It was a very close vote and thank you to all who did enter your vote. It looks like Fionna is going to end up with Marshall Lee. So people, you have chosen the ending of the story. Sorry Farlie shippers but Fiolee has won.
I'm sorry it was a very long wait for you guys but I'm back and this story shall continue. Last we left off, Charlie and Fionna just reached the crater and they are walking around it, trying to find clues to the end of the human race.
The song that Charlie sings in this chapter was generously submitted by DarkMousyRulezAll. So thank you very much for your entry. Still taking song requests but not too many will make it in since this story is almost finished :( But not yet so don't worry!
The little dance scene that's coming up is loosely based off of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 film when Harry and Hermione dance together. If you've seen the movie, you'll get it.
Disclaimer: No. Sorry, I don't own it.
Fionna hacked a cough as she inhaled a bunch of dust. Wind was picking up and was blowing dirt into the two humans' faces. Charlie was lucky he had glasses on so he could avoid getting anything in his eyes but Fionna wasn't having any luck with that. She kept having to pause and pick something out of her eye every so often. She dug through her pack to see if she had anything that could cover her eyes but out of everything she had originally brought, goggles was not one of them. Their little exploration of the crater seemed fruitless so far. Nothing seemed to click with Charlie's research and Fionna's assumptions and everything they had put into and expected didn't seem to matter anymore.
By nightfall on the second evening, they were huddled around the campfire that Fionna had built. Charlie was scribbling something down in his commonplace notebook and Fionna was poking at the flames, an unsatisfied expression on her face.
"This was a waste of time," she said angrily, tossing the stick into the fire. "Nothing's here! Why I thought that I'd find the answer here is beyond me."
Charlie glanced up at her expression but it wasn't one of anger. It was more disappointed and sad than angry. Fionna felt guilty for dragging Charlie all the way out here for nothing since the crater had yet to serve a purpose to their journey. She put him through so much and for what? An empty hole in the ground?
"Fi... this is what we've been looking for," Charlie pointed out gently. "We've finished our quest. And after a little more time of searching, if we can't find anything, then we'll head back to Aaa. Okay?"
Fionna sighed and hugged her knees. "I don't know. There's so much going on in my head... I can't even think straight."
"That's a sign of an intelligent mind," he said, chuckling a little.
"Very funny," she said, smirking a little. "But I don't think it's intelligence. It's more of a... uh... clutter up in there." She knocked her fist to her head and made a clucking sound with her tongue.
"Are you calling yourself crazy?" he said, returning to his notebook, erasing a line.
"I am crazy," Fionna said, flopping down on her back, a poof of dust erupting from beneath her. "Crazy brain."
Charlie laughed and continued to write. "Fionna, you aren't crazy. Acting it, maybe, but you're not mentally."
"You obviously haven't spent enough time with me," Fionna said, spreading her arms out to the side. "And it's been months. I think you're in denial."
He shook his head with a chaste smile. "I'm just telling the truth, Fi." He paused his writing as a pain flew through his stomach. He tensed his expression and made a small groaning noise. Fionna sat up and looked at him, concerned.
"You okay?" she asked him.
The pain ebbed away and he nodded. "Yeah... I'm fine."
The next morning, they walked around the crater, Charlie taking several notes and toying with rubble. Fionna kept eyeing the farther holes that bubbled and radiated heat, her insides squirming with an instinct to stay away from it. She and Charlie spent the next day searching the ruins outside the crater, Adam flying above them and looking for things that might interest the humans. Every so often, Charlie would feel a sharp pang in his stomach but would shake it off at once like it hadn't happened. His foot was bothering him too but he didn't pay much attention to it. Fionna kept questioning his strange behavior but Charlie had no way to explain it to her. He simply said his stomach was upsetting him and that it was no big deal.
A week had gone by and these pains were getting worse. But Charlie wasn't really letting it get to him. He was writing in his notebook again as he and Fionna sat in the crater again, another fire cracking merrily in the middle of the two. Another pain passed through but Charlie ignored it, snarling slightly.
"I miss home," Fionna said suddenly, making him look up from his notes.
"Our journey is almost over," he promised. "Another day or two, yeah?"
