Chapter 38: Descent into Darkness

Dimentio

The temple was just as dark and sinister as he remembered. The twelve of them walked tentatively around the room with Fawful at their front; his Headgear lit up the room, casting a dim light on the walls. The mist enshrouded the temple's depths, pressing in on the jester's body and moving into his lungs; it seemed to add weight to him with every gasp of breath. The black stone the temple was made of made every footstep and puff of air echo all around them, and they all kept quiet for fear of disturbing some unknown evil. The endless drone of the Void penetrated the walls and added an extra layer of fear onto the building that felt like it was going to shrink and squish them like bugs.

'I don't like what's drawn on the walls...' Mimi whispered. The depictions of death and destruction covered every surface of the room.

'Well we've got the killer with us now,' Mario reminded them. 'I'd say there's not much more to be afraid of.'

'Monster...' a voice whispered in his ear.

'No...' Everyone looked at him. When he said nothing, they returned their attention to the room itself.

'Is there a way to go down?' Luigi asked.

Dimentio walked over to one of the pillars and placed his hand onto it. 'This one is hollow,' he said. 'I was in here before.' He sent magical energy into the stone and it crumbled. Then he placed his fingers on the heart engraving on the tablet and allowed dark magic to flow into it. The floor in the middle of the room crumbled. 'We must descend.'

'It is being like the temple before,' Fawful noted. 'It is having many floors which must have defeat. We are either defeating enemies or solving puzzles.'

'What was at the bottom of the other temple?' the magician asked.

'It was being a jewel that released the energy of the Heart of Purity.'

'This won't be the same,' Nastasia said. 'We'll see what's at the bottom when we get there.'

They all began to walk down the staircase.

'Demonic scum...'

'Stop...' he breathed, feeling dizzy. He held his head with his hands and steadied himself with a hand on the wall of the staircase's pillar.

Mimi looked back at him as they walked down. He couldn't see her face, but he knew it would be one of concern. She turned back without a word and continued to go down.

The next room was the first floor, which required a simple pulse of magic to the tablet inscribed with the warning he remembered: "This is the first floor. Many more await you." Next would be the enemies.

They descended once more. 'If you were here before,' Timpani whispered to him, 'what should we expect?'

'Monsters,' he responded.

'Pretty normal then.'

They emerged into the third floor. 'Be careful,' he warned. 'There should...' He wavered a bit, his mind dazed by the mist. It was like sucking in laughing gas with each inhalation. 'There should be enemies nearby.'

On cue, a large monster barrelled out of the shadows and everyone jumped away. Dimentio flew quickly away, snapping his fingers and illuminating the entire room for a brief instant. Another creature was stalking them. Mario and Luigi ran towards it, then jumped in the air as a duo. The thing punched Luigi away, but Mario managed to dodge it in mid-air and jump on its head. The thing growled and swung its fist again, smashing the red brother away.

'Hey!' Bowser roared. 'Nobody punches those losers but me!' He ran at the thing and threw a punch of his own, which the creature blocked with its arm. It stomped on Bowser's body and the Koopa groaned in pain as he was being crushed beneath its foot. Dimentio put as much power as he could into one block of dimensional magic, then threw it at its head; it ate the projectile, which exploded in the back of its mouth and knocked it back and off of Bowser. Dimentio flicked his wrist and made Bowser slide along the floor away from it.

A cry of pain from Fawful made him turn to look, and the Bean flew through the air and into a wall, his Headgear's light flickering. O'Chunks was struggling to hold the first beast at bay, which was attempting to crush his body with its foot. Rubees were sticking out of its body, and more joined it as Mimi tried to puncture it to death to no avail. Timpani blasted it with her gun and the thing didn't even flinch.

Blumiere jumped up into the air, his sceptre surrounded by dark magic. 'Stand back, I'll destroy it!' he shouted.

Panic shot through Dimentio. 'Don't!' he cried, but the man had already shot at the monster. The dark energy seeped into its pores and it grew. 'You idiot!' The creature growled deep in its throat and spat out a torrent of black liquid; everyone scattered and it splattered onto the floor and walls, hissing and steaming.

