"Uhh, Gunter. Can you say that again?" Asked Diligence staring at her penguin companion with a widened eyes as he clutched a clump of her hair nervously. "Cause I don't think I heard it right." She added staring at her penguin companion as she sat cross-legged on a log of wood in a forest during an afternoon.
"As my favor for winning our bet, I want us to make a kingdom." Replied Guner in a serious tone, causing Diligence to frown. "An ice kingdom where all bows to us. Everyone will do exactly as we say."
Diligence's eyes narrowed. "Uh huh. Uh huh." She uttered as she nodded with pursed lips. "Your intergalactic tyrant is showing, Gunter." She added with a deep frown, giving Gunter a finger gun gesture.
Suddenly, Snoelle the snelf wearing clothes made of a wolf's fur with a wolf head as a shoulder pad entered the scene standing in front of Diligence. "My Princess, if I may," she said with a graceful bow. "I agree with sir Gunter." She continued calmly, a momentary flash of panic appearing on her face as she locked eyes with the penguin that wasn't missed by Diligence.
The ice elemental stared at Snoelle with a suspicious look. "Are you being blackmailed by Goonts?" She asked seriously, raising a brow. Snoelle shook her head, causing Diligence to hum. "Are you trying something crazy?" She asked glaring before Snoelle went pale as an immense pressure weighed down on her body. The snelf's heart was pounding as if trying to bounce out of her chest. Snoelle felt like a mouse in front of a monstrous beast.
"N-NO!" The snelf screamed in a panic before hurriedly forcing a smile. "I'm just saying that as a princess, your majesty should have your own people." Diligence frowned, causing Snoelle to gulp. The snelf racked her brain for an answer before speaking. "They'll also be a great resource for you. They'll make food and have culture and- and-"
"You have to do it anyway because of our bet." Gunter chirped in cheerfully, causing Diligence to grumble angrily. The ice elemental moved around uncomfortably, a deep frown stuck on her face, before she glared at the penguin who simply stood calmly under her gaze.
"Fine!" She exclaimed angrily. "But if they turn out bad, I'm blaming you."
xxxxxXxxxxx
A few centuries later.
"Let's conquer the candy kingdom!" Declared a pretty snelf man wearing leather and fur armour that made him look like a seasoned winter warrior. He was sitting with Gunter, Diligence, her three servants and many other snow people around a large meeting table. Suddenly, a thread thin beam of energy flew towards his face and formed ice around his mouth freezing it shut.
As the snelf let out muffled noises, Diligence spoke tiredly. "Okayyyyyy, anyone else have anything to say before I go to the meeting with Princess Bubblegum?" She said taking a pause for anyone to speak
Suddenly, a snome stood up from his chair. "Let's make 'em a gym for their lanky weak bodies! That outta get us a STRONG alliance!" He exclaimed jumping on the table, getting a few cheers here and there. Diligence watched this with an exhausted expression on her face as she layed her head on the meeting table. "Eh, princess?"
All eyes turned to Diligence, causing her to instinctively straighten her back. "Uhh, no?" She said with a wince as she started scratching the ice making up the table with her fingernails. "Look, here's my idea. Tell me when you guys come up with something that doesn't involve violence and is actually good. No offense, Jimjam." The snome with the gym idea, Jimjam gave a dejected thumbs up before Diligence stood up from her seat. "Meeting done. I'm out." She added grabbing Gunter and leaving the meeting hall made of ice.
Outside was a land covered in snow and pine trees, a town, or one could say kingdom stood firmly amongst the cold. Their building were made of ice and the blue skinned, snow haired townsfolk wore animal fur not for warmth but for style. Many of the townsfolk's bodies had scars, ones they wore with pride. The townsfolk could be categorised into three kinds, short yet smart snomes, the beautiful and skilled snelves and lastly, the large and powerful sniants.
Near the middle of the town stood a large building made of ice that was riddled with snowflake shaped carvings. A building that Diligence Snowflakes wearing an off shoulder blue top, black leggings, white feminine boots and a red cape around her slender neck as well as a golden crown with red gems atop her head, could be seen flying out of with a penguin in hand. "I blame you for this, Gunter." She said to the penguin under her armpit, causing said penguin to giggle as a sniant and a snome with one normal arm and another comically enlarged arm arm wrestled in the background. "Don't laugh! They're crazy!"
