Chapter 36: Purity

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The room was as black as ever. Every time he went to sleep he dreamed of being reunited with his allies, of being free, and yet when he woke up he was still in the exact same place he had fallen asleep. Dimentio hadn't visited since the first time, and he had begun to go antsy from a lack of human contact and conversation for so long. He almost began to want the jester to visit him. Almost.

He sighed and stretched his arms, feeling the cloth wrapped around each tear under the pressure. 'Bloomin' madman...' he grunted, his voice cracked and faint from lack of use.

'I sense a very large degree of hostility, even from such a brief insult.' A ping! signalled Dimentio's arrival.

'Yeh should,' the man growled. 'Psycho.'

'It's always such a pleasure talking with you. Hehehehehe. Haha.' Though his sight was limited, he could see Dimentio looking out the window. 'How has your stay been? Do you feel at home again?'

'Not on yer life.'

'Such a shame. Ahahahaha.' The magician turned his head over to look at him; the man's facial response was murderous. 'Well...do you remember how I told you that you could be an asset to me? Have you given that thought?' The man didn't move. 'Well, I'll tell you: you're not an acceptable target.' Dimentio reached into his poncho and pulled out a small, round object no bigger than the average grape. 'You remember what this is, don't you?' The jester walked up to him, his grin huge. He rolled the thing around his fingers, chuckling to himself. 'Any last words?'

'Yeah,' the man huffed. 'Mario's gonna kill yeh.'

'Me, perhaps. But not you. Ahahaha...goodnight.'

He felt a splitting pain as Dimentio forced the thing through the top of his head. He lost consciousness.

Dimentio

Tap, tap, tap...

The Castle Dimentio meeting room, a pitch black and desolate reminder of the former owner of the completely-remodelled castle, was absolutely silent, save for the rhythmic tapping that echoed into everyone's ears.

Tap, tap, tap...

The six occupants had been reduced to five; Esmine's empty pedestal acted like a magnet to the eyes of everyone there save one. Doopliss eyed it the most, the bloody, horrifying scene still fresh in his mind. His heart was pounding even still, his ethereal form shuddering under his white sheet. His face, which normally showed a mischievous grin, was scared and childlike. Grubba wasn't immune either; every now and then his eyes would move to look at the vacant spot and he would shift uncomfortably. It wouldn't deter him enough to quit, however; even such a horrific death was simply brought on by her betrayal. Midbus glanced at the platform every now and then too, but his face bore no ill expression; he didn't see the death, all he knew was that she had needed to be eliminated. Valex didn't look at it whatsoever, just looked at Dimentio up on his own platform.

Tap, tap, tap...

Every time a tap sounded from the highest pillar, Doopliss and Grubba winced, reminded each time of the monster they were dealing with. Doopliss let out a soft whimper only audible to himself.

Tap...

The tapping stopped. Dimentio rested his hands on his lap; he sat on his pillar, which loomed high over the others, with his legs dangling over the side. A wide grin was spread over his face.

'AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!' he laughed suddenly; everyone in the room jumped and the Duplighost covered his ears. 'Hahaha...ha.' The jester let out a few quiet snickers before letting his attention fall to his minions. 'As you know,' he said to them, 'a very unfortunate event has occurred that I was foolish to not foresee. Our...late, former ally has allowed Princess Rosalina to escape from her cell. Now that she has her wand and is reunited with the heroes, I sense a possibility for a horribly crushing failure. This is not acceptable.' He stood up and teleported in one swift motion, floating in the exact centre point of the room. He spread his arms out in front of him as if beckoning someone to him. 'We must destroy what is left of the heroes before it is too late!' he cried. 'We must crush them in a single fell swoop, dash their hopes to the ground, kill them all! For if we do not then will shall fail. We shall lose. We shall die. Everything that we have worked so hard to achieve, all of our dreams for a perfect world...will be gone forever.'

'Um...well when you put it that—'

'FOREVER!' Dimentio screamed, cutting Doopliss off and making him practically fly up into the air. He then exploded into more laughter. 'That is why we must crush them all.'

