Black boots against black marble, the distorted scenery giving Saimin Louis a headache. It didn't help that the little green girl next to her seemed so bright in contrast to the rest of Castle Bleck, given she was wearing such a bright yellow, and that the castle was made up only of black walls and white outlines.
"He did mention he wanted to see you," Mimi sang in her usual chipper tone. "Said something about the Prognosticus and a prophecy or whatever."
"Given he can practically recite that thing back to front," Saimin grumbled, "I'm not too surprised." She crossed her arms. "But what's all that got to do with me?"
"You'll have to ask him," Mimi answered. "The Count won't let me lay a pinky on that silly book. Nastasia's only ever held it for three seconds. It's a wonder Dimentio's able to have it for such long periods of time!"
Saimin smoothed out her short, black hair. "Wasn't it his to begin with?"
"You ask me that like I know, doofus."
A shiver went up Saimin's spine rather suddenly, and from the look on Mimi's face, she had felt it, too. A bone-chilling laugh ran along their backs and across the monotone walls, as if the castle itself were laughing at the two of them. Saimin's expression dropped (not like it had been that bright in the first place), and Mimi grimaced.
"Alright, Dimentio," the green girl scolded, "we know you're there, you doodoo head! You're lucky I'm having a good day or you'd be mince-meat!"
"Oh, my, Mimi," a voice taunted, "do you think you'd even be capable of fighting me? Do you recall what happened last time?"
Mimi pouted, and Saimin half expected her to start stomping her feet. "Yes, I know what happened last time!" she shouted. "I'll hit you in the face with another jewel if you continue to pester me like this! YOU'D BETTER NOT HAVE MY DIARY WITH YOU!"
"And here I thought you were having a good day," the voice chuckled.
"Dimentio," Saimin interrupted, eager to speak to the jester before Mimi's head started spinning, "didn't you want to talk to me about something? Something important?"
"Ah, yes, I had forgotten." The outline of a small, white box surrounded the space before them, quickly closing in on itself, distorting the space it contained. As if obscured from view by the illusion, the purple and yellow jester appeared as the outline shrunk, his mask forever showing a small, placid grin. Mimi huffed, not particularly excited to see the magician.
"Hello, Saimin," said Dimentio with a hint of amusement. "What a pleasure to see you."
"Pleasure's all mine," Saimin responded with gritted teeth. "If I wasn't on official business, I'd have choked you."
"How threatening you are."
"Well, then," Mimi spat, "if I'm no longer needed, I might as well go. Have fun, drama queens." A white box surrounded her, spinning her around until she flipped out of sight.
I've always wondered how that flipping thing works…
"I've got exciting news for you," Dimentio grinned. "Seems that miscreant known as Bill Cipher came back from the dead."
"I've heard similar stories," Saimin groaned. "But that's impossible. He was erased from existence, Dimentio. As in he ceases to exist."
Dimentio chuckled darkly. "So you say," he mused. "But I sense there's some sort of larger power behind the phenomenon."
"I thought you wanted to talk to me about the Prognosticus."
"Ah, that. Mimi must've misheard me," Dimentio corrected. "I told her that there's no use in sitting around Castle Bleck while the Count searches for the couple told of in the prophecy. No, I think we are allowed to search for other ways to waste our time before the void is opened, don't you think?"
"What a wonderful way to end everyone's lives," said Saimin sarcastically. "I hope you fail. I hope you fail and take that stupid book with you. Why don't you just marry the Prognosticus since you seem to worship it so much?"
Dimentio's smile faltered, his gloved hands clenched into fists.
"For the sake of your well-being, I advise you to watch your tone," he threatened. Saimin could feel a spark of magic in the air, and judging by its lethal aura, Dimentio wasn't kidding around. She shrugged and calmed herself down, hoping she could leave before things got particularly violent.
"So? What else did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.
"Black Hat."
Saimin's stomach plummeted.
