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“Wouldn't it be nice to get away, where everybody knows your name?”
It was a quiet night, there wasn't even a breeze, everything was still. Everything except three travelers, an odd cat, a blond girl, and an old antiquarian.
This was their 4th or 5th universe, and they still hadn’t found a crown, even after all that reprogramming business. This time, though, they had a rather promising lead.
Supposedly, there was a crown somewhere in a ditch. It had been hidden treasure once before, but now everything was eroded away and it was just ...sitting there.
Maybe that was what was making Simon feel so odd.
“That last universe was rough.” Fionna piped up, walking behind Simon and next to Cake. Simon grunted in agreement, he didn't want to think about that last one.
“Oh yeah, remember those acid zombie things?” Cake chimed in, as if anyone could forget such a sight. Simon really didn't want to think about that.
“Mhm,” Fionna nodded, “And when we found that whole body dump.” all three of them shuddered, Simon especially did not want to think about that.
Well, at least the conversation about the last universe died down, maybe the mention of the corpses killed the mood.
Once they arrived at the ditch, Simon was the first to slide down to the bottom. He scanned the area, and sure enough, no one else was there. Sometimes It really seemed like the three of them were the only people in this whole universe.
Honestly, it wouldn't surprise him.
“Oh!” Fionna said, Simon turned to see what she was looking at, and his stomach did a flip at the sight of a dusty old chest. Just sitting there, off to the side.
He furrowed his brow and pushed past her to kneel in front of it, it was just like the note had described. Dingy, dented in some places, but still a functioning chest.
He glanced at Fionna and then back, he really, really did not want to open the chest. To find the crown, and be trapped in Ice King’s mind for however many years again. But this was for her, and Cake, and he owed it to them.
He heaved the surprisingly light lid open, getting dirt all over his hands, and peered inside.
And there it was.
A gold crown, with three sparkling red gems embedded into it.
“Holy crap!” Cake cried, smiling, “We finally found a crown!”
Simon hesitated, but Cake sidled up to him and nudged him with her head.
“What are you waiting for? Put it on and get us home!”
So he picked it up, stood up, and wordlessly examined it. It wasn't even dirty. It looked brand new, if anything. And the chest hadn't even been locked.
Maybe that was what gave him pause.
But as far as his companions were concerned, this was incredibly lucky, it was an abandoned and still functioning magic crown.
Fionna’s hand brushed the crown, and he passed it into her hands, eager to get it out of his own.
“Ooh,” she said, “It's chilly.”
Simon flashed as much of a smile as he could manage.
She didn't know the half of it.
“Well?” Cake asked, staring at the two expectantly, “Shouldn't we be home by now?”
“We need to find something to act as a magic battery, basically, so we can't yet.” Simon explained, he was a little glad he didn't have to put it on yet, but he also thought that might be worse. Having them carry it around while they looked.
Cake didn't seem very pleased with his explanation.
“And it's getting late, we should rest and look tomorrow.”
Cake bristled impatiently, but Fionna reached down to stroke her fur.
“Ah Cake, it’ll be okay, what can one more day hurt?”
“Fine.” Cake grumbled, padding off and climbing swiftly back up the ditch’s wall.
Fionna and Simon looked at eachother and followed her.
They had found somewhere to rest, it wasn't comfortable, but they were used to that by now. Fionna and Cake both seemed to pass out immediately, but Simon, his sleep was anything but restful.
He had startled at every noise, put on edge by the night’s discovery. Once, he even swore he heard someone speak, but that couldn't have been right.
He sighed after being awoken for the millionth time to find nothing amiss, flopping back down and closing his eyes, grumbling to himself.
He didn't know how long he had slept then, must not have been very long, considering it was still dark as ever when a sound roused him.
This time, he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to just ignore what was surely a figment of his imagination, until.
“There you are..”
Someone spoke in a low voice. It made Simon's stomach twist, a wave of fear washing over him.
This surely wasn't imagined.
