Inko and Izuku cried when reunited, as expected. Tape angrily agreed to fix Olive, but forced Dimentio to help. To Izuku's surprise, they actually got along just fine. They also got a cast for Olly's broken arm. Dimentio waited, in a nervous fear, for the Police Sheriff to come by again. On a Saturday, just as promised, he arrived on the final day of September.
"Hello, Izuku Midoriya! How's your morning been?"
"Pretty good!"
The Officer noticed Olly clinging to Izuku's leg. "Hello there. I didn't notice you last time. Are you visiting?"
"Izuku, who is this...?"
"I guess you've never seen a Police Officer before...Don't worry, he's nice. Police Officers are supposed to help people, like heroes do!"
"Oh..." He let go of Izuku's leg and held out his hand. "My name is Olly. A pleasure to meet you."
"Well, the pleasure is all mine!" He shook his hand. "If you remember what day it is today, I won't hopefully have to remind you why I'm here."
"Actually, I have to tell you something first." Izuku invited him inside.
He tipped his hat to Inko, who was preparing tea.
"Oh! I forgot that was today! Want me to go get him?" Inko started down the hall. "I'll go get him."
Izuku sat across from the Officer. "So, about that band you had him with..." Izuku explained how Olive short-circuited it and how Dimentio had gone through most of the month without it. He nodded to Izuku's story.
"I see...But you said he did manage to change without it?"
Izuku nodded happily. "And we agreed, my mom and I, to let you talk to him face-to-face."
Inko returned with Dimentio, who had made himself a new mask and was currently wearing it. "Here he is! I'll go get the cookies." She happily walked into the kitchen.
Dimentio sat next to Izuku.
"I'll go help with the cookies!" Olly followed Inko into the kitchen.
"So...I heard Izuku told you about Shi."
"Kind of hard to not know about them. They did teleport the entire world into that dimension, if you remember that. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I wanted to discuss your band."
"I'll let you two talk," Izuku said, and went into the Living Room.
"I heard it hurt you pretty badly. I apologize for that. You see, that band is still a prototype. We're trying to make it for Quirked villains so they won't escape the prison."
"Mm."
"However, I heard you had a friend who was also interested in the trial. She wasn't injured at all. Did you try to use your Quirk while it was on?"
"Well...Izuku and his teachers let me go to UA in order to learn how to be a hero...They had a Quirk test and I kind of forgot about the band...I was also kicked out of a store and got zapped because I was too far from Izuku."
"I see. I'll make sure to let the people working on it know about the limits and maybe expanding them a bit. Thank you."
"Wait, you mentioned a friend? Mimi wanted to do it as well?"
He smiled. "Yes. She said she didn't want you to do it alone, so she agreed to also do the trial run. Since she didn't do any villainous acts while she was on it, we let her out of prison for now. But if she gets caught doing something against the law, she'll have to serve the full term this time. She seemed to really like you."
"Mimi did that for me? Such a sweet turn-around..."
"Would you mind telling me who this Olive is?"
Dimentio told him about Olive. How he was created, who he is, and all other information he knew about him; including about him being a part of Dimentio and saving his life from Frostbite.
"Hm...Seems like he cares about you a lot too. For a villain, you have a few nice people on your side."
"I...wasn't always like this...A friend of mine hurt me so I hurt others because that's what I was used to. But you know what? After all of this, I feel a bit more like myself than I have in a long time. I guess I feel a little better after telling Izuku and his friends about something personal. Heh..."
He finished scribbling down on a sheet of paper and smiled at the jester again. "Thank you for your time. This would have been when I remove the band and congratulate you, but that already happened, so I'll be on my way. But if you do anything villainous, I won't hesitate to arrest you."
"Trust me, being arrested is much better than having to face the Queen of the Underwhere herself. You don't scare me."
Inko came back out with Gingerbread cookies. "Wait! Take some before you go!"
"Well thank you Miss Midoriya! Have a good day." He bowed and took some as he left.
"He's nice."
She looked at Dimentio. "Huh? You really think so?"
"Giving villains a second chance? That's a pretty nice thing to do. It could also backfire horribly and ruin his career, but who would I be to make that happen?"
"Well, you're definitely acting like yourself again," Olly said. "Inko makes Gingerbread cookies in fall, did you know that?"
"Why are you doing that?"
"Oh. I haven't been able to get this darn recipe right. I start in fall because the worst ones usually come out then." She offered him a cookie.
