Dio: "You look somewhat familiar. How do you know my mommy?"

Jacq: "Well, we went to school together. My brother was one of her best friends."

Dio began to lightly laugh.

Dio: "But you look like a teenager! You couldn't have gone to school with my mommy! You're too young!"

Well, you see, young child I just met, when someone dies, they don't really age. It's part of the whole being dead thing. Perhaps you'd like to see! Here, let me show you-

No! No bad thoughts. Get those bad thoughts out of your head right now!

Jacq: "Yeah.... well I was a few grades below her."

He held Dio's hand tightly, careful not to lose him, and got onto the train, heading home. This whole situation was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Shadoo had been being awfully quiet ever since Dio came into the picture. Probably so she could go unnoticed.

Dio: "Wow... I've never been on a train before! Daddy usually just flips me places. I myself am learning to teleport, but I can't go very far yet-"

Jacq suddenly halted.

Jacq: "Wait, what??"

He turned and looked at the child, his eyes filling with wonder.

Jacq: "Y-you can teleport??"

Dio: "Yep!"

Jacq took a moment to think to himself, getting onto the train, still holding Dio's hand. This child was magical?? He knew Timpani did take magic class in school, but she wasn't good at it at all truth to be told. And this child said that his father could 'flip.' Was his father magic as well or something??

Dimentio could teleport....

Dio: "Hey, sir. Could you tell me your name?"

Jacq was snapped out of his little trance as the train started moving. It was mostly empty due to the blackout, but still running since it was an interdimensional train.

Jacq: "Huh?

Dio: "Your name! What can I call you?"

Jacq bit his lip and looked out the window, seeing his own reflection.

Jacq: "Uh, I'm Jacques."

Dio smiled and hugged him.

Dio: "Alright Mr. Jacques! Thanks for helping me find my mommy! I'm Dio!"

He seemed a little shocked by the sudden hug. He tensed his shoulders up, unsure of what to do.

Jacq: "U-uh... Nice to meet you.... Dio."

But seriously, don't thank me.

______

Nastasia sent out search parties. She told everyone she knew to be on the lookout. Luigi, Mimi, and O'Chunks all searched every inch of Both Flipside, and Flopside. Next thing to check would be all the Dimensional Doors. 

Unfortunately, they were locked up because of the Blackout. So, they sent Luigi down to at least attempt to fix the power. The power outage made all of this far more difficult than it needed to be, but eventually Luigi was able to fix a small section of the generator, opening the Dimensional doors up. It took a lot of tears, confused screams of agony, and curses to Mr. L for making things so complicated, but eventually he got it done.

Nastasia would be checking what was left of Castle Bleck in Flopside. 

O'Chunks would be checking Lineland and the Land of the Craygons. 

Mimi would search Gloam Valley, The Bitlands, and Sammer's Kingdom. 

And lastly, Luigi would be checking Outer Space and The Underwhere.

Now, one may ask how they came to these decisions. It was in a very organized fashion, as one would expect from a group of sophisticated adults.

~ Minutes earlier ~

Nastasia: "Alright, so how do we decide who searches where?"

Everyone waited in silence for a minute.

Mimi: "Well.... I THINK THAT SINCE GIGI DIDN'T EVEN HELP US GET DIM DIMS BACK, HE SHOULD SEARCH THEM ALL!"

Luigi: "WHAT?! You guys made me stay so I could distract Timpani! I didn't volunteer not to go!!"

Nastasia: "Settle down, Mimi. Even though Luigi was absolutely no help what-so-ever when it came to breaking Dimentio out of the Underwhere, it would be cruel to make him search all the Dimensional Doors. Plus, he'd probably do a bad job anyway."

Luigi: "Hey! Seriously??"

Nastasia: "Yeah, here's what we're going to do."

She pulled out a hat. Inside was a slip of paper with each of their names on them.

Nastasia: "I'm going to randomly choose who searches where. K? Now some people are gonna have to search more places than others. That's just life. Life's unfair. Get over it."

She reached into the hat. 

Nastasia: "The person searching Lineland will be...."

She pulled a small piece of paper out and read it.

Nastasia: "O'Chunks."

She continued this pattern until everything had been decided. They all nodded, and began their searches.

