"All right, follow me," Marshall Lee floats into the forest where the trees are able to shade the sunlight from his face. Flame Prince's feet crunch on dry leaves as he tried his best trying to catch up with the vampire king. Low notes are strummed into the silence and into Flame Prince's ears and out as Marshall harmonizes a little.
"You play music?" asks Flame Prince trying to compare Marshall's bass guitar axe with the flaming uke his annoying joker played. "It actually sounds...nice."
"Ladies dig music man," Marshall comes face to face with him, "You play something?"
"...No."
Marshall leans back in the air and strums his bass again, "Why do you like Fionna? What does she even see in you?"
"...Like?" Flame Prince puts a hand on his chin. "Like...I like Fionna?"
"Do you?"
"Do I?" dumbfounded he asks, "Marshall, what is even 'like?'"
Now Marshall just wanted to throw his guitar at him, but he just floats there with an annoyed face. He softly plays a tune while remembering his ex-girlfriend Ashley. "When someone says 'I like you' it can go two ways. They like you as a friend or they like you as something more," he remembers when they moved in together. "You want to get closer to them, want to be with them every day," he strums a chord. "Like can also be doing stupid stuff for that...err...special someone."
"Then...I do like Fionna," that statement makes Marshall stop in midair.
"Then you have to absolutely be sure dude!" Marshall is an inch away from Flame Prince's face. "You have to be sure!" that memory of him dumping Ashley passed through his mind following with Fionna's crying face. "I would consider you the most evil of people I know if you break someone's heart, especially hers."
Marshall's face is so serious that Flame Prince couldn't bring his eyes to wander off. "I-I don't really know," he glances off, and then returns eye contact, "But," he says abruptly. "I want to make her happy, make her smile, and when I ran away that time I wanted to turn around..."
"Why didn't you?"
"I got lost...but meeting her so coincidentally today made me...happy," he trails off for a second. "I never felt happy...until I met her and the definition of like that you gave me...when I think about it, it makes sense!" Flame Prince grins, "I like Fionna."
How can you say that without a flustered face? wonders Marshall. He isn't very convinced and gets ready to leave when he hears a gasp. He turns around seeing Flame Prince's cheeks shine brightly red, "What?"
"What is this burning feeling rising from my heart to my face?" Flame Prince feels his own head.
"Oh my Glob..." this guy is too innocent for Marshall Lee to take seriously. "It's called blushing! It's when someone's face turns red and warm!"
"When I think of Fionna I blush..."
"That's...nice man...that's nice," he has no idea what to say, but at least he isn't doubting him anymore. "Do you at least know how to dance?"
"...No."
"Then that's what I'll teach you today, c'mon, you need foil gloves or something," he opens his umbrella and swings his guitar on his back.
"Marshall Lee, why are you helping me?" asks Flame Prince when a crack of sunlight hits his face while stepping out of the forest.
"Because you got a chance I never had or would have achieved."
...
Fi sits outside on the branch of the huge tree contemplating, and looking at her reflection on her sharp pink sword. She frowns, smiles as wide as she can before her cheeks hurt, stuck her tongue out, puffed her cheeks and furrowed her eyebrows. Cake sneaks in the view and they both start inventing the weirdest faces they can form, laugh, sigh, and then lay down on the branch. "...Fi?"
"Yeah?"
"You wanna wear a dress?"
"Ha! No," Fionna rolls on her side to face Cake, "Last time I ripped it, remember? Plus, I hate dresses...they gunk up my fighting skills."
Cake pretends not to hear the last part, grabs her knapsack and jumps off the tree, "I'm going to stop by the market for a while!"
"Huh? Why?"
"It's a surprise!" Cake stretches her legs out to make the journey shorter. "Now...would Fi look good in red or orange?" She starts heading over north, swinging back and forth while keeping an eye out for any critters that her feet will stumble upon. She turns around, waves back at Fionna who is now a speck on the tree branch, shrinks down to normal size and strolls into the bustling market.
Sellers try to yell over each other in order to out-advertise their opponents and make more money. Buyers are struggling to obtain whatever they can grab their hands on or attempt making trades with things they have on them to escape the high prices. Cake passes through them, looking left to right until she hears familiar laughter. She gasps and sees Marshall Lee wrapping Flame Prince with way too much foil. He is having too much fun wrapping Flame Prince like a mummy that he doesn't notice Cake approaching them.
"Marshall!" he stops and looks down, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, hey Cake, what you think?" he steps back showing Flame Prince wobbling, Marshall continues laughing. "Whoo...okay, I had my laugh," the foil rips in half from Flame Prince's strength and women at the market stop to look. Especially the young teen ones.
"Are you trying to kill him already?!" yells Cake. Suddenly, the crowd of customers and sellers begin running their way rudely knocking Cake down. She grabs the leg of Choose Goose (same name different gender), a top seller, and pulls her, "What is going on?"
