WHOA! Did I just blow your minds with that last chapter? I did? Tch, good. But I do hope you enjoyed it. And since everyone is asking me to do an alternate ending if Fionna ends up with Charlie, I want to know whether or not you guys want me to put up the poll again. It was a very close margin so I think it's only fair to let those would didn't vote vote. So let me know in reviews if you want to poll back up and the voting will start again.
To be honest, I'm not all that crazy about making an alternate ending to Farlie or Fiolee or whatever. It just defeats the purpose of the story line and what you have decided. But if you want the poll up again, LET ME KNOW!
These next few chapters have nothing to do with shipping or anything so this was going to happen if it be Farlie or Fiolee. So yeah...
And where is Fionna? What the fluff is going on in this crazy mixed up place? Let's find out shall we?
Disclaimer: lolnope
She tugged nervously at her hair, biting her lip. She was so lost and confused and felt like the whole world was spinning. Fionna found herself getting dressed without really meaning to but let it happen anyway. She got into what she believed were her day clothes. They were similar to her old outfit back in Aaa, the sky blue shirt and dark blue skirt. Fionna found a bunny hat in the drawer but when she pulled it out, she found that it was attached to a hoodie. Fionna pulled that on and then put on some knee high socks and black sneakers.
How she got dressed so calmly was beyond her. She didn't even know what was going on. This wasn't normal. That girl in the mirror couldn't be her! That was impossible. And where the heck was she?
The door opened behind her and she turned to see a girl with light brown hair with white streaks in her bangs bounce inside. She wore a white polo shirt and tan short shorts. The girl smiled.
"Oh, good! You're awake," she said pleasantly, closing the door behind her. "I was just coming in here to get you up."
"Uh..." Fionna had no idea who this girl was. But there was something familiar about her.
"What's wrong, Fionna?" the girl asked. "You look pale as a ghost."
"I'm just... Cake?" Fionna said, staring at the girl.
"What?" she responded, raising her eyebrows.
"You're Cake, right?" Fionna said.
"Yeah. Who else would I be?" Cake said, crossing her arms.
"You're a human."
"Aren't we all?"
Fionna couldn't believe her eyes. She was looking at someone that she knew for her entire life but was so unsure that it was really her. The supposed Cake had an expression of genuine concern. She approached Fionna and placed her hands on her shoulders.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Cake said, her eyes searching Fionna's face. She put her hands on Fionna's cheeks. "You're all clammy."
"I'm fine!" Fionna insisted, stepping back, her heart racing, her mind reeling with thoughts and fears. "Where are we?"
Cake was horrified. "Uh... Adventuring Adolescents Academy. We've been going here since we turned eleven. It's our school."
School? Fionna thought. That explains the dorm room... but why... what? Fionna was so lost. What was she doing here?
There was a knock on the door and Cake allowed entry, not taking her eyes off of Fionna. In stepped two boys. One was tall with light skin and raven hair. His auburn eyes were sparkling in the light and he wore a white dress shirt and blood red tie, black slacks and black shoes topping it off. The other boy was just as tall and had pink hair and pink eyes, wearing a similar outfit but with a blue tie.
"You two coming or what?" said the black haired boy.
"Hold on, Marshall," Cake said. "Fionna's freaking out about something."
"About what?" Marshall asked.
"I dunno... Gumball what do you think?" Cake said, turning around finally and facing the other boy.
Gumball shrugged. "Well... what did she do before bed last night?"
"The usual. Homework, internet, and then video games before hitting the hay," Cake said. She faced Fionna. "Have any nightmares, sugar?"
Was that all a nightmare? Her life in Aaa, her friends, the supernatural world around her? Was it all fake and this was reality? Fionna didn't know what else to do so she simply nodded and Marshall grinned, flashing his pearly white teeth at her.
"Ah, that's it!" Marshall said, striding over and looping his arm around her shoulders. "Just a little nightmare trauma. No big deal, Cake. Just leave her be, yeah?"
"You think so?" Cake said, chewing on her tongue.
"It's most likely that," Gumball agreed. "C'mon, let's get to lunch. Flame Prince and BMO are waiting for us."
"Aw, let Fionna breath for a second for crying out loud. She looks positively shaken up," Cake snapped at Gumball.
"No... I'm okay," Fionna said softly, walking out of Marshall Lee's arm and heading towards the door. "Let's go. BMO... uh, yeah, BMO must be waiting. And Flame Prince." Her voice was hollow, unsure of what else to say.
Gumball nodded in agreement. "And I'm sure that Charlie-."
"Charlie!?" Fionna said, a familiar name lighting her mood. "Where is he?"
"Probably in the library. He'll most likely be- hey!" Cake said as Fionna pushed past the boys and ran down the hall. Her legs were leading her and she wasn't even paying attention to where she was going. She found herself being pushed by other people who actually said hello to her. She ignored them and soon found herself in front of the library. She was breathing hard but a feeling in her gut was pushing her to go inside, knowing that someone would be waiting for her.