Luigi: "Of course I'd get stuck with the Underwhere. Just my luck..."

Mimi: "Hey, at least ya don't have to search THREE DIFFERENT PLACES! You should consider yourself lucky."

Nastasia: "Stop fighting. We have a missing child to find. We don't have time for your pointless arguing!"

Everyone groaned in response, before walking off to their doors.

______

Dimentio and Timpani walked back to where Blumiere and Mr. L were waiting. L immediately ran up to Dimentio and pulled him into a hug.

Mr. L: "Are you okay?? Dim, I'm so sorry about all of this."

The rain was beginning to lighten up. The clouds were starting to clear, a hint of sky blue peeking through them.

Dimentio inhaled, and slowly wrapped his arms around Mr. L, then buried his face in his shoulder.

Dimentio: "No.... I apologize. Just been having a rough day.... life."

He pulled back and looked out to the ocean, softly smiling.

Still no barges, but that was to be expected. It was foolish of him to hope they'd come back for him.

Mr. L: "So.... now what?"

Blumiere took a step forward, and grabbed Timpani's hand.

Timpani: "I... don't know. I never really thought it through.... I guess we just.... wait it out until we know it's safe to go back."

Blumiere let out a slightly worried sigh.

Blumiere: "I miss Dio."

Timpani: "I know, but don't worry. Nastasia is great with him. She'll take care of him, and we'll be home soon."

_____

Jacq held Dio's hand and stepped off the train, taking in the sights of his hometown.

Shadoo: "You sure your brother is gonna be here?"

Jacq: "Yes. He'd always go to this place whenever he wanted to hide. You know, to look at the barges. He LOVED barges. Trust me."

Dio: "Who's the girl voice?!"

Jacq halted and ran a hand through his hair, nervously smiling.

Jacq: "Uh, that's, uh...."

Shadoo: "I'm your conscience, Dio. We don't talk a lot these days. So don't tell people about me. Otherwise, people will think you're crazy."

Dio: "Whoa! Cool! I saw a movie once where a puppet had a conscience! It was a cricket!"

Jacq: "Hey! I know that movie! Pinocchio, right?! I loved that movie. When my brother and I were younger, we'd all watch it while my dad was at work. It was actually nice, because it allowed us to just kinda sit and forget-"

Shadoo: "Shut up, we don't need to hear your life story."

Jacq: "Oh, S-sorry...."

Dio giggled and lowered his voice to a whisper.

Dio: "Watching Pinocchio with your brother sounds lovely. My conscience doesn't know what they're talking about."

Jacq briefly smiled, then took the kids hand and led him forward.

Jacq: "T-thanks."

He led him across town, looking around at his surroundings. All the houses looked abandoned. No one was left. He felt chills run down his spine. The normal chatter he use to hear whenever he was wheeled down this street was no longer present. Just silence and emptiness.

He walked up to his old house, and held in a gasp. The wood had begun to rot, and it appeared to be completely abandoned.

Dio: "Whoa! Spooky! What is this place. A haunted house?"

Jacq: "It's.... my home."

He let go of Dio and reached for the doorknob, holding his hand just inches above it, freezing for a moment.

Dio: ".... You gonna open it?"

Jacq: "I...."

He took a brief look at his feet, then back at the old door. He's never been able to walk in here. It felt... almost wrong. He placed his hand on the knob and turned. The door slowly swung open, making a loud creaking noise.

Dio: "Wow..." 

Dio quickly ran inside and began exploring. He jumped on the couch, causing dust to fly up. He began to cough and cover his nose.

Dio: "Wow, dusty! When's the last time ya cleaned up in here?!"

Jacq stood frozen in the doorway.

Jacq: "I... don't know."

Dio: "Well, it definitely needs some cleaning!"

Dio was about to continued searching the place, when he saw the somewhat scared look on Jacq's face.

Dio: "Mr. Jacques? What's the matter? Are you coming in?"

Jacq wanted to move, but just couldn't.

Jacq: "I...."

Dio: "Why are you scared?"

Jacq: "I.... just have a lot of bad memories here."

Dio gave a empathetic look, before walking over and grabbing Jacq's hand.

Dio: "Well, you also have lots of happy memories here, right?"

