Tales of the Alternate Universe
Chapter Twenty-one: Ice Prince
In that very moment Finn felt like his old true self. He heard the girl sobbing on his shoulder and regretted to remember that Flanna's tears were more familiar to him than her smile. After all, most of their life together had been wasted with rivalry, fighting and affliction. It was only natural, he thought. That was all his poor mind had to offer. Though Finn wouldn't have minded to be brought back to reality with a more recent memory of him and the red-haired girl.
It was hard for him to tell, but the newly named prince knew that (although they were few) some sweet moments of him and her still dwelled in the back of his corrupted mind. However, Finn wasn't allowed to drift deeper into his subconscious self. A dark energy was impeding him to reach those memories, but he wasn't going to surrender so easily to the power of the Crown. At least not after having listened to those three words… If the boy couldn't reach his most treasured moments with Flanna, he'll have to live a new one. It didn't matter if it was the last one he would ever remember…
Having stopped his struggle to escape, Finn decided that he no longer wanted to be separated from his russet-haired captor. In an attempt to revive one of his lost moments with the green-eyed girl, the young wizard returned the embrace. He pulled the girl closer, letting her know that she could now cease her strive to keep him away from the crown and relax.
Flanna nestled her shivering body on Finn, seeking in his arms the warmth that he could no longer provide. The cold breeze of the silent wasteland struck her mercilessly, being her torn dress a weak shield against it. Her bare feet were almost frozen to the dying earth, which had already consumed too much poison from the fallen Lich within her dusty entrails, and the powerful burst of radiation that had just been released from the accursed atomic bomb.
Little by little, the young human began feel how the fatigue and the strain consumed her mortality. The mechanical arm that rested on her naked back was like a frosted whip to her exposed skin. Her muscles were convulsing from the cruel coldness of the environment, while the speed of her heartbeats diminished. Yet, Flanna smiled, pretending that Finn's ever growing lack of temperature wasn't the cause of her peaceful agony.
"And I…" Finn whispered, enjoying the softness of her reddish hair as it stroke his face. "I love you too Flanna…"
The farm boy's eyes spotted a golden glimmer not very far from him and the girl in his arms. He then gulped, seeking for the best way to explain her his grieving situation. The last thread of sanity within him had being rescued by knocking the crown off his head, but that didn't mean that Finn was now safe from its influence. Wearing the crown or not made no difference, he had been chosen as its master and there wasn't really anything that he or Flanna could do to break that eternal curse.
"L-listen…" the boy said, mustering all the mental strength he had left to silence the confusing whispers inside his head. "I'm changing, Flanna… My memories… I'm losing them pretty fast! Soon I won't be able to remember you anymore, and this time you won't be able to bring me back… Not even by keeping me away from the crown…!"
Finn buried his face on the crook of her neck and whispered softly. "And… when I can't remember you… I will try to hurt ya… Even though I swore to always be there to protect you…" he clenched his teeth, feeling how his consciousness slipped away. "Listen Fla– Flan–… I-I swear I knew your name, damn it!"
The young wizard spoke with a broken voice as soon-to-be-frozen tears gathered in his eyes. "You are not safe with me… You must leave me, and you'd better make sure to forget me, 'cause I will forget you! … I don't want to…but I know I will… Just go back to where you came from… If mom and dad were with you there…tell 'em that I'm dead…!" He shut his eyes fiercely, letting his tears wet his now bluish cheeks. "Please Flanna! You must leave me and never come back!"
He awaited for her hurtful response fearfully, but there wasn't any. Flanna remained silent.
"F-Flanna?" Finn called. Again, there was no response from her. "Flanna?!"
Finn retrieved his arms from her body and grabbed her shoulders to push her away from him as gently as he could. He saw her, leaning towards him numbly, which caused him to sit down on the newly formed snow that covered the lonely wasteland, and cradle her delicately, letting her head rest on his chest. The icy wizard stroke her pale face and noticed with horror that no blood was now running through her veins. It must have been frozen.
"Flanna! Flanna!" the boy mourned in desperation, still caressing her frostbitten skin. Finn sighed with grief in an attempt to regain his composure and stared at the red-haired girl tenderly. "W-when did you become so cold…? It was me, wasn't it? I did this…"
He bent his back and leaned over her, placing his forehead on hers softly. Finn wept quietly on top of his beloved companion. She couldn't be gone, but the fact that he couldn't feel her breathing made him shiver out of fear. Meanwhile, a fervent desire to freeze everything around him kept growing within his soul. Finn fought with disdain to repel that wild instinct, the crown was calling him but so was his true self. The somber landscape surrounding him seemed to expand itself, making the boy feel insignificant as he endured his mental battle.
