Jaydes lifted Livi's chin, looking deep into her eyes. "You're not a very good liar."

"I'm not lying." Livi replied simply.

"Mr. L and Luigi each have a point though…" Jaydes challenged. "Do you not believe Dimentio deserves to die for everything else he has done?"

"Yes. He does." Livi stated.

"What?" Dimentio gasped. "I thought you were on my side!"

"Ha! Loser!" Mr. L laughed. "Too bad she knows we're right!"

Livi held out a hand to silence them both. "I'm. Not. Finished." She said bitterly.

There was silence around the room.

Livi turned back to Jaydes. "Dimentio does deserve the worst punishment possible for everything else. But… in this incident, he's innocent. And what's more, you have no right to condemn him anymore!"

"What?" Jaydes said, shocked. "What do you mean?"

"Luvbi…" Livi turned to face the Princess. "Remind us all… what were the terms of Dimentio's curse?"

Luvbi had to think a while, then she quoted her mother's words as best she could. "'Dimentio shall be given a chance at redemption. Should he choose to change for the better, thy curse shall be lifted, and thou shall return to life. However, should he fall back into his dark ways of old, thy curse shall fall, and thou shall perish, dwelling forever in thine own darkness.'"

Livi gestured to Luvbi.

"That doesn't prove anything!" Mr. L said, enraged. "You're crazy, Fangirl!"

Livi held up a hand again. "Will you let me handle this? Oi!"

"What is your point, Livi?" Jaydes inquired.

"You said Dimentio would be given a chance: Change for better, or return to his old ways… when I was on the cliff, and it started to fall, that was the chance."

Something caused Livi to suddenly lurch forward, a tremble running through her body as she steadied herself. A slight sense of panic crashing over her, Livi tore her gaze from the jester to her feet.

The cliff had begun to crack beneath her.

"He could catch me, or watch me fall. It was his choice."

The cliff shifted again, Livi sinking down a bit. Her instincts told her to move, to jump to the other part of the cliff, but then it would only crumble as well. "Dimentio! Please help!"

"Livi, it's alright, calm down!" Dimentio said soothingly. "Just take my hand—everything will be alright…"

"But, he didn't catch you, did he?" Mr. L cut in. "Fawful saw you fall, right?"

Fawful nodded. "She did have the falling… I had watching as she hit that which is the ground…"

"NO!" Fawful yelled, running towards her.

Everything stopped.

Fawful paused, frozen in place.

He had heard it—the loud, sickening thud.

Livi had hit the ground.

"There, ya see?" Mr. L sneered. "Then Dimentio didn't—"

"Of coursing…" Fawful mused. "Perhaps he did have the trying…"

The cliff shattered completely, Livi falling backwards off of it. Dimentio flew forward without even thinking, snatching at thin air as the fangirl fell down into the valley below.

"I did try!" Dimentio said. "I honestly tried to catch her—I didn't even think about it. But… I was too late…"

"Then why didn't you help her?" Luigi challenged. "You were the closest, why didn't you do something? You could have saved her life!"

"For the same reason I can't do anything around you! You always find some way to twist it around so something horrible is my fault! Even now, when I'm innocent!"

"We wouldn't have thought anything if you had helped her!" Kamek pointed out. "We thought you tried to kill her because you ran!"

Dimentio shook his head. "I thought the beanish child saw something…"

The smile began to fall from Fawful's face, the child slowing his pace to an eventual stand-still. He looked confused. There was another figure on the cliff. One that stood opposite her, and was slowly advancing. One that was floating.

"…The Jester… of Dementedness?" Fawful mused, very confused. There was no mistaking it—Dimentio floated on the cliff with Livi.

"After hearing his story, and finding me with a bloody, dying fangirl in my arms, who were you all going to believe?" Dimentio asked miserably.

"It doesn't matter who they believed." Livi said, taking the attention back to herself. "What matters is what actually happened—which is Dimentio tried to catch me."

Jaydes considered this a moment, then turned around to the jester. "Is this true, Dimentio?"

The jester nodded, attempting to stand up now. "I swear to you, Jaydes, I tried to catch her… I don't want to lose her…"

"For your own selfish purposes, right?" Luigi cut in.