Something walked past him, and he willed himself to stay still, keep his breathing even and his eyes closed.
He heard the thing click its tongue, and pull something out. It made a low humming noise.
He let his eyes open, and kind of wished he had also been fast asleep.
It was the scarab.
He sat up, cramming his glasses onto his face as quietly as he could. Scarab seemed to be distracted enough with Fionna and Cake.
He aimed his intricate, softly glowing yellow and white weapon at them. It seemed to come straight from his bright teal crystal.
Simon lurched forward, slapping the crystal away before he could egg Fionna and Cake, taking Scarab by surprise. Though Scarab retaliated swiftly, elbowing Simon’s stomach, knocking the man to the floor with an ‘oof’.
Scarab aimed the crystal thing at him, and Simon froze.
Surprisingly, though, Scarab grumbled and put the thing down, roughly grabbing Simon’s arm instead. He dragged Simon close enough to him to hear his irritated hiss.
“You’re lucky you are actually useful to me.”
Scarab glanced at Fionna and Cake, still fast asleep, somehow.
“Come on.” Scarab ordered.
Simon was fairly certain he didn't have a choice.
Scarab dragged Simon along with him, and once he deemed they were far enough away from where Simon’s teammates slept, he stopped. Scarab turned to look at the man.
“You know, you didn't do anything back there.” Scarab said, “It's all going to end up the same, anyway.” He took a step closer to Simon.
“I’ll still extract that rogue universe from your head, and they’ll still be egged and incinerated.” He hissed.
Scarab had more to say, though Simon took the opportunity that had given him.
He wrenched his hand away from Scarab and took off, sprinting in a random direction. Scarab shouted after him, and gave chase.
Simon was fairly certain running wasn't that good of an idea, but it was too late now, he was already doing it.
Trees and bushes whisked by him as he ran, as quickly as he could. He must've been on some real adrenaline, because Scarab trailed behind him, but otherwise did not catch up.
He didn't recognize where he was running until he came out of the forest, where he spotted the trail he remembered walking on. He heard a screech behind him, and looked back to see Scarab snag himself on a branch.
That was good, Simon thought, he could-
Simon let out a yell of his own as the ground fell away beneath his feet, and he started to plummet.
Well, at least now he knew where he’d been heading.
Simon fell from the steep drop-off straight into the ditch, stretching his arms out in front of him, as if that would do anything.
He landed roughly, face and arms first. It knocked the wind out of him and really, really hurt.
Despite how badly he wanted to lay there, he knew he didn't have that time, and had to get up. It was a bit of a struggle, but he was on his feet again, and he didn't see Scarab anywhere. His heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute.
He coughed a couple times into his sleeve, doing his best to keep the raspy noise quiet.
Simon looked around, he couldn't climb out of the ditch here, he needed to go back to where the chest was found. So, which direction was that?
It was probably the fall, but he felt all turned around, and the spinning motion he was doing trying to get his bearings really wasn't helping. He felt like he needed to sit down.
That's when a voice startled him, not a low and malicious one, but an obnoxiously loud one.
“Simon!” Fionna called his name, appearing at the top of the ditch, Cake appeared shortly after. Fionna grimaced, Simon thought must've looked pretty bad. “Are you okay?” She asked, grimace replaced with worry.
“Fionna? Cake?” Simon didn't mean to ignore her question, but he was confused, he had thought they were still asleep.
Cake bristled, tail puffing up like it did when she was angry, or scared. “You shouldn't be here-!”
He must've missed Cake’s warning, because he hadn't even spotted Scarab barreling towards him until they collided.
Simon was sent flying, hitting the far wall with a grunt. As if he needed any more head trauma.
Scarab turned as Fionna and Cake jumped into the ditch with them.
“All in one place, now.” He turned his eyes to Simon, squinting them mockingly, “All the same, Simon.”
Simon glowered at him.
Scarab took out his crystal thing again, taking an admittedly menacing step towards Simon. Fionna acted quickly.
