the the weeks pass and I don't see flame prince again. I begin to feel sad. What if he hates me? Why is it so impossible for me to like a guy! first Gumball turns me down, then my new crush ignores me. Yes, I did finally admit to myself that I had a crush on him, but he just had to up and disappear without a trace except for the burns on my body.
i decided that I wanted to visit him. Cake eventually agreed to take me to firita, who cast flame shield on me and led me to the fire kingdom. I immediately knew that the largest volcano with the immense castle, which was made of lava rock and had swirling, lively cones of flame coming from its tall roof, was our destination. We head toward it, first riding on a boat through the molten sea and then we hike up the not too lengthy path. Eventually we are walking through the elegant doors. As soon as I enter, I see a huge glass lantern. It brought tears to my eyes to see him trapped like that.
On the walls of the corridor, I see that the framework has some handy little footholds in it, and that there is a crawl space on the upper wall that would give me easy access to flame prince.
leaping into the small crevice, I shimmy my body along the warm stone beneath me. I eventually come out right on top of flame prince. I hold onto one of the ropes holding up his lantern. Expertly, I climb down and tap the glass three times.
"Fionna?" He questions.
"yeah, it's me. I'm busting you out of here!" I reach out my hand, but he refuses to take it.
"What is wrong? Don't you want to get out of this place?" He nods, but still refuses to join me. He takes a deep breath.
"I-I didn't want to hurt you again. I realized that my mother was right. I am evil and I must be locked up in here or I'll destroy Aaa."
"that is not true!" I spit "you are a good person, and no matter how much accidental damage you may be capable of doing, no one deserves to live in a cage... Or in this case a lamp." I reach out my hand more forcefully, but he takes it this time. I drag him onto the fiery rope and we climb our way to freedom.
"wanna quick ride out of here?" He asks. I nod and he takes my hand, whipping me onto his back. Soon we are flying through the air on his fire energy.
"this place really is beautiful, in an underworld sort of way." I say
"it is our home." He says
" wow, are you getting warmer?" I say his skin is more than a pleasant warmth now, more of a stuffy hot day.
"no... The shield must be wearing off!" He zooms even faster and finally sets me on the ground in front of my house.. It was perfect timing, because the shield's blue began to flicker on my body.
"Hey, we should get you a house." I think aloud.
"why?"
"Well, you need a proper place to live, and you surely can't go back to that lamp."
"okay" we scout around for awhile until I see a little cave. I remember exploring it before, since it was right near our treehouse. It was completely uninteresting and perfect living quarters for FP.
"This is wonderful!" he exclaims.
"well, uhm, I'm gonna go. It is pretty late human time and I am tired." He nods and I wave goodbye, heading home.
at my house, I climb into bed. cake comes over to me.
"he is going to be living in that cave i found when i was six." i say. "Isn't that cool? I couldn't stand to think of him in that lantern..."
"ooh girl, you got it BAD!" Says cake.
"what are you even talking about?"
"okay, tell me exactly what happened when you picked him up today." She morphs her leg into a large plush couch and makes little glasses on her eyes. She then "holds" a notebook and pencil and sits in a chair. I climb on the sofa and tell her everything.
"aww! Sweet babies! He likes you!"
"What! Really? How can you tell?"
"He cares about you! He would've spent his whole life in that lantern if you hadn't rescued him, all because he didn't want to hurt you!"
"really?" I blush. Now that i knew he liked me, did i like him? I remember caring too much at that spring, and being afraid of him. What did this mean? That i had liked him but was simply untrusting? I also recall how i had forgiven him And had told him that he wasn't evil and didn't belong in a cage today.
"OH MY GLOB! I think i really do like him!"
"oh, don't worry, hon! Auntie Cake is gonna make this HAPPEN!" i could practically see the wheels in her head turning. "All you have to do is ask him out tomorrow! Let mama do the rest!"
•••••
I meander down the dirt path which leads to the cave. I feel the pulsating, beautiful sounds of nature. Soon I arrive at the cave only to see a strategicly placed pile of rocks forming a sort of doorway. I walk inside and see how well the fire elemental has cleaned up. He now has a rock bed with some wierd e sheets that I am guessing must be enchanted, and a dresser. He also has a table, a sort of kitchen set, a shelf, and a pile of candles. It looks very homey.
"Whoa, it looks nice in here. You really made it your own!"
"thanks, fionna." He says, looking up from the book he reads while sitting on his bed. It has the strange markings of the fire kingdom.
"Is that a good book?" I ask, making conversation. He nods. "what is it about?"
"it is just a book of spells and incantations." He says.
"maybe you could teach me some of your language." I say.
"mabey, but you'll have to start using flame shield. I have a guy coming with some literally killer lava and fire carpet swatches."
"that's fine." I pause for a bit. "Uhm, I was thinking that we should celebrate your new house by going out to dinner."
"I don't know fionna, it sounds kind of dangerous."
"Well, your mom thinks that we should date, so why don't we go on a proper one. We might as well humor her. We could even just be buds for dinner. Okay?"
"yeah, I guess. So, where are we going?"
"I don't know, cake is setting it up."
"okay then. How about I come to the tree house at eight?"
"sure, see you then." I retreat politely. Inside, however, I was squealing like the thirteen year old girl I am. I run back to the tree house, only to see Marshall lee floating by the door.
"hey," he says to me. His dark hair blows casually around as he sits back in the air. He swapped out his usual plaid flannel for a gray muscle shirt. His two bite holes are very prominent today. He also exchanged his converse for army boots.
"'sup!" I am out of breath and sweaty but I don't care. My hair is probably disgusting and knotted and my clothes are covered in leaves and dirt from running through the woods. I also have about five cuts on my leg and arm from a certain thorn bush, but I felt as if the moon had decided to cover everything in a rainbow sheen of happiness.
