For the first time in… well he couldn't remember how long, but it had to be a long time, or maybe he was just forgetful. But the Ice King felt hot, from the heavy water pouring down on him, alongside the sheer mental strain that had heated his brain like an egg out in the Fire Kingdom. Even worse, he was hungry, but that need was dulled while the aged wizard felt as if his head was about to split open. Clarity unlike any he had experienced in such a long time, exploded into his cranium. And the magical man had to struggle to stay upright and not slip on the cold wet floor. "Betty… Betty… Betty." He kept repeating like a child learning their first new word. The redheaded woman flashed across his head, and he didn't want to risk forgetting her for even a moment.
His princess, his princess, how could he have forgotten her? She had been his everything; no, she still was his everything. Staggering out of the shower, it was all Ice King could do to lean on the counter. Grappling with the thoughts inside his head, he looked into the mirror. "Wah!" And proceeded to forget about it as his appearance had shocked him! It was… it was… well, in hindsight the exact same as always. But suddenly, it spooked the man. "Geez… was I always this thin? And bald?" He tipped his crown up to show the lone lock on his head. And his waist, without the tunic shielding him, was easy to see just how malnourished he was. No muscle mass, no fat, it was a miracle he hadn't starved to death. "Now I'm hungry! Good thing I just went to the store." And although distracted by this need for food, his mind still lingered on the thought of Betty.
Normally, he'd have forgotten her entirely, but not this time. No fog avaliable to cloud his mind as each attempt by the crown only resulted in the tablet currently on him to counter with its power. But first, even before that, he needed to get a change of clothes. His current tunic was still dirty, so that meant he'd need to get one from the closet. A quick skedaddle and the Ice King entered his closet, but to his horror, all his tunics had torn to shreds! "Gunther?!" That bad boy was going to get it! He was going to feel the wrath! After he found a temporary change of clothes… but where?
I couldn't imagine you in anything but your jacket *****.
Huh? Where did that come from? He recognized the voice, it was from his princess, but a jacket? He didn't have a jacket… did he? Almost as if he was guided by some other force, the ice wizard's feet moved. Scurrying down the halls of his domain, he hopped from step to step until he found himself in front of his junk room. Everything he didn't know why he kept it was stored, filled to the brim with boxes and random trinkets. "Maybe it's time for some spring cleaning, but in summer, or is it fall… winter?" It was always cold here so he couldn't tell. Yet as he stood here again, his brain seemed to itch, this time urging the clueless man's head towards the desk where sometimes he would come down here to write.
Pushing the desk aside out of that feeling, Ice King came face to face with a large hole in the wall. "When did this get here?" Forgetting he had made it himself centuries ago. Still, that tick in his brain was more than enough to get him to follow its command. He walked through the dark depths until he came to the other side, where to his shock a library, more organized than any other room in the Ice Kingdom stood. Books neatly arranged in alphabetical order, a total nerd cave if you asked the Ice King, but in a way it felt right. "Wonder if its got any good Ble comics in here." He usually wasn't one for reading, but right about now a good book sounded nice. And then he turned to his right and saw it, an old black jacket with a red bowtie. And before he knew it, the Ice King smiled, just looking at it stirred familiar memories in him. Ones he could not yet decipher, but just bringing a frozen hand to it made him as sad as it did nostalgic.
Sure it was lame, but the wizard knew it was his kind of lame, and gosh, if his princess liked a man in uniform, then he'd wear it. A quick change later and now the jacket hung off of him. Even for the body it was tailor made for, it still slacked in several places. "Not too snazzy. Even grips the cheeks quite well if ya know what I mean?" His eyebrows raised half an inch as he patted his soft toasty buns. Still, he had the funniest feeling. Something was missing, something important to this outfit, and on the way out, from the sparse bit of light down here. A small light got caught in his eye, reflected off of a pair of glasses sitting right at the top of a box to his right.
Curious, the Ice Wizard bent down, picking them up to examine. "Oh yea… I remember these. Back when I used to wear glasses. Musta been a week ago… no…. two weeks." Yea that must have been it. Heading back upstairs the Ice King remembered his previous hunger and made himself a good ole sandwich. It wasn't anything special, but it was good. Some good ole pig, a bit of mayo, and two bread slices, all topped off by some fizzy soda that brought back some sugaring energy to this dower day.
