"Ya know, Liv… maybe you shouldn't be… I dunno… in the fountain."

"I probably shouldn't be in the Underwhere, either. And yet—HERE I AM!"

The fandoms and their fangirl were all gathered around the Fountain of Life—a different one, much to the fangirl's simultaneous excitement and displeasure. This one was located in a courtyard of Jaydes' Palace, and the life-giving waters flowed crystal blue, rather than neon orange.

As Luigi stated, Livi was currently in the fountain, happily splashing away, marveling at the glittering waves she made. Her fandoms were all sitting on or around the edge of the fountain—all except for Dimentio, that is.

After Jaydes had made contact with Nastasia, she had come back into the room, asked Dimentio to come with her a moment, and the two had disappeared. After waiting for a good half-hour, two D-Men came in to escort the fangirl and fandoms out to the courtyard to wait for the Queen.

"Okay, seriously—where is Dimentio?" Livi demanded, slamming her fists in the water. "That Queen better not have killed him! Not after I busted my butt to save him! And you can shut up!" She added, jabbing a finger in Mr. L's direction.

"Me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "What the hell did I do?"

"Oh nothing at all, Mr. In-about-five-seconds-it'll-be-too-late." Livi mocked, quoting the very words he had tried to stop Dimentio's rescue with.

Mr. L turned away from her, crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about… I had my reasons…"

"D'awww… Is Mr. L being all angsty? That's totally adorable!" Livi exclaimed, scooting closer to Mr. L's end of the wall. "I love a good angst fic—especially with you in it! Oh, what was that really good one… uh… L-Power? No… that's a game quo—L-Mode! That was it! It was awesome!"

Mr. L blinked at her. "…what are you talking about?"

"Fanfiction!" Livi exclaimed, for some reason, believing that clarified something.

Mr. L shook his head slightly. "No, that's… you're not making any sense!"

"Mr. L, she's a fangirl." Kamek pointed out, not looking up from the finger he was twirling in the waters. "Are you really going to attempt to reason with her?"

"Weeeeegeeeee!" Livi started to wail, flopping on her back in the water. "I want my laaaaaaptooooop… I need fanfiction…" She suddenly sprung back up. "Holy crap, I gotta write this down!" She gasped dramatically. "This could totally be a Dimentio comeback fic! And totally not one that involves him stealing the Chaos Heart to take out his revenge on Blumiere!"

Kamek waved his free arm at Livi. "I rest my case."

"So, what are you doing, Kamek, ole' buddy?" Livi wondered. She suddenly gasped, flipping over to stare at Kamek's finger. "Oooooh… the water looks so pretty when you touch it… are you doing a trick?"

"I'm restoring my magic." Kamek explained, folding his free arm over the stone wall and resting his head on it. "I'm absolutely exhausted. Guess I'm getting too old for this kind of crap…"

Livi squealed, clapping her hands. "That was adorable! Besides, you're not too old… you're old enough to be super-smart, but that's okay, because you're KAMEK, which automatically makes you kick-ass."

Kamek smirked, seeming to perk up a bit. "Oh, really? Interesting logic you've got there."

"Fangirl logic." Livi explained with a nod of the head. "It's what all the cool people use."

"Is that being the same logic by which you were nearly having the over of games?" Fawful asked, grinning smugly as he sat down in the fountain beside Livi.

Livi glared at him, splashed a wave in his direction, then yelled, "Shut up! It wasn't my freaking fault!"

"Then whose fault doth it be?" Everyone turned around to see Luvbi coming out of the castle to flutter over and join the group. "Pray tell, how did thee become perched upon yonder cliff?"

Livi considered her question carefully a moment, then bluntly said, "Who the heck says 'yonder' anymore? I mean seriously… is that really what she just said?"

"Really?" Luigi said. "That's what you're going to say to the Princess of the Overthere? Really?"

Livi pursed her lips, then decided, "No, see, I think I like Luvbi better as Princess of the Underwhere. She just fits better here. It goes more with her personality—I think she's more like her mom than her dad."

Luvbi smiled somewhat. "Ay, thank thee… I doth much prefer mother's realm to father's…"

"I do too." Livi agreed, jumping out of the fountain. "The Underwhere kicks ass."

"Oh, really?" Kamek asked curiously. "And why is that? What does the Underwhere have that the Overthere doesn't that makes it so much better?"

Livi gaped at him, as though it weren't obvious. "Mr. L! Duh!"

Mr. L smirked, laughing to himself. "If you say so, fangirl."

