"This is bad…" Dimentio mumbled under his breath. "This is very, very, very bad…"
The jester was in his room, floating back and forth in front of his large window, nervously wringing his hands. Even his usual carefree smile was absent from his mask, but that wasn't so out-of-the-ordinary. Nowadays, he hardly ever found a good reason to smile…
Today was the worst day of all for something stupid like smiling. That silly fangirl was coming today, and was going to be here in a matter of minutes, as Nastasia had recently informed everyone. That stupid little pest had actually haunted Dimentio's nightmares last night, and he hadn't even met her yet!
That was not a good sign.
Well, there was nothing he could do about it now, he realized with a sigh. The girl was already on her way here, those foolish heroes coming with her. Once she got here, Nastasia had told him he was to do the girl's bidding, or there would be "serious consequences… 'k?"
"That's it then…" Dimentio sighed, leaning against the wall and slumping down to sit on the floor. "I give up… Jaydes isn't really going to redeem me… this is just another way to torture me…I'm just going to di—"
Suddenly, the jester cringed, clutching a hand to his chest. After a moment, he exhaled heavily, relaxing slightly as the pain subsided. It was his stupid curse again—a painful reminder not to doubt the Queen's power…
Dimentio sat there a moment longer, panting quietly to catch his breath. Then, he heard a noise outside—like a quiet murmur of voices. Curiously, the jester pushed himself up off the wall and floated over to his door, going outside into the extension of hallway that hid his room away from the rest of the castle.
Floating over to the door on the opposite end of the hall, Dimentio placed both hands on it and laid the side of his head up against the cold, black wood. On the other side of this door was a mirror, one of the infinite mirrors in the hallway. He could hear the voices a tad more clearly, echoing in the corridor…
"So… what's this place?"
"Dimentio's hall of mirrors…"
"Ah… sounds… dramatic…"
A light chuckle from one speaker. "Dramatic?"
"Shut up. The fangirl's rubbing off on me…"
"Is this where you had fighting the jester of dementedness?"
"Um, no… that's a… a few rooms ahead…"
"Can we be seeing?"
There was a harsh clapping noise—as if one figure had struck another.
"OW! Whating?! What did I have saying?"
"Look, just stop—"
"No, it's okay… I'll show you where we…" The person paused to clear their throat. "Where I fought Dimentio…"
Dimentio's mismatched eyes widened in shock. Where I fought Dimentio? I couldn't be… could it?
The jester snapped his fingers twice. With the first, he was instantly cloaked in invisibility. With the second, he appeared just outside of the mirror he hid behind. He glanced around the hallway for a moment before spying the figures a ways towards the end of the hall, their backs to the invisible jester.
There were three of them, and quite a mismatched bunch (then again, the residents of Castle Bleck weren't much better). There was a young-looking Beanish child with a fringe of black hair, swirling blue glasses, and wearing a tattered, worn-out, red cloak. Walking beside him was a Magikoopa, dressed in blue robes and tightly clutching his wand. He also wore glasses, through which he was giving the Bean a rather nasty look. The third figure, with the jester's dumb, horrible, hell-stricken luck, just so happened to be…
"Luigi…" Dimentio whispered, his eyes going wide with shock.
Suddenly, Luigi stopped walking, turning around and looking very panicked. His eyes flashed over every mirror in the hall, and Dimentio had to look around a bit to reassure himself that he was still invisible.
"What?" The Magikoopa asked, looking concerned. "Is something wrong?"
Luigi shook his head, still glancing around nervously. "Nothing… just thought… I thought I heard something…"
"Is it being the jester of dementedness?!" The Beanish child asked, a wide smile spreading across his face. The Magikoopa slammed his wand into the back of the child's head again.
"No, I don't think so…" Luigi said. For a moment, he looked directly at Dimentio, but quickly looked away again. "I must just be hearing things…"
The Magikoopa started to walk off again. "Well, come on then. We probably shouldn't stay in here anymore if you're hearing voices…"
"I have agreement. This is giving me that which is the creepings…"
"Could you talk like a normal person for once?"
"What is being wrong with the way I have speaking?"