"So you gave the Officer gross Gingerbreads?" He grabbed one off the plate by the head.
"Well, I hope not. I've been working at this for a few years now."
"Ha! Brutal treatment." He chomped off the Gingerbread's head. "Actually, these aren't the worst ones I've eaten." He bit off its legs. "Piper made 'em much worse."
"What are you...?" Olly started, watching as Dimentio proceeded to bite off the arms and finally eat the body of the Gingerbread. "Wh-why did you eat it that way?"
"I like to make them suffer. I would eat his legs off first, but you're a psycho if you do that."
"Well apparently, I'm insane then." Olly grabbed one of them. "I eat the legs off first." He turned it around in his hands and bit the legs off. "Mmm..."
"Kachaan eats the heads off too."
"Hm...I see how you can fix this, Inko." Olly said with eyes closed. "Maybe you could tone down the spice a bit."
"Well he can't handle cinnamon at all. It's not even spicy." Dimentio put his feet on the table, which were immediately shoved off by Izuku. "Ow..." He rubbed his leg. "I'm getting too old to do that, apparently."
Olly started crying. "I mean...you really need to calm the spice, Inko. This actually kind of hurts."
"Olly?" Izuku crouched down to his level. "Are you okay? Does it burn?"
He nodded slightly.
Dimentio fixed his sitting position. "Oh Grambi. I think he's allergic."
"Aaah! We need to get you to a Hospital!"
After getting a bunch of Epi-pens and a quiet ride home, Izuku remembered something. He leaned over to his mom.
"Mom? Can you stop by Tenya's house please?" He whispered.
"Huh? Is it for the-"
"Shhh!"
"I can't believe I can't eat anything with cinnamon in it," Olly sighed. "The cookies were so good too..."
"Such a shame," Dimentio agreed. "Cinnamon food tastes so good too. Like cinnamon buns, and those cookies. Do not tell her I said this but..." He leaned in closer to the king. "They were the best cookies I have ever eaten. I do not believe she had ever failed that recipe."
Olly smiled. "Going soft on me, Dimentio?"
"What?!" He jolted away from him. "Of course not!"
Inko parked outside the Tenya family home. "Have fun, Izuku!"
Izuku hopped out of the car.
"Hm?" Dimentio watched as he headed to his side of the car. "What is he doing? I thought we were heading to his apartment..."
Olly waited until he dropped his guard, then tossed a sheet over his head. Izuku wrestled him down, then started leading him towards the house.
"Look, I don't know what's going on, but if I'm being kidnapped-"
"Why would we kidnap you?" Izuku sassed.
"You're not even a child!" Olly claimed cheerfully.
"Well, I'm not liking this one bit! Get this off of my head, you're going to suffocate me!"
"Watch the step," Izuku warned.
He tripped over the step anyways, so Izuku helped him back up and pulled him inside.
"Izuku...You're concerning me." Izuku forced him to sit down on a wooden chair. He shoved him down a bit too hard, as there was a crack from the seat. "Ow...I really hope you didn't just break my tailbone."
"Sorry! Sometimes I forget my strength is also enhanced with my Quirk!"
"That better have been the chair..." He heard a chair drag against the ground and Izuku sat down.
He grabbed the makeshift blindfold. "Ready, everyone?"
"Everyone? What are you plotting? I knew you were up to somethi-"
Izuku pulled the cloth from his face, messing up his mask in the process. All of Class 1-A, including Olive and Mimi, were at the table. They yelled "Surprise!" in unison when Dimentio's blindfold was removed.
"Wh...what?"
"Ta-da!" Olive removed the lid from a large plate to reveal a strawberry cake.
Dimentio's favorite.
"Wh-what is this...?"
"Happy late birthday!" Ochaco clapped. "We know you hadn't had a proper birthday in a while, but with the whole Oni thing, we had to hold it off."
Olly smiled. "Livi and I helped plan."
"After all," she scooched closer to him in her seat, "if anybody knows how to plan a birthday, it'll be the local twins! If you share every birthday together, you kind of know exactly what to do!"
"Wait, does that mean-"
Todoroki nodded. "Yup. I knew too. I was trying to get to know you better, which is why I came to help Midoriya with the Shi issue."
"Then why-"
"I'm here," Mimi said," because I love you. And if I don't come to your birthday, what kind of person am I?"
