Fionna continues to grin as she follows Finn back up the red cave path, idly sheathing the ice sword onto her back once more. They walk up around the corner to the entrance, finding everyone standing around idly, with Ice Queen and Cake looking away from each other. Huntress Wizard in her always aware state notices them straight away, standing to look at Finn with a grin as her actions alert everyone else to their arrival, "Everything alright?" He beams at her,
"Couldn't of gone any better I think." Fionna walks by him with a happy smile, nodding in agreement as she headed straight towards Cake. Ice Queen walks up to Finn, deliberately staring at him intensely, slightly creeping him out,
"Curse." She simply says as an explanation, making Finn sigh. She grins, and wraps him in a hug, smothering him a little, "Told you would be able to help! Now…" She pulls off him, looking at the others, "... Are we ready to continue?"
Fionna stops herself from starting a conversation with Cake, turning to the royal, 'I told myself I was going to give you a chance.' She beams at Ice Queen, giving her a thumbs up as she pulls her blue blade free, "Yep! Let's go save Marshall!" Her cheerful attitude towards the royals stuns her for a second, but she is eventually able to return the smile to the heroine, 'Must of been somewhat Finn said… guess that's another thing I've got to thank him for.'
The group all nod at Ice Queen as well, signalling that the squad was ready to continue its adventure. Everyone starts shifting, checking they have everything as they move towards the entrance, Ice Queen and Finn grinning at their eagerness, the royal this time taking the charge, "Great! We'll continue the path until we reach 'the teller' that Finn had mentioned." She plans, sticking her head out of the entrance and scanning for any nearby demons.
Cake rolls her eyes at the royal's words, watching her about to jump out of the cave "Uh huh. So how about we have Finn or Butterscotch lead the way and not you? Cause I'm definitely not following you bubble butt." She spits, causing Ice Queen to freeze up, then turn to glare at the cat as she stands tall. She doesn't say anything, just quickly grabbing her by the head and chucking her out the cave,
"Shut up. Now's not the time for your personal opinion." She moans and leaps out of the cave as well, leaving a slightly annoyed Finn behind,
"Great, they're going to kill each other." Huntress shrugs,
"Then we better stop them. Come on, I'll help you down." She squats at the entrance and Finn hops onto her back, triggering her to jump out of the cave.
They land before the duo, and sure enough Cake was glaring at a smug Ice Queen, who was standing tall and proud over her. "Well I heard that cats always land on their feet, but it seems that only applies to healthy cats. Your fat and lazy body is probably why you landed face first." She teases.
Cake growls, starting to stretch herself taller than the royal, jabbing a finger straight at her, "SHUT IT!" The royals doesn't care about the massive cat in front of her, even grinning at the clawed finger aiming, her fearlessness agitating the feline even more, "LISTEN YOU OLD-" Finn quickly leaps onto her, halting her rant to instead glare at him, while he returns one just as fierce,
"Shrink now! Before a demon spots us!" She growls, yet Finn doesn't care, going so far as to bring himself even close to the face of Cake, "Now!" He orders, and she begrudgingly starts to shrink, bringing herself to her regular size, causing Finn to hop off her. Fionna and Butterscotch finally joins everyone, the heroine staring at the intense stare off between Finn and her sister while Huntress moves a now grimacing Ice Queen away, the royals smugness disappearing at the nymphs look of disappointment. She hurriedly heads towards her male self, already preparing herself for an extremely bad situation.
"What were you thinking!?" Finn semi shouts, trying to keep his voice low. The feline only glares more,
"What was I thinking!? What was she thinking throwing me out the cave!? What were you thinking when you decided to be her knight!? What were you thinking bringing that maniac filled with more problems than you could shake a stick at along with us!? What were you thinking letting her sleep almost naked against you!?" Cake demands, pointing a finger at Finn, who doesn't even flinch as the nail lightly boops him on the nose.
"That I was helping a suffering friend of mine in any way I could. I know you have a problem with her Cake but you need to grow up and accept that she wants to change!" Finn says angrily, and honestly scaring Cake a little.
But she quickly hops back into her aggressive stance, "Yeah! But this is the Ice Queen! You're letting her get way too close! She is a danger to you, and admitted herself the tiara just gave her new curse! What if the next one is to attack everyone on sight!?"
"Now you're just being stupid Cake! I thought you were a hero, how can you not help someone in need?"
"Because. She. Is. Evil!"
While Finn and Cake argued with Fionna watching worriedly from the side lines, Huntress and Ice Queen sit down on some chairs once again formed of the magic from the royal. "Ice Queen, what are you thinking? Are you trying to deliberately stir trouble?" The woman huffs,
"... Maybe if I'm being honest. I'm not doing it deliberately to create trouble for you and Finn, I'm just angry at Cake, that's all."
"And you can't try to talk it out?"
"You can hear their shouting. I definitely don't mind having more friends right now, but Cake is still hung up on the past, and if Finn constantly telling the truth doesn't change her mind, nothing I say will. Like it or not Huntress, I think there'll be friction between us for a long while… unless something dramatic happens." Ice Queen explains, yet Huntress doesn't react, keeping her stoic expression.
"I understand. But also don't provoke her Sarah. Finn is right, you may hate each other right now but we have bigger things to worry about, say saving Marshall Lee, or surviving a horde of demons. If we are to succeed then we need to fight Hana and her forces, not each other." Ice Queen sighs,
"I am aware Huntress, but that doesn't make it easier…" She takes a glance at Butterscotch, and finds her suitability far enough away, "... Just like your relationship with Finn." She whispers, "If it were public, it would be so much easier for you and Finn. But just because it makes the most sense, doesn't mean you enjoy it."
Huntress glares very slightly at Ice Queen, not liking her fear being brought up, yet still she sighs, standing up as she grabs the royal and yanked her to her feet as well. She raises her voice, making sure everyone hears, "Fine, we can talk and deal with this later, because our lives are currently in danger from a horde of demons."
Finn grimaces as he nods, backing away to face the whole group, "Alright let's head out!" He turns his gaze to Butterscotch, who was standing patiently, and waves his arm at the path forward, "Lead the way." The butler immediately sets off, with Ice Queen following close behind her, then Huntress, Fionna, and finally Cake. Finn sighs, 'At least they're trying to stay apart.' He adds onto the end, allowing him to oversee the whole group. His gaze first goes to Ice Queen, walking proudly as she readies herself mentally for battle, remembering spells and constantly checking for any demons.
Then his eyes drift to Cake, stomping as she fumes in anger, something that makes him sigh, 'Here's to hoping fighting something will vent her anger.' Unlike Ice Queen, she was the one lost inside her own head, whipping up a storm of enraged thoughts at the royal. Suddenly Butterscotch turns around to face everyone, "It is as I feared. That commotion earlier did get the attention of a few demons."
