Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Living life is tough, everyone has their own problems in their own worlds that they live, it's an endless cycle for everyone. Clementine included, there was nothing better though than getting home to her little crack in the wall and sitting in a comfy chair by her desk or couch and vegetating.

One of her biggest hobbies was escapism, getting lost in a good story was the bread and butter she lived for. Though character AI was no substitute for friends and drawing comics with fictional characters can only go so far, friends were a luxury she had been living without for quite some time due to distance and work.

So on this Wednesday night after getting home from driving in a car with no AC from the scorching sun, from an air conditioned building to air fryer, then to home. She was beat.

Freshening up, grabbing some snacks, and getting comfy, she was excited for the continuation of an old show. A spin off of a spin off made for an older audience, from a show that grew up with its audience, Adventure Time.

While streaming services were a bitch she would spend her hard earned money on it just for this, anything to escape the lonely mundane.

With that her show began and she was lost to reality for about two-ish hours. Her reactions to the show were absolutely exaggerated and all too sympathetic for Simon Petrikov, instead of the titular Fionna. 

Being so self aware, while it was fun to imagine wanting a world with magic, that itself came with complications. Not only that, she was satisfied with her job, maybe not her dream one but she did it well enough. She was much more familiar with being alone in a crowd. The odd one out, and being surrounded by people who are just too different to relate to.

His life mirrored hers much more than Fionna’s.

The isolation, leaving what you once knew, watching as the qualities you have start to matter less and less as the world starts to leave you behind. Though Simon didn’t have the amount of distractions and access to healthy coping mechanisms she had, she’d been there once upon a time, who's to say she still wasn’t though but just better at hiding it from even herself.

With a sigh as the most current episode ended, she pulled up a sketchbook and began practicing the art style of the show. First drawing herself in it, then the main cast from the show. 

She hummed, feeling satisfied with the practice for now. Suddenly a craving hit her tongue, something cold and sweet, what better than some mochi ice cream.

Nothing better than sweets at possibly midnight on a Wednesday, technically Thursday, adult autonomy was a marvel.

Stretching, she headed to the freezer door and opened it up, it didn't take long for her to find the box, something strange happened as she reached for it though.

The power in the house went out, suddenly surrounded by darkness she groaned. Grabbing her bag on the counter she blindly felt around, hoping for her phone when suddenly, light returned and she could see.

A faint blue glow was cast over her and ever so slowly she turned to the direction it came from. The open freezer now cast a blue glowing light from the center of the automatic ice tray, her eyebrows creased as she walked over and moved the ice around to see if she had accidentally left a glow stick in there and forgotten to take it out.

As soon as her hand made its way to the glow her vision was blinded by light and the area around her warped.

No longer was she in her kitchen in front of her freezer, she was now in a home that looked about twenty years older and had what looked to be a garage door for a wall.

Wait.

She just saw this. Didn’t Simon’s home look like this?

“Whoa it was a portal!”

Her eyes widened and slowly she turned around and was met with the side profile of Fionna and an unconscious Simon on the floor.

She gulped and watched as Fionna looked around, “To an apartment? Oh!”

Fionna was looking at her, no doubt she had a stupid look of disbelief on her face, this wasn’t supposed to be real after all.

“Uh hi, do you know where this is?”

Clem didn’t move, her head quickly shifted from Fionna to Simon on the floor, blue light fading from his head. 

Fionna looked and screamed, “Oh my god! Sir? Dude?!”

She walked over and kneeled down, turning Simon over on his back as the dim light reflected on his glasses.

“Ice prince?” 

Clementine tried to make herself unnoticeable as the shock began to set in. 

Simon slowly opened his eyes, “Hah…” they widened quickly and he propped himself up on his elbow and concerningly stated, “...Fionna? You’re not real. ”

Clementine grimaced. 

“Listen, did you see a cat come through here?”

Ah, shit, here comes the freak out.

Simon quickly got on all fours and escaped out of the closet and pointed accusingly at Fionna, “You’re not real! You’re just a manifestation of Ice King’s madness!”

A weak, stifled chuckle could be heard from the smoking Choose Goose in the birdcage.

Simon, still on the floor, rose to open the cage and harshly grabbed the animal, his voice full of anger, “You! You did this ya goose!”

Shoving the animal at Fionna she recoiled with a yelp, “Is that what you wanted! This was my last chance to see her !”

Fionna shoved the bird back to him, annoyed, “Knock it off!”

At that Simon lost whatever anger he had and exhaled weakly, lowering to the floor in a fetal position and hugging the…possibly dead Choose Goose, “ My last…chance. ”

Fionna looked at him concerned before pointing to the garage door wall, “Imma just…uh,” then to Clementine, “Have you seen a cat come through here?”

Clem blinked before pointing towards the garage door.

Fionna smiled, “Thanks!” running to the door she tried to open it and found it didn’t budge, giving it a kick she frowned, “ What kind of weirdo lives in a garage! ”

With a groan she was able to raise it enough to get out on the other side, letting the light fade in before being abruptly cut off again. 

She could slightly hear Fionna from outside, talking to the little girl on the future bike she knew was waiting there.

Now it was only her, Simon, and the most likely dead Choose Goose.

Well, she decided, she’d be Simon’s mental health foil if she had anything to say about it.

Slowly she saw Simon release Choose Goose and sat up from the floor, he looked over when he heard her steps. 

“...I don’t remember anyone that looks like you . I wouldn’t trust that insanity hadn’t made me forget though.” dejection clear in his tone.

She swallowed and realized she still had her bag in her hand…neat. Putting it on she kneeled down and held out a hand, “Trust in me when I say, you didn’t make me in any way.”

He looked at her hand and sighed, he didn’t take it and stood up on his own, “I’m hallucinating, you can’t be real, after my failure.”

She watched him turn around and start walking to the restroom, quickly she grabbed his shoulder, “Uh, yeah that's a no. Ok, I'm going to be real with you, I am absolutely not supposed to be here. In a few minutes shit is going to hit the fan and I’m here to help you if I have anything to do about it.”

He turned around to face her and she yanked her hand back like she touched fire, technically she didn’t touch it in a literal sense but she knew herself.

Simon, still completely and utterly hopeless, sighed, “Sure. How do you know that?”

She began to sweat, “Uhh, insider information.” her tone turned sincere, “Things seem hopeless right now. I know, I’ve been there. You have my ear if you want to talk or not, it's just important that you aren’t alone right now. Uh, maybe you wanna explain to me what you were doing?”

His dejection turned skeptical, it was a start, just so long as he did not walk towards the bathroom.

He huffed before she could see the sadness return, “I don’t want to talk about it. I failed.”

She gave a smile and gently patted his shoulder, “That's a-okay, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I’m here either way.”

His hands rose to cover his eyes, sympathy filled her, she rubbed his back. 

It was silent for a while, she really wanted to focus on comforting him but instead she tried her best to multitask and discreetly tried to look between the both of them while facing towards the restroom, hopeful that Prismo wouldn’t leave her behind and just take Simon.

She hoped that she was looking in the right direction.

She did this for a minute or so before she heard Simon ask, “Why?”

Looking towards him she was surprised before she smiled, “I’ve been there.”

The room suddenly shifted and instead she was bathed in light and surrounded by yellow walls. 

It was the Time Square, the prison and home of Prismo the wish master, a 2D individual that has one eye and is a living pink silhouette.

Simon was reasonably fed up, “Now what.”

Prismo faced her and stared, “Hey, you could see me?”

She gave a nervous laugh, “No, no I couldn’t. I just knew you were going to be looking and was unsure if I was going to be left behind…now that I think about it it's kinda dumb.”

“Hmm. You must come from one of those outer worlds.” he leaned towards Simon and stared, “So, what happened with these Simon?” pointing towards a now accurate Fionna and Cake then to her.

Very interesting to see how he shifted from surface to surface around the room when he was talking to people. Also, what the heck was an outer world? 

Simon crossed his arms, “I didn’t do anything.”

“Liar. Crossovers don’t just happen. Especially breeches from outer worlds!” he pointed to Clementine.

She chimed in, “I think I'm an anomaly, so don’t count me since I wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“You’re still here because of him. ”

“…that's true. Carry on.”

“Look, it seems like you two have some stuff to work out, so can you send us back to Ooo?” Fionna spoke up.

Prismo shushed her, “Let’s try rewinding.” and typed something out on his computer.

Clementine winced, pulling off her bag she took out her headphones and scrolled through a music app to find a classical playlist.

There on a giant screen the events of what essentially happened in episode four occurred. Fionna coming through the portal, Simon’s ritual, then finally when he had placed the photo of Betty on the shrine. 

“What the heck dude.”

Simon had wandered over to the jacuzzi in the room and sat, his head peering over into the water and cans of beer floating in it, “Well you couldn’t bring her back, so I helped myself.”

“Who's her?” Fionna asked.

Prismo brushed her off, “I’ve got limits on my power bro, that doesn’t give you the excuse to mess with my stuff!”

Simon shot back, “Whatever dude. ” grabbing a warm beer out of the jacuzzi.

Clementine walked over and blocked his view of the screen with her body, her phone and headphones at the ready. She gave him more pats on the shoulder as chugged the can.

“Simon, I mean it. Just because it’s in your head doesn’t mean it’s yours.” he stressed.

Suddenly the screen switched to Lemongrab who in his shrill voice spoke to a lemon camel he had grabbed the face of,  “ Drink the water you beast . You…-” The camel pulled away making him fall on his face and knock the water, “ You beast of burden, drink the water. Drink . DRINK THIS WATER! ”

The animal was having none of it and she watched in horror as it kicked him in the face and flung him back. His voice strained as he screamed, horrendous mouth agape towards the screen with a sound of screeching tires but even worse leaving his mouth.

Alarmed Prismo scolded, “Hey! That’s not a toy! Bad cat!”,a spray bottle magically appeared and he aimed at Cake, all while the scream filled the room.

Clementine looked on with concern until Lemongrab got close enough though, her head whipped towards Simon, a pained look across her face as the sound grated on her ears.

“Aah! Why would you do that?!” Cake cried.

“Nobody sprays Cake!” Fionna retaliated and threw the translator collar at Prismo before trying to jump on his 2D body, “Who do you think you are, you big bully!? And why’d you bring us here?! Where is here!?!” 

Clementine could only watch as Simon finished the can and the collar bounced off the wall into the Jacuzzi. 

Shit the collar!

