Dimentio paced back and forth outside Luigi's bedroom door. Days of long, painful silence had passed slowly. The worry and the rapidly racing heart within him prevented him from picking fights with Mario or being difficult like he usually did. He didn't cause problems with Blumiere when he showed up, and he didn't do anything to get in the way. None of that seemed to matter anymore. 

He just wanted Luigi to wake up. Luigi had to wake up.

"Is he okay?" the former jester asked once Blumiere started to leave the house as the sky grew dark. The former count didn't speak to him or look him in the eye, still weighed down by guilt. He simply adjusted his top hat and secured his cloak around himself. 

There was still no word from Luigi. Dimentio had been instructed not to go into his room, so he hadn't even seen him.

"Bleck, answer me!" Dimentio begged, harshly grabbing the former count's wrist. He refused to let him leave in silence again. "Don't keep me in the dark like you always do. Is he okay? It's a simple yes or no question!"

Blumiere flinched, the words cutting deep. Dimentio knew this would work. Striking the count where it hurts always got in his head. There were still a few things Dimentio remembered when it came to manipulating and getting control back. With Bleck, it had always been a game of who really had the control.

"We have less time than we thought," Blumiere whispered, his voice soft and scared and everything Count Bleck's voice wasn't. 

Dimentio drew back slightly, hardly recognizing it. Was this really the same count who nearly destroyed everything in a fit of rage and sorrow after losing his love? Was this really the same person who dedicated his life to dark magic and the Dark Prognosticus? Was this really the same person who lied to each and every one of his friends, promising them something they'd never get?

It was strange, how different everything was now. Not just Count Bleck and Luigi, but the entire world. 

There was a time when Count Bleck wouldn't have cared less if Luigi had died. Dimentio remembered it well, how quickly everyone had been able to move on after he got rid of the man in green. It was a little insulting, actually. He expected at least one person to be sad. 

Dimentio never knew Mario all that well, but he seemed far less daring and brave than before. He didn't take risks. He played his cards closely and thought through each and every thing he did. He took his job of keeping his brother safe to the extreme.

It might have been nice to meet the version of Mario who took his closest friends and family on thrilling and dangerous adventures, but that Mario was gone. The Count who didn't care about the world or the people in it was gone. Mr. L was gone. 

That Dimentio was gone, too.

The plans he used to have were still in the back of his mind, but he couldn't see himself going through with them anymore. A part of him still wanted to, but it wasn't his priority. It hadn't been his priority. He couldn't see himself sacrificing Luigi to get a perfect world. He couldn't see himself sacrificing anyone anymore. 

He didn't even want that perfect world. 

He just wanted Luigi to wake up.

He couldn't tell what changed his mind. Maybe it wasn't one singular thing that caused the shift. Maybe it was just being so close for the past few weeks. Maybe it was the way Luigi gave his life back. Maybe it was the way he couldn't remember the last time he smiled this way. 

"What's happening?" Dimentio breathed, his grip on the former count's arm tightening slightly. "Mario hasn't told me a thing. Please just... if I can fix it, tell me how."

"He doesn't want you to fix it," Blumiere breathed, keeping his gaze down. "That's the problem. We can fix it, but he's stalling."

"Stalling?" Dimentio asked. "Who's stalling? Luigi? Why?! What's even going on?! Just send him to a hospital!"

He could tell things wouldn't be that easy, though. If this was as simple as going to a hospital, it would be fixed by now. 

Nothing was that easy. Nothing had ever been easy. 

"Walk with me," Blumiere breathed, pulling the door open and allowing a gust of cold air to enter the house. Dimentio didn't want to follow the man who had betrayed him in the past, but there were answers he needed. 

The sky was getting darker by the second. With each step away from the house Dimentio took, he could hear his heartbeat getting louder and louder. He wanted to go back - to stay close to Luigi, but he needed answers, so he continued to follow. 

"We have to take his heart and give it back to you," Mario explained to Luigi, sitting by his side. The man in green was lying in his bed, looking at the ceiling with a blank expression. "And we have to do it soon. You could be dead by Christmas."

"What?!" Dimentio exclaimed, his body freezing in place as his shoes sank into the snow. He let go of the count's wrist and stumbled back. Dead by Christmas? That was only ten days.

"No," Luigi said, his voice soft and shaky. "I can't do that. I can't do that to him. We can still... we can still find something else. We-" his voice broke off as he clutched his chest, the dark and cold feeling swelling within him like waves.

"Mario has been working with me, searching for other solutions for weeks," Blumiere breathed, bringing his hands together and messing with his gloves. He kept his voice low. His posture reminded Dimentio of a child who was in trouble with their parents. "We really wanted to find a way to save you both. A way to bring your heart back. But..."

"We haven't been able to find any other solutions," Mario stated, placing his hand on Luigi's. He was trying to keep a firm tone, but his voice carried the compassion it always did. He hated having to break the hard truth to his brother like this. "I know this isn't what you wanted - what we wanted, but we're out of time."