Finn sighs, giving both Cake and Ice Queen an extremely annoyed expression, "Guys, I'll be honest: work it out. That's an order." While they give him looks of their own, he turns to the butler, "How many?" She shrugs,
"Quite a few, probably ten or so." He sighs, and looks back to everyone else, finding them all preparing themselves for the upcoming fight. Except Ice Queen, she was staring at Finn with an unflinching gaze, yet when his eyes meet hers, she snaps out of it. And storms off ahead.
Finn's eyes widen, and he quickly rushes forward past everyone, trying to keep his voice low as to not alert any of the demons, "Ice Queen!" His words surprising halts her, making her grin as she turns around to face him, lifting a hand that glowed with magic,
"Don't worry, I've got a plan. A very simple, easy to pull of one." She instantly spins around the moment she finishes her sentence, leaving a slightly confused Finn behind, who then rushes to catch back up to her,
"Can I know the plan? If it is simple then you should be able to explain it before we fight the demons." She shakes her head with a massive smile,
"You'll see~" She teases, making Finn frown slightly,
"If you're ever going to fight Ice Queen, everyone needs to know the plan before you do anything!" She halts, and raises her hand, glaring ahead,
"Get out here! I know you are there!"
With sick laughs, demons start to crawl from their hiding spots, including the familiar face of the lanky demon with the blood splatters, making Ice Queen grin, "Ah good! When I saw you run earlier I instantly knew I should have killed you. Surprised you got new friends so quickly after the last lot got slaughtered." It chuckles, taking confident strides towards her,
"And you should of killed me! For we now have a plan this time! So just give u-!" Ice Queen shoots her hand out straight, and a massive ball of ice the size of a shed forms in front of her, causing the royal to grin. She uses her magic to launch it forward, letting it roll over anything in its way as it goes down the walled canyon they were in. The demons instantly try to scramble away, but the tight corridor allows no escape, and the massive ball of ice runs them all over with a crunch.
As the ball of now dark red and pale blue continues to roll down the canyon, Finn grimaces as he looks at the broken bodies before him, yet Ice Queen grins, "Strike!" He sighs at her joke, then freezes up,
"Wait there is only seven! Didn't Butterscotch say there were ten!?" He says, making the duo spin around to check their rear. And find three demons leaping at them. Ice Queen reacts quickly, erecting a wall of ice for her and Finn just as the demons reach them, allowing them all to slam head first into the ice. "Dudes! Everyone else is dead! Just run!" Finn yells in an attempt to get them to leave without him having to do conflict. And guessing by the twisted laughs and endless savage scratching sounds on the ice wall, he might not get it his way.
He frowns as he reaches for his night sword, with Ice Queen preparing to drop the shield and fly backwards to create space between her and her targets. Then simultaneously three sprays of blood flies up with some objects moving faster than the eye could track. Finn's face twists with confusion, and the royal lowers their shield to have three dead demons flop at their feet, large holes in their heads. And Huntress Wizard walking towards them uncaringly, mentally ordering her bloody arrows back into her quiver as the rest of the group catch up to them. "You two should of waited." Huntress lectures, causing Ice Queen to shrug,
"Eh, my bad, I rushed off to do my plan."
Fionna raises an eyebrow "And you two decided to not tell us?" She questions, and causing the royal immediately step forward to Finn's protection,
"He did actually try to stop me, and he didn't know the plan either, so he had no part of this. To be honest, I wanted to do this fight solo, as to avoid any risk of hitting you guys." Cake huffs, folding her arms as she glares at the royal,
"Yeah right! You just wanted to go on a power fuelled rampage! To show off to everyone how much better you are!" Cake's words make the royal glare at her,
"No, I'm being speed efficient. This took a few seconds to kill them all while only putting one of us at risk!... Well this would only take a few seconds if your constantly arguing with me didn't slow us all down! You're nothing but a hindrance to the team!" Finn stomps between them,
"Enough both of you!" He shouts, then angrily pointing at the path forward, "Walk now, because I'm going to have to talk to you both about this if you can't solve this on your own."
They glare at him, neither of them liking being ordered around, but they do start moving with Cake storming off first. Finn sighs as once again everyone else walks between the duo, acting as a buffer between them as they progress forward. He joins them, walking behind the towering Ice Queen, preventing him from seeing the group or the way forward, causing him to grimace, 'Why can't those two just get along?'
Ice Queen meanwhile was on autopilot as she thinks, her mind lost in the mad sea of her thoughts, 'I did do that spell to show off. Not to the others, just Finn.' She bites her lip in slight embarrassment. She'd known that Finn would catch up to her instantly, and that she could then have some alone time with him to show off her power, even if it was for only a few seconds. She had accepted Huntress's offer of a three way relationship, and Huntress had said Finn would date her if she wasn't there.
Yet, the royal still had doubts. It had been so long since she had done anything to show off to Finn, to wow him… to woo him. And that was now getting to her, especially since she now has a new curse to put him off, 'I wanted to make up for that, to get his attention, to remind him that I am fully capable of handling stuff despite the curse… including a family. I had tried to stop flirting with him at Huntress's request, so what if he has lost interest in me as a result?' She sighs, 'And then I argued with Cake and put more problems on his plate… I've made things worse for him! I want to make it up to him! To cheer him up!' She immediately takes a step to the left and slows her walking speed, bringing her in line with a slightly curious and confused Finn. "Curse. I can't see you and I feel its grip." However she then sighs, turning to him, "I'm sorry for causing all these fights." He nods,
"It's... alright. Though I would prefer some more control Ice Queen, in both arguing with Cake and rushing off just then to do that spell. I mean give me a heads up when you do that!"
"I'm sorry." Finn takes a deep breath,
"... I worry about you, ok? Charging into a horde of demons by yourself isn't exactly going to put me at ease."
"I know, but I can handle myself perfectly fine so you don't need to shed any tears for me. I've been living alone for a few hundred years, taking on all of AAA by myself as I kidnap princes, remember?"
He chuckles, "Glob you're just like Huntress, happily alone and self dependent…" He looks her straight in the eyes, "... And I said the exact same thing to her: It's amazing how you can do all that by yourself, but you should never be afraid to have someone by your side, to care about your health."
Ice Queen smiles, and places a hand on his shoulder, "I know, and I do have someone like that: you and Huntress." Her gaze flicks to the still moody Cake, then back at Finn. "The reason why Cake and I are having these fights is because of earlier, when she had tied me up for no reason other than her despising me."
"... Right, you hate her to the point of being willing to start fights because of that?" She nods,
"Yes, that's currently the start of the problems between me and Cake. And we both know Cake doesn't like me because of our past, of me constantly attacking and freezing her when I kidnap Prince Gumball, the man she believes should belong to Fionna." She looks up, turning her gaze to the feline. "... I'm going to try to talk to her, so you don't have to worry about us."
She grimaces as she pushes forward, 'I'm not looking forward to this, but if it will help Finn's load…' She strolls up to her latest frenemy, causing Cake to shoot a glare up at her, "What do you want?" She spits, making Ice Queen scowls a little,
"To apologise. Like it or not, we're going to have to work together, and our little spat is putting everyone in danger by blaring out signals to every demon. If we keep this up, we will put everyone in danger, including Fionna. Do you want to put your sister in danger?" Ice Queen tries to manipulate, a trait seemingly common with the royals. Cake grumbles as she looks down to the ground,
"... No. But you started this!" She accuses, making Ice Queen scoff,
"No, you did it by tying me up." The feline glares,
"No, this all started when you started kidnapping every guy in sight."
