Tales of the Alternate Universe

Chapter Twenty-four: Flame Princess

That night the young wizard flew all the way back towards the Ice Kingdom, carrying his princess with him. He had changed the sword on his right arm for his old hand replacement to avoid hurting the girl by accident during their flight. It felt good to hold her in his arms. Somehow it gave him a feeling that everything was going to be alright. The Ice Prince brought her from within the deep darkness of the frozen lake, and soon he would open her eyes so that they could greet the light of day once again.

The girl's body was still cold and wet when he laid her on his bed; it made him worried. Perhaps she wouldn't like to wake up all damp and messy. She might even catch a cold! The Prince commanded his penguin Jake to bring some clean blankets immediately, and then he stared at his princess thoughtfully.

"You seem deep asleep in that eternal slumber of yours…" he whispered as he stroke her reddish hair. "Your face is so peaceful and calm, there's even a faint smile gracing your lips. I wonder what could have made you so happy the day you left my side…"

In a way, the Ice Prince was starting to feel guilty for being about to wake her from that tranquil rest. Nothing was causing her pain now, nothing could hurt her or cause grieving tears to leak out of her closed eyes. She had been safe in her crystal case all those years. The Ice Prince was aware that his princess would certainly find affliction and distress in the outside world, no matter how much she fights to avoid it. Her smile could easily fade away in any moment…

"Am I being too selfish?" the prince reflected, "No, of course not! I'm doing this for you, my princess. When you finally lay your eyes upon me, I'll let you know it. I'll devote the rest of my days to you. I will be there to make you happy every single day of your life. I will keep you safe from harm, and I will punish those who dare to open a wound in your skin or make you cry!" his hand left her tangled locks and rested on her face delicately, "I shall be your new haven of peace, don't you worry my princess… No matter what happens after I cast the re-birthing spell, I won't ever stop loving you."

The silver-haired sorcerer walked away from the girl, longing to hear the soft whispers of her breathing in the room. Every time he glanced at her, the prince tried to convince himself that she was only sleeping... But it wasn't easy without the sound of her breath, leaving and entering her chest. Ever since he could remember, that was all he wished to feel. Her breathing.

He had prepared the magic brew a while ago and the diamond-shaped ruby was waiting on the prince's table, already infused with the re-birthing enchantment. The Ice Prince just needed to encrust the gem on her forehead and chant the spell to bring her back. However, there was still something missing. The mystery of his princess' essence hadn't been solved yet, however, the icy prince had a clue this time. According to the demon of the Evil Forest, it was an easy task. All he had to do was to remember, but remember what exactly?

The prince returned to the red-haired girl's side, holding the ruby on his flesh hand. Sitting next to her, the former human boy sighed and reflected. They had a past in common; he had no doubt about it. His feelings for her couldn't have been born from the nothing, he knew her once. Once, he knew what could please her and what could disgust her. He must have been an expert in the art of making her smile, laugh, and love. If only he could remember…

"Who are you?" the millenarian wizard asked softly. "What kind of person were you? If only I had a clue of how your personality was, I might be able to find the source of your essence and call you back… But I can't remember you! I can't remember anything…" he locked his sight on her motionless chest, the white bear cap in her hands captured his attention almost immediately.

The Ice Prince slipped it out of her grasp, apologizing for being so disrespectful, and proceeded to examine it closely. The white fabric felt natural on his hands, as if it had been a part of him in a distant past. He held the hat close and rested his face on it, letting its softness caress his blue cheeks.

"This feels so… weird… It's like something almost familiar…" he snapped his eyes open in realization. "Feel? The demon spirit said something that felt familiar as well, something that I've heard before…" the prince dropped the bear hat and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "She said that all I had to do was to remember, and to remember, I just had to feel… But feel what?"

The wizard sighed one more time and touched the red-haired girl's face gently. She was the only connection he had to his past. Without realizing it, he found himself stroking her soft features. The prince went over every line on her face; her delicate eyelids, her small nose. Just feeling her skin beneath his fingertips until he made contact with her cold lips. His heart began to pound wildly within his chest. In a faint moment of lucidity, her voice echoed in his head.

"It's okay, Finn… Remembering isn't hard…you just have to… Feel me…"

The wizard closed his eyes as he revived that moment. He could feel her heart beating weakly, close to his and her hands, barely grasping his shoulders. It was one of their last moments together. A sensation of fear seized his heart, just like in that lost memory. Then she was there, right in front of him. There were no physical or intangible barriers separating their faces, it was a kiss. His fear vanished as he melted into her lips, letting her passion burn all his freezing doubts away.