The screen was no longer on Lemongrab. With a sigh of relief she reached over into the tub to fish out the collar and stuff it in her bag. Hopefully it would give them a few extra minutes, grabbing a can of beer for good measure too, something else to occupy Simon later.

Prismo, understandably alarmed at the behavior, held up his hands, “Okay! O-kay. Chill. Wow, okay.” he held up a hand, “I am Prismo the Wishmaster.”

“That tells me nothing !”

“Well, as Wishmaster, I grant…wishes. And sometimes those wishes require me to create new wish-altered realities.” he grabbed his remote and pressed a button, “Here, check it out.”

The screen changed to one of quaint outdoors woods and hills with a farmhouse, “A wish made this “farmworld” universe.”

Then it changed to a world full of abstract figures in blue, pink, and yellow with a bright white background, “A wish made this funny shape universe.”

Then it showed the characters from Flapjack which still threw her off guard, “This one already existed.”

The screen then showed a stylistic forest background with two of what looked to be reincarnations of Finn and Jake, Finn being a small white creature with long ears and a tail. Jake on the other hand still had his signature face, but instead had six tiny legs and a long tail with two nubs, “I don’t even remember whose wish this was.”

How many new worlds was she going to find out existed? At least they weren’t remotely close to how some people made alternate realities, she shivered, the past would stay in the past.

Then finally the screen switched to the purple cloud lookin, Lumpy Space Princess being chased by some multi-armed monster with lots of teeth and claws, “Oh! This universe is special because it had my favorite guy! There he is!”

The monster was contained by none other than Jake yelling ‘Pancake’.

“ Dog person. ” Cake groaned.

“Lotsa wishes, lotsa worlds. The Time Room is the perch from which I keep my eye on the resulting multiverse.”

“ Okay. Keep going .” Fionna squinted.

“Oh, uh, I used to really like my job. But after eons of making stuff for others, I wondered what it would be like to make something for myself.” Prismo projected the memory of making their world, “So I just leaned into it. Maybe it wasn’t the most creative thing I could make, but I liked writing your stories.”

The screen shifted to show Fionna and Cake in what their universe was supposed to be. Full of adventure, epic brawls, and magic.

Prismo’s arc kinda made sense here, when the world leaves you wanting and without any fun, people try to make their own. At least that what most people did, this was just an animated fanfic essentially.

“Wait! That’s us!” 

“Yeah, totally! You had adventure. You had romance.”

The screen shifted to Flame Prince and Fionna on a date, Cake pointed, “DJ Flame!”

“You had friends.”

Fionna was glued to the screen and saw her and Cake bowing to her friend, “Gum-Gary!”

Then the screen turned dark and Marshall Lee popped in screen with a hiss, turning into a giant bat as both Fionna and Cake jumped on his back.

“Marshall’s a vampire!”

“Wow, we look so happy.” Cake’s eyes sparkled.

“I knew my life was supposed to be magic!”

Simon finished a can of beer, it could have been a new can but Clem was a bit distracted with everything in general, she had just left her hand on Simon’s shoulder when he heard him stutter, “Fionna and Cake was real this whole time?”

Completely done with the world he crushed the can on his forehead and reached his hand in to look for another beer, she could see two other empty cans and looked at him sympathetically.

She took her can and tapped his shoulder with it, he took it and began drinking again.

Prismo smiled, “Pretty tight, right?”

Fionna was completely taken with it all, “Yeah…So why’d you change it?” 

“Yeah, our world doesn’t look like that at all ! Everything's boring as hell!” Cake followed.

Prismo put a finger to his chin and hummed, “Oh, I think I know what happened. No wonder you guys looked so terrible when you first got here. Okay, so, technically I'm not supposed to make stuff for myself. So I kinda had to ‘hide’ your universe. I found the emptiest, most cursed magical brain in all of Ooo.”

Prismo pointed a finger at Simon, Clementine scoffed.

“ Him ???” Fionna asked.

Simon was fairly limp so Clementine took the beer can out of his hand and glared at the back of Fionna’s head before pulling his other arm out of the water, shaking her head. What is up with people taking advantage of Ice King! Who was basically Simon!

“Kinda.” With that he reached for the remote and clicked a button that presented Ice King in his ice bed, a leopard pattern cover over the man before a red beam showed up in the room.

“Ice King!” Prismo called.

With a start Ice King sat up,  “Huh?”

“Hey, Ice King, can I store a fan-made alternate universe in your cursed dome?”

“Sure magic flashlight! You can put anything you want in there. ‘Specially if it’s got a hot lady.”

“Cool. Hold still for upload.”

A red laser beam went from the middle of his forehead to his eye, where she could see smoke coming off of it, “Whoa! Fire in the hole!”

The scene finished with Ice King's laughter Prismo commented, “You were like a big nutty hard drive. And everything went great…until you got cured.”

The scene switched faster than Clementine expected and the crown powering down in a red background filled the space on the wall, quickly she pulled out her headphones and placed them over his ears and blocked the screen the best she could with her body, now blasting classical in his ears. 

Simon’s eyes widened as they looked directly to her face, her brows set firmly as she shook her head. She put her hands in her jacket pockets and stretched the jacket to cover the screen more from his view.

His previous sad expression took on a hint of confusion before she saw realization, slowly he held up the wire from the headphones that went to the phone in her jacket pocket. She smiled and raised the volume a bit more from her phone.

Cake bounded over too quickly for her to wave for Cake to stop.

Cake placed a paw on Simon’s shoulder, startling him, “Dang!” Clementine quickly raised the volume more so he couldn’t hear Cake’s callous words, “From fun wizard to sad loser.”

She gave a stern look, “Back then he wasn’t blessed with the knowledge of his past memories and could live life like he was from that time, not to mention he wasn’t all there in the head with the crown. He wasn’t himself at the time!”

“I dunno. He looked pretty happy to me.” Fionna was looking at the laughing image of the Ice king.

Her face softened, “You can’t miss what you can’t remember having.”

Prismo resumed, “Without the curse of the magic crown, Simon’s brain was no longer magical. So your world must have lost its magic too. And I’ve been locked out ever since. So all of this is really bad, but I think we’re gonna be okay. As long as no one else knows.”

Clem whipped toward him and hissed out, “ Prismo the Scarab is coming. ”

Prismo took on a look of panic right as a tapping could be heard from outside, “Oh no. Quick, down the stairs! ”

Light filled the room again and she yanked the headphones off of Simon who looked confused, “What’s going on?”

“Shit is hitting the fan. We gotta move, Prismo you actually have to open the stairs!” Clem cried.

“Oh! Shoot .” Swiftly he did so and split himself into two before going down.

Helping Simon off the floor she held onto his wrist and tried to gently but urgently pull him to the stairs frantically, “Prismo that is straight up the Scarab outside, you are in trouble because you ignored the buttons and try to focus on the two conversations you are gonna be having. Good luck!”

Prismo called out behind him, “Just a minute!” Then finally the panel slid back into place, concealing the Time Room once more. 

Walking down the stairs she could feel Simon slugging behind, she stopped on a stair and waited till they were both on the same one before trying to follow his steps. 

Slowly the yellow steps turned purple and the atmosphere around them changed, what looked like endless stairs around them and floating white tetris blocks was the layout of this new place in the Time Room.

Keeping a firm hand on his wrist she made sure to stay a distance behind the spinoff duo.

Fionna groaned, “Ugh. We just want to get back to Ooo. Why are we hiding?”

Prismo looked worriedly to the side, “Remember when I said I wasn’t supposed to create new realities for myself? It’s actually a big deal and I could get in serious trouble for it. Hey, how did you know that Scarab was here?”

He looked to Clem, nervously she chuckled, “I told you I’m an anomaly, I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you earlier, your information was important for the newcomers. Also, just give Fionna shorts and don’t comment on it, I can see her struggling from here.”

“Huh…she never had any trouble with skirts in my stories. Okay then.” With a snap of his fingers her skirt turned to shorts. 

Fionna looked back at Prismo then to Clem, surprised, “Hey thanks!”

Clem gave her a smile.

Prismo continued, “Well, any heads up is a good one, anyways. Scarab, he’s a jerk god-auditor. And if he finds out about you he’s gonna report me. And then– gugh– my boss is gonna drop the hammer!”

Clementine hung back the entire time with Simon and made sure that no one was too close to each other, “Well, he’s going to want to come down and check things out if he’s so straight-laced. I took the translator thing out of the tub but he’s bound to anyway.”

“If you think so then we’ll take a shortcut through the core. You guys really don’t want to get caught by this guy.”

Clem looked at Simon, she felt like she was dragging him a little bit, he didn’t look as downtrodden as he should be at this time in the actual show, which was a plus. She’d make sure he’d keep pace. He didn’t see or hear about much of his trauma like he was supposed to. Didn't make him any less depressed.

“Simon.”

He looked at her, “What?”

“You are doing great right now.”

He squinted, “...What?”

“Let's walk and talk.” Gently she led him behind the duo, “Your life has been something I can’t even imagine. You’ve had it rough to no end and that's saying it lightly. Right now, you are hurting, despite the fact that you were trying to make your space in life shows how strong you can be. Even if it didn’t feel like it.”

“...How do you know, why are you telling me this?”

“Because I don’t think anyone has ever praised you for going through what you have and still trying even though you feel hopeless and you deserve to hear it.”

His eyebrows scrunched as he looked forward,  thoughtful. 

Walking into a new room she saw it was the large white one with the two time beings within. A spray of rainbow waves showered across them all with the sound of a fading grandfather clock chime. An anthropomorphized hourglass and an anthropomorphized sundial both with mallets were in a floating space that did not match the rest of the room.

This hole faded into a background of stars that the two beings were floating in. The hourglass one struck the sundial causing another blast of rainbow waves with enough force to create a blast of wind that blew all their hair back and scared Cake into Fionna’s arms. Prismo moved across a wall beside the group to follow.

“What the heck are those things?” Fionna asked.

Prismo pointed up, “That’s the Time Core. I don’t think they’re actually alive. Maybe? They send time waves throughout the multiverse that are experienced as the passage of time.”

“Now, see, you said that word before, and I pretended to understand, but I’ve got the education of a house cat. What’s the multi-universe?” Cake questioned.

“I’ll show you.” Prismo projected a small screen that showed what looked to be different shaped blobs of color connected by green links. “This is the multiverse, a huge web of all the different realities elegantly connected like an anthill or a camp counselor relationship chart.”

Clementine glanced at the trio but kept looking at the two time beings, Simon was still just, looking at the floor. She gave him some shoulder pats. She wondered where the outer worlds Prismo mentioned were.