"While under a curse!" Cake's gaze shifts away, not really having a counter to that, causing the queen to sigh, "Look, how about we just apologise to each other and let bygones be bygones? Or at least a temporary truce until we get out of the night-o-sphere." She suggests, making the feline go completely silent.
Cake feels the expecting gazes of the group behind her as they nose in on the talks. "... Fine! Temporary truce!" Ice Queen nods, and quickly pulls back, not wanting to already test the strength of such a fragile agreement. Finn grins at her as she pulls back beside him, 'She went for the peaceful option! I'm… so proud of her, she is improving herself!'
Unknown to Ice Queen, her decision to take the initiative to talk with Cat had appealed to Finn's pacifist side, the hero beaming as he walks side by side with her. She didn't plan that at all, having just wanting to make Finn happy, in some way to pay back her debt to him for all his help, yet the majority of her motive was just an attempt to make him smile.
She gets lost in the sight of his cheerful form, and gains a small smile of her own, before she looks up, and finds the rock starting to part, and revealing that they were now standing on the edge of a very tall, steep cliff. And in the distance was an enormous river of dark red, the very same colour of demons. The sight makes Finn rush forward, jabbing a finger straight towards it, "There! That's the line to the teller!"
Everyone goes silent and stare at it wide eyed, except Finn and Butterscotch, who both peer over the edge to search for a way down. Fionna stumbles forward with a slack jaw, "What… the… Glob?" Cake shakes her head,
"What the heck!? How long is that line!?" Finn peers up from cliff edge,
"Well, it took me and Jake twenty eight days to wait through it all to book ourselves an appointment." Huntress stares at him,
"Finn we can't wait that long." He nods,
"I know, and besides those demons would recognise and attack us. So I suggest we simply find a way around it all, like hopping the wall or busting through the gate." Butterscotch shakes her head,
"No Finn, that is a terrible idea. There are hundreds of demons watching at all times, and as Huntress said earlier, we simply can't be sneaky with a group this big, so avoiding the sentries is impossible. And if we were to bust through the gate, then every demon in the line will attack us. The best thing to do is to wait in line." Fionna immediately stands up straight in rage,
"And we can't wait that long! And the demons will just attack us anyways!"
"Not if I do a spell to disguise ourselves as demons!" Ice Queen snaps to the butler glaring,
"Then why didn't you do that in the first place!?"
"Because it sends of a massive magical signal due to how enormous the spell is, deliberately so as it was designed to be a trap by the demons. Every demon would both know our location and recognise the spell, and immediately swarm in, knowing exactly what to look for: another demon. We are also restricted to slow, clunky movements, so we would not be able to escape nor fight them in any way." She then points to the river, "However, in such a large swarm of demons we would be nearly indistinguishable. So we must change, hide so the ones in the river don't spot us, then secretly sneak into the line."
Finn nods, "If you think that's best, we'll do it, you're our demon expert. But if we are restricted to 'clunky' movements, then we better find a way down first."
Huntress grimaces as she walks forward, squinting as she judges the distance between the cliff and the ground. "... Maybe, but this will be an extreme stretch." She warns, turning her entire cape into a very large pile of rope, nearly as wide as a person and just as tall as Ice Queen. She sighs as she looks at it, "Nope, despite that amount it won't be enough… anyone else got any other ideas?" Ice Queen shrugs,
"I could try and float us all down one at a time." Finn takes a glance at the royal while Huntress remakes her cape,
"Would you have enough magic for that?" She nods confidently,
"Definitely. If I can fly and fight the Bubblegum Guardians for as long as I did, then lifting us all down will definitely not be a problem." She pulls up, and awaits for Finn's approval. He releases a long breath, taking one final scan of the area for anything else they could do, and ends up empty handed, causing him to stand and nod at the royal.
She smiles sweetly, taking a calm walk in front of him before wrapping her arms around him firmly, yet not too tightly as she lightly presses him into her chest. Then she jumps off with a grin. They plummet, falling rapidly and quickly gaining speed as they swiftly speed towards the ground. Neither Finn or Ice Queen flinch, the hero having complete and utter trust in the woman, and the royal because she was too busy staring at her knight in her arms to worry about anything in the world. 'It is funny how you do that to me…'
She suddenly flaps her eyebrows, bringing their dive to a halt as they float mid-air, Ice Queen taking the moment to check up on her passenger's conditions, before slowly floating down to the ground. Their feet eventually touch the ground, and Ice Queen grins as she continues to hold Finn, getting a feeling of light headedness as she holds her crush tightly to herself. She learns from her past however and pulls away before it could become awkward, letting the hero stumble free from her chest with a smile.
She beams at him as she flaps her eyebrows once more and flies back up, with Finn giving her a cheerful grin and a thumbs up, making her finger gun at him. She rapidly ascends, eyes locked onto the others as she approaches. She hovers before them, "Yep I can easily do this, so you guys just focus on keeping an eye out for any approaching demons, got it?"
They all nod, triggering Ice Queen to reach out for Huntress next, who climbs into her arms. She pulls her off the edge, then floats both of them down, hurrying slightly to get to Finn quicker, yet looks at Huntress, "I'll distract everyone for a second up there, have a moment with Finn." The nymph in her arm nods happily, and as they touch the ground she swiftly leaves the royal to head towards the hero. Ice Queen shoots back up as fast as she can, trying to think of a topic to distract everyone from the couple below.
Huntress beams at Finn, and heads straight for him, "Ice Queen is keeping them preoccupied for a second, we have time to ourselves." She explains. Finn snaps his head up for verification, and does indeed find nobody peeking over the edge, causing him to grin and shift his gaze back to Huntress. He rushes to her and envelopes her in a lover's hug, pulling her tight against him as their foreheads touch, the couple grinning at each other. They sway a little, forgetting the world to spend the brief moment of privacy together, abandoning all thoughts on the night-o-sphere, on Marshall, on the group's troubles, on Ice Queen, everything… and replaced them with feelings of sheer joy at simply being at the other's side.
Huntress murmurs, "I can't wait to your birthday… I have something special planned~" Finn grins,
"I can't wait to be back at home, just so we can actually have some time together. Might be able to teach you how to dance."
She smirks, and kisses him on the lips, a quick peck that wasn't filled with lust but love, "I would have said no in the past… but now? Definitely."
She looks up, and finds Ice Queen about to jump off backwards with Fionna in hand, giving a worried look over her shoulder. The nymph sighs and nods to her, then splitting away from an equally disappointed Finn, yet, she moves her hands into Finn's, taking the initiative this time in getting used to her relationship being shown in public. 'It's only Fionna, she already knows we are dating!... I still don't think I could handle it in front of strangers…'
Ice Queen lands softly before the duo, and her eyes snap to their entwined fingers, giving a curious yet worried look at Huntress, who simply nods. Ice Queen lets go of Fionna, allowing her to stumble backwards before recovering, spinning around to face the duo, "Now-!" She spots them as well, going wide eyed and causing Huntress to blush heavily, and it takes most of her will to not yank her hand free from Finn's.