"Are you kidding?" Livi demanded, shocked. "You're, like, totally amazing!" She paused a moment, looked over herself, then looked between herself and the fountain. "…don't you love how, as soon as I get out of the fountain, I'm magically dry?"

Kamek shrugged. "The waters are highly magical."

"Don't explain it!" Livi yelled, spastically waving her arms. "That ruins it!" She turned back to Mr. L, who was now sitting on the opposite side of the fountain she was standing on. "Anyway—back to you! You're totally amazing! I mean, you're Luigi—which, in itself, is about as amazing as it gets—but then, you're a villain, which is, like, instant extra cool points!"

Mr. L laughed darkly, raising a gloved hand to pull his cap over his eyes as he looked away from her. "…that so?"

Livi sighed dreamily, pointing at Mr. L. "See? See, that right there. That's freaking sexy."

"What?" Luigi said, almost indignantly. "You never call the rest of us sexy. Not even Dimentio."

Livi shrugged. "None of you are Mr. L, and—OMIGOSH where the heck is Dimentio! I miss my little jester!"

"And again, I have saying…" Fawful whispered to Kamek and Luigi. "We are seeing who the favorite of the fandoms is being."

The three of them laughed. Mr. L did not.

"Oh, what's the matter, Mr. L?" A melodic voice drifting into the courtyard playfully wondered. "Not jealous of the favorite, I hope?"

Livi whipped around to face the source of the voice, a wide smile across her face. "DIMENTIO!"

Indeed, the jester was floating at the top of the steps, leaning on the hand he had rested on a nearby column. He was grinning playfully, as in his days of old, with the mischievous glint lighting up his eyes once more. Within half a second, Livi had tackled into him, and as Dimentio lost his balance, the two went tumbling down the stairs.

"Good Grambi, Livi!" Dimentio yelled, pushing at the screaming fangirl. "Get off of me!"

"NO!" Livi said, hugging him tighter. "I totally missed you! Where the heck were you?"

"Jaydes was restoring me to life…" Dimentio said.

Everyone went silent.

Livi's head shot up from Dimentio's chest—her expression unreadable. "Wait… you mean… she…"

Dimentio smiled wider, nodding his head. "It's done. I've been bound to Mimi—I'm going back to Castle Bleck."

"Omigod…" Livi breathed, still clearly stunned. Slowly, the fangirl's face broke into an elated smile. "Omigod! Dimentio!" With that, the jester hit the ground again, being absolutely choked and smothered by the screaming, spazzing fangirl.

"C'mon, Livi, let him breathe!" Luigi called, running over to pry the fangirl off of Dimentio. She pounced on the hero next, continuing to scream as Kamek stepped carefully around them to offer Dimentio a hand.

The jester gratefully took the assistance, pulling himself up to a standing position. "Tired?" Kamek asked as he lead Dimentio over to the fountain.

Dimentio laughed, smiling nervously. "More than I can tell…"

"Aren't we all…" Kamek agreed, taking a seat on the stone wall. "Here… the waters not only heal wounds—they restore magic as well…"

"Really?" Dimentio wondered, peering curiously into the water. He hesitantly reached out a hand to let the falling waters crash over his forearm. A look of relief instantly crossed his mask as he sighed heavily. "Oh my Grambi… I've only just realized how exhausted I am…" With that, the jester's head hit the wall, his arms falling limply to the cool, refreshing waters.

"Jester of Dementedness." Fawful stated, coming over to plop down in the water before Dimentio.

Without lifting his head, Dimentio tiredly said, "Am I to take that horribly rude yet amazingly accurate title as a reference to myself?"

"Yessing, you are." Fawful sneered.

"Fine." Dimentio said in an equal tone, lifting his head slightly to peer at Fawful. "What is it, child of annoyingness?"

Fawful's eyes narrowed defensively at the comment, but his gaze slowly softened as he turned to look away.

Dimentio rolled his eyes slightly. "Come on, Fawful, what is it?"

"I just… had thinking…" Fawful mumbled, fiddling with his tattered cloak. "I was… being, um…"

Dimentio smiled softly, reaching up to tussle Fawful's hair around a bit. "Don't worry about it Fawful—I'm sure my reaction would be quite similar if I saw you shove my little Mimi off a cliff."

Fawful immediately swelled up. "Are you saying I am being in love with the Fangirl of Obsessions? Because I am notting!"

"Oh?" Dimentio said, casting a mischievous glance to Kamek. "I do wonder why that would so suddenly spring into your mind, because it wasn't what I was implying at all!"

Dimentio promptly reeled backwards, coughing out the mouthful of water that had suddenly been flung into his face. "Have shutting of upness!" Fawful demanded, standing up and storming away, calling over his shoulder a final—"You stupid jester of stupidness!"