Fionna looked around the projection, “Where is our world on this map?”

“Your universe is…unauthorized, so, it’s…” he started scrolling very fast to the right, “ waaaaaaaaaaaay over here.”

He pointed to a singular pink blob surrounded by nothing.

“Dang, that looks so lonely.”

“Yeah, because I kind of made your universe off the books, it can’t really be part of the multiverse. Just the fact that you exist could have totally unpredictable effects on the other realities. You’re like free radicals.”

Cake and Fionna smiled, “Awesome!” “That sounds cool!”

Worryingly Prismo mumbled, “Yeah…”

“Hey Prismo? What are outer worlds? I have a different understanding of the multiverse and haven’t ever heard of that.” Clem asked.

“Well, those are worlds not unsimilar to the ones I showed you, except they exist on almost another plane right about this. Think of it like water and oil, they don’t mix but they touch each other, it's not exactly like oil and water though. The multiverse here usually has a minimal effect, if any at all on outer worlds but sometimes they do in freak accidents.”

“So what was your world like then?” Fionna asked.

“I’d say pretty much like yours, no magic, jobs, bills. Just a bit more technologically advanced.”

“Does that mean flying cars!”

“...no, like I said. Only a bit more advanced. Like a bike powered by a battery instead of pedaling, same with a car, flat screen TV’s. I really don’t know what else to say, more access to music and information for sure.”

Clem watched as Fionna deflated, “Damn, I thought it’d be cooler.”

She let out a sigh and kept walking along with the group, “Still plenty of cool things, sometimes you just have to make your own fun though.”

“Like what?”

“Yeah, every day all I got to do was sleep and mess up Fionna stuff.” Cake added.

“For starters, before I got into my job, I had just about every artistic hobby around. Clay, music, puppets, writing, you name it. I wasn’t good at everything though, I just had fun doing it.”

“Why would you do stuff you weren’t good at?”

Clem chuckled, “Because I had fun.”

She didn’t know how much more they had to walk and even at the decent pace they were at, her body was getting tired.

“ Prismo. ” Cake groaned.

“Are we close?” Fionna huffed.

“Just through this door.” Prismo shifted to appear on the wall next to the entryway.

Fionna smiled, “Finally! We’re going back to adventurin’!”

Cake brought her paws up to her cheeks, “I can’t wait!”

Their faces fell as they entered a red room and cried in confusion.

Another Prismo was in the room, the Prismo with them asked, “Is the circle ready?”

The other responded, “Just finished. Oh hey! What’s up?”

“And the new battery?”

“You already know. You’re me.”

Prismo 1 laughed, it was at this point she realized that he had actually hooked up his actual body to be the magic battery, “Yeah, this is confusing.”

Clementine frowned, she squeezed Simon's shoulder, “You are strong, even if you don’t believe it.”

“Sure doesn’t feel like it.” He sighed.

“Believe in me that believes in you. Believe in you who believes in yourself.”

“Prismo! Where’s the exit?”, Fiona exclaimed.

Prismo 1 started, “It’s been cool hanging out… ” Prismo 2 finished, “...but you gotta go back now.”

“Simon- do the thing with the portal!” Together they mimicked the movements of Simon’s arms in his attempt to see Betty.

Clementine let go as Simon shook his head, “No way. I’m not going through that heartache again.”

Turning around he walked away from the center of the room with the carpet that had the ugly Golb statue, she followed in turn.

Fionna yelled out, “We’re out too!” Running back out where they came with a fading, “We go where we want.” from the two.

Prismo cried, “Stop!”

Prismo 1 left the room while Prismo two remained, Simon walked over to the wall and slid down it, sitting on the floor, “So much for me being strong.”

She squatted beside him and gave a crooked smile, “Don’t doubt yourself now, defending yourself from heartache isn’t weak after all.”

He grabbed his face, “Why do you keep talking like you know me so well?”

Pensive she replied, “I know you personally, but you don’t know me. The only way I can describe it is looking in from the outside but never being able to interact with any of you. I know you well enough, all things considered…I know this sounds weird. Hey Prismo have you fucked up yet?”

Prismo 2 nodded, “Yeah. This is crap balls, I don’t know where you come from either. So right now I can’t send you home.”

She shrugged, “Don’t get yourself too worried about me. I’m indifferent if you send me home or not, I’m just glad I can be here to help.”

Prismo summoned some more beer cans around the both of them, Clem didn’t take any, Simon helped himself.

“So, what outerworld do you come from? I don’t have the power to interact with them but I know they’re there and that there's an effect.”

She winced, “It’s…too far separated from anything that exists here that's for sure, this is like Narnia but with a fridge.”

Clem wasn’t about to waste time on telling them that they are basically a show she watches for comfort. How she was an ultimate simp for someone she thought was a completely fictional character. How that character was now a person beside her who has had a life full of loss and tragedy that she was going to try and bring coping methods to.

Prismo hummed, “Whatever it is, it's out of my scope of abilities for sure. Sorry about that.”

“You have bigger things to worry about than me. Like I said, don’t sweat it. I’ll be okay.”

Simon took another can of beer, how many can this man fit in him???

She cleared her throat, “So…I saw things from here in my world in books and a TV like yours. That’s how this world affected mine?”

“Pretty much. Magic can’t directly affect the world, but it can connect to peoples minds. That's why Fionna and Cake was a story that Simon wrote out as Ice King…that and it was also just in his brain.”

She thought for a moment, “Huh.”

“Weird right?”

She pulled her knees up to her chest, “Very. How are you holding up Simon?”

He opened another can of beer and began drinking that one. This man was like a bottomless pit. What the hell.

Her hand reached out to rub his shoulder, “You’re doing good so far.” 

A 3rd Prismo appeared, “I donked up.”

One of the Prismo’s responded, “Join the club.” before they all faded together.

She huffed, “Alright, big shit is gonna happen now. Simon, I’m going to ask you for a big favor and you are going to have to trust me. I know I’m incredibly suspicious right now, but I- I need you to trust me when the time comes. Kay?”

His head lolled to the side, “What’s another thing I don’t know.”

“I don’t want to tell you because you will know in about three minutes or less. Fionna and Cake should be coming back soon too.”

He looked at her skeptically, opened his mouth to say something just as the two came bounding in yelling, “Adventure time!- Huh?!”

Prismo looked over, “Wassup.”

“What the heck? Did you just make us go through a big circle?” Fiona hissed.

“Okay, we’re out of time. You need to get back inside his head now.” He chuckled.

Clem, sitting between Simon and Prismo, was the first to notice the wall to their left glow white, she grabbed Simon as the wall was destroyed, a cloud of dust engulfing the space momentarily.

As the dust settled the Scarab walked through, pointing his staff, the head of it glowing, “Found you!” 

Looking to his right he saw Fionna and Cake, “Ah, the crossovers.” then to Clementine, “And the Impossible mistake. You’re evidence. You’re getting egged too.”

The three of them made a noise of distress as he continued, “And after that, into the incinerator with the rest of the trash for you two. As for you impossibility, she will be quite a specimen for the rest of the cosmic entities.”

Her face filled with opposition despite fear filling her body, making her breaths shaky. The Scarab was fucking tall and scared the shit out of her, even so she moved her quivering arms and stood in front of Simon. 

“Uh..NO!” Prismo defied.

They all turned, he continued waveringly, “They’re Fionna and Cake…and they go where they want!” He finished strongly.

The magic cosmic remote that Prismo had been using appeared in Fionna’s grasp, then a wall rose from the ground to cover the hole that Scarab had just made as Prismo shifted to be in front of it.

“Run! And keep running! This dude will hunt you like a polar bear!” he groaned as thunderous pounds seemed to bend and almost break the wall again.

“Prismo…” Fionna mumbled in disbelief.

“Hit the button and hold on tight to each other!”

Clementine turned and kneeled, holding up Simon’s hand with her own shaking one, “Simon, I know this is unfair of me to burden you with but I need you to do me that favor now. Save us . We’re here now and without you their home and everyone they know and love will die !” her voice almost gave out at the end.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and Fionna added on, tears in her eyes, “Please Simon!”

Cake begged, “Please! Help us!”

The banging became worse and Clementine looked towards the wall, which was starting to crack with a loud panicked gasp.

Prismo screamed, “GO!”

Clementine felt her hand be squeezed and she saw Simon stand up and smile at her, she gave a thankful smile back and grabbed Fionna’s hand while Fionna grabbed Cakes. They all looked at each other while Cake held up the remote for Simon to press the new pink, round blinking button on it.

Prismo strained, “Actually, I think I might be able to–”

Too late, the wall gave out and Prismo’s visage shattered as the scarab held the glowing staff towards the four of them. All of them let out a gasp of fear and Simon pressed the button on the remote. 

The end of the staff glew brighter but soon faded away as their views shifted and warped, zapped away in the nick of time.

Chapter Text

They were all met with a face full of tall yellow plants, rising above them with a loud breath.

“Are we back in the magic world?” Fionna yelled.

“No, this doesn’t look like Ooo.” Simon looked around.

Cake and Fionna groaned.

“This world has magic, I just don’t know if it's like Ooo. My freaky predictions end here by the way guys, I’m just as blind as y'all are.”

Fionna sat on the ground and whined, “What are we gonna do now then? That bug guy’s still after us and we can’t take him on!”

She grabbed the ears on her hat, releasing them in despair. Cake had shapeshifted into a little alien ship shape to flatten what looked to be stalks of corn to make some space for them. Turning back she hugged Fionna, who leaned her head into her embrace.

Simon walked through the stalks to get through the little clearing, “I used to be able to stop whole armies of jerks like that, but I’m useless now.”

Clementine joined and saw Cake about to open her mouth, she grabbed Simon’s shoulder forcefully and scoffed, “You are not useless. We just haven’t found the right application for what we can do, to adapt it to where we are. Three of us are regular human people, plus Fionna might actually be able to use a weapon.”

Fiona’s eyes widened, “That’s right! I have cool fighting skills!”

Throwing a few test punches while she was sitting eager for the journey, it made Clem and Cake laugh.

She heard from Cake from behind her, “Ooh! Maybe this can get us back!”

Turning around to face the noise Fionna got a determined look, “Yeah!”

They both hummed before Fionna determined, “Let’s just button mash it.”

A look of alarm crossed Clem’s face before Simon warned, “Wait, wait, wait! We don’t know what channel number corresponds to Ooo.” he took the remote from them, “We could end right back in the Time Room where the Scarab will bite my head off!”