Dimentio opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, looking away. "I once thought so…"

Livi gestured to him. "Ya see? Dimentio cares about me just like the others! We're only in this mess because it's him… What if that had been any of you in this situation?" She asked her fandoms, turning to face them. "If anyone else claimed innocence, you'd believe them without a second thought!"

"That's because Dimentio's a liar!" Mr. L said.

"Silence!" Jaydes commanded, raising a hand. No one in the room said another word. "Arguing with one another isn't going to get us anywhere. No one knows for sure what happened other than Dimentio—a liar, and Livi—allegedly insane."

"Hey!" Livi said indignantly, Luigi elbowing her as a signal to shut up.

"Luvbi and I will consult my mystic orb for the answers and see what actually happened. The remainder of you will stay here, with my D-Men on guard, until we return. Understood?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Anyone who starts a fight will be punished severely." She glared at Mr. L. "Clear?"

He nodded, glaring coldly at Dimentio.

Jaydes gave a signal to her D-Men, who took their positions around the room. Once they stopped scurrying around, two opened the larger doors at the front, and the Queen exited with her Princess, the doors slamming shut behind her.

As soon as they were sure the Queen was gone, Livi ran across the room and glomped Dimentio, hugging him tightly as they hit the floor. "Dimentio! I was so worried about you! Why ya gotta go off and scare me like that?"

Dimentio smiled, laughing a bit, despite his current situation. "Terribly sorry… I thought you would be more pre-occupied with being dead…"

"Ha!" Livi said, pushing herself off to sit beside him. "It takes a lot more than a hundred-foot-drop to kill me! Right, Fawful?"

Fawful laughed evilly. "We shall have the seeing."

"I accept your challenge!" Livi said, jabbing a finger in his direction. "Soon as we're back to the Mushroom Kingdom, you're dead meat, shorty!"

Fawful started laughing hysterically. "I have chortles! You are thinking you can have the beating of the one who is me?"

Livi squealed ecstatically. "'I have chortles!' That was so cute!"

Fawful suddenly stopped laughing. "Whating?" Rage made his cheeks flush bright red. "I am NOT possessing the cuteness!"

"Sure ya are!"

"Now, Livi…" Kamek said calmly, sitting down and leaning against a column. "Jaydes said no fighting."

"I'm NOT fighting! He's the one with anger-management problems!"

"I am notting!"

"Oh, so you DON'T run around screaming 'I HAVE FURY!'?"

"I would not be saying the so, if you were not GIVING me so much of the FURY!"

Livi squealed again, laying down and clapping her hands gleefully. "Oh my gosh! I give Fawful fury! How cute!"

"DO NOT HAVE THE SAYING OF THATNESS!" Fawful screamed.

Kamek rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "And they're fighting again…"

Mr. L leaned over and whispered to Luigi. "How can they be acting like this? It's like… suddenly nothing's wrong at all…"

"Well, at the moment, nothing is." Luigi said with a shrug. "In Livi's mind that is… all her fandoms are together and safe—for now at least… that's all she wants…"

"Are you kidding?" Mr. L snapped, mouth agape. "All she's done so far is stir up more and more trouble! By running away from us!"

"Exactly." Luigi bluntly stated. "But now that she's made up her mind to stay here with us—everything's all right with the world again."

Mr. L paused, watching Livi argue with Fawful, as Kamek and even Dimentio threw in random commentary and added to the verbal battle. "So, it's… it's always like this?"

"Yeah. Since the day we first met her."

"Huh…" Mr. L said to himself, looking down at his feet.

Luigi noticed his alter ego's wandering mind. "Something wrong?"

Mr. L shook his head. "Nah… it's just…" The Green Thunder looked up at Livi as she picked up Fawful, spinning around the room with him, humming a peculiar tune as he screamed and struggled frantically to free himself from her grasp. "It kinda… reminds me of Castle Bleck…"

"You mean… before all this mess happened?" Luigi said, as though stepping carefully through a mine field.

