I took careful steps, officially into Castle Bleck. From behind a screen, the darkness embedded into the walls was merely something that I figured to be a rather unique stroke of creativity. Here… it made my insides feel like a void. Eerie and… empty, this place was.

Nevertheless, white contours were scattered about, still outlining ways for me to travel.

There, I stood, where a multitude of different possible pathways would intersect. There were about six different doors advertising whatever lied behind them. Which door should I choose? Was everything here… truly the same? Would I run a risk of getting myself hopelessly lost so that nobody could find me?

Hushed murmuring came from one of the doors across the room.

I decided on what was closest and turned around to head toward the door to the right of the one back to Dimension D.

However, when my ears finally comprehended clear words out of that murmuring from across the way, a foot that was about to advance me forward retreated back, so that I simply stood.

Those words came from a devilish male voice.

"I just don't understand why Dimentio thought it would be a good idea to bring that girl here."

I quietly tiptoed to the staircase and hid behind it, physically trying to perk my ears up.

"I agree," said a female voice. "Dimentio's only dragged her into a predicament that will have to result in her death if we want… all worlds to be destroyed successfully."

My heart just about stopped.

"Her death?" the male voice inquired confusedly. "I understand we don't need her, but… everyone, especially everyone with an evil soul, wants her. Everyone in the evil community would kill to have her as their own, and all because she has an intelligence that can only come with someone from the Milky Way Galaxy. Any evil genius could use her to expand their damages further than anyone has ever dared to before! I'd hate to crush that with a swipe of my scepter…"

"Count Bleck," the female voice countered. "You do know that, uh… the Void has opened, like, in every galaxy, right? ALL worlds are being destroyed. Yeah, she'll die at the peak of it all… but it's just too early to wait. Our castle is just a castle, so… like… she could just find the front door and book it. Rat us out. The four heroes know nothing yet."

"Oh, dear…" said the male voice. "…That is true. Well, then… she will have to die immediately. What a pity."

Carefully, I tiptoed past the room until I reached the door next to the one all of these ominous details were flowing from. Then, I pushed it open as quietly as I could, which turned out to end in failure. As in the fact that the door sounded as if it was dragging along the ground. On the bright side, they could pass it off as Mimi, O'Chunks, or Dimentio passing through.

But since death was trying to grab me by the collar all of a sudden, fate was not to be tempted if I wanted to keep my head.

As soon as I stepped into the long corridor, I took a breath… then booked it. My limbs had almost never been on my side in athletic situations. I couldn't hang on a cliff if I were to slip into one. Once I fell… goodbye, world. And my legs, which were the limbs in question at this moment. Yeah, they were stronger, but they almost felt like long boulders when it came to running.

But there must be a surprising capability added to you when death is trying to grab you by the collar, huh? I just dashed, not necessarily focusing on anything else.

And I probably would have gotten closer to hope as well… if a new, yet familiar one hadn't stepped out into the middle of the way from a room which reeked with the fragrance of food.

O'Chunks, the brawny one with the facial hair. What a sight to behold: O'Chunks, holding a bowl of neatly-made ice cream! I stopped in my tracks. Yeah, I had considered continuing to run. What if everyone in this castle knew to come after my head?

There was barely a slit of space left in front of me. He was a big guy! You know that, right?

Besides, a shock-driven series of events played out. O'Chunks spun around and saw me, and in surprise, he lost hold of the bowl of ice cream.

Therefore, it made contact with my face.

Shocked with the cold, I quickly tore the bowl from my face and held it in my hands. A few bits of ice cream seeped in between my lips.

The stuff was unusually slimy… but the vanilla essence of the ice cream cast magic all throughout my mouth. Man… for plain ice cream… this was the best ever!

However… I could almost feel a switch get flicked within me…

"Oh, I-I'm terribly sorry, lass!" O'Chunks panicked. "You scared me, I lost control, and… don't scare me like that!"

As with any situation of this caliber, anger was a rarity.

"It's fine," I laughed, licking more ice cream off of what my tongue could reach between sentences. "…Oh my goodness gravy, this stuff is dang good! What's it made of?"

My memory suddenly told me that I had felt different during my time here… but now, I felt exactly like I did when I was in that forest by the Mushroom Kingdom. This delectable dessert had robbed me of a… dreamy heart essence…

At least O'Chunks was apologetic and not out for my blood.