A beat of silence passed. 'Then...what is your plan, Master?' Valex ventured.

'Simple. We commit a little more Mushroom Kingdom terrorism before the end. Ahahahaha.' A wicked grin passed across his face as he gazed upon Grubba. 'I assume your scientific endeavours have yielded results?'

'Uh, ahem!' Grubba coughed, clearing his throat. 'Yep, sure have. S'ready for use anytime.'

'Excellent, excellent! The heroes should be only on their way back from Nautoville now. Kindly sneak out to the castle and do your work...then return immediately.'

The old Clubba gulped. 'Y-yesir!' he exclaimed. 'What about after?'

'When you return, both you and Doopliss will stay behind. You are not needed further on this mission.' Grubba nodded and left. 'Valex, assemble a sizable army and lie in wait to attack. If they survive the initial attempt on their lives then I'll leave it to you to finish off any who remain.'

'Master...' the Inverse started. 'We do not have much force left. After the attempt in the forest and at Nautoville our numbers are a mere fraction of what they were before.'

'Then take all of them,' the jester ordered. 'None will survive our attack, Valex. I hope you fully understand.'

The creature started, then nodded, his face stony. 'If you say "Do this,"' he told Dimentio, 'then it shall be done.' Valex turned around and faded away from the room.

'Midbus,' the magician continued. 'You will be the main muscle of the attack. Crush any hero in your path...especially Fawful. Fawful is the biggest threat to our plans of all.'

Midbus nodded. 'Yes,' he grumbled.

'Remember, however,' Dimentio reminded him. 'Leave his body intact, for the most part. Damaging the Chaos Heart would constitute a very...unfortunate end for you.' The pig nodded again and flipped out.

Dimentio and Doopliss were alone. Doopliss was still glancing over at Esmine's unoccupied pillar; he tugged on his ribbon. 'So...' he said, listening to his voice ricochet off the rooms tall walls. 'Grubba and I'll just stay here and wait then?'

'Precisely.' The jester turned to look at the spectre. 'Doopliss...I have a question to ask of you.'

Doopliss returned the stare, though his expression was much less confident. '...yeah?'

'Grubba desires a forever-young, strong body. Midbus yearns for a godlike power. Esmine desired a world free from murder and deceit. Valex merely follows his creator's orders. I myself long for a perfect world free of strife and judgement. All of us have clear reasons for the things we do.' The jester's masked eyes bore deep into Doopliss'. 'Except for you. I've spent some time with you here, yet I cannot fathom your reasons for joining my cause. Was it for power? Money? A perfect world like I? No, it was none of those.' Dimentio's eyes narrowed. 'Unlike the rest, you don't have a clear goal in mind. I think all you wanted was a way to cause mischief and stave off your boredom.' His arms crossed. 'What do you plan to do once my world is a reality, Doopliss? What do you want?' The Duplighost frowned and averted his gaze. 'I suggest you have an answer the next time I ask. Those with flimsy ideals don't deserve a place in my world...just as traitors don't either.' He saw Doopliss' eyes widen for a moment; the ghost shook himself to focus.

'I'll...have my answer,' he replied.

'Good, good.' Dimentio smiled. 'Now if you'll excuse me, I have my own business to attend to. Ciao for now!' He snapped his fingers and cackled as the excitement of the mission to come welled up in his heart.

Fawful

The world spun as they flipped through dimensions; when they stopped he let out a cry of pain and collapsed to the ground.

'Fawful?' Mimi exclaimed. 'What happened?'

The Bean choked on his words, his heart pounding, the Chaos Heart ripping through the light that kept him tied to sanity, unlike Dimentio. 'I...' he gasped, clutching his chest. Mimi's next word was drowned out as his sight left him.

'Do you feel the power?'

Wh...?

'—appening with Fawful!' the boy heard Mimi tell the rest.

'Hey!' Bowser (surprisingly) yelled. 'What's goi—'

His sight blacked out again and he felt a burning sensation travelling up his neck.