"The pyromancers are oh so bored, and were sent by their high and mighty Lord," she flinched at the crackle of flames. "They wish to make us toil in fear in order to quench their boredom, oh dear!" Choose Goose escapes Cake's grip at the sight of Flame Prince. "He's one of them! A pyromancer!"
"You know what's happening?!" Cake fiercely asks. The flames grew bigger.
"Ssssorry," a hiss voice came behind the flames on the left side of Flame Prince. "We heard that our cousin was passssing."
Another voice comes from his right side, yet the speech is clearer and the accent foreign, "Yes, this would be perfect for getting back at Flame Queen, especially when she cheated her way to becoming ruler!" The voice shouted in disgust and the owner of it jumps out of the flames and tackles Flame Prince to the ground. He couldn't lift himself, the person wore heavy red armor with a red triangular jewel glistening from the fire. Through the helmet he can see flames licking maliciously through the cracks.
"Fla-" Marshall gets cut off when a ball of fire throws him out of the scene. Cake runs to check on him, but a hot metal boot kicks her through the fire and on top of the unconscious vampire.
"Who are you?!" demands Flame Prince as he forms his sword in his right hand and slashes the helmet in half revealing an unknown, yet somewhat familiar burning face. His eyebrows furrow and he growls, "Titaia." [Greek for "fire"; "to burn"] He clenches his fist and focuses his power in one punch that sends his cousin flying, but she is able to land without a problem. He hears the other charging from behind him, "Fina," he whispers and throws a fiery uppercut. ["Fina" is the feminine form of "Fino" meaning "serpant" or "burning one"]
She took in more of his punch for her helmet is off and hits the ground with a big thud. However, she strains to get up, wipe her mouth and smirk, "Not bad, coussssin."
"It looks like Aunt taught you well," they begin to circle him like vultures. "I bet you will mercilessly kill whoever threatens to be more powerful than you like she did."
Fina sticks her forked tongue out, "She killed our mother, that throne isssss not her rightful place, not even yoursssss!"
Flame Prince does not speak, he keeps his eyes on the enemy.
It's Titaia's turn to try and break him, "If you were born by her, raised by her, you must be equally evil as he-" A sharp pink sword tears at her armor and sinks an inch or two into the metal, giving a chance for Fionna to toss her aside.
"He is not evil!" she yells and keeps her sword clasped in both hands.
The sound of her voice wakes Cake, "Fi?" She can see through the streaks of fire Fionna covering Flame Prince, but her sister is oblivious what is happening at the back of them. "FIONNA!"
"Sssstupid girl," jeers Fina had begun building a huge fireball. "The oxygen isss very helpful out here," before throwing it she yells, "People associated with him shall burn!"
You are born evil, the people here are evil, I am evil, but that is no reason to be sad about it. You are powerful, strong, use it to defeat your enemies! Triumph over them and kill anyone who threatens you!
Another one of his mother's lectures flew past his memory when he rushed in front of Fionna, stuck out his hand and absorbs the enormous impact filled with rage. He can feel it, the anger, the agony, the pain of his cousins losing their mother. He can feel how much distress they felt through her death and their hatred for him and his mother. These feelings, so new to him, overwhelmed him that his hand began to shake. The fireball shrinks as he forces himself to take the flames in, all the emotions, making his heart beat faster.
"Impossssible," says Fina in awe.
"No..." Titaia puts her helmet on, "It's not, he definitely is strong."
Flame Prince finally closes his hand, gasping, eyebrows drawn and his face covered with anguish and confusion. However, his eyes burns in theirs, they had a devastating appearance, filled with strength and guilt. In a raspy and harsh voice he growls, "Go."
The two follow this simple order and their retreat causes the flames to die down. Marshall is seen laying on the ground, luckily under shade, and is surrounded by the customers and sellers who ran away from the once scorching location. The noise of their cheering woke him up. They applauded Fionna and Flame Prince, mostly him, and Cake runs to Fi holding her, sobbing. "Glob Fi don't do that again!" she cries on her shoulder and looks over at Flame Prince, "Oh, I'd hug you right now but I can't! Thank you!"
Wearily, he smiles, "You're we-"
A group of women of all ages flock around him honoring him, swooning and sighing. Fionna stares in disbelief as Marshall Lee cracks his neck and sees what she is fuming about. He decides to take advantage over the situation, "He was known as evil by Choose Goose, but now she's acting all giddy to him."
They can hear her girly giggles somewhere in the crowd, "I judged you wrong, you are not evil, you sent those pyromancers running like weevils. Please accept my apology, by accepting this, for I think aluminum gloves will come in handy."
She winks and Flame Prince carefully picks them up, slipping them on his hands, amazed they were not melting. He runs past the girls, straight to Fionna and holds her shoulders, "You aren't burning."
Fi smiles, "Yeah...I'm not," she takes both his hands and holds them. "Flame Prince...are you okay? It looked like it hurt..."
He looks down at their hands touching and then up to her concerned face. "Fionna, I'm fine as long as you are," she smiles.
The setting is cute to Cake, but Marshall gags a bit and heads over to Choose Goose, "You got aluminum boots or something?"