Fionna opened the door and wandered through the book shelves and then found who she was looking for. Charlie was huddled over a pile of books, his hair neat and perfect like it had been the first day she met him, an ironed white dress shirt and a brown tie around his neck. His green eyes were practically glowing and his glasses were no longer chipped and seemed to be made of crystal. She slowly approached him, hoping that he was okay and that the Lich was gone from his body.
"Charlie?" she said softly.
The young boy looked behind his shoulder and then beamed. "Fionna!" he said excitedly, standing up and rushing over to her. They embraced and Fionna felt so happy to see him okay.
"I was so worried that you wouldn't be here," Charlie said. "I'm so sorry about what happened." Fionna thanked Glob that he actually remembered who she was and their adventures together. That means it wasn't all a dream. Knowing that fact calmed Fionna greatly.
"What did happen?" Fionna asked, letting go of him so she can look into his face.
"I was suddenly taken over by some sort of powerful being... Whatever it was, it forced me to salvage this strange machine from the wreckage and rebuild it. I realized that it was a multiverse portal," Charlie said. "I believe this place is one of the millions of dimensions that our universe possess. Our conscience minds back in the Aaa realm have been sent here and have replaced the Fionna and Charlie that originally lived here. It's all very scientific but humans had yet to fully understand it before the world ended."
"Sorta like Prisma's room," Fionna said. "This book called The Enchiridion held a portal to other dimensions and that machine must have the same ability." She frowned. "Is the Lich still in there?"
He shook his head. "No. I dunno where she went but... we have to find out, right?"
"We will. And once we get out of here...! Wait, can we get out of here?"
"I'm not sure. But we have our heads so we can figure it out together. And we have a huge library that, I'm sure, has something we can look up."
The door opened and the two of them turned to see Cake, Gumball, and Marshall Lee panting, obviously out of breath from running after Fionna. Cake regained herself first and drew a breath.
"What the hell was that about?" Cake demanded.
"Uh... nothing," Fionna lied. "That's Cake," she whispered to Charlie. She nodded to Gumball. "That's Gumball." And then to Marshall. "And that's Marshall Lee."
"So it seems," he said smiling. "Hopefully when we get back to Aaa, I can meet the real deal."
"What are you to whispering?" Marshall said.
"Nothing important," Charlie spoke, stepping beside Fionna. "Let's go, yes?"
The other three exchanged looks and shrugged, turning around and walking out the door, Fionna and Charlie at their heels.
The hall ways were like mazes to Fionna. She had no idea where she was going half the time but her legs were carrying her this way and that to places she was supposed to go and her mind remembered combinations to lockers to passwords to websites that she had no idea about. It was creepy to be living in another Fionna's body and not her own. Fionna just wanted to go home now, not wanting to intrude in a world she didn't understand anymore. This was a place she and Charlie didn't belong.
She had arrived to this world on a weekend and soon found herself attending classes. Learning things that she didn't remember and listening to teachers she didn't know. Fionna would often drift off, unaware that it was against the rules to do so. Her last class of the day was history and Fionna was happy to end it and go back into the library with Charlie to look up a bunch of information on the multiverses. Fionna entered the classroom and sat beside Charlie and Cake, who smiled and waved to her. The teacher was facing away from Fionna, writing on the whiteboard. She had long brown hair and Fionna could see that she wore glasses too. When the bell rang, the woman turned and Fionna's breath caught in her throat as Simone Petrikov faced the class.
"Good afternoon, everyone," she said. "Please take out a piece of paper so we may begin the notes."
-0-
"It's her!" Fionna hissed to Charlie as they strode through the library, picking out books that could be useful. "Our history teacher is Simone Petrikov."
"Who is she again?" Charlie said, glancing over at the librarian who, in Fionna's eyes, held a strong resemblance to Turtle Prince.
"She's the woman that took care of Marshall Lee a long time ago," Fionna reminded him. "Remember we stayed in her house and I sent the photo back home to Aaa."
"Oh that's right!" Charlie said. "Wow..."
"If only Marshall knew. I highly doubt that she's the same Simone but still." She leaned on a bookshelf and sighed. "This is a crazy, mixed up world."
"We can worry about this later," Charlie said, shoving a stack of books in her arms. "C'mon let's get to reading."
"Don't we have... ah... homework?"
"I'll do it for you if you read," he promise, gathering a few more books in his arms. "Agreed?"
"Yeah," Fionna nodded.
They walked over to a table and set to work. An hour went by and the two of them were now burning through books, finding nothing that could help them. Charlie moaned and mumbled something about books betraying him. Fionna giggled a little. A sudden tap on her shoulder startled her slightly and she glanced up to see Marshall Lee staring down at her, grinning.
"This was the last place I would expect you to be, Mertens," he said.
Mertens? Fionna thought. Who is he talking about?
Hoping that this Marshall Lee was the same as the one back home, she responded in the only way she knew how to deal with him. "Shut up, Abadeer."
Bingo. He started to laugh. The librarian shushed him and he waved him off, pulling Fionna out of her seat, telling her he wanted to talk to her. It seemed that Fionna had no choice in the matter. She looked behind her and saw Charlie was avoiding the pair, his face red with jealousy.
"Char-," Fionna began but Marshall steered her away. "What do you want, Marshall?"