"Out of time," Dimentio echoed, lowering his gaze to the ground as he continued to walk a few steps behind the count. He could feel his heart beating in his ears, only now he wasn't so sure it was his heart. Was that why it beat so strongly? Was that why he felt so different? Was that why he wasn't in so much pain constantly? Was that why he wasn't launching himself at the former count and strangling him? The old Dimentio certainly would have, but currently, he couldn't even find it within him to be upset over everything that happened before. Was Luigi's heart the only reason he felt so understanding and empathetic?

"No!" Luigi begged again, tears pooling in his eyes. He could feel them sting and freeze on his skin, like ice, but when he placed his free hand on his face, he could feel no water. Could a heartless person even cry? What would happen to his spirit when he died? Would he even have one, if he had no heart? Or would he just disappear from all existence? There were so many questions. So many things he didn't want to pass onto Dimentio. "Please, j-just stop! Let me look! Let me search, I can find a way to get his heart back! I can find a way to save us both! Heroes don't quit, Mario. We can't pick favorites. We have to try to save everyone! That's what you used to tell me, remember? What happened to not giving up?!"

"We're not giving up," Blumiere continued. His strides were longer than Dimentio's, so the former jester had to walk twice as fast to keep up. Even then, he was still a few steps behind. Not that he minded, it was easier to let others walk in front of him. Allowing others to do that not only gave him someone to follow but also assured him there would be no knives plunged into his back. That thought, he could tell, was his own. Not Luigi's. "We just... we need to do this."

Luigi shook his head, unable to understand.

"I... understand," Dimentio breathed, keeping his head low. The snow was pure and clean. He wondered if his footsteps were ruining the perfectly smooth ground. Was that all he did? Ruin everything he touched.

Luigi wanted to go back. Back to the moments when it felt like he had a heart again. Back to when he was on the beach, holding his arms out as the ice-cold water crashed into the rocks and rained all over him. Back to when he was Mr. L, pointing out each and every star to Dimentio as he explained their names and what made them special. He remembered those moments more vividly now. He wanted to go back to a time when he could adventure alongside his brother. Back to a time when the world thought he was strong. 

Dimentio simply wished he could go back to a time before he ruined everything. He wished he could travel back a few years and tell himself not to make such a mess. 

"He doesn't even know what's going to happen," Luigi cried, fighting and failing to keep the pain from taking his voice and turning it into a squeaking mess. How could someone without a heart still feel so much pain? It felt unfair. "He... we can't just spring this all onto him."

"I'm sorry that we're suddenly springing this all onto you," Blumiere breathed. His voice shook. Dimentio was used to his voice shaking, but not like this. The way it shook before was with rage. This was something else. Something far more real and terrifying. "We just... I couldn't find the strength to tell you. None of us could."

"He's a bad guy," Mario said. "I know he's different now, but it's because he has your heart. This isn't really him. It's your heart controlling his emotions."

"I'm a bad guy," Dimentio whispered. "It shouldn't matter."

"Don't call him bad," Luigi whimpered. "Even if it's my heart, it's still... it's..."

"You're not a bad guy," Blumiere said. "Not anymore."

Dimentio closed his fists. Had he had his magic, he might have teleported far away. He might have run, just to keep the heart in his chest beating. It wasn't his heart though, and as selfish as he was, he knew what he was going to do. He had to return it. Maybe it was the heart in his chest talking, but as much as he wanted to live, he couldn't live with a heart that wasn't his own. He couldn't go on knowing that he had stolen it. 

Luigi began to cry, and a greater sense of sympathy overflowed Mario's heart as he sat down beside him and hugged his brother tightly, wishing he could somehow say something to send the tears away. He couldn't, though. He wasn't the hero who could save everyone. Despite what people thought, there were some things that were just impossible, no matter how hard he tried. 

"I'll do it," Dimentio said, looking up. He could see Rigel, shining down on him in all its glory. 

No matter what happens, Rigel will keep shining. That was the stability Dimentio needed to assure himself that everything would be okay. The world would keep turning and people would keep living. 

Luigi had talked about Supernovas before and how larger, brighter stars had shorter lifespans, but even then, after a Supernova comes the birth of new stars, right? He couldn't remember the process, he could only remember thinking that it was stupid for stars to explode in the first place. Especially when entire solar systems relied on them. 

That was life, though, and there was nothing he could do about it. Planets collide, galaxies die, people leave, hearts break, darkness swallows, light comes back, people keep living, people keep dying. The sky continues to expand distances beyond human comprehension. Civilizations rise and fail, self-destruction happens, betrayal kills, and people heal. 

Stars die and are reborn.

But for now, Rigel is still burning bright. And as long as it continued to burn while Dimentio was still there, he could be satisfied.