'My power. My eternal power. The power to destroy everything.'

I...I do not... Fawful thought painfully.

'It will overtake you soon...both of you will fall to decay.'

D...Dimen...

'A message to you both...'

I have f-fear...

...Chaos Heart? Fawful's actual heart skipped a beat; it was Dimentio's thoughts.

'I DO NOT WISH TO DIE.'

Fawful was thrown back into consciousness as if waking up from a horrible nightmare: tense and afraid. Everyone was crowded around him and looking at him, concerned. 'Fawful?' Mario asked. 'What happened?'

'I...' He sighed and stood up, trying to fight off the buzz going up and down his neck. 'Minding never,' he said, and walked towards Merlon's house.

'Fawful—' Mario started, but stopped when a small wave of dark energy made their neck hair stand on end. They shivered and followed in his wake.

Before they could approach Merlon's house, the door swung open and someone walked out, obviously beside himself.

'...and if I don't help him, who will? He's going to—'

'Kamek?' Bowser said, frowning.

'Lord Bowser!' Kamek yelped, dropping the wand he was carrying. He scrambled to pick it up.

'What's the rush, you old coot?'

'I was coming to help you!' the old Magikoopa exclaimed, flustered. 'I thought you were done for!'

'Done for? Bwa ha ha! No one beats ME!'

'Wait,' Mario interjected. 'You thought we were dead?'

'Heroes of the Light Prognosticus!' The three Merlons came out of the house, the fortune-teller leading. 'You have returned!' He ushered them inside. 'Come, come, we have urgent business.'

Nolrem closed the door and Toad Town's fortune-teller sat down before his crystal ball. 'Thank goodness you're alive...' Flipside's Merlon sighed breathlessly.

'Why'd you think we were dead in the first place?' Luigi asked.

'Well, you see...' Merlon responded carefully. 'I can no longer see the future.'

'What?' Peach frowned. 'How can that be?'

'I don't know.' Merlon sighed. 'All my crystal ball shows me...is a never-ending expanse of blackness.' They could hear the Void boom in the sky and the ground shook under their feet like a powerful earthquake.

'A t-tremor!' Luigi gasped.

Kamek cried out as he fell, only to be stopped by Bowser. 'Be careful, darn it!' the Koopa King growled. 'You're not fully healed yet!'

The tremor calmed down; several things of Merlon's had fallen off of shelves and shattered into pieces. 'Grambi help us...' Flipside's prophet breathed.

'If this keeps up not even Grambi will survive,' Nolrem pointed out darkly.

Another thunderclap pierced the silence. 'The Void has grown to an astronomical size,' Toad Town's Merlon whispered. 'It covers every inch of the horizon. It blots out the sun, yet we still receive light. It threatens to engulf the Mushroom World...no doubt one of the last worlds which would be consumed. We are too close to the end. Too, too close.'

'We...we didn't get the Heart Stone...' Luigi lamented, drained.

'You had no chance,' Nolrem replied. 'The Heart Stone was never in Nautoville.'

Fawful's heart stopped for what he was sure was at least five seconds. He felt his face drain and his chest sink. 'WHAT?' everyone screamed.

'I...the succubus!' the fortune-teller squeaked, his tone betraying his shame. 'She...she told me to lead you there instead of where your fortunes truly lay!'

'Esmine...' Mimi said in a tone both sad and angry. 'I wonder if Dimentio's killed her yet...'

'Where's the Heart Stone?' Bowser demanded.

'The Heart Stone...' Merlon coughed. 'This information may be incredibly upsetting to you,' he warned them.

'We need to know!' Mario said firmly. 'Where is it Merlon?'

'It's...' His voice lowered as he spoke, making it impossible to hear.

'Merlon...' Princess Peach glowered, a very dangerous edge creeping into her voice. 'If you don't tell us right this instant I swear I will arrest you and have you punished horribly!'

'Whoa...' was the synchronized response.

