else in the world, she really wanted a glass of root beer.