"Don't stare." She orders, and the girl immediately looks away, deciding to instead take in the absolutely lovely view of the burning buildings and bloody demons.
Huntress sighs, 'I don't think I can do it… but why!?' Finn suddenly gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, causing her to gaze at his small and comforting smile. The nymph takes a deep breath, "Alright Fionna… you can look, just don't stare… or make a big deal of it." The heroine slowly looks back at them, giving a quick, curious look back at their hands before focusing on the struggling wizard. Finn continues to hold his grip, trying his best to calm her without belittling her, without making her look soft for needing help. Huntress looks away, 'You'll get use to it… it'll just take time…'
She shifts her gaze to Ice Queen who was giving her a concerned look, "... Ice Queen, could you bring Butterscotch down last? Give me the most time to get used to this." She requests, and the royal happily obliges, leaping into the air and towards the last two, leaving the trio alone. Fionna remains silent, trying her best to not stare, yet ultimately fails.
As she looks at the pleased duo, as despite Huntress's reactions the heroine knows she is enjoying the chance to be with Finn, questions fill her head. And they were about herself, 'What if Gumball isn't the one? What if it is Marshall? What if it is Male Huntress Wizard? What if it is anyone else!?' Then she remembers Finn's words, and takes a deep breath, 'I shouldn't worry, everything will click into place overtime, just as Finn said.'
She pulls herself out of her doubts, and beams at them, "You look good!" She encourages, making them both blush, "I'm serious! You shouldn't be afraid of showing your love!" Huntress sighs at her childish, naive words,
"It's not that easy Fionna. I'm having to tear down years of mental restraints and thoughts, my own ideology. That is why I asked Ice Queen to bring Butterscotch down last, because I know the instant someone who doesn't know I'm dating see's me, I will immediately stop anything romantic." Huntress admits, actually disappointed in herself.
Fionna grimaces, "Well… maybe part of the fear is because you're scared of the unknown! Finn had explained it to me, and I think it works here as well! What you might actually be scared of instead of appearing soft, is actually not knowing how anyone will react! That they will mock you. But we can do the same thing Finn suggested as well: exposure. We simply have you acting in love in front of me and Cake until you get used to it." Finn remains silent, then smiles proudly, 'She is already learning from me to be a better hero. She wouldn't have had a chat with Huntress, she would have told her to alert her if anyone was saying anything mean and she would go kick their buns.'
Huntress looks up, watching Ice Queen bring Cake down rapidly, "Yeah… we're already trying that. And I did know what my fear was already." She brings her gaze to the heroine once more, "But thank you, you are completely correct. As for that offer…"
She bites her lip in serious thought, her eyes staring straight at the ground as she makes major decisions inside her own head, debating if she was ready to face a fear that she couldn't for so long. She brings her gaze to Finn, who gives her another comforting grin, "Whatever choice you make, I'll help you through every step of the way." She stares at him for a few more seconds, 'I remember the hunt I did for answers, and the promise I made to you. I said we would fly higher than ever if we worked side by side, and that if we look out for each other, then nothing could harm us. That includes our fears and our doubts, they wouldn't be able to touch me if I have you there to save me.' She has made her decision.
She snaps her head to Fionna, "... I accept, I need to face my fears, and let my relationship with Finn grow." Both humans grin, Fionna nodding eagerly,
"I'll help you!" Then a realisation dawned on Fionna. She had just talked to Huntress, and helped her through it. Not with a fist or sword, but just sitting down and talking with her. And she was simply copying Finn, 'to do what he does just better', however, now that she had just done it herself, only now does she realise the importance of it.
Finn had helped her through talking, and thus, ended a problem peacefully without any bloodshed. Everyone was happy. And she had just talked to Huntress Wizard, ending it peacefully with no bloodshed. Everyone was happy. She processes that fact, then grins, nodding to herself in determination, 'I swear then: I will learn to be more peaceful!'
Ice Queen finally arrives with Cake, and Huntress decided it was finally time to let go of Finn's hand. Cake looks at the ground, and just as Ice Queen was about to fly away she turns to her, "Hey." The royal stops to look at her, "... Thanks." She grumbles, making Ice Queen blink, then grin,
"Heh, it's fine. Keep that up, and you might get seat privilege." She shoots off into the air. The feline takes her gaze off the woman, and shifts it to the group who were all staring at her with small smiles.
"Not a word. I still don't trust her." Finn grimaces a tiny bit, but nods in understanding. He and the others then look up, watching Ice Queen jump off and slowly lower down butterscotch, Finn taking note of a detail, 'I can see up her dress.' He immediately looks away to be a gentleman, preoccupying himself by watching the large river of demons slowly shuffle forward every few seconds. It didn't matter that much, after all he had seen her in her under garments when she slept with him in the igloo, yet he still was respectful to no peek.
She lands next to him, letting the butler go who immediately scans the area for any threat, until Finn steps up to her, "We're good, I checked." She simply nods,
"You can never be too cautious with demons Finn." She points a bit to the right, straight at a small pile of tall red rocks, the top flaming, "Those should provide us with advocate cover…" Her arm shifts a little to the right, directly at a cave, "... And we can probably hide in there. If you look around, you should notice multiple caves, and I'm betting they all connect up. Once we are sure we aren't being followed, we shall leave the cave a short time afterwards, just so it doesn't seem suspicious. Then we shall enter the line of demons and wait for our chance to meet Hana."
Finn nods, "Then once we're past the gate, we book it so we don't get vaporised by that cloud. Luckily, I remember the path we have to take." Everyone but Butterscotch looks at him weirdly when he mentioned the cloud, but eventually just shrug it off, presuming it is something from his experience. Finn looks at everyone, "Are we ready?" They all nod with confidence, making Finn smile, "To the rocks! Remember, we will likely be waiting for a long while, so prepare to use your imagination."
They all grimace, but Ice Queen sighs, 'For Marshall…' She and Huntress then look at Finn, both of them gaining a smile as they share the exact same thought, 'And to be honest, I could spend an eternity with you.' The group all swiftly dart across the land, trying their best to not stick out to the literal armada of demons right next to them. To keep up their speed, Finn once again swoops up Butterscotch, carrying her all the way until they all dart behind the rocks, waiting patiently for any signs of being detected.
After a few silent seconds, they all sigh in relief, and look towards Butterscotch expectantly. "I shall remind you all that, once I cast this spell, we will all be sluggish and slow, so don't expect being able to run to the cave. At most, we will able to power walk. And that's the problem, there is a high chance that they will immediately investigate the magic, what means we have very little time to reach that cave. So the moment I cast this spell, we will need to immediately head for the cave as we can't afford a second of delay."