Luigi hesitantly started to follow them as they continued arguing down the halls. He paused once to cast a nervous glance over his shoulder again, but quickly shrugged it off and followed the other two outside to the next room.
Dimentio suppressed a heavy shudder, snapped his fingers, and teleported away. If Luigi found him, there was no telling what would happen.
So, without anywhere else to go, confused and panicked, Dimentio found himself wandering the halls, visible once more, calling out frantically for Mimi. He had noticed this since his return—for some odd reason, the jester had found himself unbearably dependent on the little shape-shifting girl.
Suddenly, the jester stopped, floating stunned in the middle of the hall. He heard a noise. A very faint melody was drifting down the corridors of Castle Bleck.
What could that be? He wondered. Curiously, and distracted for the present moment, Dimentio floated slowly down the hall, listening intently, trying to locate the source of the noise. He finally found himself floating in front of a large double door; the music seemed to be coming from the other side. The jester stood there, listening to the melody for a moment, then reached out and opened the doors a crack, quickly slipping inside.
Dimentio found himself in the castle's ballroom. In the center of the room were three bright splashes of color that stood out against the blackness. The first was a bright pink stereo, which Dimentio immediately recognized as Mimi's. The second, lying sprawled out on the floor listening to the music, was the little girl herself. The third, sprawled out beside Mimi, humming loudly to the music, was a young human girl, dressed in worn-out jeans and a green shirt, with short, scruffy, brown hair.
"Mimi?" Dimentio said quietly, floating over to the two. Mimi opened her eyes and looked up at the jester. The human ignored them, still humming.
"Dimmy!" Mimi shrieked. "I was lookin' for ya! Did you meet the others yet?"
"Yes, I met the others…" Dimentio hissed through a tight frown. "You didn't tell me Luigi was coming!"
Mimi rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, moving her lips slightly with whatever was running through her mind. Finally she looked back over at Dimentio. "No, I'm pretty sure I told ya the heroes were comin'…"
"OMIGOSHIT'SDIMENTIO!!" The argument was suddenly cut off as the human girl bolted upright, her eyes locked on Dimentio and an eager grin spreading across her face. She quickly scrambled up to a standing position and ran over to throw her arms around the very stunned jester. "DIMENTIO!!! OMIGOSH IT'S REALLY YOU!!"
Dimentio floated there a moment, looking down at the girl that had secured herself around his waist, then cast a pleading glance over her head to Mimi. Mimi sighed heavily, as though being interrupted from something of utmost importance, and pushed herself up. She wrapped her stick-like hands around the girl's and slowly pried her off of the jester.
The girl stumbled backwards; still grinning like mad (Dimentio was starting to wonder if he used to look that creepy) and Mimi held her steady. The green girl gestured to the human. "Dimmy, this is Livi! She's the fangirl I've been telling you about!"
Dimentio felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. "Oh… this is… the crazy one…"
Livi's face instantly fell to shock, then to rage as she whipped around to face Mimi. "You told him I was crazy?!"
"Well, yeah! You are!"
"Well, don't tell him that!! You couldn't have put in a good word for me?!"
"But, you are crazy!! What did you want me to say?! That you're a stalker, obsessive, weirdo?"
"I am not!!"
"Yes you are!!"
"I am not—OH! DIMENTIO!!" Livi flung herself at the jester again. "I gotta let you meet the others!!"
"Well, we're not goin' to find 'em!" Mimi said, stomping her foot. "That could take forever! Who knows where they went?!"
Livi waved her off. "Oh, don't worry. I'll get 'em…" With that, she stepped away from Dimentio, switched off the stereo, and ran to the center of the room. She stood there a moment, staring up at the long walls (the ceiling of which was not even visible). Then, she cupped her hands around her mouth and gave a loud shriek, screaming, "LUIGI!! KAMEK!!! FAWFUL!!!"
Dimentio cast a glance over at Mimi. She simply smiled and held up a hand, as if to say Wait for it… The jester was getting an uneasy feeling by this point.
Suddenly, much to Dimentio's surprise, the door was thrown open, the same three-some he had seen before rushing in. "Livi, there you are!" Luigi said, running over to her and hugging her tight. "Don't scare me like that! I thought you were in trouble!"