Finn couldn't handle it anymore. His mind was growing weak. It betrayed him, tempting his owner to leave the frozen girl and reach out for the golden crown. The young wizard was about to succumb to his false wishes, when his bear cap was suddenly pulled out of his head, letting his long blonde hair drift down his shoulders. Startled, the former farm boy poked around for the stranger, who had dared to strip his head with an annoyed manner. A weak giggle startled him even more…
"You really think…it's going to be so easy to get rid of me…Mertens…?"
Flanna Hacksworth smirked, clutching his hat within her trembling hands. Finn let out a surprised gasp, immediately forgetting his desire to get back his crown and freeze the world. He lifted her numb body from his lap and held her gently in his arms. Concern struck him deeply, noticing that her lips were becoming blue as well as her cheeks and ears, in contrast to the crimson strings of blood that stained the ends of her forehead. Flanna was suffering from hypothermia, that is, if Finn could recall what that was.
"Something related to the cold", he remembered, "Dad had seen several calves die because of it during winter…" The young wizard shook his head in an attempt to discard his pessimist thoughts. He had to find a way to save Flanna.
The crown's golden glimmer was reflected in his eyes, there was no other option. To save the red-haired girl Finn would have to wear the crown once more, that would give him the power to fly and hopefully find her some medical attention.
"I-I'll take you outta here!" the boy shrieked in desperation. "The power of frost will save you!"
"Finn…" Flanna chuckled as her hand reached out for his face, "The power of frost is killing me… Besides…you'll go all wacky again…just stay…while the two of us are still conscious…"
"No! I won't stay here and do nothing while you die!" Finn cried angrily, "I will save you! The crown chose me to save y'all! Its power will keep us alive!"
"No Finn…there's nothing left for us out there…" she struggled to keep her eyes open, "S-soon you'll be gone forever…and no one is really waiting for me at home…this is all we have left…this brief moment together…please…y-you promised…you promised me that we'll enjoy the time that we have left together…"
The young wizard widened his eyes, how could she ask him to remember a promise when he could barely remember his own name? The crown had forbid him from recurring to those memories. Flanna was a menace in that sense, the accursed golden object —which actually happened to have a mind of its own— knew it since Finn's little sibling cried a while ago. There was a strong human emotion that could trigger a dangerous reaction on its master, a reaction that would free him from its influence, and that wasn't within the crown's plans.
The golden antiquity had waited a thousand years to find a new wielder and that's why (even though it was hard because of the distance between it and its prince) the crown was trying to cultivate a loathsome wish within the darkest corner of Finn's heart: That the girl would just hurry up and die once and for all.
"Finn…" Flanna whispered. "C-can't you…remember it? Last night…on your roof… We shared a nice time together…can't you recall what happened there?"
Finn replied her shaking his head, his eyes scared and confused at the same time. He wished he'd know what happened that night. He wanted to remember that promise and fulfill it for her before she parted ways with him, but all his efforts were futile.
"I-I can't Flanna…!" cried the boy, "I'm sorry, but I can't…!" he clenched his eyes shut. "It's happening! The crown…! It's overtaking me…! It compels me to forget you… To forget everything!"
His frustration was taking the best of him but Flanna, knowing that her time was growing way too short, decided to offer him some help remembering. Her hands held his desperate face, using her thumbs to stroke his skin and relief him from his anguish.
"It's okay, Finn…" the girl said as she closed the gap between their faces. "Remembering isn't hard…you just have to… feel me…"
Flanna kissed him. It was a brief and modest kiss. She barely brushed his lips, but hopefully that would be enough to transmit him the warmth and affection that he had made her feel that night. That was the best she could do before collapsing exhaustedly on his chest. No matter how much passion burned within her, she was only human.
"I…remember…" Finn whispered in realization, "In that moment I thought…that everything would work fine for us… Even if your father came for you, I was already making plans to kick him back to the city…!" he chuckled playfully for the first time since he wore the crown. "I believed that Junktown was small and miserable enough to be ignored by the rest of the world…that no one would come to bother us and that, after getting rid of the Destiny Gang…we could just live peacefully…"
"Why did this have to happen? Why here? Why us?" the boy wondered silently as he stroke Flanna's hair. "What are we paying for?"
