Chapter 6
Despite not getting much sleep, Dimentio awoke the next morning feeling calm and refreshed. No longer did his mind feel so fuzzy and confused.
He decided wasn't going to worry about anything anymore. Sometimes, the world was strange. Not everything had to make sense. Not everything had to add up. It was like Mr. L said. There was so much unknown about the world. Trying to understand would never get him anywhere.
Winter vacation didn't last forever. He wanted to make every moment count.
"Hey!" Mr. L beamed, waving from his own cabin the second Dimentio stepped outside. He ran through the snow and over to the jester. A bright aura of energy seemed to surround him as the white powder scattered about him with each leap he took.
"Hey," Dimentio replied, briefly turning his head to check for the others. "Is anyone else up?"
"Not yet," Mr. L smiled. "Come on! We have an adventure to get to. Would you be okay with spending the day with your favorite forgettable man in green?"
Dimentio rolled his eyes. It seemed Mr. L was never going to let that go.
"Don't you want to wait for the others?" the jester asked.
"Nah, you're my favorite," he shrugged.
Dimentio drew back slightly and shook his head, a mixture between stunned and offended on his other friends' behalves. How could Mr. L say something like that so casually?
"Shh, don't say that too loud," Dimentio hushed, fearing that Mimi would hear and start a fight. She always strived to be everyone's favorite.
"Why not?" Mr. L asked with his usual smirk. He then placed both his hands around his mouth as if creating an artificial megaphone. "Dimentio's my favorite!!!"
"Stop that!" Dimentio cried out, grasping Mr. L's arm and pulling it away.
The man in green shook his head, his smile still bright. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but instead, he pulled Dimentio away, back toward the forest.
The jester wanted to ask him what it was they were doing, but part of him liked the mystery.
"In all fairness," Mr. L started while swinging his free arm merrily, "You're the only one I feel comfortable enough to be myself around. I mean, everyone else is nice, but as the man in green, I constantly feel like I have to live up to their expectations of me."
What expectations? Wait, was Man in Green a title or something? Dimentio always assumed it just meant he wore green clothes.
No... it meant something else. He couldn't remember what, but Mr. L joined their group because he was the man in green. So, that title had to mean something important.
"You think I don't have those same expectations?" Dimentio asked.
"Oh, no, I do," Mr. L admitted with a smile and shrug. "But... it's different. You see the man in green as less of a tool and more of a person. Like, yes, I have my purpose, but I also have my personality. You see that."
"You're not giving the others enough credit," Dimentio chuckled. "They all see you as a person."
"They all tell themselves they do," Mr. L said. "You actually do, though. I just... it's different. With them, I feel like I'm part of the team, but still separate. With you... I feel like we're in the same place. That probably doesn't make sense."
Dimentio felt his shoulders shrug slightly.
The more he thought about it, the more sense it did make. He didn't know why, though.
The why didn't matter. He was on vacation.
The sky was less clear than the day before. There was wind that occasionally blew small flurries of snow in circular patterns. It felt like the woods were alive, despite all the bare trees.
Then, there was a river with ice-covered logs that reached across.
The water was a deep blue color. It appeared almost black from some angles, like the night sky. Patches of ice that floated along with the current sat atop the surface like water lilies. Frozen reeds sat at the bank like white ice daggers rising from the freezing water.
Dimentio found himself taken back by the beauty of it, so much so that he had hardly noticed Mr. L hop onto one of the snow-covered logs and started walking over the deep, fast-moving current.
"You're crossing?" the jester asked, shaking his head as Mr. L quickly and swiftly made his way across as if it was nothing. He looked like an incredibly gifted tightrope performer, holding out his arms and walking with ease.
"Yeah," Mr. L shrugged, keeping his eyes forward as he walked at a slightly slower paste than normal. "We can't get where we're going without being on the other side."
"Do I have to follow?" Dimentio asked, slightly worried. With how cold the water seemed, falling in would surely send him into shock. His body was small enough as it was, he surely wouldn't have been able to handle something like that.
"Yes."
"Can't I teleport?" the jester questioned, suddenly remembering his powers once again.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Mr. L pointed out while shaking his head.
"The fun is in not dying," Dimentio answered. He didn't want to put himself in danger when it wasn't necessary. Falling into an icy river and drowning seemed like the perfect way to ruin his peaceful winter vacation. Besides, he was never the best swimmer.
"The danger is what makes it worthwhile," Mr. L smiled. "It makes the journey worth it. You can teleport to the place we're going, but you'll miss the thrilling experiences on the way."
Dimentio rolled his eyes as Mr. L hopped off and turned to face him from the other side of the river. The jester let out a breath and carefully pulled himself up onto the snowy log. It was shaky, slick, and slippery. On top of that, it wasn't exactly the thickest or most stable of logs. One of the logs just a few feet away looked far more stable, but Mr. L didn't take it, so who was Dimentio to go over there instead?
"I don't want to die," Dimentio whispered, looking across the river to Mr. L, who was watching patiently.
"I know."
"No, really," Dimentio persisted. "I don't want to die."
"I know," Mr. L repeated. "If you fall, I'll dive in and get you. Okay?"
Dimentio nodded, although he knew if he fell, it would all be over. It didn't matter if Mr. L dove in to get him. The cold would surely do him in. Plus, the current was quite fast and the water was dark. Mr. L would never be able to save him.