Fawful ran up next to him. 'You!' he shouted. 'What is the meaning of these monsters?!'

'They are resistant to the Dark Prognosticus' and Chaos Heart's magic,' he answered, then teleported them both out of the way of the second monster and hit it with another dimensional block that exploded into fire. 'These are far more powerful than the monsters you fought before.'

'Well if they are having resistance to the Heart of Chaos, then we will use its opposite!' He took out the Light Prognosticus and opened it; the Purity Heart came out, shining brightly and casting a light that far outdid his lamp. 'Heart of Purity, give us power!' he told it. It dispersed into light that went into all of them, making them glow with its energy. As it went into Dimentio, he felt strange; the energy was mixing with the Chaos Heart's that he still carried with him. He shuddered.

The monster ran at them and he and Fawful put out their hands. The Purity Heart's energy is love, he reminded himself. I must think of what I love. He closed his eyes and forced the energy to his palm; it burst out in a brilliant flash of light, blowing the monster across the room and making it disintegrate and merge with the mist throughout the chamber.

He stared at his palm, wide-eyed. 'Oh my,' he said, shocked. 'That...'

'It is having much more ease,' the Bean said, grinning at him.

They looked at the others' efforts on the first monster. Peach was thrown up and stomped on the monster's head, and the impact left a trail of light exuding from the point of collision. Nastasia lowered her glasses and spiralling golden energy surrounded it, ripping into its body. It fell apart, and the woman made an impressed face. 'Wow,' she said. 'I didn't even need to say anything.'

'This is the power of the Purity Heart...' Dimentio whispered to himself. A feeling had settled into him, and one that he didn't like. He suddenly understood what he had been up against, and while winning hadn't been impossible, he knew why it was that he had lost.

'That's why love's important, Dimentio!' Timpani said cheerfully. 'It beats your Chaos Heart any day.' The magician sighed.

All the monsters had been defeated, and the floor crumbled, revealing another staircase. Everyone immediately began to go down it. Dimentio made his way towards the steps, looking at his palm; it was glowing with light.

'Murderer...' A voice hissed in his ear. He clenched his fist and quickened his pace.

The temple was far deeper than he could have imagined, and filled with ever-stronger enemies that thirsted more and more for their lives. Every floor was more difficult than the last, but they somehow managed to survive each one. Dimentio was most thankful for the floors that merely contained puzzles that had to be solved, as it offered a moment of respite while the more intelligent and mentally-sound of the group pulled some mental weight.

That was where they were now. Fawful and Mario were walking around the room, which was larger than most and filled with contraptions. Other people were attempting to help out when they could, but these sorts of things were beyond most of them. Mario was a seasoned veteran at puzzles, and Fawful was one of the most intelligent and resourceful people they had. Dimentio himself would have helped as well, were his mind not muddled.

He sat a ways away from everyone, his back against a wall, his head in his hands. He was completely overwhelmed by his own mind. Since the merging of his Light and Dark halves, his brain had been a powerful whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and memories, and it was driving him even more insane than he surely was at this point. Who had his people been? Were they the white- or blue-skinned citizens? Had they ever been real at all? What about his world? Was it perfect or imperfect?

His memories were clashing. The ones Light Dimentio had experienced were tied with a powerful feeling of disgust and self-loathing, and a large part of the magician was glad that the world had been torn apart, erasing his stain on existence. On the other hand, Dark Dimentio's fanatical obsession with perfection remained, and his throat was constricted as he was suppressing unthinkable humiliation, rage, and horror.

The memories themselves didn't make any sense to him. Sometimes he was in one place, but also in another place at the same time. Sometimes he was in one place from two different perspectives, looking into his own face with pity or with hatred. His mind's eye was split in two, and he felt cluttered and confused. His head was pounding.

'Oh woe...' he whispered, moving a hand to his head. 'What do I want? What am I?' He groaned, rubbing his temples. He couldn't sort himself out.

There was one thing that was a constant, though. Even amid the swirling concoction of warring memories and emotions, there was one single thing that was completely, indisputably true.

'Hey Dimentio.'