Mr. L nodded. "Yeah… we were all like… one big family… a pretty screwy family, constantly fighting, arguing, and messing with each other… but, we were still a family…"

Luigi looked over at Dimentio, smiling at laughing at the fangirl. "It's not too late, ya know…"

"Whadda ya mean?" A suddenly-cold voice demanded.

"Well… maybe Kamek's right…" Luigi mumbled sheepishly, looking down at his feet. "Dimentio's not dead yet… maybe we could still… forgive and forget…"

"Are you crazy?" Mr. L asked, eyes narrowing. "Forgive him for everything he did to us? Luigi, you of all people should understand!"

"Look, I know it's crazy…" Luigi said, turning away. "But… the past is the past… there's no changing it, so we might as well accept it and move on."

"But, we have a chance to make it better! We can get rid of Dimentio once and for all!"

"And what if Jaydes lets him live? Then what are you going to do, huh?"

Mr. L prepared to shoot back a fierce comment, paused, then quickly shut his mouth, bowing his head and shoving his hands in his pockets as his gaze flew to the floor.

"Maybe they're all right, ya know?" Luigi suggested softly. "Dimentio forgot the past… he's working hard to change, no matter how hard we try to stop him… why can't we do the same?"

"…because we're idiots…" Mr. L said after a very long time.

Luigi laughed softly. "Yeah… maybe we are…"

"Dance with me, Dimentio!" Livi suddenly shrieked, pouncing on the jester and pulling him up onto his feet.

"What? I can't dance, Livi!" Dimentio said, laughing as he wobbled unsteadily with Livi.

"Sure you can! You danced with me earlier!"

"Ah ha ha ha… that was before Jaydes ordered me bound and tied." He pointed out, holding up a pair of chained wrists for the fangirl's inspection.

"Oh… well, we can fix that, no problem!" Livi said, fiddling with the chains.

"What?" Kamek turned away from steadying a very dizzy Fawful to rush over to Livi. "Hey, don't do that! Jaydes will kill you!"

"No, she won't! We're just going to have a dance!" Livi replied airily.

"But, Livi, Dimentio's going to slip off!" He insisted.

"No, he won't…" Livi said, smiling up at Dimentio. "I trust him…"

Dimentio smiled, elated. Livi finished her work and the chains fell off to the ground with a clanking noise that echoed through the throne room. The fandoms each gasped, Luigi and Mr. L looking extremely uneasy. The D-Men around the room started chattering to themselves, none quite sure what to do.

Livi took a few steps back, then offered a hand to the jester as he rose to float a few inches off the ground. "Alright, Dimentio… prove yourself to Jaydes. Take my hand and dance with me, or slip off and take the freedom you deserve…"

There was a long, tense silence around the room.

Then, Dimentio floated forward, smiling sweetly. He reached out and laid his gloved hand very lightly in Livi's, bowing down before her. "My darling… I would be happy to honor you with a dance…"

Livi smiled. Their hands clasped together, Dimentio winding an arm around Livi's waist as he pulled her closer and Livi placing a hand on his shoulder. The two began twirling about the floor, Dimentio lifting Livi up every now and then to spin her around in mid-air, making her giggle and laugh.

Luigi allowed himself to relax ever so slightly. "I don't believe it… he didn't run…"

"You kiddin'?" Mr. L asked, still looking stunned. "He didn't run, he didn't attack, he didn't lie or trick… he didn't do anything…"

Suddenly, everyone in the room fell still as the loud sound of a turning lock echoed throughout the chamber. Then, the doors at the front of the room swung wide open to allow Jaydes and Luvbi to step inside. Jaydes' expression was unreadable—amused at the best, but Luvbi was simply elated, her heart-shaped wings beating frantically as she fluttered around her mother

"Dimentio." Jaydes called, stopping in the center of the room as the doors shut with a loud bang. She extended a long finger and beckoned the jester over to her. "Come here, please…"

Dimentio looked horrified, his smile falling and his eyes widening in terror. He looked over at Livi, who nodded sweetly, reassuring him. The jester gulped nervously, then slowly released Livi and floated over to where Jaydes stood, his head bowed to the floor.

