Swallowing Gum Ch. 1 Pain

Pain.

Pain was all Fionna could feel as a blast of ice magic sent her off her feet, flinging her across the room as she Ice Queen cackled in malicious delight. Before she could brutally slam into an ice wall, Fionna flipped to her feet and kicked off the wall, summersaulting back to the floor, slightly swaying at her attempt to stand perfectly. Her exposed skin was like a canvas of abrasions and contusions with sickening highlights of red and purple. Her clothes were tattered and messy as if the aftermath of wrestling a bear. Patches of crimson blossomed around torn fabric, mostly coming from her sleeves and thigh-high socks. Fionna was used to getting a few cuts and bruises when dealing with the Ice Queen, but she knew this time was far more dangerous. The Ice Queen was starting to use techniques that Fionna was not used to. None of the injuries mattered to the human girl, right now she had to get passed the queen to rescue Gumball, who was on the opposite side of the room, tending to an unconscious Cake as he watched the brawl, his feet literally frozen in an ice block. 
He kept a worry-filled expression the whole time as he, Fionna, and, unfortunately Ice Queen knew the girl's stoic posture wasn't going to last very long. Fionna let out heavy pants as she glared at the queen.

"Hehehe..." The Ice Queen cackled sinisterly, "need a rest, tomboy?" she teased as her challenging ice powers flared from her hands. Fionna wiped a small stream of blood from the corner of her lips and smirked.

"Heh! You kidding?" she panted, gripping her sword in hands, "It's gonna take a lot more than that to take me out!"

"Oh? Then perhaps we should kick it up a notch, shall we?" Then, the ice flare immediantly grew twice its size as did the queen's wicked smile. 

Before Fionna could have time to respond, a giant, sharp ice hand emerged from the floor and grabbed her body in its firm grip. Luckily, Fionna's sword hand was free and she sliced the ice hand into shards. It wasn't until that very second when two more hands grabbed her, grasping way tighter than the first hand. As Fionna struggled to maintain consciousness from lack of oxygen, she peeked one eye open at the Ice Queen who chuckled ever so cruelly. Her own hands seemed to be in control of the ice hands as when she lifts them, dangling Fionna in midair.

"Now, let's see how much fun I can have with this!"

Just then, Fionna was suddenly flung out of the hands and was sent flying toward another ice wall, only this time, Fionna didn't have time to flip as the wall used her spine as a keyboard and slammed it into a great symphony. Fionna only let out a pained gasp during the impact and plummeted down the wall, darkness taking over her mind as her body slammed into the solid ice below her.

Prince Gumball stared in a mixture of shock and fear as he knew exacly what Ice Queen intended to do next. Sure enough, he was unfortunately right as the queen grinned wider as she shot a large ice bolt from her fingertip toward the ceiling, which then the bolt sliced through a huge icicle, freeing it to plummet downwards Fionna's crumpled form. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Fionna was pushed out of the way by Cake who swiftly formed herself into a protective ball around Fionna as she seeked shelter behind an ice wall as the icicle shattered into hundreds of ice shards.

Then everything went black.




....




Cake regained consciousness as she uncoiled herself from Fionna, who was starting to regain her own. She rubbed her right temple and groaned.

"Are you alright, suger?" Cake asked as she checked her adopted sister for any serious injuries. Luckily, she found none.

"No...I'm fine, Cake." Fionna gave the cat a genuine smile. Cake sighed in relief.

"Thank Glob,"

Fionna peeked around the wall to see the aftermath of whatever just happened. Ice shards, small and large sticking out from the walls, floor and ceiling. Some of which took off a few good chunks of the castle. Fionna stared across the room and saw the unconscious form of the Ice Queen, laying on her back surrounded by a few bits of broken ice.

Fionna was about to respond to Cake when a memory sparked in her mind.

"Gumball!" she suddenly exclaimed, removing Cake from her body as she stormed out to the room where she last saw him. Cake didn't hesitate to pursuit as she searched the wrecked castle for the prince. It was then when she saw it.

"Fionna!" the cat called out, immediantly earning the attention of the heroine. It didn't take long for Fionna to see it and she rushed to a small pile of ice shards and broken-off wall with Cake behind her. 'No...'

Fionna slid to her knees and began removing large chunks of ice from the pile, getting more and more desperate with each removing. When she finally removed all the big pieces, she was finally able to see the prince, and at that moment, it wasn't a good sign.
 Gumball was laying on his side with his back facing her and a bleeding gash on his left temple. What no one wanted to see was that he was also laying in a pool of blood with several ice shards protruding from various parts of the prince's torso.

As Fionna stared in disbelief, something wet splashed on the back of her hand.

Pain was all she could feel.