"You're not a person...You're a Spider Demon."
"I know. But I'm still counted as a person, right?"
Dimentio blushed so hard, Izuku could see it over his mask. "Wait, what was the first thing you just said?"
"Anyways, happy birthday."
"How'd you know what my favorite cake was?"
"I helped with that!" Olive cheered. "I figured it out while we were fused as Shi. You know how our minds are connected and all that jazz."
"You really thought hard about this, huh?" He crossed his arms. "But this was completely unnecessary. Why would you go through all of this trouble for somebody who almost killed many of you on multiple occasions?"
"Because you're our friend, ribbit."
"Yeah! Plus, you did risk your life for Midoriya's!" Sato added. "I feel like that's big points to our respect!"
"You're so manly!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"I said to stop that!"
"You're funny!" Kaminari said.
"What did I ever say that was humorous to you?"
"Uh..."
"Yeah," Olly said, "you're the funny one! Giving me that pepper! I still taste it sometimes..."
"Forget him," Bakugo said.
"Hey!" Kaminari shouted, which made Bakugo smirk a bit.
"Wow...Heh. I guess I have something to tell you then." Dimentio entered from the other room, receiving confused looks from the class.
He snapped and the Dimentio still seated's clothes changed from the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing, to his classic black jumpsuit and poncho. His hat reappeared as well and his mask fixed its position on his face. A purple shawl-like belt wrapped around his waist loosley, a small yellow diamond at the end, the ends of the belt poking out from the bottom sides of the diamond. His outfit matched the Dimentio that entered the room. He smirked. He walked over to the Dimentio that had entered and stood in front of the floating jester.
"You've passed my trail. Congratulations, Class 1-A of UA High School!" He bowed. Izuku noticed Mimi's smile widened. "I really am pleased you all stayed so loyal despite my rude demeanor. I congratulate you and your efforts to befriend me. I should reveal the truth now. I amuse myself sometimes with my copies. I'm surprised you fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book!"
"Th-that was a clone?" Olive stuttered. "I f-fused with a c-clone?"
"Not the first time, that was me."
"How long has this game been going on?!" Izuku demanded.
"After King Olly helped me, of course. I decided to test your loyalty before moving in. All the story about my eye and everything? I made that up. Piper, Em? Them too."
"You're really creative for making a trans character," Tokoyami said. "I didn't realize he was fake."
"Yeah...I came from the Mushroom Kingdom. Apologies for the confusion, but I had to see how far you'd go for me."
"I knew you were just using us!" Bakugo screamed, and charged the jester.
Dimentio swiftly dodged him three times, then teleported behind him and kicked him down. He stood and charged Dimentio again, the bottom half of his body being dragged into a portal.
"Get me out of this so I can kill you properly!" Bakugo kicked his feet. "Huh?" He looked up and saw the bottom half of his body in another portal above him. "You were going to trap me in an endless loop of falling?"
"Yes." He had been carrying a stylish cane since he entered, and begun twirling it in his hand. "At least you did not fall all the way through. That would have been embarrassing."
He moved his head aside slightly as Olly's sword whizzed past his face and thudded into the wall. His smile widened a bit.
"You throw impressively, King Olly."
"I can't believe Bakugo was right...I actually trusted you!"
"Eh? Pardon me but, do you not still after my test?"
"You're nothing but a jerk!" Izuku noticed his eyes were glowing, and Olly needed to do something with his anger otherwise he'd attack someone; so he flipped the table instead.
Dimentio snapped and the room fixed.
"If it was one of your clones," Mimi said, "then how come Olive and others were able to touch him?"
He smirked and snapped again. Piper, Em, Machigai, Frostbite, and a few others-including the Elder-appeared in the room. "Want to know my secret? It is alright, I do not mind telling." He held out his hand. "They were nothing but puppets. Wooden tools. I had a lot of time for myself while in the Underwhere. I picked up the hobby of woodworking. It really is fun."
The Dimentio from before suddenly fell limp, arms hanging in the air like it was on strings. The others he had summoned did the same, their bodies reforming into wooden dolls with ball joints for every bend. The strings all led to Dimento, but were not connected to anything, the ends fading into nothing near him. He flipped his hand around and the puppets vanished; all except the Dimentio.
"I admit, it was hard to control sometimes. You noticed my awful throw during that test, right? Try making a wooden doll throw a ball. It is a lot harder than it needed to be..."