Gunter finally burst into laughter. "They're acting like you! You've enamoured them!" He exclaimed cheerfully. Diligence blinked in confusion before Gunter continued. "They saw your power and formed their society around your obsession with it!"
Diligence went silent as she observed her people from the sky above. They were flaunting their powers and skills to one another happily. Even the little children were playing with ice powers. "They're not like me." She frowned, not elaborating any further.
Hearing this, Gunter went silent; choosing not to talk for the rest of the trip to the most colourful place in Ooo, the candy kingdom.
xxxxxXxxxxx
Once Diligence made it to the skies of the candy kingdom, the ice elemental stared at the delicious land with awe in her eyes. "It's so magical." She whispered to herself as her eyes gleamed with childlike wonder. With more flamboyant joy than grace, Princess Snowflakes spun into the air before landing in front of the main gate of the palace in a beautiful hurricane of snowflakes as Gunter landed next to her.
The banana guards, who Diligence assumed were waiting for her, clapped in applause at the magnificent show of power. "Thank you. Thank you." She said with a bright smile.
"You seem to like this kingdom far more than ours." Remarked Gunter bluntly only to be ignored by Diligence as the banana guards started leading them inside. The ice elemental was in visible awe every step of the way. The building, the people, everything made the child in her spark with joy and it didn't stop when the short walk ended for she was led to a room with a long table with two chairs at each end. One of the chairs was obviously hers, in the other sat who Diligence was waiting for. Princess Bubblegum! Next to her was Peppermint Butler standing with a smile.
The ice elemental could barely keep in her excitement as she sat face to face with THE Princess Bubblegum. "Heya, Bubblegum! ICE to meet you!" She said trying to sound nice and approachable as she sat in her chair before Gunter and Peppermint Butler locked eyes. The two attendants stared at each other silently before their eyes narrowed warily at each other.
"Welcome, Princess Snowflakes." Said PB cheerfully with a bright smile. "Thank you for agreeing to this urgent meeting."
Diligence chuckled nervously. "No prob. I love meetings." She lied with a smile as she crossed her legs. "So, what's up?" She asked leaning her head onto her knuckle as Gunter and Peppermint Butler headed to another room. "Wanna make a cool alliance or something?" A hint of embarrassment made its way onto the ice elemental's face as she waited for her fellow princess and elemental to speak. "We can even maybe a little be friends?"
PB's expression became serious. "Absolutely! And an alliance is very much why I brought you here." She said before clearing her throat. "Right now, there's a threat looming over us. As the two largest kingdoms, we must join forces to survive this threat."
Diligence blinked. "There's a threat?" She asked in confusion. "Where?" She continued, looking around her before PB cleared her throat before speaking in the deepest voice she could muster.
"The Lich." She said in a grim tone, expecting a similar reaction from the other princess only for her to blink in confusion when Diligence looked calmer than ever.
"Oh yeah." She said as if she forgot her keys. "I promised a dead jerk to take that guy down. Do you know where he is?" She asked nonchalantly, causing PB to panic.
"NO!" She exclaimed before massaging her temples. "Listen. I understand your people are... eccentric when it comes to combat, but this is no laughing matter! I have a plan. I have done extensive research on your powers and they can block his from causing more damage. I'm calling for Billy to take down the Lich. We just need to use your powers to hold out until he arrives."
Diligence smiled mischievously. "ORRRR I can go take him out myself." She remarked proudly, causing PB to groan as she held her own head.
"I knew I shouldn't have put my faith in the barbarians." She muttered under her breath, not going unheard by the ice Princess.
Diligence blinked. "Barbarians?" She asked, her heart skipping a beat. PB froze staring at Diligence before sighing in defeat.
"You and your people are too violent." She remarked with a frown as she crossed her arms. "All you do is fight or try to get other people to fight." She added crossing her arms with a deep frown. "It's utterly barbaric!"
Diligence frowned. She didn't care onr bit what Bonnie had said about her or her people. No. Something else boiled her frozen blood. "You didn't want to be friends or anything." She said clenching her teeth and fists. Princess Bubblegum didn't want anything to do with the 'barbarians'. "You just wanted my power to protect your kingdom, didn't you?" Princess Bubblegum didn't deny the accusation, causing Diligence's lips to quiver. The ice elemental held back her inner child from bursting into tears at the candy princess' response.
