Sorry for such a long wait on this...school is stacking up this week; it's the end of the quarter on Thursday! That means I have Friday off! YAY! Finally; I've been waiting forever for a three-day weekend. ;)

Woot! 21! YEAAAH! This one is much longer than last time; I've been working on it for days now. :D So I hope you enjoy it; I leave a sort of cliffhanger at the end, but it's nothing too dead serious...;) But I can make it WORSE next time if you WANT me to...XD

21

"…Um…Dimentio, sir?" Nastasia asked after a long silence. "Fidéle has been gone a long time…don't you think something's wrong?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Dimentio laughed. "Everything's perfect! Fidéle has done what I wanted him to do."

"He…has?"

"Of course. He's a dirty little spy."

"SPY?!" Nastasia exclaimed. "A spy! What? Our plans, though! Now they're ruined! He's ruined EVERYTHING! How come you didn't tell me, sir?! I could've kicked him out before you said anything!" Dimentio smirked.

"No, no, he's supposed to know about the Chaos Heart's little friends. Nothing else, though. That's why I made it prominent at our little meeting," Dimentio answered. "Delicious! This is going perfectly amazing…"

"Sir, if you're sure…" Nastasia muttered. Dimentio shrugged.

"Don't be doubtful, Nastasia. We'll win the worlds soon enough." Dimentio winked. "But in the meantime, I should get to checking up on our little Blumiere and Timpani, now that they're reunited peacefully once more. Ciao!"

"Shall we get some light?" Blumiere tapped his staff onto the ground, and the sapphire on the top of it lit up a brilliant and vivid blue. Timpani threw herself into Blumiere's arms, crying, but not with tears of worry or sadness, but with joy. It was a perfect feeling when Blumiere's warmth was so close to Timpani, and when he stroked through her hair, it made it even better.

"I was so worried you had left me for good, and I thought I'd never see you again…" Timpani's eyes filled with tears as she hugged Blumiere tighter.

"I suppose a French lesson is in order, then; I told you that I was going to be right back and I'd be spying on Dimentio," Blumiere laughed. "I forgot you didn't understand."

"You sounded so angry at me, though," Timpani replied, puzzled. Blumiere smirked.

"An act, mon cheri."

"And all this time I thought you were mad at me…" Timpani trailed off. Blumiere chuckled at this comment, and closed his eyes as he held Timpani in his arms, savoring the romantic moment.

"Of course not, why would I be mad at a lovely girl like you?" Blumiere asked quietly. He suddenly remembered why he was here, and he shook his head. "Do you mind if we…" Timpani realized what he was talking about, and let the count go, blushing.

"Yes, go ahead and tell me what you found out," Timpani cleared her throat. Blumiere took her hand and began to make their way through the cavern, his staff glowing.

"Dimentio is apparently doing something with false Pure Hearts as a backup to the Chaos Heart. They're making the Chaos Heart stronger, and that's how the voids are growing so fast." Blumiere explained. "So to sum it all up in five words: we need to move faster."

"So do we have to look out for these other things, or what?" Timpani asked. Blumiere sighed.

"I really have no idea. My guess is that Dimentio's keeping a pretty good hold of them, only because he's the crafty villain I've come to know," Blumiere frowned. "But we should worry about that later; do you know where we are in this place and where we should find a Pure Heart?"

Timpani looked down. "I think King Croacus has it…"

"King who?"

"Croacus. He's the king of the Florosapiens, and he recently changed into a nice, thoughtful king, but since everyone seems to be brainwashed, he'll probably have that Pure Heart and won't want to give it up at all." Timpani replied. Blumiere looked at her with a puzzled look. "He's obsessed with jewels, glowing things, anything pretty, beautiful, or dazzling."

"I hope no one will hit on you anymore, it's getting quite annoying." Blumiere growled.

"Let me clarify; he's obsessed with any inanimate objects that are pretty, beautiful, or dazzling." Timpani blushed. "…You think I'm beautiful?"

"Well, who wouldn't?"

"…Really?"

"Other than your personality and thoughts, why else would I have married you?" Blumiere winked. Timpani smiled.

"You're sweet, Blumiere."

"Why, thank you." Blumiere responded with a smile. He suddenly cried out, and the bright light was gone. Timpani gasped.

"Blumiere! What happened? Where are you?!" Timpani knelt down on the ground, searching for her husband. Rocks shifted, and she could hear Blumiere grunting as he climbed up from a gap, the light following him.

"…It would help if there were more lights in here…" Blumiere scowled. "A sudden gap in this cursed pathway…how anticlimactic…" Timpani giggled as he mumbled this.

"…What?"

"You're hilarious, Blumiere!"

"And that word is…?"

"…Humorous."

"There." Blumiere set his staff against the wall next to him and held out his hands. "Jump towards me, and I'll catch you." Timpani frowned.