Jacq imagined watching movies with Dimentio. He imagined that time Dimentio helped him walk. All the good times they had together as children whenever their father was gone.

It wasn't many, since Dimentio always seemed somewhat distant, but his brother always fought to put a smile on his face and make sure he was alright.

Jacq: "Yes.... yes I suppose you're right."

Dio giggled, and slowly pulled Jacq inside. Jacq watched in awe as he stepped into his old home. He felt the floor creak below him. 

It's funny. He's been walking for a while now, but something felt strange about walking in here.

Dio let go and began running around again.

Dio: "Ooh! What's in this room?!"

He pointed towards a room with a closed door. Jacq felt his face go pale.

That was the room he died in.

Jacq: "Don't go in there-"

Dio: "Too late!"

He teleported himself away into the room with the snap of his fingers, causing Jacq to jump a little. He was about to rush over and get the child out, when Shadoo prevented him from moving.

Shadoo: "Friend, a word?"

A slightly confused expression swept over his face.

Jacq: "Uh, Sure, what is it Sha-"

She suddenly took control over his arm and forced him to slap himself.

Jacq: "OW! W-what was that for?!" 

Shadoo: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT?! WHY ARE YOU GIVING THIS KID A TOUR OF YOUR CHILDHOOD HOME?!"

Jacq: "W-well I thought we could keep him here until we need him!"

Shadoo: "WHY?! You're wasting time!"

Jacq: "I-I don't know. I-its safe here! It's a nice place. Plus, I don't want him to be there when I face Mr. L."

Shadoo: "Why should you care what the stupid kid thinks?!"

Jacq: "I just don't want him seeing that, okay?! It's not a big deal!"

Shadoo let out a long groan.

Shadoo: "Fine! Fine, but as your friend, I'm going to remind you to stay focused. Remember what we're here for. Don't let this child manipulate you and make you forget what you're doing."

Jacq: "I won't. I won't. I am VERY focused."

Dio suddenly popped his head back in.

Dio: "Hey, Mr. Jacques! There's some notes here for you!"

Jacq: "Wait, what?! Really?"

Dio: "Yeah! Come on!"

Dio disappeared back into the room.

Shadoo: ".... Seriously. The child is a tool. Just part of our plan. You don't have to humor it."

Jacq waited for a moment, frozen in time, not even listening to what she had said.

Shadoo: "Jacques? Ey! Blondie, can you hear me?! Hello?"

He shook his head, still ignoring her, and followed Dio, stopping just outside the room. He took another deep breath and tried gathering himself.

That was the room. The room where it happened. The room where he died.

He was nervous to see it. He shook his hands out and grabbed the door, slowly opening it, expecting to see the broken room he died in.

He expected to see broken vases, a tipped over chair, and to be filled with nothing but bad memories, but gasped when he saw that this was in fact not the case.

Jacq: "What.... what is this?!"

He stepped inside and took a look around. Dio was sitting at the table, where a bunch of small notes were sitting. Everything had been fixed. This room looked about 50 times better than the rest of the house. There were candles sitting on the windowsill, his chair had been picked up and neatly placed next to the window, and there were fresh roses on it, along with a small picture.

He slowly walked over and picked the picture up.

It was a picture, captioned 'Jacq's first dance,' and it was a rather lovely shot of Rose spinning Jacq around on his chair. They both had huge smiles on their faces. He smiled at the memories, feeling oh so loved. 

Back then times were so nice. He had nearly forgotten how much he loved her. How happy he was when she had asked him to that dance. 

But the warm feeling was washed away when he remembered that she left him. When he remembered that she never loved him back.

Dio: "Mr. Jacques! These notes are for you!"