'...Princess Peach's Castle,' the mage told them.

Another beat of silence.

'...my castle?'

'Yes.'

'You mean to tell us...' Mario said slowly and deliberately, 'that we just travelled for four days when our goal was right here?'

'I did warn you that it would be upsetting,' Merlon muttered, fidgeting.

Everyone made their own exclamation of disbelief. 'Well then where in the castle is it?' Luigi shouted.

'I'm afraid we don't know,' Flipside's Merlon groaned. 'Merlon was having trouble deciphering the location as it was, and by the time he had determined the general area he had lost all connection to the future.'

'We told the shrimps in the castle to start looking for it,' Kamek huffed, 'but they didn't trust us. They said the only person they would listen to would be you, Your Highness.' He glared at Peach.

'Kamek, don't glare at my wife!' Bowser snarled.

'I don't think that marriage counted...' Luigi muttered.

'Enough!' Peach yelled, making her way to the door. 'I'll get the Toads in the castle to start looking.'

'Make haste,' the fortune-teller warned as the ground shook again beneath their feet. 'We don't have much time left.'

Fawful squirmed. Groaning, he flipped over and tugged the bed sheets up over his head. Another short burst of burning pain shot up his neck and he gave a small twitch. He could feel the inky black substance travelling up his jugular veins. He could faintly hear the clamour of Toads running outside the hall, searching high and low. They had already searched the bedrooms, so there was absolutely no chance of them running in and disturbing what little sleep he could possibly get.

He tensed as a large tremor shook the castle; the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling shook and tinkled as the whole building quavered. There was no way he was getting sleep tonight.

The little scientist put on his glasses, got up and walked around the room; he had no destination in particular, he just needed to walk. He yawned and slumped, resting his head on his hands and his elbows on the desk in the room. Dimentio's grinning face stared back at him, mask gone.

'Why?' Fawful asked aloud. 'Why have evil? Why have the destruction of everything? Why? It has wastefulness.' He rubbed his eyes, careful not to touch the inside of his spiralled lenses. He began to wonder again why he had chosen the path of villainy. Dimentio had chosen that path, and it had gotten trillions of innocent lives lost. Even though he had never really cared about the well being of people before, the fact that they were all gone made him sick to his stomach. 'Oh Cackletta...' he whispered. 'Fawful had a question...that had unansweredness.'

Fawful got dressed back into his regular attire; he felt strange without his cape. He put his Headgear on his head and turned it on; it buzzed and looked at him quizzically. 'I have fear...' the Bean muttered as the Void roared. 'Fear that this is being the end...'

Bowser

The basement of Peach's Castle was cold and dark. While the King of Koopas didn't generally dislike cold and dark places, he was surprised that Peach didn't decorate the whole lower floor in pink, mushroom-y crud. It was a nice change from the norm, he thought.

'Bwa ha ha!' he laughed. 'Finally I can stop looking at all the princess-y stuff!' He held his grin for a full fifteen seconds before it finally wore away and he sat down, a scowl on his face. 'Stupid Toads!' he grumbled. 'Kicking me out to the basement...too huge my scaly butt!' He thought of breathing fire to express his anger...but that would just attract too much attention. 'GRAAAH!' he bellowed, and punched a wall. 'Grr...grah!' He punched it again; a deep crack had shown up. He gave it a few more punches before it finally broke away, leaving a huge hole in the wall revealing...

'Huh?' Bowser said. Behind the wall was another wall, some few feet away. The giant Koopa managed to squeeze into the little hallway. He shuffled down it; it was circular and went all the way around the castle's basement. Eventually he found another way to go and went down it. At the end of the hall was a flight of stairs going down into the basement. 'This...is weird,' Bowser remarked to himself. 'Wait...' He remembered what Merlon had said: The Heart Stone is in Princess Peach's Castle. 'Hey...I think I might be onto something! Hah! Wait 'till Mr. Mustachio hears about this!' He trudged along, filled with a new determination. A few more minutes of walking brought him to a large, steel door, bolted shut. 'Gwa ha ha!' he laughed. 'No door shuts out King Bowser!' He breathed out a plume of fire, heating up the metal and turning it a glowing orange colour. He backed up, tensed, and ran at the door; his large, sturdy body went right through it.