And really, that's how the next week operated. The Ice King who had previously been a man of spontaneous decisions and activity, found himself settling into a routine. He'd get up, trim his beard little by little, wash his hair (which had begun to grow back), eat a meal, write one of his Fanfics, clean his jacket, play with his penguins who he had begun to organize better in terms of names, read a book, do a bit of cleaning, eat a meal, take a shower, and then go to bed. He wasn't sure why he did everything so meticulously, but the routine felt nice. Made him feel professional, and if in a small insignificant way, helped that lonely feeling inside.
Often he would think about Betty, and sometimes when he spent hours thinking upon her, a small glimpse of a memory would come to him. And each time he held it close to his heart, more and more he grew the urge to leave his home and search for his princess. Only stopped by the fact he neither knew where she was and sometimes a fear that if he did find her something bad would happen. It left him frozen mentality, unable to decide if he should seek her out or maybe wait and hope she returned home.
Until seven days later, finally the man was growing low on food now that he felt the need to eat consistently. However, even with a consistent food intake, the portions weren't enough to make him look healthy, he still seemed a bit too thin for his jacket, but it was better than before, where even a blind man could likely see his ribs poking out. Meaning he needed to head out to Wizard City again for some groceries. "Gunther sweetie?" The elderly individual called, and moments later, his favorite penguin stepped in. "Daddy will be right back sweetie. Don't touch anything." And for good measure, he had recently formed a leash for his penguin alongside an ice cable to attach it to that stretched from one side of the living room to the other. That way, his little Guntie could walk around without getting into places he shouldn't.
WENK WENK
His little boy complained at the leash. It had been a thing for nearly the entire week straight after his recent path of destruction. "Now that's no way to talk. This wouldn't have happened if you did as you were told. Sometimes Daddy is just trying his best, even if it means tough love." He explained before heading towards the exit. It was a little awkward going out without his usual get-up, and now he had to use a bit more finesse flying with a shorter beard. Instead of being freakishly long, it was just a good full mustache and beard combo. Personally he had the urge to try and shave it off once or twice, mostly when he thought too hard, but for now, he had settled on keeping it at a modest level.
Summoning his power, the Ice King soared out from his home, passing by large mountaintops on his path toward civilization. "Yaow! Pow!" That was until he heard someone shouting nearby. Which was odd since he never had anything besides, well, his penguins in the Ice Kingdom. So distracted from his mission by this curious new sound, the ice wizard diverted his course and soon came upon who had made those sounds. A boy with pale skin kicked at a crudely formed snowman, wearing a blue shirt/pants, a green backpack, and a kind of rabbit-looking hat on his head. "Take that, and this!" The boy excitedly shouted with a golden sword in his hands. It carried a minor dent or two but otherwise a strong-looking weapon.
For a minute or two, the wizard watched the display before him. Fascinated by this new visitor to his domain. And then, without thinking, he dropped down after seeing the boy slice off one of the heads of the snowmen with a flashy shift of the sword. Clapping away at the show and unintentionally startling the boy who paused in his movements. "Wow! That was some fancy swingin' you did there! 10/10!" He congratulated, which eased up the boy's tenseness in his shoulders.
Still, he kept his sword out, perhaps cautious of this new unknown face. But then after a moment of internal debate, put it up. "Thanks. Just what us heroes do, beat up the bad guys." The boy puffed his chest out, trying to make himself seem mightier than he looked.
Now that fascinated the wizard. He couldn't recall ever meeting a hero before. "A hero?" A hint of mirth in his tone. Not only was this a way to relieve his loneliness, but inside, the Ice King had always been interested in children. Sometimes, especially recently, the old man found himself dreaming. Of him, and his princess, and a kid of their own (though for some reason they always had grey skin), a happy little family. "Well, let me help you." And then with a wave of his hand, the Ice King summoned the power of frost and the boy watched as the snowmen he had destroyed not only reformed but looked better than ever. All of them ready for a serious butt-whooping.
