Redemption
It was a few minutes after the Void had closed and the Underwhere had stopped being shook like a rag doll when the D-Man known as Harold ran up the marble steps leading to Queen Jaydes, with a worried look on his face. Harold was a typical D-Man in appearance, with a red demon-like form and a white suit. Yet most could recognise him because he was constantly hurriedly running about and muttering something under his breath. He almost always had some sort of paperwork tucked under his arm, like a clipboard or folder. This was because he loved to work, and had a fierce loyalty to Queen Jaydes, meaning he was constantly working. This quality of his had grown so legendary there were several rumors circulating the Underwhere to explain this strange virtue. The most popular one in the last few decades was that he was trying to show his thankfulness to Queen Jaydes for saving him from a boring life as a Shayde (or Nimbi).
Because of all this, it surprised no one when he still scurried about the Underwhere while everyone else celebrated the aversion of the prophecy and the unofficial day-off Queen Jaydes issued.
Harold came up to Queen Jaydes, who was talking animatedly on her cell-phone. He made a small cough to get her attention. Queen Jaydes turned around and, seeing Harold's worried face, immediatly put her cell-phone on hold. Harold was always serious, especially around his superiors (of which there were few, since he did his job so well).
"What is it, Harold?"
"Your highness, I saw him!" he exclaimed rapidly. Queen Jaydes frowned.
"Him? What do you mean?"
"Well, you know, the holder of the Dark Prognosticus. The guy who wanted to destroy all worlds. Umm... the Count guy! Right, the Count guy." he said after some brief thought, snapping his fingers at the same time.
"What?! I felt something, but it did not feel like Count Bleck at all! And besides, how did you see him? Was he right next to you? Did you see his figure in the distance? Or..." she trailed off.
"Well, I saw a flaming comet, your highness. It fell somewhere past those hills right before the tremors stopped. It's rather unlikely to be a coincidence, especially with flaming comets being rather special on their own..."
"I know, Harold, but the feeling I got was ditinctly unlike that of Count Bleck." she said, rather flustered. Was it really Count Bleck? She mused on the matter, but was interrupted by a D-Man running up to her. It was Jonathan. Jonathan was a renowned gossiper, and also a "Manger of D-Man Resource Entertainment". Or barkeeper.
"Your highness!" he said. Queen Jaydes frowned at him.
"If you are here to ask about the milk supply, I'm NOT the person to go to first!"
"No, not that, your highness!" Queen Jaydes sighed. What else could he bother her with?
"Oh, then what?"
"Well, there are rumors going around-"
"I don't want to hear them right now, Jonathan." Queen Jaydes glared at him.
"Trust me, your highness, it's important! So, there are rumors going around about that battle Mario had with Count Bleck. To stop the prophecy. Apparently, Count Bleck is still alive. But that's not the main point. The main point is that after he was defeated by the heroes, Dimentio -a minion of his, who's also a jester- took control of the situation in a coup d'etat. Using the Chaos Heart as power, he turned into something weird, but was still defeated by the heroes! That's the bare bones of it all. The rest of the details keep changing every minute! Last I heard, the Count and Tippi, that Pixl you saw, got married. Then his secretary killed herself. Apparently." he said. He saw the looks on the faces of Queen Jaydes and Harold, and ran back to the tavern with a broad smile on his face to get more news. Meanwhile, Queen Jaydes quickly shook herself out of the small shock she just had.
"That was a trainload of information. So, it may be Dimentio... which would work pretty well actually. But we'll see." she said. Harold nodded.
"Well, whoever it is, we need to recover him before he runs amock in the Underwhere, and quickly. D-Man Security Brigade, TO ME!" she yelled. Almost immediatly twenty D-Men in blue suits ran up to her in single file.
"YES, YOUR HIGHNESS!" they yelled in unison. The one at the lead bowed.
"What task is required of us?" he said.
"There, somewhere past those hills," Queen Jaydes said, pointing to them in the distance "a soul fell in a burning comet. I want you to retrieve him and bring him directly to me. Understand?" she said. He nodded.
"Captain Charles shall please you, your highness!" the D-Man saluted. The D-Men then turned around and marched in the general direction of the hills Queen Jaydes had pointed to.