They all nod, turn to face the cave just barely seen ahead, and wait as Butterscotch begins her spell, "... Make us demons." Immediately their vision shifts, and their bodies feel like they are being crushed. They all groan, yet Butterscotch pushes past them, startling them as they see her in the form of a stereotypical demon, the same one found in the river. And then it dawns on them all that they have already changed form, what means…
"Hey guys, did you feel that spike in magic then?" They immediately bolt it at the demon's words. Or speed walked as best as they can, hurrying towards the cave as they sweat nervously, listening in for danger.
"Yeah man, and it was that mortal to demon spell as well!... Didn't Hana set that bounty on some mortals?..." The group try to move as fast as they can as they start to hear a calamity of noise behind them, rushing straight towards them. There was only a short distance left! They continue to speed walk, only a few meters away from the entrance. They push themselves to the max of their slow limit. And make it inside.
They fully hide themselves inside by ducking behind rocks, listening for any approaching footsteps, a feet that was simply impossible with the stampede going on outside. Luckily, no one enters the cave after them, causing them to sigh in relief.
One of the smaller demon's steps forward, speaking in Butterscotch voice, "What part of you didn't understand move as fast as you can!?" She demands angrily, causing Cake to stomp forward,
"The part where you didn't mention that it would take less than a second to cast the spell! The part where you forgot to warn us about it nauseating us!" Butterscotch huffs,
"It wasn't instant, it took a few words. The nausea only happens the first time, something that I forgot about. Still! You, Fionna, Finn, and Huntress Wizard should of been able to adapt quicker."
Ice Queen steps forward, her body still being slightly taller than everyone else, "That doesn't excuse the lack of warning!" Butterscotch glares at her,
"You know magic Ice Queen, you should of known this would happen." The royal glares,
"Ice magic! I know ice magic! Not transformation spells!" Cake nods her head, the duo finally getting along to team up on the butler.
Finn quickly steps in, "Guys later! Let's move before they investigate this cave." Her orders, making Butterscotch snap around and immediately make her way deeper,
"Agreed master Finn." Fionna walks up to Finn smirking, an act that reveals the sharp, ruined teeth they all likely have.
"She knows she is wrong." Finn shakes his head, and they all walk slowly deeper, meeting an uncomfortable problem. These forms were making them dizzy. They hadn't noticed in their scared 'run' earlier due to being distracted by fear, but now that they were simply walking?
Every step was… weird to them. It seemed out of place, something that makes Fionna groan, "What the glob is wrong with me right now?" Cake stumbles,
"Us you mean? Just be glad you ain't use to having a tail!" She yells, stumbling once more. Butterscotch turns around,
"The reason you are so nauseated is because all your senses have changed or moved, yet your brain hasn't adapted to the change of becoming a demon. If it did, you wouldn't be you anymore, just another random demon with demon thoughts and actions."
Huntress nods, "That all makes sense. But how long will these disguises last at most?"
"... A month. I nearly put all my magic into casting the spell, so it will last a long time." Finn was about to respond, when Ice Queen beat him to the punch,
"And are you alright?"
"Fine, though I won't be able to do many spells… thanks for asking." Finn secretly smiles at Ice Queen, 'Keep this up and everyone will be accepting you in no time!' He looks ahead. And freezes up.
The path splits. Everyone else comes to a halt, looking at all the diverging paths in worry, Cake voicing everyone's fears, "So… which path is the right way to go?" Butterscotch looks at all the caves, darkness enveloping them completely, preventing her from telling anything about which direction they go.
Finn sighs, stepping forward, "How about we split up?" Huntress shakes her head,
"No that is a terrible idea Finn. What if only one of us make it? Do we just sit there in the open with no way to defend ourselves? What if one of us need help in the cave? No, we shouldn't split up. What we really need is some way to scout everything out… say me and you and leading a path. We choose one and walk it, and see if we can find where we end up. I mean, after all your years of dungeon crawling you should be able to remember a path backwards pretty well, right?" She questions, making Finn nod,
"Yeah I have that skill pretty much locked down. What do you guys think?" Finn inquires, and Fionna was about to speak out, asking why she can't go on an awesome adventure to explore the cave. But her complaint died before being voiced when she came to the realisation: Huntress could have some alone time with Finn.
Sure they weren't in their bodies, but don't they like each other for their personalities? She doesn't know much about relationships herself but she does know how they are complicated, and now upon spending some time away from Gumball does she realise how much she is actually missing him. And now that she knows the feeling of longing, and knows that Huntress is constantly plagued by such a problem due to her fear, there was no way she could block their chance. She sticks up her thumb, "I'm good with it!" Cake nods, falling forward slightly because of it,
"Go for it, it will give us a chance to get more used to these bodies.
The duo nod, and Ice Queen walks up to Finn, "Take care…" She looks at Huntress, smiling, "Both of you." She then suddenly chuckles, confusing everyone, "Sorry, I just thought of something. Of how nearly a month ago I wanted you Huntress to die in my traps so I can be with Finn, yet now I want you to be as safe as possible." She stares her directly in the eyes, "If you encounter danger: scream. And I will come as fast as I can." She then spins them, and pushes them towards an entrance, yelling, "Go my knight! Find us a way!" She says deliberately dramatically, making Finn smirk, "And Huntress, because you're a friend… uh… pretty please?"
"... Fine." With that farewell and orders given, the duo just pick a random hole, and run at it. Or speed walk at least. They enter the darkness, making them squint in a futile effort to see the way, yet in the end give up, relying on simply feeling the ground with their hands.
It wasn't even a minute later, and Finn spins around to find nothing but darkness, causing him to grin. "Huntress wait." The now demon halts, turning to face him with her hideous demon face. He wraps an arm around her waist and pulled her close, grinning at her mischievously even though she can't see it, "Just so we don't fall. We help each other, remember?" She wraps an arm around him, beaming as well,
"Yep. Just for safety." Neither make an effort to move forward, instead using the moment to remove their spare hand from the floor and feel around the others body, until they finally find each other's heads. Then they leaned in, lips puckered. And bump heads.
"Ow." Finn whispers, but then chuckles as Huntress giggles, then they try again, this time successfully as they make out in the cave. They go at it for a few seconds, their tongues exploring the other's mouth once more as they relish in their privacy.
Finally Huntress pulls away, smiling, "Didn't ever think I would kiss a demon, or as a demon in my life." Finn chuckles,
"Is that just to cover up that you've only kissed me right now because you can't see my face?" He jokes, making Huntress giggle again,
"Maybe." He chuckles, and they both continue on with their mission, feeling the floor for any gaps or bumps that could trip them, arms still wrapped around each other. They slowly make progress, occasionally bumping the other to stumble them, teasing each other.
Unfortunately, they then hit a dead end, causing Finn to sigh, "Well, back down we go. So… what did you talk to Ice Queen about? She seems a lot happier." Huntress freezes for a second, debating if she should tell him or not,
"... We will tell you about it later, after your birthday. That was what we agreed on."
"... Right. Well… what should I do when we return to OOO? I mean, should I return to OOO? Or stay here?"