"Just to talk," he said, taking her in the back of the library. "You still haven't given me an answer, y'know."
"To what?" Fionna said, completely clueless.
His face fell and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You're joking right?"
She shook her head. "Sorry. Guess it slipped my mind."
"Fionna, I asked you out on a date but you gave me a rain check because you had to get to sword club," he explained. "Sometimes I forgot who I'm talking to. Of course you're not gonna remember. Fionna, will you go out with me Friday?"
"Guh..." Fionna mumbled, her face glowing red from her other worldly affections for him. But what about Charlie? Wasn't she with him... kinda? "Marshall, I'll have to see what I'm doing Friday and I'll let you know, okay?"
He smiled a little and nodded. "Radical. Talk to you later then." He walked away, a little happier than he was a few seconds ago. Fionna bit her lip and wandered back to the table.
"What did he want?" Charlie asked her, not looking at her directly.
"Nothing," Fionna lied. "Just a homework question."
"You're a horrible liar," Charlie said, smirking.
Fionna didn't protest or respond. Instead, she stuck her head in a book and read, not wanting him to know. Fionna was still so confused about everything that she didn't want more on her plate.
The rest of the week wasn't anymore fun than the last few days. Both Charlie and Fionna were turning up empty handed. Not a shred of information on multiverses was in sight, frustrating the both of them. Fionna wanted to go out with Marshall on Friday but she had promised Charlie for a research session. Fionna told Marshall she had a previous engagement and he shrugged it off.
"But how about tomorrow?" Fionna said, feeling a little nervous. "I'm not busy tomorrow."
"Sounds good," Marshall agreed.
Fionna bid him goodbye and then rushed into the library where Charlie was waiting for her. They hit the books at once and didn't talk for about two hours. But Fionna couldn't shake this nagging feeling in the back of her mind. She couldn't put her finger on it but it was driving her crazy. She mumbled something to Charlie about it but he said it was most likely the itch to go home. Fionna didn't think so. It was something else. Something very important. Something she had to do.
"Studying hard?" a voice said, making the two look up from the imageless works of literature. Simone Petrikov was walking up to them, eyeing the book in Fionna's hand titled Multiverse Theory. "Is it an assignment for science?"
"Yes, ma'am," Fionna lied.
"Isn't Cake your studying partner?" Simone asked, taking a seat across from her.
"She was busy," Charlie said quickly, not liking how a teacher was poking her nose into their research.
Simone obviously wasn't sold on their lies. Instead of looking angry, she was smiling at them two of them. Almost pityingly. Fionna and Charlie exchanged surprised looks as she started to laugh softly.
"I know what you're doing. I've been trying for so many years," Simone sighed.
Fionna gasped. "S-simone! The real Simone! Marshall Lee's Simone. The other Marshall. Not this one- uh... I'm gonna stop talking."
"Yes," Simone chuckled. "That cursed tiara sent my sanity and memories into this place. And suddenly, I awoke as Professor Petrikov, history teacher of Adventuring Adolescents Academy who has apparently been teaching here for ten years. But I knew everyone and what I was doing. Now I am so accustomed to this life, my previous mindset is only on half of my brain."
"But how did you manage without a power source?" Charlie wondered. "The crown couldn't have done it all."
"The tiara had a gem of power, you see-."
Fionna butt in. "Ooh! That's right! That's the gem that held the curse in it. I once used it to open a portal to a multiverse room." Her face fell. "But to do it again, I would need all the magic gems of Aaa and a new Enchiridion."
"The Enchiridion?" Simone said. "It held that kind of power?"
"Yeah but I destroyed it, trying to stop the Lich," Fionna said.
"So the gem of power was cursed which is the source of the memory loss power and madness. It also gave me the power of ice and snow," Simone said. "That little portal, the one that supplied The Enchiridion with the portal ability, attached itself to my mind and... well, you know the rest."
"But wasn't it magic?" Fionna said.
"Magic and science can work well together," Charlie said with a smile. "Only when used properly, I mean." He looked at Simone. "Three heads are better than one- erm, two- so you can help us find a way home."
"You can come back with us and reunite with Marshall Lee!" Fionna added.
Simone smiled too. "He's been trying so hard. I've been pulled back and forth as he calls from far away, trying to get me back." She sighed. "Attempts in vain I'm afraid. My sanity and memories are rooted here. So are yours. It's impossible for us to get back."
"It's unlikely," Charlie said.
"But not impossible," Fionna finished.
"In fact, nothing is impossible," they both said, grinning at one another.
"And I made a promise to my friends that I would return home in one piece," Fionna said, placing a hand to her heart. "If there's any possible way, I'm willing to take it or die trying. If we can get in, then heck, we can get out."
"Fionna... you're certainly a stubborn girl," Simone said.
"Learned that from Marshall," Fionna said.
"Let's get reading then," Charlie said.
Chapter Twenty, everyone! I've been so busy with my school performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream (i'm a fairy) so I've been super busy. Opening week is soon so it's been rehearsal all week long so... busy busy busy. So tell me what you think! I hope you like it.
And, as always:
See you next time!