Fionna grew concerned while Cake remained dismissive, “Well, I could use a bite.” her stomach growled, “I’m hungry Fionna.”

“I’ll check my new backpack.”

Cake asked Clem, “Got anything in that sack of yours?”

She shook her head, “Nope, stuff you wouldn’t like at least, nature valley  bars can only taste so good. You got anything on you Simon?”

She turned around and watched him check his clothing before reaching looking to his arm and rubbing where she knew his covered injury was. Concern filled her face as his face turned thoughtful, then intent.

“I know a way I can protect you all from the Scarab, bring magic back to your world, and make it last forever…I need to become Ice King again.”

Fionna and Cake swallowed their sandwich bites while Clem let out a breath, “Simon, I’d like that to be a last resort if possible, I-...things have been pretty shit. But- You have people who care about you, one of them is me even if you barely know me just letting you know.”

“It’s the only way though. If you think about it, it’s the perfect solution! As Ice King, I’ll be powerful enough to fend off this scarab person who’s after us. I’ll be immortal, so your universe will last forever instead of dying with me. And finally, I’ll be magic again, ergo magic will be restored to your world, just like you want.”

“There is no guarantee that you will remember to protect us if you wear a crown Simon, you didn’t even remember Marcy after you put it on before. What makes you think you’ll remember to protect us! Not to mention the entire thing rests on you losing your mind again . After everything…I-, I’m objecting to this entirely, there has to be some other way.”

He faltered, “...No plan comes without its faults, I was able to resist the crown even if for a moment, that may be all you guys need. Fionna and Cake will be returned to their world while I still have my lingering sanity and I’ll be magic again…I don’t know about you though. Are you sure you’re not from their world?”

“I’ve never seen her around, then again I don’t really pay attention to people.” Fionna hummed.

She squinted, “I’m a hundred percent positive. I just don’t think you should have to sacrifice yourself just so Fionna’s world can have magic again, things may be non-magical but people are doing okay over there. At least from what I saw.”

Fionna turned to her, “You saw us over there! And you still think we shouldn’t have magic!”

Cake joined in, “It’s lame as hell where we come from, I like being able to do what I do now too! I ain’t gonna give that up.”

Clem put a hand towards her forehead, “We will stick with the plan for now, but I’ll be searching for another way. There’s always another way, plus my world is almost the same Fionna, it’s not the end of the world.”

Fionna scoffed, “Well I think it’s a great plan, uh, question though.” She turned to Simon.

“Yes?”

“How do we get back inside your head after Fionna-world is cool again?”

“It's the land of Aaa, not Finna-world.” Clem corrected.

“I’ll just re-create the same ritual that brought you here on accident, on purpose! But first, we need to find another magic crown somewhere in the multiverse.”

Fionna yawned, “Multiverse means multi-crowns to nab.”

Cake added, “It’ll be easy as hunting down a mouse…ina, uh, uh, a big ol’...pile of mice!”

“We should start by searching this world…wherever we are.” Simon put his hands on his hips.

Abruptly Fionna stood, “Let’s get lookin’! Uh-...oh.” she stumbled, falling on her behind and then on her side in exhaustion, directly into sleep.

Cake looked at her in alarm, “Fionna?...” she reached into her bag, pulling out an older phone model with buttons and a screen, “Yes! Finally.” 

Fiddling with some buttons she backed up to sit on Fionna.

Clem chuckled and  looked around with Simon until she came to spot a scarecrow in the corn field. She slowly sauntered over to it with a hard set look. 

It was Farmworld Finn.

She was sure of it, not to mention there was an obvious replica of the crown, just a couple of details off.

“...I know where we are.”

Simon turned to her, “You do? How?”

“I was an outside observer, remember? I could see some parts of what was going on in this world, my knowledge is mainly of the past though. Look at the scarecrow and tell me what you see.”

“...It’s a person with some clothes and…is that a crown!”

“This is farmworld, a world made by Finn’s wish, for a world where the Lich doesn’t exist. I-I just can’t remember what happened to the crown here! It was…a long time ago. This Finn was the holder of the crown- until he wasn’t. I-” she groaned, “Why can't I remember! It should come back to me, hopefully.”

“Hey but this is great information! This world a hundred percent has a crown! We just have to find out where this world's Finn is and maybe he can tell us!”

She eyed him skeptically, “I-I don’t know if he will. What’s become of this world after the Ice Prince Finn event is probably different from what I remember. He caused a lasting impact on the world as a whole with his reign of terror. He…a hundred percent doesn’t have the crown anymore though.”

Simon sat down, “We’ll we can’t do much with Fionna asleep. Uh-...I apologize I don’t think I got your name.”

She shook her head, “It’s fine. My name is Clementine but you all can call me Clem.”

He chuckled, “Well, you already know me. So Clem, how much do you really know about me? Or about other worlds?”

She sat beside him and brought her knees up, “I know much more about your world than any other one. Most worlds I’ll have next to zero knowledge about, but I do know a lot about the multiverse in general…” she blushed and brought a hand up to her face, thanks Undertale, “I’m well familiar with it unfortunately. As for you, well, I know your story in general, I can only recall some specifics for some events. You’d have to bring up something specific to see if I know about it.”

“So, how were you able to see all of this?”

“Through a TV like Prismo’s, except I couldn’t just view whatever I wanted. It showed what it wanted to show through episodes. I-I wonder if this means Sans’ whole shtick is real.”

“Who’s Sans?”

Her eyes widened, “UH! No one! Ignore that, ehem…Do you really want to go through with this Simon? I, don’t want to argue with you, this is a shit situation to be in but-...you shouldn’t have to sacrifice yourself for others after you’ve done so much already.” 

She turned away from him when she felt a flush rise on her face.

He sighed, “If it’s to protect them, to bring things back to the way they used to be, I’ll do it. It’s not a matter if I want to or not.”

Covering her face with both her hands, exasperated she groaned, “This is so hard . I didn’t think I’d ever be in a situation like this ever! I feel like some weirdo stalker trying too hard to show someone I care! I literally thought it was impossible to meet you!”

He tilted his head, “So, you could see us most of the time, but could never interact?”

“Exactly. There were so many moments I wanted to do something for you but could only sit there and watch. Especially with you Simon! You’ve had it horrible, almost all your hardships after you found the crown I have been privy to and for so many of them…related to you even if the circumstances were entirely different!”

She grabbed him by the shoulders, “However little this means coming from a stranger, essentially a ghost to you, I get you. I will help you. I’m not going to waste this chance now that I can actually help you, however useless my abilities may be.”

He looked shocked, better than being weirded out, then he gave a tired chuckle, “Thanks. We’ll definitely need all the help we can get now…It’s…strange having someone who knows…the whole picture now. You said you come from just a little after my time?”

A smirk graced her face, “Yup!” she took her cell phone out of her bag, “This is a cellphone from my time, although your time wasn’t that long ago from where I’m from. Maybe give or take 20 years. I’m all very familiar with it. The only thing different would probably be people and how our histories differ, since my world started with zero magic.”

He took it from her and watched the screen light up.

He looked at her, “It’s a screen with a horse?”

“It’s my lock and home screen.” She took it from him, input the passcode and handed it back. “It can play music, take pictures, call, text, video call, and a bunch of other stuff.”

Pressing the camera app she flipped it and took a picture of him looking at it, he looked surprised, “I saw me on the phone!”

She giggled and pressed on the picture, “Yup, it's like one of the video cameras you used but we have them on our phones now. Now video cameras are for more advanced things like taking high quality video with effects and have more storage and settings. Some phones are catching up though.”

“Speaking of which-” he handed back the phone and looked at the remote, “I should get a look at this.”

He lifted up the remote and opened the back up, Cake had walked over to them sometime during this, the sounds of the game on the phone filling the silence.

Taking an eye off the game for a second she asked, “Should you be messing with that?”

Simon turned to her, “We need to know what we’re dealing with here. Should you be messing with that ?” 

Cake gave a short grunt.

Clem patted his shoulder, “Be careful then. I’m surprised you can understand all of that, looks just like pink glow sticks to me.”

He frowned, “...I’ve picked a thing or two, I can piece together what some of it means.”

Something caught her nose, she sniffed and then followed the scent, smelling the air again until she realized that it was iron. Blood. She looked towards Fionna and saw a dead rat by her body. 

Her head whipped to Cake, “Really! You really just did that!”

“I did what?” Cake glanced up.

“Hey…Was I out long?”

They all turned to Fionna, who was now awake on the ground. Clem was grossed out.

Cake was none the wiser, only caring to hide the phone she stole, “Oh you're up! I got you something to eat.”

She pointed to the dead rat that was right up against Fionna’s shirt, bleeding out and deceased. 

Fionna looked down, “Huh..WUH!” scrambling away with a scream, she grabbed the bloody part of her shirt with disgust.

Cake walked over and held up the dead rat with a sly face, “You love it. You love this.”

Clem looked back to Simon who had finished looking at the remote, closing up the back, “Let’s find the nearest town, even better would be a library. It could give us clues on where to begin looking for the crown. Not to mention it might fill us in on the rest of the things you don’t remember Clem.”

Fionna exclaimed, “To the library!”

Cake laughed, “Fionna’s a turbonerd!”

Fionna deadpanned at Cake and took back her phone that she had been playing on and began to run and laugh.

“Wait no! I take it back!”

Walking along the path the smell of the blood on Fionna’s shirt would occasionally be blown behind her and into Clem. She moved to behind Simon so she didn’t have to smell it directly, she’d deal with a lot of things, a rotting smell was not one of them.

Fionna groaned, “Okay, this is really starting to smell. Hold this for me?” She took off her bag and gave it to Cake, taking off her shirt and throwing it to the ground.

Cake made a sly face, “Any excuse to be more naked.”

“Don’t make it weird.”

“No, I respect it!”

Clem looked around, definitely not as she remembered, it had been twelve years after all. She spotted a sign that had a tarp with the words “Meeting Place” and an arrow pointing towards a city.

Simon pointed, “Looks like we’re going the right way.”

Clem’s brows set, “Things have changed, a bunch. This is not how I remember this place looking, it’s like Mad Max.”

“Who’s Mad Max?” Fionna asked.

“It’s not a person, it's a movie, a post-apocalyptic film that looks a lot like this. It's a dystopian era setting where there is tons of action and violence along with cars and tech meant for serious wasteland adventures.”

“Oh! Sweet!”

