I scrambled back into the shadows so the man in green wouldn't spot me. Not that he would. Hardly anyone saw me anymore, I was essentially invisible. 

It was odd how the Underwhere was filled with so many shadows. There was no sun. Even so, the torches Queen Jaydes used to illuminate the room created plenty of shade. I hated her torches, they didn't flicker and dance the way fire in the living realm would have. Even the flames down here weren't alive. Everything was dull and dead. 

The little ghost dog pranced around the man in green's feet as the pair walked off. If it weren't a ghost, Luigi would surely have tripped over it. However, whenever he did accidentally step on it his legs would merely phase through. I wondered if being stepped on hurt the dog. It didn't wear a pained expression, only a playful one.

The creature was odd. Luigi was clearly holding it early, but now he was phasing through it. Did being a ghost include having the ability to choose when to be solid? 

I had honestly never heard of a ghost dog before. It didn't quite make sense. How did a dog gain that ability? It must have gotten lucky. Very lucky. 

I remained still until Luigi had left the palace. Though I remained hidden at a distance, I still made sure not to let him leave my sight. I wasn't going to let this chance slip through my fingers. I would die twice more before allowing Mr. L to ruin my plans once again. 

I was about to start after the duo when there was suddenly a loud, condescending sigh.

My entire body seemed to heat up as if explosions of fire were surrounding me. This was the familiar feeling I had always been met with upon being startled. I had grown used to it ever since I arrived in the afterlife. Still, that didn't stop it from hurting.

I turned to face the queen, whose dark eyes were locked onto me. The warm, friendly expression was long gone. She was an entirely new woman now, she had turned from the friendly and helpful guide into the cold queen the rest of the Underwhere knew her to be. 

She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Letting me know that she had spotted me was enough to send those waves of anxious fire throughout my body. 

Had she known I was there the whole time? Of course she did, she knew everything about everyone. 

Or did she? I was basically invisible, would she even remember who I was? There were countless villains trapped in her domain, surely she wouldn't have known what I was. 

It was sad, really. Painfully sad. I had the chance to become the king of all words, someone to be remembered for all time - and now I was just this. Reduced to practically nothing. 

Still, she must have been able to sense my presence all along. Why didn't she call her D-men, though? Why wasn't she calling her D-men now? 

Why didn't she tell Luigi?

With the snap of her fingers, she could have gotten him to throw me into the river. Knowing the man in green's natural follower-like tendencies, he'd probably do it. Especially with our history. Maybe he'd enjoy it, being on the other side of the execution box. Perhaps he'd like to be the one in control, the puppet master at last. The kindest, purest people often make history's best villains, after all. Just as the cruelest, most heartless of mankind become the world's most well-known heroes. 

We remained locked in place. I wanted to look away, but breaking eye contact would be a sign of weakness, and I wasn't weak. I wouldn't be weak. Not in front of her. If she didn't remember me from before, maybe she'd at least remember me for this. 

I slowly stepped out from my hiding place, then started walking backward so I could continue to stare her down. I was going to win this game. 

She raised an eyebrow slightly as her shoulders dropped. She wasn't going to give in easily. She was stubborn, but so was I. And I had one advantage she never would - pure spite for all those who put me in that position. Spite for her, Grambi, Bleck, Mario, Luigi, everyone. The fortunate and loved would never have the same kind of fuel and determination to succeed as I did. 

She waited for another moment, then sighed and glanced away. Her lips pressed together in annoyance as the fire seemed to fade from within me, replaced with a more gentle warmth. I won. 

I'd always win. Sure, sometimes things don't go according to plan, but in the end, I'd find a way to get back on track. It was only a matter of time. 

I grinned and turned away from her. She didn't call for her guards, didn't shout or do anything. She simply watched as I left. Or I hoped she was watching. I couldn't see her anymore, but she better have been thinking about me. I needed to solidify myself in her head, I needed her to know who I was. 

All the worlds needed to be reminded of who I was. I wasn't just some nobody who'd disappear beneath the ice. I was the master of dimensions, the pleaser of crowds. 

I was Dimentio. 

It didn't matter if the universe feared or loved me, so long as they knew me. 

Luigi was pacing back and forth just outside the palace doors. I snuck out and hid around the side of the wall as he continued to pace. With a quick glance at my surroundings, I was quickly able to determine that no one was around. If I could keep Luigi and the ghost out of sight, they'd be as good as mine.

"The Underwhere is so big, Polter," the man in green sighed as he walked to and fro over and over. "I don't suppose you know enough about this place to guide me?