"Guess that…" Flanna replied, "Whoever made that bomb…had just one thing in mind… annihilation…"
"But…why?! Were the people before us…evil? That bomb… I think I understand now…the dead magician dude… The weird old lady said that he had to use the crown to save us from it… just like I had to use it to save my family. But in the end, that poor guy died in vain, 'cause I ruined what he did… It's all because of me!" the boy wept. "Everything went nuts and it was my fault!"
The red-haired girl pushed herself up to face Finn and gave him a weary smile. "No, it wasn't you…that guy, Simon… I saw him too…and I don't think that he had died in vain… It's just that…no matter what we do…evil will always exist, just as good does…Yeah, the D-Gang screwed it all and that was bad…but if it weren't because of them… you and I would still be enemies…"
"And what we feel for each other now is good, isn't? Something good will always come out of evil…and that's what I'd like to believe of this situation… Who knows, maybe…good things are awaiting for us in the future…"
"The future…" Finn muttered as he glared at the crown. "I don't know, our future seems like it's gonna be way too grim and depressing…" he surrounded her weak frame and drew her closer. "Let's just forget it and do what you were asking me before…" Finn smiled tenderly. "Let's enjoy the time we have together…"
A blush was Flanna's last source of heat before losing herself in the Ice Prince's frozen embrace.
x+x+x+x+x
Finn was forced to wear the crown once again after Flanna exhaled her last breath. Losing her was inevitable. Her body was completely frozen and too poisoned by the explosion's radiation to be able to live one more day. It pained him to know that she was gone when her lips stopped gliding over his and her arms abandoned their firm embrace around his neck to meet the coldness of the snow.
After that, the young ice wizard carried her on his arms as his bare feet left a trail of lonesome footprints behind him. Everything froze with each step he made until he reached the shore of a wide crystalline lake. There he knelt on the water, placing her body on its surface. Finn let her keep his hat, which she was still holding tightly between her hands —not being able to find the courage to deprive her from a small piece of him.
"I'm sorry Flanna…" he sobbed, "But the whispers... They say I have to let you go…"
The boy remained silent, still keeping her afloat. Though, the crown was now vesting him with its power and influence, he knew that he would never let himself forget her departure.
"No… Flanna please…! Don't leave me…please…say something… Call me idiot like you used to…just one last time…please…I need you…"
She just left… Contradicting the classic belief that a kiss would always awake a princess from her eternal slumber. Flanna simply drifted into that mortal sleep of no return, guided by the comforting touch of the boy she loved. Finn quickly wiped the tears of his eyes, using his human forearm and leaned in to kiss her forehead.
"Don't worry…" he whispered softly, "Now that I know of its existence, I won't stop searching until I find the magic that will bring you back to me…"
With that said, he pushed her body softly into the water and watched her sink delicately towards its depths.
"Besides…if I'm bound to be a prince…" Finn said as his eyes became completely white, "I'll need a princess to rule by my side…heh…"
x+x+x+x+x
Time shall not ruin your beauty, my princess… I'll gladly freeze these waters to keep you safe from its ever-changing influence. I promise that you won't be lonely for long. I shall always come back to visit you, when my own insanity makes me weary as I count the number of days that life has forced me to endure without you…
I don't know what might the future bring for this planet from now on, but if I must, I will gladly freeze the entire world in your name —if I manage to remember it, that is…
I do remember that my name used to be Finn something and that I used to live for the sake of my family, working as a simple peasant. I had a mother and a father, whom I used to love deeply… There was also a baby, my brother… I wish him only the best. If our paths shall cross again one day, then I shall cause him no harm —if I manage to remember him, that is…
Finally, I think there were two non-human companions that I used to appreciate as well… A mule and a dog, if I recall correctly… Bartram and Jake, life was as unfair with you as it was with me. You did nothing but to be loyal and friendly at all times, never asking for anything but love and caring in return. However, one of you was left at his own luck on this barren wasteland and the other was possessed by the incarnation of humanity's evil itself… Don't worry, my furry friends, for you are both martyrs before my wizard eyes and I shall always thank for what you did —if I manage to remember you, that is…
Now, I'm no longer that so-called Finn something. I am the hand of madness, a master of the ice and snow! No man, beast or weapon shall oppose me…! Not even time itself! For I am the end and the beginning…
Finn knelt to pick up his sword attachment and replaced his mechanic hand with it. A mass of ice began to crawl slowly around its metal to boost it with its solid strength and sharpness.
I am…
The Ice Prince…
Update: Grammar checked and corrected.