She didn't respond. Charlie smiled and then started to hum. He stood up from his spot and extended a hand to her. She looked at it and then up at him, confused. He was grinning, still smiling a courteous smile that made her face burn. She took his hand and he helped her stand. He placed his other hand on her waist and she, by some odd instinct she couldn't explain, placed her other hand on his shoulder. Their intertwined hands locked and he began to lead them in a clumsy waltz.
Suddenly, he leaned a little closer and started to sing to her.
These years out here in the middle of this
Wasteland, I thought I was the
Only one to feel isolation's frigid kiss
But being with you here, I see
That absence really made my heart
Grow fonder
Fionna stared at him with awe, her mouth open slightly. He was still smiling at her. With a wink, Charlie twirled her under his arm slowly and then brought her back into the dance.
I've learned so much from you,
And you learned from me, and under the twilight stars
I've never felt so alive, so honestly true
To myself. And this bond of ours
Feels so much closer, so much
Stronger
The flames seemed to dance in time with them as the tempo picked up. Charlie and Fionna spun as on, Fionna laughing a little in surprise and giddy excitement.
Oh, Fionna, what I'm trying to say,
Is hard to put in words for me. This
Brain of mine won't show me the way
To tell you how I feel right now. Is
This just how life goes on? But even so
I need to tell you I feel, right here with you
Oh, Fionna, you're the only other human I have met
And I can't ever ever try to forget
That sparkle in your cerulean eyes when you look at me, and
Hey, of course, how you taught me to fight, and
Before I get to carried away
I need to say...
The dance stopped slowly and Charlie seemed to be spacing out.
Why can't I say...
Charlie paused the dance and spoke, "How much you mean to me? You mean... so much..." He let go of her hands like they were burning him.
"Charlie?!" Fionna cried as he crumpled to his knees. He was hugging his stomach with crossed arms, groaning. "Are you sick? What's wrong?"
"... To me," Charlie choked out. He gritted his teeth and started to shake. "Oh, Glob, Fionna. I don't think that was a puddle."
"Wha... what are you talking about?" Fionna said nervously, crouching down and trying to help him up.
"Don't touch me!" he snapped suddenly, startling Fionna and making her back away at once. He looked up, his green eyes no longer a mossy, bottle color that gave him his charm. They were becoming almost distant and grey. "I... I'm sorry, Fionna I..."
Charlie's voice was wavering in and out of a weird, high pitched voice and his own British accent. Fionna knew the high pitched voice anywhere. It was the voice of the Lich Queen...
"Fionna... help me," Charlie moaned in his own voice.
Fionna was petrified. She had no idea what to do. Her fear of the Lich and fear for Charlie's well-being were clashing. She desperately wanted to help him but was terrified that the Lich would kill her. What was causing this?
The puddle! Fionna thought, the answer clicking at once. It wasn't rain. It was the same radioactivity that created the Lich into what she was. Charlie was on his stomach, his green eyes finally fully grey and then melted into black. Fionna felt tears roll down her cheeks, wanting to help him but didn't know how. Grinding her teeth, she rushed over and tried to help him to his feet. Charlie growled angrily and thrust her from him. His black eyes were flickering back and forth from black to green, as if his logical mind was trying to remind himself who he was.
He lunged at her on the Lich's will and sent a powerful punch into her stomach. Fionna tried to fight back and swore she saw him crying, knowing that the real Charlie was trying to fight himself from doing this to her. The Lich was overpowering him and slowly got Fionna to her knees. With a quick blow to her head, Fionna blacked out.
What was going on? Was that little puddle enough to turn someone as logical and sophisticated as Charlie into a monster like the Lich Queen? Fionna was horrified and was so lost. When she woke up, Charlie was a few feet away, huddling over a patch of dirt, his finger dragging in the ground, drawing out some sort of shape. He was mumbling something inaudible so Fionna couldn't understand him. On Charlie's other side, there was a strange object type machine that was winking lights all over and making small beeping noises.
The Lich's voice floated through Charlie's mouth. "This is it. After so many years, I can finally enter the multiverse and destroy all humanity."
"Too late," Fionna moaned. "You've already done that!"
Charlie turned, glaring at her. "What are you talking about, child?"