He was a quick walker, I noted. It would likely be exhausting to keep up with him, but I'd surely be able to do it. It's not like I had a choice.

The dog simply stared up at him with pupilless eyes. Luigi let out a short laugh as he kneeled and placed his ungloved hand on its head. 

"I didn't think so. I mean, why would you bother hanging out down here when you could just be up there with me?" Luigi grinned. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the dog's, then stood up and brushed himself off. 

Was he really twenty years older than when I last saw him? He didn't seem to mature much. There was still that innocent aura surrounding him, despite the fact that Luigi wasn't nearly as innocent as many believed him to be. There was darkness within him. I knew it, he knew it, but the world didn't. Not until Mr. L, at least. And even then, he was probably able to create excuses for that and bury Mr. L back where he belonged, deep within him. Those repressed deadly sins were what made him human, yet his position as a "good guy" taught him to be ashamed of the green that overwhelmed his insides. 

I used to have green. A green scarf, I believe. One not much different from what Luigi was wearing now. 

I was young. Lost it long ago. Switched from my old multicolored ensemble to one of just pride and greed. Purple and yellow were the most powerful anyway. Green didn't provide me with what I wanted, it only hurt. 

What had Luigi done in the twenty years since my passing? Had he forgotten me? Probably. How long had it taken him? Did he ever think of me? Would he have bothered thinking of me, or was I just another bad guy for him to watch his brother defeat? 

I glanced back to his ungloved hands. When I knew him, they were always gloved. Even as Mr. L, he kept them covered. I never knew why, though I assumed it was because he wanted to keep his hands clean from all the metal he was constantly working with. Although I did once have a running theory that his hands might have been massively scarred. They weren't, though. I mean, there were a few scars and bruises. Callaces covered his palms - either from writing, playing guitar, or simply from all the adventures he had taken. 

A golden ring sat on his left ring finger. 

I briefly glanced at my left hand and grasped the same finger. Empty and bare, I pulled at it until I was met with a sweet cracking noise. 

I didn't want to think about the life he lived in my absence anymore. 

I allowed my mind to shift back to the topic of how he died. After the conversation I saw exchanged between him and Her Royal Majesty, it was clear that the world was now missing its two favorite heroes. Their time was over, an era had ended. How, though? Mario fell off a ladder changing simple clocks, which was both pathetic and comical, but what became of Luigi? Was his death also stupid and unfitting for a hero, or did he get something more intense and exciting? 

How did I die?

A wave of heat flushed through my body again. 

There was a loud cracking sound and a splash. 

Cold surrounded me. 

My skin felt as though it was being pricked with a thousand ice picks, thousands of knives stabbing into each and every centimeter of my body.

The cold was consuming me. 

My body was tense. I couldn't fight, couldn't move, couldn't cry or splash or scream.  

The cold was devouring me.

So much so that it burned. 

It burned and burned and burned and wouldn't stop, it would never stop. I'd burn and burn for all eternity. 

I gasped and grasped at my chest, though I wasn't met with a heartbeat. I was dead. 

I had been dead. For twenty years. Twenty years wasted just waiting, being patient. Just as my life had been, only twenty years seemed insignificant when compared to how long I spent waiting to bring forth a perfect world in life. 

Chills covered my arms as the fire within me calmed slightly. I was shaking, though I wasn't cold. I was never cold. No one was, not in Hell. 

"Oh, are you okay?" his friendly voice chimed. 

Our eyes met. 

He didn't look through me. 

He saw me, just as I saw him. 

"I..." I started.

Was I okay? 

No, but is anyone down here really "okay?" How can someone be okay ever again after being assigned an eternity of damnation? 

I wasn't exactly "not okay," though. I mean, I had no idea what triggered that flash in my mind, but I wasn't actively being murdered. I couldn't be killed. Not anymore. Truth be told, there was a lot more fear that came with being alive than being dead. I didn't have to fear dying anymore, there was nothing to be afraid of other than the idea of failure. Even then, I could fail as many times as I needed. I wasn't on a time crunch anymore. I wasn't going anywhere, I had all the time in the world. Yes, it would be nice to have everything all at once, but that wasn't realistic. Impatient people never succeeded. 

His eyes remained bright and life-like. It was hard to believe that he was a dead man. He didn't look dead. Didn't act dead, either. He was young for a dead person, too. Accidents happened, yes, but he shouldn't have been here yet. He shouldn't have been here at all. Jaydes knew it, he knew it, and I knew it too. 

"What's your name?" he asked.

My muscles stiffened slightly as I blinked a few times. 

I am Dimentio. Remember the name well...

"I... I can help you," I said instead.