He looked up. 'Ah, Mimi...' He was suddenly unsure as to what was appropriate to say. '...salutations? Ahaha...'

She sat down beside him. 'How're you doing?' He hesitated. 'I know you don't want to talk about yourself, but...' She spread her arms. 'We're in the middle of the Void, on our way to battle the Chaos Heart. I think you should stop being secretive.'

He sighed. 'I suppose you are correct.' He reached into his person and took out the two halves of Rosabella's jester mask that he had managed to salvage as they escaped. They bore equally-neutral expressions. 'My mind is scattered, like splashes of paint on an artist's canvas.'

Mimi giggled. 'I missed your similes.'

'How...how does he survive?' He pointed at Fawful. 'That boy's halves merged into one as mine did, and he appears perfectly sane!'

'Maybe he's just better at hiding it,' the shapeshifter suggested. 'Or maybe Light and Dark Fawful weren't as different as your halves were. Or...' She grinned. 'Maybe both halves just really like solving puzzles and looking smart.'

'It is possible,' he agreed, then leaned his head against the wall. 'I am not sure what I desire, Mimi. Part of me is outraged at the destruction of my world and my alliance with you and the heroes, and yet another part wants to do nothing more than end this madness and return the multiverse to its original state.' He stared at the mask halves. 'It is like having each manifestation of me on either shoulder, yelling into my ears, attempting to overpower the other.'

'Which one's more powerful?' Dimentio couldn't answer.

Mimi propped her knees against her chest. 'Well, maybe it doesn't matter. All we need to do is destroy the Chaos Heart. What happens after that'll be whatever we want it to be.'

'Yes,' the jester said. 'There is no question about that.'

There was silence between them for a time as the plumber and the Bean went about their mental handiwork. Luigi and Peach were attempting to offer some ideas, and Bowser was parading around the room complaining about how it was harder than anything he'd ever set for Mario before.

Mimi stared at her palm, which was glowing with light. 'You can use the Purity Heart's magic,' she said to him. 'I think that counts for something, right? If you were completely evil, you wouldn't be able to use it. It would probably destroy you.'

He stared at his own palm, calling the Purity Heart's power to it. It shimmered, cutting through the dark mist that choked the room. 'Yes...' he replied quietly.

Burning pain shot through his hand and he made a noise, clenching his fist. 'What? What happened?' the girl asked, concerned.

'N...nothing,' he said hastily. 'Perhaps it is the air here.'

Mimi looked at him dubiously. 'I guess the mist is pretty thick...' There was no concealing her suspicions. 'What do you think of when you use it?'

'Hm?'

'When you use the Purity Heart's magic, what comes to your mind? You must think of something, right? It's love.'

He stared at her for a second and became aware that his heart was pounding. 'Ah...' he muttered. 'I'm not sure if...'

'Do you know what I think of?' Mimi asked, turning and looking straight at him.

'What?'

'You.'

Dimentio felt a wave of emotions travel up and down his body. He cleared his throat. '...oh.'

'You think of me,' she said, and a smile spread across her lips. 'I can see it in your face.' Slowly, the magician nodded, and Mimi hugged him.

'I cannot believe you still...' His voice trailed off.

'I never stopped.' She poked his chest. 'Because Light Dimentio's always been there, even a tiny bit.' She looked at him and her expression turned calm, her smile soft. 'You know...I'm still waiting. For it.'

The kiss. He didn't know what to do. 'Yes...' he said, nodding. 'I remember.' He looked away. 'It...is not time yet. We still have work to do.'

She sighed heavily. 'All right.' She moved back to a sitting position. 'I'm glad you're on our side, even if it's just for now. I missed you a lot.'

Dimentio stared at her, feeling his heart soften with every passing moment. He looked down at his lap. 'I...I have missed you too,' he said, his voice pained. 'Even in my darkest moments, when I tried so desperately to deny it, I...I truly did.'

Mimi leaned over and kissed his cheek. 'You're good at heart, Dimmy, under all of this crud.' She poked at his skin. 'I always knew that.'

'Hey!' Mario called. 'The next floor's open!'