Fionna ran around the mess of trash and debris around the path and began rummaging, picking up certain items, “Road loot!”

Walking over to a skeleton holding a cool looking machete she grabbed it and looked inside the car it was hanging out, “Whoa! A real Vespucci! I could never afford one of these back home.”

Cake pointed, “That’s ugly. I want it!” Placing it on her head like a hat.

Clem laughed. Vespucci? Like, Gucci or Valentino?? That was hilarious.

Simon cautioned, “You both look kind of conspicuous. We should keep a low profile until we know what’s what.”

Fionna waved a hand, “Relax dude. I’ve played a lot of post-apocalyptic RPGs. The more loot the better!”

Clem put a hand on his shoulder, “Simon, if anything I think we do too. I don’t exactly look like anything these skeletons are wearing and you are pretty finely dressed yourself. The thing that stands out for the two of them are their colors mainly. I’m going to get some dirt on me so I don’t look too ‘nice’. You probably should too. Then we can get a move on.”

Simon looked down at himself, “That’s a good idea.”

Clem turned to Fionna, “Also, while this might be like your games Fionna, remember. We are dealing with real people here, those actions don’t all work in real life.”

She scoffed, “Chill! I know what I’m doing. Besides, if the bug guy hasn’t caught us by now, maybe he gave up!”

“Definitely not. I have absolute trust in Prismo and if he said that guy hunts like a polar bear, I believe it. Polar bears live in essentially icy barren lands and they can track scents for literal miles on end. When they are hungry, their capacity to track and strength for the kill make them unstoppable.”

Clem turned around, she wondered if there were guns here. With a quick glance she couldn’t really see any, but there were plenty of knives and bats around. She took a knife in its sheath for good measure. Pepper spray wasn’t infinite after all.

After dirtying up they continued into town and saw a typical post-apocalyptic dystopian town. A makeshift setup of everything and anything but still with the unique look that Adventure Time has. The strange almost runway fashion clothes mixed with lost and found items everyone was wearing eased her nerves just a smidge. 

That was until a giant truck wheeled through letting out a giant cloud of exhaust from the back, both her and Simon coughed in the cloud as it dissipated.

Fiona exclaimed, “I feel right at home! You’re the one who's conspicuous here.” she elbowed him.

Cake chipped in, “Yeah man, you stick out like a sore thumb!”

He looked to the side, embarrassed and a bit dejected.

Clem huffed, “Don’t rag on him for being worried! We don’t know this world by heart, hell it even looks way different from the last time I saw it. It pays to be cautious and observant, you know.”

She laid a gentle hand on Simon’s arm and smiled, “Good call Simon.”

He gave an unsure smile back.

“The cat talked! It must be magic!”

Cake had made her arm just a bit bigger to show a thumbs up and someone behind her had noticed. 

The person beside the one who spoke put an arm around their shoulders, “Ha, everybody knows there’s been no magic since the days of the Snowman.”

Cake shapeshifted her ears pointed like little devil horns and her face to look more evil, she hissed and stuck out her tongue, it moved like a snake.

The person yelped.

Clem worriedly looked around at the people while Simon panicked, yell whispered, “Cake! Act like a normal cat!”

Cake put her paws on her sides, “Fine.” Getting on all fours she sarcastically acted, “Meow meow. Is this what you want?”

Clem looked at Cake in disapproval when Fionna exclaimed, “Hey, a library!”

Simon perked up immediately and ran over, Clem hurriedly followed, “Simon! No-Wait-!”

He was smiling, “Oh, thank goodness!”

She grabbed him and yanked him away from the doors once they were up the stairs, just as a cinderblock was thrown out one of the glass doors.

A person took a wheelbarrow of books out of the building and they watched as they were dumped in a pile with other books, then set on fire by a flame hat on someone's head.

Firmly grasping his shoulders she regained her breath, “Simon, I know you love books but, these people obviously don’t care about them. Be careful where you go please !”

“Sorry! I- got a bit ahead of myself there.” he scratched the back of his head.

She let go and motioned for him to follow, “It’s alright, just stay cautious please.”

They gathered in front of the library and watched where right to the right of the bonfire, a metal beam holding up what looked to be long and gnarled tree limbs tied together and decorated with a giant alligator carcass, stoplights, skulls, bottles, and white rags of all kinds.

A group of people were at the top on a wooden platform where at the top of the beam, a metal skull with many horns was impaled on the very top, it looked to be a speaker system with some strings with flags attached to the horns.

“Listen up rabbel! We’re ‘bout to get this funeral started. So shut up and pay respects. Introducing…the savior of the wastelands and defeater of the Snowman, Big Destiny!”

Big Destiny…that was familiar. Damn, it’d really been a while since she saw the show. Probably had something to do with Finn.

The mic was given to a person with orange hair she could vaguely see from below, “Today, sadness is not allowed. Today we party for the dead body of Popcorn! WHOOO!”

They watched as some people in black clothing and purses as head covers, walked with a board that had what she assumed to be Popcorn towards the bonfire.

“Popcorn was a bomb warlord, the last of his tribe! He died doing what he loved- trying to ride alligator like horse!”

She watched in horror as the body was thrown into the bonfire.

Fionna smiled, “Popcorn seemed cool.”

Clem looked at Fionna in disbelief. 

“Enjoy the sky arena! Fight big ghosts and win Popcorn!”

Big Destiny began chanting Popcorn’s name before yelling, “Funeral over! All Popcorn gang territory goes to Destiny gang.”

A voice spoke up from the crowd, “Uhh, everyone here knows Popcorn signed a treaty on his deathbed making all the territory from the creek to the end of the great ditch the domain of the Reindeer Boys.”

One of the people at the top of the platform jumped down, sliding on one of the load bearing ropes and came down hard enough that when the kick connected with his body, it was done with enough force to drive the guy into the ground as he screamed in agony.

She could now see the person was a girl with red orange hair. There were two piercings on her left ear and was wearing a leotard with tattered sleeves. Over it she had a light mint shirt with a spiked collar waistband it was tucked into, the same style band and was also on her wrist. A skull knee pad on her left knee with some high, dark red orange books with steel tipped toes and soles. She had freckles under her stern eyes.

Big Destiny spoke from the top of the tower, “Anybody else?”

A rope came down from the top and she grabbed it, being pulled up and yelling, “Destiny gang rules!”

The look of horror on Clem’s face never left, in fact it increased, Simon put a hand on her arm, “Like I said, low profile.”

“ Boring !” Cake rolled her eyes. 

Fionna shrugged, “Look…It’s like I said. You gotta punch and push your way around to get what you want.”

An older man who had a mustache suspiciously similar to Starchy was walking by Fionna, she looked at him and grabbed him by the coat of his vest, “Hey, you!”

He yelled in surprise as she held him up by his front.

“What do you know about the magic crown?” 

He escaped her grasp and ran away. 

“Fionna! What the hell-!” Clem hissed.

Fionna didn’t pay her any mind and went to hassle another person, “Hey you!”

She tackled the pink lady off her pink sheep, her red puffy jacket and fluffy pink mohawk catching Clem’s eye right away, she screamed as she fell to the floor, Fionna yanking her up by the vest, “What do you know about a magic crown!?”

The most sweet and high pitched voice came out of the lady’s mouth, “Please! I’m just a sweet butcher!”

She growled and raised a fist, Clem rushed over and grabbed her hand, “ FIONNA !”

Fionna turned to annoyingly face Clem.

Before she could scold her she was interrupted by a familiar voice, “I have the magic crown you seek. But the price I ask is very steep!”

Fionna yanked her hand out of Clem’s as she walked over to the human version of Choose Goose. Clem helped the lady up and picked up the sheep stuck on its side. The pink butcher lady gave a murmur of thanks and Clem smiled back apologetically.

She watched her trot off before they all joined Fionna at the booth. This human Choose Goose had his signature outfit when he was good but much more ragged and in purple tones.

Fionna placed her hands on the counter and leaned, “Okay weird man. Name your price.”

Choose Human rubbed his hands, “The crown is but the rarest of treasure. Present your wares and I’ll take their measure.”

Fionna began to take off her bag while Simon whispered to her, “Uh, we should really verify it’s the crown before we-”

She waved him off, “Nah nah nah.” Then took what was in her bag out and put it on the table.

Clem’s face was full of displeasure.

A bag of ‘chyips’,  Finns flute, a red solo cup, a book that said MLE, then she pulled out her phone, “Oh, that’s my phone.”

She held it in her mouth and began rummaging in the bag again before Choose Human laid eyes on it, “A futuristic device? I think that’s pretty nice!”

Clem sighed and put a hand to her face, Fionna was careless, this was really going to come back at her.

Holding her phone in her hand she looked at it, “Well…it’s no good to me here anyway.”

“It’s got the worm game!” Cake interjected.

“Deal.” She handed it over to Choose Human, who placed it under his purple feathered hat.

He chuckled and bent down before pulling out a yellow paper crown, “Here, m’dear!”

Fionna scrutinized it, “Is this the magic crown?”

“No. That’s a paper crown.” Clem flatly responded.

“Give it back!” Crushing the paper in her hand, anger clear.

“No returns, fair is fair.” Choose Human held up his hands and smiled slyly.

She slammed her hands on the table and growled, Choose Human bent down to pull something out from under the stand, “You got burned and I don’t care.” 

They all flinched and stepped away from the bat covered in sharp objects, barbed wire, a shuriken, knife, nails, an arrow, and even a hammer?

He held it back, ready to swing when Cake yelled, “You crook!”

She stretched up with her legs and swung a fist out that grew huge and then kept growing, destroying everything in its path, making a huge scene. Clem and Simon looked at each other and panicked as now everyone was looking at them.

Cake looked surprised, “Uhh…”

Fionna yelled in delight, “WHOO, CAKE!”

Choose Human groaned, Clem rapidly pulled on Simon’s jacket and in a hurried whisper said, “We gotta bounce.”

Simon nodded, “Agreed.”

He grabbed Cake who was struggling to pull her arm back to its original shape and tried to run before being yanked back by the weight of her giant fist. Clem moved over to the fist and began trying to lift it up, Fionna joining the two of them as they all ran off into an alleyway.

They got to the end of it and both Clem and Fionna dropped Cake’s fist on the floor with a heavy thump. 

Both of them regained their breath as Simon groaned while placing Cake down from his hold before stretching, “Cake, you’re too reckless!”

Fionna and Clem stretched their backs as well. Clem put a hand to her head, Cake’s hand was heavy as fuck and this world was a shit show. 

