3

Finn and Princess Bubblegum were once again soaring through the air on Lady Rainicorn's back. They had determined the best course of action was to scour the land, asking everyone they knew about Jake. The Candy and Ice Kingdoms were out, of course. PB had ordered her Banana Guards to review all the surveillance footage from the past two days and they had come up with nothing. And Ice King would have captured Jake if he had entered the old wretch's domain.

Finn had compiled a list of likely places and people to ask. Currently, they were on the lookout for Lumpy Space Princess, who often made a camp in the woods just outside Candy Kingdom. His eyes raked the ground with intensity, focused as he was on the task at hand once again.

Princess Bubblegum watched him, smiling slightly. She had brought along more of the extra-strength Rejuvenation serum, mixed into a flask of bug milk. If the effects of his current dose began to wear off, she would suggest a break and give him another without his being any the wiser. Confident in her plan, she resumed scanning the ground below as well, looking for any sign of a camp.

It was Finn who first noticed a faint glow through a gap in the trees. "PB! Look Down there!" he exclaimed, pointing.

The princess looked in the direction Finn was indicating and saw it. She could tell from the light's flickering quality that it was a fire. "Lady, take us lower," she said, and the Rainicorn descended, circling the area around the fire. It resolved into a clearing, unkempt and strewn with garbage. The odor was evident even from above their position above the trees.

"That's gotta be LSP," said Finn. "Lady, can you take us down there?"

Lad said something Finn took to mean "yes" and swooped even lower, snaking through the trees on her way to the ground. She touched down lightly and her two passengers dismounted, picking their way between bushes and piles of filth.

Finn could see LSP, her back turned on them. He noticed that they were approaching her camp from almost exactly the same position as he and Jake had once before. Marceline had tricked them into believing they were vampires and they had snuck up on LSP in an attempt to scare her. Somehow the thought of his friend didn't hurt as bad as he expected.

Finn's musings were interrupted when Bubblegum stepped on a branch. The sound rent the air like a gunshot. LSP started and turned around, eyes wide.

"Oh mah Glob! Who's there? Stay away or I swear I'll lumping kill you!" shoutes LSP in alarm.

"Relax," said Finn. "Just me and Peebles." Princess Bubblegum waved.

"We kinda need to ask you something important," said Finn.

"Ugh! Like, fine," said LSP, rolling her eyes.

Princess Bubblegum took over. "Jake has gone missing. We've been searching for him for two days and we were wondering if you might have seen him anywhere?"

LSP thought for a moment. "Nah," she said, "but I totally heard him earlier. He was being really loud and he woke me up! I was like, 'what the lump?' He was yelling about going to the Fire Kingdom to tell somebody what a jerk you are." She pointed at Finn.

Finn felt a tiny stab of guilt, which was quickly overwhelmed by new thoughts. Marcy tricked me… Jake never saw her after he left! She must have been hiding in the Treehouse the whole time and saw it happen- that's how she knew… But why is she acting like she is now if-

His thought was once again cut short by PB. "What is she talking about, Finn?"

"Uh… I sorta got into it with Jake a couple days ago and he left. Said he was going to Lady's, but he must have decided to go tell Flame Princess instead. Marceline said he went and told her, but she was lying because she said he had calmed down and-"

"Finn! If Jake's gone to tell Flame Princess we have to try to stop him! You know how unstable she is, and if he presents you in a bad light and makes her mad she'll explode!" PB said urgently.

"Oh Glob!" said Finn. "Lady, come on, we need to hurry!"

The earth trembled beneath them as a massive explosion set the distant horizon aglow.

*Marceline opened her eyes and she felt the ground shake. She was still sitting against the rock in her cave, thinking. Now she wondered what had caused the explosion. She could see the fiery glow in the distance.

She immediately thought of Finn and (to a lesser degree) Bonnie. She had to make sure they were safe. She launched herself into the air, out of her a cave and into the night, her long ebony hair flapping wildly in a sudden warm breeze.

*Lady Rainicorn raced toward the Fire Kingdom, Finn and Bubblegum trying desperately to hold onto her undulating back. The air grew hotter with every second and Finn knew why.

The princess of the Fire Kingdom was a very hot-headed and temperamental individual. Any emotion at all could easily trigger a cataclysmic reaction if she felt it strongly enough. She had come close to burning Finn and Jake alive numerous times and had even set fire to an entire village simply because she thought Finn was toying with her emotions. She was a force to be reckoned with. Finn was certain that Jake had said something to set her off.

Oh no, Finn thought, what did he do? What did I do?

His suspicions were soon confirmed. Flame Princess, at least four times her usual size, was rampaging across the plain ahead.

"Lady, let me down!" Finn yelled. He jumped off her back four feet above the ground and rolled up onto his feet. As he ran across the burning plain toward his girlfriend, he called, "You guys stay here! I have to deal with this," over his shoulder.

"FP! STOP!" he screamed. Flame Princess paused and looked down at him. "You'll burn the whole world up if you keep doing this!"

The heat lessened as FP shrunk to her normal size. She stood still as Finn approached, her face unreadable.

"FP, what-" Finn began.

"YOU JERK!" Flame Princess shrieked. "How could you do that to your best friend!? What does that say about you!? I should have known you were bad news, but I let you fool me!" She shot a fireball at Finn. He ducked but one of the ears on his hat was singed off.

"I don't ever want to see you again! Stay away from me! You made me do this! IT'S YOUR FAULT! If you hadn't been so mean, this wouldn't have happened. YOU made me kill him! YOU!" she roared. Streaks of flaming tears flowed from her eyes, burning the grass.

"What?" said Finn, uncomprehending.

"Jake's dead! Because he told me what you did and I got mad. I blew up and now he's dead! Are you happy!?" yelled FP.

"Jake…" the color drained out of Finn's face as the news sank it. It couldn't be true… Not this… Not now…

"He's dead, you idiot," FP sobbed, the grass at her feet now completely burned away. "And I'm sorry for him. Sorry for what I did, but not for you! You deserve to hurt. Goodbye, Finn the human JERK!" She turned and walked away, leaving a trail of fire in her wake.

Author's note: Probably only one more long chapter after this. Please let me know what you think about this turn of events.