Olivia stopped Olly before he attacked Dimentio. "Hold on, brother. We should let him explain."
"Thank you, Princess!"
Izuku flinched when the puppet walked up to him, leaning in close to his face.
The puppet began to speak in Dimentio's voice. "I admit, things went a...bit out of hand with Machigai. I only made her for fun, I did not think she would defy me. So I improvised and turned your little friend into a demon instead." Izuku realized it was actually the puppet speaking, as Dimentio's mouth had not moved even the slightest.
"A little out of hand? You almost got a lot of us killed! Not to mention, Olly's arm was broken by Frostbite!"
It held up its arms in a sort of shrugging motion; but without the shrug. "You are so brave despite that, Izuku Midoriya!" It leaned in even closer, arms drooping. "This game was extremely fun though! If only anybody appreciated his talent..."
"Th-tha-that was a-was a puppet...?!" Olive stammered, and cowered into the corner.
"Ooh, are you afraid of puppets?" It teleported over to Olive. "We don't see why. They are only dolls-"
He punched it in the cheek, forcefully turning its head backwards. Izuku smiled a little. It vanished in dark smoke. Dimentio crossed his leg over his bent knee, still afloat.
He clicked his tongue a few times. "How sad. Nobody had fun?"
"So our parents-" Ochaco started.
"They were real. I made this place match your own world." He snapped once more, and a tingly feeling washed over the group. Nothing had changed. "So it would seem more convincing for you. I knew you would catch on eventually. I am surprised you didn't." He teleported next to Bakugo, grabbing his face and giggling quietly. "Not him though. He had a feeling the entire time and nobody listened. How unfortunate!"
"W-wait...Kachaan was right?! He wasn't just mad at you?! What?!"
"Too much to process? I don't blame you. Your little friend seems to have been wrong about a lot of things." He released Bakugo's face and pat his cheek harshly enough to make his head move slightly.
Bakugo screamed for a split second when he slipped the entire way into the portal. He landed on the ground with a thud, as it had closed when he went through.
"You really are nothing more than a villain."
"What?" He faced Izuku, a permanent smile on his mask. "Pardon me? What was that you just said, Izuku?"
"You'll never change. And we aren't going to be friends with you."
"I don't think you understand. I trust you now. After all these years of being betrayed and lied to, I finally decided to open my heart to you, like a door to the soul!" He grabbed Izuku's arms. "You don't know what you are saying-"
Izuku tore himself from Dimentio's grasp. "I do, thank you very much! If you keep treating people this way, you'll always be alone! It's no wonder you're lonely! You're insane if you think we'd trust you after this!" He turned towards the door. "Let's go home. I can't believe we actually set up a birthday party for him and everything."
Izuku's voice echoed back to him. "We're friends, remember?" It kept repeating, so Izuku stopped and turned.
A sort of unfinished puppet of Izuku stood between him and Dimentio, repeating the said line. Dimentio waved his hand and it followed the movement, it going off to the side.
"You said that to my puppet yesterday."
"That was before this happened. Nobody will be friends with you like this. You can't treat people like this."
Dimentio began trembling lightly, a dim purple glow coming from his eyes. "I can't believe...I trusted you!"
"Huh?!" Izuku glanced over at Olly, who was attempting to pry his sword from the wall. "You can't trust us?! Why not?"
"The same thing happened with Count Bleck...I can't believe it happened once more. Seems like I cannot trust anyone anymore."
"I said we don't trust you because you lied to us! We tried to be friends with you but it doesn't matter now that you've tricked us!"
"You? You actually wanted to give me a chance?"
"Yes! We did want to be friends with you! Honest! I'm just trying to teach you that you can't treat people like toys! It's not right!" Izuku felt light, and begun floating from the ground.
"So you mean to tell me that you...LIED?!"
"No! I'm just trying to tell you that-"
"Izuku!" Olly cried, holding tightly to his sword. "What's going on?!"
He was shot with pain through his entire body and landed harshly on the ground. The world around him was green, only a floor beneath him.
"What is this place?! What did you do?!"
Dimentio laughed, which made Izuku shudder. "You wanted to fight about it? Fine. We will fight about it, in the place...I call home. In the place...I made. In the place...were you will DIE! This is Dimension D! In this mind-bending realm, my attacks are 256 times more potent! That will surely be enough to beat you!" A small, purple glow appeared in his hand. "You...WILL fall here! AHAHAHA!"