He looked up; in the centre of the small room was a small stand. As Bowser approached it he saw something on its top: an engraving, shaped very specifically like a heart.

'No Heart Stone...' Bowser murmured. 'But...' He slammed his fist on the stand. 'This has gotta be it! If it's not here...then someone stole it!' He spun around and ran up the stairs as fast as his bulky body could allow him. 'I gotta tell the rest...' He reached the top of the stairs, ran back the way he came, and went through the hole so hard he made it even bigger.

He stopped; he was not alone. 'Hey!' he growled.

Dimentio spun around. 'Ah...I've been caught. What an upset.'

'Dimentio! What're you doing here?'

A wicked smile crossed over the jester's masked face. 'Why...preparing for sabotage.' He moved aside and gestured at the machine attached to the castle's ceiling. 'I had hidden it from your prying eyes...but there's no reason to hide it from you now.'

Bowser's eyes widened. 'That's the...!'

'The Dark Energy Bomb, yes.' Dimentio laughed. 'Much bigger than before, isn't it? Grubba had such a hard time with it, I feel like it would be a shame to make it go to waste.'

'You...I'll clobber you a new nose-hole!' the Koopa roared.

'Ah ah ah!' the jester chuckled, snapping his fingers. 'I believe it's time for a nice little reunion!' Another person appeared beside Dimentio. 'Say hello again to—'

'O'Chunks?' Bowser exclaimed. 'But...you...you're dead!'

'All part of the plan, my dear enemy,' the magician said, waving his hand. 'Oh O'Chunks...be a good boy and tear Bowser apart, will you?'

The Floro Sprout twitched on O'Chunks' head. 'Yessir Mister Dimentio, sir!' he quipped almost drunkenly. He pounded his knuckles together.

'O'Chunks!' Bowser yelled. 'Cut it out! You've been brainwashed!'

'Not likely, yeh stinkin' turtle! Master Dimentio'd never brainwash me!'

'Grrr...' the Koopa snarled. 'You're gonna pay for this you stupid clown!'

Dimentio laughed again. 'I think not.' The world shook. 'The Void is almost upon this dimension...and your precious Purity Heart is not complete! You still need this.'

Bowser gasped as the jester revealed a pink, multifaceted stone nearly the size of Dimentio's hand. It glittered brightly despite there not being an adequate light source. 'That's the Heart Stone!'

'Yes...and without it, your entire adventure here has been completely meaningless! Ahahahahaha! You all shall fall to the Void...whether the bomb kills you all or not!' He snapped his fingers and the warrior leapt at him without warning. The Koopa King bellowed as he was forced right through the hole he had made in the wall and against the wall. 'But of course O'Chunks will prevent you from warning the rest.'

Bowser growled. 'O'Chunks...' he coughed. 'Sorry about this.' He breathed fire into the Scotsman's face, who yelped and scrambled to put out the fire on his beard. The huge Koopa punched him in the stomach hard, wincing as his fist met O'Chunks' metal armour. He slammed into him and ran at Dimentio, but the warrior grabbed his horns and yanked; Bowser yelled out in pain and fell over onto his back before O'Chunks came down on his stomach. 'GRAAAAAAAAAUGH!' he bellowed, gasping for air. 'D...D...DIMENTIO!'

Bowser and Dimentio locked eyes; Bowser's were wide and livid, Dimentio's calm and mocking. 'Ciao, Bowser,' the magician said. 'I hope you give O'Chunks a good fight before the end.' Smiling, he disappeared.

Fawful

Knock knock knock. Fawful and his Headgear both turned; someone was at the door. He walked over and opened it.

'Hi Fawful.' It was Mimi.

'Mimi?' The Bean was surprised. 'Why do you not have sleep?'