"You've taken over Charlie... I'm the only sensible human left," Fionna said, sitting up and coughing, tasting blood in her mouth. "Let him go."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Fionna," he replied. "I've been waiting for a host ever since you locked me in Prisma's room years ago. I was able to get my spirit into the same essence that created me and just waited and waited. Whether it was human or animal... I would be able to return to Aaa and eliminate you. But this... this is perfect! I can use an old machine I hid from Becky long ago that I was to use to enter the multiverse."
"Why the stuff are you telling me?" Fionna demanded. "I can stop you now."
Charlie chuckled darkly. "No you can't. I have this boy under my control and the only way to get rid of me... is to kill him." He grinned deviously as the color in Fionna's face drained.
"You... you..." Fionna couldn't even speak. Anger was rising from the pit of her stomach into her face, her teeth grinding together. "How dare you?"
Charlie stood and started to toy with the machine. Fionna watched, her legs felt like lead and couldn't advance to stop him. Her heart was practically breaking as she watched him. Her Charlie was gone and Fionna couldn't save him. She failed him.
Suddenly, Charlie hunched over, groaning. He started to shake and a mangled version of his voice came out.
"N-no," he said, trying to back away from the machine. "I won't do this."
"Yes you will," the Lich's voice returned.
He pressed a large button and the machine began to splutter and shake, vibrating violently. The force of it sent Charlie flying backwards and Fionna found the strength to stand. A blast was coming right towards Charlie and her hero instinct took over, wanting to save Charlie the soul, not the Lich. She pushed him out of the way and felt a raging pain in her right arm. The blast expanded and then everything went completely black...
Cake, Gumball, and Marshall Lee were making their way up the icy slope to go and visit Ice Queen when they saw a large light in the distance. Cake stopped abruptly and stared at it. Marshall and Gumball followed her gaze and felt a plunge of fear in their stomachs. The light faded and they looked at one another.
"What the zop was that?" Marshall demanded.
"I have no idea," Cake said. "But my tail is freaking out."
Gumball bit his lip but didn't say anything. He followed his two friends up the slope, his mind chugging with ideas and theories with what that light might have been. When they entered the palace, they found Ice Queen lying on the floor, her eyes wide and spaced out. Marshall cried her name and ran over, the others at his heels.
"Simone, are you okay?" he said, trying to wake her up. "Simone! Listen to me!"
Her eyes suddenly shifted over to him and then breathed hard. "She can help me..." Then she went limp. Her chest was rising and falling, showing that she was still alive. But Marshall was freaking out, exchanging terrified looks with his two friends, unsure of what to do.
-0-
When she opened her eyes, she was staring up at a white ceiling instead of an overcast starry night. She was in a soft bed and the pain in her shoulder was gone. The fear in her stomach had ebbed away and she suddenly felt at ease for a spilt second. After she registered what was going on and that this wasn't right, she sat bolt upright in her bed, breathing hard. She got out of bed and found her feet hitting a hard wood floor in a cramped little room.
Looking around, she saw another bed on the wall parallel to her own, a bedside table in between them. A wardrobe was pushed up against a wall opposite the beside table and a desk was underneath a large window at the edge of the other bed. Two doors were seen; one leading to a bathroom and another one leading to the outside of the room.
Fionna looked into a mirror that was in the room and saw a girl she didn't know staring back at her. She had waist length, blonde hair and big blue eyes. Plump, peachy skin with a curvy body. A grey T-shirt with a faded band name on it was on her torso, falling just below her knees, showing that it wasn't her shirt or it simply wasn't her size and cotton, baby blue yoga pants were on her body too, cozy socks with little bunnies on her feet topped off the outfit.
Fionna couldn't believe what she was seeing. So many questions were buzzing through her head. What happened? What was going on? How did she get here? Where was she? And, more importantly, who was she?
And that's the end of Chapter Nineteen! Thank you all so much for reading. I know this chapter was kinda jumbled up and random (sorta) and I'm sorry about that.
Remember: the ending to this story is not random. It was one of two ideas I had and you guys voted so... yeah. Charlie was gonna get possessed one way or the other so this chapter doesn't technically count for the vote.
Make sure you review! Please? :D And, as always:
See you next time!