"Are you joking?! I'll kill myself! I can't jump, that's the reason I failed my physical education class back before I met you!!" Timpani exclaimed. Blumiere sighed, rolled his eyes, and took his staff in one hand, still holding out the other towards Timpani.

"Just jump towards me, and I'll take it from there."

"Blumiere! No way!" Timpani refused. "I'll fall!"

"No you won't, just jump!" Blumiere assured. Timpani moaned a little, backed up, and then leaped toward her husband, yelling out with fear as she began to fall to a dark space below her. Blumiere cast a void behind him, and there was a huge gust of wind blowing towards it, bringing Timpani across the large gap and into Blumiere's arms. He brought down his staff, and the void closed.

"Lucky for me, I married a clever person," Timpani sighed, heart racing. Blumiere laughed.

"Doesn't take much for me to pull out my cleverness." Blumiere winked. Timpani and Blumiere continued walking on through the dark cavern.

"I've been meaning to ask, Blumiere, how can you create voids when the Chaos Heart isn't present or with you?" Timpani asked curiously. Blumiere groaned.

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask that," Blumiere responded. "Well, you see, once granted powers from the Chaos Heart, it basically sticks with you until you give them up or until your game ends. There's much more to it, but I hate to confuse you."

Timpani smiled. "It doesn't take much for me to pull out my simplicity." Blumiere laughed.

"Yet another reason why I married you," Blumiere put his hand on her waist. Suddenly entering a long, admiring gaze at each other, and they both hit a wall that seemed to come out of no where. Both backed up, rubbing their heads, moaning in defeat.

"Where did THAT come from?!" Timpani growled. Blumiere looked up and saw light shining down on them.

"Up there, Timpani," Blumiere pointed upwards. "Grab onto me, and we'll get up there in no time." Timpani did as she was told, and Blumiere jumped towards the light above them, and began to fly upwards. As they landed, Timpani began to remember where they were.

Several paintings were hung of flower-like creatures, apparently royalty of some kind, and golden statues were placed almost every inch between these paintings. There was a large blue door before them, indicating some significance to the couple.

"I'm guessing this must be Croacus's palace," Blumiere assumed. "How'd we end up here so fast? And no security…"

"That's what I was thinking about; when I was traveling with Mario, we had to journey a long time before we came to this place…" Timpani trailed off. "But everything looks the same. If there's no security, then I say we should go along with it and head in."

"After you, love." Blumiere opened the large doors and held it open for Timpani to walk through. As he followed her in, they both noticed something was amiss; Florosapiens were scattered across the floor, and Croacus was in the middle of the floor, motionless. Blumiere and Timpani gasped at the scene.

"Wh-what happened?!" Timpani backed up into Blumiere by accident, too startled to notice where she was going. "Everyone's…!!"

"Unconscious, but not dead." Blumiere said. "Believe me, if they were dead, there would've been evidence of a murder...Let's not go into that..." They suddenly heard clapping and cheers and looked up, only to see it was their archrival, Dimentio.

"Bravo! Bravo! Encore! Encore!!" Dimentio exclaimed. "You two are fitting for this job, that's for sure!" Timpani and Blumiere scowled.

"What did you do to these Florosapiens? And King Croacus?" Timpani demanded.

"Ah ha ha ha! Just a little magic is all it takes for flowers to come tumbling down," Dimentio teased. "Good to see you're healthy, Timpani. I thought you'd be committing suicide without your lovely French husband to love."

"I told her about the Chaos Heart's power, Dimentio, and now your secret is out! We'll never let you destroy these worlds now that we're together!" Blumiere remarked, staff in hand. Dimentio snickered.

"You thought I didn't know you were a little snitch? Ha! Blumiere, you're a true progeny of wit!" Dimentio scoffed.

"You…knew I was spying on you?"

"Yes, I did! I wanted you to do that, and I knew that you acted for dear Timpani so I 'wouldn't suspect'. I have my ways of making things more fun," Dimentio crossed his arms. "But now, for some more fun, eh? Mr. L, Mr. M, take it away!"

"Mr. M…?" Timpani and Blumiere asked at the same time. They knew who Mr. L was: a brainwashed Luigi who served Count Bleck. But Mr. M was a mystery…

Two men with black overalls and masks on fell from the ceiling and landed on the ground in front of Timpani and Blumiere. They both had mustaches, and their hats were vaguely familiar; green and red.

"These two strong minions will have an entertaining time playing with you, so with that, Ciao!!" Dimentio disappeared, and left Timpani and Blumiere to decide what to do in the tricky situation right then. They could only back up as far as they could without hitting the wall.

"Now, please, you two, don't do anything too idiotic…" Timpani trailed off. "We don't want trouble…!"

"But we do!" Mr. L chuckled. Blumiere scowled.

"And if you want trouble, then don't hesitate to come to us for it!!" Blumiere challenged. Timpani gulped as he said this, feeling a sudden tense sensation.

"You're on!!" Mr. L cried.