“Ahh, nobody saw that.” Cake replied dismissively.

“Magic cat!” Someone yelled from the entrance of the alleyway. 

They whipped their heads towards the voice and saw two people, one smaller boy with a helmet that had a single spike on the top. A pink neck scarf? Shoulder pad on his left, a brown leather jacket, white shirt, torn pale brown shorts, a spiked knee pad and orange boots.

The second person was a tall as fuck guy who was jacked to the nines, he had metal helmet that was shaped to look like a single front pointing haircut, black sunglasses, spiked shoulder pads, a white tank top, the same color brown arm braces, a tattoo that said Trauma in white and surrounded by red on his left arm, dark aquamarine shorts with a white stripe on the side, and dark brown boots. His face was as chiseled as his body.

Clem was about to piss her pants, she reached into her bag and discreetly took out her pepper spray. 

The little boy continued, “Ohh, I’ma eat that cat. Then when I get magic fist, Daddy will have to make me gang leader! Trauma Jon…” 

He started walking over to them, they all looked on in worry, Clem pushed Simon behind her and held up her pepper spray, ready to unleash it if he got near.

Cake’s fist finally went back to normal as she cried, “Fionna!”

Fionna on the other hand stayed right where she was, in fact, she started running towards the dude, “Nobody eats Cake!”

Sprinting towards him she raised her hand back and slapped the guys stomach, what the hell was that supposed to do?!

Clem screamed, “Fionna get back!”

It was too late as Trauma Jon chuckled and slapped Fionna onto her back with enough force it shoved her back.

“Stupid bunny. I’d cut your nose off, but it looks like somebody beat me to it. Or maybe I’ll take an ear instead.” The little boy mocked.

Clem watched as a figure with blond hair threw something off from the rooftop to the right and watched as what she now knew to be a cinderblock fall and shatter overtop Trauma Jon’s head. 

He fell forward with a resounding thud as Fionna leaped back, the blond figure leaped down and snatched the knife from the boy who let out a gasp and fell back. They looked suspiciously like the Finn of this world.

The blond figure stood up from their landing position and sauntered over, “How about your nose, bully-boy?”

“No!”

Then the red orange haired girl from earlier leapt down from out of nowhere and took the knife from the blond figure, knocking them over. 

“Back off.” She held the knife up and looked at them sternly.

 “Little Destiny…” The blond figure stared at her.

“You’re a long way from home, Jay.”

The little boy began to sit up, “Destiny gang gonna kick your-”

The girl raised her arm and slapped him, causing him to fall over and land on his front with a groan, “Remember your place.”

The boy wiped away some tears, “I’m gonna get so big! Then I’ma get you too, L.D!”

Little Destiny stood with a sigh, “Now what do I do with–” she paused and broke into a coughing fit, leaning a hand on her knee.

Jay stood up and tried to reach her but she yelled, “Stay!” and pointed the knife at him as she rode out the coughs.

She leaned on her knees as a flush filled her face, “Don’t come here again, get it?!” 

Clem held her hands to her chest in worry and watched as Simon held one up to cover his mouth as well.

Her coughs continued and her eyes watered up, she pointed away and yelled, “GO!”

They all ran out of the alley way, passing the boy trying to get Trauma Jon up as he yelled, “I’ma eat that CAAAAT!”

With that cinderblock Trauma Jon was probably dead.

Running with Jay, Fionna asked, “Who are you?”

He shushed her, “Not here.”

Running through the city they dodged holes in the road and finally ran into a pipe with a hole torn in it, escaping away from the city through a dark sewer tunnel. Following the mysterious boy that looked like Finn.

Chapter Text

Her feet slightly damp from the water in the sewer channel. With the light dim she squinted into the dark, reaching for Simon’s arm and holding on to the sleeve of his shirt until they came out the other side. It’s not like Simon was any less clumsy sometimes, but the dark sometimes made her fall over.

“So, what are your guy’s names?” In the tunnel Jay asked.

“I’m Fionna, and this is my cat Cake.” Fionna started.

“I got magic superpowers.” Cake chuckled.

“I saw.” Jay laughed.

“My name is Simon.”

“And I’m Clementine, you can call me Clem though.”

“Nice to meet you all.”

As they exited the tunnel Jay explained, “Locals don’t like talking about magic.”

“Do you?” Simon asked.

“Hard not to. My dad was the one who found the crown.”

“What?!” Clem and Simon gasped.

Simon walked up to Jay and put a hand on his shoulder, “Jay…I have to meet your dad.”

“I knew it.” Clem mumbled.

“Where do you think we’re going?” Jay laughed.

Simon fell back to walking alongside Clem and she lightly elbowed him, “I knew it! I thought he looked like Finn. I just couldn’t be sure…it's kind of weird he has kids now, I literally saw him as a kid not so long ago.”

“Despite him growing so much, he still has the same adventurous spirit.” she watched his smile fall as he rubbed his arm, “Time goes by so quickly sometimes…other times it really drags on.”

“You could say that again.” 

Jay walked further into the forest and called back, “Watch your step.”

Carefully stepping over barbed wires they came upon a quaint house sat by some crop fields. A mishmash of planks, stained glass windows, and a wood pile outside, it looked cozy. 

Next to the house was another building that was taller with a giant tree on the roof on its side. It was made of mismatched planks, different shades of green roof tiles with another stained glass window. 

There was also a tree with a tire swing next to it, there were some boards nailed to it as well, creating a ladder to go up it.

They could hear wood being chopped as they got close and as they rounded the corner around the house. 

Jay yelled, “Dad!”

Immediately she could see it was Finn from his signature hat, he was also wearing a cap on top of it that he took off after wiping his brow. His metal arm was different from the last time she had seen him twelve years ago, a bit more technical looking and currently an axe. 

He turned around and she could see the beard he had grown, not quite as majestic as OG Finn  but definitely rugged enough for here.

Fionna commented, “Dang, this apocalypse guy is rugged.”

Simon turned to her, “Fionna, this guy is Finn. Apocalypse you!”

She gasped in surprise.

Finn eyed them all hard before turning away, “You brought outsiders.”

Jay’s voice was apologetic, “Don’t be mad. I know I’m not supposed to bring anyone home, but…they were in trouble. This is Fionna, Cake, Simon, and Clementine.”

 “Hello, handsome.” Cake stepped forward and stuck out a now enlarged hand.

Finn’s robot arm switched back into a hand, the more familiar two clawed hand that Clem was used to seeing.

He stared at the enlarged and out of shape hand and nodded his head in greeting, “Magic cat.”

Putting his cap on his head he continued, “I don’t truck with magic, you know that.”

Clem winced, made sense, the crown incident traumatized him too.

“Aw, she’s okay Pop! Peanut was gonna eat her! He swore he would!” Jay defended.

Finn put his hands on his hips and sighed, then walked over to put a comforting hand on Jay, “I don’t like you mixing it up with the Destiny gang. It’s not our way.”

Jay tried not to look at his dad but relented in the end, “Yes Dad.”

Finn’s other robotic arm came over to rest gently on Jay's other shoulder, “Math.”

Math? Why’d he say that.

Standing up he looked to the group, “Y'all can stay here tonight.”

They all smiled and followed Finn into the house, stopping at the doorway as he called to his children, “Kids, set the table for four more.”

Peeking in from behind him she could see three more children, one with a familiar red hair and green eyes responded in a squeaky kid voice, “Yes daddy!”

That was the same color as the human version of Hunter Wizard in Fionna’s world. Clem wondered if she’d see a version of her here.

Quickly the kids got to setting the table except for one, Finn pointed to her, “You too Bonnie.”

There on the ground was a little girl with long blond hair and a pink dress petting what she knew had to be the oldest Jake there was. This Jake lived longer than the real one and he’s a normal ass dog??

Bonnie refuted, “But I’m scratching Jake!”

“No buts.”

She stood up from the floor and sighed, “Fine.”

Clem smiled, this was just a little girl, she couldn’t be older than ten and absolutely adorable. The rest of the gang stayed in the doorway just looking at the place while Clem walked over to the very old puppy Jake. She let him sniff before she started petting his head as he scratched himself with his leg.

She missed having pets.

Finn walked over to a pot on the stove and unwrapped a piece of what looked like gum, and threw it into the stew within the pot, his robot arm switching to a ladle to stir the soup before looking back to everyone still in the doorway, “Don’t dither in the doorway. Sit down.”

Clem hung her head down so her hair was covering her face as she pet Jake with one hand and stifled her laugh with the other, he was such a dad now, it was nice to see. When they all sat down she took the empty chair next to Simon while Fionna and Cake took the couch.

“Dad, there’s a cat at the table.” the little green eyed kid spoke.

“The cat is also a guest.” he responded from the stove.

Bonnie stared with spoons in her hands, “Oh. Hi cat.”

“Hey cutie.” Cake leaned her arm on the table and held her head in her hand.

“It can talk!”

“That’s why they got chased by the Destiny gang.” Jay reached for something in a cabinet above Bonnie.

“Whoa really? That’s so cool!” Mini hunter exclaimed.

“Poor kitty! What do we do if the destiny gang comes here?” Bonnie worried.

“I’ll slay them…if I have to.” Finn responded.

Bonnie held the spoons in front of her excitedly, “Ohh, I can’t wait till I’m old enough to kill some jerks!”

Clem nervously chuckled and scratched her face. Childhood here was way different after all.

Finn finally turned around from the stove and held the boiling soup pot in his robot arm, “Who wants some soup?”

Fionna and Cake excitedly raised their hands, Cake’s hand enlarging just slightly so it looked like a mitten.

“If you would be so kind.” Clem smiled.

Finn nodded and his kids grabbed bowls and he began putting soup in them, they all passed bowls to the four of them before grabbing their own soup and sitting at the table. Clem and Simon thanked them while Fionna and Cake rapidly began to eat their soup with eager slurps.

Fionna commented, “This soup’s got such a deep flavor.”

“It’s been simmering for years. It’s the soup mom was cooking the day she died. We just keep adding to it.” Jay explained.

Ah, that meant no Huntress here, she would have been here by now if she was alive.

Jay got up and began to take the empty bowls from his siblings and stand up from the other side of the couch and put them in the sink.

Simon smiled, “Like a veritable ‘soup of Theseus’.”

Everyone but Clem looked at Simon with a blank stare in silence until Jay responded, “No. My mom made it.”

Clem tapped his arm, “Theseus, Hero of Athens right? Slayer of…the minotaur?”