The young boy skipped over and handed him a small piece of paper. Jacq carefully held the note in his hands and read aloud,

Jacq: "'Dearest Jacques,
You've been gone for a few weeks now. I heard what happened to you, but had a hard time believing it.
I guess, I feel somewhat responsible. I promised to take care of you, but then I left. I left you. After I left, I spent some time with myself, and I guess I realized that even if... if you're not what I originally wanted, you still were... actually really wonderful. But, by the time I came back, it was too late.
They threw you a funeral. You are buried next to your father. People asked me to speak at it, but I couldn't. I was to afraid to, since I feel responsible. People have been giving me pity, but I don't deserve it. 
I guess I'm just a stupid teenager, who lost what I had. I came back here, and found that no one was taking care of this room, and I don't know why, but I started fixing it up.
I guess I wanted to take care of you. I know, it's to late for that, but I wanted to. I'm so sorry, for everything. I'm just a selfish idiot. I thought I never loved you, I thought all I wanted was to be popular, and all that meaningless junk. A part of me was scared about being with you because your brother had such a bad reputation, but in the end, that doesn't matter. I am a stupid idiot who let go of someone who really loved me. And now you're gone. You're gone, and I can't apologize. 
You deserved better, I can see that now. I threw away my chance.
But I'm here now. I'll take care of you now. I promise.
Love, Rosemary'"

He covered his mouth, eyes wide, before stumbling over to the table and frantically reading more notes.

The ones written earlier were mostly just Rose talking about how sorry she was and how she wished she could have taken it all back, but as time went on, they began to be about her life, like she was just sitting there, having a conversation with him.

Turned out that she had gotten a girlfriend at some point, but that relationship didn't last very long because a part of her felt guilty. She said that pretty much everyone in town left, leaving behind a ghost town, but that she still came by to change the flowers in here and on his grave. He couldn't help but smile as he read more and more, until he picked up the last piece of paper. It was dated to a week and a half ago.

Jacq: "'Dearest Jacques,
I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit as often lately.
I've been kinda having a rough time. The truth is I've been in and out of different hospitals. I have had some sort of incurable disease for a few months now. But there's nothing they can do.
I'm going to die'"

Jacq felt all the color drain from his face. He gasped and brought his hand to his mouth, feeling his eyes start to sting and tear up.

He bit his lip, and continued.

Jacq: "'The doctors say I have a few days if I'm lucky. They let me out so I could say goodbye to everyone. I already told my family and everyone important. Everyone, except you.
I guess, I'm just sorry I can't keep taking care of you here.
I'm scared, Jacq. Did it hurt? I don't really want to die yet.
But, I guess I have a little comfort, knowing that you're there already. Maybe I can see you. Maybe I can really see you! I could run-up, and hug you, and tell you how sorry I am. Then, we could dance! Wouldn't that be wonderful?
I guess this isn't goodbye. I'll see you soon. Yeah, I'll see you soon! Then, I can tell you face to face.
I can tell you that I'm sorry, and that I love you.
Because I do. I really do now.
I'm sorry it took me too long to realize. I guess I'm too late, and you do deserve better, but I still want to tell you.
I'm just too late. But maybe we can have a second chance.
Yeah, second chances sound nice.
Love, Rosemary'"

He began to shake his head.

Jacq: "No.... no no NO!"

He threw the note aside and searched the table.

Jacq: "T-that can't be the last one! S-she can't be- I wasn't there- I...."

He frantically scanned the room for another note, but couldn't find any. Tears began to stream down his face now. He slammed his fists down on the table in a frustrated matter.

Jacq: "DANG IT! NO! P-please....no...."

Dio jumped back a little but then walked up to him, lightly tugging at the bottom of his shirt.

Dio: "M-Mr. Jacques? What wrong?"-

What's wrong?! I wasn't there for her. I wasn't there waiting for her, and now she's gone for good.

Jacq just bowed his head, and lightly sobbed.

Jacq: "Nothing.... there's nothing."

He looked up and wiped a tear away, a small smile forming on his face.

Jacq: "There's nothing... aha...."

Dio: "Mr. Jacques?"

Jacq quickly stood up and grabbed Dio's hand, quickly pulling him out of the room, and through the house, up to his old bedroom. He placed the young child in his old bed and tucked him in.

Jacq: "I've got something I need to do. Okay? You stay here and get some sleep. Don't leave the house. It could be dangerous out there, okay? I don't want you getting lost."

Dio: "O-okay, where are you going?"

Jacq stood up and began walking away.

Jacq: "Don't worry about it."

He slowly closed the door, then broke into a laughing fit. He walked himself out of the house, and all the way to the street, making his way towards Dimentio's little ocean spot.

Shadoo: "Uh, what are you doing?"

Jacq: "Ah ha ha ha, what's it look like I'm doing? I'm gonna snap Mr. L's neck!"