"Well, better get ready for whoever it is." said Harold. Queen Jaydes silently nodded.
---
He opened his eyes slowly. Soon, he could make out a jagged and rocky floor. After a while the rest of his senses came back to him. He felt his arms tied up tightly, as well as his legs. He could also feel chains.
He was being slowly and lightly dragged somewhere. He looked up. A D-Man stared at him.
"Captain Charles, he has woken up!" the D-Man yelled.
"He did? Finally!" said another D-Man, one that was official-looking and walking up to him.
"I didn't say to stop, you know?" the official-looking D-Man said, and then looked squarely at Dimentio.
"Dimentio, I presume your name is?" said this... Captain Charles. Dimentio kept silent, but nodded.
"Well, I am Captain Charles, and you are being sent to Queen Jaydes."
"Yes, yes... I can tell." said the magical jester wearily, and let out a heavy sigh. Captain Charles raised his eyebrow. Dimentio knew exactly what thoughts this Captain Charles was having in his head, such as "Why isn't he taunting me?" "Why isn't he smiling?" and "Why isn't he dishing out similes like a soft-ball throwing machine?". Perhaps it was a left-over from the days Dimentio was a chessmaster at the game of life that Dimentio could read people's faces. Back then, when he had the world at his fingertips...
Eventually, Captain Charles seemed to be unnerved enough at his demeanor that he decided go back to the front of this brigade of D-Men dragging Dimentio. Dimentio gave a small sigh of relief, since the Captain was bothering him. He did not want to be reminded that people who knew of him were seeing him without his typical mask of self-confidence and mockery. It pained him that he could put on his mask.
But the pain came from his defeat. He was numb at first, when he lied on the ground in front of the heroes. And besides, he had a back-up plan. Should he be defeated, he would take the world down with him. All worlds even. No one would be able to laugh at him, to shame him! There would be no victor over Dimentio. At least, that was his plan. But as things grew dark for Dimentio, he realized he had been truly defeated, as he was lying in the Underwhere which was not supposed to exist. And then all was dark. And all of his plans ruined. Everything he had done was a failure...
He shuddered in anger and shame. Had he been untied he would have been beating his fist in anger. He could barely keep silent as his emotions compelled him to scream out curses and threats at his enemies. But he slowly and steadily calmed himself.
Being calm, however, did not bring Dimentio respite from the negative emotions plaguing him. Sadness and depression filled the void of anger, as well as regret. He tried to distract himself, but this was a futile jesture. His thoughts came back upon the subject of his defeat.
He mused darkly on his current state. He was extremely weak after his defeat. Captain Charles didn't even need to tie him up, especially so tightly. Dimentio could barely levitate, much less bring any harm to anyone. He had no strength left. He was practically lucky he was being dragged, and not being forced to march with the rest of the D-Men. Needing some lowly D-Men just to get around... Being at their mercy... it was the most shameful and embarrassing thing Dimentio had ever felt.
And constantly, constantly that Pixl's words flashed through his mind, leaving a burning trail of anger in their wake. He was a failure. He had made that one glaring mistake of trusting the Dark Prognosticus fully. Yet was that his only mistake? Bleck, Mimi, O'Chunks, Nastasia, all of them had believed in it. Yet they had all chosen the winning side in the end. He was the only one to suffer defeat out of all of them. The only one to be sent to the Underwhere. Where had he erred so grievously?
He shook himself, but it was of no use. He had fallen like a house of cards after one defeat. He had little control over his emotions. He had no powers. He was at the mercy of D-Men in the Underwhere. He was nothing.
Dimentio felt another surge of emotion. For a moment, his eyes were wet. But he quickly shut his eyes and forced down his emotions. Hopefully nobody had seen that, a window into his very soul. Yet, as he looked around, the D-Men just marched onwards with little care. He sighed.
The D-Men marched silently in the direction of Queen Jaydes, and Dimentio lost himself in his thoughts.
---
Author's Note: Yes, I made a rather large edit, though the basic formula of the chapter stayed the same. Hopefully, it's better. If it's not, review and protest my change!
And a very big thank you to Dimention for reviewing my story and giving me the will to chug on. Chapter 2 is in the works.