'I can't...things are just too...scary now.' She wobbled as another tremor racked the world. 'The Void...it's too close. I remember this happening to Sammer's Kingdom. Everyone went crazy. I can feel it now...even the Toads are on edge. I'm sure they're glad to be searching for the Heart Stone, they need something to distract them.' Fawful knew exactly what Mimi was talking about: doom itself was heavy in the air, and everyone in the entire dimension could feel it. 'Nobody's asleep now. I bet you anything everybody in the world is awake. Nobody would dare waste time asleep...the world's ending.'

Fawful gulped nervously. 'I have hope that they will have the finding of the Heart Stone with great quickness.'

The green girl nodded. 'Me too. I don't...I don't think the Mushroom World is going to be around for long now.'

The boy looked away and sighed. 'I have agreement. Have the coming in.' He sat down on the bed; Mimi sat beside him. 'I also have the feeling...that Fawful will not have aroundness much longer either.'

Mimi frowned. 'What do you mean?'

Fawful turned to look at her. 'Have the looking here.' He tilted his head up and tugged down on his black shirt; the Chaos Heart's blackness had gone all the way up his neck and was just barely going up his chin.

'Oh...I didn't see that.' She looked worried. 'What's going to happen once it spreads completely?'

Do you feel the power? Fawful blinked a few times, fighting back tears; he was afraid. He had already died twice, but even now he couldn't shake that horrible fear of death. My power. My eternal power. The power to destroy everything. The Chaos Heart was taking over his body. It will overtake you soon...both of you will fall to decay. Once it had a complete hold over his body...there was no way it could handle the Heart's incomplete, hazardous power.

'Fawful will have...decaying,' he said. 'That is what the Chaos Heart had the saying of.'

'You'll die then...'

The boy crossed his arms. 'By the time of that, we will all have death.' He saw Mimi shiver beside him; he closed his hand around hers and smiled. 'But that is why we must have the times of good: just in casing.'

Mimi stared at their two hands, fingers intertwined. She looked up at Fawful, then back down at their hands. 'Good times...'

'Mimi?' Fawful's smile disappeared. 'Do you have okay?'

The girl looked up at him and then back down at their hands once more. She sighed and pulled her hand away, resting it on her lap. 'Fawful...I'm sorry.'

'Sorry? Mimi...what has wrongness?'

Mimi looked into Fawful's eyes. 'There's something I need to tell you. I don't...I...' She shook. 'I love—'

Both children froze; suddenly, deep within their hearts, a horrible feeling of melancholy and dread took over; it was as if all the happiness had been taken from their body, leaving only negativity. 'No...' Fawful breathed.

'That's the...!' the girl started; the image of the Excess Express was fresh in their minds.

Fawful leapt to his feet, grabbed Mimi, turned around, and dashed madly towards the room's window.

Dimentio

The Master of Dimensions looked over Princess Peach's Castle from up on a cliff's edge overlooking the huge manor. A victorious smile was plastered on his face. 'Today's the day!' he exclaimed in a singsong voice, laughing. 'Today the day that the heroes meet their ends! Such a climactic end...they'll go out with a bang! Ahahahahaha!' He tossed the Heart Stone up into the air and caught it. 'All of their trials...' he said, holding back more laughter. 'All of their sacrifices, all of their pain!' He caved and laughed again. 'Ahahahaha! It is all for naught! They will fall in the name of Dimentio's perfect world! The Dark One will triumph! Hahaha...' He spun the Stone around on his finger. 'My dream will finally be realized.' As he looked down upon the castle, he remembered that Mimi was in it as well and felt a burst of pain in his heart. 'Such a shame...that I will be in agony every time I think of her. Your work is shoddy, Chaos Heart. Ahahaha.'

'...let go.'

Dimentio grasped the Heart Stone and frowned. 'Pardon?'

'Throw that stone away.'

'Why ever so? Victory is within our grasp! Why bother parting with such a meaningless thing? It's not like it can kill me.'

'Get rid of it Dimentio! It reeks of love...I loathe simply being in its presence!'