Dimentio wiped the rest of the water from his mask. "Hm. Touchy."

"Not five minutes into your new life, and already I find you up to no good…" Dimentio and Kamek spun around to see Jaydes descending the Palace steps, Luvbi fluttering by her side.

The jester gave a nervous laugh. "Ah ha ha ha… Of course not, your majesty…"

Dimentio was about to continue, but was interrupted by the most horrified look on Luvbi's face. Before he could inquire what she was staring at, she blurted out "Is there naught to be done for thine mask?"

"Hm? My mask?" Dimentio wondered. He hesitantly peered back into the waters, and immediately took on a shocked expression himself at sight of his reflection. "Oh dear…" he mumbled, running a gloved hand over the cracks and scratches that covered his mask. He'd been in many horrible fights, but he'd never seen his precious mask take such damage before. "That's going to need a bit of mending…"

Jaydes began to glide off again (Luvbi tried to follow, but was quickly snatched up by the Fangirl), waving to Dimentio as she called "Try the waters, Dimentio… it should mend them like normal wounds."

Ignoring the chaos in all the others around her, Jaydes glided around the Fountain to find Mr. L sulking alone. "A poor decision, L…" the Queen mused. "One would think you would be enjoying your last of freedom—at the very least, bidding your friends farewell…"

"The enemy of my enemy of my friend…" Mr. L recited in a dark voice, never glancing up at the Queen. He continued, turning his stone-cold eyes to Jaydes as he said, "The friend of my enemy is my enemy as well."

Jaydes sighed, shaking her head as she looked over him somewhat pityingly. "Can't you let this go, Mr. L?"

"Never." He growled as he threw himself off the fountain and stormed past Jaydes.

The Queen took a deep breath to steady herself, then quickly followed after him. "So that's it then? After all you've been through just now, you'll still harbor that awful hatred?"

"And why shouldn't I?" Mr. L demanded, jerking around to face her—fury flooding his eyes.

"Mr. L, you've seen how Dimentio's changed!" Jaydes said sharply, gesturing back to the others. "What more proof do you need?"

"You think this changes anything?" Mr. L yelled, advancing on her angrily. "You think this just erases what he did to me and makes everything okay now? The past still happened! I'm still stuck down here because of him!"

"You're down here because of him." Jaydes hissed. "You're trapped because of that hatred of yours, and I've told you that countless times. If you could just forgive Di—"

"I… will never… forgive him…" Mr. L growled, shaking in rage as he glared defiantly up at the Queen. "I can't… I won't…"

"But, Mr. L, this is your chance…" Jaydes called as Mr. L turned and stormed away from her. "This could be the last you ever see of Dimentio!"

"Good riddance!" Mr. L shot back, jumping up to clamber over the courtyard walls.

"Pity." Jaydes said to herself—though the raised her voice to ensure Mr. L could hear. "And to think all Dimentio has done for you."

"…done for me?" Mr. L said quietly as he stopped, standing on top of the wall. He spun around to face her again. "Done for me?" He yelled. "What the hell has he done for me? Tricked me! Lied to me! Used me! Murdered me!"

Jaydes opened her mouth, but was cut off by Mr. L continuing—"Ya know what? I'm done! I'm done playing this stupid game with him! If I never see that Grambi-damned jester again, it'll be too freaking soon!"

Mr. L turned on his heels, his back to Jaydes as he quietly seethed, "I'm outta here… L-ater, Jaydes…"

Just before Mr. L could jump however, something stopped him. He couldn't jump down. He couldn't run off. He couldn't make himself forget. He couldn't leave everything behind. He couldn't do anything but stand there and listen to Jaydes say something he never thought he'd hear, and he so wished he hadn't.

"That jester's crazier than I thought—why would he trade his life for the freedom of a sorry scum like you?"

The Underwhere hadn't been this quiet in a thousand years, at least.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Mr. L turned to look over his shoulder to the Queen, the most horrified look on his face. "…wh… what? …what did you say?"

Jaydes smirked, a devious gleam in her eyes. "I don't need to repeat myself, I've called you worse before. You can't be that shocked."

"No, no, no…" Mr. L mumbled, jumping down and clumsily stumbling back to the Queen. "A… about… D-dimentio… his… li… life…"

Jaydes leaned down, her face mere inches from Mr. L's. "After all you've done to him… why in all the dimensions would he trade the life he just earned… for your freedom?"

Mr. L's eyes slowly narrowed, his shoulders stiffening up. "…he wouldn't."

Jaydes grinned smugly. "And yet… he did."