"Mathmatical!" Wait, what did math have to do with this? Nevertheless, the boy seemed excited as he went back to slicing and dicing the snowmen. For almost an hour the two enjoyed this routine. The wizard was all too happy to show his power over snow, and the boy despite his body beginning to shiver, battered the snowmen relentlessly with the energy of youth. The Ice King could not remember the last time he felt so happy. By the end of the hour, the younger of the two's face began to take on a hint of red, but neither noticed. "This is… awesome! I didn't know a good snow wizard lived here!" And then for some unknown reason to IK, that seemed to stop the boy. His face growing a little perplexed. "You're good, right? Because I heard an evil ice guy with a giant beard and blue robe lives here. I came to kick his butt for being evil and tryin' to kidnap people like a big butt guy." The kid questioned.
Evil? He wasn't evil. "Evil ice guy? Here? Gosh I hope not, would be totally weird to have another ice person here. Could you imagine?" He gave off a small laugh, not putting two and two together immediately. Yet in the back of his mind, as his self-awareness grew, that little ping that occasionally went off did just at this moment. More recent memories, those of his attempts to swoon princesses. Their faces full of fear as he had attempted to duct tape, freeze, or just bundle them up in a sack came to mind, and soon it did begin to click. The inner conscience lost to the madness of before now able to speak up, and it told him one thing. "(Wait. Am I… a bad guy?)" But before this brief period of introspection could continue, a worrying sound broke through his thoughts.
Cough Cough Cough Cough
That's when finally, the Ice King could notice it. How tired the boy looked, the way his face had turned from a normal healthy shade to white like a sheet with two red cheeks, and when his body shivered as a gust of icy wind blew through. Suddenly, the wizard felt a weight drop in his chest and a spike of unrelenting fear built up inside of him. His vision momentarily blurred, and for just a fraction of a second, he saw the boy as someone else. A grey little girl practically coughing her lungs out, and instinctively he reached his hand out, only to feel a face that had gone hot like fire.
"Oh no." The old man worriedly said as he went to grab his new friend. Scooping him up as the need to get back home overwhelmed his senses. Somewhere safe, where he could be out of this blasted breeze.
While initially squirming at the sudden contact, the boy soon relaxed in the still-cool but less freezing embrace. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry." He argued trying to show his toughness. A little cold shouldn't get to him, he was an adventurer, and no weather could beat him!
But the aged wizard hardly listened as he began to fly back to his home. "Well, I do. You need to get out of this cold, and what better way than jamming it back at my place? We'll play some music, ever play drums, it's right up my wheelhouse!" That excitement returned to his tone mixing with the worry.
His new friend, however, still seemed reluctant. "Mom told me never to go home with strangers, or whoop em!" The kid insisted.
"We're not strangers, we're friends who just don't know about each other yet. How about we talk about ourselves? Get to know each other on the way back?" The ice wizard countered as he carefully tucked the boy close to his jacket to ward off another blast of cold from the wind as he flew across the mountaintops.
The boy thought about it and seemed to accept that logic wholeheartedly as he began to talk. "I'm Finn, but everyone calls me Finn the Human. Because I'm the only one around. I go on adventures with my brother, beat up bad guys, and like Finn Cakes!" Finn Cakes? The bearded man wondered if they tasted good. "What about you?" Finn then asked.
What about him? Immediately he considered answering as usual, "I'm the Ice King, master of Ice and Snow!" But… it couldn't make it past his lips. The earlier thought of his recent actions had left a sour taste in his mouth, one he would need to think about soon. But what else was there? Surely he had something he could answer? And as he searched his memory, and this time his own voice greeted him. One he heard on his old tapes that he had not viewed in quite some time.
I was studying to be an Antiquarian.
And he went with it. "Oh, I'm an Antiquarian. A pretty famous one who all the chicks dig." He tried to play it off smoothly.
That was until Finn asked the obvious question for those who had never heard of such a profession. "What's that?"
To which the wizard could only reply. "Beats me." As he soon spotted his home only a few more seconds away.