'Took you long enough,' Bowser grunted dejectedly.

'Says the guy who just walked around moping the whole time,' Luigi shot. A menacing growl from the Koopa shut him up.

Mimi hopped to her feet and brushed off her dress. 'Awesome! Let's go.' She winked at him. 'We've got a Chaos Heart to beat up.' She left for the stairs.

Dimentio blinked, then stared at his hand; in the centre of his palm where he had summoned the Purity Heart's energy, a hole had been burned through his glove, exposing the blue skin underneath. It was burned, the flesh darkened and glowing softly with the Purity Heart's residue. He frowned, staring at his hand; the Purity Heart, the symbol of light and love, was burning his body. He could use it still, but it would be hazardous to him. Why was this happening?

Am I so saturated with the Dark Prognosticus' power that it has come to this...? he thought worriedly. There was nothing else he could do, though. The only way was forward, and the only method of attack he had that was effective was through the Purity Heart's power.

He looked back down at the two mask halves, and once again the question came up: who was he? Was he good, or evil? What did he want?

Mimi came up in his mind and he unconsciously moved his hand over the black half, covering its face. He stared into the expressionless eye of the white half and felt a wholeness in his heart.

He stood up and walked after his new allies, rubbing his wound on his clothes.

Floor by floor, they descended deeper into the centre of the Void's churning form, and as they did its roar grew in intensity and volume. The enemies became larger and more deadly, the puzzles became more convoluted and mind-bending. Soon the entire team was adding their mental manpower to the tasks, and Dimentio had to fight through his daze to lend a hand. He noticed the spirits were getting less frequent as they travelled farther, the increasing aura of darkness around them muffling their presences.

Their own will was growing stronger. The Purity Heart's magic was taking to their beings more naturally as they used it, and soon they were taking down monsters with relative ease, the light dancing around them like auroras. Even Dimentio, as used to dark magic as he was, cut through his foes as easy as stomping on an ant.

'I guess light really is your thing after all,' Luigi had noted, laughing at the irony. The magician couldn't help but feel awkward.

They lost count of the floors long before now, but they barely noticed how long they had been in the temple. Each time they completed a room, their apprehension grew, and the threat of the Chaos Heart grew ever stronger in their minds.

And, the more Dimentio fought alongside them, the more he began to feel like it was with his allies that he belonged. Dark Dimentio's memories were slowly moving to the background, and Light Dimentio's became stronger and more solidified. It was impossible to deny the perspective he had gained through his human self, and impossible to ignore what he had felt when his world had crumbled and his mother had forsaken him.

This entire time, he had been wrong. That was becoming more and more certain. Now, with the Chaos Heart threatening to doom existence to a cycle of creation and destruction, he knew that he had to destroy it, even if he died in the process.

He looked at his hand once more; the burn had increased in size, and he could feel various other spots on his body burning with the same pain. He took out a Mushroom he had gotten from Fawful and ate it, healing the wounds. He had to make sure he could survive.

He would survive.

Then, without even noticing it happened, they reached the final floor.

They stood at the end of a long hall, at the end of which was a large set of doors which stretched to the ceiling. The mist was thick, but large torches lined the walls and shone through the dark particles like fire in a Jack-o'-lantern.

Beyond them was the Chaos Heart, the final enemy they had to face. Once this fight was done, they could all return to their lives at last.

Dimentio cleared his throat uncertainly and everyone looked at him. 'I must admit, I...have been touched by your forgiveness.'

'It is not being a thing of newness,' Fawful responded. 'They had the forgiving of Fawful as well.'

'Bwah hah hah hah!' Bowser laughed. 'I've lost count of the amount of times I've worked with these guys!'

The magician looked them over and sighed. 'It is no wonder you were the Heroes of the Light Prognosticus,' he said to Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser.

'Dimentio,' Blumiere said to him. 'I hope you will be able to join us after this is over. You can finally be our friend under pleasant terms.'

He ran his thumb over the healing burn on his palm, hidden from view. 'I...look forward to it.'

They began to walk, and Fawful came up beside him. 'Dimentio,' he said.