Holding his arms out, he slowly started crossing the river, step after step. At first, he kept his gaze down at his feet, watching each step he took. However, the sight of the rushing water beneath him made him dizzy and almost caused him to lose his balance, so he decided to keep his eyes forward. He looked at Mr. L's outstretched arm, making that his target.
Each step he took gave him more confidence. He kept himself at a steady pace, refusing to stop. If he stopped, he'd never be able to start again, so he kept walking until he grasped Mr. L's hand and allowed him to pull him to safety.
"You made it!" Mr. L exclaimed, grasping both of Dimentio's arms as a broad grin spread across his face. If Dimentio didn't know better, he might have thought that Mr. L sounded surprised.
"If this is all an elaborate ruse to get me killed," Dimentio warned.
"It's not," Mr. L laughed. "I knew it would be okay."
Dimentio wanted to believe him, but while waiting for him Mr. L had positioned himself in a way where he'd have easy access to the water should he have had to dive in. It was like he expected him to mess up.
"Anyway, this way," the man in green smiled, taking Dimentio's arm and pulling him along. The two of them walked further into the forest. However, the trees on that side of the river were slightly different. There were more of them. The kind that never lost their leaves. In fact, most of them were about the size of a Christmas tree. Many looked like the undecorated tree he had in the corner of his cabin.
Dimentio gave himself a little silent reminder to eventually set that up. Perhaps Mimi could help him. She had a real knack for decorating and making things look sparklier.
The air felt quiet. Dimentio could feel the wind against his face, but silence surrounded his ears. He was starting to wonder if he somehow damaged his hearing. Mr. L's voice was too clear for that to be true, though.
After about one mile, Dimentio tripped on a tree root and twisted his ankle slightly. It wasn't all that big of a deal, but the moment stuck in his mind. It had been a while since he felt physical pain. He almost forgot what it was like.
"Do you need to go back?" Mr. L had asked. "I can help you walk?"
"No, no, I'm fine," Dimentio assured him. He really did want to return home, but that would make the entire journey one big waste of time. He wasn't willing to give up so easily.
Besides, according to Mr. L, they were close.
Dimentio wasn't sure if he believed him or not, so it was a pleasant surprise when they arrived ten minutes later. Immediately upon seeing it, Dimentio knew he made the right decision in sticking it out.
There was a big waterfall completely frozen over. The pool beneath it had turned to solid ice.
Despite appearing completely frozen, if Dimentio squinted his eyes he could see the water moving deep within the ice and under the frozen pool. The ice was an aquarium blue color, with frost and icicles covering the surrounding rocks around it.
There was no trail to get there, so Dimentio was confused as to how Mr. L managed to find the place so quickly into their vacation.
"Found it yesterday," Mr. L explained as if reading his mind. That kind of thing seemed to happen a lot. "After the group kinda dispersed for a while. I had some time to myself, so I decided to go on an adventure."
Dimentio nodded. It seemed he missed out on quite a lot by choosing not to go with the rest of his team on their little outing. He didn't want to waste time feeling regret, though.
"I wish you came," Mr. L breathed. "I was supposed to volunteer at the tree lot instead. The only reason I went with everyone else instead was because I thought you'd be there."
"Sorry."
"Don't be," Mr. L shrugged. "I just... missed you. That's all."
"I'll go next time."
"No," Mr. L breathed. "Don't make yourself do things you don't want to do. Really. I know I'm a bit pushy, but if you'd really rather do other things, that's okay. You don't have to apologize for it. It's your vacation."
"And yours."
Mr. L laughed to himself, then stepped out onto the frozen pool. Dimentio panicked and reached forward upon instinct, fearing that the second the man in green placed his weight on the ice, he'd fall in.
He didn't, though.
"Relax," Mr. L told him, turning so he was facing Dimentio. He then started skating backward, which didn't quite make sense because his shoes weren't ice skates. "My brother and I used to do this all the time."
Brother?
Dimentio nodded to himself. He forgot about Mr. L's brother.
"Mario, right?" Dimentio asked as Mr. L continued skating around, occasionally jumping. Dimentio flinched each time he landed, but the ice managed to catch him without fail.
"Yep."
Though Dimentio knew of him, he couldn't imagine what Mario looked like. All he could see was Mr. L.
The man in green didn't seem like the kind of person to have a sibling. He was a complete person on his own. His name didn't sound like the kind of name that goes before or after another one. "Mario and Mr. L" simply didn't sound right.
He supposed having siblings didn't make anyone incomplete. Mr. L just didn't look like he belonged as part of a pair.
He wondered if he had any siblings of his own...
The jester shook the thoughts away and brought his focus back to Mr. L, who skated as if he were an Olympian. He was jumping, doing tricks, all kinds of things.
"Do you ice skate often?" Dimentio asked.
"Nah," Mr. L replied. "Not anymore. Never in rinks and stuff and never with actual skates. We'd just mess around."
It didn't look as simple as messing around.
It made Dimentio wonder how much he really knew about Mr. L. Or anything, for that matter. He used to feel like he knew too much. Now, he felt like he didn't know anything at all. It was like he was a child all over again, only he didn't even know what that was supposed to feel like.
Not knowing was okay, though.
He smiled to himself, then stepped out onto the ice as well, fighting to keep his balance.
It was dangerous, yes, but that's what made it worthwhile.
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