"Luigi, I'm a fangirl! I'm trouble with feet!" Livi said jokingly, wrapping her arms tightly around him. She suddenly pushed him off, and pulled him over to the jester. "Oh! Lookie who I found!! It's Dimentio!!"
Luigi and Dimentio stared at each other a moment, both looking very stunned. Dimentio could feel the painful curse already pricking at his heart like sharp needles. Something bad was about to happen—he just knew it. Why wasn't Luigi saying anything?
"Say 'hey, Dimentio!'" Livi said to Luigi. The hero simply shifted his gaze down to the floor. Livi took on a very angry expression and clapped him harshly over the head, nearly knocking his cap off. "Say it!" She said firmly.
"Um… h-hey, Dimentio…" Luigi said nervously.
"Dimentio, say hi to Weegee!" Livi chirped. When the jester didn't reply, Livi shot him a harsh glare until the jester quietly murmured a hello.
"Yay, now everyone's all buddy-buddy again!" Livi chirped, clapping her hands and skipping off. "Oh, oh, oh!" She said, running over to the others. She grabbed the Bean by the hood of his cloak and dragged him over to Mimi. "Fawful, this is Mimi. Mimi, this is Fawful! You two should be, like, best friends are something!"
"Why should we have doing that?" Fawful asked with disgust, glaring at Livi.
"He talks funny." Mimi said, crinkling her nose up a bit. "Why's he talk like that?"
"Oh, you two are so cute!" Livi said, blissfully unaware of the tension. "OH!" She shrieked, running back over to the stereo. "Mimi, we almost forgot my list!!"
"What list?" Mimi asked, cocking her head to one side.
"You know!" Livi said, selecting a new track on the stereo. "My list! Of things to do before I die!!"
Mimi still looked confused, not seeing why she would be pointing that out. "Oh, yeah…" She murmured. Then, she looked at Dimentio, and her eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh, yeah!!"
Suddenly, a new song started up, with a flowing, hypnotic melody. It sounded familiar. Had he heard it before? Maybe when Mimi had shown him the game…
"Alright, everyone!" Livi said, jumping up and throwing her hands in the air. "It's SHOWTIME!!!"
Yup. He thought so. The girl was playing his battle theme from the game. Dimentio snapped out of the trance of his thoughts when Livi skipped over to him, grabbed his hands, and shrieked, "Dance with me, Dimentio!!"
Dimentio stared at her for a while, looking utterly stunned. "Wh… what?"
"Dance with me! C'mon, it'll be fun!!" Livi said, her ecstatic smile never wavering.
Dimentio considered her odd request for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry, Livi… I don't… I don't feel much like dancing…" With that, he dropped her hands.
The second the fangirl's fingers slipped through his, a harsh, painful jolt of the curse shot through Dimentio's chest, like someone had stuck a knife right through his heart. It took every bit of his will power not to scream out and fall right out of the air.
Livi was staring at him with a pouty expression. "Aw… but… it'll be fun! I've always wanted to have a dance with you!"
Dimentio didn't reply. His hand clenched into a tight fist, trying to ignore the curse as it jabbed harder and harder at his chest.
Dance…a quiet voice said in the back of his mind.
The jester sighed heavily and held out a hand. "I suppose… one dance… couldn't hurt…" Not any more than it hurts now… he thought bitterly.
"Yay!" Livi said, grabbing his hand again and pulling him into the middle of the room. Dimentio gasped aloud when the clasped their hands together.
It was gone.
Suddenly, that horrible pain was simply gone. How? What had done it? Had he done something right?
Looking down, the jester found his answer.
He was holding her hand.
What does that mean? The jester thought. His confused thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Livi asked, "Is something wrong?" cocking her head to the side and looking very confused.
Dimentio shook his head. "No, no… of course not…"
Livi brightened up a bit. "Alright then… let's dance!"
With that, the two were twirling in time to the music, Dimentio floating a few inches off the ground and Livi skipping happily after him. The jester held one arm around her waist to keep her close, the fangirl holding onto his shoulder with her free hand. Their opposite hands were clasped tightly together off to the side.