Huntress sighs, "No idea… I have absolutely no idea. You know I try to help you with all your problems, but with this one I simply can't." He sighs, yet he doesn't know why he had just asked her that question.
He already knows the answer.
He has to go back to OOO.
There is no if or buts, his responsibilities as a hero and to his friends means he must return, for their sake. 'I mean, I can't just abandon Jake, or Bubblegum, or Marceline, or Phoebe, or BMO! I need to be there encase things go bad! What if the lich was revived again!? And I'm sure they are worrying about me, I disappeared in such a way!...' He looks at Huntress in the dark, and thinks of his blossoming relationship with her, the growing friendship he has with Ice Queen, his teaching of Fionna. All of it would have to end for his OOO homecoming. "... Huntress…"
"Yes Finn?"
"I have to go back… but before we do… can we find a way to make it a returnable trip? Like, return back to AAA anytime we want?"
Huntress pulls him close, hugging him against her firmly, "Finn, I'm sorry to say, but a god of chaos could only make a one way portal. How could we make a portal stronger than it? We don't have a drop of an idea on how we can return back to OOO." He takes a deep breath, holding her close to him to calm himself as mad and desperate thoughts ricochet around his head. He looks at Huntress in the darkness,
"... I know you just said you don't know what I should do… but please! I want an honest answer: what do you think we should do? What do you want us to do?" Huntress goes silent, the only noise she makes is her slow, calm breathing. She remembers the promise she made with Ice Queen, about a three way relationship with Finn, 'If we were to simply return to OOO, then I wouldn't have to deal with her, I could just leave her behind and live my life with Finn. No jealousy as he and Ice Queen will eventually flirt, no more problems with curses…'
She stares directly at Finn, "We can't leave. I say we stay, for Ice Queen. We can't abandon her." Finn takes a deep breath,
"And instead we abandon everyone in OOO." Huntress kisses Finn, a small quick one of comfort before breaking away,
"We, you especially, have given so much to everyone. It is only fair that you get to spend some time for yourself, doing what you want." He nods,
"Yeah… alright. Unless I find a way to make the trip back to OOO two-way, I need to stay to help Ice Queen and Fionna with their problems, so I can live my own life as I want, I will remain in AAA."
They continue their slow crawl back down the cave, until they encounter light once more. They wince, but press on, and enter the chamber once more with everyone else. They both unwrap their arms from each other, and push themselves to a stand, the group looking expectantly. Finn shakes his head, "No luck, it was a dead end."
Fionna groans, flopping onto her back, "This is going to take forever! And Marshall Lee is stuck as a demon this entire time!"
Finn immediately comforts his other self, kneeling down and grinning at her, "Don't worry, we've got this…" He taps her around the face, "Now come on and get up, if there are any demons coming after us we need you to slay them." She groans, looking at the ice blade in her hand.
"Wait… won't this make me stick out like a sore thumb!?" Finn looks as the bright, shiny blade,
"Maybe." Finn squints at it, 'Why was she even allowed to keep that? Everyone else lost their stuff and magic?'
"I can't abandon my sword! You'll have to kill- take it off me!" She yells, correcting herself before she could dive into bad memories.
Butterscotch just shrugs, "Just claim it was some artefact from the mortal realm that you plan to gift to Hana. Happens from time to time." The heroine immediately sighs in relief, causing Finn to grin,
"I was just about to say, you would have to abandon your sword and find some other way to fight- wait. Where's Milly's gauntlet? I saw you with it at the ball." He asked curiously, yet panicking very slightly.
She laughs nervously, pointing over her shoulder at where her bag would be if it wasn't for the spell, "In there. I took it off the moment you told Ice Queen to give me a sword, because I prefer a blade over a glove, even if it is Milly's. Besides it is too big and clunky to hold the sword handle in, so this was the best way-" Finn puts his hand up, halting her mid explanation,
"It's alright, you do what you want with it, it is yours after all. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't in some demon's hands or something." Fionna nods, sighing in relief. Huntress coughs, catching Finn's attention.
"Sorry to interrupt Finn, but we probably should get started in the next cave." Finn nods, and looks at everyone, "Be back in a few." They groan in boredom, plopping themselves on the ground as they wait once more. Huntress smirks at them,
"Try not to have too much fun without us."
Ice Queen shakes her fist at her, "Just get going!"
The duo need no more motivation, and hastily set off with massive grins towards another tunnel of darkness. They once again rest their hands on the floor, using them to feel up the path as they wrap their arms around each other. Finn suddenly grunts in pain as he head-butts a rock jutting out of the wall, making Huntress smirks but still check up on him, "You alright?"
"Yeah, I've had worse. If anything is going to get to me, it's my back! All these crawling is destroying it!" The ex-nymph moves her hand to rub at his spine a little,
"You want a massage?" She teases, making Finn laugh,
"No I'm good!" Her massive mischievous smile is hidden by a thick veil of darkness, and she rubs even more,
"Well, when I said no you still gave me one, only fair that I do the same, hmm?" Finn suddenly pulls on her, rolling himself onto his back and her atop him, then pulls her into a strong, bear-grip hug.
She struggles in his grip, pushing and yanking her body away from his. She goes to summon her arrows as she prepares to make them hover threateningly as a joke, then remembers the transformation. It has removed her of her arrows, her hunting knife, anything that she could actually use to escape his grip. She struggles some more yet makes no progress in escaping, just making a grunting noise while Finn holds his grip with a teasing grin that she could not see. Huntress continues to try and pry herself free, 'Man, how does he have such a strong grip? Actually, he most probably had to hold down a lot of criminals, most probably used to this exact scenario.'
So instead she grins, and flops down onto him, letting him pull her tightly against him as she wraps her arms around him as well, cuddling on the hard floor. She lays on his chest, then pushes herself up him a little as the hero's grip relents, letting her do whatever she wants.
And what she wants is to kiss him once more, they're lips pressing together as they make out for a few seconds. Before Huntress crawls back down him, resting her head against his chest with a satisfied grin, "This is definitely worth hitting our heads on the rocks we can't see." Finn chuckles, looking up at the ceiling as he enjoys everything right now, simply because Huntress was at his side.
"Yeah…" He sighs, unwrapping his arms from her, "... We probably should get moving." She nods and jumps up off him, grabbing an arm in the process so she could yank him up onto his feet, before they then wrap their arms around each other's waists to continue on the journey.
The complete darkness and silence was a tad eerie to Huntress Wizard, but a familiar sight to Finn as he grins at old memories resurfacing in his head. Then he focuses on the new ones, his adventure in AAA and the people he met, or more specifically, its heroine. "Hey Diana, what should I do about Fionna?" He inquires, making Huntress stop to look at him,
"What do you mean?"
"Well… I can't really tell you what she talked to me about back in that cave, I know she doesn't want anyone else knowing… but how do I train her? In being better than me in everything!? Like not being violent, because I know she still wants to just swing her sword everywhere. What also means I need to teach her how to fight for real, with skills and techniques."
