Inky kept ahold of my hand while I walked forward. I knew that I was supposed to be retracing my steps so I could find Dimentio, but I assumed that the stairs he went up likely led to this same city.

The little demon was actually pretty cute. He sat down on practically every bench we passed, only to follow once he realized we were supposed to keep moving forward. He liked to point at the sky a lot too. He reminded me of a little kid more than anything.

It was odd, seeing the sky. It was dark and dull, true, but it still had been decades since I had seen it. Although, the location didn't quite make sense. I was deep underground, so how on earth did I find my way outside? The tunnel Dimentio and I walked through didn't seem to be going uphill. On top of that, when I looked behind myself there were no signs of Castle Bleck. Just dull-colored buildings and trash-filled streets for as far as the eye could see.

For a moment, it was eerily silent. It felt empty. 

"Ah, THERE you are!" Dimentio huffed, making me jump and turn to my left.

He was standing there and crossing his arms. Something about his posture told me that he was rather annoyed with how long I took. However, Dimentio himself wasn't what caught my eye.

It was the sobbing Angel hugging his arm. She didn't look quite as distorted as Mimi's Angel, but I could immediately tell that she wasn't Timpani. She didn't have wings and her hair was an inky-black color instead of white.

I cocked my head to the side while Dimentio let out a tired breath.

"This leech has attached itself to me," he stated.

Dimentio, that's a person.

Inky made himself smaller and timidly hid behind me, all while still grasping my hand. Dimentio seemed too annoyed to notice him, and Angel seemed too hysterical.

"They took- they took-" she stuttered between sobs. 

I don't think she even knew I was there.

"Angel, cut it out. People are watching you, and most definitely judging," Dimentio huffed.

Angel sniffled, then slowly looked up at me. The tears were made of ink as well. It made it look like mascara was running down her face. 

As soon as she saw me, her eyes seemed to light up. She shoved Dimentio aside, then ran up to me and entrapped me in a suffocating hug.

Okay, I could see why Dimentio was referring to her as a leech now.

"BROOKS! Oh, thank goodness, you're okay!" She sobbed. "I thought they took you! I was so scared that I lost you for good. Please never do that again!"

I frowned slightly, then looked over at Dimentio, hoping that he would be able to explain what the heck she was talking about. He offered nothing more than a shrug. 

I gently pushed her back with my free hand, then cocked my head to the side. She was acting like she knew me, but I had honestly never seen her before. 

"Brooks? W-what is it?" She asked, sniffing and wiping a tear away. "Are you okay? I like the new outfit, by the way. The top hat is very snazzy on you. See, I TOLD you that getting new clothes was a good idea!"

She began to giggle a little. The tears slowed, but I was still confused. New outfit? I had been stuck dressed like this for YEARS. I didn't know we could have costume changes.

"Miss Angel, if I may," Dimentio started, pushing himself in between the two of us and turning to face her. "You told me earlier that the Brooks you ah... associate with, was in fact the perfect Brooks?"

She nodded.

Dimentio nodded as well, then turned to face me. "You have no memory of her, do you?" He asked.

I shook my head no.

Angel frowned. A heartbroken expression swept across her face, and I immediately felt guilty.

"Oh..." Angel trailed off. "So... you're not him then...?"

I shook my head no.

She sniffled once again, then turned away and hugged herself. I could hear her quietly begin to cry once again. 

That poor girl...

"I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I just... we had been separated for so long... then we finally found each other, but now, he's gone again. I just... I don't even remember his name, but I miss him so much. I just thought... I thought he'd always be able to find his way back to me."

"Name," Dimentio stated.

Angel sniffled, then turned to face him. "Huh?" She asked.

"I'm asking for your name. I know Angel doesn't have many of her memories, but-"

"Peach," she said instantly.

My eyes widened slightly while Dimentio seemed slightly taken aback. He was clearly not expecting such a quick and clear response. To be honest, I wasn't either. Not even Timpani could remember her own name. Then again, Mimi could about half of the time.

If she was Peach, then her Brooks must have been-

Oh...

Oh no...

Her Brooks was MARIO!

And he was probably the one who was taken away and brought to my father!

This wasn't good. My father ordered the search for the perfect Brooks so he could get me. Who knows how he was going to react once he found out that instead of getting what he ordered, he was being served a dish of legendary hero. 

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe a dish of legendary hero is what he needs-

No, no, no. Bad idea. My father most likely would realize that he has the wrong one. Maybe he'd punish the lost ones who brought Mario to him, or maybe he'd get angry and do something else unimaginably horrible.

I'll add "Save Mario" to my list of things I need to do. Right now, the idea of finding my father and rescuing Mario from him seemed less than ideal. The former man in red was just going to have to hang in there for a while-

"OH MY INK DEMONS-" Dimentio loudly gasped, interrupting my thoughts.

I looked up to see both him and Peach staring at me, but not directly at me if that makes sense. It took me a moment to put together that they weren't looking at me, but at what was hiding behind me.

I felt Inky squeeze my hand.

Dimentio did quite literally everything that I had learned NOT to do when it comes to approaching Inky. He moved quickly and he shouted loudly, practically terrifying the poor thing. Before I knew it, Dimentio was on his knees next to Inky and gushing about how his prayers had been answered.

Peach, on the other hand, looked confused. She had a thoughtful expression as if she was trying to figure out what the heck Inky actually was. "Is that the Ink Demon?" She asked.

I shook my head no.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Of course, it is!" Dimentio beamed. "It's Inky! Is that why you disappeared from the train station when I went back to look for you? Because you had found our savior?"

He went back to look for me?

... Now I felt a little bad. I knew he was annoyed when he first saw me up here again, but I thought that the annoyance came from having to deal with Peach. I wasn't aware that he had returned to the subway station and searched for me. I hope he wasn't worried that I got captured or something.

Regardless, it doesn't matter if he was worried or not. He was clearly fine now and had gone back to being the lunatic who was obsessed with worshiping the Ink Demon.

Inky squeezed his eyes shut and hid further behind me as if trying to get away from Dimentio. I wanted to tell him that Dimentio probably wouldn't hurt him so he wouldn't have to be afraid. However, in the past cycles, Dimentio has had some very mixed feelings toward the Ink Demon, so who knows?

"I think you're scaring him," Peach muttered.

Dimentio looked up at Inky, who was trembling. As soon as he saw the fear in Inky's eyes, he backed off and respectfully bowed his head. "My apologies, my lord," he breathed.

I wasn't a fan of him referring to Inky as "my lord," but oh well. I couldn't exactly stop him.

I suppose I just didn't like the idea of him thinking that Inky and the Ink Demon were one and the same. They weren't. The Ink Demon was a manifestation of everything wrong with Count Bleck. This little guy wasn't that. I wasn't sure what he was exactly, but I could tell he wasn't evil. He was just afraid. 

Although, I was a little curious as to who he was. I mean, everyone was someone in this place. There was no Angel who was JUST Angel, and there was no Brooks who was JUST Brooks. 

So who was this, and why was he so afraid all the time?