บท 2: Chapter Two: The War Room
It had been a week since I sent the court's parrot, Peppermint, to request an audience with Finn. The name was a bit too obvious, considering Peppermint was literally made from peppermint. His long, white beak and vibrant red-and-white feathers made him a delightful treat for passersby who found them around the city.
I began to doubt whether Finn would even show up, especially considering that he and I hadn't spoken since the tragic passing of Lady Rainicorn—a night too agonizing to recall. Jake, profoundly affected by the events of that fateful, rainy evening, was never the same – dying of heartbreak not too long after.
But what's more concerning is Finn's withdrawal as an ally of the kingdom. His connections to the fire kingdom and his knowledge of mine made him a dangerous enemy. He hasn't crossed that line. Yet.
But now we have a bigger enemy at hand, one that I made myself by entrusting him with our protection, with the lives of my people. How naive I was, how young and stupid. I didn't consider the price to pay for this protection to be something outside of this world. It started with small creatures of the cotton candy forest, taken by him every couple of months or so. But he became tired of them quite quickly, and they didn't satisfy the monster in him. I should have read the fine print. Going through them more delicately.
Unfortunately, time was of the essence. The Fire kingdom had set camp right outside our doors and was preparing to attack as early as the rise of the Rock Candy Rooster, that was until Hunson Abadeer showed up in the war room, as I was deliberating if the Gumball Guardians should be deployed in our aid, the problem was that the fire people are immune to the fire rays from the protectors.
Abadeer had a smirk on his face. At the time, I didn't know his true intentions; when he came to me, I was sitting in front of the map of our lands, planning for escape routes for the smaller and older citizens and a fighting plan to end this war before it had even begun.
He sat next to me, his dark suit and his ruby red eyes. There was a knowing twinkle in their gaze. His long arms extended to a figurine on the table as he looked at them with a smirk on his face.
"Your Majesty," Abadeer said
"What are you doing here, Abadeer? You know you aren't welcome here." I prepared myself to press my panic button and activate the alarm for my soldiers to show up.
He must have sensed what was going on because, with his free hand, he grabbed my arm.
"Now, now Princess, let's not do anything rash." he looked towards the door behind me, "wouldn't want the bananas to split," he said as his smile widened and his teeth became more prominent and sharp like a shark.
I backed away from the button under the table slowly. I couldn't spare any soldiers during this time of war.
"I'll humor you, What do you want? Can't you see this is not a good time for you to be here?" I was starting to get annoyed. "Get on with it"
"Oh, Princess, that's no way to talk to your savior." his smile widened, and his shark teeth disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Making him look more amicable.
"My savior?"
"That's right, princess, what if I could tell you that I could stop this war altogether?" he played with the figurine in his hands, delicately placing it in the middle of the war zone.
"How? They won't stop until they get what they want." my eyes narrowed slightly as I asked skeptically.
"Simple, I'll take care of them for a small fee, nothing you would miss, of course. I hunger for small creatures, perhaps some from the forest. The life essence of the candy people is… different, stronger, pure of heart." he said as he traced a heart with his fingers onto the wooden table.
"And no one has to die?" I started considering his offer. I wanted to believe there was an end to this, where we all ended up alive and well, and the land and the kingdom would not suffer any bigger losses.
Abadeer opened his mouth to reply when the sound of heavy running footsteps started above us, the dirt from the ceiling dripping on my hair and any visible surface of the war room. The alarms started going off as we heard an explosion near the west wing of the castle. The attack had started earlier than anticipated.
He pulled a long scroll from his perfectly fitted black blazer, and he summoned a pen to write a line for me to sign at the bottom of the paper. The scroll must have had at least ten thousand words, words that I wish I had taken more time to read if it wasn't because I was pressured by the sound of my people's screams in the background.
"Small creatures," I repeated.
He smirked as he pulled the paper across the table after using his arm to throw all the figurines to the floor. "Do we have an agreement?"
A second boom louder than the one before pushed me to grab the pen away from his hands and sign my name away. As I wrote down the last letter, he disappeared into oblivion. After that, I don't know what happened between him and the firepeople.
I ran out of the castle and came to the tallest wall available as quickly as I could; in the distance, all of the fire people were running away, retrieving from the candy kingdom; some bodies were left at the front, but it didn't seem like he had caused significant damage to their forces.
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The sound of the trumpet signaling a visitor pulled me away from memory lane. I was strolling through the castle with Betty when I heard them coming from the great hall; Betty smiled, perhaps the help we had been waiting for. We raced towards the hall, her long red hair in front of me swinging from side to side as she gained speed.
"Finn the Human," A loud voice announced.
We were out of breath, happy to encounter him as he walked in. He looked much older, with a sense of maturity around his face. He had grown much taller since we last saw each other, his blonde hair cut shorter, and a beard forming around his face. He wore the same blue shirt and jean pants, but now he filled it better as all his adventures had given him newfound strength.
He kneeled before us as his metallic prosthetic arm rested on his knee, and his head was slightly turned to face the floor. At least he still respected me as a ruler in my kingdom, a good sign at last.
"Did you call for me?" He said softly as he slowly rose from the floor.
"I did. I need your help."
Betty stepped away. She gave us space to talk.
"I figured it would be important. After all, I never thought I would see your face again." he gave me a sad smile, the edges of his lips somewhat curling up.
"Thank you for coming" was all I could say at this moment, although other words came to mind too: I'm sorry about Jake, I'm sorry about how things ended, and I wish I could change things, to name a few. I didn't want to open an old wound. Especially one that took so long to heal.
"Walk with me." I signaled for him to follow me.
And so he did; we made our way across the hallways in the castle all the way to the room where it happened. We walked awkwardly and quietly. It had been such a long time. The things that bonded us together were probably long gone.
The war room was nestled beneath the castle and exuded an aura of strategic gravity amidst its whimsical candy-laden environment. Descending a spiral staircase, one entered a small chamber adorned with candy-like fixtures that shimmered under soft, ethereal lighting, casting hues of caramel, peppermint, and licorice across the room.
At the center stood a grand table, meticulously crafted from wood, with a scale model of the kingdom resting upon it. The kingdom, reduced to miniature, boasted intricate details of every castle tower, village, and stronghold, all fashioned from sugary confections. Tiny yellow gumdrop soldiers stood guard at strategic points, emphasizing the importance of each location.
Adjacent to the map, blueprints and schematics sprawled across another portion of the table, detailing the construction and mechanisms of a peculiar creation: a robot reminiscent of a gumball machine. Its spherical form gleamed with a glossy sheen, and intricate gears and candy-coated circuits lay exposed, hinting at its mechanical complexity.
I asked Finn to sit. I wanted him to be in the room where it happened, and perhaps he would understand why I did what I did.
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