Dimentio chipped carefully away at the face. He needed to get the smile just right. He brushed the wood chips off the puppet and smiled. It was perfect. It looked just like him. He grabbed his paints and began testing the colors. The perfect green, a wonderful blue. The eyes of the puppets always held the most life. Getting them perfect was the highest priority. The Girl Scout stood nervously next to his throne. She had finally told him her name was Clover, and she only had to hand him cookies every now and then. He tended to overlook his hunger when he was focused, so having somebody there to remind him that he needed to eat was better than how he'd act before. He took care to paint within the lines. Clover had become interested and looked over at his work.

"What are you doing?"

Dimentio dipped the brush into the white. "I'm making more of my puppets. I made so many of these back in my youth. I only picked up the hobby again because I was bored. A heavily-guarded prison has no sense of fun. I sent some of my best works out there to prowl the streets for me. One was named Pompom. I also had Em, Piper, and now..." He held up the finished wooden doll. "Luigi!" He tapped a finger to Luigi's head. "Oh...Why do I miss him? Is it the desire to use him again, or something more? The only ones I've cared for have always left me in the end. But this feeling isn't out of the kindness of my heart. This feeling is different."

"Do you like him? Like...a lot?"

"I suppose so. He was the most loyal, although he was controlled. And he looks so dashing in that bright green! It brings emotion through the color of his clothing."

"I mean...I don't know who this person is but...I meant really like him. Like...do you love him? It's fine if you do. That's always been the case with people. Although people are trying to be noticed now."

"Like? Yes. Love?" He looked at the puppet. "I have no recollection of the feeling of love. I haven't felt it in so long. It's almost foreign to me. But this feeling isn't love."

"Oh."

"I have fallen in love before. Once. She was my best friend. She cared for me. She showed me how to survive in this broken world. She taught me how to whittle. She always told me that she wanted to make others laugh when she got older. She wanted to be a jester. And now look at me. I've taken her life, her feelings, her dream. I wish she could see me now. I've taken over a kingdom in her stead! I'm so close to rewriting the universe for her! If only she were still here..."

A puppet ran in, falling to one knee and bowing. "Lord Dimentio! Piper has been defeated. What are our next orders?"

Dimentio sat forwards in his chair. "Defeated? By who?"

"Izuku's chosen warrior. His name is King Olly. He awoke some sort of hidden ability and killed Piper in a manner of seconds. Pompom, Em, and your other guards were also destroyed a bit before then. Izuku and his party are advancing this way now."

"Hm." He sat back, the throne ice cold. "Do whatever you must to stop them. I want to see their progress for myself..."

"Sir, yes sir!" The puppet rose to his feet and ran out, spear in hand.

Dimentio snapped and a screen-like veil appeared in front of him. It showed the front of the fortress. Clover realized that was what his eye saw. Dimentio moved his hand up, without touching the veil. The veil's view changed with his hand movement, moving to the top of the fortress. The vision homed into Izuku, Olly, Olivia, Mimi, River, Kirishima, Wendy, and Bakugo.

"There you are. My, you've gotten quite the party, haven't you? Wait a moment...Wendy?! And she teamed with one of the security guards at that prison! I should have killed her off when I had the chance. Now she's after m-" His face softened, in an almost loving way. "Mimi came back? She came to stop me? So she really has changed?"

Clover was unsure whether it was a trick of the light or not, but it seemed like tears formed in his eyes when he mentioned Mimi. He stood, snapping the screen away.

"I'll give them all something to look forwards to."

Izuku pointed to the tallest spire. "There it is! We had to work hard for this, but we're almost there!"

The eye from the front of the castle suddenly moved to the top of the spire. It flashed, a loud ringing shooting through Izuku's head. His vision became distorted, blurring and spinning as he tried to walk. He couldn't tell a tree from the grass.

Olly moaned. "What was that? Did Dimentio stun us or what?"

"My head!" Mimi yelled. "It hurts so much!"

Izuku staggered his way to a tree and rested on it. "I think he saw us...He's using his eye like Sauron. He's watching us now. I think we got hit with a wave of his Quirk and the Chaos Heart mixed together."

"We can't go very far like this," Kirishima said, one eye closed. "I can barely hear and see you!"

Bakugo screamed. "I f*cking hate that guy!"

"I told you," Mimi snapped, "he prepares for everything!"

Izuku struggled to look up. His head felt heavy. He had a desire to give up and give in. It stabbed his thoughts like a bullet to the heart. They wouldn't leave. Whatever Dimentio did, it made him believe he was less than human. Izuku tried to shake off those thoughts by focusing on something else. He focused on the eye. It was yellow, with no pupil or iris. It shone perfectly in his vision, as if his eyes wanted him to look at it. As he stared into it with no thoughts in his mind, he felt himself being called to it. It was as if the eye pulled him towards it. He blinked once.

Opening his eyes revealed him inside the fortress. He was sitting on a black, spiky throne. He was holding a half-finished puppet in his gloved hand. He looked to his left, seeing a Girl Scout standing next to the throne. He recognized her. Her name was Clover, and she always delivered to UA. The teachers were always thankful for the cookies. Why was she in here?