"Okay, now that's not something I-"
"He approached me and asked if I was able to help him," Dimentio interrupted. "Word on the street has it that Dr. Flug Slys recently betrayed his employer's trust and escaped to the PYFF program in Fiction Frontier."
"Of course he would," Saimin muttered cynically, looking at the floor. "Not like he was very loyal to that man in the first place."
"He also asked if I was willing to contact you."
Saimin's gaze snapped upwards so that she could make direct eye-contact with the jester, a look of disbelief and fear upon her features.
"You're kidding."
"I'm deadly serious. As serious as-"
"A CEO in an electrical chair, maybe?"
Dimentio laughed at Saimin's dark humor. "Yes, something like that."
"Why me?"
"Because you have a reputation," Dimentio chuckled.
"Yeah, so does Thanos. Why doesn't Black Hat hire him for a change?"
"You do realize that Thanos would probably obliterate Black Hat as soon as he had his hands on him?" Dimentio asked. "We're lucky their universe can't merge with ours. With the snap of Thanos's fingers-"
"Geez, for such a threatening character, you sure are a huge nerd," Saimin commented with a smile. "Is there money involved in the ordeal?"
"Quite a lot of it, actually," Dimentio mused. "Black Hat's capturing heroes in revenge, heroes with large bounties over their heads. Rain N. Thirteen is worth at least two million dollars." He smirked. "Recognize the name, Saimin?"
Saimin's smile faded quickly as a shadow passed over her face.
He couldn't have known.
She tried to remember her old friend, the bleached hair, the denim jacket, the black jeans, the gray sneakers. She tried to remember what Rain had been like before the incident.
For the life of her, she couldn't recall.
"So?" Dimentio asked. "What'll it be, Miss Louis?"
"How do I tell him I accept the offer?"
Bill kicked yet another pebble, trying to find another word to describe Rain.
Useless.
He kicked another one, satisfied as it rolled across the ground.
Patronizing. Smug. Annoying.
He stared at Rain shrewdly as they walked back towards the house. She had a smile on her face, and though it wasn't the playful smirk he dreaded so, he still didn't like it. He stuck his hands in his pockets, trying to ignore her presence.
It proved harder than he thought.
"Quit smirking at me, I'm serious," he muttered.
"I'm not smirking," Rain stated simply.
"Well, stop laughing at me."
"I'm...not laughing."
"Well, quit whatever it is you're doing."
Rain whipped around to look at him. "This is me with a cheery disposition," Rain countered, gesturing to her face like a model in a magazine. "A ray of sunshine in the mist of bleakness."
"It's an excuse to laugh at me," Bill hissed.
"Rain cloud," Rain muttered angrily, the sun in her eyes immediately turning to a supernova. She turned around again and kept walking.
The journey continued again in silence, his unease only growing with every step he took. The grin was back on Rain's face as she admired the scenery, and he frowned a little at the sight.
"So," Bill started, kicking a rock that collided with Rain's heels, "why'd you fake your identity?"
"How'd you-"
"I figured it out," he stated. "I have seen you before, back when I could see the world through the eyes of paintings. You were always there. But your face was always blurred out." He smirked. "A scrying spell, I figured, but that same blur had a different identity every time, though I knew it was the same person." He picked up another rock, tossing it half-heartedly towards the east. "So, why'd you fake your identity?"
Rain stared at Bill, deciding whether telling him was a good idea.
"Sometimes," she said, "we have to do...bad things to get good results." She shrugged. "When that happens...people often forget about all the good you did."
Bill's head flicked upwards, so he could stare the girl in the face. His grin became unnaturally wide, and though she didn't know why, Rain became very nervous.
"You were a hero," he breathed. "Of course." He cocked his head to the side. "You betrayed someone, didn't you? I can see it in your eyes. The panic. What's gotten you so scared?"
Rain was silent.
"You do know you can't just run away every time there's trouble," Bill chuckled.