Simon beamed, “Correct! Only this time it’s a reference to the famous thought experiment by British philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Only with soup parts instead of ship planks.”

Clem gasped, “Oh! I know that one, where if the original wooden ship was broken, and the pieces were gathered up to rebuild the ship, new pieces slowly being added each time. Where the question would be if either ship was the original ship?”

“Yes! Exactly!”

Internally she fist bumped, thank you Techno and OSP. 

“Dude, what are you guys talking about?” Fionna asked.

“Cake!” Bonnie grabbed her attention.

Cake gave a startled, “YES!”

“Can all kitties talk where you’re from?”

“No, but maybe they will once we find that magic crown and plop it on Simon.”

Her eyes sparkled, “Wow!”

Finn looked up from buttering some toast and leaned over the table with a hard stare, “You’re looking for a magic crown?”

Simon explained, “That’s actually why we’re here. Jay tells us-”

Finn’s expression started looking angry at the moment so Clem cut him off, “Simon.”

“What?”

She shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder before turning back to Finn who was looking down hard at the table.

Reaching back deep in her brain she remembered his name was the same as Finn’s, she should be proper and respectful. This required tact.

“Mr. Mertens, you need not say your piece on how stupid this sounds. Your experience deems you right to cast judgment.”

He looked at her harshly, she let every emotion show on her face. There was nothing she wanted to hide from him.

She continued, “Trust me when I say we are not looking for it for selfish gain, Simon here was a previous wearer of the crown. Of course he isn’t any longer but in him losing the magic of it, there were consequences that had not been foreseen until now. For the sake of Fionna, Cake, and their loved ones…it is…required… that Simon find another crown to turn back.”

He scoffed, “You realize how foolish this is and you’re still doing it?”

She clenched her jaw, “With every bone in my body I oppose this plan but unfortunately the powers above me are powerless to do anything about it. It is due to their folly that we are here today and even if I have anything to say about it, I have very little choice. Now, do you happen to know what happened to it? You don’t have to answer though if it brings back those memories too strongly.”

His eyes bore into her, then they seemed to stare through her before he closed his eyes and sighed, “You all can sleep out in the hayloft and leave in the morning. I don’t have answers for you.”

She nodded, saw Fionna about to get up and interject before she held a hand out to her with an angry stare before turning back to Finn, “Thank you for listening Mr. Mertens.”

Cake looked at Fionna, “Now you two should kiss.”

Clem recoiled, “Cake! WHY!”

Finn got up and went up the stairs of the house until he was no longer visible, Clem looked out of a window and saw the setting sun almost entirely below the horizon. 

She grabbed her bowl to put away until Simon took it from her, “Let me, please.”

Her eyes blinked, “Oh, thanks Simon.”

Putting the bowls in the sink he asked, “How did you do that?”

Tilting her head confused, she asked, “Do what?”

“You stopped me right away and you just knew what to say! I thought explaining myself would get him to understand but, well- I’m sure you saw how that was going.”

She looked at where Finn had gone up the stairs, “Let's continue this in the hayloft, Jay, can you show us where it is?”

Clem wasn’t about to comment on how she didn’t know exactly what a hayloft is.

Jay nodded, “Sure! Follow me guys.”

They walked outside and Jay led them inside the taller building beside the house, then in front of a ladder, “This leads to the hayloft.”

She patted his shoulder, “Thanks Jay.”

“No problem.” Jay left and closed the door.

As soon as the door was shut Clem slumped and let out a long groan, “I hate when that happens.”

Simon looked confused, “When what happens?”

Fionna and Cake excitedly ran around the barn-like structure and then started climbing up to the hayloft.

“That was a lot of fuckin tension in that room. Simon, Finn was mad. He didn’t have the crown as long as you sure, but it still fucked him up, he was traumatized by his actions. You just even talking about putting it on triggered him! Especially since you are doing it willingly. He can’t understand why anyone would want to throw their life away after escaping it.”

His eyes widened, “I…didn’t think about that.”

A sigh of exhaustion escaped her, “When you are an outsider for so long, observance becomes second nature. Especially here, Finn healed the best he could here but I don’t see any therapists existing here.”

“We didn’t get much of an answer from him either, but then again it could be that he doesn’t remember. The crown messes with your memory after all.”

Clem looked to the side until she gasped, she remembered something.

Simon looked at her, “Clem? What’s wrong?”

She kept staring at the window that showed the early night sky, “I remembered something, Prismo, he was able to turn things back to normal…shit, with iMovie or something. Sorry, not really helpful there.”

He smiled, “You already helped out quite a bit. Who knows, even little things like that might be helpful in the long run. We won’t know unless you tell us.”

She chuckled, “Yeah, you’re right.” a yawn escaped her, “I’m going to head up.”

Simon nodded, “I’m right behind you.”

And so they made their way up to the hayloft and got as comfortable as they could be. Fionna and Cake huddled together under a blanket, Simon was sleeping against the wall, and Clem attempted to sleep on a small pillow of hay covered by her vest, hugging her bag. 

She was failing miserably, the creaking of the building, the sound of wind outside, and Simon occasionally mumbling. If she were in a safer space it would definitely lull her to sleep, out here though, it was a struggle.

Closing her eyes she tried until she heard a door open and close, she carefully sat up, hay tangled in her hair and listened as she could just barely hear the steps of someone walking in.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she moved with bated breath over to Simon, hand ready to cover his mouth if he made noise. She shook him quietly and watched his eyes open, when he didn’t make a sound she put a finger in front of her lips, signaling him to be quiet.

Once his eyes met hers he went from confused to worried, watching as she pointed to the ladder, there was a steady but quiet creak, someone was coming up.

She began to reach for her bag, aiming to get the pepper spray out before a familiar head of blond hair showed itself. It was Jay. She let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and was about to speak before Jay shushed her.

“SHH! My dad has ears like a bat.”

Clem and Simon nodded while she grabbed her bag, Simon moved over to wake Fionna and Cake up.

Quietly he whispered, “Fionna.”

She turned around just in time to watch Fionna in her fucking sleep wack Simon over the head. Her mouth made a silent scream as she hurriedly moved over to him and worriedly checked his head.

Fionna mumbled, “Wha- I’m up.”

Simon tried to wave her off, “I’m okay. Really.”

Clem gently pat where Fionna hit and placed a cold hand on his forehead when Jay spoke, “I remember something important. Dad doesn’t speak of the crown, but one time he drank cider that had gone hard and he let slip where he found it.”

Simon gasped, “Oh!”

“A big crater a few miles from here.” he pointed, “Come on. I was heading to the crater anyway.”
Jay moved to go back down the ladder but was pushed onto his front by none other than dear sweet Bonnie who eagerly cried, “Can I come?”

Jay whisper yelled, “Bonnie!”

Bonnie begged, “Pleeeeeeease?”

“No you can’t!”

“I’m gonna tattle on you!”

With quite the comedic effect, they all watched Jay stuff Bonnie into the hay pile and almost slide down the ladder he was so quick.

Clem had taken her hand off of Simon to quickly follow down the ladder, not seeing Simon touch his forehead where she had put her hand. It was cool.

Once they were all down the ladder, quickly and quietly they all followed Jay into the night and towards the crater where the crown once was.

On the way Fionna and Cake were marveling at the apocalypse setting that surrounded them, Clem was crossing her arms and thinking back to what she could remember from watching previous episodes.

She was so deep in thought she didn’t notice Simon calling her name until he placed a hand on her shoulder, “Hm? What's up Simon?”

“Your hands were really cold, are you sure you didn’t need a blanket? I could have given you my vest.”

She chuckled, “No no no, my hands are always cold. They’ve been like that for as long as I could remember. I know that different sensations can distract from pain, like one pain from another, but I know that comes from shocking sensations like cold and hot too. That was a nasty wack you took after all.”

He gave her a crooked smile back, “Well, it certainly helped.”

Fighting the flush she could just feel rising. It was dashed as soon as she saw the buildings get that much more sparse and melted looking. She scanned the area and saw them all leaning and melting away from a certain point. Her face dropped as she realized what the crater was.

The epicenter of an atomic bomb. 

The one that started everything.

There was the giant crater that brought memories flashing back to her.

Jay hopped down into the hole and slid to the bottom, everyone doing the same, Clem did so last. Just taking in the sight of where this world's Simon and Marciline died oh so long ago.

Coming to the bottom Clem heard Jay, “This is the spot. Be quiet when you dig around for the crown, okay?”

“I don’t even know where to begin.” Simon gestured to the mass of flat land.

Cake asked, “Hey Simon, what does it smell like? I can sniff it out with my cat senses.”

Her paw had turned into a mini shovel and she gestured to her nose with it, her nose enlarging to a comical size.

Simon looked pleasantly surprised, “Huh. I guess I kinda associate it with the smell of freshly cut grass?”

Cake put her paws to her head, “Grass, grass, grass.” Then she started sniffing the air and moving around.

Fionna cheered, “Work that thang!”

Cake and Clem spoke at the same time, “Hey, I think I got something!” “It’s in the middle.”

Jay nodded, “You guys go check it out. Imma go keep a lookout.”

He climbed up before the remaining three looked at Clem, she looked to the middle of the crater where there were steps leading a bit further down and pointed, “It’s in that area.”

Simon looked at her, “You remembered?”

She gave a solemn nod as they all walked over to the deepest part of the crater.

Cake got on all fours and went to a metal sheet, “Under here.”

Fionna slid down and praised Cake, “Good kitty!”

Simon slid down after and Clem last. All four of them easily lifted the sheet over only to be met with the shattered pieces of the crown.

Cake yelled, “That’s not fair!”

Clem the scene seemed to flash before her eyes, “This is where the nuke went off.”

They all looked at her, “A nuke?!”

She nodded, “This world's Finn took the crown from its…guardian…and after that the nuke went off, releasing the lich. After the original Finn came to help stop the lich from this world from taking over the multiverse, Ice Finn was able to remember a part of himself and resist the crown, taking it off but leaving him all messed up. Finn asked Prismo to help Ice Finn get better and so Prismo took the crown and sent it back in time to be destroyed by the bomb that released the evil that took place.”

Simon adjusted his glasses, “All that happened here?”

Looking at him sorrow took hold over her, Simon died over a thousand years ago at this very spot, Marcy did too but much later, guardian to the crown and his dead body until Farmworld Finn came along and took it.

Both Fionna and Cake muttered out, “Dang.”