He remembered it had been short and weak, but somehow, tremendously powerful. The Ice Prince snapped out of his trance, he was sure of the answer now. "She's passionate…" he affirmed, clenching the ruby tightly. "That's her essence. It's a fervent ardor, anger, enthusiasm, love and desire… All of those things combined are so intense! They are passion!"

The prince faced the girl with a gentle smile. For an instance, he felt that he knew everything about her. His chest was bursting with excitement, it was a horrible sensation for an ice wizard like him though, but he didn't care. He loved what she was, and he was willing to accept her fiery nature despite if it was his elemental opposite. Those differences were not going to tear them apart, he wasn't going to allow it.

Without thinking it, the Ice Prince leaned over her, placing a kiss on her lips. He focused on conveying the large amount of explosive feelings within him in that single gesture he had craved for, since so long ago. If only she could return the action, if only she could feel what he was feeling now, the soft brushes he was giving her wouldn't have that meaningless taste. At least the prince managed to find some sense on his rash move after withdrawing his lips from hers. The ruby in his hand was glowing flamingly, which meant that he had succeeded in passing some of her passionate essence into her.

The young wizard wasted no time in using his magic to encrust the gleaming gem on her forehead, and chant a series of incantations in a strange language. Once he had finished with the mysterious ritual, the Ice Prince backed away from his princess, filled with expectation. At first, everything remained quiet and still, as if absolutely nothing had happened. But then, before our crazy sorcerer could complain, his wizard eyes perceived an odd ray of light, piercing through the ceiling. A couple of seconds later, that same ray fired itself and bounced all over the room, setting everything ablaze. Of course, those flames could only burn in the spiritual plane, but Ice Prince was too startled to consider that, before taking cover behind his bedroom's entrance.

He peeked into his room nervously, only to witness how the flames were suddenly absorbed by his princess' body to then explode out of it, this time heating the place for real. This caused the terrified prince to shriek in surprise and hide behind his wall again.

"W-what's this?! What's going on?!" the blue lad shouted, feeling how the ice he was leaning on began to melt down behind him. "Did something go wrong or what?"

The Ice Prince peeked inside once again. This time, however, his surprise and astonishment became even greater, when he distinguished a humanoid figure wandering aimlessly among the roaring flames. The first idea that crossed his altered mind was that a fire elemental had attacked his castle for stealing the phoenix's ashes that afternoon. The icy elemental couldn't help to leap inside, commanding his roof to melt itself over the flames, before the heat disabled his powers.

A painful shriek pierced his ears as a curtain of steam blinded his field of vision, making the frightened prince even more confused and alarmed than he already was. Without thinking it twice, the icy ruler lunged into the thick veil of puffy white, searching desperately for the intruder and his princess. How could our prince guess that they were both one and the same?

Some minutes passed before the steam diminished completely, revealing a fragile figure, lying on the frozen floor. There were no signs of the fiery trespasser or the revived princess anywhere. Only a dull-colored girl, barely breathing at his feet, remained inside the room. The Ice Prince knelt by her side, recognizing her features instantly. It was her, his beloved princess. She had caused the fire. No. She was the fire.

"I-Impossible…!" the young wizard gasped with trembling eyes. "My Frozen Maiden was reborn into a fire princess?!"

He gulped nervously as he examined the girl again. Her hair was now a duller shade of pink and her skin looked almost brownish. Now that he could see her better, the Ice Prince noticed with embarrassment that the flames had burnt all her clothes away. Thankfully she had curled her body in a position that would only show her naked back and legs, if not, the master of ice and snow would have fainted next to her.

"Wh-what am I supposed to do now?" he mumbled, "She returned as a fire elemental! Keeping her nearby is way too dangerous!"

His blue eyes drifted back towards her. She was shivering and moaning weakly, while her doused body lied defenseless on the cruel coldness of his icy floor. The girl didn't even have rags to protect her naked skin from the burning ice. The prince rubbed the back of his head as remembered his promise... No matter what could happen after casting the spell, he would never stop loving her. Not even if she had returned as a potential threat to him, it wasn't her fault. She never asked for it. No one but him was responsible for her condition, and he was ready to accept the consequences of his reckless acts.

The Ice Prince stretched his shaky hand and grazed her upper arm nervously, closing his eyes and turning his face away almost instantly. He waited for a minute or so in that stance, until he realized that there was no explosion (obviously, the worst idea that could have crossed his brain about his current situation), no pain or burns. It was just the warmth of her weakened flames. Feeling more relaxed and confident this time, the silver-haired boy leaned closer to lift her off the ground, forgetting that holding her —and even staring at her— was a very dangerous task in that moment. He was tempted to appreciate the beauty of her body with just a simple glance, to feast his eyes on her mounds and curves, but he never dared to do so. It just wasn't appropriated, she was his princess after all.

