Blue Monday

Chapter 15 - Heat Of The Night

***GIDEON***

By the time Fionna returns home, the moon has set. It's a very eerie sight, the Second Universe being in total blackness except for the occasional sprinkling of electric lights. It's like looking at Spellman or San Castiel after dark during a new moon.

"Count yourself lucky you're not seeing it when we're on lockdown," Fionna says, hearing my thoughts. "It's pitch-black when that happens, even if you put on candles and shit. It's the stuff of nightmares."

"I don't wanna know anymore," I moan. "I still can't get past that dark cocoon thing Annie slimed me up with."

Fionna shudders. "Oh, so gross."

"You're telling me," I say. "I got my face painted with Juliet before Annie and Russell took me away. The dark shit took the paint right off."

"How did it not burn off your face, then?"

"At least it didn't do anything to my piercings." I touch my left ear, making sure my triple earrings are still in place.

She takes a seat next to me, pulling up a laptop and loading in a DVD. "You wanna watch Nightmare Before Christmas?"

I laugh as Fionna lays the laptop on the table in front of us. "It's not Christmas, though. Or Halloween."

"Yeah, but so what? It's a good movie no matter what time of year it is." Fionna lies down on her stomach, and I copy her. "You should see my friend Ashleigh. She's got so much Jack Skellington merch - a hoodie, a notebook, a necklace. And she said once she wants to get seat covers with his face on them, whenever she gets a car."

"They make Jack Skellington seat covers?" I ask. "That doesn't sound right. Wouldn't you be sitting on his face?"

"More like leaning your back against it, I hope." Fionna thumbs the laptop's mouse pad and hits the play button on the main menu. "Maybe one day, if you go back home, you might take a little day trip to Hell and meet her."

"Oh, she's still alive?"

"Yep. Just don't tell her I sent you."

I turn my attention back to the screen for a moment, watching as the Disney logo plays itself out, and then I ask a question that's just popped into my mind. "Do you...um...do you often think about the people you left behind?"

Fionna pauses the movie, freezing it on its title card. "Um...yeah, of course I do. Sometimes." She rubs her hands together to warm them up - I don't think it's that cold, but Fionna being a fire elemental, she must prefer it much warmer. "Like last night. I was dreaming about Alex, and then out of nowhere, Ashleigh showed up."

"Really?" I ask. "You saw Alex? Did you ask him about-"

"I didn't have time," Fionna says with a frown. "He vanished before I could ask him anything."

"Shit," I groan. "I thought we could've finally gotten a handle on all this. You know, by asking someone else to tell us their side of the story."

"Are you sure we want that many sides of the story, though?" she asks. "There's too many as it is, I think."

"Too many we can't fully trust," I point out. "Even Kyle. I don't think he's telling us everything we wanna know."

"I think you're right." She's about to start the movie again, but her thumb simply hovers over the mouse pad for a second before she pulls it back. "Am I the only one who's sorta hoping they bring in Alex and Gabe?"

"What, you mean to this universe?" I ask. "Well, I'm sorta hoping they do, and at the same time I sorta hope they don't. Honestly, I'd rather just go back home and meet the guys there. What my dad must be thinking by now...he'll kill himself worrying about me."