"Let me guess, she feels useless around you?" Finn stiffens, snapping his head at the nymph,
"How did you know?" She laughs,
"Finn, I was able to instantly tell whenever you had problems with things all the way back when we hunted grumbo, remember? Like back at camp when we and Ice Queen sat down and talked. It was pretty easy to guess by going off what you just said then." Finn sighs, and Huntress continues, "Tell me, so I can help."
Finn remains silent. Then chuckles, "I knew you would find out, you've got a huntresses eyes, you can find your prey no matter how well it hides, even if it is a secret... Alright, I'll tell you, where do you want me to start?"
"Where Fionna had problems with something, did she explain what they were?" He sighs,
"Yeah… yeah she did. She was terrified of me." Huntress gives him an inquisitive look, remaining her stoic self,
"Of you?"
"Yeah, from when I murdered her in the arena. Anyways! The solution we came up with is exposure, let her be near me to get used to me." She raises an eyebrow,
"You sure that is a good idea?" He shrugs,
"It worked on my fear."
"Alright then. Use that to your advantage then, go with her on adventures, and when you can, ask her how she should handle a situation. Then tell her wherever she is right or not." Finn grins,
"That's a great idea! And training her with a sword…" He kisses her on the cheek, "Well we can all do that together, just us three. Or did you forget your promise?"
"I haven't, don't worry. Who knows, maybe we can invite Ice Queen as well, get her and Fionna bonding as well, while also teaching Ice Queen to defend herself." Finn beams,
"Hey yeah! That's brilliant! Thanks Huntress, you're a great help."
"Was that all she was struggling with?"
"No, she had more but I have already sorted out some solutions for them." The duo suddenly wince as some light strikes their faces making them stumble back in shock and fall other. They look up, and find a massive exit gaping before them. Finn blinks, "Huh, guess we got distracted."
"Apparently." They both recover as they get up, then scramble up, peering over the edge, finding the river of demons before them. They grin, Huntress standing tall, "And there's our spot in the line for Hana."
Finn grabs her, looking at her demon's face, and doesn't care as he kisses her. And after a few seconds he pulls back, "If we're about to go back, then that means our fun time is at an end, so I decided to end it on a high note." She grins and presses her face against his once more, continuing their make out for a little longer before breaking away,
"And I want that. Now, let's return. The sooner we save Marshall, the sooner we can return and continue this." He hastily speed walks into the darkness once more, trying to go as fast as he can, making Huntress laugh. They both 'rush' down the cave, massive grins as they daydream about getting to spend a day together, when an idea reaches Finn's mind, making him face Huntress,
"I just realised, while Fionna get exposure to me to get over her fear, what about you get exposure to get over your fear?" Huntress looks at him in confusion, "About being seen in public in a relationship, of softness."
Huntress bites her red lip, slowing to halt. Finn waits patiently, not making any movement or noise of impatience to disturb or rush his girlfriend. She sighs, "I don't like the idea of facing my fear, but then I don't think anyone does…" Finn chuckles at her joke, triggering her to smirk and relax a little, "... But it is for the best, and since she already knows of our relationship, she will be the easiest for us to be… well us around."
Finn nods, "Alright, I'll ask her if she will allow it. I mean, she is kinda like you and is afraid to show weakness to anyone, despite the fact that is what makes her human, and might not like getting over her fear in front of you." Huntress shrugs,
"Well, I guess we can bond over a common fear then." Finn smirks, then the area slowly becomes lighter as they approach the others once more, forcing the duo to stand tall and unwrap their arms of their waists. They stroll into the main area. And finds everyone on the floor.
Finn's eyes widen as he leaps at Ice Queen, grabbing her head to check her pulse. And startles her awake. She stares at Finn wide eyed, causing Fionna to laugh as she watches from atop the rock, "Worried about us Finn?" She teases, yet Ice Queen smiles at the hero who woke her up, grabbing and pulling him onto her,
"It is so nice to know you care for me Finny~" With those words Fionna's smirk evaporates, being replaced with a barrage of gagging,
"No! Ice Queen stop!" Everyone else starts getting up in the commotion, yawning as they wake up. Finn pulls himself away from his queen, yet she holds on tight, letting him pull her demon body up. He looks at Fionna who was now queasy,
"What happened?"
"Nothing, we just decided to use the moment to sleep. Well, Butterscotch and Ice Queen mainly, they wanted to recover some magic, and Cake was lazy. I remained awake to stay on guard duty."
Ice Queen smirks, "What? Did you think we were dead and panicked?" Finn blushes in embarrassment, then shakes his head, a big grin on his face,
"To be honest... yes. Anyways! We found the exit." Immediately the others celebrate, jumping to their feet as they stretch their muscles in preparation, while Ice Queen nods,
"Great work my knight, you shall be rewarded for your success later~... Actually, should I give out rewards? I mean for my other knights for task." He shrugs,
"I don't know, PB rarely gave me anything for my work, yet gave a lot to the banana guards. So… maybe? Actually, let's talk later when we're not in the middle of the night-o-sphere."
Cake laughs at Ice Queen, then looks at Huntress, "What are we waiting for? Also Ice Queen, get off Finn." The royal sighs dramatically, peeling off her knight to face the nymph, who merely shrugs,
"On you guys. Just remain close to the ground to feel your way, and remain close to us! If you get separated or lost, it will be very hard to find the way again."
They all nod, and grab each other's waists in pairs, before following Huntress and Finn as they lead the way through the dreadfully dark cave. Fionna keeps herself firmly attached to Ice Queen's side as they follow directly behind the OOO duo, both of them feeling up the floor.
She grimaces in remembrance of how Cake said firmly that she would not team up with Ice Queen, making the girl think, 'If I'm meant to be Finn but better, and he solves all these team problems… then that means I need to solve my sister's problem with Ice Queen!' The heroine plans, taking Finn's words of improvement seriously.
It takes the group several minutes of slow crawls filled with pained groans as the AAA four constantly hit their heads on rocks, but they eventually reach the exit, much to Ice Queen's joy. She springs up, stretching her body, "Oh that feels nice! I might look young Finn, but I'm still old enough my body will protest for having to crawl." Cake gags, but Finn simply shrugs,
"Sorry. But if you look…" He points his finger out of the cave, and everyone gaze out curiosity, "... There is the river of demons."
Fionna grins, "Great! Let's get going, for Marshall!" She climbs out the cave, and before Finn could rebuke her for it, Ice Queen speed walks after her,
"For Marshall!" Finn stares in amazement at their brainless decision, then hurries after them as fast as their bodies allows. Huntress smirks, then she and Butterscotch hop out as well, following the rest of the group down to the demons.
Fionna and Ice Queen meet the edge of the river, peering inside as Finn finally catches up to them, the hero looking at their confused expression "... If you are wondering, we simply just squeeze in." Ice Queen grimaces, 'For Marshall.' She slides in, and everyone else joins her, getting a bunch of complaints from the surrounding demons. But that was it. The disguises were working. Heck, none even asked about Fionna's light blue sword, making Finn smile, "Great, now we just settle down until it is our turn."
