Flame Prince doesn't stand up but crosses his legs and puts his hands on his knees. He can see that Fionna is focusing on making this dish perfect for his mother which is a very hard thing to do. Messing up this dish could also be the last thing to make if it isn't delicious. However, he doesn't doubt Fionna and leaves her digging in pantries and cabinets while he shuts his eyes to meditate.

Meditation is probably the only thing that kept him sane when he was enclosed in the lamp. He found it useful when the joker seemed more annoying than usual, when he heard gossip about him and especially when he was alone, which was mostly all the time. Now, he chooses to meditate for he can feel the darkness of the Fire Kingdom slowly creeping into his mind. He needs to stay calm and push it out. Stay calm. Stay…

A pair of hands grabs Flame Prince out of the kitchen and throws him on the ground. He gets into battle position, but the young man holds up his hands above his face. He wore armor, a helmet, and had a huge spiked melee tucked by his side. "Wait, your Majesty!" he yells and Flame Prince withdraws his fireballs.

"…Yes?"

"We heard of your return," he doesn't know who we are. "And we would like to see you at the arena as soon as I tell you this message."

"…Why?" he remembers the arena. When his mother was in a good mood she would let him out once or twice a month to battle other boys in the arena. He always was the one to triumph in victory, the one the boys his age would scowl at and the one flame women would swoon over if he wasn't so scary.

"We want to challenge you again! The same five that were defeated by you so long ago," the young man cringes at letting his pride drop. "It's…been a year since we last fought, remember?"

"…No," but Flame Prince does remember last year his mother stopped taking him out. Laziness?

"Flame Prince?" Fionna peeks outside of the door.

"Intruder?!" the boy lifts his club, and without thinking, Flame Prince shields Fionna letting the spiked club rip his shirt. "Ah! Forgive me!"

"Do not harm...my bride." He pushes the weapon back and with embarrassment the boy knelt down for forgiveness, "I'll meet you at the arena."

"Thank you, your Maje-"

"But I won't go easy on you," he points to his ruined shirt as a reminder and walks towards Fi who is still blushing at the sound of him calling her his "bride."

"Uh, uhm," she leads him back in the kitchen and sees his chest peeking out from the tears of his shirt. "Are you okay?!"

Flame Prince puts his whole body weight on Fi that she falls back with a flustered face. She can feel his cheek rub against hers as she places her hands on his back, "Are...you okay?"

"This...is my favorite shirt," he stands up to rid of it and Fionna quickly draws her eyes away to the cauldron where her stew boiled. "What you put in it?"

"Uhm...uh," she taps the wood under the cauldron with her foot, "Meat...pepper...all that good stuff, wanna taste?"

"Sure," she takes a scoop with a wooden spoon and slowly gestures it to his mouth. Madly blushing, unable to keep the spoon still, almost spilling it on his bare chest, Flame Prince can see how flustered Fionna is. Smiling, he opens his mouth to take in another delicious stew of hers...

"SURPRISE ATTACK!" Flame Prince falls back from Flare pouncing on his chest. "Whoa...what happened to your shirt? Even though we don't need to hide anything..." she shakes her head, "Anyways, they want you down at the arena."

"Now?" Fi asks with hidden agitation.

"Yup! And Flame Queen wants her stew," reminds Flare as Flame Prince lifted himself up. "Go! Go! Go!"

"Uhm...come down later?" he asks with an awkward smile.

"S-Sure..." she waves and waits for the door to close before she could puff her cheeks. "Well, who needs his opinion? I can judge this myself! I'm sure flame shield works on food right?" she takes a huge bite of her stew.

...

"What was that?" asked Flame Queen after she heard a shrill scream.

Cake could tell it was from the kitchen, "I-I'm sure nothing happened." She sure hoped Fi didn't do something stupid that would blow her cover. For the past twenty minutes she had been sitting down at the foot of Flame Queen listening to the joker play his un-tuned ukulele. Deeply, annoying...her. She grabs the mistreated instrument and began to tune it herself. The joker and the other spectators watch her struggle and make funny faces while trying to find the right note. Finally, she has done it and began dancing, strumming and singing random verses off her head.

"Oh, play something about the Prince," suggests a listener.

"Oh..." she strums a chord. "Hmm...OH! He's super hot!"

Flame Queen watches her servants dancing around with Cake, laughing, singing and twirling. Having fun.

Fun.

Is that something she is able to join?

Laughter.

Has she ever laughed from her heart?

Amusement.

She can only find it when executing people. However, she did like to watch plays, yet she did not cry in tragedies and not even let out a chuckle in comedies. She is not an open book. She is a supreme ruler who craves power, destruction and fear. Positive feelings such as happiness could bring her down, make her weak, powerless. She does not want that.

"Oh, Fi!" Cake sees her sister coming from the hallway slowly with shaking legs, holding a heavy pot. Cake takes it, "What the glob happened to you, girl?"

Fionna's face is red, her eyes as well, her mouth a little puckered with a sniffling nose. "Uhm..."

"You tasted it didn't you?"

"Yeah...all I have to drink is my frickin' saliva," says Fionna dryly.