The entire room's temperature dropped instantly, causing Bonnie to be visibly shocked. Princess Bubblegum quickly pulled out some kind of remote with the intention to push its single big red button immediately. But before she could, the whole remote was frozen over simply from the cold aura Diligence was emitting. An expression of panic washed over Bonnie as she stood under the glare of the ice elemental.
"Take me to the Lich." Diligence said, venom seeping into her voice. PB's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to interject but she found she could open her mouth. A band of ice formed around her mouth, keeping her silent. Diligence raised a finger up to her mouth before continuing. "Shhh. No more tricks. No more sweet words. Just point."
Before Bonnie could process what Diligence had said, the ice elemental had already picked her up and flew into the air breaking through the ceiling and only then did Bubblegum understand what the ice elemental wanted of her.
And so she did as asked.
xxxxxXxxxxx
Meanwhile, The Lich sat underground next to his well of power with a grin on his face. Soon, all of Ooo would be gone. All life extinguished. He simply needed to gather more power from his well and- *crash*
He couldn't finish his thought before he heard the sound of a crash breaking through his roof. The Lich looked up to see an angry ice elemental floating in the air and holding a nervous candy elemental. The ice elemental slowly floated down and placed the candy elemental down next to her. "And watch as I show you how wrong you are."
"Elementals." The lich greeted his visitors with deathly calmness as he stared at the two elementals. "Once more you surrender yourselves to death at my hands."
Diligence blew a raspberry. "No. I'm here to prove to TWO people I can beat you up." She deadpanned with a frown. "Now put 'em up." She ordered sternly.
The Lich laughed. "Ice elemental, you think you can succeed where generations of your predecessors have failed?" He said mockingly. "Your strength may be admirable but I am beyond such things." The ice elemental raised a brow as the lich's jaw fell for him to speak. "Fa-" Before he could finish a single word, a powerful kick into his jaw forced his mouth shut as ice covered the lower half of his face.
The ice elemental sighed. "I don't think you understand your situation; so let me spell it out for you." She said in a tone as cold as her ice. "You're not BEYOND strength. No; you're BEYOND screwed." She said as her eyes glowed white as snow. The Lich quickly encased his hands in fiendish green flames before firing a blast of flames towards the ice elemental only for her to unleash a blizzard of icy winds with a wave of her hands, pushing the flames away with ease before disappearing from sight.
Suddenly, the ice elemental reappeared right in front of the Lich. "Fall." She said coldly before kicking him in the chest, sending him flying into the ceiling before he fell to the ground on his knees. The Lich paused on the floor, gathering his strength. The ice elemental waited for the Lich to act before she heard bubbling from behind her. The lich's well of power was rising. Noticing this, the ice elemental fired a thin beam of energy towards the well freezing it solid. "Look, there's nothing you can do to beat me. So let's skip to the important part." She said rolling her eyes.
Before the Lich could process what he'd heard, the ice elemental had began to wail attacks onto the Lich without mercy. Every attack made the Lich look more miserable, more dead than he used to be. The candy elemental who was watching from behind had long changed her expression from nervousness to fear.
Finally, when the ice elemental became satisfied. She held the unmoving and miserable body of the lich by the horn and flew into the air above his lair. Suddenly, her eyes started to glow white as a cyan hued light projection of the ice elemental herself holding the lich appeared in front of the candy elemental; no, in front of every kingdom and monarch in Ooo.
"I am Diligence Snowflakes, Princess of the ice kingdom and THIS is the Lich." She said in a tone somehow colder than her ice as she lightly raised the lich in her hand. "THIS is a warning to all! THIS is what happens to those who cross me! Any kingdom, any ruler, any IDIOT who DARES to mess with me will be annihilated." And with that, the projections were gone leaving kingdoms in disarray. Diligence suddenly froze the Lich in a block of ice before dropping him down next to the horrified candy elemental, Princess Bubblegum.
"Where are you going?" Asked Bonnie anxiously as she stared at the ice Princess floating in the sunset sky.
"To the barbarians." Replied Diligence in a tone full of venom before she blasted through the air towards her kingdom. As she flew through the sky, tears began to fall out of her eyes. Diligence stopped mid air before her voice cracked as she cupped her face to the sun set.
The most feared princess in the world wept her heart out that day.
xxxxxXxxxxx
Btw. Gunter and Peppermint Butler were having a heated knife fight in the kitchen while all of this happened.
Toodles.