"okay, what is it. You look like cake would if she won the fish 'n catnip year supply contest. Only with two year supplies. And some yarn. And ten mice."
"Oh, nothing. But I will have you know, I have officially moved on from Gumball."
"that's great, girl! He was only tearing you down. So, 'moved on' means you found someone else?"
"Yup."
"Who is.."
"a prince..."
"We'll, that narrows it down, Fi."
"he is the prince of the fire kingdom."
"WHAT?"
"what's the big deal?"
"he is made of fire. How will you two ever make it work?"
"we are gonna have our first date tomorrow."
"okay, good luck. I assume you would want me to tell Gumball, right. Y'know to make him jealous."
"no, I just want you to make sure a rumor gets around that I'm dating someone. don't tell him who it is. If you flipped as much as you did, I can't imagine what his reaction will be. I wouldn't be able to bear it if he yelled at me."
"but your over him."
"Yeah. In a way he is my employer. It would still feel really bad. Plus, I want to be all mysterious. I want him to know what he is missing, and I just want to see if he ever liked me even the slightest bit."
"Wow. That's actually kind of cruel Fionna" I hang my head in sorrow. "I never new you had it in you! This is good. You are right to deal him his own medicine. Being so incredibly, annoyingly nice to everyone canNOT be healthy." He nuggies me and gives me a hug. Marshall lee has always been like an older brother to me. He was the closest person in Aaa to human. He is half human, actually. The other half is demon. Plus he was turned into a vampire. He never explained that much, it must bring up hard memories.
"just know that if this kid hurts you, he's going to be put under the jar, okay?"
"wha?"
"ugh, I mean deprived of the oxygen needed for fire to burn, 'Kay? Sheesh, pinkie isn't the only one with brains, you know."
"I don't care what happens, you're NOT killing him. It's not his fault."
"Whatever you say," he puts his hands up defensively. "Man, you do have it BAD"
I playfully shove him. "Shut up."
He only chuckles. "Good night fionna"
"good night Marshall" he glides off soundlessly in the other direction.
I enter the house.
"SQEE! How'd it go girl? Ado we have ourselves a date?"
"yep, tomorrow at eight. It's sort of a date for celebrating him having a new home away from his mother."
"ooh! This is great! Wait, TOMORROW? EIGHT O'CLOCK! You gave me absolutely no prep time!" She mumbles to herself about canceling the swans. Whatever that means...
"okay, girl. I'm going to have to pull an all-nighter on this one. Since your sleeping for the both of us, go to bed now."
"aw! But I was gonna train today until nine! It's only seven!"
"SLEEP!" She grows larger and pushes me on the bed."'night Fi!" She runs off to our adventure office, which consists of a desk, some paper, and a telephone.
"night cake.." I rest my head and find myself drifting off faster than I would have thought.
•••••
"fionna, you look so beautiful, I'm so happy cake put this together for us" says the man made of fire. He sits before me on a beach. We watch the waves. I can tell that since he knows he won't be touching them, he can further see the soothing beauty of the crystal blue lapping against the firm, white sand.
"Me too." my friend had set up a tiki style hut with a little table and had set up a tropical dinner. We were now full and sitting on two towels. One is enchanted, and it emits flames. The other is a simple towel. He looks at me, and then leans down. His hot lips plant on mine and we kiss for a while. The next thing I know, I feel a cool sensation surrounding my body. though I know it is rude, I open my eyes only to see the salty ocean around me. The deep blue suggests we were very deep. I realize who it is clinging to me, and attempt to swim up. He does not let me. He pulls me down to his chest and I fight him. He refuses to reach the air.
After a few minutes, only a small cloud of ash takes his place. My tears roll down harshly, but I cannot tell what comes from my own body and what comes from the ocean. I have lost the will to save myself. I wish to banish myself to this abyss of solitude I am so very afraid of. I couldn't save him. I don't deserve to breathe air again.
and I don't. Soon I suffocate and simply let myself drift off, knowing I will see him again when I ascend into Glob world.
I wake with a start.
I'm still alive. We never drowned! I feel overcome with relief. Cake comes in with a breakfast platter. It consists of my favorite: strawberry French toast with butter, syrup, and powdered sugar, and hash browns with ketchup. I gulp down my chocolate milk with each delicious bite while also re telling the dream to Cake. What can I say? I'm a skilled multi-tasker.
"It was just nerves hon, now go take a shower." I slowly drag myself up and jump into the hot water. it pours over me as I scrub my hair with shampoo and conditioner. I shave and wrap a towel around me. the only comfortable item in my closet is my white tank top, yellow sweater, and gray sweat pants.
"What are you doing? We have to get you ready girl!"
"What? It is ten in the flipping morning. I wanna play BMO." I begin to play a game on the little teal computer. Cake harrumphs and double- and triple and quadruple- checks all her plans.
I get a sandwich for lunch and am whisked off to my closet. Cake chooses a simple lilac dress with violet spaghetti straps and a matching sash it has a flowing skirt that goes from the sash at my upper waist to my thighs in a slightly pleated strip. It goes the same length as my skirt, but I am wearing pantyhose underneath it. This goes down to we're my feet are encased in silver flats. I finally convince her to let me keep my hat on, but I have to carry a purse in payment. Cake also curled my bangs a bit and added some makeup.
I look at her clock to see that it is seven thirty. I glance at myself in the mirror. I look stunning. My eye shadow matches the colors of my dress and shoes and I have light pink lip gloss and only a teeny bit of blush.
I can only think of how different this dress is from the one I wore to PG's ball. This was much more classy and... Grown up. I sit there, admiring myself, and then I hear a knocking at the door.
show time. I couldn't wait.