Making his way through the hordes of fans was both exciting and frustrating. The party-goers were all desperate to shake his hand, give him a hug, take a picture, or simply touch the human in passing. Someone even tried to steal the bearskin hat off his head. Nevertheless, their gratitude was humbling—years prior, he'd have never anticipated this much popularity. It outweighed that of Billy, even at his prime. Truly, Finn had become the greatest hero in Ooo.

Eventually, the Banana Guards stepped in and thinned the crowd. He was able to reach the carnival games that adorned the streets, and he eagerly stepped in line to play one. The queue, seeing who had joined, immediately dissolved ahead of him. He shrugged it off and proceeded forward. The people previously waiting now watched him—they seemed happier to observe him than play the games themselves. Still, the human encouraged them to join in.

He wandered between the games, booths, and stands, engaging with his admirers and spending time with anyone that happened to be around him. Having spent years traversing Ooo, most were familiar faces to him—though he managed to find several people he'd never seen before. Then, he ran into someone he knew well—or, at least, had rescued more than once.

Skeleton Princess was standing in his path, unmoving. She seldom spoke (Finn suspected she couldn't speak, actually) so, despite her eerie silence, he assumed she was trying to wish him a happy birthday.

"Hey...you," he said. He regretted having never learned her name.

As expected, she remained mute.

"Thanks for coming," he tried. "I'll—uh...I'll see you around, then."

The human attempted to walk past, but she stepped over to block him.

"Oh, did you wanna, er...play a game or, uh…"

As he racked his brain, trying to guess her intentions, the princess fell forward. He reached out and caught her. SP's face was devoid of emotion, as it always was. Her body was cold and unwelcoming. Any indication of life had fled her person long ago. In fact, she seemed more dead than some of the truly dead people he'd met before—Ghost Princess, the inhabitants of the Underworld, even the corpses Marceline would reanimate...all were more lively than her. He found her presence rather unnerving and, holding her now, he was incredibly uncomfortable.

It only made things worse when she kissed him. Well, it was as close to a kiss as she could manage. The skeleton leaned her head up and pressed her dilapidated teeth to his lips. Finn was frozen with shock. She twisted her neck back and forth, raking her yellowed jaw against his skin. Her boney digits dug into his back in what was meant to be a passionate embrace, though it felt more like torture.

Finally, the human mustered the courage to break away. He yelped in fear and threw her arms aside, then hopped backwards. Skeleton Princess' black, empty eyes glared at him, though he couldn't tell what they were feeling. As much as it pained him to disappoint a princess, he knew there was no mending this situation. And so he offered a rushed, vague apology and took off in a new direction. Looking over his shoulder, he saw her still standing as she was, completely motionless. Then, ever so slowly, she slumped her shoulders and stared to the ground in defeat.

Author's Note:

Sorry it's a short chapter, but I'm thinking about breaking the story up princess-by-princess for a while. Each chapter will detail how one of the women attempts to get with Finn during the party.

If there's any confusion, Skeleton Princess is also known as Zombie Princess. She's the one that...looks like a skeleton. She doesn't really have much screen time. I'm going by a request to use more B-list princesses, so I figured I'd burn through the less characterized ones first. The ones we're more familiar with (Breakfast P, Wildberry P, Slime P, hell maybe even LSP) will get longer, more interesting chapters. If ever you don't remember a character, just consult the wiki. I double check it to make sure I'm using the proper names anyway, so everything should match up over there.

Please let me know how you like the story so far. How's my writing? How can I improve? Reviews are always appreciated. PMs are welcome too.

Feel free to leave suggestions for future chapters/stories as well. I'm going with the flow here; nothing much is planned ahead. If there's something or someone you'd like to make an appearance, just let me know! If I like it, I'll work it into the narrative.

As always, thanks for reading!