Izuku flinched away from the glowing object when it fired at him. He fired more at Izuku, who punched one back at him. He simply teleported away and reappeared behind the hero and kicked him down. Izuku stood back up and got sliced in the upper arm by one of Dimentio's attacks.
"Ow! I didn't want to do this to you, but I have no choice now!" He tore his pant leg and tied it onto his arm to block the blood flow.
Before he could react, Dimentio grabbed him by the face and tossed him aside. He wiped the blood from his face and stood back up.
"Dimentio, I don't want to fight you!" He braced himself. "Where did he g-"
Dimentio tackled him down from behind and held up a knife to Izuku's neck. "I said...you will DIE!"
Izuku fought his hand away from him. "Dimentio, please! I know you're better than this! I met your puppet!"
"It was nothing like me! Stop saying you know me...because you do not!"
Izuku kicked him off and kicked the weapon away. He watched as the jester floated from the ground and dusted off his clothes.
"Dimentio...Even if it wasn't you, you still controlled it. So in a way, it was still at least a piece of you." He held out his hand. "Just let me help you. Please."
Dimentio responded by grabbing his wrist and tossing him behind him. He walked over to Izuku and stamped a foot harshly onto his head.
He leaned in closer. "You really need to learn when to stay silent...I need no help from you."
"Dimentio, you can't lessen yourself like this. I know there is good in you somewhere! Otherwise, Olive wouldn't exist!"
"Olive...?" His smile widened. "He is nothing...I was simply using him like a pawn. He is only that way because he chooses to be...as I am choosing to be like what I am used to." He kicked Izuku in the gut, sending him flying. "How terrible that you will be trapped here...forever! Because I am your only way out...and I am leaving you here...to die! Caio!"
"If you're stronger here..."
"Hm?"
"That means I am too!"
"What?!"
Izuku jumped up and summoned Blackwhip on Dimentio. He had never seen that side of One for All before, so he couldn't react fast enough to dodge. He slammed Dimentio into the ground and retracted them.
"What happened...to only one Quirk...? Unless..." He stood, stumbling a bit. "You are a magician like me...I should have known at least someone from this world...had that much power..."
"Uh..."
A purple, star-shape appeared in his hands. "Too bad then...that you will die. I would have loved to meet a multi-talented magic-user like me..."
He whipped around and tossed them at Izuku. He dodged them, but one circled back around and charged him again. That one he grabbed and snapped in half.
"How can you be so...good? Not even Mario himself could avoid that."
"What is your problem with Mario anyways, besides him stopping your evil plan?" He kicked the shuriken-like thing back at him.
Dimentio floated in place as it vanished before coming near. "Mario? I have no issues with him. It is his accursed brother...Luigi. He, I dislike."
"Why? What's your problem with him?! He's literally the nicest person to exist!"
"I admit, creating Super Dimentio was going a bit too far...Luigi was the perfect host for the Chaos Heart!"
Izuku froze. "H-host? Like a parasite?"
"Of course! It is the living essence of darkness...If it hopes to live, it needs a host...He was too nice; too...willing."
"Super Dimentio was made out of the Chaos Heart, right?" The ground sifted and Izuku began to slide towards the edge of the world. "Waah!" He clawed at the ground, hoping to find something to hold on to to prevent him from falling into the sky. "Dimentio, if the Chaos Heart is still in you then-" He grabbed the rim of the ground. "It's taken over you! You're not like this, Dimentio!"
He walked down the wall to Izuku and applied a bit of pressure onto his fingers. "Says who? Last I heard, you no longer trusted me. Why should I...the person you no longer trust...believe anything you tell me, hm?" He forced Izuku's pointer finger off.
He grabbed on with his other hand and tried to pull himself up. "Why are you even acting this way?! Your puppet was so...angry, and you are too. You're hiding something. Something that has been clawing at the back of your mind for years, no doubt."
"Hiding something? Ahahaha! I am the one who tells secrets...not hide them."
"You're just as sad as your puppet was, admit it. You don't want to say the whole truth because last time you trusted someone with it, they stabbed you in the back! And you returned it!"
Izuku saw his expression shift from anger to fear. He applied more pressure to his hand and kicked it off. He lost his grip, as his other arm was tired, and tumbled into the green skies. Dimentio fell off the wall as it adjusted to a ceiling and flew after Izuku. He sped up and grabbed Izuku's shoulders.