"Sure, I can," Rain said fiercely. "I've been doing it for the past...four years, and it worked in my favor. Don't tell me things you don't know."
His laugh sounded like destruction and chaos.
"Oh, Rain," he sighed. "You amuse me."
"And here I thought we could've been friends," Rain muttered.
"I have too many 'friends,'" Bill growled. "All of them are brainless followers that wouldn't be able to tie their shoes if they had any. What I need is an enemy to play with."
"Yeah, well," Rain muttered, turning around, smirking just the slightest, "I have too many of those."
"You hide so much behind that smile," Bill breathed.
He didn't quite understand why his nose had started bleeding until he noticed the bloody rock in the dirt, and he didn't notice that until he saw Rain's rage-filled eyes, her arm thrust forward like she had just thrown something.
The smirk was no longer sly or smug. It was spiteful, irritable, enraged.
He knew it was better to fear her than to laugh at her.
"You don't know anything," Rain hissed. "I came here so I could enjoy myself for once. I came here so I wasn't in constant danger of being killed." She turned her back to him. "I'm sick of that life. And I'll kick you in the gut next time."
Bill sighed nervously, knowing she would've followed through with her threat if he hadn't shut up. He continued walking, wanting to get back to the house as soon as possible.
"Jasper."
The small, black cat looked upwards at the magician, who was hovering just a couple inches above him. His ears perked up and his tail flicked to the side.
"Ah, Dimentio!" he exclaimed, his starry eyes glimmering like the sun. He immediately frowned, crossed his arms, and stood on his hind legs. "Whaddya want, clowney?"
"What have I told you about the name calling, Jasper?" Dimentio chuckled. "It's not very safe to insult someone who could kill you with the raise of an eyebrow."
"Yeah, yeah, I got the memo, you sociopath," Jasper groaned. "So whaddya want, anyway? The last time you dropped by, you tried to turn me into a coat."
"Which is why we've established a name calling rule," Dimentio smiled. "But that isn't the point. The Man in Black wants your help."
Jasper snarled. "Of course he does," he hissed. "Of course Mr. McFear wants my help. Of course!" He stepped away from the beanbag chair he had been resting in and kicked it to the side. "Of course, right as I clear that stupid bounty from my name, Mr. Black Hat decides to hire me! ISN'T THAT GREAT!"
Dimentio watched the kitten's temper tantrum with delight and amusement, watching him mumble to himself and kick chairs around as the feline's eyes turned red with dark magic. The creature launched a fireball across the room, almost igniting Dimentio's cap in the process. The jester waved his hand nonchalantly, encasing Jasper in a glass box.
"How cute," Dimentio commented. "A tiny little cat in a box. It's just like the internet."
"Screw you," Jasper snarled. "You've never been on the internet, and you don't have enough empathy to be delighted by a cat in a box." Dimentio scoffed. "And don't you dare snap your fingers or you know what'll happen."
"Adorable," Dimentio mused, not seeming to pay any attention. Jasper clawed at the glass with an angry hiss, and the magician chuckled a bit.
"You'll rue the day you were born," Jasper threatened.
"Ah, yes, probably," said Dimentio. The glass box disappeared, and Jasper kicked Dimentio's shoe lightly.
"You are literally the worst."
"Will there ever be a time when you aren't needlessly spiteful towards me?" Dimentio asked. Jasper smirked.
"Will there ever be a time when you aren't needlessly spiteful in general?" he countered.
"Touche."
"Tell Black Hat that I'll accept, but only because I know he'll kill me if I don't."
Dimentio smiled behind his mask.
"I'll be seeing you," he said, before a white box shrunk around him. As quick as a flash, the jester had disappeared.
Jasper crossed his arms unceremoniously and returned to the beanbag chair. "Stupid clown," he muttered. "There are hundreds and hundreds of nerves in my body and he manages to get on every single one." He circled around a few times, curled himself into a ball, and fell asleep.