Once, when Dimentio held up a hand to let her twirl like a ballerina, their hands slipped apart for a brief moment. Again, the same thing happened: the painful curse returned, harsher than before. He quickly grabbed her hand again, pulling her in close once more. As soon as they were touching, the pain was gone.
Dimentio couldn't help but wonder if Jaydes was messing with him.
Finally, as the dance ended, the two twirled apart, hands still clasped, and struck a bow to each other on the final note. The moment the track shifted to the next song, Livi flung herself into Dimentio's arms. "That was great! I loved it! Thank you thank you thank you! Omigosh we're going to have so much fun at Peach's Castle!!"
Dimentio's stunned face fell to horror. He quickly pushed Livi off, holding her at arms length. "What did you say?"
"Peach's Castle!" Livi chirped again. "We're gonna have so much fun—you'll love it there!!"
When Dimentio didn't say anything, just floated there, staring at Livi, the fangirl's face fell. She, too, was looking rather confused. "Well, you're coming back with us… right?" She asked.
"Coming back with you?" Dimentio finally questioned. "Why in all the dimensions would I do that?"
"That's why I'm here!" Livi said. "I'm on a quest to gather up all my fandoms! I want them all to hang out with me at the castle!" She explained excitedly, gesturing to the others. "And you're fandom number 4! Didn't Mimi tell you?"
Dimentio whipped around to face Mimi. The little girl thought for a moment, then giggled stupidly, playing with her skirt. "Oh, yeah… did I forget to tell ya that? Nassy says you're goin' home with the fangirl…"
"What?!" Dimentio yelled. "No! No, I can't!" The jester released Livi, ignoring the pricking at his heart. "I'm not going back to your stupid castle!"
"You have to!" Livi said. "C'mon, it'll be fun! You'll love it over there!"
One glance over at Luigi told Dimentio such an experience would be less than enjoyable. However, the curse was jabbing at his heart again, less-than-gently persuading him to reconsider.
"No! I'm not going!" He said firmly. Stab, stab, stab, said the curse.
Livi pouted again. "Aw, but… Dimentio…" She reached out and took his hand firmly again, silencing the curse. "Please? I promise, we won't hurt you… we won't do anything, alright?"
Go… The same voice as before said…
And so, against his better judgment, Dimentio did as the voice instructed; which is how he wound up sitting in Peach's plane, staring out the window at Castle Bleck, waiting for Livi to say good-bye to Mimi so he could be torn away from his home. Two of the other fandoms were also in the plane; the Magikoopa and the Bean.
"I'm sorry…" Dimentio said, turning slightly to face them. "But, I don't believe I caught your names before…"
"I'm Kamek." The Magikoopa said. He was sitting on the floor, reclined up against the couch and absentmindedly playing with his fire magic. "That's Fawful."
Dimentio turned to the Beanish child, who was sitting on the floor across the room, looking through a large, pink chest. "Fawful, is it? What are you doing?"
"Trying to find a way with which to be killing the fangirl of obsessions…" Fawful said matter-of-factly, as though it should have been obvious.
"Will you give it a rest?" Kamek asked, not looking up. "What good is it going to do you to kill her?"
"I will be able to be going home! Perhaps your stupid brain had the forgetting, but she was kidnapping the one who is me!"
"Well, if you don't want to get kidnapped, maybe you should learn how to fight…"
Fawful's cheeks turned red with rage. "I CAN have the fighting! I just… I was not possessing any of my weapons!"
"Mm-hmm…" Kamek said. "I'm sure that's it."
"Oh, have shutting of upness! No one was asking you!"
Kamek just laughed to himself and went back to playing with the small flame.
Mario, Peach, and Luigi picked that moment to enter the plane, having bid farewell to the others. The first two headed up to the front of the plane, while Luigi walked over and lightly kicked Kamek. "Quit playing with that. You're going to set the plane on fire."
"Oh, and wouldn't that be being such the shamings…" Fawful said, rolling his eyes.
Kamek ignored Fawful, but snuffed out the flame anyway. "Are you alright?" He asked Luigi.
The green-clad hero plopped down beside him. "Fine."
Kamek turned to the jester. "Dimentio, you'll have to excuse Luigi. He likes to lie about crap like this, and for some reason, he thinks we believe him."
