A/R: (Sorry, forgot to this upload earlier, I was out of my city volunteering and the stupid hotel wifi wouldn't connect.)

I tried to rewrite this chapter to be less perverted, although somehow I'm not sure I accomplished that...

Thanks


Chapter Five

Dimentio

"...And that is how the ruffians managed to best me." Dimentio finished retelling his battle to the count. He added a bit more flair than needed. But after losing, he had to make himself look mildly capable. "Ah ha ha. They are strong, to be sure... Very strong. Dare I say...They might be strong enough to defy the prophecy!"

The Count cupped his chin, "Spare Count Bleck your theatrics. The Light Prognosticus is Dark Prognosticus holds the answer to eliminating heroes that rise to stop us."

"Let's see what else I can tear out of you." Dimentio cocked his head slightly, "Oh my. That's the first time that morsel of information has touched my ears. Do tell!"

"Bleh heh heh heh heh... In due time, Dimentio. In due time." He turned to Nastasia "Oh, Nastasia? It's time we set 'him' on these pests."

The secretary nodded, "Yeah, um, I can take care of that for you, Count."

"Lovely, exclaimed Count Bleck. Return to your posts, my dear minions."

"As you command, Count! HAIL BLECK!" The minions cheered in unison. One by one they left the room.

"Dimento…" Bleck said before he could leave, "Star will be alright?"

"Of course. I'm doing everything in my power to be sure of that. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to her, wouldn't it? Ciao."

Dimentio pretended to warp from the room and instead turned invisible. He floated closer to the pair. He barely heard Nastasia.

She shuffled her feet, "Um…"

Bleck glanced back, "Does something trouble you, Nastasia?"

"Yeah, Count... You know, there's still time... You can change your mind…"

"That is enough, Nastasia. We've already come this far, so we shall forge on! But you needn't stay by Count Bleck's side." He said reassuringly, "You can depart with my blessing."

"Um, no, my count. I won't be doing that. My life is already sworn to you. Yeah, it's

belonged to you since the day you saved me... I'll be sticking it out with you until my game ends, 'K?"

He seemed upset by her answer, "If that pleases you…"

Dimentio waited for them to leave before appearing. "My my my! How interesting! Nastasia and the Count have such DEEP conversations. Mm... Just what is our dear count playing at? Ah, well. I'll let him worry about that. I must attend to my own… projects." "And people." He added silently.


Star

Star wanted to run headfirst into a wall, just to get away from the throbbing in her temple. Once she had convinced herself that wasn't a rational way to solve her issue, she made an attempt to recover any memory of what the hell happened.

"We were about to fight the heroes. Then Dimentio did something and..."

Then what? Did he attack her? That wasn't likely, she felt completely unscarthed. Or maybe...

"Oh forget it." Her head already hurt. The most most important thing was that she was alive.

Just as she was drifting off again, the sound of page turning cut into the silence. Star opened her eyes completely now and scanned the room.

"Is this Dimentios room?" His hat rested on a nightstand that was not hers, "Am I in his bed?"

"Star?" She finally turned over to find Dimentio on his back, book in hand.

"What..." Star started, but she didn't know what to ask first.

He seemed to understand, "I have a dimension of my own creation called Dimension D. I brought us there to fight the heroes and when I did, you passed out. You're lucky one of them caught you before you hit the ground. It's quite odd… They had every opportunity to hurt us while I was distracted. I guess that's their own loss."

"Okay..." That was believable. She already reacted poorly to dimension hopping. That big of a change must have screwed with her system. "So why am I in your room?"

"Well to be honest I didn't think you would be out this long, maybe an hour at most. But after the first three went by I didn't want to leave you alone, just incase you were dead or dying. Your lack of pulse didn't really help the situation."

"I have a pulse." She defended weakly.

He wasn't having it, "Even so, easier to find when you're in control of your body."

"I... Oh forget it." She really didn't feel like arguing over something that he was right

about. "Um... Dimentio. Who changed my clothes?" She was in one of her nightgowns and unless she stripped and re-dressed in her sleep, somebody else had to have done it. And If Dimentio had touched her...

"Ah ha ha, Mimi did." He looked right at her as he said, "Don't worry, I'll only take off your clothes when you ask, Dear."

Blood rose to her cheeks, "When, I ask?"

Dimentio turned back to his book, obviously happy with himself.

"Yeah well I'm not staying with your smug ass." Star shoved the blankets towards him and threw one leg off the bed.

"Where are you going?"

Star paused, "My room."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm still not sure if anything's actually wrong. So if you could kindly remain here so you don't die in your room, that would be wonderful."

"And how do you plan on keeping me here?"

"I can tie you to the bed, if you so desire."