"Ah, just in time before we see my son battle," Flame Queen jumps out of her throne, landing with a thump which echoed through the castle. She picks up the cauldron that seems to be a mug for her size and sips it. Her eyes widen, "This is delicious..."

"I wish it was to me..." says Fionna silently, but she feels prideful and fist bumps Cake.

Flame Queen finishes the stew in just a few seconds, "Now then," she drops it on one of her servants, "Let's go see how my son is doing...I hope his battle skills haven't weakened when he was gallivanting with you."

"What's that supposed to-" Cake nudges Fi's side, "I mean, I'm sure he didn't..."

...

The arena is huge and filled about two-thirds with cheering fans of Flame Prince and the young men he is facing. Three are starving to beat him after tasting defeat when they first met and two are the toughest warriors in the Flame Kingdom. Most of the fans of Flame Prince are girls, sighing at his skinny, fit and muscular body. He doesn't much fans who were men for they either envied him or doubt his strength against his opponents. Either way, he doesn't care. Now, in Flame Prince's perspective it is just him and the enemy.

The rebellious knight who refused to put on his helmet is the first to charge straight at the Prince. Head on, with sharp daggers about two feet long in each hand. Flame Prince stands and equipped his flame sword in a quick second. With a quick, swift swing the blade could have cut the knight in half starting from his head. However, the knight uses both his daggers to keep the sword from touching his nose. Flame Prince's head is just a few inches from his own sword. The crowd hears the metal slide against each other as Flame Prince pushes his sword in the air causing the knight to let go of his daggers and let them fly in the air. Afraid, he faces Flame Prince and receives a painful headbutt.

Flame Prince stands unaffected.

Next.

Another man steps up, but before taking aim at Flame Prince he raises his sword in the air and roars. His fans cheer and whistle for him. He swung his large one sided sword around to show off. With his surprise, he sees that Flame Prince makes his sword disappear, but it feels as if his job is made easier. He drags his sword on the ground, jumps with it over his head and with all his might, swings it down upon Flame Prince. The crowd gasps, and Fionna, standing near the entrance below the seats gapes. The dust clears.

Flame Prince, with two hands, held the sword from touching his flame. He pushes it back and watches the heavy man fall. He expected him to get up, but it seems he is only knocked out.

"Yeah! Flame Prince!" he can always point out her voice. "Whoo!"

Flame Prince turns and flashes a smile, "Fionna..."

She blushes, but her cheeks return color quickly when she hears, "He smiled at me!"

"No, he smiled at me?!"

Fi grits her teeth, "He smiled at me," and puffs her cheeks.

"So, how do you think of his strength?" asks Flame Queen. Fi hears a thud and sees she missed the action of Flame Prince taking down the third man, but Flame Queen keeps talking. "Nothing seems to have changed in him, that's good."

"Mmm..."

"OH MY GLOB!" she turns to Cake. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! THAT WAS LIKE WHOO! AND HE WAS ALL LIKE GRR AND FLAME PRINCE WAS ALL LIKE NO!"

"What?" Fi turns to see the fourth man is already on the ground.

Even though there is one left Flame Prince starts walking towards Fionna. "Hey," he shoots a fireball at the last man standing.

"H-Hey," she blushes. While she watched him battle the first two men she couldn't help but stare at his toned stomach and admire his thin waist. "You did awe-"

"AWESOME MAN!" yells Cake who is bouncing around.

"Yes...awesome," agrees Flame Queen.

Flame Prince makes a face when he hears his mother say "awesome." He leans towards Fionna, "Ready to go?" he whispers.

"Why?"

"...I think it's better to-"

"I am glad to announce," the couple turn around to see Flame Queen in the middle of the arena. "Flame Prince...my son, has a bride," the crowd answered with mixed feelings that Fi couldn't determine. "SILENCE!" she roars. "Now, she has shown me that her cooking skills are professional, but I have not seen her determination to win. Determination to fight!" The sneaky queen smirks at Fionna and stretches a fiery arm to grab her to the center as well, "So, whoever wants to be Flame Prince's bride, come see me and you may be the ones to challenge his dear Fionna and become his bride."

"What?!"

"Don't worry, if you win, you will have him."

Flame Prince runs to Fionna to grab her arm and escape the premises. However, Flame Queen takes a hold of him and laughs as he stares her down with eyes bursting with flames. He continues to try and escape her grasp, but no luck. "I choose my bride! I know she is suitable! I lo-"

"What?" a cold stare makes him shut up. "Flame Prince you will marry someone who is strong, someone who will rule side by side with you. Love is not needed."

She begins to walk back to the castle. Fi yells, "Where are you taking him?!"

"Where he always stayed before he met you," the guards stop Fi in her tracks, "Until someone is claimed the winner you will not see or speak to him."

Cake punches the guards down, "C'mon Fi!" Fionna hops on her back and Cake tries chasing Flame Queen down, however, they are run down by a crowd of girls who are desperate to make Flame Prince theirs. "Ugh..." Cake rubs her head and sees Fionna's dress ripped. "Oh...Fi..."

"No," the adventurer had enough. "I will win, fair and square. I'll play her game and when I win we are out of here!" she roars with confidence. "He is my man!"

"GIRL POWER! WHOO!"