“Leave him alone!” She shouted, jumping onto Scarab’s back and wrapping her arms around his neck, at least, what Simon assumed was his neck. Scarab chuckled and elbowed her in the ribs, easily knocking her off.
Simon tried his best to follow their fight, but his eyelids kept drooping and it took some effort to keep them open.
It was over pretty fast, anyway, with Cake ending up all tangled around Fionna, keeping them both restrained.
Scarab stared down at them, tsk tsk-ing.
“Pitiful,” he remarked.
If looks could kill, the glare Fionna gave him would probably leave the trio with a lot less trouble.
Scarab didn't waste any time, turning away from them to approach Simon. From his crystal, he summoned a rather plain looking thing, pink and glowing, but not harshly.
“Oh, finally.” Scarab sighed, kneeling down and getting uncomfortably close to Simon. “I think this cat and mouse chase has lasted long enough.”
He grabbed Simon’s face and forced him to stop trying to squirm away.
This was it, wasn't it?
Has the end finally come for them?
As the tip of the pink weapon touched his forehead, a sudden realization hit him like a truck.
“I used to be able to wipe out whole armies of guys like that.”
“Cake, the crown!” He shouted, taking Scarab by surprise.
Cake’s eyes widened and she outstretched her tail as much as she could, just being able to drag the crown from Fionna’s discarded backpack and throw it to him.
Scarab tried to stop him, reaching out to snatch it before he could, but he wasn't quick enough. Simon’s hand closed around the cold artifact and he yanked it away, holding it with both hands above his head.
As his queasy feeling returned, and his heart started beating rapidly, and he felt himself chill all the way to his bones, he exhaled sharply.
“Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.”
He whispered, plopping the crown down onto his head.
“What-” Scarab started, but went silent as Simon’s hair whitened, and his skin became colder.
He summoned all his strength(which was more than he figured there would be) and pushed Scarab away.
He looked at his hands and his heart sank at the sight of them, skin just barely tinted blue.
He gazed up at Scarab, and behind him, Fionna and Cake, all staring at him in shock.
He didn't want to do this, but he had to.
It was just like those millions of years ago.
Just like with Marcy.
Simon narrowed his eyes determinedly, he pushed his hands out, and ice beams billowed from them. Scarab was pushed back into the opposite wall, letting out a yelp of surprise. He grunted, the chill seeping into him, freezing him all the way down to bone.
Scarab tried to fight back, but in the end was bested easily by Simon’s ice powers. By the end of their fight, he was a block of ice far down in the ditch.
Simon stared at him, to make sure he wouldn't rouse, and then turned to his companions.
He reached out to help them, but as he came into contact with Fionna, she flinched away from his icy touch. He recoiled, confused, though soon enough remembered the crown. He had almost forgotten he had it on, it felt so natural, and yet he still felt so haunted by it. He felt bad impulses creeping up on him, like unseen snowfall piling up.
He took a step back and reached up to smack the crown off his head, alarm flaring in his chest.
He hadn't hurt anyone, had he?
He stared down at it as it clattered to the ground, backing away. He felt like he was shaking.
Cake pulled free from Fionna, untangling her stretched limbs, and bounded over to him.
“Dang! Those were some cool powers!” She exclaimed, looking in awe at him, “You really handed it to that Scarab guy!”
Simon did not respond.
Fionna got up, retrieving her backpack, and walked over to them.
“Simon, are you okay?” she asked, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. He nodded, swallowing thickly.
“..yes. Yes I'm alright.” He finally spoke, “Just, haven't put the crown on in a while. It's a bit disorienting.” He offered a shaky smile, and she didn't seem satisfied, but accepted it anyway.
“Okay..”
Cake stretched out, rising up between them.
“Now let's find a magic battery!” She announced.
Cake made her way through the ditch, opposite from where Sarab had been frozen.
Simon and Fionna looked at one another and trailed after her.