Somehow Star doubted that's all he meant. "Perverted bastard…" She said under her breath as she resumed her position on the bed. She didn't put it past him to actually restrain her.

She gasped as Dimentio wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into the curve of his body. His lips brushed her ear, "You should watch what you say dear. It may come back to bite you." Dimentio tugged on her cartilage with his teeth, getting the desired reaction.

Then he unwrapped himself from the trembling girl and continued to read as if nothing had happened.

Star on the other hand was in shock. He had gotten a little physical before, but hadn't gotten anywhere close to that.

"And I was just so willing to give in… No no, it was just my body reacting… To him…" That thought didn't make her any less distraught.

She wished there was anything she could keep her attention on, but like her own, the room was nearly bare.

Once again she found her herself watching the fool, who was still reading, completely contempt with the situation.

Well, perhaps it wasn't fair to call him that, as for the first time, he wasn't adorned in the jester outfit. She almost wanted to laugh seeing him in a t-shirt and sweats. The only constant was his mask. "I guess it's not just part of the costume. She couldn't help but inquire, "Do you sleep in your mask?"

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just curious is all." Her hair sparked when she realized he'd never answered her.

"So," Star decided to try for a less awkward topic. Maybe indulging in him was a poor choice on her part, but she was craving something besides silence. Besides, if he was going to ignore what had just transpired, so would she. "You created your own dimension? Just out of thin air?"

"In a way. I've been able to manipulate the space around me since I was a child. It was actually only recently that thought about using that ability to create a whole new area separate from all the other worlds. So I gathered dimension space linked to my magic energy, and pushed everything else away." She could hear the pride in his voice.

"It's just kinda floating then?"

"You could say that. I know its not connected to the rest because then anyone could get to it. I don't think there's physical space between them,I mean never been able to get to it but…" He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Of course, this is all just my guessing. I don't think I explained any of that right."

"It kinda makes sense."

"Kinda sorta." He held his side and winced as he sat up.

"Are you alright?" She cursed herself for sounding so concerned.

"Yeah, the heroes gave me a bit of a beating though."

She turned away, "Right…"

"Hey cheer up. You have them to yourself next time, don't you? Owww..."

Star rolled over to look at him, "What are you- oh! How did you get that!?" Dimentio had lifted up his shirt to reveal a wide gash that trailed from his hip up to his chest.

"I may have gotten a bit too cocky and allowed our monster king's claw to catch me."

"Moron." She chastised, "It's not even wrapped. Did you clean it properly?"

"Well I started to, but it burned and..." He shrugged, "I stopped the bleeding at least."

"Do you have a first aid kit?

"In the bathroom but... What are you doing?"

Star gestured for him to follow her as she walked towards his bathroom. She heard his

defeated sigh and the bed creak as she grabbed supplies from the draws.

"Sit on the counter."

Dimentio hopped on and allowed her to step up to his chest. "Is this really necessary?"

"When you are incapable of taking care of yourself, it is." She tried to avoid thinking too much as she pulled off his shirt.

"Oh so there's an issue with me changing your clothes, but it's fine if you undress me?" His tone didn't match the complaint.

"This is different."

"You were incapacitated!"

"Hush." She took a wet cloth and wiped off the dried blood, trying her best to avoid his amorous gaze. "Stop looking at me like that."

"You're the one feeling me up. I think I can look at you-" He fussed and dug his nails into the counter as she put a healing agent straight onto the wound.

"Oh I forgot to tell you, that's going to hurt."

"Thanks." He said gritting his teeth, "There are so many better ways you could have gone about that."

"It's been open so long, I just want to make sure it's sterile." Star wrapped a large bandage around Dimentios waist, "Isn't this better?"

He sighed, "Yes, thank you. You like playing nurse?"

If he meant that in a crude way, she choose to ignore it, "Yeah I guess so. I know it annoys people, but I can't help it. Do you want your shirt?"

He gestured towards the dresser, "No just throw it over there. I don't know how it would annoy people, I think it's a nice trait to have. It makes you motherly."

She shrugged, "Not everyone sees it that way."

Dimentio had gotten back into his bed and Star felt a bit conflicted. She wasn't sure she wanted to join him but at the same time…

As if reading her mind he said, "You can go if you'd like. At least if you die I can say I tried."

"That didn't help me." Star was hoping he would make the decision for her. She made the wise choice and walked to the door, "I'll go. Thank you."

"Of course." He sounded a little disappointed, "Goodnight."

"Night." Star opened the door and stopped, "Pocahontas."

"What?"

"You called me Pocahontas earlier. Isn't it sleeping beauty?"

"Helpless doesn't suit you."

"Oh." That was a bit surprising. The way he treated her sometimes, she figured Dimentio still thought her useless.

Star shut the door quietly, unsure of what to make of the night.