Izuku took a moment, mostly because he had to wait for his mind to clear, but he realized he was seeing from Dimentio's other eye. Dimentio was making a puppet of someone. They had thick glasses, a cape, and a bean-shaped head. Izuku didn't recognize them. Dimentio looked up from his work, looking to the doorway.

"Hello, Izuku."

"Wh-" Izuku stuttered.

"To be fair, I never expected this to happen. Welcome to my mind, Izuku. Cozy? I cleared it out just for you~"

"What are you doing?"

"Making more puppets. I have the best inspirations! This one is an expired ally of mine. It's sad he betrayed me so soon, he was helpful. He gave me Olive, and the dome your students are trapped in." Dimentio chuckled. "Oh, but I should show you them now! They're perfect little students, I mind you. You taught them well, Izuku. They know how to pay attention in class~"

He got to his feet and flew out the room. He went down the hall, took a right, and opened a door. He went inside the dark room and turned on the lights.

A single spotlight shone on the students. Izuku gasped. They hung lifelessly in the room, nothing more than wooden puppets. They were life-sized. Izuku hoped Dimentio was lying. He wished Dimentio was lying.

"They make great puppets, no? And soon, I might even send them out to your party! They won't want to hurt some kids unless...OH! Most of them don't even know what your students look like! They'll kill your students and not even know! Isn't that a fun little game? A game of chance! Will they do it, or will they not?"

"You're crazy!" Izuku yelled.

"Perhaps. But you can't be very good unless you're a little mad, hm? After all, all the best minds were called crazy once. Some were even killed for being so clever!"

"I'll warn them! I'll tell them what you're planning!"

Dimentio reached into his empty eye socket. "I don't think so. Come here, little hero~!"

Izuku blinked, and opening his eyes revealed he was back outside. His vision was fine, and his head was no longer ringing. He looked up at the spire. Dimentio's hand came from the eye. Izuku looked around. Everyone had passed out. Izuku must have avoided that by going into Dimentio's mind.

Izuku tried to punch Dimentio's hand, but he couldn't touch it. His hand went right through. Dimentio snapped and Izuku floated after the illusion. Izuku suddenly popped into Dimentio's puppet room, held in the air by Dimentio's outstretched hand. Dimentio looked like he was in pain, still keeping a grin on his face.

"We meet at last! This is our final showdown, hm?"

"You hurt yourself doing that." Izuku accidentally flipped upside down in the air, thankfully still facing Dimentio. "You're pushing yourself too far, using the Chaos Heart like that."

Dimentio scoffed and responded rather sassily. "You would be in pain as well, if you reached into your own head to pull out a grown man. It hurt to get you out of my mind, you know." Blood dripped from the empty eye socket.

"What do you want with me?" He flipped himself back over.

"Easy." He snapped and Izuku came face-to-face with the jester. "I want to play a game with you, is all." He held up a small blue mushroom. "So, are you interested? You'll play either way, but I'll tell you the rules if you're into my games."

Izuku tried to kick him. "Why would I ever be interested in your twisted plans?!"

He tossed the mushroom up and down playfully, seemingly taunting Izuku with it. "Do you want to escape? Do you want to know how to win? Do you want to see your precious family and friends again? Then heed my words an-"

Izuku kicked the mushroom out of his hand. It landed on the ground, rolling off to the side. "NEVER!"

Dimentio walked over, picked up the mushroom, and returned with a frown. "Alright then. Be lost. Become one with my world. Never break free and see the ones you care for again. I wanted to help, I really did, but I suppose you gave me no choice." He grabbed Izuku's face, holding his cheeks. "Open your mouth, Izuku."

Izuku shook his head. He didn't like mushrooms all that much.

Dimentio gripped the mushroom harder. "That wasn't a request. I will force this down your throat if I have to, I just don't want to if it's not needed."

Izuku tore his face from Dimentio's grasp, then bit Dimentio's hand so hard it started to bleed. "I'll never listen to you!"

Dimentio screamed and pulled his hand back. "You fool." He grabbed Izuku by the hair. "You made me do this."

He released Izuku and fixed his glove. Izuku expected him to use force. Instead, Dimentio pulled his fist back.

"Ciao." He punched Izuku right in the face.

Author Note: Thanks for getting this far! Sorry for the bloody last couple of chapters! After this arc, the blood dies down to almost none. We have about 1-2 chapters left of this arc, so thank you for being patient! This arc is more based off of My Hero Academia as a whole, hence the violence, death, insanity, and blood. The second arc is going to be more lighthearted since it's actually based off of something draco70 and I did when we were younger! I'm so glad I can bring back old characters draco and I created together. However, I did write this A/N for a different reason, so I'll get to that now.

TW for the next chapter: Derealization. I forgot to put that in the A/N in the start of the book, mainly because the next chapter only popped into my mind recently. But if you've gotten this far, I think you'll be fine.

Also, to help with the blood overdose, the puppets DO NOT actually have blood. Dimentio was trying to mess with their heads, so he made an illusion for blood in every puppet except the ones in the next chapter.

Anyway, stay fresh and I'll catch up with you soon!~CaramelPhoenix