Fionna groans, but complies, letting her and the whole group stand silently as they wait. Huntress grimaces, "This Is going to take a while, a long, boring while…' Her eyes drift to Finn and she smiles, what then only grows bigger as he gazes at her with a grin as well 'But it might just be bearable with you around.' Despite the nymph's optimism, Ice Queen was not pleased in the slightest, 'Man, my Kingdom is going to be a tip when I get back. And I can only think what those bandit men and their families are thinking. I-'
Fionna suddenly groans, "How long is this going to take?" A single nearby demon looks at her.
"Six months."
The whole group go rigid, Finn's eyes drifting to the demon, "Wait, how long?"
"Six months." Finn panics, 'We can't stay here six months! These disguises will only last a month as well!' If Finn was panicking, then Ice Queen and Fionna were having a full blown meltdown. Fionna spins,
"Six months!? We can't stay here six months!" Unfortunately, her movement makes her catch her arm on a demon's spike, cutting her. And making her bleed mortal smelling blood.
Instantly, everyone looks at her, demons locked onto her with confusion, then slowly growing grins, "Well, what's this? A mortal in our line?" One questions with a smirk, yet gets shoved out of the way by another,
"Didn't Hana have some bounties for some? Dead or alive?" The demon inquiries cheekily, triggering laughs and hoots from the other demons around it. The group stares wide eyed, until Cake snatches the closest demon and punches it straight in the face, sending it sprawling unconscious into the others.
Butterscotch sighs, "Get ready." She drops their illusion, allowing them to yank their weapons free as Ice Queen and Butterscotch hands glow with magic. Finn grimaces as he watches a literal river of demons slowly close in with sick grins and ill laughter, claws and teeth bared for combat, their mad eyes locked onto him and the others.
Ice Queen stands tall, "You get in the way of me and Marshall!?" Her magic drips from her hands, "Then come and fight me!" And an army of demons swarmed them.
And now is the perfect time to end the chapter! XD
Now before anyone rages, yes, that does mean chapter 29 will start with a bang.
I am seriously considering stopping all this bold text at the bottom of a chapter, prevent word boosting. Yet I still want to answer reviews and point things out...
Now, onto the chapter, and to start it off I will admit I forgot to add a detail to chapter 26: Fionna putting Milly's gauntlet in her bag. Will straight up admit I forgot that detail, but no one pointed it out so I'm guessing you lot didn't notice either. My bad, sorry for the mistake.
There are two reasons why I turned everyone into demons despite changing them back at the end without it adding anything to story or plot. The first was for comedic value, the second was an excuse to place them in the middle of a demon horde, and the last is to show off finn and Huntress's love. As you saw in this chapter, neither of them cared that the other 'became a demon'. They still cuddled, joked, and made out despite it, showing that they weren't there for each others appearance, but for their personalities.
Last thing to explain, Finn's worry about everyone being 'dead'. Simple, he cares about them all, and will be devastated if any of them got injured, so if anyone wants to hurt them, say a river of demons, then they'll have to go through him first. He will defend his friends, and that does mean bringing out the sword if need be.
Review response:
FinalKingdomHearts, on FF, chapter 27:
Thank you! Even something as small as that encourages me.
The Book of Eli, on FF, chapter 27:
And I'm glad for the ideas/suggestions! There might be feel chapters… Yep the characters are growing, and I'm glad you liked that! Oh yeah, Ice Queen is a QUEEN here lad, she'll rules everything including dates! And of course she'll take care of the details of the date.
Master Kill712, on FF, chapter 27:
Well then welcome to the story! I'm so happy you are enjoying it so far! Thank you for the compliments! I try my best to improve both my writing skills and length, and I'm glad you're enjoying the characters growing.
Sure, say anything you want, never be afraid to suggest something! Bubblegum and Gumball making teleporters? Hmm, very good idea, might rival my idea due to its simplicity, as it plays with another thing I have planned… I would have to think about it (And I mean I will seriously consider it).
claz7960, on FF, chapter 27:
(Why you write these so long? Another sleepless night!)
I'm glad you liked the promise I made near the start of Incrementum! Sorry if it seemed useless so far, but without a plot focused/including an old chapter, he couldn't really 'predict the future' (You know, because nothing like arc 1 happened in Adventure Time.) He is becoming a leader! And I promise I won't cuck him and make him a really poor one!
I believed that the relaxation/calm was indeed needed before the trouble came for them, and the reflection really was needed. But I agree, Fionna's growth far out trumps anything else in the chapter.
I'm so happy you've enjoyed leader Finn! He certainly has a tough job, doesn't he? But he is indeed doing well in getting them all under control, and helping them be the best them as they can be. Cake is indeed still wary of our favourite Queen, and let's be honest, she has good reason to! And yes, our little Huntress and Ice Queen is scheming crazy ideas behind his back, and yes, it causing trouble for everyone (not so cute when it is put like that, is it?)
Cake is indeed an 'adult', so it makes sense for her to have mature thoughts such as mistrust for those wanting to change. Realism is something I go for when I write, for example in this chapter the disguise plan failing, since things won't always go their way. Yes, being too pacifistic might cost him later, so it's great that the others are trying to snub that, it shows that they actually care about our hero.
Ah, my old surprise with Butterscotch worked, nice~ I'm glad you liked her! Once again, without any confirmed backstory or anything I was given more creative freedom (So imagine what I've got cooking in the oven for Huntress!). As bad as it sounds, Fionna was meant to at first simply remind everyone how far Finn has come as a person. Now, however, she is meant to be Finn student in training! I'm glad you liked her opening the bottle on her emotions! That was a scene I was looking forward to writing… anyways, happy memories aside, I'm happy it made your day, so I hope you spent it well.
She did indeed forget her fears for a second to fight alongside Finn in a battle I'm glad you enjoyed! I doubt it was actually on the level of the Finn vs Fionna, but if it did, then you're definitely going to enjoy the later scenes. Yep, 100k words, or larger than a Harry Potter book, of emotional build up spilled out in a few paragraphs. Yep, he asked Fionna to help with his Ice Queen problem (Hence in this chapter when she grabbed him after he woke her up, Fionna did a hunch of gagging noises). She is indeed now understanding the ways of the Finn XD
Oof, sorry about that. Like you said, I was trying to keep in line with the show, especially after Gumball literally just manipulated her into doing unheroic stuff against Finn.
I'm glad you enjoyed Finn's advice, as to why I went for the hug? Simple, Fionna was on a happy high from getting help, blinding her fear temporarily. Now that happiness is gone, she will try not to but will likely flinch anytime she touches Finn.
Yay I made you laugh :D I'm glad you liked the comedy in this chapter, partly because your constant analysing of it in my work has twisted by arm into writing them. Yep, with her mind made up, Huntress will no longer halt Ice Queen in her advances, and to help herself in getting used to it, she is joining the fun of teasing Finn.
It's fine, we all make mistakes, heck you've corrected a bunch in these beta readings.
Yay! Another high score!
Pleasure to work with you too, see you later!