The prince quickly pressed her against his chest, hiding her intimacy from himself and the rest of the world, as he cried loudly, his blue cheeks becoming unnaturally redder and redder. "Jake, what the heck happened with the blankets I asked you a while ago?!"

The small penguin stumbled inside the half-melted room as his small feet got tangled in the navy-colored blankets, causing him to trip and roll towards his bothered master. The prince snatched the blue fabric with haste, letting his penguin spin around the room, clumsily. He carefully wrapped the girl's body with it, glancing at the ceiling to avoid a glimpse of her bare bosom.

"Oh Jake, look at her…" the ice wizard whispered, holding her tightly onto his chest, "She looks so innocent… quite different from what I thought a fire elemental would be…"

"Wenk?" Jake inquired as he waddled closer to the elemental couple.

"Dunno… When she wakes up, her fire would probably burn these blankets as well. I wonder what are a fire elemental's clothes made of… We need to get her a dress."

"Wenk!" the penguin suggested.

The Ice Prince widened his eyes in disbelief. "You mean...?! Like going to the library and ask for a book about fire elementals and their customs?!"

An angry hiss left his gritted teeth before he could consider the idea better. He then rolled his eyes downwards and glanced at the unconscious princess, resting over him. She wasn't dead anymore. Her heart beat at a quick rhythm and her warm breath tapped his skin, as her chest's size diminished and expanded itself softly. A smile graced the prince's features as he cuddled with her on a corner of his bedroom.

"You know what, Jake? That's not such a bad idea…" the young wizard said, lulling himself to sleep with Flame Princess' breathing. She was his wish come true.

x+x+x+x+x

That morning he woke up when an odd smell tickled his nose. The prince clenched his eyes closed tighter, not wanting to abandon the comfortable position in which he was sleeping, along with his princess. He wondered if Jake was cooking something, but then he remembered that there wasn't an oven inside his Ice Palace. All they would always eat were raw fishes and dried meat. Then what on earth could possibly be the source of that tasty smell?

He opened his eyes lazily and yawned, hardly noticing the black puffs of smoke that were coming out of his cloak. Nothing that rubbing his lids and blinking a couple of times in confusion couldn't solve. The prince felt his skin burning shortly after that, and leaped into the air, punching the flames out of his shirt, pants and cloak as fast as he could.

"Ow…!" A soft voice moaned below him.

The Ice Prince identified her voice instinctively, and flew back down to his fiery princess' side. He knelt at a safe distance from her, noticing that her flames were burning stronger now, giving her skin a golden glow and causing her red hair to flare upwards in a wild motion. A shy blush seized his cold cheeks as his blue eyes met her shiny amber ones for the first time. Though he hated fire in every single way possible, the dancing flames around her caused the prince to change his mind, as he mentally assured himself that they made his princess look even more beautiful than she already was…

"H-hey… Are you okay? D-did I hurt you?" the wizard managed to mumble as soon as he snapped out of his trance.

The flaring girl blinked in response and tilted her head, a look of curiosity and confusion enhancing her oblivious gestures. She didn't seem to understand what he was saying at all.

"Umm… Are you listening to me?" Getting a similar mute reply as an answer, the Ice Prince widened his eyes in realization. "Don't tell me that you—! C-can you speak? Do you know how to talk?"

"Ta…alk?" the red-haired princess repeated doubtfully.

"Oh Glob, I see what's going on!" the prince gasped, "It's because I used a re-birthing spell! Yes... Your soul must be in shock, naturally, souls are not supposed to be drawn into their bodies after dying, which explains your severe case of amnesia... You have a child's mind now!" he backed away in frustration. "Hehe… D-don't worry my princess! This can be reverted easily, I-I just need to fill your mind with knowledge! You'll learn fast, that's what the spell book says!"

The girl stared at him and giggled at his clumsy steps and desperation, which caused the Ice Prince to sigh and smile back at her faintly. She looked cute, he couldn't deny that, and while this seemed like a nuisance at first, perhaps it would be a great excuse to spend all his time with her. Teaching his princess about the world around her would be his new resolution. One that he was certain, both of them would enjoy greatly.

"Very well. First of all, you must learn your name!" the prince declared, "You're a princess that was born from the flames, that's why I decided to name you... Flame Princess!"

"My name… Flame Princess." The girl replied confidently.

"Yeah, awesome! I-I shall go to the library immediately! There are lots of things you need to learn! Alright, first I must teach you how to read and then—…" he froze as his face flushed violently. The navy blanket that she had been holding over her shoulders was burnt completely, revealing her unveiled body to the shocked prince. "O-okay, change of plans! First I must teach you about fire clothing, and then how to read a book!"

"Clothing…!" Flame Princess chuckled, unaware of her lack of clothes.

Update: Grammar checked and corrected.