'Fawful,' Dimentio replied.

'It is being the true battle of finality.'

'Indeed.'

After a moment of silence, Fawful said, 'While you are still causing me to have fury, I can have the forgiving of you for this battle.'

The two of them looked into each other's eyes; Dimentio saw, amidst the glow of the Purity Heart, dark shadows in them. The Chaos Heart had left its mark on him, and from Fawful's expression the same remained true for himself. 'The Chaos Heart made us its vessels,' he said to the Bean. 'It is time to pay it back for what it did to us.'

Fawful nodded earnestly. 'It will have the begging for mercy it will not be having.' He turned his head forward. 'And then...'

And then... Neither of them knew what came after that.

They stopped in front of the doors. 'All right guys,' Mario said. 'This is it. The last battle. The hardest battle we've fought.' He rubbed his knuckles on his overalls. 'Are you ready?'

'I'm ready,' Luigi said.

'Me too,' Peach replied.

'I'll always be ready to cream someone!' Bowser roared, fire in his throat.

'I too will fight against the darkness.' Blumiere.

'I'll do my best.' Timpani.

'We'll finish here and go home.' Nastasia.

'I'll make it more scared than it's ever been!' Mimi.

'I'll give it the chunkin' of a lifetime!' O'Chunks.

'It will taste the fury of Fawful!' Fawful.

Dimentio clenched his fists; once again, everyone was looking at him. To fight with them now was to turn his back on everything he had worked for his entire life. It was to do battle against an evil that had rooted itself in his very soul for millennia. To fight against the Chaos Heart was to truly fight against everything he knew.

He took out the mask halves again. Light. Dark. Two sides of one face.

He dropped the dark half on the floor and crushed it beneath his foot; it broke to pieces. He put the light half of the mask on his face, and it mimicked his expressions. 'We will fight, like a band of heroes slaying a fearsome dragon!' He strode in front of everyone. 'It is time for you to take back what was stolen from you. And it is time for me to right my wrong.' He snapped his fingers and the doors opened.

They walked out into the spinning, endless expanse of the Void, and the Purity Heart's energy glowed powerfully, protecting them from its destructive force. Under their feet was a black, reflective, flat surface that went off into the distance in every direction. Behind them, the doors shut. When they turned around, the temple was gone.

They turned their eyes forward. A black pillar climbed high into the air above them; around it, pieces of Dark Dimentio's destroyed castle oscillated weightlessly. Black lightning sparked from stone to stone, and trails of dark dust whipped against them. The powerful howl of the black hole they were right in the middle of filled their ears like the breathing of a beast the size of a mountain.

At the top of the pillar stood the new humanoid form of the Chaos Heart, its back to them and its arms spread widely. 'Ahh...' it sighed. 'Endless destruction...the Void's beauty is unmatched by all of the worlds.' It turned around. 'But it seems that eleven unsightly stains taint my wonderful Void.' It stepped off of the pillar, which disappeared as it slowly lowered itself down to ground level. 'Greetings, heroes.'

'The hour of your demise is nigh, Chaos Heart,' Dimentio said firmly. 'We will destroy you.'

'HAAA HAAA HAAA HAAA HAAA!' it suddenly laughed, its face crazed; its eyes were wide, and in the hollow sockets swirled blood red Voids of their own. 'YOUR WORDS ARE AS LAUGHABLE AS YOUR SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART!' The Void rumbled and the ground shook. 'YOU WILL DIE HERE, AND YOUR SOUL SHALL BE SPREAD THIN BY THE VOID'S UNDYING POWER!' The ground shifted all around the Chaos Heart, and Dimentio saw humanoid figures rising out of it, their bodies dripping with the same black substance as the Heart. 'DESTROYER OF WORLDS, YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR SINS AND REST ETERNALLY WITH YOUR ALLIES!'

The eleven of them drew what weapons they had, and their bodies glowed with bright, golden light. The Purity Heart's magic shone around Dimentio's palms. He curled his mouth in distaste, and his masked face imitated the gesture. His words came out determined, with the weight of his whole heart in his voice.

'It is time to disappear.'