The Queen reached out and grabbed one of Dimentio's wrists, holding it up to her face, as though it were necessary to examine it closely. Dimentio cringed fearfully, his arm going limp, afraid to resist her. "You've removed your chains…" She said, stating the obvious.

Dimentio nodded, still staring very hard at the floor.

Jaydes dropped his hand, allowing it to fall carelessly back to his side. "Your magic has obviously returned as well…" She noted, pacing around him, noticing that he was about a foot off the floor. "And yet, you're still here… making no attempts to run away or teleport out whatsoever."

Dimentio nodded again, terrified to say anything.

"You are aware, even with the seal on the door, you could have easily gotten away?"

Another shy nodding of the head, the jester still afraid to look up.

"Would you care to explain to me why you are still here? Why you didn't run? Why you were given the opportunity at all?"

Dimentio gulped nervously again, still staring downwards, afraid to look up at her. "Livi, ah… asked for a… a dance… She took off the chains… so I could dance with her…"

Jaydes thought about that a moment, then, without saying a word, turned away from the jester and walked towards Livi. Dimentio's head shot up as realization hit. He snapped his fingers and was instantly between Jaydes and Livi. "Wait!" he begged.

Jaydes stopped, raising an eyebrow. However surprised she was, she made no effort to stop Dimentio as he continued.

"It isn't Livi's fault…" He explained. "I knew you wanted to keep me locked up, and Kamek even pointed it out to her. I made no effort to stop her, though, so let the blame fall to me… Livi hasn't done anything wrong."

Livi looked at Dimentio curiously, stunned. "Are you… are you defending me?"

Dimentio thought about it, looking a tad stunned himself, then whispered to her: "It would appear so…"

Jaydes smiled down at the jester, who still looked very unnerved, and maybe even a tad shocked at himself. "I know very well what happened, Dimentio… I saw Livi remove the chains, and I saw her present you with the chance to run, and you didn't take it… you instead chose to make her happy…"

Dimentio hung his head. "I knew if I were foolish enough to run, you would only punish the rest of them for allowing it… I couldn't let that happen…"

"Oh my gosh, you have changed!" Livi said, throwing her arms around Dimentio's shoulders.

"I also saw…" Jaydes said, turning to face Luigi and Mr. L. "The incident at the cliff, and exactly what happened there."

Everyone suddenly tensed. Luigi and Mr. L exchanged a nervous glance. Dimentio cringed fearfully closer to Livi. Jaydes glanced around the room, no expression at all, though obviously enjoying the painful suspense she was causing. At long last, she spoke…

"Dimentio is innocent." She declared. "Livi fell by accident, and the jester did, indeed, attempt to catch her."

Dimentio's smile spread wide across his face. Livi spun him around and glomped him, he hugging her tightly back, each of them laughing uncontrollably. Luigi and Mr. L, meanwhile, were stunned speechless. Even after their last conversation, neither could believe the words they had just heard—Dimentio is innocent. How could it be so? Maybe he wasn't guilty but, innocent? Could he really be?

Jaydes beckoned Dimentio forward. He slowly released Livi, floating over to Jaydes, still positvely elated. She nodded to him, the corners of her mouth curving slightly, and Dimentio's smile instantly widened—he knew what that meant.

The jester dropped down to the ground, landing on one knee and bowing his head before the Queen. Jaydes stretched a hand over his head, and tightly shut her eyes. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of white light, filling the room and briefly blinding all. Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

Dimentio slowly opened his eyes, looking up at Jaydes, seeming confused. Jaydes smiled, and nodded. "Congratulations, Dimentio… you have completed your mission, and are now free of your curse!"

Dimentio's mouth slowly began to twitch as he shakily forced himself to rise, looking himself over. "I don't believe it… I'm… I'm free?"

"Well, not quite…" Jaydes said sternly. "You have managed to redeem yourself as I instructed, but there is, however, a slight catch in your return to life."

Dimentio looked confused. "A catch?"

Jaydes nodded. "Yes… Should you be just another Shayde, this wouldn't need to be bothered with, but I plucked you out of Bonechill's Prison, as one of the few willing to chase after redemption."