'Ahahaha! The great and all powerful artefact of ultimate destruction, the Chaos Heart, afraid of a little pink rock? This isn't a Purity Heart, so you should live.'

'You fool! Listen to my words!'

Dimentio snickered. 'This is such fun.' He looked at the Heart Stone; the reflection in the glossy surface was, of course, Fawful. He looked at it from different angles; multiple Beans stared back. 'You're fussing over such a small problem. The Heart Stone shows what's in one's heart...and mine is blocked.' He sighed. 'But if you insist, I'd better destroy it.' He clenched his fist and brought dark energy up to his palm.

'No!' the Chaos Heart cried. 'If you do that—'

The dark energy covered the Heart Stone and sunk into it. The darkness swirled around inside for a moment...then disappeared. '...what?' Dimentio said, shocked.

The magician gasped as he was suddenly hit by a powerful shock of the Heart Stone's energy; while the Chaos Heart's was evil and charged with negative emotions, the Heart Stone's felt good and pure, containing only positive emotions. It burned like fire and pressed against his heart like a battering ram. The Chaos Heart screamed in his head; the noise was high, like a demon on helium. At the same time, visions blasted through Dimentio's mind: some were of people from Dimentio's past, like his brothers, his father, Rosabella, his mother. Other visions were of destruction and death, darkness and horrible, crushing despair. Dimentio knew what he was seeing: the former visions were from the depths of his own heart, and the latter ones were in the Chaos Heart's. His eyes were squinted shut and his arms were wrapped around his chest as he felt the energy pressing harder and harder on his heart...and on the barrier the Chaos Heart had put up. Visions continued to assault his mind and agonizing, stabbing pains exploded from his heart at every one. At the deepest, most locked away part of his heart, he saw one thing larger than the rest: the girl who, after all the pain and suffering he had gone from having a tyrannical family, being betrayed by Rosabella, losing his mother to her diseased and, later, to the Void, and having to betray the only people who had ever given him refuge, remained as the brightest and most important part of him: Mimi. Before, his former minion and creation; now, the person he loved more than anything in the world. She meant everything to him. Everything.

His eyes snapped open; the force of the energy against the Chaos Heart's defences was too strong to handle anymore. The Heart screaming peaked and the wall shattered completely. The air was sucked from his lungs and he stood, motionless, as the world spun around him. The love that he had held back from him for what seemed like an eternity came rushing back into his heart, and unlike the previous time, it came at full force. Also unlike the previous time, he felt no pain and suffering from it; all of the adoration and joy he had kept bottled up every time Mimi crossed his mind welled up inside of him like a pure, cleansing elixir. He fell to his knees and tipped over forward, his hands slamming onto the ground to stop his head. He was gasping for air and sweating, but his pained expression slowly grew into a smile. Tears fell down his face as he savoured every second that passed; his heart was alight with all of the things he couldn't believe he had sealed away. A pure, amazing goodness lit up his being; it was something he had been fighting his entire life.

'Mimi...' he gasped. 'You're back...in my heart again...I...' He shook with happiness. 'I love you...I...I love you so much...hahaha...haha...ha...'

His voice trailed off; his smile slowly transformed into a look of horror as he remembered what he had planted in the castle that Mimi was currently laying in. Suddenly, a wave of pure sadness and terror washed over him. He, like all of his enemies in the castle, knew what that was. Just as Bowser was heaving O'Chunks' unconscious, beaten body up to get him to safety, only for pure horror to cross his face, Dimentio knew. Just as Mario, Luigi, and Peach felt the wave and instantly began running to the castle's front door, he knew. Just as Fawful heaved Mimi up and ran to the bedroom window, Headgear thrusters powering up, he knew. He knew that the castle was going to be destroyed. He knew that there was no escape.

His eyes were wide and locked onto the castle. 'Mimi...Mimi!' he cried, his voice choking. 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

He couldn't tear his eyes away as the castle exploded, buckled from the force, and collapsed in on itself.