"I am not hiding anything!" He slammed his forehead into Izuku's face, causing his nose to bleed.
Izuku forced him off by kicking him in the gut. "Why are you like this?! What sort of twisted world did you grow up in?! I just want to help!"
"I grew up in the accursed Mushroom Kingdom! It is the people's problem if they hate that I am like this!" He fired at Izuku again.
"Their problem?! Dimentio, you brought this on yourself! You tried to kill people! If you think you're above redemption, that's your fault! You'll just be trapped in the Underwhere forever!" Izuku dodged and returned the attack by punching him in the face, cracking his mask.
"I am not...going back there!"
"Then stop this! You're crazy!"
"I am crazy?! I tried to perfect the world! Everyone in your realm throws it away! At least I care about something! Those heroes and villains only care for themselves!"
"Is that what you think we are?! Careless, selfish, superhumans?!"
"Fools! You are all fools! If it were not for Mario, you would have seen that!"
"What is your deal with the Mario Brothers?! Why are you so mad at them for stopping your one plan?!"
"Because I killed Jumpman, okay?!" He froze, the color draining from his face.
Izuku felt his decent slow and floated gracefully to a black floor. A single light shone on him as Dimentio cowered into the shadows.
"Jumpman is...Mario, right? But he stopped Olly, so he's not dead..." Izuku saw his breath with every word.
"He was...Mario's Grandfather..."
"What happened?"
"I was slightly lying...when I told you a grew up in the Mushroom Kingdom...I did but...I have no idea if I was born there or not..."
Izuku followed the sound of his voice and saw he was sitting on the ground, his knees brought into an armless embrace. "Oh...I see where that story about the Demon Realm came from."
"I...cannot..."
"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to, Dimentio." He crouched down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But I can't help you if you don't explain."
He tore himself from Izuku. "It was roughly...twenty-four years past..."
"So you were twelve, right?"
"There was a television on display..." He covered the cracking mask with his hand, avoiding accidental eye contact with Izuku, "praising Jumpman for his heroic deeds of saving...Pauline from an overgrown ape."
"Donkey Kong," Izuku realized. "So you were interested in it?"
Dimentio laughed half-heartedly. "More than that...Yes...I began to aspire to be just like him..."
"That's kind of adorable! But where did you go wrong...?"
He faced away from Izuku a bit more. "He attempted to save my life from a stray truck..."
Izuku noticed that he began to shake, and grew unsure if a hug would comfort him. He remained silent instead.
"I-if only I had heard him sooner he..."
"Are you sure he died? Getting hit by a car can kill you, and a truck even more so, but he still could have just gotten hurt." He smiled.
Dimentio stared blankly at his shuddering hands. "It did not stop...The driver paid no attention..."
"So he got completely...run over? But he saved you, right? You didn't kill him!"
"You do not understand...He grabbed me and forced me back...When he was finished off..." He grabbed his chest, right where the bell and ribbon connected to his collar were. Izuku could tell he was having trouble finding words.
"Take your time, Dimentio. You might feel better after this."
He looked away from Izuku again, to the ground. Izuku began to shudder, as the temperature was more frigid than before. He tucked his hands under his arms and fought to keep his teeth from chattering.
"He was...was still...holding onto me...when he was destroyed..."
Izuku figured it out form there. Jumpman, Mario's grandfather was nicknamed that for his jumping abilities, tried to save him from being hit. Dimentio had been watching from afar, leading to the truck almost running him down. After finally hearing Jumpman calling for him to move, it was getting too late and he grabbed the young jester instead and planned to toss him off the street. But he was too late and was ran over, resulting in at least half of his arm still holding to Dimentio's clothes when it ended as he rolled onto the sidewalk.
"O-oh...I am so sorry that happened. But why do you blame yourself?" He exhaled into his hands and rubbed them together. "It's getting pretty cold in here..."
"It was my fault he died...When you see somebody get murdered by a situation that could have been avoided easily by paying attention to your surroundings...you learn something...That when you snap, you can finally see...that the world is a cruel place that would be better off destroyed..."
Izuku stood and held out his hand. "It's not all bad. Come on, I want to show you something."