"You're kidding, right?" Mr. L asked, thoroughly confused at this point. "Dimentio wanted redemption?"

The jester shrugged off-handedly. "Staying a villain or not, life is life. If I had a chance to get out of here, I wanted it, no matter what the cost."

"And the cost for your life…" Jaydes continued. "Is that you cannot simply return to your old life on your own… you will be forever bound to another—someone I can trust to take care of you, and keep you on the path of goodness. And, in return, you will keep them safe and out of harm's way. The two of you will balance each other, in a way."

"Alright, well…" Dimentio had an uneasy feeling about this. "Who, dare I ask, is this other person to be?"

"Well, since you will be returning to your former life in Castle Bleck…" Jaydes mused. "Perhaps Nastasia would be a good match… she has already been taking good care of you…"

"No!" Livi shrieked, stepping forward. "Nastasia's so mean to him! She and O'Chunks do nothing but abuse him!"

Dimentio hung his head, holding out a hand to silence Livi. "Livi, please… If that's what it takes to finally be free, I suppose… I'll just… have to put up with it…"

"No, Dimentio!" Livi ran over and hugged him. "You can't do that! Once Nastasia has that kind of power, she'll kill you! It'll be worse than staying down here! What kind of miserable life is that?"

"Be that as it may…" the jester sighed miserably. "Like I said: life is life… I'm willing to pay any price for it…"

"But, you can't do this! Jaydes, please, there has to be another way!" Livi begged, releasing Dimentio and running up to approach to Queen.

She simply shook her head. "I'm sorry, Livi, but that is my requirement… Dimentio must be bound to someone, and if not Nastasia, then who else?"

Livi's mind raced as Jaydes stepped around her to talk to Dimentio. Once she cast the next spell, it would be too late, and Dimentio would be eternally bound to Nastasia. He'd be miserable, completely at her mercy—and Livi wasn't about to let that happen. If she did, Dimentio would go right back to the way he was when Livi abducted him from Castle Bleck—alone, miserable, and a shell of the man he once was. The jester's fangirl couldn't bear to see his smile taken away once and for all…

"Mimi!" Livi suddenly shrieked, whipping around to face the Queen.

The room fell silent, Jaydes and Dimentio both turning slowly to face Livi. Jaydes stepped forward ever so slightly and raised an eyebrow to the fangirl. "What are you talking about?"

"Mimi!" Livi said again. "Tie Dimentio to Mimi! They used to be best friends—Mimi depended on him for everything! She would be more than happy to watch him for you!"

Jaydes turned to face Dimentio. "Is this true?"

Dimentio laughed sheepishly. "It would seem the girl has taken a bit of a liking to me… She even befriended me yet again when I first returned to Castle Bleck with my curse..."

"Is that so?" Jaydes mused. She looked up at Livi, smiling. "Alright then, Livi, I'll see what I can do… but, Mimi being a child, I will have to consult Nastasia on it."

Livi smiled, nodding. "Alright, fair enough."

Jaydes nodded, exiting the room once again. She instructed Luvbi to stay behind, and make sure no more chaos occurred, and the D-Men were ready if anything did happed. When she was gone, Livi bounded back over to Dimentio, hugging him tightly. The jester still seemed stunned, hardly reacting at all. Livi pulled back, smiling softly at him. "You okay?"

Dimentio nodded, though still staring down at the floor. "I never… I wouldn't have thought to ask Mimi… for any sort of assistance…"

Livi stroked the side of Dimentio's mask, running her fingers over Jaydes' scars. "Don't worry about it, Dimentio… everything'll be fine… you'll see…"

Dimentio didn't seem to hear her, still thinking about Mimi. He looked up to Livi, smiling softly. "You know what she told me?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"What's that?" Livi asked sweetly, lowering her voice as well.

"She said… I was her best friend…" Dimentio said, his eyes lighting up a bit.

Livi smiled, hugging him tightly. "I know, Dimentio. She tells me almost every day. She really missed you, and she cares about you very much."

Dimentio smiled, laughing softly to himself at the thought of Mimi obsessing over him, and hugged Livi tightly back, allowing an odd sense of relief to wash over him at last.