Luigi hit Kamek's shoulder roughly. "Stop that."
"Well, stop acting like that." Kamek said, rubbing his arm. "If Livi comes in here and finds you sulking like that—"
"Oh, Grambi, then we will never be hearing the endings of it!" Fawful moaned dramatically. "She will have the ranting and that which is spazzing for hours and hours…"
"Stop complaining…" Luigi said. "You'll get used to her eventually…" At that moment, he noticed that Fawful was still looking through the chest. "What are you doing?"
"He's trying to kill Livi." Kamek said. "I think he's looking for a weapon or something."
Dimentio cut in. "Fawful. We're in the Void. You don't need a weapon."
Fawful straightened up to face the jester. "Whating?"
Dimentio smiled slightly, motioning with his hands. "Just, push her. You fall in the Void, there's no coming out." He felt a painful stab as payment for that suggestion.
Fawful's face lit up, and his was outside the plane before anyone could say anything.
Luigi glared at the jester. "Thanks, Dimentio." He spat sarcastically.
Kamek thumped his arm. "Be nice, he didn't mean anything."
At that moment, they were interrupted by a loud scream, and Livi suddenly rushed inside, flinging herself into Luigi's arms. "Omigosh, Weegee! Fawful tried to push me in the Void!! I almost fell and everything!! I would have if Mimi didn't catch me!!"
Fawful came back in, laughing hysterically. The door started to close behind him. "You are possessing so much of the stupidness!"
"Shuttup! That's not funny!!" Livi yelled. She suddenly stopped screaming, noticing Dimentio sulking across the room. He was slumped down on the bench, looking very depressed. Livi immediately whipped around and smacked Luigi upside the head. "Are you picking on Dimentio?!"
"What?!" Luigi asked, stunned. "No! He started it!"
"He didn't do anything!" Livi said, utterly confident that Dimentio was innocent.
"Yes, he did! He's the one that told Fawful to push you!" Luigi said.
Livi just smacked him again. "Say you're sorry!" She snapped.
"What?!" Luigi asked. Another smack.
"Say it!" Livi commanded, glaring daggers at him.
Luigi said nothing, then Livi raised her hand again, and he gave up. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry, Dimentio!!"
Dimentio perked up a bit.
"Good." Livi said. "Now, I don't want you picking on poor little Dimentio anymore…" She said, running over to the jester, stumbling a bit as the plane started to take off into the Void.
"What?! 'Poor little Dimentio'?! Are you crazy?!" Luigi yelled.
"You bet!" Livi chirped. She threw her arms around Dimentio's shoulders. "Don't worry, Dimentio, it's okay… I won't let those bullies pick on you anymore…"
"What did I do?" Kamek asked indignantly. Luigi just groaned heavily and flopped back against the couch.
"Welling then…" Fawful sneered at Livi. "I see we are now knowing who the favorite fandom is being…"
"I don't have a favorite!" Livi shrieked. However, she was reflexively hugging Dimentio tighter when she said it.
Fawful rolled his eyes. "Of coursing you do not posses a favorite…"
Livi growled, glaring daggers at Fawful, then quite suddenly, she threw herself off of Dimentio and into Fawful. Instantly the two were rolling across the floor, beating each other to death by any means possible. Luigi and Kamek ignored them, talking between themselves about one thing or another. The only acknowledgement they made to the fighters was climbing up to sit on the couch to give them more fighting room.
Dimentio smiled ever-so-slightly, reclining back against the wall. Maybe staying with this fangirl wouldn't be so bad after all…
And, believe it or not, there's still changes to be made…
I'm so sorry! I'm honestly trying to stop, but I just liked this version so much better! I think I got a little rambly, though, because there's still one more scene I need to do. Don't worry, I'm just going to tack it onto the beginning of the next chapter (because things are NOT allowed to go smoothly for Dimentio in this fic!) and then we'll be back to the normal stuff.
After I post the next chapter, I'll go through and edit a few type-os and mistakes in the rest of the chapters, which should run very quickly, then we'll be back to UPDATES!!! Sounds fun, right?!
I'm really sorry guys. I'm trying to make it go quickly as possible. I'll be back soon, don't worry!