Dimentio uncovered his eye to look at Izuku, who saw his eye was completely pitch black. The other was yellow, with a black star pupil; like how it was when he first Dimentio without his mask. Izuku decided to hold off mentioning it and watched as Dimentio stood and dusted off his pants by quickly swiping his hands across them twice. He stared at Izuku's hand.
"You don't need to take it, but I would like it if you teleported us back home."
He snapped and Izuku was standing in a field. Izuku led Dimentio out of the grassy plain towards the main city of Hosu. Izuku went to the Soup Kitchen and motioned a hand towards it.
"You see this? This building was made for people without homes and stuff to get food for free. It's a way to bring comfort to those who need it."
Dimentio floated in silence, still covering his black eye. Izuku then led him to UA.
"You know about UA and the heroes, right? The heroes exist because bad people try to hurt people. Sure, sometimes our Quirks can cause a lot of destruction, but we do it to protect people who can't fight themselves."
He then brought the jester to the field, motioning a hand at the people within. Two females were having a picnic, a family flying a kite with their young child, and a male playing frisbee with his dog.
"Do you see how happy these people are? Isn't it just nice, seeing people so happy in an imperfect world? Whenever you think this world has nothing left, remember these people. Our city gets attacked all the time by villains, and yet these people still love and care for themselves and each other. Dimentio, whatever happened in the past with Blumiare or Jumpman, you can forget it. Just because you met a few sour apples, doesn't mean everybody's the same. Once you learn that, you can learn to accept people without tricks and trials."
To his surprise, Dimentio landed on the grass and uncovered his eye. He watched the people from the hill Izuku had stopped on, his smile finally gone after all the time Izuku had known the real him.
"You honestly believe...that you can change me? After almost wiping out all worlds, murdering countless people...and even putting you and your friends in danger?"
"You might have started off rough, but some people just need to change in order to find out what they are going to do in their lives. Take me, for example. I knew I couldn't be a hero, and yet I still wanted to. After my Quirk manifested, I hoped it would be an easy ride; kind of like what Kachaan thought. But...when UA was attacked multiple times, I remembered that being a hero was about sacrifices. You can't hope to save everyone. Even if you do, you'll end up losing yourself in the process."
They stood in silence for a while, watching the people enjoy their lives. Izuku only looked back to Dimentio when he removed his mask. His visible hair matched the puppet, black with yellow streaks dyed in. However, the yellow had almost completely vanished, leaving only the smallest amount at the tips.
"I hate you, Izuku..."
"Huh?! What did I do to make you mad?" Izuku braced for an attack, but it never came. He peeked over his arm to find black tears making their way down Dimentio's cheeks. "...What?"
"Luigi told me the exact same thing. Yet...it is different now. It is different now, because I had a firsthand lesson on that said compassion...when the Origami King returned the Chaos Heart to me, when I could have easily taken his life..."
Izuku smiled a bit.
"And...all of that time I wasted in the Underwhere...hoping to escape, made me even further convinced of my reason to end all worlds...Despite all of my rage..." He finally looked at Izuku, a true smile on his face, "I really do appreciate this new light you have shown me. Truly, I am in your debt, Midoriya."
"You can just call me Deku, or Izuku's fine too. We're friends now, right?"
"I would normally rush something like this, but you have earned my trust...Calling you Izuku is fine for me."
The wind, which had been blowing in a rainstorm for the past few hours, grew aggressive. Dimentio grabbed the bow on the front of his collar to prevent it from snapping off, Izuku doing likewise by pulling his shirt down. Dimentio stopped the mask from falling loose when his hat blew off.
"Aah! Your hat!" Izuku gasped.
His hair reached almost to the ground-which Izuku should have expected for being trapped for sixteen years-the yellow dye only on the tips as well. Dimentio transported his hat back to him when the wind died down.
"Dimentio...would you mind a haircut?"
"Hm?" He faced back to Izuku, his hair whipping him in the face from his movements. "Huh? Had it grown out that much during my haitus...?"
"The barber could re-dye it for you too, if you want."
He forced his hat over his hair and straightened his mask. "And why do you think I would agree?"
"Because I need a trim, so we can get to know each other better? Like friends do?" He tried, shrugging.
"I am dissapointed in your pathetic attempt...but a red-dye sounds good...Trying to dye your own hair is very difficult when you have no mirrors..."
"I'll talk to mom about it tomarrow. We should head back and let the class know I'm okay."
"Izuku?"
Izuku stopped walking and turned. "Hm?"
"Thank you."