Quickly Clem turned away from him and brushed her hand over the dirt, “Yeah. I just remembered.”

Simon stood up, “We’ll have to try another universe.” and pulled out the remote.

Cake stretched her arms, “Give it here!”

“Let’s think about this!” He yanked it away.

Fionna asked, “What’s there to think about? There’s squat for us here.” she crossed her arms and looked up, “Crap! It’s that evil mullet kid! Jay! Behind you!”

Cake yelled, “Run kid!”

They all watched Jay turn around on the sneaking up Little Destiny and meet her with a kiss. Everyone but Simon balked, not seeing that twist coming.

The duo slid down and Jay reassured them, “It’s cool. She’s with me.”

Cake spoke giddily and brought her hands up dramatically, “Oh, I love a forbidden romance. I wanna hear how these two lovebugs got together.”

Clem slowly turned to Cake, her language was starting to get a bit too…internet familiar for her taste.

Fionna was absolutely enthralled while Simon looked out of his depth, she snatched the remote from Simon’s hand and hid it behind her back, “Tell us everything.”

Simon looked annoyed but didn’t say anything.

Jay chuckled, “Well…A couple of months back, after Dad spilled the beans, I came here to see if I could find other cool stuff.”

He then went to recount how he had found a gem in the crater and was met with Little Destiny, who went to intimidate him, but instead took his heart the moment he saw her. Giving the jewel to her she had given him an empty threat to stay away and the rest was history.

Little Destiny finished, “And we’ve been secretly together ever since.”

Fionna and Cake held their hands together facing towards each other, excitement and joy over hearing romance on their faces.

Cake held up a fist, “Enemies to lovers– my favorite.”

Clem was in disbelief, did she have a fucking wattpad at this point? This is the second time she’s said something like that.

L.D. suddenly let go of Jay’s hand and started coughing into a fist, Jay exclaimed, “Little Destiny!”

Little Destiny fell to her knees, Fionna and Cake gasped, Simon looked shocked, Clem and Jay rushed over to her, she was cold to the touch.

Cake cried, “A twist!”

Jay remarked as well, touching Little Destiny’s forehead, “You feel cold again.”  He turned to them, “I’ve been searching for cures in the old library, but I’ve had no luck so far.”

Clem gently rubbed her back and thought hard, was it possible the bomb had radiation and she got sick? No, she wouldn’t only just be coughing so many months later. Plus Jay would have been affected too. Maybe it was a radioactive object?

“Jay, what was it that you gave her when you were here? You said you found something, yes?”

Jay nodded and turned to Little Destiny, “Yeah, it was a gem.”

“Can I see it?”

Fionna turned to Simon, “Help her Simon, you’re a doctor!”

Simon, annoyed, corrected her, “I’m an antiquarian damn it.”

Little Destiny pulled a necklace hidden from under her shirt and held it out to Clem, it was one of the gems from the crown!

“Simon! It's from the crown! This must be what made her sick!” she held it in her hand and it was cool, just like ice. 

“Mother crud you’re right!” he exclaimed.

Clem noticed that Little Destiny was still cold to the touch, “Dear, you need time to recover from its effects. Jay, please don’t blame yourself, no one could have known. Right now, she needs rest to recover from this.”

Jay looked scared, “I- I never meant for this to happen, I’m so sorry and I hoped you can forgive me! Little Destiny you need to tell your dad, so you can recover!”

Little Destiny stood with a cough, “No. Being weak is not an option.”

“That’s right, my traitorous daughter! Weakness is worse than coughing death!” A yell came from the top of the crater edge.

All of them whipped to the top of the crater where they saw Big Destiny and Peanut, the little boy from the alley. Two other individuals joined them, one with pink hair and the other with blue.

Peanut exclaimed, “See?! I told you! She’s been doing mouth high fives with our enemies!” he finished pointing at the duo.

Clem stood in a defensive stance as she watched Big Destiny turn to Peanut, “Here’s your reward!”

Lifting a leg he kicked the child down into the crater. Peanut fell with a scream and hit the ground front first with a thud, the child abuser continued, “Father of the year!”

What the fuck. She looked upon the sight in abject horror.

Suddenly they were ambushed on all ends by gang members who apprehended them. 

Simon was yanked back, an arm around his neck holding him in place by Trauma Jon who she thought was supposed to be dead. Clem was yanked from behind and held around her chest, constricting her arms so she couldn’t move at all, the shock causing her to drop the necklace on the ground.

Fionna and Cake put of more of a fight, Fionna reached into her bag and pulled out a…knife utensil? Didn’t she have a cool machete in there?

“Knife you! Wha-?!” She was filled with shock that left her unguarded, one of the gang members punching her in the face and holding one of her arms behind her back to restrain her.

“Eat PAW!” Cake took her shot.

Throwing a stretched out fist it, didn’t go the way she had imagined, just stretching her arm and weakly tapping the arm of the lady gang member restraining Fionna. It fell limply to the ground, the lady stepped on the arm fairly gently for all things considered, Cake yelped.

Big Destiny walked over to Jay and L.D., who were still holding hands, and yanked L.D. away.

Jay yelled, “No!” before being kicked to the ground by Big Destiny.

“You got Big D’d.” Big Destiny mocked.

“Jay!” L.D. cried in her dads grasp.

Clem struggled to get out of this person's grip but was yanked away and tied up by Cake’s still long arm with the rest of her group.

Fionna growled and struggled to escape to no avail.

Simon turned to her, “Fionna, where’s the remote?”

“Backpack.”

Then he turned to Clementine, “Clem, do you have the jewel?”

“I dropped it when they grabbed me!” She whispered

Lucky for them Little Destiny had seen the necklace and yelled, “Dad let go!”

Yanking herself out of his hold and picking it back up. 

It was immediately yanked out of her hand, “Bro! What’s this trash?!”

“Jay gave it to me! We’re in love!”

“Ha! Love is weak. But jewels are hot.”

Clem cried, “No wait! That is infused with dangerous magic that will make you sick! Little Destiny you can’t keep it, it's not good for you!”

Big Destiny sneered, “‘Love-romance’ was just a play by this fart baby to take you down.”

Jay was being held up by his arms by the blue-haired lady, the guilt on his face deepened. Big Destiny threw the jem off to the side.

Simon whispered to them, “If we get that jewel, I can use it to reprogram the remote to track magic crowns.”

Cake nodded and reached out her free arm, it shrunk back into her body.

Little Destiny said firmly, “Jay wouldn’t do that.”

Big Destiny disregarded her, “Daughter, prove that you’re bigtime.”

He handed her a small shortsword when a donkey bray call could be heard from above.

They all whipped their heads to see Finn, on the same donkey that got stolen twelve years ago. Why do all the animals here live so damn long, I mean, good for them. But real Jake was a whole ass magic dog and lived even less than regular animals.

The donkey slid down on a plank of wood to the bottom and Finn hopped off as it slid to the left, getting away from danger. Finn now had a green cloak over where his robotic arm would be and he yanked it off, showcasing a large weapon of some sort, a tiny dot of flame in the front of the barrel.

“Let them go.”

“Dad no!” Jay screamed. 

He was able to yank himself out of the gang members grasp and slide on his knees in front of L.D., “If you really believe I would hurt you–” he tore his shirt open revealing a tank top underneath, “--then do it Little Destiny! Finish what you started on the most beautiful night of my life!”

The scene was perfect, the moon light illuminating everyone in the crater, especially Jay and L.D. Making the entire scene look like one from some kdrama or telenovela. Jay’s rizz was off the charts.

Cake was surprised by her stretching mishap, but didn’t stop trying, stretching one leg and then the other, both receding into her body like rubber bands. 

Simon stuck his face in Fionna’s bag until he pulled out the remote with his teeth and spit it into his hands, “I got it!”

Finally Cake was able to extend her tail like a snake and snag the thrown necklace from where it rested on the ground.

Big Destiny continued, “Waste this loser, with ruthless stabbing.”

Jay was picked up by his arms again by the blue haired female gang member as the gang all started to chant stab.

L.D. held up the weapon and gave Jay a smirk, she slashed the arm of the person holding Jay who released him immediately with a scream of pain. Then she kicked off the incoming pink haired gang member. 

Big Destiny pulled out his sword while Trauma Jon and another gang member rushed to fight the duo. Only to be intercepted by Finn who jumped between the two groups, he hit one away with his weapon arm, Trauma tried to hit him with a crowbar. 

Finn aimed his weapon and a giant burst of flame came out. Setting Trauma Jon on fire and driving him away.

Cake was finally able to sneak away the jewel necklace and held it up on her tail, “One jewel.”

“Good job Cake.” Simon praised.

Finn stood with his arm out in front of the two kids as Big Destiny rushed at Finn with his sword, only to be elbowed in the face with his metal arm, shattering his sunglasses.

Simon opened the back of the remote and she watched with bated breath until she heard a familiar voice. Chills went down the back of her spine.

“Pardon my late arrival. I stopped to pick some wild fennel.”

She looked up with disbelief at their multiverse pursuer, the Scarab.

Though he looked human, she knew it was him, his silhouette was almost the same, he had a formal gray tux and pale blue hair. He was leaning on his signature staff. Throwing the plant in his hand to the side, his appearance shifted to that of the red visage she knew him to have.

He leaped into the crater with a thud. A panicked gasp escaped Clem while Simon cursed, “Mother crud.”

Big Destiny stepped back in fear, “Uh, you got this, bro!”

Finn cried, “Jay, get Little Destiny out of here.” he held up his weapon towards the Scarab.

“Aw, that was very sweet.” The Scarab mockingly cooed.

He tried to hit Finn with the staff but was too slow, Finn grabbed his arm and threw him back into the air, lighting his flamethrower arm and setting it right on the Scarab.

The Scarab screamed as the fire engulfed him and smoke obscured him for just a moment. There he lay on the ground, blaze settling. Was he dead?

Their hopes were dashed as he got up and his body morphed with several cracks, his legs and arms turning to sharp and pointed, almost grasshopper-like legs. He skittered around on all fours towards Finn at a lightning speed.

Finn stood in front of them all still tied up and aimed to defend them when the Scarab jumped, doing a backwards flip that launched two of his spiked legs straight into the skull of Finn.

Clem screamed.

Fionna and Cake yelled at the same time, “HIT THE BUTTON!”

Clem could not take her eyes off the Scarab and she watched as he launched himself towards the group, grabbing on to her ankle. Another scream escaped her as a cold fear clenched her heart, then the world around them warped.