"It's actually just normal ice cream," O'Chunks smiled proudly. "But it's lathered with Slimy Extract, which has the power to lift all curses!"

That explained it.

That explained this new old feeling.

I had felt as if I was surfing on air. Air riddled with unicorn magic. I had stepped out of Dimension D, hoping to find Dimentio and talk to him some more. His intelligent, yet evil tone… it enchanted me. He, himself, was the shortest hunk alive.

Now… why had he brought me here? Listening to Count Bleck and who I presumed to be Nastasia had made this question rise within myself. I thought, perhaps, that they desired to have me on the team as well.

Apparently, it was all Dimentio's doing. I felt used. Unnecessarily tagging along.

Dimentio no longer… interested me.

And I realized this as soon as I consumed just a drop of this Slimy Extract… which lifted curses…

My romantic interest in Dimentio was a curse… That tingly feeling I got on my back before we came here! I started liking him then! That evil magician… Maybe he desired me as more than a comrade?

If I have to be put under mind control to love you… you're not the one.

"Hey," said O'Chunks. "Are you alright, lass?"

Indeed, I had been spaced out in my spot.

"Yeah," I nodded, searching for a space that I could squeeze through.

"You're the gal Dimentio brought 'ere, right?" said O'Chunks.

"Yeah," I nodded. "It was great meeting you. Excuse me…"

I stepped closer, trying to show him that I wanted to get through. I was successful, for he stepped to his right. Quickly, I slipped through and began to walk further down this hallway.

"Where're ya goin'?" asked O'Chunks. "All that's that way is the front door."

To myself, I thanked O'Chunks. Yes… I was home free.

Then, I took a breath and got up to a running pace. Pretty soon, I saw the door and pushed it aside… being met with an outside world that was also just darkness with white contours.

"Wait a minute…" I heard O'Chunks say. "…Count! The lass Dimentio brought here… She's gotten away!"

So there was no choice but for me to run.

Through an eternity of negative space, my feet took me. As soon as I was a distance where the castle wasn't visible behind me, I looked around. That was when I heard that door slam open and Count Bleck shout "Off with her head! Find her!"

Death was now chasing me, so I continued to run.

Within a short while, my fatigue caught up with me. So much for this "second wind" that runners were blessed with… I couldn't go on any longer.

I tried to inch on, even through the pain. My lungs felt as if they were bleeding profusely, and all of me hurt.

Just as my hearing was somewhat shot due to that pre-collapse stage, I thought I could hear a high-pitched voice call "Juliet!"

I looked up, catching sight of a rainbow butterfly. Okay, my conscience was about to give out… Were my eyes messing with me?

I dared not to speak loudly. One word could exploit my location and give death a direct path.

Wait…

"…Tippi? Tiptron?" I asked with a shaking whisper. "Is that really you?"

"Yes," a voice said back. "It's Tippi!"

She didn't even question how I knew her name. Was I seriously famous?

"We're going back to Flipside, okay?" she asked, her voice seeming to shake itself. "They want you dead, I know. I saw it happen."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"Ready?" asked Tippi.

"Hurry!" I said, daring to be a little louder.

Before I knew it, the world around me was lighter. Man, flipping through dimensions was like traveling at the speed of sound without millions of pounds of force slamming into you. We were just in Deathland, and now, we were in Flipside.

"Quickly, follow me," said Tippi. "There's someone who wants to see you who knew that I knew that you were in trouble. He says you're in dire danger for another reason that actually has nothing to do with… that."

She looked out to the sky… where there was the black Void that drew purple and black squares into it. The swallower of all worlds.

"I worry about that, too," Tippi sighed shakily. "I must find the four heroes. In fact… I-I'm sorry, but I must leave you now! There isn't a minute to waste. He knows what you look like. Not surprising, since you're widely known for being the girl from Milky Way… but he's in a black cloak, and he's waiting by one of the elevators on the first floor."

At that, she left. Not another word to be said.

A sign that waited patiently behind me read "Flipside: Floor 2."

I looked around until I found the elevator with the downward-pointing arrow. Just a minute later found me getting off the elevator at Floor 1. About to come face-to-face with my transportation to the most meaningful leg of my journey.

But did I still have people after my head? Dimentio had the power to travel through dimensions…

Nah. At least, that's what I thought when I met that shady hedgehog under the cloak… awaiting me by the other elevator…

Author's note: When this goes up... YESTERDAY was the one-year anniversary of when I joined Fanfiction!